renounce entirely. It is impossible to describe minutely our own personal experience without giving in some degree the experience of others; and this is a matter requiring careful handling, to say the least. We may say of ourselves what we must not say of others. We may describe our own log-house, but woe betide us if we should make it appear that any body else lived in one! We may tell of our own blunders, but we must beware how we touch upon the blunders of others.

So that, upon the whole, I thought I should better succeed in my object of giving a fair and truthful picture of our present condition, if I allowed general inferences to be deduced by the reader from such recollections of real life as I might without offence lay before him. That my views are drawn from real life need not be doubted, when it is considered that a very monotonous course of daily cares, such as falls to the lot of most housekeepers, in this region, is not likely to brighten the inventive faculties, or to give wings to the fancy.

If it should be thought that such a state of things as I have pictured is not very enticing to the educated and refined, I can only say that the emigration of a few such persons as the objectors themselves would soon add all that is desirable. Every natural advantage is already ours, and the foundation for the best and most substantial state of society is laid in an unusually orderly and moral population. I wished to be fair. If I had written as a partisan, the addition of a few shades of dashing colour would have made a more glowing picture, but it would have been at the expense of truth.

I now take my leave for the present, only remarking that the want of continuity observable in these sketches is to be ascribed, in part at least, to their having been written at long intervals, and under every variety of hindrance.

Leaving to the last what might more properly have been said at first, I entreat the reader not to puzzle himself by endeavouring to draw the line between the true and the

imaginary; but to surrender himself to the writer, and go with her in good faith; looking only for such amusement or instruction as may be found in what professes not to be a narrative of facts, but only the PICTURE

OF AN IDEA.

THE END.

LONDON:

Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE,
New-Street-Square.

CATALOGUE OF NEW WORKS

I. Geography, Topography, Voyages and Travels, Guide Books, etc.

NOTES OF A TRAVELLER

On the Social and Political State of France, Prussia, Switzerland, Italy, and other parts of Europe, during the present century. By Samuel Laing, Esq. 1 vol. 8vo. 16s. cloth lettered. JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE IN NORWAY

During the years 1834, 1835, and 1836; made with a view to enquire into the Rural and Political Economy of that Country, and the Condition of its Inhabitants. By Samuel Laing, Esq. 2d Edition, 1 vol. 8vo. 14s. cloth lettered.

A TOUR IN SWEDEN

In 1838; comprising Observations on the Moral, Political, and Economical State of the Swedish Nation. By Samuel Laing, Esq. 1 vol. 8vo. 12s. cloth lettered.

GREECE AS A KINGDOM:

A Statistical Description of that Country-its Laws, Commerce, Resources, Public Institutions, Army, Navy, etc. from the Arrival of King Otho, in 1833, down to the present time. From Official Documents and Authentic Sources. By Frederick Strong, Esq., Consul at Athens for the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Hanover. 1 vol. 8vo. 15s. cloth.

TRAVELS IN THE WEST:

Cuba, with Notices of Porto Rico and the Slave Trade. By D. Turnbull, Esq., Member of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and of the Royal Patriotic and Economic Societies of Havana. 1 vol. 8vo. with Map, 15s. cloth lettered.

MUSIC AND MANNERS IN FRANCE AND NORTH GERMANY:

A Series of Travelling Sketches of Art and Society. By H. F. Chorley, Esq. 3 vols. 31s. 6d. LOITERINGS OF TRAVEL:

A Collection of Sketches of Manners, Incidents of Travel, Tales, and Poetry. By N. P. Willis, Esq., author of "Pencillings by the Way," etc. 3 vols. post 8vo. 17. 11s. 6d. boards.

THE MOUNTAINS AND LAKES OF SWITZERLAND:

With Descriptive Sketches of other parts of the Continent. By Mrs. Bray, authoress of "Trials of the Heart," etc. etc. 3 vols. post 8vo. 17. 11s. 6d. boards.

SIR EDWARD SEAWARD'S NARRATIVE OF HIS SHIPWRECK,

And consequent Discovery of certain Islands in the Caribbean Sea: with a Detail of many extraordinary and highly interesting Events in his Life, from 1733 to 1749, as written in his own Diary. Edited by Miss Jane Porter. 3d Edition, with a New Nautical and Geographical Introduction, containing Extracts from a Paper by Mr. C. F. Collett, of the Royal Navy, identifying the Islands described by Sir Edward Seaward. 2 vols. post 8vo. 21s. cloth lettered. SKETCHES IN ERRIS AND TYRAWLEY.

By the Rev. Cæsar Otway. Post 8vo. with Map, and other Illustrations, 10s. 6d. cloth lettered. A TOUR IN CONNAUGHT:

Comprising Sketches of Clonmacnoise, Joyce Country, and Achill. By the Rev. C. Otway. Foolscap 8vo. with Illustrations, 78. 6d. cloth lettered."

SKETCHES IN IRELAND,

Descriptive of interesting Portions of the Counties of Donegal, Cork, and Kerry. By the Rev. Cæsar Otway. 2d Edition, corrected, 1 vol. foolscap 8vo. 68. cloth lettered.

A DICTIONARY, GEOGRAPHICAL, STATISTICAL, AND HISTORICAL, Of the various Countries, Places, and principal Natural Objects in the World. Illustrated with Maps. By J. R. M'Culloch, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. cloth lettered., Vol. 1 is now ready, 21. cloth lettered; Vol. 2 will be ready in the spring.

AN ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF GEOGRAPHY;

Comprising a complete History of the Earth; exhibiting its Relation to the Heavenly Bodies, its Physical Structure, the Natural History of each Country, and the Industry, Commerce, Political Institutions, and Civil and Social State of all Nations. By Hugh Murray, F.R.S.F. New Edition, brought down to 1840, with 82 Maps, drawn by Sidney Hall, and upwards of 1000 Engravings on Wood, from Drawings by Swainson, T. Landseer, Sowerby, Strutt, etc., representing the most remarkable Objects of Nature and Art in every Region of the Globe. 1 very thick vol. 8vo., containing upwards of 1500 pages, 37. cloth lettered.

THE HISTORY OF MARITIME AND INLAND DISCOVERY.

By W. D. Cooley, Esq. 3 vols. foolscap 8vo., with Vignette Titles, 18s. cloth lettered.

NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO MADEIRA, TENERIFFE,

and along the Shores of the MEDITERRANEAN; including a Visit to Algiers, Egypt, Palestine, Tyre, Rhodes, Telmessus, Cyprus, and Greece, etc. etc. By W. R. Wilde, M.R.I.A. 2 vols. 8vo., with 30 Illustrations, 28s. cloth."