made Ld Essex Deputy Earl Marshall: to crown that, Harry St. George Garter, and me Herald Extraordinary (if the Queen pleases), in order to be Clarencieux at his return to towne; but whether we shall carry either point at Court, is not yet sure, tho' it stands home prest at this moment, and will I believe be known to-night. I have finished my purchase for the Playhouse, and all the tenants will be be out by Midsummer-day; so then I lay the corner-stone; and tho' the season be thus far advanc'd, have pretty good assurance I shall be ready for business at Christmas. I saw Captn Saunders just now; he sails to-morrow for Holland: that he may bring you back with him in health and good humour, is my most hearty J. V. prayer. To Mr. Tonson, at Mr. Valcks, on the Dam near the Stadthouse in Amsterdam. A London, July ye 13th, 1703. I had a letter from you yesterday, which I rec'd just as I was sitting town to dinner with my Lord Hallifax and Congreve; I shew'd it 'em; and we drank your health, and quick return; but gave some hard words to your book, since it robs us so long of your company. We remember'd you too the night before at Hampton Court, as we were washing in the fountain; for you must know we have got some warm weather at last. week ago I was in fires still-and so were most folks but the farmers are like to be all undone for all that; for in spight of this bant'ring ill season, they are likely to have a swinging crop at last :-terrible complaint they make about it!-they don't say 'twill produce a famine, but they say 'twill ruin the Nation! I have not seen neighbour Burges lately; but I intend to go suddenly and condole with him. upon 't. I have spoak with Carpenter Johns; and when you come over, all will be ready for business in a few days. Sr Godfrey has got a house near Hampton Court, and is eternally there; he has reduc'd that in Towne to a lodging to save charges. We shall get nothing finish'd there till you come: the Kit-Catt too will never meet without you; so you see here's a generall stagnation for want of you. My Lord Hallifax bids me tell you, he sets out the first of Augst for his Northern progress; I shall move after him in ten days; La Kingston is lately gone; Ld Marshallt has been there with his family these three weeks, and writes me word he has near 200 men at work. There's a new quarry found, much better than the old one; so all go's on smooth. He stayd in Towne a good while about our Herald's business ;-there was a great deal of saucy opposition; but my Ld Treasurer set the Queen right, and I have accordingly been souc'd a Herald Extraordinary, in order to be a King at winter; ‡ Ld Essex was left deputy to do the feat, which he did with a whole bowle of wine about my ears instead of half a spoonfull. He at the same time crown'd old Sr Harry Garter; and King§ was upon the spot suspended; which the rest seeing, renounc'd him, own'd he drew 'em into rebellion, and declar'd him a son of a The coats of arms you mention I'll send you. Ld Essex has been at Cashiobury this fortnight with Lady Harriot Vere, Di: Kirk and Dormer: what if he should buz into the candle too at last, as Dunch and others have done before him. Other folks wou'd wonder at it, but I should not. His hangings are up, and the whole furniture of his house comes to above £1200. Mr Wms has finish'd all the writings †The Earl of Carlisle. Vanburgh was made Carlisle Herald Extraordinary; a title taken from that of his patron the Earl of Carlisle, for whom he had built the magnificent mansion of Castle Howard. He was constituted Clarencieux March 29, 1704, and held the office until the month before his death in 1725-6. § Gregory King, a distinguished genealogist, whose intrinsic merits in his own profession, which have been pronounced equal to those of his great master Dugdale, were thus superseded in favour of a flippant wit and lumbering architect, whose only claim was patronage. for the ground for the Playhouse ;* they will be engross'd, and I believe signed, on Friday or Saturday; which done, I have all things ready to fall to work on Munday. The ground is the second stable yard going up the Haymarket; I give 2000 for it; but have layd such a scheme of matters, that I shall be reimburs'd every penny of it by the spare ground: but this is a secret, lest they shou'd lay hold on't to lower the rent. I have drawn a design for the whole disposition of the inside, very different from any other house in being; but I have the good fortune to have it absolutely approv'd by all that have seen it. However, I'll willingly be at the expence of a draught of that where you are, if you'll give yourself the trouble to order it. The book you mention wch I wanted, you'll oblige me to get: 't is Palladio in French, wth the plans of most of the houses he built: there is one without the plans; but 'tis that with 'em I would have. My Lord Hallifax desires you will bespeak him a set of all kinds of mathematical instruments, of the largest sort in ivory, but adorn'd as curiously as you please, they being more for furniture than any use he's like to put 'em