Excerpt from The Life, Letters, and Friendships of Richard Monckton Milnes, Vol. 1 of 2: First Lord Houghton Had all influenced his mind in his youth; he had laid the first plank of a kind of pulpit from which Emerson could preach throughout all Saxondom, and he had recognised the noble character and brilliant qualities of Miss Nightingale long before the world had heard her name. These were but a few of the friendships of Monckton Milnes; and the reader of these pages will learn that, great as the interest of such friendships must necessarily be, they did not suffice to absorb his affections. No mistake could have been more complete than that of supposing that he cared only for the great and the famous. The richest outpourings of his heart and mind were in many cases reserved for men of whom the world knew little or nothing. He delighted in making the acquaintance of all those who were playing a leading part upon the stage of the day; but his truest friend ships were often with those whom fame had never reached, nor success gladdened. And it was no common blessing. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.