awarded. Five of these are now given annually, the highest being £80, and the lowest £40. They are open to the competition of all members of the school without preference to any part of the United Kingdom.

The exhibitions are awarded to the boys most proficient in divinity, classics, mathematics, and history. The examiners are appointed by the vice-chancellors of the universities. There are also scholarships of £30 and £20 for three years instituted by the masters. The system of fagging exists in this school, but to a limited. extent, and under proper control.

ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH is near the centre of the town, and is more venerable than elegant in its aspect, having undergone a great deal of tasteless patching and alteration. There are no monuments of importance in the interior. It is said that this church was partly built of stone taken from the ruins of the castle already referred to. In the churchyard may be seen some quaint epitaphs.

TRINITY CHURCH, a tasteful modern structure, stands on the border of the town on the way to the station. It consists of nave, aisles, transepts, chancel, with aisle on the south side, and a handsome tower rising from the intersection. The interior is very elegantly fitted up. The east and west windows are Decorated, the former being filled with stained glass. The reredos under the east window is a fine piece of illumination and painting, representing the Lamb of God and emblematical figures of the four Evangelists. The south transept has a large circular window, Decorated in its upper part, and below it three early English windows, all filled with painted glass. The north transept has a large Decorated window of four lights. The pulpit and font are both of stone, elegantly sculptured.

LAWRENCE SHERIFF'S ALMSHOUSES are opposite the

parish church. The original endowment was for the benefit of four poor men, two of Rugby, and two of Brownsover; but the number of persons benefited by the charity has been increased with the increase of the

revenues.

RUGBY also possesses a Charity School and Almshouses, founded and endowed by Richard Elborow, Esq., in 1707.

VICINITY OF RUGBY.

BILTON is about 2 miles from Rugby. On the picturesque village-green may be seen the stocks, in excellent condition. Beside them is part of a stone pillar, much defaced-perhaps the pillory.

The Church is a handsome edifice, with a graceful spire. The daughter of Joseph Addison is interred in the chancel, but without any monumental inscription. Bilton Hall has been rendered classic by the residence of Addison, who purchased it and the estate in 1711, in anticipation of his marriage with the Countess Dowager of Warwick. On his taking up his residence here the poet Somervile addressed to him a complimentary epistle in verse, in which the following couplet

occurs:

"When panting virtue her last efforts made,
You brought your Clio to the virgin's aid."

Dr. Johnson remarks that this couplet is "written with the most exquisite delicacy of praise; it exhibits one of those happy strokes that are seldom attained."

Addison was married in 1716. The union was not a happy one, owing to the proud and irritable temper of the Countess. He died in London in 1719, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He left one child, a daughter, who resided at Bilton Hall, and died unmarried at the age of 79.

The mansion is spacious but irregular. In construction it is of different periods, the oldest and largest portion bearing marks of the style of architecture common about the time of James I. The remainder of the building, being of the style which prevailed in the beginning of the eighteenth century, may have been erected by Addison himself.

The gardens retain much of the old formal character, being laid out principally in straight lines. A long walk on the north side is called "Addison's Walk," there being a tradition that this was his favourite retreat.

CHURCH LAWFORD is a small village, 4 miles northwest from Rugby. The Church has some Norman work. This parish is worthy of the attention of the geologist on account of the discovery in the diluvial deposit of many bones of the elephant and rhinoceros, as well as some of the hyæna. "The diluvial bed," observes Dr. Buckland, "is immediately incumbent on stratified beds of lias, and is composed of a mixture of various pebbles, sand, and clay, in the lower regions of which, where the clay predominates, the bones are found at the depth of fifteen feet from the surface. They are not in the least mineralised, and have lost almost nothing of their weight or animal matter."

A short distance from Church Lawford is the hamlet of NEWNHAM REGIS, or KING'S NEWNHAM, where there is a weak chalybeate spring, extolled for its virtues by both Camden and Speed, and still in some request.

At LITTLE LAWFORD, in the parish of NEWBOLD-ONAVON (the church of which has some monuments to members of the Baughton family), about a mile from King's Newnham, stood till 1790 a residence of the Baughtons. This mansion was the scene of the murder of Sir Theodosius Baughton by his brother-in-law,

K

Captain John Donellan, in 1780. This murder, which excited a great sensation at the time, is the foundation of one of Mr. G. P. R. James's novels.

CHURCH OVER, 4 miles north-east from Rugby, has near it a large tumulus, by the side of the Watling Street, which here forms the eastern boundary of the county. There can be little doubt that the tumulus is Roman.* The Church has in its interior several monuments of the Dixwell family.

CLIFTON, two miles east from Rugby, was the birthplace, in 1686, of Thomas Carte, a distinguished antiquary and historian. He died in 1754. The Church is a good building, well situated.

The hamlet of NEWTON, about a mile distant, was the birthplace (1691), of Edward Cave, the designer and original publisher of the "Gentleman's Magazine." The magazine, which was commenced in 1728, and at once achieved a remarkable success, is now the oldest in the kingdom. Cave died in 1754.

DUNCHURCH, two miles to the south of Rugby, possesses a handsome Church in the Decorated style, with a well-proportioned tower. There is an ancient porch on the south side of the building. The east window was restored and filled with fine painted glass, about thirty years ago, by Lord John Scott, the proprietor of the manor. The village also contains a Free School, founded in 1707 by Francis Baughton, of Causton House, in this neighbourhood; and Almshouses, founded by Thomas Newcomb, printer to Charles II., James II., and William III.

WILLOUGHBY, three miles from Dunchurch and five from Rugby, possesses a saline spring, which is much

* Two miles farther south on the same road, but on the Northamptonshire side of the boundary, are the extensive remains of the Roman station of Tripontium (Dowbridge, near Lilbourne).

resorted to. Roman coins, Mosaic pavements, and other relics, have been discovered here from time to time.

SHOTTERY.

In the VICINITY OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON.

SOLIHULL AND ITS VICINITY.

INNS: George, Lion, Mason's Arms.

From Birmingham, 7 miles; Warwick, 14.

SOLIHULL is a pretty, quiet country town, picturesquely irregular in arrangement, and pleasant in situation, but presenting nothing remarkable in its architecture. Before the Conquest it bore the name of Uverlei or Wolverley, and possessed a church, no vestiges of which now remain.

The CHURCH, the most important building, is large and handsome, consisting of nave, aisles, chancel, transepts, and spire. It is of different dates and styles, but possesses sufficient features of interest to repay examination. The spire is a not very happy imitation of the original one, which was blown down in 1745. A chantry, now used as a vestry, was built in the reign of Edward I. Beneath it there is a groined crypt. The principal monument sets forth in a long Latin inscription the history and virtues of the family of Holbeche.

Solihull possesses several good schools. It was here that the poets Shenstone and Jago received their education under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Crumpton; and here commenced that friendship which lasted throughout their lives.

At Solihull the tourist is within walking distance of Knowle and Temple Balsall, which may be visited