The Book of the Court - Exhibiting the History, Duties, and Privileges of the Several Ranks of the English Nobility and Gentry, Particularly of the Great Officers of State, and Members of the Royal Household #247558

A book without a preface is an anomaly. Custom demands a preface, even though it be brief as the posy of a ring; and every writer finds at least when his book is finished, if not before, the benefit and expediency of paying the tax, and of availing himself of the Opportunity thereby afforded, to apologise for the sins of omission, and commission, of which he has been guilty, and to pro pitiate, as far as possible, by a statement of what he wished to have done, the favorable judgment of the public upon what he has actually accomplished.