be seen we've English spirits & mind our duty & work we're

come on.

452. 5° 10. 85. Kipping at 5 at night. Lord Grey, Ld. Howard & Rumsey swears Lord Brandon, Gerard, &c., out of their liues as far as they can. Now Excisers comanded to take accompt of Beds & Stables in Inns.

459. 13° 10. 85. Kipping, 5 at night. Lord Brand or Gilbert Gerard is said now to be reprieued in order to a pardon for yt which now he's condemned for, he was pardond for it 2 years agoe by ye late King. now its said 30 nobles is gone to Rome, & prisonrs at London is released (some grand dessign carying on.)

464. 20 10. 85. Kipping, 5 at night. Trepaning designs carying on; plotts pretended for keeping an Army to ruine all Protestants by: a feigned plot draw up by Le Strange to reflect it on all sorts.

468. 27. 10. 85. Kipping, 6 at night. Ld. Gerrard's pardon is reuoked & Balamany is condemned for High Treason. A cardinall at Lond. preacht before ye K. & tells him wt. grt. things Virgin Mary hath done. hath put a sword in 's hand to destroy all hereticques.

474. 3 of 11th mon. 85. Kipping, 6 at night. Delemere is now condemnd at Chestr. Gerrard to have no pardon. K. sends to grt men in London to educate their children in Rom. Relig. now its known ye K. intends to quarter his army on ye Dissentrs; soldirs insolent in their quartrs, &c. Now Papists in Lancashire bring openly their priests to bury their dead.

479. 17° of mon. 11. 8. Kipping at 6 at night. K. hath sent into Ireland & reduced all to his will, put all protestants out & papists in arms, &c. Qu. said now to be wth childe.

486. 24° of 12th mon. 8. Kipping at 7 at night. Now Delamere is cleared, try'd by his peers. Gray and Rumsey witnesses &c. Albemarle 1st spoke & told on his Honour yt Delamere was not guilty. Lord Gerard & Hambden are reprieued. The apparition of the army in ye North on yt day is confirmd.

493. Day ult. Jan. or 11th mon. 856. Kipping, 7 at night. Now protestants sadly persecuted by all statutes.

499. 7° of 12° mon. 856 Kipping, 7 at night. Mrss. Whitkr now is Dead at York.

305. 14° of 12th mon. 856. Kipping, 7 at night. Now its said ye K. will haue 20,000 soldiers raised in Yorkshire of Abeyrents (?Adherents.)

Now Dr. King is knighted for his good service to ye late K. vide supradict wt. it was.

511. 21° of mon. 12° 85. Kiping, 4 afternoon. C. liued & Died a Cathollick is seen.

now yt K.

517. 11 di. mens. 12r. 856. Shuckden, sunrising. Now K. asks prelates ye reason they not like roman religion. they say because its so bloody. he confutes ym.

Now in York 3 Altars are set up already, openly hath mass. papists seeks grt. men to turn.

523. 7° of mo. 1st. 856. Kiping, 7 at night. Now Count Tradley is aliue againe; after he's kil'd & his head sent to Constantinople.

529. Notes of a Sermon preached by Mr. Bayly at Northowrom, June 24, 1673.

Hitherto I have given the headings to the sermons without omission, as far as they are in Dr. Hall's handwriting, and relate to his time. The headings in the remaining volumes have generally less historical interest, and I therefore propose only to give a few of the more remarkable.

The 1st Octavo contains sermons by Mr. Bayly, Mr. Ryther, Mr. Gamaliel and Mr. Jeremiah Marsden, Mr. Smith. Mr. Ness, Mr. Firth of Mansfield, Mr. Accepted Lister, Mr. Heywood, Mr. Collier, Mr. Noble and Mr. Whittaker.

One of Mr. Firth's sermons is thus headed

"Feb. 14, 168. At Mansfield. By Mr. Firth. Thanksgiving Serm. for Engl. deliuerace &c."

It is to be noticed that William & Mary were declared King and Queen Feb. 13th, 168.

The solitary sermon by Mr. Oliver Heywood in this collection is headed-

"Mr. Heywood, Northowrom. preparation for sacr. 7ber. 1700."

