Morning journal and courier., 1891-01-31
THE FLEETING SHOW.
Some of Its Facts and Fancies. Written for the JOURNAL AND COURIER.

THE FIRST OF THE LINE.
 Familiar only to the antiquarians are the writings of Anne Bradstreet, yet in this woman all New England women at least should feel both interest and pride, as be- ing first of the long line of American liter ary women. the only one of that day, and superior to any poet of her sex who wrote
 in the English language before the close of the seventeenth century.
 The father of Mrs. Bradstreet was Thom- as Dudley, who was educated in the fami- | ly of the Earl of Northampton; he served l creditably with the army in Flanders, and | then became steward to the Earl of Lin coin, in which position he remained for | several years, until in 1630, he, with other l non n-comformists, emigrated to New En- | gland, and being jealous for the temporal
 and spiritual welfare of the colony, ruled | it honorably as governor from 1884 to | 1640, and again from 1645 to 1850.
 | The daughter Anne was born at North
 ampton in 1913, and spent her girlhood in
 Lincoln castle, receiving thorough instruc- tion in the learning of the time and profit
 ing of the advantage offered by the earl's
 large and fine collection of books.
 At sixteen Anne married Simon Brad
 street, graduate of Emanuel college, and
 as staunch a Puritan as Thomas Dudley
 himself, and the following year, they with a
 company of non-conformist families came
 to New England, the Bradstreets settling
 near Andover.
 The difficulties of life in new country,
 the duties of farmers wife, the cares
 that must have pressed heavily upon the
 mother of eight children, and the anxie
 ties attendant upon her husbands frequent
 absence when engaged in official business
 one would think might to have buried hel
 love of literature under their weight and
 extinguished forever the poetic fire. Or
 the contrary, however, she went on witt
 her studies under her husbands tuition
 and turned her researches, expriences and
 observations into poem, which, thougf
 written in the suited, artificial style of tn,
 time, are not without imagination, feeling l or rhythmic excellence.
 l Her first collection of poems was pub , lished at Boston in 1640 under the follow
 ing title, which seems to be also table o
 contents:
 "Several poems, compiled with great va } riety of Wit and Learning, full of delight wherein especially is contained a complea , Discourse and Description of the Four Ele Seasons of the Year, together with an ex : act Epitome of the Three First Monarchies
 viz, the Assyrian, Persian and Grecian
 and the beginning of the Roman Common
 wealth to the end of their last King, wit y divers other Pleasant and Serious Poems n By Gentlewoman of New England" n After reading all this it is pleasure l know that Mrs. Bradstreet was not respor : sible for it, the title probably bein : furnished by John Woodbridge ( 2 Andover who wrote the preface to tn $ first edition, as be says: 'It is the wor of . woman, honored and esteemed whel e she lives, for her gracious demeanor, he 'i eminent parts, her pious conversation, ht
 courteous disposition, her exact diligenc
 in her place, and discreet managing of ht r. family occasions; and more than so, the, a poems are the fruit but of some few hour if curtailed from her sleep and other T 'A treatments. This only I shall annex: IS fear the displeasure of no person in put le fishing these poems, but the author, witt to out whose Knowledge and contrary ,o whose expectation l have presumed 10 bring to public view what she resolved n- such manner should never see the sun. 1e Ten years later this volume was reprin B. ed in London, with the additional title . 1.-The Tenth Muse, lately sprung up IT. America;" and in 1878 second Americ, Id edition was published with the author d. corrections and enlarged by the addition
 | several dluOHR uef pdpe
 after her death, which occurred in 1872.
 Very proud were all New Englanders X their ''tenth muse" and much extravaga CT praise was lavished upon her that mu ,i- have been positively painful to the mode .s+ woman, yet these verses and odes address to her have a value as indicating not on H. her position, but the culture and taste as the time. Their authors, among who ,le were John Rogers, one of the presidents ITO Harvard; Benjamin Woodbridge, Harvar' ~ first graduate, and the Rev. John Norto as were perhaps more given to criticism tn Id to compliment, yet all ageed to extol | he in hyperbolical strains and to pronour ,o the "peerless gentlewoman" the mir ~, of her age and the glory of her sex" Ill We do not read Anne Bradstreet's poel ng now, or if we did we might not find tn, ill ''full of delight" Those works whi ,t. Cotton Mather called Ca monument to I ''ss memory beyond the stateliest marbl nd have fallen perhaps like other monume1
 and lie neglected and moss grown, while