SOLD BY H. GUY; SWINBORNE, WALTer, and taYLOR, COL-
CHESTER; W. MEGGY, YARMOUTH; LONGMAN AND CO. BALD-
WIN AND CO. HARRIS AND SON, DARTON AND HARVEY,
LONDON; AND BY ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN TOWN AND

COUNTRY.

1829.

188.

[ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL.]

PREFACE.

IN sending forth to the public the following sheets, which have been composed and printed more for private amusement and domestic use, than for the arena of public criticism, it will naturally be expected that the author should say something by way of ushering into the world this little offspring of the mind. But, as "none but an author knows an author's pains," it is difficult to divest ourselves of every particle of egotism when speaking of our own labours. The design of the present work has been to collect, investigate, and define, those articles which are most familiar in domestic uses, either as matters of taste, luxury, ornament, or necessity; each article forming a concise, but complete and untechnical, history of the subject upon which it treats. To instruct, amuse, and benefit the younger branches of society, has been the chief aim of the present publication. Amidst the numerous works which a prolific press has brought