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who were dear to us, and have died, live for us still in our remembrances of them—of their acts, and words, and thoughts; and when they have written their thoughts, in verse or prose, they still speak to us by them, and we naturally believe that if the thoughts live, so does the soul of which they were the outflowings, and that for us, whom they loved, to preserve these in permanent form must be grateful to them, if, where they are, they know what we say and think of them, and whether we forget or remember them.

The brothers to whom the poems in this book are legacies from beloved sisters who have died, distrusting their own partial judgment, have submitted the poems, in manuscript, to one familiar with books, and long acquainted with the works of the English poets, and upon his opinion have now published them. They were written by young