iv Preface. 



Originality might be considered as the primary point 

 aimed at in this succession of short essays. But, in the 

 matter of style, it is free from that condemnation, unless it 

 can make some slight claim, arising from its numerous 

 defects. But, if the work is an essentially suggestive one, it 

 is necessarily more or less an original one ; though in almost 

 every detail anticipated in some way or other. 



Belgravia, 1876. 



