Dec. 15. the model I have prepared, and prove that all I assert, respecting this useful invention, can be accomplished. Yours, &c. WM. HARVEY. Doctors Commons, Marriages being declared void in consequence of some legal defect in the mode of obtaining the Licence, it may be highly useful to call the attention of Country Surrogates to the following observations, made by Sir John Nicholl, the Judge of the Arches Court of Canterbury, in a cause of Nullity of Marriage, instituted by the wife against the husband, upon the ground of minority, and want of consent of the parents, or guardians. "This Marriage," said the learned Judge, "was contracted in a distant part of the country, and the Surrogate had granted the Licence, on an affidavit, which on the very face of it was defective. It stated the young woman to be only 20 years of age, and yet there was no certificate of consent by parent or guardian on her behalf. This was not the first instance of such neglect that had fallen under his notice. A Surrogate in the country had a short time since written to him, stating that he had granted a Licence to a Minor, upon the consent of the Father-in-Law, and wishing to know whether such Marriage was legal; he had, of course, advised the parties to be immediately re-married by Banns, which he presumed had been since done, and the parties thus legally joined in Matrimony, there being no doubt that the former Marriage was ipso facto void. He was ashamed to find an Ecclesiastical Officer so ignorant of his important duties, and he did trust, that he should not have occasion agaio to animadvert on such conduct, particularly when it was seen that from a want of attention to the requisite observances of Law, such serious consequences ensued, involving at once the happiness of families and the legitimacy of the offspring; and that Surrogates would, ald, all cases, be particularly careful, strictly to comply with the provisions of the Act." Should you think this worthy of insertion in your valuable Miscellany, I shall take a future opportunity of forwarding a few cautions and observations on this important subject. Yours, &c. J. S. M Mr. URBAN, R. BOWLES has had many attacks on the subject of his edition of Pope. His poetical judgment of his author has been controverted, which however he has ably defended. But it has been alleged that he is unfair to the moral character of Pope, and as one proof of this, it has been said that he has represented the Poet as having made a violent attempt upon the person of Lady Mary W. M.-What he has really said, is this. That, perhaps, the behaviour of the Lady "made the lover think that he might proceed a step beyond decorum." Now, Mr. Urban, is it not a very large step beyond decorum to represent these words as implying a personal attack? Lady Mary was a married woman, but a flirt, and the behaviour of such a lady in a tête-a-tête might easily encourage a lover to make a direct declaration of his passion, but more than that it is not easy to imagine; and the further transgression which is suggested, could not properly be called " a step beyond decorum," but a complete breach of all rules of decency and morality. I leave you and your readers to judge, whether Mr. Bowles could possibly have meant to describe such an action under terins so very gentle. VERAX. A Dec. 16. Mr. URBAN, GAINST the East Wall of the South Chantry Chapel, in the Parish Church of Wellingborough, in the county of Northampton, is an antient Monument, which is thus described in Bridges's County History: "A defaced Alabaster Monument, whereon are the effigies of a woman in a hood and cloke, and a man wearing a gown with a ruff about his neck, and a cap on his head. Between them is a skull. At the bottom this date, 1570; and the following coat of arms; Barry of Six on a bend a lion passant between two roses - It is said to be the Monument of Serjeant Lingar, Serjeant of the Bake House to Queen Elizabeth." Under this Monument is an high freestone tomb. The shields of arms, &c. which formerly adorned the head, feet, and side, are now defaced. As the Registers do not commence at so early a date, can any of your Correspondeuts afford me information as to the person here spoken of, and his connexion with the town? Yours, &c. C. P. W. Mr. T HE annexed Plate represents a North View of the Refectory of Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire, and the triple arches at the West end of the Chapter-house, taken from the once cloistered quadrangle (see Plate I). When the destruction of this Abbey took place, the Refectory or Dininghall was converted into a Church for the use of the villagers. The Refectory, therefore, remains the most perfect portion of all the buildings which composed this formerly extensive and beautiful Abbey, which was founded by King John for Monks of the Cistercian order, A.D. 1204. The Cloisters were joined to the South side of the nave of the Church. On the Western side of the quadrangle was placed the Dormitory, which was a building of considerable length, and stood over a spacious cellar or vault, of which some portions are now remaining, and are converted into workshops, &c. On the opposite or Eastern side of the Cloisters was placed the Chapter-house, on the South side of which are the remains of a passage, and on the opposite, or Northern side, the Lavatory. On the Southern side of the quadrangle is the Refectory. The exterior of this building is plain, and almost wholly obscured with ivy, large and impervious masses of which are suffered to grow on all the surrounding dilapidated walls. At the South end of the Refectory are triple lancet windows, and at the North end two windows, having under them a large and handsomely shaped pointed doorway, resting on double columns at the sides: the iron hinges of the wooden doors are richly and curiously ornamented. Ontheleft side of this doorway is a fragment of a pointed arch covering a deep recess, the former use of which is not now precisely known. On the point of the gable, at the North end of the Refectory, is a wooden bell-turret, and over the Southern point a stone cross. A small portion of the interior of the Refectory is separated from the rest of the room by a wooden fence; this space forms the porch of the Church, and is made a receptacle for rubbish of every description. The narrow lancet windows lighting this magnificent apartment are on the interior covered with 'spacious pointed arches: those now