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I have been roaming, I will return to my own village, and give a few statistics-to be taken for as much as they are worth.

It has been stated by a high authority that "in scarcely any country in the world is there so great similarity of surname as in England," and if this means (as I believe it is intended to do) so few surnames, the records of Cherhill certainly bear out the statement. There is one name (and that a very uncommon one-in fact I had never heard it in my life until I came to Cherhill) which belongs to eighty out of the one thousand six hundred and thirty-six persons whose baptisms are here registered; and adding the thirteen times in which it appears with slightly varied spelling, the number of times in which it occurs in the register would be no less than ninety-three; i.e., once in every seventeen-and-a-half entries. Nine surnames occur more than forty times each, and together take up more than one fifth of the whole number. Twenty-three surnames occur more than twenty times each. One hundred and seventeen surnames occur more than once. And of one hundred and nineteen surnames there is only a single entry. The whole number of different surnames recorded is two hundred and fifty-nine.

Of Christian names in the same entries there are one hundred and sixty-four, viz.: male names proper, sixty-one; surnames given as Christian names, twenty-one; total eighty-two. The number of females, curiously enough, is exactly equal, viz. : Christian names proper, seventy-two; surnames given as Christian names, ten; total, eighty-two. And what is more curious still is that the number of the two sexes is exactly equal in these entries, viz.: eight hundred and eighteen of each. With regard to the number of times that each name appears in the Cherhill books, John leads the way among

1 This is, I need scarcely say, not the ordinary proportion, which is in Great Britain one hundred and four males to every hundred females. And in every other country in Europe, with the single exception of Sweden, the disproportion is still greater. (See Ansell's Statistics of Families, and Hendrik's Vital Statistics of Sweden.) On the other hand, the Florentine bean register, which I have before mentioned, gave in 1835, shortly before its abolition, a proportion of one hundred and thirteen females to one hundred males. This must however I think have been attributable to some special local circumstances interfering with the registration of the male children.

males with one hundred and forty occurrences, or one in every 5.7 entries. Then came William and Will, one hundred and twentytwo, or one in 6.7. Then Thomas and Tom, sixty-nine, or one in 12.9. Then Henry, Harry, Henery, Hennery, or Henrie, fifty-nine, or one in 13.5. Then Robert and James, forty-one each, or one in 19.9. And so on down to fifteen names which appear but once each.

Of female names, the first is Ann, who under the varying forms of Ann, Anne, Annie, Anna, Nanny, and Nanney, appears one hundred and sixty-one times, or one in every five entries. Then comes Mary, Maria, Meriah, and Mariah, one hundred and fifty-two, or one in 5.4. Then Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Elizebath, Bety, Betty. Betsey, Besepty, and Lizzey, one hundred and ten, or one in 7.4. Then Sarah, Sarak, or Sary, ninety-five, or one in 8.6. Then Jane, eighty five, or one in 9.6. The Rebecca, Rebekah, Rebekak, Rebeckh, Rebekkah, Rebeckah, Rabacco, and Rebca, forty-three, or one in 10.9. And so on down to eighteen names which occur only once each. With regard to age at marriage I get little or no information from the registers until the time of my own appointment in 1860, the columns having been in almost every case filled up simply with "full age," or "minor,"-an evil practice which, as I see from a recent report of the Registrar-General, prevails in about two-fifths of all the returns made to him. I have however myself, when registering a marriage, invariably asked for age, explaining that I did so simply with a view of adding to the value of the record both for statistical purposes and also for those of identification. And I have never in any one instance met with the least hesitation to furnish me with a proper return. Out of the thirty-five marriages thus recorded, I find the average age of the husbands to be twentynine years and two hundred and ninety-six days; and of the wives, twenty-seven years and one hundred and twenty-nine days.1 Nine wives appear to have been older than their husbands, or more than one fourth of the whole number.

1 This is less than the average of difference in age throughout England, which is stated by Ansell (Vital Statistics, p. 46) to be about four-and-a-half years, and to be still on the increase.

