8 



INTRODUCTION, 



thirty-six parish churches^ with cultivated fields 

 and farms." 



Indeed ! How were they all so completely 

 ruined ? Was it fire^ or a floods or the plague^ 

 that killed the people^ and destroyed the build- 

 ings ?" 



It was neither fire nor floods nor was it 

 pestilence ; but that which is often more to be 

 dreaded than these : it was wanton ruthless 

 despotism. William the Norman^ who, from 

 his defeating the English king Harold, is com- 

 monly called the Conqueror ^ — was fond of 

 hunting, almost to madness. This spot, un- 

 fortunately for its peaceful inhabitants, ap- 

 peared to him suited to such royal amusement. 

 He, therefore, expelled the people, thinking 

 nothing of their sufferings. He demolished 

 the farms and the villages, the churches and 

 the convents. He made the whole a wilder- 



