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Vol. 4, July-Dec 1884, by Various

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Title: The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer; Vol. 4, July-Dec 1884

Author: Various

Editor: Edward Walford

Release Date: July 25, 2016 [EBook #52641]

Language: English

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[Illustration: THE GREAT YARMOUTH TOLHOUSE.]




                                 _The
                         Antiquarian Magazine
                           & Bibliographer._

                               EDITED BY

                         EDWARD WALFORD, M.A.,

           _Formerly Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford, and
                  late Editor of “The Gentleman’s
                            Magazine,” &c._

                      “Time doth consecrate,
        And what is grey with age becomes religion.”
                                 SCHILLER.

                              VOLUME VI.

                         JULY-DECEMBER, 1884.

                                London:
                 DAVID BOGUE, 27, KING WILLIAM STREET,
                          CHARING CROSS, W.C.

                          The Gresham Press.

                            UNWIN BROTHERS,
                               PRINTERS,
                         LONDON AND CHILWORTH.




List of Illustrations.


                                                           _Page_

THE GREAT YARMOUTH TOLHOUSE                                    2

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS FROM SOUTHWELL MINSTER                  49

GLOVES OF SHAKESPEARE, IN THE POSSESSION OF MISS BENSON      102

SEAL OF THE BOROUGH OF SEAFORD                               154

TESSELLATED PAVEMENT DISCOVERED AT THE ROMAN VILLA NEAR
BRADING                                                      206

THE OLD PALACE, RICHMOND                                     258




_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._




The Great Yarmouth Tolhouse.


GREAT YARMOUTH possesses a building of considerable antiquarian
interest. This is known by the somewhat unsuggestive name of the
Tolhouse. Its relation to the collection of tolls is referred to in many
old documents; but since this was but one of many uses to which it was
devoted, and far from a primary one, it is highly probable that, like
the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, its name is derived from its use in a greater
degree as the common prison of the town.

The building is spoken of by the old local historian, Manship, in 1619,
who states that it was used in his time as the Borough Gaol, and had
been so used from the time of the granting of the Charter by King John
to the Burgesses. There are also records, which are referred to in
Palmer’s “Perlustrations of Great Yarmouth,” of the very early use of
the building as a gaol by the burgesses. A gaol for prisoners was also
granted by Henry III. in 1261.

Apart from this, the building has been used for almost every municipal
purpose, though it has never been actually a town-hall, for Great
Yarmouth, like many other corporations, possessed a town-hall over or
beside the entrance to the churchyard. Here various courts were held.
The bailiffs were accustomed to receive their tolls or dues in the great
chamber on the first floor. It was called the Host House, from a
peculiar local custom. The accounts for the herrings, the staple article
of commerce of the town in old days as now, that were caught by foreign
fishermen, and sold by their “hosts,” or salesmen of the town to whom
they were consigned, had to be settled in the great chamber, and their
“heightening money” paid. It was used also as their apartment of state
by the local authorities; and there are many records of the quarrels
over the questions of precedence with the deputies of the Cinque Ports
when they paid official visits here.

It is for these most varying uses that the Tolhouse of Great Yarmouth is
unique among our municipal antiquities, for England has not its
counterpart elsewhere. Its history affords evidence of a most
interesting nature of the growth and development of the authority of the
town, no different it may be from what has taken place in other
corporations, but illustrated here by the actual building.

The structure also is the original erection in all its essential
features. Its walls are of early thirteenth century date, thus
indicating its existence prior to 1261. It has a picturesque external
staircase of open woodwork, giving access from the street to the level
of the first floor, where the “Great Chamber” is situated, access being
gained through a doorway of Early English moulded work; while the lobby
of approach is lighted by a two-light open arcade, of somewhat later
date. A very quaint figure of Justice, with sword and scales, stands on
a projecting buttress; and the high-pitched roof, and the general
features of the design, are both of considerable artistic interest.
Internally, the Great Chamber has lost its open roof, which was replaced
by a flat ceiling, probably in 1622, when it was “fitted up for
assemblies.” The windows, too, are square-headed, with wood frames and
mullions; but there are several features of the original work of great
beauty, while others peep temptingly from the plastering and whitewash
of more recent days.

Below the Hall is the “pit,” or common hold, wherein prisoners were
thrust indiscriminately, and chained to a horizontal beam, which has
long since disappeared. In this portion of the building the doors are
iron-bound, and very solidly framed.

The recent history of the building deserves more than passing reference.
On the completion of the handsome new town-hall the few recent uses even
of the Tolhouse were no longer needed, and the demolition of the
building was decided upon. The local antiquaries, however, being fully
alive to the great interest of the building in relation to its forming a
part, so to speak, of the history of the town, strove to prevent this
loss occurring. Their persevering efforts have been eminently
successful. Not only has the Town Council reconsidered the proposal,
but it has finally handed the building over to trustees, to be devoted
to some useful purpose. Thus has an example been set to other lovers of
our ancient buildings elsewhere.

The trustees have undertaken to repair the building, and they are now
seeking to raise a fund for defraying the cost of this much-needed work.
The building is in a sadly dilapidated state. It has been surveyed by
Mr. E. P. Loftus Brock, F.S.A., architect, of London, and in his hands,
and in those of a local firm of architects, it may be reasonably
concluded that none but really necessary works will be carried out. The
intention is, indeed, to repair the building only, and to retain all its
ancient features.

The rough-cast, covering and hiding the ancient walling, will be taken
off, the great hall will have its flat ceiling removed, and some
approach made to the open appearance it formerly possessed; the walls
will be strengthened where needed, the roofs made watertight, and
general works of cleansing and repair done. No attempt whatever will be
made to alter the structural appearance.

The trustees have undertaken their duties on public grounds, in the
belief that, in these days when the removal of an ancient building is so
greatly deplored, funds will not be wanting to uphold it for all time.

Subscriptions will be gladly received by C. S. Ade, Esq., Treasurer of
the Fund (Messrs. Gurney & Co., Great Yarmouth); or by F. Danby-Palmer,
Esq., Honorary Secretary, also at Great Yarmouth.




Misericordes in Ludlow Church.


THE following details of sundry carvings on the misericordes still
remaining in the choir of the collegiate church of St. Lawrence at
Ludlow, in Shropshire, may interest such of our readers as are students
of church architecture:--

NORTH SIDE. (_Read from West to East._)

1. _A_ (left) and _B_ (right), a rose. _C_ (centre), four roses.

2. _A_ and _B_, a padlock (or stirrup?). _C_, an eagle with two cords
entwined behind.

3. _A_ and _B_, floriated ornament. _C_, an angel holding a trumpet.

4. _A_ and _B_, floriated ornament. _C_, king’s head, whiskers and beard
flowing.

5. _A_ and _B_, an animal holding a band in its mouth. _C_, a stag
kneeling, a band behind it.

6. _A_, two figures opposite each other; the left one has pointed shoes,
the right one has his right arm raised as if to strike the other figure,
and an animal is arising from under him. _B_, a floriated ornament. _C_,
a mitred bishop in a pulpit preaching to birds; the bishop has a
donkey’s face.

7. _A_ and _B_, three feathers. _C_, the same, larger.

8. _A_ and _B_, mitres on many-pointed stars. _C_, mitred bishop’s head,
labels flying.

9. _A_ and _B_, a face, from whose mouth two oak sprigs, right and left,
issue. _C_, a stag, with a crowned collar round its neck attached to a
chain, sitting on its haunches biting a band or flat snake.

10. _A_, a pot with two handles, on a fire. _B_, floriated ornament.
_C_, two figures fighting; a third figure on the right is trying to hold
one of the other figures; the left figure is sitting on the ground, as
if knocked down; his head is broken off.

11. _A_ and _B_, a fish with its tail in its mouth. _C_, a mermaid
holding a circular mirror in its right hand, looking at it; the left
hand four fingers broken off.

12. _A_, devil seated, holding a scroll. _B_, figure of a woman coming
out of a pair of gaping jaws, the hinder parts of a man disappearing
head foremost into the jaws; there are seven teeth in the upper jaw and
three in the lower jaw. _C_, a man, whose head is broken off, carrying a
naked female slung over his shoulders, one leg on either side of his
head; her head and body hang down behind; she has a head-dress, a
necklace from which is a pendant, and a ribbed jug or scroll in her left
hand, her right hand is open, showing the palm; opposite the man, on the
right, is a figure evidently meant to personate the Devil; he has wings,
and is playing the bagpipes.

13. _A_ and _B_, a winged beast. _C_, the same, with head-piece and five
bands round its waist, terminating in the wings; there are eight balls
or buttons on, and between these bands in front of the figure.

14. _A_ and _B_, figure of a man, probably dancing; he holds a round
thing like a cymbal in the right hand, the other is holding a branch;
one knee is on the ground; it has pointed boots; part of the head and
left foot below the knee of _A_ is broken off. _C_, a woman’s head with
head-dress, scowling, showing open ugly mouth and four teeth; the body
of the dress is low, cut square; some thinner article of dress is
beneath, concealing bare skin.

SOUTH SIDE. (_West to East._)

1. _A_, ring, formed by two circles entwined. _B_ is gone. _C_, rose on
a ----?

2. _A_ and _B_, a head in a cloth or shroud. _C_, a man seated in cap
and gown, holding a band.

3. _A_ and _B_, a four-legged table, a barrel, end upwards, in centre,
showing the bung in the middle; on one side is a jug or flagon, on the
other a cup or chalice with a cover. _C_, two figures, men, kneeling;
both heads are gone; a barrel on a bracket-shelf appears to be supported
on one knee of each; one knee of each is on the ground.

4. _A_ and _B_, floriated ornament. _C_, a woman drawing liquor from a
barrel into a jug which she is holding; on the left of the barrel
another barrel, on the right a jug on a shelf below; the figure has a
mallet attached to a girdle round his waist.

5. _A_ and _B_, a cock’s head. _C_, animal with wings, on its haunches.

6. _A_ and _B_, pretty floriated ornament. _C_, remains of the trunk of
an animal surrounded with the remnants of birds, broken off.

7. _A_ a pack-horse; three of its legs are gone. _B_, a bag with a rose
on centre, from which are suspended two smaller roses; below bag is a
cushion, tasselled. _C_, two pairs of wrestlers wrestling; on left a
figure is looking on.

8. _A_, pot with three feet and two handles, through which is a loose
cord, on some burning fagots. _B_, trunks of two animals slung on a
pole. _C_, a woman seated in a chair, holding hands and feet to fire
which is in front of her.

9. _A_ and _B_, floriated ornament. _C_, a swan standing.

10. _A_ and _B_, a sparrow. _C_, an owl.

11. _A_ and _B_, a woman’s head with head-dress. _C_, the same, with
additional loose piece of material on top of her head, hanging over her
shoulders.

12. _A_ and _B_, floriated ornament. _C_, a man with a pack on his back,
strapped on over his shoulders; he is pulling up his right boot with his
hands; the boots are pointed.

13. _A_,_B_ and _C_, floriated ornament.

14. _A_, a figure with pointed shoes, seated on a four-legged stool;
both arms are gone. _B_, a wrist and hand from a cloud, on which, under
the wrist, is a hammer, holding a pestle and mortar; beneath the hammer
is a thigh bone, a skull, a skull, and a thigh bone; beneath these is a
perpendicular altar tomb, with a spade and shovel crossed; the shovel is
standing on the ground in front of the tomb, and has a T handle, the
spade having a circular one. _C_, a figure with a row of beads on top of
coat from shoulder to shoulder, and wears a belt; on the left is a
barrel on a shelf; under this is a pair of pattens hung on wall, and
below these a pair of bellows, also hung on the wall; a hammer lies by
his right foot on the left; all on the left-hand side are gone.

R. C. HOPE, F.S.A.




Characters of the Wars of the Roses.

BY THE REV. H. H. MOORE, M.A.

_PART II._

(_Continued from Vol. V. p. 282._)


THE characters of Warwick and of Edward IV. were so similar up to a
certain point, and beyond that so opposite, their fortunes were so
closely intertwined up to a certain time and afterwards were so fatally
antagonistic, that they must be considered together awhile. The virtues
of the one shine the brighter, and the defects of the other loom the
darker by contrast; and the juxtaposition of the two figures in history
makes the contrast all the more striking. In Warwick we see the nobler
and more antique form of chivalry; in Edward we see chivalry modernised
and debased by the additions of a voluptuousness more vicious than
refined, and of a selfishness Italian in its intensity, and
Machiavellian in its policy. Equally brave and distinguished for
personal prowess in the field, Warwick joined to the courage the
magnanimity of the lion, while Edward showed the cruelty as well as the
fierceness of the tiger. But Edward greatly excelled Warwick, as well as
all the other captains of his day, in generalship. His boldness, which
cared for no odds however great, which shunned no danger however
desperate, would have seemed mere foolhardiness, had not his
marvellously quick perception, sagacious judgment, and tremendous
energy, made prudence foolish and boldness prudent. His confidence in
his own powers, which made them ten times more formidable, was fully
justified by the results of nine pitched battles, in which victory never
left his standard. But as soon as the opposition was overcome which had
roused his energies into so fierce an activity, he abandoned himself to
luxurious habits and indulgence in amorous and convivial pleasures. They
who had seen him awhile ago delighting like a war-horse in the sound of
the battle, would never expect such “a martial man to become soft
fancy’s slave.” Yet so it was; terrible as Cæsar in war, in peace he was
another Antony, and would risk the loss of an empire for a woman’s
smile. His generous affection for Elizabeth Woodville would be a bright
spot in his character, had he not sullied it by his numerous amours and
gross licentiousness. While Edward thus stained his character as much by
his wantonness in peace as by his cruelty in war, Warwick, who despised
such pleasures, won from both equally honourable laurels. The young
King’s Court was no genial place for his severe manliness; and the
disgraceful match-making and place-hunting by which the Queen’s
relatives and friends were acquiring power, not only disgusted, but also
alarmed him for the power of his family and of the old nobility. Edward
and Warwick were equally proud, but Warwick’s was the pride of conscious
worth, Edward’s the pride of an arbitrary will. More kingly than the
King himself, Warwick overshadowed the throne with his greatness. To him
Edward knew that he owed his crown, but he felt that he was strong
enough to keep it without his help. His gratitude was swallowed up in
the humiliation of his dependence, for he felt that he was not a king
when Warwick was by. Accordingly, all his efforts were directed to abase
that power which made him feel like a subject in his own realms.
Warwick’s fall would, he knew, be the death-blow to his order; and, once
determined on this policy, not even fear of Warwick moved this wonderful
man, whose hand never hesitated to execute what his heart dared to
design. He saw that the age was with him, while Warwick and the men of
whom he was the type were behind the age. He knew also the advantage
which his own character and talents gave him over Warwick. The latter
was honest, unsuspecting, incapable of intrigue as he was indisposed to
it; and though he joined to these soldier’s qualities a soldier’s
sagacity also, yet he was no match for Edward, and fell an easy victim
to his perfidious heart and scheming brain. And when outraged honour and
insulted pride made him desert the Yorkist cause, which he had served
and supported for years, and range himself with those whom he had most
injured and who most hated him, he fell as easy a victim to the same
man’s charmed sword. And Edward did prove himself strong enough to reign
alone. No man was better fitted for his age and his circumstances; and
this is shown by his popularity, vigorous even during Warwick’s life and
while growing under his shade. Victor everywhere and at all times,
Edward had won the heart of the nation even before he gained the throne.
The painful tragedy of his father’s death, his own youth, beauty,
princely bearing and accomplishments, excited the sympathy and
admiration of the people on his earliest appearance on the stage on
which he was to play so great a part. His successful fortunes in war,
and Warwick’s support, had commended young Edward to a people who had
nothing to lose in losing Henry VI., and who hoped at least to gain
peace and security under the protection of an arm which promised to be
as strong to hold as it had been to acquire. Their minds, sickened by
the gloom and horrors of war, were refreshed by the sight of their young
King throwing himself with all the ardour of his nature into the light
amusements and pleasures of peace; the citizens were charmed by his
affability, their wives and daughters by his gaiety and gallantry. A new
nobility, the mushroom growth of an hour, sprang up to sun itself in his
smiles, to help him in the pursuit of pleasure, to increase the
attractions of peace and of a Court. The commercial towns, and
especially London, were pleased with a monarch who enriched them by his
magnificent and sumptuous expenditure, and who gave a more liberal
encouragement to commerce than they had known before. But two classes
stood aloof and sullen: the old nobility, who felt that they were losing
both their place and power in the Court and in the State; and those of
the people who felt that, whether York or Lancaster were uppermost, they
equally lost their rights, and failed to better their condition. The
battlefields of Barnet and Tewkesbury rendered this dangerous element
harmless for the future, and Edward, now able to breathe more freely
than he had done heretofore, gave himself up without restraint to the
impulses of his passions. His life henceforth became one voluptuous
revel. The people were more ready to turn with him and his courtiers to
pleasure than to criticise and condemn their vices; and so, in peace as
in war, Edward’s sail was filled by the favouring breath of popularity.
His love for his children and care for their education, his
courteousness, his wisdom in weakening the power of the nobility, his
encouragement of commerce, and his statesmanship, enlightened for those
days, are all good points in Edward’s favour, and should be valued at
their proper worth; but the possession of the ordinary virtues, and the
performance of the ordinary duties of a prince and a parent, cannot
fully redeem and make up for his extraordinary vice, perfidiousness,
selfishness, and cruelty; and in the opinion of an age that is not
dazzled by his fortune and ability, Edward’s hard, worldly, fleshly
nature cannot be deemed worthy of admiration.

Richard III. and Henry VII. are but little concerned in the actual
conduct of the civil war; not at all in its origin, but chiefly in
furthering its effects, or reaping its fruits; but few words therefore
need be spent on them here, as it is their policy rather than their
personal characters that is of chief interest. The same terribly
precocious development of an unscrupulous will and of a heart steeled
against mercy, marks the character of Richard III. as that we have seen
in Edward IV. The school of civil war in which he had been trained
taught him to despise the barriers which could be removed by the
shedding of blood, and none ever showed greater aptness in improving on
the lessons he had learned. He equalled Louis XI. in dissimulation, in
cunning, in statesmanship; he equalled his brother Edward in
fearlessness and inflexible purpose; he surpassed him in learning and
mental culture. In the estimation of some minds the special pleading of
Horace Walpole and others may have succeeded in clearing Richard’s name
of the crimes imputed to him, but the majority in this age, as in
Richard’s own, who do not demand positive proofs of everything, but
judge by the laws of probability, cannot help feeling (rightly or not) a
moral certainty of his guilt.

The character of Henry VII. was admirably adapted to heal the sores and
bind the wounds caused by the long civil war. Sufficiently bold, if
necessity demanded it, he was yet disinclined to war; cold and cautious
in temperament, he was little tolerant of any disturbing element of
passion, and greatly averse to violent and extreme measures which might
derange the stability and order of his government. Eminently practical
in his views of men and of affairs--in this ushering in the modern order
of rulers and of statesmen--he preferred the reality to the show of
power, peace to war, order to misrule, wealth to poverty, domestic
security to foreign aggrandisement.

The unfortunate Richard, Duke of York, hesitating when he should have
been bold, and bold when he should have hesitated, with a heart that
could not keep pace with his ambition, without the wisdom to justify his
pretensions by the Right which is derived from Might, not sufficiently
scrupulous to resist temptation, and too scrupulous to win the prize
that tempted, ensuring his son’s success by his own failure; the
amiable, generous, unsuspecting Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester; the wily,
avaricious, scheming Suffolk; the bold, grasping, passionate Cardinal
Beaufort; the accomplished courtier, boon companion, and skilful
general, Montacute (brother to Warwick); George, Duke of Clarence,
unstable as water, changeable as the wind, uniting a weak head to a bad
heart; Earl Rivers, accomplished, brave, learned, and a patron of
learning, the type of the modern nobleman; the high-spirited,
unfortunate son of Margaret; Lord Hastings, the gay gallant, the daring
knight, the sage in the council, the scholar in the study; all these
and many more helped to swell the list of the horrid deeds, or served to
supply the victims of those bloodstained times.




The Legend of King Arthur in Somerset.

By MRS. C. G. BOGER.

(_Continued from Vol. V. p. 228._)

_PART II.--AT CAMELOT._

                                      “Arthur’s antient seat
    Which made the Britons’ name through all the world so great,
    Like Camelot what place was ever yet renown’d,
    Where, as at Caerleon oft, he kept the Table round?
    Most famous for the sports at Pentecost so long,
    From whence all knightly deeds and brave achievements sprung.”
            DRAYTON’S _Polyolbion_, Song III.


ARTHUR had arrived at man’s estate, and his people would fain that he
should take a wife, so that, if, like his uncle, Aurelius Ambrosius, he
were taken from them, he might, unlike him, leave an heir of his own
blood. Among the petty kings of the West was Leodogran, King of
Cameliard, a county represented at this day by Camelot or Cadbury-fort,
and a cluster of other places in the east of Somerset, whose names are
derived from the same root: North and South Cadbury, Queen’s Camel, West
Camel, and Castle Cary. Leodogran’s kingdom had been beset by the
invaders, and overrun with wild beasts: Arthur had come to his help and
rescued his dominions. So it came to pass that when his people spake to
him of marriage, Guinivere, the fair daughter of Leodogran, came to his
mind, and he asked her of her father. The King of Cameliard was well
pleased, and with his daughter’s hand he promised him his greatest
treasure, the Table round, and made him his heir.

But Guinivere, in her pride of youth and beauty, had little noted her
father’s deliverer, and scarce glanced at the young knight, who paid her
none of the homage she thought her due, and who was ever engrossed in
earnest consultations with her father on the state of the kingdom, on
knights and wars, on castles and sieges; and so it came to pass that
when Launcelot, Arthur’s best and most trusted knight, was sent by him
to fetch her home, she, never doubting but that the King would have come
himself, thought Launcelot was Arthur, and when she saw him her heart
leapt to his. But when she came to see her pure and stainless lord, he
seemed cold and passionless beside Launcelot; and he, who had no
thought of guile and loved when he trusted, and trusted when he loved,
gave them unconsciously opportunities of meeting, and Guinivere’s heart
passed more and more from Arthur, and attached itself more and more
passionately to Launcelot. For Arthur was taken up with affairs of
state, and with his beautiful dream of the Knights of the Round Table.
In this order none was higher than other; and here, in his Palace of
Camelot, built by Merlin’s magic power in a single night, he would
assemble a hundred and fifty knights of noble birth, pure and stainless
like himself, and the Knights bound themselves by solemn oaths to keep
the rules of the order. They were as follows:--

1. That every knight should be well armed and furnished to undertake any
enterprise wherein he was employed by sea or by land, on horseback, or
on foot.

2. That he should be ever prest (ready) to assail all tyrants or
oppressors of the people.

3. That he should protect widows and maids, restore children to their
just rights, repossess such persons as without just cause were exiled,
and with all his force maintain the Christian faith.

4. That he should be a champion for the public weal, and as a lion
repulse the enemies of his country.

5. That he should advance the reputation of honour and suppress all
vice, relieve the afflicted by adverse fortune, give aid to Holy Church,
and protect pilgrims.

6. That he should bury soldiers that wanted sepulture, deliver
prisoners, ransom captives, and cure men hurt in the services of their
country.

7. That he should in all honourable actions adventure his person, yet
with respect to justice and truth, and in all enterprises proceed
sincerely, never failing to use the utmost force of body and labour of
mind.

8. That after the attaining of an enterprise he should cause it to be
recorded, to the end the fame of the fact might ever live to the eternal
honour and renown of the noble order.

9. That if any complaint were made at the court of this mighty king, of
perjury and oppression, then some knight of the order whom the King
should appoint ought to revenge the same.

10. That if any knight of foreign nation did come into the Court, with
desire to challenge or make any show of prowess (were he single or
accompanied) those knights ought to be ready in arms to make answer.

11. That if any lady, gentleman, or widow, or maid, or other oppressed
person did present a petition declaring that they were or had been in
this or other nations injured or offered dishonour, that they should be
graciously heard, and without delay one or more knights should be sent
to take revenge.

12. That every knight should be willing to inform young princes, lords,
and gentlemen, in the orders and exercises of arms, thereby not only to
avoid idleness, but also to increase the honour of knighthood and
chivalry. Such were the rules which, combined with the disturbed state
of the country, caused that--

    “Every morning brought a noble chance,
     And every chance brought out a noble knight.”

It may, as I have before stated, have been probably the taking of
Winchester by the Saxon Cerdic in 515 which caused Arthur to concentrate
his forces in the Western Peninsula. Cameliard was now his, in right of
his wife. He determined therefore to fortify his kingdom, and at the
three extreme points to place strong castles, which he strengthened by
every available means. These points were Caerleon on Usk, which guarded
the Sabrina or estuary of the Severn, and St. Michael’s Mount at the
extreme south-west; but the post of danger and therefore of honour was
held by Camelot. He pitched with an experienced eye upon this great
Belgic fortress, situated in one of the most fertile and picturesque
parts of South Somerset, as the place where the great stand must be
made. The shape of the mound is irregular, neither quite round nor
square; part of it was hewed from the solid rock, its circumference is
about a mile. Four deep ditches in concentric rings with as many
ramparts of earth and stones form the primary defences: these are
further strengthened by a series of zig-zag terraces on inclined planes,
so constructed that the besieged, though he retreated from his
assailants, could still make a desperate resistance. On the top of this
fortified mount is a moated mount or Prætorium, enclosing a space of at
least twenty acres; and here Merlin raised the enchanted Palace of
Camelot. The spot must have been well-nigh impregnable in days when
artillery was unknown.

Here, then, was Arthur’s great rallying point; hither the persecuted
fled for protection, the wronged for redress, the patriotic to assist in
the defence of their county. Every possibility of defence and adornment
was lavished here; and here were held, specially at Whitsuntide,
chapters of the order of the Knights of the Round Table. Here, in
intervals of peace, were held the mimic games of warfare, and from
here, after a time of repose, they issued forth again and again against
the heathen hordes. Within the Greater Triangle was a smaller and more
sacred one; its three points were the Tor Hill at Glastonbury, the Mons
Acutus or Montacute, and Camelot itself; lines drawn from point to point
made an equilateral triangle, each side being twelve miles in length.
This twice, trebly guarded territory was defended by saintly shield from
invasion, and from any noxious or venomous creature.

It was the year 520 A.D. Exactly one hundred years had elapsed since the
last Roman soldiers left Britain a prey to their enemies. But what a
different Britain it was now. It is true the enemy were in the land, and
held the greater part of it, but the Britons were no longer helpless or
hopeless. From the towers of Camelot Arthur led forth an army full of
confidence and eager for the fray; he led them beyond the bounds of
Gladerhaf, for he would not that this beloved land should be soiled by
the heathen’s tread. At Mount Badon, in Wiltshire, was fought the great
battle in which Arthur was victorious, and the onward march of the
Saxons was stayed for the time. At Camelot watch and ward was kept; from
its summit could be seen the Mendip Hills, in the West of Somerset, the
Blackdown summits in Devonshire, and the Bristol Channel on the south.
Twelve great battles did Arthur fight; the eleventh is said by some to
have been fought near Camelot, but I hold rather that the traces of a
great conflict, which have been discovered there, took place in more
recent times, when the Saxon dominion was extending itself still further
to the West. For Gladerhaf remained British till after Arthur’s time,
nor did Glastonbury pass under the Saxon sway till after they too had
embraced Christianity, and conquerors and conquered knelt together at
the same shrine.

The tale of King Ryence’s challenge belongs partly to Caerleon and
partly to Camelot. It may be found in full in Mallory’s “King Arthur,”
and also in a ballad preserved in “Percy’s Reliques of Ancient Poetry.”
King Ryence, a potentate of North Wales, sent to Arthur at Caerleon to
demand his beard, as he needed one more to make up the tale of twelve
Royal beards, with which to “purfle his mantle.” If it were refused, he
would slay him, and lay waste his country. Arthur, who was then young,
answered that his beard would scarce answer for the purpose he required
it, but threw back his threat upon himself. Shortly afterwards Ryence
was brought as a prisoner to Camelot, and Arthur seems to have been
content with this humiliation, and to have retaliated no further upon
him.

Amongst the treasures brought by Joseph of Arimathea to Britain were two
of priceless worth; one, a thorn taken from our Lord’s brow, the other
the cup from which the Lord drank at the last supper. The first was
planted by Joseph, and slips from it planted in various places still
remain, which, according to all contemporary folk-lore, flower
invariably on old Christmas Eve (the Epiphany). But still more precious
was the Sangreal, or cup, out of which our Lord drank at the last
supper. It had been preserved for ages at Glastonbury, but on account of
the grievous sins which prevailed, and the disordered state of the
country, it had been caught away. But now a rumour arose, no one knew
how or where, that the Sangreal had been seen again, and here seemed the
salve for all their wounds, the cure for all their troubles, the
talisman which was to preserve them from all ill; so men were waiting
and wondering for what was to come to pass, they knew not what.

Pentecost had come, and a chapter of the order of the Knights of the
Round Table was held as usual at Camelot. The knights were assembled in
the great hall of the Castle. Anon a cracking and crying as of thunder
was heard, and they thought the palace would break asunder. In the midst
entered a sunbeam more clear by seven times than ever they saw day. Then
the knights beheld each other fairer than they had ever seen them
before, and no knight might speak a word for a great while, and each man
looked on the other as they had been dumb. Then entered into the hall
the holy grail, covered with white samite; but none might see it, nor
who bare it, and all the hall was filled with sweet odours, and the holy
vessel departed suddenly, and they wist not whence it came.[1]

Dumb were they all for a time; then spoke the light and foolish Sir
Gawaine, and took an oath that he would go on a quest for the Sangreal,
and would search for it, at least a year and a day, until he found it.
Then the other knights swore to the same. It was with bitter grief that
Arthur learned the vow, for well he knew that high and holy gifts are
given by God to those who are in their ordinary way of duty, as the
angels came to the shepherds whilst they kept their sheep, and that this
wild quest would but disperse the knights throughout the land, while
they neglected the work that God had set them, viz., the defence of
their own land against the heathen. Then said the King: “I am sure at
this quest of the Sangreal shall all of ye of the Round Table depart,
and never shall I see you whole together again, therefore will I see
you all whole together in the meadow of Camelot, for to joust and
tourney, that after your death men may speak of it, that such good
knights were wholly together on such a day. So were they all assembled
in the meadow, both more and less.”

Arthur’s last tournament was held, and the maiden-knight, Sir Galahad,
won the honours of the day. Then, when the tourney was over, the whole
assembly went to the Minster, and there, for the last time, joined all
together in holy rites of prayer and praise. Then said the King to Sir
Gawaine: “Alas! ye have well nigh slain me with the vow and promise that
ye have made, for through you ye have bereft me of the fairest
fellowship and the truest knighthood that ever were seen together in any
realm of the world, for when they shall depart from hence I am sure that
all shall never meet more in this world, for then shall many die in this
quest, and so it forethinketh me a little, for I have loved them as well
as my life.” The next morning the knights rode out of Camelot. But the
story of their adventures does not belong to Somerset.[2]

Behind all this bravery and fair seeming, however, was rising a dark
cloud, which did more to break up Arthur’s Table-round than even the
quest of the Sangreal; for rumours had long been rife that Guinivere was
unfaithful, and that his best-beloved knight, Sir Launcelot, was the
partner of her sin. It was long ere they reached Arthur, who was so
guileless that he could not believe in the guilt of those he loved; but
at last it became too manifest, and Guinivere’s flight made the
unfaithfulness of his wife and his friend patent to the King.
Guinivere’s first flight was to Glastonbury; and in a life of Gildas,
written by Caradoc of Lancarvon, we are told that whilst he (Gildas) was
residing at Glastonbury, Arthur’s Queen was carried off and lodged
there, that Arthur immediately besieged the place, but, through the
mediation of the Abbot and of Gildas, consented at length to receive his
wife again and to depart peaceably.[3] When this first flight took place
we are not told; but after a time, and when the rebellion of his nephew,
Mordred, took place, Guinivere fled again, this time to Amesbury, in
Wiltshire. There she was professed a nun. After her death her body was
carried to rest at Glastonbury by Sir Launcelot himself, she having
prayed that she might never see him again in life. And when she was put
into the earth, Sir Launcelot swooned, and lay long upon the ground. A
hermit came and awaked him, and said: “Ye are to blame, for ye displease
God with such manner of sorrow-making.” “Truly,” said Sir Launcelot, “I
trust I do not displease God, for He knoweth well mine intent, for it
was not, nor is for any rejoicing of sin; but my sorrow may never have
an end. For when I remember and call to mind her beauty, her bounty, and
her nobleness, that was as well with her King, my lord Arthur, as with
her; and also when I saw the corpse of that noble King and noble Queen
so lie together in that cold grave, made of earth, that sometime were so
highly set in most honourable places, truly mine heart would not serve
me to sustain my wretched and careful body also. And when I remember me,
how through my default, and through my presumption and pride, that they
were both laid full low, the which were ever peerless that ever were
living of Christian people. Wit ye well,” said Sir Launcelot, “this
remembered of their kindness, and of mine unkindness, sunk and impressed
so in my heart, that all my natural strength failed me, so that I might
not sustain myself.”

The rebellion of his nephew Mordred brought strife and war into the
hitherto carefully guarded peninsula. Mordred maintained that Arthur was
no son of Uther Pendragon; and that he himself was the rightful heir, so
Arthur had to turn his arms against his own people. It was at Camelford,
near the north coast of Cornwall, that he fought his last fight; he was
wounded to the death, for his skull was, as we shall see, pierced with
ten wounds. Then, after the episode of the flinging away of the sword
Excalibur, when Sir Bedivere saw “the water, wap, and waves waun,” a
barge hoved to the bank; in it were ladies with black hoods, and one was
Morgan la Fay, King Arthur’s sister. Then the barge floated to the
shores of Gladerhaf, and there, to the vale of Avilion,[4] they took him
to heal him of his grievous wound. And so men said that Arthur was not
dead, but by the will of our Lord Jesus Christ was in another place; and
men say that he will come again. I will not say that it shall be so, but
rather I will say, that here in this world he changed his life. But many
men say that there is written upon his tomb this verse:--

    “Hic jacet Arthurus rex quondam, rexque futurus.”

And thus leave we him here, and Sir Bedivere with the hermit that
dwelled in a chapel beside Glastonbury.[5]

(_To be continued._)




Inquisition of the Honour of Wallingford.

A.D. 1212 AN. 13 JOHN.[6]

BY M. T. PEARMAN.


THIS inquisition is subsequent to that printed by Hearne, in the “Liber
Niger,” but some years earlier than any of the lists in the “Testa de
Nevill.” The Inquisition itself is in italics.

     _Ricardus de Kanuill[7] de hereditate uxoris sue, pro Willelmo
     Basset. vii. mil._

     The manors he held, by service of seven knights, or as seven
     knights’ fees, were Coleman and Uxbridge, Middlesex; Picheleshorne,
     Bucks; Burncestre (Bicester); Stratton Audley and Wrechwike, Oxon;
     Ardington, Berks; and Compton, Wilts.

     _Thurstañ Bassett, vi. milites et tres partes militis._

     _Walterus Pippard, 6 m. et de maritagio uxoris sue in Gathampton 1
     m. et quintam partem per Cartam Regis._

     In Rotherfield Peppard one fee; in Latchford, in Haseley, two fees;
     both these places in Oxon. The other three fees were in Pichecote,
     Wengrave, Rowsham, Briddeshorn, Weedon, Solebury, Stincele
     (Stewkley), Littlecote, and Wanyngdon, all in Bucks.

     Gathampton, in Goring, Oxon, was held by one-fifth of a fee, the
     remainder being remitted.

     _Amauricus filius Roberti de Suleham, 4 m._

     His fees were in Sulham, Burghfield, and Carswell (near Faringdon)
     Berks; Henton in Chinnor, Oxon; Adwell and Britwell, Oxon;
     Bradwell, Bucks; and Ikenham, Middlesex.

     _Willelmus Paynell, 4 m._

     _Walterus Crok, 4 m._

     These fees were in Redburne (Rodburne-Cheyney), one; in
     Draycot-Foliat, one and a half fee. The Manor of Aselbir or
     Haselbury, Walcot, Cockelbergh, Assheby, and Fouleswyk, Wilts.

     _Robertus de Mara, 3 m._

     Two fees were in Heyford-Warren and Baldon-with-Watecumbe, Oxon;
     and one fee in Bottclydon (Bottleclaydon), Bucks; and Chirton,
     Gloucestershire.

     _Hugo de Malo Almeto, 3 m. in Chaugrave._

     Hugh de Malhannei, or Malo Almeto, held the Manor of Chalgrave,
     Oxon.

     _Ruelent Huscarl, 3 m._

     In Purlegh (Purley), and Foulescote, Berks; in Beddington and
     Chessington, Surrey; and Brightwell, Oxon.

     _Henricus de Thayden, 3 m. Willelmus de Archis, 3 m._

     In Esthorp, Crondewell, Wodehamme and Blagegrave, Bucks.

     _Warinus filius Geroldi, 2 m. et dimid._

     In Whitchurch, Heyford-Warren, Oxon, and Clopham, Beds.

     _Robertus filius Roger est quietus pro 1 m. per cartam Regis de 2
     m. et dimid._

     He had one knight’s fee in Huere or Evere, probably Iver, Bucks.

     _Abbas de Bruere est quietus per cartum Regis de ii. milites et
     dimid._

     This was for the Abbey itself in Oxon; and for its Granges, situate
     at Tretton, Tangele, Nethercote, and Sanderbrok, Gloucestershire.

     _Alanus Basset de hereditate uxoris sue, 2 milit._

     In Vasterne or Wasterne, Wootton (Basset), and Brodeton, Wilts.

     _Hugo de Druual, 2 m._

     H. Druval held Goring, Oxon, as two fees.

     _Thomas filius Ricardi, 2 m.; et de hereditate uxoris sue, 2
     milit._

     _Alanus de Valonies, 2 m._

     In Sobinton, Bucks. Shabbington (?).

     _Henricus Ffolliot, 2 m. in Roulesham._

     (Rowsham) Oxon.

     _Walterus Ffoliot, 2 m. & in Clopton quartam partem m._

     Probably one fee in Chilton, and the other in Winterburne and
     Mildhall, Wilts. Clopton is probably Clopcott, as in T. de N.

     _Milo Neirenuit pro parte sua de terra que fuit Galfridi de Bella
     Aqua, 2 m._ He had one fee in Tydende, or Tydovre, Wilts, half one
     fee in Lynley, near Aston Rowant, Oxon, and half fee in
     Fleetmarston, Bucks.

     _Radulphus de Anuers, 2 m._

     R. Danvers had one fee in Dorney.

     _Galfridus Chausie, 1 m. et dimid. et Rex acquietat ei per cartam,
     dimid. mil._

     Manor of Mapledurham-Chausy, or Parva M., Oxon, and Garsington in
     same county.

     _Yensi Malet, 1 m. et dimid._

     In Quenton, Bucks.

     _Galfridus filius Reinfrei, 1 m. Johannes filius Hugonis, 1 m.
     Ricardus Morin, 1 m._

     Newnham-Murren, Oxon.

     _Hamo Carbonell, 1 m._

     This was in Dychend, Oxon, but where?

     _Andreas de Bellocampo, 1 m._

     Probably in Crowlton and Thenford, Northants.

     _Simon Barre, f.m._[8]

     In Stanton Barry, Bucks.

     _Rogerus de Stanf’, f.m._

     In Saunterdon, Bucks.

     _Willelmus filius Galfridi, f.m. Walterus de Harenuill, f.m. Alex,
     filius Ricardi, f.m._

     In Rycot, Oxon.

     _Robertus Corbet, f.m. in dalneye._

     In Dalleg, Middlesex. Dawley near Hayes?

     _Willelmus Basset f.m. et in Hispedine quarta pars milit._

     Fee in Oakly, near Brill, Bucks. He held the Manor of Ipsden
     Basset, in Ipsden, Oxon, by a quarter knight’s fee.

     _Alanus filius Roland, dimid. m._

     In Aston-Rowant, Oxon.

     _Robertus de Thorinio, dimid. m._

     In Turkden, Gloucestershire.

     _Robertus Hayer, debet_ I _napa’ vel 3 sol ad scaccariu’ per
     cartam, 1 m._

     This was petit serjeantry. He presented a table-cloth worth 3s., or
     else 3s. at the Exchequer, in lieu of scutage for one knight’s fee.
     The Holding was at Pushill, or Pishill, Oxon.

     _Walterus Crok, 4 m._

     Apparently a repetition.

     _Galfridus de Mara, dimid. m. in dudecot._

     In Didcot, Berks.

     _Petrus de Bixe, dimid. m._

     In Bix-brand, Bix, Oxon.

     _Regin. Angerid, dimid. m._

     In Holecombe, Oxon.

     _Galfridus filius Angod. dimid. m._

     In Wycomb, Bucks.

     _Laurencius de Scaccario, dimid. m._ In Stokenchurch, Oxon. He had
     likewise half a fee in Stivele (Stewkley), Bucks.

     _Radulphus Dairell, dimid. m._

     In Hanworth, Middlesex.

     _Willelmus de Wodemundest, 4ta f.m._

     One-fourth of a knight’s fee in Wormsley, Oxon.

     _Milo de Morlie, quarta f.m._

     Nethercot, or Nethercourt, in Lewknor, Oxon.

     _Henricus Barnard, 5ta f.m. Willelmus de Kingestone, 5ta
     f.m._

     In Kingston, near Aston Rowant, Oxon.

     _Warinus Pynell, 5ª f.m. Robertus de Rotham, 4ta partem m._

     In Wycomb.

     _Willelmus de Druual, 5ª f.m. Robertus de Burgfeld, quintā, f.m._

     In Stoke, Oxon.

     _Elias de Glynant quintā, f.m. Radulphus de Porta, 5ta f.m.
     Johannes de Cheney de terris, G. de bella aqua cum uxore dimid. m._

     In “T. de N.” J. de C. is said to have 2 m. as his share of
     Geoffrey Bellew’s land, but that was some years subsequently. He
     then had one fee in Fleet-Marston, Bucks, and Linley, Oxon.

     _Willelmus filius Galfridi f.m. in Hedesoner._ Hedsor.

     _Robertus Naparius, f.m. sed quietus est per cartam._

     This is the same serjeanty as Robert Hayer’s, given above. R.
     Naparius, the table-cloth man, married Hayer’s daughter.

     _Novum Ffefamentum eiusdem honoris. De nouo ffefamento._

     _Robertus de veteri ponte dimid. Wicumbe, 1 m._

     Robert de Vipont had a fee in Wycomb.

     _Alanus Basset al’ dimid. wimunde ville p. 1 m._

     A. B. had the other half of the vill of Wycomb as a knight’s fee.

     _Simon de Pateshall, Wottesdon._ Manor of Wottesdon or Wotthesdam.

     _Joh. Rabuz equum, saccum, et Brocham in exercitu Wall’ ad Custum
     Regis post primam noctem._

     His service was to find a horse, sack, and broach on an expedition
     into Wales, the king finding him in provisions, or probably keeping
     him and his horse after the first night. It was a personal service
     to the Sovereign; the sack containing eatables and the can or
     pitcher drink for the king’s use.




“Port” and “Port-Reeve.”

BY J. H. ROUND, M.A.

_PART III_

(_Continued from Vol. V. page 287._)


BEFORE tracing the working of this process in the similar case of
_ceaster_, it may be as well to dispose etymologically of _port_. I have
avowedly restricted myself, in this paper, to _port_ as it occurs in
“port-reeve.” But Professor Skeat, in his “Etymological Dictionary” (p.
457), while wholly ignoring, it would seem, its meaning in this and the
similar compounds, assigns to the Anglo-Saxon “port,” not merely the
derivation direct from port_us_, but an identity of meaning with that
word. And in support of that meaning, “a harbour, haven,” he aptly
adduces Alfred’s translation of Bede, in which “to tham porte” means “to
the haven.” Here, however, it might perhaps be urged that Alfred was
influenced in his choice of the term by the “portus” in the original
before him. It need not follow that when not so influenced, he would
have spoken of a haven as a “port.” Moreover, it is possible, and indeed
probable, that the original sense of “port” was replaced by that
narrower one of a “haven” or “sea-port,” which it had certainly come to
bear by Middle English days, in consequence of that recurrence to Latin
models, in which Alfred had himself led the way, and which would lead to
what might almost be termed a re-introduction of the word into the
language, fresh from the Latin itself.

But again, Alfred might have been influenced in his style by the
Welshman, “Asser, my bishop.”[9] For though the Welsh, as I have said,
adopted “portman” in the sense of a “trader” from the A. S., they had in
their own word _porth_ the equivalent at once of _porta_ and _portus_.
Of its use in the former sense we have an illustration, as Mr. Barnes
has pointed out (Arch. Jour. xxii. 232), in the Welsh version of Matthew
vii. 13:--“ehang yw’r _porth_, a llydan yw’r fford,” (“wide is the
_gate_, and broad is the way “), where in the A. S. version the word
used is _geat_. Its use in the latter is familiar.

This brings us to a consideration of such terms as the “Westport” and
“East-port” of Wareham, and the “Newport Gate” of Lincoln. The survival,
at Wareham, of “port” in the sense of gate, is ingeniously attributed by
the above writer to a direct derivation from the Welsh _porth_, rather
than from the Latin _porta_. At Lincoln, on testing Mr. Freeman’s
statement that the gate was actually known simply as “The New Port”
(Norm. Conq. iv. 212), I can find no evidence whatever for it.[10] If,
therefore, as seems to be the case, “Newport _Gate_” has always been its
name, within historic times, the inference is surely not that which has
been drawn by Mr. Freeman in his paper on Lincoln,[11] but rather that
the “barbarian” conquerors, ignoring the meaning of the “port”
(_porta_), spoke of the Roman “porta” by their own word “geat,”
distinguishing it from the other gates by the prefix “Newport,” and thus
producing the, at first sight, unmeaning pleonasm, “New_port Gate_,”
just as Thorn_ey Island_, Mers_ea Island_, &c., are pleonasms formed by
the addition of “Island,” when the _ea_ or _ey_ (“Island”) no longer
possesses a meaning.

We see, then, that the Latin _porta_ failed to pass direct into our
language in the form of _port_ (“a gate”). It was, indeed, as Professor
Skeat has shown, imported at a much later period, but then only through
the French _porte_, and not direct from the Latin. But it could not,
even so, succeed in establishing its position in the language. Found not
unfrequently in the Elizabethan age, both in poetry and in classical
prose, it lingered on, as a classical affectation, even so late as the
Civil War, when we find it used of a city-gate, in a military sense, by
such writers as Sprigge and Carter. A sure proof of its disuse is
afforded shortly after this by the substitution of “port _hole_” for
“port,” a pleonasm which, like those above quoted, implies that the
original word no longer retained its meaning.

(_To be continued._)




AN OLD PLAY-BILL--The following is a copy of the first play-bill issued
from Drury-lane Theatre: “By His Majesty’s Company of Comedians, At the
new Theatre in Drury-lane, This day, being Thursday, April 8th, 1663,
Will be acted, a Comedy called THE HVMOVROVS LIEVTENANT. _The King_, Mr.
Wintersel; _Demétrivs_, Mr. Hart; _Selevcvs_, Mr. Bvrt; _Leontivs_,
Major Mohvn; _Lievtenant_, Mr. Clun; _Celia_, Mrs. Marshall. The play
will begin at three o’clock exactly. Boxes 4s. Pitt 2s. 6d.
Middle-Gallery 1s. 6d. Upper Gallery 1s.”




The History of Gilds.

BY CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.S.S., _Barrister-at-Law_.

_PART IV._

CHAPTER XXXII.--_The Gilds of Lincolnshire._


THE Gilds of this county were not only very numerous, but they were
regarded as important in several respects. I shall give some account of
them under the several towns wherein they flourished. There were also
many village Gilds.

=Boston.=--In this ancient town were various Gilds of great note, but the
materials for detailed history have only been preserved in exceptional
cases.

_Gild of the Blessed Mary._--This appears to have ranked first amongst
the Boston Gilds, and is believed to have been the _Gilda Mercatoria_ of
Boston, although its constitution in considerable part was
ecclesiastical. The earliest mention of this Gild appears to be in 1393.
The Gild itself was probably founded earlier--certainly other Gilds of
earlier date existed in the town. The first Patent was granted to it at
the date just named. Another Patent is dated in 1445, and a third in
1447. In this last year, Henry VI. granted a licence to “Richard
Benynton and others that they should give to the Aldermen of the Gild of
the Fraternity of the Blessed Mary of Boston, in the County of Lincoln,
five messuages, thirty-one acres of land, and ten acres of pasture in
Boston and Skirbeck.” Another Patent grant was issued to this
institution in 1483. This Gild had a Chapel, called the Chapel of our
Lady, in the Parish Church.

In 1510, Pope Julius II. in a “Pardon” granted to the town, provided
that whatsoever Christian people, of what estate or condition soever,
whether spirituall or temporall, would aid and support the Chamberlain
or substitute of the aforesaid Gilde, should have five hundred years of
pardon!

_Item_, to all brothers and sisters of the same Gilde was granted free
liberty to eate in the time of Lent, or other fast-days, eggs, milk,
butter, cheese, and also flesh by the counsell of their ghostly father
and physician, without any scruple of conscience.

_Item_, that all partakers of the same Gilde, and being supporters
thereof, which once a quarter, or every Friday or Saturday, either in
the said Chappell or any other Chappell of their devotion, shall say a
_Paternoster_, _Ave Maria_, and _creed_, or shall say or cause to be
said masses for souls departed in pains of purgatory, shall not only
have the full remission due to them which visite the Chappell of Scala
Cæli, or of St. John Latern [in Rome]; but also the souls in purgatory
shall enjoy full remission and be released of all their paines.

_Item_, that all the souls of the brothers and sisters of the said
Gilde, also the souls of their fathers and mothers, shall be partakers
of all the prayers, suffrages, alms, fastings, masses and mattens,
pilgrimages, and all other good deedes of all the holy Church militant
for ever.

This pardon--and many such pardons, indulgences, grants and relaxations,
were issued by Popes Nicholas V., Pius II., Sixtus, as well as Julius
II.--was through the request of King Henry VIII., 1526, confirmed by
Pope Clement VII.

It appears that at the time Pope Julius granted his “Bull” the Gild
maintained seven priests, twelve ministers, and thirteen beadsmen; and
also seems to have supported a grammar school. “The seats or stalls
(says Thompson in his “Collections,” &c., 1820) on the south side of the
chancel of the church were no doubt erected for the use of the master
and bretheren of this establishment.” At the dissolution (1538) this
college, as it was then called, was valued at £24.

The Guildhall of this establishment is yet remaining, and is used by the
Corporation for their corporate and judicial proceedings. Beadsman-lane,
adjoining the Guildhall, was no doubt inhabited by the beadsmen
belonging to this institution; and the ancient buildings in Spain-lane
were, it is very probable, the warehouses of the merchants. The
possessions of this Gild were given to the Corporation in 1554, first of
Mary.

_Gild of St. Botolph._--It is recorded that in 1349 (23rd Edward III.) a
patent was granted for making a Gild in the town of St. Botolph--the
ancient name of Boston. And also that in the same year Gilbert de
Elilond gave to the Aldermen, &c., of the Gild of St. Botolph certain
lands and tenements in that town. Another patent in behalf of this
institution was granted in 1399.

In 1403, Henry IV. granted a licence to Thomas de Friseby and others,
that they might give to the Aldermen and brethren of the Gild or
fraternity in Boston one messuage, forty acres of land, and twenty acres
of meadow with the appurtenances “which they held of the Lord of
Bello-monto for services, &c.” In 1411, the King granted a licence to
Richard Pynchebek and others, that they should give to Richard Lister,
master of the Gild or fraternity in the town of St. Botolph, certain
lands, &c.

It is not known who founded this Gild; what was the extent of its
possessions; or the particular object of its institution. “It is most
probable, however (says Thompson), that it was founded by a Company of
merchants, and that its objects were entirely of a mercantile nature.”
There is no account of any hall or other buildings belonging to this
Gild.

_Gild of Corpus Christi._--The first mention of this Gild is in 1389,
when a patent was issued for the “Guild or Fraternity of Corpus Christi
in St. Botolph.” Another patent was granted in 1392 for an Alderman,
&c., of this Gild; a third grant bears date 1403. King Henry V. granted
a licence in 1413 to John Barker, chaplain, and John Wellesby, chaplain,
that they should give to the Alderman and brothers and sisters of the
Gild of Corpus Christi, in the town of St. Botolph, two messuages with
certain lands, &c., in Boston and Skirbeck. In 1414 another patent was
granted to this Gild.

Mr. Thompson considers that this was in all probability a religious
Gild. At the dissolution it was called a “College,” and its valuation,
as given both by Dugdale and Speed, was £32. The situation of the hall
of this institution was contiguous to Corpus Christi-lane, in Wide
Bargate. No remains of any buildings, &c., belonging to it were visible
in 1820.

_Gild of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul._--The earliest record of
this Gild is in 1393, when a patent was issued “for the Gild or
Fraternity of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, in the Church of St.
Botolph in the Town of St. Botolph.” A second grant is dated 1448.

This appears to have been a religious establishment, and to have had a
chapel, or at least an altar, in the parish church of St. Botolph. It
was called a college at the dissolution, and was valued at £10 13s. 4d.
It is supposed that St. Peter’s-lane, in Wide Bargate, had probably some
connection with this Gild.

The charter of Philip and Mary, dated 1554, vested the possessions of
this institution in the Corporation.

_St. George’s Gild._--This was founded prior to 1403, for in that year a
patent grant was issued in confirmation of a licence for the formation
of this fraternity. In 1415 a patent was granted for the keeping or
governing of the Gild of St. George in the town of St. Botolph.

This appears to have been a trading company, no mention being made of it
at the dissolution.

The hall of this Gild was standing in 1726 at the bottom of St.
George’s-lane, on the west side of the river.

_Gild of Holy Trinity._--Patent grants to this fraternity were issued in
1409 and 1411.

It appears from documents in the archives of the Corporation of Boston
that Stephen Clerke, warden and keeper of the fraternity of the Holy
Trinity, in the town of St. Botolph, together with the brethren and
sisters thereof, did surrender to Nicholas Robertison, mayor, and the
other burgesses of the _new_ borough of Boston, all the estates,
effects, and property of the said fraternity whatsoever, by deed under
the common seal of their Gild, dated 22nd of July, in the 37th of Henry
VIII. (1546). This surrender was formally made in a house then called
the Trinity Chamber, which was most probably the hall or Gild of the
fraternity. Its site is unknown. The possessions of this Gild were
confirmed to the Corporation by Philip and Mary A.D. 1554; as were those
of the St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Paul Gilds, at the same time, “the
better to support the Bridge and Port of Boston.”

It is more than probable that these Gilds played an important part in
connection with the great fairs held in this town, but no evidence is at
hand.

_Craft Gilds._--During the sixteenth and early in the seventeenth
century, various Craft Gilds were founded in the borough. Of these,
particular mention is made of the following: 1555, the Company of
Cordwainers and Curriers established; 1562, the Tailors’ Company; 1576,
the Glovers’ Company; 1598, the Smiths’, Farriers’, Braziers’, and
Cutlers’ Companies; 1606, the Butchers’ Company established.

These Craft Gilds were founded and conducted on the usual model of the
period, as may be seen by the constitution of the Cordwainers’ Company.
This Company was authorised, and its regulations sanctioned by the
Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the borough in 1855, the
following being the substance of its regulations:--

There should be elected on the Monday before the Feast of St. Martin, by
the said Company, two wardens, who should choose a person as beadle, to
be attendant on the said wardens.

The officers were to be presented before and sworn in by the Mayor for
the time being, on the feast day of St. Andrew, to serve their
respective offices for one whole year.

The said wardens should have authority over all manner of persons using
the occupation or mystery of cordwainer in the said borough of Boston.

That no person or persons should set up within the said borough as
cordwainers until such time as they could sufficiently cut or make a
boot or shoe, to be adjudged by the said wardens, and were made free by
the Mayor, Aldermen, &c., of the said borough, upon pain of forfeiting
£3 6s. 8d., to be paid to the use of the Company: or to suffer
imprisonment; this fine or imprisonment to be levied as often as any
person should attempt the same.

If any foreigner, or person who did not serve his apprenticeship in the
said borough, should be admitted to his freedom by the Mayor, &c., that
he shall then pay to the wardens £3 6s. 8d. before he should be admitted
a fellow of the said Company.

That no fellow of this Company, his journeymen or servants, should work
on the Sabbath-day, either in town or country.

That the wardens of the said Company should have power once a month at
least, or oftener if required, to search throughout the whole Company of
Cordwainers and Curriers for unlawful wares or leathers.

There is no reference here to any powers of searching the stalls at the
fairs for “unlawful wares;” but it is not improbable that such a power
was exercised by the wardens of these Craft Gilds.

(_To be continued._)




Collectanea.

“CLAPHAM CHRONICLE.”--J. M. Kemble edited as a boy at school a little
newspaper, a sheet of about six inches square, printed by himself from a
diminutive hand press, and aping the style of the daily journals. I
[_i.e._, C. J. M.] have a file of them still, “Edited by John Mitchell
Kemble, printer, No. 1, Desk-row.” (See C. Dickens’ “Life of Charles J.
Matthews,” vol. i. p. 34.)

CIVIC CONVIVIALITY IN 1759.--Mr. J. H. Round communicates the following:
“The Mayor was also empowered [23 Nov. 1759] to give a grand Banquet at
the ’Change to the Duke of Grafton and the officers of the Suffolk
militia. The Suffolk militia then lay at Leicester, officered by the
first characters in that county. It was then considered the most elegant
and costly treat ever given by the corporation, and one the most
inebriating. Mr. Mayor [Nicholas Throsby], at night, was assisted by the
duke downstairs; and the duke soon after was assisted to his carriage by
the town servants: there not being a soul left in the room capable of
affording help to enfeebled limbs--Field Officers and Aldermen, Captains
and Common Council, were perfectly at rest; all were levelled by the
mighty power of wine.” (Throsby’s “History of Leicester” (1791), p.
162.)




Reviews.


_History and Description of Corfe Castle._ By THOMAS BOND. E. Stanford.
1884.

WE have here a book to which we can conscientiously pay a high tribute
of praise. The noble ruins of mediæval castles in which England is so
pre-eminently rich have rarely found competent historians, for the
reason that while, on the one hand, their architecture is a special
study, and understood by only a very few, who have made it their own
subject; on the other hand, those who have thus acquired the necessary
general knowledge are too often lacking in the special local knowledge,
which is, in such cases, absolutely essential. Mr. Bond, however, has
unquestionably succeeded in combining these two qualifications. In the
present work he gives us, in an enlarged and final form, the results of
those valuable researches on the castle, of which the outline has
previously appeared in the third edition of Hutchins’ “Dorset,” and in
his paper read before the Archæological Institute in 1866. The chief
point which Mr. Bond has throughout sought to establish is the early
date of the actual keep, which, as he shows, may with good reason be
assigned to the days of the Conqueror. In this last controversy the most
important point is the locality of the “Castellum de Warham,” mentioned
in “Domesday.” Mr. Bond identifies it, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
with Corfe Castle itself. Mr. Freeman’s unfortunate attempt to defend
his own identification of it with the later and infinitely less
important fortress of Wareham Castle is utterly shattered by Mr. Bond’s
arguments, though he does not, strangely enough, allude to Mr. Freeman’s
contention, which will be found under “Wareham,” in his work on “English
Towns and Districts.”

We gladly call attention to the valuable searches made by Mr. Bond among
original MS. authorities in the Public Records, especially the
instructive “Fabric Rolls.” The careful excavations which he has been
permitted to make have also led to important results, and, in short, we
have in his book the fruits of long and patient study on the spot,
combined with an unsparing and yet critical use of all available sources
of original information.

We must not omit to notice the excellent plans and illustrations, with
which the volume is liberally adorned, and which, by their great
clearness, are admirably adapted to their purpose.


_Mediæval Military Architecture in England._ 2 vols. By G. T. CLARK.
Wyman. 1884.

IT is with a feeling of real gratitude that we welcome this noble work.
The prolonged labours of “Castle Clark” have long been familiar to
antiquaries, and no archæological meeting at any spot that could boast a
castle has seemed complete without the presence of “the great master of
military architecture,” as Mr. Clark has been justly termed by Professor
Freeman: to whom, by the way, these volumes are dedicated, as having
been issued “at his suggestion.” It has long been a matter of natural
regret that the valuable results of Mr. Clark’s researches should have
been so widely scattered as to render them, for practical purposes,
inaccessible to the student. In these volumes they have now been
collected, gathered together from many quarters, such as the
“Transactions” of the national and local Archæological societies, the
_Builder_, and, not least, the scarce volume known as “Old London,” from
which Mr. Clark has been allowed to reproduce his important monograph on
the Tower.

The work begins with twelve introductory chapters, of which we may
select, as of special interest, that on “earthworks of the post-Roman
and English periods,” an obscure subject, on which Mr. Clark has here
collected much instructive information. Three chapters deal with “the
Castles of England and Wales at the latter part of the twelfth century,”
and we can only regret that a subsequent chapter has not been devoted to
the period of the Charter (1213-1223), when these fortresses played so
large and important a part in the struggle. These chapters are succeeded
by more than one hundred papers on various castles and works, not
confined to England alone, as could be gathered from the title, but
including many in Wales, Borthwick Tower in Scotland, and, beyond the
Channel, the typical strongholds of Arques and Coucy, together with the
famous Château-Gaillard. The plans and diagrams, so all-essential in a
work dealing with these subjects, are bestowed with no sparing hand, and
there are not a few illustrations of a less severe character.

The drawback incident to such a work as this is the great area which it
has to cover. Not only a very wide knowledge of history, but also much
special local knowledge is needed to secure a satisfactory result. It
must be confessed that Mr. Clark has been more successful in the
structural than in the historical portion of his theme. Nor have his
views on the former always escaped challenge. His statements as to
Pevensey were questioned at the time, and his account of Colchester,
both of the structure and of its history, has been very gravely
impugned. It is somewhat strange that, in this case, Mr. Clark has
repeated, without correction, his statements, as he has inserted, in his
account of the Tower, the important discovery of two fireplaces on the
second stage, since the paper was originally written. We may also note
that, notwithstanding the admiration which Messrs. Freeman and Clark
profess for one another, their views are often very contradictory, as,
for instance, on Norwich Castle, on the character of pre-Conquest keeps,
on the earthworks at Lincoln, and on Richard’s Castle.

But while it is necessary to sound a note of warning, it is almost
ungrateful to criticise a work which will be recognised as indispensable
to every student of English history in the middle ages. Few studies
could throw more light on the social life of the two centuries
succeeding the Norman Conquest. When we learn that, of the papers
reprinted in these volumes, that on Caerphilly was originally issued no
less than half a century ago, we may form some idea of the duration of
Mr. Clark’s labours, and may congratulate him on being not only the
worthy successor of the painstaking and indefatigable Mr. King, but the
greatest authority we have ever had on Mediæval Military Architecture.


_Cowdray: the History of a Great English House._ By Mrs. CHARLES
ROUNDELL. Bickers & Son. 1884.

THIS handsome quarto volume possesses something more than local
interest; it is the history of a house which was one of the most
characteristic examples of Tudor architecture, and of a family which for
several generations was conspicuous in the history of the times. Cowdray
House stood close to Midhurst, in West Sussex; but it was burned down
towards the end of the last century, and little now remains of the once
magnificent pile but ivy-clad walls. With the mansion perished several
invaluable historical treasures--among them the sword of William the
Conqueror, his coronation robe, and the oft-disputed Roll of Battle
Abbey. The house was full of rare and curious things, and contained a
large number of family portraits of the Lords of Cowdray, whose
fortunes were founded by Sir Anthony Browne, the friend and confidant
of Henry VIII., and whose son, on the marriage of Queen Mary with Philip
of Spain, was created Viscount Montague, a title which became extinct on
the death of the ninth Lord in 1797. According to tradition, it was at
Battle Abbey, where Sir Anthony Browne and his family were established
within three months of its surrender to the Crown, that the famous
“curse of Cowdray” was invoked. The story runs that while Sir Anthony
was holding his first great feast in the Abbots’ Hall, “a monk made his
way through the crowd of guests, and, striding up to the daïs on which
Sir Anthony sat, cursed him to his face. He concluded with the words,
‘By fire and water thy line shall come to an end, and it shall perish
out of the land.’” Two hundred and fifty years afterwards the curse was
fulfilled, for Cowdray was burned down, and the eighth Lord Montague and
his two nephews were all drowned. Misfortune seems to have been the lot
of Lord Montague’s family from the first to the last, and the climax
came with the burning of Cowdray; the last Viscount was a monk, who
obtained the Papal dispensation to marry and continue the line; but he,
too, died childless, and the male line of the Brownes of Cowdray became
extinct. Mrs. Roundell thus describes the present appearance of the
ruins of Cowdray: “Above the great gateway the face of the clock still
remains, with its hands still pointing to the hour at which it stopped;
by the door is the old bell, and the original staples which held the
doors to the gateway. The kitchen still contains the enormous
dripping-pan, five feet long and four feet wide, and the great
meat-screen and meat-block. Among these relics of old Cowdray are lying
a fine mirror-frame, a chandelier, and Lady Montague’s harp, on which
are the words, ‘H. Naderman, à Paris.’”

It only remains to add that Mrs. Roundell has treated her subject
exhaustively, but in a plain, unvarnished manner, and that the book is
illustrated with reproductions, by a photographic process, of some old
views of Cowdray.


_Life and Times of William IV._ By PERCY FITZGERALD, M.A., F.S.A.

THIS is rather a sample of book-making by a gentleman who can do better
work, and has done it. The account of King William’s early years is dull
and heavy; and that of the first Reform Bill contains nothing that has
not been told before. His accounts of Holland House and its “set” (where
he has had Macaulay to draw upon), and of the French _emigrés_ in London
after the Revolution of 1830, and of the chief dandies and ladies of
fashion who hung about Lady Blessington, are the most interesting parts
of the book.


1. _Luther and the Cardinal._ Translated by JULIE SUTTER. 2. _Homes and
Haunts of Luther._ By JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. 3. _Luther Anecdotes._ By Dr.
MACAULAY. Religious Tract Society. 1883.

CERTAINLY the enterprising publishers who call themselves the Religious
Tract Society were not behindhand in contributing to the Luther Festival
last year. The story of one of the bravest men in history (let us not
hesitate to call him so) has seldom been more worthily enshrined than in
the books now lying on our table. The “anecdotes” are an unambitious
attempt to unite in a connected form the various stories told of Luther
at various periods of his life. “Homes and Haunts of Martin Luther” is
evidently written in the true spirit of the loving and faithful
chronicler. We follow the great Reformer from the mines of Eisènach to
the princely castle of the Wartburg; from the quiet of the Wittenberg
monastery to the fierce conflict of the Diet of Worms. Everywhere Mr.
Stoughton describes the life and doings of his hero with the tender
reverence of an ardent admirer. A noticeable feature of the book is the
elegance of the illustrations, which are artistically drawn and
carefully engraved. The foregoing treat of the general story of Luther’s
life; in the work entitled “Luther and the Cardinal,” we have a graphic
historical picture of the memorable struggle between the Reformer and
one of the greatest of the Papal adherents, Cardinal Albrecht, Elector
and Archbishop of Mainz. It is written almost in the style of an
historical novel, except that no imaginary personage or event is
introduced. Pastor Metschmann thoroughly warms to his task when he
describes in the latter part of the book the fierce retribution wreaked
upon the Cardinal by Luther for the judicial murder of poor Hans von
Schömtz, and he is appreciatively and carefully interpreted by his
translator.


_Hanley and the House of Lechmere_, by the late Mr. E. P. SHIRLEY
(Pickering), is a book to which much interest attaches, as the last (and
indeed posthumous) work of one of the most noble and worthy of scholars
and gentlemen. It is partly topographical, as giving an account of the
parish of Hanley Castle; it is also partly architectural, and partly
genealogical; and in all these three qualifications Mr. Shirley shone
pre-eminent. The old seat of the Lechmere family, now known as Severn
End, is one of those fine old timbered mansions which are scattered so
thickly up and down the western and north-western counties from
Gloucester to Lancaster; and it appears that the mansion must have
ranked a century ago high among the houses of its class. Its general
structure, its tapestries, its pictures, its painted glass, all serve to
show this. The greater part of the volume is taken up with the diary of
Sir Nicholas Les Lechmere, recording the history of the family from the
days of the first two Edwards down to the reign of William and Mary, in
fact to within a year of his own death in 1701. The entries exhibit to
us the domestic pursuits,--pleasures, as well as the public duties of a
worthy man and upright judge. A manuscript of Dr. Thomas, quoted by
Nash, in his “History of Worcestershire,” observes of the Lechmeres:
“This family came out of the Low Countries, served under William the
Conqueror, and obtained lands in Hanley, called from them Lechmere’s
Place, and Lechmere’s Fields. Lech is a branch of the Rhine, which parts
from it at Wyke, in the province of Utrecht, and running westward falls
into the Maes before you come to Rotterdam.” “Some foundation for the
supposed foreign origin of the name,” remarks Mr. Shirley, “is derived
from the fact that all the earlier ancestors of the Lechmeres used the
prefix _de_, which was afterwards dropped; and as, with the exception of
_Lechmere Heath_ in Hertfordshire, there is no place of that name in
England, we may, perhaps, conclude that Dr. Thomas’s theory is the right
one. There can be no reasonable doubt that the progenitor of the
venerable House of Lechmere was seated in the parish of Hanley not long
after the Conquest, and, after all, it may not be impossible that he was
the Roger who held under Gislebert, at the time of the Domesday survey.”
Mr. Shirley’s work, we may add, is illustrated with a view of the
western front of Severn End, as it appeared in 1803, taken from a sketch
by the late Sir Edmund Lechmere; whilst the pages of the volume are
enriched with numerous carefully-executed coats of arms of the
Lechmeres, and their several impalements through marriage. The arms of
Lechmere, _Gules, a fess, and in chief two pelicans vulning themselves,
or_--“may be taken as an early instance of what is called canting
heraldry, _Lech_, in old Breton, meaning love, and _mere_, of course,
mother,--a play upon the name symbolised by the pelican wounding herself
and feeding her young with her blood.”


_The History of Newcastle and Gateshead in the 14th and 15th
Centuries._, by Mr. R. WELFORD (Scott, 14, Paternoster-square),
introduces us to a district which in the course of the present summer
will be visited by the Archæological Institute of Great Britain; its
appearance, therefore, is well timed. Mr. Welford has brought together
and has arranged with considerable skill a mass of extracts from the
records of “the King’s Town of the New Castle upon the Tyne,” founded by
a son of the Conqueror; and in his introductory chapter he has given a
sketch of the early growth of the town, with its charters, its commerce,
and its pageants. The only fault that we can find is that this chapter
is far too brief; for we should have been pleased to see more of Mr.
Welford’s own handiwork, and of his comments on the most interesting
materials which he has brought together, and which extend from A.D. 1301
down to the close of A.D. 1500. For a record of local annals the book
strikes us as coming very nearly up to the standard of perfection.


_Gwilt’s Encyclopædia of Architecture_ (Longmans) is a work so
thoroughly established as an authority that it needs no commendation of
ours. If any proof of its value, and the public appreciation of that
value be needed, it will be enough to say that it has reached its
seventh edition. Thus, as to the two previous impressions, many
amendments have been made, which the progress of time had rendered
necessary. But for the present edition “The Tables of the English
Cathedrals have been compiled; many chapters on public and private
buildings have been re-written, and new ones have been inserted: the
list of architects and their principal works has been removed from the
glossary and re-compiled, the list of architectural publications has
been enlarged, and formed into a separate list, while the glossary
itself has received numerous additional terms and illustrations,
together with such other amendments as appeared desirable.” Though the
work is styled an “Encyclopædia,” the only portion of it which is
alphabetically arranged is the “Glossary” at the end; the rest of the
book is really an elaborate history of architecture, from the earliest
period of a semi-barbaric age. In it Mr. Gwilt carries his readers
through the annals of architecture, Druidical and Celtic, Pelasgic or
Cyclopean, Babylonian, Persian, Jewish and Phœnician, Indian,
Egyptian, Chinese, Mexican, Arabian, Moorish, or Saracenic, Grecian,
Etruscan, Roman, Byzantine, and so on to the rise of that Pointed Style
to which the name of Gothic has clung so strongly. He devotes sections
also to a general view of the Italian, French, German, Spanish,
Portuguese, and Russian styles; and then occupies the bulk of the work
with the successive styles of architecture which have prevailed in this
country, and the Pointed Architecture of France, Italy, Spain, Belgium,
and other continental countries. The second and third parts of the work
treat in great detail of the theory and the practice of architecture
respectively: the fourth part concerns mainly the working builder, and
the land agent. The work is illustrated by woodcuts, giving views,
elevations, and ground-plans of the principal public and private
buildings both at home and abroad. The short memoir of Mr. Gwilt,
himself, prefixed to the work, is the record of a man whose name the
present race of Englishmen would not wish to die.


_Lincolnshire and the Danes._ By the Rev. G. S. STREATFEILD. Kegan Paul
& Co. 1884.

THE Great Fen District and the Danish occupation of this part of our
country, together form an interesting episode in English History; and
this Mr. Streatfeild has undertaken to illustrate. He is not without, at
all events, one great qualification for his task, for he has long been a
resident in the south of Lincolnshire; and besides that he has other
merits, for he is a man of honest research, and he writes with the pen
of a scholar and a gentleman. Perhaps the best chapter in the volume is
the third, which treats of the Dane in his English home; though other
readers will be inclined to bestow equal praise on the chapter on Danish
Mythology, and on the influence which has been exerted by it upon our
language and people. It should be added that the book is dedicated to
the Princess of Wales, who can see almost from her windows at
Sandringham the tower of Boston Church, which marks the district on
which the Danes of old have left their stamp.


_Historic Sites of Lancashire and Cheshire._ By JAMES CROSTON, Esq.,
F.S.A. Manchester: John Heywood. 1883.

The author of this work says, rather grandiloquently, in his preface,
that, without any pretension to the dignity of history, his aim has been
“to combine with topographical description, personal narrative and local
legend, and to snatch from Oblivion’s spoils the shadowy fragments of
tradition that have floated down through centuries of time.” Certainly a
worthy and admirable aim, not wanting, despite the writer’s disclaimer,
in ‘dignity.’ He has contrived to clothe his descriptions of persons and
places in a mantle of poetical beauty, which renders them exceedingly
charming to the general reader, as they are also of pre-eminent interest
to the antiquary. One of the chapters, that devoted to Alderley and the
Stanleys, will be especially attractive to admirers of perhaps the most
universally admired Churchmen of the century. Mr. Croston has wisely
summarised in a few words the later and best-known part of his history,
and paid most attention to the early years of Arthur Stanley in the
pretty home at Alderley.

We must give an especial meed of praise to the spirited style in which
the story of Sir William Brereton, who was such an excellent type of the
higher class of the Parliamentarian soldier, is told. As the author
remarks, to tell the history of his life is to write the record of the
Civil war in the north-west of England. This he has told impartially and
excellently, and in a style of narrative which can scarcely be too
highly commended for its clearness and freedom from inflation. The pages
of the work are enlivened by apt poetical quotations, many of them from
little known old English poets, which show that Mr. Croston’s reading
has been various and extensive. The book should find favour with more
than local readers; old Moreton Hall, for instance, is one of those
“stately homes of England” in which a national interest is felt; and
none who love the quaintly venerable, albeit decayed, mansions of our
forefathers, can fail to be grateful to the writer for his graphic and
appreciative chapter on one of the most ancient and interesting of them.

Moreton Hall[12] is almost peculiar for its wealth of rich carving and
mouldings, from the entrance, with its two side-posts, each carved to
represent a soldier bearing a partisan, to the beautiful little chapel,
now, alas! degraded to the service of a cattle-shed, lumber, storehouse,
and such base uses. In the “long gallery,” which our author compares to
the banquetting-room at Haddon Hall, are two draped figures of Fate and
Fortune, admirably illustrating the difference between two terms
frequently confounded with each other. Fate bears a sword, with which
she pierces a globe above her head, and the inscription beneath is: “The
speare of destinye whose ruler is knowledge;” while opposite to her is
Fortune, blindfolded, pointing to her wheel, and her motto is: “The
wheele of Fortune whose rule is ignorance.” This part of the mansion
also gathers additional interest from the tradition that “Good Queen
Bess” condescended to dance in the gallery, while on a visit to Moreton
Hall during one of her royal progresses. If this be true, it is very
possible that her visit may have contributed to the decline rather than
to the exaltation of the family; for to have a Tudor sovereign as a
guest was, in those days, much the same kind of undesirable honour as
the gift of a sacred white elephant from the Burmese king to some
subject whom he delights to honour--and to ruin. Witness the clean sweep
which the royal Dame contrived to make of the riches of Kenilworth, when
Leicester’s Earl paid so dearly for a glance from royal eyes.

“Between architecture and history there exists a closer connection than
is commonly supposed,” remarks Mr. Croston, and this may almost be
called the key-note of his book. When the author stands before a relic
of the past, visions of past chivalry fill his imagination and,
consequently, his narrative; and he is never happier than when following
the fortunes of some old knight who lived by his sword.

    “Those knights are dust, and their good swords rust;
     Their souls are with the saints, we trust,”

says Coleridge; let us add that their _names_ cannot be better
commemorated than by books like the one before us.


_English Etchings_, Part 37 (D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s-place), contains
three admirable examples of the etcher’s skill, namely “Dachsunds,” by
Mr. A. M. Williams, representing three dogs of the badger-hound species;
“In the Pursuit of Riches,” by Mr. Edwin Buckman, a spirited drawing of
a couple of urchins endeavouring to catch a “copper” thrown to them from
the roof of a passing vehicle; and a “Surrey Lime-Kiln,” by Mr. W.
Holmes May.




Obituary Memoir.

    “Emori nolo; sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.”--_Epicharmus._


MR. WILLIAM BRAGG, F.S.A., died on June 6. His collection of MSS., made
during his travels, and dispersed not long ago; his collection of
tobacco pipes of all nations, many of which are in the British Museum;
and his almost complete collection of the editions of Cervantes’s works,
presented to the Birmingham Reference Library, bear witness to Mr.
Bragge’s archæological and literary tastes.--_Athenæum._




Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.


SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.--_May 29_, Mr. H. S. Milman, Director, in the
chair. The Rev. George Ward, F.S.A., exhibited a Saxon coin of St.
Eadmund, a gold enamelled ring of the seventeenth century, and several
Nuremberg tokens, found in Lincolnshire. Dr. Samuel Birch exhibited the
framework of a _sella prætoria_ of bronze, which had recently been
brought from Cairo. “The Corporation Maces of the City of Rochester”
formed the subject of a paper by Mr. W. H. St. John Hope. The regalia
exhibited consisted of the great mace, a pair of silver maces, and a
water bailiff’s silver oar.--_June 12_, Mr. E. Freshfield, LL.D., V.P.,
in the chair. This being a ballot evening, no papers were read.--_June
19_, Dr. C. S. Perceval, Treasurer, in the chair. “Clay Bars and Pottery
from Bedfordshire” formed the subject of a paper by Major C. Cooper,
F.S.A., Local Secretary of the Society for Bedfordshire. Dr. E.
Freshfield, V.P., read a paper on “The Palace of the Greek Emperors of
Nicæa at Nymphio.” Dr. J. Evans, F.R.S., V.P., exhibited a bronze medal
of Sir Andrew Fountaine as Warden of the Mint. Mr. C. I. Elton, M.P.,
F.S.A., presented to the Society a contemporary corrected MS. of Sir
John Eliot’s Speeches, and also a MS. of law notes of Sir J. Fortescue
Aland, Solicitor-General in the second year of George I. (1715-16),
containing several interesting particulars.


BRITISH ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.--_May 7._ Annual general meeting. The
Bishop of St. David’s was elected President for the congress at Tenby,
and for the ensuing year. The officers and almost the whole of the old
council were re-elected. The Hon. Treasurer, Mr. T. Morgan, F.S.A.,
V.P., gave a review of the work of the Association during the past year,
and declared a satisfactory balance-sheet. The members afterwards dined
together.--_May 21_, Mr. T. Morgan, F.S.A., Vice-President, in the
chair. Mr. W. Myers, F.S.A., exhibited several objects of antiquarian
interest lately brought from Egypt. Mr. Cecil Brent, F.S.A., exhibited a
collection of ancient pottery, mostly from Cyprus, showing many of the
varied forms of the ceramic ware of that island. Some gold earrings of
Greek date were also among the collection. The Rev. S. M. Mayhew
produced many articles of interest, especially to collectors of London
antiquities: there being among them a handsome inlaid marquetry box,
once, probably, the alms-box of the old church of St. Olave,
Tooley-street, since it was found close to the site of the present
building, below the surface of the ground. It bears the inscription,
“The gift of R. Makepiece, 1692,” and appeared but little the worse for
its rough usage. A carved bone knife of Roman date and some fine
examples of glass of the same period were also exhibited. Mr. Loftus
Brock, F.S.A., also exhibited several antiquities found in London, the
most curious being a spur of great length. Mr. E. Walford read a paper
on the ancient city of Luni, in Etruria, being an extract from a letter
which he had recently received from La Signora Campion. This paper will
appear _in extenso_ in the ANTIQUARIAN MAGAZINE. Mr. W. de Gray Birch,
F.S.A., read a paper descriptive of a fine stained-glass figure of a
lady in Long Melford Church, Suffolk, which was shown in _fac-simile_ by
a drawing by Mr. Watling. The figure is that of Lady Anne Percy, then
wife of Sir Lawrence Rainsforth, and probably the youngest daughter of
Hotspur, and not the first or second, as has been believed. The lady’s
third husband was Sir R. Vaughan. She is represented in a kneeling
posture, clad in a red heraldic robe, on which are the arms of the Dukes
of Brabant and Lucy; while on her ermine-lined mantle are those of
Rainsforth and Brokesborne. This is the earliest known portrait of any
member of the Percy family.--_June 4_, Mr. T. Morgan, F.S.A., in the
chair. The arrangements for the Congress at Tenby were detailed. The
meeting will commence on September 2, and end on the 11th, the Bishop of
St. David’s being President. The Rev. S. M. Mayhew exhibited a Roman
mortar of bronze found recently in the City, its silver covering showing
the marks of intense heat from burning, the silver being fused into
granules over the surface. A bronze lizard from Palestine, probably a
Gnostic emblem, was also described. Mr. Morgan produced some interesting
relics from Cagliari, Sardinia, recently found there. Mr. Hughes
exhibited a fac-simile of the Charter granted by Richard III. to the Wax
Chandlers Company of London, which he has reproduced in colours. Mr. J.
W. Grover read a description of a tumulus still existing in the grounds
of a house in the Cedars-road, Clapham, which is shown on old maps prior
to the district being built over. It is called Mount Nod; but there is
no evidence to show its date. The old house of Sir D. Gordon, where
Pepys died, stood close to the spot. A discussion ensued, in which
Messrs. Compton, Kershaw, Brock, and others took part; reference was
made to the old Huguenot cemetery, Mount Nod, at Wandsworth, being
called by the same name, apparently from the field so called extending
thither. The position commands a view over the Thames valley.
Excavations will probably be made. Mr. R. Smith contributed a paper,
read by Mr. W. De Gray Birch, on Old Winchester, in which he showed that
the so-called Roman Camp is in reality an ancient British oppidum of
considerable size. Mr. L. Brock read a paper on a chapel of thirteenth
century date, which still exists at Dover, close to the Maison Dieu,
hidden behind the modern houses of Biggin-street, and hitherto
unnoticed. It is used as a blacksmith’s shop. The Rev. Prebendary Scarth
forwarded a paper read by Mr. Birch, on an ancient harpsichord which
formerly belonged to Tasso. It is at Sorrento, and is dated 1564. It is
decorated with paintings of Apollo and the Muses, and is in fair
condition.


ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.--_June 5_, Earl Percy, M.P., in the
chair. Miss Farington exhibited a collection of Roman coins, found near
Preston, in Lancashire, and also some curious wall tiles of ancient
Chinese manufacture. Mr. J. G. Waller gave an interesting sketch of
monumental brasses of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the
leading features of which he traced in chronological sequence from the
well-known examples from Cambridgeshire and Stoke d’Abernon, Surrey, in
1320-30, down to the specimens of elaborate coat-armour which mark the
conclusion of the Wars of the Roses. Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, F.S.A.,
described certain curious mediæval frescoes, which had been brought to
light by the late Canon Wickenden, in Pinvin Chapel, near Pershore.
Illustrations of these two papers were hung on the walls. Mr. A. H.
Church described at considerable length some Roman potters’ marks on
ancient pottery, examples of which had been found in the neighbourhood
of Cirencester, in Gloucestershire.


ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE.--_May 28_, Sir P. de Colquhoun in the
chair. Mr. W. H. Garrett read a paper “On Macbeth,” chiefly with the
view of elucidating the intention of Shakespeare with respect to the
central figure of the tragedy. At the outset, Mr. Garrett endeavoured
to fix the year when the play was first acted. After examining the
source, Holinshed’s “Chronicle,” whence Shakspeare derived his first
idea of the salient characteristics of the real Macbeth, and alluding to
the introduction by the poet of the account given by the chronicler of
the assassination of King Duffe, by Donewald, the author of the paper
proceeded to analyse the character of Macbeth as created by the bard,
contending that the prophecies of the witches had not the effect on the
character and conduct of the Scottish chief which is usually claimed for
them by commentators. Shakespeare’s text, it was argued, indicates not
only that ambitious cravings existed in Macbeth before the action of the
tragedy commenced, but that he had even consulted his wife respecting
the means to be adopted to secure the throne for himself.--_Athenæum._


SHORTHAND.--_May 7_, Mr. T. A. Reed, President, in the chair. Mr. M.
Levy read a paper, entitled “Shakespeare and Shorthand,” giving a
_résumé_ of the opinions of Shakespearean students, critics and
commentators, as to the probability of some of Shakespeare’s plays, and
especially “Hamlet,” having been published from the notes of shorthand
writers taken during the performances, thus accounting for the
discrepancies between the various early editions of the plays. A long
discussion followed.


ST. PAUL’S ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--_April 22_, Major Heales, F.S.A.,
in the chair. Mr. W. G. F. Phillimore, Q.C., D.C.L., read a paper on
“The History of the Ecclesiastical Courts,” in which he described the
origin and jurisdiction of the various Courts having cognizance of
ecclesiastical causes, and how they became diverted from their primitive
intention. He concluded by saying that these Courts were established by,
and presided over by, the clergy, for the discipline of the laity,
whereas now they were presided over by laymen for the discipline of the
clergy.--_April 26._ The members paid a visit to the Priory of St.
Dominic, Maitland-road, Haverstock-hill, and to the church of St.
Augustine, Kilburn, under the guidance of the Prior and Vicar and
churchwarden respectively.--_May 8._ Mr. Somers Clarke, Vice-President,
F.S.A., in the chair. The Rev. W. Sparrow Simpson, D.D., F.S.A., read a
paper on “St. Vedast.” The lecturer dealt with the Saint himself, and
not the well-known church dedicated to him, and he traced the derivation
of the name, described his miracles, emblems, works, &c., and concluded
with a few words upon the affix, “_alias_ Foster,” which is associated
with the church in Foster-lane.




PROVINCIAL.


ROYAL HISTORICAL AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND.--The Munster
Conference of this Association commenced on Tuesday, May 13, at
Killarney, Mr. Richard Langrishe, V.P., in the chair. The Secretary
having read the minutes of the quarterly meeting, and submitted the
audited statement of accounts for 1883, they were signed by the
Chairman. In explaining the minutes to those present, he said that they
chiefly had reference to the schedule of the Act of 1883, for the
Preservation of Ancient Monuments. Some of our Irish antiquities were
included in it, but not as many as there should be. Kerry was full of
monuments, which ought to be placed under the Act. Only four or five
monuments in the south of Ireland were included, but this was far less
than ought to be. The Society, as would be seen, was making exertions to
have something done in reference to the matter. It was not generally
known that this Act for the Preservation of ancient monuments was in
existence, or greater efforts would be made in connection with it. The
Chairman added that members ought to send a list of those monuments in
their neighbourhood to the provincial secretaries, in order to have them
placed under the Act. Mr. Arthur Hill, M.R.I.A.I., read a paper on “The
Cathedral of Ardfert, and other remains there.” The President read a
paper dealing with the subject of Bells in Ireland, and including,
amongst others, a description of the six bells at St. Andoen’s, Dublin,
with their inscriptions. Mr. Robert Day exhibited some curious specimens
of stone and bronze implements, three copper celts, and an ancient
silver pyx in good preservation. A visit was afterwards paid to Muckross
Abbey, Inisfallen, and Aghadoe. On Wednesday the party, headed by the
Rev. James Grant (Hon. General Secretary), proceeded to Tralee, whence
excursions were made to Ardfert, where the ruins of the ancient
churches, the cathedral, and the Franciscan abbey were duly examined;
and to Barrow, where the great fort on the east side of the island
called “Barrowaneanach,” was inspected. Thursday was devoted to an
examination of Dunloe Gap, and the Ogham Cave, in the demesne of Dunloe
Castle; and on Friday the party visited the caves at Shanavalla,
Arbella, near Tralee.


CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.--_May 26_, annual meeting, Mr. J. W.
Clark, M.A., President, in the chair. The Council and other officers for
the next year were elected. The annual report announced that the
Society’s collections had been placed in the new Museum of Archæology,
that eight meetings and two excursions had taken place during the past
year, that forty-seven new members had been elected, and that the first
of a series of loan-exhibitions of University and College portraits
under the auspices of this Society was now on view in the Fitzwilliam
Museum. Professor Hughes, in speaking of the so-called _Via Devana_
running from the end of Wort’s Causeway towards Horseheath, pointed out
that there was little, if any, evidence of its Roman origin, and
insisted that it was rather an entrenchment, to be referred to the same
later age which has given us Offa’s Dyke in the west, and the Devil’s
Dyke, and as many other notable earthworks in East Anglia also. The
Roman roads in the neighbourhood of the Castle Hill, too, he remarked,
seemed to converge to Grantchester rather than to Cambridge, and the
Roman pottery found here indicated rubbish-heaps rather than the site of
a camp or permanent fortification; and from all available evidence he
drew the conclusion that the mound and all the earthworks about it are
of Norman origin. Mr. Browne exhibited outline rubbings of two stones
recently presented to the British Museum by Mr. A. W. Franks, acquired
some years ago from persons who described them as coming from the city:
also of the remarkable rune-bearing stone from St. Paul’s Churchyard, in
the Guildhall Library. Mr. Waldstein made some remarks descriptive of
two stones from the Via Appia at Rome, lately given to the Fitzwilliam
Museum, and also of a red jasper intaglio, from Smyrna, in the
possession of the Rev. S. S. Lewis.




Antiquarian News & Notes.


A STATUE of Martin Luther has been unveiled at Washington.

CHESTER CASTLE is no longer to be used as a prison for civil offences.

THE Curfew Tower, one of the oldest portions of Windsor Castle, is being
repaired.

“THE Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys,” in ten volumes, is
promised in _édition de luxe_ form by Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co.

A COMMEMORATIVE tablet is about to be placed at No. 46, Rue Richelieu,
Paris, the house at which Molière died.

CORRINGHAM CHURCH, which has been elaborately restored at a cost of
£10,000, has been re-opened by the Bishop of Lincoln.

THE Trustees of the British Museum have purchased an early impression of
Jacobi’s last engraved work, the “School of Athens,” by Raphael, in the
Vatican.

THE “Libraries of Boston,” about to be published by Messrs. Cupples,
Upham & Co., will treat of more than 100 collections, both public and
private.

MESSRS. TRUBNER & CO. have ready “Archæology in India,” with special
reference to the works of Babu Rajendralala Mitra, by Mr. James
Fergusson.

SHAKESPEARE’S table was exhibited at the Shakespearean Show held on
behalf of the Chelsea Hospital for Women, at the Albert Hall, on the
last three days of May.

IN cutting a trench in the Bois de Bologne, near Paris, the workmen have
found a whole series of coins struck under Valois, from 1337 to 1342.
Nearly all are in a good state of preservation.

ON Monday, June 16, was commenced the sale of the collection of objects
of art formed by Sir Andrew Fountaine in the early part of the last
century. Details of the sale are unavoidably postponed to our next.

MR. CHARLES B. STRUTT, of 34, East-street, Red Lion-square, is preparing
for publication a work entitled “Some Account of Historical Chairs, of
all Periods and Countries.”

MR. H. CHETWYND STAPYLTON, the author of the “Eton School Lists,” has
nearly completed a new volume, uniform with its predecessor, bringing
the list of old Etonians down to the Election of 1877.

THE Italian Government, says _The Times_, has concluded, through
Professor Villari, the negotiations for purchasing the Italian MSS. in
the Ashburnham Library. The amount to be paid for them is £23,000.

