What store of information might be obtained, by persons having leisure and inclination to pursue such an object, by the simple means of an ordinary pocket-memorandum-book!
THOMAS WILLIAM KING.
Our next communication, from the REV. CANON RAINES, is valuable, as showing that unless some limit is placed to the antiquarian ardour of those who would "collect and record every existing monumental inscription," the historical and genealogical inquirer will be embarrassed by a mass of materials in which, like Gratiano's reasons, the two grains of wheat will be hid in two bushels of chaff—a mass, indeed, which, from its extent, would require to be deposited with the Registrar-General, and arranged by the practised hands of his official staff.
MR. DUNKIN'S proposed record of existing monuments will be, if carried into effect, a very useful contribution to genealogists. Many years since I transcribed all the inscriptions inside the parish church of Rochdale, in Lancashire; but I never contemplated the possibility of any antiquary having the ardour to undertake a similar task outside. There are many thousands of gravestones, covering some acres; and I have understood that when one side of a grave-stone has been covered with inscriptions, the stone has been turned upside down, and the sculptor has again commenced his endless work on the smooth surface. In a great majority of these frail records nothing would be obtained which the parish register could not supply.
F. R. RAINES.
Milnrow Parsonage, Rochdale, June 4.
Our correspondent from Bruges furnishes, like YORK HERALD, valuable evidence as to what individual exertion may accomplish; and we are sure, that if he will take the trouble of securing, while he has the opportunity, a copy of the inscriptions in the cemetery allotted to the English at Bruges, confining himself merely to the names, dates, and genealogical information contained in them, and will then deposit his collections either in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, or the Manuscript Department of the British Museum, he will not only be setting a good example to all antiquaries who may reside in any of the cities of the Continent, but earn for himself hereafter the thanks of many an anxious inquirer after genealogical truth.
The communications made in your interesting "NOTES AND QUERIES " have occasioned me much gratification, and if it be in my power to contribute but a mite to this rich treasury of information, I should consider it a privilege to be allowed to do so. To show that I am actuated by a kindred spirit, permit me to inform you, that a few years ago I undertook the formation of a desultory collection of "memorials of the ancient dead," and with that view corresponded with several hundred clergymen, inviting their local assistance; and I need scarcely add that a prompt and courteous attention to my wishes, encouraged my labours, and accomplished (so far as time and opportunity permitted) my object. It will be obvious that I had no intention of aiming at specimens in the higher department of monumental art, which have been so ably executed by Gough, Stothard, Neale, and others, but to content myself with those humbler efforts of skill which lay neglected and sometimes buried in holes and corners in many a rural church in remote districts.
The result has put me in possession of a collection of about three hundred illustrations, consisting of pen-and-ink outlines, pencil sketches, Indian ink drawings, and some more highly finished paintings in water colour; and in addition to these, upwards of two hundred autograph letters from clergymen, many of which contain not only inscriptions, but interesting parochial and topographical information.
The illustrations I have arranged (as well as I am able) in centuries, commencing with the plain cope lid of the eleventh century, according to the plan adopted by M. H. Bloxam, Esq., in his admirable treatise modestly intitled A Glimpse at the Monumental Architecture and Sculpture of Great Britain. The volume made for their reception is an atlas-folio, guarded; on one leaf is inserted the drawing, on the other the letter (if any) which accompanied it, to which are added a few brief memoranda of my own: it is still, however, in an unfinished state.