原版英文小说An Inland Voyage
To equip so small a book with a preface is, I am half afraid, to  sin against proportion.  But a preface is more than an author can  resist, for it is the reward of his labours.  When the foundation  stone is laid, the architect appears with his plans, and struts for  an hour before the public eye.  So with the writer in his preface:   he may have never a word to say, but he must show himself for a  moment in the portico, hat in hand, and with an urbane demeanour