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PREFACE
Public favour, like
sunshine, is apt to weaken while it warms, and therefore the wise never
remain too long under its influence; nor do they forget to calculate
that upon man himself, as upon all his works, it must one day decline. A
nameless Hermit may be supposed to have upon this subject nothing to
regret and nothing to dread; but such is not the case; for, as the
sunshine of public kindness has long cheered the author of the following
pages through the Hermit’s cloak, he would not wish that the gratitude
which that warmth has excited, should be without a due and becoming
expression.
In appearing before the public in a new form, he comes with all its
attendant anxieties, together with the added fear, lest a veteran in
another field, should lose in the wildness of Highland scenery and
customs and the portraiture of Highland life, the laurels with which he
has been hitherto rewarded. All that he can say for himself is, that he
has observed carefully, and sketched honestly; and while he hopes that
he has not written a line with which the manly heart cannot feel
sympathy, he trusts that he has not allowed to slip from his pen a word
at which the modest cheek can have cause to blush. In observation, in
zeal, in honesty, and in decorum, he hopes still to be found
THE HERMIT IN LONDON.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
Volume 3
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