made the tour of Europe, it was this polite and finished gentleman who had the honour to entertain the Prince and Princess of Orange, and their suite, for three days, in April 1734, after their nuptials, when they were detained by contrary winds at Gravesend, in their way to Holland.

Soon after, Mr. Thorpe purchased High-streethouse in Bexley, a seat formerly of the family of Goldwell, latterly of the heirs of Edward Austin, fourth son of Sir Edward Austin, of Hallplace, bart. This house and grounds are highly enriched by the lively Cray passing through them, and, at the extremity of the garden, forming, with an elegant simplicity, a natural island. On the death of Mrs. Thorpe, Jan. 10, 1789, to whom he had been married 42 years*, he let High-streethouse, and retired to Richmond-green, Surrey, that he might dissipate the gloom of his mind by a new scene. On the 6th of July, 1790, he married to his second wife Mrs. Holland, a lady who lived with him as housekeeper, and the widow of an old collegiate acquaintance. Removing afterwards to Chippenham, Wilts, he there died Aug. 2, 1792, in his 78th year, and, by his will, desired to be buried in the church-yard of Harden Huish, Wilts. Two daughters, Catharine and Ethelinda, survive him; and are both married; the former to Thomas Meggison, esq. a very eminent solicitor in Hatton Garden; the latter to Cuthbert Potts, esq. sometime - a surgeon in Pall-mall, now of Sittingbourne, Kent.

Mr. Thorpe had the honour to be appointed one of the trustees under the charity of John Styleman, esq.

*See Gent. Mag. vol. LIX, p. 89. There was an humble tribute to the memory of Mrs. Thorpe intended for the Gentleman's Magazine, her favourite Miscellany; but, from some little, unknown, or private reasons, was then prevented. To those who were happy enough to know her, suffice it to say, that there was a degree of magnitude in her mind, of solidity in her judgment, and of beneficence in her heart, which were very far above praise, In her lingering death, occasioned by a painful disease in her toe, she shewed the virtuous fortitude of a Stoick, and the firmness of a Saint.

See

See" Registrum Roffense," p. 923; and also the Custumale." He was happy in a retentive memory, and could quote whole pages of his favourite Pope with the utmost facility. He was courteous, but not courtly, in his manners; hospitable, but not extravagant, at his table; skilful and curious in his garden; intelligent and communicative in his library; social, elegant, and informing in his general conversation, and on antiquarian topics almost an enthusiast. These facts are stated from an intimate acquaintance and attentive observation of many years; and the writer of this article is well warranted in as serting that Mr. Thorpe, who lived in the genuine style of our old English gentry, was truly venerated by his family, and respected by a numerous circle of friends, beyond the common rank.

The preceding account of Mr. Thorpe and his family produced the following letter:-"The late Mrs. Thorpe, whose death you have mentioned with a merited eulogy on the deceased, was buried in a vault in Bexley churchyard, contiguous to a wall, which is a boundary of the premises of Highstreet-house, built by Mr. Thorpe; and on a tablet of black mar ble, fixed to the wall, is the following inscription: "D.O. M.

The Fossil-stone beneath covers the remains of CATHARINA, wife of JOHN THORPE, M. A. F.S.Á. Pray disturb not her ashes."

This fossil-stone was brought from Cockleshell bank, near Green-street Green, or from some bank of a similar kind in Bexley parish, whose strata are minutely described in "Antiquities within the Diocese of Rochester," subjoined to Custumale Roffense, pp. 254, 5. As Mr. Thorpe died at Chippenham, it cannot be matter of surprize that he should be averse to giving his friends the trouble of conveying his remains more than an hundred miles. But why did not the tree lie where it fell, instead of being drawn a few miles to Harden Huish? Considering the short

residence of my worthy friend in Wilts, Harden Huish must have been to him a novel parish. But, perhaps, some information he had acquired respecting its antient history, or some vestiges he had traced of a testaceous soil, might occasion his chusing this spot for a place of interment. He was, as you have truly observed, on Antiquarian topicks, almost an enthusiast; and, in this instance, he might be willing to shew

"He felt his ruling passion strong in death."

