Note A — Front matter
Reading edition
The passages marked with inverted commas in praise of what Sir N. H. Nicolas now condemns, are, mutatis mutandis, from his own letter of the 20th of October, 1837, inserted above, p. 5. They were not so marked in my original letter of the 25th of May. Sir Nicholas complains of this in the following words: "The English Public would learn with astonishment, the manner in which, by a series of unmarked quotations, a generous letter may be perverted to ungenerous purposes." The purpose for which I used his letter, was my own defence against his attacks,—his own former words being the most triumphant answer to his recent opinions; and I do not see why I should be found fault with, because I have shown that Sir Nicholas unsays now what he has formerly said, though he denied having said it. Does he mean to avow at last, that he has ventured to attack me recently, because he had forgotten, not his former opinions, (opinions so strongly entertained are not forgotten) but his having expressed them?
A. P.