lane, in the Strand, about his occasions, and was seen, not long after, near Marylebone, but then supposed to be going home; and was at one of the churchwardens' of the parish of St. Martin's in the Fields, about some business, at twelve of the clock the same day; but so it was, that he came not to his own house that night, according to his usual custom, nor gave any notice to his servants of any business that he had to hinder his returning that night. And from that time till Thursday, the 17th of the same month, about six o'clock at night, no tidings could be heard of him, (although all earnest and diligent inquiries and searches were made for him;) at which time, his body was found dead in a ditch, upon the south side of Primrose-hill, near Hampstead. The occasion of his being found was this: one Bromley, a baker, and Waters, a farrier, both of the parish of St. Giles's in the Fields, having an occasion to go to the house, commonly called the White-house,* near Primrose-hill, and going over the field where the body of Sir Edmondberry lay, saw, as they thought, a sword and belt, and a stick, and a pair of gloves, lying together, hard by the hedge side; but they went not near to meddle with them, supposing they had belonged to some person that was gone into the ditch to ease himself. And when they came to the White-house, they told John Rawson (the man of the said house,) that they had seen a sword and belt, and a pair of gloves and stick, lie in that place: whereupon John Rawson asked them, why they did not bring them thither? They told him they did not know but there might be somebody hard by to own them; Rawson told them again, that there had been several soldiers thereabout this week, a hedgehog-hunting, and it may be (said he,) some of them may have left them behind them.

"After some further discourse, Rawson agreed to go with the men to the place; and if they found the things there then, Rawson was to give them a shilling to drink, and was to take the things to his own house, till somebody came thither to own them; and thereupon they went together to the place. When they came there, they found only a belt and a scabbard, and a stick, and a pair of gloves; but no sword: which, as Rawson was stooping to take up, he thought he saw something like a man in the ditch hard by; and so going to the ditch, there they saw a man lying, as they supposed, upon his belly, with a sword run through him, and the point appearing about seven or eight inches above his back; upon this, they went immediately to the churchwarden of the parish, to give him an account of it; but he, being sick, sent them to Mr Brown's, the constable, who, presently taking with him several neighbours and housekeepers, went to the place where the body lay which was in a dry ditch, upon the south side of Primrose-hill, about two fields distant from the White-house. The posture in which he lay was this: he had a sword run into him just under his left pap, which came out upon the right side of his back, about seven or eight inches; one of his hands being doubled under, on which he seemed to lean, the other hand lying upon the bank, his hair-chamlet coat being turned up over his head; his hat and perriwig being among the bushes over his head, but no band nor cravat could be found about him; although, when he went from home, he had a large laced band on..

"The constable having caused the body to be removed to the White-house, and knowing it to be the body of Sir Edmondberry Godfrey, he caused his

*Now called "Chalk Farm."

pockets to be searched, and found in one of them, in one paper, six guineas, and in another paper, four broad pieces of gold, and a half-crown; and in the other pocket, two rings, whereof one was a diamond, one guinea, and four pound in silver, and two small pieces of gold, and one ring he had upon one of his fingers; his pocket book (in which he used to take notes of examinations,) being only missing.

"On Friday the 18th of this instant, Mr. Cooper, the coroner of Middlesex, impanneled a jury at the White-house, to inquire about the occasion of the death of the said Sir Edmondberry Godfrey: and two surgeons (having been first sworn,) viewed the body in the presence of the coroner and the jury; and found two wounds about it, which one of the surgeons searched with his probe, and found one of them not above an inch deep, the probe going against one of his ribs; but the other, being a little below the left pap, went quite through the body: his face was of a fresh colour, though in his life-time very pale, somewhat swelled, and a green circle about his neck, as if he had been strangled, his blood being settled about his neck, throat, and the upper part of his breast. The surgeons, having viewed the body, delivered their judgments, that the wounds they found about him were not the cause of his death; but that he was suffocated before the wounds were made; and that which may fully persuade any person of the truth thereof is, that there was not one drop of blood to be found in the place where he lay, nor the least appearance of any such thing; though the ditch was dry, and it might have been easily seen, if there had been any. Another thing was, that the very bottom of the soles of his shoes were as clean as if he had but just come out of his own chamber; which was an evident sign that he was carried thither.