The next heading is characteristic

"Mr. Lister (ye litle) at Bingley. June 23, 1700."

Further on, we have

"Mr. Listr. at Kipping. publiq Thanksgiuing June 27, 1706. grt victory ouer ye ffrench. fflandrs."

This is Ramilies.

My next volume "No. 3 of Quartos" begins with a sermon thus headed

"Mr. Firth.

a Sermon Respecting ye electing of Parliam'

men by Mr. J. Firth. Mansfield 1681 or 82."

Then "Mr. Smith. Mon. ye 3rd (i. e. May) ye 1st day (87, at Kipping in ye meeting-place, ye 2nd time after ye K's Declaration for liberty."

"Now we are in our meeting-place by ye K's proclam. Kirkmen rage and storm exceedingly specialy at those yt used to bear in ye persecution time, naming Mr. Sh.

This book contains an almost complete series of expositions of the 5th, 6th and 7th chapters of Canticles, 2 of them being delivered each alternate month, and the whole extending from Nov. 1702 to Feb. 1709, the time of the preacher's death. The

sermons in any given month are headed respectively-" Preparation Day" and "Supper Day." The Supper Day' was, I presume, a Sunday; the Preparation' seems generally to have been held on the Wednesday preceding, but sometimes. the interval is greater, sometimes less, ranging between 5 days & 2 inclusive.

The last sermon but one which Accepted Lister preached is headed

"ffeb. 20, 170. Supper Day. (preparation 17th Day, ye Day of Thanksgiving.)

The next sermon, headed merely 'Afternoon' has the following note appended

Note yt next morning aftr this he was taken with convulsio's wch continued with some intermission untill Thursday night, and yn about 12 or 2 a clock he dyed-we lost him but ye Church Triumphant has Gained him.'

Again after another series of sermons preached weekly during the summer of 1708, on S' John, xiv. xv., we have this note at the end of the sermon of Sept. 12.

"Mr. Listr intended to haue proceeded in his expossition furthr herein, but ye Lord took him home, ffeb. 24th in ye night betwixt 12 & 2 a clock. He was Interred ffeb. 28th."

Once more we have a series of sermons preached by Mr. Lister in the end of 1708, & early part of 1709, and one more note appended to the sermon of Feb. 13. "The next Lord's day was Supper Day. As this day he busyly & more difficultly attended and performed his work; and finished this text: so ye Supper Day's work much more difficulty, which was his last, for next morning he begun to be taken with convulsions, which continued till Thursday night (with some intermission) & yr. took him off, to our grt. troble & loss, but his grt. Gain."* The note is continued in the hand-writing of Dr. Hall's great-grandson, John Firth.

"for to him to Live was Xt. and to dy was Unspeakable Gain, & it was part of his Xtian Character that he desired to know nothing save Xt and him Crucified, & who had for his Motto this Short Epitaph inscribed on his grave-stone, 'Impendam & Expendar,' i.e. 'I will spend my Strength & be willing *These are probably the last words written by Dr. Hall, which we have, as within four months of this he followed Accepted and Joseph Lister to the grave. c.p. the "Northowram Register," ed. by J. Horsfall Turner.

"Mr. Accepted Lister minr. at Kipping. preacht twice & administred Lds. Supper, Febr. 20, died Febr. 28. An excellent Preacher, a little helpless body, but a great and sound soul. Mr. Joseph Lister of Kipping, The Minrs. Father died Mar. 11, aged abt. 80, an Eminent Christian, but a fortnight between his and his son's death, both buried at Thornton Chappel. Mr. Hall, of Kipping, died June 6. A solid Judicious Christian & a useful Physician, aged abt. 78, (p. 245.) Mr. John Hall died at London, June 6, (1708.' by mistake)

See also Jos. Lister's Autobiography, p. 58, and Whitaker's Sermons.

to be Spent in ye cause of Xt., & in bringing Sons to Glory by my preaching &c. A certain person was pleased to say of him that he was Vox & præterea Nihil, because of his Excellent & Melodious Voyce, & being but of Low Stature, &c., &c., &c."

Then follows, "April 17th, 1709. Mr. Whitaker Funeral Sermon for old Joseph Listr, Kipping. Dyed March 11th, Buried 14th." The sermon as given here differs greatly from the form it takes in Whitaker's published sermons.

