xx INTRODUCTION 



Some recent authors have taken exception to the altera- 

 tions which were made by Sir Edward Bradford and other 

 owners of "The Wakes," and one would fancy that the 

 whole character of the house had been changed. These 

 criticisms appear to me to have been singularly unfair. 

 Given an old house of the last century, and a need for 

 restoration and enlargement by the owner of the property, 

 who, after all, is the owner of his own house in this free 

 land of ours, I cannot imagine any modifications of an 

 original edifice carried out with more scrupulous affection 

 for the original surroundings than has been shown by the 

 successors of Gilbert White. Professor Bell was an abso- 

 lute devotee to White's memory, and edited his works with 

 a degree of care and affection unsurpassed in the annals 

 of biography. He it was who cut a passage along the 

 north end of Gilbert's " great parlour," to lead to the new 

 wing which he built as a drawing-room, but the external 

 features of the house were scarcely disturbed. When Sir 

 Edward Bradford added a storey to the new part of the 

 house, the roof and the chimneys were built in exact 

 accordance with the old part of " The Wakes," and no one 

 can really find anything to criticise in the additions which 

 have been made to the house since Gilbert White's time. 

 It would indeed be difficult to find any historical English 

 building which has been treated with more reverential care 

 by the owners of the property since Gilbert White's days. 

 The memory of the present owner of " The Wakes," Mr. 

 Paxton Parkin, will be inseparably connected with the 

 history of Gilbert's old home, for the loving care with 

 which the ancient features of the place have been pre- 

 served. Much of the old work was relaid and replaced by 

 Professor Bell, but much more has been done by Mr. 

 Parkin since his ownership, and there has probably never 

 been a time in the history of "The Wakes" when the 

 old house and the garden recalled so eloquently the past 

 traditions of the place. 



