An Excursion to Windsor ... Second edition; with a sketch of the new improvements at Windsor Castle, and of the Virginia Water

Front matter

AN aBmirStmt to WBHvto$avt fye. 8fc. " There is so much entertainment and instruction in this Volume, that we strongly recommend it to the perusal of the rising generation. It comprises a fund of information in literary biography, interspersed with numerous anecdotes and appropriate moral observations, and altogether is a very agreeable Miscellany."— Literary Gazette. B. M'MillaD, Printer, Bow-sheet, CoveDt-jajdwi. -,>r Cas-tfe* AN EXCURSION TO WINDSOR; THROUGH KEW, RICHMOND, AND TWICKENHAM ; INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF STRAWBERRY- HILL AND OF HAMPTON - COURT i INTERSPERSED WITH Jatograpljual SlntfUotrsi. By JOHN EVANS, LL.D. SECOND EDITION. WITH A SKETCH OF THE NEW IMPROVEMENTS AT OTurtJsor Castlr, an* of tfje Virginia OTattr. Beauteous WINDSOR'S high and storied Halls, Where EDWARD'S Chiefs start from the glowing walls!

WARTON. LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1827. TO JOHN RUDGE, D.D. F.R.S. CHAPLAIN TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNF.SS TIIE PRINCE OF SAXE- COBURO, AND TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS OF KENT, ALIKE DISTINGUISHED FOR HIS PROFESSIONAL ZEAL AND FOR HIS CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY, •Il)iS Volume, DELINEATING HAMPTON COURT AND WINDSOR CASTLE, THE MOST ANCIENT AND MAGNIFICENT ABODES OF ROYALTY, IS INSCRIBED, BY HIS MUCH OBLIGED FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. Islington, October 2, 1826. »s

Preface

. 1 he flattering reception of The Juvenile Tourist, embracing Excursions through the West of England, the Midland Counties, and the County of Kent, has induced the Author to comply with the request of his friends, in producing, on a similar plan, the present publication. That its execution has been so long delayed, must be attributed to his professional engagements. The superintendence of a Seminary, leaves only the leisure hour for the pro ductions of the press, though consecrated, as they have in his case always been, to the service of the rising generation. No apology is offered by the Author for the numerous Biographical sketches found in the subsequent pages. The venerable Dead called up from their graves, seem to pass before the eye a second time, clothed afresh with the attributes of life and action, whilst to teach by example, must be pronounced the most power-

PREFACE.

. ful mode of instruction. The recurrence of so many eminent characters, will not be met with in any other route of equal extent throughout the British dominions! The Philosopher and the Poet, the Politician and the Divine, here unite to form a constellation of worthies illustrating the triumphs of Literature, and exalting the glory of Civilized Humanity. Passing rich are the biographic annals of Albion — on the mighty scroll, sweeping through the long tract of centuries, are seen illumined — " Martyrs to her pure religion, Patriots expiring on the scaffold' and in the field for her laws and liberties ; Wise Men deliberating in councils and courts of justice ; Historians recording her virtues for universal example ; Bards enshrining themselves in immortal numbers, and a host of Heroes defending her against an envious world*!" * See the Second Part of Armata, a valuable Work as cribed to the pen of the justly celebrated Lord Erskine, and illustrative of the Constitution, Religion, Laws, Manners and Customs of Great Britain.

PREFACE.

. ix Whilst the multifarious contents of this volume ensure its variety, the Author hopes, that the execution of his plan, enlivened by the intro duction of Poetical Extracts, will subserve the purpose which he has had in view throughout all his Publications, with respect to Young People, of promoting their knowledge, esta blishing their virtue, and augmenting their piety. Youth of both sexes — are the Men and Women of the next generation, becoming, under the salutary auspices of a well-regulated and appropriate Education, the ornament, the strength, the very bulwark of the community ! > Nor let the Instructor of Youth be wearied with the good work in which he is engaged — but tremulously watch their progress towards maturity. The Sower scatters his seed with an unsparing hand — the furrows are closed, and the vegetable treasure is apparently entombed for ever. But the kindly sun, shedding its beams, and the rain descending in fertilizing showers •soon the latent energies of the buried store

PREFACE.

. X shoot forth in every direction — till at length the husbandman anticipates and hails the fair coming Harvest ! Insuch a Vineyard, the humblest labourer fails not of his reward. Pullin's-Row, Islington.

PREFACE.

