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VOL. XCVII. PART I.

Embellished with a Perspective View of BERKSWELL CHURCH, in Warwickshire.

Mr. URBAN,

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Birmingham, May 27. To the numerous Views of Churches given in the Gentleman's Magazine, permit me to add that of Berkswell, a village in the Hundred of Hemlingford, in the county of Warwick. The drawing (see Plate) is from a sketch, taken in 1824, and includes a representation of the base and remaining part of the shaft of a stone cross in the south-eastern quarter of the Churchyard.

This Church is an antient structure, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, with a low tower of great strength. In the chancel, which exhibits the Saxon style of Architecture, are several handsome monuments of the Wilmot family. Among them is one to the memory of the late Right Hon. Sir John Eardley Wilmot, Knt. Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, who, after many years retirement_from the Bench, died on the 5th of Feb. 1792, in the 83d year of his age, and was buried there.

"Wilmot, whom loud ambition's voice in

vain

To glory call'd, and to the ear of Kings; Who spurn'd the pride of pomp, and Fortune's train, [brings." And sought the peace which Virtue only' The parish of Berkswell. lies about six miles west by north of the city of Coventry, at a short distance south of Meriden on the London road. It contains a handsome mansion, north of the Church, called Berkswell Hall, rebuilt about 10 years since by the present possessor, Sir John Eardley Eardley Wilmot, Bart. who resides there. The parsonage-house, adjoining to the Church-yard on the south, is occupied

See an account and character of Sir J. E. Wilmot, in vol. xci. p. 187; also farther memoirs of him in vol. LXXIII. p. 151; and vol. LXXXI. i. p. 449.

* Vide Michell's "Farewell to Wickham," printed in Memoirs of the Life of this eminent Judge, by the late John Wilmot, esq. his son, a second edition of which, with a good portrait of him prefixed, was published in 1811.

GENT. MAG. Suppl. XCVII. PART I.
A

by the Rev. Thomas Cattell, the present incumbent.

The best published account of this Church and parish may be found in Dr. Thomas's edition of "Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire." I am not at present in possession of materials `or information sufficient to enable me to give such additional particulars as I could wish to communicate respecting them.

The inscriptions on the Wilmot monuments are copied below. The first two have been before printed, but I conceive they are not on that account the less in place here."

GEORGE YATES.

Yours, &c. Monumental Inscriptions in the Chancel of Berkswell Church.

On the north side ::

“In a vault under the Church lie the

bodies of Sir John Eardley Wilmot, knt. and Dame Sarah his wife, daughter of Thomas Revett, of Derby, esq. He was the second son of Robert Wilmot, of Osmaston in the county of Derby, esq. by Ursula his wife, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir Samuel Marow, of this parish, bart. and Dame Mary his wife, only daughter and heir of Sir Arthur Cayley, of Newland, in the county of the city of Coventry, knt. He was educated at Litchfield and Westminster schools, and at Trinity Hall in the University of Cambridge: from thence he removed to the Inner Temple, and being called to the bar, practised as a barrister about 23 years. Upon the 11th day of Feb. 1755, he was appointed one of his Majesty's Justices of the Court of King's Bench; upon the 19th day of November, 1756, one of the Commissioners for the Custody of the Great Seal; and upon the 20th day of August, 1766, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas which office he resigned upon the 24th day of January, 1771. He had issue three sons, Robert, who died a bachelor in the East Indies; John, who married Fanny, only daughter and heir of Samuel Sainthill, esq. and Eardley; and two daughters, Mary Marow, married to the Right Hon. Lord Eardley, of Belvidere in the county of Kent; and Elizabeth, married to Thomas Blomefield, esq. Major in the Royal Artillery. Dame Sarah departed this life on the 27th of July, 1772, in the 51st of her and Sir John Eardley Wilz age; year

mot, on the 5th of Feb. 1792, in the 83d year of his age."

