Excerpt from Life of Sir Henry Vane the Younger, Statesman Mystic: 1613-1662 "It is the business and duty of historians to be exact, truthful, and wholly free from passion; and neither interest nor fear, hatred nor love should make them swerve from the path of truth, whose mother is History, rival of time, storehouse of deeds, witness for the past, example and counsel for the present, and warning for the future." Don Quixote, chap. IX (Ormsby's translation). "A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried, Above all pain, all passion, and all pride, The rage of power, the blast of public breath, The lust of lucre, and the dread of death." Pope to Oxford (Shorter Epistles). "Our joy is like a narrow raft Afloat upon the hungry sea, Hereon is but a little space, And all men, eager for a place, Do thrust each other in the sea - And each man, eager for a place Doth thrust his brother in the sea. And so our joy is wan with fears, And so the sea is salt with tears, Ah, well is thee, thou art asleep! Our life is like a curious play, Where each man hideth from himself. 'Let us be open as the day, ' One mask doth to the other say, When he would deeper hide himself - 'Let us be open as the day, ' That he may better hide himself. And so the world goes round, and round, Until our life with rest is crowned, Ah, well is thee, thou art asleep!" Old Song. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This 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.