PETER PARLEY'S MAGAZINE. A Christmas and New Year's Present for Young People. LONDON: DARTON AND CO., 58, HOLBORN HILL, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. MDCCCXLVIII. PREFACE. GAIN, my dear children, your old friend, PETER PARLEY, greets you with a hearty welcome and another volume of varieties, both grave and gay. It is now a good many years since I first wrote for young persons; and I often meet, in my travels, with men and women, who, when they were children, used to read my works; and, I can say, that every one I have met with always appears glad to see me. I do not think this arises from any great talent in myself, but rather because I am plain and simple-spoken, and am not fond of making mysteries of things which are easily explained; and because I am cheerful and merry-hearted, and have nothing of the pedagogue about me. It is true, I am now getting an old man, but not so very old; and I hope, under the blessing of God, to be able to please my young friends for many years to come. I have many new things in store for them, both in prose and in verse, and many tales untold, which, at the proper season, shall be forthcoming. I say this by way of Parley; let me now wish all my young readers the compliments of the merry season which is coming. May they enjoy, with all the rapture that young hearts know, the fun of the holidays; the frolic of the Christmas gatherings; the joy and festivities of the household hearth; the love, the kisses, the caresses of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aye, and of grandmothers and great grandmothers, if you will; may love beat high in all your young bosoms, my little ones; and duty and affection, sincerity and truth, guide you in all your actions, both at home and abroad; and may the Giver of every good gift bless and preserve you, and keep you cheerful and happy through the festivities of many a Christmas, and make every new year more happy than the last. Such is the sincere and heartfelt prayer of Your old and affectionate friend and companion, VI. Of a Dog that could and could not reckon Time 141 Children's Inheritance Heroism of the British-Cochrane at Basque Roads Lady Grey pleading with Edward IV. for the Restoration of her 321 |