the turning power by devices-such, for instance, as mesmeric passes; the action of the hand produces the requisite current: were the key hung by a thread, the slightest breath of air would produce a turning motion; and could the whole earth be suspended in the same way, a mouse would have the power to move it.

Lord Bacon merely enunciates such facts as these in his Novum Organum, although his statements are now revived, and by some regarded as prophetic as shadowing a mysterious principle applicable to their table-turning faith. When he said, however, that all bodies, when pressed upon, have a tendency to take upon them a turning motion, he was only stating that which he accurately observed, a fact which was then, as now, beyond all controversy, and the governing laws of which are in the present day taught to every Cambridge freshman who reads mechanics.

It is really wonderful to reckon how small a modicum of common sense might have dispelled the delusion of the table moving,' had the possessors willed to use it; and sad to think how tolerant the world is of every error, folly, or absurdity, even of the moral evils to which the kindred inventions of the table trick are tending, of everything, in fact, but of the still small voice of reason. It would be not unprofitable to inquire into the causes of that departure from rational sobriety thought which we now predict, in sober earnest, will make posterity look back on us with mixed wonder

of

and contempt. The table-moving frenzy, spread over two continents, is but a slight incident in the history of society, but that unhealthy state which prepared the ground for so facile a reception of such follies is no light matter for reflection. The propensity to discover wisdom in ideas which seem foolish or incomprehensible to men in general, is a very common form of vanity, and the temptation rises in proportion as the rejectors of false propositions possess superior claims to information on the subject. It is a glory to see further into truth than men of higher education can see, and where vanity suggests a strife, temper soon steps in to sharpen weapons of assault. Cries against prejudice, wilful blindness, class-interests, and so on, have been used by the victims of all the quackeries and follies of the last ten years, and have helped the selfish designs of many a trader in absurdities. Mere empyricism is, however, but a minor evil, but when psychological speculations are grafted on it the tendency of indulging in credulity ceases to be harmless. When new attributes are assigned to man-as in the pretended power to summon departed spirits-when new ideas are started, which, if carried out, would undermine every truth a Christian could repose on, when the monstrous pretension is actually put forth that one human mind may obtain power unlimited above another, it is time for all who value truth or wisdom to pause and ask whether it is justifiable even in trifles to foster such a dangerous characteristic of the

times.

those stirring times. The whole concludes with a date, setting forth that the edifice was constructed in the year of our Lord 1577.

During the reign of that second Solomon, James I., Northamptonshire seems to have been a very hotbed of treason. At Fawsley, the seat of Sir Charles Knightley, Bart. (by the way, one of the most beautiful OLD places in England), a room is still shown in which Guy Fawkes and his associates held their secret meetings, and of which the entrance and egress are to this day a marvel to all who behold it. At Rushton, the seat of Mr. Hope, within two miles of Rothwell, a detached building, several hundred paces from the house, and said to communicate with it by an underground passage, is supposed to have been a favourite rendezvous of the conspirators, where they might arrange their plans and construct their fireworks, uninterrupted and unsuspected; whilst the ancient family of Catesby -which seems to have supplied alternate favourites and rebels from William, minion of Richard III., and slain on Bosworth field by the Crookback's side, down to Robert, prime mover and originator of the Gunpowder Plot-is essentially and entirely indigenous to Northamptonshire alone.

But Rothwell can boast of others, besides its adventurous Sir Thomas, who bid for immortality, and in a more legitimate way. In the church, of which we shall presently have to speak, stands a huge stone coffin, surmounted by a brass plate, on which is engraved the likeness of a venerable man, with flowing beard and hair, devoutly kneeling in the attitude of prayer; on one side is represented the suppliant's coat-ofarms, and beneath is an inscription in the Latin language signifying the inefficiency of works without faith, and setting forth, though in other words, the humble confession, that when all is done we are but unprofitable servants. This plate bears the effigy of one Owen Ragsdale, of whom little is known save his piety and his demise in the year 1591. His charitable bequest, however, has long outlived his personal fame, nor is it presumptuous to hope that its effects may long outlast the sun

