Excerpt from The Cyclopedia of American Literature The selection of subjects for biographical or critical treatment ap pears to have been governed by no rule or principle whatever, unless one may be found in the facility with which paragraphs about certain characters could be compiled from monthly magazines, quarterly reviews, biographical dictionaries, or other easily accessible works. William Morell came to New England In 1623, and remained one year; Wil iiam Wood, about the same time, made a short visit to Boston. It does not appear that either of them ever wrote a line here, or intended to settle heie; but both are formally introduced as American authors William Vaughan, who visited Newfoundland, but never touched the soil of what Is now the United States, is also treated as an American author, in two columns of biography and criticism. Captain John Smith was in Virginia and along the coast previous to 1615, and six columns are devoted to his achievements in American literature. Soon after, we have a life of Rev. Samuel Ward, of Ipswich, England, with a part of one of his sermons, preached and printed in England, although this Rev. Samuel Ward was never in America, never wrote a syllable about America, or, so far as we are informed, knew of the discovery or existence of this continent. Another Ward, of whom there is a long account - Nathaniel - did, when between sixty and seventy years of age, come to Massachusetts Bay, and after his return home, where he lived still many years, wrote several volumes, in some of which there are allusions to his visit this side the Atlantic. 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.