Sawston hall should be built with stone, and by that means defy the fury of the lawless elemeut. Beside the stones from Cambridge castle, Queen Mary rewarded her protector by bestowing on him the Lonour of knighthood, and making him vice-chamberlain. It may be worth the while to observe that Sawston hall, now the seat of Richard Huddleston, esq. is partly built of brick the date corresponds with the tradition, for it appears that it was built in 1557. In this house are several portraits of the Huddleston family; among which is that of Sir John Huddleston, the protector of Queen Mary, Sir Edmund, and many others of the family. Several spear-beads and celts were discovered in a gravel pit near this village, a few years ago; some of them are in the possession of Richard Huddleston, esq. of Sawston, and Mr. James Farish, Surgeon, of Cambridge. A pretty extensive paper, and also a rope manufactory, are now carried on at Sawston. It is supposed that here was formerly a market at Sawston: not many years ago a covered building stood near the road to the church; the Parishioners, not considering it of any use, ordered it to be pulled down: there yet remains a pillar on the place where the building stood. The wake or feast is kept on Easter Monday. It appears, by the returns made under the act of parliament for ascertaining the population of this kingdom in 1801, that there were, in this village, 94 inhabited houses, 3 uninhabited, 120 families, and 466 persons. By the like returns in 1811, there were 87 inhabited houses, 2 building, 4 uninhabited, 132 families, and 603 persons. The Church is dedicated to St. Mary. It is in the hundred of Wittlesford, and deanery of Camps, valued in the King's books at 137. 10s. 2 d. "The rectory of Sawston, which had belonged to the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, or rather to the preceptory of Shengay, which was subordinate to that priory, was granted by "Eccl'ia de Sauston appropriata Priori et Fratribus Hospitalis St. Joh'is Jer'lm in Anglia, est ibi vic. ad pres. eorum." MSS. Baker. 66 Compositio inter Vic. et Paroch. de Sauston," Reg. Tho. de Arundel, fol. 195. King Henry VIII. to Sir Richard Long: it is now in moieties between Mr. Huddleston and Mr. Gosling, who are joint patrons of the vicarage. The impropriation and advowson had been divided into six parts, one of which had been in the Huddleston fa mily more than a century; the other five were, in 1724, the property of Stephen Corby, of whose coheirs they were purchased by Mr. Gosling. Mr. Huddleston has since purchased two of these parts, in consequence of which he is become possessed of a moiety of the rectory, and has the alternate presentation. The parish of Sawston having been inclosed, pursuant to an Act of Parliament passed in 1802, the impropriators and the vi car have allotments of land in lieu of tithes t." The Church is built of flint, stone, and brick; the exact time of its foundation I have not been able to trace out. It consists of a chancel, nave, side ailes, and North porch; at the West end of the nave stands a square embattled tower (crowned with a low wooden spire and weathercock) containing a clock and six bells, thus inscribed in capital letters: 1. Edward. Arnold. St. Neots. fecit. 1774. Richard. Robinson. and Richard. Furbank. C. Wardens. 2 and 3. Edward. Arnold, St. Neots. fecit. 1774. Richard. Robinson. Wm. Taylor. C. Wardens. 4. Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God. 1755. 5. John and Christopher Hodson maide me 1678. James Swan. John Corbe. Churchwardens. 6. J. H. S. Nazarenus Rex Judeorum Fili Dei Miserere mei. John Howell, and William Taylor, Churchwardens, 1755. The steeple is separated from the nave by a pointed arch; a clumsy clock-case, which might have been placed in the second story, greatly disfigures the of the tower, appearance and obstructs the light of the West window. Two tiers of windows on each side give light to the interior, one tier in the ailes, consisting of 6 in the North aile, including one at the West end; and 7 on the South side including one at each end. Over the arches on each side of the nave is a row of five windows, divided into + Lysons's Britannia, vol. II. pt. I p. 249. two two lights by a single mullion, which branches off on the sides. The windows of the ailes also consist of two lights, except the East window of the South, and the West and North-east windows of the North aile, which are divided into three parts. The mullions of four of the clerestory windows on the South, and two on the North side, are broken off; parts of them I found piled up at the West end of the South aile. The chancel is lighted by an East window, which is divided into three cinquefoilheaded lights at the lower part by two stone mullions running into ramifications above, and forming six trefoilbeaded lights at the top; there are two windows on the South side of the same kind. The nave, ailes, steeple, and porch, are leaded; the chancel is covered with blue slate. The roof of the nave and ailes is left open to the timber, the brackets are supported by corbels of stone carved into wry faces, "as if they were sensible of the weight of the roof on their shoulders." The principal entrance to the church is by a North porch. On each side of the porch there is a window divided into