1 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by THOMAS BROWN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. ADVERTISEMENT TO SECOND EDITION. 955 ex On the publication of the first edition of EXETER HALL, the author had some grave misgivings as to the success of the work. Not that he was influenced, considerable as his outlay had been,- by any pecuniary sentiment; for the book was written without the slightest reference to worldly gain or fame: but what he feared was, that, through the opposition of the churches and certain influential portions of the press, he should be prevented from obtaining a general and candid hearing. This opposition, and much of an acrimonious private character, he has encountered, and overcome through the support afforded him by a few independent journals, and the countenance of fearless friends and readers. Hence the appearance of the present edition, and the existence of the lively hope, that another and yet another shall give further evidence of the liberal tendencies of the age, and the growing desire of the human family to free themselves from the degrading superstitions which have so long embarrassed the world, retarded the progress of true civilization, and set man at enmity with his neighbor. many LINDSAY, Ontario, Canada, November, 1870. THE AUTHOR. M505438 |