within certain definite lines, capable of holding real and personal estate, suing and being sued. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Judicial Court, the Courts of Common Pleas, and the Court of Probate and Insolvency, are in most instances limited to the Counties within and for which they are respectively held. They are also Districts for various purposes connected with the executive and judicial departments of the government of the Commonwealth. A Registry of Deeds is established in each County. A House of Correction, and one or more Jails, are also supported in every County, at the expense of the same. The making of roads was, by a law of 1826, made a County expense, and by a law of 1828 it is divided between the Counties and Towns, and a Board of Commissioners for the purpose of laying out and constructing them, and for other purposes, is elected in each County.

Towns are bodies corporate and politic, for the purposes of supporting schools, maintaining paupers, repairing roads, and a great variety of other municipal and prudential concerns. The ministers of religion were formerly supported mostly by Towns. During the war of the revolution, Towns were almost the only bodies whose authority was acknowledged to be binding or legal, otherwise than by the voluntary consent of the parties concerned. In these little republics, matters of the highest national concern were gravely, and often intelligently discussed and decided; and the aggregate of such decisions made the ground of proceedings in the Legislature of the State and the Congress of the United States.

Parishes are ecclesiastical bodies exclusively, and are bodies corporate only for religious purposes. Most of the ancient Towns in the Commonwealth have been divided into two or more Parishes, generally by geographical lines, but the law of 1811, giving to all persons liberty to unite with any religious society, whether of the same denomination as the Parish in which he resides, or of another denomination, rendered these lines useless, unless where habit and choice render the ancient mode of taxation desirable to the individual.

COUNTIES.

SUFFOLK COUNTY.

Suffolk County is composed of the cities of Boston and Chelsea, and the towns of North Chelsea and Winthrop. It was incorporated in 1643. The population in 1820 was 43,950; in 1855 it was 171,818. Boston and Chelsea are incorporated cities. They are connected by a steam ferry, and by a bridge which leads through Charlestown. [See the list of towns and cities.]

ESSEX COUNTY.

In

Essex County is divided into four cities and thirty towns. 1820 it had 74,675 inhabitants, and in 1850, 151,167. It is bounded east and south-east by the ocean, west by Middlesex, and north by New Hampshire. Salem, Newburyport, Lynn and Lawrence are incorporated cities. There is a costly stone Court House in Salem -one of brick in Newburyport-one of wood in Ipswich, and one is now (1858) building of brick, in Lawrence. Four stone Jails are also in the same towns; those in Ipswich and Lawrence are also Houses of Correction.

Merrimack River passes through the north part of the county, three miles south of the New Hampshire line, separating the towns of Salisbury, Amesbury, Haverhill, Methuen and Dracut from the rest of the state. It is navigable to Haverhill, eighteen miles from its mouth. It adds much to the beauty of the scenery in the adjoining towns. Ipswich River runs almost centrally through the county, and meets the tide at Ipswich. Parker River rises in An

dover, and after furnishing fine mill sites, discharges into Plum Island Sound, and is navigable a short distance for sloops. Saugus River rises in Reading, widens much after meeting the tide, and discharges into Lynn Bay. The county contains numerous handsome villages, and the land is generally well cultivated. It is intersected by the Eastern, Boston and Maine, Essex, Newburyport and Salem and Lowell Railroads, one or more of which touch upon 32 of its cities and towns. County Courts are held in Salem, Ipswich, Newburyport and Lawrence. Its manufactures are numerous and flourishing. It is small in territory, but has a dense population.

MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

Middlesex is divided into three cities-Lowell, Charlestown and Cambridge and forty-nine townships. It was incorporated in 1643 —had 61,472 inhabitants in 1820, and 194,082 in 1855. County Courts sit in Cambridge, Concord and Lowell. Merrimack river passes through the north-easterly corner of the county, where it moves the extensive machinery of Lowell. Concord river rises in the south part of Middlesex county, crosses its whole extent, and falls into the Merrimack at Lowell. Middlesex canal connected Boston harbor with Merrimack river at Chelmsford. It was a noble enterprise, commenced in 1793, and cost $700,000. It was the first canal of magnitude in America-thirty-one miles long, twentyfour feet wide, and four feet deep. Concord river was its feeder and summit level. It owed its origin chiefly to Loammi Baldwin, Esq., Chief Engineer. It has been entirely superseded in its use by railroads and locomotives. Grass now grows in its channel, but its existence and its builders should not be forgotten. This county is traversed by the Boston and Maine, Salem and Lowell, Fitchburg, and Lowell Railroads. It has rapidly increased, during the last thirty years, and includes a very prosperous and flourishing part of the state.

WORCESTER COUNTY.

Worcester is the largest county in extent in the state. It has one city and fifty-seven towns, and had 73,625 inhabitants in 1820, and 149,545 in 1855. It extends across the state, near the middle, from New Hampshire to Connecticut. Worcester is the largest inland city in the state, and until recently the only shire town of the county. Some courts are now held in Fitchburg. The county is bounded east by Middlesex and Bristol, and west by Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin. It is sixty miles in length, across the state, and thirty-seven from east to west. It is the greatest farming county in the state, and enters largely into manufactures. The surface is uneven, but it is an excellent tract for grazing and dairy purposes.Wachusett mountain, in Princeton, is the only elevated summit.— The waters from the western part of the county descend by the Chicopee and Miller rivers, to the Connecticut; those in the eastern part, by the Concord and Nashua to the Merrimack, and by the Blackstone to Narraganset bay. The Blackstone canal extends from Worcester to Providence. The Boston and Worcester railroad unites this city with Boston, and here connects with the Western railroad, which extends through Springfield and Pittsfield to the state line and Albany. Railroads also extend from Worcester south to Norwich, Ct., and north to Nashua, N. H.

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

This county consists of twenty-three towns-contained 26,487 inhabitants in 1820, and 35,485 in 1855. Northampton is the largest town, and the shire town of the county. It was incorporated in 1662, and then included the counties of Hampden, Franklin and Berkshire. Connecticut river intersects the county, passing from north to south, through the centre. A branch of Swift river, waters the eastern, and a branch of Westfield river the western parts of the county. It is bounded east by Worcester, south by Hampden,

west by Berkshire, and north by Franklin. It lies wholly in the valley of the Connecticut, and the soil is of the finest quality. It is largely engaged in manufactures, for which it is well supplied with water power. The Farmington canal extended from Northampton to New Haven. It was calculated to draw much of the trade of the river from Hartford and Middleton to New Haven, but has ceased to be of use as a canal, and its land is now appropriated to a railroad track. The Connecticut River railroad intersects this county, from north to south, and connects with the Western railroad, at Springfield, and the Vermont and Massachusetts, at Greenfield.

HAMPDEN COUNTY.

Hampden county consists of one city and twenty towns. It contained 28,021 inhabitants in 1820, and 54,852 in 1855. It is bounded north by Hampshire, east by Worcester, south by Connecticut, and west by Berkshire. Springfield is an incorporated city, and shire of the county. Connecticut river passes by Springfield, near the centre of the county, from north to south, and Chicopee river from the east, and Westfield river from the west, with the Connecticut, cut the county into four nearly equal quarters. They furnish many excellent mill sites, and their large manufacturing establishments contribute much to the wealth of the county. The new manufacturing town, and intended city, of Holyoke, is in this county, situated on falls of near sixty feet, in the Connecticut river. A dam which has now stood the floods of several winters, has created a vast water power, which will hereafter be of great use. The Western railroad intersects this county, from east to west, and the railroad on the bed of the Farmington canal also has a course here.

FRANKLIN COUNTY.

Franklin county was taken from Hampshire and incorporated in 1811. It contained 29,268 inhabitants in 1820, and 31,655 in 1855. It is bounded north by New Hampshire, east by Worcester, south