TO THE ¬

SECOND PART. ¬ 1 he history of this Second Volume is a very short one — The F/;\^, as my readers must remem- ber, was suddenly interrupted by sea damage to the manuscript, and all that was left of it re- mained, until about a fortnight ago, in a seem- ingly irrecoverable state; when it happened that a poor man, of a most squalid appearance, came into my apartment to ask for a morsel of bread. He was worn to a shadow, and held in his trembling emaciated hand a small blue bottle. — " My father,' 1 he said, "lived for many years in a garret at Knightsbridge, where he was always to be found amongst his phials and crucibles, mixing together many offensive ingredients, but what they were I know not. — When he was at ¬a the ¬

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