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Kelloe Church.-Campbell's British Poets.

Early in the fourteenth century a family who assumed the local name was of some consequence in this place, and gave a Bishop to the See of Durham in 1311, in the person of Richard Kellaw. In 1312, his brother, Patrick Kellaw, commanded the troops of the Bishoprick against the Shavaldi, or freebooters of Northumberland, who (taking advantage of Bruce's attack on the Palatinate,) issued from their fastnesses, and levied plunder and contribution. Patrick Kellaw defeated the banditti in Holy Island; and their Captain, John de Wadale, perished in the action *. By an heiress of the Keflaws, the possessions passed into the Forcer Family; the last of whom, Basil Forcer, died without issue in 1782. The Manor was sold in his life-time to John Tempest, esq. who devised it to Sir M. Vane Tempest; on whose decease it became the property of his heiress, the present Lady Stewart.

The Church and Parsonage stand above half a mile from the Village of Kelloe, in a long hollow vale on the North of a small trout stream, called Kelloe Beck.

The Church, which is dedicated to St. Helen, consists of a nave and chancel of equal width, both supported by buttresses, and a low square tower at the West end of the nave. The East window is divided into three lights, under a pointed arch. nave has three windows of similar form, and the chancel three narrow pointed lights, all to the South.

The

Thornlaw Porch, or Pity Porch, which projects from the North side of the nave, seems to have been ori. ginally a Chantry, founded by the Kellaws in 1347. It was endowed with lands, which at the dissolution were valued at 107.

The Vicarage of Kelloe is in the patronage of the Bishops of Durham; but formerly in the Masters of Sherburne Hospital. The Glebe is all inclosed, and estimated to contain 222 acres. The present worthy vicar is the Rev. George Stephenson, M. A.

Here we for the present take our leave of Mr. Surtees's Work; but we shall shortly be called upon to notice the publication of a Second Volume of his interesting labours.-EDIT.

* See Mr. Surtees's General History,

p. xxx.

Mr. URBAN,

DU

[Jan.

Bom, Jan. 4. URING the last thirty years the press has gradually yielded such an extraordinary increase of works under the multifarious names of Selections, Beauties, Minstrelsy, Extracts, Fugitive Pieces, &c. &c. ga. thered from our established poets, that the sixteens, twelves, duodecimos, octavos, and imperial octavos, might form an extensive juvenile library, had any school-boy a smattering of ambition to be dubbed " a collector." Fortunately the compilers, while they have increased the mass by "pouring out of one phial into another," have also crushed the young bibliographer's rising passion, by their tedious sameness. They possess only one generic character, and duplicates of modern works that only vary in the unimportant features of paper and type, are of little or no estimation. The stripling that has imbibed a taste for poetry, will read Milton, Gray, or any other standard poet, in a sixpenny edition with equal enthusiasm as if embellished and hot-pressed by Da Roveray or Sharpe.

It was my chance sometime since
to be invited by an eminent city pub-
lisher to become editor of a few choice
morsels of English poetry, or in the
language of business,"" Do a work
for the Row." Unfortunately for the
speculation, the announcement of my
long-respected friend Mr. Murray of
a similar publication, made us dread
the curse of rivalship, and the being
crushed by a long and widely puffed
forestalment. Such a compilation
was well adapted to a pedagogue
whose little leisure is stealing one
hour a day from my scholars, and it
required only a smattering of taste, a
small portion of judgment, and very
little research. The materials I de-
pended upon seemed ample. There
was Dr. Anderson's and Mr. A. Chal-
mers's British Poets, with those useful
selections by Ritson, Ellis, and
Southey. As to biographical or cri
tical notices, they were easily flung
together by pilfering from the His-
tory of English Poetry, Censura Li-
teraria, British Bibliographer, Resti-
tuta, and other modern works of si
milar character. Besides these sources
I was assured of the covetable assist-
ance of two gentlemen, well known
for their literary attainments, and
deeply read in antient poetic lore
(which

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1821.]
(which Pknow little about), who were
to aid with the loan of a dozen or
acore élder authors of rather a rarer
order, and who also undertook to
dog-ear certain leaves of curious mat-
ter, fearful I might not hastily disco-
ver the same; with a caution to be
particular if two poems were on the
same leaf not to adopt the worst.
Such was the outline of the plan, and
my SELECT specimens would certainly
have been completed in TWENTY portly
octavos-But

British Poets, edited by Mr. Campbell.

