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1828.] Improvements of Whitby, St. Hilda's Monastery.

ways and means as St. Paul's Cathedral was built, viz. by a duty on coals. The legislature has for more than a century been exceedingly liberal in granting funds, not less than ten Acts of Parlia ment having passed from the reign of Queen Anne to this time, for the maintenance and improvement of the piers and harbour. The annual revenue is upwards of 2,400l. which increases with the increasing consumption of coals. It may therefore be reasonably expected that posterity and the shipping and commercial interests will be benefited by the splendid structures which such ample provision is calculated to produce in a series of years, especially when administered under the direction of commercial, energetic, and public-spirited trustees, who are resident on the spot, and are ever alive to forward the best interests of the port, and to discharge their duties to the public punctually and faithfully. The west pier runs direct from the town into the sea, and is 600 yards in length, forming a noble marine parade, which commands a full view of the bay, the dark promontories at each extremity, and the intermediate jagged cliffs the town rising from both margins of the Esk, the aged church of St. Mary, and the ruined monastery of St. Hilda.

The church and abbey are perched on the eastern cliff, a great height above the town. The ascent is gained by 190 steps. From the acclivity extensive prospects present themselves on every side; the tenantless monastic ruins; the wide ocean, ever washing the sandy beach, with ships scudding along its bosom in the distance; the woods and castle of Mulgrave; the piers; the concave town, harbour, shipping, and curious draw-bridge across the river, all immediately beneath the eye; the winding and fertile valley of the Esk, through which rolls in many a serpentine curve the stream of that name; the numerous swelling hills intersecting one another, and

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studded with villas, hamlets, groves, and homesteads; the high and lonely moors beyond, covered with dark purple heath, and which seem gloomily to frown upon the humble but smiling dales below; the toute ensemble afford ing panoramic views of mingled beauty and sublimity, few of which have hitherto been pictured by the artist, and words must fail to convey an adequate representation.

The following elegant and interesting lines from a poem called "Saint Hilda," by a young gentleman now no more, and which I understand was printed for private circulation, but not published, will convey some idea of the particular point de vue, which I have attempted, but very imperfectly, to describe.

"If e'er to Whitby's silver strand
Thy pilgrim steps have stray'd,
Descended Hackness' vallies deep,

Or rov'd through Eskdale's* shade.
Then sure thy weary feet have toil'd

The steep ascent to gain,
Where holy Hilda's† mould'ring pile
O'erhangs the foaming main.
No station for monastic cell,

No warm sequester'd dale,
But fitter for baronial tower,

To awe the subject vale.
Yet there the pious fabric rose,

And crown'd the dizzy steep,
Tho' sweet were Eskdale's tangled paths,
And Hackness' valleys deep.
There many a legend shalt thou bear,
Which Whitby's fishers tell,
Of honours due and reverence paid

To noble Hilda's cell.

How, when above her oriel arch

The screaming sea-fowl soar'd,
Then drooping pinions conscious fell,
And the virgin saint ador❜d.
How sole amid the serpent tribe

The holy abbess stood,
With fervent faith and uplift hands,
Grasping the holy-rood.

The suppliant's prayer and powerful charm
The unnumber'd reptiles own,
Each falling from the cliff becomes
A headless coil of stone.§

Eska flu. oritur in Eskdale; defluit per Danbeium nemus, et tandem apud Streneshall in mare se exonerat. Lel. Collec. tom. ter. p. 40.

+ Monasterium S. Hilda apud Streneshall (Whitby) penitus destructum fuit ab Inguaro et Hubbá, Titusque abbas Glesconiam cum reliquis S. Hilda aufugit. Restitutum fuit monasterium de Streneshall tempore Henrici primi per Gulielmum Perse. Leland. Locus ubi nunc cœnobium est videtur mihi esse ars inexpugnabilis. Ibid.

§ Mira res est videre serpentes apud Streneshall in orbem giratos, et inclementiâ cœli vel, ut monachi ferunt, precibus D. Hilda concretos.-Leland.

Lapides hic (apud Whitby) inveniuntur, serpentium in spiram revolutorum effigie, na

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Legends of the Monastery of St. Hilda.

Such is the poetical representation of the lofty site of Whitby Abbey, and such the legends which enshroud the memory and actions of St. Hilda. The cornu ammonis, serpent stones, or snake stones, and also fossil nautili, abound in the cliff and alum rock, and on the scar immediately below the summit, whereon the abbey stands. Sir Walter Scott, in the second canto of Marmion, has versified this topic in an imaginary conversation between the nuns of Whitby and Lindisfarne.

