detected. No man in these later days but know that D-borah Milton lived till 1727, as that circumftance was made notorious to the world from Richardfon's Life of Milton, and from the benefit play which was given to Deborah's daughter in the year 1752. I believe Richardfon (who, as Dr. Johnfon fays, was one of Milton's fondest admirers) was the first who made any enquiry after Milton's family, and found his daughter Deborah to be ftill living. I cannot conclude without making one obfervation. Before a writer indulges himfelt in the felf-congratulation of victory, or laughing at the flip which he fancies others have made, he fhould be fure of the steadinefs of his own footing. Your correfpondent reprehends Tom Warton for his inaccuracy in hiftorical points; he blames the aggravated immorality of the feller of the picture " in impofing on fo fair and worthy a man as Sir Joshua Reynolds;" treating him as a bon bomme, and the whole "as a pa'pable fiction, drawn up by fome perfon ignorant of history, who furnished out a tale with very fcanty materials." Whether this was the cafe, the reader will, I imagine, not find it very difficult to determine. R. J. P. S. The progrefs of the picture feems to be this:-Milton dying infol vent, and Deborah Milton of courfe in great indigence, it is very improbable that the would keep to herself a picture of fuch value; it was therefore fold, as we suppose, to the author of the memorandum; and the account there given is probably fuch as he received from the feller of the picture, who, in order to raife its value, boafts how many great men had defired to have it. If to this it is urged, that it is too much to expect all thote fuppofitions will be granted, we can only fay, let the fuppofition be made of its being a forgery, and then fee what infurmountable improbabilities will immediately prefent themlelves. After all, the whole indulgence required is for the mistake refpecting Deborah Milton's death; and we may add, that the great object of enquiry, that it is an original picture of Mikion by Cooper, is no way affected either by this or any other miftake that may be imputed to the writer of the memorandum. whether it is poffible for lightning to happen without being fucceeded by a clap of thunder? I am led to this enquity, by having heard many people asfert, that they have often feen lightning very full and vivid, but have heard no thunder. I have alfo myfelf oblerved this many times, and particula is on the evening of a very fultry day, Wedre day the 29th of June laft, when the therinomerer food at 78 and to 80 degrees; and the distance of the lightning, I imagined, could not be fo great as to prevent the thunder from being heard. I have ever understood, from the beft authority, that lightning proceeded from fulphure. ous and nitrous particles in the air, drawn up from the earth by the rays of the fun, and rarified to a great degree of heat; and that lightning was the effect of the burfting or explosion of a cloud, and reverberated throughout the atmosphere. How then can one happen without the other? or is it that we are deceived by the diflance of this fublime fpectacle, the great work of the Deity? J. O. A Vindication of Bishop Robert Ferrar (one of the five Rigbi Reverend Martyrs burnt alive in the Reign of the Popib Daughter of Henry VIII. by bis Brotber's Widow) from Papiftical Afperfions. Mr. URBAN, vytower, Pembroke. June 30. THE bleffed Reformation by degrees delivered Great Britain from the heavy fhackles of Popery, the incredible impofitions of prieftcraft and ecclefiafti cal tyranny; converted the harbours of floth and iniquity into houfes of indus try; diverted our invocations from ficti tious Saints to our immortal MEDIATOR; and kindled an unextinguathable candle, that has difpelled the more than Egyptian darkness from this enlightened ifland. This memorable benefit is now fo generally acknowledged by Britons, that every eulogium on it woul appear altogether fuperfluous and faftidious.And yet, Mr. Urban, there have not long fince been inv dious, time ferving, or Papiftical and Jacobitical, writers, whofe rancorous fouls (unfatisfied with the cruel tortures and daths of the glo rious martyrs who teared the principles of the Reformation with their blood) have, with unabated acrimony and livid malice, vented their overflow.ng gall against the ent and venerable athes of I by your invincible champions of the Re formed formed Church, eren after the expiration of more than 160 years; so abominably and alarmingly permanent have been their diabolical prejudices and inveteracy! One most extraordinary inftance of this