PREFACE. 



general reader; and by the further eluci- 

 dation of collateral points, to render it 

 somewhat more deserving that favourable 



S3 



reception, which, without any direct hope 

 of seeing accomplished, he was not alto- 

 gether indifferent to the idea of its meeting 

 from the public. 



It is by the gentleman here alluded to, 

 for obvious reasons, that the business of 

 editor would best have been conducted ; 

 but the incommunicable distance at which 

 he resides, and his total want of acquaint- 

 ance with the avenues to the press, having 

 placed an insurmountable bar to his under- 

 taking the task, it has now devolved upon 

 one, who, excepting by a long-continued 

 peculiar intimacy with the author, has to 

 feel himself little fitted for its execution. 

 The subject, indeed, is not within the com- 

 pass of his tact. It is beyond (he will not 

 dare to say beneath) the sphere of his 

 intelligence. For he will confess, that in 

 his occasional attempts to smile, it has not 

 been without some " compunctious visit- 

 ings" of regret, that he has felt himself 



