Notwithstanding the truth which underlies the French proverb, “Qui s'excuse s'accuse” I think it is often wise to own one's fault without waiting for the arraignment of another accuser. I find that in the following pages the personal pronoun “I” is more obtrusive than I thought it would be when, in my opening chapter, I alluded to my intention of keeping it very much in the background. These recollections have been produced under the impediments of defective sight and an afflicted right hand; consequently the handwriting was often so execrable that my dim eyes read it with difficulty, and the patience of printers must have been sorely tried. Therefore I could not give my work the prolonged personal revision which every manuscript demands from its author. Yet, on reflection, I feel how nearly impossible it would have been to relate what I had to tell without myself appearing on the scene.

Old age has its privileges as well as its penalties; four score years bring infirmities, as a matter of course; but, were I younger, I should have had less to relate. This seems to me the place in which to acknowledge my obligation to Mr. Henry Johnson for his zealous and judicious assistance in seeing my “Landmarks” through the press; a task I should not have dared to undertake unaided.