Anno milleno, quadringeno quoque pleno There is another very large grey marble slab, inlaid with brass, in the body of the church, to the memory of John Blodwell, LL.D. and D.D., administrator of the temporalities of Ely to Lewis de Luxembourg, Archbishop of Rouen, who held it in commendam. When he grew old and blind he resigned this rectory, having a pension for life reserved, and convenience for his residence, to which one line of a long copy of bad and dull Latin verses on his tomb alludes. He died, as appears from these lines, April 16, 1462, and was a Welshman, who had studied law at Bologna, and practised at Rome.* There is also an effigy in brass, according to tradition (for the inscription is gone), of a brother of Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, and founder of Peterhouse College in Cambridge. "He began the foundation of this house," says Camden, "without Trumpington Gate, about the year 1257," in the reign of Henry the Third; and as the tower, which is the oldest part of the church at Balsham, bears marks of the architecture of this period, he might also be the founder of this handsome edifice in his native place. The manor of Belesham, or Balsham, was added to the possessions of the monastery of Ely, sometime between A.D. 1023 and 1044, by the will of Lesfleda, daughter of Britwoth, Duke of Northumberland, and wife of Oswi, afterwards King of Northumberland, in these words:-"I give to God, and St. Peter, and the Holy Virgin Etheldreda, the village of Belesham, with all its appurtenances, after my decease, for the soul of my husband, and for my children, whether living or dead." In the flourishing state of this abbey in the time of Leoffin, the fifth abbot, that the monks might be more regularly and constantly supplied with provisions of all kinds, the abbot, with the King's consent and favour, let out many of the abbey lands to tenants, who were obliged to bring in provisions in their course throughout the year, some for three or four days, some for one week, some for two, among which last sort was Belesham.† In A.D. 1370, the monks had no less than ten different manor-houses, castles, or palaces of residence (of which Balsham was one) sufficiently large and commodious for the reception of themselves and their household, to which they usually resorted by turns, and lived with great hospitality, The figures both on this and on the other monument are habited in pontificals, with saints embroidered on their stoles, and have canopies over their heads; also adorned with figures of saints and their emblems. + One estate in the Isle of Ely was to furnish twenty or thirty thousand cels; another nearer the sea about the same number of herrings; another six weighs of salt; another four weighs of cheese; another 12 skips of wheat and malt; another a certain allowance of wood (at that time the only firing), with eight acres of meadow for pasturing the oxen that drew the wood to the abbey. according to the custom of those times, chiefly on the produce of their demesnes. In A.D. 1522, this monastery was surrendered to Henry the Eighth, and converted into a cathedral church, to be an episcopal see, with dean and chapter; and in A.D. 1600, divers ancient manors and estates (among them Balsham) were alienated from the said see, and by the then bishop (Hetow), with the consent of the dean and chapter, conveyed to the Queen, who granted the fee farm of this manor, and the advowson of the church at Balsham, by letters patent, to Mr. Thomas Sutton, her Master of the Ordnance at Berwick, by whom they were afterwards presented to his foundation of the Charterhouse in London, and under its patronage they still continue. Mr. Sutton was a great benefactor to the village of Balsham. Some curious particulars relating to this parish are to be found in Strype's Life of Archbishop Parker, book iv. c. 40-"There grew now a great jealousy of a new sect, resembling either the family of Love or the Libertins, or some such company, newly sprung up in the parts of Cambridge and Essex, and especially in and about Balsham and Strethal, for there was a parcel of people lately discovered that had religious assemblies among themselves; but they were found to be indeed innocent, well-disposed people that met together on holydays, when they were at leisure from their ordinary work, sometimes after dinner and sometimes after supper, only to read and confer the Scriptures, and to inform and confirm one another in their Christian duty, and to edify themselves in the knowledge of God, thinking thereby to spend their time better than others, or themselves before had done, when it was taken up in playing at cards, dice, and tables, or sitting in alehouses. Of this company was the minister of Strethal and several housekeepers in Balsham. But information was made of these men and their meetings; and it was reported of Sharp, parson of Strethal, that he married persons in the fields, and after a new way of his own, different from that in the Book of Common Prayer; and of the rest of them, as if they disliked the Book of Common Prayer, and disowned the Queen's supremacy, and owned a state of perfection in this life-that they disbelieved the resurrection, and that they were for revelations besides the Scriptures; finally, that they held that differences of persons, of meats and apparel, of times and days, were not to be made by the magistrates. Whereupon Dr. Pern, the incumbent of Balsham, probably commissionated by the Ecclesiastical Commission, administered divers interrogatories to them concerning these things, requiring their plain answer thereunto. The which answers I have here subjoined, as worthy some observation, according as they were given in by the said Pern."