INTRODUCTION. ix 



found anywhere else in this form, shows each recorded 

 entry under the county in which the place is situated. 

 The counties moreover are grouped according to the 

 divisions adopted by the Board of Agriculture, a system 

 which has immense advantages over the usual alpha- 

 betical list. 



The twelfth table is copied from the account books of 

 Lord Lovell, and is now preserved at Holkham. These 

 records of one of the first great improvers in agriculture 

 cannot fail to be useful to the student. The footnote 

 on page 636, however, needs revision, in view of events 

 which have taken place since that page was printed. 

 The history is somewhat curious. The manuscript was 

 lent to my father many years ago, and a copy of its con- 

 tents, which was taken by him, was set up in type in the 

 usual way. It was found, however, to contain a number 

 of errors, only a few of which could be corrected. 

 Lord Leicester was good enough to promise that I might 

 be allowed to re-examine the manuscript, but when 

 search was made for it, it could not be discovered. In 

 despair of being able to check the figures I had sent 

 one sheet to the press, and was about to send another, 

 when the missing document was found carefully put 

 away, as often happens, in a place where it could not be 

 lost, and there overlooked. It arrived, however, in time 

 to enable me to make the required emendations in the 

 other sheets, and now there is only one copyist's error, 

 viz. on page 639, where the figures 10 155. 6d. in line 

 4, and ^27 45. lod. in line n, should be 10 55. 6d. 

 and 26 145. lod. There are, however, a number of 

 other quotations and calculations which appear to be 

 in error in the original. The prices paid for thrashing 

 and dressing, although given usually by the last, are 



