Saxons in Britain, being all heathens, led to the temporary overthrow of most, if not all, the British churches. At length, however, these Pagan invaders were themselves converted, and they, in their turn, became church builders. The number of these Saxon churches, at the period of the Norman conquest, was much greater than is generally supposed, and when we find that in one wapentake alone (Skyrack) thirty such churches are recorded in Domesday, we may draw some inference what the number must have been in other more populous and more civilized districts.

Yours, &c. J. K. WALKER, M.D.

MR. URBAN, B.S.G.S. April 8. YOUR correspondent J. R. never puts pen to paper without laying before your readers a great abundance of information, amusement, or matter for consideration and reflection: "if to his share some trifling errors fall," they are rather attributable to the humana parum cavit natura than to incuria. In your February Number his communication takes up the subject of ennobling Physicians and Lawyers: from among the latter class of persons many have been raised to the rank of nobility; among the former, baronetcy is almost without exception the highest honour that has been attained. J. R. says, p. 145, "A rumour existed, I remember, of George the Fourth's desire to confer a peerage on Sir Astley Cooper, but that he was deterred by the absence of all precedent.' If such a desire existed on the part of George the Fourth, the absence of precedent need not have deterred him, for the precedent did exist in the person of Sylvester Douglas, Lord Glenbervie, who was educated, and for a short time practised, as a surgeon. It is true he became afterwards a barrister and a distinguished diplomatist, to which circumstance, and not to his surgeoncy, he owed his elevation. The literary acquirements of Lord Glenbervie were splendid, and he did honour to each of the professions that he had cultivated, and medical professors are to be excused when they look up to Lord Glenbervie and to the present Lord Langdale, likewise originally a surgeon, as having, by attaining the high rank of nobility, conferred dignity and honour upon a truly GENT. MAG. VOL. XIX.

meritorious but toilsome profession; a profession oppressed, indeed, in various ways, and miserably ill-paid, but cherished and beloved by those who aspire to the enviable distinction of relieving the infirmities of their fellow-creatures. Alas! how much it is to be deplored that the generality of those who exercise this delightful profession should be compelled to leave their families in slender, if not in indigent, circumstances.*

J. R. says, p. 146, "I cannot say whether any [medical] gentleman in direct practice had been in parliament previous to my friend, Dr. Herbert Baldwin, who represented Cork from 1832 to 1837." J. R. did not call to mind the case of the celebrated Dr. Freind, a highly distinguished physician. He was member of parliament for Launceston, and for his attachment to the cause of the Stuarts, and his speeches in Parliament in defence of Bishop Atterbury, was on the 15th of March, 1722-3, committed to the Tower. The very commendable and noble conduct of Dr. Mead, a zealous Whig, towards his Tory friend, Freind, cannot be too much applauded, though it has been strangely exaggerated. By his personal and earnest representations to Sir Robert Walpole, then his patient, for whom, it is said, he refused to prescribe unless his request was granted, Mead obtained Freind's release from prison on bail, Drs. Mead, Hulse, Levet, and Hale being his sureties; and it is further reported that Mead afterwards presented to Freind the sum of five thousand guineas, which he had received from Freind's patients, whom he had visited during his imprisonment. But in this there must be much incorrectness. It is stated upon good authority that Mead, the most fully employed physician in London, never made more

* The records of the Society, founded in 1788, for the "Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men in London and its Vicinity," fully prove this fact. If the widow's income, from every source whatever, exceeds 50%. a year, she is ineligible to receive relief, and a comparative rule obtains with regard to orphans; yet to the widows or orphans of one-fourth of the members stipends have been voted, and the average amount of income has been greatly lower than the stipulated modicum.

3 R

than 10,0007. in any one year. Freind was taken into custody, March 12th, was confined to his own house, under the care of a messenger, till the 15th, when he was sent to the Tower, from whence he was released June 21st. It is evident, therefore, that Mead could not, during these three months, have received from Freind's patients so much as five thousand guineas, and it cannot but create surprise that the author of "The Gold-Headed Cane," the late Dr. Mac Michael, should not have been aware of this fact.

I am almost ashamed of commenting further upon the communications of a gentleman, which have afforded me so much amusement and information as those of J. R.; but there is a little incorrectness in the communication, in the number for March, p. 251, where a note says, "It is to the birth of her [Madame de Vallière's] daughter, afterwards Princess de Conti, that male professional attendance on maternal labour, or the accoucheur exchanged for the midwife, is usually referred, and the profession practically established."

