Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/226

 ¬a romance, and that I am set down as a writer who, for some reason or other, had adopted the fiction of another world, to convey some opi- nions regarding his own; a notion which has naturally enough gained ground by the consi- deration that many things may be put together under a mask of this description, which in a real and grave history it would not be so easy to -write. ¬This is all I have to say, since I cannot be duly sworn as a witness for myself; but I fre- quently smile when I think of the figure that many people will make very shortly, when the Admiralty shall have sanctioned my applica- tions, and when taxes have been raised for my next voyage, which unbelievers as well as be- lievers must pay. — These are the ways and means which can alone give credit to my work. ¬I am not a candidate for literary reputation, and shall bow with submission to our established critics, because their judgments have, for along ¬time, ¬ /n