PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY BENTHAM AND RAY, HIGH-STREET, (To whom Communications, post paid, may be addressed:) SOLD, ALSO, BY BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, LONDON; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. THE Editors of the Northern Star, anxious to avail themselves of every improvement in their work of which their original plan is susceptible, have resolved, in compliance with the suggestions of many judicious contributors, to make some alterations in that department which is dedicated to the analytical review of new publications. In their future numbers the articles of review will not be restricted by any particular plan, but their pages will be open to any communications of this nature which they may consider to give a fair and candid description of any literary or scientific work of recent publication, although the earliest attention will be given to works published in Yorkshire or by Yorkshiremen. At the same time they beg leave to inform their Mathematical Correspondents, that no question can be allowed to appear, unless it has been accompanied by a correct solution. Mr. Bigland's paper, - Examination of the common Prejudice in favour of the Ancients,--W.'s paper on the Subterranean Forest on Hatfield Chace, and K. on a singular Phenomenon of the Sun and Moon, shall have an early insertion. VECCHIA on Novel-reading,- TEMPUS, -Charade by Juvenis, J. A.'s Rebus,-Chimney-Boy's Soliloquy, - Verses to Laura on leaving England, F. R. S.'s polite note,-My Garden, lines by J. W.-LEO's Sonnet, -Paper from a Bone-Setter on the Suppression of Quackery, The Nettle, a poetical fable,- Lysis on Pendulums, and numerous solutions to the mathematical questions proposed in our last number, have been received. We have also received a beautiful original drawing of an ancient mansion, at HighSunderland, near Halifax, for which we are indebted to the kindness of a friend, whose continued favours we are exceedingly anxious to secure. We doubt the fact on which the query of CULINA is founded. THE ruins of Kirkstall Abbey are situated about three miles from Leeds : and, if retirement is favourable to devotion; if simple yet beautiful scenery has a tendency to tranquilize the mind, and elevate its views to Him who is the source and perfection of beauty, perhaps, it is impossible to make choice of a more appropriate situation for the erection of a temple than that which these ruins occupy. The building of this abbey was begun A.D. 1152,* in the 17th year of the reign of Stephen,† and finished in thirty years, under the superintendance of Alexander, abbot of the monastery of Mount St. Mary, Barnoldswick, which was converted into a grange on the removal of the brethren to Kirkstall. The piety of this abbot is somewhat suspicious; but his taste, ability, and perseverance are abundantly manifested in the choice of this situation, the structure of the abbey, and his successful management of affairs relating to it, during the space of thirty-five years. Hageth, the successor of Alexander, though he revived the strictness and austerity, and of consequence, the spiritual repute of his brethren, was for some time, neither a dexterous, nor a prudent manager of their temporal affairs. The former part of his administration was unsuccessful, the latter, however, was more prosperous. And, though want of success exposed the abbot to the censures of his brethren, yet prosperity appears to have done him honour, for after being abbot of Kirkstall upwards of eight years, he was removed to the inore important charge of Fountains' Abbey, where he died. Lambert, the third abbot of Kirkstall, attended still less to temporal matters than his predecessor. During his presidency, the abbey was converted into a grange; and, in retaliation for an unprovoked injury, which the abbot had done to the inhabitants, it was burnt, and the lay-brethren • About 200 yards to the north-west of the Abbey, is a stone in the wall of a gateway, with this inscription, "Vesper's Gate, A. D. 1152." † This abbey enjoyed the favour of Stephen, who was a great friend of their order. (Thirty-two monasteries for them, were established during his reign of 18 years and 10 months.) Henry II. confirmed its privileges. Henry III. took it into his immediate protection, and Edward I. recommended the descendant of its founder, Henry, Earl of Lincoln, to pay its debts. Edward III. and Richard II. also were its friends. 1 : who managed it were slain. Lambert would doubtless have avenged this outrage, had he not been appeased by the most humiliating submission on the part of the offenders, and by the promise of a sum of money for the damage they had done. He interceded with Robert de Lacy for them, and obtained their pardon. Lambert died soon after he had rebuilt the grange. "Turgesius," the next abbot, according to one of his contemporaries, " was a severe chastiser of his own body, and all the motions of the flesh ; ever clad in hair-cloth, and always repeating to himself, 'they who are clad in soft raiment are in kings' houses.' He abstained from wine and animal food; his dress was invariably a tunic and a cowl. He shed abundance of tears when he officiated at the altar; and in ordinary conversation scarcely refrained from weeping. After nine years' presidency, he retired to Fountains' Abbey, where he died. Helias, the successor of Turgesius, having been accustomed to business, soon regulated their affairs. How long he lived after his election, or whether he resigned his office, is uncertain. Little is recorded of the abbots who succeeded Helias, and still less that is worthy of preservation. Two letters, however, the first by Hugh de Grimston, the 15th abbot of Kirkstall, and the second by John de Birdsall, his successor, have been deservedly rescued from oblivion. The former of these epistles appears to be the production of an artful and intriguing priest, the latter, the genuine effusion of one possessing a simple and honest heart.* • LETTER I. Brother Hugh, called Abbot of Kirkstall, to his beloved in Christ, the Convent of the same house, health and blessing in the bond of peace. "Our distresses at the last general chapter with respect to Simon being ended, we set out for Gascony on an uncertain errand, and with a bitter and heavy heart, as our beloved brother and son John de Birdsall, will inform you. But after many hindrances, and with great difficulty, both from the unexpected length of the journey, and the extreme poverty of Burgundy, which we traversed through thickets rather than highways, we met with the King in the remotest part of Gascony. On the way we were afflicted with a quartan fever, which reduced us so low that we de paired of life; but blessed be the heavenly Physician, nothing more than a trifling remnant of thecomplaint now hangs about us. "Here we found our patron, the Earl of Lincoln, with other great men of the court, attending upon the King, and to him we explained fully, and to the best of our ability, the distresses of the house. He was touched with pity at the representation, and promised us all the information and assistance in his power [Here follow several details, which are not intelligible.] * * "And that the treasurer and barons of the exchequer aforesaid, may faithfully execute these writs, we have letters of recommendation addressed to them from all the earls, bishops, barons, and other counsellors of the King, attending upon him at this place. But because the King was not inclined to interfere with the debt due to the Cardinal, or to Tockles, the Jew, or with the wool, although we had many intercessors with him; yet by the grace of God obtained through the mediation of your prayers, aud by the mediocrity of our own understanding, reflecting that if either of these debts remained undischarged, it would be productive of great inconvenience to the house, we hit at length upon a remedy which is likely to be effectual. "For having shewn to the Earl and his council an extent of our lands in Blackburn |