& disquisition. Indeed whilst I was on earth 'twas oft with vast satisfaction I have meditated upon the admirable & curious art shown in the Minima Naturæ, where the parts of matter, which we knew by mathematical demonstration are capable of being divided ad infinitum, are almost actually so divided, but certainly the finger of the supreme Being is maximus in maximis, & in such mighty productions he seems to have a field somewhat answerable to the vastness of his preconceived ideas adequate to his power, which in lesse things must necessarily be contracted from our understanding; & it is as much impossible for you to have an adequate idea of these larger productions of his hand, as of infinite space or eternity. Those are only to be attempted by the exalted spirits of those that have passed over the stygian lake of human infirmitys untainted, unpolluted of those corporeal defilements, which leave spots of impunity upon the ethereal soul not to be washed out in many successions of duration. 'Tis with pity I consider the difficultys you encounter with of avoyding fleshly impuritys, which yet, by the little time of experience I had amongst you, I found chiefly owing to the want of resolution to withstand them, for upon tryal it will be found more easy to be imagined without it, & to a considerate man they will appear so unworthy, & the charms of virtue so bright & glaring, that at length it will become easier for one to be chaste & temperate, just & religious, than vitious & debauched: & the observation of the Christian Institutions, the highest pitch of morality that ever was presented to the World, are most highly conducive to the perfection of the soul which gives us an anti-tast of those seraphic pleasures which we are in full fruition of. But I am forbid to say more of that copious subject, & commend you to the exercise of that reason which you have a large share of, sufficient to bear you up in the practise of those attestations of faith & good works, which will entitle you to the favour of that transcendent all-perfect essence in whose presence are eternal joys. I think myself obliged to you for the concern you expressed when you acquainted our Brother Massey with my death, as you called it. It was no more than what I find I have done divers times before. I could tell you who I was once several ages agoe, & whose name you have very often read, but that would seem a little too much to praise myself; but it was not without reason that I ever was so fond of the study of antiquitys, which indeed was only a natural instinct, a desire of being acquainted with those times wherein I had formerly made some sort of figure, but, immaturo fato abreptus, only to be lamented because I was obliged to return under the cover of another body whence I may in some measure account for that strange affection I always had for that notion of Pythagoras's transmigration, as well as for several of his doctrines, particularly that of feeding on animals. Strange that man can't find better & more innocent ways of preserving life than by the death of his fellow animals, or that we should so little consider that great prerogative of heaven, which is perpetually exercised in giving being to creatures, as to take pleasure in takeing it away. When we know at the same time by constant experience that that little second hand way we have of being the occasion of producing a living body is attended with the greatest of bodily satisfactions, an item sure of the dignity of that power which is delegated to us from the Sovereign author of all things. Hence then may we assure ourselves of the great reward which attends our endeavours to save a soul, for which the very Angels think not their pains ill bestowed in watching & guarding us, are not reluctant to leave these happy abodes to attend poor mortals, & by unseen ways avert evill from us, & prompt us to doe good, whereof no body that reflects seriously upon his own life but must be sensible. But, what is more, how much doe we owe to that second person of the Deity, ever blessed, who daigned to cloath himself in flesh to spiritualize our natures, & redeem us from the tremendous curse justly doomed to all the world, for the fatal transgression of our arch parent & the corruption of all his offspring. Dreadfull to think that without such his amazing philanthropy, such an infinite number of immortal souls, a whole world must have for ever been excluded the beatific vision, the ineffable joys of Heaven, which those only can have an idea of who see the face of God in glory; to whose holy protection I recommend you, hopeing these few lines may not prove an unseasonable entertainment to you during the confinement of your indisposition, from which I wish you a recovery, & am, Your sincere friend & orator, W. S. XXXIV. SIR JOHN CLERK TO R. GALE.