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(BEING THE TWENTY-SIXTH OF A NEW SERIES.

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PRINTED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET;

WHERE LETTERS ARE PARTICULARLY REQUESTED TO BE SENT, POST-PAID ;

AND SOLD BY JOHN HARRIS,

AT THE CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, LUDGATE STREET; BY G. G. BENNIS, 55 RI
NEUVE ST. AUGUSTIN, PARIS; AND BY PERTHES AND BESSER, HAMBURGH.

LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS,

[Those marked thus are Vignettes printed with the letter press.]

PAGE

View of Munslow Church, co. Salop......

9

**Plan of Chun Cromlêh in Cornwall.....

*Representation of an Arrow-head of flint found in Cornwall.....

Specimens of Norman Architecture......

13

14

17

Map of Lough Gur, co. Limerick...

..105

Druidical Remains near Lough Gur

....108

Monument to J. R. Harris, Esq. M. P. in St. Saviour's Church, Southwark 201 Specimens of Norman Domestic Architecture, from the Prior of Lewes's

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Monument of Judge Wyndham, at Silton, co. Dorset.
*Groined Roof of the Vestry-room at Silton.....
*Font at Silton......

'New Church of St. George, Sheffield....
New Church at Brampton, Derbyshire....
*Sturminster Newton Church, co. Dorset

*Carved Stone in Vindolana, Northumberland...

..497

ib.

.498

.577

ib.

.583

..597

To those who are engaged in the acquisition of knowledge, and who are of necessity obliged to pursue it through its partial views, and its minute details, it is of great advantage to obtain, as it were, resting places on their way, where they may pause and cast back a retrospective glance on the materials which they may have accumulated, and the advance which they may have made. Amid the intricacy of partial researches, and perplexing inquiries, it is often difficult to keep the main end and purpose in view; subjects which at first are subsidiary and unimportant, grow into favour the longer that we dwell upon them; our feelings sympathise with our studies; our imagination magnifies the objects on which it rests; till at length we are willing to relinquish the ultimate and distant purpose, for the sake of indulging more unreservedly in that which is already in our possession.

We are not unwilling to confess that one very favourite line of our pursuits is more than commonly subject to the disadvantage to which we have alluded. The Antiquary follows his investigations through channels that escape common observation; and brings to light facts that have eluded all but extraordinary vigilance. But even with him, the object of scent may sometimes give place to the pleasure of the pursuit; and the success of his labours may lead him to overrate their acknowledged importance. We therefore have thought it not unbeneficial to our readers or ourselves, to appoint stated seasons, at becoming intervals, in which we could take a brief and general summary of the effect of our labours for the preceding year; in which we could estimate what had been added to the general mass of knowledge; separate the trifling from the important; and, standing on a vantage-ground, survey with a dispassionate and steady eye the field of literature as it lies spread out before us.

In contemplating the value of our historic and antiquarian materials, as they have appeared in the latest portions of our Magazine, with those that enriched its earlier numbers, we have no hesitation in giving the former a decided preference. In our later contributions we can acknowledge a more confirmed judgment, a more philosophical comparison, a more extensive inquiry, and a more cautious deduction. Many of our elder antiquaries confined themselves too exclusively to their particular pursuits; and they lost many lights, and much information, which more extensive inquiries and a more liberal learning would have bestowed. Whoever has perused the numerous papers and controversies which took place some years since among the most zealous antiquaries, on the subject of the "growth of wine, and on the cultivation of vineyards in England," will agree with us that the subject was alone rendered intricate by the extremely narrow and confined view of it which was taken by the combatants. Let us derive a lesson of instruction from the errors of the past; let us feel that the pursuits of the antiquary are really and truly the basis on which alone higher studies, and more elaborate inquiries can safely rest; let us recollect that the finest, the most philosophical, the most argumentative, the noblest history of the present age, derives its great value from the industrious accumulation, and judicious disposition of materials collected in the darkest recesses,

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