Page images
PDF
EPUB

are so zealous in propagating the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures throughout the world; that true Religion and true Liberty may be understood and enjoyed by all people. What a glorious contrast do we exhibit to Buonaparte, who by falsehood, low cunning, fire and sword, is carrying ruin and destruction into every country that lies within his reach. Be it ours ever to spread abroad the word of Peace and Truth. But I am very much afraid, Mr. Urban, that our endeavours will never be effectual, till a regular Church and a regular Clergy are established throughout all our Dominions. We see how little has been done by separate Mis-sionaries. I belong to a Society * that has sent out several for 70 or 80 years; and the number of converts they have made is very inconsider able. Denmark has done as little, and is now crippled. We see also how our Dissenters, warm in the

cause of their Missionaries, have failed.

Let us copy the Roman Catholicks in this good part of their conduct, and establish Churches wherever we go; it will add more to the prosperity of our country than Wars, Allies, or even Commerce itself. It is much to

our disgrace, that in the East and West Indies there are few, if any, Churches; no appearance of Religion; the Sabbath hardly distinguished from a common day. This must be a sore evil to a kingdom which has half the world under its protection; and an account will certainly be required of us, both in this world and in the next. Let us immediately wipe off this disgrace, this scandalous neglect. In our next Ja dian Charter let Religion and promoting the worship of the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, be an indispensable part. Then may we

hope for the blessings of Heaven upon us: then may we expect that the God of Jacob will prosper_upon us the work of our hands. B. D.

[blocks in formation]

SHOULD consider it a particular I favour if any of your numerous Readers should inform me if a print of Lord Finch and Archbishop Laud tied together before that by Glover, is really ever met with; and if a pocket volume on rare portraits, entitled, * For promoting Christian Knowledge.

"The Amateur's Companion," has yet been published? The Works hitherto on engraved portraits, though by no means useless, have long been considered too tedious to a person who wishes to ascertain if a print is worthy his pursuit: eight different indexes are often consulted in vain. T. F. D.

We give the following Letter in the words of the Writer, without pledging ourselves for the accuracy of its contents. If the allegations are unfounded, we shall with equal readiness and pleasure admit an answer to them; if true,

Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli.”. "Pudet hæc opprobria nobis

I

Mr. URBAN,

Nov. 24.

HAVE often had reason to admire the attention which you always pay to the Antiquities of Britain, and hold those who have by any means the respect in which you appear to contributed to the stock of our knowledge in that highly-interesting branch

of Literature. It had occurred to
in a pecuniary shape, or if
me some time ago that if any reward,
of honour (a medal for instance) could
any mark
be given to those who bad eminently
exerted themselves in rescuing from
destruction some of the numerous re-
it might perhaps tend to the preser-
mains which yet adorn this Country,
vation of many beautiful specimens ;
and at the same time encourage a
taste for Antiquarian research.

the other day at WORCESTER; and,
Full of this notion, I found myself
upon repairing to the CATHEDRAL,
medals vanished, at observing that
judge how my theory of rewards and
removed from a part of the Choir;
an old Gothic screen had been lately
and that the component parts of it

were thrown aside in a corner as rub

bish. I do not complain that, in lieu
of the screen, there was put up a kind
blind, somewhat resembling the se-
of glazed door with a green canvas
paration sometimes seen between the
bar and the kitchen of a public-house.
It is very possible that this might be
in perfect good taste, though I con-
fess it was in vain that I endeavoured
But would

to persuade myself so.
you not have felt that there was some
cause for complaint, had you seen
nacles, crockets, &c. &c. mixed toge-
tracery, vaulting, carved-werk, pin-
ther, in undistinguished confusion;
and all lying in a heap like ma-
terials for mending a road? Leav

1

ing this place with sensations not far removed from disgust, I went to visit BERKELEY CASTLE; and if the Church of Worcester are entitled to a chaplet or an oration for their contempt of the works of our ancestors, let similar honours be decreed to the house-maid of Berkeley Castle, who had selected for the purpose of setting open a door, a beautiful white marble Antique, with an inscription! "The West of England," I exclaimed, "so abounds in Antiquities, that it seems to regard as mere trifles what in other parts of the world would be considered as of inestimable value; let me go and see what MALMESBURY exhibits." As I approached those majestic ruins, my ears were saluted with the noise of pick-axes, &c.; and I began to tremble lest some poor workman might be put in a situation of danger from the meritorious eagerness of the proprietor to preserve the grandeur of the Edifice. They were only tearing down part of a fine Norman pillar in the nave of the Church, to make room for a pig-stye and wood house! I then passed on towards GLASTONBURY. "There," said I," we shall certainly be gratified, for I am told they keep the grounds shut up, and you pay for permission to see them; so that no injury can be done to any of the buildings.". You may remember, Sir, the part

