PREFACE.
Reading edition
To the Century Company of New York, in the pages of whose magazine, then known as "Scribner's Monthly," the first of the following essays originally appeared in July, 1880, the thanks of the writer are due for permission to re-publish in the present form. For a like courtesy on the part of the proprietors of Lippincott's Magazine, in which the second paper was first published [Aug., 1884], the writer desires to make due acknowledgment.