friends ready to take their places at my table, and some presswork to correct when they were departed, I could not attend too so soon as I eagerly wished. How much do I regret that distance prevents my having the opportunity of seeing and hearing the originals of many more Ana C. C. C. C. before you 'commit them to the custody of Mister Vulcan.' They set all my early academic days before my eyes, and carry me back to scenes I only knew by hearsay. Yours, &c. R. GOUGH." 97. Mr. DENNE to Mr. GoUGH. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, Nov. 26, 1798. "When I conveyed to you the drawings by Mr. Clarke of the ground plot of the Chapel of our Lady la Piew, and his remarks upon the cloister contiguous to it, that was built by Dean Chambers, alias Chambre, I hinted that I was in hopes I might have it in my power to give the delineator a chance of discovering the portrait of the Dean among a group of figures painted by a contemporary artist. Hans Holbein's picture of the delivery of the charter to the Company of Barber-surgeons was the picture I had in my thoughts; and Mr. Walpole, in his Anecdotes of Painting, having mentioned that Dr. Butts was there exhibited, I had hardly a doubt but that Chambers, who was likewise a physician to King Henry VIII. was there also represented; and if you look into the well-known print of this picture, you will perceive that he is kneeling near the Sovereign's footstool, and marked No. 3. Whether this picture bears a resemblance to the portrait of the key-stone in the cloister of St. Stephen's Chapel, it will be Mr. Clarke's business to examine. Though your search in the Prerogative-office after the Dean's will has been fruitless, some tidings concerning it may be had from Merton-college; supposing him to have been, which is not unlikely, a benefactor to the Society of which he was several years Warden. "For several years I was well acquainted with Mr. Harwood, the late Vicar of Dartford. I am inclined to believe he might be of a family co. Chester, though I rather suspect him to have been a native of the Metropolis*. He certainly was a Fellow of Merton-college; but in an early part of life became domestic Chaplain to Dr. Wilcocks, Bishop of Rochester, who presented him in October 1743 to the Rectory of Ibstock, in the county of Leicester; and for some other living he got the Rectory of Uppingham, co. Rutland, which he held with Ibstock. Being Harwood, *The Rev. James Harwood was younger brother to Esq. of Crickheath in Shropshire. He married a daughter of Thomas Chase, Esq. of Bromley in Kent, sister to Sarah, wife of the Hon. and Rev. St. Andrew St. John, D.D. Dean of Worcester. Mrs. Harwood, after her husband's death, was, with her seven children, resident at Rochester. desirous, however, of settling in Kent, and the Vicarage of Dartford becoming vacant, he at length effected a change for Ibstock and Uppingham; and, if you turn to Hasted's Kent, you may see when he was collated to Cliffe in the Hundred of Hoo. I well recollect that I inducted him into this Rectory; and that, from being wet through, I caught a cold which rendered me deaf. He died Feb. 15, 1778, aged 64. I saw his remains deposited in a vault in the burial ground on the top of Dartford-hill, heretofore called the Cemetery of St. Edmund; but there is on the east wall of the south chancel of Dartford Church, an elegant marble tablet, with a very short inscription in memory of him; and, if you turn to the engraving of Bromley-house, published in Hasted's Kent, you will see Bishop Wilcocks and his Chaplain. The size and air plainly show, to those who knew Mr. Harwood, that he was the clerk exhibited in his gown, sans chapeau, though the back is to the spectator. "Not being expert in the science of Heraldry, I shall not presume to comment upon the sundry devices granted as an augmentation to the armorial coat of the Hero of the Nile; but on the change of motto on the shield, or, to write more correctly, on the motto of the shield he bore as Knight of the Bath, I cannot forbear suggesting a remark *. The words were Faith and Works, a motto in my opinion better adapted to a clergyman, and to the son of a clergyman who is of his father's profession, than to a son who wears a sword; as it is hard of belief that, when St. James argued upon faith shown by works, he could ever mean martial deeds from a carnal weapon. The paternal coat of Sir Horatio Nelson, with this motto, is at the bottom of the print of this illustrious naval officer by Barnard; and I was led to pay the more attention to it because this young artist is the only son of the eldest daughter of my predecessor in the Vicarage of Wilmington t. As far as my little judgment is competent to determine, it is a neat well-executed engraving; and I trust it will be ultimately to the material advantage as well as to the credit of Barnard. Yours truly, S. DENNE." 98. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, Dec. 17, 1798. "Not long after I had noticed your application for intelligence concerning the late Vicar of Dartford, it occurred to me that above two years since I had received a letter of inquiry from Mrs. Harwood about the family name of her deceased husband. This letter I have transmitted to you, as it is in your line of pur *See a letter by Mr. Denne in Gent. Mag. vol. LXIX. p. 197. The motto given by royal authority, was "Palmam qui meruit ferat," from a Latin ode by Dr. Jortin.--It has been remarked that no more appropriate motto could now be placed under the Nelson shield, than the uncommonly apt anagram of "Horatio Nelson,"-Honor est a Nilo. + The Rev. John White was for forty years incumbent of Wilmington, from 1726 until his death in 1767. suit, though possibly, in consequence of the Harwoods being not only your cater cousins, but of your acquaintance, the same etymological and genealogical queries may have been submitted to your consideration. The answer I returned I do not well recollect; but I think I gave no countenance to the notion, that my friend could trace his descent from Hereward, the Saxon chief, who showed a spirit similar to what prompted the men of Kent to resist the attempt of the Norman invader. "Dr. Latham's new cara spousa, it appears, is a helpmate literally in his epistolary correspondence; and I have a notion I might hint to you before, that Mrs. Latham, whilst Miss Delamotte, was for a few years one of my flock as Vicar of Darenth. "Mr. Weston has at last acquired the object of his wishes. On the demise of Dr. Farmer, he was sanguine that he should then be removed from Canterbury to St. Paul's; and not a little mortified when he found, that the united interest of the Premier and the Earl of Hardwicke could not prevail over the royal interference in favour of Dr. Majendie. He was obliged to take two journeys to town before he was admitted to kiss the King's hand on his promotion, the Minister having failed in the levee etiquette to apprise the Lord in waiting of his having nominated Mr. Weston to the vacant Stall. He was disappointed also on a view of the house appropriated to it, having been told it was a very good one, and finding it the reverse. Concerning these three mansions, I am not competent to form an opinion, not having entered the door of either one; but I had imagined that within they were suitable and comfortable abodes, and that the grand objection was to the site of Amen-corner. It was generally supposed that the Speaker's Chaplain would have been Mr. Weston's successor; but the papers must have informed you that Mr. Norris, tutor to Earl Spencer at Trinity-college, Cambridge, is the fortunate clerk †. He is the son of Mr. Norris, who was formerly Vicar of Brabourn, near Ashford, and the grandson of Mr. Norris, for so many years Chapter-clerk and Auditor to the Dean and Prebendary of Canterbury, one who both in and out of office was intelligent and respectable, and not unworthy to be a successor of antiquary Somner. "On Saturday the 15th current, died two of the quondam boys of the King's School, Canterbury, and I have a notion they might be in the same form, viz. Ned Taylor, of Bifrons-house, and Rector of Patricksbourne, and Sir Edward Dering, of Surrenden Dering, Baronet. Mr. Taylor was seized with a paralytic stroke about two months ago, and Bath water was prescribed, under a notion that because it was hot it would brace up the relaxed nerves. He was said to be better from the use of it, The Rev. Samuel Ryder Weston, B. D. was in 1798 appointed Canoa Residentiary of St. Paul's. + The Rev. Charles Norris, M.A. is living, a Prebendary of Canterbury, and Rector of Aylsham and Fakenham, Norfolk. but relapsed upon the road on his return home. From the accounts of his sufferings it may be allowed to be a happy release*. The Baronet has long had a battered constitution, but his departure was rather sudden and unforeseen; for, purposing to take a walk, his servant was assisting to put on his great coat, when he dropped down and soon expired. It is observable that Edward, Mr. Taylor's son and heir, and Cholmeley, the eldest son of Sir Edward Dering, by the present lady, are both in Ire land on military service. The former is Aid-de-camp to Marqui Cornwallis, the latter Captain of the Romney Fencibles. Mr. Taylor was of St. John's-college, Cambridge, as were his father and his brother Herbert; and the father was, by Archbishop Wake, collated to the Rectory of Hunton, near Maidstone, and appointed one of the Six Preachers of Canterbury Cathedral. Mr. Edward Taylor unhappily lost a son about a year ago, being drowned when up the Thames near Richmond, on a party of pleasure; but he has fortunately well married two of his daugh ters, one of them to the opulent Wilbraham Bootle. "This being the last time of writing on this side of a new year, I will transmit to Mrs. Gough and yourself my congratu lations and wishes of multos et felices. To myself, the year penult. of the eighteenth century has been, in divers instances, very trying and vexatious, may the year ult. be more propitious; but I own I find it