Richard Garnett (1835 -1906) was a scholar, librarian, biographer and poet. His literary works include numerous translations from Greek, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese; several books of verse; a book of short stories The Twilight of the Gods (1888, 16 stories; 12 stories added in the 1903 edition); biographies of Thomas Carlyle, John Milton, William Blake, and others; The Age of Dryden (1895); a History of Italian Literature; English Literature: An Illustrated Record (with Edmund Gosse); and many articles for encyclopedias and the Dictionary of National Biography. Stories in this collection include The Twilight of the Gods, The Potion of Lao-Tsze, Abdallah the Adite, Ananda the Miracle Worker, The City of Philosophers, The Demon Pope, The Cupbearer, The Wisdom of the Indians, The Dumb Oracle, Duke Virgil, The Claw, Alexander the Ratcatcher, The Rewards of Industry, Madam Lucifer, The Talismans, The Elixir of Life, The Poet of Panopolis, The Purple Head, The Firefly, Pan's Wand, A Page from the Book of Folly, The Bell of Saint Euschemon, Bishop Addo and The Philosopher and the Butterflies, Bishop Gaddo, Truth and Her Companions, The Three Palaces, New Readings in Biography, and The Poison Maid.