at Sheerness took place within the month. It was witnessed by an immense highly-respectable concourse of people.

Married.] Mr. Ralph, to Miss Hayman, both of Deal.-Mr. T. Cranbrook, of Deal, to Miss Burtenshaw, of Sandwich.-Mr. T. Lear, to Miss M. Baker; Mr. T. Foreman, to Miss M. Lear; Mr. T. Burr, of Hammond-place, to Miss M. Stace: all of Chatham. Mr. J. Coulter, jun. of Hollingbourne, to Miss S. Bennett, of Maidstone. Mr. E, Hayward, to Miss S. Adley, both of Blean.

Died.] At Canterbury, in the Precincts of the Cathedral, 64, Mrs. S. Mantell.-In Watling-street, 50, Mr. Perkins. — In Northgate-street, 82, Mr. W. Gadesby. 22, Mrs. B. Claris.

At Dover, Mrs. Worthington. Mr. Hart.

At Chatham, 41, Mr. J. Stylas.-55, Mrs. C. Basano.-45, Mrs. M. Stucker. At Rochester, Miss H. Barlow.-Mr. J. Aldersley.

At Faversham, 65, Mrs. J. Arnold.-61, Mrs. S. Trice.-56, Mr. B. Dervall.-Mr. Stephen Hughes.

SUSSEX.

Brighton, within the month, has been filled with the best company, and all the libraries were well attended.

An explosion took place within the month in the sifting-house, near the powder-mills between Crowhurst and Battle, belonging to Mr. Lawrence: it blew up, and two men were killed.

Married.] Mr. Kennard, of Uckfield, to Miss Hicks, of Brighton.

Died.] At Chichester, Miss C. D. Munkhouse, late of Newcastle.

At Brighton, in George-street, Mr. Martin, much respected.-Mr. T. Buckwell.-19, Miss A. Pocock, deservedly esteemed.

Robinson.-In Britain-street, 85, Mr. N. Vass.-Mr. J. Blackford, R.N.

At Gosport, Mrs. Allen.-In Highstreet, 69, Mary, widow of Capt. Bowyer, R.N. of Titchfield.

WILTSHIRE.

Sir Richard Colt Hore has recently formed a museum at Malmesbury, for antiquities collected by himself in this country, and in Italy.

Married.] George Atkinson, esq. mayor ` of Salisbury, to Miss Magdalene Strachan, of Weymouth.--W. Slater, esq. to Miss M. Prince, both of Warminster.

Died.] At Salisbury, Lieut. W. Benson, R.N-77, Mr. Goodall, the much respected Master of the Ceremonies there.

At Bradford, 74, Mr. Warre, esq. deservedly regretted.

SOMERSETSHIRE.

A Mr. Backhouse, of Wells, has lately invented a machine for beating books, by. which as many may be beaten in one day as would take two men a week in the ordinary way. This method is performed with the greatest ease.

Taunton has been lighted with gas within the month: the advantages to trade and inter course have been generally felt, and been followed by great satisfaction.

Married] Mr. G. Loder, to Miss F. Kirkham, of Great Pulteney-street, both. of Bath.-Mr. J. Pearce, of Bath, to Miss Graves, of Baker's-street, London.-The Rev. C. Day, to Miss E. Langston, of Henrietta street, Bath.-Mr. G. Turner, of Bath, to Miss E. Salter, of Kington Langley.-William Miles, esq. of Leighcourt, to Miss Catherine Gordon, of Clifton.-The Rev. Charles Coney, of Odcombe, to Miss M. R. Coxwell, of Winchcombe-place, Cheltenham.

HAMPSHIRE..

Married.] Mr. H. Dermott, to Miss E. Buck, both of Southampton.-At Southampton, Alexander Smith, esq. to Sophia Sherburne, daughter of Robert Murray, esq. admiral of the blue.-The Rev. W. D. Sealey, of Southampton, to Miss M. Trotman, of York-place, Clifton.-Mrs. G. Smith, of North Waltham, to Miss Brown, of St. Cross, near Winchester.—Mr. Rad. cliffe, of Winchester, to Miss L. A. Gray, of Gosport.-John Morant, esq. of Brockenhurst-park, to Lady Caroline A. Hay.

