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INTRODUCTION.
xi
The queſtion of the authorſhip of the book is ſtill an unſettled one. It was at one time commonly attributed to Oliver Goldſmith, and no one who reads the book will confider it to be unworthy of the poet's pen. We find, however, in Nichol's Literary Anecdotes, that
'It is not perhaps generally known that to Mr Griffith Jones, and a brother of his, Mr Giles Jones, in conjunction with Mr John Newbery, the public are indebted for the origin of thoſe numerous and popular little books for the amuſement and inſtruction of children which have been ever ſince received with univerſal approbation. The Lilliputian hiſtories of Goody Two Shoes, Giles Gingerbread, Tommy Trip, &c., &c., are remarkable proofs of the benevolent minds of the projectors of this plan of
