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BY inscribing this Volume to you I am merely discharging a debt ofgratitude and justice. But for you I believe it would not have beenprinted; for you not only advocated its publication, but havegenerously contributed to diminish the cost of its production to the"WILTSHIRE TOPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY", under whose auspices it is nowsubmitted to the public.
Though comparatively obsolete as regards its scientific,archaeological, and philosophical information, AUBREY'S "NATURALHISTORY OF WILTSHIRE" is replete with curious and entertaining factsand suggestions, at once characterising the writer, and the age inwhich he lived, and illustrating the history and topography of hisnative county. Had this work been revised and printed by its author,as he wished and intended it to have been, it would have proved asuseful and important as Plot's "Staffordshire" and "Oxfordshire";Burton's "Leicestershire"; Morton's "Northamptonshire"; Philipott's"Kent"; or any others of its literary predecessors or contemporaries.It could not have failed to produce useful results to the county itdescribes; as it was calculated to promote inquiry, awaken curiosity,and plant seeds which might have produced a rich and valuable harvestof Topography.
Aubrey justly complained of the apathy which prevailed in his timeamongst Wiltshire men towards such topics ; and, notwithstanding themany improvements that have since been made in general science,literature, and art, I fear that the gentry and clergy of the countydo not sufficiently appreciate the value and utility of local history;otherwise the Wiltshire Topographical Society would not linger forwant of adequate and liberal support. Aubrey, Bishop Tanner, HenryPenruddocke Wyndham, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, and the writer of thisaddress, have successively appealed to the inhabitants of the countyto produce a history commensurate to its wealth and extent, and alsoto the many and varied objects of importance and interest which belongto it: but, alas ! all have failed, and I despair of living to seemy native county amply and satisfactorily elucidated by either oneor more topographers.
By the formation of the Society already mentioned, by writing andsuperintending this volume and other preceding publications, and byvarious literary exertions during the last half century, I haveendeavoured to promote the cause of Topography in Wiltshire ; and indoing so have often been encouraged by your sympathy and support. Forthis I am bound to offer you the expression of my very sincere thanks;and with an earnest wish that you may speedily complete yourprojected "History of Castle Combe,"
I am,
My dear Sir,
Yours very truly,
Burton Street, London.1st September, 1847.
IN the "Memoir of John Aubrey", published by the Wiltshire
Topographical Society in 1845, I expressed a wish that the "NATURAL
HISTORY of WILTSHIRE", the most important of that author's unpublished
manuscripts, might be printed by the Society, as a companion volume to that
Memoir, which it is especially calculated to illust