Mr. URBAN,

Simon

Imon de Apulia (vol. LVII. p. 1070) before he was promoted to the fee of Exeter, was Dean of York. There was no fmall bustle about his election to that dignity. (See Drake's Ebor. 561, 562.) He was promoted to Exeter 1214, and fat 18 years. (Godwin, edit. Richardfon, p. 404.)-There was at Exeter a Benedictine priory, founded by the Conqueror or Rufus, or rather by the Monks of Battell, on land of their gift. Qu. if Bishop Simon was a benefactor thereto See its register in the Cottonian Library. (Tanner, p. 90.)

The weapon on Bifhop Wyvil's tomb in Salisbury cathedral is in the hand of the Bishop's champion.

Mr. UREAN,

GOD

A. B.

ODWIN was certainly mistaken in his affertion, that Simon de Applia was confecrated Bishop of Exeter in 1206: Dr. Richardfon, in a note to p. 404 of his edition of De Præful. Angl. having fhewn from publick records that the fee was vacant in 1210, and 1212; and from Matt. Weft. that Simon was really not confecrated before 1214. The cafe probably was, that on the death of Bishop Marthall, in October 1206, Simon was appointed to this diocefe by Papal provifion; and that the King objected to the appointment, not only as being an encroachment upon his prerogative, but becaufe Simon was an Italian, and zealous in the intereft of the court of Rome. In June 1207, Innocent III. greatly provoked the King, by promoting Langton to the archbishoprick of Canterbury, and the memorable rupture with the Pope was the confequence of it. This occafioned the interdi&, which continued fix years and a quarter; and before it was taken off, there were fix fees in the hands of the King, viz. York, Durham, Chefter, Chichester, Worcester, and Exeter. (Chron. Abb. de Petrob.) The interdict was relaxed June 29, 1214; and, on the 5th of October, Simon bifhop of Exeter, and Walter de Grey bishop of Worcester, were confecrated at Canterbury.

S. E. (vol. LVII. p. 1070) acknowledges himself to be at a lots to account for Simon de Apulia's feal (p. 880) having on it a legendary of St. Nicholas and his boys, without any symbol of St. Peter, the patron of Exeter cathedral. But, as I imagine, other ancient feals of bithops might be pointed out, which have no reprefentation of the perfon of the Saint to whom their epifcopal church

was dedicated, or any memorial of his properties. Nor, confidering the fuperftition of former times, does it feem ftrange that a bishop should, in this inftance, give a preference to the Saint of whom he had formed the most favourable opinion. Nicholas was the patron of boys, efpecially of thofe defigned for holy orders; and Simon might conceive himself to be indebted to him for the literary improvements he made in his youth, as well as for his fuccefs as he advanced in life. This prelate, according to Matt. Weftm. was eminent for prudence and learning; and at the lower part of the feal he is exhibited in the attitude of praying to St. Nicholas. The coat of arms used by Simon de Apulia was, Azure, three mitres, two and one, with this jingling motto, equally adapted to crowns, coronets, and mitres : bonos eft onus. (Ifacke's Antiq. of Exeter.) W. & D.

Mr. URBAN, Hinckley, Jan. 19. IN your Magazine for December laft,

p. 1059, a correfpondent of yours, under the fignature of Academicus Leiceftrenfis, founds an alarm! and with a few claffical, mathematical, and optical terms (mifapplied), a confiderable thare of vanity and illiberality, attacks your old correfpondent Obfervator, fings his own triumph, and charges him with inattention, falfe defcription, and wholly miftaking the fite, &c. of an ancient en campment Obfervator chanced to defcry in a morning ride on the common road, whilft on a vifit to a fiiend.

Academicus fets our in all the parade of furly zeal, contradicts every part of Obfervator's defcription, &c. (which he had modeftly given) in all the enthufiaftic fire of a fcientific defpot; and almost inclines one to conclude, that Observator had fapped the foundation, and vitiated the first principles of fcience. What (a reader may fay) has Obfervator done? He innocently thought to amufe himself and others. See his decent account in your Magazine, vol. LVII. p. 657

Academicus, either to fhew himfelf acquainted with technical terms of art, or that Obfervator was unacquainted with them, imitating the mathematician, talks of an ifofeeles and scalenum,--but elliptically leaves out triangle, which I voluntarily fupply,- unfcientifically talks of a compound curve,-mifapplies the optical team diverges, &c.

