{"product_id":"2940012773654","title":"BYGONES WORTH REMEMBERING Volume I","description":"PREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf the preface of a book be a plea to the reader, its force must lie in\u003cbr\u003ethe aims of the author. In the following pages his main aim has been\u003cbr\u003eto be of service to somebody. That is a principle, which, amid the\u003cbr\u003eravelment, perplexity, and entanglements of the world, always finds a\u003cbr\u003epathway open. Such a principle is as an All-Seeing Eye, to which he who\u003cbr\u003eacknowledges it, is amenable, since it makes plain to him the devious,\u003cbr\u003etime-serving byways he should avoid.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe writer has no interest, no taste, no trust, save in definite,\u003cbr\u003everifiable ideas. His aim has been to keep clear of the Sin of\u003cbr\u003ePretension, which consists in declaring, or assuming to be true, that\u003cbr\u003ewhich the writer or speaker does not know to be true. What errors\u003cbr\u003enegligence of this rule has bred! What misdirection it has perpetuated!\u003cbr\u003eInto how many labyrinths, where truth was not to be found, has it led\u003cbr\u003emen! What can be more useful, or holier, than inciting the reader to\u003cbr\u003ebeware of pretension in speech, in morals, in politics, and in piety?\u003cbr\u003eTo keep as clear as possible of this universal sin may serve many and\u003cbr\u003emislead none.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProfessor Jowett has told us that \"where Inquiry is denied at the door,\u003cbr\u003eDoubt gets in at the window.\" This is the way it came to the writer\u003cbr\u003eof this preface, and accounts for a certain liberty of expression the\u003cbr\u003ereader may meet with, if he ventures further into these pages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA sentence of Mr. Allen Upward will sufficiently describe the spirit\u003cbr\u003eof this book: \"Let us try to tolerate each other instead of trying to\u003cbr\u003econvert each other.\" The author disclaims belonging to that class who\u003cbr\u003ehave \"great expectations,\" which are as vain in literature as in life.\u003cbr\u003eThe utmost the author looks forward to is that semi-friendly applause\u003cbr\u003ewhich is accorded to a platform speaker, not so much for any merit in\u003cbr\u003ehis oration as for his unexpected consideration for the audience by\u003cbr\u003econcluding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eG. J. HOLYOAKE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I. CONCERNING BYGONES PREFATORY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was a saying of Dryden that \"Anything, though ever so little, which\u003cbr\u003ea man speaks of himself, in my opinion, is still too much.\" This depends\u003cbr\u003eupon what a writer says. No man is required to give an opinion of\u003cbr\u003ehimself. Others will do that much better, if he will wait But if a\u003cbr\u003eman may not speak of himself at all--reports of adventure, of personal\u003cbr\u003eendeavour, or of service, will be largely impossible. To relate is not\u003cbr\u003eto praise. The two things are quite distinct. Othello's imperishable\u003cbr\u003enarrative of his love of Desdemona contained no eulogy of himself. A\u003cbr\u003estory of observation, of experience, or of effort, or estimate of men\u003cbr\u003eor of opinions, I may venture upon--is written for the reader alone. The\u003cbr\u003ewriter will be an entirely negligible quantity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Rosebery, who can make proverbs as well as cite them, lately\u003cbr\u003erecalled one which has had great vogue in its day, namely, \"Let bygones\u003cbr\u003ebe bygones.\" Life would be impossible or very unpleasant if every one\u003cbr\u003epersisted in remembering what had better be forgotten. Proverbs are like\u003cbr\u003eplants: they have a soil and climate under which alone they flourish.\u003cbr\u003eNoble maxims have their limitations. Few have universal applicability.\u003cbr\u003eIf, for instance, the advice to \"let bygones be bygones\" be taken as\u003cbr\u003euniversally true, strange questions arise. Are mistakes never more to\u003cbr\u003eteach us what to avoid? Are the errors of others no more to be a warning\u003cbr\u003eto us? Is the Book of Experience to be closed? Is no more history to be\u003cbr\u003ewritten? If so philosophy could no longer teach wisdom by examples, for\u003cbr\u003ethere would no longer be any examples to go upon. If all the mistakes\u003cbr\u003eof mankind and all the miscalculations of circumstance be forgotten, the\u003cbr\u003ewarnings of the sages will die with them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe who has debts, or loans not repaid, or promises not kept, or\u003cbr\u003econtracts unfulfilled in his memory, had better keep them there until\u003cbr\u003ehe has made what reparation he can. The Bygone proverb does not apply to\u003cbr\u003ehim. There are other derelictions of greater gravity than fall under the\u003cbr\u003ehead of intellectual petty larceny, such as the conscious abandonment\u003cbr\u003eof principle, or desertion of a just cause, which had better be kept in\u003cbr\u003emind for rectification.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf an admiral wrecked his ships, or a general lost his army, or a\u003cbr\u003estatesman ruined his country, by flagrant want of judgment--ever so\u003cbr\u003econscientiously--it is well such things should be borne in mind by those\u003cbr\u003ewho may renew, by fresh appointment, these opportunities of calamity.\u003cbr\u003eIt would be to encourage incapacity were such bygones consigned to\u003cbr\u003eoblivion. It may be useless to dwell upon \"spilt milk,\" but further\u003cbr\u003eemployment of the spiller may not be prudent.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47167287853296,"sku":"2940012773654","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012773654","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}