INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



'Y DEAR MR. FIELDS, I did 

 promise 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 looks' sake> 

 and usually flat, very flat. Sometimes it may 

 be called a caryatid, which is, as I understand 

 it, a cruel 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 Intro- 

 duction is more apt to be a pillar, such as one 



