PREFACE 



The present volumes would not have been written 

 had not the representatives of my English and 

 American publishers assured me that they would 

 probably interest a large number of readers. 



I had indeed promised to write some account of 

 my early life for the information of my son and 

 daughter, but this would have been of very limited 

 scope, and would probably not have been printed. 



Having never kept a diary, except when abroad, 

 nor preserved any of the earlier letters of my friends, 

 I at first thought that I had no materials for any 

 full record of my life and experiences. But when I 

 set to work in earnest to get together whatever 

 scattered memoranda I could find, the numerous 

 letters I possessed from men of considerable emi- 

 nence, dating from my return home in 1862, together 

 with a few of my own returned to me by some of 

 my correspondents, I began to see that I had a fair 

 amount of material, though I was very doubtful how 

 I far it would interest any considerable number of 

 readers. 



As several of my friends have assured me that a 

 true record of a life, especially if sufficiently full as to 



