in his perverted imagination, that he would save at least his offspring from such a fate, he had found means of having poison administered to their child, which is said to have died in great agony. It was soon followed by its mother, who had never allowed the body of the child to be buried; and the father was shortly after tried before the ecclesiastical commissioners for being implicated in some heresy or other, and died in prison.

There is in one of the rooms a curious sort of long narrow cavity in the wall, shut in by a carved oak pannel, in which, according to the legend, the skeleton of the infant was found. The present possessor has himself heard a wild and painful cry like that of a child, at midnight; and an old man, who, while the house was formerly repairing, used to sleep in that room, has told the same gentleman, that he has often heard in the night the crying of a child.

Close to this house (Chicheley Vicarage,) is the old village church, which contains some interesting monuments of the Chesters, a family which still resides in the old manor-house near. There is something so quaint and original in the

incriptions on old monuments, that I never leave a village church without looking over them.

Collins says of Chicheley, that it was "A manor, part of the possessions of the dissolved priory of Tickford, and became part of the estate of Cardinal Wolsey in the 18th of Henry VIII. When Wolsey fell into disgrace, the king seized the estate; but, in the last year of his reign, gave it to Anthony Cave, Esq.; by marriage it devolved to William Chester, Esq., of ancient family ('citizens and drapers of London'), whose successors have ever since made it their residence."

In Chicheley Church there is on a brass plate a Latin inscription to the memory of Antony Cave, the first possessor of the old manorhouse, who died in 1558. The following is a

translation of part of it:

"All

ye that pass here by,

Ye may be where I lie :

Soon gone, sooner forgotten,

So shall you be that come after,

Therefore remember and remember again."

One of the best monuments in the church is that of Sir Anthony Chester, who was advanced to a baronetcy by King James the First. Two marble figures representing himself and his wife, attired in the picturesque costume of that period, are kneeling with clasped hands opposite each other, and their countenances express feelings of great devotion. The tablet underneath expresses that "His third son erected this monument to the memorie of posteritie, May, 1637."

Sir Anthony's first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Boteler, has this quaint inscription in the same church: "Dame Elizabeth Chester, died the 5 April, 1629, at the age of 63, by whose virtue and wisdome that family is much advanced."

Sir Anthony Chester, Bart., the third of that name and title, married Mary, daughter of Samuel Cranmer, Esq., the quartering of the coat of arms showing her to have been a descendant of Archbishop Cranmer. On a marble tablet against the wall in the chancel of Chicheley Church, a Latin inscription to this Sir An

thony imports, "That he was an honour to his family, and not more excellent by descent than by virtue that there was seldom to be found one who so faithfully discharged all offices of a pious man, subject, husband, father or friend. He loved the good and cherished the learned; he entertained all freely and hospitably; followed virtue, and excelled in that part which makes mankind honoured; triumphing in piety, innocency, constancy and faith."

On another part of the same tablet we read, "Here lies, together with her beloved husband, and not less beloved than him, the Lady Mary Chester. She traced her descent from the illustrious Cranmer, and imbibed the true faith from that fountain-head of the true Reformation. As far as she could, she trod in the footsteps of her great ancestor, resembling him in morals and disposition. She lived beloved, and died lamented by her friends and family."

CHAPTER III.

Impressions at Brussels and Cologne-Schwalbach-Agréments of Table d'hotes.

I SHALL here insert some notes I made during a tour in Germany, and a winter in Paris. I was in very bad health, and not able to see much of the places we visited; but I used to note down anything that struck me, either about the books we read, or the scenery through which we passed.

Cassel, June 28. Hotel de la belle Sauvage. ---Our hatred towards valets-de-place has been marvellously increased by this morning's walk.