I, with many others of your readers lament that gentlemen, who write athar

for their own amufement or the information of others, do not lav afide enmity and perfonal diflike to each other, and, in mild and decent language, inform each other of any trifling mistake, where it does not tend to tftablish any fundamental error in enquiry after antiquities, or in fcience. I wish Academicus may lay his hand upon his breaft, and in fome future number folemnly fay, that he is a perfect ftranger to Obfervator; that no enmity, nor difference in religious fentiments between them, has influenced his pen; but that a fincere regard to correctnefs, and a love for the remains of antiquity, has been the fole caufe of his remarks. And, fhould he answer in the affirmative, I hope he will, previous to his making any future ftrictures, for the credit of antique enquiries, and the difcoveries of truth, imitate the example of the most eminent perfons in fcience, revolve in his mind, and be always prepared to fubfcribe to, the following precept: Quæcunque volueritis ut faciant vobis homines, ita et was facite eis. CONCORDIA.

HAVING been lately at Peterbo

rough, a natural fondness for antiquity led me to enquire, if the stone with an infcription in memory of Floria nus (fee LVI. 1034. LVII. 118) was fill in that neighbourhood. I was lucky enough to view it; but was extremely mortified at fering the lile attention paid to fo rare and valuable a relick.

The poffeffor of this monument has placed it against the houfe, in an obfcure corner of a fmail back yard, where the dropping of the rain, with the natural dampnefs of the yard, will, I apprehend, in a thort time obliterate the infcription. It was fo covered and incruffed with dirt and filth, that I was obliged to employ a fervant in cleaning it before I could difcover the infcription. The yard had been newly gravelled, and the INVICTO AVGVSTO M. P. L. was abfolutely buried in the foil. I must confefs, I with to refcue this remnant of antiquity from the hands of its prefent poffeffor (to whom it can be of no moment), and to place it under the care of a person of more refinement. If this hint thould be the means of faving to valuable a relick from decay, which ferves to elucidate a dark period in history, I fall feel my elf highly fortunate; for never let it be faid, that in Britain, where the fudy of antiquity is carried to as great

perfection as in any part of Europe, and where relicks are preferved with the greateft avidity, that the only infcription this ifland affords, and the fecond yet difcovered, to the memory of Florianus, fhould moulder and perish in obfcurity.-I fhould be happy to illufrate the era of Maiden Caftle, hinted at by a correfpondent of yours, where little or nothing ferves to guide the curious inveftigators. Events of this nature must in general be hypothetically founded.— Camden, whose knowledge as an antiquary ftands unrivalled, has fettled it a fummer, ftation of the Romans; and there are others who have pronounced it Roman, tracing out each part allotted to the refpective legions quartered there. I have paffed it on the Weft road from Dorchefter. It feems a work of great extent; and, if my time would have allowed me to have explored it, I should have amply gratified a natural curiofity. From a distant view, I could judge the ramparts and intrenchments to be immenfe; and, from the great labour and pains taken to fortify it, must have been what the Romans termed their caftra ftativa. I fee no reafon why we may not allow them the merit of it: it is the moft convincing argument, and marks the reflefs and turbulent fpirit of the Britons, better than the pen of the ableft hiftorian.-I need not animadvert to the form of the Roman camp; it has been ably defciibed by hiftorians. It is fufficient to fay, that the figure was fquare, divided into two chief partitions, the upper and lower, the upper, affigned to the General and his chief officers-the lower to the common foldiers, horfe and foot-Maiden Caftle bears no affinity to the towns of the Britons at Cæfar's arrival.-In his excellent Commentaries, War in Gaul, book v. chap. 8, the Englift call a thick wood, furrounded with a ditch, and fortified with a rampire, a town. He must have been an eyewitnefs in what he afferts, and his teftimony, as a faithful hiftorian, cannot be doubted. MILES.

der from school in holiday feafon. To continue the metaphor; I have difcovered a fountain of knowledge, which has opened my eyes on this occafion, and will, I hope, be ferviceable to all fuch readers as delight in knowing matters not worth knowing. This fpring of fapience, Mr. Urban, is a thin 4to, ycleped, Joannis Gryphiandri J. C. De Weichbildis Saxonicis, five Coloffis Rulandinis Urbium quarundam Saxonicarum, Commentarius, &c. Argentorati,

1666.

