Excerpt from Poetical Works of Owen Meredith (Robert, Lord Lytton): Lucile, the Apple of Life, the Wanderer, Clytemnestra, Etc;, Etc There is a moment of profound discouragement which succeeds to prolonged effort when, the labor which has become a habit having ceased, we miss the sustaining sense Of its companionship, and stand, with a feeling of strangeness and embarrassment, before the abrupt and naked result. As regards myself, in the present instance, the force of all such sensations is increased by the circumstances to which I have referred. And in this moment of discouragement and doubt my heart instinctively turns to you, from whom it has so often sought, from whom it has never failed to receive, support. I do not inscribe to you this book because it contains anything that is worthy of the beloved and honored name with which I thus seek to associate it nor yet, because I would avail myself of a vulgar pretext to display in public an affection that is best honored by the Silence which it renders sacred. Feelings only such as those with which, in days when there existed for me no critic less gentle than yourself, I brought to you my childish manuscripts, - feelings only such as those which have, in later years, associated with your heart all that has moved or occupied my own, - lead me once more to seek assurance from the grasp of that hand which has hitherto been my guide and comfort through the life I owe to you. 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.