x EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



was conspicuously absent from the papers as 

 they reached me. The oldest baptismal certifi- 

 cate lay placidly enshrined in the folds of the 

 latest invitation to tea, while yellow and ancient 

 deeds of the last century, and letters with frayed 

 edges and faded ink, written "when George was 

 King," elbowed the most recent records of the 

 laundry, or the offensive blue of the most 

 modern legal foolscap. Many things had been 

 begun with which no progress had been made. 

 There were notes for a collection of corres- 

 pondence ; there were fragmentary biographies 

 of members of the family ; there were copious 

 headings for authentic accounts of business 

 disputes ; there were sympathetic commentaries 

 on unsympathetic criticisms ; but all these, new 

 and old, were hopelessly jumbled together, and 

 it was impossible to be sure that the most 

 unpromising looking packet did not contain the 

 most precious particulars. After sundry attempts 

 at classification, and diligent "prospecting" for 

 two or three weeks, I came to the conclusion 

 that, as regarded the direct elucidation and 

 annotation of the "Memoir," the yield would 

 scarcely be great. Not that the papers were 

 by any means barren of interest. As might be 

 anticipated in the case of a collection extending 

 over so long a period, there was something to 