A REPRINT of the 1825 edition of Mr. Robert Chambers’s “Illustrations of
the Author of Waverley,” being notices and anecdotes of characters,
scenes, and incidents described in his works, has been issued in
Edinburgh.

THE coming portion of Tischendorf’s Greek Testament promises to be of
interest. It has been prepared by Dr. Caspar René Gregory, with the aid
of the late Dr. Ezra Abbott, and will contain an account of
Tischendorf’s life and writings.

MESSRS. SAMPSON LOW & CO. announce a new work by Mr. Charles F.
Blackburn, entitled “Hints on Catalogue Titles, and on Index Entries.”
The book includes a rough vocabulary of terms and abbreviations, chiefly
from catalogues, and some passages from “Journeyings among Books.”

GREAT changes are to be carried out at Genoa; the fortifications to the
east of the city, and the marble walk round the lower part of the
harbour are to be pulled down, to make room for a military parade ground
and for purposes of trade, and the famous old “Bank of St. George,” now
used as the Custom House, is to be turned into an Art Museum.

THE second year’s issue of Mr. Henry Morley’s “Universal Library” will
include Herrick’s “Hesperides,” Boccaccio’s “Decameron,” Sterne’s
“Tristram Shandy,” George Chapman’s “Translation of Homer’s ‘Iliad,’”
“Mediæval Tales,” “The Alchemist and other Plays,” by Ben Jonson,
Hobbes’s “Leviathan,” Butler’s “Hudibras,” More’s “Utopia,” Bacon’s “New
Atlantis,” &c.

AN inventory has just been made of the National Library of France. It
contains 2,500,000 volumes. The cabinet of manuscripts includes 92,000
volumes, as well as 144,000 medals of all periods, both French and
foreign. The engravings comprise over two millions of plates, preserved
in 14,500 vols. and 4,000 portfolios. The more precious volumes,
amounting to 80,000, are kept in the reserved gallery. In 1868 24,000
readers attended the reading-room, and in 1883 the number was 70,000.

THE _Times_ records the discovery of a Roman villa at Woolstone, in the
Vale of the White Horse, Berkshire, where some fine tesselated pavements
have been disclosed. Several interments have also been revealed,
apparently of the Anglo-Saxon period. The seax or knife dagger is,
strange to say, still attached to the girdle of two of the bodies,
presumed to be those of Anglo-Saxon ladies. The excavations, which are
closed to the general public, were inspected on May 23rd by the members
of the Oxford Architectural and Historical Society, and the Newbury
District Field Club.

THE following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear
among the contents of the magazines for June: _Art Journal_, “The
Western Riviera;” _Cornhill_, “Some Literary Recollections;” _Literary
Chronicle_, “Researches for MSS. in the Levant,” and “Contents of the
British Museum Library;” _Blackwood_, “New Views of Shakespeare’s
Sonnets;” _Army and Navy Magazine_, “Pepys as an Official;” _Eastward
Ho!_ “Bethnal-green Museum;” _Cassell’s Magazine_, “The Folk-lore of
Colours,” and “A Pilgrimage to Holy Island;” _Magazine of Art_, “Raphael
and the Fornarina,” “The Keramics of Fiji,” and “Greek Myths in Greek
Art.”

A ROMAN family burial-place has been lately discovered during some
excavations at Lincoln. It contained a large number of urns, with a
furnace or oven at the eastern end. “Unfortunately for the interests of
archæology,” writes the Rev. Precentor Venables, “the discovery was made
just when the excavators commenced their work, and from their ignorance
of the value of the remains much of interest was destroyed before the
foreman arrived. The whole of the oven had been demolished, only leaving
one reddened wall, indicating the action of intense heat, and the
blackened stones of the flue. The burial-place or ‘loculus’ was,
however, perfect. It consisted of a stone-chamber, 5 ft. 10 in. in
length, its breadth varying from 2 ft. ½ in. at the lower end to 3 ft. 1
in. in the middle.”

CATALOGUES of rare and curious books, all of which contain the names of
works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Messrs. Meehan, 32,
Gay-street, Bath; Messrs. Reeves & Turner, 196, Strand, W.C.; Messrs.
Fawn & Son, 18, Queen’s-road, Bristol; Mr. W. P. Bennett, 3,
Bull-street, Birmingham; Mr. C. Hutt, Clement’s-inn-gateway, Strand,
W.C.; Messrs. Robson & Kerslake, 43, Cranbourne-street, W.C.; Mr. W. H.
Gee, 28, High-street, Oxford; Mr. W. Wesley, 28, Essex-street, Strand,
W.C.; Messrs. Jarvis & Son, 28, King William-street, W.C. The
last-named is called the “Dickens’s Catalogue,” and may be regarded as
complete a list as possible of the various editions of Dickens’s Works
and “Dickensana.” The complete set, inclusive of works, extra
illustrations, and portraits, is priced at £200; the price for the
“Dickensana,” which is described as “very interesting and scarce,” is
set down at another £60.

ON May 22 was celebrated in London, at Lutterworth, where he died, and
at other places in England, the Quincentenary of Wycliffe, the great
English Reformer. Among the most noticeable features of the
commemoration was the opening of a Wycliffe Exhibition at the British
Museum. Contemporary printed books and engravings and commemorative
medals formed the chief attractions in the Luther celebration last year.
To illustrate the life and works of his English predecessor the
resources of the manuscripts department have been chiefly drawn upon;
and as Wycliffe’s name, before all others, is identified with the
translation of the Bible into English, a great part of the collection
displayed in the King’s Library consisted of a fine series of
manuscripts of the two versions of the Wycliffe translation.

ON Wednesday, May 28, Mr. J. T. Wood, F.S.A., lectured in the Ephesian
Gallery of the British Museum on “The Marbles from the Great Temple of
Diana.” The lecturer said it was needless for him to tell the story of
his finding the temple of the great goddess of the Ephesians. It would
take too much time, and it had been so often told before that he might
take for granted that his audience knew all about it; but he might say
that it was a very difficult thing to accomplish, and that it was six
years before he succeeded in hitting upon the site. It was found one
mile from the city of Ephesus, among corn fields, on level ground, where
there was not the slightest sign of any ruins. Having found the site he
discovered sufficient of the remains to enable him to make a true
elevation of the temple, but there were some details still missing which
he hoped would be obtained by further excavations. They had before them
a rough diagram from which they would see that it had 100 columns
externally, each 6 ft. in diameter, and nearly 60 ft. in height. Only a
portion of the superstructure had been found, which was the lower part
underneath the capitals, some of the lions’ heads, and some of the
enrichment of the cornice. The coloured diagrams were meant to show that
the whole of the temple was coloured. The remains which they saw before
them had lost their colour since they were placed in the museum, with
but few exceptions, but there was one specimen before them in which the
colour was clearly demonstrated. Several of the coloured diagrams would,
however, show the state in which he found the fragments. He should tell
them that these remains were found between 20 ft. and 24 ft.
underground, and their being at so great a depth beneath the surface
accounted for the great expense of these excavations, the Government
having spent £12,000 upon them during the five years which it took him
to clear out the temple. He need scarcely tell them that the remains
they now saw were from the last of the three successive temples. He
found evidence that all the bases were of about the same size, and that
the same marble was used. There were two stones at the end of the temple
which, he believed, belonged to the frieze of the temple, and which were
got out from the drums of the last temple. One, which was marked H 4, he
believed would be proved to be, what he had always thought it was, a
portion of the frieze. Upon it was a representation of Hercules
struggling with a female figure, and he believed it was Hercules taking
the girdle of the Queen of the Amazons. The stone was very much hacked
and disfigured. Mr. Fergusson thought that a column had been placed upon
this; but there were reasons to the architectural mind which precluded
the idea that this stone could have been part of the pedestal of a
column. There was a second stone which he believed was a portion of the
frieze of the temple. Upon one side of it was a representation of either
Hercules lifting Antæus, or Hercules struggling with Cacus, probably the
latter. On the other side they had the figure of a stag. These were the
only stones which he claimed to be portions of the frieze. There was a
third stone which was found in the aqueduct, and another which might or
might not have been a fragment of the frieze, but it was at all events a
corner-stone. All these blocks were supposed to have come from the same
building, but whether they were portions of pedestals, on which columns
had been placed, as contended by Mr. Fergusson, was a question which
would probably be decided by further excavations. Alluding to a fragment
of a sculptured column marked H 3, Mr. Wood said the question was
whether Pliny would have called it a sculptured column if it had been of
the height of this drum. Some people thought the columns in the diagram
could not have been sculptured above the height of one drum, but he
begged to differ from them. Passing on to another fragment of a
sculptured column, the lecturer said he looked upon it as the most
beautiful of all, and it was a pity it had been so much hacked about.
This temple was built in the time of Alexander the Great, and when he
visited Ephesus he wished to have his name inscribed upon it. The
lecturer pointed out other specimens, one being a beautiful stone which
had formed part of the base of a column, and another in which the
delicate proportions of the fillet between the flutings were very
noteworthy. He further remarked upon fragments of roof tiles, lions’
heads, and various fragmentary specimens of Ionic columns. There were
also some splendid specimens of profiles of base mouldings, a
representation of a medal of Gordianus found on the site, &c. Mr. Wood
gave a continuation of his lecture on Wednesday, June 18.




Antiquarian Correspondence.

                      Sin scire labores,
    Quære, age: quærenti pagina nostra patet.

_All communications must be accompanied by the name and address of the
sender, not necessarily for publication._


“THE SENTENCE OF PONTIUS PILATE.”

(See vol. v. pp. 80, 217.)

SIR,--This document appeared in English in _Galignani’s Messenger_ of
March 23, 1859, copied from the _Herald_ of about that date. D. K. T.


A BAKER BLESSED.

SIR,--Can you explain the origin of the blessing invoked on the baker in
the following rhyme, sung by village children in Norfolk, and perhaps in
other counties also, on St. Valentine’s Day?

    Good-morrow, Valentine,
    God bless the baker!
    You be the giver,
    And I’ll be the taker.

_Haileybury College, Hertford._

JOHN HUSSEY.


WESLEYANISM IN LONDON.

SIR,--Can you tell me who was the popular preacher at the Wesleyan
Chapel in Great Queen-street, Lincoln’s-inn-fields, about 1811? Macready
when first in London became acquainted with him, and was fascinated by
his manners and learning, but was warned against him as a reprobate of
most dangerous character. I fancy that he finally came to be publicly
disgraced. The London Directories are useless at that date, and the
Wesleyan Mission Books equally so. Do you know anything about him, or
can you indicate where to search?

C. A. WARD.

_159, Haverstock Hill, N. W._


HISTORICAL CHAIRS.

SIR,--Will you kindly enable me to ask through your columns for
descriptive particulars, with engravings, drawings, or photographs, of
celebrated chairs in family residences, or in cathedrals, churches,
colleges, town-halls, and public institutions at home or abroad? I am
preparing an illustrated account of Historical Chairs from available
literary sources; but as many interesting examples have escaped my
search, and as I wish to make the proposed work as copious as possible,
I thus beg your assistance.

C. B. STRUTT.

_34, East-street, Red Lion-square, London, W.C._


THE VISCOUNTY OF CULLEN.

SIR,--In reply to the inquiry of HERALDICUS MUS, I beg to inform him
that the limitation of this dignity is correctly given in Sir Bernard
Burke’s _new_ “Extinct Peerage,” and included, as he suggests, a
remainder to the Berties, but that the original patent of creation being
lost (and having, unfortunately, never been enrolled), the Earl of
Lindsey cannot _prove_ his right, unless the patent should yet be
discovered. The second Viscount having taken his seat, no difficulty
could arise so long as there remained male issue of his body; but when
that became extinct, the special remainder would have to be established
by proof. I speak, of course, of England or Ireland, for, in the
anomalous chaos beyond the Tweed, it is possible to take a remainder for
granted, as in the Ruthven case, at one’s own sweet will.

J. H. ROUND.

_Brighton._


VISCOUNT HAMPDEN’S ANCESTRY.

(See vol. v. pp. 197, 331.)

SIR,--If your correspondent “Trombone” will re-peruse my letter on this
subject, which appears at the first-named reference, he (or she) will
see that whatever faults there may be of omission, there are none of
commission, in regard to the families of Trevor and Hampden.

Nothing is certainly said concerning the bequest of the Glynde estates
to the Honourable Richard Trevor, afterwards Bishop of Durham; but it is
probable that he devised them on his decease to his brother Robert, then
Baron Trevor, afterwards Viscount Hampden of Hampden. On the death of
the last Viscount in 1824, the extensive estates were divided amongst
co-heirs, from one of whom the present Viscount Hampden of Glynde is
descended.

My first curacy was Bromham, in Bedfordshire, and I have, as the guest
of George, Lord Dynevor, to whose daughters that estate belonged, sat at
dinner under the portraits, in the dining-room at Bromham Hall, of the
Lords Trevor and Hampden.

_Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge._

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.


WAS MILTON A PAINTER?

(See vol. ii. p. 1.)

SIR,--The following passage from the pen of the greatest critic of
modern times, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, seems rather to militate against
the argument in a former number of the ANTIQUARIAN MAGAZINE, that the
portrait of Milton there spoken of might have been painted by the poet
himself: “It is very remarkable that in no part of his writings does
Milton take any notice of the great painters of Italy, nor, indeed, of
painting as an art, whilst every other page breathes his love and taste
for music. Yet it is curious that in one passage of the “Paradise Lost”
Milton has certainly copied the fresco of the Creation in the Sistine
Chapel at Rome. I mean those lines--

                          “Now half appeared
    The tawny lion, pawing to get free
    His hinder parts; then springs as broke from bonds,
    And rampant shakes his brinded mane,” &c.;

an image which the necessities of the painter justified, but which was
wholly unworthy, in my judgment, of the enlarged powers of the poet.
Adam bending over the sleeping Eve in the “Paradise Lost” (book vii.
463), and Delilah approaching Sampson in the “Agonistes” (book v. 8),
are the only two proper pictures I remember in Milton.

F. H.


OLD BELLMEN’S BROADSIDES.

(See vol. v. p. 221.)

SIR,--It may be interesting to some of your readers to know that these
quaint poetical productions continued to be issued by the bellmen of the
city of Hereford down to the year 1835, and perhaps even later.

I have in my collection of Herefordian matters a series of six of them
as follows:

(1) A copy of verses | for 1811 | Humbly presented to all my worthy
Masters and Mistresses | in the City of Hereford | by James Lingham |
Bellman and Crier of the said City. This has a quaint 17th century
woodcut of the bellman, with bell in right hand, staff and lanthorn in
left, accompanied by his dog. In background to left a house, with cock
crowing on roof, to right a church, probably intended to represent St.
Peter’s. The bellman wears a three-cornered hat, a long-skirted coat,
confined at waist with belt, with a short coat underneath, embroidered
down the front. Street shown as paved in chequers, as in the engraving
in your ANTIQUARIAN MAGAZINE. W. H. Parker, printer, Hereford.

(2) Another copy of verses for 1824, by same bellman, with a later
woodcut of bellman, in cocked hat and cloak with cape, in the act of
proclaiming in the High Town, with view of old town-hall and St. Peter’s
Church. W. H. & J. Parker, printers, 4, High Town, Hereford.

(3) A copy of verses for 1826, by Richard Jones, with a woodcut of
bellman, similarly equipped to last, but the town-hall is shown on
larger scale, and the church does not appear. W. H. Vale, printer, 5,
Eign-street, Hereford.

(4) Another similar copy of verses for 1827, by Thomas Hall, and the
same woodcut as last.

(5) Another for 1830, by James Davies, with woodcut as No. 2. John
Parker, printer, High Town, Hereford.

(6) Another copy of verses for 1835, by James Davies, with same woodcut
as last.

They all bear verses in same style as those quoted in the ANTIQUARIAN
MAGAZINE, viz., Prologues, Epilogues, and on the various Saints,
Festivals, addresses to the King, Queen, Princes, Masters, Mistresses,
Young Men and Maidens, &c., but no two are alike.

In the Hereford Permanent Library is a copy of verses for 1822, by James
Langham (?), City Crier.

JAMES W. LLOYD.

_Kington, Herefordshire._


PORTS AND CHESTERS.

SIR,--Mr. Round (see vol. v. p. 282) claims “Port as an English word, in
itself distinct from the Latin _porta_ or _portus_;” later on (p. 283),
“Port was in itself essentially an English word;” yet at p. 286 we read,
“The English _borrowed_ it ... after the settlement ... or before the
settlement.” How can it be generically an English word, yet borrowed
from Latin? There is lamentable confusion throughout this paper, truly
distressing confusion, and the little bits of assertion and argument are
so cut into slices and sandwiched between slips of quotation and
extract, that it is like dissecting a Chinese puzzle to ramify its
purport.

We have the words ‘castor,’ ‘port,’ ‘street,’ and ‘wall;’ now, if these
words were English forms of some Teutonic roots, they will have
analogues in the allied tongues: where are those analogues?

(1) Castor, Caster, Caister, Ceaster, Chester, are all from the Latin
castrum, as muddled by alien tongues; yet, at p. 285, we are told that
the “English would presumably have only met, not with the Latin castrum,
but the Welsh caer or kair.” Why so? As a fact, the Welsh forms are not
borrowed from Latin, but come from an independent Celtic root--as I
think, direct from the Hindu gir, giri, and far older than Latin. We
find Keir in Dumfriesshire; Cardiff in Glamorganshire; Carhaix,
Kersanton, Kervrin, Kerentrec, Plessis-Kaer, all in Brittany; Caerleon
and Caerwent, both famous places in Monmouthshire, pronounced, the
former, Karleen, the latter, Kerwent, thus showing the affiliation with
Armorican forms.

(2) Port: note that “port” is the equivalent of hithe or haven; thus we
have Hythe in Kent, as a substitute for Portus Lemanis; at Oxford, the
Port-meadow adjoins Hythe Bridge, and was evidently the town haven. The
conditions are similar at Gloucester, where certain meadows, inundated
at floods, are called the Portham; adjoining we find Dockham, and
Dockham ditch, which is a reduplicated name. The port-walls of Chepstow
are the harbour defences on the land side, it being the port or gate of
Wye River. New_port_, Mon., is in succession to Caerleon, the old port
of River Usk. It follows, as a dead certainty, that the modern word port
as used at London, where Port reeve was the precursor of our Lord Mayor,
is in succession to the Latin portus, not introduced as a new English
word, but preserved by Celto-Romans from Latin usage. Let Mr. Round
study the course of those old English roadways throughout England, known
as Portways, and called Roman; can the prefix be of English origin if it
means “carry,” _i.e._, the portage of merchandise, from the Latin
_portare_, to bear?

(3-4) Street and wall speak for themselves, and their plain facts will
survive any amount of word-twisting.

A. H.


_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

THE Editor declines to pledge himself for the safety or return of MSS.
voluntarily tendered to him by strangers.




Books Received.


1. History of the House of Arundel. By J. P. Yeatman. Mitchell & Hughes.
1883.

2. Nantwich. By James Hall. Privately printed. 1884.

3. New Light on Some Obscure Words in the Works of Shakespeare. By
Charles Mackay, LL.D. Reeves & Turner. 1884.

4. Western Antiquary. May, 1884. Plymouth: Latimer & Son.

5. A Booke of Fishing. By L. M. 1599. (Reprinted.) Simpkin, Marshall &
Co. 1884.

6. John Hopkins’ University Studies. Second Series. iv. Baltimore.
April, 1884.

7. English Etchings. Part xxxvii. D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s Place, W.C.

8. Lord Beaconsfield on the Constitution. Edited by F. Hitchman. Field &
Tuer. 1884.

9. Guildford and its Coinage. By G. C. Williamson. Privately printed.

10. Hanley and the House of Lechmere. By the late E. P. Shirley, M.P.,
F.S.A. Pickering. 1883.

11. The Congo Treaty. By T. Tomlinson, M.A. E. Stanford. 1884.

12. Clergyman’s Magazine. June. Hodder & Stoughton.

13. Charities Register and Digest. Longmans & Co. 1884.

14. Le Livre, No. 54. Paris, 7, Rue St. Benoit. June, 1884.




Books, etc., for Sale.


_Guardian Newspaper_, from commencement to 1864, bound; and 1865-70, in
numbers. Offers to E. Walford, Hyde Park Mansions, Edgeware-road, N.W.




Books, etc., Wanted to Purchase.


_Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer_, several copies of No. 2
(February, 1882) are wanted, in order to complete sets. Copies of the
current number will be given in exchange at the office.

Dodd’s Church History, 8vo., vols. i. ii. and v.; Waagen’s Art and
Artists in England, vol. i.; East Anglian, vol. i., Nos. 26 and 29. The
Family Topographer, by Samuel Tymms, vols. iii. and iv.; Notes and
Queries, 5th series, vols. vi., vii. (1876-7); also the third Index.
Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets” (Ingram and Cooke’s edition), vol. iii. A
New Display of the Beauties of England, vol. i., 1774. Chambers’
Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. i. Address, E. Walford, 2, Hyde
Park Mansions, Edgeware-road, N.W.

[Illustration: Architectural Details from Southwell Minster.

From Livett’s “Southwell Minster.”]




_The

Antiquarian Magazine

& Bibliographer._




Southwell Minster.


Now that the Bishopric of Southwell has become an accomplished fact, and
its ancient collegiate church has been elevated into the dignity of a
cathedral, Mr. Livett’s recently-published work[13] on the history of
that fabric will doubtless awaken additional interest. An Act of
Parliament passed early in the present reign deprived Southwell Minster
of its collegiate character, while another and later Act has made it the
mother church of a new diocese, consisting of the counties of Nottingham
and Derby, which had hitherto belonged to the dioceses of Lincoln and
Lichfield respectively. The church of Southwell was despoiled of all its
monuments and early records during the troubles of the 16th and 17th
centuries, and the only MS. of any importance that has come down to us
besides the Statutes of Queen Elizabeth is the “Registrum Album,” or
“White Book of Southwell.” The former are printed both in Dugdale’s
“Monasticon,” and in the appendix to Dickenson’s “History of the
Antiquities of Southwell.” Mr. Dimock, the Editor of the “Magna Vita St.
Hugonis,” in the Rolls Series, published some years ago a history of the
fabric of Southwell Minster; and other local histories, one by Shilton,
issued in 1818, and a third by Clarke & Killpack, in 1838, are, as Mr.
Livett tells us, little more than abridgments of Dickenson’s work.
Hitherto a general history of the origin and development of the ancient
secular college, and of the position which it held in the Middle Ages,
seems never to have been taken in hand; and this want Mr. Livett has
endeavoured to meet in the little volume now before us.

That Southwell held an important position in the diocese of York before
the Norman Conquest is certain; but it is difficult to fix a date for
the foundation of the church. Mr. Livett writes: “Tradition points to
St. Paulinus as the founder of a church here--the founder alike of York
and Lincoln, the friend and companion of St. Augustine, the great
missionary of Northumbria under King Edwin, and the first Archbishop of
York, A.D. 627-633. This tradition rests upon statements to this effect
contained in certain _private histories_ of the church, which are no
longer extant. They are quoted, however, by Camden, in his ‘Magna
Britannia,’ which first appeared in 1586, and were probably lost during
the civil wars of the following century, when most of the church records
were either destroyed, or, for safety, carried away. They tell us how
St. Paulinus founded the church at Southwell when he was baptizing the
people of this district in the Trent; and a careful consideration of the
Venerable Bede’s account of the missionary work of St. Paulinus gives
support to the statement. The ecclesiastical historian makes no direct
reference to Southwell, but internal evidence in his account of
Paulinus’ missionary work, more especially the evidence of the
place-names mentioned, is strong in favour of the view that Paulinus
extended his labours to the close neighbourhood of Southwell.”

No part of the present fabric, with the exception of one or two
fragments, dates farther back than the 12th century; but there is
abundant evidence that a stone church of considerable size existed here
at any rate in the previous century. The Norman parts of the church, as
it stands, remarks Mr. Livett, contain unmistakable evidence of an
earlier building. “In the north transept, over the doorway leading to
the newel by which one ascends the central tower there is a large
sculptured stone which is worked into the building in such a way as to
show at a glance that it is old material used up again. It is supposed
by good judges to have formed the tympanum of an early Norman doorway.”
The year 1110 is the date assigned to the nave and transepts. The choir
is of the Early English period (1230-50), and appears to have been built
during the episcopate of Walter Gray, for in Torre’s “Collectanea,” in
the library at York, is preserved an indulgence, addressed by Walter
Gray to the bishops and archdeacons of his province, “granting a release
of thirty days from penance enjoined to all who, being truly penitent,
should contribute to the construction of the church of Southwell, since
the means of the church were insufficient for the consummation of the
fabric a while since begun.” Torre gives 1235 as the date of the
indulgence, but the document itself says, “in the nineteenth year of our
Pontificate,” which, according to Drake, would be 1233.

The architectural details of the north transept chapel give the chief
clue to its date, 1260. The cloister is somewhat later; but the
chapter-house and its vestibule date from the close of the 13th century,
and the organ-screen from about 1340.

The minster, as it now stands, consists of a clerestoried nave, with
aisles and north porch, and two massive towers flanking the western
front, each surmounted by a spire; a lantern tower, with its parapet
adorned with pinnacles, rises from the intersection of the nave,
transept, and choir; and cloister and chapter-house on the north side of
the choir. “‘What either Cologne Cathedral, or Ratisbon, or Wiesen
Kirche are to Germany; Amiens Cathedral, or the Sainte Chapelle are to
France; the Scalegere, in Verona, to Italy, are the choir of Westminster
and the chapter-house at Southwell to England.’ So writes Mr. G. E.
Street; and assuredly Southwell chapter-house is placed in the foremost
rank of our geometrical buildings. In the refined and natural treatment
of the foliage which adorns it, it anticipated the artistic perfection
of works of many years later date, and is excelled by none. In its more
general features it may be compared with the earlier parts of the
cloisters at Norwich, and with the ruins of the banqueting-hall in the
palace grounds at Wells. It strongly reminds us, too, of its
contemporary, the chapter-house at Wells; in its octagonal shape it
follows the plan adopted in almost all the chapter-houses of secular
communities. The resemblance to York is still more complete, the date of
which is uncertain, but it is the only chapter-house besides Southwell
which has no central pillar to support the vault, and the arrangement is
more striking there on account of its greater size.”

Mr. Livett gives a minute description of the various parts of the
Minster, which we have not space to follow, and his work is illustrated
with drawings of some of its chief architectural features, one plate of
which, by the courtesy of the author, we are enabled to reproduce. This
shows (1) a circular window in the clerestory of the nave; (2) the
ancient tympanum in the north transept, mentioned above; and (3) window
tracery removed from the south-west tower. The ancient tympanum here
referred to, which is in the form of a sculptured stone, now forms the
lintel of the belfry door. “It must at one time have been the tympanum
of an earlier doorway, and a part of it has unfortunately been cut away
to make it fit into its present position. The sculpture embodies a
double subject, rudely executed in low relief, the one representing
probably David rescuing the lamb from the lion, the other very clearly
representing St. Michael encountering the dragon.... The sculpture
cannot be of later date than the middle of the eleventh century, when
the church seems to have been considerably enlarged, perhaps altogether
rebuilt, and it might be of earlier date still.”




The Congress Afield.


    If you would know of olden days,
      You need not only read or look
      On quaintest type in early book
    Or learn almost forgotten lays.

    There is a wider field; go forth:
      And ye who seek will surely find
      That which shall ever teach the mind,
    Go east or west, go south or north.

    The massive mound in days of yore,
      The fortress hill, the castle grey,
      That speaks of strife and danger’s day,
    Which we in quiet know no more.

    Here you may trace a Roman’s hand,
      Here the rude Saxon work, and there
      How Norman skill did once repair
    The ruined churches of the land.

    For many a little church can tell
      Of other days. The ancient glass
      Through which the tinted sunbeams pass
    Speaks to us now. You hear the bell.

    That told the tale of life and death,
      Of marriage feast, of times of prayer,
      When they, long dead, were gathered there,
    Who sleep the quiet sod beneath.

    And many a home of days gone by,
      With timber gable richly dight,
      And tiny panes, through which the light
    Comes slowly stealing from the sky.

    Go where you will, you still shall find
      Not only homes of old renown,
      But quaint old homes in market town,
    In streets that ever sway and wind.

    The land we live in is a book
      In which is written much to read,
      And much that to the past will lead.
    Go forth, and on it kindly look.

                                    H. R. W.




Forecastings of Nostradamus.

BY C. A. WARD.

_PART III._

(_Continued from Vol. V. p. 293._)

    “Hunc solem, et stellas et decedentia certis
     Tempora momentis, sunt qui formidine nullâ
     Imbuti spectent.”--HOR., I. Epist. vii. 3.


Nostradamus was of a stature somewhat less than middle-size, rather
thick-set, active and vigorous. He had a broad, open forehead, a
straight, regular nose, grey eyes, of gentle appearance, but in anger
flashing fire; the general expression was severe, but pleasant, so that
through all the seriousness one could discern a benevolent disposition;
his cheeks were rosy even in extreme age; he had a long thick beard, and
his health was excellent, all his senses being alert and well-preserved.
His spirits were good, and he comprehended readily whatever he gave his
attention to. His judgment was penetrating, and his memory remarkably
retentive. He was taciturn by nature, thought much and spoke little, was
rather prompt, sudden, and irascible in temper, but very patient when
hard work had to be encountered. He slept four or five hours only out of
the twenty-four. He practised freedom of speech himself and commended it
in others. He was cheerful and facetious in conversation, though in
jesting a little given to bitterness. He was attached, so says De
Chavigny, to the Roman Church, and held fixedly the Catholic faith; out
of its pale there was for him no salvation. Though pursuing a line of
thought entirely his own, he had no sympathy with the Lutheran heretics
of so-called Freethought. He was given to prayer, fasting, and charity.
As far as outward observance was concerned, he might be classed with the
highly respectable and decent. Le Pelletier says, “sa fin fut
Chrétienne;” but he adds a little further on that his style is very much
more like that of the Pagan oracles of Greece and Rome than of the
canonical prophets of Hebrew Inspiration. He remarks that the first
Century opens with a regular incantation fortified by the most
celebrated rites of Paganism, so that some suspicion of his orthodoxy
may well be entertained. Certain it is, for he avows as much in the
dedicatory epistle to Henry II.--which, by the way, the King never
saw--that it was his custom prudently to veil in obscurity of expression
whatever was likely to displease his protectors and so to damage his
private interest. This is not the way with the heroes of Hebrew
prophecy, Isaiah, Elijah, Samuel, but though it is somewhat cowardly, it
becomes, when well reckoned up, a sort of sub-assertion of sincerity;
for why should a man record the unpleasant things at all if he did not
believe in them, and desired only to make himself agreeable? If he
believed his own utterances he was _consciously_ a prophet: that he
threw a veil over them, shows only that he declined to suffer martyrdom
for his convictions. It is quite possible to be a seer, and yet not
heroical, but it is the poorest of criticism not to distinguish between
such frailty as this and imposture. Want of grandeur does not imply any
_intention to deceive_. Modern Freethought effectually breaks down upon
a point like this, it almost invariably classifies the weak spiritualist
as an impostor. It reasons somewhat thus: “Astrologers are
impostors--Nostradamus was an astrologer. Prophets and divines, owing to
the spread of sound knowledge in modern times, are no longer to be
reckoned as inspired, but as impostors; Nostradamus was a prophet and
therefore an impostor. He arrived in the world a thousand years behind
his time, and must lie down now under Scientific and Encyclopædic
ridicule. At the close of the nineteenth century is it likely we can
allow such claims to be made upon our credulity as the more rational
part of the community refused to admit three hundred years ago?” To all
this and to all such processes of reasoning, I need merely say that
there is a credulity of superstition that has been always esteemed as
degrading to human nature; but there is also a superstition of
incredulity that is quite as debasing to human nature and even more so,
for it springs from the folly of pride and conceit, and not, as the
other does, from a misplacement of faith.

By his second wife he left three sons and three daughters. The eldest
was Cæsar, to whom he dedicated his first volume of the “Centuries.” Of
these he wrote twelve in quatrains, and three of them are left
imperfect, the seventh, the eleventh, and twelfth. But he also left some
Forecasts written in prose, which Chavigny collected and arranged in
twelve books. They are said to comprehend the history of France for
about a century after his death--its wars, troubles, and whispered
intrigues. The book is not mentioned by Brunet, 1839-45, and I do not
find it in the British Museum; but the National Library is rather
imperfectly supplied with the literature relating to this remarkable
man; no doubt the authorities there look down upon him from the Olympus
of Bloomsbury with a scientific disregard, as being a sort of gipsy
fortune-teller of the sixteenth century, not worth completing. Do we
expect a Messiah from that quarter? Can there any good thing come out of
Aix in Provence? “Loco exiguo, obscuro, ignobili, barbaro, impio atque
prophano?”

This prose history of a hundred years would be interesting, if only to
compare with the rhymed “Centuries,” which have a much vaster range, and
are supposed by many to cover all the time from Louis XIV. to the
establishment of Antichrist.

Jean de Nostradamus, the brother of Michael, was Procureur to the
Parliament of Aix, and wrote a work entitled “Les vies des plus célèbres
et anciens poëtes provensaux, qui ont floury du tems des contes de
Provence,” Lyon, 1575, a book still sought for, and rather rare. It has
been seen above that Cæsar also wrote on the same subject. His work was
entitled “Chronique de l’Histoire de Provence:” in this he introduced
the lives of the poets, and the book was published in 1614 by his
nephew, Cæsar de Nostradamus.

These are almost all the facts of any importance that are recorded in
the life of Nostradamus. It now remains to us to give some account of
the most remarkable of his forecasts. They may be pronounced obscure,
partial, useless, or what not, according to the special views and
disposition of mind in each reader. That they are very curious must be
admitted by all, and that some of the things foreseen with astounding
particularity are inexplicable upon any hypothesis of reasoning, other
than that which admits either a direct revelation in every case, or a
general anticipatory faculty, forming part of the great scheme of the
mental endowment of mankind. Call it divination, second sight,
clairvoyance, magnetic affinity, or what you will. Everyone may in this
decide, or, if you had rather, guess for himself. I prefer the second
supposition, and think that there are certain organisations, somewhat
rare and peculiarly wrought, that are endowed by nature with a subtle
tact and anticipatory insight denied to the majorities. I further think
that such exceptional instances occur more frequently in people of
ancient and unmixed race, such as the Celt, the Basque, the Chaldean,
Gipsy, and most frequently of all amongst those branches of them that
inhabit mountain-ranges. These I imagine to retain the instincts of the
birth of man more clearly than the mixed tribes that have busied and
even degraded themselves in the social pursuits of money, power, and
art, and have burnt down their souls to a kind of materialistic slag in
the furnace of what is called civilisation.

If man is a creature born to immortality--and certainly no thought is so
congenial to largeness and nobleness of heart as this is--I can see no
reason why he should not have some vision given him of the minor things
to happen on this theatre of the earth, which might serve as a sort of
foretaste of that major light which is to clothe him as with a glorious
garment when he steps forth from this his present condition of earthworm
into that exalted bodily temple that he shall inhabit to all eternity.
Science so-called is free to teach what it chooses: it may level man to
the rank of a turnip by its insidious analysis and gradational
processes. Its business is with the present, and with all its pretence
of intellect it remains of the material earth, earthy. The future is out
of its ken and reach. But the soul, which is the broad, many-sided
reason of man in concrete, and the, so to speak, spiritually
substantialised symbol of it, cannot be shut up to this. Chop logic by
Aristotle’s chaff-cutter, whether handled by a Duncan, a Watts, an
Aldrich, or a Whately, as you please, yet the soul, defies you with its
_absoluteness_, pushes aside induction and the _contingent_ with it, and
laughing at your littlenesses and your petty syllogisms, leaps at one
bound into the incommensurable freedom of the future of eternity.

It now remains for me to show, not that Nostradamus is a grand type of
the order of prophets, not that all the Quatrains in all of the twelve
books of the “Centuries” are intelligible and of definite purpose, nor
that everything he uttered and recorded is to be regarded as a prophecy
either fulfilling or fulfilled. (This is not at all what I propose to
do.) I intend simply to select, without over much attention to
chronology or the sequence of events, such of the quatrains as by
philological apparatus existing are capable of being translated into
simple and intelligible language out of the occult prophetic, barbaric,
and almost always pedantic phraseology (or old Franco-Provençal patois,
if you like to call it so) in which it pleased or suited our prophet in
his _fureur poëtique_[14] to record for us his “nocturnes et
prophétiques supputations” (des astres). In doing this, if one case of
unmistakable prevision can be established, the missing spiritual link is
set up that connects the present with the future.

Christians generally grow almost rancorous against those who reject
_their_ Scripture miracles, as Hume did, on the ground that the laws of
nature being inviolable miracles become impossible; but a miracle that
contravenes a law of nature is far more incredible _per se_ than such a
spiritual link as the above. The miracle of bringing a man to life goes,
so to speak, dead against nature and its laws customary. But a forecast,
as such, is little more miraculous than a telescope that focuses and
brings into range what lies out of the range of the ordinary human eye.
It is really as feasible a thing to the seer, as for you and me to see
that a kitten will become a cat nine months later on. He sees by
imagination what you see by reasoning on association in the past. It is
discovery by a different faculty, I admit. But if Christian belief
accepts a future state and the immortality of the life (commonly called
the _soul_) of man, then I say, that the Christian who denies the gift
of prophecy to be inherent in mankind[15] is really as dead to spiritual
life as if he were a materialistic member of a scientific society of the
nineteenth century, or a Parisian enclycopædist of the eighteenth.

Again, if Christianity be a heaven-descended revelation, its foundations
must be rooted deep in the spiritual world and should be full of
correspondences. The material universe is full of them. There the
meanest particle of dust is link by link connected at last with the
grandest astral phenomena, and can we suppose that men are all possessed
with an immortal spirit, and yet at the same time announce that not
_one_ of them has any prescience, any foreknowledge of things coming on
the earth, no sign rendered from the great unnameable Director, who,
vast and invisible, also dwells in spiritual obscurity, and never gives
an inkling to anyone born of woman that He cares more for an empire with
its myriads of embryo angels (according to the doctrine of the Churches)
than for an oak tree or a medlar? Yet we are willing to make it a point
of virtue to believe that His only Son died for us, and that a whole
line of prophets from Jacob to Caiaphas harped perpetually and in
succession upon the Paganini string of the one great utterance of His
advent. At the birth of Christ it is untruly said that the oracles
stopped. So, according to the present Christian dogmatising, did the
prophets. Would it not be a thousand times more fraught with hope, if we
had not basely smothered such beliefs by materialistic science (or
Atheism, for it is closer of kin to the blasphemy of unbelief), could we
have said there _is_ a spiritual living link of prophecy existing, and
now and again found amongst us; a correspondency in man with the future;
a power in him to forecast it a little, though darkly--as with a dark
lanthorn moving through a dark season--and touching so, through film,
the future of time as to interlink the whole series into one, and make
to-day, perishing--with its bells, its bustle, and its breathing--into a
continuous whole, one with the glories of eternity?

It will perhaps be well before proceeding to the Quatrains to meet an
objection against Nostradamus put forward by the famous Gassendi,[16]
who received it from Jean-Baptiste Suffren. Gassendi, it seems, was at
Salon in 1638, when Jean-Baptiste Suffren, a judge in that town,
communicated to him the horoscope drawn by Nostradamus for his father
Antoine Suffren, and written in our prophet’s _own hand_, giving ten
points, such as he should have a long curly beard, so bent in age, that
in his 37th year he should be wounded by his half-brothers, and he had
none, and much more of the same sort, but invariably wrong, till the
horoscope fixes Suffren’s death in 1618, whereas he died in 1597. Now,
in the first place, Gassendi was of a sceptical turn of mind, so that he
would be glad to find Nostradamus wrong. Then Nostradamus died in 1566,
and only in 1638, seventy-two years after, do they produce this document
and assert that it is in Nostradamus’s handwriting. We may assume that
the MS. was eighty years old at least. Gassendi does not profess to know
his handwriting, but took it to be so on Jean-Baptiste Suffren’s simple
assertion. It is perfectly possible that Suffren had some desire to
ridicule an astrologer, and might have invented the whole thing. At any
rate, it is not likely that _every one_ of ten or eleven guesses would
be precisely the contrary of the fact.[17] One of the clauses ran that
at twenty-five he should cultivate rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry,
theology, natural science, and the occult philosophy. Jean-Baptiste has
the effrontery to say that he studied not one of these, but only the
science of jurisprudence. It is not likely, I say, that Nostradamus
would guess wrongly in all the sciences, and leave out the only one that
the man pursued. This looks as if it had been manufactured for the
express purpose of bringing the name of Nostradamus into ridicule and
disrepute. It is quite certain that the late John Varley, the painter,
could draw some most wonderful horoscopes; a cousin of my father’s, in
whose family he taught, had seen his forecasts marvellously verified. So
correct had he frequently been that at the time she knew him it was with
the greatest difficulty he could be induced to draw one. It is not
likely that Nostradamus would fall so absurdly short of John Varley.
Guessing at haphazard would correspond with the facts better than this
upon the mere doctrine of probabilities. Jean-Baptiste in his haste has
proved too much, and Gassendi, like a multitude of incredulous people,
was quite ready to receive too much of the things for which his mouth
was open and eager.

(_To be continued._)



A Dead Flemish City.

_NOTES OF A VISIT TO DAMME._

BY THE REV. JOSEPH MASKELL.


There are few cities in Europe of greater interest for the intelligent
traveller than Bruges, the “cradle of opulent Flanders,” and the “Venice
of the North.” The student in history, the connoisseur in art, the lover
of antiquity, all find here ample instruction and enjoyment. Even the
superficial traveller, hurrying on to more fashionable localities, but
“doing” Bruges _en route_, as the correct thing, finds much to interest
him in its quaint exteriors, silent canals, and old-world streets, to
say nothing of its many treasures of pictures, sculptures, wood
carvings, and other monuments of antiquity, to be seen only by
penetrating into interiors, and looking deeper than the surface. “A
decayed, dull place, where the grass grows in the streets,” was the
verdict of a fellow-traveller, as the train from Ostend steamed into the
modern Gothic unfinished station of Bruges on a wet day in last July.
Not so. Bruges is neither decayed nor dull, nor does the “grass grow in
its streets.” Gone is the day in which it could be written of the
turbulent Flemish cities--

    “Bruges et Gaud, qui toujours, ces bouillonnantes cuves,
     Ecclataient à la fois, ainsi que deux Vesuves;”[18]

yet Bruges is still full of a steady kind of life and activity; and, as
one of its intelligent citizens described it, “ce n’est pas ville morte;
c’est une antiquité vivante,” retaining many tokens of the time when the
proud Jeanne of Navarre, the Queen of Philippe le Bel, passing through
streets lined with the palaces of its merchant princes, and observing
the rich clothing of their ladies, cried out, “Je croyais être seule
Reine de France; je vois ici cent reines que valent autant de moi.”

But my visit was not so much to Bruges as to its neighbour and ancient
seaport, Damme. The former, lying so directly in the way of the English
traveller to Brussels and Cologne, is fairly well known; the latter is
known only to a select few. Damme[19], which is now a mere village, with
a commune of less than 1,000 inhabitants, was, four centuries ago, a
busy and prosperous town. It stands on the canal between Bruges and
l’Ecluse, about three miles from the former place. Its full name is
Hondts-Damme, _la digue du Chien_, so called from a circumstance that
attended its origin. Anciently it stood at the head of the Zwyn, an arm
of the North Sea; a broad digue extending from Bruges to Cadsand, made
after a terrible inundation in the twelfth century, kept the waters of
the Zwyn in their proper channel, and upon this digue Damme was built.
The place was originally confined to the huts of the workmen from
Zealand and Holland employed in the construction of the digue; by
degrees it grew into a populous trading town, the convenient spot for a
harbour, seaport, and depôt for merchandise. Its name of Honsdamme is
thus explained. During the construction of the digue the workmen for a
long time could not keep out the sea; as fast as their work proceeded
the returning tides swept it away, till one of them advised that a great
dog, who mysteriously appeared every day on the scene, without any
apparent owner, should be thrown into the water. This done, the sea
became calm, a solid foundation was soon secured for the digue, and the
work rapidly accomplished. Hence the name Hondts-Damme, and the figure
of a dog on the town’s escutcheon. The town dates from the completion of
the digue in 1168; it grew immediately into influence and prosperity. In
1180 it was important enough to secure from Philip of Alsace, Count of
Flanders, a charter of incorporation as an independent commune, under
the government of two burgomasters and four echevins. The Zwyn was then
a broad and deep gulf, protected from sea storms, and affording safe
anchorage for vessels of all kinds. Even down to the seventeenth
century, till the formation of the canal to Ostend, this was the only
channel of communication between Bruges and the sea. In 1213, a fleet of
1,700 ships, equipped by Philippe Augustus of France for the invasion
of England, entered the harbour. The craven fear of King John, and the
intervention of the Count of Flanders having thwarted the designs of
Philippe, the latter, in his rage and disappointment, resolved to carry
the war into Flanders. The fine harbour of Damme, and the wealth of the
town, excited the wonder of the French, who landed and made themselves
masters of the place, and of a rich booty. “Les vins de France et
d’Espagne, les bières anglaises, les laines d’Écosse, les soieries
italiennes et orientales, les toiles, les filés, les attelages de
chariots, les merceries, les épices de toute sorte, les peleteries de
Hongrie, l’etain anglais, le cuivre rouge de Pologne”--these were some
of the riches stored in Damme. Intoxicated with their prey, the French
were easily surprised by an English fleet, under the command of
Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, when 300 of the principal French ships
were captured, and the rest scattered or destroyed. The captured
vessels, laden to the deck with the rich booty, sailed with the
conquerors to carry the joyful news to England. At the same time a
Flemish army from the land side attacked the town, but without success.
The French King, in revenge, set fire to the houses, and Damme was
nearly destroyed. It was, however, quickly rebuilt, and recovered its
prosperity. In 1240 it was admitted into the Hanseatic League, and the
Lombards established banks here. Next year it received fresh privileges
from Count John of Constantinople, and the extension of the canal to
Ghent still further increased its importance. In 1270 its fortifications
were renewed and enlarged. In 1297, during the brief war between England
and France, and in consequence of the alliance between Edward I. and Guy
de Dampierre, Count of Flanders, Damme was again temporarily in the
hands of the French. A combined army of English and Flemish attempted to
re-take the town: but the allies quarrelled over their respective shares
of the plunder, and Edward, withdrawing his forces to Ghent, left to the
Flemings the honour of success. In 1300 it was again assaulted and
captured by the French; but the patriotic Flemings, led by the Brugois,
quickly defeated their enemies and delivered their country. In 1384,
during a war with the French, arising out of the insurrection of
Flanders against the oppression of its Count, Louis le Mâle, the
powerful walls of Damme withstood the attack of a French army, under
Charles VI. It was garrisoned by only 1,500 of the men of Ghent,
commanded by the patriotic Francis Ackerman, and for six weeks held out
against 80,000 of the enemy. The capture of the town was as remarkable
as its subsequent defence. Having received information that the
Governor of Damme and his chief officers were absent at Bruges, Ackerman
marched from Ghent with his little army, scaled the walls by night, and
took the place without difficulty. In the citadel he found seven ladies
of high degree, who had come to visit the Governor’s wife. Ackerman
invited them to a banquet, and paid them every mark of courtesy. “I do
not make war upon women,” he said, “notwithstanding that many of your
nobles have treated the families of the burgesses in a very different
manner.” After a brave defence, scarcity of drinking water and the
non-arrival of the English allies, compelled the brave garrison to
return under cover of the night to Ghent, which they reached in perfect
order and safety.

But another enemy than the French was now silently plotting the
destruction of Damme. The sea had shown signs of retreating from the
Zwyn as early as the fourteenth century, navigation to Sluys became more
and more difficult, and in 1475 the harbour was almost lost in the
sand.[20] Still Damme long retained its outward signs of prosperity. Its
_entrepot_ of wines, founded by Louis de Crescy in 1357, continued till
1565, and its situation rendered it so important as a frontier fortress
and outpost of the Southern Netherlands that possession of it was
frequently disputed. The dissolution of the Hanseatic League in the
sixteenth century and the partition of the Netherlands by the
consolidation of the Northern provinces into the Dutch Republic, which
strengthened the power and developed the commercial importance of
Holland to the prejudice of Belgium, all helped to hasten the decay of
Damme as a commercial town. In 1637 the Dutch occupied the place during
the war of Holland with Spain arising out of the fruitless treaty
between Richelieu and the United Provinces for the partition of the
Spanish Netherlands. By the Treaty of Westphalia it was restored to
Flanders, and the boundaries between the two Netherlands were left
unaltered. In 1706 it was taken by Marlborough without a struggle, for
the Flemings everywhere welcomed the allies and submitted to the
authority of the English, although it was not very judiciously
exercised. The Barrier Treaty, signed at Antwerp in 1715, finally
secured that Damme should be included within the Austrian Netherlands,
but, except from its situation close to the frontier, the town had now
lost all its importance. Thus the decay of Damme was not less rapid than
its rise, and its fall as remarkable and complete as was its opulence
and greatness. From being a flourishing maritime town it has become only
an inland village. The ancient harbour, where 1,500 ships could ride
safely at anchor, is now a corn-field; its broad quays, stately
warehouses, and fortified walls cannot be traced even in outline; its
streets, once crowded with merchants and their goods, are now deserted:
indeed it is difficult to realise that this slumbering village was ever
awake. _Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit._ But there are not wanting signs
of a departed greatness. The Hotel de Ville still occupies a prominent
position in the Place, and though much neglected and injudiciously
restored it is yet an object of beauty. It was founded in 1242, but the
present building is of the fourteenth century. It is constructed in
white stone, rectangular in shape, with small turrets at each corner. A
double stair conducts to an elegant porch, much disfigured, but still
quaint and interesting. On entering the building the first room that we
see to the left is an _estaminet_, quite humble in character. Behind
this is the Salle de Justice, still used by the communal authorities,
and the remaining room is now a kitchen. On the oaken and cedar roof
there are carvings of the Blessed Virgin and other saints, King David,
and Van Maerlandt, “the Flemish Chaucer.” There are also some curious
fire-tongs and fire-dogs, an enormous chimney corner, and some faded
pictures and inscriptions. The crypt, partly a store-room and partly a
stable, is striking, but very dirty and neglected. In the quaint central
tower there are two ancient bells.

The church, dedicated to Notre Dame, is built throughout of grey bricks,
and is a noble monument in ruins. It was begun in 1180, but the chief
part of the present structure belongs to the fourteenth century. The
work of destruction was begun by the Dutch Calvinists, who set fire to
the church in 1578; the growing poverty of the town prevented repairs,
till the transepts and part of the nave were destroyed in 1725. The
walls of the ruined nave are left standing, leaving the massive and
lofty tower nearly isolated from the main body of the church. The choir
only is used for service. It is a fine relic, but sadly spoiled by
whitewash. The west door is in the modern brick wall which shuts in the
choir, beneath what was once the roof-screen, but now serves as the
organ gallery. The monuments of the dead are few; several matrices of
brasses remain, and a few modern tombs. A very fine memorial of Jacques
van Maerlandt, “the father of Flemish poetry,” and a native of Damme,
was destroyed by an ignorant curé about half a century ago. The poet
died in 1300, and is buried at the base of the tower. His memorial was
very curious. He was seated on a chair with an owl by his side, wearing
spectacles and reading from a book supported on an eagle lectern. To
atone somewhat for the destruction of the monument there is a poor
statue of the poet in front of the Hotel de Ville.

In this church, in 1429, was celebrated the marriage of Philip le Bon
with Isabella of Portugal, and on the 9th July, 1468, that of the
unfortunate Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, with Margaret of York,
sister of Edward IV. Her brother brought her hither with a considerable
fleet, and many of the English nobility in her train, from Margate. They
landed at Sluys, where the Duke met her and went through the ceremony of
betrothal. The town of Damme received her with many tokens of welcome.
As she passed through the streets every householder stood at his door
carrying a blazing torch, and from this town the bride and bridegroom
made their festive entrance into Bruges on the day following the
wedding.

There is still in Damme a small hospital dedicated to St. John, founded
by Margaret of Constantinople in the twelfth century.

I visited Damme towards the end of July last year. The road lies through
the town of Bruges, past the Episcopal Seminary, and out of the Porte de
Damme, along the canal, a perfectly straight line, bordered with poplars
and with corn-fields on each side. In scenery of this kind there is a
certain sense of repose and of general, though not brilliant,
prosperity, but the eye of an artist is needed to extract beauty out of
so many straight lines and such formal regularity. Many of the fields
are planted with colza, which is said to look very gay when in flower.
It was the annual horse fair of Bruges, and the scene was busy, but it
could hardly be called picturesque or lively, with the multitude of
peasants accompanied by young colts as “stolid, stubborn, and sturdy” as
themselves. Harvesting operations were proceeding with the sickle in a
very leisurely manner, and the mode of tying up the sheaves, till they
looked as if they were only bundles of straw with the corn cut off the
top, seemed very primitive. Altogether it was a scene not to be
forgotten. The world here, instead of advancing, seems to have gone back
several centuries, and there are fewer signs of progressive civilisation
than when Bruges was, in fact, the “Venice of the North,” and Damme its
busy sea-port.

The importance of Damme in the middle ages is shown by the fact that the
Judgments or Customs of Oleron, out of which the maritime laws of the
nations of Europe are derived, and which were said to have been brought
by our Richard I. on his return from the Crusades, were generally called
“Le droit maritime de Damme.” But the Flemish laws were merely a
translation of the original customs.

Visitors to Damme should extend their excursion to the cathedral-like
and judiciously restored church of Lisseweghe, with its noble thirteenth
century tower. This village is within an easy walk of the watering-place
of Blankenberghe, where once more the modern world may be studied in
some of its brightest and most amusing aspects.




The Dignity of a Mayor: or, Municipal Insignia of Office.[21]

BY R. S. FERGUSON, F.S.A., MAYOR OF CARLISLE 1881-2 AND 1882-3.


_PART I._

Those members of the Archæological Institute who attended the Congress
held at Carlisle in 1882, will recollect that, though the mayor of
Carlisle did not exactly blow his own trumpet, yet he was rarely seen
without his trumpeter in immediate attendance. They may possibly,
therefore, have set down to his credit a disposition to magnify the
dignity of an office to which he, however unworthy, has been a second
time elected. Indeed, they would not be far wrong; and he must admit
that his recreations during office took the form of a research into
MUNICIPAL PAGEANTRY AND MUNICIPAL HERALDRY.

These are very large subjects indeed, and I cannot now undertake to
grapple with them. I am glad to say that my valued friend, Mr. Lewellinn
Jewitt, has _seisin_ of them both; and that he is preparing for
publication an exhaustive treatise on “The Corporation Plate and
Insignia of Office of all the Cities and Corporate Towns of Great
Britain.”

I propose merely to gossip a bit about MUNICIPAL INSIGNIA OF OFFICE; to
make a few remarks as to what they mean, under what authority they are,
or have been assumed; and to bring under your notice a few examples.

Under the term MUNICIPAL INSIGNIA I include _Rods_ or _Wands_ of office;
_Maces_, both great and small; _Swords_ of _Honour_ or _State_; _Caps_
of _Estate_ or _Maintenance_; _Chains_ and _Badges_, both of Mayors’ and
of other officials; _Rings_ and _Robes_; _Halberts_, _Horns_, and
_Constables’ Staves_.

     “Few people,” writes Mr. Llewellinn Jewitt, “have even the most
     remote idea of the amount of artistic wealth, of antiquarian
     treasure, and of historical relics possessed by and lying hidden
     away in the strongholds and chests of the various corporate bodies
     of this kingdom. The corporations ... are rich beyond compare in
     works in the precious metals, in emblems of state and civic
     dignity, in relics of mediæval pageantry, in badges and insignia of
     various offices, and in seals and records of different periods.”

The neglect with which these treasures have been treated is astounding.
The reformed corporations of 1837 despised Municipal Pageantry; many
actually sold their insignia for the best prices they would fetch, as
“relics of the barbarous ages,” to use the words of a mayor of the town
of Maidenhead. Others discarded the use of their insignia, and their
existence was almost forgotten. A reaction, however, set slowly in. The
Great Exhibition of 1851 caused some places, Nottingham for one, to
provide their mayors with chains, in order to attend at the opening.
Other places were induced to buy new, or furbish up old insignia on the
occasions of Royal visits. During the International Exhibition of 1862 a
loan collection, but on a small scale, was formed, to which several
corporations contributed their maces and other objects.

In the year 1874, the Royal Archæological Institute presented to the
mayor of Exeter a chain of office, in commemoration of the Congress held
at Exeter in the previous year. This excited so much interest that the
Council of the Institute, in 1875, entertained the idea of holding in
London an exhibition of chains of office and other municipal insignia. A
committee was formed, and circulars were sent to nearly 600 municipal
bodies, asking for information as to their insignia, and as to the
possibility of their being exhibited in London. About 300 replies were
received; but in those about one-half neglected to describe their
insignia, or contented themselves by saying they were “_old and_ OF NO
VALUE.” In fact, the municipalities still lacked proper education on the
subject, for some of those that replied in the above terms possess most
valuable insignia, as also do some that did not answer at all.
Difficulties arose, many municipalities “did not see their way” to the
loan of their insignia, and so the proposed exhibition was, temporarily
as I hope, abandoned. But the attention thus drawn to the subject had
good results; it awakened an intelligent interest in the treasures
possessed by various corporations, and Mr. Llewellinn Jewitt seems to
have had less difficulty in getting information than the Institute
found. In the years 1880, 1881, and 1882, he published in the _Art
Journal_ a series of most interesting and beautifully illustrated
articles, on CORPORATION PLATE AND INSIGNIA OF OFFICE, shortly to be
developed into the book which I have already mentioned.

Now it must not be supposed that a municipality can of its own free will
adopt any insignia it pleases. On the contrary, the right to use certain
insignia, such as maces, swords of state, &c., requires to have been
conferred by special charter or royal donation, or else to be based upon
prescription of such duration that a lost special charter or a forgotten
royal donation may be presumed. Thus at Carlisle, where we possess a
great mace, several sergeants’ maces, and a sword of state, our
governing charter--of the time of Charles I.--authorises us to have
three sergeants-at-mace, who are--

     “To carry and bear maces of gold or silver, and engraved and
     adorned with the sign of the arms of this our Kingdom of England,
     everywhere within the said City of Carlisle, the limits and
     liberties of the same, before the Mayor of the said city for the
     time being.”

This was merely the confirmation of an older custom, for we have a set
of sergeants’ maces of older date than this charter, as well as a set of
about this date. The charter also authorises us to have a sword-bearer,
“Portator gladii nostri coram Mayore,” a bearer of our sword (the King’s
sword) before the Mayor. Thus, we have special authority by charter for
our sword of honour, and our sergeants’ maces, but none of our charters
mention our great mace or authorise us to have an official to bear it.
But our great mace was given us by Colonel James Graham, Privy Purse to
King James II., and I presume that no one will now object to our using
it, and to our having an official to carry it. For robes and a chain I
fancy no special authority at all is necessary; they are part of the
idea of a mayor, and he may assume them or not as his corporation or he
please to do. And, further, he may appear in them outside of his
jurisdiction, as at the Mansion House. But his maces and sword (if he
has one) he cannot with propriety display outside of his jurisdiction,
and I should, as Mayor of Carlisle, resent bitterly the intrusion into
that ancient city of a strange mayor with mace and sword, even of my
Lord Mayor of London, unless he should prove his right from charter to
carry them in Carlisle. The Templars never allowed the Lord Mayor to
appear in state within their precincts.

Different views have been held as to the origin of the mace. Some have
supposed that the regal sceptre, the ecclesiastical virgo or verge, and
the civic mace, all had their origin in the simple emblem of
straightness and integrity of rule, consisting of a plain slender rod
anciently borne before kings and high public functionaries, and retained
to the present day as an official badge by sheriffs and attendants in
courts of justice. The other, and I venture to think the better idea, is
that the civic mace is derived from the military weapon of that name,
which itself is derived from a simple club or stick. The civic mace is
nothing but the military one turned upside down. At one end of an early
mace you have the flanged blades of the military weapon, at the other on
a small bowl-like head the royal arms, the emblem of authority. In a
mace of later date the military part, the flanges, survive only as a
small button, while the bowl, on which are the royal arms, swells, until
the peaceful end is itself capable of dealing a heavy blow.

In support, however, of the rod idea, I may mention that the Mayor of
Carlisle always on state occasions carries a white rod, an ordinary
white stick of deal. This is a very ancient custom. A Captain, a
Lieutenant, and an Ancient, all of Norwich, who visited Carlisle in
1634, say of that place:--

     “It makes shifte to maintain a Mayor, distinguished by his white
     staff, and twelve Aldermen his brethren, _sans_ cap of maintenance,
     but their blew bonnets which they are as proud in as our southerne
     citizens in their beavers.”

The blue bonnets would be the ordinary head-gear of the local gentry,
and of the Aldermen thus dressed more than one was of knightly rank and
of high degree. The Mayor of Berwick had also a staff, and when James I.
came to the English throne he sent the Abbot of Holyrood to secure the
allegiance of the Mayor of Berwick, by which town he travelled into
England. The Mayor’s staff and the keys of the gates were delivered to
the Abbot, and immediately returned to the Mayor.

At Newark the Mayor carries a black rod with a gold head. At Marazion
and at Wigan he carries a staff with a silver head; at Guildford ebony
with silver top. Other instances probably exist, while various
bailiffs’, head boroughs’, and other staffs are only varieties of the
same idea. In the City of London this staff is represented by the Lord
Mayor’s jewelled sceptre.

The mace with the royal arms thereon (and no civic mace is a proper
civic mace unless it has the royal arms thereon) is the symbol of the
power of the central government in municipal matters, and when borne
before the mayor denotes that to him and to his colleagues is entrusted
the government of their community. It is, in fact, the symbol of that
which all Englishmen are proud of--local self-government.

The committee of the Royal Archæological Institute, who indexed the
returns obtained in 1875, divided maces into two classes, great and
small, but the proper and better division is into mayors’ maces and
sergeants’ maces, though the two nearly correspond. I define as a great
mace, or mayor’s mace, one whose _raison d’être_ is to be carried before
the mayor in procession, and to be displayed beside him in church or in
court. The great mace is the insignia of the mayor. The sergeants’ maces
are the insignia of the sergeants-at-mace; these maces are also carried
before the mayor, but that is because it is part of the sergeants’ duty
to precede and attend him in civic processions.

The maces belonging to sergeants-at-mace are generally small, from six
to eighteen inches long, and the reason of their being of this small
size comes from the use they were put to. The sergeants-at-mace were the
officers of the mayor’s court; they served the processes of the court,
which were not in the form of written summonses, but were actually
delivered verbally, and by a sergeant-at-mace, who produced the mace and
showed it as his authority. For convenience, he carried it in his
pocket, and at Carlisle, prior to 1837, the gowns of the
sergeants-at-mace had pockets in them for this purpose. At Scarborough,
the sergeants-at-mace wore their maces in their official gowns, and at
Stafford they carried them in their girdles. Hence convenience
necessitated that the sergeants’ maces should be of small size; for the
same reason they are generally without the open crowns, surmounted by
orb and cross, which were added to most great maces after the
Restoration. It would be difficult to pocket and unpocket a mace with a
crowned head. Of course, there are exceptions to all rules. Yarmouth has
a mayor’s mace of very small size, but the reason applies: it is called
the pocket mace, and is intended to be carried in the mayor’s pocket, so
that he always may have evidence of his authority about him. There was
no such reason for making the other maces of small size; nay, the bigger
they are, the grander, and the great mace of the City of London is 5 ft.
3 in. long. My own great mace at Carlisle is 4 ft. 2 in., while the
maces carried by my sergeants are only about 9 in.

It is quite certain that a municipality cannot have sergeants-at-mace
(and therefore cannot have their maces) without a special authorisation
by charter. The sergeants-at-mace were originally the peculiar
body-guard of the king, and the granting permission to a municipality to
have sergeants-at-mace is a high mark of honour. In the case of old
corporations, the right to a great mace will originally have been
acquired in the same way, or else by a royal present of a mace, but a
great mace has now come to be an essential which every place that has a
mayor can with propriety adopt.

Even during the Commonwealth much importance was attached to maces; in
1649, Parliament ordered the royal arms to be taken off them, and those
of the Commonwealth substituted. This was not done at Carlisle; but, in
1650, three new maces were bought for the sergeants at a charge of £12.
After the Restoration the royal arms were again restored, and the
Carlisle maces were sent to Newcastle to be altered.

(_To be continued._)




The History of Gilds.

BY CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.S.S., _Barrister-at-Law_.

_PART IV._

CHAPTER XXXIII.--_The Gilds of Lincolnshire_--(_Continued_).


LINCOLN.--The Gilds of this ancient ecclesiastical city are of much
interest: some of them present a combination of the Social and the Craft
Gilds.

_Gild of the Fullers of Lincoln._--“This Gild was founded on the Sunday
before the feast of the Apostles Philip and James, A.D. 1297, by all the
bretheren and sisteren of the Fullers in Lincoln.” A wax light to be
burnt before the cross on procession days. Directions as to who shall
work at certain operations. Half-holidays on Saturdays; and no work on
festivals. Outsiders may work at the trade on making small payments. A
payment to be made before learning the trade. No thief shall stay in the
Gild. On death of any member, bread to be given to the poor. “If any
brother or sister is going on a pilgrimage to Sts. Peter and Paul
[Rome], if it is a Sunday or other festival day, all the bretheren and
sisteren shall go in company with him outside the city as far as the
Queen’s Cross, and each shall give him a halfpenny or more; and when he
comes back, if, as before said, it is a Sunday or other festival day,
and he has let them know of his coming, all the bretheren and sisteren
shall meet at the same cross, and go with him to the monastery.” Penalty
for not keeping Ordinances. Help shall be given to those in want; but
the money must be repaid before death or after. Lights and offerings on
death. There were some new Ordinances added later, viz., allowances to
officers; allowance for collecting moneys. Officers not serving to be
fined. New members to pay to the Dean a penny.

_Gild of the Tailors of Lincoln_, founded 1328.--A procession shall be
had every year. Payment on entrance, a quarter of barley, and xij_d._
“to the ale.” Help to the poor--7d. per week. Burials for poor members,
“according to the rank of him who is dead.” Pilgrims to the Holy Land or
to Rome to receive a halfpenny from each member, and processions to be
formed. Services for those dying outside the city. Bequests to be made
to Gild according to means, “v_s._ or xl_d._, or what he will.” Fee to
chaplain. Four general meetings every year. Payment to the Gild when any
master tailor takes an apprentice. Quarrels to be arranged; whoever will
not abide judgment of Gild to be put out. On feast days ale to be given
to the poor. Burial rites. If any master knowingly takes a sewer who has
wrongfully left another master, he shall be fined. Payment of vj_d._ to
the Guild for every sewer employed by master. A dole to be given yearly
by every brother and sister for distribution in charity. Fines for not
serving offices.

_Gild of the Tylers [Poyntours] of Lincoln_, founded 1346.--New members
to make themselves known to “Graceman,” and pay a quarter of barley,
ij_d._ to the ale, and i_d._ to the Dean. Four “soul-candles” shall be
found and used in services. Feasts and prayers, and ale for the poor.
Help to the pilgrims. Burials provided. One brother shall not unfairly
meddle with the craft-work of another. All men of this craft in Lincoln
shall join the Gild.

_Gild of St. Michael on the Hill_, founded on Easter Eve, 1350.--On the
death of a brother “soul-candles” shall be burned and the banner of the
Gild shall be taken to his house, and borne thence to church. There
shall be a Gild feast. At the end the Ordinances shall be read and
expounded; and flagons of ale shall be given to the poor. Absentees may
rejoin the Gild on making payments. “And whereas this Gild was founded
by folks of common and middling rank, it is ordained that no one of the
rank of Mayor or Bailiff shall become a brother of the Gild, unless he
is found to be of humble, good, and honest conversation, and is admitted
by the choice and common consent of the bretheren and sisteren of the
Gild. And none such shall meddle in any matter, unless specially
summoned; nor shall such a one take on himself any office in the Gild.
He shall, on his admission, be sworn before the bretheren and sisteren,
to maintain and keep the Ordinances of the Gild. And no one shall have
any claim to office in this Gild on account of the honour and dignity of
his personal rank.” Help to poor bretheren shall be daily given, in
turn, by the Gild bretheren.

The Ordinances of this Gild were very lengthy; the main features only
are here noticed.

_Gild of the Resurrection of our Lord_, founded at Easter, 1374.--Every
brother and sister at entrance shall pay iv_d._ to the ale and 1_d._ to
the wax; and also every year xiij_d._ by four separate payments in the
year. Those in arrear to pay a pound of wax. Lights to be kept burning
from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. A hearse-frame, with lights, angels,
and banners, shall be put over the body of every dead brother; and other
services be done. Help to poor bretheren, “if not through his own fault,
by wasting his goods in unlawful uses,”--every member paying 2d. in the
year to all impoverished. Fine on officers not serving. Holders of loans
to bring them before the “Gracemen” every year. Mass and offerings for
the dead. At the annual feast the Ordinances to be read. After dinner,
grace, the Lord’s Prayer, &c., names of all dead bretheren and sisteren
shall be read over, and the _De Profundis_ said for their souls.
Pilgrims to Rome, St. James of Galacia, or the Holy Land, to give
notice, and receive contributions of one halfpenny from each member,
with escort to city gate. Burials of poor bretheren. Surety for goods of
Gild. Punishment to those who rebel against the Gild.

_Gild of St. Benedict_, “founded [date not stated] in honour of God
Almighty, and of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of our Lord Jhesu Christ,
in the parish of St. Benedict.” As many poor shall be fed as there are
members of the Gild. Pilgrims to the Holy Land, St. James’s, or to Rome,
provided for. Services on deaths within the city, and bread given to the
poor; and services on deaths outside the city. Help to poor bretheren.
At the feast, when ale is poured out, prayer shall be said, and tankards
of ale shall be given to the poor. New members on entering the Gild to
pay 6s. 8d., in two instalments. “Morn-speeches” shall be held; and
accounts then given by all who have any goods of the Gild on loan. On
the Sunday after the feast another morn-speech to be made. Officers
chosen and not serving to pay fine. Penalty if one member wrongs
another, and for not coming to meetings.

There was also a _Gild of Minstrels and Players_ in this city,
concerning which we have no exact details.

=Sleaford.=--This ancient town had a Gild--the Holy Trinity Gild--of great
renown. The date of its establishment is unknown; but many circumstances
point to its having been founded soon after the Conquest. It must have
been in existence before the commencement of the Patent Rolls in the
reign of King John, or mention of the conveyance of its property to the
brothers in mortmain would be found, as in the case of Boston and other
Gilds. It was a rich Gild, having an income of £80 per annum in 1477,
when the mention of it occurs. This would be equivalent to £800 at the
present day. The Gild was under the management of the principal people
in the place; and was famous for its miracle plays, mysteries, and
sacred shows. Perhaps these were next in repute to those of York. There
does not appear to have been anything sufficiently distinctive about
these to call for detailed note, except as will be immediately stated.

In 1837 there was published: “History of the Holy Trinity Guild at
Sleaford, with an Account of its Miracle Plays, Religious Mysteries, and
Shows, as practised in the Fifteenth Century; and an Introduction
delineating the changes that have taken place in the Localities of Heath
and Fen, Castle and Mansion, Convent and Hall, within the District about
Sleaford since that period. To which is added an Appendix, detailing the
Traditions which still prevail, and a description of the Lincoln
Pageants exhibited during the visit of King James to that City. The
whole illustrated by copious notes, critical, historical, and
explanatory.” By the Rev. G. Oliver, D.D., M.A.S.E., Vicar of Scopwick,
&c., Lincoln. 8vo., pp. 135.

The author refers to the fact (p. 61) that all the public amusements of
the times were interwoven with religion, and placed under the
superintendence of Gilds, by which they were conducted and brought to
perfection. “From the most remote period of time the inhabitants of
Sleaford and the vicinity practised under that high sanction the
diversions which were common to every period of the English monarchy,
from the minstrels or joculators in the reign of Athelston, through the
routine of tournaments, the lord of misrule, church ales, Corpus Christi
plays, and the frolics of the boy-bishop in the ages of chivalry, the
bull and bear baitings, the holk, and the mummeries of Henry VIII. and
Elizabeth, down to the bulls and other diversions of the present day.”

Concerning the “frolics of the boy-bishop,” we may take the following
account from the same author: “There exists presumptive evidence that
the ceremony of the Episcopus Puerorum was celebrated at Sleaford;
although it was somewhat unusual out of the limits of a cathedral or
collegiate church; for in digging a grave in Leasingham Churchyard, a
diminutive coffin stone was found in the year 1826, only 2½ feet long by
12 inches broad. It was prismatic, and adorned with a beautiful cross
fleury in relief; and undoubtedly formed a covering to the sarcophagus
of a boy-bishop, who died during the continuance of his ephemeral
authority. And in the church of Quarrington, at the east end of the
north aisle, is an unusually small chapel not more than four feet
square, which one cannot but think was intended for the ministration of
this juvenile functionary. The solemnity of the episcopus puerorum,
though it may appear trifling in these days, was conducted with great
pomp. A boy was elected on St. Nicholas’s Day, who was remarkable for
personal beauty, to sustain the high office of a bishop until the 28th
day of the same month. He made a solemn procession to the church,
attended by many other boys, arrayed in priestly habiliments; and there,
dressed in splendid robes, decorated with costly ornaments, and covered
with his mitre, he presided with all the solemnity of an actual bishop,
during the performance of divine worship. After which he made a
collection from house to house, which was boldly demanded as the
bishop’s subsidy; and he is said to have possessed such unlimited power
that all the prebends which fell vacant during his presidency were at
his disposal. If he chanced to die in that period he was entitled to all
the honours of episcopal interment, and a monument was assigned to
convey the remembrance of his honours to posterity.”

Strype expresses the opinion that this ceremony was sometimes adopted
even in small parish churches; he does not say whether with or without
Gild observances.

It has been supposed that a _Gild of Minstrels_ existed at Sleaford, but
no evidence of the fact is available.

=Stamford.=--There is the record of one Gild in this ancient town, viz.:

_Gild of St. Katherine._--The Ordinances before us bear date 1494; but
they are only a re-affirmation of those of a much greater antiquity.
The Gild is to abide for ever. Services to be attended by all the
bretheren on St. Katherine’s Eve and St. Katherine’s Day. All shall meet
in the hall of the Gild, and the Alderman shall ask new-comers as to
their willingness; and they shall take oath of fealty to God, Sts. Mary
and Katherine, and the Gild; and shall also swear to pay scot and bear
lot, and to keep the Ordinances of the Gild. They shall be lovingly
received, and drink a bout, and so go home. Meetings to be held at 1
o’clock on St. Leonard’s Day, or the next Sunday, to deal with the
affairs of the Gild. There shall be a grand dinner in the Gild-hall once
a year. After dinner an account to be given by every officer. Officers
chosen and not serving to be fined. Gildmen must be of good repute, and
pay vi_s._ and viij_d._ on entering, spread over four years, and
afterwards ij_d._ a year for “Waxshote.” Peals of bells to be rung at
and after prayers for the souls of the dead; and the ringers to have
bread, cheese, and ale. Services and ringings on death of Gildsmen.

There were four other Gild-returns from this town. The Gild of St.
Martin has every year a bull; hunts it; sells it; and then feasts. The
old custom was kept up in the eighteenth century. See Strutt’s “Sports
and Pastimes.”

=Village Gilds.=--There were many Gilds in the villages of this county.
One example will suffice to show the nature of their regulations.

_Gild of Kyllyngholm_, founded before 1310.--When a brother or a sister
dies, four bretheren shall offer a penny, and each sister shall give a
halfpenny loaf. “If a brother or sister is unlucky enough to lose a
beast worth half a mark, every brother and every sister shall give a
halfpenny towards getting another beast.” “If the house of any brother
or sister is burnt by mishap, every brother and sister shall give a
halfpenny towards a new house.” “Moreover, if the house of any brother
or sister is broken into by robbers, and goods carried off worth half a
mark, every brother and every sister shall give a halfpenny to help
him.” If one has a guest, and he cannot buy ale, he shall have a gallon
of the Gild’s best brewing. But the Gild will not allow any tricks in
this direction. Whoever is chosen Provost must serve, or must pay.




The Fountaine Collection.


THE months of June and July saw the dispersal, by Messrs. Christie, of
the celebrated collection of art treasures formed by Sir Andrew
Fountaine in the early part of the last century, and added to by his
descendant, Mr. Andrew Fountaine, who died in 1873. In connection with
this dispersion, a step was taken which is perhaps without precedent in
the history of English art sales. A number of amateurs, joined by a few
dealers, had subscribed to a guarantee fund, out of which many purchases
were made. The object of this proceeding was chiefly to allow some of
the most precious objects to pass eventually into our public museums. It
would, indeed, be lamentable if nothing of what was finest in the
Fountaine collection found a resting-place in our national museums. The
occasions are extremely rare on which a Syndicate can be invited to
relieve our public authorities of the task of speedy decision. There was
a warm expression of hearty support whenever it was thought that the
Syndicate had been successful, and the higher the price realised the
louder was the applause.

The first lot which attracted spirited bidding was a magnificent Faenza
plate, with grotesque masks, cupids, trophies of arms, and musical
instruments, a satyr on the left playing on a pipe, dated 1508. The
first bid for this plate, which was only 10¾ in. diameter, was £100.
After some spirited bidding it was secured by M. Lowengard, of Paris,
for £920, amid applause. A Faenza dish, with the entombment of Christ,
from Albert Durer, dated 1519, sold for 135 guineas, being bought by Mr.
Robinson, presumedly for the Syndicate. An Urbino plate in a sunk
centre--two cupids supporting a coat of arms and other figures--by
Nicola da Urbino, was sold for 375 guineas; a Faenza dish, with sunk
centre, surrounded with a wreath of fruit and foliage--subject, a bear
hunt, from a very early Italian print, by an unknown master--210
guineas; a Pesaro lustred dish, £270; another Pesaro lustred dish, 250
guineas; an Urbino dish, 300 guineas; a large dish with sunk centre,
probably Castel Durante ware, 360 guineas (the Syndicate); an Urbino
pilgrim’s bottle, 240 guineas; an Urbino dish, 330 guineas (Mannheim); a
dish, subject the “Last Supper,” 115 guineas; a Faenza dish from the
Bernal collection, 620 guineas (Martin); an Urbino oval dish, the centre
subject the Children of Israel gathering Manna, 240 guineas (Tuck);
another Urbino oval dish, 240 guineas (Lowengard); an Urbino dish,
Marcus Curtius on a white horse, 307 guineas (Hainauer); a large deep
dish “The Taking of Troy,” 310 guineas (Hainauer); an Urbino ewer,
Venus, Vulcan, and two cupids, 550 guineas. A splendid Urbino dish,
beautifully painted with the Children of Israel gathering manna, was
secured by the Syndicate at 1,270 guineas. A pair of Urbino pilgrims’
bottles fetched 450 guineas. 430 guineas was paid for a pair of
salt-cellars in coloured enamels, and 800 guineas for a Limoges
fountain, 9 inches high. Of the Henri Deux ware, there were but three
pieces. The first of these, a small flambeau of architectural design,
and somewhat severe in ornament, was put up at 1,000 guineas, and it
eventually fell to the bid of 3,500 guineas. The next piece, a Mortier à
Cire, fell for 1,500 guineas, and the last, a small Biberon, formed as a
vase with handles on each side and across the cover, sold for 1,010
guineas. An antique ewer, by Jean Courtois, realised 2,300 guineas; a
large deep sunk oval dish, of Limoges work, also attributed to Jean
Courtois, fetched 2,800 guineas; whilst another oval dish, signed with
the initials of the same artist, was sold for 760 guineas. Some of the
ivory carvings realised exceptionally high prices, notably a horn, of
Italian (or more probably French) work, carved most beautifully in
cinque cento style, which fell into the hands of M. Egger for 4,240
guineas. Large sums were also realised for the armour and arms, of which
there were several fine examples.

The greatest lot of the sale, however, was the splendid enamel of
Leonard Limousin, of which much has been said and written in eulogy, and
to witness the sale of which, as the _Times_ remarked, all the world
came to Christie’s. This is thus described in the catalogue: A large
oval dish, with sunk centre. Raphael’s “Supper of the Gods,” in coloured
enamels on a dark-blue ground, is used to introduce the portraits of
Henry II. King of France in the centre, Catherine de Medicis on one side
of him, and Diana of Poictiers, with yellow hair, black cap and feather,
on the other side. The portrait of Anne de Montmorency, Constable of
France, is introduced as Hercules, the female and Cupid by his side are
probably his wife and child, the figure to the left in an ermine mantle
may be the Emperor; in the background are three winged females bringing
fruit, all the other figures are probably portraits, and are finished
with the care of miniature painting; on the top are the arms of Anne de
Montmorency, with his coronet and order of St. Michael; the border is
surrounded with boys at play entwined with wreaths of fruit and flowers,
the back is richly covered with masks, fruit, and flowers, arabesque
figures in grisaille and scroll-work in gold; signed “Leonard Limousin,
1555. 19¼ in. by 16⅜ in.” The piece is specially described as in this
Fountaine collection by Count Laborde in his great work on enamels in
the Louvre collection. It was put up at 2,000 guineas, and at once the
biddings went on by 500 up to 5,100 guineas, at which there was a pause
among the four or five bidders, who were, as far as we could observe,
MM. Gauchez, Wertheimer, Coureau, Thibaudeau, and Boore. M. Wertheimer
then led the contest again, and soon distanced all his competitors with
his final bid of 7,000 guineas, at which the hammer fell.

The sum total realised by the four days’ sale of the miscellaneous
articles was £91,112 17s., a sum which is nearly double that which is
said to have been offered for the collection _en bloc_ by the dealers.
In the great Bernal sale 4,098 lots yielded £62,690 18s.; in this 565
lots gave half as much again. In the Strawberry-hill sale (1842) of
twenty-four days, only £30,000 was realised, omitting the Cellini Bell
and the Raphael Missal, which were “bought in.” So that George Robins’s
grandiloquent description of that collection as “the most distinguished
gem that has ever adorned the annals of auctions” must be taken with
some reserve for the future.

The sale of the prints and drawings belonging to the Fountaine
collection occupied four days. Among the more important lots were Albert
Dürer’s “Knight and Death,” 50 guineas (Colnaghi), and the “Judgment of
Paris,” £45 (Thibaudeau); “Christ on the Cross, with Saints,” £91
(Meder); “The Incense Burner,” £151 (Meder); “The Virgin,” £46 (Meder);
two studies--a female head and an infant Christ--in silver point, £125
(Thibaudeau); a small highly-finished study of woman holding a piece of
linen, £210 (Salting); two heads of women asleep, in silver point, £180
(Thibaudeau). This portion of the sale realised £5,166 1s., which
swelled the grand total up to £96,278 18s.




Collectanea.


WATER SUPPLY OF LONDON IN THE MIDDLE AGES.--The first enterprising
Londoner who introduced conduit water to his premises was a tradesman of
Fleet-street. In a record of 1478, it is mentioned that “a wax-chandler
in Flete-strete had by crafte perced a pipe of the condit withynne the
ground, and so conveied the water into his selar: wherefore he was
judged to ride through the citie with a condit uppon his hedde,” and the
City Crier was to walk before him proclaiming his offence.--_Builder._




Reviews.


     _A Story of Stourton and other Wiltshire Tales: told in Verse._ By
     W. G. BENHAM. Simpkin, Marshall & Co.

THIS little work is an ingenious attempt to tell in lively verse several
popular Wiltshire traditions of considerable antiquarian interest. The
writer seems to have taken pains to present the traditions in as
accurate a form as possible, and assures us that “all available
manuscripts and other authorities have been carefully consulted.” There
is much in the versification to remind us of the “Ingoldsby Legends.”

     _Histoire de l’Art dans l’Antiquité._ Par GEORGES PERROT, Membre de
     l’Institut, et CHARLES CHIPIEZ, Architecte du Gouvernement. 8vo.
     Vol. II. Chaldée et Assyrie. Paris et Londres: L. Hachette et Cie.

THE study of archæology has lately made signal progress in France as
well as in England. A great many works have been published bearing upon
the subject, and the volumes issued annually by Messrs. Perrot and
Chipiez deserve to be especially mentioned as excellent specimens of
what that class of literature ought to be. They are not intended for
_savants_ properly so called, and therefore they do not bristle with
erudite quotations, or hieroglyphic figures and cuneiform texts; neither
are they, on the other hand, elementary manuals or abridgments for the
use of beginners; the two authors have started their joint undertaking
for the express purpose of giving a somewhat detailed account of the
progress of art amongst the different nations of antiquity, calling to
their assistance the resources furnished by wood and steel engraving,
chromo-lithography, &c.; and the improvements which during the last
half-century have been introduced into the several departments of
pictorial illustration have rendered their work, in that respect,
comparatively easy.

The publication we are now reviewing will be terminated in five or six
volumes. Messrs. Perrot and Chipiez had, last year, introduced us to
Egypt; their second instalment is devoted to Chaldæa and Assyria; it
marks, therefore, a signal development in æsthetic culture, and in the
various expressions of architecture, painting, and sculpture. From the
civilisation which Messrs. Champollion, Mariette, Maspéro, Young, and de
Rougé have unfolded before us, we are now invited to pass on to that
with which the names of Sir A. Layard, Sir H. Rawlinson, Messrs. Jules
Oppert, and Fr. Lenormant have made us tolerably familiar.

The first chapter of this volume treats of the general characteristics
of Chaldæo-Assyrian society, and naturally opens with geographical and
ethnological details. M. Perrot, we are happy to see, pays a
well-deserved tribute of praise to Professor Rawlinson’s celebrated
work, “The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World,” making,
at the same time, long quotations from it, as well as from the
researches of Sir A. Layard, M. Hormuzd Rassam, &c. Whilst enumerating
the various elements which have contributed to make up the population of
Assyria and Chaldæa, our author notices the hypothesis recently put
forth by some antiquarians who would number amongst those elements the
Aryan one. He maintains that if it did exist it was only in a very small
proportion--so small, indeed, that it is scarcely worth taking it into
account; on the other hand, if we admit the theories of Messrs. J.
Oppert and Fr. Lenormant, we have to register a fact of the most
interesting and unlooked for nature. It was hitherto believed that we
could not go beyond the families of Sem and of Kusch, which occupied
Chaldæa at the time when history is supposed to commence. From certain
inscriptions, however, it seems perfectly clear that the oldest idiom
spoken, or at any rate written, there, belonged neither to the Aryan nor
to the Semitic families, nor yet to any of the groups of languages which
are considered as including the old Egyptian. It was essentially an
agglutinative idiom, and by its grammatical system, as well as by some
of the elements of its vocabulary, it may be assimilated to the Finnish,
the Turkish, and other cognate languages. M. Perrot then goes on to
discuss the questions connected with writing, religion, and government,
and to describe the form of government which prevailed on the banks of
the Euphrates and Tigris. The reader will remark that this first chapter
is a kind of introduction to the book; for art, which is the outcome of
civilisation, cannot be well understood till we are acquainted with the
elements from which it originated. Architecture, sculpture, painting,
and the industrial arts constitute the subjects of the next seven
chapters; and here, again, the eschatological ideas of the
Chaldæo-Assyrians give us a clue to the character of the monuments which
they raised to the dead. When we say raised to the dead we are guilty of
a slight error; for all the researches of Sir A. Layard, Messrs. Hormuzd
Rassam, de Sarzec, Botta, and Place have failed to bring to light a
single _débris_, whether inscription or sculpture, from which we might
know what the Assyrians believed about the destiny of man after this
life. In Lower Chaldæa a few monuments have indeed been discovered, but
they are extremely simple, and the contrast between Egyptian and
Chaldæo-Assyrian art in this respect is wonderfully striking. As M.
Perrot remarks, we know a great deal more about the sepulchral rites,
the tombs and the funereal remains of the Egyptians than about the
palaces of their princes. It is just the reverse in Assyria: “We have
never seen represented the fall, the death, or the burial of an Assyrian
warrior; one might almost suppose that a feeling of national pride has
prevented the artist from admitting that an Assyrian warrior could die;
all the corpses we see portrayed on the battlefield are those of
enemies; we recognise them because they are frequently mutilated and
decapitated.” If, however, Chaldæa has only a few sepulchral monuments
to boast of, it abounds in burial-grounds, and between Niffar and
Mougheir, more particularly, every mound is a necropolis. Combining this
fact with the no less striking one that there are no cemeteries in
Assyria, M. Loftus has put forth the opinion that the inhabitants of
this last-named country, being Chaldæan by origin, regarded Chaldæa as a
kind of holy land where they systematically buried their dead, and all
persons rich enough to pay the somewhat heavy expenses connected with
the removal of the body, the religious ceremonies, &c., &c., made a
point of committing their departed relations and friends to their
eternal rest in the national _campo-santo_ from which they had in the
first place emigrated. As for the poor and the slaves, those who were
reckoned as nothing when alive, they were cast unceremoniously after
their death into the first hole or ditch available for the purpose.

We must say a word or two on the concluding chapter before bringing this
notice to an end: it consists of an ingenious parallel between the
civilisations of Egypt and of Chaldæa, thus recapitulating the principal
facts given in the first volume as well as those contained in the one
which has formed the subject of the present article.

The illustrations, amounting to nearly five hundred, are of two
different kinds; some occupy a whole page (temples, palaces, statues,
&c.), others are inserted in the text; nor must we forget an excellent
alphabetical index, and an appendix of additions and corrections.

     _Quads within Quads, for Authors, Editors, and Devils._ Edited by
     ANDREW W. TUER. Field & Tuer. 1884.

UNDER the above quaint title Messrs. Field & Tuer have issued from “Ye
Leadenhalle Presse” a little volume--or rather, two volumes in
one--which is likely in future ages to rank high amongst the treasures
of the book collector. The work consists of an amusing collection of
stories and _bon mots_ relating to authors, editors, and “devils,” which
we suppose is another name for the men of Paternoster-row; and there is
an innocent raciness about them--the jokes, not the publishers--which
cannot fail to entertain the reader. For the benefit of the uninitiated
the editor, in his introductory remarks, states that “quads” are “little
metal blanks used by the printer for filling up gaps,” and that they
“are not of much account, although he cannot get along without them;
hence the application of the word to printers’ jokes.” The book is
baulked out at the end with extra leaves of paper fastened together and
hollowed out in the centre, and in the little nest so formed reposes a
copy of the miniature or midget-folio “Quad,” another equally quaint
volume, containing some 160 pages, and measuring but one inch in width
by one and a half inches in length.

THE _Archæological Journal_ for July contains papers on “The Gallo-Roman
Monuments of Reims,” by Mr. Bunnell Lewis; “On the Methods Used by the
Romans for Extinguishing Conflagrations,” by the Rev. Joseph Hirst;
“Jewish Seal found at Woodbridge,” by C. W. King, M.A.; “Roman Pottery
found at Worthing,” by Mr. A. J. Fenton; “Roman Inscriptions discovered
in Britain in 1883,” by Mr. W. Thompson Watkin; “The Battle of Lewes,”
by Rev. W. R. W. Stephens, M.A.; and “Some Remarks on the Pfahlgraben
and Swalburg Camp in Germany, in Relation to the Roman Wall and Camps in
Northumberland,” by Mr. James Hilton, F.S.A.




Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.


SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.--_June 26_, Dr. E. Freshfield, V.P., in the
chair. Mr. W. H. Richardson exhibited some fragments of heraldic tiles
which had been found under the floor of Fenny Compton Church,
Warwickshire, and a drawing of a tile bearing the same inscription from
Wormleighton Church. The arms on the tiles appear to be those of Butler
and Beauchamp respectively. Mr. R. S. Ferguson communicated some notes
on the tomb of Margaret, Countess Dowager of Cumberland, which had
recently been moved from its original position in the church of St.
Lawrence, Appleby, to a spot more convenient for the performance of
divine service. He also reported on recent discoveries in Cumberland,
and exhibited some of the early Rolls of the City Court of Carlisle. In
connection with this paper Mr. Leveson-Gower exhibited an interesting
portrait of his ancestress, the Countess of Cumberland. The Rev. W. F.
Creeney exhibited a third instalment of rubbings of foreign brasses,
thirty-four in number, which he had executed during a summer trip last
year, in which he had traversed over five thousand miles.

ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.--_July 3_, the Rev. F. Spurrell in the
chair. The Secretary read a communication from the Rev. Precentor
Venables, describing the discovery of an intramural Roman family
burial-place in Lincoln, and of a Roman well in the same city. Professor
B. Lewis read a paper on “Roman Antiquities in Switzerland.” A number of
Roman gems and coins, together with copies of inscriptions, engravings
of mosaics, and other objects, collected by Professor Lewis and the Rev.
S. S. Lewis, were exhibited in illustration of this paper. Mr. F.
Helmore then read some remarks on stone coffins lately found in
Hertfordshire. The paper was illustrated by diagrams and drawings of two
fine examples, probably of the thirteenth century, discovered at Tring
and at Berkhampstead.

