ROME BY ÉMILE ZOLA AUTHOR OF "LOURDES," .LA DEBACLE," ETC. SOLE AUTHORISED VERSION IN THE ENGLISH TRANSLATED BY ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY TWO VOLUMES IN ONE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1901 All rights reserved 21X212 PREFACE IN submitting to the English-speaking public this second volume of M. Zola's trilogy "Lourdes, Rome, Paris," I have no prefatory remarks to offer on behalf of the author, whose views on Rome, its past, present, and future, will be found fully expounded in the following pages. That a book of this character will, like its forerunner "Lourdes," provoke considerable controversy is certain, but comment or rejoinder may well be postponed until that controversy has arisen. At present then I only desire to say, that in spite of the great labour which I have bestowed on this translation, I am sensible of its shortcomings, and in a work of such length, such intricacy, and such a wide range of subject, it will not be surprising if some slips are discovered. Any errors which may be pointed out to me, however, shall be rectified in subsequent editions. I have given, I think, the whole essence of M. Zola's text; but he himself has admitted to me that he has now and again allowed his pen to run away with him, and thus whilst sacrificing nothing of his sense I have at times abbreviated his phraseology V so as slightly to condense the book. I may add that there are no chapter headings in the original, and that the circumstances under which the translation was made did not permit me to supply any whilst it was many more things than are usually found in novels may be a convenience to the reader, I have prepared a MERTON, SURREY, ENGLAND, April, 1896. |