AND

SKETCHES OF THE POETS..

BY

M. T. DOWNING.

A RECORD OF MEMORY AND LO F Bi x

RYE HOMESTEAD, WESTCHESTER CO., N. Y.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by

M. T. DOWNING,

In the Clerk's Office of the Distriot Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York.

James Dickson, Printer, 1, 2, 3 & 4 Tryon Row, New.York.

PREFACE.

MY DEAR CHILDREN:

At length I yield to your reiterated requests, and present in a compact form the little breathings of affection with which my heart has often beguiled itself in addressing you. Valuable only as a proof of maternal affection, they will remind you of the past, while recalling scenes and cir 'cumstances now passed away forever-for to each little poem there is a memory known only to ourselves.