THE HISTORY _and Antiquities of_ WESTON FAVELL, _in the County of
Northampton_. _By_ JOHN COLE, _Editor of ‘Herveiana,’_ &c.
SCARBOROUGH: _Printed_ (only 50 copies) _and published by John Cole;
and Longman and Co. London_, 1827.--8vo. pp. 74.
According to Mr. Cole, Weston Favell is entered in Domesday book as
“Westone,” and the addition of Favell was derived from a family of that
name, who formerly possessed the manor. From each of three mansions
standing there at the commencement of the last century, but not one of
which remained at its close, the important equipage of a “coach and six”
formerly issued to the admiration of the villagers. The church is
dedicated to St. Peter, “and consists of a body, south porch, and
chancel, with a coped tower at the west end, containing five bells.” Mr.
C. remarks, on the authority of _tradition_, that the tower had once a
spire to it, which was many years ago destroyed by lightning; and this
observation induces him to cite, by way of note, that “_Tradition_ is a
very poetical, a very pleasing personáge; we like to meet him in our
travels, and always ask him a question. You will find him grey and
blind, sitting among old ruins, and ‘Death standing, dim, behind.’”
Mr. Cole copies several monumental inscriptions within the church,
chiefly in memory of the Hervey family, and one especially on his
favourite, viz.:--
HERE LIE THE REMAINS
OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY, A. M.
LATE RECTOR OF THIS PARISH:
THAT VERY PIOUS MAN
AND MUCH ADMIRED AUTHOR!
WHO DIED DEC. 25TH 1758
IN THE 45TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
Reader expect no more to make him known
Vain the fond Elegy and figur’d Stone,
A name more lasting shall his Writings give;
There view displayed his heavenly Soul, and live.
Such are the lines on the tomb of the author of the “Meditations among
the Tombs; Reflections on a Flower Garden; and Contemplations on the
Night, and on the Starry Heavens.” He was buried under the middle of the
communion-table in the chancel: when his body was conveyed to the church
it was covered, according to his express desire, with the poor’s pall.
He was the most popular rector of Weston Favell, of which living he was
the patron and incumbent, as his father had been. Hervey was not born in
that parish, but in the neighbouring one of Hardingston.
[Illustration: ~Hervey’s Birth-Place at Hardingston.~]
In this house (the representation of which is derived from Mr. Cole’s
History of Weston Favell) the author of the “Meditations” first saw
light. He was instructed by his mother in reading till the age of seven,
and then sent to the free grammar-school at Northampton, where he
remained till seventeen, at which age his father placed him at Lincoln
college, Oxford, and there he resided seven years, and gained an
exhibition of twenty pounds. In 1736 he returned to his father, who was
then rector of Weston Favell, and became his curate. In May, 1737, he
succeeded the celebrated George Whitefield in the curacy of Dummer,
Hampshire, and in about a twelvemonth removed to Stoke Abbey, Devon,
where he lived with his friend, Mr. Orchard, upwards of two years. In
1739 he accepted the curacy of Bideford, which he retained till his
final settlement at Weston Favell, where he
To ampler plenitude and sweeter days
Proceeded hourly.
It was in Hervey’s native parish, Hardingston, that the battle of
Northampton was fought on the 10th of July, 1460, and king Henry VI.
taken prisoner by the earl of Warwick: the duke of Buckingham, the earl
of Shrewsbury, and other noblemen were killed: and many of the slain
were buried in the convent of Delapre, and at St. John’s hospital,
Northampton. In Hardingston parish is a military work, supposed to have
been raised by the Danes, and therefore called the Danes’ camp.
The wake of Weston Favell is held on the next Sunday after St. Peter’s
day. In the afternoon the rector preaches an appropriate sermon, the
choristers prepare suitable psalms, and throngs of visitants from the
neighbouring villages attend the service in the church. During the first
three or four days of the feast-week there are dances at the inns, with
games at bowls and quoits, and throughout the week there are dinner and
tea-parties from the environs, whose meetings usually conclude with a
ball. On St. Valentine’s day the village lads and lasses assemble, and
go round with a wish of “Good morrow, morrow, Valentine!” to the
principal inhabitants, who give money to the juvenile minstrels. On
Shrove Tuesday, at noon, it is the custom to ring one of the
church-bells, called the “Pancake bell;” its sound intimates a holiday
and allowance of sport to the village youngsters. The fifth of November
is jovially celebrated with a bonfire, which may be viewed throughout a
circuit of many miles. Christmas is kept merrily, but the ancient usages
of the season have passed away, except the singing by the church-choir,
of whose carols Mr. Cole produces three, “which may serve,” he says, “as
an addition to Mr. Gilbert’s collection.”
In this “history” there is an engraving of two “figures on bricks, near
the pulpit:” the other engravings are from a former work by Mr. Cole,
entitled “Herveiana,” (2 vols. foolscap 8vo. 1822,) wherein is collected
a large number of particulars concerning Hervey from various sources.
The latter work enumerates from Hervey’s “Theron and Aspasio,” the
plants of the parish, and agreeably describes the common but beautiful
plant, called Cuckoo-pint, or Wake Robin, which abounds under the
hedge-rows. It is spoken of by its scientific name: “_Arum_--a wild
herb, which unfolds but one leaf, formed after a very singular pattern,
bearing some resemblance to the hare’s ear. It is really one of the
prettiest fancies in Nature’s wardrobe, and is so much admired by the
country-people, that they have dignified it with the appellation of
lords and ladies; because it looks, I suppose, somewhat like a person of
quality, sitting with an air of ease and dignity in his open sedan. In
autumn, after both flowers have vanished, a spike of scarlet berries, on
a simple stalk, is all that remains.”
On the first publication of Hervey’s “Meditations and Contemplations,”
and for several years afterwards, they were highly popular, and are
still greatly admired by young persons, and others who are delighted by
a florid interjectional manner of writing. Hervey’s work occurs in Mr.
Bohn’s “Catalogue of the Library of the late reverend and learned Samuel
Parr, LL.D.” with the following remarkable note attached to the
volume--“This book was the delight of Dr. Parr, when he was a boy; and,
for some time, was the model on which he endeavoured to form a style.”
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