Xll PKEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION". 



be difficult to find a man precisely in my situa- 

 tion, namely, that of one born, bred, educated 

 for, and as, a private individual, who, in addi- 

 tion to the knowledge in matters required of a 

 gentleman, has, as I have before stated, been 

 forced to acquire the knowledge of the minutiae 

 of the business and avocation of men in a directly 

 opposite position in society; but, as such is the 

 fact in my case, I feel it a duty I owe my readers 

 to give a short statement of the circumstances 

 that have caused such an apparent anomaly. 



I am not of sufficient consequence to render it 

 a matter of the slightest importance to my readers 

 what may be my name; they will probably be still 

 more indifferent as to what was the origin, is the 

 extent, or who may be collateral branches of my 

 family : suffice it to say, that, though it has ever 

 been a family addicted to spending fortunes, I am 

 the first member of it who ever attempted to make 

 money by trade or business : had they or any of 

 them ever had foresight enough to have done 

 so, I should, probably, never have written the 

 "Pocket and the Stud." I am the last of that 

 family, except one. If the rest were living, I sup- 

 pose I should be considered a kind of scapegrace, 

 who had sullied their fair fame ; at least I 

 judge so, as my surviving aristocratic relative will 

 not let me come ' ' between the wind and his no- 



