enment which would have enabled them to discern that there is no essential difference between "the church" and any other corporation.

After the attainder of Robert de Ferrers, the presentation to this church passed, with the rest of his possessions, into the hands of Edmund, son of Henry III., afterwards created Earl of Lancaster, and successively to his sons Thomas and Henry. Blanche, the daughter and coheiress of Henry, carried it to John of Gaunt, and thence it passed to his son, Henry IV. It continued in the crown till 1538, when Henry VIII. "appropriated" it to the see of Lichfield "ad usum mensæ." The bishop seems to have been the incumbent for the next twenty years, and the duties were performed by a stipendiary curate. In 1558, Ralph Bayne, then Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, made the living a vicarage, and endowed it with part of the great tithes.

As to the incumbents, I find that in the time of the monastery, and probably till the Conquest, there was a resident presbyter in the place, possessing one carucate of land. It has been already stated that after the Conquest, and after the Ferrers family had obtained possession of the presentation, the income of the church became considerably increased. In Pope Nicolas's taxation, in 1291, it, with its chapels of Marchington and Newborough, is rated at fifty marks. William of Belem is the first rector of whom there is any account: he lived in the days of Edward I., and alienated some of the church lands, which were afterwards recovered by his successor Sir Richard Papemer. Sir Richard was succeeded by Richard of Melburne, unless there are different designations of the same person, which is very probable, but cannot be ascertained from the scanty notices in the documents now before me. Richard of Melburne was succeeded, in 1363, by a Sir John Cheney, who was presented to the benefice by John of Gaunt. He became also prebendary of Sandiacre in Lichfield cathedral, and died in 1408. In the eighth year of Richard II. (1385) he caused a detailed account of the value of the rectory to be drawn up. This ancient rent-roll, commonly known here as the "cowcher," continued in the possession of the bishop's lessees till about the year 1809. I believe it has not been seen or heard of by the rightful owner since that time, nor can he account for its disappearance. There are copious extracts from the Latin original in "the vicar's book" before alluded to, and, by the kindness of a friend, I have the use of a translation of the whole, made, apparently, in the sixteenth century.

In the commencement, the translation, after stating that "the said Rentall is written in this booke to the perpetuall memory, evidence, and security of those that come after, that there may be recourse had thereunto when the foundation of any particular ought to be knowne," goes on to declare, that "therefore noe man ought in this Rentall to raze out anything, nor to take from thence, nor add to any new thing thereunto, nor to change the same any kind of way, uppon paine of incurring the curse of Jesus Christ, and the indignation of St. Werebridge the Virgin, the which punishment they that do contrary shall presently incurr."

The whole is curious. One portion of it (which may be hereafter

given among Antiquities,) shews the dependence of the two chapels before mentioned on their mother church.

Sir John Cheney was buried at the entrance of the chancel. A stone, with a small brass figure in full canonicals, marks the place of interment. It bore till lately a marginal plate, on which what follows of the original inscription, was legible a few years ago :—

"Dominus Johannes .

dralis Lichfield ac rector istius ecclesiæ CCCC octavo, cujus animæ propitietur Deus."

quondam canonicus ecclesiæ catheAnno Domini milessimo

Cheney was succeeded in his prebend by William Ulf; who succeeded at Hanbury is unknown. The next incumbent on record is Henry Lord, who was the first vicar, in 1558. "The vicar's book" contains a list of his successors down to the present time; but nothing is known respecting them till we come to Joseph Leigh, who was presented in 1624, and died in Lichfield garrison during the siege. A man of the name of John Presbury was placed in possession of the living by the committee of Stafford in 1648. They turned him out a few years afterwards as "a man of meane parts," and put in a Mr. Bee. He joined with the neighbourhood in petitioning Cromwell not to sell Needwood Forest, which we are told he purposed doing for the payment of his soldiers. The sale did not take place. Mr. Bee was turned out for nonconformity at the Restoration, and eventually thrown into Stafford gaol. A Mr. Farmer was then presented to the church. John Presbury continued to live in Hanbury, and died in 1667. Matthew Horberry, D.D., author of a dissertation on "The Eternity of future Punishments," and a volume of "Sermons," pronounced by the late lamented Bishop of Durham to be among the very best compositions of our English divines, was one of the vicars of this church. He resigned in 1772.

As to the monuments, Sir John Hanbury's, mentioned before, is the oldest; it bears a marble statue of a knight in armour, recumbent, cross-legged, and there is no trace of any inscription.

