THE PEESIDENT's ADDBES3. 141 



With regard to modern caligraphy, speed is too often made 

 the excuse for an illegible scrawl. The handwriting of many 

 educated men would seem to imply that they had never been 

 taught to form letters correctly, yet many of the busiest amongst 

 them write clearly and well. Nothing can be neater than the 

 manuscripts of Hals, Tonkin, and the Borlases ; but some of 

 Whitaker's penmanship is painful to peruse. 



The oldest Parish Registers have been the subjects of much 

 discussion. All who have given attention to them seem to have 

 come to the conclusion that greater security ought to be afforded 

 to them generally ; and that they should, if possible, be 

 transcribed. 



Various proposals with these objects in view have been made, 

 but hitherto without much practical result, chiefly because some 

 of the schemes have been either fraught with danger or would 

 be productive of inconvenience. 



Much has been urged for and against the removal of the 

 Registers to some central depository. 



Under present circumstances, occasionally a few of the 

 books are consumed by fire, and if a large collection were so 

 attacked the loss would be incalculable. Therefore, whatever 

 is to be their destination, it is highly desirable that duplicate 

 copies of them should exist, the returns of them in the Bishops' 

 and Archdeacons' Registries being very partial and incomplete. 



Copies would be very far from trustworthy, however, if the 

 transcribers were not possessed of local knowledge. Some 

 entries have become obliterated, others are dimmed with age or 

 exposure, and these latter would in many cases be quite 

 unintelligible to ordinary copyists unacquainted with the topo- 

 graphical and personal nomenclature of the districts with which 

 they are identified. 



Great risk would certainly attend the lending of the 

 Registers by the clergy to their friends for transcription. They 

 should not be trusted to local or any other hands without special 

 precautions being taken for their safety. It is well-known that 

 books lent for an indefinite time are commonly lost, some of the 

 causes conducing to this being the removal of the lender, the 

 death of the borrower, and the dispersal of his effects. 



