Synopses & Reviews
THE QUALITY of English epistolary correspondence 1s not surpassed by that of any other European nation. In quantit and variety France is our only successful rival., So extensive and various are our own coIlections that hc vho h as not made a diligent hole-and-corner search for him self can have no idea of their scope and character. In putting forth this volume I need scarce3 say that i t is not, and can not be, a complete treasury of English letters from the Lancastrian to the Victorian era. I have simpIy endeavoured, after a careful survey of nearly five hundred volumes, to make my scanty plot of ground rich with some of the best and brightest flowers of epistolary literature. The preservation of an uniform measure of literary excellence, after the manner of the Golden Treasury of Poetry, was the object which at first was attempted in the process of selection but as the field of choice, thus limited, proved to be so very narrow, and the authors so few, the addition of letters cornbining decided literary merit with features of special interest seemed requisite to save the volume from overmuch severity of tone. Jlr. Carlyle somenvbere defines good letters as an uncounted handful of needles to be collected from an unmea mred continent of ha. Given sufficient time, opportunity, and inclination, and most men may explore this vast continent, but it is doubtful whether any single traveller molild be fortunate enough to pick up all the needles. I am sensible of comparative failure after a long journey of reseal-ch, and I know that many a gem must still lurk in dark corners hut I must be content to depend on the magic of patience, and to the kindly assistance of all who may take an interest inthis clesip, to bring many more fine specimens to light. Most of the letters, it will be observed, are introduced by a critical or explanatory head-note, worded in as condensed n form as possible. As many readers may consider these notes somewhat dogmatic, and even entirely superfluous, it is ne cessary to state that their introduction, as a prominent and essential feature of the plan, is prompted by the hope that the volume as a whole may commend itself to the young and unenlightened equally with their more cnltured elders especially as, I venture to hope, there will nowhere be found a page to offend the most fastidious reader. I am not aware of the existence of any comprehensi ee and well-considered collection of English letters suitable alike for the purposes of instruction and recreation, in spite of the repeated pitiful complaints that the art of letterwriting so graceful an adornment of our older literature, has dwindled down to the proverbial hurried scrawl of the present hour. And yet the study of this art has not been abandoned for want of, but in spite of, the urgent advocacy of many English classical writers. John Locke, in his cssay on Education, remarks L When they understand how to mite English with due connesion, propriety, and, order, and are pretty well masters of a t o l e r d e narrative style, they may he advanced to writing of letters wherein they should not be put upon any strains of wit or compliment, but taught to express their own plain easy sense without any incohereucc, confusion, or roughness. . . ...
Synopsis
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.