Page:Diary, reminiscences, and correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson, Volume 1.djvu/12



viii , he was likely to give due prominence to Mr. Robinson's own modes of thinking and mental characteristics, his independent unconforming ways, without which those who knew him best would feel that they had not a faithful portrait of their friend. If this were not secured, the executors would consider that they were not carrying out his own aim, in leaving the selection of editor to them, without guidance or restraint. The Editor has, therefore, felt it to be his duty to take all the care he could that the unpopular, or commonly uninteresting, subjects of Mr. Robinson's thought and interest should not be suppressed, in order to make the book more in accordance with the public taste.

The Editor cannot venture to hope that, in the first edition of the work, there will not be many mistakes. Mr. Robinson often excited surprise by his wonderful memory in the narration of personal incidents; but in regard to dates and names, it was not altogether without grounds that he called himself an incorrigible blunderer.

Of the mass of MS. which remains after selection, it will be enough to say, that it, for the most part, refers simply to the ordinary matters of private life, but that there are some parts which, though they could not, with propriety, be published now, may in time have a public interest and value. It may, perhaps, not be out of place to give very briefly some of the most marked impressions of Mr. Robinson, which have been left on the Editor's mind, after reading the whole.