Page images
PDF
EPUB

Remarks on T. Row's Critique on a Paffage in Virgil.

can cool the ardor of enquiry after truth fo much as having reafon to think, that men of talents and goodness have spent their lives in enquiries after it, and propagating what they thought to be fo, and die not merely changing their opinions concerning it, but doubting and wavering concerning what is and what is not truth. If therefore the Doctor's

friends are the friends of truth, they will no longer affect the fupercilious fi lence they have, but avow what they know concerning this matter to the world.

MR. URBAN,

X. Y.

Sept. 6.

"Nec cafiâ liquidi corrumpitur ufus olivi." VIRG. Georg. II. 466.

Corrumpitur," fays Mr. Rowe, in your Magazine for Auguft, p. 637, -66 can never ftand here-for the meaning of the paffage obviously is, that the oil is improved by fpices and perfumes." He thinks," that componitur or confunditur would better accord with the poet's drift."

But let us confider the primary fignification of corrumpo, and fee whether it might not be applied without being intended as a word of reproach. Its literal fignification was, totum rumpere, intirely to break or destroy-and hence any thing whofe texture or figure was totally changed was corruptus.

Perfius, Sat. i. 64, fays, in almost the very words of Virgil:

166

corrupto cafiam diffolvit olivo;" on which paffage Lubinus obferves: "Corrumpitur enim oleum, cum fucus fit and Cafaubon adds: "Quicquid enim definit illud effe quod fuit, cor-. rumpi dicitur." And hence Ainfworth, in his Dictionary, makes one of the meanings of corruptus to be "mixed or confounded with." Thus then Vigil might have used corrumpitur, had he even meant to infinuate that the oil was im proved by the fpice.

But, Mr. Urban, in what oppofite lights may the fame object be viewed! This word, which Mr. Rowe would expunge from the text, I have ever been accustomed to confider as a beauty. Let us look at the patfage. Virgil is celebrating the happiness of the country man. In doing this, he artfully contrafts his real advantages with thofe fictitious enjoyments which must be the conftant attendants on greatnefs; thus impreffing on the reader's mind, that he is happy, not only from his own poffel

831

fions, but alfo from the abfence of the
courtier's fuperfluities,

"Si non ingentem foribus domus alta fuperbis
Mane falutantum totis vomit ædibus undam ;
Nec varios inhiant pulchra teftudine poftes,
Illufafque auro veftes, Ephyreïaque æra;
Alba neque Affyrio fucatur lana veneno,
Nec cafia liquidi corrumpitur ufus olivi:
At fecura quies, et nefcia fallere vita,
Dives opum variarum; at latis otia fundis,

64

&c."

Now does not the idea expreffed in the two first lines, as well as those conveyed by the words "inhiant poftes," illufas auro veftes," "Affyrio veneno," tend to prove that the poet intended a kind of fatire on the folly of thefe nonfenfical extravagances; and confequently, that corrumpitur "accorded better with his drift than either componitur or confunditur ?”

It

Hear what Heyne fays to the fame purpose, in a note on "fucatur." had been proposed to read fufcatur; to this he objects, and obferves: "Ut verfu fequente, corrumpitur, fic hoc loco, fucatur, cum acceffione odiofe notionis, quafi vitiatur, contaminatur." These confiderations would have induced me to retain the prefent reading, even if there had been a variation in the manufcripts; but as no fuch variation exits, they amount, I think, to inconteftable proof.

Permi me, Mr. Urban, to remark on this pallage, which certainly poffeffes great beauty, that the two first lines here quoted are obfcured by unneceffary_amplification; and that the force of the third would have been increased, if a different epithet from pulchra had been applied to teftudine.

Yours, &c.

[ocr errors]

O. E.

P. S. I forgot to infert the following, note from Heyne, and which explains a paffage generally mistaken. Vita falleke nefcia, vulgo ita accipitur, ut fit innocua; mihi tamen primo ftatim oculi conjectu nil aliud effe poffe vifa eft, quam vita tuta, conftans, nullis cafibus adeo. que nec metui obnoxia."

ACADEMICUS kindly thanks J. HENDERSON (p. 739) for his information concerning Dean T. He would not have mentioned it, had he not thought that but he happily ftands corrected, and is he had received it from good authority: pleafed with the difcovery, when he can look with refpect on a diftinguished cha racter for patronage and generofity, which, through misinformation, he de nied him before.

MR.

832 Epitaphs, at Therfield, Herts, on Sir Barnard Turner, &c.

[blocks in formation]

AVING lately vifited the church of Therfield in Hertfordshire, about three miles South-weft from Royston, I fend you the following notices of two perfons who have lately made fome figure in your ufeful Mifcellany. (See vol. LIV. pp. 477 and 759, and vol. LV. pp. 25, 96, 281.

