Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PREFACE. Picciola, the touching story of a prisoner and a flower, is always new and fresh, although it has been reprinted in the original French more than twoscore times, and has been translated into every language of Europe since it first appeared in 1836. Such success was little expected by its modest author, who wrote it for his own satisfaction alone, but was finally persuaded to print it by a friend, who took up the manuscript by chance and could not lay it down until he had read it through. Saintine received the Monthyon prize from the French Academy and the ribbon of the Legion of Honor in recognition of the merits of Picdola, but these honors did not give him such pleasure as the thought that some real prisoner might find consolation in his book. This hope was fulfilled when Louis Napoleon wrote to him from the fortress of Ham, where he was imprisoned, that Picciola had been both a lesson and a solace to him, had shown him that a philosopher has hidden treasures in his heart which may enable him to enjoy happiness under any circumstances. In his own preface to the work the author says : " My book is neither a drama nor a romance. M640109 chapter{Section 4" My story is a simple one, so simple that perhaps no writer ever tried his hand on a subject of such narrow limits. My heroine is such a little thing! Not that I would throw the blame on her in advance in case of failure ; Heaven forbid ! Do you lay any value upon the truth of facts ? I assure you that my tale is a true one, and I offer this as some recompense for all that you may miss in it. " You remember that kind and gracious lady who died not long ago, — the Countess de Charney, — an incredible mixture of sweetness and audacity, of gentleness and resolution; she was a terrible lioness, whom a chi...