"They told how in their convent cell A Saxon princess once did dwell,

The lovely Edelfled;

And how, of thousand snakes, each one
Was chang'd into a coil of stone,

When holy Hilda pray'd;
Themselves within their holy bound,
Their stony folds had often found.
They told how sea fowls' pinions fail,
As over Whitby's towers they sail,
And, sinking down with flutterings faint,
They do their homage to the saint!"

I feel pleasure in introducing to general notice the stanzas from "St. Hilda," because but a few copies were privately distributed, and they deserve to be preserved. In my judgment they possess spirit, fidelity, and beauty, and I feel assured they will be favourably received and justly appreciated by those who have seen and known Whitby Abbey, which

"O'erhangs the foaming main," and the romantic sylvan scenery of Eskdale's tangled paths,

And Hackness' * valleys deep."

There are many curious legends connected with the monastery and vicinity, which have been variously said and sung in prose and verse, but to mention one half of which would encroach upon your columns. The very signature of your Correspondent, "The Hermit of Eskdaleside," is calculated to draw attention to a strange but pleasing tale, connected with the noble families of Bruce and Percy, once scated there; the hermitage of Eskdaleside, the boar-hunt in the forest of Eskdale, and consequent fatal death of a hermit; the singular penance enjoined upon the hunters and their succes

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sors for ever, and which is still annually performed in the haven of Whitby. The story may be thus com→ pressed.

On the 16th day of October, in the fifth year of Henry the Second, the lords of Ugglebarnby and Sneaton, accompanied by a principal freeholder, with their hounds, staves, and followers, went to chase the wild boar, in the woods of Eskdaleside, which appertained to the abbot of Whitby. They found a large boar, which on being sore wounded and dead run, took in at the hermitage of Eskdale, where a hermit, a monk of Whitby, was at his devotions, and there the exhausted animal lay down. The hermit closed the door of the cell, and continued his meditations, the hounds standing at bay without. The hunters being thrown behind their game in the thick of the forest, followed the cry of the hounds, and at length came to the hermitage. On the monk being roused from his orisons by the noise of the hunters, he opened the door and came forth. The boar had died within

the hermitage, and because the hounds were put from their game, the hunters violently and cruelly run at the hermit with their boar-staves, and of the wounds which they inflicted he subsequently died. The gentlemen took sanctuary in a privileged place at Scarborough, out of which the abbot had them removed, so that they were in danger of being punished with death. The hermit, being a holy man and at the last extremity, required the abbot to send for those who had wounded him; and upon their drawing near, he said, "I am sure to die of these wounds." The abbot answered, "They shall die for thee." The devout hermit replied, "Not so, for I freely forgive them my death, if they be content to be enjoined to a penance for the safeguard of their souls." The gentlemen bade him enjoin what he would, so he saved their lives. The hermit then enjoined that they and theirs should for ever after hold their lands of the abbot of Whitby and his successors, on this condition, that upon Ascension Eve they, or some for them, should come to the wood of the Stray

turæ ludentis miracula, quæ natura, cum veris et seriis negotiis quasi fatigata, indebitè efformat. Serpentes olim fuisse crederes quos lapideus cortex intexisset; Hildæ autem precibus adscribit credulitas.-Camden.

* At Hackness was a cell dependant on Whitby Abbey.

1928.]

St. Hilda's Monastery.-Witnesham, Suffolk.

head, which is in Eskdaleside, the same day at sun-rising, and there the officer of the abbot should blow his horn, that they might know where to find him, who should deliver to them ten stakes, len strout-stowers, and ten yedders, to be cut with a knife of a penny price, which were to be taken on their backs to Whitby before nine of the clock on that day; and at the hour of nine o'clock, as long as it should be low water (if it be full sea the service to cease) each of them to set their stakes at the brim of the water, a yard from one another, and so make a hedge with the stakes, stowers, and yedders, that it stand three tides without being removed by the force of the water. And the officer of Eskdaleside shall blow his horn, "Out on you! out on you! out on you!" Should the service be refused, so long as it is not full sea at the hour fixed, all their lands should be forfeited. Then the hermit said, "My soul longeth for the Lord, and I do as freely forgive these gentlemen my death as Christ forgave the thief upon the cross." And in the presence of the abbot and the rest, he said, "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum: a vinculis enim mortis redemisti me, Domine veritatis. Amen." And then he yielded up the ghost on the 18th Dec.

More ample details of this story may be found in Grose's Antiquities, who pleads strongly for its authenticity, and has given a plate of the chapel or her mitage of Eskdaleside. The building still exists, but roofless and in ruins. The "penny hedge" still continues to be annually planted on the south side of the Esk in Whitby harbour, on Ascension Day, within high-water mark; it has not yet happened to be high

water at the time fixed. The bailiff of Eskdaleside attends to see the condition performed, and the horn blows according to immemorial custom, out on them !!

