The books given to the present biographer by "his affectionate friend,
Clive Newcome," still bear on the titlepages the marks of that boyish
hand and youthful fervour. He had a copy of Walter Lorraine bound and
gilt with such splendour as made the author blush for his performance,
which has since been seen at the bookstalls at a price suited to the very
humblest purses. He fired up and fought a newspaper critic (whom Clive
met at the Haunt one night) who had dared to write an article in which
that work was slighted; and if, in the course of nature, his friendship
has outlived that rapturous period, the kindness of the two old friends,
I hope, is not the less because it is no longer romantic, and the days of
white vellum and gilt edges have passed away. From the abundance of the
letters which the affectionate young fellow now wrote, the ensuing
portion of his youthful history is compiled. It may serve to recall
passages of their early days to such of his seniors as occasionally turn
over the leaves of a novel; and in the story of his faults,
indiscretions, passions, and actions, young readers may be reminded of
their own.
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