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At WOOD EATON resided and died, in 1575, Sir Richard Taverner, fanatical lay preacher.

At WOODSTOCK, in 1649, the Parliamentarian commissioners were terrified by the tricks of Job Collins, "the merry Devil of Woodstock," which they considered supernatural, and which are narrated as such in a tract by Widdowes, the Clergyman of the place, quoted by Plott and Wood. William Lenthal, Speaker of the Long Parliament, was M.P. for this borough.

WORMSLEY was the residence of Adrian Scroope, regicide, executed in 1660. In WROXTON Church is a grave-stone over Francis Lord Guildford, Lord Keeper, 1685; a magnificent tomb for William Pope, first Earl of Downe; a handsome monument for Francis, first Earl of Guildford, 1790, and his three wives; and a memorial for Frederick, 2d Earl (the prime Minister, Lord North), 1792.

In YARNTON are many handsome monuments of the Spencer family.

Mr. URBAN,

Dec. 6. HE noble collection of ancient THE Monuments in the Circular Church in the Temple, must have frequently attracted the attention of your Antiquarian friends; but as great confusion prevails among the several authors who have noticed this Church, not only in the appropriation, but in the number of these memorials, an attempt at an elucidation may not now be deemed unacceptable.

Mr. Gough, in his elaborate work (Sepulchral Monuments, vol. I.) describes nine sepulchral effigies, and one stone coffin, lying in two groups, North and South in the nave of the Circular Church, as they are at present. But I think it is evident they are not in their original situations, as a most intelligeut writer and valuable Correspondent of Mr. Urban's (the late Mr. Carter) has remarked in your Magazine (vol. LXXVIII. p.998). The reasons he gives for his opinion are briefly as follow: that statues like these are seldom laid on the pavement, and in many respects so close that the draperies of the one lie over that of the other; that they are not in chronological order, and some of them shew vestiges of ornamental slabs under them: he therefore suspects that when the Church was repaired in the latter end of the 17th century, they were remaining on their proper tombs in the choir similar to the Bishop's still to be seen here, and were then removed to the situation they now occupy. But as Mr. Carter has not explained the variance in other writers, my attempt will not be superfluous. In Strype's Stowe (vol. I. p. 745) they are thus noticed: In the round walk of the Temple

BYRO.

Church there remain Monuments of Noblemen there buried to the number of eleven: eight of them are images of armed knights, five lying cross-legged, as men vowed to the Holy Land against the Infidels and unbelieving Jews; the other three straight-legged. The rest are coped stones, all of grey marble."-This account is at variance entirely with Mr. Carter's supposition of their removal from the choir. The round walk with more propriety refers to the aile than to the area, where they now lie. When the alteration took place I have not been able to ascertain. It was certainly effected before the year 1671, when Sir William Dugdale wrote his Origines Juridiciales. Speaking of this Church, he says (p. 173), "within a spacious grate of iron in the round walk, under the steeple, do lie eight statues in military habits, &c. of which five are cross-legged. There are also three other gravestones lying about five inches above the level ground, on one of which is a large escutcheon, with a lion rampant graven thereon."-The number is the same as in the last account, bnt the situations had been evidently changed, and the whole of the tombs placed within an iron railing. Subsequently to this period they have been again altered. No doubt on account of the enclosure being an obstruction to the passage from the West door to the choir; being divided by the removal of the statues, which were in the centre, to the sides, and the destruction of two of the grave-stones, making two groups as we now see them. But although the number of cross-legged figures correspond with the preceding extracts,

I cannot account for the increase of the number by the addition of another statue, unless by supposing it to have been brought from the choir to make the numbers in each group uniform. The remaining grave-stone, attributed by Mr. Gough (vol. I. p. 49.) to William Plantagenet, is now level with the pavement, as are indeed all the effigies, which shews some alteration must have been made since Sir William Dugdale's time, it being very improbable they should have sunk upwards of five inches, which must be the case if Dugdale speaks of the present arrangement. The arms which, that author says, were on one of the grave-stones, it is remarkable are still to be seen on the shield of the Earl of Pembroke (the second effigy in the South group). This was probably_the_monument of a member of the Pembroke family, and contradicts the appropriation of one of the two statues usually given to William and Gilbert Marshal (Gough, vol. I. pp. 43, 49).

