To Marie-Antoine-Jules Senard
Member of the Paris Bar, Ex-President of the National Assembly
and Former Minister of the Interior
Dear and Illustrious Friend,—
Permit me to inscribe your name at the head of this book, and
above its dedication; for it is to you, before all, that I owe
its publication. Reading over your magnificent defence, my work
has acquired for myself, as it were, an unexpected authority.
Accept, then, here, the homage of my gratitude, which, how great
soever it is, will never attain the height of your eloquence and
your devotion.
Gustave Flaubert
Paris, 12 April 1857
