nion with him that, if there has been a misrepresentation, it will be but a weak plea to urge against a devise made with deliberation and so long adhered to. As the Baronet is a shrewd North Briton, there having been a misrepresentation is a probable surmise, particularly as Mrs. Middleton, afterwards my Lady, who, it is notorious had acquired a paramount influence over her friend the testatrix, was own sister to Admiral Gambier; but I rather demur, and so perhaps may my informant, on Lord Radnor's having really commenced a suit in equity with such a little prospect of success, if the fee of the estate was in Mrs. Bouverie; and it has been generally understood that there was a compromise settled between her and the heir-at-law.

Many weeks have passed since I heard from my correspondent at the Ordnance Office, Gravesend; in consequence I am not apprised whether he has employed his pen and his pencil on subjects of antiquities, or in controverting the novel attempt of a subaqueous communication between the counties of Kent and Essex. The Monthly Reviewers observe, that Mr. Dodd has met with a severe opponent in Mr. Clarke, who attacks him in all points; and in the Gentleman's Magazine for March * this preposterous scheme was humourously and well exposed, though no trait given from what quarter.

"Of the late Mr. Justice Boys, of Hawkherst, I can advance nothing with certainty, but that he was not a son of Commodore Boys; and I have understood that the eminent practical agriculturalist of that name at Betshanger, does not bear any relation to the Historian of Sandwich, who was unquestionably the eldest son of the Lieutenant Governor of Greenwich Hospital. I remain, dear Sir, yours truly, S. DENNE."

106. "DEAR SIR, Wilmington, April 19, 1799. "Since I transmitted to you my last, I have been favoured with a sheet replete with miscellaneous matter, chiefly of the antique cast, from my correspondent at the Ordnance Office in Gravesend. He was at a meeting of the Antiquaries when President Leicester announced from the chair, that, in consequence of his appointment to the Stewardship of his Majesty's Household, he had altered his mind about declining the seat of preeminence in which he was then placed. In a speech from the chair of some length, his Lordship assured the numerous Fellows then present, he was willing, if offered, to accept, for the ensuing year, the office he has hitherto held. This condescension gave occasion to a general approbation; it was communicated to his Lordship by the Heads and Canes of the Society, who replied with the usual numbers of low bows.' Mr. Clarke next mentions, that on the same evening a Mr. Meredith, of Islington, was put to the ballot, and that his recommendation was, inter alios, signed J. Wyatt; and that at the conclusion a mino*See Gent. Mag. vol. LXX. p. 200.

rity of forty-five was discovered, while the author of the History of Evesham* had admittance without a dissentient ball. Then follows this remark, I notice these trifling circumstances because they appear connected with a certain iterated ballot, and a secession. I do not say in consequence, but yet much to be lamented; although the eminent author of the Pursuits of Literature, in some of his valuable notes, declares Mr. Lysons (whose Directorship I have heard was a job of Sir J. Banks) to be the best of antiquaries, and J. Wyatt the finest of architects; and throws his gauntlet against gothicisms, and those who support and love them.' Mr. C. afterwards notices Mr. Secretary reading an explanation of the drawing of a figure on a monument in Staindrop Collegiate, now dispersed with others about the Church, and that it raised the smile of many. Mr. Carter, he says, considers it equal in beauty to any thing of any country and age; and recommended it as a model. But, though my correspondent does not fully subscribe to this notion for some reasons he has offered, he seems much pleased with the declaration of 'An Architect' in the Gentleman's Magazine, that ere long will be fully considered the transition from the Saxon to the Norman style of architecture; and I did not wonder at the satisfaction expressed by Mr. Clarke, because aware of there being a similarity in their notions upon the subject, though in one point, if I am not mistaken, he goes further than Mr. Carter seems to have done, as he supposes that the architects of that period were theoretical as well as practical mathematicians, and that it was from their skill in that science they adopted the angular arch, as being most suitable to the plan of the edifices they were constructing. Before Mr. Carter delivers his sentiments, I wish that his friend at Enfield, or some other person more conversant with books than himself, may be able to ascertain who were the earliest writers, both foreigners and natives, who made use of the phrase Gothic architecture. As the buildings erected were certainly formed on a scientific plan, and as the ornaments of some of them are unquestionably beautiful, and prima facie very striking to the eye of an unprejudiced spectator, I hold the term to be highly improper; and I attribute the origin of so degrading an epithet to some fastidious traveller, who imagined he could not better show his taste and his admiration of the Grecian structures he had lately viewed.

