There is a wonderful charm in such a book. It
makes one feel as if one had really "been there" and taken part in the
homely scenes, full of human interest, which it so naively portrays.
Anne Bradstreet's works have been edited by J.H. Ellis, Charlestown,
1867.
For further references and elaborate bibliographical discussions, see
Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History of America_, vol. iii.; and his
_Memorial History of Boston_, 4 vols., Boston, 1880. There is a good
account of the principal New England writers of the seventeenth century,
with illustrative extracts, in Tyler's _History of American Literature_,
2 vols., New York, 1878. For extracts see also the first two volumes of
Stedman and Hutchinson's _Library of American Literature_, New York,
1888.
In conclusion I would observe that town histories, though seldom written
in a philosophical spirit and apt to be quite amorphous in structure,
are a mine of wealth for the philosophic student of history.
NOTES:
[1] Milman, _Lat. Christ._ vii. 395.
[2] Gardiner, _The Puritan Revolution_, p. 12.
[3] Green, _History of the English People_, iii. 47.
[4] Steele's _Life of Brewster,_ p. 161.
[5] Gardiner, _Puritan Revolution_, p. 50.
[6] It is now 204 years since a battle has been fought in England.
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