Excerpt from Back to Arcady Thirty years ago it was said of me that I was as gallant a beau as ever bowed over a fair lady's hand; and now, as for that, my memories savour delightfully of silk hose and white cockades, sweet ladies, red lips and patches all mingled with occasional odours of hyacinths, holly hocks and roses. To-day, however, I am an old man living in a generation that is past. All of my life has been spent in indulging my whims and humouring my fancies. I am more years past fifty than I like to acknowledge, and now a girl of twenty is coming to upset the habits and routine of a lifetime. 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.