TO THE SECOND EDITION. Before the decease of the venerable Author, which happened January 25, 1827, he contem plated the publication of a Second Edition of this Work, and had accordingly prepared a Supple mentary Letter, embracing an account of the more recent improvements of Windsor's venerable Castle, " The abode of Majesty, our Country's pride," and the neighbourhood and scenery immediately connected with it. Virginia Water is particularly noticed, with its fleets, cascades, temples, and bridges, which afford so much rational amuse ment and healthy exercise to our beloved Mo narch, as well as forming no inconsiderable or nament to a part of the country already abound ing in sylvan beauty. The increasing interest which Windsor and

PREFACE.

TO THE SECOND EDITION. its neighbourhood has lately acquired, from its recent improvements and embellishments, renders the present season peculiarly proper for the execution of his design, which, had the life of the Author been spared, would doubtless have been by himself put in execution. In presenting this Edition to the public, it is perhaps only necessary to say, that it is written in the usual easy style of our Author, and, like his former Works, is well calculated to amuse while it informs. The Author modestly addresses himself to the young, but, in reality, the information he com municates will be found acceptable to every age, and from its diversity, is suited to almost every taste.

ADVERTISEMENT.

TO THE SECOND EDITION. May His present Majesty, George the Fourth, the Illustrious Head of the Brunswick Dynasty, under whose auspices Windsor and its Castle are emerging into augmented splendour and glory, continue to reign in the hearts of an united and free, of a happy and enlightened people ! The Life of his Royal and venerable Father, (see Letter 10th), dying at his favourite abode, Windsor, January 29th, 1820, was extended through the period oi eighty-three years — the august cycle in which the planet Herschell, discovered duringhis reign, and in the vicinity of his ancient palace, performs its destined revo lution ! No good subject can refuse to breathe an ardent wish, that this singular coincidence may be realized in the person of his Illustrious

ADVERTISEMENT.

TO THE SECOND EDITION. Son, accompanied by every possible accession of wealth and Drosperity, throughout the wide-spreading ramifications of the United Kingdom. Islington, 1826. l-JiograpJncal £>&etc& OF THE REV. JOHN EVANS, LL.D. AUTHOR OF THE "SKETCH OF THE DENOMINATIONS OFTHE CHRISTIAN WORLD," AND NUMEROUS OTHER WORKS. (Extracted from the Gentleman's Magazine, for April 1827). This voluminous and highly useful writer was born at Usk, in Monmouthshire, October 2, 1767, and traced his descent, through an almost un broken line of Baptist ministers, from a Thomas Evans, one of the ministers ejected by the Act of Uniformity. He acquired at Bristol the elemen tary parts of his education, and in November 1783, became a student in the Bristol Baptist Academy, over which his relative, Dr. C. Evans, then presided as Theological Tutor.

Having remained there sometime, he went to Scotland in 1787, and passed three winters as a student at the College at Aberdeen, then adorned by BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF XVI the talents of Drs. Campbell and Gerrard. A fourth winter was spent at the University of Edinburgh ; and having attained the degree of A.M., he returned from Scotland in June, 1791. Entertaining serious doubts respecting the truth of several of the Calvinistic doctrines, he, in 1791, accepted an invitation from the morning congregation of General Baptists at Worship-street, in London, where, after officiating a few months, he was chosen pastor, and ordained May 31, 1792. This his first, proved his only pastoral engagement, and, after thirty-five years of unin terrupted harmony, terminated but with his existence. Dr. Evans's first publications were, " An Ad dress, designed to promote a revival among the General Baptists ;" and " Juvenile Pieces de signed for Youth of both Sexes ; both printed in 12mo., 1793.

The Sketch ofthe Denominations of the Chris tian World, by which the name of Dr. Evans, to adopt the words of the preacher of his funeral discourse, " has become identified with the his tory of religious opinion," first appeared in the beginning of 1795, in the form of a shilling pamphlet. The circumstances that gave rise to this publication are curious, and are narrated in the later editions of the work. The rapid sale THE REV. JOHN EVANS. XVII of the first impression called for a second edition in July of the same year, and during a period of about thirty years, fourteen successive editions, comprising in all 1 00,000 copies, have been circu lated : and a fifteenth edition, now in the course of publication, had been completed by the au thor, immediately before his last illness. The book has been translated into Welsh, and va rious continental languages, and several editions have appeared in the United States of America.

