University of Virginia Library

See Verses written at Sandgate Castle, in memory of a Lady, by the late ingenious Dr. Langhorne.

Thomson, Author of the Seasons, resided part of his life near Richmond.

Dyer, Author of Grongar Hill; The Ruins of Rome; and that excellent neglected poem, The Fleece.

The Clent-hills adjoin to Hagley-park, and are not far distant from the Leasowes.

In the beginning of the Heptarchy, the town of Hertford was accounted one of the principal cities of the East Saxons, where the kings of that province often kept their courts, and a parliamentary council, or national synod, was held, Sept. 24th, 673. Chauncy's Hertfordshire, p. 237.

Towards the latter end of the year 879, the Danes advanced to the borders of Mercia, and erected two forts at Hertford on the Lee, for the security of their ships, which they had brought up that river. Here they were attacked by the Londoners, who were repulsed. But Alfred advancing with his army, and viewing the nature of their situation, turned the course of the stream, so that their vessels were left on dry ground; a circumstance which terrified them to such a degree, that they abandoned their forts, and, flying towards the Severn, were pursued by Alfred as far as Quatbridge. Smollet's Hist. of England, 8vo Edition, vol. i. p. 182.

Sir Richard Fanshaw, translator of Guarini's Pastor Fido, the Lusiad of Camoens, &c. He was son of Sir Henry Fanshaw of Ware-Park, and is said to have resided much there. He was ambassador to Portugal, and afterwards to Spain, and died at Madrid in 1666. His body was brought to England and interred in Ware church, where his monument is still existing. In Cibber's Lives of the Poets, it is erroneously asserted that he was buried in All-Saints church, Hertford.

The words marked with inverted commas are part of a stanza of Fanshaw's.

See Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, where the author makes a particular mention of the garden of Sir Henry Fanshaw at Warepark, “as a delicate and diligent curiosity,” remarkable for the nice arrangement of its flowers.

The New River brought from Chadwell, a spring in the meadows between Hertford and Ware, by Sir Hugh Middleton, a native of Wales.

The ancient name of Lisbon.

A considerable part of the New River water is derived from the Lee, to the disadvantage of the navigation on that stream.

“In the 25th of Henry III. on the 27th of June, Gilbert Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, a potent Peer of the Realm, proclaimed here [at Ware] a disport of running on horseback with lances, which was then called a tournament.”

“At this tournament, the said Gilbert was slain by a fall from his horse; Robert de Say, one of his knights, was killed, and several others wounded.”

This delightful retreat, commonly called Langley-bottom, is situated about half a mile from Ware, and the same distance from Amwell. The scene is adapted to contemplation, and possesses such capabilities of improvement, that the genius of a Shenstone might easily convert it to a second Leasowes. The transition from this solitude to Widbury-Hill, is made in a walk of a few minutes, and the prospect from that hill, in a fine evening, is beautiful beyond description.

See Elegy written at Amwell, 1768, p. 49.

See The Deserted Village, a beautiful poem, by the late Dr. Goldsmith.

Isaac Walton, author of The Complete Angler, an ingenious biographer, and no despicable poet. The scene of his Anglers' Dialogues, is the Vale of Lee, between Tottenham and Ware; it seems to have been a place he much frequented: he particularly mentions Amwell-hill.

William Warner, author of Albion's England, an Historical Poem; an episode of which, intitled Argentile and Curan, has been frequently reprinted, and is much admired by the lovers of old English Poetry. The ingenious Dr. Percy, who has inserted this piece in his Collection, observes that, “though Warner's name is so seldom mentioned, his contemporaries ranked him on a level with Spenser, and called them the Homer and Virgil of their age;” that “Warner was said to have been a Warwickshire man, and to have been educated at Magdalen Hall; that, in the latter part of his life, he was retained in the service of Henry Cary, Lord Hunsdon, to whom he dedicates his poem; but that more of his history is not known.” Mrs. Cooper, in her Muses' Library, after highly applauding his poetry, adds, “What were the circumstances and accidents of his life, we have hardly light enough to conjecture; any more than, by his dedication, it appears he was in the service of the Lord Hunsdon, and acknowledges very gratefully both father and son for his patrons and benefactors.”—By the following extract from the Parish Register of Amwell, it may be reasonably concluded, that Warner resided for some time at that village; and, as his profession of an attorney is particularly mentioned, it is pretty evident, that, whatever dependence he might have on Lord Hunsdon, it could not be in the capacity of a menial servant. Though Warner's merit, as a poet, may have been too highly rated, it was really not inconsiderable; his Argentile and Curan has many beauties; but it has also the faults common to the compositions of his age, especially a most disgusting indelicacy of sentiment and expression.

“Ma. William Warner, a man of good yeares and honest reputation, by his profession an Atturney at the Common Please, Author of Albion's England; dying soddenly in the night in his bedde, without any former complaynt or sicknesse, on Thursday night beeing the 9th of March, was buried the Saturday following, and lieth in the church at the upper end, under the stone of Gwalter Fader.”

Thomas Hassal, vicar of Amwell; he kept the above-mentioned Parish Register with uncommon care and precision, enriching it with many entertaining anecdotes of the parties registered. He performed his duty in the most hazardous circumstances, it appearing that the plague twice raged in the village during his residence there; in 1603 when 26 persons, and in 1625 when 22 persons died of it, and were buried in his church-yard. The character here given of him must be allowed, strictly speaking, to be imaginary; but his composition, in the said register, appeared to me to breathe such a spirit of piety, simplicity, and benevolence, that I almost think myself authorised to assert that it was his real one. He himself is registered by his son Edmund Hassal, as follows:

“Thomas Hassal, Vicar of this parish, where he had continued resident 57 years 7 months and 16 days, in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles, departed this life September 24th, Thursday, and was buried September 26th, Saturday. His body was laid in the chancel of this church, under the priests or marble stone. Ætatis 84. Non erat ante, nec erit post te similis.

Elizabeth Hassal, wife of the said Thomas Hassal, died about the same time, aged 78 years 8 months, married 46 years and 4 months.

Mr. Hoole, Translator of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered.

In Doomsday-book, this village of Amwell is written Emmevelle, perhaps originally Emma's well. When the New River was opened, there was a spring here which was taken into that aqueduct. Chadwell, the other source of that river, evidently received its denomination from the tutelar Saint, St. Chad, who seems to have given name to springs and wells in different parts of England.

Painting and Poetry.

Mr. George Smith of Chichester, a justly celebrated Landscape Painter, and also a Poet. Lavant is the name of the river at Chichester, which city gave birth to the sublime Collins.