Excerpt from Shadows of the Past: In Verse With respect to publication, I have shivered a fair length of time on its brink. It was far from being intended at first, and even now in taking the irre vocable plunge I am rather indebted to a friendly impulsion than to my own resolution. If there be rashness in the step, I have illustrious precedents to. 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.