In his dedication of the fourteenth edition to his friend the late Lord Erskine, the author, after noticing the extensive circulation of his work thus adverts to the impartiality by which it is so singularly distinguished, and to the inconsiderable sum for which he parted with the copyright: " Its impartiality has been the basis of its popu larity. That it is altogether free from religious bias, the author does not aver ; but he has strove to divest himself of prepossession. The zealot has complained, that in the perusal of the Sketch, the opinions of the writer cannot be developed. This is a flattering though involuntary testimony to the accuracy of the work. Were vanity, my Lord, the object of the writer, it has been sati ated ; but a philosophy inferior to that of his Divine Master, would have taught him to sup press so ignoble a passion, when desirous of Xviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF informing and improving mankind.

Were filthy lucre the end in view, then indeed he has been disappointed. Unfortunately, the author sold the copyright of the Sketch for ten pounds; but his friends have administered to him a negative con solation, by reminding him that a similar sum was paid for the copyright of Watts's Hymns, as well as of that gigantic product of human genius, Paradise Lost." In August 1795, Dr. Evans married Mary, one of the daughters of the late Rev. John Wiche, for nearly half a century General Baptist Minister atMaidstone,and the friend and associateof Foster and Lardner. Of this union, productive to both parties of the most solid and lasting domestic hap piness, three sons now live to cherish the remem brance, and emulate the virtues of their father. Shortly after his marriage, he opened a seminary, which, after conducting it first at Hoxton-square, and subsequently at Islington, with continued respectability and success for about thirty years, he ultimately relinquished in 1825, to enjoy that honourable leisure to which his previous exer tions had so justly entitled him.

Dr. Evans's character exhibited a rare assem blage of the nobler qualities that adorn hu manity. His piety was without a tinge of bigotry, his charity without the shadow of osten- THE REV. JOHN EVANS. XIX tation. He was manly, generous, and frank ; and his amiable virtues can be fully and ade quately appreciated by those alone who were united to him by the ties of conjugal and filial affection. ®Vtuv&ian to WHntt&ot, Sre. fcc.

Letter I. Battersea

; SITUATION; BHUNEI.'s MANUFACTORY; LORD BOL inceroke; HIS HISTORY, CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS; ITS CHURCH, DISSENTING TLACE OF WORSHIP, HORIZONTAL MILL; WANDSWORTH; POPULATION, AND MANUFACTURES; FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ; SIR JOHN BARNARD ; MiUOR OF CAR RAT ; PUTNEY', ITS POPULATION AKD HISTORY ; PUTNEY COM MON WITH ITS OBELISK ; WILLIAM PITT ; HIS HISTORY, DEATH, CHARACTER; ROEHAMPTON; ROBERT WOOD THE CLASSICAL TRAVELLER, ESPECIALLY TO GREECE; EDWARD GIBBON; HIS HISTORY, HIS WORKS, WITH HAYLEY'S ODE AND STANZAS , HIS DEATH, HIS CHARACTER; AN ESTIMATB OF THE NATURf AND TENDENCY OF HIS WRITINGS. ANECDOTE OF GIBJION RESPECTING THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE. CONCLUf o: Islington, July 1610. MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND, INSTEAD of visiting the sea-side or of paying my respects to my Relatives in the Principality us ",rni- I determined to pass, during this Summer Vacatiou, a Week with my little family at Windsor.

Accord ingly at nine o'Clock in the morning we left Islington, ten of us, in two post chaises, including myself, Mrs. Evans, our four Sons, and four West Iudians en- R BATTERSEA. BRUNEL's MANUFACTORY. 2 trusted to my care for education. We passed over that beautiful specimen of human art Blackfriars' Bridge, towards the Obelisk in St. George's Fields, then turning to the right directed our route through Battersea, Wandsivorth, Putney, Barnes, Mort lake, Richmond, Twickenham to Hampton Court. The day was fine ; nor was the road either too dusty or too crowded. We bowled along with an even and steady pace. The majestic river Thames soon pre sented his smooth expanse to view, while small vessels were seen here and there, bearing towards the Metropolis, the treasures of the more inland parts of the country.

On the the right we quickly perceived the little pleasant village of Battersea, situated on the margin of the Thames, as well as distinguished on every side for miles around, by the tapering spire of its church and its horizontal windmill. Manufactories and distille ries are here seen in every direction. The manufactory of the modest and persevering Mr. Brunei, is well worth attention. His machinery is the subject of general admiration. His wonderful apparatus iii the dock yard at Portsmouth, 1 inspected some time ago with unmingled pleasure. On no other occasion have I witnessed t.'ie Six Mechanic Powers so variously combined, so ingeniously diversified. Nor has the operation of this machinery been confined to one object; here it descends even to the making of shoes. Each shoe passes through twenty-five hands, one hundred pair are produced each day, the operators LORD DOLINGBROKE. 3 are wounded soldiers, who perform the several details with precision aud accuracy.