This romantic legend has been pleasingly paraphrased by the author of Marmion, in the second canto:

"Then Whitby's nuns exulting told,
How to their house three Barons bold
Must menial service do ;
While horns blow out a note of shame,
And monks cry, Fye upon your name,
In wrath, for loss of sylvan game,

Saint Hilda's priest ye slew.'

This on Ascension Day each year,
While labouring on our harbour pier,,,
Must Herbert, Bruce, and Percy hear."
Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

IN

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RUSWARPIUS.

Great Bealings, near
Woodbridge.

N the parish of Witnesham near
Ipswich, where my principal estate
lies, I had the honour of being inti-
mately acquainted with the Rev. John
King, who was Rector of Witnesham
in Suffolk for a great number of years,
and died at the place about five years
since, aged 84. He was a very amiable
character, and to his charity to the poor
there were no bounds, though he had
a very numerous family to support.
This gentleman informed me some
20 years since, that he had several re-
lics in his possession, proving that a
battle had been fought at Witnesham.
I should be glad of any further inform-
ation on this point. To confirm this
supposition, a Mr. Charles Poppy, a
very intelligent agriculturist in the
same parish, told me very lately, he
had found upon his land a human ske-
leton, with that of a horse beside it,
having been dug up within six feet
from the surface. Mr. Poppy shewed
me several marks of military accoutre-
ments, a part of the saddle, stirrups,
&c. The studs of the saddle were of
silver.

Kirby, in his Suffolk Traveller, has remarked of Witnesham, that "Bartholomew Lord Burghersh had a good old seat here, the site of which may still be seen in Mrs. Child's farm, where it had a moat round it; and that dirty road, now corruptly called Burragelane, had its name from him. He was one of the first Knights of the Garter; or, as they are called, one of the found

ers of that order."

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

P. MEADOWS.

June 10.
N answer to your Correspondent

I«Naboath," part i. p. 488, 1 beg

to refer him to the case of Lord Rosslyn and another v. Jodrell, esq. 8 Camp. 303; S. C. 1. Starkie, 148; whereby it was established that an action at law may be maintained upon the bond usually given to the Society of Lincoln's-inn, on being called to the bar, to recover arrears of "absent Commons," "vacant Commons," "preacher's duties," and "pensions,"

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Dues at Inns of Court-Monument to Capt. Cook.

which have accrued while the party has remained a member of the society, although he has not lived in the inn, or practised at the bar. I happened to be in court when the cause was tried at Westminster by Lord Ellenborough An action of debt will lie against an heir having assets by descent in feesimple, on the obligation of his ancesfor, wherein the heir is expressly bound; see 1 Inst. 209, a.; 2 Saund. 136; 1 Ves. 212.

The law considers the bond of the ancestor, wherein the heir is bound, as becoming, upon the death of the ancestor, the heir's own debt, in respect of the assets, which the heir has in his own right, and holds him liable upon such bond to the value of the land descended. See Gilb. Debt, b. 2, c. 1.

The circumstance of twenty years having elapsed without any demand made, is of itself a presumption that a bond has been satisfied; but length of time is no legal bar; it is only a ground on which the jury may presume satisfaction. Oswald v. Legh, 1 T. R. 270; Rex v. Stephens, 1 Burr. 434; Winchelsea Causes, 4 Burr. 1963.

The case of Lord Rosslyn and another v. Jodrell, esq. forms a precedent, as I apprehend, by which "Naboath" must be guided.

Mr. URBAN,

A

years

R. W. J.

Melksham, July 9. FEW since I addressed you on the subject of a monument to the memory of the immortal John Locke, a philosopher who, of all England's illustrious sons, perhaps, has best deserved an honorary cenotaph to perpetuate his memory. My address, how ever, it should 'seem, was little beeded in the quarter it was chiefly meant to be effective, and the hint by which I sought to jog the sleeping energies of certain individuals actually connected with the projection of such a monument, never obtained so great a share of contemporary attention as the occasion might have demanded.

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On again looking over, as sometimes wont, some of your Magazines for the last year, my attention was caught the other day, in your number for Decem ber last, with the communication of "J.B." on the subject of a monument to the memory of Captain Cook. I had not before noticed this communication, and that its object has not been advocated and promoted in our literary journals, must, without illibe

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ral vituperation, be deemed one of those marks of oblivion to high national merit, which, indicative as it may be of some former ages, certainly does not least characterize the age in which we live. To the shame of England, two schemes, projected by some public-spirited and patriotic individuals, towards erecting such a monument,' have severally failed; and in this boasted age of philanthropy and science, that which should have been a NATIONAL undertaking, has at length been undertaken and completed, referring to the communication of your Correspondent, by the liberality and munificence of a private individual, Robt. Campion, esq. of Easby Hall near Stokesby. I do not exactly know the situation of Easby, which has been selected in the present instance, or its eligibility for the site of an honorary column; but the zeal of its spirited proprietor, and his devotion in the cause of science or of patriotism, cannot be too publicly appreciated.

