of so cruel a tyrant. Receiving for answer, that people wanted not the will, but the power, as Sylla's person was too well protected by a strong guard, he requested that he himself might be furnished with a weapon, to destroy the tyrant; adding, that he could easily accomplish the deed, as he was accustomed, in his visits, to sit by his side: which declaration so seriously alarmed the pedagogue, that he never afterwards ventured to conduct the youth on a visit to Sylla, without previously searching him, to discover whether he had on his person any concealed weapon.Lib. 3, 1, 2.

Of the respect which bis fellow citizens entertained for him in the more advanced period of his life, a remarkable instance occurred on occasion of the Floral games, in which

would himself submit to Cæsar, or, by a fruitless resistance, subject the inhabitants and garrison of Utica to the resentment of the victor, he, with Stoïc apathy, turned his sword against his own bosom.-Let me add, from Valerius, that, when Cæsar was informed of his death, he exclaimed, that he "envied Cato's glory, aud that Cato had envied his" (or, rather, grudged him the opportunity of gaining new glory by pardoning such an adversary). It is indeed certain, that Cæsar would gladly have spared Cato's life: and Valerius observes, that he did not confiscate the property of his fallen enemy, but left his children in quiet possession of it. — Lib. 5, 1, (To be continued.)

10.

Newcastle

upon April 4.

Tyne,

cers to exhibit themselves in a state of perfect nudity.-Cato happening to go to the theatre when those games were to he celebrated, the assembled spectators were ashamed to call for the naked exhibition in his presence. The sage, however, soon relieved them from their embarrassment; for, on being apprised of their delicacy by a friend who sat near him, he immediately quitted the theatre, that the people might not, on his account, be deprived of their cus tomary entertainment.-Lib. 2, 10, 8.

A more flattering mark of respect was that paid to him, on another occasion, by the Senate.-In a certain debate in that assembly, Cato was making a very long speech, merely for the purpose of protracting the business, and preventing the adoption of a measure which he disapproved. His intention being evident, Julius Cæsar (then Consul, and friendly to the measure in question) determined to put an end to his obnoxious harangue; and, with that view, arbitrarily ordered an officer to take him into custody, and conduct him to prison. But no sooner was the order issued, than the entire assembly at once rose from their seats, to accompany him, and partake of his imprisonment and Cæsar was thus induced, by a sense of shame, to revoke his imperious mandate. —Lib.

2. 10, 7.

The reader, who has seen Addison's celebrated tragedy of Cato, needs not to be informed, that, rather than he

I regret to say, appear uncharitable to mankind, and levelled directly against the promotion of knowledge amongst the lower order of the people, which in all ages, and in all civilized countries, has been looked up to as the certain omen of a free and happy Constitution. I assure the Writer of the article, that, however 1 shall essentially differ with him on the subject he has thought proper to bring under public discussion, I am actuated by no principle-no party-no motive-but the only one which ought to actuate every honest heart; that is, charity and love to mankind. And since he has politely condescended to state that his mind is not quite made up on the subject, and that he will receive instruction from others, I shall first presume to remark, that had the education of the lower class of the community no object to be accomplished-no advan tage to be gained beyond the mere reading of newspapers, blasphemous and seditious publications; then, 1 assure him, no man in the world, sooner than myself would depreciate the system of universal education, as tending to produce a great National evil. But surely it ought never to be insisted upon, that education, in any department of life, is the necessary instigator of sedition; much less ought it to be considered as conducive, in its nature, of blasphemy to God. We know that all classes of the community have always had, and ever

will have, their political and religious principles and opinions. It is their right, and I cannot discover any law of equity which ought to go to deprive the meanest class of that community from forming and upholding theirs. I speak from conviction, and some knowledge of mankind, when I assert, that a happy and a peaceable state of Society can never be obtained by the mere suspension of Education. Setting aside the hardship of individual privation, which must inevitably be felt by the policy of such a system, it cannot, I think, be doubted, that Folly and Vice are the natural offspring of Ignorance; and however "dangerous a little learning may be" to some, general education ought never, in candour, to be charged with having such a tendency.

