Page:Memoir and poems of Phillis Wheatley, a native African and a slave.djvu/49



following were written originally for the amusement of the Author, as they were the products of her leisure moments. She had no intention ever to have published them; nor would they now have made their appearance, but at the importunity of many of her best and most generous friends, to whom she considers herself as under the greatest obligation.

As her attempts in Poetry are now sent into the world, it is hoped the critic will not severely censure their defects; and we presume they have too much merit to be cast aside as worthless and trifling effusions. As to the disadvantages she has labored under, with regard to learning, nothing needs to be offered, as her master's letter, which follows, will sufficiently show the difficulties in this respect she had to encounter.

With all their imperfections, the Poems are now humbly submitted to the perusal of the Public.

was brought from Africa to America in the year 1761, between seven and eight years of age.