Never was greater reluctance displayed in admitting even the palpable truths of a text, than what is displayed in the notes of M. Crapelet:  and whenever a concurring sentiment comes from him, it seems to exude like his heart’s life-blood.  Having already answered, in detail, his separate publication confined to my 30th Letter[13]—­(the 8th of the second volume, in this edition) and having replied to those animadversions which appear in his translation of the whole of the second volume, in this edition—­it remains here only to consign the Translator to the careful and impartial consideration of the Reader, who, it is requested, may be umpire between both parties.  Not to admit that the text of this Edition is in many places improved, from the suggestions of my Translators, by corrections of “Names of Persons, Places, and Things,” would be to betray a stubbornness or obtuseness of feeling which certainly does not enter into the composition of its author.

I now turn, not without some little anxiety, yet not wholly divested of the hope of a favourable issue, to the character and object of the Edition HERE presented to the Public.  It will be evident, at first glance, that it is greatly “shorn of its beams” in regard to graphic decorations and typographical splendour.  Yet its garb, if less costly, is not made of coarse materials:  for it has been the wish and aim of the Publishers, that this impression should rank among books worthy of the DISTINGUISHED PRESS from which it issues.  Nor is it unadorned by the sister art of Engraving; for, although on a reduced scale, some of the repeated plates may even dispute the palm of superiority with their predecessors.  Several of the GROUPS, executed on copper in the preceding edition, have been executed on wood in the present; and it is for the learned in these matters to decide upon their relative merits.  To have attempted portraits upon wood, would have inevitably led to failure.  There are however, a few NEW PLATES, which cannot fail to elicit the Purchaser’s particular attention.  Of these, the portraits of the Abbe de la Rue (procured through the kind offices of my excellent friend Mr. Douce), and the Comte de Brienne, the Gold Medal of Louis XII. the Stone Pulpit of Strasbourg Cathedral, and the Prater near Vienna—­are particularly to be noticed.[14] This Edition has also another attraction, rather popular in the present day, which may add to its recommendation even with those possessed of its precursor.  It contains fac-similes of the AUTOGRAPHS of several distinguished Literati and Artists upon the Continent;[15] who, looking at the text of the work through a less jaundiced medium than the Parisian translator, have continued a correspondence with the Author, upon the most friendly terms, since its publication.  The accuracy of these fac-similes must be admitted, even by the parties themselves, to be indisputable.  Among them, are several, executed by hands.. which now CEASE to guide the pen!  I had long and fondly hoped to have been gratified by increasing testimonies of the warmth of heart which had directed several of the pens in question—­hoped ... even against the admonition of a pagan poet ...