OUTRE-MER: A Pilgrimage beyond the Sea. BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, THE LATEST POEMS OF THE AUTHOR. "I have passed manye landes and manye yles and contrees. LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & CO., SOHO SQUARE. MDCCCLI. 280. ν. 399. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. The cheerful breeze sets fair; we fill our sail, HURDIS. WORTHY AND GENTLE READER, I dedicate this little book to thee with many fears and misgivings of heart. Being a stranger to thee, and having never administered to thy wants nor to thy pleasures, I can ask nothing at thy hands, saving the common courtesies of life. Perchance, too, what I have written will be little to thy taste; -for it is little in accordance with the stirring spirit of the present age. If so, I crave thy forbearance for having thought that even the busiest mind might not be a stranger to those moments of repose, when the clock of time clicks drowsily behind the door, and trifles become the amusement of the wise and great. Besides, what perils await the adventurous author who launches forth into the uncertain current of public favour in so frail a bark as this! The very rocking of the tide may overset him; or peradventure some freebooting critic, prowling about the great ocean of letters, may B |