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"Testament impregnable and imperishable," by Mr. Evans, you are pleased to review in this most favourable manner: "This welltimed Discourse of a conscientious Dissenter may be read with pleasure by all who sincerely profess and call themselves Christians,' whatever may be their shades of difference, or their respective denominations. The authenticity of the sacred Scriptures, and the sublime truths which they inculcate, are, or ought to be, alike interesting to all; and they are ably supported by Mr. Evans; who in his Preface observes, When the Enemy is at the gate, internal dissentions cease. Fervently it is hoped, that the friends of REVELATION, relinquishing an excessive attachment to minor articles, both of faith and of practice, and insisting on the facts of the New Testament, in which all agree, will unite more closely toge ther in the hallowed bands of love and charity.""

HE Christianity of the New

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Sincerely rejoicing in hope that time, and a better knowledge of things, may produce some approximation to the heartily to-be-wished-for event, Universal Charity, a beneficed Clergyman of the National Religion is yet at a loss to know how the complex machinery of Dissent can be brought under obedience to the "unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." For now that the licentious cry of undefined liberty has been appeased by a relaxation of some of the Christian laws enacted for the establishment of general peace and good-will amongst men, what has been the consequence? In one instance, the wretched Carlile has availed himself of the opening, and attempted to disgorge that odious stench with which the fiend-like malice of a Paine, had filthily stuffed the nostrils of the

world. This has given the alarm to Mr. John Evans, who not only fearfully affirms, "that when the enemy is at the gate, internal dissentions cease, but fervently hopes, that the friends of REVELATION, relinquishing an excessive attachment to minor articles both of faith and practice, and insisting on the facts of the New Tes tament in which all agree, will unite more closely together in the hallowed bands of love and charity."

As far as the essentials of religious truth are preserved and conducted in

the National Church, no doubt can be entertained of her safety, in the want of any real knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord. When the public service of the Church on every Lord'sday leads men to the attentive consideration of the multiplied portions of Holy Scripture; such as the Psalms, the Lessons from the Old and New Testament, the Epistles and Gospels, and many other extracts from the Bible, can these be said to be minor articles, about which such variety of distracting opinions are floating in the world. Are they not rather the most essential instruments by the means of which faith is secured, and practice encouraged? The inexplicable noisy bustle of opinions, under the sanction of which Dissenters agree to differ, must then be upon those minor articles to be found in the Book of Common Prayer as the compositions of men. But in this point of view, the Church ought surely to have the credit of good sense, in understanding what she prayeth for, during the whole of her religious service. And when all and every prayer is directed to the great Creator of all things, through the merits and mediation of a Redeemer, can the service be termed otherwise than reasonable? And has it not been so understood for centuries past? To her Forms, therefore, must be attributed all that discordancy of opinion which has so long, and so hostilely invaded the peace of the Church, and at length also that of the conscientious Dissenter. The alarm is now gone forth, that the Enemy is at the gate, and a serious wish is entertained that all denominating Christians might unite closely together in the hallowed bands of love and charity. To this truly Christian hope, Churchmen will most assuredly consent.

J. W.

Mr.

Mr. URBAN,

THE

Hollyport, Jan. 1. THE maxim has, I believe, been frequently acknowledged, nor do I expect it to be disputed, that a circumstance trifling in itself, may by an alliance to a great subject, become a matter of interest to the world. Under this impression, the following extract from the Register Book of Marriages at Pyrton in Oxfordshire, relating to the patriot Hampden, may not, perhaps, unjustly claim a place amongst more valuable information communicated in your widely-circulated Publication; and I think will not be unacceptable to your Readers; especially as the knowledge of such trifles is frequently of infinite service to the Historian, in affording facts of undisputed authority, by means of which to ascertain the date or truth of others more momentous.

"1619, John Hampden of Hampden, Esq. and Mrs. Elizabeth Symeon, daughter of Mr. Edward Symeon, of Pyrton, was married the 24th June, in the 17th year of King James."

The family of this celebrated man still reside at their mansion in the village from whence they have as sumed their appellation.

Mr. URBAN,

Milton, Jun. 2. SEND you some account of Mil

I ton in Oxfordshire, a place which,

from associations connected with it, is not wholly unworthy of the atten tion of the Antiquary. The principal part of my information I have derived from the manuscripts of the Rev. Thos. Delafield, a former vicar of this place, a gentleman to whose antiquarian researches this part of the county of Oxford is deeply indebted. Upwards of 20 quarto volumes in his own hand-writing, supported by authorities, and adorned with well-executed drawings of the arms of the families mentioned in them, now remain in the Bodleian Library, a monument of his industry and perseverance.

