4 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



papers in New England, and obliged to fill its 

 columns day after day (as the village mill is 

 obliged to render every day so many sacks of flour 

 or of meal to its hungry customers), it naturally 

 occurred to him, " Why not write something 

 which I myself, as well as my readers, shall 

 enjoy ? The market gives them facts enough ; 

 politics, lies enough ; art, affectations enough ; 

 criminal news, horrors enough ; fashion, more 

 than enough of vanity upon vanity, and vexation 

 of purse. Why should they not have some of 

 those wandering and joyous fancies which solace 

 my hours ? " 



The suggestion ripened into execution. Men 

 and women read, and wanted more. These gar- 

 den letters began to blossom every week ; and 

 many hands were glad to gather pleasure from 

 them. A sign it was of wisdom. In our feverish 

 days it is a sign of health or of convalescence 

 that men love gentle pleasure, and enjoyments 



