Account of Navestock Parish, in Essex. July 8. AVESTOCK Parish is situated in the Hundred of Ongar, and County of Essex, at the distance of about four miles and a half from Brentwood: nearly the same from Chipping Ongar; eight from Epping; and seven from Romford. Its boundaries on the East, are the parishes of Doddinghurst and Kelvedon Hatch; on the South, South Weald and Romford; towards the West, Stapleford Abbots; whilst the Roding river divides it from Stauford Rivers on the North. The soil in general is rich, though of different sorts, nor are the houses numerous, and husbandry appears to be the chief employment of the inhabitants. Its original name, like that of most others, is written various ways in the old records.

18

Account of Navestock Parish, in Essex.

tained for him accumulated favours from the one, and the heaviest penalties from the other. His remains were interred within Borley Church, as were also those of his wife, Frances, daughter of Sir Edward Neville, Knt. of Aldington Park, in Kent, third son of George Baron Abergavenny, 1476, with their third daughter, Magdalene, married to Sir John Southcote, Knt. of Witham, co. Essex. *

His descendant, Sir Henry, the heir apparent of Sir Charles, by Helen, daughter of Sir Francis Englefield, of Englefield, Bart. was born in 1659, and in 1685 was created by James II. Baron Waldegrave, of Chewton; in 1686 Comptroller of the Household; and in 1687 Lord Lieutenant of Salop. Being of the same religion and marrying the natural daughter of that illfated monarch, by Arabella Churchill, sister of John, the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, he became the zealous partizan of all the violent and arbitrary measures of his father-in-law's inauspicious reign, insomuch that, when the Revolution of 1688 took place, it became advisable to withdraw to Paris, where he died the year following, 1689. Navestock Hall was erected by his eldest son and successor, James the first Earl of Waldegrave; and after being for many years the constant residence of his posterity, was pulled down by the present Earl, and the materials sold by public auction in the month of March 1811.

The Church (a view of which from the N. E. is hereto annexed, see Plate II.) is dedicated to St. Thomas, and consists of a body and South aisle, and to the North a door of curious antique Saxon workmanship; the belfry is small and of wood, as the spire (in common with most of those in this county) is likewise.

A mural monument of considerable height, upon the North side of the Chancel, has the following Inscription, written by her late Royal Highness Maria Duchess of Gloucester, and Countess Dowager of Waldegrave. "Under this monument are the remains of the two first Earls of Waldegrave, Father and Son, both of the name of James, both

For further particulars of him see "Morant's History of Essex," vol. II. p. 318, or the 8vo. edit. vol. IV. p. 46. În the church of Borley is a sumptuous monument to the memory of himself and wife.

[July,

servants of that excellent Prince King
George the Second, both by him creased
Knights of the most noble order of the
Garter.

"James, the Father, was employed in
Foreign Embassies to the Courts of Vienna
and Versailles by George the First, and by
George the Second. He did his Court and
Country honour and service, and was re-
spected wherever his negotiations made him
known. In his private capacity, the affabi-
lity and benevolence of his disposition, and
the goodness of his understanding, made
him beloved and esteemed throughout his
life.
The antiquity of his illustrious and
noble family is equal to that of most that
may be named in any country or time, and
needs not to be here recited.

"He died of the dropsy and jaundice on the 11th of April 1741, aged 57.

"His eldest son, James, before mentioned, (and also interred within this vault) died of the small pox, on the 8th of April 1763, aged 48.

"These were his years in number, what they were in wisdom hardly belongs to time; the universal respect paid to him while he lived, and the universal lamentation at his He was for death, are ample testimonies of a character not easily to be paralleled. many years the chosen friend and favourite of a King, who was a judge of men, yet never that King's minister, though a man of business, knowledge, and learning, beyond most of his contemporaries. But ambition visited him not, and contentment filled his hours. Appealed to for his arbitration by various contending parties in the State, upon the highest differences, his judgment always tempered their dissentions, while his own principles, which were the freedom of the people, and the maintenance of the laws, remained steadfast and unshaken, and his influence unimpaired, though exercised through a long series of struggles that served as foils to his disinterested virtue. The constancy and firmness of his mind were proof against every trial but the distresses of mankind, and therein he was as a rock with many springs, and his generosity was as the water that flows from it, nourishing the plains beneath. wise in the first degree of wisdom, master of a powerful and delicate wit, had a ready conception and as quick parts as any man that ever lived, yet never lost his wisdom in his wit, nor his coolness by provocation; he smiled at things that drive other men to anger. He was a stranger to resentment, not to injuries; those feared him most that loved him, but he was revered by all; for he was as true a friend as ever bore that name, and as generous an enemy as ever bad man tried. He was in all things undisturbed, modest, placid, and humane; to him, broad day-light and the commerce of

