In the Preface to Vol. I., I gave an account of the origination of some of the ideas embodied in the book. A few more such details may perhaps interest my Readers:

I. Ch. XIV. The very peculiar use, here made of a dead mouse, comes from real life. I once found two very small boys, in a garden, playing a microscopic game of "Single-Wicket". The bat was, I think, about the size of a tablespoon; and the utmost distance attained by the ball, in its most daring flights, was some 4 or 5 Yards. The exact length was of course a matter of supreme importance; and it was always carefully measured out (the batsman and the bowler amicably sharing the toil) with a dead mouse!

I. Ch. XVIII. The two quasi-mathematical Axioms, quoted by Arthur ("Things that are greater than the same are greater than one another", and "All angles are equal") were actually enunciated, in all seriousness, by undergraduates at a University situated not 100 miles from Ely.

II. Ch. I. Bruno's remark ("I can, if I like, &c.") was actually made by a little boy.

II. Ch. I. So also was his remark ("I know what it doesn't spell"). And his remark ("I just twiddled my eyes, &c.") I heard from the lips of a little girl, who had just solved a puzzle I had set her.

II. Ch. IV. Bruno's soliloquy ("For its father, &c.") was actually spoken by a little girl, looking out of the window of a railway-carriage.

II. Ch. IX. The remark, made by a guest at the dinner-party, when asking for a dish of fruit ("I've been wishing for them, &c.") I heard made by the great Poet-Laureate, whose loss the whole reading-world has so lately had to deplore.

II. Ch. XI. Bruno's speech, on the subject of the age of "Mein Herr", embodies the reply of a little girl to the question "Is your grandmother an old lady?" "I don't know if she's an old lady," said this cautious young person; "she's eighty-three."

II. Ch. XIII. The speech about "Obstruction" is no mere creature of my imagination! It is copied verbatim from the columns of the Standard, and was spoken by Sir William Harcourt, who was, at the time, a member of the "Opposition", at the "National Liberal Club", on July the 16th, 1890.

II. Ch. XXI. The Professor's remark, about a dog's tail, that "it doesn't bite at that end", was actually made by a child, when warned of the danger he was incurring by pulling the dog's tail.

II. Ch. XXIII. The dialogue between Sylvie and Bruno is a verbatim report (merely substituting "cake" for "penny") of a dialogue overheard between two children.

One story in this Volume- "Bruno's Picnic"- I can vouch for as suitable for telling to children, having tested it again and again; and, whether my audience has been a dozen little girls in a village-school, or some thirty or forty in a London drawing-room, or a hundred in a High School, I have always found them earnestly attentive, and keenly appreciative of such fun as the story supplied.

May I take this opportunity of calling attention to what I flatter myself was a successful piece of name-coining, in Ch. III of Vol. I. Does not the name "Sibimet" fairly embody the character of the Sub-Warden? The gentle Reader has no doubt observed what a singularly useless article in a house a brazen trumpet is, if you simply leave it lying about, and never blow it!

Readers of the first Volume, who have amused themselves by trying to solve the two puzzles propounded in the Preface, may perhaps like to exercise their ingenuity in discovering which (if any) of the following parallelisms were intentional, and which (if any) accidental. -

"Little Birds". Events, and Persons.

Stanza 1. Banquet.

2. Chancellor.

3. Empress and Spinach (II. Ch. XX).

4. Warden's Return.

5. Professor's Lecture (II. Ch. XXI).

6. Other Professor's Song (I. Ch. X).

7. Petting of Uggug.

8. Baron Doppelgeist.

9. Jester and Bear (I. Ch. IX). Little Foxes.

10. Bruno's Dinner-Bell; Little Foxes. -

I will publish the answer to this puzzle in the Preface to a little book of "Original Games and Puzzles", now in course of preparation.

I have reserved, for the last, one or two rather more serious topics.

I had intended, in this Preface, to discuss more fully, than I had done in the previous Volume, the "Morality of Sport", with special reference to letters I have received from lovers of Sport, in which they point out the many great advantages which men get from it, and try to prove that the suffering, which it inflicts on animals, is too trivial to be regarded.

But, when I came to think the subject out, and to arrange the whole of the arguments "pro" and "con", I found it much too large for treatment here. Some day, I hope to publish an essay on this subject. At present, I will content myself with stating the net result I have arrived at.

It is, that God has given to Man an absolute right to take the lives of other animals, for any reasonable cause, such as the supply of food: but that He has not given to Man the right to inflict pain, unless when necessary: that mere pleasure, or advantage, does not constitute such a necessity: and, consequently, that pain, inflicted for the purposes of Sport, is cruel, and therefore wrong. But I find it a far more complex question than I had supposed; and that the "case", on the side of the Sportsman, is a much stronger one than I had supposed. So, for the present, I say no more about it. -

Objections have been raised to the severe language I have put into the mouth of "Arthur", Chapter XIX of Vol. I., on the subject of "Sermons", and on the subjects of Choral Services and "Choristers".

I have already protested against the assumption that I am ready to endorse the opinions of characters in my story. But, in these two instances, I admit that I am much in sympathy with "Arthur". In my opinion, far too many sermons are expected from our preachers; and, as a consequence, a great many are preached, which are not worth listening to; and, as a consequence of that, we are very apt not to listen. The reader of this paragraph probably heard a sermon last Sunday morning? Well, let him, if he can, name the text, and state how the preacher treated it!

Then, as to "Choristers", and all the other accessories of music, vestments, processions, &c.- which have come, along with them, into fashion- while freely admitting that the "Ritual" movement was sorely needed, and that it has effected a vast improvement in our Church-Services, which had become dead and dry to the last degree, I hold that, like many other desirable movements, it has gone too far in the opposite direction, and has introduced many new dangers.