against Boswell's representation of him, also, in the Life of Johnson, and often expressed my opinion that he rated Goldsmith much too low."'*

But I think we can fix the authorship of the Life of Goldsmith THUS. In a letter from Archdeacon Nares to Bishop Percy he observes :

Many thanks for your kind information on the subject of Goldsmith's Life. If I take any advantage of what you mention in noticing the book, it shall be in

SUCH A WAY AS CANNOT IMPLICATE YOU, OR LEAD TO ANY KNOWLEDGE OF ITS

COMING FROM YOU."

Accordingly Mr. Nares, in reviewing the book, says :

"This edition of one of our most pleasing authors is rendered the more attractive by the account of his Life prefixed, which contains many new and interesting anecdotes. IT HAPPENS TO BE KNOWN TO US, THOUGH BY WHAT CHANNEL WE ARE NOT AT LIBERTY TO SAY, that the materials have been collected from the most authentic sources, in a great measure from the relations of the Poet himself, and digested and arranged under the eye of a writer who to many other qualifications added an intimate knowledge of the person described.

"Who the medical friend was who communicated a few of the anecdotes we are not informed, BUT OF THE REST WE CAN SPEAK WITH CONFIDENCE, and of that part also we cannot but say that it bears strong marks of authenticity.”‡

The writer here alluded to must be Bishop Percy, for I believe Dr. Camp bell was not personally known to Goldsmith, and certainly Mr. Rose was not.

Mr. Rose in his edition of Goldsmith thus speaks of the "Life :"

"It is composed from the information of persons who were intimate with the poet at an early period, and who were honoured with a continuance of his friendship till the time when the world was deprived of this fascinating writer. Their names,

* Ib. vol. VIII. p. 240.-But see vol. VII. 780: "The anecdote of Johnson I had recollected, but had forgot that it was at Goldsmith's you were to sup. The story of the valet de chambre will, as Lord Bristol says, pin the basket of his absurdities, and really we may have a hamper full of them." Campbell to Percy.

+ Ib. vol. VII. p. 598. This is just in the bishop's manner of managing.

British Critic, Sept. 1802, p. 295.

WERE THE EDITOR AT LIBERTY TO MEN

TION THEM, Would immediately dispel all doubts as to the authenticity of the memoirs, and reflect distinguished credit on this publication."

Here we have Percy evidently alluded to; but the most singular part is, that Percy seems to have entirely withdrawn from the knowledge of all parties Dr. Campbell's labours; who died in 1795, six years before the publication of Goldsmith's Life, which appears to have been nearly finished for the press by Dr. Campbell in 1790.

If the Bishop would have allowed his name to be prefixed to the "Life," the booksellers would doubtless have preferred it. As he shrunk from so doing, the only name that appeared was that of the editor, Mr. Samuel Rose but it is clear that the Life was really the composition of Dr. Campbell, compiled chiefly from the materials collected by Percy, although Mr. Rose appears to have made some "interpolations."

"Yours truly, J. B. NICHOLS. To the Rev. J. Mitford."

MR. URBAN,

A FRIEND, who like myself is a gleaner in the dry and dusty paths of genealogical research, has lately communicated to me a piece of information which appears to correct an historical error, and as such I venture to ask a place for it in your pages.

In all the accounts of the house of

Hobart of Blickling to which I am now able to refer, Sir Miles Hobart, Knight, who acted a conspicuous part in preventing the dissolution of the third parliament of Charles the First, until the house had passed the resolutions or protestation of the 2nd March, 1628-9, is stated to have been Miles Hobart, the second son of Sir Henry Hobart, Knight and Baronet, and Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the ancestor of the Earls of Buckinghamshire. The Autobiography of Sir John Bramston* contains the following passage:

"The Kinge sent for the serjeant-atarmes attendinge the Speaker, but Sir Miles Hubert had locat the dore, and the serjeant could not get out."

In reference to this the noble editor has appended a note, saying

* Camden Society's publication, p. 57.

In

"The ancestor of the Earls of Buckinghamshire, then burgess for Marlow. 1646 the Parliament voted 5,000l. to his children as a recompense for their deceased father's sufferings by imprisonment, and for opposing the illegalities of that time."

Almost the same words as are used by Blomefield* in mentioning the same person, whom all authorities concur in styling Sir Miles.

