PREFACE. They THE Letters which form the greater part of the present Volumes were selected by Mr. Pinkerton himself for the purpose of publication. include, among others from personages known to fame, epistles by Lord Buchan, Gibbon the historian, and Horace Walpole, besides a copious store of curious anecdotes, exhibiting the history of a literary man from the beginning to the end of his career; a man of a capacious mind, great acuteness, strong memory, restless activity, and extraordinary perseverance. These anecdotes afford a striking proof of the power of talents and industry to raise their possessor in the scale of society, as well as in the opinion of the world. Unfortunately, they are also calculated to read us another and not less instructive lesson, that somewhat more is required to turn such 927133 |