INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 



TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



In common with all authors who arrive at the 

 honour of a second edition, I find myself burdened 

 with heavy debts of obligation : mine indeed, are 

 so weighty, that after a vain attempt at acquittance 

 in some haif-dozen lines pithily expressed in an 

 advertisement on the fly leaf, I am compelled to give 

 up that convenient form of acknowledgment, and 

 write an introductory chapter expressly for the 

 occasion. In marshalling his creditors, to use a 

 professional phrase, an author generally gives the 

 public the first rank : I cannot acquiesce in the 

 fairness of this. There are not half-a-dozen among 

 the thousand who have laid out their five and six- 

 pence in the purchase of my first edition, that would 

 have given me as many pence out of courtesy or 

 compassion for my wants. They have expended 

 their money to please themselves : if they got more 

 than their money's worth, they are obliged to me ; 

 if they found themselves disappointed, I doubt not 

 that they have " taken out their change," as I have 



