INTRODUCTION. THE design of the author of the following pages is to present to his readers a picture of his native County nearly two hundred years ago, and to illustrate obsolete manners and feelings. That he might use his pen with the greater freedom, and introduce, at pleasure, a variety of subjects, he has chosen the form of a Local Tale, even as in the olden time, important truths were sometimes revealed under the guise of Parables. In the present work the greater portion of the incidents are fictitious, but there are among them others which are well-authenticated facts; and of the personages, many of them derive their existence solely from the author's fancy, and there are others which, to many, must be 66 as familiar as their household words; whilst the description of the towns and villages of Hampshire, and the scenery and general appearance of the county, though but sketches of the imagination, are based on the observation and local enquiry of the author for many years, and may be accepted as being correct in general. The principal events of a local character which have been introduced into the work are, I. That towards the close of his reign, Charles II. was a frequent visitor to Winchester, and his residence on such occasions was the Deanery; and that on the site of the ancient castle he commenced the erection of a splendid palace, of which Sir Christopher Wren was the architect. The same year his Majesty, and his brother, the Duke of York, were admitted to the freedom of the City, and in return he presented the Corporation with a full-length portrait of himself, painted by Sir Peter Lely, and which is still to be seen |