"Mr. Swinburne, in a letter about three weeks ago, said that Mr. Blore was on his way to explore the Vallum Romanum, for which purpose I suppose he will have letters missive to my fellow-secretary of the N. A. S. If he has been there within the last fortnight, in spite of the good things to be got at Twice Brewed, the keen air that brushes the whin-stone crags over which the Wall runs, will, I apprehend, have abated a little of the antiquarian fervor with which he left the metropolis; at least it will have contrived to take away a little of the limberness of his finger-ends; and it will require even all his fine strokes to make anything like a picture, even in fine weather and with whinstone crags to boot, of anything that remains of the Wall. He should have chosen summer for such a work, for all the existing parts of the Wall any way worth notice are in very bleak situations. "Winter has set in here early and sternly. We had hard frosts for three nights together three weeks since. A few days since the ice was half an inch thick over our water-tubs; and on Sunday all was white with snow. The sycamore trees about the vicarage are leafless. It will be May before the cuckoo comes, and no spring till June, so that there is nothing for us now, for six months at least, but to contrive to be 'as humorous as winter,' keep on our hats and shawm our shins, and be, like other Laplanders, happy at home. "I shall go soon to the Greenwich Hospital books with authority; but my extracts, if I make any, are to have Hopper Williamson's fiat before they can be printed.* So no more at present, from yours, "J. H." To W. C. TREVELYAN, Esq., University College, Oxford. "MY DEAR SIR, N'Castle, Tyne, 14th Dec. 1824. "Your letter inclosing the Saxon Charter was so very long in getting to me after its date, that I did not venture to write to you in Oxford, as you kindly permitted me, lest you should have left your college before my letter reached you. I had quite lost sight of the ' 'Ordering of the Vicarage of Kirknewton,' and cannot bring to my recollection how I became possessed of it, as it is not among my Oxford notes. The proof of the imperfect copy and your corrected one reached me by the same post. Dugdale, i. p. 504 of his Baronage, and on the authority of a record which he takes from Dodsworth, says that William the Conqueror gave Redesdale to Robert de Umfreville, and that it had belonged to Mildred the son of Acman. Will you be so good as to see if Dodsworth's extract be in his collection, and to ascertain where he got it? I certainly have seen Dugdale's account in Latin, but where I cannot tell. When you get to London you also may fall upon some opportunity of finding who Sir Charles Howard was who had Redesdale in 1652, and whose descendants parted with it to Cranstoun, Northumberland, &c. The pedigree stands thus: George Lord Howme, Earl of Dunbar,...... Lady Elizabeth Home had also a grant Theophilus Lord Howard, 1613, afterwards of Redesdale with her husband 2nd Earl of Suffolk. די 1 Susan Js. H. 2 Barbara Geo. H. 4 E. Mary Hen. H. 5 E.=...widow, &c. 3 E. of of Suffolk. Suff. of Suffolk. Sir Charles Howard, his lady and sons, petition... Chs. Howard, Esq. son and heir James Howard, Esq. had Redes-... Chs. Howard of Bingfield, Esq. 1691, which?...Errington, daughter of Errington place he sold 1705; died in the minority of his son. of Bingfield. . "Hitherto I have had no information from Lord Redesdale; but as soon as my papers are in a fit state will send them to him for additions or corrections, though I apprehend I have not much to learn after I have added the wives of the Howards, and know whence Sir Charles was. James Earl of Carlisle and certain others certainly conveyed Redesdale and other places in 1657 to Charles Howard and others who were his trustees. I have collected a good deal about them, but can by no means discover whether they were related to the Howards Earls of Suffolk, or Howards Earls of Carlisle, one of the latter of whom I find once as a trustee for Charles Howard, Esq., son and heir of Sir Charles. There is also a deed enrolled in Chancery, 23 March 164-, by which James Earl of Suffolk and others convey Redesdale and the advowson of Elsdon to Robert Hopper, Esq. and others; I apprehend, in trust for Sir Charles, who with his wife and children petitioned Parliament in 1652 for restoration of property in Northumberland. "The printers are keeping me sadly back; for three weeks I have only had four pages sent me. When you are in London I will also thank you to mention to Mr. Grey, the amanuensis, that if he has not already sent off the parts of the Survey of 1551, which your sister did not copy for me, he will forward them without delay, as I am intending to print both that survey and the larger one by Bowes and Ellerker in a small type, and immediately (in a week's time) I shall be at a stand if they do not then arrive. "One other thing and my troublesome commissions are for the present done with. Be so good, if this letter reaches you while you are in Oxford, as to pay six guineas to Dr. Bandinel, for a copy of a MS. which he has procured for me; and I will give the money to any of your family here or pay it to yourself when you arrive, as you think best. I am, dear Sir, most truly yours, "JOHN HODGSON. One was greatly "I have not seen the new edition of Warton.