author - "Frederick Marryat"

Like Most Other Children, Who Should Be My Godfather Is Decided By
Mammon--So Precocious As To Make Some Noise In The World And Be
Hung A Few Days After I Was Born--Cut Down In Time And Produce A
Scene Of Bloodshed--My Early Propensities Fully Developed By The
Choice Of My Profession




Those Who May Be Pleased To Honour These Pages With A Perusal, Will Not
Be Detained With A Long Introductory History Of My Birth, Parentage, And
Education. The Very Title Implies That, At This Period Of My Memoirs, I
Was Ignorant Of The Two First; And It Will Be Necessary For The Due
Development Of My Narrative, That I Allow Them To Remain In The Same
State Of Bliss; For In The Perusal Of A Tale, As Well As In The
Pilgrimage Of Life, Ignorance Of The Future May Truly Be Considered As
The Greatest Source Of Happiness. The Little That Was Known Of Me At
This Time I Will However Narrate As Concisely, And As Correctly, As I Am
Able.