the most part are loſt, deſtroyd, or obliterated; for want of care, & due preſervation.
thus are the national records, of all others moſt important, the most neglected! on this occaſion, I cannot help obſerving, that tis too much the caſe thro'out the kingdom. frequently the taſk of keeping a Regiſter book is committed to a pariſh clark, illiterate, that can ſcarcely write, ſottish, or indolent. a taſk on which the fortunes, & emoluments of the whole kingdom, in a great meaſure depends. the ſetling deſcents, births, buryals, marriages, titles to eſtates, & matters of higheſt conſequence, both civil & religious, are thus left at random, without any reaſonable proof, or certainty, adequate to the weight of matters depending thereon.
Is it to be wondered at, when the publick, always penurious toward the parochial clergy, have provided no ſtipend, much less a proportionable one, to its neceſsity, & uſe. is it to be wonder'd at, when the public tamely ſuffers the solemnization of matrimony, the very foundation of all Society, & government, to be done at the Fleet, & in obſcure, private rooms, by ob-
