PREFACE

In preparing this monograph¹ on Mr Hall Caine, I have devoted² much more attention to his earlier life than to those years during which he has been before the public as a novelist. The reasons for this are obvious, the chief one being that the early life of a famous man, with its struggles against circumstance, and its slow, oft-impeded progress towards success, is of much more interest to the general reader than that part of his life which is passed immediately under the gaze of all interested in him.

I have to express my thanks to Miss Esther Luffman for considerable assistance in Chapters VII., VIII. and IX.; to Miss Brown, daughter of the Rev³. T. E. Brown, for permission to use the letters printed on pages 115-17, 145-6, 182-3; to Miss Pinto Leite, the literary executrix of R. D. Blackmore, for permission to use the letters printed on pages 90-2, 94-7, 118-19; to Miss Harriett Jay, the literary executrix of Robert Buchanan, for permission to use the letter printed[x] on pages 79-80; and to Mr A. P. Watt⁴, the literary executor of Wilkie Collins, for permission to use the letters printed on pages 108-10.

These letters, all of them addressed to Mr Hall Caine, are used with his consent.

I owe my thanks to two early friends of Mr Hall Caine, the Rev. Wm. Pierce and Mr George Rose, for the recollections of the boyhood of my subject which give so much freshness and vitality⁵ to my narrative⁶.

In preparing this volume I have sometimes spoken out of my personal knowledge of my subject, and it may be that without intending it I have appeared to commit him to my own opinions. If this be so, let me hasten to say that whatever the value of what I have said, it is everywhere and entirely⁷ my own, and the last thing I desire is to charge my own views to my subject, especially where in any degree they concern himself.

After I had finished my work I wished to submit the manuscript to Mr Hall Caine for the verification of facts, and I hoped that perhaps he would give me the benefit of a short prefatory note saying that these were correctly stated. But Mr Hall Caine could not be induced to meet the latter part of my request, and to the former part he would only respond so far as the facts concerned[xi] others than himself. I now feel that this decision was the only proper and possible one, but as paragraphs in literary papers have said that Mr Hall Caine has “revised” my biography of himself, I find myself reluctantly compelled to publish the following letter:—

“Dear Mr Kenyon,—I have looked over the portion of your manuscript which you sent me, and have made a few comparatively unimportant changes. They concern what you say about my friends, living and dead, and therefore I have felt it to be my duty to set you right where I thought you were wrong. With what you say of myself, whether in the way of criticism or biography, I do not feel that I have any right to interfere⁸, and I fear I must deny myself the pleasure of writing the Preface which you are good enough to request. If your view of my life and my books is to have any value for the public, it must stand as your own, without any criticism or endorsement⁹ from me.

“Perhaps I feel that much of a book of this intimate nature might be better deferred¹⁰ until the subject of it is gone, but I can only thank you for the goodwill¹¹ with which you have done what you set out to do.—Yours very truly,

“Hall Caine.”
 
Therefore, in publishing this monograph on a living man who is much in the light of public opinion and still a subject for controversy¹², I wish to take every responsibility for whatever errors of judgment¹³ or taste may appear in my work. My sources of information, with the important exceptions indicated above, have been public ones, and the subject of my sketch¹⁴ has had nothing to do either with the origin of my book or the way in which it has been carried out.

C. FRED KENYON.

Ellesmere Park, Eccles, September 24, 1901.

1 monograph   

n.专题文章，专题著作

参考例句：

• This monograph belongs to the category of serious popular books.这本专著是一本较高深的普及读物。
• It's a monograph you wrote six years ago.这是你六年前写的的专论。

2 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

3 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

4 watt   

n.瓦，瓦特

参考例句：

• The invention of the engine is creditable to Watt.发动机的发明归功于瓦特。
• The unit of power is watt.功率的单位是瓦特。

5 vitality   

n.活力，生命力，效力

参考例句：

• He came back from his holiday bursting with vitality and good health.他度假归来之后，身强体壮，充满活力。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。

6 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

9 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

10 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

11 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

12 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

13 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

14 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。