XXV. And ye who give the shell its power to charm, The fabled offspring of high thundering Jove, Who life of half its maladies disarm, And teach the soul yon boundless spheres to rove: XXVI. Could ye no strain of magic influence pour, Your pale, wan, votary's drooping head to rear, Who fortune's proffer'd gifts for you forbore, Nor heeded penury while the Muse was near! XXVII. All, all were mute the Loves had wing'd their flight, And every muse, and every pleasure fled Swift as the meteor of a summer's night, And left a band of furies in their stead! XXVIII. In louder grief each gentler note was lost, XXIX. Midst the dark conflict, when with whirlwind force, Each youthful folly rush'd upon my view; When Sorrow wrung my soul, and keen Remorse Painted those follies in their darkest hue XXX. 'Twas then the ETERNAL SIRE beheld my grief, XXXI. Come, ye pure joys which Piety supplies; Come, rapturous visions! all my powers engage; But chief when Vice is nigh, resistless rise, Steel my firm soul, and warm with holy rage. XXXII. London! I bid thy guilty towers farewell! XXXIII. All hail, RELIGION !-thou alone canst fire Rav. MAY, 1802. G Oh! XXXIV. Oh! still as through life's dreary vale I stray, My feet may gain at length that heavenly shore!' We shall now copy a specimen of two of the minor com positions: • On two Sisters. How often have I vow'd no woman's chain Or in your presence boast th' unconquer'd heart? And sense, sound judgment, and good humor charm; And JENNY Crown my hopes at Hymen's shrine. Epitaph on a Beautiful Infant. • Bright to the sun expands the vernal rose, And sweet the lily of the valley blows; Sudden impetuous whirlwinds sweep the sky, They shed their fragrance, droop the head, and die. Thus this fair infant, from life's storms retir'd, Put forth fair blossoms, charm'd us, and expir'd.' Mr. Maurice informs us that a number of the bantlings of his prolific Muse are yet wanderers from their parent, under the protection of different friends; and that, should the public smile on this assemblage, he hopes to be able to present a second exhibition to their notice and favour. ART. XI. An History of the original Parish of Whalley, and Honor of Clitheroe, in the Counties of Lancaster and York. By Thomas Dunham Whitaker, LL. D. Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. 4to. pp. 487. With Plates and Maps. 31. 35. Boards. Hat chard. 1801. THE HE parish of Whalley and the honor of Clitheroe, in the counties of Lancaster and York, are certainly under great obligations to Dr. Whitaker for the consequence which he has bestowed on them by this elaborate work. They are traced back to the Brigantes; to an inferior tribe of that people, denominated by Ptolemy the Setantii, or rather Segantii, but called, by the anonymous Ravennas, Sistuntiaci, or more probably Seguntiaci. On this occasion, it is scarcely possible to refrain trom adverting to the curious etymon of the old French chro nicler, G. 2 nicler, who derives the term Brigantes from the antient Gaulic noun brigands; admitting which it follows that this and many other parishes of England may boast the honor of as noble a descent as the city of Rome. The excellent British etymologist, Baxter, informs us that the Seguntiaci, considering their situation along the sources of numerous brooks, and of some considerable rivers, may have derived their name from Se cond ui, the head of the waters.-From this point of station, our historical horizon widens, and we have an extensive view of the soil and climate of the region around. In the second chapter, intitled Roman history, the author calls in question the authority of Richard of Cirencester, and is very severe on some of our modern antiquaries. He fears that Mr. Whitaker, the historian of Manchester, has been led by that monk, with a friar's lantern, into many devious paths, through many bogs and brakes, in his bold and excursive wanderings over the Sistuntian monarchy; and Dr. Leigh, the historian of Lancashire, who is so unfortunate as to have no friendly monk to bear his sins, escapes not the "cutting cen sures of the critic's pen." Memorials of the parish, during the Saxon æra, occupy the third chapter. The second book opens with the general head of Ecclesiastical History. The foundation of the parent church is related from a traditional account preserved in the Status de Blackburne shire; the truth of which, however, is doubted by Dr. W., inasmuch as it declares that Augustine preached at Whalley, which the Doctor asserts to be a downright falsehood, since there is no probability that he ever was in Northumbria. Another fatal objection to this account is thus delivered: I do not highly esteem the character of this man;' (pretty familiar in speaking of a saint!) his conduct towards the Christian Britons proves him to have had the narrowest views in religion; and he was besides proud, superstitious, and addicted to an indelicate casuistry, which, in men devoted to celibacy, argues at least a contaminated imagination.' Nevertheless, in one Christmas-day, says a fragment quoted by Camden, Austin baptized above ten thousand men, and consecrated the river Swale, Dr. W., however, on the authority of Bede and other collateral testimonies, thinks that the anecdote rather relates to Paullinus, the known apostle of Northumbria, than to Augustine. Which ever of them it was that performed this duty, it must be allowed at least to have been a very hard day's work. The æra of this memorable event, the first preaching of the gospel at Whalley, may with an high degree