England

To bring within the limits of one volume any detailed description of England--her history, people, landscapes, cities--would be impossible. I have sought in this book to give an impression of some of the most "English" features of the land, devoting a little space first to an attempt to explain the origins of the English people. Thus the English fields and flowers and trees, the English homes and schools are given far more attention than English cities, English manufactures; for they are more peculiar to the land and the people. More markedly than in any superiority of her material greatness England stands apart from the rest of the world as the land of green trees and meadows, the land of noble schools and of sweet homes:

Green fields of England! wheresoe'er Across this watery waste we fare, One image at our hearts we bear, Green fields of England, everywhere.

Sweet eyes in England, I must flee Past where the waves' last confines be, Ere your loved smile I cease to see, Sweet eyes in England, dear to me!

Dear home in England, safe and fast, If but in thee my lot lie cast, The past shall seem a nothing past To thee, dear home, if won at last; Dear Home in England, won at last.

That is the cry of an Englishman (Arthur Hugh Clough). On the same note--the green fields, the dear homes--a sympathetic visitor to England would shape his impressions on going away.

If, by chance, the reading of this book should whet the appetite for more about England, or some particular part of the kingdom, there are available in the same series very many volumes on different counties and different features of England. To these I would refer the lover or student of England wishing for closer details. My impression is necessarily a general one; and it is that of a visitor from one of the overseas Dominions--not the less interesting, I hope, certainly not the less sympathetic for that reason.

FRANK FOX.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

THE MAKING OF ENGLAND--THE BRITONS AND THE ROMANS 1

CHAPTER II

THE MAKING OF ENGLAND--THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THE NORMANS 16

CHAPTER III

THE ENGLISH LANDSCAPE AND THE ENGLISH LOVE OF IT 28

CHAPTER IV

THE TRAINING OF YOUNG ENGLAND 43

CHAPTER V

ENGLAND AT WORK 64

CHAPTER VI

ENGLAND AT PLAY 81

CHAPTER VII

THE CITIES OF ENGLAND 101

CHAPTER VIII

THE RIVERS OF ENGLAND 114

CHAPTER IX

ENGLAND'S SHRINES 125

CHAPTER X

THE POORER POPULATION 137

CHAPTER XI

THE ARTS IN ENGLAND 155

CHAPTER XII

POLITICAL LIFE IN ENGLAND 171

CHAPTER XIII

THE DEFENCE OF ENGLAND 187

INDEX 203

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. St. Paul's from the River Thames Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

2. The Chalk Cliffs of England 1

3. North Side, Canterbury Cathedral 8

4. Richmond, Yorkshire 17

5. Norman Staircase, King's School, Canterbury 24

6. A Kent Manor-House and Garden 33

7. A Sussex Village 40

8. The Bridge of Sighs, St. John's College, Cambridge 49

9. St. Magdalen Tower and College, Oxford 56

10. Broad Street, Oxford, looking West 59

11. Eton Upper School 62

12. Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge, London 65

13. Harvesting in Herefordshire 72

14. Football at Rugby School 81

15. Cricket at "Lord's" 88

16. Trout-fishing on the Itchen, Hampshire 97

17. Dean's Yard, Westminster 104

18. Sailing Boats on the Serpentine, Hyde Park, London 107

19. Watergate Street, Chester 110

20. The River Rother, Sussex 115

21. Thames at Richmond, Surrey 118

22. Spring by the Thames 121

23. Windsor Castle from Fellows' Eyot: Early Spring 124

24. Glastonbury Abbey, Somersetshire 128

25. Anne Hathaway's Cottage near Stratford-on-Avon 137