The Biglow Papers | Page 6

and I am sure that every one who
knows his works must join with me in the hearty wish that he may
come among us again as soon as possible.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Should this meet the eye of any persons who may have forgotten to
return American copies of the "Biglow Papers" to their respective
owners, they are requested to forward them to the publishers. The
strictest secrecy will be preserved, and an acknowledgment given in
The Times if required.
[2] See the English Edition of "Letters of Major Downing," published
by John Murray in 1835, pp. 22, 23; and Letters x. xi. xii. and xv.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE v
EDITOR'S PREFACE vii
NOTICES OF AN INDEPENDENT PRESS xxix
No. I.
A LETTER FROM MR. EZEKIEL BIGLOW OF JAALAM TO THE
HON. JOSEPH T. BUCKINGHAM, EDITOR OF THE BOSTON
COURIER, INCLOSING A POEM OF HIS SON, MR. HOSEA
BIGLOW 1

No. II.
A LETTER FROM MR. HOSEA BIGLOW TO THE HON. J. T.
BUCKINGHAM, EDITOR OF THE BOSTON COURIER,
COVERING A LETTER FROM MR. B. SAWIN, PRIVATE IN THE
MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT 11
No. III.
WHAT MR. ROBINSON THINKS 27
No. IV.
REMARKS OF INCREASE D. O'PHACE, ESQUIRE, AT AN
EX-TRUMPERY CAUCUS IN STATE STREET, REPORTED BY
MR. H. BIGLOW 40
No. V.
THE DEBATE IN THE SENNIT. SOT TO A NUSRY RHYME 55
No. VI.
THE PIOUS EDITOR'S CREED 64
No. VII.
A LETTER FROM A CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN
ANSWER TO SUTTIN QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY MR. HOSEA
BIGLOW, INCLOSED IN A NOTE FROM MR. BIGLOW TO S. H.
GAY, ESQ., EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL ANTISLAVERY
STANDARD 74
No. VIII.
A SECOND LETTER FROM B. SAWIN, ESQ. 86
No. IX.

A THIRD LETTER FROM B. SAWIN, ESQ. 106
GLOSSARY 127
INDEX 131

NOTICES OF AN INDEPENDENT PRESS.
[I have observed, reader, (bene- or male-volent, as it may happen,) that
it is customary to append to the second editions of books, and to the
second works of authors, short sentences commendatory of the first,
under the title of Notices of the Press. These, I have been given to
understand, are procurable at certain established rates, payment being
made either in money or advertising patronage by the publisher, or by
an adequate outlay of servility on the part of the author. Considering
these things with myself, and also that such notices are neither intended,
nor generally believed, to convey any real opinions, being a purely
ceremonial accompaniment of literature, and resembling certificates to
the virtues of various morbiferal panaceas, I conceived that it would be
not only more economical to prepare a sufficient number of such
myself, but also more immediately subservient to the end in view, to
prefix them to this our primary edition, rather than await the
contingency of a second, when they would seem to be of small utility.
To delay attaching the bobs until the second attempt at flying the kite
would indicate but a slender experience in that useful art. Neither has it
escaped my notice, nor failed to afford me matter of reflection, that,
when a circus or a caravan is about to visit Jaalam, the initial step is to
send forward large and highly ornamented bills of performance to be
hung in the bar-room and the post-office. These having been
sufficiently gazed at, and beginning to lose their attractiveness except
for the flies, and, truly, the boys also, (in whom I find it impossible to
repress, even during school-hours, certain oral and telegraphic
correspondences concerning the expected show,) upon some fine
morning the band enters in a gaily-painted waggon, or triumphal
chariot, and with noisy advertisement, by means of brass, wood, and
sheepskin, makes the circuit of our startled village-streets. Then, as the

exciting sounds draw nearer and nearer, do I desiderate those eyes of
Aristarchus, "whose looks were as a breeching to a boy." Then do I
perceive, with vain regret of wasted opportunities, the advantage of a
pancratic or pantechnic education, since he is most reverenced by my
little subjects who can throw the cleanest summerset, or walk most
securely upon the revolving cask. The story of the Pied Piper becomes
for the first time credible to me, (albeit confirmed by the Hameliners
dating their legal instruments from the period of his exit,) as I behold
how those strains, without pretence of magical potency, bewitch the
pupillary legs, nor leave to the pedagogic an entire self-control. For
these reasons, lest my kingly prerogative should suffer diminution, I
prorogue my restless commons, whom I also follow into the street,
chiefly lest some mischief may chance befall them. After the manner of
such a band, I send forward the following notices of domestic
manufacture, to make brazen proclamation, not unconscious of the
advantage which will accrue, if our little craft, cymbula sutilis, shall
seem