PREFACE.
Nearly two years have elapsed, dear Reader, since, in Paul Clifford, I, last—and somewhat more than four since, in Pelham, I first—addressed thee in my present capacity. The Tale which I now submit to thee, differs equally from the last as from the first of those works; for, of the two evils, perhaps it is even better to disappoint thee in a new style, than to weary thee with an old. With the facts on which the tale of Eugene
