PREFACE. N the same number in which my last preface, six months ago, was printed appeared the final scenes of OLYMPIA: A ROMANCE. Both during the pro gress of that story and at the close I received so many assurances, direct and indirect, of the satisfaction of my readers with the work, and the novel on its republication in a separate form was so marked a success, that I lost no time in negotiating with the author for the introduction of his next work to the public through the pages of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. A stout parcel of Mr. Francillon's new novel is before me. The title is A DOG AND HIS SHADOW. It is an original study of the life of a man of peculiar character developed under exceptional circumstances, and I anticipate that this hero-if I may call him the hero-will stand out a conspicuous figure in the realms of fiction. The first chapter of A DOG AND HIS SHADOW will appear in the July number, opening the next volume, and it will run through the successive numbers for twelve months. My first intention was to withhold this work until the conclusion of Mr. McCarthy's exquisite story DEAR LADY DISDAIN, but Mr. Francillon's novel is so much stronger than any novelette that I could secure available to fill the place during the next six months left vacant by the conclusion of AL LYN SAHIB, and the author of A DOG AND HIS SHADOW is already so far advanced with his story, and the readers of OLYMPIA have shown so much interest with regard to Mr. Francillon's next work that I believe I can do no better than begin at once. With two such novels as DEAR LADY DISDAIN and A DOG AND HIS SHADOW running side by side in the magazine until Mr. McCarthy's story is ended (when I hope to be prepared with a worthy successor), I anticipate an increase of that measure of public approbation of this periodical which has afforded me so much encouragement since I have occupied the chair of Sylvanus Urban. It appears to be the general opinion that, as far as may be judged before half the work is in print, Mr. McCarthy has surpassed all his former novels in DEAR LADY DISDAIN, and my privileges as editor, in possession of the MS. several months in advance of publication, place me in a position to predict that the good opinion formed of the opening is not likely to undergo limitation as the work proceeds. DEAR LADY DISDAIN is being published simultaneously in a periodical of great circulation in the United States, as well as in a monthly magazine in Germany, and a separate edition in the German language is in preparation. Many of my readers will be interested to learn that OLYMPIA is now being reprinted in a serial form in South Australia and Victoria. Apart from fiction several books have already been published or will presently appear in the field of permanent literature consisting mainly of contributions to the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE during these two years. The first was the MEN AND MANNER IN PARLIAMENT, by "The Member for the Chiltern Hundreds," which occupied a conspicuous place in these pages during the opening Session of the present Parliament. The work has been regarded both in its original and its reprinted form as a notable example of fresh and vigorous political sketching brought into relief by light touches of caricature. More recently Mr. Senior has been tempted by the exceedingly favourable reception of his WATERSIDE SKETCHES, which were contributed to the magazine under the signature of "Red Spinner," to republish them in a volume, and the book has been welcomed as heartily as were the articles in their individual shape. Touching "Red Spinner's" pleasant little bits of reproduction of the natural features of river scenery and the like in these islands, I venture to quote from private letters to myself from Mr. and Mrs. Cowden Clarke a sentence which shows that my angling contributor has succeeded in bringing back visions of the aspects of nature in England to the minds of lovers of this country who have spent a great many years away from home. "Our unfading affection for dear Old England and its lovely scenery," writes Mrs. Cowden Clarke, speaking for her husband as well as for herself, "makes us constant and much gratified readers of 'Red Spinner's' picturesquely written papers." I am glad to know that the authors of these two books continue among my frequent contributors, and their papers always seem welcome to my readers. "Red Spinner" is preparing a new study of angling and riverside observation of the early summer of the present year for the July number, and I have some hope that "The Member for the Chiltern Hundreds' latest Parliamentary sketch, in the present number, will help somewhat in the exposure of one of the strangest delusions of the time and one of the most unaccountable instances of mistaken hero-worship in our history. The fact that Mr. Robert Buchanan's series of poems, which have appeared in the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE through the last fourteen months, will be reprinted, I must not attribute to the circumstance of their favourable reception in these pages, because Mr. Buchanan's work never wants for an audience; but I think I may venture to say that these fourteen poems have added much to the poet's reputation and have largely increased the number of his admirers in England, Ireland, and Scotland. One of the earliest of the series, THE WEDDING OF SHON MACLEAN, was quoted full length in many of the journals of Scotland, and it has already become recognised as a characteristic national work, recited at public readings and repeated by the Scottish fireside. Since then several of the poems have occupied whole columns of Irish and Scotch papers in connection with notices of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. The last of this series is the one printed in the present number, but Mr. Buchanan is engaged upon a poem which he has had for some time in contemplation—a single work which will occupy probably about thirty pages of the magazine distributed over six months. The first instalment will appear in the number for January next. I will not enter into detail with respect to the contributions of the next six months which will accompany the new novel, A DOG AND HIS SHADOW, and the |