THE CAMP OF REFUGE.
Isle of Ely and Camp of Refuge.
THE EDITOR’S PREFACE.
A generation has passed away since “The Camp ofRefuge” first issued from the press. Although publishedanonymously, it shows that its author had avery extensive knowledge of the history and topographyof the Fen district.
The book, however, while it embodied much realhistory, was put forth with no higher pretensionthan that of a tale, whose characters were historicpersonages, and whose incidents occurred, in themain, during the Norman Conquest.
Knowing that this interesting book had becomevery scarce, and thinking that it would prove asacceptable to this, and perhaps to the next, generationas it did to the past—the present publishersdetermined to offer a new edition to the public;trusting at the same time that its contents willhelp to foster a loyalty and a love for our Englishnation.
But with a new edition some few comments appearednecessary; therefore Notes to the text, avishort Appendix, and two Maps have been added,not with a view merely to embellish the originalwork, nor to convert it into a real history, but toassist, in some measure, the youthful reader, ormayhap those, too, who have but limited meansof consulting the many sources of information uponwhich the ground-work of the tale rests.
June, 1880.
In preparing this edition, care has been taken tocorrect whatever defects, typographical or otherwise,may have been found in the former one; severalfresh foot-notes have been introduced, the Appendixhas been re-arranged and enlarged, and a Map(adapted from Dugdale’s Monasticon), representingthe ground plan of the Spalding Monastery, or“Succursal Cell,” has also been added.
These emendations and additions, it is confidentlyhoped, will ensure for t