"You shall sec, directly," returned Lewis, divest-partly himself swam forward, till his feet touched ing himself of his coat, waistcoat, and neckcloth.

was not heard till after the Restoration. Pepys tells us the legends of their several districts; and perhaps that it was very finely argued; and that the ladies of Christmas-tide is no where spent more in character than the Dorset family took a lively interest in the pro- within the walls of Sackville College. Lord De la ceedings. Finally, Clarendon's decision cut off rather Warr, whose bounties to the college have been, and more than a third of the college revenue. At present, are, most noble, at that season not only contributes therefore, the college is such as I have described it, to the festivities, but delights to share them; and on and is governed by a warden and two assistant-war-Michaelmas-day, when the anniversary of the college dens, householders, resident in or near the town. It is kept, he always dines in the hall. On every Sunday, has a singularly collegiate aspect. The style is Eliza- and at the principal festivals, the brethren and sisters, bethan. It was founded in 1609 by Robert Sack- and five or six poor people from the town, dine with ville, second Earl of Dorset, an ancestor of the present the warden and his family in this hall: these dinners Lord De la Warr, to the liberality of which latter are given by voluntary contribution, the reduced funds nobleman and of Lord Amherst, the patrons, and to of the college not extending to this object, and they the taste of the Rev. John Mason Neale, the warden, are a heavy expense to the warden. The good warden (a name well known in literature) it owes the exten- is not forgetful to season all with Scripture; and sive restorations which are now proceeding. It was accordingly the hall is graced with texts, in illumichartered by King Charles I. in the year 1631; a cor-nated letters. At the wall tie, at the cast end, we porate seal was granted; and the statutes, drawn up read, "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage after the death of the founder by Lord William How-supper of the Lamb;" on the screen is, “The poor ard and Sir George Rivers, were confirmed and authorized by Act of Parliament.

shall eat, and be satisfied, and they who seek the Lord shall praise Him." Over the founder's portrait, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." These are in Latin, according to the practice of the time when the college was founded: but they are explained to the inmates.

pected, there is, and is to be, abundance of Scripture.

The Lords' Committee met for the first time, April 15, 1624; and among those of whom it was composed, Archbishop Abbott stands first. It thus, very probably, suggested to him his own foundation at Guildford. But to return to the spot itself. You The chapel is in course of perfect restoration: the enter a quaint grey quadrangle, in which the hall and chancel walls are graced with encaustic tiling, and chapel are immediately conspicuous. Directly before hangings in the style of the period; a handsome roodyou is the escutcheon of the founder, quarterly, or screen has been erected, and good open oak seats put and gules, a bend vair, supported between two leo-in. Instead of a deal dome and a cracked bell, an oaken pards, with his motto, "Aut nunquam tentes, aut belfry, to contain three musical bells (two of which perfice," encouragement at once and warning to the are given by the warden, and the other re-cast at his diligent restorer. The walls are clothed with flower- expense), is in course of erection, to be surmounted ing creepers, and in a corner of the court is a well, by a leopard carrying a banner of the Sackville arms. encased in a most tasteful framework, the design of I mention the belfrey there, as being especially conMr. Neale, covered with flowers, and surrounded by nected with the chapel, though, in fact, it is to be two inscriptions in uncial letters, "Whosoever drink-placed over the hall. In the chapel, as might be exeth of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall Among the curious things preserved in the college, never thirst:" and, "O ye wells, bless ye the Lord; are,-a Pass, signed by Prince Maurice, then with praise him and magnify him for ever." The hall, the Western Army, to John Culleford, father of a which the late warden, a respectable tradesman of the subsequent warden, 1643; an autograph of Lord parish, made his lumber-room, is now in course of be- Clarendon's, fixing the day for hearing the Chancery coming completely collegiate. The old open oak roof suit in which the college was interested; and a good has been exactly restored, with its three bays, with many letters written by the Earl of Dorset, the wit collar, collar-brace, strut, and spandril, with pend- of Charles II.'s court, to the then warden. But the ants, as in Eltham Palace. Oak panelling is placed charm of every part of the establishment is its execedalong the walls, which were formerly white-washed; ing completeness. The spectator is carried back to the hearth, which is capable of holding the whole the age of the founder; nothing, at least, occurs, as establishment, some of the older or infirmer mem-in almost every building we have seen beside, to mar bers being accommodated with seats in the ample chimney, is floored with ornamental encaustic tiles, (a present from the Marchioness of Salisbury,) and a handsome gothic stone chimney-piece is in preparation. The old fire-place had been blocked up: but now the good "collegians" may keep Christmas after the olden fashion. There is room on those old "dogs," and in front of that noble old cast-iron escutcheon of the Sackvilles, for the stateliest yule log that ever warmed body or heart. Here the worthy ancients may relate and compare the adventures of their youth, and recite

