sibly points of high
importance.

Two chief purposes therefore animate my desire to publish this work.
One is to supply such little information as I have gleaned on a
subject which has by some singular chance escaped especial recognition
from all the multitude of authors, antiquarians, and literary men.
I have searched the Museum libraries, and consulted book-collectors,
well-read archaeologists, and others likely to know if there is any
work descriptive of old gravestones in existence, and nothing with
the remotest relation thereto can I discover.[1] There are, of course,
hundreds of books of epitaphs, more or less apocryphal, but not
one book, apocryphal or otherwise, regarding the allegories of the
churchyard. Can it be that the subject is bereft of interest? If so, I
have made my venture in vain. But I trust that it is not so.

[Footnote 1: The Rev. Charles Boutell published, in 1849, parts 1 and
2 of a periodical work entitled "Christian Monuments in England and
Wales," proposing to complete the same in five sections; the fifth to
treat of headstones and other churchyard memorials, with some general
observations on modern monuments. The two parts brought the
subject down to the fifteenth century, and were so ably written and
beautifully illustrated as to intensify our regret at the incompletion
of the task.]

The second object is to recommend to others a new and delightful
hobby, and possibly bring to bear upon my theme an accumulation of
knowledge and combination of light. Gravestone hunting implies long
walks in rural scenes, with all the expectations, none of the risks,
and few of the disappointments of other pursuits. From ten to fifteen
miles may be mapped out for a fair day's trudge, and will probably
embrace from three to six parish churchyards, allowing time to inspect
the church as well as its surroundings. Saturdays are best for these
excursions, for then the pew-openers are dusting out the church, and
the sexton is usually about, sweeping the paths or cutting the grass.
The church door will in most cases be open, and you can get the
guidance you want from the best possible sources. A chat with the
village sexton is seldom uninviting, and he can generally point out
everything worth your observation. But the faculty of finding that of
which you are in search will soon come to you. In the first place, the
new portion of a churchyard--there is nearly always a new portion--may
be left on one side. You wil