two cinquefoil-headed lights, which form four trefoil-headed lights above. The dimensions of this church are as follows: If we judge from the different styles of Architecture in this church, we may suppose it to have been enlarged at various times. The four first arches on each side, which separate the nave from the ailes, are round, the remain ing two are pointed; they are supported by pillars of various forms, some being round, and others octangular. THE NAVE. At the South-west end of the nave, is a large pew for singers*. The pews in this part of the church are open, and appear antient. The font, against a pillar on the North side of the nave, about 4 feet in height, is a plain octangular bason of stone, lined with lead, and supported by an octangular basement, without ornament. A large slab (of the 13th century) with a cross forée, round the margin an inscription in Lombardic characters, partly unintelligible, the brass gone. 1 can trace out these letters: .... DE TALBOT.... MARITE PATER NO On a stab are inlaid the whole length brasses of a man and woman: under the latter is a group of 5 daughters; at the feel of the former there bas been a group of sons, but the brass is gone, and the inscription also. (See Plate II.) Near the above, on another slab, is a brass figure, in armour, decapitated, with long sword hanging before him, hands joined, with spurs, feet rest on a dog; there appears also to have been the figure of a lady, but this, as well as the coat of arms, and the brass round the edge of the slab, is now lost; there are two scrolls of brass at the foot of the stone bearing this inscription: Adew Eu Blayne. A brass plate, against a South pillar, bears the following inscription: Where Ipeth buried the bodie of John Huntington Esqui; and of Joyce bis wpfe who were great benefactors unto this Town of Dawston and to the poore thereof whych Tohn died in the neare of our Lord God 1558. And the said Topce died in the peare of of Lord 1564. Blue slab robbed of inscription; another large blue slab, cross florée, on the verge an inscription in Lombardic characters partly defaced. The only words which I can distinguish are : ..... RI. PE. R. GYST. ICI. DIEV. DE. SA. ALME. AYT. MERCIE. AMEN. At the South east corner of the nave are the reading-desk and pulpit; the latter is octangular, and has a cushion Since the above was written in December, the pew has been transformed into a gallery, and placed exactly in the middle, at the West end of the Nave. I should not have complained of a clumsy clock-case blocking out the light and sight of the West window; the new gallery entirely hides it. This alteration will certainly expose the singers to the congregation; but if their faces have no more beauty than their voices have sweetness, the gallery had better have remained in its pristine state; but, since the alteration has taken place, let us hope that the custom of rustic psalmody will give way to a more cultivated taste. March 27th, 1815. Sawston Feast-Day. of of blue velvet, with fringe of the same colour. The following memorandum is entered on the guard leaf of the Bible: "This book was bought on the 29th of July in the year of our Lord God 1749. The Reverend Mr. Charles Stewart, minister of this parish; Stephen Howell' William Taylor Churchwardens.” In the Clerk's Prayer book: "This book was bought December 10, 1770. Michael Tyson, Sequestrator. Richard Robinson' Churchwardens." William Taylor The nave is separated from the chancel by an open wooden screen painted in imitation of veined marble, over which, within the span of the arch which is plastered up, are the royal arms" J. 2. R.," and above: "Fear God, Honour the King." A curious trefoil-headed perforation passes in an oblique direction though the abutment of the arch, between the nave and chancel; the part which opened into the chancel is blocked up by a pew. Mr. URBAN, RICHMONDIENSIS. July 13. ERMIT me to make some re PERMI marks on the very antient and pleasing art of Staining Glass, to which the public attention has this season been attracted in a more than common degree, in consequence of some modern specimens which have been sold by Mr. George Robins, of the Piazza, Covent Garden, who, in his exordium to the Publick, states, "Many attempts have been made in this and other countries to bring Stained Glass to a degree of perfec tion; first time to the protection and admiration of a British publick." I would ask you, Sir, and the scientific readers of your Miscellany, whether it was not requisite, before he could make so bold a declaration, that he should have seen all that had been done in the art of vitrified Glass; and that his taste should have been matured by travel, education, study, and experience; all of which, I conceive, are indispensably requisite to form a true judgment on the works of art. Now, from the specimen I heard of his oratory when he put these "matchless productions" up for sale, I much question his competency to decide on subjects so difficult of comprehension; and, if I dare put in competition with his superior judgment in the fine arts, the name of our most revered and gracious Sovereign, Founder of the Royal Academy, the Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Northumberland, Marquis of Lansdowne, Earl of Besborough, Right Hon. Charles