Three Men in a Boat — EN

PREFACE.

The chief beau­ty of this book lies not, so much in its lit­er­ary style, or in the extent and use­ful­ness of the infor­ma­tion it con­veys, as in its sim­ple truth­ful­ness. Its pages form the record of events that real­ly hap­pened. All that has been done is to colour them; and, for this, no extra charge has been made. George and Har­ris and Mont­moren­cy are not Poet­ic ideals, but things of flesh and blood — espe­cial­ly George, who weighs about twelve stone. Oth­er works may excel this in depth of thought and knowl­edge of human nature: oth­er books may rival it in orig­i­nal­i­ty and size; but, for hope­less and incur­able verac­i­ty, noth­ing yet dis­cov­ered can sur­pass it. This, more than all its oth­er charms, will, it is felt, make the vol­ume pre­cious in the eye of the earnest read­er; and will lend addi­tion­al weight to the les­son that the sto­ry teaches.

LONDON, August, 1889

chief ʧiːf adj Most impor­tant ele­ment: main, cen­tral, essen­tial, major, principal

lie laɪ v Orig­i­nate (in): con­sist, reside, have its being, have its existence

extent ɪksˈtɛnt n The point or degree to which some­thing extends: degree, scale, stage, lev­el, mag­ni­tude, scope, amount

con­vey kənˈveɪ v Make known; pass on, of infor­ma­tion: tell, announce, reveal, disclose

truth­ful­ness ˈtruːθfʊl­nəs n The qual­i­ty of con­sis­tent­ly telling the truth or be hon­est: hon­esty, verac­i­ty, lack of deceit

form fɔːm v To com­pose or rep­re­sent: com­prise, represent

all that has been done is ⇒ It only was.

colour ˈkʌlə v (Fig­u­ra­tive) Dec­o­rate.

charge ʧɑːʤ n A duty that you are assigned to per­form: mis­sion

flesh and blood ⇒ Human nature or phys­i­cal exis­tence, togeth­er with its weak­ness­es; flesh fleʃ n The soft sub­stance (mus­cles etc) that cov­ers the bones of animals.

stone stəʊn n A unit of weight in Great Britain, 14 pounds, which equals 6.4 kilograms.

excel ɪkˈsɛl n To be greater or bet­ter than (in, at): sur­pass, pass, exceed, top, tran­scend, sur­pass, be bet­ter out­do, beat, be supe­ri­or to, than

rival ˈraɪvəl v Be equal to in qual­i­ty or abil­i­ty: com­pete with, vie with; con­tend with some­body for); contest

incur­able ɪnˈkjʊərəbl adj Unal­ter­able in dis­po­si­tion or habits: invet­er­ate; estab­lished, com­plete, absolute, utter

verac­i­ty vəˈræsɪti n Unwill­ing­ness to tell lies: truth­ful­ness, accu­ra­cy, cor­rect­ness, pre­ci­sion, real­ism, fidelity

sur­pass sɜːˈpɑːs v Dis­tin­guish one­self: excel, exceed, be bet­ter than, be supe­ri­or to

it is felt ⇒ It can be .

pre­cious ˈprɛʃəs adj Held in great esteem for admirable qual­i­ties espe­cial­ly of an intrin­sic nature: valu­able, cost­ly, expen­sive; dear; priceless

earnest ˈɜːnɪst adj Show­ing or express­ing sin­cer­i­ty or seri­ous­ness: com­mit­ted, ded­i­cat­ed, assid­u­ous, keen

land lænd v Bring into a dif­fer­ent state: add, impart, give, bestow

weight weɪt n The rel­a­tive impor­tance grant­ed to some­thing: sig­nif­i­cance, importance