It is satisfactory to me, that Dr. Drake's eulogia can never be attributed to partial friendship. We are perfect strangers; and we might, either of us, adopt almost the words of my witty Correspondent, the late Major Drewe, in his first letter to me, dated 1795, "To the best of my belief I have never seen you; and I know not, whether I am writing to a man of twenty-five or sixty-five." But in Major Drewe I lost a cordial friend!

"Eheu fugaces," &c. &c. Excuse, Mr. Urban, a momentary digression.

The occasion of my having taken up the pen, was to note a curious circumstance that in the "Winter Nights," not one passage occurs as an extract from my Poem, which I had not corrected, or altered at least, for the edition of 1810. Dr. Drake must have used the second edition. In the third edition of 1810, my readers will find a variety of corrections and additions.

In the first extract, the varations of the third Edition are considerable. Dr. Drake reads:

His rapid rein-deer drives o'er plains of snow,
Would rather to the same wild tracks recur
That various life had mark'd with joy or woe,
Than wander where the spicy breezes blow,
To kiss the hyacinths of Azza's hair,-
Rather than where luxuriant summers glow,
To the white mosses of his hills repair,
And bid his antler-train the simple banquet
share."

"All love their native spot; whether beside Their ice-rob'd mountains thro' a waste of night,

"To his dimm'd suns the Briton still‹ inclines,

Nor heeds the unclouded Nile, where
Heaven's clear azure shines.
Yes! he prefers his light green barley blade
To breathing maize-to fields of clust'ring
rice;

And visits with more joy the plashy glade
Where crackles, at each step, the sheeted
ice,
[entice
Than Memphian plains or Persian, that
The soul to pleasure, far diffusing balm :
To him more dear the oak-rough precipice
Than the deep verdure of the date-crown'd
palm,
[dious calm.
Where all is lapp'd in ease, one soft insi-

*

*

clad in fur,

*

*

Yes! Home still charms. And he who, [plain, Drives his fleet rein-deer o'er the snowy Would rather to the same wild tracks recur, Which life had mark'd with pleasure or with pain, [train Than revel where young Zephyr's musky Kiss the soft hyacinths of Azza's hair; Rather than where prolific summers reign, Seek his white mosses, and with frugal care Bid his poor antler-friends the simple banquet share."

"All love their native spot, to Friendship dear, [night,

Whether they catch, amidst a waste of The frost-gales from the mountains more

severe,

*

ash

tide,

And press'd my orchard fruit-how rich the reeking pound!" (pp. 77, 78.) Iu vol. II. p. 14, "We are indebted (says Dr. D.) to the masterly pencil of the Poet of l'Attachment, for a striking portrait of Ovid perishing under the pressure of his afflictions." "With trembling knees he totters on the brink [pale, Of Fate. Yet 'midst the Pontic horrors Tho' o'er the bitterness of death he think,' Yet on the distant wave a glimm❜ring sail He keus with kindling hope, till dusky twilight fail."

In the third Edition we read, "With palsied frame he totters." (p. 32.) We proceed to the picture of the Swiss, at p. 16,

"Tho' silver-lulling streams solicit rest, Reluctant from his pine-wood gloom, he [green whisp'ring groves." Thro' soft Savannah's warm, thro' gay

roves

*

Here, on my own old couch,' the master cried,

'Shall I dismiss a train of wakeful woes ; Here in delicious sleep my weary eye-lids close.' (p. 263.)

'Here, on my own old couch (the Roman cried),

Shall I dismiss a train of wakeful woes; Here, in oblivious sleep my heavy eye-lids close."(Third Edit. p. 41.)

Thus it appears that I have been careful, at least, in revising the Poem. That Sir Walter Scott should likewise have quoted (as an illustration of a passage in his Lay) two stanzas which are so much altered, as to assume a different aspect in the third Edition of the Poem, is rather remarkable. They are indeed the first excerpt of Dr. Drake. Sir W. Scott introduces the extract to his readers as follows:

"The influence of Local Attachment has been so exquisitely painted by my friend Mr. Folwhele, in the Poem which bears that title, as might well have dispensed with the more feeble attempt of any contemporary poet."-See Notes to Lay of the Last Minstrel, edit. 13, p. 325.

