THE WORKS, IN VERSE AND PROSE, OF THE LATE ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JUN. ESQ. WITH NOTES. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED, SKETCHES OF HIS LIFE, CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. Diis...........sacer est vates, divûmque sacerdos, STANFORD LIBRARY BOSTON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. BELCHER. 1812. 711.3 P1416 DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: District Clerk's Office. BE it remembered that on the 28th day of October, in the thirty seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, JOSHUA BELCHER, of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following to wit: "The Works, in Verse and Prose, of the late ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JUN. Esq with Notes. To which are prefixed, Sketches of his Life, Character and Writings. Dis............sacer est vates, divúmque sacerdos, Spirat et occultum pectus et ora Jovem. In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching, historical and other prints." S Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. WILLIAM S. SHAW, 254621 PREFACE. Ir is now somewhat more than eight months since proposals were issued for this edition of Mr. Paine's works. This interval, it is said, is unreasonably long; and it is sometimes intimated, in no very equivocal language, that the publication has been delayed, till the author and his writings are no longer of sufficient interest to retain their share of the general curiosity. For this delay, had it been needless, the publick might certainly exact an apology. When however the causes, that have retarded the press, are recounted, the period of publication will not appear to have been wantonly protracted. Of these causes, too many and various to be distinctly enumerated, the principal were, the disorder of Mr. Paine's manuscripts, and the difficulties attending the search for his printed essays. The latter of these causes was of much more influence than the former. The manuscripts required nothing but arrangement and selection; but the printed essays were often to be recovered from journals, which, having been long since discontinued, were not always remembered. Newspapers and Magazines for a series of twenty years were to be consulted. From this examination, though far from heedless or desultory, it is not improbable that many pieces have escaped. |