Life. I hear he is now at Windsor; how long he may stay before he returns to Cambridge I cannot learn. In case he be not long, he will have time enough upon his return to set about that Work, and perhaps it may be better to defer it till that time by reason that he being then upon the spot, if he should want any information with respect to fact; he may be easily supplied with it. It is generally believed that Dr. Stebbing will be chosen Preacher to Gray's Inn. It is no doubt, as you observe, a very desirable and honourable employment to any gentleman who is willing to make a figure in the world. I think it is a pity you had not been acquainted with the Gentlemen of that Inn. You have certainly a double title to it; first, and principally, your own intrinsic merit and good qualifications; and next, as you stand related to our late common Friend, who in his lifetime was so highly esteemed by that worthy Society. I thank you for your kind offer to inform me of the subjects of the Sermons of the Second Volume: but there will be no occasion to give you that trouble, because, I believe, Mr. Williamson, upon application, will gratify my curiosity therein when they come to hand. I think, Sir, it is now high time for me to finish this Letter; you see what a burthen you have brought upon yourself by giving encouragement to so troublesome a Correspondent, which I hope, however, that your goodness will excuse, and believe that I am, Rev. Sir, with all due respect, &c. THO. RADCLIFFE." P. 337. The following Letters were addressed to the Rev. John Cooke, M. A. the present venerable Chaplain of Greenwich Hospital, in consequence of his publication of Lord Sandwich's Travels: "REVEREND Sir, Windsor Castle, Feb. 5, 1902. "You may easily conceive that the information contained in your Letter of the 1st, gave me great pleasure; and Lord Sandwich must feel particularly gratified, when he is so authentically apprized of the great utility of his father's Book, in forwarding the operations of the British Army in Egypt.-When you see his Lordship, I beg you will present my respects; and believe me to be (with thanks for the intelligence you communicated), Reverend Sir, your faithful humble servant, J. SARUM." His Majesty's Ship Northumberland, at Sea, Feb. 19, 1805. "REVEREND SIR, "I was favoured with your Letter of the 15th instant, by the Indefatigable, which Ship only arrived this morning, requesting information relative to the operations in the vicinity of Alexandria.In compliance with your wishes, I have only to state, that I warmly recommended to Lord Hutchinson to cut the Canal of Alexandria, and to shew him that the City of Alexandria could not suffer thereby, I instanced the siege which Julius Cæsar sustained against the army then besieging the City, who had, by means of pumps, or other contrivances, conveyed the sea water into the Canal. By this the water was spoiled; notwithstanding which, plenty of good water was obtained by sinking wells in the town, which wells remain till this day. To convince his Lordship of this, I sent him Lord Sandwich's Travels, from which book I took the idea. -My motive for cutting the Canal was, to overflow the great dry Lake Marentis from the Lake Said; by that means to cover the left flank of our army, and render the communication between Cairo and Alexandria more circuitous and difficult, as they would be forced then to go round the inundation for a great way. This cut was made, and perfectly answered the purpose intended. I have reason to expect that this Lake Mareotis being filled with salt water will prevent in a great measure the plague from visiting the City, as it was observed to rage with most violence when the exhalation was greatest, occasioned by the stagnate water in this partly dry lake, or swamp. The inundation has, I am told, extended from 50 to 60 miles in some directions, and in many places 12 or 14 feet deep, so that the inland communication must be greatly increased, and as the water covers nothing but sand, no injury had been done the country. Alex. Cochrane." P. 337. 1. 24. read, "Grey." P. 345. Add the following Letter to Dr. Ducarel : "DEAR SIR, Canterbury, June 29, 1762. "I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have been at about my Stone affair; and can now tell you the event of it, as determined by the Chapter this morning, and as I had it from the Dean's mouth. They allow the evidence I have produced of the endowment to be unexceptionable; and that the Monastery was certainly obliged to make such an allowance of hay and straw to the Vicar of Stone; but doubt whether the Dean and Chapter are obliged by it; and, unless I can make it appear that some Predecessor of mine has formerly received it of their Body, it must be looked upon as lost. I am not at all the less obliged to you for the kind assistance you have given me on this occasion, and shall be very glad to have it in my power to serve you. W.GOSTLING." P. 351. William Beauvoir, M. A. was presented to the Rectory of Bocking in Essex, July 29, 1719; and in November the same year was appointed Dean of Bocking, jointly with Dr. David Wilkins. Mr. Beauvoir died in 1723. P. 360. note, 1. 