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THE    ANTIQUARY. 

VOL.  XLIII. 


THE 


ANTIQUARY: 


A    MAGAZINE   DEVOTED    TO    THE   STUDY 
OF    THE   PAST. 


"  I  love  everything  that's  old ;  old  friends,  old  times,  old  manners,  old  books,  old  wine." 

Goldsmith,  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,  Act  i.,  sc.  I. 


VOL.    XLIII. 

JANUARY— DECEMBER,  1907. 


London  :  ELLIOT  STOCK,  62,  Paternoster  Row. 

1907 


THE  GETTY  CENTER 
LIBRARY 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


The   Antiquary. 


JANUARY,  1907. 


Botes  of  tibe  a^ontt). 

The  Municipality  of  Barcelona  propose  to 
hold  an  International  Art  Exhibition  this 
year  in  that  city,  from  April  23  to  July  15, 
and  it  may  again  be  opened  in  September 
and  October.  The  Exhibition  will  comprise 
the  fine  arts  and  art  crafts  generally.  The 
time  for  receiving  exhibits  will  extend  from 
March  15  to  30.  Copies  of  the  regulations 
may  be  obtained  from  the  Spanish  Consul- 
General  in  London,  Senor  Joaquin  M.  Torroja, 
40,  Trinity  Square,  E.C. 

«$»  &  «ifc» 
The  feast  of  St.  Clement  was  celebrated  at 
Rome  on  November  24,  and  the  subterranean 
church  which  was  discovered  some  fifty  years 
ago  beneath  the  twelfth-century  church  of 
that  name  (situated  between  the  Colosseum 
and  St.  John  Lateran)  was  illuminated,  so 
that  the  wonderful  frescoes,  which  date  from 
the  fifth  to  the  eleventh  century,  could  be 
better  enjoyed.  This  church,  or  rather  these 
churches,  are  among  the  most  interesting  in 
all  Rome,  including  foundations  which  date 
from  Republican  and  Imperial  times  ;  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  Roman  house,  erected 
— as  the  brickwork  shows — during  the  first 
fifty  years  of  the  Christian  era,  and  almost 
unquestionably  the  home  of  St.  Clement ; 
the  early  Christian  Basilica  (or  lower  church, 
as  it  is  now  called),  mentioned  by  St.  Jerome 
in  392  ;  a  large  Mithraic  temple,  containing 
an  altar  to  that  god,  to  whose  worship  the 
sanctuary  must  have  been  perverted  during 
one  of  the  Christian  persecutions ;  and  the 

VOL.  III. 


very  interesting  upper  church,  in  which, 
besides  the  beautiful  marble  choir  screen 
and  pulpits  —  translated  from  the  earlier 
church — are  to  be  found  the  epoch-making 
frescoes  by  Masaccio,  possibly  also  by  his 
master  Masolino,  whose  work  ushered  in  the 
great  development  of  the  Quattrocentists. 
The  excavations  which  brought  to  light  the 
earlier  church,  St.  Clement's  house,  and  the 
Mithraic  temple,  were  carried  out  by  the  un- 
tiring efforts  of  the  late  prior  of  the  adjoining 
monastery  of  the  Irish  Dominicans,  Father 
Mulhooly,  and  it  is  sad  to  know  that  a  heavy 
and  continuous  inflow  of  water,  consequent 
on  the  new  drainage  system  of  Rome  and  the 
extremely  low  level  at  which  the  earlier 
buildings  are  situated,  is  now  imperilling 
even  the  structural  safety  of  the  whole 
church,  and  is  year  by  year  destroying  the 
frescoes,  which  from  an  historical  and  archaeo- 
logical point  of  view  are  priceless. 

A  plan  has  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Mills, 
an  able  engineer,  which  would  thoroughly 
drain  the  lower  church  and  put  an  end  to 
this  distressing  state  of  affairs.  The  city 
authorities  have  approved  the  project,  and 
only  money  is  required  to  carry  it  out.  An 
influential  committee  of  all  denominations 
of  clergymen  and  of  archaeologists,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  British  ambassador, 
has  been  formed  in  Rome  to  raise  the  neces- 
sary funds.  The  work  is  estimated  to  cost 
about  ^1,500,  and  over  ^100  has  already 
been  raised  locally.  The  rector  of  the  church, 
the  Rev.  J.  T.  Crotty,  O.P.,  appeals  to  all 
lovers  of  ancient  monuments,  Christian  and 
Pagan,  to  help  the  committee  to  raise  the 
required  sum.  Subscriptions  may  be  sent 
to  the  Western  Branch  of  the  Bank  of  England, 
Burlington  Gardens,  to  the  British  Consul, 
or  to  the  rector  direct. 

«$»  «J»  *)&' 
"  By  the  generosity  of  Dr.  F.  Parkes  Weber," 
says  the  Athenaum  of  December  1,  "the 
trustees  of  the  British  Museum  have  acquired 
a  most  remarkable  numismatic  collection. 
Dr.  Weber  placed  his  cabinet  in  the  hands 
of  the  authorities  of  the  museum,  with  per- 
mission to  select  everything  that  might  be 
deemed  desirable,  and  as  a  result  no  fewer 
than  5,551  pieces  have  been  added  to  the 
national  collection.  The  donor's  tastes  in 
numismatics   were   most   catholic,  and   the 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


objects  selected  represent  all  branches  of 
the  study,  from  the  early  coinage  of  the 
Greeks  and  Chinese  down  to  the  modern 
revival  of  the  medallic  art.  Numerically 
regarded,  the  importance  of  the  donation, 
perhaps,  consists  especially  in  the  modern 
medals,  and  it  can  no  longer  be  said  that 
artists  such  as  David  d' Angers,  Roty,  and 
Scharff  are  unrepresented  in  the  British 
Museum.  But  from  an  artistic  point  of  view 
the  chief  treasures  are  two  fine  leaden 
specimens  of  medals  by  the  greatest  of  all 
medallists,  Vittore  Pisano,  and,  for  those  to 
whom  the  German  medal  of  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century  appeals,  a  unique 
portrait  of  the  famous  Paracelsus.  Among 
the  curiosities  of  the  collection  may  be 
reckoned  sections  illustrating  token  coinages, 
primitive  forms  of  currency,  the  technical 
processes  of  die  engraving  and  casting,  and 
methods  of  forgery.  Dr.  Weber's  munificent 
gift  constitutes  one  of  the  most  valuable 
additions  which  have  ever  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  the  department  of  coins  and  medals  in  the 
British  Museum." 

♦         ♦         ♦ 

The  sale  of  a  quantity  of  arms  and  armour, 
and  numerous  hunting  trophies,  collected 
by  Field- Marshal  Lord  Wolseley,  attracted 
a  large  number  of  people  to  Messrs.  Puttick 
and  Simpson's  auction-rooms  in  Leicester 
Square  on  November  22.  The  most  im- 
portant piece  was  a  pikeman's  suit  of  the 
time  of  James  L,  which  brought  in  a  sum 
of  22^  guineas,  while  five  similar  suits  were 
disposed  of  for  an  aggregate  of  93!  guineas. 
There  were  numerous  items  reminiscent  of 
Lord  Wolseley's  experiences  on  the  African 
continent,  several  Dervish  swords  being  sold 
for  an  average  of  23s.  apiece,  and  a  large 
Zulu  shield  for  26s.  The  hunting  trophies 
fetched  very  small  sums. 

$  $  $ 
Heme  Bay  experienced  a  tremendous  whirl- 
wind on  Saturday,  November  17.  Shortly 
afterwards,  a  man  walking  along  the  beach 
from  Whitstable  saw  the  tusk  of  a  mammoth 
protruding  from  the  sand.  After  digging  it 
out,  he  found  the  companion  tusk.  One  of 
them  is  almost  complete,  and  measures 
4  feet  1 1  inches  round  the  curve,  and  3  feet 
4  inches  across  from  tip  to  tip.  The  tusks 
are   now   in   the   possession  of  Mr.  E.  W. 


Turner,  M.A.,  of  Heme  Bay  College. 
Similar  remains  were  discovered  at  Hampton, 
Heme  Bay,  some  years  ago. 

$  $  $ 

Mr.    G.    Montagu    Benton,    of    Chesterton, 

Cambridge,  writes  :  "  During  the  restoration 
of  the  church  of  SS.  Mary  and  Andrew, 
Whittlesford,  near  Cambridge,  in  1905,  some 
wall-paintings,  in  a  mutilated  condition,  were 
brought  to  light,  which,  although  not  of 
great  importance,  are  worthy  of  record. 
They  were  situated  above  the  chancel  arch, 
and  consisted  of  three  paintings,  one  above 
the  other.  The  first,  from  the  description 
given  of  '  naked  figures  in  black  outline, 
representing  souls  and  some  angels  on  a  red 
ground,'  evidently  depicted  the  '  Doom ' ; 
a  fragment  has  been  preserved  at  the  north 
end.  Immediately  under  this,  the  second 
painting,  in  a  fragmentary  state,  was  revealed, 
of  the  same  character  and  style  as  the  pre- 
ceding, but  with  a  blue  ground.  Beneath 
this,  covered  by  3  inches  of  rubble,  lay  the 
yet  earlier  painting,  a  simple  design  of 
pomegranates,  including  a  shield  of  arms 
bearing  three  escallops,  interesting  on  account 
of  its  obvious  connection  with  one  of  those 
on  the  tower  battlements.  This  painting, 
which  fortunately  it  was  found  possible  to 
preserve,  probably  dates  from  the  fourteenth 
century." 

The  same  correspondent  also  reports  the 
discovery  of  other  wall-paintings  at  Alpheton, 
Suffolk.  He  says  :  "  In  1904  a  wall-painting 
was  discovered  on  the  north  wall  of  the 
nave  of  the  church  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul, 
Alpheton,  near  Long  Melford.  It  repre- 
sents the  favourite  allegorical  subject  of 
St.  Christopher  (size,  1 1  feet  by  6  feet 
6  inches),  and  is  of  the  usual  conventional 
design ;  the  Saint's  staff  is  invisible,  but  the 
main  outlines  of  the  picture  are  easily  trace- 
able. As  usual,  it  faces  the  south  door,  in 
accordance  with  the  well-known  mediaeval 
superstition,  that  if  a  person  looked  on  a 
representation  of  this  Saint  he  would,  at 
least  for  that  day,  be  preserved  from  a 
violent  death.  Near  to  it  are  traces  ot 
another  wall-painting,  possibly  the  Annun- 
ciation. The  rector,  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Bartrum, 
would  be  very  glad  to  communicate  with 
anyone   who   could   advise   him   as   to   the 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


judicious  touching  up  of  the  first-named 
painting.  Other  discoveries  have  recently 
been  made  by  the  rector  in  this  church, 
including  a  stoup  in  the  south  porch,  and 
the  rood-loft  staircase,  which  has  been 
blocked  up  since  1839." 

$?  &  $? 
A  correspondent  of  the  County  Gentleman 
mentions  that  corn  is  still  threshed  with  the 
flail  on  some  of  the  Cumberland  farms, 
though  it  is  being  gradually  replaced  by 
more  modern  methods.  Accompanying  the 
letter,  which  appeared  in  the  issue  of 
November  17,  was  a  photograph  showing  a 
farmer  of  the  Dales,  flail  in  hand,  "  who 
daily  threshes  the  supply  of  oats  he  requires 
for  his  horses  and  poultry,  etc.  Every 
morning  about  ten  the  passer-by  may  hear 
the  regular  dull  thud  of  the  flail,  as  in  the 
great  barn  the  oats  are  threshed.  On  some 
of  the  bigger  farms  two  men  use  the  flails  at 
once,  keeping  time." 

«jfe      ♦      «4» 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Lancashire  and 
Cheshire  Antiquarian  Society,  Mr.  Fletcher 
Moss,  in  the  course  of  a  descriptive  account 
of  "  Hiding-Holes  in  Old  Houses,"  remarked 
that  it  might  be  thought  that,  as  so  many  old 
houses  had  hiding-holes,  they  were  easily 
discovered  ;  but  this  was  not  so.  Consider- 
able ingenuity  was  exercised  in  constructing 
them.  The  vicinity  of  the  chimney  and  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  fireplace  were  often 
places  where  hiding-holes  were  constructed. 
There  was  an  example  in  Chetham  Hospital 
itself,  access  being  obtained  through  the 
panelling  of  the  wall.  Mr.  Moss  described 
in  detail  many  secret  chambers,  some  of 
which  were  large  enough  to  hold  fifty  men. 
The  rambling  stairways  were  sometimes 
made  use  of  for  giving  access  to  hiding- 
places.  One  of  the  most  perfect  hiding-holes 
Mr.  Moss  had  seen  was  at  Pitchford  Hall, 
near  Shrewsbury.  You  slid  open  a  panel 
near  the  fireplace,  put  your  hand  in  and  drew 
back  a  bolt.  A  whole  piece  of  panelling 
then  swung  as  a  door  outwards  from  the 
room.  A  small  cupboard,  nothing  more, 
was  disclosed.  But  if  you  got  into  the 
cupboard  and  shut  the  door  you  could 
lift  a  trap-door  in  the  floor.  This  could  not 
be  done  until  you  had  shut  the  door  of  the 
cupboard.     Having  lifted  the  trap-door,  you 


could  drop  down  to  the  floor  below,  get  into 
a  small  room  or  closet,  with  shelves  like  a 
cupboard,  and  behind  this  was  the  hiding- 
place,  a  ladder  from  which  would  enable  you 
to  (?et  outside.  The  trap-door  could  not  be 
opened  by  a  pursuer  so  long  as  the  closet 
door  was  open. 

