others, have endeavoured to provide for 
indigence, and to prepare asylums for the 
unfortunate, independently of that com- 
mon receptacle of distress, ‘ the work- 
house.” Is this. the case, and what are 
the particulars? I have heard that the 
corporation are in possession of consi- 
derable funds, furnished by the piety of 
our fore-fathers, not simply for the repair 
of their own parish-church,but competent 
to, and directed to be employed in the 
support and repair of others :—is this the 
fact? I have heard that the corporation 
are in possession of various estates, di- 
‘rected to the application of specified ob- 
jects, which are now forgotten by the pub- 
dic; and of which no account is given :— 
is this trues What is the history of the 
chapel; the ruins of which remained only 
a few years ago, and probably still re- 
main, south of the town about a quarter 
of a mile? 
_ What are the causes to which is attri- 
buted the decline, and in fact the extinc- 
tion, of its former commerce? What is 
the fact respecting the circumstance 
which appears somewhere, (though I do 
not recollect where) that the loyalty of 
the inhabitants of this town was such, 
_when four shillings in the pound was im- 
posed as a land-tax; that they, in an ad- 
dress to the sovereign, offered the re- 
maining ‘sixteen shillings, zntq the bar- 
gain? I make no apology for putting 
these questions to your correspondent, 
because he has given proof of his com- 
petency to answer them, by his antiqua- 
rian researches into the early history of 
the town; and I feel myself much obliged 
by the information he has furuished, re- 
specting the gigantic inhabitants of this 
highly favoured spot, in times long since 
past. 
Removed early in life from this scene 
of beauty and fertility, am now, except 
in recollection, but little acquainted with 
it; for occupied in the incessant avoca- 
tions of mercantile concerns in this busy 
metropolis, f have not tasted the envi- 
able retirement it affords, but at visits, 
repeated about septennially for a long 
period. Yet in your correspondent’s ac- 
count of the church, though he mentions 
A gallery lately erected, and an altar-piece 
disgraceful to the building, (and disho- 
nourable, he might have said, to the cor- 
poration,) he has omitted, I can re- 
mind him, to speak of a singularly beau- 
tiful screen of stone, most richly adorned 
-and decorated, which divides the body of 
the church from the chancel, and also 
“that the ancient’ pulpit is of stone. Your 
Montury Mac. No, 179. 
Charitable Institution, Ke. at Totnes. 
539 
correspondent speaks of “a large mo- 
nument,” in the church-yard, erected by 
the late Rev. Dr. Kennicott, to the me- 
mory of his parents. Now a stranger, I 
apprehend, would immediately connect 
the idea of a large monument, erected 
by a celebrated character, to perpetuate 
the memory of parents whom he loved 
and honoured, with something grand and 
extensive, and would of course consider 
it as a work worthy of ‘Westminster Ab- 
bey, or St. Paul’s; and as the fruits of the 
labours of the Nollekens, Flaxman, or 
Bacon of the age! Yet no far famed 
artist was employed to erect it. I re- 
member well the time; it is above thirty 
years since, a little urchin as I was, 
that a couple of bricklayer’s labourers 
erected itinaday! A piece of brick 
frame work, (filled with rubbish) and in 
point of size, as nearly as I can conjec- 
ture, about four feet high, three feet wide, 
and five feet long, forms this mighty mo- 
nument; on the top of which, as a finish, 
is placed a black stone, (probably the 
marble of the country) with the inscrip- 
tion engraven thereon, as stated by your 
correspondent. ~ 
The elegant simplicity of the inscrip- 
tion, and the filial piety of its author, de- 
serve all praise; but I cannot concur 
with your correspondent in the censure 
he applies to Dr. K. when he says, © it 
betrays a considerable degree of vanity,” 
to affix his professional honoure thereto. 
We think differently, and I may be mis- 
taken, but I have ever considered that it 
did great credit to Dr. Kennicott, when, 
ata distance from the place of his birth, 
and piaced by his’ character and rank in 
a circle, where in all probability* his ori- 
gin was unknown, he should- in so 
public a manner, by paying this tribute of 
filial reverence and respect, acknowledge 
himself the immediate descendant of a 
parish-clerk; and I further think, that so 
far from its discovering “a considerable 
degree of vanity,” my learned townsman! 
displayed a superiority to false pride, and 
a distinguishing trait of true humility, 
highly becoming his professional charac- 
ter, which reflected on him mote concur, 
than all the honours he obtained by his 
labours or his learning. 
Your correspondent next informs us, 
that, early in the seventeenth century, a 
free-schoo! in the town of Totnes was en-~ 
dowed with an estate of nearly forty 
pounds per annum. As, when I wasa 
youth, and my ancesiors had been resi- 
dent in this town for along period, it was 
thought requisite to send me to a consi- 
3Z derable 
