The Life of Samuel Morley (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Life of Samuel Morley Early in the present year I was honoured by the family of the late Mr. Samuel Morley with the request that I would undertake the responsible task of preparing an account of his life for publication. Having consented, I was entrusted, on the 8th of February, when on a visit to Hall Place, with a mass of correspondence - the accumulation of a life time. Large as the amount of material was, there was comparatively little of the kind that a biographer most prizes. There were no journals or diaries, save a very brief record of some of his early travels, and note-books of engagements. He was not a voluminous correspondent, and there was scarcely a document that gave a glimpse into his inner life and thoughts. I found that his name was not indissolubly linked with any great historic movement that in his private life there were no striking incidents or sur prises; and that some of the elements generally deemed essential in biography were almost, if not altogether, wanting. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.