fordshire; Guild-hall Chapel, and the a work of more equal good execution In this class also, we have to place mens: Elstree. "The village of Elstree is situated about eleven miles from London, in the hundred of Caisho, in Hertfordshire. A few houses only near the church, are in the parish; the rest standing in the three parishes of Edgeware, Whitchurch, and Aldenham. "Of its antiquity we know but little." The property of the place is said to have been given to St. Alban's Abbey, at its first foundation by king Offa;* and in the Domesday Survey, it is supposed to have been included in the manor of Parkbury, detailed among the possessions of the monks, to whom, from a remote period, the rectory of Elstree seems to have belonged. "The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a small neat structure; the appearance of whose exterior has given rise to the supposition that it was originally built out of the ruins of the ancient city of Sulloniacæ, about a mile distant. It consists of a nave, chancel, and south aisle, the latter separated from the body by octagonal pillars and pointed arches. The tombs are few, and of in considerable note. In the Since the dissolution of religious Newc. Rep. Eccl. vol. i. p. 840. of the living. A miscellaneous manuscript however in the Cotton library, of the fourteenth century, relating principally to St. Alban's, sets its produce at three marks. The parliamentary commissioners, in their enquiry into the state of the ecclesiastical benefices in 1650, found the rectory of Ilstree, with two acres of glebe, was worth but forty pounds a year; that it had been sequestered from Abraham Spencer, (to whose family a fifth of the rectory had been allowed;) and that the cure was supplied by William Markelman, put in by the committee of plundered ministers. "New court, in the Repertorium Ecclesiasticum, supplies us with the names of a few rectors only, between 1595 and 1700. The following, of an earlier date, occur in a curious manuscript formerly belonging to St. Alban's Abbey, and not referred to by bishop Tanner, in Dr. Rawlinson's Collection at Oxford, more particularly described in the account of Ridge. The dates are those of presentation: Joh. Wynes. 1467. Thomas William. 1477. Richard Bisguet alias Bosquet. "The rectors from 1700 to the present time, are given from the bishop of London's Registers: 1706. William Hawtayne. 1719. Richard Bainbrigg, M.A. 1787. William Hawtayne. Bermondsey. "The new and fair church at Bermondsey, so particularly mentioned in the Domesday Survey, is allowed by our topographers to mean only the conventual church, which had then been very lately built. Mr. Manning dates the foundation of the parish church about the beginning of the reign of Edward III. when, in 1337, a commission was issued from the bishop of Winchester for its consecration by Boniface, bishop of Corban.1 "But that a church existed here at a period somewhat carlier, is evident from Pope Nicholas's Taxation, made in the year 1291, where "Eccl'ia b'e Marie Magdalen de Bermundeseie," stands at the value of eight marks; at which time it paid a pension of two marks to the convent. The edifice was, no doubt, founded by the monks. In the reign of Henry VIII. 1519, it received the accession of a turret; and in 1610, of a south aisle: but toward the close of the seven teenth century, became so dilapidated, as to require taking down.† "The present structure of brick covered with plaister, consists of a chancel, nave, and two aisles, enlightened by a single series of arched windows. At the west end is a tower, square at the lower part, but ending in a kind of dome, crowned with a turret. The whole length of the church is seventy-six feet, and the height of the steeple eighty seven. "The monumental inscriptions, which are neither numerous or particularly curious, are modern. That of Jeremiah Whitaker, an eminent puritan, who died rector of the parish in 1654, is perhaps the most remarkable. "The advowson of the rectory continued with the neighbouring monks till the dissolution of their monastery, in the 29th of Henry VIII. when it was granted, with the scite of the Abbey,to Sir Robert Southwell. Since that period it has undergone the same alienations with the manor, and is now in the patronage of Mrs. Hamblay. In the king's books, the living stands at fifteen pounds eight shil. lings and eleven-pence half-penny. "The rectors since 1700, have been: 1724. William Taswell, D.D. 1727. William Browning, M.A. 1740. John Paget, M.A. 1745. Peter Pinnel, D.D. 1777. Thomas Hambly, B.C.L. 1802 Henry Cox Mason." In a former Supplement we detailed the plan of Messrs. DANIEL and SAMUEL LYONS'S "Magna Britannia." We have now to report their progress in the pub. lication of the second part of Vol. II. containing a concise topographical description of "the County Palatine of ChesThe following are the subjects of ter." MS. in the King's Remembr. Office. + Aubrey's Hist. of Surry, vol. v. p. 42, 43. See Manning's Hist. Surry, vol. i. p. 186. Lysons's Env. of Lond. vol. i. p. 549, the early sections:-1. Ancient Inhabi tants and Government; 2. Historical Events; 3. Ancient and modern Division of Cheshire; 4. Ecclesiastical Jurisdic tion and Division; 5. Monasteries, Colleges, and Hospitals; 6. Market-towns; 7. Population; 8. Principal Land-owners; 9. Nobility of the County, and Places which have given Title to any Branch of the Peerage; 10. Noblemea's Seats; 11. Baronets extinct and existing; 12. Seats of Baronets; 13. Ancient Fa milies extinct and existing; 14. Geogra phical and Geological Descriptions of the County; 15. Produce; 16. Natural History; 17. Mineral Springs; 18. Rivers; 19. Canals; 20. Roads; 21. Manufac tures. Under the general