PREFACE

TO

THE FIRST EDITION

Baron Munnikhouson or Munchausen, of Bodenweder, near Hamelyn on the
Weser, belongs to the noble family of that name, which gave to the
King's German dominions the late prime minister and several other public
characters equally bright and illustrious. He is a man of great original
humour; and having found that prejudiced minds cannot be reasoned into
common sense, and that bold assertors are very apt to bully and speak
their audience out of it, he never argues with either of them, but
adroitly turns the conversation upon indifferent topics and then tells
a story of his travels, campaigns, and sporting adventures, in a manner
peculiar to himself, and well calculated to awaken and shame the common
sense of those who have lost sight of it by prejudice or habit.

As this method has been often attended with good success, we beg leave
to lay some of his stories before the public, and humbly request
those who shall find them rather extravagant and bordering upon the
marvellous, which will require but a very moderate share of common
sense, to exercise the same upon every occurrence of life, and chiefly
upon our English politics, in which _old habits_ and _bold assertions_,
set off by eloquent speeches and supported by constitutional mobs,
associations, volunteers, and foreign influence, have of late, we
apprehend, but too successfully turned our brains, and made us the
laughing-stock of Europe, and of France and Holland in particular.