Since the above was written in December, the pew has been a gallery, and placed exactly in the middle, at the West end of the Nave. I should not have complained of a clumsy clock-case blocking out the light and sight of the West window; the new gallery entirely hides it. This alteration will certainly expose the singers to the congregation; but if their faces have no more beauty than their voices have sweetness, the gallery had better have remained in its pristine state; but, since the alteration has taken place, let us hope that the custom of rustic psalmody will give way to a more cultivated taste.

March 27th, 1815. Sawston Feast-Day:

of blue velvet, with fringe of the same colour.

The following memorandum is entered on the guard leaf of the Bible: "This book was bought on the 29th of July in the year of our Lord God 1749. The Reverend Mr. Charles Stewart, minister of this parish; Stephen Howell William Taylor

Churchwardens.”

In the Clerk's Prayer book: "This book was bought December 10, 1770. Michael Tyson, Sequestrator. Richard Robinson Churchwardens." William Taylor

The nave is separated from the chancel by an open wooden screen painted in imitation of veined marble, over which, within the span of the arch which is plastered up, are the royal arms "J. 2. R.," and above: "Fear God, Honour the King." A curious trefoil-headed perforation passes in an oblique direction though the abutment of the arch, between the nave and chancel; the part which opened into the chancel is blocked up by a pew. RICHMONDIENSIS.

Mr. URBAN,

ERMIT me make

July 13.

Parks on the very antient and pleasing art of Staining Glass, to which the public attention has this season been attracted in a more than common degree, in consequence of some modern specimens which have been sold by Mr. George Robins, of the Piazza, Covent Garden, who, in his exordium to the Publick, states, Many attempts have been made in this and other countries to bring Stained Glass to a degree of perfection; but it was left for the combined and astonishing genius of Messrs. D'Hil and Guerhard, to produce these, which have been pronounced the grandest efforts of the art." This inodest observation is followed by, "It were almost presumptuous to class the name of any modern artist with that of the immortal Claude; but it is humbly submitted that no attempt to reach the summit of his mighty powers has been so successfully exerted as in two or three pieces of the gallery now presented for the

was

first time to the protection and admi-
ration of a British publick *." I would
ask you, Sir, and the scientificer
of your Miscellany, whether
not requisite, before he could make
so bold a declaration, that he should
have seen all that had been done in
the art of vitrified Glass; and that his
taste should have been matured by
travel, education, study, and expe-
rience; all of which, I conceive, are in-
dispensably requisite to form a true
judgment on the works of art. Now,
from the specimen I heard of his ora-
tory when he put these "matchless
productions" up for sale, I much
question his competency to decide on
subjects so difficult of comprehension;
and, if I dare put in competition
with his superior judgment in the fine
arts, the name of our most revered
and gracious Sovereign, Founder of
the Royal Academy, the Duke of Nor-
folk, Duke of Northumberland, Mar-
quis of Lansdowne, Earl of Besbo-
rough, Right Hon. Charles James
Fox, Mr. Beckford of Fonthill, and
many others who have been hitherto
thought capable of judging on such
matters; I could cite their opinions,
that all attempts have hitherto

direct contradiction to his assertion,

failed in this country to bring this. difficult branch of the art to perfection." This, even if true, was beyond his province as an Auctioneer to assert, to the injury of any one: he has certainly a right to make the most of the property committed to his hammer, in a fair and honourable way; but not, by frothy nonsense and bombastical language, detract from the ef forts of former ages, and the unceas ing labours of the artists of our own country, whose very existence is struck at, if what he advanced were founded in fact. To explain, Sir, to those who are unacquainted with the nature of Stained or Vitrified Glass (and none, as it appears, knows less of the subject than Mr. Robins-as witness his offer of trying them with lemon-juice!!!) iț is necessary to inform them, that every colour or tint used in genuine stained glass must be burnt into the glass itself; and, consequently, to be a true painting on glass, it must be all done *Mr. Robins says, "There are three glasses to each picture, the first to display the subject, the second adding an additional shade to the darker parts, SKY, &c. the third, of ground glass, to protect them from the effects of too much light." If such is the case, what need of vitrifying the colours, as the glass before and behind proteats them from the air and weather?

