and are, in general, and most deservedly, thought, by men of learning and liberal sentiments, to be as much superior, in point of composition, and for religious and moral instruction, as the Liturgy of that Church is superior, in the judgment of its members, to all other Forms of Worship extant in the world. In making this introductory remark, or adducing the following particular instance of their excellence, I am very far from supposing that an equal degree of merit may not, in some cases, attach to the Discourses of those pious, able, and worthy Ministers of the Gospel, who, ou principles of conscience, however erroneous, dissent from that Establishment, and are an honour to their own, and would be to any sect or description of Christians upon earth; and I am confident would unanimously concur in my opinion, of that which is the present subject of my encomium; being perfectly free from all controversial points of doc trine, and illustrating a passage of Scripture History in itself most interesting to the tender ties of nature.

On Midlent Sunday the first Lesson of the Evening Service is the 45th Chapter of the Book of Genesis, wherein Joseph maketh himself known to his brethren; and the Text the Dean judiciously selected was taken from the fourth verse, the most impressive and affecting part of that sacred narrative Joseph your brother."

"I am

In a very elegant, yet perspicuous style, the Dean enlarged upon this unexpected and astonishing discovery, Aware of the powerful effect it must

have upon the feelings of his audience, he cautioned them not to take

a tale curiosity

their amusement, or merely to gratify their feelings, but as exhibiting the power and providence of God, in making even the vices, as also the virtues of his creatures, instrumental to his gracious purposes in his government of the world; alarming conscious guilt with the fear of retribution, in order to produce that sincere contrition for their offences, which is ever the object of his merciful dealings with the wicked; and pourtraying in the high and amiable character of Joseph the important virtues of forgiveness of injuries, brotherly love, and filial veneration, which are all so strictly enjoined, and often immediately rewarded by our Heavenly Father.

In this Discourse the Dean introduced the mention of a custom in some parts of the country which he is acquainted with (but which does not obtain in this part of private families assembling in the house of the head or senior of their respective branches, on the day when this af fecting and instructive lesson is appointed to be read, and making it a day of innocent and cheerful festivity, upon the purest principles of religious and moral consideration; for the express and laudable pur poses of consigning to oblivion, and thus happily terminating, all domestic differences; renewing and strengthening the ties of relative connections, and impressing on their hearts and minds those important duties on which the happiness of private life so essentially depends: thus giving to this lesson of Religion the force and effect which all its lessons were intended to have, and, if equally regarded,

regarded, would assuredly have, on the immediate welfare and true enjoyment of our lives; would most effectually avert that mournful apprehension which the Patriarch expressed when he at first refused to part from Benjamin; and tend, more than any other cause, to obtain for ourselves and our dearest relatives, the supreme blessing, to "bring down our grey hairs,' not with "sorrow," but with joy and comfort, "to the grave."

The annual resort of families to the dwelling of their head, whether on the day above-mentioned, or (as is more usual) at the commencement or the end of the year, that important space of time by which human life is measured, must unquestionably have a great tendency to promote those desirable purposes for which it should be held; when every absent member, whether in the ser vice of his country, or any other honourable, or just and necessary pursuit in life, or recently separated from the survivors by that inevitable event to which we are all approaching, and which the course of a year may very probably have produced, will claim in the breasts of those who fondly love, or tenderly remember them, the sacred privilege of the absent and the dead, to have all their virtues commemorated, and all their faults forgotten.

The subject of the Dean's Sermon was particularly interesting to me, it will be readily believed, when I inform your Readers (which indeed it no otherwise concerns them to know, than as being my immediate inducement to make, and to communicate, the foregoing remarks upon that admirable Discourse) that I have an only son abroad, who holds an appointment in the Civil Service of the East India Company, to whom I am indebted for every joy and comfort that a parent can derive (his presence alone excepted) from a dutiful and amiable youth, distinguished by those who know, and have the goodness to patronise him, for every engaging quality and every estimable virtue; with whom I hope to share, "before I die," the endearing transports of a meeting, at some distant day, such as the venerable Patriarch and his beloved son experienced; to the happiness of which it is not,

however, requisite that he should become a Ruler over all the Land of Egypt, or of India. W. B.

ARCHITECTURAL INNOVATION.
No. CXXII.

