8 PROFESSIONAL LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



Little as this recital offers for boast or exultation, I shall, 

 without doubt, be taxed with egotism and vanity, by introducing 

 it. I have unquestionably personal motives in so doing ; but if 

 I know myself, they centre in the hope that thereby I may at 

 once satisfy all curiosity ; and that, wherever I may be, I may 

 stand confessed to the world with regard to what I have been, 

 and with regard to what 1 am, and ever mean to be. We have 

 every one of us a sphere of action of our own : mine is a humble 

 and limited one ; but the more narrow its limits, the more ne- 

 cessary is it that it should not be clouded by any doubts or 

 obscurities. 



