Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/69

 INTRODUCTION. Ixi

ing account of their conduct in London, they were really in some danger.*

Mrs. Bradstreet had from time to time been writing under the name of " Meditations " some apothegms, sug- gested mainly by the homely events of her own experience. This was done at the request of her son Simon, to whom they were dedicated March 20, 1664.! The "Meditations" display much more ability, much greater cultivation of mind, and a deeper thoughtfulness than most of her other works. She shows in them a more correct taste than in her "Poems." We must take her word for their originality. "I have avoyded," she says, "incroaching upon others con- ceptions becaufe I would leave you nothing but myne owne, though in value they fall Ihort of all in this kinde." And again she reminds him that "There is no new thing vnder y^ fun, there is nothing that can be fayd or done, but either that or fomething like it hath been both done and fayd before." t

In July, 1666, by the burning of the house at Andover, her papers, books, and many other things of great value to her, were destroyed. She had intended to complete her poetical account of "The Roman Monarchy," and had spent much time in preparing a continuation of it, but the loss of what she had already finished made her abandon the work altogether. § Her son Simon thus notices this disaster in his diary, and represents his father's loss as very great : —

"July. 13. 1666. Whilft I was at N. London my fathers houfe at Andover was burnt, where I lofh my Books, and many of my

Diaries, Arch. Amer., Vol. iii. pp. 153-4, ^"d 204-8; History of the Qiia- kers, by William Sewel. London: 1725, pp. 279-So.
 * See pages 32-9. Hutchinson's History, Vol. i. pp. 201-5; Hull's

t See page 47. J See page 53. § See pages 40 and 329.

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