THE EE BN PABADISE. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
gJ^HIS volume has been written with 
an earnest purpose. The various 
chapters of which it is composed 
will disclose in detail what that 
purpose is. But an author has 
no right to expect that the public, 
however indulgent, will read his book 
unless he can, in his preface, show cause 
why they should do so. Should he by the 
exercise of rare ability succeed, in his 
introductory chapter, in chaining the interest 
of his readers, he may need no better pass- 
port to their continued indulgence than that 
supplied by a powerful imagination and a 
brilliant literary style. But, if he eschews 
the endeavour to dazzle, and merely aspires 
25 
