Chapter 16: Life at Clifton Hill House, 1870–77

Abstract

Autobiographies are commonly accused on insincerity. People start with the assumption that nobody sits down to write his own life without some motive of vanity, or without the wish to present himself in the most favourable aspect. From this they argue that what a man puts on record about himself must be more or less a plausible lie, intended to cast dust in the eyes of readers, and to glorify the individual.