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MENDHAM Priory Church & Chapel, from the inner Court.

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Mr. URBAN, Beccles, Mar. 28.

N Waveney, in a most delight

EAR the meandering banks of

ful and exuberant island (originally called Bruningsherst) stand the shattered walls of Mendham Priory*., (See Plate 1.) This monastery, as Bp. Tanner, observest, was founded in the reign of King Stephen, by WilJiam son of Roger de Hunting field (with the approbation of Roger his son), who gave large possessions to

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the great Western window of the Priory Church, where they remain to the window is Brandon, quartering Willoughby, Fig. 3; on the South side are the arms of Mary Queen of France, and third wife to the aforesaid Charles Duke of Suffolk.

The only part of the ruins now worthy attention is the "old Chapel" adjoining the Prior's Lodge, which is the monks of Castleacre, in Norfolk; antient archit the entrance is allowed to be a elegant piece of

on condition they should erect a church of stone, and build a convent by it, and settle therein at least eight monks, who were to be subject to the monks of Castleacre; in the same manner as Castleacre itself was to the monastery of St. Pancras at Lewes in Sussex; and that to the church of Runy in France. Yet, although in a subordinate state, Mr. Urban, few religious foundations, for privileges, magnificence, and architectural beauty, could vie with the Priory of St. Mary of Mendham. But, alas! pain ful to relate, after standing little more than three centuries and an half, this hallowed pile! this venerable mark of former grandeur! (where the solemn organ sounded its grand melodious notes, and where the sweet breeze of holy song reverberated,) received its summons, and fell a sacrifice to the rapacious dynasty of the times; and shortly after given, with all its revenues, by Henry VIII. (among other property) to the newlyrestored monastery of Bishain in Berkshire; but that soon falling to nought, this priory, with the manor

"Dentons" in Mendham,

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by a semicircular arched door-way, on the East fronting the court. each side the interior of the Cha pel are twelve recesses, with semicircular arches also, and, like that at the entrance, rests on square capitals profusely ornamented with sculptured foliage; between the piers or columns of these arches, it is said, the monks used to sit during divine service. This part of the monastery not many years since was in good state of preservation, and used for religious purposes by a family then resident in the Priory; but, through reprehensible neglect, or the destructive hand of man, it is now little more than a mere ruin! In my notes on this religious foundation, I find the names of two Priors not mentioned by Blomefield T; viz. John, Prior in 1206; and another John, Prior in 1273. Trusting, Mr. Urban, the above remarks will prove amusing to some of your numerous readers,, I submit them for your consideration; and am Yours, &c.,

W. ALDIS.

Mr. URBAN, Birmingham, April 23. HE Seal the antient Collegiate

about two years after conferred by T Church of St. John the Baptist,

the above King on that valiant soldier Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, who caused his arins, with those of his wives, to be engraved on stone, and placed on cach side of

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Chester, bears a whole length figure of the Patron Saint, in his garment of camel's hair, carrying the book of the Gospels. Its workmanship is very rude, and the impression in

*The greatest part of the parish of Mendham is in Norfolk, but the Priory stands just de greatest part of the pa over the river on the Suffolk side.

Not. Mon. Suffolk, No. XXXIV.

Blomefield, vel. V. 315.

He conveyed it to the Frestons, from whom it passed to the Bacons, and then t the Rants, in whose family it now remains, and by them is used as a farm-house.

He had four wives; 1st, Margaret daughter to John Nevil, Marquis Montague 2dly, Anne daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, knt.; Sdly, Mary second daughter to Hen. VII. and widow of Lewis the XIIth, King of France; and 4thly, Catherine daughter and heir of William Lord Willoughby, of Eresby, but I cannot find that any of the above families bore Lozengy for their arms, as Fig. 2. in the snored Plate

History of Norfolk, vol. V. 316.

→GENT. MAG. Novamber, 1808.

green

green wax, from which the annexed engraving (Plate 1. fig. 5) has been made, is so much injured by time as to fall away in thin lamina on the slightest touch.

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IOHANNIS

DE.c.. is all that now remains of the circumscription.

I have subjoined a transcript of the deed to which the seal is appended; and shall only observe that the name of Simon is not in Browne Willis's List of the Deans, communicated to Tanner's Notitia Monastica, p. xxxix, but that Peter the clerk of the Earl (who is one of the witnesses) occurs about the year 1218 (Leycester's Cheshire, p. 164.)

Yours, &c. WILLIAM HAMPER. "Universis Christi fidelibus presens scriptum visuris et audituris, Simon Decanus et Capitulum Sancti Johannis Cestrie, eternam in Domino salutem.-Noverit universitas vestra, nos ratam et gratam habere collacionem quam Th. de Sancto Nicholao Concanonicus noster fecit Galfrido filio Johannis, de quadam placeâ terre pertinente ad prebendam suam, de dieto Th. et successoribus suis, eidem Galfrido et heredibus suis, vel suis. assignatis, in feudo et hereditate tenenda et possidendâ, pro unâ Librâ

Absolon, the spruce parish clerk,
"With Poules windowes corven on his
shoos."

