1805.] 
dipodia, in all zambic verfes ; and on.the 
firft fyllable of every dipedia, in trachaics. 
- It is probable, that the name.may have 
mifled Dr. Carey, and been the occafion of - 
his fuppofng that Dr. Bentley intended 
the accentual, initead of the metrical dects, 
though it is a wonder that he fhould con- 
tinue to entertain the fame idea, after he 
was aware of the extreme difference in their 
pofition. ; 
_Itruft, Sir, to the candour and Jibera- 
lity of Mr. Murray and Dr. Casey for the 
treedom which I have ufed, and remain 
Your's, &c. 
Joun RoBinson. 
Ravenfionedale, March 1, 1805. 
—=i a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE ANTIQUARY. 
No. II. 
Here ancient ArT her dedal fancies play’d 
In the quaint mazes of the crifped roof ; 
In mellow glooms the fpeaking pane array’d, 
And rang’d the clufter’d column, maffy proof. 
WARTON. 
HE mind of man, perhaps, never 
feels {enfations more powerful, more 
poignant, more numerous, or more diffi- 
cult to explain, than thofe which feize it 
in the contemplation of a Gothic church. 
The facrednels of the place, connected 
with its antiquity, infpires an awe pecu- 
liarly folemn-; we view it as the product 
of an age more pious than our own; an 
age whofe very devotion was romantic : 
and while we feel the fuperftition it infufes, 
we feel likewife a defire to know who were 
the people, and what the crafty principles 
of mechanifm, that gave rife to buildings 
at once fo magnificent and pitturefque. 
Although it is the intention of the An- 
tiquary to treat the arts of elegance, and 
pavdcularly archite€ture, in a general and 
fyfiematic form, yet will fome inftances be 
found where the mixture of ftyle, the pe- 
culiarity of ftructure, or the extraordinary- 
beauty, of an ancient fabric, juftly entitle 
it to a diftiné attention. 
fiance, is the Abbey of. St. Peter, Weft- 
miner, one of the moft celebrated piles 
of ancient art our country can boaft. Its 
tombs have been frequently contemplated ; 
and the poet and the philofopher have 
walked within its cloiltered pale, as it 
were converfing with the dead of many 
ages. But the Antiquary has a different 
tafk ; in tracing its architeftural hiftory, 
he has few opportunities to addrefs the 
“fancy ; the gloom and the per{fpeétives of 
the pile, with all the feelings they induce, 
mint be left to others; he mutt confine 
MonTuuy Mac. No, 127% 
The Antiquary. No. II. 
Such, for in- . 
237 
himfelf to naked fa&ts, and prefent the re= 
fult of his enguiries, without enthufiafm, 
ina fober form. Should the prefent paper, | 
however, afford but few portraits of ancient 
life, it will at leaft contain the progreflive 
hiftory of a fabric which all have admired 
for its beauty and its age. : 
The hiftory of the Abbey in the earlier 
periods of its exiftence is very indiftinét. 
The gonjecture Mr. Widmore made, that. 
neither Lucius nor Sebert are to be credited 
as founders, feems highly probable, as well 
as that ic was erected toward the middle 
of the eighth century by fome pious perfon 
whofe name has not been tranfinitted to us; 
and was at the firft but a fmall building. 
That the ifland on which it was fituated 
was called Thorney, is affirmed by Sul- 
cardus, the oldeft writer concerning the 
church: of whofe work a faint manu- 
{cript is yet preferved in the Cotton Col- 
leGlion at the Mufeum. And there is alfo” 
an authority for the name of older date—a 
charter of King Offa, in 785. ~ 
As to the firlt building, here, or even 
as it was afterward repaired by St. Dun. 
ftan, we cannot expect to find the flighteft 
veflige. Nor is there any account fo be 
depended on concerning it ; if we except 
that Offa is known to have been a benefac- 
tor; that at that time one Ordbright was 
the abbot ; and that previous to that time | 
it had been for many years forfaken by the _ 
monks and lay in ruins : a circumitance 
which cannot be accounted for without re- 
ferring to.the general devafiations of the 
Danes. 
The reftoration of the monaftery by 
Edgar is better afcertained. 
In the time of Abbot Eadwine, who 
was chofen in 1049, the church was built 
in a moré fplendid ftyle by the Confeffor ; 
and many of our Antiquaries, inftead of en- 
deavouring to develope the hiltory of the 
edifice, have puzzled their brains to dif- 
cover the inducement which could lead 
~Edward not only to rebuld it fo magnifi- 
cently, but_to endow it with fuch large re- 
venues. Leaving them, if they choofe, 
to agree with the monks, that it was mra- 
culous, I thall proceed to the inveitigation 
of more authentic hiltory. 
Sir Chriftopher Wren, in. his Letter to 
the Dean of Weitmintter, afferts tnat ** the 
Confeflor repaired this abbey ot King 
Edgar’s;” but Sulcardus, who was employ-= — 
ed to write his hiftory by Vitalis, abhot 
here from 1076 to 1085, fpeaks differently, 
The apoftolic leiter of the Romith Church, 
which acquits Edward from the penance of. 
pilgrimage to Rome, and which Sulcadus 
Hh : has 
$ 