On a beautiful monument, by Ba

con, against the south wall: "Sacred to the memory of Mary Marow, wife of the Right Hon. Lord Eardley, and eldest daughter of Sir John Eardley Wilmot, knt. Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Her conduct in all the various relations of life was so eminently distinguished, that Providence seemed to have raised her up as an example to the age in which she lived, that rank and fortune may he enjoyed with the purest innocency of life, and the unremitting exercise of every Christian virtue. She died universally lamented, 1st March, 1794, aged 48; and lies here interred. This memorial of affection and of sorrow is erected by her surviving husband."

Against the south wall:

"To the memory of the Hon. William Eardley, second son of the Right Hon. Lord Eardley, who died in London on the 17th of Sept. 1805, aged thirty, and is buried in a vault adjoining. This tablet is erected by a most affectionate father, in testimony of his profound grief at the loss of a son whose gentle manners, amiable temper, and unsullied integrity, had most deservedly endeared him to his family and to his friends."

On a monument by Richard Westmacott, against the south wall:

"Sacred to the memory of John Eardley Wilmot, esq. (second son of the Right Hon. Sir John Eardley Wilmot, knt.) Master in Chancery, Member of Parliament, Commissioner for granting relief to the American Loyalists and to the French Refugees. He died June 23, 1815, aged 66 years.

"He was a father to the poor, and the cause which he knew not, he searched out:

"The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow's heart to sing with joy."—JOB. ch.29. On a beautiful monument against the north wall:

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"Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth Emma, wife of John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, esq. of Berkswell Hall, in this parish, and daughter of C. H. Parry, M. D. of the city of Bath. On the 12th of March, 1818, she gave birth to a son and a daughter, and on the 22d of the same month, aged 29, eaving her husband and eight children to deplore her untimely loss, her blessed spirit

of

was summoned to the tribunal of her Almighty Father, in the well-grounded hope being received, through the merits of her Redeemer, into the mansions of eternal life, and of endless happiness and glory."

See Memoirs of Mr. Wilmot, in vol. LXXXV. ii. p. 83.

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Ended or obscure, deserves

VERY endeavour to elucidate what

liberal consideration with the public, and I feel, that the diffidence and research displayed by Mr. Miles in p. 406, in his Letter on the Etymology of Stonehenge, reflect on him equal credit. I am sure, however, he will pardon me for saying, that I cannot accede to the correctness of his derivation of that well-known, and, as it ap‐ pears to me, most appropriate appella tion. It is by no means certain, although not improbable, that its British appellation was Choir Gaur, but I am unable at present to say to what period the existence of that appellation can be accurately traced.

Stukeley, in his work on Stonehenge,

says,

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"Dr. Stukeley judges, that Choir Gaur imports as much as the Great Church or foundation for his opinion than the general Grand Choir, but has given us no other design for such works. That versed Antiquarian, however happy in all his conjectures, has not erred from the mark in this respect. It does indeed include that idea, and not only that, but the notion of every other purpose, for which we have now imsgined it intended. 19 Choir, in the Hebrew tongue, is the Concha marina, or comprehends the idea of Circle within Circe, Round Double Sea-Shell, which very exactly and is thence used to signify any lofty pile of building raised in that form; suggestus aliquis fastigiatus instar Concha exædificatus. Gaur is a gathering together of the proper signification of 71 71 Choir the people, Collectio, Congregatio. So that Gaur, is the Circular High Place of the Assembly or Congregation."

Choir Gaur (thus rationally interpreted) has been ludicrously twisted by the monkish writers into Chorea Gigan tum, but, if either Stonehenge or Abury possesses a real claim to the above appellation, I should appropriate it to the former, since, on reference again to the work of Cooke, he gives

* Marius de Catashio ad hoc verbum.

a distinct appellation to Abury, by deriving the name itself from 2 ABIRI, Potentes, thus allusive to the Deities whose Temple it might be presumed to be.

The earliest author, who is, I believe, authentically proved to mention Stonehenge, is Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote about the year 1148, and, in illustration of its appellation, I beg leave to quote his words; they are very interesting, and highly appropriate to the purpose of the present letter:

"Quatuor autem sunt, quæ mira videntur in Anglia." "Secundum est apud Stanenges, ubi lapides miræ magnitudinis in modum portarum elevati sunt, ita ut portæ portis superposite videantur: nec potest aliquis excogitare, quà arte tanti lapides adeò in altum elevati sunt, vel quare ibi constructi sunt."

