take the axe instead of the pruning. knife." I add it here. "Amidst the variety of my thoughts on this fubject, I have taken occafion to remark, it is fomewhat wonderful that the editor of a Biographical Chart has not noticed our bishop in the 17th century. But that diftinction forfooth was referved for Tayfor, the founder of the Warrington Academy. It had been kind to have allowed the bishop one little niche in his temple of fame, that the great and good man might have had his chance for immortality in the fame tablet with the Doctor's favourite name; but, if the editor knew (and amazing his ignorance if he did no) their comparative merits, he muft be affured that the memory of the ter will not long furvive the academy he founded; whilft the bishop, in his mellifluous writings, Lebitur, & labetur in omne volubilis ævum." Notwithstanding the learned editor's laboured, ingenious, and apparently candid, manner of obviating this or fimilar remarks (from recollection of which I purposely referred to the paffage in his pamphlet before I would give Mr. N. my fentiments, and again before I tran fcribed the remark for you), I cannot avoid concurring in opinion with my correfpondent, and requesting that you will take fome convenient opportunity to infert it. E. J. Mr. URBAN, common with his vaffals in Wepham They appear allo to have pofleffed a meffuage and 80 acres of land in Warblington, with other poffeffions in Pernfted, Bourn, and Woodemanent. The number of the religious is no where mentioned (except four in their firft charter). The church of the priory was dedicated to St. Bartholomew; it was one of the fmall monafteries which Cardinal Wolfey procured to be fuppreffed, and obtained a grant of, 17 H.VIII. for the better endowment of his college in Oxford, being then valued in fpiritualities at 11 1. per annum, and in temporalines 321. os. 1odt. The fite was granted, 5 Jac. I. to Anthony lord vilcount Mountague, to whofe defcendants it now belongs. It flands near a mile South of Arundel, at the end of the road, through the meadows called The Caufeway, leading from the bridge, of which fituation is low, on the verge of the it appears they had the cuflody. Its meadows, and clofe under a rifing ground. It is now known by the name of Hell House, and is reduced to the fquare building reprefented in the view, whichr Jan. 10. THE HE fmall priory of De Calceto, or Pynham, for regular canons of St. Auguftine (PI. II. fig. 1.) was founded by queen Adeliza, fecond wife to Henry I, and, after his demife, married to William Albini, fecond Earl of Arundel (of that name), for the health of the foul of her lord and husband, Henry 1. Ranulph, bishop of Chichester, approved the faid charter, which was confirmed and enlarged by William earl of Arundel, for the good of the fouls of king Henry 1. queen Adeliza, his heirs, and his own. He gave to the priory annually one bufhel of corn from out of his mills de Swanbourn, 13 cords of wood, to be cut in his foreft of Arundel, for fuel, and timber for the repairing of Arundel bridge, when his forefter fhould think it neceffary. He granted them the provilege of fishing on both fides of the bridge a furlong's length, and the right of p... ture, in common with his burghers, in his meadows of Arundel, for 1+ cows and. 2 bulls, with liberty to feed their hogs in the park and forest of Arunuel, în ́ GENT. MAG. January, 1793. is taken from the South-welt. T. S. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 14. T is an obfervation which you have made more than once (fo often perhaps, as to render unneceffary the trou ble of proving it to you); you must have oblerved. Sir, how much, in all the tranfactions of our lives, in all we fay, and in al we do, we are influenced by the power of imitation. Why does the child, both in kis difpofitions and his manners, bear to great a refemblance to thofe of his parent? The most probable caufe winch we can align for it is that of imitation. Why is the fervant, in the refpecls, fo proverbially like his matter? The only or most prebabie caufe is that of imitation. And. the fame cause that produces this fimilitude between the ch id and parent, the fervant and mafter, prod c's it is an equal degree between ourfelves and thole with whom we affocate; nomuch, that the nofcitur a focio" is an adage, the truth of which is universally allowed, and replete with wisdom and obfervation. We are, in tuch, a k.na of planet, reflecting the luftre of hat fun, within whofe fphere we happ a to move; w * A charter of foundation. are the very dottrels of our acquaintance, and reflect their virtues and their vices, as the cameleon does the colours of whatever furrounds it. If we extend our obfervation from the influence of this power on the difpofitions and manners of men to its influence on the polite arts, I know not but that we fhall have a very fufficient apology for that great affinity in the ftyle of many of the greatest ornaments of poetry, painting, and mufic, and befides being an apology for this likeness of fiyle, it may probably ferve as an apology for that exactnefs of thought with which the works of fo many are fo wonderfully characterized; infomuch fo, that originality feems to have actually difappeared, thoughts feem as limited as the letters of the alphabet or the words of the dictionary, and variety feems to confift only in the various forms of their combination, In truth, Sir, this plagiary (if you please to term it fo) feems unavoidable and unintentional. The bard, who exclaimed Oh! imitatores, fervum pecus!" had not himself the fmalleft claim to originality; and Dibdin, when he cenfured the imitations of Shield, forgot that he himfelf had not only been the committer of a fimilar act, but that he had even imitated the compofitions of the very object of his reprobation. Permit me, Sir, to proceed a little farther. May not the apology be extended to that kind of imitation which confifts in an exa& imitation of ourselves; that is, in having at