PICTURES IN PRINT.

[DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO DICKENS.]

PICTURES IN PRINT:

BEING

RECOLLECTIONS IN RHYME,

AND

PENCILLINGS IN PROSE.

BY JOHN GIBSON,

LATE EDITOR OF THE KILMARNOCK HERALD,”
"CAMBRIDGE ADVERTISER,"

ETC.

Whate'er thou art, thy value will appear;
If thou art bad, no praise will buoy thee up;
If thou art good, no censure weigh thee down,
Nor silence, nor neglect prevent thy fame.
So fear not thou the critics.

CHARLES MACKAY,

KILMARNOCK:

M. WILSON, BOOKSELLER, 2, KING STREET;
LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL;

CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, PUBLISHER;

GLASGOW: ROBERTSON, BOOKSELLER TO THE QUEEN;
EDINBURGH: A. AND C. BLACK.

MDCCCLI.

KILMARNOCK:

PRINTED BY M. WILSON, KING STREET.

7.5 1906

JENAR

TO

CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ.,

MY DEAR SIR,

I GLADLY avail myself of your Special Permission to Dedicate this Volume to you, and fondly trust its perusal will yield the gratifying conviction that your high patronage has not been misapplied.

It is, believe me, with much pride and satisfaction that I embrace the privilege afforded me of laying before you, in a collected form, a few of the fugitive productions of my pen and pencil. The world-wide reputation of your numerous Works, which have justly ranked you as the first descriptive writer of the age, enhances, in my estimation, the condescension you have shown in so readily becoming sponsor, patron, and protector for this my mind's offspring.

I have woven the feelings of my heart into the fabric of which this Work is composed; and I am not conscious of having written down even an isolated thought calculated to injure private feelings, or excite individual prejudices-my great object being to contribute to the instruction and improvement of the mass of mankind.

Should my present project meet with the approbation of a Patron, whose name is as a "Household Word," I have little cause to anticipate the condemnation of a book-reading public.

I have the honour to be,

MY DEAR SIR,

KILMARNOCK, JUNE, 1851.

Yours very truly,

JOHN GIBSON.