honour or credit was achieved either for himself or his country; on the contrary, nothing but misfortune and disgrace were the results of this illomened expedition. He equipped three ships manned with 500 soldiers, and set sail upon a religious crusade against the Turks, with whom it would seem the English were at this moment at peace; but such piratical and Quixotical kind of undertakings were not unfrequent in this age of adventure. Sir Thomas was unfortunate from the very beginning. The first adventure he was engaged in was, that after an obstinate resistance he boarded and captured a large ship; but he lost a hundred of his own men in the conflict, and the rest mutinied, not having obtained as much spoil as they expected. Sir Thomas, probably, though as brave and as ambitious as his brothers, was not gifted like them with those qualities which at once seem to exercise power over the minds of men; his was not the master spirit of Anthony, nor his the graceful art by which Robert won the hearts of all to love and follow him. Mutiny was busy among his followers: "They plainly told him they would be no longer under his command, alleging, with unkind words and uncomely speeches, that their hopes and expectations were deceived of him." Much perplexed by this contemptuous and unruly behaviour, he first tried threats, then gentler means, and condescended in mild terms to reason with and entreat them not to despise and forsake the captain whom they had vowed to follow and obey. For a time he succeeded in pacifying them; but soon their greedy anxiety for prey, and the bad disposition that had got among them, led the ill-fated Sir Thomas, in an evil hour, by way of diverting their ill humour, to resolve to surprise and attack an island belonging to the Turks which was not far off. They landed in the night, by the light of a full moon, and soon made themselves masters of the town, which the inhabitants had abandoned. Sir Thomas gave orders that the property of every Christian should be sacred; but this was a useless command, as goods there were none; the inhabitants had fled with all their property. Not finding much to be done, he commanded a retreat to the ship; and having intelligence brought him that the islanders were assembling in great numbers, he gave orders that the men should keep together and retreat slowly, encouraging them not to fear enemies who were unpractised in any military discipline, and armed only with staves and stones. But his mutinous and ill-disposed crew now added the meanest cowardice to their previous bad conduct; no sooner had they come in sight of the enemy than they fled in confusion, regardless of the threats and entreaties of their leader, who, thus abandoned by his own men, (all except two faithful serv ants who remained fighting by his side,) was, after a gallant and desperate resistance, overpowered by numbers and made a prisoner with his two companions. For three days did his own ship remain in the harbour, but no attempt, either by force or entreaty, was made to rescue their commander by his faithless and disaffected crew. He was kept in this island for a mouth in close confinement, and then sent in a small boat to Negropont, and delivered up to the authorities there. He was allowed to send a letter to the English Consul at Patras, but he never received any answer; and, upon the return of his messenger without one, he was thrown into a dark dungeon, and bound fast with a great galley chain to a slave who had been taken before. Here he remained from March 1602 to July 1603; his best diet bread and water, his warmest lodging the ground,-sometimes menaced with death, sometimes with the galleys. Probably it was not discovered that the prisoner was a brother to the two men who had been proving themselves the most inveterate and active enemies to the Turkish empire, but they were aware that he was of some importance, and no doubt expected a large ransom; however, be that as it may, when the demand for his brother's freedom was made by Robert Shirley, a scornful defiance was the only answer, and a threat that, before two suns should set, a deed should be done that should amaze the whole com"Another man (says pany of them. the chronicler of Sir Robert Shirley) might have been daunted, for his men 3 Q were wearied, and not expecting to be again so soon called into action; but that honour, the chief mark he ever aimed at, made him abandon fear and timidity, and no sooner had he received the Turk's answer, than he presently cut off the heads of the thirty commanders, caused them to be carried in triumph upon the pikes of his soldiers about the market place, and swore that it should be a dismal day to his enemy, for he would either return conqueror or leave his body on the field." And thereupon he set his soldiers in battle array, but perceiving that they were affrighted at the sight of the Turks, who were as ten to one, he addressed them in a short oration. The effect of this, added to the sight of his own matchless bravery (which bore