"From Clauson to Melton," says Leland, "a good iii miles by good corne ground. Betwixt Trent ripe and Melton many benes and peson, as yt is communely thorough al Leyrecestreshir. From Melton to Burton Lazar, a veri fair hospital and collepiate chirch, scant a mile. To Borow hills more than ii miles. This standeth in the very hy way bytwixt Melton and London. 'o thes Borow hills every yere on Monday after White Sonday ome people of the contery therabout, and shote, renne, wrastle, dunce, and use like other feats of exercise." The parish of Melton is four miles in extent; and, the five hamlets of Burton Lears, Eye-Kettleby, Freeby, Sysonby, and Welby, are de pendant on the town, and included in the parish, paying levies to he mother church, and having divine' service performed at each in turn by the vicar. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the lordship of Melton, originally of very great extent, was in the possession of Leurie Fitz Leuin; and was the chief of twenty-seven lordships, which, after the conquest, was bestowed on Goisfrid de Wirce: at this remote period it had obtained the peculiar privilege of a market, whence accrued a revenue of twenty shillings per annum. Goisfrid was succeeded in the lordship by Nigell de Albini, whose son, by order of Henry the First, assumed the name of Mowbray, in which family it long continued. In the beginning of the seventeenth century we find it possessed by Robert Hudson, Esq. citizen of London, and a great benefactor to his native town of Melton. From the Hudsons, John Coke, Esq. purchased the manor and honour; which descended in 1750, by marriage, to Matthew Lamb, Esq. an eminent conveyancer of Lincoln's Inn, who was created a Baronet in 1755. In an act passed in 1760, for dividing and inclosing the several open and common fields and common pastures in Melton Mowbray, containing together about 2000 acres, Sir Matthew Lamb is described as lord of the honour and manor, and proprietor of a considerable part of the lands and grounds Ii 2 therein. * Itin. Vol. V. p. 93. therein. Sir Matthew died in 1768, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Peniston, who was created Baron Melbourne in 1770, and Viscount in 1780. Near this town a severe battle took place, Feb. 25, 1644-5,. between Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who commanded the royalists, and a party of the parliamentary troops, under the command of Colonel Rossiter. About the middle of the seventeenth century, several trades men's tokens were issued at this town; whençe Mr. Nichols infers that the place was then distinguished for "considerable traffic Six of the tokens are engraved in Vol. I. of the History of Leice tershire. Connected with this town are three bridges, over e rivers Eye and Scalford. These are repaired, and the streetstre preserved in good condition, with lamps, &c. from the rnts arising out of the town estates. Here is a weekly market on Thursdays; and at every alternate market is generally a læge shew of cattle. In this town are three annual fairs, and als♦ a statute fair for servants. It appears by the parish register, that in the year 1653, and some following years, the publication of banns was announced at the market cross, and that two justices of the peace performed the marriage ceremony. In this town is a manor oven, fourteen feet in diameter, the possessor of which endeavoured to compel all the inhabitants to bake their bread in it, in the time of Sir Matthew Lamb; but the townspeople refused to comply, and established another oven of larger dimensions. The church is a large, handsome structure; and consists of a nave, ailes, transepts, chancel, tower in the centre, and an handsome porch at the west end. The latter is a peculiar feature in the building, and has an elegant door way, with ogee arch; also two niches on each side, and two ornamented windows. Above this porch is the large western window, consisting of five lights, with four lofty mullions, and some decorated tracery. Over the ailes is a continued, and almost connected, series of clerestory windows, of three lights each. The whole church is crowned with an embattled parapet; and at each angle is a crocketed pinnacle. The tower consists of two stories above the church, of good proportion, and handsome architecture. In the lower tier are three lancet-shaped windows in each face, with long slender columns, having central bands, and plain circular capitals. In these windows the zigzag ornament prevails; and at the angles of the tower (in this tier) are three quarter columns. The upper tier is of a different, and later style of architecture; and the summit is adorned with eight purfled pinnacles, and a richly perforated and embattled ballustrade. At the north-east angle is a circular stair-case, projecting beyond the square of the tower. Within, the building presents a neat, and nearly uniform appearance; and the whole has been carefully and laudably preserved by the present worthy vicar, the Rev. Dr. Ford, who has, in this sacred building, set a most exemplary pattern to the neighbouring clergy. The nave is divided from the ailes