«fr       4»       $ 

A  Reuter's  telegram  from  Bombay,  dated 
November  29,  says :  "  Dr.  von  Lecoq,  a 
scientific  emissary  of  the  Prussian  Govern- 
ment, has  arrived  safely  at  Srinagar,  after  a 
journey  through  the  most  remote  parts  of 
Central  Asia.  He  has  brought  with  him  a 
quantity  of  highly  interesting  paintings  on 
stucco,  the  backgrounds  in  many  cases  being 
of  gold  leaf,  as  in  Italian  work,  and  a  number 
of  manuscripts  in  ten  different  languages, 
and  one  wholly  unknown  tongue.  Dr. 
Lecoq 's  discoveries  probably  constitute  the 
greatest  archaeological  find  since  the  days  of 
Layard  and  Rawlinson."  As  to  the  surmise 
in  the  last  sentence,  we  may  be  content  to 
suspend  judgment  till  more  is  known  of 
these  discoveries  and  of  the  supposed  new 
language.  Dr.  Lecoq  was  sent  out  by  the 
German  Government  in  1904.  He  reached 
Chuguchak  in  October  of  that  year,  and 
thence  travelled  to  Kara  Khoja,  near  Turfan, 
where  he  spent  nine  months,  excavating 
caves  and  Buddhist  "Stupas."  Some 
hundreds  of  cases  containing  antiquarian 
objects  which  he  discovered  were  reported 
in  April  last  to  have  been  despatched  by  him 
to  Europe.  Mention  was  made  of  the  heads 
of  statues  showing  traces  of  Greek  and 
Indian  influence,  and  probably  resembling 
the  sculptures  in  the  Lahore  Museum  ;  wall- 
paintings  from  ruined  temples  ;  coins ;  and 
manuscripts  in  the  Uighur,  Tibetan,  Turki, 
Syriac,  and  Chinese  languages. 
$  «$>  <$> 
The  ancient  Grammar  School  of  Ashbourne 
has  been  saved  from  vandalism  through  the 
intervention  of  the  County  Archaeological 
Society  and  the  action  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  The  old  school  was  established 
by  royal  charter  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in  July, 
1585,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  existed 
long  before  this.  One  of  the  first  governors 
was  Thomas  Cokaine,  a  celebrated  name  in 
those  parts,  and  the  crest  of  the  Cokaine  or 
Cockaigne  family  is  still  the  badge  of  the 

A2 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


school.  Greatly  increased  revenues  have  in 
recent  years  accrued  to  the  school  through 
the  working  of  coal-mines  under  land  owned 
by  it  at  Shirebrook,  in  Nottinghamshire,  near 
the  Dukeries.  It  was  proposed  to  pull  down 
or  rearrange  the  fine  old  building  to  increase 
the  accommodation,  but,  after  strong  oppo- 
sition locally,  the  Board  of  Education  have 
consented  to  the  erection  of  new  school 
premises  altogether. 


the  names,  and  succeeded  in  a  few  instances  ; 
but  a  very  strong  glass  and  a  very  intimate 
knowledge  of  calligraphy  would  be  required 
to  read  correctly  the  whole.  I  am  anxious 
to  know  whence  it  came  and  its  date.  It 
probably  came  from  the  Continent  fifty  years 
ago.  It  has  seen  some  rough  usage,  as  the 
larger  relics  in  the  top  compartments  and 
others  have  been  violently  extracted.  The 
relics  are  covered  with  a  kind  of  talc." 


A   RELIQUARY. 


The  Rev.  Dom  H.  P.  Feasey,  O.S.B.,  kindly 
sends  us  a  photograph,  reproduced  on  this 
page,  of  a  reliquary  he  lately  met  with.  He 
writes  :  "  The  case  is  of  oak,  the  ornaments 
of  brass  and  brass  foil  and  thin  sheet  silver. 
The  quartrefoil  lattice-work  is  of  silver,  the 
whole  studded  over  with  semi-precious  stones, 
or  it  may  be  enamel.  Every  compartment 
contains  a  relic  of  a  saint — teeth,  pieces  of 
bone,  etc.  A  tiny  parchment  label  with  the 
saint's  name  is  also  enclosed  in  each  of  the 
compartments,  ll  tried  to  decipher  some  of 


We  note  with  great  regret  the  death  at  Cam- 
bridge on  November  30,  at  the  early  age  of 
forty,  of  Miss  Mary  Bateson,  a  member  of 
the  staff  of  Newnham  College,  and  dis- 
tinguished for  the  excellent  original  work  she 
had  done  in  connection  with  the  investiga- 
tion of  mediasval  and  especially  municipal 
history. 

«fr         «fr         "fc 

In  celebration  of  the  thousandth  anniversary 
of  the  founding  of  Romsey  Abbey  by  King 
Edward  the  Elder,  a.d.  907,  a  thanksgiving 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


and  pageant  will  be  held  by  the  Borough  of 
Romsey  on  June  18,  19,  and  20  next. 
Princess  Louise  (Duchess  of  Argyll)  has 
given  her  patronage,  a  fact  of  special 
interest  in  view  of  the  close  connection  which 
has  existed  in  times  past  between  Romsey 
and  its  ancient  abbey  and  members  of  the 
English  Royal  Family,  more  especially  Prin- 
cesses. It  was  founded  to  be  the  home  of 
the  Princess  Ethelflceda,  the  daughter  of 
King  Edward  the  Elder  and  granddaughter 
of  the  great  Alfred.  It  was  rebuilt  by  King 
Edgar,  and  again  probably  by  Canute,  after 
its  destruction  by  Sweyn,  the  first  Danish 
King  of  England.  Queen  Emma  was  a  con- 
stant benefactor  to  the  abbey  in  the  eleventh 
century.  During  the  next  hundred  years 
Christina,  the  sister  of  Queen  Margaret  of 
Scotland,  Princess  Matilda,  her  niece,  who 
afterwards  married  Henry  I.,  and  Princess 
Mary,  King  Stephen's  only  daughter,  after- 
wards Abbess  of  Romsey,  lived  within  its 
walls.  William  Rufus  and  Henry  I.  visited 
it,  and  John,  Edward  I.,  and  Edward  IV. 
at  various  times  gave  benefactions  to  its 
revenues.  James  I.  three  times  visited  it, 
and  on  one  occasion  heard  Launcelot 
Andrews,  the  saintly  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
preach  a  sermon  of  two  hours  in  length  in 
the  abbey  church  ;  and  in  the  vestry  there 
still  hangs  a  deed,  with  a  contemporary 
portrait  and  royal  seal  of  Henry  VIII., 
setting  forth  the  sale  of  the  abbey  to  the 
people  by  that  King.  George  III.  and 
Queen  Victoria  in  later  centuries  both  visited 
the  ancient  town.  The  pageant  will  be  held 
in  Broadlands  Park,  just  outside  Romsey. 

«$»  ft  ty 
The  forthcoming  volume  of  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Somerset  Archaeological  Society  will 
include  a  report  by  Mr.  H.  St.  G.  Gray  on  a 
recently  discovered  Somerset  stone  circle, 
which  is  not  marked  on  the  Ordnance  sheets. 
This  circle  is  on  Withypool  Hill,  Exmoor, 
and  was  discovered  quite  accidentally — by 
the  stumbling  of  his  horse,  in  the  first  place, 
against  a  small  standing-stone  half  smothered 
in  thick  heather  and  other  growth — by  Mr. 
Archibald  Hamilton,  of  the  Western  circuit. 
The  stones  are  nearly  forty  in  number,  and 
enclose  a  circular  area  about  forty  yards  in 
diameter.  In  his  forthcoming  report,  which 
will  be  illustrated  by  a  plan  of  the  stones,  and 


a  map  of  the  neighbourhood,  Mr.  Gray  will 
give  a  full  and  careful  account  of  the  circle 
with  a  detailed  description  of  each  stone. 

«$»  «fr         <fr 

The  excavations  at  Tarranova,  in  Sicily,  which 
are  being  carried  on  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  Professor  Orsi,  director  of  the  Syra- 
cuse Archaeological  Museum,  have  led  to  the 
discovery  of  a  very  ancient  temple.  At  the 
east  end  of  the  modern  town  there  are  still 
standing  the  ruins  of  a  Doric  temple  belong- 
ing to  the  fifth  century.  A  closer  examina- 
tion of  these  remains  brought  to  light,  below 
the  floor-level,  the  bases  of  the  pillars  of  a 
second  older  building,  which  appears  to  have 
been  pulled  down  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
ancient  Gela  themselves,  to  make  room  for 
the  new  sanctuary.  The  older  temple  was 
35  yards  long  by  17  in  breadth.  The  archi- 
tecture was  decorated  with  coloured  tiles,  of 
which  many  fragments  were  dug  up.  It  is 
remarkable  that  the  treasury  of  Gela  at 
Olympia  displays  the  same  kind  of  ornamen- 
tation. 

&        ^        4p 

A  beginning  has  been  made  in  regard  to  the 
organization  of  a  historical  pageant  for  St. 
Albans  on  the  lines  of  that  which  took  place 
at  Warwick  last  July.  The  Herts  County 
Museum  Committee  and  the  St.  Albans  and 
Herts  Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society 
are  already  acting  in  conjunction  in  the  initial 
stages  of  the  arrangements,  and  the  hearty 
co-operation  of  the  general  body  of  the  citizens 
is  expected.  The  probable  date  of  the 
pageant  is  June,  1907. 

«$»     4p     *fr 

Mr,  T.  D.  Coe,  an  American  artist,  has  been 
showing  at  his  studio,  115,  Gower  Street, 
W.C.,  the  remarkable  painting  recently  dis- 
covered at  Venice,  painted  in  161 2  by  Maffeo 
da  Verona,  by  order  of  the  Venetian  Council, 
for  the  now  celebrated  mosaic  decoration 
above  the  west  door  in  the  interior  of  St. 
Mark's  Church,  Venice.  When  the  painting 
was  first  brought  to  England  a  few  months 
ago  the  Times  remarked,  "That  Mr.  Coe's 
picture  is  the  original  cartoon,  and  that 
Maffeo  is  the  painter,  there  can  be  no  doubt ; 
his  authorship  is  proved  by  documentary 
evidence  of  an  indisputable  kind.  The  church 
accounts  now  in  the  archives  at  the  Frari 
record  the  payments  made  both  to  Maffeo 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


for  his  designs  and  to  Alvise  Gaetano  for 
their  execution  in  mosaic,  and  we  learn  that 
the  artist  received  five  ducats  for  each  figure 
in  the  Inferno.  It  appears  that  the  Procu- 
rators in  1610  had  fixed  the  price  at  three 
ducats  per  figure,  but  in  16 12  were  compelled 
to  reconsider  their  decision,  it  being  dis- 
covered '  that  no  master  is  found  who  will 
execute  good  and  perfect  work  for  three  ducats 
per  figure,  especially  since  it  has  become  the 
custom  to  pay  four  and  five  crowns  each  for 
portraits.'  Their  most  illustrious  lordships, 
after  mature  deliberation,  voted  that  Maestro 
Mafleo,  '  an  excellent  painter,'  should  get  his 
five  ducats  per  figure,  '  agreeing  that  two  half 
figures  form  one  complete  one,  and  that  seven 
heads  are  equal  to  one  figure.'  Maffeo  was 
held  in  high  esteem  by  his  contemporaries, 
and  in  RidollVs  account  of  him  the  facility  of 
his  invention,  the  promptitude  and  despatch 
of  his  execution,  the  number  of  his  works, 
and  the  disorders  of  his  life,  are  dwelt  on 
with  equal  complacency.  That  he  was  an 
artist  of  great  accomplishment  and  real  power 
is  proved  by  the  painting  now  in  question. 
It  is  a  work  of  notable  merit,  both  in  design 
and  in  colour,  and  the  handling  of  the  paint 
(which,  though  injured  in  parts,  is  in. a  per- 
fectly genuine  condition)  is  of  fine  quality. 
It  shows  how  strong  the  great  traditions  of 
Venetian  art  still  were  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  in  especial  how 
masterful  the  influence  of  Tintoret,  who  had, 
of  course,  also  designed  mosaics  for  St. 
Mark's.  This  cartoon,  like  other  such  works 
of  this  period,  including  Tintoret's  own  de- 
signs, shows  little  sense  of  the  particular 
decorative  function  for  which  it  is  intended, 
and  must  be  judged  rather  as  a  picture  than 
as  a  mosaic  decoration,  though  the  great  '  hell 
jaws'  which  appear  at  the  side  of  the  com- 
position, where  a  number  of  gigantic  figures 
struggle  and  agonize  in  Michelangelesque 
attitudes,  shows  the  orthodox  convention. 
The  only  other  original  cartoon  for  the  St. 
Mark's  mosaics  which  is  known  to  exist  is 
preserved  in  the  museum  of  the  basilica  itself, 
and  is  said  to  be  inferior  to  the  present  work, 
which  well  merits  the  attention  of  those  who 
are  interested  in  Venetian  art." 

•$?       $?       rb 

To  the  Bath  Beacon  for  November,  Mr.  J.  F. 
Meehan  contributes  another  of  his  interest- 


ing papers  on  "Famous  Buildings  of  Bath 
and  District,"  dealing  this  time  with  Down- 
side Abbey,  which  stands  in  a  valley  on  the 
high  road  from  Bath  to  Shepton  Mallet. 
"There  is  an  historic  interest,"  says  Mr. 
Meehan,  "attached  to  Downside  Abbey, 
apart  from  its  magnificent  architectural 
features,  that  renders  it  peculiarly  attractive 
to  the  student  as  well  as  to  the  antiquary. 
Though  this  Benedictine  establishment  has 
just  completed  the  third  century  of  its 
history,  having  been  founded  in  1605  by  a 
monk  named  Buckley,  believed  to  be  the 
last  monk  of  Westminster,  the  present  com- 
munity of  St.  Gregory's  originated  with  a 
body  of  monks  who  were  driven  from  their 
monastery  at  Douay  by  the  French  Revolu- 
tion in  1793,  ultimately  settling  at  Downside 
in  1814,  the  year  before  the  Battle  of 
Waterloo.  The  monks  here  established  are 
really  representative  of  the  old  communities 
of  the  Glastonbury  and  Bath  Abbeys,  and 
appear  never  to  have  lost  the  continuity  of 
the  order.  They  represent  that  long  line  of 
Benedictine  life  that  was  first  planted  in  this 
country  by  St.  Augustine,  when  he  landed  in 
Kent  in  a.d.  597.  When  the  members  of 
St.  Gregory's  came  to  England  in  1795  they 
found  asylum,  by  the  generosity  of  Edward 
Smythe,  at  Acton  Bumell,  Shropshire,  whence 
they  migrated  to  Downside  in  1814."  The 
paper  is  illustrated  by  a  view  of  Downside 
in  1823,  reproduced  from  an  old  lithograph 
in  Mr.  Meehan's  possession. 

