CHARLES WATERTON, ESQ. 



Ixxv 



ginal. Not long ago, a gentleman was here, and 

 begged a small portion of it, as he said that the 

 savans of Paris had lately tried some Indian poison, 

 but without effect. I complied with his request; 

 and, on opening the wax in which the poison is 

 enclosed, I found it quite soft, and ready for use ; 

 although it had not been looked at for above twenty 

 years. If any farmer should have one of his herd 

 bitten by a mad dog, I would willingly repair to the 

 spot, and try the effect of the poison on the animal. 



I am fully aware that certain statements in the 

 Wanderings have procured me the honour of being 

 thought nearly connected with the Munchausen 

 family. Unenviable is the lot of him whose narra- 

 tives are disbelieved merelj^ for want of sufficient 

 faith in him who reads them. If those who have 

 called my veracity in question would only have the 

 manliness to meet me, and point out any passage 

 in the book which they consider contradictory or 

 false, I would no longer complain of unfair treatment. 



If they can show that I have deviated from the line 

 of truth in one single solitary instance, I will con- 

 sent to be called an impostor ; and then may the 

 Wanderings be trodden under foot, and be forgotten 

 for ever. 



Some people imagine that I have been guilty 

 of a deception in placing the nondescript as a 

 frontispiece to the book. Let me assure these 

 worthies that they laboui under a gross mistake. 

 I never had the slightest intention to act so dis- 

 honourable a part. I purposely involved the frontis- 

 piece in mystery, on account of the illiberality 



