Illustrated by the Author, and from Old Prints and

Portraits.

LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED

1895

(All Rights Reserved.)

TO GERALD AND ADA COLMAN.

My dear Friends,

There was an evening, a while ago, that you reproached me for the few occasions upon which I appeared at your pleasant gatherings, and then I made my excuses, awkwardly enough, on the score of my work that was forward. It at once pleases me, and does you no more than justice, to take those reproaches more seriously than I fear is the custom in these days of meaningless phrases and hollow courtesies; and I take the opportunity that this occasion affords to offer for your consideration (and haply a place on your book-shelves) the cause of my dereliction of social duties.

While you have been entertaining guests under your hospitable roof-tree I have been tramping the roads with all the ardour of the old pilgrims; or have come to some hedge-tavern in a remote hamlet, to make a frugal supper on bread-and-cheese, and so