<$?  *fr  4? 
Early  in  November,  while  two  men  were 
engaged  in  clearing  out  a  poultry  run  on  a 
farm  at  Netherhampton,  Wiltshire,  they 
found,  4  or  5  inches  below  the  surface  of 
the  run,  seven  large  old  spoons  stuck  on  end 
in  the  earth.  They  were  found  to  be  silver, 
and  have  been  declared  to  be  "  treasure- 
trove."  The  seven  spoons  all  have  baluster 
and  seal-headed  ends,  and  are  identical  with 
those  which  were  very  common  from  1585 
to  about  1620.  They  vary  slightly  in  size 
and  weight.  On  the  seal  of  each  are  several 
initials  with  a  date,  the  latter  ranging  from 
1596  to  1632.  The  total  weight  of  the  seven 
spoons  is  10  ounces  8  pennyweights. 

4?      4?      41? 

A  discovery  of  some  interest  has  been  acci- 
dentally made  at  Reading.    At  the  beginning 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


of  December,  while  some  workmen  were 
digging  a  trench  for  a  drain  in  the  Forbury 
Gardens,  near  the  Abbey  ruins,  they  un- 
earthed, at  a  depth  of  about  4  feet  from  the 
surface,  portions  of  about  forty  skeletons,  all 
in  an  oriented  position.  It  is  conjectured 
that  the  site  of  the  discovery  was  part  of  an 
ancient  graveyard  belonging  to  St.  Laurence's 
parish  prior  to  1556,  when  Queen  Mary 
granted  the  inhabitants  ground  for  the 
present  churchyard  in  exchange  for  another 
which  had  been  taken  from  them,  "  lying 
next  to  the  late  church  of  the  late  monas- 
tery," and  it  is  possible  that  the  skeletons 
are  of  considerable  antiquity. 

tfp         «fr         $? 

Probably  few  people  who  visited  the  recent 
Exhibition  of  Leadless  Glaze  Products  were 
aware  of  the  precedents  which  may  be  adduced 
from  antiquity  fcr  the  glazing  of  pottery  with- 
out resort  to  compounds  of  lead.  The  oldest, 
as  well  as  the  simplest,  of  glazes  is  a  pure 
silicate  of  soda.  The  Egyptian  potters  used 
pure  alkaline  silicates  wholly  free  from  lead. 
Whether  this  was  from  ignorance  of  the  lead 
process  is  uncertain  ;  but  as  the  soil  of  Egypt 
is  particularly  rich  in  alkali,  the  omission 
was  probably  due  to  the  abundance  of  a 
natural  substitute  more  ready  to  hand.  The 
Assyrians,  on  the  other  hand,  and  the  Persians 
after  them,  used  lead.  Of  the  Phoenician 
and  Hellenic  earthenwares,  the  earliest  in- 
stances are  unglazed.  Gradually  the  Greek 
potters  discovered  the  advantage  of  adding 
silica  and  an  alkali  to  the  pigment  employed, 
till  they  succeeded  in  producing  the  fine, 
thin,  and  completely  leadless  glaze  which 
has  rarely  been  excelled. 

«$»       «$?       <b 

It  was  not,  indeed,  till  the  Middle  Ages  that 
lead  became  a  customary  ingredient  in  the 
glazing  process.  Both  for  artistic  purposes 
and  for  durability  and  hardness  the  leadless 
ware  has  the  advantage ;  the  sole  recom- 
mendations of  leaded  glaze  being  the  diminu- 
tion of  porousness  and  the  decrease  in  the 
cost  of  production.  Greater  fusibility  is 
secured  when  oxide  of  lead  is  added,  and 
the  glaze  can  thus  be  applied  to  a  clay  body 
which  would  not  stand  the  high  temperature 
necessary  to  combine  and  fuse  a  pure  silico- 
alkaline  glaze.  The  main  problem,  there- 
fore, to  be  solved  is  to  discover  a  process 


which  dispenses  with  the  use  of  lead  without 
increasing  the  cost  of  production.  Until  this 
is  accomplished  the  success  of  the  leadless 
products  will  depend  mainly  on  the  philan- 
thropic motives  of  customers  ;  otherwise, 
nothing  short  of  an  international  agreement 
could  eliminate  the  danger  to  industry  in- 
volved by  any  measure  for  the  abolition  of 
lead  in  the  Potteries. 

A  meeting  of  the  Court  of  Hustings  was 
held  at  the  London  Guildhall  on  December  4, 
under  the  presidency  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  the 
other  judges  being  the  members  of  the  Court 
of  Aldermen  and  the  sheriffs.  The  mace- 
bearer  opened  the  proceedings  with  "  Oyez  ! 
Oyez  !  Oyez  !  all  manner  of  persons  who 
have  been  five  times  called  by  virtue  of  any 
exigent  directed  to  the  Sheriffs  of  London, 
and  have  not  surrendered  their  bodies  to  the 
said  sheriffs,  this  Court  doth  adjudge  the 
men  to  be  outlawed,  and  the  women  to  be 
waived."  The  chief  duty  of  the  court  is  the 
enrolment  of  deeds  respecting  the  educational 
endowments  of  the  Corporation,  and  at  the 
court  in  question  two  deeds  relating  to  the 
City  of  London  School  were  enrolled. 

One  of  the  principal  functions  of  the 
courts  appears  to  have  been,  from  the 
earliest  times  of  which  any  record  is  pre- 
served— certainly  from  1252 — the  enrolment 
of  deeds  and  wills,  and  their  jurisdiction 
continues  to  the  present  day.  A  deed  en- 
rolled in  the  Court  of  Hustings  operated  as 
a  bar  to  any  claim  for  a  wife's  dower,  and  as 
recently  as  by  1  and  2  Vic,  cap.  lxxxiii., 
conveyances  to  the  Corporation  by  married 
women,  when  made  in  accordance  with  the 
Act,  and  enrolled  in  the  Court  of  Hustings, 
have  been  declared  to  be  of  as  full  force  and 
effect  as  any  fine  and  recovery.  The  number 
of  wills  enrolled  in  the  court  exceeds  4,000, 
commencing  in  the  forty-third  year  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  III.  (1258),  and  continuing 
for  upwards  of  four  centuries.  An  attempt 
was  made  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners 
in  1268  to  usurp  the  right  of  granting  probate 
in  this  court,  but  Henry  III.  confirmed  the 
privilege.  In  1857  the  powers  of  the  Court 
of  Hustings  in  regard  to  wills  of  personalty 
were  transferred  to  the  Crown.  The  Court 
still    offers    to    the   citizens  facilities  for  the 


8 


WILLIAM  HERBERT,  EARL  OF  PEMBROKE. 


continuation  of  the  useful  system  of  registra- 
tion of  titles  and  encumbrances  ;  its  records 
remain  at  the  Guildhall,  and  form  a  collection 
of  early  wills  which,  in  point  of  number  and 
antiquity,  are  unequalled  by  any  other  in  the 
United  Kingdom. 


CcHilliam  Herbert,  <Batl  of  lpem= 

broke :  a  Sequel  to  tbe  T6attlc 

of  Danesmoor. 

By  James  G.  Wood,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 


R.  CLAPHAM,  in  his  paper  on  this 
battle  {Antiquary,  August,  1906, 
p.  287),  has,  on  a  comparison 
of  the  conflicting  statements  of 
chroniclers  as  to  the  place  of  the  beheading 
of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  concluded  in 
favour  of  Northampton,  and  rejected  Ban- 
bury. This  conclusion  is,  I  have  no  doubt, 
correct,  even  on  the  grounds  he  has  put 
forward ;  but,  as  his  paper  dealt  rather  with 
the  Clapham  family  in  connection  with  the 
event  than  with  that  of  the  Herberts,  he  has 
not  been  led,  as  I  have  been,  to  more  direct 
and  cogent  evidence  on  the  point. 

This  evidence  is  derived  from  the  Earl's 
will,  written  on  the  day  after  the  battle. 
This  will  was  partially,  and  incorrectly, 
printed  by  Sir  Harris  Nicolas  in  his  Testa- 
menta  Vetusta,  and  was  still  more  incorrectly 
copied  (apparently  from  Nicolas)  by  Octavius 
Morgan  in  his  account  of  the  Abergavenny 
Monuments. 

I  some  time  since  procured  a  full  trans- 
cript of  it  from  the  original  Register  Book 
at  Somerset  House.  The  reference  is 
"P.C.C. ;  Godyn,  28."  Besides  its  bearing 
on  the  particular  point  above  mentioned,  it 
is  an  instructive  document,  and  is  worth 
reproducing  in  full.  Before  doing  so  it  may 
be  useful  to  give  a  short  account  of  the 
testator  himself. 

Sir  William  Herbert,  son  of  Sir  William 
ap  Thomas  (of  an  old  family  in  the  southern 
marches  of  Wales),  was  Chief  Justice  of  South 
Wales  in  1461.     By  an  exchange  with  John, 


fifth  Duke  of  Norfolk,  he  obtained  the 
Lordship  of  Striguil  (Chepstow),  and  so 
much  of  its  possessions  as  had  on  the  parti- 
tion of  the  lordship,  consequent  on  the 
failure  in  1245  of  male  issue  of  William 
Marshall  (first  Earl  of  Pembroke  of  the 
second  creation),  been  allotted  as  the  pur- 
party  of  Maud  Marshall,  the  latter's  eldest 
daughter,  and  widow  of  Roger,  third  Earl 
of  Norfolk  ;  these  estates  having,  after  the 
reverter  to  the  Crown  on  the  death  without 
issue  of  Roger,  fifth  Earl  of  Norfolk  (1306), 
and  their  re-grant  to  Thomas  Brotherton 
(half  brother  of  Edward  II.),  descended  to 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk.  Sir  William  at  the 
same  time  and  in  the  same  way  acquired 
the  Lordship  of  Gower  in  Glamorganshire, 
and  was  in  the  same  year  created  Earl  of 
Pembroke,  that  earldom  having  been  vacant 
since  the  death  without  issue  of  John 
Hastings,  Lord  of  Abergavenny,  in  1389,  the 
last  Earl  of  the  third  creation. 

He  had  also  by  inheritance  from  his  father, 
Sir  William  ap  Thomas  (who  had  purchased 
the  same  from  James,  eleventh  Lord  Berkeley), 
the  Castle  and  Manor  of  Raglan,  which  had 
been  about  1150  subinfeudated  by  Richard 
Strongbow  (second  Earl  of  Pembroke  of  the 
first  creation),  as  Lord  of  Striguil,  to  Walter 
Bluet,  ancestor  of  Elizabeth  Bluet,  of  Dag- 
lingworth,  wife  of  Lord  Berkeley. 

By  Letters  Patent  of  March  9,  1465  (Pat. 
5  Edw.  IV.,  pt.  i.,  m.  22),  Sir  William  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  a  Baron,  and  by  the 
same  patent  the  Raglan  estates  just  men- 
tioned, with  other  lands  in  the  neighbour- 
hood (parcel  of  the  Lordship  of  Usk,  which 
had  devolved  upon  the  King  by  direct 
descent  from  Isabella,  another  daughter  of 
William  Marshall,  as  her  purparty  of  the 
Striguil  estates),  were  consolidated  into  and 
became  the  "  united  royal  Lordship  of 
Raglan."  This  document  is  important  as 
the  only  extant  document  creating  a  lordship 
marcher. 

He  married  Ann,  daughter  of  Sir  Walter 
Devereux,  who  proved  his  will  at  Lambeth 
on  August  31,  1469,  power  being  reserved 
in  the  usual  way  to  grant  probate  to  the 
other  executors  also. 

The  following  is  a  verbatim  et  literatim 
transcript  of  the  will  from  the  register,  with 
the  addition  only  of  punctuation  marks  to 


WILLIAM  HERBERT,  EARL  OF  PEMBROKE. 


assist  perusal,  and  reference  numbers  to  the 
succeeding  explanatory  paragraphs  : 

"  In  noie  Iftu.  Item,  I  to  buried  in 
the  Priory  of  Bergevenny1  undre  charge2 
bytwene  my  faders  toumbe  and  pe  chaun- 
cell,  and  the  erst3  pat  shuld  have  be  Tyn- 
tarne  to  be  set  uppon  the  chauncell  as  my 
confessor  Maister  John  Derman  shall  say, 
&c.  ;4  you  my  wife  and  brother  Thomas 
Herbert.  Item,  pat  alle  other  thinges  in  the 
boke  of  my  wil5  pat  is  wretin  with  my  hand 
be  doon.  .  And  wife  pat  ye  Remember  your 
promise  to  take  pe  ordre  of  Wydowhood,  as 
ye  may  be  pe  bettre  maister  of  your  owen,  to 
performe  my  will,  and  to  helpe  my  childern, 
as  I  love  and  trust  you.  And  that  ye  make 
and  to  to  be  made  Restitucion  of  alle 
wronges  pat  I  have  doon  pat  may  come  to 
your  undrestanding ;  having  alle  waies  in 
that  matier  Maister  Leyson  of  your  counsell, 
and  Sir  Edward,  whome  I  trust  verely  in 
this,  and  to  guyde  my  son,  &c.  And  pat  a 
c  tonne  of6  be  yovin7  to  make  the  cloistre 
of  Tyntarne.  Item,  pat  Maister  John  Der- 
man have  xx .  li :  to  Remembre  me  ;  and 
xx .  li :  to  the  grey  Freres  where  my  body 
shall  lygh  ;  and  pat  my  body  be  sent  fore 
home  in  alle  hast  secretely  by  Maister  Leison 
and  certeyn  freres  with  him,  &c.  Item,  pat 
the  worth  of  xxx  .  li :  of  plate  be  sent  to  my 
kepers  here.  Item,  to  John  Haye  a  cup  of 
viij  marcs,  a  yefte7  of  xl.  s.  sent  to  his  wife, 
and  a  gowne  of  velvet  of  myn  for  him. 
Item,  to  Restore  Morgan  Adam  Gilbertes 
londes  his  right  understanding.8  Item,  to 
Thomas  Herbert  the  ij  gilt  pottes  that  came 
last  fro  London,  and  my  grete  courser9;  and 
to  Edmund  Holt  x8.  To  doctor  Leisen 
x.  marcs  a  year  to  singe  for  my  soule  During 
his  life  as  ferforth  as  ye10  may;  and  Edmund 
Malyfaunte  to  wed  one  of  my  doughters. 
I  pray  him,  &c.4  Item,  I  wil  that  John 
Herbert  be  sent  for  hom,  and  he  to  be  one 
of  myne  executours.  I  hertely  pray  him  to 
yeve7  attendance  to  pat  and  to  the  guyding 
of  my  wife  and  childern  ;  and  he  to  be 
Rewarded  of  my  good,  &c.  And  Thomas 
Barry  to  be  another  of  myn  executours,  &c. 
And  the  Rule  of  my  son  under  my  said 
brother  Thomas  Herbert.  Item,  too  wroght 
pottes  of  silver  to  be  yove"  to  my  said 
brother  Morgan.8     Item,  too  prestes   to   be 

VOL.  III. 


found  to  sing  afore  the  Trinite11  at  Lante- 
liewe  for  my  soule  and  for  all  there  soules 
slayne  in  this  feld  for  ij  yere.  Item,  pat  my 
brother  Morgan  be  paied  for  suche  stuf  as  I 
bought  of  hym,  &c.  Item,  to  the  nonnery 
here  C.  s. ;  and  to  the  Priory  of  Bradwell 
C.  s. ;  and  to  pe  iij  orders  of  Freres  here 
x .  li.  Item,  pat  my  Almeshows  have  as 
muche  Livelode1*2  as  shall  suffise  to  find 
vj  power  men  and  one  to  serve  them.  Wife, 
pray  for  me,  and  take  pe  said  ordre  pat  ye 
promised  me,  as  ye  had  in  my  life  my  hert 
and  love.13  God  have  mercy  uppon  me,  and 
save  you  and  our  childern  ;  and  our  Lady 
and  alle  the  Seintes  in  hevin  helpe  me  to 
salvacion.  Amen.  With  my  hand  the  xxvij 
day  of  Julie. 

