and spent an hour in the utmost conviviality, a brass plate was affixt to the building on which appears handsomely engraved, "This social seat was erected and dedicated to the purpose of celebrating the blessed event of his Majesty's recovery. March, 1789. JOHN BOLES WATSON." J. G.

1800.-MOTTOES UPON GLOUCESTERSHIRE SUNDIALS. (See No. 1772.) The following may interest B. E. S. and other of your readers. The Latin verses and English free translation are both by a Gloucestershire man (the late W. H. Hyett), and are inscribed on a sundial in front of Painswick House :

"Horas non numero, nisi, Phoebo instante, serenas;

Mi solis vati vox sine sole tacet."

"The hours, unless the hours are bright,

It is not mine to mark;

I am the prophet of the light,

Dumb when the sun is dark."

The former is an amplification of the line "Horas non numero nisi serenas," which is inscribed on a sundial at a villa on the banks of the Brenta.

F. A. H.

A short extract from a letter of Bishop Pococke, dated "Gloucester, May 25th, 1757," and printed in his Travels through England (Camden Society, 1889), vol. ii., p. 271, will not here be out of place:

We came to Painswick, a market town prettily situated and on the side of the hill, and esteem'd an exceeding good air; just above it Mr Hyatt built an house of hewn stone, in a fine situation, and made a very pretty garden; before it is a court with statues and sphynxes, and beyond that a lawn for the grand entrance; the garden is on an hanging ground from the house in the vale, and on a rising ground on the other side and at the end: all are cut into walks through wood and adorn'd with water and buildings, and in one part is the kitchen garden. EDITOR.

1801.-EXTRACTS FROM STAR CHAMBER PROCEEDINGS, HENRY VIII. The following particulars, taken from the abovenamed documents in the Public Record Office, will, no doubt, prove interesting to many readers. D. J.

i.

Bundle 17, No. 259.

[Fragment only, the top of the bill having been greatly damaged. The document relates to the good order and governance of the monastery of Kingswood, and the interposition in that matter of the abbots of Forde and Tintern. Sir Robert Poyntz, Knt., was steward of certain lands near the said monastery, and seems to have delegated his authority to his brother Thomas, who, in the absence

of Sir Robert, was commissioned to go to Kingswood, as to all other places thereabouts where Sir Robert was steward, and to see and advise for the good of the monastery.]

and the said Thomas was minded to go to the sd Monastery and lordship of Kyngewood in the morning following, that is to say, on St Marks Day, to masse, and to have spoken to the said Abbotts of fforde, Tynterne, & Kyngeswood, but in the same morning he had knowledge that the said thre Abbotts the day before were goon to Thornbury to the Duke of Bukk, and that they wolde be at Kyngeswood ageyne by noon of the said St Marks day. Wherefore the said Thomas taried till he had dyned, and about two of the Clokke the same day he went to the said Monastery, with vi of his houshold S'unts with him in peasible manner, w'oute weapons other than they daily use to were, that is to say, their Woodknyffs, and came to the said Monastery though the Churche, whiche is the comon wey to the same Monasterye, toward the lodging where the said Abbotts of fforde and Tynterne were, and as he was thider going he mette with the Abbot of Kyngeswood comynge from the other Abbotts, sore weping and lamentyng, soo that he coude scarcely speke unto hym. Wherupon the said Thomas went and passed furth into the ffermerye wt hym, and asked wherfor he was in such caas, and then he shewed unto the said Thomas the man' how he had bene intreated by the said Abbotts of fforde and Tynterne as well at the monasterye of Tynterne as at Kyngeswood. Were to m'vaillous and very long to reherce, and it concerneth not any thing s'mysed against the said Thomas; the specialitie the sd Thomas wil be contented to shewe to your grace. ... And as they stude talking Thomas Matson came unto them, and then the said Abbott of Kyngeswood shewed unto the said Thomas and Thomas how the Abbott of fforde had shewed hym that he had the kyngs special commaundement in writing to depose hym of his Abbey, and they, the said Thomas and Thomas, asked him whether he had seen that commaundement. And he said that the said Abbot of fforde did rede it unto hym, but he wold not suffre hym to see nor touche it, but he said it had a greate Seale thereat. And as they were so talking they had knowledge and herde say that the said Abbotts of fforde and Tynterne were going furth of their lodging toward the Chapiter house. And then the said Thomas and Thomas went unto them to the said Chapiter hous dore to speke wt theym, and when they came to theym desired the said Abbotts to speke wt theim, and the said Abbotts prayed theim to come into the Chapiter house unto theym. And then the said Thomas and Thomas shewed the said Abbotts that they were enformed, and also p'ceyued that they intended to depose the Abbott of Kyngeswood, saying that the said Abbott had bene and was a continent man of lyving, and a beneficiall and prouffitable to his hous, and welbeloved wt all the good and sadde men dwelling wt in fyve myles of the said Monasterye to their knowledge, and hertely

