terloo Road; and St. Luke's, Norwood. The drawings were taken and the engravings executed' by artists of talent, and the accompanying descriptions were written by a gentleman of considerable scientific and architectural knowledge. The The Catholic Question, in the early part of the Parliamentary Session, considerably agitated the public mind; but, as we anticipated, the Papistical faction was thwarted in its objects, and the cause lost, in the House of Commons, by a majority of four; though, in 1825, the question was carried in their favour by a majority of twenty-seven! outrageous conduct of the Jesuits, Apostolics, and other Papistical factions (observes our Reviewer in p. 283), have happily exposed the falsehood and prevarication which the Catholic Association and their Reverend Expounders attempted to impose upon the unsuspecting portion of the community; and it affords us some degree of satisfaction to reflect that we were amongst the first to call the attention of the Public and other contemporary Journalists to the insidious manoeuvring, previous to the late Parliamentary Election, of the Popish Prelacy and their devoted minions. The fate of the Catholic Question has proved that those Papistical manifestoes were disbelieved; and that such attempts at imposition were only calculated to injure the cause they were intended to promote." The late changes in the Administration, and the Bill for the admission of Foreign Grain, have chiefly occupied the attention of the two Houses of Parliament, almost to the exclusion of many other pressing affairs. We regret that the Corn Bill introduced by Ministers should have been so pertinaciously opposed by the House of Lords as to cause its ultimate defeat; the temporary measure for the release of Bonded Corn, however, will prevent any serious consequences which the rejec tion of the original Bill might have produced; and we sincerely hope, that in the ensuing Session the question will be settled on a permanent basis, agreeably to the wishes of both, the manufacturing and agricul tural interests. June 30, 1827. 1 Letter of Tho. Hobbes Dr. Young....................ib. Sealed Common Prayer Book Sydenhaus. 2. On the Coinage of Great Britain, .. Defence of the English Universities................................4 Ou the Family of De la Zouche........8 NEW CHURCHES St. Mary's, Bryanstone Square, 9. St. Mary-le-Bone Church. 4.10 Festival of Corpus Christi at Lisbon.....12 Directions for Pilgrims to the Holy Land Peculiarities in Welsh Surnames...... Account of Padstow Church, Cornwall On the Cremation of Hindoo Widows J...20 Mr. Bowles on Druidical Superstition. ......16 17 23 ....33 Speculations on Literary Pleasures, No. 1.28 Beauties of the Ancient Poeta...... Poem and Insoription by Shenstone. ...................4 Sir Walter Scott's Napoleon Buonaparte. AUGUST Jounos cilt of towndel! Ellis' Letters on English History.........ib. Archedlogia, vol. XXI. Part II:..............56 Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting.....59 Barker on the Claims of Sir R. Francis to the Authorship of Junius........................61 Plumptres Commentary on the Bible........61 M'Carthy's Prospectus for Pavings .......20. A Presbyter's Letter to George IV LITERARY INTELLIGENCE New Publications. 63 Proceedings in present Session of Parliament 75 Foreign News, 75.-Domestic Occurrences.....78 Promotions, &c. Births and Marriages......81 OBITUARY with Memoirs of Sir J. Brisbane, Dr. Trollope; Dr. Hawker; Rev. Legh Rich- mond; Alex, Volta; M. Lariye; Williams Markets. Bill of Mortality, 94.-Shares.....95 Meteorological Diary. Prices of Stocks .....96 Embellished with Views of ST. MARY'S, CHURCH, Bryanstone Squaresou And PADSTOW CHURCH, Cornwall d MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. W. B. states, that "in Mrs. Montagu's letter (April Mag. p. 306), Dr. Young is mentioned as the incumbent of and living at Welwyn; this, I suppose, was the author of Night Thoughts, of whom she gives a most excellent character; but she speaks of his brother poet, who was not so much detached from the world as the Dr. was. Who was this brother poet, and author of what? The Doctor at Welwyn was the author of Night Thoughts, and has shewn in that production he was not detached from the world, when he spake of having in vain sought preferment from the minister for twice the years expended in the siege of Troy, and grown so old bis very master knows him not. He was chap lain to King George the Second. Which of them wrote Love of Fame? where is much sarcasm, of which the Night Thoughts afford some specimens." Mr. W. BATEMAN has favoured us with a copy of the following letter of Hobbes, to William second Earl of Devonshire. It is in the possession of Mr. White Watson, of Bakewell in the county of Derby: Right Honourable and my very good Lord, By any thing I here from England this weeke, I am to remain uncertain yet of my returne. Nor have I any thing to say from hence, for ye present, but that I have an infinit desire to enioy the sight of yr Lo'p, which content wanting, I humbly pray yr Lorp. to supply, by keeping me still in yr favour that do honour and love you more than I do all ye world beside, and with no greater honor to my selfe than to be known to be your Lop. most humble and obedient servant, THO. HOBBES. "Paris, Sept. 6th, (Aug. 27,) 1641.”" J. W. N. says, "I trust you will deem the following Queries of sufficient importance for insertion in your Miscellany. I beg to be informed respecting the Sealed Books; one copy of which is, by Act of Parliament (14 Caroli II.), kept in the Tower of London, as THE Common Prayer Book of the English Church, and as that standard of orthodoxy and accuracy, from which lies no appeal. "1. My first enquiry is, Whether the book, with each and every of its numerous corrections, additions, elisions, and transpositions, together with its punctuation, is of such authority, that no Common Prayer Book is, strictly speaking, THE Common Prayer Book of our Church, except it be an exact transcript of that same Sealed Book?' 2. Whether the discrepancies which now exist between the Sealed Book in the Tower, and the last, or 1822, Oxford edition in folio, are typographical errors, or whether they are intentional deviations; and, if so, by what authority were those deviations made from the legal prototype? 