public sale, eagerly purchased by men of science, and widely dispersed.

The celebrated dome or rotatory roof, however, was not disposed of at the

Nor should the muse disdain that rural grace, [around; Which marks the rich romantic scenes Let lasting beauties decorate the place, Make laurels ever sacred to the ground.

by an eminent astronomer, and transferred to his observatory at Kilworth, in Leicestershire, where it is adopted with advantage, and viewed with veneration. It is not only admired as a fine specimen of mechanism (originally

And high ambition learn to emulate thy fame.

CHURCH AND CASTLE OF ELSDEN*. (With Views.-See Plate II.) THE Church of Elsden is dedicated

Edystone memory); but it is likewise revered as an interesting relic of the Highbury Observatory.

Such are the recollections respecting

the fame and fate of this once noble establishment, of which nothing now remains but the walls; and these afford only a melancholy reminiscence of departed merit, and a memento of the mutability of human affairs. Even the rural beauties of Highbury Park," the

rich romantic scenes" herein alluded to, are vanished, or metamorphosed into buildings and brick fields.

Lines on Practical Astronomy, by Dr. Kelly; addressed to Alexander Aubert, Esq. F.R.S. &c. &c. in reference to his splendid Observatory at Highbury.

Thy dome, Aubert, with reverence I view,

And hail its noble use and learned store; Such as Egyptian temples never knew,

Nor Greece nor Rome, with all their boasted lore. [charm, Here truths sublime and sacred science Creative arts new faculties supply, Mechanic powers give more than giant's arm, And piercing optics more than eagle's eye. Eyes that explore creation's wond'rous laws, And teach us to adore the great designing

Canse!

Borne on these wings we mount ethereal space, [scan;

The wide expanse of Heaven minutely God's wisdom, power, and handiwork we trace,

The noblest study of aspiring man. New systems open to us as we climb;

Each glittering star gives law to circling spheres,

Which run eternal rounds in faithful time, Nor err one moment in ten thousand years. Perpetual motion Heaven's high works maintain, [in vain. So often sought on earth, but ever sought

I hail thy taste sublime, and skilful hand, That rear'd this dome, those glories to survey;

Such as, till now, no private fortune plann'd, Such as no other nation can display. GENT. MAG. July, 1829.

whose deposition is on March 20th, and of his translation on September of the long famous Regality of Redes6th. As this was the superior church

dale, we will endeavour to describe it with some degree of minuteness.The patronage of it has been invested in the lords paramount of Redesdale ever since the Conquest. It is a rectory, and in 1291 was valued at 901. 16s. 5d. a year, exclusive of the portion of Roger Normand in the same, valued at 6l. 13s. 4d., and that of the master of "Illeschawe" at 51. Redesdale," says Leland, "be three parish churches. The chiefest is Ellesdene, then Halistone, and Corsenside. To these parishes resort the Witeidingmen, otherwise called Thanes, of that English march."

"In

Elsden church is in the form of a cross, with two aisles, which pass into the west sides of the transepts, or porches. The nave, including the aisles, is 40 feet long by 32 feet broad; the chancel, 45 feet by 39; the porches each a little more than 21 feet square; that on the south is called Hedley's porch, from belonging to the numerous clan of that name; and that on the north, Anderson's porch, from a family who were once owners of Birdhope Cragg, and probably of the land called Ander. son's Lands, in Elsden, 1663. By the style of its architecture, we suppose that the whole of the present edifice was built soon after the time of Rich

ard the Second. It has a flat leaded roof, which has once had a high pitch, as may be seen by the flashing stones in the west gable, and a part of the great window of the chancel appearing above the present roof. The southwest window of the chancel is squareheaded, and of three lights, the arches

*This article is abstracted from Hodgson's "History of Northumberland," with additions.

The

of which are trefoiled, and have two trefoiled circles in tracery above them; the middle window is of one light, with a trefoil ogee arch, and trefoiled spandrels not pierced; and the third, or south-east window, has a drop-arch and three lights, the heads of which are also trefoiled, and have three openings above them in quatrefoiled tracery, and set two and one. great or east window has an equilateral arch, and consists of five lights; the arches of the secondary divisions having four cusps on each mullion, and below their imposts. The tracery above consists of four oblong quatrefoil openings, and the head finishes with the mullions of the middle light passing perpendicularly into the architrave of the arch, and having behind each of them a pea-shaped trefoiled opening, with its narrow point upwards. The end windows of the transepts have flat triangular arches; the rest are squareheaded; and all of them had their mullions taken out, to give way to sorry sash-windows, by an archidiaconal command, in Mr. Dutens's time, which he, however, refused to comply `with in the chancel. Corbules in the inside of the church, for resting timbers upon; and the manner in which the offsets at the basement in the gables of the transepts and nave, die into the walls of the side aisles, we think, show that the present are not the original walls of these aisles, which old foundations on the outside of them prove to have been once wider than they now are. They are, indeed, very narrow; not more, we think, than 50 inches wide, and pass into the west, side of the transepts, in each of which are two piers and two arches. The nave has four piers and four arches. All the piers are plain, excepting the two nearest the chancel, which are square and massive. The two pilasters in the west gable are round, with capitals consisting of a square chamfered abacus, a broad fillet, and a cavetto, which takes the circular form downwards, and ends in a studded torus. The capitals of the piers in the transepts have fewer members, and less projection over the shaft, than those in the nave, one of which has the four alternate faces of its abacus enriched with foliage in alto-relievo. The doorway is covered with a shallow porch, and two of its lintels are old tombstones, one of which has a cross fleury