James Fox, Mr. Beckford of Fonthill, and many others who have been hitherto thought capable of judging on such matters; I could cite their opinions, in direct contradiction to his assertion, that "all attempts have hitherto failed in this country to bring this difficult branch of the art to perfection." This, even if true, was beyond his province as an Auctioneer to assert, to the injury of any one: he has certainly a right to make the most of the property committed to his hammer, in a fair and honourable way; but not, by frothy nonsense and bombastical language, detract from the efforts of former ages, and the unceas ing labours of the artists of our own country, whose very existence is struck at, if what he advanced were founded in fact. To explain, Sir, to those who are unacquainted with the nature of Stained or Vitrified Glass (and none, as it appears, knows less of the subject than Mr. Robins-as witness his offer of trying them with lemon-juice!!!) it is necessary to inform them, that every colour or tint used in genuine stained glass must be burnt into the glass itself; and, consequently, to be a true painting on glass, it must be all done Mr. Robins says, "There are three glasses to each picture, the first to display the subject, the second adding an additional shade to the darker parts, SKY, &c. the third, of ground glass, to protect them from the effects of too much light." If such is the case, what need of vitrifying the colours, as the glass before and behind protects them from the air and weather? on one piece of glass, as a fine picture must be all done on one piece of canvas; and, therefore, a combination of three glasses, one before the other, to give the effect which the skill of the artist should produce on one, is nothing more or less than a deception on their public understanding, and, as such, need only be made known, to be universally reprobated. With regard to the magnitude of other specimens of real stained or vitrified glass, I beg leave to turn the attention of Mr. Robins to York Minster, Fairford Church, New College Oxford, Salisbury Cathedral (where a window presents itself, to all appearance in one piece of glass, 21 feet high by 17 feet wide), Windsor, St. Margaret's Westminster, Whitechapel Church, Cripplegate Church, Battersea Church, Wandsworth Church, Aldersgate Church, Gray's Inn Hall, Middle Temple Hall, Staple Inn Hall, Fonthill, the Cartoons of Raphael, and many other specimens antient and modern, that have received for years the public approbation, and may still (without detracting from the beauties of those compound glass pictures knocked down by Mr. Robins, on Saturday, the 20th of May last) humbly presume to hope for a continuance of public opinion in their favour. would not have troubled you, Sir, with these remarks, but for a challenge which appeared in the Morning Post of May the 22d, in which Mr. Robins says, "he had been accused, by some minor artist of the day, of increasing the reputation of foreign artists at the expence of our own; and that he produced those invaluable proofs of the progress that had recently been made to this hitherto-neglected specimen of the arts; that he had already called upon those who professed to have attained a knowledge equal to that which originated those matchless treasures, to corroborate their statement by some practical proof; and that he was anxious to know if they had availed themselves of it; if not, their silence must be viewed as conclusive proof that he had substantiated bis panegyric upon those inimitable performances; and that the degree of perfection which exclusively belongs to those specimens rests entirely with the artists who have been bold enough to undertake those Herculean labours." Not satisfied with bestowing on these specimens the due meed of praise, which, as works of art, they certainly merit, he daringly asserted, that "the size of the pieces exceeds the possibility of any English artist making such an attempt at any price." If this was not a climax of impudent challenge to a whole Nation, I do not know what could be called so ; and, as one of those minor artists in the art, I accepted of it; and I therefore threw open the doors of my house gratis for a month to all who would honour me with a call, to judge for themselves, whether the art has lain dormant, as he described, and whether this triple alliance of glass formed by our neighbours on the Continent is the true art, or an improvement on what has already been done; in consequence of which, an influx of persons of the first rank and fashion, for scientific knowledge, taste, and judgment, have daily ho noured me with their presence, and, by their approbation and applause, have placed the subject upon that ground on which there can be but one opinion; and the silence of Mr. Robins (to use his own words) to these remarks is a certain proof that he has completely failed in his endeavours to establish these foreign three-glass pictures as the perfection of the art. The most charitable construction I can put on the conduct of Mr. Robins is, to suppose that he has been deceived by some designing persons whose interest it was to puff off those new-fashioned specimens beyond anything that had gone before them; and that, to oblige his employers, he has certainly in this instance" outdone