preface 



reading of Montaigne, Theocritus, Ascham, 

 and the rest, under the wide-armed trees 

 of the Southern low country. 



Most of my sketches have been more or 

 less revised and rewritten after their ap- 

 pearance in the " Critic," the " Century," 

 the " Cosmopolitan," and the *' Inde- 

 pendent." Kindness and courtesy from 

 the editors of these great journals must be 

 acknowledged here. 



xn 



