mination of that vaft receptacle, Weftminfter abbey, I remember but one in ftance of the mixture of two kinds of archite&lure; which is Edward the Confeflor's tomb, where the bafe is a kind of Gothick, and the top quite Greciar, In the Poet's Corner there is a recefs much decorated, with an altar-tomb thruft as it were in one corner, the fides and top encircled with arches, &c.; and this may ferve as an illufuation of what I have fated as my opinion of the tomb in queftion, that it was once quite Gothick. Not one of a confiderable number of drawings of monuments from different parts of the country, which were made by me in the courte of laft fummer, afford any ipecimen of a mixture; not that I mean to infinuate there is none; your correfpondent, no doubt, has feen fuch. Still, I think, it had been better avoided. I have given the bas-reliefs, fig. 4, 5. That of the Crucifixion cannot be miftaken. The other appears to be the marriage of St. Catharinet, as the figure kneeling has drapery. St. John is frequently reprefented naked, and gene. rally fending. The infant has, I conjc Aure from the attitude, been feated on the knees of the Virgin. But why the marriage of St. Catharine thould have been placed here is not to be otherwife accounted for, than that it is a remain of fome more antient ftructure. It is fo placed as to lead one to fuppofe its prefervatim was the principal motive in the architect, as it has no connexion whatever with the general plan of the budding. In concluding, I muft beg your readers to forgive any thing in the above that may appear like pofitive affertion, as I diiclaim it. Yours, &c, J. P. MALCOLM. By Hufband's Bofworth, Mr. URBAN, July 15. TRANSLATION has lately ap, A peared of the beautiful poem Ververt; or, the Parrot of Nevers; from the French, by Monf. Greffet. many this tranflation is attributed, with great confidence, to the learned author of " The Holy Bible faithfully trendated from conected Texts of the OrigiYet there feems to be nals," &c. &c. reafon for queitioang whether the tranflator of Grettet's poem be alfo the tranflator of the Bible. The latter, it is * Does not Mr. Malcolm here defcribe EDIT. Chaucer's monument? Is it not rather the adoration of the Mag, the three reduced to one? EDIT. well-known, is a Roman Catholic clergyman. And with this circumstance it is hardly poffible to reconcile feveral affertions of the tranflator of Ververt. For my part, I know no Roman Catholic clergyman capable of afferting, that Agnus Dei's are kept as a fort of talifman by the devout of the Romish church;" or that "the recital of the 130th Pfalm is fuppofed by Catholicks to have a particular efficacy in libera. ting fouls from purgatory." Thefe affertions, if they are true when confined to the ignorant, are certainly not true if extended to the well-educated and wellThe inftructed Roman Catholicks. character of Dr. Geddes, for precision of fentiment, and accuracy of language, would never have fuffered him to exprefs himfelf fo incorrectly and fo unqualifiedly to the difadvantage of his Catholic brethren. But, what renders it the most incredible, that Dr. Geddes is the tranflator of Ververt, is the account which the tranflator gives in the following lines of a Popith indulgence: By which, as ev'ry theologue can tell, The greatest rogue may 'fcape not only hell, But ev'n that purging fire and tranfient pain, Which fouls not perfectly contrite sustain In the next world.” was This picture of a Romish indulgence is fo unfaithfully distorted, that it is impoffibile it thould be the work of a Roman Catholic clergyman. None of this profeifion ever taught, or taught, that "a rogue may efcape helt" through the benefit of an indulgence *. It is coufeffed by the author of the tranflation, Preface, p. 8, that he has fometimesexpanded the author'sthoughts by additions that feemed to arife naturally from the fabje, fuch as, he is confident, Greffet himself would not have difapproved of in an English tranf lation. What! would Greffet have approved of additions made to his poem, in which a fiife, invidious, and defamatory account is held out to the publik of one of his religious tenets? I appeal with the utmoft confidence to Dr. Geddes, to know whether he above lines are fuch as either Geffet would have approved of, or fuch as he himself would have written, with out a moft malicious, becaule wiltul, mitrep elon *The Englih Catholicks are much in debted to the liberality of Mr Urban for his candid