IF any reader caress to know the way in which this little book came into existence, here it is:- I was down spending a holiday last May in the beautiful Manse of Glencairn, with an old fellow-student, who is now parish minister there. One day, a curious little blunder which had been made in a telegraphic despatch set me thinking about the various kinds of blunders and mistakes I had come across in reading and experience, and the absurd positions into which people had been placed by reason of them. The issue of this was a chapter of “Recreations” sent to the Glasgow Herald, which brought in so many letters furnishing additional instances of the kinds of blunders and slips described, that when asked to republish the “Recreations” in the form of a book, I was less reluctant than I would otherwise have been to comply, since republication would furnish an opportunity of introducing a number of these contributed specimens, which I was reluctant that those interested in my own should lose. To the contributors of these additional cases I take this opportunity of returning my thanks, as also to the Editor of the Glasgow Herald, for his hearty permission to republish those which I had sent to him.
D. M.