Mr. URBAN, May 1. Hiately published by Mr. Archdeacon Churton, I beg your acceptance of an AVING been much instructed by the excellent Life of Dean Nowell, engraving of his Monument (copied from Dugdale's plate in his History of St. Paul's), [See Plate II.] as an accompaniment to your satisfactory Review of that Work in your vol. LXXIX. p. 948. The following is a copy of the la scription: "Quam speciosa Vestigia Exul quæ amisit prinævo flore Nowellus, Præco, Auctor, Condus, Christo, colit, ampliat, ornat Sedit B. R. P. et Ecclesiæ P. M. 42. Nonagenarius, cum Obiit Anno Dom. 1601. Feb. 13. "Alexandro Nowello, Lancastriensi, prisca Nowellorum gente oriundo, Theologie Doctori, Edis S. Pauli Decano, ad exemplum hospitalí, Rob. Nowelli, cujus hic cum suis miscentur cineres, fratri, & opum quæ sibi jure Testamentario cesserunt, diribitori pientissimo. Marianis temporib. propter Christum exulanti: Reducum i veræ Religionis, contra Anglo-papistas duobus Libris assertori, primæ et ultimæ quadrigesimalis Concionis per annos XXX. P. M. continuos ad S. Elizabetham, summâ libertate Præconi, Scholæ Middletonian patrono Collegii Ænæi nasi Oxonii, ubi ab anno ætatis XIII. studiit XIII. studiosis, et CC libris annuis opera et impensis suis ampliati. Præsidi Scholæ Paulina plurimorum bonorum auctori: pietatis frequentissimis concionib. et triplici Catechismo propagatori: qui publicum in se utriusq. Academiæ & Ecclesiarum exterarum testimonium, atq. æternorum principum Edwardi VI. & Elizabethæ judicium procerumq. provocavit : Pauperum (literatorum præcipue) nutratori; Afflictorum morbis corporis vel animi consolatori: Hoc Sepulchrum, ob munificentiam & merita erga Remp. et optimum statum Ecclesiæ suæ ab eo pervigili administratæ redditum, Exec. O. D. S. M. Posuit." Mr. Churton, p. 366, has the following remarks: "In the monumental Inscription, "Sedit. B. R." &c. is, I presume, to be read, Sedit bono reipublicæ et ecclesiæ annos (omitted by the marble cutter, or by the engraver), plus minus 42. Nonagenarius obiit. On which last expression it has already been remarked, that “anno ætatis suæ 95," as it is on the picture, more probably, gives bis real age." Reducum i" This seems to be at once the error and correction, and ought probably, to have been, "Reduci."" Collegii Aenei Nasi.... Præsidi." Had the Author of this Epitaph been a member of Brasen Nose College, he would rather have used the statutable title, “Principali." "Ad serenissimam Elizabetham." Qui publicum," &c. If, as one would be tempted to think, some * public testimony of the two Univerities" and of certain 66 foreign GENT. MAG. May 1811. Churches" (conveyed, suppose in let ters of thanks for his Catechisms, or other works,) is here alluded to, the particular facts have escaped our search." Edward VI.” it is believed, expressed his sense of his merits in the terms of the licence which he was pleased to grant him to be a preacher, and in the presentation to a stall in Westminster Abbey: and Queen “ Elizabeth," in the various preferments which she bestowed upon him, and particularly in the reversionary grant of a Canonry of Windsor, and in the memorable licence of non-residence, 66 Procerumque judicium :" for that, I apprehend, is the true order of the words; or, if not, “judicium” is to be understood as if it was repeated after "procerum," though here again we are at a loss for the particular act or instance of their approbation, unless we could rely on the truth of what some have asserted, that the "Par IT B. N. T is now nearly twelve months since a letter appeared in the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine, (for July 1810, p. 618.) from a candid and intelligent writer, objecting to the authenticity of a passage in the Tournament of Rowley: It is nearly the same length of time since you did me the favour of publishing my answer to his objections. I have expected, month after month, that your Correspondent would have done me the honour to acknowledge that my answer was not only explicit, but satisfactory. In this, I am sorry to say, I have been hitherto disappointed, unless I may presume that silence is an admission to that effect. I have lately looked into that valuable work "Mr. Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language;" and I find in the List of Authors quoted by him, the following, characterised in this unqualified manner. "Chatterton's Poems, (published as Rowley's,) 8vo. London, 1777.” After a diligent search, I have not been able to discover a single quotation from that book; notwithstanding it would have afforded many happy illustrations of obscure Scottish phrases. I presume, that Mr. Jamieson, either convinced in his own mind, or depending upon the generally received opinion of the forgery, totally declined the use of the Poems. I, who have ventured in "The Introduction to an Examination of the Internal Evidence respecting the Antiquity of Rowley's Poems," to stem the tide of public opinion, and who believe myself able to prove in the most, satisfactory manner that it was impossible for Chat. terton to have written the Poems attributed to Rowley, and that every ar gument hitherto offered in objection to their antiquity is fallacious, may be permitted to notice one or two of the passages in Mr. Jamieson's Dictionary, which might have given its Author a fair opportunity of shewing that those Poems are well entitled to the confi dence of every one who is interested in the study, not only of the old English Language, but of old English or British customs. Mr. Jamieson has favoured us with an excellent disquisition on the word Beltane; part of which shall, with your permission, be quoted, as an article worthy of appearing in the Geutleman's Magazine. "BELTANE, BELTEIN, s. The name of a sort of Festival observed on the first day of May, O. S.; hence used to denote the term of Whitsunday. "At Beltane, quhen ilk bodie bownis To heir the singin and the soundis, Be firth and forrest furth they found; Peblis to the Play, St. I. It "On the first of May, O. S. a Festival called Beltan is annually held here. is chiefly celebrated by the Cow-berds, dress a dinner for