structures, that propriety requires there should be an uniformity of design throughout, or the additions will be infallibly looked on with contempt (however respectable, were they detached) by a man of any taste. There are two beautiful buildings at Derby; the tower and church of All Saints: the former, a most exquisite specimen of Gothic grandeur; the latter, as fine as a Doric building. Taken separately, they would be admired in any country of Europe; but, as they stand, the rich tall tower alone attracts admiration; the church is lost amidst a blaze of excellence. A Grecian building never can be added with propriety to one of Gothic architecture, the proportions are so different in each. The church at Hackney was once dedicated to St. Augustin. Its present patron, St. John, is supposed to have been such since the knights templars of St. John of Jerusalem had property in its vicinity. It has been presented to by that appellation since 1660. However, I shall not pretend to decide whether the present church is the same that, in 1292, was called St. Augustin, and a distinct rectory and vicarage. The Tyssen family have it in their gift, who are lords of the manor.

There are two side aisles, and the pillars, twelve in number, are remarkably strong, good, and well-proportioned; the arches pointed. The galleries, of which there are several, are not made so convenient as they might have been; they appear to have been erected at different periods, and do not reach, as usual, from one end to the other of the church, nor extend to the pillars which divide the aisles. One is so slight, that it is as it were hung to the roof by iron hooks. If those galleries had been removed, and others erected, a vast number of seats might have been added. The roof of the old building is uncommonly good; the beams and rafters appear perfectly sound. The organ-gallery is spacious, the organ large and handsome. Along the frieze of the gallery there is an inscription, purporting that the church was repaired in 1720. Above, in the pannels, are three pictures, drawn with much taste and freedom in black and white, though very slight: the waves in one, and the trees and rocks in the others, have considerable merit. The subjects are, the miraculous draught of fishes, Christ in the storm at sea, and Elijah fed by ravens. The pavement in many parts of the aisles consists of slabs for the most part stripped of their brass. There is one, tolerably perfect, of a man in armour and his wife, under the organ-gallery; the arms and inscription gone. The font is

modern; the cover, which is suspended, appears rather more ancient: neither are any way remarkable.

There are several brasses let into the walls; which, as they have been already noticed by others, I shall pass, and only mention those that appear most to deserve attention.

In the chancel, the monuments are mural, except one altar-tomb, with a recess over it, inscribed,

ANNO D'NI 1519.

CHRISTOPHORO VRSWYK Rectori.

Ω

MIA

The lower part is shut up by execrable wainscot; the border to the recess is richly decorated with Gothic ornaments. What is to become of this monument if the church is to be pulled down? Not destroyed, I hope; though it cannot well be avoided, I am afraid. However, I intend it shall not be totally forgotten; for, I will draw it to grace my collection of tombs.

Over Urswyk's tomb is one to the memory of David Doulben, Bishop of Bangor, a half-length figure, in his sacred vestments, 1633. To the left of the above are Henry Thoresby and wife, 1615. Opposite, in a chapel, are an altar-tomb and a beautiful monument, 1612, to Sir Thomas Rowe and his wife, whose effigies and six of their children kneel on it. It is of variegated red and white marble, richly gilt, very clean and perfect. Near the door of the chapel, a monument to Thomas Wood, Esq. has himself, wife, four sons, and four daughters, kneeling, 1649. The altar is a strong oak table. On the South wall of the church there is a monument, 1570, hid and defaced by a gallery, to the memory of Sir Thomas Rowe, Knt. alderman and mayor; his effigies in armour. Near it, between two windows, is a vacant nich. On the left a tablet to the memory of the Rev. John Lewis, M. A. lecturer of the parish, and of Christ-church, Middlesex, 1770. There is a curious figure cut in metal, of Hugh Johnson, vicar, 1618, in his pulpit, set in a pillar near the reading-desk.

On a pew, loose and leaning against the wall, under a gallery, is a stone, apparently taken from an old tomb, containing this inscription:

The right Honorable Baron
JOHN NEVIL, Knyghte, Lorde

at his manner of Snape, in the countye of Yorke, y 22 of Apryl, 1577, in y° yeare of his age 61, and lyethe buried with his auncestoures at his churche in his town of Well.

This tablet, I find by Strype, is part of the monument of Lucy Lady Latimer, and formerly had on it the following inscription and verses:

Here lyeth the Rt. Honourable Lady Lucy, daughter to the Right Noble Henry Earl of Worcester, wife to the late Right Honourable John Nevyle, knt. Lord Latimer. By whom she had issue four daughters, Katharine, Dorothy, Lucy, Elizabeth. She departed this life the 23d of Febr. 1582, in the year of her age, 59.

Such as she is, such surely shall ye be,

Such as she was, such if ye be, be glad;
Fair in her youth, though fat in age she grew,
Vertuous in both, whose gloss did never fade:
Though long alone she led a widow's life,
Yet never lady liv'd a truer wife.