that illusion. The restoration is in the most perfect taste; and it is not a mere restoration of timber and stone,-it is a true resuscitation of the simple and kindly feelings and habits of our forefathers—the day devoted to that lawful repose which honest and dili- | gent old age has earned by labour and usefulness, and consecrated by daily religion after the sober and sublime ritual of the English Church.' Then we have

(1) The following was the order of the services; (there were also prayers every day at 10 p. m.)

friendly association, innocent mirth, temperate fes- | the ebbing hours of life in peace, comfort, leisure to tivity at due times and high occasions, cordial inter-prepare them for the impending eternal change, and course of high and low, rich and poor, pastoral affection means to improve their leisure effectively—where the and oversight. These are things which we rarely find warden is required to be in holy orders, a man of together in these days, and are surely no less beau- | simple, earnest mind, "apt to teach," affectionate, and tiful than rare. Whoso will see them, let him go to "an ensample to the flock;" or where, at least, a Sackville College, and, unless he be very insensible chaplain of such a description is provided, and the indeed, or very prejudiced, he will not, I opine, turn warden must be a man of sound education and inaway without a grateful prayer for the noble patrons tegrity. and the pious warden; nor will he pass the memory of the good founder without a grateful recollection; nor will he, I apprehend, be unvisited with some thoughts, which, at all events, appeared to me to arise so spontaneously from what I had been witnessing, that I felt they must be obvious to any spectator. But as spectators are, I believe, not numerous, I will offer my meditations to the reflection of those who may be disposed to enlarge them on the spot.

The amount of blessings diffused by an institution of this kind it is not easy, perhaps it is impossible, to estimate. It is one of those things of which no idea can well be formed until the time when "there is nothing covered which shall not be revealed, neither hid which shall not be known." Yet we may hazard some conjectures about it. We would presume that the generality of persons to be benefited by such establishments would be such as had passed life, or, at least, the greater part of a long life, in quiet respectability. Alms-colleges ought not to be pênitentiaries, in the ordinary sense of the word-they ought not to be retreats for aged criminals and exhausted reprobates. They should be tokens of approval for services rendered while strength subsisted, and means of improving leisure for those who showed they needed the means only. In this point of view, how much honour would result to diligent life and devout old age! how much encouragement would be afforded to the laborious and faithful! Few, no doubt, would attain the prize: but the advantage of prizes is, that, for one individual rewarded, there are innumerable encouraged and benefited. No person conversant with the poor can fail to remark how much they descant on the disposition prevailing among the wealthy to reward poverty rather than merit-to look at distress rather than to investigate its cause: and nothing can be more frequent than the observation, "If I had been as drunken and wretched as should have found friends; but, because I have lived hard, and laboured honestly, and my poor cottage has a flower or two without, and a clean chair and table within, and I wear clean and entire apparel, I am thought well off, and they pass me by." And is there no truth in this? Is not squalid and importunate wretchedness often an effective claim to compassion, when it is the very testimony of crime?-while the poor peasant, who is toiling unrepiningly day by day, and pinching himself and those dearer to him, that he may eat an independent crust, and enjoy clean attire and a clean habitation, is thought too comfortable to be interfered with by charitable intrusion. This is not only grievous injustice, but it is a direct stimulant to discontent and criminality, and a proportionate discouragement to virtuous industry. Whatever operates against such a perversion must be beneficial; and this is eminently the case with almshouses such as have been described. And then, let us look within them. 9 a.m. I have said, almshouses ought not to be penitentiaries, in the ordinary sense of the word. But where is the life-the long life, especially-that needs not penitence? Even the respectable labourer may have

