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LONDON
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. LIMBIRD, 143, STRAND.
_(Near Somerset House.)_

1829


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PREFACE.

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We begin to think that a long Preface in this season of _ennui_ would be
almost as tiresome as tragedy in warm weather, and much more so than the
trite three-line Prologue in Hamlet. Our materials are collected from all
quarters, with but little of our own; so that we might praise all the
authors without the charge of uncommon vanity; but panegyric savours much
of the poppy, and we must use it accordingly.

Our thanks are first due to such Subscribers as have, by personal
observation and research, enabled us to throw a light on certain obsolete
customs or portions of our domestic history; for these contributions form
a prominent feature of the Correspondence of THE MIRROR; it being our
object, in this department, to gather facts rather than to draw only upon
the invention of our friends. In support of this system we could select
many specimens from the Correspondence of the present volume, the