450 Illiberal Abuse of the Stewart Family cenfured.-Stean Church. and to ornament the windows in the aifles with their arms, or other painted `glafs, it would add great folemnity and magnificence to the whole. Permit me, Mr. Urban, to transcribe the infcription on one ftone near the Beaufort monument, where he interred the best of parents, whofe piety, moderation, and parental regard, hallow the ground in which they now remain; and if excellence of conduct, univerfal charity, and frict honour and juftice, can make them worthy of a place in your Repofitory, your mention of them will do but juftice to their memories, and excite gratitude in the mind of Yours, &c. FRANCIS PIGOTT. In a vault Nephew of the reverend John Pelling, D.D. Ifabella his wife, Of glorious memory. cludes his Philippie against the Stewarts with this flourish: "it is needless to defcant on the faults of a family, where there was none good, no not one." This gentleman furely forgets that the great William the Third had a confort, and by her he afcended the throne of this kingdom; and I should hope he knows that the virtuous Princefs of Orange was the great granddaughter of the "deteftable James the Firft," and that the prefent royal family owe their title to the British monarchy to their defcendency from this "curfed race." The Houfe of Stewart deserves more our compaffion as unfor tunate than deteftation as unprincipled. Its princes were guilty of crimes in common with monarchs of all ages and nations. Its fufferings were of a nature fo deplorable and humiliating as the annals of no age or nation can produce: for their errors then let their fufferings be deemed expiatory; and let not Proteftants of this age, of liberal fentiload the memory of the dead with indement, fo far demean themselves as to cent reproches which they cannot an-^ fwer; but remember rather the old fay She lived 59 years, and died the 23d of Nov. ing, "de mortuis nil nifi bonum.” Mr. URBAN, 1754. Yours, &c. JOHN PAYNE. MR. URBAN, Bath, June 3. AM furprized that fome of your correfpondents fhould not have furnifhed you with an account of one of the prettiest Gothick churches in England; I mean Stean church or chapel near Brackley in Northamptonshire, a rectory of eight pounds a year!! It is as curious a building as any in Britain, and, in my memory, ftood near it the manfion-house of Lord Crewe, bishop of Durham, who, with his lady, and many other perfons of note, are there buried, and handfome monuments erected thercin to their memory. The manfion-house, Lord Crewe's (a house once "of much hofpitality), has scarce left a Jan. 20. I HAVE beer many years an admirer of your Monthly Mifcellany, and occafionally a feeble contributor to it, in confequence am hur when any thing finds a place in it that has the Jean tendency to deprefs its real merit as a publication founded on principles of reafon, juftice, or liberality. Repugnant to thefe is a letter in your Magazine for September laft, profeffed to be written by, no Papift, Prefbyterian, or Republican. The writer, has certainly done well to difclaim kindred' with the church of Rome, as the tenor of his letter favours much of papal cenfüre and anathema. "Curfed race," "deteftable Janus," are expreffions which I am fure no man can deem juft when applied to the Houfe of Stewart, or the perion of James the Fift. Janus was certainly a prince that poffeffed many foibles; but thofe foibles il ap. pear virtues, if contrafted with the fan guinary feats of many princes of the House of Plantagenet, or any other line which gave a race of kings to this nation prior to the Houfe of Stewart. Charles inherited all Lis father's profanenets, fays this writer, and con wreck behind, and for many years even the chapel was frequented only by rooks and daws, who built their nefts among the monuments. But the laté Dr. Richard Grey, rector of Hmton, obtained Queen Anne's bounty to add to this little rectory, and during his life, and I believe fince, divine fervice has been performed there once a month. The firft Sunday it was opened Di.' Grey preached a fermon to a full con-gregation (for people of all parts of the county attended) from the following testy Lift of the Literary Productions of the late Rev. Mr. Duncombe. 