was pleased to give me the living, though there was most violent opposition from the high church party against me. I wrote to you last post. I hope to set out for home on Munday next. How long I shall stay at Bugden for ordination, institution, & induction, I know not. I long of all things to be at home as soon as possible, for I am ever, (though now in hast), Your most affectionate & faithful WM. STUKELEY. My blessing to dear Fanny. XLIV. WM. STUKELEY "TO SAMUEL GALE, ESQ., AT THE CUSTOM HOUSE, LONDON."-H. F. ST. J. Dear Sir, Grantham, Dec. 24, 1729. I received your kind letter, & am much obliged to you for remembering me. There's no room to doubt that Exuperius was bishop of Tholouse, & the person who gave the plate to Bouges church which stands upon the Loire. You will find in our old historys that there was a battle fought there in the time of Henry V., to which is referred the bringing that plate into England; but more of that when I see you. I have got the model of the plate, & shall print it, with an account of it, when I come to town the last week of January; & I desire too you would be so kind as to call on your neighbor, Mr. Sheeles, in Fetherston buildings, & tell him that my wife & I propose then to lodge with him. My neighbor Peck came to visit me t'other day, & accosted me in a very singular manner, which I shall repeat to you for rarity sake. "Fr. Peck salutes Dr. Stukeley, M.D., & C.M.L.S., as rector of St. Peter's church; St. Thomas & St. Mary, Benwerk; Warden of the Augustin Fryers; Capellan of Bradecroft Chappel; St. Mary's Chantry; President of Black hall, Peterborough hall, Sempringham hall, Durham, & Vaudy; one of the two sole governors & electors of William Brown's hospital; Master of the Calais; Inspector of Mr. Snowden's & Mr. Truesdale's hospitals; & vicar of All Saints church. All which churches & chappels chantry houses, religious & academical, were actually scituated within the one parish now called All Saints ......... [torn away.] What would Mr. Willys, or Tom Hern give for.... [torn away]. I hope your brother is well, & that your sister is recovered; my service waits on them, & the Antiquary Society. I am glad to hear they [word missing], & that I had the pleasure of assisting in restoring them to their old station. Antiquam exquirite matrem [En. lib. iii. 96], which perhaps Mattaire, or Bentley, would read mitram. I hope to call on you very soon, to demand tribute, & remain, dear Sir, Your most obliged servant & affectionate friend, Mr. Peck forgot F.R.S. XLV. W. CANT. "FOR DR. STUKELEY, AT HIS HOUSE IN STAMFORD, LINCOLNSHIRE."-H. F. ST. J. Reverend Sir, As to what you mention of a dignity in the church, I have none of my own but what arise from options, & I have no such expectation in view. Should a new bishop of Lichfield be made I might get one of their very small prebends, but as those are of little value, so is their distance too far from you to answer your principal purpose in such a promotion. I have had so many chaplains, & provided for so large a family, that I have had little left in my disposal for other persons or purposes. You see how openly & sincerely I deal with you, I hope you will like me never the worse for it, but be assured that I wish you exceeding well, & am very sincerely, good Sir, Your truly loving friend, W. CANT. XLVI. [THE FOLLOWING Letter belongs to the year 1729, AND WAS WRITTEN BY DR. STUKELEY, PROBABLY to Saml. Gale, but it is without address].—H. F. ST. J. Dear Sir, It was great grief to me not to see you when I was in town; leaving my wife in childbed made my stay there very unpleasant, but in February next we are to lodge with you for 2 months. I doubt not but you & many of my friends will wonder at my taking holy orders, but I dare assert no man ever did it with more pure & sincere intentions than myself. Though London conversation, & being laughed out of going to church on account of my profession, & thoughtlessness about religious matters, made me talk in a loose way, yet when I was young, when I lived at the University, & for some years in London, no one was more apparently & really religious than myself. The truth of the matter is I had never considered those most important affairs, being hurryd too much by other kind of studys. But when the sweet tranquility of country retirement, & self conversation in a garden, had given me leave to look into my own mind, I soon discovered again the latent seeds of religion, which God's holy spirit effectually revived in me: & to speak truth, my friend, if ever any person in this world was more immediately sensible of it, I must acknowledge the divine motions thereof, and that so apparently, that it surprizes me more & more every day, in throwing rubbish out of my thoughts, & giving me such a vigor of mind as to reach with great facility to new heights & lengths in the most sublime doctrines of christian faith. Though I had great familiaritys with the most eminent divines in London, as you know, & particularly with Dr. Waterland, yet we never had the least conversation upon religious arguments. But however I always, in my own mind, did reserve a time to consider of that