LIFE BEFORE HIM. A Novel.
"THY FATES OPEN THEIR HANDS; LET THY BLOOD AND SPIRIT EMBRACE THEM." —Twelfth Night.NEW YORK: W. A. TOWNSEND & COMPANY.
MDCCCLX.Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by W. A. TOWNSEND & COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. C. A. ALVORD, PRINTER, No 15 Vandewater Street, N. Y. W. H. TINSON, Stereotyper.
J. W. S. H.
MY DEAR H.I DESIRE to dedicate this Book to you, because I am indebted to your advice—and shall I say penetration?—for the courage to embark in a vocation so perilous and exacting as the Novelist's. You have been pleased to think that I might prove not an unapt student, and, trusting to your friendly judgment, I have ventured "on a sea of glory," "like little wanton boys that swim on bladders," perhaps, far beyond my depth; and I am glad of the privilege of dedicating this volume to you, because I cannot tell, have no means of measuring, all that I owe to the hints, counsel, and companionship of one whose culture and taste have afforded me and others so much social and intellectual pleasure.
The story, my dear H., will no doubt prove to you its own best interpreter, but I am not unwilling to recall some of the theories of the art which we have discussed together, page: vi-vii[View Page vi-vii] and to remind you, that in making no attempt in this tale to "point a moral," I have acted only in accordance with my frequently expressed views. I believe that the profoundest sympathy of human nature is for Life! Man, as the proper study of mankind, is a sentiment acceptable in its broadest sense; it is the aspirations, struggles and passions of our kind that awaken the keenest interest and employ the best feelings of the heart. Before the significance and importance of these purely human sentiments, all abstractions, whether of ethics or science, are subordinate. The novelist has need in his performance of no other purpose than the design to create; the artistic requirements are complete if his characters and incidents carry within themselves the power of human sympathy. He is justified if he depicts human nature in such phases as to animate with its spirit, charm with its colors, its grace and sparkle, and its ever varying forms; and by extending the boundaries of life and feeling, widens experience and enlarges sensation. All attempts to force life in a current, by suborning its vital phases to the furtherance of a dogma or the illustration of a text, are apart from the proper aims of the art. If Life in itself is not sufficient, the vocation is a mistake. Of course, in all just delineations of human character, there are moral undertones; there are sermons in stones, and events preach their important lessons every hour.
But whether I am right or wrong, my dear H., I have attempted in this book no moral as an end. You will find in my pages simply Life, a theme which I must humbly claim to be neither too low nor too insignificant for either of us. It is my only regret that I have so inadequately caught its splendid colors and rich meanings; but, while I cannot applaud the success of this performance, I trust that the book does not altogether lack pages in which the life and vital spirit are not indifferent expositors of the truth and value of my theory. The public may deny me even this qualified praise, but upon your kindly judgment, my dear H., I repose with confidence, and repeat my assurances of affection and esteem.
THE AUTHOR.
NEW YORK, March, 1860.