DR. YOUNG'S BIRTH-PLACE AT UPHAM, HANTS.

Mr. URBAN, Bishop's Waltham, Jan. 10. NEW of those who have taste to relish the works of genius, and a soul to cherish the memory of departed worth, will be disposed to controvert the assertion of the great Roman Orator, that we view with fond recollection and vivid pleasure the memorials of those who have distinguished themselves by worth of character, or superiority of intellect. Under this conviction, I offer for insertion in your pages the accompanying view of the birth-place of Dr. Young, whose works have placed him in the first rank of genius among our English poets; whose character (bating a few weaknesses incident to our frail nature), was such as to command our respect; and whose memory is the more entitled to our veneration, as his literary labours were directed to the support both of the doctrines and precepts of our holy faith. The sketch of the old parsonage where this eminent writer first drew his breath, may also be the more interesting, as the house no longer exists;

"Movemur nescio quo pacto locis ipsis in quibus eorum, quos diligimus aut admiramur, adsunt vestigia. Me quidem, illæ nostræ Athenæ non tam operibus magnificis, exquisitisque antiquorum actibus delectant, quam recordatione summorum virorum, ubi quisque habitare, ubi sedere, ubi disputare, sit solitus; studiosèque eorum etiam sepulchra contemplor." Cicero, De Legibus, 11. 4.

GENT. MAG. March, 1829.

since having become ruinous, it was, a few years ago, taken down and rebuilt on the same spot, by the present estimable rector, the Rev. J. Haygarth. The window in the gable (in the front of the drawing) was that of the room in which the Poet was born. The late elegant scholar and critic, Dr. Joseph Warton, was formerly Rector of Upham; and during his incumbency he caused the event to be commemorated by a tablet, suspended in the apartment, and bearing this inscription, "In hoc cubiculo natus erat eximius ille Poeta Edvardus Young, 1681." This tablet, a two-fold relic of departed genius, is still preserved in the new house.

I take this opportunity of making some additions to a very brief and imperfect account of Upham Church, furnished by me, and inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1808.

Two or three years ago a series of antient paintings was discovered on the north wall of the Church. I was informed that these paintings were of the rudest description, and very imperfect. What they were, or what they represented, I cannot say, as the merciless whitewash brush obliterated them before I was informed of the discovery. Similar figures, but I suspect much more perfect and curious, were, not long before, brought to light in the

ancient and curious Church of East

Meon (engraved in Gent. Mag. 1819); these, too, shared the same fate, and

218

Mr. Baker on his "History of Northamptonshire." [March,

are irretrievably lost to the eye of the Antiquary. An inscription on the north side of the chancel records the death of a former Rector, of distinguished worth of character, a genuine country parson' of the Herbert school. It is as follows:

"Near this place lye the remains of the Reverend John White, M. A. Rector of this Church, who being endued with every grace requisite to adorn his sacred office, and having apply'd himself constantly to the good of his people, dy'd universally lamented by them, and by all persons who knew him, June 22, 1738, aged fifty-five."

I have mentioned, in my former account, the burial of the wife of Father Schmidt in this Church. Her epitaph

runs thus:

"Here lyes Anne, wife of Mr. Bernard Smith, of London, one of His Majesty's

servants, and chief of all that this nation has known in the art of making organs *. She died Sept 9th, 1689, aged 63 years."

I flatter myself that these particulars relating to times which are past, and names which still live, will not be atogether uninteresting to your numerous

readers.

C. W.

Mr. URBAN, Northampton, Feb. 7. N the whole range of authorship, I the County Historian is perhaps the most open to animadversion, and the most entitled to indulgence. Though his readers collectively feel little interested in the entire district comprised in his undertaking, yet individually there are scarcely any who do not turn with eager and fastidious curiosity to the history of some specific place, endeared to them by the associations of birth, residence, or connection. To this favourite spot their attention is concentrated, whilst the researches of the historian are necessarily directed to, and often distracted by, a very extended surface. From this circum

* A specimen of the skill of this admirable artist exists in the organ of the neighbouring Church of Waltham. The instrument is a small one, having been originally a chamber organ; but the tone, particularly of the diapasons and principal, is equal to any thing I have ever heard, and much resembles that of the corresponding

stops in the fine organs of Father Schmidt's building, in London, Oxford, and Cainbringe. The pipes are all of wood, and the instrument is in good preservation and condition.

