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PREFACE.
iii
applause of mankind—and secure to such as appear in those higher spheres of action, the certainty of biographical honour. But with those who, with the author, believe in the truth of St. Pierre's assertion, "that the man who can produce two blades of grass, where only one grew before, is a greater benefactor to mankind than Cæsar or Alexander,"—the individuals whose services it is his purpose now to delineate and record, have the fairest claims to the respect of the human race.
Among the events which occasionally appear in the history of nations, to dignify and adorn their character, and shed over them a ray of genuine
