Viii INTRODUCTION. 
cessful students to perfect it, I shall rest satisfied with my 
labours. 
Having hitherto given you some account of the occurrences 
that have taken place during the time intervening between 
the appearance of one volume and that of another, I again re- 
sume the subject, hoping that what I have now to say may 
prove not less interesting to a friend like you. When I last 
left Edinburgh, I proceeded to London, full of the desire to re- 
visit my native land before concluding my work. It was 
my wish to cross the Continent of America, gaze on the ma- 
jestic wilds of the Rocky Mountains, wander along the green 
valleys of the Oregon, and search the shores of the Pacific 
Ocean and a portion of North California; but circumstances 
denied me the pleasure anticipated. However, here we are 
on the way to the metropolis of England; we have already 
passed through Newcastle, York, Leeds, and Manchester, and 
are just about to alight in the Main Street of Sheffield. The 
gentleman who meets me at the coach door, is Joun HeEp- 
PENSTALL, Eisq., well known to me by correspondence, but not 
personally until now. Arrived here according to appointment, 
we shake hands, and in a few minutes are beneath his most 
hospitable roof, and in the midst of his family and friends. 
The expectations which we had formed, so far from being dis- 
appointed, were more than gratified, for this sincere and ho- 
nourable man is distinguished, not less by liberality of senti- 
ment than by a generosity commensurate with the goodness 
of his heart. In these respects every member of his family is 
a counterpart of himself; and, such being our hosts, you may 
judge how agreeable to us was our stay in Sheffield. It was 
while enjoying the hospitality of this excellent friend, that we 
