PREFACE vii 



book Some parts of them have appeared from 

 time to time in various newspapers ; any permanent 

 merit they may be found to possess lies in the 

 fact that they were jotted down in presence of the 

 objects described. No head is constructed to carry 

 about an explanation of half the things noticed in 

 the course of a single morning's walk ; but if notes 

 are made at the moment of what attracts the eye, 

 be it a landscape, a ruin, a battlefield, a living 

 creature or a flower, recourse may be had at home 

 to the information abundantly stored in books, and 

 the significance of what seemed commonplace or 

 trivial becomes evident at once. Without attempt- 

 ing to become a specialist himself, each man has at 

 command the accumulated fruits of the labours of 

 specialists. Historians, naturalists, botanists, geolo- 

 gists all the devoted harvesters of human know- 

 ledge have laid up store of unfailing remedies for 

 ennui, and some part of their secret, it is hoped 

 may be found in the following pages. 



