SELF-MADE MEN.

BY

CHAS. C. B. SEYMOUR.

NEW YORK :

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1858.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

PREFACE.

In this volume will be found the lives of more than sixty distinguished persons who have attained eminence in spite of adverse circumstances of birth and fortune. They are presented in the usual biographical form, and with as much fullness as the object in view and the space at command would permit.

It has not been deemed necessary to append to each sketch a little sermon to point out its moral tendencies. The real moral of a man's life is found in his actions. These have been related faithfully, and they will, it is believed, convey their lesson without any laborious essay on the part of the writer.

For the omissions that occur, the writer has only to say that the extent and variety of material which every where rewarded his search rendered the task of selection an embarrassing one. The sixty biographies that are given have their value, and those that are omitted have theirs also. A book, unfortunately, will but contain a certain quantity, and that quantity is here supplied.

New York, March, 1858.