Votre nom, cher ami, je voudrais l'inscrire ici comme épitaphe, car
vous êtes mon plus jeune et mon plus cher ami; et il se trouve en
vous tout ce qui est gracieux et subtil dans ces mornes années qui
s'égouttent dans le vase du vingtième siècle.

G.M.




PREFACE TO A NEW EDITION OF "CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG MAN"




I


Dear little book, what shall I say about thee? Belated offspring of
mine, out of print for twenty years, what shall I say in praise of thee?
For twenty years I have only seen thee in French, and in this English
text thou comest to me like an old love, at once a surprise and a
recollection. Dear little book, I would say nothing about thee if I
could help it, but a publisher pleads, and "No" is a churlish word. So
for him I will say that I like thy prattle; that while travelling in a
railway carriage on my way to the country of "Esther Waters," I passed
my station by, and had to hire a carriage and drive across the downs.

Like a learned Abbé I delighted in the confessions of this young man, a