On the South fide of Therfield church, in the yard, on a raised base is a square ftone ending in a point. On the East

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

On the Weft fide:
1782.

As a memorial of love and attachment to a most deserving and beloved Wife this tomb was erected

fide is this infcription, on a tablet of by BARNARD TURNER, Commanding Officer

black marble:

[blocks in formation]

The Artillery Company 1, having attended their much-lamented Officer and Friend

here to his grave, dedicate this Infcription.

He died by a Fall from his Horfe the 15th of June, 1784, ætat. 42 a.

On the South fide: Under this tomb are interred the remains

of Mrs. SARAH PERRY TURNER 3, who died 7th March, 1782, aged 39 years, leaving to her affectionate and afflicted

husband the following Children: Anne Tillet Turner, born 23 April, 1769, William Sackville Turner, born 4 October, 1770,

The officers of which make an annual vifit to this tomb on the anniversary of its erection.

2 Sir Barnard was proposed for election into the Society of Antiquaries three days before this unfortunate accident happened.

3 Her maiden name was Tiller, of Latton, Tex.

of the London Military Foot Affociation during the memorable Riots in June 1780, Major

of the Honourable Artillery Company, and Alderman of the City of London.

[blocks in formation]

Epitaphs and Church Notes from Therfield, Herts.

looking for the refurrection of the dead, and
the life of the world to come. Amen.
Another, by the fide of the laft:
Under this ftone l'es the body of
WILLIAM fecond fon of
EDWARD and ANNE TURNER,
dieu 27 March, 1754,

aged 62 years.

Could Death have spared the man
beloved by all who knew him,
he had not died.

Alfo the body of ANNE his wife,
who died September the 9th, 1763,
aged 62 years.

Who, with a thorough refignation

to the will of her Creator,

patiently bore the lofs of her dear Husband, and fulfilled the character

of a good Chriftian and a true Widow.

IV.

Ground flab:
To protect the Remains of
a much-refpected Grandfather,
Edward Turner, A. M, this
stone was placed by
Sir Barnard Turner,
in the year 1784.
V.

Here lies the body of WILLIAM FORDHAM, who left this world January 1st, 1765, aged 57, to receive a reward foitable to his merit in a better. Alfo Mrs. MARTHA FORDHAM, Wife of the above William Fordham, and youngest daughter of Edward and Anne Turner, of Tuthill, in this parish. She died univerfally lamented

January the 12th, 1777, aged 72.

VI.

On a stone againft the wall of the church:
In memory of
EDWARD eldeft fon of
WILLIAM and ANNE TURNER,
who died of the small pox at
Bapaume in French Flanders,
June 19, 1756,

aged 21 years.
Wifdom to him was grey hairs,
and an unfpotted life old age.
VII.

On a white marble tablet, with a pediment and urn, against the South pillar of the nave entering into the chancel:

To the memory of
SACKVILLE TURNER, Eq.

a Captain in his Majesty's 33d Regiment,

and of

SARAH his wife,

(the only child of Edward Crockley, of Watton in Norfolk, Gentleman,) who were caft away and drowned in their paffage

to Ireland, on the night of the 5th of Sep. tember, 1774, GENT. MAG. October, 1786.

this Alone is dedicated

833

by their most affectionate and afflicted brother BARNARD TURNER..

To enumerate their vi tues were an endless

task,

And to number his fighs were vain. Patience here Her meek hands folded on her modest breast, In mute fubmiffion lifts to the adoring eye, E'en to the power that wounds her.

Arms: A. a chevron between 3 fer de molines S. qu rtering Az. on a fels O. between 3 martlets O. 3 fleurs de lis S. On a fhield of pretence G. a lion rampant A. de bruifed by a bend Az. Motto, Optimum quod evenit 4.

The first of the family of Turner fettled here was Dr. Francis, fon of Dr. Francis Turner, dean of Canterbury, and canon refidentiary of St. Paul's. He is fuppofed to have been born at Canterbury, and was fucceffively bishop of Rochefter and Ely, and one of the leven bifhops committed to the Tower for refusing to read James II's Declaration for liberty of confcience. Being deprived of his bishoprick after the Revolution, 1690, he ended his days in retirement, 1700.

He

probably retired to this rectory, to which he had been prefented Dec. 20, 1664. He was educated at Winchefter-school, and thence elected fellow of New Coll. Oxford, where he proceeded B. A. 1659, M. A. 1663, B. D. and D. D 1669, being a compounder, and in December following was collated to the prebend of Sneating in St. Paul's. He fucceeded Dr. Guming, bishop of Chichefter, in the maftership of St. John's College, Cambridge, 1669, Dr. Durell in the deanry of Windfor, 1683, and Dr. Dolben in the fee of Rochefter the fame year, and the year following, Dr. Guming in the fee of Ely 5. Against the South wall of Therfield chancel, which he rebuilt in a handsome manner, 1676, is a fingular monument of wainscot, erected by him to the memory of his wife, who died.. and was buried in a

......

vault made by him for her. This mo nument is adorned with the images of 4 Whatever is is beft.