Whether I am correct in these conjectures or not, it is clear John Carter is wrong in supposing these monuments to have been removed from the choir in the latter end of the 17th century, as it would undoubtedly have been noticed by the accurate Dugdale, who must in that case have remembered them in their former stations; and the oldest of the effigies is that of Geoffrey de Magnaville, 1148, who, after many vicissitudes, was buried before the West door of the present Church, and seems always to have occupied a situation near where it now lies (Gough, vol. I. p. 23).

It seems, therefore, most probable, that the tombs, or some of them, were originally erected in the Circular division of the Church, though not in the situation they now are. I have endeavoured to account for their removal and change in numbers. Perhaps some of your Readers may pos sess information which may throw a better light on the subject, to obtain which is the object of these remarks. Yours, &c. E. I. C.

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done to an antient window in that style, by depriving it of its mullions. From the perishable nature of the soft stone, in which they are worked, the decay is frequent; and the general mode of repair is, by one or more miserable uprights, which do not diverge at the curve of the arch, into tracery, fan-work, or other of the ancient beautiful fashions of trefoils, quatrefoils, rosettes, &c. These uprights produce a non-descript geometrical deformity, and unsightly insipidity.

Our Churches, in many instances, are national ornaments; but they would plainly be much more ornamental as ruins, than when disfigured by trumpery and injudicious restorations. I know a fine old Church in a market-town, roofed with stone tiles, which has recently been repaired with several square feet of red pantiles; as if an old beggars drab jacket, patched with soldiers' cloth, had been a proper pattern for such occasions. The effect is horrible; and I would suggest to Bishops and Chancellors the delivery of a plan for inspection, and specification of the materials, before the reparation was commenced.

It is well-known, that you cannot make a good thing of numerous old houses, especially where these are pentices, recesses, and gables, by sashing and Grecianizing; but we may Gothicize with success. I was once in this predicament on a small scale. I wanted a large window for a study, and took a pattern from the Church. I found that to cut the mullions in stone, would be exceedingly expensive, and I was recommended by an ingenious carpenter to have them in wood, cut in fac-simile and painted. For Churchwork this would be too perishable; and I would recommend the substitute of Cast-iron; and, I venture to think, that if the fancy-manufacturers of this article were to keep by them, not in Chinese Gothic, but in a pure style, mullions, cast in moulds from Church patterns, complete for Gothic windows of various size, and advertise Chancellors of Dioceses, by circular, of their making or having such goods, a stop might be put to the mutilation of our Churches. When put up, a coat of paint would only be necessary for a stone colour.

Many

Many of our Churches owe their grand character to a rich East window, to rob them of which is a deterioration, little inferior to knocking off the nose of a statue, or, in more correct analogy, to cutting away a fine face into a skull; and thus destroying every beautiful and discriminating feature-every vestige of character and effect in the object.

By means of Cast-iron, I also conceive, that many of our, Churches might be preserved in their pristine character, at an expence comparatively trifling, the decays applying chiefly to minor parts; if so, one prudent expence thus incurred, might reduce subsequent repairs to the trifling periodical cost of a little paint, tiling, and glazing.

P. S. The glass panes of Church windows should be lozenge-formed, not squares. CONSERVATOR.

THE CENSOR.-No. III. AN INQUIRY INTO THE PROGRESS OF ANECDOTAL LITERATURE. (Continued from p. 507.)

WE

E have now passed the period of " Mery Tales, " and are about to enter upon a wider pros pect. Till this time the Wit was contented to have his jests hacknied during his life, and then to live in ore omni populo;' or, if he was an author, to collect and Anglicise the stories of foreign countries; hence the 'Anatomie of Wit,' the 'Paradise of Dainty Devices,' and many other publications of this kind. But now, the Jester was not satisfied unless the whole volume was of his own creation, and the adventures of his own life furnished abundant matter for the Press as the original Joculator was sinking to decay, many persons, who lived by their wits, principally actors, became noted for their words, for their actions have sunk into deserved oblivion; the lives of such men are always replete with incident: the bad company which they kept, and the bad œconomy which they practised, drove them to various shifts for a

*Harl. MSS. 6395.

