33 



SEnKer tfje plain* 



By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 1 



N the programme of our proceedings the paper now about to 

 be read was announced as " Some Notes of Westbury 

 History/' simply because its full history down to A.D. 1830 was 

 written in the late Sir Richard C. Hoare's magnificent work on South 

 Wiltshire. The authors of county histories are, and must be, always 

 largely assisted ; and the best assistants are those who belong to and 

 reside in the particular district described, being able to supply local in- 

 formation, and having opportunity of access to documents in private 

 hands, without which nothing can be done with accuracy. Sir Richard 

 was helped, in such portions as related to modern times, by Mr. 

 Richard Harris, of Dilton; in his account of ancient times and 

 families by the officers in charge of the public records in London. 

 Such works as his are, no doubt, noble additions to our literature, 

 but, unfortunately, it requires a nobility of purse to buy them. 

 They are very costly, and, thanks to our American friends who love 

 to trace their connection with the families and places of the old 

 country, and so have raised the market price enormously, such works 

 are getting quite out of the reach of ordinary folk — who accordingly 

 are not much the better for them. Now, one of your fellow- 

 townsmen, Mr. Michael, has, to his great credit, taken pains to 

 present you with the main outline and substance of the more 

 splendid publication, at a price and in a form which bear a strange 

 contrast with the more expensive work — a modest little pamphlet, 

 price twopence. But observe the result. Where one person can 

 buy Sir Richard, thousands can buy Mr. Michael. At the railway 

 stalls among his little publications I observed one with which, as it 



1 Read at the Meeting of the Wilts Archaeological Society at Westbury, July 

 31st, 1889. 



VOL. YXIV. — NO. LXXII. D 



