manor of Finsbury Farm consisted of three great fields, which were named Bonhill Field, Mallow Field, and the High Field, or Meadow Ground. In consequence of the improvements thus made in the estate, the rent was, in 1555, raised to about £30 per annum, and a lease for 90 years granted. In 1549, the charnel-house of old St. Paul's was, by order of the Duke of Somerset, destroyed, and more than a thousand cart-loads of bones were deposited in Finsbury Field. Three windmills were afterwards erected thereupon. Early in the reign of King James I. the laystall was done away, and in the mayoralty of Sir Leonard Halliday the whole plain was laid out into walks. Here the citizens met for amusement. Here the apprentices, a powerful and well-banded body, spent Shrove Tuesday and other holidays in the enjoyment of varied sports. In a satire directed against the London apprentices in 1675, we read, 66 They 'r mounted high, contemn the humble play In Finsbury-fieldes. No! 'tis their brave intent In 1622, the Artillery Company removed from Billingsgate to Moorfields. The train-bands, archers and other citizens met here for military exercise. But sadder scenes were soon beheld in the pleasant grounds of Finsbury. When the dreadful plague broke out in 1665, the Bunhill Field was used as a pest-field for the hasty interment of the bodies that were collected by the dead-carts on that side of London. Most awful is the picture given by Defoe of London at this time, which, though not authentic as a "Journal of the Plague Year," is doubtless an accurate picture of the stricken city. He mentions the Finsbury pit as the scene of the death of some wretched persons who rushed thither under the influence of delirium : "There was a strict order to prevent people coming to those pits, and that was only to prevent infection; but after some time that order was more necessary, for people that were infected and near their end, and delirious also, would run to those pits, wrapped in blankets or rugs, and throw themselves in, and, as they said, bury themselves. I cannot say that the officers suffered any willingly to lie there; but I have heard that in a great pit in Finsbury, in the parish of Cripplegate, it lying open there to the fields, for it was not then walled about, they came and threw themselves in, and expired there before they threw any earth upon them; and that when they came to bury others, and found them there, they were quite dead, though not cold."-Defoe's Works, edited by Hazlitt, Vol. II. p. 22. As soon as the plague had ceased its ravages, this pit and the ground about it was inclosed with a brick wall, at the sole charge of the city of London, in the mayoralty of Sir John Lawrence. The gates were not put up till the following year, in the mayoralty of Sir Thomas Bloudworth.* It was in the mayoralty of the latter that the great fire of London took place; and we have in Pepys's Diary an account of this magistrate's distraction, saying, in reply to an order from the king to pull down houses, "Lord! what can I do? I am spent; people will not obey me. I have been pulling down houses, but the fire overtakes * See Turner's History of Remarkable Providences, folio, 1697, p. 158. us faster than we can do it." Both Pepys and Evelyn visited Moorfields, where hundreds of houseless wretches had taken refuge, watching over the wreck of their goods. (Pepys, III. 32.) Mr. Evelyn's description is brief and touching: "The poor inhabitants were dispersed about St. George's Fields and Moorefields, as far as Highgate," (this would of course include Finsbury and Bunhill Fields,) " and several miles in circle, some under tents, some under miserable huts and hovells, many without a rag or any necessary utensils, bed or board, who from delicateness, riches, and easy accommodations in stately and well-furnished houses, were now reduced to extreamest misery and poverty."-II. p. 267. From a letter in MS. now before us, written by one Jo. Buxton, and dated Sept. 8, the following passage is taken: "It has been a vast charge to remove our goods into Moorfields, where we lay for 2 nights and dayes before wee could get habitation." It was probably the intention of the Corporation of London to preserve a burying-place in Finsbury for public use, in case of any return of the plague. But when their fears from this quarter were removed, they granted a lease of it to one Tindall, who opened it for the use of those Nonconformists who felt repugnance to the burial-service in the Book of Common Prayer. The exact period of this transaction, and the conditions of the lease, are unknown. Mr. Jones states, incorrectly, as we shall presently shew, that no interment took place earlier than the year 1668. It is matter of great regret that the register of burials in this new ground was kept very slovenly, and with an entire absence of literary exactness. Tindall, the lessee, refused to give to Maitland, the careful historian of London, any return of the number of burials in any one year; but Maitland was assured by the grave-digger that they amounted to 700 or 800 annually. It appears from the details now collected, that Bunhill Field was marked by a succession of tragic events and calamities which, by a natural association of ideas, fitted it to be a place for the burial of the dead. It occurs to us as by no means improbable that prior to the plague of 1665 it was used as a pest-field, and hence it is possible it may have received the name of Bone-hill Field, which the tendency of English speech to pronounce the early syllable of a word shortly, would soon corrupt into Bunhill. We now proceed to offer a few