PREFACE.


Each volume of a successful periodical miscellany resembles Seneca's
"one good turn--a shoeing-horn to another;" and the Editor of THE
MIRROR, in prefacing his _tenth volume_ with this comparison, hopes
that he does not over-rate what the present patronage of the public
encourages him to expect. Indeed, he would fear the suspicion
of ingratitude on his part, were he not thus to acknowledge the
long-extended success which has attended his labours, from their
commencement to the present moment. At the same time, lest vanity
should be thought to have mastered his better judgment, he assures
his patrons that he does not claim the undivided merit of his good
fortune; since, beyond his own taste of adaptation and selection,
he "misses nothing he can fairly lay his hands on;" so that, the
multiplicity of his resources being considered, his success is,
perhaps, more complimentary to the discernment of the public, than it
is laudatory of his individual exertions.

As many readers would yawn over a long preface like so much Latin,
the Editor will not, in the present instance, subject them to so
extraordinary a stretch of _ennui_, by any lengthy comment on the
character of his last volume. He hopes that its contents will be
found equal to either of its predecessors; and, if any superiority be
observed, he begs that it may be attributed to the "march of mind," in
whose rank and file he may be allowed his proper order.

Like the well-graced actor, who, at the conclusion of a play, bows