There are one or two more headings in this volume which have some interest.

Thus, "Aug. 29th, 1708. Thanksgiving for Victory ou'r ffrench army in fflanders in latr. end of June, 1708. Mr. Listr at Kipping. There was King of Frances 2 grandsons, Burbon & Birry, & George Chavilier ye Pretender at ye fight many slain, many taken."

"Feb. 17th, 17089. Thanksgiving for Army's success in fflandrs. Taking Lisle aftr 2 moneths besieged, recovering Ghent & Bruges & two fforts from ye ffrench, gaining a Batle at Overard, preserving Brussels wn. besieged &c.

"March 28, 1708. Now wee've an accompt of ye pretended prince of Wales with a ffrench Army in Scotland at Anderness.

The volume called Octavo 5 does not call for illustration here. Nor need I say much of the later series of sermons in the handwriting of John Firth. Mr. Hulme, who contributes 8, was minister at Kipping. The sermon preached by Mr. Doddridge, at Northampton in 1735, is strong evidence for John Firth being the interpolator of these later sermons, as we find from his father's account book, that he was at Northampton from Aug. 1735 to Aug. 1736.

In conclusion, I may claim for these volumes a distinct value as material for the history of Yorkshire religious life. They bring before us again a score or two of worthies of whom we have read something in Calamy, in Oliver Heywood, or in Joseph Lister's Autobiography; they give us a large collection of the sermons which these men preached and listened to, with details of time and place, which speak eloquently of persecution met by conscientious perseverance; they show besides what rumours from the outer world came to disturb the remote & pious congregation of the West Riding.

Perhaps I may be permitted hereafter to say a few words on more general points which are raised by these Hall & Firth MSS. G. C. MOORE SMITH.

Berlin.

::

YORK MINT.-Your correspondent was a long way out when he wrote his account of the York coins, which were not struck at York, but at Southwark under Sir John York, Master of that Mint.

T. W. S.

Plague of Mirfield.*

MANY of our readers will be interested in hearing that upon the occasion of opening a Vault in the area of the Old Parish Church, for the interment of the late Mr. Greenwood, of Dewsbury Moor House, a stone was found bearing the following inscription:-There was a Plague in the Parish of Mirfield, A. D. 1631, whereof died 140." We believe the Churchwardens propose to have it placed in the wall of the Old Church Tower. William Rhodes, of Northorpe, died of the pestilence on the 18th September, 1631, and was buried near the Church Porch on the 20th of the same month, as appears by the inscription on his grave-stone. Agnes, wife of William Rhodes, of Northorpe, died of the same epidemical distemper, and was buried 6th October, 1631. Now as there is no memorial of her death upon the stone, in all probability she and many more were buried near their own dwellings. I find Alice, wife of Henry Wraith, buried June 1st, 1631, and it is said, the husband would not be at the expense of getting his wife's corpse decently interred at a convenient distance from the house, which occasioned the following Rhyme.

Henry Wraith to save a Crown,

Buried his Wife in hay-stack ground.

Ledgard and Shepley Bridges.

THE FOLLOWING IS A COPY OF A CURIOUS ENTRY IN THE MIRFIELD PARISH REGISTER, RELATING TO LEDGARD BRIDGE.

Let it be known for the time to come, of the many suits and troubles that were between Robert Ledgard and the parishioners of Mirfield, about his bridge called Ledgard Bridge.

1627.

Robert Ledgard, about the year of our Lord 1627, did lay a pain in the General Quarter Sessions, on the inhabitants of Mirfield, of 1001, to repair the said bridge, and by the advice of John Armytage, Esquire, and Mr. George Thurgarland, there were eight or ten of the oldest men in Mirfield provided to go to the Sessions, who entered a traverse of the same, and by the testimony of Thomas Beaumont, Richard Lee, Henry Rhodes, and others, who could remember the first foundation of the said bridge, and that Ledgard's elders did build it only for the use of their Mill, and that before ever it was built, they kept a

We are indebted to Mr. Nevin and Mr. Chadwick, for the Mirfield Notes contained in the following pages.