Now I cannot find that the Earls of Buckinghamshire had any ancestor named Miles who either succeeded to the baronetcy or was ever knighted. Miles Hobart of Intwood, Esquire, second son of Sir Henry, the Lord Chief Justice, died in 1639, in the lifetime of Sir John Hobart, Knight and Baronet, of Blickling, his elder brother, on the decease of whom in 1647 without issue male, the title and estate descended to his nephew John Hobart, who was the only surviving son of Miles, by his first wife Frances,† daughter of Sir John Peyton, of Iselham, Knight and Baronet, and relict of Sir Philip Bedingfeld, and thus became the third Baronet. These facts are proved by an old deed relating to the sale of the Morley estates, formerly belonging to the Hobart family, which my friend has brought under my notice, and to which it is my object to direct that of such of your readers as take any interest in such matters.

66

In this

deed, which bears date the 8th July, 1670, Sir John Hobart of Blickling, the third Baronet, is described as sonne and heire male of the body of Myles Hobart of Intwood, Esquire, by Dame Frances Bedingfeild his wife, both long since deceased, and now heire male of Sir Henry Hobart, late of Blicklynge aforesaid, Knight and Barronett, deceased;" and his half brother, Myles Hobart of Morley, Esquire, is described as 66 sonne and heire male of the body of the aforesaid Myles Hobart, by Elizabeth Mundeford his second wife." In the epitaph of Miles Hobart, the party to this deed, who was buried in Blickling Church the following year (1671), he is also styled "second son of Miles Hobard of Intwood, Esquire.‡

To what Sir Miles Hobart then are the acts of patriotism and sufferings mentioned by the historians to be attributed? I conclude to Sir Miles Hobart of Plumstead, who had been created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles the First, and who was son of Sir Thomas Hobart, and grandson of Miles Hobart of Plumstead, Esquire, the elder brother of Sir Henry the Chief Justice. He married Margaret, daughter of Edmund Lord Dudley, and was living in 1644, when he was one of the Parliamentary captains in the rout by Prince Rupert before Newark. It would appear that he was dead in 1646, and that his line failed.

The present Earl of Buckinghamshire can afford to lose the eclat of ranking this worthy amongst his ancestors, deriving his descent in the female line from the illustrious John Hampden, in testimony of which the late deceased Earl assumed the additional surname of Hampden. The mistake is of little importance; but, as Lord Braybrooke has so recently given it fresh currency, it is surely worth correction.§

Permit me to embrace this opportunity of observing, in allusion to the remarks which have lately appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine upon the derivation of the word Fleet, that the town of King's Lynn is intersected by deep canals or tidal ditches, running between the houses and under the streets, by which, when the tide serves, coals and heavy goods can be brought in boats to doors made for that purpose in the houses by which they are bordered, and these are called fleets, in old documents fletes.

I also take occasion to correct an error in your obituary of the late Isaac Jermy, Esq. wherein Bayfield Hall (the ancient seat of the Jermy family) is identified with Stanfield Hall, the scene of the late horrible tragedy. This is incorrect. Bayfield is a place near Holt. Stanfield, which was Richardson property, is in the parish of Wymondham.

Yours, &c. G. A. C.

§ We may add that Dr. Lipscomb, the historian of Buckinghamshire, has admitted the error in his pedigree of Hobart, and in his biography of the family.-Edit.

THE east end of the south aisle of the chancel, generally known as the Derwentwater aisle, is divided from the chancel by an arch whose span is considerably wider than that of the opposite arch on the north aisle. Here, for unnumbered generations, for the origin and antiquity of the family is lost in the obscurity of unrecorded times, the ashes of the Derwentwaters reposed until exhumed previous to the renovation of the church. In this sanctuary also rested two of those attractive remnants of antiquity, their sculptured monumental figures, which erstwhile lay side by side upon enriched altar tombs long since destroyed; and in the same spot they are again replaced, to be, it is hoped, no more disturbed. The marble effigies are the oldest, and to secure them from further injury, as well as to gain additional accommodation for new sittings, they have been laid next to the south end of the altar rails, upon a deep slab of red sandstone placed upon the floor, and within an open screenwork of the same kind of stone. On the top lies a heavy slab of dark grey marble, and into it the sepulchral brass hereafter described is inlaid. The effigies which lie extended at full length are those of a knight and his lady, supposed to commemorate one of the Derwentwaters and his wife. Tradition however being altogether silent, and no relics or legend having been discovered that could throw light upon their history, all knowledge of the particular individuals whom such memorials were intended to honour would seem to be lost; though an antiquary familiar with the genealogical records of the northern counties, and versed in the history of the ancient pictorial periods of costume, might assign them as the effigies of Sir John de Derwentwater, the last of the name, and his wife, who lived in the reign of Henry IV. The male figure is habited in a long, high, loose, tunic or robe, with wide sleeves, secured round the waist by a

belt, from which a pouch, or aulmoniere as it was called, hangs at the right side. The head is bare. The hair, formally parted on the forehead, is worn long behind, and an enriched collar is about the neck. The long, embroidered mantle of knighthood is secured on the shoulders by a band across the chest, and the hands are upraised upon the breast in that expressive attitude of humility and supplication which is so peculiarly affecting in the monumental effigies of other times.

