PREFACE. 



hand ? And as the brightness of the sun hides its 

 blemishes, let me hope the greater part of his faults 

 will be lost amidst the virtues with which they are 

 mingled. At all events, my purpose is not to hold 

 up the torch to the failings of my old and never- 

 forsaken friend — my chief object being to aceo7int for 

 them, and leave his virtues to speak for themselves. 

 I owe him pity on the score of human nature ; he 

 claims it by his own acts and deeds ; and, above all, 

 by one act of Him to whose will all men must bow, 

 and by whom all men's deeds will be weighed. Let 

 not the lash of censure, then, fall too heavy upon one 

 who himself carried charity to excess 1 Let the great- 

 ness of his fall be unto him as a shield ; let it be 

 remembered he died in a prison, an epitome of human 

 misery I A glance over his history, however, may not 

 be unprofitable ; it will " point a moral," if it do not 

 " adorn a tale." 



But it may be objected that I am not the person 

 'fitted to perform this task ; for, " Where is the man," 

 says Johnson, "who can confine himself to the exact 

 balance of justice when his own feelings are unwit- 

 tingly thrown into the scale .'' " It is true my regard 

 for the late Mr. Mytton was won and secured by 

 xnany sterling acts of kindness and frlendshiiD ; and it 



