This account of my youth I have for the present put aside to be
considered later, whether to destroy it or not.
I discover in writing these remembrances that I have found pleasure in
recalling many small circumstances which I had forgot. I also observe
that, as I have written very little but letters in my life, the habit
of writing as if for another’s eyes than my own has prevailed, without
intention on my part; but this can do no harm, seeing that all this has
been set down only in order that I may for my own satisfaction consider
as an old man what judgment I should pass on my acts as a young one.
As I shall retain for a season what I have written, I desire that,
in case of accident to me, these pages should not for a long time be
allowed to come to the general eye. The letters left among these leaves
I intend to restore to their proper files.