PREFACE. 7 



Christian sense. The will of the universe is 

 God's will, because God made the universe, as 

 he made man, and blew into it the energy 

 that fills it. I see no clash between Christian- 

 ity and Science. Geology tells me the same 

 story that Moses and the prophets tell me; 

 the birds sing it, the flowers hint it, the winds 

 murmur it, the aspirations of my soul are 

 founded in it. 



The following essays, however, are not es- 

 pecially devoted to evolution. Indeed some 

 of them are not Nature-studies at all. The 

 one on Shakespeare when it first appeared 

 called down upon me the tremendous hand of 

 a great scholar, and I was cuffed until my 

 ears rang merrily ; but I did not wince, and I 

 would walk five miles to-day to clasp that 

 hand. If some over-earnest follower of Hux- 

 ley, Parker, and Macgillivray shall consider it 

 worth while to show clearly that my conclu- 

 sions in " Hyoid Hints" and the "Anatomy 

 of Bird-song " are erroneous, let him proceed; 

 but until he do this, I shall believe in my de- 

 monstrations with perfect complacency. 



After all, the title, " Sylvan Secrets," under 

 which this booklet goes forth, does not neces- 

 sarily signify that the Secrets are explained ; 

 they may be merely catalogued as precious 

 mysteries, valuable for the very qualities 

 which render them insoluble. Perhaps there 

 may be critics who will imagine that the most 

 obvious secret of all is the motif of my work, 

 and I am quite charitable enough to sympa- 

 thize with the practical spirit of such, al- 

 athough I certainly must have had a purpose 

 other than the mere pleasure of writing. I 

 saw, felt, heard, tasted, dreamed, and fancied, 

 and the substance of all was what I tried to 

 put into words. What is stated as fact must 



