1823.] I Account of the Belt Family, of Bossal, co. York. AM satisfied the following account of a highly-respectable family in Yorkshire, who have always acted up to the principle of Fear God, honour the King," will find a ready insertion in your pages; persuaded as I am, that you in some degree serve your country, when you commemorate those who in former times, from their loyalty, suf fered in its cause. The family of Belt is one of the most ancient now existing in York shire. The oldest record in its possession, as to its settlement in that county, is dated in the reign of King Richard II. A.D. 1387; but it has been supposed by that eminent herald the late Mr. Brooke, and also by one of its relatives, your valued friend, the late Mr. Samuel Pegge (who was a good Antiquary), that its original ancestors came from Lombardy, and were of no mean birth, the registers of our Armorial College attesting that the arms of the family are those of that Duchy. The following notices of the family, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth downwards, are from Drake's History of York; which, it has recently been observed by a distinguished Personage, give the present representatives of this family an hereditary claim to the merit of loyalty in difficult times:" “1580, Leonard Belt, Sheriff of York." (P. 365.) "Sept. 29, 1583, Mr. Belt (the same Leonard) deputed with Mr. Recorder and others to take possession of certain City lands. (P. 247.) "1614, Robert Belt, Sheriff of York. York. * "1628, Robert Belt, merchant, Lord Mayor. 1640, Sir Rob. Belt, knt. Lord Mayor second time. 489 displaced, and even disfranchised, for their loyalty to their Sovereign; which deserves a more lasting memorial than I am afraid my pen can give them." P. 171. "I would not have our present Citizens despair of seeing a revival of trade at York; what has been may be again. We are not without instances of many families yet in being who must deduce their present fullness from this source. Whoever will look back into our catalogue of senators, and consider the names of them for about an age last past, will find that many of them raised estates by trade, some to so great a bulk as to give place to very few London merchants. gives proof of this, nor need I do more than The country within a few miles round us mention the names of Agar, Robinson, Belt, &c. to confirm it." P. 233. Then, in point of date, comes a worthy notice of Sir William Belt, Recorder of York, with some strong contrasts in other persons to the loyalty and good sense evinced by him. Under date 1633, after giving a bombastic speech of Sir William Allenson, the Lord Mayor of the City, to King Charles the First, who was then at York on his progress, and observing "that such harangue from a person who was afterwards a Member of that Parliament which voted the King's destruction, was a testimony of the great sincerity of the Puritan party," Drake gives, in p. 135, a speech of a very different sort from Sir William Belt the Recorder. The loyalty, the piety, and good sense, which there appear, are blended with the most anxious care of his official situation, his most antient city of York" unthat his Majesty should take and keep der his especial protection. This tenperate address is a fine contrast (and evidently meant so) to the rhetorical flourishes of Sir William Allenson, which it succeeds in the same page, and who professes that his Majesty was "the light of his subjects' eyes, the Upon the taking of the city (July glory and admiration of the known 1644), the new-made Governor displaced world." The result was, that this Sir Edmund Cooper from the office of Lord Mayor, which he had held four years, when adulating admirer of the Royal effulfew durst undertake it, with all the testi-gency very soon became foremost in mony of loyalty and courage a good subject its extinguishment. could pay to his Sovereign. Thomas Hoyle, Alderman, one of the City's Representatives in Parliament, was for a contrary reason put in his place. The Governor also procured John Goldart, S. W. T. D. &c. &c. to be chosen Aldermen for their eminent disaffection to the King in the places of Sir Robert Belt, Sir Roger Jacques, &c. &c. GENT. MAG. June, 1823. A like instance of bombast flattery from Sir Thos. Widdrington, who was another shortly-ensuing traitor, is added in the next page (136), which even exceeds the oration of Sir William Allenson, and is justly observed upon by Drake (after an allusion to his treason) thus: "I do $490 Account of the Belt Family, of Bossal, co. York. "I do not object to the strange bombast style in his speech, because I know it was agreeable to the age he lived in, but his almost fulsome flattery which was that of the tongue, and not of the heart, is an instance what small regard Princes ought to pay to public speeches, as well as public addresses." Sir Robert Belt (who was the son of Leonard Belt) was Sheriff of York, 1614, elected Alderman in 1623, Lord Mayor of York 1628 and 1640; in which latter year he was knighted. He married Grace, daughter of Daniel Foxcroft, of Halifax. When Sir R. Belt had been (as above mentioned) "displaced and disfranchised for his loyalty," he retired to his estate at Bossal, on the river Darwent, nine miles from the city, where he had built himself a mansion house; and there, anticipating further spoil, he buried in the shelter of his garden such parts of his wealth and rich plate as he had not occasion to contribute for the King's service. His forebodings were soon accomplish ed, for the rebels quickly confiscated his estate, and bestowed it upon one of their own