From Wales she sprang, a branch of Worcester's race,
Graft in a stock of Browne's, her mother's side;
In Court she held a maid of honour's place,

Whilst youth in her, and she in Court did bide:
To John Lord Latymer then she became a wife,
Four daughters had they breathing yet in life.
Earl of Northumberland* took the first to wife,
The next the heir of Baron Burleight chose;
Cornwallis had the third for term of life,

And Sir John Danvers pluckt the youngest rose:
Their father's heirs, them mothers all she saw,
Pray for, or praise her, make your list the law.

As so much has been done by authors every way com petent, it will naturally occur to your readers why I have been thus brief in noticing dates and inscriptions in St. John's church. The old parsonage-house, I suppose, will not long outlast the church. To preserve both, I have made drawings for my collection. In the yard there is a grave-stone to the memory of Francis de Oliveyra, Knight,

* Named Henry.

Sir Tho. Cecil,

of the order of Christ in Portugal, who abjured his religion, and died here in 1783, aged eighty-one years. There are eight bells in the tower, and room for ten,

The new church, is nearly completed. There is something magnificent in its exterior; the cornice and dentils are well proportioned, and give a good effect to the whole. The inside will be extremely plain, as there are no pillars to the roof. The plan is that of the cross. The pillars, twelve in number, that support the galleries, are of the Doric order; they are on three sides of the church, and extend no farther than the intersections of the cross, forming an area circular opposite the altar. The ceiling is a depressed arch, springing from the four sides, and meeting in a point, which is decorated with a large rose stuccoed. The altar cannot be much decorated, as there is a very large window over where it will be placed. Under the pews there will be vaults, for the prevention of damps, as I was told. There will be many apartments in the church for various purposes, of which I cannot speak with certainty. J. P. MALCOLM

1796, April.

IX. Topographical Description of Witham, in Berkshire.

MR. URBAN,

Oxford, March 27, 1797.

THE following brief notes of a decayed village in Berkshire are much at the service of your readers.

WITHAM, about three miles and a half from Oxford, had formerly a nunnery, which was removed from Abingdon soon after 690. It continued till 780, when it was ruined in the wars between Offa, King of the Mercians, and Kinewulf, King of the West Saxons.

"Oxfordshire, (saith Mr. Warton,*) with some of the adjacent counties, was included in Offa's kingdom; and he is supposed to have kept his court at the fortress or castle of Witham, near Oxford, which he had won from Kinewulf, King of the West Saxons." The fortress (continues Mr.

Warton*) probably stood on the site of the present ancient mansion-house of the Earl of Abingdon, built about the reign of Henry the Sixth."

Here, however, I cannot but differ from him: Witham is situated at the foot of the hill which retains its name; and, though Mr. Warton was unable to discover any mounds or trenches on the summit of Witham hill, yet it was in every respect commodious for a Roman Specula, the site of which might afterwards have been occupied by the Saxons.

The fortress, or castle, seems to have been erected by Kinewulf, super montem de Witham, merely for the sake of opposing the incursions of Offa, in whose hands it appears shortly afterwards to have fallen by the chance of war. The words super montem de Witham clearly indicate the site of the fortress to have been, not the spot whereon the Earl of Abingdon's mansion now stands, but near the summit of Witham hill. I have carefully examined the hill. On the summit, near its Eastern declivity, I found many large stones, in some parts regularly disposed; the massive fragments of a desolated fortress.

The present venerable mansion of the Earl of Abingdon, was (as was before observed,) erected about the reign of Henry the Sixth, prior to the relaxation of feudal tenure. Upon the traveller's first approach, he cannot but recall to his memory the fortified dungeons of our ancestors, whose martial tempers, whilst they consulted the magnificence of petty tyranny, seem to have forgot convenience. The embattled tower in the centre is surmounted by two octangu lar turrets, and the edifice itself surrounded by a moat. The old hall remains in its ancient state ;§ and I must own that, upon my first entrance, I beheld with romantic pleasure the vestiges of former hospitality and munificence. The prowess of our martial ancestors, the celebrated feats, the genius of chivalry, rushed on my imagination.

Ibid. in note.

+ Mr. Warton thinks it was connected with Seckworth, [Secz popð,

the soldier's town,] a desolated adjacent town. Mr. W. was wrong in his assertion (History of Kiddington, p. 27,) that a barn and a pound were the only remains of Seckworth, as it contains five houses. In the Bodleian Valor of 1391, it is called Seweckworth; and the abbot of Abingdon is said to have had a pension of iijs. from its church, (valued at cs.) no remains of which now appear. [ Great alterations have been lately made in the house and grounds; the moat is now filled up. 1811. E.]

In the West window, in a circular shield, are the old arms of England; nigh which, in three other circular shields, are, a red rose, a fleur-de-lis, and a portcullis.