chief, was taken ill on his way from Charleston to the Coweta towns in Alabama. When he came to Nancy Hart's house he could go no farther. She caused him to be helped from his horse, and nursed him tenderly through a long and serious illness; and such was his sense of gratitude that when Colonel Brown began his attacks on the liberty men of upper Georgia, McGillivray gave the British commander to understand that Nancy Hart was to remain undisturbed; in fine, he made it known in plain terms that if this remarkable woman and her family came to harm, the treaty between the Creeks and the British would come to an end at once. It was for this reason that Nancy Hart found it possible to defy the British and Tories, who were murdering and burning her neighbors indiscriminately. Only in this way can we account for the fact that Nancy Hart was able to remain at home and defy the enemies of liberty, but this particular fact gives small clue to the character and individuality that pushed her into the most dangerous adventures. It is said that she never knew of the measures taken to insure her safety until she heard the statement from the lips of a prisoner when the cause of liberty was nearly won and the hard struggle was almost over; but, in any event, it would have made little difference with respect to Nancy Hart's Whig proclivities, or her burning desire to see the land free from the twin incubus of Tories and redcoats. It may well be said that she was no ordinary woman, but the real explanation of her activity and patriotism—if I may be permitted to venture an opinion—was the fact that she lived in Georgia, and that her nature partook of the natures of her friends and neighbors.

Some of the most notable Georgians were immigrants.

from other States-from Virginia and North Carolina— but all of them, even the most insignificant, seemed to gather something peculiar from the climate, from association, from sun and soil. They suffered, to vary Shakespeare's phrase, a land change. Those who carefully read Mr. Knight's book will know what I mean-will discover that in some way and by some means, Georgians were and are different from the people of the rest of the States. There is a humor about them which, though decidedly American, is still typically Georgian. Their individuality, their originality, and their social organism embody a strong flavor of those qualities which gave charm and strength to the character of Abraham Lincoln.

The Georgia spirit is so active and vigorous, so curious and inquisitive, that by presenting a few episodes in the lives of the leading men, Mr. Knight may be said to have written not only a political but a social history of the State; and it is this feature that will commend it to all thoughtful students of the social organizations of the several States. On the other hand, the matter of the book is always so close to those elements of human nature that have a perennial interest and charm that it will appeal strongly to the general reader.

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.

FOREWORD.

"More honored in the breach than in the observance" may be the ancient custom which impels an author to step before the curtain; but the writer has too much reverence for antiquity to challenge the etiquette which has so long prevailed in the republic of letters. Moreover, an explanatory word may soften the beaks of those beautiful birds of prey, the critics.

It is only restating an old truth to say that Georgians are peculiar people. Something in the soil or in the atmosphere or in what the great dramatist might call "the mettle of the pasture" seems to distinguish them from all other kindred stocks. The precise nature of this differentiating element the clever scientists will have to determine; but so thoroughly has it permeated the whole life of the State from the very earliest times that it may be gravely doubted if there is any State in the Union whose history surpasses Georgia's in unique and dramatic episodes. It will also be difficult to cite the State in which genius has flowered into rarer types. Almost every page of the history of Georgia is stamped with the impress of some striking individuality. Nor is it unusual to find the same family enriching the public life of the State through successive generations, and sometimes producing simultaneously numerous representatives of the most divergent original caste of mind.

The purpose of the writer in undertaking the work, the

initial volume of which he now offers to the public, is to emphasize the preeminence of Georgia in this respect by grouping together some of the most savory incidents in the lives of the great men of the State. Such an exhibit may serve the additional end of stimulating an increased interest in the biographical literature of Georgia, especially on the part of the younger generations, who are to keep the light burning in the tower. At the cost of great labor and patient research the author has also added an appendix which he ventures to state, within the limits of becoming modesty, contains the most complete collection which has yet been made of the rare gems of Georgia eloquence.

But the writer wishes it to be distinctly understood that the work is not intended to swell the number of conventional biographies. He has used the term Reminiscences to indicate the purely informal character of the work, and to give him the largest amount of latitude in utilizing the materials which he has gathered. It is not for the purpose of committing the fraud of an artificial recollection. The man who could project his own memory over the dusty stretch of two civic centuries could just as easily write the memoirs of Methuselah; for he would be in essence an antediluvian, if not in instinct an Ananias. Nor do the sketches set forth the Tales of a Grandfather. The writer is not yet among the graybeards. He is still on the morning side of the mountains. And, except in the spirit which makes him eager to keep bright the memory of the great men of Georgia, he can not lay claim to the mantle of Old Morality; but he has ever coveted the shining chisel of that rare Scot, who yearly visited every

burial-ground among the highlands for the purpose of deepening the epitaphs of the old Covenanters.

Though he has drawn largely upon the recollections which his own acquaintance with recent times in Georgia has supplied he has depended chiefly upon the recollections which other fountains have furnished; but he flatters himself with the belief that from the musty files of old newspapers and from the dingy alcoves of old libraries he has revived numerous incidents and episodes which have long been covered by the grist of that busy mill which, sooner or later, must sift the hoarded grain of all the garners. Nor is it any special credit which he arrogates to himself. His office, in the main, has been merely to retouch the faded work of the old masters, to adjust the skylights in the gallery dome and to rescue from the spider's web some of the neglected treasures which the sunbeams may be glad to gild. It is strange that the task has not devolved long since upon an earlier and an abler volunteer. But the field is comparatively new and the writer, in putting foot upon ground so sacred, may prove his relationship to the foolhardy Greek who defied the lightning. Still the invitation has been too fascinating to resist.

Conscious of the short-comings of the work which has occupied an invalid's leisure, he ventures to hope that the succeeding volume will in some measure supply the omissions of the present one by adding other names to the list of great Georgians who have enriched the fair fame of the commonwealth. But, even when the work is finished, it will still, no doubt, be lacking in many respects, and the writer craves in advance from an indulgent public the most liberal measure of allowance. Perhaps his only