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THE
C O R S A I R ;
A ROMANTIC LEGEND OF HELL GATE,
ILLUSTRATING
THE BEAUTY OF INNOCENCE.
Date of the action: Midsummer, 1627.
Author Unknown, and now First Edited.
With a Historical Sketch of the Strait from the EarliestTimes.
NEW YORK:
Wm. B. Allen & Co., Publishers,
164 Fulton St., Opp. St. Paul’s.{2}
{3}Copyright, 1885—by Wm. B. Allen & Co.
PREFACE.
S we have invited the reader to a long Poem, we feel some misgiving insetting before him a lengthy Preface. We will therefore bring to hisattention, as an Appendix, the matter intended as an Introduction, thusleaving him free to begin with the Story of the Corsair at once, whilethe former may afterward be read with advantage, should he feelinterested in the facts and history of the locality of which it treats.He will also find therein some particulars relating to the leadingcharacters described in the Story. There he will also learn why thePirate’s daughter became so impressed with fear as the vessel approachedthe turbulent Strait, whose name, even now, is suggestive of wreck and{4}disaster.
PRELUDE.
HIS story of the sea,Full of weird mystery,
’Twere vain to tell to thee
’Mid dusty lore I found it!
You still might doubt its truth,—
The truest tale, in sooth,
(Such as Boaz and Ruth)
Has gathered skeptics round it!
Where’er the Muse may lead,
The tale, as you proceed,
Will wake some tender feeling,
Till, like a pleasant dream,
The Corsair’s Maid will seem
To throw a hallowed beam
Where phantom-shades were stealing!
{5}
The Corsair.
Nor honied lies of rhyme,
Can blazon evil deeds,
Or consecrate a crime.
—Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.
Brings in his revenges.
—Shakespeare.