THE TOPOGRAPHY OF WORCESTERSHIRE. 341 



fully to discriminate between facts worthy to be recorded in history and 

 such as are of lesser importance. The topographer should also look on 

 nature with " a poet's eye," and be able to lead his readers from prospect 

 to prospect, while he expatiates on every object of interest that can 

 be traced in the landscape. 



" Look at that village group, and paint the scene.— 

 Surrounded by a clear and silent stream, 

 Where the swift trout shoots from the sudden ray, 

 A rural mansion, on the level lawn. 

 Uplifts its ancient gables, whose slant shade 

 Is drawn, as with a line, from roof to porch, 

 While all the rest is sunshine. O'er the trees 

 In front, the village church, with pinnacles, 

 And light grey tow'r, appears ; while to the right 

 An ampitheatre of oaks extends 

 Its sweep, till, more abrupt, a wooded knoll, 

 Where once a castle frown'd, closes the scene."* 



If the tojiographer be likewise acquainted in some degree with natural 

 history, so much the better ; the extinct and present species of animals 

 found in the district may be then described, the productions of the 

 ancient forests enumerated, and the mineral productions scientifically 

 arranged. Above all, a topographical writer should aim at perfect 

 accuracy, whether in his statistical tables, itineraries, or antiquarian 

 details ; verbal errors may inadvertently occur, but if he be detected in 

 mistakes that common diligence would have prevented, his readers lose 

 all confidence in the author, and his labours thenceforth are for ever 

 thrown aside as useless. These remarks particularly apply to the works 

 we have before alluded to, viz. — " Cooke's Topographical and Statistical 

 Description of the County of Worcester," forming part of ** Cooke's 

 Topographical Library;" and a publication entitled "The Family 

 Topographer, being a compendious account of the Ancient and Present 

 State of the Counties of England, by Samuel Tymms." 



The size of *' Cooke's Topographical Library" is very convenient, its 

 map and embellishments are good, and it requires nothing but correct- 

 ness in its descriptive matter and statistical details to render it a very 

 useful pocket companion. On turning over the title-page the grossest 

 errors are apparent ; we are told, for instance, that the population of 

 Worcester is 13,814, and that the London Post arrives at twelve at noon! 

 This is a retrograde march indeed, and proves that if Mr. Cooke ever 

 visited Worcester, it was in " auld lang syne." On reference to the use- 

 ful table in Dr. Hastings's " Illustrations of the Natural History of Wor- 

 cestershire" we find it was in 1811 that Worcester had only a population of 

 about 13,000, whilst in 1831, the census (including the suburbs), reached 

 27,518. We next proceed to an ** Itinerary of all the direct and prin- 

 cipal cross roads in Worcestershire," which precedes Cooke's particular 

 description, and would have been extremely useful, if managed with care 

 and attention, but it seems to have been compiled by some individual on 

 the top of a stage coach, who put down whatever he could accidentally 

 glean from the coachman, and had afterwards the misfortune to oblite- 

 rate part of his MS. How can we otherwise account for the innumera- 

 ble blunders that occur ? It forms part of the ** Itinerary" to put 

 down the principal Inns at each town, and as Worcester is of course 

 frequently passed through, we have various readings, and most of them 

 are erroneous. Again, in passing from ' ' Birmingham to Tewkesbury," 



* Rev. W. L. Bowles. 