The lady's dress is a kirtle or closebodied garment, low on the bosom, with long tight sleeves, and a long skirt. The head is surmounted by a sort of coronet, from underneath which a veil or hood, concealing the hair, flows down each side upon the shoulders. An ornamented collar and necklace are around the throat, from which a pendent jewel rests upon the bosom; and the waist is encircled by a girdle, attached to which is a long cord, whose broken ends and tassels descend in front nearly to the feet. A long open mantle falls from the shoulders, where it is secured by a band across the bosom, fastened on each side to the mantle by a fermail or brooch, and the hands are likewise joined in attitude of prayer. The heads repose on tasseled cushions once upheld by angels, and the knight's feet rest on the broken form of a hound, but what support the lady had for the feet has long been worn away and destroyed. The countenances of both are defaced, and almost all the finer parts of the sculpture flattened and mutilated. These effigies seem originally to have been painted and gilt, the application of such polychromatic enrichment being still slightly perceptible, especially on the lady's collar.

The other sepulchral memento is a brass, laid down on a slab of dark grey Kendal marble. It is in tolerably perfect preservation, and its value is largely enhanced from the fact of its being one of the very few monumental

brasses that remain in the churches of Cumberland—a county so singularly poor in such ancient enriched obituary memorials, that there are but four others to be met with. The brass therefore in this church, though not of the most beautiful period of the art, is nevertheless valuable not alone from its local rarity, but as one of the very few material relics of a family whose sway through many centuries so widely extended around this their narrow bed. The knight is sheathed in the complete armour of plate worn at the period of his decease; the head, face, and hands alone being uncovered. The hair is parted on the forehead, and falls in tresses behind. Round the neck and shoulders are ornamental chains, pendent from one of which a jewelled decoration rests upon the chest. The hands are raised in prayer; and on the heels are the spurs of knighthood. A dagger is slung behind the right side, and behind the left is a long straight cross-handled sword. On the head of the lady is that peculiar head-dress worn by females of distinction in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. called a coif, which totally conceals the hair. The embroidered neck of an undergarment encircles the throat; over this is a high and close-bodied gown, falling in long ample folds from the waist, where it is secured by a girdle clasped in front by an ornament composed of three roses, from which, suspended by a long chain reaching nearly to the feet, hangs another ornament of a circular form. The arms of the dress are tight, and finished at the wrists with ruffles, and over them is drawn the wide, loose, hanging sleeves so common at the time. A wrought chain is on the shoulders, and around the neck is another, fastened to an ornament on the bosom similar to that worn by the knight; and, like those of the male figure, the hands are also raised in a supplicatory attitude. The legend engraven on brass at the foot of the figures runs thus :

"Of your charitie pray for the soule of Sir John Ratcliffe, knight, and for the state of Dame Alice his wife, which Sir John died the 2nd of Februere, A. D. 1527,

on whose soule Jesu have mercie."

From this inscription it would ap

pear that Lady Ratcliffe was not deceased at the time when the brass was laid down; and most probably not only this graven record, but likewise that other mark of hereditary honour. the escutcheon in stained glass, which formerly was seen in the great east window-were set up by her direction in Henry the Eighth's reign. At the knight's head is a shield bearing, Argent, a bend engrailed sable, the armorial coat of the Ratcliffes; and at his feet another, charged with, Or, two lions passant in pale gules, the arms of Dame Alice. The shield at the head of Dame Alice carries her paternal coat; and on the shield at her feet are the Ratcliffe arms repeated, with the additional charge of a rose in the sinister corner of the chief, for a difference of houses.