"William  Pembroke." 

The  will  was  obviously  written  in  con- 
templation of  immediate  death.  He  was  not 
in  sanctuary  in  a  church,  as  Wordsworth's 
lines  would  suggest ;  he  was  in  the  hands  of 
"  keepers,"  who  had  at  least  so  far  shown 
him  consideration  that  he  bequeaths  to  them 
the  value  of  30  pounds  in  plate.  He  had 
already  arranged  that  his  body,  until  sent 
for,  is  to  lie  in  the  house  of  the  Grey  Friars. 
He  gives  legacies  to  the  "  nonnery  here,"  to 
the  Priory  of  Bradwell,  and  to  the  three 
Orders  of  Friars  "  here."  These  references 
are  conclusive  as  to  the  place  where  he  was 
writing,  and  the  place  where  he  was  about 
to  die.  At  Northampton  the  Friars  Minor, 
or  Grey  Friars,  "  had  the  largest  and  best 
house  of  all  the  Friers  in  the  Town  "  (Tanner, 
p.  385,  citing  Leland,  Iti/i.,  vol.  i.,  p.  7). 
The  "  three  orders  of  Freres  here "  next 
mentioned  are  to  be  identified  with  the 
Friars  Preachers,  the  Carmelites  or  White 
Friars,  and  the  Augustine  Friars,  all  at 
Northampton  (see  Tanner,  pp.  386,  387). 
The  "nonnery  here"  was  the  Abbey  of 
De  la  Pre  or  De  Pratis,  without  Northampton, 
for  nuns  of  the  Cluniac  Order  {ibid.,  p.  379). 
On  the  other  hand,  at  Banbury  there  were, 
according  to  Tanner,  only  a  lepers'  hospital 
and  a  College  of  St.  Mary. 

The  mention  of  Bradwell  Priory  in  the 
will  does  not  add  to  or  subtract  from  this 
evidence.  It  was  a  priory  of  Black  Monks, 
three  and  a  quarter  miles  south-east  of  Stony 
Stratford,  and  fifteen  miles  from  Northampton. 


IO 


WILLIAM  HERBERT,  EARL  OF  PEMBROKE. 


It  remains  to  consider  some  other  points 
on  the  will.  The  numbers  refer  to  the 
corresponding  numbers  inserted  in  the  trans- 
cript of  the  will. 

i.  It  appears  to  be  agreed  by  all  writers 
that  the  direction  for  the  burial  to  take  place 
at  Abergavenny  was  not  carried  out,  but  that 
the  Earl,  and  his  wife  afterwards,  were  buried 
in  the  Abbey  of  Tintern.     The  Earl's  pre- 
ference for  Abergavenny  Priory  was  due  only 
to  the  fact  of  his  father  being  already  buried 
there.     Tintern  lay  within   his  own  Striguil 
lordship,  the  earlier  lords  of  which  had  been 
the  founders  and  benefactors  of  the  Abbey, 
and  so  was  the  more  appropriate  of  the  two. 
William    Wyrcestre    was    at    Tintern    from 
September  5  to  7,  1478  (several  of  the  dates 
in    Nasmith's    reprint    of    William's   Diary 
require  correction).     He,  among  the  memo- 
randa relating  to  the  Abbey,  gives  a  list  of 
the  nobles  and  gentry  slain  on  "  Heggecote 
feld "    (i.e.,    Danesmoor),   and    it   is   to   be 
inferred  that  he  obtained  it  at  Tintern,  and 
it    specially  mentions   some  gentry  of  that 
neighbourhood.     It  is   difficult   to   account 
for  the  list  being  at  Tintern,  or  copied  there 
by  Wyrcestre,  unless  it  was  a  copy  of  the  list 
prepared  for  the  commemoration  at    Llan- 
deilo,  directed  in  the  will,  of  those  "  slain  in 
this  feld,"  and  the  Earl's  widow  had  estab- 
lished a  similar  commemoration  at  the  Abbey 
in  connection  with  the  Earl's  burial  there. 

2.  The  puzzling  words  "undre  charge," 
as  appearing  in  the  Prerogative  Register,  are, 
I  have  no  doubt,  a  misreading  of  "  under 
the  arch,"  and  I  think  Octavius  Morgan, 
when  writing  his  Abergavenny  Monuments, 
came  to  the  same  conclusion,  though  he 
does  not  say  so.  He  wrote  (p.  52):  "His 
[the  Earl's]  wish  .  .  .  although  he  so  pre- 
cisely fixes  the  spot,  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  attended  to,  for  he  seems  to  have  been 
buried  at  Tyntern,  and  his  brother  occupies 
the  spot  he  selected  for  himself."  Then 
(p.  56),  describing  the  tomb  of  the  Earl's 
brother,  Sir  Richard  Herbert,  of  Coldbrook, 
and  his  wife  Margaret,  he  says :  "  It  stands 
under  the  arch  between  the  chapel  and  the 
choir,  the  head  being  very  close  to  the  pier 
of  the  arch,  and  occupies  the  precise  spot 
designed  by  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  for 
himself." 

The  tomb  of  the  father,  Sir  William  ap 


Thomas,  is,  in  fact,  in  the  chapel  mentioned 
by  Mr.  Morgan.  The  brother  Richard  is 
by  a  slip  called  "  Sir  Henry  "  and  "  Herbert" 
by  Mr.  Clapham  on  p.  289  of  his  paper. 
He  was  beheaded  at  Northampton  at  the 
same  time  as  his  brother  William. 

That  Wyrcestre  does  not  mention  the 
burial  at  Tintern  is  probably  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  event,  so  recent  as  only  ten  years 
before,  was  notorious,  and  so  not  necessary 
to  record  in  his  book. 

3.  "  Erst "  (incorrectly  printed  as  "cost" 
by  Nicolas  and  Morgan)  is  "  herst,"  one  of 
the  many  forms  of  "  hearse,"  which  at  this 
period  meant  "  an  elaborate  framework, 
originally  intended  to  carry  a  large  number 
of  lighted  tapers  and  other  decorations  over 
the  bier  or  coffin  while  placed  in  the  church 
at  the  funerals  of  distinguished  persons." 
Murray's  ATew  English  Dictionary,  s.v.,  2  a., 
quotes  from  Le  Morte  Arthur,  3,532, 
a.d.  1450 : 

By-fore  a  tombe  that  new  was  dyghte 
Thereon  an  herse  sothely  to  saye 
Wyth  an  C  tappers  lygthe. 

The  same  authority  shows  that  there  are 
instances  of  a  "hearse"  permanently  fixed 
over  a  tomb,  as  in  the  case  of  the  tomb  of 
Richard  Beauchamp  in  St.  Mary's,  Warwick, 
and  at  Tanfield,  Yorkshire. 

4.  The  recurrence  of  "  &c."  throughout 
the  will  suggests  that  the  registrary  omitted 
some  directions  which  were  of  a  merely 
private  or  passing  character  ;  but  it  is 
annoying,  particularly  in  the  first  instance, 
when  it  leaves  the  sentence  incomplete. 

5.  The  other  will  here  referred  to  would 
be  the  will  of  real  estate,  not  usually  admitted 
to  Probate. 

6.  What  the  material  was  of  which  100  tons 
were  to  be  given  must  remain  a  matter  of 
speculation.  There  is  no  sign  of  erasure  or 
omission  in  the  register.  Mr.  Blashill  sug- 
gested "  stone,"  Mr.  Marsh  "  lead,"  Sir  John 
Maclean  "  timber,"  as  the  missing  word. 
There  are  objections  to  all  three.  The 
Abbey  had  already  large  quarrying  rights  at 
Trellech  under  charters  of  William  Marshall 
the  younger  and  Richard,  Earl  of  Gloucester. 
They  had  similarly  extensive  timber  rights, 
besides  large  woods  of  their  own ;  and  in 
cases  of  grants  of  timber  for  such  purposes 


WILLIAM  HERBERT,  EARL  OF  PEMBROKE. 


ii 


(as  in  Crown  grants  on  the  Close  Rolls  for 
churches  and  bridges)  the  grant  was  by 
number,  not  weight.  I  do  not  know  of  any 
possessions  of  the  Earl  from  which  lead  in 
any  substantial  quantity  was  obtainable ; 
besides,  ioo  tons  of  lead  of  any  reasonable 
thickness  would  have  more  than  covered, 
not  only  the  cloisters,  but  the  whole  garth  as 
well.  The  gift,  however,  seems  to  fix  a  date 
at  which  the  cloisters  were  either  being 
restored  or  completed. 

7.  "Yovin,"  "yefte,"  "  yeve,"  and  "yove" 
are  M.E.  forms  for  "given,"  "gift,"  "give," 
and  "gave." 

8.  From  the  subsequent  mention  of  "my 
said  brother  Morgan,"  the  Morgan  here 
mentioned  must  be  the  testator's  brother, 
and  the  passage  seems  to  mean  that  certain 
lands  acquired  from  Adam  Gilbert  were  to 
be  given  up  to  Morgan  Herbert,  as  the 
testator  was  now  satisfied  as  to  his  title  to 
them. 

9.  "Courser"  was  at  this  period  a  charger 
or  warhorse.     See  Murray's  Dictionary,  s.v. 

10.  "Ye"  is  apparently  a  clerical  error 
for  "he." 

11.  This  church,  at  the  Trinity  Altar  of 
which  Mass  is  here  directed  to  be  sung, 
was  either  Llandeilo  Pertholey,  near  Aber- 
gavenny, or  Llandeilo  Cressenny,  five  miles 
north  of  Raglan. 

12.  One  of  many  forms  of  "  livelihood  " — 
i.e.,  "income"  or  "revenue"  (Murray,  s.v). 
"To  find  "  means  "to  provide  for." 

13.  For  the  form  of  a  widow's  vow,  and 
the  ceremonies  attending  it,  see  Liber  Ponti- 
ficalis  of  Edmund,  Bishop  of  Exeter  (1420), 
edition  R.  Barnes,  pp.  122-126,  cited  Furni- 
vall's  Early  English  Wills,  pp.  135,  136. 

The  Earl  left  two  sons.  The  eldest, 
William,  succeeded  to  his  honours  and 
estates,  exchanged  the  Earldom  of  Pem- 
broke for  that  of  Huntington  (1479),  was 
Chief  Justice  of  South  Wales  (1483),  and  by 
his  wife,  Mary  Woodville,  left  one  child, 
Elizabeth,  married  to  Charles  Somerset, 
Earl  of  Worcester,  who  on  his  marriage  with 
the  heiress  was  created  Baron  Herbert  of 
Raglan,  Chepstow,  and  Gower,  their  eldest 
son,  Henry,  Earl  of  Worcester  (buried  in 
the  Priory  Church  at  Chepstow,  1549),  being 
the  direct  ancestor  of  the  present  Duke  of 
Beaufort. 


Our  Earl's  second  son,  known  as  Sir 
Richard  Herbert  of  Ewyas,  left  a  son 
William,  who  was  created  Baron  Herbert 
of  Cardiff,  and  afterwards  (1 55 1)  Earl  of 
Pembroke  (by  a  fifth  creation),  and  obtained 
from  Edward  VI.  a  grant  (among  other 
large  estates)  of  the  Lordships  of  Usk  and 
Trellech,  being  other  parts  of  the  original 
Striguil  estates.  By  his  wife  Anne,  sister 
and  heiress  of  the  Earl  of  Northampton, 
and  sister  of  Catherine  Parr,  he  was  the 
ancestor  of  the  present  Marquis  of  Bute  and 
of  Earl  Windsor. 


By  William  Martin,  M.A.,  LL.D. 


HE  Victoria  History  of  Sussex,  which 
has  recently  been  published,  de- 
votes some  twenty-seven  pages  to 
a  description  of  the  grass-covered 
earthworks  and  other  forts  which  are  to  be 
found  upon  the  more  prominent  summits  of 
the  South  Downs.  The  well-known  earth- 
works in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lewes,  among 
which  Mount  Caburn  is  pre-eminent,  receive 
a  measure  of  attention.  Strange  to  say,  how- 
ever, no  mention  is  made  of  certain  earth- 
works which  are  situated  to  the  north-east  of 
Mount  Caburn  at  a  distance  of  about  a  mile. 
Nor,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  is  there  any 
allusion  to  them  in  the  forty-eight  volumes 
issued  by  the  Sussex  Archaeological  Society. 
Perhaps  these  earthworks  have  been  con- 
sidered too  insignificant  for  notice ;  or,  pos- 
sibly, they  are  known  to  have  been  contrived 
in  modern  times,  in  which  case  they  are  of 
little  value  to  the  antiquary.  However  this 
may  be,  there  may  be  those  to  whom  a  brief, 
although  rough,  description  of  this  hill-fort 
may  prove  interesting,  if  only  to  acquaint 
them  of  its  lack  of  importance — if  such  be  so 
— when,  as  was  the  case  with  myself,  it  is 
accidentally  encountered. 

