PREFACE.

THE Only Preface which a work of this kind requires is an apology for the defects of its execution. Instead of pleading the claims of the poor to an earnest investigation of their distresses, one would be almost rather disposed to wonder that any other subject can be esteemed of national interest while this most momentous problem remains unsolved. The author, therefore, need take no pains to justify his choice of a subject; and he only wishes that he had equal cause to be satisfied with his treatment of it. Of his motive for writing at all, it can only be said, that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." With zeal for the cause he has espoused, he is amply, perhaps too amply, supplied, and he has spared no exertion to make up for the want of more sterling qualities. Perhaps, indeed, diligence was really the most indispensable requisite for his task. The volume now offered to the public has little claim to originality, and does not pretend to be the herald of any new discovery. The author's