PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



W ^HATEVER might be needful by way of in- 

 troduction will be found interspersed with the 

 work; but in the mean time the Author's appella- 

 tive given in the title page of this volume is such 

 as to demand some apology. Why does he take 

 the refuge of a common family name, instead of 

 giving his proper designation at once ? In his own 

 defence, he begs honestly to declare he has no lik- 

 ing to that sort of mystery, nor is he wont to use it, 

 never having before given any thing to the public 

 without sending along with it whatever good or ill 

 it might derive from his name. 



The truth is, the following work, though nowise 

 contrary to clerical duty, is nevertheless not strictly 

 clerical ; and as nothing can equal the obligation 

 of the Christian ministry, or the awe of its respon- 

 sibility, or its importance to man, the writer trem- 

 bles at the thought of lessening, by any means or in 

 any degree, either the dignity or the sacredness of 

 his calling; and as the following pages might more 

 properly have been written by one bred to the 

 science of which they treat, or by some leisurely 

 owner of a retired villa, an inference, not the best 

 matured, may be drawn to the effect that surely 

 the Author can be no faithful labourer in the Lord's 

 vineyard, seeing he must possess such leaning to 

 his own. He therefore expects, by hiding for a 



