Not The parlour at present is not furnished; and I was sorry to see the house and offices in such a state of neglect. Near the house is a field, in which are six trees planted on mounds of earth. These are probably some of the trees planted by Mr. Hollis, and named after celebrated patriots; he was accustomed to name his farms and fields in the same manner; but the farmer who now resides at Urles was not acquainted with the circumstance, and could therefore give no information on the subject. The field in which he was buried is close to the house; the parlour window looks into it. withstanding it was ploughed up at the time of Mr. Hollis's burial, the exact spot of his grave is well ascertained. According to the account of an old man now residing at Corscombe, who remembers Mr. Hollis, it was near the centre of the field, between a tree and a small rock; and as the ground has sunk down a trifle at one place, there can be but little doubt on the subject. The field has not been ploughed up since the time of his death. It is large and open, surrounded with trees planted by Mr. Hollis; from the upper part of it are some fine views, extending over the rich vales of Somerset. The Dorset shire Downs stretch away behind. I believe the nearest market town is Beaminster. The Disney family, who inherit the property, have never resided at Corscombe. Mr. Disney, the present possessor, was high-sheriff for Dorsetshire last year. The estate includes the whole of the parish of Corscombe, and part of Halstock. The interesting recollections connected with Corscombe, which may be considered as classic ground, from having been the residence of Mr. Hollis, sufficiently rewarded me for the fatigue attendant on a long and tiresome journey over some truly execrable roads. I. P. I. ham, York, Lincoln, &c. To how ** It is a coin of an Archbishop of Cambray. Specimens similar to it may be seen in De Boze's Plates, and in Duby's Monnoies des Prelates et Barons de France. The Legend on the reverse, within the inner circle, should be CAMERACY. We do not find any Coin of Archbishop Philip engraven in either of the above works. We beg also to refer A. T.Q. to Mr. for information respecting the Mints of Ruding's valuable "Annals of Coinage," English Bishops.-EDIT. Mr. URBAN, Bury St. Edmund's, April 2. BEG leave to send you a drawing (by my friend Mr. Isaac Johnson, Arundel Castle (see Plate II.) situated of Woodbridge) of the remains of dred of Launditch, co. Norfolk; and on my estate at Mileham, in the hunof an antient tomb, supposed to be the memorial of some Priest, in the church-yard of that parish, on the lity of giving any account of the latter, West side; much regretting the inabiand only what follows, relating to the former. ham a strong Castle, near the road There was formerly in Mileside, on the left hand beyond the church (the site of which is now part of the demesnes of the manor) surrounded by two deep trenches. In that part to the South was the Keep, with another trench, where are ruins of walls crossing it, and the North part was the Barbican. The outward ditch and inclosure appear to have gone cross the high-road, and to have inclosed the premises where Lord Chief Justice Coke was born, as may be observed on each side of, and behind it. The entrance seems to have been on the West side. Alan, the son of Flaald, ancestor of the Fitz-Alans, tained this manor from the Conqueror, Earls of Arundel, is said to have oband to have built this Castle. From the Earls of Arundel, this estate came into the family of Sir Thomas Gresham, knt. of London; and from Lady Gresham the manor, with that of Beeston adjoining * adjoining it, passed in 1585 to my ancestor, Stephen Barnwell, esq. of Cransley in Northamptonshire. The house wherein Sir Edward Coke was born was taken down, and a new one erected on its site, by the present owner, in the year 1792. I beg the favour of any of your Correspondents to inform me who bears the following coat of arms; Argent, 8 crosses patée, fleury at the ends, Sable, on each 5 bezants; on a canton of the 2d, a Conger's head of the 1st. This coat appears among some quarterings; viz. Bradbury, Edon, Sharp, and Cooper; the principal coat 1 never could learn. The one described approaches nearly to Whitgift, but has baffled the inquiries which I bave been able to make, FREDERICK HENRY BARNWELL. Mr. URBAN, May 20. I nor have I T is a question that has never able to meet with any Writer who has attempted it, by whom or by what method the Canon of the New Testa ment was settled and established., It is reasonable to suppose that a matter of such consequence to the whole world would not be left by Providence without some proper person, whose business it might be to collect together the books of which it is composed; and whose authority might be so much and generally respected, as to leave no doubt as to their vaJue and importance. That it was not determined by the authority of any Council, may be readily allowed, because no catalogue of these Books is found in any of the Decrees of any of the first Councils. But the mind does not accede so willingly to the proposition, that the Books were known to be the genuine writings of the Apostles and Evangelists, in the same way that we know the works of Cæsar, Virgil, Horace, and Tacitus, to be theirs and that the Canon has been formed on the ground of an upa nimous and generally concurring testimony and tradition. It is hard to be believed that such Books as those, of which the New Testament consists, can have been exposed to such an uncertainty. It