chronological order from their several origins to the present day.
Happily the Authors are enabled to relate, from contemporaneous documents, some local act or event of almost every decade within the last eight hundred years.
It is of remarkable interest to know that the numerous historic names and facts found entombed in the local fragments, and here revived, always corroborate or illustrate the general history of the kingdom.
All the translations have been made by the Authors themselves direct from the original writings, which comprehend nearly every reign from the Conquest to the time when Latin and Norman-French ceased to be used in legal records; or, where the original could not be procured, then from an ancient or other trustworthy copy.
The actual or proximate date of every recorded incident is given, and footnotes have been avoided by incorporating the source of information with the text.
The illustrations from old sketches are fac-similes. The Boundary maps are principally from drawings made on recent surveys. The general illustrations are by the Authors.
The entire work is the result of many years of pleasant labour, and is offered as a reliable authority on nearly every point on which authenticity can fairly be claimed. The Authors thankfully acknowledge the courtesies of Walter de Gray Birch, Esq., F.S.A., of the British Museum; Stephen J. Tucker, Esq., the Somerset Herald; S. R. Pattison, Esq., F.G.S.; S. W. Kershawe, Esq., M.A., Librarian at the Lambeth Palace; and R. N. Worth, Esq., F.G.S., of Plymouth.
February 11th, 1885.
