PREFACE. 



GENTLE reader, let us have a quiet tete-a-tete with 

 you for a few short minutes. We take you, like 

 an old and tried friend, by the button of your 

 coat, and coolly lead you into our small sanctum, 

 to tell you our private notions, and thoughts, and 

 fancies, concerning this little work of ours, which 

 we entreat you to read, and of course advise you 

 to buy. 



Now, don't tidget about, pray ; but seat your- 

 self snugly in an author's easy chair, and listen 

 with partial patience, if you please, to our light 

 gossip. After .all, you must allow there is 

 nothing like a quiet private confab with a dear 

 and kind friend. Scarcely anything can excel 

 few merely social matters can equal the truthful 



