many of the characters given of modern publications, are like false lights, held out only to mislead, and the critic becomes either the too partial friend, or the mercenary eulogist of the author. From such a betrayal of our duty to the public, we trust the pages of this Magazine will be always free. We have no more to observe at the present time, but to hope that our correspondents will continue to favour us with their obliging and valuable com- munications on Literature and Antiquities as they have done; and, in conclusion, we venture to observe, that to animadvert without acrimony, and to amend without the severity of censure, are the surest methods of obtaining the ends desired;-the Dec. 31, 1839. S. URBAN. LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS TO THE VOLUME. Those marked thus are Vignettes, printed with the letter-press. GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. JULY, 1839. BY SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT. CONTENTS. MINOR CORRESPONDENCE.-Winestead Church, Yorkshire-Captain Coe's Burman MSS.-Frigorific rays of the Moon-Life of Sir John Hayward— NOTICES OF THE CASTLE AND LORDSHIP OF LAUGHARNE, CAERMARTHEN- Tytler's England under Edward VI. and Queen Mary.. MEMORIALS OF LITERARY CHARACTERS, No. XXVI.-Poetical Note from Edward Cave to Mr. John Hughs, Printer-Memoir of M. Desforges Mail- Description of Hurley Church, Berkshire.. On Celtic Names of Places-Pembroke-Dublin-Nottingham Letter of the "Lover of Literature" to Mr. Sharon Turner.. Conjectures on the Bayeux Tapestry by Mr. Bolton Corney On the Seal of the Borough of Maidenhead (with a Cut) RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW.-Middle-Age Geography-Sir John Maundevile's Hazlitt's Sketches and Essays, 49.-Keightley's Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy, 54.-Bishop Hopkin's on the Church of Rome, 57.-Lieutenant Johns's Legend and Romance, 59.-Lindsay's View of the Coinage of Ire- land, 61.-Diary of the Rev. John Ward, A.M. Vicar of Stratford-upon- FINE ARTS.-Exhibition of the Royal Academy LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. New Publications, 68.-Biblical Literature, 69.-University of Oxford, ib.— Royal Society, 70.—Royal Geographical Society, ib.-Royal Asiatic Society ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.-Society of Antiquaries, 72.-The Anti- quities of France, 74.-Sepulchre at Rome, 77.-Roman Antiquities near Frome, ib.-Sepulchral Urn, 78.-Palace of Westminster.... HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.-Proceedings in Parliament, 78.- Foreign Promotions and Preferments, 82.-Births, Marriages .. OBITUARY; with Memoirs of the Earl of Powis; Dr. Marsh, Bishop of Peterborough; Rev. Dr. Davy; Right Hon. W. Saurin; Right Hon. Sir G. F. Hill, Bart.; Lieut.-Gen. Sir T. Pritzler; Major-Gen. Sir P. Linde- say; Commander W. Love, R.N.; The Duc de Bassano; M. Broussais; John Galt, Esq.; T. H. Bayley, Esq.; Rev. Rice Rees; Ralph Thomp- Embellished with a View of LAUGHARNE CASTLE, Caermarthenshire, and a MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. MR. URBAN,-In the church of Winestead, in Yorkshire, is preserved a document, a copy of which follows. The original, as I judge from a fac-simile given me by the Rev. James Hildyard, is nearly contemporary with the latter event : "Anno ab incarnatione domini MCLXXXVIII. combusta fuit hec ecclesia in mense septembri in sequenti nocte post festum sancti mathei apostoli: et in anno MCXCVII. VI idibus martii facta fuit inquisitio reliquiarum beati johannis in hoc loco et inventa sunt hec ossa in orientali parte sepulchri et hic recondita et pulvis cemento mixtus ibidem inventus est et reconditus." As far as I know, this has not been printed before, and, as it is well worthy of preservation, I hope it will find a corner in your miscellany.