PREFACE. THERE is, we think, among all people a natural feeling of respect for that which is gone before; or, in other words, a curiosity accompanied with reverence towards the records of the past, --something like the personal feeling in society which is occasioned by the presence of venerable age. The "Laudator temporis Acti," if he wanted a defence for his favourite and partial opinions, might find them in the general concurrence; and certainly, though they may, like those on other subjects, be carried into an undue indulgence, yet in principle they seem to rest on a solid foundation. The present is not so much the follower of the past, as its offspring; and who would not wish to know all that belongs to his ancestry, to the founders of his family, to his parental stem? But as those who live in the early periods of a nation's existence are not aware of the future curiosity of their posterity, nor of the obscurity that may hereafter envelope the most familiar usages, and even the most important events of their own time; so in consequence are they little careful either to record or to preserve that which to them needs no explanation, which possesses no peculiar value, and appears to be in no danger of being lost or obscured. Time however passes on, and behind its steps mist and obscurity are continually gathering. Some things are overlooked by negligence, some lost by misfortune, and even some destroyed by folly or malignity. Hence arises the immense labour necessary in acquiring those extensive stores of knowledge which can alone render the studies of the searcher into antiquity successful. On whatever branch of the general subject he may enter, he must possess a comprehensive erudition which brings all that belongs to the inquiry at once within the circle of sight,—a sagacity enabling him to supply by conjecture and analogy what has been entirely lost or is partially defective, and a delicate and discriminating power in balancing between different shades and degrees of evidence, and separating the probable from the true. To effect this to any extent, as in the whole range of national antiquities, lies beyond the PREFACE. powers of a single and unassisted person; the field of inquiry requires combined exertions, and diversified talent and experience. These reflections on a subject to which we have always given close attention, and on which, we hope, we have not laboured in vain, have been not unnaturally suggested by the formation within this past year of the British Archeological Association, an association that has arisen out of the best auspices-a general belief in its utility,—and which we think will be attended with the best results. Its numbers ensure such extensive connections, that its researches can be prosecuted every where, without difficulty or discouragement. We know of no event connected with our particular pursuits that has gratified us so much for many years; we hail its rise with pleasure, we contemplate its permanence and increase with confidence, and we hope that it may in time weaken the force, if it cannot destroy the entire power, of the poet's saying, Mors etiam saxis, nominibusque venit. S. URBAN. GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. BY SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT. CONTENTS. .... MINOR CORRESPONDENCE.-British Roads adopted by the Romans-Families THE FIRST-BORN, A DRAMA, by the Rev. W. Harness ... Description of Stafford Castle (with a Plate) New Church at East Grafton, Wilts (with a View) Restoration of the Church at Woodchurch, Cheshire.. The Ancient custom of a Lady taking her Chamber ... .... The Portraits of Versailles, No. IV.-Reigns of Louis XIII. and XIV.. On the Pottery termed Samian-Potters' stamps found in London...... Value of the Metonic Cycle-Date of the First Passover A Cavalier's Farewell to his Mistress-Rev. James Anderson Confessionals existing in English Churches..... Remarks on Collier's edition of Shakespeare, &c. .... Jesse's Scenes and Tales of Country Life, 49; Greenwood's Tree-Lifter, 53; Milnes's Palm Leaves, 55; Mrs. Bray's Courtenay of Walreddon, 57; Sandby's Mesmerism and its Opponents, 58; Miscellaneous Reviews LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. New Publications, 63; University of Oxford-University of Cambridge, 67; Royal Geographical Society-Royal Asiatic Society-Wiltshire Topo- graphical Society, 68; Numismatic Society, 69; Ethnological Society- .... FINE ARTS.-British Sculptors at Rome, 70; Sir R. K. Porter's Drawings HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.-Proceedings in Parliament, 79; Foreign Promotions and Preferments, 83; Births, 84; Marriages OBITUARY; with Memoirs of Earl of Bessborough; M. Laffitte ; Sir William Johnston, Bart.; Admiral Sir C. E. Nugent; Vice-Adm. Sir Jahleel Bren- ton; Lieut.-Gen. Sir T. Stubbs; Lieut.