Nearly opposite the shrubbery of this mansion is an HOSPITAL founded in the year 1504, by Thomas Milley, D. D. (prebendary of the prebend of Dasset in Lichfield cathedral), who gave divers lands and tenements, under the direction of the sacrist of the said cathedral, for the support of 15 poor women; and for a Sermon to be preached, and the Sacrament administered, yearly, on the Thursday before Easter, in a small chapel belonging to this hospital.

Contiguous to the hospital formerly stood a very stately edifice, once the residentiary house of the Archdeacon of Chester.

From hence we proceed down a small lane, on the left, by Maudlin's-well *, to the BOTANIC GARDEN,

* Tradition says, some person, having enjoyed his bottle rather too freely, tumbled into this well, which has since been distinguished by its present epithet Maudlin signifying a state of inebriation. It is clearly however an ebreviation of Magdalen.

A court, facetiously called Maudlin's-court, is annually held in this city; anciently for punishing inebriety, as well as administering the oath of office to the dozeners.

At

GARDEN (formed by Dr. Darwin), a mest beautiful and rural scene.

VERSES written, in the Year 1779, in Dr. DARWIN'S BOTANIC GARDEN, near LICHFIELD, by Miss SEWARD*.

"O! come not here, ye Proud, whose breasts infold Th' insatiate wish of glory, or of gold!

At May-fair, and Old-fair, the bailiffs, &c. hold a court of PIEPOUDRE, curia pedis pulverizati; so called from the dusty feet of the suitor; or, according to sir Edward Coke, because justice is done there as speedily as dust can fall from the foot. But the etymology given us by a learned modern writer, (Barrington, in his Observat. on the Statutes), is much more ingenious and satisfactory; it being derived, according to him, from pied puldreaux, (a pedler, in old French), and therefore signifying the court of such petty chapmen as resort to fairs, &c. This court was confirmed to the citizens of Lichfield by charter of Charles the Second, and has power to administer justice for all commercial injuries done in that very fair, &c So that the injury must be done, complained of, heard, and determined, within the compass of one and the same day, unless the fair continues longer.

* These VERSES were printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, and Annual Register, many years before the publication of that very fine Poem the BOTANIC GARDEN, of which they have the honour to form the exordium; though they are somewhat altered by the author of that work, and with eighteen lines of his own interwoven with them.

O! come not here, whose branded forheads wear
Th' eternal frown of Envy or of Care!

For you no Dryads twine the fragrant bowers,
For you her sparkling urn no Naiad pours;
Unmask'd by you light Graces skim the Green,
And hovering Cupids aim their shafts unseen.

But thou, whose mind the well-attemper'd ray,
Of Taste, and Virtue, lights with purer day;
Whose finer sense each soft vibration owns,
Mute and unfeeling to discordant tones,
As the fair flower that spreads its lucid form
To meet the sun, and shuts it to the storm,
For thee my borders nurse the glowing wreath,
My fountains murmur, and my Zephyrs breathe;
My painted Birds their vivid plumes unfold,
And Insect Armies wave their wings of gold.

And if with thee some hapless Maid should stray, Disastrous Love companion of her way,

O! lead her timid step to yonder glade,

Whose arching cliff incumbent Alders shade!
There, as meek Evening wakes the temperate breeze,
And moon-beams glimmer thro' the trembling Trees,
The Rills, that gurgle round, shall soothe her ear,
The weeping Rock shall number tear for tear:

*

And as sad Philomel, alike forlorn,

Sings to the Night, inclining on her thorn,
While, at each interval, the falling note

Sighs in the gale, and whispers round the grot,

* In the centre of this garden, there is a great natural curiosity; a rock that drops incessantly, even in the dryest seasons.

The

The Sister-woe shall calm her throbbing breast,
And softest slumbers steal her cares to rest.

Thus spake the GENIUS *, as he stept along,
And bade these Lawns to Peace and Truth belong.
Down the steep Slopes he led, with modest skill,
The willing path-way, and the vagrant rill;
Stretch'd o'er the marshy Vale the willowy mould,
Where shines the Lake amid the cultur'd Ground;
Rear'd the young Wood-land, smooth'd the wavy Green,
And gave to BEAUTY all the quiet Scene.

Oh! may no ruder step the Bowers profane,
No midnight Wassaller deface the Plain!
And, when the Tempests of the wintry Day
Blow golden Autumn's varied leaves away,
Winds of the North, restrain your icy gales,
Nor chill the bosom of these happy Vales !"

* By the GENIUS the author meant Dr. Darwin, who might be justly so called, since he first cultivated and adorned the tangled and swampy valley.

ACCOUNT

OF THE

CATHEDRAL.

THE Cathedral next claims our attention. The space by which it is surrounded is called The Close, the entrances to which were formerly distinguished by antique gateways. That at the West end has given place to an object of less imposing grandeur, yet more pleasing. The new buildings which form the present entrance have recently been erected by T. Newton, esq. brother of the truly amiable late Bishop Newton. Mr. Newton has judged proper to inspect their progress himself, and to endow them in his life-time for the benefit of clergymen's widows, &c. *

This place has been the scene of many contentions. After the persecution of the Christians, under Diocletian and Maximian, which, contrary to the hope of the persecutors, much increased, instead of suppressing the Christian re

* See accounts of Charities, at the end of this book.

ligion