Died.] At Southampton, in Hanover buildings, Samuel Silver Taylor, esq. of Hockley-house, near Cheriton.-In Eaststreet, 81, Mrs. M. Taylor.-In Kingsland place, 96, Mr. R. Primer.

At Winchester, 72, Mr. J. Larner.-66, Mrs. Cave, widow of Mr. Alderman C. At Portsea, in Cumberland-street, Mrs.

Caroline-buildings, Mrs. Bell.-32, Mrs. H. L. Dupré, highly and justly esteemed. -On Angel-terrace, 41, Mr. H. Duffy.

At Wells, 69, Mrs. Eyre, widow of the Rev. Dr. E. canon of Wells and Salisbury.

At Taunton, EO, Mrs. Ann Dibben.

At North Petherton, Mr. Atwell, deservedly regretted.-At Bathford, Mr. Geo. Yeeles, justly lamented.-At Bathwick, 22, Miss Caroline Marks.-At Stoneaston, Mr. Stephens, deservedly esteemed.-At Weston, 67, Mrs. Basnett.

DORSETSHIRE,

Married.] John Durant, esq. of Poole, to Mary, widow of Jolin Palmer, esq. of Winpole-street, London.-The Rev. E. Brice, of Cranford, to Miss M. George, of North Petherton.-The Rev. E. Whiteley, of Little Bredy, to Miss E. Bowden, of Chelthorne.

Died.] At Weymouth, 33, Li Dansey, R.N.

At Bridport, 87, the Rev. Mat. Anstis, master of the grammar school at this place, and deservedly lamented.

At Lyme, 38, Mrs. Swaine, of Bridportharbour, justly esteemed and regretted.

DEVONSHIRE.

A lace factory is about to be esta blished in the vicinity of Exeter, on the extensive premises near Trew's Wear. The projector is a native of Nottingham.

Married.] Mr. Veysey, to Miss Phillips; Mr. W. Down, of Exeter, to Miss G. Beynom, of Thurleston.-Mr. R. Dymond, of Exeter, to Miss Ann Priscilla Williams, of the Exeter Lime Kilns, both of the Society of Friends.-Mr. Jones, to Miss Jarvis, of Richmond-walk.—Mr. R. Smart, of Plymouth, to Miss Clease, of Lanceston.-Thomas Parsons, esq of Oakhamp ton, to Miss A. B. Turton, of Torquay. Died.] At Exeter, 39, Elizabeth, wife of James Green, esq. deservedly regretted.

At Plymouth, in Duke-street, 25, Mrs. Corsey. In the Town-square, 73, Mr. Niles.-84, Henry Tolcher, esq. he left upwards of 200,0001. chiefly to his nephews and nieces; his manners were eccentric, and his habits penurious.-50, Mr. J. Hele, deservedly regretted.

At Bideford, John Hammond, M.D. de servedly esteemed for his professional and moral qualifications.

At Lambert, 76, John Lambert Gorwyn, esq.-71, Mary Ann, widow of William Lambert Gorwyn, esq.-At Churchstanton, Mr. W. Gillett, sen.-At Stoke, €6, Mrs. Myers, of Pentonville, near London-58, Mrs. Widecombe.

esq. of St. David's, to Miss E. Davis, of Fishguard. Thomas Thomas, esq. of Narberth, to Mrs. Twining, of Treffgarne, Pembrokeshire.

Died.] At Swansea, 26, Mr. W. Jones, of Mile End, deservedly regretted.-59, Mr. George Rees, greatly and justly respected.--In Nelson-place, 42, Capt. John Gilmore, R.N. greatly lamented.—At Cowbridge, 95, Mrs. E. Morris.

At Brecon, at an advanced age, Mr. L. Jones.

At Ruthin, 53, Edward Owen, esq. of Tachlwyd, Denbighshire.

The Rev. Richard Raikes, treasurer and canon of St. David's, prebendary of Hereford, and perpetual curate of Maisemere, Gloucestershire, generally and justly esteemed for his philanthropic and other virtues.

