Xll PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



be difficult to find a man precisely in my situa- 

 tion — namely, that of one born, bred, educated 

 for, and as, a private individual — who, in addi- 

 tion to the knowledge in matters required of a 

 gentleman, has, as I have before stated, been 

 forced to acquire the knowledge of the minutiae 

 of the business and avocation of men in a directly 

 opposite position in society ; but, as such is the 

 fact in my case, I feel it a duty I owe my readers 

 to give a short statement of the circumstances 

 that have caused such an apparent anomaly. 



I am not of sufficient consequence to render it 

 a matter of the slightest importance to my readers 

 what may be my name ; they will probably be 

 still more indifferent as to what was the orisjin, 

 is the extent, or who may be collateral branches 

 of my family : suffice it to say, that, though it 

 has ever been a family addicted to spending for- 

 tunes, I am the first member of it who ever at- 

 tempted to make money by business. Had they or 

 any of them ever had foresight enough to have 

 done so, I should, probably, never have written 

 '' The Pocket and the Stud." I am the last of that 

 family, except one. If the rest were living, I sup- 

 pose I should be considered a kind of scapegrace, 

 who had sullied their fair fame ; at least I judge 

 so, as my surviving aristocratic relative will not 



