At the east end of this church-yard, on a small flat stone, is recorded the following memento of longevity:-Here lies the body of William Congreve, who died Nov. 17. 1754, aged 111 years 8 months.

Near the church, on the north side, is the following curious epitaph:"In memory of Richard Smith, who died April 6, 1757, aged 52. "At thirteen years I went to sea

66

To try my fortune there;

But lost my friend, which put an end
To all my interest there.

;

To land I came as 'twere by chance,
At twenty then I taught to dance
But yet unsettled in my mind,
To something else I was inclined;
I at twenty-five laid dancing down,
To be a bookseller in this town,
Where I continued without strife,
Till death deprived me of my life.
Vain world, to thee I bid farewell,
To rest within this silent cell,
Till the great God shall summons all
To answer his majestic call,

Then, Lord, have mercy on us all.”

Within a few yards of the former we meet with the following:

"Here is interred, Joseph Newton, who wished to live peaceably with all men. Born July 12, 1682, died June 10, 1767. He lived in the reigns of 12 crowned heads of England.

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Learn, O deluded man! before too late,
Short is the date of youth, of life the date;
Fix on the grave as on the goal your eye,

And think each day you live you live to die."

On the north side of the church-yard is recorded the following inscription:"Here lieth the body of John Burgin, (he was bellman of this town day and night 30 years,) who departed this life March 19, 1752, aged 63.

"To death we must al! submit,

There is nothing can us save,
Neither virtue, beauty, wit,

Can keep us from the grave."

The vicar's income chiefly depends upon the small tythes, Easter dues, and fees for marriages, churchings, and burials; there being but little glebe belonging to the church. He has three assistants, who are elected by the twelve capital burgesses (as they are stiled), as being trustees for Queen Mary's donation, whose office, according to the grant, was to assist the vicar in sacramentis et sacramentalibus in parochiali ecclesia Sheffieldnsis, et parochianis ibidem.

ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL.

St. Paul's chapel is an elegant modern structure, in the Grecian style. It was begun to be erected in 1720: but, through some unhappy misunderstanding, was not consecrated till 1740. It was founded through the

benefaction of £1000, from Mr. Robert Downes, a silversmith in this town, together with the subscriptions of several other gentlemen in the town and neighbourhood. It was finished in 1771. It has a tower at the west end with a small bell. Within, it has a good organ, erected in 1755, by Mr.. Snetzler; the galleries are supported by two rows of pillars in the Corinthian order. It is a chapel of ease to Trinity-church.

THE INFIRMARY

(for an Engraving of which, see Frontispiece,)

Is a very handsome long stone-building, and has two wings, with a semicircular projection in front and a square one behind. It is finely situated, half a mile to the north-west of the town, and commands a beautiful view of the Old Park wood, and the valley below, and looks in an oblique direction over Bridgehouses. As yet, there are not many buildings in the immediate vicinity, but it is probable that if the state of trade should improve in this town, it would soon extend itself so far as to bring the Infirmary within its precincts. It was began to be erected in the year 1793. On Wednesday Sept. 3d, the first stone was laid by Richard Swallow, Esq. of Attercliffe, as deputed by Mrs. Fell, of New Hall, a lady who generously gave one thou sand pounds towards the institution. On this occasion a grand procession of the friends of the Infirmary, the various public bodies, &c. moved slowly on through an amazing concourse of people, who hailed the day as secured to the best purposes of humanity. Every feeling of mind glowed with delight, and blessed the benevolent promoters of this institution for the relief of suf fering indigence. When the procession reached the ground, the plate on which was the following inscription, was deposited under the stone, which was suspended by pullies for that purpose :--

"Sheffield General Infirmary, for the reception of sick and lame poor of any county. Richard Swallow, Esq. deputed by Mrs. Fell, of New-Hall, near Sheffield, laid the first stone, the fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord MDCCXCHI. John Rawstorne, Architect. Glory be to God on High; and on Earth Peace. Good-will towards Men."

Prayer was afterwards solemnly offered up to Almighty God on the oc casion by the Rev. James Wilkinson, vicar of Sheffield, and the Rev. Mr. Chadwick, then master of the Free Grammar-School in this town.

Several of the neighbouring nobility honoured the patrons of the institu tion with their presence on this occasion.

