Editor's note (at head of first instalment): I have received the following first chapter of the Life and Adventures of Clifford Carew, a gentleman who informs me that he has not yet arrived at middle age, and that he is cultivating advantageously a considerable number of acres not a hundred miles from Kyneton. My correspondent remarks that, since a strong spirit of enterprise must have impelled many to seek these shores, and not a few have had more than ordinarily special reasons for coming out hither, he has no doubt that there are hundreds in the colony who, if they so pleased, could contribute in no small degree to the entertainment and (haply) to the edification of the Victorian public by giving some account of themselves, and he is of opinion that a recital of his own adventures will not prove uninteresting to the general reader. That remains to be seen. Meanwhile, in the faith that he will be as good as his word, and approve himself at least a punctual correspondent, I print his first chapter, sincerely hoping for his sake, and for the sake of My Note Book, that his contribution may find favour in the eyes of my readers.