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EDITOR OF THE ENGLISH EDITION.
xi

properly explained that the great delay which has taken place in the appearance of the present work has partly had its origin in a wish to make it still more complete, by the addition of a copious Appendix pointing out what remains belonging to the Stone, Bronze, and Iron periods respectively have been found in this country, and the localities in which they were discovered; but the difficulty of securing perfect correctness in the returns of such discoveries, and the length of time necessary to authenticate their accuracy, have necessarily led to the postponement of what will form a very essential supplement to the present volume.

If I am right in my anticipation that the strong practical common sense view, which Mr. Worsaae takes of the primeval antiquities of his native country, will be as readily appreciated here, as it has already been on the continent, it is clear that the publication of an English edition of his work will serve to sweep away from among us the last traces of the many fanciful theories connected with those remains which are a reproach to English archæology; and that the stone chambers will no longer be spoken of as the altars on which human victims were immolated, and that stone hatchets will cease to be described as the sacrificial knives with which the heathen priesthood shed the blood of their fellow-creatures.

Nor is this the only benefit likely to result from its publication; which will it is hoped lead our antiquaries to look to the writings of their continental brethren for that illustration of their studies which in the absence of positive knowledge is only to be obtained by a comparison of objects found in these islands with those discovered abroad, and described by foreign archæologists. As an instance how such comparisons may be instituted, let us take the case of the Gristhorpe