manuscript written by the grandson of this Mr. Field Sylvester, the Rev. Field Sylvester Wadsworth, about the year 1750, I find the following notice of Colonel Etherege, in an enumeration of the children of Joshua Sylvester named in the inscription, with their respective marriages. Margaret, born Jan. 6, 1660, married LieutenantColonel Etherege, by whom she had Richard, who died 6 years old, and Mary. The mother died Aug. 29, 1716; the daughter Jan. 26, 1718; and the Colonel a little survived his return from Spain, being supposed to have been poisoned there."

This in the main agrees with Oldys' account; but it adds several dates and the name of the daughter of whom no notice is taken by Oldys. It may be added, that the writer of this communication has often heard from one born near enough to the time to have received accurate information, that this Mary Etherege came to Sheffield on the death of her parents, or perhaps of her mother, to be under the care of her uncle, Mr. F. Sylvester; and that when she died her property was divided between the family of that uncle and of Mrs. Heathcote her aunt, as her nearest personal representatives.

In Hendon church, in Middlesex, are monumental inscriptions for Rose Etherege, who died 14 Feb. 1673, aged 56, and Catherine Etherege, 19 May, 1690, aged 52, who are probably of this family.

MR. URBAN,

J. H.

Nov. 14. Boswell relates an anecdote illustrative of the good nature of Dr. Johnson, exemplified by the successful exercise of his influence with Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr. Barry, in obtaining a revocation of the rejection from the Exhibition of a large painting by Mr. Lowe. Boswell, in describing it,

says,

"the subject as I recollect was the Deluge, at that point of time when the water was verging to the top of the last uncovered mountain. Near to the spot was seen the last of the antediluvian race, exclusive of those who were saved in the ark of Noah. He was one of the giants, then the inhabitants of the earth, who had

* Murray's edition, vol. viii, p. 191.

strength to swim, and with one of his hands held aloft his child. Upon the small remaining dry spot appeared a famished lion, ready to spring at the child and devour it."

As every circumstance connected with Dr. Johnson possesses a degree of interest, it may be an acceptable piece of information to the readers of the new edition of Boswell's work, to learn that this painting is now at Sutton place, near Guildford, Surrey, the property of John Webbe Weston, esq. where it occupies a conspicuous place at the end of the Hall.

In Northcote's Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds, some account of the painter, Mauritius Lowe, is given. He is said to have been a natural son of Lord Sutherland, and much esteemed by Dr. Johnson, who bequeathed him a legacy, and stood to one of his children as godfather. He was sent to Rome by the patronage of the Royal Academy, in consequence of his having gained the gold medal in 1771, and died at an obscure lodging in Westminster in Sept. 1793. is characterized by Northcote "too indolent and inattentive to his studies to attain any excellence."

He

as

The picture was exhibited by itself in an empty room at Somerset-house, in 1783; and Northcote makes the following remarks upon it: "If the conception of the painting had been good, yet the execution of it was execrable beyond belief. The decision therefore of the Council (that against which the painter appealed and Johnson successfully interposed), appears to have been just, as the picture when shewn in public, was universally condemned."

How the painting attained its present station in Sutton-place, I am not at all aware. It is noticed by your correspondent A. J. K. in his description of this ancient seat (Gent. Mag. N. S. vol. I. p. 489.), with scarcely less severity than the condemnation it receives from Northcote. The inscription on the frame, so necessary to acquaint the spectator with the design of the painter, is copied by your correspondent, and to which I refer as affording a more complete elucidation of the very singular design than Mr. Boswell's recollections..

THERE are some good lines, which shine by contrast, in Hayley's metrical Essay on Lyric Poetry. For instance, he has described Butler well: "His smiles exhilarate the sullen earth, Adorning satire in the mask of mirth; Taught by his song, fanatics cease their jars,

And wise astrologers renounce the stars. Unrivall'd BUTLER! blest with happy skill

To heal by comic verse each serious ill, By wit's strong flashes reason to dispense, And laugh a frantic nation into sense."

In speaking of Dryden, he says but too justly,

"Malignant satire, mercenary praise, Shed their dark spots on his immortal bays."

He terms the Gondibert of Davenant, "A theme ill-chosen in ill-chosen verse."

Every body has heard, or read, Lord Brougham's celebrated but insidious and specious sentence, that "a man is no more accountable for the complexion of his faith than for that of his skin." Query, is the idea original? Dr. Bever, in his "Legal Polity of the Roman State," has something very like it: "The complexion of the soul, in its original formation, is no more within a man's own power, than the complexion of the countenance." But there is a great difference between the two sentiments; for Dr. Bever is speaking of innate mental qualities, Lord Brougham of a man's adopted creed.

The celebrated Joseph Wolff, in his Journal, 1832, p. 153, gives a specimen of a Persian satirist, Mirza Abool Kasem. When he was in disgrace, and not employed in the late war with

Russia, he wrote a poem, in which he said of the Persian army,

"They faced cucumbers like Rustem (a celebrated hero),

And they shewed, like Gorgeen (a notorious coward), their back to the Muscovites."'