I have printed a fourth Edition of the Poem. But whether in a fifth now preparing, I ought to restore and Drake, to their original readings, the passages so honoured by Scott is a doubt with

Aug. 4. N perusing various accounts of the discovery of the lead at Newport Pagnel (mentioned by F. L. W.), I am sorry to find that they have all lost sight of Weever's original state

ment.

As the book is of rare occurrence, and no work relating to that town contains the following extract, no apology is necessary for laying it before your Correspondent.

"In the North aile of the Parish Church of Newport-Painell in Buckinghamshire, in the year 1619, was found the body of a man whole and perfect; laid downe, or rather leaninge downe, North and South: all the concavous parts of his body and the hollownesse of every bone, as well ribs as other, were filled up with sollid lead. The skull, with the lead in it, doth weigh thirty pounds, sixe ounces, which, with the neck-bone, and some other bones (in like manuer full of lead) are reserved, and kept in a little chest in the said Church, neare to the place where the corps were found; there to be showne to stran. gers

gers as reliques of admiration. The rest of all the parts of his body are taken away by gentlemen neare dwellers, or such as take delight in rare Antiquities. This I saw."-Funeral Monuments, p. 30. Mr. Cole (MSS. vol. XXXVIII.) informs us that the head was, in 1776, preserved in the Library of St. John's College, Cambridge.

Whether any fragments of these bones are yet in existence, I have not learned; such a discovery would be interesting, as it would show what Antiquaries were living in the neigh bourhood: I make no doubt that the well-known Dr. Richard Napier was one of the depredators. It would be useless to follow the ignis fatuus of conjecture as to the person so interred; tradition has been silent on the subject, although it is probable that some distinguishing honour was conferred on the deceased.

I meet with no particular mention of Newport Pagnel prior to the Conquest, notwithstanding Mr. Baxter has placed Lactorodum there. ["Nova Porta Paganelli hodiernum est Lactorodum."] Salmon* also calls the town "Nova Portu, which gives strong hints of a Military Way, in many countries called the Port Way" and in another place says, that "Newport and Bedford are proofs of a great way going between them." The late Bishop of Cloyne (Lysons, Mag. Brit. vol. 1.) has shown that this boasted" Port Way" is one of Mr. Salmon's "Dreams;" but, if we cannot fix a station at Newport, we may at least place it on a Military Road. The Akeman-street passes by Hide-lane, near Buckingham, through Calverton; and having crossed a brook there," goes up the hill," where are evident remains of a fortification. From thence it runs by the East side of Stony Stratford, through Wolverton, Stanton-Barry, and Liuford, to Newport and Bedford.

The bistory of this part of the country, while under the dominion of the Saxons, is no less obscure. In the year 1010, the Danes entered it from Oxfordshire, and proceeded "along the Ouse until they came to Bedford, and thus on to Tempsford, burning wherever they went, and then they returned to their fleet with their plunder, and divided it amongst the

*Survey of England, 1728.

ships t." Their progress must, therefore, have been nearly in a line with the "Akeman-street."

At the Conquest, Newport was the only borough in the county, the town of Buckingham excepted. As a strong-hold it must have been an immense acquisition; for it not only possessed a Castle itself, but similar ones were erected at Wolverton, Hanslape, and Lavendon; so that a circle of fortification was extended around the country.-The materials for its early history are, however, scanty; and it is upon the Annals of the Garrison during "The Grand Rebellion," that we principally pride ourselves. For the present, it may be sufficient to enumerate the names in the immediate vicinity, which may be ranged under the banners of either party:

Loyalists.-Throckmorton, Digby, Tyringham, Longueville, Chester, Napier, Forster, Dillon, Slingsby, Hacket, Andrewes, Crane, Hillersden, Lane, Willoughby.

Parliamentarians.-Andrewes (aller et idem), Temple (of StantonBarry), Lane, Tyrell, Duncombe, Rawlins.

