INTKODUCTION . Ix 



T^orbidden to write, and too weak to hold a 

 pen, I strove feebly with a pencil to trace my 

 thoughts upon odd scraps of paper, which I 

 thrust away in my desk without any definite 

 idea as to what should eventually become of 

 them. In July, whilst staying at a country 

 house near Shrewsbury, I one day came upon 

 these shorthand jottings, and, having leisure- 

 time upon my hands, set to work and put 

 them into form. A line to the Editor of The 

 Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, with 

 whom, I may state, I had had no previous 

 acquaintance, brought an immediate reply, to 

 send my work for consideration. I did so; 

 called upon him by appointment when I came 

 a few days later to London; made all arrange- 

 ments in a three-minutes interview ; and the 

 first of my series of papers appeared shortly 

 after. That they were successful, far beyond 

 their deserts, is to me a proud boast. On 

 liheir conclusion numerous firms negotiated 