He was

the

1823.]

Account of Navestock Parish, in Essex.

the world were as easy as the night and solitude; to him, the return of night and solitude must have ever been the season of the best reflection; to him, this now deep night must, through the merits of his Redeemer Jesus Christ, be everlasting peace and joy.

"O Death! thy sting is to the living! O Grave! thy victory is over the unburied, the wife, the child, the friend that is left behind.

"Thus saith the Widow of this incomparable man, his once most happy wife; now the faithful remembrancer of all his virtues, Maria Countess Dowager Waldegrave, who inscribes this tablet to his perpetual memory."

The noble Earl whose character is delineated in the warm panegyrical language of the above epitaph, was Governor of our late revered Sovereign George III. when Prince of Wales, and author of "Historical Memoirs, from 1754 to 1757;" a work of very considerable interest and merit, and first published in 1821.

On the same side of the chancel, but nearer to the altar, is another mural tablet, on which is the following.

On the summit is an urn, and at the base the Arms of Waldegrave in a lozenge, impaled with the Royal Arms of King James II.

Nearly opposite to the first of these is a beautiful monument executed by Bacon, and erected in Sept. 1812. It represents a Mother weeping over the canteen of her Son, shipwrecked on the shore, with his name attached to it; at the top, a Boy placed on a rock, and gradually unfurling the British Standard, and underneath:

"In memory of the Honourable Edward Waldegrave, third son of George fourth Earl of Waldegrave, Lieutenant of the 7th Light Dragoons; born August 28, 1787, died January 22, 1809. He greatly distinguished himself in the British Army in Spain, in the campaign in which Sir John

19

Moore commanded and lost his life. He was selected by the General of his division* for a service demanding talent, intrepidity, and address, which he completely accomplished. This noble youth had scarcely begun to display those virtues and abilities which engaged the attachment of all his comrades in arms, when, being shipwrecked off Falmouth, in returning from Corunna, he was called, we humbly hope, to exchange earthly honour for a crown of immortality, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

On the other side of the Southern window:

"This monument is erected by Captain John Sheffield, in testimony of his great affection and gratitude to the memory of HENRY SHEFFIELD, of London, merchant, his dutiful and affectionate son, who departed this life the 6th day of August 1718, at Canton, in China, and lyes there interred, being chief supra cargo of the ship Carnarvon, in the service of the Honourable the East India Company, aged 41 years, being grandson to John Sheffield, who lyes interred near this place."

"Near this place lyeth Mary, (mother of the above-named Henry Sheffield,) ætat 84Obiit decimo sexto die Novembris, anno domini 1724."

On the Northern side of the chan

cel, is the cemetery of the Waldegrave family; and besides the noble members of it already recited, the following have been interred within its walls, but no tablet has hitherto been placed in this church to their memories:

"John, the third Earl of Waldegrave, General in the army; Colonel of the Coldstream regiment of Foot Guards; Governor of Plymouth, and Lord Lieutenant of Essex; buried October 29th, 1784. And Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of Earl Gower, and sister of Granville first Marquis of Stafford, K. G. May the 5th, in the same year. Also two of their daughters, Ladies Amelia

and Frances; both died in June 1768.

"Lady Charlotte Waldegrave, second and posthumous daughter of George the fourth Earl, and Lady Elizabeth Laura, his wife, eldest daughter of James the second Earl, K. G. and her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, here interred on January 23, 1790.

"Maria, daughter of Admiral the Honourable William Waldegrave [now Lord Radstock,] buried December 4th, 1791.

