ENQUIRE WITHIN UPON EVERYTHING. "WHETHER YOU WISH TO MODEL A FLOWER IN WAX; TO ORNAMENT A VASE PREFACE. IF THERE be any among my readers, who, having turned over the pages of "ENQUIRE WITHIN," have hastily pronounced them to be confused and ill-arranged, let them at once refer to THE INDEX, or for ever hold their peace. The INDEX is, to the vast congregation of useful hints and receipts that fill the boundary of this volume, like the DIRECTORY to the great aggregation of houses and people in London. No one, being a stranger to London, would run about asking for "Mr. SMITH." But, remembering the Christian name, and the profession of the individual wanted, would turn to the DIRECTORY, and trace him out. Like a house, every paragraph in "ENQUIRE WITHIN," has its number,—and the INDEX is the DIRECTORY which will explain what Facts, Hints, and Instructions inhabit that number. For, if it be not a misnomer, we are prompted to say, that "ENQUIRE WITHIN" is peopled with thousands of ladies and gentlemen, who have approved of the plan of the work, and contributed something to its store of useful information. There they are, waiting to be questioned, and ready to reply. Only a short time ago, the facts and information, now assuming the conventional forms of printing types, were active thoughts in the minds of many people. Their fingers traced those thoughts upon the page, for the benefit of whomsoever might need information. We must not separate the thought from the mind which gave it birth; we must not look upon these writings as we should upon the traces left by the snail upon the green leaf, having neither form nor meaning. Behind each page some one lives to answer for the correctness of the information imparted, just as certainly as where, in the window of a dwelling, you |