Life and Letters of the Late Admiral Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, K. C. B - 1810 1890 #226245

Before attempting a biography of my father, I consulted a distinguished naval officer as to the advisability of adding another to the many existing records of naval men. I desired to seek his opinion as to the general interest likely to be evoked by the work. He urged me to go on with it, saying he considered no one's life would be more interesting or more instructive. Therefore, if I have not fulfilled this expectation, the fault must lie with me, and not with my subject.<br><br>I then went to a friend competent to advise me on another point, and asked him whether I ought to give the materials for a biography to a literary man to edit, doubting my own capabilities. He said, "What might be gained in literary merit, by employing some one else to write the book, would be lost in biographical interest. Do it yourself."<br><br>Thus emboldened, I have attempted the work. I set about it with all the more courage that I had so many of my father's letters and journals, written at the very time the events and actions they describe took place, so that very little original matter remained for me to write. Moreover, I have to thank my publisher, Mr. Murray, for the valuable literary assistance he has rendered me.<br><br>There has been unavoidable delay in the publication of these pages. I have had but little time with my other duties for their preparation.