Excerpt from A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances On january 1, 1896, the author, in closing his Introduction to this Dictionary, which he did' not live to see in print, adds the following words: This preface is very unscientific in its arrangement. I frankly admit it, for I am not scientific. I never had the chance. The cares of a heavy parish have only allowed me minutes to jot down the results of past readings, and my occasional holidays were spent in search of proof. My ms. Has been locked up for two years through illness and partial blindness. Still, the Dictionary may be useful to students. In any case, its slow preparation of twenty years has given me the one great pleasure of my life. Unhappy the man who has no hobby. I have simply been an earnest but unfortunately a flagging follower in the pursuit of the subject I love.' The writer of this preface believes that as years pass other students will supply fresh materials and accumulate more adequate and abiding contributions to this fascinating subject, but he trusts that in the meanwhile this Dictionary will accomplish that modest object which its author's highest aim. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.