Of the duration of life in the parish we get perhaps an approximate idea from the fact that the average age of recorded deaths is thirtyseven years, three hundred and forty-six days. The lowest average is in the first decade, viz., from 1813 (before which year age was not registered) to 1823, when it amounts to thirty-two years, fifty days. And the highest average occurs in the last decade, from 1863 to 1873, when it rises to forty-four years, one hundred and fifty-four days. But the trustworthiness of the earlier at least of these records is probably affected by two causes, one that when there was no resident clergyman some children may have died unbaptized, and their interments consequently not been recorded. And another

possible source of error might be the uncertainty of poor people generally as to their exact ages, and their well-known tendency when very old to imagine themselves yet more so than they really are. I find however no remarkable instances of longevity on record at Cherhill. Eighty-nine, which occurs three times, is the highest figure. The healthiness of our high Wiltshire downs is however I think strongly attested by the fact that the two ages between which most deaths appear to have occurred at Cherhill are under two years, and between seventy and eighty years. An analysis of the whole record gives the following figures :

Between 1 and 2 years old the deaths were 16.4

per cent.

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With regard to the seasons in the year least favourable to human life, it will I think surprize some persons to hear that the month in which I find the smallest number of funerals recorded is "chill October," while that which shews the highest figure (with the

exception of January) is "the merry month of May." Then April, The whole list runs as follows:

"Mensis Veneris Marinæ."

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Perhaps the most curious point is the sudden drop from January, which heads the list, to February, which all but finishes it.

And now just one word in conclusion with regard to statistics generally, which it is rather the fashion now, I think, to decry. A writer in a recent number of "Blackwood" pompously remarks, "There is an extraordinary virtue in averages. When life has been robbed of its romance and death of its mystery: when the King of Terrors is turned into vulgar fractions and Providence reduced to a decimal, the accountant lays down his pen with a gratified glow and feels that Society is his debtor." It appears to me that this gentleman has completely misunderstood the position, and misappreciated the value, of that department of science of which he takes upon himself to speak. To my mind the fair muse of History walks not unattended, and that man grossly dishonours her who would rob her of her escort. Upon her waits first of all the somewhat stern form of Chronology-stern, I say, yet withal beautiful in her ordered symmetery, Then comes Heraldry, gorgeous of attire, yet not meretricious, for she knows not aught but the purest colour and will not suffer a confusion of divers metals for her adornment. Then Statistics, with thoughtful brow and solemn mien, her raiment sown with bees, for it is she that extracts from History its lessons; and

yet as "Vos non vobis mellificatis," so it is not for herself that she does so, and her work, valueless in itself, may be turned, we know not when, to profit. So I venture to despise the sneer of this anonymous writer, even as I lament the prejudice of a late Chancellor of the Exchequer, who once said in a speech before some "Working Men's Mutual Laudation Society," that there was utility in every branch of human knowledge except Heraldry. So clever a man as the ex-member for Calne ought not to have said so foolish a thing.

I have only in conclusion to express my thanks to my friend the Rev. J. P. Hardy, of Wadham College, Oxford, for much valuable help in the preparation of this paper: to the Rectors of St. Peter's, Cornhill and of St. Matthew's, Friday Street, and to the Vicar of Westbury, all of whom I have already referred to by name, for several most interesting papers and transcripts: and to the incumbents of the various churches which I have myself visited with a view to search, for the permission which they have in every case kindly accorded me.

I need scarcely add that although perhaps not even the humblest addition to contemporary local history is absolutely without value yet I do not of course attribute any sort of importance to the statistics of so small a population as those with which I am concerned, and which, rather with a view of eliciting information of more moment, and of encouraging researches in more fruitful fields, I have ventured to lay before the Society.

"C'est peu, tres-pen, que j'aggrandis la domaine :
D'autres un jour lui traceront des lois."

W. C. P.

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