Excerpt from Micah Clarke: His Statement as Made to His Three Grandchildren, Joseph, Gervas and Reuben, During the Hard Winter of 1734 A preface to a novel has appeared to me in nine cases out of ten to be a needless intrusion. A true book should explain itself, and all further explana tion is superfluous. For this reason I have very seldom ventured to say anything in my own person to those who have been good enough to open my books. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com 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.