Madame de la Vallière, the chere amie of Louis XIV. was attended in her first labour by Julian Clement, on the 27th of Dec. 1663, and was delivered of a boy, who was christened Louis of Bourbon, and died July 15, 1668, without having been legitimated. This labour was kept a great secret, or at least, means were employed to keep it a great secret. This is Astruc's account, who goes on to say, "Clement was employed in the subsequent lyings-in of the same lady, which, though not so secret, were as successful; this brought men-midwives into repute, and put the princesses

into the fancy of making use of surgeons on this occasion; and, as it soon became the fashion, the name of accoucheur was invented to signify that class of surgeons.'

That the term accoucheur was about this time invented I am willing to believe; but that male professional attendance was, as has been often stated, to be referred to this period is clearly not correct. Julian Clement was already an exercent professor of midwifery, when he was selected for the purpose of attending Madame de la Vallière, the date of which, as stated above, was in Dec. 1663. Mauriceau, whose name, as a practitioner of midwifery, has been more quoted than probably any other man's, began to practise that branch of the art of medicine, almost purely, in 1656, and he was preceded by several successful practitioners. Guillemeau, who both practised, and published a valuable treatise on the art, died March 13, 1609, and he mentions St. Honoré as an older practitioner than himself. Louise Bourgeois, the midwife to Marie de Medicis, Queen of Henry the Fourth of France, in her "Observations,"* of which my edition is dated 1642, speaks of a surgeon, qui en faisoit profession," being employed to attend a lady, and tells us that Mr. Marchant le Fils was "expert aux accouchemens de femmes."

Nor was it in France only that midwifery was practised by surgeons before the date assigned, for in England, men-midwives are spoken of in a treatise published in 1634; so that it is quite clear, that the reference in Astruc applies only to the name accoucheur, not to the practice of the art by the medical profession. Ιλαράντθρωπος

THE annexed engraving represents a curious reliquary which was found suspended from the neck of a skeleton taken out of the churchyard of St. Dunstan's, Fleet-street, in 1831, when that venerable edifice was taken down, and the present church erected on its

site.

It is composed of silver of a good quality, is somewhat less than half an inch in thickness, and has a small opening with a moveable cover at the top, to admit bones, hair, or other small objects of that description. On the obverse is represented St.

George tilting at the dragon; but the subject depicted on the reverse is more difficult of explanation. It has been supposed to represent the princess whom St. George delivered; but we differ from this opinion, inasmuch as the nimbus round the head indicates a saint, although the diadem may also indicate royal rank. We imagine it to represent St. Helena, from the large cross which she holds in the right hand, and from the monastery in the back ground. The introduction of the cherubim, and the arrangement of the drapery of this figure, are in the style

of the tenth century, although we do not conceive the object itself to be of an earlier period than the 14th or 15th century; but it is not improbable that the artist may have copied his figures from some earlier representation of them. The chasing is somewhat coarse, but of a bold character, and the borders are florid in ornament. It formed a portion of the museum of the late Dean of St. Patrick's, dispersed last year by Mr. Sotheby's hammer, and is now in the possession of Mr. B. Nightingale.

Life of Oliver Heywood. By Rev. Joseph Hunter.

WE have been much interested in our perusal of this volume, as well for the importance of the subject as for the masterly manner in which Mr. Hunter has arranged his materials. The history of religious belief must always form a very curious and valuable chapter in the general history of mankind, and in the account of every particular people; in our own none is more distinguished, whether we regard the growth of the opinion, the progress of its acceptance, or the effect of its movements; whether we consider it by itself or with regard to its effect on other institutions, than the rise and progress of Puritanism. It must have arisen from such an intense hatred of the corruptions of the Romish Church, and a firm persuasion of its idolatrous worship, that it would be satisfied with nothing less than shaking every grain of dust off its feet that had been polluted by the Antichristian tread of what was deemed a Harlot-Church; and it is curious that so early as in the reign of Elizabeth several of the nobility, of the statesmen, and of the Church, had imbibed to the full these principles. Lord Burghley was a Puritan, so was Lord Essex and others. The Queen pulled the other way, or we might have had a Church clothed in "cloth of frieze" instead of "cloth of gold." But Papistry can never rear its head again; it has no regal thrones now subservient to it, no regal treasures now poured into its lap. Every year of popular education must weaken its influence. Every newly printed copy of the Scriptures must give a blow to its empire, and if it were not for its only strong-hold, that of Ireland, as a dominant secular and ambitious power, it is no longer worthy of a fear. It has we think the unquestionable symptom of its approaching decay and downfall, in this point,-that it is disliked and despised at home, and only maintains its tyrannous influence at a distance. At Cork or Waterford it is more felt than at Florence or Milan, and over the whole vast empire of

