quarto volumes containing about 5,000 pages. They contain, besides
the record of her inner and outer life, copious summaries of the
discourses she heard; numerous extracts from books, especially of
passages calculated to impress the heart or direct the life; and an
extraordinary amount of original verse; for from the first she appears
to have adopted the practice of putting her thoughts into rhyme,--a
practice which when unaccompanied by true genius is generally a
profitless waste of time; but which in her case was made a valuable
means of personal edification, as well as of administering counsel,
consolation or admonition to others. Few events of public or private
interest, in her own family or in the circle of her acquaintance,
could pass without provoking her ready pen. Subjects poetical and
unpoetical were alike constrained into measured lines; which, if
not always remarkable for rhythm, were at least rich in evangelical
sentiment, and pervaded by deep spirituality of thought. Some of these
productions are inserted in this volume, in the order in which they
occur in her diary, not because they possess any literary merit, but
as eminently characteristic of her habits of thought and feeling. In
fact they are transcripts of her own heart, and she seems often to
have preferred this method of expressing her fervid emotions to the
use of cooler prose.

A few examples of the entries made when she was fifteen will suffice
to show what were the aspirations of her early youth:--

"This is the last day of 1797. O may I this day put off the works of
darkness, and put on the armour of light: and begin a new life with
a new year,--Lord, help me this day to live to Thee. Let Thy love be
shed abroad in my heart. Inspire the spirit of prayer. Let my few days
be spent in praising Thee, the Giver of all good gifts. Loose my heart