"I think Mr. Brooke's corrections of great use, though I have not yet seen any pedigrees printed perfect. "I thank you for your hint respecting Alsborough and Austin's Ac or Oak; the former is a farm and small manor in the parish of Pershore, and the latter I suppose to be in Gloucestershire, and shall notice them both in proper place. "Taylor's Maps of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire I have procured for you, and they wait your orders. "What think you of the Charters published as Appendix to each parish? are not some of them needless, and do they not tend to swell the work too much? would it be better to leave them out, or print them in a smaller type? T. NASH. "I beg my compliments to all your family; and am, dear Sir, your most obedient and obliged humble servant, "The Map of Birmingham is published." 16. "DEAR SIR, Aug. 6, 1779. "Yesterday I received a letter from our friend Mr. Brooke, the contents of which I beg leave to lay before you, and request your opinion. After some preamble he says: 'You must be very sensible how much of my time will be employed in this work; nor can I estimate it, including the fees paid to the office for copying out pedigrees, without disadvantage to myself, at a less sum than £.100; and I must also beg leave to assure you, that I do not look upon this as a full indemnification for my loss of time, was it not that I shall in some measure be recompensed by the pleasure I receive from such works. Should you not choose to comply with these terms, what I have already done for you is much at your service; and I wish it may be a means of enabling you and the printer to proceed with the remainder on the like plan.' "If you remember, you and I had some conversation upon this subject before Mr. Brooke was applied to; and believe our ideas differed somewhat from the proposal above-mentioned. I had no intention of employing him to draw up the History, as he calls his employment in another part of his letter, but only to examine the heraldical part, and see there was no false Latin, —I mean false heraldry. I beg pardon for giving you this additional trouble; but should be much obliged to you for your opinion before I give Mr. Brooke any answer. "A very exact Map of Worcester City is now engraving; I will take care to secure you a copy. The Map of the County shall be sent up with the next parcel that is sent to Mr. Nichols. "I am, dear Sir, your most obedient and obliged humble servant, T. NASH." 17. "DEAR SIR, Bevere, Aug. 22, 1779. "I am very sorry you have had so much trouble about the Claines Charters; I will again look over the original, and make it as correct as I can. "I have written a general civil letter to Mr. Brooke, without entering into any particulars. What I wished of him was only to see that there was no false heraldry; I did not wish him to arrange and write the book, as he seems to intimate, or to insert all his own MSS. which would be a great trouble indeed, and more than I could make him any satisfaction for. Copy is sent under the letters D, E, F, and G. Droitwich is not quite completed, but shall be soon. I waited in expectation of hearing from Mr. Lort, in answer to what I assert, that Lady Pakington was the supposed author of The Whole Duty of Man.' I often reflect how I can possibly make you satisfaction for the trouble you take, tenfold more than Mr. Brooke. "Inclosed in Nichols's box is a parcel for you containing the Map of Worcestershire, some views of Worcester and Hereford; if there is any thing more you think of, pray command me. "Bishop Warburton's library is on sale; it is not choice, but an awkward farrago in middling condition. "I believe the Bushels of Cleve were all gentlemen farmers, and seldom stirred out of the Vale of Evesham till lately, when the great Fettiplace estate in Oxfordshire came to them. "My house is at present full of company, and they are all talking around me; hope, therefore, you will excuse it, if this letter be unintelligible; and that you will always know me to be your most obedient and obliged humble servant, T. NASH." 18. GEORGE ROSE, Esq.* to Mr. NICHOLS. "DEAR SIR, "I will be obliged to you if you will let me have your printed copy of Domesday, which I understand you have in boards, as I want to look through the book for Mr. Bryant, respecting a matter of curiosity, which will enable me to do it at home instead of being confined to the office hours for the original. Doctor Nash will tell you I hope to give you the explanation of such words in Worcestershire Domesday as I can make any thing of by the end of next week. Pray beg he will be so good as let me see the sheet, in which he mentions the explanation, before it is worked off. I am, dear Sir, "Your faithful humble servant, GEORGE ROSE." * Afterwards Clerk of the Parliament, Treasurer of the Navy, and a Privy-councillor. 