I believe the most antient Collection of Letters, &c. of a Secretary of State now extant is contained in a fair Manuscript (No.211 in the Manuscript Library at Lambeth) entitled "Opusculum ex missivis litteris serenissimi principis Henrici sexti Anglie et Francie Regis, tempore venerabilis viri Thome de Bekyntona Legum Doctoris, jusdem Regis Secretarii, per eundem Regem missis: unà cum quibusdam aliis litteris ejusdem Secretarii, ac aliæ, at infra suis locis patebit: ad utilitatem simplicium in unum collectum et comPilatum." [I have not at present the date of the first and last of these Letters; but will send it; however I know they are before 1443.] This Dr. Bekynton became Bishop of Bath and Wells, Oct. 3, 1443, and died possessed of that See, Jan. 4, 1404. In the interview of Henry VIII. and Francis 1. between Guines and Ardres, on the 7th of June 1520, the King's Secretary (the first of the four Coun sellors Spiritual) ranked immediately after the Knights of the Garter, thus: The Secretary, The Master of the Rolls, Among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, No. 305, 44, is one entitled "The State of a Secretaries Place, and the Perill thereof, written by Robert Cecill the Earle of Salisbury. Fol. 869." In the same Library, No. 6035, is a MS. in quarto, containing daily Memoraudums in relation to the business of the Secretary's Office, from 25 March to 3 December 1585." The following is a list of as many of the Secretaries of the antient Kings of England as I have been able to discover in Bishop Godwin's Catalogue of the Bishops of England : Hen. 11. Silvester Giraldus Cambrensis. (Prince's Worthies of Devon, p. 12.) Ric. 1. William de Santa Maria, Canon of St. Paul, made Bishop of London, A. D. 1199. Edw. IIl. Thomas Hatfield, made Bishop of Durham, 1345. William of Wickham, made Bishop of Winton, 1367. Secretaries Fee..... 100 super Diett in Court." Those who attended the King were called, by way of distinction, Secretaries of the Commands, Regi à mandalis. This continued till 1559, whep, al a treaty of peace between the French and Spaniards, the former ob served that the Spanish ministers who treated for Philip II. called themselves "Secretaries of State;" upon which the French Secretaires des Commandements, out of emulation, assumed the same title, which thence passed into England. Some farther particulars relative to the Secretaries of State may be secu in Chamberlayne's "Present State of England." A. C. DUCAREL, THE Mr. URBAN, Thaæled, Feb. 1. HE Letter of J. W. (p. 8.), commenting on the matters which form some of the reasons given by Dissenters for differing from the estabfished Church of England, I hope, will meet the eye of every reasonable Dis senter denominated" Independent," especially those who have been brought up in that persuasion without being acquainted with the prin ciples wherein such dissension lies; for I think it will be allowed by them, that the Form of Prayer is the greatest principle of such dissension. No sects or persuasions of the Christian Religion are so inveterate against the Roman Catholic Church as the Dissenters from the Established Church of England, not only on account, say they, of the worshipping of images and paintings (which they conceive the Roman Catholicks do by this Hen. IV. Roger Walden, made Bishop bending the knee before the cross, or of London, 1404. Hen. VI. Thomas Bekynton, made Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1443. Edw. IV. James Goldwell, made Bishop of Norwich, 1472. GENT. MAG. March, 1820. any painting of our Saviour, of the Apostles, and of their numerous *Chambers's Dictionary. saints), saints), but from their prayers and other forms of their Church being performed by their priests in the Latin tongue, of which the lower orders of their bearers must be totally ignorant, consequently not able to join in the devotion. Now, Mr. Urban, I look upon the Dissenters' form of worship as bordering, in some degree, on that of the Roman Catholick, in this respect of keeping the Congregation in continual ignorance of what their mi nisters are about to utter. In consequence of their discarding every particular form of prayer in their service, they are completely at the mercy of their minister as to the words and subjects of their prayer, without it being possible to know (till the minister has uttered it) the tenor or purport of any sentence of it; consequently they must be unable to accord their minds with the spirit of the prayer to such a degree of certainty as they would if they had a form of prayer to go through; for one mind may be bent upon humbling itself before the Divine Presence, imploring forgiveness for some particular sin, at the same instant that another may be fervently bent upon offering up a thanksgiving for some particular blessing experienced, when, at that very moment, their minds