Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. In presenting, then, the present and other similar volumes to the ordinary reader, I anticipate some such questions as these Do you really put these stories into our hands as history? Are these marvellous tales to be regarded as poetry, romance, superstitious dream ing, or as historical realities? If you profess to believe in their truth, how do you reconcile their character with the universal aspect Of human life, as it appears to us and to our. Friends? And finally, if you claim for them the assent to which proved facts have a right from every candid mind, to what extent Of detail do you profess to believe in their authenticity? To these and similar questions I 1eply by the following Observations.

In presenting, then, the present and other similar volumes to the ordinary reader, I anticipate some such questions as these Do you really put these stories into our hands as history? Are these marvellous tales to be regarded as poetry, romance, superstitious dream ing, or as historical realities? If you profess to believe in their truth, how do you reconcile their character with the universal aspect Of human life, as it appears to us and to our. Friends? And finally, if you claim for them the assent to which proved facts have a right from every candid mind, to what extent Of detail do you profess to believe in their authenticity? To these and similar questions I 1eply by the following Observations.