and civilization advanced, the castle, with its surrounding domains, was consigned to the generous rule of Hastings, it became an embattled mansion, where princes and kings promoted those inspiring displays of magnificence which diffused happiness around them, and encouraged those sentiments of reverence for national institutions which are a fruitful source of much that has ever been excellent or glorious in religion and science and government. Thus it continued till that sad period of our history in which fanaticism in some, and hypocrisy in others, were allowed to work their will on the country. Then the castle of Ashby, with its fair sanctuary-where the high-born had been humble worshippers-was doomed to undergo the spoiler's vengeance. The wrecks of its ruined grandeur remain a melancholy but instructive memorial of the usual proceedings of those who are for ever uttering the cry of liberty with their lips, while oppression of all who will not join them, or submit to them, is their regular and unhesitating rule of action.

After all these remarkable vicissitudes, Ashby has long been at rest. It now bears the humbler character-not as of old, of a seat of baronial sovereignty-but as one of the finest ancient market-towns in England, and as a pleasant and salubrious retreat for those invalids and convalescents who desire deliverance from suffering, or a renovation of constitutional vigour, in the healing efficacy of its medicinal waters.*

Tradition has not commemorated the exact date when the first castellated residence was erected at Ashby. History states, uncircumstantially, that Ivo,† the Norman, held it in A. D. 1086; that, in 1259, it came to Alan-la-Zouch, whose descendants occupied the domain for several generations, and bequeathed to the town its distinctive name; and that, in 1460, Edward IV. conferred it on Sir William Hastings, his chamberlain and favourite counsellor, by the representative of whose illustrious race the vied towers of Ashby and its lordship are now inherited.

They who are conversant with the various styles of architecture, find the vestiges of different fabrics-the structure of separate epochs in the remains of Ashby castle. These have suf

Ashby-de-la-Zouch is an agreeable watering place, where the benefits usually derived from the exhibition of mineral springs may be enjoyed with particular comfort. The position of this town is pleasant and convenient; its climate remarkably salubrious. At the Ivanhoe baths, the arrangements for bathing possess the highest advantages; and the adjoining grounds are well adapted for the purposes of recreation and exercise. Whether employed in external or internal applications, the Ashby medicinal waters are endowed with very powerful restorative and strengthening virtues. They combine, in extraordinary proportions, the chief chlorides and bromides, the qualities of which are exceedingly energetic; and the recoveries accomplished by their regular use have proved permanent in a multitude of instances, †These and other notices relating to the same subject are stated, with great perspicuity and conciseness, by Mr. Curtis, in his "Topographical History of Leicestershire." 8vo. Ashby-de-la-Zouch: 1831.

VOL, VII.-Jan. 1835.

fered alike by the silent moulderings of decay, and by the hand of violence. Still, however, they retain abundant traces of the strength and beauty which characterized them at the time when the abettors of rebellion were permitted by a lethargic nation to indulge the vindictive feelings of a faction in the work of their destruction. By the hands of these evil doers, the task of time was anticipated; but the Marquis of Hastings has perfected the requisite repairs, by which the towers of his ancestors will be long secured from the farther encroachments of neglect and desolation.

Ashby castle comprised a chapel within its ample precincts in the days when its lords were prosperous. William, the first Baron Hastings, constructed this domestic temple in 1474, and finished it in the best style of decorations. It was "a fair chapel," said a nameless chronicler,* "scarcely to be equalled by any private one-those in the Universities excepted ;" and it would then, as now, form a prime feature in the group of majestic structures of which it constituted the most venerable appendage.

the early transactions of the family of Hastings are contained in a curious MS. VO lume, constituting a most valuable record, in the magnificent library of the Marquis of Hastings, at Donington Park.

The remains of this hallowed edifice measure sixty feet in length, and twenty-one in breadth; the walls are lofty, and were wainscoted. In every part of the building the proportions of the parts, and the beauty of the architecture, demand admiration. In either side are four windows, of a rich character. The great eastern window is admirable for its size and elegance, and was once filled with painted glass, the fragments of which were lately dug up. It was destroyed in the great rebellion by the democratical party, who seem to have hated everything refined or elegant.

The print represents the roofless and moss-grown walls of the Hastings' chapel, which, in its ruins, even now communicates an impressive solemnity to the overtowering masses with which it is associated. History, all through its pages, teaches the same lesson, that the demagogue instinctively hates the ministers of religion, and persecutes them whenever he has the power; and that he wreaks his angry and hateful feelings-as in the case of the chapel of Ashby-on the temples of God, where they are called to exercise their office.

From the amenity* and salubriousness of its situation, Ashby would be selected for the site of a Christian establishment, soon after the Merciant worshippers of Odin had relinquished the practices enjoined by their idolatrous superstition. Like most of the first British churches, that erected here would replace the altar in a circle of Bel or Woden in its shadowy grove; and, like these also, it would be a simple wooden fabric, the defects or discomforts of which would gradually disappear in conformity with the growing power and opulence of its ministers.

