PREFACE 



This book is an attempt to give a fuller account of the life 

 and writings of Richard Jefferies than has yet been pub- 

 lished. That ' The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies ' by the 

 late Walter Besant was kindly, but unsympathetic and 

 incomplete, cannot be disputed. Mr. Henry S. Salt's 

 ' Richard Jefferies : His Life and His Ideals,' though a 

 much better book, is a critical essay, and leaves the way 

 clear for such a book as I have tried to write. For over 

 twenty years I have known Jefferies' part of Wiltshire, and 

 I hope that I have got most of what the country people 

 had to tell about him and his family. I have had much 

 information and great kindness from Mrs. Richard 

 Jefferies, Miss Phyllis Jefferies, Mr. Charles Jefferies, Mrs. 

 Robert T. Bilhng [nee Sarah Jefferies), Mr. Robert T. 

 Bilhng, Mrs. Harrild, Mr. Henry S. Salt, Mr. C. P. 

 Scott, Mr. C. J. Longman, and Mr. George Dartnell, 

 author of a bibliography of Richard Jefferies in the 

 Wiltshire ArchcBological Society's Magazine, etc. I desire 

 also to thank the publishers of Richard Jefferies' books 

 for their permission to quote extensively from them : 

 Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co., publishers of ' The Game- 

 keeper at Home,' ' The Amateur Poacher,' ' Wild Life in 

 a Southern County,' ' Round about a Great Estate,' 

 * Greene Feme Farm,' and ' Hodge and his Masters ' ; 

 Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co., publishers of ' Wood 

 Magic,' ' The Story of My Heart,' ' Red Deer,' ' Field and 

 Hedgerow,' and * Toilers of the Field ' ; Messrs. Mac- 

 millan and Co., publishers of ' The Dewy Mom ' ; Messrs. 

 Chatto and Wmdus, publishers of ' Nature near London,' 



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