Mr. URBAN, Shrewsbury, Aug. 1.
LOVER OF ANTIQUITIES in

A01. LXXXVIII. p. 386, requests Views and Descriptions of the Churches of Tong and Cound, co. Salop. Of COUND, you will herewith receive a drawing (see Plate I.) with Church-notes, &c. TONG shall fol low as soon as I can arrange some valuable documents relative to that very interesting and beautiful domain.

On a handsome Monument against the North wall of the Chancel. Near this place

lies the body of ROBERT CRESSETt, esq. whose good-nature gained him the love, his probity the esteem,

and his sincerity the friendship, both of his equals and superiors. His affability got him the respect of his dependants,

and his charity the prayers of the poor,
so that he preserved the dignity of his
family,

and died lamented by all.
To his memory,

BARBARA, his beloved and disconsolate
Relict,

erected this Monument,

as a token of her

unfeigned love to him when living, and unalterable respect now dead. He departed this life May the 5th, 1728, in the 32d year of his age, leaving behind had by her, to inherit their estates and him EDWARD, the only son and child he

fortune.

COUNDE, OF CUND, is situated about seven miles North-east of Shrewsbury, it is a Rectory, in the Deanery of Salop, and Hundred of Cundover. The Church is rather a handsome structure, dedicated to St. Peter: it consists of a broad aile, chancel, and side aile to the South, divided by four pointed arches, supported by circular columns, with plain lined capitals; there is a piscina on the South side, in an ornamented niche. The Font appears of considerable antiquity; it is banded round the top with foliage, On an elegant Monument on the much mutilated, under which, with roses in circlets, the lower part is quite plain. There are some remains of stained glass in the East window of the South aile. The exterior of the South side of the Chancel has been repaired in a most incongruous manner with common brick-work, The following Monumental Memorials were transcribed at the time 1 visited the Church, Sept. 18, 1810.

Arms.-Azure, a cross engrailed Or, Cresselt; impaling, per bend sinister Ermine and Ermines, a lion rampant Or, Edwardes.

GENT. MAG. September, 1820.

North side the Chancel.

To the memory of Dr. EDWARD CRESSETT,
Bishop of LLANDAFF,

second son of EDWARD CRESSEtt, esq.
who died Feb. 13, 1755,

in the 58th year of his age. He married first ALBINA, the youngest daughter of GRIFFITH RICE, of Newtown, in Carmarthenshire, esq. by whom he had no issue.

He afterwards married FRANCES, the eldest daughter of Thomas Pelham, esq. of Lewes in Sussex,

by whom he had one daughter, ELIZABETH, who survives him, to whom he bequeathed his whole estate. Arms.-The See of Llandaff, impaling Cressett.

OXFORDSHIRE.

"Ye fretted pinnacles, ye fanes sublime,

Ye towers that wear the mossy vest of time;

Ye massy piles of old munificence,

At once the pride of learning and defence;

Ye cloisters pale, that, length'ning to the sight,

To contemplation, step by step, invite;

Ye high-arch'd walks, where oft the whispers clear

Of harps unseen have swept the Poet's ear;

Ye temples dim, where pious duty pays

Her holy hymns of ever-echoing praise;
Lo! your lov'd Isis, from the bordering vale,

With all a Mother's fondness bids you hail!

Hail, Oxford, hail!"-THOMAS WARTON'S " Triumph of Isis."

SITUATION AND EXTENT.

Boundaries. North-east, Northampton; North-west, Warwick; East, Buckingham; South, Berks; West, Gloucester.

Greatest length, 50; greatest breadth, 38; circumference, 190; square, 742 miles.

Province. Canterbury. Diocese, Oxford, excepting 7 parishes (Banbury, Croperdy, Horley, Hornton, Langford, Milton, and Thame) in Lincoln. Circuit, Oxford.

British Inhabitants.

ANTIENT STATE AND REMAINS.
Dobuni.

Roman Province. Flavia Cæsariensis. Stations. Alauna, Alchester; Branavis, Banbury.

Saxon Heptarchy. Mercia.

