self to the public, to his friends, to his enemies. I have tried to discern and present the underlying and governing forces of his life. Whatever has been my success or failure in this attempt, I have at least been able to show one characteristic aspect of the man, unwarped and uncolored by any misinterpreting medium, in the large selections from his private letters. One may say of them what Emerson says of Montaigne's essays: "The sincerity and marrow of the man reaches to his sentences. Cut these words and they would bleed; they are vascular and alive."
I acknowledge warmly the generosity with which his family and his most intimate friends have placed his correspondence at my disposal. In some cases with no small sacrifice of personal feelings, they have contributed the material toward showing him to the world with something of the charm which they knew in him. The reader of the book will scarcely need to be apprised that while the members of Mr. Bowles's family have given very valuable matter to the writer, he is solely responsible for the judgments which are expressed.
For the rest, the work must speak for itself. It addresses itself to the common interest of humanity. The writer says to his readers: Behold a man! Thus he looked, thus he acted, thus he grew; this was his work, these were his joys, these were his battles, his defeats, his victories; such was the front he wore to the world, and so he opened his heart to those he loved; this was the outcome of his life, and this is its significance and appeal.