SCOTLAND.

A grand public dinner was given within the month to Mr. Brougham, by the inhabitants of Glasgow. Lord Archibald Hamilton, in the chair, supported by the Duke of Hamilton, Lords Kennaird and Belhaven, Admiral Fleming, &c. Several excellent speeches were delivered: Mr. Brougham, in returning thanks, exhibited great powers of eloquence, and passend many high encomiums on the poitre: knowledge prevalent throughout Scotland, and its general patriotism. He was presented by the citizens of Glasgow with a silver cup.

Married.] At Dumfries, Mr. W. Shaw, to Miss M. Dickson, of Monsewald.

Died.] At Edinburgh, James Stodart, esq. of Russell-square.-24, Lieut. Mat. Miller, fifty-first regiment, son of Sir Wm. M. bart., Lord Glenbee. He was a member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh. He had addressed several ingenious papers to the society, and suggested some curious experiments. These the Board of Ordnance ordered to be made in elucidation of the laws of projectiles.

At Dunbar, Lieut.-col. John Clark, marines.

At Peebles, 69, Giles Templeman, esq.

For the Monthly Magazine.

THE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES.

[The following description of a district, -which, though of first-rate commercial importance, has hitherto been slightly noticed by topographers,-forms one of a series of Letters, addressed to a friend, during atour through the midland counties, in the summer of 1823.]

Q

UITTING Lichfield, about the middle of July, we pursued our journey towards the northern extremity of Staffordshire, through some of the most luxuriant scenery I ever be held. I have been rather concise in my description of the ancient city we left behind; because I know that the theme would harmonize but indifferently with your reprobate democratical principles, and that dissertations upon its antiquity, the beauty of its cathedral, and the proverbial loyalty of its inhabitants, would be but frigidly perused by one who has little reverence for episcopacy, inclines strongly to the anti-monarchical principle, and deems all antiquarian researches mere foolery, when set in competition with enquiries into the principles of steamengines, gas-works, and iron-bridges. I pass, therefore, at once, to a more congenial topic, viz. the potteries of Staffordshire, which present to the scientific observer an infinite variety of his favourite objects of contemplation, After passing a delightful morning in strolling over the beautiful domain of Trentham, which art and nature have combined their efforts to adorn, I proceeded on foot to pay a visit to the potteries, at a few miles distance. The appearance of this seat of industry, viewed from the neighbouring eminences, is so extremely striking, that I scarcely feel able to describe it, but Byron shall do it for me,""Tis a most living landscape; midst the

wave

Of woods and corn fields, stand the abodes

of man, Scatter'd at intervals, and clouds of smoke, Arising from ten thousand roofs." Your eye embraces at one view a variety of large towns, villages, and manufactories, situated in a fertile plain, and spreading far away into the distance, to the extent of ten or twelve miles, surmounted by a canopy of smoke so dense, that the lurid cloud which eternally overhangs the metropolis, seems, in comparison, but a rarefied vapour. You must not, how

ever, imagine, when I speak of their extending ten or twelve miles, that the whole space is closely built over; on the contrary, it is occupied by several distinct towns, though the roads of communication between them, sprinkled more or less thickly with habita tions and manufactories, form in every direction connecting links, and render them in fact but one community. The first of these you arrive at, journeying northwards, is called Lane End, the road from which leads directly through the heart of the other pottery-towns, the principal of which are Lane Delft, Fenton, Stoke-upon-Trent, Cobridge, Etruria, Shelton, Hanley, and Burslem; terminating northwards at a place called Green Lane, on the borders of Cheshire. In the surrounding country they are spoken of collectively, by the general appellation of The Pottery.