On the south side of the chancel there is another, with the statue of a knight in armour lying on his side; above them are two tablets -on the first is an epitaph, which, for its general historical interest, deserves insertion :

"CAROLUS EGERTONUS

"Miles Validus Hibernia (regnante Elizabetha) rebellibus turbatâ, primo caltri Capricfergusiensis constabularius, deinde Clanhughboysearum, Duffreni, Kilultagh, Bowti, et Clini in Ultonia præfectus, postea cohortis мм. peditum pro expeditione de Loughfoyle, ac in Anglicorum finium ibidem statutorum melius tutamen, ductor strenuus. Præsidiorum de Dundalke et Navon exin præses magnanimus: Antrimensisque comitatus bis vice comes.

"Eques auratus per regem Jacobum denique merito effectus hic situs est."

He died (as appears from the second tablet) in 1624. His son lies in the south aisle, next the crusader. He is represented lying on his back, in a riding dress, and without armour. There are two tablets above, as in the former case. On the first:

"MEMORIE

"Caroli Egertoni equitis aurati (Caroli et Catherinæ filii) Capricfergi in Hibernia anno MDLXXXV. nati, Collegii D: Johannis Bapt: in Academia Canta

brigiensi primo alumni, Hospicii Lincolniensis dein socii, foresta de Needwood capitalis saltuarii, et tertio Maii ao salutis humanæ MDCLXII sine prola defuncti."

On the second :

"Grisilda Leonardi Bawtre servientis ad regem filia conjux charissima hoc posuit."

The striking contrast between the characters of the father and son, and the evidence of Grisilda's being a staunch royalist, cannot fail to be remarked.

There are not a few other inscriptions of the seventeenth century, but none that would be generally interesting. There are some halflength figures, with dress and visage that bear evident marks of puritanism. It is curious that they are placed close to the tomb of the elder Egerton,-a place of honour to which they could have had no just pretension; and that Grisilda, to keep her husband from such company, has placed him in quite a different part of the church.

I find an entry in the register, of the death of the elder Lady Egerton, in 1609. It is in Latin, and is followed by a brief character of her.

This entry was made by Mr. Richard Hill, the then vicar, who has illuminated it with paintings of the armorial bearings of the family. This was generally done to entries respecting persons of family, from 1574, the earliest date in the register, to 1610, when this Mr. Hill died, and the custom was given up.

It is possible, I think, that Lady Egerton was not buried at Hanbury, and that this entry was made merely on account of her connexion with the place. Immediately following we find one respecting Bp. Overton, whom we know to have been buried at Eccleshall :

"Gulielmus Overtonus sanctæ Theologiæ doctor, Coventriæ et Lichfieldiæ Episcopus et Rector Ecclia. de Hanburie obiit 1609. in cujus mortem hoc scriptum erat Epitaphium."

Where I have left blank spaces, the words in the original are illegible; the general sense, however, is evident. The following is the entry preceding that of Lady Egerton :

"Amia Browne filia Hugonis Talmatch de Laneade Hall in comitatu Suffolke Armigeri, et quondam conjux charissima Humfridi Browne ex familia Browneorum de Walcot in comitatu Northampton orti, sepulta fuit 26 die Novembris Anno Domini 1608. In cujus mortem hoc scriptum erat Epitaphium sequens.

"Religion, zeale, the poores reliefe, and garde,

Her kindredes glory, and her sexes crowne

The squier by which trew womanhood was squarde
And vertues beutie, though sirnamed Browne.

All these and more, though few, have all posseste
Combynde in one, in one now buried bee,
Yet death seemde loth to ende a lyfe so bleste,
For four score yeares and five full lived shee.
The prime whereof was spent for honors sake,
In neare attendance on a Princesse hye,
The Suffolke Dutchess, where she found her mate
By whom she had three children lawfully:
That were as happy in her dearest lyfe,
As most unhappy when that lyfe they loste,
Who was as deare a mother, as a wyfe,
And a dearer wyfe no Fame could ever boste.
An open hande she had which made her houlde
An open house the hungrie mawe to fill,
Which made her dear to all, for still she would
Doe goode to all or els would want her will,
So that when all things in confusion lye,
Her praise o'er Chaos unconfuzde shall flye."

There is no doubt that this lady was not buried here; " 26 die" was inserted some time after the rest had been written. There were a family of Brownes, evidently connexions of her husband's, from the similarity of their arms, then resident in the neighbourhood. For I find the following entry among the "Chrystnings" of 1602 :—

"Eleonora filia Johānis Browne Generosi 16 Maii."

And, again, amongst those in 1598:

"Peregrinus Browne filius Johannis Browne Generosi baptizatus fuit decimo tertio die Julii. A.D. 1598."

