of the antient domain, with the old copyholds, and several allotments, awarded at the inclosure, constitute the whole of what now remains in possession of the present Lord of the Manor. To trace the pedigrees of families, iu order to shew the descent of property, forms part of the labour of a topographical writer, as far as the family is or has been connected with the scene of his labours. Thus I have given the pedigree of Pindar, and shewn that his property passed into the hands of the present Earl Beauchamp; but it is not all necessary that I should give the pedigree of the Beauchamps from the earliest times, because, in the reign of George the Third, one of family became possessed of an estate in the parish of Owston. Thus, also, it is sufficient to deduce the genealogy of Johnson from the time they became possessed of Temple, by marriage with one of the daughters of Popplewell, without investigating their descent from the Bellinghams of Westmorland, or during the time they lived at Rushton Grange in Lancashire, or at Wakefield in Yorkshire. On the same principle I have not investigated the descent of the antient family of Waterton, beyond the period when their property in the Isle of Axholme was confiscated by Henry the Eighth. Concerning the principal persons I have given such biographical notices as I have been able to procure. Compared with what has perished how little can the most industrious and successful topographer hope to recover, especially as regards that most interesting part of his labours, the lives and actions of those who were born or have lived and died in the places which he has undertaken to describe. When he finds it briefly mentioned in the records of the kingdom, that Richard of Beltoft was, several centuries since, deputed by his Sovereign, super arduis et urgentissimus negotiis; or that one of the family of Sheffield or of Mowbray was sent for, "to consult de arduis negotiis," he naturally wishes to learn somewhat more of their history, and to trace therein the valour and the wisdom which caused them to be selected for such important trusts. Thus, also, when a topographer examines the splendid churches which have been erected by persons of whose history all has perished but his name, he would wish that one of those beautiful corbals, representing a priest reading from a book, and which, after the lapse of five hundred years,still seems fresh from the chisel of the sculptor, and almost to speak and breathe in stone, could actually open its mouth, in the words of the 78th Psalm, "Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. "I will open my mouth in a parable *, I will utter dark sayings of old. "Which we have heard and known, and such as our fathers have told us." And thus proceed to narrate the history of those whose munificence and piety the sacred edifice alone remains to testify. “That *"Parables and dark sayings of old," must here be understood to include narratives of past events as is evident from the Psalm. See the various Commentators on the different significations of the word Parable. "That the generation to come might know them, even the children which are yet unborn, who should arise and declare them to their children." But, alas! the study of topography most forcibly impresses on our minds that sentiment of the fragility of all human affairs, and the rapidity with which they are swept away for ever, so beautifully expressed by Homer, when he relates, in the sixth book of the Iliad, the interview between Diomed and Glaucus. Οἵη περ φύλλων γενεή τοιήδε καὶ ἀνδρῶν. Φύλλα τά μέν τ' ἄνεμος χαμάδις χέει, ἄλλα δέ θ ̓ ὕλη *Ως ἀνδρῶν γενεή, ἡ μὲν φύει, ἡ δ ̓ ἀπολήγει. It is related that the bookseller to whom Dr. Prideaux offered his celebrated work, Connections of the Old and New Testament, said, "it was a dry subject, and he could not undertake to print it, unless the learned divine would enliven it with a little humour." To those who delight in reading at all, the Doctor's work affords abundant matter for rational entertainment, as well as valuable information; but how he was to comply with the suggestion of this facetious bibliopole, or what the bibliopole's notions of humour were, I am at a loss to discover. Perhaps the reader will think that this hint has not been altogether lost sight of by the Author of the History of the Isle of Axholme, that he may fairly be charged with such an attempt on SO so grave a subject as topography. Be this as it may, I shall only observe, that if, in describing the manners of former times, or the peculiarities of those who have been the subject of the biographical notices in this work, my observations may have created a smile, 1 trust that I have done so without hurting the feelings of any one now living. The ecclesiastical property in this district was, previous to the dissolution of the Religious Houses, very considerable The whole of the Manor of Croule was granted to the Abbey of Selby, with the Rectory, and also the Rectory of Luddington. There were, also, several grants of land in this part of the Isle by different individuals; one of which, by Geoffrey de Wirce, to the same foundation, took place immediately after the Conquest. Nostel Priory had a cell, with a small estate, at Hirst, in the parish of Belton. The Templars had the little Manor of Keadby, and a bequest of land, with a house, called the Cow Pasture, at Belwood, which has now taken from them the name of Temple Belwood; and the Island of Sandtoft, with several small Holmes adjoining, belonged to the Abbey of St. Mary's, at York. The Priory of Thornholmes had lands in Owston and Haxey. Low Melwood Priory possessed lands adjoining its site; and the Priory of Newburgh had the four Rectories of Owston, Belton, Haxey, and Epworth. There were also numerous bequests of land to the Hospital of St. Leonard, at York, and to the different Chantries and Free Chapels. Impropriations soon followed in some cases these rectorial endowments, and a Vicar superseded the re sident sident Rector, for whose maintenance a separate endowment took place. The Vicarages of Croule and Haxey were endowed at a very early period. Some time afterwards those of Luddington and Owston. Of the great tithes of Epworth no impropriation ever took place; and the Parson of Belton was always a Rector, until Henry the Eighth sold the great tithes to the Corporation of Lincoln, when, in the deed of conveyance, a Vicarage was endowed. The right of presentation to the Rectory of Althorpe was disputed by the Hospital of St. Leonard and the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem; but the dispute appears to have been settled by each party presenting alternately: the great tithes, however, were never alienated from the purpose for which the endowment was originally made,-the support of a resident minister. This was also the case at Wroot, which had been given to the Monks of the Blessed Virgin Mary at York. These churches all possessed equal rights, and acknowledged no superior but the Cathedral at Lincoln, to which they all paid synodals and procurations, There were, in the Isle of Axholme, four Chapels. These places of worship were at first called Oratories, and were used only for the celebration of divine service, the Mother Church enjoying as well the sole right of baptism, marriage, and burial, as well as all the tithes and possessions with which these were originally endowed. But the same reasons which rendered the institution of parishes necessary, held to a certain extent for allowing all the offices of religion to be performed in such chapels; and liberty was afterwards granted to the Lord of the Manor to assign a third |