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INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.

COURTEOUS READER!

I AM an elderly man of easy fortune, that is to say, I have enough for all the wants of an individual of my retired and moderate habits. Retired I may well enough call them; for, though I move in the sun-beam of human existence, I so rarely impinge upon any of my fellow atoms, that I am almost as little known as if I had no corporeal entity.

"Whatten a dumpy-looking body's that wi' the brown wig?" said a barber's apprentice to the servant girl, as I one day passed up stairs to my lodgings.

"Troth, I dinna ken," answered the girl;

a

"he's an odd being they ca' Mongomery, that leeves in our house."

I stopped at the turn of the stair to hear

the rest.

"He's had our best rooms for mair nor

five or six years. He keeps them winter an' simmer, though he aye bangs aff with the first comin' o' the gouk, and ne'er comes back till driven in wi' the bad wather, like a wudcock, in the hinder end o' autumn. He seldom taks mair nor twa sarks an' a change o' stockins wi' him. Whan he's at

hame he never sees a mortal, or speaks to

a soul-an' he's aye vrite vriting.

But he's a harmless creatur'-pays weel, and gi'es unco little trouble."

I was amused with this sketch of my own portrait. The fact is, that being fitted rather for a spectator of life's comedy than to be an actor in it, I haunt the public places of resort, during the bad weather

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.

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half of the year, greedily devouring man and his affairs; and then, during the more genial months, I roam about the country, mixing up the same substantial food, with the refreshing sallad of romantic scenery. Thus I find materials to occupy my pen in newspapers and magazines; and to make amends for the silence my tongue usually maintains to those around me, I enlighten the public in general with the fruits of my lucubrations.

When the first good weather appears, I fit myself with a new jacket, breeches, and gaiters, and a stout pair of shoes; and with a tough oak sapling in my hand, away I go to follow my nose, whithersoever it may lead. As I never can determine whither my steps are to turn, till I find myself fairly on the way, the curiosity of my worthy landlady, about the direction of these my summer jaunts, re

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