if they mean either to render themselves confiderable, or to preferve themselves and their country from unreasonable and mifchievous attempts. You are my witness, that I have always had a very tender regard for that country; and now I have a fort of intereft in its peace and welfare, having disposed a child there; fo that you will excufe my zeal, and believe me to be, with very great fincerity and regard, Reverend Sir, yours, &c.' Befide the letters of Mr. Harley, publifhed in the collection, three others are inferted in Dr. M'Cormick's life of Mr. Carftares. The laft of them, which was written in 1713, fhews the deference which was continued to be paid to Mr. Carftares's opinion in Scottish affairs. He was defired in it to name the Commiffioner for the general affembly. Accordingly, he recommended the Duke of Athol; and that nobleman was fent down in confequence of his recommendation.

We find, likewife, in Mr. Carftares's life, a short letter to him from Mr. St. John, on the following occafion :

Whilft Mr. Carftares was employed in foothing the minds of his brethren under the repeated alarms they received during the four last years of Queen Anne's reign, he was no lefs active in animating them to a becoming zeal for the Proteftant fucceffion in the houfe of Hanover, as established by law. This he thought the more neceffary, as feveral of the Queen's principal favourites, during that period, lay under heavy fufpicions of a defign to fet it afide.

In the year 1711, Mr. Carftares being Moderator of the Affembly, prayers were ordered to be put up in all the churches for the Princefs Sophia and the Proteftant line in that family. Mr. Carftares acquainted Mr. St. John, then Secretary of State, with this particular, and received the following answer:

"Reverend Sir, Whitehall, 24th May, 1711. "I acknowledge, with many thanks, the favour of your letter, and intreat you to believe I read it with all the fatisfaction which that spirit of moderation, and that zeal for the Proteftant fucceffion, ought to infpire into every breast who wishes well to the Proteftant intereft, and to the public good.

"The Duke of Queensberry having, by order, acquainted you, how gracioufly your applications have been received by her Majefty, I have nothing more to add, but my very fincere affurances of being, Rev. Sir,

Your moft faithful and moft obedient fervant, H. ST. JOHN." This collection of State Papers and Letters doth not tend to inspire us with any very exalted opinion of the great men who flourished in Scotland, at and after the Revolution. Some of them, however, appear to have been perfons of integrity. It is to be feared that a minute examination of the characters of statesmen,

ftatefmen, of whatever age or country, will not greatly redound to the honour of human nature in general, or to the credit of courts in particular; which will be found, at all times, to have been grand corrupters of patriotism and virtue.

K.

ART. VI. The Antiquities of Furness; or, An Account of the Royal Abbey of St. Mary, in the Vale of Nightshade, near Dalton in Furness. 4to. 15 s. fewed. Printed for the Author, and fold by Johnfon, &c. 1774.

I

F the hiftory of our own country be of all others the most interesting, then whatever ftrongly marks the public and private economy of different periods, is deferving of notice: for in these the different principles, manners, modes, and interefts, which contain the ever varying annals of the human mind, are to be traced; and from there the most important leffons of civil and domeftic government are drawn. And, notwithstanding a change of modes and principles has altered much the minds of men with regard to fuch foundations as that here treated of, yet the venerable remains of fo many majestic piles erected by our ancestors, as well as the charters of their feveral privileges, immunities, and donations, will ever be an object of attention to the antiquary, and to every curious inquirer.

The prefent work was compiled by Mr. Thomas Weft, of Titeup in Furness*, as a fupplement to what has been collected by Sir William Dugdale, who is totally filent as to the edifice, whose venerable remains are a lafting monument of ancient grandeur, and religious pomp.--See the dedication, to Lord George Cavendish, the proprietor of Furness Abbey.

In the preface, we are informed that Mr. Weft's account is intended to give pleasure to the curious, and fatisfaction to those who visit the pompous ruins of Furnefs Abbey, by a particular and fuccinct description of each part of the building. The foundations are faid to be accurately marked out in the plan, which accompanies the work, and where each part is called by its proper name, with letters of reference: fo that even those who have not feen the ruins themselves, may from this account, together with the view, plan, and map of the country thereto annexed, form a juft idea of the whole.

Previous to any account of the Abbey and Antiquities of Furness, the Author gives a defcriptive view of the country;

The north-west part of Lancashire, wholly detached from the relt of the county, from which this district is feparated by a large bay of the fea, over the fands of which, at the time of low water, perfons may pafs on horfeback, with the help of a guide, though the paffage is fomewhat dangerous.

the

the first inhabitants of which he conjectures were the defcendants of thofe Celtic colonifts, who, coming from the continent, took poffeffion of the fouthern parts of the island, and extended their bounds to the north, as choice or neceffity urged. The new fettlers, upon coming into Lancashire, took a name expreffive of their fituation. As their territory lay upon the fea-coaft, between the rivers Merfey and Dudden, and was interfected by many large lakes, they called themfelves Setantii; whilft thofe who took poffeffion of Cumberland and Weftmoreland, were called Siftantii or Siftuntii;-names expreffive (as Camden obferves) of their maritime fituation, and of their living amongft lakes. What name the Siftuntian Britons gave to Furneis is now unknown: though probably the prefent is [only] a tranflation of the original one, which (Mr. Weft thinks) might have been Morben, or fome fuch British word, of the fame defcriptive meaning as the present Furness, or rather Fornefs, as the common people ftill pronounce it.The Setuntian Britons lived free within their own district, till about the beginning of the Chriftian æra, when they were obliged to fubmit to the power, and receive the name, of the Brigantes: a great tribe, which conquered, and gave laws to many of the inferior ones.

