text:  If they are so it is ten to one that the author finds reason to repent his superficial survey before he has concluded his work; and if he is fortunate enough to escape such stings of self-reproach he is quite certain that the blot will be marked by some kind friend or candid critic who will represent the thing omitted how trifling soever as the most important incident in the whole work and the neglect of which is wholly fatal to its credit as a book of authority