A PREFATORY LETTER. 



MY DEAR TYNDALL, .'-.';. 



I should have liked to provide this collection 

 of " Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Keviews," with a 

 Dedication and a Preface. In the former, I should have 

 asked you to allow me to associate your name with the 

 book, chiefly on the ground that the oldest of the papers 

 in it is a good deal younger than our friendship. In 

 the latter, I intended to comment upon certain criticisms 

 with which some of these Essays have been met. 



But, on turning the matter over in my mind, I began 

 to fear that a formal dedication at the beginning of such 

 a volume would look like a grand lodge in front of a set 

 of cottages ; while a complete defence of any of my old 

 papers would simply amount to writing a new one a 

 labour for which I am, at present, by no means fit. 



The book must go forth, therefore, without any better 

 substitute for either Dedication, or Preface, than this 

 letter ; before concluding which it is necessary for me 

 to notify you, and any other reader, of two or three 

 matters. 



I 



