Author and spectator are both satisfied, and the ancients rarely gave their comedies anything but insignificant names." This may be the case with "Uarda," whose character is less prominent than some others, it is true, but whose sorrows direct the destinies of my other heroes and heroines.
Why should I conceal the fact?
The character of "Uarda" and the present story have grown out of the memory of a Fellah girl, half child, half maiden, whom I saw suffer and die in a hut at Abu el Qurnah in the Necropolis of Thebes.
I still persist in the conviction I have so frequently expressed, the conviction that the fundamental traits of the life of the soul have undergone very trivial modifications among civilized nations in all times and ages, but will endeavor to explain the contrary opinion, held by my opponents, by calling attention to the circumstance, that the expression of these emotions show considerable variations among different peoples, and at different epochs.

I believe that Juvenal, one of the ancient writers who best understood human nature, was right in saying: "Nil erit ulterius, quod nostris moribus addat Posteritas: eadem cupient facientque minores." Leipsic, October 15th, 1877.
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