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M. S.
Samuelis Pearson, A. M.
hujus ecclesiæ.

per 51 annos Pastoris,
qui obijt

16 die Novembris

anno

Salutis 1727.
Etatis suæ 80.
Resurgam."

On a neat marble tablet:

"Sacred to the memory

of Nathaniel Betton, who died Nov. 29th, 1800, aged 61 years. Also of John Betton (son of the above) Captain in his Majesty's 3d Dragoon Guards,

who died Nov. 20th 1809,

at Merida in Spain, aged 31 years." These are the principal memorials in this sacred mansion of the dead. The elegant stone pulpit in the Abbey Garden, with the scattered fragments of different parts of this once noble Abbey, will probably occupy a future page in your Literary Museum. Yours, &c.

D. PARKES.

Mr. URBAN, Churn, March 22. IN reading some account of the family of Master, given by Rudder in his History of Cirencester, it occurred to me that one of Otway's Tragedies was founded on an event which happened in that family. As this circumstance is not generally known, I send you an extract relating to it from Hasted's voluminous History of Kent, (III. 276.) thinking it may prove interesting to some of your readers.

"Charl and Loubridge hundred, parish of Willesborough, manor of Sothertons, alias Willesborough.-Street-end was once a house of good account in this parish, as having been the residence of the family of Master for several generations. The first of them who came into this county, in the reign of King Henry VIII. was Richard Master, whose son Robert was settled at this seat of Streetend, in Willesborough. He left issue two sons, the eldest of whom, Edward, succeeded him here; and Richard was physician to Queen Elizabeth, and ancestor to the Masters in Cirencester, co. Gloucester. Edward left a son Robert, who was of Willesborough, gent. and dying possessed of this seat in 1616, was buried there. He left issue several sons

and daughters; the eldest of whom,
Michael Master, gent. resided here, and
died possessed of this seat in 1632, leav-
ing by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of
John Hall, of this parish, esq. four sons
and two daughters; of whom Edward the
eldest son became, by his father's will,
entitled to this seat, and married in 1627
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Choute,
of Hinxhill, esq.*; who after his decease
joined with Elizabeth, her daughter and
heir, in the sale of it to Nicholas Carter,
M. D. whose heirs afterwards, in 1725,
alienated two-thirds of this estate to
the other third of it in 1754 to his son,
William Tournay, of Ashford, gent, and
Mr. Robert Tournay of Hythe, who is
seat and estate belonging to it."
the present owner of the site of this

Yours, &c.

S. W.

March 2.

Mr. URBAN,
N the perusal of the last Volume
of your Miscellany, I have been

"Michael Master, by his Will in the Prerogative Office, Canterbury, ordered himself to be buried in the Church-yard of Willesborough, in the East corner there, behind the church porch, where most of his ancestors had been buried. He wills his estates to his son Edward, in tail male; remainder to his second son William, omitting his third son, Robert, whom he styles his disobedient son; he gives the remainder in like tail to his youngest son, Michael, &c. and mentions his upper house called Sprotts, with the 140 acres of land belonging to it, in which his cousin Edward Backe lived, which he devizes in like manner. William, the second son, above-mentioned, at the age of 28 years, anno 1634, was, as the tradition goes, on his wedding day, while at dinner, murdered by his younger brother Robert, who was in love with his bride, and whom his father styles in his will his disobe dient son, and was buried under a tomb in this church-yard, a few feet distant from the church porch, on the South side of it. The greatest part of the inscription, though now wholly obliterated, was remaining within these few years. The murderer immediately fled, and was never heard of; but is supposed to have secretly returned, and to have tried to efface the inscription, as there appeared several words erased of it, and was prevented doing it by some people's going though the church-yard, whilst he was employed about it. The hint of the plot of Otway's tragedy of The Orphan is said to have been taken from this unhappy cvent," &c.

much

much amused by the notices of Mr. Hasted's History of Kent from the pen of Litterator, at pp. 104 and 205. In the first of these articles your Correspondent speaks of that work as a great topographical production, which has much merit, and is a wonderful performance in the article of genealogies; but corrects the extravagance of this compliment by observing, that Mr. Hasted wanted all the higher qualities of an Historian, and unmercifully cuts him down in the second article (in a sort of an apology for the unfinished state in which the first article made its appearance) by telling us that Mr. Hasted has no variety that all his work is reduced to one dull narrative, consisting of little more than a dull deduction of the proprietors of manors in a kind of language which forms nothing like a style, but savours most of the technicalities of an Attorney's office: that any traits of manners, or illustrations of the characters of individuals, never engage his remark or attention: and that with him one man only differs from another by his name, the date of his birth and death, and the family into which he married, unless we add his rent-roll, and the specification of the manors of which he was the owner.

