

vi FOREWORD 



was not altogether a disadvantage, because it made 

 possible more than one careful revision. And 

 I desire here to make grateful acknowledgment 

 of the valuable assistance I received from Mr. 

 Somerville Tattersall when the proofs were being 

 revised. Thanks to his remarkable memory he 

 was able to detect some errors that would other- 

 wise have escaped notice. 



One day the manuscript met with a misadven- 

 ture that might have had awkward consequences : 

 it was accidentally left in a taxi-cab, and for 

 forty-eight hours all trace of it was lost. In the 

 meantime I began to understand the tortures 

 Carlyle must have suffered when he learned that 

 the maid-servant of a friend to whom he had lent 

 the manuscript of his work, Frederick the Great^ 

 had used the precious sheets for lighting fires ! 

 From the moment of its recovery the " copy ** 

 of this Autobiography was jealously guarded. 

 Whether it merited this care is for others to 

 say. A father cannot be accepted as an un- 

 prejudiced witness concerning the virtues of 

 his children. 



When the preparation of the book began we 

 had to decide whether it should be a biography 

 or an autobiography. The latter form was 

 adopted, because it is more intimate and authorita- 



