WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 439 



By the same Author, Post 8vo, 6s., 



SELF -HELP; 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER, CONDUCT, 

 AND PERSEVERANCE. 



"If I had read this look when I was a young man, my life would have teen very dif- 

 ferent." Such was the remark made to me by a friend on returning Smiles's ' Self- 

 Help,' which I had given him to read. 1 was very much struck by the observation ; 

 and while thinking of the immense effect which this incomparable book has produced 

 in England, and of the universally favourable reception which the Italian translation 

 has received in this country, I received a letter from Signor G. Barbera, in which he 

 invited me to write a book similar to the English one, but illustrated by Italian 

 examples. I was much astonished at his thinking me equal to the work : but his 

 valuable suggestion greatly delighted me, and I accepted his proposal with much cor- 

 diality." MICHELE LESSONA, in Volere e Potere. 



" ' Volere e Potere ' (' Will is Power '). Such is the title of a very interesting popular 

 work just issued by the eminent Florentine publisher, G. Barbera. The history of 

 this production is rather curious. It may not be known that the most remarkable 

 Literary success achieved of late years in Italy (where literary successes are the rarest 

 of all events) has fallen to the lot of Mr. Samuel Smiles's admirable ' Self-Help/ an 

 Italian version of which, published some time ago at Milan, has since gone through 

 several editions, and still appears to be in continual demand. The idea of the book 

 was a novelty for Italians, and the moral which it inculcates one so eminently deserv- 

 ing of being enforced upon all classes of the public of Italy, that the question soon 

 arose whether it would not be advisable to extend the sphere of its utility by promoting 

 the publication of a similar book, specially designed for Italian readers, and in which 

 the examples of patient industry and of untiring perseverance in the pursuit of a fixed 

 design should be drawn from home materials. An association founded in Florence 

 with the express object of stimulating the educational movement among the people, 

 offered a prize of SOOOf. for the best production of the kind, and all the literary men of 

 Italy were invited to compete. M. Lessona, an agreeable writer upon popular sub- 

 jects, has already entered the lists, and printed his work (' Volere e Potere ') without 

 waiting for the award of the committee appointed to decide between the rival compe- 

 titors. " Standard. 



" Une grande sagesse qu'on pourrait appeler la splendeur du bon sens, comme 

 Platon deflnissait le beau la splendeur du vrai, tel est le caractere qui distingue sur- 

 tout 'Self-Help.' Ce livre, si populaire cheznos voisins, repond admirablement aux 

 idees de la famille anglo-saxonne. Recevra-t-il chez nous le meme nccueil ? Je 1'es- 

 pere, mais il aura aussi, je le crains, plus d'un vieux prejuge a combattre. En France, 

 n'a-t-on point trop compt6 sur les institutions politiques malgre la duree ephemere des 

 gouvernements ? L'Etat peut faire du premier venu un ministre ; il ne saurait en faire 

 un grand homme, il meme un fonctionnaire integre et capable. II est done bon de 

 chercher & d'autres sources ces energies morales qui developpent et legeuerent les 

 societ&s." Revue des Deux Mondes. 



" Mr. Smiles's book is wise beyond the wisdom of any but a very few books that we 

 have read. The chapter on the use and abuse of money we must commend to the 

 reader's own perusal. It is pregnant with practical wisdom, and contains, besides, 

 some excellent remarks upon the improvidence of the working classes, and upon the 

 evils entailed by the pursuit of vulgar ' respectability ' among their so-called superiors. 

 ' Self-Help ' is one of the soundest, wisest, most instructive, and most wholesome 

 works we have opened for a long time." Leader. 



