TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANALYST. 303 



It may be asked what are the advantages which would result 

 from local knowledge upon subjects generally treated in county 

 histories ? To this may be answered that they are compressed 

 and succinct, and do not adopt a wide spreading view of the mat- 

 ters embraced in statistical information, which treats upon 

 subjects wholly omitted, or slighty touched upon by the more 

 general historian. 



It may further be asked what is the end to be answered by 

 this local development, and how .. will it confer a general be- 

 nefit? To which may be replied, in various and many ways — 

 To the agriculturist it is no small object of inquiry what the 

 nature of soil, its general produce, the influences of seasons, and 

 the description of cattle which depasture the land — 'io the 

 manufacturer what the staple produce, its character, its means of 

 transmission and its effect upon population, both moral and 

 physical — To the curious, what the boundaries, the rivers, the 

 lakes, the seats, and parks, and pleasure grounds, population or 

 other objects of attention incidental to each parish — To the 

 geologist, what the general nature of stratification, the particular 

 construction of hills, their fossil remains and the mineral quali- 

 ties — To the antiquarian, what the historical records of each 

 parish, what the remains of years long since past, the ruins, the 

 mounds, the encampments of our hardy ancestors — To the na- 

 turalist, what the plants, the birds, their migration, their return, 

 and their natural habits, what the insects, reptiles, &c. — To the 

 literary man, what may be accounted of the illustrious dead and 

 the eminent men of old, and the philanthropist may find much 

 matter for inquiry and interest in the character of the people, 

 the nature and objects of their pursuits, of their relative position 

 in society, and the moral and intellectual progress they have 

 made and continue to make. — These are some of the results to 

 be forwarded by statistical information, and to these may be 

 added much that is interesting to a numerous class of persons 

 who employ their leisure in visiting scenes of foreign interest. 

 With this view they travel far and wide over the classic countries 

 of Greece and Italy, in search of the memorabilia of ages long 

 since past, and contemplate their remains associated with the 

 important events which victory has handed down — distance in 

 time and place awake the sympathies and excite the admiration -, 

 this IS natural and I quarrel not with nature, yet if I cannot ad- 

 vance the latter inducement, I can point to the former, and 

 whilst I admit the merit of such scenic reminiscences which justly 

 merit the enthusiastic admiration of the traveller, I must be 

 allowed to ask, are there no monuments within our own country 

 which claim similar attention ? I leave this consideration to the 

 tastes of the opulent, and direct myself particularly to those who 

 feel the importance of gratifying the many whose opportunities 

 forbid extensive inquiry — of promoting the best sensibilities of 

 nature by directing the attention to objects of general interest— 



June, 1835.— VOL. ii. no. xi. 2 r 



