being questioned, Sir Robert quitted the kingdom in disgust; his castles and estates were seized by a decree of the court of Star-Chamber, and given to Henry, son of James I.

The castle, on Henry's death, went into the possession of his brother, Charles I, who granted it to Cary, Earl of Monmouth; but the downfall of this gigantic structure was fast approaching. During the civil wars it was seized by Cromwell, and by him given to some of his officers. These matter-of-fact soldiers, who had but little feeling for the beauteous and majestic, soon reduced it to what it now is, a pile of ruins. They drained the lake which once flowed over so many hundred acres, beat down the walls, dismantled the towers, choked up its fair walks, and rooted out its pleasant gardens; destroyed the park, and divided and more usefully applied the lands.

On the restoration of Charles II, the estate and ruins of the castle were granted to Lawrence, Viscount Hyde, of Kenilworth, second son of the celebrated lord high chancellor, created baron of Kenilworth, and Earl of Rochester; and by the marriage of a female heiress descended from him, passed, in 1752, into the possession of Thomas Villiars, baron Hyde, son of the Earl of Jersey, who was advanced, in 1776, to the dignity of the Earl of Clarendon; in the possession of whose family it still remains.

LEICESTER.-BISHOP LATIMER.

LEICESTER, the capital of the county of Leicestershire, is twentyeight miles south-east from Derby, and ninety north-west from London, and contains nearly 50,000 inhabitants. It is a place of great antiquity, and being placed in the center of one of the finest wool districts, has, as a matter of course, become distinguished for the perfection of its manufactures. During the Saxon heptarchy, Leicester was still a place of considerable note, being then called a city, and some think a bishop's see. At the Norman conquest it was very populous, and is particularly described in the Doomsday Book. It suffered greatly during the subsequent insurrections that occurred in the kingdom; and in the civil wars of Charles I, was stormed by the royal army, with the slaughter of many of the inhabitants.

Of the ancient religious buildings and foundations of this town, that of the Abbey was formerly of great local importance; but its buildings are nearly levelled to that earth which covers the ashes of its founders, patrons, monks, and dependants. It is said that this Abbey was founded by Robert Bossu, Earl of Leicester, in the year 1143, who, being advanced in age, became one of the regular canons on his own foundation, and continued here in penance and prayer till the time of his death. This religious foundation soon acquired sanctity and celebrity, and thence obtained numerous liberties and immunities. Besides thirty-six parishes in and about Leicester, it had lands, privileges, &c., in most of the manors of this and many other counties. This Abbey had great bequests made it of deer, fuel, and feeding of cattle, fish-pools, and corn. Stoughton Grange, near Leicester, was the grand repository of food

for this edifice. This place supported nearly the whole poor of Leicester and its neighborhood; and it was on all pressing occasions subsidiary to the king, and hospitable to travelers, who were fed and often lodged here on their journeys. Several kings of England were entertained and lodged here on their excursions to and from the north. Richard II and his queen, with their retinue, among whom were the Duke of Ireland, Earl of Suffolk, Archbishop of Canterbury, and others, were lodged and entertained at this house in great style. At a parliament held here in the reign of Henry V, the first law was made for the burning of heretics. In the meadows, near the town, are the ruins of an Abbey, in which Cardinal Wolsey died.

Bishop Latimer's Birth-place, five miles north of Leicester.

The above is a representation of the house in which Latimer was born, now standing in the secluded village of Thurcaston, about five miles north of Leicester. The front of it was modernized a few years since, but the west view of it, given in the annexed engraving, has been but little altered since the time that the father of Hugh Latimer occupied it as a yeoman, and "milked thirty kine." Except the modern parts, it consists entirely of wood work, joined together by wooden pins, which protrude considerably from the walls. The church at Thurcaston, in which Latimer was baptized, and the very font which contained the water at the baptism, are still in existence. The church appears to have been built about the time of king Edward I.

HUGH LATIMER, the celebrated martyr, who was burnt alive in Oxford, was born in 1470, in Leicestershire. His father, who was rather an industrious than rich farmer,

educated him at a grammar-school, and as his abilities were of superior order, he sent him to Cambridge, where he took his degrees. Latimer, when admitted into the church, was a supporter of the established religion, against the innovations of Luther and Melancthon; but by degrees his prejudices in favor of the pope disappeared in the conversation of his friend Bilney, a man of pious character and of deep learning, who even laid down his life in the support of the doctrines of the Reformation. With his usual warmth, the new convert zealously devoted himself to propagate those tenets which lately he had censured as impious and heretical, and so great was his influence, and so powerful his eloquence, that he was regarded as the head of his party. His severe trials, and successful efforts against the papists at last recommended him to the notice of Lord Cromwell and of Henry VIII, during the time of his intended divorce; and in reward for his services in the cause of the king, and of the Reformation, Latimer was nominated to the see of Worcester. In the convocation of 1536, he ably opposed the measures of the popish party, and was happily instrumental in the recommendation of the English translation of the Bible to general perusal.

