RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



CHAPTER I 



The county of Bucks — The Chiltern Hills — Vale of Aylesbury — Valley 

 of the Thames — North of the county : Valley of the Ouse — ' The 

 classic groves of Stowe' — ' Cymbeline' — An American's opinion — 

 'Why you English people so deeply love your country' — White 

 Leaf Cross — Hughenden — Benjamin Disraeli — 'Tring, Wing, and 

 Ivinghoe' — The making of England — Anne Boleyn, 'The Fair 

 Maid of Aylesbury.' 



' England, with all thy faults, I love thee still — my country.' 



Once more am I tempted to record my recollec- 

 tions of old England, as also, here and there, of 

 certain other countries whereof I have some know- 

 ledge, and in the characters of whose great 

 men I have taken unusual interest. In my former 

 volumes I have given a somewhat disjointed record 

 of my personal experiences of some interesting 

 characters, chiefly from my native county — men of 

 all classes with whom I have been associated ; and 

 I may be thought too enthusiastic in my love of the 

 ' great historic county of Bucks,' so aptly named by 

 one of her most distinguished sons, Benjamin 

 Disraeli, who, although not born in the county, 

 spent all his early boyhood and his most famous 



B 