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was cheerfully observed by them.the situation of Fool in the Court of At this period Charles Chester held Queen Elizabeth; in his wit, as well have resembled Scogan, and that reas the application of it, he seems to semblance is a sufficient apology for has descended to us under his name *. not inserting the only anecdote which

Among the Anecdotists who flourished about this period, may be placed RICHARD EDWARDES, better known as a Musician. He was born in Somersetshire, 1523, and became a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; but quitted the University for the Court, and received a musical education from Etheridge. He is well-known in Dramatic Literature, as the author of Damon and Pythias, which was performed at Court t; and of Palemon and Arcite, acted before Queen Elizabeth, in the the hall of Christ Church, who appointed him Master of the Revels. These minor poetical pieces are preserved in The Paradise of Daintie Devices, 1567; consisting chiefly of songs and pretty pamphlettes, addressed to the court beauties. Meres praises him for his excellent performance of comedy. His death happened in 1566, an event which brought tears from the Graces as well as from the Muses: scarcely any poet has been so bewailed by the ladies.

Turbervile, in his Epitaphes, Songs, and Sonets, 1570, as well as Twyne, (who assisted Phayre in his Translation of Virgil), has dedicated an Elegy to his memory ‡!

+ Printed for William Howe, in Fleet-street, 1570. An extract from their compositions may not be unacceptable to the reader; we shall begin with Twyne:

"Whilst Church and Chappell dure 1, and

Whilst Court a Court shall be;

Good Edwards, eche astat2 shall much
Both want and pity thee."

1 Endure.

2 Estate.

Turbervile

The late Mr. William Collins, of Chichester, possessed a collection of short comic tales in prose, printed at London, in black letter, about 1570, "sett forth by Maister Richard Edwardes, Mayster of her Maiesties Revels" among which was a story concerning the Induction of the Tinker, since dramatised by Shakspeare in his Taming of a Shrew *.'

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His chief dramatic composition is entitled, The Seven Deadly Sins,' of which a plat or sketch may be found in Malone's Supplement to Shakspeare, and from which Marloe probably took one of his finest scenes in Faustus: his Farewell,' a ballad, was entered on the Stationers' Books in September, 1588; and a collection of his Jests,' a work once in great estimation, was published in 1611. Of this rare and curious work there is no copy in the British Museum, nor are we able to furnish our readers with any extracts from it,

"Stat nominis umbra."

GEORGE PEELE, another example of profligate humour, was a native of Devon, whence he was entered at Broadgate Hall, Oxford, and about 1573 elected Student of Christ Church in 1579 he proceeded M. A. after which he removed to London, became the City Poet, and had the ordering of the Pageants. Nash calls him the chief supporter of pleasure, the Atlas of Poetrie, and primum verborum artifex:' his celebrity, how

ever,

RICHARD TARLETON †, one of the first persons who derived a subsistence from their practical bon-mots, was born of poor parents, at Condover, in Shropshire: a servant of Robert, Earl of Leicester, found him in a field keeping swine, and perceiving in him a propensity to wit, brought him to the metropolis, where he went on the Stage, and became a Member of the Company at the Bull, in Bishopsgatestreet. Here, had it not been for his profligate habits, he might have acquired a decent competency. He was famous for his extempore jests in the theatre, a treat, (no doubt) alluring to the audience who could be assembled but by novelty but his principal scenic character was that of the Clown, in the anonymous play of Henry V. (written before that of Shakspeare, and printed in 1598), and in the same drama he appeared also as the "Judge, who receives the box on the ear." Sir Richard Baker says, that he never had his equal as a clown, nor ever will. He kept, at one time of his life, an Ordinary in Paternoster-row, whence he removed to the sign of the Tabor, in Gracechurch-street, and was chosen scavenger, but frequently incurred complaints through his negligence. He died in 1589, and his memory was perpetuated by many publicans, who adopted his portrait for a sign, to which Bishop Hall alludes in his satires, "To sit with Tarleton on au ale-post's be regarded as an earnest of the future genius of Shakspeare.

signe."

Turbervile speaks thus :

"Ye learned Muses nine,

And sacred Sisters all;

ended with his life, and when that happened we are not told. Anthony à Wood, the chronicler of poets, has not preserved the date of his death, but assigns a just reason for the obscurity which clouds the memory of Peele; "this person was living (says he) in his middle age, in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, but when or where he died I cannot tell, for so it is, and always hath been, that most Poets die poor, and consequently obscurely, and a hard matter it is to trace them to their graves." How much less the difficulty with respect to Wits is, we leave the reader to judge. He certainly died before 1598.-The best of his dramas is King David and fair Bethshabe, a performance which may

Now lay your cheerful cithrons 3 downe,
And to lamenting fall-

For he that led the daunce,

The chiefest of your traine,

I meane the man that Edward's height,
By cruell death is slaine."

