Read it through once

I say 'as nearly as I can conjecture,' for even now, after the space of so many years, my remembrance of some things is, and must be, imperfect. Presently I shall annex an extract from a journal which I once kept—though my pen has been more idle than it ought. But such as my materials are, I will strive to set my facts in order, giving as little of theory as may be, and that only where the facts themselves render it necessary.