D

AND

SUMMARIES OF THOUGHT

By C. N. BOVEE

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I.

"A man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket, and write down
the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly
the most valuable, and should be secured, because they seldom return "
BACON

"Every day

A little life, a blank to be inscribed

With gentle thoughts"

ROGERS

CAMBRIDGE

RIVERSIDE PRESS

1862

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by

C. N. BOVEE,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

A

ADVERTISEMENT.

SMALL part of these volumes originally appeared in the "American Review," under the title of "Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies," in 1846; a larger proportion, in a volume bearing the same title, was published in 1857; and a lesser, under the title of "Suggestions," contributed to the "Atlantic Monthly," in 1858. The rest is new. Altogether, the excisions, revisions, and additions are so numerous, and the form of presentation of the subject-matter is so modified, that this may be regarded as substantially a new work.

In the preface to his former volume, the author indicated the secret history of its production. The book, he observed, was "the result of a habit, early adopted, and long adhered to, of jotting down from time to time, as occasions served and convenience permitted, such impressions, deemed worthy to be noted, as occurred to him in the intervals of active professional busi

ness." He added, that it was then presented to the reader, with somewhat of the hope that he might be able, later in life, to make it worthier of his consideration.

Sustained in his purpose by the numerous quotations from his earlier and less mature thought, -a greater part of which has been republished many times in that form,*. the author now ventures the further offering then foreshadowed.

* The writer would not have adverted to this circumstance, were it not that most of the journals which have thus honored him, have omitted to indicate the source whence their excerpts were taken; thus giving rise to a possible misapprehension-in the absence of this explanation, and so far as relates to that portion of the present volumes previously published — that he has appropriated without acknowledgment from their columns, instead of merely bringing together again these strayed children of his thought.