seditious meetings, which the chairman clearly and elegantly expounds and extols, after previously averring that 'the inquest would hear from him the sentiments of one unbiassed by party, uninfluenced by prejudice, and who professes to acknowledge no political attachment but to his Sovereign and the constitution of his country.'

"A few lines more shall be added on another Benedictine Orator, who is, I conclude, the father of the existing members of the old House; I mean the Right Reverend Sir William Ashburnham. When I read in the newspaper that the Bishop of Chichester had preached a Lenten Sermon before the King, I was inclined to believe the duty might have been discharged by proxy; but it was, I am assured, really so. His Lordship, as I understand, came to town on Saturday, made his appearance the day following in the pulpit of the Chapel Royal, and returned on Monday to his Palace in Sussex; and, as this was performed with ease by his Lordship, and to the satisfaction of his hearers, the inference is that, though the Prelate must be almost, if not quite, half-way between four score and ninety, there must be mens sana in corpore sano *.

"In the aforesaid Journal was a list of Doctors who this year preserved senioritatem in prioribus comitiis, and it exhibited a difference between the former and the present times. Whilst I was a Scholar and B. A. the number of Wranglers never exceeded a dozen, and rarely were there as many more inferior Senior Optimes; whereas there were, at the late Bachelor's commencement, sixteen of the upper class, and eighteen of the lower, and Ds. D'Oyly, of Corpus Christi-college, was the thirty-fourth. His Christian name is John, the son of Matthias, eldest son of Archdeacon D'Oyly, and consequently great-great-nephew of Matthias Ely. He was the Captain of the Scholars in St. Peter'scollege, Westminster; but not accepted at the election by either the Master of Trinity-college, Cambridge, or the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, being under a suspicion of a democratic taint. Mr. James Currey has always made a favourable report of his classical acquirements; and I think he has obtained a prize for a Greek or Latin copy of verses. Whether he be a candidate for the Chancellor's Medal I have not heard. As his name is endorsed upon the first tripos, he is not disqualified from being a Fellow of Bene't, supposing that preferment worthy his notice t.

* Bishop Ashburnham died in 1797, aged 87.

+ Mr. John D'Oyly obtained Sir William Browne's medal for the Latin Ode, 1795; the second Chancellor's medal, 1796; proceeded M. A. 1796; and was a Fellow of Bene't. He afterwards became Resident at Candy, and held other appointments in the Island of Ceylon. His younger brother, George, also Fellow of Bene't, and Christian Advocate, is the present learned and much esteemed Rector of Lambeth. Of their father, who, like his father, was for some years before his death Archdeacon of Lewes, a memoir will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. LXXXV. pt. ii. p. 478.

"As he was the junior of the Senior Optimes, I a little suspect he may have been the person so named by the Vice-chancellor, according to antient usage, Mr. James Currey having informed me that the bent of this young man was not to Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. From the want of a Senior Optime, the now Professor of Modern History undoubtedly missed a medal, and it was a mortification he partly deserved, because from vanity and conceit he was in the habit of decrying Geometry and Algebra, Euclid and Saunderson, and even Newton; and I well remember that in the theatre, when whiffled by Brocket of Trinity, who was no less proud and supercilious, the whiffler completely posed the examinant by suggesting out of the way questions in chronology from Greek writers.

"Not to offer a reflection of condolence on the recent decease of the Patriarch of Whittington, who was all but the father of our corps, would be inexcusable in a letter from a F. S. A. to Mr. Director. That a man who had for twenty-two years been walking upon the broken arches at the further end of Mirzah's bridge, should, with very little previous warning, drop into the tide of eternity, could not be a matter of surprise; but as you made a very favourable report of the health and strength of your friend after the return of yourself and Mr. Deputy from your visit to him in the summer, and had not since given a hint of an approaching change, his departure was not expected.

"Thank you for the perusal of the Catalogue of Herbert's Library, &c. Had I been in town during the view, I should certainly have looked at those MSS. that particularly relate to Kent; though from what I recollect of the authorities cited by Harris and Hasted, most of them, or at least extracts from them, had passed under their inspection. It is not unlikely that many, perhaps most of them, had belonged to Dr. Plot.