-H. C. Dear Sir, & Edenborough, 29 April, 1729. I was sorry to hear of Doctor Woodward's death, he was a droll sort of a philosopher, but one who had been at much pains expence to promote naturall knowledge. I wish I had known when his fossils were to be sold, some of them were very curious, though indeed he himself was the greatest curiosity of the whole collection. As for his Clypeus Votivus, I wish the gentleman joy who paid one hundred guineas for it. Never was there anything more absurd, in my opinion, than to fancy it was Roman, for as it is of iron, it could never have lasted the fourth part of the time, for by the sculpture, if genuine, it had been as ancient as the time of Hadrian. I never saw anything of iron which was Roman, except great hinges for doors, or the like, which had lost half of their substance by rust. I thank you kindly for the description you sent me of the Roman pavement,' it well deserves to be printed off in a copper plate, & to have a room built over it. I observed with pleasure the dimensions much used by the Romans, viz., two squares, & no doubt the hight of the room was equall at least to its breadth. I believe I told you in my last that I have gott two swords of brasse, of a curious form. They may possibly be Roman, for they were found near a pretorium that was square. They have had wooden handles, & are very sharp & heavy. I have likewise gott a very curious instrument of that kind which Monfaucon & other writers have commonly described for Roman fibulæ, but what I take to be the true Roman stylus.3 It is studded with silver, & the broad part at the end of it, for deleting what used to be written on the pugillares, is very remarkable, being a kind of opus tessellatum, made up of red & white stones, very minute & perfectly intire. Yours, &c., J. CLERK. 2 In Littlecot Park, near Hungerford. Sir John Clerk's sketch shows it to have been a fibula, and not a stylus. XXXV. ROGER GALE "TO DR. WM. STUKELEY AT GRANTHAM, IN LINCOLNSHIRE."-H. F. ST. J. London, May 8, 1729. Dear Doctor, I am sorry you labor under so many disappointments in the happynesse you proposed to yourself from your countrey retirement, but it is no more than I told you, before you left this place, that you would soon complain of, & that we should have you back again in a few years. I hope it is not yett too late to thrust yourself once more into the busy world again, & do assure you no one living would be better pleased to see you content & happy in life than myself. Lord Pembroke is pretty well again, but do's not yett come down stairs. Lady Pembroke makes an excellent nurse as well as wife; she never leaves him now in his chamber, & all this winter has given him her company at home in the evening; so that I have never found him alone, & to my great comfort have been dismist constantly at 9 a clock, when they very lovingly went to supper together. I most willingly accept of the honor you do me of standing sponsor with him if there is occasion for it in June or July next. Could your Lady putt off her time till the end of August I should be in hopes of attending the solemnity in person, but if you should not have occasion at present, you may keep me in petto for the next, or the 34, 4th, or whenever you may be in want. Your discourse of the Saxon antiquitys found in your neighborhood have not yet been read before the Royall Society, but Dr. Rutty tells me they shall be layd before them either this day, or at the next meeting. I write this in the forenoon being to sett out for Cottenham to morrow morning, full of busynesse, & unwilling to leave yours unanswered till my return, which I intend shall be in three weeks time. Mr. Goodman has gott his affairs settled William Rutty, born in London; educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. M.D. 1719. Fellow of College of Physicians 1720. Gulstonian Lecturer 1722. Secretary of Royal Society 1727. Died 10 June, 1730.—Munk's Roll of College of Physicians, Vol. ii., p. 74. pretty much to his mind, & I believe you will see him next week. At my return I will endeavor to gett you a transcript of Doomsday book as to Grantham. Browne Willis dined with me last Sunday, I had no opportunity of discoursing him then about your saints & have not seen him since. The Clerk of Ribblechester's son I put into busynesse before the receit of your last, in Derbyshire. I thank you for your notice of the fine hunting seat to be sold near Ancaster; the good company, that forms the learned congresse there, would be a farr greater inducement to me for purchasing it, than the hunting there in perfection, my sporting days being pretty well over; but we cannot have all we wish for. The coat armor I have gott examined by one of our Heralds who sent me this account of it. Crekingham's Arms" v. Vincent No. 152, p. 124, & No 153, p. 237, about Henry 8th time. For my part I believe it should be wrote Trekingham or Frekingham, a family denominated from a town of that name near Folkingham, in your Countrey, having never heard of a man or place called Crekingham; & in another book of Vincent's in the Herald's office are the same arms onely the Bend is sable, under the name of Trekingham of Trekingham in Com. Lincoln. I have no more to add but that I am, with my humble service to my future Commeter, dear Doctor, Your most faithfull friend & humble servant, [Within this letter is a loose slip of paper on which is written "Here lyeth the body of the revd. Jos. Clarke M' of arts rector of this Cħ. & p'bendary of Lincoln who dep'ted this life on the 224 Sept. in the 60th yr of his age ao. D. 1723, he was also convocation man for this Diocess 1700." On the same slip is the coat armour alluded to above & beneath it "N. Windo."] "Arg.. two bars gu., in chief three torteaux, over all a baton sa.” Crekingham. Papworth's Brit. Arm., p. 29. R. Gale's drawing of the coat in the margin of his Letter gives a bend gu. The coat described in Papworth, and attributed by Vincent to Trikingham, Linc., gives a bendlet sa. • Collated to the Prebend of Castor, 19 June. 1711. |