GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 293 



I fear I may be thought to have gone out of my way by such 

 a preface as this ; yet I hope I may have the indulgence of my 

 readers for an honest endeavor to enliven a subject of dry details 

 with matter which, though it may seem distant from, is certainly 

 not irrelevant to my purpose. I have not always found it a 

 hinderance, though it may appear like an interruption, in making 

 a tour of business, sometimes to dismount, and, throwing the 

 reins over the neck of my horse, that he too might regale himself 

 by the roadside, lie down on a green bank, under a quiet shade, 

 by some sparkling stream, and abandon myself for a while to the 

 charming thoughts which then come fluttering round the mind, 

 like fireflies upon a meadow in a quiet evening of summer j or 

 at other times to leap the fence, and rush into the fields or the 

 neighboring forest, and return with a handful of golden grain, or 

 a bouquet of wild flowers gathered fresh from the bosom of 

 nature, and showing the exuberant bounty of Heaven, or the 

 triumphs of artificial culture. I could then mount my horse, 

 refreshed by the indulgence, and pursue my journey with new 

 speed, with senses more alive to the beauties of the country 

 through which I was passing, and with a more grateful sense of 

 the goodness of the great Author of nature, who, by this varied 

 mixture, by alternations of light and shade, of labor and rest, of 

 toil and indulgence, and by an endless succession and diversity 

 of objects, makes life, which would be otherwise deplorably 

 monotonous and tedious, not merely agreeable, but delightful. 



I should be happy, in my humble way, in any degree to ac 

 complish so desirable a purpose in respect to my kind readers, 

 and render the journey which we have undertaken to travel 

 together as pleasant as I could wish to make it useful and 

 instructive. 



Some men, very much addicted to great refinements in 

 casuistry, and especially in respect to the motives of human 

 actions, would condemn every motive, but such as are purely 

 disinterested, as criminal. I agree with them that the highest 

 of human actions must have its origin in the highest and 

 purest of all motives ; but I cannot deny the innocence, and, 

 more than that, the positive virtue and worth of many actions 

 and pursuits, that are prompted by motives which some persons 

 would designate as inferior, but which, nevertheless, have their 

 origin in our own nature and constitution. Self-interest, profit. 

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