his usual outdoings" in the auctioneer art of embellishing; but this is certainly not a sufficient excuse for raising the wealth, and flattering the vanity, of other Nations, at the expence of our own; and to counteract which, I have taken the liberty of addressing these remarks to you, Sir, as a patron of the arts, and a lover of justice. Yours, &c. JAMES PEARSON, Great Russell-str. Bloomsbury. Mr. Archdeacon Coxe's interesting "Life of Benjamin Stilling fleet," the celebrated Naturalist. "Mr. Stillingfleet (Mr. Coxe observes) warmly interested himself for his amiable friend Williamson, to whom he addressed a Sonnet*. After travelling with Lord Haddington and Mr. Baillie, and residing for some time in their family during their abode in the Metropolis, Mr. Williamson was by their departure from Scotland left without a home, and thrown on the world with fewer resources, and less knowledge of mankind, than Mr. Stillingfleet. He was not indeed, like our Author, without a profession, for he had entered into the Church, and was an ornament to his calling: but it was rather a detriment than an adfor all the interest of his noble vantage; friends had not been sufficient to procure him a living, or even a respectable curacy in the Church of England, whilst the obligations of the sacred character precluded him from secular employments. We find that his friends were desirous to procure for him the situation of Preceptor; but, though his multifarious learning and acquirements well fitted him for the most essential duties of such an undertaking, yet the extreme simplicity of his character, and his total ignorance of life, were equal disqualifications, and proved insuperable bars to the recommendation of his friends. Similar pursuits and character had cemented the friendship of our author for Mr. Williamson, for whom, amidst all his own embarrassments, he felt the deepest sympathy, and made unceasing efforts to obtain some permanent establishment. He failed, indeed, in his friendly endeavours; but he had the satisfaction afterwards to see bis valued associate appointed Chaplain to the Factory at Lisbon, through the interest of their common friend Mr. Neville. He always spoke of him in the most ardent terms of attachment; and, among his Memoranda for the History of Husbandry, I find an affectionate tribute to his memory, in which he compares him with Xenophon, the most pleasing of all the Greek Writers+." The character of this excellent and amiable Clergyman, sketched by his friend the late Mr. Neville (the father of the present Lord Braybrooke) is so striking and faithful, that I am persuaded many of your Readers will thank you for extracting it from that valuable work: Printed in our Poetry, page 64. + See his Comparison in Coxe's Life of Stillingfleet, vol. I. p. 105. "If ever man lived to fifty, and died without having lost a friend, or made an enemy, it was Johnny Williamson. Pope drew his character in a single line: In wit a man, simplicity a child.' Had he sat for the picture, it could not have been more like: however, this is only a great outline, and I must be more minute; for his character was as uncommon as either of the preceding. With the most acute understanding, and infinite discernment, any dull scoundrel might have duped him any hour of his life; some did, and they always escaped with impunity; for he was as careful to conceal their iniquity as they could be themselves without vice himself, he could not bear the thought of punishing it in others. "The gentleness of his manners could only be equalled by the depth of his genius: no sickness could ruffle the one, or blunt the other. Bad health indeed checked the flight of the latter, and hindered its attaining those heights in philosophy and mathematics, to which he would otherwise have soared, as I heard from Professor Bradley, when I was a Student at Oxford, and had not the happiness of knowing Williamson; and many times have I heard it since from some of the first men in those sciences here and at Geneva; from Robins, Earl Stanhope, Stevens, Stillingfleet, Professors Calandrini and Cramer of Geneva, to whom I may, from report, add Simson of Glasgow. These are the illustrious witnesses of Williamson's inventive genius and accurate judgment; and well might they judge of both, for none of them ever published any mathematical work, when he was within reach, without first submitting it to his censure and correction. When Dr. Frewen, the celebrated physician at Oxford, had obtained his promise not to think of mathematics for a twelvemonth at least, he employed that time in making himself thorough master of Greek, which he did without any fatigue of mind; and afterwards, when bis bad health bad entirely stopped his mathematical career, he applied himself to the study of his own profession, which he enforced and adorned with every argument and ornament that could be drawn from antient philosophy, history, poetry, or belles lettres. Superior as his genius was, it was nothing to his heart: that was literally without a spot; for I will not call by that name a thoughtless indolency, the child of innocence and generosity. "He was in the strictest sense of the word a true Christian, made up of faith, Of Robert Price and William Windham, esqrs. See Coxe's Life, vol. 1. p. 160, meekness, |