To
S. L. O.,
AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN,
IN ACCORDANCE WITH WHOSE CLASSIC TASTE
THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE HAS BEEN DESIGNED,
IT IS NOW, IN RETURN FOR NUMEROUS DELIGHTFUL HOURS,
AND WITH THE KINDEST WISHES, Dedicated
BY HIS AFFECTIONATE FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER
If sailor tales to sailor tunes, Storm and adventure, heat and cold, If schooners, islands, and maroons And buccaneers and buried Gold, And all the old romance, retold Exactly in the ancient way, Can please, as me they pleased of old, The wiser youngsters of today :
—So be it, and fall on! If not, If studious youth no longer crave, His ancient appetites forgot, Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave: So be it, also ! And may I And all my pirates share the grave Where these and their creations lie!
Treasure Island.
