History of the Woodgates of Stonewall Park and of Summerhill in Kent and Their Connections (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A History of the Woodgates of Stonewall Park and of Summerhill in Kent and Their Connections<br><br>As to the propriety of reproducing private letters we cannot do better than to express our opinion in the words of Miss Edgeworth.<br><br>Next to biography written by the person himself she observes his private letters afford the best means of obtaining an insight into character. But some readers and those whose opinion is most honourable will recoil with horror at the idea of publishing letters Without need of my assertions every reader of discernment will at once perceive that these letters are not manufactured for the public but written in the fulness of the heart and in the careless ease of private correspondence. Such are the only letters worth seeing yet how few of such are fit to meet the public eye! There can scarcely be better proof of any man''s consistency and singleheartedness than that his best friends can dare to lay before the public his really private correspondence. Considered in this ''light I trust that in producing my father''s letters to various persons of different and distant periods of his life I shall do honour to his memory with all impartial judges.<br><br>The old spelling of the letters has been retained but it was found necessary from considerations of space to excise a large number of passages relating to trivial or conventional matters such as the usual messages at the end of a letter enquiries after health. Apologies for not writing sooner and such like which are to be found in present day letters - passages not uninteresting in themselves but forbidden insertion by exigencies of space and constant repetitions. It is interesting to recognise the same traits of character brought out in the living descendants of the writers.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>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.