"Mr. Clarke is apprehensive that the Chapel of La Piew is gone to rest, from my long silence upon that subject; a fear which I have discouraged, in consequence of my having hinted to Mr. Ord, that in my opinion there ought to be an engraving of the ground plot from Mr. Carter's delineation, as also of some parts of the contiguous cloister. Mr. Carter has got a cast, though a rough one, of the whole key stone, containing the figure of Dr. Chambre, and of his two supporters; but he adds, unfortunately, the nose of the Doctor, that is a little

The Rev. William Tindal.

damaged in the original, has been further hurt in the carriage down to Gravesend. He, however, observes, that he can yet perceive the same face, at about the age of forty, that the head of Holbein represents in his picture, where the King is exhibited as delivering the charter to the College of Physicians. From Mr. Tracy Mr. Clarke has procured some illustrations of the armorial shields upon the key-stones of the St. Stephen's cloister, &c. that may be of use.

By favour of the officers of Meopham parish, Mr. Clarke has so long had the perusal of the old Churchwarden's book as to allow him time for nearly copying the articles in which he takes much delight, as he says particulars of old church furniture are with him always acceptable; and he particularly notices that, our Lady's vestment of a Priest, Deacon, and Subdeacon, and appurtenances ('kept a sounder') with a vestment of crimson satin of Bruges, were cut into carpets, and made into ' a pyllowe for the chyldwyfe's seat.' According to him, the Historian of Gravesend has likewise got the old Book of Shorne; and from it had learnt that the oratory mentioned by Thorpe in Antiquities, p. 247, and of which there is an engraving, pl. xx. fig. 3, was a Gild Chapel of Corpus Christi. As Mr. Thorpe was well acquainted with Mr. Perfect, the veteran Vicar of Shorne, and with the ruling persons in that district, he could have found no difficulty in procuring a sight of that book; but, if I am not mistaken, whilst resident at Bexley, he confined his researches to the Register, though it is obvious that more parochial anecdotes in general be acquired from the Churchwarden's book of accounts. One more extract from Mr. Clarke's letter shall be given, On the tunnel (he writes) you might expect some information, and should have it on a subject so curious; but the colonels and engineers, civil and military, keep all under a snug and close management. It was their opinion, and also that of the committee, that Mr. Dodd had not sounded the bed, and this was hinted in a certain pamphlet that issued from the wretched press of this town.'-Surely no colonel, no engineer, civil or military, will ultimately give a sanction to a scheme so preposterous and so extensive as a subaqueous communication between two counties that cannot be of the least use to the inhabitants of either; but motives are too obvious for their not too hastily bringing the question to a conclusion.

"I am led to notice, from a long paragraph in the Times, in the demise of the Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, the setting of a much admired literary sun in Queen's-square, Westminster. The paragraph alluded to is doubtless written con amore; and it is a very laboured panegyric. From it, however, it appears, that his literary supellex was large, curious, and valuable, whether we consider the books, the collection of medals, the specimens of minerals, or the assemblage of prints and drawings; but as to the use he himself made of all or any of

these articles non constat. Whilst I resided at Vauxhall above forty years ago, I had often seen him at Tom Payne's literary gallery, or literary coffee-house, and since I became F. A. S. have frequently met him at Somerset-place; but, notwithstanding my various attempts to discover what there might be in him more than in his contemporaries to give him the eclat he had acquired, I was not ever so fortunate as to trace a vestige. When in his small circle of friends, who were remarkable for their taste, abilities, and learning, he might be communicative and shine; but, from his reserve in public, I rather suspect that he did not duly consider that a man who is really possessed of knowledge ought to show to others that he has this gift. His encomiast has cited this line,

"Nil actum reputans, si quid superesset agendum, and I will add another quotation,

"Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.