by six high pointed arches on each side, springing from four clustered columns; and in the transepts are ailes, arches, with columns, &c. The transepts measure 117 feet in length, by 38 feet in breadth; from the western door to the chancel is 113 feet; the chancel is 51 feet long, by 21 feet in width; and the nave is 56 feet wide. Leland calls it "a faire paroche church, sumtime an hospital and cell to Lewis in Sussex." On the north side of the chancel is an embattled vestry, with the date of 1532 over its eastern window, Here are some fragments, and figures of painted glass. Among the monumental inscriptions is one to "ROBERT HUDSON, Esq. citizen of London, and of St. Mary Bothaw; was born in this towu, 1570; founded the hospital adjoining to the church, 1640; and died 1641." Several others of the Hudson family were interred here. In the south aile, commonly called Digby's Aile, is an effigy of a cross-legged knight, in a round helmet of mail, with a band, his shield on his left arm, bearing a lion rampant. Over him, in modern characters, "This is the LORD HAMon Beler, Ţi 3 brother brother to the Lord Mowbray." The town contains 348 houses, and 1766 inhabitants. The poor of this town are benefited by several charitable be⚫ nefactions; and among these are some public schools. As early as the reign of Henry the Third, we find these taken under the immediate patronage of that monarch. A large building was erected in 1795, to be appropriated to a free-school for girls. This town has given birth to the following eminent public characters. JOHN DE KIRKBY, who was canon of Wells and York, dean of Winburn, archdeacon of Coventry, and in 1272 be was made keeper of the great seal. In 1283 he was con'stituted lord high treasurer of England. He was presented to the bishopric of Ely in 1286, and died in 1290, when he was interred before the altar of his own cathedral. To this bishop the subsequent prelates of Ely have been indebted for their London residence; as he bequeathed, for their use, "his manor house, a capital messuage, with some cottages in the village of Holbourn, in the suburbs of London *." WILLIAM DE MELTON, provost of Beverley, and afterwards archbishop of York, was a person of distinction in the early part of the fourteenth century. He was appointed, by Edward the Second, lord high treasurer of England in 1325: and Edward the Third made him lord chancellor in 1334. He died at Cawood in 1340, and was interred near the western end of his cathedral church, where his coffin, &c. were discovered on new paving that edifice +. JOHN HENLEY, better known by the popular appellation of Orator Henley, was born here, August 3, 1692. Few public characters ever excited more notoriety than the one now under consideration; for, by a prolific pen and flippant tongue, he wrote * Nichols, Vol. I. p. 259, from Godwin de Præsulibus, p. 258. Ed. Richardson. + See Drake's Antiquities of York. wrote and descanted on almost every popular subject of the day. Public men, and public measures, were treated with a boldness and freedom of language, that provoked astonishment and curiosity. It will be impossible to delineate the varied characteristics and proceedings of this man, in the limited space which I am necessarily confined to in this work; but in detailing the following particulars, I hope to experience the approbation of the reader: For whenever it becomes necessary to discuss and decide on the merits of public characters, it should be done with freedom and discrimination. John Henley has furnished us with ample data for writing a copious memoir and character of him, in his own "Oratory Transactions." Oratory Transactions." Whence it appears, that ambition was his ruling passion; and this impelled him, in all his scholastic proceedings, to aim at pre-eminence. He was generally head boy, or captain, in each school, and acquired a considerable knowledge of languages, &c. When at College, he still persevered in his studies; and there displayed some traits of that spirit which afterwards excited so much popularity. “He here began to be uneasy," says Mr. Nichols: "he was impatient that systems of all sorts were put into his hands; and that he incurred the danger of losing his interest, and the scandal of heterodoxy, if (as his genius led him) he freely disputed all propositions, &c. He was always impatient under those fetters of the free-born mind; and privately determined, some time or other, to enter his protest against any person's being bred like a slave, who is born an Englishman. Here he also observed, that the space of four years was employed on the forming of such qualifications as might be mastered, to more perfection, in a fourth part of the time. He likewise found it was a great defect that, though he was brought up for a clergyman, he was not instructed to preach, or pray, or read prayers, or speak, or catechise, or confer, or resolve a case of conscience, or understand the scriptures, or form any natural and clear idea of the Christian religion. He determined, therefore, some time to lay a foundation for removing such a complaint, that men might be educated Ii4 |