is far more probable that they were collected and publish ed under such an authority as might bear a full and ample testimony to their divinity and authenticity. And that they were first collected under some authority of this kind may be expected, from their having been so generally received, without controversy or doubt, in all Christian countries, for a great length of time after they were first published and made known to them. For more than a hundred years, there does not appear to be any doubt about any of them. They are quoted, most of them, and appealed to in support of the Christian Doctrines, without any superior apparent suspicion that any of them or different from the others. Some three or four of them have no passages from them given in the earliest Christian authors; but it would be very unfair to infer from thence, that they were not then in existence. They might not furnish arguments so suitable to the purpose of these Writers, as those which they have made use of. "It is reasonable to suppose," Lardner observes," that most, or all, of these Writers received more Books or Writings of the New Testament, as sacred and canonical, than those expressly named or alluded to by them. They never designed to give a list or catalogue of them; all the mention of them is occasional only." And this learned author has furnished a succession of Writers, who have prov. ed their respect and reverence for them by their quotations of passages, or allusions to them, from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the second century. In all these, they are given as writings generally receiv ed by Christians, and without the Nothing remains but some coats of arms in the West window of the ground room, as follows: Quarterly, 1. Per pale, Gules and Azure, 3 eaglets displayed Argent. 2. Sable, a chevron Or, between three covered cups Argent. Folcarde. 3. Argent, a chevron Azure, between three chaplets. Crespinge. 4. Gules, a griffin segreant, and semée of cross crosslets Or, Pawe. These in an old-fashioned shield, decorated with a handsome mantle, and surrounded by the crest. On a chapeau Gules, turned up Erm. an ostrich, with a horse shoe in its beak, proper. On the dexter side A smaler coat; viz. Coke impaling Paston. On the sinister side, another Coke impaling Folcard. least least apparent doubt of their being genuine and authentic. But not a word transpires, in any of these anfient authors, as to the person or method by which they were collected into a volume for the use of themselves and future ages. Ignatius, who was bishop of Antioch in the latter end of the first, and beginning of the second century, is the first of those writers who has used expressions importing a collection of the Gospels and the Epistles, and of the Books of the New Testament in general. But Polycarp, who lived at the same time, seems to go farther, and to give to the Books of the New Testament the name of Sacred Writings, or Holy Scriptures, and to shew that they were much read by Christians. This Lardner tells us; and he adds, he has this declaration also, which appears to respect the writings of the New Testament: "And whoever perverts the Oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says, there is neither Resurrection nor Judgement, he is the first born of Satan." So many exhortations in the words of Christ and his Apostles, the same learned author observes, in so short a letter (as this of Polycarp), are a lively evidence of the respect which Christians had for these books, and that these things were deeply engraved on their memories." From this account it may justly be inferred, that in the time of these Fathers, which did not much exceed the end of the first century, these Scriptures were well and generally known among Christians. There is, therefore, reason to believe that they must have been then, for some considerable time, collected together. And this will naturally lead us to a most probable conjecture, as to the person by whom they were first published in a volume, though no direct evidence has been preserved by any of these Writers. They might not think it necessary to mention him, as there could be no doubt with themselves, nor was it probable there would arise any in future times. The great length of the life of St. John is an argument that has never been taken into consideration by any writer on this subject that I have met; and yet it carries with it something ttle short of demonstration. That the Apostle St. John lived to a great age, there seems no reason to doubt, it is generally admitted and asserted by all the antient Fathers who have mentioned him. Irenæus, according to Lardner, in two places of his work against Heresies, says, "that John lived in Asia till the time of Trajan," who succeeded Nerva in the year of Christ 98. Jerome also says, that the Apostle John "lived in Asia to the time of Trajan; and dying at a great age, in the sixty-eighth year after our Lord's Passion, was buried near the city of Ephesus." Supposing our Lord to have been crucified, the same author observes, in the year 32 of the vulgar æra, 68 years will reach to the year 100, or the third of Trajan. But it is not necessary to support the present hypothesis, to suppose that the Apostle did live to so great an age. If he lived only a few years after the destruction of Jerusalem, he must have had full time for the office which I am inclined to attribute to him. That he survived the ruin of his country, we may safely believe, because our Saviour has prophesied that he should do so. "If I will that he