# Memories of my life

Author: Galton, Francis, 1822-1911

Genre: Galton, Francis, 1822-1911

Language: English

License: Public domain

Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78669

Amazon editions: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Memories+of+my+life+Galton&tag=cyberlibrar00-20

## Summary

Just before the arrival of the letter in which my publisher asked me to write the memories of my life, I happened to be reading Shakespeare’s _Henry IV._ and laughing over Falstaff’s soliloquy after the gross exaggerations by Justice Shallow of his own youthful performances. It contained the sentence, “Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying!” Feeling the truth of his ejaculation, I headed the first page of my memorandum-book with those words as a warning, knowing how difficult it is to be veracious about long-past events, threads of imagination insinuating themselves among those supplied by memory and becoming indistinguishable from them.

## Chapters

- [PART I.—GENERAL LITERATURE](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/24/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XXI](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/23/index.md)
- [CHAPTER III](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/3/index.md)
- [CHAPTER V](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/5/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XIII](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/14/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XX](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/22/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XIX](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/21/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XVI](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/18/index.md)
- [CHAPTER VI](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/6/index.md)
- [PART II.—FICTION](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/25/index.md)
- [CHAPTER IX](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/9/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XIV](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/16/index.md)
- [CHAPTER X](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/11/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XVII](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/19/index.md)
- [CHAPTER VIII](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/8/index.md)
- [CHAPTER I](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/1/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XV](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/17/index.md)
- [CHAPTER IV](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/4/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XI](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/12/index.md)
- [CHAPTER II](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/2/index.md)
- [CHAPTER VII](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/7/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XII](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/13/index.md)
- [CHAPTER XVIII](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/20/index.md)
- [did. He was then fast rising, but had not yet reached the fulness of his](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/15/index.md)
- [Chapter III. Unless these misdoings could be stopped, my journey would](https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/memories-of-my-life-78669/chapters/10/index.md)