Ibid. p. 355. "In the Thibetian temple of Lassa, called Sera, is a large iron nail, or pin, called Porba, of which the people of Thibet relate, that it was a nail in one of the tents of Alexander the Great. To this they perform every year their devotions; the Lama first puts it on his head, and then the rest."

town;

But measures, plann'd and executed well, Shifted the wind that rais'd it, and it fell."

These lines, which require explanation, have not been explained (I believe) by any of the poet's editors. The allusion was well understood in his day, but is now forgotten. The fact is, that in the year 1757, during an unsuccessful war, and a general depression of national ardour, Dr. John Brown published "An Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times," in which he inveighed strongly against the English character, as sunk in effeminacy, frivolity, and selfishness. The work attracted public attention, so that no less than seven editions

were sold off in a year, and it had the effect of shaming the nation and the government into more energetic measures. It is a remark of Voltaire, that the English immediately began to beat their enemies in every quarter of the globe. When the Doctor published a second volume, and an "Explanatory Defence” of the work, comparatively little interest was excited, as his censures were no longer so applicable as before. Dr. Brown was the author of the inflated tragedy of Barbarossa, now chiefly known by its having been revived to exhibit the celebrated Master Betty in the character of Achmet.

The term deicide, which Johnson has admitted into his Dictionary, from a passage in Prior, may be traced to St. Barnard, who uses the Latin word deicida. Whether it originated with him, I am not aware.

Historians and chronologers have been greatly puzzled to fix the date of the fall of the Assyrian empire. Yet seemingly the difficulty may be elucidated. In 2 Kings, xxiii. 29, PharaohNecoh went up expressly against the king of Assyria," soon after which Assyria disappears from history, and is only mentioned allusively. In Jeremiah, xxvii. no yoke is to be sent to a king of Assyria, which shews that this kingdom had ceased to exist. Also in chap. xxv. where the kings of the surrounding nations are made symbolically to drink of the bitter cup, no mention occurs of Assyria.

The fall of Assyria, therefore, must have happened between these two events, or, according to Blayney's Chronology, between B. C. 610 and 598. It seems then that Nebuchadnezzar, flushed with his success against the Egyptians, turned his arms against Assyria, in conjunction with the Medes, as all historians join in relating. Reize, in his edition of Herodotus, accordingly places the fall of Nineveh B. C. 606; Volney, a few years later, in 597; according to his system, which places all the dates about ten years later than former chronologers.

Tuition is now used in the sense of instruction. Formerly, however, it

LONDINIANA.—No. II.

THE labourers employed on the excavation now in progress for constructing a sewer in Newgate street, have met, at the depth of ten feet from the surface, with considerable obstruction from a wall composed of ancient grout-work, which has acquired allthe solidity of a natural rock. This wall is found in the centre of the street, at about ten feet of depth from the surface, and ninety from the south-west corner of the entrance into St. Martin's le Grand. The wall extends from east to west some forty feet or upwards, and is about eight feet in height, so that its base rests nearly upon the natural surface of the sub-soil of London, or what I have usually termed the Roman level. This wall is however not Roman,* but the south wall of the ancient Church of St. Nicholas, which stood in the centre of the old Newgate market-from this circumstance it was distinguished as the Church of St. Nicholas Shambles, or in the old writings as "Sent Nycolas Fleshshambulls;" it was dependent and pensionary on the adjacent highly privileged ecclesiastical foundation, the Collegiate Church and Sanctuary of St. Martin le Grand.†

At the dissolution this Church was demolished, and its materials and ornaments given by Henry VIII. to the Mayor and Corporation of London for

* The magnified and varied reports of rumour, ever containing something of distorted truth, have stated that this was part of the wall of Roman London. Transferring its dimensions in length, to its depth in the earth, they have said it was found 45 feet below the surface. Finally they have transferred it from Newgate street to the line of sewer excavation in Moorfields; where certainly, when they shall cross the site of old London Wall, they may probably meet with its foundations, but not at seven fathoms below the present street level. All this however has gone the round of the daily papers.

+ See Kempe's Historical Notices of the Collegiate or Royal Free Chapel of St.Martin le Grand, London, p. 211.

use of the new parish of Christ Church. The old Grey Friars Church became the parish church of Christ Church.

In

The Church yard of St. Nicholas Shambles is now occupied by Bull Head court, Newgate street. which to this day remains the ancient well noticed by Stow.

In Aggas's Map of London (circ. 1568) the projection into the line of street occasioned by the Church, is marked as occupied by buildings. These were demolished, I imagine, at the Great Fire, and never replaced. The ashes of that memorable conflagration, still blacken the soil excavated round this spot. A few counters for arithmetical calculation, known as Nuremburg tokens, every where so plentiful in our old ruins, are the only numismatic relics which I can learn have been found about the prostrate and buried walls of St. Nicholas Shambles. A. J. K.

