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Self-Selected Essays: A Second Series
Excerpt from Self-Selected Essays: A Second Series
A few years ago my friend Mr. John Buchan was at the pains to make a selection from my Essays for the Nelson Series. I am sure he made as good a job of it as possible. At all events no complaints have reached my ears, though to be sure, in such a matter as a selection, the world is very easily content. Not so the author who has been thus treated. He, when he turns the pages of the truncated thing, though fully alive to the fact (else were he a fool, an unbearable hypothesis) that selection involves omission, and that consequently omissions there must be, is yet uneasy as he reads. Everywhere discrimination is decerned, as against himself; discrimination with its consequent rejection; nor can he take pleasure in the thought of his trifles "light as air" being weighed in the critical scales, one against another.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
A few years ago my friend Mr. John Buchan was at the pains to make a selection from my Essays for the Nelson Series. I am sure he made as good a job of it as possible. At all events no complaints have reached my ears, though to be sure, in such a matter as a selection, the world is very easily content. Not so the author who has been thus treated. He, when he turns the pages of the truncated thing, though fully alive to the fact (else were he a fool, an unbearable hypothesis) that selection involves omission, and that consequently omissions there must be, is yet uneasy as he reads. Everywhere discrimination is decerned, as against himself; discrimination with its consequent rejection; nor can he take pleasure in the thought of his trifles "light as air" being weighed in the critical scales, one against another.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
262 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2011
About the author
Augustine Birrell
300 booksThe Right Honourable Augustine Birrell was an English politician, barrister, academic and author. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916, resigning in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Rising.
Birrell was the son of a Baptist minister. He was educated at Amersham Hall school and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he was made an Honorary Fellow in 1879. He started work in a solicitor's office in Liverpool but was called to the Bar in 1875, becoming a QC in 1893.
In 1888 he married Eleanor Tennyson, daughter of the poet Frederick Locker-Lampson and widow of Lionel Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. They had two sons, one of whom, Frankie (1889–1935) was later a journalist and critic and associated with the Bloomsbury Group.
From 1896 to 1899 he was Professor of Comparative Law at University College, London. President of the Board of Education, 1905-7; won appreciation by his conduct of the 'Education Bill.' He possessed a curious type of humour which found expression in sayings known in the House of Commons and the Press as 'Birrellisms.' A noted Liberal speaker on political platforms.
He retired from political life in 1916. Lived at Elm Park Road, Chelsea, and devoted himself to literary work.
Essayist and critic; distinguished as a writer by the winning and informal quality of his style.
Author, Obiter Dicta; Res Judicatae; Men, Women and Books; Life of Charlotte Brontë; Sir Frank Lockwood, etc. Published an edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson; also Browning's Poems, etc.
(Burke, Knightage; The Times, Nov. 21, 1933.)
Birrell was the son of a Baptist minister. He was educated at Amersham Hall school and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he was made an Honorary Fellow in 1879. He started work in a solicitor's office in Liverpool but was called to the Bar in 1875, becoming a QC in 1893.
In 1888 he married Eleanor Tennyson, daughter of the poet Frederick Locker-Lampson and widow of Lionel Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. They had two sons, one of whom, Frankie (1889–1935) was later a journalist and critic and associated with the Bloomsbury Group.
From 1896 to 1899 he was Professor of Comparative Law at University College, London. President of the Board of Education, 1905-7; won appreciation by his conduct of the 'Education Bill.' He possessed a curious type of humour which found expression in sayings known in the House of Commons and the Press as 'Birrellisms.' A noted Liberal speaker on political platforms.
He retired from political life in 1916. Lived at Elm Park Road, Chelsea, and devoted himself to literary work.
Essayist and critic; distinguished as a writer by the winning and informal quality of his style.
Author, Obiter Dicta; Res Judicatae; Men, Women and Books; Life of Charlotte Brontë; Sir Frank Lockwood, etc. Published an edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson; also Browning's Poems, etc.
(Burke, Knightage; The Times, Nov. 21, 1933.)
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