THE SIB Y L,

OR,

NEW ORACLES FROM THE POETS.

'Twas a volume of olden time;
And in it were fine mysteries of the stars,
Solved with a cunning wisdom, and strange thoughts,
Half prophecy, half poetry, and dreams
Clearer than truth, and speculations wild
That touched the secrets of your very soul.

N. P. WILLIS—The Wife's Appeal.

AUTHOR OF RECOLLECTIONS OF A NEW ENGLAND HOUSEKEEPER, RECOL LEC-
TIONS OF A SOUTHERN MATRON, LOVE'S PROGRESS, STORIES AND

POEMS FOR CHILDREN, VERSES OF A LIFE-TIME, ETC.

Sometimes he gave out Oracles, amused
With mortal folly ; resting on the shrines,

Or, all in some fair Sibyl's form infused,
Spoke from her trembling lips or traced her
mystic lines.

Mrs. BROOKS-Zophiël.
Believe it or not, as you choose,

The doctrine is certainly true,
That the future is known to the Mus
And Poets are Oracles too!

CoWPER.

NEW YORK :
WILEY AND PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY.

1848.

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by

WILEY AND PUT NAM, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for

the Southern District of New York.

THOMAS B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER,

216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y.

WILLIAM OSBORN, PRINTER,

TRIBUNE BUILDINGS.

PREFACE.

In 1845, the Preface to the Oracles from the Poets, announced, that another volume would appear in the course of the year; but, on reflection, it seemed advisable to defer the publication, for such poetical accessions as would lend attraction to the work. The specimens from Browning and Miss Barrett alone, would justify the delay, though their over-wrought style, like the neck of certain classic vases, is too attenuated to allow the uninitiated reader to get into the body.

No answer contained in the first volume will appear in the Sibyl. Eight new Questions are added.

I must repeat my former warning, not to quote the Oracles as exact transcripts of authors, as it was necessary for me to modify tenses to frame the an

Nor must the answers be considered as conveying the opinions of Poets in this isolated form.

The Question, Who is your favorite Poet? spread itself out into such a magnificent and extended field

swers.