Harzburg, June 1889. 



"_Lhe clays of our years are threescore years and 

 ten. or even by reason of strength fourscore years*' 

 - that is a serious monition to one who is approach- 

 ing the mean point between these limits, and who 

 has still much to do ! We ma^ indeed, speaking gene- 

 rally, console ourselves with the thought that others 

 will do what we ourselves have riot been able to 

 accomplish, that the world accordingly will be no per- 

 manent loser; but there are certain tasks in regard 

 to which this consolation is of no avail, since the 

 performance of them can devolve upon no other. In 

 this category falls the autobiographical narrative which 

 I have promised my family and my friends. 



I confess that the proposed undertaking has 

 weighed heavily on my mind, being fully conscious of 

 possessing the talent neither of the historian nor of 

 the man of letters, and having had always a more lively 

 interest in the present and the future than in the 

 past. Further I have no good memory for names and 

 dates, and also not a few events of my tolerably 

 changeful existence are utterly beyond recall. On the 

 other hand, however, I am desirous of being my own 



