Another trifling instalment towards the history of Worcestershire is now respectfully presented to its inhabitants, and the Author ventures to express a hope that it may meet with the general favour of the reading public, equal to that which his previous works have elicited.

The materials of historical works usually consist of tables of pedigrees, charters, battles, sieges, enumerations of manors, with their successive owners, statistical details, and other tedious though useful information. These, however, are but the dry bones—the skeleton of history. The spirit of the past can only be evoked by a deep and extensive research among documentary and traditional evidences—by careful comparison and analysis—by judicious deduction and inference. To perform this effectually, even for the limited area of a county, the coÖperation of many minds is almost indispensable. Let us take Worcestershire as an instance. Habingdon, Nash, Thomas, Green, and others, have accumulated large masses of the matter which conventionally passes for history, and I would not for one moment desire to detract from the merit of their labours: yet the history of Worcestershire remains to be written. What do we yet know of the manners and customs, the hopes and aspirations, the social every-day life, the habits and thoughts, of our ancestors? Yet surely this is not the least considerable feature of the times of which we would fain glean tidings. Who would not vastly prefer an hour or two's conversation with one who was in the flesh some centuries ago—could that be possible—to studying the pages of the most intelligent contemporaneous historian? Education had rendered the world dissatisfied with the old modes and precise forms of this department of literature, when such pens as Macaulay's were soon ready to supply the new want. Yet Macaulay could have done but little service in this way had he been content to receive old stereotyped facts which had for centuries been lazily copied by preceding writers. It was by industriously and perseveringly investigating public and private libraries, hunting up all available resources, and systematically comparing and arranging the information thus obtained, that he was enabled, by the potency of his genius, to erect on a new foundation a superstructure that has delighted and astonished all beholders. That great man's industry, at all events, if not his genius, may, and must be, imitated by all who would successfully labour in the field of history for the future. The annals of even so circumscribed an area as a county must not be written without at least searching the records of its principal courts of judicature, nor that of a city before consulting the dusty relics in the parochial chests and the municipal closets. Yet these fertile sources of authentic information have been almost entirely neglected by Worcestershire historians. The Author of this little work has made a commencement, humble though it be, towards furnishing data for the required undertaking; yet how much remains to be done! Nor can a single individual, confined to the requirements of an absorbing profession, be expected, alone and unaided, to achieve much. If some one in each parish would undertake to search the register, the old vestry and churchwardens' books, and any manuscripts or other material that may exist in the parish; if others would investigate the archives of the municipal towns, the Assize records (which I presume are in the possession of Mr. Wilde, at Clifford's Inn), the MSS. and rare books which may be found in the libraries of private gentlemen and the British Museum, and, though last, the most important of all, the ancient ecclesiastical registers and other records in Edgar Tower—the labour of a life—some material would then be gleaned from which a competent editor might produce a history worthy of the county—a picture of the life and manners of our ancestors, and not a mere record of names and dates and crude undigested facts.

The fragments which the Author has rescued from the accumulating dust of past ages are here presented, in the hope that others more competent will be stimulated to similar exertions in the various departments above indicated. Two insuperable reasons prevent his undertaking the task himself—first, that it would prove overwhelming and impossible to one who can spare only an occasional hour for the purpose, while, if divided amongst many, the accomplishment would be easy; and secondly, that much of the work to be done—especially the examination of ancient ecclesiastical documents—requires far greater scholastic attainments and a more intimate knowledge of the middle ages than he possesses. "Divide and conquer" must be the motto, if the work is to be done.

Meanwhile it will be noted with satisfaction that every successive exploration into the past indicates more distinctly the decided progress we have made, and exposes the fallacy of the belief in the "good old times:"

In the few sheets here collected, evidence is given of civil and religious strife, such as we are now happily exempt from; of coarse habits, and a reckless expenditure of public funds on gross sensuality; the primitive state of the highways and the miserable travelling consequent thereon; the infancy of science in almost every department, and the greater prevalence of disease; superstition pervading all classes; women flogged in public, and the gaol a very specimen of barbarism; the poor hunted out of their cottages in every parish like wild beasts, and nearly all descriptions of trade fettered by absurd restrictions; nonconformity persecuted, and constitutional liberty, as we now understand the term, unknown. Nor were the manners and customs of our ancestors much more desirable than our own, although there was a greater heartiness in them and apparently a more general mixing of classes. When Parry was searching for the north-west passage, a boat was one day sent on shore, under charge of a petty officer, who received, besides the usual instructions to keep a look-out for anything remarkable, a printed form, on which, under the heads of "Manners," and "Customs," to record what he saw among the natives. In due time the boat returned to the ship, the man delivered in his report; and an extraordinary one it was for pith and brevity, running thus:

That the same report might have been truthfully applied even to English society in the last and preceding centuries the following pages prove, and still more conclusively might the charge have been brought home had the author felt himself justified in printing in extenso some of the documents he has consulted, especially among the county rolls. Let us, however, not quarrel with our predecessors, but rightfully appreciate the blessings of advanced civilization by endeavouring, each one in his limited sphere, to inculcate contentment with our lot and an earnest desire to assist in the great work of human progress, both physical and moral.

In conclusion, the Author begs to offer his warm thanks to the patrons of this book (individually named in the dedication), without whose kind promises of support the work would not have been published; to Sir T. E. Winnington, Bart., M.P., for the inspection of many interesting manuscripts; to the clergy and churchwardens of the city, for their courtesy in permitting the examination of the registers and other parish books; to Mr. Carrington, barrister-at-law, for several valuable contributions and highly prized literary assistance; to Mr. Lewis, of the County Clerk of the Peace's office, for the trouble he so willingly incurred in displacing and re-arranging the Sessions' rolls; and lastly, to the general body of subscribers, who have so numerously signified their intention to take copies.