The various works of Mr. W. H. Wilkins have been of great help to
me, and I cannot avoid paying a passing tribute to the excellent
opening passages[FN#20] of the Preface of his edition of Lady
Burton's Life of her husband.

The illustrations in this book are of exceptional interest.
They include the Burton family portraits, the originals of which
are in the possession of Mr. Mostyn Pryce and Mrs. Agg. During the
lifetime of Sir Richard and Lady Burton they were the property of
Lady and Miss Stisted; but, owing to her difference with these
ladies, Lady Burton was not able to use them in the life of her
husband; and Miss Stisted's own scheme did not include
illustrations. So they are now reproduced for the first time.
The most noticeable are the quaint picture of Burton, his brother
and sister as children, and the oil painting of Burton and Lady
Stisted made by Jacquand about 1851. Of great interest, too, is the
series of photographs taken at Trieste by Dr. Grenfell Baker;
while the portraits of Burton's friends, Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot,
Mr. John Payne, Major St. George Burton, Dr. Baker, Mr. W. F. Kirby,
Mr. A. G. Ellis, Professor J. F. Blumhardt, and others, will no
doubt be appreciated by the public.

The writing of this book has been a thorough pleasure to me,
not only on account of the infinite charm of the subject, but also
because everyone whom I have approached has treated me with studied
kindness. The representatives of Sir Richard Burton, of Lady Burton
(through Mr. W. H. Wilkins) and of Miss Stisted have not only helped
and permitted me to use the unpublished letters,[FN#21] but have
generously given me a free hand. I am deeply indebted to them,