Page:Halleck.djvu/23

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PREFACE.
xi

hitherto unpublished pieces from the pen of Mr. Halleck, and, in lieu of the original signatures, the author of each poem is now for the first time made known by the letters H and D; when both letters occur, they indicate the joint authorship of the literary partners, or, to quote Halleck’s familiar words to a friend, “that we each had a finger in the pie.”

Fitz-Greene, a descendant of Peter Halleck or Hallock, one of thirteen Pilgrim Fathers who landed at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1640, and of the Rev. John Eliot, the “Apostle to the Indians,” who arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1631, was one of the earliest, as he was among the most eminent, of American poets. He left no son to wear his honors, or to perpetuate his name, but, unlike his favorite Roi d’Yvetot, there is little danger of his being “peu connu dans l’histoire.” When all those whose privilege it was to know the genial poet, and to have been honored by his friendship, shall have passed away, and when the enduring granite obelisk which now marks his grave shall have crumbled to dust, the name and fame of the sweet singer who celebrated in im-