PREFACE 



for young men of the present day to imitate. Although, doubtless, 

 the somewhat rough exterior which he adopted, was, in great part, 

 adopted for the sake of effect to the tout ensemble of his character, still 

 a more polished one than his was, may now be required, in conformity 

 to the increased refinement of the age. 



In the following pages, there may be something to amuse if not to 

 instruct the female mind. At all events, there is a little love-making, 

 and its results ; and there is one instance of a narrow escape by my 

 young hero, of the almost inevitable consequences of an unlawful 

 attachment. Upon the whole, however, the bright side of human 

 nature is displayed, and the cultivation of cheerfulness and good- 

 humour earnestly recommended as the sovereign antidote to those 

 mental disorders — peevishness and discontent — which distract the 

 mind, and increase the evils of life, without even the chance of either 

 removing or lightening them. Cheerfulness and good-humour are the 

 harbingers of virtue, and produce that serenity which disposes the 

 mind to friendship, love, gratitude, and every other social affection. 

 They make us contented with ourselves, our friends, and our situation, 

 and expand the heart to all the interests of humanity. It is in this 

 spirit, then, that I have written, as others more worthy of the task 

 have done before me — in that of Lucretius, indeed, when he penned 

 the following lines : 



' Sed veluti pueris absintliia tetra iiiedentes 

 Ciim dare conantur, priiis oras pocula circum 

 Contingunt mellis dulci flavoque liquore.' 



NiMROD. 

 June 24th, 1842. 



