always more vividly presented to our mind when we
strive to recall 'em, sitting as old men in the ingle-nook, than are the
events of complete manhood. Yet do I assure those who have been at the
pains to scan the chapters that have gone before, that it would be easy
for me to sit down with the Fidelity of a Ledger-Keeper all the things
that happened unto me from my eighteenth year, when I last bade them
leave, and the year 1747, when I had come to be three-and-thirty years
of age. I remember all: the Ups and Downs; the Crosses and the Runs of
Luck; the Fortunes and Misfortunes; the Good and the Bad Feasts I sat me
down to, during an ever-changing and Troublous Period. But, as I have
said, I have been moved thus to skip over a vast tract of time through
Prudence. There may have been certain items in my life upon which, now
that I am respectable and prosperous, I no more care to think of. There
may be whole pages, close-written and full of Stirring Matter, which I
have chosen to cancel; there may be occurrences treated of which it is
best, at this time of Day, to draw a Veil over. Finally, there may be
Great Personages still Living who would have just cause to be Offended
were I to tell all I know. The dead belong to all the World, and their
Bones are oft-times Dug up and made use of by those who in the Flesh
knew them not; but Famous Persons live to a very Great Age, and it is
sometimes scandalous to recount what adventures one has had with 'em in
the days of their hot and rash Youth. Had I permission to publish all I
am acquainted with, the very Hair upon your Head might stand up in
Amazement at some of the Matters I could relate:--how Mean and Base the
Great and Powerful might become; how utterly Despisable some of the most
Superb and Arrogant Creatures of this our Commonwealth might appear. But
I am prudent and Hold my Tongue.

Again, and for the Second Reason, I am led to pass over these fifteen
years through a feeling that is akin to Mercy and Forbearance towards my
Reader. For I well know how desperately given is John Dangerous to a
wordy Garrulity--how prone he is to make much of little things, and to
elevate to the dignity of Important and Commanding Events that which is
perchance only of the very slightest moment. By Prosing and Amplifying,
by Moralizing and Digressing, by spinning of yarns and wearing of
reflections threadbare, I might make a Great Book out of the pettiest
and most uneventful career; but even in