PREFACE

       Table of Contents

      Aut prodesse volunt ant delectare poetae,

       Aut simul et jucunda et idonea dicere vitae.

       Horat. De arte poetica v. 333.

      It is now four years since this book first appeared before the public, and I feel it my duty not to let a second edition go forth into the world without a few words of accompaniment. It hardly seems necessary to assure my readers that I have endeavored to earn for the following pages the title of a “corrected edition.” An author is the father of his book, and what father could see his child preparing to set out on a new and dangerous road, even if it were not for the first time, without endeavoring to supply him with every good that