INTRODUCTION.

'HE value and importance of local history, and of records of old forms of speech, manners and peculiarities, have been recognised only in comparatively recent times. The historians of the old-fashioned type thought it beneath their dignity to consult provincial chronicles, or to enquire into the origin and meaning of popular observances and customs which, in many cases, have lingered on from a remote period. An occasional note would find its way into a corner of the Gentleman's Magazine; sometimes an industrious antiquarian had the courage to publish the results of his researches in a costly volume, at his own expense. His friends accepted presentation copies, but took good care never to read them, and agreed in secret in regarding the author as a poor creature who was not quite right in his head. He was looked upon by his neighbours with good-natured indulgence and pity, and once in five years or so he was perhaps allowed to deliver a lecture at some local institution, when he was rewarded for his labours by seeing half his audience yawning dismally, and the other half asleep.

All this is now changed. The "muse of history" has condescended to put off her purple robes, and to go about among the "common people," asking about their ways of life, their quaint sayings, their songs, traditions, and proverbs. During the last half century, an immense amount of material has been gathered together in all parts of the country towards the preparation of an intelligible and a thorough history of the English people. The publication now in the hands of the reader is an example-and I, being merely an outside reader, may venture to say, an excellent example—of the new local literature. No history of Cheshire will henceforth have any claim to be considered complete which does not draw very largely upon the mine of wealth contained in the pages of CHESHIRE NOTES AND QUERIES. The Parliamentary History of the County is given in several forms, and the present volume contains, among much other information, a list of the members who have represented the county from the year 1702 down to 1820, as well as a list of the candidates for the various divisions and boroughs in the general election of 1885. The treatment of the earlier period is comprehensive and instructive, for it includes a sketch of general political history as well as of the local circumstances connected with it. Another valuable feature of the volume is the numerous extracts given from Parish Registers and the records of townships. Even the reader in search of something that is curious or

entertaining will not turn over these particular pages in vain. He will find that many of the well known local names have been "household words" for at least three hundred years, and probably for much longer, and he will come now and then upon interesting little family notes, such as that concerning PENELOPE Davenport, of the Bramhall stock, who in 1599 was married at Prestbury, when she was only seven years old. The history of that match would doubtless furnish an exciting plot for the novelist whose hard lot it is to stimulate the jaded appetites of an exacting public.

Among the contributions to the present volume which are likely to attract general notice are Mr GREENHALGH'S "Recollections of Stockport." They have a special interest as embodying the personal recollections of one who was an inhabitan of the borough in 1823. The changes that it has undergone during that interval, and the progress it has made in its manufacturing industries, are well brought out in connection with reminiscences of some of the leading commercial families. The sketches of social life are singularly fresh and vivid, and altogether Mr GREENHALGH's “" Recollections" will be found to pre. sent the lighter side of that admirable HISTORY OF STOCKPORT which we owe to the industry and care of Mr HENRY HEGINBOTHAM, J.P. Among other papers to which I may venture to direct the attention of the reader are those on Marple Halland Judge BRADSHAW, on Old Tours through Cheshire, and on Cheshire Customs, Idioms, and Proverbs. The articles last referred to, from the pen of Mr ROBERT HOLLAND, Frodsham, are full of quaint sayings, some of which deserve a better fate than to be allowed to sink into oblivion.

The department of the work which deals with questions relating to various topics of interest has evidently been much appreciated by the public; but its usefulness might be greatly extended if the readers of NOTES AND QUERIES would assist the Editor in his efforts to throw light on the occurrences of the past. There are many who could answer the questions which are put from time to time if they would only take the requisite trouble, and to do so would not tax their time very heavily. I observe that the number of Queries and Replies is increasing, and I conjecture that the more rapidly it increases the better pleased will the Editor be, for an essential part of his plan is that readers who are acquainted with any department of local history should become contributors. In this way alone can such a publication fully accomplish its original design. The Editor cannot frame a history of old Cheshire, as the Germans evolve a system of philosophy, from "inner consciousness." I may be permitted to express the hope that his readers will co-operate heartily with him, and that the success of the work, already very striking, may be all that could be wished by its most cordial admirers, among whom I think it an honour to inscribe myself.

L. J. JENNINGS.

INDEX.

In this Index more attention has been paid to the names of Persons and Places
connected with the County than to the names of those to whom only inci-
dental reference is made.

Names occuring more than once on the same page are only given once in the
Index.