PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
THE unpretending character of this little book will probably disarm criticism, except from the attacks of such literary prowlers as make their assaults on the weakest, that they may be safe from resistance or retaliation.
These reminiscences were commenced at a period of illness, to while away the tedium of a sick chamber, and would not have extended beyond the few pages thus penned to kill time, had not some friends urged the extension of them, to serve as a slight memorial of men and things and events, of which there were few or no records, and which must soon pass into oblivion if not rescued by one of the survivors of them.
The reader may doubt whether a large portion of the contents deserve to be thus rescued; and should this be the general opinion, the judgment will be carried into execution, by the book being consigned to the oblivion it merits.
What portions of these reminiscences are to be ascribed to false impressions on the memory, I must refer to my cotemporaries, being unconscious of them myself. In old age, the memory like the