Fragments of Two Centuries: Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King

A series of sketches and local recollections depict rural English life during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, centering on a district but illustrating wider country customs. Topics range from coaching, roads, and highwaymen to popular pastimes such as wrestling, cock-fighting, cricket, hunting, racing, and prize-fighting. The book examines parish government, the old poor law, constables' duties, domestic concerns like taxes, doctors and body‑snatching, and the penalties and superstitions of the era. It traces social and economic change through the arrival of police and railways, parochial reforms, and concludes with an appendix charting population shifts across many parishes from 1801 to 1891.