As  is  well  known,  Mount  Caburn  is  the 
southernmost  height  of  that  peculiarly  de- 
tached mass  of  the  South  Downs  which 
seems  as  though  it  had  floated  away  from  its 
parental  range  into  the  Sussex  Weald.    From 

B  2 


12 


A  SUSSEX  HILL-FORT. 


its  northern  approaches  the  Weald  recedes 
until  it  is  merged  into  the  rr.id-Sussex  heights. 
Upon  its  southern  flanks  flow  the  Ouse  and 
its  tributary  the  Ritch,  the  Ritch  joining  the 
Ouse  below  Lewes.  This  island  of  hill-tops 
presents  a  majestic  appearance  from  the  site 
of  the  battle-field  on  the  adjacent  downs, 
where  it  can  be  seen  to  its  fullest  advantage. 
The  summit  of  the  north-eastern  spur  of 
this  detached  mass  is  covered  with  a  planta- 
tion, visible  for  miles  around.  The  accom- 
panying photograph,  which  was  taken  by  my 


of  the  trees  and  the  thick  undergrowth,  no 
single  complete  view  of  the  whole  contour  of 
the  ramparts  was  obtainable.  The  ground- 
plan  given  on  p.  13  was  sketched  by  myself 
within  the  blank  space  enclosed,  on  the 
25-inch  ordnance  map,  by  a  line  repre- 
senting the  edge  of  the  plantation.  The 
plan  is  drawn  from  eye-measurement  and 
pacing  ;  it  must,  therefore,  be  considered  in 
the  light  of  these  imperfections. 

The  camp  is  more  or  less  pear-shaped  in 
plan,  and,  in  some  respects,  is  suggestive  of 


"  THE    HOLT,-'    RINGMER,    IN   WHICH   THE   HILL-FORT    IS   SITUATED.      THE   SUSSEX    WEALD 
APPEARS    IN    THE   DISTANCE. 


friend  Mr.  Watson,  of  Ealing,  shows  to  the 
north-east  of  the  point  of  observation  the 
copse-crowned  summit  upon  which  the  hill- 
fort  now  under  description  was  constructed. 
Being  informed  of  the  existence  of  a  mound 
within  the  planted  area,  I  suspected  a  place 
of  sepulture.  Mr.  Christie  having  kindly 
given  the  necessary  permission,  I  excavated 
the  mound,  but  with,  alas !  unsuccessful 
results.  During  the  operation  I  was  enabled 
to  study  the  environment  with  facility,  result- 
ing in  the  discovery  of  a  hill-fort  of  some 
dimensions.    Owing,  however,  to  the  density 


the  earthwork  which  is  situated  on  the 
Downs  immediately  above  Edburton,  near 
the  well-known  Devil's  Dyke  and  the  "  Poor 
Man's  Wall."  On  the  side  towards  the 
north-east  the  banks  are  some  10  or  12  feet 
from  the  lowered  ground-level  within  the 
fort.  On  the  outside  the  banks  pass  rapidly 
down  and  over  the  200-feet  contour  line  to 
the  edge  of  the  plantation.  Upon  the  wes- 
tern side,  where  the  fort  would  seem  to  be 
more  open  to  attack,  owing  to  the  slight  fall 
of  the  land  along  the  ridge  of  the  hill,  the 
banks  are  surprisingly  flatter  and  lower.     At 


A  SUSSEX  HILL-FORT. 


13 


the  southern  extremity  there  is  a  curious 
raising  of  the  ramparts,  perhaps  to  twice  the 
height  of  those  at  the  east.  In  this  respect, 
too,  the  plan  of  the  Edburton  fort  is  some- 
what followed.  This  raised  portion,  which 
time  has  spread,  runs  rapidly  down  to  the 
banks  as  they  pass  away  to  the  north-west. 
It  also  sends  out  a  spur  to  the  south-west, 
but  perhaps  this  is  an  accidental  feature. 
It  was  so  thickly  enveloped  in  trees  and 
bramble  that  an  approximate  idea  only  of  its 
appearance  was  obtainable.  On  the  south- 
west of  the  fort  there  lay  for  some  distance 
parallel  with  the  adjacent  rampart  an  elon- 
gated basin  or  foss.  The  site  is  now  inter- 
sected by  a  footpath,  which  is  joined  at  its 


T  H£  HOLT  .    RINGMER 
PLAN   OF   THE    HILL-FORT. 

entry  by  a  path  from  the  gateway  to  the 
open  down,  and  by  a  path  parallel  to  a 
sunken  cart-track  which  ascends  the  hill 
from  the  east.  It  may  fairly  be  concluded 
that  the  cart-track  was  formerly  a  part  of  the 
road  to  Lewes,  forming  an  alternative  route 
when  the  low-lying  districts  around  were 
water-logged  or  impassable  in  winter.  Its 
continuation  over  the  mill-plain  to  the  west 
intersects  the  road  from  Ringmer  to  Glynde, 
and  traverses  the  site  of  a  Saxon  burying- 
ground  (Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  vol.  xxxiii., 
p.  129). 

Within  the  camp  a  dish-cover  mound  is 
to  be  seen.  At  an  angle  slightly  oblique  to 
its   longest   diameter  I   cut  a  trench   some 


2  feet  wide  at  the  top,  tapering  to  1  foot 
6  inches  at  the  depth  of  4  feet.  At  3  feet 
virgin  chalk  was  encountered,  but  no  trace 
of  human  remains,  pottery,  or  other  relics 
were  found.  Before  refilling  the  trench  a 
hollow  in  the  bed-rock  was  dug  and  a  glass 
jar  inserted.  The  jar,  the  lid  of  which  was 
rendered  air-tight  by  a  sealing  of  asphalt, 
contained  a  copy  of  the  Times,  September  1, 
1898,  a  penny-piece  dated  1894,  two  ears  of 
ripe  corn,  and  a  piece  of  wash-leather,  upon 
which  was  written  a  statement  to  the  effect 
that  the  mound  was  opened  on  September  1, 
1898,  by  Messrs.  W.  and  W.  F.  Martin,  and 
that  nothing  hidden  was  discovered.  To 
some  future  excavator  a  disappointment  is, 
no  doubt,  in  store  when  he  breaks  open  this 
bottle.  When  digging  the  trench  it  became 
apparent  that  the  mound  had  not  been 
thrown  up  when  the  camp  was  made,  but 
that  the  interior  of  the  camp  had  been 
uniformly  lowered  to  form  the  banks,  and 
the  mound  isolated. 

As  regards  the  age  of  the  camp,  which 
closely  follows  the  contour  of  the  hill-top, 
it  may  be  prehistoric,  or  it  may  have  been 
constructed  ':  within  the  memory  of  the  oldest 
inhabitant."  To  which  end  of  this  time- 
scale  it  inclines  I  have,  at  present,  no  means 
of  determining.  Pick  and  shovel  during  a 
summer  vacation  would,  no  doubt,  yield 
much.  In  spite  of  signs  of  modernity,  the 
opinion  may  be  hazarded  that  the  fort  is  of 
an  age  with  other  British  earthworks  in  the 
vicinity.  If,  with  the  kindly  and  sympa- 
thetic co-operation  of  the  proprietor,  a  small 
sum  could  be  guaranteed  for  surveying  and 
for  judicious  excavation,  valuable  and  inter- 
esting information  might  be  gained  upon 
its  history,  and  additional  light  shed  upon 
Sussex  earthworks  in  general,  about  which 
so  little  at  present  is  available. 


H 


ETON  COLLEGE  SONGS. 


(Eton  College  %onp; 

By  the  Rev  W.  C.   Green,   M.A. 

HERE  was  long  ago  in  College  at 
Eton  an  institution  called  "  Fire- 
place." On  certain  winter  even- 
ings the  Collegers  gathered  round 
the  great  fire  in  Long  Chamber,  some  bed- 
steads being  dragged  thither  and  arranged, 
and  the  fire  being  carefully  built  up.  There 
they  sang  songs,  not  without  occasional  wet- 
ting of  the  musical  whistle.  The  songs  were 
of  various  kinds,  some  special  to  College, 
some  not  so. 

When  I  myself  entered  College  in  1847 
the  new  buildings  were  completed  and 
opened,  and  Long  Chamber  and  Fireplace 
had  ceased  to  be.  But  my  elder  brother 
(three  years  senior)  saw  the  last  of  the  Long 
Chamber  days,  and  he,  being  musical,  used 
to  bring  home  to  us,  his  younger  brothers, 
the  College  songs.  We  sang  them  often, 
and  he  and  I  still  keep  in  our  memory  a 
great  store. 

There  was,  I  fancy,  some  rule  that  boys 
on  their  admission  to  Fireplace  should  (if 
they  could)  contribute  a  song ;  and  such 
songs,  if  liked,  were  retained  and  sung  re- 
peatedly. Many  songs  had  a  chorus ;  if 
they  had  not,  some  were  sung  in  chorus — 
untuneably,  doubtless,  to  fastidious  ears : 
so  says  A.  D.  C,  author  of  Eton  in  the 
Forties.  But  tunes  they  had  :  some  had  well- 
known  tunes ;  other  tunes  I  never  heard 
apart  from  their  Eton  words. 

At  what  date  Fireplace  songs  began  to  be 
a  College  custom  I  cannot  say.  Perhaps 
the  institution  was  not  so  very  old.  For  my 
father,  an  old  Colleger,  who  left  Eton  for 
King's  in  181 2,  though  he  used  to  listen 
with  amusement  to  us  singing  these  songs, 
did  not,  as  far  as  I  remember,  speak  of  any 
such  custom  of  song  as  current  in  his  school- 
days. However,  he  was  not  very  musical. 
Some  of  the  songs,  not  especially  Eton,  are 
certainly  older  than  my  generation  or  his ; 
but  in  the  songs  that  I  know  there  are  no 
special  Eton  allusions  that  go  beyond  Keate, 
head  master  from  1809  to  1834. 

The  songs,  as  I  give  them,  are  from  my 
own  memory,  supplemented  by  my  brother's. 

I  shall  begin  with  the  song  that  was  sung 


after  the  annual  football  match  at  the  Wall 
between  Collegers  and  Oppidans,  played  (as 
it  still  is)  on  "after  twelve  "  of  St.  Andrew's 
Day.  The  Colleger  eleven  celebrated  it  by 
a  "lush" — i.e.,  a  carousal— held  in  a  room 
up  Eton  "  after  four,"  which  interval  so  late 
in  the  year  (November  30)  must  have  ended 
with  lock-up  at  five  o'clock. 

I  give  the  tune  of  this  with  the  first  verse, 
as  I  do  for  some  others. 

FOOTBALL  SONG. 


1.  Now  foot-ball  is       o-ver  and   fin-ished  the  game, 


Fol-de-rol,      lol-de-rol,      lol-de-rol,     li-do.     For  a- 


Fo!-de-rol,       lol-de-rol,      lol-de-rol,      li-do.     Your 


*  :>  '/  i-*-y-i3  -/-' 


hins  won't  get   bet-ter   for   mak-ing     a      fu 


S^ 


see  no   ob  -  jec-tion   to        hav-ing      a     lush.     Ri 


fol-de-rol,         lol  -  de  -  rol,        lol  -  de  -  rol 


Fol-de-rol,       lol-de-rol,     lol-de-rol      li-do. 


For  surely  there  can  be  but  little  to  blame, 

As  long  as  old  Smith's  *  at  the  head  of  the  game. 

*  1845-1847. 


ETON  COLLEGE  SONGS. 


*5 


3- 
Not  filled  with  more  pleasure  was  Wellington's  brain, 
When  he  saw  England's  banner  float  over  the  main, 
Than  the  heart  of  each  Colleger  will  be  replete 
When  he  hears  the  glad  tidings  of  Snivey's  defeat. 

This  verse  I  owe  to  A.  D.  C.'s  book. 

"The  fine  old  Eton  Colleger,"  to  which 
A.  D.  C.  gives  the  first  place,  must  have 
been  composed  by  an  Etonian  for  Eton  use. 
It  went  to  the  well-known  tune  of  "  The 
fine  old  English  gentleman."  This  I  used 
to  hear  sung  in  my  childhood  by  those  of  a 
generation  above  me  ;  perhaps  it  was  even 
older  than  that.  The  Eton  adaptation  may 
be  found  in  A.  D.  C.'s  book.  It  speaks 
of  a  time  before  railways,  for  the  departing 
Colleger  "  mounted  on  his  four-in  hand." 

"  It  has,  Keate  has  passed  away."  Keate 
ceased  to  be  head  master  in  1834,  but  he  lived 
many  years  after  that.  The  song  in  the  last 
verse  is  a  bit  boastful :  "  We  still  will  beat  the 
Oppidans  at  football,  bat,  and  oar."  At 
football  the  Collegers  won  just  a  majority  of 
matches  in  the  decade  1841  to  1850,  but 
at  cricket  the  larger  battalions  more  often 
prevailed.  And  on  the  river  there  was  no 
match  and  no  rivalry  ;  Collegers  then  were 
never  "  in  the  boats."  The  next  song  I  give 
is  the  "  Blacksmith  "  : 

THE  BLACKSMITH. 


1.  Here's  a  health  to  the  black-smith,  the  prince  of  good 


fel-lows,  Who  works  at  the  forge,  while  the  boy  blows  the 


bel-lows.  Sing  hey,  sing  ho,  sing  spank-cr-down  dil-lo, 

fW—jti——»i  »■  ■-¥-*-{  *-*-*-{  -»— 

The  sound  of  the  bag-pipes  came  un-der  his     pil-low. 

2. 
When  a  gentleman  asks  him  his  horse  for  to  shoe, 
He  has  no  objection  to  one  glass  or  two. 

Sing  hey,  etc. 

3- 
The  first  glass  he  drinks  to  the  health  of  the  Queen, 
And  all  the  Royal  Family  that  ever  were  seen. 


The  next  glass  he  drinks  to  the  girl  he  loves  best, 
Who  keeps  all  his  secrets  locked  up  in  her  b:east. 


The  next  glass  he  drinks  without  any  remorse  ; 
He  fills  up  a  bumper  and  drinks  to  the  horse. 

6. 

And  while  his  companions  around  him  are  quaffing, 
He  fills  up  a  bumper  and  drinks  to  the  Baffin. 

