e consideration which it deserves. I believe the
scheme to be perfectly practicable; and, as a first move in the work, I
send you the result of my own dealings with the registers of my parish.

It is many years since I felt the desideratum which Mr. Edgell has brought
before the public;{2} and, by way of testing the practicability of
transcribing, and printing the parochial registers of the entire kingdom in
a form convenient for reference, I made an alphabetical transcript of my
own, which is now complete. The _modus operandi_ which I adopted was
this:--1. I first transcribed, on separate slips of paper, each baptismal
entry, with its date, and a reference to the page of the register, tying up
the slips in the order in which the names were entered in the register;
noting, as I proceeded, on _another_ paper, the number of males and females
in each year.

2. The slips being thus arranged, they came in their places handy for
collation with the original. I then collated each, year by year; during
the process depositing the slips one by one in piles alphabetically,
according to the initial letter of the surnames.

3. This done, I sorted each pile in an order as strictly alphabetical as
that used in dictionaries or ordinary indices.

4. I then transcribed them into a book, in their order, collating each page
as the work proceeded.

5. I then took the marriages in hand, adopting the same plan; entering each
of these twice, viz. both under the husband's and the wife's name.

6. Next, the burials, on the same plan.

7. I then drew up statistical tables of the number of baptisms, marriages,
and burials in each year, males and females separately where the register
appeared badly kept, making notes of the fact, and adding such observations
as occasionally seemed necessary.

8. I then drew up lists of vicars, transcripts of miscellaneous records of
events, and other casual entries that appeared in the register.[1]

I noted, as I went on, the time occupied in each of these operations. It
was as follows:--

1. The first transcripts on slips, with addition of statistical tables--

Baptisms 2004
Marriages, 420, each twice 840
Burials 1244
____
Total 4088 ... 551/2 hours.
2. Collecting and filing alphabetically 23 ----
3. Sorting in strict alphabetical order 131/4 ----
4. Transcribing into book