The studies in this book are chosen from a number written at irregular intervals, and from sheer interest in their subjects, long ago. Portions of them, or rough drafts of what has since been wholly remodelled from fresher and fuller material at first hand, have appeared within five years in The Atlantic Monthly, Macmillan's, The Catholic World, and Poet-Lore; and thanks are due the magazines for permission to reprint them. Yet more cordial thanks,...