TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 



Of the eight nature essays contained in this edition, the 

 first, Our City Gardens, has hitherto appeared only in The 

 Daily Mail and is now for the first time reprinted. The re- 

 mainder form part of the two volumes entitled The Measure 

 of the Hours and The Double Garden; and I have taken the 

 opportunity not only of revising my translation with some 

 thoroughness, but also of introducing all the additions and 

 corrections which the author has made in the French edition 

 of these two books, issued, in either case, after the publication 

 of the first English version in America. 



Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. 



Chelsea, 6 June, 19 12. 



