sixty volumes. The orrery constructed by Ferguson, is in this apartment, with other philosophical instruments.

On the south front of the dwelling-house, are representations of the Seasons in alto relievo.

SPRING-a naked boy sitting, holding in the left hand a basket of flowers, on one side the zodiac sign, Aries. SUMMER-a boy kneeling, holding a drop of fruit; the zodiac sign, Libra. AUTUMN-a boy lying among wheat, with a sickle in one hand; zodiac sign, Cancer. WINTER a boy putting on skates; the zodiac sign, Capricorn. On the other wing, forming the outside southern wall of the hall, are the following tablets also in alto-relievo...

ARTS-Music, painting, and architecture. COMMERCE Neptune and Triton, joining plenty and wealth; ships on the back ground, PEACE and PLENTY-Olive branch and cornucopia. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE-Loom and sheep. SOVEREIGNTY OF THE LAWS-Uniting liberty and military power. TRUTH-unveiling herself, and Prudence holding a mirror.

In the centre of these is placed, a large tablet, representing the great pyramid of Egypt, which appears at a distance, and forms the back ground, skirted by a palm, The principal figure is the Isis of Sais, and on each side is a sphinx, emblematic of mystery; under the Isis is a serpent, representing eternity, in a circular form, including the fol lowing inscription:

ΕΓΩ

ΕΙΜΙ ΠΑΝ ΤΟ ΓΕΓΟΝΟΣ
ΚΑΙ ΟΝ, ΚΑΙ ΕΣΟΜΕΝΟΝ,

ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΕΜΟΝ ΠΕΠΛΟΝ
ΟΥΔΕΙΣ ΠΩ ΘΝΗΤΩΝ
ΑΠΕΚΑΛΥΨΕΝ.

"I am whatever is, or has been, or will be; and no mortal pas hitherto drawn aside my veil.”]

The library opens by a glass door into the garden through the green-house; and by another door into the museum or repository for natural history and other curiosities. The marble chimney-piece in this room is carved in shells, equal

to

to fine natural specimens, with a centre tablet representing a water nymph; and on each side is a cabinet of medals and coins.

A splendid collection of ores and minerals occupies two sides of this museum, catalogues of which are kept for inspection. The specimens of Cornu Ammonis are likewise very considerable, as well as those of fossils in an adjoining room or smaller museum.

The chaste and elegant poet, the late John Scott, Esq. upon viewing the scenery from Grove Hill, which a clear day exhibited, produced the following descriptive eùlogy; which evinces at the same time the sensibility of his own heart:

"Where Grove Hill shows thy villa fair,..

But lately there, my Friend, with thee
'Twas mine the tranquil hour to share→→
The social hour of converse free;
To mark the arrangement of thy ground,
And all the pleasing prospect round,

Where, while we gaz'd, new beauties still were found.
There, as the impending cloud of smoke

Fled various from the varying gale,..

Full on the view fresh objects broke
Along the extensive peopled vale
From ancient Lambeth's west extreme,

To Limehouse, glittering in the evening beam.
And now and then the glancing eye,
Caught glimpse of spots remoter still,
On Hampstead's street-clad slope so high,
Or Harrow's far conspicuous hill;
Or eastward wander'd to explore
All Peckham's pleasant level o'er,

To busy Deptford's vessel-crowded shore.

Or sought that southern landscape's bound,
Those swelling mounts-one smooth and green,
And one with oaken coverts crown'd,..

And one where scattering trees are seen.

Tway

'Twas these with summer's radiance bright,
That gave my earliest youth delight;

Of rural scenes the first that met my sight.

That business with fatiguing cares,

For this delightful scene of thine,
Such scanty store of moments spares,
Say, Friend, shall I for thee repine?
Were it the commerce of the main,
Or culture of the teeming plain,
From blame or pity I should scarce refrain.
But O! to alleviate human woes,
To banish sickness, banish pain,

To give the sleepless eye repose,

The nerveless arm its strength again;
From parent eyes to dry the tear,
The wife's distressful thought to cheer,
And end the husband's and the lover's fear
Where want sits pining, faint and ill,
To lend thy kind unpurchas'd aid,
And hear the exertions of thy skill
With many a grateful blessing paid-
'Tis luxury to the feeling heart,
Beyond what social hours impart,

Or nature's beauteous scenes, or curious works of art." For this full account of so enchanting a spot no apology will be thought necessary; we shall only add, that the rev. Mr. Maurice, the celebrated author of Indian Antiquities, wrote a poem entitled Grove Hill, where the scenery above described is delineated with equal elegance and simplicity. The following lines, therefore, from this charming piece will constitute an appropriate conclusion:

