viii Preface. 



year, has indirect!}^ cast what savours of reproach on such as 

 me. Of the forty-nine authors who had up to Tull's time suc- 

 ceeded in retaining the attention of the British public on agri- 

 cultural subjects (the chief topic of discussion in the following 

 pages), he states that seven were judges or lawyers, four bishops 

 and clergymen, eleven scholars, college dons, or Fellows of the 

 Royal Society, five soldiers, five land agents, four farmers, three 

 tradesmen or citizens, two farriers, two countrj' gentlemen, one 

 ambassador, one dissenting minister, ten surveyors, one gar- 

 dener and seedsman, and one medical man. " Truly," he adds, 

 " it has been w'ell said that in other things, as well as in 

 politics, important reforms usually come from without." 



In conclusion, let me acknowledge a debt of gratitude to 

 some of those more modern authorities from whom I have 

 obtained the chief of my information. The researches of a 

 lifetime by Professor Rogers have rendered his works invalu- 

 able and perpetual for the historian of the future. The views 

 of a Russian on mediaeval land tenure must be of large interest 

 to all connected with England's soil; and when such a learned 

 writer as Mr. Vinogradoff makes public his ideas in book form, 

 it goes without saying how valuable I have found him for the 

 purpose in hand. Every line of Messrs. R. E. Prothero's & E. 

 Ashley's short writings teems with food for thought, while the 

 reproduction of MSS., otherwise inaccessible to the ordinary 

 writer, by such learned societies as the Royal Historical and 

 Selden cannot be over-estimated by men in my circumstances. 

 Some day I shall hope to see the results of Professor Maitland's 

 deep enquiry produced in a connected form for the use and 

 pleasure of his countrymen. 



Nor must I neglect to render my sincere thanks to my 

 friends Mr. Howard St. George and Mr. Basil Cornish for 

 their careful revision of a work that I still cannot expect to 

 be free from fault or in any way complete. 



Russell M. Garnier. 



