Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

From the year 1155 to 1199, the fraternity was under the command of the Grand Master of the Knights Templars, whose mysteries and titles. are still continued. We have still extant records of a lodge held in the reign of Henry V., at Canterbury, where Chichely, the Archbishop of that See, presided, where the names of the master, wardens, and other brethren are given this was in 1429; the King himself was instituted. The St. Clairs of Rosslyn were hereditary grand masters of the order from the time of James II. of Scotland till 1736, when the then representative of the family being old and childless, resigned it to the grand lodge. Among the Grand Masters in England are numbered Dunstan, Edward the Confessor, Gondulph, Bishop of Rochester, Gilbert de Clare, William a Wykeham, Henry VII. Sir Thomas Gresham, Inigo Jones, W. Wren, and Dr. Desaguliers. William III. was a freemason, so was George IV. and so is his present Majesty. In 1717 there were only four lodges in London, who constituted themselves a grand lodge. There are now masons in all parts of the globe, who instantly recognise each other.

ORIGIN OF THE GROTESQUE CARVINGS IN THE STALLS, &c. OF CATHEDRALS AND ABBEYS.-" There are many bas-reliefs, particularly those carved underneath the seats of the choirs of different religious structures, that represent grotesque, and even obscene subjects, altogether at variance with the sacred character of the buildings in which they are placed. Something of this kind may be observed in Worcester cathedral, in Ely cathedral, in the priory church of Great Malvern, and in many other ecclesiastical edifices. What may be thought most singular is, that the sculptures sometimes represent priests, and other religious persons, engaged in actions of a very profane description. For a satisfactory reason for this, I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Cottingham. The sculptors who executed those carvings were the caricaturists of the time; and, as different religious communities were frequently at variance with each other, they employed these artists to satirise their mutual follies and vices. Under their seats they concealed from the public eye, but exposed for their own private gratification, a series of pictorial libels. In one place, the monks of a certain order are represented as licentious, ridiculous, and depraved; in the building belonging to these holy fathers will, probably, be found similar series of bas-reliefs, exposing the secret debaucheries of the sacred brotherhood by whom they have been libelled-but never, in any church, will a purest of that order be represented in an unholy character. He will very likely be discovered thus pictured in the church of the Franciscan, while the follower of St. Francis receives the same treatment from the Carthusian brethren in their own building. The various monastic establishments, which at one time were exceedingly numerous in England, generally regarded each other with considerable jealousy; and more than once their animosities and squabbles have disturbed the peace of the kingdom, and brought disgrace upon the unreformed religion. This occasioned some of our most ancient ecclesiastical edifices to be disfigured with grotesque and offensive designs."— Williams's Sculpture in Wood."

[ocr errors]
[graphic]

COPY OF A HANDBILL CIRCULATED BY A CLERGYMAN, IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SALISBURY, WITH VERY GREAT SUCCESS.

BIBLE AND COMMON PRAYER BOOK ASSOCIATION, IN CONNEXION WITH THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. This Association is instituted by the Rector, for the accommodation of such persons as may be desirous of purchasing Bibles and Common Prayer Books at very reduced prices, by weekly subscription. The price at which Subscribers will be entitled, with the aid of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to make their purchases, will in no case exceed half the sum usually charged to the public for the same books. Specimens of the several types used in printing the Bibles and Common Prayers, with the usual and reduced prices of each respectively, and the time required to complete the purchase of the same, (at the rate of 1d. 2d. or 3d. per week,) are given below. The Rector will be happy to receive the names of persons willing to become Subscribers, through the Master of the National School, who will receive the weekly payments.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

N.B.-Specimens of the Bibles and Common Prayer Books may be inspected at the Rectory House.

POLITICAL RETROSPECT.

DOMESTIC.-Parliament stands prorogued till October next. The speech of His Majesty, or rather of His Majesty's ministers, is, perhaps, the most uninteresting ever spoken. Compared with the large promises with which the session opened, it shrinks into an absurd abortion of what ministers would not, and could not, and did not do. They are evidently in the most precarious situation, and are not free to follow their own judgments; and here is the secret of the abortiveness of the session;-obliged to alter and enlarge their measures, at the dictation of the Whig-Radical party, contrary to their own opinions. The measures sent up to the House of Lords were such as it became imperative on their lordships to reject, if they would not forfeit all claims to the character of men desiring to prevent the utter ruin of the Constitution, and of those mighty interests which depend upon it. Their lordships at this moment, by the folly of ministers, are really the government; and while the majority of the Lower House continues as it is, they may safely go on in their present course. This is the sting of the matter; Mr. Hume and his clique are compelled, when bard pressed, to acknowledge it. This majority seems gradually decreasing; and all the elections, (if we may judge from those of recent date,) which are likely to occur, seem destined still further to decrease it. Even Warwick, which had been hitherto so equally divided as to return one member of each party, notwithstanding the recent change occasioned by the Municipal Reform Act, has, within the last week, returned an avowed Conservative, the son of the late gifted Mr. Canning. The friends of the Constitution may therefore now rest secure, that neither the changes of the representation, introduced by the Reform Bill, nor those of the Municipal Act, will ultimately work the plans of the Destructives.