over the Altar are GENT. MAG. December, 1820. very handsome, and rest on single slender columns. In each side-wall are two corresponding windows; but the West side of the room is principally occupied by the pulpit and its staircase, the latter being constructed within the thickness of the wall: it receives light through several small windows, and the staircase is opened towards the room by means of an arcade of six very elegant pointed arches, resting on clusters of slender columns: at the extremity of these arches is the door of the passage, the roof of which is arched with stone. The pulpit is attached to the wall, before a spacious pointed arch, the window at the back of which consists of two trefoil arched compartments, surmounted with a quatrefoil perforation. This pulpit is, perhaps, the most perfect and elegant now remaining in England*, excepting the one that formerly belonged to the Refectory of the Abbey at Shrewsburyt, and which is now exposed in a garden on the South side of the Church. The pulpit at Beaulieu is of a semi-octagonal bracket-shape, having at every angle a torus, or round moulding, terminating with a capital, and containing in every face rich and elegant patterns of sculptured foliage. The upper half of the pulpit, although very antient, must certainly be allowed to be of subsequent date to the base. Its various ornaments do not accord with the elegant simplicity of the style of architecture that prevailed in the early part of the thirteenth century. At every angle of the upper part of the pulpit is a small pannelled buttres, and in every face two trefoil arches resting on slender pillars: below the arches is a row of quatrefoils, and over the arches a high sloping parapet, which is constructed of wood, and terminates with a double row of small battlements. The roof of the Refectory is arched and ribbed with timber, and ornamented with bosses, the sculptures of which are very curious, and remain in good preservation. In the pavement are several antient grave-stones that formerly contained large and elegantly ornamented plates * A slight sketch of this Pulpit is given in vol. LXVI. p. 289. 470. EDIT. + Engraved in vol. LXXVII. ii. p. 201. EDIT. of of brass. The Altar is raised on two steps. In the East wall is a monument of rude design and execution: it contains a recumbent effigy of a female, and an inscription to the memory of Mary, the daughter of Thomas Elliot, Gent. She died the 18th of June, 1651, aged 40 years. Towards the West end of the Refectory, or Church, stands the antient Font, which is of an octagonal form, and ornamented with arched pannels in the body and pedestal. The internal dimensions of the Refectory of Beaulieu Abbey are as follow-length, 97 feet; width, 30 feet. Yours, &c. B. Historical and Topographical Account of NORTH-MARSTON, BUCKS. NORTH which twelve hundred are said to be in pasturage, four hundred in meadow, and only one hundred in arable. The parish occupies a sort of recess, separated by the hills of Quainton and Pitchcott, from the vale of Aylesbury; the soil is in general a stiff black clay (called by geologists Oaktree-clay); and the arable land is chiefly employed for the production of wheat, barley, and beans, with some oats. Nearly contiguous to the Southeast side of the village, and about a furlong from the Church, rises a copious spring of pellucid water, very slightly chalybeate, but containing in solution a considerable quantity of calcareous earth, which fills a reservoir seven or eight feet in depth, and Holy Well," though more commonly "The Town Well." It is inclosed by walls, partly stone and partly brick, and covered with a shed of boards, and a flight of six feet square, called " MARSTON, formerly Merstone or Meerston, pro bably derived its name from low marshy ground, denoted by the Saxon word mere, in which it is situated : the addition North distinguishing this parish from another called Fleetmarston, about five miles distant from it, towards the South-east. North Marston is about four miles South-south-east of the small market town of Winslow, and one mile South of the turnpike road from Buckingham to Aylesbury. In the antient division of the county North-Merstone was included in the hundred of Votesdone (Waddesdon), since comprised in that of Ashendon; and in ecclesiastical matters is reckoned in the deanery of Waddesdon, and subject to the Archdeacon of Buckingham, and Bishop of Lincoln. The parish is bounded on the North by Grandborough, on the North-east by Swanbourn and Oving, with which parishes an angle of the parish of Dunton also adjoins it on the same side. On the East and South-east, it is bounded by Oving; on the South by Pitchcott, and the hamlet of Denham in Quainton; on the South-west by Hogshaw; and on the West and North-west by Grandborough. It is computed to contain about one thousand eight hundred * acres of land, of * There is evidently a mistake in Parkinson's Tables annexed to the Survey of the County of Bucks, by the Rev. St. John Priest, in which the number of acres is stated at 1600 in one table, and in another it is said that 1776 acres have been inclosed. stone steps descends into the water. This spring was formerly held in great repute for its medicinal virtues, and even miraculous effects, which in the ages of superstition and bigotry were attributed to the blessing bestowed upon the water through the devout prayers of Sir John Schorne, the pious Rector of this parish, about the year 1290. Such was its fame, that the village is said to have become populous and flourishing in consequence of the great resort of sick persons who visited it; but it has long long declined in reputation, and lost all its sanctity, excepting the name, and is at present seldom resorted to, unless by the inhabitants of the immediate neighbourhood, who make no scruple to use it for common domestic purposes. The superfluous water which runs off, forms a small rill, which takes a North-western course, and joining a brook in the conti contiguous parish of Grandborough, is carried along with it into the river Ouse. The population, in the returns made to Parliament in 1801, was stated at 487 inhabitants, occupying 77 houses. In 1806 the number had increased to 573, and at present may be computed at about 630. Of these the males are principally employed in agriculture, and the pursuits and occupations immediately connected with it, and most of the females and children in the manufacture |