Amidst all our improvements, then, in locomotion, facility of intercourse, scientific discovery, and many other boasts of the age, which I would ungrudgingly yield to it, we are surely the inferiors of our ancestors in some points, and those even of no mean importance. If we surpass them in the external and material, and even the intellectual, we are greatly behind them in the spiritual. We have strangely lost sight of the most important fact connected with man's nature-his spirituality; and the most important connected with our own destiny-our responsibility. Not that we are without societies, or speeches, or even subscriptions-all good in their way; but the personal contact of soul with soul,-the individualizing, if I may so speak, of charitable operations, is a thing little known in "our enlightened times." We hear of tribes converted, of spiritual deserts reclaimed; but we see not the effects of our bounty, if such we may name it, in comparison of what elder times were wont to do. Such a place as Sackville College is perhaps wholly unlike any establishment that has arisen in the present century, with the exception of Mrs. Partis's college at Bath; and even that differs from it in the essential distinction of the station of its inmates: "Jubilee Almshouses," and "Reform Almshouses," and institutions innumerable deriving their names from special occurrences, have no affinity with Sackville College. They are raised by the subscriptions of persons who never know anything afterwards either of the institution or the inhabitants; nor have they any other than temporal provision. We hear nothing-we should be but too glad to hear-of landed proprietors expend ing a portion of their wealth on asylums where the poor who have cultivated their lands may spend

Sundays

Saints' Days.

Holy Communion

To Parish Church

9 a. m. 11 a. m. p.m.

9

a.m. 11 a.m.

Prayers and Sermon in chapel 6
Morning Prayers.
Holy Communion
Prayers and Sermon

Wednesdays and Fridays-Morning Prayers.

Ordinary Days

"

Litany

Evening Prayers

Morning Prayers.

Evening ditto

6 p.m.

11 a.m.

6 p. m.

9 a.m.
6 p. m.

where both see more of each other, and that under the most favourable circumstances. The diffusion of feelings like these would ameliorate all classes. Our great men would feel that, even for the pleasure realized to themselves, it would often be more prudent to expend their time and money on the comforts of the deserving poor, than to waste large sums in foreign travel and domestic luxury: while the poor would be predisposed to regard with a kind of filial reverence those against whom, because they know them not, they are now readily incited by any mischievous and ignorant declaimer.

thought little of religion; his education has been [who are of the truest independence of spirit; and very imperfect-his time has been very much employed: he has attended, diligently, the services of the Church, nor have they been without their blessings; but he has not sounded the depths of her services, or been able, through want of intellectual cultivation, to appropriate all her instructions. He needs, and often desires-but needs most where he desires least-some man to guide him. It is a glorious work, well worthy an immortal labouring for brother immortals, to supply the aged labourer with the means of knowledge, guidance, penitence, and consolation; and the comfort which is really experienced in this respect can only be estimated by those who have witnessed the feelings of the almspeople in regard to the daily service. The Church, it has been well said, is the poor man's library. It is this, as well as much more. We cannot search the heart-but, surely, it is but charity to conclude that the appearance of devotion implies the reality, where there is no presumption to the contrary. The week-day prayers of Sackville College, thus tested, vastly distance the well-frequented Sunday services of those fashionable chapels, whose votaries would revolt from extra-sabbatical religion as from Baalim and Ashtaroth. The shepherd of the little flock, thus constantly brought before his charge, knows his sheep, and is known and loved of them. Each feels that he has a friend, to whom, if he has a question to propound, he may have recourse with perfect confidence in his knowledge and affection-each feels that the most trying of hours will come to him amid instruction, support, and intercession; and that his bones will await the resurrection under the prayers and blessings of the Church. It is impossible that such feelings and such anticipations should not be in the highest degree favourable to the kindliest affections. They lead the poor man, through the love of his pastor, his patron, and his fellow almsfolk, to that of "all human race,"--the love of whom in the abstract, and unembodied in that of our "neighbour," is worse than a chimera. Nor is this sentiment confined within the walls. Such institutions are living witnesses for the rich to the poor, and speak with a testimony which no sophistry can undermine in the plain and guileless heart.

