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I began this story with the sole intent of relating in fiction form the exploits of an unusual soldier who has been allowed to drop out of sight. As the work progressed, however, the glamour and excitement of the Napoleonic period took possession of me and I found myself obsessed with a desire to get down on paper a detailed picture of those exciting days, particularly as I began to realize that the situation which existed then has been reproduced today with amazing faithfulness in even the smallest matters. That I yielded to the impulse is evident in the size of this volume; for which I apologize, being completely aware that I have succeeded in capturing no more than a fleeting glimpse of those most colorful and prophetic times.

Despite the liberties I have taken with my readers, carrying them from England to the Iberian Peninsula, then back again to England, only to pick them up bodily and transport them to Russia for a view of the tragic business of the Moscow retreat, finally setting them down in France after the Hundred Days to watch the closing scenes of the Bonapartist saga, I have not succeeded in telling the whole story of Sir Robert Wilson. That extraordinary fellow had many adventures which I have had to pass over. It was particularly hard to refrain from telling of the part he played in the feud between George IV and his frowzy German queen but that episode, one of the most spectacular of all, lies far outside the bounds of my story.

I am sure that all who ride with Robert Thomas Wilson in these pages will agree that he was born in the wrong period. He had so many qualities, counted faults at the start of the nineteenth century, which would have been virtues in the days when knights obeyed only the dictates of honor and followed unquestioningly when the finger of adventure beckoned. Lack of discipline accounted for all the black marks on his record; but it may be recalled that it was against Charlemagne’s orders that the stout Roland turned at bay in the valley of Roncesvalles to provide chivalry with its brightest annal. Had Wilson lived in the Middle Ages, he also would have inspired great legends. Instead he was born into the England of the last Georges where he was most completely out of place. He was treated, with some justice no doubt, like a disobedient schoolboy. It may very well be, however, that it was not Wilson who was at fault so much as the times in which he lived.

The story I have set down is, of course, a compound of fact and fiction. Wilson did all the remarkable things with which he is credited, although it has been necessary to summon imagination for the fictional embroidery of them. Many other real characters appear at intervals in the pages which follow: Wellington, Dumouriez, Horne Tooke, Kutuzov, the Lavalettes, Michael Bruce, Captain Hely-Hutcheson, La Bellilote. The main characters are all purely fictional as are the situations of the story except as they concern the participation of the historical characters.

I hasten to explain that the newspaper called the Tablet never existed. I have taken the liberty of borrowing some details from the history of the London Times (particularly in the sending out of the first war correspondent and the introduction of power presses) but the troubles and bickerings of the Ellerys are purely imaginary and in no single respect a reflection of the lives of the members of the Walter family who owned the Times.

Many books were read or consulted for the background of the story, between four and five hundred to be more exact, and so a complete bibliography would serve no purpose save to use up valuable space. Instead I wish to put on record my debt to a few writers whose skillful winnowing of pure gold from the dross of the period has been particularly helpful to me:

Giovanni Costigan, Sir Robert Wilson, a Soldier of Fortune. Carola Oman, Napoleon at the Channel. Comtesse de Boigne, Memoirs. August Ludolf Friedrich Schaumann, On the Road with Wellington. Robert Blakeney, A Boy in the Peninsular War. Marianne Baillie, Lisbon. Sir Robert Wilson, The French Invasion of Russia.