a lover of Antiquity, and a friend to the artifts of his country, that he sports off the moft illiberal Philippics on part of a religious arrangement, and raifes, by a kind of profane adulation, an alien artift into fame because he was a Frenchman. What Englishman at this day fhould laud a Frenchman? Why, the reverend feribe ha done it. His own countrymen deferve but lukewarm praife, or elfe he might alfo have expreffed a wifh to know who was the fculptor that executed the fphinx, called by him a piece of masonry, as well as that of the Frenchman. His name was Benjamin Carter, of Piccadilly. I remember, when I was a boy, to have feen much of the work moulded into shape. I revere the memory of him who gave the form it now bears. I notice the above reverend tourift on no other account but for his illiberal and erroneous defcription of a religious pile, which I now advert to in continuation of my profeffional progrefs, LAYCOCK NUNNERY. At fome 12 or 14 miles to the South of Malmesbury are the remains of this feclufion, confifting of the greater part of thofe buildings which were for the accommodation of the fifterhood and others appertaining to the fervice of the church. Very faint veftiges of the church are to be difcerned. Thefe particulars will be spoken of in due order. As this nunnery was converted foon after the fuppreffion into a refidence far other than for religious ufes, of courfe many alterations were made in its walls agreeable to the change it had undergone; and in feveral inftances we fee decorations fluck about in the styles of architecture prevailing in the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles I. Thefe innovations are trifling when we come to view what has been effected both in the internal as well as the external parts of the pile, by the larding on of thofe devices which mark the firft dawnings of the Fantastic Order of Architecture, fiolen in among us fome 50 or 60 years back through the connivance of one Batty Langley*; fince which time it has been crawling over many parts of the kingdom, fometimes rearing up its brazen head, and then finking into darkness; then iffuing forth again, and then again loft in contempt and difufe. In our day this order has revived once more, ftretching out its bloated neck * See his "Gothic Architecture improved." to that extreme height of Architectural Innovation, and to that enormous bulk of defiance to Antiquity, that we who are her champions trembling wait for the direful event that bids her live or die, us to triumph or fall and be no more. Preparatory to our near approach to the nunnery a fimple (otherwife "rude") crofs attracts our fight. Well, next the outbuildings of granaries, other ftorehouses, and the first gate of entrance into the confines, are before us. Here I took a confiderable time to indulge my "mind's eye" in compofing an hiftorical fcene for fome future drawing. A fair devotée appears, at tended by her relatives; they knock at the ring; the huge gates open, and clofe on her who never fhall return. My fketch finished, I proceeded, but took the modern way towards the habitations. On my left I recognized an early friend; two Corinthian columns with their ordonnance, fupporting a fphinx. (Ye wot of this.) A modern gateway (raifed fome 50 or 60 years ago) next conducts us to the Weft front, or prefent entrance to the manfion. In no inftance did I ever note the burlefque fhew its motley garb more ridiculously than on this gate, which confifts of a pointed archway arrayed over with the French paper-machée style of pilafters, architraves, foliage, urns, and I know not what. The greater part of the Weft front of the manfion has been altered and patched out (of late years) on the villa plan, giving double flights of fieps, Chinefe doors and windows, and all the reft of fuch frippery. Whether this improvement gave pattern to fit up the orchefira, boxes, &c. at Vauxhall, or Vauxhall fhewed this ftructure what it was to be fantastical, depraved tafte alone can unravel. On the North fide of this manfion is a large court, two fides of whicn fhew many antient offices., The South fide of the manfion is the filling-in of the North wall of the North aile of the church, as is evident from the lines of windows, groins, their fpringers, &c. &c. On the height of this wall is run a gallery in the Inigo Jones manner (much of this fort of work appears in many parts of the pile). This particular would, if common fenfe did not, convince to the contrary, what an improbable and pitiful tale is taken up here, about a nuu jumping from this gallery into the arms of her lover. And for grave per fonages fonages to fcribble down by retail this contemptible endeavour to fcandalize foriner times! The Eaft fide of the manfion may be properly called the "gutted" fide of an edifice; for the veftry, chapter-houfe, and other diftinguifhed arrangements belonging to the church, are laid open to view; wind, rain, and the feathered tribe, have their occafional entrance at will; and fummer retreats, green-houfes, and fuel-houfes, are their prefent appropriation. Proceed. My plan. I have it. It is my twentieth ketch; the others are from views