Mr. Murray announced, and has since published, Specimens of the British Poets; with biographical and critical notices, and an Essay on English Poetry, By Thomas Campbell; or, as the label expresses it, BRITISH POETS, by T. CAMPBELL, 7 vols. 31. 13s. 6d.-Seven volumes! although the works above noticed as sufficient to supply materials for twenty, have rendered copious assistance, and some acute readers have fancied there may be traced the assistant band of a friend; yet has the whole been rammed, crammed, and jammed, into only seven volumes! Certainly, however Mr. Campbell is justly entitled to his well-earned eminence as a poet, he must excuse a little blunt honesty in announcing that he is not quite ur to the art of book-making, notwithstanding the reports circulated so opportunely before the appearance of his seven volumes.-Then it was rung through echo's trump that the Specimens were the result of a close application of eight years, which can scarcely be correct, for there are many instances of haste discoverable, and so little time is necessary for cutting down the bulk of an author into a trite specimen, that the last six volumes might as well have passed the press in eight months, as in as many years. Indeed I strongly suspect, from some traits of negli gence, the whole work was hurried forward from the spreading buzz of my own project. Another groundless assumption was, that the labour, if such light amusement may be designated labour, was to find a remuneration of 10007. Surely it cannot be. Booksellers do not now barter for the whistling of a name, and Mr. Murray's purse, on this occasion, would be sufficiently lightened if it bore the evaporation of a cool 1007., which a puny wit may

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argue is subtracting nothing. Lastly, Mr. Campbell was to supplant all that had been done by Headley, Ellis, Ritson, and Southey.—Now to the truth : Is all this extravagance of bruit accomplished? Can Mr. Campbell take credit for more than his “Essay on English Poetry," and his "Biographical and critical Notices :" articles of high merit, and had those parts been given in a moderate sizeď volume, then those sketches would have found a run of several editions, and which would, to an extensive circle, be even now acceptable. If the SEVEN Volumes were intended to be worthy the closet of the literary man, why tax him to load his groaning shelves with extremely long extracts from poets of most common reference; but Mr. Campbell to secure praise should not have suffered any one poet, found in the volumes of Anderson or Chalmers, to have occupied by specimen more than a single leaf. He has also erred if he believes any kind of finger-post necessary for the man that reads to discover the nervous passages in our standard poets. On the other hand, if it was calculated as a fit work to disseminate a love of poetry and better knowledge of our domestic writers, among the junior branches of society, who may have outgrown the longer-needing nursery varieties and the polished pages of Harris and Godwin, why eke out to seven volumes what might have been given in a double-columned octavo? BRYAN BRAINTREE.

Mr. URBAN,

Jan. 17.

your last, p.555, upon a Boxer and HE epitaphs which appeared in yourl a Wrestler, most forcibly brought to my recollection two epitaphs, written about twenty-five years ago, upon one not celebrated for either boxing or wrestling, but for a kindred excellency, running.

Tommy Wilcox (for so he was always called) filled a situation, formerly very common and very useful, before the improvement of our roads and mode of travelling had done away with its necessity. He was running footman in the much-respected family of John Blackburne, Esq. the representative for Lancashire. Tommy seemed as if born for the situation. Below the middle size, he was of a very compact make, and agile limbs

and

8

Epitaphs on Tommy Wilcox, Running Footman.

and his gait was very remarkable. He could scarcely be said ever to walk; his pace was a kind of amble or shuffle, which he could accelerate from the slowest rate to the quickest; going at least ten miles an hour and his head always appeared as greatly busied as his feet, keeping time with them, and nodding slower or faster, according to his own loco-motion. Indeed his head was quite as light as his heels; encumbered with nothing, except now and then with a message, or some other business of fetching and carrying. His perseverance was equal to his speed. When the present Member for the County was first returned at Lancaster, Tommy attended in his capacity of running footman, whether still retained in that situation, or a volunteer upon this occasion, I cannot say. When his master set out on his way home, with that rapidity which good fortune generally gives, and good news seem to require, Tommy was left at first greatly be hind, and it was thought that he could never regain on that day his accustomed precedence: but long before the travellers had reached home, Tommy passed the carriage, and was the first to announce his master's arrival and success. This journey was upwards of sixty miles, and perform ed at the rate of ten miles an hour. He had no sustenance upon the road, but what he derived from tobacco, with which his mouth was always well supplied...

Of this notable man, his career being finished, and his last breath gone, some gentlemen, who admired his talents, wished to preserve the memory. It was proposed to erect a stone over his grave, and inscribe it with a suitable record. Though the stone was never erected by them, the epitaph was written at their request by the Curate of the parish, who had gained some reputation for such-like compo

sitions: and it was as follows:

His race is run! his journey's o'er!
Lo! here he rests to run no more!
Tho' by the swiftness of his heels,
He cou'd out-run the chariot wheels;
And if on errands he did go,
Wou'd fly "like lightning to and fro;"
Yet he that runs by night and day
O'ertook him on life's weary way,
And swifter than all mortals-Death
Soon ran poor Tommy out of breath.
This Epitaph, the curate, antici-
pating no small praise, shewed to his

