tudy than a deep conviction of the difficulty
of the subject, and of the incertitude of human opinions.

259. It seemed to me, on reading the essays collected in this volume, as
they appeared in the periodical[18] for which they were written, that
the author not only possessed herself a very true discernment of the
qualities in mediaeval art which were justly deserving of praise, but had
unusually clear understanding of the degree in which she might expect to
cultivate such discernment in the general mind of polite travelers; nor
have I less admired her aptitude in collation of essentially
illustrative facts, so as to bring the history of a very widely
contemplative range of art into tenable compass and very graceful and
serviceable form. Her reading, indeed, has been, with respect to many
very interesting periods of religious workmanship, much more extensive
than my own; and when I consented to edit the volume of collected
papers, it was not without the assurance of considerable advantage to
myself during the labor of revising them.

260. The revision, however, I am sorry to say, has been interrupted and
imperfect, very necessarily the last from the ignorance I have just
confessed of more than one segment of the great illuminated field of
early religious art, to which the writer most wisely has directed equal
and symmetrical attention, and interrupted partly under extreme pressure
of other occupation, and partly in very fear of being tempted to oppress
the serenity of the general prospect, which I think these essays are
eminently calculated to open before an ingenious reader, with the stormy
chiaroscuro of my own preference and reprobation. I leave the work,
therefore, absolutely Miss Owen's, with occasional note of remonstrance,
but without retouch, though it must be distinctly understood that when I
allow my name to stand as the editor of a book, it is in no mere
compliment (if my editorship could indeed be held as such) to the genius
or merit of the author; but it means that I hold myself entirely
responsible, in main points, for the accuracy of the views advanced, and
that I wish the work to be received, by those who have confidence in my
former teaching, as an extension and application of the parts of it
which I have felt to be incomplete.

OXFORD, _November 27, 1875._

NOTE.--The "notes of remonstrance" or approbation
scattered through the volume are not numerous. They are given
below, pre