Xll INTrtODUCTlON. 



conimitted a literary crime deserving' the most 

 serious reprehension. 



This present work needs no introduction from 

 me, nor much guardianship, Nature being both 

 its nurse and guardian. Fiction ^^ fashes not my 

 brain/' nor is there a plot, save a garden-plot, 

 to clog by its influence the smooth com^se of my 

 intentions. 



My precejDtress, Nature, sits kindly by me. If I 

 need a word of affection, gentle and sublime, I have 

 only to listen to the dear birds or the fall of the 

 murmuring water ; if, on the contrary, the hasty 

 syllables of action suit my mood, I seem to hear 

 the mighty roar of the beast at bay, — I recall the 

 dangerous beauty of the bison's or the Avild boar's 

 cliarge, and the stern self-reliance which the dan- 

 gerous hour demands from man. Sweet sounds, 

 harsh sounds, jileasaut to the sportsman's ear, 

 these are my counsellors ; and if I have to be very 

 gentle in narration, then, in the flowers of my 

 garden I can bury my face, inhale their sweet 

 essence, and from that source draw the few j^oetical 

 expressions my truthful task demands. 



I write of Nature and her l)eautiful behests, her 

 works of mystery, from the elephant and lion down 



