AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF



  But the definition of history which, all things considered, ap-
pears to be most significant and comprehensive, as well as most
correct, and therefore preferable to every other, is, that it is that
form of writing, which records and teaches truth and philosophy,
by fact and example. For, if it do not teach "philosophy" as well
as " fact," it is so far defective.
  This is, in a particular manner, the most appropriate definition
of individual history, or biography-especially of autobiography,
provided it be executed with ability and faithfulness. In such a
case, it reflects life as an aggregate of fact and philosophy, with as
much accuracy as the mirror does the image of the object placed
before it. For it is not to be doubted that, other things being
equal, each individual, in consideration of his more correct and
thorough knowledge of himself both bodily and mentally-espe-
cially of the grounds, motives, and consequences of his actions,
no less than of the actions themselves, is better qualified than
anybody else, to give a true account of his own life and character,
and to render them as instructive and useful as their materials
will admit. He can, with much more certainty and precision,
tell, under what circumstances, and from what influences he per-
formed or refrained from performing certain actions, adopted or
rejected certain opinions and measures, and engaged in or de-
clined certain enterprises, which presented themselves to him,
and thus make his narrative more instructive and valuable, by
enriching it with the true constituents, and the positive relations
of cause and effect, than it could be rendered by any other
person.
  Under such advantages of information and knowledge, nothing
but feelings excessive and ungoverned, misdirected, or in some
other way perverted and deranged, can so detract from the fitness
of the narrator to write his own history, as to render it unpro-
ductive of a beneficial result.
   The feelings referred to as most likely to interfere with the
accuracy and deduct from the value of the writer's narrative, are
various, and some of them directly opposed to each other in their
action and influence.
   The chief and most formidable of them are excessive self-
esteem and love of approbation, which, acting singly, or in co-
operation, impel the individual preparing his own history, to aim



18