are baulked (if I may use the expression), or called off to a prayer then offered up by the minister for the welfare of the Nation, or some other such general subject; whereas, had they a written form (as the Established Church has), they would be able to attune their minds to each prayer in succession. I know it has been argued that, by repeating forms of prayer so continually, minds of men become so habituated to them, that they utter them mechanically, without even thinking or knowing what they utter. That such is too often the case, is to be regretted; but that cannot apply to those who have a true sense of our religion, and who seriously feel their aweful situation when so immediately throwing themselves into the presence of their Maker; besides, what may be applied against the form of prayer (as to their being treated with indifference through continual use) will certainly apply to the Bible, by bav ing that read or explained too often; which, I am sure, no Christian will allow. Yours, &c. M. L. Mr. URBAN, You Feb. 4. YOUR Correspondent Lancashire (vol. LXXXIX. ii. p.602) may be assured that the most effectual way of producing fine short green grass is, the keeping of sheep on the land, and in winter feeding them with hay and turnips. A cow pasture will proba bly be the richer field of the two; but it will be tufty; for I think the cow rather than the ewe avoids "The green sour ringlet, Whereof the superstitious ewe not bites." If grass-land has been originally very ill laid away, unless it is of so small an extent that it may be called a grass-plot, perhaps the end will be sooner attained by ploughing it up,and with or without a crop, sowing it with attention merely to cleanliness, away with white clover and Dutch or hop clover (for the large red clover is not permanent) and rye grass, or any other favourite fashionable grass. I presume your Correspondent's fields are covered with long white grass, as the Scotch poet says, "The windle strae, Sae limber and gray Did shiver beneath their tread;" but if the land is wet, no remedy will he effectual previous to draining, and for real sound draining the cuts must be deep, and reach the fountain head, not such shallow things as may be disturbed by mould warps, or the operation of frost, &c. All sorts of manure may be applied to old bad hidebound grass without effect, and yet, except in trusty hands, the plough is a dangerous experiment; if Lancashire's land is dry and sound, the safest choice will be to winterfeed sheep with plenty of turnips. Bone manure, it is well-known, may be procured in the vicinity of large towns; there are mills for the purpose, but the bones may be very beneficially broken grossly by the hand. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, PERMI R. S. Feb. 8. ERMIT me to correct an error, into which your able Correspondent BYRO has fallen, in inserting Lord Grey de Wilton among the na tives of Bucks. The following inscription, copied from his monument at Whaddon, may perhaps be considered by your Readers as satisfactory evidence; although one Correspond ent seems inclined not to place any credit upon epitaphs. Fuller, however, whom I presume to have been your Biographer's authority, was not acquainted with Lord Grey. "To the Glorie of the God of Hostes. "Here under resteth Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton, borne at Hames in France, who from his youth trained upp under his father the Lord W. Grey in militarie affaires, served in Queen Marie's tyme at St. Quintin's and Guiennes, being then of th' age of XX yeares; here leaving his father prisoner *, bee was dispatched into Scotland for the truice at Edinboroe; and after in Queene Elizabeth's tyme served under his father at Leete +: lastly, he was implied L. Deputie into Ireland, and there he defeated the Spanish fort at Smerwick, rooted out the traytors of the English pale, and subdued the rebells in the rest of all the provinces, and having governed there about twoo years, retonrued into England, and died at Whaddon the 14th of October 1593, in the 57th yeare of his age." The latter part of this inscription confutes a note in Smeeton's re-publication of Clarke's "England's Remembrancer," which state, that Lord Grey died at his residence in Tothill-street, Westminster." If one name is substracted from the list of eminent natives, there are a few others not yet noticed by Byro: the two following may suffice for the present: John Forster, author of "Eng. land's Happiness promoted by a Plantation of Potatoes," dedicated to King Charles II. 1664, 4to. Hanslage, 1626, died 1693. Margaret Andrewes," A Virgin and a Saint," Lathbury 1667, died LATHBURIENSIS. 