taken in every fituation, the ornaments, decorations, &c. So much of the grand, the elegant, and, what Antiquaries are confiantly in fearch of, the uncommon, in regard to the difpofure of the allotments for this nunnery's accommodation, highly difpofed me to beftow fo much of my labour here. I entered from the large court into the great hall; it is attached to the North fide of the cloifters. (Thefe cloifters are, as it were, the interior or principal arrangement of the feclufion, round which the other buildings are raifed.) This hall is capacious, with its characteristic finith over-head of open-worked timbers and fo forth (Weftminster-hall-like): its fpace is entirely built up into modern paffages, fair-cafes, fervants rooms, &c. Thefe incumbrances, however, do not entirely hide from fight many of the corbels, arches, timbers, and other of the hall's peculiarities. On the Eaft fide of the cloifters are the veftry and chapterhoufe as aforefaid: over them are long chambers, or galleries; and above thefe later arrangements the dormitory is erected; a place airy, commodious, and moft healthful. On the two fides of its line are the cells for peaceful repofe, with a bower window to each, perfectly fitting the fifterhood which once occupied this noble monaftery. Let me whifper in the ear of the reverend Tourift, praying him to recollect, that in this dormitory is the rummage of a large houfe, as fafhion has changed hands for more than a century pali, viz. rufty pieces of armour, velvet, Turkey-worked, worfted and fluff furniture, old chefis, broken tables, leglefs chairs, and all the accumulation of cobwebs, mice-holes, fparrows-nefis, and nefts for bats and owls. Did females in antient time lie thus accompanied? Fie! fie!-On the Weft fide of the cloifters (comprising the entrance GENT. MAG. Auguft, 1802. front) is a range of apartments, as the kitchen, refectory, &c. The kitchen is partly in its original order. The refectory (under which is a fine groined crypt) is metamorphofed into a modera hall bedecked with every fpecimen of the Fantaftic order when in its maddeft guife. No one of the period of its decoration but Batty Langley himfelf could have fo far forgot his rudiments from Palladio and others, or the perfection of our antient architecture, as to have done all this: nay, the very room he was degrading, and the many perfect objects around, as the cloifters, chapter-houfe, &c. muft have upbraided him for his favage taste. But Architectural Innovators are blind, callous, and inexorable. The delign of this hall may be then confidered as an epitome of all the profeffional publications by England, Italy, and France, for thele 150 years paft, alluding for the moti part to thofe which come under the title of the "Grotefque." It gives a fort of architectural mafquerade, where, if the doors, windows, chimney-pieces, compartments, nichés, and the coved cieling, excite our fimiles; how are we to refrain from the exceffive rifibility which overwhelms us, on feeing bufios and flatues of all ages, fexes, and dimentions, dreffed in fancy habits, uniting in a grand ballet compofed in honour of falfe tafte and modern decoration? I deny that thefe ftatues in any degree have either that "ingenuity" or ipirit" recorded, untefs folly may be underfood by the one, and maduefs from the other. Shocked at this depar ture from fober fcience, I pafled into the cloifters. It is now I am myfelf again. All I behold is the perfect remain of that facred pale which once echoed to the gentle tread of the chatic fociety, happy in hearing no founds but fongs of prayer, in feeing no fights but heavenly fymbols: wherever they turned, all was fweet content; wherever they refied, all was pious contemplation. The defign of thefe cloifters is of the elaborate kind, in a medium fiyle between the Edwardian and the Henry IV. modes of work: they are in the beft prefervation, every moulding, piece of foliage, arms, or devices, true, and well to be underfood. Exulting in the pleafure received from this fine work, I went on to the antient rooms on the Eaft fide of the cloitters as beforementioned. I entered firft into the room which ftands ftands to the North; it is divided by columns into two ailes; the groins fpringing from them have the best proportion, and are on the beft conftruction; the windows are cut out into arches leading to the terrace. On the fide oppofite to thefe windows is a large chimney-piece. The mafonry of the parts are of the fimple degree, yet grand in effect; fome of the capitals have fculptures of pleafing foliage. In this room is a large oblong bafin, 11 feet 2 inches by 4 feet 3 inches, and 2 feet 3 inches in height, cut out of one ftone. Conjecture tells many tales about this relick. May I prefine alfo? I fuppofe it was made ufe of as a bath by the females of the nunnery. I next entered into the chapter-houfe; the windows are cut out into open arches, the columns dividing the fpace into two ailes, and fupporting the groins, are cluttered: thefe columns and groins have an increafe of mouldings, and the capitals belonging to them are more enriched than thofe in the preceding room. Here remains a plain