This work is full of true German learning; and the author fets the patience of the reader at utter defiance. However, upon peeling off the rind of digreffion, and cracking the hell of pedantry, the kernel is pretty good. It appears that tradition, which is always a liar, afcribes those colossal statues in the towns of Saxony to Charlemagne, and his fabled nephew Roland. This idea the author demonstrates to be false by the most convincing arguments, and a deal of curious reading. He fhews that towns were unknown in Germany till the tenth century; fo that it is in vain to give thofe giants an earlier date. In confutation, Mr. Urban, no lefs than nearly fixty-five chapters are employed by our pugnacious author. In chapter 66, to our great confolation, after having fhewn what thofe coloffal gentry are not, he condescends to inform us who they are.

From many authorities he proves that, in the middle ages, a stone, a crofs, or fome fuch fign, was erected in towns, to denote, 1. the power of holding a fair or market; 2. the power of judgement lodged in the magiftrates, and the privilege of the inhabitants to be judged only by their own municipal, or weichbildic, law. Thefe two privi feges were, indeed, the chief diftinctions of a burgh or free city.

In the time of the Emperor Otho II. or about the year 980, we find that the people of Magdeburg, in gratitude to that Prince, who gave them great privileges, erected a coloffal ftatue to him in the court of judgement. The fame plan was followed by Brandenburg, Bremer, Hal, Northous, Halberstad, &c. &c. Sometimes one, fometimes two, or more, of thefe ftatues are found, as the city had one great benefactor or more. These ftatues are feen in the places of judgement, where the coloffal prince feems to prefide,

Thefe ftatues came, in time, to be

regarded as types of municipal power; and adopted, as would feem, by many cities lately, merely as fymbolic of their privileges, as gigantic genii of the town, and protectors of its freedom and laws. In Germany they are called Weichbilds and Rolands: weich, is a town (wic, Anglo-Sax.); bild, a privileged or secure place.

Of this later kind, Mr. Urban, [ fhould fuppofe the giants at Guildhall; not erected to real perfons, but merely fymbolic patrons of the city, in perfect imitation of the German Weichbilds They indeed correfpond to the defcriptions of Gryphiander; "nam veftiti erant fagis, et armati longis lanceis, et fubnixi ftabant parvis fcutis, habentes ad renes cultellos longos." But many varieties are found.

Of the giants at Guildhall, he on the right as you enter bears the long weapon, and leans on a fmall fhield. The former is the lang bard; of which ano❤ ther kind, used in guarding the halls of the great, was called bal-bard, or ballaxe (our halbert). The Lochaber axe of Scotland belongs to the former class. See Pennant's Tour, 1769. The fhield bears a black eagle, on a field, Or; if I mistake not the arms of Saxony.

He on the left has a fword by his fide, and a bow and quiver on his back. In his right he holds a singular weapon, namely, a pole with a pricked ball fufpended from its top. This weapon efcapes my memory at prefent; but it is hoped fome of your Antiquarian correfpondents will give information concerning it.

Both giants are in the Roman warlike drefs, and have laurel crowns. I know not if the figures in Germany have ever such dresses, but suspect not; and take this dress to fignify, that London was a city adorned and enlarged by the Romans, and a Roman colony. But it fuffices to have opened the tract; and I hope fome of your Antiquarian friends will give more illuftrations on it. Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

PUSILLUS.