infertion of Roman Catholic Principles in vol. LVII; where an accurate ft te ment of the Roman Catholic doctrine concerning an indulgence may be found. tation tation of the Roman Catholic doctrine of an indulgence? The truth feems to be, that the tranflator of Greffet either knew not, or, if he knew, defigned to disfigure, the religion of his author, by a method as injurious to Roman Catholicks as it is difhonourable to himself. Yours, &c. LEICESTRENSIS. Mr. URBAN, FOR Bath, Aug. 4. OR the fatisfaction of SCRUTATOR, p.627, I fend you a paragraph from the Bath Chronicle of the 1ft inft. The account alluded to appeared originally in the fame paper of June 27. H.W. "The private belonging to the Shropshire militia, who, in June latt, was inftantaneously deprived of the ufe of his limbs, on uttering a profane with, to corroborate a falfehood, which he had afferted refpecting the riots at Birmingham, and was admitted a patient in the General Hofpital in this city, was, a few days fince, bleffed with a perfect recovery, which took place as inftantaneously as his afflićtion,foon after his leaving the warm bath*." Mr. URBAN, TH Aug. 9. HERE are many fine-fpun theories (and fome that have lately occupied your valuable pages) which it would be abfurd to fuppofe practicable. I fcarcely need at this time, as you have fo lately dropt the fubject, fay I mean the planting of trees on the edges of canals, which one of your learned correfpondents propofed (from his fludy, to be fure); for, had he written from the fide of a canal, he would have feen it impracticable. He propofes to plant them on the edge of the canal, and yet talks of a towing-path. In fuch cafe, the trees would be a bar to the rope, and therefore impracticable. Nor are we, Mr. Urban, under any fuch fraits, for the planting and raifing of timber, at our time of day, when fuch liberal encouragement is given, not only for hip-timber, but every other ufeful kind, by the worthy and noble Society for the Encourage. ment of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. If the propofer of the plan replies, the trees may be planted on one fide of the canal, and the boats may be towed on the other; I beg leave, in anfwer, to fay, that, in general, the proprietors of the canals have no property *We doubt whether this will give fatif. faction to Scrutator; and the rather, as we learn from a correfpondent, who has lately been in Warwickshire, that the whole story is treated as a fiction. Indeed, we never ould discover the cubono of it. EDIT, but on one fide of the faid waters, on which they have a graveled path, inclofed by a hedge. This is the plan of the canal from the Trent to the Merfey, and, I fuppofe, of the reft. The landholders had, no doubt, a valuable confideration for their land fo cut; out the fari.ers had no abatement in their rents, as I have been told; the convenience of water for their cattle and houfchold having been judged an ample compenfation, especially as it enabled them to fill up the pits of water in their grounds which before ferved for that purpose. The gentleman who writes from Witney may fee a very good bufi of Charles the Firft in Hammersmith church, put up by Sir Nicholas Crifp, or family. T.O. Mr. URBAN, July 23. MR. Mavor, in his "New Defcrip tion of Blenheim," Ipcaking of the fountain lately fet up in the gardens, fays, "In the centre of an elegant, capacious bafon, where dolphins feem to fport, ftands the bafe, formed of a species and thrown together in rude pomp, with of porous ftone, permeable by the water, an arch from Eaft to Weft, in which are marble figures of a lion [fanding to drink] and tea-horle couchant, probably fome of the original adjuncts of the river-gods that recline on the fides above. There are tour in number. They are fculptured in marble, with a delicacy and expreffion fcarcely to be furpassed, and are ufually fuppofed to reprefent the Nile, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Tiber. This appropriation is evidently wrong in fome; but, as they have few characteristic appendages, it is not eafy to offer a certain difcrimination, nor, perhaps, was it ever intended. allution is to the antique, the veiled fi If the gure may pofiibly be the Danube *, or the Nile; that with the right leg refting the Negro features the Niger; the other on an oar the Tiber; the figure with "On an antient medal of Trajan the Danube is depicted having its head covered with a veil. Danubius penitus caput occultatus moris