66

an

that is called “Joseph of Arimathea's Chapel," of which the round-headed windows, very richly ornamented with Saxon mouldings, form, perhaps, the most beautiful and interesting feature of the whole; and excite universal admiration. These were all black with smoke! I enquired with indignation, if the schoolmaster had not flogged his boys for such a piece of wanton mischief? Lord, Sir," answered my informant, "it was done by a gentleman from Lunnun; Artist I do think they call'un, and his neame be It seems that a quantity of ivy had grown up of late, which had partly concealed some of the windows; and that the Artist from London had thought fit to destroy it by fire. Yet a fellow with a knife and a ladder might have been got for a shilling, who would have removed as much ivy as would have enabled Mr. to make a drawing for the Exhibition; and the publick might still enjoy a pleasure

[ocr errors]

in viewing the ruins of Glastonbury, which they must henceforth be deprived of for years to come!

Now, Sir, that the Verger or even the Surveyor of a Cathedral should have no taste for Gothic Architecture; that House-maids should not admire Antiques; or that a Tradesman at Malsmesbury should think more of his own convenience and profit than of Norman pillars, one can excuse, however much one must in these instances lament it; but what can be said for the Artist, the man of taste by profession, who has committed such an outrage as I have above described? Do, my dear Sir, represent this matter to the Nation at large; beseech them not to destroy every thing that has been heretofore deemed venerable; explain to them that though the present is an age of comparative civilization and refinement, yet they may be assured there is much merit in many of the works of our forefathers; and let them know and feel that the preservation of the splendid monuments they have left us, may not only add to our rational and innocent pleasures, but materially tend to our instruction and improvement.

Mr. URBAN,

A CONSTANT READER,

St. Bartholomew the Great, Aug. 24. ooknts of the churchwarden N looking over the papers in the

of this parish in the year 1689, I found a surgeon's bill for repairing a broken head. It may be amusing to some of your Readers to know the practice and charges in such cases at that period. The following is an exact copy of the bill.

"Septemb ye 22. 89.

T. Edgsaw a Coachman sore wounded on the head; the Cranium bare, the breath of a crown peace fell into my

[blocks in formation]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][graphic][subsumed]
[graphic]

Mr. URBAN, Birmingham, June 8. HAVE inclosed you a Sketch (see Plate II.) which I made a few days since, of a Quarry from whence the Rowley rag stone is taken, of which stone this and some of the adjacent hills are chiefly composed, as it is to be found in most parts immediately under the surface of the ground. I made this sketch

in prosle of the quarry, to shew how the pillars inclined from the perpendicular. The situation of this quarry is at the top of a hill, and nearly equidistant from Dudley, Rowley Regis, and Oldbury, not quite one mile and a half from the nearest of those places; the hill is long and steep on each side, rising into different peaks, and their line of direction from Rowley is N.N.W.; they command an extensive view of country in every direction. The hail stone, which is also a rock of Rowley rag stone, mentioned by Dr. Plot in his History of Staffordshire, is to South of this quarry, distant nearly one mile; the height of some of the columns represented in this sketch are from 16 to 18 feet, and the longest joints of the stone are from three feet three inches to three feet nine inches; the upper and under surface of the joints are generally flat: I have represented the outline of some of those surfaces, to shew their angular form, in a separate compartment; their diameters are as follow: the stone A is 9 inches, the stone B 14, C 13, D 15, F 9; at E is only the part of a stone, it corresponds with E in the sketch; it is 30 inches in diameter, and a part of it being hid by other columns, prevented my observing the shape of its other angles.

Descending the hill, and not half a mile distant, is another quarry of the same kind of stone, the level of which is more than 100 feet below the former; this quarry presents columns on a much larger scale; some of them appeared to me about two or three yards in diameter, more or less, as I did not measure them; they did not appear so regular as those in the upper quarry, which perhaps may be owing to the want of a sufficient excavation to display their lengths; this may lead to suppose with reference to the columns at E, that those

« PreviousContinue »