EDITOR'S PREFACE. My task is done my song hath ceased-my theme The spell should break of this protracted dream. READER! with this volume we close our editorial career. We proclaim, at least two pleasant periods in it, to wit; its beginning and its end. If there have been ills in the midst thereof, we utter not a murmur thereunto respecting; the secret shall lie, innoxious, in the repository of our own bosom. It is an Herculean task to satisfy the mental wants of this generation. We have added our mite, and feel gratified and rewarded that our efforts are approved. To the various presses that have cheered us on, we present our thanks, and assure them that their kindly aid and encouragement has been appreciated to the extent of our abilities and shall be gratefully remembered. If we should ever fall under the personal observance of a single one of our readers, and he should look kindly on us for our past services, we shall feel amply compensated for all our editorial pains. If we have imparted one hour's happiness to a single individual, if we have improved one heart, encouraged one mind to study on reflection, alleviated one pang, inspired a single despondent with a ray of hope, or attracted one soul to virtue, we shall feel that our labours have not been spent in vain. Explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris. NEW YORK, May 1, 1836. "Ye! who have traced the Pilgrim to the scene He wore his sandal-shoon, and scallop-shell; If such there were with you, the moral of his strain!" т. |