* This Dr. Pern, who was Master of Peterhouse (where he founded two fellowships) and Dean of Ely, left 23s. and 4d. in his will "to buy white herrings in the time of Lent for the poor of Balsham; and 10s. to a learned man that shall preach yearly a sermon at Balsham on Sunday the first week in Lent," whom he desires to get part of the white herrings distributed to the poor" which could say the Lord's Prayer, Articles of Faith, and Ten Commandments, in the English tongue, in such sort as he himself taught them every time he did preach at Balsham." These answers tend to confirm Strype's account of them; but there is little interest in them. It is curious that Sharp, the parson of Strethal, makes his mark. Near the village terminates one of those extensive dykes which run (parallel to one another) across this part of the country. It begins "at the east side of the Cam, and runs in a straight line by Fenn Ditton, (or rather Ditchton, from the fore-mentioned ditch,) between great Wilbraham and Fulbourn, as far as Balsham. At present, it is commonly called Seven Mile Dyke, because it is seven miles from Newmarket. Formerly it was called Fleam Dyke, that is, flight dyke, as it seems from some remarkable flight at this place. And, according to Henry of Huntingdon, the Danes committed all the barbarities imaginable at Balsham."-Camden. Pieces of ancient armour, coins, &c., have been repeatedly found along the line of this ditch; and there is reason to think that both it and the other remains of Roman or Saxon antiquity in the neighbourhood would repay a more careful examination than they have yet received. T. C. SACRED POETRY. Μεταβαίνωμεν ἐντεῦθεν. ["LET US DEPART HENCE."-Joseph. b. iv. 63.] 1. Is there no sound about our altars heard 2. [THE CREED OF ST. ATHANASIUS.] "Seek we some realm where virgin souls may pray In faith untarnish'd by the sophist's scorn, And duly raise on each diviner morn The psalm that gathers in one glorious lay All chants that e'er from heaven to earth found way :- VOL. III.-March, 1833. 2 N Creed of the saints, and anthem of the blest, 3. [THE BURIAL SERVICE.] "And they who grudge th' Omnipotent his praise, The soothing tones of Hope, though faint and low, Better in silence hide their dead, and go, Than sing a hopeless dirge, or coldly chide 4. [LENGTH OF THE PRAYERS.] "But Faith is cold, and wilful men are strong, And the blithe world, with bells and harness proud, Rides tinkling by, so musical and loud, It drowns th' eternal word, th' angelic song; And one by one the weary listless throng Steals out of church, and leaves the choir unseen Of winged guards to weep, where prayer had been, That souls immortal find that hour too long. Wit ever busy, Learning ever new, Unsleeping Fancy, Eloquence untir'd ; Prayer only dull! The saints and martyrs' page 5. Sons of our mother! such th' indignant strain Who love the rites that erst their fathers lov'd, Angels, and HE who rules them, will be there." K. SONNET. Be mindful, ye, who festive halls adorn, A. H. CORRESPONDENCE. The Editor begs to remind his readers that he is not responsible for the opinions THE RAINBOW A PROPHETIC SIGN. MIRACLES and prophecy are the usual means by which God has condescended to authenticate his communications with man. By miracles he afforded an immediate and visible assurance of some future event declared by prophecy. Among the chosen people, the dealings of Providence were laid more plainly open to observation; and the appointed instruments of the Almighty, for bringing about his ordained course of events, had their own faith strengthened, and their credit with others established, by some manifest sign from the finger of God. This was a wise and merciful adaptation to the feelings of human nature; indeed, it is impossible for us to conceive any other way that would so effectually obviate distrust on the one hand, and incredulity on the other. After the four hundred years of affliction, at the time prefixed (Gen. xv. 13.), when the children of Israel were to be brought up out of Egypt, and that unpromising charge was laid upon Moses, how natural was the expression of his feelings! "But, behold, they will not believe me, for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee," (Exod. iv. 1.) Upon which he was immediately furnished with the miraculous signs of the serpent-rod and the leprous hand, in token to himself and the Israelites of their approaching deliverance. Similar feelings and similar condescension were exhibited in the case of Gideon when commissioned to save Israel from the hands of the Midianites: "Wherewith shall I save Israel? . . . If now I have |