and only remembered to be marvelled at in
history, he will be thought to have shared as little as any in the
defects of the period, and most notably exhibited the virtues of the
race. Generosity he has, such as is possible to those who practise an
art, never to those who drive a trade; discretion, tested by a hundred
secrets; tact, tried in a thousand embarrassments; and, what are more
important, Heraclean cheerfulness and courage. So it is that he brings
air and cheer into the sickroom, and often enough, though not so often
as he wishes, brings healing._

_Gratitude is but a lame sentiment; thanks, when they are expressed, are
often more embarrassing than welcome; and yet I must set forth mine to a
few out of many doctors who have brought me comfort and help: to_ Dr.
Willey _of San Francisco, whose kindness to a stranger it must be as
grateful to him, as it is touching to me, to remember; to_ Dr. Karl
Ruedi _of Davos, the good genius of the English in his frosty mountains;
to_ Dr. Herbert _of Paris, whom I knew only for a week, and to_ Dr.
Caissot _of Montpellier, whom I knew only for ten days, and who have yet
written their names deeply in my memory; to_ Dr. Brandt _of Royat; to_
Dr. Wakefield _of Nice; to_ Dr. Chepmell, _whose visits make it a
pleasure to be ill; to_ Dr. Horace Dobell, _so wise in counsel; to_ Sir
Andrew Clark, _so unwearied in kindness; and to that wise youth, my
uncle_, Dr. Balfour.

_I forget as many as I remember; and I ask both to pardon me, these for
silence, those for inadequate speech. But one name I have kept on
purpose to the last, because it is a household word with me, and because
if I had not received favours from so many hands and in so many quarters
of the world, it should have stood upon this page alone: that of my
friend _Thomas Bodley Scott_ of Bournemouth. Will he accept this,
although shared among so many, for a dedication to himself? and when
next my ill-fortune (which has thus its pleasant side) brings him
hurrying to me when he would fain sit down to meat or lie down to rest,
will he care to remember that he takes this trouble for one who is not
fool enough to be ungrateful?_

_R. L. S._

_Skerryvore,
Bournemouth._

BOOK I

IN ENGLISH

UNDERWOODS

I

ENVOY

Go, little book, and wish to all
Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall,
A bin of wine, a spice of wit,
A house with lawns enclosing it,
A living river by the door,
A nighti