xl PREFACE. 
writings of mine, I have wrought some good in 
my generation.” 
With the same hope I have collected those 
writings, dispersed and buried more or less in 
periodicals. The articles in this volume are col- 
lected—with permission which I gratefully acknow- 
ledge—from The Standard, Saturday Review, St. 
James's Gazette, National Review, and Longman’s 
Magazine. With some pride I discover, on read- 
ing them again, that hardly a statement needs 
correction, for they contain many statements, and 
some were published years ago. But in this, as 
in other lore, a student still gathers facts. The 
essays have been brought up to date by additions 
—in especial that upon “ Hybridizing,” a theme 
which has not interested the great public hitherto, 
simply because the great public knows nothing about 
it. Thereis not, in fact, so far as I am’aware, any 
general record of the amazing and delightful 
achievements which have been made therein of 
late years. It does not fall within my province to 
frame such a record. But at least any person 
who reads this unscientific account, not daunted 
by the title, will understand the fascination of the 
study. 
These essays profess to be no more than chat of 
a literary man about orchids. They contain a 
