Excerpt from Proverbial Philosophy: In Four Series The reader who may wish to see how this book had beginning, continuation, and as now conclusion, is referred to the second Essay in the last series, - "Of this book's story." Concerning its merits or demerits, perhaps these have been sufficiently discussed both by friends and by foes; the author having now for some five and thirty years run the gauntlet of praise and censure with (he trusts) appropriate equanimity. The book then may by this time be allowed to speak for itself. As for the author, he would willingly have been left unnoticed by way both of portraiture and of memoir, but as the publisher desires the twain, because the public is supposed to require them, there is nothing for it but humble acquiescence: so, a recent likeness is affixed from a photograph; while the following sketch (originally published in the volume, "Representative Men") probably is enough by way of biography. - T. 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.