Milton, or Middeltone, as it is styled in Domesday Book, is divided into four hamlets; of these Great Milton alone possesses a place of public worship, though it appears from various evidences, that a chapel of ease for merly existed at Little Milton. "There joyneth to Great Milton, Little Milton," says Leland, "and there is a chappel of ease dedicated to St.James;" and as a further proof, in a small plot of ground in Little Milton, called the Chapel heys, fragments of human bones have frequently been dug up.

The Symeons, who are of interest The circumstance, however, which only as having been connected to the must give the greatest interest to the former, lived at the Manor House in history of this place is that of its bePyrton. Whether they were posing the residence of the ancestors of sessed of the manor or not, I am not informed. The house is still remain. ing; it is antient of course, but in a fair condition, and is occupied by a very respectable family of the name of Badcock, as a farm-house.

The sketch sent herewith (see the Frontispiece to the present Volume), shows its present state. I understand that it has been modernized within the memory of some people now living.

There is an antient Bust in the Hall, supposed to be that of the Patriot;

but I think the features are coarser than any likeness I have seen of him.

was

The village of Pyrton is about four miles from Chalgrove Field, where Hampden was wounded; be brought to Pyrton immediately in his way to Hampden, till proper conveyance was procured for him.

Yours, &c. HENRY WALTER. GENT. MAG. January, 1820.

our immortal Poet of the same name. It is much to be lamented that there are no records precisely fixing what part of his family lived there, or how many descents removed from him. The Registers do not any where contain the name of Milton, but that de

ficiency may be easily accounted for, from the circumstance of the family having probably quitted the parish previous to their commencement, which was in the year 1550. The Poet, we learn, was born in Breadstreet, in 1608, at the house of his father, a scrivener, while his grandfather was the keeper of Shotover Forest, which at that time extended very near to Milton. It is probable, therefore, that the grandfather and his ancestors, then and previously, were possessed of the estate and mansion in that parish. The house which has been always assigned as the pater

nal

nal residence of the Miltons, is now standing; and in size and consequence appears well adapted to a gentleman of moderate fortune at a time when that description of gentry were more common than at present.

I have herewith sent you a small Drawing of this house (see the Frontispiece of the present Volume); al. though this cannot be proved to have been the residence of the family, yet the traditions to that effect are so strong and numerous, that there can be little doubt of the truth of the essential fact.

The remains of antiquity in this Parish are not very considerable. Dr. Plot, in his Natural History of Oxfordshire, has described a British coin of Prasutagus, the husband of the heroic Boadicea, which was dug up at Little Milton, (C. 10. S. 6. Tab. 15. No. 21.) and we learn by Stev. Antiqu. Abridg. that a certain grauge of the Benedictines at Abingdon stood on the South side of the Church at Great Milton, about or previous to the year 1272; which is further corroborated by Leland, who says, "at this place I have heard say, there was many years since a Priory of Monks, a cell, as one told me, to Abbington Monasterv. The house of the Priorie was by likelihood where the farmer's house is now, hard by the churchyard, for there appears great foundations of buildings; some say that Monsieur de Zouche's house was where this farm-house is, and the voyce is that Zouche had the Priorie land given him."

The earliest possessors of this parish, of whom we have any authentic account, are the De Zouche's, whose residence was that mentioned by Leland, who, further speaking of this family, says, "in the Church of Milton is an highe tombe of freestone, with the image of a knight and ladye, with an epitaph in French, declaring that Rich. de Zouche and Helene his wife lie buryed there." This tomb has long since disappeared, nor can any account be obtained of its removal. From this family descended William de Zouche, who left two daughters his heirs, of whom Elizabeth married Thomas de Camois, who in her right succeeded to the manor, together with that of Wheatly, an adjoining parish. They had issue a sou, Richard, who died in the life-time of his father, leaving

mer.

