ures of the country. The rural
exodus is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social
England. Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of
labourers required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased
value of land have caused many old country families to close their old
manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.

Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet
hamlets of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns,
will learn to love more deeply their village homes, and interest
themselves in their surroundings. To those who read the history of
their native place, each house and field, each stone and tree, will
tell its story, and recount the wonders it has witnessed. And as the
stories of wars and fights, of superstition and of crime, fall on our
ears, we shall be thankful that our lot is cast in more peaceful days,
when no persecutions, religious or political, disturb the tranquillity
of our village life. And when we read of the piety and simplicity of
our forefathers, their veneration of their church, their love of home,
their innocent joys and social customs, we should strive to imitate
their virtues which have materially helped to make England a great and
powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters upon the old life of
our country, and the manners and customs of our forefathers, may induce
many of my readers to read and study history more deeply, may serve to
create an interest in the relics that remain to us of the past, and to
preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth consecrate.

[11] In many cases the name "Butts" refers to the fact of the land,
under the common-field system, _abutting_ on meadows or roads, _e.g._
"Butt-close," in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.

APPENDIX

BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY

To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and
old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words
and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in
_Domesday_ and old documents. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also
Kemble's _Saxons in England_. T