On the restoration of popery in the reign of Mary, the venerable Latimer was marked for destruction by the sanguinary Gardiner. He was seized, and from the tower was sent to Oxford, where he, with Cranmer and Ridley, were appointed to hold a dispute with some popish divines. This disputation was artfully intended to expose these champions of the Reformation to the severest punishments of a partial and prejudiced tribunal, and, therefore, when Latimer and his revered associates, rejected all the popish doctrines, except they rested on the clear authority of Scripture, sentence of death was passed upon them. Latimer and Ridley were consequently burned at Oxford, 1554, in the midst of the insults of the monks, and as they recommended their souls to God, while the flames spread around them, the venerable Latimer comforted his fellow-sufferer, exclaiming, We shall, this day, my lord, light such a candle in England as shall never be extinguished."

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GEORGE FOX.

GEORGE FOX, the first preacher of the Friends, or Quakers, was born at Drayton in the Clay, Leicestershire, in 1624. He was bound by his father, who was a weaver, to a shoemaker and grazier, and the occupation of his youth was chiefly the tending of sheep. He did not, however, follow the professions in which he had been engaged, as, in 1743, he began his wandering life, and after retiring to solitude, and other times frequenting the company of religious and devout persons, he became a public preacher in 1647 or 1648. He inveighed against the drunkenness, the injustice, and the vices of the times, he attacked the clergy, and the established modes of worship, and asserted that the light of Christ, implanted in the human heart, was alone the means of sal vation and the right qualification of the gospel ministry. Such doctrines produced persecution he was imprisoned at Nottingham, in 1649, and during the whole course of his laborious life, he suffered the same treatment eight times more, and often with great severity. He married, in 1669, Margaret, the widow of Thomas Fell, a Welsh judge, who was nine years older than himself, but as she had to attend to a family, by her former husband, and as his avocations were of a spiritual kind, and in distant countries, they did not long live together. In his pious zeal, Fox visited not only England, Ireland, and Scotland, but he extended his travels to Holland and Germany, to the American colonies, and the West-India Islands, recommending in his life and conduct the merits of a meek, devout, and inoffensive character. He died in London, 1690. Though somewhat illiterate, he wrote much.

ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD.

ANNA LETITIA, daughter of Sir John Aiken, was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, in 1743. She received a superior education from her accomplished father, and in her thirtieth year pub

lished a volume of poems, four editions of which were printed during the first year. In 1774 she married Mr. Barbauld, a French preacher, who, in 1802, succeeded Dr. Price as pastor of the Unitarian congregation of Newington Green. Her "Hymns in Prose," for children, were first published in 1775. Besides her poetic works, she assisted her father in that well known series of tales, "Evenings at Home;" edited the correspondence and life of Richardson the novelist; wrote critical essays on Aikenside, Collins, and other British authors. She died, after a gradual decay, March 9, 1825. Associated with both her father and husband, in the education of youth, she had a warm regard for children. Her "Hymns in Prose, "beautiful in their simplicity and tenderness, have, perhaps, more of the true spirit of poetry than any other of her productions. The following hymns are from this work:

HYMN VI.

Child of Reason, whence comest thou? What has thine eye observed? And whither has thy foot been wandering?

I have been wandering along the meadows in thick grass; the cattle were feeding around me, or reposing in the cool shade; the corn sprung up in the furrows; the poppy and the harebell grew among the wheat; the fields were bright with summer, and glowing with beauty.

Didst thou see nothing more? Didst thou observe nothing besides? Return again, Child of Reason, for there are greater things than these.God was among the fields; and didst thou not perceive hitn? His beauty was upon the meadows; His smile enlivened the sunshine.

I have walked through the thick forest; the wind whispered among the trees; the brook fell from the rocks with a pleasant murmur; the squirrel leapt from bough to bough, and the birds sung to each other among the branches

Didst thou hear nothing but the murmur of the brook? No whispers but the whispers of the wind? Return again, Child of Reason, for there are greater things than these. God was among the trees: His voice sounded in the murmur of the water; His music warbled in the shade; and didst thou not perceive Him? His terrors were abroad, and did not thine heart acknowledge Him?

God is in every place; He speaks in every sound we hear; He is seen in all that our eyes behold. Nothing, O Child of Reason, is without God-let God, therefore, be in all thy thoughts.

HYMN X.