head of “ Antiquities," we have, 22. Roman Antiqui ties; 23. British and Roman Roads, and Roman Stations; 24. Ancient Church Architecture; 25 Ancient Painted Glass; 26. Rood Lofts, Screens &c.; 27. Fonts; 28. Stone Stalls and Piscine; 29. Ancient Sepulchral Monuments; 30. Monastic Remains; 31. Castles and Sites of Castles; 32. Ancient Mansion Houses; 35. Ancient Crosses; 34. Camps and Earth-works; 35. Miscellaneous Antiquities; 36. Customs. Of these the most valuable seem the thirteenth, the twenty-second, the twenty-ninth, thirtysecond, and thirty-third. The section entitled "Ancient Families extinct and existing," is a most curious and elaborate memoir. The "Parochial Topography," which follows the preliminary section, is opened with a concise account of all that has been written on the subject of Cheshire. "The only part of Cheshire, (Messrs. Lysons observe,) of which we have any regular history, is the hundred of Bucklow, written by Sir Peter Leycester, whọ has, with much industry, and apparent accuracy, traced the history of property and families in that district, from a very early period down to the year 1666, and in some instances a few years later: the work was published in 1678. Dr. Gower, in his Sketch of the Materials for a His tory of Cheshire, of which we shall make more particular mention, says that it had been asserted, that Sir Peter collected for all the hundreds: his own opi nion," he tells us, "was, that he did not collect for them professedly, but that the manuscripts which had been submitted by Lady Leicester to his care, related to, and extended over, the whole County; containing a prodigious fund of very valuable information. Through the indulgence indulgence of Sir J. F. Leicester, we have had an opportunity of inspecting his ancestor's MSS. which are now in his possession, at Tabley; and we found them to contain ample collections for the hundred of Bucklow, written by Sir Peter Leycester, in a very neat hand, but scarcely any thing relating to other parts of the county, except a large volume of pedigrees, written also by Sir Peter himself, being chiefly copied from the collections of Mr. John Booth, of Twenlow, with some additions made by Sir Francis Leycester, Sir Peter's suc cessor. "The earliest printed work relating to the county palatine of Chester, is that generally known by the name of King's Vale Royal, for which the editor, Daniel King, an engraver, seems to have enjoyed a much greater portion of fame than was his due. The first part consists of a brief geographical account of Cheshire, the course of its rivers, a summary ac count of the several hundreds, brief descriptions of the city of Chester, the market towns, and a few of the principal villages; lists of the gentry in each hundred, and engraved coats of arms in alphabetical order; and annals of the city of Chester, all by William Smith, rougedragon pursuivant at arms in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The most valuable article in the second part is an Itinerary of Cheshire, divided into the several hundreds, made in the year 1622, by William Webb, M.A. who was clerk in the mayor's court at Chester, and had been under-sheriff to Sir Richard Lea in the year 1615. The second part contains also a short history of the Earls of Chester, their barous, the Bishops of Mercia and Chester, the government of the county and city, and a more copious epitome of the annals of the latter, compiled from the corporation books, by William Aldersey, twice mayor of Ches ter, who died in 1617. A work entitled a History of Cheshire, in two volumes 8vo. was published in 1778, being merely a copy of the Vale Royal, with extracts from Sir Peter Leycester's History of Bucklow Hundred; an anonymous History of Nantwich, written by the Rev. Mr. Partridge, which had been published separately in 1774; extracts froin a brief History of Eccleston, which had been published by the Rev. Thomas Crane in 1774; the Diary of Edward Burghall, some time rector of Acton, relating chiefly to public transactions during the civil war; and ex. tracts from Pennant's Journey from Ches ter to London, and other modern publica. "The manuscript collections for this Randal Holme in 1707, were purchased for the Earl of Oxford's library, and have eventually become the property of the public. The principal collector for the History of the City of Chester, was the Rev. Archdeacon Rogers, who died in 1595; his notes were arranged and classed in chapters by his son, who drew up a very curious history of "The laudable Exercises yearly used within the Citie of Chester;" a copy of these collections is among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, and another in the possession of William Nicholls, esq. of Chester. "It appears by Dr. Gower's prospectus, that he was possessed of the originals of some of the collections which he has described, that he had transcripts of some, and that others had been confided to his care by their respective owners. At the time of his death, which happened in 1780, the plan of his work is said to have been nearly completed, and the publication was undertaken in 1792 by John Wilkinson, M.D. who became possessed of all his materials for the history, except such as had been lent to Dr. Gower, and on his death had been returned to their respective owners. Dr. Wilkinson having afterwards declined the task through want of sufficient leisure to fulfil his intentions, all Dr. Gower's collections, with such additions as had been made to them by Dr. Wilkinson, came into the hands of the late William Latham, esq. F.R. and A.S. who, in 1800, published renewed proposals for a History of Cheshire, visited several parts of the county, and made some progress in the