1808.} 
the Duchess of Boulton, who, if her right 
were questioned, would probably turn 
her water into a channel different from 
that through which it now flows, and 
thereby deprive the town ofa fine stream 
-which drives two sets of mills. 
The present members are, Mr. Adams 
and Mr, Hall; the former has been re- 
turned to four successive parliaments, 
and perhaps, if an election were to take 
place again immediately, and a hustings 
to be erected on the plains, and eyery in- 
habitant to be allowed to vote, Mr. 
Adams would again be chosen without a 
dissenting voice: to say as much of the 
member recommended by the Duchess, 
would be hazarding a very bold assertion, 
The right of voting is confined to the 
mayor, thirteen aldermen, and an unli- 
mited number of freemen. Vacancies in 
the body of aldermen, or as they are 
termed in the charter ‘‘ masters. and 
counsellors,” are to be replaced by the 
majority of aldermen and freemen, and 
the person chosen must be a resident 
merchant of Totnes. The mayor and 
aldermen have a right of creating as 
many freemen as they please; but at 
present the number is very small. 
The population of Totnes was found 
by the census taken in 1801, to be as 
follows: 295 houses, occupied by 576 
families; 7 uninhabited houses: the 
number of inales 1042, of females 1461, 
total 2503 persons; of these 105 ouly 
were employed in agriculture, and 288 in 
trade, manufactures, &c. The manu- 
factures of the town, which are very 
small, are confined almost entirely to the 
fabrication of woollen goods, chiefly long 
ells for the East-India company. A little 
more commercial spirit might perhaps 
enable Totnes to regain some of that 
‘commercial importance which it pos- 
sessed a few centuries ago; when, as tra- 
dition relates, an immense trade was car- 
ried on between this place and the south 
of France, principally in woollen goods: 
now nut a vestige of this trade is to be 
found. 
But though the commercial importance 
of Totnes may have been declining, the 
manners and morals of its inhabitants 
Wiave been rapidly improving. At the 
commencement of the 'rench revolution, 
and for sometime afterwards, party spirit 
occasioned cofitinual disputes ; now those 
disputes are alinost forgotten. As the 
mind becomes enlarged, man ceases to 
condenin his brother for adopting a creed 
different fronr his own, either in politics 
or religion. 
“Not a hundred years ago, the inhabi- 
tants of Totnes were famed for their ate 
Account of the Town of Totnes, in Devonshire. 
S11, 
tachment to the sports of bull-baiting and. 
cockfighting. Men and women more 
savage than their dogs; the rich as well as, 
the poor; derived ‘their most constant 
amusements, from the tortures of the bull, 
while the dog was hanging at its tongue; 
and the agonies of the cock, when lace- 
rated by the pointed steel with which, 
man had armed its fellow. ‘The fifth of. 
November used to be kept very consci-. 
entiously, partly as a hely day, and partly 
as a holiday. arly in the morning a 
bull was tied to the stake, and tortured 
till the sound of the bells called off the, 
bull-baiters to the house of God. Ins 
stantly it was announced that the bull 
would not be baited again till after prayer. 
Away ran the church-man to his church, 
and the presbyterian to his meeting, to 
offer up, with all speed, their. prayers and 
praises to the God of Mercy. This done, 
the bull was again fastened to the stake, 
and not relieved, except at intervals that, 
it might recover its breath ; till the cock- 
fizhting commenced, ‘The day was con- 
cluded’ with burning the Pope and the. 
Pretender, and making large sacrifices to. 
Bacchus, ‘hese were the amusements 
of all classes. i 
But in comparing the manners of the 
inhabitants of Totnes, at the beginning 
of the 18th century, with the manners of 
its inhabitants at the beginning of the 
19th century, a wonderful improvement 
will be perceived. Instead of the cruel 
sports which then afforded pleasure, the 
love of more mnocent and _ rational 
amusements has taken piace. Dancing, 
drawing, music, language, and the polite: 
arts, are more attended to by the better 
class of females ; while literature, science, 
and domestic pleasures, occupy the leisure. 
hours of their husbands and brothers. 
Perhaps the present inhabitants of 
Totnes may not unjustly be characterized, 
as charitable and humane, and in some 
instanees proud and ostentatious; fond 
of literary pursuits, yet much inclined to 
scandal; hospitable to the stranger who 
comes to them well recommended, but 
inaccesible to. the poor wight whom 
“nobody knows.” Of their charity, hu-. 
manity, and hospitality, a thousand in-— 
stances might he adduced; that they are 
attached to literary pursuits, the flou- 
rishing state of three’ book-societies 
evinces, into which novels are scarcely 
ever admitted ; and that their foudness 
for scandal is rapidly declining, may. bes 
inferred. from their improvement. in 
knowledge : for according to a celebrated 
writer, “ the love of scandal always pre-» 
vails in the circles of ignorance and fii 
volity, and diminishes in proportion x 
the 