Now I do not wish, on the present occasion, Mr. Urban, to enter into an elaborate defence of the utility of County Histories, or to enlarge on the information and entertainment which, when well executed, they are adapted to offer but this I must beg leave to observe, that I find it difficult to be lieve that any man who has compared the various County Histories published in this Kingdom during the two last centuries can, without some extraordinary prejudice in his judgment, have singled out Hasted's History of Kent as the one pre-eminent for its dullness.

The dry and tedious memorials of Manorial descent, and of the genealogies of families, have invariably formed the leading features of such undertakings: and an accurate know ledge of the technicalities of an attorney's office, however contemptible they may appear in the eyes of your Correspondent, are amongst the essential qualifications for the compilation of works of this description.j

Indeed, Horne Tooke (who was no stripling amongst men of Literature) discountenances most decidedly the censures which have been thrown on what are called the tautologies of Lawyers. And it is my humble opinion that not only the work of Mr. Hasted, but every other work of the kind, from the almost too much idolized Dugdale's Warwickshire, down to the last work which has been published on the subject of Topography, would have been better executed (however highly they may now be, or deserve to be, complimented) if the writers had found a more liberal access than is generally given, to those documents of territorial proprietors, which have been the compilations of Attorneys.

But your Correspondent has in truth been very unfortunate in his selection of an object of attack amongst the Topographers; and not less so in his own grounds of making the attack: for in what part of Mr. Hasted's work are we amused or disgusted with copies of rent-rolis; even supposing (which I deny) that it were a bad choice of materials to insert such information as Rent-rolls afford in works of Topography? They tell us for what rent the land let, or they tell us what stock it maintained; and thereby enable us by comparison to judge of the alteration in the value of money as a circulating medium in the transaction of business; and the changes in the cultivation of the country between former times and the present. And this is just as well worth knowing, as that Henry VIII. was profligate in his pleasures, and cruel in his resentments; or that Sir Dudley Digges was Master of the Rolls.

As to genealogies of families, I shall say little. Few men who can trace a respectable ancestry think the recol lection of their forefathers a subject to be despised; and those who by their own exertions and industry have laid the foundation of a name for themselves that will carry them down the stream of time with honour, have generally a laudable ambition to be remembered by their posterity: and these feelings will not be shaken by the sneers of modern Philosophy. Yours, &c.

AN OLD CORRESPONDENT.

Mr.

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search.

The founder of this family, whose chief seat was at Harrodon, in the county of Northampton,for more than 250 years, was Sir Nicholas Vaux. He was educated at Oxford, and distinguished by his talents as a poet and historian *. At the marriage of Prince Arthur, 17 Hen. VIII. he wore a purple velvet gown, adorned with massy plaits of gold, and a magnificent collar of S. S. He was of a generous, liberal, festive disposition; and equally fitted for the camp or court. Many poetical pieces ascribed to him are printed in the "Paradise of Dainty Devises," 4to. Lond. 1578. He was advanced to the dignity of Baron Vaux of Harrodon, 15 Henry VIII. and died the same year.

II. Thomas, his son, succeeded to his honours and estate :-whose son

III. William, third Baron Vaux of Harrodon, had issue + George, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Roper, of Welle Place in Kent,

* Athen. Oxon. vol. I. col. 19.

Fuller's Worthies, Northampt. p. 298.
Dugdale's Baronage.

(afterwards created Lord Teynham) but who died V. P. 31st July, A. D. 1594, leaving issue three sons; Edward, William, and Henry and three daughters; Catharine, married to Sir Henry Nevill, son and heir to the Lord Bergavenny; Mary, to Sir George Simeon, Kut.; and Joyce.

IV. I Edward, fourth Baron Vaux of Harrodon, succeeded his grandfather, and married Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, (widow of William, Earl of Banbury); and dying A. D. 1661, without any lawful issue, Nicholas, son of the same Elizabeth his wife, born in the life-time of the said Earl of Banbury, enjoys all his estates.

Sir William Dugdale professes to have taken the greater part of his account of this family "ex stemmate penès D. Vaux," and to which constant references are made: but to the latter clause there being none, it might probubly have been inserted, in the absence of authentic information, from common report alone; and which indeed is the more likely to have been the case, since the Barony of Vaux at the time of publishing the Baronage (A. D. 1676.) was really extinct. However, he does not assert positively that the title became extinct on the death of Edward fourth Baron; but that the family estates were left by him to Nicholas, born in the life

This is a mistake of Dugdale. -Welle Place in Eltham, co. Kent, was the seat of the elder branch of the Roper family, which became extinct, in the male line, very early in the 18th century. Sir John Roper, Baron Teynham, a younger branch, was seated at Linstead.

