PREFACE. ix

 neyed into an Unknown Country before
 we opened our eyes upon our well-known
 world. For the most part these dingy
 volumes lie in long untravelled trunks,-
 hair-covered, and studded with brass nail-
 heads,-which have been pushed under
 the dusty rafters of the garret. The
 Journals are preserved by force of habit,
 and with a decent regard for the Past;
 but no one ever reads them. All the
 world admits that the Journal is as ob-
 solete as the Private Individual himself.
 Besides, the ink has faded, and the details
 and the platitudes are alike wearying. In
 fact, the Diaries belong to that Once upon
 a Time which was the age of the spinet
 and tambour-frame, the days of modest
youth and travelling by stage-coach,-in
a word, to Leisure and Good Manners.
And more than this, they were written
only for those who were left behind.