Excerpt from The History of Birmingham A preface generally induces a man to speak of himself, which is deemed the worst sub ject upon which he can speak. In a History we become acquainted with things, but in a Preface with the author; and, for a man to treat of himself, may be the most difficult task of the two; for in history, facts are produced ready to the hand of the Historian, which give birth to thought, and it is easy to clothe that thought in words: but in a Preface, an author is obliged to forge from the brain, where he is sometimes known to forge without fire. In one case he only reduces a substance into form but in the other, he must create that substance. As I am not an author by profession, it is no wonder if I am unacquainted with the modes of authorship but I apprehend, the usual method of conducting the pen, is to polish up a sound ing title-page, dignified with scraps of Latin, and then to hammer up a work to fit it, as nearly as genius, or want of genius; will allow. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.