We know nothing, however, of the early history of the church of Ashby. Towards the close of the eleventh century, a priest officiated at Ashby; and, fifty-nine years afterwards, the Abbey of Lilleshull, in Shropshire, obtained a grant of the church, and of the chapel at Blackfordby, with the lands "cæterisque pertinentiis suis."

Saint Helens was the patron saint of the parish church at

• Wyrley, in his " Church Notes," p. 36, represents Ashbie-de-la-Zouch as "villa pulchra et amænissima;" and Camden speaks of it as "a most pleasant town, a beautiful seat of the Hastings' family." See his "Britannia," in the original, or in the translation by Bishop Gibson, vol. i. p. 533, folio. London: 1722.

About A.D. 655, Peada, the son of Peuda, king of the Mercians, introduced Christianity into the central dominions of his father, over which he was entrusted with a vice-regal authority. This prince, who was "a youth of royal demeanour and great merit," was persuaded by his wife, Alchfleda, to hear the Christian preachers discourse on their three fundamental topics-the resurrection-the hope of future immortality—and the promise of a heavenly kingdom. He listened and reflected-was convinced, and became a Christian.

" History

Nichols has preserved copies of four deeds relating to this grant. and Antiquities of Leicestershire," vol. iii. part. ii. p. 561. See also Dugdale's "Monasticon Anglicanum," vol. ii. pp. 145, 147, folio. Londini: 1661.

The bath pleasure-grounds at Ashby are refreshed by a fountain, whose waters were deemed boly.

Ashby. The church has a tower, which is strong and lofty, with pinnacles. It includes a nave, and two aisles with galleries, and the chancel, which has ornamental wainscoting. On one side of this is the vestry; on the other stands a spacious chapel, used by the noble family of Hastings as a cemetery. At the west end of the nave, under the gallery, a singular and ingeniously constructed instrument, named the finger pillory, is placed. It was devised and employed by our forefathers, as a quiet remedy for disorderly practices in the time of divine service. "No doubt," says Carter, quoted by Nichols, p. 618," this mode of punishment was formerly common in such situations, for the prevention of indecorous behaviour; at once efficacious, by detaining the offender in public view; and humane, by not degrading him to the more severe affliction of being set in the stocks, exposed to unrestrained insult and the inclemency of the elements." This appropriate " mode," however, has fallen into complete disuse at Ashby.

Few monuments are preserved in the church of Ashby. That of a pilgrim (a recumbent figure) in a recess of the north wall, is worthy of observation. It represents the usual habit and symbols (as shewn in the print) characteristically assumed by that remarkable class.

It is in the deanery of Ackley, and diocese of Lincoln. The living is a vicarage, of which the Marquis of Hastings is lay impropriator and patron. The vicar's stipend is chiefly derived from glebe lands, consisting of one hundred and eighty

2

Overlooking the altar from the south, a mural monument preserves the remembrance of Arthur Hildersham, M.A., who was vicar of Ashby for many years in the early part of the seventeenth century. This sincere and laborious pastor obtained considerable popularity in these days; and his writings, which are voluminous, continue to be held in repute by collectors.*

By far the most interesting of these monumental piles, is that erected in the chancel to the memory of the Rev. Robert Behoe Radcliffe, M.A., the late vicar of Ashby, by the parishioners. It is a florid cenotaph, affectionately designed to honour that simplicity of life and doctrine for which their truly-excellent pastor was pre-eminently distinguished.

Several very good monuments have been erected at different periods in the Huntington chapel. One of these is particularly magnificent, and might be advantageously studied in illustration of the co-eval architecture and costume. This mausoleum+ was constructed to the memory of Francis, the second Earl of Huntington, and his countess, both of whom died in the last half of the sixteenth century. The patriotism and virtues of Theophilus, the ninth earl, are recorded on a mural monument, which is surmounted by "a beautifully-executed bust" of Selina, his countess, well known for her zeal in disseminating the religious tenets which she herself conscientiously entertained. On the same tomb there is a sort of inscriptive biography, composed by Lord Bolingbroke; its chief features are prolixity and sententiousness. Ashby enjoys extensive provisions for instruction of the young. Besides two establishments for educating and clothing boys, and a numerous Sunday-school, there is a free grammar school, possessed of ample endowments, and the privilege of several exhibitions to Emanuel College, Cambridge. It was founded by Henry, Earl of Huntington, in 1567, in order " to teach, instruct, and inform young boys and children in good morals, learning, knowledge, and virtue.'

There is a "Clerical Society of Ashby-de-la-Zouch," the affairs of which are conducted with great talent and spirit. The members, consisting of nearly forty of the neighbouring clergy, have an increasing library, and hold meetings at stated intervals for the transaction of business. The principal objects of this useful association are, the discussion of professional subjects, and

three acres. In the parsonage-house there is a considerable library, which was bequeathed by the Rev. Richard Bate for the use of the incumbent and his successors, Some of the books are valuable, and worthy of careful preservation.

Joseph Hall, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, and John Bainbridge, M.D., Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, were natives of this parish.

It is figured, on a large scale, in Nichols "Leicestershire," vol. iii. part ii. plate lxxxiii. p. 618; and very accurately described in Wayte's" Ashby Guide," p. 107-a work abounding with useful information, and illustrated with elegant plates.