PREFACE.

 

*

Many years have passed away since my
lamented brother first delighted a party of
children, assembled at a Christmas entertain-
ment, with the simple outline of this Tale.
It was repeated by him on other occasions
of a similar kind; and he was often urgently
entreated by his youthful audiences to pub-
lish the Story. During the summer of 1842,
after the first attack of the fatal disorder
which ultimately removed him from us, and
before his departure for Madeira in the au-
tumn of that year, he occupied himself in