x Preface 



the authority for the statements which I made in public, 

 and I have tried to amplify the lectures, which of necessity 

 were more or less sketchy, by giving quotations from the 

 writings of those authors, whose experiences formed the 

 basis of my popular discourses. 



I trust that there are many of my friends who will like 

 to have a memento of the evenings which were always a 

 source of great pleasure to me at the time, and I hope that, 

 the lectures, now for the first time issued in book form, will 

 not be found to have lost their interest. 



R. BOWDLER SHARPE. 



Oct. 12, 1898. 



