60 
task too great to be undertaken by any person, however resolute, 
with the purpose of going through with it; and beside these 
there has been a constant accumulation of private deeds, in which 
transactions between private parties have been recorded, either 
still in the hands of possessors of the manor, or dispersed among 
the collectors of curiosities such as these. Many also which have 
found their way into the Record Offices, or such places of deposit 
as the British Museum. 
For later times, when the Topographer loses the benefit of the 
inquisitions, his best resource for establishing the series of feudal 
chiefs is, undoubtedly the records of the College of Arms. It is 
to be regretted that the visitations ceased soon after the inquisi- 
tions ceased, because in them there was something approaching 
to a systematic attempt to keep a registry of the families in whom 
was vested the chief property of the country. When the visitations 
ceased the information placed on record in the heralds’ books has 
been but anecdotical, with the exception of that which respects 
the transmission of dignities. But it is copious, valuable, and 
(such is the care taken) most authentic. Where these fail him 
the topographer must spell his way for the last two centuries as 
well as he can by the aid of wills, parish registers, private infor- 
mation of persons cognizant of the facts, monumental inscriptions, 
the printed obituaries, the London gazettes, together with such 
information as is allowed to escape from family archives.” 
Wills have been used to be kept in the muniment rooms of a 
large number of ecclesiastical courts throughout the country. 
Extracts from wills as well as records of sales may sometimes 
be found among the records of manor courts. Both are of great 
value to the Topographer, who must usually however hunt till he 
finds them. The wills in the greatest receptacle, the Prerogative 
Court, London, extend over nearly five centuries and are 
catalogued. 
The records of the Church are of course a great power in 
topography, and the bishops’ lists of presentations will sometimes, 