-Jesus Coll. Cam. Hill. In our number for March (p. 318) we gave a short biography of Captain Thomas Coe. Since then his museum has been sold by public auction at Cambridge, and formed perhaps the largest collection of Burman curiosities ever brought into this country. The idols were purchased at reasonable sums, but the larger portion fetched high prices: all the Burman MSS. and inscriptions were purchased by J. O. Halliwell, esq. of Jesus College. C.W.L. remarks that the following passage in the Psalms of David-" So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night," which is not intelligible to the inhabitants of a colder climate, where the injurious effects of the full moon are not so obvious, becomes plain when the curious facts which were noticed in our review of Martin's History of the West Indies are considered; and to them it may be added that the human frame does not escape these skyey influences, the cause of which is not easily explained. It may however be observed, that some years since a series of experiments was carefully made, from which it appeared that if two thermometers were exposed to the beams of the moon, and a slight cover interposed between one of them and the moon, it indicated a higher MR. J. G. NICHOLS is about to prepare for the press a new edition of Leland's Itinerary; to which he proposes to give a clearer text and arrangement, but without modernising the orthography; and he intends to illustrate it with such notes as may appear strictly pertinent to the subjects mentioned by the Author, and the period at which he wrote. Any commube gratefully received. nications in furtherance of this design will C. J. inquires for any information as to a family named De Vestrous ? An antique seal was found, a few years ago, at Finningley, near Doncaster, having thereon a lion rampant, (not on a shield) and this legend, S. NICOLAI DE VESTROVS. J. T. remarks "In your March number, p. 226, it is stated by An old County Magistrate' that no Special Commission has been issued in England since 1820. This, I beg to observe, is an error,Special Commissions were issued in 1830 for the trial of Rioters in the counties of Wilts, Berks, and Hants, which were held at Salisbury, Reading, and Winchester; in 1832, for the trial of Rioters in Bristol and Nottingham; and in 1833 for the trial of Prisoners at the Old Bailey, London, who had been previously tried at Hicks's Hall, but which was rendered necessary by the celebrated mistake of the Middlesex Magistrates." With reference to "names ending with cock," H. remarks, Luke Badecot was Sheriff of London 1266. It is possible, after all, that Badcock may be the corruption of this surname, originating from— not "a shocking bad hat," but a shocking bad coat. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. THE ART OF DEER-STALKING. BY WILLIAM SCROPE, ESQ. "Incipe veloces Catulos emittere pratis, Incipe Cornipedes latos agitare per agros." may be called the motto of this singularly picturesque and delightful work; the production of the sportsman and scholar united, and written under the immediate protection of the same Deity of the Bow and the Lyre, to whom κιθαρίς τε φίλη καὶ κάμπυλα τόξα.* Our only fear is least we should enter the awful precincts it describes with unworthy feet; and peruse, in the spiritless seclusion of the closet, a work which should be read and studied under the forest boughs, or on the mountain-side. We have heard of a well-known Professor of Geology who gives his lectures on horseback, and who is seen, at stated days, with his whole class in full trot from quarry to quarry, to the astonishment of the Oxfordshire peasants. In this way, Mr. Scrope's volume should be opened, where the scenery would be in harmony with the subject; and the solitary evenings in the forest-lodge give a double zest to the bold adventures, the gallant pursuits, and the perilous escapes which it describes. What a stir would the appearance of this book have made some few years since in the halls of Abbotsford! How soon would its most glowing pages have found their way into some Highland tale; and its wild legends, its remote superstitions, its dark and lawless characters, its daring exploits, its noble and picturesque descriptions, its dramatic portraits, and its pleasant and quiet touches of humour have been the delight of the Northern Minstrel's joyous board. Even in his later days of his weakness, woe be to the knave "Who took From his cold hand this mighty book." For ourselves we hope that, like Is. Walton's Venator, we are no scoffers, and pray let us speak it without offence, as to patient and simple men ;' but we think that the general readers of our Magazine, being most of them gentlemen arrived at a certain time of life,† and, like ourselves, * Apollo was called Nouros, on which Spanheim has written one of his learned notes on Callimachus, p. 76, 77. Pindar calls Apollo Aygía xai Nómov, v. Pyth. Od. ix. In Mr. Cary's spirited and truly poetical translation, thus, "A Jove and pure