scribed view of their object, they are apt to distort its relative proportion to the whole, and expect from the author more minuteness of detail than is consistent with his general plan, and a nearer approach to perfection than is compatible with human fallibility. After he has had recourse to every available source of information, their personal local knowledge, or access to private documents, which were unknown to, or inaccessible to him, may enable them to supply an omission or detect an inaccuracy: for in the deduction of a manor, or the correct appropriation of an individual, or of a match in an apocryphal, genealogical descent, he has sometimes to contend not merely with defective proof, but conflicting authorities, and can only decide on a careful comparison of probabilities; whilst the individual who, stimulated by family considerations or interest, may have devoted months, and in some instances years, to the exclusive illustration of a few particular manors or favourite pedigrees, in unravelling the complicated web, or supplying the apparently unconquerable hiatus, by dint of lengthened research, or access to private evidences, is sometimes tempted-it may be uncon sciously-to undervalue or overlook the patient and laborious, but unsuccessful efforts of the author. For myself, I can truly say

"My endeavours Have ever come too short of my desires, Yet fill'd with my abilities."

And though the preceding observations originated in the appeal made to me by your correspondent Mr. Lyon *, I am so far from intending to cast any personal reflection on him, that I feel much indebted for the candid and liberal tone of his remarks; and whenever I may be betrayed into a mistatement, or an erroneous conclusion, I shall always consider myself fortunate if corrected in such a spirit.

The anecdote of Dr. Nicholas Onley was inserted on the authority of a MS. note in an interleaved copy of Welch's List of Westminster Scholars, with numerous and valuable MS. additions, My predecessor expressly states, that in possession of the Rev. Dr. Harrison. the manor of Catesby was sold to the Parkhursts by Edward Onley, esq.

*Vol. xcvi. pt. ii. p. 393.

1829.]

The Family of Onley.-County Histories.

nephew of Sir Edward (Bridges, vol. i.
p. 35); and having seen the settlement
before marriage of John Parkhurst of
Catesby, esq. dated 24 April, 1667,
two years only after the death of Onley,
in which he covenants to settle lands
in Catesby, on Catherine Dormer his
intended wife, I could not entertain
any reasonable doubt of the fact; but
I confess I am now at a loss to recon-
cile it with the indenture of 11 Dec.
22 Car. II. (1670,) cited by Mr.
Lyon, whereby George Vernon, of
Sudbury, co. Derby, Esq. conveys to
Nicholas Onley, Esq. and others, for
1,8007. the manor of Catesby, the
rectory or parsonage impropriate of
Staverton, alias Starton, messuage and
lands in Staverton, and the manor of
Hellidon. Nor can the sum of 1,8007.
be considered an adequate compensa-
tion for the estates comprised in the
conveyance-being little more than
two years' purchase; for in a Chancery
suit between Edward Onley, Esq. the
nephew, and Lady Catherine Gold-
smith, the only surviving sister of Sir
Edward Onley, for administration to
Sir Edward's personal effects, it is re-
cited that he died seised of the manor
of Catesby, and certain other lands,
worth 800l. per ann. I am inclined
to suspect what is called the manor of
Catesby in this deed, included only
those lands in Catesby which remained
in the family after the alienation of
the manor, and which now form the
Downes, Hickman, and Rose estates.

I have not been able satisfactorily to ascertain when the manor of Hellidon was sold by the Onleys; but by deed 1 March 12 Will. III. (1699) John Parkhurst of Catesby, Esq. in consideration of an intended marriage between her son and heir apparent, Nathaniel Parkhurst, and Althamea daughter of Altham Smith, Esq. made a settlement (inter alia) of the manor of Hellidon, and capital messuage there, late in the tenure of Margaret Onley,

widow.

The Edward Onley, of Catesby, Esq. who purchased Hellidon of Martin Hardrett, esq. in 1649, may, I think, be safely identified with Edward Onley, Esq. father of Margaret Vernon. The Edward Onley, of Catesby, Esq. party to the Plumpton deed of 29 Sept. 22 Car. II. (1670), is not so easily appropriated. He be presumed to have resided on one of the unalienated portions of the family estate at Catesby,

