rated.

At one corner is the word DOCET, now almost obliteThe stone is a rude, unhewn block, in width 21 inches, and in height about 16, and is placed flat on the ground, and surrounded with an iron-railing. It stands close to the foot-path leading from Hadleigh to Aldham Church, about three quarters of a mile from the town, on rising ground, which commands an extensive prospect over the adjacent country, and embraces the beautiful tower of Kersey, with many bold and striking objects. The whole field, in which it is placed, was, in 1817, planted with turnips, excepting a small piece about a foot wide, round the railing, which was of grass. When brought to the stake, the faggots being placed by the executioners, Mulleine of Kersey, and Soyce, Warwick, and King of Hadleigh, the Doctor said, with a loud voice, "Good people, I have taught you nothing but God's holy word, and those "lessons that I have taken out of God's blessed book, "the Holy Bible; and I am come hither this day to "seal it with my blood." When the fire was kindled, holding up both his hands, he called upon God, and said, "Merciful Father of heaven, for Jesus Christ 66 my Saviour's 's sake, receive my soul into thy hands." He then stood still without either crying or moving, with his hands folded together, till Soyce, one of the executioners, struck him on the head with an halbert, so that his brains issued out, and the dead body fell down into the fire. Thus rendered this man of God his blessed soul into the hands of his merciful Father, and to his most dear Saviour Jesus Christ, whom he most entirely loved, faithfully and earnestly preached, obediently followed while living, and constantly glorified in death.

66

On a pillar over the Rector's seat, in the chancel of Hadleigh Church, is a brass plate fixed into a wooden frame, with the following inscription:

Gloria in altissimis Deo.

Df Rowland Taillors fame I shewe
An excellent devyne
And Doctor of the rivill lawe
A preacher rare and fyne.

Ringe Henrye and Ringe Edward's dayes
Preacher and Parson here
That gave to God contynuall prayse
And kept his flocke in feare.

And for the truthe condempned to die
He was in fierye flame
Where he received pacyentlie
The torment of the same.

and strangely sured to thende
hiche made the standers by

Reioiće in God to see their frende
And pastor so to Dye.

Dh Taillor were thie myghtie fame

uprightly here inrolde

Thie deedes deserve that thie good name

ere siphered here in gold.

Dbiit Anno dni 1555.

In "Fox's Acts and Monuments," is a full and circumstantial account of the martyrdom of this pious and worthy man.

STRANGER, approach this stone! Here Taylor fell,
Here, saint-like, triumph'd o'er the pow'rs of hell!
His name shall live, when Age hath swept away
Each boasted monument of regal sway :-
Soon the pale marble, and the urn of gold,

Time worn, shall moulder with the dust they hold;

Soon shall the Warrior's blood-stain'd laurels fade,
And wither, sapless, in the tomb's cold shade;
E'en Learning's self, immur'd in cloisters damp,
Soon droops and sickens o'er her waning lamp;
But the true Christian asks no shrine or bust,
God guards his fame, and sanctifies his dust —
Ambition faints, o'er slaughter'd thousands driv'n,
Genius must die, if uninspir'd by heav'n.

But he who bows beneath th' Almighty's rod,
And walks, like Faoch, with great Nature's God,
Shall live for ever!—though no trophies wave,
Steep'd in the tears of millions o'er his grave :—
For him no home can boast earth's transient hour,
No charm breathe beauty, and no magic pow'r.
Far from this globe with seraph speed he springs,
Safe from the smile, or bigot frown of kings,
Like Taylor, earnest but in faith and pray'r,
For Heav'n alone he sighs-and dwells a Martyr
there!

THE

LIFE OF THOMAS TUSSER,

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

Of Thomas Tusser, one of our earliest didactic poets, and who has been styled the British Varro, few particulars are known, beyond what he has himself recorded in his own poetical life, which is the chief source from whence biographers have drawn their supplies.

He was born about the year 1515, at Rivenhall, near Witham in Essex, of an ancient family, and was first placed as a chorister in the collegiate chapel of

the castle of Wallingford; then impressed into the King's chapel, from whence he was admitted into the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral; and completed his education at Eton, King's College, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. From hence he was called up to court by his patron, William Lord Paget; but at the end of about ten years, he exchanged the life of a courtier for that of a farmer, and settled at Katwade, now Cattiwade, a hamlet of the parish of Brantham, in the hundred of Samford, near the river Stour. Here he composed his book of husbandry, the first edition of which was published in 1557. It is probable that he must have been acquainted with rural affairs for several years at least before he could produce the rude essay, which forms the germ of his future, and more elaborate work. He appears to have suffered some reverse in his farming business, as we find him afterwards successively at Ipswich, where his wife died, at West Dereham, and at Norwich. He married, however, a second wife of the name of Amy Moon, which affords him a play of words; but this match did not add to his happiness, apparently from a disparity in age, she being very young, He then obtained a singing-man's place in the cathedral of Norwich. After this he tried farming again, at Fairsted, near his native place; but again failing, he repaired to London, which he mentions with due commendation, until being driven from it by the plague in 1574, he went to Cambridge. When this scourge abated, he returned to London, and died there, about 1580, and was interred in St. Mildred's Church in the Poultry, with the following epitaph, which is recorded by Stow;

Here Thomas Tusser, clad in earth, doth lie,
Who sometime made the Points of Husbandry:
By him then learn thou may'st, here learn we must,
When all is done, we sleep, and turn to dust:
And yet, through Christ, to heaven we hope to go,
Who reads his books, shall find his faith was so.

For an author the vicissitudes of his life present

an uncommon variety of incident.

Without a tinc

ture of careless imprudence, or vicious extravagance, this desultory character seems to have thrived in no vocation. Fuller quaintly observes, that his stone, which gathered no moss, was the stone of Sisyphus; and in Peacham's Minerva, a book of Emblems printed in 1612, there is a device of a whetstone and a scythe, with these lines:

They tell me, Tusser, when thou wert alive,
And hadst for profit turned every stone,
Where'er thou camest, thou couldst never thrive,
Though hereto best couldst counsel every one,
As it may in thy HUSBANDRY appear,
Wherein afresh thou liv'st among us here
So, like thyself, a number more are wont

To sharpen others with advice of wit,

When they themselves are like the whetstone blunt.

In Tusser's production may be traced the popular stanza, which attained to such celebrity in the pastoral ballads of Shenstone.

In

His work seems to have obtained a very favorable reception, as more than twelve editions appeared within the first fifty years, and afterwards many others were printed, The best editions are those of 1580, and 1585, but they are very scarce. 1812, the public was favored with a new edition in 8vo. carefully collated and corrected by Dr. Mavor, which is rendered highly valuable by a biographical memoir; a series of notes, georgical, illustrative, and explanatory; a glossary; and other improve

ments.

Now, gentle friend, if thou be kind,
Disdain thou not, although the lot,
Will now with me, no better be,

Than doth appear:

Nor let it grieve, that thus I live,
But rather guess, for quietness,
As others do, so do I too,

Content me here.