The  third  verse  suggests  a  Victorian  date, 
but,  if  the  song  was  earlier,  a  rhyme  for 
"  king  "  was  not  difficult.  And  verse  6  must 
have  been  in  Keate's  time.  For  in  this  verse 
(the  blacksmith  having  drunk  three  glasses) 
the  scene  changes,  and  it  is  an  Eton  Colleger 
who  drinks.  Baffin  was  understood  to  be  a 
nickname  for  Dr.  Keate.  But  when  I  went 
up  to  King's  in  1851  I  learnt  from  my 
seniors,  actual  boys  under  Keate  (there  were 
many  then  surviving),  that  "baffing"  was 
the  word  coined  by  the  boys  for  the  sort 
of  intercalary  growl  uttered  by  Keate  when 
speaking  in  excitement,  so  that  Keate  was 
the  "  baffer "  rather  than  the  "baffin." 
Some  representations  of  this  sound  I  remem- 
ber hearing  from  my  father  when  he  told  me 
of  some  of  Keate's  utterances. 

Another  song  of  the  Bacchanalian  order 
was  "  Come,  landlord,  fill  the  flowing  bowl," 
with  its  three  jolly  and  "  determined  "  post- 
boys, and  praises  of  punch.  But  this  old 
song  was  not  peculiar  to  Eton  College.  I 
may  here  remark  that  I  do  not  believe  these 
bacchanalian  choruses  appreciably  corrupted 
the  morals  of  the  Etonian  songsters,  how- 
ever they  acted  on  their  musical  tastes. 
Some  folks  nowadays,  in  too  much  zeal  for 
temperance,  run  into  absurdities.  Everyone 
knows  the  round,  "  A  boat,  a  boat  unto 
the  ferry,"  with  its  expressed  desire  for 
"  good  sherry."  There  is  now  a  temperance 
version  of  it  running  thus  : 

A  glass,  a  glass,  but  not  of  sherry, 
For  we  without  it  can  be  merry  ; 
Cold  water  makes  us  happy  very. 

Learning  this  when  I  came  into  Suffolk 
twenty- two  years  ago,  I  invented  a  middle- 
course  song  for  my  boys  : 

A  gig,  a  gig,  to  ride  to  Bury, 
For  oh,  the  roads  are  dirty  very  ; 
To  get  safe  home  will  make  us  merry. 


i6 


ETON  COLLEGE  SONGS. 


In    our   College   repertoire   were    several 
sailor  songs.     Here  is  one  : 

ON  FRIDAY  MORNING. 


ilSfs^llll 


i.  On  Fri-day  morn-ing  we  set  sail,  And  'twas  not  far  from 
land,  When  we  es-pied   a      pret-ty  mer-maid,  with  a 


comb  and     a  brush   in     her   hand,  her  hand,  her  hand, 


HS^^^gl 


with    a     comb  and    a   brush  in    her  hand. 

[Chorus  repeats  the  tune. 

Chorus. 
For  the  raging  waves  do  roar,  roar,  roar, 

And  the  stormy  winds  do  blow,  blow,  blow, 
And  we  poor  sailors  are  up  in  the  top, 

And  the  land-lubbers  lie  down  below,  below,  below, 
And  the  land-lubbers  lie  down  below. 


Then  up  spake  the  captain  of  our  gallant  shin, 

And  a  well-spoken  man  was  he  : 
"  For  want  of  the  jolly-boat,  we  all  shall  be  drown'd, 
And  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  the  sea,  the  sea, 
And  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea." 

For,  etc. 
3- 
And  up  spake  the  cabin-boy  of  our  gallant  ship, 

And  a  well-spoken  boy  was  he, 
"  My  father  and  mother  in  fair  London  town 
This  night  will  be  weeping  for  me,  for  me,  for  me, 
This  night  will  be  weeping  for  me." 

For,  etc. 
4- 
Then  three  times  round  went  our  gallant  ship, 

And  three  times  round  went  she  ; 
Three  times  round  went  our  gallant  ship, 

And  sank  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  the  sea,  the  sea, 
And  sank  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

For,  etc. 

There  were  some  other  sea  songs  current 
in  College,  as  "  The  Arethusa,"  "  Hearts  of 
Oak,"  and  "  Billy  Taylor,"  but  these  are  too 
well  known  to  need  repetition. 

"Mr.  Simpkins"  was  a  curious  ballad. 
I  never,  oft  as  I,have  repeated  or  sung  it  to 
amuse,  found  it  known  to  any  but  old  Col- 
legers     It  cannot  be  called  a  song  of  high 


moral  tendency,  but  the  horrors  of  it  are  so 
mixed  with  the  ridiculous  that  I  fancy  they 
slipped  harmless  over  our  boyish  minds.  I 
hold  it  all  in  my  memory,  but  will  not  repro- 
duce it.  It  is  written  in  Eton  in  the  Forties. 
I  will  pass  on  to  a  sort  of  kitchen  ballad, 
"  Supper  with  Betty." 

SUPPER  WITH  BETTY. 

i — Vi 


i.   Last      night  an     in  -  vi   -   tation    I      got, 


itzjz: 


i^3 


Supper  with  Betty  to    take ;  This      in-vi-tation   I 


it— _- 


zt 


^fe$ 


quick-ly  took,  'Twas  all  for   Bet-ty's  sake. 


And 


E^^gm 


af-ter  supper  was      o  -  ver,  Of  the  cup-board  I  got 


ift — i — r 


the  keys.   One  pocket  I   fill'd  with    but  -  ter,    thf 


other  I  fill'd  with  cheese,  the  other  I  fill'd  with  cheese. 


My  pockets  now  being  fully  cramm'd  with  a  pound  of 

good  butter  or  more, 
The  master  with  a  thundering  row  came  rattling  at 

the  door, 
And  I,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  did  up  the  chimney 

fly, 

And  there  I  sat  quite  at  my  ease  like  sweep  exalted 
high. 

3- 
Now  safe  and  up  the  chimney,  and  seated  at  my  ease, 
The  fire  began  the  butter  to  melt,  likewise  to  toast 

the  cheese. 
My  master  he  the  chimney  look'd  up,  and   thought 

the  devil  was  there, 
For  every  drop  that  came  tumbling  down,  it  made  it 

for  to  flare. 

4- 
My  master  he  the  chimney  got  up,  the  devil  a  word 

did  he  say, 
But  thinking  that  by  water  he'd  drive  the  devil  away  ; 
The  water  it  came  tumbling  down  as  fast  as  it  could  fall, 
And  I  came  tumbling  after,  butter  and  cheese  and  all. 


ETON  COLLEGE  SONGS. 


17 


Now  safe  and  down  the  chimney,  with  smutty  and 

greasy  face, 
I  quickly  to  the  street-door  ran,  and  down  the  street 

did  race ; 
The  dogs  did  bark,  the  children  scream'd,  up  flew 

the  windows  all, 
And  everyone  cried  out  "  Well  done  !"  as  loud  as 

they  could  bawl. 

Of  my  next  specimen  I  am  not  sure 
whether  it  was  a  College  song  in  my  time 
or  we  got  the  words  from  my  father.  But, 
even  so,  it  was  a  song  of  his  school-days, 
and  he  was  an  Eton  Colleger.  We  sang  it 
to  the  tune  of  "  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Prevot,"  an  amusing  matrimonial  duet,  which 
a  cousin  of  my  mother's  used  to  sing. 

MR.  BOURNE  AND  HIS  WIFE. 

il 


sak-fast  had  a       strife,       she        wan-ted  bread  and 
but  -  ter   with   her     tea,     fol  -  de    -   rol.  He 

F  W — fr->-p->»-F *-!-•- f-s si 

swore  he'd  rule  the  roast,  and  he'd  have  some  but-ter'd 


So 


log  -  ger  -  heads    a- 


E^aB^^a 


bout 


let      us        sing,     fol   -   de   -   rol. 


There  was  a  Mr.  Moore,  who  lived  on  the  first  floor, 
A  man  mighty  strong  in  his  wrist,  fol-de-rol ; 
He  overheard  the  splutter  about  the  toast  and  butter, 
And  he  knock'd  down  Mr.  Bourne  with  his  fist,  fol- 
de-rol. 

3- 
"Ods  bobs,  upon  my  life,  it's  a  shame  to  beat  your 

wife, 
It  is  both  a  shame  and  a  disgrace,  fol-de-rol." 
"  Ods  bobs,"  said  Mrs.  Bourne,  "  but  it's  no  affair  of 

yourn"  ; 
And  she  dash'd  a  cup  of  tea  in  his  face,  fol-de-rol. 

VOL.  III. 


Such  are  some  of  the  old  Eton  College 
songs.  No  one  regrets  that  Long  Chamber 
passed  away  sixty  years  since.  With  it 
vanished  the  singing  of  the  songs.  My  old 
friend  A.  D.  Coleridge  terms  them  the 
"  cacophonous  shouts  which  formed  our 
declamatory  chorus  in  the  so-called  College 
songs  that  cheered  our  winter  evenings  in 
Fireplace."  A.  D.  C.  became  an  excellent 
singer,  of  exceptional  musical  knowledge  and 
taste.  And  his  strictures  apply  to  the  scraps 
of  slang  and  scurrility,  of  which  he  has  pre- 
served more  than  need  be  remembered.  But 
the  real  songs  do  not  merit  such  severe  con- 
demnation. They  had  tunes,  however  un- 
tuneably  some  of  the  chorus  may  have  sung 
them.  (A.  D.  C.  himself  cannot  have  been 
"cacophonous.")  And  in  the  words  of  these 
songs  there  was  very  little  really  bad  or 
corrupting.  Some,  I  grant,  were  baccha- 
nalian, some  vulgar.  But  as  an  anthology 
gathered  by  boys  they  reached  a  fair  average, 
and  many  good  songs  were  among  them. 
Certainly,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  College 
songs  perceptibly  corrupted  the  music  or 
morals  of  their  age. 

In  my  boyhood  was  current  a  mistransla- 
tion of  Horace's  D dicta  major um  immeritus 
lues  into  "  The  delights  of  our  ancestors  were 
unmitigated  filth."  Some  persons  would 
nowadays  accept  this  for  a  serious  truth. 
For  "commemoration  of  benefactors"  they 
would  substitute  "vituperation  of  male- 
factors," and  would  read  into  the  text  of 
Sirach's  son,  "  Let  us  now  blame  famous 
men  and  our  fathers  that  begat  us." 

I  hold  a  more  favourable  opinion  even  of 
our  triflings.  College  songs  were,  I  believe, 
a  harmless  "  delight "  to  the  Tugs  of  the  first 
half  of  the  last  century,  and  may  even  now 
amuse  some  as  ancient  curiosities. 

But — to  end  in  a  lighter  vein — I  will  give 
as  much  as  I  remember  of  a  purely  Etonian 
song  : 

FLOREAT  ETONA. 


£? 


1.  Come,  pledge  me  a  toast,  to  the  dregs  let  each  drain, 


Egjf2i5£SS£JE^Egg 


For  per-haps  we  may  ne'er  meet  to  drink    it     a  •  gain  ; 

C 


ASPENDEN  CHURCH,  HERTS. 


jjggE^assggpi 


Lei's     ban-ish  all  care,  and  all      sor-row  and  strife, 


e. 


And  drink     to     the  joys     of      an      E  -  ton    life. 


Flo-reat     E  -  to  -  na  !        Flo-reat      E  -  to  -  na  ! 


I « # — •—  0 — 0 — 0—  r- 

Flo-reat     E  -  to  -  na  !        Hip,     hip,     hur  -  rah  ! 

[But  schooldays  are  fleeting  and  vanish  away, 
For  the  young  must  grow  older,  and  graver  the  gay  ;] 
The  old  boy's  grown  sedate,  for  he's  taken  a  wife, 
And  sighs  to  look  back  on  his  Eton  life. 

Floreat  Etona  !  etc. 


aspenuen  Cfjurcfi,  iketts. 

By  W.  B.  Gerish. 

HE  village  of  Aspenden,  situated 
about  three  -  quarters  of  a  mile 
from  the  town  of  Buntingford, 
consists  of  a  long,  straggling  street, 
having  on  the  south  side  a  nameless  rivulet, 
a  feeder  of  the  river  Rib,  across  which  rustic 
wooden  bridges  are  thrown  at  intervals, 
giving  access  to  the  cottages  on  the  other 
side.  The  street  has  a  singular  eighteenth- 
century  air,  the  public  road  terminating  at 
the  church,  which  is  situated  at  the  park 
gates,  and,  as  with  the  fabrics  at  Knebworth, 
North  Mimms,  and  elsewhere  in  the  county, 
standing  upon  the  demesne  land. 

The  meaning  of  the  place-name  Aspenden, 
until  quite  recently  spelt  Aspeden,  and 
always  pronounced  Asp'den,  has  proved  a 
mine  of  conjecture  for  the  historian  and 
local  writers.  Chauncy,  writing  in  1700, 
says,  "so  termed  from  the  asps  or  adders 
which  frequently  breed  in  the  vale."  This 
worthy  man  lived  only  some  five  miles 
distant,  and  should  have  known ;  but  these 
reptiles  seem  to  have  been  exterminated  for 
many  years ;  a  harmless  grass-snake   is  the 


only  creature  occasionally  met  with  there. 
Salmon,  another  historian,  who  wrote  in 
1728,  says:  "While  some  derive  its  name 
from  asps  or  adders  —  Caverna  viperina— 
others  say  it  is  from  the  aspen-tree,  which  is 
supposed  to  have  grown  plentifully  here." 
There  are  at  this  date  a  few  of  the  trembling 
poplars  to  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood  : 
possibly  in  Saxon  times  these  trees  were 
numerous,  and  the  village  was  known  as  the 
Aspen  Valley  (Skeat's  Place-Names  of  Hert- 
fordshire). 

There  are  two  hamlets  in  Aspenden, 
Berkesdon  (locally  Barden)  and  Wakeley, 
both  of  which  possessed  churches.  That  at 
Berkesdon  was  in  existence  until  1584,  when 
John  Brograve  caused  it  to  be  demolished. 
Its  site  is  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  it 
probably  stood  near  the  manor-house  of 
Tannis.  The  Church  of  St.  Giles  at  Wakeley 
was  served  by  the  Canons  of  Holy  Trinity 
in  London,  and  when  at  the  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries  its  tiny  revenue  of  ns.  and 
7  acres  of  glebe  passed  into  lay  hands, 
probably  no  one  could  be  found  to  accept  so 
small  a  stipend,  and  the  building  fell  into 
decay.  Its  foundations  were  partly  un- 
covered a  few  years  ago  by  the  East  Herts 
Archaeological  Society,  but  the  site  had  been 
so  thoroughly  pillaged  for  material  with 
which  to  mend  the  farm  roads  that  no 
definite  plan  could  be  determined. 

