A First Year in Canterbury Settlement | Page 4

wrote during his residence in New
Zealand, and, that wish being now realised, I have added a
supplementary group of pieces written during his undergraduate days at
Cambridge, so that the present volume forms a tolerably complete
record of Butler's literary activity up to the days of EREWHON, the
only omission of any importance being that of his pamphlet, published
anonymously in 1865, THE EVIDENCE FOR THE RESURRECTION
OF JESUS CHRIST AS CONTAINED IN THE FOUR
EVANGELISTS CRITICALLY EXAMINED. I have not reprinted this,
because practically the whole of it was incorporated into THE FAIR
HAVEN.
A FIRST YEAR IN CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT has long been
out of print, and copies of the original edition are difficult to procure.
Butler professed to think poorly of it. Writing in 1889 to his friend
Alfred Marks, who had picked up a second-hand copy and felt some
doubt as to its authorship, he said: "I am afraid the little book you have
referred to was written by me. My people edited my letters home. I did
not write freely to them, of course, because they were my people. If I
was at all freer anywhere they cut it out before printing it; besides, I
had not yet shed my Cambridge skin and its trail is everywhere, I am
afraid, perceptible. I have never read the book myself. I dipped into a
few pages when they sent it to me in New Zealand, but saw 'prig'
written upon them so plainly that I read no more and never have and
never mean to. I am told the book sells for 1 pound a copy in New
Zealand; in fact, last autumn I know Sir Walter Buller gave that for a
copy in England, so as a speculation it is worth 2s. 6d. or 3s. I stole a

passage or two from it for EREWHON, meaning to let it go and never
be reprinted during my lifetime."
This must be taken with a grain of salt. It was Butler's habit sometimes
to entertain his friends and himself by speaking of his own works with
studied disrespect, as when, with reference to his own DARWIN AND
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, which also is reprinted in this volume, he
described philosophical dialogues as "the most offensive form, except
poetry and books of travel into supposed unknown countries, that even
literature can assume." The circumstances which led to A FIRST
YEAR being written have been fully described by Mr. Festing Jones in
his sketch of Butler's life prefixed to THE HUMOUR OF HOMER
(Fifield, London, 1913, Kennerley, New York), and I will only briefly
recapitulate them. Butler left England for New Zealand in September,
1859, remaining in the colony until 1864. A FIRST YEAR was
published in 1863 in Butler's name by his father, who contributed a
short preface, stating that the book was compiled from his son's journal
and letters, with extracts from two papers contributed to THE EAGLE,
the magazine of St. John's College, Cambridge. These two papers had
appeared in 1861 in the form of three articles entitled "Our Emigrant"
and signed "Cellarius." By comparing these articles with the book as
published by Butler's father it is possible to arrive at some conclusion
as to the amount of editing to which Butler's prose was submitted.
Some passages in the articles do not appear in the book at all; others
appear unaltered; others again have been slightly doctored, apparently
with the object of robbing them of a certain youthful "cocksureness,"
which probably grated upon the paternal nerves, but seems to me to
create an atmosphere of an engaging freshness which I miss in the
edited version. So much of the "Our Emigrant" articles is repeated in A
FIRST YEAR almost if not quite verbatim that it did not seem worth
while to reprint the articles in their entirety. I have, however, included
in this collection one extract from the latter which was not incorporated
into A FIRST YEAR, though it describes at greater length an incident
referred to on p. 74. From this extract, which I have called "Crossing
the Rangitata," readers will be able to see for themselves how fresh and
spirited Butler's original descriptions of his adventures were, and will
probably regret that he did not take the publication of A FIRST YEAR
into his own hands, instead of allowing his father to have a hand in it.

With regard to the other pieces included in this volume {1} I have
thought it best to prefix brief notes, when necessary, to each in turn
explaining the circumstances in which they were written and, when it
was possible, giving the date of composition.
In preparing the book for publication I have been materially helped by
friends in both hemispheres. My thanks are specially due to Miss
Colborne-Veel, of