48 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
I feel that I am very far from having exhausted 
this part of my subject^ and whoever may follow me 
will be enabled to throw much more light on this in- 
teresting and useful topic : but I cannot disguise the 
gratification produced in my mind^ by the investi- 
gations I have made relative to the statistics of 
the county^ which prove the flourishing condition 
of Worcestershire^ and the increasing health and 
comfort of the great body of its inhabitants. When 
the raven note of despondency is so often heard 
denouncing the decline of our commercial prosperity^ 
it is truly gratifying to observe that we have in the 
richness and variety of the natural productions of our 
county a solid foundation for the continuance and 
increase of its present wealth. 
Nor is it less gratifying to find that as far as our 
examination has extended^ the mean duration of 
human life has considerably increased since the 
commencement of the present century. Opinions 
v/ill vary as to the cause of this happy change ; one 
may ascribe it to the more ample supply of food, 
clothing, fuel, better habitations ; another to a salu- 
tary change in the habits of our population, as shewn 
by their increased attention to cleanliness and ventila- 
tion in their persons and houses ; and though last not 
least, it may be ascribed to improved medical practice. 
I shall not attempt, in this place, to weigh in the 
balance the relative claims which each of these causes 
has to the production of events so pleasing. Yet 
it may not be amiss to observe, that though honours 
await those who by brilliant exploits add to the glory 
