Page images
PDF
EPUB

THENEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
70199

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
1897.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, BY PERKINS & MARVIN,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

PREFACE.

THE delay in the publication of the following Memoir is to be ascribed, in part, to the difficulty experienced in procuring a portion of the materials. Some of the most valuable of the letters, did not reach the compiler until the last summer.

The extracts in the volume from the journals of Mr. Cornelius, are exclusively taken from the public memoranda, or notes, which he was in the habit of recording. Some of them are drawn out into considerable detail; but, in general, they are simply rough sketches, containing dates, names of towns, number of miles which he travelled, &c. In examining his papers after his death, a large collection was found, embracing evidently the records of a number of years. On the envelope, the following sentence

vi

was written. “Private papers, to be read only by the owner, and when he has done with them, to be consumed, without opening or examination." The words underscored seemed to have been recently added. A small book was also discovered, upon the first page of which were these words. "This manuscript contains my private journal of things concerning the interests of my soul. To be read and examined only by the owner, and when he has done with the same, to be consumed in the fire. This he leaves as his solemn charge, and dying request, to him, whosoever it may be, that shall obtain possession. Let him, who would have others faithful to himself, be faithful to me." The latter manuscript was commenced, as it would appear from the envelope, after Mr. Cornelius left home for the last time. The wish of the owner of the manuscripts has been scrupulously complied with. However great the interest, which extracts from them might have imparted to the memoir, there was obviously but one course to be pursued; that of leaving them untouched. It may be a matter of regret that Mr. Cornelius decided to have them destroyed, but the adherence to his wishes, so explicitly made known, will be justified.

In the perusal of the volume, the reader may do

« PreviousContinue »