I
wish to say that I am not, rightly speaking, the author of
the present paper: I tell the story on the authority of an
intelligent Japanese gentleman, Mr. Taiso Masaki, who told it
me with an emotion that does honour to his heart; and though
I have taken some pains, and sent my notes to him to be
corrected, this can be no more than an imperfect outline.
Yoshida-Torajiro was son to the hereditary military
instructor of the house of Choshu. The name you are to
pronounce with an equality of accent on the different
syllables, almost as in French, the vowels as in Italian, but
the consonants in the English manner - except the J, which
has the French sound, or, as it has been cleverly proposed to
write it, the sound of ZH. Yoshida was very learned in
Chinese letters, or, as we might say, in the classics, and in
his father's subject; fortification was among his favourite
studies, and he was a poet from his boyhood. He was born to
a lively and intelligent patriotism; the condition of Japan
was his great concern; and while he projected a better
future, he lost no opportunity of improving his knowledge of
her present state. With this end he was continually
travelling in his youth, going on foot and sometimes with
three days' provision on his back, in the brave, self-helpful
manner of all heroes. He kept a full diary while he was thus
upon his journeys, but it is feared that these notes have
been destroyed.
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