At the bottom of Holywell Hill, in St. Alban's, on the north-east side of the Meuse River, is HOLYWELL HOUSE, the pleasant residence of the Dowager Countess Spencer, who retired hither after the decease of the late Earl Spencer, in the year 1783, and has since made it her general place of residence. This Mansion was principally erected by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, into whose family the estate has been conveyed by the marriage of a daughter and co-heiress of Ralph Rowlat, Esq. who was Sheriff of Hertfordshire and Essex, in the thirty-third of Henry the Eighth. In the pediment of the principal front, are various military trophies, in allusion to the victories achieved by the Great Duke of Marlborough: the garden front opens to the lawn by a kind of cloister, which formed part of the old building that stood upon this spot.

Among the few interesting pictures that decorate the apartments, is a very fine three-quarter length of SARAH, Duchess of Marlborough, by Sir Godfrey Kneller; and also a portrait of LADY HOWARD, by the same artist, with the date 1694. Here is likewise a painting of QUEEN ANNE, and the DUKE OF GLOCESTER, when a boy, (given by that Queen to the Duchess of Marlborough;) portraits of the EARL and COUNTESS OF BESBOROUGH; a whole length of the present LORD Spencer, when a youth, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; and another of his sister, the present DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE, by Gainsborough; whose talents for portrait are also displayed by a large picture of WILLIAM POYNTZ, Esq. of Midgham, in Berkshire, brother to the Lady Dowager Spencer: he is represented in a shooting dress, with a gun; and near him is a water spaniel: the landscape part of this picture is extremely fine.

The grounds connected with this mansion, though not extensive, are pleasingly varied: the trees are of almost every description, and most of them have been planted by the Dowager Lady Spencer; who possesses considerable knowledge in botanical science, and has also embellished her little demesne with a great number of curious plants. The Holy-well, from which the estate has derived its name, is on the lawn adjacent to the garden front: it is still held in some degree of estimation, for its purity, and salubrious qualities.

Among

Among the most eminent natives of St. Alban's are recorded Alexander Necham, Nequam, or Neckham, Sir John Mandeville, Sir John King, and Sir Francis Pemberton. ALEXANDER NECHAM flourished in the reign of King John, and attained very general celebrity for his knowledge in philosophy, poetry, divinity, and rhetoric. So great was his fame, that he was styled 'miraculum ingenii; the wonder and miracle of wit and science.' SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE was born about the beginning of the fourteenth century, and became famous as the greatest traveller of his age. He left England in 1332; and having visited most parts of the world, and acquired a knowledge of many languages, returned home after an absence of thirty-four years. His Itinerary has been published in English, French, Latin, Italian, and German; and though it contains many improbable statements, is still interesting. According to Weever, he died at Liege, in 1371, as before stated. SIR JOHN KING, an eminent Lawyer, was born in the year 1639: he was admitted into Queen's College, Cambridge, at the age of sixteen, and became remarkable for his early and great attainments. In 1660, he was removed to the Inner Temple, where he made great progress in the study of the law; and afterwards became King's Counsel, and Solicitor General to the Duke of York, and was knighted by Charles the Second, in 1674. He died about three years afterwards, at the age of thirty-eight, and was buried in the Temple Church. SIR FRANCIS PEMBERTON was descended from an ancient family in Lancashire, and was the son of Ralph Pemberton, Esq. who was Mayor of this Borough in 1627 and 1638. After receiving the rudiments of his education at Emanuel College, Cambridge, he pursued his studies at the Inner Temple, and was called to the Bar in November, 1654. After successive promotions, he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1682. He died in 1697, at the age of seventy-two, and was buried at Highgate, where he had built a handsome residence. The ruins of SOPWELL NUNNERY occupy a considerable space of ground about half a mile south-eastward from St. Alban's; but the dilapidations have been so great, that neither the plan of the buildings, nor their appropriation, can now be traced. This Nun

nery

nery was of the Benedictine Order, and was founded about the year 1140, by Geoffrey de Gorham, sixteenth Abbot of St. Alban's, on the site of an humble dwelling that had been constructed with branches of trees, by two pious women, who lived here in seclusion and strict abstinence. The Abbot ordained that the number of Nuns should not exceed thirteen, and that none should be admitted into the sisterhood but maidens: he also granted them some lands; and their possessions were afterwards increased by different grants from Henry de Albini, and others of his family: an estate in the parish of Ridge was likewise given to them by Richard de Tany, or Todenai. At the period of the dissolution of this house, its annual revenues were estimated, according to Speed, at 681. 8s. Od. but Dugdale records them at only 401. 7s. 10d.

In the year 1541, Henry the Eighth granted the site and buildings of the Nunnery to Sir Richard Lee, who had been bred to arms, and was the person who had previously obtained the grant of the lands lying contiguous to the Abbey Church. By him the buildings were enlarged and altered for his own residence; and the surrounding grounds were inclosed by a wall, and converted into a park. Sir Richard died in 1575, leaving two daughters; by Anne, the eldest of whom, married to Edwyn Sadleir, second son of Sir Ralph Sadleir, of Standon, in this county, Sopwell passed into that family. About the time of the Restoration, it again fell to an heiress, married to Thomas Saunders, Esq. of Beechwood, and was afterwards sold to Sir Harbottle Grimston, ancestor to the present Lord Viscount Grimston, of Gorhambury, who is now owner of a considerable part of Sopwell-Bury Manor.

The ruins of Sopwell are mostly huge fragments of wall, composed of flint and brick: the windows in what appear to have

been

* Tanner supposes that Speed mistook a figure, and that the revenue was only 581. 8. Od.

+ Newcome asserts, (Hist. of St. Alban's, p. 469,) that Sopwell was given to Sir Richard through the solicitations of his handsome wife, "whose maiden name was Margaret Greenfield, and who was in no small favor with the King."