The distillery in the possession of Mr. Hodgson, ancl marked by the horizontal windmill, stands on the premises of the ancient mansion belonging to the Bolingbuore family. Here it was, therefore, that the celebrated Lord Bolingbroke resided; the companion of Pope, and whose name frequently oc curs in the annals of Great Britain. At Battersea he was born, 1672, and died at Battersea, 1751, in the 79th, year of his age. Educated at Eton, he from thence went o Oxford. Graceful in his person, and winning in his address, he soon distinguished himself. He became Secretary of War, during the period of the Duke of Malborough's successes. — .For negotiating the Treaty of Utrecht, he was threatened with an im peachment, on the accession of George I., and retired to France. Here he engaged himself in the interest of the Pretender.

His new master being unsuccessful in the Rebellion of 1715, he discharged him from the post of Secretaryship which he had conferred upon him, threatening him with an impeachment. Thus, Lord Bolingbroke had the singular fortune of having been in the same office, under a real and under a mock sovereign, and having been dismissed in both instances with the same tokens of displeasure ! In France he, under those novel circumstances, wrote Reflections on Exile, in which he endeavoured to suggest topics of consolation, upon the ground of unmerited suffering. b LORD BOLrNGBUOKE's WRITINGS. 4 In 1723, Lord Bolingbroke obtained his Majesty's full pardon, and returned to England. Having his family inheritance restored to him, which he had lost by attainder, he purchased a rural spot near Uxbridge, whence addressing himself to Dean Swift, he says — " I am in my farm, and here 1 shoot strong and tenacious roots. — 1 have caught hold of the earth, to use the gardener's phrase, and neither my enemies nor my friends will find it an easy matter to transplant ine again.'' However, there was still rankling in his breast a spirit of discontentment.

Not having been restored to the House of Lords, and conceiving the Minister, Walpole, the cause of it, he commenced against him a violent career of opposition. This warfare he carried on for ten years ; but again withdrew to France. His father, who was created Viscount St. John, during his son's exile, dying — the son returned and settled at Battersea, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was the author of A Letter on the true Use of Retirement and Study ; oi Letters on the Study und Use of History ; and also of Let ters on. the Spirit of Patriotism, and the Idea of a Patriot King ; as well as of other publications. As a Political Writer, he employed his pen on topics of temporary interest, with a few exceptions; and as a Philosophical Moralist, he appears to advantage in Pope's Essay on Man; of which celebrated Poem, the plan and design are avowedly his, and also some of the illustrations.

Nor is there a finer passage in all the Poet's Works than the concluding, encomiast lord bolingbroke's will. 5 address to his Lordship. Having introduced the poem with these two lines : — * Awake, my St. John ! Leave all meaner things To low Ambition, and the i>ride of Kings ! — the Poet pursues his subject with inimitable beauty, till he finally bursts forth into the well-known, animated apostrophe : — Come then, my Friend, my Genius, come along, Oh Master of thc Poet and the Song ! Oh while alongthe stream of time thy name Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame; Say, shall my little Bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph, aud partake the gale? When Statesmen, Heroes, Kings in dust repose, Whose sons shall blush their Fathers were thy foes, Shall then this verse to suture age pretend - Thou wert my Guide, Philosopher and Friend?

Tbat, urg'd by thee, I tiirn'd the tuneful art From sounds to things, from fancy to the heart; For Wit's false mirror held up Nature's light, Shew'd Pride whatever is— is right; That Reason, Passion, answer one great aim ; That true Self-love and Social are the same; That Vihtub only makes our bliss below, And all our knowledge is Ourselves to know ? By Will he left his manuscripts to Mr. David Mallet, who, in 1754, published " The Works of the late Right Hjn. Henry St. John Viscount Bolingbroke, complete, in 5 Vols. 4to." A considerable part is occupied by Letters or Essays addressed to Alexan der Pope Esquire, on Religion and Philosophy. His Lordship pours out a violent philippic against LORD BOLINGBROKE. WHITFIELD. Revealed Religion, and its Ministers are abused with out mercy. Warburton and others made an ample reply to the pernicious contents of this posthumous publication.

