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scholarship in general. These suggestions have, for the most part, been adopted in the preparation of the present edition. My thanks are also owing to my colleagues in the Civil Service, especially to those in the General Post Office, London, to whose encouragement it is largely due that this essay, in its present form, is able to see the light.
As the Athenæum, in reviewing the original edition (Athenæum, 2nd of August, 1902), suggested that "the present essay is probably the forerunner of a larger and more elaborate book," it may be desirable to explain that the following pages do not constitute "the larger and more elaborate book" which the Athenæum is right in forecasting.
JOHN OAKESMITH.
