ZANONI

BY

EDWARD BULWER LYTTON


(PLATE: "Thou art good and fair," said Viola. Drawn by P. Kauffmann,
etched by Deblois.)


DEDICATORY EPISTLE First prefixed to the Edition of 1845


TO

JOHN GIBSON, R.A., SCULPTOR.

In looking round the wide and luminous circle of our great living
Englishmen, to select one to whom I might fitly dedicate this work,--one
who, in his life as in his genius, might illustrate the principle I have
sought to convey; elevated by the ideal which he exalts, and
serenely dwelling in a glorious existence with the images born of his
imagination,--in looking round for some such man, my thoughts rested
upon you. Afar from our turbulent cabals; from the ignoble jealousy and
the sordid strife which degrade and acerbate the ambition of Genius,--in
your Roman Home, you have lived amidst all that is loveliest and least
perishable in the past, and contributed with the noblest aims, and in
the purest spirit, to the mighty heirlooms of the future. Your youth has
been devoted to toil, that your manhood may be consecrated to fame: a