tRESIDENT^S ADDRESS. 227 



been tampered with, as was proved to be the case by comparing 

 them with the transcripts. The original entry of the burial of 

 '' Margaret Ange " had been altered to " Marriott Angell." In 

 the Leigh Peerage case, the agent opposing the claim had 

 searched the original registers at Wigan for a certain baptism, 

 without success, there being a general chasm at the period, 1658. 

 When the House of Lords had nearly concluded the hearing, 

 the agent wrote to the Bishop's Registrar at Chester. The letter 

 arrived at a little after eight o'clock in the evening of the 4th 

 June, 1829. The search was made, the baptism found and 

 communicated, and the case concluded against the claimant. 



The regulation made in 1597 and 1603, was as far as human 

 foresight could devise, all that was needed for the safety of these 

 invaluable records, and to supply, as far as practicable, a substi- 

 tute for the original registers in the event of their loss by fire or 

 any other unavoidable accident. But what was the result of 

 this excellent ordinance ? Did the ministers and churchwardens 

 contemn the Canon? I think not. In answer to my own 

 question, I must ask your permission to say a few words based 

 on my own experience of this deplorable matter. Some 25 years 

 ago I was desirous of completing, as far as practicable, my 

 extracts from Cornish Parish Eegisters, and went to Exeter for 

 that purpose. I found then, from Mr. Burch, the Deputy 

 Registrar, and the gentlemen serving under him, the greatest 

 courtesy and assistance, for which I shall always feel most 

 grateful, but the result of my visit will be best shewn by an 

 extract from my note book made on the spot on 12th Sept., 1868. 



" These transcripts extend from the year 1597, but I found 

 them in the worst possible condition. The greater portion prior 

 to the year 1700 are completely lost. They were, apparently, 

 returned in Deaneries and filed on common cord, by which they 

 were suspended on pegs. The cords became rotten in the damp 

 tower in which they were placed, and the transcripts fell down 

 on the floor and got mixed together ; many, as stated above, 

 were entirely lost, and of those that remain many are so rotten 

 that the writing is illegible, and they will scarcely bear a touch. 

 Of a large number the head is rotted off so that the name of the 

 parish and date are gone, and the only means of identifying the 