The following are the present officers of the institution:-President, His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, Vice Presidents, His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, the Right Hon. Earl Fitzwilliam.-Treasurers, Messrs. Parker, Shores, and Blakelock, Messrs. Walkers, Eyre, and Stanley-Dr. Benjamin Wainwright, Honorary Physician for Life. Hugh Cheney, M. D. Honorary Surgeon for Life.-Physicians, Dr. William Younge, Dr. Arnold James Knight.-Surgeons, Mr. William Staniforth, Mr. Charles Hawksley Webb, Mr. William Staniforth, jun.-House Surgeon and Apothecary, Mr. Robert Ernest.-Matron, Mrs. Mary Margrave.-Secretary, Mr. John Dawson.

Among the benefactors and patrons of distinction whose names are found in the reports of the institution, are, His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, His

Grace the Duke of Devonshire, His Grace the Duke of Leeds, the Right Hon. Lord Eardley, the Right Hon. Earl Fitzwilliam, the Right Hon. Lord Milton, the Right Hon. Earl of Harewood, the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Galway, the Right Hon. the Earl of Scarborough, the Right Hon. H. Lascelles, the Right Hon. Earl Manvers, Sir Sitwell Sitwell, Bart., Sir Montague Burgoyne, Bart., and Sir W. C. Bagshaw, Bart.'

Since the first establishment of the Infirmary, many of its most strenuous supporters have gone to their long home, but it would give us great pleasure to be able to record some more lasting tribute to their memories than that which oral tradition will be able to supply.

It is impossible in this place to pass over the name of the late Dr. Brown, whose name will be remembered by those of our readers who knew him, with emotions nearly allied to religious veneration, as connected with this invaluable establishment, over whose birth as well as every stage of its progress to maturity, so long as he lived, he presided with paternal cure. His unwearied energy of mind, the great benevolence of his heart, the engaging suavity of his disposition, and the urbanity of his manners, gave him peculiar qualifications for becoming very extensively useful as a medical practitioner and a public-spirited citizen. Indeed such was his indefatigable attention to whatever was connected with the prosperity and happiness of his own town, that he has been called, not inappropriately, the Howard of Sheffield.

A very neat marble bust of him, executed by F. L. CHANTREY, Esq., is placed in the committee-room of the Infirmary.

Nothing, we are persuaded, is necessary but to mention as another most invaluable friend to the Infirmary the name of the Rev. James Wilkinson, to excite recollections of high interest and pleasure in the inhabitants of Sheffield generally. He for many years acted with great ability, candour, im partiality, and decision in the capacity of a magistrate for this town, and by his ready attention to and cordial co-operation in support of every charitable undertaking, has left indelible impressions of respect on the minds of his parishioners of every class and condition in life.

It is now twenty-one years since the Sheffield General Infirmary was opened for the sick and lame poor of every nation. The experience of that period has proved the inestimable value of such an institution in this popu lous neighbourhood; and, in proportion to the means afforded by its patrons, the benefits derived from it by many thousands of sufferers may be said to have justified all reasonable expectations of its success. It is true that in this magnificent structure, planned with a foresight which anticipated the increasing wants and increasing liberality of generations to come, there are accommodations for a larger number of patients than have at any time been recommended for admission, yet the average of persons received into the house, or relieved as out-patients, has been limited only by the funds of the charity itself. Meanwhile it is the regular practice of the establishment to give every patient the utmost advantage of medical or surgical assistance, with every necessary personal comfort, for whatever length of time the case may repuire.

HATFIELD CHACE, extending over a space of 180,000 acres, in the counties of York, Lincoln, and Nottingham, was considered the largest in 3 H

VOL. II.

England. Formerly half of it was entirely waste, being covered with water of so great a depth as to be navigable for large boats laden with corn or plaster; but by the extraordinary exertions of Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a native of Holland, and his followers, in the reign of Charles I., it has been, with the exception of two large morasses, converted into good arable land, interspersed with numerous farm-houses. One of these morasses or mosses, (as they are denominated by the Rev. R. Rennie,*) containing about 10,000 acres, is situated a little to the eastward of Hatfield; and the other, which is nearly as extensive, almost adjoins to the town of Thorne on the north-east. The level of the latter is considerably above that of the surrounding land, and yet it is so soft and rotten as to be almost impassable in the driest weather. In the middle of it are several large pits of water, one of which has been ascertained to be thirty feet deep to the solid ground. By means of drainage, however, it appears that this moss is gradually becoming lower and firmer; for within the memory of some of the inhabitants of Crowle, in the Isle of Axholme, the church at Thorne was totally hid from their view by it; but now it is visible from thence, almost to the base. It may, therefore, be rationally expected that by perseverance in drainage, this, as well as the Hatfield waste, will eventually become so firm as to be capable of cultivation, and thereby yield considerable benefit to posterity.

