e never ambitious to
display their wealth, they never excited the greed of the statesman;
even Cromwell's army passed through the district unmentioned by the
Minute-Book.

It did not grow, it made no history, but continued on the even tenour of
its path. Some years it was effective as a school of instruction, some
years it was not, but never did it meet with the inquisitorial landlord,
never but once did it suffer from the Crown. With the nineteenth century
came its first crisis for three hundred years and it passed through
unhurt. A new school with the old endowments, a better education with a
wider horizon, a new power with which to meet the coming needs were all
engrafted on the old foundation. If romance involves moments of
startling excitement, Giggleswick has no romance. But if romance lies in
an unrecorded, unenvied continuity, in the affection of pupils that age
after age causes men to send their sons and their sons' sons to the same
school, then the history of Giggleswick is shot through with romance. No
school can continue for more than a generation, if this supreme test of
its hold upon the hearts of men should fail. The school that nurtured
the father must do its duty by the son and the golden link of affection
is forged afresh.

It would have been impossible to complete the task of writing the
history of the School, if I had not received invaluable help from many
sources. Two men in particular must accept my deepest gratitude--Mr. A.
F. Leach and Mr. Thomas Brayshaw. Mr. Leach is the foremost authority in
England on English Grammar Schools and he has never stinted his help.
Mr. Brayshaw probably knows more than any other man of the history of
the School during the last eighty years and he has supplied me
generously with pamphlets and information. In addition he has been most
assiduous in helping me to choose and decipher documents belonging to
the School, which the Governors of the School were kind enough to allow
me to use. The Rev. G. Style, the Rev. J. R. Wynne Edwards and many
others have helped me materially with Chapters X and XI, while Mr. J.
Greaves, of Christ's College, Cambridge, sent me his own copy of Volume
I of the Christ's Admission Book and an advance proof copy of Volume II.

The photographs are taken from originals in the possession of Mr. A.
Horner, of Settle, Mr. P. Spencer Smith and Mr. E. D. Clark. Mr. Spencer
Smith in particular has gone to endless trouble in procuring photographs