PART II.] Monuments of the Earls of Litchfield. Sleep then, sweet soule, we'l not injure thee soe As wish thee here againe with us in woe." There is likewise the following inscription beneath the canopy: "Henricus Lee, Eq. Auratus et Baronettus, filius natu maximus Roberti Lee, Eq. Aurati, unus ex deputatis Limitaneis præfectis in Comitat. Oxon et ad pacem justitiarius, in utroque officio integritatem exercens, judicioque excolens. Per viginti fere annos, quibus in domo sua de Ditchly vixit, rarum se sane Hospitalitatis et Misericordiæ in pauperes exemplum præbuit, quorum quotidie magnum numeruin ad ostia cibare solebat; cultum Dei et religiosa exercita imprimis frequentavit; parochiae huic de Spelsbury certam pecunite summam in usum pauperiorum legavit. Tandem dierum satur pie et quiete in Domino obdormivit. Uxorem duxit dominam Elenoram Wurtly, Richardi Wurtly, Eq. Aurati in Comit'u Eborac. filiam natu quartam, ex qua tres suscepit filios, Henricum, Franciscum, Henricum, Antonium: et quatuor filias, Briggittam, Annam, Loysam, Elizabetham. Coniux eximia in liberos pietatis piique in maritum adfectus hæc inscribi curavit. Obiit April. v1. Anno Christi MDCXXXI. ætatis suæ LX.' On the south side of the chancel is a monument of grey and white marble, surmounted by a shield, Argent, a bar and three crescents Sable, Lee, impaling Fitzroy, with the Earl's crest, coronet, and supporters; also two boys weeping; and on it the following inscription: M. S. Here lye interred Edward Henry Lee, Earl of Litchfield, Viscount Quarendon, Baron of Spelsbury; and Charlotte Fitzroy, his dear consort. He was son and heir of Sir Francis Henry Lee, of Ditchly, Bart. and of the Lady Elizabeth Pope, daughter and heiress of Thomas Earl of Downe: She daughter of King Charles the Second by Barbara Duchess of Cleveland. This Lord merited the titles with which he honored his family, as well by his military as civil virtues, appearing very young in arms a volontier; raised by succeeding merit to the command of a regiment, and from thence presented by his Sovraign's hand as Colonel to the First Regiment of Guards; for his politeness and breeding beloved and favoured by two Kings, and by them successively appointed of their Bedchamber. This Lady adorned the eminence of her birth by the virtue of her life, and possessed all those perfections which in her sex are great, lovely, exemplary. It was justly observed, that at their marriage they were the most gracefull bridegroom and most beautifull bride, and that till death they remain'd the most constant husband and wife. Their conjugal affection was blest by their numerous offspring, thirteen sons and five daugh 583 ters. Tho' they were both framed for the honors and graces of the court, they chose very young to retire from the splendor of it. Great in a private life, and disengaged from pomp and magnificence, to obtain more leisure for charity and religion. The Earl dyed the 14th July, Anno Salutis 1716, ætatis suæ 54. The Countess dyed the 17th Feb. Anno Salutis 17, ætatis suæ 55. On the south side of the chancel is also an elegant monument to the meLitchfield, and his Countess. The base mory of George Henry, third Earl of or pedestal is of grey marble, on the top of which is a neat medallion of his Lordship's arms, impaling Frankland; and in the front two tablets, with inscriptions. Crossing the medallion is a Chancellor's mace and High Steward's rod of brass gilt. The upper part of the monument is a pyramidal slab of dark grey marble, in front of which is a sarcophagus, somewhat resembling a grotto, whose opening in snake, the emblem of eternity, and in front, of a true oval, is encircled by a which, on a pedestal, partly concealed by a drawn-up curtain, stand two urns of spotted grey marble. From behind the sarcophagus rises a young oak, bearing acorns, its top rifted, and on a brauch of which stands a beautiful figure of a boy angel, fastening to the stem a scroll, on which is inscribed the Earl's abilities and virtues. The whole is a display of much taste, and is inscribed, "H. Keene, Arch3, inv*, W. Tyler, Sculpr." On the scroll is an inscription, the authorship of which has been attributed to the celebrated Dr. Thomas Warton: "Sacred to the memory of George Henry, third Earl of Litchfield, whose eminent abilities, elegance of manners, and liberality of miud, conspired to form a character which at once attracted our esteem and affection. He cultivated every species of polite literature with equal solidity and sagacity, with a judgment strong, yet refined, and a peculiar felicity of taste. Skilled to blend dignity with ease, to unite affability with propriety, and to embellish good sense with all the graces of wit, he became a conspicuous pas tern of those amiable accomplishment which enliven conversation and adorn society. These shining talents were accompanied by virtues which, as they exalt humanity, reflect the strongest lustre on