PREFACE IN presenting a new volume of "Friendship's Offering" to the public, the editor, presuming on old acquaintanceship, was almost ready to forget the preliminary bow expected on such occasions. He is reminded, however, that there may be (will be was the expression of his Mentors)—a great many strangers in the company before which he has now the honour to appear; and that compliance, therefore, with an old custom will be both polite and prudent. For the success which this work has met with, and which, after seven years' prosperity, may be said to be perfectly unequivocal, he has of course to thank the contributors; but there are others to whom his thanks are not less due in courtesy and kindness and these are the individuals whose contributions have not been used. To them it is proper to remark, that the editorial privilege of rejection is frequently exercised without reference to mere talent. It was his study, soon after the con duct of the work was entrusted to his care, to preserve a certain unity of purpose which might render it rather a work published in numerous volumes, than a separate miscellany for each succeeding year; and many very valuable articles have been rejected, simply because they did not fall in, as nicely as he could have wished, with the general scope and plan, of his undertaking. Without intending to enter minutely into explanations, which he hopes will be conveyed distinctly enough by a perusal of the book itself, he may yet remark, that solid literary excellence, rather than the showy trifling of genius, has been the object of his pursuit. The way in which the volumes are "got up," to use a technical phrase uniting in so remarkable a manner, the qualities of durability and elegance, would of itself have suggested this; and it has been his ambition to qualify them in a moral, as well as physical point, of view, for taking their place, after the period of novelty is over, in the permanent repositaries of family literature. Without the slightest sacrifice of that most important of all the attributes of an annual amusement, it will be understood, he imagines, that a work like "Friendship's Offering," may be rendered fit to impress the mind, and to assist in forming the taste, exercising the judgment, and improving the heart. CONTENTS. Page 1 22 Courage. By Barry Cornwall ཤྩ ི ➢ ཚ ཚ བྷ The Last Look. By the Hon. Mrs. Norton......... Adelaide; or, The Lady of Song. By H. F. Chorley Evening Hours. By John Malcolm 72 |