AUTUMN IMPRESSIONS OF THE GIRONDE In Crown 8vo, Cloth Gilt. Price 6s. RUSSIA OF TO-DAY BY E. VON DER BRÜGGEN THE TIMES says:-- "Few among the numerous books dealing with the Russian Empire which have appeared of late years will be found more profitable than Baron von der Brüggen's 'Das Heutige Russland,' an English version of which has now been published. The impression which it produced in Germany two years ago was most favourable, and we do not hesitate to repeat the advice of the German critics by whom it was earnestly recommended to the notice of all political students. The author's reputation has already been firmly established by his earlier works on 'The Disintegration of Poland' and 'The Europeanization of Russia,' and in the present volume his judgment appears to be as sound as his knowledge is unquestionable." Illustration: ANCIENT HEADDRESS IN AIRVAULT (DEUX SEVRES). [_Frontispiece._ Autumn Impressions of the Gironde BY I. GIBERNE SIEVEKING AUTHOR OF "Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman," and "A Turning Point of the Indian Mutiny." Once or twice, in every life--it may be in one form, it may be in another--there comes one day the possibility of a glimpse through the Magic Gates of Idealism. Some of us are not close enough to the opening gates to catch a sight of what lies beyond, but in the eyes of those who have seen--there is from that moment an ineffaceable, unforgettable longing. [Illustration] _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ LONDON Digby, Long & Co. 18, Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C. 1910 TO FRANCE-- THE COUNTRY OF MANY IDEALS PREFACE To each man or woman of us there is the Country of our Ideals. The ideals may be newly aroused; they may be of long standing. But some time or other, in some way or other, there is the country; there is the place; there is the sunny spot in our imagination-world which _calls_ to us--and calls to us in no uncertain voice. It is true we are not always susceptible to that call: it is true we are not always responsive, but it is there all the same. Sometimes there comes to us a day when that "call" is insistent, all-compelling, irresistible; a day in which it sounds with indescribable music, indescribable vibration, through that inner world into which we all go now and again, when days are monotonous or depressing.