PREFACE 



THE Advertisement of the Victoria History sets forth the scheme 

 under which the History of Norfolk is projected. Only a small 

 part of the whole undertaking there detailed finds a place in this 

 volume, and it will therefore suffice to refer here only to the 

 subject matter now presented to the reader. 



The principle underlying the plan of the Victoria History is that of 

 co-operation between local students of history and archaeology and those 

 who possess expert knowledge in certain periods of history or depart- 

 ments of archsological research. The contributors to this volume have 

 cheerfully acquiesced in these conditions, and it is hoped that by the 

 method adopted greater accuracy has been obtained than could otherwise 

 have been secured. 



The investigations which have been made in the course of compil- 

 ing the natural history of Norfolk have brought to light the want of 

 special studies from which the county suffisrs in various departments. 



The tastes and inclinations of students of local natural history lie 

 mostly in certain directions, and the less popular orders in Botany and 

 Entomology have received comparatively little attention. Much difficulty 

 has therefore been experienced in obtaining representative lists for some 

 of these orders. While the imperfections to which this work must plead 

 guilty are to be deplored, it is possible that the energies of local 

 naturalists may be directed thereby to those departments of the flora and 

 fauna which require further study. 



It has been reluctantly decided that the Domesday Survey of Norfolk 

 cannot be dealt with on the same lines as those adopted for other 

 counties. Its abnormal length is but one of the difficulties ; more 

 serious are those which arise from the unsatisfactory state of the text and 

 from the obscurity of \t% formulae, even when the text is sound. Any 

 translation would in fact be almost unintelligible. Those who are most 

 competent to judge are of opinion that the time for dealing with this 

 most difficult record is not yet ripe, and its contents are at present so 

 imperfectly known that Professor Maitland has to speak in his Domesday 



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