affair seriously, & when I did it I was infinitely charmed with the beautys of the study of divinity, & cannot bend my thoughts to anything else. Next to the great internal motive I mentioned, I really believe that my studys into the antiquitys of our Druids forwarded my religious intentions, for I think I can undeniably prove, & shall show soon in print, that those religious philosophers had a perfect notion of the Trinity, & inquiring into the neans how they obtained it, led me to the happy recesses of true divinity. The more I consider it the more I am enamoured with it, & all the other little acquisitions of learning, which by my industry I have made, shall only be subservient to that grand purpose, & I think I have made some discoverys already that will be useful in this age of epidemical infidelity. [This letter is unfinished]. XLVII. ROGER GALE "TO THE REV. DR. STUKELEY, AT STAMFORD, IN LINCOLNSHIRE."-H. F. ST. J. Dear Doctor, London, February the 14th, 1729-30. I flattered myself with the sight of you here before this time, but find I must now coutent myself as to that till Easter is past, when, after the disappointments I have mett with, no one in the world will be more rejoiced at your arrivall. My answer to your last I deferred till I received Mr. Tokes present, which is come very safe, & for which I desire you to return him my thanks; & till I could see my Lord Chancellor,' which was not till Thursday last. I delivered your message to him, & after some discourse about you, his lordship was pleased to say he was heartily glad that he had disposed so well of the benefice he gave you. He told me that you had presented him with your Itinerarium, & desired when I wrote to you, to enquire where you have left them to be disposed of in London, a friend of his being desirous to purchase one. As for Mr. Griffin, I cannot conveniently advance him at present, being under promise for three or four more allready; as soon as I have discharged myself of those engagements I shall be ready to preferr him, if his character in our books will give me leave. Lord Pembroke is very well & gay if you go thither in an evening, instead of old musty antiquaries, you will meet with two or three tables of fine young ladys, & poudered tupees at quadrille. Quantum mutatus ab illo? [En. ii. 274]. On the contrary, Lady P. is become a great antiquary, & has a cabinett most curiously furnished with ancient bronzes, some of them very valuable. I had a letter a little before Christmasse, wherein Mr. Hardy, from Nottingham, tells me he had communicated an account of an antiquity found near that place to you, & that we should have your thoughts upon it in a little time, which I am something impatient to see. My sister gott home again this day fortnight, very well again after her misfortune, & all the rest of us are without complaint. Roger is at Sydney College, in Cambridge. I am, with my humble service to your lady, dear Doctor, Your most faithfull friend & humble servant, 1 See Autobiography, p. 53. R. GALE. • See Commentarys, p. 42. XLVIII. SIR JOHN CLERK TO R. GALE.-H. C. Dear Sir, Edenbrough, 12 April, 1730. I received yours of the 17th of January, for which I thought myself extreamly obliged to you, but for want of materialls to entertain you I delayed making you a return from one week to another till I am now ashamed, but I hope you will have the goodnesse to excuse me, & believe me that I allways retain that honour & reguard for you that becomes me. The true barrenesse of subject continues with me, yett now since I could no longer delay writing to you, I shall communicate what has occurred since my last writing to you. Some of my family have been in very great danger from the rabies canina, an old woman & child have been bitt to the effusion of a good deal of blood, but no other ill consequence has happened. I had two dogs very furious in this distemper, one about a month after the other, which gave me occasion to make some experiments upon them. The ordinary medicines were tryed, but to no purpose. I kept them up in a room till they died, which was regularly on the third day, they were very furious the two first days, & knew nobody, but bitt & knawed everything that was putt in to thein by a window; they would eat no sort of meat, but drank very plentifully of water. One of them bitt a cat, which turned worse than either of them. On the third the swellings fell away from their heads & mouths, & the glands of their throats, & they turned perfectly calm, but refused to eat. The observations I made on them were these, that this kind of madnesse in men is accompanied with a horror at the sight of water, vdpopoẞía, yet there is no such thing in dogs. The madnesse comes not on of a suddain, but takes time, so that sometimes it is the space of a month or a year before it works. The animals I speak of fell ill at the distance of about a month after they were bitt by one another. I perceive Doctor Boerhave thinks it may lurk in the blood 20 years. Another observation is that old people & children may be bitt in the middle of winter without any ill consequence at all, for I bave known this happen before. |