Cranberries, of very fine flavour, are found on these moors, though they are but thinly scattered. A sweet-smelling herb called gale also grows on them, and a plant named silk or cotton-grass, from its white tuft on the top resembling the finest cotton-wool, which is used by some people as a substitute for feathers, to stuff their beds.

The peats or turves which are dug here, when thoroughly dried, afford fuel to the poorer inhabitants; and being conveyed by water to York and other places, are sold at a high price for the purpose of lighting fires.

Surrounded by the Hatfield waste, and about two miles distant from the village, is a remarkable place called Lindholme, which was formerly the abode of an ancient hermit named William of Lindholme, who passed among the superstitious peasantry for a cunning man or conjuror, and of whom many wonderful anecdotes are yet related. This solitary spot stands in the midst of about sixty acres of firm sandy ground, capable of producing barley, oats, or peas. It is said that sparrows are never seen here; with what truth, it is not easy to determine. A very circumstantial account of this place, written by George Stovin, Esq. of Crowle, and dated August 31, 1727, may be seen by referring to Miller's History of Doncaster, or the Gentleman's Magazine of 1747, page 23.

Various have been the opinions of authors respecting the origin of peatmosses. Some suppose them to be coeval with the deluge, while others as cribe to them a much later date.t The Hatfield moss has been unquestionably formed on the ruins of a forest which was destroyed by the Romans. The amazing quantity of large trees, roots, leaves, acorns, fir-cones, and hazel-nuts that are continually found buried therein, the Roman coins and axes that have been discovered at the very bottom of it, and its near vici

See his " Essays on the Natural History and Origin of Peat Moss," which contain much curious and interesting matter."

It is generally allowed, however, that peat moss is either a congeries of ligneous or aquatic plants or of both. "To these two sources," says Reppie, all the mosses in the north of Europe may be traced."

....

1

nity to the Roman causeway, all clearly demonstrate the truth of this opinion. It is very probably, therefore, of no earlier origin than the age of the emperor Septimus Severus, who, in his last expedition to Britain, gave general orders for the destruction of all the forests, in which undertaking he lost fifty-thousand men.

It was first succesfully ascertained dy Abraham de la Pryme that this part of the country was formerly covered by a great forest; in proof of which he adduced the infinite number of the roots of all kinds of trees standing in the soil in their natural postures, with the trunks lying by them, of which the larger ones point to the north-east; besides the hazel-nuts, acorns, and fircones which are frequently discovered at the bottom of the peat, the latter in great quantities together. Fir-trees, he says, have been found in the moors ninety feet long, which have been sold to make masts and keels for ships. Mr. Edward Canby found one thirty-six yards in length, which he supposed had been originally fifteen yards more. He also found an pak-tree, worth twenty pounds, which was forty yards long, four yards in diameter at the greater end, and two yards at the smaller, so that it had probably been as long again. All the oaks are as black as ebony, and very durable; and it has been observed that the roots of the firs invariably stood in the sand and the oaks in the clay,*

De la Pryme further remarks, that many of the trees which are found, especially the firs, "have been burnt, some quite through and some all on a side; some have been found chopped and squared, some bored through, others half riven with great wooden wedges and stones in them, and broken axe-heads, somewhat like sacrificing-axes in shape; and all this in such places and at such depths, as could never have been opened from the destruction of this forest to the time of the drainage. Near a great root in the parish of Hatfield were found eight or nine coins of some of the Roman emperors, but exceedingly consumed and defaced by time.' In cutting a new river or drain were found old trees squared and cut, rails, stoops, bars, links of chains, horse-heads, an old axe resembling a battle-axe, and two or three coins of the emperor Vespasian; "but that," he adds, "which is more observable is, that the very ground at the bottom of the river was found in some places to lye in rigg and fur, manifesting thereby that it had been ploughed and tilled in former days.'

From all these circumstances, he concluded that the native Britons, who swarmed in this forest, continually harrassing the Romans and intercepting their provisions on the adjoining military way, which ran from Danum to Legelocum, provoked them at length to destroy it. But previous to this event, he supposed it probable, from the remains of a camp which are yet to be seen between Finningley and Austerfield, that a great battle was fought there, in which the Romans proved victorious, and drove the natives back into the forest for shelter. That after this the Romans, taking advantage

* See Philosophical Transac tions, No. 275, p. 980; or Jones's Abridgement, iv. 212. + This supposition is strengthened by the name of the neighbouring village; field implying that a battle had been fought there, and Auster or Oster that it was won by the Roman general Ostorius, ' who we are assured by historians was in this part of Britain,