illustrations of the biographies contained, or that ought to be contained, in the Bunhill Memorials. Following the order of time, the first name is Henry Jessey. It is a singular fact that Jessey was buried in or near to Bunhill Fields prior to its being set apart as a Nonconformist cemetery, and even two years prior to its use as a pest-field. Anthony Wood, who seldom controls his ill-nature and prejudice when writing about a Nonconformist, has the following statement in his Fasti respecting Jessey:-" At length paying his last debt to nature, 4 Sept. 1663, being then accounted the oracle and idol of the faction, he was on the 7 of the same month laid to sleep with his fathers, in a hole made in the yard joyning to Old Bedlam, near Moorfields, in the suburbs of London, attended with a strange medley of fanatics (mostly Anabaptists) that met at the very point of time, all at the same instant, to do honour to their departed brother." (Fasti Oxon., I. 436.) Calamy's account of his funeral is, "Three days after (his death), he was carried from Woodmonger's Hall, in Duke's Place, to the new burying-yard, the place of his interment. Upon the fame whereof, several thousands of persons of several persuasions assembled to accompany him thither, and made great lamentation over him."-Calamy's Continuation, p. 50. If Calamy's authority be accepted, it is clear that the Nonconformist burying-yard of Bunhill was established in 1663. Mr. Jones has given no attention to this part of the subject, and has not, apparently, observed the disagreement of the two statements, that "the first interment therein was in 1668," and that Mr. Jessey was buried there in 1663. It is known that in some places the men who declined conformity in 1662, were refused the rites of burial in consecrated ground. If in justification of such an outrage their successors pleaded conscience, they may be truly said to have strained out a gnat after swallowing the Book of Common Prayer. Is it not probable that, a sudden emergency arising in the case of Mr. Jessey or some other equally unpopular Nonconformist,* an unauthorized interment took place in Bunhill Fields, and that the Nonconformist ministers of London afterwards used their influence with the city authorities to procure a lease, which, after the delay inevitable where a public body is one of the parties concerned, was granted to Tindal? Henry Jessey was well deserving of a reverent burial. He was a scholar, and his heart throbbed with a philanthropy which knew nothing of the bonds of sect or party. He was born at West Rowton, in the N. Riding of Yorkshire, 1601, his father being a clergyman. He was educated at Cambridge, and became a preacher. "He removed," says Wood, "to several places, but was not permitted to tarry long in any, because he was zealously averse to conformity." In middle life he adopted the opinions of the Baptists, and received baptism at the hands of Mr. Hanserd Knollys. His new opinions in no way affected the catholicity of his spirit or worship. Neal's account of this matter is very remarkable :-"In 1635, accompanying his patron (Sir Matthew Boynton, of Yorkshire) to London, he was invited to be pastor of the congregation (of Independents) formed in 1616 by Mr. Henry Jacob. This his modesty for some time led him to decline; but after many prayers and much consideration he accepted the invitation, and continued in this post till his death. Soon after, the sentiments of the Baptists were embraced by many of his society. This put him upon studying the controversy; and the result was, that after great deliberation, many prayers, and frequent conferences with pious and learned friends, he altered his sentiments, first concerning the mode Where was John Biddle, who died within a month of the fatal Bartholomewday, 1662, buried? Anthony Wood, after speaking of the "great grief of his disciples," states that his body was "conveyed to the burial-place joining to Old Bedlam, in Moorfields, near London, and was there deposited by the brethren, who soon after took care that an altar monument of stone should be erected over his grave, with an inscription thereon." The late Mr. J. T. Rutt supposed (Mon. Repository, XIII.) that Wood intended the new churchyard in Pettit France, which was given by the city for the burial of strangers, and consecrated June 4, 1617. But the words of Wood leave little doubt that the burial-place of Biddle and Jessey was the same. If Jessey's name is rightly included in the "Bunhill Memorials," Biddle's must not be excluded. and then the subjects of baptism. But he maintained the same temper of friendship and charity towards other Christians, not only as to conversation, but church communion. When he visited the churches in the North and West of England, he laboured to promote the spirit of love and union among them, and was a principal person in setting up and maintaining, for some time, a meeting of some eminent men of each denomination in London. He divided his labours according to the liberality of his temper. In the afternoon of every Lord's-day, he was among his own people. In the morning, he usually preached at St. George's church, Southwark; and once in the week at Ely House, and at the Savoy, to the maimed soldiers."