132 DUDLEY.

pitchforked into a county already overdone with crime, and refused the proposed alliance." The high constable of the county, moreover, was opposed to the dismemberment. Of course I do not accuse him of being actuated by a sagacious foresight of reduced salary. It would be unkind to do BO

•when he suffered such a snubbing from the magistracy for the part he had taken in the affair.

The Rev. Dr. Browne, now and for many years the vicar of Dudley, hag taken a great interest in the condition of the poorer classes, and also in the rectification of local abuses; and I may add that until his advent to the parish the church sittings were bought and sold just like any other goods. They are now mostly free. But even with so good a vicar, and. half-a-dozen other clergymen in the town, what are they among so many ? And were it not for the Independents, Methodists, Unitarians, and a great number of schools, what

•would become of the morals of the lower classes ?

The Earl of Dudley is patron of the living, which is valued at £1,000; sittings, 1,600, mostly free. The vicar is patron of the other churches, ex-qfficio, and by his co-operation the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have raised the value of each of the districts to £300 a year. The entire accommodation of all the churches is under 7,000 sittings, being less than one-seventh of the .population. More than one-half of the seats are free. The Rev. J. J. Slade is perpetual curate of St. Andrew's; the Rev. J. Davies of St. Edmund's; the Rev. J. G. C. Browne of St. James's; and the Rev. E. H. L. Noot of St. John's.

Nash tells us that.Dudley sent a Member to Parliament in the time of Edward I; but the costly custom fell into abeyance. However, it could not be expected that such a flagrant case as the populous and important town of Dudley having no representation, while the diminutive boroughs of Evesham and Droitwich enjoyed two Members each, could be overlooked in the Reform Bill; accordingly the privilege of one Member was conferred upon the town, Sir John