I
ALL men of whatsoever quality they be, who have done anything of
excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence, ought, if they
are persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life with their own
hand; but they ought not to attempt so fine an enterprise till they have
passed the age of forty. This duty occurs to my own mind now that I am
travelling beyond the term of fifty-eight years, and am in Florence, the
city of my birth. Many untoward things can I remember, such as happen to
all who live upon our earth; and from those adversities I am now more
free than at any previous period of my career-nay, it seems to me that I
enjoy greater content of soul and health of body than ever I did in
bygone years. I can also bring to mind some pleasant goods and some
inestimable evils, which, when I turn my thoughts backward, strike
terror in me, and astonishment that I should have reached this age of
fifty-eight, wherein, thanks be to God, I am still travelling
prosperously forward.