THE "Conversations" which form the greater part of the succeeding pages were originally published in the London New Monthly Magazine, during the years 1830 and 1831, and while that periodical was yet edited by Mr. Campbell. They were received with great approbation in England, and many of them were copied in various publications on this side of the Atlantic, where the interest they excited and the favour they obtained, were not less, or less general, than in the land of their origin. Until now, however, they have not in either country been given to the public in a collected form; and in the United States it is believed that it would be difficult, if not almost impossible, to obtain a complete copy,-some of the Conversations having never been republished here, and those which were, having appeared singly, at intervals, and in different publications. These considerations, and the great merit of the pieces themselves,-which although very distinct in their character, have been by the public voice pronounced in no respect inferior to the other writings of Mr. Bulwer, added to the almost unrivalled popularity of his works, have induced the Publishers to take some pains to procure the whole series for publication; which, therefore, they now offer to the reader, together with several other articles from the same pen, but of a more diversified and less didactic character, some of which have not before been published in America; trusting that the whole will be found to constitute a collection not unworthy of the talents and reputation of the author, or of a measure of approbation as cordial and general as that which has heretofore been so liberally awarded to the results of his literary efforts. New-York, May, 1832. CONVERSATIONS WITH AN AMBITIOUS STUDENT IN ILL HEALTH. I HAVE always loved the old form of dialogue; not, indeed, so much for investigating truth, as for speaking of truths, after an easy yet not uncritical or hasty fashion. More familiar than the essay, more impressed with the attraction of individual character, the dialogue has also the illustrious examples of old-to associate the class to which it belongs with no commonplace or ignoble recollections. It may perhaps be still possible to give to the lighter and less severe philosophy a form of expression at once dramatic and unpedantic. I have held of late some conversations that do not seem to me altogether uninteresting, with a man whom I have long considered of a singular and original character. I have obtained his permission to make these conversations public perhaps, of all modes of effecting this object, a periodical work may afford the best. The subjects treated on, the manner of treating them, may not be deemed of sufficient importance for publication in a separate form. Besides and to say the truth— I have always set a high value on the dignity of a book. It seems to me necessary that a book, be it only a novel (I say only, in compliance with the vulgar), should illustrate some great moral end: it should be a maxim brightened into a picture. The conversations I am about to record are far too desultory to realize this character. They are scattered and broken in themselves-scattered and broken be the method of their publication. Perhaps, indeed, they would remain alto |