"Such are the soft enchanting scenes display'd, In all the blended charms of light and shade, At Camberwell's fair grove, and verdant brow, The loveliest Surry's swelling hills can show.".. The descent from Dr. Lettsom's house leads to DULWICH. The first mention of this place occurs in the year 1127, when it was given by Henry I. to Bermondsey Abbey, and continued

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continued in the possession of that fraternity till their dissolution by Henry VIII. when it was granted to Thomas Calton, and alienated by his descendant Sir Francis Calton, to Edward Alleyn, Esq.* in the fourth year of James I. It was at that time of the annual value of 8007.; the sum paid by Mr. Alleyn for the purchase was 5000l.

In the year 1614, Mr. Alleyn began to erect a commodious building for an hospital, from a design by Inigo Jones; and having with some difficulty obtained his ma jesty's letters patent for settling lands on it, he executed a deed of trust, by which he conveyed the manor of Dulwich and other estates to the use of the college for ever.

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This institution he named THE COLLEGE OF GOD'S GIFT; Extra and appointed it to consist of a master, warden, and four fellows; of which three are ecclesiastics, and the fourth an organist, six poor men, as many women, all of whom are enjoined celibacy; and twelve boys, who are educated by two of the fellows of the college.

The right of presentation to this institution he vested in three parishes, with which he was immediately connected; and in the master, warden, and fellows of the college; thus distinguishing them into four separate parties; who have

* Mr. Edward Alleyn was a celebrated actor in the reigns of Elizabeth and James 1. He had been accustomed to the stage from a very early period of life, and had acquired such a comprehensive knowledge in his profession, that Shakespeare is supposed by some, to have formed his instructions to the player in Hamlet, from hints communicated by him; and from observations on the various beauties exhibited in the different cha racters which he sustained. In the course of his theatrical pursuits he became proprietor of the Fortune playhouse in Golden Lane; where he performed with a company under his own engagement; and sought the favour of the public, in a spirit of generous emulation and opposition to our great dramatic, bard. He was likewise master of his majesty's sports of bull and bear baiting; and had the conduct of the theatre called Paris Garden, where those diversions were exhibited.

Having by this office, by the profits of his playhouse, and by marriage, accumulated an affluent fortune, he settled at Dulwich; and formed the benevolent plan of appropriating, during his life, the property he had ag quired to the service of those whose career had not been so fortunate as his own.

VOL V. No. 104.

H

cach

cach the right of introducing an equal number of poor per sons, to partake of the charity of the founder. The parishes are, St. Botolph Bishopsgate, where he was born; that part of St. Giles, Cripplegate, now formed into St. Luke, Middlesex, which contained the Fortune playhouse; and St. Saviour, Southwark, where the Bear-garden was situated. He ordained, that the churchwardens of these parishes should have a vote in the concerns of the college, under the title of Assistants; and that they thould audit the college accounts twice every year. The power of visitation. he assigned to the archbishop of Canterbury.

The plan being thus completed, the founder passed the remainder of his life in a kind attention to the welfare of the little community he had formed; and to the regulation of its future domestic concerns. He died at Dulwich, Nov. 21, 1626, in the sixty-first year of his age, and was buried in the chapel of the college, without any further memorial than an inscription on a stone in the pavement.

The benevolent intention of the founder seems to be completely fulfilled, in the prudent administration of the college concerns, by the various superiors; whose kind attention to the happiness of the society is acknowledged by those who have the good fortune to be under their care *.

The institution does not seem to have originated from a vain and ostentatious disposition, but from a mind replete with humanity and benevolence. An idle tale was however propagated, that the Devil had appeared to Alleyn on the stage, and frightened him into this act of charity. Mr. Oldys, in his life of the founder, thought it necessary to enter into

* A tradition prevails at Dulwich, that the soldiers of the parliamentary army were suffered by their officers to disturb the remains of those who were buried there, for the purpose of converting the leaden coffins into bullets. From this may be inferred, that the College of God's Gift underwent a similar fate with that of Sir Thomas Gresham, at the time the chair of the astronomical professor was filled by Sir Christopher Wren. When one of his friends attempted to enter, in order to hear the lecture, he was met at the gate by a man with a gun on his shoulder, who told him, that he might spare himself the trouble, for the college was reformed into a garrison.

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a serious