fluo. AUSON. Epig. iv. The river Tiber is reprefented in the Vatihair and features fufficiently mark the Niger. can at Rome refting his leg on an oar; the The other has no particular characteristick here; but, in a print of the original fountain at Rome, the palm-tree is placed near: and we are told the Indus fhould be drawn with a pleafing countenance, which fo far correfponds with the application." the Indus. On the fquare pedeftal of an obelifk of white marble is the fubfequent infcription, in four different languages, Latin, Greek, Italian, and Spanish; letting forth, that this fine piece of fculpture, the laft work of Bernici, and a copy from the maga fi ent fountain in the Piazza Navona at Rome, was a prefent from the Spanish ambatf-dor at the Papal court to the firft duke of Marlborough. It has only been recently erected, and, during the many years it lay neglected, was much damaged, and part of it loft" (p. 101-103). Not to criticile Mr. M's account with too great feverity, I am furprifed he was not aware that Bernini defigned tefe four ftatues, which fupport the fine Egyptian obelisk tound, under the pontificate of Innocent IV, in the circus of Caracalla, to reprefen: the four great rivers of the four quarters of the world. For Europe he would certainly chufe the Danube, for Afia the Ganges, for Africa the Nile, and for America the Rio del Plata. He has moft happily adapted the feveral characteriflicks, or emblems: Danube and Nile are strictly claffical; the one frung with his car, extending his hands, which fupport the Papal arms furrounded with cornucopia, the hole drinking under his feet; the other concealing his head, which it was referved tor Mr. M's countryman to unveil. At the back of this figure were the palm-tree and lotus, productions of Egypt. The American rivergod fits on a heap of gold coin and has a broad rich bracelet on his left leg, and rings in his ears, and lifts up his eyes and left band in furp.ize, as if first made known to the left of the world; a large ferpent crawling down a rock behind. Thefe four figures may be seen in Rolli's Collection of statues, Pom. 1704, pl. 97, 98, 99, 100, and the following defcription of them in the " Voyage en Italie, 1765-6," IV. 107: "The great foun-tain in the middle of the Piazza Navona is after Bernini, and is his fineft defign. It reprefents the four largest rivers in the world, the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile, and the Piata. ficting on the four extremities of a reck, which fupports the obelisk, and from its four fides difcharges four rivers of water, not indeed very full ftreams, but well difpofed. The cavity of this rock exhibits a cavern, whence a lion and horfe iffue to drink, atributes of Europe and Africa, and executed by Lazzaro Morelli. Over two of the fides of the entrance of this cavern are the arms of Pope Pamphili. On the top of the rock is a large pedeftal, whereon ftands the obe ifk. The whole piece of machinery is very beauti ful, and to contrived as to give the obe lifk greater elevation; the fculpture is excellent, and more correct than Ber nini's ufual manner; the palm-tree is well placed, and ferves to characterise one of the rivers, which are all of a 1pirited and great defign, and derived from the antique, and were executed by Claudio Francefe Baralta, G acomo Antonia Fancelli, and A.tonio Raggi. They are of marble; the rocks of Tiburtine stone, and the obelisk and pedestal of red gra nie." Mr. Richardfon*, whofe father had a model of the fountain, by Camillo Rufs coni, fays, there is a very entertaining account of it in Baldinucci's Life of Benini. The arms on one fide of the base of this obelisk are, Under a coronet, in a bordure of lions and caftles, per faltite, two baskets and five... Against the Eaft wall of the South aile a tablet for John Cowley, D.D. 1709: his daughter, dame Sufanna Kneller: John Cowley, offi. cial of Lincoln, his fon, 1722, aged 50: Thomas Cowley, efq. 1776, aged 70. By the South door is a brasslefs flab, with a crofs with a double quatrefoil on the top, in the centre of which is a figure of a faint, crowned *. To this crofs (which is engraved in the Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain, vol. I. pl. IV. fig. 8) of croffes kneeled two Imall figures with labels. Over the South door: This ile rebuilt A.D. 1789. } church-wardens, Richard Brakspear William James At the bottom of it are the donations, fronting the Eaft window, over an old wooden door, with