Imperialis Academia Leopoldino-Carolina Naturæ Curiosorum Pharmacia, Chirurgiæ, et artis obstetricia Practico Reg. Soc. Scient. Lond., Soc. Antiquar., ac Linnean, Londin. S. P. D. Quod statim a primordiis suis symbolum elegit Academia nostra NUNQUAM OTIOSUS, hoc ipsum ut cuncti in eamdem recepti vel recipiendi, sedulo observarint, et perpetuo observent, vehementer exoptat, atque illud quoque de iis quos noviter ad collegium suum invitat, aut qui generoso instinctu ad societatem feruntur, aut qui a collegis commendati sunt, subsumit. Sunt enim inexhaustæ rerum naturæ, et medica scientiæ, et artis divitiæ, ut cuilibet prostet aliquid, in quo industria sua se exercent. Atque cum unius hominis, aut paucorum, non sit in tantum tamque amplissimum campum excurrere, et cuncta in eo perscrutari, et sint mille species, et rerum diacolor usus; utique complurium bonarum mentium inclinatione, labore strenuo, et consociatione opus est. Quapropter non poterit non exoptatus gratusque evenire nobis accessus tuus, vir doctissime atque experientissime! Quo magis eruditio tua, et in perscrutandis naturæ operibus admirandis, præcipue vero in indagandis avium insectorumque speciebus, studium, non nobis solum, sed toto orbi literario cognita perspectaque jam exsistunt. Esto igitur ex merito nunc quoque noster! Esto Academiæ Cæsareæ Naturæ Curiosorum decus et augmentum, macte virtute tua et industria, et accipe in signum nostri ordinis, cui te nunc adscribo, ex antiqua nostra consuetudine, cognomen ARISTOPHILI, quo collegam amicissimum te hodie primum salutamus. Salve in consortio nostro! Salve inquam, et effice ut in posterum tua, nunquam otiosa, suavi doctaque sodalitate læti frui diu queamus. Vale. Dabam Erlangæ d. vI Octobris A. R. S. CIOIOCCLXXXXIIII. D. Io. Christianus Daniel Schreber, S. R. I. Nobilis, Acad. Imper. Nat, Cur. Præses, Consiliarius Archiater. et Comes Palatinus Cæsareus rel. "Non Otiosus is, I think, a well adapted motto for a scientific society; and suitable would it be were it subjoined to the armorial shield of Mr. Latham, who is always busy. In giving him the name of Aristophilus, Præses Schreber and Co. do not appear to me to have been peculiarly fortunate, it not being a denomination so appropriate as it ought. Surely Ornithophilus, or Ornitholegus, would have been more characteristic for a naturalist who was remarkably assiduous in the collecting of birds, judicious in his mode of preserving them, and skilful in his representation of them. The British Critic, in the review of the Linnean Transactions, have, I observe, noticed his having communicated a good and solid paper, which will not detract from his well-earned fame. "Bishop Horsley has lately inquired after the Charter of Foundation of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester, with a view to the instituting of a suit in the Ecclesiastical Court against culprit Cooper, Lady Cadogan's paramour, whom he is determined, if within his power, to eject from his Prebendal Stall. His Lordship, I understand, conceives that Mr. Cooper is absolutely subject to him as ordinary by virtue of the declaration of canonical obedience, but some doubt whether the Bishop can thereby derive a power of removal from a freehold; and if he cannot, I am not aware of there being any statute of the Dean and Chapter that will confer this ability; and the creditors of the delinquent will, for their own sakes, keep him if possible in possession of a preferment of the yearly value of £.200. The Bishop waits for the decision in Doctors' Commons on the suit commenced by Lord Cadogan before he begins his vigorous attack. He means to prosecute in his own Court, though it is a method of proceeding contrary to the opinion of the civilians. His Lordship has, however, intimated that he was sanctioned by the highest authority, and it is supposed that Lord Thurlow is his adviser; but it may be questioned whether it may not be more prudent to be guided by the practitioners in the Commons than by the private conversation of a common lawyer, however respectable he may have been in Westminster-hall, "The Kentish Register for February 1795 is, according to the advertisement, embellished with an elegant view of Denne Hill, the seat of Hardinge Stracy, Esq. Did it exhibit a true representation of the mansion when inhabited by Alured de Denne, the engraving would be far more acceptable to, "Dear Sir, yours very truly, 27. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, April 29, 1795. "Mr. Hasted probably did not notice the Mompessons in his account of Sundridge because he had not traced their being possessed of any considerable estate in that parish. It appears, however, from the poll-book for Knights of the Shire in 1754, that Thomas Mompesson voted for lands in Sundridge; and as his name does not occur in the poll at the election in 1734, the presumption is that he might not then be a freeholder of Kent. The inscriptions annexed to Registrum Roffense by Mr. Thorpe, are taken from monuments and grave-stones within the Churches; but if you turn to the Gentleman's Magazine of the year 1767, p. 280, you will find that the monument of the Mompesson family is in the church-yard. "On the day before Ascension-Thursday, I am, as Vicar of * See the History of Dorsetshire. Darenth, to make my visitation bow at Sevenoaks to the Dean of the Arches; and, as Sundridge is in the peculiar Deanery of Shoreham, it is not unlikely that I may have an interview with the Rector, Dr. Vyse. Should this be the case, and he have it in his power to collect from the parish register, or by tradition, any anecdotes of the Mompessons, he shall be solicited to favour me with a few lines, which shall be forthwith communicated to you. "Between the time of concluding the business at Somersetplace on St. George's-day and the assembling of half a score of us at the Crown and Anchor to celebrate the feast of the tutelary saint of the antiquaries, I passed a pleasing hour in viewing the curious and choice library of the late Mr. Southgate, who, by-the-bye, is styled only A. B.* in the title-page to the Catalogue, and M. A. in the last year's list of the Members of our Society. Whilst at the Crown and Anchor, I remember I hinted to Archdeacon Hamilton that I thought it strange that the Rector of a valuable benefice, and a librarian of the British Museum, had acquired no higher degree than that of Bachelor of Arts; and he seemed to attribute it to the economy of the deceased, who was never willing to open his purse but to buy a book or a coin. "In a former letter I believe I mentioned that Dr. Hey, Prebendary of Rochester, who was of Bene't-college, was most dangerously ill at Bath. He is now, however, a convalescent; and his brother, the Commissioner of the Customs, makes a favourable report of it to the Archdeacon f. "Dame Mosyer, the veteran widow, whose departure will, I imagine, be announced in Master Urban's Obituary of the current month ‡, had exactly completed her 90th year; and I was told by the undertaker that she had repeatedly prognosticated that she should die on the anniversary of her birth-day. "I remain, dear Sir, yours sincerely, S. DENNE." 28. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, June 2, 1795. "Soon after Mr. Hayward § became Incumbent of Harrietsham, which was in 1773, I met him at my late worthy friend's Mr. Milner, but I have not kept up any acquaintance with him, as we live many miles from each other, Since he * Mr. Southgate never took his Master's degree. On this subject see "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VI. p. 373. The Commissioner died first, in 1797, the divine not till 1807. They will both be further noticed in a subsequent page. "April 24. At Darenth, aged 90, Jane Mosyer. She was a native of that parish, Munn her maiden name, and two of her sisters survive her, the elder born in 1702, the younger in 1717." Gent. Mag. Rev. James Robinson Hayward, of All Souls College, Oxford, M. A. 1765, presented to St. Mary-le-Strand in 1781. He died at Harrietsham, Oct. 6, 1812, aged 73. married I understand he has almost always resided at Harrietsham; of his movements, however, to town, I should suppose you may be duly apprised from his assistant at his parish in Westminster, or from the clerk. Perhaps it may be new to you, that Mr. Hayward was for several years a practitioner at the Bar; but that, being a Fellow of All Souls'-college in Oxford, he judged it expedient to change the cut of his gown for the Vicarage of Harrietsham. The Rectory of the New Church in the Strand was given to him by Lord Chancellor Thurlow; and it is surmised that his having been of the honourable fraternity of lawyers was a circumstance in his favour. "Have you heard of some sepulchral relics that were very lately discovered near the Priory of Cerne in Dorsetshire? Mr. Peete, my friend Mr. Latham's galenical partner, from whom I have just received this piece of intelligence, says that they much resemble the figure, &c. of Bishop Rogers in Salisbury Cathedral. "Yours truly, S. DENNE." 29. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, July 20, 1795. "I will dispatch the engraving of the brass in Cranbrook Church to Mr. Jefferys, of Maidstone, with a request that he will show it to Mr. May, the Mayor of that town; and should it be in their power to collect any circumstances that will illustrate the figures exhibited, I doubt not of their readiness to communicate them to me. Mr. Jefferys was noticed by S. D. in Gent. Mag. vol. LXIV. p. 201, as eke in my letter concerning Archbishop Courtenay's grave; and Mr. May is the gentleman who, in the same letter, I mentioned as being a spectator of the discoveries we made on opening it. They have both a propensity to antique lore. "When I was at Maidstone in June, Mr. May showed me a drawing of a brass plate fixed upon a pillar in the south aisle of the chancel in memory of the family of Beale, the inscription upon which is imperfectly printed in Newton's Antiquities of Maidstone, p. 90. There are upon it many figures of the Tritavus and his descendants; but I conclude you must, in your monumental pursuits, have met with several brass plates of the same kind. I remain, dear Sir, truly yours, S. DENNE." 30. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, July 27, 1795. "At the conclusion of your letter of June 2 ult. was this passage: I shall write after the Cerne discoveries. Can Mr. Peete procure sketches?' The hint has answered, for I have the satisfaction of transmitting to you the inclosed drawing, which Mr. Peete has procured from Mr. John Williams, who is Vicar of Marston Magna, alias Brode, co. Somerset, (but Sherborne is the nearest post town,) and he permitted me to make the follow ing extract from the letter of his intelligent and communicative correspondent: "Has Mr. Gough any drawing of the gateway to the Old Abbey of Cerne, that which now remains, or any copy of the pavement discovered last summer in a mead called Nunnery Mead, near Mr. Browne's at Frampton? Should he wish to have them, the former would be in my power to send; and I have no doubt but Mr. Browne would permit any of Mr. Gough's friends to take a copy of the latter. On what terms does Mr. Gough mean to publish his new edition co. Dorset ?' It may be proper to acquaint you that, when Mr. Peete saw the stones, of which you now receive the sketches, they were cast aside as lumber in a farm-yard. "The drawings of the Stone Seats and Piscinas were given to me by Mr. Peete; but, as they represent objects in Churches co. Dorset, I thought you had a better pretension to them, and shall therefore put them into the packet, though it is likely that you may have already delineations of the same. If I did not mishear Mr. Peete, the shield of arms in the Winborne Stalls was so defaced that he could not distinguish the bearings. The opening, or the fenestella at the west end of the lowest seat, was novel to me. Knowing that Mr. Tracy, who was a fellow-labourer in Mr. Thorpe's antiquarian pursuits, is always pleased with any particulars concerning the family whose name he bears, I sent him a long extract from Sepulchral Monuments; and in his letter of acknowledgment of it he thus expresses himself: Yours of the 18th of June I received by the favour of Mr. Fountaine ; and I consider myself as particularly obliged to you for the contents. The work from which you kindly made the extract is truly valuable; but in the account of William de Traci, &c. there is much error respecting both the Baron and the Minister. I possess many authentic documents, and have been some time digesting a short memoir illustrative of the early part of the Tracy history, but know not when I shall find time to finish it. Had any interest with Mr. Gough, I would solicit a sketch of the Tracy monument at Morthoe, but, having no personal knowledge of that gentleman, I dare not ask it; and the place is too remote to make a flying trip thither, so must be content without it. Any notes, or references to any particulars of the Tracys will at all times merit my best thanks.' "In my answer, Mr. Tracy was apprised that I did not think you had any sketch of the monument at Morthoe from the late Dean of Exeter, who was your informant, but that I would not fail to make an inquiry. "Your query concerning the Cranbrook Parsonage inscription shall be conveyed to Mr. Jefferys this week; and I wish he may be able to gratify your curiosity. As to the Alkham inscription, I know not at present to whom to apply, not having any |