ixxviii 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
those readers of the Wanderings who may still 
doubt my word to meet me in person, and then 
show me any passage in the book which they may 
suspect to deviate from the truth. It will give me 
pleasure to enter fully into the point in question ; 
and I shall not have the slightest doubt of being 
able to convince them that they are wrong in their 
surmises. If they should refuse to comply with this 
my reasonable and just request, and still determine 
to consider me a disciple of the celebrated baron, 
then to them I say, " Gentlemen, fare ye well. In 
my conscience, I have laboured hard to please you, 
and to consult your taste ; but I find that I have 
lost my time, and, 1 may add, my patience too. I 
humbly crave your forgiveness for having offered 
you food, which has proved so very unpalatable to 
your stomachs. I will learn wisdom for the time to 
come ; and I promise you that I will not throw my 
jewels to the sty a second time." 
So far for the Wande7nngs, Most part of the 
work was written in the depth of the forest, with- 
out the help of books, or the aid of any naturalist. 
I could not refrain from making a few observations 
on it ere I concluded these Memoirs, —Memoirs, 
by th€ way, from the pen of a private rover. Had 
our religion not interfered with our politics, my 
early days would probably have been spent in the 
service of my country. Then, no doubt, there would 
have been matter in these Memoirs much more 
interesting to the reader than that which is now 
submitted to his perusal. 
I could never comprehend how a government, 