may

219

and he was doubtless a relative, and
not improbably younger brother of
Nicholas Onley, Esq. who, if I under-
stand Mr. Lyon aright, was the vendor
of the manor, advowson, and rectory,
or rather advowson of the rectory of
Plumpton in Northamptonshire, in the
deed now referred to. The parish of
Plumpton is in Norton hundred, a part
at least, if not the whole of which will
be introduced in the 3d Part of my
work now in the press. If, therefore,
Mr. Lyon will do me the favour to
transmit an abstract of that deed, or of
any others, tending to elucidate the de-
scent of any Northamptonshire ma-
nors, either addressed to me at North-
ampton, or to the care of Messrs. Ni-
chols and Son, he will confer on me a
great obligation. But, to resume:
that Nicholas Onley, Esquire, and the
Reverend Dr. Nicholas Onley, were
two individuals, I am most decidedly
of opinion. The prima facie presump-
tion against the contrary hypothesis is
very strong. The difficulty I have no
doubt would be solved by a continua-
tion of the Onley pedigree from Tho-
mas Onley, uncle of Sir Edward and
Richard, and devisee in remainder;"
but unfortunately the connecting link
is wanting; though there is the highest
probability for supposing Nicholas On-
ley, Esquire, to be the lineal represen-
tative of that branch, and probably
grandson of Edward Onley (of Totten
ham), whom Edward Onley, father of
Sir Edward, mentions in his will as
his godson Edward, son of his brother
Thomas Onley, on whose issue male
he entailed the rectory impropriate of
Staverton, on failure of his own male
line. The porter's son, being of the
same Christian as well as surname,
would naturally, to a mind influenced
by such fortuitous associations, be an
additional inducement for "the adop-
tion of this fortunate divine."

The long interval of publication be-
tween the successive portions of County
Histories, is a frequent subject of com-
plaint; but, when an author is anxious
to render his work as accurate and sa-
tisfactory as possible, and reluctant to
making more
verify the homage of “
haste than good speed," few are aware
of the time necessarily and almost in-
sensibly consumed in collecting local
information, selecting and compressing
from a crude and continually increasing
mass of documentary materials, col-
lating doubtful authorities, balancing

220

Dormers of Oxfordshire.-Origin of Hundreds.

conflicting probabilities, and making reiterated attempts to fill up genealogical or manorial chasms. Sometimes chance or accident furnishes a clue when too late for insertion, as in the case of Braunston. Prior to printing that parish, the deed, communicated by Mr. Lyon, would have been very acceptable. I had then gained no information" respecting the intermediate possessors of that manor between the Isham family and the Webbs ;" but I have subsequently obtained access to some private evidences, by which it appears that John Isham, Esq. by deed Aug. 19 Jac. I. (1621) in consideration of 4000l., conveyed the reversion of the manor, or rather manors of Braunston, reserving an estate for life, to Robert

[March,

Johnson, Esq. in fee. Isaac Johnson, Esq. grandson of Robert, settled this manor Feb. 5 Car. I. (1629-30) on himself, in fee tail, remainder to his brother of the half-blood, Samuel Johnson, esq. who, in Nov. 1641, sold it for 8000l. to Philip Holman, Esq. whose son George Holman, Esq. according to the deed referred to by Mr. Lyon, conveyed (inter alia) the manors of Braunston and Warkworth to Ambrose Holbech, Esq. and another. This conveyance, however, so far as it related to Warkworth, could only have been made for purposes of trust, for that manor descended by marriage from the Holmans to the Eyres, as will be shewn in the portion of my work now printing.

The true solution of the discrepancies in the Dormer pedigree, pointed out by your correspondent T. E. R. (vol. xcvIII. pt. ii. p. 203) will, I believe, be found in the following table of descent from

Sir Robert Dormer, of Dourton, co. Oxf. Sheriff of co. Oxford, 1628, erroneously supposed by E. E. (vol. xc. pt. i. p. 10) to be son and heir of Sir Michael Dormer, jun. and in the Minor Correspondence" (vol. xcviii. pt. ii. p. 290) to be his illegitimate son. He was heir male of Sir Michael Dormer, Lord Mayor, and most probably succeeded to Milton on failure of the male line of Ambrose Dormer. As I intend introducing two branches of the Dormers in my forthcoming Part, I should be much gratified by the loan of T. E. R.'s pedigree of that family, if he could conveniently transmit it.

Hundreds, compiled between the death of Edward the Confessor and the Norman Conquest, giving the general contents, and distinguishing the specific state of their component parts, in which he will find that nearly every Hundred is made to consist of an hundred hides.

Yours, &c. GEORGE BAKER.

tectural amateur in general. Having visited most of these buildings, it has been a source of pleasure to find how exactly his remarks have accorded with my own views. It is hoped that he will favour your readers with similar details of Churches lately erected in our provincial towns. In preferring the Gothic to the Grecian temples, for ecclesiastical purposes, and Gothic of the earlier style, he will find the gene

Gothic New Churches commended.