ERRATA. In lines 29 and 30 of page 161, the whole of the sentence in a parenthesis, "(except perhaps the last mentioned)," should have been struck out. Page 164, line 13, for recovering read receiving. Page 219, for South Lincolnshire read Louth, Lincolnshire Page 236, line 14, for cardinal read cardinals. Page 236, line 22, for 1162 read 1692. Page 239, line 36, for confession read confessor. Page 243, line 23, for dispositiones read dispositionis. PARISH CHURCHES, No. VI.-EYAM CHURCH. [With an Engraving.] ABOUT four miles to the eastward of Tideswell, after passing a succession of those dreary Derbyshire hills whose surface of scanty grass is only broken by the lines of cheerless stone-wall boundary which intersect them in every direction, the traveller will see before him a few patches of trees, above whose summits a small, square, unobtrusive steeple peers over the wild country. It is Eyam, which, though "little amongst the cities of the plain, and the thousands of Judah," hath a remembrance which shall not perish from the earth as long as the well-being of society shall be considered as connected with the influence of a faithful minister over an attached and respecting flock. All who feel how vividly local associations can recall scenes and events of past life, will enter fully into our views in selecting this retired spot at a moment when the pestilence, which walketh in darkness, is again mysteriously hovering around our dwellings, and when the devotion of a Mompesson may again be called for, to stand between the living and the dead, that the plague be stayed. It is with such feelings that we present Eyam Church to the notice of our readers, confident that even our brief narrative will not be without its use; and still more confident that he who should peradventure be induced, by our simple tale, to visit Eyam and its Riley graves, will, as he wanders amongst the precincts of its dead, recall with the vividness of present impression the events of years long gone by, and strengthen feelings which may be powerfully called into action for a similarly fearful season, which he knows not how soon may be at hand. In the frequently secluded and generally tranquil occupations of a clergyman's life, few indeed and far between are the opportunities which enable him, by boldly facing death in the hour of danger, to emulate the gallantry of those who, in the exercise of worldly warfare, count their lives as nothing in the performance of that sacred duty-their country's defence. But the time may come yea, rather, in some places, now is when, in the service of a heavenly Master, the VOL. II.-Sept. 1832. B ministers of God may be called forth to risk their lives in the same sacred cause; and men whose profession is peace, may, in the hour of their death, be counted worthy of equal glory with those who have died in the day of battle. In seasons of peculiar excitement and peril, noble and hitherto dormant qualities of the mind are frequently developed, and characters till then little known or understood, stand forward as burning and shining lights; and by an honourable display of energies, and a faithful spirit of devotion, from henceforward not only deservedly raise their own reputation, but that of the profession or calling to which it is their lot to belong. We have said thus much under a firm conviction that if pestilence should be permitted still further to ravage the land, amongst the clergy of England will be found individuals without umber who, far from shrink will go forth to meet the danger, and; if necessary, will fearlessly perish in the conflict. By such, the following narrative will be read with tenfold interest ;and, in the humble hope that the eye which seeth all things is upon them, such will, in the name and under the guidance of the Lord, become candidates for the living and lasting fame of Mompesson, rector of Eyam. For It was towards the close of the autumn of 1665, that a few suspicious cases of sudden death excited a well-founded fear, that the plague, which had been ravaging the Continent, had found its way into the metropolis. Winter however passed, and as the variations in the bills of mortality were not very striking, it was hoped that the disease, if not entirely quenched, was at least of so mild a nature, that its progress would not exceed the usual bounds of those periodical infectious fevers which so frequently insinuate themselves amidst dense and dissolute populations. But as summer advanced, such hopes were found to be entirely delusive; and, about the month of May, a decisive plague, with all its horrors, established itself, and continued with increasing fatality throughout the remainder of the season. a time it was chiefly confined to London and its neighbourhood, but gradually it extended itself into the country; and towards the latter end of July, it was conveyed to the unfortunate village which is the subject of this narrative, in a box of woollen clothes. The tailor to whom they were directed was, together with his family, the immediate victim of this fatal importation; and a few days sufficed to confirm the fact that the entire hamlet was deeply infected. A general panic ensued, and there was too much reason for supposing that a fugitive population, hurrying instinctively to the neighbouring villages, would carry with them the seeds of death, and that, far and wide, victims would be added to the hourly increasing number. At this eventful and awful crisis, the rector, William Mompesson, summoned the parish, and after energetically stating the case, and declaring his decided intention of remaining at his post, induced his hearers to adopt the measures he was about to propose, if not for their own preservation, at least for the more important cause-the preservation of the surrounding country. With an earnest desire to save his wife and two children, and devote himself alone in this hazardous service, he entreated Mrs. Mompesson to depart, but without effect: she posi |