issue a son, named Hugh, who ́at length succeeded to the estates, and was summoned to Parliament from the 7th year of Richard II. till the 8th of Henry V. 1421. This Manor was then styled Lamois Manor. Au anecdote may be recollected of one of this family, who, in the reign of Edward I. sold his wife by a regular indenture of bargain and sale. This Manor subsequently passed to the Danvers's, from them to the Bray's, and afterwards to Sir Michael DorThis gentleman, the son of Geoffrey Dormer, a woolstapler of Thame in this county, was elected Lord Mayor of London in the year 1541; and was succeeded in this praperty by his son Ambrose Dormer, who died in the year 1566. His eldest son Michael received the honour of knighthood, and erected the sumptuous monument at the East end of the South aile of the Church. The alabaster figures of the knight in complete armour and that of his lady, are recumbent upon an altar of the finest marble; pillars of the same material support a canopy over their heads, the sides of which are adorned with different escutcheons of the family,. and four sculptured figures of Death, of about a foot in length, are disposed at each corner. The whole is executed with considerable taste and skill. The son and heir of this gentleman was Sir Robert Dormer, Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1628, who died Aug. 17, 1649. The eldest son of Sir R. Dormer was Win. Dormer, Esq. who rebuilt the family residence, situate in the hamlet of Ascot, with great splendour, but which was burnt to the ground by an accidental fire, which took place while the workmen were completing the interior. This William Dormer, says Wood, went to Uxbridge Fair in 1683; and on his return died at High Wycomb, “having (to use his own quaint expression)

then and before taken too much of

the creature, whereupon he was brought to Milton and buried." He married one of the daughters of Edmund Waller, Esq. of Beaconsfield (the Poet), and had by her four children.

Sir Michael Grene purchased the Manor of Great Milton of Sir Michael Dormer in the year 1588; and the terrier, attesting a composition of immemorial standing between the

vicar and the farmers of the rectory, was drawn up in the year 1632, and signed among others by this gentleman. He sold this Manor in his lifetime to the Lord Keeper Coventry. With the exception of Chilworth, the united manors of this parish are now the property of John Blackall, Esq. Yours, &c.

E. E. (To be continued in our next.)

ILLUSTRATIONS OF CAMBRIAN HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.

Ceubren yr Ellyll.

A File age near Nannau, in FEW years ago was to be seen

Merionethshire, the seat of Sir R. W. Vaughan, Bart. M. P. a large hollow oak, known by the name of the Spirit's blasted Tree" (Ceubren yr Ellyll). The event which gave rise to so ghostly an appellation, is preserved by tradition among the moun tain peasants in this part of Merio Bethshire, and founded on a deadly feud that subsisted between the celebrated" wild, irregular Glyndwr *," and bis kinsman Howel Sele, then resident at Nannau. When Owen took up arms against the English, his cousia Howel, who possessed great influence in the country where he lived, declined to embrace a cause which, though perhaps laudable, and somewhat conformable to the rude spirit of the times, he foresaw would be unsuccessful, and bring down upon his country, increased rigour and oppression. His refusal provoked the choleric Chieftain, and laid the foundation of an enmity which, though not immediately conspicuous, was not the less iuveterate. I transcribe from Pennant the result of their quarrel :

"Owen and this Chieftain had been long at variance. I have been informed that the Abbot of Cymmer Abbey, near Dolgellen, in hopes of reconciling them, brought them together, and to all appearance effected his charitable design. While they were walking out, Owen observed a doe feeding, and told Howel, who was reckoned the best archer of his day, that there was a fine mark for him. Howel

The present very respectable proprietor of Nannau is a descendant of Owen's, whose family name was Vychan, now modernized and softened into Vaughan, and not Glyndwr. He was so called from his patrimony of Glyndwrdwy, near Corwen, in Merionethshire,

bent his bow, and pretending to aim at the doe, suddenly turned and discharged the arrow full at the breast of Glyndwr, who fortunately had armour beneath his clothes, so received no hurt. Enraged at this treachery, he seized on Sele, burnt his house, and hurried him away from the place; nor could any one ever learn how he was disposed of, till forty years after, when the skeleton of a large man, such as Howel, was discovered in the hollow of a great oak, in which Owen was supposed to have immured him in reward of his perfidy."

This oak, the terror of every peasant for miles round *, remained in its place till within these few years, when one morning, after a very violent storm, it was discovered, to the great regret of its worthy proprietor, blown to the ground, and its superannuated vitality destroyed for ever. All that could be done with it was done. Sir Robert had it manufactured into work-tables, cabinets, drinking-vessels, and, to extend its circulation still further, into snuffboxes; these are distributed among the Baronet's friends, and highly are they valued by their fortunate possessors, not only as the gifts of a gen. tleman almost idolized in Merionethshire, but as the relicks of so venerable and remarkable a parent.

Margaret uch Evan.

