THE SIBYL, OR, NEW ORACLES FROM THE POETS. 'Twas a volume of olden time; And in it were fine mysteries of the stars, Solved with a cunning wisdom, and strange thoughts, N. P. WILLIS The Wife's Appeal. CAROLINE GILMAN, AUTHOR OF RECOLLECTIONS OF A NEW ENGLAND HOUSEKEEPER, RECOLLEC- POEMS FOR CHILDREN, VERSES OF A LIFE-TIME, ETC. Sometimes he gave out Oracles, amused 11422 Believe it or not, as you choose, MRS. BROOKS-Zophiël. 1848. COWPER. L. NEW YORK: WILEY AND PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY. 11422.12 MAY 15 1891 LIBRARY Gift I ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by WILEY AND PUTNAM, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. THOMAS B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER, 216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y. WILLIAM OSBORN, PRINTER, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS. PREFACE. IN 1845, the Preface to the Oracles from the Poets, announced, that another volume would appear in the course of the year; but, on reflection, it seemed advisable to defer the publication, for such poetical accessions as would lend attraction to the work. The specimens from Browning and Miss Barrett alone, would justify the delay, though their over-wrought style, like the neck of certain classic vases, is too attenuated to allow the uninitiated reader to get into the body. No answer contained in the first volume will appear in the Sibyl. Eight new Questions are added. I must repeat my former warning, not to quote the Oracles as exact transcripts of authors, as it was necessary for me to modify tenses to frame the answers. Nor must the answers be considered as conveying the opinions of Poets in this isolated form. The Question, Who is your favorite Poet? spread itself out into such a magnificent and extended field |