628 
Randal Holme in 1707, were purchased 
for the Earl of Oxford’s library, and have 
eventually become the property of the 
public. The principal collector for the 
History of the City of Chester, was the 
Rev. Archdeacon Rogers, who-died in 
1595; his notes were arranged and 
classed in chapters by his son, who drew 
up a very curious history of ‘* The lauda- 
ble Exercises yearly used within the 
Citie of Chester;” a copy of these col- 
lections is among the Harleian MSS. in 
the British Museum, and another in the 
possession of William Nicholls, esq. of 
Chester. 
“Tt appears by Dr. Gower’s prospec- 
tus, that he was possessed of the originals 
of some of the collections which he has 
described, that he had transcripts of 
some, and that others had been confided 
to his care by their respective owners. 
At the time of his death, which hap- 
pened in 1780, the plan of his work is 
said to have been nearly completed, and 
the publication was undertaken in 1792 
by John Wilkinson, M.D. who became 
possessed of all his materials for the ‘his- 
: i been lent to 
tory, except such as bad been lent to_ 
Dr. Gower, and on his death had been 
returned to their respective owners. 
Dr. Wilkinson having afterwards de- 
clined the task through want of sufficient 
leisure to fulfil his intentions, all Dr. 
Gower’s collections, with such additions 
as had been made to them by Dr. Wil- 
kinson, came into the hands of the late 
William Latham, esq. F.R. and A.S. 
who, in 1800, published renewed propo- 
sals for a History of Cheshire, visited 
several parts of the county, and made 
some progress in the undertaking; since 
his death, which happened in 1807, 
most of the Cheshire collections above-= 
mentioned, have passed again into the 
hands of Dr. Wilkinson, in whose pos- 
session they now are. The Rev. Mr. 
Watson, rector of Stockport, made col- 
lections relating to that town and neigh- 
bourhood, with the intention of publi- 
cation: they are now in the hands of 
his son.” . 
Chester forms, of course, the most 
‘curious article in the parochial topo- 
graphy. Under Whategate, we have the 
following account of Nison, the Cheshire 
Bees He are deposited certain MSS, 
which are said to be the original prophe- 
cies of the celebrated Nixon. The po- 
pular story of this supposed prophet, 
which has been printed in various forms, 
and is current in every part of the king- 
4 
Retrospect of Domestic Literature—Topography. 
dom, was first published in the early 
part of the last century. The account 
given of him is, that he was an illiterate 
plough-boy, his capacity scarcely exe 
ceeding that of an ideot, and that he 
seldom spoke unless when he uttered 
his prophecies, which were taken down 
from his mouth, by some of the bye- 
standers: many traditions relating to him 
are still current in the neighbourhood. 
of Vale Royal, where his story is im- 
plicitly believed; but there are many 
circumstances which combine to render 
it suspicious. An anonymous author of 
* the Life of Robert Nixon, the Cheshire 
Prophet,” places his birth in the reign of 
Edward IV. bat Oldmixon, in his Life 
of him, says that he lived in the reign of 
James [. and it is asserted in a letter an- 
nexed to the last-mentioned pamphlet, 
which has the signature of William 
Ewers, and the date of 1714, that there 
was an old inan, one Woodman, then 
living at Coppenhall, who remembered 
Nixon, could describe his person, and 
had communicated many particulars of 
his life. The tradition at Vale Royal 
Howse, where the above-mentioned ma- 
nuscripts have been long preserved with 
great care and secrecy, favours the for- 
mer account; and were it not so much 
connected with Vale Royal and the Chol. 
mondeley family, who are known not to’ 
have settled at that place before the 
vear 1615, the story would have more’ 
the air of probability, if placed at a pe= 
riod so remote. If, according to Old- 
mixoh’s account, so extraordinary a per- 
son had lived at Vale-Royal in the reign 
of James I. we might expect to find 
some mention of him in the parish req 
gister either at Over, or Whitegate, both 
of which have been searched in vain ; 
and it 1s almost incredible that he should 
not have been noticed by his contem- 
poraries; yet no mention is made of him 
either by Webb, who in his Itinerary of 
1622, speaks much of the Cholmondeley 
family, and relates a visit of King James 
I. to Vale Royal for four days, or by the 
industrious Randal Holme, who has re- 
corded all the remarkable events and 
circumstances of histime. Indeed, whats 
ever be the age assigned to Nixon, if 
his story and his prophecies had been 
kuown in the seventeenth century, 1t 
seems very extraordinary, that neither 
of the Holmes should have inserted a sin- 
gle note concerning him, in their volu- 
minous and multifarious collections re- 
lating to this county; and that Fuller, 
who published his “ Worthies” imme- 
diately 
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