Generals, who entered into possession of the mansion-house erected by Sir Robert, and then but lately completed. Sir Robert Belt died (4th Sept. 1656) in retirement at the village of Flaxton, about three miles distant from his seat, and in the same parish. His remains were honourably interred in the parish church which adjoined his own domain; and a handsome monument was afterwards erected to his memory by his daughter, which still exists to attest his worth and loyalty, with the following arms and inscription. ARMS at top of the monument: Gules, on a chevron Argent, between three bezants, a cross patée fitché between two mullets voided Azure, Belt; impaling Azure, a chevron Or, between foxes' heads erased, proper, Foxcroft. "Near this place lies interred the body of Sir Robert Belt, knt. twice Lord Mayor of the City of York, who died the 4th day of September, 1656, and of Dame Grace, his wife, who died Aug. 11, 1664, by whom he had issue 13 children. Near hereunto * Some relics of this treasure were discovered upon one of the banks of the moat in 1779, of which I can procure you from the family a fine specimen for a succeeding Number. [June, lie also the bodies of Leonard Belt, esq. eldest son of the said Sir Robert and his said lady, who died the 4th of April, 1662; and likewise of John, William, and Robert Belt, their younger sons; and also the body of Joseph Oley, gent. who married Sarah, one of the daughters of the said Sir Robert Belt and his said lady, now the relict of Thomas Bawtrey, esq. deceased, heretofore Lord Mayor of the said city of York; which Sarah hath erected this monument in pious memory of her deceased relations; waiting God's good pleasure when she may be deposited and laid with them, in hope of s joyful and blessed resurrection together." Possession of the Bossal estate was the elder branch of the Belt family, Mr. URBAN, AMICUS. Sandhurst, May 7. YOUR Magazine has always been justly celebrated for the accuracy and faithfulness of its biographical de tails; indeed so much so, that I find you are continually quoted and referred to by Mr. Chalmers, as his authority, in his General Biographical Dictionary. This being the case, I am induced to draw the attention of yourself and readers to the " Annual Biography and Obituary for 1822," which I opened by accident, and in which there is a short memoir of the late Dr. Mansel, Lord Bishop of Bristol, at least what purports to be a memoir; for it is, I assure you, full of errors and distorted facts from beginning to end. It is to save the memory of the Bishop from misrepresentation, and to prevent the work above mentioned ever being referred to as authority in the case of the learned and amiable individual before us, that I trouble you on the present occasion, 1923.] "Annually Biography" corrected.-Bp. Mansel. occasion, and I shall feel much obliged if you will allow this letter a place in the next number of your valuable miscellany. I shall with your leave (instead of transferring the inaccurate memoir to your pages, and subjoining my notes on the errors which occur throughout) merely mention and refute the misstatements as they occur. 1. The writer of the memoir misspells the name of the late Bishop. He writes Mansell instead of Mansel. 2. He never was a tutor at Trinity College or anywhere else. Consequently not preceptor to the late Mr. Perceval, as asserted in the meinoir, though he stood indebted to that Minister's friendship for his elevation to the mitre. Mr. Mathias, the celebrated Italian scholar, was Mr. Perceval's tutor at College. 3. Mr. Mansel took the degree of D. D. in 1798 (not in 1790 as the writer of the memoir supposes), and he took the degree in that year to qualify himself for the mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge, to which he was recommended to his late Majesty by Mr. Pitt. 4. The writer in the " Annual Biography," &c. continues, " In this capacity (the mastership of Trinity College) he took an active part against Mr. Friend, one of the Fellows, on account of a pamphlet declaratory of his avowed aversion to the war with France, and contributed not a little to his ex pulsion." In answer to this, have the goodness to observe, Mr. Urban, that Mr. Frend (not "Friend," as in the Obituary) never was a Fellow of Trinity College, but of Jesus. He was deprived of his Fellowship many years before Dr. Mansel became master of Trinity College. An account of Mr. Frend's trial is published. 5. Dr. Mansel was promoted to the see of Bristol by the interest of Mr. Perceval, in 1808, and he afterwards obtained the living of "Barwick in Elmet" from the same gentleman, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In the "Annual Biography," &c. the order of these preferments is inverted. 6. The writer of the memoir says, "while a Bachelor of Arts, Dr. Mansell (Mansel) rendered himself at once famous and formidable by his satirical writings; and in particular distinguished himself as the author of several 491 The well-written jeux d'esprits." 