Of neighbouring cyprefs, or more fable yew, COWPER'S TASK. AN EXCURSION INTO THE WEST OF ENGLAND, DURING THE MONTH OF JULY, 1799. IN FOUR LETTERS TO A FRIEND. BY THE REV. JOHN EVANS, A. M. DEAR SIR, LETTER IV. AGREEABLE to my promife, I haften to give you an account of the remaining portion of my tour, and hope you will not find this my last epiftle, wholly deftitute of entertainment and inftruction. The day I left Taunton I rose at an early hour, and being favoured with the horse of a friend, made a fhort excurfion into the country. It was a moft beautiful morning; the fun fteadily mounting to reach his meridian height, flung his rays with a moderate intenfeness over the furrounding landscape. Nature prefented herfelf to me in a moft endearing afpect, and almost every object I beheld, impreffed me with fenfations of delight. Indeed the charms of a fine morning are indefcribable : For who the melodies of MORN can tell? The wild brook babbling down the mountain's fide, Crown'd with her pail, the tripping milkmaid fings, The purport of this excurfion was to pay a friendly vifit to a venerable widow, who refided at a village within a few miles of Taunton, the fituation of which was peculiarly retired and impreffive. Her only fon had, a few months ago, emigrated to America; being induced, by a flattering prospect of independence, to quit his native country. She fhewed me the letter which he had lately received from him, containing the pleafing information of his fafe arrival at New York. The latter part of the letter glowed with the tendereft emanations of duty and affection; aiming, especially, to imprefs on the mind of his aged parent this confolatory truth, that though the wide Atlantic rolled waves between them, yet, in the courfe of every twenty-four hours, the SAME SUN fheds his kindly rays on their different habitations! This fimple illuftration illuftration, dictated by the warmth of his filial feelings, did honour to his heart. But alas! he is now no more! The melancholy intelligence has been fince received of the decease of this excellent young man, on the 22d of Auguft laft, at Philadelphia. He was cut off in three days by the yellow fever, that fcourge of the Weftern Continent. From this diforder at New York, he had actually fled, and was on his way to join a friend in Kentucky, after whofe fociety, to ufe his own forcible expreffions, his foul hungered and thirfted." Well did Mr. Burke exclaim, on an occafion of fudden mortality" What fhadows are we, and what shadows are we purfuing!" The virtues of GEORGE WICHE will not be forgotten among the circle of his friends, by whom his modeft and unaffuming worth was juftly appreciated. Be this paragraph facred to his memory! Upon my return to Taunton, the ftage coach was foon ready, and my friend and I fet off for Wells. We're gretted the fhortness of our ftay in this pleafant town, but we remained long enough to witnefs their affectionate hospitality. In two hours we arrived at BRIDGEWATER, a feaport, not far from the Bristol Channel, whence a Ipring-tide flows twenty-two feet at the key, and comes in with fo much turbulence, that it is called a raging boar by the inhabitants. Its church has a lofty fpire, from which there must be an extenfive profpect of the furrounding country, Hither the Duke of Monmouth, together with Lord Grey, and other of his officers, afcended to view the fituation of the King's troops on the very day before the fatal battle of Sedgemoor. Thus ufed the unhappy Trojans, from the walls of Troy, to furvey the Grecian forces, by whom they were afterwards defeated and overthrown. The iron bridge which is to be feen here, and which is fimilar to that in Colebrooke Dale, is a real curiofity. In 1724 the Duke of Chandos built a ftreet in this town, with a range of convenient ware ́houses. houses. The town fuffered feverely in the civil wars, and at laft furrendered to the artful and overpowering Cromwell. In 1685 the Duke of Monmouth lodged in its castle, was proclaimed King there, and even touched many perfons for the king's evil. It is impoffible not to finile at this ufelefs fuperftition. Even the great Dr. Johnson was, in his childhood, touched for it by Queen Anne, though he could not boast of its healing efficacy. All that he used to say about it was, that he was the laft upon whom the good Queen tried the experiment, and that he just remembered his being introduced to an old lady in a black fattin hood, finely dreffed and befpangled with jewels! Bridgewater carries on a trade of fome extent with Briftol, Wales, and Cornwall. It had also a foreign trade, chiefly to Portugal and Newfoundland. In its river Parret, near its confluence with the Tone, is the small island of Athelney, whither the immortal Alfred fled from the Danes, and where happened the merry incident of the herdfman and his wife, who employed the monarch in baking a cake This little story is wrought by Mrs. Barbauld, in her Evenings at Home, into a pleafing drama, well calculated to entertain and delight the youthful imagination. Alfred afterwards made the herdfinan Bishop of Winchefter, and built a monaftery here, the foundations of which were discovered 1674. Among other fubterraneous remains of this building, were found the bases of church pillars, confifting of wrought free-ftone, with coloured tiles, and other things of the fame kind; and foon afterwards near this island, was found a fort of medal or picture of St. Cuthbert, with a Saxon infcription, which imported that it was made by order of King Alfred. It appears by its form to have hung by a ftring, and it is conjectured that the King wore it either as an amulet, or in veneration of St. Cuthbert, who is faid to have appeared to him in his troubles, and affured him of the victories which he afterwards obtained. A little A little beyond Bridgewater, to the right of the road which leads to Wells, lies the village of Sedgemoor, near which the Duke of Monmouth, and his adherents, were completely routed. The battle was fought July 6, 1685. The following interefting particulars are worthy of being preferved. "The approach of the King's forces, under the command of the Earl of Feverfham, was first discovered by Mr. William Sparke, a farmer of Chedzoy, who was at that time on the tower, and by the affiftance of a glass faw them coming down Sedgemoor. One Richard Godfrey, of the fame parish, was immediately difpatched to Wefton Zoyland, to take a nearer obfervation, who, having informed himself of their strength, and the order of their encampment, ran to Bridgewater to apprize the Duke. A confultation being held, it was determined to affault the royal camp in the dead of the night. Accordingly on Sunday, July the 5th, a little before midnight, the Duke's party marched out of Bridgewater, taking Godfrey with them for a guide, who conducted them through a private lane at Bradney (known at this day by the name of War Lane,) and paffing under Peafy-farm, brought them, at length, into North Moor, directly in the rear of the King's army. Unluckily for the Duke, at this juncture, a piftol was fired by fome perfon unknown, which alarming the enemy, they foon put themselves in a pofture to receive the attack. "The action began on Monday morning, between one and two of the clock, and continued near an hour and a half. Sixteen only of the King's foldiers were killed (as appears from a memorandum, entered at the time, in the parish register at Wefton) five of whom were buried in Wefton Church, and eleven in Wefton church-yard. Above one hundred were wounded, and among them Louis Chevalier de Mifiere, a French gentleman, who died of his wounds, and lies buried in the church of Middlezoy. On the part of the Duke three hundred were killed |