PREFACE
I have explained in the Introduction why I have thought it worth while to reprint these 'éloges' of four of the chief English writers who died in the last decade and to add certain reviews of books by or about them. I desire here to emphasise the fact that these obituaries were in every case written within the two or three days that elapsed between the death of their subjects and the appearance of the ensuing issue of the 'Athenæum.' I have nothing to say against the practice of others, but I cannot myself anticipate the Great Destroyer.
I have to thank the Publisher and Editor of the 'Athenæum' for their kind and ready permission to reprint these articles from its pages.
P.S.—To the present re-issue I have added articles on Tennyson, Stevenson, and Seeley, which appeared immediately after their death. I have to thank the Editors of the Academy and Athenæum for permission to reproduce these.
