220 EXERCISE. 



contrarieties to pass current upon the pub-? 

 lic> without obtruding a few words to eluci- 

 date, or ratlier expose the mystery. 



To establish the credit and justify the re-r 

 putation of the " Stable Directory/' as well 

 as to obtain the approbation of those who at 

 no time condemn without inspection, or ap- 

 plaud without reason, I have never advanced 

 an opinion, or reported a fact, but what has 

 been founded upon principles of incontro- 

 vertible information or acknowledged utility. 

 It has been my invariable study to enlighten J, 

 not to perplex ; what has been top much the 

 system of other writers upon similar sub- 

 jects, may be more properly collected fi'oui 

 a revision of their productions, than the pen 

 of a competitor. But I will venture to 

 affirm, if any part of my observations had 

 contained so many absurd contrarieties, or 

 tedious and inapplicable digressions, as the 

 elaborate volumes of Bracken; the tentk 

 edition of the former volume, or the title-? 

 page of tlie second could never have met 

 the light, in the present enlightened scene 

 of equestrian inquirv aud literary improve- 