451 text, which he caufed to be engraven over the church door: "Holinefs becometh thy Houfe, O Lord, for ever." In his fermon he reminded the congregation of the piety, hofpitality, and virtue of the deceafed Lord, and fo pathetically lamented the defolation of the house, and all the goodly things which many prefent had feen and partook of, that I believe there was not a dry eye within its walls. Such who vifit the fequeftered spot, will be furprized to fee Lord Crewe's moument decorated with a bunch of grapes, and therefore, Mr. Urban, I will explain it. After Lady Crewe's death, the Bishop often spent hours at the feet of their joint monument, to contemplate on mortality as well as immortality; but he took occafion to express to Dr. Grey (his chaplain) that he did not like the fight of a ghaftly fcull with which the fculptor had embellifbed it. Dr. Grey therefore, without lofs of time, fent for the artift, and asked him, whether he could not convert the fcull into fome object lefs offenfive?"Yes," said he, after a fhort confideration, "I can turn it into a bunch of grapes ;" and it was forthwith done. The principal monuments in this little church are: to Sir Thomas Crewe, knt. fpeaker of the Houfe of Commons, temp. Jacobi et Caroli Primi, and his lady.-John Lord Crewe, and his lady, firft baron of Stean. Thomas Lord Crewe, his eldeft fon, and lady.-Nathaniel Lord Crewe, Lord Bishop of Durham, and his first lady, Penelope Lady Crewe, and his fecond wife, Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Fofter.-Temperance Brown, daughter of Thomas Crewe, John Crewe, cfq. aged 15. 'Lord Crewe was a temporal as well as a fpiritual lord, and fo warmly attached to the abdicated King James, that when he lay dying on the flab be fore his parlour fire, he faid to Dr. Grey, Dick, don't you go over to them. Yours, &c. POLYXENA, fat. vii. imitated," and infcribed to R. Prefixed to Jefferys's Mifcellanies, 4to, 1754, is a poem by Mr. Duncombe; and in the preface to that volume is the following paragraph: "His coufin (i. e. Mr. Lewis Duncombe's), Mr. John Duncombe, a zea lous and fuccefsful folicitor of my inte reft, like his father, my friend before. named, has obliged me with a tranflation of the conclufion of Vaniere's 5th book, which places the author's filial piety in a very friking light. The fame gentle man's tranflation of the 15th book, upon fifhes, is a very good one, and cannot be overlooked whenever feveral hands may undertake the whole of that long and languid production, as a late writer has ftyled it." His book on fishes has not been printed, and the original we believe is in the collection of Mr. Reed. In vol. IV. of Dodfloy's Poeins, fift published 1754, is “An Ode to Health," by Mr. Duncombe. In vol. VI. published 1758, is "An Ode to the Genius of Italy," occafioned by the Earl of Corke's going abroad. He first publifhed "The Feminead," 1754, which met with fo favourable a re ception, as to be reprinted both in the Pos etical Calendar, and in Pearch's Collec tion of Poems. Four Odes appeared, 1756; viz. “The Prophecy of Neptune, On the Death of the Prince of Wales;" "Ode pre fented to the Duke of Newcastle; and one "To the Hon. James Yorke," now Bishop of St. David's. In the years 1754 and 1756, came out feparately, " An Evening Contemplation in a College," being a Parody on Gray's Elegy," Verfes to the Author of Clariffa," publifhed in that work; Verfes on the Campaign, 1759," (addreffed to Sylvanus Urban, and origi nally printed in our vol. for that year); **To Col. Clive, on his arrival in Eng land ;""*On the Lofs of the Ramilies, Capt. Taylor, 1760;" Surry Trium phant, or the Kentifh men's Defeat," a Parody on Chevy-Chace; which, tor its genuine ftrokes of humour, elegar t poetry, and happy imitation, acquired the author much applaute. This has been tranfplanted into Nichols's Select Collection of Poems, 1782," where may be found, alfo, a poem of his on Stocks Houfe;" 452 Literary Anecdotes and Informations. House;" a tranflation of an elegant epitaph, by Bishop Lowth; and an elegiac "Epitaph at the Grave of Mr. High more." Thofe pieces marked with a ftar are in The Poetical Calendar, vol. VII. toge ther with a Prologue fpoken at the Charterhouse, 1752; a Poem on Mr. Garrick; and Tranflations from Voltaire. Alfo in vol. X. "The Hertfordshire Grove ;" "The Middlefex Garden;" "Kenfington