THE HOLY HAND OF SAINT PATRICK. MR. URBAN,

A CURIOUS relic, bearing the above title, is at present in the possession of a farmer named M'Henry, about two miles from Portaferry, county of Down; which is reported to have been originally obtained in the following manner :-For some time after the decease of this saint, great uncertainty is said to have prevailed among the faithful, whether his body was interred at Downpatrick or Armagh. To remove all doubts and controversy on this head, the dead saint at length condescended to work a miracle. He ` protruded his bony hand from the grave at Downpatrick, and allowed a favourite, named Russell, to cut it off at the elbow, in whose family it remained as an heirloom, until it passed to the house of M'Henry.

The case in which this memorable and long-revered hand is preserved, is said to be of silver; but it has also been supposed to be of block-tin, or

The hand is the right one, and the arm appears as if clothed with a lawn sleeve the wrist is ornamented with a kind of band or frill, on which are the figures of some grotesque animals with their tails entwined. Two of the fingers are bent down, while a ring, formerly containing a stone, encircles the middle finger. In this finger is a groove or channel, through which water is allowed to flow. The water

is then bottled, having, according to the belief of many, acquired by this contact the most marvellous virtues. This finger is also used to make the sign of the Cross on the part affected with disease: to it the blind, lame, and other diseased resort, even from the most remote parts of the kingdom; and its touch is asserted to have been efficacious, when the prescriptions of 4 F

the sage physicians and all medicinal skill had failed. It has been sometimes lent out, on proper security being given for its safe return.

Sir Walter Scott mentions, that Robert the Bruce was possessed of the hand of St. Fillan, enclosed in a silver shrine, which was carried at the head of his army. Smith, in his History of Cork, page 176, says that a large brazen hand was formerly kept in the parish of Donaghmore, on which the people used to swear, until removed by one of the titular bishops of Cloyne.

Mr. URBAN,

S. M. S.

Hoxton, Nov. 18.

IN addition to the notes from the records of the corporation of Stratfordupon-Avon, in Warwickshire, which appeared in your Magazines of February and April last, allow me to lay before your readers the substance of an agreement, between the Gilde of Stratford and the Abbey and Convent of Kenilworth, by which provision was made for a distribution of coals at Christmas among the poor of Stratford.

The agreement to which I refer, (and of which 1 inclose a transcript, should you think proper to hand it over either to the Collectanea or any other repository of inedited documents,) is in Latin. It bears date the 20th of February, in the 12th year of Henry the Seventh, and is entitled an indenture between Ralph Abbot of the Monastery and Convent of the blessed Mary of Kenilworth, and Richard Bogy, Master of the Gilde of Holy Cross of Stratford-upon-Avon, with consent and assent of Thomas Clopton and others, aldermen, and of the proctors of the same Gilde; and states that, whereas Master Hugh Chesenale, formerly Rector of the church of the Invention of the Holy Cross of Clyfford-upon-Stowre, did in his life time devoutly deliver into the hands of the said abbot six pounds thirteen shillings and fourpence, to be applied for the honour of God and the good of his soule and the souls of his parents, the said Abbot, with the counsel and advice of friendly and circumspect men, has determined to apply it as follows, viz. for the purchase of twenty quarters of coal, an

nually to be distributed to the poor in the almshouse at Stratford, and to the other poor persons in the town of Stratford, on the festival of the birth of our Lord. The coals to be distributed by the master, aldermen, and proctors of the Gilde; and the master, aldermen, and proctors, when they give the coal, to say to the "Ye paupers, in the vulgar dialect, shall pray specially for the soule of Maister Hugh Chesenale, sumtyme parson of Clyfford-upon- Stoure, which ordeyned this almes of Colys yerely to be distributed among you poore people, to warm you with this cold wynter; and for the soules of his fader and moder, and for all Cristen soules, saiying of your charite a paternoster and an ave.'

Not the least curious part of this document is the conclusion, which provides that the master, aldermen, and proctors of Stratford shall fulfil their trust well, faithfully, and without fraud, in the manner and form above prescribed; and, in case of failure, the master, aldermen, and proctors of Stratford agree to pay to the Abbot and fraternity of Kenilworth for the time being, the sum of 13s. 4d. by way of fine, for every default; and the Abbot and fraternity of Kenilworth are empowered to distrain for the said fine, upon all the lands and tenements of the said Gilde of Holy Cross at Stratford.

This agreement is fairly written on parchment, and in high preservation, but the seal has been broken away.

There are among the records of the Gilde several appointments to the office of chaplain, of one of which I inclose you a transcript. It is that of William Partyngton, appointed in the 13th year of Henry the Eighth; and as you will perceive, it invested him with one sacerdotal service, that he might celebrate MASS within the chappel of the said gilde, for the brethren and sisters of the said Gilde, as well the living as the dead, he himself being in sufficient health, together with all other divine services during his life. He was to hold his office, in sickness and in health, and to have an annual salary of eight marks, payable quarterly; also a chamber in the mansion of the Gilde, with a part of the garden and fruit, and free ingress and egress. Several of the earlier appointments to the office of chaplain, stipulate for the delivery,