"A third thing very remarkable is, that one of the jury affirmed, that a servant of his mother's, (who is owner of the ground where the body lay,) with a butcher and two boys, made a very strict and narrow search in all parts of that ground for a calf that was missing, upon Monday and Tuesday last ;and at that time, there lay no dead body, belt, gloves, stick, or other

things there.

"Now, because several false reports have gone abroad, tending to the dishonour of this worthy deceased knight, as though he had been discontented about some moneys owing by him to the parish, and upon that account should make himself away; the relater thinks good to testify to the world, that to his own knowledge Sir Edmondberry lent the parish above 3001. without interest, a good part of which is yet unpaid; so palpable an untruth it is, that some wicked persons have spread abroad about him. But it is no wonder that those inhuman wretches that have taken away his life should go also about to blast his reputation.

"One thing more I cannot omit to mention, having received it from the mouth of one of the late churchwardens of the parish where he lived, which is, that Sir Edmondberry, not long ago, gave him an hundred pounds to bestow upon such poor people in the parish as he knew were in want; neither was that the first time that Sir Edmondberry had employed him in works of that nature, having often made him the distributor of his charity, because he did not desire the applause of men for it. This, without all doubt, proceeded from so remarkable and so sincere a piety, that, though it may be commended, I am afraid it will scarce be imitated."

A singular event occurred in this church on Wednesday evening, Sept. 10, 1729, during evening prayers. M. Roger Campagnoll, a gentleman of

respectable connexions in France, abruptly entering, immediately discharged two pistols at the Rev. Mr. Taylor, who was in the desk, repeating the service: one of the bullets grazed his surplice, but another, unhappily, took place in the body of Mr. Williams, farrier, of Bedfordbury, who sat in a pew near the priest, and dangerously wounded him. The congregation, greatly alarmed, fled from the church; but a sturdy carman resolutely proceeded to secure the maniac, which he could not effect without a severe encounter, and greatly bruising the unhappy man, particularly on the head. At a subsequent examination of M. Campagnoll, by Justice Bourk, he was found to be the son of M. C. governor of Brest; that he had then been about seven mouths in England, was previously rather disordered in his intellects, and that having been cheated of 1387. by his landlord, a Hugonot, resident near the Seven Dials, his mind became a chaos, where revenge predominating, he had not sufficient discrimination to distinguish his victim, and, consequently, fired his pistols within a church at a clergyman whom he had never seen before.

After his commitment to Newgate, M. Campagnoll endeavoured to hang himself with his garters in the chapel; but, being prevented, he fastened himself within his room, and when the door was forced open, he was found eating part of a bottle, pounded into fragments, with bread.

The exterior of St. Martin's is extremely superb, and the most perfect Grecian church in England, except St. Paul's.

The flight of steps to the magnificent Corinthian portico, the pillars which compose it, the entablature, and pediment, are in excellent proportion, and will have a grand effect.

The steeple equals the best specimen of skill in that species of structure left by Sir Christopher Wren, and has the merit of originality, in not resembling one of the numerous steeples erected by that great architect.

Such are the richness and beauty of this splendid church; and, as will readily be perceived, the parochial records are curious and interesting to the antiquarian and general reader. At the same time, the associations of the parish with many celebrated events in our history, render this church an object of peculiar attraction, and in thus removing the unimportant buildings, by which it has been partially hidden, an acceptable addition is made to the embellishment of the metropolis, which is also highly creditable to our national taste.

COSMORAMA,

REGENT-STREET.