When, by his direction, a fossil of marine exuviæ was made the key-stone of the sepulchral vault in Bexley church-yard, it doubtless was his intention that it should cover, and keep undisturbed, the dust of John Thorpe, as well as the ashes of Catharina. W. & D." *

XVI. EDWARD HASTED, ESQ.+ was the only son of Edward Hasted, of Hawley, Kent, esq. barrister at law; descended paternally from the noble family of Clifford, as he was maternally from the antient and knightly family of the Dingleys of Woolverton, in the Isle of Wight. His laborious History of Kent took him up more than 40 years, during the whole series of which he spared neither pains nor expence to bring it to maturity; and the reputation which it still maintains in the judgment of the publick, is the best proof of its merits. Notwithstanding his attention to this his favourite object during the whole of the above time, he acted as a magistrate and a deputy lieu

The usual signature of his friend Mr. Denne; see p. 531. "I request my Executor to cause the following insertion, immediately after my death, to be sent for that purpose to the Publisher of the Gentleman's Magazine, to be inserted in the Obituary of the next Magazine after my death; and I am sure my much-respected friend Mr. Nichols will have the goodness to consent to it. EDWARD HASTED."

tenant

tenant for the county of Kent with uncommon zeal and activity. He was F. R. S. and S. A. In the latter part of his life he felt the pressure of adverse fortune, which obliged him to quit his residence in Kent, after which he lived in obscure retirement, and for some time in the environs of London, noticed by a few valuable friends, from whom he received constant tokens of benevolent friendship, as having known him in more fortunate circumstances, several of whom are of the rank of Nobility, and of high estimation in life. A few years ago, his honourable and highly respected patron and friend, the Earl of Radnor, presented him to the Mastership of the Hospital at Corsham in Wiltshire (a most desirable asylum), to which he then removed; and, having obtained, a few years ago, the Chancellor's decree, for the recovery of his estates in Kent, of which he had been defrauded, it enabled him again to enjoy the sweets of an independent competence during the remainder of his life. He died at the Master's Lodge of the Lady Hungerford's Hospital, in Corsham, Wilts, at the advanced age of 80, Jan. 14, 1812. By Anne his wife, who died in 1803, Mr. Hasted left four sons and two daughters, of whom the eldest son is now a respectable clergyman, vicar of Hollingborne, with the chapel of Hucking annexed, near Maidstone, in Kent, and in the Commission of the Peace for that County.

XVII. THE REV. THOMAS RUDD

was rector of Washington, in the County of Durham; and wrote the ingenious disquisition proving Symeon, and not Turgot, to be the author of the History of the Church of Durham, published by Bedford, and which is prefixed to that Edition. It has always been supposed this gentleman left many valuable MSS. relating to the County of Durham, which are in the hands of his grandson, Wm. Rudd, esq. now living at Durham.

524)

XVIII. The Rev. Archdeacon JOHN DENNE descended from a family of good note in the county of Kent, which was seated at Denne-hill in the parish of Kingston, in that county, so long ago as the reign of Edward the Confessor; and there continued in a direct line of male issue till 1656; nay, longer in the name, by the marriage of a collateral branch (Vincent Denne, Esq. Serjeant at Law) with Mary, a coheiress in the direct line, in whose female issue it ended in 1693.

"From this antient stem sprung many shoots, that were planted at different times and places through that county; whereof there was one at Littlebourne, in the time of Henry VII. from which came John Denne, Gent. who had the place of Woodreve to the See of Canterbury in these parts, by a patent from Archbishop Tenison *."

Dr. John Denne, his eldest son, was born at Littlebourne, May 25, 1693; brought up at the free school of Sandwich and Canterbury; admitted of Ben'et College, Feb. 25, 1708; and afterwards a scholar of that House. He proceeded B. A. 1712, M. A. and Fellow 1716, S. T. P. 1728; joint Tutor of the College with Dr. Thomas [afterwards Archbishop] Herring; presented by the College, to the perpetual curacy of St. Benedict's church, Cambridge; rector of Norton Davy, or Green's Norton, co. Northampton, 1721, which he exchanged for the vicarage of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, 1723; Preacher of Boyle's Lectures 1725 1728; Archdeacon and Prebendary of Rochester 1728, on the presentation of Bishop

* What concerns the antient and flourishing state of this family is confirmed by some MS Papers belonging to it; and may be seen in Philpott's "Villare Cantianum;" Weever's Funeral Monuments; Collins's Peerage; in the Preface to Somner's Antiquities of Canterbury; and in a very remarkable inscription on the South wall of the Temple Church, on John Denne, a Barrister, who died Jan. 16, 1648, æt. 32, which is printed in Dugdale's "Origines Juridiciales," p. 175.

+ Masters's History of Bene't College, p. 276.

"At the time of his becoming a member, not a few of its muniments and papers were in much confusion; these he digested,

and