DEVOTIONAL.

FROM THE PARISIAN BREVIARY.

ON THE FESTIVAL OF ST. BARNABAS, THE APOSTLE.

THE following extracts from this service are chiefly confined to such as are new in substance to the English reader-viz., the Hymns, and the Lectios in the Second and Third Nocturn. Those in the First Nocturn, it may be remembered, are always passages from scripture. The other parts of the office, which are omitted, are, as usual, portions of scripture, and mostly taken from the historical narrative concerning this apostle and the other early converts.

Who hath said unto his father and his mother, I know you not; and to his brethren, I am ignorant of you: neither did they know their own children, for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.

*

r. Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, he shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.- -v. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it

The word "mate" has since been altered into "make."

would utterly be contemned. He shall receive an hundred fold. Gloria Patri. receive an hundred fold.-Matt. xix.; Song of Sol. viii.

Cœlo datur quiescere,
Terris relictis, Barnaba ;
Solemnis hæc affert tuis
Finem dies laboribus.

Quem propter, agro vendito,
Opes caducas deseris,
Magno rependens fænore,
En, fundus ipse fit tuus.

Tu sacra per jejunia,
Tu publicas inter preces,
Jubente sancto Spiritu,
Christi crearis nuntius.

Quas non adis mundi plagas,
Pauli laborum particeps,
Vos unus ambo Spiritus,
Vos una junxit caritas.

Quam vestra gens Christi fidem
Luci rebellis reppulit,
Nil hæsitantes barbaris
Portastis illam gentibus?

Fac, Christe, nostris se tuum
Cum lumen offert mentibus,
Amore ne noctis suæ
Cœleste donum respuant.

Uni sit et trino Deo

Suprema laus, summnm decus,

De nocte qui nos ad suæ

Lumen vocavit gloriæ.

The Hymn.

Crown'd with immortal jubilee,

Thy soul this day set free,

* He shall

To the calm heav'ns from earth did pass,
O holy Barnabas!

He for whose sake, at whose dear call
Thou gavest up thine all,
He shall thine all, thy treasure be,
Lasting eternally.

'Mid fasting, prayer, and holy hands,
Lo, 'mid the saints he stands,
The Spirit's high behest to bear,

Christ's heav'n-sent messenger.

Thou hast with Paul in labours stood,
Blest bond of brotherhood!
One in the mandate sent from High,
And one in charity.

To what barbaric shores away
Did ye that light convey,

When boldly from your race ye turn'd,
Who Faith's glad message spurn'd?

Lord, when to us an offer'd guest

Shall come that Spirit blest,

Let not our hearts Heav'n's bounty slight,
Deeming their darkness light.

All glory and all praise to Thee,
Thrice holy Trinity,

Who hast disclosed in this our night
Thine everlasting light!

v. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy,—r. The Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble.-Ps. xli.

AT THE NOCTURNAL OFFICE.

The Hymn from the Commune Apostolorum.

Supreme, quales, Arbiter,
Tibi ministros eligis,
Tuas opes qui vilibus
Vasis amas committere!

Hæc nempe plena lumine
Tu vasa frangi præcipis,
Lux inde magna rumpitur,
Ceu, nube scissa, fulmina.

Totum per orbem nuntii,
Nubes velut, citi volant,
Verbo graves, verbo Deo,
Tonant, coruscant, perpluunt.
Christum sonant: versæ ruunt
Arces superbæ dæmonum,
Circum tubis clangentibus,
Sic versa quondam mænia.

Fac, Christe, cælestes tubæ
Somno graves nos excitent;
Accensa de te lumina
Pellant tenebras mentium!

Disposer Supreme, and Judge of the earth,
Who choosest for thine the weak and the poor;
To frail earthen vessels, and things of no worth,
Entrusting thy riches which aye shall endure.

Those vessels soon fail, though full of thy light,
They at thy decree are broken and gone;

Then brightly appeareth the arm of thy might,
As thro' the clouds breaking thy lightnings have shone.

Like clouds are they borne to do thy great will,
And swift as the winds about the world go,
All full of thy Godhead, while earth lyeth still,
They thunder, they lighten, the waters overflow.

They thunder: their sound, it is Christ the Lord!
Then Satan doth fear, his citadels fall,
As when the dread trumpets went forth at thy word,
And on the ground lyeth the Canaanite's wall.

O loud be thy trump, and stirring the sound,
To rouse us, O Lord, from sin's deadly sleep;
May lights which thou kindlest in darkness around,
The dull soul awaken her vigils to keep!

(The Doxology as in the former Hymn.)