ACCOUNT 
' ~ ea favourite charaGter with this 
memorialist, who certainly displays 
an intimate acquaintance with many 
nice historical points ; though few, 
we imagine, will follow him through 
all his narraticns and disquisitions, 
which are however little enlivened 
by the beauties of composition. 
An appendix of charters, deeds, 
und other legal papers, concludes 
this firse part of the introductory 
volume. 
The first part of the second vo- 
lume, containing an account of 
¥ramland Hundred, is a specimen. 
of what is to constitute the proper 
matter of the work. Every town- 
ship in the hundred is separately 
treated in an alphabetical order. 
The author’s general method is to 
give the name, situation, and con- 
tents of the distri; then to trace 
all the owners of the manor and 
the landed property of the place, 
from the earliest records, down to 
the present time: with this are 
introduced genealogies of ‘all the 
principal families, as well as anec- 
dotes, biographical and literary, 
of all extraordinary persons con- 
“nected, by birth or otherwise, with 
the township. Ecclesiastical mat- 
ter comes next, such as notices of 
all religious and charitable foun- 
dations, account of the church- 
living, its nature and value, pa- 
trons, and incumbents; monu- 
tental inscriptions, extracts from 
the parish register, population, and 
bills of moriality at different peri- 
ods, &c. Very tew details of na- 
tural history or economical matter 
are to be found ; and, indeed, lit- 
tle occurs for the amusement of a 
common reader, except the bio- 
graphical relations, some of which 
are curious. The present volume, 
comprising Belvoir castle and Sta, 
OF BOOKS: 
pleford, has a minute account of 
the noble families of Rutland and 
Harborough, the latter of which 
is peculiarly rich in genealogical 
illustrations, decorated with many 
fine engravings. Other distin. 
guished families, and not a few 
men of letters and divines of note, 
are recorded in the course of the 
work, We shall present our rea- 
der with the transcript of one arti- 
cle, as a neat model of topogras 
phical description, unattended with 
antiquities. It is an account of 
the natural history of the parish of 
Little Dalby, communicated by 
professor Martyn. 
‘ This lordship is remarkably 
hilly, being thrown about in small 
swellings in such a manner, that in 
the greater part of it, it is difficult 
to find a piece of flat ground. The 
largest portion: of it is an ancient 
enclosure ; and none of the inha. 
bitants know when it took place, 
I thought at first to have disco- 
vered the date of it from the age 
of the trees in the hedge-rows ; 
but none of them which I have had 
an opportunity of examining are 
more than about 120 years old; 
but if the enclosure went no fur. 
ther back than this, we should 
have learnt the date of it from tras 
dition. I then searched the parish 
register, to find whether any depo- 
pulation had taken place since the 
time of Elizabeth; but could find 
none, and therefore concluded that 
the enclosure was at least as early 
as her reign. That there has been 
a depopulation I conclude, not only 
from the natural consequencé of 
enclosing, but frem the founda. 
tions of buildings which are dis 
covered in the closes near the 
church, 
‘ The wholelordshipis in pasture, 
Mm 2 except 
{53t 
