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Errors and Inconsistencies:

All corrections were checked against other versions of the text. If an apparent error is the same in all available versions, or if the correct form was not deducible from the 1851 text alone, it was left unchanged.

Non-Errors

Many spellings were carried over unchanged from the 1804 original, even if they were archaic by 1851, such as "doat", "choak", "staid" (for "stayed") and others.

"gale": in pre-Beaufort usage, a synonym for "breeze" "ensign": starting rank in the British infantry until 1870 "prim hedge": probably the same as privet hedge, Ligustrum vulgare "Dr. Franklin": Benjamin Franklin received an honorary doctorate from Oxford in 1762

Misprints

the old gentleman thus addressed them [gentlemen] hastily walked the room in much visible agony of mind, [vissible] From them you will be enabled to obtain information [enable] In them we can place the utmost confidence. [In // In at page break] I will call at your father's [you] He arose after a sleepless night [nights] "Your perverseness, Melissa [previous paragraph ends at line-end; paragraph indent missing] ascended in pyramidical columns to the zenith [columns the zenith] which widening, more rapidly advanced [nore] he betook himself to the forest for shelter [be betook] he set out to return [he sat out] he slowly recovered, but [recov-/ed at line break] Omnipotent Controller of vicissitudes! [Controler] Omniscient dispenser of destinies! [dipenser] where every object would be shrouded in crape [he shrouded] Neither did he enquire into Alonzo's prospects [Oeither] now smooth as polished glass [snooth] the woe-worn head of fortune's fugitive [woe-worm] One day she had been with my sister at my father's [" one" (lower case) with letter-width space at page-top] frequently would he burst into tears [frequntly] for mercy and forgiveness [forgivness] he had made an opening large enough [on] no person was therein except the gentleman and servant [therin] he either suspected, or really discovered [on really] All the tender powers of Alonzo's soul [Alonzon's] informed Edgar of all that had happened [hapened] Melissa's sudden and unaccountable removal [Melissa] Vain and presumptuous assurance [presumptous] perhaps you will consider it enthusiasm [peahaps] How ready you gentlemen are, replied Melissa [gentleman] one brother and two sisters, of which my uncle [or which] My aunt knew you [know] Alonzo found by this narrative that [narative] Alonzo then gave Melissa a minute account [Mellissa] they were not prepared to undeceive her father [undecieve] his crops had yielded but a scanty supply [crobs had yeilded] The sun blended its mild lustre [blendid] the spring birds carolled in varying strains [carroled] they put off among the Americans for live stock [American's] thinnest scarlet tiffany [thinest]

Invisible Letters

Here and below, "invisible" means that the letter or punctuation mark is not present, but there is an appropriately sized blank space.

A considerable pause ensued. [s in "ensued" invisible] the thousand various birds [final s invisible] Here all was solemn and silent [s in "was" invisible] Its appearance was tall and robust, wrapped in a tattered white robe [a in "and", r in "robe" invisible] By the fate of war, he replied [r in "war" invisible] he was worn to a skeleton [spacing in this line is ambiguous; the word "a" may be either missing or invisible] I find by your father's letters that [final t invisible] they projected scenes of connubial bliss [t in "they" invisible] reflected in the glassy lake [l in "lake" invisible]

Punctuation

"For far beyond the pride and pomp of power, [" invisible] A soft and silent shower had descended; [; invisible] Melissa was silent. [. missing or invisible] the same enquiry respecting you. [. missing or invisible] you are melancholy. [. invisible] It would, he said, be a delicate point [first , invisible] "In our present dilemma, said Alonzo, what is proper to be done?" [said Alonzo what] "It is difficult to determine, replied Melissa [" missing] "The world is before you, answered Vincent [" missing] alternately humming a tune, and impudently staring at Alonzo [, invisible] My mother and Edgar ardently strove [and Edgar, ardently] "I would advise you, said he [" missing or invisible] Melissa seated herself at the window. [at the window."] "Unfeeling and impertinent intruder, retorted Alonzo, [intruder?] "Well, thou hast wonderful courage, child [Well, thou hast] perhaps they were still open. [. invisible] "If you will allow me to name the place, said he [" missing] but that she must still be there. [be there..] alternately in the house and the enclosure [alternately, in] at the seat of her uncle, Col. W. D— [her uncle. Col.] "Blue trembling billows, topp'd with foam," [" missing or invisible] grave of my Melissa?" [" missing or invisible] when we were seated she thus addressed me: [no punctuation at end of paragraph] "Henry, you know that to promote your peace [" invisible] though made in the presence of heaven." [" missing] Candour and correct reason must have answered yes. [. invisible] "Hallo, messmate! what, scudding under bare poles [" missing] "Thy case, said he, is a little critical [Thy case said he] when we will see what can be done." [be done.'] by which you may return to your own country." [. invisible] it is possible I have been undesignedly accessory [have been,] "A person with whom I am acquainted [" missing or invisible] if Col. D——, (Melissa's uncle) [. missing] "On my return from the inn [" missing] though slowly, yet surely, disperse [yet surely.] their eyes spoke sympathy, and they parted. [. missing or invisible] intrinsically good for nothing." [" missing or invisible] keep our cousin Melissa in countenance." [" missing or invisible] a few months after the melancholy tidings arrived [, invisible] leaving Alfred, their only child, then an infant, [second comma invisible, but word-spacing suggests "Alfred, their only child then, an infant"] "Melissa, said he, I find [Melissa said he] your father's, at Vincent's, and at Mr. Simpson's [Mr Simpson's] as I have before informed you. [informed you."] proceeded immediately to his father's. [. missing or invisible] they welcomed Alonzo, whom they had given up as lost [Alonzo. whom] "We were school-mates, he replied, and [he replied and] which my bosom must ever retain; but being separated [; invisible] they were generally informed of Alonzo's reasons [reason,s] the celebration at her father's. [. missing or invisible] The others, though they pursued them, got off. [, invisible] and for such measures we were amply prepared." [amply prepared.] The man enquired to what town they were to go, which [, invisible] They immediately set out for the aforesaid town ["They] "Ere fate and fortune frown'd severe," [closing " missing or invisible]

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The statistically minded reader may like to know that the word "bosom" occurs fifty-nine times in the text, and the word "mansion" sixty-two.

THE END