nobility-unbiassed integrity, unblemished honour, and those unshaken principles of true religion, which enabled him to sustain the slow but visible advances of death with unaffected fortitude. To such distinguished 584 Monuments of the Earls of Litchfield. merit the University of Oxford, of which he was elected Chancellor, bore ample testimony, and will ever acknowledge and remember with what unwearied attention he protected and promoted her real interest, as a friend, a guardian, a patron, and a benefactor." The following inscriptions are on two tablets in front of the pedestal : "George Henry Lee, third Earl of Litchfield, Viset. Quarendon, Baron of Spillesbury, and a Baronet, married Diana, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart. of Thirkelby, in Yorkshire, by whom he had no issue. He was twice returned to represent the County of Oxford in Parliament, A. D. 1740 and 1741; appointed High Steward of the University of Oxford A.D. 1759; one of the Lords of the Bedchamber to King George the Third, 1760; a Privy Counsellour, Captain of the Band of Gentlemen Pensioniers, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford, A. D. 1762. He died September 17, A.D. 1772, aged 54." "Diana, Countess of Litchfield, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Frankland, Baronet, of Thirkelby, in Yorkshire, wife to George Henry Lee, third Earl of Litchfield. Died January ye 8th, 1779, aged sixty, universally lamented by all ranks of people, being possessed of every moral, benevolent, and social virtue, derived from those true Christian principles, which now receive their full reward." On the north side of the chancel is a handsome monument, by Tyler, to Robert fourth Earl of Litchfield. The base (on which is the following inscription) is of grey marble, and in the centre of it a white marble medallion, with the Earl's armis impaling those of Stonehouse (three eagles Pro per, with a bar Argent, a leopard's head between two etoiles), beneath which are branches of laurel. Behind the base rises a pyramidal slab of black marble, with gold veins, in front of which is a large cenotaph of light cornelian-coloured marble, standing on lion's feet of white marble. On the cenotaph stand two beautiful figures of boy-angels twining a wreath of flowers, of white marble, about an urn of a deep cornelian colour. "In memory of Robert, Earl of Litchfield, whose social disposition, amiable condescension, and unaffected benevolence, endeared him to all who had the honor of his acquaintance. He was a firm friend, a pleasing companion, an affectionate husband, a liberal and disinterested benefactor. Polite with sincerity, hospitable without ostentation, uniform in conduct, and unbiassed in principle; an exemplary pattern of those neglected virtues, which adorn retire [VOL. C. ment, and constitute the respectable character of the true English nobleman; he died as sincerely regretted, as he lived justly beloved, on the 4th of November, 1776, aged 71. He married Catherine, second daughter of St John Stonehouse, of Radley, in the county of Berks, Bar'. by whom he left no issue." In the chancel are also the following memorials.-On a brass plate: "George Pickering, gentleman, having been xxx years a servant to the honble familie of the Lees of Ditchly. About the LXXI yeare of his age, the XIII day of March, A D'ni 1645, departed this life, and lyeth here buried. Not to prophane (by a rude touch) the dust Of his great Masters, do we bouldly thrust This aged Servant's bones: whose humble love An innocent ambition did move, By creeping neere their tombe's adored side, To shew his body, not his duty dy'de." On a stone slab: "Hic sepultus erat Gul. Child, Art. Magist et hujus Parochia Vicarius, qui mortem obiit 2do die Junii, Anno Dom. 1712, et aetatis suae quinquagesimo secundo. Hic etiam sepulta fuit Katherina, dilectissima sui conivx, anno 1727, ætatis suæ 61. Obiit Martij 10, beatæ resurrectionis spe." On another stone slab : "Here lyeth the body of Robert, third son of Robert Rich, esq. and grandson of Sr William Rich, of Sonning, in Berkshire, who died Feb. the 27th, 1701." On a brass lozenge, inserted in the tombstone: "Dame Dorothy Bathurst, late wife of Sir Edward Bathurst, of Lechlade, in ye County of Gloucester, Baronet, died the 18th day of March, 1683, and lyeth here buried, waiting for a blessed and joyfull re PART II.] Norman Church at Langford, Essex. 