Excerpt from Early MemoriesNothing really is easier than to find words of excellent appear ance to explain the compelling motives for writing one's memoirs or reminiscences or autobiography. Whatever we may say, how ever, whatever ingenious phrases we may employ, the main pur pose is to write about one's self, and the efficient reasons may all be summed up in the simple sentence: I do it because it gives me pleasure. In fact, to the well-regulated mind there is no pleasure equal to that of talking about one's self, and one's satis faction is not diminished by the inexorable necessity of seeming to talk about other people. My preface is already too long, even by these few words, and I will therefore end it here, trusting blindly for what is to follow in the assertion of Leslie Stephen, that no autobiography is dull.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.