desired theym that if any Informacōn of any of his mysdemeanors had bene made unto theym, that they wold substantially and discretely examyne the same, and if they wold disclose the same unto the said Thomas and Thomas, they wold therin, as farre as they knewe, shewe unto theym the trouthe. And if they wold geue no credence unto theim, that they wold call unto theym of the best and moost substanciall and honest p'sonnes thereabouts inhabiting, and to examynge theym therin before they deposed hym. Whereunto the said Abbotts made answere and saied, that they had causes sufficient to depose hym, whiche were not for the said Thomas and Thomas to knowe, and then the said Thomas Poyntz shewed theym that he was enformed that the Abbot of fforde had the Kyngs especiall commandement in writing to depose the said Abbott of Kyngeswood, which commandement the said Abbott had shewed and redde to the said Abbott of Kyngewood at Tynterne, and desired hym that he might see the said commandement. And the said Abbott of fforde saide that he had noo thing to doo therew1, and asked hym to what entent he wold see it. And the said Thomas Poyntz said that he was the Kyngs s'unte, and sworne to his grace, and wold be gladde and redye, and also was bounden, to assiste and further the said Abbot of fforde in all things that he knewe to bee done by the Kyngs high commandement or pleas'r. And then the said Abbott of fforde saied that he spake like a sadde, gentilman, and that he shulde see the Kyngs commandement, and went to his lodging, and sette the same to shewe it to the said Thomas, and came ageyne, and brought the Kyngs placard of a general assistance in whatso'eur place wt in this his realm that the said Abbot of fforde shulde visit on this side Trent, being date the third yere of the kings mooste noble reigne, and shewed it. And notwithstanding that the said Thomas and Thomas p'ceyving that therin was noo commandement to depose the said Abbott, the said Thomas Poyntz made answer to the said Abbott of fforde that he wold, if any nede shuld require, according to the said Commandement lawfully to his power assiste hym, and that noo man shuld medell wt theym, nor interrupt theym, if he might lett it in any thing conc'nyng their visitation there. And then the said Thomas and Thomas made instaunce unto the said Abbotts of fforde and Tynterne for a reasonable pencōn for the said Abbott of Kyngeswood to be opteyned, to whome they at that tyme saied that at the request of the said Thomas and Thomas they were content the said Abbot of Kyngeswood shuld have yerely xiili of pencōn during his naturall life, and then the Abbotts desired the said Thomas and Thomas to take a cuppe of wyne wt theym in the Abbott of ffordes lodging, which soo did, and went thider all to geders, and dranke w theym. And then the said Abbotts of fforde and Tynterne desired the said Thomas Matson to make a draught of the said pencōn in papir, and they woud see it. And then it shuld be ingrossed in p'chment, and sealled wt the Conuent seal, which the said Thomas Matson said he

wold bee gladde the same to doo. And therupon all they togeders came ageyne to the Chapiter hous dore, and there the said Thomas and Thomas toke their leve of the said Abbotts, and toke theym by thauds, and soo dep'ted in good man wt oute any grudge or displeas to their knowledge, and the said Abbotts went into the Chapiter house, and the said Thomas and Thomas went into the Churche, and said their devocions there. And then hadde communycacōn for the suretie of the said pencōn, and wt in half a quarter of an houre the said Abbott of Tynterne came into the Churche unto theym, and shewed theym that there were certeyne p'sonnes in the Cloyster which hadd nothinge to doo there, and desired the said Thomas and Thomas to auoyde theym oute of the said Cloister, and Incontinently the said Thomas Poyntz went wt the said Abbott of Tynterne into the said Cloyster, where wer by his Estimacōn the number of xxti p'sonnes of the tenaunts and dwellers therabouts, and avoyded ev'ry man there, saving the S'unts of the said Abbotts of fforde and Tynterne. And that done in loving man, badde the said Abbotts farewell, and so in peasible man' dep'ted from thens, and went their own wey. Without that

