IN submitting the pages that follow to the
judgment of the public, I feel that I am bound
to preface them with a few words of apology,
both for themselves and for the period of their
appearance.
They have taken much longer in the writing
than would appear at first sight. A practised
writer could probably have completed them in
a week or ten days. I could under no circum-
stances have done that ; but had there been
nothing to hinder, I could, no doubt, have
finished them much more quickly than I have
done. But a malady which has been upon me
for a long time has at length so affected my
hand as to make writing always a difficulty,
sometimes an impossibility; and I have been