OR,

THE REVERSES OF FORTUNE,

A TALE OF REAL LIFE,

BY

MARY JANE SHEILD.

LONDON:

WHITTAKER AND CO., AVE MARIA LANE; AND R.
GROOMBRIDGE, PANYER ALLEY.

GRANTHAM: S. RIDGE, HIGH-STREET.

PREFACE.

"The nightingale may claim the topmost bough,
While the poor grasshopper must chirp below;
Like him unnoticed, I, and such as I,
Spread little wings, and rather skip than fly."

COWPER.

THE oft repeated apology for intruding upon the notice of the public-"the solicitations of friends,"has truly been the cause of this narrative seeking a place amidst the various evanescent publications of the present day: and as the small and fragile bark sometimes meets with a better fate than does the stately vessel; so, perhaps, the insignificance of this unpretending little volume, compared with the tomes around, may save it from being utterly wrecked upon the rugged coasts of criticism.

Frieston, August 12, 1839.