Mr. Tyrwhitt, in his note on this passage, says, "Perhaps this means that his shoes were cut in squares, like panes of glass. Bale mentions fenestratos calceos as making part of the habit of the Franciscans, Cent. iv. 27. and 91. They also occur in the Cistertian Statutes, an. 1529, and the monks are forbidden to wear them. Du Cange, in. v. Calcei fenestrati."

It is evident that these Calcei fenestratt were so named from their window-like ornaments; but that they were merely "cut in squares," may admit some doubt, as it is not likely that the monks would have been prohibited from wearing shoes so simply ornamented. I would therefore suggest to the consideration of those who are best qualified to judge, that these once tonish articles of antient dress were decorated after the style of rich and elaborate tracery, such as in the windows of old St. Paul's, or something like the slight sketch in Plate I. fig. 4.

Yours, &c. WILLIAM HAMPER.

Mr. URBAN, Birmingham, May 21.
N your vol. LXIV. p. 507, is an

Thuris quam dicti Galfridus et here- account of a curious State Chair

des sui vel sui assignati solvent annuatim dicto Th. et successoribus suis, in Nativitate Sancti Johannis Baptiste, secundum tenorem Carte qua' idem Th. predicto Galfrido super hæc fecit. Et in hujus rei testimonium presenti scripto Sigillum Capituli nostri apposuimus. Hijs testibus; Magistro Johanne Officiale Cestrie, Domino Petro Clerico Domini Comitis Cestrie, Philippo Capellano Decani, Willielmo Clerico Cive Cestrie, Willielmo Saraceno, Germano dubbeldai, Roberto Darmentario*, Rogero de Leicestriâ, Thurstano Duket, Johanne de Novo Castro, Willielmo filio Osberti, et multis alijs."

Mr. URBAN, Birmingham, May 10. "I must confess the knowledge of these affairs is in itself very little improving; but as it is impossible without it to understand several parts of your antient duthors, ~ it certainly hath its use."

Addison, Dialogue on Medals. Dial. 1. speaking of articles of dress. NHAUCER, in the Miller's Tale, v. 3318 (ed. Tyrwhitt) describes

*The Armentarius, or Herdsman,

in the possession of Mr. Sands, of Wheelbarrow Castle, near Barton on the Heath, co. Warwick, accompanied with an engraving in Plate 1. fig. 3.

Mr. Jordan the communicator describes it as having been used on the scaffold at the execution of King Charles I.; that his Majesty kneeled on the footstool when he received the fatal stroke; and that the spots of blood yet remaining + on the velvet seem to corroborate the story. In page 618 of the same volume, another Correspondeut, under the signature of Veridicus, endeavours to correct Mr. Jordan's account, by ob serving, that he knew the Chair perfectly well at Little Compton, co. Gloucester, when it belonged to Viscountess Fane (who had been the widow of Sir William Juxón, a descendof Archbishop Juxon) from among whose effects Mr. Sands purchased it; and that "it is neither more nor less

+ Spots of blood there are none; and what Mr. Jordan calls purple velvet is evidently only crimson faded. than

than the state chair in which King Charles the Second sute in the Abbey after his Coronation, to receive the homage of the Peers.""

The Chair and Footstool are now in the possession of Mr. Cox, Surgeon, of Birmingham, who married the inheretrix of Mr. Sands's property; and I have the pleasure of sending you an excellent delineation of them (Pl. 1. figs. 6 and 7) by Mr. Charles Pye, an ingenious artist, whose graphic abilities are well known to the publick. How far Veridicus may be correct in saying that they were used at the coronation of Charles II. I know not; but I may confidently assert that it is the chair in which his Royal Father sute during his Trial in Westminster Hall.

but those which are so unlike any thing English, that they now disfigure our language. But, at all events, the making of our irregular verbs regu lar might be adopted with the greatest advantage. How easy would it be to write:

"My brother beed born in Ireland on the eighth day of February, 1787; he goed to school early, and becomed a fine scholar, but unfortunately he gelled into bad company, and drinked so hard, that he shortened his days. Why beed you angry with that mad? he never hurted you. The last time I seed your sister, she haved just arrived from the country. I teached her drawing for some time, but she thinked it cost too much time and attention. She beed very beautiful, and two gentlemen fighted a duel about her.

Let any of your Readers, Mr. Urban, compare the present engraving (for Mr. Jordan's is very imperfect) Yours, &c. A LOVER OF EASE." with the plate and description in Nal- I have thus complied with the reson's "Journal of the High Court of quest of my correspondent so far as Justice for the Tryal of King Charles to give publicity to his scheme, but 13" and they will be convinced of the not without some doubts as to its identity, "The King (to use the practicability. Men who are Lovers words of that Author) sitting in a of Ease have sometimes the misforlarge elbow chair, covered with crim-tune to mistake the way to the object son velvet, with gold fringe and nails, and a velvet cushion." This "crimson velvet chair" is also mentioned in page 28 of the same book. Yours, &c. WILLIAM HAMPER.

