tected under the provisions of the International Copyright Law. In their efforts to obtain these addresses the Publishers have spared neither pains nor expense. The Editors, assisted by the Committee of Selection and other representatives, have applied personally, or by correspondence, to many prominent speakers for their best speeches or lectures. In cases where a desirable speech or lecture was found to exist in copyrighted form, special permission has been obtained from the publisher or rightful owner to reproduce it in the present work. In most instances, speeches and lectures of living orators have been submitted to them for personal revision. Furthermore, the Editors have inserted numerous notes, explanatory of allusions which might not be entirely obvious to the reader. These notes have been interpolated between brackets in the text itself, or they appear as foot-notes.
The after-dinner speeches are kaleidoscopic in variety of topical eloquence. The majority of them partake of some element of humor. They frequently alternate from passages and sallies in lighter vein to passages and perorations of inspired eloquence. Some idea of the variety of toasts, topics, and themes to which noted personages have responded, may be obtained by glancing over the list of contents. Among the long list of after-dinner speeches the reader will find: "The Realm of Literature," by Matthew Arnold; "Peace with Honor," by Lord Beaconsfield; "Merchants and Ministers," by Henry Ward Beecher; "A Birthday Address," by William Cullen Bryant; "The Pilgrim Mothers," by Joseph H. Choate; "Political Life in England," by Lord Randolph Churchill; "Woman—God Bless Her," and "Unconscious Plagiarism," by Mark Twain; "The English-Speaking Race," by George William Curtis; '"Unsolved Problems," by Chauncey M. Depew; "Friends Across the Sea," by Charles Dickens; "The Typical Dutchman," by Henry van Dyke; "The Memory of Burns," by Ralph Waldo Emerson; "The French Alliance," by William M. Evarts; "The Race Problem," by Henry W. Grady; "Mere Man," by Sarah Grand; "The Mission of Culture," by Edward Everett Hale; "Our New Country," by Murat Halstead; "Dorothy Q," by Oliver Wendell Holmes; "The Music of Wagner," by Robert G. Ingersoll;