LONDON AND MIDDLESEX ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--_June 16_, Mr. J. G. Waller
in the chair. Mr. F. C. Sachs read a paper written by his brother, Mr.
John Sachs, on “Arms and Armour,” in which he described those worn by
the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians. Greek, Roman, and Saxon armour was
also described, with the assistance of sketches and engravings which
were exhibited. While speaking of shields, Mr. Sachs described that used
in the trophy of Henry V. in Westminster Abbey as made of oak, over the
front of which was first a covering of coarse flax, over which are
stretched four layers of stout linen, on which traces of painted
colouring are still visible. The inside of the shield has been covered
with white silk, embroidered with needlework, a portion of which
remains. The Chairman offered a few remarks on armour generally,
including chain armour, plate armour, and “banded mail.” Mr. Thomas
Millbourne made some observations on Mediæval London at the Health
Exhibition.--_June 26_, excursion to Rochester and Stroud. The
proceedings commenced with a meeting in the Town Hall, Rochester, where,
in the absence of the President, General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., the chair
was taken by Mr. Charles Roach Smith, F.S.A., V.P., who delivered an
address on the antiquities of Rochester, with special reference to the
Roman wall, fragments of which are still visible. Mr. W. H. St. John
Hope, F.S.A., gave a lecture on the maces and other regalia of the City
of Rochester, and Mr. R. S. Ferguson, F.S.A., of Carlisle, followed with
a few remarks on maces generally. The party afterwards paid a visit to
the Castle and the Cathedral, the chief architectural features of each
building being described by Mr. Hope, who traced the history of the
Cathedral from its foundation in the time of Ethelbert, and, with the
aid of diagrams, pointed out the work of successive architects from the
time of Bishop Gundulph. Eastgate House, an interesting Elizabethan
building in the High-street, now used as the Rochester Workmen’s Club,
and Restoration House, the residence of Mr. Stephen Aveling, opposite
the Vines, were next examined. The latter building, which dates from
about 1580, was formerly called the Mansion or the Manor house, but its
name was changed to Restoration House from having been the resting-place
of Charles II., on his way from Dover to London on the eve of his
restoration to the throne. The members next visited the museum belonging
to Mr. Humphrey Wickham, at Stroud, among the contents of which are a
large number of Anglo-Saxon objects which had been discovered in the
neighbourhood. Several of these objects were described by Mr. Roach
Smith, who also pointed out the site of the ancient cemetery where many
of the articles had been found, and spoke of the frequent destruction at
Strood caused by the Medway overflowing its banks.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE.--_June 25_, Sir P. Colquhoun in the chair.
Dr. W. Knighton read a paper on the results of late excavations in Rome,
considered in reference to the truth of its so-called legendary history.
Some notes from Mr. W. S. W. Vaux on the subject were also read, and a
discussion followed.

NEW SHAKSPERE.--_May 30_, Mr. F. J. Furnivall in the chair. Mr. T.
Tyler, M.A., read the first of two papers on “Shakspere’s Sonnets.” With
regard to the date, Mr. Tyler came to the conclusion that the Sonnets 1
to 126 were written in 1598-1601. Taking the Sonnets 100 to 126 as
forming a single poem, he found several allusions therein to the
rebellion of Essex. This was alluded to in the “eclipse of the mortal
moon” (107), an expression which could not, as alleged by Massey, refer
to the death of Queen Elizabeth, since the point is that “the mortal
moon” had “endured” her eclipse, in accordance with the general drift of
the sonnet. Sonnet 55, Mr. Tyler maintained, was written after the
publication of Meres’s “Palladis Tamia” in 1598. “Mr. W. H.,” mentioned
in the dedication of the 4to. edition of 1609, was, in his opinion,
William Herbert, who in 1601 became Lord Pembroke. In support of this
view some new evidence was adduced from documents in the Record Office,
the British Museum, and in the Marquis of Salisbury’s collection at
Hatfield, relating especially to an amour of Lord Pembroke with Mrs.
Fytton, a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth, an amour for which Lord
Pembroke was imprisoned in the Fleet, in March, 1601. On his release
from prison, Sonnets 100 to 126 were addressed to him. Three years
backwards from this time, according to Sonnet 104, give the initial date
of 1598.--_June 13_, Mr. F. J. Furnivall, Director, in the chair. The
Rev. W. A. Harrison read copies of letters from the Earl and Countess of
Pembroke and the Earl of Oxford to Lord Burghley, showing that in 1579,
when William Herbert was only seventeen, his parents had in hand a
scheme for his marriage forthwith to Bridget, granddaughter to Lord
Burghley. Mr. Tyler read his second paper “On Shakspere’s Sonnets.”
After alluding to the theory, recently put forth, that the rival poet of
the sonnets was Dante, Mr. Tyler maintained that the poet intended was
George Chapman. The dark lady of Sonnets 127 to 152 was probably Mrs.
Fytton, maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. The relations of this lady
with William Herbert would not unreasonably, in view of several of the
sonnets, as 40 and 144, suggest the identification. So far as there were
materials for comparison, the character of Mrs. Fytton showed a
remarkable agreement with that of the dark lady. A difficulty had been
felt as to Shakspere’s writing of himself at thirty-five as though in
declining age. But this difficulty was removed by comparing Sonnet 73,
its “yellow leaves,” “bare boughs,” &c., with Byron’s poem written when
he attained his thirty-sixth year, where the imagery was remarkably
similar.

FOLK-LORE.--_June 14_, annual meeting. Earl Beauchamp in the chair. In
the annual report for the past year a strong plea was made for more aid
to carry on the work already in hand. The Bishop of St. John’s,
Kaffraria, has presented to the Society several copies of his “Zulu
Nursery Literature,” and of his “Religious System of the Amazulu.” The
work selected for the 1884 issue is a collection of Magyar folk-tales,
by the Rev. W. H. Jones and Mr. L. Kropf.

ASIATIC.--_May 19_, anniversary meeting. Sir H. C. Rawlinson in the
chair. The following were elected as the officers of next year:
President, Sir W. Muir; Director, Sir H. C. Rawlinson; Vice-Presidents,
Sir T. E. Colebrooke, Sir B. H. Ellis, J. Fergusson, and A. Grote;
Council, E. Arnold, C. Bendall, E. L. Brandreth, Dr. O. Codrington, F.
V. Dickins, Major-General Sir F. Goldsmid, Major-General M. R. Haig, H.
C. Kay, Major-General Keatinge, Lieut.-General Sir L. Pelly,
Major-General Sir A. Phayre, Sir W. R. Robinson, T. H. Thornton, M. J.
Walhouse, and Col. Yule; Treasurer, E. Thomas; Secretaries, W. S. W.
Vaux and H. F. W. Holt; Hon. Secretary, R. N. Cust. Prof. Monier
Williams gave an account of his recent visit to India and to the Jain
and Buddhist temples there, and added that the Supreme Government at
Calcutta had assented to his proposal to found six scholarships for
deserving natives in the Indian Institute at Oxford.--_June 16_, Sir W.
Muir, President, in the chair. Professor de Lacouperie read a paper “On
Three Embassies from Indo-China to the Middle Kingdom, and on the Trade
Routes thither 3,000 Years Ago.” During the reign of Tch’ing, the second
king of the Tchen dynasty (about B.C. 1100), three embassies came to him
from Indo-China, before his power was firmly established to the south of
the Yangtze Kiang. These were really travelling parties of merchants,
who had heard of the wealth of the new dynasty from the tribes of West
and South China, who had helped the Tchen to overthrow the preceding
dynasty. Only a few fragments of information about them have survived,
and these in a much altered state. At the close of his paper the
Professor passed in review six annual trade-routes between India,
Cochin-China, and China, previously to the Christian era. Of these two
are important, viz., the one through Assam to India, and the other to
Tung-King by the Red River. It was by the latter that the sea-traders of
Kattigara (Hanoi) heard of the important trading state of Tsen (in
Yunnan), this name being, in fact, the antecedent of that of China. Dr.
T. Tuka exhibited forty pieces of Tibetan printed books and MSS. which
the late A. C. de Koros gave in 1839 to the Rev. Dr. S. C. Malan, then
secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and which this gentleman has
presented to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at Buda-Pesth.

STATISTICAL.--_May 20_, Mr. R. Lawson, V.P., in the chair. Mr. C.
Walford read a paper entitled “A Statistical Review of Canada.”

NUMISMATIC.--_May_ 15, Dr. J. Evans, President, in the chair. Mr. H.
Montagu exhibited a half-halfpenny or farthing of Eadred, the original
coin having been bisected for the purpose of creating two farthings, in
the same way as pennies were frequently halved and quartered. Mr. J. G.
Hall exhibited a hammered sovereign of Charles II.’s first coinage with
the numerals XX behind the head of the king; weight, 138 grains. Mr. B.
V. Head read a paper, by Mr. C. F. Keary, on a hoard of Anglo-Saxon
coins found in Rome during some recent excavations on the site of the
House of the Vestals at the foot of the Palatine. The “find” consisted
of 830 Anglo-Saxon pennies, ranging from A.D. 871 to 947. It represented
an instalment of the tribute money popularly known as Peter’s pence, a
devotional gift instituted in the 8th or 9th century, consisting of a
denarius a year, payable by the head of every family possessed of a
certain quantity of land, at St. Peter’s mass, on pain of
excommunication. Mr. Keary said that the hoard of coins was of
considerable numismatic importance, as it yielded the names of many new
moneyers and of some new towns. Mr. N. Heywood communicated a notice of
the discovery of Anglo-Saxon coins beneath the foundations of Waterloo
Bridge. Mr. Toplis sent a list of forty varieties of 17th century
tradesmen’s tokens of Nottinghamshire not described in Boyne’s work.

PHILOLOGICAL.--_May 16_, anniversary meeting. Dr. J. A. H. Murray
President, in the chair. The President delivered his annual address.
After noticing the members who had died since last anniversary, and
reviewing the work of the Society during the last two years, he read
reports by Mr. W. R. Morfill, on the Slavonic languages; by M. Paul
Hunfalvy and Mr. Patterson on Hungarian since 1873; by Mr. E. G. Brown
on Turkish; and by Mr. R. M. Cust, on the Hamitic languages of North
Africa. Mr. H. Sweet read his own report “On the Practical Study of
Language.” The President then gave an account of the progress of the
Society’s Dictionary, and dwelt on the difficulty of settling the
etymology of Middle English words and of making out the logical
development of important words of long standing. The following Members
were elected the Society’s officers for the ensuing year: President,
Rev. Prof. W. W. Skeat; Vice-Presidents, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr.
W. Stokes, A. J. Ellis, Rev. R. Morris, H. Sweet, Dr. J. A. H. Murray,
and Prince Lucien Bonaparte; Ordinary Members of Council, Prof. A. G.
Bell, H. Bradshaw, E. L. Brandreth, W. R. Browne, Prof. C. Cassal, R. N.
Cust, Sir J. F. Davis, F. T. Elworthy, H. H. Gibbs, H. Jenner, Dr. E. L.
Lushington, Prof. R. Martineau, A. J. Patterson, J. Peile, Prof. J. P.
Postgate, Prof. C. Rieu, Rev. A. H. Sayce, Dr. E. B. Tylor, H. Wedgwood,
and R. F. Weymouth; Treasurer, B. Dawson; Hon. Sec., F. J. Furnivall. A
vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Gladstone for his grant of a pension of
£250 a year to the editor of the Society’s Dictionary.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL.--_May 13_, Prof. Flower, President, in the chair. Dr.
J. Stephens sent a drawing of a large pointed palæolithic implement,
found near Reading. Mr. W. G. Smith exhibited two palæolithic implements
lately found in North London: one was made of quartzite, and is the
first example of this material met with in the London gravels; the other
was a white implement from the “trail and warp.” He also exhibited two
white porcellaneous palæolithic flakes replaced on their original
blocks. A paper on “The Ethnology of the Andaman Islands,” by Mr. E. H.
Man, was read. Prof. Flower read some “Additional Observations on the
Osteology of the Natives of the Andaman Islands.” Since reading a paper
before the Institute on the same subject in 1879 the author had had the
opportunity of examining ten skeletons, two of which are in the
University of Oxford, and eight in the Barnard Davis collection at the
museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.--_May 27_, Prof. Flower,
President, in the chair. Mr. H. O. Forbes read a paper “On the Kubus of
Sumatra.” Dr. Garson read a paper “On the Osteology of the Kubus.” Mr.
T. Bent read some “Notes on Prehistoric Remains in Antiparos,” and
exhibited several specimens of pottery, some rudely carved marble
figures, and a skull from cemeteries in that island.


PROVINCIAL.

BERKSHIRE ARCHÆOLOGICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY.--On Tuesday, July 1,
visits were paid to St. Helen’s Church, Abingdon, Cumnor Church,
Appleton Church and Manor House, and also Fyfield Church and Manor,
where they were entertained at luncheon by Mr. and Mrs. James Parker. At
Cumnor the party inspected the site of Old Cumnor Hall, where Mr. Parker
narrated its history since the sixteenth century, and examined the story
of Amy Robsart’s life and supposed murder, as narrated by Sir Walter
Scott in his novel of “Kenilworth.” At Fyfield Manor Mr. Parker
conducted the party through the various rooms, showing them, among
other things of interest, a recently-discovered stone mantelpiece, with
initials and date of the early part of the seventeenth century. At
Abingdon, after inspecting St. Helen’s Church, the party examined the
ancient deeds and charters in the Hall of Christ’s Hospital, the
Corporation plate and pictures, the remains of the Abbey, and other
objects of interest.

BRIGHTON AND SUSSEX NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.--_June 19_, Dr. Hollis,
President, in the chair. Mr. F. E. Sawyer read a paper on “Sussex
Dialect and Speech,” in which he referred to a branch of the subject
which had not hitherto received sufficient attention, namely, the
connection of dialect with the early spellings of place-names.
Derivations of names, Mr. Sawyer observed, are too often based on modern
forms of spelling, when a careful examination would show the older forms
to be attempts of strange or foreign scribes to represent phonetically
dialectal pronunciation of place-names. “The termination ‘ing,’” he
continued, “is generally considered to be patronymic, and as it is a
peculiarity of the Sussex dialect to drop the final ‘g,’ as Cockneys do,
we may consider that many old names not mentioned by Kemble are
patronymic, _i.e._, of tribal origin, and deriving their names from some
tribal ancestor.” There is a close connection, Mr. Sawyer remarked in
conclusion, between place-names and surnames, and in Sussex the Saxon
element will be found very strongly marked amongst the surnames.

ESSEX FIELD CLUB.--_June 21_, the members and friends paid a visit to
Epping Forest. On arriving at the ancient earthwork called Ambresbury
Bank, Mr. J. E. Harting, F.L.S., delivered a discourse on “The Deer of
Epping Forest,” in which he treated firstly of the antiquity of the
forest as a hunting-ground of the Kings and Queens of England; and,
secondly, of the nature of the deer which were hunted, and the present
condition of the two kinds of deer which may be found there. The forest
was in early times called the Forest of Essex, as being the only forest
within that county, nearly the whole of which was anciently comprehended
within it. As its extent became abridged it was called the Forest of
Waltham, from the first village of importance which sprung up within its
purlieus. According to Camden, the first mention occurs about the latter
times of the Saxons, when Tovi, standard-bearer to King Canute, “induced
by the abundance of deer, built a number of houses here, and peopled
them with sixty-six inhabitants.” After his death, his son Athelstan
squandered the estate, whereupon Edward the Confessor, into whose hands
it had come, bestowed the village on his brother-in-law, Harold, son of
Earl Godwin, who built Waltham Abbey. The Abbot was one of the few
residents in the neighbourhood who, besides the King, was privileged to
kill deer in this forest, although mediæval records contain notices of
royal permission given at times to the citizens of London to use the
Forest of Epping as a hunting-ground for their recreation. Henry III.,
in 1226, granted to the citizens the privilege of hunting once a year,
at Easter, within a circuit of twenty miles of the city, and until
within comparatively recent times the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and
Corporation continued annually to avail themselves of this privilege. At
the conclusion of Mr. Hastings’ lecture the party moved on towards
Loughton, passing on the way through the ancient earthwork known as
Cowper’s Camp, which was explored by the Club in 1883.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND.--_June 9_, Sir William F. Douglas,
P.R.S.A. (Scot.), in the chair. Mr. J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A. (Scot.),
read a paper entitled “Notes on Early Christian Symbolism.” The author
in dealing with that special branch of the subject which includes the
representations sculptured on the fonts, tympana of doorways, and other
carved stonework of the Norman period, showed what ample material there
is to form a museum of Christian archæology, by having casts taken of
these sculptured fonts, tympana, &c., so that they might be placed
together in one gallery, and thus be made to yield whatever scientific
results are attainable from them. Mr. Allen gave a list classified by
subjects and localities of upwards of 120 tympana, 80 fonts, and 30
pieces of miscellaneous sculpture. The paper was illustrated by a series
of drawings and photographs of the principal types of the symbolic
representations on Norman fonts and tympana. The second paper was a
notice by Mr. Charles Stewart of Tigh’n Duin, Killin, of several
sepulchral mounds and cup-marked stones in the district of Fortingall,
Glenylon, Perthshire; and the Rev. Hugh Macmillan, D.D., of Greenock,
followed with a description of two boulders having rain-filled cavities
on the shores of Loch Tay, formerly associated with the cure of disease.
Mr. George Sim, Curator of Coins, gave an account of recent “finds” of
coins in Scotland. Only two discoveries have occurred during the
session--one of 177 silver pennies, chiefly of the Edwards, at Arkleton,
Dumfriesshire; and one of 53 silver coins, chiefly of Mary and
Elizabeth, at Woodend, in the Isle of Skye. The last paper was a
descriptive notice of the stone circles of Strathnairn and neighbourhood
of Inverness, by Mr. James Fraser, C.E. Twenty-five of the circles were
described, and accurate plans of them, made to a uniform scale of ten
feet to the inch, were exhibited, forming a body of materials for the
comparative study of stone circles of unprecedented extent and value.
Five old Communion flagons and a chalice and paten of pewter, from Old
St. Paul’s Church, were exhibited by Rev. R. Mitchell-Innes. Two of the
flagons show the Edinburgh Pewterers’ stamp, and one has the maker’s
name--John Durand, 1688.

HAILEYBURY ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.--_May 19._ The Secretary gave a short
account of the village of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, famous chiefly as the
birthplace of Admiral Nelson. Mr. C. F. Gisborne spoke of Wichnor
Church, Derbyshire, as Anglo-Saxon, but with a Norman tower. He also
spoke of the parish of Langley Marish, near Slough, which is a
corruption of Langley Maries, the church there being dedicated to the
Three Maries; he mentioned that there were some old half-timbered
almshouses in the parish. W. Kennedy, Esq., gave a description of Morton
Villa, near Brading, where extensive excavations have recently taken
place. This villa is the largest in England. Most of the walls seem to
have been built of wood filled up with rubble, and are consequently very
strong. There is a great deal of very fine Roman glass in the house. The
villa was probably burnt down when the Romans left England, A.D. 410.
The speaker then went on to describe Carisbrook Castle, which was built
by William of Osborne, in 1066 A.D., and is chiefly famous for the
recollections of Charles I. The President then spoke very briefly of
Tantallon Castle and the Collegiate Church of Haddington.--_June 2_, Mr.
C. F. Gisborne read a short paper on Christ Church, Bournemouth, Hants,
and the President gave a short account of the most interesting features
of St. Albans Abbey.--On Saturday, June 14, an excursion was made to
Greenwich Hospital.--_June 16_, Mr. W. Kennedy gave a short lecture on
Rome, in which he spoke of the ruins of the gigantic houses built by the
Emperors for themselves on the Palatine, and of the palace of Augustus,
of which but few traces remain. The lecturer described the private
house of the father of Tiberius, on the Palatine, and then passed on to
speak of the palace of Vespasian. Mr. Kennedy also mentioned the
discovery of a Pedagogium, or school for the slaves of the Imperial
household; and spoke of the curious caricatures and paintings on the
walls, done apparently by the students.--_July 1_, Mr. E. Walford gave a
lecture on the “Watering Places of Old,” in which he treated of
Brighton, Bath, Seaford, Hythe, &c. His account of Seaford may probably
appear in the pages of this Magazine.

LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.--_June 28_, about 50
members, accompanied by a few ladies, visited Lancaster. The party first
inspected the castle, where they were shown the ancient dungeons, the
gateway tower built by Henry V., &c., and afterwards ascended to the top
of the Norman keep, or “John O’Gaunt’s chair,” whence a splendid view of
the Lake Mountains was obtained. The parish church of St. Mary, a fine
specimen of the Perpendicular period, was next visited, and its details
described by Mr. Paley, F.R.I.B.A. After luncheon the excursion was
continued to Heysham, where the rector, the Rev. C. T. Royds, showed the
party over the ancient Norman church at that place. On returning to
Lancaster in the evening, an adjournment was made to the Amicable
Library, where several old charters of the town, the municipal regalia,
and a few Roman antiquities found in the neighbourhood, were displayed.




Antiquarian News & Notes.


MR. D. BOGUE will issue shortly an etching, by Percy Thomas, of the old
London street at the Health Exhibition.

MR. MURRAY announces a translation by Professor A. S. Wilkins and Mr. E.
B. England of the “Principles of Greek Etymology,” by Professor Curtius.

THE Rev. R. H. Clutterbuck has discovered among the Corporation records
of Andover some interesting early Guild-rolls, which will probably be
published _in extenso_.

THE Berks Archæological and Architectural Society is offering prizes for
historical essays on subjects having reference to Berkshire, and for
architectural drawings, illustrating ancient buildings in the county.

AN antiquarian column is about to be started in the _Essex Standard and
West Suffolk Gazette_, published at Colchester. It will contain notes
and queries on local antiquities, and a special series of gleanings from
old local newspapers.

MR. MURRAY’S latest list of recent publications contains, _inter alia_,
Professor Brewer’s “Reign of Henry VIII., from his accession till the
death of Wolsey;” Dr. Schliemann’s works, “Troja,” “Ilios,” and “Mycenæ
and Argos;” Mr. A. S. Murray’s “History of Greek Sculpture.”

THE Schools of the Christian Brothers of France have sent to the Health
Exhibition at South Kensington, a collection of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew
inscriptions, with representations of the Provençal people and buildings
of the fifteenth century, modelled and arranged by the pupils.

MR. CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.S.S., Barrister-at-Law, has been awarded the
first “Samuel Brown Prize” of Fifty Guineas, offered by the Institute of
Actuaries for the best Essay on the “History of Life Insurance.” The
essay will be published.

MR. J. TAYLOR, of Northampton, has announced for sale the unique
collection of historical MSS., &c., of John Cole, of Northampton,
(1792-1840), embracing brief notices of his family and literary
contemporaries, together with the history and antiquities of several
parishes in Northamptonshire, &c.

THE following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear
among the contents of the magazines for July: _Cornhill_, “Embalmers;”
_Cassell’s Magazine_, “Derby China;” _Blackwood_, “Venice;” _Century
Magazine_, “A Greek Play at Cambridge;” _Atlantic Monthly_, “The Haunts
of Galileo,” and “Peter the Great;” _Magazine of Art_, “Walks in
Surrey,” and “The Austrian Museum;” _Home Chimes_, “Old Gold;”
_Clergyman’s Magazine_, “Biblical Notices of Egypt, illustrated from
Profane Sources.”

PLANS and drawings for the reconstruction of the west side of
Westminster Hall, and the preservation of the Norman work lately laid
bare by the pulling down of the Law Courts, have been prepared by Mr.
Pearson, R.A., and the estimated cost of the work is about £37,000.
During the restoration of the north front, some years ago, considerable
portions of the ancient work of the Hall were for a short time visible,
and again at a later period the whole of the Norman walls were laid
bare, to be re-cased by Sir Robert Smirke. It has remained for the
removal of the Law Courts to uncover permanently the earlier Norman
walls, fortunately in a fairly perfect state of preservation.

CATALOGUES of rare and curious books, all of which contain the names of
works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Messrs. Farrar &
Fenton, 8, John-street, Adelphi, W.C.; Messrs. Reeves & Turner, 196,
Strand, W.C.; Mr. J. Hitchman, 51, Cherry-street, Birmingham; Messrs.
Quaritch, 15, Piccadilly (including the major portion of the Hamilton
Palace Library); Mr. W. J. Withers, Leicester; Mr. F. Edwards, 83,
High-street, Marylebone; Mr. Edward Howell, 28, Church-street,
Liverpool; Mr. G. P. Johnston, 33, George-street, Edinburgh; Mr. W. P.
Bennett, 3, Bull-street, Birmingham; Messrs. Sutton & Son, 91,
Oxford-street, Manchester; Mr. J. Coleman, Tottenham, N. (consisting
entirely of royal and noble deeds and documents, and containing upwards
of 500 articles, alphabetically arranged under the titles of the
respective families); Mr. Albert Cohn, 53, Mohrenstrasse, Berlin;
Messrs. Robson & Kerslake, 43, Cranbourne-street, W.C. (includes a fine
copy of the Nuremberg Bible of 1477, and Albert Durer’s “Life of the
Virgin, &c.); Mr. U. Maggs, 159, Church-street, Paddington-green, W.;
Mr. H. Edwardes, 20, Drury-court, W.C.

SOME doubts having arisen as to whether authorities which act under the
Public Libraries Act have powers to fulfil the conditions required for a
Parliamentary grant in aid of the establishment of a school of science
and art, the Lord President has brought in a Bill, which declares that
where an authority accepts a grant of this kind from the Education
Committee of the Privy Council, it shall have power to do so on the
conditions prescribed by the Committee, and it is to be, as also are its
successors, bound to fulfil them. An interpretation is also placed on
the 8th section of the Public Libraries Act of 1855, which enables the
Council of a borough and the Board of a district to erect buildings for
the purposes of the Act. It is declared that under this and the
corresponding Scotch and Irish provisions buildings may be erected in
any of the three Kingdoms “for public libraries, public museums, schools
for science, art galleries, and schools for art, or for any one or more
of those objects.” Where one of these institutions is established under
the Public Libraries Acts, any other may (it is here provided) be
established at any time in connection therewith without further
proceedings being taken under the Acts.--_The Times._

IN the first week of July the City of Winchester commemorated the 700th
anniversary of its incorporation by a series of festivities, in which
the Bishop of the Diocese, the Lord Mayor of London, and a number of
provincial chief magistrates took part. The proceedings included a
procession to the Cathedral, where the Dean delivered an address, in
which he traced the gradual growth of freedom under municipal
institutions. A public luncheon afterwards took place in the restored
banqueting-hall of the Palace, and in the evening there was a torchlight
procession, together with a series of _tableaux vivants_, which were
witnessed by crowds of persons. The persons who appeared as actors in
events affecting the fortunes of Winchester were habited in dresses
designed from authentic records of the period. First came a
representation of the granting of the charter of incorporation to the
city by Henry II.; the second picture represented Richard II. giving the
charter to William of Wykeham; the third, Henry VI. and Church
dignitaries before the shrine of St. Swithin in Winchester Cathedral;
the fourth, Charles I. brought a prisoner to the city on December 21,
1648; the fifth representing some Roundheads searching for Royalists,
and looking in at the window of a forge, where a Royalist, disguised as
a blacksmith, was talking to the owner of the forge; the sixth, Sir
Christopher Wren presenting plans for a Royal Palace at Winchester to
Charles II. The anniversary will be further perpetuated by the
publication of a volume entitled “Memorials of the City of Winchester: a
Collection of Charters and other Records Illustrating its Municipal
History,” edited by Mr. F. J. Baigent, F.S.A.

AN antiquary writes to the _Athenæum_ as follows regarding the
lamentable destruction of documents belonging to the see of Durham and
lodged in a building within the precincts of the episcopal palace at
Bishop Auckland: “In a building adjoining the gateway of the episcopal
palace of the Bishop of Durham a large number of documents--how valuable
it is impossible to say--were preserved until a short time ago. It seems
that this building was required for the holding of clerical meetings and
other purposes; and, in order to make it more convenient for these, the
documents, which had hitherto found a safe repository there, were
removed, and without, apparently, any proper examination having been
made, were destroyed. A few of them were, happily, rescued, and judging
from these some reasonable conjecture may be arrived at with regard to
the nature of the mass of the documents. Among those which have been
preserved are a survey of Allertonshire--an ancient possession of the
Church of Durham--made in the middle of the seventeenth century; an
inventory of the contents of the episcopal castle at Durham in the
middle of the eighteenth century; a complete list of Roman Catholics
resident within the city of Durham in the year 1700; a report to the
Bishop from Sir William Williamson, Sheriff of the County of Durham, and
certain justices of the peace, about proceedings against Papists in
1743; and a list of the rolls and other muniments formerly kept in the
auditor’s office at Durham, but now removed and placed somewhere among
the enormous mass of valuable material, locked up and practically
inaccessible, within the offices of the Ecclesiastical Commission or of
some of its officials. Who is the person responsible for the unwarranted
destruction I do not know, but it is most desirable that the public
should be made acquainted with what has taken place, and that it should
be made known by whose authority these valuable records have been
destroyed.”

THROUGH the courtesy of Mr. Bosworth Smith, the _Athenæum_ has been
enabled to print an interesting letter by Mr. H. A. Brown, regarding
some explorations which he has been making in Minorca. He has visited a
remarkable cave city which has not been properly explored:--“The
locality is a wild-looking inlet between high cliffs. In these cliffs
are a vast number of rock-hewn caves--possibly 300. Such tradition as
there is concerning this most curious spot ascribes it to the
Phœnicians; but we concur in thinking that it is the work of a much
earlier people.... In some of the larger ones there are evidences of
considerable development; for instance, in one of the largest are three
recesses in the wall, some two feet from the ground, a sort of rock
divan, while several have ante-chambers communicating with the main
room; but, on the other hand, the smaller are mere holes in the rock,
having, however, in some cases, a sill, or threshold, distinctly raised
above the level of the floor. It seems to us that this disparity may be
accounted for in three ways: either the people during a long occupation
advanced in the construction of their dwellings, or the smaller caves
are merely the tombs of the inhabitants of the larger, or possibly the
chiefs inhabited the large and the people the small caves.... The small
caves are all in a more or less inaccessible position, but having
entered one near the ground we commenced to dig. At about nine or twelve
inches down we came upon the bones of animals and two most remarkable
skulls. Being compelled by pressure of time to move on, we went round
the inlet and entered a cave on the other side, higher up the cliff than
the former. Immediately after removing the loose sand, we came to thick,
black earth, and the first stroke of the hatchet brought up some human
bones, and by the time we were obliged to leave, the best part of a
skeleton was unearthed, including several pieces of the skull. The
majority of the bones were of a reddish colour, but all in one corner
were perfectly black, either from extreme age or the action of fire.”

THE _Temps_ gives an account of the collection of objects found by
Monsieur Nicaise in the tombs of the ancient Gauls, Département de la
Marne, which he laid before the Academie des Inscriptions de Paris at
their meeting, April 18. The collection is of great interest, and in
some respects unique. It includes a great variety of implements of
warfare, jewellery, enamels, and finely wrought bronze ornaments, and
some articles of toilet throwing a light on the mode of shaving 2,000
years ago. The razors found are shaped like a sickle. With them was
found a vessel supposed by Monsieur Bertholot, who was present at the
meeting, to have contained soap, which he states was by no means unknown
to the ancient Gaul. A coral necklace, bleached by its couple of
thousand years’ sepulture, is remarkable. Between the beads of coral are
various amulets or charms, such as a wild boar’s tooth, a shell, and a
peculiar thin circular plate or disc of bone, ascertained beyond doubt
to be part of the human vertebræ. There are also numerous bronze torques
finely worked, and a fragment of a jewel similar in workmanship to the
finest granulated or filigree jewellery so well known at Genoa and
Venice at the present day. A skeleton of a female was found adorned with
necklace, bracelets, and anklets. A bracelet, from its diminutive size,
must have been retained on the arm during its growth from childhood to
womanhood. Not the least curious is an ornament composed of a material
which gave rise to many conjectures, but which careful analysis shows
to consist of some argillaceous or ceramic compound, finely pulverised,
then agglutinised and compressed until it formed a solid agglomerated
substance of a texture capable of receiving the highest polish. The
revelations of these ancient sepultures, and the high artistic merit of
the articles they contain, justify the inference that the “barbarism”
with which Julius Cæsar was so impressed in Gaul, was a barbarism
strongly impregnated with civilisation.

THE annual summer congress of the Royal Archæological Institute will be
held this year at Newcastle-on-Tyne, during the week from Tuesday,
August 5, to Wednesday, August 13 inclusive, under the Presidentship of
the Duke of Northumberland. Tuesday, the 5th, will be devoted to an
inspection of the castle and cathedral of Newcastle, after the public
reception of the Society by the Mayor and Corporation at the inaugural
meeting. On Wednesday the Archæologists will visit Warkworth and Alnwick
Castle, which will be described by Mr. Clark. On Thursday they will go
by train to Beal, from which place Lindisfarne and Holy Island with its
church and castle will be visited. Friday will be devoted to a visit by
rail to Belford and to Bamburgh Castle. On Saturday the annual meeting
of the Society will be held. At its conclusion the members will proceed
to Jarrow, Monkwearmouth, and, by steamer down the river, to Tynemouth.
On Sunday a special service will be held in the cathedral, when it is
expected that the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr. Wilberforce, will preach.
Monday will be devoted to an inspection of sundry parts of the Roman
wall, and to a visit to Chesters, where the Roman remains will be
explained by the Rev. J. C. Bruce. On Tuesday the Archæologists will go
by train to Corbridge, from which they will visit Aydon Castle, Bywell,
and Prudhoe Castle. Wednesday will be occupied by a visit to Durham,
where the cathedral and castle, and probably Finchall Priory, will be
inspected. There will be a meeting on the evening of Tuesday, at which
papers will be read, and probably, also, at least one conversazione. A
temporary local museum, under Mr. R. Blair, F.S.A., will be open during
the week in the Black Gate, where also the sectional meetings will be
held. Among those who have sent their names as patrons of the congress
are the Duke of Portland, Lords Ravensworth and Scarbrough, the Bishops
of Durham, Carlisle, Newcastle, and Hexham; Sir Charles Trevelyan, Sir
Joseph Pease, Sir Edward Blackett, Sir Matthew White Ridley, and Sir
Walter James, &c.

“IN the early part of last winter,” writes a correspondent of _The
Times_, “operations were begun in the bed of the Rhone, at Geneva, in
connection with a scheme for utilising the power of the stream for
mechanical purposes. During the work a part of the river bed, near the
island on which stands Julius Cæsar’s Tower, and where Philibert
Berthelier, the Genevan patriot, suffered death, was laid bare, and in
view of the great antiquity of Geneva, and the fact that it was an
Allobrogian town before it became a Roman station, sanguine expectations
were entertained as to the likelihood of making important archæologic
finds.” These hopes have not been disappointed; for there has been
lately found, buried in gravel among a range of piles, relics of the
lacustrine age, a block of white Jurassic rock, evidently dressed by the
hand of man, and having in the centre a circular depression surrounded
by a sort of crown. Further examination showed it to be the upper part
of a Roman altar. It is in the ordinary form of a pilaster with capitals
and a corresponding base terminating in a crown, in relief, cut in the
stone. The height of the relic is 80 centimetres, the width 33. There is
no other trace of ornamentation than the mouldings and cornices of the
upper and lower parts, but on the principal face there appears an
inscription, in superb letters and an admirable state of preservation.
It runs thus: DEO NEPTVN C. VITALINIV VICTORINVS MILES LEGI. XXII.
ACVRIS V. S. L. M. Only two letters are lacking. At the end of the
second word the engraver had not room for the final O, and at the end of
the fourth word an S has been effaced by time or worn away by water. The
word _legionis_ has been shortened into LEGI, but the truncation of the
I may be due to an accidental erasure. The inscription, which is easily
read, is to the following effect:--_Deo Neptuno, C. Vitalinius
Victorinus, miles legionis XXII., a curis, votum solvit libens merito._
The author, therefore, was a soldier of the twenty-second legion, Caius
Vitalinius Victorinus, who, having without doubt escaped shipwreck on
the lake, had vowed to raise an altar to Neptune, the god of the waves,
and by a singular chance the whole stone of the Jura which testifies to
the fulfilment of his vow has been preserved by falling into the very
waters from which he was saved. Besides this altar stone, several other
objects have lately been found in the bed of the river; among them are
the upper part of a tin vase representing, in relief, Diana and
Endymion, and a transparent stone cut in facets; the latter, if not
false, will be highly interesting and valuable.




Antiquarian Correspondence.

                        Sin scire labores,
    Quære, age: quærenti pagina nostra patet.

     _All communications must be accompanied by the name and address of
     the sender, not necessarily for publication._


HERALDIC QUERY.

SIR,--Can any of your readers kindly inform me what family bears or bore
the arms “Ermine, on a bend azure three lions rampant or”?

T. J. H.


ISLE D’ECOSSE.

SIR,--In Aytoun’s “Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers,” there is a ballad
entitled the “Island of the Scots,” setting forth that in 1697, France
and Germany being at war, an island in the Rhine, strongly garrisoned by
German troops under General Stirke, was attacked and taken in a most
gallant manner by a company of Scotsmen, exiles from their own country,
and in the service of the King of France; and that this island has ever
since been known by the name of Isle d’Ecosse. Can you inform me where
this isle is situated, and where I can see a detailed account of the
above passage of arms? The isle, I may add, is not mentioned by Murray.

R. M. B.


MINING IN THE HOME COUNTIES.

SIR,--In the Lansdowne MSS. (57, fol. 146) in the British Museum, may be
seen a copy of a licence granted in December, 1588, by Queen Elizabeth,
to one John Nicholls, for a term of six months, to dig for “mynes or
myneralls of golde, silver, tynne, or leade, hidden within the earth, in
the counties of Middlesex, Hertford, Buckingham, and Kent.” What
success may have attended his searches in the other counties I know not;
but as I searched in vain for any notice to the effect of a renewal of
the grant so far as concerns Hertfordshire, it is more than probable
that Master John Nicholls did not find “myning” a very profitable
occupation in that county. Can any of your readers throw light upon the
subject?

FOSSOR.


THE NAME OF FOSTAL.

SIR,--Can you, or any of your readers, kindly assist me in throwing
light on the derivation of Fostal, a commonplace name in Kent? I believe
there are some dozen places bearing the name, but variously spelled as
Fostal, Fostalls, Forstals, and Forstalls. In Herne parish, not far from
Herne Bay, there is a Fostall and Fostall Farm, and in Ospringe parish,
near Faversham, a place called Painter’s Forstal. Prof. Skeat, I
believe, explains it as “Fore” and “Stall” (= Stead), a place in front
of a farm (?). There are generally trees near at hand, and the people in
this locality connect the word with forest-alling and regrating--most
absurdly as I think.

H. F. WOOLRYCH.

_Oare Vicarage, Faversham_.


RICHARD, ARCHBISHOP OF MESSINA.

SIR,--Can any of your readers give me some account of the Archbishop of
Messina, an Englishman, the subject of the accompanying paragraph, which
I have translated from an Italian paper, the _Italia_, of May 31:--

“At the Villa Guzzi, near Messina, the interesting discovery has been
made of the sarcophagus of Richard, English Archbishop of Messina, who
died A.D. 1195. The sarcophagus is decorated with a bas-relief in the
Byzantine style, having for its subject, the Saviour seated; on His
right is shown the Virgin Mary standing, whilst on His left is the
Archbishop, likewise in a standing position. There is also an
inscription on each corner.”

This account is meagre as far as it goes; and I should feel interested
in learning something more about this English Archbishop of Messina.

M. H. C.

_Spezia, Italy._


“THE SENTENCE OF PONTIUS PILATE.”

(See vol. v. pp. 80, 217.)

SIR,--Since writing the note at the second reference, I have ascertained
that the alleged death-warrant of Jesus Christ appeared in the _National
Magazine_ (published in Liverpool) for Oct. 1877. In this version only
three names are appended to the sentence, and the phraseology is
somewhat different.

But what I wish to point out at present is the glaring contradictions
occurring in the three copies before me as to the date of the finding of
this curiosity. According to the above-named magazine it was discovered
“in the year 1825,” the _Catholic Fireside_ account says 1820, while
your version has “A.D. 1280.” May not the latter date be a misprint for
1820? If not, were excavations in search of Roman antiquities made in
Naples in the thirteenth century?

P. J. MULLIN.


HELSTON FURRY DANCE.

SIR,--As the very interesting subject of the Helston Furry Day has been
opened by Canon Boger (see vol. v. p. 251), may I add a few remarks on
it?

1. As to the term Floralia or Flora Day, except from a descriptive
standpoint I should demur to the theory that the Helston festival of May
8 is a continuation or survival of the Roman Floralia, although some
persons may favour that view. It is probably in origin purely Celtic,
and is connected with the Roman Floral festival only in that it also
expresses the joy of May.

2. The origin of the custom may be held to be “lost in remote antiquity”
solely in the sense that we cannot actually date its institution. The
local legend relates that it was instituted in the middle ages as a
rejoicing for the deliverance of Helston from the plague: a not
improbable solution of the Helston myth that here St. Michael overcame
Satan, and forced him to drop the “Hell stone,” still seen in the “Angel
yard.” The parish church is dedicated to St. Michael, and May 8 is, I
believe, the feast of the apparition of St. Michael on St. Michael’s
Mount. It is not improbable that the deliverance of Helston from the
plague was attributed to the patron of the town, _i.e._, St. Michael,
who overcame the demon of the plague.

3. The Helston furry dance is a definite institution, unlike any other
dance that I know. I do not know to what “various dances” Canon Boger
refers; probably to the ball in the evening, which, I believe, is
conducted in the modern fashion.

4. The ceremony is somewhat this: The party assemble at the Market
House, the local aristocracy at 1 p.m. In 1883 there were thirty-one
couples of the gentry, this year there were thirty-two couples. The
tradesmen’s dance at 4 p.m. was not quite so numerously supported as the
upper class one. The volunteer band marches to the gate with three
javelin men with lances crowned with flowers. At the appointed time the
band strikes up the Celtic Furry tune. The dancers then proceed, two and
two, pirouetting and changing partners at certain places. They go into
the houses, passing out of the back doors through the gardens, and then
re-enter the houses from the back. As they leave the houses in some
places they ring the bells. The effect is very singular, but to anyone
fond of ancient customs is full of interest as a survival from mediæval
times, and such a survival as could hardly have continued except in a
remote part of England. Most of the Helston May customs belong to
mediæval customs of Merrie England, _e.g._, the boughs outside the
houses, the procession dance (though most of our English May dances were
held round the May-pole), but the going in and out of the houses and
also the music of the Furry tune are distinctively Cornish.

W. S. LACH-SZYRMA.


PORTS AND CHESTERS.

(See _ante_, p. 47.)

SIR,--I should not have thought it necessary to notice “A. H.’s”
singular effusion in your last number (see p. 47), but for the welcome
illustration it affords of what Mr. Allen has so happily termed that
“easy off-hand theory,” which “shirks all the real difficulties of the
question” (_ante_, v. 286). In trying to pursue his own more searching
and scholarly method of dealing with these “interesting philological
fossils,” I am only too glad that those who despise this method as
“word-twisting,” and prefer to leap at conclusions, should expound, as a
contrast, their views.

As to “A. H.’s” first point, it is based simply on mis-statements. I
never used the word “borrowed” myself. _My_ expression was:
“_incorporated_ before the settlement” (_ante_, v. 286). Nor did I ever
claim any of these words as “_generically_ an English word,” or as
“English forms of some Teutonic roots.” On the contrary, I gave “the
Latin words” (v. 285) from which they were each _etymologically_
derived. My contention was that they had become “distinctly English
words” by being

     “Incorporated _before_ the settlement, into the tongue of the
     English pirates, who brought with them, as part of their language,
     the forms which they had thus constructed for themselves.”

It is necessary to put this as strongly as possible in order to
accentuate the distinction. Thus, when “A. H.” speaks of “lamentable
confusion” (so well illustrated in his own letter), he is using
“distinctly English words,” though they are derived from Latin
originals. If I, on the other hand, should say “_Naviget Anticyram_,” I
should be using distinctly Latin words. And, lastly, when “A. H.” seeks
to “ramify” the “purport” of a paper (_ante_, p. 47), he is using an
expression unknown, I believe, to any language, living or dead.

As to the Welsh _caer_ or _kair_, I never said, or could have supposed,
that it was derived from the Latin _castrum_. I merely quoted Mr.
Allen’s reminder that, on the departure of the Romans, this native form
supplanted theirs in place names, before the arrival of the English.
_Ergo_, the erudition of “A. H.” is obviously _nihil ad rem_.

As to _port_, what we have to account for is not, as “A. H.” crudely
imagines, “the modern word Port,” but the Anglo-Saxon _port_, which can
be conclusively shown to have been used _not_ in the sense of either
_portus_ or _porta_, but of a market (or trading) town. Leicester and
Oxford were obviously not “ports” in our modern sense of the word, but
they _were_ “ports” in the Anglo-Saxon sense of it, and, as such, had a
“portmanmote” for their governing body. We know, as I have shown, from
Domesday, that Port Meadow, so-called from belonging to the town (or
“_port_”) of Oxford, was in existence then as the town meadow. “Port
Meadow at Oxford,” says Mr. Olifant (“Old and Middle English,” p. 78),
“speaks of ... _port_, used by our pagan forefathers as a name for town;
indeed, _port_ and _upland_ stood for _town_ and _country_.” To “Port
Meadow” I may now add “Portmanseyt” (the _eyot_ of the Portmen or
Burgesses), which stood near it in the river (“Calendar of Bodleian
Charters,” p. 312), and also “two pieces of land and marsh-land
_sometime called Portemarshe_ [cf. Portmeadow] and now being divided,
called by the several names of the Easter Portemarche and the Wester
Portemarche,” at Barnstaple, in 1610 (9th Rep. Hist. MSS. I. 214a).

“A. H.” defiantly inquires, how “can the prefix [in Portway] be of
English origin, if it means ‘carry?’” But _I never said it did_, or
indeed mentioned it at all. A far simpler explanation of the word would
be the “way” that led from one “port” to another.

The solution of “A. H.’s” irritation is of course to be found in his
eagerness to contend that “port” (in “port-reeve”) was “not introduced
as a new English word, but preserved by Celto-Romans from Latin usage,”
and that, consequently, “our Lord Mayor” can be traced through the
Port-reeve to Roman times. This is the longed-for conclusion at which
“A. H.” and Dr. Pring, though starting from opposite premisses, would
arrive with equal confidence, the “dead certainty” on which “A. H.” so
naturally dreads and so impatiently resents that discussion which it
cannot stand.

J. H. ROUND.


A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CURIOSITY.

SIR,--In the _N. B. Advertiser and Ladies’ Journal_ for Jan. 12 is
published a long but interesting letter from a Dundee correspondent,
signing himself C. R. R., in which the writer makes known his discovery
of the long-lost “lewd sang,” which was appended to an early edition of
the psalm-book known as the “Guid and Godlie Ballattes.” To those of
your readers south of the Tweed who take an interest in Scottish
bibliography the following somewhat lengthy quotation from the letter
mentioned can scarcely fail to be acceptable. I may remark further that
Dr. Laing’s reprint, therein referred to, was issued in 1868:--

About thirty-five years ago the late Mr. Alexander Langlands, clerk in
the Dundee Bank, purchased at the sale of the _lares et penates_ of a
deceased teacher, for the sum of eightpence, a lot of literary scraps,
among which the article about to be described was found, and which
proved to be an imperfect copy of the “Guid and Godlie Ballattes.”

When Dr. Laing was engaged in the publication of his reprint, this was
lent him, the price offered for its purchase being far below the rather
extravagant value attached to it by its owner. It is evident the Doctor
never examined it very carefully; he states in a biographical note
attached to his reprint that he had once had a fragment of a smaller
copy, but the leaves had fallen aside. The fact is, I think, pretty
obvious that these leaves and the present copy were one and the same, as
great difficulty was experienced by Mr. Langlands before it was
returned, and it was only restored by the intervention of a personal
friend of the Doctor’s after the lapse of many months; the gentleman’s
name I do not feel at liberty to make public, but may say he has done
good work in connection with Wedderburn’s memory, and holds a high
position in a seat of learning. Mr. Langlands eventually parted with his
valuable leaves to their present possessor for a sum which was
considered an extremely liberal one. Mr. Langlands soon after passed
from the scene, full of years, leaving many attached friends behind.

Herbert, in his edition of “Ames Typographical Antiquities,” part iii.
p. 1491, states “that a ‘Psalm Buik’ was printed at Edinburgh by Thomas
Bassendyne in 1568, at the end of which was printed ‘ane lewd sang,’
entitled ‘Welcum Fortoun.’” The book was ordered by the General Assembly
to be called in, the title to be altered, that the “lewd sang be
delete,” and the printer be subjected to penalties. No copy of the book
or of the lewd song is now known to exist. (See also “Buik of the
Universall Kirk.”) Dr. Laing adds his testimony to Herbert’s assertions.

The fragment referred to is printed in the black letter, the letterpress
measures 4½ inches by 2½ inches. It commences on folio 4, the leaves,
not the pages, being numbered, and by a printer’s error folio 112 is
numbered 113. The signs run from A to O in eights, sign P having four
leaves which are not numbered. The first three leaves of sign A are
lost, and folio 4 commences with some short prayers. These missing
leaves were doubtless occupied by the title, probably a short address to
the reader, and the first portion of the above-mentioned prayers. Sign
P 1 to 3 are occupied by a table, and on the obverse of P 4 is
printed--“With The Haill hundredth and Fyftie Psalmis of David,”
Sternhold and Hopkins’s Version. And beneath is the imprint
thus--“Improntit at Edinburgh, be John Scot. Anno Do. 1567.” The reverse
contains some doxologies, and, having no catch-word, has a finished
appearance. Whether the above is to be considered as the title-page for
the Psalms to follow, or as an advertisement for a separate book, I will
not presume to decide, but at that time such advertisements were not
common. On the reverse of O 8 the long-lost song, entitled “Welcum
Fortoun,” is found, and is printed below. If ever the Scripture words,
“Unto the pure all things are pure,” were applicable, it is in the
present case, for it could only be by a far-fetched innuendo or a
specious construing of words that the Assembly could have arrived at
their decision and verdict. But I am rather inclined to think that the
sin of the printer must have consisted more in the fact of his placing a
secular song in conjunction with sacred hymns, and the more especially
with the productions of the Divine Psalmist:--

WELCUM FORTOUN.

    Welcum Fortoun, welcum againe,
    The day and hour I may weill blis,
    Thou hes exilit all my paine,
    Quhilk to my hart greit plesour is.

    For I may say, that few men may,
    Seing of paine I am ’trest,
    I haif obtenit all my pay,
    The lufe of hir that I lufe best.

    I knaw nane sic as scho is one
    Sa trew, sa kynde, sa luiffandlie,
    Quhat suld I do and scho war gone;
    Allace yet had I lever die.

    To me scho is baith trew and kynde,
    Worthie it war scho had the praise,
    For na disdane in hir I find,
    I pray to God I may hir pleis.

    Quhen that I heir hir name exprest,
    My hart for joy dois loup thairfoir;
    Abufe all uther I lufe hir best,
    Unto I die, quhat wald scho moir.

This unique edition, and certainly the earliest known, although I do not
by any means consider it the first, in its contents other than the
above, agrees with Dr. Laing’s reprint, and I only regret that he should
have been removed by the grim tyrant demanding his heriot before the
discovery was made. The fortunate owner of the precious brochure is
Patrick Anderson, Esq., merchant, Dundee, who, by a curious coincidence,
resides in the ancient home of Alexander Wedderburn, Town Clerk of
Dundee, and who entertained his sapient Majesty James VI., of
tobacco-defaming notoriety, on his visit to Dundee in 1617.

_Leith, N.B._

P. J. MULLIN.


_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

THE Editor declines to pledge himself for the safety or return of MSS.
voluntarily tendered to him by strangers.




Books Received.


1. Quads within Quads. Field & Tuer, Ye Leadenhalle Presse. 1884.

2. Johns Hopkins’ University Studies. Second Series, v.-vi. Baltimore.
June, 1884.

3. English Etchings. Part xxxviii. D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s-place, W.C.

4. The Genealogist. No. 3. Bell & Sons. July, 1884.

5. Vico. By Robert Flint. Blackwood & Sons. 1884.

6. Palatine Note-book. July. Manchester: J. E. Cornish.

7. Western Antiquary. June. Plymouth: W. B. Luke.

8. Mr. William Shakespeare’s Tragedie of Hamlet. Reprint of 1623 folio.
Simpkin, Marshall & Co. 1884.

9. Le Livre, No. 55. Paris, 7, Rue St. Benoit. July, 1884.

10. Archæological Journal, No. 162.

11. Old Nottinghamshire. Edited by J. P. Briscoe, F.R.H.S. Second
Series. Hamilton, Adams & Co. 1884.




Books, &c., for Sale.


Works of Hogarth (set of original Engravings, elephant folio, without
text), bound. Apply by letter to W. D., 56, Paragon-road, Hackney, N.E.

Original water colour portrait of Jeremy Bentham, price 2 guineas. Apply
to the Editor of this Magazine.

A large collection of Franks, Peers, and Commoners. Apply to E. Walford,
2, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W.




Books, &c., Wanted to purchase.


_Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer_, several copies of No. 2
(February, 1882) are wanted, in order to complete sets. Copies of the
current number will be given in exchange at the office.

Dodd’s Church History, 8vo., vols. i. ii. and v.; Waagen’s Art and
Artists in England, vol. i.; East Anglian, vol. i., Nos. 26 and 29. The
Family Topographer, by Samuel Tymms, vols. iii. and iv.; Notes and
Queries, 5th series, vols. vi., vii. (1876-7); also the third Index.
Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets” (Ingram and Cooke’s edition), vol. iii. A
New Display of the Beauties of England, vol. i., 1774. Chambers’
Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. i. Address, E. Walford, 2, Hyde
Park Mansions, Edgeware-road, N.W.

[Illustration: GLOVES OF SHAKESPEARE, IN THE POSSESSION OF MISS BENSON.

(From “_Gloves: their Annals and Associations_.”)]




_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._




Shakespeare’s Gloves

BY S. WILLIAM BECK, F.R.H.S.


Enough has been written of the calamities of authors, the mishaps which
have befallen precious MSS., their unfortunate mistakes, their
afflictions in many and various degrees of misery, but of their
consolations, of their happy stumbling on the clue to some historical
puzzle, the accidental discovery of some fresh information on a
treasured subject, their reward in at last finding some long-sought
facts--of all this we have heard little or nothing. But something of
such pleasure comes to most students; not so often as could be wished,
perhaps, but possibly quite as frequently as is good for study. And such
good hap did I hold to have fallen to my lot, when, in the autumn of
1882, I casually came across the announcement in a newspaper that a pair
of gloves, once the property of Shakespeare, were on loan to the
Worcester Industrial Exhibition then open, to illustrate the
oldest-established and yet the most considerable industry of the Fair
City. Gloves, and their connection with ceremonials now obsolete, and
customs only blindly followed, had long before been a favourite subject
of mine; and as I found how it led farther and farther afield into
history, and how closely it touched our national life, it became
altogether fascinating, and I was even then preparing for publication a
book upon it. If I held myself fortunate in chancing upon a reference to
so interesting a relic, as these gloves promised to prove, still more
cause did there seem for congratulation when a request to their owner
for further information led to their being most courteously entrusted to
my care to be photographed, and to my being furnished with the several
facts relating to their identity narrated on p. 122 of my “Gloves: their
Annals and Associations.” I “enthoozed” over these gloves not a little,
with no small reverence and half a hope that some reflected inspiration
might follow on what many people would regard as little short of
sacrilege, I ventured to put them on my hands, holding myself in great
measure excused by a very fair descent of them from the keeping of
Garrick to their present possessor, and by the undoubted fact that they
were at least attributable to the period from which they were said to
date. They are, at any rate, relics of undoubted age and value, apart
from any other considerations; not like those with which Mr. Black
invests “Judith Shakespeare,” in the novel with that title, now
appearing in _Harper’s Magazine_. Here the young lady at one time wears,
correctly and properly, a fine pair of gloves, scented and embroidered,
that her father had brought her from London, but when (on p. 541) one of
her lovers has departed from her in dudgeon, she very prettily--for she
is a charming young lady--looks “after him for a moment or two, as she
fastened a glove button that had got loose.” This is very unfortunate,
for people did not wear buttoned gloves then, nor for a long time after,
until it was desired to make them fit closely and display, rather than
merely cover, the hand, whereas it was the glove, and not the
proportions of the hand, that was made most conspicuous in Shakespeare’s
day.

In January of this year I received from Mr. Horace Howard Furness, of
Philadelphia, the eminent Shakespearian scholar, the following letter:--

     SIR,--In a review of your admirable book in the _Spectator_ for
     November 24, 1883, mention is made of a pair of Shakespeare’s
     gloves now in the possession of Miss Benson, which the reviewer
     states you incline “to consider genuine relics.” (I quote the
     review and the reviewer, because I have not yet seen your book. I
     ordered it from London through my bookseller some time ago, but it
     has not yet arrived.)

     Am I too bold in asking you to be kind enough, sometime at your
     leisure, to send me some of the grounds on which you have reached
     the conclusion that these gloves are those which were presented to
     Garrick in 1769? For several years past I have flattered myself
     that I was the fortunate owner of these gloves.

     The pedigree of mine will be found--

     First, in the letter of John Ward to Garrick in 1769. (See
     Garrick’s “Correspondence, &c.,” vol. i. p. 352.)

     Second, Mrs. Garrick’s bequest of them to Mrs. Siddons in her will
     dated 1822. See Campbell’s “Life of Mrs. Siddons,” p. 369, where is
     also to be found the formal note of Mrs. Garrick’s executors to
     Mrs. Siddons, requesting an interview, for the purpose of
     presenting these gloves to her.

     Third, Mrs. Siddons’ bequest of these gloves to her daughter
     Cecilia, Mrs. Geo. Combe, of Edinboro’.

     Fourth, Mrs. Combe’s bequest of them to her cousin, Mrs. Fanny
     Kemble.

     Lastly, the gift of these gloves in the very box in which Mrs.
     Siddons kept them, with her writing on the cover, “Shakespeare’s
     Gloves, left by Mrs. Garrick to Sarah Siddons,” and by my dear and
     venerated friend, Mrs. Kemble, to their present possessor.

     At any rate these gloves of mine were once Garrick’s, Mrs.
     Siddons’, and Mrs. Kemble’s. I am almost content to rest there.

     Should it interest you, I will send you a photograph of them.

Before proceeding further, let us bring in evidence the extracts adduced
to establish the authenticity of these gloves.

(_Private Correspondence of David Garrick_, vol. i. p. 352.)

MR. JOHN WARD[22] _to_ MR. GARRICK.

_Leominster, May 31st, 1769._

     DEAR SIR,--On reading the newspapers, I find you are preparing a
     grand jubilee, to be kept at Stratford-upon-Avon, to the memory of
     the immortal Shakespeare. I have sent you a pair of gloves which
     have often covered his hands. They were made me a present by a
     descendant of the family, when myself and company went over there
     from Warwick in the year 1746, to perform the play of “Othello” as
     a benefit, for repairing his monument in the great church, which we
     did gratis, the whole of the receipts being expended upon that
     alone.

     The person who gave them to me, William Shakespeare by name,
     assured me his father had often declared to him they were the
     identical gloves of our great poet, and when he delivered them to
     me, said, “Sir, these are the only property that remains of our
     famous relation; my father possessed, and sold the estate he left
     behind him, and these are all the recompense I can make you for
     this night’s performance.”

     The donor was a glazier by trade, very old, and, to the best of my
     memory, lived in the street leading from the Townhall down to the
     river. On my coming to play in Stratford about three years after,
     he was dead. The father of him and our poet were brothers’
     children.

     The veneration I bear to the memory of our great author and player
     makes me wish to have these relics preserved to his immortal
     memory, and I am led to think I cannot deposit them for that
     purpose in the hands of any person so proper as our modern Roscius.

I am, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
JOHN WARD.[23]

     P.S.--I shall be glad to hear you receive them safe, by a line
     directed for me in the Bargate, Leominster, Herefordshire.

     (_Campbell’s Life of Mrs. Siddons_, vol. ii. pp. 369-370.)

     “The widow of Garrick died in 1822, at a venerable age. She made
     the following bequest to the great actress, in a codicil to her
     will, dated August 15, 1822:--

     “I give to Mrs. Siddons a pair of gloves which were Shakespeare’s,
     and were presented by one of his family to my late dear husband
     during the jubilee at Stratford-upon-Avon.”

     Information of the above reached Mrs. Siddons, with this note from
     Mrs. Garrick’s executors:--

“_5, Adelphi Terrace, Oct. 30, 1822._

     “MADAM,--We beg leave to transmit to you the above extract from a
     codicil to Mrs. Garrick’s will, and to acquaint you that we will
     have the honour of waiting on you, for the purpose of delivering
     the relic therein mentioned, whenever you may be so good as to
     inform us that it may be convenient to you to receive our visit.

“We remain, with much respect, Madam,
“Your most obedient humble servants,
“THOS. RACKETT, } Executors.”
“G. F. BELTZ,   }



It is unfortunate that we have not the knowledge which led the editor of
Garrick’s “Correspondence” to underwrite Ward’s letter with such a pithy
postscript, and very regrettable that he should not have been brought to
book for his pains, particularly as his name is not given on the
title-page. The gloves, which may reasonably be referred to, bear, so
far as I can judge from the photograph with which Mr. Furness has since
favoured me, every mark of belonging to Shakespeare’s day, and were at
any rate of some value, worth too much intrinsically to be lightly given
away by an ordinary glazier; for, quoting the description of Mr.
Furness, the embroidery upon them, “as well as the fringe is all in gold
thread, still untarnished, the edging is of pink silk, which is
continued in the inside, an inch and a half in width. They are about
fourteen inches long, and six inches wide at the base of the gauntlet.”

There is no conflict of identity between these gloves and those pictured
in my pages, for the latter are declared to have been given to Garrick
by the Corporation of Stratford at the time of the Jubilee, in a finely
carved box of the mulberry tree planted by Shakespeare, and to have been
presented by the widow of Garrick to the direct relative of Miss Benson,
who now holds them. It is very tantalising that I cannot find a precise
testimony to this gift in any account of the Jubilee, although a friend
of mine has searched diligently in all the contemporary accounts and
county histories that can be thought of. There was, however, undoubtedly
such a presentation, for Foote, when Garrick produced “The Jubilee” as
an attraction at Drury-lane, determined to burlesque that and his rival
together. In this very practical jest, an actor intended to personate
Garrick--bearing on his breast a pair of white gloves and other articles
presented at the Jubilee--was to be addressed in the very words of the
panegyric pronounced on Garrick at Stratford--

    “A nation’s taste depends on you,
     Perhaps a nation’s virtue too.”

when Garrick’s counterfeit presentment was to flap his arms as though
they were wings, and crow--

    “Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo!”

It is pleasurable to write that this burlesque was never placed upon the
stage, although Foote plainly had to be coerced into suppressing it, and
was not to be hindered from writing “A Satirical Account of the
Jubilee,” which may be found in the 39th vol. of the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_, p. 458. There is also no doubt of the freedom of Stratford
having been presented to Garrick in a box made from the famous mulberry
tree, for the resolution of the Common Council of the borough conferring
this honour upon him particularly directs that it should be so conveyed
(“Staffordshire and Warwickshire Past and Present,” vol. iii. p. 116).

The friend to whom I have already acknowledged my deep indebtedness in
this quest, sends me from West’s “History of Warwickshire” trace of yet
another pair of gloves associated, at least traditionally, with the
Prince of Poets, and long kept on view in Anne Hathaway’s cottage at
Shottery. There were several such articles there, and among them “a
_chair_, termed ‘Shakespeare’s courting chair,’ a _purse_ about four
inches square, wrought with white and black bugles and beads; a small
inkstand, and a _pair of fringed gloves_. These articles were said to
have been handed down from Shakespeare to his grand-daughter _Lady
Barnard_, and from her through the Hathaway family to those of the
present day. Influenced by the currency of this tradition, Mr. _Ireland_
purchased the former two articles, and Mr. _George Garrick_ the latter.”
Here again, however, we find a discordant doubt expressed, for the
writer continues, “but these reliques will not bear examination. It will
be uniformly found, by those who make enquiries, without an effort at
self-deception, _that there is not a single article of any nature
extant_ that has been proved to have belonged to Shakespeare. There is
at present a bedstead with massive pillars, shewn as having belonged to
Anne Hathaway, but we consider it in character with the articles
attributed to Shakespeare.”

This scepticism and disbelief is doubtless honest enough, but it is
certainly too sweeping. These latter gloves are not now, within my
knowledge, in existence; as for the other two pairs I leave your readers
to judge whether these remarks apply to them, or whether one, or both,
may not be fairly considered to be hallowed by the associations claimed
for them.




The Dignity of a Mayor; or, Municipal Insignia of Office.

BY R. S. FERGUSON, F.S.A., MAYOR OF CARLISLE 1881-2 AND 1882-3.

_PART II._

(_Continued from p. 71._)


THE ordinary shape of a great mace is well known, and needs little
description. A shaft and a bell-like head; on the base of the bell are
the royal arms, and the bell is ornamented by an open-arched crown with
orb and cross on the top. The sides of the bell are divided into four
compartments by demi-female figures; and the rose, thistle, harp, and
fleur-de-lis, each occupies a compartment, and is crowned. The shaft is
divided into stages, and flying supports occur beneath the bell, and the
shaft and base are covered with foliage. The heads frequently unscrew,
and form loving cups. At Beaumaris the bells of the two maces contain
drinking cups, and at Pwllheli the mace is nothing else but a
two-handled drinking cup, with an oak pole stuck up its hollow foot.

The sergeants’ maces are simpler in form, and the crown is a mere open
circle of fleur-de-lis and crosses.

At Nottingham the sheriff has a mace, and at one or two places there are
maces for the mayoress.

When the Crown visits a town, the mayor should give up his staff of
office to the king, or queen, and himself bear the mace before his
sovereign. At Coventry, when William III. visited that city, the mayor
carried the mace and an alderman the sword. To a royal personage other
than his sovereign, the staff should not be given up, unless that
personage be there to represent the sovereign, but the mayor should
carry the mace. In 1503 the Lord Mayor of York himself carried the mace
before the Princess Margaret. On the occasion of royal visits to the
City of London, the Lord Mayor tenders to the sovereign his jewelled
sceptre. Sometimes the mace itself is given up to the sovereign, as at
Stafford, where the mayor kissed the mace and handed it to James I., who
admired it greatly, and then returned it. At Cambridge the mayor
delivered his mace to Queen Anne, who did the like.

Many corporations, in addition to their maces, possess swords of state
or honour. According to the best authorities, the oldest symbols of
municipal powers were the sword and the dragon, both of Roman origin,
the one being the cohortal ensign of the Romans, the other the insignia
of Supreme Justice.

     “At Amiens (says Dr. Thompson in his Eng. Mun. Hist.), the insignia
     of Supreme Justice consisted of two swords of antique shape,
     carried in the hands of two officials, and a similar custom
     prevailed among almost all the great Corporations of France, which
     undoubtedly had a continuity from Roman time.”

The sword, then, is the symbol of criminal jurisdiction, as the mace is
of civil. The County Palatinate of Chester had a state sword, which is
figured in the Visitation of that county in 1580, published by the
Harleian Society; while the Bishop of Durham, so long as he was a
temporal power and had criminal jurisdiction, was presented with a sword
on taking possession of his see.

The right to have a sword borne before a mayor was originally conferred
either by charter, which may often have merely confirmed a previous
practice, or by a royal present of a sword. Thus James I. gave the City
of Canterbury a sword to be borne before the mayor. Hull has two swords,
one given by Henry VIII., the other by Charles I. The authorities of
Carlisle purchased a “Sword of Honour” in 1635-6 for £4 13s. The blade
at least was second-hand, for it bears the date of 1509, and was made at
Milan. The authority to bear it was given by royal charter in 1637, but
it was probably purchased in London by a deputation who went there to
arrange about procuring the charter. On the locket of the sheath is cut
the letter S in great size, and I have never found a satisfactory
account of what it means, unless it stands for sword. Our governing
charter at Carlisle gives us the right to have a sword by authorising us
to have an official “qui erit et vocabitur Portator Gladii nostri coram
Mayore Civitatis prædictæ.”

The grant by charter of a sword differs in various places: at King’s
Lynn the sword is to be sheathed, at Chester it is to be borne before
the mayor “in our absence,” and point upright. I take it that the sword
should always be point upright, and that the Corporations of London and
York are wrong in putting it on their achievements of arms with the
point down. I take it, it should never be lowered but in the presence
of the Crown. The swords are generally sheathed, but the sword at Great
Yarmouth is carried unsheathed in time of a European war. At Lichfield a
sword is kept permanently fixed over the mayor’s pew, and sheathed, but
the sheath is withdrawn when the mayor attends church. At Carmarthen the
sword, by charter of Henry VIII., is ordered to be “freely and lawfully”
borne before the “said mayor in manner as is accustomed to be done in
our City of London.” A curious story comes from Coventry, that in 1384
the sword was carried behind the mayor because he had not done justice.
The Corporation of Chester and the dean and chapter of that place fell
out about the sword; the ecclesiastics objected to the mayor bringing
his sword to church, but it was decided that

     “As often as the mayor repaired to the church to hear divine
     service or sermon, or upon any just occasion, he was to be at
     liberty to have the sword of the city borne before him with the
     point upwards.”

The information I have before me only furnishes the names of five places
as having CAPS OF ESTATE OR MAINTENANCE, namely, London, York, Coventry,
Exeter, and Waterford. They are generally worn by the swordbearer, and I
imagine that many more places than I have mentioned provide their
swordbearers with fur coverings for their heads; but it is not to be
taken for granted that every fancy hat, whether of fur or not, worn by a
swordbearer is a CAP OF MAINTENANCE. Gwillim defines a cap of
maintenance as a cap of dignity, worn by dukes in token of good
government and freedom. Planché makes it the same as the “Abacot,” a cap
worn during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and commencement of the sixteenth
centuries by royal and noble personages, varying in form, and ultimately
taking a shape not unlike a Glengarry cap, made of crimson velvet and
lined with ermine, and occasionally placed by heralds beneath crests
instead of the ordinary wreath. It appears of that shape as a crest to
the arms of the City of York, but at London, both in the armorial
bearings and on the swordbearer’s head, it is of fur, of the shape of an
inverted flower-pot. At Coventry it is also of fur, and round, while at
Exeter I believe it is of red velvet. The history of this is known: it
was presented to the City of Exeter by Henry VII., and was worn by the
swordbearer until lately, when, on the suggestion of Mr. Tucker
(Somerset Herald), it was ordered to be carried before the mayor on a
cushion. I do not know the history of the other fur caps of maintenance
I have enumerated. If I did I might be able to throw some light on the
matter, but I own to being a little in the dark as to caps of
maintenance. If, as Gwillim says, the cap of maintenance is a mark of
freedom, its association with the swordbearer (the sword denoting
criminal jurisdiction) may mean freedom from all extraneous criminal
jurisdiction.

If this is so, I would suggest to the powers that be to lay down the
following rules:--

     That every mayor may and should have a mace; the mayor of a borough
     with a separate commission of the peace--a mace and a sword. If, in
     addition, his borough has quarter sessions of its own, then he
     should also have a cap of maintenance.

The Corporations of Colchester, Dover, Southampton, Norwich, Beaumaris,
Preston, Great Yarmouth, Poole, Rochester, Boston, Waterford, &c.,
possess SILVER OARS, the symbol of the maritime jurisdiction once
enjoyed by those places, but abolished by the Act of 1840, placing all
creeks and rivers in Great Britain under the High Court of Admiralty.
The origin of this symbol is not known, but it is a natural one, and is,
or was [for the Court is merged, I suppose, into the High Court of
Justice] the badge or mace of the High Court of Admiralty, and was laid
before the Judge, as the great mace used to be laid before the
Chancellor, when he presided in Chancery. The one belonging to the High
Court of Admiralty is said to be 130 years old, but an older one with
the arms of Queen Elizabeth thereon was once in existence. That
belonging to the Admiralty of the Cinque Ports is older still. One
belongs to the Governor of Bermuda, who has Admiralty jurisdiction.
These civic oars, like the maces, divide into two classes: large ones,
like that formerly at Boston, or that now at Great Yarmouth, meant to be
carried as maces before the mayor; small ones, as at Colchester and
Dover, the badges of authority of the water-bailiffs, who showed them,
when executing process, as the sergeants-at-mace did their maces. That
at Dover is 6 in. long, and is contained in a brass cylindrical box. The
Colchester one is 10 in. The one which was sold by Boston in 1832 is 3
ft. 3 in. long, and was carried as a mace; it is of the date of Queen
Elizabeth, and is now in the possession of Lord Brownlow. That at
Yarmouth is 4 ft. long, and has the Royal arms and those of the borough
on the blade. It was presented in 1745, and is of silver gilt. It is
carried before the mayor and behind the maces. Rochester possesses both
a great and small silver oar.

Much information as to silver oars will be found in the 30th and 31st
volumes of the Institute’s Journal.

By far the greatest part of the chains and badges worn by mayors are
modern, of various degrees of ugliness, and I certainly hope the
antiquaries of a future age will not judge of the art of the nineteenth
century from a collection of mayors’ chains. There are exceptions, such
as the chain presented to Exeter by the Institute in 1874, which
consists of sixteen main links, conjoined by small ones. Of the former,
eight are castles, an idea taken from the arms of the city; seven are
composed of the letter X, surmounted by a crown; the sixteenth is a
cinquefoil, containing a representation of the hat presented to the
mayor by Henry VII., and from the cinquefoil depends the badge on which
is, in enamel, the arms of the city.

I do not know that a mayor’s chain and badge has any particular
symbolism; I do not think that it is in the nature of a “collar.” It
merely marks out its wearer as a man of importance, and requires no
special authority to authorise its assumption. It is part of the idea of
a mayor, inherent in him. But I must protest against some municipalities
which have, without any right whatever, provided their mayors with
collars of SS. The Lord Mayor of Dublin wears one, but the collar was
given to the city by Charles II., so there is no doubt as to his right
to wear it; but I think the Lord Mayor of London would find great
difficulty in satisfying the College of Arms as to his right to a collar
of SS, which was given him (temp. Henry VIII.), not by the Crown, but by
a subject, Sir John Alleyne. The town council of Cork coolly ordered a
_fac-simile_ of the Dublin one to be provided for their mayor. The
council of Derby purchased Lord Denman’s collar of SS, and their mayor
wears it. Coventry, Nottingham, Stamford, Kingston-on-Thames, and other
places possess modern chains of the “SS pattern,” as the jewellers call
it, and their mayors wear them. They might with equal propriety assume
the insignia of the Order of the Garter.

The use of chains is not confined to mayors; several other civic
dignitaries wear them--sheriffs, and aldermen in some instances. York
provides a gold chain for its Lady Mayoress, and is ungallant enough to
weigh the chain when it is handed to a new Lady Mayoress, and again when
she gives it up; an old scandal asserts that a former Lady Mayoress
appropriated some of the links. Hull, which, by the way, possesses a
mayor’s chain of the date of 1564, sold its Mayoress’s chain. At many
towns the waits, or town musicians, had badges with chains for
suspension: these are generally of silver, and the badges bear the arms
of the place. Several curious examples exist. Lincoln has a mayor’s
ring, but whether it is ancient or not I do not know, nor do I know of
any other place.

As to civic robes, I can give no information and lay down no rules. The
mayor of Carlisle is one of the few mayors who possess no robe, and I
rather congratulate myself thereon. I was utterly unprepared for the
gorgeous spectacle presented by my brother mayors at the Mansion House
in 1882. Every variety of material, of colour, and of pattern was to be
seen that the wildest imagination of the tailor could devise.

Although the mayor of Carlisle has no gown, the unreformed corporation
of Carlisle had them in the seventeenth century, as shown by the records
of a Court Leet, held on Monday, October 22, 1649:--

     “We order (that according to an ancient order) the Aldermen of this
     Citty shall attend the Maior upon every Lord’s day to the Church in
     their gounes, and likewise to attend the Maior in the Markett-place
     at or before the sermon bell to the Church, _sub pena_ vi_s_.
     viii_d_. _toties quoties_; and the Common Counsellmen to attend
     likewise, _sub pena_ 3s. 4d. _toties quoties_.

     “We order that the present bailiffes of this Cittie shall forthwith
     provide for either of them a decent gowne for the Honnor of this
     Cittie, _sub pena_.”

The lateness of the hour warns me to stop. I daresay many of you think I
have been but wasting the evening in gossip over trivial matters. “But,”
as Mr. Thompson writes, in his “English Municipal History,”--

     “The citizen of olden times looked upon the municipal insignia with
     a _political_ significance. When he saw the mace and sword, when he
     saw the banner of his community unfurled, his heart exulted at the
     thought that his fellow-citizens and he constituted a body enjoying
     entire independence, their own civil and criminal jurisdiction, and
     a name in the land which kings and lords respected.”




The Name and Office of Port-Reeve.

BY JAMES HURLY PRING, M.D.

_PART II._

(_Continued from Vol. IV. p. 266._)


The transference of the significance of words beyond the scope to which
it was originally applied, is so obvious and generally recognised a
fact, that I did not consider it necessary to insist more particularly
upon it in my former paper.

Many of your readers would doubtless be able to call to mind numerous
examples of the kind, and, indeed, I did not credit any of them with
being unacquainted with so common and notorious a fact, and one which
suggests itself so readily in the instance of the word _port_ which was
the word here specially under discussion.

It may, however, under the circumstances, be well to call attention to
that very remarkable instance of the kind which has been made familiar
to us by Mr. Isaac Taylor, in his “Words and Places.” He states (p. 309)
that “on the Mons Palatinus--a name the etymology of which carries us
back to the time when the sheep were bleating on the slope--was the
residence of the Roman emperors, which, from the site, was called
Palati(n)um, or Palatium. Hence the word PALACE has come to be applied
to all royal and imperial residences.” And he goes on to observe, that
“it is one of the curiosities of language that a petty hill-slope in
Italy should have thus transferred its name to a hero of romance, to a
German State, to three English counties, to a glass-house at Sydenham,
and to all the royal residences in Europe.” The example thus cited is
doubtless very marked and extreme of its kind, very different in this
respect to the easy and obvious transference of the word _port_ to a
city enclosed within _gates_, the contracted word _port_ itself being
derived from the Latin _porta_, a city-gate.

When indeed it is considered that, like other Roman towns, each of the
numerous cities or towns of Roman Britain which subsequently became a
Saxon burh or borough was empowered not only to collect tolls in respect
of the objects actually sold at its gates, but also (as at present in
Continental towns) to levy octroi (_ansaria_) on all provisions and
wares brought within the gates for subsequent sale at the markets (the
_Fora venalia_) inside, it is easy to understand not only how such towns
speedily came to acquire a mercantile character, but also how the word
_port_, originally restricted to the gates where such extensive
transactions were carried on, would at no distant period become applied
also to the town itself.

When, therefore, the learned Professor Stubbs, now Bishop of Chester,
derives the word _port_ from _porta_, as referring to “a mart or city of
merchants,” it is only reasonable to suppose that the recognition of
this change was present to his mind, and that he had in view that
advanced period in Saxon times when the word port had already become
transferred from the gates themselves to the town which was enclosed
within them, and was apparently applied indifferently to either. But
however this may be, we may at least be absolutely assured that he never
intended to imply that _porta_, which carries us back to the original
derivation, _a portando aratrum_, did not primarily and originally mean
a city-gate.

It is not my intention to follow Mr. Round through all his erratic
criticisms of my paper. The greater part of them may safely be left to
the discretion of your readers; at the same time, the want of candour by
which some of his remarks are characterised, will not fail to be noted.
Thus, for example, when he dilates upon the occurrence of the word
“underlying,” instead of “unlying,” in my reference to the Laws of
Athelstan, everyone will at once perceive that this accidental error of
transcription (for which I cannot account) is at least quite immaterial
to the point at issue, which turns entirely upon and is wholly centred
in the question of the signification of the word _port_. It is to an
examination, therefore, of Mr. Round’s strictures on my use of this word
_port_ that I shall now advert.

Mr. Round objects to the use of the word _port_ as synonymous with
_gate_ where it occurs in the words “out of _port_,” or as I have
rendered it “outside the port,” in the Laws of Athelstan; he rejects the
identification with or derivation from _porta_, of the word “port,” as
insisted on by Professor Stubbs, and he limits the word _port_ to mean
only “a market or trading town,” totally discarding the notion of its
having anything whatever to do with “a gate.”

And first, as Mr. Round asserts that my rendering “outside the _port_ or
_gate_” “is a mere gloss of my own on the word _port_,” perhaps he will
be good enough to tell us in what light he regards the instance which he
himself adduces of “New_port_ gate in Lincoln”? Would he in this case,
according to his own rule, have the word _port_ rendered New
_market-town_ gate? Again, in the case of the “Port of East-gate,”
(_portam de East Gatâ_,) to which reference is made in the Charter of
Henry I. to Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, it is quite manifest that
here, as indeed in Newport gate, the Anglo-Saxon “geat,” on which Mr.
Round dwells so fondly, is nothing more than the frequently observed
reduplication of synonyms,[24] caused in this instance by the Saxons
affixing this additional name of their own to the object, which under
the Roman name of port or porta conveyed to them no intelligible
signification. When, therefore, Mr. Round stigmatises my “rendering
outside the port or gate” as “a mere ‘gloss’ of my own on the word
port,” he must surely have overlooked these and similar instances in
which the word _port_ is used synonymously with _gate_, and more
especially the fact that precisely the same rendering of the word
_port_ was given nearly three hundred years ago by no less an authority
than Camden. Referring to the great Roman wall, Camden states that the
“two forts called Castle steeds are to be seen in the wall, and then a
place called _Port-gate_[25] where (as the word in both languages fairly
evinces) there was formerly _a Gate_ (or sally-_port_) through it.[26]”

And here if we take the word sally-_port_ thus presented to us, and I
may add to this also the word _port_-cullis, there are few, I apprehend,
except Mr. Round, who would contend that in these instances the word
_port_ means a “market town,” and has no reference to “a gate.” Even in
the case of the actual word _port-reeve_ itself, Sharon Turner is found
giving the word “port” its true meaning when he explicitly states that
“the _port_-gerefa, or the gerefa of the _gate_, was witness to all
purchases without the _gate_”[27] thus in fact showing how this eminent
Saxon historian and scholar read and understood the passage in the Laws
of Athelstan. Numerous examples of the same kind might easily be
adduced, and I might refer to those given in my former paper, which,
like the common occurrence of the term _extra portam_, and similar
illustrations of the use of _porta_, Mr. Round seems to have found it
convenient to ignore. It is needless, however, to multiply further
instances to the same effect.

Mr. Round next proceeds to point out that “the markets were held in the
_forum_,” “that we should consequently expect the name of a market town
to be derived from _forum_ rather than from _porta_,” and that the
“_forum_ so far from being at the gate (_porta_) was unquestionably in
the very centre of the settlement,” and that “as the markets were in no
sense held at the _porta_, we are precluded from deriving port from
_porta_”! This unique and somewhat anomalous specimen of argument,
together with the unnecessary piece of information as regards the
relative situation of the forum and the _porta_, which Mr. Round feels
“compelled” to point out in order to correct the error of Professor
Stubbs “in identifying ‘port’ with the Latin _porta_,” may all be
confidently remitted to the just discrimination of your readers. I
would, however, observe with respect to Mr. Round’s remarks on the
position of the forum, that it was scarcely necessary for him to go to
Silchester and to Cilurnum in exemplification of the well-known fact
that the forum was situated in the centre of a Roman town or city. This
fact, indeed, is even now amply attested by the lines of conformation
discoverable in many of our old borough towns, of which Taunton itself,
the town from which I write, affords a very apt and striking
illustration.

I think it well here to state that the foregoing observations were
written in reply to Mr. Round’s first paper, but it was deemed advisable
to defer their publication until after the appearance of a second
promised paper, in which Mr. Round undertook to prove that port in
Port-reeve was derived from _portus_, and not from _porta_, and stated
that he would offer “a most satisfactory explanation,” which would
“completely justify us in accepting the _portus_ derivation.” Now,
however, that the second paper has appeared, it would seem that he must
have found the handling of this “_portus_ derivation” a more awkward
business than he had anticipated, for the result is that he abandons it
altogether, and arrives at the conclusion that the Romans could never
“have called an inland town a _portus_,” nor in his opinion “_a porta_”
either!

Having thus made a summary despatch of this “most satisfactory
derivation,” Mr. Round next shifts his ground _in toto_, and calls on us
in his second paper to accept a new theory of his own, which he is about
to propound, and by which he “claims _port_ as an English word, in
itself distinct from the Latin words _Porta_ and _Portus_.” Whether he
will be more successful with this new “theory” than he has been with his
unfortunate “_portus_ derivation” we are to be left in uncertainty until
the appearance of his third paper. In the meantime, if in claiming port
as an English word Mr. Round means an Anglo-Saxon word, I would observe
I am aware of its occurrence in Lye’s “Anglo-Saxon Dictionary” (fol.,
vol. ii.), where we find “Port, a port. Portus. To tham porte, ad
portum, Bed. 4. I. Civitas. Oppidum. Into tham porte. In civitatem;
Ælfr. Gr. c. 5. Potius tamen, _Porta_ civitatis vel oppidi.” Thus, then,
we see _port_ even here referred back to _porta_, a city-gate, as the
source of its original and most accurate derivation or meaning.

It seems somewhat strange, amid the great uncertainty attending his own
views, as shown by the variety of derivations which he has proposed,
that Mr. Round should have failed to avail himself of the opportunity
afforded him by the Celtic. In the excellent dictionary, the “Antiquæ
Linguæ Britannicæ Thesaurus,” by the Rev. T. Richards, we find “Porth, a
door, a porch, a haven,” and we learn that the same word exists in the
Armoric. I am quite aware of the great similarity, or as it has been
termed “the cognate character,” of many Celtic and Latin words, but
notwithstanding this knowledge, and all that Mr. Round has also advanced
on the subject, I would still maintain, in the instance of port-reeve,
the usually adopted derivation of _port_ from the Latin _porta_.

All notice has likewise been omitted by Mr. Round of the word _port
way_, and the customarily accepted Roman significance attaching to it,
and also of the common words _porter_ (a door-keeper), and _portal_, the
derivation of which is, I believe, universally referred to the Latin
_porta_.

The July number of THE ANTIQUARIAN MAGAZINE has now brought us Mr.
Round’s third paper. Instead, however, of its containing, as we had been
led to expect, some more fully developed account of his “natural and
intelligible process by which the English word _port_ was formed,” and
some evidence in proof of his strange and as yet unsupported assertion
that the word _port_ was originally “coined by the English,” we find
that he merely reverts to a further consideration of the word _port_,
touching on the question of Newport gate, and barely alluding to the
Welsh _porth_, two points to which it will be observed that I have here
just adverted somewhat more fully.

I now apprehend that I have been mistaken, but must confess that it
never occurred to me that Mr. Round’s conjecture in his second paper as
to the manner in which the minds of “the English pirates” would be
likely to be affected by the word _portus_, was all he meant to tell us
respecting “the natural and intelligible process by which the English
word _port_ was formed,” or that he could seriously propose to put
forward this crude assumption of his own for general acceptance on a
question of this kind.

Mr. Round’s observations in his third paper are not of a character to
make it necessary for me in any way to alter or modify anything that I
have already said. Indeed, so far as his introduction of the authority
of Mr. Freeman is concerned, he has contributed only to strengthen my
position, for the passage which he quotes from Mr. Freeman’s “English
Towns and Districts,” (a work which I have not enjoyed the advantage of
seeing,) may, _mutatis mutandis_, be equally well applied to the word
port-reeve.

If we merely substitute the word _port_ for “name of the gate,” and _in
Port-reeve_ for “Nova Porta,” the sentence will read thus: “The abiding
Latin port, in port-reeve, of itself goes far to show that there could
have been no long gap between Roman or British and English occupation.”
With this slight and quite legitimate alteration, (for the whole force
of Mr. Freeman’s statement hangs on the presence of the word _porta_,)
it would be difficult to express the point for which I have been
contending in more apposite terms, and the circumstance that Mr. Round
sees fit to question Mr. Freeman’s statement because _he_ can “find no
evidence for it,” is a matter regarding which I do not feel myself
called upon to enter.

As Mr. Round now informs us that his paper is “to be continued,” and it
appears to be uncertain when it will be brought to a conclusion, I deem
it best no longer to defer forwarding this reply, more especially as he
proposes to make some other words, with which I do not find myself in
any way concerned, the subject of his future criticisms.

In conclusion, I would observe that the result of my former paper was to
bring me many interesting communications on the subject of which it
treats.

From the general tenor of these communications, as well as from other
sources, I gather that the ancient office of port-reeve is rapidly
falling into desuetude, though in some comparatively rare instances the
Port-reeve still remains the chief officer of the borough, and is
invested with considerable power and privileges. Thus, in an obliging
communication which I received from the Port-Reeve of Tavistock, that
gentleman is good enough to inform me that he not only still remains the
returning officer of the borough, but that he also enjoys a seat on the
County Bench, as J.P. for Devon, solely by right and in virtue of his
office as Port-reeve, a fact which I conceive is sufficiently rare and
interesting to merit being placed on record.




The Salic Law.

BY CHARLES MACKAY, LL.D., _Author of “The Gaelic Etymology of the
Languages of Western Europe.”_


THE Salic law, which still prevails in some parts of Europe, is supposed
to have been instituted in the sixth century by Clovis, or Pharamond,
King of the Franks. In Shakespeare’s play of “King Henry V.,” Act i.
Scene 2, King Henry, addressing the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Bishop of Ely, thus asks them to expound the Salic Law:--

    “My learned Lord, we pray you to proceed:
     And justly and religiously unfold,
     Why the law Salique, that they have in France
     Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury in his reply mentions the ancient tradition
that this law was instituted by Pharamond, and continues:--

    “The land Salique is in Germany,
     Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe,
     Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons,
     There left behind and settled certain French;
     Who, holding in disdain the German women,
     In some dishonest manners of their life,
     Established then this law--to wit, no female
     Should be inheritrix in Salique land.”

The very prosy speech of the Archbishop, from which this is an extract,
bears no trace of the fine hand of Shakespeare, and was copied almost
_verbatim_ from Holinshed.

President Henault, borrowing from previous writers--who wrote from
tradition, without adequate proof or authority for the statements they
made or adopted--says that it was Clovis who instituted and signed the
Salic Law in A.D. 511, the year of his death. Voltaire says that Clovis
could neither read nor write, and that it is uncertain whether his name
was Clovis, Clodvic, or Hildovic. Voltaire states also that there are
two versions of the text of this Salic Law, each of which differs from
the other.

Though the word _Salic_ is by no means uncertain in its meaning, its
etymology is so very obscure and undecided as to have puzzled all the
French, German, and English philologists who have flourished since the
invention of printing. According to Worcester’s Dictionary the word was
applied to a body of laws framed by the Salians or Salian Franks, about
the beginning of the fifth century, but who the Salians were, no one has
yet been able to explain. The derivation from the River Saal, which
Holinshed calls _Sala_, is wholly untenable, as well as the imputation
on the virtue of the German ladies of the district through which that
river runs. The Salic law never prevailed in any part of Germany, but
was peculiar to such Keltic nations as France and Spain. It continued to
prevail in France until the abolition of the monarchy under Louis
Philippe in 1848, and was never a question so much as debated in the
Imperial monarchy under the first or the third Napoleons. In Spain it
was abrogated only by Ferdinand VII., within living memory, in favour of
his daughter, the infant Isabella, whose accession to the throne led to
a civil war, which cannot yet be said to have ended, as long as Don
Carlos or his family exist and keep their pretensions alive. On this
subject Voltaire, in his “Philosophical Dictionary,” has some pithy
remarks. According to Froissart he says, “The kingdom of France is of
such great nobleness that it never can allow the succession to go to a
female,” and adds, “but one must confess that this decision is very
unpolite for England, for Naples, for Hungary, and for Russia, in which
latter country four reigning Empresses have sat upon the throne.”