If female worth deserves to be recorded, surely the accomplishments of Margaret uch Evan should not be passed over unnoticed. Few ladies in North Wales have attained so much renown as Margaret of Penllyn, whose abilities were by no means circumscribed by etiquette, or confined within the sphere of the general occupa tions of a woman. Passionately ad

dicted to the joys of the chace, in her kennel were always to be found some of the choicest dogs in the country; and that she might not experience the torments of that fashionable monster, Ennui, she would, to use a vulgar phrase, "turn her hand to any thing." She was a boat-builder, shoemaker, joiner, and blacksmith, by $. And to this day the peasant still

With cautious fear avoids the ground; In each wild branch a spectre sees, And trembles at each rising sound." Ceubren yr Ellyll, or The Spirit's blasted Tree, a Legendary Tale, by the Rev. G. Warrington, inserted in the Notes to Scott's Marmion."

turns;

turns; could manage a horse or a boat with admirable dexterity, and at sixty years of age, was the best wrestler in Caernarvonshire. Among her milder and more feminine accomplishments were those of musick and witchcraft; the former was limited to a performance on her national instrument the harp, and the violin ; and we cannot be surprized that she was accounted skilful in the latter, when we consider the simple beings among whom she dwelt, and her various occupations. The late Mr. Hutton, who visited North Wales, thus describes Margaret and the simple manners of the natives of this retired spot of the principality:

"'Mong the rocks of Llanberis *, where
foot comes not nigh,
[eye,
No eye sees their summit except a bird's
Nor aught in the prospect appears to the
sight,
But water and mountain, yet they give
[delight;
Quite silent for miles thro' these regions
you go,
[blow.
Except when the surly wind chooses to
"But few are their neighbours, and
fewer their quarrels,
And fewest of all are good liquors and
[barrels;
In stockings and shoes are no mighty sums
spent,

In building, or gaming, or eating, or rent;
Instead of regaling in luxury there,
We see life sustain'd with the most simple

fare;

Their health and their harmony are not
disjointed,
[appointed.
For, as they expect not, they're not dis-
Robust are the females, hard labour
attends them,

With the fist they could knock down the
man who offends them ;-

Here liv'd Peggy Evans, who saw ninety-
two,
[too;
Could wrestle, row, fiddle, and hunt a fox
Could ring a sweet peal, as the neighbour-
hood tells, [there been any bells;
That would charm your two ears-had
Enjoy'd rosy health in a lodging of straw,
Commanded the saw-pit, and wielded the

saw

And tho' she's deposited where you can't [her."

find her,

I know she has left a few sisters behind Megan had many suitors; and, as if determined to maintain the superiority which Nature had bestowed upon her, she gave her hand to the most effeminate of her admirers.

* Llanberis is a small village at the foot of Snowdon ; near it there is a vale of great picturesque beauty, which takes its name from the village.

Pride of Ancestry.

briæ Descriptio," observes, that the Giraldus Cambrensis, in his “ CamWelsh possessed in an eminent degree an unbounded pride of pedigree; his words are:-" Genealogiam quoque generis sui etiam de populo quilibet observat, et non solum avos, atamam, et ultro procul generationem vos, sed usque ad sextam vel septimemoriter et promptè genus enarrat in hunc modum: Resus filius Gruffini, filii Resi, filii Theodori, filii Eneæ, filii Oeni, filii Hoeli, filii Cadelli, filii Roderici Magni, et sic deinceps *."-This feeling, always laudable when confined within reasonable bounds, is, in some degree, perceptible among the modern inhabitants of Cambria; but to such an dus visited our country, that it has excess has it been carried since Giralmore enlightened neighbours, the become a matter of derision to our English.

A few years ago there lived at Dolgelley in Merionethshire, an indilow sphere of life, was extremely tevidual who, although moving in a nacious of the celebrity of his illusEdwards, "Guide General to Cader trious progenitors. This was Robin racter will be better exemplified by Idris and the Waterfalls," whose chathe following copy of a paper, delivered by him to such strangers as visited his neighbourhood for the purpose of viewing its numerous beauties:

"Robert Edwards,

second son of the celebrated Tanner, William Edwards, ap Griffith, ap Morgan, ap David, ap Owen, ap Llewelyn, ap Cadillegitimate daughter of that illustrious waladr, great-great-great grandson of an hero, no less famed for his irresistible prowess when mildly approaching under the velvet standards of the lovely Venus, than when he sternly advanced with the Sir Rice ap Thomas, who was the son of terrific banner of the bloody Mars,-and Anne, alias Catharine, daughter of Howel ap Jenkin of Ynys-y-maengwyn, thirteenth in descent from Cadwgan, a lineal descendant of Bleddyn ap Cynfin, Prince of Powis. Since his nativity, full four and eighty times bath the Sun rolled to his

* " Rice ap Griffith, ap Rice, ap TuCadell, ap Roderic the Great, and so on.” dor, ap Einion, ap Owen, ap Howel, ap This is part of the pedigree of the Royal House of South Wales.

summer

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