My Life as an Author

The author presents a chronological memoir that traces childhood and schooldays, early poems and translations, continental travel, and college life, then turns to struggles with stammering, abortive clerical hopes, brief legal studies, and diverse personal fads and moral causes. The narrative combines anecdotes, literary samples, and self-assessment alongside accounts of near‑fatal accidents and providential escapes. It explains the origins and publication history of his aphoristic verse, surveys critical reception at home and abroad, and closes with reflections on temperance, vegetarianism, faith, translations, pamphlets, and the practical effects of fame on his career.