DEDICATORY EPISTLE TO SIR E. L. BULWER, BARONET, AUTHOR OF "PELHAM," "RIENZI," "ENGLAND AND THE ENGLISH," ETC. ETC. SIR EDWARD: WE are fully aware that your name, so deservedly illustrious, reflects a portion of its own light on our crude productions; and our gratitude is commensurate to the advantages we enjoy in dedicating our work to one whom public opinion has placed at the head of the Literati of the day; we need scarcely refer to the emulation excited by the juxtaposition of our names. We know we are subjecting ourselves to a servere ordeal by appearing in our present characters. We are aware, too, that at the present moment the attention of the whole civilized world is directed to our nation, and we feel there could scarcely be a more opportune period for the appearance of this work. That we have Authors of some eminence and celebrity among our people, we believe is generally acknowledged; but our men of genius have neglected the lighter branches of literature, directing their attention almost exclusively to theology, metaphysics, and philosophy. Even those who have desired to tread the more flowery paths of romance, have been prevented from appearing before the public, from a fear that however much they might excel, the prejudice existing against us as a nation, might reflect an odium on their work, and consign it to immediate oblivion. We have allowed no such feeling to deter us; for we think otherwise. The time is now arrived, or is rapidly approaching, when such narrow-mindedness, the |