to; he designs to hang 'em up in his library. He's tould the best in the world are made at Amsm; he expects they shou'd cost a good deal of money. All I can tell you of Mrs. Baynton is, that I han't heard her hanging speech cryd; so I hope all will be well. Lord Grantham is dangerously ill of the small pox; Garth is his physitian; and there is hopes of a great recovery. Beau Pheasant is in the same way. Sr Roger Mosthyn is marrying (or married to) Lord Nottingham's daughter. You see my paper will hold no more but my hearty service to you. To Mr. Tonson, at Mr. Valcks, near the Stadthouse in Amsterdam. "This Playhouse was finished and opened April 9, 1705, with Dryden's Indian Emperor, and a prologue by Sir Samuel Garth. It was entirely destroyed, with all the scenes, furniture, &c. by a violent fire that broke out therein on Wednesday June 17, 1789, about 10 o'clock P. M. nothing but the main walls being left standing. A new one was built and opened in 1790." Note by Mr. Malone. LETTERS OF LORD STOWELL. (From the Oxford Herald.) The following extracts from the correspondence of the late Lord Stowell, nearly half a century since, cannot fail to be interesting. In the year 1789 he thus wrote to Mr. Warton, who was then preparing his second edition of Milton's Minor Poems: "We have been more fortunate than we expected, having recovered the origiginal depositions in the cause of Mrs. Milton against her daughters; which, though not long, contain some very curithem conversations of the poet sitting at ous and interesting matter, being some of his dinner in the kitchen over a savoury dish which he much liked, and in a merry mood, as the depositions express it. I will get them transcribed for you, though I could almost wish that you could spare a day to come to town to inspect the original, signed in the proper handwriting of Christopher Milton, his brother, and his own two maidservants, Mary Fisher and Betty Fisher, with whom he discourses. The will was contested; and the cause was proceeded in to a regular sentence, which was given against the will, and the widow ordered to take administration instead of a probate. It was a very illustrious cause; FOR IT WAS CONCERNING THE WILL OF MILTON, whose style of private life is very much illustrated by it. It was tried by that eminent person Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the Prerogative and Secretary of State; the principal witness was Christopher Milton, Judges of the Common Pleas; and the depositions are in part taken before Dr. Trumbull, afterwards Sir Wm. Trumbull, Secretary of State, and the celebrated friend of Pope. afterwards one of James the Second's "If you can't spare a day to come to town, I will have copies made out and sent to you. Yours faithfully, "W. SCOTT." Part of the foregoing letter appeared in the new edition of Milton published by Dr. Warton just after his brother's death, and has been reprinted since; but it is now given entire for the first time. Another letter from this eminent civilian, on the subject of the legal duration of consanguinity, which was then much agitated, is addressed to Dr. Warton, April 2, 1792; and concludes with the following notice of the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds, which had then recently taken place : "Poor Reynolds's death occasions a terrible void amongst us; we have had no society worth naming since his death. Palmeria comes off nobly in point of provision-£40,000 at least; gentlemen begin to grow more sensible of her merit; Lord Inchiquin is most talked of as the fortunate man.* "I am, dear Dr. very faithfully, your friend and servant, WM. SCOTT. "P. S. Just going to sit up all night about the SLAVE TRADE." A third letter, dated from the Commons, Feb. 26, 1800, relates to the death of his friend Dr. Warton. The following postscript appears to a letter dated so far back as Jan. 29, 1785, and addressed to Mrs. Warton at Trinity College : "We have not sold JOHNSON'S BOOKS yet. Kippis and Boswell, I hear, both go on. I have not seen the great man of Queen-square since you were here." They gaily bloom; yet turn thy thoughts aside And whisper to thyself, delightful maid ! "These Flowers, like me, now bloom in beauty's pride, And I, like them, must quickly droop and fade." THOMAS TAYLOR. SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. Mr. URBAN, ABOUT a year ago it was contemplated to form a Society for the purpose of raising funds for the repair and restoration of ancient buildings. As I have heard nothing of this lately, I fear the plan has been dropped. We have lately seen many beautiful monuments of ancient piety and taste rescued from decay by individual exertion ; but it is now absolutely necessary that immediate steps should be taken to raise a general fund, to be applied according to the discretion of a committee, to the preservation of such churches or VERSES, BY THE LATE THOMAS TAY- other buildings as are valuable for their LOR, THE PLATONIST. To M. de H. S. How the mind's perfections shine He who views such charms as these, To E. C. By the same. Pluckt by my hand