various periods of our lives, and in various parts of our produations, produced a fimilitude of thought; of which there are many eminent inflances? Dibdin has produced the fame melody in two different fongs; and Pope, who, in his Temple of Fame, writes, "The queen affents, the trumpet rends the And at each blaft a reputation dies," [fkies, in his Rape of the Lock, makes a repetition of the fame thought: "At ev'ry word a reputation dies." But the grea eft inftance which I am able to recollect of this felf-imitation is in the works of one of the greatest geniuses that this country has produced. Fielding (whofe Jofeph Andrews, by the way, is an imitation of Cervantes) has in Tom Jones produced a glaring imitation of Jofeph Andrews, A young man, ignorant of his parents, wandering about with a humourous companion, and attempted to be feduced by a lady of fupeFlor fortune, is the hero of both thofe performances. The heroine of each, goes in queft of the wanderers; and both hiftories conclude with putting the young people to bed, difcovering the parents of the hero, and deciding the fate of the principal characters. I know not whether the involuntary commiffion of thefe faults will be thought a fufficient excufe for the frequency of the practice. If authors, however, do not (as was once the practice of Sterne, and is now the practice of Mason) refolve to read no other works but their own, I know not how they can avoid the former; nor the latter, without debarring themfelves, like Rouffeau, of the fu preme felicity of peruting their own performances. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, Friars-Houfe, Salop, Jan. 22. MAKE no apology for fending you the inclofed view of Clun castle (Plate II. fig. 2.), and hope you will not think it unworthy a place in the Gentleman's Magazine. Clun is a fmall market-town in Shropshire, about 6 miles from Bishop's-caftle, in the fame county; it contains little worth notice befide the caftle, which is now in ruins; and an hofpital founded by Henry Howard earl of Northampten, for 12 men and a mafter, in the reign of James I Clun caftle was built by the Fits Alans, defcendants of Alan, fon of, Flaold the Norman, afterwards earls cf Arundel, The manor of Clun was originally in the family of the Says, and came to Wil-, liam Fits Alan, grandfon of Flaold, by marriage with Ifabel, daughter of Helias de Say. Their fon William built the caftle 24 Hen. III. His fon John was captain-general of the forces for guarding the marches. In this family, afterwards earls of Arundel, it continued till queen Elizabeth's time, when the laft earl died, About 1549, Mary Fit, Alan married to Philip Howard, fon of Thomas Duke of Norfolk. It came to that noble fa-. mily, and from them to the Walcots, from whom it was purchased by the late Lord Clive t. Near Clun is Caer Caradoc, a hill famous for being the place where Caractacus, the renowned British king, about A. D. 53, defended himself to bravely against Oftorius and the Roman legions. *Colun, British Colunwy, and by contrac tion Clun. Cand. Brit. + Gough's Camden, vol. II. p. 404, There There are the remains of fome other camps in the neighbourhood, which appear to be Roman work, and were probably thrown up by Oftorius. On looking over the monumental in fcriptions in the parish-church of Cleobury Mortimer, I faw the following lines on a plain ftone. If you think them worth a place in your excellent Mifcellany, they are at your fervice. "The Reverend Mr. William Edwards, late vicar Fame will convey thy virtues dowp, Through ages yet to come; Rather demands my care; In life to copy thee I'll strive, May fome good-natur'd friend furvive, D. PARKES. Mr. UREAN, Finchley-Common, Jan. 4. INCLOSE Ι you a drawing of Wyddiall-hall, Herts (plate II. fig. 3.). In 1789, I published a "Defcriptive Sketch" of the place; and will now add a few farther particulars to accompany the drawing. H. G. OLDFIELD.. Wyddiall is about 15 miles from the County-town; the manor-houfe is on the South fide of the park; the entrance, in the center of the front, is through a porch, with a ruftic door-way, over which used to be a ftone carved with the Gulfton arms; a Doric cornice and frize run through the whole length of the building, and, in the paraper, over each window, is an open balustrade. Going through the porch, you enter the hall, fitted up with pillars of the Dorit order, on the right hand are the draw ing-room and library, which contains a very good collection of books; on the left are the drawing-room and ftaircafe, The offices ate at the back part of the houfe, and the fables, &c. in a de tached building, North of the maufion, The manor of WIGGELE, in the Saxon times, was held by Edgiva, a noble woman, who, in the days of Edward the Confeffor, bestowed it upon the church of St. Paul, Loudcu," as O read Nature in its uncultivated T walk, and delineate it as near to its original faithfulnefs as poffible, must be acceptable to you. I, therefore, take up my pen, with my best endeavours, to difplay arch implicity in the character of a waggoner, and guilt in a man that feemed to undergo all the horrors of it. If, in the little I fend, I prove myself a Rambler of obfervation, I thall think I have not travelled in vain. And, I muft own, I am fo interested when [ meet with a certain ftamp of character, that I am anxious to know fomething about him, in whatever line of life he is in; and, I dare fay, I felt as much pleasure with the uncouth language of the once hearty waggoner as a first-rate amateur could do with the fight of a fine painting. From this curn of mind, have often, when unnoticed and un. known, thrown myself into places where I have been well repaid. A certain part of the world might charge me with lownefs and whimicality of fpirit; for, I have often fitten in fiient delight, to heer the honeft principles of a man that lingered over a pint of porter, as if he knew that he could not afford another. I have vifited the cottage of a labourer with a nu |