PREFACE.
WHEN a new book is about to be published,
the early solicitude of the author is
to pave his way to public favour by apologizing
for his presumption in appearing in
print; but the writer of the following letters
cannot, or, rather, will not, speak for himself:
it remains therefore for his friends to make
known to the reader, all that they are permitted
to communicate respecting the author,
his work, and the motives for publication.
The writer of these letters, now collected
and presented to the public under the title of
The Yankey in London, is a native of Boston,
in Massachusetts, known to his fellow-townsmen
as a young man of modest merit,
and only known to a few particular friends
as a gentleman of an active and inquisitive
mind, and of quaint, and ofttimes original
remark.
The letters now submitted to the candour
of his countrymen, were, with numerous
others in possession of his correspondents,
written, during his abode in London, to
several of his friends and connections in his
native town, without the most distant view of
their ever being printed. On his return, they
solicited permission to publish them, perhaps,
in the ardour of friendship, vainly imagining
that what had delighted them would please
others, but he repeatedly declined their solicitations.
In the course of the last winter the originals
of these letters, with many others
addressed from London, were deposited with
an amanuensis who faithfully transcribed
them, and the manuscript was submitted, in
confidence, to a clergyman of taste; he approved
the design of publication, and lent his
friendly aid to overcome the diffidence of the
writer, but in vain. The manuscript was
afterwards perused, with the author's permission,
by an English gentleman, visiting
Boston; he made light of the author's modesty,
and advised the publication, observing,
that as the writer had imbibed a large share
of local prejudice, his work would be read
by his own countrymen, and should it make
its way to London it might, perhaps, be
read, even there, as a curious specimen of
transatlantic sentiment upon English manners.
A reluctant consent was then obtained
from the writer, upon the express condition
of expunging such passages as might lead to
a discovery of the author, and of selecting a
few of the letters, and those the least likely
to give offence to English people, for whom,
after all his freedom of remark, he professes
a high veneration.
We have therefore directed the printer to
issue these letters as volume the first, and
are not without hope that the approbation of
the public will give confidence to our friend
to publish the remainder of his letters from
London and other parts of the British isles,
and his tour in Europe, with his own name.
The Friends of the Writer.