inceffant, implacable perfecution, is the brutal and unjustifiable treatment which at various periods has been fhewn 10 the manes of the worthy and pious, bur infulted prelate, Robert Ferrar, once Bishop of St David's, and one of the Right Reverend Martyrs during the bigoted reign of Queen Mary. In defi ance of the particular and impartial acCount of the violent and fanguinary proceedings against, and the full juftification of, this righteous man, in Fox's celebrated Acts and Monuments, feveral venomous peas have been barbarously exercifed in traducing and blafting his facred memory. That pliant and fimoniacal prelate Bishop Godwin, 1616, began the attack; though by him this Martyr is ftyled learned and pious; a man undoubtedly good and holy, but rigid, and in his temper fomewhat uncourteous ;" which Godwin declares to have been in Ferrar an hereditary difpofition; yet without taking notice of this venerable Bishop's noble defcent from thofe heroic champions of liberty, the Ferrars Earls of Derbs, whose great estates, owing to their generous fruggles in the public caufe, were at length feized, and applied to build up that of the Lancastrian Duchv. Bishop Godwin candidly owns, that Robert Ferror, in the reign of Edward VI. was perfecuted as a partizan of the Great Duke of Somerfet his patron, without branding him with the infamy with which fucceeding feribes (on no other grounds than what Fox has honeftly exhibited) have moft fpitefully afpered his character. Godwin infers, that, if Bishop Ferrar had accommodated himfelf, and yielded to the times, he might have efcaped his bloody perfecutors; but, a ftranger to flattery and diffimulation, he irritated the cruel nature of Gardiner. Next to Godwin was the quaint, partial, Papifiicai Anthony Wood, fabricator of the Athene Oxonientes; which book, for the bale libels in it, was burnt by a public decree, and himfelt expelled from Oxford See Kennet's Hiftory of England, 1693. In the Bographical Dictionary, vol. XI. 8vo. Wood is thus reprefented: "His narrownels of mind, and furious prejudices, are unpardonable; his fcandal holds forth no example 3 66 but his own depraved mind." In Bishop Barlow's Remains it is faid of Wood: Many bad characters are caft on good men-nay, our first Reformers are made fanaticks;" alfo," Wood was too favourable to Papiits." Bishop Kennet fays, "Of the Jacobites, and even of Papifts, Wood has always fpoken the most favourable things." Therefore this despicable writer fhould have been here unnoticed, but for two cogent realons. Fir, an enlarged edition of Wood's Abena is juft at this time coming abroad. If the learned editor fhould unhappily adopt the miferable prejudices contained in that work, it may be fatal to hi performance; but, from fome perfonal reafons, 1 entertain a more liberal opinion of that erudite Librarian: vet in a voluminous compilation, and for want of particular information, fome former errors may efcape uncorrected. He is therefore hereby respectfully defred, concerning Bishop Ferrar, to have recourfe to the original magazine of intelligence in Fox's Martyrology. He will there fee, that the charges fet on foot against that worthy Piclate, prefently on his tranflation from Sodor and Man, merely as the Duke of Somerfet's partizan: are moftly of a very frivolous nature; and that the others are as groundless as virulent, and all of them fully and fatisfactorily an(wered contrary to the falfe and injurious affertions of the noted Dr. Browne Willis, in his borrowed account of St. David's Cathedral; which, as it is likely foon to be enlarged upon, is my fecond reafon for fpeaking of Wood's Athena, as from thence Browne Willis (whofe kidney is as difcoverable in his commendations of Archbishop Laud, as in his impertinence refpecting Bishop Ferrar) profeffes principally to have deduced his viperke accufations, and judiciary condemnation, of this great prelate ;whom Bithop Godwin, a whole century before, declared to have been learned, pious, good, and holy, but a ftrenuous opponent of Popery and this too (by Willis) just after the Proteftant fuccel fion; though probably in an account moft hopefully prepared before, notwithstanding its pafling the prefs a little after, the rebellion of 1715. But Willis has clofed his deteftable accufation with fome dogmatical words of Bh P Burbet, whole account (vol. II. p 218.) is this: " Ferrar, a refb, indijcreet man, drew on himfelf the diflike of the Prebendaries. Many articks were objected to him; fome, as if he had incurred a pramunire for acting in his courts in his own name, not in the King's; fome, for neglecting his charge; and fome for little