Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

Collection exhibits the gradual improvements in the Gun and Fire-lock.

REMAINS OF ANTIQUITY; viz. Urns, Vases, Patera, Sepulchral Relics, and a Roman Monument of Lead, cast in the time of the Emperor VESPASIAN.

ROMAN Missals wrote on Vellum, decorated with a variety of Paintings, and the Initial Letters finely illuminated: Crucifixes, Images, Thurible, Rosaries of Beads, &c.

An uncommon Musical Altar Clock: Model of Lichfield Cathedral, &c. JANUARY 22d, 1782.

3. Mr. GREENE to Mr. NICHOLS.

"MY DEAR SIR, Lichfield, March 6, 1785. "As my worthy friend Mr. White is writing to you, I beg leave to add a few lines, to inform you, that the chalice and crucifix, mentioned in your late publication, page 158, are in my Museum; a neat drawing of each shall, in a very little time, be sent for your Magazine*. I often lament my infelicity in not having more of your company when you visited Lichfield; but am somewhat consoled with the thoughts, that Mr. White had explained every article in my collection. If ever you again visit Staffordshire, I hope my patients will contrive to be free from complaints, or excuse my frequent visits, that I may enjoy more of your company.

"I have requested my friend Mr. White to beg the favour of an impression of your portrait; on which I shall set the highest value. I am, dear Sir, your much obliged and affectionate humble servant, RICHARD GREENE."

4. "DEAR MR. NICHOLS, Lichfield, April 8, 1785. "I received from my worthy friend Mr. White two prints, one a neat and just representation of yourself, the other a perspective view of our late friend Dr. Johnson's house †, &c. I beg leave to return you my sincere thanks for them, as well as for former favours. On the first I shall set a just value; and, with proper decorations, place it in my Museum, among some others of my worthy friends.

"I was sorry to hear of your late illness: but am comforted with the thoughts of your recovery. I hope you exactly conform to the directions of the medical gentlemen, in order to preserve a life so useful to the public in general, and to your friends in particular.

"I received the manuscript relative to the Committee at Stafford; and could wish to see some of the most interesting parts in your monthly publications, as it displays a true picture of those arbitrary saints. If you have not taken a copy of it I will send you some extracts. I am, dear Sir, your much obliged, &c.

* See before in the note, p. 319.

RICHARD GREENE."

+ Engraved in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. LV, p. 100.

5. The Rev. HENRY WHITE to Mr. NICHOLS. "DEAR SIR, Lichfield, Sept. 13, 1785. "I am as sincerely concerned at your last illness as rejoiced that your Suffolk journey has so well answered. I now write, at the request of Mr. Greene, who, reading in the last Magazine that the original picture of poor indefatigable Martin would be given to the Curators of any public Repository*, is very desirous of placing it in his Museum, as he thinks it well worthy preservation *.

"You must not think of coming this year into Leicestershire without taking a bird's-eye view of Lichfield. We all long to see you†.

"Mr. Pegge, sen. supped with me on Monday evening in perfect health and spirits. I lent him Carter's Numbers, which he had never before seen. He sends you his best compliments. "Mr. Greene joins his friendly compliments with, dear Sir, yours most truly, H. WHITE."

6. Mr. GREENE to RICHARD GOUGH, Esq. "DEAR SIR, Lichfield, Oct. 17, 1786. "On the receipt of yours of the 14th, I immediately applied to Mr. Stringer, a very ingenious painter of this place, and have given him full instructions relative to your request concerning the Chapel at Barton-under-Needwood. He sets out to-morrow; and I make no doubt will be able to produce a correct drawing of the Chapel, as well as a fac-simile of the inscription within the same.

"Mayfield is within one mile of Ashbourn, about twentythree miles distant from this city. I shall take care that he fulfils your desire in getting a correct copy of the inscription.

"I had last night the pleasure of spending the evening with my good old friend Mr. Pegge, who told me he was possessed of a copy of the Mayfield inscription, but that it was not correct.

"I am happy to tell you, that I have just received a valuable present from Mr. Grose, viz. his Treatise on Armour; it is the more acceptable, as he gives a pleasing account of many antient pieces of armour now in my possession, particularly the coats of mail, cuirasses, &c. With much regard, I remain, dear Sir, RICHARD GREENE."

"Yours faithfully,

This request was granted by the proprietor of the Portrait,—that of Mr. Benjamin Martin, the optician and philosopher, which had been published in Gent. Mag. LV. p. 583.

+ I had paid a delightful visit at Lichfield in the autumn of the preceding year, where I had the gratification of witnessing the filial affection of the dutiful, though vain, Anna Seward, in administering to the comforts of her aged father, at that time almost unconscious of her tender care. The kindness of Mr. White, and the introduction he gave me to the most distinguished characters then resident in Lichfield, I can never forget. See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. II. p. 551.

The valuable "Antiquarian Researches" of honest John Carter.

7. "SIR, Lichfield, Dec. 3, 1786. "I am happy to find by yours of the 23d of last month, that Mr. Stringer's performance meets your approbation. I know of no one I can so warmly recommend to your notice as that artist; whose diligence, and moderation in respect to charge, equals his ingenuity. As you seemed desirous to know his charge, I called on him for that purpose. One guinea only for the whole, which I dare say you will not think unreasonable, when I inform you that Mayfield is twenty-five miles and Barton eight miles distant from this city. The inscription at the former place could not be copied perfectly without the assistance of a long ladder. "I am much pleased that I have had it in my power to serve you in this affair; being with the greatest respect your most obedient humble servant, RICHARD GREENE."