"Between this and August, I shall hardly fail of seeing Mr. James Currey*, because I conclude he will be at Dartford when his turn comes to predicate at Whitehall, and that is, I think, in June or July. I will apprise him of its being your wish to be present at the anniversary gala at the old House; and most willingly certify to him, that you are the identical Mr. Gough, who was a member thereof, and have a high veneration for those antique walls. Yours truly, S. DENNE."

*The Rev. James Currey, the Fellow of Bene't so often mentioned by Mr. Denne, proceeded B. A. 1791, being the 10th Senior Optime of that year, M. A. 1794, B. D. 1802. He was appointed a Preacher at Whiteball in 1796; was presented by his college in 1811 to the Rectory of Thurning, Norfolk; and in the following year elected Preacher at the Charter-house. He died, after a lingering illness, at Epping, August 8, 1823. His father, the Rev. John Currey, who survived him, was of St. John's-college, Cambridge, B. A. 1758, being the 4th Senior Optime of that year; M. A. 1761; and for some time Fellow of that Society. He was presented to the Vicarages of Dartford and Longfield in 1779, by Dr. Thomas, then Bishop of Rochester, and died Oct. 18, 1825, aged 89.

46. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, March 26, 1796. "On a cursory perusal of the MS. articles at the end of the Catalogue, which by your direction Mr. Deputy dispatched to me with haste, post haste, I was convinced that the substance of them had been incorporated into a History of Kent; though I frankly own it did not occur to me that they were conveyed from Mr. Hasted to the hammer of Leigh and Sotheby, not having a suspicion that he would dispose of his materials before his work was completed. The prices which some of the lots produced is astonishing, for I should not have been willing to have given half the money asked for the whole previous to the sale, even in better days; I mean when a wheaten loaf was not at a price that the Vicars of the Diocese of Rochester are charged by its Bishop to be sparing in the use of such a luxury. Not but there are some of the MSS. I should have wished to have picked up some gleanings from, had a sufficient time been allowed for so doing. The extracts from the Register of the Priory of Leeds is of the number; and the Register alluded to I take to be that which, according to Notitia Monastica, is in the possession of the Filmer family.

"From your report of the widow of the late highly respectable Dr. Owen, I am not clear whether she be appointed to one of the new apartments, annexed to Bromley-college, or be only a candidate for it. The very heavy charges incurred in building, retarded for a time the appointment; and I was told by Mr. Archdeacon, that there was a longer delay than was needful, because the late Bishop of Rochester was a very intractable person in business. However, near three quarters of a year have passed since I had any conversation with Dr. Law upon the subject, and I have not been at Bromley since Midsummer 1794. You are rightly informed that the allowance to the widows on the new establishment is a third less than to those of the original foundation, which makes a very material difference, considering the advanced charges of several of the necessaries, and of many of the comforts of life, and the prospect there is of their increasing whilst our wise statesmen are regardless of the old adage, that war begets poverty; but I am not aware that a widow of the Betensonian class is precluded from being translated into the Warnerian division in case of a vacancy, provided there be no candidate to whom, by the rules of the College, a preference must be given. This strict propriety does not, as you suppose, extend to three Dioceses, it being confined to the widows of beneficed clerks of the Diocese of Rochester, comprehending the peculiar Deanery of Shoreham. (See Addenda to the History of Lambeth, p. 170.)

"In your letter you term the MS. Memoirs of Phineas Pett, that are deposited in the British Museum, 'original;' are the gentlemen who have given themselves the trouble of being collators quite satisfied that he was the writer of the said MS.? was my intention to search for the will of this eminent naval

