PREFACE.
The study of history has ever been considered , among enlightened nations, as constituting an essential part of the education of the higher orders, and a necessary appendage to the acquirements of the scholar and the gentleman. It is, as an elegant writer has observed , "Philosophy teaching wisdom by example ;" the groundwork of all that is lofty in sentiment and noble in human action ; at once an antidote to vice, and the mirror and incitement to virtue.
The observations, which apply generally to the transactions of men and of countries, apply no less forcibly to the study of local history and antiquities, which grow , as it were, out of them ; whence, the learned editor of Leland's Collectanea, speaking of the English nation, says, "the study of our national antiquities is a subject so noble in itself, and of such extraordinary use and advantage, that it may and ought to be thought strange that it has not been more cultivated and encouraged ;" and adds, that the Greeks and Romans looked upon those amongst them as the best scholars, who were versed in their own antiquities.
Impelled by these considerations, I have been induced to attempt the publication of the present work ; the design and execution of which arose out of some occasional visits I made to Hastings a few years since, on account of ill health. The town, and its neighbourhood, appeared to me to be rich and fruitful in sources of historical and antiquarian interest and inquiry ; whilst the memorable actions of former days, of which it had been the scene, seemed to give a sort of classic importance to its ground.
Its ruined castle and venerable churches, together with the beau-