"William-Arthur, an infant son of JohnJames the sixth and present Earl, on May 6th, 1821.

"Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of Car

The General of his division was the present Marquis of Anglesea, K. G. then Lord Paget.

20

Account of Navestock Parish-Dr. Haslam's Work.

digan, eldest daughter of John third Earl of Waldegrave, and widow of James fifth Earl of Cardigan, buried July 1st, 1823."

Besides the capital manor of Navestock, there are likewise two subordinate ones. Boys Hall stands a mile East of the church. The first mention we find of it was in the reign of Henry VIII. Andrew Prior held it of the Dean and Canons of St. Paul's, London, as of their Prebend of Navestock, by fealty and yearly rent of 17s. In 1565 William Tusser and Charles Belfield conveyed it by indenture to John Greene, Esq. descended from the ancient family of the Greene's, of Greens Norton, in Northamptonshire, ancestor of John Greene, Esq. educated at St. John's College, Cambridge; chosen Recorder of London in March 1658; and father of John Greene, Esq. Serjeant at Law, Oct. 1st, 1700, who died December 12, 1755, aged

81.

On the death of John Greene, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq. who died 14th January 1752, this manor was bequeathed to his kinsman, Maurice Greene, Doctor of Music, of whom it was purchased by James the second Earl of Waldegrave.

Lost Hall was in John Sedley, Esq. who died 12th Aug. 1581. In 1654 it was purchased of Sir Win. Sedley, Bart. of Northfleet, Kent, by John Greene, Esq. and was sold with the former, to the same proprietor. Slades (which is only a reputed manor,) was in Henry Torrell, and at his death on January 7th, 1525, he held it of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's; afterwards, Humphrey, his son, on his decease, which happened Sept. 12th, 1544, held it of King Henry VIII. in whose hands the lordship of Navestock then was. The Howland family are the next proprietors of it on record; they resided at Stone Hall, in Little Canfield, Essex; but it has passed with the others; and thus the best and chief part of the parish is now appertaining to the Earl of Waldegrave.

Trinity College, Oxford, has been for some years in possession of the great tythes, and make the Vicar lessee of the same, who pays to the College a small quit-rent, and a fine certain of 607. per annum.

The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's induct the Vicar whom Trinity College

presents.

Yours, &c.

J. E. F.

I

[July,

Mr. URBAN, Enfield, July 9

HAVE lately perused with muchsatisfaction an ingenious work by John Haslam, M.D. late of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge; formerly President of the Royal Medical, Natural History, and Chemical Societies of Edinburgh. It is intituled "Sound Mind, or Contributions to the Natral History and Physiology of the Huzman Intellect."

Dr. Haslam's former publications. on the Aberrations of Human Intellect, have placed him high in the estimation of the medical publick; and his present Work will, I have no doubt, extend his reputation. In this, an attentive and philosophical reader will find much to exercise his thinking and reasoning faculties; and will agree with the Doctor in the fine sentiment with which he concludes his Essay:

"When we consider the attributes of the Deity, and the nature of man, we can never be induced to conclude that the tribunals of this world are the courts of final retribution.. Man bears in his intellectual construction the badge of moral responsibility, and consequently the germ of future existence; and the only incentive that can urge him to the advancement of science, and the practice of virtue, is the reward that Revelation has unfolded."

At a future period, I may perhaps offer some remarks on the more interesting parts of Dr. Haslam's truly ingenious publication. At present I will confine myself to the less important consideration of what he somewhat ungraciously designates "the dullness and drudgery of verbal criticism." I say ungraciously, because in the course of his Disquisitions, Dr. H. has evinced talents well calculated to rescue the study of etymology and philology from the charge of dullness.

At page 63, he observes,

"Considering the history of our own language, and the nature of its composition, we are enabled satisfactorily to investigate not only the primitive sense of our terms, but likewise their exact signification, in the languages from whence we imported them: for there still remain sufficient authentic materials in our Saxon and Norman records to verify their original meaning. If we enquire into the causes which have operated to deflect these terms from their primitive sense, we shall find authority to be the principal source of such corruption; and this infirmity appears to have pervaded most of the languages of

those

On the bad Composition of Paper.