The beginning of Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
    SQUIRE TRELAWNEY,
           Dr. Livesey,
         and the rest
               of these gentlemen
           having asked me
                  to write
                       down the whole particulars
                     about Treasure Island,
           from the beginning
               to the end,
         keeping nothing back
             but the bearings
                   of the island,
           and that only
             because there is still
                   treasure not yet lifted,
         I take
               up my pen
                   in the year
                       of grace 17__
              and go back
                   to the time
             when my father
                  kept the Admiral Benbow inn
                       and the brown old seaman
                     with the sabre
                      cut first
               took up his lodging
                       under our roof.
   
    End.