Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York

TO

GEORGE TICKNOR, ESQ.,

ADVERTISEMENT

OF

TIE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS.

As many

of the pieces in this volume are the result of more care than is usually bestowed on periodical writing, and as they embrace a range of study very different from that by which Mr. Prescott has been hitherto known as an author, it is thought that the republication of them in this form will be acceptable to his countrymen. The publishers have taken care that the mechanical execution of the book shall be uniform with that of his historical works.

H. & B.

New-York, 1845.