7/26 But any merit that the book has comes, I am sure, from the total absence of effort on my part to make an impression. I wrote for my friends; and what one does easily, one does well. I reveled in the writing of the book, as I had in the journey itself. Published by the Scribners in 1883 under the title of _An American Four-in-Hand in Britain_.] The year 1886 ended in deep gloom for me. My life as a happy careless young man, with every want looked after, was over. |