(_Continued from_ Vol. vii., p. 380.)
In a _Collection of Poems_, in six volumes, by several Hands (Dodsley, 5th
edition, 1758), and in vol. iii. p. 75., is found "An Epistle from Florence
to T. A., Esq., Tutor to the Earl of P----. Written in the year 1740. By
the Honourable ----." Can any one explain an allusion contained in these
three lines of the epistle?
"Or with wise Ken judiciously define,
When Pius marks the honorary coin
Of Caracalla, or of Antonine."
It is hardly to be supposed that the Ken here named could mean the bishop,
who died so far back as 1711. Was there a coin-collector of that name
living about 1740?
We learn (from Ken's _Prose Works_, ed. Round, pp. 93, 94.) that the
Bishop's sister, "my poor sister Ken," most probably then a widow, lost her
only son, who died at Cyprus, in 1707. Was this Mrs. Ken the Rose Vernon,
sister of Sir Thomas Vernon, of Coleman Street, London, and the wife of Jon
Ken, the bishop's eldest brother, and treasurer of the East India Company?
This Jon and Rose Ken are represented, in Mr. Markland's Pedigree of the
Ken family, as still living in 1683. Is there no monumental memorial of
this Treasurer Ken, or his family, in any of the London churches?
In Mr. Macaulay's _History of England_, 5th ed., vol. ii. p. 365., he
states that "it was well known that one of the most opulent dissenters of
the City had begged that he might have the honour of giving security for
Ken," when the seven bishops were bailed, previous to their trial. On what
authority (for none is cited) does this statement rest?
Can any one give a clue to this passage from a letter written to Mr.
Harbin, Lord Weymouth's chaplain, by Bishop Ken, and dated "Winton, Jan
22." [1701]:
"I came to Winchester yesterday, where I stay one post more, and then
go either to Sir R. U. or L. Newton, where you shall hear from
me."--Ken's _Prose Works_, by Round, p. 53.
Can "Sir R. U." (the _U_ perhaps being a mistake for _W._) designate Sir
Robert Worsley, Bart., of Chilton, in the county of Southampton, married to
Lord Weymouth's daughter? and can "L. Newton" be a mistake for Long Sutton,
in Hants? or may it be Long Newton, in the hundred of Malmesbury?