lies that have entirely died out, of others that still happily
remain amongst us, and record the names and virtues of many an
illustrious house. The windows, brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have
all some interesting story to relate, which we hope presently to examine
more minutely.

Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
very important one, concerning which much has been written, many
questions disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.

Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of
war and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside;
and if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they
tell of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil
wars, and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our
peaceful villages!

We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before
the dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead
bodies tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings
help us to form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in
those distant days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from
being the naked woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has
so long been deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We
shall call to mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our
country--the Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans--all of whom
have left some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story
of our villages.

The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so