[Footnote 2: R.B. Cunninghame Graham, "Hernando de Soto."]

May the venture to compass these ends succeed, to use an old saying, "ez
sartin ez t' thorn-bush."[1]

[Footnote 1: It used to be the custom for the parson to collect the tithe
by placing a branch of thorn in every tenth stook; he choosing the stooks
and sending his cart along for them. R. Blakeborough, "Yorkshire Humour
and Customs."]

E.W.D.

The Vicarage, Pickering.

_25th September_ 1904.




THE EVOLUTION

OF AN

ENGLISH TOWN



CHAPTER I