As Bolingbroke on the mother's side was related to the Puritans, there is a report that his dislike to Religion arose from a good Presbyterian uncle making the ne phew read a series of dull sermons, on each verse of tbe 119th Psalift, every Sunday evening! Be this as it may, politicians are too apt to consider religion in no other view than a state-engine, contrived to agitate the fears, and by this means to keep the people in sub jection. Whilfield somewhere in his works remarks — " I had the other evening the honour of Lord Boling broke for an auditor ; there he sat in a chair with all the dignity of an Archbishop ; and when I came down from the pulpit after the service, he bowed and said, ' I thank you, Sir ; you have handled the moral attributes of the Deity well !' " This was a handsome compliment ; for the moral attributes of the Deity are not always " handled well."

Ministers of every denomination ought to hold them up, on every occasion, in a manner honourable to the character of the Supreme Being, for their operation is eminently con ducive to the present and ultimate felicity of mankind. For the sake of young people, it may be necessary to conclude this account of Lord Bolingbroke, with Dr. Hugh Blair's character of his Works :—" Though I may have recourse to this author sometimes for examples of style, it is his style only and not his sentiments that deserve praise. An unhappy instance this author LORD BOLINGBROKE'S INSCRIPTION. i is, of parts and genius so miserably perverted by faction and passion that, as his memory will descend to posterity with little honour, so his productions will soon pass and are, indeed, already passing into neg lect and oblivion."

Battersea has a neat little church, with a monument to Bolingbroke, executed by Roubilliac; and his remains lie interred in a vault belonging to the family. The inscription on the monument runs thus : — Here lies Henry St. John, In the reign of Queen Anne, Secretary of War, Secretary of State, and Viscount Bolingbroke : In tbe days of King George I. and King George II. something' more and better. — His attachment to Queen Anne Exposed him to a long and severe persecution : He bore il with firmness of mind. He passed the latter part of his time at home, The enemy of no national party, Tbe friend of no faction. Distinguished (uuder the cloud of proscription, Wliich had not then been entirely taken off) By zeal to maintain the Liberty, And lo restore the ancient Prosperity, Of Great Britain. He died 12th of December, 1751, Aged 79.

Oliver Goldsmith has canvassed the merits and de merits of Lord Bolingbroke in an interesting piece of biography. BIBLE SOCIETY. HORIZONTAL WINDMILL. Here is also a Dissenting place of worship, where officiates the Rev. Joseph Hughes, one of the active and indefatigable Secretaries of The Bible Society. With him, indeed, the idea of the Institution orginated. To the honour of the age be it recorded, that every Denomination has united (with the exception of a few narrow bigots), to patronize a Society which, regardless of the petty distinctions of party, has for its ob ject the promotion of the best interests of mankind. It has worn down, even in its ordinary progression, the ungracious protuberances of bigotry, and promoted a spirit of candour, and of love, which is at once the badge and glory of our common Christianity.

The Horizontal Windmill at Battersea, is so con spicuous au object, that it must not be passed over in silence. It stands, as I have already observed, on the scite of the old mansion belonging to the Bolingbroke family. The height of the mill is 140 feet ; the outer part consists of ninety-six shutters 80 feet high and 9 inches broad, which, by the pulling of a rope, open and shut in the manner of Venetian blinds ! The main shaft of the mill is the centre of a large circle formed by the sails, which consist of ninety-six dou ble planks, placed perpendicularly, and of the same height as the planks that form the shutters. The wind rushing through acts upon the sails, aud blowing fresh, turns the mill with prodigious rapidity. This may be moderated by lessening the apertures till the force be annihilated.

The mill grinds malt for the distillery. It was constructed after Hooper's Mill at WANDSWORTH. Margate ; one more only of the kind is to be found — in the Ignited States of America ! Wandsivorth which we reach next, contains seven hundred houses and four thousand inhabitants ; it stands on the Wandle, in the hundred of Brixton, Surry. It is six miles from London. Nearly one thousand of the inhabitants were lately returned as employed in various trades ; particularly in calico printing, bolting-cloths for flour mills, distilleries, &c. The latter, belonging to Messrs. Bush & Co., are well known for their extent and respectability. The church is a modern edifice attached to an ancient tower, with a small cemetry. Some French Refugees settled here in the course of the last century. In 1787, a Quakers' Meeting was erected ; and here are two schools of that persuasion.

