The History of Grasmere contained in this little volume was nearly ready for the press when the author, who was working on it to the very last, was taken away. For several years she had been collecting material, leaving no stone unturned to get at facts and records from the earliest times, and at last she was arranging for its publication. Her modest estimate of the value of her work made her often anxious, but her keen love of investigating the antiquities of her neighbourhood and country kept her always eager. To a kindred spirit nothing could be more interesting than to visit with her some old hall or farm or even a site which her historic knowledge could furnish with its original buildings, and people with its old-world inhabitants. What she most desired was to see for herself what she wished to write about, or, if that were impossible, something similar which still existed, and she had a genius for reconstructing, which made her deductions and suggestions singularly valuable.

She was at no time strong, and for this reason her work was perpetually liable to interruption, still her indomitable courage and her endless patience enabled her to do wonders, and, though never able to work for long together, bit by bit she got through a great deal. How hard she worked and how carefully, no one who reads her book, and sees the number of facts she has got together, and notes the numerous references to books which she had examined, can fail to perceive. Over and over again she had to give in for a time, but her bright intelligence quickly reasserted itself, and she was ready on most days to discuss the subjects which for the time absorbed her. And this she did with a delighted eagerness, and always with that humour which is the salt of all conversation and companionship. On birds and their habits she spoke with authority, and could always contribute much valuable information obtained by personal observation. Generally the first to hear and see the newly arrived summer migrants, and able to distinguish the note of each, she thought no trouble too great if it led to the chance of seeing some rare kind nesting in the neighbourhood. Equally keenly would she follow up the threads of some local history, for she had the true scientific spirit and a genuine passion for archÆology, so that by constant study she had accumulated a surprising mass of information relating to old historic Westmorland, and to Ambleside, Rydal and Grasmere in particular. Of Ambleside she has already published a little pamphlet, called Ambleside Town and Chapel. The present volume is her completed work on Grasmere; and the History of Rydal, and more especially of Rydal Hall, a more considerable work on which she had been engaged for many years, has advanced so far that we hope soon to see it published. Indeed some chapters of it have already appeared in the columns of the Westmorland Gazette.

We had long ago arranged that I should help in seeing her work through the press; and with her usual thoroughness and care, she had got the present volume so far ready that my task has been but a superficial one, accompanied throughout by the "one pure image of regret" that she did not live to see, herself, the fruits of her long labour.

W. F. RAWNSLEY.