5 Wood's Ath. Ox. II. 579; Newcourt's Rep. I. 212; Bentham's Ely, p. 204; Willis's Cath. p. 365; Life of Kettlewell, p. 430; Hiftory of Rochester, 1772, p. 177180. See alfo his character at large in "A Difcourfe delivered in Two Sermons in the Cathedral at Ely, September, 1684," by Dr. Gower, his fucceffor in the mastership of St. John's; and probably in Mr. Baker's MS. Hiftory of that College, among the Harleian MSS.

Time

834

Epitaphs and Church Notes at Therfield, Herts.

Time and Death on each fide of the infcription; on the pediment are two female figures reclining on feulls, with their hands and eyes uplifted, and by them two flaming urns. In the middle of the pediment is a blank fhield. In the centre of the monument is an oval tablet, with an infcription on a gold ground, and below it a fquare tablet, with an infcription, both of which may be feen at large in Chauncey and Salmon. On the covering tone of the vauk is, in capitals,

EXPERGISCAR,

the only memorial of the bishop, who was buried in it. Wood favs he was the perfon whom A. Marvell ridicules in a book intituled, "Mr. Smirk; or, The Divine in Mode; being certain Annotations upon the Animadverfions on Naked Truth, 1676," 4to, "conceiving and taking him to be a neat flareht, formal, and forward divine." His miftaken and inconfiftent notions about hereditary right led him to tell the Duke of Monmouth, who just before his execution had declared himself a Proteftant of the church of England, that, to be a member of that church, he mult believe in the doctrine of Non-refi:lance 9. Hence Burnet, in his sketch of his character, vouches for his fincerity, but pronounces him to have "been of too quick an imagination and too defective a judgement, but mode rately learned, having converfed more with men than books, and fo he was not able to do the Duke of York great fervice; but he was fo zealous for his fucceffion that this raised him high upon no great flock of fufficiency 20." He entered sato a correfpondence with the exiled King and Queen, and fent to them "from himself, his elder brother, and the rest of the family, affurances full of duty in words, with a promife of thewing it by their actions;" which, Burnet fays 14, "was plainly meant of Sancroft and the other deprived bifhops." And in his letter to the Queen, he aflured her of his and all their zeal for the Prince of Wales; and that they would no more part with that than with their hopes of heaven." Upon the difcovery of this plot, the bishop abfconded for a time. He preached at the coronation of James 11. Befides this fermon, he publithed 8 others on particular occafions.

• P. 88.

Chauncey, and after him Salmon, fay which they give no intermediate lords the manor of Merdlay, in this parish, of from the time of Edward III, was for a great while in the poffeffion of the Turnors, till fold, 1630. by one of them, of thing of that of Tuthill, which feems to the name of William. They fay nohave been their refidence, and whole fite, with remains of moats and banks, is fill church, in the way to a house inhabited to be seen in a field North-weft from the by the prefent curate, Mr. Ferriby. To this manor belongs a pew in the upper is cut TVTHILL, as on two others, end of the nave, on the door of which MANERIUM DE GLEDSEYS & DE GLEDSEYS

and

MA DE LIMBVRY appears probable that Edward Turner, From the epitaph No II, here given, it and that from him the property defcendwho was born in 1590, was lord here, ed to the late Sir Barnard, or his grandfather; though thefe epitaphs do not allow us to fill up the fucceffion with that accuracy which a clofe examination of the parish-regifters would enable us to do 13.

fold by the late Sir Barnard's father, whe The property of this family here was and died at Turnford, in Chefhunt pawas a dealer in foreign fpirits, and lived rifh, in an old houfe on the North fide 14th inile-ftone, where were born Sir of the London road, not far from the Barnard and two brothers and a fifter 14. here to Mr. Fordham, who married a He or his father fold the family estate daughter of Sir Barnard's grandfather, Edward, whofe epitaph is given N° III.

Edward Turner, M. A. is recorded as glorying in the bishop's anti-revolution principles.

cel is celebrated in a Latin poem, figned The bishop's munificence to the chanTho. Wright, printed in Chauncey, P. 89, dated 1678, two years after the work was done, which the register places in 1689; Dr. Stilling ct, dean of St. 1676. The bishop hung one of the bells, Paul's, and Dr. Tillotson, another; Dr. Holder, a fucceffor of the bifhop, gare another of the five old bells, and added a treble bell 15, built the luft or gallery in the belfry, 1689, and gave a 9 Rapi, II. 749, tol. 12 Burnet, lb. 1. 628.