1690. the present state of our Coinage have given rise to some reflections in my mind on the same subject, which perhaps you will allow me to submit to your Readers through the medium of your Magazine. The absence of historical devices from the issues of the modern mint, and especially from those of Great Britain, has been frequently noticed and lamented. Indeed it is the more to be deplored, as the late extensive coinage afforded an illustrious opportunity of remedying the defect, which every friend to the real glory of his country must be sorry to have seen altogether neglected. Instead of reverses that would have tended to memorialize the events of the past reign (one of the most remarkable of those which are recorded in the page of history) we are presented with the perpetual recurrence of the Royal arms, enclosed indeed, on the halfcrown pieces, within the collar of the Garter, but exhibiting no other material variety. To this monotonous appearance the sovereigns and crown-pieces do indeed present some contrast-but the George and Dragon, which occupy the field on the reverses of the latter, bear a greater resemblance to a Perseus or Bellerophon after the antique, than to the tutelary Saint of Britain. A representation of that admirable specimen of modern architecture, the Waterloo Bridge, would have formed a more interesting device-and, accompanied by such a motto as GALLI DEVICTI, would have recorded one of the most illustrions events of modern history, as well as the form of one of our finest edifices: the date of the battle might have appeared in the exergue. The venerable British Oak would have been equally ornamental, and an excellent companion to the Palm of Judea and the Silphin of Cyrene. It is well known that the admirable suggestions contained in the 96th paper of the Guardian gave rise to *This William Lord Grey was obliged to ransom himself by the sale of the best part of his patrimony, Wilton Castle, Lathbury, &c. + Leith, where he was wounded in the shoulder. Tothill-street, though now one of the most low parts of the metropolis, has a strong claim to notice; it is the birth-place of Betterton; and in its vicinity, if not upon the very site, the celebrated John Mansel, Ld. Chancellor to Hen. III. feasted that, Monarch, with Alexander King of Scotland and Margaret his Queen, in 1256. § See her "Life," and Dr. Gibbons's "Pious Women." those those wonders of modern coinage, the farthings of Queen Anne; which, as Pinkerton truly remarks in his Essay on Coins and Medals, "will do honour to the engraver, Mr. Croker, to the end of time." I am not so sanguine or presumptuous as to imagine that any remarks of mine will lead to a similar result, however desirable. Still I cannot belp indulging a faint hope that the attention of our Government will in process of time be directed to this object, and redeem the character of our national coinage from the reproach of poverty of invention, under which it so justly labours at present, and which is by no means attributable to any want of talent to execute such a design, as may be clearly proved by the inspection of Mudie's admirable series of medals, which are indeed an honour to any age, and an ornament to any cabinot-but which, not being intended for circulation, cannot hereafter be referred to as examples of numismatic excellence on the part of the directors of our mint, nor form what the coinage of a nation ought to exhibit, and what the wise policy of the Romans always contrived that theirs should be, an imperishable and universal record of national history. Yours, &c. A CONSTANT READER. An Account of his Life and Writings may be seen in the Notes to Hutchinson's History of Cumberland. Mr. Thomas Sanderson, a native also of Sebergham, has published a small volume of poems, many of which are very elegant. Mr. Sanderson was also the editor of Relph's Poems, lately published at Carlisle, and to which he annexed an account of his life, and a pastoral elegy on his death. Mr. Sanderson is still living in a most beautiful rural situation upon the banks of the river Line in Cumberland. Mr. Robert Anderson, another Cumberland poet, is still living in Carlisle. Some time ago he published a volume of poems, entitled "Cumberland Ballads." In these he accurately describes the manners and rustic sports of his native county, in its own dialect. Another edition, with considerable additions of this gentleman's poems, is about shortly to be published by subscription. Mr. Robert Carlisle, a native of Carlisle, is still living. He has arrived at considerable eminence as a Painter; and is no less celebrated as a votary of the Muses. He has published several detached poems. Mr. Carlisle, if memory does not deceive me, is also author of two Novels, "The Rose of Cumberland," and "The Heir of Gilslaud." The late Miss Susan Blamire, of Mr. URBAN, Kellington, March 10. Thuckwood-nook, near Carlisle, from IN addition to the list of living and deceased Poets, inserted in your last Supplement, p. 595, I would wish to subjoin the