THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. FEBRUARY, 1831. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ORIGINAL LETTERS OF DR. BERKELEY, BISHOP OF CLOYNE. Ampton, near Bury Mr. URBAN, St. Edmund's, Feb.1. YOUR interesting Miscellany having now for a century been the depository of literary and antiquarian information, I trust you will indulge an old admirer, although a new correspondent, with the insertion of the two inclosed original Letters, from an early contributor to your valuable pages,—that eminently learned and pious prelate the late George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, in Ireland; a man well known in the literary world, as the contemporary and intimate friend of Pope, Swift, and Bp. Atterbury, the former of whom said, no less justly than beautifully, of him, "To Berkeley every virtue under heaven;" and the latter, when asked by Mr. Pope for his opinion of him, replied, “So much learning, so much knowledge, so much humility, I did not think had been the portion of any but angels, until I saw Berkeley.❞ The first was written to Sir John James of Bury St. Edmund's, Bart. eldest son of Sir Cane James of that place, by Dame Ann his second wife, daughter and coheir of Francis Philipps, of the Inner Temple, London, and of Sunbury, in Middlesex, esq. Sir John was the last heir male of his family, who were formerly seated at Crishall, in Essex. The other is addressed to a Mr. John Smibert, an artist residing, in 1726, in the Little Piazza, Covent-garden, but at the time of writing this letter, at Boston, in New England. He, with Sir John, then Mr. James, accompanied the writer in 1728 in his voyage, on the Bermuda design. LETTER I. Dear Sir, Cloyne, June 30, 1736. In this remote corner of Imokilly, where I hear only the rumours and echoes of things, I know not whether you are still sailing on the ocean, or already arrived to take possession of your new dignity and estate. In the former case I wish you a good voyage, in the latter I welcome you and wish you joy. I have a letter written and lying by me these three years, which 1 knew not whither or how to send you. But now you are returned to our hemisphere, I promise myself the pleasure of being able to correspond with you. You who live to be a spectator of odd scenes, are come into a world much madder and odder than that you left. We also in this island are growing an odd and mad people. We were odd before, but I was not sure of our having the genius necessary to become mad. But some late steps of a public nature give sufficient proof thereof. Who knows but when you have settled your affairs, and looked about and laughed enough in England, you may have leisure and curiosity to visit this side of the water? You may land within two miles of my house, and find that from Bristol to Cloyne is a shorter and much easier journey than from London to Bristol. I would go about with you, and show you some scenes perhaps as beautiful as you have seen in all your travels. My own garden is not without its curiosity, having a great number of myrtles, several of which are seven or eight feet high. They grow naturally, with no more trouble or art than gooseberry-bushes. This is literally true. Of this part of the world it may be truly said, that it is Ver ubi longum lepidasque præbet My wife most sincerely salutes you. We should without compliment be overjoyed to see you. I am in hopes 100 Original Letters of Dr. Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne. soon to hear of your welfare, and remain, dear Sir, your most obedient and affectionate servant, LETTER II. Dear Mr. Smibert, G. CLOYNE. Cloyne, May 31, 1735. A great variety and hurry of affairs, joined with ill state of health, hath deprived me of the pleasure of corresponding with you for this good while past, and indeed I am very sensible that the task of answering a letter is so disagreeable to you, that you can well dispense with receiving one of mere compliment, or which doth not bring something pertinent and useful. You are the proper judge whether the following suggestions may be so or no. I do not pretend to give advice, I only offer a few hints for your own reflec tion. What if there be in my neighbourhood a great trading city? What if this city be four times as populous as Boston, and a hundred times as rich? What if there be more faces to paint, and better pay for painting, and yet nobody to paint them? Whether it would be disagreeable to you to receive gold instead of paper? Whether it might be worth your while to embark with your busts, your prints, and your drawings, and once more cross the Atlantic? Whether you might not find full business in Cork, and live there much cheaper than in London? Whether all these things put together might not be worth a serious thought? I have one question to ask, and that is, whether myrtles grow in or near Boston without pots, stoves, or green-houses, in the open air? I assure you they do in my garden. So much for the climate. Think of what hath been said, and God direct