Aspenden  is  supposed  to  have  been  chiefly 
waste  and  woodland  at  the  Conquest,  and 
was  given  to  Eudo  Dapifer,  together  with  six 
other  manors  in  the  county.  A  later  owner 
was  the  turbulent  Geoffrey  de  Mandeville, 
who,  in  the  troubled  reign  of  Stephen,  re- 
duced the  country  -  side  into  a  state  of 
anarchy,  which  lasted  until  his  death  in  1144. 
A  still  later  possessor  was  one  John  de 
Wengham,  a  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  who  had 
evidently  obtained  it  by  undue  influence  (he 
held  it  personally,  and  not  in  trust),  for  his 
son,  John  de  Wengham,  suffered  imprison- 
ment because  he  was  unable  to  show  a  good 
title  to  the  estate.  He  was,  however,  per- 
mitted to  hold  the  manor  for  life  upon  pay- 
ment of  rent  and  doing  service  to  the  rightful 
owner. 

In  the  great  survey  of  lands  of  1085, 
known  as  Domesday,  it  is  stated  that  "in 
demesne  are  two  carucates,  a  presbyter  with 


ASPENDEN  CHURCH,  HERTS. 


19 


six  bordars  having  one  carucate."  The  same 
record  states  that  Aldred,  one  of  Edward  the 
Confessor's  thanes,  held  the  manor  previous 
to  the  Norman  invasion,  and  to  this  knight 
may  be  attributed  the  erection  of  a  church. 
Of  this  fabric  there  are  no  visible  remains, 
unless  the  small  and  narrow  circular-headed 
window  high  up  on  the  north  side  of  the 
chancel  is  of  this  period.  If  so,  this  wall  is 
probably  all  that  survives  of  Aldred's  church. 


hammer  played  such  havoc  with  the 
"  pictures  "  in  Hertfordshire  churches  under 
a  mandate  from  the  Earl  of  Manchester  in 
the  Commonwealth  period. 

The  low  side-window  in  the  north-west 
corner  of  the  chancel  was  probably  inserted 
about  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  and,  like  many  others  of  its  class, 
its  purpose  is  puzzling.  It  is  on  the  side  of 
the  church  remote  from  the  road  and  village, 


ASPENDEN   CHURCH  :    LOW  SIDE   WINDOW   IN   NORTH-WEST   CORNER   OF   CHANCEL. 


The  Early  English  period  is  represented 
by  the  windows  on  the  north  and  south  of 
the  chancel.  There  was  a  three  -  light 
window  of  this  date  at  the  east  end,  but  it 
was  destroyed  by  Sir  Robert  Clifford,  and 
the  present  Perpendicular  window  inserted 
in  its  place.  The  stained  glass  with  which  it 
is  filled  is  beyond  all  criticism.  The  crude, 
glaring  colours  are  fearful,  and  one  longs 
(almost)  for  one  hour  of  Robert  Aylee,  the 
Bishop    Stortford    glazier,    who     with     his 


but  close  to  the  footpath  which  leads  to 
Buntingford.  It  may  therefore  be  either  a 
confessional  aperture,  the  opening  through 
which  the  sacring-bell  was  rung  at  the 
elevation  of  the  Host,  or  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  that  the  lamps  on  the  altar  and 
above  the  rood-loft  were  burning. 

A  little  to  the  east  of  this  window  is  a 
recess  in  the  wall,  having  an  ogee-shaped 
arch  decorated  with  crockets.  It  is  usually 
termed  an  Easter  sepulchre,  but  it  was  also 

c  2 


20 


ASPEN  DEN  CHURCH,  HERTS. 


very  probably  a  benefactor's  tomb,  adapted 
for  the  purpose  of  holding  the  wooden  repre- 
sentation of  the  holy  sepulchre  at  Eastertide. 
Similar  recesses  are  to  be  found  at  Kneb- 
worth  and  Much  Hadham  in  this  county.  To 
about  the  same  period  (1350-1400)  may  be 
assigned  the  image  niche,  discovered  at  the 
Restoration  in  1873.  Its  canopy  had  been 
chiselled  off  and  the  niche  itself  filled  up, 
doubtless  by  the  reforming  zealots  in 
Edward  VI.'s  reign.  This  niche  probably 
contained  the  image  of  St.  Mary,  to  whom 
the  church  is  dedicated,  and  it  was  the  late 
Rector's  hope  to  have  had  a  figure  of  the 
Virgin  inserted  therein. 

Another  discovery  at  this  period  was  that 
of  a  very  small  piscina  found  not  far  from 
the  Clifford  tomb  in  the  south  wall  of  the 
aisle.  No  trace  was  met  with  of  any  altar, 
but  here,  doubtless,  Masses  were  performed 
by  the  chantry  priest  for  the  souls  of  Sir 
Robert  Clifford,  the  Lady  Elizabeth,  their 
children,  and  all  Christian  souls. 

In  the  same  wall  on  the  exterior  near  the 
porch  is  a  deep  semicircular  head  recess,  the 
purpose  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  surmise. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  an  anchorite's 
cell  stood  there  previous  to  the  erection  of 
the  porch,  the  recess  at  that  time  opening 
into  the  church. 

The  font  is  another  Perpendicular  feature. 
It  is  an  octagon,  ornamented  on  four  sides 
with  square  panels,  in  which  are  circles 
containing  quatrefoils  having  plain  shields 
within  the  cusps.  The  alternate  panels  are 
plain.  The  north  face  is  modern,  as  it  was 
found  that  this  side  had  been  cut  off  to 
permit  of  the  widening  of  a  pew  in  which  it 
stood.  On  the  top  two  new  portions  of 
stone  have  been  inserted,  which  probably 
mark  where  the  staples  for  the  cover  were 
fixed. 

In  the  pier  at  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
chapel  may  be  seen  the  head  of  the  upper 
entrance  to  the  rood-loft.  The  skilful  way 
in  which  walls  and  piers  were  pierced  by 
door  and  stairways  in  order  to  give  access  to 
the  rood-lofts,  rendered  necessary  by  the 
change  of  ritual,  calls  for  admiration,  and 
speaks  much  for  the  stability  of  the  masonry. 

According  to  the  late  Rector,  the  Rev. 
A.  P.  Sanderson,  M.A.,  some  300  years 
elapsed  before  any  extensive  structural  altera- 


tions were  made  to  the  fabric.  Then  Sir 
Ralph  Jocelyn,  a  wealthy  city  merchant  who 
had  retired  to  live  at  Aspenden  Hall,  under- 
took to  make  extensive  reparations,  at  pre- 
sumably, his  own  cost.  Previous  to  this  he 
had  successfully  filled  the  offices  of  Sheriff 
and  Lord  Mayor,  and  in  147 1  he  had 
valiantly  captained  the  city  train -bands, 
which  under  his  charge  defeated  the  insur- 
gents in  an  attempt  made  by  Thomas 
Neville  to  rescue  Henry  VI.  from  the  Tower 
of  London. 

He,  it  is  recorded,  built  the  south  aisle 
and  porch,  re-roofed  the  nave  and  chancel, 
probably  raising  the  roof  in  the  process  ;  and 
it  is  at  this  period  that  the  chancel  arch  was 
taken  down  and  not  rebuilt. 

Sir  Ralph  died  in  1478,  and,  strangely 
enough,  was  not  interred  here,  but  among  his 
ancestors  at  Sawbridgeworth.  A  brass  to  his 
memory  in  that  church,  inscribed  "Orate 
pro  anima  Radulfi  Jocelyn  quondam  militis 
et  Magistratus  Civitatis  London  qui  obiit 
25  Oct.,  1478,"  has  disappeared.  In  the 
third  bay  of  the  chancel  window  (presumably 
that  on  the  south  side)  there  existed  in  1796 
a  portrait  of  Sir  Ralph,  with  his  arms  and  those 
of  the  Barleys  and  Egertons,  with  whom  he 
was  connected.  The  writer  of  A  Survey  of 
the  Present  State  of  Aspenden  Church,  1796, 
says  :  "  1  very  fortunately  on  my  first  visit 
made  a  note  of  this  portrait  and  arms,  for  on 
my  going  a  few  days  afterwards  I  found  it 
had  been  broken ;  and  as  I  made  strict 
search,  I  was  lucky  enough  to  recover  from 
among  the  weeds  outside  the  head  unbroken. 
Underneath  it  was  the  inscription  in  old  text 
letters  : 

Pro  bono  statu  Radulphi  Jossel. 
(For  the  welfare  of  Ralph  Jocelyn.)" 

He  gives  a  very  accurate  drawing  of  the 
figure,  which  is  reproduced  in  the  volume. 

Lady  Jocelyn,  doubtless  by  reason  of  her 
wealth,  had  many  suitors,  although,  like  her 
husband,  it  is  to  be  presumed  she  was  some- 
what advanced  in  years.  She  chose  for  her 
second  husband  Sir  Robert  Clifford,  a 
notable  figure  in  the  history  of  that  period. 
The  Cliffords  were  born  fighters  and  con- 
spirators, so  that  it  is  not  surprising  to  find 
Sir  Robert  engaged  in  a  plot  to  place  upon 
the  throne  Perkin  Warbeck,  the  impersonator 
of  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  one  of  the  two 


AS  PEN  DEN  CHURCH,  HERTS. 


21 


Princes  murdered  in  the  Tower.  Professor 
Gardiner  holds  the  view  that  Sir  Robert  was 
only  a  make-believe  supporter  of  the  Pre- 
tender, and  that  he  was  really  a  daring  spy 
acting  on  Henry's  behalf.  What  we  know  is 
that  he  betrayed  his  associates  and  obtained 
the  royal  pardon. 

Sir  Robert  died  in  1508,  and  his  wife,  as 
Chauncy  tells  us,  only  "survived  him 
awhile,"  and  was  interred  with  her  lord  be- 
neath the  beautiful  canopied  altar-tomb  now 
relegated  to  semi-obscurity  in  the  south-east 
corner  of  the  chapel.  That  it  has  been 
moved,  and  damaged  in  the  process,  is  only 
too  evident.  Its  original  position  was 
possibly  either  against  the  east  end  of  the 
chapel  or  against  the  present  wall  more  to 
the  west.  The  removal  was  effected,  doubt- 
less, when  the  alterations  to  the  chapel  were 
made  by  the  Freemans. 

The  Clifford  tomb  is  worthy  of  careful 
examination.  A  somewhat  similar  erection 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  chancel  of  Sawbridge- 
worth  Church  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the 
Jocelyns.  It  is  of  Bethersden  marble,  with 
a  richly  carved  canopy,  having  inlaid  figures 
of  brass  of  a  knight  and  lady  in  the  attitude 
of  prayer ;  between  them  was  a  representa- 
tion of  the  Holy  Trinity,  presumably  re- 
moved by  the  Reformers,  who  also  carefully 
cut  away  the  request  for  prayers  for  the 
departed.  The  knight  is  in  armour,  and  his 
surcoat  is  emblazoned  with  the  arms  of 
Clifford  :  Cheque  or  and  azure,  a  fess  gules, 
three  annulets  or,  impaling  sable,  three 
quatrefoils  or,  differenced  over  all  with  an 
annulet.  The  lady  is  wearing  an  elaborate 
mantle,  having  upon  the  dexter  side  the 
arms  of  Clifford  before  mentioned,  and 
those  of  Barley,  three  bars  wavy  sable,  on 
the  other.  There  are  indents  of  two  other 
shields.  At  the  feet  of  the  knight  is  the 
indent  of  two  children,  probably  sons,  and 
at  the  feet  of  the  lady  are  two  daughters 
kneeling.  From  the  mouth  of  the  knight 
there  was  formerly  a  scroll  inscribed  : 

Benedicta  et  Sancta  Trinitas. 
(Blessed  and  Holy  Trinity.) 

And  from  the  lady's  mouth  is  a  scroll  in- 
scribed : 

Miserere  nobis  peccatoribus ! 
(Have  mercy  on  us  sinners  !) 


A  shield  on  the  left  bears  the  Clifford  arms, 
and  one  on  the  right  the  arms  of  Barley. 

The  inscription  reads  : 

"  (Pray  for  the  soule  of)  Syr  Robert 
Clyfford,  late  Knight  for  the  body  to  ye  most 
excellent  prince  Kyng  Henry  ye  VII.  and 
master  of  hys  ordynaunce  also  (for  the  soule 
of)  dame  Elysabeth  his  wyf  to  Sr  Rauffe 
Josselyn  Knyght  which  Syr  Robt.  Clyfford 
was  the  thyrde  son  of  Thomas  late  lord 
Clifford  the  said  syr  Robt.  decessed  the 
XV.  day  of  March  in  the  XXIII.  yer  of  the 
Reigne  of  Kyng  henr.  ye  VII.  the  said  dame 
Elisabeth  decessed  the  .  .  .  day  of  ...  in 

M.C.C.C.C.C." 

Around  the  edge  of  the  tomb  is  the 
following : 

"  Credo  quod  redemptor  meus  sivit  et  in 
novissimo  die  de  terra  surrecturus  sum  et  in 
came  mea  videbo  Deum  salvatorem  meum. 
Tedet  animam  meam  vita;  meoe." 

Which  may  be  translated : 

"  I  believe  that  my  Redeemer  lives,  and 
that  at  the  last  day  I  shall  rise  again  from 
the  earth,  and  in  my  flesh  I  shall  see  God 
my  Saviour.     My  soul  is  weary  of  life." 

The  tomb  was  evidently  erected  prior  to 
the  decease  of  Lady  Clifford,  as  the  date  of 
her  death  is  left  blank. 

Of  about  the  same  date  is  the  only  other 
monumental  brass,  to  the  memory  of  Thomas 
and  Alice  Goodrich.  The  man  is  dressed 
as  a  merchant,  with  calculating  beads  sus- 
pended at  his  waist;  the  lady  is  in  a  plain 
costume,  with  straight  head-dress.  The  in- 
scription is  now  imperfect,  but  when  Salmon 
(1728)  copied  it  read  : 

"Thomas  Goodrich  et  Alicie  uxoris  ejus 
qui  quidem  obit  15  die  mensis  Julii  millessimo 
ccccc  mo  quorum  (anima  propicietur  dens)." 

