[figure description] Page vi.[end figure description]

The length of our friendship would be
a sufficient reason for prefixing your name
to these pages; but your residence so
near the scene of the tale, and your familiarity
with much of the character and
kind of life that I have attempted to describe,
render it more peculiarly proper.
You, at least, dear Sutherland, will not
receive this dedication as a cold compliment,
but as an evidence of the feeling
that makes me,