tarry till I come," has not appeared to some commentators a positive answer to Peter's question; but the event has proved that it was. It was as much as to say, my will is, that he shall tarry till 1 come. And so it was understood by St. John, though it might possibly appear to St. Peter a reproof of his improper curiosity. "Till I come," in this passage must mean some event that would happen in this Apostle's life-time; and it is believed generally to mean the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jew ish State; though some learned men have lately been pleased to think otherwise, as to this phrase, in this and all other places where it occurs. If St. John lived beyond this event, which happened in about forty years after our Lord's death, he could not be less, at that time, than seventy years of age; and if he lived to the time of Trajan, he must have surviv ed it full thirty years. Polycarp, it has been above observed, quotes the Books of the New Testament in a manner that gives reason to think that they were, in his days, generally known among Christians, and had been collected together for some time. This Father flourished in the first part of the second 'cen tury. 516 tury. Dupin supposes him to have been born about A. D. 70, and to have consecrated himself to the ser vice of God in the year 81. He also describes him as a disciple of St. John. And at the Apostle's death, he might not be less than thirty years old. From this account it is clearly proved, that the Books of the New Testa ment were collected together during the life of St. John. And if it was the case, it can scarcely be doubted that they were so collected by himself, or under his immediate direction and authority. Nor is there any objection to this hypothesis from the time when any of the Books of the New Testament are supposed to have been written. There is not one of them, of which it can be said with certainty that it was written after the seige of Jerusalem. The Gospel of St. John, his Epistles, and the Revelation, are considered as the last of them. But the Gospel and the Revelation have, in each of them, a probable proof of their having been written before it, which nothing but a long prejudice in favour of the contrary opinion could lead any one to dispute. As to his Epistles, there is in them no ground whatever to guess the time of their composition. They might be written, as also his Gospel, during his detention at Jerusalem in taking care of the Virgin Mother. They would form a delightful employment for him, whilst he was prevented from taking a more active share with his brethren in their holy exertions in their master's service. The Epistle of St. Jude is equally uncertain as to its date. It seems to have been written after the second Epistle of St. Peter, but still it might precede the ruin of his coun Lry. St. John himself contributed no less than five most valuable Books to the Christian Scriptures; and this may be considered as a probable proof, added to the length of his life, of his being the original collector of all the other books, of which possibly copies might be seat to him from those Christians to whom they were respectively addressed or first known, from their being aware that he had undertaken a duty which would be so highly beneficial to the whole world. It appears, from passages in St. Paul's Epistles, that they were not intended solely for those to whom he immediately sent them, but for Chris- The chief objection to this suppesition will probably be, that if this had been the case, so remarkable a circumstance could not have been passed unnoticed by the earliest Fathers. It is then necessary to state, that there is no Writer who makes any critical observations on the Christian Scriptures for more than a hundred years after they were written. Clement of Alexandria, who lived near the end of the second century, seems to have been the first who made any critical remarks upon them. Information on any subject, so long before printing was invented, was not very easily conveyed in those times. It night therefore be forgotten, that St. John was the author of the Canon of the New Testament, or it might appear unnecessary to mention it, because the great length of his life, when known, could leave very little doubt upon the subject. Nor does it appear that any objection was made against the authenticity of any of the Books of the New Tes tament before the beginning of the third century. Caius, a priest of the Church of Rome, who lived at that time, considered the Epistle to the Hebrews as not written by St. Paul, And he appears to attribute the Revelation of St. John to Cerinthus, on account of an absurd interpretation which had been given, of what is said of Christ's reign upon earth a thousand years. In Origen's days, who lived near the middle of that century, doubts had begun to take place with respect to some other books. Of the Epistle to the Hebrews, he says, that none by God knows the author of it, though the thoughts of it he believes to be St. Paul's. The second Epistle of St. Peter was not then received by all Churches, nor yet the two last Epistles of St. John. When Eusebius wrote in the fourth century, the Epis tles of St. James and St. Jude were not received by some Christians. All these books were, however, well known, and the opposition to them was only the opinions of some parti cular Christians, or perhaps Churches. It was usual with heretics to endea your to remove from the Canon all books that opposed their particular of notions; and, it is probable some |
