perhaps claim the interest of
that wide circle of educated readers to whom the modern delight in
Nature on its many sides makes appeal. And this the more, since books
are rare which seek to embrace the whole mental development of the
Middle Ages and modern times, and are, at the same time, intended for
and intelligible to all people of cultivation.

The book has been a work of love, and I hope it will be read with
pleasure, not only by those whose special domain it touches, but by
all who care for the eternal beauties of Nature. To those who know my
earlier papers in the _Preussische Jahrbuecher_, the _Zeitschrift fuer
Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte_, and the _Litteraturbeilage des
Hamburgischen Correspondents_, I trust this fuller and more connected
treatment of the theme will prove welcome.

ALFRED BIESE.

Published Translations of the following Authors have been used:

SANSCRIT.--Jones, Wilson, Arnold, anonymous translator in a
publication of the Society for Resuscitation of Ancient Literature.

LATIN AND GREEK.--Lightfoot, Jowett, Farrar, Lodge, Dalrymple, Bigg,
Pilkington, Hodgkin, De Montalembert, Gary, Lok, Murray, Gibb, a
translator in Bonn's Classics.

ITALIAN.--Gary, Longfellow, Cayley, Robinson, Kelly, Bent, Hoole,
Roscoe, Leigh Hunt, Lofft, Astley, Oliphant.

GERMAN.--Horton and Bell, Middlemore, Lytton, Swanwick, Dwight,
Boylau, Bowling, Bell, Aytoun, Martin, Oxenford, Morrison, M'Cullum,
Winkworth, Howorth, Taylor, Nind, Brooks, Lloyd, Frothingham, Ewing,
Noel, Austin, Carlyle, Storr, Weston, Phillips.

SPANISH.--Markham, Major, Bowring, Hasell, M'Carthy, French.

FRENCH.--Anonymous translator of Rousseau.

PORTUGUESE.--Aubertin.

The Translator's thanks are also due to the author for a few
alterations in and additions to the text, and to Miss Edgehill, Miss
Tomlinson, and Dr B. Scheifers for translations from Greek and Latin,
Italian, and Middle German respectively.

INTRODUCTION

Nature in her ever-constant, ever-changing phases is indispensable to
man, his whole existence depends upon her, and she influences him in
manifold ways, in mind as well as body.

The physical character of a country is reflected in its inhabitants;
the one factor of climate alone gives a very different outlook to
northerner and southerner. But whereas primitive man, to whom the
darkness of night meant anxiety, either feared Nature or worshipped
her with awe, civilised man tries to lift her vei