Excerpt from The Fool of Quality<br><br>Any further introduction to an author whom Charles Kingsley ushered in with so eulogistic a preface would be a work of supererogation, had not the opportunity arisen of making some additions to the little that is generally known about Henry Brooke. Kingsley's preface has been retained in the present edition of 2728 F001 of Qualify, for it is now identified with the book in a way that few prefaces are - at all events, such as are written to introduce other men's work. It contains the finest portrait we have of the character of Brooke, a portrait that has the charm of eloquence and enthusiasm, and displays the in sight born of complete and fervent sympathy. Kingsley had the good luck to find, in a writer who had preceded him by nearly. A century, a man singularly like himself in tempera ment, in imagination, in social, ethical, and religious ideas. No proper biography of Henry Brooke existing for Kingsley's account is, after all, only a sketch - there is no excuse needed for trying to fill in the outlines with a few fresh details. For much of the material to be used for this purpose I am indebted to Mr. Henry Brooke of Liverpool, a descendant of Robert, the younger brother of the Counsellor Brooke, as he was familiarly known in his own day, author of T/ze Fool of Qualify. Mr. Brooke has kindly supplied the appended family tree, which he has taken considerable pains to verify, and has lent for repro duction the life-like monochrome portrait which is included here. He has also put at my disposal, for the purposes of this introduction, his interesting collection of Brooke papers and letters. I am further much indebted for a number of references and other notes to Mr. Ernest Falser, who has made a special study of the life and works of the author. Several of the references to the contemporary press are due to the researches of Mr. J. K. Dowling.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>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.