This is a reprint of the first book of sketches or---if we take Goldsmith's The Citizen Of The World for warrant---the first book of essays published in Australia. (Editors' Preface)

Henry Savery, the author of this book of sketches, came of an ancient and honourable family. (Biographical Introduction)

Perhaps it may be in the recollection of some portion of our readers that a few years ago, a series of numbers appeared in one of the London publications, under the title of "The Hermit In London". (Preface)

The object of the Essays which are compiled in this small Volume, is to impart information upon the state of manners and society in the Colony of Van Diemen's Land; to hold up to deserved ridicule, some of the vices and follies by which they are distinguished; to present a mirror wherein good qualities are exhibited, the possession of which is not always acknowledged---in a word, to present a picture of this infant state, which, it is hoped, may prove interesting as well as instructive, not only to its own component Members, but to the general Reader. (Author's Preface)