Betham-Edwards 83 Reason and Belief Sir Oliver Lodge 93 The Substance of Faith Sir Oliver Lodge 116 The Survival of Man Sir Oliver Lodge 284 Modern Problems Sir Oliver Lodge 95 The Mirror of the Sea Joseph Conrad 126 Science from an Easy Chair Sir Ray Lankester 149 A Shepherd's Life W. H. Hudson 200 Jane Austen and her Times G. E. Mitton 218 R. L. S. Francis Watt 234 Records and Reminiscences Sir Francis Burnand 285 The Old Time Parson P. H. Ditchfield 287 The Customs of Old England F. J. Snell A short Selection only. THE CUSTOMS OF OLD ENGLAND BY F. J. SNELL METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON _First Issued in this Cheap Form in 1919_ _This Book was First Published (Crown 8vo) February 16th, 1911_ +-------------------------------------------------------------+ |Transcribers Note: In this book superscript is represented by| |the carat "^" | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ PREFACE The aim of the present volume is to deal with Old English Customs, not so much in their picturesque aspect--though that element is not wholly wanting--as in their fundamental relations to the organized life of the Middle Ages. Partly for that reason and partly because the work is comparatively small, it embraces only such usages as are of national (and, in some cases, international) significance. The writer is much too modest to put it forth as a scientific exposition of the basic principles of mediaeval civilization. He is well aware that a book designed on this unassuming scale must be more or less eclectic. He is conscious of manifold gaps--_valde deflenda_. And yet, despite omissions, it is hoped that the reader may rise from its perusal with somewhat clearer conceptions of the world as it appeared to the average educated Englishman of the Middle Ages. This suggests the remark that the reader specially in view is the average educated Englishman of the twentieth century, who has not perhaps forgotten his Latin, for Latin has a way of sticking, while Greek, unless cherished, drops away from a man.