UMOUR has, within these few

the enormous sums which are to be devoted to the work of improving the Front of Westminster Hall, and the Exterior of Henry the Seventh's Chapel; and well may the actors in this undertaking strain every nerve, and conjure up every influence, that the tempting bait may not vanish from their grasp. Ill-fated times, when those who have the power to save our Antiquities, have not the inclination to ward off the impending blow! Say rather, they hurry on the fatal hour. Nothing can more fully prove this, than the writings of your "Old Correspondent," pp. 110, 415, who enters on the pages of this Miscellany with a professed contempt for our remains of Art; casts every stigma on the study of their beauties; aud openly declares (he seems to thank Heaven for it) that he is neither an Antiquary nor an Architect (p. 416.); and yet, with unblushing front, presumes to direct, or at least advises and approves of the downfall and defilement of the precious relicks around him. Is such a man as this, whether high in his station, or in a state dependent, either eligible or competent to enter into a controversy about Antiquities or Architectural matters; to become both judge and juror in that cause where the poor plaintiff J. C. is struggling in the defence of our Antiquities; casting on him the most opprobrious stigmas; and condemning him to run in unison with a mind, which only the impious Voltaire could suppose existed in any one of God's creatures, but himself? My Readers will bear an answer in their own breasts!

BERMONDSEY ABBEY, SURREY. Within my memory, little remained of this pile but traces of the first Gateway entering into the Sanctuary, the second Gateway in nearly its original design (temp. Hen. VII.) long lines of walls, and some few uprights in the later Tudor manner, done either upon the brink of the expulsion of its holy brotherhood,

or

or

when certain parts of the Monastery were consigned to lay-residents, or to other foreign purposes. No vestiges of the Church or great Cloisters to be seen, nor was there any tradition where it stood. These premises being given, I proceed to my memoranda,

1779. I took a view of the second Gateway on its internal front; it shewed a large Archway, a Postern (stopped up and nearly obliterated) on the left, and a Buttress. On the right, a similar Buttress; and on the angle of the erection, an octangular Tower for a staircase, &c. A string or cornice completed the first Story. Second Story, modernised, with sash and garret windows, common tiled roof and chimneys. Before the Gate on the right, a butcher's shed; and on the left, other sheds.

1785. Took a view of the external front of the second Gateway, and line of wall in continuation, to the remnants of the first Gateway. The Archway to this front rather rich; the Postern-gate in good order; on the right and left, octangular but tresses, and over the Arch a cornice. Second Story modernized, as of the other front. About the middle of the line of wall was a curious piece of Saxon masonry, apparently introduced at some remote period, presenting an indented inclined cross, and on each side diagonals. At the end of the line of wall, the jamb of the first Gateway, the springing of the arch, &c.

The Parish Church adjoining in a transformed Wrenéan condition from its first features, and deserving of little notice,

1808. Want of employment with some people, a love of alteration in others, and the mad rage with the major part of the Bermondseans to get rid of every particle of those documents which proved their district had once a page in History, has this year contrived a new road (of no perceptible use or convenience) through the very heart of the existing walls of the Abbey, bearing down on either hand every venerated object that impeded their course, I have then, before the last devastating arm is raised, taken a survey of the whole site, and thus report accordingly.

The portion of the first Gateway' line of wall, and second Gateway destroyed: but it must not be forgotten, that the above-mentioned butchers and other sheds have been most conscientiously preserved, and with that true stimulus which is manifest with Innovators on all occasions.

The general plan of the remains gives the walls set at right angles one with the other; the greatest extent is from West to East, say 630 feet; width, say 225 feet. The arrangement then must have been vast and magnificent; and it is no very difficult matter, and I conceive no presumption, at this time to affirm, that there were two large Gateways on the West, three great Courts, besides inferior ones, a second Cloister, Dormitory, Refectory, &c. The uprights in being, as above stated, evince no particular part of the assemblage appertaining to the Monastery. Great portions of the walls support modern hovels; and in a garden on the South-east angle of the general wall (this particular part. of the wall, and in some other instances, shew the early brick-work, temp. Edw. IV.) are a number of small ogee pointed recesses. Here, I would have it understood, I suppose the second Cloister was raised. Among the Tudor uprights already stated, built, beyond a doubt, upon the basements of some of the first erections, is a fine Archway, Windows, &c.

On the South of the Abbey still runs the foss; part of it filled up, for a thoroughfare, called Grange Walk. This, perhaps, may be thought conjecture; but to those who contemplate the spot, this impression will have weight. In beholding those ruined walls, which are divested of cabins, and other shed-attached matters, we are compelled to exclaim, "How prodigious must have been their elevations when entire, as barely in any of their present heights is to be discerned the commencement of the cills of windows, or other decorations! From these circumstances I may have credit for averring, that these particular walls constituted the basements of the more important edifices, as the Dormitory, Refectory, &c.

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