dote shall be followed by others of greater novelty. James Heidegger a native of Switzerland died, 1749, at the advanced age of 90 years. The nobility had such an opinion of his taste, that all splendid entertainments given by them, and all private assemblies, were submitted to his direction. After a successful speculation he has been known to give away several hundreds of pounds, saying to a particular acquaintance, "You know poor objects of distress better than I do; be so kind as to give away this money for me." He was indeed for a long period the arbiter elegantiarum of England; and yet Heidegger was a very ugly fellow, but was the first always to joke about it; his face is introduced into more than one of Hogarth's prints. Heidegger once laid a wager with the Earl of Chesterfield, that within a certain given time his lordship would not be able to produce so hideous a face in all London! A woman was found whose features, at first sight, were thought stronger than his, but upon clapping her head-dress upon himself he was universally allowed to win the wager. Another time a well known tailor carrying his bill to a noble duke, his grace, for evasion, said, "Hang your ugly face, I will never pay you till you bring me an uglier fellow than yourself." The tailor bowed and retired, wrote a letter and sent it by a servant to Heidegger, saying his grace wished to see him next morning on particular business. Heidegger attended, and the tailor was there to meet him; in consequence, as soon as Hei

degger's visit was oyer, the tailor received his pay

4

ment. Being once at supper in a large company, a question was debated which nationalist of Europe had the greatest ingenuity. To the surprise of all present Heidegger claimed that character for the Swiss, and appealed to himself for the truth of it. "I was born a Swiss," said he, " and came to England without a farthing, where I have found means to gain 50007. a year and to spend it. Now I defy the most able Englishman to go to Switzerland, either to gain that income or to expend it there." This extraordinary man once walked from Charing-cross to Temple-bar and back again, and when he came home wrote down every sign on each side of the street; such was the tenacity of his memory.

Mortlake is the next village we entered, great part of its parish being inclosed in Richmond park. It raises immense quantities of asparagus. The manor house was occasionally the residence of the archbishops of Canterbury from Anselm, who kept Whitsuntide here in 1099, down to Warham; for his successor Cranmer alienated the manor to Henry the Eighth in exchange for other lands. Another ancient building here was occupied by Edward Colston, Esq. the benefactor of the city of Bristol, who died here, and who during his life-time expended more than 70,0007. in charitable institutions. In the church, on a neat marble tablet, may be seen some pleasing lines to the memory of Viscountess Sidmouth, who died June 23, 1811; that respectable nobleman Lord Sidmouth,

50

LINES ON VISCOUNTESS SIDMOUTH.

and his family, attend constantly the morning service at this place.

Not that to mortal eyes тHY spotless life

Shew'd the best form of parent, child, and wife;
Not that thy vital current seem'd to glide

Clear and unmix'd through the world's troublous tide;
That grace and beauty, form'd each heart to win,
Seem'd but the casket to the gem within:

Not hence the fond presumption of our love,
Which lifts the spirit to the SAINTS above,
But, that pure Piety's consoling pow'r
Thy life illum'd, and cheer'd thy parting hour;
That each best gift of Charity was thine,
The liberal feeling and the grace divine,
And e'en thy virtues humbled in the dust;
In HEAVEN'S sure promise was thy only trust;
Sooth'd by that hope affection checks the sigh,
And hails the day-spring of Eternity!

A prose Epitaph on a patriotic citizen is also deserving of transcription :-" Under this stone were laid the remains of JOHN BARBER, Esq., Alderman of London, and constant benefactor to the poor, true to his principles in church and state. He preserved his integrity and discharged the duty of an upright magistrate. Zealous for the rights of his fellow citizens he opposed all attempts against them, and being Lord Mayor in 1733, he defeated a scheme of a general excise, which had it succeeded would have put an end to the liberties of his country." Alderman Barber, and Sir John Barnard, who also lies interred here,

CONJUROR JOHN DEE. SHEEN.

51

were held in high estimation by their fellow citizens, and the city of London still reveres their memory.

Within the walls of Mortlake church lie the remains of the Conjuror John Dee whom Queen Elizabeth is said often to have consulted on love as well as war, and even employed in negociations. With all his impositions he was a good mathematician, and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Dee had an associate of the name of Kelly, but in spite of their incantations both died ingloriously; the latter by leaping out of a window; the former in great poverty. At Mortlake is a manufactory of earthenware not unlike that of Delft in Holland,

From Mortlake we passed to Sheen where Henry the Fifth instituted a convent of Carthusian Monks. The history of the convent is short but impressive. At this place Henry the Fifth, with the view of expiating the murder of Richard, by which his family had, 1414, mounted the throne of England, founded a Carthusian Priory for forty Monks, which he denominated the House of Jesus of Bethlehem, at Sheen. And upon the same principle the monarch founded at Sion, now the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, on the opposite side of the Thames, a convent for sixty nuns of the order of St. Bridget. An old account in the British Museum tells us, that in these convents, by order of the royal founder, a constant succession of holy exercises was ordained to be kept up night and day to the end of time, so that a certain number

52,

HENRY THE FIFTH'S ADDRESS.

should instantly begin when the others had finished. their devotions.

SHAKESPERE, who is not more accurate in hist historical plays respecting facts than he is masterly in depicting the passions, alludes to the institutions of Sion and Sheen in these words; they are put into the mouth of Henry the Fifth when he is making a pathetic address to the Deity; the expressions seem to proceed from the inmost recesses of the heart:

Not to day O Lord!

O not to-day-think thou upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown.
I RICHARD'S body have interred anew,
And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
Than from it issued forced drops of blood.
Five hundred poor have I in yearly pay, ̧ ́
Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up
Towards Heav'n to pardon blood-and I have built
Two CHANTRIES where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for RICHARD'S Soul!

Superstition crushes and debases the human mind. What strange means are adopted to palliate deeds of atrocity! Hail thou blessed light of the Reformation, when the religion of the New Testament emerging from amidst the darkness by which for ages she had been enveloped, the celebration of silly rites and idle ceremonies was superseded for the practice of substantial morality! The revelation of Jesus Christ teaches plainly and unequivocally the will of the Supreme Being. It regulates the thoughts, controuls the pas