Boo - what a fascinating transcript, but I do find it a bit strange in that so much emphasis appears to be placed on the number of bibles and/or prayer books which were in a particular household. The inhabitants were, obviously, very well educated in 1816. 
As far as "bastard", "idiot" etc were concerned, I think that our ancestors said it as it was.
My understanding is that this was a 'personal census' taken in 1816 by the Reverend
L.V. Vernon Harcourt to record what religious material was in each household within his parish.
As for being well educated, I am unsure, Bibles, Prayer books etc may have been given out by the church, perhaps funded by the local 'gentry' so may have been common - knowing how to read them may have been less common :-)
I've seen a couple of these random parish 'census' or survey, usually done by the Vicar - there was one for Whickham Parish, County Durham in 1835 by the Rev W Gould, which he entitled "Speculum Gregis of Whickham Parish'
He recorded the name of the head of household, whether or not they had a spouse,numbers of children, which school the children went to, where the parents had married, what means of religious instruction were in each home - and some remarks about the members of each household. Again the remarks could be quite scathing, but they are super things to read. and a brilliant insight into the times.
The remark for one of my ancestors was 'drinks often', so there may be something to genetics after all :-)
Boo
