Editing Far from the Madding Crowd (section)

==Hardy's Wessex==
[[Image:Puddletown, parish church of St. Mary - geograph.org.uk - 474200.jpg|thumb|left|Weatherbury Church ([[Puddletown]])]]
[[Thomas Hardy's Wessex]] was first mentioned in ''Far from the Madding Crowd''; describing the "partly real, partly dream-country" that unifies his novels of southwest England. ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' offers in ample measure the details of English rural life that Hardy so relished.<ref>{{cite book|author=Drabble, Margaret|author-link=Margaret Drabble|title=A Writer's Britain: Landscape in Literature |url=https://archive.org/details/writersbritainla0000drab|url-access=registration|publisher=Thames and Hudson |date=1979 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/writersbritainla0000drab/page/91 91–8]}}</ref>

He found the word in the pages of early English history as a designation for an extinct, pre-[[Norman Conquest]] kingdom, the [[Wessex]] from which [[Alfred the Great]] established England.<ref>Hardy, Thomas. ''Far From the Madding Crowd: Preface'', 1895–1902.</ref> In the first edition, the word "Wessex" is used only once, in chapter 50; Hardy extended the reference for the 1895 edition.<ref>''Oxford Reader's Companion to Hardy'', ibid., p. 131.</ref> Hardy himself wrote: "I am reminded that it was in the chapters of ''Far from the Madding Crowd''… that I first ventured to adopt the word 'Wessex' from the pages of early English history... – a modern Wessex of railways, the penny post, mowing and reaping machines, union workhouses, lucifer matches, labourers who could read and write, and [[National school (England and Wales)|National school]] children".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Far From The Madding Crowd|last=Hardy|first=Thomas|year=1895|pages=Preface}}</ref>

Puddletown's parish church has significant architectural interest, particularly its furnishings and monuments. It has a 12th-century font and well-preserved woodwork, including 17th-century box pews. Hardy took an interest in the church, and the village provided the inspiration for the fictional settlement of Weatherbury<ref>Anonymous. ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (caption to frontispiece). New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publications, 1912.</ref>
In ''[[The Mayor of Casterbridge]]'', Hardy briefly mentions two characters from ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' – Farmer Everdene and Farmer Boldwood, both in happier days.