“Never let us forget the past—the wise past, that has fed us, and taught…” — Barry Cornwall

“Never let us forget the past—the wise past, that has fed us, and taught us, and rendered us what we are. Rather, kneel down and thank the rich and faded centuries, that have left such jewels behind them.”

Urging gratitude for the intellectual inheritance of earlier ages · Preface to Recollections of Men of Letters (published 1877)

Barry Cornwall

About Barry Cornwall

21 November 1787–5 October 1874

Bryan Waller Procter, known to generations of readers by the literary name Barry Cornwall, was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, on 21 November 1787, and died in London on 5 October 1874. He belonged to that broad, fascinating company of early nineteenth-century writers who stood close to the great Romantic generation without…

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