Child of Mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance sad? And why are thine eyes red with weeping?

I have seen the rose in its beauty! It spread its leaves to the morning sun.-I returned; it was dying upon its stalk; the grace of the form of it was gone; its loveliness was vanished away; the leaves thereof were scattered on the ground, and no one gathered them again.

A stately tree grew on the plain; its branches were covered with verdure; its boughs spread wide, and made a goodly shadow; the trunk was like a strong pillar; the roots were like crooked fangs. I returned; the verdure was nipt by the east wind; the branches were lopt by the axe; the worm had made its way into the trunk, and the beart thereof was decayed; it moldered away, and fell to the ground.

I have seen the insects sporting in the sunshine,

and darting along the streams; their wings glittered with gold and purple; their bodies shone like the green emerald; they were more numerous than I could count; their motions were quicker than my eye could glance.-I returned; they were brushed into the pool; they were perishing with the evening breeze; the swallow had devoured them; the pike had seized them; there were none found of so great a multitude.

I have seen man in the pride of his strength; his cheeks glowed with beauty; his limbs were full of activity; he leaped; he walked; he ran; he rejoiced in that he was more excellent than those.I returned; he lay stiff and cold on the bare ground; his feet could no longer move, nor his hands stretch themselves out; his life was departed from him, and the breath out of his nostrils; therefore do I weep because DEATH is in the world; the spoiler is among the works of God; all that is made must be destroyed; all that is born must die; let me alone, for I weep yet longer.

HYMN XI.

I have seen the flower withering on the stalk, and its bright leaves spread on the ground.-İ looked again, and it sprung forth afresh; the stem was crowned with new buds, and the sweetness thereof filled the air.

I have seen the sun set in the west, and the shades of night shut in the wide horizon; there was no color, nor shape, nor beauty, nor music; gloom and darkness brooded around.-I looked; the sun broke forth again from the east, and gilded the mountain tops; the lark rose to meet him from her low nest, and the shades of darkness fled away.

I have seen the insect, being come to its full size, languish and refuse to eat; it spun itself a tomb, and was shrouded in the silken cone; it lay without feet or shape, or power to move.

I looked again; it had burst its tomb; it was full of life, and sailed on colored wings through the soft air; it rejoiced in its new being.

Thus shall it be with thee, O man! and so shall thy life be renewed.

Beauty shall spring up out of ashes, and life out of the dust.

A little while shalt thou lie in the ground, as the seeds lie in the bosom of the earth; but thou shalt be raised again; if thou art good thou shalt never die any more.

Who is he that cometh to burst open the prison doors of the tomb; to bid the dead awake, and to gather His redeemed from the four winds of heaven ?

He descendeth on a fiery cloud; the sound of a trumpet goeth before Him; thousands of angele are on his right hand.

It is JESUS, the Son of God; the Savior of men ; the Friend of the good.

He cometh in the glory of his Father; He hath received power from on high.

Mourn not, therefore, Child of Immortality! for the spoiler, the cruel spoiler, that laid waste the works of God, is subdued; JESUS hath conquered death;-Child of Immortality! mourn no longer.

DANIEL LAMBERT, the great prodigy of nature, was born in Leicester, at which place he was apprenticed to an engraver. Until he arrived at the age of twenty years, he was not of more than usual size, but after that time till near the period of his death, at the age of thirty-nine, he gradually increased in size. Although of such an unprecedented size, his health was good, and he required no more attention than most other persons. Finding himself inclined to corpulency, he devoted himself to exercise in the open air, but this proved to be unavailing, as he still continued to increase in bulk. It is worthy of observation, that his strength bore a near proportion to his wonderful appearance. The accompanying engraving is a reduced copy of one in the British Museum, drawn from life. Mr. Lambert died in Stamford, Lincoln County, England, June 21st, 1809, on his way to Leicester. He had retired to rest in apparent health, and intended to see company the next day, but was found lifeless in his bed in the morning. His coffin, consisting of 112 superficial feet of elm, was rolled upon two axletrees to his grave, at the back of St. Martin's Church, where a monument is erected to his memory, having the following inscription:

"In remembrance of that prodigy of nature, DANIEL LAMBERT, a native of Leicester, who was possessed of an excellent and convivial spirit, and in personal greatness he had no competitor. He measured three feet one inch round the legs; nine feet four inches round the body, and weighed fifty-two stone, eleven pounds! He departed this life on the 21st of June, 1809, aged thirtynine years. As a testimony of respect, this stone is erected by his friends in Leicester. N. B.-The stone is of 14 lbs."

ROBERT HALL, an eminent Baptist clergyman, was born at Arnsby, a small village near Leicester, England, May 2, 1764, his father