Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source:
http://archive.org/details/henryofguiseorst01jame
(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
2. Table of Contents added by transcriber.
My dear Scott,
In dedicating to you the following work as the tribute of oldfriendship, and of sincere and well founded esteem, allow me to add afew words in explanation of the course I have pursued in thecomposition. I do this, it is true, more for the public than foryourself, as you were with me while it was in progress, and by yourgood judgment confirmed my opinion of the mode in which the subjectought to be treated.
The character of every person who plays a prominent part on the greatstage of the world is of course lauded by friends and decried byadversaries at the time, and the mingled report comes down to afterages. But the mists of prejudice are wafted away by the breath ofyears. The character of the historian is considered in connexion withthose of the personages he has depicte