Rev. Francis Wrangham, 1790; and a few more names of persons, who, though their poems are, many of them, written in a provincial dialect, are by no means unworthy of a place in a catalogue of British Poets. The first candidate I shall propose for this honour is the late Rev. Josiah Relph, for some time perpetual Curate of Sebergham, a small rural villagesituated near Carlisle. His poe. tical works were first published shortly after his death, under the superintendance of the Rev. T. Denton, of Ashted in Surrey. Mr. Denton, I have been informed, was also himself a poet. A second edition was also published a few years ago at Carlisle. The chief and best of them are Pas. torals, written in the dialect of his native county (Cumberland). what I have seen of her compositions, "How sweet to the heart is the thought of borrow A baim for the grief that afflicts us toWhen wearisome sickness has taught me to languish [its wing, For health and the comforts it bears on Let me hope, oh! how soon would it lessen my anguish, [bring. That To morrow will ease and serenity When When travelling alone, quite forlorn, unbefriended, Sweet the hope that To-morrow my When six days of labour each other suc- ing, Beholds a To-morrow of endless deThe Infidel, then, sees no joyous To-mor row, Yet he knows that his moments are basting away; Poor wretch! can be feel without heartrending sorrow, separate existence, so far am I, for iny own part, from seeing any just reason to believe, or even to suspect, that, but for its sensible activity (or power of voluntary motion), I do not at all perceive on what valid ground we can pretend to ascribe to any earthly creature the possession of a sentient nature: whilst, wherever the former principle is known with certainty to have been imparted, the latter (without the most palpable absurdity) can never be imagined to have been withholden. not well-founded; to talk, in any case But, whether this opinion be or be whatever, of one specific faculty or quality being superadded to another, has always appeared to me a mode of speaking altogether unphilosophical. For it seems, by necessary implication, to favour the long-exploded doctrine of abstract principles, of faculties and That bis joys and his life will expire qualities subsisting independently of with To-morrow. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, OMICRON. March 12. IT in laid down in page 2. of the Quarterly Review for Nov. 1819, "as the most probable conclusion to which our reason can carry us, that life in general is some principle of activity added by the will of Omnipolence to organized structure; and that in man, who is endowed with an intelligent faculty in addition to this principle possessed by other organized beings, to life and structure an imma terial soul is superadded." Now, highly as I both approve the principles and estimate the talents of this writer, I can by no means induce myself to acquiesce in the correctness of the preceding doctrine. I object to it, in toto, on the following ground, viz. that of the phænomena for which it professes to account, it assigns a cause wholly gratuitous, and unneces sarily complicated. I readily indeed. acknowledge, that, of every animal with which we are acquainted, both the active and the perceptive powers and qualities are so intimately conBected with organized structure, as, for their actual exercise, to depend entirely on it. But, that in the instance of any individual inhabitant of earth, either of the above-mentioned properties is ever found in a state of any actual hypostasis or substance. Whereas, nothing whatever is, in fact, more obviously inconsistent with the suggestions of right reason, than to impute to any two classes of living creatures the least essential difference in their several principles of action and perception; without mentally deriving such difference from a correspondent dissimilarity in the ori ginal constitution of their respective natures. But, if such essential diversity in the original constitutions (or elementary substances) of different terrestrial animals be thus indisputably certain, why talk, in any case, of one principle or faculty being superadded to another? Is it not, beyond comparison, more consonant with the spirit and the language of sound philosophy, to cooceive and represent all the various properties and powers which distinguish any given class of living beings, as perfectly coeval? (I mean, as all, ab origine, equally inherent in the essence peculiar to their kind?) than to regard and speak of them as the respective attributes of different generic natures intimately related and combined? Let us, for the purpose of illustration, instance in the two following completely distinct properties, perception and activity. These two properties (in a lngher or lower degree attributable to every animated being) reason |