7. The writer of this memoir cannot conclude without a blunder. His last sentence therefore is," he is the author of a sermon preached before the House of Lords, at Westminster Abbey, Jan. 2, 1810." For Jan. 2, read Jan. 30th; on what occasion the sermon was preached, I need not, Mr. Urban, inform you. I do not mean to say, with respect to the "Lives" in the Annual Biography, ab uno disce omnes, but I will venture to hint to the editor of that work, that since almost every line in the "Memoir of the late Dr. Mansel" contains an inaccuracy, the public will naturally be suspicious of errors in the lives of other individuals. You will, therefore, I think, agree with me, that a little more care is necessary in the compilation of a work which the conductors, I presume, intend to be a continuation of the "General Biographical Dictionary." W. F. M. Mr. URBAN, June 5. Ta moment when the prevalent feeling in favour of the GREEKS in their attempts after their national emancipation is unquestionably honourable to the English character, we ought also to feel anxious to ascertain the dispositions and habits of those to whom in the fullness of our hearts we concede our unlimited favours. The interest the modern Greeks have excited among us originates in the blended emotions of Heroism and Christianity; the memory of their remote ancestors is associated with the recollections of our school-days, and their professed faith awakens our sympathies; but should the modern Greeks be neither Heroes nor Christians, our project would not be very creditable to our discernment. I have no other knowledge of the modern Greeks than what any one may acquire by conversing with our officers, 492 Character of the Greeks in 1674. officers, and with commercial men who have been in the habits of daily intercourse with these Greeks, and to my surprise they have uniformly described them as a faithless and degenerated race. What they were about a century ago, I am enabled to shew you, by furnishing you with a Letter from Sir John Finch, our Ambassador in Ordinary at Constantinople, to the famous Dr. Moore, the Platonist. He has curiously described their gross and corrupt Christianity. As the Turks in our times are the same people they were in the days of old Sandys and Maundrel, I suspect the Greeks are also; in the East, man himself is as stationary and uniform as all about him continues to be. This authentic document is transcribed from the autograph in the possession of a gentleman well known among our curious collectors, and by whose permission I am enabled to afford you the present information, which as an antiquarian relic at least merits preservation. Z. Pera of Constanti DEAR DOCTOR, nople, May 26, 1674. IT is so impossible at this distance to maintain any method of correspondence, that my former unhappinesse of being of late yeares deprived of that satisfaction of yours, proves now to me a support of the present want of it. However, it not being in my power now to give you frequent troubles of this kind, I hope this will meet with some favourable minute that may render its perusal not unacceptable, for I trust in God your accessions admitt of some intermission. Since I left England to this hour I blesse God I have enjoyed a very vigorous health, and successe in all my undertakings, beyond my own hopes, or other expectations. Having at Genoa recovered very great and old debts due to his Matys subjects, and a ship yt the Dutch had taken from us and sould in Spayn to a subject of yt Republique. At Florence I recovered all his Maty commanded me to insist upon, and particularly goods yt belonged to the Turks, wch were taken by the S. Duke's subjects out of an English vessell; and at Malta I recovered 75 bales of goods more, taken at ye same time by the same person, and no sooner came I to Smyrna, but yt I caused ye Jewes to pay at 15000l. sterling, owing to the English Merchts; [June, and one Sawyer, an English Mercht yt turned Turke, and run away wth his principall's estates, I so handled, yt I made him return back every penny, and have put him in that fright, yt he has fled the country, and is embarqu'd for England, upon the Centurion yt brought me hither. So yt I have freed the Company from two most dangerous cases, though not without immense labour and disquiet to myself. In this country as yett I cannot say yt I have mett with any publick determinations yt are repugnant to reason and justice, and I would to God (I speak it with grief) the Christians here were governed as much by reason as the Turkes, but they forgett our Saviour's doctrine of peace and love, and render Christian religion ridiculous to the Turks and Jews. The very patriarchs here, who should be an example of unity, promoting divisions to the height; every one yt can be heard at court offering mony for the patriarchall seat, to turn out him yt is in possession, wh simoniacall disorders has putt the Greek Church in debt to ye Turks 2001. sterling, a summe they by extorsion endeavour to draw from all of their religion. And besides this, the Greeke and Latin Churches doe, wth more heat, fall out wth each other, then is to be expressed. Nay, but this very Lent, on the of March, the Latine Fathers, wch are Cordeliers at Jerusalem, goeing about to adorne the Chappell of the sepulchre of our Saviour, the Greek Casoiri or Monks bastonadoed the Latin Fathers to such a height, yt some of them are crippled, and the Latin Fathers to be revenged, killed outright one of the Greeke Fathers, at wch the Turke laughs, and will, I believe, make them both pay good round sum of money. The Latin Fathers have bin with me for my protection; but I desire if possible to reconcile y, though I know it is a hopelesse worke, in regard there's mony in the case; for they who are in possession (as the Latin Fathers have for many years bin) of the sepulchre, gett more almes then all the rest of the religious orders and houses. They both quarrell likewise—the Armenian Church upon a mony score too, wch is, yt the Armenian Patriarch at Jerusalem has gott the opinion of consecrating a more holy oyl then the Greeke or Latin Fathers, and they sell it up and down every where, so yt the very Greeks complain to the Turks yt great |