To the Public.
IN the publication of Poſthumous Works, it has been uſual for the Editors or Publiſhers to accompany them with a Prefatory Addreſs,—generally explaining the particular reaſons for offering them to the world, or relating their peculiar merits, and conſequently their claim to the patronage of the lovers of ſcience. In compliance with this general cuſtom we think it neceſſary merely to note, that having been frequently ſolicited to publiſh, in a ſeparate volume, a part of thoſe writings of Mrs. Bleecker which had appeared in the New-York Magazine, we conceived a collection of all ſuch of her poems and eſſays as might with propriety come before the public, would be more likely to meet the approbation both of her friends, and of the friends of American literature. Having ſuggested this idea to thoſe who appeared moſt ſtrenuous for the meaſure, we were pleaſed to find it met their hearty concurrence; and through the obliging diſpoſition of her huſband and daughter, we are now happy in being able to preſent this volume to our fellow citizens.