In the French “Etymological Dictionary” of Messrs. Noel and Carpentier,
are cited various surmises as to the origin of the word, among others
that _salique_ is a corruption of _gallique_, that it comes from
_Salle_--the great hall of a palace, from an imaginary tribe of Germans
called in Latin _salice_, from _si aliquis_, the first words of the
Latin document in which the Salic law was promulgated; from _sal_, salt,
and from _Salogart_, the name of one of Pharamond’s jurisconsults, or
counsellors. Who shall decide when so many doctors disagree? Yet as the
law was a Keltic law, passed by a Gaelic speaking people some centuries
before the formation of the actual French language, search ought to be
made for the derivation of the word in Keltic sources. We there find _So
lagh_, the “excellent or befitting law.” This was a name very likely to
have been given to such an ordinance by barbarians, who thought that
none but men and warriors were fit to govern them, or lead their armies
to the conflicts in which they were perpetually engaged. The name of
Pharamond himself was purely Keltic, and signified a Highlander or
mountaineer, from _fear_, a man, and _monadh_ a mountain. The four
jurisconsults who are reported to have drawn up the ungallant law at the
request of Pharamond are given by Voltaire as Visogast, Harogast,
Salogast, and Vindogast. In these names the final syllable, gast,
appears to have been a title given to learned men of the Keltic tribes
of the period, from _gasda_, or _gasta_, expert, or skilful. Brachet’s
“French Etymological Dictionary,” printed at the Clarendon Press,
Oxford, in 1882, and advertised to have been revised by the French
Academy, does not contain the word salique or salic, which looks as if
M. Brachet was not satisfied that it is really of French origin.

       *       *       *       *       *

LORD BRABOURNE, after many years’ collecting, has brought together a
unique series of papers relating to the early history of Australia.
These have just been purchased by the New South Wales Government. The
batch consists mainly of letters formerly in the possession of Sir
Joseph Banks, long president of the Royal Society, and deeply interested
in New South Wales, since he accompanied Captain Cook in the discovery
of that country. The letters cover a period between 1772-1815. Among
them are letters of Captain Cook, his companion Captain Clark, and many
from later discoverers and visitors to the new lands.




Lines on Opening an Ancient Barrow.[28]

BY THE REV. W. LISLE BOWLES.


DURING the examination of one of these ancient burial-places by Sir
Richard C. Hoare, a storm of thunder and lightning surprised the
antiquaries. “Our only place of refuge,” says Sir Richard, “was the
barrow, which had been excavated to a considerable depth. The lightning
flashed upon our spades and iron instruments, and the large flints
poured down upon us from the summit of the barrow, so abundantly and so
forcibly, that we were obliged to quit our hiding-place, and abide the
pelting of the pitiless storm upon the bleak and unsheltered down.” Mr.
Bowles, being of the party, sent the following beautiful poem the next
morning to Sir R. C. Hoare:--

    “Let me, let me sleep again;
     Thus methought, in feeble strain,
     Plained from its disturbed bed
     The spirit of the mighty dead.
     O’er my mouldered ashes cold
     Many a century slow hath rolled,
     Many a race hath disappeared
     Since my giant form I reared;
     Since my flinted[29] arrow flew,
     Since my battle-horn I blew;
     Since my brazen dagger’s pride
     Glittered on my warlike side,
     Which, transported o’er the wave,
     Kings of distant ocean gave;[30]
     Ne’er hath glared the eye of day
     My death-bed secrets to betray,
     Since with muttered Celtic rhyme,
     The white-haired Druid bard sublime,
     ’Mid the stillness of the night,
     Waked the sad and solemn rite,
     The rite of death; and o’er my bones
     Were piled the monumental stones.
     Passing near the hallowed ground,
     The Roman gazed upon the mound;
     And murmured, with a secret sigh,
     ‘There, in dust, the mighty lie.’
     Ev’n while his heart with conquest glowed,
     While the high-raised flinty road[31]
     Echoed to the prancing hoof,
     And golden eagles flamed aloof,
     And flashing to the orient light
     His bannered legions glittered bright,
     The Victor of the world confessed
     A dark awe shivering at his breast.
     Shall, then, the Sons of distant days
     Unpunished on my relics gaze?
     Hark! Hesus rushes from on high,
     Vindictive thunder rocks the sky;
     See, Taranis[32] descends to save
     His hero’s violated grave;
     And shakes, beneath the lightning’s glare,
     The sulphur from his blazing hair.
     Hence! yet though my grave ye spoil,
     Dark oblivion mocks your toil:
     Deep the clouds of ages roll,
     History drops her mouldering scroll,
     And never shall reveal the name
     Of him who scorns her transient fame.”




The Ancient Etruscan City of Luni.

BY LA SIGNORA CAMPION.

    “Lunai portum est operæ cognoscere, cives.
     Cor jubet hoc Ennî.”--PERSIUS, _Sat._


JUST outside the walls of Sarzana, in Liguria, and scattered over about
five or six acres of the partly cultivated plain, may be found portions
of the remains of the once important and thriving Etruscan city of Luni.
Though it is accessible from La Spezia within half an hour by railway,
yet it lies sufficiently off the beaten track of travellers to this part
of Italy to be scarcely mentioned in the guide-books, and therefore it
has escaped the notice which it deserves. Some account of the spot and
of its early history, so far as I have been able to trace it, may
therefore be acceptable. The place was at one time a trading town upon
the Gulf of Spezia, and is said to have been founded by the Etrurian
Tarchon.[33] (See Strabo, lib. v.; Cato, Origines xxv.)

Luni--“La Superba,” as she was proudly called of old--was situated at
the head of a bay, or rather arm, of the Mediterranean, forming a
commodious and deep natural harbour, and backed by that spur of the
Apennines which forms the Carrara Mountains, so famous for their
exquisite marble. But for the numerous fragments of ancient anchors,
chains, masts of vessels, and other objects which are now and again
being brought to light, and for the vast blocks of stone forming the
ancient quay of the town, some of which may still be seen _in situ_, it
would be difficult to realise that here was the identical port so
admiringly mentioned by Ennius and by Strabo, and so famous as having
sent forth armed vessels three thousand years ago to assist the Greeks
in the siege of Troy, and from which so many thousands of tons of the
Carrara marbles were exported to Italy and other countries in more
recent times.

It is on record that Titus Manlius here embarked the army with which in
B.C. 537 he started to quell the rebellion of the Sardi. From this port,
also, the Emperor Claudius sailed on his attempt to conquer Britain.

Luni continued to rank as one of the most prosperous cities of Etruria,
till it was harassed and invaded by the indomitable Ligurians, who made
themselves masters of it. Wrested from them by the Romans, and subjected
to the Republic, the power of Luni rapidly declined; and, as though to
hasten her ruin, successive inundations of the River Magra choked up her
harbour with their deposits, while the sea, as if in concert with its
tributary, receded from her shore. In 1015 A.D. Luni was taken and
partially destroyed by the Saracens, and in 1185 Frederick Barbarossa
handed her over to the authorities of the Christian Church, who made the
town an Episcopal See.

In connection with the early history of the neighbouring city of La
Spezia will be found the names of various bishops of Luni; but the
latter see extended over a period of little more than a century, for we
find that in consequence of the malarious and deadly exhalations arising
from the stagnant pools left by the Magra’s floods and the retirement of
the sea from the bay, Luni had to be completely abandoned about 1300
A.D.

The site has been hitherto but little explored, but considerable
quantities of pottery, articles in bronze, coins, mosaics, &c., are from
time to time turned up by the peasants when cultivating their little
plots of land. These treasures have mostly found their way into the
hands of private collectors, I believe, and until steps are taken to
organise a thorough exploration of the spot, much that would be in the
highest degree interesting to the antiquary and the public will remain
buried in oblivion. At present all that can be seen of ancient Luni may
be summed up briefly thus: (1) Portions of a temple dedicated to
Plantilla, wife of the Emperor Caracalla. (2) The amphitheatre, much
despoiled and overgrown. (3) A circular building, 9 metres in height,
and containing rows of niches. (4) A large building supposed to have
been used as a granary or depôt for military stores. (5) Portions of an
aqueduct. (6) Some prostrate columns, friezes, and capitals. (7) The
ancient well, still furnishing the clearest and coolest water in the
neighbourhood.

For some of the information herein contained I am indebted to Signor S.
Cerini, whose access to various archives and manuscripts has supplied me
with data, and who is the author of a pamphlet on the subject published
two years ago. For the rest I have had to glean the meagre information
contained in this paper as best I could; but my visit to the spot has
increased my desire to know more about it, and my hope is that a day may
soon come when the hidden archæological treasures of the buried Luni
will be unearthed for the instruction and admiration of the public. I
may add that the spot is most picturesque, and well worthy the attention
of artist and antiquary alike. For myself, so long as I live here, I
will do my best not to let the subject drop.

       *       *       *       *       *

FROM a paper contributed by the veteran scholar, Dr. Edkins, to a recent
number of the _Chinese Recorder_, it appears that about B.C. 2200 the
Chinese possessed a knowledge of the art of writing, a year of 366 days
with an intercalary month, the astrolabe, the zodiac, the cycle of
sixty, of twelve musical reeds forming a gamut, which also constituted
the basis of a denary metrology for measures of length, weight, and
capacity, divination, and a feudal system.




Reviews.


     _History of the Wrays of Glentworth_--1523-1852. 2 vols. By CHARLES
     DALTON, F.R.G.S.

THE founder of the Wray family, _i.e._, the first member of it who
brought the name into honourable notice, and who received a “grant of
arms”--that necessary appendage to gentility--was Sir Christopher Wray,
who “raised himself from nothing” to become Lord Chief Justice of
England. This was in the middle of the sixteenth century. Since that
time some of his descendants have received the “honour” of knighthood,
some have had the baronetcy conferred upon them, whilst others have
distinguished themselves either in the senate or the field, or in some
other public capacity. Although the work before us is of a genealogical
character, Mr. Dalton has endeavoured to amalgamate in it “many
different subjects, woven together into history.” Scattered through
these pages are numberless anecdotes--more or less associated with the
Wrays or with the families allied to them by marriage. The first of
these volumes was published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall as far back as
1880; the second volume, issued in 1881, was “privately printed.” The
author’s reason for not making his second volume public he explains as
follows: “I find there are so few of the many descendants of the Wrays
who take any interest in their progenitors, that it would be labour lost
to cast my work into the great public trough, where it could have no
chance of competing with any three-volume novel, even though that same
three-volume novel had no better claims to the notice of the reader than
the skilfulness with which the author had managed to clothe impurity
with a seeming garb of innocence.” “The Wrays of Glentworth” is far
removed from the ordinary run of dry-as-dust genealogies, and will be
found to contain much interesting matter. It may be added that the
surplus stock has been bought over by Mr. H. W. Ball, of
Barton-on-Humber, by whom they are now announced for sale.

     _The Order of the Coif._ By A. PULLING, Serjeant-at-Law. W. Clowes
     & Sons. 1884.

UNDER the above quaint but appropriate title, Serjeant Pulling has
compiled a most interesting memoir of that grade in the legal profession
of which he will probably prove to be one of the last survivors. The
“coif” is, according to Bailey’s dictionary, “a sort of hood or cap for
the head,” and serjeants-at-law (_servientes ad legem_) were called
“Serjeants of the Coif, from the coif of Lawn which they formerly wore
on their heads under their caps, but now (1763) upon the hinder part of
their wigs.” The author remarks most justly, as an excuse for
undertaking this work, that “in this country we have a history of
neither the Bench or [nor] of the Bar,” and that “the order of the coif
was the first phase of both.” And it is known to all that till quite a
recent date it contained nearly every legal celebrity both of the Bench
and the Bar. The work is largely based on Serjeant Wynne’s tract,
published in 1765, entitled, “Observasions touching the Antiquity and
Dignity of the Degree of Serjeant-at-Law;” and it is an expansion of an
article in the _Edinburgh Review_ for October, 1878, on the same
subject, in which much of the matter of the book now before us is
foreshadowed. The introductory chapter and that which follows it are
together a study in English constitutional history. The following
chapters treat of very many subjects, which will be interesting alike
in Westminster Hall and in the new Law Courts; and the seventh chapter,
devoted as it is to the ancient habits and observances of the Order,
their robes, their rings, and “posies,” their solemn processions, their
feasts, masques, revels, &c., is a storehouse of antiquarian learning,
and as such most highly to be commended. The last chapter treats of the
later history of the Order down to its recent abolition--one which is on
many accounts deeply to be regretted. It is always bad to abolish old
landmarks unless they have come to stand in the way of progress and
improvement; and this charge we never heard brought against “The Order
of the Coif.” The illustrations, eight in all, are admirable, and light
up a book which is never dark or dull.

     _A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich._ By JAMES HALL.
     Printed for the Author. Nantwich, 1884.

THE County Palatine of Chester abounds in quaint and curious county
towns, but few of them have a more interesting history than Nantwich.
Some account of the town is to be found in Ormerod and in Lysons, and
smaller notices of it have been published more recently in a local
journal, in whose files these are now buried. Mr. J. Hall has therefore
supplied a decided want, and by his researches in the Record Office and
in the family papers of Messrs. Wilbraham and Tollemache, he has added
largely to our knowledge of its earlier history. These results he has
now placed before the world in a handsome quarto volume, the
subscription list at the beginning of which is a proof that an author,
unlike a prophet, may succeed in getting “honour even in his own
country.” The work treats in successive chapters of the foundation of
Nantwich, the history of the barony of which it formed a part, its
church, hospital, grammar-school, and other ancient buildings, its early
charters, and other privileges, its guilds, fairs, and bridges, its
mention in the Subsidy Rolls, its visitations from battle, plague, and
fire, and its share in the struggles of the Civil war. The latter part
of the volume is devoted to an account of its commercial importance, its
banks, its manufactories and industries, and especially that of salt,
while full value is given to the contents of its parish registers, its
charities, and the histories of the several families connected with the
town, the Cholmondeleys, Wilbrahams, Tollemaches, Kingsleys, &c. The
volume is illustrated by several views, well engraved on stone, and some
woodcuts, showing the details of its street architecture. We would draw
particular attention to the view of “Old Houses in High Street,” given
on p. 415.

     _Old Registers of the Parish of St. John Baptist, Peterborough._ By
     the Rev. W. D. SWEETING, M.A. Peterborough: G. C. Caster. 1884.

THIS little _brochure,_ of some sixty octavo pages, formed the subject
of a lecture delivered by Mr. Sweeting before the members of the Church
Institute in March last, and has been published by request. Among the
entries quoted are several of a quaint and curious character, and some
which contain glimpses into the life and habits of our predecessors,
thereby imparting to them an amount of interest which will probably be
found wanting in the registers of the present day when they come to be
examined some 300 years hence. The clergy are now supplied by authority
with books, with spaces marked out and ruled for dates and names, and
the insertion of anything beyond the mere fact registered seems to be in
every way discouraged.

_Old Aunt Elspa’s A B C_, “imagined and adorned” by JOSEPH CRAWHALL
(Field & Tuer), is a quaint book for children, printed on rough
hand-made paper, and illustrated with curious woodcuts after the manner
of the old chap-books. It is one of the “chepe and curious bookes”
“imprynted atte ye signe of ye Leadenhalle Presse, in ye Old London
Streete, in ye Health Exhibition, South Kensyngton, London towne, in ye
yeare of Grace, 1884.”

     _Ye Historical Sketch of ye Olde London Streete._ Edited by T. ST.
     Edmund Hake. Waterlow & Sons. 1884.

UNDER the above title Mr. Hake has set forth in a neatly-printed
_brochure_, embellished with eleven illustrations--or “gravinges” as
they are here called--the principal features in the now well-known Old
London Street in the International Health Exhibition at South
Kensington. As he tells us in his introductory remarks, it would be
difficult for a historian, a romance writer, or even a poet, to select a
subject calculated to awaken more interest than Old London. “In secluded
nooks and corners where an echo of the footstep can often be heard, may
be found some monument or landmark--a temple, tombstone, or
tavern--which speaks eloquently of the past. The ‘writing upon the wall’
may be worn out; the stone once smooth may be wrinkled like an old face;
still such are the ‘things of fame,’ to inspire the minds of men, and to
lead to reflection and research.” The illustrations embrace full-page
etchings of the north and south sides of the “street,” and smaller
engravings of Bishopsgate, the Rose Inn, the Three Squirrels, Isaac
Walton’s house, the tower of All Hallows Steyning, &c.

_English Etchings_ for July and August (D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s-place,
W.C.) contain several admirable examples of this popular art, among them
being “Westminster-bridge with the Houses of Parliament,” by Mr. Ned
Swain; and “Middle row, Holborn,” by Mr. A. W. Bayes. The clearing away
of the block of buildings represented in the latter plate, a few years
ago, made it possible to see fairly and well the Holborn front of Staple
Inn, one of the oldest existing specimens of our street architecture,
dating from the time of James I. It is seen on the right-hand side of
the plate. Dr. Johnson lived in Staple Inn in 1739, and there wrote his
“Idler,” “seated on a three-legged chair, so scantily were his chambers
furnished.” This publication, which has now reached its thirty-ninth
monthly part, continues to maintain the high character which it has
hitherto enjoyed.

THE _Journal of the British Archæological Association_ (Vol. xl., Pt.
ii.), which is now before us, contains a large number of most
interesting papers, as will be seen by the mere announcement of the
following titles: “Dover Records in the British Museum,” “Historical
Sketch of the Castle of Devizes,” “The Development of the Fortifications
of Dover Castle,” “The Crosses at Ilkley,” “The Castles of Sandown and
Sandgate,” “Samphire,” “Recently-discovered Fresco at Patcham Church,
Sussex,” “Roman Embanking and Sanitary Precautions,” “Remarks on Recent
Archæological Relics of London,” “Some Relics of the Past recovered from
London Sites,” &c. Many of these papers were read by their authors at
the Archæological Congress at Dover last year.




Obituary Memoirs.

     “Emori nolo; sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.”--_Epicharmus._


MR. ALFRED BENJAMIN WYON, F.R.G.S., died in June, aged 46. Mr. Wyon was
admitted a student of the Royal Academy in 1855, and after studying in
the School of Painting for some years, turned his attention to metallic
work, and in 1865 he united with his brother, Mr. Joseph S. Wyon, in the
appointment of chief engraver of Her Majesty’s seals, in the execution
of medals, and the important seals of State. This appointment was held
jointly by the two brothers until the death of Mr. Joseph S. Wyon in
1873, since which time it was held singly by the subject of this notice.
Since 1873, Mr. Alfred Wyon was entrusted with the preparation of the
Great Seal of England which is at present in use, the seal of the
colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Fiji, and other Crown dependencies.
During the last few years Mr. Wyon had collected a vast amount of
information respecting the history of the Great Seals of England, and of
seals attached to charters and other municipal documents. Papers upon
questions arising in connection with these subjects Mr. Wyon from time
to time read at the meetings of the Archæological Association.

THE REV. MARK PATTISON, B.D., Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, died at
Harrogate on July 30, at the age of 71. He was born at Hornby,
Yorkshire, was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and became a Fellow of
Lincoln College. He was elected rector in 1861. He was the author,
_inter alia_, of “Isaac Casaubon, 1559-1604: a Biography,” and a “Life
of Milton.” He edited Pope’s “Essay on Man, with Notes,” Pope’s “Satires
and Epistles, with Notes,” and Milton’s “Sonnets, with Notes.” Mr.
Pattison, who was a trustee of the Crewe Charities, married, in 1862,
Emilia Frances, youngest daughter of the late Colonel Strong, of the
Madras Army, a lady who is well known as the author of the “French
Renaissance,” and generally as an art-critic.

M. ALBERT DUMONT, the distinguished author on Greek archæology, has died
at Paris. He was 43 years of age, was a member of the Institute, and a
high official at the Ministry of Education.

JOHN GUSTAVUS DROYSEN, Professor of History at the University of Berlin,
died on July 19, in his 84th year. Among his best-known works are a
“History of Alexander the Great,” which was published in 1837; a
“History of Hellenism,” two volumes, 1836-43; “Lectures on the History
of the War of Freedom,” two volumes, 1840; “History of Danish Politics
from Acts and Documents,” conjointly with Samwer, 1850, and a “History
of Prussian Politics,” vols. i.-x., 1855-70.

SIR ERASMUS WILSON, LL.D., the somewhat distinguished Egyptologist, has
died, at the age of 75. In 1831 he was elected a member of the College
of Surgeons, and he became president of that body in 1881. He was a
vice-president of the Society of Biblical Archæology and President of
the Egypt Exploration Fund, the success of which has been largely due to
his munificence. He gave £500 towards Mr. Naville’s excavations at
Pithom, and £1,000 to Mr. Petrie’s work at Tanis, and the Society has in
many besides financial ways been deeply indebted to his unflagging
interest. Among his published works, his “Egypt of the Past,” and “Notes
on Egypt and Egyptian Obelisks,” hold a foremost place. It was at his
expense that the Egyptian obelisk, commonly known as “Cleopatra’s
Needle,” now on the Victoria Embankment, was brought to this country. It
is said to have cost him more than £10,000.

HERR MAURICE THAUSING, Professor of Art History at the Vienna
University, and author of a work on Albert Durer, has been drowned in
the Elbe, at Leitmeritz.

MR. WILLIAM DOBSON, formerly of Preston, a well-known Lancashire
archæologist and local _littérateur_, has died, at the age of 64. He was
the author of “Rambles by the Ribble,” “A History of the Parliamentary
Representation of Preston,” “Preston in the Olden Time,” and other
works. He was for many years proprietor and editor of the _Preston
Chronicle_. The third series of “Rambles by the Ribble” was published in
1883, and a continuation of the work was in hand at the time of Mr.
Dobson’s decease.




Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.


ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.--The forty-first annual meeting, or
congress, of the Royal Archæological Institute was opened on Tuesday,
August 5, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, this being the second occasion on which
the Institute has held its annual gathering in that city. Newcastle was
almost rebuilt half a century ago by one of its sons, Richard Grainger,
so that it now presents but few attractions to lovers of the past, with
the exception of sundry old wynds or “chares” on the steep sides of the
Tyne, which still remain, and two or three churches, and the old Norman
castle which once was “new,” and from that circumstance gave its name to
the ancient city of Munc-ceaster, or the ancient city of the Monks,
which it superseded. The part of this castle which is still standing has
been of late years put into good condition, thanks to the energies of
sundry local antiquarians and archæologists, and is now fitted up as a
museum. One of the rooms, too, served as the headquarters of the
congress. At twelve o’clock the members of the institute, headed by the
Duke of Northumberland and Lord Percy, were received in the Town-hall by
the Mayor (Mr. F. Newton), the Sheriff (Mr. T. Nelson, F.S.A.), and the
other members of the corporation. The Mayor’s address was brief and to
the purpose. After welcoming the Archæological Institute on behalf of
the town, and paying a well-timed tribute to the noble president of the
present meeting and his son, he recapitulated the history of Newcastle
from the era when it was the Pons Ælii of Imperial Rome, through the
Saxon and Danish days to the time of the Conquest, soon after which it
became a Norman stronghold. He then traced its career through the
Scottish wars and in the days of the Great Rebellion, and said that in
the Scottish Rebellions of 1715 and 1745 it was the headquarters of
military operations in the north. Of late years it had devoted itself,
as a town, to the arts of peace; and it is justly proud of the place
which it holds in modern progress and commerce. But its devotion to
commerce did not lead its inhabitants to forget or to undervalue its
connection with the past. The Sheriff added a few words in the double
capacity of a Newcastle man and a member of the Society of Antiquaries.

The Duke of Northumberland, as president of the meeting, delivered a
short address, in which he drew a picture of the history of the border
coasts of Northumberland at various dates, its connection with the
records of early Christianity in the north of England, the frays and
border forays by which it was so marked in the days of the Plantagenets
and Tudors, and even down to the Stuart era, and the strange way in
which old local customs had survived within it down to a very recent
date. Among the objects of archæological interest to which the members
of the Institute would have their attention drawn during their stay in
Newcastle, his Grace observed, were the Roman wall, built by the Emperor
Hadrian, the Norman keep in Newcastle, and the holy edifices at
Lindisfarne, Tynemouth, and Jarrow--the last the birthplace of the first
of English historians, the Venerable Bede. In the antiquities of the
north of England could be traced the history of the country from the
period of the ancient Britons down through the Roman occupation to the
time of the conflicts of Saxons, Danes, and Normans. For the elucidation
of these subjects much credit was due to the Newcastle Society of
Antiquaries, and also to Dr. Bruce, the historian of the Roman wall, and
Mr. John Clayton and gentlemen who have devoted their lives to the study
of the archæology of the North.

A vote of thanks to the Duke of Northumberland was moved by Lord
Aberdare, and seconded by the Bishop of Newcastle, who drew the
attention of his hearers to the great benefits which the England of
to-day owed to their Norman and their Saxon ancestors, reminding them
that the study of the past, if followed up in a kindly and appreciative
spirit, must teach the present and the future generations many important
lessons of gratitude. The Duke of Northumberland, in a few short
sentences, acknowledged the compliment, and the meeting was at an end.

The company were subsequently received in the lecture-room of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle by the members of the
local Society of Antiquarians, whose president, the Earl of Ravensworth,
addressed to them a brief speech, greeting their arrival, and promising
them a wide field of interesting research on either side of the Tyne.
Whether they went along the Roman wall westwards, to Holy Island and
Lindisfarne northwards, or southwards to Durham, or eastward to
Tynemouth--in every direction they would see traces of late Rome during
Christianity. He ended by saying that he admired the study of
archæology, for it made an old man young again, and made a young man old
by increasing his field of observation and experience. In the afternoon
the members of the two societies met together at the Black Gate of the
Castle, from whence they proceeded, under the guidance of Mr. W. H.
Longstaffe, to inspect the remains of the castle, the new cathedral (St.
Nicholas Church), the remains of the old city walls, the Trinity House,
the Old Exchange, in which the Company of Merchant Venturers had its
home; and, finally, the churches of All Saints’, St. John’s, and St.
Andrew’s. The leading features of the castle were commented upon by Dr.
Bruce and Mr. Longstaffe, who placed its date at about 1172-7, and held
that it was absurd to ascribe it to the previous century or to a son of
the Conqueror. Dr. Bruce pointed out the king’s chamber, with its
curious Norman chimney-piece, the whole of the chamber being cut out of
the solid wall; the queen’s chamber, a corresponding apartment on the
other side of the building; the donjon or dungeon keep in the basement,
and the Norman chapel, with its rows of round-headed arches, with
curious and costly mouldings. At All Saints’ Church the visitors were
shown the fine brass of Roger Thornton--one of the finest in the
Kingdom; and in the mayor’s room at the Old Exchange a series of mural
paintings, representing scenes and sketches from old Newcastle.

In the evening the antiquarian and historical sections respectively of
this Congress were opened at the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical
Institute by Dr. Bruce, the historian of the Roman wall, and the Rev.
Canon Creighton, who has just been appointed to a chair of history at
Cambridge. The lecture of the former gentleman treated mainly of the
subjects with which his pen is so familiar, and especially with the
early introduction of Christianity into Northern England, quite apart
from the emissaries of Rome and St. Augustine; whilst Canon Creighton
drew an interesting picture of the history of Northumberland,
Cumberland, and the adjacent counties, as the border district between
England and Scotland, and therefore in many ways the sufferer from the
wars between those two countries, and from the frays which continued to
be carried on between their inhabitants long after the two countries had
been united under one Crown.

On Wednesday, by invitation of the Duke of Northumberland, the members
paid a visit to the Castle of Alnwick. Mr. G. Clark, the great authority
on castellated architecture, explained every portion of the outer works
and of the extensive fabric in succession. He showed reasons for
believing that even in Saxon times the high ground on which the Castle
stands was the site of a “burgh” then, and that it was afterwards seized
upon and strengthened by the Normans. Much of the lower portion of the
walls, as they still stand, is Norman, though portions of it, such as
the barbican and some of the towers which crown the walls, are the work
of the De Vescis and the Percys. He showed the value of its strong
position, supported as it was by a host of smaller fortresses by which
it was surrounded, and illustrated the way in which, even if a part were
captured, the rest of the Castle could hold out and annoy its
assailants. The interior of the Castle, which is modern, and fitted and
furnished in the Italian style, was much admired. The furniture,
ornamentation, and fine gallery of paintings were made the subject of
comment by Dr. Bruce, who acted as _cicerone_ over the interior, as Mr.
Clark had done over the exterior of the building. At three o’clock all
the visitors lunched in the banqueting-hall of the Castle.

On their way to Alnwick, the company visited Warkworth Castle, on the
Coquet, a magnificent building, but still little more than a ruin. It is
very much like Alnwick, though the points of difference between them are
very great and numerous. Standing on a projecting headland and swept on
three sides by the Coquet, it occupies a very strong and indeed
formidable position, and must have at one time dominated over the whole
surrounding country, whilst it guarded the mouth of the river against
the incursions of the Danish and Scandinavian pirates. Here, too, Mr.
Clark acted as interpreter, and he explained in succession every
separate feature of the castle, including its central keep and the
adjoining chapel, of which only a few traces remain. At the conclusion
of Mr. Clark’s lecture most of the party walked up the meadows along the
banks of the Coquet and crossed the river in boats to inspect the old
hermitage cut in the side of the solid cliff, which forms the subject of
more than one poem, and lives in Goldsmith and in Percy’s Reliques. The
hermitage consists of two rough-hewn chambers, one of which was used by
the anchorite as a chapel, and the other served him as a bedchamber.
Between them is a small window of the Gothic type, which it was thought
was used by him as a confessional, as he sat within. It was not
possible for all the members of the congress to inspect this interesting
spot, as the river had to be crossed, and the ferry boat was not
constructed to carry more than a dozen passengers.

After luncheon some of the party went to Alnwick Abbey, in the valley of
the Alne, about a mile off, where some interesting tombs have lately
been discovered, and the plan of some monastic buildings laid bare;
others drove to Hulne Abbey to see the grounds and park; and the return
journey to Newcastle was made by special train.

In the evening papers were read in the architectural and archæological
sections as follows: Mr. J. Bain on “The Ancient Percys of Scotland;”
the Rev. J. Hirst on “The Ancient Mining Operations in Britain;” Dr.
Hodgkin, “A Translation of Hübner’s Eine Römische Annexion”; and Canon
Raine, of Durham, read a paper on “The Ecclesiology and Architecture,
Secular and Religious, of Northumberland,” in which he condemned the
mischievous practice of what was termed “restoration.” The so-called
restoration of a church now too often meant the destruction of all that
gave it its value as an ancient piece of architecture. This paper was
followed by a discussion, in which Messrs. Longstaffe, Walford, and
others took part, and in which Sir Edmund Beckett’s rebuilding of the
west front of St. Albans Abbey was condemned in strong terms.

Thursday was devoted to a visit to Lindisfarne and Holy Island, a place
associated, as every reader of “Marmion” knows, with the history of St.
Cuthbert. Arriving at Lindisfarne, the party made their way to the ruins
of the abbey, which stand in a meadow, not far from the water’s edge, a
cliff rising between it and the sea and protecting it on the south. The
Dean of Chester (Dr. Howson), in obedience to a very general request,
gave a short biographical account of St. Aidan and a sketch of his
apostolic labours in the propagation of the Gospel throughout the north.
After the Norman Conquest, he said, Lindisfarne was again colonised by
the faithful, and a Benedictine abbey founded in it, which lasted till
the Reformation, when it was granted by the King to the Earl of Dunbar,
and the work of its spoliation began; the lead being first stripped from
its roof, it soon fell into decay, and is now roofless. As a ruin it is
carefully preserved from further decay and injury by its present owner,
Sir William Crossman. A tribute having been paid by the Rev. Mr. Lowe to
the character of St. Cuthbert, the details of the existing fabric were
explained _seriatim_ by Mr. J. T. Micklethwait. Mr. Hodgson, a local
antiquary, also commented briefly on the views of the last speaker.
After luncheon, the parish church was visited; this adjoins the west
front of the Abbey, and has some Norman and early English features,
which were duly explained by the Vicar. The company afterwards walked to
the castle at the eastern extremity of the island, and from this they
had good views of Bamborough Castle and the range of the Cheviot Hills.
Shortly before sunset the visitors returned to Newcastle.

On Friday the party set out upon a visit to Bamborough Castle and the
adjoining Church. The former rises from the sea on a bluff and bold
headland in a princely way, quite worthy of its ancient history, from
the days when it was erected by the first Saxon King of Northumbria in
the middle of the sixth century; and it is worthy of note that
Anglo-Saxon chroniclers style it the royal mansion. Though not so
magnificent in its interior, and covering less ground, it is scarcely,
if at all, inferior to Alnwick, while its weird situation by the sea
imparts to it a character all its own. Some persons compare it to Dover,
but the comparison will scarcely hold good, except as to its keep. The
castle owes much of its celebrity and of its comparatively perfect
condition to Nathaniel Lord Crewe, the munificent benefactor of Oxford,
who purchased the fabric, and left it in the hands of trustees to be
devoted to charitable purposes, both local and general. It contains a
fine library and gallery, schools for the middle classes, and appliances
of all kinds for the relief of shipwrecked persons. The fabric of the
castle was explained at considerable length by Mr. G. T. Clark, F.S.A.,
each successive portion being separately discussed, and the whole
chronologically illustrated. After the keep had been examined attention
was drawn to the outer bailey and other outworks of the castle, which,
though of inferior masonry to the central portion, are curious in their
structure, and possibly even earlier in date. The members of the
congress afterwards visited the parish church of Bamborough, which is
dedicated to St. Aidan, and made a pilgrimage to the grave of Grace
Darling, whose heroism of nearly half a century ago in rescuing the
passengers of the _Forfarshire_ steamer is still remembered. In the
evening the various sections resumed the reading of papers promised
according to the programme. Mr. Charles J. Bates read the first half of
an exhaustive paper on “The Peel Castles of Northumberland.” These were
illustrated by photographs of the castles, their keeps, gateways,
windows, buttresses, ramparts, battlements, and in many cases their
heraldic bearings also, being shown by the help of magic lantern slides.
The Rev. G. F. Brown also read an interesting paper on the fragments of
sculptured stones which are to be seen at Monkwearmouth and Jarrow.
Those members of the Congress who did not go to Bamborough Castle spent
the day in examining the contents of the museum at the castle, the
treasures of the Literary and Philosophical Society, the Free Public
Library, &c.; but what attracted them most was the local museum, partly
permanent and partly on loan, which had been set out for their benefit
in the rooms above the Black Gate at the castle. Here the Mayors and
Corporations of Morpeth, Newcastle, and Carlisle exhibited their
regalia, and besides these there was displayed a collection of stone and
bronze implements, lent by Canon Greenwell, a collection of
ecclesiastical plate, mediæval lacework, illustrated missals, and other
manuscripts, prints, &c.

Saturday was one of the most interesting days of the congress, it being
devoted by a greater part of the members to a pilgrimage to
Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, places well known as the abodes of the
Venerable Bede, the earliest of our English Church historians. Before
starting, however, the Institute held, as is its established custom, its
annual meeting, over which Lord Percy presided in virtue of his office.
The balance-sheet and other accounts, which happily showed an excess of
income over expenditure, were read and passed, and so also was the
annual report, which recorded the fact that during the past twelvemonth,
thanks to a committee appointed for that purpose, the Institute had been
regularly incorporated--that is, placed under the Incorporated Societies
Act--whilst another committee had been engaged on reporting on its
books, prints, papers, &c., with a view to their re-arrangement. The
rest of the report was taken up with a record of the resignation of the
much-respected secretary, Mr. Albert Hartshorne, and the appointment of
Mr. Hellier Gosselin in his place; and this was followed by a short
obituary notice of some of the members of the Institute who have died
since the Lewes congress, including Mr. John Henry Parker, C.B., author
of the “Glossary of Architecture,” and the best explorer and interpreter
of Ancient Rome; the Rev. Henry Addington, the most learned of
Bedfordshire antiquaries; the Rev. James Fuller Russell; and the Hon.
William Owen Stanley, M.P. A few alterations in the rules of the
Institute were proposed by the Rev. Mr. Spurrell, but were negatived, it
being felt by the meeting that such matters had better be left in the
hands of the council. It was agreed that next year’s congress should be
held at Derby. At twelve o’clock a special train took the members of the
congress to Monkwearmouth, where the ancient parish church was the
object of a pilgrimage. The tower is by far the most interesting portion
of the church, being not only undoubtedly Anglo-Saxon, but of very early
Saxon date. It was built towards the end of the seventh century by
Benedict Biscop, who employed French workmen on its details, and caused
them to insert windows of glass, a luxury till then unknown in churches.
Bede gives a long account of this church, and of the monastery adjoining
it, which contained, it is said, 600 monks prior to its destruction by
the Danes. Like Jarrow, the monastery, on its revival and restoration,
became a cell subordinate to St. Cuthbert’s great church at Durham. The
details of the structure of Monkwearmouth Church were described at
considerable length by the Rev. Mr. Boyle, who pointed out some very
curious dwarf figures on either side of the western doorway of the
tower, which were repeated in the interior, and remarked on the quaint
manner in which the square stones of the early Saxon churches had been
worked into the upper part of the tower walls, which he thought might be
as late as the Norman Conquest or a little after, though their leading
features were distinctly Saxon. Mr. Johnson, a local architect under
whom the recent restoration of the church has been effected, added a few
remarks on other portions of the sacred fabric. It was proposed by Mr.
Micklethwait that the stones should be protected by a lean-to building
of wood placed round the lower portion of the tower, and this proposal
seemed to gain general acceptance. Mr. Micklethwait also pointed out
that, in all probability, adjoining the west front of the tower there
was once a baptistery, of which he showed some traces still remaining.
From Monkwearmouth the members of the congress made their way by special
train to Jarrow, a place which has even still richer memories of the
Venerable Bede, for here that historian spent the greater part of his
life, in the monastery built by Benedict Biscop in A.D. 680--a few years
after Monkwearmouth. The small hill on which the church of Jarrow stands
was not surrounded then as it is now by tall smoky chimneys and by
odoriferous chemical “works,” but was then, as we are told, green and
lonely. It was, and is still, placed on a peninsula formed by a
tributary of the Wear, and from the fact of Roman vessels and monuments
being found here in plenty, it probably occupies the site of a Roman
station. On the death of Benedict, Bede left Monkwearmouth and settled
at Jarrow, where he became a monk, and here he passed the rest of his
life in study and devotion. He wrote many other books, the “Life of St.
Cuthbert,” for instance, but his _opus magnum_ was that Ecclesiastical
History which he undertook at the suggestion and request of Ceolwolph,
King of Northumbria, a monarch who also ended his days as a monk in the
Abbey of Jarrow. Bede died here in May, A.D. 735, and was buried in the
church that he loved so well. The inscription on his tomb is recorded by
William of Malmesbury. The church itself is very like that of
Monkwearmouth in its general features, though its tower is central, and
not placed at the western extremity, as is the case there. The chancel
here is the oldest portion of the fabric, and the three tiny windows in
the south wall, one of them circular are curious from their extreme
simplicity and the depth of their “splay.” In the vestry here, as at
Monkwearmouth, are very many incised slabs of early Saxon date, if not
more primitive still. Inside the communion rails, on the southern side,
stands an old oaken chair with a tall straight back, of very rude
manufacture. This passes current in the neighbourhood as St. Bede’s
Chair; but the tradition was shown to be baseless by the reverend
lecturer, Mr. Boyle. The remains of the abbey on the south side of the
church were next inspected; these, being of Norman design, were clearly
not the buildings once tenanted by Bede, though they stand on the same
site. One Norman chimney-piece was very much admired. The members of the
congress then walked down to the river and took advantage of a steamer
placed at their disposal by the Tyne River Commissioners to make a
voyage down the river to Tynemouth, whence the party made their way to
the ruins of the priory, on a bluff headland within the castle. A large
portion of the western towers, some of the central tower, and the whole
of the east end of the chancel are still standing, magnificent specimens
of the Early English style, just as it began to pass into the Decorated,
but all bare and roofless. The small “Lady-chapel” was repaired and
decorated some quarter of a century ago by the late Duke of
Northumberland. The time at their disposal was very short, so Mr.
Johnson, who had undertaken to read a paper on the Priory within its
walls, was obliged to confine himself to a very few historical and
architectural remarks. Those of the party who eschewed the voyage down
the Tyne went by invitation to Ravensworth Castle, where they were
entertained by Lord Ravensworth, who showed them his family portraits
and other treasures, and conducted them round the outer walls and towers
of the older castle, which has given way to the present modern
structure. In the evening there were meetings in the antiquarian and
historical sections in the great room at the Castle, when a paper was
read by Mr. Park Harrison, and another by Mr. H. S. Skipton, on
“Streatlam Castle and its Heroes.” But the chief interest of the evening
was centred in a lecture by Dr. Bruce on “The Northumberland Small Pipes
and Scottish Bagpipes,” accompanied by musical illustrations. He was
assisted by a choir of young ladies and gentlemen, who sang parts of
“Chevy Chase” and other local ballads, and by two Northumberland pipers
and a Scottish piper, who in turn treated the audience to various
specimens of their national airs and marches.

On Sunday there were special musical services at the cathedral of St.
Nicholas, where two appropriate sermons were preached, that in the
morning by Canon Dixon, and that in the evening by the Rev. E. Venables,
preceptor of Lincoln Cathedral. The visit of the archæologists to
Newcastle was made the subject of a sermon also at High Mass at the
Roman Catholic cathedral, by the Rev. Father Dunn, and the Rev. J. Hirst
discoursed on “The Church and Archæology,” at St. Dominic’s Priory
Church.

Monday was devoted to an examination of the Roman Wall and the Roman
station of Cilurnum at Chollerford. Dr. Bruce, the venerable topographer
and historiographer of the Roman Wall, acted as guide. The party
proceeded on foot, about 120 strong, to Brunton House, in the grounds of
which they inspected a turret of the wall which has been newly brought
to light, and which doubtless was one of those which occurred at every
mile along the line. Its peculiar construction was made the subject of
some remarks by Dr. Bruce, who also explained the course which the wall
took along the adjoining hillside down to the River Tyne. Following the
course of the wall they came to the river, where they were gratified by
the sight of one of the finest pieces of Roman masonry now to be seen in
England, the foundations and piers of the bridge thrown by Hadrian or
Agricola across the river. The stones are large and square, carefully
fastened together with lead and iron, and morticed in a manner which
would have done credit to the best builder of to-day. Dr. Bruce also
pointed out some round stones which he considered to have been set
upright, with chains or wooden bars between them, as guards on either
side of the passage. Traces of the bases of the other piers are to be
seen in the bed of the river and on the opposite bank. After luncheon
the party continued to follow the course of the wall to the Limestone
bank, where Dr. Bruce again explained the peculiarities of the masonry.
From this they took in their way back Chesters, the seat of Mr. J.
Clayton, which stands on the site of the old Cilurnum, and minutely
inspected the excavations, which are so well known to antiquaries, and
which have been so often described. They were shown the ground-plan of
an entire Roman camp, four-sided and square, with its four gates, each
protected with a double guard-house; even the doorways through which the
Roman soldiers passed in and out could be discerned on a careful
inspection. Not far off was the forum or market place; in it also every
part could be traced, and so could the general’s residence adjoining the
camp outside, and of course on the south side of the wall. Even the
bath-house and the bake-house, with the hypocaust and the ovens _in
situ_ could be made out. The party were here directed to Mr. Clayton’s
magnificent collection of Roman altars and other very ancient treasures
which have been dug up under his orders at various times during the last
half-century, and are arranged under the entrance portico of the house.
Among these are several votive offerings to the Emperors, to the Deæ
Matres, &c., and very many touching memorial tablets, implements of war
and of agriculture, urns, amphoræ, and bones of men and animals. A
similar collection in one of the summer-houses in the garden was also
inspected. Here were seen two beautifully carved life-size figures
representing respectively Cybele and Victory. A finely carved Corinthian
capital and several small works were also explained by Dr. Bruce. Among
the altars, Dr. Bruce drew particular attention to one which bore the
inscription, “To the ancient gods.” To this altar Dr. Bruce referred in
his address in opening the Antiquarian Section, and this, with others of
a similar character, he believes is evidence that Christianity prevailed
in the North of England during the Roman occupation. Several of the
Romans, he believes, embraced the new religion, while others who refused
to accept the new faith, raised altars to the “ancient,” or “old,” gods.
Returning to Newcastle, the company in the evening divided themselves,
part going to the room at the Castle, where the Rev. G. R. Hall
discoursed on the “British Remains in Northumberland,” and Mr. R. Pullan
on “Some Recent Discoveries at Lanuvium;” whilst the rest repaired to
the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Institute, where Mr. E.
Walford took the chair in the Architectural section. Here Mr. C. J.
Bates read the second and concluding part of his paper on “The Peel
Castles of Northumberland,” which he illustrated by photographs thrown
on a sheet by the help of a magic lantern. This was followed by an
account by Mr. W. St. John Hope of the recent excavations which he has
made at Alnwick Abbey, under the auspices of the Duke of Northumberland
and Lord Percy, and by which he has succeeded in bringing to light the
entire outline and ground-plan of a religious house, of which, with the
exception of one single entrance gateway, every trace above ground had
disappeared.

The first halting-place in Tuesday’s excursion was Prudhoe Castle, where
the archæologists were met by Lord Percy and by Mr. G. Clark, by the
latter of whom the fabric was described in detail. Mr. Clark pointed out
_seriatim_ the barbican and the entrance gate, of late Norman work, with
the chapel over the latter. This was carefully inspected by all the
party, though its access, being at the top of a steep staircase, was not
of the easiest. Passing on, the party were shown the remains of the
keep, the line of ramparts, with staircases in the walls, the inner and
outer baily, and the castle ditch or moat, once full of water, but now
nearly dry. Mr. Clark also explained the points in which the strength of
the castle as a military fortress consisted, and spoke at considerable
length about the De Vescis, the Umfravilles, and former lords. Many of
the members present remarked on the obvious resemblance between the
north front of Prudhoe Castle and the north terrace at Windsor Castle,
with the level fields lying at its foot and reaching to the Tyne, just
as the Home Park at Windsor reaches to the Thames. Upon leaving Prudhoe
the party went on foot to the parish church of Ovingham, where the
Norman architecture was examined. The other places which they visited
were the church of St. Peter and St. Andrew, at Bywell, and the still
more interesting church and peel tower at Corbridge, and, lastly, the
border fortress of Aydon, a most remarkable and picturesque building,
now used as a farmhouse. It was built at the close of the thirteenth
century, and is an excellent specimen of a building which, like so many
on the Scottish border, was at once a mansion and a fortified
stronghold. The building is surrounded by an outer wall, pierced with
arrow-holes, and enclosing three courtyards. The wall is surrounded on
three sides by a shallow ditch, while on the fourth it is protected by a
deep ravine. The building in former days was entered by an external
staircase, which was covered from above. Over the chimneys in one of the
rooms are the arms of the Carnabies, its former owners. From the walls
of Aydon the party were able to obtain a fine view over the valley of
Hexham; and they left the place with expressions of great regret that
both Hexham Abbey and Dilston Castle had been obliged to be left out of
the society’s programme. Corbridge, an old town, once large and
flourishing, but now reduced to much smaller dimensions, and having only
one church instead of four, was the last on the programme of the day.
The small square peel tower in the market-place, formerly used as a
gaol; the market cross, erected on the site of an older one by the Duke
of Northumberland in 1814; and the fine old stone bridge across the
Tyne, with its span of seven arches--the only bridge which resisted the
great flood of 1771--were in turn inspected by the party, who then
returned to Newcastle. In the evening the general concluding meeting was
held in the Literary and Philosophical Institute.

On Wednesday the proceedings were brought to a close by visits to
Brancepeth Castle and Durham, two as magnificent specimens of mediæval
architecture as they had seen throughout the week. The former, the seat
of Lord Boyne, is a fine example of a baronial castle of the Middle
Ages, fitted up internally in tolerable harmony with its ancient
character. It stands on a piece of flat land looking down upon a shallow
but picturesque ravine, well wooded and watered, and surrounded by a
pleasant and extensive deer park. It shares along with Raby the
distinction of having been the ancient home of the Nevilles, though it
originally belonged to a Saxon family named Bulmer, whose heiress
married one of the companions of the Conqueror. The church, which stands
in the park, was first visited, under the guidance of the Vicar of
Brancepeth, the Rev. H. J. Swallow, who in describing the building drew
special attention to the fine wooden monumental effigies of Ralph, first
Earl of Westmoreland, and Margaret, his wife, which adorn the chancel.
The Early English tower, the remains of an elaborately carved roodloft
or chancel screen, and a chantry chapel now used as a vestry, were duly
inspected. In the vestry the party were shown some autograph signatures
of Dr. Cosin, sometime vicar of this parish and afterwards Bishop of
Durham, whose name is identified with ecclesiastical ritual and
post-Reformation vestments. The church is dedicated to an Irish saint,
St. Brandon, which renders it highly probable that the commonly accepted
derivation of the place from the path of the wild boar or “brawn,” who
used to lay waste the country hereabouts, is apocryphal. At the
conclusion of the Vicar’s brief address, Mr. Beresford-Hope made a short
speech recapitulating the services of Dr. Cosin to the English Church,
he being the chief supporter, after Laud, of the Anglo-Catholic
tradition which has paved the way for the Oxford movement and for the
work of the Cambridge Camden Society. On arriving within the precincts
of the castle, Mr. Swallow proceeded to explain the chief features of
the structure, which, he said, was built on the site of an earlier Saxon
edifice by the Nevilles. It was from this castle that the Nevilles and
the rebel army set out to join the fatal rising of the north in the time
of Mary Queen of Scots, which led to the deprivation of that great
family of both Raby and Brancepeth. For some years after this date
Brancepeth was vested with the Crown, but it was sold by Charles I., and
after passing through various hands was bought by the late Mr. Matthew
Russell, one of the richest Commoners early in the present century,
whose granddaughter carried it in marriage to Lord Boyne, an Irish peer,
whose son a few years since was created Baron Brancepeth. The exterior
of the castle was very expensively and substantially, though perhaps not
very tastefully “restored” about half a century ago, when many of its
ancient features were swept away and others obscured. The _enceinte_ of
the walls remains; but the entrance tower and the outer baily have been
sadly altered, and even the baron’s hall, where there is to be seen a
large stand of arms, has been renovated. So also has the chapel, though
the old walls still remain. The dining-room and drawing-room, with their
sumptuous furniture and fittings, were admired; but all agreed that the
chief attraction of the castle lay in its underground cellars and
dungeons, which the company were allowed to inspect. Proceeding by
special train to Durham, and having partaken of a hasty lunch, the
archæologists met at the castle, now used as the headquarters of the
University of Durham. Here again Mr. Clark acted as their cicerone, and
explained all the features of the structure, its central keep, its great
hall, its wide black staircase (the work of Bishop Cosin), its
common-room, and its gateway. The pictures on the walls and the noble
tapestry which lines its walls were examined. The castle was the abode
of the Bishop of Durham till 1833, when Bishop Van Mildert gave it up to
found a university for the Northern counties. On the conclusion of the
inspection of the castle, the Dean of Durham, Dr. Lake, gave, in the
nave of the cathedral, a short _résumé_ of its history and a glance at
its chief associations. This he did with great skill and taste, touching
on the successive eras through which the monastery had passed before it
was crowned by the present majestic structure--one which no less an
authority than Dr. Freeman had declared to be the finest church in
Christendom, except the cathedral of Pisa, and scarcely inferior even to
that. He was followed by Mr. Micklethwait, F.R.S., who very briefly
described the architectural details of the fabric. The vergers
afterwards guided the company round the site of St. Cuthbert’s shrine,
the Western Galilee, still rich in frescos and paint, the tomb of the
“Venerable” Bede, the library, formerly the monks’ dormitory, with its
noble undercroft, and then led them through the crypt (the most ancient
part of the entire edifice) into the cloisters. Here they were shown the
newly discovered prison or cell for refractory monks, which has been
brought to light during the last month. The party then, having inspected
the dining-room at the deanery, once the abbot’s chief parlour, passed
out into the dean’s private garden, where tea and coffee and other
refreshments were served upon the lawn. The main party then returned by
train to Newcastle, while the rest travelled southward to York, and the
Archæological Congress of 1884 was at an end.

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PRESERVING THE MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD.--On July 30 a
meeting of the Council was held at the rooms of the Archæological
Institute, in Oxford-mansions, Oxford-street, Mr. Richardson, F.S.A., in
the chair, when the project of having the monumental inscriptions in the
churches of Norwich copied and printed _in extenso_ was considered.
Various reports were laid down before the council on the present
condition of monuments at Waltham Abbey, at Milford, Hants, at
Kensington, Paddington, Croydon, West Wittering, and North Mundham,
Sussex. It was stated that through the agency of friends of the society,
some fine brasses had been restored to the parish church of Cheam,
Surrey, and a handsome incised stone slab had been saved at Fownhope,
Herefordshire. It was also proposed to re-engrave the inscription over
the tomb of Captain John Smith, the eccentric voyager, which has always
been an object of pilgrimage to Americans, in St. Sepulchre’s Church,
London.

SHORTHAND.--_June 4_, Mr. T. A. Reed, President, in the chair. This
meeting was devoted to the exhibition of stenographic curiosities, of
which a large number, chiefly literary, were exhibited. Manuscript and
printed Bibles, Psalms, &c., in the systems of Rich and Addy, were shown
by Mr. C. Walford, Mr. Reed, Mr. Rundell, and Mr. Pocknell. A collection
of the works of ancient authors of shorthand was sent by Mr. Barnett.
Mr. Walford exhibited the systems of Ramsay in Latin and French, and of
Noah Bridges, and a MS. copy, made by Mr. Pocknell, of Timothy Bright’s
book in the Bodleian Library.


PROVINCIAL.

ESSEX ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--The annual meeting of this Society was
held at Halstead, on July 29. In the report, which was read, mention was
made of the elaborate catalogue of the museum at Colchester, which had
been compiled by Mr. J. E. Price, F.S.A. The President (Mr. G. Alan
Lowndes), in moving the adoption of the report, spoke at some length on
the desirability of making a catalogue of the church plate of the
county. On the conclusion of the ordinary business, the Rev. Cecil
Deedes read a paper on “The Church Bells of Halstead and its
Neighbourhood;” and the Secretary (Mr. W. H. King), on behalf of Mr.
Clarke, F.S.A., read a paper on “North Essex Bells,” giving the
dimensions, inscriptions, and other particulars of a large number of
bells in the northern part of the county. The paper stated that the
Saffron Walden peal, cast in 1798, was considered the best in Essex.
Visits were afterwards paid to the churches of Great and Little
Maplestead; the old Norman castle at Castle Hedingham; Dynes Hall, the
seat of Mr. C. B. Sperling; and Attwoods, the residence of Mr. Vaizey.
At the last-named place some old tapestry was inspected.

ESSEX FIELD CLUB.--There was a strong muster of this club on August 4
for a special visit to Colchester and Mersea Island. On the arrival of
the members at Colchester they were conducted over the castle by Mr.
Horace Round, who explained the chief features of the building. After
lunch the members drove to Mersea Island, and at West Mersea were
addressed by Dr. Laver on the antiquities of the island, including the
mysterious “red-earth mounds.” Dr. Laver insisted on the identity of St.
Peter’s, Bradwell, with the site of the Roman “Othonæ,” an on the
existence of a ferry to it from West Mersea, where an unusually
extensive tesselated pavement was discovered in the last century, and to
which a Roman road led, across “the strood,” from Colchester. On the
return journey, visits were paid to the ruins of Langenhoe Church,
shattered by the earthquake, and to those of St. Botolph’s Priory. A
conversazione at the Cups Hotel closed a most successful meeting.

KENT ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--The annual congress of this association was
held at Sevenoaks, on July 30 and 31. The annual meeting was held at the
Sennoke Hotel, and, in the absence of Lord Amherst, the chair was taken
by Sir Walter Stirling, Bart. From the twenty-seventh annual report,
which was read, it appears that during the last twelve months, forty-six
new members have joined the Society. The fifteenth volume of the
“Archæologia Cantiana” was sent out in February last. It is the seventh
volume, issued in ten years, 1874-84, during which the present Secretary
(Canon Scott-Robertson) has been sole editor. These volumes (9 to 15)
contain 3,580 pages, or an average of 358 pages for each year’s
subscription of 10s. During the past twelve months, in response to
renewed applications, descriptions of nearly 200 additional sets of
parish church plate have been obtained, making about 400 in all. The
thanks of the Council are due to the Rev. J. A. Boodle and to Mr. J. F.
Wadmore, for much help in this matter. Engravings, from some of the
Elizabethan plate, have already been prepared by the Society’s engraver,
and others are in progress. It was hoped that the book on “Kentish
Plate” may be issued next year. The report was adopted, and Lord Sydney
was unanimously elected President, in the room of Lord Amherst,
resigned. At the conclusion of the meeting, the members and friends
proceeded to Sundridge Church, where Canon Scott-Robertson read a paper,
dealing with the most interesting features of the building. A visit was
afterwards paid to Squerryes Court, Westerham, and to Westerham Church,
where a paper was read by Mr. Granville Leveson-Gower, F.S.A. The church
dates from the thirteenth century, and contains several interesting
monuments and brasses. Chevening Park, the seat of Lord Stanhope, and
Chevening Church, were next inspected. The second day’s proceedings
included visits to the old Archiepiscopal Manor House and Church of
Otford--the chief architectural features of which were described by
Canon Scott-Robertson and Mr. Loftus Brock--Eynesford Church,
Lullingstone Castle and Church, and Shoreham Church.

SURREY ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--An excursion of this Society was recently
made to Leatherhead, Mickleham, Effingham, and Fetcham. The first
meeting was at Leatherhead Church, where a paper, written by Mr. R. H.
Carpenter, was, in the absence of the author, read by Mr. Thomas
Milbourn. Mr. Carpenter, in his paper, said there was evidence that the
English church had originally a central tower at the intersection of the
arms of the cross. In 1344 Queen Isabella obtained the living of
Leatherhead for the convent of Leeds about the time when the tower
collapsed. The church had recently been restored, yet there was much to
be done. The plinth of the church could now be seen, and gave evidence
of what the rest was before it was covered with plaster in 1766. The
company then proceeded to Mickleham, where Mr. Ralph Nevill, F.S.A.,
read a paper, in which he stated that in 1823 the church was restored by
Mr. Robinson, who showed unusual enlightenment as a restorer,
considering the period. The church was erected in the reign of Edward I.
on the site of an old one. The font was very ancient. At Effingham, the
next place visited, Major Heales, F.S.A., read a paper on the church and
its history. He said this was one of the few old churches of Surrey not
mentioned in Domesday. The oldest document he could find mentioned the
oldest parts of the church as being of the twelfth century. Mr.
Granville Leveson-Gower, F.S.A., next read a paper on the “Howards of
Effingham,” after which the excursionists proceeded to Fetcham Church,
the architecture of which was described by Mr. Chas. Forster Hayward,
F.S.A. Mr. Hayward said the church was of very early date; there were
Roman bricks used in the walls, and the columns were good examples of
Norman work. The original form of the church was, like that of most
Norman churches, cruciform. Another paper was afterwards read by the
Rev. W. H. F. Edge, M.A., on the “Parochial Records.” The company was
next invited to inspect the mansion of Mr. Hankey, J.P., and here some
paintings, particularly one in the centre of the drawing-room ceiling by
Sir James Thornhill, were much admired.--The annual general meeting of
the Society took place on July 23. Major Heales, F.S.A., presided, and
the report of the council and balance-sheet were adopted. The retiring
members of the council were re-elected, as also were the auditors,
Messrs. J. T. Lacey and W. F. Potter, and the hon. secretary, Mr. T.
Milbourn.




Antiquarian News & Notes. A CHAMBERED mound, containing four skeletons,
has been lately unearthed near the Bridge of Waith, Kirkwall.

THE _Athenæum_ states that the Earl of Ducie is collecting materials for
a history of the Spanish Armada of 1588.

LORD SYDNEY has been elected President of the Kent Archæological Society
in the place of Lord Amherst, resigned.

M. LEON LHERMITTE has completed an etching of Rouen Cathedral. A
finished proof is now to be seen at Messrs. Tooths’ gallery, in the
Haymarket.

THE pictures by Hogarth lately bought from the Leigh Court collection
for the National Gallery have been hung over “The Marriage à la Mode.”

AN outcry has been raised over the threatened destruction of the house
in which Poe lived at Fordham during the most interesting period of his
life.

ACCORDING to the report of the British Museum just submitted to
Parliament, the number of visits to the reading-room and other
departments for study or research in 1883 was 859,836.

THE annual meeting of the Somerset Archæological and Natural History
Society was held at Shepton Mallet, on August 26 and two following days.
A report of the proceedings will be given in our next.

MR. R. G. HALIBURTON, Q.C., of Canada, eldest son of the author of “Sam
Slick,” intends to visit Borneo, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia, to
complete sundry ethnological inquiries.

THE annual meeting of the Library Association will be held on Sept. 30,
and three following days, at Trinity College, Dublin. The chair will be
taken by Dr. J. H. Ingram, President.

THE International Conference of Librarians, which was to have been held
at Toronto about the beginning of September, has been postponed, with a
view to a gathering at New York or Boston in the autumn of 1885.

THE first edition of Braun and Hogenberg’s plan of London, from the
“Civitates Orbis Terrarum” (1572), has been reproduced for the
Topographical Society of London.

MR. F. S. DRAKE, the historian of New England, has discovered the names
of one hundred persons who took part in the destruction of the British
tea in Boston Harbour. He has published the names in a volume called
“Tea Leaves.”

MR. ANDERSON, of Kirkwall, has in the press a new Guide to the Orkney
Islands, in which special attention will be paid to antiquarian remains
and traditional lore. Sir Henry Dryden has revised his notes for this
work.

AMONG the treasures in the late Prince of Orange’s collections are
numerous paintings, miniatures, historical documents, and ancient relics
of high value, in addition to the jewels of his mother, the late Queen
Sophia.

IN January next will be commenced a new journal called “The Manx
Note-book,” to be devoted to the history, antiquities, and legendary
lore of the Isle of Man. The work, which has been undertaken by Mr. A.
W. Moore, of Cronbourne, Isle of Man, will be published quarterly.

MR. T. LOCKE WORTHINGTON has in preparation an historical account and
description of the cathedral church of Manchester. The work will be
published by subscription through Mr. J. E. Cornish, of Manchester, and
will form a quarto volume, the impression being limited to 250 copies.

THE new volume of the “Encyclopædia Britannica” contains an article on
“Palmyra,” by Professor Robertson Smith, in which the story of Zenobia
is re-written by the light of the Aramæan and Greek inscriptions, and of
the coins that have recently come to light.

THE Committee of the Octagon Chapel, Bath, where Sir William Herschel
was organist from 1766 to 1782, invite subscriptions towards a memorial
window of “the most distinguished citizen who ever lived in Bath.”

FEGGEKLIT, on the Island of Mors, Denmark, the reputed birthplace of
Hamlet, is for sale by private treaty. On a hillside that forms part of
the estate will be found the grave of King Fegge, who was the identical
person slain by the young Prince to avenge the “most foul murder” of his
father.

FOR thirty-two years Captain Burton has been working more or less at his
translation of the “Arabian Nights.” The book now nears completion.
Captain Burton will reproduce in English as closely as possible the
original text, and for this reason in particular the work will be issued
to subscribers only.

MESSRS. BICKERS & SON have purchased the copyright of Lord Hervey’s
“Memoirs of the Reign of George II.,” and are about to issue a new
edition in three volumes, uniform with their new edition of “Wraxall’s
Memoirs.” The original edition, published by Mr. Murray in 1848, has
long been very scarce.

THE valuable collection of ancient coins formed by the late James
Whittall, of Smyrna, was sold by Messrs. Sotheby in July. The number of
lots was 1,668, the sale lasted nine days, and the total amount realised
was £3,951 6s. Many of the coins are extremely rare, and some are
believed to be unpublished.

THE current number of the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
contains the first portion of a sketch of South African history from the
pen of the late Sir Bartle Frere, who read the paper now published at a
meeting of the Society in 1883. The first section deals chiefly with the
first ten years of the Dutch settlement, which are chronicled in some
detail.

DR. A. HARKAVY, of the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, has completed
his examination of the newly found Hebrew manuscripts of several books
of the Old Testament, and at the request of the Imperial Russian Academy
of Sciences he has communicated to that body the results of his labours
in a report in German, entitled “Bericht an die Kaiserliche Akademie der
Wissenschaften zu St. Petersburg.”

THE Queen, it is said, is taking no little interest in a new book
compiled by Mr. Harold Boulton, Mr. Malcolm Lawson, and Miss Annie
Macleod, which will bear the title of “Songs of the North.” The book
will be fully illustrated by the leading Scottish artists. A Gaelic
translation is in hand, and the Queen has graciously given express
permission that the book should be dedicated to herself.

MR. F. DANBY PALMER has just published, in a thin quarto volume, “The
History of the Tolhouse at Great Yarmouth,” of which some account,
together with an illustration, has been given in these pages (see
_ante_, pp. 1-5). The work has been written by Mr. Palmer in the hope of
assisting the effort now being made to preserve an ancient building, for
many ages connected with the history of his native town, of events
connected with this municipal structure from the thirteenth century to
the present time.

THE August number of the _Century_ contains the first of a series of
three papers by Mr. W. J. Stillman, recording the experiences of a
classical expedition undertaken for that magazine. Mr. Stillman’s object
was to trace the wanderings of Ulysses, as described in the “Odyssey,”
and to identify, as far as it is possible to-day, the localities visited
by the Ithacan king. The articles will be illustrated by Mr. Fenn, from
photographs and sketches made by Mr. Stillman.

THE annual festivities in honour of St. James were on the point of
terminating on Sunday, July 27, at Santiago, in Spain, when a telegram
was received from Rome by the Archbishop, announcing that the Sacred
Congregation had declared the bones found about four years ago under the
high altar of Santiago Cathedral to be truly those of the Apostle,
Spain’s patron saint, ineffectually sought for hitherto since they were
concealed, from fear of Moorish raids, in the foundations of the
cathedral in the year 1100, by Gilmirez, the first Archbishop.

THE complete renewal of the leaden envelope of the dome of St. Peter’s
Church, in Rome, has just been completed. It has occupied twelve years,
and has cost over 200,000 lire (£8,000). The original covering was
applied to the dome in an imperfect fashion, which made continuous
repairs a necessity. The total weight of the new cover is given at
354,305 kilogrammes; and if it were spread out flat it would occupy an
area of 6,152 square metres, or about an acre and a half. In stripping
off the old plates, three of them were found to be of gilded copper.

SOME interesting items of theatrical history are contained in the rings
which Mr. Irving wears as Malvolio. One is engraved, “Formerly the
signet-ring of David Garrick. Henry Irving, from Edwin Booth, 1881.”
Another is the celebrated enamel ring, with head of Shakespeare, which
Garrick used to wear, and which he bequeathed to his butler, and which
was afterwards presented to Mr. Irving by Lady Burdett-Coutts. And still
another signet is thus inscribed--“Tyrone Power, to his friend Harley,
1830.”

AN embellished copy of Baskett’s edition of the Bible, printed at his
press at Oxford in 1817, and known as “The Vinegar Bible,” was included
among the rarities sold last month at Messrs. Sotheby’s rooms. The
volume had inserted in it some 750 additional plates relating to
architecture, natural history, &c. In the same batch of books was a copy
of Buck and Daniel’s Cambridge Bible, 1638, in which the curious
misprint in Acts vi. 3, “_Ye_ [for _we_] may appoint” was for the first
time printed.

THE following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear
among the contents of the magazines for August: _Edinburgh Review_, “The
Divorce of Catherine of Aragon,” and “The Chiefs of Grant;” _Church
Quarterly_, “The Church in Old London;” _Quarterly Review_, “Peter the
Great,” and “Greek Archæology;” _Art Journal_, “Castelfranco and its
Altar-piece, by Giorgione,” “The Western Riviera, Nice,” and “The Isle
of Walcheren;” _Cornhill_, “Some Literary Recollections;” _English
Illustrated Magazine_, “Winchester,” and “Cutlery and Cutlers at
Sheffield;” _Temple Bar_, “Westminster School.”

CATALOGUES of rare and curious books, all of which contain the names of
works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Mr. C. Golding,
Colchester (chiefly topographical of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries); Mr. H. Lowe, 89, New-street, Birmingham; Messrs. Reeves &
Turner, 196, Strand; Mr. W. Withers, Leicester; Mr. W. P. Bennett, 3,
Bull-street, Birmingham; Messrs. Wyllie & Son, Union-street, Aberdeen;
Mr. J. Salkeld, 314, Clapham-road, S.W. (including a large number of
books from the libraries of the late Sir G. Bowyer, Mr. Joseph Payne,
and others); Messrs. Jarvis & Son, 28, King William-street, Strand,
W.C.; Mr. Loescher, Turin.

AT a recent meeting of the Society for Preserving the Memorials of the
Dead, a letter from a correspondent was read in which it was stated
that, whilst on an architectural tour, he found a register book open in
the church and the leaves blown on the floor, or at least, such of them
as dampness and the mice had not obliterated. Although the living had
been held by one family for nearly 300 years, and is a very rich one,
the writer adds: “I venture to affirm that a family could not prove its
descent for three generations from its parish register.” It is also
stated that parchment registers, having one side vacant, were sometimes
cut up for directions for game!

A REPORT has been received from the committee appointed with reference
to the preservation of the ancient records of the county of Middlesex.
The index of these valuable historical documents is very nearly
completed, and they have all been properly classified and housed, so
that they will be preserved from any damage in the future. The documents
altogether number 16,000 separate records. The money allotted for the
purpose of classifying them not being found sufficient, it has been
decided, on the motion of Mr. Basil Woodd Smith, that a further sum of
£200 be granted for the completion of the fittings of the new record
room and the sorting and calendaring of the records.

MESSRS. CHRISTIE, MANSON & WOODS lately disposed of the collection of
old Sèvres and Chelsea porcelain, old French decorative furniture,
snuff-boxes, and other decorative objects, the property of the late Mr.
W. King. Among the best prices obtained were: A statuette of a nymph, by
Falconet, in statuary marble, 400 gs.; a Louis XVI. clock, in case of
gros-bleu Sèvres porcelain, surmounted by a mask of Apollo, 215 gs.; a
pair of Louis XVI. ormolu candelabra, with large Dresden figures of a
shepherd and shepherdess, 165 gs.; an oblong bloodstone box, carved with
hunting subjects, the lid studded with diamonds, £270; a fine oblong
double box, formed of slabs of agate, set with diamonds, £205. The sale
realised over £4,600.

_On_ Saturday, June 28, Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods sold at their
rooms the splendid collection of paintings by the old masters, the
property of Sir Philip Miles, M.P., known as the Leigh Court Gallery.
Five pictures were purchased for the National Gallery--the grand upright
landscape by Gaspar Poussin, “The Calling of Abraham,” “The Adoration of
the Magi,” by Bellini; the two Hogarths, portrait of Miss Fenton,
afterwards Duchess of Bolton, as “Polly Peachum,” and “The Shrimp Girl;”
and Stothard’s “Canterbury Pilgrims.” The total paid for these pictures
was under £4,000. The two Alfieri Claudes were purchased by Messrs.
Agnew--the “Apollo Sacrifice” for 5,800 guineas, and the “Landing of
Æneas” for 3,800 guineas--while the little picture of the “Herdsman at
the Ford” was bought by the same firm for 1,950 guineas, and the Murillo
“Holy Family” for 3,000 guineas. The little predella panel by Raphael,
“Christ bearing His Cross to Calvary,” was also purchased by Messrs.
Agnew for 560 guineas, and has passed into the collection of Lord
Windsor. Several important pictures were bought in. The sale realised
nearly £44,300.

AMONG the later additions to that most interesting corner in the Health
Exhibition where Old London is reproduced is a collection of views and
etchings of Old Southwark, shown by Mr. S. Drewet (F. S. Nichols & Co.)
in the Guard Chamber over the Bishop’s Gate. Old London Bridge as it
appeared in the time of Henry VIII. and at several periods since until
its demolition may here be seen, as well as some of the historic
buildings of Southwark--Winchester Palace, &c., and its famous hostels,
the old Tabarde and the White Hart, of which the picturesque
characteristics have been preserved in etchings by Mr. Percy Thomas.
Some reproductions of old maps and a small collection of pottery,
weapons, and coins found in the borough of Southwark, and most of them
during the progress of excavations on the site of the old Tabarde Inn,
should not be passed unnoticed. The rooms over the workshops on the
north side of the Old London street at the Exhibition have been filled
with furniture of antique form, and the walls hung with tapestries from
the Royal Tapestry Works at Windsor. Along the south side a very fine
collection of armour, arms, and ancient and mediæval ironwork has been
arranged by Messrs. Stark & Gardner, among the contributors being Lady
Dorothy Nevill, Sir Coutts Lindsay, the Rev. Canon Harford, Mr. J. G.
Litchfield, and Mr. J. E. Gardner, F.S.A.

THE sale of the first portion of the extensive library of the late Mr.
James Crossley, President of the Chetham Society, took place at the
rooms of Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, on Monday, July 21, and six
following days. Many of the books were in an imperfect and stained
condition, which considerably affected the prices realised. Ainsworth’s
Memorials, described by the owner as “by far the rarest book connected
with Halifax,” being stained, sold for only £3 3s.; and Brown’s Religio
Medici, the 1642 surreptitious impression, £6 10s. Byron’s Hours of
Idleness, first published edition, brought £4 6s. Milton’s Paradise
Lost, first edition, with first title-page, £25; and other copies, with
second, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth title-pages, £16 18s.;
Paradise Regained, first edition, £3 17s. 6d. The Philobiblon Society’s
Publications, £25. Miscellanies, 20 vols., £21. Miscellanies, in one
stout volume, £51. Shelley’s Queen Mab, first edition, wanting title, £4
6s. Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions, £49. Camden Society’s
Publications, £10 10s. Chetham Society’s Publications, £25 10s.
Abbotsford Club Publications, £15 10s. Spenser’s Fairie Queene, first
edition, £12 10s.; second edition, £10 10s.; and 1617 edition, with
autograph of Ben Jonson, £10 10s. Shakespeare’s Plays, Second Folio,
£17; Third Folio, imperfect, £12; Fourth Folio, £9 10s. Tracts and
Pamphlets, £16, £60, £39. Watson’s Halifax, £9 9s.; and a copy with
Canon Raines’s MS. notes, £37. The 2,824 lots realised nearly £3,600.

DR. SCHLIEMANN has been in London for a week or two. He has in
preparation a book on his discoveries at Tiryns. The _Academy_
communicates the following details with regard to these discoveries:
“The walls of the prehistoric palace which Dr. Schliemann has
disinterred at Tiryns are formed of limestone and clay; the latter has
been turned into brick by the action of fire, while the stone has been
burnt into lime. In some places the surface of the walls had been coated
with stucco, on which traces of painting can still be observed. The
colours used in these paintings are black, red, blue, yellow, and white;
and Professor Virchow has pointed out that the blue is composed of
pulverised glass mixed with copper, but without cobalt. One of the
paintings represents the same pattern as that found on the roof of the
thalamos attached to the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenos. Another
depicts a man riding on an ox, whose tail he holds. The artist has made
three attempts to draw the tail, and has forgotten to obliterate the two
unsuccessful ones. The paintings have been carefully removed and sent to
Athens. Among the ruins of the palace twenty-seven bases of limestone
columns have been discovered, but no drums, besides a sandstone capital
in the old Doric style. The chambers of the building were full of
objects of all kinds, including pottery, obsidian knives, rude hammers
of diorite, and grape-stones. No iron has been met with, and but little
metal of any sort, though lead is relatively plentiful. All traces of
writing are equally absent. The pottery resembles that of Mycenæ, but
the presence of obsidian and the scarcity of metal imply that Tiryns was
the older city of the two.”

THE name of John Payne Collier has been so long known to all those
persons who take an interest in literature, that the recent sale of the
first portion of the books and manuscripts which had belonged to the
editor of “Shakespeare” by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, was
certain to excite much attention. The second portion of the library is
reserved for a future sale. Of those just sold, the more interesting
lots were: Ballads, &c., an interesting manuscript of the seventeenth
century, including a period of about sixty years, a most curious
collection of ballads, quotations from Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Sir
W. Raleigh, and summary of its contents by J. P. Collier, who gave Hoope
£25 for the volume--£52 (Quaritch); Cartwright (W.), Comedies, &c.,
portrait by Lombart, manuscript note by J. P. Collier, with the rare
cancelled leaves “On the Queen’s Return from the Low Countries,” and the
uncancelled leaves on the same, £5 15s. (Quaritch); Cibber (C.), “Tony
Aston’s Brief Supplement to C. Cibber, his lives, &c., notes by Collier,
extremely rare--£2 15s. (Westell); Collier, J. P., Punch and Judy
coloured etchings by G. Cruikshank, notes by author among others--“The
plates in this volume were coloured by Cruikshank; he gave it to me”--£5
10s.; Collier, J. P., “Notes and Emendations to the Text of
Shakespeare’s Plays,” with a great mass of manuscripts, notes by
Collier, 1853--£40 15s. (A. R. Smith); Cruikshank, 24 illustrations of
“Punch and Judy,” India proofs, with a portrait of the artist himself
etched at the bottom of one of the plates, and a view on another, &c.,
S. Prowett, 1828--£19 5s. (Richardson); Baxter (N.), Sir P. Sydney’s
“Ourania,” autograph signature, and manuscript corrections by author,
1606--£9. (Stevens); Collier, J. P., “History of English Dramatic
Poetry,” profusely illustrated by rare portraits, autograph letters, and
manuscript notes by Collier, 1879--£59 (Stevens); Collier, J. P., “An
Old Man’s Diary Forty Years Ago,” 1832-33, only 25 copies printed,
illustrated like the last named, 1871-72--£150. (B. F. Stevens);
Cooperi, T., “Thesaurus Linguæ Romanæ et Britannicæ,” “This book before
it was rebound belonged to John Milton, as is testified in his own
handwriting in more than 1,500 places,” manuscript note by Collier--£3
11s. (Quaritch); “Miltoni pro Populo Anglicano Defensio,” with autograph
of O. Cromwell--£8 15s. (Quaritch); Shakespeare’s works, 1844-53, Mr.
Collier’s working copy, manuscript notes, and letters from his
friend--£10 (Ellis); Peckham, Sir G., “A True Reporte of the late
Discoveries, &c., of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Kt.,” very curious and rare,
John Charlewood for John Hinde, 1583, and many other rare tracts, in one
volume, with manuscript notes by Collier--£210 (Quaritch). The entire
proceeds of the sale were a little over £2,100.




Antiquarian Correspondence.

                      Sin scire labores,
    Quære, age: quærenti pagina nostra patet.

_All communications must be accompanied by the name and address of the
sender, not necessarily for publication._


DR. FRANCIS MALLETT.

SIR,--Dr. Francis Mallett, Vicar of Rothwell, near Leeds, instituted 7
January, 1533, is styled in the church register, “Magister Franciscus
Malett: Sacre Theologie Doctor.” He resigned this living before 1547. In
the catalogue of vicars, he is designated “Mr. Francis Malett, cap.”
(capellanus or chaplain).

In a sketch of the life of Arthur Yeldard, one of the first Fellows of
Trinity College, Oxford, founded by Sir Thomas Pope, it is stated that
Mr. Yeldard, while at Cambridge (in 1553) for his better support in
study, received an annual exhibition from the Princess, afterwards
Queen, Mary, by the hands of Dr. Francis Mallet, her chaplain and
confessor, the last master of Michael House in Cambridge, and dean of
Lincoln.

Again, I find that a Dr. Francis Mallett, as master of St. Katherine’s
Hospital,[34] offered to resign the mastership in 1559.

On December 18, 1573, a “Dr. Mallett” was buried at Normanton, and it is
remarked in the parish register that there remained unpaid for his
burial in the church, 3s. 4d.

I wish to ascertain, if possible, whether the instances given refer to
one and the same man or no; and if so, whether he was a member of the
ancient family of the Mallets of Normanton, in Yorkshire.

JOHN BATTY.

_East Ardsley, near Wakefield._


ARMS OF JOSUAH BARNES.

SIR,--I send you a description of the armorial plate, dated 1700, of
Josuah Barnes, who was appointed Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge
in 1695, and of whom Bentley said that he knew as much Greek as an
Athenian cobbler. (1) For Greek Professor--Argent and sable, party per
chevron: in first, the letters Alpha and Omega sable; in second, a
grasshopper argent. On a chief gules a lion passant guardant or,
impaling (2) Barnes--Argent, a lion rampant gules, crowned; in dexter
chief a mullet; a chief or. The crown and mullet have no tincture
marked.

The crest over a healm (an owl argent on a wreath argent and sable) and
the mantelling (gules doubled argent) are those of the Greek Professor.
Below is the motto--

    “Hæc mihi musa dedit
     Vix ea nostra voco;”

and under this--

    “Josua Barnes, S. T. B. Græc. Ling. Cantab.
     Prof. Reg. Eman. Coll. Soc. 1700.”

According to grant of arms to the five Regius Professors, the lion
passant guardant is marked in his side with the letter G sable, and the
owl has its legs, ears, and beak or.

J. HAMBLIN SMITH.

_Woodbridge, Suffolk._


PORTS AND CHESTERS.

(See _ante_, pp. 47, 96.)

SIR,--Mr. Round adds nothing of value to what has gone before.

(1) As to the alleged “borrowing,” the word port must, on Mr. Round’s
own showing, have been taken up, adopted, or _borrowed_ by the so-called
English pirates, before they incorporated it into their language; the
question is, when?

Bosworth says that A.S. port means town in English, but that scholar has
now fallen into discredit, for others doubt or deny his accuracy;
further, we find it used as a compound, thus: portreeve, portsoken,
portman. Portreeve is, I affirm, by transition from the Latin _portus_.
The port of London extends from Yanlett Creek to Staines, so that the
“city” itself is dwarfed by the larger jurisdiction appended to it; we
can readily explain the anomaly, but the usage appears to have extended
to other places where the hythe or haven, _i.e._, boat-shelter, is not
so clearly marked and then the word is thrust back upon us in a sense
that we repudiate.

It is further complicated with “gate” or “doorway”; portsoken, for,
instance, means a liberty outside the gate or port of Aldgate, and in
many northern towns where the Danes settled in force, we find the word
port used for gate, as thus: Westport, Eastport, but it is not to be
read as west or east-_town_; so the portman might mean a burgess told
off to keep watch and ward over any particular gate of his own town;
just as we have “wards,” _i.e._ guards, in London, originally confined
to gates but extended to intermediate parts of the entire wall, for that
was the primitive arrangement.

The Viking invaders used boats that could be pushed up comparatively
narrow streams, and it might be contended that any inland place thus
reached would be a _port_ of debarkation.

(2) My word “ramify” expresses a real difficulty; I did try to spread
out or extend Mr. Round’s argument under its different heads and
branches, _i.e._, to follow up the various _ramifications_ of his
literary matter, with a view to the extraction of a tangible meaning;
and I still contend that his words _do_ imply that caer was put for
castrum; but it is certain that this “native form” was unknown on the
south-eastern coast, for the transliteration shows that the Romans met
with dune or dinas, not caer or ker.

A. HALL.


A BAKER BLESSED.

(See _ante_, p. 44.)

SIR,--Will Mr. Hussey take a suggestion for a half-answer to his query?
It may possibly put him on the track of the origin of the lines that he
quotes:--

In “Hamlet,” Ophelia says: “The owl was a baker’s daughter.” The ideas
floating through her mind are connected with St. Valentine’s Day.

Grimm gives a story that “the cuckoo was a baker’s (or miller’s) man,
and that is why he wears a dingy meal-sprinkled coat. In a dear season
he robbed the poor of their flour, and when God was blessing the dough
in the oven, he would take it out, and pull lumps out of it, crying
every time, ‘Guk-guk,’ look, look; therefore the Lord punished him by
changing him into a bird of prey, which incessantly repeats that cry.”
This story, Grimm says, is doubtless very ancient, and was once told
very differently. “That ‘dear season’ may have to do with the belief
that when the Cuckoo’s call continues to be heard after midsummer, it
betokens dearth.”

Again Grimm alludes to one of the many superstitions concerning the
cuckoo in spring, and says that in some districts a rhyme runs thus:

    “Kukuk _beckenknecht_
     Sag mir recht,
     Wie viel jar (jahr) ich leben soll.”

Here the idea of the baker is brought in.

Grimm gives a story of the woodpecker, which has also to do with the
baking element. A combination of the Scandinavian with the
saint-legendary element.

In Norway the red-hooded blackpecker is called Gertrude’s fowl, and the
origin is thus explained. The story will be found in Mr. Stallybrass’
translation of Grimm’s “Teutonic Mythology” (see vol. ii. p. 673),
together with much curious information concerning rhymes and charms,
which may possibly be of some help to Mr. Hussey in his researches for
origins of curious old rhymes and verses.

J. G.


AN ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERY.

SIR,--A find of some archæological interest was made a few days ago in
the churchyard of Hitcham, Bucks. In digging a grave on the south side
of the (Norman) nave, a stone cist, or sarcophagus, was discovered 4 ft.
6 in. from the present surface. Fourteen years ago a similar cist was
found; with the remains were a quantity of iron rings, 1¼ in. diameter,
and iron nails, but no other indication of there having been a coffin.
The head of the present cist was then brought to view, but not
disturbed. The inside dimensions of the present cist were 6 ft. in
length, 12 in. wide at the head, and 8 in. at the foot; 19 in. at its
greatest width. The south side was composed of 5 slabs, the north side
of 6; the covering slabs were 5 in number; also 1 at the head and
foot--18 stones in all, 13 in. deep at the head and 12 in. at the foot;
the side stones averaging 4 in. and the covering stones 5½ in. in
thickness. The chalk or claunch stones of which the cist is composed
were rudely squared and hewn or axed on all sides with a tool 1 in.
wide, and rounded on the edge; one other tool 3 in. in width, the axe
marks being sharp and clearly defined. A large and perfect skeleton was
enclosed, but no trace of a coffin, wood or metal. The bed or floor of
the grave was composed of fine gravel-pit sand. The bones were
considerably crystallised; probably the body was covered with carbonate
of lime. The skull bore traces of having lain in a liquid; it was very
friable, and crumbled at the touch; the femur measured 18½ in. in
length. Llewellyn Jewitt says: “The mode of burial seems this: when the
body was placed in the stone cist, or sarcophagus, it was fully draped
in its usual dress. It was laid flat upon its back, at full length, at
the bottom of the cist; any relics intended to be buried with it were
placed by its side. Liquid lime or gypsum was then poured in, upon, and
around it, the face alone being left uncovered by the liquid. The body
was thus completely (with the exception of the face) encased in liquid
lime, which, when it became set, formed a solid mass. When these are
brought to light and opened, a perfect impression or mould of the figure
of the deceased appears on the bed of plaster or lime in which it had
been enclosed, and, in some instances, the texture, and even the colours
of the dress is clearly defined. Some years ago a cist was opened at
York, in which the body of a woman clothed in rich purple, with a small
child laid upon her lap, was clearly discernible in the plaster.”

Whether this was an interment of the Roman-British or Anglo-Saxon period
the orientation was very decided in this case, as in the five others I
have seen in this spot, they all lying due east and west. Two-thirds in
length of this very interesting relic had to be removed to obtain the
depth required for the new grave. I collected the bones and placed them
in the remaining third portion left undisturbed.

JAMES RUTLAND,

Hon. Sec. Berks Archæological and Architectural
Society, and Maidenhead Field
Club and Thames Valley Antiquarian
Society.

HANG
_The Gables, Taplow_,
_August, 1884._


_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

THE Editor declines to pledge himself for the safety or return of MSS.
voluntarily tendered to him by strangers.

THE continuation of Mr. J. H. Round’s paper on “Port and Port-Reeve” is
unavoidably postponed to our next.




Books Received.


1. History of the Parish of Ruardyn. By Sir John Maclean, F.S.A.

2. History of the Wrays of Glentworth. By Charles Dalton.

3. Northamptonshire Notes and Queries. Part iii. Northampton: Taylor &
Son. July, 1884.

4. English Etchings. Part xxxix. D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s-place, W.C.

5. Johns Hopkins University Studies. Second Series, vii. Baltimore.
July, 1884.

6. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. No. cli. Boston,
July, 1884.

7. Western Antiquary. Part ii. Plymouth. July, 1884.

8. Journal of the British Archæological Association. Vol. xl. Part ii.
June, 1884.

9. Poems. By Lewis Gidley. (2nd Edition). Parker & Co. 1884.

10. Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Notes. Part iv. _Chronicle_
Office, Leigh.

11. The Hull Quarterly and East Riding Portfolio. No. iii. Hall, Brown &
Sons.

12. Ye Historical Sketch of ye Olde London Streete. By T. St. Edmund
Hake. Waterlow & Sons. 1884.

13. “Aberdeen Printers.” By J. P. Edmond. Parts i. & ii. Aberdeen:
Edmond & Spark. 1884.




Books, etc., for Sale.


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Original water-colour portrait of Jeremy Bentham, price 2 guineas. Apply
to the Editor of this Magazine.

A large collection of Franks, Peers, and Commoners. Apply to E. Walford,
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_Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer_, several copies of No. 2
(February, 1882) are wanted, in order to complete sets. Copies of the
current number will be given in exchange at the office.

Dodd’s Church History, 8vo., vols. i. ii. and v.; Waagen’s Art and
Artists in England, vol. i.; East Anglian, vol. i., Nos. 26 and 29. The
Family Topographer, by Samuel Tymms, vols. iii. and iv.; Notes and
Queries, the third Index. Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets” (Ingram and
Cooke’s edition), vol. iii. A New Display of the Beauties of England,
vol. i., 1774. Chambers’ Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. i.
Address, E. Walford, 2, Hyde Park Mansions, Edgeware-road, N.W.

[Illustration: SEAL OF THE BOROUGH OF SEAFORD.

_W. Dampier, del._]

[Illustration]




_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._




Our Old County Towns.

_NO. II.--SEAFORD, SUSSEX._


ON the Sussex coast, between Newhaven and Eastbourne, stands the
“ancient town and port” of Seaford, a place which was formerly of some
importance--seeing that it could boast of returning two Members to
Parliament, and that it contained no less than seven churches; but,
having been disfranchised under the Reform Act of 1832, it degenerated
into an obscure fishing village, from which condition, like many other
places on the southern coast, having felt the impulse of fashion, it is
now rising to the dignity of a watering-place.

In very early times the site of the present town was doubtless chosen as
advantageous to the dwellers on the coast, and many traces of Roman
occupation have been discovered hereabouts, particularly near the cliff
overlooking the eastern part of the town, where is an extensive
earthwork, locally known as the Roman Camp. About the year 1820
evidences of a Roman cemetery were disclosed at Green-street, in this
neighbourhood: these included sepulchral urns and coins, among the
latter being one of Antonia, daughter of Marc Antony.

Somner has fixed upon Pevensey as the Anderida of the Romans; and a
great battle between the Saxons and Britons in 485, at Mereredesburn, is
thought to have been fought in this locality.

Seaford suffered considerably from the ravages of the French in their
“descents” on the English coast; and it was probably in the invasion in
1545 that the place was burnt, and its several churches and other public
buildings destroyed.

There is a tradition that the privileges of the borough were first
granted by Edward I., in consequence of its inhabitants having supplied
the king with the gift or loan of “five ships and eighty mariners;” the
said “privileges” comprised exemptions from toll and custom, namely,
“lastage, tollage, passage, rivage, appensage, wreck,” &c., and with
rights of “soc and sac and toll,” and freedom from “justices itinerant.”
The town received its charter of incorporation from Henry VIII. At that
time Hastings was in a pitiful state, as recited in the charter.

In the reign of Charles I. the town was made a member of the Cinque
Ports, which comprised Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney, Hythe, Rye,
Winchilsea, Seaford, Pevensey, Fordwich, Folkestone, Feversham, Lydd,
and Tenterden; now, however, it is but a “member” of the first-named
port, though with “separate local jurisdiction.”

The government of the town is a municipal corporation, consisting of a
bailiff or mayor, jurats, and an indefinite number of freemen. The
bailiff is also (_ex officio_) coroner for the liberty; and the jurats,
who are local magistrates and may be twelve in number, are chosen by the
freemen, who were formerly styled “barons.” These “barons” of the Cinque
Ports possessed extensive and peculiar privileges under their charters,
and attended the Brotherhood and Guestling of the Cinque Ports
Parliament, the last of which was held at New Romney, in July, 1828. The
first bailiff, elected in 1541, was one John Ockenden.

The bailiff is annually elected on Michaelmas Day, with quaint
formalities, which are thus set forth by Mr. M. A. Lower in his
“Memorials of Seaford:” “At the summons of the church bell the assembly
of freemen takes place in the town-hall, and after the _pro formâ_
business has been gone through, the _freemen_--leaving the jurats behind
them on the bench--retire in a body to a certain gatepost near West
House, and there elect their chief officer for the year ensuing. The
motive for this singular proceeding seems to have been the prevention of
unfair influence on the part of the magisterial body. The townsmen are
attended on this occasion by the serjeant-at-mace in his proper costume,
bearing the ensign of the bailiff’s authority in the shape of a small
mace of silver, which is ornamented with the arms of Queen Elizabeth.
The procession commences at a place called the Old Tree, where it
appears the town pillory anciently stood, as it is called in old
documents ‘the Pillory Tree.’ The place of execution, or rather the
perquisite of the ‘finisher of the law,’ is still pointed to by the name
of a piece of land called ‘Hangman’s Acre.’” The Pillory Tree was
standing in 1578. The site is now marked by the “Old Tree” Inn.

