Bad tidings from Bakewell-no Parfon there-
No Parfon could elfe be found;

'Twas noon, yet no tidings—they still searched on,
And miffed they no likely ground.

At laft the fearchers went into the Dale,
And there at the foot of Fox Torr-
They found the Parfon, all cold and dead,
'Mong the rocks all stained with gore.

They took up his corfe and fix ftalwart men,
Slowly bore it along the Dale;

And they laid the dead in his house that night,
And many did him bewail.

And now, my dear friends, what more need I fay?
I've told you the story through :-

If you've in the least been pleased with my song,
Then I am well-pleafed with you.

Honor of Tutbury, parcell of the Dutchy of Lancaster, County of Derby.

An Enquisition indented, taken at MONYASH, within the Honor and County aforesaid, the fourteenth day of October in the Seventeenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the Third, King of Great Britain, &c., and, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and seventy

(g) A tuft of grass which the dead man clenched in his hand, was in existence until lately, but it has now disappeared, through slow decay, or the accidental breaking of the bottle in which it had been so long preserved.

six, before John Mander, Gentleman, Coroner of our said Lord the King for his Honor aforesaid: UPON view of the Body of the Reverend Robert Lomas, Clerk, then and there lying dead,-upon the Oaths of Mr. Samuel Barker, Thomas Chritchlow, John Bateman, Thomas Holme, Henry Goule, Edmund Livesley, Wm Morewood, George Allen, Richard Hibbert, Joseph Brassington, Ralph Wheeldon, Francis Smith, good and lawfull men of the Honor and County aforesaid; who, being sworn and charged to enquire on the part of the said Lord the King, how, upon, where, and after what manner and sort deceased came to his death, DO SAY, that upon Saturday the twelfth instant, between the hours of two and three in the afternoon of the same day, the deceased was found dead, in a certain place near Monyash aforesaid, called Harlow Dale, with divers mortal wounds and bruises upon him: AND, that the said Deceased, having been to Bakewell on the day before, was returning home to his House in Monyash late in the Evening, lost his way as was supposed, and wandering about the Common of Monyash aforesaid, he at last got to the edge of a dangerous precipice, called Fox Torr, where he accidentally fell down the same, in which fall he received divers mortal wounds and bruises, of which he then and there presently died: AND so, we the said Coroner and Jurors abovesaid DO SAY, the Deceased came to his death in manner aforesaid, without any felonious circumstances attending the same. In Testimony whereof, as well the Coroner as the Jurors abovesaid, have hereunto set their hands, the day and year first above written.

176

WRIGHT, OF DERBY. A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.

BY W. BEMROSE, JUN.

"That even by Genius excellence is bought
With length of labour, and a life of thought."

OSEPH WRIGHT, the eminent painter, whose portrait, from an original drawing in the possession of the writer, will be seen on Plate XIX., and who is usually known as "Wright, of Derby," in contradistinction to another painter of the same name, was a man of such great genius, of such unbounded popularity, and his works were of so great repute, not only in his own day, but down to the present hour, that it has been thought a brief memoir of him would be acceptable to the readers of the "RELIQUARY," where the biographies of other "Worthies of Derbyshire" have already appeared. As a connection of the family, and being possessed of many interesting papers relating to the great painter, I have therefore consented to throw together the following brief outline of his career; for that purpose I have thought it best to confine myself entirely to facts connected with his life, rather than to make this paper an exordium on his wondrous powers of conception, or his extraordinary abilities as a colourist, and a faithful delineator of nature. These points have already been well spoken of, as I may perhaps have occasion to show by extracts from contemporary writers, and it will be sufficient for my present purpose, to confine myself to matters connected immediately with the biography of the man himself.

Joseph Wright was born at Derby, in the the house, No. 28, Irongate, now occupied by Mr. Simmonds and the Churchmen's Union, on the third of September, 1734; at the Grammar School of which town he was educated, under the Rev. Mr. Almond. He was the third son of Mr. John Wright, an attorney of that place. This Mr. John Wright, from his upright conduct_upon all occasions, was known by the flattering name of "Equity Wright;" and it is said, that frequently when applied to respecting any case which he thought only required explanation, it was his wont to reconcile the parties as a friend, without making fee or charge. Speaking of "Equity Wright," an attorney of Derby, some years after his death, said, "he might have died very rich, had he acted like the generality of his profession." There can be no doubt that he was a thoroughly good lawyer, for on more than one occasion, when he waited on the celebrated Sir Eardley Wilmot, of Osmaston, for an opinion, Sir Eardley has said to him, "You are come to throw away a guinea with me, Mr. Wright, for you know the law as well as I do." The grandfather of Joseph Wright was likewise an attorney of Derby,