INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



MY DEAR MR. FIELDS, I did prom 

 ise to write an Introduction to these 

 charming papers ; but an Introduction, 

 what is it ? a sort of pilaster, put upon the 

 face of a building for look s sake, and usually 

 flat, very flat. Sometimes it may be called 

 a caryatid, which is, as I understand it, a cru,el 

 device of architecture, representing a man or 

 a woman, obliged to hold up upon his or her 

 head or shoulders a structure which they did 

 not build, and which could stand just as well 

 without as with them. But an Introduction 

 is more apt to be a pillar, such as one may see 

 in Baalbec, standing up in the air all alone, 

 with nothing on it, and with nothing for it 

 to do. 



But an Introductory Letter is different. 



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