In the 37th year of Elizabeth, the cucking-stool, the pillory, and the
butts are mentioned in a “presentment” by the jury as in a state of
decay. The pillory was an instrument of punishment to be met with in
former times in most old county towns; but the cucking or ducking-stool
was not so common, on account of its peculiar construction and use. It
could, of course, be used only in such places as had a convenient pond
or piece of water at hand wherein to “duck” its unfortunate occupant.
The cucking-stool is referred to by some of the older poets. Thus Gay
writes:--

    “I’ll hie me to the pond, where the high stool
     On the long plank hangs o’er the muddy pool,
     That stool, the dread of every scolding quean.”

Down to the sixteenth century, Seaford had a harbour of its own. The
river Ouse flowed between the town and the shingly beach to find an
outlet at Seaford Head, or Cliff End, and ships floated up to the
houses, in much the same fashion as they do at Shoreham even to this
day; but by the accumulation of shingle through the action of the tides
its outlet was diverted, and the harbour destroyed. A grant of Queen
Elizabeth, dated 1592, speaks of the “decayed haven of Seaforth, called
Beame lands,” &c. This land, now used for the purposes of recreation,
but still retaining the corrupted name of the Bemblands, exhibits but
few traces of the river-bed which of old conferred upon the town the
distinction of a Cinque port. The haven in the end became a duck-pool.

Seaford is a borough by prescription, and from the end of the thirteenth
century, as stated above, returned two members to Parliament, and it was
at one time represented by the celebrated statesmen, the elder Pitt and
George Canning; this borough was long remarkable for the obstinate
election contests between the partisans of the two noble houses of
Lennox and Pelham, and also for the open display of “bribery and
corruption,” which formed perhaps the chief political interest of its
worthy burgesses.

Seaford gives the title of “Baron” to the family of Ellis, Lords Howard
de Walden; and it may be added that the custom of “Borough English”
prevails here, whereby property descends to the youngest son.

The arms of Seaford are (like those of the other Cinque Ports) the
dimidiated lions of England, with the three ships’ sterns. The town,
however, has an ensign peculiar to itself: “Or, an Eagle displayed
azure;” while the seal of Seaford, of which we give a representation,
bears on the obverse an eagle, and on the reverse an antique ship.

The lordship of the manor of Seaford has belonged successively to
families of historic fame, notably the Warrens, the Poynings, the
Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, the Monteagles (to whom it was granted as a
reward for valour), and the Pelhams. One member, at least, of this
last-named family exhibited bravery in the defence of the town, if we
may judge from the following verses which appear on the monument of Sir
N. Pelham at Lewes:--

    “His valour’s proof his manly virtues prayse
     Cannot be marshalled in this narrow roome,
     His brave exploit in Great King Henry’s dayes
     Among the worthye hath a worthier tomb;
     What time the French sought to have sacked Sayfoord,
     This Pelham did repell ’em back aboord.”

There are still to be met with in Seaford one or two old buildings which
would delight the antiquarian visitor. The Plough Inn possesses a fine
old chimney-piece; and the “Crypt House,” and the Court House with its
jail beneath--somewhat similar to the Tolhouse at Great Yarmouth,
already described in these pages[35]--will not prove uninteresting.
Among the old records of the town is one referring to a curious trial
which took place here in the reign of Elizabeth, in which the prisoner
claimed the “benefit of clergy.” The entry, which we quote from the
“Memorials of Seaford,” runs as follows:--

“Nich. Gabriell, a shepherd, was found guilty of stealing six shep,
(sheep) at Chintinge. On being asked by the bailiff if he had anything
to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon him, he claimed
_the benefit of the clergy_, which was granted by the Court. Robert
Hyde, Vicar of Seaford, and another clergyman, handed him a book to make
proof of his learning, whereupon he read it off like a clerk (_legebat
ut clericus_), and thus the heavier penalty was commuted for branding on
the hand.”

The parish church, dedicated to St. Leonard, exhibits marks of
considerable antiquity, being mostly of the Decorated period; the tower
dating back to the Norman era. It has been recently enlarged and
repaired, not in the best of taste; prior to that time the body of the
fabric had been “a vile piece of patchwork, to which painted shutters
on the outside of all the lower windows gave a truly grotesque
appearance.” The original chancel is supposed to have been burned down
in the general conflagration of the town already mentioned. In the nave,
opposite the south porch, is a curious piece of sculpture. A tablet in
the belfry records the recasting of the bells in 1807.

The bay of Seaford is one of the most dangerous parts along the coast,
in consequence of its numerous shoals and rocks, and consequently the
spot has become noted for its wrecks and “wreckers.” The latter are
referred to by Congreve in his epilogue to the “Mourning Bride:”--

    “As Sussex men that dwell upon the shore
     Look out when storms arise and billows roar;
     Devoutly praying with uplifted hands
     That some well-laden ship may strike the sands,
     To whose rich cargo they may make pretence,
     And fatten on the spoils of Providence;
     So critics throng to see a new play split,
     And thrive and prosper on the wrecks of wit.”
                E. WALFORD, M.A.




“Port” and “Port-Reeve.”

BY J. H. ROUND, M.A.

_PART IV._

(_Completed from p. 24._)


TURNING now to _ceaster_, I claim it, as I claim _port_, as a
distinctively English word. Just as, ever on the same principle, I see
in the use of _weal_ (wall)--a word etymologically derived from
_vallum_--for a _stone_ wall (_murus_), an indication that the Teutonic
rovers, struck by a phenomenon to them so strange as a fortification
even of earth, formed for themselves, out of _vallum_, a word denoting a
barrier _irrespective of its material_, so I contend that they formed
for themselves, from a phenomenon so strange as that _castrum_ which
faced them on the border of “the Saxon shore,” the word _ceaster_ by
which to denote a walled enclosure, _irrespective of its size_. Is it
not a striking thought that, in these English rovers, we have the
forefathers of those to whom, as they gazed on the Norman donjon,--

     “Both the name and the thing were new.... Such strongholds, strange
     to English eyes, bore no English name, but retained their French
     designation of _castles_.”[36]

Thus, to return, as when they made the acquaintance of a stone wall
(_murus_), they would apply their word _weal_ to it, so, when they
reached the large Roman towns of the interior they would apply to them,
as being walled enclosures, their own word “ceaster,” _totally
independent of the proper name by which they were known to Roman or
Briton_.

Now here we have an instance of the striking results that may follow
from minute analysis of “these interesting philological fossils.” For it
follows, as a corollary from the above proposition, that the point of
view from which all historians, whatever their school of thought may be,
have hitherto agreed to look at “-ceaster,” is entirely erroneous and
misleading. So far from being essentially a _Roman_, I shall prove it to
be essentially an _English_ termination. Thus, though in no way a
follower of Mr. Freeman’s sweeping theories, I go, it will be seen, in
this matter of fact, even beyond the exponent of the extreme “Teutonic”
view.

Let us ask ourselves, in the first place, what we mean when we talk of
towns with the _-ceaster_ termination having retained their “Roman
names.” Mr. Pearson, for instance, who is a follower of Mr. Coote,
asserts that--

     “Roman local names were preserved by the conquerors as they found
     them.”[37]

Even Mr. Allen, though an independent thinker, contends that--

     “The English conquerors did not usually change the names of Roman
     or Welsh towns, but simply mispronounced them about as much as we
     habitually mispronounce Llangollen or Llandudno.”[38]

And he goes, indeed, so far as to assert that--

     “There are nowhere any traces of clan nomenclature in any of the
     cities. _They all retain their Celtic or Roman names._”[39]

Take, then, the case of Gloucester. Mr. Freeman and Prebendary Scarth
undoubtedly represent, on these questions, the opposite extremes of
thought. The former would minimise, and the latter would make the most
of the survival of “Roman names,” yet on this point they are at one. “A
few great cities,” says Mr. Freeman,

     “and a few great natural objects, London on the Thames and
     _Gloucester_ on the Severn, still retain names older than the
     English Conquest.”[40]


“London and Lincoln,” says Prebendary Scarth,

     “and _Gloster_ are noteworthy examples of places retaining, like
     many others, the Latinised forms of still earlier names.”[41]

And yet, as Mr. Allen most truly observes--

     “To say that Glevum is now Gloucester is to tell only half the
     truth; until we know that the two were linked together by the
     gradual steps of Glevum castrum, Gleawan ceaster, Gleawe cester,
     Gloucester, and Gloster, we have not really explained the words at
     all.”[42]

It is the advantage of an unflinching analysis such as this that we are
immediately confronted in black and white with a form of which the
existence is necessarily involved, though hitherto surely overlooked.
That form is “Glevum castrum.” This then is the question that we have to
ask: _was “Glevum castrum” ever the name of Gloucester?_ “Glevum” we
know, and “Gleawan ceaster;” but if we cannot demonstrate the existence
of a form “Glevum castrum,” the continuity of the chain is severed;
there is between them a missing link.

Now for this form, although, as I have said, it is a necessary postulate
to the accepted theory, there is absolutely, we may at once assert, no
evidence whatever. Indeed, as in this same article Mr. Allen has himself
observed,--

     “The new comers could not have learned to speak of a ceaster or
     chester from Welshmen who called it a caer; nor could they have
     adopted the names Leicester or Gloucester from Welshmen who knew
     those towns only as Kair Legion or Kair Gloui.”[43]

Thus, then, as the Roman name was “Glevum,” and _not_ “Glevum castrum,”
we see that “Gloucester,” the English name, is _not_ the “Roman name”
preserved--is not even, though Mr. Freeman would admit it, “older than
the English Conquest.”

But as yet we have only ascertained that “Gloucester” (that is to say,
“Gleawan Ceaster”) was a new, an English, name. We have still to learn
how it was evolved, and what the name really meant in the mouths of “the
English conquerors.”

To solve this further problem, there are two points that must be borne
in mind. The first of these points is that “ceaster,” though now only
found in place names, and therefore, naturally, to our ears, a
component of proper names, was, in the mouths of the earliest English,
not a proper but a common name. We are reminded, for instance, by Mr.
Grant Allen, that in Beowulf the city-folk are described as the
“dwellers in ceasters;” and even so late as the days of Alfred, Chester,
as Mr. Freeman loves to remind us, is spoken of as “a waste ceaster,”
that is a deserted city. How, then, did this English word _ceaster_, a
word formed to denote an object for which, being new to English eyes, a
new word had been added to their speech, pass out of use as a general
term, and become a component of certain proper names, embalmed in which
it has descended even to our own day? Mr. Allen contends (though the
suggestion surely is irreconcilable with his previous hypothesis of
_Glevum castrum_ having existed as a Latin form) that

     “Sometimes they [_i.e._, the English] called the place by its
     Romanised title alone, with the addition of _ceaster_; sometimes
     they employed the servile British form; sometimes they even
     invented an English alternative; but in no case can it be shown
     that they at once disused the original, and introduced a totally
     new one of their own manufacture,” &c.[44]

Now this brings me to the second of the two points of which I spoke;
this is, that in the names we are considering, such as Gloucester and
Doncaster, we have to deal with two component parts, and that the _nomen
ipsum_, the real English name, is always to be sought in the second
part, and not, as has hitherto, it would seem, thoughtlessly been
assumed, in the first. That is to say, that in _Gleawan ceaster_, as an
instance of the original form, we are to seek the true English name in
the _ceaster_, and not in the _Gleawan_. So far from seeing in this form
“the Romanised title alone, with the addition of ceaster,” we ought to
see the English word _ceaster_ imposed by the conquerors upon the city
of _Glevum_, a prefix to _ceaster_ being only added where necessary to
distinguish it from other _ceasters_. This is illustrated by the
parallel case of the three Romanised forms, _Venta Icenorum_, _Venta
Belgarum_, and _Venta Silurum_. In each of these three forms the true
place-name was _Venta_ (Gwent), and the tribal names are mere suffixes,
added for the sake of distinction. This parallel will also illustrate
the contrast between the Roman and the English Conquests. For whereas
the Romans were contented to Latinise “Gwent” as _Venta_, the English,
settlers rather than conquerors, acting as their descendants have done
in America, not as they have done in Hindostan, ignored the Roman or,
more accurately, the Latinised British name, and, in their own tongue,
called _Glevum_ “Ceaster.” Here I must again quote from Mr. Allen’s able
paper, as clearly establishing this proposition, although the inferences
we draw from it are not the same:--

     “Thus, in the north, Ceaster usually means York, the Roman capital
     of the province; as when the ‘Chronicle’ tells us that ‘John
     succeeded to the bishopric of Ceaster;’ that ‘Wilfrith was hallowed
     as Bishop of Ceaster;’ or that Æthelberht the Archbishop died at
     Ceaster.’ In the south it is employed to mean Winchester, the
     capital of the West Saxon kings and overlords of all Britain; as
     when the ‘Chronicle’ says that ‘King Edgar drove out the priests at
     _Ceaster_ from the Old Minster and the New Minster, and set them
     with monks.’ So, as late as the days of Charles II., ‘to go to
     town’ meant, in Shropshire, to go to Shrewsbury, and in Norfolk, to
     go to Norwich. In only one instance has this colloquial usage
     survived down to our own days in a large town, and that is at
     Chester, where the short form has quite ousted the full name of
     Lega Ceaster. But in the case of small towns, or unimportant Roman
     stations, which would seldom need to be mentioned outside their own
     immediate neighbourhood, the simple form is quite common, as at
     Caistor in Norfolk, Castor in Hants, and elsewhere.”[45]

I must explain very carefully the difference between Mr. Allen’s point
of view and my own. While I see the true English name in the English
word “Ceaster,” and look upon its prefixes as merely added to
distinguish one “Ceaster” from another--just as in “East Bergholt”
(Suffolk) and “West Bergholt” (Essex), or in the widely separated “East
Grinstead” and “West Grinstead” of Sussex, we recognise the original
name of each village as “Bergholt” and “Grinstead” respectively--Mr.
Allen, by the absolutely converse process, would see the true English
name in the full compound, such as “Glewanceaster,” whether formed by
simply Anglicising a Latin “_Glevum castrum_” (see p. 423), or, as he
elsewhere holds (p. 434), by using the “Romanised title alone, with the
addition of ‘Ceaster.’” He consequently sees, in the simple “Ceaster,”
not the original form, but a corruption, a “colloquial usage:”--

     “As a rule, each particular Roman town retained its full name (?),
     in a more or less clipped form, for official uses; but in the
     ordinary colloquial language of the neighbourhood they all seem to
     have been described as ‘Ceaster’ simply, just as we ourselves
     habitually speak of ‘town,’ meaning the particular town near which
     we live, or, in a more general sense, London.”[46]

Let me take, as an illustration, a well-known passage, in which the
“Chronicle” tells how the West Saxons, in 577, “took three ceasters,
Gleawan ceaster and Ciren ceaster, and Bathan ceaster.” Now, each of
these cities would be severally known as a “ceaster,” and, in due
course, as _the_ “ceaster”--just as “forum” was developed by the Romans,
and as “market” has been by ourselves (_vide ante_, v. 250)--but when,
as here, mentioned together, they would have to be distinguished from
one another. The _hams_ and _tuns_ which covered the land were so
distinguished by prefixing to them the names of their English owners.
This could not be done with the _ceasters_, which did not become the
homesteads of English owners. The distinctive prefix was, therefore,
sought in some existing (although, to the invaders), meaningless name,
either that of the river on which it stood, as “Exan ceaster” (the
Chester on the Exe), or that of the place itself, “Glewan ceaster,” a
form which may be paralleled in the “Fort Chipewyan,” “Fort Winebago,”
&c., of their descendants in North America.[47] It is often, of course,
most difficult to say whether the prefix is derived directly from the
river, or indirectly, through the original place-name. But, in any case,
we must dismiss the hypothesis that the prefix was “the Romanised title”
of the town, for the termination “an” (“Ex_an_,” “Gleaw_an_”) is found
in cases where the Roman forms differed so widely as “Isc_a_” and
“Glev_um_.” We must guard against the idea that such prefix was ever the
“Roman name” itself, used in apposition to “ceaster.”

To resume, then, we have seen that there is no ground for supposing
“_castrum_” to have ever formed part of the “Roman names” of those
cities whose modern names end in “Chester,” &c. From this it has
followed that the terminal in question is the result and badge of the
English invasion, representing the English word “ceaster,” the invaders’
term for a walled town, and not the equivalent of a mere _castrum_,
though etymologically derived from it in the first instance. We have
also seen that the terminal in question was not a mere “addition” to the
“Roman name,” but was itself the new name imposed by the conquering
English, to which, when and where necessary, a prefix was in time
permanently added, for the sake of distinction. It is not, surely, too
much to say that if these conclusions were satisfactorily established,
they must gravely modify, if not revolutionise, the view which has
hitherto universally prevailed, and which is based, I think, on a too
hasty induction from the resemblance between the English and the Latin
words.

I shall not here pursue further the vicissitudes and the fate of “port”
and “chester,” but shall content myself with noticing the instructive
fact, that, while these words have come down to us, similarly, in
compound forms alone, “chester” is a component in the names of _places_,
and “port” in the names of _things_ (including, thereby, offices). Now,
if “a walled town” was the meaning of _ceaster_, and “a trading town”
the meaning of _port_, why should we find this marked difference in the
use of words which, in sense, appear to have differed so slightly? Why
does “chester” end words, and “port” begin them? Why is a town called a
“chester,” when its governor is a “_port_-reeve,” and its court a
“_port_-manmote?” The answer is to be found in this distinction: the
_ceaster_ was the town _objectively_, that is, viewed as a natural
object, a walled enclosure; the _port_ was the town _subjectively_, that
is, relatively to trade, “in its character of a mart or city of
merchants.”[48]

Thus it was that while _ceaster_ retained its sturdy objectivity, and
was merely qualified, as a place-name, by the addition of a distinctive
prefix, _port_, on the other hand, referring as it did to the town
viewed in a particular aspect, was only strong enough to become itself a
prefix, used, for the purpose of distinction, in a quasi-adjectival
sense. In _port-mote_ it served to distinguish the moot held in the
“port” from the _scir-mote_ and _tun-mote_; in _port-reeve_ it served to
distinguish the reeve of the “port,” or trading town, from the
_scir-reeve_, the _wic-reeve_, and reeves other innumerable.[49]


MESSRS. BURNS & OATES have announced the intended publication of a
series of reprints of scarce ascetical books, many of which exist in the
possession of private collectors, as heirlooms of old Catholic families,
and in the libraries of religious houses. Among them are “Three Ways of
Perfection,” (1663); “Sweet Thoughts of Jesus and Mary,” (1658);
“Memorial of a Christian Life,” (1688), &c. The works will be edited by
Mr. Orby Shipley, M.A.




The “Titurel” of Wolfram von Eschenbach.

TRANSLATED BY JULIA GODDARD.

(_Continued from p. 134._)

CONCLUSION OF PART I.--_Siguna and Schionatulander._


     _Argument._--Schionatulander having made his confession of love,
     Gahmureth, who has been in former times oppressed by love affairs
     himself, compassionates the youth, and promises to help on his
     cause with the young Duchess. We may here remark that Gahmureth
     does not appear to have been constant in his attachments. After
     having assisted Belakane, Queen of Zassamank, in the Moorish
     regions, he married her, but deserted her before their son
     Fierefiss was born. After that he married Herzeliede, whose son,
     Parzival, was chosen to be King of the Grail. Gahmureth had also
     been much in love with Anflisa, the French Queen, an episode, to
     which Schionatulander here alludes; as does Herzeleide in her
     conversation with Siguna, for she fears the French Queen has not
     yet forgiven her successful rival, and may make her heart bleed
     through the youthful lovers.

     From the expedition in which Gahmureth was now engaged he never
     returned, being treacherously killed by Ipomidon, one of the
     Babylonian brothers. An account of his death, and of the
     magnificent burial given to him by Baruch, is to be found in
     “Parzival” (Book ii., Herzeleide).

    “WHAT need to beat about the wood,
      O fond, weak squire?
    Thou, through thy skill at tilting, may
      E’en the fair Duchess’ love acquire;
    For love gives worthier reward
      To those who arms with valour bear,
    Than she to weaklings doth award.

    Yet that thy heart aspires so high
      Fills me with pride;
    How has the tree its branches spread
      Already out so far and wide.
    Bloom finest flowers on meadow ground?
      How has my cousin vanquished thee
    With knowledge sweetest to be found.

    Her mother, Schoisian, for joy
      Was rightly named,
    Since God’s creative power and skill
      One of such loveliness had framed;
    Her glance, clear, keen, as sunlight strong,
      I hear all people soothly say
    Doth also to her child belong.

    And Kiot, who in fiercest fight
      Aye glory won;
    Before the death of his loved bride
      Bowed down proud Catalonia’s son.
    Daughter of both, Siguna sweet!
      I greet thee, who must victor prove
    Where maids for victory compete.

    She o’er thee hath prevailed, and now
      The task is thine
    O’er her the victory to gain,
      And to this end it shall be mine
    To win her aunt for thee to speak;
      So through Siguna’s glance once more
    Shall bloom the colour in thy cheek.”

    Schionatulander then with joy
      Began his speech:
    “So doth thy confidence in me
      The burden of my sorrow reach,
    For now with thy consent I may
      Siguna love, who hath so long
    Stolen my joy and peace away.”

    Schionatulander’s hopes rose high
      At the relief
    That thus to him was measured out.
      Yet let us not forget that grief
    Fair Schoisian’s daughter too must bear
      (Since she, too, is of joy bereft)
    Ere happiness fall to her share.

    For Catalonia’s princess now
      Was pining sore,
    Through the deep love within her heart,
      Whose pain she long in silence bore;
    The while the Queen, with fears oppressed,
      Sad wondered what Siguna ailed,
    And why the maid was so distressed.

    Red as the heart of blooming rose
      All steeped in dew,
    So were the maiden’s tearful eyes,
      Her face all of a blushing hue;
    The bashful maid could not conceal
      The love that for the youthful squire
    She in her inmost heart did feel.

    Then from true heart outspake the Queen,
      With pitying love:
    “It grieves me Schoisian’s child to see
      In pain that once my heart did move,
    When from the Angevin ’twas mine
      To part; now wounds the thorn anew
    To see the suffering that is thine.

    Through country or through people, say,
      Art thou distressed?
    Or can the help of kith and kin,
      Or mine bring comfort to thy breast?
    Or will our efforts naught avail?
      Say, whence hath gone thy sunny glance,
    And wherefore is thy cheek so pale?

    Now, orphaned child, upon my grief
      Some pity take;
    Though crowned with crowns of kingdoms three,
      I count me poor for thy dear sake
    Till I can make thy grief depart,
      Until my searching eyes have found
    The secret of thy sorrowing heart.”

    “Then will I now my anxious fears
      And cares confess;
    ’Twere sin a silence now to keep
      Against thy loving tenderness,
    And ’gainst thy teaching to rebel.
      Do thou my constant soother be,
    Dear mother, then will all be well.

    May God reward thee! never yet
      Did mother kind
    Show to her child a greater love
      Than ’tis my lot with thee to find;
    With joy my tears might overflow.
      No more an orphan here am I,
    Such tender love is thine to show.

    Thy consolation, and advice,
      And help I need,
    One with another, since my heart
      For my dear absent friend must bleed;
    My torments all too painful prove,
      My rambling thoughts upon one chord
    Are knitted through out-going love.

    For him, my friend, for whom my looks
      For ever stray
    From window to the street, or o’er
      The heath when light dews pass away.
    Too seldom do I see his face,
      And therefore must my weeping eyes
    Bear of my pining love a trace.

    From window to the battlements
      I sadly turn;
    I look to east, I look to west,
      Hoping some tidings I may learn
    Of him to whom my heart is bound.
      One scarce can count me young in love;
    Amongst the older I am found.

    If o’er the wild and heaving flood
      ’Tis mine to glide,
    My eyes are roving here and there
      O’er thirty miles outspreading wide,
    Hoping some tidings I may gain
      Of that dear friend, who can alone
    Release me from my load of pain.

    Whither is all my joy now gone?
      Wherefore should fade
    The courage high that filled my heart?
      Ah! sorrow doth one’s peace invade!
    Yet willingly alone would I
      The sorrow bear, but well I know
      He longing would to me draw nigh.

    Alas! too seldom doth he come,
      Too long delays;
    And now I shiver as with cold,
      Now glow as with the fire’s fierce blaze.
    Schionatulander warms my heart
     As Salamander feels the glow.
    That Agremontin doth impart.”

    “Oh, woe! thy speech is far too wise,”
      The Queen replied.
    “Am I to thee betrayed? I fear
      The Frenchwoman her power hath tried
    O’er thee, through anger unto me;
      Anflisa’s words are on thy lips,
    For they are far too old for thee.

    Schionatulander is a prince
      From failings free!
    But yet his kingdom or his rank
      By him assumed will never be,
    Since he, alas! thy love hath sought;
      If the proud Queen Anflisa’s wrath
    Hath not on me been fully wrought.

    For he was given her when he left
      His mother’s breast
    Did malice not the counsel give
      That brings to thee such sore unrest?
    But joy may round ye both yet play;
      And if he counts thee truly fair,
    Let not thy beauty pass away.

    Through love to him let once again
      Thy beauty glow;
    The colour in thy cheeks and eyes
      Be such as youthful years should show:
    If lightly thus thy looks can fade,
      Thou hast had too short time for joy,
    Too many cares are on thee laid.

    Still if the youthful Dauphin hath
      So marred thy joy,
    He yet can give thee joy again;
      For love and kindness by the boy
    Have been inherited, I ween,
      From mother fair and noble sire,
    And kinswoman Schoiette the queen.

    That thou so early cam’st to love,
      Must I complain;
    Thou wilt the grief Mahaute bore
      For Gurzgri brave, live o’er again;
    Her eyes confessed the secret wound,
      Whilst victor he in far-off lands
    Fresh trophies on his helmet bound.

    To Schionatulander will praise
      Ascend on high,
    He comes of race to whom fair fame
      Shall none e’er grudge or e’er deny,
    But it shall far and wide increase;
      Then let him chase thy grief away,
    And bring instead blest joy and peace.

    If at his glance sweet happy thoughts
      Thy heart should yield,
    I feel no wonder nor surprise.
      How well he looks with shining shield,
    Whilst round a firecloud seemed to glow,
      Of sparks that fly from crested helms,
    As his sharp sword deals out each blow.

    Painter can’t paint him as he wields
      The lance with grace:
    There ne’er forgotten was before
      So little in a manly face;
    That thou should’st love him is to me
      Not strange; in him thine eyes delight;
    Thy love I grudge not unto thee.”

    When thus was youthful love allowed
      Between the twain,
    Without a bar their love to cross
      Their hearts might constant aye remain.
    “Now cousin mine,” the maiden spake,
      “For mine own love before the world
    The heir of Graharz may I take.”




Johnson and Garrick.[50]

_AN UNPUBLISHED JEU D’ESPRIT._

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

_PART I._

JOHNSON AGAINST GARRICK.

JOHNSON AND SIR J. REYNOLDS.


REYNOLDS.--Let me alone, I’ll draw him out (_aside_). I have been
thinking this morning, Dr. Johnson, on a matter which has puzzled me
very much; it is a subject that I daresay has often passed in your
thoughts, and though _I_ cannot, I daresay _you_ have made up your mind
upon it.

JOHNSON.--Tilly fally, what is all this preparation? what is all this
weighty matter?

R.--Why, it is a weighty matter; this subject I have been thinking upon,
is Predestination, and Free will, two things, which I cannot reconcile
together, for the life of me. In my opinion, Dr. Johnson, free will and
fore knowledge cannot be reconciled.

J.--Sir, it is not of very great importance, what your opinion is upon
such a question.

R.--But I meant only, Dr. J., to know your opinion.

J.--No, sir, you meant no such thing; you meant only to show these
gentlemen that you are not the man they took you to be, but that you
think of high matters sometimes, and that you may have the credit of
having it said, that you held an argument with Sam Johnson, on
predestination, and free will; a subject of that magnitude, to have
engaged the attention of the world, to have perplexed the wisdom of man,
for these 2,000 years; a subject on which the fallen angels who _had not
yet lost all their original brightness_ find themselves _in wandering
mazes lost_. That such a subject could be discussed in the levity of
convivial conversation, is a degree of absurdity beyond what is easily
conceivable.

R.--It is so, as you say, to be sure; I talked once to our friend
Garrick on this subject, but I remember we could make nothing of it.

J.--Oh noble pair!

R.--Garrick was a clever fellow, Dr. J.; Garrick, take him altogether,
was certainly a very great man.

J.--Garrick, sir, may be a great man in your opinion, as far as I know,
but he was not so in mine; little things are great to little men.

R.--I have heard you say, Dr. Johnson----

J.--Sir, you never heard me say, David Garrick was a great man. You may
have heard me say that Garrick was a good repeater of other men’s
words,--words put into his mouth by other men; this makes but a faint
approach towards being a great man.

R.--But take Garrick upon the whole; now in regard to conversation----

J.--Well, sir, in regard to conversation I never discovered in the
conversation of D. Garrick any intellectual energy, any wide grasp of
thought, any extensive comprehension of mind; or that he possessed any
of those powers to which _great_ could, with any degree of propriety, be
applied.

R.--But still----

J.--Hold, sir, I have not done--there are to be sure, in the laxity of
colloquial speech, various kinds of greatness. A man may be a great
tobacconist, a man may be a great painter, he may be likewise a great
mimick: now you may be the one, and Garrick the other, and yet neither
of you be great men.

R.--But, Dr. Johnson----

J.--Hold, sir. I have often lamented how dangerous it is to investigate,
and to discriminate character, to men who have no discriminative powers.

R.--Garrick as a companion, I heard you say--no longer ago than last
Wednesday, at Mr. Thrale’s table----

J.--You tease me, sir. Whatever you may have heard me say, no longer ago
than last Wednesday, at Mr. Thrale’s table, I tell you, I do not say so
now; besides, as I said before, you may not have understood me, you may
not have heard me.

R.--I am very sure, I heard you.

J.--Besides, sir, besides, besides--do not you know--are you so ignorant
as not to know that it is the highest degree of rudeness to quote a man
against himself?

R.--But if you differ from yourself, and give one opinion to-day----

J.--Have done, sir, the company are tired, you see, as well as myself.


T’OTHER SIDE.

DR. JOHNSON AND MR. GIBBON.

JOHNSON.--No, sir, Garrick’s fame was prodigious, not only in England
but over all Europe, even in Russia. I have been told he was a proverb;
when anybody had repeated well he was called a second Garrick.

GIBBON.--I think he had full as much reputation as he deserved.

J.--I do not pretend to know, sir, what your meaning may be by saying he
had as much reputation as he deserved; he deserved much, and he had
much.

G.--Why, surely, Dr. Johnson, his merit was in small things only; he had
none of those qualities that make a real great man.

J.--Sir, I as little understand what your meaning may be when you speak
of the qualities that make a great man: it is a vague term. Garrick was
no common man: a man above the common size of men, may surely, without
any great impropriety, be called a great man. In my opinion, he has very
reasonably fulfilled the prophecy which he once reminded me of having
made to his mother, when she asked me how little David got on at school,
that I should say to her, that he would come to be hanged, or come to be
a great man. No, sir, it is undoubtedly true that the same qualities,
united with virtue, or with vice, make a hero or a rogue, a great
general or a highwayman. Now Garrick, we are sure, was never hanged, and
in regard to his being a great man, you must take the whole man
together. It must be considered in how many things Garrick excelled in
which every man desires to excel, setting aside his excellence as an
actor, in which he is acknowledged to be unrivalled; as a man, as a
poet, as a convivial companion, you will find but few his equals, and
none his superior. As a man he was kind, friendly, benevolent, and
generous.

G.--Of Garrick’s generosity I never heard; I understood his character to
be totally the reverse, and that he was reckoned to have loved money.

J.--That he loved money nobody will dispute; who does not? But if you
mean by loving money he was parsimonious to a fault, sir, you have been
misinformed. To Foote and such scoundrels, who circulated those reports,
to such profligate spendthrifts, prudence is meanness, and economy is
avarice. That Garrick, in early youth, was brought up in strict habits
of economy, I believe, and that they were necessary, I have heard from
himself; to suppose that Garrick might inadvertently act from this
habit, and be saving in small things, can be no wonder, but let it be
remembered at the same time, that if he was frugal by habit, he was
liberal from principle; that when he acted from reflection, he did what
his fortune enabled him to do, and what was expected from such a
fortune. I remember no instance of David’s parsimony, but once, when he
stopped Mrs. Woffington from replenishing the teapot; it was already, he
said, as red as blood; and this is doubtful, and happened many years
ago. In the latter part of his life, I observed no blameable parsimony
in David; his table was elegant, and even splendid; his house both in
town and country, his equipage, and I think all his habits of life were
such as might be expected from a man who had acquired great riches. In
regard to his generosity, which you seem to question, I shall only say
there is no man to whom I would apply with more confidence of success,
for the loan of £200 to assist a common friend, than to David, and this
too with very little, if any, probability of its being repaid.

G.--You were going to say something about him as a writer. You don’t
rate him very high as a poet?

J.--Sir, a man maybe a respectable poet without being an Homer, as a man
may be a good player without being a Garrick. In the lighter kind of
poetry, in the appendages of the drama, he was, if not the first, in the
very first class. He had a readiness, and a facility, a dexterity of
mind that appeared extraordinary even to men of experience, and who are
not apt to wonder from ignorance. Writing prologues, epilogues, and
epigrams, he said he considered as his trade, and he was what a man
should be, always, and at all times, ready at his trade. He required two
hours for a prologue or an epilogue, and five minutes for an epigram.
Once at Burke’s table, the company proposed a subject, and Garrick
finished his epigram within the time: the same experiment was repeated
in the garden, and with the same success.

(_To be continued._)

[Illustration: text decoration]




The History of Gilds.

BY CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.S.S., _Barrister-at-Law_.

_PART IV._

(_Continued from p._ 76.)

CHAPTER XXXIV.--_Gilds of Middlesex._


THE Gilds of this county were chiefly, but not entirely, centred in the
capital.

=London.=--In Chapter xiv. I have given an account of a Gild which existed
in this City during the Anglo-Saxon period (A.D. 827-1013). It probably
had many predecessors during the Roman occupation, but of these no
sufficient details have come down to us.

I now propose to give some account of other Gilds in the City, naming
them generally in the order of their supposed establishment. I do not
here include the 89 gilds, which took the shape of City Companies for
the regulation of trades, &c., of which 12 were known as the Great
Companies, and 77 as the Minor Companies; while of these latter many
have altogether died out. Concerning such of these as now remain ample
details are available: as to the great Companies, in Herbert’s
well-known History; and as to the others, in the newly-issued Report of
the Royal Commission into the Livery Companies of the City of London.

_Gild of Parish Clerks._--Amongst the Minor Companies was the _Gild of
St. Nicholas_, founded in the reign of Henry III. (13th century), which
afterwards rendered important services to the City, by preparing the
“Bills of Mortality,” from which the appearance of the Plague became
manifest, and its progress in fatality recorded. These parish clerks
(who were anciently poor _real_ clerks, _i.e._, clergy) formed a Gild,
or fraternity, and so excelled in church music that ladies and men of
quality on this account became members, and on certain days they had
public feasts, celebrated with singing and music. Upon working days they
attended the schools. Their ancient duty at church was to assist the
priest at the altar, sing with him, and read the Epistles.

_Gild of the Glovers_, founded 1354.--This was a purely secular Gild.
The Ordinances now before us purport to be made by the masters and
keepers [or wardens] of the Craft of Glovers in the City of London, and
the bretheren. The following is a brief abstract only, for the
Ordinances themselves are very full and extended:

(1) Every brother shall pay sixteen pence a year, by quarterly payments,
towards providing two wax tapers to burn at the high altar of the Chapel
of our Lady, in the new Church-haw beside London, and also to the poor
of the fraternity who well and truly have paid their quarterage as long
as they could.

(2) If any brother be behind of payment of his quarterage by a month
after the end of any quarter he shall pay 16 pence, that is to say, 8d.
to the old work of the Church of St. Paul of London, and the other 8d.
to the box of the fraternitie. Also, as often as any brother be not
obedient to the summons of the wardens, or be not present in the
“heveyns that folk be dead,” and in offering at the funeral of a
brother, and in attendance at church with the fraternitie on the feasts
of the Annunciation and Assumption, and others, he shall pay 16 pence in
like manner.

(3) Every brother shall come to _Placebo_ and _Dirige_ in the “hevenys
of dead folk” in suit or livery of the fraternitie of the year past, and
on the morrow to mass, and there offer, in his new livery or suit, upon
pain of 16 pence.

(4) If a brother be behind in his quarterage for a year and a day, and
though it be in his power to pay it, he maliciously refuse, he shall be
summoned before the official of the Consistory Court of London. [See
chapter xx.]

(5) If any brother or sister be dead within the City, and have not of
his (or her) goods him (or her) to bury, he (or she) shall have burning
about his (or her) body five tapers and four torches, at the cost of the
bretheren, provided the deceased have continued seven years in the
fraternity, &c.

(6) All the bretheren be clothed in one suit, &c.

(7) The Masters, Wardens, and bretheren shall attend and hear mass on
the feast of the Assumption, &c.

(8) Every brother shall keep his livery for four years, &c.

(9) The fee for entrance into the fraternity; also the form of oath.

(10) On the day of the feast, when the bretheren have eaten, they shall
go together to the Chapel of our Lady before mentioned, and there
continue the time of _Placebo_ and _Dirige_, and on the morrow shall
attend mass of _Requiem_, and from thence come together to their Hall,
on pain of 16d.

(11) If any brother revile another, he shall be fined 6d. or 8d., &c.

(12) All the bretheren, with their wives, shall go together to their
meat the Sunday next after Trinity Sunday, &c., &c.

(13) Concerning the admission of apprentices.

(14) Fines for “contrarying” against the rules.

(15) Penalties for disobedience of rules and regulations as to
apprentices.

These rules had been signed by twenty-nine brethren, who at the same
time were sworn faithfully to keep and fulfil them.

_Gild of the Holy Trinity_ (Aldersgate).--This is one of three Gilds
which were founded in connection with St. Botolph without Aldersgate,
concerning which much information of interest will be found in Mr.
Alderman Staples’ pleasant little book, “Notes on St. Botolph without
Aldersgate:” London, 1881. Regarding this particular Gild, the duty or
obligation of its members was to pay devout honour to the “five wounds
of Jesus Christ; the five joys of the Virgin Mary, and the Three Persons
in the Glorious Trinity.” A charity founded by this Gild exists at the
present day, and is administered by the Lord Mayor and Recorder of the
City.

_Gild of St. Katherine_ (Aldersgate).--Oath to be taken on entry, and a
kiss of love, charity, and peace. Weekly help in poverty, old age, or
loss by fire and water. The members’ payments were quarterly, 3d., women
paying at the same rate as men. Members to go to church on St.
Katherine’s Day, and afterwards choose officers [no feast mentioned, or
apparently contemplated]. Burials were to be at the charge of the Gild,
and to be attended by the bretheren. Any brother dying within ten miles
of London was to have worshipful burial; all costs being made good by
the Gild. Loans were to be made to bretheren out of the Gild stock, on
pledge or security. Wax lights were to be found and used on certain
festivals; and further services after death. New members only to be
admitted by assent on the day of the assembly. Four men were to keep the
goods of the Gild and render an account. Assent of all the brotherhood
required to any new Gild ordinances. Each of the brotherhood was to have
“a vestement, a chalys, and a massebok,” at the price of x. marks.

_Gild of Sts. Fabian and Sebastian_ (Aldersgate).--Same general features
as the preceding; with the additional feature that the young were to be
helped to get work.

_Gild of Garlekhith_, founded 1375.--This Gild was established for the
worship of God, and to nourish good fellowship. All bretheren must be of
good repute. Each was to pay 6s. 8d. on entry. There were to be wardens
who should gather in the payments, and yield an account thereof yearly.
A livery-suit was to be worn; and the bretheren and sisteren were to
hold a feast yearly. Each member was to pay 2s. yearly. There were to be
four meetings touching the Gild’s welfare to be held in each year. There
were to be free gifts to the Gild by the bretheren of “what hym lyketh.”
Ill-behaved bretheren were to be put out of the Gild. On the death of
any, all the others were to join in the burial service, and make
offerings under penalty. In cases of dispute the matter was to be laid
before the wardens. Any member disobeying their award should be put out
of the Gild. Weekly help was to be afforded to all members of the Gild
of seven years’ standing, in old age and in sickness; also, aid to those
wrongfully imprisoned. New members were to make oath to keep the Gild
ordinances. Every brother chosen warden must serve, or pay 40s.

_Gild of the Blacksmiths._--The Ordinances before us do not bear date
until 1434. They are made by the Masters and Wardens of the whole
Company of the Craft “in the worship” of St. Loy. In all material
respects they resemble those of the Glovers.

_Gild of the Shearmen_ [Clothworkers].--This is an ancient Company
arising out of interests connected with the woollen manufacture. The
Ordinances before us bear date 1452, and recite that “the wardens and
freemen of the Craft for the more encrease and continuation of brotherly
love and good example unto the honour of God, our Lady St. Mary, and all
Saints, by licence of the Mayor and Commonalty the City of London form a
religious brotherhood amongst themselves for the sustentation of a
perpetual light of thirteen tapers to burn in the church of the
Augustinian Friars in London before the image of our Lady.” This,
however, seems to have been a fraternity inside the general Gild, the
Ordinances of the latter being very minute in detail, but to the same
general purport as the Glovers.

_The Gild of the Water-bearers._--This was formerly an important body in
the City of London (as its counterparts still are in some of the
Continental cities of Europe, especially Lisbon); but it dates back
probably to a time anterior to that at which Peter Moris (the Dutchman)
erected his water-works at Old London Bridge; and certainly before Sir
Hugh Myddleton brought his New River water into the City, which was in
1620. The Ordinances before us purport to be made in 1496 by the Wardens
of the whole fellowship of the brotherhood of St. Christopher of the
Water-bearers founded within the Augustine Friars. There is nothing in
them requiring special comment.

=German Gilds in London.=--But the most extraordinary feature was the
existence in London, at a very early period, of three Gilds of _Germans
residing and trading in London_. Speaking generally, their objects were
good fellowship, and where need might arise, the succour of the poor
members of the Gilds. These were:--

(1) _The Brotherhood of the Holy Blood of Wilsnak in Saxony._ The date
of the formation of this Gild is not known, but its Ordinances were
enrolled in the Commissary Court of London, April 1, 1459:

In the name of God that is Almyghti and of our Lady Seynt Mary his
moder, and for the blessid blode of his sone Jesus Christ which is by
all Cristen people wurshipped at Wilsnak, and opynly called the Holy
Blode of Wylsnak, and of all the Seyntes of Hevyne, the xiiijth day of
Aprill the yere of our Lord God Ml.cccc.lix. and the yere of King Henry
the Sixt. xxxvij. A fraternitie in the special honour of the seid Holy
Blode of Wylsnak and of all the Holy Seynts of Hevyn is ordayned founded
and devised in the Chirche of the Crossid Freres [Crutched Friars] of
London for to norish encrece and engender love and peas amonge gode
Christen people in the fourme sewyng, that is to weten.

Then is set forth that the entrance fee was to be xx_d_., with other
Ordinances after the manner of English Gilds of the period, and the
following concerning the benefits receivable:--

Also, if any brother or suster of the same Bretherhede by fortune shall
[fall] yn naturall sikenesse by visitacion of God so that he nor she
mought labore and travel to helpe them selfe, the same foke by warnyng
to the maysters for the tyme beyng the same day of the sekenesse comyng,
or on the morow at forthest, shall have xx_d_. every wike sewing
[ensuing] unto the same seke be recovered of the sekenesse and that
trewly be payed at every wikes withoute any longer delay.

(2) _The Brotherhood of the Holy Blood of Wilsnak in Saxony_, held in
Austin Friars. Date of foundation not recorded; Ordinance enrolled in
Commissary Court of London, Dec. 8, 1490. It is recited in the
Ordinances that the Fraternity with “oon aasent and comen accorde for
the helthe and salvacion of our synfull sowles and for pease loue and
charite to be kept with our even cresten, have proposed to holde maynten
and to kepe a Fraternyte within the chirch and cloyster of the Freres
Austyn within the Cite of London in the worship and honor of the
foresaid holy blode,” &c. The Ordinances as to benefits to be granted to
the brothers is as follows:--

And also whan eny of our brethern happith to fall sike of som sikenesse
that comith of Gods hande, and not by no fawte of good governaunce and
good gydyng, he shall have for his sustenacion after that he hath lien
vij. dayes xx_d_. every weke as long as he lieth sike, and his benefacte
and charite shall perseyve as moche the moost as the lesse, to thend
this charite and almosse be not mynysshed be no wise, and whatever
brother of the same brotherhod that shall owe to the same as moche as
cometh to more money than iiij_d_. _ob._ he shall not have nor perceyve
the forseyd benefacte and charite of the said Brotherhod.

The other Ordinances of this Gild are particularly interesting.

(3) _The Fraternity of Saint Katheryn_, which is stated to have been
“founded and ordeyned by Duchemenne iiijxx yeres passed in the Crosse
Fryers in the Cite of London.” This was enrolled in the Commissary Court
of London Oct. 25, 1495 (10 Hen. VII.); and if it had only been founded
by the Dutchmen eighty years previously, as its preamble recites, then
it belongs to a later period than that of which we are writing. Another
Ordinance, reciting that its earlier Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions,
and Rules had been “specyfyed and declared in Duych tong,” points,
however, to a probably earlier origin. The names enrolled look
remarkably English-like for even the fifteenth century.

=Staines.=--In 1456 a licence was granted to John Lord Berners, Sir John
Wenlock, and other parishioners of Staines, to found a Gild or
Fraternity in honour of God and the Virgin Mary, in the Chapel of the
Holy Cross, in the Church of Staines; which Gild should consist of two
Wardens and a certain number of brethren and sisters, who were
incorporated by the King’s Letters Patent of that date. (_Vide_ Pat. 34
Hen. VI. m. 12.)

In 1548 the lands belonging to this Gild were valued at £11 17s. 6d. per
annum, including 6s. 8d. for a Chamber called the Chantry Priests’
Chamber. (_Vide_ Chantry Roll in the Augmentation Office.)

These lands paid quit-rents to the manors of Grovebarns and Iveney
Court.

(_To be continued._)


THE new parish church of Chiswick was consecrated by the Bishop of
London on Saturday, August 2. The building, which occupies the site of
the old church, has been erected mainly at the cost of one of the
church-wardens, Mr. Henry Smith. The old tower remains as it was. In the
reconstruction of the church, the architect, Mr. J. L. Pearson, has
endeavoured to indicate the leading characteristics of the old church,
which dated from the early part of the fifteenth century.




Autograph Letters.

No. IV.--BISHOP SHERLOCK TO G. SHAKERLEY, ESQ.


DEAR SIR,--I have often had a mind to write to you, since I heard of the
great Calamity which happened to you and your family; but I always felt
myself so affected with the circumstances of that sad Case, which came
fresh into my mind on every occasion, that I thought it would be showing
but little tenderness to renew your grief by expressing my own.

There is, in the misfortunes of life, a mixture of good providence, if
attended to. In your Case, the escape which some of your family had was
as wonderfull and providential as the Calamity was great and terrible.

Whenever such accidents happen the trial is very great, but it cannot
but afford great comfort to a serious mind, to observe the hand of
providence interposing to ward off that part of the distress, which of
all others would have been the most insupportable. Tho’ exposed to
danger you was not without help; though greatly afflicted, yet not
forsaken; a consideration which will support the spirit of a Man, not
only when his goods leave him, but, when the time comes that he must
leave them.

I have inquired after you and your good Lady from everybody, who was
able to give me any account; and it has been a great Comfort to me to
hear that you support yourselves under this great affliction by
reflecting on God’s great goodness in preserving the lives of yourselves
and your Children. To be insensible of such Calamitys is stupidity; but
to bear them and not sink under them is the spirit of a Man. To submit
to them patiently is the spirit of the Gospel. I trust the God who has
saved your lives, will also make them comfortable to you, by supporting
you under this trial; That he may do so is my constant prayer for you.

I desire you would give my service to your good Lady. I know this trial
did not find her unprepared, And I hope the many hours She has spent in
serious and religious reflections will be a comfort and a support to her
now. My service attends the young Ladies. I heartily rejoice in their
deliverance. Poor Miss Fanny! how often have I thought of her.

My Wife desires her service to you and Lady and the young Ladies. She
has truly been a partaker of the grief of her good friends.

I am, Dear Sir,
your most obedient humble servant,
  T. SARUM.

To G. Shakerley, Esq.

     [This letter was addressed to Mr. Shakerley, a connection of the
     Wyan family, on the destruction of his mansion, Gwersylt,
     Denbighshire, in 1738.]




Reviews.


     _Early Church History, to the Death of Constantine._ Compiled by
     the late EDWARD BACKHOUSE. Edited and enlarged by CHARLES TAYLOR.
     Hamilton, Adams & Co. 1884.

MR. EDWARD BACKHOUSE, the original compiler of the work now before us,
and of whom a biographical sketch is given, was a native of Darlington,
and a member of the Society of Friends. He died in 1879. His object in
commencing the compilation of this work is best told in his own words:
“In second month, 1874, or about that period, I was standing painting in
my own room, when an impression was made upon my mind, which I believed
to be from the Lord, that I ought to devote my leisure in my latter days
to writing a portion of Church history; especially with a view of
exhibiting to the Christian world, in a popular manner, the principles
and practices of the Society of Friends. So I forthwith began to explore
Church history generally, because the history of Friends was quite
familiar to me; and, ultimately, as I saw that I greatly differed from
many excellent historians in the inferences I drew from many events in
the history of the Church, I was induced to attempt myself to write a
history of Christianity, which I thought might prove useful to some as
exhibiting the principles and practices of the Churches, viewed from a
Quaker standpoint, and compared as nearly as I could with apostolic
precedent.” With this view he studied the Anti-Nicene Christian Library,
and read the ecclesiastical histories of Eusebius, Socrates,
Scholasticus, Sozomen, and Theodoret; and among modern compilations made
use of Du Pin, Mosheim, Neander, Burton’s Church History, and some
others. The work is illustrated by several photographs of Roman
antiquities, &c., including the Arch of Titus, the corridor and
staircase in the Catacomb of Pontianus, and fragments of sculpture of
the fourth and fifth centuries.

     _Les écrits de Leonardo da Vinci._ Par Ch. RAVAISSON-MOLLIEN. 8vo.
     Paris: Quantin.

     _Les Manuscrits de Leonardo da Vinci._ Publiés par CHARLES
     RAVAISSON-MOLLIEN. Folio. Vols. i. and ii. Paris: Quantin.

     _Conjecturers à propos d’un buste en marbre de Béatrix d’Este,
     etc._ Par LOUIS COURAJOD et CHARLES RAVAISSON-MOLLIEN. 8vo. Paris:
     Rapilly.

WE have received from Paris two most interesting works in connection
with the great Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci; they are the
production of M. Ravaisson-Mollien, who has devoted all his time, his
energies, and his learning to the editing of the Vinci MSS. preserved at
the library of the French “Institut” in Paris.

It is unnecessary to go here over the ground occupied by our author in
his preliminary _brochure_, and to give the history of the MSS. in
question. Suffice it to say that at an early time they were scattered
throughout the principal collections in Europe, and that the fears
entertained by Leonardo da Vinci himself respecting the non-publication
of his numerous treatises on art and on science seemed likely to be
fulfilled. No sooner had death removed Francisco Melzi, Leonardo’s
favourite pupil and friend, than the invaluable codices entrusted to his
care were dispersed and mutilated; as even one single page would fetch a
considerable sum of money, the MSS. were broken up into small
fragments, so as to satisfy the curiosity of the greatest possible
number of amateurs; and in order to obtain any given work in its
complete form, it would be necessary to seek the elements of that work
at Milan, Windsor, and Kensington. Numerous treatises have thus been
lost or are perhaps buried under the dust of public and private
libraries, and the materials now at our disposal represent only a small
part of the whole collection, such as Francisco Melzi originally
possessed it, and such as in all probability the artistic world will not
see it again.

By a piece of singular good luck the “Institut de France” possesses
twelve volumes of Leonardo da Vinci’s writings; they were indexed
towards the end of the last century by an Italian _savant_, named
Venturi, who had examined them carefully, and had even published some
extracts from them; these volumes are lettered A--M, and have the great
merit of giving the consecutive views of the author on the subjects
which he had studied. This point is of the highest importance in the
case of a man such as Leonardo da Vinci, who lost no opportunity of
showing the interdependence of the several branches of science, and the
light they all throw upon one another. M. Ravaisson-Mollien has
accordingly undertaken the arduous task of editing the entire works of
Leonardo da Vinci, so far at least as they are known to exist, and we
earnestly trust that he may be able to accomplish his rather ambitious
design.

The first two volumes of the entire collection are now before the
public, and thus we are to a certain extent in a position to appreciate
M. Ravaisson-Mollien’s qualities as an editor; we feel no hesitation in
saying honestly that they are all that one could wish, and we do so the
more readily because he has been attacked in the most unjust manner by
M. J. P. Richter, whose English edition of the Windsor MSS. was brought
out some little time ago. _Errare humanum est_ is a motto the
application of which is especially true in the case of the Vinci MSS.;
M. Ravaisson-Mollien himself acknowledges frankly that he may have, and
that he has probably, been guilty of a few mistakes; but that the
principles by which he is guided in his task are perfectly sound we do
not entertain the slightest doubt, and without prolonging the discussion
any further we shall merely refer the reader to the articles in the
_Times_ newspaper for January last, the Italian _Nuova Antologia_ for
October, 1883, and the _Journal des Savants_ for July, 1882.

Our business is more especially with the second volume of the
collection, but it will not be amiss to remind our friends of what are
the contents of the first. In addition to several passages already
published but given more correctly here, and bearing upon drawing,
painting, sculpture, and hydraulics, we have the commencement of a
treatise on perspective, together with essays on movement, weight,
percussion, projectiles, heat, light, sound, astronomy, cosmology, and
geography. The Italian text, reproduced in _fac-simile_ by photography,
is printed on parallel pages with a literal French translation, and an
excellent bibliographical preface describes, not only the twelve codices
of the French Institute, but all the other MSS., either complete or
fragmentary, which are dispersed throughout Europe.

The second volume is the reproduction of Codices B and D; the former of
these is generally regarded as the gem of the whole collection, on
account of the beauty, energy, elegance, and variety of the sketches
which illustrate it, whilst the latter seems to be a corrected or
revised copy of one of the chapters in Leonardo da Vinci’s treatise on
painting, a treatise in which some curious and valuable remarks on
optics serve as an introduction to the author’s lecture (if we may so
say) on perspective. Nothing but the actual inspection of this
magnificent folio can give the slightest idea of the artistic finish
which characterises it, and of the extreme variety of its contents. From
considerations on morality, on the soul, and on the spiritual world,
Leonardo da Vinci goes on to examine questions on architecture,
sculpture, agriculture, roads, draining, &c. &c., he discusses the
possibility of aerial locomotion, describes the systems of warfare
adopted by the ancients, dwells at some length on the properties of
steam, and explains the theory of the camera-obscura. The _fac-similes_
are 188 in number; a very complete alphabetical index, preceded by the
errata of the two first volumes, terminates this second instalment.

Before bringing to a close this very imperfect notice we must mention a
_brochure_ recently published containing, first, an article by M.
Courajod on a marble bust of Beatrice d’Este, preserved at the museum of
the Louvre, and which, if not the work of Leonardo da Vinci, was
certainly executed by one of his pupils; secondly, an essay by M.
Ravaisson-Mollien on the great artist’s botanical knowledge, together
with a letter of M. Fillon treating of the same subject.

Let us, in conclusion, pay a just tribute of praise to the liberality
with which M. Quantin, the publisher, has facilitated the production of
this splendid monument raised to the memory of Leonardo da Vinci.

IN _English Etchings_, Part xl. (D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s-place), we
have another of those beautifully executed “bits” of “Old London” which
are worth preserving, before they are swept away to make room for
“improvements.” The spot represented is that portion of Lower
Thames-street opposite Billingsgate. The church of St. Magnus, close by
London-bridge, forms the centre of the picture. This is one of Wren’s
churches, and was built in 1676, the old church, which was founded at
the beginning of the fourteenth century, having been destroyed in the
Great Fire of 1666. The etching is the work of Mr. Frank J. Short, and
is most effective in its treatment.

[Illustration: text decoration]




Obituary Memoirs.

     “Emori nolo; sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.”--_Epicharmus._


MR. THOMAS W. LIDDERDALE, for over thirty years an officer of the
British Museum, and latterly a first-class assistant in the Printed Book
Department, died suddenly in the Strand, on September 4, when returning
home from his ordinary duties. Mr. Lidderdale was a scholar of rare
attainments in Scandinavian literature, and particularly in the more
contracted sphere of Icelandic bibliography.

THE death is recorded of M. STANISLAS GUYARD, a distinguished Semitic
scholar. At the end of last year he was appointed Professor of Arabic at
the Collége de France, in succession to the late M. Defrémery. His
publications on the language and literature of the Arabs have been
numerous; but to English readers it will be enough to point out his
great article on “The Eastern Caliphate,” in the sixteenth volume of the
new edition of the “Encyclopædia Britannica.” His interests, says the
_Academy_, were by no means confined to Arabic. He had recently taken up
with ardour the study of Assyrian. He shares with Professor Sayce the
credit of finding the interpretation of the mysterious inscriptions of
Van; and, to the astonishment of English students, he declared himself
a convert to the theory of M. Halévy--that the so-called “Accadian” of
the cuneiform tablets is no language at all, but only a secret mode of
writing Assyrian. M. Guyard was assistant secretary and librarian of the
Société Asiatique, and one of the four editors of the _Revue Critique_.
He died by his own hand at Paris, in his forty-first year.

MR. E. A. ROY, Assistant-Keeper of the Printed Books in the Library of
the British Museum, died on August 14, aged 64. Mr. Roy had been
employed at the British Museum since 1841, and was appointed by Mr.
Winter Jones, the Principal Librarian, in 1871, to the post of
Assistant-Keeper of Printed Books, a post then specially created for an
officer charged with the superintendence and acceleration of the
progress of the catalogue of books and final revision of the titles.

MR. HENRY G. BOHN, F.S.A., the oldest bookseller and publisher, and
himself the author of sundry “Handbooks” of London, of Games, &c., died
at the age of 88, at Twickenham, on the 22nd August. He first brought
his name into notice by his “Guinea Catalogue of old English Books,”
which he printed in 1841; to our readers he will be best known by his
“Historical” and “Antiquarian” Libraries.

THE death is announced of Mr. JAMES NAPIER, of Stonehaven, author of two
local historical works, entitled “Stonehaven and its Historical
Associations,” and “The Honours of Scotland,” the latter being an
account of the preservation of the Scottish regalia when Dunottar Castle
was besieged by the army of the Commonwealth in 1651.




Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.

THE BRITISH ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.


THE forty-first annual congress of this Association commenced at Tenby,
on Tuesday, September 2, the Bishop of St. David’s presiding. The
reception of the members, by the Mayor and Corporation of Tenby, took
place at the Town-hall, where the maces and regalia of Tenby, Pembroke,
and Haverfordwest, which were exhibited, were made the subject of some
observations by Mr. George Lambert, F.S.A., who said that the last two
were of the reign of Charles I., while those of Tenby were later. All
three, he said, were in poor condition. The Bishop then delivered his
inaugural address, in the course of which he expressed his belief that
since he took part in a meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Society at
Tenby some twenty years ago antiquarian research had begun to take rank
as a science, having ceased to content itself with collecting dry facts
and having begun to systematise them in an orderly manner. He drew
attention to the character of the county which they were about to visit,
which, though it might be somewhat poor in its churches, was so rich in
castles that it might almost be styled their paradise. These castles
were well worthy of attention, for even in their ruins they served to
illustrate history, showing, as they did, that the feudal nobles who
inhabited them were almost princes in their independence, like those of
the northern borderland, and for the same reason--namely, their great
distance from the central seat of royal authority. He ended his address
by some excellent remarks on the five leading eras to which the
antiquities of Pembrokeshire might be referred--the pre-historic, the
Roman, the Anglo-Saxon, the mediæval, and the post-Reformation periods
respectively; adding, at the same time, some remarks upon his own
cathedral of St. David and its surroundings, its peculiar grandeur and
charm of grace, instancing it and Bishop Gower’s Palace close by as the
finest specimens of mediæval architecture, ecclesiastical and domestic,
to be seen in the Principality.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by the members of the congress in
the inspection of the various objects of antiquarian interest in which
the town abounds, notably its ancient walls, which, if they are not so
strong or so ancient as those of York, are of a good and original type.
They are fairly perfect on the western and northern sides of the town,
and probably were never built on the east and south sides, where the
cliffs, rising abruptly out of the sea, were a sufficient protection.
The leading features of these fortifications were explained by Mr.
Edward Laws, a local antiquary, who has acted as local secretary to the
present congress, and has the antiquities of Tenby at his fingers’ ends.
The company also inspected several arched vaults, Gothic windows,
ornamental chimneys, and other architectural details in various houses
in the town. They also visited the local museum, where the civic
charters of Tenby and other curious specimens of antiquarian lore were
on view. These found an expounder in Mr. Walter De Gray Birch, of the
British Museum, who pronounced them far above the average in interest,
though not in good preservation. At the church the party were met by the
rector, the Rev. G. Huntington, who pointed out to them a number of fine
effigies and other monuments, especially the curiously sculptured
alabaster memorial to John and Thomas White, enterprising and opulent
merchants of the town, one of whom was of great service to Henry VII.,
when he was only Earl of Richmond, in enabling him to make his escape by
sea to France--a service for which he was afterwards rewarded by a Royal
grant of land. Amongst the other tombs that were inspected was that of
William Risam (A.D. 1633), in the attitude of prayer; that of Walter
Vaughan, of Dunraven, a noted wrecker; and, perhaps the most interesting
of all, a marble effigy of a skeleton in a recess in the wall near the
north door--probably erected by a priest as a _memento mori_. The
curious figures supporting the roof of the chancel, the ogee arch over
the western doorway, the old aumbries, the fine wooden roof, and
entrance to the rood-screen, were all much admired, as were also the
remains of a Carmelite priory adjacent to the west end of the fabric.
These were commented on by the Rector and by Mr. Loftus Brock, who gave
good reasons for believing that the church was erected in detail at
various dates, as the necessity for enlargement arose, and stated that
St. Mary’s, Tenby, was not only one of the finest of Pembrokeshire
churches, but also a very excellent example of what a town church ought
to be. Before leaving the church the Bishop moved a vote of thanks to
Mr. Brock for his valuable and most suggestive paper. The day’s
proceedings were brought to a close by a dinner at the Temperance Hall,
at which nearly a hundred sat down.

On Wednesday, at Brownslade, their first halting-place, through the
kindness of the Hon. Colonel Lambton, a raised tumulus, which had long
been suspected to be a barrow, was opened, and at a distance of little
more than 2 ft. below the turf a variety of human bones were brought to
light, and, amongst others, the skeleton of a very tall man, which was
laid bare before the eyes of the assembled congress, the rough stones
which had covered the bones being carefully removed. As the body lay
exactly east and west, it was surmised that it must be that of a
Christian; and, if so, then it clearly must be of post-Roman date. This
supposition was confirmed by the discovery of some crosses and other
emblems of Christianity being found among the bones in the neighbouring
graves, which were grouped thickly around. In some of these the bones
were thrown in apparently at random, and others were found in a crawling
posture, so that in all probability the cemetery had been used for
heathen interments before the Christians made use of it. At a short
distance to the north were seen the _débris_ of what was thought, from
its orientation, to have been a chapel or church, though the masonry
showed marks of Roman mortar and handiwork. Between the church and the
above-mentioned tumulus the surface of the ground is very uneven, rising
every here and there into hillocks, and it was thought probable that
further excavations, if carried out, would probably reveal here the
existence of an early British village. At Brownslade Mr. E. Laws and Mr.
Loftus Brock and the Dean of St. David’s acted as interpreters and
guides. The dean also accompanied the party to the next halting-place,
the church of Castle Martin, a miniature reproduction in some respects
of St. David’s Cathedral. Here the dean drew the attention of the
congress to the south porch, in which were the remains of what certainly
looks like a rood-loft, though why a rood-loft should be introduced into
a porch it is not easy to determine. The Norman font, the tall slim
tower, and other features of the church were much admired. The visitors
also inspected the old vicarage, adjoining the church, now inhabited as
a cottage. In it they saw a pillar of apparently Norman date, and having
on its capital grotesque sculptures.

Afterwards the party drove on, under the guidance of Mr. E. Scott, to
Angle, or Nangle, a village prettily situated on an arm of Milford
Haven, and famous as having been once the home of Giraldus Cambrensis.
Here they were shown the remains of a curiously fortified rectory-house
(not unlike one of the smaller “Peel” castles of the northern border
counties), consisting of a tower with Gothic windows, and elegantly
adorned with carvings. Close by it is a round dovecote, probably coeval
with the rectory, and dating from the Edwardian era. They also inspected
a little detached mortuary chapel, with a crypt below, which stands in
the churchyard a little to the north of the sacred edifice. On their way
thence to Ross-Crowther the party visited a curious cromlech on Newton
Burrows. At Ross-Crowther itself they were received by the rector, the
Rev. Mr. Scott, who entertained the whole party at tea in his garden. He
also showed them a curiously engraved stone (possibly of Roman origin)
which is worked into the wall at the entrance of the churchyard, and a
fine stone cross in the churchyard, remarkable as still having a perfect
cavity in which money was dropped as offerings to the preacher. The
altar slab, the low-browed arches, the font, and other portions of the
church were much admired, as also was the “sanctus” bell, which still
hangs outside the roof at the eastern end of the nave.

The party walked across the fields from the rectory in order to visit
the fortified manor-house of Jestington, or Eastington, one of the most
singular structures in this part of Wales. It is remarkable for its
external staircase of stone, and for the curious patterns in which its
stone floor is laid down. From Eastington the drive was made on the
return journey to Pembroke, whence the members of the Congress were
conveyed by train to Tenby. Owing to the late hour of their return only
one paper was read at the evening meeting--namely, by Mr. Arthur Cope,
upon the subject of “Little England beyond Wales.” The reading of this
paper was followed by an animated discussion, in which Mr. G. Lambert,
Mr. E. Loftus Brock, and other gentlemen took part.

Thursday was devoted to a long drive by carriages to Manorbeer Castle
and Lamphey Palace. On their way to the former they paid a visit to
Lydsted, a quaint little place on the coast, where their attention was
attracted by some curious ancient specimens of domestic architecture. At
Manorbeer Mr. E. Loftus Brock explained all the details of this most
interesting structure, more remarkable for its picturesque position at
the head of an inland bay than for its strength, as it is commanded on
almost every side by hills which would place it at the mercy of heavy
cannon. The castle is approached by a drawbridge, which spans a moat now
dry. Crossing this and passing through the fortified entrance gateway,
the visitor finds himself in the outer bailey, with the windows of the
chapel, the hall, the kitchen, and the other domestic offices facing
him. His attention cannot fail to be arrested by the external stone
staircases which lead up to these rooms. Between the hall and the chapel
is a large apartment, which probably was used as a drawing-room. Here,
as in the chapel, the vaulting of the roof remains, as also do the
chimneys in the hall; the dais also can be traced, and the stairs
leading up from the kitchen are nearly perfect. Much has been done of
late years to show the proportions of the chapel by removing the bricks
and plaster with which its chancel windows were blocked up. The walls
are almost entire, and so are the ramparts which run round them
internally, thus placing both ends of the castle in immediate
communication with each other, and both with the centre--an arrangement
very useful in the time of constant wars and forays. Mr. Brock was able
to show that the walls were of different date, the original Norman walls
having been raised, apparently twice, in order to secure additional
defence. Some controversy arose at the end of Mr. Brock’s remarks as to
the meaning of the latter portion of the word “manorbeer,” and Sir James
Picton, suggested that as the castle was under the Edwards the property
of the family of Barry, or Berry, of which Giraldus Cambrensis was a
member, it might mean the manor house of the Berrys; but this was
negatived by the Vicar, the Rev. A. H. Wratislaw, who stated that in old
college documents there was no reference to the Barry family, and that
there is still in the parish a farm termed Beer, to which possibly the
lands now covered by the castle belonged. On leaving the castle the
party proceeded to the church, which stands on a lofty eminence looking
down upon the castle and the sea. The many singular points in its
structure, its utter irregularity of plan, the strange, heavy arches on
either side of its nave, the large rood-loft in the north aisle, and the
equally large “hagioscope” in the south aisle, and the knightly figure
in armour on the north side of the communion rails, were all in turn
commented upon by the Rev. Mr. Wratislaw in an address which he
delivered in the nave. The party next hastily inspected the ruins of the
old priory and the old rectory house adjoining the church on the south,
and then proceeded on foot along the edge of the cliffs to see a
cromlech, which is famous throughout the neighbourhood. It much
resembles those seen in Cornwall, consisting of two short upright
stones, supporting another flat stone of larger size. This was probably
used for the purposes of sepulture in prehistoric times. Returning to
the village the party took their luncheon in the schoolroom, which was
placed at their disposal by the Vicar. After this they drove on in
their brakes and waggonettes to Hodgeston, where they inspected the
church, and duly admired the richly-carved sedilia, piscina, and
decorated chancel, for which it is famous among Pembrokeshire churches.
From Hodgeston their route led them to Lamphey, one of several palaces
once belonging to the see of St. David’s, though separated from it by
Henry VIII. at the Reformation, and since allowed to go to ruin by the
Devereuxes, to whom it was first granted, and by subsequent owners down
to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to whom it now belongs. The old
hall, with its long and fine arcade of windows--an emulation, or rather
a reproduction on a smaller scale, of Bishop Gower’s Palace of St.
David’s--and the chapel, with its elegant east window, were both much
admired, and great regret was expressed at the ruin caused by courtiers
to sacred buildings which the ancient Church did its best to preserve.
From Lamphey the return journey was made along the ridgway to Tenby, but
in their way back the archæologists paid a short and hasty visit to
Penally Abbey, only a small portion of which--namely, St. David’s
Chapel--now remains. It stands in private grounds, and the chapel is now
a fernery, of which the gardener is very proud. The church, which is
small, and has lately been renovated and adorned with painted windows,
was much admired, and so were the crosses in the churchyard. The party
reached Tenby between seven and eight o’clock, and at the evening
meeting papers were read by Sir James Picton on “Place Names and their
Teachings, especially with reference to Pembrokeshire,” and by Mr.
Edward Laws on “The Local Ethnology of the District.” The former paper
gave rise to a long and interesting discussion.

On Friday the archæologists had a long and pleasant day. Reaching
Pembroke by special train soon after ten o’clock, they found their
carriages ready to convey them to the Stack Rocks and to Stackpole
Court, Lord Cawdor’s noble seat, near the southern coast of
Pembrokeshire. They reached the cliffs in good time, and saw them in
their entire stretch from Linney Head to St. Govan’s Head, and were
shown in turn the Caldrons, Bullslaughter Bay, the Hunter’s Leap, and
the other points which are so familiar to tourists in these parts. The
sea was quite calm, and the sky was bright, so that the party were
specially favoured in point of weather. They were most pleased, however,
with St. Govan’s Chapel, which is situated about half-way down the
cliffs in a narrow gorge, which it almost entirely blocked up. Here it
is said that St. Govan was miraculously brought, and still more
miraculously preserved from his enemies, and here he spent many years in
fasting and prayer. The rooms which served as his dwelling and his
oratory are partly hewn out of the solid rock, and partly built into it
and on it. The window is primitive in its simplicity, and the roof with
its little bell turret above is all that shows us now that it was a
chapel once. Close by it and almost forming part of it is a rock, in
which there is a hollow cavity just large enough for a person to stand
in it; and there is a firm and fixed belief in the neighbourhood that
whoever, whilst inside of it, makes a wish, turning himself or herself,
as the case may be, round three times, will see that wish gratified
within the next twelvemonth. From St. Govan’s Head the party passed
along the cliff, inspecting very briefly a Danish encampment which
occupies one of the bold headlands close by. In their way from St.
Govan’s to Stackpole the archæologists paid a visit to Bosherston
Church, where the tall tapering tower and the interior monuments,
including two recumbent figures, a knight and a lady in stone, under
noble canopies, were much admired. The church in other respects
scarcely differs from the ordinary type so common all over the southern
portion of Pembrokeshire. From Bosherston they drove on to Stackpole
Court, the seat of Lord Cawdor, where they were not sorry to find
luncheon awaiting them. Some of the party were content to inspect the
state rooms of this lordly mansion, and to admire the family portraits
by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Romney, and Sir Thomas Lawrence, and the stands
of arms which were used by the late Lord Cawdor’s regiment of militia in
repelling the descent of the French troops at Fishguard, or taken from
their prisoners. Meantime the more adventurous portion of the party
walked across the park, under the guidance of Colonel and Lady Victoria
Lambton, to inspect the site of a supposed pre-historic British village
on the high ground about half-way between the Court and the sea cliffs.
The remains are very irregular in plan, and from what is seen above
ground it is difficult to make out their use, for they are scarcely
strong enough to support roofs, and so could hardly serve for the
purpose of domestic life. It was thought by some of those present that
they were intended as places of safety for their oxen and flocks, and
that the sites of their dwellings were a little further towards the sea.
The subject, however, is reserved for future discussion, as soon as some
further excavations can be made by Lord Cawdor, Colonel Lambton, and Mr.
E. Laws. The large quantities of bones, burnt and calcined, of flints
cut for arrow-heads, &c., found just under the turf led the
archæologists to believe that further excavations would probably be
found productive of satisfactory results; and one thing was regarded as
certain--namely, that in very distant ages these bleak and barren
sea-cliffs bristled with a native population. In returning through the
park the party were shown some specimens of a breed of white cattle
which are said to have been here from the Danish and British times, not
unlike those at Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, but smaller and
not so fierce. The return drive was accomplished in good time to
Pembroke, the party being able _en route_ just to take a hasty glance at
Cheriton Church, which has been lately restored by Lord Cawdor, and is
remarkable for the noble monuments, under sculptured canopies, which it
contains. They much admired the monument of Sir Elias de Stackpole, who
took the cross and went off to Palestine, being led thereto by the
preaching of Archbishop Baldwin; and also an ivy-crowned stone cross,
which stands in the churchyard, apparently unmutilated. The papers read
at the evening meeting in the Town-hall, Tenby, were two--the first by
Mr. Thomas Morgan on “The Plantagenets,” and the other on “The Flemings
in England and their Architecture,” by the Rev. Osborn Allen. The latter
was followed by a long and interesting discussion.

On Saturday morning, in spite of the wetness of the day, about sixty of
the members of the Congress started in carriages for Gumfreston and St.
Florence, _en route_ for Carew and Upton Castles. Arrived at Gumfreston,
they were received at the church by the Rector and by Mr. Edward Laws,
who had acted throughout as local secretary and _cicerone_. Here Mr.
Charles Lynam read a paper upon the structural peculiarities and
historical associations of the church, for which he received a special
vote of thanks. The sanctus bell, the piscina, and the baptistery were
much admired. From Gumfreston the party drove through drenching showers
of rain to St. Florence, where they minutely inspected the church,
which, like its neighbour they had just left, is an excellent specimen
of the usual Pembrokeshire church, with heavy walls and stone roof, and
low depressed arches of early date in the chancel and transepts. The
vicar, the Rev. Eric Rudd, here showed to the party the remains of a
holy water stoup and of a stone cross which had not long since been
unearthed in the immediate neighbourhood. Mr. Brock also made some
remarks upon the fabric, and the parties inspected the remains of an old
Flemish house close by. From St. Florence they drove on to Carew Castle,
which was the principal attraction in the day’s programme. Less in size
than, and not equal in situation to, Manorbeer, Carew Castle--which, by
the way, is generally styled Carey in Pembrokeshire--is not inferior to
it in historic interest. It was the original fortress of the ancient
Princes of Wales when they were independent of the British Crown, and,
as the home of the earlier of the Tudors, it holds a high rank among the
historic castles of the Principality. It passed, by the marriage of an
heiress, to one of the Geralds or FitzGeralds, who was castellan of
Pembroke Castle, and it is famed in comparatively recent times as having
been the place where one of the Welsh lords, Sir Rhys ap Thomas,
received Henry of Richmond when he landed in these parts on his way to
win the battle of Bosworth Field. Here, therefore, the party were glad
to lunch, being hospitably entertained, by the courtesy of Mr. Charles
Allen, in the ruined and windowless, but, happily, not roofless chapel.
The outlines of Carew Castle are so familiar to the Cambrian traveller
that we need not attempt to describe them in detail; sufficient to say
that it stands at the extreme end of one of the many “tentacles” of
Milford Haven, which washes the bases of its northern and western
towers. The great “Edwardian” banqueting hall, with its fine flight of
stone steps externally, still frowns down upon the visitor in the
quadrangle, reminding him of many details of Ludlow and Berry Pomeroy.
On his right are the remains, roofless, of the state apartments, very
magnificent in their decay, not unlike those of Kenilworth. Of the
chapel but little is to be seen externally, though it is interesting
enough in its interior details. “The inner face of the western side of
the Castle Court,” writes Murray, “is the most modern of the whole, and
is said to have been built by Sir Rhys ap Thomas, in a rich form of late
Perpendicular architecture; it proclaims by its style that it was
erected during the reign of one of the Tudors. It must have been a
structure of great magnificence, though now reduced to a mere shell.”
This wing was evidently built without any view to defence, though placed
in connection with the towers at either end rising out of the water. On
the whole, it is not in so good a condition as Manorbeer, and is not so
well looked after or so tenderly “preserved.” The party inspected also,
under the guidance of the Vicar, Carew Church, and were shown the
remains of a small disused chapel, near at hand. Mr. Loftus Brock here
offered a few remarks on the details of both these interesting
structures, the church having, unlike the rest of those the party had
lately visited, a Perpendicular tower. Near the Carew Arms Hotel the
party were shown an old wayside cross, the inscription on which, in
Runic characters, has long defied the efforts of scientific inquirers.
Mr. E. Laws, however, announced that it had been lately found to be a
brief record of the name of the person who erected it, and that it
belonged to a date when the Welsh were in close contact with the Irish.
He stated that the ornamentation of the cross, which is a megalith
upwards of 12 ft. in height, is generally like that to be seen on the
crosses in the Isle of Man and in Ireland, in spite of some local
differences of detail. In the course of the afternoon the party, having
been refreshed by their luncheon, went on to Upton Castle, where they
were received by an Oxford professor of modern history, Mr. Henry
Halford Vaughan, formerly fellow of Oriel College. This gentleman
explained to them the details of the structure, and showed them his
library. He also accompanied them to a disused church or chapel in his
grounds not far from the castle, where Colonel Bramble showed and
commented upon the effigy, in stone, of a member of the great
Pembrokeshire family of Malefort or Mallefort. At the conclusion of
their inspection of the antiquities and curiosities of Upton, the party
drove across the country, along deep shady lanes, to Pembroke, where the
train was waiting to take them back to Tenby in time for the evening
meeting. On this evening the Mayor took the chair, and a paper was read
by Mr. E. Loftus Brock, F.S.A., upon “The Historical Evidences of the
Extent of the Ancient British Church in Wales.” Mr. E. Laws said that it
would be more correct to call this Church Cwmric than British, and the
discussion was continued until a late hour.

On Sunday the members of the Congress attended Divine service at the
parish church at Tenby, where the rector, the Rev. G. Huntington,
preached before them an eloquent sermon, most appropriate to the
occasion, from the words of Jeremiah (vi. 16), “Stand ye in the old
paths ... and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”[51]

In spite of a very wet morning on Monday, the members of the congress,
to the number of nearly forty, proceeded, according to their programme,
by special train to Pembroke, where Mr. E. Laws and Mr. Loftus Brock had
promised to conduct them over the ruined fabric of the castle. Its site
and exterior appearance need scarcely be described, so well are they
known to tourists; but it may be well to say that as at Manorbeer there
is no history, because there were no events in the existence of the
castle, here the castle has a long and varied history, figuring in the
early wars which ended in the reduction of Wales under the English yoke,
and also in the Great Rebellion, when it was held for the King, and was
captured by the Parliamentary leaders, Oliver Cromwell himself having a
hand in its reduction. The castle stands on a rocky peninsula, which is
formed by two creeks of Milford Haven, which wash it on the north and
west. It thus occupies a very strong position, and though there is no
actual proof of its having been occupied as a fortress by the Romans,
yet there is every probability that such was the case. Soon after the
Norman Conquest, however, it appears to have been fortified by Walter de
Montgomery, and from that time down to the early part of the fifteenth
century, when Henry VII. was born within its walls, it had a large share
in the making of Welsh history. The castle, it is needless to add,
though well fortified by nature, was still more strongly fortified by
art, and, indeed, was at one time regarded as almost impregnable. The
outer defence consisted of a double entrance, the inner one at right
angles to the former, in front of which was a drawbridge and a moat, now
no longer in existence. The first, or outer court, by far the larger of
the two, was divided from the inner court or “bailey” by a wall, which
can still be traced. Near the juncture of the two stands the Norman
keep, which, unlike that of most similar structures, is circular instead
of square. It is upwards of 70 ft. in height, and its walls at the base
are nearly 17 ft. thick; it has a stone roof or covering of a conical or
dome-like shape, reminding the visitor of the tower at the north-west
angle of Windsor Castle. It is of five stages, and a stone staircase in
the wall led up to the “first floor apartments;” but, alas! the floors
are all gone. Some fine, semi-Norman windows still remain _in situ_. In
the lower “bailey” is the old castle well, and near it a sally-port,
which would stand the besieged in good stead in case of being reduced to
their last shift within the walls. Near the central keep are the remains
of the walls of other large apartments, but their actual use is
uncertain, and the archæologists could throw little or no light upon
them. Not far to the east are the walls of what once was a magnificent
banqueting-hall, but there the devastation wrought by the hand of time
is so extensive that it is almost impossible to decide which was the
upper end of it, and where were the servants’ seats and the entrance to
the buttery and the kitchen. As for the chapel, two chambers were shown
to the members of the congress, but so many objections were found to
each that they were inclined to believe that it could never be found
except by farther excavations. The company, in spite of the drenching
rain, were able to “walk round the battlements and tell the towers
thereof,” and to inspect the entrances of the dungeons and of the large
cavity in the northern wall known as “The Wogan”--a place which, it is
thought, may have served as a second sally-port, though others think
that it was the receptacle of a second well. Before leaving the party
were shown by Mr. E. Laws some of Oliver Cromwell’s cannon-balls of
stone, which he was forced to have made on the spot in great haste in
order to carry on the siege, as his store of ammunition which he had
intended to use against the castle had been sunk by a storm in the
depths of the Bristol Channel. They were also shown the chamber in
which, if the local tradition is to be believed, Henry of Richmond,
afterwards King Henry VII., was born. Returning to the principal
entrance, the party assembled in the room above the gateway to hear from
Mr. Loftus Brock a short description of the fabric, its history and
archæology; and Mr. Brock, on behalf of the members, tendered his best
thanks to Mr. Cobb and to the local committee for the care which they
have bestowed on the preservation of the fabric from further decay.
Leaving the castle the party then walked round the outer walls by the
side of the river, and so made their way across the bridge to Monkton.
Here they had before them a great treat, for they saw together, under a
single roof, the strange commixture of a parish church with a monastic
priory chapel, the latter having been added to the former by the
Benedictine monks when they were removed thither from the castle
scarcely a century after the Norman Conquest. It appears that they
divided the two structures, which appeared respectively as a nave and a
chancel, by a wall, which still remains _in situ_, at once separating
and connecting them. The monastic church is of the Decorated style, with
an east window not unlike one of the windows at Tintern Abbey. Close by
it, and running parallel to it on the north, is the Lady-chapel, of
about the same date. These are both now roofless, but it is hoped that
the former may, ere long, be turned to good account, and be restored so
as to form a chancel to the nave, which alone now serves as the
parochial church. The chief obstacle to this is the wall built across
them at their juncture, and which is said to be “too good to destroy and
yet too bad to keep.” Possibly, as suggested by Mr. Brock, the upper
part of it might be removed, and the lower part pierced, so as to form a
sort of light screen which shall offer no impediment to the voice. On
leaving the church and chapels the party were conducted over the scanty
remains of the old monastic buildings, which are still distinctly
traceable in the field to the north. They afterwards paid a hasty visit
to the vicarage-house, which was once, they were told, the prior’s
residence, and which has every appearance of having once been fortified.
In its basement is a lofty, vaulted chamber, above which is a fine
dining-hall, with its buttery-hatch as complete as it was four centuries
ago.

As soon as luncheon, of which they partook at an inn in the town, was
over, the whole party returned by special train to Tenby in time for the
concluding meeting, which was held in the Town-hall, and was presided
over by the Mayor. Here Mr. De Gray Birch read an interesting historical
paper upon the Charters of Tenby, which he showed was variously spelt
from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. He said that, as compared
with those of other towns, the Charters of Tenby were both early and
curious, and, though they were not in so bad a state as many others,
they had suffered severely from neglect and from injudicious repairs, by
exposure to damp, and by the absence of light and fresh air. Their value
to the Town, he added, was incalculable, and their loss or further decay
would be equally to be regretted. Votes of thanks were passed to the
Mayor, to Mr. Edward Laws, to the Rector of Tenby, to the readers of
papers, and to the various other gentlemen who had assisted in
forwarding the interests and success of the congress, which then broke
up, so far as Tenby was concerned; the archæologists intending to leave
early on Tuesday for Haverfordwest and St. David’s, where they would
examine the cathedral and the old episcopal palace, under the guidance
of the Bishop and the Dean. An account of this portion of the
proceedings will appear in our next number.


PROVINCIAL.

BUCKS ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--On August 11, the members of the above
Society visited Buckingham, Maid’s Moreton, and Stowe House, making the
Buckingham district the point for the annual excursion. The Vicar of
Buckingham read a paper on the history of the Parish Church. Castle
House was then inspected, the residence of Major Hearn, who gave a
description of the place. The company then proceeded to Maid’s Moreton,
where the church was the object of the visit, and at which place the
pages of the parish register were searched with much interest. On the
arrival at Stowe House the Duke of Buckingham received the company,
amounting to 150 visitors. After luncheon, his Grace read a paper on the
history of the place. Some interesting points in Stowe Gardens were
visited, but time would not permit of a lengthened survey of the place.
The annual meeting of the Society was afterwards held. The Society
promises more animation in future.

CAMBRIAN ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.--The thirty-ninth annual Congress of
this Association began on Monday, August 18, at Bala, under the
presidency of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn. The report was adopted. On
Tuesday an excursion was made to Castell Carndochan, Caergai, and
Llannwchllyn Church. At the first-named place the Rev. W. Hughes, the
local secretary, read a paper in which he referred to the leading
objects of the day’s excursion. “Llannwchllyn,” he remarked, “was
derived from its position above Bala Lake: _Llan-nwch-y-Llyn_, ‘the
church above the lake.’” In early times, he said, the word “Llan” was
not only applied to churches, but it also signified the spot surrounding
the church. The existence to these days of so many Llans bearing the
names of Welsh saints, such as Llandudno, Llandewi, Llandaff, and
Llandrinio, showed the independence of the early British Church of the
Church of Rome, and that she had a noble army of saints and martyrs to
boast of long before Augustine came over from Rome, A.D. 596, to preach
the Gospel to the pagan Saxon. The parish of Llannwchllyn was one of
much archæological interest, not the least point in which was that the
historical River Dee rose in it under the hill called Duallt, and not at
Pantgwn, as was sometimes supposed. Llannwchllyn Church was dedicated to
St. Duniol, and besides the cathedral of Bangor and the parish church of
Hawarden, is the only church in North Wales that bears the name of the
first Bishop of Bangor. The old church was taken down in 1872, and was
“restored” at a cost of about £17,000. Plas Rhiwaedog, an old restored
palace of Owen Tudor, the head of the six tribes of North Wales, was
visited on the way back to Bala. It is now the property of Mr. Price of
Rhiwlas, who has retained in it the old oak furniture and some of the
oak mantelpieces, on one of which is the date 1699. On the porch is an
inscription, with the date 1664. At the evening meeting, held in the
County-hall, Bala, the Rev. Canon Thomas gave a _résumé_ of the
investigations of the day, and read a paper descriptive of
Merionethshire 600 years ago. Mr. R. Pryce Jones (Ruthin) read portions
of a paper giving a history of Rhiwaedog, the palace of Owen Tudor as it
has been called, in which he traced the pedigree of the resident family
from 60 B.C., when the head was called Beli Mawr, King of the Britons,
and from whom Billingsgate was named, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth,
down to Colonel Edward Evans-Lloyd of Moel-y-Garhedd, the present
descendant of the family.--Wednesday’s excursion was through the Vale of
Llangollen, where the party inspected another Roman mound, Tommen-y-Mur,
near Maentwrog-road, and then other objects between Maentwrog-road
Railway-station and Dolgelly, the route between these two places being
by road. The church at Llanelltyd, with its inscribed stone, Cymmer
Abbey, and Dolgelly Church were also visited.--The excursion on Thursday
was eastward among the Berwyn mountains, and the antiquities in the
district around Llangollen were also examined. After visiting
Llantysilio Church, the travellers reached Valle Crucis Abbey. The stone
fragments have been carefully collected and placed as nearly in their
original positions as practicable on the carefully-shaven turf which now
takes the place of the paved floor of the abbey. In the restoration of
the chapter-house a curious plan was adopted for preserving a memorial
which is believed to have no proper connection with the abbey itself.
This a monumental slab on which the vine, Maltese cross, &c., are
carved, which is built into the south wall over the central one of three
recesses, and bears the following inscription: HIC IACET TARVRVET. The
rest of the inscription appears to have been broken off with a portion
of the stone in order to make it fit into the recess. This stone had
been used as a mantelpiece in a neighbouring house, but why it was
removed to its present position is unexplained. As to the foundation of
the abbey, doubt is still entertained among archæologists. Dugdale, on
the authority of Leland, ascribes it to Madoc ap Griffith Maylor, Prince
of Powys, assumably about 1200. Looking from the west front towards the
north is to be seen, a few hundred yards away in a clump of trees on a
slight mound, a broken pillar, which has been the source of much
controversy. This is Elisey’s pillar, and is evidently of the remotest
antiquity, though bearing at present a modern inscription. The wear and
tear of many centuries has almost obliterated the original inscription,
but traces of letters are still to be detected. There is evidence that
the cross was certainly in existence before the foundation of the
abbey, which is spoken of as being “near the cross.” Castell Dinas Bran,
which is locally known as “Crow Castle,” was next visited. It stands on
the summit of a conical hill 600 ft. high, and its broken walls and
jagged turrets, as seen from below, form a striking feature in the
landscape. It must have been impregnable against any attack when
fortified in the days of rude warfare. Its early history is somewhat
obscure. It was in 1200 the residence of Madoc ap Griffith, the founder
of Valle Crucis, from which it is distant only two or three miles.
Madoc, it appears, became a traitor to his king, and when he afterwards
gave in his submission it was readily accepted, for the probable reason
that the Sovereign was aware of the impregnability of his castle, to
which he had retired. Llangollen Church has recently been
“restored.”--The excursion on Friday was in the direction of Corwen.
Commencing at Llangar Church, a short drive from Bala, an inscribed
stone in the town was noticed. It bore the inscription Cavoseniagii, but
its interpretation is a matter of controversy. Next came
Tomen-y-Castell, another of those mounds common in the district; in this
case it appears to have been placed as a means of defence and
observation on an important part of the Roman road leading from Caergai
towards Deva (Chester). Caer Creini was next visited--a fine
stone-breasted outwork. At Rhug Chapel attention was called to some good
carving in the roof. Caer Drewyn is a large fort with stone ramparts.
Corwen Church was then reached. This is another restored church, but
here a fine effigy of a former priest is untouched. Llangan Church, also
restored, has a good screen and a portion of a pastoral staff, ascribed
to the founder, Dorfel Gadarn. Caerbont was next visited. This is
mentioned by Mr. Hartshorne as belonging to the type of forts of the dry
stone-walling period. In the evening the concluding meeting was held at
the County-hall, Bala, when the Rev. Canon Thomas read a paper on the
“Ecclesiastical History of Merionethshire.”--A small local museum of
antiquities was formed during the week at the Calvinistic Methodists’
College, Bala. It contained some numismatic specimens and a few rare
books, among them poems of Phillipe and Catherine ap Howell. A curious
almsbox was shown, so contrived that an arrangement of teeth prevents
the abstraction of coins placed therein. Some painted iron crosses, said
to be from Cymmer Abbey, were also shown, the date said to be Henry
VIII., but bearing the appearance of more modern origin.