will Rhodoclea wear The varied wreath which mingled flowers compose; The Pink and Hyacinth are mingled there; The pure Narcissus and the blushing Rose: * Mary, daughter of John Palmer, of Torrington, esq. and niece to Sir Joshua Reynolds, became the second wife of Murrough 5th Earl of Inchiquin, and afterwards first Marquess of Thomond, a few months after this letter was written. architectural beauty or as national memorials. Many of our finest old parish churches, the present neglected state of which is disgraceful to us as a nation, are so circumstanced as to make the preservation of their beauties by any other means impossible. Every year increases the evil, and none but those who are in the habit of examining country churches can tell how much has been done in the last few years towards sweeping away from our villages, whatever was interesting or beautiful in these ancient structures. In some instances (as at Swaffham, in Cambridgeshire) a fine old church has been abandoned to ruin from the inability of the parish to keep it in repair, and a red-brick structure, resembling a dissenting chapel, has been built and used in its stead. Ten years ago, a writer in the British Critic gave a list of churches which deserve the most careful preservation, and most of which are still unrepaired or ill-repaired to a very great extent. From this list I shall make some extracts, adding examples which have come under my own observation. In Bedfordshire, Dunstable priory is in great want of repair. Of Luton church, Rickman says that "it has been a rich and beautiful specimen, but is now sadly dilapidated and dis Beb figured in the ornamental parts." In Derbyshire, the stonework of Chesterfield church is in a very bad condition. The once splendid east window of Dronfield church is stripped of its tracery, and partly bricked up. bington church, in Cheshire, is dilapidated. Trinity church, the Lady chapel of Ely cathedral, is in very great want of exterior repair. In Gloucestershire, Cirencester has a fine porch, much decayed. Elliston, a curious Norman relic, is also perishing for want of attention. The large church of Romsey, Hampshire, is very much out of repair. In Lancashire, the east window of Holland chapel, a very fine specimen of Early Decorated, has been unsafe for years, and has probably fallen by this time and the chancel window of Winwick has lost all its tracery, once very fine. At Gateshead, St. Edmund's chapel, a beautiful specimen of Early English, is now unroofed.* At Sherburne hospital a fine Early English hall has been lately destroyed, and the chapel will probably suffer a similar fate. At Canterbury, we have St. Augustine's gate greatly mutilated, and the tower of St. Ethelbert lately fallen. The loss of pinnacles or of fine tracery is to be deplored at Adderbury, in Oxfordshire; † Higham Ferrars; Tamworth; Headon, Yorkshire; Cheadle, Staffordshire; Thaxted, Essex. Lincolnshire formerly contained more splendid churches than any other county and the devastation has been proportionably extensive. Havenby and Leadenham, two very fine churches, have lost their tracery, and are losing their stone work. At Ripingale part of the south aisle is used as a schoolroom; here are two very fine tombs with effigies, which are subject to continual mutilations. At Heckington the tracery of the north transept window has been destroyed. The west front of Crowland, which is one of the most beautiful portions of rich Early English in the kingdom, is truly stated by Rickman to be in such a state that a very slight fall from above would entirely destroy it. In Oxfordshire, the curious church of Burford is much decayed. In Yorkshire, we have Howden chancel, one of the most elegant Decorated buildings in England, in ruins: Bridlington Priory church, once as fine as Beverley, presents a melancholy picture of mutilation; Selby, Old Malton, and St. Michael Malton, and the chapel on the bridge at Wakefield, are in a miserable state. The crosses at Northampton and Geddington are much mutilated. At Norwich, the Redmount chapel is sadly dilapidated; and in the church of Clay, is a beautiful Perpendicular chapel in ruins. To all these may be added, Llandaff cathedral in ruins; part of St. David's cathedral in ruins; east end of St. Alban's in ruins; the large cruciform church of All Saints, Pontefract, in ruins. : But it is needless to proceed with an enumeration to which every reader could add many similar examples. The destruction of painted glass has been so general, that, except a few wretched fragments, it is now seldom seen in village churches, and the numerous coats of arms, often so useful in determining family history, have perished. The same may be said of screen work in Devonshire, a few years since, few churches were without a rich screen and pulpit, but many have fallen. I would also mention the disgraceful condition of the cloisters and chapterhouse at Westminster, and of many of the most valuable monuments in the Abbey. How long shall the splendid tombs of Queen Eleanor, of Edward the Third, of Henry the Third, the monumental chapel of Abbot Islip, St. Erasmus chapel, and (with the almost solitary exception of the monuments of Aymer de Valence and Edmund Crouchback) nearly all the monuments of Early English and decorated date, with their beautiful * The chapel in Nun's Lane, Gateshead, is likely to be restored; the late Lord Bishop of Durham had it in contemplation to provide funds for such purpose, but that desirable object was prevented by his lamented death. The object, however, it is expected will soon be accomplished by subscription.