down every obstacle before it as he rushed upon the enemy with the fury of a lion), was such, that the soldiers, following his example, and inspired by his heroism, behaved with such desperate resolution that the Turks were amazed and confounded. Many lay down their weapons and yielded, the rest were all put to the sword. From the prisoners taken this day he again selected some of the chiefest among them, and again made the same proffer in behalf of his brother as before. But here the manuscript which afforded the above particulars suddenly breaks off, and, as the captivity of Sir Thomas lasted for three years, it is to be concluded that the efforts of the valiant young general were of no avail. The Shirleys had done much in instructing the Persians in the art of war. Malcolm, in his history of Persia, says, "that they not only formed and disciplined a corps of infantry which Shah Abbas had lately raised, but taught the Persians the use of artillery.' In several other engagements Robert Shirley continued to win honours and glory, and to be considered as the right hand of Shah Abbas. In one of these, when Shah Abbas commanded in person,* Robert was severely From the period of this great victory till the death of Shah Abbas, he not only kept the Turks in complete check, but recovered all the territories which that nation had before taken from Persia.(Malcolm's Persia.) wounded in several places. His favour was at its height: "This man's bread," says a charter granted in his favour by the Persian monarch, "is baked for sixty years." He bestowed upon him in marriage a beautiful Circassian called Theresia; she was a cousin of the favourite wife of Shah Abbas; very lovely, both in person and character, and a Christian. As a further proof of his confidence, he determined to send him as ambassador to the several princes of Christendom, notwithstanding the ill success of his former embassy, this being probably for a similar purpose, to endeavour to unite them against the Turks. Sir Robert Shirley departed, but very little is known of the events of his embassies. He left Persia either the end of 1608 or early in 1609. He did not visit England till 1611, and all the events and history of these unrecorded years must be left for the romance or novel writer to fill up. His arrival in England is mentioned in Stowe's Chronicle. He arrived in summer, and the 2nd of October following he had audience at Hampton Court, where he delivered his letters, and shewed his commission. "This Earl Shirley was entertained and respected as an honourable ambassador. He brought hither with him Theresia, his wife, who was shortly after delivered of a son, unto whom the queen was god-mother, and Prince Henry was god-father, who called the child Henry after his own name." As it does not appear that the audience took place till October, and that the ambassador arrived in the summer, it will surely be most natural to transport the party to the old house at Wiston. The joy of the old father once more to behold his son, the pride and pleasure with which that son presented to him his beautiful wife and his infant son, one can imagine it all, and the feelings of deep interest, half pleasurable, half melancholy, with which he would lead that fair stranger to visit the home and haunts of his light-hearted boyhood, and the friends who still lived and remembered him, he no longer the wild and playful boy, but the man, the soldier, the hero of many a bloody field, the favourite of princes. And here, no doubt, the fair Circassian remained whilst they stayed in England, and they were there for a year. It must have been a bitter parting when the time came, and so, to comfort the bereaved old man, the young boy, the little English. born Henry, was left with his grandfather. They embarked at Dover in January 1612. Sir Robert never saw his father again. The good old knight died at Wiston before the end of the year. (To be continued.) MR. URBAN, August. AS you have granted insertion to my article on the London Organs, I hope you may also to one on the Bells, with which subject I have a more technical acquaintance. I prefix some brief notices of the principal Bells of Europe, and of England generally. Yours, &c. J. D. PARRY. EUROPE. Several in France, and the Low Countries, about 20,000. Toulouse, Antwerp, (the largest of 33 "chimers,") Ghent,* &c. St. Peter's, Rome, about 19,000. ENGLAND. In England, Great Tom of Christchurch is of course the largest17,800 lbs. Lincoln has often been spoken of as the second; but this is a decided mistake. Before the recasting it only weighed 9,400, now 10,200. If I am not mistaken, there is a bell at Exeter of 12,000; thus constituting the second. St. Paul's, 11,600. In a life of Dr. Parr, it is said that the tone of this bell is "not fine." Neither, certainly, is it bad. It is, perhaps, for its weight, "middling.' There is a bell, at some parish church in Gloucestershire, of 8,000. Canterbury 7,500. Hereford, and Gloucester, about The origin and general history of 6,000. It