We vow only when hurried into excesses; we are alarmed at the dominion which has been acquired over us by our feelings, or by our habits.

Checked for a time by an adherence to our resolutions, they gradually recover their former strength, until they again break forth, and we yield to their overpowering influence.

A few days after I had made the resolution, I found myself, like the sailor, _rewarding_ it by writing more indefatigably than ever.
So now, reader, you may understand that I continue to write, as Tony Lumpkin says, not to please my good-natured friends, "but because I can't bear to disappoint myself;" for that which I commenced as an amusement, and continued as a drudgery, has ended in becoming a _confirmed habit_.
So much for the overture.

Now let us draw up the curtain, and our actors shall appear upon the stage..