The town is situated be tween two eminences denominated East Hill and West Hill, over which are scattered Gentlemen's houses. Hence is a delightful view of the Thames, between the bridges of Putney and Battersea ; whilst the two churches of Putney and Fulham are seen to the left embosomed as it were in woods ; with a distant view of Harrow on the hill, as well as Hampstead and High gate on the right ; the whole forming a scene of picturesque beauty. I should have mentioned, that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, some of the leading Puritans seeing no prospect of Reformation by the Legislature, agreed to attempt it in a more private way ; for this purpose they erected a Presbytery at Wandsworth, convenib3 SIR JOHN BARNARD. ently situated for the London brethren, as standing on the banks of the river Thames.

Eleven Elders were chosen, and their offices described in a register entitled The Orders of Wandsivortk. This was the first Presbyterian church in England. It was at Wandsworth also that the patriotic citizen Sir John Barnard received his education. This Little Man, adored by the Common Hall, was for many years an active member of the Corporation of London. He served the City in Parliament for nearly forty years ; and opposed most strenuously Sir Robert Walpole, especially in his plan of introducing the Excise into this country. He died in 1704 ; and in the Royal Exchange the citizens have gratefully placed a statue to his memory. He was knighted by George the Second; but this mark of Court f;ivour, did not induce him to swerve from his steady line of patriotic duty. He always gloried in his independence, owing, to the free choice of his constituents, his place in the House of Commons.

He therefore abhorred every species of corruption and bribery. He died at an advanced age, and lies interred at Mortlake. He appears to have been a true lover of his country. In the vicinity of Wandsworth, is the hamlet of Garratt, known for its mock Election on the recur rence of a new Parliament. Foote, in 1763, produced a farce, called the Mayor of Garratt, which afforded his comic genius an opportunity of caricaturing several public characters of the day. The origin of the Mayor and Members of Garratt may be thus explained : MAYOR OF GARRATT. PUTNEY. About fifty years ago, some persons, who lived near that part of Wandsworth which adjoins Garratt-lane, had formed a kind of club, not merely to eat and drink, but to concert measures for removing the encroachments made on that part of the common.

As the members were most of them persons of low circumstances, they agreed at every meeting to contribute a trifle in order to make up a purse for the defence of their collective rights When a sufficient sum of money was subscribed, they applied to a worthy attorney in the neighbourhood, wh'o brought an action in the name of the President (or, as they called him, the Mayor) of the club against the incroachers. They gained their suit, with costs. - The incroachments were destroyed ; aud, ever after, the President, who lived many years, was called " The Mayor of Garratt !" This event happening at the time of a General Election, the ceremony, upon every new Parliament, of choosing out-door Members for the borough of Garratt has been constantly kept up, and is still continued to the emolument of all the publicans at Wandsworth, who annually subscribe to the incidental expenses of this mock election !

Putney, a few miles further on, and nearer the river Thames, is separated by a bridge from Fulham. It contains six hundred houses, and two thousand inhabi tants. The church, an old Gothic structure, has at the east end a curious chapel, the roof of which is adorned with rich tapestry. This place gave birth to the un fortunate Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, whose OBELISK. MR. HARTLEY'S FIRE-PLATFS. father was a blacksmith ! But Honour and shame from no condiiion rise; Act well your part — there all tbe honour lies tope. In the year 1647, Putney was made the head-quarters of Oliver Cromwell ; and his military councils were held in the Church, around the Communion Table ! Upon Putney Common, in 1786, was raised an Obelisk, covered with inscriptions. The side to wards the road informs us that it was erected 110 years after the Fire of London, on the anniversary of the dreadful event, and iu memory of an invention for the securing of buildings from the ravages of the merciless conflagration !

This alludes to a house ad joining, three stories high, and two rooms on a floor, built by David Hartley, Esq. with fire-plates between the cielings and floors. Six experiments were made in the year 1776 ; one in particular, when their Ma jesties and some of the Royal Family were in a room over the ground floor while the apartment beneath was burning with the utmost fury! The remaining in scriptions merely record that the House of Commons, in 1774, granted Mr. Hartley £2,500 for this invention ; and that the Court of Common Council shewed their gratitude by conferring upon the ingenious author the freedom of the City. Rewards the most liberal ought not to be withheld, when the head devises, and the hand executes, plans conducive to the happiness of mankind. DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD. The element of Fire is the grand instrument of the Almighty in the accomplishment of some of his pur poses towards man in various parts of his widely-ex tended creation.