tomb, and a pavement ditto. The third room [continuing the line] is the veftry the work is fill higher charged than what I found in the two rooms already deferibed. The mouldings are more profufe, as are the ornaments to the capitals of the columns dividing this room, like the others, into two ailes. Among thefe ornaments many buftos of noble and royal perfonages. The windows are cut out, as of the reft. On one fide is a large arched recefs in the wall; on the oppofite fide, bearing against the North remnant of the church, is a doorway, and two holy-water niches. There are many paintings, in the architraves and groins, of foliage, ftars, and other forms. Thefe paintings have been retouched, and the whole of the mafonry and feulpture in thefe three rooms repaired with the utmost care and attention of late years, but by whom, or when, I could not receive any fatisfactory account. The flyles manifefted in thefe rooms are of the early pointedarch manner, and have as many pretenfions to be called "Horid" as the work of thofe buildings affigned to the reigns of Henry VI. and VII. they being by fome (who have little or no profeffional experience in fuch affairs) fuppofed to excel the magnificence of the former in the moft fuperabundant degree. are Here, where the devout fifterhood difpenfed their charity, fulfilled their vows, and called upon Him who hears the virtuous foul, the prefent right honourable Refident in thefe mounds emulates their bounty to the poor neighbourhood in daily doles. Hospitality ftill adds fresh honours to her noble name; and ftrict attention to the duties of Religion prepares her mind for that happiness which is to come! AN ARCHITECT. (To be continued.) In addition to this Ellay, let me unfold to thofe who have an intereft in our Antiquities the following circumftance, which was communicated to me at a friend's houfe where I had been this day to look over a curious Miffal. He declared that he had juft heard it as a certain fact, that the fine Weft front of Lanthony abbey, one of the moft interefting remains in the kingdom, had, in great part, been defiroved. Dear friends, turn to vol. LXXI. p. 1169. Did I augur without juli caufe? I wifh, indeed, this information was no more than a vifionary ill, to play awhile on the enthufiaftic phantaly of one like me, in punishment of fuch a weakness. Who comes next for judgment? TH Mr. URBAN, Chichefter, Aug. 2. HE months of June and July have prefented fome rare and curious pharomena. June 21. Venus and Mercury were in conjunétion; and, two nights before and after, were both viûble in the telefcope at the fame inflant of time, from 9 till half after 9 P. M. July 16. Saturn and Jupiter were in conjunction; and five nights previous to, and the ten following, they were both to be feen at one view in the glafs. On Sunday, July 25, there was a notable congrefs of Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus; but a very cloudy evening totally hid them from fight. Monday night was extremely cloudy; but a brifk wind fpringing up juft before 9, the clouds feparated for about feven minutes, and a moft beautiful view of the three planets was prefented during the whole time in the field of view of the te lefcope, Saturn on the right-hand, Jupiter on the left, Venus above Jupiter, inclining to the centre of the glass: the whole forming a very remarkable fpectacle. They were comprehended with in in 48 minutes of longitude, and 40 minutes of North latitude. The oblerver of the preceding has no pretentions to aftronomy; but will feel highly gratified to be informed when the last conjunction of thofe three planets took place, and at what future period it will return. Mr. URBAN, H. July 19. MODERN reformer, whether of A Church or State, is under no obligation to understand the subject upon which he writes: his pen is a talifiman, that inftantly, when taken in hand, communicates fapience to himfelf, and next to his readers; and this with as much eafe as the novel-writer gives beauty and wealth, in any proportion he pleafes, to his heroine. Your correfpondent Philo-Clericus, p. 503, with a few ftrokes of his pen, provides a competent fupport for all the clergy of the Eftablifhed Church. There are but two objections to his fcheme: the first is, that it is impracticable; the next, that it is illegal and unjust. To raife a per-centage upon the alicnated lands and tithes of the Church, taken from it originally by the violence of Henry VIII. and to apply the fum fo railed to the relief of the poorer Clergy, is a fcheme abfolutely impraeticable; for this fimple reafon, becaufe thofe alienated eftates are chiefly in the hands of perfons whofe concurrent voices would be indifpenfably neceflary to the restoration of what was facrilegionfly taken away: and perhaps, in this day of Infidelity and Philofophifin, the Church's beft human fecurity for what remains to her is, that a part of her eftates are in lay hands. It is true, the Church eltates and tithes were originally alienated under an affurance to the uation, that a body of 40,000 troops fhould be maintained out of their product for the defence of the nation. This condition hath never been complied