Since it has pleased Almighty God so to constitute the world, that the human race should every where increase up to the very limit of subsistence, all countries must witness by far the greater portion of their inhabitants exposed to the dangers of privation, of poverty, and of distress, incapable of being mitigated in any way, except by the prudence, the care, and the general good conduct of the parties themselves; but easily and fatally susceptible of being augmented, almost to an unlimited degree, by the establishment of permanent charities, by distributions in the shape of largesses, and above all, by the greatest and most melancholy achievement of human weakness and short-sighted folly, the English system of poor laws, extending premiums to idleness and improvidence, on a basis of indefinite relief to claimants multiplying without end. “My lot might have been thrown among these; it might have been that of a savage, or a slave: nor can I reflect without gratitude on the bounty of Nature, which has cast my birth in a free and civilized country, in a family decently endowed with the gifts of Fortune, in an age of science and of philosophy, where years outrun in discoveries and in improvements the advances of former centuries.” It is not for me to determine how far these advantages have been improved by myself; but at the age of threescore years and ten, I may justly say with the other writer alluded to―― “The retrospect of life recalls to my view many opportunities of good neglected, much time squandered upon trifles, and more lost in idleness and vacancy. I leave many great designs unattempted, and many great attempts unfinished; but, my mind being free from the burden of any heavy crime, I compose myself to tranquillity: I endeavour to abstract my thoughts from hopes and cares, which, though reason knows them to be vain, still try to keep their old possession of my heart: I humbly expect the hour which Nature cannot long delay; and with the most profound adoration of the Divinity, I hope to possess in a better state of existence, that happiness which here I could not find, and that virtue which here I have been unable to attain.” DAVIES GILBERT, 1837. POSTSCRIPT. I have to acknowledge my obligations to various gentlemen for assistance in the progress of this work, but especially to the following: To RICHARD TAUNTON, Esq. M.D. for his loan of Mr Hals’s Manuscript. To the late Right Honorable FRANCIS BASSET, BARON DE DUNSTANVILLE, for his supplying me with Mr. Tonkin’s Manuscript. To HENRY S. BOASE, Esq. M.D. for his most liberal communication of an abstract for each Parish, taken from an accurate and minute Geological Survey of the whole County, made by himself.