paration, and that my personal relations with him have been confined to a formal presentation some six years ago. For the benefit of the critics, I may perhaps be allowed to add that whatever the faults of the book may be, they are not those which arise from haste. It was begun rather more than two years ago, and it has occupied every spare hour since that time.
I cannot allow these sheets to leave my hands without grateful mention of my deep obligations to the officials of the British Museum and especially to the accomplished superintendent of the Reading Room-Mr. Richard Garnett-a gentleman whose encyclopædic knowledge is only equalled by the generous courtesy with which he places it at the disposal of every applicant for information.