. If he be
of the ordinary class of readers, he has either never seen those remote
districts at all, or he has wandered through those desolate regions in
the course of a summer tour, eating bad dinners, sleeping on truckle
beds, stalking from desolation to desolation, and fully prepared to
believe the strangest things that could be told him of a people, wild
and extravagant enough to be attached to scenery so extraordinary.
But the same worthy person, when placed in his own snug parlour, and
surrounded by all the comforts of an Englishman's fireside, is not half
so much disposed to believe that his own ancestors led a very different
life from himself; that the shattered tower, which now forms a vista
from his window, once held a baron who would have hung him up at his
own door without any form of trial; that the hinds, by whom his little
pet-farm is managed, a few centuries ago would have been his slaves;
and that the complete influence of feudal tyranny once extended over the
neighbouring village, where the attorney is now a man of more importance
than the lord of the manor.

While I own the force of these objections, I must confess, at the same
time, that they do not appear to me to be altogether insurmountable. The
scantiness of materials is indeed a formidable difficulty; but no one
knows better than Dr Dryasdust, that to those deeply read in antiquity,
hints concerning the private life of our ancestors lie scattered
through the pages of our various historians, bearing, indeed, a slender
proportion to the other matters of which they treat, but still, when
collected together, sufficient to throw considerable light upon the "vie
prive" of our forefathers; indeed, I am convinced, that however I myself
may fail in the ensuing attempt, yet, with more labour in collecting, or
more skill in using, the materials within his reach, illustrated as they
have been by the labours of Dr Henry, of the late Mr Strutt, and, above
all, of Mr Sharon Turner, an abler hand would have been successful;
and therefore I protest, beforehand, against any argument which may be
founded on the failure of the present experiment.

On the other hand, I have already said, that if any thing like a true
picture of old English manners could be drawn, I would trust to the
good-nature and good sense of my countrymen for insuring its favourable
reception.

Having thus replied, to the best of my power, to the first class of
your objections, or at least h