Excerpt from Lectures and Essays A few explanatory statements will suffice for a Proem to this small volume. In its preparation'l have sought to utilize some of my literary owoi'k which has already received the recognition of 'print and pay in the South ern Methodist Quarterly Review, under the distinguished editorship of Dr. W. P. Harrison, who is in some direc tions the most scholarly man of his church. Other mate rial has been gathered from my contributions to the columns of standard literary and religious magazines and journals. A very considerable part of it, however, is now published for the first time. I am greatly indebted to the appreciation of many personal friends who will take the larger part ofthe present edition. I wish also to tender my acknowledgments to Mrs. Mary Lanier, of Baltimore, and Charles Scribner's Sons, of New York, for the per mission granted me to append to myfirst lecture some of the choicest poems of the lamented Sidney Lanier. My readers, Iam sure, will also appreciate their kindness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.