t of the good offices of those who possess them, and
shall think myself entitled to no small praise if I am able to collect
into one focal spot the rays of a great number of luminaries. They also
may be very unequal to each other in lustre, and some of them may be
little better than twinkling and feeble stars of the hundredth
magnitude; but what is wanting in individual splendour will be made up
by the union of all their beams into one. My province shall be _to hold
the mirror up_ so as to assemble all their influence within its verge,
and reflect them on the public in such manner as to warm and enlighten.

"As I possess nothing but zeal I can promise to exert nothing else; but
my consolation is, that aided by that powerful spirit, many have
accomplished things much more arduous than that which I propose to
myself.

"Many are the works of this kind which have risen and fallen in America,
and many of them have enjoyed but a brief existence. This circumstance
has always at first sight given me some uneasiness, but when I come more
soberly to meditate upon it my courage revives, and I discover no reason
for my doubts. Many works have actually been reared and sustained by the
curiosity and favour of the public. They have ultimately declined or
fallen, it is true; but why? From no abatement of the public curiosity,
but from causes which publishers or editors only are accountable. Those
who managed the publication have commonly either changed their
principles, remitted their zeal, or voluntarily relinquished their
trade, or last of all, and like other men, have died. Such works have
flourished for a time, and they ceased to flourish, by the fault or
misfortune of the proprietors. The public is always eager to encourage
one who devotes himself to their rational amusement, and when he ceases
to demand or to deserve their favour they feel more regret than anger in
withdrawing it.

"The world--by which I mean the few hundred persons who concern
themselves about this work--will naturally inquire who it is that thus
addresses them. 'This is somewhat more than a point of idle curiosity,'
my reader will say, 'for from my knowledge of the man must I infer how
far he will be able or willing to fulfil his promises. Besides, it is
great importance to know whether his sentiments on certain subjects be
agreeable or not to my own. In politics, for example, he may be a
malcontent; in religion an heretic. He may be an ardent advocate for al