Pelham — Volume 08Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
History
Pelham — Volume 08
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
Adventure stories; English fiction -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction
Nevertheless, whatever I have seen, or heard, or felt, has been treasured
in my memory, and brooded over by my thoughts. I now place the result
before you,
"Sicut meus est mos,
Nescio quid meditans nugarum;--
but not, perhaps,
--totus in illis."
Whatever society--whether in a higher or lower grade--I have portrayed,
my sketches have been taken rather as a witness than a copyist; for I
have never shunned that circle, nor that individual, which presented life
in a fresh view, or man in a new relation. It is right, however, that I
should add, that as I have not wished to be an individual satirist,
rather than a general observer, I have occasionally, in the subordinate
characters (such as Russelton and Gordon), taken only the outline from
truth, and filled up the colours at my leisure and my will.
With regard to myself I have been more candid. I have not only shewn--non
parca manu--my faults, but (grant that this is a much rarer exposure) my
foibles; and, in my anxiety for your entertainment, I have not grudged
you the pleasure of a laugh--even at my own expense. Forgive me, then, if
I am not a fashionable hero--forgive me if I have not wept over a
"blighted spirit," nor boasted of a "British heart;" and allow that, a
man, who, in these days of alternate Werters and Worthies, is neither the
one nor the other, is, at least, a novelty in print, though, I fear,
common enough in life.
And, now my kind reader, having remembered the proverb, and in saying one
word to thee, having said two for myself, I will no longer detain thee.
Whatever thou mayest think of me and my thousand faults, both as an
author, and a man, believe me it is with a sincere and affectionate wish
for the accomplishment of my parting words, that I bid thee--FAREWELL!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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