Excerpt from The History of Wenham: Civil and Ecclesiastical The problem of history may be stated thus given, the present state, condition, and character of a people, to determine those influences in the past which have tended to produce these results. It is the task of the historian to trace the development of these influences, and so to arrange the history of events as to give a miniature of the character and spirit of the age which he describes. He must set before us not only great men statesmen and scholars - but also ordinary men in their ordinary dress, and engaged in their ordinary employments. He must visit the dwellings of the poor and the abodes of misery as well as the palaces of wealth and luxury. N o anecdote, no familiar saying is insignificant which can throw light upon the state of education, morals or religion, or mark the progress of the human mind. 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.