About half of the sketches in these volumes have already appeared in
print, in various periodical works. A part of the text of one tale, and
the plots of two others, have been borrowed from French originals; the
other stories, which are, in the main, true, have been written upon
facts and characters that came within the Author’s observation during a
residence in Paris.
As the remaining papers relate to public events which occurred during
the same period, or to Parisian Art and Literature, he has ventured to
give his publication the title which it bears.
LONDON, _July_ 1, 1840.