In publishing some of the answers we have received we
would first thank those who have replied to us, on behalf of our readers, and secondly, we would make it clear that our purpose in publishing the answers is by no means to serve that curiosity about the private affairs of the great which is such a marked characteristic of the present time. The gossip columns which are published daily, the diaries and remini- scences that appear almost weekly, should satisfy more than the legitimate interest of the public. Our object is to serve the cause of good reading. The opinion of those who have made a mark upon the public life of their day, concerning the books that have helped them to do so, is obviously useful knowledge, and we are giving this information to our readers in the belief that they will profit by it.