* wanting, and I rejoice to hear that the editing of that work has for this time fallen into able hands. It has sold of late years so very highly that I think there is not a copy of it in the library of the Lit. Society. The vile Dublin editions may, I believe, be got for a low price; but the quarto of 1774, when I priced it at Priestley's in 1819, was 101. 108. "The study of Anglo-Saxon has never yet been sufficiently general in England to make that language thoroughly understood; but the publication of the works you name will, I hope, bring it into familiar use among scholars. It is very easy, and, as the foundation of our language, appears very beautiful when it has become easy. I know very little about the pronunciation of it a loss which I very much wish to supply, though in fact I have not a moment's time for any study but such as bears upon Northumberland." *The History of English Poetry, edited by Mr. Price. CHAPTER III.-1825. Church on Gateshead Fell-Correspondence-Expedition along the Roman Wall to Carlisle The Roman Wall-Stagshaw Bank Fair-Lanercost-Naworth Castle-Correspondence-Munificent gift of the Bishop of Durham of 2007. towards the expenses of the History of Northumberland. THE request contained in the following letter has been alluded to in a preceding page. The church of Gateshead Fell glories in its spire, but whether Hodgson was the designer of this incongruity or not is unknown to me. From the measurements specified in Mr. Collinson's letter, the architectural reader will know what to look for. But of all mistakes that of placing a spire, however perfect in design, in such a naked situation, at such an elevation above the level of the sea, was perhaps the greatest. High it may be, but a spire can only look well when it has its harmonious accompaniments, when it is bosomed high in tufted trees,' or in some other suitable locality. "DEAR SIR, FROM THE REV. JOHN COLLINSON. Gateshead, Jan. 29th, 1825. "The society for the enlarging churches and chapels have liberally granted us 3501. for Gateshead Fell Church. As we are thus made pretty easy with regard to the funds for the church, we have turned our thoughts to a spire; for completing which three gentlemen, laymen, have contributed 201. each. "The favour I have to beg of you is to ask if you can oblige the trustees, either by reference or by any plan of your own, with a good design for a spire. I should perhaps rather say for the upper part of a tower, as the base of a spire; and for good buttresses with pinnacles on the top of them. We mean to take Chester-le-Street spire, a plain octagon building, for our model, on a reduced scale. Chester is 156 feet in height from the ground. Gateshead Fell spire is to be 120 or 130 feet from the ground; that is 60 feet of tower and 60 feet spire. The tower is already built to the height of 40 feet; and I am anxious the remaining 20 feet should be made light, and properly adapted to the spire, which is to rise from it. The tower is 18 feet square. We propose to have buttresses to the tower from the bottom, as what should be in Gothic architecture. "Should you be coming to Newcastle, I trust you will favour me with a call. I remain, dear Sir, very truly yours, "MY LORD, "JOHN COLLINSON." TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD REDESDALE. Whelpington, near Newcastle, 13th Feb. 1825. "The inclosed account was sent to me on Monday last, and the only observations I have to make upon your lordship's objections to take my work are the following: "That Mr. Trevelyan, of Wallington, told me that your lordship requested to be put upon the list of subscribers to the work---that Part First, according to my original proposals published in the Gentleman's Magazine, will be the last in the order of publication--that after the payment of my printer's and engraver's bills I have little left for my expenses, and nothing for my labour-that I have never yet solicited any one to ask subscriptions for me-that being a poor man with a large family I feel obliged to those who patronize my work; but that in taking my books, if your lordship thinks you are not likely to get ' value received' for your money, you will oblige me by returning them, addressed to myself, by some safe and unexpensive conveyance. I print only 300 copies.* "MY DEAR SIR, &c. &c. FROM EDWARD SWINBURNE, Esq. Linden, April 28th, 1825. "Mr. Bigge is going to Newcastle on Friday, which will afford me an opportunity (if I do not go with him) of sending you the sketch of the Mote Hill, also the vignette near Woodburn. Shafto Craig's *The following memorandum in Hodgson's Note-book (Y 143,) accounts for the above letter:-"Mr. Murcott, Mr. Walker's agent's report of Lord Redesdale's answer written on Mr. Walker's bill: His lordship says he did not order these books |