the mantle-tree has given way to a modern chimney-piece; not by removal or abolition, but by inclosure in a shelf over the fire- place, removable at the pleasure of antiquaries. By this alteration the principal parts are preserved, though the new wainscot trenches a little on the tops of the characters, and entirely conceals the head of the dragon, and the roses finial. Nothing has been cut or bro- ken off the figures, nor is any material part concealed, as the in- closed fac simile will convince you. But you are to observe that the figure under W. R. is meant for the dragon, who is placed at the head of the whole; though not being essential to the inscription, is here introduced merely to shew how much of him is concealed. And for the same reason the compartments of roses are omitted.
"Mr. Russell, the present incumbent, whose name is not like the supposed maker of the Parsonage mantle, William but John, is well aware of the curiosity he possesses, and not deficient in attention to the few who think it an object of inquiry, nor insensible to the possibility of its being of less antiquity than is generally presumed, though he wishes to be convinced of the contrary proposition. He has a copy of Dr. Wallis's account of it in MS. The rectory house shews no particular mark of antiquity in the style or building, being a substantial structure of the stone of the country, like many of its neighbours, and not calculated to contain five or six children. How to make Anno Domini out of the two first compartments rather puzzles me. I submit the third to you."
Suspicious as I was that the mantle-tree plate might have been embellished by the burin of the engraver, I must own I did not expect to find that the original was so rude a piece of sculpture; and it is in this respect, and in this only, that it can have had any pretension to the very high antiquity imputed to it. One must conclude it to have been the workmanship of a country joiner, not capable with chisel or with pen of forming a correct figure or letter; andobvious