you for the best. I am, good Mr. Smibert, your affectionate humble servant, more GEOR. CLOYNE. P.S. My wife is exceedingly your humble servant, and joins in compliments both to you and yours. We should be glad to hear the state of your health and family. We have now three boys, doubtful which is the prettiest. My two eldest past well through the small pox last winter. I have my own health better in Cloyne than I had either in old England or New. [Feb. Of the children of Bp. Berkeley mentioned in the preceding postscript, George the second son received his education under his father, until about nineteen years of age, when he became student of Christ Church, Oxford. After obtaining divers preferments, he settled in that of St. Clement Danes in London, with which he held the rectory of Tyshurst, in Sussex, the Chancellorship of Brecknock, and the sixth prebendal stall in the church of Canterbury, the gifts of Archbishop Secker his sole patron. He married Eliza, eldest daughter and coheiress of the Rev. Henry Frinsham, M.A. rector of White-Waltham, Berks. Their only surviving son, Geo. Monck Berkeley, esq. LL.B. in the University of Dublin, F.S.S.A.; a member of St. Mary Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and of the Inner Temple, London; published in 1789, “Literary Relics," containing original letters from King Charles II. King James II. &c. &c.; amongst them are eightysix letters from the pen of his venerable grandsire Bp. Berkeley. Mr. Monck Berkeley died in 1793, the loss of whom so greatly affected Dr. Berkeley his father, that he survived him only two years. In 1797 appeared "Poems by the late George Monck Berkeley, esq." edited by Mrs. Eliza Berkeley his mother, with a long preface written by that lady, consisting of some anecdotes of Mr. Monck Berkeley, and several of his friends. Yours, &c. A.P. CHURCH OF ST. ROCH, PARIS. Paris, Jan. 20. THE Church of St. Roch being situated in the Rue St. Honoré, is an edifice which attracts the notice of every visitor to this capital. It is the parochial church of the second arron In our Number for August last, p. 101, appeared an account of the ancient Church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, which has just been the scene of popular tumult in Paris. We are now favoured, by the same Correspondent, with an account of the Church of St. Roch, where the funeral mass for the repose of the soul of the Duke de Berri, which has been made the pretext of so much lamentable destruction, both in the churches and without, was at first intended to have taken place; but the fatal honour is said to have been declined, by the prudence of the Curé.-EDIT. 1831.] Church of St. dissement of Paris. The building is of Greek architecture, and was begun in 1653 by Lemercier: Louis XIV. and his mother, Anne of Austria, laid the first stone. The works were suspended immediately after the interior of the building was completed; and in 1720, the celebrated Law having given 100,000 livres towards finishing and beautifying the Church, Robert de Cotte was employed on the occasion: that architect died in 1736, at which period his work was not quite finished. When Charles V. enlarged Paris, he left the neighbourhood of St. Roch, then called Gaillon, outside the city walls. The Porte St. Denis was placed at the spot now known by that name; the line of the walls from thence to the river passed along the Rues Bourbon-Villeneuve, and Fossés Montmartre; across the sites of the Place des Victoires, and the garden of the Palais Royal; and then followed the Rues du Rempart and Nicaise to the quay. In the reign of Louis XIII. a further extension took place, by the line being drawn from the Porte St. Denis along the present Boulevards, to the Porte St. Honoré, at the end of the Rue Royale. So late as 1670, there were windmills on the eminence known by the name of the Butte des Moulins: the Rue des Moulins now marks the situation, while the Rue Gaillon, close by, perpetuates the original name of the neighbourhood. It was on that spot that Joan d'Arc was wounded in 1429, in an attack upon Paris, then in possession of the English, St. Roch is but modern in the ca lendar: he was born at Montpellier towards the close of the 13th century; and having made a pilgrimage to Rome, when only twenty years of age, he cured a considerable number of persons of the plague: he died Aug. 13, 1327, and since his canonization, he is invoked by those afflicted with contagious disorders. There is no particular tradition current to explain the dedication of this church, or the chapel built in 1587 on the same spot. It is, however, probable, that it arose from a lazar house being established outside the city walls. The church extends from north to south; it has a front ornamented with two rows of pillars; the lower row is of the Doric, the upper of the Corinthian order, A wide flight of steps from the Rue St. Honoré affords a tolerable view from that street; but in every other direction the' edifice is blocked up with buildings. The absence of a portico renders the external appearance of the church rather meagre. It has a respectable square tower, which, however, is scarcely visible; it is erected over an angle formed by the eastern transept, and the northern part of the body of the church. Although the tower consists of three stages, it can only be seen from the Pont Royal, or from the terrace of the garden of the Tuileries.