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honeyed vehicles; or, if regarded as wholesome food, is thought much more nutritious when made palatable by pleasant condiments. With the materials so conveniently at hand for complying with this general humour, the Editor thought it would be wisdom to use them; since he might thereby entice young persons to read Mr. Greyson's letters on subjects which, whatever may be thought of his mode of treating them, are at least as grave and momentous as can well occupy the human mind.

At the same time, should it be thought that the lighter letters are sufficiently instructive or amusing to repay perusal for their own sake, the Editor begs to assure the reader that there are plenty more very much at his service.

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The letters on graver subjects may be thought now and then a little longer than private letters generally are, or ought to be, though brief enough in relation to the extent and importance of the topics treated. The reader must be informed that Mr. Greyson was much, perhaps, unduly, impressed with the benefit that might accrue from private correspondence: he was in the habit of saying that "Affection, if it but spoke the Truth, was Truth's best pleader;' and that "if any man would submit to so odious a task as writing a long letter, - provided love plainly dictated it,— for the special behoof of some one person, it was hardly in human nature that that one should not read it with grateful attention; and that thus a little tract in the shape of a letter, might do more good than a treatise intended for everybody in general, and nobody in particular."

I know he greatly admired an amiable and very accomplished friend, (since deceased,) who, secluded from other and more public methods of being useful, spent much of his time on a large correspondence; actuated, in a great measure, by the hope of obliquely benefiting his friends, especially the

young. I say obliquely; for, like a wise man, he did it without seeming to do it: there was neither assumption, nor formality, nor dogmatism in his letters, while there was plenty of vivacity. Mr. Greyson used to say of this friend, that he acted "as gratuitous chamber-counsel;" and that "he deserved as much praise for his quiet benevolence, as a preacher who should prepare a discourse though he knew he should have but a single auditor for his congregation, or a writer who should write a book with little hope of more than a solitary reader."

Some traces of haste, here and there, will be found in these letters, and need not be apologised for; for when were private letters free from them? Some repetitions, also, of fact or sentiment (and, now and then, almost of expression) will as naturally be expected; for this, too, is an unfailing characteristic of all collections like the present.

I think I have observed that such compilations often retain details so minute as to be uninteresting to the reader; or allusions to private affairs so obscure as to be quite unintelligible. I have, therefore, for the most part, left out all such

matter.

The chronological order in the arrangement has been generally adopted; a little dislocated, however, in the latter part of the second volume, for the purpose of bringing letters, on related subjects, into proximity. Some of them are without dates; and these have been inserted where they seemed most appropriate. In some of the more serious letters the reader will here and there find a vein of persiflage, which, perhaps, he would hardly approve in a grave treatise: he must recollect that he is not reading a grave treatise, but familiar letters, where a little innocent gaiety is natural and welcome, and perfectly understood by the correspondent. Mr. Greyson however, does not often need apology in any such matter; he

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may say, as Cowper said, "My readers will hardly have begun to laugh, before they will be called upon to correct that levity, and peruse me with a more serious air."

Another class of readers may object that expressions are often too colloquial, or the pleasantry too trivial: they must be content with similar criticism, and remember they are reading familiar letters. Fireside prattle, — table-talk,the sheet of gossip with a friend,-who could endure in the style of a book? If this will not satisfy the more formal reader, I must leave Mr. Greyson to his fate.

One thing more I must in justice tell the public. It is impossible, I think, that the reader should not discern certain similarities in sentiment and style between these volumes and some parts of the "Eclipse of Faith." I beg to say- on the principle of suum cuique that I am largely indebted to Mr. Greyson for his contributions to that work. Indeed, I willingly ascribe to him the far larger share of whatever merit an indulgent public has been pleased to see in it, and take all its faults to myself.

Should any inquisitive reader ask to know a little more of Mr. Greyson's history than is disclosed in his own correspondence, I answer that his biography, if ever written,—and he took infinite pains to prevent any one's having the materials for the purpose,must be written by one who knew him in his younger days much better than I did.

I appre

hend, however, that there would be but little to tell.

Few

men ever led a more recluse life, or one more barren of incidents that could at all interest the public.

July 6, 1857.

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XXII. To T. Greyson.- Letter of Counsels to a Youth

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XXV. To the Same.-Speculations on compulsory "Virtue
XXVI. To the Same.-"Strikes ; " Estimate of "Knowledge"
XXVII. To the Same.-Anecdote of Robert Hall; Human Pugnacity
XXVIII. To the Same. On unjust Suspicions; Job and his Friends
XXIX. To the Same.- Antediluvian Friendships; Immortality
XXX. To a Friend who had narrowly escaped spending a Night in
St. Alban's Abbey.- On the Power of Imagination

XXXI. To Alfred West, Esq.-What are the best Punishments of

Hypocrisy ?

XXXV. To C. Mason, Esq.-Habitual Actions-Automatic or Not? 118

XXXVI. To the Same.—Early Rising -- Preaching and Practice
XXXVII. To the Same.-A Dialogue between "Myself and Me"

XXXVIII. To Miss Mary Greyson.—The first of Four Letters on

Novel Reading

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