-EDIT. The chancel of Adderbury church, originally built by Wykeham, has been recently restored at the expense of New College, under the direction of J. C. Buckler, Esq. architect, one of the gentlemen whose design obtained a prize in the recent parliamentary competition. -EDIT. canopies and rich sculpture, be suffered to moulder away in the very centre of the wealth and refinement of the kingdom? But the ruin of the churches themselves is a still more serious subject. Let it not be said of us, that the noble and costly structures wherein our forefathers in past ages worshipped God, were suffered to perish by our neglect ; that we their descendants, so far from emulating these glorious works, want even the taste and spirit to preserve them from ruin. There have lately appeared some symptoms of a better feeling, and there needs but the formation of such a Society as I have suggested to embody and increase it. If but a few hundreds were annually raised, this would rescue from decay every year some beautiful remnant of our national architectare. Let clergymen in every part of the kingdom be invited to report on the state of their churches; and where the parishioners are willing to come forward to the extent of their ability (as would generally be the case), let a grant of money be voted to assist them in the work of restoration. In this manner many a beautiful window, screen, niche, font, tomb, &c. would be preserved; and their preservation would exercise a most beneficial influence on the national taste, and promote the revival, upon true principles, of English Ar chitecture. I hope to see this matter Trin. College, Cambridge, Mr. URBAN, Norwood, June 1. IN my last letter addressed to you, I left Sir Thomas Lunsford in Glamorganshire, to which county he proceeded on the 23d of September, 1642, with the Marquis of Hereford and his party. We next hear of him at the battle of Edgehill, fought on the 23d October following, where it fortuned that he fell, with Colonel Vavasour, Lieut.Colonel Ballard, and several other Cavalier officers of inferior rank, into the hands of the enemy, who immediately found for them a prison in Warwick Castle. Here, on the 17th of the following month, the prisoners were severally examined “ upon some particular articles ;" when Sir Thomas "was found to have a treacherous intent and a private conspiracie with the delinquents to betray it [the Tower?] into the hands of the malignants, resident in the city and suburbs." His examination consisted of these three heads: "1. Concerning the delinquents in the Tower. Malmsbury abbey has been wrested from destruction; St. Lawrence's church, Evesham, will soon be in a state for the celebration of the divine offices. A chapel near Maidstone, now desecrated, it is in contemplation to restore. Hove church, near Brighton, in great part in ruins, is now being restored by subscription. These and many other instances are pleasing evidences of this feeling. The prospects of antiquity; as far as regards preservation, are, we hope flattering; so much so, that perhaps the antiquary may fear that too much will be done in some cases. Let us hope that restoration alone and not alteration, miscalled improvement, will result. As we are on this subject we would remark, that Bishop West's Chapel at Putney is likely to be saved. Earl Spencer has consented to the chancel of Putney church being rebuilt, and the beautiful chapel is now in course of restoration, on the north side of the new chancel; it will be found to have changed its place, but we hope that its elegant roof and all the ornaments will be carefully preserved.-EDIT. The application of any means towards the attainment of the desirable object of preserving our national antiquities is deserving of serious attention. A noble spirit is abroad in their favour. The Lady Chapel, Crosby Hall, St. Alban's and Waltham Cross are so many evidences of what may be done. But great as the exertions are which have been made, the repeated calls on public munificence may, it is to be feared, exhaust the source from which the necessary supplies are to be derived. It is not by what has been done but what remains to do, that the extent of the spirit of restoration is to be estimated. St. Saviour's nave is still in ruins. St. Alban's calls for still increased funds; and these are unfortunately not the only objects which require attention. The restoration of the chancel in which Shakespeare's hallowed remains rest, is in contemplation; it will be a work worthy the age, and will surely meet with general support.-EDIT. |