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The Cloister and the Hearth

by Charles Reade

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Etext Notes:

1. Greek passages are enclosed in angled brackets, (e.g. , and have been transliterated according to: alpha A, a beta B, b gamma G, g delta D, d epsilon E, e zeta Z, z eta Y, y theta Th, th iota I, i kappa K, k lamda L, l mu M, m nu N, n omicron O, o pi P, p rho R, r sigma S, s tau T, t phi Ph, ph chi Ch, ch psi Ps, ps xi X, x upsilon U, u omega W, w

2. All diacritics have been removed from this version

3. References for the Author's footnotes are enclosed in square brackets(e.g. [1]) and collected at the end of the chapter they occur in.

4. There are 100 chapters in the book, each starting with CHAPTER R, where R is the chapter number expressed as a Roman numeral.

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AUTHOR'S PREFACE

A small portion of this tale appeared in Once a Week, July- September, 1859, under the title of "A Good Fight."

After writing it, I took wider views of the subject, and also felt uneasy at having deviated unnecessarily from the historical outline of a true story. These two sentiments have cost me more than a year's very hard labour, which I venture to think has not been wasted. After this plain statement I trust all who comment on this work will see that to describe it as a reprint would be unfair to the public and to me. The English language is copious, and, in any true man's hands, quite able to convey the truth- namely, that one-fifth of the present work is a reprint, and four- fifths of it a new composition.

CHARLES READE

CHAPTER I

Not a day passe

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