3. Whether it is incumbent on, and both lawful and expedient for, those who have the charge and privilege of printing the Book of Common Prayer, to print exact, or as it were, fac-simile copies of the origi nal in the Tower; and whether the Commissioners or Revisors, from oversight, negligence, or other human infirmity, committed or overlooked any errors? 4. Whether the various books ordered by the Act to be deposited in several places, are there now; and, if so, whether they are, both as to edition, and correction in writing, exactly the same as the one in the Tower? 5. Whether any one has ever professed to prepare and print any edition of the Common Prayer Book, copied verbatim literatimque from the Sealed Books; and, if so, who, when, and what size, press, and price? 6. Lastly, whether any author, and if so who, has written largely and circumstantially of the labours of the Commissioners appointed to revise and correct the Common Prayer Book, printed in 1662?" The following inquiry is made from a highly respectable quarter: "Sir John Poyntz, of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, Kut. Sheriff for that county in 1591, married 1st. daughter and heiress of Sir Alexander Sydenham, of, Somersetshire, Knt. and 2dly, Ursula, daughter of John Sydenham, of Brampton, in the same county, esq. Can any of your Correspondents inform me from what branches of their widely extended family these Sydenhams derived their descent, and whether either of them was allied to the ancient stock of the Beauforts, through an heiress of Fry, Darell, Lewes, Spencer, or Paston?" T. F. requests information relative to a book with this title, "Expositio fidelis de Morte Thomæ Mori," printed in 8vo, 1538. Ant. Wood says, "I never could see any more of it than the bare title." R. H. will be obliged for an account of the family of Stafford of Tottenhoe, in the parish of Shingley, Berks, after the year 1694. A friend of his has a curiously illu minated pedigree of that ancient family, deduced from an early period to the year 1694; and he would be glad to ascertain the representative of this branch of the illustrious House of Stafford, to whom it may be a document of some interest. We much regret that a Memoir of the late Rear Adm. Sir A. C. Dickson, was printed in the Supplement to our last Volume, previously to our receiving the communication of A VERY OLD SUBSCRIBER. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. JULY, 1827. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. Mr. URBAN, ON THE COINAGE. Topsham, Devon, July 1. So few (comparatively) either feel, or take an interest in works of art, that to call the public attention to the present splendid series of Coins, in gold, silver, and copper, may be deemed a very needless undertaking. It ought indeed to be so from attention, and not from neglect. Many see no difference between one Coin and another, except in their relative value. There exists, notwithstanding, a great variety both in design and workmanship, that will appear obvious enough, if pointed out. I shall, therefore, endeavour to show the great superiority of the present Coinage over that of 1821 and 1823, and in doing so, I shall begin with the present, as contrasted with the Half-crown pieces of those years. Before entering on any particulars, the eye will at once be struck by the agreeable proportion the head bears to the circumference; the margin round it is greater than usual, and we are not distracted by the letters being either too large, or too close to the head, or pushed out of the way, to make room, as heretofore. The relief, and the nature of it, next takes the attention. In the present half-crown it is unusually fleshy and round, perhaps the relief may be higher-but the effect I speak of is produced by the very great ability in the graver of the artist, and by his taste and attention to the finish of the small parts; and here I would direct atyour tention, particularly to the eye and eyebrow, the fulness under the eye, and the folds in the cheek, and near the mouth. The throat too is beautifully defined, and united to the head. But the hair exceeds in taste all that has been yet done. Crisp, yet flowing in undulating, graceful lines; at the same time ingeniously contrived by lessening the size of the curls towards the sides, to give the roundness I have alluded to. Even in the superb series of medals of the Popes, I remember nothing more naturally marked than this head, or by any means so soft; and certainly not in the coinage of the present or past reign is there any head to compare with it. While the obverse is to be thus admired for its chaste, characteristic English simplicity of style, the reverse possesses great richness to contrast with it. Nothing could have been better contrived than the lettering in this place; being close to the arms it contributes much to the fulness of the effect; and mezzotinting those on the motto, beautifully varies it; while the. ample