THE

GIANT'S ROBE

BY

F. ANSTEY

AUTHOR OF 'VICE-VERSÂ'

THIRD EDITION

LONDON
SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE
1884

[All rights reserved]

PREFACE.

IT has been my intention from thefirst to take this opportunity of stating that, if I am indebted toany previous work for the central idea of a stolen manuscript, suchobligation should be ascribed to a short tale, published some time agoin one of the Christmas numbers—the only story upon the subjectwhich I have read at present.

It was the story of a German student who, having found in the libraryof his university an old scientific manuscript, by a writer long sincedead and forgotten, produced it as his own; and it is so probable thatthe recollection of this incident became quite unconsciously the germof the present book that, although the matter is not of generalimportance, I feel it only fair to mention it here.

I trust, nevertheless, that it is not necessary to insist upon anyclaim to the average degree of originality; for if the book does notbear the traces of honest and independent work, that is a defect whichis scarcely likely to be removed by the most eloquent andargumentative of prefaces.

CONTENTS.