HIS TRADITIONS. 297 



own goodness were to subject you ; had I but dreamed 

 of it I would not now, perhaps, be possessed of your 

 truly valuable opinion of my MS. ; an opinion which 

 has given me more pleasure than I dare venture fully to 

 express. I set myself down in my obscure solitudes to 

 seek amusement in making rude pictures of my homely 

 ancestors and the scenes of humble life by which I am 

 surrounded, and find that my careless sketches have 

 elicited the praise of a master. 



' In a work composed as mine has been and on such 

 a subject, by a person, too, so unacquainted with the 

 taste of the public and the present aspect of the literary 

 world, what wonder that there should be a good deal 

 which would be perhaps better away ? The circum- 

 stances which have barred upon me those magazines of 

 thought which constitute the learning of the age have 

 prevented me from acquiring its manners or becoming 

 familiar with its tastes. And yet, as it was probably 

 these very circumstances which led me to think on most 

 subjects for myself, I must just bear with the mis- 

 fortune of being uncouth and tedious in some of my 

 pages for the sake of being a little original in the 

 rest. . . . Some of my dissertations, too, are, I sus- 

 pect, sad leaden things, though they amused me not a 

 little in the casting ; and some of my minor traditions, 

 though recommended to me by my townsfolks, are, I 

 am aware, like reptiles in a bottle of spirits, hardly 

 worth the liquid which preserves them. . . . Some of 

 rny acquaintance here, who seem much more anxious to 

 see my history in print than I am myself, are urging me 

 to publish by subscription ; and this they assure me I 

 could accomplish through the medium of my friends 

 without the meanness of personal solicitation, or indeed 

 without meanness of any kind ; but I am still averse to 