indecencis, as going frangely ha. bited, travelling on foot, whifting impertinently with many other things, which, if true, fhewed in him much weakness and folly. The heaviest articles he denied: yet he was kept in prifon; and commiffioners, fent into Wales, took many depofitions against him. In prifon till Queen Mary's time, he was then kept in on account of his belief.But his tuffering afterwards for his confcience (when Morgan, his chief accufer before, being then his Judge, condemned him for herefy, and made room for himfelf to be a Bishop, by burning bim) did much turn people's cenfures from bim upon his fucceffor." But Burnet afferts that he was rafb and indifcreet, without any specimen; and mentions litthe indecencies, which, if true, were inftances of folly,-but never examines if they were true or not. The most hei Rous of these indecencies, that incurred burning alive, were whifling (Burnet adds, impertinently), walking on foot, and in a frange babit. It feeins the Bihop was once oblerved to cherup to his infant fon, a capital crime with thofe who infift on clerical celibacy; and, on the fudden appearance of a seal in Milford Haven, the prelate, in furprize, was enormously guilty of crying-Whew! He a.to was unfortunately fond of walking; and there being then nothing like turnpike-roads in Wales, walking was often abfolutely neceffary in the crofs roads to various parifhes; and that without pomp or pontificals. It is fufficient that the great charges against him, fuch as the neglect of duty and the matter of the pramunire, were denied, and (maugre Willis) unproved, as may be feen at full in Fox. What then can we think of the following infamous affafinating relation in Browne Willis, who (of himfelf) has laid little in his book but this invective, and Laud's encomium! Robert Ferrar, a married man, born at Halitax in York hire, and at the time of the diffolution of the priory of Noftell (which he, being a promoter of the Reformation, readily yielded up into the King's hands, and obtained a falary of 100 per annum) fucceeded, by the intereft of the Duke of Somerlet, to this fee [of St. David's], and had the temporalites rettored, July 1, 1548; where he became a moft mijerable dilapidator, yielding up every thing to craving courtiers. But the fall of his patron put a ftop to his unworthy measures; and he was defervedly imprifoned, even in Edward VI's reign, by the Preceptor and other Canons, for his dibonefty, &c. where he continued the remaining part of that reign and en Queen Mary's acceffion, being adjudged an beretick, he was filenced and degraded; and, having no friends to intercede for him, was, &c. -as may be feen at large in Fox's Book of Martyrs, where are given no less than fifty-fix articles exhibited against hin, with his anfwers, though infufficient I— ́ Intolerable would this account be at any time; but execrable, juft after the Hanoverian fucceffion; juft after the defeat of Jacobitical rebellion; when Protestant principles were in their meridian glory, and Papal Antichrist had just received a critical blow. This was a period when we would fuppofe that not even Papistical fpleen could have dared in invidious and moft cenforious terms to accufe a Proteftant Prelate, who died in fupport of the Reformation, in the first place of being a married man, and a promoter of that Reformation, who readily refigned his priory (like a hundred others) to fovereign power. Next he is alledged to have been a most fervile tool of courtiers; though, on the contrary, it is known that he was incapable of adulation; fee Godwin, Burnet, &c. : and that he was a miferable dilapidator, though he even got the temporalities restored to that fee. "But his patron's fail put a ftop to his unworthy measure." Where is the proof of thofe unworthy measures and difhonefty, on account of which Willis prefumes to decide that this good Prelate was defervedly imprifoned; nay more, he was adjudgedan heretick." Ahah! thou bigot! that even by thy cruel filence doft mallacre over again a glorious martyr, plainly fubfcribing to this heretical guilt, even in a Proteftant reign which indeed is a noble proot of its toleration, in oppofition to Pap:ft cat perfecution. Whether the good Bishop anfwers to the articles exhibited againit him, 1 too refer to Fox's Martyrs every candid reader. No Proteftant will conceive that Bishop Ferrar would have yielded to declare his lawful wife a harlot,-his lawful itfue, baftards,—or the Pope's power to indulge criminals in their crimes. But all hope of restoring this Antichriftian traffick in Britain was finally deftroyed at the decifive battle of