I should say that the sooner I stop the better. If on my descent to the nether world I were to be met and welcomed by the shades of those to whom I have done a good turn while I was here, I should be received by a fairly illustrious crowd. There would be Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, Leonardo da Vinci, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Holbein, Tabachetti, Paracca and D’Enrico; the Authoress of the _Odyssey_ would come and Homer with her; Dr. Butler would bring with him the many forgotten men and women to whom in my memoir I have given fresh life; there would be Buffon, Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck; Shakespeare also would be there and Handel. I could not wish to find myself in more congenial company and I shall not take it too much to heart if the shade of Charles Darwin glides gloomily away when it sees me coming. XXV Poems Prefatory Note i. _Translation from an Unpublished Work of Herodotus_ ii. _The Shield of Achilles_, _with Variations_ iii. _The Two Deans_ iv. _On the Italian Priesthood_ _Butler wrote these four pieces while he was an undergraduate at St. John’s College_, _Cambridge_. _He kept no copy of any of them_, _but his friend the Rev. Canon Joseph McCormick_, _D.D._, _Rector of St. James’s_, _Piccadilly_, _kept copies in a note-book which he lent me_. _The only one that has appeared in print is_ “_The Shield of Achilles_,” _which Canon McCormick sent to_ The Eagle, _the magazine of St. John’s College_, _Cambridge_, _and it was printed in the number for December_ 1902, _about six months after Butler’s death_. “_On the Italian Priesthood_” _is a rendering of the Italian epigram accompanying it which_, _with others under the heading_ “_Astuzia_, _Inganno_,” _is given in_ Raccolta di Proverbi Toscani di Giuseppe Giusti (_Firenze_, 1853). v. _A Psalm of Montreal_ _This was written in Canada in_ 1875. _Butler often recited it and gave copies of it to his friends_. _Knowing that Mr. Edward Clodd had had something to do with its appearance in the_ Spectator _I wrote asking him to tell me what he remembered about it_. _He very kindly replied_, 29_th_ _October_, 1905: “_The_ ‘_Psalm_’ _was recited to me at the Century Club by Butler_. _He gave me a copy of it which I read to the late Chas. Anderson_, _Vicar of S. John’s_, _Limehouse_, _who lent it to Matt. Arnold_ (_when inspecting Anderson’s Schools_) _who lent it to Richd. Holt Hutton who_, _with Butler’s consent_, _printed it in the_ Spectator _of_ 18_th_ _May_, 1878.” _The_ “_Psalm of Montreal_” _was included in_ Selections from Previous Works (1884) _and in_ Seven Sonnets, _etc._ vi. _The Righteous Man_