The stone from which the above inscription was copied, has been broken for many years. The top part remains in the Chapel Liten, lying on the ground; but the other larger portion of it, however it might have been at first taken away, at this time serves for the ignoble purpose of a threshold at the back-door of a farm-house near the site of the ancient Hospital. It is a pity that such a venerable memorial of an ancient and honourable family, should be so neglected. The remaining part of the inscription, being trodden under foot every day, must soon be entirely obliterated. Other monumental stones have also been removed from the Chapel, and it might serve as a mortifying reflection on the perishable nature of those "frail memorials," erected to perpetuate the memory of the Great, when we see fragments of marble placed as thresholds at the doors of neighbouring cottages of the poor. At one door is a stone, with several brass nails let in with lead, which doubtless once fastened some brass tablet with an inscription to the memory of departed greatness, perhaps of Lord Sandes himself, the Founder of the Chapel.

Sepulchral columns wrestle but in vain

With all subduing time; her cank'ring hand
With calm deliberate malice wasteth them;
Worn on the edge of days, the brass consumes,
The busto moulders, and the deep cut marble,
Unsteady to the steel, gives up his charge;
Ambition, half convicted of her folly,

Hangs down the head, and reddens at the tale. BLAIR.

On another tomb to the memory of one of the Cu

faudes yet entire, is the following inscription:

Here rests

the body of John Cufaude of
Cufaude descended from the
Ancient Familie of the Cufaudes

of Cufaude in the County of
Southampton Esq. who married
Anne Hunt one of the Coheiresses
to Roger Hunt of Chawson in
the County of Bedford Esq.
Hee dyed the 23d of Nov. 1701.
Cujus anima misereatur Deus.
This Monument was dedicated
to his memory by his
loving wife.

In the adjoining burying-ground are some latin inscriptions in memory of the Blundens, of Basingstoke, none of whom are now remaining. The last Mr. William Blunden was considered as one of the richest maltsters in England, whose sole daughter and heir, Elizabeth, married, 1. Sir Charles Gunter Nickhol, K. B. and 2dly., Peregrine, third Duke of Ancaster, but died without issue by the latter, Dec. 1743. By the former she had issue Frances-Catharine, an only child, married in 1755, to the late Earl of Dartmouth, who in right of her had considerable estates in and about the town. The Countess Dowager of Dartmouth died in 1805, in her 72d year.

*

It has been said that a Mrs. Blunden was buried alive in this ground by premature interment; the boys at the school having heard a noise in the vault, which led to the discovery. A pamphlet relative to the mat

Gent. Mag. Supplement, 1787, p. 1152.

fer was printed, with the following title, which is given in Gough's "Anecdotes of British Topography, p. 187, "News from Basingstoke of one Mrs. Blunden, a Maltster's wife, who was twice buried alive; for which neglect several persons were indicted at the last assizes held at Winchester, and the Town of Basingstoke compelled to pay a great fine." An undated Pamphlet.*

The following are the inscriptions to the memory of the Blundens, the second of which may be considered as a specimen of elegant Latinity, as well as descriptive of an excellent character in a young man.

H. S. E.

Gulielmus Blunden Gen.

Hoc oppido natus Qui ab hac
Vita ad meliorem Commigravit
Decimo tertio Die Mart.

Anno D. MDCCI.
Etatis su LXVIII.

H. S. E.

GUILIELMUS BLUNDEN, GEN.

Guilielmi Blunden de Basingstoke generosi filius unicus
Novi Collegii Oxon superioris ordinis Commensalis
Florentissimæ istius Societatis grande Ornamentum,
Totius etiam Academia Delicia,

Honorabilis societatis Hospitii Graiensis studens,
Egregio admodum Ingenio, Moribus, Prudentia;
Et, quod raro alias repertum est, inter cæteras
Animi dotes Modestia singulari,

Erga Patrem pius, omnium amans, ab omnibus amatus:

If any of our readers should be in possession of this pamphlet, informa tion respecting it, addressed to the publisher of these pages, would be esteemed an obligation.

The following inscription is to the memory of the Reverend John Hook, who was Pastor to a congregation of Protestant Dissenters at Basingstoke for many years. He once preached in the church at Kingsworthy, near Winchester, from which he was ejected in the reign of Charles II. by the Act of Uniformity.

Also the Body of John White
Apothecary Who died Oct. the 1st.

AD. 1736. aged 81 years, Son of

Hugh White Apothecary of Basingstoke.

The name of the above Vicar of Harriard may lead us to introduce the mention of another Richard White, a native of this town, who was thence called Basingstokius. He was a Romish exile, and Regius Professor at Doway in the time of James the First. He wrote a "History of Britain," with valuable notes, 'from the first planting of this nation to Brute, and so on to Constantius, and Cadwallader, in eleven books,' seven of them printed at Arras, 1597, 12 mo: this history was much com mended by the learned Selden.*

There was another learned man in still earlier times, in the thirteenth century, called Basingstochius, or JOHN DE BASINGSTOKE, who assumed his sir-name from the place of his birth, as was customary with the ecclesiastics of those days. He was highly eminent for virtue and learning; for having a strong and vigorous understanding, he so improved it by study, that besides acquiring a perfect knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, he became an eloquent orator, a complete mathematician, a subtle philosopher, and a sound divine. He commenced his studies at the University of Oxford; but, for farther improvement went to Paris, where he resided some years, and afterwards travelled to Athens, "the seat of the Muses, and mother of all polite literature." Here he greatly in

* Beauties of England, &c. Vol. VI. p. 261.