Excerpt from Echoes of the 'Eighties: Leaves From the Diary of a Victorian Lady If men and women had not gossiped history would be dull stuff. We may picture a man better from a story of him than from a list of his deeds and his virtues. That is why from time immemorial people have told stories and why stories have made history. The schoolboy remembers Alfred the Great because the old gossip who boxed his ears told her neighbour about the burnt cakes: we comprehend the spirit of the Elizabethans through the story of Drakes game of bowls before his men set out to meet the Armada. These are the kind of tales which quicken the dry dust of history into life - no matter what class of history it be. 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.

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.