Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/185

 Dedication. 99

But if I did I durft not fend them you Who muft reward a Thief, but with his due. I fhall not need, mine innocence to clear Thefe ragged lines, will do't, when they appear: On what they are, your mild afpeft I crave Accept my beft, my worft vouchfafe a Grave.

From her that to your felf, more duty owes Then water in the boundefs Ocean flows.

��March 20. 1643.*

ANNE BRAD STREET.

��* This date does not appear in the first edition.

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