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Contents. Some typographical errors have been corrected; List of Engraved Portraits. (In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers]clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.) (etext transcriber's note)

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GREAT LEADERS

HISTORIC PORTRAITS


FROM THE GREAT HISTORIANS

SELECTED, WITH NOTES AND BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

By G. T. FERRIS


NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1889{ii}


Copyright, 1889,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.{iii}

PREFACE.

Every one perusing the pages of the historians must have been impressedwith the graphic and singularly penetrative character of many of thesketches of the distinguished persons whose doings form the staple ofhistory. These pen-portraits often stand out from the narrative withluminous and vivid effect, the writers seeming to have concentrated uponthem all their powers of penetration and all their skill in graphicdelineation. Few things in literature are marked by analysis so close,discernment so keen, or by effects so brilliant and dramatic. In some ofthe later historians this feature is specially noticeable, but it wasHume’s admirable portrayal of the character of Alfred the Great thatsuggested the compilation of the present volume.

A selection such as this of the more striking passages in the greathistorians will serve, it is believed, a double purpose—first as asuitable introduction to these distinguished writers for those notacquainted with them, and next as a means of stimulating a taste for thestudy of history itself. It must be remembered that it is largelythrough their sympathies for persons that readers generally findpleasure in history. The sometimes noble and sometimes startlingpersonality of great leaders exerts a fas{iv}cinating effect upon allsusceptible minds, and whatever brings this personality vividly beforeus greatly strengthens our interest in the records of the past. Forthese reasons this compilation will be found well adapted for thereading class in high schools and seminaries.

It is desirable to explain that in some instances the selections do notappear here exactly in the form of the original. Passages from differentpages are sometimes brought together, so as to give completeness to theportrait, but in no other way has an

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