Excerpt from The Sparrowgrass Papers: Or Living in the Country Doubtless you have read, in the work of a quaint old com mentator whose name has been quietly obscuring itself in the rust of nearly three centuries, these words - It hath beene the customs of many men to make their introductions to their boekes, like to some Grecian Cities gates; so ample, that (as the Prouerbc ranne), their Citie was ready to steale thorow the same. You and I who appreciate wisdom - especially if it be a little mouldy, at once recognized the value of the hint conveyed by that piece of antiquated orthography. Therefore, to you, the brevity of this preface will, I trust, commend the book quite as much as though I had taken the matter in hand through the length and breadth of a score of pages. As there is nothing in it worth a smooth-faced prologue, nothing that would be the better for an apology, and nothing worth review ing seriously, may I beg leave to present it without any introduction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.