with: but if the perfons holding fuch property would act juftly, they would certainly make fome return to the publick, by a legiflative provifion, for what, in the original defignation of tithes and ecclefiaftical endowments, was appropriated for the benefit of the publick (not merely of the Clergy), and which was not afterwards alienated, but upon exprefs affurance, that the publick fhould not wholly be defrauded by the impropriation, but by the couditions above fpecified fome recom pence thould be made to the publick. But as thofe conditions neither have, nor ever will be complied with, effential juftice would require, that the impropriated tithes and lands of the Church fhould be fubject to fuch an increafed maintenance to vicars and perpetual curates, as the bishops are authorized by the late bill to affign to parochial curates out of the revenues of the Clergy. It is difgraceful to men of honour (and, otherwife, often of large efiates,) to be fo void of a sense of juftice as to ftarve the perpetual curates vicars who have cure of fouls, and are obliged to refidence, while themfelves poflefs, without charge or duty, the property originally confecrated to the fervice of God, under a curfe upon the alienation. In the neighbourhood of the place where I now write, the whole fum allotted by a very rich and great perfon, for the fervice of a chapelry with cure of fouls, was only three pounds annually; which being incompetent to the maintenance of a clergyman, his gardener for fome time read prayers and a homily for that fum every Sunday. It is fince upon a better footing by the operation of Queen Aune's bounty, as it is called, that is, by the fum accruing from the firft-` fruits and tenths of the Clergy. The operation of the fame fund refeued a neighbouring vicarage from a degradation of its miniftry full as great. The lay-impropriator of the tithes of the vicarage allowed only 201. per annum to the vicar; while he himfelf poffeffed an enate of 10,0001. a year in and near it. There was neither vicarage houfe nor land, not even the church-yard, allowed to the vicar; and the Eafter dues from communicants were, and fill are, paid to the farmer who had the impropriated tithes on leafe. The cure of fouls in this fpecified vicarage amounted to not less than 500; and the vicar was the poorest foul among them all: obliged from extreme poverty to attend the neighbouring market, to carry parcels backward and forward for the farmer, he became in a literal fenfe the fervant of all. Sarcaftic Infidelity could have no place for its fueers in refpect to this poor vicar; for, fo far from fattening on the tithe-pig, I question whether this fubject of oppreflion ever indulged in the ufe of that animal more than a Jew or a Turk. I could mention fimilar infiances of the degradation of the There the miniftry through the oppreffion of 2 from your letter, whether the temple was dedicated to Claudius or not; for, if it were, it is fill confecrated ground.” [And confequently, by the Roman laws, unapplicable to any other purpofe. Melmoth.] The remaining part of the fcheme of a per-centage upon livings of a greater value, for the increase of those that are inferior, is firft, illegal; 2dly, unjust. It is illegal, becaufe contrary to the firt article of Magna Charta, and the king's oath to obferve Magna Charta, which requires that the Clergy he maintained in their respective rights and privileges. It is of the effence of juttice, fays Tully, "jus fuum cuique tribuere." And this juftice is effentially violated when the "jus fuum," the peculiar of every man, is taken away. And if Magna Charta is violated in one infiance, it may be in every other. As well may we recur to a principle of equality in other cafes; to an Agrarian law; to an equality of pay in the ariny and navy; or a tax on the fuperior officers in favour of the fubalterns. It is contrary to the original endowment of churches by the proprietors of land in favour of the tenants of their eftates. And every endowinent may be fet afide if this may. It is unjust to the patrons of church preferment, as rendering their patronage of lets value. It is unjust to the incumbent, as affecting his interefi by an ex poft facto law, and inftituting a partial tax; where is laws fhould have no retrospect (except for pardons, &c.), and be univerfal in their principle. It is loading the middle clafs of Clergy with additional difficulties, while thofe which they already fuffer are fufficiently great. Belides, that the Clergy, in the payment of fir-fruits and tenths, from all livings not difcharged, do already, the higher Clergy efpecially (fee Ecion's Thefaurus), pay a confiderable proportion of their revenues to the increafe of finall livings. Since the operation of the Curates' bill, the fituation of Curates is raifed to an equality with molt livings of 801. and 1001. a year (from which taxes and repairs are to be deducted.) And I fend you, Mr. Urban, a fehedule of the income and expenditure of a living of nearly 2001. a year; which, though it be not always fubject to a like defalcation, yet will prove how heavy the outgoings are fometimes from livings of moderate 1 |