§ As Bolton, in his Extinct Peerage, 8vo. 1769, p. 287, a work of some authority, contradicts Dugdale, and says "William Lord Vaux had a son and heir George, Lord Vaux;" I have thought proper to transcribe the inscription on the monument of Sir John Roper, the first Lord Teynham, in the South chancel of Linstead church, which is not noticed by Hasted, nor printed in the very useful Collection of Mr. Cozens; and by which it appears that the statement of Dugdale is perfectly accurate.

"Spes mea in Deo.

"Hic obdormit in Domino Johannes Rooperus, Eques Auratus, Dominus Teyneham, Baro de Teyneham, cum Elizabetha uxore suâ, filiâ Richardi Parke, armigeri; è quâ progenuit Christopherum Rooperum, Eq. Auratum; Elizabetham, uxorem Georgii Vaux, matrem D'ni Vaux, Baronis de Harrodon; et Janam, uxorem Roberti Lovelli, Equitis Aurati.

"Vir æqui bonique cultor: Principibus tribus, nempe Mariæ, Elizabethæ, et Jacobo, nunc Regi Angliæ serenissimo, sub quibus vixit, Patriæque fidelissimus : hospitalis, pauperibus beneficus, vicinis benignus: et qui mortalitatis memor, serta spe resurgendi in CHRISTO, hoc monumentum sibi vivus posuit. Vixit annos 84. Ob. 30 die Augusti, Ao D'pi 1618."

¶ Dugdale, ut supra,

time of the Earl of Banbury, his wife's first husband; making no mention of the death of either of his brothers, William and Henry.

On referring to Dugdale, p. 412. I find, "William Knolles, Baron of Grays, co. Oxon. 1 Jac. 1. Viscount Wallingford, 14 Jac. I. and Earl of Banbury 2 Car. I. married two wives; 1st. Dorothy, daughter of Edward Lord Bray, by whom he had no issue; 2dly, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Earl of Suffolk, by whom he had likewise no issue; as the certificate subscribed by the said Elizabeth, who survived him, doth testifie." He died 25 March, 1632, ætat. 88. " But, notwithstanding this her certificate, and an inquisition taken also after his death, importing as much, it was not long after ere she married Nicholas [Edward] Lord Vaux, and produced two sons, viz. Edward, who was killed in a duel in France, and buried at Calais; and Nicholas, who was frequently called Earl of Banbury, but never had summons to Parliament."

It appears pretty evident from the words of Dugdale, " born in the lifetime of the said Earl of Banbury," that the affair was involved in some obscurity: but the claim to this Earldom having been long before the House of Peers, I shall decline saying any thing more. This, however, is certain, that the said Nicholas (from whomsoever he might have descended) enjoyed the estates of the Barons of Harrodon, to the entire exclusion of every branch of the Vaux family;

That Edward Lord Vaux had several near relatives (independently of his two Brothers) is certain; for Sir Henry Nevill, afterwards Lord Bergavenny, who married his sister Catharine, had issue by her two sons, who both succeeded to their father's title successively.

In the church of Harrodon, co. Northampton, are the following memorials*:

"Here lyeth the bodye of William Knoles, the sonne of the Right Hon. Nicholas Earl of Banbury, and Dame +Anne his wife, who departed this life, 5 Dec. A. D'ni 1664."

"Nicholas K. 4th sonne, ob. 25 Feb. A. D'ni 1666."

Bridges's Northamptonshire, II. 105. + Daughter of William Bennet, Baron of Sherard of Ireland,

"Abigail K. 3d daughter, ob. 6Dec, A. D'ni 1668."

Charles Knolles (who also claimed the title of Earl of Banbury, but never had summons to Parliament) son of the said Nicholas, succeeded to the manor of Harrodon Magua, and the other estates of the Vaux

family; and in 1694 sold the whole to the Hon. Thomas Watson (second son of Edward Lord Rockingham), who, about the same period, assumed the name of Wentworth, in compli ance with the will of William Earl of Strafford, his maternal uncle.

Now to return, at length, from this seeming digression, (though absolutely necessary, in the absence of authentic information) to introduce a well-founded critical conjecture on the inscription in question. I think, we may safely conclude, that Henry, third son of William, third Baron Vaux, survived his eldest brother, Edward, fourth Baron, who died in 1661, according to the Baronage, two years; but the ancient family estates having passed into a different line, he might not be very solicitous to take upon him a Title, which, without any adequate means of supporting, would have been rather an useless en

cumbrance; and, therefore, most probably, remained during the short remainder of his life in obscurity. This supposition may account for Dugdale not referring to any authentic source in the latter part of his notice of this family, nor making any mention of the time of the death, either of William or Henry, brothers of the last Lord; which would be absolutely necessary before the title

could be said to be extinct.