Antiquities. ROLLRICH STONES; Druidical circle, called by Bede the second wonder of Britain; "Devil's coits," three monumental stones near Stanton Harcourt Bickley pillar.-Earth-works, Grime's-dyke; Astall-barrow. Roman entrenchments at Alchester; Challow-hill; Chest-hill; Deddington; Dyke-hills, near Dorchester; and Hill-wood; Hook-norton (Saxon) and Tedmarton-castle (Danish) camps.-Abbeys of Dorchester; Ensham; Oseney; and Thame.-Priories of Bicester; Brightwell; Burford; and Minster Lovel. Nunneries of Godstow and Goring. Churches of Adderbury (steeple 160 feet high); Bampton; Bloxham (over the West door curious sculpture); Dorchester (windows painted with the history of Birinus); Henleyupon-Thames (handsome town); IFLEY (one of the finest specimens of Saxon architecture in the Kingdom); CHRIST-CHURCH CATHEDRAL; St. Mary's (the University Church, and where the Bampton lectures are delivered, erected in 1498, spire 180 feet); St. Peter's in the East, Oxford; Thame; and Witney.-Fonts of Dorchester (of cast lead, noticed by Stukeley and Gough as the most antient, and perhaps only one of its kind in the

world);

world); at Kiddington, in Mr. Brown's garden, (brought from Islip, and said to be that in which Edward the Confessor was baptized); Rotherfield Gray's; and St. Peter's in the East.-Crosses of Ensham; Ifley; Kiddington; and Marston.-Castles of Bampton; and Broughton.-Mansions of Adderbury; Astall: Ewelm; Mapledurham; Mincherry; Minster Lovel Stanton Harcourt (curious kitchen); Swinbrook; and Prebendal-house at Thame. Conduit at Nuneham Courtenay, erected near Carfax Church, Oxford, in 1617, taken down and presented to Earl Harcourt in 1787.

DORCHESTER was an episcopal see, established by Birinus, the Apostle of the West Saxons, in 635, and removed by St. Remigius de Fescamp, to Lincoln, in 1086. It comprized the Kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. Most of its Bishops had sepulture in its abbey. The town once contained 7 churches. In EWELM Church are the monuments of Thomas Chaucer, son of Geoffrey the poet, 1434; Matilda Chaucer, widow of the poet, 1436; and Alicia, his grand-daughter, widow of William de la Pole, first Duke of Suffolk, 1475. The Mansion-house was built by the Duke of Suffolk in 1424.

GODSTOW Nunnery, founded by Editha, widow of Sir William Launcelne, was consecrated in 1138, in the presence of Stephen, his Queen Maud, and many of the nobility. Here was educated Rosamund Clifford, the beautiful mistress of Henry II. The story of her being poisoned by Queen Eleanor is of modern invention. She was buried before the high altar in this place with the epitaph,

"Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi, non Rosa munda,

Non redolet, sed olet, quæ redolere solet."

At OXFORD was established, in 1221, the first house of the Dominicans, called also Preaching or Black Friars. The Cathedral of Christ Church was founded as a nunnery in 727, by Didanus, a Regulus of this county, and his daughter Frideswide. The present building was erected about the 11th century, and in it are monuments of St. Frideswide, its first prioress, 740; Guimond, first prior, 1149; Lady Elizabeth Montague, who gave Christ Church meadow, 1353; and Robert King, last Abbot of Oseney, and first Bp. of Oxford, 1557.—The Arundelian marbles collected by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, and given by his grandson, Thomas Duke of Norfolk, at the instigation of John Evelyn, esq. the author of "Sylva," are in an apartment near the Schools.-The first Printer in England was Corsellis, who printed at Oxford in 1468; three years before Caxton began printing, and six years before he printed in England.

AL THAME, died Oskety), Abp. of York, 970. In the Church, among many antient monuments, are those of Geoffrey Dormer, merchant of the Staple of Calais; Richard Quatremayne, founder of the chantry here, died 1460; Sir John Clarke, who on Aug. 16, 1573, took prisoner Louis of Orleans, Duke of Longueville; and John Lord Williams of Thame, founder of the school and alms-houses.

At WOODSTOCK, Alfred the Great translated Boethius "De Consolatione Philosophia." John Rous says, here was the most antient park in England; it was surrounded by a stone wall by Henry I. In it was the bower of the fair Rosamund, the scene of Addison's poetical comedy.

"And now perhaps with Dido's ghost she roves,

And hears and tells the story of their loves.

Alike they mourn, alike they bless their fate,

For love that made them wretched, made them great:

Nor longer that relentless doom bemoan

Which gain'd a Virgil, and an Addison."-Tickell.

Elizabeth was confined in the Manor-house, in the custody of Sir Henry Biding field, in her sister Mary's reign.

COLLEGES AND HALLS.

