development, not from that of _a priori_ synthesis. The almost
inexhaustible amount of material, especially towards modern times,
has often obliged me to limit myself to typical forerunners of the
various epochs, although, at the same time, I have tried not to lose
the thread of general development. By the addition of the chief
phases of landscape, painting, and garden craft, I have aimed at
giving completeness to the historical picture; but I hold that
literature, especially poetry, as the most intimate medium of a
nation's feelings, is the chief source of information in an enquiry
which may form a contribution, not only to the history of taste, but
also to the comparative history of literature. At a time too when the
natural sciences are so highly developed, and the cult of Nature is
so widespread, a book of this kind may 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 Jahrbücher_, the _Zeitschrift für
Vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte_, and the _Litteraturbeilage des
Hamburgischen Correspondents_, I trust this fuller and more connected
treatment of the theme will prove welcome.

ALFRED BIESE.