Gardens;" "Farewel to Hope;" On a Lady's fending the Author a Ribbon for his Watch;"" On Capt. Cornwallis's Monument;" "Prologue to Amalafont;" "Epigrams.” He published three Sermons; one "On the Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, 1759," preached at St. Anne's, Weftminster, and published at the request of the parifhioners; another, "preached at the Confecration of the Parish Church of tions: of Lord Corke's Letters from Italy; Archhp. Herring's ́and Hughes's Correfpondence; and Mrs. Vigor's Let ters from Ruffia; all of which were elucidated by his critical knowledge and explanatory notes. And Qu. Did not he tranflate the Latin poems of Gray, publifhed by Dodfley in a 40 pamphlet ? In the Gentleman's Magazine his communications in biography, poetry, and criticifm, have for the last 20 years been frequent and valuable. Many of them are without a name; but his mifcellaneous contributions were usually diftin guished by the fignature of CRITO. I cannot end without a wish that a portrait of Mr. Duncombe (and there is a good one in being), with a collection of his works, may be given to the public. Yours, &c. J. N. MR. URBAN, June 11. the Bas Bleu, has paid an inimitable compliment to Mrs. Boscawen and Mrs. Montague, by pronouncing them to inherit the genius and liberality of Leo X. St Andrew, Canterbury," which gained MISS Hannah More, in her Poem of him great credit, July 4, 1774 **; and one, On a General Faft, Feb. 27, 1778," allo preached at St. Andrew's, Canterbury + and fo well approved, that the parishioners defired its publication; and, in the fame year, he published" an Elegy, written in Canterbury Cathedral. " He tranflated the "Huetiana,” in Gent. Mag. 1771. + He wrote "The Hiftorical Account of Dr. Dodd's Life," 8vo. 1777. Allo, the "Tranflation of Sherlock's Letters of an English Traveller," ift edition, 4to. The 2d edition, 8vo, was tranflated by Mr. Sherlock himself. He also, with his father, publifhed, in 1766, a tranflation of Horace, in 8vo.; and, in the following year, another edition, with many enlargements and corrections, in 4 vols. amo. In 1774, he tranflated "Batteley's Antiquitates Ru "Till Leo's triple-crown to you, This has occafioned a wicked Protefl- And awe with critic balls the world of wit: Abafh'd by Hannah's tropes, by Hannah's praise, Scarce on their triple-crown I dar'd to gaze; Yours, &c. POISSON AU BLEU. June 20. tupinæ §." and in 1784, was principally DR. TRAPP, of whom you have the author of "The Hiftory and Antiquities of Reculver and Herne," which forms the XVIIIth Number of the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica; to which work he alfo contributed, in 1785, the XXXth, containing, "The History and Antiquities of the Three Archiepifcopal Hofpitals, in and near Canterbury +t," which he dedicated to the prefent Archbifhop. In 1784, he published "Select Works of the Emperor Julian," 2 vols, 8vo. He was the Editor of feveral publica **See vol. XLIV. p.431. + See vol. XLVIII. p. 131. See vol. XLIV. p. 133. Ibid. p. 128. See vol. LIV. p. 39. +↑ See vol. LV. p.1625. given Memoirs in p. 381-4, was always efteemed the editor, &c. of the "Anacreon" mentioned in p. 431. In 1742 appeared, " Editio fecunda, priore emendatior, et Vocabulorum omnium Anacreonticorum Indice adaucta; cum Rerum, Epithétorum, et Phralium Infigniorum, Annotatione." Volume LV. p. 940, col. r, Dr. Hawkefworth himfelf informed a friend, that the papers in the "Adventurer," diftinguifhed by the letter 'T. were writ. ten by Dr. Bathurst, an intimate of Sam. Johnfon's, who went phyfician in the expedition to the Havannah, and died there. ACADEMICUS. Traditional Hiflory of Sir Robert de Shurland. MR. URBAN, IN May 28. N the church of Minster, in the isle of Sheppy, which, before the diffolution of the monafteries, belonged to the nunnery at that place founded by St. Sexburga, wife to Ercombert, king of Kent, is the monument of Sir Robert de Shurland, of which, from the horfe's head emerging from the waves behind the figure of Sir R. feveral trifling stories have arifen. The above monument being fhewn as a curiofity worthy notice to the numerous viutants to this delightful spot, many of whom have not time or opportunity to fearch into antiquity, I have ventured to make a sketch of the monument, and commit