Excerpt from Vicissitudes of Families, Vol. 1 This new and compact edition of the Vicissitudes of Families has been very carefully revised, re-modelled, and in many pa1 ts re - written. Originally the work appeared In three distinct series, published at different periods, and was not devoted exclusively to one matter, The Vicissitudes of Essays on'other subjects were introduced, thus somewhat marring the unity Of the whole plan. My present purpose is, by the omission of a few irrelevant chapters, and by the addition of new stories Iof appropriate interest, to produce a substantive and complete record of the changeful fortunes of great houses, a work, in fact, illustrative of that portion so eventful, and yet so little known, of domestic history. My topic is the greatness that has gone by, passing either rapidly, like the lion struck down in his pride, or slowly, like the oak for ages withering away. In the performance of my task, I have left no available source of information unexplored. I have, too, and I trust successfully, endeavoured to avoid the introduction of a single narrative, or the expression of a single word. 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.