1825]

Mr. URBAN,

M

Bury, July 8.

R. P. Sydney has, I think, suggested the right answer to my query (pt. i. p. 482), respecting the coat of arms in a window of Bardwell Church, Suffolk, and this opinion is strengthened by the fact that the cross Tau was not borne by all the branches of the Drury family.

The figure in question is not that of Sir William de Berdewell, nor has any part of it been repaired except the head, which was lost, and has been replaced by a modern one. It represents a man kneeling, his hands joined in the attitude of prayer; he is habited in a guipon adorned with the armorial bearings as stated before, and richly diapered; his arms are covered by sleeves of chain mail with black cuffs studded with yellow, and plate gauntlets upon his hands. The original form of the helmet was conical, as appeared by its profile remaining in the antient lead-work of the window. A short sword or dagger, with a curiouslyformed hilt, is suspended before him from a broad ornamented belt passing round his hips. The other parts of the armour are similar to that hereafter described, but without any gilding; his white spurs are buckled on in the modern fashion. A triangular shield of the arms before described is placed over his head. This shield is painted upon a single piece of glass, and therefore no confusion of colours can have arisen from the ignorance or carelessness of workmen. In the opposite light of the window is the figure of a lady kneeling, dressed in short kind of jacket, with a train of dark purple, and a very richly-ornamented white and yellow under-garment; her headdress consists of a coif or veil of white with a yellow border. Above her head is a helmet supported by a ragged staff mantled Orand Ermine, and bearing for a crest a mullet of six points Or. These two figures are set in a very rich ground-work of yellow and blue.

a

The effigy of Sir William de Berdewell still remains in another window

in a very tolerable state of preservation, but some small parts having been lost, are now supplied from the mutilated

21

remains of other figures of the same kind, with which the windows of this church were once richly ornamented. He is represented kneeling upon a stool; his head bare, and surrounded by a chaplet of small circular ornaments; he wears a long beard and mustachoes; his guipon is ornamented with circles inclosing cinquefoils coloured yellow, and its skirt is deeply indented in the form of leaves. His limbs are completely cased in plate armour, except at the bend of the elbows and knees, the heel, and lower part of the foot, which parts are defended by mail only; the elbow and knee-caps are of very simple construction, fluted and gilt; his spurs, which are yellow, have the shank beat at an abrupt curve, and inserted into two staples or rings fixed to each heel; his left hand is elevated and open, whilst his right supports a spear. A small triangular shield hangs from his neck by a narrow strap, bearing, Gules, a goat salient Arg. armed and unguled Or. A very long and broad sword depends from a highly-ornamented girdle; and his helmet, the greater part of which is now lost, appears at his side. Above this figure is a shield of the arms of Berdewell as before, surmounted by the helmet and crest, viz. on a wreath a goat's head couped Ar. armed Or; opposite to which, in the other light of the window, is a similar shield, helmet and crest of Pakenham, quartering, Or and Gules, in the first eagle displayed Argent, [it should be Vert, another instance of the omission of that colour.] Sir William married Isabel de Pakenham, whose effigy probably completed the paintings in the window I am now describing, but of which no trace remains.

an

All the figures here described were originally ornamented by small pieces of glass, of various colours and forms, cemented to the surface of the plain glass; but the cement used has not been able to preserve thein to the present time. Upon a careful examination of the two defective shields, it is very evident they were never so ornamented; and the only supposition that remains is, that the artist who executed these pictures was incapable of producing a green.

A coloured print of Sir William's figure was published in 1805, by William Fowler, of Winterton, Lincolnshire.

The

The arms still remaining in their original state in the crockets of the window are as follow:

1. Brotherton; 2. Azure, an inescutcheon within an orle of martlets Or; 3. Brotherton, quartering Mowbray; 4. Hastings, quartering de Valence; 5. Lozengy Arg. and Gules, probably the coat of Tuddenham.

For the pedigree of the family of Berdewell see Blomefield's Norfolk, under West Herling. Yours, &c.

"Mr. URBAN,

A

J. B.

July 10.

S I have amused myself for upwards of thirty years in spending time and money at Book Auctions, it

cannot be doubtful to your reflecting readers whether I may not have enjoyed many a delightiul opportunity "to see and to be seen," to run up and to run down an article of rare or of

common occurrence, and to experience in all its glory the pride, pomp, and circumstance of occasional resolute competition. Aye, Sir, "When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of

war." Of course I cannot but have

noticed for the last twelve years the Buonapartean rapidity of progress made by Mr. Thorpe, now of Bedford-street, Covent Garden, whose bibliomaniacal prowess is recorded in terms of deserved eulogy in your excellent publication for May, pp. 423, 424. With your shrewd correspondent NEPOS I willingly join in bearing witness to Mr. T.'s ardour of research, patience of pursuit, skill of examination, and liberality of purchase. By these arts men live and thrive, batten and fatten, on the spolia opima of recondite literature. In the year of our Lord 1814, Mr. T. was slim and slender; in the year 1825, behold the hero of Waterloo sales sleek, stout, and solid; or, in classical language, Hor. Sat. 11.7.1.86. Fortis, et in seipso totus teres atque rotundus;"