to writing what I could collect concerning it, and the perfon for whom erected; and, fhould thefe meet your approbation, I fhall be happy to fee them prefented to the public in your valuable Magazine. This Sir Robert de Shurland was the laft male heir of a good family of that name, lords of Shurland, a manor at Eaft Church in this ifland. They had other poffeffions in the county; for Robert de Shurland had a grant of a charter of free warren to fundry of his lands in Kent, among which Ufford in Tunstall is recited. He alfo was one of the Kentifh gentlemen who attended K. Edw. I. to the fiege of Caerlaverock in Scotland, was then by that prince made a knight banneret, and bore for his arms, Azure, 6 lions rampant Argent, and Canton Ermine. He is faid to have been a man of eminent authority under Edward I. Camden and Philippt mention him as lord warden of the Cinque Ports; but he is omitted by Lambarde, and in Thynne's Catalogue published in the caftrations to Holinfhed. This prince, as a further teftimony of his kindnefs, did, in the 29th year of his reign, grant him a charter of free warren to his manor of Shurland; and had alfo, by charter, wreck of the sea upon his lands laying on the fhore within his faid manor: foon after which, it is thought, he died, and leaving only a female heir, his eftates paffed by marriage to Sir William Cheyney of Patrickbourn in this county, fon and heir of Sir Alexander Cheyney, who was alfo made a banneret with Sir Robert at the fiege of Caerlaverock abovementioned, from whom a noble and honourable family took its rife. Sir Robert lies buried in the fouth wall of the chancel of Minfter church, See plate I. fig. 1.- 453 under a large Gothic arch, rather rudely executed, supported by two pillars, whose bafes are lions couchant. He is reprefented in the habit which Dugdale, in his History of Warwickshire, informs us was worn by the knights templars, except the white cloak, prefcribed to that ancient military order by Pope Honorius; is cross-legged, an indication of his having made a vow to affift in the recovery of the Holy Land; on his left arm is a fhield; his right hand is broken off near the wrift; and, from the remaining projecting fragments in a line down his armour, probably had a fword in it; his head reclines on a cafque; he has a figure at his feet, faid to be of an armed page, but much broken; and the head of an horfe is feen behind emerging from the waves, as in the act of fwimming. This, with the vane on the tower of the church being alfo the head of the fame beaft, has acquired it the appellation of Horfe church, and given rife to the fol lowing ridiculous ftories, carefully propagated by the inhabitants of Minster : It is by them faid, that, riding near the church one day, he faw a poor man going to be buried, but the priest refufed to fay the office over him because the fees could not be paid; upon which Shurland, being enraged, ordered the covetous ecclefiaftic to be thrown into the grave and buried alive with the deceased; but afterwards fearing the confequences of what he had fo rafhly done, and hearing the king was near the island by the Nore on board a fhip, he fwam his horfe into the fea two miles, to procure a pardon; which being obtained, he returned back the fame way. On landing, being met by an old woman, the told him, that though his horfe had now faved his life, yet he fhould be his death; upon which idle prediction he ungratefully killed the animal, cutting his head off with his fword; and that, riding by this fpot hunting a year after, his herfe ftumbling' threw him on the fcull of the former; the bruife he then received, caufing a mortification, brought on his death. Some fay he cut off his head, because the people faid he performed the journey by magic. Dr. Harris fays, he believes the people have removed the horle's head to the monument of Sir Thomas Cheyney, father to Henry Lord Cheyney. But, as Philpot informs us, he was buried in the fouth side of the church, where the monument is fill to be feen, and remains as abaye defcribed; nor do I recollect any any apearance of its being removed.. The armed page, it is true, is loofe, and may have been brought from elsewhere, and caufed the Doctor's mistake, who juftly obferves this to be a good round flory, and accordingly lays