PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



I OFFER this book of " Wanderings" with 

 a hesitating hand. It has little merit, and 

 must make its way through the world as 

 well as it can. It will receive many a 

 jostle as it goes along, and perhaps is 

 destined to add one more to the number 

 of slain, in the field of modern criticism. 

 But if it fall, it may still, in death, be 

 useful to me ; for should some accidental 

 rover take it up, and, in turning over its 

 pages, imbibe the idea of going out to 

 explore Guiana, in order to give the 

 world an enlarged description of that 

 noble country, I shall say, " fortem ad 

 fortia misi," and demand the armour ; that 

 is, I shall lay claim to a certain portion 

 of the honours he will receive, upon the 

 plea, that I was the first mover of his dis- 

 coveries ; for, as Ulysses sent Achilles to 



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