AUTHOR OF HEATH'S PICTURESQUE ANNUAL, ROMANCE OF PHILADELPHIA: CAREY, LEA AND BLANCHARD. 1833. E.K. ADVERTISEMENT. THE picture of manners exhibited in the following tale, is applicable only to a particular epoch and country, and may, therefore, be said to be historical. It was not thought necessary, however, to imitate the historian in accuracy. Although some readers may detect an attempt to illustrate the less disgusting features of the bandit system, as it existed in Holland, Belgium, and the other countries of the Rhine; yet the author, in the main, was only anxious to produce an interesting romance. To show the nature of the materials on which his slight superstructure has been raised, a note is introduced at the end, containing a bona fide account of the banditti, extracted from another of his works. It has been remarked somewhere, that "the critic-judge of the LIBRARY OF ROMANCE, by admitting Schinderhannes' into the series, had pronounced a favourable judgment on his own work." This is true, although no doubt a little malicious. We all form a favourable judgment of our own work -every one of us; and the only difference in our individual case is, that, instead of having to wait for a confirmation of our judgment from a booksel ler, we are able to give the imprimatur ourselves. Lest this mode of Napoleonizing, however, should give offence, or excite suspicion, we beg leave to quote the following sentence from the preface to the first volume of the LIBRARY : "With regard to the editor's own contributions, which of course, are not meant to be alluded to in the preceding (laudatory) remarks, all that can be said of them is, that if they are not fortunate enough to meet with the indulgence of the public, they shall be at once discontinued." |