AFTER MANY DAYS. A TALE OF SOCIAL REFORM. BY SENECA SMITH. LONDON: W. TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND, W. C. MDCCCLX. 249. t. 600. PREFACE. I HAVE undertaken a narrative of human weakness in temptation, of fearful falls from virtue, and of ultimate redemption. To many it will occur, that themes so sombre should be handled with funeral sadness, and to such my indulgence in the comic vein may appear a violation of good taste-if nothing more. But I prefer to invest my characters and incidents with the motley which is the common wear of human life—that strange yet universal garb in which the mournful and the gay, the tragic and the grotesque, so constantly intermingle. After much consideration, I have concluded that it would be unprofitable, and even unfair, to disguise the purport of the tale; and, therefore, I make free to commence at a stage which is really very far in advance of the main incidents of the tale. The reader will find himself at once surrounded by characters and circumstances which he will not thoroughly understand till he has come to the closing pages of the book. The considerations which have determined the precise characters and careers of the dramatis persona, are too numerous when taken together, and too insignificant sepa rately, to admit of either full or partial exhibition in a preface. It may be enough to remind the reader, that the majority of young men are not heroes nor geniuses, but exceedingly weak and conceited creatures-ever beset with temptations, which often prove too strong for the wise, the beautiful, and brave; and which, while they serve to blight the beautiful, to cripple the brave, and to befool the wise, inflict ignominious ruin on the weak. NOTE. This Tale was written five years ago, and it is now given to the public without alteration, except in one particular. It became necessary to shorten the narrative. In an artistic point of view this abridging process has been done very awkwardly; for it leaves a considerable amount of matter in the volume which has but slight apparent connexion with the narrative. On the other hand, the author less regrets the awkwardness which nearly isolates the Introductory Book, as it enables him to offer a description of certain scenes which, so far as he is aware, have never been worked up into any fiction. LONDON, 1860. |