INTRODUCTION 



BY 



DR. GRENFELL 



Having been myself long familiar with the ad- 

 mirable diaries of Captain Cartwright, and hav- 

 ing received no little personal inspiration from 

 them, I have often regretted they were not within 

 reach of more men of the present day. I have 

 even gone so far as to try and set time enough 

 aside to do a work myself that it had not pleased 

 any one else to do. I firmly believe, however, it 

 is only the scarcity of copies, and the little knowl- 

 edge of them, that has led to their not being pre- 

 viously published. Thus it may readily be con- 

 ceived how gladly I learned that Dr. Townsend 

 had undertaken this labour of love— a work I con- 

 sider altogether worthy of commendation. There 

 are too few classics of the type of Borrow 's 

 '' Bible in Spain " and \\niite's '' Natural His- 

 tory of Selbourne " that picture so clearly and 

 obviously trutlifully, the struggles and trials, the 

 joys and interests of a very human being— such 

 as most of us find ourselves to be. This book does 

 not conventionally portray the life of a saint, but 

 faithfully depicts that of a sinner— a class of 

 })ooks f)erhaps likely to do just as nnich good- 

 being more interesting and therefore likely to 



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