The letter of Mr. M. displays great research and ingenuity; but, as ety mologists, we must not suffer ourselves to be led away by similarity of sound, even if united with coincidence of circumstances; it was this which induced the facetious Monks tortuously to say, that Choir Gaur was Chorea Gigan

tum.

It has been this similarity of sound, which may, I think, unsuspectingly have led Mr. M. to the adoption of an erroneous derivation. It is very true, that Minerva was known to the Lacedemonians by the appellation of Onga; but by the inscriptions of altars discovered at Bath it appears clearly she was worshipped amongst the Britons under the name of Sul, or, as I am more strongly inclined to think, of Sulis. I am also of opinion, that Stonehenge was a Temple dedicated to Belenus, or Apollo, as Sol, and such was, as I suspect, the general appropriation of circular stone Temples throughout the world; but I am greatly in doubt, whether Stonehenge and similar stone structures were Temples of the Druids, nor do I concede that they immolated human victims. If, however, we admit (what is decidedly, think, not so) that Minerva was worshipped in this country under the appellation of Onga, yet I could not for a moment give my assent to unseat the Saxons in their peculiar and appropriate appellative-Stonehenge. The greater part of the names of our towns and villages are distinctly traceable to their languages; and is it not rational to suppose they would give some designation to so remarkable a structure?

What then could be more appropriate than Ston-henge or the hanging stones, obviously and simply allusive to the pensile situation of the imposts, which lie on the uprights, or jambs, of the trilithons, and of the outer circle of stones, thus eminently descriptive of the mode of construction, and clearly implicative of nothing" disgraceful" either in its use or allusion.

Yours, &c. EDWARD DUKE.

Mr. URBAN, Evesham, May 4.
YOUR correspondent QUÆRENS, p.

8, supposes that the famous eclipse, which is said by Herodotus to have put an end to the war between the Medes and the Lydians, took place in the year B. C. 625; and A. Z. at p. 208, says, that "Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Ferguson have, by calcula tions, found that the eclipse your Correspondent mentions, took place B.C. 585; not as Volney asserts, B.C. 625. I confess, however, that there may be some question about this, for Larcher places it B. C. 597."

It is very little trouble to compute, that a great solar eclipse happened in each of the above years; and this, perhaps, was all that Volney or Larcher thought requisite; but, if the account of the historian be at all to be depended upon, five minutes more labour would have been sufficient to have convinced either of them of their error; for by merely computing what is technically called the moon's mean anomaly, it may be seen that neither the eclipsewhich Volney, nor that which Larcher supposed to have been the one in question, was total in any part of the earth's surface.

But supposing the eclipse not to have been total, as it is described to have been, Volney and your correspondent Quærens can by no possibility be right; for the eclipse, which they suppose to have been the one in question, was invisible in that part of the world where the event took place. I

find, by calculation, that the conjunction of the sun and moon happened, with respect to Greenwich, on July 19, at about 54 minutes after one o'clock in the morning.

I am not quite certain whether Lar cher's eclipse was visible, or not, at the place where the event happened; not knowing exactly the situation of it. The conjunction took place on July 9, at about five o'clock in the morning, apparent time at Greenwich. But this

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William Fermor, James Fermor, Richard Fermor, Barbara, Henrietta, and Louist,

esq.

Mr. URBAN,

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March 9. As S addenda to the Topography of Somerton, co. Oxon, I beg leave to communicate the following

Church notes from the Harleian MSS. 6365.

On the South wall of the Chapel, a great monument of smooth stone, with two pillars of black marble; upon it the proportion of a man with his gauntlets at his feet lying along, to the memory of Sir Richard, son of Thomas Fermor. Over him this inscription (which is now, as stated in p. 116, obliterated):

Quis jaceam hic quæris? jaceo hic sub marmore pulvis,

Olim Richardus nomine Fermor eram.

all died cœlibes.

