THE REMINISCENCES OF AN IDLER BY HENRY WIKOFF \?\3-1884 AUTHOR OF "MY COURTSHIP AND ITS CONSEQUENCES," ROVING DIPLOMATIST," ETC., ETC. NEW YORK FORDS, HOWARD & HULBERT 1880 mich. st. Lib. of. 9-19-1923 A PRELIMINARY WORD. I HAVE often been urged to write a book of Reminiscences by friends who knew that, during my career, I had come in contact with many persons of various kinds of celebrity. At times I was tempted to undertake it, but the difficulties of the task filled me with distrust and invariably forced me to abandon it. The dread of giving offence to persons living, or of wounding the susceptibilities of the descendants of those dead, were obstacles that appeared insuperable. It seemed to me, also, well-nigh impossible to make a mere series of personal sketches interesting to the general reader. At length it occurred to me that I might manage to blend an outline of the public events of the past forty years and upwards with random portraits of prominent individuals on both sides of the Atlantic in such a manner as to interest the public and thus secure an appreciation for my volume that purely personal recollections would fail to command. With this double aim I have written the present work, and I bespeak for it the indulgent consideration of my readers, as it was composed amid the interruptions of a busy social life, and often at considerable intervals of time. Without longer preface I commit my book, with "all its imperfections on its head," to its uncertain fate, and we have ancient authority that books, like men, have their special destinies : 66 Habent sua fata libelli." After due reflection I determined to throw my souvenirs into an autobiographical form, as affording greater freedom both as regards subject and style. NEW YORK, April, 1880. THE AUTHOR. |