_The chief beauty of this book lies not so much in its literary style_, _or in the extent and usefulness of the information it conveys_, _as in its simple truthfulness_.

_Its pages form the record of events that really happened_.

_All that has been done is to colour them_; _and_, _for this_, _no extra charge has been made_.

_George and Harris and Montmorency are not poetic ideals_, _but things of flesh and blood--especially George_, _who weighs about twelve stone_.

_Other works may excel this in dept of thought and knowledge of human nature: other books may rival it in originality and size_; _but_, _for hopeless and incurable veracity_, _nothing yet discovered can surpass it_.