The author of these sketches desires to say that they were written, not
for the special student of literary biography, who is already familiar
with the facts here given, but rather for those busy people who have
little time for reading, yet wish to know something of the private life
and personal history of their favorite authors. The sketches are not
intended to be critical, or to present anything like complete
biographies. They are devoted chiefly to the home life of the various
authors,--which, though an instructive and fascinating study, seems
commonly neglected in popular biographies.
It should be added that a few of these sketches have already appeared in
print, but they have been rewritten to adapt them to their present
purpose.