I have some reason to fear that the notes which accompany the
tales, as now published, may be thought too miscellaneous and too
egotistical. It maybe some apology for this, that the publication was
intended to be posthumous, and still more, that old men may be permitted
to speak long, because they cannot in the course of nature have long time
to speak. In preparing the present edition, I have done all that I can do
to explain the nature of my materials, and the use I have made of them;
nor is it probable that I shall again revise or even read these tales. I
was therefore desirous rather to exceed in the portion of new and
explanatory matter which is added to this edition than that the reader
should have reason to complain that the information communicated was of a
general and merely nominal character. It remains to be tried whether the
public (like a child to whom a watch is shown) will, after having been
satiated with looking at the outside, acquire some new interest in the
object when it is opened and the internal machinery displayed to them.
That Waverly and its successors have had their day of favour and
popularity must be admitted with sincere gratitude; and the Author has
studied (with the prudence of a beauty whose reign has been rather long)
to supply, by the assistance of art, the charms which novelty no longer
affords.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50