"Be Thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me."-Psalm xxxi. 2. London: W. AND F. G. CASH, 5, BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT. MDCCCLIV. 249.0.242. BIL ΤΟ HIS BELOVED WIFE, ASSOCIATE OF HIS PILGRIMAGE, PATIENT COMPANION OF HIS SORROW, GRATEFUL SHARER OF HIS JOY, OBJECT OF HIS FIRST LOVE, AND LIGHT OF HIS DOMESTIC CIRCLE, This Volume IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. PREFACES rank among the "Curiosities of Literature." The preface to a discourse is intended to inform the hearer respecting the design of the speaker. The preface to a book should disclose the purpose of the writer. Frequently, however, the orator's "preliminary remarks” have no sort of connexion with his oration; and sometimes those of the writer may be omitted without injury to his work. Many readers, as a matter of fact, do pass over prefaces, as impertinent or unworthy of notice. They consider them somewhat in the light of lovers' promises, or in that of a chapman's harangue in relation to the extraordinary quality of the wares of which he wishes to get rid. Whatever be the cause, modern prefaces, compared with those that adorned the folios of former days, are meagre, insipid, and pointless. Since the following work was written and printed-for every reader knows that the preface, amongst its other anomalies, is the last thing penned—I have met with a fine exception to this remark. I refer to the brief, but most suggestive paper prefixed to the Autobiographic Sketches |