Transcribed from the 1825 Hurst, Robinson and Co. edition byDavid Price. Many thanks to the Bodleian Library for makingtheir copy available.
“Messer, dovete havete pigliate tantecoglionerie?” quoth the Reader.
Cardinal Ippolito d’Este toAriosto.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO.
5 WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL MALL;
AND A. CONSTABLE AND CO.EDINBURGH.
M.DCCC.XXV.
JOANNA BAILLIE,
AS A SLIGHTTRIBUTE OF ADMIRATION TO HER
RESPLENDENT TALENTS,
THIS VOLUME
ISDEDICATED,
BY
THE AUTHOR.
Pause one moment, gentleReader—only one little moment will I detain you, while Ireply to the question which I have supposed you to ask in thetitle-page. Blame not me, I beseech you, if you arecompelled to make the usual accusation against authors, thatthere is nothing new in the pages which I diffidently present toyou: I am sorry for it, but I cannot help it. Solomonasserted that all things under the sun were aged in his time; andif the wisest of old gentlemen could find nothing new in thatearly stage of his empire, what can be expected from a poorscribbler like me, near three thousand p. viiiyearsafter him? Consider too, dear Reader, that this is thefirst time I have appeared before you in the character of astory-teller; and that I am a timid, nervous subject, and veryeasily discouraged. Accept me then upon the score ofwishing to amuse you, and permit me to say something for myTales, after having said so much for myself.
Of the stories, “Der Freischütz,” as everybody knows, is from the German. “The Fortunes of Dela Pole” is original; so is “The Prediction,”and “The Yellow Dwarf,” if I may be allowed thatclaim for such a “thing of shreds and patches;” it isan olla podrida of odds and ends, a snip of the garment ofevery fairy tale written since the days of King Arthur. Thelast story, “The Lord of the Maelstrom,” is alsooriginal, though, as in that of “The Yellow Dwarf,” Ihave raised my structure upon an old nursery foundation; but itappeared to me an excellent vehicle for the beautiful mythologyp. ixof theNorth, and the introduction of Odin and his exploits,—whosehistory, by the way, I believe, has been extracted from theTalmud, or from the rabbinical traditions of the events previousto the creation, and the deeds of Moses and others. I,moreover, designed to have given thee a little poetry for thymoney, gentle Reader, but the booksellers shook their heads whenI mentioned my design, and told me it was out of fashion; so Ireturned my treasures in that way to my desk, there to remain,among many other excellent things, I assure thee, until it shouldagain be the taste in Englan