It is in institutions like Sackville College that the true equality of mankind is most visibly and beneficially upheld: a principle as sacred as the spurious equality contended for by some unhappy nations is wild and impious. The consistency of unequal ranks with the equal regard of all in the eye of the Creator of all, before whom there is no inequality but that which results from the demeanour of each individual in the station wherein Providence has placed him, is never more truly or more engagingly exhibited than when the heir of generations and titles finds happiness in sitting down at the table and the hearth with the nameless sons of the soil-coheirs, however, with him in titles which shall be eternal; and when the poor man delights in the sympathy of an honoured aristocracy, whom none are so forward to honour as they

Among the many and obvious advantages which the institution of manorial almshouses would bring to the nobility and landed gentry, we should not lose sight of some which, though less obtrusive, are not less substantial. The sympathy with other classes of mankind-the tie of affection hallowing that of interest, in binding them to the people among whom their domains lie, and whose labour is their wealththese things are at once moral improvements, and extensions of happiness-things, indeed, in their nature inseparable. "Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also." And when the treasure of our great men, like that of the Church of old, shall consist of Christ's poor, there too will their hearts be; and residence on their estates will be rest and blessedness. Nor should the prayers of the poor, or their blessings on his memory, be undervalued by any Christian. God is daily praised in Sackville College for the memory of its founder, and prayer is daily offered for its present patron. The blessing of such prayer is not an object of human computation; but it is not less true or ample for being above that.

I am not writing a dissertation on the poor-law-a subject quite unsuited to these pages; but it is impossible for any observer of Sackville College not to contrast it with the Union Workhouse-not to contrast the simple and sufficient meal for each, with the regulated dietary for all-the college weekly festival, with the slight variety of the workhouse Sunday board; to say nothing of other festivals, even Christmas itself, scarcely recognised in workhouse wallsthe quiet separate college apartments, with the crowded workhouse wards-the handsome chapel, aiming in all its arrangements to be as little unworthy as possible of its most exalted destination, with the slovenly unhallowed room, adapted at a few minutes' notice for worship-the hall with-but all the rest is beyond even contrast. Union-houses may be, sometimes doubtless are, all that can be reasonably expected from the proceeds of a compulsory rate-particularly from a rate levied to relieve the most undeserving as well as the opposite class-neither should workhouses be objects of desire to the poor; but still they do, by their very contrast, afford us some measure of ascertaining the vast inferiority of compulsory provisions to those of pure voluntary charity.

Thoughts like these, which I have endeavoured to class and analyze, were the fruit of one visit to Sack

ville College; but there are some feelings which defy classification and analysis, simply because they belong to that part of our nature which waits its development—which at present sees" through a glass darkly," and must be content to feel without the ability to depict. But I have never breathed an atmosphere more charged with such feelings, than that of the courts of Sackville College. All about me seemed to tell of vanishing time, of coming eternity, of calm, patient, hopeful waiting. There was a symbolism in the very walls, grass, and flowers; and, lest the spectator should miss it, a deep and pious mind had brought it out everywhere in the very words of inspired truth.