THIS exhibition was originally opened in St. James's-street. Its removal to Regent-street has, however, enabled the proprietor to substitute natural for artificial light. It is divided into a refreshment apartment, and two galleries, whence fourteen well-executed views are seen through magnifying glasses. The Cosmorama may, at first, appear a mere juvenile exhibition, but, on inspection, its views will be found to be painted with the greatest accuracy, thus rendering it worthy of the patronage of adults, and as a holiday treat for the juvenile world. The views are changed occasionally.

Admission to each gallery, 1s.-Catalogue, 6d.

ST. BRIDE'S CHURCH,

AND THE RUINS CAUSED BY A FIRE, DECEMBER, 1824.

IT is much to be lamented, that some of the finest specimens of our national architecture are so surrounded by masses of brick and mortar, as to be lost to the foreigner, or casual visitor of the metropolis. St. Stephen's, Walbrook, a small church of exquisite beauty, and justly considered as the master-piece of Sir Christopher Wren, in the classic style of architecture, is an instance of this triumph of speculative enterprise over the perfection of art. The casualties and calamities to which a populous city is incessantly liable, such as fires, and gradual dilapidations, often tend to remove these obstructions; and the spirit of improvement which characterises modern times, avails itself of such opportunities for effecting some of its greatest designs. Thus, a destructive fire in Fleet-street, in the Winter of 1824, laid open to view the beautiful church of St. Bride, which, like St. Stephen's, and built by the same ingenious architect, had, for many years, been doomed to comparative obscurity;

and we are happy to report, that, through the exertions of a body of public-spirited citizens, this view of the airy and well-proportioned spire of St. Bride's is secured, at the same time that a tasteful and judicious embellishment to the street is accomplished. In truth, up to the term of the late fire, this spire was actually so much enclosed by the neighbouring buildings, that no view could be obtained of the entire steeple, but, from points so near to it, that its elevated parts could not be fairly seen or judged of. The opening, forming an avenue to the church, places this part of the edifice in the most favourable point of view, and adds to the healthiness of the spot, by increasing the circulation of air about it. These great objects have been obtained at even a very small comparative expense; for, by making the new habitations appear to have been erected with the church, so as to combine picturesquely with the spire, and seem devoted chiefly to that object, it does not become necessary to occupy more ground for the opening and buildings than is here exhibited, to afford a favourable and an ample view of the noble form immediately in the centre of it.

The church of St. Bride seems to have been of some antiquity, from its having had three rectors before the year 1362. It was a very small building till about the year 1480, when it was greatly enlarged by William Vaunet, warden of the Fleet-prison, who caused a spacious building, consisting of a middle and two side aisles, to be erected at the west end thereof, to which the old church served as a choir. The old church being destroyed by the fire of London, in 1666, the present edifice, which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was completed by him, within fourteen years, in his very best style. It is 111 feet long, 87 broad, and the steeple was formerly 234 feet high; but, owing to various accidents, among which was a shock from lightning, during a storm, in June, 1764, it has been considerably lowered. The tower and spire, of stone, are adorned with pillars and entablatures of the Corinthian order, arched pediment, &c. &c., and the spire lanterns are of the Tuscan order. The probable present cost of erecting the spire would be 50,000l.

The annexed view is from the northern side, and is, in fact, a side elevation of all its parts; and the towering spire smiles down on the smoking heap at its feet, as in mild defiance of that element, one of whose most terrific freaks so immediately preceded, and was, in fact, the immediate occasion of its own regeneration.

We cannot sufficiently commend the prevailing industry in church-building, and, as the head of the Christian world, by encouraging such a measure individually, we tend to exalt our national character. It is not our province here to discuss the several varieties of architectural taste; but, to those who prefer the gradual variation of a spire by its broken and varied parts, to the actual cone, the spires of St. Bride's and Bow churches are the most interesting examples in our metropolis: and further, those who pride themselves for the nice distinction between the extravagancies of modern church-building, and the imposing order of Grécian architecture, will hail this uninterrupted view of the spire of St. Bride, with the kindred extasy of an antiquarian over the crumbling ruins of time!