it upon the priesthood. Philipot feems to think his having the privilege of wreck of the fea, the extent of which royalty being ever efteemed to reach as far into the water, upon a low ebb, as a man can ride and touch any thing with the point of his lance, to be the explication of this wondur. Seymour, in his ingenious Survey of Kent, fuppofes the knight to have offered to the church the figure of a horfe in wax, in grateful remembrance of hav ing faved his life by fwimming over the Swale by the help of this useful and fpirited creature. And it is further reported by others, that, being remarkably fond of an exceeding fine horfe, who was very dextrous in fwimming, the fight of which he took vaft delight in, Sir Robert ordered his monument to be adorned with the head of his favourite in that action which fo pleafed him when living. I beg leave to inform Obfervator, who, in p. 299, wishes to be informed concerning fome armorial bearings there delineated, that in Westminster Abbey, between the pillars under the windows round the church, are the names in Saxon letters, and beneath them the coats of arms, of feveral kings, princes, and no blemen, faid (though falfely) to have been living when Henry III. re-edified that church; thefe being taken in order, beginning with the arms of Sr. Edward the Confeffor near the eaft door of the cloifler; in the 2d place is Henricus Tertius Rex Angliæ, Gules, three lions patf. guard. Or, agreeing with fig. 5; in the 6th place, Henricus de Lacy Comes Lincoln, Quarterly, Gules and Or, a bendlet Sable, and file of five points Argent. The charge in this efcutcheon nearly agrees with fig. 7, a bendlet in ftead of a bend being the only difference. What alterations time may have made in the tintures, or whether the coats of the fame perfon, I mult leave to your correfpondent's own judgement to deter mine. In the 7th efcutcheon, Richardus Comes Cornubia, Argent, a lion rampant Gules, crowned Ör, within a bordure Sable Befanty, correfpondent with fig. 8, and agreeing with the explanation given. And in the 23d efcutcheon in the Abbey, Richardus Clare Comes Gloceftriae, which is the coat reprefented in the 7th fig. The other cost, earings in Weltminster Abbey. faid to have belonged to Fetyplace, have as yet not been able to meet with any thing concerning; if I fhould, Obfervator may be affured of its early communication. The above explanation of the four efcutcheons on the piece of filk, in fome meafure, feems to confirm the tradition of its having belonged to an ecclesiastic. Yours, &c. AMATOR VETUSTATIS. Original Letter from Sir THOMAS F all your excellent writings there is none Fam fo much delighted with, or fet fo bigb a value upon, as what you faid upon the fubject of a free and univerfal toleration. This is a point in which the honour of Almighty God, and the bappinefs of mankind, are fo deeply concerned, that there cannot be a nobler task, or more worthy of a man of great abilities, than to endeavour to establish it upon the fureft and frongest bafis; and to confute these unreasonable opinions in opposition to it, which have been productive of so much mifery. I perfectly agree with you, that even atheism itfelf fhould not be excepted from fuch a toleration; and that no man ought to be diflurbed in Iris natural right of judging freely for himself in every article of belief; the more, becaufe violence in fuch a cafe can never. produce conviction, and is more likely to exasperate an infidel against religion, than to reconcile or invite him to it. But I cannot help thinking there is one limitation of this general liberty which is not properly perfecution, upon the principles you have laid down; though you feem to be of another opinion, in: fome part of your enquiry concerning property; I mean a probibition of publibing any opinions to the world denying the existence of a God, or future rewards and punishments. You allow that the belief of these two points may have an influence on man's present behaviour, and, as fuch, may be beneficial to fociety; and I think I may venture to affirm, that though the obligations and practice of moral virtues are not infeparably connected with, and do not neceifarily defend upon them; yet the majority of mankind are in great need. of, and are not easy to be kept in order without |