FOREWORD. xv 



(or arises out of) the bondage of ignorance ignorance of 

 the economic position, the ideals, the true wants, and the 

 sentiments of those among whom we live and move and have 

 our being. In this sense not merely the agricultural worker, 

 but also the squire and the farmer have some need of 

 emancipation. As Cowper says : 



" He is the free man whom the Truth makes free, 

 And all are slaves besides." 



As in the days of Gainsborough, 140 years ago, so in these 

 latter days, the room in which the Club met was indeed a 

 " Palace of Truth." The discussions pointed the way to a 

 condition of greater freedom in which all alike could 

 participate. 



The good seed which was sown by the far-sighted and 

 statesman-like hand of the much-respected author of [this 

 memoir in establishing the Agricultural Club has taken 

 root to the permanent advantage of rural England. The 

 young plant must assuredly not now be allowed to wither 

 by reason of the fact that the Club, like its somewhat unpopu- 

 lar parent, has been consigned to the limbo of post-war 

 memories. In some other and more permanent form it 

 should be, and indeed it must be, revived and fertilised 

 by the sympathetic efforts of those who enjoyed its member- 

 ship and who realise its far-reaching and healthful potenti- 

 alities. In this event, if there be no other fruitful aftermath 

 of the Great War, there may yet be a Renaissance of Rural 

 England, and thereby the establishment on a more stable 

 basis than ever before, of the great nation to which we are 

 all proud to belong. 



BLEDISLOE. 



LYDNEY PARK, 

 February, 1922. 



s~ 

 21 APR. f 922 



