Too often, in the past, has history been taught as a series of dry lessons on facts and dates, and although in late years there has been a great improvement in this respect, to many the living facts around us, as bearing on our history, in our churches, our historic buildings, our museums, and our national collections, are still disregarded. What eloquent tongues they have, and yet, on what deaf ears do their voices fall!
Mr. Fairholt, in his well-known work on "Costume in England," says: "A knowledge of costume is, in some degree, inseparable from a right knowledge of history. We can scarcely read its events without, in some measure, picturing in the mind's eye the appearance of the actors."
What is true of costume, which includes, of course, civil, military, and ecclesiastical costume, is equally true of architecture and other matters associated with the daily lives of our forefathers.
How they lived and died, how they worked, how they dressed, how and where they worshipped God, and the influences brought to bear upon them by the Church, must be realized as factors in the development of the nation.
It is hoped that this work may prove useful to the student, to the pupils in our schools and colleges, and to teachers who have not been able to make a special study of these things.
Several plans of arranging the subject-matter have suggested themselves, and the writer has thought--though it is open, of course, to criticism--that the work would be most usefully and most easily consulted by arranging it under the heads of our historic periods. It will be readily understood that this is merely an arbitrary arrangement, and that there must be overlapping at times. The aim has been to make each section as complete as possible in the given space, and yet to avoid tedious details. To experts the food may seem very light, but it is to the average student and teacher, to whom the subjects are new, that the work must appeal.
Every effort has been made to secure accuracy and truthfulness, both in the matter and in the six hundred and eighty drawings which illustrate it.
Very many works have been consulted, and, as _all the illustrations are from authentic and contemporary sources_, it is hoped that the usefulness of the work will be very considerable.
