wills to be read to them. I was informed
that I could see the originals on giving a
satisfactory reason to the Registrar, or, in his
absence, to a principal clerk. So promptly is
business done here, that I found the wills
which had been received from Manchester
and other places that day, had been already
indexed—very different to York, where wills
are sometimes not indexed for six or eight
months, and, consequently, often not at all. I
next inquired for some earlier wills, and
stated that I might probably want to have
two or three days' research, for a literary
purpose. On hearing this, the clerk informed me
that the Registrar made no charge under
such circumstances, except for the clerks'
time. I then called for about six early wills,
and only one of the six could not be found.
Afterwards I asked for the returns of several
Parish Registers; each set of which are
well and substantially bound in a separate
volume; for this a fee of three shillings and
eight-pence is demanded; at York, for the
production of a similar quantity of records,
fifteen pounds is the price, without clerks'
fees; and at Lincoln it would be impossible
to collect them at all, many having been used
to bind up modern wills, and for other such
purposes."

Mr. William Wallace, pleasingly surprised
at the contrast this Registry Number Four,
presented to others he had visited and where
he had been so egregiously snubbed, determined
to learn and see as much respecting it as
possible. With this view, he applied, without
any other introduction than his card, to the
Registrar; whose excellent custom it was, he
understood, to be in attendance daily for
several hours. At that time he was examining
witnesses in a case for the Ecclesiastical Court,
and handed the card to the bishop's secretary,
who was also in official attendance. "That
gentleman," says Mr. Wallace, "immediately
came down, and informed me that the Bishop
had written to me, in answer to my application,
two days before, giving me permission
to search, at reasonable hours, and that the
Registrar, as was his usual custom, had not
the slightest objection. I then asked to be
shown the various parts of the building, the
modes of preserving the records, which
request was granted without the smallest
hesitation."

Our informant then goes on to say that he
found the building—which was raised solely
at the expense of the present Registrar,
since his appointment in 1837—conveniently
divided into different departments like the
best of the Government offices,—each department
legibly indicated for the benefit of the
inquirer, on the different doors.

On the first-floor are the private offices of
the Registrar, of the bishop's secretary, and of
other officials usually connected with the
Registry. That story is however chiefly occupied
by a spacious room for the examination of
witnesses. Besides principals, thirteen clerks are
employed in the building; whose civility and
patience were great enough to redeem the
rudeness and grasping impatience experienced
at the other three Cathedral Registries.

The manner in which the records are
preserved at this Cathedral Number Four, is
spoken of by our friend with satisfaction.
His report to us is silent on rats, wet, mildew,
smoke, broken windows, torn testaments, and
illegible calendars. "Modern wills," he
repeats, "are copied at length into volumes,
by the present Registrar, a practice which I
regret is not adopted at York, Lincoln,
Lichfield, Winchester, and other places I have
visited. If wills of an earlier date than that
of the enrolment books are required to be
taken out of the office for production in any
Court of Law, &c., an examined copy made
for the purpose, is deposited in its place
during its temporary removal from the
Registry. The principal portion of the wills
are deposited in a dry, but not a fire-proof
building, in good repair, called the Abbey
Gateway; where, during the office hours, two
clerks are constantly kept at work in copying
wills that come in. These are kept in boxes,
arranged upon shelves with just sufficient
space to admit them, like drawers; and upon
the top of the wills is a sheet of pasteboard
fitting the box, as a further protection from
dust. The wills are alphabetically arranged
in the boxes, which are of uniform size, and
contain more or less letters; the first box for
1835, for instance, contains the wills of
testators whose names commence with A. or B.
The wills of each letter are placed separately,
and are divided into packets of one month
each, so that the exact date of Probate being
known, the will is found immediately. The
wills are not rolled up as was formerly the
case, but are kept flat, those on brief paper
being only once more folded in the centre, so
as to form a foolscap sheet. I think the plan
well calculated to secure preservation for any
length of time.—The Registrar performs the
duties of his office in person—the income of
which, as stated in the 'Times' is about ten
thousand a-year,—and attends regularly."

In this case the Registrar-in-Chief is his own
deputy, and although his income is large—
even after the great expense it has been his
duty to incur, for suitable public accommodation,
and the loss he has voluntarily sustained
by reducing the fees—yet it must not be
wholly grudged to a gentleman who fulfils
his office with assiduity.

Before the period of its renovation, the
Registry of Chester was as inefficient and
exacting as the other three we have described.
To whom the merit of the change and the
contrast is really due, is not easily to be
ascertained, although the present incumbent of the
office must necessarily have the largest share
of credit for it. We suspect, however, that
the proximate impetus of the reform can be
traced to the geographical position of the