37. read, "addressed to the Rev. Thomas Gough, then of St. John's College, Cambridge; LL. B. 1744;1 and afterwards Rector of Risby, and Fornham St. Genevieve, Suffolk. He was a younger son of Walter Gough, Esq. of Perry Hall, to whom Bp. Smalridge had been Tutor; and died at Risby, in January 1786, æt. 66. P. 361. note, J. 40. The undated Letter of Mr. Alvis was probably addressed to Mr. T. Gough; who furnished Mr. Hurd with the means of gratifying Dr. Macro's thirst of literary curiosities, by presenting to him the Originals of such of Bp. Smalridge's Letters as he had made copies of for Mr. Gough; which Ŏriginals (with several other of Dr. Macro's MSS.) were afterwards purchased by the late Dr. Osmund Beauvoir.-The Copies, with some other Letters of Bp. Smalridge, became in 1786 the property of Mr. Ashby; and, in 1811, by purchase, mine. P. 391. P. 391. Add this Letter to Mr. Joseph Bentham. "DEAR SIR, Chester, Sept. 22, 1755. "Thank God, I have passed over some of the most detestable road in England in my way from Torporley to this City, and have found no inconvenience by the jolting: the roads throughout Cheshire are all paved; and some of them so worn and rugged, that it is hardly safe, much less easy, to pass over them. I had a scruple of conscience, which brought me to Chester; for, as I had personally visited every other Cathedral Church in England, and within ten miles of this, I could not with a safe conscience leave Cheshire without paying my devotions at the Shrine of St. Werburga. My stay, however, will be the shorter in this Pilgrimage, as the Races begin here next Monday; and the City then will be so crowded, that it will not be very easy for one in my unwieldy situation to pass pleasantly my time among people whose whole ideas are centered in that article of Horse-racing. Indeed this seems to be the Capital of that noble diversion: no less than two Races at Chester, two at that famous town of Torporley, no bigger than the beggarly Town of Fenny-Strat ford, as many at Namptwich, and one at Northwich, since my residence in Cheshire. The conversation of the Gentry turns wholly upon betts at Horse-races and Cock-fighting; and the lower class of people seem to be as eager after it as their betters; and was I to reckon up all the matches I have heard made since I have been in this County Palatine, I should be as much out of breath, ... [here a part of the Letter is torn off.] "The Cathedral here is but a small and mean building of a reddish sandy stone, which, decaying by weather, makes it have a poor appearance on the outside but the City is very large, and has much of opulence in its look; and the Rows, as they are called, make it have a very odd and singular aspect; very different from all others I ever saw: for all the houses either stand upon pillars in front, or have steps and galleries from one to another; so that you walk dry under them in the very worst of weather: and indeed, this is a climate that requires it; for, since I have been in Cheshire, it has not refrained raining some part of the day for almost the whole time. I shan't expect to hear from you any more till I get home; but shall be much pleased to find a packet for me as I get out of the Chaise. Your assured good friend and servant, : W. COLE." Now follows a sin P. 395. Mr. Cole to Dr. Lort: " gularity; a conversation between you and me, and transmitted to you in your life-time. Had you not been a favourite, I should not have shewn it to you: but here it is, and make the most of it. A man of my sequestered turn is glad to lay hold of curious anecdotes where he can get them. Mr. Lort of Trinity College, drinking coffee with me at Milton, September 18, 1771, told me that he had been at Bristol, where they had some few years ago made a discovery, &c. &c. [Rowley's Poem]. At the same time Mr. Lort told me, that they had been pulling down the the old venerable gates of the City, and erecting modern ones. The Magistrates shewed long before their ill-taste, by removing a most elegant and most ornamental Gothic cross out of their City, where, perhaps, it might have been incommodious in a narrow street. This was afterwards conveniently enough placed in the College-green, or Square, before the Cathedral, where I saw it with pleasure 1746, being then no small ornament to the place. But I am informed it was once again sent packing, but to what place removed I know not. The Clergy in this case shewed their want of taste infinitely more than the Aldermen, as here it was no obstruction, but rather a beauty. Similar to this was what Mr. Lort mentioned, at the same time, that, calling on the Bishop of Norwich, and talking with his Lordship on the great qualifications of Mr. Cannings, his merits to the town of Bristol, and the kingdom in general; the Bishop made answer, that, if he had not prevented it, the inhabitants of that grateful parish had thrown out the monument of its so worthy benefactor. Bristol may be a good trading City, and skilled in those arts that will at last end in the destruction of this and every other great trading and luxurious Nation: but the virtues of Gratitude, Decency, and Generosity, I think, their Historian will be at a loss to find out in it.