THE AUTHOR'S APOLOGY. (SECOND EDITION.) DEFECTS may be excused in a literary production of great merit; and should be, if the difficulty of correcting them was great. But the faults of this pamphlet will not be hidden by its merits; and, some of them, at least, might have been amended. Its matter might have been better arranged; and repetitions might have been effaced. That there are other faults, and greater, the writer is fully persuaded-as he is also of his inability to correct them. But to use the words of one, whom he has not the presumption to praise, he trusts that there is not wanting in him": an earnest desire to reason "well-a moral rectitude, from which the love of truth must spring." Let not the author be accused of a blamable negligence if, sometimes speaking in the third person, he oftener, and improperly, speaks in the first. Nor let his abruptness of expression be mistaken for positiveness of opinion -which is self-conceit. Has he spoken too plainly? "The truths, which men most dislike to hear, are those that, most of all, ought to be plainly told them." He desired to express himself as briefly as possible; and, to an unnecessary extension of phrase, his feeble hand was often fretfully averse; while the circumlocution of affected modesty, or the appearance of it, was most distasteful to him. "But why publish at all," the reader may fairly ask, acknowledged faults were amended?" 66 or at least, till the A few passages excepted, all that has been added to the first edition was written in 1845. Writing only when he could not read, the poor invalid endeavoured to lighten the weight of his heaviest hours by penning many long-considered thoughts-and this he did; thankful for a peace-giving occupation, but too ill to think of printing-presses. In the autumn of that year his debility increased, and his scraps of manuscript remained in quietude; rarely seen; not often thought of; nor ever spoken of. Just now, however, though still imprisoned in his bed-room, a small portion of improved health has been granted him he cannot expect a prolongation of it—or, of life, much—but his spirits are revived within him, and he hopes to fulfil a natural wish which, not unnaturally, has lately acquired additional strength. He has sent his papers to the press such as they were, hoping that he may see them issue from it-desirous to leave behind him some record of his opinions, and : of his feelings; to offer it to his friends, and his children—and, to others (not a few he fondly hopes) who may like to retain it, and sometimes to think of it—not because of its merit; but because he gave it to them. Such has been his motive. To relieve the tediousness of long-continued illness he first began to write; and, as he wrote, he became excited. Yet it was not indignation that caused him to print his pamphlet; nor a desire to be noticed; nor had he any expectation of prescribing successfully for England's maladies. Such an idea he could not entertain, having observed that they, who attempted and expected to do much good, have done much otherwise than well. It may be asked, "Are you not afraid that the public will ridicule your very imperfect work?" Of the Great Public, of the Poor who may read these pages, the manly and kindly ones will not be more than momentarily offended by what they read and they will not sneer at the author, for they will feel that he knows them, and that he has been their own familiar friend. The criticisms of others will not lessen his little appetite, or weaken his poor digestion, while he can call to mind the words of one (alas, he is not!) who, having seen the first edition of this little work, to some words of praise added these "and I do admire his IMPARTIALITY!" No better, no more gratifying, praise could the author desire: nor that it should have come from other lips than those of THOMAS HOOD. The following extracts will render, it is hoped, this apology complete "Bitter and hasty writing must not hastily be condemned; for men "cannot contend, coldly, and without affection, about things which they "hold dear and precious."-LORD Bacon. "The state and bread of the poor have been precious in mine eyes."LORD BACON. 66 “Anger and violence prevailed every day more and more- -and there are times when any, even the slightest chance of doing good, must be "laid hold on, even by the most inconsiderable person."-BURKE's Works, vol. iii. p. 30, M'LEAN's edition. 66 "To warn is not to menace." Ibid. vol. vi. p. 359. "If it should come to the last extremity, and to a contest of bloodmy part is taken. I would take my fate with the poor, and the low, and "the feeble."-BURKE. See PRIOR's Life, vol. i. p. 389, 2nd edition. February 2, 1847. ERRATUM.- Page 15, line 1, for Makes read Make. MY DOG INTRODUCTORY CANTO. EXETER HALL Philanthropists, Your efforts have been long effectual, In making men believe in your pretensions a The real and consistent ones-" the believers in absolute decrees." b" Charles Fox confessed that there was something in these subjects" (politico-œconomical ones) "which passed his "comprehension; and that he knew no"body who did comprehend them." See PRIOR'S Life of Burke, vol. i. p. 97. Second edition. Bonaparte said, that "as to political œconomists, they are mere visionaries, "who are dreaming of plans of finance "while they are unfit to fulfil the duties of a schoolmaster Your speculating "people trace their schemes upon paper: "fools read and believe them. All are bab bling about general happiness, and pre"sently the people have not bread to eat : "then comes a revolution." (From Durocq's account of the interview between Bonaparte and young De Staël, at Chambéry.) If the.French emperor had but a little heart, his brain was of more than the common size. "The rebellions of the belly are the "worst."-Lord BACON. "The most disastrous revolutions have "been caused by physical wants." ."-Dr. ARNOLD. See Review of his Life, by Stanley, in the Quarterly Rev. No. 148. p. 497. B The non-producers press too hard on those, Without whose labour would be small production; And 'tis a Gotham folly to suppose These hungry men will care for your instruction, Have you done aught like this for poor John Bull? What great exertions did ye make for blacks! Schemers and speechifyers! Have you gladded [4.] [6.] [7.] While men are trickable, there will be tricks : The story of the crab and crucifix as never ought to exist in any country; "and never could in one well governed." -KOAL. The authenticated accounts of the slavish and miserable condition of these English fellow-creatures-females too!_ ought to make that blood BOIL which has any warmth in it. [5.] The rhyme is good enough for the ear, if not for the eye. Will any competent critic, who gives to the word "girls" its usual sound, affirm that whirls, pirls, squirls, twirls, hurls, curls, or pearls, would match better? If he does, let him fit on either of them to the end of the line, and his emendation shall take place of "swells" in my next edition, and in every succeeding one. Mihi in his "sat voluisse est;" e e A saint-St. Francis, I think-when on a voyage, dropped his crucifix into the. sea. Not long after he had arrived at his destination, while meditating on the shore, he was delighted to see a crab approaching him, bearing the lost article in one of his claws. Why should not this legend be painted on glass, and the picture be stuck up over a Communion-table? I have seen, on a newly-built Protestant church eastern window, the legend of St. John driving the devil out of a sacramental cup-see the Clavis Calendaria. |