scroll work gives an air of importance to the whole. I The busts on the Shilling and Sovereign are from the same beautiful model as that of the Half-crown, and with equal merit and ability. I do not altogether like the reverse of the former, and yet hardly know what to find fault with. That of the latter is a happy copy of the Coinage of James the First. The Crown, Sixpence, and Half-sovereign, I have not seen. I must again revert to the taste of the artist, who had the courage, in these coins, to deprive His Majesty of those eternal laurels that less meritorious Kings have wreathed * On the Greek Coins, the fillet denoted Sovereignty, the laurel Divinity. Julius Cæsar introduced the laurel on the Roman Coinage to express Conquest; his successors retained it as a badge of supreme authority. Towards the fall of that empire it was superseded by a fillet ornamented with pearls. Our early Saxon Coins, being an attempt to imitate the latter Roman, have the fillet until Athelstan, when the Crown appears. This continued on all the English Coins, with the exception of a few of the gold of Edward the Sixth, in which he is in armour, bareheaded. James the First introduced the laurel on On the Coinage. time out of mind, and continue to have twisted round their metallic heads. But the artist's courage was short lived! The laurels again flourish on the copper series of Penny, Halfpenny, and Farthing; and I would call on him to observe how much these beautiful heads are injured in consequence. There is a stiff, overloaded effect, and the appearance ceases to be natural. But had his sins been ten times greater, must have pardoned him ten times over, for the magnificent Britannia of the reverse! Nothing in the Cainage of the Roman Emperors can go beyond this. She is, at once, grand and clas sical. Minerva and the Empress of the Ocean, combined-literally, a personification of this great, insular empire; and I cannot charge my mind at this moment with any single ages after to which which will so decidedly pro Work the the high aimed at this period. purity With respect to the likeness of his Majesty in this series, we may possibly differ about it. It is certainly a favourable ope. Some may say it is too young and haudsome, and wants (though possessing more than any other) that princely port so peculiar to the King; yet it must be allowed to be extremely like him. And allow me to ask, on what other Coin or Medal was ever yet shewn that smile of affability so much his own. Compare it with the constrained brow and conventional dignity, which by frowning is intended to signify grandeur, and which defaces by caricature every other likeness of him. In this remote nook, we know not how matters are managed.at the Mint, or how to explain the surprising im provement in the Coinage*; for, taken. as a series, I have no hesitation in say ing, that they are superior to any [July, the English Mint has ever produced, whether for design orexecution. Oliver Cromwell's are the only Coins which can for a moment be held in competition with them, and these only in characteristic expression. Nor is there a Coinage on the Continent, at this moment, which should be mentioned in the same week with ours. With those who devote their attention to the Fine Arts, in all countries and ages, the Coinage is one of great interest, and serious consideration; and while England had the worst Coinage in Europe (which we can all remember), she was circulating every where proofs of bad taste, worse skill, and slow progress in the Fine Arts. W. S. MR. URBAN, Kellington, July 19. Iated Literary Journal, it has been observed, that no man ever abused Oxford or Cambridge, but in one of these three predicaments. Either his education finished at Christ's Hospital, or in the College at Saint Bees, or some other charitable institution upon a similar plan (no disparagement whatever is meant to these establishinents, which have already nurtured, and still continue to send out into the world some of its brightest ornaments); or from being refused a certificate from the moderators, or examining masters, he has become a married man without having been a Bachelor; or, with abilities, he has been an unsuccessful candidate for a fellowship. It is such persons alone who aspire to write down the Universities. Of fiercest generally belong to the second class. They fibel with the very quills extracted from their own opinions by the fingers of merciless public examiners, Na number of widely circu some of his gold, but the Crown disputed possession, until the milled Coinage of Charles the Second, 1662, Queen Anne appears with a fillet, but with this exception the laurel has till now remained the sole ornament of Royalty. It is not easy to place the Crown. gracefully on the head, but it has been done so on the Coronation medal of Louis XVI.;. and it was used on the Coins of Ferdinand, the late King of Naples, from his restoration in 1814. The great re-coinage of 1816 evidenced the most splendid ability in the engraver; but the designs were bad and, the whimsicality of every coin having a head totally unlike any other, (the most ridiculous absurdity ever witnessed in numismatic history, with the exception of the face of the shilling,) it is difficult to say which is the most contemptible. I think the crown is entitled to the poppy. The St. George was fine, but his short sword ludicrous; and his sitting decidedly unsafe, indeed untenable, if he made a blow. It was hoped, it might have been the first step to an Historical Coinage on the Greek and Roman principles Let us still hope this may happen. |
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