THE

UNKNOWN.

A ROMANCE.

YARMOUTH:

PRINTED BY CHARLES SLOMAN, KING-STREET.

THE

UNKNOWN;

OR,

THE NORTHERN GALLERY.

A ROMANCE.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

BY

FRANCIS LATHOM,

AUTHOR OF

THE MYSTERIOUS FREEBOOTER, THE IMPENETRABLE
SECRET, MYSTERY, &c. &c.

I'll read you matter deep and dangerous;
As full of peril and advent'rous spirit,
As to o'erwalk a current, roaring loud,
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear,

SHAKESPEARE.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR A. K. NEWMAN AND CO,

LEADENHALL-STREET.

PREFACE.

NOTWITHSTANDING the censors of literature continue to inveigh as warmly as ever against novels in the aggregate, the number of novel-readers increases every day; and this circumstance, of course, spurs on the writers of such compositions to greater vigour and animation: it would be as unnatural for them to lay down their pens, as for a candidate to decline an election when the majority of the suffrages were in his favour.

I think that my opinion is not more arrogant than justifiable, when I say,