THE INITIALS
PREFACE.
Initial, adj. [Initial, Fr.; initialis, from initium, Lat.]
1. Placed at the beginning.
2. Incipient; not complete.—Johnson’s Dictionary.
Initial, ale. adj. Il se dit des lettres, des syllables qui commencent unmot. En termes de calligraphie et d’imprimerie, on appelle plus particulièrementlettre initiale, la lettre qui commence un livre, un chapitre, etc.
Il s’emploie aussi substantivement, au feminin, pour lettre initiale. Iln’a signé ce billet que de l’initiale de son nom, que de son initiale. Dansce manuscrit, les initiales sont en rouge.—Dictionnaire de l’AcadémieFrançaise.
I think these quotations authorise me to call the followingpages “The Initials.” According to Dr. Johnson, theywould be intended to be “placed at the beginning;” wouldbe “incipient; not complete.” It is the public who havenow to decide whether what has been placed at the beginningis to have a continuation, whether what is incipient, and notcomplete, is to be formed and completed.
Un billet signé d’une initiale gave rise to all the events hererelated; proving the truth of the words of Bayley, in hisEssays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions, that,“In everything we do we may be possibly laying a train ofconsequences, the operation of which may terminate onlywith our existence.” Had those initials not excited curiosityor interest, the so-signed billet would have been thrown asideand forgotten, or directed to the post-town from whence itcame, there to seek the writer, or to be consigned to thedead-letter office. And so it will be with these “Initials,”should they awake no interest, nor excite a wish to knowmore; they too will be thrown aside and forgotten, or it maybe that the manuscript will be redirected to the place fromwhence it came, thence to be consigned to merited oblivionin the dead-letter drawer of an old writing-table, among anumber of truths dressed in fiction, which had been intendedfor publication under the names of Journals, Reminiscences,Tales, Novels, or whatever else they may have been entitled.
My greatest consolation, in case of failure, will be that Ihave neglected no business or duty for the purpose of scribbling;it has only been with me the means of beguiling someidle hours, with no pretension to any other object; the wishto give a slight sketch of German characters and life, suchas I have myself, in the course of many years, been familiarwith, or have heard them described by others, can scarcelybe considered a more serious occupation.
I hav