PREFACE. 



As I commence this little history of two sea monsters 

 there comes to my mind a remark made to me by my 

 friend, Mr. Samuel L. Clemens "Mark Twain" which 

 illustrates a feeling that many a writer must have 

 experienced when dealing with a subject that has been 

 previously well handled. Expressing to me one day the 

 gratification he felt in having made many pleasant 

 acquaintances in England, he added, with dry humour, 

 and a grave countenance, " Yes ! I owe your countrymen 

 no grudge or ill-will. I freely forgive them, though one 

 of them did me a grievous wrong, an irreparable injury ! 

 It was Shakspeare : if he had not written those plays of 

 his, I should have done so ! They contain my thoughts, 

 my sentiments ! He forestalled me ! " 



In treating of the so-called " sea serpent," I have been 

 anticipated by many able writers. Mr. Gosse, in his 

 delightful book, 'The Romance of Natural History/ 

 published in 1862, devoted a chapter to it ; and numerous 

 articles concerning it have appeared in various papers and 

 periodicals. 



But, for the information from which those authors have 

 drawn their inferences, and on which they have founded 

 their opinions, they have been greatly indebted, as must 



be all who have seriously to consider this subject, to the 

 VOL. ill. II. Y 