[Jan.

rector, who was no other than the
Rev. E. Owen, .of Warrington, the
well-known and far-famed translator
of Juvenal, as witty as he was wise,
as ingenious and facetious as he was
learned. The rector did any thing
but praise. He hemm'd and he ha'd,
and at length censured it, as too long
winded, and breathing too much the
spirit of Sternhold and Hopkins, say-
ing at the same time, " let me see if I
cannot mend it." To work he accord-
ingly went, and in about half an hour,
after many pulls and twists of the wig,
and amidst much smoke occasioned
by some vehement puffs of the tobacco
tube, out comes the following, which
appears so very like in expression and
conception to the epitaphs alluded to
above:

By mortal runners ne'er was he surpass'd,
Death only prov'd his overmatch at last.
Rest, Tommy, here! till with recruited
breath,

Thou ris'st to triumph o'er thy con-
queror-Death!

Should what are here sent be acceptable to Mr. Urban, the same hand can supply him with a few others much of the same kind, written upon persons as celebrated as Tommy in their way, and who have strutted, and fretted their day, and acted their parts

UPON THE BANKS OF THE MERSEY.

Mr. URBAN,

THE

Jan. 20. HE two following Tablets have very lately been set up in the Abbey Church of St. Alban; the latter by Sir Edward Stracey, a new created Baronet, understood to be

son to Sir John:

"In the Vault below are deposited the mortal Remains of the late Rev. John Payler Nicholson, A. M. formerly Student of Christ Church Coll. Oxford, afterwards Head Master of the Free Grammar School in this Town, and more than twenty years the pious and exemplary Rector of the Abbey Church. He dyed on the 9th day of May 1817, aged 58 years, highly revered, deeply regretted. His mournful Family, in grateful and duteous remembrance, have raised this Tablet."

"Sacred to the Memory of that worthy man, Sir John Stracey, Knight, Recorder of London, obiit 1743.

"Also of Mary his Wife, obiit 1743. "Also of Mary, their eldest Daughter, obiit 1767.

"All highly beloved, and greatly lamented."

J. B.

Mr.

1821.] Cuddesdon Church, Oxon.-Rendlesham Ch. Suffolk. 9

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CUDDESDON, in Oxfordshire, is a village distant about six miles from the City and University of Oxford, on the South-east, containing the Episcopal residence attached to the see of Oxford, a modern-built house, of no great architectural pretensions, but possessing an agreeable situation and prospect. The Church, which stands South of the Bishop's palace, is an ancient and interesting structure: its plan is regular and complete, consisting of a Nave, side Ailes, Transepts, and Chancel, with a square tower in the centre. The Southern and Western entrances are sheltered by porches, coeval with the oldest parts of the building. The most elaborate specimens of the ancient styles to be found in this Church, are represented in the annexed Eu graving of the Western doorway (See the Frontispiece to this Volume), with its door thrown open, thereby shewing the pointed arch beneath the tower, ornamented with zig-zag or chevron work.

As you will receive an exterior view of this edifice for an early Number of your Magazine, I beg your permission to postpone any fur ther description of it until the appearance of the second view.

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

X.

Jan. 3.
HE following account of Rendle-

Chancel with slate; over the Church

and Chancel stand two. Crosses of stone. The South Portico is built with black flint, and the roof covered with tile: this has likewise a neat stone Cross. There are two niches over the door, now filled up with brick, which formerly contained figures of the Virgin; and a niche on the right of the entrance, for the holy water, which remains in its ori-, ginal state. The steeple, or tower, is. of black flint, and built four square, very lofty, and supported by four buttresses at the angles. The view from the steeple commands the sea and Hollesley bay, and an extensive. inland view, marked with the towers of the neighbouring Churches. The Church within is pleasant, the roof of oak handsome and substantial, adorned with arches and other embellishments. (These are now entirely concealed, the Nave and Chancel having, within few years, been ceiled throughout. The wood of the roof appears not to have been of oak, as the Historian here states, 'but of

a

Spanish chestnut). It is now seated throughout with deal, except the front of some of the seats, which are of oak. The walls wainscoted round, 4 feet 4 inches high, and painted of an oak colour. In the highest pew, on the North side, and at the N. E. angle of the same, there was a wainscot niche to sit in, adorned with two fluted pilasters, entablature, and open compass pediment of the Doric order; within the pediment stood a neat

in convex and elliptical shield and com

Loes, in the county of Suffolk, and diocese of Norwich, was first suggested to me, from examining the History of the Churches in Loes hundred, by the late Robert Hawes, of Framlingham.

