SELF-HELP; WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONDUCT AND PERSEVERANCE. By SAMUEL SMILES, AUTHOR OF LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS.' This above all,-To thine own self be true; 'Might I give counsel to any young man, I would say to him, try LIBRARY NEW. EDITIONNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1876. The right of Translation is reserved. BJ/57/ 86 1876 Works by the same Author. LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS. Illustrated by 9 Steel Portraits and 342 Illustrations on Wood. 5 vols. crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. each. Vol. I. EMBANKMENTS AND CANALS-VERMUYDEN; MYDDELTON; II. HARBOURS, LIGHTHOUSES, AND Bridges RENNIE. III. HISTORY OF ROADS-METCALFE; Telford. SMEATON; V. THE LOCOMOTIVE-GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHENSON. Each Volume is complete in itself, and may be had separately. SELF-HELP; OR, ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONDUCT AND PERSEVERANCE. 6s. CHARACTER. A Companion Volume to SELF-HELP. 6s. THRIFT. A Sequel to SELF-HELP and CHARACTER. 6s. INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY; IRONWORKERS AND TOOLMAKERS. 6s. A BOY'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 65. 14413 LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. PREFACE. THIS is a revised edition of a book which has already been received with considerable favour at home and abroad. It has been reprinted in various forms in America; translations have appeared in Dutch and French, and others are about to appear in German and Danish. The book has, doubtless, proved attractive to readers in different countries by reason of the variety of anecdotal illustrations of life and character which it contains, and the interest which all more or less feel in the labours, the trials, the struggles, and the achievements of others. No one can be better aware than the author, of its fragmentary character, arising from the manner in which it was for the most part originally composed, having been put together principally from jottings made during many years,-intended as readings for young men, and without any view to publication. The appearance of this edition has furnished an opportunity for pruning the volume of some superfluous matter, and introducing various new illustrations, which will probably be found of general interest. In one respect the title of the book, which it is now too late to alter, has proved unfortunate, as it has led some, who have judged it merely by the title, to suppose that it consists of a eulogy of selfishness: the very opposite of what it really is,—or at least of what the author intended it to be. Although its chief object unquestionably is to |