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JEREMY LEVIS

TO THE

READER.

INDULGENT READER:

BEFORE thou beginnest the history of a life which God hath seen fit to visit with much vicissitude, I would have thee lend thy most diligent attention to the following simple caution.—

Bear then well in mind, through the whole course of this work, that thou art not reading a book of adventures, contrived merely for thy amusement and the author's profit-but the life of a being, neither above nor below the common line of mortality, whose misfortunes, brought upon him chiefly by his own folly, may prove to thee an instructive, while not uninteresting lesson. And be not offended that his most serious moods are often traversed by a strange vein of levity; for such, dear Reader, is the faithful transcript of his feelings. It would seem that some men come into this world merely to weep, and others-merely to laugh.

The same waves, that sink the former, but wash the latter with their spray. Of these latter am I: judge then accordingly

Liberius si

Dixero quid, si forte jocosius; hoc mihi juris

Cum venia dabis

A word more. Thou rememberest, doubtless, the preliminary story which Gil Blas tells his reader of the two scholars and the soul of the licentiate Pedro Garcias:-thou wilt apply his conclusion to the work before thee

Qui que tu sois, ami lecteur, tu vas ressembler à l'un ou à l'autre de ces deux écoliers. Si tu lis mes aventures sans prendre garde aux instructions morales qu'elles renferment, tu ne retireras aucun fruit de cet ouvrage; mais si tu le lis avec attention, tu y trouveras, suivant le précepte d'Horace, l'utile mêlé avec l'agréable.

Of what complexion soever thou mayest be, friendly reader, thou wilt certainly resemble one of those two scholars: for, if thou perusest my adventures, without perceiving the moral instructions they contain, thou wilt reap no harvest from thy labour; but, if thou readest with attention, thou wilt find in them, according to the precept of Horace, profit mingled with pleasure.-Smollet's Translation.

BOOK FIRST.

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