Oxon, Nov. 18. HAVE not yet feen Dr. Taylor's letter to Dr. Johnfon, and am as willing as another to believe it deferves the, warmest encomiums. But in one part, if a correfpondent in vol. LVII. p. 874. has given a juft account of what he fo much admires, furely, Sir, whatever there may be of novelty in the argument, we may be permitted to doubt

whether

affures us that, in Paradife, the abode of intermediate and inferior confolation, even there he "heard unfpeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." The word rendered unSpeakable means alfo fecrets, things which ought not, as well as things which cannot, be divulged. To avoid ambiguity, therefore, he adds, as the margin more agreeably to general ufage tranflates, what follows, which it is not poffible for a man to utter," which human language has no terms to exprefs. What then was the effect which thefe heavenly vifions, and this abund ance of revelations, had on the favoured apoftle? did he haften in confequence, by doing violence to himself, to feize the deftined poffeffion before the time? The very fuppofition fills one with horror. Perfecuted as he was every where and on all fides, preffed out of meafure, above ftrength, he nevertheless endured and fought manfully to the end. He knew that to depart, and to be with Chrift, was far better; but he knew alfo, that to abide in the flesh was more needful for the church; and he defired nothing fo earnestly as that Chrift might be magnified in his body, whether it were by life or by death. Phil. i. 20, &c. Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

R. C.

Nov. 19.

YOUR correfpondent CANDIDUS,

p. 874, has taken a great deal of pains to prove the novelty and excellence of an argument, ufed by Dr. Taylor in his letter to Dr. Johnfon, on a future ftate. The novelty of it I do not difpute; but I cannot fubfcribe to its excellence. There is an inconfist. ency in it which I fhall be much obliged to Candidus if he will reconcile. Dr. Taylor, he fays, clearly evinces the perfect wifdom of God in not making the mode and mealure of our future blifs cognizable to our fenfes, "left, overpowered by the inestimable and eternal reward, we should be induced to anticipate it by a voluntary and premature extinction of our prefent exiftence, and, of course, by a desertion of that poft which Providence has affigned us; that is, by the commiffion of one of the most heinous crimes which we can be guilty of, which, as Dr. Taylor obferves, is certainly unpardonable, if death be the inftantaneous confequence of the act, because it could not then be

* Cor. xii. 2-4.

That Dr. Johnfon once had his doubts and fears, refpecting his own title to happinefs hereafter, is very certain; but it would be abfurdity in the extreme, in any one who is the leaft converfant with his moral and religious effays, to fuppole for a moment, that he could receive information from any man on the fundamental doctrines of our holy religion. About three months before his death, he declared to a lady of my acquaintance, that he would gladly undergo feveral fevere fits of the afthma, and other painful difeates which he mentioned, for a few more years of life, in order to perfect his repentance. The lady expreffing her furprize at fuch a declaration from bim, who, the obferved, had lived fo good a life, and who had ferved the cause of re ligion and morality fo much by his writings, he replied, “Madam, no man can know the ftate of another man's foul fo well as himfelf." He faid alfo to a gentleman, a friend of mine, much about the fame time, that, if he was faved, he fhould be "indebted for his falvation to the fermons of Dr. Clarke." His doubts and fears, which appeared to be rather the effect of humility ta of un

repented guilt, it is charitably to be

hopea, and may reatonably be believed, are now changed to a happy certainty. R. G. R.

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN, Bedfordshire, Nov, 21.
HAVE read the letter of CANDI-

DUS with the utmost allonishment; that Dr. Taylor fhould inaintain, that the reafon why the mode and meafure of happiness in the next world is noc made cognizable to our fenfes is, "left, overpowered by the eternal reward, we fhould be induced to anticipate it by a voluntary and premature extinction of our prefent exiftence, and, of course, by a defertion of that poft which Providence has affigned us." If Candidus has mifreprefented the Doctor's words, he muft fee to that. If the Doctor has really afferted as Candidus reprefents, truth obliges me to declare that, to me, it appears that a weaker argument could not well be made. The true Chriftian (who only might reasonably hope for fuch rewards) would not, it the mode and measure of the happinets of a future fate were revealed, ruf, uncalled by,