Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

x FOREWORD.
initial volume of which he now offers to the public, is toi
emphasize the preeminence of Georgia in this respect
grouping together some of the most savory incidents in the*
lives of the great men of the State. Such an exhibit may
serve the additional end of stimulating an increased in
terest in the biographical literature of Georgia, especially
on the part of the younger generations, who are to keep
the light burning in the tower. At the cost of great labor'
and patient research the author has also added an appen-;
dix which he ventures to state, within the limits of be
coming modesty, contains the most complete collection
which has yet been made of the rare gems of Georgia elo
quence.
But the writer wishes it to be distinctly understood that
the work is not intended to swell the number of conven
tional biographies. He has used the term Reminiscences
to indicate the purely informal character of the work, and
to give him the largest amount of latitude in utilizing the
materials which he has gathered. It is not for the pur
pose of committing the fraud of an artificial recollection.
The man who could project his own memory over the
dusty stretch of two civic centuries could just as easily
write the memoirs of Methuselah; for he \vould be in
essence an antediluvian, if not in instinct an Ananias. Nor
do the sketches set forth the Tales of a Grandfather. The
writer is not yet among the graybeards. He is still on
the morning side of the mountains. And, except in the
spirit which makes him eager to keep bright the memory
of the great men of Georgia, he can not lay claim to the
mantle of Old Morality; but he has ever coveted the shin
ing chisel of that rare Scot, who yearly visited every