-Dr. Bentham, Canon of Christ Church, calling on me next day, and reading this account, told me that the Cross was removed to Mr. Hoare's Garden.-No doubt you have seen in the London Evening Post of the last fortnight, several scurrilous squibs and reflections on our Primate not for his routs at the Palace, but for his endeavouring to bring folks to a sense of their duty and decency. In the last week's paper it is repeated, and the Archbishop's lady taxed with routs on a Sunday. Though I had formerly the honour of a decent familiarity with his Grace while at College, and have all the veneration that is due tanto patri; yet if the fact is true, and it is boldly and confidently asserted in the Presbyterian manner, I cannot help thinking but all that is said is proper enough for such anti-episcopal carriage. I have myself, as William Cole, no particular objection to a game of cards even on a Sunday evening; but, as Vicar of a parish, I should think myself highly blameable to do so in my parish, or as a Clergyman any where, in a country where the prejudice is so vehement against it so that I cannot believe the assertion.-Pray what is that book that your Prelate has stigmatized so lately, and for which he is cajoled in the same Presbyterian paper of April 2, a worthy Patriotic Bishop? For my life, though I have heard nothing of it before, I cannot help being prejudiced in its favour, by its being reprobated by that generation (I do not mean the Bishop) as fit for the fire. This Mr. Libertatis Amor has done so much service to the writer, that I shall infallibly send for English Candour and Good-nature,' merely for its being ranked with the writings of Dr. Johnson, Tucker, Shebbeare, &c. notwithstanding the party virulence against them. W. C." In the conclusion of Mr. Cole's Remarks on the Ely Tablet, communicated to Mr. Bentham, he exclaims, "Heartily glad am I to have got to the end of this fault-finding business; but a person who has carried his abuse to such an excess as Dr. Stukeley has done against Messrs. Blomefield and Parkins, in an argument which they understand as well as himself, deserves no better quarter than he has met with here; where much more might be objected to his enthusiastic and fanciful Dissertation on bearing Arms, in which he takes occasion to introduce the Ely Tablet, was one so disposed. And give me leave to finish this long Letter with this observation, That I verily believe, notwithstanding the pretences to Heraldry, with the assistance of Mr. Wingfield Bodenham's MSS.* no one person can be produced, in so few instances, to be guilty of so many egregious, capital, and glaring mistakes +."-In a subsequent Letter, dated Dec. 14, 1766, Mr. Cole says, "I am sorry I have been so petulant in the former paper on Dr. Stukeley; whose memory I venerate, and whose abilities as a Scholar and an Antiquary are too eminent to be affected by my too hasty Remarks made in the life-time of that most ingenious and ready Writer. W. COLE." Epitaph by Mr. Cole, on his Father, at Babraham : H. S. E. Gulielmus Cole generosus, Ashdoniæ com. Essexiæ natus, sed hic vivere, hic mori voluit. Vir certè fuit, non tam ingenti fortunâ quam modica usu celebrandus. Nemini sanè notus cui non itidem amandus, charitate et humanitate potissimùn claruit, nunc quidem primum quod mortuus sit pauperibus vicinisq. suis dolendi causa. In liberos paterni amoris pietatisque exemplum haud vulgare vivus dedit, moriens reliquit. Ob. xi Janrii A. D. MDCCXXXIIII. ætat. LXIII. P. 445. At the early period of his academic life, Mr. Manning met with two extraordinary instances of preservation from untimely death. Having been seized with the small pox, he was attended by Dr. Heberden, who thinking he could not survive, desired that his father might be sent for. On his arrival he found the young man to all appearance dying, and next day he was supposed to have expired, and was laid out, as a corpse, in the usual manner. An undertaker was sent for, and every preparation made for his funeral. His father, however, who had not left the house, could not help frequently viewing the seemingly lifeless body, and in one of his visits, without seeing any cause for hope, said, "I will give my poor boy another chance," and at the same time raised him up, which almost immediately produced signs of life. Dr. Heberden was then sent for, and by the use of proper means, the young man recovered. As it was customary for the scholars of every College to make verses on the *Palæog. Brit. p. 105. + History of Ely, &c. p. vii. and xlvii. death |