Culloden: Proteftant principles are tri umphant; umphant; and the fcurri'ity of Papifts only creates derifion, as it merits contempi. Ferrar's furviving child, a daughter, became the wife of Lewis Williams, rector of Narberth in Pembrokeshire. Their only fon, Robert Williams, of Saint Forence in that county, married Elzabeth Whitchurch, niece of Robert Rudd, archdeacon of St. David's; whole father, Anthony Rudd, D D. was of York fire, and fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge; and in 1593 was Bishop of St. David's. He was buried at Langathan in Carmarth nfhire; where the famil-eftate, on the decease of his defcendant Su Rice Rudd without iffue, was fold; but the title went to his coufingerman Anthon Rudd, whofe for John was father of the beautiful Lady Anne Hamilton. W. WILLIAMS. ▲ concise Account of the Parish of WIDWORTHY, in the County of Devon; intended as an Answer to the Queries propofed by the Rev. R. POLWHELF, for his Hiftory of Devonshire. By WILLIAM JOHN TUCKER, A.M. Re&or of Widworthy, 1791. South by Colyton and a small part of Northleigh. The foil varies, being in part meadow and pafture, part arable; and in the centre, on a hill, private property, though not inclofed, there is a very deep and extenfive ftratum of limeftone, in the North west part of the parifh, which employs many of the inhabitants in burning that ufetul article for building and manure. There is likewife foine excellent free-flone from the Northern and Southern extremity of the lime-flone rock. About a mile diftant from each other, iflue two remarkably tranfparent, warm fprings, which, when diverted over fome meadows immediately beneath them, leave a confiderable fime on the furface, and render them luxuriantly fertile. The one falls into the river Coly, the other into a rivulet on the Weft fide of the parish. The parish is inclofed with very good turf-hedges, on which the underwood grows faft; and the ufual forts of timber-trees are flourishing, and abound in the hedge-rows. and coppices. The roads made and repaired with flints are found, but rather rough. There is only one village, Wilmington, where a fair or revel is held WYDWORTHIE (the ancient the Monday after St. Matthew's day. It spelling) is undoubtedly a Saxon name: indeed, the appellations of most of the parithes in the county of Devon are of Sixon origin, and they are not unfrequently denominated from their ap. proximation to fome river with which his hilly country abounds, or are expreffive of their fituation or shape; as this of Widworthy, that is, Latus Fun dus, the Wide Farm. is fituated on the great Western road, which divides the parish from Offwill on the North. The houfes are all thatched, except the manor-house, and are neat and compact; and have all, even the cuttages, gardens and a little orchard annexed to them. The inhabitants are all tenants at rack-rent. Their farms are in as good a ftate of cultivation as most Devonshire farms, and are from fifteen to This parish is fituated in the hundred a hundred pounds per annum. The of Colyton, in the South-eaft part of number of houfes, of every defcription, the county; and in one part adjoins to is about thirty-five. Reckoning fix fouls Dallwood, in the county of Dorfet.-- to a house, you will nearly have the Widworthy is rather a fmall parish, number of parishioners; among whom about eight miles in circumference, near- are not more than three freeholders.ly relembling in form a trapezium, The men are moftly employed in hufbounded on the Weft and North by Off-bandry; the women fpin wool. Benewill, on the Eaft by Shute, and on the *Bifhop Watfon alledges that Wood and Willis treat the Martyr too feverely. As to his inflexibility, he was inclined to yield, in Iffer matters, to the Papifts; thus Bradford prevented his confenting to the Eucharift in one kind, to prevent diforders. As to his honefty, I have a schedule of his own hand writing, owning all the fums, and to whom he was indebted. His feal and noted walkingtatt are alfo with me; who inherit his finall eftate in Abergwilly parish, even now only forty pounds a year: though it greatly excited the spleen of his advertanies. W. W. dictus Marwood, Eq. of Hornfhays, in Colyton, first purchased the manor of the Chichefter family, and, dying unmarried, left it to his brother Thomas, whofe grandfon now inherits it. Besides the manor and barton of Widworthy, there are two capital eftates in this parith, Cookays and Sutton, with large, decent houses on each, built by the Marwoods about eighty years fince, and twenty years before they purchafed the manor of the Chichefters. See Rildon, part II p. 