THE MOST GENIAL OFCOMPANIONS
JAMES PAYN
AT WHOSE SUGGESTIONTHESE PAPERS WERE WRITTEN
AND TO WHOM THEY WERE INSCRIBED
DIED MARCH 25, 1898
Is he gone to a land of no laughter—
This man that made mirth for usall?
Proves Death but a silence hereafter,
Where the echoes of earth cannotfall?
Once closed, have the lips no more duty?
No more pleasure the exquisiteears?
Has the heart done o'erflowing withbeauty,
As the eyes have with tears?
Nay, if aught be sure, what can be surer
Than that earth's good decays notwith earth?
And of all the heart's springs none arepurer
Than the springs of the fountainsof mirth?
He that sounds them has pierced theheart's hollows,
The places where tears are andsleep;
For the foam-flakes that dance in life'sshallows
Are wrung from life's deep.
J. RHOADES
It has been suggested by Mr. Reginald Smith, to whosefriendliness and skill the fortunes of this book have been sogreatly indebted, that a rather fuller preface might be suitablyprefixed to this Edition.
When the book first appeared, it was stated on the title-pageto be written "by One who has kept a Diary." Myclaim to that modest title will scarcely be challenged by eventhe most carping critic who is conversant with the facts. OnAugust 13, 1865, being then twelve years old, I began myDiary. Several attempts at diary-keeping I had alreadymade and abandoned. This more serious endeavour wasdue to the fact that a young lady gave me a manuscript-bookattractively bound in scarlet leather; and such a gift inspireda resolution to live up to it. Shall I be deemed to lift the veilof private life too roughly if I transcribe some early entries?"23rd