The influences of hope and fear, the trials of fortitude and constancy, which took place in this city in the autumn of 1793, have, perhaps, never been exceeded in any age.

It is but just to snatch some of these from oblivion, and to deliver to posterity a brief but faithful sketch of the condition of this metropolis during that calamitous period.

Men only require to be made acquainted with distress for their compassion and their charity to be awakened.

He that depicts, in lively colours, the evils of disease and poverty, performs an eminent service to the sufferers, by calling forth benevolence in those who are able to afford relief; and he who portrays examples of disinterestedness and intrepidity confers on virtue the notoriety and homage that are due to it, and rouses in the spectators the spirit of salutary emulation.
In the following tale a particular series of adventures is brought to a close; but these are necessarily connected with the events which happened subsequent to the period here described.

These events are not less memorable than those which form the subject of the present volume, and may hereafter be published, either separately or in addition to this.
C.B.B.
ARTHUR MERVYN..