priated, formed a diſtinct pariſh. Which will well enough account for the frequent intermixture of pariſhes one with another. For if a lord had a parcel of land detached from the main of his eſtate, but not ſufficient to form a pariſh of itſelf, it was natural for him to endow his newly erected church with the tithes of thoſe disjointed lands; eſpecially if no church was then built in any lordſhip adjoining to thoſe out-lying parcels.
Thus pariſhes were gradually formed, and pariſh churches endowed with the tithes that aroſe within the circuit aſſigned. But ſome lands, either becauſe they were in the hands of irreligious and careleſs owners, or were ſituate in foreſts and deſart places, or for other now unſearchable reaſons, were never united to any pariſh, and therefore continue to this day extraparochial; and their tithes are now by immemorial cuſtom payable to the king inſtead of the biſhop, in truſt and confidence that he will diſtribute them, for the general good of the church[1]: yet extraparochial waſtes and marſh-lands, when improved and drained, are by the ſtatute 17 Geo. II. c. 37. to be aſſeſſed to all parochial rates in the pariſh next adjoining. And thus much for the eccleſiaſtical diviſion of this kingdom.
2. The civil diviſion of the territory of England is into counties, of thoſe counties into hundreds, of thoſe hundreds into tithings or towns. Which diviſion, as it now ſtands, ſeems to owe it’s original to king Alfred; who, to prevent the rapines and diſorders which formerly prevailed in the realm, inſtituted tithings; ſo called, from the Saxon, becauſe ten freeholders with their families compoſed one. Theſe all dwelt together, and were ſureties or free pledges to the king for the good behaviour of each other; and, if any offence was committed in their diſtrict, they were bound to have the offender forthcoming[2]. And therefore an-