undertaking; since his death, which happened in 1807, most of the Cheshire collections above mentioned, have passed again into the hands of Dr. Wilkinson, in whose possession they now are. The Rev. Mr. Watson, rector of Stockport, made collections relating to that town and neigh bourhood, with the intention of publication: they are now in the hands of his son." Chester forms, of course, the most curious article in the parochial topography. Under Whitegate, we have the following account of Nixon, the Cheshire prophet: lere are deposited certain MSS. which are said to be the original prophecies of the celebrated Nixon. The popular story of this supposed prophet, which has been printed in various forms, and is current in every part of the king dom, was first published in the early part of the last century. The account given of him is, that he was an illiterate plougn-boy, his capacity scarcely exceeding that of an ideot, and that be seldom spoke unless when he uttered his prophecies, which were taken down from his mouth, by some of the byestanders: many traditions relating to him are still current in the neighbourhood of Vale Royal, where his story is implicitly believed; but there are many circumstances which combine to render it suspicious. An anonymous author of "the Life of Robert Nixon, the Cheshire Prophet," places his birth in the reign of Edward IV. but Oldmixon, in his Life of him, says that he lived in the reign of James I. and it is asserted in a letter annexed to the last-mentioned pamphlet, which has the signature of William Ewers, and the date of 1714, that there was an old inan, one Woodman, then living at Coppenhall, who remembered Nixon, could describe his person, and had communicated many particulars of his life. The tradition at Vale Royal House, where the above-mentioned ma nuscripts have been long preserved with great care and secrecy, favours the for mer account; and were it not so much connected with Vale Royal and the Cholmondeley family, who are known not to have settled at that place before the year 1615, the story would have more the air of probability, if placed at a period so remote. If, according to Oldmixon's account, so extraordinary a person had lived at Vale-Royal in the reign of James I. we might expect to find some mention of him in the parish register either at Over, or Whitegate, both of which have been searched in vain; and it is almost incredible that he should not have been noticed by his contem poraries; yet no mention is made of him either by Webb, who in his Itinerary of 1622, speaks much of the Cholmondeley family, and relates a visit of King James 1. to Vale Royal for four days, or by the industrious Randal Holme, who has recorded all the remarkable events and circumstances of his time. Indeed, what ever be the age assigned to Nixon, if his story and his prophecies had been known in the seventeenth century, it seems very extraordinary, that neither of the Holmes should have inserted a single note concerning him, in their voluminous and multifarious collections relating to this county; and that Fuller, who published his "Worthies" imme diately diately after the restoration, when many of Nixon's prophecies are said to have been fulfilled, should also have omitted The story of Nixon's to notice him. death is, that having been sent for by the king, he was accidentally starved, as he himself had foretold; this is said to have happened at Hampton-court, where two places are pointed out by the person who shows the palace, each of which has been said to have been the scene of his famishment. This part of the story will not bear the test of inquiry better than the others; there is no entry in the parishi-register of the burial of such a person in the reign of James I.: one of the closets pointed out as that in which Nixon was by accident locked up, was evidently built in the reign of William III. and it is needless to observe, that the whole palace was built subsequently to the reign of Henry VII. which is by some said to have been the time of Nixon's death. When, in addition to these circumstances, we observe that the particulars relating to the Cholmondeleys in the printed accounts of Nixon, are at variance with the real and known history of that family, we cannot help regarding his story as very suspicious, if not wholly legendary." At the end of all are some useful ad- Here also we have to notice "Hercula- 66 neum; at Stabiæ; Excavations at Pom- CLASSICAL LITERATURE. In the new edition of "Schrevelius's Lexicon," by Mr. WATTS, we have a' work of great labour and great utility." The advertisement prefixed by the edi tor will explain its principal advantages "Ad Lectorem. "Quæ in hâc nova editione præstitiIn libello concinnando, adbi mus, L. B. liceat nobis tibi breviter exponere. baimus præcipuè quartam Schrevelii edi tionem Lexici sui Lugduni et Roterodami editam anno MDCLXIV. in 8vo. Hillä porro ejusdem libri editionem Cantabrigia MDCLXXXV. in eâdem formâ editam, denique istam quæ ex prelo Pa tavino prodiit in fol. MDCCLV. "Quo meliùs et copiosiùs illustrari possent verborum vis et significatio, molis libri ratione perpetuo servatâ, ad Lexi ca Constantini, II. Stephani, Scapula,' EditioSuiceri, et Hederici confugimus, unde multa et utilia desumpta sunt. nem adhibuimus Hederici Lipsiensem in 8vo, ab Ernesto curatam MDCCLXVII. "Verborum ferè mille nunc primùm adjecimus, qua in re consuluimus Græcis scriptoribus, quorum excerpta tironum ubique in manibus sunt. "In libro excudiendo feci, quod potu', ut accuratissimus prodeat; multum tamen debeo fidei, diligentiæ, et peritie typographi. Siquid peccatum fuerit, ho mines enim sumus, tu lcctor benignè R. W." condonabis. "Prid. cal. Feb. MDCCCX." A more |