I have always considered that a National or universal education was of the utmost advantage to the State, as well as conducive to the happiness and comfort of mankind in general; for it is plain that men become better members of society as their minds become more enlightened to know the advantage of it:-What gives the European a decided pre-eminence over the savage Negro, but his education, and the resulting acquirements, which have taught him to respect his Maker, his Monarch, and the Constitution of his Country? On the contrary, we find the more uncultivated the mind, the more vicious in its operations; and the nearer a Nation approaches to complete civilization, we perceive invariably a better state of society and obedience amongst men. As a proof of this, we need only, perhaps, draw an inference as respects our own, and contrast our present state of society, as au educated and polished Nation, with the barbarism and vice which are found to abound in uncivilized nations, where education is unknown. Admitting that the want of Education would prevent, in some degree, the reading of such danger. ous publications as those issued by Cobbett, Wooler, Paine, &c.; can it be maintained that the lower classes would then feel no discontent? Can it be maintained too that, because Education has made lufidels and Deists, such as Hobbes, Spinoza, Voltaire, Gibbon, &c. the wisest policy of a nation would be to suppress learning altogether? As regards the

first consideration I am inclined to think (admitting Seditious publications to have their desired effect on some minds) people in general, and those more particularly so who are uneducated, form their opinions of things in a natural way from the privations which they feel; and I am further of opinion that, thus judg ing from the feelings, their conclusions and opinions, however erroneous, would be found to be precisely, or nearly, the same as in a state of the grossest ignorance. As regards the second consideration, if it is admitted that Learning has been productive of general mischief in some few instances; must it not be admitted on the other hand that Education, leaching Religion and Morality, has had a very different effect on a larger majority of the people, by making them good Christiausgood Subjects-and good Members of Society?

The Writer suggests a question, "whether universal Education would not render the press of England of necessity dependent upon Government, and in its consequence restrict its freedom "-My answer is, I sincerely believe not; for I see no reason why it should, unless indeed it is proved that ignorance is essential to the happiness and prosperity of the British Constitution, and that Sedition, Blasphemy, and Immorality, emanate solely from a National Education. I hope, however, I have adduced some reason to think otherwise, and in conclusion I can assure the Writer, who signs himself "A Practical Politician," that whilst I lament as much as any man the existence of such characters as I have alluded to whilst I am as conscious as the firmest supporter of our Church and Constitution of their tendency to corrupt the hearts and mislead the understandings of such as bave the misfortune to read and believe in their publications-whilst I readily admit that Society has suf fered much from the poison of their baneful doctrines—yet I never in my conscience can believe that a National and Universal Education ought in justice to be attributed as the productive cause of the evil. G. H. GILCHRIST,

***We have since received several other Letters in answer to "A Practical Politician," which want of room compels EDIT.

us to omit.

68. A Cursory Disquisition on the Conventual Church of Tewkesbury, and its Antiquities; with incidental Remarks on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of the Middle Ages. 8vo. pp. 119. Longman & Co.

A of

Tewkesbury was published by Mr. Dyde in 1790, and a second edition of it, improved, in 1800, (see our vol. LXI. p. 53; LXX. p. 371.) But the present volume is by no means superseded by its predecessor.

The labours of the Rev. Mr. Knight, (we regret to say the late *) Vicar of Tewkesbury, are confined to the description of the fine old Church of Tewkesbury, a fabrick which combines the different styles of architecture of many centuries. This description is so scientific, and at the same time so intelligible, that the Reader who is but little acquainted with the difference between the Saxon, the Norman, and the Pointed (commonly called the Gothic) styles of architecture, will receive abundant information and amusement; the Church of Tewkebury, in its present state, having many striking instances of each of these various styles of building.

Speaking of the "rich display of laborious nicety with which Churches and Cathedrals were finished, towards the close of the fifteenth century," Mr. Knight says,

"The tower of Gloucester is of this description: Somersetshire abounds with them, in consequence of the favour shewn to that county by Henry VII, who built their Churches,-in the florid style, as it is called, to reward their steady adherence to the Lancastrian cause."

Mr. Knight adds, in a note,

"Mr. Milner having endeavoured, with considerable success, to apply the principles of the sublime and beautiful' to those sacred fabrics which are the undoubted master-pieces and glory of the pointed order,' very pertinently observes,

I grant there is a greater profusion of ornament, and generally more exquisite workmanship, for instance, in the chapels of King's College, of Windsor, and Henry the Seventh, than in the cathedrals of

that what was gained to our ecclesiastical structures, after the middle of the fifteenth century, in beauty, was lost in sublimity, which latter quality, I have intimated, forms their proper character."

