NIMROD'S 



NORTHERN TOUR, 



•" Hffic olim meminisse juvabit." — Virgil, 



" When time, who steals our hours away, 

 Shall steal our pleasures too, 

 The memory of the past will stay. 

 And half our joys renew." — Moore. 



Th e promises of authors, like lovers' vows, are not always to be depended 

 upon ; but I feel confident that the cause of my not having fulfilled mine 

 by the earlier appearance of a recapitulation of what I saw on my 

 Northern Tour, will be duly appreciated by your readers, to whom it has 

 already been made known. Some persons, however, have asked me, 

 why I did not commence it whilst in Scotland ? to whom I had an 

 answer at hand. In the first place, I might as well think of sleeping in 

 a whirlwind as to write any thing to please myself unless in retirement 

 and privacy ; and consequently, as unless I please myself, 1 should 

 despair of pleasing others, I did not attempt to do so. I am not one of 

 those who imagine that precipitancy in publishing is any indication of 

 genius. I should rather say of ignorance, and I would sooner own that 

 I had to combat with a mind tardy in producing its stores, than offer 

 them to the world in a rude unfinished state. In the present instance, 



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