an angel in the pediment, leading into the record-room. They are continued all along the South aile. The church was beautified in 1736. In the pier, or entrance into the changel, are two flits, or openings. In the Eaft window of the North aile: A. a mullet of 6 points G. pierced O. Az. 2 pikes hauriant; on a chief G. a plates. Barry of 8 O. and G. A. a fefs in chief 2 eftoiles G. or S. In the rich tracery faints. Near this place was buried the remains of WILLIAM HAYWARD, of Shrewsbury, architect, in the 42d year of his age, who contracted for building the bridge over the river Thames in this town, but died here before he had began upon the work, which has been fince erected after the design of that truly ingenious man. The Weft tower of the church is built In the South wall of this aile, against of flints, embattled, and furmounted at the altar, the upper part of the two rich falls; one formerly held the holy water bafon, or piscina. Here are bratslefs flabs for a man and three wives, two at his right hand; two fhields above; three groupes of children and two plates below. Against the North wall is a mural monument for Lady Elizabeth Periam, wife of Henry Doyley; and others. Her fiyure cumbent, in a ruff, and plaired gown, and borders of roles down the front of her mantle, leaning her right elbow on a cushion, and holding in her left hand a book. G. in chief A. 3 eftoiles S. quartering Barry of 6 0. and Az a bend G. with a crefcent of difference. Over her this infcription, in capitals: MEMORIE SACRUM DIGNISSIMÆ DOMIN DOMINA ELIZABETHÆ * Such an one, with the figure of St. Faith, is on the tomb of John Muliho, in Newton church, Northamptonshire. the four corners by four round embattled turrets, like thofe on Luton church and St. Peter's church at St. Albans. The whole building prefents a neat and handfome appearance, fituate at the East end and near the entrance of the town, at the bottom of a hill, up which runs a handfome ftrect, whence vou have a beautiful view of the oppofire bank of the Thames, and the fteep hill lowered by the ingenuity of the Rev. Mr. Gainfborough (of whom fee vol. LV. p. 932, LVI. 45. 363), who lies buried, with his wit at the North-eaft corner of his meeting-houfe, in the South Street, within the yard, and the infcription over them inferted in the wall of the meetinghoofe: To the memory of MARY wife of the Rev. HUMPHREY GAINSBOROUGH, who died 27 Oct. 1775, aged 64 See Bridges, 11. 242. Alfo good inn, the Red Lion, and in the centre of the town another, the Bell, kept by Mr Tripp; oppofite to which is a chapel, built for a Methodist congregation, but now converted into a fonecutter's op. On the North fide of the fret leading to the church is an old ftone gateway, whofe arch confifts of five mouldings, the oute:moft formed of roundels, the fecond of nailhead quatrefoils, the third is round, the fourth a forned with twelve birds' hears, a at Ifley and Burford in this county; the fifth, or thermott, is round and plain. The pillars round, with foliage on the capitals. With in, on the left, are two wooden doors, like college butteries. Sme of your antiquarian correfpondents may perhaps inform you whether this was a religious foundation or fome anti nt hofpital." At BENSINGTON, on the road from Henley to Oxford, I took the following notes in the church. Bigge generof et obiit ferto die menfis Julii anno.... At the Eaft end of the North aile are the tables of benefactors. The nave reas on three pointed arches with round pillars, and the two Wefternmoft round pillars have flowered capi.als. The font is plain, fhaped like a cup on a shaft. Under the finging-gallery, against the North-weft pillar, this infcription: M. S. labours they left bodies For the fruit of their inn here, built at their own charge, one only two daughters. Their fon being liberally bred in the Univerity of Oxford, thought himself bound to erect this fmall monument of In the church are two heavy tombs in memory of THOMAS GRANTHAM, builder, of Wardour Street, Sohe, an industrious carefull father, who died in 1781, aged 72. I am tired of life; and, wou d the Fates recall My former years, and spread the bloom of youth [its forrows, Gay o'er the fe cheeks, where Agenas plough'd I'd throw them back their favours, and refute Again to trudge beneath the load of life, And beat the circle of perpetual woe. the end of his edition of Roper's Life of * So Bearne, in occafional remarks at More, 1726, 8vo. p. 261. + Severa. H. William |