* Warton, History of Poetry, vol. III. p. 283.

+ Steevens's Shakspeare.-Biog. Dram.

3/Quære, from cithara, a barp?

Not

Notwithstanding his celebrity, and abilities better regulated than those of Marloe, Peele was totally devoid of principle, and his life presents little better than a catalogue of dishonesties, varied according to circumstances. While a student at Oxford, he appears to have passed much of his time in Buckinghamshire, and to have made frequent excursions to Wycombe, Stoke, &c. where he played his merrie prankes;' and on one occasion passing himself off for a Physician, effected a cure which had baffled the Faculty of that neighbourhood, by relieving an elderly Gentleman from a consumption, with no other medicine than a decoction of herbs the whole narrative of that adventure is worth the reading.

:

Peele was married; but of his wife we know nothing further, than that he treated her with the indifference of a wedded poet; nor could otherwise be expected of a man as worthless as he was poor, and whose promises were those of a wit once, we are told, he took up a petticoat on trust for five shillings, which he gave to his honest wife, one of the best deeds he ever did to her.' His adventures were published in 1627 *, when they appeared under the title of "Merrie conceited Jests, of George Peele, Gentleman, sometimes Student in Oxford. Wherein is shewed the course of his life, how he lived: a man very well known in the City of London, and elsewhere.

"Buy, reade, and judge,

The price doe not grudge: It will doe thee more pleasure, Than twice so much treasure. "London, Printed for Henry Bell, dwelling in the Little Old Baily in Eliot's-court." Notwithstanding the assertion of the Editor, the purchaser will have not only reason to grudge the price, but will not derive from his bargain that double portion of pleasure which he is led to expect. The rarity of this tract was so great, joined to its immense price, that Mr. S. W. Singer was induced to reprint it, and for that purpose made use of a copy which had formerly belonged to the Rev. J. Brand. It is neatly executed, with a Biographical Memoir of Peele (from which ours is principally taken), containing 31 pages, 4to.

* At Oxford, 4to. 1657.

"How George helped his friend to a Supper. George was invited one night by certaine of his friends to supper, at the White Horse, in Friday-street; and in the evening as he was going, he met with an old friend of his, who was so ill at the stomacke, hearing George tel him of the good cheere he went to, himselfe being

unprovided both of meat and money, that

he swore he had rather have gone a mile than have met him at that instant. And, beleeve me, quoth George, I am hartily sorry that I cannot take thee along with me, my selfe being but an invited guest; besides, thou art out of cloathes, unfitting for such a company: Marry this Ile doe, if thou wilt follow my advice, Ile help thee to thy supper. Any way, quoth he to George, doe thou but devise the means, and Ile execute it. George presently told him what he should doe; so they parted. George [being] well entertained, with extraordinary welcome, and seated at the upper end of the table, supper being brought up, H. M. watched his time below; and when he saw that the meat was carried up, up he follows, (as George had directed him), who when George saw, You whorson Rascal' (quoth George) 'what make you here?' Sir,' quoth he, 'I am come from the party you wot of." 'You Rogue,' (quoth George) have I not forewarned you of this?' 'I pray you, Sir,' quoth he, heare my errand.' 'Doe you prate, you slave,' quoth George, and with that tooke a rabbet out of the dish, and threw it at him.' Quoth he, you use me very hardly.' 'You Dunghill,' quoth George, doe you out-face me? and with that tooke the other rab

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bet, and threw it at his head; after that a loafe; then drawing his dagger, making an offer to throw it, the Gentlemen staid him: meane while H. M. got the loafe and the two rabbets, and away he went: which when George saw he was gone, after a little fretting, he sate quietly. So by that honest shift he helped his friend to his supper, and was never suspected for it of the company." pp. 14, 15.

The egotistical anecdotes are perhaps preferable, independent of their antiquity, to the modern collections; and as this work is nearly the only

one of the kind that we shall have

to notice, we are therefore more prolix than usual in our remarks on it. "Wit," (says Sir Egerton Brydges) like family plate, appears new modelled for each succeeding generation;" and the truth of this position may be readily allowed: our readers have, without doubt, perceived what changes have taken place in Anecdotal Literature, down to the period of Peele.

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