THE Story which occupies this volume was
intended originally to be told in verse; and a
great portion of it was at first written in that
form.
This fact, as well as the character, per-
haps, of the whole work, which a good deal par-
takes of the cast and colouring of poetry, have
been thought sufficient to entitle it to a place in
this general collection of my poetical writings.
How little akin to romance or poesy were some of the circumstances under which this work was first projected by me, the reader may have seen from a preceding preface *; and the
* Preface to the Eighth Volume, p. xii.