BIRTHPLACE OF LOCKE. At the village of Wrington, in Somersetshire, in a cottage by the churchyard, was born JOHN LOCKE. What a simple, unostentatious record is this of him whom the biographers call “one of the most eminent philosophers and valuable writers of his age and country.” Yet the cottage is not preserved with any special care;—there is nothing about it to denote that within its walls the... more...

ANCIENT PLAN OF OXFORD CASTLE. By these mysterious ties the busy pow'r Of mem'ry her ideal train preserves Intire; or, when they would elude her watch, Reclaims their fleeting footsteps from the waste Of dark oblivion. AKENSIDE Gentle, courteous, and patient reader—to understand the above plan, it is requisite that you carry your mind's eye back to those troublous times when men... more...

TEMPLE AT ABURY. Sermons in stones And good in every thing.—SHAKSPEARE. What means the mysterious circle of stocks and stones on the other side? Such will be the question of many a lover of fun, novel, fiction, and romance; and though we cannot settle their origin with the quickness or the humour of Munden's Cockletop, we will try to let our inquirer into the secret with the smallest show of... more...

RUGBY SCHOOL RUGBY SCHOOL On the eastern border of Warwickshire, about 13 miles from Coventry, and 16 from Warwick, stands the cheerful town of Rugby, a place of great antiquity, but of little note previous to the erection of a grammar-school there, towards the close of the sixteenth century. The circumstances under which this school was founded, and the rank it has attained among our classical... more...

CORFE CASTLE. The annexed Engravings are an interesting page in the early history of our country, and deserve all the space we have appropriated to them. Their political notoriety, of much less interesting character, we leave to be set down, said, sung, or set aside, elsewhere. Corfe Castle nearly adjoins a town of the same name: both are situate in the Isle of Purbeck; and their histories are so... more...

CHAPEL ON THE BRIDGE, WAKEFIELD Chapels on bridges are not so unfrequent in architectural history as the rarity of their remains would indicate. Among the early records of bridge-building we read that "the Romans built many bridges in the provinces; viz. in France, Spain, Germany, Britain, &c. some of which had arches or towers on them." Plutarch derives the word Pontifex, (high priest,)... more...

PRINCE RUPERT'S PALACE Prince Rupert, who will be remembered in the annals of the useful and fine arts when his military fame shall be forgotten, resided at a house in Beech-lane, Barbican, of the remains of which the above is a representation. His residence here was in the time of Charles II.; for it is said that Charles paid him a visit, when the ringers of Cripplegate had a guinea for... more...

Vicenza. SPIRIT OF THE "ANNUALS," FOR 1829. For some days past our table has been glittering with these caskets of song and tale in their gay attire of silken sheen and burnished gold—till their splendour has fairly put out the light of our sinumbra, and the drabs, blues, and yellows of sober, business-like quartos and octavos. Seven out of nine of these elegant little books are in... more...

The New Prison, Norwich. The old gaol in the city of Norwich, in the year 1823, being found no longer secure, nor according to the new act of parliament, admitting of sufficient room for the classification of the prisoners, the magistrates came to a resolution of erecting a new one outside the city, near St. Giles's gates; the same was accordingly advertised in the Norwich papers, in which... more...

RARE ARCTIC BIRDS.THE WHITE-HORNED OWLTHE COCK OF THE PLAINSLEGS AND FEET OF THE MOUNTAIN GROUSE.Few of the results of recent expeditions of discovery have been so interesting to the public as their contributions to zoological history. Many important additions to geographical science have also been made by these journeys into countries hitherto unexplored, or but imperfectly known by Europeans; but the... more...