Produced by Henry Flower and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) Transcriber's Note Bold text is indicated by =equals signs=, and italics by _underscores_. THE HEART OF ENGLAND THE HEART OF ENGLAND SERIES This Series opens with a new work by Mr. EDWARD THOMAS, that curious and enthusiastic explorer of the English Countryside, whose prose style gives him a claim to be regarded as the successor, as he is the biographer, of Richard Jefferies. The Series includes a new edition of Mr. THOMAS’S other work, “The Heart of England,” and Mr. HILAIRE BELLOC’S “The Historic Thames.” These two volumes were originally issued in limited editions at one Guinea net per volume. =THE SOUTH COUNTRY.= By EDWARD THOMAS. Small crown 8vo. =3s. 6d.= net. Mr. Thomas in this new book gives his impressions of a year’s wanderings afoot as the seasons change through Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Cornwall. It is a prose-poem of the most beautiful counties in England. THE HEART OF ENGLAND. By EDWARD THOMAS. Small crown 8vo. =3s. 6d.= net. THE HISTORIC THAMES. By HILAIRE BELLOC, M.P. =3s. 6d.= net. _Prospectus of above Books sent post free on application._ J. M. DENT & CO. 29-30, BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C. [Illustration] [Illustration: THE HEART OF ENGLAND _by Edward Thomas_ LONDON _J. M. DENT & CO._ _1909_ ] _All rights reserved_ TO HENRY W. NEVINSON CONTENTS PART I. LEAVING TOWN CHAP. PAGE I. LEAVING TOWN 1