T is about ten years since this little book was published. Some people were pleased with it, some treated it with contempt, and some critics abused it, probably without reading it, for I believe that such things are done. The author did not trouble himself about the critics. He was satisfied if some people were amused with the book, and taught something. All the copies have been sold, and as the book is still inquired after, the publishers have ventured to reprint it, and I have read the sheets. Some new chapters are added on Education and Taxation. The author knew something of Education by his own experience, and he spent some time in reading about Taxation in foreign countries and in Great Britain. It is one of the subjects which people call dry, but every man ought to know what Taxation is, and the author has in a short compass done what he could to explain the matter. I hope that some man will take his hint, and write a history of Taxation, which would be quite as instructive as a history of wars, which breed Taxation and other miseries also. viii I have added a few specimens of the author's poetry, or whatever people may choose to name it. These little pieces were written by the author long ago in the midst of serious occupations, and merely as an amusement. Some friends have thought that a few of these poems might be printed. If they please any readers, it will perhaps be those, of whom there are many in this country, who are acquainted with the legends and the poetry of the Greeks. The last piece seems to have been prompted by Horace's Epode, "Beatus ille qui procul negotiis," but it is hardly an imitation, nor did the author write it as a rival to that beautiful Latin poem. G. L. |