Excerpt from An Address: Delivered at the Anniversary of the Freehold Young Ladies' Seminary; Freehold, N. J., July 20, 1853 There is reason to believe that istory has suffered, also, from the parasites that have fastened, and fattened upon it. The glut of istorical Novels, and the Romance of istory, have created a prejudice against the benefactress to which they owed their precarious existence, as if it were equally trivial and frivolous with themselves. But this objection should really have no more force than the barnacles that attach themselves to a ship's bottom. They form no part of the ship. Their adhesion is purely accidental. So it is with the writers of historical novels, and of books entitled the Romance of istory. Their morbid and dainty appetite rejects solid reading, and they select the lighter portions only for their purpose. In fact this is the flag under which they sail. They do not attempt to deceive. They openly acknowledge that amusement is their aim. Since therefore they, exsect so carefully the solid and weighty portions, and skim nothing but the froth upon the surface, it is unjust to make the istorio muse responsible for their levities. Enough of gravity and dignity will be found remaining for those who have sense to appreciate them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.