-History of the Puritans, IV. 411, 412. The combination of qualities in Mr. Jessey's moral and intellectual character was very remarkable. With uncompromising Nonconformity he united diffusive liberality; with habits of indefatigable study he combined energetic philanthropy. He was deeply interested in procuring a new and correct translation of the Scriptures, and devoted to this object a large portion of his life. But it is supposed that posterity never profited by his labours in this direction. He was profoundly versed in Scripture, and from his wonderful memory of every chapter and verse in the Bible, received the name of "the walking concordance." He was a warm friend of children, and wrote several books for their instruction; amongst them, a Catechism entirely in the language of Scripture. The poor found in him a generous benefactor, as many as thirty families depending upon him for assistance. His wealthy friends made him their almoner, and for their guidance he carried about with him a classified list of cases of distress, the subjects of which were personally known to him. He felt a very deep interest in the Jews, to whom he addressed "A Consolatory Letter," entitled, "The Glory and Salvation of Judah and Israel." His interest for these elder brethren included their temporal as well as their spiritual condition. When, in consequence of a war, the Jews resident at Jerusalem were cut off from the bounty of some of their wealthy people in the Northern cities of Europe, and were consequently suffering great privations, Mr. Jessey raised amongst his friends the sum of three hundred pounds, and sent it to Jerusalem for distribution: with this he sent his appeals in behalf of the religion of Jesus Christ, translated into Hebrew. The motto over this good man's library shews his love of study. It has been often quoted: AMICE, QUISQUIS HUC ADES; AUT AGITO PAUCIS, AUT ABI, AUT ME LABORANTEM ADJUVA.-H. J. It grieves and sickens the heart to read that a man of exemplary goodness and wisdom like Jessey should be the victim of repeated persecutions, be arrested by pursuivants, and more than once thrown into prison. But in the days of her power, the Church of England thought no amount of wisdom or goodness a sufficient set-off against the sin of Nonconformity. He was, at the close of 1660, involved with his friend William Kiffin, the eminent London merchant and Baptist preacher, in a charge of treasonable correspondence, consequent on the death of the Princess of Orange. A forged letter was produced in evidence against them; but with so little skill and regard to dates had it been contrived, that the prisoners were enabled at once to prove to the Judge, Foster, its supposititious character. Edwards, in his noted Gangræna, unites Mr. Jessey with Mr. Knowles as joint actors in an attempt to restore a blind woman to sight by anointing her with oil and prayer to God. The alleged scene of this attempt to work a miracle was a Baptist chapel in Aldgate. Knowles, though minister of an Independent church, was an Antitrinitarian. It is not impossible that Mr. Jessey's love and study of the Scriptures had given him some sympathy with this remarkable person, who, like himself, was a student of scripture, a man of fearless mind and of active benevolence. Bunhill Fields are, as might be anticipated, rich in the dust of ministers ejected on the Restoration and by the Act of Uniformity. Between thirty and forty of these holy men are named in the Bunhill Memorials. The list, we imagine, is far from being complete. The pages of Calamy and Wood would, we suspect, supply many names not here mentioned. That of Richard Fairclough, the ejected minister of Mells, has been already mentioned. In Anthony Wood's Diary, under the date July 10, 1682, is this entry:-"Mr. John" (Richard, see Fasti Oxon.) "Fairclough (vulgo Featley), a nonconforming minister, was buried in the fanatical burying-place, near the Artillery Yard, London; five hundred persons accompanied him to his grave, amongst whom Dr. Tillotson and Stillingfleet, and other conformable ministers, were present." Tillotson was at this time Dean, and Stillingfleet was Canon Residentiary, of St. Paul's. Deans, canons and rectors, could not now be induced to attend the funeral of a Nonconformist brother in unconsecrated ground! Richard Fairclough was one of a race of honest Nonconformists who gave up Church livings of the value of £1000 a-year. Tillotson succeeded to the rectory of Keddington, in Suffolk, on the ejection of Samuel Fairclough, the father. It is recorded that he rejoiced at "being succeeded by a person of such eminent abilities, candour and moderation." The friendship formed under these peculiar circumstances with the father was continued to the son, who is also recommended to our regard as the fellow-collegian and personal friend of Dr. Whichcote, and as the subject of one of John Howe's beautiful funeral discourses. Tillotson, though he saw reasons to conform, never, in his highest elevation, forgot the spirit of his Puritan education. What Oliver Heywood wrote of John Angier, may be applied to Archbishop Tillotson: "He had Catholic principles, and loved aliquid Christi, any thing of Christ wherever he saw it, and continued this GOOD OLD PURITAN SPIRIT to his dying day." He was the personal friend of Firmin, the Unitarian. He attended the week-day services of John Gosnold, the eloquent Baptist preacher. He published an excellent Protestant tract, written by Henry Pendlebury, the founder of Presbyterian Nonconformity at Bury, in Lancashire. When William Penn, through his imprudent dealings with the Court of James II., fell under public suspicion of being himself a Roman Catholic, Dr. Tillotson, having satisfied himself of its injustice, gave public expression to his opinion, and declared his full concurrence with Penn in two important principles, abhorring equally with him obedience upon authority without conviction, and destroying them that differ from us for God's sake. He was entitled (as few |