6

OR,

THE THREE PROPOSALS.

A Nobel.

EDITED BY THE HON. F— B—

"While memory watches o'er the sad review,
Of joys that faded like the morning dew;
Peace may depart-and life and nature seem,
A barren path-a wildness and a dream."

CAMPBELL.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., CORNHILL.

1847.

London:

Printed by STEWART and MURRAY,

Old Bailey.

PREFACE.

PERMIT me, gentle reader, to request your indulgence, while perusing the following pages.

I have not ventured to subscribe my name to these volumes, although it is as well known to you as any in the "Court Circular;" for were I to do so, probably you would have exclaimed, "It is very questionable whether any amusement can be derived from such a source." But, stop: possibly your opinion

in this case may be erroneous. How many

a dreary and profitable waste has been brought, by good culture, to produce an abundant crop. How improbable it was,

some five or six years ago, that Lord G
B—k should ever have proved himself
an orator! But these are days of con-
tinual change; so, before you utterly con-
demn my simple tale, make the attempt to
follow it to the end. Notwithstanding there
may be nothing so very extraordinary in it-

“Dicam insigne, recens, adhue
Indictum ore alio,"-

yet should it beguile some weary hour, any trouble the Author may have had will be more than amply repaid.

"So that it wean me from the weary dream Of selfish grief or gladness, so it fling

Forgetfulness around me, it shall seem

To me, though to none else, a not ungrateful theme."

CHILDE HAROLD.

London, September, 1847.