Such being his purpose, it is necessary
to say a few words on the plan of the proposed Edition.
In stating it to be revised and corrected, it is not to be inferred that
any attempt is made to alter the tenor of the stories, the character of
the actors, or the spirit of the dialogue. There is no doubt ample room
for emendation in all these points,--but where the tree falls it must
lie. Any attempt to obviate criticism, however just, by altering a work
already in the hands of the public is generally unsuccessful. In the most
improbable fiction, the reader still desires some air of vraisemblance,
and does not relish that the incidents of a tale familiar to him should
be altered to suit the taste of critics, or the caprice of the Author
himself. This process of feeling is so natural, that it may be observed
even in children, who cannot endure that a nursery story should be
repeated to them differently from the manner in which it was first told.
But without altering, in the slightest degree, either the story or the
mode of telling it, the Author has taken this opportunity to correct
errors of the press and slips of the pen. That such should exist cannot
be wondered at, when it is considered that the Publishers found it their
interest to hurry through the press a succession of the early editions of
the various Novels, and that the Author had not the usual opportunity of
revision.
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