Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source: Google Books
(https://books.google.com/books?id=2HRo7SbNiJoC)
2. The dipthong oe is represented by [oe].
My dear Miss Boyle,
I dedicate to you a work, the greater part of which was written manyyears ago, and long before I had the slightest intention of submittinganything I wrote to public criticism. It was intended originally forthe amusement of some of my personal friends; but many of the papersgot beyond that limited circle, and some I published myselfanonymously in various periodicals[1]. Those which were so published,received from persons whom I believed to be competent judges, so muchpraise that I determined to attempt a longer and more labouredcomposition, and to strive without concealment for the approbation ofthe public. Many of my friends attempted to dissuade me from so doing;and, while they assured me that they doubted not my capability ofacquitting myself well, endeavoured to make me look upon literaryefforts in a light in which such ennobling pursuits could never appearto my eyes.
Suspecting, notwithstanding their praises, that their view was, tosave me from a disappointment which they saw that my own want ofabilities would inevitably call upon me, I induced a friend to lay thefirst volume of a romance I had begun, before one to whose judgment Imight well look with full reliance. The opinion which was pronouncedupon that volume led me to proceed at once, without hesitation; butstill I had many a voice raised, amongst my friends, against mypurposes. The dread of criticism was endeavoured to be instilled intome, the difficulty of calling public attention was displayed to determe, the slight foundation for my hopes of fame, the anxiety ofsuspense, and the bitterness of disappointment. But still, supportedby the opinion of a few in whom I had greater confidence, Ipersevered; and never have regretted that I did so.
You, my dear young friend, are about to try the same adventure; and Icannot do better than dedicate to you these pages, from the success ofwhich my first literary hopes were derived. At the same time I cannothelp feeling in regard to your forthcoming romance, a considerableshare of responsibility, as it is upon my opinion, given after havingread it through, and thought of it in every point of view, that youare about to send it forth to seek the favour of the world. Thefeeling of that responsibility has of course been increased by hearingpersons for who