J))rcfacr, xiii 



Many full and interefting Lives of 

 Saint Francis have been written in 

 various tongues, the belt being thole 

 by Thomas of Celano and by Saint 

 Bonaventura, — his friends and difci- 

 ples, — by Father Luke Wadding, by 

 Mrs. Oliphant, by M. Chavin de Malin, 

 and by a Religious of the Order of 

 Poor Clares. The " Little Flowers " 

 are a feries of legends which were 

 colle6ted fome two hundred years 

 after his death, having been handed 

 down by word of mouth until that 

 time. They form an excellent biog- 

 raphy of him and his difciples, told 

 with quaint hmplicity and grace. 

 The tranflator has tried to preferve 

 the 7idwete and antique flavor of the 

 original in the prefent verfion. The 

 work beins: fo famous and favorite a 

 claffic in Italy and France, it is fome- 

 what Angular that it has never until 

 now been prefented in Englifli. 



A. L. A. 



NcrvembcTy 1 88 7. 