that gave him day.' Certainly, if the blessings of the poor can do aught for an immortal soul, then may you, good old Owen Ragsdale, take your rest in peace! By his will he founded an hospital for the reception of twelve old men, with a master or warden-each pensioner to receive about six pounds per annum, and the master to enjoy a salary of twenty. The government of this charity is in the hands of five trustees and five assistants, chosen from the neighbouring country gentlemen ; and so good an account have they rendered of their stewardship, that the number of pensioners is now nearly doubled, and the salaries and allowances, notwithstanding the difference in the value of money, increased in proportion. The old men now receive seven shillings a-week each, besides houseroom and fuel; and those who are not too infirm to work are permitted to earn what they can at their several trades, providing always that they attend prayers, read by the warden regularly every morning, and return before the hour of closing at night. On application to the proper authorities, they can likewise obtain leave of absence for a term not exceeding four days; and altogether these storm-shattered old barks have a very comfortable haven in which to ride out the remainder of their time. The hospital itself, bearing the name of its founder, and the date 1593-two years after his demiseis a quaint old building, standing pleasantly on the southern side of a hill, and reminding one, though in miniature, of several other institutions of a like nature for which our country is famous. There is no mistaking the cleanliness, good order, and neatness of an English hospital. Onentering it we found several of the old men working in their gardens, a pursuit in which they seemed to take much pleasure and pride; and the warden, himself no chicken, though a mere boy amongst the Nestors it is his duty to superintend, pointed out to us with natural exultation the early spring flowers, blooming on this southern exposure for those who could scarcely hope to see an earthly spring again. From the garden he showed us through the wards, of which there is one for

every four pensioners, each man having a bed-room exclusively to himself. Some of these were most comfortably furnished, and none, we remarked, without the luxury of a warming pan! In fact, one old gentleman, ninety-four years of age, rejoiced in the possession of two, a redundancy which argued but ill for his own bodily caloric. This venerable Bluebeard had married and buried,' to use his own expression, no less than four wives; but,' as he added with a smile of suppressed exultation, that's all over now.' Few of his fellows approached the years of our contented widower, but eighty appeared to be a common age amongst the pensioners; and such is the force of comparison, that a man of seventy walking through this hospital would fancy himself in the very prime and vigour of life. the master's house is another brass tablet bearing a Latin inscription setting forth the virtues and detailing the history of Owen Ragsdale, by which it appears that he was a most exemplary man in all the relations of life, and leaving no children of his own, adopted his poorer brethren as his family, and closed a life of charity and usefulness by the munificent bequest which to this day wins for him the old man's blessing, morning, noon and night. Peace be to his ashes! These are the truly great men, after all!

In

But meanwhile we are keeping our friend the clerk, a shoemaker by profession, an antiquary by preference, waiting at the church door with the keys in his hand. The disciples of St. Crispin, when not given overmuch to strong drink-a failing, I am sorry to say, in which the brethren of the awl outdo every other trade-are generally an intelligent race, and our friend, who unites the sobriety of a churchman to the acumen of a shoemaker, is as good a cicerone as can be desired on all subjects connected with the longdrawn aisle and fretted vault,' that are at once his care and his amusement, his pleasure and his pride. On entering the chancel, he informs us with praiseworthy alacrity that this fine old church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built in the year of our Lord 1133, and so far he is perfectly correct in affirm

33

ing that it is of no later date, since we ascertain, by reference to Brydges' laborious History of Northamptonshire, that it was granted by Henry I. to the Abbey of Cirencester, with its tithes and other emoluments, about that period, being one of the many valuable gifts bestowed upon mother church by the lampreyeating monarch. There is every reason to suppose, from the appearance of the vaults which we are presently about to visit, that a sacred edifice must have existed on the same site many years previous to the conquest; and in fact on the south side of the present church there are several remains of unquestionably Saxon architecture, and a beautiful porch of the same order, but little injured by decay, juts boldly out from the more florid buttresses and ornamental carving which relieve it, like some fine old Saxon Cedric, square and broad-breasted, girt with his simple linen garment, and armed but with the short sword upon his thigh, standing defiant amongst his Norman conquerors, steel-clad from head to heel in mail and plate, beautiful in the glittering panoply of knighthood and romance. The order of architecture to which the whole building properly belongs is the Norman-Gothic, of which it is a fine specimen, spoilt to a certain extent by sundry errors in taste, which might be easily rectified by patron or incumbent, or whosoever takes an interest in its beauty. The west door is worthy the attention of any artist who admires this fine old style, being a very perfect example of its success, and admitting him at once to a coup d'œil of that long perspective which calls up those ideas of extent and repose so congenial to the mind on entering a place of worship. first object of interest which arrests our attention in walking up the aisle, is a beautifully carved Saxon font, supposed to be one of the most perfect of its kind remaining in England, of which the cross-cut net-work is still sharp and crisp, as though it had but yesterday been subjected to the chisel. How many generations has that font admitted to the privileges of our blessed religion? How many a stalwart knight,

The