SPAIN. It was very unfortunate for poor Lord Palmerston that the development of his plans for the pacification of the Peninsula should have been . made just on the eve of the King's speech. Spain is in utter confusion;

the Constitution of 1812 has been proclaimed almost through all Spain; the Regent and the Queen were actually for a time prisoners in the hands of the army; Quesada, and others of the most strenuous friends of the Isturiz ministry, have been massacred; and the ministers themselves have been compelled to save their lives by concealment. To add to the confusion, Rayneval, the French ambassador, has died suddenly; and Louis Philippe, whose tortuous policy has probably accelerated the crisis, is, in this important moment, unrepresented at Madrid. General Evans, forgetting the doctrine of the electors of Westminster, issued a proclamation, throwing cold water on the sovereignty of the people; but the sovereign people of Spain were unlike the electors of Westminster, and have shown no deference to his orders. Where all this will end, even that astute old diplomatist, Talleyrand, will hardly venture to prognosticate. He probably will not now hazard the declaration, from which, on a former occasion, he justly gained so much credit, that "it is the beginning of the end." The young king of Naples, who has been on a matrimonial tour to the Tuilleries, and to whom fame already assigns the hand and dowry of the Princess Clementine, has been frightened from bis propriety, and returns to Naples with all haste. Former events show a sympathy between the kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Spain, which may well hasten his return. If this was the advice of Louis Philippe, who is wise in his generation, (and we can come to no other conclusion,) it shows that the Citizen King thinks the present a crisis.

AMERICA. The affairs of Texas wear a very gloomy aspect. However they may terminate, humanity will probably have cause for grief. If Mexico conquer, the Texians will doubtless be exterminated; if the latter conquer, Santa Anna, now a prisoner with them, and his suite also, will forfeit their lives; and then the grave question, how far England can suffer the United States to add another immense tract of territory to herself, and

how such addition may affect the suppression of the slave-trade, will arise. After paying twenty millions for the emancipation of the slaves, England can hardly see all her plans frustrated by such addition; and there seems a moral certainty that this effect would follow.

CANADA. It is gratifying to every Englishman to learn, that there seems a fair chance that Canada will triumph

over the difficulties brought on by the French and anarchical faction. Mr. Hume and others may take their part; but the last accounts hold out a fair prospect that they are fast losing their influence, and that Canada, one of the most splendid jewels in the imperial crown of Great Britain, will still be left to her present allegiance, nor madly throw away her rising greatness for anarchy and barren independence.

UNIVERSITY, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND PAROCHIAL INTELLIGENCE.

TRIBUTES OF RESPECT.

THE LATE BISHOP OF DURHAM.-The name of the late venerable and venerated Dr. Van Mildert, the munificent benefactor to the Church and University of Durham, has been inserted in the preamble on the Established Church Bill (as it is called). This appropriate and well-deserved tribute of respect to the memory of a most learned, liberal, and exemplary prelate, was adopted on the motion of Mr. Estcourt, the member for the University of Oxford.

BISHOP OF LICHFIELD AND COVENTRY.-At a recent meeting of the Town Council of Shrewsbury, an address to the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, on his resigning the Head Mastership of the Royal Free Grammar School in that town, and on his appointment to the see of Lichfield and Coventry, was unanimously adopted, and subsequently presented to his lordship, who has been staying at Shrewsbury. It was afterwards also unanimously resolved, to congratulate the Rev. Dr. Kennedy on his appointment to the Head Mastership of the Free Grammar School, as the successor of Dr. Butler, and the address has been presented to Dr. Kennedy by the mayor and a large body of aldermen and councillors.