This Church is dedicated to St. Gregory, and here were the Altars of St. Mary and St. John; the walls were built of flint-stone, and have been rendered over with a finishing (which is partly worn off by Time), and strengthened with buttresses. It is 56 feet in length, 13 feet and a half in breadth, and 32 feet in height. And the length of the Chancel is 38 feet 8 inches, of the same breadth with the Church, but about two feet lower. The roof of the Church is covered with lead, but that of the GENT, MAG. January, 1821.

partment, enriched with the arms of Spencer, in their proper colours, and without a border this has been long since filled up. At the West end of the Church is a beautifully proportioned lancet arch, the appearance of which is, in a great measure, destroyed by the erection of a gallery, in itself handsome and commodious, in 1813. Within the gallery stands an octagonal font of stone, adorned with four lions sedant, and as many blank escocheons, with a modern top or cover of wood. The Chancel is large and handsome, and had a new roof set upon it in the year 1783, by the late Rector, with a beautiful window at the East end, over the altar of elaborate workmanship, in the florid Gothic. The altar-piece was also erected

10

Description of Rendlesham Church, Suffolk.

erected at the same time, very neat, with pilasters and capitals in the Corinthian order, and painted to imitate Sienna marble. On the tables are inscribed the Decalogue, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, with the following sentences of scripture: "Take, eat, this is my body; Drink ye all of it." Matth. xxvi. 26, 27. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" 1 Cor. x. 16. "Surely the Lord is in this place," "This is none other but the House of God." Gen. xxviii. 16, 17.

Towards the upper end of the Chancel, on the North wall, stands an old mural monument, with this inscription:

"Here lyeth Simon Mawe, and Margery his wife, by whom he had five sons and six daughters. He was born at Epworth in Lincolnshire, brought up in Suffolk, bore the office of Steward of the Liberty of St. Ethelred 33 years; lived in credit to the age of 79 years, and died in peace the fifth of November, Anno Domini 1610.

"Hospes eram mundo per mundum semper eundo,

Sic suprema Dies fit mihi summa quies."

A little Westward from the last, on the same side, within a niche highly ornamented, lies the figure of a man, with his hands clasped, as in the attitude of prayer. He has a small close cap on his head, attired in a long gown, which formerly was gilt and painted in gorgeous colouring. Two angels support the pillow on which his head reclines, and a lion couchant is placed at his feet. There is neither date, inscription, nor arms, which can throw any light upon the rank or identity of the person thus represented. I am, however, inclined to think, from the cap on the head, and the long gown, that he was a monk, one of the former Rectors of the Church.

On the South wall, and to the East of the Chancel door, is a niche, either for a vessel of holy water, or for the image of the Virgin, or St. Gregory,

the tutelar saint of the Church. On the left of the pulpit stairs is a pointed arch, which is the entrance to a narrow stair-case, which the priest ascended to the rood-loft, to elevate the host.

[Jan.

There are six black marble gravestones in the Chancel, on which are the following inscriptions:

"Ut omnis lachrymatur marmor, loquuntur et lapides nunc temporis."

"Brianus Smith, et Anna soror ejus non ortu, at interitu Gemelli, Gnati Briani Smith, de Cavendish; et Annæ uxoris ejus, hic jacent uno eodemque die et tumulo sepulti, Mart. 13, Anno D'ni 1648."

"Dominus dedit, et Dominus abstulit: benedictum sit nomen Domini.”

On another stone of black marble is inscribed:

"Here lyeth the body of William Redgrave, lately rector of this town, who died Anno Domini 1652, aged 62. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come."

" M. S.

"Dominæ Elizabethæ D'Oyley, charissimæ Rectoris hujus Ecclesiæ conjugi, quæ obiit 29 die Octobris, Anno 1733, ætatis suæ 44.”

"Here lieth the body of Henry Spencer, of London, merchant, who survived his elder brother John, which were all the issue of Edward Spencer, late of this parish, Esq. and of Judith Scrivener his only wife, born Anno Domini 1640, and died the 26th day of Sept. Anno Domini 1731. He acquired a competent estate by the blessing of God upon his honest endeavours, which he distributed in bis life-time, and at his death to his relations and friends."

"Here lieth the bodies of John Spencer, of this parish, Esq. who died Anno D'ni 1709, aged 70 years. And also Edward Spencer, Esq. his only issue, who died the 25th day of March, Anno D'ni 1727, aged 48 years."

"This stone is put down by her Grace the Duchess of Hamilton, in remembrance of Dame Anne Barker, the most affectionate of mothers, and best of friends, who departed this life the 26th of Nov. 1764, aged 64. And beneath the same stone are deposited the remains of Elizabeth, relict of Sir James Dashwood, of Oxford, and daughter of the above bart. of Kirklington Park, in the county Dame Anne Barker, who died April 19th, 1798, aged 80."

To be continued (with a view of Rendlesham Church) in our next.

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