x PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

In conclusion, I have to express the deep obligations which I
have been under, duriug the progress of my work, to Mr.
Thomas S, Alexander, now of New York, whose talents and
learning no Maryland lawyer will deem it invidious — in me
even — to praise. He would be displeased if I dwelt on the
extent of these obligations; but I cannot refrain from thus
alluding to the value, and my appreciation of the value of his
advice, his suggestions, his encouragement. And I have a simi-
lar acknowledgment to make to my friend, Mr. Thales A. Lin-
fhicuin, of the Baltimore Bar; but, between him and myself,
nothing more is necessary to be said than —and it has been to
me the most grateful alleviation of my labors — that he has all
along interested himself in my work just as if it had been his
own.

JULIAN J. ALEXANDER.

Baltimore, 25th August, 1870.