* The The internal architecture is Doric. The aisles meet behind the principal altar, which is detached; and behind which three chapels are discerned from the body of the church, first is of a circular form, and is dedicated to the Virgin: at the entrance are two paintings, the Raising of Jairus's daughter, by Delorme, and the Dealers driven out of the Temple, by Thomas. The second is the chapel for the Communion, and the third du Calvaire, in which is a marble group representing the body of Jesus being placed in the tomb. In the recesses formed by the transepts are altars, each ornamented with a large painting, and the statues of several saints. The choir is surrounded by eight little chapels, each of which contains a bas-relief, representing an historical event from the New Testament, At the left of the nave, near the entrance, is the chapel of the font, adorned with a group in white marble, by Lemoine, representing the Baptism of Christ. The chapel beyond it, and the corresponding chapel in the opposite aisle, contain a few monuments, wrecks of the former splendour of this church, and others which have been totally destroyed in the Revolution. They consist of a medallion bust of Maupertius, supported by a pyramid, and surrounded by emblematical representations of science, &c. On the pedestal is a long Latin inscription to the memory of that philosopher and academician, who was born at St. Malo, 1698, and died at Bâle in 1759. The revolutionary chisel has defaced 102 Removal of the Inscription from the Monument. not only the different allusions to royalty, but also the particle de, which was prefixed to his name. On a pedestal is preserved the bust of Andrew Lenôtre, who planned the gardens of Versailles and the Tuileries, ob. 1700, æt. 87. Medallion busts of Marshal d'Asfeld, who died 1743, and of Madame Live de Jully, who died 1752. Two monuments of the Crequi family, which I presume were originally in some other church, as they are not mentioned in a description published in 1787. One is a bust of Francis Boun de Crequi, Duke of Lesdiguières, Marshal of France, ob. 4 Feb. 1687. The other is a statue of the natural size, in a reclining posture, supported by a weeping figure; it represents Charles Duke de Crequi, ambassador at Rome, who died 13 Feb. 1687. Cardinal Dubois, Archbishop of Cambray, is represented in a kneeling posture. This monument was executed by William Coustou. The Cardinal died 19 Aug. 1723, and was interred in the church of St. Honoré, which no longer exists. A monument to the memory of Peter Mignard, a painter of considerable celebrity. Louis XIV. employed him ten times to take his portrait. Mignard died 30 May, 1695, aged 85, and was interred in the church of the Jacobins, which formerly stood near the Marché St. Honoré, and opposite the residence of the late Earl of Bridge [Feb. personnes de cette paroisse, dont les monumens n'ont pu être trouvés." Then follow fifteen names, among which the most remarkable are the President Henault, the Abbé Mably, and Marshal Louvois. On the 13 Vendemiaire, An. 4 (5 Oct. 1796), some National Guards posted themselves in this church, when attacked by Barras and Buonaparte. The latter placed cannon at the end of the Rue du Dauphin (then called Rue de la Convention), and soon dislodged them. A military commission sat in the church a few days after, when some of the National Guards were condemned to death, others to banishment. In 1799 this edifice was called the Temple de Genie, and a telegraph was placed on the tower. Mr. URBAN, W.S.B. Jan. 29. THE reproach which Pope cast upon the Monument has ceased to exist; the Civic Column no longer "Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies." The inscriptions on its pedestal reflecting on the Catholics, have in the course of the last three days been erased, in pursuance of the following resolution of the Court of Common Council: "Court of Common Council, Dec. 6, 1830.-Motion, That the Committee of City Lands be instructed to cause to be removed from the inscription on the Monument the words, ' Sed furor Papisticus qui tam dira patravit nondum restinguitur,' and also the inscription, This Pillar was set up in perpetual remembrance of the most dreadful burning of this Protestant City, begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction in the beginning of September, in the year of our Lord 1666, in order to the effecting their horrid plot for the extirpating the Protestant religion and English liberties, and to introduce Popery and Slavery?" "Amendment-That it be referred to the City Lands' Committee to consider and report to this Court the propriety of removing from the inscription on the Monument all matters insinuating the Fire of London to be the work of Papists.