themselves, of boiled who assemble by scores in the fields, to milk and eggs. These dishes they eat with a sort of cakes baked for the occasion, and having small lumps in the form of nipples, raised all over the surface. The cake might, perhaps, be an offering to some Deity in the days of Druidism." P. Logierait, Perths. Statist. Acc. v. 84. "A town in Perthshire, on the borders of the High-lands, is called Tillie, (or Tullie) Beltane, i. e. the eminence, or rising ground, of the fire of Baal. In the neighbourhood is a Druidical Temple of eight upright stones, where it is supposed the fire was kindled. At some distance from this, is another Temple of the same kind, but smaller, and near it a well still held in great veneration. On Beltane morn ing, superstitious people go to this well, and drink of it; then they make a procession round it, as I am informed, nine times; after this they in like manner go round the Temple. So deep-rooted is this heathenish superstition in the minds of many who recwill not neglect these rites, even when kon themselves good Protestants, that they Beltane falls on Sabbath. "The custom still remains (in the West of Scotland) amongst the Herds and young people to kindle fires in the high grounds, in honour of Beltan. Beltan, which in Gaelic signifies Baal or Bels-fire, was anciently the time of this solemnity. It is now kept on St. Peter's Day. P. Loudoun, Statist. Acc. iii. 105. "But the most particular and distinct narration of the superstitious rites observ ed at this period, which I have met with, is in the Statist, Acc. of the P. of Callander, Perths. "The people of this district have two customs, which are fast wearing out, not only here, but all over the High-lands, and and therefore ought to be taken notice of, while they remain. Upon the first day of May, which is called Beltan, or Bel-teinday, all the boys in a township or bamlet, meet in the Moors. They cut a table in the green sod, of a round figure, by casting a trench in the ground, of such circumference as to hold the whole company. They kindle a fire, and dress a repast of eggs and milk in the consistence of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted at the embers against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide the cake into so many portions, as similar to one another as possible in size and shape, as there are persons in the Company. They daub one of these portions all over with charcoal, till it be perfectly black. He who holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever draws the black bit is the devoted person who is to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore, in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little doubt of these inbuman sacrifices having been once offered in this country, as well as in the East, although they now pass from the act of sacrificing, and only compel the devoted person to leap three times through the flames; with which the ceremonies of this Festival are closed. "It would appear that some peculiar sanctity was also ascribed to the 8th of May, from the old Scottish Proverb, You have skill of man and beast, you were born between the Beltans,' i. e. the first and 8th of May.' "Although the name of Bellein is unknown in Sweden, yet on the last day of April, i. e. the evening preceding our Beltein, the country people light great fires on the hills, and spend the night in shooting," (qu. making much noise?) "The first of May is also observed." The whole of this curious Article extends to several quarto pages, to which Mr. Urban's Readers are referred. Mr. J. might on this occasion have quoted the following lines from the second Battle of Hastings, where mention is made of Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge: "Here did the Brutons adoration paye Dightynge hys altarre with greete fyres in Roastynge theyr vyctualle round aboute the flame." This is a pointed allusion to the ceremonies of Bellein, which it would be gross absurdity to believe that a boy of thirteen or fourteen years of age would have been likely to have introduced in so casual and incidental a manner. It can hardly be with propriety ascribed to the pen of any forger; although it must be admitted as a very natural allusion for Turgotus of the eleventh, or Rowley, in the 15th Century. This passage is more worthy of notice, because Mr. Tyrwhitt, who was a stranger to the ceremonies of Beltane, proposed, instead of vyctúalle to read vyctymes; and I know a good Critick, a believer in the antiquity of the Poems, who was so well satisfied with the amendment as to express himself thus: "Notwithstanding there are accessible sources for the name of Tauran, the false God of the Britons, it is difficult to give Chatterton credit for any thing more than the very probable school-boy error in transcribing vyctualle for vyctymes." But it ap pears, that Chatterton has here given us the exact word of his Author; as he has also done in the other Battle of Hastings, l. 304. "Herreward born on Sarim's spreaddyng p'aine, Where Thor's fam'd Temple many ages stoode ; Where Druids, auncient Preests, did ryghtes ordaine, And in the middle shed the victymes bloude." In one Poem, we find a correct al lusion to the dressing of victuals, as described in the ceremonies of Beltane; and, in the other, to the sacrifices, perhaps of human victims, by the Druids. In one of Mr. Jamieson's quotations we are told, that these great fires were lighted in Sweden, bota on the first, and on the 8th of May; in another, that the entire month of May, in the Irish language, is, on account of these Pagan ceremonies, to this day, called, mi, na Beal-tine. Hence the Poems with propriety, say, "dightynge hys altarre with greete fyres in Maie," viz. on the 1st, the 8th, or any part of that month, and not on any one particular day. Mr. J. gives us a quotation also from an ancient Glossary, which asserts that the Druids lighted two great fires every year;" and hence the farther pro priety of Rowley's mentioning fire in the plural number. The negligent manner in which Mr. Tyrwhitt edited the Poems, is, perhaps, in nothing more evident than in his |