PREFACE. THAT we are attached to our native place---the spot where we have long resided---by a thousand pleasurable associations, is a truth familiar to the experience of every one. How few soever the attractions which such a spot may present to the generality of persons, yet to those whose "local habitation" it is, an attempt to embody its attractions in a work of this nature, will, it is believed, be received with a kindlier feeling than that of mere complacency. To all such there must be a powerful charm in whatever fixes their attention upon the scenes of their infancy, or of long acquaintance, even although it should raise emotions similar to those which influenced the Arabian poet, in his pathetic exclamation---" I came to the place of my birth, and said, "The friends of my youth, where are they?' and an echo answered---'Where are they!" It was with reference to such more particularly, as from their residence in the Town and Vicinity of Woburn may be supposed to feel more interest in its history, topography, &c. that the present publication was undertaken; nevertheless it is hoped that to strangers also who travel, whether for amusement or information, the description of a spot, the beauty of which attracts almost universal regard and admiration, will be found not altogether destitute of a claim upon their notice. In undertaking the task of ushering into the republic of letters (which comprehends the Elysian summit of honour, and the Tartarean abyss of disdain and neglect) a work of such humble pre tensions as the present, we feel that some apology for its deficiency may be thought necessary. Nor are we entirely without fear that some cynical reader, upon whose contracted and insensible mind the above open, and as we deem it, incomparable admission can make no impression, may consider this very introduction as one of those "passages which lead to nothing ;" and like the portal of a modern mansion, or a chapeau bras on the head of a modern beau, serves only by the gaudiness of its exterior, to render the vacuity within the more contemptible. The old adage, "a great book is a great evil," is a maxim sufficiently acknowledged to acquire the stamp of truth. It has been our guide in the present publication. No one, we think, will venture to call this a great book, even although they should chance to allow its merits to be great;-this tacit admission will be perfectly sufficient for our moderate ambition, and we have little fear that our production will, in the words of the inimitable Shakspeare, "be condemned to everlasting redemption" for its prolixity. A work so constituted, will necessarily be destitute of that lively interest which attaches itself to the history of larger towns and cities, which have glittered in the scroll of the historian, or have become celebrated for giving birth to learned men, and others who have played a conspicuous part in the drama of life. To these considerations the small town which we attempt to delineate, can have but little claim; yet, in the Memoirs of the Russell Family appended to its history, the reader will find a subject alike of interesting associations and of elevated thought. Those upon whom such a suspicion would most naturally rest, are desirous of unequivocally disavowing every thing in the appearance either of of flattery or compliment in the encomiums passed on departed or living characters. In stating their opinions they have been influenced alone by a love of justice, without compromising the character of impartial and unbiassed observers. To His Grace the DUKE of BEDFORD the Publisher desires to return his grateful acknowledgments for the sanctioned access so condescendingly granted him to his Catalogue of Paintings in Woburn Abbey. For the greater part of the Memoirs of the late Duke, the description of the Evergreens, Thornery, &c. he is indebted to the kindness of the individual who supplied the poetical passages; and to another gentleman of Woburn for his gratuitous compilation of all the rest. The reflections on Abbies it will be seen are extracts, and as conciseness and utility, rather than elegance and perfection, have been his aim in the publication of this little work, the few inaccuracies which the eye of the censor may aim at detecting, being almost inseparable from a production of this kind, will not interfere with that slight degree of merit to which, in the approbation of his Subscribers, his ambition ventures to aspire. WOBURN, 1818. B |