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the enemies of knowlege ascribe the excesses which this age has witnessed, to the superior degree of instruction which distinguishes it such excesses occur as well in periods of ignorance as in those of greater illumination; and they seem incident to certain stages in the progress of society. The servile war in antient Italy, the Jacquerie in France, the Flemish insurrections, and the attempts of Cade and his followers in this country, shew that Jacobinism is a distemper obnoxious to society, to ages of ignorance as well as to days of light. Such commotions are not chargeable on the superior instruction of the times; they were not occasioned by the ability of the lower classes to read; nor can they be ascribed to the formidable attainments of writing and casting accounts.

If we deem the notions of this writer crude on the subject of general instruction, we cannot speak more favourably of his views of toleration. Admitting his statements of the sectarian teachers, which apply only to the lower orders of them, and not to those of the older sects, it cannot be disputed in point of fact that, even to the more inferior description of them, the civilization of the country is much beholden. Mr. Weyland, we think, altogether mistakes the cause of the superior decency of manners and behaviour, which distinguish the poor among our Scotch neighbours from our own. The truth is that the situation of the parish-minister, under the hierarchy of that country, is much more favourable to the discharge of the duties of the spiritual guide and moral instructor, than that of our wealthy rectors. The Scotch clergyman holds intercourse with all classes of his parishioners: he catechizes the young; and out of church, he is the friend and adviser of the poor as well as of the rich while the English beneficed minister is occupied in collecting the tythes of a good living, attending to his pluralities, and keeping up the intercourse of genteel visits; and not rarely much of his time is devoted to field sports; so that he has as little leisure as inclination to fulfill the humble but important duties, on which so essentially depend the decency and religious demeanour of the lower orders. In remarking that the superior manners and attainments of the more wealthy of our parochial Clergy unfit them for some of the most important offices of their station, we intend no disrespect to that body, many of whom form splendid exceptions to our observation. We are conscious only of relating a fact which is indisputable, and which is suggested by a consideration of the comparative state of civilization and morals in two portions of the empire; to which fact we must pay attention, before we can materially ameliorate the condition of the poorer class. A learned

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learned Peer has lately moved for a return of the capacity of the churches to hold the population of the parishes; which may by some be deemed a proof of zeal for the interests of the church but how idle does such an inquiry seem to be in those numerous parts of the country, in which the churches that we already possess are so little frequented! If we lament equally with the present writer, to see the people in so many instances abandon the solid religious instruction which they may receive in our churches, in order to listen to extravagant and ignorant teachers, we cannot give our approbation to his plans for the removal of the evil. We are confident that compulsory methods and restraints will only occasion the churches to be still more deserted, and the separatists to be still more followed. Intolerance and ignorance have been in all ages the curses of the world; while the mischiefs of instruction and of perfect liberty in religious matters have existed only in disordered imaginations.

ART. XIV. A Topographical Dictionary of England; exhibiting the Names of the several Cities, Towns, Parishes, Tythings, Townships and Hamlets, with the County and Division of the County to which they respectively belong.-The Valuation and Patrons of ecclesiastical Benefices, and the tutelary Saint of each Church.The resident Population, according to the Returns made to Parlia ment in 1801; and the Amount of the parochial Assessments according to the Returns made to Parliament in 1803 -The Distance and Bearing of every Place from the nearest Post-office, and from the County Town.-Markets and Fairs.-Members of Parliament and Corporations.-Free Schools.-Petty Sessions and Assizes.To which is added, Miscellaneous Information respecting monastic Foundations, and other Matters of local History. Collected from the most authentic Documents, and arranged in alphabetical order. By Nicholas Carlisle, Fellow and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. 2 thick Vols. 4to. 51. 5s. Boards. Longman and Co.

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1803.

WE embrace the first opportunity of congratulating the public on the acquisition of this useful performance, and of offer. ing to Mr. Carlisle that commendation to which his diligence and indefatigable industry are eminently intitled. A compilation of this kind, executed with patience and fidelity, has long been a desideratum; and the task of filling up this hiatus in our libraries could not have fallen into better hands. The Gazetteers, which are commonly employed as books of topographical reference, are miserably deficient in every respect; and it was therefore time, for the credit of English literature, that their place should be occupied by something more extensive in plan,

and more accurate in execution. If Mr. Carlisle's work be not complete, he must at least be allowed the praise of having surpassed all his predecessors; and if he has fallen into errors, which are almost unavoidable in an undertaking so extensive and multifarious, he has evidently exerted the greatest pains to avoid them. We prefer, as more expressive of the nature of the work, the title of Topographical Dictionary, to that of Gazetteer, which is usually affixed to descriptions of countries alphabetically arranged; and we trust that this appropriate denomination will grow into fashion.

It must not, however, be supposed that the volumes now before us fully supply the place of all ordinary gazetteers. Mr.C.'s object is to register useful particulars under the heads noticed in the title-page, rather than to afford amusing descriptions, or even those accounts which most persons who consulted them would naturally expect to find; for instance, Liverpool and Poole are not mentioned as sea-ports, nor are we told that they are more accessible to ships than Salisbury plain; Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, are not designated as eminent manufacturing towns; nor do the articles appropriated to Malvern and Matlock speak of the picturesque beauties of those spots, or state that they are places of fashionable resort, but merely add, here are medicinal springs.' A more particular account, however, is given of Tunbridge Wells, extracted from Hasted's Kent; and the small town of Christ church, in Hampshire, is specified as situated on the confluence of the rivers Avon and Stour, and information is subjoined respecting its harbour, though as a port it is scarcely deserving of notice. If, in addition to the details. here furnished, Mr. Carlisle had affixed brief descriptions of the character and prominent features of particular places, he would have increased the merit of his work; though he certainly would also have enlarged its bulk, and in its present state it is sufficiently ponderous. It is clear that the compiler's object was not to make it amusing, but useful as a book of reference.

