Althea ~ Paperback ~ Vernon Lee

Excerpt from Althea: Dialogues on Aspirations Duties A volume of dialogues similar to these, which I collected some eight years ago, was prefaced by an elaborate account of a personage called Baldwin. Re-reading those pages just now, as a preliminary to prefacing this new set of dialogues, I find to my surprise that the only information about him which I am called to add is that this shadowy personage, about whose real existence and identity I once seemed so certain, has ceased to exist. Those readers who quite properly leave the preface to the last, will here interrupt with the statement that they have met Baldwin in every one of these dialogues; that is true, but it does not prevent his having ceased to exist. For Baldwin has departed this vague life of reality - reality which is vague because it is complex and shifting - to reappear in the clear, solid existence of imaginary beings; of those typical representatives of tendencies and ideas who are so consolingly consistent; and who stand (being undisturbed by vital processes) as gentle and spirited as a saddler's wooden horse, that horse which forever paws without moving, for the better display of intellectual harness and trappings. 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.