on

on one piece of glass, as a fine picture must be all done on one piece of canvas; and, therefore, a combination of three glasses, one before the other, to give the effect which the skill of

Not satisfied with h bestowing on these specimens the due meed of praise, which, as works of art, they certainly merit, he daringly asserted, that "the

artist should produce on one, is no. Size of the pieces exceeds the possibi

thing more or less than a deception on, their public understanding, and, as such, need only be made known, to be universally reprobated. With regard to the magnitude of other specimens. of real stained or vitrified glass, I beg leave to turn the attention of Mr. Robins to York Minster, Fairford Church, New College Oxford, Salis bury Cathedral (where a window presents itself, to all appearance in one piece of glass, 21 feet high by 17 feet wide), Windsor, St. Margaret's Westminster, Whitechapel Church, Cripplegate Church, Battersea Church, Wandsworth Church, Aldersgate Church, Gray's Inn Hall, Middle Temple Hall, Staple Inn Hall, Fonthill, the Cartoons of Raphael, and many other specimens antient and modern, that have received for years the pub lic approbation, and may still (without detracting from the beauties of those compound glass pictures knocked down by Mr. Robins, on Saturday, the 20th of May last) humbly presume to hope for a continuance of public opinion in their favour.

lity of any English artist making such an attempt at any price." If this was not a climax of impudent challenge to a whole Nation, I do not know what could be called so ; and, as one of those minor artists in the art, I accepted of it; and I therefore threw open the doors of my house gratis for a month to all who would honour me with a call, to judge for themselves, whether the art has lain dormant, as he described, and whether this triple alliance of glass formed by our neighbours on the Continent is the true art, or an improvement on what has already been done; in consequence of which, an influx of persons of the first rank and fashion, for scientific knowledge, taste, and judgment, have daily honoured me with their presence, and, by their approbation and applause, have placed the subject upon that ground on which there can be but one opinion; and the silence of Mr. Robins (to use his own words) to these remarks is a certain proof that he has completely failed in his endeavours to establish these foreign three-glass picItures as the perfection of the art. The most charitable construction I can put on the conduct of Mr. Robins is, to suppose that he has been deceived by some designing persons whose interest it was to puff off those new-fashioned specimens beyond anything that had gone before them; and that, to oblige his employers, he has certainly in this instance outdone his usual outdoings" in the auctioneer art of embellishing; but this is certainly not a

would not have troubled you, Sir, with these remarks, but for a challenge which appeared in the Morning Post of May the 22d, in which Mr. Robins says, "he had been accused, by some minor artist of the day, of increasing the reputation of foreign artists at the expence of our own; and that he produced those invaluable -proofs of the progress that had recently been made to this hitherto-neglected specimen of the arts; that he had already called upon those who professed to have attained a knowledge equal to that which originated those matchless treasures, to corroborate their statement by some practical proof; and that he was anxious to know if they had availed themselves of it; if not, their silence must be viewed as conclusive proof that he had substantiated his panegyric upon those inimitable performances; July 12. and that the degree of perfection respondent G. G. p. 488, of the IN answer to the query of your Corwhich exclusively belongs to those specimens rests entirely with the artists who have been bold enough to undertake those Herculean labours."

sufficient excuse for raising the wealth, and flattering the vanity, of other Nations, at the expence of our own; and to counteract which, I have taken the liberty of addressing these remarks to you, Sir, as a patron of the arts, and a lover of justice.

Yours, &c. JAMES PEARSON,
Great Russell-str. Bloomsbury.

Mr. URBAN,

Magazine for June, respecting the eccentric and philanthropic Mr. Williamson, I beg leave to refer him to

Mr.

Mr. Archdeacon interesting

"Life of Benjamin Stillingfleet," the celebrated Naturalist."

