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NICHOLAS LONGWORTH, Esq.,

OF BELLEMONTE HOUSE, CINCINNATI.

SIR:

I esteem it an honor that I am permitted to inscribe this little volume to a Gentleman, whose honorable advancement in the field of Time, from early youth to matured years, is so happily analogous to the progressive growth and development of a noble product in the field of Nature, from the incipient, lowly germ, to the full stature and expansion of the stately Oak, beneath whose grateful shade the sojourner in a weary land may repose.

That you may continue for many successive years, to enjoy the full felicity of this present life, in the security of a well-earned independence, health of body, peace of mind, and the exercise of a quiet benevolence, which is never seen but in the glow of its refreshings, is the sincere prayer of,

New-York, August, 1850,

Sir,

Your obliged and

Very humble servant,

EDWARD A. MCLAUGHLIN.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following Poem is founded upon an incident supposed to have occurred in connection with the destruction of the steamer PULASKI, while on her passage from Savannah to Charleston. A young lady and gentleman, both uninjured in the explosion, were thrown near each other. The gentleman succeeded in placing his fair partner, together with himself, upon a fragment of the wreck, on which they continued for three days and nights at the mercy of the waves. Their mutual distress excited mutual sympathy and love; they became tenderly attached; and in that incomprehensible but beautiful display of the holiest feeling of our nature, which, from its utter helplessness is empowered -so it would seem-to triumph in despair, plighted to each other their vows, should Heaven send them deliverance. They were rescued, and subsequently redeemed, at the altar, the pledge made in the hour of adversity and trial.

The incident was uncommon, sufficiently romantic, and suggested "THE LOVERS OF THE DEEP."

The plan and denouement of the tale having little connection with the aggregate of passengers and crew, particularly after the disaster, I have availed myself of a poetic license, confining my attention principally to the pair in whose fortunes I was most interested, and materially deviating in their final rescue from the narrative, as given in the public press of the period. In the episodic and didactic portions of the poem, the train of thought most naturally resulting has been permitted the rein; perhaps not unfrequently imbibing a color from the varied circumstance and condition of a wandering life, combining the soldier, the sailor, and the citizen.

The limited number of poems appended to the volume, were written chiefly in early life.

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