University of Virginia Library

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Page ii

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT:

BE it remembered that on the twenty-fifth day of
August, in the thirty-second year of the Independence
of the United States of America, Belcher
& Armstrong, of the said district, have deposited
in this office the title of a book, the right whereof
they claim as proprietors in the words following, to
wit: “Ira and Isabella: or the natural children,
a novel, founded in fiction. A posthumous work.
By the late William H. Brown of Boston. “Fictitious
histories might be employed for very useful purposes:
They furnish one of the best channels for
conveying instruction; for painting human life and
manners; for shewing the errors into which we are
betrayed by our passions; for rendering virtue amiable
and vice odious.” Dr. Blair.”

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the
United States, intitled, An act for the encouragement
of learning, by securing the copies of maps,
charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of
such copies, during the times therein mentioned;”
and also to an act intitled, “An act supplementary
to an act intitled, An act for the encouragement of
learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and
books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies
during the times therein mentioned: and extending
the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving
and etching historical and other prints.