In a modest unassuming preface, he has adverted to the great utility of a topographical dictionary of England, and has distinctly mentioned the persons whose advantage he has consult ed; he then takes a review of former books of the same kind; and lastly, he displays the sources and materials whence he has derived his additional intelligence. We cannot in this case do better than allow Mr. C. to speak in propriâ personá :

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In offering these volumes to the public, it seems proper, and in deed necessary, by way of preface,

I. To enter into some considerations of the utility of a topogra phical Dictionary of England.

II. To take a review of former books of the same kind.

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• III. To

• III. To state shortly the materials from whence additional intelligence has been procured for the present work; and to furnish introductory explanations of the method observed, and of the information to be expected by the reader.

I. On the first topic, the acknowledged utility, and favourable reception of other works of the same kind, render it unnecessary to enter into many observations: a summary view may, however, be taken of the several very extensive descriptions of persons, to whom the author flatters himself this work will be found eminently useful.

1. To magistrates in the removal of paupers, in the direction of warrants, and all parochial and county business.

2. To the nobility and gentry of extensive landed property.

3. To the clergy, and all persons in any manner connected with ecclesiastical benefices, local rights, and other objects appertaining to the establishment.

4. To all persons, in the various public offices under government, and particularly in the post-office department.

5. To conveyancers, solicitors, buyers and sellers of estates and property by commission, gentlemen desirous of purchasing, and to those who may have occasion to consult the public advertisements of

sales and auctions.

6. To students, authors, and generally to all persons of research, who may require authentic information respecting the local, statistical, and other facts and circumstances relating to the kingdom of England.

II. In taking a review of former books, which have been compiled for the same purposes, the first worthy of notice is John Speed's popular work, intitled, "A Prospect of the most famous Parts of the World, &c. together with all the Provinces, Counties, and Shires, contained in that large Theator of Great Britaines Empire: Performed by John Speed. London, 1631. Folio." Previously to this, Speed had published a book of county maps in 1608, and another edition in 610; and the greater part of the volume of which the title is given above, consists of impressions of the same maps improved, and at the back, of each map is printed an alphabetical table of all the places represented therein, and a short description of the country. This laborious work has been found accurate beyond expectation. But as has been observed by Adams in the preface to his Index Villaris, (Edition 1690,)" by making an alphabet to each single county, (Speed) rendered it useless to all those who were to seek for any place that knew not the county in which it was situate."

In the year 1656, twenty-five years after the publication of Speed's work, appeared " Villare Anglicum: or a View of the Townes of England. Collected by the Appoinment of Sir Henry Spelman, Knight. London, 1656. 4to." At page 2, of the preface to the second edition, in 1678, it is stated, that the "eye may safely travel in a few hours over all England, this book presenting the towns and vil lages thereof, alphabetically methodised, with the addition of their respective counties, hundreds, rapes, wapentakes, &c. wherein they are also the bishopricks and counties under their several jurisdic tions, and number of parishes in each diocese: the names of the BEY. AUG. 1898.

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shires and shire towns. The number of parishes in each county, with the several places that send members to parliament, and the number each sends "

Tis work, which thus endeavours to recommend itself under the great name of Spelman, is indeed no more than the incorporation of Speed's tables into one alphabet, and as such must have been of considerable use, though it unfairly lays claim to originality.

In the year 168 appeared a small quarto under the following title, "A Book of the Names of all Parishes, Market Towns, Vil ages, Ham'ets, and smallest Places in England and Wales, alphabetically set down, as they be in every Shire, with the Names of the Hundred in which they are, and how many towns there are in every Hundred, &c. London." But as this is only a copy of Speed's county tables, it is not worth further notice.

In the year 1680, twenty-four years after the publication of the Villare Anglicum appeared the work under the title of " Index Villaris: or an Aphabetical Table of all the Cities, Market Towns, Parishes Vllages, and Private Seats, in England and Wales. By Mr. John Adams, of the Inner Temple London, 1685. Folio." In the preface, it appears that this Index Villaris was originally intended to obviate the objections which had been made to a map of England previously constructed by the author, and which did not, indeed could not, contain the villages: having noticed this, Mr. Adams proceeds to say, "I have used all possible care, industry, and pains, in comparing the Villare Anglicum of Sir Henry Spelman, and the printed tables of Speed's maps, with the maps themselves, as well as those of Saxton and others, and regulating the whole by an abstract taken from the books of the hearth office, and other private ac. compts returned me from several counties. But the imperfections and ill position of those maps, in respect of the bearings of the compass, and the want of sufficient information for the placing in their true latitude and longitude such additional villages and private scats, as the said hearth books, and other private accompts furnished me with, has rendered his work so imperfect that nothing but an actual survey of all England and Wales can compleat the same, which by God's assistance, I will accomplish by the 25th of March 1685 This candid acknowlegment deserves praise and the value which thepublic have put upon Mr. Adams's work is shown by the publication of a second edition in 1690, and a third in 1700.

In the year 1751, seventy-one years af er the first edition of Adams's Index Viliaris, appeared a work intituled, England's Gazetteer, or an accurate Description of all the Cities, Towns, and Villages of the Kingdom, in three Vo umes Vol. I. and II. contain a Dictionary of the Cities, Corporations, Market Towns, and the most noted Vilages, &c.: Vol. III a New Index Villaris, or alphabetical Register of the less noted Villages with their Distances or Bearing from the nex. Market Town, or well known Place. By Stephen Whatley. Lon don, 1751. 12mo." After noting the deficiencies and imperfections of former books of the same kind, Mr. Whatley in his preface says, that the variety of improvements this age has produced, both in geographical descriptions of England, and in the maps of its several

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