V1U PREFACE 



route I took, before long, I came to a tall and 

 formidable-looking fence. Confident as I might 

 be in the existence of an ancient and indefeasible 

 right of way, before me stood the thorny 

 barrier with its comminatory notice-board " No 

 Thoroughfare. By order. Moses." There seemed 

 no way over; nor did the prospect of creeping 

 round, as I saw some do, attract me. True there 

 was no longer any cause to fear the spring guns 

 and man-traps set by former lords of the manor ; 

 but one is apt to get very dirty going on all-fours. 

 The only alternatives were either to give up my 

 journey which I was not minded to do or to 

 break the fence down and go through it. 



Now I was and ana, by nature, a law-abiding 

 person, ready and willing to submit to all legiti- 

 mate authority. But I also had and have a 

 rooted conviction, that reasonable assurance of 

 the legitimacy should precede the submission ; so 

 I made it my business to look up the manorial 

 title-deeds. The pretensions of the ecclesiastical 

 "Moses" to exercise a control over the operations 

 of the reasoning faculty in the search after truth, 

 thirty centuries after his age, might be justifiable ; 

 but, assuredly, the credentials produced in justifi- 

 cation of claims so large required careful scrutiny. 



Singular discoveries rewarded my industry. 

 The ecclesiastical " Moses " proved to be a mere 

 traditional mask, behind which, no doubt, lay the 

 features of the historical Moses just as many a 