"Mr. Stillingfleet (Mr. Coxe observes) warmly interested himself for his amiable friend Williamson, to whom he addressed a Sonnet*. After travelling with Lord Haddington and Mr. Baillie, and residing for some time in their family during their abode in the Metropolis, Mr. Williamson was by their departure from Scotland left without a home, and thrown on the world with fewer resources, and less knowledge of mankind, than Mr. Stillingfleet. He was not indeed, like our Author, without a profession, for he had entered into the Church, and was an ornament to his calling: but it was rather a detriment than an advantage; for all the interest of his noble friends had not been sufficient to procure him a living, or even a respectable curacy in the Church of England, whilst the obligations of the sacred character precluded him from secular employments. We find that his friends were desirous to procure for him the situation of Preceptor; but, though his multifarious learning and acquirements well fitted him for the most essential duties of such an undertaking, yet the extreme simplicity of his character, and his total ignorance of life, were equal disqualifications, and proved insuperable bars to the recommendation of his friends. Similar pursuits and character had cemented the friendship of our author for Mr. Williamson, for whom, amidst all his own embarrassments, he felt the deepest sympathy, and made unceasing efforts to obtain some permanent establishment. He failed, indeed, in his friendly endea vours; but he had the satisfaction after wards to see his valued associate appointed Chaplain to the Faetory at Lisbon, through the interest of their common friend Mr. Neville. He always spoke of him in the most ardent terms of attachment; and, among his Memoranda for the History of Husbandry, I find an affectionate tribute to his memory, in which he compares him with Xenophon, the most pleasing of all the Greek Writers+." The character of this excellent and amiable Clergyman, sketched by his friend the late Mr. Neville (the father of the present Lord Braybrooke) is so striking and faithful, that I am persuaded many of your Readers will thank you for extracting it from that valuable work:

* Printed in our Poetry, page 64. See his Comparison in Coxe's Life of Stillingfleet, vol. I. p. 105.

"If ever man lived to fifty, and died without having lost a friend, or made an enemy, it was Johnny Williamson, Pope drew his character in a single line: In wit a man, simplicity a child.' Had he sat for the picture, it could not have been more like: however, this is only a great outline, and I must be more minute; for his character was as uncommon as either of the precedingt. With the most acute understanding, and infinite discernment, any dull scoundrel might have duped him any hour of his life; some did, and they always escaped with impunity; for he was as careful to conceal their iniquity as they could be themselves: without vice himself, he could not bear the thought of punishing it in others.

"The gentleness of his manners could nius: no sickness could ruffle the one, only be equalled by the depth of his geor blunt the other. Bad health indeed checked the flight of the latter, and hindered its attaining those heights in philosophy and mathematics, to which he would otherwise have soared, as heard from Professor Bradley, when I was a Student at Oxford, and had not the happiness of knowing Williamson; and many times have I heard it since from some of

the first men in those sciences here and at Geneva; from Robins, Earl Stanhope, Stevens, Stillingfleet, Professors Calandrini and Cramer of Geneva, to whom I may, from report, add Simson of Glasgow. These are the illustrious witnesses of Williamson's inventive genius and accurate judgment; and well might they judge of both, for none of them ever published any mathematical work, when he was within reach, without first submitting it to his censure and correction. When Dr. Frewen, the celebrated physician at Oxford, had obtained his promise not to think of mathematics for a twelvemonth at least, he employed that time in making himself thorough mas ter of Greek, which he did without any fatigue of mind; and afterwards, when his bad health had entirely stopped his mathematical career, he applied himself to the study of his own profession, which he enforced and adorned with every argu

from antient philosophy, history, poetry, or belles lettres. Superior as his genius literally without a spot; for I will not call was, it was nothing to his heart: that was by that name a thoughtless indolency, the child of innocence and generosity.

ment and ornament that could be drawn

"He was in the strictest sense of the word a true Christian, made up of faith,

Of Robert Price and William Windham, esqrs. See Coxe's Life, vol. I. p. 160. meekness,