e minutes, during which he walked up and down
the room in a fit of abstraction, he suddenly paused, and said, as if
thinking aloud--

"Hem, hem--so you are going to cross the border, eh? That northern
intellect is strong. Able men the Scotch, a little too radical in
politics, and a little too liberal, as it is called, in a matter of much
greater consequence; but a superior people, on the whole. They will give
you a warm reception, will the Scotch. Your name will insure that; and
they are clannish; and another warm reception will, I assure you, await
you here, when, returning, you again _Cross the Border_."

CHAPTER XV. THE IRISH PREFACE.

Gentle reader,

If an Irishman were asked what a preface was, he would, without
hesitation reply, that it was the last chapter of a book, and we should
unquestionably pronounce that answer to be a bull; for how can prefatory
remarks be valedictory ones? A few moments' consideration, however,
would induce us to withdraw such a hasty opinion, and convince us that
his idea is, after all, a correct one. It is almost always the part
that is last written, and _we_ perpetrate the bull, by placing it at the
beginning instead of the end of the book, and denominating our parting
words introductory remarks.

The result of our arrangement is, that nobody reads it. The public do
not want to hear an apology or explanation, until it first ascertains,
whether the one can be accepted, or the other is required. This
contemptuous neglect arises from two causes, first because it is out
of place, and secondly because it too often contains a great deal
of twaddle. Unfortunately, one half of what is said in this world is
unmeaning compliment. A man who wishes to mark his respect for you,
among other inconvenient methods of shewing it, offers to accompany you
to the Hall. You are in consequence arrested in your progress. You are
compelled to turn on your pursuer, and entreat him not to come to the
door. After a good deal of lost time he is prevailed upon to return.
This is not fair. Every man should be suffered to depart in peace.

Now, it is my intention to adopt the Irish definition. The word preface
is a misnomer. What I have to say I shall put into my last chapter, and
assign to it its proper place. I shall also adopt another improvement,
on the usual practice. I shall make it as short as possible, and speak
to the point.

My intention then, gentle reader, was when I commenced this work, to