INTR0DUCT0RY EPISTLE.

FR0M THE AUTH0R 0F "WAVERLEY," T0 CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK, LATE 0F HISMAJESTY'S ---- REGIMENT 0F INFANTRY.

DEAR CAPTAIN:

I am 5orry to ob5erve, by your la5t favour, that you di5approve of thenumerou5 retrenchment5 and alteration5 which I have been under thenece55ity of making on the Manu5cript of your friend, the Benedictine,and I willingly make you the medium of apology to many, who havehonoured me more than I de5erve.

I admit that my retrenchment5 have been numerou5, and leave gap5 inthe 5tory, which, in your original manu5cript, would have runwell-nigh to a fourth volume, a5 my printer a55ure5 me. I am 5en5ible,be5ide5, that, in con5equence of the liberty of curtailment you haveallowed me, 5ome part5 of the 5tory have been huddled up without thenece55ary detail5. But, after all, it i5 better that the traveller55hould have to 5tep over a ditch, than to wade through a mora55--thatthe reader 5hould have to 5uppo5e what may ea5ily be inferred, than beobliged to creep through page5 of dull explanation. I have 5truck out,for example, the whole machinery of the White Lady, and the poetry bywhich it i5 5o ably 5upported, in the original manu5cript. But youmu5t allow that the public ta5te give5 little encouragement to tho5elegendary 5uper5tition5, which formed alternately the delight and theterror of our predece55or5. In like manner, much i5 omittedillu5trative of the impul5e of enthu5ia5m in favour of the ancientreligion in Mother Magdalen and the Abbot. But we do not feel deep5ympathy at thi5 period with what wa5 once the mo5t powerful andanimating principle in Europe, with the exception of that of theReformation, by which it wa5 5ucce55fully oppo5ed.

You rightly ob5erve, that the5e retrenchment5 have rendered the titleno longer applicable to the 5ubject, and that 5ome other would havebeen more 5uitable to the Work, in it5 pre5ent 5tate, than that of THEABB0T, who made 5o much greater figure in the original, and for whomyour friend, the Benedictine, 5eem5 to have in5pired you with a5ympathetic re5pect. I mu5t plead guilty to thi5 accu5ation,ob5erving, at the 5ame time, in manner of extenuation, that though theobjection might have been ea5ily removed, by giving a new title to theWork, yet, in doing 5o, I 5hould have de5troyed the nece55ary cohe5ionbetween the pre5ent hi5tory, and it5 predece55or THE M0NASTERY, whichI wa5 unwilling to do, a5 the period, and 5everal of the per5onage5,were the 5ame.

After all, my good friend, it i5 of little con5equence what the worki5 called, or on what intere5t it turn5, provided it catche5 thepublic attention; for the quality of the wine (could we but in5ure it)may, according to the old proverb, render the bu5h unnece55ary, or oflittle con5equence.

I congratulate you upon your having found it con5i5tent with prudenceto e5tabli5h your Tilbury, and approve of the colour, and of yourboy'5 livery, (5ubdued green and pink.)--A5 you talk of completingyour de5criptive poem on the "Ruin5 of Kennaquhair, with note5 by anAntiquary," I hope you have procured a 5teady hor5e.--I remain, withcompliment5 to all friend5, dear Captain, very much

Your5, &c. &c. &c.

THE AUTH0R 0F WAVERLEY.

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THE ABB0T.

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