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I am indebted to his few words for the basis of this work. I must now, then, bring forward another, and that, the most important, personage connected with this note, and who was, in my opinion, the owner, and the user, of this interesting set of small crucibles. "John Bekinsau," (says Antony à Wood,) "a younger son of Joh. Bekinsau, an inhabitant of Hampshire, but a native of Bekinsau in Lancashire, where his name was ancient and gentile, received his first breath at BroadChalke in Wilts, and his grammatical education in Wykeham's School, near Winchester." Thus far I quote the words of Ant. à Wood; but it is unnecessary for me to pursue the biography of this John Bekinsau further, as I thus prove the family to be settled at Broadchalk, the parish, in which Aubrey subsequently resided; and, therefore, we may place the greater reliance on the account, which he gives us of the personage, of whom I am about to speak, from the local opportunity, possessed by him, of giving effect to his inquiring mind as to the olden times. I will only shortly state the following particulars of the John Bekinsau now mentioned that he was a Fellow of New College, Oxford, and that he vacated his fellowship by marriage-that he was a learned man, and a great friend of the celebrated Leland; and—that he wrote a book in the defence of the Royal Supremacy, which he dedicated to Henry, the Eighth, under the title of "De Supremo, et absoluto Regis imperio;" but, in the reign of Queen Mary, standing in awe, as I suppose, of fire and faggot, he sullied his character by passing over to the incomprehensible absurdities-the follies, and mummeries of Papistry. "After Queen Elizabeth was settled on the throne" (says Antony à Wood) "he retired to an obscure Town called Sherbourne in Hampshire, where giving way to fate in great discontent, he was buried in the Church of that place 20 Decemb. in fifteen hundred fifty and nine, aged about 63 years." + From him, I presume, descended the important personage, of whom I am about to speak. I cannot detail the genealogy with certainty, but I will make my extract in the very interesting words of Aubrey, which will again introduce the curious lines of Charnock, before repeated :—

"Sir White Beconsaw (two sons), viz.

Sherborne St. John and Monks' Sherborne are two large villages near Basingstoke, containing (according to the last census) respectively 702 and 522 inhabitants. To one of these Antony à Wood must refer.-E. D. +"Athenæ Oxonienses," Vol. i. p. 129. Edit. 1721.

"Mr. John Bekinsau.*

"Sir James," (Bekinsau or Beconsaw) " Vicar Choral (as I conceive) of the Church of Salisbury in the reign of King Edward, the Sixth, was wholly addicted to the Study of Chymistry. Now as Socrates himselfe wrot nothing, whilst Plato, his Scholar, praised him to purpose; so, whilst the Pen of Sir James was silent of his own worth, Thomas Charnock, his Scholar (whom he made Inheritor of his Art) thus chants his commendation, in his Ænigma Alchymiæ:'

'I could never finde no man but one,

Which could teach me the secrets of our Stone,
And that was a Priest in the Close of Salisberie :
God rest his sowl in Heaven full merrie.'

"This Sir James pretended, that he had all his skill, not by learning, but by Inspiration, which I list not to dispute, He was alive Anno 1555, but died about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth."

Here then, I think, I may, with Archimedes, cry " Evenna -here, then, my gentle reader, may I congratulate you on your arrival at the long-desired information. After, therefore, renewing my remark, that Priests were in that æra dignified with the appellation of Sir, I must proceed to observe, that the same person, whom Charnock, in the before recited extracts, designates in the first instance (with the nonsensical reservedness of alchymists) under the covert, and reversed, initials of J. S., and in the second, under those of S. J., he developes in the third, and last, by the-Sir James, but still veiling the person referred to by the omission of the surname. Here, then, we have the satisfaction of learning, that Aubrey does recognise the Sir James Bekinsau as the "Priest in the Close of Salis

It is most probable, that the present family of Beckingsale, of Salisbury, is descended from this John Bekinsau, as his brother James, the Alchymist, being a Priest, was, by the papistical religion, unnaturally debarred from marriage. The corruption of name is no argument against this supposition, but rather confirmatory of it, since this Bekinsau, in Lancashire, (as Antony à Wood gives its orthography) is now converted into Becconsall, as thus appears by "Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England:" "Becconsall," (says he,) "a joint Chapelry with Hesketh, in the parish of Croston, hundred of Leyland, county palatine of Lancaster, 11 miles (N. by E.) from Ormskirk, containing, with Hesketh, 528 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual Curacy in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £400 private benefaction, and £600 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Rector of Croston."

berie." I must now advance one, and the last, step further. The presentation of the Church of St. Thomas, Salisbury, is in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of that Cathedral, and they have often conferred this preferment on one of their own establishment-on one of their Choral Vicars (as in the instance of the present worthy possessor.*) Now Aubrey does bear testimony, that Sir James Bekinsau was a Choral Vicarthat he was a deep Alchymist-that he lived in the reign of Edward, the Sixth-that he was connected with Charnockthat he was the "Priest of the Close of Salisberie," as pointed out by him—and we may fairly infer-nay-gentle reader-we must justly conclude, that he, Sir James Bekinsau, was the Priest of the Church of St. Thomas-that the room over its late northern porch was his laboratory, where,