That upwards of half a century should have elapsed from the death of Cook, and nothing actually accomplished, in a national point of view, to perpetuate the memory of England's greatest circumnavigator, is indeed matter of surprise. It is true that the mural tablet or the honorary cenotaph

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provoke the silent dust, Or flattery sooth the dull cold ear of death;'

but it is equally true, that tributes of gratitude to the manes of the illustrious deceased have, from the earliest ages, distinguished those nations most eminent for their civilization and their thinking; and it will be said, that Britain has often shewn, that in the commemoration of her heroes she would fain not stand next to Athens, or to Rome.

But, Sir, she will stand second to those celebrated states, if, in the progress of her history, she omits to offer the becoming tribute of her testimonials to the worth of her most illustrious benefactors. Among these Cook will ever be admitted to occupy a foremost ground. . To enumerate, at this time of day, the great and unprecedented services which he achieved in the cause of scientific discovery, would be unnecessary. Geography and na tural history, as tending to enlarge and elevate the knowledge of mankind,

1528.]

Approaches to the New London Bridge.

stands prodigiously indebted to his unwearied researches. The islands of the North and South Pacific Ocean; New Zealand accurately surveyed; the North-west Coast of America explored; and the figure and boundaries of New Holland ascertained and determined, are services to science, and to civilised mankind, which no single man, except himself, ever performed. Our rising colonies in New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land owe their very existence exclusively to the enterprise of Cook; and yet, Mr. Urban, in the gaze of these important services, intelligent foreigners look in vain for a national commemoration of his character. While our cathedrals, and even our parks, protrude monuments, which in stately grandeur tell the illustrious" story" of the heroes who perished, and the deeds of arms which were achieved at Waterloo and elsewhere; in other words commemorate the death of multitudes of human beings, is he not entitled to honour who has, in prospective, added millions of beings to the number of civilised mankind?

It is hoped that this national delinquency, as it may be called, will yet be redeemed; and that the patriotic munificence of an individual will not lie dormant-an undertaking, which should be performed by the British Public, or the Legislature.

With regard to the situation of such a monument or column, if, as your Correspondent suggests, it be intended as a sea-mark, or beacon, to guide the mariner on that ocean upon which none ever gained a more solid renown, many might be suggested along the cliffs which crown the shores of merry England. The rock of Portland, provided it were more accessible by land to the inspection of the public, might form an eligible site, as this lofty promontory commands a wide sweep up and down the channel, and blocks of stone might be furnished at no expence of conveyance. The pyramidal form would, in this case, be preferable, more effectually to secure it against the tremendous gusts of wind which are often there prevalent.

I have long, Mr. Urban, been of sentiments similar to those here touched upon; and if, as I believe, there are numerous others of my countrymen who differ not very widely froin GENT. MAG. July, 1828.

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In

me, the measure, it is more than possible, may yet meet with its due and adequate support. I trust it will no longer languish for want of patronage; and that England can appreciate illustrious deeds of scientific adventure, as well as illustrious deeds of arms. this age, although the cry of "bad times' and commercial distress still rings in our ears, we yet see luxury and expence advancing, and public works prosecuted with even unexampled rapidity. Can, then, a plea of this nature be admitted, to the neglect of the memory of Cook? Yours, &c. E. P.

APPROACHES TO THE NEW LONDON
Bridge.

Tent on the future approaches

HERE are two considerations at

to the new Bridge, utility and economy; that plan, therefore, which affords the most easy access into the heart of the City, with the least expence and the smallest destruction of property, it is evident, must be the one selected. The folly of commencing a new Bridge without duly considering the nature of the approaches to it, is now sufficiently apparent. The Corporation must answer for this; the mischief has been done; and as no remedy exists short of pulling down the Bridge, and erecting it on the site of the old one, which, after all, would perhaps be a considerable saving to the public, or of constructing, at a vast expenditure of money, new streets on both sides of the river leading to the new Bridge; and as the former alternative is not likely to be adopted, the only question now is, how this object can be attained with the least outlay. For our own parts we see no probability of any improvement taking place. The approach to the new Bridge from London, there is little doubt, will be by the road set out in what is termed the Contract Plan," by which the line of street will make a twist between the Monument and the old Bridge, and approach the new site by means of an obtuse angle, in the same inconvenient manner as the high road to Dover crosses the bridge at Rochester.

We have seen the three several Plans set forth by the City, and it requires but little knowledge of the situation to be able to estimate the immense ex

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