Pars cinis in cineres redeo,pars æthera scande, Hoc moriens ut agas tu tibi vivus age. Arms: on one side Fermor quarter. ing Bradshaw; impaling quarterly per fess indented Ermine and Azure. On the other side Fermor and Bradshaw, impaling Cornwallis and Neville.

On the North side of this Chapel, a great raised monument of smooth stone; thereon the proportion of a man lying

on his side. Over him these verses: Sistere ne pigeat gressum, festine viator,

Fermor eram. Johannes nomine, prima par Quis fuerimque oculis accipe, mente sana; [ands;

rentum

do

Proles, Fermoriæ spes quoque prima Florebam juvenis, vernabant sanguine gene, Atque recens ductâ conjuge lætus eram.

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[erit. Sors mea quæ nunc est, mox tua forsan Over this, Fermor and Bradshaw ; impaling Compton.

Over the south door of this Chapel: Jacobus Smith et Elizabetha uxor hic jacent sepulti.

Transiens, specta monumenta sortis
Ultima stamus; reputa sepultos,
Et memor nostri pia funde cœlo
Vota precesque.
Viximus quondam thalami jugalis
Lege divincti, domus una vivis
Et fuit, sic jam tumulo jacentes

Yours, &c.

Condimur uno.
HENRY GWYN.

May 2.

Mr. URBAN, WAS not a little surprised at the observations of your correspondent C. W. in your Minor Correspondence, on the subject of the improvements in St. James's Park, recommended in my communication of the 5th of Feb. The charge of wishing to encroach upon the public comforts and convenience, cannot with any justice or propriety be produced against me, as the various notices which you have been so kind as to insert during the past twelvemonth, respecting Westminster, must, satisfactorily to every impartial reader, prove to the contrary: more particularly that one which exposed the absurd destruction of the park recommended by T. A. in a previous communication. It would have been advisable had C. W. possessed a little of the enquiring spirit of the Ex-Chancellor, to have read the article attentively, ere he took up the pen to record judgment against me. He would then have spared me the trouble of noticing his negligence and consequent incompetency; and himself the pain of being convicted of unjustly condemning. So far from desiring the demolition of the beautiful grove of trees in Birdcage walk, and wishing to make a carriage way of the remainder of the park (a gross stretch and an evident absurdity completely falsified by my observations

respecting a new arrangement and dis
tribution of the grounds), I distinctly
stated in that communication which
C. W. complains of, that "it will be
ecution, to form a road running parallel
necessary, when this plan is put in ex-
with the park, which should be the
only carriage-way to the new houses
"no vehicles whatever being permitted
within the park gates." To remark
further upon an attack, the injustice
of which must be acknowledged by
every one who carefully considers the
plan for the improvements of the park
only be a waste of the time of your
suggested in my communication, would
readers; I shall therefore subscribe
myself

Mr. URBAN,

C.

June 10.

AS I frequently suffer, with other

sedentary Correspondents, the severity of the cramp in my legs (the same as the German krampse), I am desirous of knowing from those who sympathise with me, not so much medical, as rather any practical remedies; for this thief of quiet repose comes so burglariously upon me in the night, and never dares to intrude during the day, that I find no means of being prepared for him, and therefore am most anxious of shutting him out. After a day's activity in exercise, and after many hours occupied in study, after digesting a problem in Euclid, or striving to draw a just conclusion from Leibnitz, or when tracing with Newton, Faber, and Cooper the close and commencement of the seven vials, or after a rapid debate on the grand question of the benefits or expediency of the diffusion of knowledge, or keeping it like misers to ourselves before the seventh vial effuses, I am free to confess that a night's entire rest both for mind and body are as essential for human comfort, as the settling of any mystery in the various doctrines of faith can be needful for the soul. Now, as I have for a long time past been much in the habit of experiencing this invasion of my tranquillity, and of being made to start from my silent pillow, and to cry out for repose when I couceived my limbs to be in full possession of it, and even to be dragged by this demon to break forth from my bed and hobble about the room, unable to set my legs to the ground, and subject to all the grinning

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