and a pair of shears upon it. The coup-d'oeil of the whole interior of the building, especially from its centre, in spite of the general plainness of its architecture, has something in it, perhaps its uniformity, which is both uncommon and agreeable. There are a few monuments in the chancel here, to the families of Hall and Reed; also a Roman funereal monument brought from Bremenium, in this parish; and a neat tablet to the memory of Mrs. Grose, daughter to Francis Grose, esq., the celebrated author of the " Antiquities of England, Scotland, and Ireland," and aunt to the Venerable Archdeacon Singleton, rector of this parish, and at present private Secretary to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

ELSDEN CASTLE.

The Parsonage - house, which is called ELSDEN CASTLE, is a strong old tower, which still externally retains much of its pristine form, and has the arms, given in the annexed wood-cut, in the battlement of the south front; they are perhaps a guide to the time of its being built or repaired; for it occurs under the name of the tower of Elsden in a list of fortresses in Northumberland, made out in the life-time of Sir Robert Umfreville, who died in 1436. It is certainly the coat of one of that highly renowned family, and the supporters to it seem to indicate that it belonged to one of them who was ennobled. If such was the case, they may be considered as the coat of Robert de Umfreville, second earl of Angus, who died in 1324. But supporters were sometimes formerly used by families that were not ennobled; and Mr. Hodgson once inclined to believe that this was the coat of Sir Robert Taylboys, as there is a shield similarly emblazoned on Witton Tower, which is the parsonage-house of Rothbury, and in which parish the Taylboys, who married the heiress of the Umfrevilles, were lords of the extensive manor of Hepple, and on that account might become contributors to building the manse of the rector of that parish. The inscription is, RoBERTUS DOMINUS DE REDE, i. e. Robert, Lord of Rede. The supporters were probably assumed in allusion to the circumstance of the franchise of Redesdale having been given to Robert

de Umfreville by his relation William the Conqueror, to hold by defending that district for ever from wolves and enemies, with the same sword which that monarch had by his side when he first entered Northumberland. Till Mr. Dutens's death, the first floor consisted of a dark vault spanned by one arch, in which, in former times, the rector's cattle were housed by night. A circular stone staircase still leads to the upper rooms, on the first of which was a kitchen and servants' apartments, flagged with stone; and above these another room, fitted up as a lodgingroom and study, the bed being in a large recess, with closets on each side, one of which served as a wardrobe, and the other for more general purposes. In 1810 it contained the Greek and Latin authorities for Mr. Dutens's "Discoveries of the Ancients attributed to the Moderns," copied by himself with great beauty and correctness, and very methodically arranged. His books were mostly ponderous folios, in French and the ancient languages. Here Mr. Dutens lived, and entertained his company during his residences at Elsden. Formerly, there were two low rooms above, each containing four chambers, one partly destroyed by heightening this; the other is the present garret. Mr. Singleton has converted the dark damp vault into a comfortable draw ing-room, 27 feet by 15, besides a recess 7 feet deep, cut through the wall to the window. The old kitchen and room which was the parlour of Mr. Mitford, a former rector, are two bedrooms; and the floor above is converted into a bed-room, dressing-room, and library. To the old building Mr. Singleton has added a vestibule and kitchen, a dining-room, 26 feet by 14, and bed-rooms above these; besides a back-kitchen, pantry, and other offices.

Mr. Dutens, the late rector here, was a Frenchman, and attached to the English mission at Turin. As editor of the works of Leibnitz, author of the "Discoveries of the Ancients attributed to the Moderns," "Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement,” and other works, his name has long been before the public. He was also travelling tutor to the late Duke of Northumberland, who presented him with this valuable living. Mr. Hodgson says, the proceeds of this rectory were for many years regularly transmitted to Mr. Dutens at Turin; but that he fre