of probability be fixed between the years 625 and 631.' This being premised, next follow long G 2 and and dry lists of abbots and monks, dates of the building of churches, hallowing of altars, receipts and expenditures of monasteries, rentals of estates, &c. From the article of various expences, it appears that the monks of the abbey of Whalley drank about eight pipes of red wine per annum, besides white wine; and that they laid in their red wine at 41. per pipe which is indeed a very moderate price in comparison with what both clergy and laity are obiiged to pay for it in these later times. Another curious particular, which we learn from these records; is a charge pro stipite Sancti Henrici. Who is this St. Henry? No other than king Henry the Vlth, who was actually adored at Windsor by the name of Holy King Henry. (Stowe's Ann. p. 424.) There is also a prayer ad. dressed to Henry VI. in the Hora B. V. M. in usum Sarum, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, A. D. 1502.-Under the head of provisions, appear, "Nutmuks; 15.; succarcande is; succar 9s." This (as Dr. W. justly observes) is a curious fact; as it proves that sugar was in use amongst us before the discovery of America; but the history of this great ingredient in modern luxury is far from being well ascertained. The sugarcane, however, appears, from Pancirollus de Rebus Inventis, to have been grown in Sicily and manufactured at Venice, though probably in small quantities, some centuries before his time. But it was considered rather as a balsamic or pectoral medicine than an article of food.' We cannot but remark the prodigious awe with which this antiquary approaches the tomb of a Licey or a Stacey; though the beings themselves who bore these names, when alive, were perhaps of no more real benefit to mankind than the dust is at present into which their bodies have been decomposed. Let us hear with what unction the historian of the parish of Whalley puts up his pious orisons for the repose of the dust of the Laceys, after he had been laboriously digging in vain to find it : The remains of the Laceys. (says he,) wherever deposited after their removal from Stanlaw, had undoubtedly been preserved with religious reverence, and inclosed in magnificent tombs. But in these researches there were no appearances which justified even a conjecture, that we had discovered them. This investigation being ended, the several remains were deposited once more near the place of their original interment, and the ground was carefully smoothed above, that no vestiges of recent inequality might tempt the hand of idle curiosity, or of credulous avarice, to draw them once more from their hallowed abode. May they now rest in peace! Requiescant in pace! Amen. And, if the spirits which once animated that dust were capable of being disturbed by the momentary intrusion of respectful curiosity, may they be propitiated once more by this humble attempt to illustrate their mansion, and to perpetuate their memories in honour!' Can there be a finer instance of devout fustian than this! and all excited because the Laceys happened to live in the pa-. rish of Whalley, and, dying rich, were buried honourably two or three hundred years ago! The chapter on Ecclesiastical History concludes with the following extract from Stow's Chron. Ann. 1536-7. The 10th of March, John Paslew, bachelor of divinity, then being the five and twentieth abbot of Whalley, was executed at Lancaster; and the same day with him was hanged, drawn and quartered, John Eastgate, a monk of the same house, whose quarters were set up at divers towns in that shire; and on the 13th of March, William Hayddoke, a monk of Whalley, was hanged at Whalley, in the field called Pediam guies, and there hanged a long time after. More about the same time, &c.' Alas! this monastery is now in ruins; and a text of holy scripture is quoted as fortunately applicable to the purpose of lamentation: "We think upon her stones, and it piticth us to see her in the dust." Psalm cii. Com. Pr. version. We meet with nothing particularly remarkable in the short. chapter intitled, Parish Church and Vicarage of Whalley, which contains a catalogue of the vicars from the year 1303 to 1772. On mentioning the exclusion of the Presbyterians from the pulpits, on the restoration, Dr. W. observes: Hence the formidable separation which took place, and hence in part the origin of modern sects, almost without number and without name, which threaten but too obviously the downfall of our civil and ecclesiastical establishment.' Book 111. commences with an account of the origin, progress, and ramifications of property. In the second chapter, the Laceys appear again, in all their glory; not indeed as Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes, but as memorable for more substantial properties, as lords of manors and possessors of grand revenues. One of them, however, early distinguished himself in such a manner as to induce a doubt in our minds, whether the author meant to include him likewise in his pious prayers for the repose of the departed family, not knowing whether his creed, be as comprehensive as that of Origen: This Roger de Lacey,' says he,. was the terror and scourge of the Welch; for his severe exeecutions upon whom, together with the general ferocity of his. temper, he was profanely denominated Hell' Then follow catalogues of the seneschals of Blackburnshire; a particular survey of the forests of Blackburnshire; and an account of witches, If the author does not believe in the exist |