France it is little better than a name. Spain has confiscated all its accumulated treasures for ever, and even in Ireland its spiritual influence is nothing compared with its political. It is no longer the undaunted priest who wields the thunders of the Vatican, but the wily politician and the crafty demagogue who borrows them to be subservient to his own interests. Besides the immediate attraction of his biographical account, Mr. Hunter's book contains much curious information on personal history, and many interesting literary anecdotes. It also takes in a full survey of the progress of puritanical principles, and the principal divisions and branches of the original party; carrying a view of the subject downwards to the times of Wesley and Whitfield. We have risen from an attentive perusal of this volume with feelings of deep respect for the characters, views, and motives, of the parties described, and with great satisfaction with the manner in which the whole subject has been treated by the author. The skill of a biographer is shown in knowing how much of his materials it is proper for him to employ: for defect or redundancy are alike prejudicial to the effect of his narrative; that Mr. Hunter has exercised sound judgment and good taste in this respect, is seen from the interest which is felt by the reader during the whole course of the narrative, even when the points in discussion would not appear in themselves to be very attractive.

there are a few sentences which have apparently dropped from his pen be fore they were moulded into their finished form; as p. xxi. "We know not what effect this overstrained reproach had on the Southeren muse; the rhyme-fit was then upon her, and she was leaping and dancing to the melody of Pope, like one enchanted." Again, p. xxiv. "Walpole, it is true, had no taste for poetry; his ear was too dull to distinguish between the cry of a corncrake, and the music of Apollo's pipe." As regards Mr. Cunningham's critical discussions, they appear to us generally correct, but we hesitate before we concur in the following: "Thomson is an original poet of the first order; and, what is not always true of originality, one of the most popular in our language; in loftiness of thought, and poetic glow of language, few have reached him; the march of his muse is in mid air; she rarely alights, &c. As regards a passage at p. xxii., "For the beauties of nature, says Southey, the English poets, from Dryden to Pope, seem to have had neither ear, nor eye, nor heart. And Wordsworth notices as a remarkable thing in literary story that, save a passage or two in Pope's Windsor Forest, our poetry, from Paradise Lost to Thomson's Seasons, contains no single new image of external nature." This is not quite true: we could quote some exquisite verses by Addison on natural objects, and the pleasure derived from them. Though Young was not a descriptive poet, he surely could not be said to have had

no ear, no eye, no heart, for nature;" nor must Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd be forgotten. But perhaps, with some small exceptions, the general observation is correct; nor do we mention it to oppose it, but to observe that this want of feeling for nature arose from want of communion with her. English society, from the time of Dryden to Pope, had been French in its habits and tastes; the country was deserted for the town; rural recreations for the conversation of saloons and taverns; and poetry partook in the general feeling. There were no landscape painters at that time, no landscape gardeners,*

no

planters, and no love for a residence in the country. The first planters were old Lord Bathurst at Cirencester, and the Duke of Argyle at Whitton near Hounslow.

In Thomson's time a better and more English taste was rising; and while he was writing the Seasons, Shenstone was laying out the Leasowes, and Lord Lyttelton was forming the beautiful grounds of Hagley. The arts rose together, and poetry was affected, as it always will be, by the general tastes and the social state of the people. There is no pretension to novelty in our remark, but it is meant simply to shew that the poets were not more insensible to the beauties of nature than those who practised the other arts that embellish life; that the general tone of society was with them, and that the same artificial taste was everywere visible. The poetical couplet of Dryden had superseded the blank verse of Milton; the peruke, and cravat, and laced coat-the flowing and chivalrous dress of the days of Henry and Elizabeth; while the straight lines, and avenues, and quincunxes, in parks and gardens, had superseded the wilder and irregular forms of natural beauty. This subject leads us incidentally to a passage in the Castle of Indolence, ii. 17. "A sylvan life till then the natives led, [lost, In the brown shades and greenwood forest All careless rambling where it lik'd them most: Their wealth the wild deer bouncing through the glade," &c.

Is not the word bouncing a misprint for bounding? yet we see bouncing in the four editions, and almost fear that Thomson so wrote it.

The Seasons of Thomson, with illustrations from designs in wood. Edited by Bolton Corney, Esq.

WE have little to say about this edition, but what we have is all in its favour; the united abilities of various eminent artists, members of the Etching Club, have contributed to its pictorial embellishment; the knowledge and accuracy of Mr. Corney, to the fidelity of the text. The illustrations are seventyseven in number, from designs which are drawn on the wood by the artists themselves, and are printed from cop

gardener, and Evelyn was not beyond the