Have many acknowledgements which can only briefly be made here. I am grateful for a Cambridge History Faculty S.S.R.C. Studentship, held at Trinity Hall, and to King's College for electing me to a Research Fellowship. I am particularly grateful to Tony Wrigley for supervising my early research, and for his advice and continued support during this period. John Barrell considerably extended my original interests, and I am happy to acknowledge his constant encouragement, impressive erudition, and advice on matters of literary style. Peter Laslett too has been a source of enthusiasm and stimulating conversation. I am most grateful to Michael Anderson for his very detailed and rigorous comments. And the encouragement and assistance of Janet Coleman, Paul Ryan, Dinah Parums, and Roger Schofield has also meant much to me.

There are many others to whom I am indebted in various ways, and I have space only to list their names and express my gratitude. They have included: Liz Bellamy, Mary Bouquet, Elizabeth Capelle, Jane Caplan, Raj Chandavarkar, Greg Claeys, Donald Coleman, Ed Cooney, Stephen Davies, Natalie Davis, Michael Flinn, Harriet Guest, Venetia Hauk, Eric Hobsbawm, Caroline Humphrey, Joanna Innes, Peter King, Ann Kussmaul, Joe Melling, Jane Millar, Jim Oeppen, Roy Porter, Mike Ryder, Reinhard Sieder, Peter Solar, George Souza, Gareth Stedman Jones, Barry Supple, David Thomson, Steve Tolliday, Michael Walker, Richard Wall, Tom Williamson, Keith Wrightson, and Jonathan Zeitlin.