informed that an American publisher has printed
the first edition of this translation of M. Antoninus. I do
not grudge him his profit, if he has made any. There may be
many men and women in the United States who will be glad to
read the thoughts of the Roman Emperor. If the American
politicians, as they are called, would read them also, I
should be much pleased, but I do not think the emperor's
morality would suit their taste.

"I have also been informed that the American publisher has
dedicated this translation to an American. I have no
objection to the book being dedicated to an American, but in
doing this without my consent the publisher has transgressed
the bounds of decency. I have never dedicated a book to any
man, and if I dedicated this, I should choose the man whose
name seemed to me most worthy to be joined to that of the
Roman soldier and philosopher. I might dedicate the book to
the successful general who is now the President of the
United States, with the hope that his integrity and justice
will restore peace and happiness, so far as he can, to those
unhappy States which have suffered so much from war and the
unrelenting hostility of wicked men.

"But, as the Roman poet said,

Victrix causa Deis placuit, sed victa Catoni;

and if I dedicated this little book to any man, I would
dedicate it to him who led the Confederate armies against
the powerful invader, and retired from an unequal contest
defeated, but not dishonoured; to the noble Virginian
soldier, whose talents and virtues place him by the side of
the best and wisest man who sat on the throne of the
Imperial Caesars.--GEORGE LONG."

That is excellent prose, is it not? The general to whom Long would
dedicate the edition was Robert Edward Lee, who had then become head of
the Washington College and survived only until 1870. The President at
the time that Long wrote was General Grant, to whom Lee surrendered.

One or two anecdotes of Long which have recently come my way would alone
convince me, apart from the evidence of his record and his writings,
that here was a very sterling and very independent "character" of whom
much more should be known. Some day I hope to know more. Meanwhile I
relate one of the stories. An appeal for cast-off clothing for the poor
clergy being made, some one took the line th