Memoirs

Memoirs, by Charles Godfrey Leland
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Title: Memoirs Author: Charles Godfrey Leland
Release Date: July 9, 2007 [eBook #22030] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS***
Transcribed from the 1894 London William Heinemann edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
MEMOIRS
BY CHARLES GODFREY LELAND (HANS BREITMANN)
WITH PORTRAIT
Second Edition LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1894 [All rights reserved]
FIRST EDITION (2 Volumes), October 1893.
p. ii
PREFACE.
It happened once in Boston, in the year 1861 or 1862, that I was at a dinner of the Atlantic Club, such as was held every Saturday, when the question was raised as to whether any man had ever written a complete and candid autobiography. Emerson, who was seated by me at the right, suggested the “Confessions” of Rousseau. I objected that it was full of untruths, and that for plain candour it was surpassed by the “Life of Casanova.” Of this work (regarding which Carlyle has said, “Whosoever has looked therein, let him wash his hands and be unclean until even”) neither Emerson nor Lowell, nor Palfrey nor Agassiz, nor any of ...