that Thomas commanded or willed any nombre of p'sonnes, or any other p'son than his owne s'vants as before rehersed, saving onely the Vicar of Wotton, which is a bachelor of divinetye, and desired him to have bene present. Prays that the bill be dismissed.

(To be continued.)

1802.—AN Interesting Letter of BishoP FRAMPTON, DEC. 24, 1689. From the Rev. Wm. Dunn Macray's calendar of the Manuscripts of the Duke of Leeds (Historical Manuscripts Commission, Eleventh Report, appendix, pt. vii., pp. 33, 34) it appears that there is amongst them a transcript of a letter from Robert Frampton, D.D., Bishop of Gloucester, referring to the early days of the Nonjurors, and "so honourable to the writer, that, although long, I cannot but copy it in full." Mention of the letter has been made in the anonymous contemporary Life of Bishop Frampton, published by the Rev. T. Simpson Evans (London, 1876), p. 202, as having been written "to a great man that should have had more power then he had." M. C. B.

My good Lord,

By my suspension, which is almost expired, and by my deprivation, which is hard at hand, you see that the water is come up unto my lips, and that, as wee use to say on publishing the banns of matrimony, I must now speake or else hereafter for ever hold my peace.

Not that I have much to speake, nor anything at all in order to mine own indemnity. For who am I that I alone should escape, or hope to escape? And on that silly hope goe about progging for my single deliverance, when as so many better men than I are under the same condemnation, and, without some timely and friendly

interposall, are likely to fall together. Who, tho' they are but few in respect to the whole English clergy, yet, if I may speake it without offence, are too many to be thrown away all at once, considering their inoffensiveness in all cases (but this alone), their great parts and their as great virtues, what they have done already for the good of the Church and State, and what they are further able and certain to do, if God spare their lives, and the Law be not so extreme as to dash them all in pieces like a potter's vessel.

It will therefore be no grief of heart to you, my good Lord, nor to any else, I hope, that are of your high station, if you, with the assistance of your friends, should move their Majesties and both the Houses that those good men may be at all at ease, yea confident I am (because I know your generous temper) that it will be the joy of your heart that you have been the first mover in it, tho' it should not succeed; how much more if, by God's blessing (which is all in all), you should come to accomplish it.

Or if the Law, under which they are for not swearing, he so extreme, that it must have some atonement made, and the honour of the legislators cannot be salved otherwise, be pleased to endeavour that those atonements may be as few as possible : provided that I may be one of those few; and happy, thrice happy, shall I deeme myself if my single suffering, be it what it will (undoing, banishment, imprisonment, or death itselfe), may be accepted for all the rest, at leest for those that are of mine own order.

Not that I am so foolhardy as causelessly to engrosse the displeasure of my superiours, and draw it wholly on myselfe; for I know the weight of it. I am sure it will crush me, and therefore, if I could, would most certainly avoid it. Neither do I arrogate anything to myselfe upon this offer, as if it were my peculiar; for there is none (as I am persuaded) of all those for whom I plead but would leap into the gulph, for the safety of all the rest, as boldly and as willingly as I doe. I only hope that I have prevented them, and am the earlyest to offer it.

Now, if you would know my reason for all this, St. Paul will give it; for one good man-soe he (for the number is singular), and I add for many; for soe many, and for soe many very good men (as I take them to be)-some one would even dare to dye; and that some one am Í; for besides that the action is a good one, I have the farther inducement for it, that when I fall, it will be without the hurt, the losse, and the grief, of any, at most of but very few, whereas they cannot fall without the hurt, the losse, and the griefe, of very many.

In all governments whatsoever, especially in newly erected ones (which therefore ought to aim at popularity, and for the most part doe so), those punishments are the least offensive which are the least severe; and those favours the most taking which are the most free and generous; for why should I not speake of some favour to