So much in defence, or at all events, in explanation, of expressions
and statements which have been pointed out as most glaring mistakes
in Kingsley's lectures. I think it must be clear that in all these
cases alterations would have been impossible. There were other
passages, where I should gladly have altered or struck out whole
lines, particularly in the ethnological passages, and in the
attempted etymologies of German proper names. Neither the one nor
the other, I believe, are Kingsley's own, though I have tried in vain
to find out whence he could possibly have taken them.

These, however, are minor matters which are mentioned chiefly in
order to guard against the impression that, because I left them
unchanged, I approved of them. The permanent interest attaching to
these lectures does not spring from the facts which they give. For
these, students will refer to Gibbon. They will be valued chiefly
for the thoughts which they contain, for the imagination and
eloquence which they display, and last, not least, for the sake of
the man, a man, it is true, of a warm heart rather than of a cold
judgment, but a man whom, for that very reason, many admired, many
loved, and many will miss, almost every day of their life.

M. M.



LECTURE 1--THE FOREST CHILDREN.



I wish in this first lecture to give you some general conception of