8. "DEAR SIR,

Lichfield, July 9, 1787.

"Mr. Stringer having finished the drawings of the tombs in Bromsgrove Church, I yesterday carefully packed them, and delivered the parcel to Mr. Butler, of the George, saw them booked, and hope, by the mail-coach, they will be with Mr. Nichols by to-morrow morning. They are neatly, and, I hope, accurately taken; and am only sorry you have waited so long for them, owing to the hurry of business in which Mr. Stringer is constantly engaged. I inquired of the price, which he said is one guinea and a half; which I believe you will not dispute when you are informed that Bromsgrove is thirty-two miles from this place.

[ocr errors]

Any odd prints relating to antiquities you may please to bestow on me, will come safe if left with Messrs. Wilson and Hodgkinson, druggists, Red Cross, on Snow-hill.

"I am very respectfully, dear Sir, your most obliged humble RICHARD GREENE."

servant,

9. Rev. HENRY WHITE to Mr. URBAN *. "MR. URBAN, Lichfield, Sept. 9, 1788. "Inclosed you receive an internal view of one side of the room which contains the Museum of your old and worthy correspondent Mr. Greene. It will form, I hope, both an useful and ornamental embellishment to your Magazine. The Catalogues of this Museum not having found their way to the London booksellers, many ingenious travellers pass through this city, unapprised of that source of information and amusement which the sight of this great and valuable collection of the wonders of Art and Nature would afford them. To the Collector of them too much praise cannot be given. I should as soon have thought, Sir, of building a first-rate man of war,' said the great author of the Rambler. And well does this * From the Gentleman's Magazine;-see note in p. 318.

encomium seem to be merited, when we consider the disadvantages of an inland situation, the want of fortune to make valuable and expensive purchases, the want of connexions with men of science in other countries, and the constant and laudable attention to the duties of his profession.

"The view meets the eye of the spectator when he stands with his back to the organ*; the scale is rather too small to do sufficient justice to the articles, nor does it include the most rare or valuable. It consists of two rooms, communicating with each other by an opening crowned by a large elliptical arch, from whose centre depends, by brass chains, a buffalo's horn, mounted, and neatly painted with the arms and crest of the late Sir Thomas Aston, of Aston in Cheshire. It was used for a drinking-cup, bearing the motto, Prest complere. Also, the tusk of an elephant, dug out of a gravel pit near Stratford-upon-Avon, six feet beneath the surface of the ground; when taken up, it measured near a yard and three-quarters in length; the ivory, by long continuance in the earth, was rendered as soft as chalk.

"A collection of South-sea rarities, brought over by Capt. Cook and other navigators, fills the glass-case on the left hand. The opposite one, on the right hand, contains a collection of fire-arms, among which are the match-lock, wheel-lock, and snaphance; Turkish, Spanish, Italian, and old English muskets. -Pistols, of almost all kinds, occupy the lower part of the case.

"In the centre of the inner room appears an uncommon musical altar-clock, whose outer case represents a Gothic churchtower, adorned with pinnacles, battlement, images, &c. and crowned with an octagonal lantern of open work.

"For a more particular description of these articles, and for a general account of the Museum, reference must be made to the printed Catalogue, sold in Lichfield, the last edition of which appeared in December 1786, dedicated to Sir Ashton Lever and Mr. Pennant.

"It is but justice to the public-spirited Collector to record, that the Museum is constantly open for the inspection of the curious, except on Sundays, gratis. The drawing was made August 1788, by Mr. Stringer, painter, of this city.

[blocks in formation]

The following lines by Anna Seward were in gold letters on the front of the organ, and a few copies were printed for distribution among her friends:

"The docile gales which here imprisoned dwell,
Do thou release from every hollow cell;
They for their freedom shall the gift repay,
With sounds respondent to thy dulcet lay.

ANNA SEWARD."

327

GEORGE RICHARD SAVAGE NASSAU, Esa.

The subject of the following biographical notice. was descended from the noble and illustrious house of Nassau, a family which has produced heroes allied to the greatest Princes of Europe, and renowned both in the cabinet and in the field.

Henry Frederic de Nassau, Prince of Orange, and grandfather to William the Third, of glorious memory, Stadtholder of the United Provinces and King of Great Britain, had a natural son, Frederic de Nassau, whom he endowed with the Lordship of Zulestein, in the Province of Utrecht, and who thereupon assumed that name. By his wife, Mary, the daughter of Sir William Killigrew, of the county of Cornwall, Bart. and Chamberlain to Queen Catherine the consort of King Charles the Second, he had issue a son and heir, William Henry de Zulestein, a person high in favour with King William the Third, and whom, in consideration of his faithful services and eminent abilities, as well as of his near alliance to him in blood, that Monarch was pleased to create, by letters patent bearing date on the 10th of May 1695, Baron of Enfield in the county of Middlesex, Viscount Tunbridge in Kent, and Earl of Rochford in the county of Essex. His Lordship purchased of Sir Henry Wingfield, Bart. a branch of a very antient and widely-extended family in Suffolk, the manor of Easton in that county, with the remainder of his estates in the neighbourhood; and made that place his occasional residence.

From this illustrious personage was descended the late George Richard Savage Nassau, Esq.

His father, the Hon. Richard Savage Nassau, was the second son of Frederic, the third Earl of Rochford, by Bessey, the eldest daughter of Richard Savage, the fourth Earl Rivers, and was born on

« ForrigeFortsæt »