Vlll. PREFACE. 



gratitude and pride in the minds of all capable of 

 loving and appreciating literary work honestly, and 

 for the most part elegantly, executed. 



That " The Druid's " memory deserves to be held 

 in honour by succeeding generations will be cheer- 

 fully conceded by those of his admiring contem- 

 poraries, whom the scythe of the universal reaper, 

 Time, has not yet mown away. It may, however, 

 be necessary to impress upon younger readers of 

 this work that "The Druid's" claims upon their 

 attention rest mainly upon the following substantial 

 foundations : — 



I. — " The Druid " was one of the most inflexibly 

 honest, upright, and just men that ever lived, and 

 could not be induced, on any pretext, to accept the 

 slightest pecuniary reward for his writings, beyond 

 the small honorarium paid to him by his employers, 

 which never exceeded six hundred pounds a year, 

 all told. In the following pages it will be found how 

 he made the late Mr. Rarey's fortune, and how the 

 attempts of the latter to give a complimentary 

 present to Mrs. Dixon, in recognition of the invalu- 

 able services rendered to him by her high-minded 

 and disinterested husband, were indignantly re- 

 pulsed by " The Druid " himself. So delicate was 

 his sense of honour that when he went down to a 

 stud farm to describe a yearling sale he would not 

 even accept luncheon from the owner of the place 

 lest he might be suspected of being biassed, if his 