It

architect, as well with the view of learning whether the will itself was an autograph as for the purpose of noticing any biographical anecdotes that might be worthy of attention. The probability is, that the testator might have bona notabilia in two Dioceses; and that in course the probate was issued from the Prerogative-office. Secretary Brand was apprised by me, that my friend Mr. Bryant was possessed of an original picture of Captain Phineas Pett; and I think I added, that I believed it was at Cypenham. I also am inclined to believe that the said picture is what is mentioned in the extracts of the Memoirs that I delivered to Mr. Wrighte. When I was last at Maidstone, Mr. Pett, of that town, regretted that his son Phineas, Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford, late a Student and Tutor of Christ Church, and now of Chilbolton in Hants †, had not accepted the invitation of Mr. Bryant to take a view of his namesake and progenitor. That Dr. Birch should have so slightly mentioned this famous ship-builder, I agree with you, is a matter of surprise; and I am pleased that I have been the instrument of recalling him from the state of oblivion into which he was in danger of passing before his merit had been fully considered; and it will be an additional pleasure to me, should it be in my power to ascertain that the supposed Great Harry, engraved for Allen, was really the Prince Royal that occasioned its builder so much vexation as well as honour. Archdeacon Law is desired by mne to make an inquiry of his friend, and, as I believe, quondam ward, Mrs. Hodges, whether any information can be acquired touching the Great Harry that once decorated a room at Hemsted-place. I much fear, however, that it might, as a piece of lumber, have passed under the hammer, and have since perished.

"A letter, dated March 17, brought me this article of news from Chatham: 'On my return from the Dock-yard, I have to impart the unpleasing information of the secession this day of the rope-makers, in consequence of an order from the Navy Board to work up the old hemp (query, old ropes?) This was deemed a grievance; and when the Cominissioners referred to former usage, the reply was, that they were more enlightened now than heretofore. Modern illumination promotes neither the peace of society nor the comforts of individuals. The methodists are the most enlightened, and, I believe, the most restless in the three towns.' And,' quoth somebody else, it is to be feared that the said methodists from their numbers may be the cause of some public turmoil; having lived long enough to be assured, upon observation and experience, that they are not the best men who conceive themselves to be more righteous than other people. It has, indeed, been started as a moot point, whether more evil has not accrued from too much than too

"In the year 1611, September. About this time my picture was begun to be drawn by a Dutchman, working then at Mr. Prock's at Rochester." + See Gent. Mag. vol. LXV. p. 798.

little religion; some kinds of superstition are worse than Atheism was once the subject of a discourse delivered in St. Mary's pulpit, Cambridge, by the ingenious and energetic Weston, of St. John's, and which he treated in so free and unguarded a manner, that Dr. Richardson, of Emanuel, the provice-can. demanded his notes; and the preacher, therefore, printed them in his own vindication.

"Till I received your last favour, I was not aware that no tribute of applause was likely to be paid to the memory of the Patriarch of Whittington, before an assembly whose meetings he had often honoured with his presence and conversation, and who, in absence, had so frequently instructed and entertained them; for, if I have not miscounted, there are fifty papers, save one, adjudged by the Council proper for insertion in Archæologia. The name of Pegge not appearing in the eleventh volume was ominous; and portended that his days were almost numbered. We concur in our opinions, that the reason is not satisfactory which is assigned for not eulogising deceased members of the highest class in the line of antiquarian pursuits; and I really thought that the precedents of such a practice might have been cited from the minutes of our Society.

"I remain, dear Sir, yours truly,

47. Mr. DENNE to Mr. NICHOLS.

S. Denne."

"SIR, Wilmington, Feb. 13, 1796. "If you are disposed to give yourself the trouble of sending the proof sheets concerning the Abbey de la Pre, I certainly shall not object to the reading of them, being fully satisfied that information and amusement will result from the perusal of whatever passes from the pen of the Historian of Leicester under his types. At the same time it is proper to acquaint you how little matter relative thereto you are likely to have from one who is not of the kingdom of Mercia; and whose ancestors, as far as he can trace, never had the least connection with the town (I beg pardon, the City) of King Leir. The little that has occurred to me since I received the proofs is subjoined; and perhaps that little may not be novel.

"The inclosed billets to Master Urban, and the squib at a Deputy, were scribbled before your packet arrived. I have only to add, that I shall be obliged to you to transmit my answers to part of its contents to Enfield and to Primrose-street.

"It is a mortification to the Vicar of Wilmington when he finds himself under the necessity of keeping a proof sheet to a second and a third day; but the last packet from the Cicero's Head placed upon his table such a profusion of literary viands as could not be speedily digested in the noddle of a person who is more than half way between three-score and three-score and ten, viz. Staveley on Monkery, the Abbey de la Pre, the Great