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I can't for my life &longs;ee the nece&longs;&longs;ity of it, &longs;aid I;
there are numbers of books publi&longs;hed without prefaces.

But you do not con&longs;ider, &longs;aid my friend, that this
book ab&longs;olutely requires a preface—it is the adventures
of a gentleman who po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ed a magic ring: and
&longs;eemingly tho&longs;e adventures are written by him&longs;elf,
but you give no account how they came into your
hands?

Why they came into my hands through my
brain, friend, &longs;aid I — The&longs;e adventures are merely
the children of Fancy. I mu&longs;t own that the be&longs;t
part of them originated in facts.

But why do you make your Inqui&longs;itor a man?
&longs;aid he.

For a very obvious rea&longs;on, I replied. A man may
be with propriety brought forward in many &longs;cenes
where it would be the height of improbability to introduce
a woman.—I might, to be &longs;ure, continued
I, have introduced the following pages by &longs;aying I
had found them in a hackney coach; or met with
part of them by accident at a pa&longs;try cook's or cheesemonger's,
and being intere&longs;ted by the narrative, I
&longs;ent back for the remainder; or they might have been
left in a lodging by &longs;ome eccentric old gentleman
who had lived there for many years; and thinking

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the world would be greatly obliged to me for suffering
&longs;uch a valuable manu&longs;cript to be printed, I was
prevailed on by the earne&longs;t entreaties of my friends,
to commit it to the hands of the book&longs;eller.

I know, Sir, this is the u&longs;ual method of u&longs;hering
the&longs;e kind of publications into the world—but, for
my own part, I will hone&longs;tly confe&longs;s that this work
was written &longs;olely for my amu&longs;ement. As to the
motives that induced me to publi&longs;h it, they can be of
no con&longs;equence for the reader to be informed of,
therefore they &longs;hall remain a &longs;ecret.

But &longs;ure, &longs;aid my friend, you will make &longs;ome apology
for attempting to write in the &longs;tyle of the inimitable
Sterne?

Is the per&longs;on required to make an apology who
copies a portrait painted by an eminent ma&longs;ter, &longs;aid
I; or &longs;hould he fail of retaining in his copy, the
fine &longs;trokes, the beautiful and &longs;triking expre&longs;&longs;ion in
the features of the faultle&longs;s original; is he to tear
his picture, or commit it to the flames, becau&longs;e he
has not the genius of the arti&longs;t who&longs;e work he copied?
Or, &longs;uppo&longs;e a man admired his Sovereign's
exalted virtues, and with a laudable ambition &longs;trove
to imitate them, is he, becau&longs;e he is con&longs;cious of
not having the abilities to &longs;hine in the mo&longs;t eminent
degree, not to endeavour to imitate them at all; or
to hide from the world the progre&longs;s he makes?

No, certainly, &longs;aid my friend; but have you the
vanity to &longs;uppo&longs;e that your writings are the lea&longs;t
tinctured with that &longs;pirit and fire, which are &longs;o conspicuous
in the works of your bright original?

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By no means, &longs;aid I; but I think as the &longs;tars
&longs;hine brighte&longs;t when neither the &longs;un nor moon are
in the firmament, &longs;o, perhaps, when the works of
Sterne are not at hand, the Inqui&longs;itor may be read
with &longs;ome &longs;mall degree of attention, and afford the
reader a little amu&longs;ement; but &longs;hould Maria or Le
Fevre, make their appearance, its weak rays will be
extingui&longs;hed by the tear of &longs;en&longs;ibility, which the lovelorn
virgin and dying &longs;oldier would excite.

Then you do not intend to write a preface? &longs;aid
my friend.

Upon my word, I replied, I have begun &longs;everal,
but I never could write one to plea&longs;e me; &longs;o I have
at la&longs;t determined to publi&longs;h it without, and leave it
to the readers to form what conjecture they plea&longs;ed
concerning how I came po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ed of the papers which
contained the adventures.

That will never do, &longs;aid he, &longs;haking his head.

Then prithee, my good friend, &longs;aid I, do write
a preface for me; for here I have been hammering
my pericranium and biting my nails the&longs;e two hours,
without being able to beat out a &longs;ingle &longs;entence, either
introductory or prefatory.

Suppo&longs;e, &longs;aid he, you pre&longs;ent your readers with
our conver&longs;ation; it will be better than no preface
at all.

It was a lucky thought, and I in&longs;tantly &longs;et about it.

Gentle reader, I here commit to your kind patronage
this offspring of Fancy; my characters are

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not pointed at particular per&longs;ons, except one or two
where gratitude involuntarily guided my pen; it
was then I delineated the characters of a Lady
Allworth, and the family of the amiable &longs;i&longs;ters at
H-m—rf—th.

As to tho&longs;e characters which appear in an unamiable
light, I neither wi&longs;h or mean for any per&longs;on to
&longs;ay that this is meant for Mr. or Mrs. &longs;uch a one;
but I would wi&longs;h every per&longs;on who may think the
character was de&longs;igned for them&longs;elves, to remember
that the likene&longs;s was accidentally taken, and it is
con&longs;cience only that makes it appear &longs;o &longs;triking to
their imagination.