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