-Negatived. "Original Motion put-Resolved in the affirmative, and ordered accordingly." The Latin words occupied the lowest line of the inscription on the north face of the dado; the English were inscribed in a continuous line on all the four sides of the plinth, and both had the appearance of having been inscribed on erasures. The words 1831.] Removal of the Inscription from the Monument. furor papisticus, &c. were not an original part of the inscription, but were very awkwardly appended to it. Pennant, noticing the completion of the Monument in 1677, adds, "A melancholy period of party rage! and the injurious inscription written by Dr. Thomas Gale, afterwards Dean of York, was permitted." Of this charge the Dean is innocent. The offensive line is not to be found in the transcript of the inscription given in De Laune's London, which was published in 1681; and if it had existed when he wrote his work, it is evident, from the temper he displays against the Papists, that he would not have failed to notice it. This author avails himself of every opportunity in his power to vilify and abuse the Papists, printing the substance of the infamous Bedloe's narrative of the burning, which could only be done to create a prejudice against a persecuted sect; at the same time that he urges with the true liberality and consistency of a Dissenter, the reasonableness of seceders of his own stamp, having liberty of conscience. My edition, which was printed in 1690, contains a continuation of the work to that year by S. W.†, an editor who possessed the same anti-papistical spirit as his author. He adds, that "underneath the pre-mentioned inscriptions hath been since written, by order of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, the following words in English;" setting out the English inscription as above. He omits altogether the appendix to the Latin inscription, although there can be little doubt that it was added at the same time. He then gives the inscription on the house in Pudding-lane, which records not only the malice of "the barbarous Papists," but the hanging of a poor madman by enlightened Protestants; and this stone, it appears, was erected in 1681, in the Mayoralty of Sir Patience Ward, fifteen years after the Fire. The latter date fixes the period of the additions to the first inscription, which additions manifestly had their origin with this sapient chief magistrate; and supposing them to have been set up in 1681, the year in which De Laune's work was printed, they naturally are not to be found in his book, In 1685, in the first year of King London, 5th edit. p. 455. + Qu. who was S. W.? 103 James the Second, the stone was taken down, and the other inscriptions erased; but on the Mayoralty of Sir Thomas Pilkington, 1689-90, they were carefully restored, and the stone again set up. In this year, De Laune's editor published his additions, and dedicated his book to the Lord Mayor, for this sufficient reason, that as the former book was dedicated to that mirror of Protestantism, Sir Patience Ward, in whose time the inscriptions were first set up, he could not more properly address his republication to any other person than the restorer of them. In Mr. Hone's pleasing miscellany, "The Every Day Book," are given translations of the inscriptions; and if further proof were wanting of the last line being appended, the inscription itself affords internal evidence of such being the fact. After recording the date, it goes on to say, a terrible fire broke out about midnight, and it then enumerates its ravages, and concludes thus: "When this fatal fire had baffled all human counsels and endeavours in the opinion of all, it stopped, as it, were, by a command from heaven, and was on every side extinguished." With this pious ascription of the stoppage of the conflagration to Divine interposition, the original inscription appropriately ended; the intolerant conclusion, "But papistical malice which perpetrated such mischiefs is not yet restrained," is an obvious addition, inasmuch as there is nothing before it to show that papistical malice caused the calamity. After this ebullition of intolerance had existed for 150 years, at a period when its charges were neither believed by Protestants, nor regarded by Catholics, the Court of Common Council, in a fit of affected liberality, passed the resolution which is above extracted from its Minutes, and that too without any complaint from the injured party, and the decree has been since carried into execution. However we may regret the existence of the feelings which gave rise to the inscriptions, it is difficult to see the wisdom which led to their removal in a period when the sting was removed, and they were only regarded as a vestige of past intolerance and fanatical credulity; and if all monuments of a like description were to be destroyed with as little discrimination, alas for our antiquities! One inscription might Vol. i. p. 1150. |