Apollo, Of dear mortals the delight; His simple flock to follow, &c." He may with a peculiar propriety be considered the patron deity of this treatise; as it was his custom, on particular occasions, to assume the form of the " stag.""Fertur hic deus (Apollo) in varias formas ob amores fuisse mutatus; in leonem, in Cervum." V. Natalis Comes, lib. iv. c. 10. † We had lately a letter from a gentleman, signing himself "a Subscriber to the Magazine from the Commencement!" This is assuredly our oldest friend; for the Magazine commenced in 1731!! urbis amatores,—whose chief excursions into the country have been framed with a view of copying brasses, passing their judgment on pedigrees, and pronouncing on the ages of certain chapels and clerestories; may be a little alarmed at the startling and novel nature of the subject that is now to be presented to them; nor are we ourselves, though not unacquainted with the severi religio loci of the Alpine solitudes :--though we have beheld the eagle in his native home, and heard the shrill whistle of the chamois on his hills of snow,-yet we are not without fear, lest we should fail in doing justice to the very powerful impressions which this book has left upon us : but we will endeavour; "Primitias dedimus quas noster agellus habebat, Quales ex tenui rure venire solent." It is true that Mr. Scrope saves us from some difficulty, by entering, as a bold sportsman should, at once upon his subject. He does not, like his brother hunter of Tottenham Cross, commence his praise of his craft, by the observation-" that the earth is a solid, settled element,"—and, in addition," that it is universally beneficial to man and beast;" or, " that in commendation of the earth we may say, that it puts limits to the proud and ng sea." These things he appears to have taken for undisputed tru--known axioms, which have been allowed after due examination, and carried to account. Nor does he preface his observations on the stag, by informing us that "it has cloven hoofs and chews the cud," and that "Moses permitted it to the Jews." He cannot quote the example of Dr. Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's, or Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton, as proficients in deer-stalking, and "directing a tenth part of their time to that honest sport;" but in the absence of such authorities, he is enabled to bring forward the scarcely less illustrious names of Peter Frazer, and Thomas Jamieson, and Charlie Crerar, and Peter Maclaren, the Meleager of the North; and he has formed from such materials, perhaps, the most engaging, attractive, and admirably executed work that was ever devoted to the description of the sports of the field. Even apart from its immediate subject, there is much to delight the lover of nature, in the glowing and picturesque descriptions of mountain scenery, which are given with all the brightness of the rising sun and early dew upon them. Take the following sketch: — "Mounted on his horse, Tortoise (this is a nom de guerre), soon left the silent castle, and away he went, wending his rugged course through the forest of pines, some standing stately and dark in their verdure, others riven and blasted by the storm, their bare branches lying across the path, or driven crashing into the torrent below, where the waters of the Banavie come struggling through their rude barriers. The morn broke silvery and bright on the mountain-top, just moving, with love-refreshing breath, the light leaves of the birch and mountain ash, which were scattered about, in Nature's careless haste, hanging in graceful forms, and glittering with the falling dew-drop. Now and then a roe sprung up from the bracken in the secret glare of the wood, and vanished instantly with a bound among the gloom of the thicket, as the feet of the good galloway clattered over the stones. To say that the rider' recked not of the scene so fair' were to do him injustice. No sudden gleam of light shot vividly across the moor, -no cataract leaped and dashed down the rocky chasm,-no wreath of mists rose sluggishly to the mountain-tops, with their trains flickering behind, the effect of which did not excite his mind powerfully and awaken it to the most pleasurable sensations 'These are thy glorious works, Parent of Good!'"' We also refer our readers to the description of the scenery of Glen Tilt (p. 172) which is still more strikingly and elaborately drawn. Those |