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With regard to a Preface to his Book, an Author has to contend with three great, but unequal, difficulties. The first and greatest, is to persuade his Publisher to issue it without a Preface; the next, is to write one himself; and the third and least, is to get some one to write it for him. Now there is a wise old saw which says, “Of divers evils choose the least;” and as the learned Slawkenbergius (so says Tristram Shandy) has prefaced his FOLIO on Noses with a clause which exactly explains our own qualifications and reasons for writing on the same important subject, we invoke him to relieve us of the third difficulty: “‘ever since I understood,’ quoth Slawkenbergius, ‘anything—or rather what was what,—and could perceive that the point of Long Noses had been too loosely handled by all who had gone before—have I, Slawkenbergius, felt a strong impulse, with a mighty and irresistible call within me, to gird up myself to this undertaking.’”

Now this is exactly our own case, and must, therefore, suffice for our Preface; nevertheless, we cannot flatter ourselves that our brief hints will be eulogized, like the gigantic folio of Hafen Slawkenbergius, as “an institute of all that is necessary to be known of Noses.” It professes to be nothing more than an introduction to the subject of Nasology; written originally for the use of friends, and afterwards extended for publication. This will account for some discrepancies which may be perceptible in the style—discrepancies which it was thought best not to remove, as the additions were on subjects of a more grave and important character than the original sketch; and, therefore, the diversities of style appeared to be rather consistent and advantageous.

May 26, 1848.