PREFACE. Vll 



pened in connection mth tlie Hunt. Of both 

 iN'imrod lias written in tlie highest terms. The 

 names of several whose deeds the same felicitous 

 writer has described in connection with Shropshire 

 will occur to the reader, as Mr. Stubbs, of Beck- 

 bury ; Mr. Childe, of Kinlet ; Mr. Boycott, of Eudge 

 — who succeeded Sir BeUingham Grraham on his 

 giving up the Shifnal country ; Lord Wenlock ; 

 Squire Corbett, and the Squire of Halston ; names 

 which, as Colonel Apperley has very justly said, 

 will never be forgotten by the sporting world. As 

 the reader will perceive, I have simply acted upon 

 the principle laid down in the '' Natural History of 

 Selborne" by the E-ev. Gilbert White, who says, 

 " If the stationary men would pay some attention 

 to the district in which they reside, and would 

 pubKsh their thoughts respecting the objects that 

 surround them, from such materials might be drawn 

 the most complete county history." This advice 

 influenced me in undertaking the ^' Severn Yalley," 

 and I have endeavoured to keep the same in view 

 now, by utilising the materials, and by using the best 

 means at command for bringing together facts such 

 as may serve to illustrate them, and which may not 

 be unlooked for in a work of the kind. 



