century; it is said to have been built by Kyrle. The rooms retain much of their old appearance, being wainscoted in solid panels; and in one of them appears a decorated compartment, believed to have been the work of Kyrle himself. It exhibits his coat of arms, and the date 1689 executed in punctured or dotted outlines.

The house being in the centre of the town, has but a small garden in its rear. It is a square plot of ground, reached by a sort of alley between the walls of the adjoining houses. Here Kyrle erected the summer-house represented in our cut, but of which nothing now remains except the

foundation. It was here he read and ruminated; but the advantages it possessed are few, as it is overlooked by houses on all sides, and is a town garden at best. The only pleasing feature is the church spire, which he aided in building, and which gracefully overtops the unpicturesque buildings around.

The beneficence and goodness of John Kyrle owe their celebrity to Pope's noble lines. But for the Poet's acquaintance with his actions, and his record of them in never-dying verse, he might have been as little remembered as many other philanthropists whose names are only written in

'the Book of Life.' Pope made frequent visits to Holm Lacy, the seat of Viscount Scudamore, to whom he had been introduced by his relative Mr. Digby. He was near enough to Ross to hear of all John Kyrle's charities; and he rendered due homage to them in his Moral Essays. The vivid colours of the Poet's description did not in this instance outdo the truth. Kyrle literally did all that Pope declared in his outline of the good man's works.

He was entered as a gentleman-commoner of Baliol College, Oxford, in 1654, and was intended for the bar; but this intention he abandoned, and returning to his native county he devoted himself to agriculture and the improvement of his native town. He always lived with great simplicity, was an unmarried man, and had as housekeeper an old maiden aunt. His was the olden hospitality; beside his kitchen fire stood a large block of wood, which served as a bench for the poor and the passing traveller to sit upon and partake the proffered refreshment. His own table was served with much simplicity, and it is recorded that he never drank anything but malt liquors and cider, and never had roast beef except on Christmas-day. He was exceedingly fond of cheerful society, and much enjoyed the weekly market dinners, when he would join the farmers and chat with them, being usually the last to leave

the table.

He is described as tall and thin, but well-shaped, and by his temperance insured so much good health, that his last illness was also his first; he was fond, not only of superintending the many public and private labours in which his mind was engaged, but of manually aiding in them; and he would help the workmen at road-making and planting. The latter occupation was his favourite one, and he delighted above all things in walking about with an enormous pot of water, and attending to the trees he planted. He was generally seen trudging from place to place with his spade on his shoulder.

His charities are so well told in Pope's lines, which are in the memory of all Englishmen, that we need scarcely do more than refer to them for the history of his actions. Every Sunday he cooked a large piece of boiled beef and made three pecks of flour into loaves, which was regularly distributed to the poor :

Behold the market-place, with poor o'erspread,
The Man of Ross divides the weekly bread;

He feeds yon alms-house, neat, but void of state,
Where age and want sit smiling at the gate;

Him, portion'd maids, apprenticed orphans, bless'd,
The young who labour, and the old who rest.'

The universality of his benevolence and thorough honesty of his character made him the referee in most disputes; and his leisure and good-nature gave him means of settling many a case which might else have involved much wrangling and expense in law-courts. To the sick he was also a doctor and attendant :

'Despairing quacks with curses fled the place,

And vile attorneys, now a useless race.'

He set his heart on the improvement of Ross; and its natural beauties and advantages were heightened by his taste and care. Previous to his time there was a want of trees about the town and in the plain below it. Kyrle felt this, and was a vigorous planter. It became ultimately his greatest enjoyment to plant, and water, and foster his sylvan children. The fine trees about the church and avenues in the Prospect-ground adjoining, were of his fostering. It was he

'Who hung with woods yon mountain's sultry brow,

and who called into existence many conveniences and beauties which Ross has still to show. Kyrle died at the age of eighty-four, full of years and honour; the real grief felt when a benefactor dies, was felt at Ross in 1724, when his remains were carried to the last resting-place on the hill-top where he had often walked and prayed. No stone marked his grave for fifty-two years, but kind hearts cherished the spot and remembered it. In 1776, the tomb shown in our engraving was placed on the wall of the chancel close to the communion-rails. Its history is told in this inscription which appears upon it :- In virtue of a bequest under the will of Constantia, Viscountess Dupplin, great grand-daughter to Sir John Kyrle of Much Marcle in this county, Bart.; Lieut. Col. James Money of Much Marcle aforesaid, her executor and heir, erected this Monument in memory of his kinsman

John Kyrle, A.D.1776.' The tomb is a work of much elegance, it is

Kyrle's Monument.

of white and dove-coloured
marbles edged with black.
A medallion in the upper part
exhibits a bas-relief likeness
of Kyrle, above which is hung
a festoon. Beneath is another
medallion representing Cha-
rity and Benevolence support-
ing each other.* The prin-
cipal inscription, which occu-
pies the centre, runs thus:
6 This monument was erected
in memory of John Kyrle,
commonly called the Man of
Ross.

Immediately adjoining the churchyard is the Prospectground, as it is termed, con

sisting of a public walk extending for nearly a mile to the southward, and which was formed by Kyrle. He planted it with trees, and evidently intended it for the ornament of the town as well as for the health of its inhabitants; he constructed seats for the weary traveller, as described by Pope, and a summer-house at its termination. But his townsmen had not that thought for themselves, which he in his benevolence had for them. They neglected his gifts, and the Prospect-ground became merely a field, instead of a cheerful garden or a parterre; the seats were broken, the summer-house decayed, and many of the trees were cut down. Worse than all, the land became partially alienated from the people; the walks have been declared not public;' and Kyrle's townsmen, by their own neglect, have been deprived of the advantages his benevolence designed for them. We cannot sympathise with those who had so little sympathy with the exertions made for their advantage by the Man of Ross;' to us everything

It is engraved in our initial letter.

connected with his name is hallowed. We felt it a privilege to know how much could be done with small means towards, not ephemeral, but lasting good. We longed to show it to those who enrol a donation on a charity-list, and earn for themselves a great repute by what is, in fact, no sacrifice.

There is a fashion in all things, and the cant of religious charity is as degrading as any other. John Kyrle acted upon the great ennobling precepts left us by St. Paul, and all who love to see how

-the memory of the just

Smells sweet and blossoms in the dust,'

would be well rewarded by a pilgrimage to the resting-place of THE MAN OF Ross.'