“ This thought was ever present to the mind of the subject of this brief memoir; he knew the value of the volumes which he so liberally contributed to the Chetham Society, and although he has so recently "gone to his rest," it is already acknowledged that no one can hereafter write the history of this great county without being deeply indebted to the "Mamecestre," "The Shuttleworth Accounts," and his other works, for most valuable materials respecting families, places, men, manners, occupations, and prices; which are so plentifully scattered throughout those valuable volumes. ”

“ The secret causes which produced these events are therefore studiously concealed by the personages concerned; but after ages have passed away, some zealous antiquary carefully examines all the documents relating to such transactions; and then proceeds to assign to each his due meed of praise or blame, as in his opinion they deserve.
It is by such examinations into the public archives, or into the collections of private individuals, that modern generations have been led to reject many of the stereotyped assertions of our popular histories. ”

“ At the close of the work we have a most valuable "Glossarial Gazetter," in which the derivations of a vast number of local names are very ably and satisfactorily explained. This chapter is of the utmost value to every student of local history.
"The Songs of the Wilsons" have long been popular in Lancashire. Mr Harland drew attention to their merits in a series of articles published in the Manchester Guardian, and in 1865 he was induced by Mr Gent "to edit a new revised and enlarged edition of the songs, with a brief memoir of the Wilson family." ”

“ The actions of the former may affect the destinies of a nation—the measures of the latter may change the course of his country's policy; but the researches of the man of letters not unfrequently reverse the whole current of public opinion, and thus produce more permanent, and more widely extended effects than the arms of the one or the legislation of the other. Events occur at distant intervals which it would perhaps be impolitic, at the time, to illustrate in all their bearings. ”

“ Mr Harland "was twice married; first in 1833 to Mary, daughter of the late Samuel Whitfield of Birmingham, who died in 1849; secondly, in 1852, to Eliza, daughter of the late Joseph Pilkington of Manchester, who, together with four children by the first marriage, and five by the second, survives him. By a wide circle of friends he was warmly esteemed as a kind and genial friend; a sincere and single-minded Christian. Born a Churchman he became a Unitarian by conviction in 1828. ”

“ Not a few of our kings, queens, and great personages, have suffered materially by the process; whilst others have regained their proper positions and legitimate characters, of which they ought never to have been deprived. National changes, both in religion and politics, have thus been assigned to their true causes; and even now we are beginning to learn that the political liberties which we are so rapidly acquiring involve nothing more than a return to those privileges which our ancestors enjoyed nine centuries ago under ancient Saxon rule. ”

“ At the age of fourteen he went, on trial, into the office of Messrs Allanson and Sydney, the proprietors of the Hull Packet newspaper, and was apprenticed to them for seven years from January 1, 1821, to learn letterpress printing." The celebrated painter Etty was Mr Harland's predecessor as an apprentice; and when he removed from Hull to London he left a scrap-book, containing a series of early sketches, as a memento, in the hands of Mr George Walker, a journeyman printer in the same office. "From the beginning of his apprenticeship he gave all his energies to self-improvement ”

“ I have lately waded through four out of six thick 8vo volumes of Dr. Franklin's "Life and Works." I would say of them that they are a bed of oysters from which the diligent searcher might collect many pearls; but a great portion of the work is interesting only to the statesman and the philosopher. "Babylon the Great" is a very fine picturesque portrait of London and its inhabitants in the present day. If you have commenced, or rather resumed, romance reading, I would recommend to your notice "Tales of the O'Hara Family," as possessing great interest. ”

“ The wish expressed by Mr Harland in the last clause of the preceding letter, was ultimately realised. His early friend died very suddenly in November 1867; but in January of the same year, his son, the present W. Consitt Boulter, Esq., F.S.A., was in correspondence with him on antiquarian subjects. In addition to the two letters already given, Mr Boulter has kindly communicated the following extracts from the letters which passed between them:—
"I am very glad to find that a son of one of my oldest friends is so early [age 19] applying himself to the study of antiquities and archæology. ”

“ In a letter dated April 30, 1866, he acknowledged the receipt of my "manuscript notes on twenty-six subjects" to be included in the volume; and on May 1st he wrote to say that "another packet of manuscript" had reached him that morning. The work was published in January 1867, when he congratulated me on our work being ended. Our intercourse during the whole of this period was cordial in the extreme; and at the close of every interview I was more and more deeply impressed with his upright manly worth, and his varied attainments. ”

“ I began about the same age; but it is very rare to find young men caring about the history of the past" (30th January 1867) .
"I annex a list of my volumes; besides which, I have printed many articles in The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society's Memoirs; in The Journal of the British Archæological Association; The Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society's Transactions ”

“ He was then looking haggard and careworn—the heavy work was evidently telling on his constitution; and yet both in conversation with myself, and in his letters to Mr Gent, joint publisher of this and several of his other works, he spoke and wrote hopefully of completing his labours within a reasonable time. On my next visit I found he was seriously ill. ”

“ He had also the gratification of being present at a similar examination of the ruins of Whalley Abbey, on a later visit of the same club, when Mr Harland not only exhibited an amended plan of this Cistercian House, but read an exhaustive paper on the subject within the walls, which, in a condensed form, has since been issued as a guide-book to Whalley and the neighbourhood, under the editorship of the Rev. ”