|

PREFACE,

—__—_#——

To HirrMANN PLoucgyEt, Preserver of Objects of Natural
History at the Royal Museum of Stuttgart,—the capital of the
kingdom of Wurtemberg,—-we are indebted for one of the clever-
est and most popular displays in the Great Exursirion. Every
one, from her Majesty the Queen down to the least of the charity-
boys, hastens to see the Stuffed Animals from the Zollverein ;
every one lingers over them and laughs at them as long as the
crowd will allow; and every one talks of them afterwards with

a smile and a pleasing recollection.

That these clever productions of Ploucquet’s talent may be
long perpetuated, we have had daguerreotypes of them taken by
Mr. Claudet, and engravings made from them on wood as faith-
fully like as possible.

We must beg our readers to remember that, excepting « Rey-
nard the Fox,” our sketches have been written to illustrate the
drawings, for on this plea we claim some indulgence; but as we
know full well that the pictures will be the main attraction of the

volume, we are not apprehensive of much criticism.