# Poems (Edwards)

POEMS
BY
MATILDA.
RICHMOND:
PRINTED BY COLIN, BAPTIST AND NOWLAN.
1851.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,
By Rev. GEORGE W. NOLLEY,
In the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of Virginia
TO THE
REV. GEO. W. NOLLEY,
OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE,
AS MY
BEST FRIEND AND PATRON,
THIS WORK
IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED,
BY THE AUTHORESS
MATILDA,
GRAPE HILL, VIRGINTA.
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
The following Poems are from the pen of a Young Lady of Nelson County, Virginia. She is emphatically the Poet of Nature. She received the visits, and imbibed the inspirations, of the Muses in early childhood. She thought and felt in Poetry, long before she was able to write it.
Unfortunately, her father died when she was about twelve years old, having given her the advantages of only about twelve months education, in a common school of the neighbourhood. Being the youngest child, and the latest embodiment of her father's earthly love, her deeply afflicted mother was unwilling to forego the pleasure of her company, and sent her to school no further. Nevertheless, she continued to encourage the visits of the Muses, and, for the following six years, held almost incessant communion with them; somewhat through the medium of books, but more partic​larly in the works of Nature; in the waters of a beautiful river that washes the base of her native hill, in the wild mountain scenery that rises, in magnificence, from the opposite shore, and in the romantic hills and dells that surround it in every other direction.
It was the fortune of the Writer of this Preface, and the Publisher of this volume of her Poetry, to have been the first stranger who was allowed to examine her manuscripts to any extent. He enjoyed the happiness, a few years before, of seeing her converted to God, under his ministry; and this circumstance may have contributed to the confidence with which he was permitted to look over her papers.
He perceived, as he thought; that she possessed an extraordinary talent for poetry, and determined to encourage, and assist her as far as he could, in extending her education. For this purpose, he prevailed upon her to seek the advantages of the Buckingham Female Institute, where she has been prosecuting her studies, with occasional attentions to the Muses, for the last eighteen months. The chief design of this Publication is, to enable her to complete her education, and the Publisher feels assured, that the friends of genius and literature will sustain him in the undertaking. Indeed, he is happy ​to state, that the Preachers of the Virginia Conference subscribed for fifteen hundred copies of this work, before it was put to the press; and it was his original intention, with the approbation of the Authoress, to have it dedicated to them. But, in the meantime, he received an unexpected communication from her, in which she expressed a wish to dedicate it to him, as her best friend and patron; and the reader will perceive that she has done so.
Nearly all the pieces in this volume have passed the criticism, and received the approbation, of the distinguished and talented Editor of the Quarterly Review of the M. E. Church, South. His own numerous engagements would not admit of his attention to the whole. We have no fears, however, in regard to the character of any of them. We feel every assurance that their intrinsic merits, in connexion with the design of their publication, will secure for them a ready and a rapid sale; not only in Virginia, but also in the Southern and Western States, where, in the Periodicals of the Church, her Poetry has been extensively circulated, and no doubt, is very much admired. We have good authority for saying, that the learned and eloquent Dr. Wightman, of the Charleston Christian Advocate, considers her the "Queen of his Poets;" and. ​such is his confidence in the excellence of her pieces, he hands them over to his compositor without examination. Such also may be the case with Dr. Henkle, of the Nashville Lady's Companion.
As to the colossian Editor of our own Richmond Advocate, he has manifested his appreciation of her genius, by putting her under his "editorial wing;" where, we have no doubt, he will take good care of her.
With these recommendations, we have no fears in regard to the success of this work; and we shall be very much mistaken, if, at no distant day, the Public do not wish to see another volume from the gifted pen of our Authoress. In that event we shall hold ourselves in readiness, as heretofore, to give her any assistance in our power.
Hoping, however, and believing, that the present Publication will give entire satisfaction, we leave the question of a second, to the developments of the future.
GEO. W. NOLLEY.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 7, 1851.
CONTENTS.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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