ARCHDEACON OF MADRAS.-Previous to the departure from India of the Ven. J. Robinson, Archdeacon of Madras, an address, signed by 190 of the inhabitants of John Pereira's, and others, forming the congregation of Trinity Chapel, was presented to him, expressive of their high respect and esteem for him, on account of the unassuming piety, ardent zeal, and affectionate solicitude for their spiritual welfare, which he had displayed during his ministry amongst them. A memorial also was determined to be presented to the Archdeacon, consisting of a breakfast service of plate, and a silver inkstand, by the Clergy and Laity of the Archdeaconry, in testimony of the esteem and affection they bore towards him,

REV. D. JAMES.--A meeting of the friends of the Church in Almondbury has been held in the National School at that place, for the purpose of presenting the Rev. D. James with a piece of place, on his retirement from the curacy. The interest felt in paying this compliment to the Rev. gentleman by every rank of his hearers, and the readiness even of the operatives in giving their mite to the lady who so praiseworthily exerted herself in collecting subscriptions, were highly gratifying, and will long be remembered. The plate consisted of a very rich silver basket, and a case for the pocket, containing a communion paten and chalice. The basket and paten bore the following inscription:" Presented to the Rev. D. James, on his retirement from the curacy of Almondbury, by the members of the Church of England in that township, as a testimony of their esteem and regard, 1836."

DR. ROTTLER.—The Asiatic Journal states, that a monument to the memory of the late Rev. J. P. Rottler, D.D., is to be erected by subscription in Vepery church, and

that any excess in the amount of the funds subscribed, over the cost of the monument, is to be applied to the founding of one or more Scholarships, which are to bear the title of "The Rottler Scholarship." This pious and excellent divine died at Madras, January the 24th, after a few days' illness, which commenced with a paralysis, at the advanced age of 86. For above sixty years, he had laboured as a Missionary in India, formerly in the Danish Mission at Tranquebar; and, since 1804, in the Mission at Vepery, of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts.

RIGHT REV. DR. MALTBY.-The Right Rev. Dr. Maltby, the new Bishop of Durham, accompanied by his family, lately arrived at Auckland Castle. On approaching Bishop-Auckland, the Rev. Prelate was met by a large concourse of persons in carriages and on horseback, who paid him the respect of escorting him to the splendid seat of the see of Durham. After the usual ceremony of presenting a falchion by the owners of Pollard's Lands had been gone through in the vestibule of the palace, his lordship turned round, and addressing the company assembled, returned them his thanks for the warm and hearty welcome with which he had been received, and hoped he should live on terms of the best neighbourhood and good feeling with those who hatt honoured his arrival with their presence.

REV. O. LODGE.-The parish of Barking, in Essex, has had, for the last twenty-seven years, the benefit of the ministerial labours of the Rev. Oliver Lodge. Upon bis removal, caused by the death of the late vicar, his parishioners have presented him with a handsome tea service of plate and a purse of sovereigns, raised by subscription among themselves. They have also, we understand, addressed to high authority a statement of his merits, conceived in the warmest terms of sympathy and veneration towards their old curate.

REV. C. B. SWEET.—The Rev. C. B. Sweet, formerly of Balliol College, and cu ate of Kellesford, Somerset, lately preached a farewell sermon to a numerous congregation, after a residence of twenty-five years; and the next day the principal parishioners, being chiefly rack-renters, presented him with two elegant pieces of plate, as a tribute of respect and affectionate esteem.

THE HON. AND REV. E. PELLEW.-A splendid piece of plate, value 100%., has been presented to the Hon. and Rev. Edward Pellew, of Oriel College, by his parishioners in Great Yarmouth, for gratuitously performing the evening service in the chancel of St. Peter's church.

STATUE TO THE MEMORY OF DR. JOHNSON.-The Rev. Chancellor Law has submitted to the Corporation of the city of Lichfield, the very liberal proposition to erect a statue, at his own expence, to the memory of Dr. Johnson, in the market-place, opposite the house where the learned lexicographer was born. It is expected that the Corporation (who are owners of the market-place) will at once accept this handsome offer of the Rev. Gentleman.

REV. S. BRISCALL.-The inhabitants of the parish of Strathfieldsaye have testified their high esteem and regard for their late curate, the Rev. Samuel Briscall, B.D., late Fellow of Brasennose College, by presenting him with a handsome piece of plate, as a return for his care and attention to his flock for the last seventeen years.

REV. W. VILLERS.-The Rev. William Villers, M.A., of Balliol College, curate of St. George's Chapel, has been absent from Kidderminster for the benefit of his health. His congregation, anxious to testify their esteem for their pastor, and evince their gratitude for his long and faithful services, have subscribed upwards of 1601, to present him with a piece of plate on his return.

REV. J. COLLEY.-The Rev. James Colley having lately resigned the curacy of Montford, Shropshire, which he had served for the last five years, the parishioners have kindly presented him a handsome silver inkstand, bearing the following inscription :"Presented to the Rev. James Colley, M.A., by the parishioners of Montford, as a token of their esteem and gra itude, for his faithful and laborious services during the five years he officiated as their minister. July 30th, 1836."

« AnteriorContinuar »