PREFACE. xxj 



is also true, that friendship is not alzvays the sequel 

 of obligation. I am proud to assert I do not come 

 within this exception ; and pledging myself to say- 

 nothing that is false, rather than all that is true, I 

 think I can produce these two results :— First, I shall 

 unload the memory of a man I shall never be ashamed 

 to call my friend of several weighty imputations which 

 now rest upon it unjustly ; and secondly, I shall show 

 that the boldest efforts of the human imagination 

 cannot much exceed the romance of real life. 



NIMROD. 



Calais, 1835. 