SOMERSET ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--The annual meeting of this society took
place on August 26 and two following days, in the neighbourhood of
Shepton Mallet, Lord Carlingford, as president-elect, the Bishop of Bath
and Wells, and Mr. E. A. Freeman taking part in the proceedings. Lord
Carlingford, in his inaugural address, said it was most interesting to
work their way through ages to the time when the oolite of Doulting was
converted into the Abbey of Glastonbury and the Cathedral of Wells, and
also into those humbler and charming sacred edifices which stood around
them. He greatly sympathised with an eminent architect who at a meeting
of the Archæological Institute last year said in regard to church
restoration that the good which had been done had been mixed up with an
amount of evil and destruction. The effort to bring about restoration to
some architectural style or pattern selected by the restorer had led to
much useless and mischievous change and destruction. The true word was
not restoration, but preservation, and that idea ought to be present to
the mind of everyone dealing with an ancient building. As a preventive
there should be created and fostered an historic sense, an historic
feeling in these matters. He knew no other safeguard, except that of
the sense of respect and reverence and tenderness for the work of their
forefathers--the desire that not only the years of their own lives, but
the generations of men should be bound each to each by natural ties. The
members afterwards examined the parish church of Shepton Mallet, and
then proceeded to Doulting, where they inspected the quarries, the old
tithe-barn and church, and St. Aldhelm’s Well, and on the return journey
made a halt at Beacon Hill, where a mound on the summit, crowned by a
rough upright stone, was the object of considerable curiosity. The Rev.
H. M. Scarth said that such mounds were frequently found near Roman
roads. At the evening meeting the following papers were read: “The Malet
Family,” by Mr. Arthur Malet; “The Prebendary of Dinder,” by Canon
Church; and “Extracts from Wills Relating to the County of Somerset,” by
Mr. A. J. Monday.--On the second day an excursion was made to
Leigh-on-Mendip, Mells, and Kilsmersdon, the churches and other objects
of interest at each place being duly examined and commented upon. In the
evening Mr. Scarth read a paper on “Roman Cookery;” among the other
papers read were: “The Romans in Bath,” “Ham Hill,” and “The Penn
Pits.”--The concluding day was devoted to Radstock. Mr. E. Green, the
hon. secretary, read some notes which had been prepared by Mr.
McMurtrie, on the Roman road through Somerset, which in its course from
Bath to Ilchester passed through the parish of Radstock. The church,
with its Norman font and early porch, was afterwards visited; the party
also inspected the Fosse-road, here seen exactly as used and left by the
Romans, a section having been cut through, and the surface cleared.--A
museum of local antiquities, lent for the occasion, and arranged by Mr.
W. Bidgood, the honorary secretary of the society, was open during the
Congress.

WILTSHIRE ARCHÆOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.--The members of the
above Society held their annual meeting at Shaftesbury on August 6, 7,
and 8. At the afternoon meeting on the 6th, the President, Mr. Nevil
Story-Maskelyne, M.P., presented to the Hon. Secretary, Rev. A. C.
Smith, an album, enclosed in a case of woods from Syria and Egypt, in
recognition of his long-continued services to the Society; and
especially in the matter of his recent great work, “An Archæological Map
of the Hundred Square Miles around Abury.” Some historical notes on the
River Thames were followed by a paper on “Shaftesbury, or Shaston,”
written some years ago by a former rector, and now read by Rev. J. B.
Wilkinson. The foundation of the fortified abbey by Alfred; the final
burial in state of Edward the Martyr; the death of Cnut; the
imprisonment of Elizabeth, wife of Robert Bruce, here were mentioned, as
also the ancient custom of the Mayor annually visiting the wells below
the town with a decked broom, a calf’s head, loaves, &c. After the
annual dinner, a conversazione was held in the Town-hall. Canon Jackson,
F.S.A., read a paper on “Cranbourne Chace.” Its boundaries extended from
Shaftesbury to Salisbury, and to Ringwood, the forest being divided into
certain “walks.” The history of the Chace, and the various law-suits
occurring from the time of John to its disestablishment, were mentioned,
and the habits of the deer-stealers, both of high and low birth,
described minutely and illustrated by contemporary accounts, sketches,
weapons, &c., from Rushmore. On Thursday the Society visited the
circular encampment called Castle Rings, on the edge of the high land,
overlooking the vale of Wardour, and close by a half-excavated barrow,
of large size, was inspected. Tisbury Church was next visited. Here the
curious low western porch, the fine roof of the nave, and the later
(restored) roofs of the aisles, the marks of the originally very low
roof of the south aisle, and the one remaining window, and the east
window, with inserted tracery, attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, were
all carefully inspected. At the rectory were exhibited several objects
of interest, notably one of the few folios of Shakespeare of 1625, and a
large and beautiful cup of silver gilt, given to Lord Boteler by
Elizabeth, for his kindness to her in her retirement. The beautiful site
of (the so-called) Fonthill Abbey--that ephemeral erection of the last
century, and the splendid collection of enamels, &c., in the mansion of
Mr. A. Morrison, were enjoyed on the way to East Knoyle, where Mr. A.
Seymour had provided luncheon for the party, and Mrs. Seymour had laid
out many pieces of rare and valuable embroideries. At Pytt House, Mr. V.
F. Benett-Stanford exhibited several autograph letters from Charles I.
to his “Dear Nephew” (Rupert), found amongst papers in the lumber room,
probably preserved by Prince Rupert’s secretary. The party then passed
on to Hatch House, which has been lately repaired. Wardour Castle was
thrown open by Lord Arundel, who in person conducted his guests round
the rooms, pointing out such objects of interest as the peculiar “Hagar
and Ishmael,” by Barteli; the “Tobit,” by Gerhard Douw; and the two
full-length Reynolds’; the portrait of the lady who defended the castle
against the Parliamentary army; the so-called Glastonbury cup--a
wooden-covered flagon, carved with the twelve apostles under round
arches, probably no older than the Renaissance. A hasty inspection of
the fine ruin of the original castle brought this expedition to a close.
In the evening “Local Geology” was expounded by the Rev. T. Perkins, who
also threw open his observatory; and a paper on “Gnostic Amulets” was
read by Rev. W. F. Short, who exhibited a considerable variety of
antique seals, gems, &c. The last expedition of the Society took them to
Tollard-Royal Church. Here the ownership of arms upon the shield of a
knight was the subject of much controversy. General Pitt-Rivers led the
way to the Larmer Tree, a spot of much historic importance as the “mere”
of three parishes and two counties, and a place of assembly from
prehistoric times down to the disafforesting of Cranbourne Chace. The
museum at Farnham, made by General Pitt-Rivers for the instruction of
his agricultural neighbours, is a model of what such collections should
be in clearness of arrangement and labelling. The General met the party
at a group of barrows in Handley Wood, and explained his excavations
there; he then entertained the Society at Rushmore Lodge; gave an
interesting and well-illustrated lecture on the various excavations of
barrows, pits, and camps, which he has carried out; and, finally,
pointed out the remarkable features of the great Winklebury Camp, with
the square pit-dwelling and the neighbouring Saxon Cemetery that he had
discovered and excavated. With this the meeting closed.

[Illustration: text decoration]


MR. BOHN has left a very complete batch of MSS. relating to the world of
letters, which will shortly see the light.

LORD HERVEY’S “Memoirs of George II.,” which have become very scarce,
are about to be reprinted by Messrs. Bickers, who have purchased the
copyright. The new edition will be in three volumes.




Antiquarian News & Notes.


THE Earl of Ducie is collecting materials for a history of the Spanish
Armada of 1588.

THE daughters of the Dean of Westminster are engaged in writing a
handbook to the Abbey.

MR. AUSTIN DOBSON’S new work, “Thomas Bewick and his Pupils,” based upon
his articles in the _Century Magazine_, is announced.

MESSRS. F. HILTON PRICE and J. E. Price have just published the tenth
edition of their Guide to the Roman Villa near Brading, in the Isle of
Wight.

THE two-hundredth anniversary of Watteau’s birth will be celebrated at
Valenciennes on October 10, when a monument by Hiolle and a statue by
Carpeaux will be inaugurated.

A FUND is being raised to preserve the Saxon tower of Earl’s Barton
Church, near Northampton, under the direction of Mr. T. L. Pearson, R.A.

MR. E. A. FREEMAN intends to inaugurate his professorship at Oxford next
term with a course of lectures on “The Method of Historical Study.” He
will also lecture on “Gregory of Tours.”

DR. PHENÈ, F.S.A., is engaged in investigating the museums and private
collections of antiquities in Scandinavia, and also the Mounds of
Norway, and the stone monuments of Denmark and Sweden, in continuation
of his researches in Iceland and the North American continent.

THE Abbot Pietro Pressutti has completed the first volume of the
“Regesta” (_i.e._, the letter-books) of Pope Honorius III., dating from
1216 to 1227, compiled by order of the Pope from the Codices in the
Vatican archives.

THE “History of the Church of Manchester,” compiled from ancient
documents and authentic records, by the Rev. Ernest F. Letts, M.A.,
Precentor and Minor Canon, is announced for publication, by Mr. Henry
Gray, of Cathedral-yard, Manchester.

THE suggestion of the Mayor of Lichfield that Dr. Johnson’s centenary
should be celebrated in December next, was anticipated by a letter from
Mr. Walford, the editor of this magazine, which was published in the
_Athenæum_ several months ago.

AN order has been made by Mr. Justice Chitty, authorising the Trustees
of the Marlborough Estates and Heirlooms to sell to the Trustees of the
National Gallery the Madonna Ansidei, by Raphael, for £70,000; and the
equestrian picture of Charles I., by Van Dyck, for £17,500. The Trustees
were also authorised to sell two pictures in the Blenheim Collection by
Rubens, namely, one of that artist and his second wife and another of
that lady and her page, for £50,000.

THE extensive collection of coins and medals, and also of antiquities,
belonging to the family of the late Dr. Jacob Amiet, ex-Attorney-General
of the Swiss Confederation at Solothurn, Switzerland, is announced for
sale. The coins and medals include Greek, Roman, Swiss, French, English,
and Italian; and among the antiquities are Egyptian idols and Babylonian
cylinders; also weapons, tools, ornaments, &c., of the stone, bronze,
and iron ages; potteries and implements of earthenware, stone, and
glass, &c. Full particulars of the collection can be obtained from Mr.
F. Schulthess, 16, Cantlowes-road, Camden-square, N.W.

LORD GRANVILLE is about to erect a monument at Ebb’s Fleet, near Pegwell
Bay, in commemoration of the landing there of St. Augustine on his
mission to England in the sixth century. The memorial will consist of a
reproduction of one of the famous Saxon crosses at Sandbach, near Crewe,
and stands twelve feet in height. On the west front will be carved a
representation of the landing of Augustine, the annunciation,
crucifixion, the transfiguration, saints, early Christian martyrs, &c.

GENERAL PITT-RIVERS, as Inspector of Ancient Monuments in Great Britain,
has printed, by permission of Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Works, his
official report to them on excavations in the Pen pits, near Penselwood,
Somerset, made for the purpose of ascertaining whether any portion of
these ancient pits should be placed under the protection of the Ancient
Monuments Act. The excavations took place in October, 1883.

CATALOGUES of rare and curious books, all of which contain the names of
works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Mr. William Downing,
74, New-street, Birmingham; Mr. Frank Murray, 26, Strand, Derby
(includes purchases from the Gosford Library); Mr. Andrew Iredale, 3,
Cary-place, Torquay; Messrs. Jefferies & Sons, Redcliff-street, Bristol;
Mr. William Withers, Loseby-lane, Leicester; Mr. A. B. Osborne, 11, Red
Lion-passage, W.C.; Mr. W. P. Bennett, 3, Bull-street, Birmingham; Mr.
James Aston, 49B, Lincoln’s Inn-fields; Messrs. Fawn & Son, 18,
Queen’s-road, Bristol; Mr. J. Whiteley, 2, Princess-street, Halifax,
Yorkshire.

THE following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear
among the contents of the magazines for September: _Macmillan_, “The
Northumbrian Border,” and “A Genealogical Search;” _English Illustrated_
Magazine, “Covent Garden;” _Contemporary Review_, “The Purgatorio of
Dante;” _Art Journal_, “Preservation of the Monuments of Cairo,” “The
Port of Leith,” and “Delft Ware;” _Fortnightly Review_, “Sport and
Travel in Norway; “ _Magazine of Art_, “A Cartoon by Leonardo,” “Strand
and Mall,” “Head-gear in the Fifteenth Century,” “Menzel and Frederick
the Great;” “The Inns of Chancery,” by Rev. W. J. Loftie, and “Old
Church Plate,” by Rev. H. Whitehead; _Century Magazine_, “From Coventry
to Chester;” _St. Nicholas Magazine_, “The Queen’s Museum.”

MR. J. T. WOOD, writing from Blenheim House, Brighton, draws attention
to the marbles from the Temple of Diana at Ephesus which are now
arranged in what is designated “The Ephesian Gallery” at the British
Museum. He does so with the hope that the sight of these interesting
relics of the temple will induce some of those who can well afford it to
subscribe to the fund for the completion of the excavations on the site
of the temple, which his committee wish to renew in the course of the
month of October under his direction. By completing these excavations
Mr. Wood hopes to secure for the British Museum treasures of Greek art
equal in value and interest to those which are already in our
possession.

THE works in connection with Peterborough Cathedral are progressing
rapidly. An oblong underground chamber--not a tomb--has recently been
discovered. It has sides of stone and lime, a floor of stone flags, and
a roof formed of the floor of the cathedral itself. This chamber
measures 6 ft. 3 in. in length, by 4 ft. in width, and has a depth of 6
ft. A curved range of steps of about two yards in extent, and hitherto
quite concealed, leads down to an entrance on the flank side of the
cavity. The chamber was filled with lumber of all descriptions,
including fragments of the famous choir screen which fell a prey to
Cromwell’s zealots, scraps of leathern work, iron, steel, half charred
wood, and a quantity of bones. Its original use is uncertain.




Antiquarian Correspondence.

                    Sin scire labores,
    Quære, age: quærenti pagina nostra patet.

_All communications must be accompanied by the name and address of the
sender, not necessarily for publication._


THE JOHNSON CENTENARY.

SIR,--I desire to place before the public generally, and my
fellow-citizens in particular, the question of the forthcoming Centenary
of the death of Dr. Johnson. I feel that I am not called upon to enter
into the details of the life of the great lexicographer, nor need I
refer to the influence he exercised in so many and various ways over the
literature of his country. The question with which I, as Mayor, have to
deal is--Whether the Centenary of his death, which happens in December
next, shall be observed; and, if so, what shall be the character of such
demonstration? From time to time various schemes have been advocated,
but it seems to me that, after the numerous appeals for funds lately
made in every direction, it is not advisable to undertake any
responsibility calculated to entail a large financial risk. At the same
time, without in any way attempting to indicate the direction of such a
celebration, and, indeed, without expressing a personal opinion in the
matter, I deem it a duty to thus publicly invite expressions of opinion.
We have somewhat over two months before us--sufficient time, I think, if
desired, to arrange a moderate programme. I therefore invite all who
feel interested to communicate by letter with me on the following
points:--

1. Is it desirable to observe the Centenary of Dr. Johnson’s death?

2. If so, what form shall such observance take?

3. If arrangements are made for some observance of it, in what way are
they likely or willing to aid it?

I must ask that all replies and offers of assistance shall be sent to me
as early as possible, marked outside “Dr. Johnson’s Centenary.” If they
are of such a nature as to indicate the prospect of a thoroughly
successful observance, I will at once convene a meeting of those
favourable to the project, and do what I can, privately and officially,
to secure its success. If, on the other hand, the replies indicate a
reasonable doubt as to the success or desirability of the undertaking, I
shall (after consultation with others interested in the matter) feel
myself at liberty to abandon the proposed movement. I therefore wish it
to be understood that the celebration, if any, will be set on foot at
the desire of those who by replying to this communication express
themselves in favour of it. I think this is the better way to deal with
the subject; at all events it will relieve me, as Mayor, of personal
responsibility should the attempt to secure some notice of the death of
our chief citizen fail for want of the requisite enthusiasm. I would
press on everyone really interested to give me the assistance of their
opinion and advice by the date indicated.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
THOMAS H. HUNT, Mayor of Lichfield.

_Lichfield Close, September 17._


PORTS AND CHESTERS.

SIR,--Your readers may have observed, and with some amusement, that the
simultaneous assault on my position by Dr. Pring and Mr. Hall, in your
last issue, has ended in the somewhat untoward result of their
discovering that they are themselves hopelessly at issue on the
fundamental point of all! Dr. Pring persists that the “port” in
“port-reeve” is derived from the Latin _porta_, a city gate (p. 114):
Mr. Hall asserts with equal confidence that it comes “by transition from
the Latin _portus_,” a haven (p. 149). Dr. Pring appeals to “the learned
Professor Stubbs” (p. 114), but “seems” (to adopt his own expression)
“to have found it convenient to ignore” that I have shown Dr. Stubbs’
rendering of the passage from the Laws of Athelstan to be simply
destructive of his own. I repeat, that when Dr. Pring renders it
“outside the port _or gate_” (p. 115), the words “or gate” _are_, and
should be distinguished as, a mere gloss of his own, and must not,
therefore, be appealed to by him as evidence. My own quotation: “Newport
Gate,” in Lincoln (p. 115), is no gloss of my own at all, but a
_verbatim_ copy. Dr. Pring must indeed be hard up if he falls back on
the Latinisation of East Gate as _portam de East Gatâ_ (temp. Henry I.),
since by the mediæval scribe, as by the modern schoolboy, a gate would
be rightly styled in Latin a _porta_ (“East gate” being suffixed as a
proper name for the sake of distinction). What conceivable bearing has
this on the use of the term “port” (for a market town) in Anglo-Saxon
times? Yet such is the disingenuous argument of my critic, who proclaims
that I “must surely have overlooked these and similar instances”! And if
he had done me the honour to read my paper with common care, he would
have seen that I carefully distinguish the “port” of proper names, such
as “Newport Gate,” from the “port” in “port-reeve.” This destroys his
criticism.

When Dr. Pring appealed to Dr. Stubbs, as laying down that “port” was
derived from “porta,” _because the gate was the place where the markets
were held_, I proved by demonstration that the markets were _not_ held
at the gate, but in the heart of the town, and that consequently the
argument breaks down. What does Dr. Pring do? He ridicules this disproof
of the very argument he had appealed to as “scarcely necessary” (p.
116), and as based on “a well-known fact”! Verily, we have here, to
quote his own words, a “unique and somewhat anomalous specimen of
argument.”

Dr. Pring’s arguments could similarly be rebutted at every point, but
lest I weary the patience of your readers, it will probably be
sufficient if I invite them to observe that on the one hand, Dr. Pring,
deriving “port” from _porta_, declares the process by which a _town_
came to be called a _gate_, so “easy and obvious” (p. 114), that he need
not (_i.e._, cannot) explain it; while, on the other, Mr. Hall, deriving
port from _portus_, is equally confident that an inland town would, in
the natural course of things, be known as a sea-port (_portus_)! When
Dr. Pring has converted Mr. Hall, or Mr. Hall has converted Dr. Pring,
it will then, and not before, be time for them to think of uniting their
forces in a combined attack on my own theory, which sees in the
Anglo-Saxon “port,” as found in “port-reeve,” &c., a word with a
denotation different from that either of _portus_ or of _porta_. At
present it remains, unimpugned, as the only rational and consistent
theory. It will, doubtless, like all original theories, be viewed at
first with suspicion and dislike, but I hope, in time, to have it cast
at me, _more Pringensi_, by those who do so, that it is “scarcely
necessary” to prove it, as it is to all “a well-known fact.”

J. H. ROUND.

_Colchester._


_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

THE Editor declines to pledge himself for the safety or return of MSS.
voluntarily tendered to him by strangers.




Books Received.


1. The Old Registers of St. John Baptist, Peterborough. By Rev. W. D.
Sweeting, M.A. Peterborough: G. C. Caster. 1884.

2. The Hull Quarterly. Parts i.--iii. Hull: A. Brown & Sons. 1884.

3. A Guide to the Roman Villa near Brading. By J. E. Price, F.S.A., and
F. G. Hilton Price, F.S.A. Tenth Edition. Ventnor: Briddon Brothers.
1884.

4. The Earldom of Mar. By P. H. McKerlie, F.S.A. Scot. Privately
printed. 1884.

5. Annus Sanctus. Hymns of the Church for the Ecclesiastical Year.
Selected and arranged by Orby Shipley, M.A. Burns & Oates. 1884.

6. Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare. By J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps,
F.R.S. Longmans & Co. 1884.

7. Our Parish Books, and What they Tell us. By J. M. Cowper, F.R.H.S.
Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. 1884.

8. Buckfast Abbey. By the Rev. S. Hamilton, O.S.B. Ramsgate: _Kent Coast
Times_ Office. 1884.

9. Wilton Castle. By the Vicar of the Parish. London: E. Stamford. 1884.

10. Calendar of State Papers. Colonial Series: East Indies, China, and
Persia (1625-1629). Edited by W. Noel Sainsbury. Longman & Co. 1884.

11. English Scholar’s Library. Capt. John Smith’s Works (1608-1631). By
Edward Arber, 1, Montague-road, Birmingham. 1884.

12. Plant Lore and Garden Craft of Shakespeare. By the Rev. Henry N.
Ellacombe, M.A. Second edition. Simpkin, Marshall & Co. 1884.




Books, &c., for Sale.


Works of Hogarth (set of original Engravings, elephant folio, without
text), bound. Apply by letter to W. D., 56, Paragon-road, Hackney, N.E.

Original water-colour portrait of Jeremy Bentham, price 2 guineas. Apply
to the Editor of this Magazine.

A large collection of Franks, Peers’ and Commoners’. Apply to E.
Walford, 2, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W.




Books, &c., Wanted to Purchase.


_Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer_, several copies of No. 2
(February, 1882) are wanted, in order to complete sets. Copies of the
current number will be given in exchange at the office.

Dodd’s Church History, 8vo., vols. i. ii. and v.; Waagen’s Art and
Artists in England, vol. i.; East Anglian, vol. i., Nos. 26 and 29. The
Family Topographer, by Samuel Tymms, vols. iii. and iv.; Notes and
Queries, the third Index. Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets” (Ingram and
Cooke’s edition), vol. iii. A New Display of the Beauties of England,
vol. i., 1774. Chambers’ Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. i.
Address, E. Walford, 2, Hyde Park Mansions, Edgeware-road, N.W.

[Illustration: TESSELLATED PAVEMENT DISCOVERED AT THE ROMAN VILLA NEAR
BRADING (_see p. 237, post_).]

(From _Messrs. Price’s Guide to the Roman Villa at Morton, near
Brading_.)

[Illustration]




_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._




Forecastings of Nostradamus.

By C. A. WARD.

_PART IV._

(_Continued from p. 60._)


IN the preface, addressed to his son Cæsar, he shows himself perfectly
alive to the poor reception his book is likely to meet with from many;
he says: “Qu’elle fera retirer le front en arrière à plus d’un qui la
lira, sans y rien comprendre.” He does not write for babes and the
illiterate, and has no sympathy with the words in Mark x. 14: “Sinite
parvulos venire ad me.” On the contrary, he cites from Matthew vii. 6
with approval the antithetical sentence uttered by the Saviour: “‘Nolite
sanctum dare canibus, ne conculcent pedibus et conversi disrumpant vos:’
which hath been the cause that I have withdrawn my tongue from the
vulgar, and my pen from paper.”

“But,” he runs on, “afterwards I was writing for the common good, to
enlarge myself in dark and abstruse sentences, declaring the future
events, chiefly the most urgent, and those which I foresaw (whatever
human mutation happened) _would not offend the hearers_.”[52]

Here the words marked in italics give us the limitation he set to his
own office and position. His function is purely that of a _seer_; he
foresees, and sometimes for the “common good” he records his
experiences,[53] but he does not take upon himself the mission of the
Baptist to “prepare a way” for great events, nor like Jeremiah to raise
a cry of national lamentation, nor like Isaiah will he denounce evil nor
evil-doers.

His idea of prophecy is nothing but the passivity of foresight. He
says:--

     “The prophets, by means only of the immortal God and good angels,
     have received the spirit of vaticination, by which they foresee
     things and foretell future events; for nothing is perfect without
     Him, whose power and goodness is so great to His creatures, that
     though they are but men, nevertheless, by the likeness of our good
     genius to the angels,[54] this heat and the prophetical power draws
     near us, as it happens by the beams of the sun, which cast their
     influence both on elementary and not elementary bodies; as for us
     who are men, we cannot attain anything by our natural knowledge of
     the secrets of God our Creator. ‘Quia non est nostrum nosse tempora
     nec momenta,’ &c. (Acts i. 7.)”

It should be noticed by every candid critic that there is strong
internal evidence in this passage of genuine truthfulness in the writer.
First he defines his own position to be merely that of a _seer_. He then
gives his idea of a prophet, and describes him as one who has received a
spirit of vaticination by foresight. He then says that this prophetical
heat is unattainable by any natural knowledge of man, but comes like
that of the sun, direct from the Giver of all good gifts to man. This is
very much as Samuel How, the inspired cobbler, Bunyan, or any old
Puritan in the seventeenth century would have described it: “The
sufficiency of the Spirit’s teaching without human learning.” But in
addition to this perfect simplicity of spirit, he ventures to quote the
Saviour’s words: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons,”
which, with Matthew xxiv. 36, is the strongest passage in the New
Testament against a gift of prophecy in man. Would a man who had any
doubt at all about his possession of the faculty of prevision cite a
passage which seemed to withhold the prophetic gift from all mankind
under the new covenant of the Christian dispensation?

Grotius and Heinsius show that these words χρόνους ἧ καιροὺς should be
understood of the _time, times, and an half_, of Daniel (xii. 7), when
Christ, of the stem of Jesse, should begin under Constantine to direct
the executive government of kings on earth as King of kings, which took
place 300 years later. If this were to be hidden from Apostles, how
should a layman, and idiot (so to speak), look for inspiration? To me
this consideration entirely and finally disposes of any doubt as to
imposition intentional. Be Nostradamus prophet and seer, or not, it is
next to impossible for anyone of fair and impartial mind hereafter to
hold that he was an impostor. To suppose it even, is _impossible_ to a
rational judge, if we grant that we are, in a degree ever so little,
capable by nature of estimating the motives of a fellow-creature.

In another part of the preface he says:--

     “Not that I will attribute to myself the name of a prophet, but as
     a mortal man, being no farther from heaven by my sense than I am
     from earth by my feet, _possum errare, falli, decipi_, I am the
     greatest sinner of the world, subject to all humane afflictions,
     but being surprised sometimes in the week by a prophetical humour,
     and by a long calculation, pleasing myself in my study, I have made
     books of prophecies, &c.”

He speaks also of the mode of enlightenment, “by a long melancholy
inspiration revealed,” and says it takes “its original from above, and
such light and small flame is of all efficacy and sublimity, no less
than the natural light makes the philosophers so secure.” All this
justifies fully the distich, so far as motive goes:--

    “Vera loquor, non falsa loquor sed munere cœli,
      Qui loquitur Deus est, non ego Nostradamus.”

He opens the first “Century” with an announcement (by some called an
incantation) of the methods by which he prepared himself for the
reception of the knowledge of future things:

    “Estant assis, de nuit secrette estude,
     Seul, reposé sur la selle d’airain,
     Flambe exigue, sortant de solitude,
     Fait proferer qui n’est a croire vain.”

     “Sitting by night, in secret study alone, resting on a brazen seat,
     a slight flame arising out of the solitude makes me utter things
     not vain to be believed.”

    “La verge en main, mise au milieu des Branches,
     De l’onde je mouille et le Limb et le Pied,
     En peur j’escris fremissant par les manches;
     Splendeur Divine: le Divine prez s’assied.”

     “With wand in hand placed amidst the branches, I wet with water the
     limb and foot, and write in fear, trembling in my sleeves;
     “Splendour divine! the Divinity sits at hand.’”

A tranquillised mind is requisite to prophecy. We find Elisha (2 Kings
iii. 15) requiring a minstrel to play, that the hand of the Lord may
come upon him. External objects disturb the senses, so that night is
best for contemplation, as Malebranche is said to have shut himself up
in a dark room to study and think out his “Recherche de la Vérité.”
Solitude is essential to prophecy. A man cannot commune with heaven in
the busy haunts of men. Nature is the presence-chamber of the Deity.
Every man of sensibility knows this; and the prophet most of all men
feels the pith and central depth of Pope’s fine line, and that he must
reach prophecy “Looking through Nature up to Nature’s God.” Society
demands that you sacrifice your convictions constantly to good manners.
Social convention contaminates noble originality and high principle.
Truth never dwells in the court of kings, and the drawing-rooms of the
well-to-do are no fitter for its shrine, for the men and women there are
royalties divested of respect and state-trappings; they are
over-pampered humanities for the most part: to be much in their company
you must compromise the divinest part of you--your convictions--and it
is by pursuing conviction that the soul flies heavenward. One might
write an essay on the Brazen Stool with its proverb _ex tripode loqui_,
but anyhow these opening verses convey to the mind with wonderful
brevity a vivid picture of a mediæval magician at his work.

Garencières allegorises here so widely as to show what havoc ingenuity
can play with _analogy_, which is a key to the occult things of the
universe in good hands--those of the prophet, poet, or genius of any
sort. The rod, he says, is the _pen_, placed in the middle of the
branches means the _fingers_ of the hand, the water he dips it in is the
_ink_ he writes with, wetting limb and foot is the _paper_ covered from
top to bottom. Was manuscript ever, since the world began, more
mystically shadowed forth?

The interest of English readers will perhaps be most readily drawn to
Nostradamus, by dealing first with some of the most remarkable
prophecies concerning England; and with the invaluable aid of M. Anatole
le Pelletier’s admirable work on Nostradamus, this can at any rate for a
few of the quatrains be most readily accomplished. He gives six examples
from the various “Centuries.” The first relates to the supremacy of
England at sea: “L’Angleterre le Panpotent des mers.” The word Panpotent
is a barbarous Græco-Latin word for πᾶν-potens, all-powerful.
The periods M. le Pelletier would assign to these changes or revolutions
in England extend from 1501, the birth of Lutheranism, to 1791, the
commencement of the French Revolution.

He selects Century iii., quatrain 57:--

    “Sept fois changer verrez gent Britanique,
     Teints en sang en deux cens nonante an;
     Franche non point, par appuy Germanique;
     Aries doubte son pole Bastarnan.”

     “You shall see the British nation, inundated with blood, change
     seven times in 290 years. But France not so, thanks to the firmness
     of her Germanic kings. The sign of the Ram shall no longer
     recognise the north of Europe (son pole Bastarnan) it will so have
     changed.”[55]

Here we have to notice that 1501 plus 290 equals 1791, which may if you
like be taken as the date of the commencement of the French Revolution,
though commonly it is reckoned from 1789, the taking of the Bastille.
The Germanic kings are the descendants of Hugh Capet. Bastarnia stands
for Poland as its ancient name. The first dismemberment of Poland took
place in 1772. Then Russia grew into power, Peter ascended the throne
1682, and Lutheranism triumphed in Germany. Such changes might well
startle the Ram from all recognition of the northern world.

1501 is the date of the Renaissance, and from that to 1792 England is to
undergo seven revolutions.

1. In England Henry VIII. breaks free from Rome, and the Church of
England is set up in 1532.

2. 1553 Mary restores the Papal religion.

3. 1558 Elizabeth re-establishes Anglican independence.

4. In 1649 Charles I. is beheaded, and the Republic established under
Cromwell’s Protectorate.

5. In 1660 Charles II. is restored.

6. In 1689 James II. abdicating, is displaced by William III., his
son-in-law.

7. In 1714 George I., of the House of Hanover, is called to the throne.

The brevity with which all this is inferred is as remarkable as the
curious precision with which it was fulfilled.

The accession of James I. to the death of Charles I. (1603-1649) is set
forth in

CENTURY X. QUATRAIN 40.

    “Le jeune nay au regne Britannique,
     Qu’ aura ce père mourant recommandé,
     Iceluy mort, _Lonole_[56] donra topique,[57]
     Et à son fils le regne demandé.”[58]

     “The young prince[59] of the kingdom of Britain (then first called
     Great Britain) is born, whose father (Henry Darnley, assassinated
     by Bothwell) in dying commended him to the protection of the
     principal Scottish nobility. When this prince (James I. of England,
     and VI. of Scotland) is dead, _Lonole_ by the employment of
     Puritanical eloquence (or canting rhetoric) will despoil his son
     (Charles I.) of his kingdom.”

Le Pelletier thinks it is quite clear that _Lonole_ Ολλὑων
stands for Cromwell, but a further coincidence arises, namely, that
_Lonole_ is an all but correct anagram of _Ole Nol_ or _Old Noll_, the
Protector’s nickname. Garencières prints _Londre_ for _Lonole_, and so
renders what at best is obscure entirely unintelligible, and fancies
that he clearly discerns it to be a prophecy concerning Charles II.,
because he was commended to the care of his subjects by Charles I. on
the scaffold.

    CENTURY III. QUATRAIN 80 (in some Eds. 82).

       “Du regne Anglois le digne dechassé[60]
        Le conseiller par ire[61] mis à feu,
        Ses adherents iront si bas tracer,[62]
        Que le bastard sera demy receu.”

     “He who had a right to the kingdom of England is displaced, is _mis
     à feu_, sacrificed to the heat of popular fury. His adherents
     descend to such a depth of baseness that the bastard (or usurper)
     will be half received by the kingdom.”

That is to say, Charles I. will be deprived of power after having
yielded up Strafford to the popular fury, in the hope of escaping
himself. The Scotch (old adherents) will be so base as to sell him for
two millions to the Cromwellites, who put him to death, and Cromwell
becoming Protector, and not quite king, therefore will obtain an almost
royal bastard, _i.e._, a half reception (à demy receu).

    CENTURY IX. QUATRAIN 49.

       “Gand et Bruceles marcheront contre[63] Anvers,
        Senat de Londres mettront à mort leur Roy:
        Le sel et vin luy seront à l’envers,
        Pour eux avoir le regne en desarroy.”

     “When Ghent and Brussels march over against Antwerp,[64] the Senate
     of London, or the Long Parliament, will put their king to death.
     Force and wisdom (vin et sel[65]) will be wanting to Charles’s
     councils (lui seront à l’envers), and they (the Independents) will
     in the general disorder become masters of the kingdom.”

    CENTURY VIII. QUATRAIN 76.

       “Plus Macelin[66] que Roi en Angleterre,
        Lieu obscur nay par force aura l’Empire,
        Lasche, sans foy, sans loy, saignera terre;
        Son tems s’approche si près qui je souspire.”

     “More butcher than king in England, a man of obscure birth [_né_ en
     lieu obscur] by force shall obtain the Empire. Unprincipled,
     restrained by neither faith nor law, he will drench the earth with
     blood. His time approaches so near as to make me heave a sigh.”

This is an announcement of such unparalleled and terrific import that
Nostradamus exhibits more feeling over it than he does usually over his
prognostications. The butcher-like face of Cromwell, with its fleshy
conch and hideous warts, seems to have been visually present to him, and
to have struck him with such a sense of terror and vividness that he
imagines the time must be very near at hand. Though a full century had
to elapse, he sighs with a present shudder, and the blood creeps. One of
the remarkable features throughout the work of Nostradamus is the
general absence of any sense of time apart from the mere enumeration of
years as an algebraic or arithmetical sign; on this momentous occasion
he departs from his usual practice, and stands horror-stricken as in a
fearful vision.

    CENTURY X. QUATRAIN 100.

       “Le grand Empire sera par Angleterre
        Le Pempotan des ans plus de trois cens:
        Grandes copies passer par mer et terre,
        Les Lusitains n’en serons par contens.”

     “The great empire of England shall be all-powerful ( πᾶν-potens)
     for more than 300 years.[67] Then great armies shall come by sea
     and land, and the Portuguese shall not be satisfied therewith.”

This seems to foreshadow that the naval power of England will be
suppressed by sea-borne armies overwhelming her on her own shores, and
the Lusitanians, or Portuguese, the oldest allies of England, will not
be content, because, probably, Portugal at the same instant will be
overwhelmed by Spain simultaneously.

This is as far as we can go in English history under the guidance of Le
Pelletier. But, nevertheless, I shall adduce several more quatrains,
bringing the sequence down at least to the establishment of the House of
Hanover on the English throne in the person of George I.

(_To be continued._)

[Illustration: text decoration]



Down a Yorkshire River.


_PART I._

Had any one been able to sail down the River Calder, say a hundred years
ago, long before the present little manufacturing towns had arisen on
its banks, he would have passed through some of the most lovely scenery
and through one of the loveliest mountain valleys in the county of York.
Even to-day, when ugly mills and numberless prosaic tenements of trade
disfigure, from an artistic point of view, the once grassy glades and
the once gloriously wooded slopes, the prospect in many spots retains
much of its virginal sweetness and romantic beauty. There are yet long
tracts which commerce has not irremediably mutilated--pleasant
meadowlands as fair with wilding flowers as of old; sylvan haunts of
birch and elm whose dusky quietude is well-nigh as unbroken and solemn
as of yore; bonnie tributary brooklets flashing and hurrying, like
silver-footed naiads, through clough and dell and dene. As the eye takes
a loftier and farther sweep the rugged contour and massive forms of
forest-clad and moorland-capped mountains may be seen to wear much the
same aspect they wore in the primal historic days of Roman and Celt. The
conquests of commerce over both material and mental difficulties are
apparent almost everywhere on the lowlands, for which all sensible and
right-thinking minds are grateful, plain and anti-poetical as the
outward signs may be in the jumble of viaduct and railway station, of
factory and shop. But the old world of chivalry and romance is not
altogether pushed aside: there are the ruins of stately and curiously
carved gateways whence issued squire and yeoman to join the Pilgrimage
of Grace, or later, gallant cavaliers, eager to mingle in the fray on
the far-away field of Marston Moor; there are a few old Elizabethan
halls with mullioned window and grey stone porch, in whose cool recesses
the inmates waited anxiously and breathlessly for tidings about the
great Armada; and here and there, built by pious hands that have been
still for centuries, there are relics of quiet, quaint chapelle, where
repose the ashes of Crusader knight, and of knights who fought so
fiercely in the bloody wars of the Red and White Rose; and now and then
we come across a grand antique church, crowded by worshippers where the
ritual and the language of the worship have undergone many changes, and
around whose hallowed precincts have gathered historic traditions and
saintly legends, hoarier and older than the lichens that crust the
mouldering towers. The tall chimneys are rising in the busy centres of
trade, but occasionally we shelter under an oak or a yew-tree whose
youth was fanned by less smutty winds; railway whistles have scared the
nightingale, but the lark still carols anear human dwellings; graylings
no longer leap the river-weir, but the waters sing and gleam as they
glide seaward down the hushed moonlit glens.

The Calder, one of the most picturesque of northern rivers, rises near
Cliviger Dene, in Lancashire, and enters the county of York through a
wild gorge at Todmorden. As to the origin of the word there have been
many conjectures, some plausible, but none to my mind satisfactory. An
able writer in a provincial publication gives the derivation from two
Celtic words, _coll_, the hazel-tree, and _dur_, water. The fatal
objection to this is that hazel-trees never grew in such abundance in
this valley as to be a distinguishing feature. Place-names with the
Celtic _coll_ and the Saxon _hæsel_ are very rarely found. Had copses or
shaws of the hazel flourished to such an extent as to give a name to the
river, their former existence would still be traceable in the abiding
nomenclature of the country through which the Calder runs its course.
The Rev. Thomas Wright, who published a work on the antiquities of the
parish of Halifax, where he was curate for more than seventeen years,
noticing the Calder states that the spring is called _Cal_ or _Col_, and
is joined by the River _Dar_. This is a purely fanciful supposition,
and, I believe, not borne out by facts. Dr. Whitaker urges a Danish
derivation. The Danes unquestionably won and maintained a lasting hold
on the hills overlooking the Calder. As soon as this mountain-born
stream assumes the dignity and proportions of a river at Todmorden, it
washes on the one hand Langfield, the Long Range of hills, and on the
other Stansfield, the Stony Range, whilst a few miles lower down it
flows at the foot of Norland, the North-land--all Danish, or more
correctly Scandinavian, terms. Then, on the slopes rising from the south
banks, we have Sowerby and Fixby, two ancient “by’s,” where families of
predatory Danes took up their abode. Other nomenclature traces of the
same nation, of the great Canute himself possibly, might be mentioned in
favour of the argument on this side of the question; though (I write
from memory) I believe Dr. Whitaker does not point out the surrounding
Danish indications I have here advanced. Another historian surmised that
the original Celtic name was _Dur_, and that the Saxons on settling in
this neighbourhood added the adjective _ceald_ or _cold_. But this is
very improbable, the river in question being no cooler than any other.

I venture to urge a derivation different from any of the above, viz.,
from the Celtic _caoill_ (wood) and _dur_ (water). That Celts, the
Brigantian clan, lived in this locality is an historic fact, the proofs
of which need not be here adduced. The Calder beck as soon as it issues
from the spring in Cliviger Dene flows by a long stretching sweep of
woodland, and farther on among the hills of Yorkshire, a broader and a
nobler stream, pursues its course for miles through dense primeval
forests, among which may be mentioned the once famous forest of
Hardwick. Its precipitous banks were clothed with no mere hazel coppice,
but with vast masses of the more majestic oak and ash and birch,
woodland in its wilder and more imposing form. Even to-day, though most
of the primeval forest has been cut down, and manufacturing villages
have sprung up on the ancient sylvan sites, the tourist starting above
Todmorden would not, in a walk of thirty miles by the river side, be
able to lose sight of the picturesque and far-stretching belts of
woodland scenery. It is yet emphatically the _Caoill-dur_, the water
winding through the woods. Of course, in this case the Saxons took up
the word as they found it in use among the conquered Celts. Then, to
strengthen this conjecture, the very first tributary brook on the
north--of size and importance, at least, to give a name to the
valley--joining the parent stream is the Colden or Caldene, which
probably is the _Caoill-dene_, the woodland valley. The reader will
judge how accurately the word describes this lonely mountain glen when
he is told that at a distance the eye can scarcely catch a flash of the
waters of this stream as they hurry down this wild sylvan region, so
thickly is it overshadowed by a forest of ash and birch. A topographical
word derived from two languages is rare in this part, and when we come
across one it is generally a Saxon grafted on the more primitive Celtic
name of mountain or river. Colden or Caldene is probably an instance to
the point.

That _caoill_ was contracted to, or commonly pronounced, _cal_ may be
pretty safely supposed, when we know that in the Latinised form or
transformation it became _cal_, as in Caledonii, that is,
_Caoill-daoin_, the people inhabiting the woods. The reader will
perceive that _caoill_ is closely akin to the Greek κᾶλον, also
signifying a wood.

The Calder, which is a very sinuous stream, runs a most irregular but
charmingly diversified course as it winds under scout and scar, now
gliding smoothly past belts of woodland or by long stretches of fair
pastoral field, or again in narrower channel foaming more rapidly
through wild ravine or over rocky weir, only again to slip into more
tranquil waters, pleasantly gladdening as with quiet familiarity village
and thorpe. Leaving Todmorden the tourist passes on the right the
precipitous woods of Erringden, the dene or valley of the Irringas,
where of yore probably dwelt a branch of the family of the Aruns; and on
the other hand, towering far away on the heights to the north may be
seen the bleak, solitary, altar-like mass of rock known as Llads-Law,
conjectured by some to be a Druidical ruin. The Celt lived here beyond
all doubt, though but few are the traces he has left behind in cromlech
or cairn, in speech or blood. The Roman, we know, cut his way through
the primeval forests, and on these very mountains laid down his military
roads, the long lines of which we can map out, and oft-times does the
plough turn up fragments of rusted sword and broken spear which tell how
the pierced hand had to drop them for ever. On and near these roads,
after the iron legions had ceased to tramp them, sprung up many a Saxon
“ton” or town and Danish “by.” There, on the one hand, upon the heights
still difficult to scale except to born mountaineers, is perched Saxon
Heptonstall, with its grand old tower of Saint Thomas à Becket and
antique homesteads clustering around; and yonder, on the far opposite
slope to the south-east, is Danish Sowerby, taking us back in thought to
the times when the Vikings settled down and fortified their “by” in the
forest fastnesses of the hill. Here, too, to this Sowerby came later the
Earl of Warren and built himself a castle, and took to his own
possession vast tracts of mountain slope and wooded glen, which long
retained the name of the Forest of Hardwick, and therein he hunted in
right baronial style the boar and the wild deer. Sowerby with its Danish
and Norman memories has a not uninteresting story in later ages, and is
not a little proud in having given birth to John Tillotson, one of
England’s most illustrious primates. Haugh-End, the quaint old house
where he was born, is on the southern slope of the hill, and many the
pilgrims who turn aside to have a look at the grey old roof sheltered
behind the trees and the ivied high wall. Not a bow-shot from the
riverside, and nearly opposite Sowerby, is Eawood Hall, the birthplace
of Bishop Ferrar, the martyr. Eawood, snugly and picturesquely nestled
under the greenwood scars of Midgley, has a conspicuous place in the
ecclesiastical history of the county. Here John Wesley preached on
several occasions, on one of which he remarked, “I preached to near an
hour after sunset. The calmness of the evening agreed well with the
seriousness of the people; every one of whom seemed to drink in the Word
of God as a thirsty land the refreshing showers.” William Grimshaw,
curate of Todmorden and afterwards incumbent of Haworth, a not unworthy
coadjutor of Whitefield and the Wesleys, married his first wife from
this place, and often preached and stayed here on his home-missionary
tours. Not more than a couple of miles away is the birthplace of John
Foster, whose Essays at one time had a considerable reputation. Close to
Eawood there is many a neighbouring hall of more than local interest,
one especially, Brearley Hall, beautifully embosomed in the trees on a
gentle eminence on the north side of the river, and formerly the seat of
a younger branch of the Lacy family. About half an hour’s walk down the
valley brings the pedestrian to Daisy Bank Wood, and Chaucer’s favourite
flower still grows on the daisied bank, and there stands yet the
old-fashioned house below the wood where was born, in the reign of
Elizabeth, Henry Briggs, of logarithm renown, and the first Savilian
professor of geometry at the University of Oxford.

(_To be continued._)

[Illustration: text decoration]




Archaeology a Confirmation of Historic and Religious Truth.[68]

BY THE REV. GEORGE HUNTINGTON, M.A., _Rector of Tenby_.


JEREMIAH’S lot was cast in the darkest period of his country’s history.
He was called on to declare the Divine will to the exiles in Babylon and
the remnant in Palestine. In the context he is warning his countrymen
against false prophets and false priests who were deceiving the people
by proclaiming peace when there was no peace. He urges them to inquire
after the ancient faith revealed to the patriarchs and prophets of old.
Thus, and thus only, would they find “rest for their souls.”

The metaphor is a striking one; it is that of a traveller who comes to a
place where several roads meet. He hesitates till he discerns the most
beaten track, or till he hails another traveller from whom he can ask
his way. Those were days of doubt and difficulty, when the royal
counsellors were urging conformity to the idolatrous rites of the
powerful nations around them as a policy of wisdom and conciliation. But
Jeremiah regarded it as nothing less than apostasy. Those idolatries
were abomination in the sight of Jehovah. Hence the people must return
to the worship of the one true God--the God “who made heaven and earth,”
to be true to the covenant which “He made with Abraham, the oath which
He swore unto Isaac, and confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to
Israel for an everlasting covenant.”

But the text applies to ourselves. The days in which our lot is cast are
days of doubt and difficulty--days when ancient landmarks are being
removed, and the beaten tracks so effaced as almost to be indiscernible.
So that we may well stand, like the traveller in the metaphor, to see
and ask for the old paths, for the good way, amid the clouds of
scepticism and unbelief which gather athwart our pathways; amid the
Babel of voices saying “Who will show us the good?” we may say, with the
Psalmist, “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.”

For what are those ways, those old paths, that good way, but the
original revelation of God as our Father in heaven--subsequently
manifested in the Person of His Incarnate Son as the Revealer of the
Divine will, in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, acting through the
Church as His agent for making His “ways known to the sons of men.”

“The history of the race of Adam before the Advent,” says a great
statesman,[69] “is the history of a long and varied, but incessant
preparation for the Advent;” and the history of the human race since the
Advent, it may be added, is but a record of the gradual but sure
progress of that kingdom which Christ came to establish upon earth, an
earnest of the time when the kingdoms of this world shall have become
the kingdoms of God and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and
ever as King of kings and Lord of lords.

And to this, as it seems to me, all historical research as well as
scientific discovery points. There are those who to exalt Christianity
would represent the world as in total darkness before the Advent. The
truer estimate of the Gospels shows us that Christ was in fact the “true
Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” The
investigation of the records of the past assures us of this fact,
confirms us in this belief, proves to us that God never “left Himself
without witness,” teaches us that Christ drew as it were into a focus
all the truths that men had previously held, only freeing them from
error and bringing them into clearer light. “The words,” says a great
scholar,[70] “by which God was known in the far-off ages are but mere
words; but they bring before us with all the vividness of an event which
we witnessed ourselves but yesterday, the ancestors of the whole Aryan
race, thousands of years, it may be, before Homer and the Vedas,
worshipping an unseen Being under the self-same name, the best, the most
exalted name they could find in their vocabulary.” Plutarch wrote ages
ago: “If you travel through the whole world, well, you may find cities
without walls, without literature, without kings, moneyless, and such as
desire no coin; which know not what theatres or public halls or bodily
exercise mean; but never was there, nor ever shall be, any one city seen
without temple, church, or chapel, without some God or other, which
useth no prayers, nor oaths, no prophecies and divinations, no
sacrifices either to obtain good blessings, or to avert heavy curses and
calamities. Nay, methinks a man should sooner find a city built in the
air without any plot of ground whereon it is seated than any
commonwealth altogether void of religion.... This is that containeth and
holdeth together all human society, this is the foundation prop and stay
of all.”[71]

Brethren of the Archæological Association, I venture to think that you
will not fail to see the application of these remarks to your own
researches, and to the consequences which are happily arising from these
researches. Of course I speak of archæology in its widest sense. Your
investigations of the records of antiquity, your examination of ancient
remains, your discovery of the sites and foundations of temples, tombs,
altars, and cromlechs, confirm the testimony of philologists,
historians, and philosophers, nay the witness of the human heart; they
all speak with more or less clearness of a belief in the Supreme Being,
of a longing for a clearer revelation of His will, of a hope of
immortality, of a sense of sin and desire for reconciliation with Him,
obscured it may be, often perverted, debased by superstitious, cruel,
and unholy rites, sometimes feebly held, but never totally lost.

And the same observations apply to the attestation by archæology to the
scriptural records. Nothing is more remarkable than the recovery of
ancient monuments, unless it be the deductions of science which are
marking the intellectual activity of the age. What a revelation was that
finding of the famous Rosetta stone[72] which by its triple inscription
in the Sacred, the popular Egyptian, and the Greek languages, gave the
key to unlock the mysteries of figure writing, so that thanks to
Egyptologists, who are but archæologists under a local name, we may
picture to ourselves the Egypt of the Pyramids, of Abraham, of Joseph,
and the Exodus, and see the Pharaohs in their colossal palaces, and
learn something of that wisdom of the Egyptians in which we are told
“Moses was learned.” Think, too, how the unshapely mounds on the banks
of the Euphrates have given up their treasures, so that we may now know
the history of those mighty empires which each in its day exercised its
influence on the chosen people, and through that chosen people on the
destinies of the Church. Think of the excavations of a Layard, the
researches of a Rawlinson in Babylon and Assyria, and of the Palestine
explorers, which bring before us not only the land of the Judges and the
Kings, but the scenes of the earthly ministry of the Son of God Himself.

And what is it but archæology that led to the exhuming of those
long-lost cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii which have thrown such a
lurid glare on the morals of the Græco-Roman world, confirming as it
does the keen satires not only of a Juvenal or a Persius, but the
mournful testimony of a Paul, showing as nothing else could show the
world’s need of a divine Saviour, and a newer and fuller revelation of
the Divine will.

Or think of the identification of the sites of classic Troy and Mycenæ
by Dr. Schliemann, and of the discoveries of Mr. Wood at Ephesus, and of
Mr. Ramsay in Phrygia. These investigations might seem to have only an
indirect reference to Christianity, but they may help to attest the
accuracy of the Scripture record and of the history of the isapostolic
Church. Asia Minor, be it remembered, was, next to Palestine, the
theatre of the earliest apostolic labours; Ephesus was the city wherein
St. Paul encountered the worshippers of the Temple of the world-renowned
Artemis. To the Ephesians he addressed one of his most remarkable
epistles, to Ephesus he sent his son in the faith, Timothy; over the
Ephesian Church St. John presided as the survivor of the Twelve; in
Ephesus was held the third of the Œcumenical Councils. Who knows,
then, what the archæology of the future may not discover in these
interesting regions? What treasures may not yet be buried under those
shapeless masses, the accumulations of ages of neglect? Who knows what
light they may not shed on the annals of a hoary antiquity in which we
of this busy nineteenth century may be vitally interested?--interested
as we “ask for the old paths.”

The same may be said of the Catacombs of Rome, with their simple and
unstudied testimony to the faith of the early Christian martyrs, so
strangely contrasting with the sad records of the pagan world, so that,
as has well been said, “if you cross the Appian Way, from the Columbaria
to the Catacombs, and place side by side the heathen and the Christian
epitaphs, you may read, in those authentic registers, how, without
Christ, death meant despair; with Christ, peace.”

Think again of the recovery of MSS. I need name but one, the Codex
Sinaiticus, found seemingly by a lucky accident, but one which has
enabled New Testament scholars to establish the truest readings of the
Gospels and the Epistles. Nor is the discovery of an authentic copy of
that ancient treatise which goes by the name of the “Teaching of the
Twelve Apostles” without its influence on Christian archæology. It
confirms what the examination of the ancient liturgies of ancient altars
and altar vessels--a distinct branch of your science--teaches us, the
testimony of a Pliny and a Justin as to what primitive Christian worship
really was; it assures the Churchman of the nineteenth century that in
all essentials of faith and worship he is one with the Church of the
first century, the Church of the Apostles, the Church of Pentecost, the
Church of Christ from the beginning.

But you are British archæologists; if it pleases you to visit my native
county of York, you will doubtless direct your steps to Goodmanham, or
Godmundenham, as its ancient name betokened--the Protection of the Gods.
There in that little East Riding village archæology verified the
identity of the font in which Paulinus baptized the heathen priest
Coifi, with a trough out of which for years farmers had fed their swine.
What a commentary on the spread of Christianity, and the need of
Christianity, so early as the seventh century in the northern parts of
our island is the beautiful story told by the Venerable Bede.[73] “The
present life of man,” said the aged counsellor Coifi to his sovereign,
“O king, seems to me in comparison of that time which is unknown to us,
like the swift flight of the sparrow through the room wherein you sit at
supper in winter with your commanders and ministers, and a good fire in
the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad; the
sparrow, I say, flying in at one door and immediately out at another,
whilst he is within is safe from the wintry storm, but after a short
space of fair weather he immediately vanishes out of your sight into the
dark winter from which he had emerged. So this life of man appears for a
short space, but of what went before or what is to follow we are utterly
ignorant. If, therefore, the new doctrine contains something more
certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed.” In contempt of his
former superstition, the king and his counsellors assenting, we are
told, the arch-priest mounted the royal war-horse, armed himself with a
spear, things otherwise unlawful, and profaned the temple by casting at
the idol his spear; and then both king and counsellor were baptized and
professed the faith of Christ.[74]

Authorities have been divided as to the diffusion of Christianity in
Britain, and as to the independence of the ancient British Church.
Archæology, on the other hand, by its identification of sacred sites by
the nomenclature of native saints, by the designation of parishes and
churches, has done much to settle these questions. The science of
archæology has discovered Christian symbols, traced British bishops to
far-distant Councils;[75] as at Carleon, and Bangor, and elsewhere, it
has unfolded the records of a community acting under its own prelates
and arch-prelates, enjoying its own native customs, adhering to its own
independent rites.

Archæology is, in its widest sense, no mere question of curious
antiquities, it is a confirmation of historic and religious truth. It
aids the devout in the inquiry after the old ways in which the saints of
God have trod. It is a teaching and a walking in that good way in which
patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs, found rest to their
souls. To the Jews of Jeremiah’s days God promised rest from their
enemies in their own land of promise, rest in the assured favour of
Jehovah. To us Christ promises rest, rest from disquieting doubts and
fears, rest in the sense of sins forgiven, rest in communion and union
with God and Christ, in the mystical fellowship of His Body, the Church,
rest hereafter in our heavenly home.

Brethren, the appeal of Christ is to the individual heart, the witness
to the Saviour is in the testimony of conscience, the heart and life,
the presence of His Spirit within the soul. May I beg you, then, to ask
for the old paths of repentance and faith, for the good way that leadeth
to life, to walk therein; to consecrate your researches to the highest
and noblest of purposes, the furtherance of truth and the glory of God;
and so, to use again the words of the prophet in the text, “ye shall
find rest for your souls.”

[Illustration: text decoration]




Johnson and Garrick.

_A JEU D’ESPRIT[76] BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS._

_PART II._

(_Continued from p. 175._)


CONTINUING the dialogue between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Gibbon from the
point where we broke off in our last, the _jeu d’esprit_ proceeds:--

GIBBON.--Garrick had some flippancy of parts, to be sure, and was brisk
and lively in company, and by the help of mimickry and story-telling
made himself a pleasant companion; but here, the whole world gave the
superiority to Foote, and Garrick himself appears to have felt as if his
genius was rebuked by the superior powers of Foote. It has been often
observed, that Garrick never dared to enter into competition with him,
but was content to act an under part to bring Foote out.

JOHNSON.--That this conduct of Garrick’s might be interpreted by the
gross minds of Foote and his friends as if he was afraid to encounter
him, I can easily imagine. Of the natural superiority of Garrick over
Foote, this conduct is an instance; he disdained entering into
competition with such a fellow, and made him the buffoon of the company,
or, as you may say, brought him out, and what was at last brought out
but coarse jests and vulgar merriment, indecency, and impiety, a
relation of events which, upon the face of them, could never have
happened, characters grossly conceived and as coarsely represented.
Foote was even no mimick; he went out of himself, it is true, but
without going into another man; he was excelled by Garrick even in this,
which is considered as Foote’s greatest excellence. Garrick, besides his
exact imitation of the voice and gestures of his original, to a degree
of refinement of which Foote had no conception, exhibited the mind and
mode of thinking of the person imitated. Besides, Garrick confined his
powers within the limits of decency: he had a character to preserve,
Foote had none. By Foote’s buffoonery and broadfaced merriment, private
friendship, public decency, and everything estimable amongst men, were
trod under foot. We all know the difference of their reception in the
world. No man, however high in rank or literature, but was proud to know
Garrick, and was glad to have him at his table; no man ever considered
or treated Garrick as a player; he may be said to have stepped out of
his own rank into an higher, and by raising himself he raised the rank
of his profession. At a convivial table his exhilarating powers were
unrivalled; he was lively, entertaining, quick in discerning the
ridicule of life, and as ready in representing it, and on graver
subjects there were few topics on which he could not bear a part. It is
injurious to the character of Garrick to be named in the same breath
with Foote. That Foote was admitted sometimes into good company (to do
the man what credit I can) I will allow, but then it was merely to play
tricks; Foote’s merriment was that of a buffoon, and Garrick’s that of a
gentleman.

G.--I have been told, on the contrary, that Garrick in company had not
the easy manners of a gentleman.

J.--Sir, I do not know what you may have been told, or what your ideas
may be of the manners of gentlemen. Garrick had no vulgarity in his
manners; it is true, he had not the airiness of a fop, nor did he assume
an affected indifference to what was passing; he did not lounge from the
table to the window, and from thence to the fire, or whilst you were
addressing your discourse to him, turn from you, and talk to his next
neighbour, or give any indication that he was tired of your company. If
such manners form your ideas of a fine gentleman, Garrick certainly had
them not.

G.--I mean that Garrick was more overawed by the presence of the great,
and more obsequious to rank than Foote, who considered himself as their
equal, and treated them with the same familiarity as they treated each
other.

J.--He did so, and what did the fellow get by it? The grossness of his
mind prevented him from seeing that this familiarity was merely suffered
as they would play with a dog. He got no ground by affecting to call
peers by their surnames. The foolish fellow fancied, that lowering them
was raising himself to their level. This affectation of familiarity with
the great, this childish ambition of momentary exaltation, obtained by
the neglect of those ceremonies which custom has established as the
barriers between one order of society and another, only showed his folly
and meanness; he did not see that by encroaching on others’ dignity, he
puts himself in their power, either to be repelled with helpless
indignity, or endured by clemency and condescension. Garrick by paying
due regard to rank respected himself; what he gave was returned, and
what was returned he kept for ever. His advancement was on firm ground;
he was recognised in public as well as respected in private, and as no
man was ever more courted or better received by the public, so no man
was ever less spoiled by its flattery. Garrick continued advancing to
the last, till he had acquired every advantage that high birth could
bestow, except the precedence of going into the room, but when he was
there he was treated with as much attention as the first man at the
table. It is to the credit of Garrick that he never laid any claim to
this distinction; it was as voluntarily allowed as if it had been his
birthright. In this, I confess, I looked on David with some degree of
envy, not so much for the respect he received as for the manner of its
being acquired: what fell into his lap unsought, I have been forced to
claim. I began the world by fighting my way. There was something about
me that invited insult, or at least a disposition to neglect, and I was
equally disposed to repel insult, and to claim attention, and, I fear,
continue too much in this disposition now it is no longer necessary; I
receive at present as much favour as I have a right to expect. I am not
one of the complainers of the neglect of merit.

G.--_Your_ pretensions, Dr. Johnson, nobody will dispute; I cannot place
Garrick on the same footing: your reputation will continue increasing
after your death. When Garrick will be totally forgot, you will be for
ever considered as a classic.

J.--Enough, sir, enough; the company will be better pleased to see us
quarrel than bandying compliments.

G.--But you must allow, Dr. Johnson, that Garrick was too much a slave
to fame, or rather to the mean ambition of living with the great,
terribly afraid of making himself cheap with them; by which he debarred
himself from much pleasant society. Employing so much attention and so
much management upon such little things, implies, I think, a little
mind. It was observed by his friend Coleman that he never went into
company but with a plot how to get out of it; he was every minute called
out, and went off or returned as there was, or was not, a probability of
his shining.

J.--In regard to his mean ambition, as you call it, of living with the
great, what was the boast of Pope, and is every man’s wish, can be no
reproach to Garrick; he who says he despises it, knows he lies. That
Garrick husbanded his fame, the fame which he had justly acquired, both
at the theatre and at the table, is not denied; but where is the blame
either in the one or the other of leaving as little as possible to
chance? Besides, sir, consider what you have said; you first deny
Garrick’s pretensions to fame, and then accuse him of too great an
attention to preserve what he never possessed.

G.--I don’t understand.

J.--I can’t help that, sir.

G.--Well but, Dr. Johnson, you will not vindicate him in his over and
above attention to his fame, his inordinate desire to exhibit himself to
new men, like a coquet ever seeking after new conquests, to the total
neglect of old friends and admirers:

    “He threw off his friends, like a huntsman his pack:”

always looking out for new game.

J.--When you have quoted the line from Goldsmith, you ought, in fairness
to have given what followed,

    “He knew when he pleased, he could whistle them back:”

which implies at least that he possessed a power over other men’s minds
approaching to fascination. But consider, sir, what is to be done. Here
is a man, whom every other man desired to know. Garrick could not
receive and cultivate all, according to each man’s conception of his own
value: we are all apt enough to consider ourselves as possessing a right
to be exempted from the common crowd. Besides, sir, I do not see why
that should be imputed to him as a crime which we all so irresistibly
feel and practise; we all make a greater exertion in the presence of new
men than old acquaintance; it is undoubtedly true that Garrick divided
his attention among so many, that but little remained to the share of an
individual: like the extension and dissipation of water into dew, there
was not quantity united sufficiently to quench any man’s thirst; but
this is the inevitable state of things; Garrick no more than any other
man could unite what was in their nature incompatible.

G.--But Garrick was by this means not only excluded from real
friendship, but also accused of treating those whom he called friends
with insincerity and double dealings.

J.--Sir, it is not true; his character in that respect is misunderstood:
Garrick was, to be sure, very ready in promising, but he intended at
that time to fulfil his promise; he intended no deceit; his politeness,
or his good nature, call it which you will, made him unwilling to deny,
he wanted the courage to say _No_, even to unreasonable demands. This
was the great error of his life; by raising expectations which he did
not, perhaps could not, gratify, he made enemies; at the same time it
must be remembered that this error proceeded from the same cause which
produced many of his virtues. Friendships from warmth of temper too
suddenly taken up, and too violent to continue, ended, as they were like
to do, in disappointment; enmity succeeded disappointment, his friends
became his enemies, and those having been fostered in his bosom, knew
well his sensibility to reproach, and they took care that he should be
amply supplied with such bitter potions as they were capable of
administering. Their impotent efforts he ought to have despised, but he
felt them; nor did he affect insensibility.

G.--And that sensibility probably shortened his life.

J.--No, sir, he died of a disorder of which you or any other man may die
without being killed by too much sensibility.

G.--But you will allow, however, that this sensibility, those fine
feelings, made him the great actor he was.

J.--This is all cant, fit only for kitchen wenches and chamber maids;
Garrick’s trade was to represent passion, not to feel it. Ask Reynolds,
whether he felt the distress of Count Ugolino, when he drew it.

G.--But surely he feels the passion at the moment he is representing it.

J.--About as much as Punch feels. That Garrick himself gave in to this
foppery of feelings, I can easily believe; but he knew at the time that
he lied. He might think it right, as far as I know, to have what fools
imagined he ought to have; but it is amazing that anyone should be so
ignorant as to think that an actor will risk his reputation by depending
upon the feelings, that may be excited in the presence of 200 people, on
the repetition of certain words which he has repeated 200 times before
in what actors call their study. No, sir, Garrick left nothing to
chance; every gesture, every expression of countenance, and variation of
voice, was settled in his closet, before he set his foot upon the stage.

[Illustration: text decoration]

     MR. ALEXANDER GARDNER, of Paisley, has in hand a little series of
     books, which he proposes to name “The Antiquarian Library.” The
     series will consist chiefly of original works, and will be
     introduced by the following books from the pen of Mr. William
     Andrews: “Gibbet Lore: Remarkable Chapters in the Annals of Great
     Britain and Ireland,” “Obsolete Punishments,” “History of Bells and
     Wells: Their History, Legends, Superstitions, Folk-lore, and
     Poetry.”




The History of Gilds.

BY CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.S.S., _Barrister-at-Law_.

_PART IV._

(_Continued from p. 181._)


CHAPTER XXXV.--_Gilds of Norfolk._

THIS county was remarkable for the number of its Gilds, every principal
town having many, and most of the villages one or more. The following is
believed to be a complete return of the Gilds existing in 1388-9. All
the towns are easy of identification.

=East Wynch.=--In this town (or village) there was the following:--

_Gild of Est Wynch_, founded 1377.--Four meetings shall be held every
year. Officers to be chosen by picked men. Services for dead, and
offerings. Masses for the souls of the dead. Allowances to members in
sickness, viz., “a lof, and a potel of ale, and mes of kechen [stuff].”

=Lynn.=--The Gilds existing in this then famous seaport (at the date above
named) were the following--the chief features of each being noted.

_Gild of the Nativity of St. John Baptist_, founded 1316.--Three
meetings shall be held every year, to which every brother and sister
must come under penalty. Officers shall be chosen by picked men; those
not serving to pay a fine. The stewards shall find sureties for the
goods of the Gild, and render an account at the yearly general meeting.
Every feast shall be begun with a prayer; the Gild-candle shall burn the
while; and all that are there shall be noiseless. Services for the dead,
and offerings. New members shall undertake to keep the ordinances, and
shall pay the usual house-fees and entrance-money. Masses for the souls
of the dead. Allowances to officers on feast days. The Dean shall be
fined if he fail to summon any of the bretheren. The Gild shall go to
church in procession on the day of their yearly meeting, and hear mass,
and make offerings. Help to poor bretheren and sisteren. The funds of
the Gild at this date appear to have amounted to £4 1s.--this indeed
representing a large amount of our present coinage--held by its four
principal officers. Another Gild with the same name is mentioned later.

_Gild of St. Peter_ (at Lenne), founded 1329 [or 1339].--Four meetings
shall be held every year, at each of which every brother and sister
shall pay a halfpenny towards maintaining a light burning during divine
service. Penalty for not coming to any meeting. The Dean shall be fined
if he fail to summon any. Officers shall be chosen by picked men; those
chosen and not serving shall be fined. Services for the dead, and
offerings; and bretheren not coming, if able, shall be fined. Masses for
the soul. The Alderman shall deliver the goods to the Stewards, upon
surety given to render account thereof at the yearly general meeting.
Allowances to the officers on feast days. New-comers shall undertake to
keep these statutes; and shall at once pay the usual entrance-money or
find sureties. The Dean’s salary vj_d._ in the year. Any brother or
sister wronging another shall be fined. Help to be given to poor
bretheren.

_Gild of St. Nicholas_ in Lenne Petri (West Lynn), founded 1359.--Four
meetings in the year; whoever grumbles shall be fined. No one shall
enter the buttery where the ale lies.

_Gild of the Purification_, in Bishop’s Lynn, founded 1367.--This was a
social Gild “in ye honuraunce of ihesu crist of heuene, And of his moder
seinte marie, and of alle halowene, and speciallike of ye Purificacioun
of oure lady seint marie.” Its features were like other of the
Religio-Social Gilds of the town.

_The Shipmanes Gild_, founded 1368.--Three meetings shall be held every
year, on days named, or as the Alderman shall appoint. Every brother
must come to every meeting, if able. The Dean shall be fined if he fail
to summon any. Officers chosen and not serving shall be fined.
New-comers [members] shall pay the usual house fees and entrance-money.
Services for the dead, and offerings. The bellman shall summon all.
Masses for souls of the dead. Unruly brothers shall be fined. One
wronging another shall be fined, and shall make peace. Penalty for
disclosing the affairs of the Gild. The Stewards shall render an account
of the goods of the Gild, and of the year’s profits, at the yearly
general meeting, under penalty to be paid by themselves or their
sureties. No Gild-brother shall give pledge or become surety for
another, in any plea or suit, without leave of the Alderman and others.
The Alderman, &c., shall do their best to adjust the quarrel; but if
unable, shall give leave to make suit at law. Fine for disobedience.
Allowances to the officers on feast days. Help to poor bretheren.
Payments shall be made for every voyage; and a yearly payment if no
voyage made. The ale-chamber not to be entered. New-comers shall swear
to maintain the Ordinances of the Gild. New-comers must undertake to
come to the yearly meetings, if at home, and must make their payments.
The liveryhood shall be kept for two years. On death of a brother, all
the rest shall be summoned, and shall come to the service in their
livery-hoods, and make offerings. None shall leave until the service is
done; fine for default.

A new Ordinance was made for this Gild in 1381, viz., burial service in
the case of any brother dying out of town. In 1382 another new
Ordinance, viz., burial service for those dying in West Lynn and South
Lynn.

It is clear that this was a Gild of a superior order, more after the
nature of a Merchant-Gild.

_Gild of St. John Baptist_, in Bishop’s Lynn, founded 1372.--This
partook of the general character of the Social Gilds of the town, except
that there seemed to be no special provision for the poor members in
sickness, &c. The ordinances provided that there should be no
quarrelling during any feast-time or meeting. Moneys were to be
contributed towards the Gild-stock, and the ale.

_Gild of St. John Baptist_, in West Lynn, founded in 1374.--Services for
dead, and offerings. The Dean shall buy waste bread with these
offerings, and give it [to the poor]. Penalty on anyone disputing any of
these Ordinances.

_Gild of St. George the Martyr_, founded in 1376.--A priest shall be
found to serve at the altar of St. George. Candles and torches shall be
found to burn during the service, and at burials. Services for the dead,
and offerings. Services shall be held, though the brother or sister
shall have died outside the town. Masses for souls of the dead. Help to
poor bretheren and sisteren. Four meetings to be held every year, to
which every brother and sister shall come under penalty. Officers shall
be chosen by picked men; those chosen and not serving to be fined.
Allowance to officers on feast days. The Gild shall go to church on the
day of yearly meeting, and hear mass and make offerings. The affairs of
the Gild not to be disclosed. The Stewards to find sureties for the
goods, and to render account at the yearly general meeting. Every feast
shall be begun with a prayer, the Gild-light burning the while; and they
that are there making no noise nor jangling. New members admitted only
at the yearly general meeting, and with the assent of all; save good men
from the country. New members shall undertake to keep the Ordinances,
and shall pay the usual house-fees as well as entrance-money. If any
quarrel arise, it shall be told to the Alderman, who shall do his best
to settle it. Livery-hoods to be worn at the meetings, and at every
burial service. Breakers of the Ordinances, after three fines shall be
put out of the Gild. Salary of the Clerk iii_s._ iv_d._, and of the Dean
ij_s._ the year. The funds of the Gild consisted of £3 3s.

_Gild of St. Thomas of Canterbury_ (in Lenne), founded 1376.--The Gild,
all fairly arrayed, shall meet on St. Thomas’s Day, and hear mass, and
make offerings. There shall be four other general meetings in the course
of each year. An Alderman shall be chosen, and four Stewards, and a Dean
and Clerk. A large wax candle shall be kept burning. The order of burial
services defined. Wrongdoers shall be put out. New-comers shall pay 5s.
each. If any become poor, or have loss by sea, or by fire, or otherwise,
help shall be given. Assent given to these Ordinances. Wages of Clerk to
be iij_s_., and of Dean xviij_d._ for the year.

_The Gild of Young Scholars_, founded 1383.--Gifts were received in
support of the Gild. Burial services defined. Help in case of poverty,
loss at sea, or other mishap. Three speakings together [assemblies] of
the Gild shall be held every year; accounts shall be then rendered. All
the brethren shall go to church on one day in the year, and hear mass
and make offerings. Misdoers shall be put out. Officers shall be chosen.
It was stated that all the goods of the Gild had been spent, but more
were hoped for.

_Gild of St. Thomas of Canterbury_ (at Lenne).--Four meetings to be held
every year, to which all must come under penalty. New-comers shall pay
the usual house-fees. Attendance at meetings must be punctual. Services
for the dead, and offerings. Masses for the soul. Sureties and
entrance-money for new-comers. Allowances to the officers on feast days.
Help to the poor. Allowances to the sick. No noise to be made during the
feast time. The remaining ordinances resembled those of the other Gilds
of the town.

_Gild of St. James_, in North Lynn.--Four meetings in the year. Three
candles to be kept burning during divine service. Help to needy
bretheren and sisteren. Unruly speech shall be punished by a fine. Other
features general.

_Gild of St. Edmund_, in North Lynn.--A Religio-Social Gild with special
features.

_Gild of Candlemass_, in North Lynn.--No special features.

_Gild of St. Lawrence_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--It had no special features
differing from the Social Gilds of the town.

_Gild of St. Edmund_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--This again had no special
features. The entrance-money iiiij_s._

_Gild of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist_ (another).--Three
meetings shall be held every year, to which every brother and sister
must come under penalty. The Dean shall be fined if he fail to summon
any. New-comers shall pay the usual house-fees. Services for the dead,
and offerings. Penalty for betraying the affairs of the Gild. Officers
chosen and not serving shall be fined. Masses for souls of the dead. The
ale chamber not to be entered. Salaries of the Dean and the Clerk
provided for. The Stewards to find sureties for the goods of the Gild,
and render an account at the yearly general meeting. No man shall stay
in the Gild-house after the Alderman has left. Allowances to the
officers on Gild-days, and to sick bretheren and sisteren. Help to poor
bretheren and sisteren. Entrance fee ij_s._, “and find ij. borowes for
ye catelle.”


_Gild of St. Thomas of Canterbury_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--This was on the
same basis as the other Social Gilds of the town. A few special
Ordinances obtained. If one brother belie another, he shall be fined. If
anyone is foul-mouthed to the Alderman at any meeting, he shall be
fined. If anyone wrong another, he shall be fined. None shall come to
the feast in a tabard, nor in a cloak, nor with legs bare, nor barefoot.
If anyone make a noise during the feast, he shall do penance by holding
the rod, else pay a fine. No one shall sleep, nor keep the ale-cup to
himself. Help to poor bretheren and sisteren [record incomplete].


_Gild of the Holy Cross_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--The chief distinctive
feature of this Gild was that allowances were made to the bretheren and
sisteren during sickness, but also while on pilgrimage. No brother was
to go to law with another without leave of the Alderman.


_Gild of St. Anthony_ (in Lenne).--Founded (date uncertain) “in the
Worchep of God of heuen, and of his modir seynt Mari, and alle the holy
Company of heuen, and souerengly of the Noble confessour seynt Antony.”
The Gild shall meet in church and hear mass and make offerings. There
shall be four other general meetings of the Gild in each year.
New-comers (members) shall pay 5s. each. A wise Alderman shall be
chosen, and 4 trusty Stewards, and a summoning Dean, and a Clerk. Burial
services on death of members, and offerings. In cases of loss of cattle,
or personal sickness, help to be given. Wages of the Clerk and Dean to
be xij_d._ each “for his trauaile in the yere.”


_Gild of St. Leonard._--There shall be four general meetings every year;
at the first there shall be chosen an Alderman and four Stewards, a
Dean, and a Clerk. New-comers shall pay 3s. each. Burial services
defined. In case of loss by sea, or other mishap, help shall be given.
If death outside the town, the body shall be fetched at cost of the
Gild. Prisoners shall be visited and comforted. Rebels against canon law
shall be put out.

_Gild of the Purification._--The Gild shall meet on Candlemas-day, and
have besides three meetings every year. No special features. Help to
those in trouble.

_Gild of St. Mary._--Services for the dead and offerings. Masses for the
souls of the dead. No special features.

_Gild of St. Katherine._--A candle shall be kept burning in the church
of St. Margaret; and on the Feast of St. Katherine offerings shall be
made. New members to pay 5s. entrance-fee. Masses for the souls of the
dead. No special features.

_Gild of St. James._--Help to poor bretheren and sisteren. No special
features.

_Gild of the Conception_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--There were to be four
meetings in the year; every brother and sister was to pay 1d. towards
finding a light on festival days; and any member summoned and not
attending was to be fined; remainder of the features in common with
other Gilds of the town.

Most of the preceding are seen to be religious Gilds--perhaps all except
the “Shipmanes” [_i.e._ Shipmasters] of 1368. The following were of the
mercantile class:--

_Gild of the Holy Trinity_ [Merchants Gild].--This was the great
mercantile Gild of the town, and had very considerable possessions in
land, houses, and other property. It was reputed to have taken its rise
in the reign of King John, in the sixth year of whose reign the Gild
received Letters Patents authorising one of its body to be mayor of the
town. The Gild itself was unquestionably of older date. At the date of
the Reformation the Gild was sustaining thirteen chaplains, “daily and
yearly to pray, as well for the King, his ancestors, and for the peace
and welfare of his kingdom, as for the souls of the Aldermen, bretheren,
and benefactors of the said Gild, also for the souls of the faithful
deceased.”

_The Gild of Shoemakers._--No details available.

_The Red Gild._--The particular objects of this Gild, or even the
circumstances which led to the adoption of its name, have hitherto
defied all inquiry.

_The Gild of St. William_, trading to North Bern. This was probably a
gild of merchants trading to North Bergen (Norway). Lynn had carried on
a considerable trade with the North of Europe from a very early period,
and many Lynn merchants resided in those parts. There is in the
Corporation records a letter in Latin, bearing date 1305, from
Bartholomew, the King of Norway’s Chancellor, to the Mayor of Lynn, in
behalf of Thurkill and other merchants residing there. It was customary
for the merchants of Lynn to have a consul of their own--an
Alderman--appointed for Norway. To this end a royal warrant was
necessary. Here is a copy of such a document issued by Henry V. (first
half of fifteenth century):--

“HENRY, by the grace of God, King of England and of France, and
Lord of Ireland.

To our trusty and well-beloved the Mayor, Aldermen, and other merchants
inhabiting within our town of Lynn, shewed unto us, that by the old
privilege among you, used in exercising the sale of your merchandises in
the lands and countries of Denmark and Norway, ye have an ancient custom
to have an Alderman chosen by election among you, to be ruler and
governor of your Company in the said countries, and to see good rule and
order kept amongst you there, which we woll be content to help and see
to be holden for the increasing and augmentation of the common weal and
prosperity of you and all other our true subjects; we having the same in
our good remembrance, be content and woll, that ye godre and assemble
toguider, and among you chuse such oon to be your said Alderman, as ye
shall think convenient, good, honest, and sufficient for the premisses:
and to use, have, enjoy, and occupy the liberties and franchises in this
cause heretofore accustomed. Yeven under our Signet at our manor of
Greenwich, the 18th day of July, the fifth year of our reign.”

It will be remembered in this connection that Lynn was one of the
trading stations of the Hanseatic League.

There seem to have been several Gild-halls in the town, viz., those of
the Gilds of the _Trinity_ and of _St. George_ respectively, and it is
supposed of various others. In vol. i. of Richards’ “History of Lynn”
will be found many additional details of interest regarding the Gilds of
this town.

(_To be continued._)

[Illustration: text decoration]

     AN ancient stained glass panel representing a pedlar and his dog
     has lately been removed from a window of Lambeth Church, to give
     place to a new memorial window. It commemorated “some person
     unknown” who is supposed to have left to the parish a piece of land
     long known as “Pedlar’s Acre.” Its removal has caused some
     excitement in the parish.




Autograph Letters.

No. V.--THE REV. P. MORANT TO A. FARLEY, ESQ.


SOUTH LAMBETH, _Oct. 17, 1769_.

SIR,--In one of the Petitions which I am preparing for the press, there
is an extract out of Domesday-book, written so badly that I cannot
possibly make out _a word in it_ near the end. I inclose a transcript of
it, and, if it is not too much trouble, humbly (_sic_) the Favor of You
to fill in up that word, and send this Letter back to Mr. Astle at the
Paper Office. I am obliged to print that Extract as it is in the
Petition, and therefore you will be so good as not to give yourself the
Trouble to write out the whole Extract.

Begging of You to excuse this Trouble, I remain,
Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
PHIL. MORANT.


HANG
To

Abraham Farley, Esq.

[This letter was written by the Rev. P. Morant, the historian of Essex,
while residing at Lambeth, whither he had removed early in this year, as
being appointed to succeed Mr. Blyke in the work of preparing for the
press a copy of the “Rolls of Parliament.” The “Mr. Astle” to whom it
refers was Thomas Astle, Esq., Keeper of the Records, who married
Morant’s daughter. It was in crossing over from Lambeth to his work that
Morant caught the chill from which he died.[77]--J. H. ROUND.]

[Illustration: text decoration]

     “MILTON’S BIBLE,” which the trustees of the British Museum have
     purchased, is, strictly speaking, the first Mrs. Milton’s Bible. “I
     am the book of Mary Milton,”--so runs the inscription in the lady’s
     own handwriting. The poet, himself, however, has entered the dates
     of the birth of his children, which are given with commendable
     precision. Thus--“Anne, my daughter, was born July 29, the day of
     the monthly Fast, between six and seven, or about half an hour
     after six in the morning, 1646.” Another entry records a fact not
     often remembered: “My son John was born on Sunday, March 16, at
     half-past nine at night, 1650.” This child, Milton’s only son, died
     an infant--“through the ill-usage or bad constitution of an
     ill-chosen nurse,” says Phillips. The fates and fortunes of
     Milton’s remaining children, and even of his grandchildren, are
     well-known; we read also of great-grandchildren who lived, but (it
     is to be feared) did not flourish, at Madras down to the
     commencement of George II.’s reign. Then one loses sight of them
     altogether. Possibly the heir of the poet’s body is a Eurasian, and
     a writer of Baboo English. Perhaps he is identical with the
     judicious author who boasted that “he had studied the Shakespeare
     and the Milton, and had avoided the imperfections of either.”--_St.
     James’s Gazette._




Reviews.


     _A Guide to the Roman Villa recently discovered at Morton, between
     Sandown and Brading, Isle of Wight._ By JOHN E. PRICE, F.S.A., and
     F. G. HILTON PRICE, F.G.S. Ventnor: Briddon Brothers, 1884.

FROM time to time during the past century, excavations made
intentionally or unintentionally, have revealed to modern eyes how large
a store of remains still attest the presence of the Eagles of Imperial
Rome in this country, though fifteen or sixteen centuries have passed
since their departure from these shores. At Woodchester, on the
Gloucestershire Hills; at Chesters near Hexham, on the Roman Wall; at
Bignor near Petworth, on the Sussex Downs; at Carleon-upon-Usk in
Monmouthshire; in north, south, and central London, at Colchester, at
Lincoln, and in a dozen other places, we have seen exhumed from time to
time, baths, ovens, kitchens, and temples with walls and floors inlaid
with Roman mosaics, dating from the days of the Antonines and Hadrian.

But few of these places are of greater interest than Brading in the Isle
of Wight, near which Messrs. Price brought to light, in 1880, the
ground-plan of one Roman villa, almost complete. The explorations
originated in the discovery of such indications of Roman buildings as
offered encouragement for further investigation. Here a short time
previously to our authors’ assisting in the matter, Captain Thorp, of
Yarbridge, had discovered fragments of walls, roof tiles, and traces of
pavements, and had devoted a considerable amount of energy and zeal to
the complete examination of the ground. Before many months had passed
by, it was found necessary, on account of the number of pilgrims who
flocked thither, to publish a guide, giving a description of the
discoveries. This has now reached the honours of an eleventh edition. In
this Guide the dimensions of the several chambers of which the building
consisted are duly set forth, and the fragments of pottery, mosaics, and
tessellated pavements fully described and illustrated. By the kindness
of the authors we are enabled to reproduce one of the illustrations,[78]
which represents a group in the south-west compartment of the lower
portion of the pavement of one of the larger chambers, admirably worked
in small tesseræ of varied colours. There is a female figure partially
draped after the manner of the _saltatrix_ or dancing girl of Greece or
Italy, playing upon a tambourine; her companion is a male figure of more
than ordinary interest, on account of the peculiarities presented by the
costume worn--a Phrygian cap, a skirted tunic with a small cloak or
_pallium_ fastened on the right shoulder, and _braccæ_ or “trousers.”
“The peculiarity of this dress,” writes Messrs. Price, “leads to the
opinion that it may be that in fashion at the time the mosaic was laid
down, because the form given to the _braccæ_ is different to that
usually met with in the costume attributed to the ‘barbarians’ or
provincial nations in Roman sculpture.”

     _The Lincolnshire Survey._ Edited by JAMES GREENSTREET. Privately
     printed. 1884.

BY the publication of this valuable and handsome volume Mr. Greenstreet
has done good service to the cause of historical research, and has
earned the gratitude of all those who are lovers of exact scholarship.
The Lincolnshire Survey enjoys the reputation of being probably the
earliest after Domesday, which had only preceded it by some thirty
years, and which, in form, it closely resembles. In the autotype plates
by which this ancient survey is here reproduced in fac-simile, the
writing is as clear almost throughout, as when the parchment first
received it 770 years ago. It was fitting that a record which can only
appeal to antiquarian connoisseurs should be issued in the choicest
form, and Mr. Greenstreet’s subscribers have good reason to be satisfied
with the appearance of the work. The title-page is appropriately adorned
with the arms of eight of the leading families whose names occur in the
survey, grouped round those of the See of Lincoln. Our readers need not
be reminded of Mr. Greenstreet’s eminence as a herald, possessing as
they do, in these pages, from his pen, more than one valuable Roll of
Arms. We trust that the enterprise he has shown in bringing out this
important work may serve to arouse a wider interest in the obscure
period with which it deals, and, consequently, in the work of the
Pipe-Roll Society, of which Mr. Greenstreet is the honorary secretary,
and one of the most zealous promoters.

     _Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson, Esq._ By P. O. HUTCHINSON,
     Sampson Low & Co.

THIS is the title of a work which will be found to fill an important
blank in the history of the American Revolution. It is the work of one
of Governor Hutchinson’s great-grandsons. It supplies many personal
memoranda of the leaders on both sides in that struggle, including
several notices of the Copleys, Pepperells, and other Royalists, who
settled in England when the breach between the old country and her
colonies was complete. There is from first to last about it no attempt
at fine or sensational writing, or at “stating the case” on behalf of
the Royalist cause; it consists of plain matters of fact, extracts from
diaries, letters, &c., and these are such as give the reader the
clearest insight into the transactions which it records, and the conduct
of the chief movers in them. As a painstaking effort to place on
permanent record a portion of history of which but little is known, and
which as yet has found no adequate historian, the book is deserving of
all praise.

     _The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture._ By M. H.
     BLOXAM. Three vols. G. Bell & Sons.

IT is not to be wondered at, considering the part which the veteran Mr.
Bloxam has played in the revival of the study of Gothic architecture,
that this book should have reached its eleventh edition, or that from a
small 12mo. volume, couched in a catechetical form, it should have
attained the honour of a library edition--for that is what is now the
case. Along with the late Mr. J. H. Parker, of Oxford, Mr. Bloxam was
one of the chief pioneers of that movement which has found its outcome
in the many flourishing county and diocesan architectural and
archæological societies which are scattered up and down England, and in
those pleasant annual congresses which Mr. Bloxam himself attended and
instructed till the weight of eighty years forced him to abandon them.
Most of the older men of the present generation can say that it was from
Mr. Bloxam’s little work that they imbibed their earliest taste in the
above direction, and they will be not the less glad to possess the three
volumes into which that work has been gradually expanded on account of
the portrait of its author prefixed to it. The treatise really is one
which needs no recommendation at our hands; but it is as well to add
that the third volume is devoted to an account of the costumes of
monumental effigies--a branch of the subject to which Mr. Bloxam of late
years has paid especial attention. The illustrations are exquisitely
done; and three good indexes add a special value to the work as a book
of reference.




Obituary Memoirs.

“Emori nolo; sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.”--_Epicharmus._


THE Rev. Hugh Pigot, Rector of Stretham, Cambridgeshire, and author of
“The History of Hadleigh,” died on September 22, aged sixty-five years.
Mr. Pigot graduated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and besides the
above-mentioned work, he was the author of “A Guide to the Town of
Hadleigh,” “Suffolk Superstitions,” and other antiquarian works.

THE Rev. John Allen Giles, D.C.L., Rector of Sutton, Surrey, formerly
headmaster of Camberwell Collegiate School, and afterwards of the City
of London School, died on September 24. His name is known as a scholar
in various branches of learning. He edited or translated the works of
Lanfranc and of the Venerable Bede, “Letters of St. Thomas of
Canterbury,” the “Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti,” “Sculptores Græci
Minores,” “Terentii Comœdiæ,” “Severi Sancti Carmen,” and “The Works
of King Alfred the Great.” He was also the author of the “Life and Times
of Alfred the Great,” “Life and Letters of Thomas à Becket,” “The
History of Bampton,” “The History of Witney,” and a “History of the
Ancient Britons,” &c.

[Illustration: text decoration]




Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.

BRITISH ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.

(_Continued from p. 195._)


THE Council of the Archæological Association added this year three
“extra days” to their Tenby congress, to be devoted to Haverfordwest and
St. David’s. Accordingly on Tuesday, September 9, they went to Narberth,
to visit the castle of that town. This was made the subject of comment
by Mr. Loftus Brock, who explained its leading features, drawing
attention to its strong position and its great extent, and stating a few
facts about its history, from which it appeared that it was founded by a
Norman baron named Perrott, and passed by royal gift into the hands of
Sir Rees or Rhys Ap Thomas, who was its owner in the days of Leland; and
the latter mentions it in his “Itinerary” as a “praty” place. Like the
other castles of this country, it suffered sadly during the civil wars,
and though afterwards repaired and inhabited, it soon fell again into
decay. From Narberth their journey lay to Llawwhydden, a castellated
mansion of the Bishops of St. David’s, who here figured almost as
barons, and lived in baronial splendour. Of this once noble structure
only some octagonal towers remain, and these and some fine lancet
windows were much admired. The next visit was to Picton Castle, a place
which has never ceased to be inhabited, and which, therefore, shows more
completely than any other similar structure in Pembrokeshire what was
the condition of a feudal castle four or five centuries ago. It was
built by a Norman knight named William de Picton, in the reign of
William Rufus. The building is oblong in plan, with three large bastions
projecting on each side, and at the eastern end, between two smaller
bastions, was the principal gateway with a double portcullis. Until a
comparatively recent period it retained its original form, and even the
alterations made by the late Lord Milford and his predecessors have not
much affected or changed its original character as a baronial fortress,
castellated and embattled. The castle itself and its historical
associations were explained by the present owner, Mr. Charles Philipps,
who entertained the whole party present at luncheon. It was late in the
afternoon when the party drove on to Haverfordwest, where they explored
the noble castle, which frowns down upon the town, the river, and its
bridges, but which is far more interesting externally than internally,
as its four square walls are really almost a shell, such buildings as
there were inside of them having been long since removed in order to
utilise it as a prison, a purpose which it has served until very lately.
It is now empty and vacant, and has been made the property of the town,
who keep it in repair. They also inspected St. Mary’s Church, one of the
very finest ecclesiastical structures in South Wales, and remarkable as
having nearly the only clerestory (except that of St. David’s Cathedral)
to be found within the whole county. Here the archæologists found very
much to admire in the Early English arches of the nave and church, the
recumbent monument of a knight near the porch door, the elegantly carved
roofs, and the graceful arcading and capitals of the pillars throughout.

