Much good may be expected to result from the architectural survey of England which is now in progress: although unconnected by any systematic plan, many interesting facts will be brought to light, and information collected which might otherwise have been lost for ever. The impulse seems to have been first given by the Oxford Architectural Society, who, in their prospectus, first issued in the autumn of 1838, observed that, "from the scarcity of records, existing monuments are the safest guides in the study of medieval architecture; but as they are widely separated, the labour of examination and comparison is so great, that, without some more systematic plan of operation than has hitherto been adopted, it can scarcely be expected that the task should be satisfactorily accomplished." It was therefore suggested that this inconvenience might be best obviated by the formation of local associations, having for their principal aim the collecting of drawings, and descriptions of the edifices in their immediate neighbourhood, which would thus form so many sources, whence the enquirers into the architectural antiquities of any particular district might derive precise and detailed information.
Numerous local associations are now diligently engaged in making careful surveys of their respective neighbourhoods, and publishing the results in different forms. Of these publications the Warwickshire Churches is one of the most creditable, alike to the members who have undertaken the labour, and executed it with much care, and to the spirited publisher, who has incurred the expense and risk of the undertaking. The lithographic views are very fairly executed, and give a good general idea of the building: the woodcuts of details are excellent, and the superior clearness of wood engraving appears to advantage by the comparison. The letter-press contains a very complete history of the celebrated church, and incidentally of the town of Warwick, and more research seems to have been used than in any other of the publications of the same class. The original documents here brought to light are curious and interesting. It appears that no less than eight parochial churches and chapels were merged in the collegiate church of St. Mary, at or soon after the time of its foundation, in 1123, by Roger second Earl of Warwick, the plan having been formed by his father, Henry de Newburgh, the first Earl, who did not live to complete it. Of these eight churches or chapels scarcely a vestige remains excepting the walls of St. Michael's chapel, now converted into "a blacksmith's shop and a dwelling-house," to the great disgrace of the good town of Warwick, and the chapel of St. Peter, over the east gate, which seems to have been effectually mutilated in 1800, under the name of reparation. This proceeding was exposed in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1801, probably by the indefatigable Carter, whose taste
