The work was upon the easel for exactly a year.

It was November (1790) before the result came into the hands of the public.

It was a small octavo of three hundred and fifty-six pages, in contents rather less than twice the present volume, bound in an unlettered wrapper of gray paper, and sold for five shillings.

In less than twelve months it reached its eleventh edition, and it has been computed that not many short of thirty thousand copies were sold within the next six years.
The first curiosity had languished in the course of the long delay, but it was revived in its strongest force when the book itself appeared.

A remarkable effect instantly followed.