quently resided here, and was much respected in the parish, to which he was one of its greatest benefactors on record; for he gave 1200l. towards endowing a chapel at Birness, in this parish, and providing a curate there, who should teach, if required, twelve poor children of the neighbourhood gratis. His foreign accent made him almost unintelligible to his parishioners in the pulpit, and on his complaining that some of them absented themselves frequently from church, they complained in turn, that when he preached, it was impossible to understand a word he said. In the north it is usual at Easter to have an annual meeting of the minister and gentlemen of a standing parochial committee, called the Twenty-four, to discuss and settle all matters that concern the church and the parish at large. At the conclusion of one of these meetings, Mr. Dutens thanked the party for their attendance, and said he would be happy to see them all to dinner at a given hour, and bowing retired to his room in the castle. At the appointed hour the whole party waited upon him, and the ceremony of being seated and some ordinary conversation gone through, the rector began to observe that he supposed that some business had been omitted at their meeting in the morning, which had caused him the pleasure of their visit, of the object of which he would be glad to be informed. The company stared at each other; but after some hemming and hesitation, made him to understand, that, according to his own invitation, they had come to dine with him. "Dine vit me, gentlemen! To be sure I asked you to dine vit me; but as I had no interpreter vit me, and you say you can not tell vat I say in the pulpit, I tote you would not know vat I did say in de vestry, and therefore did not expect you." The company stood aghast ; but were soon relieved from the embarassment into which the rector's joke had thrown them, and had their eyes and appetites gladdened by the appearance of a plentiful dinner placed before

them.

Besides making the additions already noticed to this ancient fortalice, Mr. Archdeacon Singleton has made very spirited improvements to the gardens and adjoining ground. Orchard and ordinary garden fruit trees of various kinds have been planted, and of late

years have borne abundant crops. The entrances to the castle, too, have been screened with shrubberies and plantations. Till within the last few years, a highway passed in front of the castle, along the abrupt bank of Elsden-burn; but, by the munificence of the Duke of Northumberland, this has been diverted into an easier and safer line on the other side of the brook; and the very picturesque and interesting object of antiquity called the Mote-hills has been purchased, and joined to the rectorial lands. R. W. H.

The family of Dyve was early established at Brampton, in Northamptonshire, and a pedigree under that parish in Baker's History of the county, vol. i. p. 82, traces the descent from Henry Dyve, who was living in the reign of Henry the Third, through thirteen generations to Sir Lewis, the subject of this notice. The family acquired the estate of Bromham in Bedfordshire from an heiress of Wilde in the reign of Henry the Seventh; and, having changed their residence to that mansion, are supposed to have finally sold Brampton in the reign of Elizabeth.

Sir John Dyve, of Bromham, the father of Sir Lewis, was twice married. By his first wife, a daughter of the celebrated Sir Anthony Denny, Groom of the Stole to Henry the Eighth, he had an only child, a daughter, who died young. His second lady was Beatrice, daughter of Charles Walcot, of Walcot in Shropshire, esq., by whom he had only one surviving child, Sir Lewis; another, named John, having died an infant.

The following letter relative to Sir John Dyve, is perhaps worthy of insertion, both as illustrative of his history, and of female patronage during the reign of our great female sovereign:

"My verie good Lo. I doubt not but Mr. John Dive is knowen to your LoP, to be as ancient a gentleman as any in his contrie,

The original is preserved in the Harleian MSS. 6996, art. 101.

who, notwithstandinge he was in the laste comission for the peace, yet in this that is nowe goinge out, is left outt; wherefore I doe earnestlye entreat your LoP. that he maye be put in againe, soe shall the gentleman have his desired dispache, and will rest beholdinge to you for the same, and myself will as many other as well as for this favorable pleasure still remaine thanckfull; and soe, comendinge me verie hartilie to you, I comitt your LoP. nowe and ever to the tuic'on of Th'almightie. From the Court the xxth August, 1594.

Your los. moste Assured frynde, ANNE WARWYCK. "I pray your LoP. geve hym hering and favurabell Aunsare for my Sacke [sake]."

The signature and postscript only are in the Countess's handwriting ‡.

Sir John Dyve died in 1608, but he had five years previously erected himself

a monument in the church of Bromham, a mural altar-tomb, having, under a canopy supported by three columns, his recumbent effigies in armour; his head bare, and with a long beard; resting on a mat, and his hands raised in the attitude of prayer. On the pediment are the arms of Dyve and the initials I.B.D. 1603 (John and Beatrice Dyve). On the basement the arms of Walcot, three escallop-shells, are impaled by eleven quarterings of Dyve, viz. 1. Gules, a fess dauncette Or, between three escallop-shells Ermine, Dyve; 2. Vaire, three bends Gules, Bray; 3: Gules, on a bend Argent, three martlets Sable, Quynton; 4. Sable, a chevron between three gadflies Gules, Seywell; 5. Gules, a fess indented between six cross crosslets fitchée Argent, Longvile; 6. Azure, three roaches naiant in pale, barways, Roche; 7. Argent, a chevron Sable, on a chief of the second three marilets Argent, Wylde; 8. a chevron fretty Or and Sable, between three stags'

He was probably suspected as a papist. Anne Countess of Warwick was the eldest of the three daughters of Francis, second Earl of Bedford, K.G. and her two sisters were the Countesses of Bath and Cumberland. She became the third wife of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, K.G. and was left his widow, without children, in 1589. She was "a lady of excellent character, and of most refined parts and education, and one of Elizabeth's few female favourites." She died Feb. 9, 1603-4. There is a monumental effigy of her at Cheneys; and her bold Elizabethan signature is engraved in the recently-published volume of Autographs."