Since writing the above, on examining the Proceedings of the Court

of Wards and Liveries, after the death of William third Baron Vaux of Harrodon, I find some notices which serve considerably to strengthen what, however well founded, could not be reduced to absolute certainty.

Hilary Term, A. D. 1597. an. 40 Eliz. Decreed, "That Elizabeth Vaux, wydowe, Sir John Roper, knt, and Thomas Mulshowe of Thingdon, in the county of Northampton, do receive the profitts of the lands, &c. of Edward Lord Harrodon, upon Bonde, to accompte when the Court thinks fitt.". That "Elizabeth Vaux wydowe, late

the

1

the wyfe of George Vaux, and mother of the saide now Lord Harrodon, bath to her great costs and charges purchased the wardshippe and marryage of her saide sonne, and the lease of lands, &c. and obteyned the same, by the agreement of this court, to be conveyed to Sir John Roper, kut. her father, &c. with an intent to discharge the said warde of the value of his marryage, yf he, at his full age, do yeeld unto his two younger brothers, and three sisters, such porc'ons and p'vysyons for their educacion and advauncement as shalbe thought meet for their estates; and allow of such disposition as they shall make of the profitts w'ch shal aryse from the lands during his mynority towards the educac'on and preferment of his said brothers and sisters, and payment of his father's debts, and his own better government and educac'on during his mynority:". that "Geo. V. their father, dyed not beinge longe sicke, and moche more in debte than his goods or chattells could satisfye; and that neyther he, nor the said William V. Lord H. had made any p’vysione for the maintenaunce or educac'on of the said younger sonnes or daughters; partly by

ended the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster,) I sought in vain for the monument of the once celebrated Mathematician, Thomas Simpson, F. R. S.* who was buried there; but, continuing my perambulation to Market Bosworth, 1 found a Swithland slate, two feet six inches by one foot four inches, and one inch and an half thick, on which is neatly engraved as under:

"The remains of the Bosworth Prodigy, Thomas Simpson, F. R. S. rest

in this Church-yard. After rending asunder the fetters of indigence, he arose to an envied eminence as a Mathematician, and died A. D. 1761. J. Throsby, on an excursion in Leicestershire 1790, little tablet to be erected to his memory." seeing his neglected grave, caused this

Perhaps some Correspondent may inform you, why it is not put up in the Chapel-yard of the former parish, agreeably to the intentions of the HINCKLEIENSIS. donor.

Mr. URBAN,

reason of their great debts, and partly T

by reason that their mannours, lands, &c. were so beforehande conveyed and assured, that they coulde not make anie assurance or p'vysion for them.”

This is certainly a strong corrobo ration of what has been advanced, although partly on conjecture; since it hereby appears, that the younger children were left in a destitute condition, without even a sufficiency to defray the expences of a suitable edu

cation.

Of the ancient mansion I know not that there exists any account; but there is a tradition that King Charles 1. when a prisoner at Holmby-house, used to come there under a guard to enjoy his favourite diversion of Bowling. The present manor-house was rebuilt by the Wentworth family.

Thus I have endeavoured, to furnish a sketch of the family, both as to title and estate, &c. &c.; in the accomplishment of which object I am not aware that any authentic sources have been left unexplored. C. TORRENS.

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Tower, April 5. THE observations addressed to Mrs. H. More (which have found a place in your valuable Miscellany) lead to conclusions which are of the utmost consequence. Should she not vindicate herself from the charge brought against her of falsifying the Scriptures, I hope you will, with your accustomed candour, admit a few remarks, in support of the doctrine of the existence of the Soul in a separate state before the day of Judgment.

The appearance of Moses with Elias at the Transfiguration has been always considered as a strong evidence of an intermediate state. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus plainly points to the same doctrine; and there are very strong allusions at 2 Cor. v. 8. Phil. i. 23. Heb. xii. 23. I am aware that Luke xxiii. 43. is not considered to be genuine by the Socinians; but this ought not to have any weight with us. Pool and Burkitt consider this text to be decisive," that souls neither sleep nor die with the body,but immediately pass into their eternal mansions." Dr. Clarke and Dr. Benson favour this interpretation. There are no doubt many other passages in Scripture which prove the same doctrine; and I trust the cause of truth will find abler hands to defend it. Yours, &c. A. R.

* An ample account of him is given in the 4th volume of Mr. Nichols's Leices tershire, pp. 510-514.

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