In Prefaces, the pomposity of literature, and the literary cant of humility, are alike obnoxious to censure. If the writer of a Preface be deficient in respect for himself, it is impossible for him to be entitled to that of his readers; and, if he enjoy not the grateful consciousness, that his exertions deserve, though they may not command success, he ought not to stand forward as a candidate for public favour. Unlike those imprudent authors, to whom the quaint Spanish proverb applies—“Aviendo pregonado vino, venden vinagre” (having cried up their wine, they sell us vinegar)—the conductors of the Naval Chronicle would not, by injudicious boasting, bespeak attention, and expose imagination to disappointment; but, aware of what is reciprocally due, between themselves and the public, they only wish to attune the minds of their readers into a proper harmony of ideas, so that their tone may respond to the emotions which they are anxious to excite;—that the want of such a publication as the present may be felt, as a desire not elsewhere to be gratified.

As the Editors of the Naval Chronicle have only two opportunities, in each year, personally to address its readers, they avail themselves of the present, to solicit co-operation, on their parts, both in point of contribution, and in that of extending the publicity of the work.