THE FERN PARADISE. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



SO* HIS volume has been written with 

 an earnest purpose. The various 

 chapters of which it is composed 

 will disclose in detail what that 

 purpose is. But an author has 

 no right to expect that the public, 

 y * however indulgent, will read his book 

 unless he can, in his preface, show cause 

 why they should do so. Should he by the 

 exercise of rare ability succeed, in his 

 introductory chapter, in chaining the interest 

 of his readers, he may need no better pass- 

 port to their continued indulgence than that 

 supplied by a powerful imagination and a 

 brilliant literary style. But, if he eschews 

 the endeavour to dazzle, and merely aspires 



