The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-04-01
The Domesday Books.
THE OLD AND THE NEW ILLUSTRATIONS oP rHr
LANDOWNERS OF ENGLAND.

In spacious and elegant apartment Of
the State Paper Office, London, there is q
glass case, carefully locked. In this case,
which at the request Of properly authen-
ticated visitor is opened for his inspection,
rests massive volume, wonderfully bound
in heavily embossed leather and metal. 1t
is the famous "Domesday Book, compiled
and written by the order Of William the
Conqueror in 1885, exactly 79l years ago.
Every letter in the book is as bright and
clear as it was when written; the red lines
which mark It's subdivisions are as brilliant
as when they were drawn. In another
part of the building they show you an
immense iron chest, 10 which this "Domes.
day Book" was originally kept. For CEN
turies it lay in iumber-room of the
Tower, unnoticed and almost forgotten.
In 1885 William the Conqueror, wishing
to have an accurate knowledge of his king
dom, caused complete lahd-census to be
taken, and the results were recorded in
this volume. The whole number of land
holders was found to be 54,Sl3. Now,
after lapse Of nearly eight centuries,
another land-census has been taken, and
another Domesday Book has been COM
piled, consisting of two quarto volumes
with l 800 pages of closely printed tabula-
ted matter. The order for the compilation Of
this most valuable return was caused by a
wish on the part of the Government to
show that the premises on which the Gland
reformers" based their arguments were
erroneous. 1t shows that the total mum.
Der of landowners in England and Wales,
exclusive of the metropolis, is 972, 1886.
OF these, 703, ,2S9 are holders of less than
one acre-these, l suppose, are the owners
of single houses and little plots of land /;
the other 269 ,547 are holders Of one acre
and upwards-some of them being 50 far
upwards as to own 100 square miles or
more. The Duke of Devonshire, in Der.
byshire, owns $3.50 acres, or 131 square
miles. The Duke of Bedford, in Bedford.
shire, has 1859 acres, 22,6O7 in Devon
shire and lS,S00 in Cambridgeshire !;
Lieutenant-Colonel Lindsay has 20,52S
acres, Mr.. j. Tollemache 1880 acres in
Cheshire, Lord Falmouth 25,91O acres in
Cornwall, the Earl of Carlisle Al, ,73O acres
in Cumberland, where also Sir +. u. Gres.
ham has 25,270 and the Earl of Lonsdale
2S,22s acres; the Duke of Rutland has
26,973 acres in Derbyshire, the Earl of
Devon 20,5SS in Devon, the Hon. NJ.
Rolley 45,Oss in the same county, Mr.. G.
d. Digby q ,45l in Dorset, the Duke Of
Cleveland has 55,837 acres in Durham,
the Earl of Derby has AZ ,269 acres in
Lancashire (the income of which is Gl56,-
735 year, and so on. Mr.. Disraeli has
l,O0l, acres in Buckinghamshire, worth
only Fl ,4s4 year. The population of
England and Wales, exclusive of the met
ropolis, was by the last census i 8 ,458 ,0O9;
and there were 3,S4I 1854 inhabited houses.
As there are 972, 1886 landowners, it fol-
lows that on an average there are four
houses to each land-owner-and that is
not very bad showing. The extent Of
lands is 33,013,51O acres, exclusive Of l.
524 ,64S acres Of common or waste lands
so that on an average there would be "a
acres to each owner. The annual value Of
these lands is f99, ,352, 1903, an average of
not much over s1O0 for each owner.
The lands held by, the colleges of the
Universities Of Oxford and Cambridge
amount to 235, ,553 acres, with rental of
94ll 1854. These lands are in ffty-one
out of the tifty-four counties in England
and Wales. The Ecclesiastical Commis.
sioners hold property in forty mine counties
worth e3l1, ,2Os year. The Prince of
Wales-or the Duchy of Cornwall-has
69,5O3 acres, worth f31 ,292 a year, and
the Duchy Of Lancaster II ,42s acres worth
e2O,942 year. The aggregate holdings
of the 100 largest private owners are g..
$4,000 acres; three of these have each
100000 acres and more. The twelve
largest owners are the Dukes of Northum-
berland, Devonshire, Cleveland, Bedford
and Rutland, the Earls of Carlisle, Ions.
dale, Powis, Brownlow and Derby, Lord
Leconfeld and Sir W. W. wynn.-Cor-
repondencc cfMe Ne,o York World
Useful Recipes,