"In consequence of his enjoying an affluent fortune, he sought no preferment in his professional department, not even a parochial benefice in the country to which he might have retired for change in the summer months: and an option of divers vicarages he must have had that are in the presentation of his college. It is admitted that he kept his Studentship of Christchurch; and, as it may presumed, from the inclination he had to preserve his connection with the men of learning in Oxford. From the high esteem the Presidents of the Royals and of the Antiques had of him, he was again and again upon the House List of Council of the two Societies, of which he was a Fellow; but was he not always a sleeping partner? at least [ do not recollect any paper in Archæologia, or in Vetusta Monumenta, subscribed C. M. Cracherode. His being appointed a trustee of the British Museum shows he had a strength of interest among persons in the great world; and it will reflect a lasting honour upon his name; for, as it is related by the editor of the Anecdotes of Bowyer, Demosthenes Taylor counted the office of the Curator of the British Museum, the blue ribbon of a scholar; though he died without it. Diis aliter visum est.'

"Another illustrious character in the literary world, who was also a Fellow of the two Societies, is, I observe, recently departed; but Mr. Strange * was, in one respect, a different man from Mr. Cracherode, as he did not keep his talent wrapt up in a napkin. His Museum will yield benefit tickets to not fewer than four of the Peter Puffs with their hammers, viz. to Leigh with Sotheby, to Christie, and to King.

"On being favoured with the perusal of the entertaining Pursuits of Literature, I perceive that in the first part Mr. Cracherode is recorded as one of the frequenters of the Literary Coffee* See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VII. pp. 400, 683.

house, near the Mews-gate; and that there is a brief trait of his character.

"Or must I as a wit with learned air,

Like Dr. Dewlap, to Tom Payne's repair,'
Meet Cyril Jackson, and mild Cracherode.

'Hold! cries Tom Payne, that margin let me measure,
And rate the separate value of the treasure;
Eager they gaze-well, Sir, the feat is done,
Cracherode's Poetæ Principes have won.

"Note.-The Reverend Clayton Cracherode, M. A. Student of Christ Church, Oxford, and one of the Trustees of the British Museum. A rich, learned, and most amiable man, (to use the words of the son of Sirach,) furnished with ability, living peaceably in his habitation. His library is allowed to be the choicest in old Greek and Latin authors of any private collection in this country.'

"Grateful is the return of the deceased for the honour conferred on him by electing him a Curator of the British Museum, in bequeathing to it all his books, prints, drawings, coins, and medals; and it would have been a subject of regret had so chosen a collection been dispersed. He has, however, it seems, excepted a Polyglott Bible given to the Bishop of Durham; and the first edition of Homer to his friend the Dean of Christ Church, who is placed in the same verse with him as a resorter to Tom Payne's Conversation-gallery. Yours, S. DENNE."

* "One of the most conspicuous and valuable accessions by gift to the British Museum is the fine collection of books and prints bequeathed by Mr. Cracherode. The library occupies a distinct room, under the title of BIBLIOTHECA CRACHERODIANA, and contains the most choice copies in classical and biblical literature; many of which are printed on vellum. The editions of the fifteenth century Mr. Cracherode used modestly to call a specimen collection; they form, perhaps, the most perfect collana, or necklace, ever strung by one man; several of these volumes were formerly in the possession of the celebrated Grolier-a French savan, who died in 1565, but his library was not sold till 1675. Mr. Cracherode's copy of Walton's Polyglott Bible was left to the Bishop of Durham (Dr. Barrington), and the first edition of Homer to Dr. Cyril Jackson, late Dean of Christchurch; the book, by the Dean's express order, has been restored to the collection [as since has been Bishop Barrington's; see bis will in vol. V. of this Work, p. 625.] The printed books were valued at £.10,000, and the prints at £5,000. A catalogue drawn up by Mr. Cracherode, and in his handwriting, is attached to the collection; from this catalogue our selections have been made.-Mr. Cracherode was an elegant scholar and an amiable man; his passion for collecting was strong even in death, and whilst he was at his last extremity, Thane was buying prints for him at Richardson's. In his final visit at Payne's shop, he put an Edinburgh Terence into one pocket, and a large paper Cebes into the other; and expressed an earnest desire to carry away Triveti Annales, and Henry Stephens's Pindar, in old binding,-both beautiful copies." Clarke's Repertorium Bibliographicum; where there is an engraving from the portrait of Mr. Cracherode drawn by Edridge. See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. IX. p. 666.