"

[July,

letter notoriety, every sweet and scarce phenomenon-in short, that at any time appears in the mighty waters of our public auctions, in the preserves and lakes of private repositories, in the ponds and wells of bookish individuals, or in the Billingsgate market of our grand trade-sales-all, all, Mr. Urban, float under the notice of Mr. T.'s cognitive eye, and the feel of his masterly hand, and sooner or later get struck by his harpoons, inclosed in his nets, and towed off in triumph by his boats.

Ecce signum! Sir, as Falstaff says. The moment I had read over the choice lucubration in your book, page 424, signed AN UNFLEDGED BIBLIOMANIAC, I snatched up my wig, hat, gloves, and cane, and purse, and started

away for Bedford-street. "Assure as a gun," I mentally ejaculated, "Mr. T. knows all about these female cu riosities." And I was right, Sir. In Mr. T.'s Catalogue for 1820, No. 7919, lay sly and snug one of the resplendent charmers, yclept "La Nef des Folles selon les cinq Sens de Nature, composés selon l'Evangille de Monseigneur Saint Mathieu des cinq vierges qui ne prindent point d'uylle avecques eulx pour mettre en leurs lampus." Alas! and alack-a-day! friend Sylvanus, the title was there, sure enough; but the prize was sold for something under ten

pounds principal money! Still, oh!

Αι

Yes, my dear Urban, yes! In this very right hand, wherewith I now address you, did I hold, and fondle, and tickle, and sport with that beautiful little golden fish of matchless fame, styled "Jodoci Badii Ascensii Stultiferæ Naviculæ, seu Scaphæ Fatuarum Mulierum, circa sensus quinque exteriores fraude navigantium.' length, impatient to pessess the lovely paragon of "daintie device," I looked up wistfully into Mr. T.'s smiling physiognomy, and with gentle mien and accent bland asked the good man a certain requisite question, preliminary to rapturous purchase and undisputed possession. The work contains twentyfour leaves, somewhat broader and handsomer than the soft Sibylline effusions in which Dr. Eady's merits

are

1825.]

THE curious epistle, which I here

present to you for insertion in your respectable Miscellany, was actually and seriously written to a friend in town, by the master of an Academy a notable specimen of pedagogic liberality, I think it worth preserving; though I forbear to mention the writer's

about eight miles from London.

name.

I likewise, for a very obvious reason, forbear to sign my own, which, however, as well as my hand-writing, is sufficiently known to you.

«Mr. **** presents his compliments to Mr.***. He should consider it as a great favour, if he could help him to a person perfectly conversant in the Greek language,

who could come to **** for three hours either upon the Thursday or Saturday afternoun, to teach a young Gentleman to read Demosthenes, Thucydides, and Herodotus, so as he may obtain, not only a perfect knowledge of those Authors, but also a critical knowledge of that language. Mr. **** will have no objection to the giving a person, well qualified, six shillings each time, his dinner, and tea, provided he can come exactly at two o'clock, and give three clear hours for study after."

23

and I do not know whether the writer be now alive. A. B.

N

Mr. URBAN, West Square, July 6. Pepys's Memoirs" lately pubs lished, repyss I have noticed an anecdote of Charles the Second's queen, who is stated to have used, to the king, the coarse vulgar phrase, "You lie.

Now, to any Englishman who has not resided many years in France, and been in habits of constant and familiar intercourse with the natives, such an

expardonable is probably appear instance of vulgarity

and rudeness: whereas a person practi

cally acquainted with the phraseology readily acquit her Majesty of the disgraceful imputation, as he can hardly ignorant, that, in such conversation, the phrase, "Vous mentez" (ac

of familiar French conversation, will

tone

companied with the appropriate and look) is occasionally used, to sig nify neither more nor less than, simply, "You are joking:" and I have myself (during a residence of several years in France) often heard it used in that sense. -The queen, therefore, (who is represented as understanding very little English) may well be excused for her unlucky literal translation of "Vous mentez," where no offence was intended, and none was taken.

I would not, however, be understood to assert, that "Vous mentes" is not, in general, equally offensive as the English phrase. I only mean that it is sometimes inoffensive in particular

ERE is literally an article which should have a place among your "Fly Leaves;" for it is actually a por tion of some interesting manuscript which a ruthless bookbinder has con verted to that purpose, or rather used

to line the inside of the covers of "Howel's Instructions for Forreine

Travell, 1642."

The late Mr. Gilchrist, in his Me moir of Bishop Corbet prefixed to his Poems, has guessed, from the omission

of the name of his beloved wife Alicia in the prelate's will, that he outlived her, but had no other means of ascertaining the fact. This fragment puts it out of doubt.