585 with only a chamfered impost moulding. The south door is 7 ft. 10 in. high, by 3 ft. 4 in. wide, and has plain Norman hinges. The north door is 6 ft. 10 in. by 2 ft. 8 in. The Church is low, and without any tower, having only a small wooden spire upon the roof. There are some modern windows on the south and east sides. The Church withinside is about 184 yards long by 5 wide. The walls are nearly a yard in thickness; the east end (which is square and not round) is the same. The walls being covered with composition, only three of the original windows, which are at the west end, can be discovered. NORMAN CHURCH AT LANGFORD. Mr. URBAN, Springfield, near Chelmsford. THE following account of a Norat Langford, near Maldon in Essex, may be interesting to many of your readers. It is remark able that the semicircular part of the building is at the west end instead of the east, containing three small narrow windows, or rather loop-holes, being 2 feet 1 inch long by only 8 inches wide, and nearly 10 feet from the sill to the pavement of the Church. The north and south doors are very plain, GENT. MAG. Suppl. C. PART II. B Perhaps some of your Correspondents could point out any other church which has the semicircle at the west end. Upon carefully examining the inside of the Church, the semicircular end is certainly not the remains of a round tower. J. A. R. MR. URBAN, AVING been reading in your H Magazin fer in servations on the farming of glebe land by Clergymen, I beg to add the result of a pretty long experience, in confirmation of the opinion that such moderate farming agrees very well with clerical residence. When I came to my living about 40 years ago, I found a miserable house and premises, and a glebe of nearly 70 acres. My family being larger then than the house would contain, it was necessary that I should add to it, which I did under Gilbert's Act. The house, &c. being finished, I came to reside, and entered on the glebe land. This I found a most agreeable amusement for my horæ subseciva (for I never suffered it to intrude on my graver pursuits). I never felt it necessary to re 586 Clerical Farming of Glebe Land defended. sort to hunting or shooting to banish ennui, nor did I ever attend a market, though I have constantly sold stock of various descriptions. Though I entered on this culture of my glebe with as little knowledge as a well-educated Clergyman may be supposed to possess, yet I gained skill in some degree by observation well directed, and by some occasional but not severe study of the agri cultural writers of the time. I had also a rising family, to whose education I found it necessary to attend. This served to keep alive my classical recollections. But though I might have walked over my fields with a small Virgil in my pocket, I by no means guided my farming by the Georgics. I cannot say I escaped entirely the sneer of the old farmer (so dreaded by one of your Correspondents) at my ignorance and incompetence. One of that description passing me one day, as I was inspecting the mixture of a compost, said, "Parson, you are making a pye for sixpence that will be one day worth a groat" and yet I lived to see that old man's son following my practice through his farm. Several other things my neighbours do now from observing what I did with success, for I never preached out of church, but suffered what I learned from better masters to work its way silently. Among other things, many to this day of the small holders of land mow their grass for their cows (instead of turning them out), as I have done for many years, having taken the hint, I think, from Anderson's Essays. And I take this opportunity of recommending to my brethren to mow their churchyards, instead of turning in their horse to break the grave-stones and his own knees. Some of my Evangelical friends will perhaps say,-You speak only of the improvement of your glebe, how has your parish advanced in faith and practice? To this supposed question, I must make the same reply as was made by Wollaston, who wrote the "Religion of Nature delineated," to an objector that he had said nothing of the Christian Religion,-"It made (he replied) no part of my plan." So say I now; I am only defending farming, and therefore say nothing of spirituals: they are nothing to the theine. But out of complaisance, I will answer to the question, How has your pa [VOL.C. rish advanced in faith and practice? Not the worse for my incumbency. It is impossible for a regular family to have lived 35 years in a parish without improving it. Nevertheless, if a strict inquiry should be made into my habits by what I have heard denomi nated a truly religious eye, I have no doubt but some hole might be picked in my coat,-'tis true I have regularly read prayers to my family, but I may have played some sixpenny rubbers at whist with my children, since they have grown up, when they have occasionally visited me. This I know is a crying sin among certain religionists. But let the rigid exactor of undeviating holiness recollect, that besides the many sins that fill his catalogue, there may be some he is not aware of, and that in his aim at unattainable perfection, let him take care that he make not shipwreck of his charity, the very bond of peace and all righteousness. Soame Jenyns, in his "Defence of Christianity," observed that it was a religion of perfect good breeding, teaching us always to prefer another to ourselves. It is certainly a religion of perfect common