THE PROJECTÓR, No. LXXXIX,
TO THE PROJECTOR.

SIR,

AS

Oct. 14, 180S. S the getting rid of idiomatical expressions is become more than fashion in every modern tongue, and, since the days of our immortalJohnson, particularly so among the best writers of the British Isles, I beg leave to call your attention, and that of the publick, to the propriety of making all our verbs regular. It would render our language much more easy, both to the natives and foreigners; and, once in practice, the ear would soon become reconciled thereto. I would also advise the altering of the orthography of such words (only) as are so thoroughly Frenchified that people who do not well understand that tongue are often at a loss how to pronounce; for corps 1 would write KORE (thek would distinguish it from core); for courier, KEWREEAY, &c. &c. &c. None, however, should be changed

of their affections, and my Correspondent's plan for making all our verbs regular would, I am afraid, introduce more irregularities than he is at present aware of, together with a degree of violence done to the ear and eye, to which it would be extremely difficult to reconcile readers and speakers. Perhaps the species of reform proposed by my next Correspondent may be less unpleasant, and more within our power.

SIR,

TO THE PROJECTOR.

Although I have been a reader of your Lucubrations from their commencement, I do not just now recollect whether you have touched upon a very common source of uneasiness in private life, which certainly merits your attention. If you have not, I hope the few hints which I now take the liberty to send, will at least serve as outlines, when you shall find leisure to handle the subject in your own way.

There are no complaints more common than those which are directed against persons who are for ever meddling with matters in which they have little or no concern, and who seem to be wonderfully attentive to

every business but that which properly belongs to them. If this disor der, for such I may call it, seizes the master or mistress of a family, we may be sure that that family will be neglected, in their zeal to take upon them the management of their neighbours' concerns; and while they are employed in keeping a-going the machinery of others, their own is allowed to stand still.

This whimsical taste seems to arise either from a consciousness of their own superiority, and consequently an opinion that they are better able to give advice than those to whom they offer it; or from a certain degree of curiosity, which can never be satiated unless they know what is going on in streets and houses where they have no concern or interest. It creates, therefore, newsmongers and gossips, public or private reformers, retailers of political intelligence or private scandal, sometimes adapted to the columns of a newspaper, and sometimes to the party at a tea-table; and those who indige this longing after matters of less importance to themselves than to their neighbours, are necessarily divided into two parties, nale and female; the former superintending the affairs of Europe, the other comhaing themselves to the

actions of a strect or alley.

5 to the managers of political affahs, they have so often been treated by you and your predecessors, that I shall make n attempt to add to what has been observed of their extreme anxiety for the proper conduct of courts and nanisters, while shops and warehouses lie neglected. But the other class, confined to matters of a domestic kind, who are perpetually meddling with what does not belong to them, seem yet to demand your attention, because whatever mischief they occasion by their ill-timed interference, poor souls! "they meant it all for the best, and would not have said one word, if they had thought that it would do harm."

I know not, Sir, how it happens but, in all my intercourse in life, have repeated occasion to observe that more mischief is done by your well-meaning people, than by those who commit an injury with full purpose and intent. Whether it be that those who mean well do not understand their own meaning, or whether they

conceal what they mean from other people, it is certain that the schemes of no Projectors fail so frequently, and that no class of friendly interferers meet with fewer thanks for the pains and trouble they have taken. This is truly unfortunate; and it is much to be lamented that very wise persons, as your meddlers all are, should be thought to act ill at the very mo ment they profess to mean well.

Yet perhaps it is not impossible to give some reasons that will account for their failures. Sometimes I have observed that, "with the best inten tions in the world," they have com municated a secret which had better been concealed, and the communica, tion of which, while it was of no benefit to the party, served only to shew that they were intrusted with a piece of information which they could keep no longer without being suspected of that dreadful defect," the having nothing to say," while every body cise is talking on the subject. It likewise happens that the greater part of these well-meant communications end in the discovery of something rather baddish in character, contrary to common opinion, or likely to interrupt some scheme or plan that would otherwise have been accomplished without suspicion; and, what is worse, when the matter has been communicated, "with the very best intentions in the world," with the most "friendly design," and in a "most neighbourly manner," there often occurs such a vast difficulty in proving the truth of it, that it is no wonder the well-meaning author of the news should be treated with very little respect, and very uncivilly re quested" to mind her own affairs;" a request, by the bye, which, however apparently harmless and even useful, is always the occasion of a great deal of resentment and indignation.

But, affronting as this request seems to be, I cannot help being of opinion, Mr. PROJECTOR, that it is one of the most reasonable that can be made; and, if granted, would infallibly prevent the evils which I allude to in this letter, and afford well-meaning pcople an opportunity of knowing when it is proper to mean only, and when to speak out boldly. The law on this subject seems to be very wise. If a person asks you your opinion of another with whom he is likely to

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