against the of christianity with any class xiv preface of persons who in the words of swift have just enough religion to make them hate and not enough to make them love one another i have found it curious and interesting looking over the sheets of this to mark what important social improvements have taken place about us almost even since they were originally written the license of counsel and the degree to which are bewildered are yet susceptible of moderation while an improvement in the mode of conducting especially for is still within the bounds of possibility but legal have the claws of messrs and a spirit of self respect mutual forbearance education and for such good ends has diffused itself among their clerks places far apart are brought together to the present convenience and advantage of the public and to the certain destruction in time of a host of petty and prejudices by which the public alone have always been the the laws relating to imprisonment for debt are altered and the fleet prison is pulled down with such a within so short a period who knows but it may be discovered within this century that there are even in town and country who should be taught to shake hands every day with common sense and justice that even poor laws may have mercy on the weak the aged and unfortunate that schools on the broad principles of preface xv christianity are the best for the length and breadth of this civilized land that prison doors should be barred on the outside no less heavily and carefully than they are barred within that the universal of common means of decency and health is as much the right of the poorest of the poor as it is indispensable to the safety of the rich and of the state that a few petty boards and bodies � less than drops in the great ocean of humanity which around them � are not to let loose fever and consumption on god s creatures at their will or always to keep their little going for a dance of death j contents of volume i � chapter i the chapter n the first day s journey and the first evening s adventures with their consequences chapter hi a new acquaintance the s tale a disagreeable interruption and an unpleasant chapter iv a field day and more new friends and an invitation to the country chapter v a short one � showing among other matters how mr undertook to drive and mr to ride and how they both did it chapter vi an old fashioned card party the clergyman s verses the story of the s return chapter vii how mr instead of shooting at the pigeon and killing the crow shot at the crow and wounded the pigeon how xviii contents page the club played all and how all dined at the expense with other interesting and instructive matters chapter viii strongly of the position that the course of true love is not a railway chapter ix a discovery and a chase chapter x clearing up all doubts if any existed of the of mr s character chapter xi another journey and an discovery mr s determination to be present at an election and containing a manuscript of the old clergyman s chapter descriptive of a very important proceeding on the part of mr no less an epoch in his life than in this history chapter some account of of the state of parties therein and of the election of a member to serve in parliament for that ancient loyal and patriotic chapter xiv a brief description of the company at the assembled and a tale told by a papers the club chapter i the the first ray of light which the gloom and into a dazzling brilliancy that obscurity in which the earlier history of the public career of the immortal would appear to be involved is derived from the perusal of the following entry in the transactions of the club which the editor of these papers feels the highest pleasure in laying before his readers as a proof of the careful attention and nice with which his search among the documents confided to him has been conducted may joseph esq p v p m p c the following resolutions agreed to that this association has heard read with feelings of satisfaction and approval the paper communicated by samuel esq g c m p c t entitled speculations on the source of the perpetual vice president � member club f general � member club vol i papers of with some observations on the theory of and that this association does return its warmest thanks to the said samuel esq g c m p c for the same that while this association is deeply sensible of the advantages which must to the cause of science from the production to which they have just no less than from the of samuel esq g c m p c in and they cannot but entertain a lively sense of the benefits which must inevitably result from carrying the speculations of that learned man into a wider field from extending his travels and consequently his sphere of observation to the advancement of knowledge and the of learning that with the view just mentioned this association has taken into its serious consideration a proposal from the samuel esq g c m p c and three other named for forming a new branch of united under the title of the corresponding society of the club that the said proposal has received the sanction and approval of this association that the corresponding society of the club is therefore constituted and that samuel esq g c m p c esq m p c esq m p c and esq m p c are and appointed members of the same and that they be requested to forward from time to time accounts 