NOTE.
Just as we have sent the last sheet of the manuscript to the
printer, our publishers write that an Introduction, a brief one, is
desirable. We might yield to their judgment what we should
be slow to extract from our own indifference. A Preface is
an author's observation on his own writings. It might be presumed
that a reader would be better prepared to understand, and
more disposed to listen to what an author would say, at the end
of a book than at the beginning. Acting upon this consideration,
we have included in the last chapter certain paragraphs that may
seem to possess a prefatory character. To these all persons interested
are respectfully referred. We have endeavored, moreover,
that, in the progress of the work, the curiosity of the reader should
be duly satisfied on any points that might engage it. A Tale is
not like a house, except in its door-plate, the title-page. It does
not require an entry or a reception-room. It is rather like a rose,
the sum of the qualities of which are visible at a glance; albeit it
will repay a minute attention, and affords material for prolonged
enjoyment. It is like a landscape, which appeals in like manner to
a comprehensive eye, rather than to critical inquiry. We incline,
then, to the rose and the landscape, notwithstanding there may
be a defective leaf in the first, or a rude hut in the last. Not that
we object to Prefaces; — we like them, we always read them, and
frequently find them the best part of a book. But this book is
written, and the author has put his best things into it; he cannot
hope to improve it by anything he might here add, and he is
indisposed to peril its fortunes on any uncertainties of speech or
manner; and therefore prefers to submit it as it is.
