viii 



in which other cares are made to occupy attention, or into more 

 distant parts of our island or the world, beyond the reach, of 

 that once intimate conversation from which at once both pleasure 

 and instruction flowed. 



Absent or dead — still let a friend be dear ; 

 A sigh the absent claims — the dead a tear. 



but in any case it becomes the duty, as it is the gratification of 

 the author, to record the names of those from whom many of his 

 facts have been obtained. 



JONATHAN COUCH. 