-Gen. Loveday; Major-Gen. W. H. Beckwith; Major-Gen. Sir O. Carey; Major-Gen. F. J. T. Johnstone; Lt. Col. W. G. White; Wadham Wyndham, Esq.; John Tomes, Esq.; J. N. Wigney, Esq. M.P.; Thomas Bowes, Esq.; John Herman Merivale, Esq.; J. S. Duncan, Esq. D.C.L.; John Grant Malcolmson, Esq. M.D. Mr. Sebastian Pether; Mr. Theodore Van Holst; Luigi Canonica; Dr. Embellished with Views of STAFFORD CASTLE and EAST GRAFTON CHURCH, Wilts 2 MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. J. P. requests permission to explain a passage in his letter, (June, p. 601,) upon the Roman Iters from London to Canterbury; upon which we made an edi. torial note. "I have said that the Romans had two roads into Kent, and that Cæsar marched on one of them on his way to the Thames; because, as I firmly believe, it was then a beaten road, which the Britons had long previously used as their ordinary way from the coast of Kent to the fordable part of the Thames, spoken of by Cæsar. That many of the roads in this island, that were adopted by the Romans, were originally British roads, I doubt not: even the Watling Street seems to have been such a road, improved by the Romans; if we may derive the name from GWADULU, meaning, in the language of the Britons, to render or make firm, solid, or sound; which is corroborated by Richard of Ci. rencester's writing it Via Guethelinga: and I have read that it was a pre-existing road repaired by the Romans." J. N. inquires for any particulars (beyond what appear in Bloomfield) of the family of "Seaman of Norwich," amongst whose members were Thomas Scaman, Sheriff of Norwich in 1679, and High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1688, and Sir Peter Seaman, Sheriff of Norwich in 1699, Mayor in 1707, and High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1710. He is desirous more particularly of ascertaining the date and origin of this family establishing themselves in Norfolk, and whether they were descended from the Cheshire family of Seaman, of whom there were members bearing precisely the same names. The Norfolk family were seated at Heigham, which was in the hundred of Humbleyard, till it was afterwards made part of the county and city of Norwich, as it now remains. E. B. P. presumes A. H. S. (p. 339) is aware that there was a family at Hever (Kent) of the name of Cheyné, or Cheyney, which intermarried with that of the Boleynes of Hever Castle and Rochford Hail, Essex. The latter estate devolved on the Tilney family in 1774. (Vide Benger's Life of Anne Boleyne.) A beautiful monumental brass still exists in Hever church to the memory of Margaret Cheyne, 23 Aug. 1419. M. M. M. writes: In Nichols's Literary Anecdotes (vol. ix. p. 159,) it is Gent. Mag. New Series, note, vol. xii' p. 602) are descended from Le Sieur de Touque, Toe, or Touke, as it is variously spelt in different copies of the Battle Abbey Roll, where he is mentioned, amongst others, as having attended William the Conqueror, at the Battle of Hastings. Now his name is not mentioned in the Index of Tenants in Capite, where as a Norman Knight it naturally would be, nor, I believe, do any of the names of his children appear in the Survey, as they probably would had land been granted to him, or his immediate descendants. From this it seems probable that he was either killed at the Battle of Hastings or returned into Normandy, and that if he had any children they did not possess land in Britain; and, since the names of Tochi, Tocha, Toche, Toc, Tocho, Toka, Toke, Tokesone, Tuke, Tuka, and Thochi, occur as holders of lands in the reign of Edward the Confessor, and the name of Thoke in the year 1014, (Lysons's Magna Britannia, Norfolk,) it seems much more probable that the families are of Saxon or Danish than of Norman origin. Can any of the readers of the Gents. Magazine throw any light on the derivation of the name? J. A. R. remarks, Among the great variety of historical subjects designed by the British artists of the present day, it has often occurred to me that the following may be worthy of notice, which I have never seen introduced, i. e. Sir James Thornhill on a high scaffold painting within-side the dome of St. Paul's, and in the attitude of running backward, and in great danger of falling over, while a companion, observing this (with great presence of mind), is seen with a brush daubing over the painting in order to alarm him, and save his life. If this were managed by a clever artist, and the painter's anxiety manifested in his countenance, at seeing his work injured, as he appeared to be rushing forward to preserve it, I think it might prove an interesting picture. T. W. inquires where West's original sketches for the Stained Glass that was begun for the West window of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, are to be found. ERRATA. In a small portion of the impression of our present number, at p. 40, line 25, stated that the family of Toke, Tooke, for Sunday read Saturday. In p. 42, line 15 from foot, for "Falstaff calls simple Sir,"" "Sir." read Falstaff calls Simple Tuke, or Tuck, &c. (for many other variations in the spelling of the name, see |