After being fubject to the Romans, Furnefs was poffeffed by the Saxons, who divided it into a number of fmall lordships, which each proprietor called after his own name: fome of which families (it feems) are ftill extant, and in poffeffion of thofe very eftates.

The people of Furnefs, in general, are civil and well-behaved; to ftrangers, hofpitable and humane. This univerfal civility and good manners is the characteristic of the country, and diftinguishes it from thofe parts of the kingdom where an importunate curiofity fometimes degenerates into an offenfive rudeness among thofe of the loweft ftations.-As the air here is falubrious, the inhabitants frequently live to a good old age. Henry Kelly of Dalton, in particular, died A. D. 1720, aged 116.

In the firft Chapter of this work we are informed that the Abbey of Furnefs was founded A. D. 1127, [but in the foundation charter, at p. 21, 'tis 1126.] 26 Henry I. by Stephen Earl of Morton and Bulloign, afterwards King of England, in a place called Bekang's-Gill; a name given to it from Bekang, fignifying the Solanum Lethale, or Deadly Nightshade; a plant growing plentifully in that neighbourhood. monks originally placed in this monaftery, were a filiation from the monaftery of Savigny in Normandy, which had been founded about fifteen years before that of Furness, and fourteen years after the eftablishment of the Ciftercian order. This

The

Chapter

Chapter is chiefly employed in giving an account of the Ciftercian and Savigny order, of monks in particular, as well as of the origin and progrefs of the monaftic life in general.The Ciftercian rule and manner of living (we are told) proved fo agreeable both to the prelates and people, that in a few years there were in England and Wales no less than 85 houses of this order, either new founded or reformed; of which that of Furness was one.-It is remarkable, that all the houses belonging to this order were dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

"The Ciftercians generally made choice of folitary and uncultivated places for the fcites of their houses; on which account all their lands, whether cultivated by themselves, or by others at their expence, were exempted from the payment of tythes and it appears to have been the favourite practice of the monks to apply themselves affiduoufly to the improvement of their lands, more especially during the firft fervour of their inftitute. That they had followed this mode in Furness, is fufficiently evident from the numerous marl-pits that are to be feen on all their eftates which lie near the Abbey and Granges; and yet the use and memory of this method of improvement of Jands are now loft in those parts; nor do the inhabitants fo much as imagine that wheat was ever raised in Furness till of late years, notwithstanding, as will be fhewn in the sequel, it is a certainty that the monks had not only fown wheat, and inftructed their tenants in that branch of agriculture, but actually used to receive rent in that kind of grain."

Many and great were the privileges, franchises, and immunities, granted to this order in general by fundry princes and pontiffs; and on fome particular monafteries very special favours were conferred. The monks were exempted from appearing in any court above two days journey from the mona ftery, upon the trial of any cause whatever. They were exempted from tythes; and the ordinary could not call upon or punish them for any crime; neither could their houses be vifited by any one, except their own abbot. Their benefactors, and those who frequented their mills, together with their friends and fervants, were exempted from excommunications and Pope Boniface XI. attempted to exempt them from paying tythes for their lands, though let out to others; but this was rejected by King Henry IV. who never would permit the bull for that purpose to be executed. The monks of Furness enjoyed all these privileges and immunities in common with their brethren, together with other particular privileges and favours from the fee of Rome; Pope Eugenius III. having received this Abbey into his fpecial protection.

Having faid fo much of the rife and progrefs of monaftic life as is fufficient to give the reader a juft idea of it; the Author

next points out the time and occafion of monks being introduced into England, and states the reasons affigned by modern writers for the rapid progrefs which the different religious orders made in this kingdom; concluding the chapter with a candid apology for these foundations: in which he justly observes, that"Whatever inconvenience afterward accrued to the government and people, under the reigns of impotent princes, yet were they not the necessary confequence of fuch inftitutions, but of the intriguing ambition of artful and defigning men, fuch as have often difturbed, and fometimes fubverted, the best eftablishments, to answer the vileft purposes."

Chap. II. contains a tranflation of the Foundation Charter of this Abbey, by Stephen Earl of Bologne, A. D. 1126; and an account of the many fubfequent benefactors thereto.

Chap. III. treats of the order, drefs, and privileges of the Ciftercians which order had its origin at Cifteaux, in Burgundy, about A. D. 1078, and was introduced into England foon after the Conqueft. The Furnefs monks, we are here told, were the second house that received the reform called the Ciftercian or Bernardin rule. They enjoyed all the privileges com. mon to the order; and the nobility and gentry seem to have emulated each other in heaping favours, gifts, and donations, on this monaftery: the princely foundation of Earl Stephen having been frequently augmented by various benefactors, and the whole confirmed by the charters of no less than twelve fucceeding monarchs of England, as well as by the bulls of divers Popes: fo that, upon the whole, few Abbeys could boaft of more royal protections than this of Furness.

Chap. IV. gives us the fucceffion of the abbots,-who were frequently men of family: " for (as Mr. Weft obferves) although every profeffed monk had in chapter a voice, active and paffive, to elect or be elected, yet the election was generally influenced by family intereft-The office of Abbot was of the utmoft confequence to the domeftic happiness of the monks, and to the intereft and fafety of the Convent: the fuit and service done at the abbot's court gave him great fway in the county affairs; the conftant hofpitality kept up at his table attached to him many retainers; and the civil, as well as the ecclefiaftical places of profit in his gift, furnished him with frequent opportunities of ferving his friends: from thefe circumftances a political view arofe, which induced the greatest families to have always fome of their children placed in those honourable feats of wealth and power; and the monafteries were on their part as ready to receive them. The Furness monks differed not from their brethren in their political conduct; and the families of Lancafter, York, &c. in their turns furnished them with Abbots.". A catalogue of those Abbots

REV. Mar. 1775.

is