Before I quit the subject, let me contribute a small addition to, or perhaps substraction from, the “Nonconformists' Memorial." In that work it is stated that John Gibbs, Vicar of Newport Pagnell, was ejected some months before the Bartholomew Act, for refusing to admit the whole parish to the Lord's Supper.-On the arrest of Sir George Booth, I find that Mr. Gibbs took horse and rode immediately to London, to communicate the welcome intelligence to the Parliament: "the House being in formed that Mr. John Gibbs, Minister of Newport-Pannel, was at the door, he was called in; and being at the Bar, gave an account to the Parlia ment of the apprehending of Sir George Booth the last night at Newport Pannell." Whether Sir George took any part in his expulsion, as a return for this favour, I know not, though it is not unlikely. Whether he was ejected, or not, is certain; for he first intruded into the Vicarage of Newport in 1646, when Samuel Aus

+ Saxon Chronicle, translated by Miss Gurney.

Merc, Polit. Aug. 25, 1659.

bin, the lawful Vicar, was (as Browne Willis supposes) "thrust out." He received no presentation whatever to the benefice (although in Carpenter's "Anabaptist," 1647, he is described as newly settled in place), and in 1650, it was returned to be vacant. The Rev. Robert Marshall was presented by the Crown, January 16, 1660; so that I do not see on what claim Calamy has placed Mr. Gibbs among the ejected Ministers. Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

LATHBURIENSIS.

Aug. 15. HE approaching installation of

St. Paul's, induces me to draw the attention of your Readers to the present state of that National Edifice, by an extract from the Debates in the House of Commons, the 26th of May last; and it is hoped that the remarks, as coming from one of its Members, will have an influence which the representation (however just) of a nameless individual can never possess.

Mr. W. Smith took occasion to observe that, "Whoever went to St. Paul's at the present moment must pay for admission, as if they visited an exhibition. The only point in which it differed from an exhibition was, that the public convenience was never once thought of by the persons who shewed the place. They thought of nothing but the collection of a trifling tax from those who visited the Building, from a laudable curiosity or otherwise.

"There was not to be found in Europe any one building of the importance of St. Paul's in such a state of filth; and presenting so much of every thing reprehensible, as might be observed there. Little attention was paid to the cleanliness, or even permanence of that fine Structure; and to its beauty, none whatever.All that was considered was the paltry profit of some equally pallry individual." (Hear, hear.)

From these mortifying animadversions no part of the Edifice is exempted. The grass-grown Area, with its dilapidated Monuments; St. Faith's, and the Vaults below; where the curious monument of Dr. Donne (snatch ed from oblivion in your pages) lies unheeded amidst other lumber.

See Part i. p. 125.

The space beneath the Dome and its surrounding Galleries, chilled with unventillated fogs, which are making rapid inroads on the decorations of the walls. The close and gloomy Chapel, kept indeed by daily use in some degree free from dust, which in the less-frequented apartments is suffered to accumulate so as almost to forbid entrance. All bear melancholy testimony to fatal and longcontinued neglect. To keep St. Peter's at Rome in the state of beautiful order and cleanliness which it exhibits, a certain number among the poorer class are constantly employed.

same results in St. Paul's; and it may confidently be expected, from the ́energy and activity of the Dean elect, that this noble Building, which yields to none in Architectural beauty and grandeur, may soon become as conspicuous for cleanliness, order, and accommodation, as it has been for a series of years remarkable for dirt, disorder, and exaction.

Mr. URBAN,

J. S.

Aug. 5.

Yensive a circulation among the YOUR Miscellany having so ex

Clergy, I am anxious that they should not be misled by an article in last Month's Magazine, as to whom the Pulpit Cloth at Funerals belongs.

W. R. gives " for the information of all whom it may concern," the verbose opinion or rather." ipse dixit" of Robert Cooke, alias Clarencieux Roy d'Armes in the reign of Elizabeth, well versed perhaps in the mystery of Heraldry, but "ne sutor ultra crepidam." The subjoined living authorities on this subject will, it is presumed, be far more satisfactory. The one, the opinion of Dr. Swabey, whose authority as a Civilian will scarcely be disputed ; and the other, Mr. Justice Bailey's Charge at the Lent Assizes, Maidstone. J. S.

"I am of opinion that the Black Cloth, which was purchased by, and put up at the expense of the parish, and which has been used in the Church upon the two public and lamented occasions, the Death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales and and ought to be delivered to the Churchthe Queen, is the property of the Parish, wardens, if such be the wish of the Parish.

"In cases of Cloth so put up out of respect to the memory of any private individual,