Fragments and Scraps of History, Vol. 1

Excerpt from Fragments and Scraps of HistoryI'r may be satisfactory, if not even due, to those few friends for whom the private perusal of these pages is designed, to explain the reasons why this heterogeneous massof Fragments and Scraps is presented to them instead of some continuous his tory, of which, from what follows, it would seem there were abundant powers of selection. The fact is of easy, if not of satisfactory explanation. With the exception of a few passages in the original text, and in the notes, these Fragments are the growth of considerably more than thirty years. It will be seen that about thirty years ago (and about two years before I quitted my professional occupation, and accepted the invitation to undertake the duties, and to encounter the arduous and incessant labours.