19. "DEAR SIR, March 24, 1781. "I do assure you I have bestowed every hour I could spare this week on Dr. Nash's Domesday. There are so many things to refer to, it is inconceivable how slow I go on; but I will let you have the notes as soon as I possibly can. I shall not be easy till I have done them. I am, dear Sir, "Your faithful humble servant, GEORGE ROSE." 20. "DEAR SIR, Duke-st. Westminster, April 12, 1781. "I have got through the explanation of Dr. Nash's Domesday; but I really wish to revise it before I part with it. What I have done may appear trifling; though I have been kept many days at the Chapter-house till three o'clock in referring to records, &c. for it. I am going out of town for four or five days these holidays, and return on Wednesday or Thursday; and will then put the finishing hand to the copy. If you write to the Doctor, pray tell him so. I am, dear Sir, "Your faithful humble servant, GEORGE ROSE." The Right Hon. GEORGE ROSE to Mr. NICHOLS *. "DEAR SIR, Old Palace-yard, Jan. 6, 1812. "I was not aware of an intention to publish a new edition of Pope's Works till I saw an advertisement in the Courier a few days ago. I wish you had mentioned it to me. You probably know that the late Earl of Marchmont was not only one of his most intimate and confidential friends, but his acting executor, and that I was sole executor to his lordship; in which situation I became possessed of all Mr. Pope's unpublished writings-few in number, and of no value; but I have letters of his on various subjects; notes respecting his quarrel with Lord Bolingbroke, in which Lord Marchmont was the mediator; the best portraits of Mr. Pope, of Sir William Wyndham, and Lord Bolingbroke, each of whom sat for my Lord. It must, however, be too late now to make use of any of these. I am, dear Sir, your very faithful humble servant, G. ROSE." "DEAR SIR, ANSWER. Jan. 9, 1813. "I am very much obliged by your kind favour of the 6th; and for the mention you are pleased to make of Mr. Pope's MSS. I was well aware that Lord Marchmont possessed such treasures; and that they were now your property. But the * This letter, although originating in a mistake, is considered well worthy of preservation, not only as containing some interesting information respecting very eminent individuals, but also as an instance of the considerate kind-heartedness for which Mr. Rose was distinguished, and of which Mr. Nichols received very numerous proofs. fact is, that I have never had any concern in editing Pope's Works, though I have published several editions of Swift and of Atterbury. And the edition of Pope, recently advertised, is rather an abridgement of the former ones than an improvement. My name to it is merely that of a bookseller, possessing a share in the Works of Pope. "But your letter, Sir, has suggested a new idea to me; and, if you had no material objection, I should be both glad and proud to present to the public a new volume of Pope's Correspondence and Works, as a companion to the editions of Warton and Bowles, with Engravings of the Portraits. Such a volume, or two if the materials are sufficient, if published under your sanction, could not fail of being acceptable to the public, and would be afterwards incorporated in any subsequent edition of Pope's Works. With true respect, I am, Sir, "Your much obliged and faithful servant, J. NICHOLS." JOHN CHARLES BROOKE, Esa. F.S.A. This amiable and accomplished man, and skilful herald and antiquary, was of a Yorkshire family, and was born in 1748 at Fieldhead in the parish of Silkstone near Sheffield. His father William was a Doctor of Medicine, and his mother was Alice, the eldest daughter and co-heir of William Mawhood, of Doncaster *. John Charles Brooke was their second son; and was sent to the metropolis, to be apprenticed to Mr. James Kirkby, a chemist, in Bartlet's-buildings, Holborn. But he had already acquired, perhaps inherited, a taste for historical and genealogical research; and having drawn a genealogy of the Howard family in a most masterly manner, it deservedly procured him the notice of the Duke of Norfolk, and he thus obtained an entrance into the College of Arms. He was appointed Rouge-croix Pursuivant in 1773, and promoted to be Somerset Herald in 1777; was Secretary to the Earl Marshal; and, also through the patronage of the Duke *For further particulars of his family the reader is referred to Noble's History of the College of Arms," p. 429. of Norfolk, a Lieutenant in the Militia of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Mr. Brooke made many collections, chiefly relative to the County of York. His father had inherited the MSS. of his great uncle the Rev. John Brooke, Rector of High Hoyland in Yorkshire, which had been formed as a foundation for the topography of that great division of the kingdom. These came into the hands of our industrious herald; and in the course of a few years he had greatly enlarged them by his own assiduity, and by copying the manuscripts of Jenyngs and Tilleyson, which relate to the same district *. Having been elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, April 6, 1775, he became an active contributor to the Archæologia. His first communication was intituled, "Conjectures on a Seal of Sir Richard Worsley+." His next was, "The Ceremonial of making the King's Bed;" his others," Illustration of a Saxon inscription on the Church of Kirkdale, in the North Riding of Yorkshire ;""Account of an Antient Seal of Robert Baron Fitzwalter ||; 66 Description of the Great Seals of Queen Catharine Parr and Mary d'Este, second wife of James II. ¶;" "Illustration of a Saxon inscription in Aldbrough Church in Holderness**;" "A Deed of the Manor of Nether Sittlington, co York ++." Mr. Brooke was a constant attendant on the meetings of the Society of Antiquaries, as will appear by his reports to Mr. Gough in the ensuing correspondence ‡‡.. * See a Catalogue of them in Gough's "British Topography," vol. II. pp. 397, 401. † Vol. IV. p. 182. || Ibid. p. 211. ** Vol. VI. p. 39. Ibid. p. 311. § Vol. V. It is remarkable that Mr. Gough, although holding the office of Director, seldom attended the Society's weekly meetings. This arose from his residence so far from London as Enfield. For the meetings of the Council he purposely came to London. |