Dignis

[Júly,

"Among the most interesting events to which the attention of the Christian and the Philanthropist has been of late directed, those which have recently occurred in Greece hold a distinguished place. That country, once the most renowned in the annals of civilization, the fountain-head of literature, and arts, and science, after having been completely overwhelmed by invading barbarians, and after ages of severe suffering, has again arisen from its degradation, full of hope and promise. That people, whose ancestors received the maxims of our holy religion from the lips of its earliest Apostles, after being oppressed for centuries, has again

been admitted to the free exercise of their Christian faith, and to the free and unmolested worship of the God of their fathers.

But whether the present situation of Greece be contrasted with its former intellectual glory or its religious privileges, the degradation which a longenduring despotism has introduced must awaken the strongest desire in every benevolent heart to counteract and remove its baneful influence. To secure

and to perpetuate the blessings of free-. dom, ignorance and superstition must be superseded by knowledge, judiciously applied, and by that education which can eradicate the causes and the consequences of a devastating misrule.

To England, then, -to England, great in her means of benevolence, and mighty in her philanthropic influence, this interesting country turns, and implores assistance to carry forward the good work of improvement. It is our duty to answer the appeal: and it cannot but be a matter of high satisfaction to reflect, that we may thus be enabled to pay to the children of Greece some portion of the debt we owe to their illustrious progenitors.

That, in order to act with effect upon the human mind, education must combine itself with the truths and with the sanctions of the Gospel, can hardly be doubted by those who have watched the growth and the aberration of the moral feeling; and, in this persuasion, it is deemed of the highest importance that a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures should be an object of the most prominent attention.

To form the heart, and to regulate the life-to fit men for the discharge

ties to create a spirit of private and

of

1825.]

25

videntiall circumstances has led to this country; and has more recently admitted as Scholars, seven lads brought over by Captain Blaquiere, together with a young man, their companion, whom they contemplate training as a Schoolmaster. Of these lads only a part are likely to be prepared for Teach

formly exhibited by those to whom the blessings of education have been communicated, the highest possible encouragement will be found for our exertions the most satisfactory security for our ultimate, our great success.

"Though, among the highest classes of Greece, the preliminary forms of instruction have been generally and widely extended, and of late years men have appeared to purify the lan guage, and to revive the literature of their country, yet the want of any general system of education, arising first from the intolerable severity of Turkish oppression, and, secondly, from the terrors and anxieties of a desolating war, has left the mass of the people in a state of lamentable ignorance. The present moment appears peculiarly favourable for attempting to establish among them plans of extensive good. Several philanthropic Societies have sprung up at Nauplia, Athens, and Missolonghi; and possessing some peculiar facilities for carrying our plans into complete operaton, we only look to the sympathy and encouragement of the British public to enable us to confer the highest and the most lasting benefit on the people

of Greece.

46

Already the British and Foreign School Society has directed its attention to the claims of Greece. Two Cypriot youths, redeemed from slavery, were sent to England in 1823, and at the expence of private benevolence have been educated at the Central School in the Borough Road, and trained as Masters: the elder left for Morea a few months since, in company with a gentleman, who, from motives of sincere benevolence, is gone to that country to devote himself to the cause of education:-the establishment of a School on the British Systein, at the seat of Government, would be the first object of their attention.

"The Society has since taken on its Establishment, to 1, to train as Masters, two other Greeks, whom a series of proviGENT. MAG. July, 1825.

employments; but their education in England, if rightly directed, may have an important influence on their coun trymen; not only in cementing the future friendly alliance of the two countries, but in advancing the moral improvement of Greece. The School Society have also printed in the modern Greek, both in the book and sheet form, the Scripture Lessons used in their Central Schools.

"In taking a more comprehensive view of the means to be adopted in. promoting the establishment of Schools in Greece, the Committee of the British and Foreign School Society have seen that, however strongly connected with the object for which they were associated, it was utterly impossible for them, with their present limited resources, to meet the expences needful to be incurred in the promotion of these plans. The instruction of Masters and Mistresses in this country; their passage to and from England; the printing of elementary spelling, reading, and arithmetic lessons for the schools; and various articles of school-furniture, will call for funds of considerable amount. And in a country where little or no provision for reading in the vernacular tongue is already made, it will be necessary immediately to follow up these efforts by a series of instructive and improving reading in a cheap form, adapted to the capacities of children.

"Through their Treasurer, the Committee have already opened a communication with the Members of the Greek Government; and from this source, as well as from personal intercourse with the Greek Deputies now in London, they feel assured of the most cordial co-operation.

"In an effort, thus made, to advance the cause of Christianity, by promoting a religious education founded on the principles of Holy Scripture, in a country where the Christian religion has so long been oppressed, the Cominittee trust that they shall be supported by