64. "Widworthy hath had divers Knights fo named dwellers there, and and Lords thereof. The laft Sir William, and Sir Hugh de Widworthy his fon, in the age of King Edward I. left his daughter Emma, first married unto Sir William Proufe, fecondly to Sir Robert Dinham, Knights. Thefe lands remained divers defcents in the name of Proufe, until by an heir of Wootton, that had wedded an heir of Proufe, it was carried into the family of Chichester of Raleigh, who gave this manor unto John his fon, which he had by his fecond wife, the daughter of Bryett. The manor-houfe is fituated near the church, a large old building, in form of a quadrangle, the undoubt refidence of De Widaworthy, Knt. the founder of the church. The front of the building is of more modern erection than the three other fides. Over the porch are the arms of the Chichesters, viz. Checky, a chief vairy; creft, on a helmet, an oftrich with a bit of iron in its mouth, in lead. In the cieling of the hall is the date 1616. The highest point of Widworthy-hill, which is as high a hill as any in the neighbourhood, is nearly the centre of the parish; on the North-eaft fide of which are fome remains of an ancient entrenchment; and near the church, on an eminence having a defcent every way, in a field still called Cafle Wood, are remains of a small entrenchment. In the Northern extremity of the parifh there is a remarkably large flint-rock, five feet in height, and four in width and depth, known by the name of grey-ftone; and nearly oppofite, on the Southern extremity, is another ftone of nearly the fame dimenfions, both of them evidently placed there by defign. A fchool was founded by one Searl, but, having been endowed with a leafehold eftate, is fallen into hand. A houfe and fchool have been fince given by James Marwood, Efq. 1767 fome other benefactions have increased the mafter's falary eight pounds per annum. No Diffenting Meeting, or Drenters. The church is fituated on a rifing ground in the North part of the parish, dedicated to St. Cuthbert it is built of flint, in the form of a Latin crofs; as are all the churches I have hitherto feen dedicated to that Saint. The church is an uniform building, confifting of a nave, a chancel, and a tranfept; and, I should fuppofe, was built by one of the De Widworthys, Knights: though Mr. Incledon fuppotes it to have been built at GENT. MAG. July, 1791. different times. The height of the church, infide, is 21 feet; the extreme length within, from the altar-piece to the tower, 51 feet; the breadth of the tranfept, including the nave, is 36 feet. The old timber being decayed, a new roof, covered with flate, was erected in 1785, and neatly plaiftered within, with a handfome cornice. There is a strong, fquare, plain tower, with battlements, in height 40 feet, with five bells; a neat wainscot altar-piece, given by Jas. Marwood, Efq.; and the church was newly-feated with wainscot by the parishioners in 1787. The font is of one folid free-ftone, in an octagon form, about four feet high, and bears evident marks of antiquity. The fcreen and rood-loft were taken down before my remembrance. There are several small niches for the holy-water; and on removing the old plaifter when the church was lately new-roofed, the walls appeared to have been painted through out. No ftained glafs. On the North wall of the chancel is a handfome marble monument, erected to the memory of fome of the facks of Ford, who were buried here, though they lived in the adjoining parish of Dallwood, co. Dorfet; it bears date 1685. Arms: Sable, a bend, Or; in a canton Argent, a leopard's head Sable, impaling, Ermine, on a bend, between bendlets Sable, three griffins' heads Or. The reft are modern, viz. another on the North, erected to the memory of three bro thers, James Marwood, M.D. Benedictus and Thomas Marwood, Elqrs. eminent for bonefly, piety, and good ceconomy. Arms: Gules, a chevron Ermine, between three goats' heads erased Ermined. On the South wall of the chancel is a monument to the memory of "Jacobi Somafter, viri probi & rei medici periti, quam Honitoni novem per annos feliciter exercuit; 1748." Arms: Argent, a caftle between five fleurs de lis, within a bordure Or. Creft, a portcullis. In the South tranfept is a very handfome monument to the memory of Robert Marwood, of Cookfhays, Eq. 1755; and Mrs. Bridger Marwood, his fifter, 1756: an unmeaning infcription at the bottom. Sua præmia virtus, Arms of the Marwoods as above defcribed. Creft to this a goat couchant proper, on a wreath Sable and Gules. In the North tranfept is a monument to the memory of the late James Marwood, Efq. which ex ceeds |