We take the following passage, as descriptive of what is of a perishable nature:

"The windows, enlarged in their scope beyond the dimensions of preceding times, and carried up into the vaulting, abound with different devices, executed in stone work, and resting upon the mullions, from the simple trefoil to the full-orbed catha

rine-wheel; but doubtless their principal

in which the figures and achievements of purpose was to contain the painted glass, many of the patrons and benefactors of the abbey, enshrined under double canopies, and armed cap-à-pie, are still preserved: that on the North side, next the tower, shews us Fitz-Hamon, the founder,

Robert, his son-in-law, first Earl of Gloucester-one of the De Clares-and

Hugh Despenser-all distinguished bytheir armorial bearings: on the opposite side, and in the same number of compartments, we may recognize, by similar insignia, the three other Earls of the line of De Clare, who inhabited Holme castle; and the Lord William Le Zouch, who, having married the sister and co- heiress of the last De Clare (relict of Hugh Despenser, sacrificed to the vengeance of the Barons in the reign of Edward the Second) became the patron of the Abbey, and was buried, with his wife's relations, in the chapel dedicated to the Virgin in the other windows, on each side and at the end of the choir, are seen Daniel and Jeremiah, Solomon and Joel; leaving a considerable space to the occupation of more apocryphal personages, male and female, whose history is only to be found in the legends and martyrologies of the Church of Rome: many different escutcheons †, in a wretched state of preser

vation, from the ravages of time, and the patchwork of modern glaziers, are still visible in these windows; they belonged to persons of rank, some of them known, and some of them unknown; whose bodies the monks procured to be buried in their Church; not without liberal payment, we may imagine, for a deliverance from purgatory, and a passport to a better world." "Thus the dead, no less than the living, were made to contribute to the replenishment of the coffers of the Abbey; candour, however, obliges us to acknowledge, whatever objection may be made to the means of their acquiring it, or to its consistencies with their monastic vow, that they made a liberal use of their opulence, as well by their eleemosynary bounty and hospitality, as by the employment which they gave to a numerous class of artificers and labourers in the prosecution of those sumptuous undertakings which almost constantly engaged them: the wealth that flowed in upon them did not stagnate, but poured over the neighbourhood in copious and refreshing streams."

(To be continued.)

"At the time before mentioned, a erowd of the natives of Dernhall and Over fled to Hugh le Fren, Justice of Chester, as he was travelling by Harebache Cross in the neighbourhood of the Abbey, asserted themselves to be free tenants, and not vassals of the soil, and laid their complaints before him respecting the oppressions of the Abbot. These proceedings terminated in the imprisonment of the ringleaders, by their Lord, until a proper submission had been made. The spirit of the natives was not, however, lessened by the confinement; and under pretences of a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas, at Hereford, they set out on an expedition to see the King in person; but this second attempt terminated likewise in imprisonment in the gaol of Nottingham, for some excesses which they had committed on the way.

"A third attempt was more successful; and Adam Hychekyn, Henry Pymeson, John Christian, and Agnes his wife, suc

ceeded in laying their grievances before the King in Parliament in London, and obtained a command to Henry de Ferrars, Justice of Chester, to enquire into the nature of their grievances and see justice done to them. The Abbot's Charters were produced, and his claims substantiated, and he received directions to inflict such chastisement on his natives as might prevent any further trouble being given to the King in the business.

"The Justice of Chester had now become an object of their hatred, and the rustics succeeded in again laying an information before their Sovereign at Windsor, that the Justice was corrupted by a hundred pounds, which the Abbot had raised by defrauding them, and a new precept was issued to Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester, to render his assistance in any possible way, to men labouring under such seemingly unjust oppression. Under this strong protestation, thirty of the natives attended Chester, and prevailed on lawyers to prefer their claims against the Abbot, who likewise attended in person. Their success was the same as usual, and on losing their cause they fled with their families and goods, and threw themselves on the protection of Queen Philippa, as the tepants of her son the Duke of Cornwall. This application had the desired effect.

The Queen entered into their cause as personal insult to her son, and addressed

a letter to the Abbot, conceived in terms which compelled him to take an immediate opportunity of making his peace at the royal court, by the exhibition of the charters of his foundation, and the decisions of the Justices of Chester.

"The Abbot was returning home through Rutlandshire, in the neighbourhood of Exton, when he perceived his way blocked up by his determined and exasperated tenantry, arranged under the command of Sir William Venables of Bradwall, who had a personal quarrel with the Abbot on his brother the baron of Kinderton's account. A skirmish immediately commenced, in which the attendant on the Abbot's palfrey, William Fynche, was shot dead with an arrow, and the rustics maintained the contest with considerable success, until the rest of the Abbot's attendants, under the direction of William Walensis and John Coton, rode up to his rescue, and effected it temporarily, but not without considerable bloodshed; the country however ('bestiales illi Rutlan

dis