On Wednesday, the archæologists were favoured with very fine weather for
their drive to St. David’s. It is observed of this sixteen-mile journey
that it has as many hills as miles. Leland writes: “This tract was
inhabited by the Flemings out of the Low Countries, who by permission of
King Henry I. were planted here. These are distinctly known still from
the Welsh, and so near joined are they in society of the same language
with Englishmen, who come nighest of any nation to the Low Dutch tongue,
that this their country is called by the Britons, ‘Little England beyond
Wales.’” On their way to St. David’s the carriages halted at Roche
Castle, a fine old fortress, of which little now remains except a single
tower, which forms a conspicuous landmark. Its site was evidently chosen
for its strength. It was built early in the thirteenth century by one
Adam de Roche or de Rocke, who founded here one of the most powerful of
Norman families. The name, it may be interesting to know, still remains
in Pembrokeshire. The castle was to a great extent ruined in the wars
against the Welsh, and what remained became still further dilapidated
through the rough treatment which it received from the soldiers of the
Parliament when it was held by its captain, Francis Edwards, on behalf
of King Charles I. Roche Castle was briefly commented upon by Mr. Loftus
Brock. From this point the party proceeded by way of Newgall Sands, and
the tumulus which is still called Poyntz Castle, to Solva, and so on to
St. David’s, where they arrived in time to partake of the Bishop’s
hospitality at a luncheon, which they found ready spread for them in the
grounds of the ruined episcopal palace of Bishop Gower. Luncheon over,
the Bishop proposed “The Health of the Queen,” and then in a brief
speech welcomed the archæologists to this the first banquet given by a
bishop in these grounds for many centuries; after which he explained the
peculiarities of the structure, which, he said, is really a double
palace, joined in the ground-plan into a sort of letter “L” by a common
kitchen at the angle. He then enlarged upon the great beauties of the
arcade which runs all round the palace above, the curious structure of
its once magnificent roof, now destroyed, its exquisite “wheel” or
“rose” window, its chapel, and its grand dining-hall; the whole forming
together by far the finest specimen of domestic architecture in South
Wales, or, perhaps, in the entire principality. It is needless to say
that this matchless structure was very much admired. At four o’clock the
entire party, nearly one hundred strong, attended service in the
cathedral, after which the Dean took them in hand, and conducted them
round the building, explaining every part in detail, and showing the
extent to which the restorations of the last quarter of a century had
altered and improved its condition. He pointed out the semi-Norman
arches of the nave, purified from coats of whitewash, the roof cleaned,
the side aisles repaved, and the windows restored. Then he led them into
the south transept, which not long since was little better than a barn,
and assigned as the place for a Welsh service, to which a new roof and
new windows had been added by benefactors now deceased. He then took
them through a series of ruined side chapels to the Lady-chapel, now
bare and roofless, though full of the purest architectural details.
Thence the party were conducted to Bishop Vaughan’s chapel, behind the
high altar, rich with a roof of fan tracery, which is scarcely to be
matched except at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. He also pointed out
the front and the back of the marble slab on which rested the shrine of
St. David, once an object of pilgrimage inferior in interest and in the
number of its devotees only to that of St. Thomas of Canterbury,
reminding them that in the old days two pilgrimages to St. David’s were
always regarded, in canonical penance, as equivalent to one journey to
Rome--according to the old monkish rhyme, “Roma semel quantum bis dat
Menevia tantum.” The Dean next showed the progress of the works in the
north transept, and then led the party into the cathedral vestry or
chapter-house, formerly St. Thomas’s Chapel, where he showed them a
small collection of ecclesiastical relics, including the tops of two
episcopal croziers, the top of a processional cross, two episcopal
rings, and some chalices which had been buried along with some of the
older bishops. He also displayed here the cathedral plate, the communion
service, platen, and chalice, on which Messrs. Lambert and Loftus Brock
offered some descriptive remarks. The Dean having completed his
peregrinations and description of the fabric, a vote of thanks to him
for his kindness was proposed by Mr. Thomas Morgan, F.S.A, and seconded
by Mr. E. Walford, M.A., who, in a few words, contrasted the present
state of the cathedral, after its recent repairs, with its new roofs,
decorated interior, and rebuilt west front, with what he remembered of
it forty years ago, when it was little more than a large barn-like
structure, covered with a mixture of whitewash and whitey-brown paint
from end to end; he also congratulated the Dean and Chapter on the
conservative way in which the work of restoration had been carried out.
In the evening the Dean entertained at dinner at his house, in the
Close, the leading members of the congress, whom he kindly invited to
meet the Bishop.

Fortunately for the congress and its members the fine weather which they
had enjoyed upon the whole continued to the last. Although carriages
cannot be driven up actually to St. David’s Head, the extreme object of
their pilgrimage, yet they were enabled to draw up about a mile short of
it, and Mr. Edward Laws acted as their guide over the rest of the way on
foot. Arrived at the Head, they saw a magnificent seaview, and rocks
such as not to be found elsewhere except at the Land’s End in Cornwall.
Mr. Laws explained to them the remains of a large stone circle, not
unlike those at Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wiltshire, with portions of
its avenue of large stones still remaining _in situ_. They were also
able to see the traces of a fine fortification, probably British, close
by St. Justinian’s Chapel. A ruined edifice near the sea-shore was also
inspected, and Mr. Laws pointed out to the party the place where local
tradition declares that the old Roman city of Menevia lies buried many
feet deep below the sand-drifts. Before returning to St. David’s, they
were also shown the traces of a quadrangular fort, probably Roman,
nearer to the city. The return to Haverfordwest was effected in good
time. This enabled the members to inspect portions of the old castle,
the council chamber, the churches of St. Mary and St. Martin, and a
variety of private houses in which vaulted cellars, carved and painted
mantelpieces, and the tracery of mediæval windows still exist, and also
to extend their walk to the ruins of the Priory in the riverside fields
below the bridge over the Cleddaw. Here, under the guidance of Colonel
Bramble, they were able to make out the ground-plan of this once noble
ecclesiastical structure, including its cruciform church, the refectory,
cloister, &c. The party then returned to the Castle Hotel, and the
congress finally broke up, much to the regret of its members, who agreed
that it had been one of the pleasantest and most successful of such
annual gatherings. This result was largely due, it should be added, to
the courtesy of the authorities of the Great Western and the Pembroke
and Tenby Railway Companies, whose officials lent them all the aid in
their power.


THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.--The annual meeting of the above Association
was held at Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. Ingram, F.T.C.D., Librarian of
the College, presiding. The proceedings commenced on Tuesday, September
30, and among those present were Mr. Justice O’Hagan, the Lord Mayor,
M.P., Lord Charles Bruce, the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin; Rev.
Dr. Haughton, F.T.C.D, F.R.S.; Dr. Moffat, President of Queen’s College,
Galway; Mr. George Bullen, of the British Museum, and others. Dr. Ingram
having offered the Association a hearty welcome, gave an account of the
library in Trinity College. It was well stored with ancient and modern
literature, containing more than 200,000 volumes of printed books, and
about 2,000 manuscripts. It contained certain peculiar and precious
things, some of them deserving to be called national heirlooms, which
gave to it a special character and dignity of its own. Trinity College
having been founded in 1591, was opened for the admission of students on
January 9, 1594. He explained the difficulties under which the library
was formed, and gave an account of its contents, which had outgrown the
accommodation provided for them. The first group of manuscripts worthy
of notice consisted of three Biblical manuscripts, which possessed
special interest. The first was the palimpsest known as “Codex
rescriptus Dublinensis,” in which an uncial text of portions of St.
Matthew’s Gospel had been partially covered with more recent writings,
containing extracts from ecclesiastical authors. Dr. Barrett, a Fellow
of the College, who discovered and edited the palimpsest, assigned it to
the sixth century at latest, having believed it to be of the fifth. In
the same volume were also palimpsest fragments of Isaiah, probably of an
earlier date than the text of St. Matthew. The second Greek text in
their possession was the “Codex Montfortianus,” a late manuscript and of
little critical value. The third text was in cursive characters, with a
commentary of the tenth century. There was formerly a fourth Greek text
of the New Testament, but it was lost between the years 1688 and 1742,
and after several changes of ownership is now in the library of the
Marquis of Bute. The library contained several copies executed in
Ireland of the Gospels in Latin, according to the Vulgate version. Among
them the place of honour belonged to the world-renowned Book of Kells.
The marvellous illuminations give the volume its great interest, being
thoroughly Irish in their type, the characteristic spiral ornamentation
constantly recurring. The manuscript is of the seventh or eighth
century. It was preserved in the Columbian Monastery of Kells, in Meath,
whence its name was derived, and came to Trinity College in the Ussher
Library. The library also contained the Book of Durrow. Other Irish
copies of the Vulgate version of the Four Gospels are the Book of Dimma
and the Book of Moling, both probably of the seventh century. These
manuscripts are in silver cases, ornamented with crystals. That of the
Book of Dimma states that the case was gilt by O’Carroll, Lord of Ely,
in the twelfth century. It also boasts the Book of Armagh, compiled
about A.D. 750, with the celebrated confession of the Saint, and
documents on the rights of the See of Armagh. Coming to English
typography, they could boast only a single Caxton. It is a copy of the
second edition of the Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, printed
about 1480, though not the first printed in English. On the motion of
the Lord Mayor, seconded by the Provost, and supported by Mr. Bullen, a
vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Ingram for his address. The report of
the Association was taken as read. Mr. George Bullen, Keeper of the
Printed Books, British Museum, then read a paper entitled “Early Notices
of Guttenburg.” He held that it had not been conclusively proved that
Guttenberg was the inventor of the art of printing. After a few remarks
from Dr. Garnett, Mr. Bullen mentioned that in Japan and China the art
of printing from moveable type was known long before it was known in
Europe. Some books had been brought from Japan which were printed in the
year 1417. They were now in the British Museum. Mr. Harrison (London)
said the irony of fate was shown in the fact that Ticket, who writes of
the art of printing as perpetuating the memory of man, did not get his
own letter made public until 400 years after it was written.
Subsequently the members visited the library of Trinity College, and the
Record Office, Four-courts.--The business of Wednesday began with the
adoption of a report on the proposed examination of library assistants
in the month of September next. Certificates will be awarded to
successful candidates according to their various degrees of merit. Mr.
Dix Hutton read a paper entitled “Impressions of Twelve Years’
Cataloguing in a Great Library” (that of Trinity College, Dublin), which
was listened to with marked attention. It was not ended when the arrival
of the Lord-Lieutenant was announced. After Mr. Hutton came Lord Charles
Bruce, who read an epitome of the history of his relative’s renowned
library at Althorp, and described some of the rarer specimens of its
contents. Lord Spencer admitted that Lord Charles had told him much
which he had not known before. His Excellency concluded his speech with
a frank and hearty invitation to the public, and especially to those
present, to make use of the stores of his library. A pleasant interlude
followed in the shape of “Twenty Years’ Recollections of Panizzi,” by
Mr. Henry Stevens, of Vermont, which was “capped” by amusing
recollections of Panizzi by the Rev. Dr. Haughton.--On Thursday Dr.
Garnett, of the British Museum, read a paper “On the Use of Photography
in Libraries,” in which he advocated the establishment of a
photographing department in the British Museum at the cost of the State.
The cost of photographing, if the work were left in private hands,
must, he thought, be far more expensive than if it were done by a public
institution, inasmuch as under the latter condition the main elements of
expense, that of photographers’ personal charges and the cost of
material, would entirely disappear. At present these charges were
sufficient to seriously impede the British Museum in its earnest desire
to circulate its treasures by means of photography, while to private
persons they were, in general, absolutely prohibitive. The recent case
of the transfer of the Irish portion of the Ashburnham manuscripts to
Dublin was a case in point. Whether placed in Dublin or in London they
must be equally inaccessible to a large number of scholars, but if a
national institution had existed in which _fac-similes_ could be made of
the national property free of expense, it would be indifferent where the
originals were deposited. By a further application of the same principle
Ireland might have _fac-similes_ of every manuscript illustrative of her
ancient language or literature within her own shores, and _vice versâ_.
Photography as a public institution would be beneficial not merely to
individual customers, but to the community at large, for it afforded the
best means of meeting the legitimate demands of provincial institutions
and museums. Provincial residents contributing out of the taxes to the
support of the British Museum and similar institutions had a right to
expect that their stores should be made as accessible as possible. To
meet this wish by cheapening photographic reproductions would be not to
create a luxury, but to redress a grievance. Dr. Garnett gave numerous
instances within his own knowledge of the expense and inconvenience
occasioned by the absence of facilities for photographing literary and
artistic objects. Such an institution as that suggested should be
located at the British Museum. Its management would require much
prudence to avoid undue competition with private photographers, and to
make some pecuniary return to the State without defeating its own object
by high prices. If successful, it might form the germ of undertakings of
the highest national, and even international, importance. The vexed
question of the custody of parish registers would be solved by
photography, and if other nations combined, each might possess within
its own borders the materials for its own history now scattered through
every country in Europe. The President considered the paper one of the
most important yet placed before the meeting. The Royal Irish Academy
had undertaken to transcribe some of the most important Celtic
manuscripts, and then have them lithographed. To do this the services of
an old Irish scholar, Mr. O’Longan, were obtained. He was a genuine
Irish scholar, and he transcribed the “Leabhar-na-Huidhre,” “Leabhar
Breao,” and “The Book of Leinster.” Having transcribed these, with the
assistance of Professor O’Loony, of the Catholic University, the works
were lithographed. Mr. O’Longan commenced the fourth book--“The Book of
Ballymote,” but he died before it was transcribed, and the work was
brought to a termination. Mr. O’Longan had most conscientiously
performed his duty, and this was borne testimony to by Dr. Atkinson, who
was at present having some important records photographed. Professor
Hennessy thought that the works carried out in the Royal Irish Academy,
and referred to by the President, were not correct productions of the
originals. He hoped that if the “Book of Ballymote” was to be copied it
would be reproduced by photography. Visits were paid to the National
Library, the Royal Irish Academy, and to Marsh’s Library. This consists
of three libraries, Dr. Stillingfleet’s, Archbishop Marsh’s, and Bishop
Stearne’s, besides a collection of foreign books. One of the curiosities
of the collection is a copy of Clarendon’s “History,” annotated by Dean
Swift. This last day of the meeting was filled up mainly with routine
business, modification of rules, election of officers, and votes of
thanks: Mr. Tedder, however, reading his instructive paper “On the Study
of Bibliography,” and the Rev. W. D. Macray another “On the Libraries of
South Australia,” written by Mr. C. Holgate. There was also a desultory
conversation on free libraries. It was agreed that the next annual
meeting should be held at Plymouth. A reception of the members of the
Association by the Provost of Trinity College and Mrs. Jellett brought
the meeting to a close.


PROVINCIAL.

HAILEYBURY COLLEGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, _July 1_.--Mr. E. Walford read a
paper on “Old Watering Places.” Beginning with some remarks on watering
places in general, and the amusements resorted to by those who visited
them, he first spoke of Bath, the oldest watering place in England.
There are many old Roman remains here, but the walls and gates of the
city, which were of the portentous length of 400 yards by 380 yards,
have long ago disappeared. Of the ancient history of Bath little is
known. It formed at one time the quarters of the Sixth legion. The town
was laid waste by the Saxons in the seventh century, and, after being
taken and retaken by Saxons and Danes, was in the eighth century taken
by Offa, King of Mercia, from the Prince of Wessex. The town was
destroyed by fire in A.D. 1137. The most interesting part of the history
of modern Bath is the period of Beau Nash’s reign, who, despite his
profligacy, became very popular at Bath, where he was elected “king;”
and it was during his reign that Bath reached the height of its
prosperity. He died in 1761, and received a public funeral. Mr. Walford
also explained the extent and interest of recent excavations at Bath.
The next place spoken of was Brighton. The old name of this town was
Brighthelmstone, probably derived from an old word “Brit,” signifying
“divided,” as the town was in former times divided by a narrow brook
flowing through it. It was bounded by three streets, North-street,
East-street, and West-street, outside of which were five large tracts of
land, known as the Tenantry “Laines,” a word probably connected with
“lay,” and signifying, as shown by Mr. F. Sawyer, the “laying-out” or
disposing of the land. An old map of Brighton, which was passed round,
served to illustrate the lecturer’s remarks. The town was originally
built under the cliff, but in 1703 a storm occurred, which, followed by
another in 1705, completely destroyed the old town. Mr. Walford promised
to give a lecture, on a future occasion, upon Hythe, Seaford, and the
other Cinque Ports.

ROYAL HISTORICAL AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND.--The Ulster
quarterly meeting of this body was held on Aug. 7, at Armagh, Lord
Charlemont in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting, held at
Killarney, having been read by the hon. secretary, the Rev. J. Graves,
and several new members elected, Mr. J. P. Prendergast,
barrister-at-law, read a paper on “Charlemont Fort,” a place intimately
connected with Lord Charlemont’s family. Mr. W. F. Wakeman read a paper
“On Some Recent Discoveries at Lisnacrogher, near Broughshane, County
Antrim.” Two interesting papers were read by Mr. J. J. Phillips,
Belfast. The first was, “Notes on some old Wrought-iron Grille Work in
the Vicinity of Armagh;” the second, on “The Ancient Abbey of Armagh.”
Rev. G. R. Buick, M.A., read a paper on “An Earthenware Vessel found on
a Pre-Historic Site at Port Stuart.” A visit was afterwards paid to the
library and the ruins of the Franciscan Abbey in the Palace grounds at
Armagh, which had been kindly thrown open by his Grace the Lord Primate.
On the following day the members and friends visited a number of
historic sites in the neighbourhood. They assembled at 10 o’clock, and
drove in brakes to the site of the ancient lime-kiln at Emania. This
lime-kiln is mentioned in the “Four Masters,” and is said to have been
erected by Gillamacliag, successor of Patrick. The great earthwork now
called Emania was the chief regal seat of the Irians, which was the
generic name borne by the inhabitants of the province of Ulster. This
was the resort of the renowned knights of Craebh Ruadh, or Royal Branch,
and the palace of the Kings of Ulster for upwards of seven hundred
years, until finally destroyed by the three Collas. The excursionists
next visited the King’s Stables and Ballybrawly Stone Circle, and then
proceeded to Tynan Abbey, the residence of Sir James Stronge, where the
beautiful crosses and grounds were inspected.

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ANTIQUARIAN NEWS & NOTES.


THE next annual meeting of the Kent Archæological Society will be held
at Sandwich.

LORD DUCIE contradicts the report that he “is collecting materials for a
history of the Spanish Armada of 1588.”

A COLLECTION of old Wedgwood ware has been lent by Mr. Felix Joseph for
exhibition at the museum in Nottingham Castle.

LORD TENNYSON’S new poem will be entitled “St. Thomas à Becket: a
Drama.” The play, it is stated, is “not intended for acting.”

OUR December number will contain an article by the Editor on Dr.
Johnson, with reference to the 100th anniversary of his death.

SIR P. CUNLIFFE OWEN purposes to raise in America a sufficient sum of
money to “restore” the parish church of Stratford-on-Avon from end to
end.

THE Duke of Norfolk, as we learn from the _Weekly Register_, has visited
Holywell, where the little Earl of Arundel was bathed in the waters of
St. Winifrede’s Well.

“TREE GOSSIP,” a little volume on the byways of tree lore, by Mr.
Francis George Heath, will be published shortly by Messrs. Field & Tuer,
at the Leadenhall Press.

THE memorial of the liberation of Vienna in 1683 in the Cathedral of St.
Stephen’s, on which the sculptor, Herr Hellmer, is engaged, will, it is
expected, be completed by Christmas.

THE monument which is to commemorate the landing of St. Augustine in the
Isle of Thanet, is being erected by Lord Granville himself, and not by
the English Catholics, as stated by the _Journal de Rome_.

THE number of historic documents in the possession of the corporation of
Hull, which is very large, and of great antiquarian interest, is to be
set in order and calendared by Mr. T. T. Wildridge.

THE Rev. F. W. Weaver announces as nearly ready his “Visitations of
Somerset in 1531 and 1573.” The work will be published, by subscription,
by Mr. Wm. Pollard, of North-street, Exeter.

IT is stated that the two portrait pictures of the second wife of Rubens
from the Blenheim collection were purchased by a member of the
Rothschild family. They will go to the Continent.

THE Royal Castle of Christianborg, Copenhagen, has been burnt down, and
several important works of art, including some by Thorwaldsen, as well
as the archives of the Rigsdag, have been destroyed. The castle chapel
and Thorwaldsen Museum have been saved.

THE Clarendon Press is about to publish a volume of York Mystery Plays,
printed for the first time from a MS. in the Ashburnham collection. The
book, which will contain notes and a glossary, is edited by Mr. Toulmin
Smith.

THE Emperor of Austria has presented to the Royal Library at Vienna a
collection of ancient Arabic literature, comprising 1,600 works in 1,052
volumes. The oldest of these MSS. dates from 1058 A.D., or earlier, and
is called the “Kitab Elfelahe,” or book of agriculture.

THE new apse of the Basilica of St. John Lateran at Rome and the
prolongation of the portico of Sixtus IV. are approaching completion;
and the decorations of the Hall of the Candelabra in the Vatican
sculpture gallery are finished.

MESSRS. WARD, LOCK & CO., are on the point of publishing an exhaustive
treatise on the Violin, by Mr. Ed. Heron-Allen, author of “The Ancestry
of the Violin,” “Violin-making, as it was, and is,” &c. The work will be
profusely illustrated.

A “HISTORY of England under Henry IV.,” by Mr. James Hamilton Wylie,
Inspector of Schools, will shortly be published by Messrs. Longmans; and
“A Study of Anne Boleyn,” by Herr Paul Friedmann, is announced for
publication by Messrs. Macmillan.

DR. HUMANN has been appointed Abtheilungs-Director at the Royal Museum
in Berlin, which he has done so much to enrich. The excavator of
Pergamus is working at Nemruddagh, and his official position has no
conditions of residence attached to it.

THE front of the Curfew Tower, the most ancient portion of Windsor
Castle, is being refaced with the “Neath stone.” The new masonry is
being carefully built up under the supervision of Mr. R. Howe, Clerk of
the Works at the Castle.

THE literary property in letters--that is, the right to publish copies
of them--remains in all cases in the writer. This was decided as long
ago as 1741, in “Pope _v._ Curll, 2 Atk. 342,” when the poet obtained at
the hands of Lord Hardwick an injunction against the publisher who
proposed to print some of Pope’s letters.--_Law Times._

THE bicentenary of Corneille was celebrated with great _éclat_ on
Saturday, October 11, by the town of Rouen, where he was born in 1606,
and died in 1684. The Academy was represented on the occasion by MM.
Dumas and Sully-Prudhomme, the former of whom delivered an oration in
honour of the dramatist and poet.

A CALL has just been made for the purpose of forming an American
Historical Association to deal with both the story of the past and with
that of the immediate present. Professor C. K. Adams, of Michigan,
Professor M. C. Tyler, of Cornell, and Professor Adams, of Johns Hopkins
Universities, are the chief movers in the matter.

THE Clarendon Press will publish in November a work entitled “The
Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt,” by Mr. A. J. Butler, Fellow of
Brasenose College. The work will consist of two octavo volumes, the
first being mainly architectural, the second dealing with church
furniture, vestments, rites, and ceremonies. It will contain numerous
plans and illustrations.

BY the generosity of three of the subscribers, copies of Mr.
Greenstreet’s autotype fac-simile of the Lincolnshire Survey, temp.
Henry I., have been deposited in the Public Free Libraries at
Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and Sheffield, and
in the Advocate’s Library, Edinburgh, the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, and
the National Library of Ireland, Dublin.

EARLY next year Mr. Quaritch will issue to subscribers Messrs. Herbert
Jones’ work, entitled “The Princess Charlotte of Wales,” an illustrated
monograph, which will contain reproductions in monochrome of a series of
miniatures of the Princess from her cradle to her grave, painted from
life by Charlotte Jones. The book will also comprise a memoir of the
Princess, and selections from her correspondence. The edition will be
limited to 250 copies.

THREE pictures which are claimed to be works of J. W. M. Turner, have
been brought to light at Exeter. They represent views of the interior of
Exeter Cathedral, and have been stowed away for nearly fifty years as
lumber. An Exeter hairdresser lately purchased the pictures from a
furniture broker for a sovereign each. A judge of works of art has
offered £1,500 for the three, but the owner has communicated with London
experts, so as to place the authorship of the works beyond question.

THE following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear
among the contents of the magazines for October:--_Contemporary Review_,
“Goethe;” _Art Journal_, “Landscapes in London: The Inns of Court,” “The
Fountaine Collection,” and “Delft Ware;” _Century Magazine_, “The
‘Odyssey’ and its Epoch;” _Gentleman’s Magazine_, “A French Curé in the
Sixteenth Century;” _Harpers Magazine_, “The Great Hall of William
Rufus;” _Le Livre_, “Canterbury, its Cathedral, its Library,” &c.

WITH a view to perpetuating the memory of the French Walloon refugees
who settled in Canterbury three centuries ago, the directors of the
French Protestant Hospice in London have commissioned a well-known
Kentish archæologist to transcribe the inscriptions on the tombstones in
Canterbury and the neighbourhood, where many of the refugees lie buried.
Of the Huguenot and other French exiles who found a home beneath the
shadow of Canterbury Cathedral, and established in its crypt a church
which exists to the present day, there are now but few descendants
living.

THE Mercers’ Chapel, Cheapside, has been reopened, after extensive
repairs and alterations; the latter comprise new flooring, new and very
handsome carved oak stalls and seats throughout, new choir stalls,
prayer desk and pulpit. The fine old screen has been retained, as also
all the oak panelling round the walls. The organ, one of Father Smith’s,
has been entirely rebuilt and enlarged. The altar piece is not yet
finished, but the three large frescoes are in position, the centre and
largest panel representing the Ascension of our Lord. The whole of the
roof has also been re-decorated, and a sun-light introduced into the
lanthorn.

THE second volume of “Topography and Natural History of Lofthouse, near
Wakefield,” by Mr. George Roberts, of that place, is in the press. In
addition to the continuation of the “Natural History and Rural Notes,”
it will contain an account of past and present customs, notices of
places of worship, further notes on the old Lofthouse families--Hipron,
Watson, and Lyley; a revised list of church sun-dials; and a short
memoir of Charles Forrest, the discoverer of the Rock sculptures on
Rombalds Moor, near Ilkley. The volume will be privately issued to
subscribers only.

AT a recent meeting of the Academie des Inscriptions, M. Maspero read a
report on his archæological work in Egypt during the past year. He
dwells especially upon the new system by which the fellahs are
encouraged to excavate on their own account by the guarantee that they
may keep for themselves one-half of the objects they find. In this way
the Boolak Museum has obtained during the past twelvemonths, with no
expense beyond that of conveyance, about 2,000 objects of various
interest.

THE foundation-stone of a new hall for the Butchers’ Company was laid on
September 1, in St. Bartholomew-close; and at the dinner which followed
the ceremony, the Master, Mr. Ernest Hart, gave some historical details
relating to the halls of the Company from the reign of Henry II. The
Company of Butchers, he said, dated as far back as 1180, and had had no
fewer than three halls. The first, in Butcher’s-lane, was destroyed by
fire, as was also the second, in Eastcheap; whilst the third, and last,
had been demolished in the extension works of the District Railway.

IN the last days of August was celebrated in the old capital of Flanders
an historical pageant of no ordinary interest. In honour of her patron
and former sovereign, Bruges has placed before the world, in the form of
a mediæval procession, the chief incidents in the life of St. Charles
the Good. The committee of management, which comprised several
archæologists of note, spared no pains to reproduce with the utmost
exactitude the actual dresses and appurtenances of the eleventh and
twelfth centuries. Many of the highest ladies in the land took part in
the procession, and wearing the costume of their ancestresses, assumed
their parts as ladies in attendance at the Court of their ancient Count.

FOLLOWING the precedent of the Luther Exhibition held last year at the
British Museum, which proved so great an attraction to the building, a
Wycliffe Exhibition has been displayed by Mr. E. M. Thompson, keeper of
the manuscripts, who has also compiled a catalogue descriptive of its
contents. These consist of a series of manuscripts and printed books,
comprising translations and service books in English, all intended to
illustrate the efforts made to translate the Bible into English in early
times. Then follow Wycliffe’s original works in manuscript and print;
and lastly, the Reformer’s life and actions are illustrated by
manuscripts and engravings.

AT Beckhampton, near Avebury, Wilts, a very interesting discovery has
lately been made of an ancient British dwelling pit. The dwelling
consists of two circular holes, sunk in the clean chalk, adjoining and
intersecting one another. They are about five feet six inches deep, and
five feet in diameter. On the floor of the pit were found the fragments
of an earthen cooking vessel resting on three stones, and under it the
ashes of the fire that had been used in boiling the pot. There were also
found a well-shaped “spindle-whorle,” a “loom-weight,” bone ornament,
and several so-called “pot boilers,” also bones of the ox, sheep,
rabbit, &c. The whole of the goods and chattels, &c., found in this
interesting dwelling are now in the County Museum.

CATALOGUES of rare and curious books, most of which contain the names of
works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Mr. F. Edwards, 83,
High-street, Marylebone; Mr. U. Maggs, 159, Church-street,
Paddington-green; Mr. G. P. Johnston, 33, George-street, Edinburgh; Mr.
W. Scott, 7, Bristol-place, Edinburgh; Mr. G. Harding, 19, St.
John-street, Westminster; Mr. A. B. Osborne, 11, Red Lion-passage,
Holborn; Mr. J. E. Cornish, 33, Piccadilly, Manchester; Messrs. Jarvis &
Son, 28, King William-street, Strand; Messrs. Robson & Kerslake, 43,
Cranbourn-street, Leicester-square; Mr. W. Wilkins, Merthyr Tydvil; Mr.
E. Parsons, 45, Brompton-road, S.W.; Messrs. Reeves & Turner, 196,
Strand; Messrs. Farrar & Fenton, 8, John-street, Adelphi.

A PROPOSAL for the foundation of a museum devoted to the antiquities of
Palestine, has recently been attracting attention in Paris. A room in
the Louvre is now devoted to the display of objects of this class,
which, however, in 1879 did not exceed 83 in number; to these about 100
more have recently been added, including between 50 and 60 vases and
lamps in terra-cotta. In the British Museum exist between 50 and 60
similar objects; and a much larger collection, belonging to the
Palestine Exploration Fund, is partly in possession of that association,
either in London or in Jerusalem, and partly at the South Kensington
Museum. The whole collection, in these several detachments, does not,
perhaps, exceed 1,000 objects.

MR. FREDERICK HAWKINS’S “Annals of the French Stage,” which Messrs.
Chapman & Hall are to publish in two volumes, extend from its origin to
the death of Racine. Notwithstanding the light recently thrown in France
upon the development of her old literature, no English writer has
thought fit to illustrate, at least upon anything like a comprehensive
scale, the rise and progress of the theatre in Paris. The author has
tried to verify carefully his statements, and study at first hand the
important plays which he has ventured to criticise. For the rest, these
annals, unlike most books relating to the stage, give quite as much
prominence to dramatists and dramatic literature as to players and their
work.

IN the carrying out of some street repairs at Bonn, a portion of a Roman
drain or watercourse was lately laid bare at a depth of about 5 ft.
below the present surface. It seems to have come from a neighbouring
encampment, is about 20 in. wide, and 30 in. deep, and is constructed
and covered with heavy tufa blocks, well capable of sustaining the wear
of centuries. Many of those blocks were nearly 5 ft. long by 29 in.
thick. An original charter of the German Emperor Henry II., dated 25th
February, 1015, which has long been given up as lost, has just been
discovered during an examination of archives of the collegiate church at
Bonn, which was formerly attached to a convent of nuns. The charter is
on a single sheet of parchment, very well preserved, measuring 50 by 62½
centimetres (20 in. by 24½ in.), and contains a grant to the church of
an estate near Königswinter, belonging to the Emperor.

THE tercentary of the death of William the Silent was celebrated in July
at Delft, in Holland, by a solemn service in the church. The Prince’s
tomb was magnificently decorated with funeral wreaths, including one in
silver offered by a deputation of Freemasons. The church was filled by a
numerous congregation, all the Ministers and the principal civil and
military authorities being present. Professor Van Vries, of Leyden,
delivered an address, reviewing in eloquent terms the memorable work
accomplished by the founder of Dutch independence. The whole ceremony
made a profound impression upon the assembly. At its conclusion the
exhibition was opened, at Prinsenhof, the house in which William was
assassinated by Balthasar Gerard, of relics of the Prince and a number
of objects illustrating his life and works.

THE _Athenæum_ says that the death of Mr. Archibald Fraser, of
Abertarff, is bringing memories of Jacobite times before the public.
Only the other day the history of the Lovat family was to some extent
before the Court of Session in connection with the succession to the
estate of Abertarff, which was bequeathed to the late Mr. Fraser by his
grandfather, a son of the notorious Lord Lovat, with an ultimate entail
“in favour of the person who shall be able to prove himself to be the
chief of the clan Fraser by legitimate descent from Hugh, first Lord
Lovat, and his heirs male.” At the beginning of next month, the
Abertarff collection of antiques, pictures, arms, &c., comprising many
relics of the rebel lord and of the old family of Lovat, will be sold in
Inverness by public auction.

SOME discoveries of great interest to antiquaries have been made on the
Yorkshire Wolds by the Rev. E. M. Cole, M.A., vicar of Wetwang,
Yorkshire--viz., a large number of entrenchments, which are supposed to
have been the work of the ancient Britons. The dale “heads,” it has been
ascertained, are all covered with entrenchments, and a village called
Fimber appears to be completely surrounded by them, as if it had been an
enormous camp. In one of these entrenchments, near the monument to the
late Sir Tatton Sykes, at Garton, a large number of dead bodies were
found, but the idea is not entertained that the entrenchments were used
for purposes of burial. According to Mr. J. R. Mortimer, a well-known
Yorkshire archæologist, they are mostly V-shaped. They appear to have
been much used, and are trodden hard and firm.

A LARGE Indian mound near the town of Gasterville, North America, has
recently been opened and examined by a committee sent out from the
Smithsonian Institute. At some depth from the surface a kind of vault
was found, in which was discovered the skeleton of a giant measuring 7
ft. 2 in. His hair was coarse and jet black, and hung down to the waist,
the brow being ornamented with a copper crown. The skeleton was
remarkably well preserved. Near it were also found the bodies of several
children of various sizes, the remains being covered with beads made of
bone of some kind. Upon removing these the bodies were seen to be
enclosed in a network of straw or reeds, and beneath this was a covering
of the skin of some animal. On the stones which covered the vault were
carved inscriptions, and these when deciphered will doubtless lift the
veil that now shrouds the history of a race of giants that at one time
undoubtedly inhabited the American continent. The relics have been
forwarded to the Smithsonian Institute, and they are said to be the most
interesting collection ever found in the United States. The explorers
explored another mound in Bartow county, Pennsylvania.

THE excavations of General Cesnola have not exhausted the possibilities
of Cyprus, and surely if Englishmen are to excavate anywhere, this
island is the natural field for their labours. A committee, consisting
of Englishmen and Cypriotes, was formed in 1882 by Sir Robert Biddulph,
with the object of establishing a local museum at Leukosia. Under the
auspices of the committee, excavations on a small scale and supported by
private subscriptions have been carried on in the years 1883-1884. It is
a little surprising that these excavations have had to be conducted by a
German, Herr Max Ohnefalsch Richter, and that the report appears this
month in a German periodical, the _Mittheilungen_, of the German
archæological institute at Athens. The site chosen was the village of
Voni, the ancient Chytrai, and the find has been a large one. It
speedily became evident from a multitude of inscriptions that the
excavators had lighted on a sanctuary of Apollo. The architectural
remains are insignificant, but there is evidence that on the remains of
the old pagan shrine a Christian church had been raised, into the walls
of which a mass of fragments of ancient sculpture was built. The
sculptural find was a very rich one; as many as 133 statues are already
catalogued.--_Builder._

THE _Athenæum_ announces that a strong committee, upon which the Society
of Antiquaries is represented by Lord Carnarvon, Dr. Perceval, Mr.
Milman, Mr. Franks, Dr. John Evans, Dr. Freshfield, the Hon. Harold
Dillon, Mr. Hilton Price, Mr. Roach Smith, and other Fellows; the
Institute of Architects by Mr. Whichcord; the City of London by the Lord
Mayor, Sir Reginald Hanson, Alderman Staples, Sir John Monckton,
Ex-Sheriff Burt, Mr. Deputy Saunders, Mr. William Rome, and others; the
Metropolitan Board of Works by its chairman, Sir J. M‘Garel Hogg; and
London archæology generally by Mr. Hyde Clarke, Mr. Anderson Rose, Mr.
Herbert Fry, Mr. Henry W. King, and others, has been formed to raise a
fund for taking immediate steps to protect and record monuments of
antiquity in London and its vicinity at the moment of discovery. The
executive committee consists of Mr. Alfred White, Mr. Overall (the City
Librarian), Mr. John E. Price (secretary), and Mr. Brabrook. Sir John
Lubbock has consented to act as treasurer. The committee is already
taking steps, through Mr. J. E. Price, to preserve and place in a public
museum some remarkable remains of the Roman occupation of London which
have just been found used as building material in a bastion of the wall
at Bevis Marks.

UP to the present time the _form_ of the Rigveda, that curious
collection of ancient Indian poems which has long engaged the attention
of scholars in India and Europe, has remained an inscrutable mystery.
The 1,017 hymns follow one another in ten books or sections, but no one
has hitherto detected any system in their arrangement. Mr. Frederic
Pincott, however, has, the _Manchester Guardian’s_ London correspondent
says, just discovered the hidden method, and his discovery promises to
give a new impetus and direction to Vedic studies. He has found that the
first book of the Rigveda is a selection of hymns arranged in the order
of their recitation at the offering of an oblation to the sacred Soma
Juice. The next six books are family collections, containing the poems
of particular poets and their relatives; whilst the eighth book contains
hymns omitted from previous books. The ninth book is filled with hymns
celebrating the praises of the Soma Juice, and the last book contains
hymns ascribed to mythological authors. When the poet, the deity, the
length, and the metre are known, the hymns are found to have a
methodical arrangement. A full exposition of Mr. Pincott’s curious
discovery is about to be given in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society_.

A BIBLE which contains two signatures that profess to be written by
Shakespeare has turned up at Manchester. It was bought about thirty
years ago by the late Mr. William Sharp, a somewhat eccentric collector,
who was firmly convinced of the authenticity of the signatures, but
rarely showed the book. Its present custodian exhibited it the other day
to a number of gentlemen at the Manchester Free Library, including Prof.
A. Ward, Mr. Alexander Ireland, Mr. C. W. Sutton, Mr. J. H. Nodal, and
Mr. W. E. A. Axon. One signature is on the inside of the end cover, and
reads “William Shakspere off S × o × A his Bible 1613.” The other is on
the reversed title of the New Testament, and reads “William Shakspere
1614.” The volume contains the Old Testament, Apocrypha, New Testament,
and Psalms of the “breeches” edition of 1611, but some of the earlier
leaves are gone. There are many names of other possessors from about
1633 downwards, and one entry appears to indicate that the volume has
been rebound and a Prayer-Book taken from it. In this case the signature
now on the end leaf may have been transferred to the new binding. As to
the authenticity of the signatures it would be impossible to speak with
confidence without the application of more searching tests. They do not
resemble any of the five undoubted signatures, but they are both
marvellously like that on the title-page of Florio’s Montaigne now in
the British Museum. The present custodian of the “Shakspere Bible”
purposes, we understand, to accept the advice tendered to him of
submitting it to a critical examination at the British Museum.--_Public
Opinion._

[Illustration: text decoration]




Antiquarian Correspondence.

                      Sin scire labores,
    Quære, age: quærenti pagina nostra patet.

_All communications must be accompanied by the name and address of the
sender, not necessarily for publication._


A BISHOP ON ARCHÆOLOGY.

SIR,--At the reopening of a church in Northamptonshire recently, the
Bishop of Peterborough is reported to have observed that churches were
not architectural museums merely designed for the recreation and
instruction of persons of an architectural turn of mind, but places
designed for worship and the comfort of those who attended them, and
that whatever interfered with such objects should be removed. I wonder
what the members of the Archæological Institute and Association, to say
nothing of fellows of the Society of Antiquaries, will think of such a
remark.

W. E.


GUERIN, COUNT OF MONTGLAVE.

SIR,--In the preface of Mr. Charles Tomlin’s “Chess Manual,” particulars
are given of a game of chess, said to have been played between
Charlemagne and Guérin, a powerful noble of Aquitaine, the stakes to be
Guérin’s possessions against the kingdom of France. The Emperor lost,
but it was at last arranged that, in lieu of France, Guérin was to
receive the Countship of Montglave, or Lyons, if he could wrest the
place from the Saracens, who then held it. This, with the aid of his
knights and followers, he is said to have done, taking prisoners Gasier,
the Sultan, and his only daughter, Mabiletta, whom he afterwards married
on her becoming a Christian. They had four sons. A romance recounting
the adventures and victories of these four sons was printed by M. Michel
le Noir, 1515, under the title of “L’Histoire de Guérin de Montglave,”
since which date, and under the same title, the story has been
reproduced in prose and verse by several authors, but in none are any
details respecting their father, Guérin, given, although frequent
mention of both Mabiletta and the Count are made, representing him as
the great friend, as well as one of the chief captains of Charlemagne.
Can any of your readers inform me where particulars respecting this
Guérin, the game of chess, and his victory over the Saracens, &c., are
to be found?--Yours faithfully,

WM. C. LUKIS DE GUERIN.

_98, Sandgate-road, Folkestone_.



EXTINCT MAGAZINES.

(See vol. v. p. 273.)

SIR,--In accordance with the promise appended to my query at the
preceding reference, I send you, as a first instalment, a few hurriedly
written particulars of a magazine which, if I am not misinformed, died
at its initial number. Like many another publication, doomed to an
ephemeral existence, it deserved other and better treatment.

The _Border Miscellany_, or, as it is printed on the illustrated cover,
_Thompson’s Border Miscellany_, was published at Berwick-on-Tweed,
March, 1852, price sixpence, and though consisting of only forty-eight
pages, octavo, it contains several exceedingly interesting items, among
which I would reckon an “Unpublished Letter of Sir Walter Scott,” “Atoms
of Information,” and the article of rather more than eight pages,
entitled “The Tweed and its Tributaries,” by a disciple of Isaak Walton.
The extracts from the Books of Council and Session, under the heading,
“Memoranda Scotica,” are also interesting, especially to those who may
have the genealogy of the Oliphants and other Scottish families at
heart.

The story with which the _Miscellany_ opens, “Florrette; or, Henri
Quatre’s First Love,” adapted from the German of Zschokke, by Bon
Gualtier, is, in my humble estimation, a piece of dull, uninteresting
reading. The poetry, literary notices, and some other odds and ends, do
not call for special recognition.

Here is the motto of this short-lived magazine:--

           “L’ENVOY.

    For us and our Miscellany,
    Here, stooping to your clemency,
    We beg your hearing patiently.
         SHAKESPEARE (New Edition).”

On the back cover the following note of warning appeared:--

     “Publishers are warned that the articles in this Miscellany are
     copyright. When short extracts from any of the papers are quoted,
     it will be obliging if the name of the Miscellany be prefixed.”

Who the editor of this venture was I know not, though I am aware that it
was published by W. Thompson, at the time and place already mentioned.
Perhaps some of your readers can throw light on the matter.

P. J. MULLIN.

_Leith, N.B._


PORTREEVE.

SIR,--Should any of your readers feel further interest in this subject,
I would beg to refer them to your September number for my defence
against Mr. Round’s repeated attacks, and contrast my paper with the
misrepresentations which are now made of it in his note for this month.
I would fain assume that these misrepresentations are not intentional,
and that they may rather be attributed to that “lamentable
confusion--truly distressing confusion,” which another contributor to
your pages has described as characteristic of a former paper by Mr.
Round, and which, indeed, seems to pervade all his papers. That these
misrepresentations, however, exist will not for a moment be doubted by
anyone who may make the comparison above suggested, and their existence,
from whatever cause arising, must for the future preclude my bestowing
any further notice of anything emanating from Mr. Round.

It seems almost unnecessary to specify any of the misrepresentations in
question, but as something of the kind may be expected, and for the
satisfaction of those who may not have seen my paper, or have an
opportunity of easily referring to it, I will just cite one or two
examples out of the numerous ones with which Mr. Round’s note abounds.

First, then, as regards the term “port or gate.” In employing the term
port or gate as I did in my first paper, it was in the full assurance
that these words are here absolutely _synonymous_, and that I was
strictly correct in thus using the word _port_ where it occurs in the
Laws of Athelstan. On this point, however, Mr. Round thought fit to
assail me, asserting that my “rendering outside the port or gate” was a
mere “gloss” of _my own_ on the word “port.” In consequence of this
strange and somewhat unintelligible charge I was led to look into the
question more closely, and found, though previously unaware of the fact,
that I was entirely supported in my view and use of the words both by
Camden and by Sharon Turner. In my next paper I accordingly quoted from
Camden that at “_Portgate_,” on the Roman Wall, there was formerly _a
gate_, as “_the word in both languages_” (Roman and Saxon) “fairly
evinces.” On this passage, which it will be seen completely establishes
my case, Mr. Round “evinces” _his_ sense of fairness by suppressing all
allusion to it. Again, it was pointed out that Sharon Turner distinctly
uses the words as _synonymous_ where he speaks of “the _port_-gerefa
_or_ the gerefa of the _gate_.” Nothing can be clearer or stronger than
this, yet all notice of this is also suppressed, and Mr. Round, even
after this has been pointed out to him, does not scruple to misrepresent
me by repeating his assertion, and still arguing that in thus rendering
the words “port or gate,” the words “or gate” are a mere “_gloss_” of
_my own_. What opprobrium he intends to convey by the word “gloss” it is
difficult to say, but, whatever it may be, your readers will now see
that it applies quite as strongly to such high authorities as Camden and
Sharon Turner as it does to me.

Further on, Mr. Round states that he has proved by demonstration that
the markets were not held at the gates. I remarked in my paper that he
might have spared himself the pains of proving what no one ever doubted,
“the well-known fact that the forum was situated in the centre of a
Roman town or city”; but I also pointed out what Mr. Round appears still
to be ignorant of, that _large transactions were conducted at the
gates_, the levying of tolls and the sale and purchase of merchandise,
and thus “the word _port_, originally restricted to _the gates_ where
such extensive transactions were carried on, would at no distant period
become applied,” in the way described, “to the town itself” (p. 114).

This latter passage, and all allusion to it, Mr. Round also suppresses,
satisfying his sense of fair and reasonable argument in this case by
merely harping again on the statement that “_I proved_ by demonstration
that the markets were never held at the gate,” which, in fact, no one at
all conversant with the subject ever thought they were.

Apart, then, from what has here been thus briefly exposed, the character
of Mr. Round’s papers is otherwise such as would deter me from giving
any further time to their discussion.

A profuse rush of words--“_verba et voces prætereaque nihil_”--which
seem to shun all approach to logical sequence, will not in the present
day be accepted in place of the legitimate rules of reasoning, neither
will they justify a writer who indulges in them in dispensing with the
ordinary rules of courtesy.

JAMES HURLY PRING, M.D.

_Taunton, October, 1884._


_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

THE Editor declines to pledge himself for the safety or return of MSS.
voluntarily tendered to him by strangers.

MUS RUSTICUS.--You will find a good description of a Lord Mayor’s Show
in the reign of James I. in F. W. Fairholt’s “History of Lord Mayors’
Pageants,” privately printed by the Percy Society in 1843.




Books Received.


1. The Lay of St. Aloys. By Thomas Ingoldsby. Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1884.

2. The Aberdeen Printers. (1620-1736.) By J. P. Edmond. Aberdeen: Edmond
& Spark. 1884.

3. The Lauderdale Papers. Vol. i. Edited by Osmund Airy. Camden Society.
1884.

4. Some Observations upon the Law of Ancient Demesne. By Pym Yeatman,
Barrister-at-Law. Mitchel & Hughes. 1884.

5. Some Account of a Roman Garrison at Greta Bridge. By the Rev. J.
Hirst. Reprinted from the Journal of the Yorkshire Archæological
Association. 1884.

6. Birmingham, Aston, and Edgbaston, as seen in Domesday Book; and the
Saxons in Warwickshire. By J. A. Langford, LL.D. (Privately printed.)

7. Pottery and Porcelain. By F. Litchfield. Bickers & Son. 1884.

8. Doctor Johnson: His Life, Works, and Table Talk. (Centenary Edition.)
T. Fisher Unwin. 1884.

9. Records of Chesterfield. By Pym Yeatman, Esq. Chesterfield: Wilfred
Edmunds. 1884.

10. Phallicism: Celestial and Terrestrial. By Hargrave Jennings. Geo.
Redway. 1884.




Books, &c., for Sale.


Works of Hogarth (set of original Engravings, elephant folio, without
text), bound. Apply by letter to W. D., 56, Paragon-road, Hackney, N.E.

Original water-colour portrait of Jeremy Bentham, price 2 guineas. Apply
to the Editor of this Magazine.

A large collection of Franks, Peers’ and Commoners’. Apply to E.
Walford, 2, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W.




Books &c., Wanted to Purchase.


_Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer_, several copies of No. 2
(February, 1882) are wanted, in order to complete sets. Copies of the
current number will be given in exchange at the office.

Dodd’s Church History, 8vo., vols. i. ii. and v.; Waagen’s Art and
Artists in England, vol. i.; East Anglian, vol. i., Nos. 26 and 29. The
Family Topographer, by Samuel Tymms, vols. iii. and iv.; Notes and
Queries, the third Index. Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets” (Ingram and
Cooke’s edition), vol. iii. A New Display of the Beauties of England,
vol. i., 1774. Chambers’ Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. i.
Address, E. Walford, 2, Hyde Park Mansions, Edgeware-road, N.W.

[Illustration: THE OLD PALACE, RICHMOND.

_From “Greater London.”_ (_See post. p. 281._)]

[Illustration: decorative border]




_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._

[Illustration]




Dr. Johnson.

BY THE EDITOR.


IF there be truth in the old saying, _Inter arma silent leges_, it is
not less true that _inter arma silent Musæ_. When the attention of the
public is taken up with “wars and rumours of wars,” abroad or at home,
and when at home political parties have broken out into open strife,
there is no chance for the Muses or their votaries to get a hearing. To
no other cause can I ascribe the fact that my countrymen and
countrywomen made no response, or next to none, when they were lately
asked by the Mayor of Lichfield, Dr. Johnson’s native city, whether the
centenary of his death should be celebrated, and if so, then how?

For the last three months and more the English world has been so
occupied with the _pros_ and _cons_ of Mr. Gladstone’s Franchise Bill,
that to the above appeal society has turned a deaf ear. I regret it, but
I am scarcely surprised. We have not forgotten to observe the centenary
of Robert Raikes, as the reputed founder of Sunday-schools; it is not so
very long since the centenary of Robert Burns was celebrated, not by the
Scottish people only, but by Englishmen, at the Crystal Palace and
elsewhere; but, shame to write and to say it, there is no response when
Englishmen are asked to commemorate the author of the first really good
English Dictionary, the author of the best collection of Lives of our
English Poets, the man who almost in defiance of the law, and at the
risk of a prosecution, first really called into existence the practice
of reporting the Debates of Parliament; the greatest practical
philosopher and teacher of the last century; the man who first raised
and ennobled the profession of the pen; and the man who twice at least
stood up, as few have stood up, on behalf of that profession, firstly,
when he flung back with contempt the tardily offered favour and
“patronage” of Lord Chesterfield, and, secondly, when he knocked down
the insolent publisher, Thomas Osborne, in his own shop, with one of his
own folio volumes. Is not such a man, I ask, deserving of a Centenary
celebration from his brethren of the pen, or, let me say, rather from
his sons and disciples?

But to be serious. There can be little doubt that if all that he said,
and wrote, and did, be fairly considered, few men can claim credit for
having lived more useful lives than Dr. Johnson. Long before the end of
that life arrived, King George III. had spontaneously borne testimony to
his merits by the gift, rare at that time, of a literary pension, adding
a graceful compliment: “I should perhaps have thought that you had
written enough, if you had not written so well.” Born in humble, though
not needy circumstances, unable to complete his education and to obtain
an Oxford degree by the _res angusta domi_, he came to London to fight
the battle of life, his only weapon being his pen, and he won the day
against all difficulties, the cold indifference of the rich, the
jealousies of his equals and contemporaries, and the heart-breaking and
niggardly doles of the London publishers. Undaunted by these and other
difficulties, he showed Edmund Cave how his new venture, the
_Gentleman’s Magazine_, might come to deserve its name on other grounds
than that alleged at first, viz., that it was not fit for any lady to
read it. He raised, by his essays and biographical sketches, the whole
style and character of that which in the middle of the last century was
one of the leading organs of the time, when the daily papers as yet were
not, and the country gentleman’s household had to depend for the news of
the day on the “news-letter” written specially for their amusement and
information. Till Johnson took the matter in hand, and set himself to
supply the want by a new method which his native wit suggested, the
country knew not one iota of the speeches delivered in the Houses of
Parliament; the legislation of the country was carried on in the dark,
so far as concerned the people at large. If he had done nothing else
than this, Dr. Johnson would deserve, at the very least, the honour of a
statue on the Thames Embankment, or of a scholarship bearing his name at
Pembroke College, Oxford, the scene of his early struggles.

I am not intending to write a life of Dr. Johnson. That has been done
with wondrous fidelity and graphic skill by his _fidus Achates_, James
Boswell; and Sir John Hawkins and Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi, in their
supplemental Memoirs and Recollections of him, have thrown most
interesting and valuable side-lights on his character. Boswell’s “Life
of Dr. Johnson,” as every reader of English literature knows, was
largely amplified, and most cruelly distorted, by John Wilson Croker,
who, though himself a Tory of Tories, seems to have been unable to
comprehend the character of the man who hated a Whig almost as much as
he hated a Scotchman; and Mr. Croker was almost as cruelly punished for
his offence by Macaulay, who cut his book into shreds in the _Edinburgh
Review_. Still, in spite of its glaring sins, not certainly of omission,
but of commission, Croker’s edition of Boswell will always be a work of
value, for he entered on his task before the last of Dr. Johnson’s
friends and acquaintances had passed away. Amongst these were Lord
Stowell, who figures in Boswell as “Dr. Scott of Doctors’ Commons;” Mr.
John Sidney Hawkins, and Miss Letitia Hawkins, the son and daughter of
Sir John Hawkins; Mr. Fitzherbert (afterwards Lord St. Helen’s); Miss
Monckton, the Lady Cork of the Regency, a “Queen of Society” under
George IV. and William IV., and who lived into the reign of Victoria. He
knew also Mrs. Thrale’s daughter, the venerable Lady Keith; and last,
not least, the still more venerable Dr. Routh, President of Magdalen
College, who had seen Dr. Johnson in the flesh at Oxford, and who lived
to December, 1854. From these and from other sources he gathered much
material which had not been available to Boswell, and had he been
content with facts instead of probabilities and possibilities, he would
doubtless have been proof and unassailable to Macaulay’s pen. For
instance, there is not the shadow of a ground for supposing (as he does)
that Dr. Johnson was “out in ’45” with the adherents of Charles Edward,
except the fact that in that year his pen was idle; and he is still less
justified in supposing that Dr. Johnson was a Roman Catholic because he
advocated the _principle_ of pilgrimages, and prayers for the dead, and
confession, as natural and right in themselves, and as distinct from
their abuses; because there is not a single Roman Catholic tenet, except
that of the divinely-appointed Primacy of the See of St. Peter, which
has not at one time or another been supported and defended by some
Protestant writer.

Dr. Johnson, it must be owned even by his adversaries, has left his mark
upon the literature of his country. Gibbon’s style is most ornate, but
it is cumbrous and unnatural, and the author of the “Decline and Fall”
has found no one to copy him. It was otherwise with Johnson. He was fond
of Ciceronian Latin, and his English smacked as strongly of the
Ciceronian flavour as did Dr. Pusey’s style of the Augustinian. For
myself, I infinitely prefer the short and simple words which come from
the Anglo-Saxon mint to what is now sneeringly called “Johnsonese.” But
I cannot shut my eyes to that “union of perspicuity and splendour,” that
nervous vigour, that “expansion and harmony” which mark the stately flow
of Johnson when he is at his best. Towards the end of every unmutilated
edition of Boswell’s “Life” is given a list of those who in earnest or
in jest have set themselves to imitate the burly Doctor’s style.
Foremost amongst these are the historians Robertson and Gibbon, the Rev.
Dr. Nares, George Colman, Professor Young, of Glasgow, the Rev. Dr.
Knox, the popularity of whose writings is ascribed to this very feature,
and some of the best contributors to the old Edinburgh _Mirror_. There
is no doubt also that Dr. Johnson’s style was very largely but almost
insensibly copied and reproduced in the sermons, charges, and essays of
most Bishops and dignitaries of the Established Church for some sixty or
seventy years after his death. In fact, Dr. Johnson may be said in a
very great degree to have “tuned their pulpits.” It is only of later
years, concurrently with the study of German and of Anglo-Saxon
literature in this country, that a simpler and less stilted style has
prevailed. And this is no small testimony to the great powers of the
“learned lexicographer.”

The value of his Dictionary has, of course, declined since the study of
Etymology has been raised to the dignity of a science; for Dr. Johnson
knew little or nothing of those primitive languages from which all the
European languages are derived, and of which they are at the root only
variations and dialects. His Dictionary, therefore, must be judged by
the standard of a century ago, not by that of the Victorian Era. Were
Dr. Johnson now alive, he would be among the first to say to Professor
Skeat, to Max Müller, and our other lexicographers, “_agnosco
procerem_,” and to own that since his own day in this branch of
learning, at least, we have made giant strides.

As the last and only surviving Editor of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ in
its former shape, when it dealt with the intelligence and the literature
of the age, and was a recognised organ of the educated world, I feel
that it is my duty at this moment to put in a few words on behalf of a
man whose literary merits have never been sufficiently acknowledged.
With all his ruggedness and even “bearishness” of manner, what a
contrast does he present to us, as he lives in Boswell, to the cross,
crabbed, snappish, and selfish “philosopher of Chelsea,” who equalled
him in nothing but in plodding industry, and surpassed him, _me judice_,
in bearishness alone! And how few of the present generation are there
who might not learn lessons of improvement, both moral and intellectual,
by a careful and patient study of the “wit and wisdom” of Samuel
Johnson!

E. WALFORD.




Down a Yorkshire River.

_PART II._

(_Continued from p._ 218.)


A FEW miles lower down, passing through Sowerby Bridge, commercially
thriving but poetically poor, we come again to green fields and remnants
of ancient forest, and notice on the left hand Wood Hall, where the boy
Laurence Sterne, of “Tristram Shandy” fame, spent his early years. The
Heath Grammar School, where he was educated, is half an hour’s walk
beyond the ridge of the hill in the direction of Halifax. Formerly a
rustic bridge, little better than a plank, spanned the river near Wood
Hall, and it was along this plank, there is little doubt, that Lucy
Gray’s footprints were tracked after she had slipped into the water. We
have now reached a point where the scenery, if less wild than the glens
and gorges near the border hills of Lancashire and Yorkshire, is
scarcely less beautiful, and what it loses in ruggedness of natural
contour it gains in historic associations and legendary romance. Copley
Hall, in the eleventh century the residence of the knightly family of
Copley, has long ago been turned into cottages, but the name survives in
the pretty modern village and prettier church, and antiquaries love to
dwell on the old stories connected with the spot, and tell how Adam de
Copley fell fighting for William the Conqueror at the siege of York; how
his grandson, another Adam de Copley, became rector of his parish church
at Halifax; and how a third Sir Adam, for this was a favourite name,
carried away a sister from Kirklees Nunnery, and afterwards joined the
Crusaders and died in Palestine. This fair nun, alas! was immured in a
tower seven stories high, and mysterious lights were long seen to burn
in the ladye’s chamber, the ruins of which are said to have been
visible some years ago. Elland, anciently and more correctly Ealand,
with its fine old fane and relics of mediæval times, where the Ealands
and the Saviles lived in barbaric splendour, was the scene of many a
thrilling legend and bloody fray, notably the tragedy, or rather chain
of tragedies, which ended in the murder of Sir John Ealand and his
little boy as they were crossing the weir-stones on Palm Sunday on their
way to matins at Saint Mary’s. By this deed, which took place in the
fourteenth century, a feud that had lasted two generations was brought
to an end, as was likewise the family name of Ealand, the male line of
which became extinct on the death of Sir John’s only boy, the child who
shared his father’s fate on the weir-stones. A few miles beyond Ealand,
on the hill slope above the Calder, stand the stately groves of Kirklees
Priory, so well known, as we have seen, to the gay Sir Adam de Copley.
At Kirklees, as many readers are aware, died the most chivalrous of
bandits, Robin Hood. His grave, overshadowed by majestic beeches, is not
far from the ruins of the Nunnery, but in unconsecrated ground, though
it is said there used to be a cross to mark the spot. Calder dale was a
favourite haunt of the merry men, and many the fat buck they have run
down in this valley. Robin Hood has left his name in several places
hereabouts, and the peasantry still love to repeat the traditionary
stories of his gallantry and daring. Pinder Green, near Wakefield, as we
read in ballad line, was the scene of an encounter between Robin and the
Jolly Pinder. But we have not left the ruins of the Priory. I suppose
that all lovers of Brontëan literature know that the scene of “Shirley”
is laid close to Kirklees, which place figures indeed in the novel as
Nunnely. Any one acquainted with the locality will recognise Kirklees
very thinly disguised under this name: “The village of Nunnely has been
alluded to: its old church, its forest, its monastic ruins. It had also
its Hall, called the Priory--an older, a larger, a more lordly abode
than any Briarfield or Whinbury owned; and, what is more, it had its man
of title--its baronet, which neither Briarfield nor Whinbury could
boast.” In another chapter Kirklees is thus spoken of: “Kind gentleman
as the baronet is, he asked the tutor too; but the tutor would much
sooner have made an appointment with the ghost of the Earl of Huntingdon
to meet him, and a shadowy ring of his merry men, under the canopy of
the thickest, blackest, oldest oak in Nunnely Forest. Yes, he would
rather have appointed tryst with a phantom abbess, or mist-pale nun,
among the wet and weedy relics of that ruined sanctuary of theirs,
mouldering in the core of the wood.”

The scenery now begins to lose those romantic features down to this
point so noticeable in this valley. Larger towns and numerous
manufacturing villages disturb the once pastoral quietude. Keeping to
the bank of the river we pass Mirfield, and shortly reach Dewsbury,
where Paulinus, the first Archbishop of York, preached in the early part
of the seventh century--“Paulinus hic prædicavit et celebravit, A.D.
627.” Some years ago there was an old cross commemorating this event.
And here in the Calder, I doubt not, the great Apostle of the North
baptized hundreds of converts. The ancient Saxon parish of Dewsbury
contained an area of 400 square miles. Travel we on and we come to
Wakefield, in the meadows close to which was fought one of the most
sanguinary battles in the Wars of the Roses. On Wakefield bridge, which
spans the Calder, there is a lovely little chapelle, recently restored,
thought to have been originally erected in the reign of Edward III., and
said to have been rebuilt by Edward IV. to commemorate the death of his
father, the Duke of York, and the young Earl of Rutland, the beautiful
boy so ruthlessly slain there by Lord Clifford. The Calder, flowing on
past the villages of Heath and Stanley, eventually loses itself in the
Aire at Castleford. Hence the distich:

    “Castleford lasses must needs be fair,
     Since they wash themselves both in Calder and Aire.”

Near the border hills, some of the tributary brooks that join the Calder
are streams of rare beauty, and flow through regions of sylvan wildness,
than which there are none finer in Derbyshire or Devon. If the traveller
had to turn aside and wander up one of these glens he would soon leave
behind him the din of trade, and find himself in ravine-like woodland
solitudes. One of the loveliest and loneliest of these brooks is Turvin,
born on the bleak summit of Blackstone Edge, and which precipitates
itself in narrow winding channels through many a clough and forest dell.
When the shadows of the gloaming steal over the world, it is an eerie
sight to watch the mists of autumn as they creep up the gorge and curl
round the rocks, and the spectator may almost realise that he is gazing
upon some weird and enchanted land. About the middle of last century
this glen was the haunt of a gang of coiners who for many years
succeeded in eluding and defying the officers of the law. That these
daring men carried on their nefarious practices was a fact well known to
everybody in the locality, and it is to be feared they were secretly
encouraged, as they were assuredly screened, by their neighbours and
relatives. Something like a feeling of awe, tradition says, was felt by
the cottagers on the distant hills, when they heard in the stillness of
night the stroke of the sledge-hammer as the coiners plied, almost
defiantly plied, their desperate work. At last some of the ringleaders
were captured, tried, and hung. The rest of the gang still at large took
their revenge by murdering the excise officer who had been instrumental
in bringing the culprits to justice. Other captures were made and more
murder followed. But in the end, after a twenty years’ lease of
successful defiance, this band of reckless coiners was broken up.

Speaking of Blackstone Edge and the glens leading therefrom down to
Calder dale, we are reminded of the impression this mountain with its
wild passes and rugged roads had on Taylor, the Water Poet, who crossed
over in 1639, and this is what he says: “When I left Halifax I rode over
such ways as were past comparison or amendment, for when I went down the
lofty mountain called Blackstone Edge, I thought myself in the land of
break-necke, it was so steep and tedious.” Over this mountain, but in
the opposite direction, wearily paced De Foe when on his way to take
refuge in Halifax, perhaps resting a little while by the riverside
before he climbed the steep ascent of Skircote. Whilst staying in
Halifax he is said to have written part of “Robinson Crusoe.”

Fair features in woman are not irremediably spoiled by accident of cut
and scar, or through waste of fever and pain: the lovely lines survive,
and the soul beneath breathes unspeakable subtle beauty in smile of the
eye and play of emotion on the eloquent face. Such is it with fair
Calder dale--a region of poetry and romance, of legendary rock and
historic hall, of mountain and glen, of shaw and burn, of daisied meadow
and ferny dell. From the spot where I write, looking out at the antique
lattice, I see the long sweep of the valley with its wide openings and
gorge-like ravines stretching through the heart and the solitude of the
everlasting hills, and though smoke blackens and mill mars the
landscape, there is a loveliness about the contour of high heath-clad
cliff, about the green waving woods musical with bird carol and summer
breeze, about the sun-bright waters winding and narrowing miles away to
a silver streak, which the accidents of trade and material civilisation
have very far from irretrievably ruined.

F.




The Legend of King Arthur in Somerset.

BY MRS. C. G. BOGER.

_PART III.--HIS BURIAL-PLACE AT GLASTONBURY._

(_Concluded from p. 19._)

    “Not great Arthur’s tomb, nor holy Joseph’s grave
     From sacrilege had power their sacred bones to save;
     He who that God in man to his sepulchre brought,
     Or he which for the faith twelve famous battles fought.”
              DRAYTON’S _Polyolbion_.


WITH Arthur perished the bright gleam of hope for the British race, but
the Saxons did not as yet advance farther westward, and it was not till
the seventh century that Gladerhaf became Somerset. That he was buried
at Glastonbury men knew, but the exact spot remained a secret from all,
and so the record of Arthur’s life and labours became a myth on which
the earliest and latest British poets alike have loved to dwell and
idealise, till men scarce believed that he had any existence save in the
realms of romance. Long years passed away. “The old order had changed
and yielded place to new” more than once. The Britons had been avenged,
for the Saxons had passed under the power of the Dane, and then rose
again only to submit to the Norman. Yet the Saxons were never so crushed
as the Britons had been, for the Teutons have a staying power and a
power of combination that seem to have been denied to the Kelts. Only in
Wales did the ancient race preserve their individuality. But a weird and
troubled rule was that of the Norman father fighting against son, and
brother against brother; and now it was in the year 1177 that Henry II.,
when on his journey to Ireland, to receive the submission of the princes
of that country, passed through Pembroke, and was there entertained by
some of the Welsh chieftains. Whilst there, “it chanced to him to heare
sung to the harpe certaine ditties of the worthy exploits and actes of
this Arthur by one of the Welsh bards, as they were termed, whose custom
was to record and sing at their feasts the noble deeds of their
ancestors, wherein mention was made of his death and place of buriall,
designing it to be in the monks’ burial ground at Glastonbury, and that
betwixt two pyramids there standing.”[79]

King Henry made this known to his cousin Henry of Blois, who was at once
Abbot of Glastonbury and Bishop of Winchester, but no steps seem to
have been taken in his time to ascertain its truth; and it was not till
after his death that, in the reign of Richard, Henry de Soliaco, nephew
of the late king and Abbot of Glastonbury, instituted a search, the
result of which has been described by Giraldus Cambrensis, the historian
of his time, who was present when the grave was opened.

“At the depth of seven feet was a huge broad stone, whereon a leaden
cross was fastened: on that part that lay downward, in rude and
barbarous letters (as rudely set and contrived) this inscription was
written upon that side of the lead that was towards the stone:

    ‘Hic jacet sepultus Rex Arturius in Insula Avalonia.’

And digging nine foot deeper his body was discovered in the trunk of a
tree, the bones of great bignesse, and in his scull perceived ten
wounds, the last very great and plainly seene. His Queen Guinivere, that
had been neare kinswoman to Cador, Duke of Cornwall, a lady of passing
beauty, likewise lay by him, whose tresses of hair finely platted, and
in colour like the gold, seemed perfect and whole untill it was touched,
but then, bewraying what all beauties are, shewed itself to be duste.”

The cross of lead with the inscription, as it was found and taken off
the stone, was kept in the Treasury, or Revester, of Glastonbury Church
till the suppression thereof in the reign of Henry VIII.

The bones of King Arthur and Queen Guinivere his wife were translated
into the great church, and “there in a faire Tombe of Marble his body
was laid, and his Queen’s at his feete, which noble monument among the
fatall overthrowes of infinite more were altogether raced” [razed].[80]

I scarcely know anything more pathetic than the old chronicler’s account
of that tress of golden hair, the sole remains of the beauty that had
captivated the heart of the great king and made his noblest knight to
fall, and then the seeing it at a touch fall into dust. She who had
mourned her sin at Amesbury, at last, by the loving hands of those who
had witnessed her penitence, was borne to rest beside her rightful lord;
and the golden tresses which, when she had last seen him in life, swept
the dust at his feet, now, after more than six hundred years had passed
away, faded into dust again when they had fulfilled their mission of
testifying to the main facts of the Legend of Arthur.

Nearly a hundred years again had passed, when in the year 1276 King
Edward I. and his Queen Eleanor kept the Festival of Easter at
Glastonbury. It was during the abbacy of John of Taunton, a great
benefactor to the Church in buildings, books for the library, and
vestments, that this visit took place. So great were the privileges of
this place that even the king himself was laid under some restraint
while abiding in it. His deputy high marshal was not allowed to exercise
his office; the king’s judges were held to have no authority; and even a
man who had incurred the penalty of _læsa majestas_ was not allowed to
be punished. The mausoleum of black marble was opened for their
inspection; the king’s bones were seen of gigantic proportion, the thigh
bone the width of three fingers longer than that of the tallest monk
present. The tomb was ordered to be placed in front of the high altar;
the skulls of the king and queen to remain outside for the adoration of
the people.

Leland, who saw the tomb, says: “At the head of Arthur’s tombe lay
Henricus Abbas (Henry of Blois?)[81] and a crucifix; at the feet lay a
figure of Arthur; a cross on the tomb, and two lions at the head and two
at the feet.”

And here the hero’s bones rested till the Tyrant King scattered all such
precious relics to the winds. His body has _not_ been allowed to rest in
peace, but his “name liveth for evermore.” Nor is Arthur’s fame confined
to England alone, for amongst the figures that keep watch and ward round
Maximilian’s tomb at Innspruck is one of the patriot king, and an
exquisite photograph of him in armour, as he is there portrayed, faces
the writer as this attempt to show the connection of Arthur’s most
heroic deeds with her own native county is being penned.

It only remains to add that the authorities for the above remarks are,
Gildas, Geoffry of Monmouth, William of Malmesbury, Giraldus Cambrensis,
Mallory’s “King Arthur,” Leland, Drayton’s “Polyolbion,” Speed, and
Camden, “The Greatest of the Plantagenets,” and “Our Ancient Monuments
and the Land around Them,” by C. P. Haines-Jackson, and lastly oral
legend.




The History of Gilds.

BY CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.S.S., _Barrister-at-Law_.

_PART IV._

(_Continued from p. 235._)

CHAPTER XXXVI.--_Gilds of Norfolk_--(_Continued_).


NORWICH.--The Gilds existing in this important city in 1388-9 were:--

_Fraternity of St. Katerine_, commenced in 1307.--All the members of the
Gild were to go in procession on the day of St. Katherine, and make
offerings; penalty on absent members. On the day following, mass, &c.
Burial services to be attended and offerings made--the duties of the
lettered and of the unlettered bretheren and sisteren specifically
defined. Bretheren dying within eight miles of the city to be brought in
for burial, or at least the usual services done. Poor bretheren to be
helped; and causes of quarrel to be laid before the Gild. Fine on
refusal to take office. A liveryhood to be worn, and all the members to
dine together on the Gild-day. Admission of new members only by common
consent. Goods of the Gild enumerated.

_The Tailors’ Gild_, founded 1350.--The Gild to meet together, and the
next day a mass of requiem. The bretheren to obey summons of Alderman to
audit accounts; fine if absent. Meeting after Easter to choose officers,
&c. Payments to be made to sexton and clerk; help to the poor and
maimed. Burial services and offerings, to extend to those dying within
seven miles of the city. Service for those dying abroad. Oath to be
taken by Gild-members. Alderman to be chosen. At meetings a candle to be
kept alight, and a prayer said. A summoner to be chosen, and requited by
quittance of the usual payments. A fee of 1d. to be paid to the Bedel on
entrance to the Gild. The Gild had no land, but was maintained by the
charges levied under the Ordinances.

_Gild of St. Mary_, commenced in 1360.--It was of the Religious type.
The bretheren and sisteren of the Gild, as long as there should be
twelve of them living, were to provide a candle and torches, to be used
on certain festivals named “in wyrschipe of crist and his moder.” There
is a note of the masters of the Gild and of the property in hand.

_Fraternity of St. Trinity, in the Cathedral_, begun in 1364.--A solemn
service to be held on the eve of the Feast of the Trinity. A mass of
requiem shall be had, and offerings made. Burial services and offerings.
Help to poor bretheren. Fines for absence from meetings of Gild. Goods
of the Gild.

_The Carpenters’ Gild_ (founded 1375), in honour of the Holy Trinity.--A
yearly meeting to be held, which shall begin with prayers. A yearly
procession and offerings; burial services and offerings, to extend to
all bretheren dying within seven miles of the town; service for those
dying abroad. Help to those fallen into poverty or mishap, if not
brought about through folly or riotous living. Fine for non-fulfilment
of Ordinances unless there be good excuse. Neither the King’s right nor
the law to be encroached upon. The Gild appears to have been entitled to
gifts by certain masons--probably of another Gild.

_Gild of the Peltyers_ [Furriers], founded 1376.--Two candles, dressed
with flowers, were to be yearly offered at St. William’s tomb, by a
procession of a boy and two good men. Only three excuses were to be
allowed for non-attendance at mass, viz., being in “ye kyngges seruise,
er for stronge sekenesse, or twenty myle duellynge fro yis syte,” unless
it were otherwise willed. No Ordinance to prejudice the King’s right, or
the law. On the morrow of the Gild-day the Gild to hear a mass in
requiem; after the mass to go to an inn, audit accounts and choose
officers. The officers to be chosen by picked men. Bretheren or sisteren
fallen into trouble or misease, to have weekly help; but not so if
brought on by their own folly. Fine on refusal to take office. Burial
services and offerings, extending to deaths within seven miles of the
city. An annual feast to be held. Fine for not attending meetings.
Admission of new-comers to be regulated by “ye Alderman and xij
bretheryn.” The common bellman to summon the bretheren to meet on the
morrow of the Gild-day. The Gild (it was declared) had no land, but was
maintained by charges levied, and by legacies, and other gifts.

_The Poor Men’s Gild_, founded 1380, “in honor of oure lord Jhesu crist,
and of oure lady seinte marie, and in wursship of seyn Austyn.”--A light
to be found in honour of St. Austin; mass and offerings at the same
time. Help to those fallen poor, sick, or in other mischance. All dying
within seven miles of the city to have burial services.

_Gild of St. Botulph_, founded 1384.--The meeting of the fraternity to
be held on the Sunday next after the Epiphany; next day they were to
have a mass of requiem. Burials to be attended by the bretheren, and
offerings made. Help to the poor bretheren and sisteren was to be made
by the members at the rate of “a ferthyng in ye woke.” The goods of the
Gild are enumerated.

_Fraternity of St. Christopher_, founded 1384.--Prayer to be said at
every meeting for the Church, peace, Pope, Cardinals, “ye patriak of
Jerhusalem,” “for ye holy londe and ye holy crosse, yat godd for his
myght and his mercy bryng it oute of hethen power into reule of holy
chirche,” archbishops, bishops, parsons, king, queen, dukes, earls,
barons, bachelors, knights, squires, citizens, burgesses, franklins,
tillers, craftsmen, widows, maidens, wives, commonalities, ship-men,
pilgrims, unbelievers, our fathers’ and mothers’ souls, and for all of
this Gild. The Gild-day was to be on the Sunday before the Feast of St.
Christopher. No Ordinance shall be against the common law. There was to
be a yearly mass of requiem, and offerings; also offerings at burials;
and two poor men to carry torches. Poor bretheren were to be helped.
This was evidently a Gild of a higher order than many in this city.

_Gild of St. George_, founded 1385.--The day of St. George was always to
be kept, and offerings made on that day; next day a mass of requiem.
Burial services to be attended by the bretheren, and offerings made.
Weekly help to poor bretheren. Goods of the Gild enumerated.

_The Saddlers’ and Spurriers’ Gild_, founded 1385.--The Ordinances to be
kept so long as twelve of the Gild lived. Two torches to be kept burning
at the elevation of the host at high mass. The Gild meeting to be held
on the first Sunday after Trinity, and the members to have a livery. All
to meet the evening before to pray for their own souls. Next morning
mass shall be heard, and offerings made, and all shall go in procession
to the Nunnery of Carrow. On death within the city all shall be at the
dirge, and two poor men with them. The same at interment; and offerings
and gifts to be made. Service with the bretheren on death within three
miles of the city; and service on death of one dwelling beyond, at
Carrow.

_Brotherhood of Barbers._--Torches and other lights, &c., shall be
offered on Midsummer-day. Torches were to be kept burning during high
mass. The Gild appears to have been dedicated to “seynt John the
Babtis.”

=Oxenburghe= (_Oxburgh; Oxborough_).--There were eight Gilds in this town
(now village) at the same date, of which the following may be taken as a
type:--

_Gild of St. John Baptist_, founded 1307.--The officers, bretheren, and
sisteren shall come to evensong on the day of St. John the Baptist, and
make offerings. Help to those “in trouble” was to be given at the rate
of one farthing a day; one halfpenny on Sunday. Prayers for the dead.

_Gild of St. Peter_, founded 1378.--The members of the Gild to assemble
at evensong on St. Peter’s Day, and make offerings. Help to those in
trouble--rate not distinctly specified. Fine for betraying the affairs
of the Gild.

=Wygnale= (_Wyggenale_, now _Wiggenshall_).--The Gilds existing in this
town or village, which was located near King’s Lynn and appears to have
been of some importance, were:

_Gild of the Assumption_, founded 1384.--Latin prayers to be said out of
the Church offices. English prayer of the Gild for the Church; for the
King, Queen, and Baronage; for the Pope and the Patriarch; for the Holy
Land; for the fruit of the earth; for ship-men and travellers; for the
founders of the Gild; and for the souls of the dead and living. Search
to be made for anyone dying suddenly, by water or by land: and he shall
have burial services. Any one belying another shall be fined.

_Gild of the Holy Trinity._--Latin prayers shall be said out of church
offices. Burials at the cost of the Gild. Drowned men shall be searched
for.

_Gild de Cranbone_, founded 1387.--Latin prayers to be said out of
Church offices. English prayer of the Gild for the Church, Pope,
Cardinals, Patriarch, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other Bishops; King
and Queen, and the commoners of the realm. Burials at cost of Gild.
Every quarrel to be brought before two bretheren. Two meetings shall be
held every year.

_Gild of St. Trinity_, founded 1387.--Four meetings shall be held every
year, at which payments to be made for lights.

_Gild of St. Peter._--Two meetings shall be held every year. All shall
go to church with a garland of oak leaves. Service for the dead, and
offerings. Bread to be given, and masses sung for the souls of the dead.
Men dying by water or land to be searched for and buried. Meat and drink
to be given at yearly meeting. The funds of the Gild then (1388)
consisted of 11s.

=Great Yarmouth.=--King John in his Charter to this borough, granted 1209,
gave the privilege of a Merchant Gild to be held in this town. We have
not met with any very early records of it. But in the 6th Elizabeth
(1563) there are notices, which, however, only go to show the nature of
the annual entertainment given. A few items will prove instructive:

February 28.--“Order’d that the merchant’s dinner, or feast of late
called the Trinity Brotherhood, shall be rected and heyned this present
year to come, and so forth to continue until further orders be taken.”
Certain persons were named to order the feast and estimate the cost, &c.

March 18.--“Imprimis, every brother to pay for hym and hys wyffe,
whether they came or not, 2s. 8d. Every brother and syster
extraordinary, 1s. If they wyl be bretherene, to pay bretherene lyke.”

“The order of the drynkyn and dynner in the evening prayer, viz., spice
cake, good bere.”

  “Sunday dynner:--
    Fromety    }                   Capon   }
    Rost bysse } the first         Pyggs   } the second
    Grene gese } course.           Lambe   } course.”
    Weale      }                   Costard }

“Sunday soper.--Good brothe with boyled mete. Rostyd mutton, capon,
lambe tarte.”

“Monday dynner.--Fromety, rosted bysse, grene gese, lamb.”

“Note, that six persons to every mese; two grene gese to every mese, and
a capon to mese. The person appointed to heyn the feast refusing, to pay
£10 to his successor to buy things necessary.”

Manship in his “History of Yarmouth” says that this regulation continued
till the year 1569, when, by reason of the excessive charge, but more
especially the great disorders of the common people, &c., it was agreed
by an Act of the Assembly in the 11th Elizabeth, that from henceforth
the heynors who shall yearly be appointed to heyn the feast called
Trinity Brotherhood, shall be at their choice to heyn the said feast in
reasonable order, or else to pay 4 nobles (26s. 8d.) apiece for the use
of the town; which sum was paid yearly for many years afterwards, but at
last entirely dropt.

Swinden (“History of Yarmouth”) says that in 33 Henry VIII. (1542) at an
assembly holden in the common hall, on the Tuesday next after the feast
of St. Faith, the following order was made: “That every as well of the
four and twenties as of the eight and forties should pay yearly towards
the finding of the Trinity mass priest at the Guild-day, 4d.”

Manship gives the following additional particulars regarding the old
Guild-hall in Yarmouth: “There is a very fair building commonly called
the Guild-hall, near unto the church, containing in length from east to
west within the walls 76 feet, and in breadth 22 feet, which being much
ruinated, was in the year of our Lord God 1544 (in the 33 Henry VIII.)
by the town very substantially repaired and amended, and the walls new
buttressed and supported, and the roof, which is a very fair one,
sometime belonging to Mettingham College [near Bungay], upon the
suppression thereof, was brought to Yarmouth, and placed upon the said
Hall, and covered with lead very neatly. In this hall in times past,
viz., within my remembrance [he wrote probably about the end of the
reign of Elizabeth], was yearly holden on Trinity Sunday a Solemn Feast
for the whole Brotherhood and Fellowship of the Society, called the
Blessed Trinity, which by our Charter of King John in the year 1207, was
granted unto us by the name of the Merchants Guild, whereunto every one
of this Common Council, at his first admission and oath taken, doth
still acknowledge himself a brother of that Society. Which said feast
was for the most part yearly holden at the costs of four of that
Brotherhood successively according to their course of incoming,
maintained; over whom the senior bailiff for the year presiding was and
is nominated Alderman. The Hall aforesaid being at that time richly
hanged and adorned with cloth of arras, tapestry, and other costly
furniture, not sparing any dainty fare which might be had for money.”

“At which Feast all private quarrels and emulations were heard and ended
in the glory of God and mutual love amongst neighbours: for which cause,
in the primitive time of the Church, such Gilds or Fraternities were by
the laws Ecclesiastical ordained, and by the laws civil, among all
Christian common-weals, used, practised, and confirmed.”

(_To be continued._)

     IT is proposed to enlarge or reconstruct the ancient Church of
     Portskewet, Monmouthshire. The building is in sound condition, and
     with its remarkable old churchyard cross is a most venerable and
     picturesque object. Harold had a palace at Portskewet, and Mr.
     Freeman is inclined to believe not only that he was the founder of
     a church there, but that the existing structure is substantially
     his erection (see “Journal of British Archæological Association,”
     vol. x.). The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings will
     do well to watch the proceedings.




Ham.

_THE SUFFIX “HAM” NOT EXCLUSIVELY DERIVED FROM A TEUTONIC SOURCE, BUT
OCCASIONALLY ALSO FROM THE CELTIC._

BY JAMES HURLY PRING, M.D.


In a former volume of THE ANTIQUARIAN MAGAZINE (vol. iii. p. 127) I
pointed out that the place-name _Hampton_ did not necessarily represent
the Saxon “_home-town_,” as has so generally, yet erroneously, been
assumed, but that the name is frequently derived also from _Avon_ or
rather _Afon_, the Celtic word for water or a river, and that it ought,
therefore, strictly to be _Afonton_.

It was shown that this latter view was maintained by Camden, in evidence
of which he cites Leland to prove that Hampton Court was anciently
called Avon, as it appears in quoting from him the following lines:--

      “Est locus insolito rerum splendore superbus
       Alluiturque vagâ Tamisini fluminis undâ;
       Nomine ab antiquo jam tempore dictus Avona.”
    “Where Father Thames his gentle stream rolls on,
     Avona called, an ancient name it bears.”
              GOUGH’S _Camden_, vol. ii. p. 78.

Here, then, and throughout the paper referred to, it will be seen that
_Ham_ is presented to us chiefly, if not solely, in its aspect as a
prefix.

It is now my intention to proceed to consider it more especially as a
suffix, in which use the instances of it are far more numerous than
those in which it is employed as a prefix.

It would seem, then, as a suffix to be almost universally regarded as
representing the Saxon “home,” and even Isaac Taylor himself gives no
other than a Teutonic derivation for it.

True it is that in this derivation he makes a distinction, dividing it
into the two forms of hăm and hām, maintaining that the former signifies
an enclosure, whilst the latter is “the Home.” Without venturing to
question the accuracy of this distinction, it is to be regretted that
(except, indeed, so far as may be guessed at from its associations) it
leaves us without any rule whereby we may be enabled to distinguish the
hām, the _geheim_ or home, from hăm an enclosure; whilst, as just
stated, Taylor altogether omits to notice that there is yet another
distinct source from which “ham” is derived, which is indeed in no
respect Teutonic, but is clearly to be referred to the Celtic, as
insisted upon both by Camden and by Leland.

The instances in which the termination-_ham_ must be thus referred to
the Celtic (as a Saxon corruption of the word _Afon_) are well marked
and are by no means rare, and it is possible that some of those which
have been regarded as examples of hăm, an enclosure, may be found to
belong rather to the Celtic derivation from Afon. As an illustration of
_ham_ in the latter aspect, I will at once refer to the class of
examples of the word which is furnished by those large tracts of country
which are or formerly were liable to inundation from the occasional
overflow of some adjacent river (afon), and which have accordingly
received the appellation of “hams”--that is, rich low-lying lands in the
vicinity of rivers.

These extensive tracts of marsh-land cannot be supposed, especially at
the very early period when the name of _ham_ was imposed upon them, to
have represented “an enclosure,” whilst their general character, and
their liability to be frequently flooded, alike forbid the notion that
the name of ham in this case was originally associated with a “home or
dwelling.”

Each of these “hams,” then, I apprehend must be held to furnish a marked
example of the derivation of its name from the Celtic Avon, as it will
be found that the distinctive feature of _a river_ is present in each of
them, and in one case the river even still retains the original Celtic
name of _Avon_.

As examples of some instances of the name occurring on the banks of the
rivers in Somerset, we have the Loxton _Hams_, the Berrow _Hams_, the
Paulet _Hams_ with Otter_ham_pton, which latter name, assuming its
derivation to be Teutonic, should be the “_Otter’s home-town_”!
Biddis_ham_, Burn_ham_, and Lymps_ham_, the latter being the ancient
Lyn-pils-ham, the rich pasture land by the creek of the Lyn or the River
Axe, with many others.

Passing now into Devonshire we come upon the North _Hams_, and the South
_Hams_--names which in this case cannot be held to represent either
homes or enclosures, whilst _water_ or _rivers_ will be found to be
conspicuously present in both instances.

In his review of “Risdon’s Survey of Devon,” 1785, Chapple refers to the
North and South Hams as being “ancient names,” and states that the
county of Devon had originally a _threefold_ division, anciently known
by the names of _East_, _South_, and _North Hams_ (p. 116). This,
however, is the only notice I have seen of the _East Hams_.

As one of the places comprehended in the district of the _North Hams_,
we have Little_ham_, which Risdon regards as “Little Home,”
assuming-_ham_ in this case “to signify the same with home or
habitation.”

But there is no reason to regard either this or Park_ham_ or any of the
other instances of the terminal-_ham_ which are found here, as being
referable to a Teutonic source, any more than is the case with the hams
in Somerset, and as regards the instance of Nort_ham_ itself, it is
interesting to note that (except the omitted _ton_) we have here the
actual name of Northam[p]ton, in which Camden expressly insists that the
_ham_ is _afon_.

If we now proceed to the South Hams, we reach an extensive tract of land
presenting the same characteristic features as those generally observed
in connection with the name of _Ham_, where it occurs in the situations
already alluded to, and which do not correspond either to an enclosure
or a home.

We find it, for example, stated in Chapple that “about Teignmouth,
Dartmouth, Totness, Modbury, Plymouth, Ashburton, and all those parts of
the country which are called the South Hams, the lands are generally of
a different kind from any of the former,” &c. (p. 20). Now it is
manifest that such an extensive tract of country as that to which the
term “South Hams” is here applied cannot possibly claim to be regarded
in the light of a home, or an enclosure.

On investigating more closely the district known as the _South Hams_, it
will be found to possess many points of special interest.

Here the name _Ham_, as associated with the presence of _rivers_,
receives abundant illustration; a considerable portion of the South Hams
lying between the rivers Dart and Erme, and through the centre of this
runs the River _Avon_, which by its name lends confirmation to the view
here maintained as to the occasional derivation of the name of Ham from
the Celtic. Along the course of this river it will be seen that the
names of _ham_ and _avon_ seem almost to alternate, or are at least
promiscuously intermingled, thus affording additional evidence of their
being cognate to each other, and of their common origin.

We have, for example, the name of _Ham_ alone, and of _Aveton_
(_Avon-ton_) alone, of _Aveton_ (_Avon-ton_) Gifford, of Bickham,
_Topsham_ Bridge, Hend_ham_, and further on of _Avon_neigh, and lastly
of Bant_ham_, occurring at the very mouth of the _Avon_.

Another feature of considerable interest in connection with the South
Hams of Devon, and pointing in a direction confirmatory of the views
here advanced, is the fact that the Cornu-British language continued in
use in this district long after it had ceased to be spoken in the other
parts of the surrounding country. This fact is noticed by Polwhele both
in his “Historical Views of Devonshire,” 1791, and in his “History of
Cornwall,” whilst Drew affirms that the Cornu-British was spoken here in
the time of Edward I. (1272-1307). It is deserving of notice also that
an interesting note by F. W. P. Jago in reference to this question has
lately appeared in the second volume of the “Western Antiquary” (pp.
202, 203).

Without intending by any means to question the fact that in numerous
instances the terminal-_ham_ is derived from the Teutonic, and rightly
bears the meaning of “home,” “habitation,” or “enclosure,” I deem it
desirable, whilst on this subject, to draw attention to an interesting
remark in reference to it which has been made by so high an authority as
Mr. Benjamin Thorpe. In commenting on the fact that the Kentish kingdom
was founded by adventurers from _Jutland_ (if not actually by Hengist
and Horsa), Mr. Thorpe proceeds to observe: “The termination-_ham_, so
common in Kent and elsewhere in England, corresponding to the German
_heim_, does _not appear in Jutland_, so far as my means enable me to
ascertain.”[82]

The very general, indeed the almost universal reference of “ham” to a
Teutonic origin, seems to invest this observation by Thorpe with
peculiar interest, and I would venture accordingly to commend its
consideration to all those who can discover in “ham” nothing else than
the Saxon “heim,” “home,” or “dwelling.”

