58 



see, it totally excludes any idea of a money consideration for the 

 surrender. . . Looking back on the whole affair with toler- 

 able coolness I cannot see what step additional to, or better than, 

 those actually taken with a view to obtain the, even temporary, 

 repossession of the MSS. could have been adopted. It would 

 take me at least a year of very close work to bring the book up 

 to the standard of my present knowledge and judgment ; and 

 for the last four or five years I confess that I have not hankered 

 after such an addition to the work that has been upon me ; and 

 I am afraid that now if Mr. B. himself took the initiative, and 

 said, ' Bring out a new edition totally at my cost,' I should hesi- 

 tate about committing myself to the labour." It appears, there- 

 fore, that Atkinson's " History of Cleveland " will never be 

 completed, and that students of local history will have to be 

 content with Vol. I., issued in 1874, (with three numbers of 

 the second and concluding volume) in which only a portion of 

 the district is dealt with. 



In sharp contrast with this aborted birth was the publica- 

 tion of " Forty Years in a Moorland Parish " in 1891. Apart 

 from other considerations it could hardly be otherwise in the 

 hands of a man like Mr. George Macmillan. The fate of the 

 " History " had cost Atkinson many an angry word, but he was 

 delighted with the reception accorded to " Forty Years." I 

 had been in correspondence with him touching some of the 

 matters dealt with in the book, and particularly in Appendix E , 

 and he had forwarded to me some of the " proof " before the 

 book came out. When the volume was in the hands of the 

 public the pleasure given him by its ready appreciation found 

 expression in his letters. On April 26th, 1891, he wrote : 

 " There is a perfectly spontaneous notice of my ' Forty Years ' 

 in yesterday's ' Times.' Neither I nor Macmillan had looked 

 for it, and he is proportionately gratified. It strikes the same 

 note with Greenwell's remark when he knew I had undertaken 

 the writing, and with George Macmillan's expressed anticipa- 

 tion." On May 16th he remarked "You may like to hear that 

 ' Forty Years ' is almost sold out, Macmillan & Co. tell me this 

 morning. They have written to recall unsold copies here, and 

 the second thousand is already in the printer's hands." 



I had written pointing out the misprint of " Flyingdales " for 

 " Fylingdales," on page 398 of " Forty Years," and he replied 

 under date May 20th, " I thank you for pointing out to me the 

 Flyingdales erratum, and all the more that it is in time for 

 alteration in the second edition now printing as fast as can be 

 effected, the first edition being quite sold out My proofs 