was formerly mentioned as this celebrated member of Christian The next in Europe is, I believe, in the Tour de Beurre, or "butter tower," of Rouen Cathedral, which, according to Dr. Dibdin, bears the following inscription : "Je suis nommé George d'Amboise, Which, I think, may be thus Englished : "I'm George d'Amboise: my weight is Full six and thirty thousand pound, Dr. Dibdin has not explained the difference between the real and imputed weight. A bell at Erfurt, in Saxony, weighs 36,000 lbs. The largest now at Notre Dame, Paris, 32,000. a curious fact that there were only twelve peals of twelve bells in England. One has since been lost at Spitalfields. The inhabitants of York have, it seems, an ambition to have a bell of 20,000 lbs., the largest in England. This is honourable enough, no doubt, but it seems almost a pity that they should seek to cast poor "Old Tom" from his honourable position of centuries. He "bore his faculties meekly" enough, doing good in his way quietly, and giving umbrage to nobody. At Chester Cathedral, the largest bell, of 4, requires three men to ring it, the great rope diverging into as many cords; but I do not believe it to be excessively heavy. The largest of 12 at St. Peter's Mancroft, Norwich, weighs about 45 cwt. Tenors in the country are seldom as much as 30 cwt. 27 being considered large. Of village peals, of 5 or 6, they are generally from 12, or less, to 22. *Thus alluded to in Southey's Pilgrimage to Waterloo : "That ponderous bell, The belfry's boast, which bears old Roland's name, [fame." Nor yields to Oxford Tom, or Tom of Lincoln's What a pity it is that this Poem, containing many passages of poetical and moral beauty, if not sublimity, is now almost totally neglected. LONDON. [Single Bells, or less than a Peal, of fine tone.] St. Luke's Old Street. This bell is reckoned a "miracle" in bell-founding. It came out of the casting pit in a different tone from what was intended, (how this happened the writer cannot tell,) and though the weight is only 28 cwt. odd, it has the depth, and nearly the power, of a bell of 40 cwt: the tone is majestic. St. Pancras (New) 34 cwt., very grand; also a good bell at the Old Church, adjoining the pleasing cemetery of St. Giles. It is singular that in neither of the great parishes of Marylebone and St. Pancras is there a single peal of bells. Three parishes at the West End are in the same predicament. A peal has been spoken of for Bloomsbury. Christchurch Newgate Street, only 22 cwt. but very powerful-a melancholy note. Covent Garden, excellent. Episcopal Chapel, Gray's Inn Lane, 17 cwt. good, but absurdly placed.* Highgate, powerful, a private gift. Hampstead. In the City, 5 or 6, including St. Mildred's Poultry, and St. Mary Woolnoth. The smaller of two bells at St. Benet's Gracechurch Street, is the only one known to have survived the "fire" in any church burnt. A good bell in the tower (without a church) of St. Martin Orgars (leading out of Thames Street.) PEALS OF 6. Westminster Abbey, tenor 36 cwt. pretty good; but it is by no means generally known † that these are only the first six of an intended peal of Twelve, the largest of which, in proportion, would probably have weighed full sixty cwt. and would have gone down very low. Whether the tower would * The able Organist, spoken of as being here, has left, and is now at Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square, Islington. There is, however an able one at the former place. The chanting of the psalms has been dropped, but that of other portions is retained. For this and some other particulars I am indebted to a respectable man, perhaps one of the best Campanalogists in London or England, Mr. Jewson, sexton and steeple keeper of All Hallows Barking, near the Tower. have sustained them when ringing is a different question. St. Vedast, Foster Lane (Post Office), about 21 cwt. good. St. Catharine Cree, Leadenhall-street, about 20 cwt. St. Andrew Undershaft, just by, wretched. This church, however, does not seem sufficiently known as the largest and handsomest that survived the Fire. St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, very small but good; again, not generally known as the oldest church in London. Many popular mistakes exist on that head. Bow (beyond Mile End), with its venerable tower, 14 cwt. not bad. PEALS OF 8. as The heaviest tenor is at St. Lawrence Jewry (Guildhall), 36 cwt.; has a fine deep toll. St. George's East, 32 cwt. grand; same weight and key as Stepney and Shoreditch; the 7th rings the curfew, a practice now confined to four or five East-end parishes. It might be restored with great effect at Bow (Cheapside). Spitalfields, now only 8, the peal of 12, with a tenor of 44 by fire: tenor 334 cwt. very good, cwt. and chimes, having been destroyed is the 7th, which rings the curfew. This is done by the tenor at Bishopsgate, 224 cwt., but it is not very effective. St. Andrew's, Holborn, 28 cwt., very good. Aldgate, tenor same weight, also good. Clerkenwell, 24 cwt., very good. Islington, only 