Page:Forest scenes in Norway and Sweden (1855).djvu/11

•FOREST LIFE: A FISHERMAN'S SKETCHES IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN. INTRODUCTION Sketches in Norway and Sweden ! Are they fact or fiction ? are they to be instructive or simply entertaining ? These are questions which the public has a right to ask, and which the author means to answer as tridy as he can. He hopes there will be a little of both. At least, in making this selection from his own and his friends' journals, he has had both these objects in his eye, and he trusts he has been able to keep his eye upon them both at the same time, and that without any very great amount of squinting. The framework which he has adopted is that of a very popular description of authors — the historical romancers, and, if he might venture to say so, of a certain equally popular historian : that is to say, fiction founded upon fact. He has laid down absolute facts, or what he believes to be facts, for his groundwork, and has dressed them up to suit his fancy. These Northern Sketches are, in truth, a continuation of a former work, "The Erne, its Legends and its Fly-fishing;" as the expedition which gave rise to them was in every respect the same as the old Belleek fishing-association, with a simple change of scene. They are therefore written upon the same plan, which the author has found extremely convenient and very suitable to his purpose. That purpose was not only to preserve the recollections of a most enjoyable time, but also to convey as much real infor- B