DEDICATED TO
MARIE-ANTOINE-JULES SENARD
MEMBER OF THE PARIS BAR
EX-PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FORMERLY 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 mainly to you that I owe its publication. Handled by your magnificent pleading, my work seems in my own eyes to have acquired, as it were, an unlooked-for authority. So accept here the tribute of my gratitude, which, however great it may be, will never reach the heights of your own eloquence and devotion.
Paris, April 12th, 1857 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT