Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. INTRODUCTION. AN abbreviated translation of the first of the three following stories appeared in Blackwood's Magazine some years since. The preparer of the present version was so deeply interested by this fragmentary sketch, that he immediately took measures to procure a copy of the original. It is not necessary for him to say to those who shall peruse the following pages, that his anticipated gratification was more than realized. In a recent number of one of the prominent British Reviews, he found "Une Histoire Hollandaise," or "Christine Van Amberg," spoken of as the most perfect specimen of fictitious composition which France has produced in the present century. This is high, but perhaps not extravagant praise. It induced him at once to undertake a complete translation of the Countess d'Arbouville's tales, which is here presented to the public. He would add, that he has endeavored to follow the original as closely as idiom This was neces of language and of thought would permit. sary, as much of the beauty of these touching stories consists in the exquisite word-painting. It is also proper to state that the translator has been informed that "The Village Doctor" has already been done into English in this country for an Eastern periodical, although he has never happened to see the book in question. There is a tender freshness, a simple truthfulness about |