PREFACE. 



It is necessary to prefix a Preface to a work 

 of this nature, to give the reader such informa- 

 tion as may be useful during its perusal ; to 

 explain and point out the nature and arrange- 

 ments of its principal parts ; likewise to duly 

 prepare him for what the work contains, which 

 is of great advantage both to the author and 

 himself. 



It often happens in works of this sort, as 

 well as in many others, that quotations are made 

 from other authors, in order to sanction and 

 gloss over their own productions, sometimes of 