On entering these towns, the first peculiarity that arrests the stranger's attention is the irregular and straggling style in which they are built; for, having most of them sprung up from small beginnings into their present magnitude, in less than half a century, the additions have been made from time to time just as necessity demanded, but without any determinate plan, or the slightest regard to appearance and orderly arrangement. The result has been the strangest confusion that 'tis possible to conceive. Milton's line,

“Wild, without rule or art,”

was never before half so happily illastrated. The contrasts of meanness and magnificence which meet the view are equally striking; the humble hut of the artisan stands in immediate contact with the palace of his employer, and splendid mansions rear their heads amid the sulphureous fumes and vapours of the reeking pot-works. Every thing, in short, announces that appearances are here quite a secondary consideration when opposed to utility, and that the genius of industry alone presides: taste and elegance in the buildings are therefore but little cherished at present. In many other respects, the aspect of the pottery-towns is equally singular, and strikingly proclaims their recent origin. You pass, in two minutes, from a crowded street into a meadow or a corn-field; and, amidst shops and factories, you continually stumble upon what was not long since a farm-house, and which yet re

tains

tains somewhat of its rural, cottagelike character, wholly distinct from that of the mercantile edifices which have sprung up around it. Figure to yourself a tract of country, the surface of which, cut, scarred, burnt, and ploughed up in every direction, displays a heterogeneous mass of hovels and palaces, farm-houses and factories, chapels and churches, canals and coalpits, corn-fields and brick-fields, gardens and furnaces, jumbled together in “most admired disorder," and you will have a pretty correct idea of the Staffordshire potteries. Then pervade the space your fancy has thus pictured, with a suffocating smoke, vomited forth incessantly from innumerable fires, and the thing will be complete. The people, however, who pass their lives amid this dingy atmosphere, this "palpable obscure," this worse than Egyptian darkness, seem to experience no inconvenience from it; and, in fact, to be scarcely sensible of the existence of the evil. One of them asked me, with most amusing simplicity, "whether London was not a terribly smoky place to live in!" The inhabitants, nevertheless, I repeat, though certainly not blessed with the rosy checks we generally see in country-folks, appear to enjoy good health, with the exception of the colliers, and a few pallid mortals employed in the preparation of certain deleterious articles made use of in the manufacture of pottery.

The population of this vast bee-hive, with that of the contiguous town, Newcastle-under-Lyme, exceeds 60,000 souls, and is constantly increasing. To give you some faint idea of the rapidity with which it advances, I extract from the returns of 1811 and 1821 a comparative view of the numbers of inbabitants of two or three of the principal towns at those periods:

a few words upon the manners, customs, and tone of thinking, of the neighbourhood; and I will therefore endeavour to gratify you. Of the political opinions of the people in general I scarcely feel qualified to offer a decided opinion, though I believe, as in most other places, the majority of the rich are of the Tory party, and the whole of the lower classes of the liberal or radical. With regard to religious matters I can speak more confidently, for sectarism has certainly made this her chosen seat; I suspect I speak greatly within compass, when I assert, that two-thirds of the population are dissenters, of one denomination or another: Ebenezer, Zion, Bethel, and New Jerusalem, chapels, offend the orthodox eye at every turning; and in Hanley and Shelton alone, three new conventicles have been built during the present year, while in the whole of the potteries there are but four churches, which would not contain one-tenth of the population. Of the names and characters of the different sects I know but little; there are Independents, Wesleyans, Whitfieldites, Calvinists, Presbyterians, and heaven knows what beside. At Cobridge there is a Roman Catholic chapel, with a seminary attached to it; and a Unitarian place of worship, now building at Hanley, will be opened early in 1824. The evil arising from the want of church-room has long been sensibly felt; for many who frequent the dissenting chapels are not so much attracted there by inclination as driven by necessity, not being able to gain admission to the churches, where the vile system of seat-selling, and locking up pews by individuals who seldom visit them, prevails far too extensively. Truly was it said the other day by a public writer of the neighbourhood, "Every thing has thrived, and prospered, and improved around us, but the temples of our devotions." Measures, however, are at length in progress for diminishing the grievance; and the old church of Stoke is immediately to be pulled down, to make room for a larger one. This, which is the parish church of the district, and was built centuries before the potteries existed, will scarcely hold 600 persons: the new building will be adapted to the accommodation of thrice the number. To forward this undertaking, the Dean of Lichfield has generously given 15007. from his own purse, in addition

to