16, though usually supposed to be more; but effective. St. George's, Southwark, effective. Trinity Church, Newington; St. Peter's, Walworth; and St. George's, Camberwell; the latter only 134 cwt. but effective for the weight. Shadwell, small Rotherhithe, 18 cwt. and "chattering;" 14 cwt. Wool Greenwich, 24 cwt., very effective for the weight. wich, good. Christchurch, Surrey, ditto; both probably about 20 cwt.; as also St. John's, Waterloo Road, an excellent tenor. Lambeth; the peal is in a very maimed state, only the first six being usable. The tower may therefore be said, in an unfortunately literal sense, to “ keep" the "noiseless tenor." Perhaps archiepiscopal spirit It struck the writer as singular that at Winchester, where he has heard it was first introduced, the Curfew is not now rung at the Cathedral, or any Parish Church, but at the steeple or turret of the City Hall. and generosity will do something for this lofty and venerable tower, its close neighbour. May I venture to observe, Mr. Urban, that I think the pleasing epitaph on the Tradescants, in the churchyard, is so little hacknied that it will well bear one more quotation : Pause, traveller, ere thou pass! beneath this stone Lies John Tradescant-Grandson, Father, Son. The first died in his birthe; the other two Liv'd till they'd travelled art and nature through, As by their various wanderings does appear, Angels shall with their trumps awaken men, And fire shall purge the earth, these hence shall rise, And change this Garden for a Paradise. Kensington, 20 cwt. St. Giles in the Fields, light but not bad, 18 cwt. St. Clement Danes: the tenor here, 20 cwt. of deep and good tone, is said, in a life of Dr. Parr, to be 4 feet in diameter, the reason of which is said to be that "the bell is thin." The clock strikes a second time on a small supernumerary bell, as at Trinity college, Cambridge. The peal weighs 4 tons 13 cwt. 2 qrs. 8lbs. and was cast by "William and Philip Wightman, founders to her Majesty," in 1693, and given by Edward Clarke, one of the churchwardens. (Some pleasing painted glass, not unlike that at St. George's East, was put up in this church last spring.) The Chimes here, known as playing the 104th Psalm, are now mute, which must be termed discreditable, as it is understood that there is a bequest for their support. St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, 19 cwt. disagreeably loud; which is said to be owing to their being hung too low. St. Stephen's, Coleman Street; Whitechapel (21 cwt.); both middling. (The south wall of the latter church is out of the perpendicular, and should be attended to in time.) St. Dunstan, Tower, about 20 cwt. indifferent. All Hallows Barking, Tower Hill, about the same weight, but a good peal. I think, Mr. Urban, that the singular circumstance connected with this church is but little known; though, of course, it must have found a place in several topographical works. On the 4th Jan. 1649, it was “much injured and defaced by a lamentable blow of 27 barrels of gunpowder, at a shipchandler's opposite." Strange that such a quantity should be allowed to be kept in a street! And was rebuilt about 20 years afterwards, i. e. the western half, with the tower (of brick.) It is consequently in two styles; the three eastern arches on each side, with clustered columns, being in a fine style of the latter end of the 14th century; the western ones of mixed, or "debased" style, though not altogether ugly, the deformity being in the abrupt change. The side-aisles are wide, and the internal effect is handsome and airy, with ancient monuments; a heavy brass balustrade of some 200 years old round the Communion Table; some pleasing stained glass, as at St. Dunstan's East, and the very pretty little old church of St. Olave's, Hart Street; and what will do still more good to the heart of the visitor, a good list of those who " deliver the poor that crieth, the fatherless, and him that hath no helper," in a Table of Benefactions. There is also an excellent peal, tenor 25 cwt. in the fine and lofty tower of Hackney, now divested of a church immediately adjoining; but capable of lasting (though it might be as well strengthened by buttresses on the east) for several centuries. PEALS OF 10. The best, of course, in London, or perhaps in England, is St. Mary-leBow-tenor, 534 cwt., most decidedly superior to St. Paul's; weight and key same as the late one at York minster. The next in weight is St. Sepulchre, Snow Hill, 33 cwt. powerful and effective; Stepney, 32 cwt., St. Magnus London Bridge, 24 cwt. very good indeed; Bermondsey New Church, 25 cwt. good. A beautiful little peal, 20 cwt. with Chimes, at St. Dionis, Fenchurch Street. These (the peal) are said to be silent now, through the opposition of one or two neighbours of wealth and influence, which (no weakness of the tower being alleged) must be thought to partake of churlishness, if not to prove that Mammon has left "no music in his soul." St. Margaret's Westminster, 25 cwt., rather a thin and "chatter |