FORMERLY A LIEUTENANT IN THE ROYAL NAVY, AND NOW "Here much I ruminate, as much I may, With other veiws of men and manners now NINTH EDITION, CORRECTED. London: PUBLISHED BY JAMES NISBET, 21, BERNERS STREET, OXFORD STREET; Sold also by Longman and Co.; Baldwin and Co.; Hamilton; Ogles and Co.; 4 PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. THE Author cannot allow the following pages to go a seventh time to the press without expressing his gratitude to the Almighty for the unexpected manner in which he has owned the former Editions to the edification and comfort of several readers. Little did he think that so humble a performance would have been so extensively blessed, or that it would have received that appprobation which the religious public have kindly bestowed upon it. That He whose providential mercies it is intended to mark out may continue to bless its little records, to the promotion of his own glory and the spiritual good of men, is the writer's most fervent desire. What he observed in his Preface to the first Edition, he would now repeat, namely, that the disadvantage of writing a work like the present, anonymously, is undoubtedly great; because much of its interest depends on the authenticity of the events related in it, or on the credit the reader gives as to the reality of its different statements-which credit and authenticity might be strengthened by the addition of the author's real signature. the present mode is not without its advantages. It enables him to say many things of others without Yet wounding their feelings, and to relate more concerning himself than he could well do as the declared and publicly acknowledged author. Conscience and facts will at one glance tell some persons that they are the men alluded to in No. VII. and these silent monitors are as likely to bring them to a better frame of mind as a more explicit declaration of their names would. As to the ordinary reader, he may most confidently rely on the contents of the following papers, as the unexaggerated relation of facts which the writer can challenge the world to falsify, and which he will be ready to prove and establish on all occasions and in every way that can be done, consistently with his original plan of speaking the truth in love, and so as not to become personal, or to wound the minds of individuals. If, from a perusal of the title page, the reader should look for a regular and unbroken history, either of the state of the writer's mind, or of all the events which made up those years under review, he will be disappointed. The papers convey but a partial and often an unconnected account of both, and these not unfrequently interspersed with other subjects. System was no part of his plan, and must not be looked for by the reader. He professes not the art of book-making; but would cast his mite into the Christian treasury for the edification of a few who are desirous of seeing the mercies and providences of God in the events of human life. March, 1821. |
