THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON
STRAHAN AND CO. 56, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON
1872[All Rights Reserved]LONDON: BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
PREFACE.
SO many false reports have got about concerning the life and opinions of JOSHUA DAVIDSON, the Cornish carpenter, that I feel it to be a duty I owe his memory to tell the truth as I know it; leaving the world to judge between what I, his nearest friend, knew of him, and what gossips and his enemies have falsely said. As I am neither a gentleman nor a scholar I have not pretended to any graces of style; and I have not tried to make an amusing story. My little book is more a record of what JOSHUA said and thought than of what happened to him through others: that is, there is next to page: viii no dramatic interest in it. Neither do I care to give my name. Those who know JOSHUA will know who I am well enough; and if I have said anything wrong they can come forward and challenge me. And for the rest it does not signify. I have written merely for truth's sake and love's; and with this I leave my dear friend's memory to the verdict of all honest hearts.