66

Apart from noise, and ceaseless strife,

He sought the means to lengthen life,"

but where, perceiving, "that his smooth, and rosy, visage yielded to the furrows of time, and the pallor of advancing age-that the serenity of his mind, too oft, was discomposed by the twinges of rheumatism, and the pains of gout-that his eyes became dim, and that, in hearing, he heard not as he was wont-in fact that, in spite of Alchymy, he was-as all men aremortal; he, then, in the vexation of spirit, and in the bitterness of disappointment-walled up his crucibles-folded his armsand quietly, and piously, awaited the universal doom of nature." "He died" (as Aubrey saith) “ about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth." "God rest his Sowl in Heaven full merrie!"

NOTES TO ESSAY V.

NOTE 1-(p. 97.)

Cypræa moneta." This shell is one of a numerous genus denominated the " Cowry or Gowrie," and the generic characters of that genus are thus given in Turton's translated edition of theSystema Nature" of Linnæus: "Cypræa. Animal, a slug shell univalve, involute, subovate, smooth, obtuse at each

The Rev. J. Greenly.

end aperture effuse at each end, linear, extending the whole length of the shell, and toothed each side."

Of this shell there are described in the above-mentioned work, no less than 120 species; and the following is the description of the species in question-the " Cypræa moneta:" "Shell whitish-with a knotty margin." After a reference to numerous conchological authorities it is stated, that it "inhabits the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Ethiopic, and Indian Seas; is fished up by the Negro women, three days before or after full-moon, and transported into Bengal, Siam, and the adjacent islands, and is the species used by the native Blacks in commerce, instead of money."

NOTE 2-(p. 111.)

"Vail his bonnet." It is singular, that two verbs—the one derived from the Latin-the other from the French Tongue, should so nearly approach each other in orthography, and pronunciation, as to have somewhat, occasionally, tended to confusion; and yet they are, in fact, of opposite meanings. To veil signifies to cover the head and face so as to disguise the appearance. To vail denotes the taking off the covering from the head in token of respect, or submission. This word is (by a metaphor of nautical application) used, when the top-sail of a ship is lowered as the demonstration of submission; and, in exemplification of this meaning, I beg permission to quote the following passage from "The Survey of Cornwall," by Richard Carew, of Antonie, Esq. This author was connected with Camden, Stow, and the other worthies of the sixteenth century, who, meeting at stated times at the house of Sir Robert Cotton, first laid the foundation of "The Society of Antiquaries" Society, which has done much for their country's good—which has acted as the literary clasp to connect the former with the present age which has vastly increased the sum of general knowledge and (however it, and its members, may be derided by the conceited, and the ignorant,) has much assisted to prevent the mind of man from falling into a state of barbarism. Avast! then, the sneers and scoffs of the modern Sciolist-let him point out, if he can, the demarcations between ancient and modern lore, and let him now be told, that all knowledge is connected in one lengthened chain, the latter links of which are useless, unless supported, and held up, by the former; and

that the latter, when revolved on alone, are as the fragments of a rope-of sand; they elude the grasp.

Of this Richard Carew, the quaint, and honest, Tom Fuller thus writeth in his "History of the Worthies of England:" "Richard Carew, Esquire, Son to Thomas Carew and Elizabeth Edgecomb, was born at Anthony in this County," (Cornwall,) "of right worshipfull parentage, who honoured his extraction with his learning. He was bred a Gentle-commoner in Oxford, where, being but fourteen years old, and yet three years standing, he was called out to dispute extempore, before the Earls of Leicester and Warwick, with the matchless Sir Philip Sidney.

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"He afterwards wrote the pleasant and faithfull Description of Cornwall,' and I will not wrong his memory with my barbarous praise, after so eloquent a pen:

"Sed hæc planiùs et pleniùs docuit Richardus Carew de Anthonie, non minùs generis splendore, quàm virtute et doctrinâ nobilis, qui hujus regionis descriptionem latiore specie, et non ad tenue elimavit, quemque mihi præluxisse non possum non agnoscere.'

"This his Book he dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh, with this modest compliment, that he appealed to his direction whether it should pass; to his correction, if it might pass; and to his protection, if it did pass ;'t adding, moreover, that duty, not presumption, drawing him to that offering, it must be favour, not desert, must move the other to the acceptance thereof.' This Survey was set forth 1602; and I collect the Author thereof died about the middle of the Reign of King James. know not whether he or his Son first brought up the use of gambadoes, much worne in the West, whereby, whilst one rides on horseback, his leggs are in a coach, clean and warme, in those dirty Countries."

Carew's "Survey of Cornwall" is a book, alike delectable from its simplicity of diction, and its varied information. It was re-published a few years since, with the notes of Tonkin, by the late respected Lord de Dunstanville.

Camden's Britannia. Lat. edit. + In his Dedicatory Epistle.

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