difficult to discern a glimpse through the gloom, public or private. Yours truly, S. DENNE." The Rev. Edward Taylor was the younger son of Herbert Taylor, of Bifrons-house, Kent, Rector of Hunton and Vicar of Patricksbourne, by Mary, daughter of the Rev. Edward Wake, Prebendary of Canterbury, and first cousin to Archbishop Wake. The Rev. Brook Taylor, D. D. Sec. R. S. author of an essay on linear perspective, and other scientific treatises (of whom, and his writings, a memoir is given in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. I. p. 171), was his uncle. Edward was educated (as Mr. Denne informs us) at Canterbury school and St. John's college, Cambridge, where he proceeded B. A. 1755, M. A. 1758. On his father's death in 1763 he was presented by his brother, Herbert Taylor, Esq. to the vicarage of Patricksbourne; and on that gentleman's death in 1767 he succeeded to Bifrons, and his father's other lay property in that parish. He re-built the mansion, and died there, Dec. 8, 1798; when he was characterized as 66 a man of an enlarged intercourse with society, who had lived some years in Germany and Italy, and whose name may be found both in the domestic tours and foreign travels of Mr. Arthur Young." Mr. Taylor married in 1769, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Turner, afterwards Payler, of Ileden in Kent, Esq.; and by that lady, who died at Brussels in 1780, left four sons: 1. Edward Taylor, Esq. 2. Lieut.-Gen. Sir Herbert Taylor, K. C. B. and K. G. H. well known as the much attached Secretary of the late Duke of York, and now Adjutantgeneral; 3. Brook (whose twin brother, William, was the son drowned as mentioned by Mr. Denne); 4. Bridges, R. N.; also three daughters, 5. Mary-Elizabeth, married April 19, 1796, to Edward Wilbrabam Bootle, Esq. M. P. who was created Lord Skelmersdale in 1828; 6. Charlotte, married to the Rev. Mr. Northey, Rector of Kinlet, Salop; and 7. Margaret.-Bifrons was sold by the Taylor family in 1830 to the Marquis of Conyngham; the price is stated to have been £.100,000. 99. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, Jan. 8, 1799. Among some academical news sent me by Mr. Archdeacon Law, are the following items: The present Master of Trinity has formed the resolution of not admitting any more members than could be contained within the college walls. Such a determination meets with my cordial approbation. When young men are resident in private lodgings, there cannot be any superintendance of conduct. It is reported, that the example will be followed by St. John's. In this latter college, however, there was more propriety than in Trinity; for at St. John's none were allowed to live in lodgings before the Soph's year; at Trinity the young men were left to themselves immediately on admission. I expected to have heard, before this time, of some motion in the Court of Chancery relative to the election of a Master of Catharine-hall. The Lord Chancellor is the Visitor. There are only five electors, the Fellows on the new foundation having no right to vote. Mr. Waterhouse had his own vote, and that of another Fellow; Dr. Gardiner had a vote, as had Dr. Hey, who was originally a Member of the Society. A fourth person was, I believe, named. Waterhouse is not defective in point of abilities; but is represented as coarser in his manners and in his habits of life than Parson Trulliber *. The question, * The eccentricities of this unfortunate gentleman, and his tragical murder in 1827, are fresh in recollection. He discharged the University office of Proctor in 1783; and when candidate for the Mastership of Catherine-ball, had for some years been a Fellow. Anecdotes of his eccentricities, and the circumstances of his unfortunate death, will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. XCVII. pt. ii. p. 279; the following extract from a private letter, soon after written, gives a copy of the epitaph which was erected by some illiterate relatives of the deceased: "A tomb is about to be erected over the remains of the late singular and unfortunate Rector of Little Stukeley, and is now exhibited on the premises of the lapidary artist at Huntingdon. According to immemorial wont and usage, a copy of verses is appended to the inscription, which, in point of style, taste, and orthography, are on a par with the ' uncouth rhymes' alluded to by Gray. This branch of English literature has certainly remained stationary during the last century. I transcribe the whole of the inscription: Sacred to the Memory of the Rev. Joshua Waterhouse, B. D. nearly 40 years Fellow of Catherine-hall, Cambridge, Chaplain to his Majesty, Rector of this parish, and of Coton, near Cambridge, who was inhumanly murdered in this parsonage-house, about ten o'clock on the morning of July 3rd, 1827, aged 81. Beneath this Tomb his Mangled body's laid, And hurl'd at once into Eternity. What faults you 've seen in him take care to shun, Therefore be carefull how you live.' "(I have adhered to the capitals and spelling of the original.)” |