The knight to whose memory this brass was laid down, and who was the last person of importance of his family that was interred in this church, reckoned in his lineage a long line of illustrious ancestors. He was maternally descended from the Derwentwaters, being the great-grandson of Margaret de Derwentwater, the daughter and sole heiress of Sir John de Derwentwater, who in Henry the Fifth's reign married Sir Nicholas Ratcliffe of Dilston, a Northumbrian knight; and from which union sprung the Ratcliffes of Dilston and Derwentwater. His immediate progenitor was Sir Edward Ratcliffe, of whom he was the second or seventh son; and he is supposed to have held the Derwentwater estate in this vicinity by settlement or devise. He was a person of much consideration in his day, and was ofttimes selected by his successive sovereigns Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth to fill the then more actively important and warlike office of sheriff of Cumberland, which at that time was incessantly harassed by the predatory inroads of the bordering Scots, his last year of office being scarcely completed in 1527, when he died. He likewise several times held the King's commission to treat, on peace and other matters affecting the realm, with his gallant but restless neighbours. He was the last of his family who served any office of note in Cumberland, as from thenceforward

the Ratcliffes were connected with this county only by their landed possessions and their name, afterwards ennobled as Earls of Derwentwater, to which title circumstances in a subsequent age gave a romantic interest.

By his wife Dame Alice he had not any issue; and, dying a childless man, the estates of the Derwentwaters reverted to his elder brother, Sir Cuthbert Ratcliffe, of Dilston; as it appears from a survey made in the thirty-fifth of Henry the Eighth of knights' fees in Cumberland, these estates were held by Sir Cuthbert of the King by the service of two knights' fees, and the rendition of various other obligations incident to the feudal régime. In that family they continued until, for conspiring, in the words of one of the most spirited Jacobite songs of the period, to bring "the auld Stuarts back again,' they were forfeited to the Crown, on the attainder and execution in 1716 of the last Earl of Derwentwater, the traditionary stories of whose youth, gallantry, and misfortunes have thrown so magic an interest over the neighbourhood around.

The windows adorned with stained

:

glass are but six in number. They are all the production of that tasteful artist Mr. Wailes, of Newcastle-uponTyne and it probably will not be devoid of interest if an enlarged description is afforded of what has been done by the judicious introduction of this resplendent material, harmonized by taste and skill in the execution, to give effect and character to the sacred building. They are designed in conformity with the style of window decoration which prevailed at the end of the fifteenth century; and to an observer learned in the history and genius of ancient fenestral embellishment, each of them in accordance with the depth of those expressive times the Middle Ages, when a regular system of the mystical meaning of colours was in use, will be found to have been made to tell some tale of local feeling, or convey a truth in the typical language of this beautifully revived Chris

tian art.

The large east window, and also the windows at the east and west ends of the south aisle, are the gifts of the liberal individual at whose expense the

church has been restored. The large window, from its size and happy combination of colours and designs, is a splendid effort of gorgeous colouring. The seven scriptural subjects, which, amid the blaze of hues that fascinate and overpower the eye, bestow its chief character, are incidents of the last days of the Saviour upon earth: 1. Christ washing the Apostles' feet; 2. The Last Supper; 3. The agony in the garden; 4. Christ bearing his cross; 5. The Crucifixion; 6. Angels at the sepulchre. In the tracery in the head is the Ascent into heaven, with figures of angels holding labels and harps; and above all, an Agnus Dei; the whole of these storied representations being interspersed with various elegant devices, which, by the disposition and tones of the predominating colours, produce a brilliant picture, full of the finest effects and devotional influences.

The east window of the south aisle, called the Derwentwater Chapel, or the Magdalen's Chantry, contains the appropriate pictorial subjects of Mary Magdalen washing the Saviour's feet, the three Marys at the tomb of Christ, and Christ and Mary Magdalen. Above the second of these pictures appears, in ancient stained glass, the head of the Magdalen; and at the foot is now correctly placed the armorial escutcheon of the Ratcliffes, impaling quarterly, 2 and 3 Dame Alice's paternal coat, and 4, Argent, two bars gules, on a canton of the first a cinquefoil of the second, Derwentwater; through whose blazonry the mellowed light falls with jewelled radiancy upon the brasses and motionless effigies of the families whose remains were entombed beneath. It is apprehended that in the cleansing of this escutcheon, previous to its being set up in the situation it now occupies, the Ratcliffe arms in the first quarter of the shield have inadvertently been blundered, as a difference is perceivable between the blazon and the arms of the same house engraven on the brazen shields in the slab beneath.

The vestry window, at the west end, contains the figures of St. Cuthbert and St. Kentigern, and attracts admiration, not only for the perfect tones of its solemnly contrasted colouring, but for its striking position when seen