All will be gay when noontide wakes anew The Buttercups, the little children's dower, Far brighter than this gaudy melon flower! And Keats also-- Happy is England! I could be content To see no other verdure than its own, To feel no other breezes than are blown Through its tall woods, with high romances blent. These, the poets' longings, suggested the prefix for which so lengthy an apology has been made, and which, in spite of the artist's demur, we have pressed upon her acceptance, confident that the public verdict will be an acquittal against any charge either of exaggeration, or that he who excuses himself accuses himself. If an apology is due it is in respect of the letterpress. The necessity of maintaining the size to which the public has been accustomed in the series of which this forms a part, and of interleaving the numerous illustrations which it contains, means the provision of a certain number of words. Now an artist's life that has been passed amid such pleasant surroundings as has that of Mrs. Allingham, cannot contain a sufficiency of material for the purpose. Indulgence must, therefore, be granted when it is found that much of the contents consists merely of the writer's descriptions of the illustrations, a discovery which might suggest that they were primarily the _raison d'être_ of the volume. As regards the illustrations, a word must be said. The remarkable achievements in colour reproduction, through what is known as the "three-colour process," have enabled the public to be placed in possession of memorials of an artist's work in a way that was not possible even so recently as a year or two ago. Hitherto self-respecting painters have very rightly demurred to any colour reproductions of their work being made except by processes whose cost and lengthy procedure prohibited quantity as well as quality. Mrs. Allingham herself, in view of previous attempts, was of the same opinion until a trial of the process now adopted convinced her to the contrary. Now she is happy that a leap forward in science has enabled renderings in little of her water-colours to be offered to thousands who did not know them previously. The water-colours selected for reproduction have been brought together from many sources, and at much inconvenience to their owners. Both artist and publishers ask me to take this opportunity of thanking those whose names will be found in the List of Illustrations, for the generosity with which they have placed the originals at their disposal.