Page:America Today, Observations and Reflections.djvu/9

 PREFACE

letters and essays which make up this little book appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette and Pall Mall Magazine respectively, and are reprinted by kind permission of the Editors of these periodicals. My original intention in crossing the Atlantic was simply to make a study of the American stage. The enlargement of my scheme, to which this book owes its existence, was due to the personal suggestion of Mr. Astor, whose encouragement overcame the diffidence I felt in venturing so far beyond the limits of my own narrow province. Whether Mr. Astor's encouragement was well inspired it is for the reader to determine. Let me only say that while no one can recognise more clearly than I the superficiality of the hasty survey here recorded, I should have been exceedingly sorry not to have put on record a few of the innumerable pleasant impressions I received during my eight-weeks' stay in the United States.