LONDON: CHARLES FOX, 67, PATERNOSTER-ROW. --- 833. CONTENTS. Chapter Page 1. Midsummer Moonlight 1 2. A Harvest Eve 14 3. Fasters and Feasters 39 4. A Poor Man’s Induction 55 5. Taking Counsel 71 6. Too Late 102 7. The Breaking up 135 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. From the moment of beginning my work, one of my most anxious endeavours has been to keep myself out of the sight of my readers;—not from any affectation of reserve, but because, in this case, there is no necessary connexion between the author of the work and the matter discussed in it. Occasions have arisen, however, to induce me to speak in the first person, in a preface; and I now do so again on account of certain questions which have been publicly as well as privately treated, respecting the proper direction of the popular influence which is attributed to me, and which it would be equally weak and hypocritical in me to disclaim. What I wish to explain is,—briefly,—that I take my stand upon SCIENCE. Whether the truths attempted to be illustrated by me on this ground be Tory, Whig, or Radical, is a question to be determined, if they so please, by Tories, Whigs, and Radicals, and not (at least at present) by me. It comes within the scope of my object to illustrate certain principles of Social Morals, as well as of Political Economy; but it is altogether foreign to my purpose to determine by what political party those principles are the most satisfactorily recognized. I may have,—I have,—a decided opinion on this point; but, as it has nothing to do with my work, I must protest against all attempts on the part of those who speak of me as an author to render me distrusted by any one political party, or to identify me with any other.