& Ath. Ox. II. 620.
1 Ibid. 11. 69.

7 P. 343. 10 Hift. of his own Times, 1. 590. 13 They begin in 1538, 30 Henry VIII. 24 She married

Lilly, an apothecary at Hodfdon, against her friends 'confent.

15 Salmon (349) adds a faint's bell.

communion

Epitaphs and Church Notes at Therfield, Herts.

communion cloth and two prayer-books for the defk and table.

The church, fituate on high ground, nearly in the centre of the village, confifts of a nave, feparated by three pointed arches fupported by clusters of large and small pillars, and clerestory windows over them, from an aile on each fide. In the South wall of the South aile at the end is a holy-water-hole under two pointed arches refting on three round pillars. The chancel, fitted up by Bihop Turner, has a ftuccoed roof, with a large oval wreath; the floor paved with ftone, and within the rails with marble. On a coffin-fashioned ftone on entering the chancel is cut RESURGAM. In a North pillar of the nave is an opening, leading to the rood-loft, which, on the re building of the chancel, was fuccceded by the King's arms, on which, and their fupporters, Mr. T. Wright defcants fo fweetly in his poem before referred to. Under this opening is a Jocker, with a door now locked up. The font is octagon, on an octagon fhaft. At the Weft end of the nave is a good brafs figure of a prieft (now headJefs), habited in his pontificals, his robe faced with thiftles and fmall buds alternately, and under him was a very finall plate. A blue ftone contiguous preferves the cavity of another prieftly figure. These may have reprefented rectors, and been removed from the chancel on re-building. Nothing remains in the windows; but the register preferves this infcription, formerly in the Eaft window of the North aile: "Orate pro a'i'b's D'ni Wi Pafton & Agnetis ux'is ejus be nefactorum hujus ecclefiæ A. D. 1418;" with this remark: "The parish church of Therfield was founded by Sir William Pafton and Agnes his wife, in the year of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift, as appears by an infcription," &c. Salmon makes the regifter fay he founded the North aile.

The fucceflion of rectors, as made out in Chauncey, and continued, is as follows:

John Overall, D. D. dean of St. Paul's, died 1619.

William Alablafter, D. D. prebendary of ditto, died 1640 16.

John Mountford, D. D. another pre

835

bendary, who rebuilt great part of the parfonage-houfe 17.

John Barwick, LL. D. prebendary of
St. Paul's, died 166418.

Francis Turner, D. D. Dec. 20, 1664.
John Standish, D. D. 19

William Holder, D. D. refidentiary of St. Paul's 1672, prebendary of Ely, and fubdean of the King's chapel, 1691; dicd Jan. 24, 1697-8, aged 82, and was buried in the undercroft at St. Paul's 20.

Thomas Sherlock, D. D. dean of St. Paul's; died 1707, having refigned this rectory in favour of

Thomas Sherlock, D. D. his fon, mafter of the Temple, dean of Chichester, bishop of Bangor 1727. He held this rectory in commendam till tranflated to Sarum 1734, and London 1748; and died 1761.

Henry Etough, M. A. rector almost 23 years; died Aug. 10, 1757, aged 70. Philip Yonge, D. D. bishop of Nor wich 1761, when he refigned this rectory, and was fucceeded by

Charles Wefton, M. A. March 23, 1762, prebendary of Durham, and prefent rector, 1786

The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's are patrons of the rectory, whence it has been ufually held by one of their body, except that on the promotion of two of its rectors to bishopricks, the King has pretented.

The rectory-houfe, to the S. E. of the church, a handfome, uniform, and commodious ftructure, had been in great part rebuilt by Dr. Mountford; and we are told, in your prefent volume, p. 281, that Mr. Etough laid out Sool. on it and its appurtenances; but the prefent rector rebuilt it a fecond time, 1777, leaving only a part at the Eaft end, which is of ancient ftvie; and in the kitchen windows are these arms:

In a garter, St. George's cross.

R. S. R. S. joined by a bow-knot. S. a chevron between 3 towers, A. On another fhield the chevron is charg ed with 3 efcallops A.

A. a bend nebulè Az. between 3 crefcents, out of which iffue as many fleurs

de lis S.

Over the parlour chimney-piece is the engraved portrait of Sir Barnard Turner, in a gilt frame, with an infcription, fet

16 Not in Newcourt. See Wood, Fafti, II. 768. 17 Ath. Ox. II. 233. H. & A. O. II. 139; rector of Aufly and Ware, and ejected, 1643, by the parliament, from thefe and other fpiritualities.

18 Newcourt, I. 155, 211; Ath. Ox. 1. 761.

19 Qu. Rector of Connington, co. Cambridge, mafter of Peter-house, and chaplain to Charles II. and djed 1686? Ath. Ox, II. 851.

20 Bentham's Ely, 248.

« PreviousContinue »