From Waterloo to the Peninsula, Vol. 1 of 2: Four Months Hard Labor in Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Spain (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

George Augustus Sala

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1332536379 ISBN 13: 9781332536375

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from From Waterloo to the Peninsula, Vol. 1 of 2: Four Months Hard Labor in Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Spain

His apparel must be mean, his back bent, his head cast down, his knees hinged, his hands submissively folded before him. Then, with bated breath - if he wishes to go to a second edition - he must say that he is very sorry for what he has done; he must promise amend ment for the next time; if he have any friends, he must' style them too partial if he have any enemies, he must strive to conciliate them by adroit flattery if he have a patron, or hope to have one, he must tell him, without sticking at the clumsiness of the compli ment, that he is good, and great, and beautiful; that he is an ornament to his sex, and a descendant of the Kings of Latium. There is no other way. I speak from experience. I have written twenty prefaces to books of mine own, and many more to books by other people. I have tried the preface argumentative, the preface self-asserting, the preface historical and critical, the preface circumlocutory, the preface sardonic, the preface contemptuous, and the preface indignant. Saddened, and I hope made wise, by many rebuffs, I have come to the conclusion that to achieve prefatory success the exemplar followed must not be Johnson, or Addison, or Steele - not Victor Hugo.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Product Description

Excerpt from From Waterloo to the Peninsula, Vol. 1 of 2: Four Months Hard Labor in Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Spain If a man desire to become proficient in the art of Ingeniously Apologizing - and there are a good many prizes in this world's tombola which may be won by the dexterous and persistent use of apology - he had best devote his time to the composition of prefaces. Very rarely indeed is a preface written without its author feeling bound to apologize for something or another. Now the excuse is elaborate; now it is abject. Sometimes the writer begs pardon all round; again he deprecates the ire of only one particular critic, or seeks to explain away his shortcomings in one particular respect. But he must cry peccavi! that is certain. Augustus may die with an invite on his lips for the audience to applaud the performance; but Horace must begin with a deprecatory invocation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1332536379
• ISBN 13: 9781332536375
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 358