Bygone Years: Recollections (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Bygone Years: Recollections

T has been often remarked that few men above the age of eighty retain any activity of mind. Although I have long passed that age, I do not perceive that my mind, which was never active, is less so than it was. What is gradually failing me is memory, and if I am to relate a few incidents of my life, I must do so at once.

I cannot attempt to write an autobiography, but merely to jot down some recollections which may be found of interest. It is curious how uncertain memory becomes at an advanced age. Whilst I remember a number of unimportant events, I find it difficult to call to mind the broad outlines of my life. I can, therefore, only offer a disconnected account of it, for which I crave the indulgence of any one who may be inclined to glance over these pages. It may be extended to me because the whole of these recollections have been written since I attained my eighty-sixth birthday, and because I possess no notes or journals to assist me, except those from which I have taken descriptions of Spain, India and Russia, which I wrote at the request of my uncle, the Duke of Devonshire.

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