WORCESTERSHIRE.

THE Editor of this County presents the following supplementary remarks.

"It is but an act of justice, to state that, since the publication of this portion of the work, information has been derived from a most respectable source, regarding the church at Inkborough, on the eastern side of this county, of which, on the authority of Nash, confirmed by enquiry, it was stated that it is "an ancient parish church falling fast to decay," &c. It is a pleasure to observe that such an assertion is erroneous, as far as regards its decay, it being now in most excellent repair, both within and without; and, by the judicious zeal and attention of the Vicar, and Parishioners, it is not in that respect exceeded by any church in the diocese. Dr. Nash, alluding to a monument of the Savage family, says, that as the whole chapel in which it is situated was ready to fall, he had taken care to engrave the monument before it fell to pieces; since his time, however, owing to the care of the Vicar, and the liberality of the parish, this ancient and venerable sepulchral memorial has been sedulously protected from the weather; and this at a very considerable expence, the descendants of the family refusing to contribute towards so laudable an act.

"In another part of our Survey the title of l'iscount has been inadvertently given to Lord Beauchamp: but the title is now raised to an Earidom."

As a trifling addition to the list of errata, in p. 105, for "deters" read deter.

The Editor of this "Appendix," has, likewise, been favoured with some corrections, and useful additions, to the account of Worcestershire, which proceeded from an anonymous correspondent. Although not enabled to present the name of this contributor, the Editor has reason to believe that he is a gentleman of high respectability, and intimately acquainted with those parts of the county concerning which he has obliged the work with information to the following effect.

"REDDITCH (page 203.) is said to be remarkable only for a fair hed in August, but it must be added that the place is the great seat

of

of the Needle manufactory, many hundred persons being employed in this manufacture, which is so extremely curious as to deserve the notice of all those who may visit that part of the county. An interesting detail of the principal manipulations for the production of needles may be seen in Rees's Cyclopedia. Article NEEDLE. Vol. XXIV. Part II. An amusing account of the manner in which the manufacture of pins and needles was introduced into Great Britain, will be found in Mr. Parkes's Chemical Essays, Vol. V. Note 247.

page 255.

"In treating of SWINFORD, page 229, the name of the place should have been printed OLD SWINFORD, this being its usual denomination, to distinguish it from a considerable village about three or four miles distant, called King Swinford. To the notice of the Hospital endowed by Thomas Foley, Esq. an ancestor of the present Lord Foley, it may be added that this is not a receptacle for invalids, as the name seems to import, but an establishment for the education of sixty poor boys, who are clothed, lodged, and boarded in the house of the Institution. This excellent man was also the founder of the Presbyterian Society at Stourbridge, which was for several years superintended by his domestic chaplain, a Mr. Flower. The number of deserving tradesmen in the neighbouring towns, who were educated at this Hospital, bear ample testimony to the utility of the establishment.--See Priestley's Appeal on the Riots in Birmingham, Part II. page 197.

Under the article STOURBRIDGE it should be inserted that, besides the library at the free-school, there is also a very valuable public li brary, which was established about the year 1788, by the industry and zeal of Mr. Samuel Parkes, the author of several well-known chemical works, who was formerly an inhabitant of this town, and president of the society. This society, which at the time of its formation had the honour of enrolling the Earl of Stamford, Viscount Dudley and Ward the late Lord Littleton, and most of the clergy and gentlemen of the neighbourhood in the list of its members, has continued to the present ime in a very flourishing and prosperous state. As continual augmentations are making to this library, by the annual subscriptions of the proprietors, it promises, in a course of years, to become a very valuable acquisition to the town and its vicinity.

"Under the article DUDLEY, it should be noticed that the manu

facture of nails is one of the staple trades of the town and neighbourhood. In this trade the iron is furnished by persons called Nail factors, and the workmen form it into nails in their own cottages. Many hundred persons are employed here in this manufactory. Last year the venerable old church was taken down, and a new church is intended to be erected on the same site.

"In speaking of the town of KIDDERMINSTER, notice is taken of the church, end of the attention which has been paid to "Gothic" effect in the repairs and alterations which were made some years ago in this noble structure of antiquity. To that account we are desirous of adding that the whole of this work was done under the direction of the late Mr. Johnson, architect, of Worcester; a man of great taste and judgment. At that time the church was entirely new pewed, and a new gallery erected, the whole being formed of the most beautiful Norway oak, and executed in a style at once elegant and substantial. The same Ingenious architect was also employed, about the same time, to erect a new chapel for the dissenters of Stourbridge, in the lower part of the High Street, which is also pewed with Norway oak in the same beautiful manner.

"In recurring to the account of Kidderminster, where it is stated, "that there is here a very considerable society of Presbyterian dissenters, the descendants of Baxter's pupils," it may be added that there is also a society of Unitarian dissenters in the town, which comprises some of its most opulent and respectable inhabitants. Respecting the belief in witchcraft, in which it is said the ancestors of the present race of natives indulged, this cannot perhaps be wondered at, when it is recollected that Baxter, their famous teacher, wrote in defence of the doctrines of possession and witchcraft. Some curious particulars respecting this singular person, may be seen in the Biographical Dictionary, Vol. II. p. 167. In Granger's Biographical History of England, Vol. III. p. 331. In The History of his own Life and Times; and in the volumes of the Monthly Repository of Theology, &c.

"In the account of the biography of Kidderminster, after giving some account of Richard de Kedermyster and Richard Baxter, it is stated that "In modern times, we must not omit Mr. Parkes, the ingenious author of the Chemical Catechism;" but this gentleman was, in fact, neither horn at Kidderminster, nor ever was a resident in that town. The in

dividual

dividual in question is the son of a respectable tradesman of Stourbridge, where he resided with bis father, during the first 30 years of his life; and there it was that he acquired a taste for literature, having for several years been president of a highly respectable reading society in that town, and afterwards president of the library society, as already mentioned. Our preceding informant probably fell into the error, from the circumstance of Mr. Parkes's father having, some years before his death, retired to Kidderminster, where he died a few years ago, at an advanced age.

"Under WOLVERLEY PARISH, the name of J. Knight, Esq. is mentioned as a "gentleman who has been of considerable service to agriculture, by his spirited experimental mode of husbandry ;" and he must be further noticed as a manufacturer of bar iron, of which he and his ancestors have been some of the most considerable manufacturers which this country has produced. Of so much consequence as an iron-master was this gentleman considered, that for many years the body of manufacturers consented to his fixing the price of bar-iron at the periodical meetings of the principal people of the trade, which were held quarterly at Stourbridge, Wolverhampton, and Birmingbam.

"In speaking of Mr. Baskerville (page 247) it is said that “ he was buried at his own express desire, within his own grounds." This was owing to his dislike of the ceremony of consecrating ground for the purpose of interment. Mr. Baskerville was unfortunately a disbeliever in Christianity; but we are assured that he always treated those from whom he differed in opinion, with modesty and deference.”