On the other hand, it must at once be admitted that the derivation of
“ham” from the Celtic _Afon_ has received little or no recognition from
the days of Camden down to the present time. In regarding it, however,
from this point of view, enough it is presumed has now been said to
rescue it for the future from this neglect, and to establish its title,
in many cases at least, to be rightly and legitimately referred to the
Celtic, as here contended for.

     AMONG the “South Kensington Art Handbooks” now in course of
     preparation is one on the “Saracenic Art of Egypt,” by Mr. Stanley
     Lane-Poole.

     IT is reported that there are only five genuine signatures of
     Shakespeare in existence. “From this it is inferred,” writes the
     _San Francisco News Letter_, “that the Bard of Avon did not make a
     practice of endorsing his friends’ notes--another evidence of his
     good sense.”




Collectanea.


CHRISTMAS-EVE IN DEVONSHIRE.--In Devonshire is still observed on
Christmas-Eve an ancient custom, which is supposed to ensure a good crop
of apples. The farm-servants procure an ash-fagot, round which they
carefully put as many binds as possible, because they are rewarded with
cups of cider equivalent in number to the binds which encircle the
fagot. The fagot is then placed on the fire, and as each bind bursts
they claim a cup of cider; they have also a bowl of toast and cider
which they take into the orchard, and, putting a piece of toast on the
king or principal apple-tree, repeat the following lines:--

    “Apple-tree, we wassail thee,
     To bear and to blow apples enow,
     Hats full, caps full,
     Three bushel bags full,
           Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!”

It appears that exactly the same words are not always used on this
occasion, a different version being given in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_
for 1791.

TANTIVY.--According to Harrod’s _History of Stamford_, the origin of
this sporting cry is to be sought in the name of St. Tibba, who lived as
an anchoritess at Ryhall, near Stamford, and died and was buried there.
According to Camden, she was the patroness of hawking, fowling, and
other sports, like the Roman Diana. She was a relative of Penda, King of
Mercia, and lived a holy life at Godmanchester, in Hunts, before she
went to Ryhall. Stukely says that her cell was at the north-west corner
of the outside of Ryhall Church. She is thus commemorated by Drayton in
his _Polyolbion_:--

                “And to _these_ St. Tibba let us call,
    In solitude to Christ that pass’d her whole delight,
    In Godmanchester made her an anchorite,
    Among which of that house for saints that reckon’d be,
    Yet never anymore gracèd the same than she.”

CURIOUS INVENTORY.--The following, from the original in my hands, may
interest some of your City readers: “An inventary of the goodes creditte
and debtes of Thomas Potter, late of the parishe of St. Nicholas Acon,
of the Citie of London, salter, deceased. Made and praysed the one and
twentith daie of Aprill, by Richard Smithe, grocer, Thomas Withers,
habberdasher, and William Casson, grocer, in the year of Our Lord one
thowsand six hundred and nyne, as followeth: Imprimis, one fether bed
and a boulster, iiili; item, two cloakes, xxviiis; item, one
gowne, xvs; item, two paire of breeches, xiii iiid; item, two ould
dubletts, vs; item, one suite of black rathe, xxs; item, two
jerkins, viiis; item, two paire of stockinges and a paire of mittens,
viiid; item, two wasecotes and a hatt, iii xd; item, eleven
fallinge bandes and a paire of cuffes, iis iiii; item, five shirtes
and fower handkerchers, viis iid; item, two handtowells and a
cloth (?) capp, xs; item, a bible and a prayer-booke, iiis iid;
item, a brasse candlesticke and one seale, xviiid; item, one
chamberpott, xiid; item, a brushe, iid; item, a leatherne trunke,
vis; item, a cashe chest, viiis; item, one half of two cannas
amornifi (?), xiiiili iiid.” The last two words are very illegibly
written. The document is imperfect.

E.




Reviews.


     _Greater London._ (Vol. ii.) By EDWARD WALFORD, M.A. Cassell & Co.
     1884.

THE above-mentioned firm must be congratulated on the very able manner
in which they have performed their part in the production of the volume
before us; for obvious reasons, it is not for us to speak of the
editor’s share in the work, further than to state that he has
conscientiously tried to perform the task which he had undertaken. This
volume, which completes the work of “Greater London,” comprises the
whole of that portion of the metropolitan police area, outside the
limits of the Board of Works, which is on the south side of the Thames,
extending from Erith in the east to Kingston and Esher in the west, and
embracing within its scope the important towns of Woolwich, Chislehurst,
Bromley, Croydon, Epsom, Richmond, Kew, and Wimbledon, together with the
several smaller parishes, villages and hamlets, that lie within its
area. This area, almost every nook and corner of which--thanks to our
railway system--may be visited on the Saturday afternoon holidays in
summer, and most of them even in winter, contains, as we need hardly
add, much that may interest the ordinary visitor, should he care for
quiet and peaceful rural scenery, or the artist who may be in search of
choice “bits.” Mansions and other buildings will be found possessing
historical associations: such, for instance, as Chislehurst, with its
memories of the antiquary Camden, and the Emperor Louis Napoleon; Hayes
and Keston, the favourite haunts of Pitt and Wilberforce; Beddington,
where we find the Carews and Sir Walter Raleigh; Croydon, where there is
much to read about in the long roll of primates who have occupied the
palace there till Addington became their home; Epsom, where we see “the
quality” drinking the waters, and Lord Derby and his friends
inaugurating those races whose name is not only national, but
world-wide. In the chapters devoted to Richmond and its neighbourhood
the reader is placed in contact with bygone English sovereigns and
princes and princesses; here, too, he is surrounded by Kitty Clive, Gay,
Thomson, and a host of children of the Muses. Indeed, from end to end of
the volume the reader is brought face to face with great men and women
who have added a light to the pages of English history. It only remains
to add that the work possesses a copious index, and that it is profusely
illustrated, engravings being given, not only of places as they exist in
the present day, but also of historical buildings which have long since
been swept away. Of these we may mention Nonsuch Palace, near Cheam, and
the Old Palace at Richmond, which latter, through the kindness of
Messrs. Cassell, we are enabled to reproduce.

     _Calendar of State Papers: Colonial, East Indies, 1625-1629._
     (Rolls Series.) Longman & Co. 1884.

MR. SAINSBURY has brought out a fourth volume of the “Calendar of East
India State Papers,” which, in point of intrinsic interest and editorial
treatment, will suffer by comparison with none of its predecessors. Any
authoritative compilation, dealing with the vast collection of materials
available for the history of British Colonies in their official
relations with the parent State, is sure to command the widest interest;
and such a work, when treating of the early and truly wayward fortune of
the mighty national stake contained in our Indian Empire, should be
peculiarly attractive to the countrymen of Clive and Warren Hastings.

The original documents calendered in the present volume consist, as
before, chiefly of the Court minutes of the East India Company, domestic
State papers and correspondence, original correspondence, East India
State papers, and Holland correspondence. The light which these combine
to throw upon the contemporary history of our greatest trading community
is sometimes almost painfully intense.

The Company in 1625 was in truth placed in both a dangerous and a
helpless position. The Amboyne massacre of three years before was as yet
not only unpunished, but almost unreproved, except by the voice of
popular indignation in England. We may, in fact, estimate the inaction
of the Government to a certain extent in proportion to the violence of
this outcry against “that most bloody and treacherous villainy.” It was
in the spring of this year (1625), we read here, that the crisis
provoked by official supineness was reached, a popular outbreak against
Dutch residents being apprehended on the approaching Shrove Tuesday.
This movement had been fanned by certain incendiary pamphlets; by a
picture, and by a play, each reflecting strongly upon the inhumanity of
the Dutch towards English traders. The picture, in especial, appears to
have been a masterpiece of animosity, for therein was “lively, largely,
and artificially” set forth the interior of the supposed Torture Chamber
at Amboyne. Now that a tardy justice was about to be dealt to the
judicial murderers of their fellows, the Company was content to permit
the picture itself to be suppressed. Yet that the members were secretly
proud of their manifesto is apparent from their naïve regret that “His
Majesty and their Lordships” had not been “presented with a view of this
horrid spectacle.” Owing to the precautions of the Council, the fateful
day passed without an outbreak, but none the less, as the editor justly
observes, the sore rankled long in the hearts of true-born Englishmen.
At length reprisals were instituted, and three Dutch ships were arrested
at Portsmouth, only to be released, in return, as the popular rumour
went, for a secret bribe of three tons of gold. Finally, the dispute was
allowed to drag out its slow length in diplomatic correspondence, and a
party-trial in Holland.

The remaining features of interest in this volume are connected with the
private details of the Company’s financial ventures, and these reveal a
state of affairs most melancholy to contemplate. To such a depth of
poverty had the once flourishing Company sunk, that in 1629, with a debt
of £300,000 already incurred, the Governor was compelled to confess
their inability to advance £10,000 to the Crown towards the expenses of
the French War. At the same time, too, every investment in the Far East
turned out disastrously. The Dutch not only pillaged English factories
with impunity, but openly thwarted any chance of carrying on a lucrative
trade, by forcing their own spices upon English factors at ruinous
prices. Moreover, the constitutions of our countrymen too often
succumbed to the pestilential swamps and jungles of New Holland. Then
the natives, as usual an unreliable element, both broke their contracts
and ill-treated the Company’s factors, in spite of their “accursed oaths
to the contrary.” Yet in the end British constancy and enterprise
prevailed. Fresh subscriptions poured in, new ships were fitted out, and
returned laden with ample wealth. The English merchantmen stoutly held
their own against the Dutch pirates, and beat them off--one ship (the
_Lion_) against ten--in an action that recalled the glories of Grenville
and his _Revenge_. Therefore it will be seen that this volume closes
with a happier augury of renewed peace and prosperity.

     _Doctor Johnson: His Life, Works and Table Talk._ (Centenary
     edition.) T. Fisher Unwin. 1884.

IT was inevitable that the Centenary of Dr. Johnson’s death should
recall into existence some at least of his contributions to English
literature, and Mr. Unwin has done well in publishing at this moment a
choice selection from the “burly Doctor’s” works, under the above title.
The little _brochure_ on our table by no means exhausts that mine of
wealth which is to be found in the writings of Dr. Johnson; but, so far
as it goes, it is carefully and conscientiously selected, and ought to
be most welcome to his many admirers.

_Johnsoniana._ Arranged by R. W. Montagu. Boot & Son. 1884.

A MOST appropriate and well-timed collection of the best of Dr.
Johnson’s sayings and opinions, gleaned not only from Boswell but from
other sources. These are arranged in chapters under separate headings.
Is it by accident, or by set purpose, we wonder, that one chapter is
devoted to “Love, Friendship, and Affection,” and another to “Marriage”?
The life of Johnson prefixed to this little volume is a happy model of
condensation. Published at a shilling, it ought to command just now a
very large sale.

_Pottery and Porcelaìn._ By F. LITCHFIELD. Bickers. 1884.

THIS is a most useful manual for the collector of old china and articles
of _vertu_, a guide based on long and large practical experience. The
book is partly historic, and the chapters on “Ancient Pottery” and “The
Mediæval and Renaissance Periods” will be perhaps the most interesting
to our readers. But those whose tastes are more modern than antiquarian
will derive more pleasure from the chapters relating the story of the
introduction of porcelain into Europe; while nobody, however large his
or her own experience may be, can afford to despise or to dispense with
the lists of the marks and monograms adopted by the Wedgwoods, the
Spodes, the Copelands, and other manufacturers of pottery, or with the
“hints and cautions to collectors” to be found on pp. 191-199. The
illustrations are numerous and excellent; and the little work can boast
the merit of a very careful index.

_Phallicism._ By HARGRAVE JENNINGS. G. Redway. 1884.

This book is written _ad clerum_, and appeals to the scholar only, and
not to the multitude. It is a masterly and exhaustive account of that
worship of the creative powers of nature which, under various names, has
prevailed among all the nations of antiquity and of mediæval times,
alike in Egypt and India, in Italy and Gaul, among the Israelites of
old, and among the primitive inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland.
Mr. Jennings treats of his subject in its celestial and terrestrial, its
heathen and Christian aspects; and he traces its connection with the
Gnostics, the Buddhists, and the Rosicrucians. He sees Phallicism in the
obelisks and pyramids of the Nile, in the monolithic circles of
Stonehenge and of Avebury, and in the Round Towers of Ireland. A worship
or cult so ancient and so widely spread, it is clear, must have a
history, and a curious one; and this Mr. Jennings has traced in a way so
scholarly as to leave little or nothing to be said by others. He has
carried his inquiry much further back, and also in many more countries,
than all previous writers, including Mr. R. P. Knight, who drew his
pictures of Phallic worship chiefly from what he had himself witnessed
in Italy and the South of France. It will surprise very many of our
readers to learn that the erection of the Tower of Babel was probably an
early outburst of this worship, and that its hidden and mystic meaning
was the same as that of the Round Towers in “the sister island,” which
were nothing more or less than fire towers, expressive of the ancient
faith of the Parsees. How far these speculations are true in fact, must
be left to the learned to decide. But certainly the work before us will
be found a most valuable auxiliary to all who care to pursue such a
subject of inquiry, a subject for which Mr. Jennings is the better
fitted on account of his long and intimate acquaintance with the
Rosicrucians, their tenets, and their practices. The issue of the work
is limited to 400 copies for English subscribers.

     _Benvenuto Cellini. Nouvel Appendice, aux recherches sur son
     Œuvre et sur les Pièces qui lui sont attribuées._ Par E. PLON.
     4to. Paris: Plon, Nourrit et Cie.

OUR readers may perhaps remember that some time ago we reviewed M.
Eugène Plon’s magnificent volume on Benvenuto Cellini.[83] From the
extreme care with which the work was done, it was quite evident that we
had before us the result of enthusiastic sympathy with the artist whose
biography we were invited to study, and whose genius was so thoroughly
appreciated. M. Plon would not take a final leave of his hero, and every
fresh discovery referring to him would be duly recorded and given to the
public. Nor have we been disappointed of our expectation, for the quarto
_brochure_ of which we have just transcribed the title-page, is an
interesting contribution to the history of art in general, and of
Benvenuto Cellini in particular. It consists of two parts, which we
shall briefly notice in succession.

     “Following the example of Orsino, surnamed Il Cervaicolo, and of so
     many masters belonging to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it
     might be supposed that Benvenuto Cellini, also, had left behind him
     portraits in coloured wax, such as we often meet now in public
     museums and private collections. Comparing an entry forming part of
     the inventory drawn up after the artist’s death (‘due scatolini di
     ritratti del Serenissimo Principe Abbozzati,’) with a memorandum of
     works executed for the Cardinal di Ravenna (‘e per uno suo ritratto
     grande di cera’), we had conjectured this to be the case, and our
     hypothesis derived a certain kind of countenance from the fact that
     Lastri notices (Osservatore Fiorentino, Firenza, 1758) a portrait
     in wax of Alessandro di Medici, hung up as a votive offering in the
     Church della Nunziata, and which was ascribed to Benvenuto. Our
     presumption has now become a reality, thanks to the discovery of a
     portrait of Francesco di Medici, which we reproduce. It is in
     coloured wax, and rather high relief on a dark back-ground.”

This description is M. Eugène Plon’s. He further informs us in a
footnote that the portrait in question, originally preserved at Prato,
is now at Florence, and belongs to the collection of the Commendatore
Luigi Vai; its existence was pointed out to our author by the Director
of the State Paper Office of Tuscany, Commendatore Cesare Guasti; it was
intended for the celebrated Bianca Capello, to whom Francesco di Medici
forwarded it, together with this short note:--

     “AMATA BIANCA,--

     “Fino da Pisa il mio ritratto u’ invio che ’l nostro maestro
     Cellini m’a fatto in cera. Il mio chore prendete.

D. FRANCISCO.”



There is no doubt whatever, therefore, on the authenticity of this
portrait. M. Plon has had it photographed in the original size, and it
is impossible to imagine anything more exquisite as a work of art. With
reference to the date, it must be assigned between 1568 and 1570, for we
know that Benvenuto Cellini died in the beginning of 1571, and about the
close of the preceding year he complained of suffering from a severe
bronchial attack, which had obliged him to discontinue work for the
space of several weeks.

M. Plon has taken the opportunity afforded by the portrait to give us a
short sketch of the life of Bianca Capello, her first marriage with
Pietro Bonaventuri, the romantic adventures which followed upon it, and
her subsequent relations with Francesco di Medici. He has added to his
interesting memoir two portraits of Bianca: one by Angiolo Bronzino,
preserved in the Uffizi Gallery; the other likewise by Angiolo Bronzino,
exhibited in that of the Palazzo Pitti.

The second part of M. Plon’s supplement or appendix is devoted to an
account of several works of art ascribed to Benvenuto Cellini. We first
meet with a statue of the god Pluto, belonging to a London _virtuoso_,
and which was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1879. It is
supposed to have been cast in the Petit-Nesle foundry, and to have been
originally one of the twelve _Dii Majores_ ordered by Francis I., and
which were to have been worked in silver as decorations for his
festivals. There is nothing to prove that we have here a production of
Benvenuto Cellini, but it certainly belongs to the school of Michael
Angelo, and if the artist is not Cellini he must be Giovanni di Bologna.

The next thing to notice is a large basin of silver-gilt workmanship,
belonging to Lord Cowper, and the ewer corresponding to which is
described and reproduced in M. Plon’s first volume; it represents a
series of scenes from the Old Testament. “The richness and elegance of
the compositions,” says our author, “betray the hand of a first-rate
artist.” Let us add that both the statue of Pluto previously mentioned
and the present basin have found a place amongst the illustrations of
the work we are now reviewing.

Two other articles of _vertu_ (two cups, or rather their mountings) are
also ascribed as probably Cellini’s work, on the authority of M. Alfred
Darcel (letter to M. Edmond Bonnaffé, in the _Chronique des Arts et de
la Curiosité_, April 14, 1883). We have further to mention two gold
jewels intended to be worn on a man’s cap (_nella berretta_), and which
were engraved by Cellini’s rival, Caradosso. This naturally leads M.
Plon to insert a letter addressed by our artist to Isabella d’Este,
Duchess of Mantua, a letter in which he adds further details to those he
had already given (see _Benvenuto Cellini_) on Caradosso.

The last description we have to allude to here is that of a salt-cellar,
which appears to have been made for Frederigo II., Duke of Mantua, and
which was a work of high art. M. Plon gives us the correspondence
relating to it, correspondence preserved in the archives of the Gonzaga
family, and which has been copied there by M. Armand Baschet, who has so
often and in so remarkable a manner contributed to our knowledge of the
social, political, and intellectual history of Italy during the
sixteenth century.

In conclusion, this elegant _brochure_ is an important and necessary
appendix to the volume we reviewed last year; it may be regarded as not
only a supplement to M. Plon’s _catalogue raisonné_ of Benvenuto
Cellini’s work, but a memoir of Bianca Capella, and a graphic though far
from edifying sketch of Italian life at the time of the Reformation.

_English Etchings_, Parts xli. and xlii. (D. Bogue, 27, King
William-street, W.C.), which are now before us, are fully up to the
standard of the parts previously published. Among the plates calling
for special mention in these pages is an interesting addition to the
series of etchings of Old London, “Covent Garden Market,” by Mr. A. W.
Williams. Orleton Church, Herefordshire, a spirited etching by Mr.
Oliver Baker, shows the fine Jacobean pulpit of oak, covered with
elaborate carving, and part of the chancel arch with the head of a
bishop in mitre and amice as a drip-stone termination.




Obituary Memoirs.

    “Emori nolo; sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.”--_Epicharmus._


THE REV. HUGH PIGOT, Rector of Stretham, author of “Suffolk
Superstitions” and “The History of Hadleigh,” died in October.

MR. WILLIAM PETTIT GRIFFITH, architect, died in October. The son of an
architect of repute, he was born in 1815, and, adopting his father’s
profession, followed it for more than half a century. Devoting much of
his leisure to archæology, he became a member of several societies of
antiquaries, and wrote “Grecian Architecture,” “A Natural System of
Architecture,” “Mediæval Architecture,” “Ancient and Gothic Churches,”
besides many papers published in archæological journals and magazines,
especially the serial of the Surrey Archæological Society. He designed
various schools and other minor public buildings, and restored St.
John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, and parts of the church of St. Sepulchre,
Holborn.

MR. OCTAVIAN BLEWITT, K.L., F.R.G.S., many years secretary of the Royal
Literary Fund, died recently, aged 81. In early life Mr. Blewitt
travelled much in Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and other countries, and
on his return to England was, in 1839, elected to the post of secretary
to the Royal Literary Fund. In this capacity Mr. Blewitt spent many
years in arranging the papers, literary, financial, and historical,
which constituted the records of the association. Mr. Blewitt was the
author of several well-known works, including “The Panorama of Torquay,”
published in 1828, and afterwards reprinted in an enlarged edition as “A
Descriptive and Historical Sketch of the District comprised between the
Dart and Teign,” also the “Handbook for Central Italy and Rome,” and the
“Handbook for Southern Italy and Naples,” being two of the series of
Murray’s Hand-books.

SIGNOR LUIGI BONFATTI, the archivist and librarian of Gubbio, in Umbria,
died suddenly at the end of October. “Every seeker into the strange and
eventful history of what is now but the time-worn relic of a mediæval
city,” writes Mr. W. Mercer, “has lost in him a guide, philosopher, and
friend. Only a week before his death he climbed with me the picturesque
tower of the Palazzo Pubblico, that often served as a prison-house for
captives taken in battle. His pen, fertile with a knowledge of the local
antiquities, may be traced in numerous brochures and collected records
of recent date. He strove to pierce the shadows that cluster round the
memory of Maestro Giorgio and others who made Gubbio famous for his
porcelain manufacture, marvels truly of the potter’s art that are
scattered far and wide. One small plate only is left to witness in the
Municipio to the brilliant _reverberi_ that distinguished the work of
artists whose successors from time to time have vainly imagined that
they also have caught the secret of the changing colours under flashes
of instantaneous light. I left him busily arranging rare books, with a
promise that he would send me an early copy of a history of Gubbio, now
nearly ready for the press in the able hands of a learned notary, Signor
Lucarelli. Those who have known Signor Bonfatti will join me in
lamenting the loss of a scholar whose name may sound strange outside
Umbria, and unfamiliar to most Italian ears, but which is, nevertheless,
an enduring name, notwithstanding its closest connection is with a
half-forgotten, ruinous city that itself lies out of the beaten track of
wayfarers.”




Meetings of Learned Societies.


METROPOLITAN.

ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.--_Nov. 6_, Mr. J. Micklethwaite, F.S.A.,
in the chair. The Rev. H. M. Scarth, Rector of Wrington, read a paper on
the “Recent Discoveries of Roman Remains at Bath,” in which he explained
the various additions to the ancient Thermæ which have lately been
brought into the open air, including the large central bath, with its
ambulatory, &c. The discovery of antiquities at Zoan, in Egypt, formed
the subject of a discourse by Mr. Flinders Petrie, who exhibited some of
the objects which had been found. Many of these were taken from the
residence of a man of consequence in Egypt, and included articles of
domestic use and personal ornamentation,--statues, combs. The last paper
read was by Mr. E. Peacock, F.S.A., and comprised some interesting notes
on the curious custom of swan marking, or “swan-upping.”

LONDON AND MIDDLESEX ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--A crowded conversazione was
held at Skinners’ Hall on Wednesday evening, Nov. 12; Mr. Alfred White,
F.S.A., presided. Mr. G. Laurence Gomme read a paper on “The Early
Municipal History of London,” touching upon its charters and
institutions, its corporations and public bodies. Mr. J. D. Mathews
followed with some “Reminiscences of the Church and Parish of St. John
the Baptist upon Walbrook.” Mr. John E. Price then read a paper “On the
Recent Discoveries made on the Line of the Inner Circle Railway and at
Bevis Marks.” He said the antiquarian treasures turned up in the course
of tunnelling for the new railway were numerous and interesting. There
were, first of all, Roman sculpture and masonry in position, and the
same disjointed and used for other purposes by builders of more recent
periods. The fragments of Roman statuary were numerous, and for the most
part well preserved along the route taken by the excavations; scrolls
and inscriptions being also found. Roman art now and then came to light.
The remains of pottery discovered were slight, and not of exceptional
interest. At the close of his address the lecturer suggested that a fund
should be started and subscriptions invited, in order to purchase or
protect the numerous relics constantly being brought to light in London
and elsewhere. Among the most interesting articles exhibited was Mr.
Walford’s portrait of Dr. Johnson by Sir J. Reynolds, which was engraved
in our July number for 1883; there was also a collection of plans, maps,
and archæological fragments relating mainly to the city.

SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHÆOLOGY.--_Nov. 4_, Dr. S. Birch, President, in
the chair. Mr. P. Le Page Renouf read a paper “On some Religious Texts
of the Early Egyptian Period preserved in Hieratic Papyri of the
British Museum.” The President described four fragments of papyrus
belonging to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, and exhibited by
the Secretary of the Science and Art Department. Mr. E. A. Budge read
some notes on Egyptian stelæ, principally of the eighteenth dynasty.

ST. PAUL’S ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--_Oct. 28_, Mr. J. P. Seddon in the
chair. Mr. Hugh Stannus read a paper on “The decoration of St. Paul’s
Cathedral,” in which he described the principles of treatment which he
regarded as correct, including the “articulation” of the dome design
with the architectural substructure. A short discussion followed, in
which Mr. Micklethwaite, Mr. G. H. Birch, and Mr. Statham took part. Mr.
Micklethwaite urged the desirability of first settling the future
arrangement of the cathedral for worship, and its complete furniture (in
the widest sense) for that purpose, before deciding on the treatment of
the culminating point in the decoration. Mr. Statham recommended a
treatment of the dome in eight partitions, such a treatment being rather
suited to an octagon dome, such as that at Florence, and being, in fact,
a contradiction of the actual architectural structure of a hemispherical
dome, and tending to weaken its effect of space and mystery, and reduce
the dome from poetry to prose. Mr. Seddon summed up in favour of this
latter view.

NEW SHAKSPERE.--_Oct. 24_, Mr. F. J. Furnivall, Director, in the chair.
The Chairman congratulated the society on reaching its one hundredth
meeting. In speaking of work done during the past year, he called
attention to Mr. S. L. Lee’s work on “As You Like It,” and that of the
Rev. W. A. Harrison on “Richard III.,” as examples of critical work; he
also spoke of the success of the Society’s performance of Shakespearian
music in chronological order; and took the blame on himself for the
delay in the appearance of the “old spelling” edition, mentioning some
points in which the editors are endeavouring to make the edition as
complete as possible. The following papers were read: by Miss Leigh-Noel
“On Shakespeare’s Garden of Girls: I. Hothouse Flowers--Juliet, Imogen,
Ophelia,” and by Mr. E. Flügel, giving some early German criticisms on
Shakespeare by an ancestor of his own (1699), noticing Shakespeare as
not a learned man, not worth much attention, and greatly inferior to
Dryden.

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PRESERVING THE MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD.--_Oct. 28_
and 30, twenty-four new members, including Lords Dartmouth and
Wharncliffe, and the Bishop of Chester, were elected. Reports as to the
work of the Society in the following cases were approved: The replacing
of four brasses in Cheam Church; enclosure of the De Ros effigy, near
York; restoration of the Barnewall altar-tomb at Lusk, Ireland;
replacement of memorial slabs in Milford Church, and in the church of
St. Michael in Coslany, Norwich; headstone in Chetwynd churchyard.
Reports from the Executive Committee on the following cases were placed
before the Council: The replacement of the “Pedlar’s Window” in Lambeth
Church; restoration of the monument of Sir Laurence Washington, in
Garsdon Church; preservation of the De Vere effigies at Earl’s Colne;
removal of memorial slabs from Bishops Stortford Church; and of the
Blackhall monument from Totnes Church; the replacement of memorial slabs
in Bishops Cannings Church; publication of registers and inscriptions in
Banstead Church. It was stated that the work of the Society could be
greatly enlarged if larger funds were forthcoming.

HELLENIC.--_Oct. 23_, Professor C. T. Newton, C.B., in the chair. The
Rev. Edmond Warre, Head Master of Eton, read a paper on “The Raft of
Ulysses,” as described in the fifth book of the Odyssey. By personal
research and observation of modern processes of shipbuilding, the writer
had arrived at a clear idea of the construction of the raft in question,
and set forth his conclusions in detail, illustrating them by two models
of a raft and of an ancient axe and adze, which had been made under his
direction in the School of Mechanics at Eton. Mr. Warre alluded to a
confirmation of his theory which he had lately seen in the construction
of certain flat vessels which are used at Portsmouth for raising heavy
weights from the water. Mr. Newton, after thanking Mr. Warre for his
paper, reminded the audience that there existed in the British Museum
two genuine fragments of ancient vessels--(1) a bronze figure-head from
the Bay of Actium, and (2) a cross-beam from the floor of an ancient
galley, dredged up from the bottom of the Lake of Nemi. Professor Jebb
considered that Mr. Warre’s paper not only for the first time made quite
clear the passage in the Odyssey, but also explained the poetical use of
the term σχἑδια for ships in general in a passage in the “Hecuba” of
Euripides, because it snowed that such a raft seen from land would
really resemble a ship. Mr. E. A. Gardner read a paper on some armour
and ornaments from Kertch, which were now in the new Museum at Oxford.
After a description of the several articles, Mr. Gardner showed that the
importance of these finds in the Crimea lay in the fact that, if not of
Athenian handiwork, they were certainly of Athenian design, and so might
be added to the comparatively scanty remnants of genuine Hellenic
metalwork. In connection with the representation of a camel upon one of
the ornaments, Mr. Newton pointed out that in a bronze found at Kameiros
and now in the British Museum, a man with an Assyrian cut of beard was
seated upon a kneeling camel. This bronze, though possibly of Phœnician
design, was found in association with other objects belonging to archaic
Greek art. Professor P. Gardner, alluding to the complete and sumptuous
way in which the results of these Russian discoveries were published,
said that in this respect despotic Russia set a good example to free
England.

ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS.--_Nov. 3_, Mr. Ewan Christian,
President, in his opening address alluded to the immense strides which
architecture had made during the last fifty years under Barry, Pugin,
Scott, Street, Burgess, Ruskin, and others. He compared the great
advantages which students of the present day enjoyed with those which
had to be sought for and only acquired after long years of study, at the
time when the Institute was founded, and said that the good old charter
under which they were incorporated had been carried out to the letter,
for they had promoted, as far as possible, the general advancement of
architecture, and the various arts and sciences connected with it. Mr.
G. Shaw-Lefevre, M.P., the First Commissioner of Works, in seconding a
vote of thanks to the president, said it had been his duty to clear away
the old Law Courts, and to consider how the west front of Westminster
Hall could be best restored. He had taken the advice of Mr. Pearson, one
of the most eminent architects in works of that kind, and he had
suggested that it should be restored to the condition in which it
existed during the reign of Richard II., the period when the Law Courts
were added to it. That would involve the building of a double-storied
cloister against the wall of the Hall, so that all the beautiful Norman
work would be preserved, and, whilst not concealed, it would be kept
from the effects of the atmosphere by which it was surrounded. As there
were different opinions, however, as to the expediency of this work, he
had decided to refer the question to a Select Committee of the House of
Commons, when evidence could be heard for or against it. Another great
improvement would be found in the works at the Tower--a mass of old
warehouses had been removed, the inner ballium wall and the Lanthorn
Tower had been rebuilt, and this was a work which the public would
greatly appreciate when it was complete. No grander field in the world
for architectural display was to be found than in the Metropolis. An
unbroken series of great buildings, showing every phase of architecture
during the last 800 years, was to be seen in it, specially in the Tower,
in Westminster Abbey, and in the works of Inigo Jones, Wren, and Barry.
He believed, however, that they had arrived at the end of the Gothic
revival, so far as secular buildings were concerned, although it might
flourish in other respects for many years. Public opinion and the
employment of experts were doing a great work in the selection of styles
for buildings of all kinds, and he hoped that the present race of
architects would be able to leave us buildings as beautiful as did those
who lived in the past.


PROVINCIAL.

CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.--_October 20_, Mr. J. W. Clark, M.A.,
President, in the chair. Mr. A. G. Wright exhibited five denarii of
Posthumus, with the legends FELICITAS · AVG: IOVI · STATORI · NEPTVNO ·
REDVCI: SAECVLI · FELICITAS: SARAPI · COMITI · AVG · from the
Beaconsthorpe hoard (1878): also a Roman bronze ear-ring and a mediæval
bronze signet-ring, both found at Stony Hill, Lakenheath, early in this
present year; also a photograph of a rare palæolithic implement found at
March, in 1877. The Rev. S. S. Lewis exhibited a first brass of Marcus
Aurelius,_rev._ HONOS with portrait of the Emperor erect, olive-branch
and cornucopiæ (141 A.D.), found in 1883 at Litlington. The Rev. G. F.
Browne exhibited an outlined rubbing of the Wilne font, a very intricate
and elaborate piece of early work, with twelve bold characters round the
base, supposed to be runic or Oriental, and, in the latter case,
probably Palmyrene. Mr. Browne showed next a rubbing of the cross at
Hawkswell, near Catterick, with the inscription on a small panel, _Hæc
est crux sancti jacobi_: “This is the Cross of the holy James.” The
letters have now almost entirely perished. Bede says that James the
Deacon, who was with Paulinus when he Christianised Northumbria and
baptized so many thousands (A.D. 627), lived to a very advanced age near
Catterick, and that the place where he lived was called by his name.
Gale, in his Itineraries, said this was Akeburg. The only place now
known by any such name is a single farmhouse called on the ordnance map
Akebar, near Hawkswell Church. Mr. Browne found that _jacobi_ was spelt
_gacobi_ on the cross, and therefore supposed that it was pronounced in
Anglian times with a strong initial _y_, and with a short _o_, and asked
the people whether there was any place near beginning with Yak. He was
told that Akebar was pronounced locally Yakbur. This and the cross
together made it practically certain that James the Deacon lived at
Akebar, _i.e._, Jacob-burh, or Yakŏbur, and was buried at Hawkswell. The
close resemblance of the panel and the inscription to Welsh crosses made
Mr. Browne suspect a British influence, and he thought this gave the key
to a great puzzle in the early Church history of Northumbria. Nennius
said that Rum (or Rumin), son of Urien, baptized Edwin and the
Northumbrians, when it is known that Paulinus was the baptizer, and
there is nothing to show that Paulinus was Rum. James had an ally in
Romanus, the chaplain of Queen Eanfleda, who was the first infant
baptized in Northumbria. This Romanus may account for the British
character of James’s monument, and may be the Rum or Rumin who has
puzzled historians. The Jarrow inscription, _In hoc singulari anno vita
redditur mundo_, had always been taken as a hopeless puzzle. Mr. Browne
showed that the stone on which it is cut had formed part of the wall of
the original building, in which also was a stone setting forth that the
church was dedicated in the fifteenth year of King Ecfrid (A.D. 684) and
the fourth year of Abbat Ceolfrid. This would give a year to which the
inscription might refer, if it could be shown that any very remarkable
restoration took place in that year. Mr. Browne showed from passages in
Bede that it was the year in which the Abbot of Monkwearmouth and many
of his monks died of a pestilence which ravaged the district, and
especially Jarrow, which is not heard of after that year. Hence the
reference was to the cessation of the plague in the year 684. Mr. O. C.
Pell, after stating the strong grounds for supposing that there were
many “libere tenentes” in existence at the time of Domesday Survey, and
that they appear in the “Inquisitio Eliensis” as _villani_ holding acres
of demesne land, argued--from (among other examples) an entry in the
“Inquisitio Eliensis” respecting Chatteris Manor--that the _carucæ_ of
the “lords” and the associated _carucæ_ of the “homines” were of one and
the same uniform standard for rating purposes and for measuring areas of
_terræ ad carucam_, and showed thereby that this standard was the
capacity of a plough drawn by eight oxen. The necessary consequence
appeared to be that there must have been at least 324 “homines” holding
virgates in villenage in the Isle of Ely alone. This theory was proved
to be correct by a comparison of Domesday Survey with the surveys of
certain manors contained in old MSS. of 1221 and 1277.

HAILEYBURY COLLEGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.--_Sept. 29._ The Rev. H. C.
Wright gave an account of a holiday spent in Norway. After a few remarks
on the beauty of Norwegian cathedrals in general, and on the wooden
church at Borgund, he proceeded to describe a Viking’s ship which he had
seen. The mound in which the Viking was supposed to be buried was very
much dilapidated. The ship was built entirely of oak, and apparently had
neither deck nor seats, so that the rowers had to stand upright to row
it. The word Viking, he added, is probably derived from the Vicks or
Fiords, and is in no way akin to the word sea-king. Mr. F. W. Headley
pointed out, with reference to the Viking’s ship, that the planks were
fastened on to the ribs of the ship by withies. Speaking of Trondhjem
Cathedral, he mentioned the transepts as in good repair. The nave, now
almost gone, has contained some very fine Norman work, and the apse at
the end of it, which is divided from the choir by a light screen,
contains several styles of architecture, ranging from Early English to
Flamboyant. Several photographs were passed round in illustration of the
speaker’s remarks. Mr. A. W. T. Perowne spoke of Knaresborough Castle,
in one of the dungeons of which may be seen a pillar with twelve arches
springing from it. He also spoke of Fountains Abbey, which contains both
Early English and Norman work--the cloisters and refectory being
specimens of the latter. He also gave short accounts of Ripley, Bolton
Abbey, Fountains Abbey, and St. Mary’s Abbey, at York. Mr. H. F. Fisher
described Wimborne Minster, a cruciform building having two towers--the
central and the western. Between the central tower and the east end is
a Norman arch. Under the chancel is a crypt, and there is a church
library over the vestry. The church contains also a lunar orrery, of
which there are only two other specimens in England--at Wells and at
York. Mr. H. Swainson next spoke of Bosham, near Chichester. The setting
out of Harold from Bosham Harbour on a voyage to Normandy is recorded in
the Bayeux tapestry. The church is built on the site of an old Roman
basilica. In the vestry may be seen the corbels of the floor of the room
once occupied by the man who kept the light in the tower. The church has
a wooden spire. The chronicler spoke of St. Nicholas Church, Leicester,
where are some Roman bricks in the tower, and of the Town-hall, which is
of wood. He next spoke of Warwick Hospital, founded by the Earl of Essex
for twelve old men and a minister, each of whom has a strip of garden;
they all move up in turn whenever one dies, the minister always
retaining the first strip. Passing on into Shropshire, he spoke of
Wenlock Priory, which contains two very large ambulatories; also of the
Town-hall, where are a set of stocks, which are not fixed, but stand on
wheels. In speaking of Lichfield Cathedral, he mentioned the three
spires, and seven huge decorated windows in the Lady-chapel, and also
the watching gallery, a feature which exists also in St. Alban’s Abbey.
The Close at Lichfield was formerly defended by a moat, of which the
present Minster pool is a survival. He also censured the recent removal
of the “Pedlar’s Window” from the parish church at Lambeth. Mr. E. P.
Ash, a visitor, spoke of Eisenach and the Wartburg, which is said to
derive its name from the following incident of Lewis the Springer, who
in one of his hunting expeditions, happening to come on the hill on
which the Wartburg now stands, exclaimed “_Wart Berg_ du sollst meine
_Burg_sein” Having given some account of the connection of St. Elizabeth
with the Wartburg, from which she was ultimately expelled, and took
refuge in a convent, he proceeded to speak of Luther, who is said to
have spent ten months therein translating the Bible. Several relics of
Luther and his family may be seen there still. In the chapel are some
swords that are supposed to have belonged to Gustavus Adolphus.

SURREY ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--At a special general meeting held Oct.
15, Mr. Granville Leveson-Gower, F.S.A., in the chair, it was resolved
that the annual general meeting be hereafter held in January or
February, instead of in June or July as at present.




Antiquarian News & Notes.

PROFESSOR SAYCE left England in November to spend the winter in Egypt.

THE mode of treatment of the west front of Westminster Hall is under the
consideration of Parliament.

THE musical library of Mr. Julian Marshall was lately sold by auction at
the rooms of Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge.

THE four-light east window of Akely Church, near Buckingham, has been
filled with stained glass by Messrs. Meyer & Co., of Munich.

IT is reported, on what we believe to be good authority, that Lord
Carnarvon is about to resign the Presidency of the Society of
Antiquaries.

THE Bishop of Peterborough having disapproved of the action of the
Committee for the restoration of the Cathedral, the work has been
stopped.

A MEMORIAL painted window to Richard Hooker, the “judicious” divine of
Queen Elizabeth’s reign, has just been unveiled in his old church,
Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury.

THE library belonging to Sir John H. Thorold, at Syston, very rich in
ancient and curious books, will be sold by Messrs. Sotheby & Wilkinson
on the 12th of December and following days.

THE intended collection of Turner’s works at the Winter Exhibition of
the Academy will not be made this season, owing to the dampness of the
walls of the new rooms at Burlington House.

THE ancient civic maces belonging to the borough of Tenby have been
lately repaired and restored by Mr. G Lambert, F.S.A., and at his cost.
This is one result of the recent Archæological Congress in South Wales.

Mr. W. BLACK’S last novel, “Judith Shakespeare,” is worthy of notice for
the vast amount of antiquarian interest with which the author has
contrived to invest not only Stratford-on-Avon, and Shakespeare’s house,
but the interior of his home.

“NOSSETT’S MYTHOLOGY,” Greek and Roman, has been now translated into
English by Mrs. Angus W. Hall. The book, which is illustrated with
drawings by the translator, will be published by Messrs. Kirby & Endean.

THE Hardwicke historical manuscripts, which chiefly consist of
correspondence with foreign Courts during the reigns of George I. and
II., were lately sold to Mr. Astor, who has presented them to the Astor
public library in New York.

MR. R. GARNETT, the kind and courteous Superintendent of the Reading
Room of the British Museum, has given up his position, having accepted
the post of Assistant Keeper. Mr. Fortescue, who is well known to
_habitués_ of the Museum, succeeds Mr. Garnett.

THE _East Anglian_ is about to be revived under the title of _The
Suffolk Antiquary and East Anglian Archæological Notes and Queries_. It
will be edited by the Rev. C. H. E. White, of Ipswich, Hon. Secretary of
the Suffolk Archæological Institute. We wish the newly revived venture
all possible success.

THE Hon. Lewis Wingfield has been engaged in mounting four new
productions--“Cymbeline,” which will be played at the Lyceum in March
next, for Miss Anderson; “The School for Scandal,” for Mrs. Langtry, to
be produced at the Prince’s Theatre; “As You Like It,” for the St.
James’s; and an important revival of “The Comedy of Errors,” for the
American Dromios, Messrs. Robson & Crane.

MR. THACKERAY TURNER, as Secretary of the Society for the Protection of
Ancient Buildings, writes to the _Times_ from 9, Buckingham-street,
Strand, very strongly remonstrating against a proposal which has been
made, and which has been sanctioned by the architect, Mr. Pearson,
gradually to re-face the exterior stonework of Westminster Abbey. He
says that by so doing we shall only be forestalling the action of time.

MR. MURRAY’S list of forthcoming works includes the following:
“Bolingbroke, an historical study,” by J. Churton Collins. “London; its
history, antiquarian and modern,” by James Thorne, F.S.A., and H. B.
Wheatley, F.S.A. “Works of Alexander Pope,” with notes, &c., by W. J.
Courthope. “History of the Roman Empire, from the establishment of the
Empire to the accession of Commodus, A.D. 180.”

CATALOGUES of rare and curious books, most of which contain the names of
works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Messrs. Jarvis and
Son, 28, King William-street, W.C. (comprising a copy of “Othello,”
4to. edition, 1655); Messrs. Fawn and Son, Queen’s-road, Bristol; Mr.
Geo. Redway, York-street, Covent-garden; Mr. Henry Gray, Cathedral-yard,
Manchester; Messrs. Robson and Kerslake, 23, Coventry-street, Haymarket,
W.; Von Kühl, Jägerstrasse, Berlin; Von Albert Cohn, Mohrenstrasse,
Berlin.

THE descriptive and historical account of the Cathedral Churches of
England and Wales, which has been for some time past in preparation,
will be published forthwith by Messrs. Cassell & Co. The contributors
will include Canon Tristram, Dean Kitchin, Rev. Dr. Jessopp, Canon
Venables, Prebendary Havergal, Prebendary Gregory Smith, Rev. R. St.
John Tyrwhitt, Canon Swainson, Dean Howson, Archdeacon Norris, Canon
Creighton, Professor T. M‘Kenny Hughes, Rev. Professor Coolidge, and the
Bishop of Sodor and Man. The work will contain an introduction by the
Rev. Professor Bonney.

MR. FREDERICK HAWKINS’S “Annals of the French Stage from its Origin to
the Death of Racine,” have been published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall. Mr.
Hawkins, says the _Times_, is the first English writer who has
undertaken to deal with this subject on a scale larger than that of a
magazine article. It is understood that he has endeavoured to give his
work some value as one of literary history and criticism, and has
devoted much care to an elucidation of the relations between the Church
and the stage in olden times. For his information as to the material
situation of the Comédie Française he is indebted to the unpublished
registers of that theatre.

THE following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear
among the contents of the magazines for November:--_Quarterly Review_,
“France under Richelieu.” _Art Journal_, “Collection of Casts at South
Kensington;” “The Western Riviera, La Mortola, and Ventimiglia;” “Marble
and Marble Mosaic.” _English Illustrated Magazine_, “Play, a Scene from
the Life of the Last Century;” “Eton.” _Edinburgh Review_, “The Irish
Massacres of 1641;” “Boulger’s History of China.” _Temple Bar_,
“Recollections of Canning and Brougham;” “A Visit to Rothenburg.”
_Century Magazine_, “The Old Sedan Chair;” “Sculptors of the Early
Italian Renaissance.” _Contemporary Review_, “Wurzburg and Vienna;”
“Goethe;” “Greek Cities under Roman Rule.” _Monthly Packet_, “Cameos
from English History.” _Journal of Education_, “The Teaching of
History.”

THE civic procession to the Royal Courts of Justice on “Lord Mayor’s
Day” (November 10) contained several picturesque and interesting
pageants, representing different historic incidents and personages
connected with the early history of the City of London. These included
William the Conqueror, Richard Cœur de Lion, Henricus Fitz-Alwyne,
the first Mayor of London, Richard II., and Queen Elizabeth. The
immortal “Dick” Whittington was represented sitting by the Highgate
mile-post, accompanied by his cat, and in the act of listening to the
bells of Bow Church, a model of which, as it was in A.D. 1400, came next
in the procession; and this was followed by a counterfeit presentment of
Sir Richard Whittington in all his civic dignity. The representative of
Lord Mayor Walworth, standing over the slain Wat Tyler, was received
with groans and hisses as the procession passed along.

THE _Progrès de l’Aisne_ gives the following particulars with regard to
some discoveries which have lately been made by M. Moreau, a wellknown
antiquarian, at Chouy, near St. Quentin. The village, though situated
upon a height, is well provided with water, and M. Moreau has
discovered traces of ancient Roman baths, though the small number of
arms found induces the belief that it was never a military post during
the Roman occupation. The cemetery was used as a place of interment from
a period preceding the conquest of Gaul by Cæsar until the eighth
century without interruption, and a large number of Gallic and
Gallo-Roman graves have been discovered. Among other articles found were
a Gallic boot sole, studded with nails, 27 buckles, clasps and plates in
bronze and iron, 38 bracelets, rings, and other articles of personal
adornment, mostly in bronze, though a few are silver-gilt, six bronze
pieces of money of the time of Licinius, Crisus, Constantine II.,
Valens, and Valentianus I., two bronze dishes, 89 earthen dishes and 14
in glass, nine iron swords, 15 hatchets, daggers, and javelins, 108
flints of all shapes, thousands of coffin nails, and a signet ring with
nine facets, upon which are engraved the greeting _vivas_, the dove and
olive branch, the palm, the lamb, the stag, and the hare, symbols in use
among the early Christians.

AMONG the various properties advertised for sale is Etall Castle, one of
the Northumbrian “Peel Castles,” as they are styled. It is situated in
the parish of Ford, about six miles from Coldstream, in the valley of
the Till, a tributary of the Tweed. The present mansion is modern, of
stone, with a heavy roof, and large square windows. It is approached by
an avenue of finely-grown trees, the gardens are laid out in the Italian
style, and the entire estate comprises about 3,440 acres. Near the
mansion is the parish church, built by Butterfield in 1850, in memory of
the late Lord Frederick Fitzclarence and his only daughter. On the west
of the village, on the banks of the river, and about a quarter of a mile
from the mansion, are the picturesque ruins of the ancient castle, once
the abode of the noble family of Manners. This castle was taken by the
army of James IV. of Scotland on his invasion of England in the year
1513, shortly before the battle of Flodden Field, and is mentioned by
Sir Walter Scott in the Fifth canto of “Marmion,” as well as the other
border fortresses in the neighbourhood--Wark, Ford, and Norham. Over the
entrance of the castle are sculptured the arms of Manners, it having
been embattled by Sir Robert de Manners, who was knighted on the field
of battle by Edward III. In the grounds is a handsome chapel, built of
stone in the style of the Edwardian period; and near the river are to be
seen the foundations of St. Mary’s Chapel and Well.--_Times._

THE dispersion of collections of art work is being apparently followed
up by the sale of properties remarkable for historic or antiquarian
features. The sales of the Island of Herm and of Boscastle, in Cornwall
(both of which were abortive), have been, or are to be, succeeded by two
others of a still more remarkable character. The one is the extensive
ruins of Middleham Castle, in Yorkshire, celebrated for its splendid
Norman keep, built by Robert Fitz Ranulph, and famous as the stronghold
of Warwick, the king-maker, and as the favourite residence of his
son-in-law, Richard III. The fine appearance of the keep has, however,
been considerably interfered with by the Decorated buildings which
surround it, and which were erected in the fifteenth century by Robert
Neville, “the peacock of the North.” In later times, many of the scenes
in “The Last of the Barons” were laid at Middleham. The second sale is
that of Goodrich Court and Castle, which, for picturesque effect, is one
of the most beautiful and attractive localities in the scenery of the
Wye. Goodrich Court was, in Sir Samuel Meyrick’s time, noted for its
unrivalled collection of mediæval armoury. The mansion itself is a
restoration by the late Mr. Blore. The castle, of which the principal
remaining features are the gateway, a three-storied Norman keep, and an
Edwardian banquetting-hall, was successively the residences of the Earls
of Pembroke and the Talbots, and, later on, stood a gallant siege under
Sir Henry Lingen, who held it for the King against the Parliamentary
army.

DURING the visit of a party of local archæologists to Wirksworth, in
Derbyshire, a paper was read by Dr. Webb, proving that lead mining had
been carried on there from time immemorial. The following circumstances
suggest that the Wirksworth mines were known to the Saxons: 1. A mine
near to Castleton was called Odin, after one of their gods. 2. Eadburga,
Abbess of Repton (to which monastic institution the lead mines at
Wirksworth appear to have belonged at this time), sent from Wirksworth,
A.D. 714, a leaden coffin, in which to bury St. Guthlac, Prior of
Crowland Abbey, and formerly a monk at Repton. 3. Kenewara, also Abbess
of Repton, gave the estate at Wirksworth, A.D. 835, to Humbert, the
Alderman, on the condition that he gave lead to the value of three
hundred shillings to Archbishop Colenoth, for the use of Christ’s
Church, Canterbury. That the mines were worked after the Norman Conquest
is proved by a survey, in the possession of the Duchy of Lancaster, of
Peveril Castle, made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who greatly
encouraged mining operations by inviting skilled workmen from abroad;
and this survey describes the castle as being covered with lead. As it
was built in the reign of the Conqueror, the lead used in its
construction was probably obtained from Derbyshire mines; in fact,
Domesday Book mentions the working of three lead mines at Wirksworth,
one at Crich, one at Ashford, one at Bakewell, and one at Metesford, a
manor in the neighbourhood of Matlock.--_Weekly Register._

AMONG the most interesting properties which of late have come into the
market is that of Boxley Abbey, near Maidstone, which was sold by
auction in October last by Messrs. Walton & Lee, of Mount-street,
Grosvenor-square. It is described as situated about two miles from
Maidstone, and as consisting of about 900 acres of first-class meadow,
hop and fruit plantations, arable and woodlands. It comprises the
remains of the old Cistercian Abbey of Boxley, with its more modern
Elizabethan residence, gardener’s cottage, stabling and offices,
gardens, lawns, fish-stews, and terraced walks, surrounded by the
abbey-gate or home farm lands, partly enclosed within the abbey walls.
The estate, we are told, “lies within a ring fence, is well watered by
an abundance of springs, is intersected by good roads, and abounds in
historical traditions.” The Pilgrim’s-road, trodden by the feet of so
many persons on their way to and from the shrine of St. Thomas at
Canterbury, and the walls of the Abbey, which is said to have been the
first abode of Cistercian monks in England, dating from the beginning of
the eleventh century, a splendid specimen of an old tithe barn in
excellent preservation, and a monastic chapel, now converted into a
dwelling-house, are objects of especial interest to the antiquary and
archæologist. The abbey itself was founded about the middle of the
twelfth century by William d’Ipres, Earl of Kent. In the reign of Edward
I. the Abbot was summoned to Parliament on several occasions; and Edward
II. took up his residence at this abbey during the siege of Leeds Castle
in October, 1221, from the refusal of its governor to provide lodgings
for Queen Isabella and her suite when going on pilgrimage to Canterbury.
It is said there was here a curious crucifix upon the rood-screen, which
came to be called the “Rood of Grace,” and of which the mechanism would
seem to have been extremely ingenious. To this rood or crucifix the
abbey was indebted for many offerings, its curious movements being
reported as miraculous, and, under that impression, great numbers of
people were continually resorting thither. At the time of the
Reformation, the rood was publicly exposed at St. Paul’s-cross, in
London, by the Bishop of Rochester, and soon afterwards broken to pieces
and burnt.--_Times._

THE Marquis of Bute has given £500 to the fund for establishing a
British School of Archæology at Athens. The executive committee
contemplate building a suitable house on Mount Lycabettus, in the
immediate vicinity of Athens, where a site has been placed at their
disposal by the Greek Government. It is intended that the house should
afford a residence for the director, and should contain a library of
reference. The aim of the school will be to promote the study of Greek
art and architecture in their remains of every period; the study of
inscriptions; the exploration of ancient sites; and especially all
branches of research which can illustrate Hellenic life and literature,
from the earliest age. Membership of the school will be open to all
students accredited by any university or college of Great Britain, by
the authorities of the British Museum, or of the Royal Academy, or by
any other institution qualified to give credentials. The director will
guide the studies of the members, and exercise a general supervision
over the researches undertaken by them; report on the work of the
school, and on any discoveries which may come to his knowledge; and also
afford information and advice to properly accredited British travellers
in Greece. It is believed that, through the agency of the school,
valuable notes might be collected from visitors to the Hellenic
countries, who, without being specialists, are competent scholars and
observers; and such notes might conveniently be registered in the annual
report of the school. The increasing interest in archæological studies
which is being manifested in the universities and schools of the country
warrants the hope that, when the school has been established at Athens,
facilities will be afforded to students desirous of proceeding thither
for the purpose of supplementing the knowledge derived from books by a
direct acquaintance with the scenes and monuments of Greek life. A
general feeling exists that England ought not to remain behind France,
Germany, and the United States in possessing a centre in Greece for the
furtherance of intellectual studies. The general committee, of which the
Prince of Wales is president, already includes representatives of the
Universities and public schools, of the Royal Academy, of the British
Museum, of the Society of Antiquaries, of the Society of Dilettanti, and
of the London Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. While it is
believed that the funds already subscribed will probably be adequate for
the provision of a house and library, further contributions are still
needed for the purpose of endowing the office of director with a proper
salary, and of creating a printing fund for the publications of the
school. Any subscriptions towards these objects will be gratefully
received and acknowledged by the treasurer, Mr. Walter Leaf, Old Change,
E.C.; by the bankers, Messrs. Grindlay & Co., 55, Parliament-street,
S.W.; or by the secretaries, Mr. T. H. S. Escott, 38, Brompton-crescent,
S.W.; Mr. James Gow, 13, Old-square, Lincoln’s-inn; and Professor Jebb,
the University, Glasgow.




Antiquarian Correspondence.

                  Sin scire labores,
    Quære, age: quærenti pagina nostra patet.

     _All communications must be accompanied by the name and address of
     the sender, not necessarily for publication._


“SWORD-SLIPPER.”

SIR,--In the registers of St. Nicholas’ Church (now the Cathedral) at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1576, I find mention made of “William Browne,
Sword-Slipper;” as also of “Robert Peacock, Sword-Slipper;” and again in
March, 1586, of “Robert Heslop, Sword-Slipper.” Brand, in his “History
of Newcastle,” places the “sword-slippers” among the ancient but extinct
Companies of that town. As I can find no other record of such a
fraternity, may I venture to ask whether any of your readers can throw
light upon its object and history.

MUS.


SOMERSET FOLK LORE.

SIR,--I cut the following paragraph the other day out of a local
Calendar for 1882:--

“On the eve of Twelfth Day, in Somersetshire, at evening, the farmers,
their friends, servants, &c., all assemble, and near six o’clock all
walk together to a field where wheat is growing. Twelve small fires and
one large one are lighted. The attendants, headed by the master of the
family, pledge the company in old cider. A circle is formed round the
large fire, when a general shout and hallooing takes place, which you
hear answered from all the villages and fields near. This being
finished, the company all return to the house, where the good wife and
her maids are preparing supper. A large cake is always provided, with a
hole in the middle. After supper the company all attend the head
herdsman to the wainhouse. The man, at the head of his friends, fills a
cup with ale, and stands opposite the first or finest oxen; he then
pledges him in a curious toast, and the company follow his example with
all the other oxen, addressing each by his name. This being over, the
large cake is produced with much ceremony, and put on the horn of the
first ox, through the hole in the cake; he is then tickled, to make him
toss his head. If he throws the cake behind, it is the mistress’s
perquisite; if before, the herdsman claims it. They then all return to
the house, and spend the rest of the day in festivity.”

May I ask whether this custom is really still kept up, or whether it is
among the old customs that have passed away?

CURIOSUS.


THE ISLAND OF THE SCOTS.

SIR,--The following jottings may be of interest to your correspondent,
“R. M. B.” The incident on which Professor Aytoun founded his wellknown
Lay is narrated in a tract, the full title of which is as follows:
Memoirs | of the | Lord Viscount Dundee, | the | Highland Clans, | and |
The Massacre of Glenco: | with | an Account | of | Dundee’s Officers
after they went to | France. | By an Officer of the Army. | Non ille pro
caris amicis | Aut Patria timidus mori (_sic_). Hor. Carm. Lib. 4, Ode 9
|.

Quis Cladem illius Noctis, quis funera fando | Explicet.--Virg. Æneid.
Lib. 2. |

| Series longissima Rerum | Per tot ducta Viros.--Ibid. Lib. I. |

London: Printed for Jonas Brown, at the Black Swan, 1714.

The tract itself is somewhat rare, but a reprint will be found in vol.
iii. of the “Miscellanea Scotica:” Glasgow, 1818. Sufficiently copious
extracts from it have been given by Professor Aytoun in the introductory
remarks to his Lay. Here is Lord Macaulay’s opinion on the matter. In a
note to the 13th chapter of his History he observes: “I have seldom made
use of the ‘Memoirs of Dundee,’ printed in 1714, and never without some
misgiving. The writer was certainly not, as he pretends, one of Dundee’s
officers, but a stupid and ignorant Grub-street garreteer. He is utterly
wrong both as to the place and as to the time of the most important of
all the events which he relates, the battle of Killiecrankie. He says
that it was fought on the banks of the Tummell, and on the 13th of June.
It was fought on the banks of the Garry, and on the 27th of July. After
giving such a specimen of inaccuracy as this, it would be idle to point
out minor blunders.”

It is by no means unlikely, therefore, that the Island of the Scots is
situated in one of the rivers of Utopia.

W. WILSON.

_Berwick-on-Tweed, September 5._


PORTREEVE.

SIR,--“You may put up the shutters, Thomas, it’s all over now!”
exclaimed the famous bootmaker to his shop-boy, on being solemnly
informed by a youthful customer, in words of awful admonition, that he
was under the painful necessity of withdrawing his custom. With similar
solemnity Dr. Pring has informed us that “the character of Mr. Round’s
papers is otherwise such as would deter me from giving any further time
to their discussion,” and “must for the future preclude my bestowing any
further notice on anything emanating from Mr. Round” (_ante_, p. 254-5).
Fortunately, this awful blow has not proved so crushing as might have
been feared. Indeed, though it is not for me to suggest that Dr. Pring
may possibly be well advised in shrinking from further criticism of my
papers, I may express my regret that he should have found no better plea
for his withdrawal than that of “misrepresentation”--a serious charge,
which I emphatically deny. It will be seen, on referring to Dr. Pring’s
original paper (_ante_, iv. 264), that his argument runs thus:--

     “That the distinction thus insisted upon is correct, and at once
     settles the true significance of the word _port_ in Port-reeve, is
     placed beyond all question by passages still extant in the laws of
     Athelstan, which ordain that no man shall buy any property outside
     _the port or gate_” (the italics are his own), &c. &c.

It would indeed place the identity of _port_ and _gate_ “beyond all
question” if such an expression as “the port or gate” occurred “in the
laws of Athelstan.” _But it does not._ The expression is simply “that no
man buy any property _out of port_” (Stubbs’ “Select Charters,” p. 65).
Here it will be seen there is _nothing whatever_ to prove the identity
of “port” and “gate.” The words “or gate” are a deliberate addition, and
as it is on them alone that Dr. Pring’s argument, as will be seen, is
based, without them it falls to the ground. No reference to the views of
Camden, Sharon Turner, or any other writer can justify the insertion
into “the laws of Athelstan” of words _which are not in them_. In saying
this much, I am guilty of no “misrepresentation.” I am simply stating
facts and exposing misquotation.

May I, in addition, express my hope that Dr. Pring will devote the time
saved from discussing my papers to the task, as I suggested, of
converting Mr. Hall to his own _porta_ derivation? And may I also
assure him that the time which his solemn decision will save me shall be
devoted on my part to the further prosecution of those researches which,
however undeservedly, have attracted, strange as it may appear to him,
the welcome appreciation of scholars?

J. H. ROUND.

_Brighton._


WITCHCRAFT IN ROSS-SHIRE.

SIR,--No doubt most of your readers are familiar with the curious
details concerning witch doctors and their doings in Mauritius, which
were published in _The Times_ in August last. The following interesting
account of similar superstitions in the Highlands, by a correspondent of
the _Glasgow Herald_, caused considerable sensation on its appearance,
which would be about a week or two before the article in the former
paper. Unquestionably, the belief in witchcraft is still deplorably
widespread, the boasted “resources of civilisation” notwithstanding:--

     “The belief in witchcraft, which has never become quite extinct in
     the more remote parts of the Highlands, has recently been revived
     in a certain parish on the west coast of Ross-shire. Considering
     the strong disposition that exists in the Highlands to set down to
     supernatural agency every trifling little incident that cannot be
     otherwise readily accounted for, it is not surprising that cases of
     supposed witchcraft should crop up from time to time. These cases
     have generally only a local interest, form the subject of
     conversation for a few days, and are then quite forgotten. Apart
     from the serious loss sustained by the parties concerned, the
     circumstances attending the present revival of the belief in occult
     powers of darkness are of such a nature as to have confirmed not a
     few in the belief in witchcraft who formerly were sceptical on the
     subject. Some time ago a party of gipsies, who had been encamped in
     the locality in question, took the liberty of grazing their horses
     on pasture belonging to a township of small tenants in the
     immediate neighbourhood of their camp. This unwarranted
     encroachment on their rights the tenants resented, and drove away
     the obnoxious intruders, bag and baggage, from the place. On taking
     their departure, some of the gipsies were heard to remark that the
     tenants might not be quite so conservative of their pasture, which,
     ere long, they would have no cattle to consume. At the time no
     notice was taken of this implied threat. Soon after, however, three
     valuable cows belonging to one of the tenants died one after the
     other in quick succession, suddenly, and under mysterious
     circumstances, while two of the other tenants lost a cow each under
     similar circumstances. The illness of which these animals died was
     of very short duration, and was unknown to the nosology of the
     local veterinarians, who were completely baffled, and such of the
     carcases as were examined presented no morbid appearance whatever,
     the various organs and tissues being, apparently, in a healthy
     condition. A respectable farmer, noted in the district for
     uprightness and integrity of character, and who is considered an
     authority in veterinary matters, had been called to see one of the
     animals shortly before it died, and, having carefully examined the
     beast, at once pronounced it to have been “witched,” as the
     symptoms were those of no known disease. On the strength of this
     statement on the part of one who is looked on as an authority in
     such matters, coupled with the ominous language made use of by the
     gipsies, a considerable section of the community unhesitatingly
     attribute the death of the cattle to the agency of witchcraft. As a
     charm against the evil influences at work, one of the tenants,
     acting on the advice of the initiated, had the door of his byre
     changed from one side of the house to the other, but with what
     result remains to be seen. Pending the efficacy of this charm, a
     young man has proceeded to the Western Isles, with the view of
     consulting a famous witch doctor, said to be in practice there. As
     an indication of the prevalence of the belief in witchcraft it may
     be stated that in the district in question there are two witch
     doctors residing within a distance of twenty miles of each other.
     One of these, who has been discredited for some time, on account of
     professional bungling, is generally regarded as an impostor, and
     has suffered in his practice accordingly. The other, who evidently
     has played his cards better, still retains the unbounded confidence
     of the credulous in these matters, and his services are much sought
     after in cases of suspected witchcraft. Sometimes the services of
     the witch doctor are anticipated by timorous people, who propitiate
     reputed witches by means of presents. While many believe that
     witchcraft is still as prevalent as ever, there are others who
     believe that, though it did undoubtedly exist at one time, there is
     no such thing now, and that witches are extinct. Others there are
     who believe that, though not nearly so prevalent as formerly, a
     veritable witch is still occasionally to be met with in the flesh.
     Probably this diversity of opinion on the subject may be taken as
     an indication that even in the Highlands belief in witchcraft is in
     process of dying out, though slowly.”

P. J. MULLIN.


THE DE VERE MONUMENTS AT EARLS COLNE.

The following correspondence occurs in the _Standard_, Oct. 3:--

     I.--SIR,--In the interests of archæology, and as a protest against
     the alienation of our Historic Monuments, I ask to be allowed to
     place before the public a statement in the hope that publicity may
     prove the means of causing to be restored to their proper
     resting-place in the Parish Church of Earls Colne, Essex, four
     effigies of that once all-powerful family--the De Veres, Earls of
     Oxford. I add a description of the monuments, taken from Murray’s
     Handbook of the Eastern Counties: “Three of the effigies are carved
     in alabaster and one in stone. They are supposed to commemorate
     Robert, the fifth Earl, who died in 1295; Thomas, the eighth earl,
     died 1371; Robert, the ninth earl, Marquess of Dublin and Duke of
     Ireland, died 1392; and his second wife, Lancerona Serjeaulx the
     joiner’s daughter (she wears the piked horn, or high head-dress,
     introduced by Anne of Bohemia, Queen of Richard the Second, to whom
     she had been Maid of Honour). This great Duke died at Louvain, and
     Richard the Second, by whom he had been banished, caused his body
     to be brought over, insisted that the coffin should be opened, so
     that he might once more see his favourite, and attended it himself
     in high procession to Earls Colne. John, the fourteenth earl, died
     1426. At the dissolution of the Priory these effigies were removed
     to the Parish Church, where they remained undisturbed until a few
     years back, when for some reason (for which good cause should be
     shown) they were transferred to, and now help to decorate, the
     grounds of an adjacent landowner. Meetings of the Essex
     Archæological Society have been held in this parish. It would be
     interesting to learn whether any member was bold enough to enter a
     protest against this spoliation; it would be doubly so to know
     whether this transfer was done by power of a Faculty, the only
     legal mode of transfer.”

R. H. H.



2.--SIR,--With reference to a letter in the _Standard_ of October 3,
signed by R. H. H., I venture to think that the writer is not altogether
correct in his facts, or, consequently, in his conclusions, concerning
the effigies of the De Veres.

Twenty years ago I made measured drawings of these valuable memorials,
and they were then adequately protected and properly cared for by the
late Mr. Carwardine at Earls Colne Priory, a modern house occupying the
site, or, at least, taking the place, of the ancient Priory. I believe I
am right in saying that the Parish Church was not, and never has been,
the resting-place of the De Vere Monuments, but that they originally
stood in the Priory Church, where the De Veres were buried, and that
they remained there after the Dissolution, and until they were removed
for protection from the weather to the spot they now occupy by a former
owner of the modern Priory. Had it not been for such timely care the
Monuments would probably not have been in existence at all at the
present day, for it is well known that, early in this century, the
Church was not careful to extend any special protection to objects of
this kind within or without its walls; they took their chance--usually a
very rough one.

It is notorious, and a melancholy fact, that in our own day the
recklessness and ignorance of church “restoration”--with its illegal,
not to say wicked, destruction of monuments of all kinds--have not
brought about much feeling of security with regard to those that remain
within the walls of churches; and while it has been a question of
protection rather than of “spoliation” at Earls Colne Priory, I for one
am Philistine enough to be grateful to the Carwardine family for the
respect they paid to the De Vere Monuments in their hour of need, and
when we may assume the Church held out no helping hand.

It is no peculiar thing that monumental effigies should be in private
hands--witness the examples in Furness Abbey, in the ruins of numerous
Yorkshire abbeys, and elsewhere--and I would ask, Are there many
instances of the care that has preserved for us, almost intact, effigies
and “weepers” like those at Earls Colne?

A. H.

_October 4._


ANCIENT AND MODERN BRITONS: A QUESTION FOR ANTIQUARIES.

SIR,--In the _St. James’s Gazette_ of July 10, there is a review of a
recently published book named “Ancient and Modern Britons.” Not having
even seen the book, I can only say of it that, _on the showing of its
critic_, the author’s opinions seem little to accord with mine. But let
that pass; my present object is to ask you whether the reviewer has done
well in writing the following sentences: “In Aberdeenshire there is a
stone--the ‘Newton Stone’--on which there are two inscriptions; one in
Ogham digits and another (according to the best authorities) in debased
Roman minuscular letters. Lord Southesk has lately propounded a theory
to the effect that these inscriptions ‘form a compound of Oriental and
Western ideas, beliefs, and languages.’ This explanation probably amused
the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, to whom it was originally
submitted; but to the author of ‘Ancient and Modern Britons’ it seems a
brilliant suggestion.”

Had the reviewer read the paper (extending over some twenty-five pages)
which the society referred to has done me the honour to publish in its
last volume of “Proceedings,” he could hardly have spoken of it so
discourteously; he would have recognised in it, I venture to think, a
result of careful study, far enough removed from wild and hasty
theorising. Allow me the favour of sufficient space in your columns to
explain and vindicate my position in this matter. First, as regards the
Ogham Inscription. The attempts to read this have been few and
unsatisfactory. My own reading--independently gained, and different from
previous versions--being known to Professor Rhys, he has authorised me
to say that he agrees with it as to every digit, except the three marked
doubtful in my own diagram. This concurrence only applies to the literal
arrangement (a matter of some difficulty), the question of
interpretation being reserved; but it is nevertheless an important and
much valued aid. Secondly: as regards the main inscription, it is going
rather far to say that the “best authorities” pronounce it to be in
“debased Roman minuscular letters,” considering the great differences of
opinion as to its nature that continue to exist; some fifteen attempts
at decipherment having been made, many of them by distinguished scholars
still (or lately) living. The Latin version by Dr. Whitley Stokes is
probably that referred to by the reviewer, being one of the latest. But
there is nothing to show that it is, or ought to be, accepted as final.
Besides other possible defects, it confessedly assigns no recognisable
meaning to five of the letters. Moreover, it differs from any
conceivable rendering of the Ogham legend. This is not fatal to it, but
it gives the advantage to a rival version which reconciles the two
inscriptions. It should also be noted that no perfectly accurate copy of
either inscription has been hitherto published.

My own conclusions, after months passed in the comparison of alphabets
and other study, were as follows: (1) That the characters are Greek,
resembling those in the Irish-Latin MSS. of the fifth to the seventh
century A.D., described by Mr. Westwood as “singular formed Irish-Greek
letters, in which capitals and minuscules are strangely mingled
together” (Pal. Sac. Pict.; see there Greek Pater Noster in Book of
Armagh); also, in some cases, resembling the letters of the alphabet on
the Kilmalkedar stone, in Ireland--characters described by Dr. Petrie as
“Græco-Roman or Byzantine characters of the fourth or fifth century
A.D.” (Ec. Arc. of Ir., p. 134). This assignment of the letters may be
accepted without necessarily adopting my version of the inscription, as
some of the characters severally resemble more than one letter. (2) That
the first half of the inscription is Celtic, sepulchral, and nearly
identical with the Ogham legend on the same stone. (3) That the second
half (and therein lies the ridicule, if ridicule there be) is religious
or mythological, and embodies sacred names belonging to the Mithraic
worship. Mithraism, as developed under the Roman emperors, was eminently
a compound creed--one which undoubtedly sought to unite “Oriental and
Western ideas and beliefs” (to cite your reviewer’s quotation from
“Ancient and Modern Britons”--ostensibly from me, but not so), though
not, of course, aiming to unite “languages.” It is only as regards
certain mythological names or titles that the Newton inscriptions are
not (on my view of them) entirely Celtic. Mithraic remains have been
largely found in England, especially in the north; there are apparent
references to its mysteries in the poems of the Welsh bards; and in
Scotland some of the, as yet unexplained, symbols on the sculptured
stones appear to belong to the same system.

I claim no right to dogmatise on these subjects; but I do claim to have
bestowed real work on them, and it is unseemly that the results of my
labour should be ridiculed by one who has not taken the trouble to find
out in what they consist. Is it more improbable that remains of
Mithraism should exist in Scotland than in other parts of Britain
accessible to Roman influences? The improbability lies the contrary way.
Why should there be more folly in seeking for traces of Paganism than in
seeking for traces of Christianity among the earlier antiquities of
Britain? The reproach surely rests with those who in such cases
formulate extreme opinions as to the universal presence or absence of
one of these religious elements, and refuse to see anything that
antagonises their enthusiasms or prejudices. In conclusion, allow me add
that, even if they disapproved of my paper on the Newton Stone (which I
have no reason to suppose), the Scottish Society of Antiquaries have not
only printed it in full, with my own illustrative diagrams, but are now
printing another paper of mine, of at least equal length, on the whole
of the Ogham inscriptions of Scotland--one which I sincerely hope may
prove not altogether unworthy of the honour thus conferred on it.

SOUTHESK.

_Kinnaird Castle, Brechin, N.B._


_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

THE Editor declines to pledge himself for the safety or return of MSS.
voluntarily tendered to him by strangers.

       *       *       *       *       *

Books Received.


1. Old and New London. Vol. ii. By E. Walford, M.A. Cassells. 1884.

2. Transactions of the Essex Field Club. Vol. iii. 1884.

3. Transactions of Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society. Vol. i.

4. First Middle English Primer. By Henry Sweet, M.A., Oxford. Clarendon
Press. 1884.

5. Johnsoniana. Arranged and collected by R. W. Montagu. A. Boot & Son.
1884.

6. Registers of the Parish of Thorington. Edited by T. H. Hill, B.C.L.
Mitchell & Hughes. 1884.

7. Journal of British Archæological Association. Vol. xl. Part 3.
Trübner & Co. September, 1884.

8. Northamptonshire Notes and Queries. Part iv. Northampton: Taylor &
Son. October, 1884.

9. English Etchings. Parts xli. and xlii. D. Bogue, 27, King
William-street, W.C.

10. The Assignment of Arms to Shakespeare and Arden. By Stephen Tucker,
_Somerset Herald_. Mitchell & Hughes. 1884.

11. Hull Quarterly. No. 4. Hull: Brown & Sons. October, 1884.

12. The Genealogist. N. S. Vol. i. No. 4. October, 1884.

13. Johns Hopkins University Studies. X. Baltimore. October, 1884.

14. History of Aylesbury. Part xi. By R. Gibbs. Aylesbury. 1884.

15. The Essex Notebook and Suffolk Gleaner. No. 1. Colchester: Benham &
Co. October, 1884.

16. A Smaller Biblia Pauperum. A Reprint of the Text of John Wicliff,
with Preface by the late Dean Stanley. Unwin Brothers. 1884.

17. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica. Vol. i. Nos. i. and ii.
Mitchell & Hughes. 1884.

18. Irish Landed Gentry when Cromwell came to Ireland. By John O’Hart.
Dublin: Gill & Son. 1884.

19. The Record Society for the Publication of Original Documents
relating to Lancashire and Cheshire. Vol. x. 1884.

20. Ye Earlie Englyshe Almanack. 1885. Pettitt & Co., Frith-street,
Soho.

21. The Algonquin Legends of New England. By C. G. Leland, Sampson Low &
Co. 1884.

22. The Chartulary of the Monastery of Lyminge. By the Rev. R. C.
Jenkins, M.A. Folkestone: R. Goulden. 1884.

23. Life, Times, and Writings of Thomas Fuller, D.D. Two vols. By the
Rev. M. Fuller, M.A. John Hodges. 1884.

       *       *       *       *       *

Books, &c., for Sale.


Works of Hogarth (set of original Engravings, elephant folio, without
text), bound. Apply by letter to W. D., 56, Paragon-road, Hackney, N.E.

Original water-colour portrait of Jeremy Bentham, price 2 guineas. Apply
to the Editor of this Magazine.

A large collection of Franks, Peers’ and Commoners’. Apply to E.
Walford, 2, Hyde Park Mansions, N.W.


FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Caxton’s Edition of Mallory’s King Arthur.

 [2] It seems necessary to say that Caxton gratuitously explains
 Camelot to be Winchester; but Caxton was a Kentish man, and, moreover,
 lived many years abroad, in Burgundy and the Netherlands. He probably
 knew something, though little, of Winchester, and nothing whatever
 of Somerset. However, dates simply make it impossible, seeing that
 Winchester was conquered by the Saxons in 515.

 [3] William of Malmesbury.

 [4] Avilion or Avalon is the ancient name for Glastonbury.

 [5] Mallory’s King Arthur, edited by Caxton.

 [6] MS. Dodsw. 47, f. 151.

 [7] R. de Camvill.

 [8] f.m.=feudum militis, a knight’s fee, same in meaning as 1 m., one
 knight.

 [9] Preface to “Pastoral Book.”

 [10] See also, for Mr. Freeman’s view, “English Towns and Districts,”
 p. 230: “Chester has no Roman remains _in situ_ to be compared to the
 _New Port_ of Lincoln;” and p. 394, “There is [at Colchester] nothing
 to set even against the New Port of Lincoln.” So, too, Mr. G. T. Clark
 states that it “still bears a name which must have descended from
 the time when it was first erected, ... and is called the New-port”
 (“Military Architecture,” ii. 191).

 [11] “The abiding Latin name of the gate, the _Nova Porta_, of itself
 goes far to show that there could have been no long gap between Roman
 or British and English occupation.” (English Towns and Districts, p.
 200.)

 [12] See Mr. J. Pickford’s article on this old mansion, vol. v. p. 190.

 [13] “Southwell Minster: an Account of the Collegiate and Cathedral
 Church of Southwell, Architectural, Archæological, and Historical.” By
 Grevile Mairis Livett, M.A. Southwell: John Whittingham, 1883.

 [14] Though his inspirations were, it is said, first noted in prose.

 [15] I do not mean by this that _every_ human being is possessed of
 the faculty, but that _some_ men are, though it may be in a proportion
 of perhaps less than one in 100 millions.

 [16] The passage is cited by the Encyclopædists to bring Nostradamus
 into discredit, and is said to occur in the first volume of Gassendi’s
 “Physics.” I have no doubt it is there, but I have not thought it
 worth while to hunt through the six volumes folio of his collected
 works to ascertain the fact. Bouys in his “Nouvelles Considerations”
 says justly enough that the learned writers of the Encyclopædia would
 take the testimony of Jean-Baptiste Suffren without any hesitation as
 a thing not to be doubted; it would only be works that should be of
 the most sacred authority to everyone else that they would think of
 calling in question.

 [17] To show the probability that they would not all prove erroneous,
 it may amuse the reader to learn that Sir Thomas Brown did once in
 sport attempt a prophecy in reply to an ancient metrical one that had
 been sent him by a friend:--

    “When new England shall trouble new Spain,
     When Jamaica shall be Lady of the Isles and the main;
     When Spain shall be in America hid,
     And Mexico prove another Madrid;
     When Mahomet’s ships on the Baltic shall ride,
     And Turks shall labour to have ports on that side;
     When Africa shall no more sell out her blacks,
     To make slaves and drudges to the American tracts;
     When Batavia the old shall be subdued by the new;
     When a new drove of Tartars shall China subdue;
     When America shall cease to send out its treasure,
     But employ it at home for American pleasure;
     When the new world shall the old invade,
     Nor count them their lords but their fellows in trade;
     When shall almost pass to Venice by land,
     Not in deep water, but from sand to sand;
     When Nova Zembla shall be no stay
     Unto them that pass to or from Cathay;
     Then think strange things are come to light,
     Whereof but few have had a foresight.”

 Now the most unlikely part of the above to be realised was the ships
 of Mahomet appearing in the Baltic, but, nevertheless, it happened.
 “Mahomet’s ships” did actually ride in the Baltic, manned by the
 corsairs of Algiers, in 1819, so the line was verified, though not as
 Brown intended. (_Quarterly Review_, xxvi. 191.)

 [18] Van Hasselt.

 [19] The name is Flemish: each consonant, therefore, must be sounded,
 but the second vowel is short, Dam-Dam-mĕ.

 [20] The Zwyn has entirely disappeared from the map of Europe.
 Guide-books say that “mention is made of the harbour of the Zwyn in
 the laws of the Saxon Ethelred.” I cannot endorse this statement,
 having failed to confirm it on examination. The Zwyn was the scene of
 the great maritime victory won by Edward III. over the French fleet in
 1340, the harbinger of the naval supremacy of England.

 [21] paper read at the Congress of the Archæological Institute at
 Lewes, July, 1883.

 [22] Mrs. Siddons’ maternal grandfather. For the gloves and the
 story I leave them upon the conscience of the glazier, hereby
 declaring myself ready to prove the utter falsehood of the whole
 narrative.--ED.

 [23] Of this John Ward I read that he was a well-known performer in
 the time of Betterton, and was in 1723 the original Hazeroth in the
 tragedy of “Mariamne,” by Elijah Fenton, the friend of Pope. It was
 for his benefit that Mrs. Woffington at Dublin, in 1760, played Sir
 Harry Wildair for the first time, and he was the maternal grandfather
 of Mrs. Siddons, his daughter having married Mr. Roger Kemble, and
 the great Kembles being the issue of that union. In considering the
 probabilities of this story, we may therefore conclude that John Ward
 was not likely to play a huge practical joke upon Garrick. We may
 further assume that he was a man of the world, not over credulous, or
 to be imposed upon with ease.--S. W. B.

 [24] In his interesting remarks on the reduplication of synonyms, Mr.
 Isaac Taylor gives us a marked example in the instance of Brindon
 Hill, in Somerset, where “we have first the Cymric _bryn_, a hill.
 To this was added _dun_, a Saxonised Celtic word, nearly synonymous
 with _bryn_; and the English word _hill_ was added when neither _bryn_
 nor _dun_ were any longer significant words.” Thus, in fact, we are
 presented with a threefold instance of the kind in question. (See
 “Words and Places,” p. 141.)

 [25] This is actually represented in an accompanying map by a small
 drawing clearly showing the usual form of the arched Roman gate.

 [26] Camden’s “Britannia,” by Gibson, 1695, p. 855.

 [27] “History of the Anglo-Saxons,” by Sharon Turner, 1823, vol. iii.
 p. 224.

 [28] From the _Entertaining Magazine_, March, 1814.

 [29] The heads of the arrows are formed of flint.

 [30] A large knife, of a metal resembling brass, was the only
 implement of a metallic nature discovered in the barrow; it might,
 therefore, be supposed to have been a present to the British chief
 from the ‘princely merchants’ of Phœnicia.

 [31] The Roman road, raised on flints, goes close to the barrow, and
 deviates from the straight line on purpose to avoid it: a proof of the
 antiquity of the barrow and the veneration of the Romans for the dead.

 [32] _Hesus_ and _Taranis_, Celtic Deities, of the same character as
 Woden and Thor in the Saxon mythology.

                  “Horrensque suis altaribus Hesus
    Et Taranis, Scythicæ non mitior ara Dianæ.”--LUCAN.


 [33] Even in the time of Lucan it was deserted, for he speaks of
 “desertæ mœnia Lunæ.” (See Lucan, Phars. i. 586.) Bulwer, in his “King
 Arthur” (Book iv. stanza 14), writes:--

                        “That old friendly soil
      Whose ports, perchance, yet glitter with the prows
    Of Punic ships, when resting from their toil
      In Luna’s gulf, the seabeat crews carouse.”


 [34] Calendar of State Papers, Report on the foundation, history, and
 present state of St. Katherine’s Hospital.

 [35] See _ante_, pp. 3-5.

 [36] Freeman, Norm. Conq. (2nd ed.) ii. 237.

 [37] England in the Early and Middle Ages, i. 103.

 [38] Casters and Chesters (_Cornhill Magazine_, xlv. 434).

 [39] Anglo-Saxon Britain (S.P.C.K.), p. 65.

 [40] Norman Conquest (2nd ed.), i. 18. It is, however, but right to
 state that Mr. Freeman may here not have meant what his words would
 imply. He was probably thinking not of the whole “name” but of the
 “Glou-,” for elsewhere he observes, “Here and there a place keeps a
 Welsh name ... like _Gloucester_ and Winchester” (English Towns and
 Districts, p. 35), and even goes so far as to proclaim, exactly as I
 am myself doing, that “Our endless _chesters_ everywhere proclaim the
 fact of their former Roman occupation. But they proclaim it by the
 name given to it by foreign conquerors, not by any title which the
 place bore while the rule of Rome lasted.” (_Ibid._ p. 192.)

 [41] Roman Britain (S.P.C.K.), p. 180.

 [42] Casters and Chesters, p. 423.

 [43] _Ibid._ p. 419.

 [44] Casters and Chesters, p. 434.

 [45] Casters and Chesters, p. 422.

 [46] _Ibid._, p. 421. So Mr. Freeman, in the case of Chester, claims
 that “the name is historically a contraction” (English Towns and
 Districts, p. 231).

 [47] This is the case of “Newport Gate,” from my point of view, over
 again (_ante_, p. 24).

 [48] Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 104.

 [49] P.S.--As it would seem, from the letter of “A. H.” (_ante_, p.
 47) that there are people who believe that the Anglo-Saxon “port” was
 the “equivalent of haven,” or sea-port (_portus_), it may be worth
 referring to the English Chronicle, where, so late as 1088, Worcester,
 the town most distant from the sea, is spoken of distinctively as a
 “port.” The passage is thus rendered by Mr. Freeman: “They came to
 the port itself, and would then the port burn.” (W. Rufus, i. 47,
 48.) In Earle’s “Philology of the English Tongue” (3rd Ed.) it is
 explained that by _port_ was “signified, in Saxon times, just ‘a town,
 a market-town.’ This is the sense of it in such compounds as Newport
 Pagnell” (p. 19). It is, however, erroneously there too “derived
 from the Latin _porta_, a gate.” It is also worth noting that in the
 _Quarterly Review_, No. 315 (July, 1884), p. 9, it is asserted that “a
 port-reeve is the equivalent of a shire-reeve (!): and has nothing to
 do with _portus_, but much with _porta_”--the very error of which, I
 hope, I have now effectually disposed.

 [50] This _jeu d’esprit_ was written by Sir Joshua Reynolds to
 illustrate a remark which he had made--“That Dr. Johnson considered
 Garrick as his property, and would never suffer anyone to praise or
 abuse him but himself.” In the first of these supposed dialogues, Sir
 Joshua himself, by high encomiums upon Garrick, is represented as
 drawing down upon him Johnson’s censure; in the second, Gibbon, by
 taking the opposite side, calls forth his praise.

 It should be added that the _jeu d’esprit_ was printed privately in
 1816, given by Lady Thomond to Mrs. Gwynne, who gave it to a lady
 connected with the family of Wynn of Wynnstay.

 [51] The substance of this sermon, in consequence of a strongly
 expressed wish, will form the subject of a paper in our next number.

 [52] In all these quotations I give the words in the old-fashioned
 version of Garencières, for the French would scarcely be understood by
 the general reader.

 [53] Sometimes, even as at iii. 87, he particularly says that
 the warning he gives will be utterly useless to prevent the evil
 announced: “Sang nagera, _captif ne me croiras_.”

 [54] Compare this with the demon of Socrates.

 [55] In these quatrains I quit Garencières, and translate the
 rendering and Scholia of Le Pelletier.

 [56] This reading of _Lonole_ is from the _Editio princeps_ of Pierre
 Rigaud (Lyon. 1558. Avec les varientes de Benoist Rigaud. Lyon. 1568).
 Others read: “_Doudlé_ donra topique.” Garencières reads _Londre_.

 [57] _Donra_ is for _donnera_.

 [58] _Topique_ simply stands for the common-places of writing, and
 _Lonole_ is said by Le Pelletier to be the anagram of _Olleon_, or
 Ολλὑων = Destroyer.

 [59] After the death of Elizabeth he became James I.

 [60] _Dechassé_ is a Latin form, and stands for _chassé_ simply.

 [61] _Par ire_ equals _per iram_, by reason of (popular) fury.

 [62] _Tracer_ is an old word equivalent to _faire chemin_, or as we
 still say in English, to _trace a path_.

 [63] _Contre_ equals “aupres a côté de.”

 [64] Holland was detached from the Low Countries in 1579. Antwerp
 stood on Spanish territory on the very confines of Holland. Philip IV.
 made every possible effort to subdue Holland, and did not give over
 till the Treaty of Westphalia, which established its independence in
 1648, one year before the decapitation of Charles I.

 [65] This expression occurs again, Century x. quatrain 7: “L’Isle
 Britanne par vin sel en soucy.” Wine figuratively standing for heat
 and courage, or force; whilst salt may represent wisdom, for its
 incorruptibility as well as wit for its pungency.

 [66] _Macelin_; Latin, _marcellum_; Italian, _marcellaio_, butcher.

 [67] 1588 is the date of the destruction of Philip II.’s _Invincible
 Armada_ by storms and by Drake in Cadiz Bay. From that time the
 maritime supremacy of England dates, and, according to Nostradamus,
 it is to last more than three centuries, but not four. It culminated
 with the death of Nelson at Trafalgar, and the tale of that event
 still stirs the soul to heroism, and to that still more sacred thing,
 a sense profound of duty. But all that has happened since seems like a
 slow toning down to gradual nothingness. In four years the bare three
 centuries will stand completed. An Englishman may ask, I think, with
 some emotion, how much the _plus_ stands for.

 [68] This paper is the substance of a sermon preached in the parish
 church of St. Mary, Tenby, on Sunday, September 6, 1884, before the
 Congress of the British Archæological Association, from the text
 Jeremiah vi. 16: “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see,
 and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,
 and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

 [69] Mr. Gladstone.

 [70] Max Müller, “Science of Religion.”

 [71] “Plutarch: His Life, his Lives, and his Morals,” by Archbishop
 Trench, p. 95.

 [72] Discovered in 1779, now in the British Museum.

 [73] A.D. 627.

 [74] Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, by Dr. Giles, pp. 95, 96.

 [75] Arles, 314 A.D.; Sardiæ 347; Ariminum 363.

 [76] The Editor has learnt at the last moment that this Jeu d’Esprit
 is to be found in a work by Miss L. Hawkins. It came to the Editor’s
 hands in MS., in a private note-book formerly belonging to a member of
 the family of Wynn, of Wynnstay.

 [77] See ANTIQUARIAN MAGAZINE, vol. i. p. 78.

 [78] See the frontispiece to the present number.

 [79] These pyramids are minutely described by William of Malmesbury.

 [80] Speed. I have followed Speed’s description taken from Giraldus,
 save where Speed, in defiance of all chronology, makes the finding of
 Arthur to have been during Henry II.’s reign, under Abbot Henry of
 Blois. The dates show that it was during Richard I.’s reign, under
 Henry de Soliaco.

 [81] Almost certainly Henry de Soliaco, in whose abbey the remains
 were discovered. Henry of Blois was buried at Winchester.

 [82] Journal of the Archæological Institute, vol. xx. p. 395.

 [83] See vol. iii. p. 144.








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