One thing now alone remains to be said. It is a bold wish, but nothing impossible-(the centenarian oak sprang from an acorn, and imperial Rome from a few mud cottages)—that these rambling observations may induce one reader to rear a Sackville College. It would be a good work, and good works are suggested by Him who can employ this weak pen to suggest them no less efficaciously than the eloquence of the most highly gifted. And, next to the privilege of being the founder, would be that of the promoter of a new Sackville College, or a supporter of the oldfor it needs support-the liberality of the patrons and warden are taxed in addition to its other resources. But, reader, AUT NUNQUAM TENTES, AUT PERFICE."1

REMARKABLE LITERARY IMPOSTURES.

BY FREDERICK LAWRENCE.
No. III.

THOMAS CHATTERTON.

IN devoting this paper to an examination of the most remarkable literary forgery of modern times, the

writer cannot but feel that he is in a situation of some

embarrassment. The genius of Chatterton has found so many admirers, and so much has been written respecting every incident of his life, that it becomes a task of no ordinary difficulty, from the abundance of accessible material, to construct and condense a satisfactory sketch of his singular career and world-famous imposture. By the side of the Rowley poems, all other literary fabrications shrink into insignificance; and the more attentively they are examined, the more vehement will be our feelings of admiration and asto

nishment.

uneventful life is full of incidents painfully interesting and instructive: and few who have directed their attention to the study of the human mind—its innate principles and secret workings-would pass it by without serious and solemn reflection. The precocious developement of his faculties imbued him in early youth with the feelings and aspirations of manhood. His character was full of incongruities. He was at once wilful, arrogant, and obstinate-amiable, gentle, and affectionate. From his childhood he lived, and moved, and breathed in a world of his own. A brother apprentice has related that there was "generally a dreariness in his look, and a wildness, attended with a visible contempt for others;" and an old female relation, according to Warton, has stated that "he talked very little, was very absent in company, and used very often to walk by the river side, talking to himself, and flourishing his arms about." Some of his biographers have not hesitated to affirm that there was the taint of insanity in his constitution; thus, as Mr. Southey remarks, "affording a key to the eccentricities of his life, and the deplorable rashness of his death."

At the time of his death Chatterton was but seventeen years and ten months old. But what were the results of this short life? He had not only produced a collection of poems, which exhibit a ripeness of fancy and a warmth of imagination far beyond any effort of the frigid age in which he lived, but by a skilfully executed fraud had given rise to a controversy in which the keenest intellects eagerly engaged. Nor can it be said that the depth and variety of antiquarian information and research displayed in this memorable dispute-by Warton and Malone especially on one side, and Jacob Bryant on the other-were entirely thrown away. If the exhibition of learning and the zeal of the combatants appear disproportioned to the importance of the subject, it must, at any rate, be admitted that the Rowley controversy roused for a time the dormant spirit of literary inquiry, and facilitated the introduction of stricter canons of criticism, and more rigid principles of analysis.

Chatterton's first forgery, although of the nature of an innocent hoax-a mere schoolboy's trick-is deserving of some little attention, as illustrating in a striking manner not merely his profound skill in the art of deception, but his ready insight into human character, and quick perception of individual weaknesses and peculiarities. A pewterer of Bristol, named The leading features of Chatterton's life may be Burgum, had taken some notice of him, and, whilst condensed into a short compass. He was born at treating him as a mere boy, had encouraged a degree Bristol-educated at the Free-school there-appren- of intimacy which gave Chatterton an opportunity of ticed to an attorney-became disgusted with his pro- practising on his credulity. He soon found that fession-sought his fortune in London, and after a Burgum was a vain man, and just the person to be short and miserable career as a literary hack, died— tickled and inflated with the pride of ancestry: so he by his own hand. It is true that this apparently set to work and deduced his pedigree from one of the From documents (1) Since the above was written, the hall of Sackville College Companions of the Conqueror. has been publicly opened, with much rural and characteristic which he pretended to have discovered in the muniin the hall. There is a good account of the ceremony in the ment room of the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, he "Churchman's Companion" for last November, and a good en-compiled a history of the "De Bergham" family; and furthermore produced a poem, entitled "The Romaunt

festivity. A band of music attended, and about 100 persons dined

graving of the College itself in the December number of the same work.