RECOLLECTIONS

OF

PAST LIFE.

BY

SIR HENRY HOLLAND, BART., M..D., F. R. S., D. C. L.,

&c., &c.,

PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN: PHYSICIAN-

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the

By D. APPLETON & CO.,

year 1872,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

H489 H73 1872

PREFACE.

SOME PREFACE is needed for this little volume, to explain the origin of the narrative it contains, and the motives which have led, though not without some reluctance, to its present publication. Autobiography, where justified at all, may generally best be left to the discretion of those who come after the subject of it. The estimate a man makes of himself, and his concerns in life, is often a very mistaken one.

The

Recollections' embodied in this narrative were first put into writing about four years ago. This was done at the solicitation of my children, and several friends, who desired to obtain some record of a life, already long in its duration, and possessing a certain interest beyond that personal to myself, from its relation to many others of more note in the world. As I saw that a mere manuscript would not satisfy this desire, I printed privately a small number of copies, which I was

led subsequently to reprint with considerable additions, finding that many beyond those for whom I originally wrote were interested in the narrative, and seeking to obtain it.

The few copies so printed have long been exhausted; and I have been urged by friends whose judgment I rightly respect, to publish the volume at once, with larger additions than those hitherto made. This, I am aware, is a very old and often abused plea for publication. But in the present instance other motives concurred to justify what indeed may almost be deemed a posthumous act, seeing that I go to the press when already advanced in my eighty-fourth year.

It has been told me and I welcome the opinion as my best justification-that there is much in this narrative which may be practically useful to those entering upon life, or going through its later stages; and that I should be too nicely scrupulous if halting on a mere question of propriety as to the time of publication. I can only state here, that I shall rejoice if this anticipation be fulfilled.

Another motive influencing me is the knowledge that no one but myself could make the additions that have been suggested, and which from the method of my original narrative require to be interwoven into every part of the volume.

Presuming it likely, from the copies already printed, that the book might be published after my death,

I have naturally felt desirous to give it a final form beforehand, and while yet having the faculties needful to do this.

Looking generally at the contents of the sheets as they pass through the press, I cannot but see that there are some things for which explanation is due to those who may be readers of them.

First of these is, the large proportion of the narrative occupied by myself and my personal concerns. This is a rock I saw, and sought to shun; but a general revision of the volume tells me that I have failed in doing so. It was hardly a fault when writing, as I first intended, for my family only; but becomes such when what I then wrote has been thus enlarged and published.

A second matter for which apology may be needful is, the broken and desultory form of my narrative; embarrassing probably to many, distasteful to those who look for a clear and connected

story of events. Here, again, I must seek excuse in the limited design with which these 'Recollections' were originally written and privately printed. Were I to compose the whole again, I might be able in some degree to remedy this fault, and at the same time to correct any ana