ALL SOULS COLLEGE, so named from the directions given to the society to pray for the souls of all the faithful deceased, was founded in 1437 by Henry Chicheley, Abp. of Canterbury. The first court, 124 feet by 72; the second, architect Hawksmoor, 172 by 155. The chapel is simply beautiful: over the altar is a fine "Noli me tangere," by Mengs, cost 3157. In the hall is a sta

tue

tue of Judge Blackstone, by Bacon, cost 4727. 10s. In the library, the largest room of its kind in the kingdom, 198 feet long, 324 broad, 40 high, is a bust of Chicheley, by Roubiliac, and a statue of Colonel Christopher Codrington, buried in the chapel, 1716. He left 10,000l. to build the library, the first stone of which was laid by Dr. Young the poet, in 1716, and its total cost was 12,1017. 5s. The song of " The All Souls Mallard" is in the Oxford Sausage. Of this College, Prelates, SHELDON, of Canterbury; Thomas, of Winchester ;. and TAYLOR of Downe and Connor. Statesmen, Sir William Petre ; Sir Clement Edmondes; Henry Coventry; and Sir William Trumball. Lawyers, Lord Chancellor Talbot; and SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE. Physicians, LINACRE, the first person who taught Greek at Oxford; and SYDENHAM. Architect, SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. Traveller, Sir Anthony Shirley. Poet, Robert Heyrick. Political Writer, Marchmont Needham. Platonist, Norris. Sceptic, Tindal.

Of

BALIOL COLLEGE, so called from its founder in 1263, John de Baliol, of Bernard's Castle in Durham, father of the unfortunate King of Scotland. Quadrangle 120 feet by 80. The windows of the chapel are brilliantly painted. Among the plate is a cup presented by Kyrle, the "Man of Ross." this college, Reformer, WICKLIFFE. Prelates, Morton and Abbot of Canterbury; TUNSTALL of Durham; and DOUGLAS of Salisbury. Statesmen and Patrons of Learning, HUMPHREY THE GOOD Duke of GloUCESTER, and TIPTOFT, Earl of Worcester. Lawyers, Lord Keeper Coventry; Chief Justice Popham; and Chief Barons Davenport and Atkyns. Historians and Topographers, Rous of Warwick; Atkyns of Gloucester; and Hutchins of Dorset. Astronomers and Mathematicians, Knill and Bradley. Naturalist, Evelyn. Political Economists, Charles Davenant and ADAM SMITH. Jesuit, Parsons. Founder of the Antinomians, Crisp.

BRASEN-NOSE COLLEGE, so named from being built on the site of a hall thus denominated from a large nose of brass affixed as a knocker to the gate, was founded in 1509 by William Smith, Bp. of Lincoln, and Sir Richard Sutton of Cheshire, knt. Over the Hall-door are very antient busts of Alfred the Great, and Johannes Scotus Erigena. In the Library are the MS notes and collations of the Classics by Wasse. Of this College, Prèlates, Smith of Gloucester, and 14 others. Lawyers, Lord Chancellor Egerton; and Ley Earl of Marlborough. Physicians, Caldwell. Scholars, the two Nowells, Deans of Westminster and Litchfield; Whittingham, Dean of Durham; SIR HENRY SAVILE; Sir John Spelman; Burton, author of "The Anatomy of Melancholly;" and the Puritan Bolton. Martyrologist, Fox. Astronomer, Brerewood. Poet, Sir John Stradling. Political Arithmetician, Sir William Pelty. Antiquaries and Topographers, HUMPHREY LLWYD, of Wales; Erdeswick, of Staffordshire; Sir Peter Leycester, of Cheshire; Burton, of Leicestershire; Ashmole, of Berks; Prince, of Devon; Watson, of Halifax; and Whittaker, of Manchester.

CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE, the largest in the University, was founded in 1525 by Cardinal Wolsey. West front, 382 feet long. Principal quadrangle, 264 feet by 261. In the tower over the gateway, completed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1661, hangs the bell "Tom," brought from Oseney Abbey, and re-cast in 1680, weight nearly 17,000 lbs. It is celebrated by Bp. Corbet in his Poems; by Spark, in the Musæ Anglicana; and by Dean Aldrich, in the catch, "Hark, the bonny Christ Church bells." The Hall, built by Wolsey, 115 feet long, 40 wide, and 50 high, has a beautiful Gothic window, and highlyornamented roof. Peckwater Court, so called from the proprietor of an inn or hotel which stood on part of its site, was began from a plan by Dean Aldrich, in 1705. The Library, which occupies the East side of the square, was founded in 1710, from a design by Dr. Clarke. It is 141 feet long, 30 broad, and 37 high, and contains a very valuable collection of books, prints, and coins; a statue of Locke, by Roubiliac; and many busts. In a room below is a fine collection of paintings, given by General Guise in 1765. Canterbury Square, so denominated from occupying the site of Canterbury Hall, which was founded by Islip, Abp. of Canterbury, in 1361, and of which SIR THOMAS MORE was a student, was completed in 1783; architect, Wyatt. The Cathedral, before noticed in "Antiquities," is 154 feet long, cross aile 102. Christ

Church