sense, which does not load the attainment of it with unnecessary difficulties. I agree with Balguy in his "Divine Nam vitiis nemo sine nascitur; optimus ille garrulity exhibited in this long letter, You will not fail to observe, from the Mr. URBAN, AN OLD RECTOR. REGRET that any expressions of mine in the remarks respecting clerical farmers, should have subjected Mr. Urban to the implied sarcasm of any of your correspondents (see p. 314), or that those principles of unshaken orthodoxy which, during a whole century, have strongly marked your even and liberal course, should not have been sufficient to exempt you from the imputation of having given countenance to an insidious or evil disposed writer, engaged "in a plot to bring Religion into contempt, and to wound her through the sides of her ministers." To convince your correspondents, "An Occupier of his Glebe," "CL. R." and "Clericus," that I am neither afraid nor ashamed to meet either or all of them upon the question at issue, I will briefly reply to each. First, then, let me request "The Occupier of his Glebe" to reperuse my remarks, to quote fairly, and to let me speak in my own words; and not in the language which he seems inclined to put in my mouth. Where have I deplored the passing of the Act of Parliament respecting the cultivation of land by the Clergy? Where have I entered into the motives or intentions of the framers of the Bill? Where have I denounced as sinful or shameful, the cultivation of a garden, or the necessary occupation of a few acres of land? True it is, that in the Acts of the 17, 21, 43, 55, and 56 Geo. III., and the 1, 4, 6, and 7 of Geo. IV., it has not been my fortune to discover the intention or the tendency of either of them to circumscribe the agricultural pursuits of the Clergy. They express no such thing: and they have been followed by a direct contrary effect; as since their enactment, more of the Clergy have become farmers than before. Whatever" obliquity of perception," in regard to common justice," that correspondent may censure in me, I have not such an obliquity of vision, as to make any mistake when I see a parson engaged in foddering his cattle, or filling his dung-cart. The word "parson" I used, and now repeat; not in the mode of vulgar sarcasm, or with a contemptuous allusion; but because it conveys my correct meaning, as it did when I adopted the term farming parsons-for farming parsons, not farming curates, I certainly meant. I do not believe that there are many of the latter class of the clergy engaged in such pursuits: nor many of them who have much glebe to farm. I have hinted at the probable consequences of continuing a system which, whatsoever is said in 587 its favour, has the effect of withdrawing these clerical persons (there is another word which, if the "Occupier of his Glebe" will abstain from Latinizing it, is, I hope, unobjectionable), from their duty. I did not contend for a total abstraction from all secular affairs. My opponent does not find them prohibited in the Scriptures. But does he find secular concerns recommended to the clergy, or countenanced by the 75th Canon? Have not feeding hegs, or foddering cows, or ploughing, or filling dung-carts, been accounted servile in all ages? They were the services performed by bondmen to their lords: and even in the time of the Jews, and before, were deemed servile; and in every nation excepting this (and in this only in the present age, contended for as becoming and suitable to the functions of the clergy), thought degrading to those who minister about holy things. Yet in these I see some of the clergy engaged; and so may the bishops too, if they will open their eyes. The admission of "CL. R." that country overseers squander parochial funds in a manner injurious to the poor, seems a very strange mode of explaining the manner in which, as he says, they do their duty; and his confidence of the order coming out from the ordeal of investigation with triumph, has no more to do with the question, whether the clergy should become farmers, than whether they may not trim their horses, or milk their cows, or feed their swine, without soiling their clothes. But upon the subject of whether the parson's land be not in worse condition generally, than that of his neighbours, even if he will deny a fact capable of abundance of proof in numerous instances, quite sufficient to justify the remark which I made; it would only prove too much, viz. that ignorance, which he acknowledges in the practice, is quite as advantageous as experience! That "Clericus," or any man in his sober senses, should impute to any writer of whom he knows nothing, a design to bring Religion into contempt, by wounding her through the sides of her ministers, is both astonishing and absurd. And for what?-because he has ventured to admonish the clergy of the duty which they owe to their country, themselves, and the religion they profess to teach? Because he de |