It  is  suggested  that  these  people  lived  at 
Tannis  Court,  that  being  the  only  large 
house,  other  than  the  Hall,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

The  Aspenden  estate  at  Lady  Clifford's 
death  reverted  to  the  Crown.  This  presumes 
either  a  lack  of  heirs  or  that  Sir  Robert  had 
only  a  life  interest  in  it.  In  the  next  fifty 
years  it  was  in  the  possession  of  three 
families :  the  Philpots,  the  Sadleirs  (of 
Standon),  and  the  Gylls  (of  Wyddial).  In 
1605  it  was  purchased  by  William  and  Ralph 
Freeman,  city  merchants,  who  invested  their 


22 


ASPENDEN  CHURCH,  HERTS. 


money  largely  in  the  estates  of  Hertfordshire  neck  the  mayoral  collar.     William  wears  a 

loyalists,   partly  by  pui chase,  and  partly  by  civic  gown  trimmed  with  fur,  and  both  have 

advancing   money   thereon    and   foreclosing  full    Elizabethan    ruffs    round    their    necks, 

on  the  mortgages,  until  at  one  time  they  are  The  epitaph  states  that  William's  body  was 

said  to  have  owned  or  held  in  bonds  half  the  originally  interred  in  St.  Michael's  Church, 


ASPENDEN   CHURCH  :    ALTAR   TOMB   WITH   BRASSES  TO   SIR   ROBERT   AND   LADY   ELIZABETH   CLIFFORD. 


land  of  the  county.  Their  busts  in  copper 
surmount  a  large  tablet  on  the  south  aisle 
near  the  porch,  Ralph  being  represented  in 
armour,  over  which  he  is  wearing  an  open 
fur  cloak   without   sleeves,  and  around  his 


Cornhill,  and  removed  hither  in  1702  after 
its  destruction.  Salmon  states  that  the  monu- 
ments (busts)  were  rescued  by  Major  William 
Freeman  from  those  who  had  stolen  them  in 
the  time  of  the  Fire. 


ASPEN  DEN  CHURCH,  HERTS. 


23 


The  Freemans  are  said  to  have  rebuilt  the 
chapel  at  the  east  end  of  the  south  aisle,  but 
it  is  more  probable  they  only  altered  the 
early  Lady  or  Clifford  Chapel  to  suit  their 
own  requirements.  Cussans  says  :  "  It  is 
evident  by  the  arrangement  of  the  pillars 
that  support  the  roof  that  the  pier  at  the  east 
end  must  have  been  about  9  feet  wide,  thus 
forming  a  wall  for  some  distance  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Lady  Chapel,  the  total  length  of 
which  was  about  1 7  feet.  The  double  arch, 
with  Jacobean  mouldings  and  decoration, 
which  now  separates  that  portion  of  the  aisle 
from  the  body  of  the  church,  was  erected  by 
Ralph  Freeman  in  1622,  as  appears  from  the 
date  carved  under  the  Freeman  arms."  This 
was  only  a  year  before  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1623.  The  estate  remained  in 
the  Freeman  family  until  1760,  when  it  was 
sold  to  the  Bolderos,  whose  descendants 
(the  Lushingtons)  now  hold  it.  The  old 
Hall,  said  to  have  been  built  by  the  Free- 
mans, and  depicted  in  Chauncy's  History, 
was  pulled  down  by  the  father  of  the  present 
owner,  it  is  said,  in  hot  haste,  an  army  of 
navvies  being  employed  for  the  purpose,  and 
the  present  Hall  erected  with  equal  celerity. 
It  is  a  commodious  mansion,  with  but  little 
pretension  to  architectural  beauty. 

There  is  little  more  to  say  about  the 
church,  except  to  mention  that  the  tower  is 
an  addition,  probably,  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  great  epoch  of  tower-building. 
It  is. stated  that,  owing  to  some  portions  of 
the  walls  having  been  cut  away  to  permit  of 
the  bells  being  hung  in  two  tiers,  there  is 
danger  of  a  collapse,  and  steps  must  be 
taken  without  delay  to  remedy  it.  The  bells 
are  eight  in  number,  two  being  the  gift  of 
William  Freeman  in  1736,  and  one  of  Ralph 
Freeman  in  1681.  Until  one  was  recast  in 
187 1,  the  remaining  five  were  dated,  four 
1681,  and  the  other  1736,  indicating  that 
they  owed  their  existence  to  the  Freeman 
influence.  This  family  were  very  musical, 
and  adepts  at  bell-ringing.  The  Rev.  Ralph 
Freeman,  who  was  Rector  here  from  1743  to 
1770,  is  said  to  have  had  the  small  western 
door  cut  in  the  tower  to  admit  of  easy  access 
to  the  belfry.  While  ringing  the  changes  one 
evening  a  messenger  arrived  in  hot  haste  to 
say  that  Hamels  was  on  fire.  He  thereupon 
hurried  off,  without  waiting  to  put  on  either 


hat    or    wig,    and,    standing    watching    the 
flames,  caught  a  chill  from  which  he  died. 

The  west  window  of  this  tower  is  a  repro- 
duction of  an  earlier  Perpendicular  window, 
and  is  simple  and  good. 

The  porch  dates  from  the  same  period, 
judging  by  the  small  two-light  windows  on 
either  side.  The  shields  of  arms  on  the 
spandrils  commemorate  the  Cliffords  and 
Barleys  (checq.  a  fess  differenced  by  an 
annulet  impaling  ermine,  three  bars  wavy) 
and  the  Jocelyns  (quarterly  1st  and  4th,  a 
wreath  argent,  with  four  hawks'  bells  in  the 
middle  and  a  mullet  of  the  second  and 
third). 

The  north  door  opposite  the  porch  has 
apparently  been  blocked  up  for  a  consider- 
able period.  Many  of  these  were  either 
closed  or  destroyed  at  the  Reformation, 
when  processions  no  longer  took  place  for 
which  a  north  door  was  necessary,  and  the 
few  that  still  remain  in  the  country  are  fre- 
quently disused,  as  they  are  said  to  make 
the  building  cold  in  winter. 

The  symmetry  of  the  fabric  is  somewhat 
spoilt  by  the  flat  roof  of  the  aisle  and  the 
curious  dormer  windows  in  the  nave,  inserted 
by  the  late  Rector  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing more  light ;  but  these  are  not  so  un- 
pleasing  to  the  eye  as  the  high-ridged  roof 
of  the  chapel.  Perhaps  some  future  wealthy 
owner  of  the  manor  may  be  prevailed  upon 
to  reduce  the  height  of  this,  and  at  the  same 
time  clear  away  the  very  ugly  box-pew  that 
now  so  greatly  detracts  from  the  beauty  of 
the  interior. 

In  conclusion,  reference  should  be  made 
to  Aspenden's  worthy  son  and  benefactor, 
Dr.  Seth  Ward,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  whose 
parents'  monument  is  to  be  seen  on  the  south 
wall.  The  Wards  are  said  to  have  lived  in 
the  picturesque  red-brick  house  hard  by,  now 
used  as  a  school.  Bishop  Ward's  best  monu- 
ment is  his  hospital  or  almshouses,  a  cheerful 
quadrangular  block  of  buildings  at  the 
entrance  to  the  town  of  Buntingford.  This 
and  his  other  charitable  bequests  will  ever 
keep  his  memory  green  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 


24 


SAMUEL  BUTLER'S  COUNTRY. 


Samuel  16utlet\s  Country. 


By  H.  J.  Daniell. 


sgrglTUATED  at  the  foot  of  the  western 
slope  of  Bredon  Hill,  an  outlying 
spur  of  the  Cotswolds,  and  in  the 
southern  portion  of  the  county  of 
Worcester,  is  the  little  village  of  Strensham. 
The  excellent  state  of  the  roads  in  the 
country  round  makes  the  neighbourhood  a 
pleasant  field  of  operations  for  the  cyclist ; 
while  picturesque  old  barns,  ancient  churches, 
and  a  superabundance  of  "  black-and-white" 
cottages  afford  great  attractions  for  the  artist 
and  the  antiquary. 

The  neighbourhood  is  noted  for  the  excel- 
lent views  that  can  be  obtained  there,  especi- 
ally from  the  summit  of  Bredon  Hill.  To 
the  west  and  front  of  the  hill  the  Severn 
Valley  lies  spread  out  before  us,  conspicuous 
therein  being  the  towers  of  Tewkesbury 
Abbey  and  Worcester  Cathedral.  To  the 
north  of  Worcester  the  Lickey  Hills  conceal 
the  position  of  Birmingham  and  the  other 
manufacturing  towns  in  the  district.  To  the 
west  the  long  clear-cut  line  of  the  Malvern 
Hills  bounds  the  valley,  and  on  the  norch-east 
the  Warwickshire  Avon  flows  through  the 
fertile  Vale  of  Evesham,  and  joins  the  Severn 
at  Tewkesbury,  whence,  united,  they  flow  on 
past  Gloucester  to  the  Bristol  Channel. 

Here,  at  Strensham,  in  the  midst  of  this 
picturesque  scenery,  the  poet  Samuel  Butler, 
the  celebrated  author  of  Hudibras,  was 
born.  The  house  in  which  he  first  saw  the 
light  has  long  since  vanished.  It  was  known 
as  "Butler's  Cot,"  and  Samuel's  father  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  small  farmer.  The 
future  poet  was  born  in  1612  on  February  14, 
and  his  memory  is  kept  green  in  the  parish 
by  a  modern  tablet  in  the  church. 

The  village  of  Strensham  itself  is  of  no 
great  interest,  but  the  church  is  well  worth 
a  visit.  It  consists  of  nave,  chancel,  and 
square  embattled  western  tower,  a  conspicu- 
ous object  in  the  Severn  Valley.  At  the 
west  end  of  the  nave  is  a  gallery,  the  front  of 
which  is  formed  by  the  ancient  rood-screen, 
the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  locality.  The 
screen  is  divided  into  twenty-three  compart- 
ments, in  each  of  which  is  painted  the  figure 
of  a  saint,  with  the  exception  of  the  central 


panel,  which  contains  the  picture  of  a  King, 
presumably  Henry  VI.  All  these  figures 
have  unfortunately  been  "  restored."  For 
four  centuries  the  Manor  of  Strensham  was 
held  by  the  family  of  Russell,  who  also 
acquired  the  Manor  of  Little  Malvern  at  the 
Dissolution.  During  the  Civil  War  the  family 
were  ardent  Royalists,  and  at  that  time  their 
castle  was  destroyed,  the  only  traces  which 
can  be  found  at  the  present  time  being  the 
empty  moats.  The  parish  church  contains 
many  monuments  to  members  of  this  family. 
The  finest  of  these  is  in  the  chancel.  It  is 
a  magnificent  alabaster  tomb,  with  recum- 
bent effigies  of  Thomas  Russell  (1632)  and 
his  wife  Elizabeth.  He  is  represented  in 
armour,  and  his  wife  in  the  costume  of  the 
period.  This  monument  has  fortunately 
escaped  the  ravages  of  both  Parliamentarian 
soldiers  and  nineteenth  -  century  church- 
wardens, and  the  figures  are  in  excellent 
condition,  not,  as  is  so  frequently  seen,  with 
broken  noses,  feet,  spurs,  and  fingers. 

In  the  north  corner  of  the  chancel  is  a 
Perpendicular  altar  tomb  with  brass  to  John 
Russell  (r562).  In  the  floor  are  two  more 
brasses  of  knights,  both  members  of  the 
Russell  family,  one  being  dated  1405,  the 
other  about  1470.  The  last  Russell  monu- 
ment is  the  reclining  figure  of  Sir  Francis, 
Baron  Russell,  who  died  in  1705.  In  the 
nave  is  an  old  Norman  font  and  several 
ancient  tiles,  which  probably  came  from  the 
Malvern  kilns. 

The  neighbourhood  is  rich  in  interesting 
churches.  Tewkesbury  Abbey  is  too  well 
known  to  require  a  description  here,  but 
Bredon,  Twyning,  Earls  Croome,  Eckington, 
and  Pershore  Abbey  would  all  repay  a  visit. 

Bredon  possesses  a  most  beautiful  cruci- 
form church,  with  a  central  tower  surmounted 
by  a  lofty  spire.  The  greater  part  of  the 
church  is  Norman,  the  moulding  above  the 
doors  of  the  nave  being  especially  fine.  A 
contrast  is  formed  by  the  transept  on  the 
south  side  of  the  nave,  which  is  built  in  the 
Early  English  style,  with  several  Purbeck 
marble  shafts.  In  this  transept  is  a  large 
alabaster  tomb  in  the  Renaissance  style. 
Beneath  a  canopy  lie  the  effigies  of  George 
Reed  (1610)  and  his  wife,  Katherine  Greville. 
Six  sons  and  two  daughters  kneel  by  their 
parents,  and  the  whole  monument    is   sur- 


SAMUEL  BUTLER'S  COUNTRY. 


25 


mounted  by  the  Reed  crest — a  large  black 
eagle  with  outstretched  wings — which  gives 
an  excellent  finish  to  the  handsome  tomb. 
In  three  recesses  in  this  transept  are  as 
many  stone  coffin  slabs.  Two  have  crosses 
cut  upon  them,  and  are  not  unlike  the 
graves  of  the  Knights  Templars  at  Bosbury 
in  Herefordshire.  The  third  slab  is  orna- 
mented with  a  curious  device — a  shield,  from 
which  spring  two  arms  holding  a  heart  be- 
tween the  hands.  In  the  chancel  are  many 
ancient  tiles,  and  a  slab  with  a  brass  sur- 
mounted by  a  mitre  to  John  Prideaux,  who 
was  ejected  from  the  Bishopric  of  Worcester 
during  the  Commonwealth.  There  is  a  good 
Easter  sepulchre  in  the  chancel,  and  an 
incised  slab  to  Thomas  Copley  (1573). 
Another  tomb  has  three  small  recumbent 
effigies  of  a  man,  a  woman,  and  a  child 
(c.  15 10),  and  another  has  a  thorny  crucifix, 
above  which  is  a  canopy,  with  two  heads, 
of  a  man  and  a  woman,  beneath  it.  Not  far 
from  the  church  is  a  fifteenth-century  tithe- 
barn. 

Eckington  Church  was  restored  in  1887. 
It  contains  a  large  monument  with  kneeling 
figures  to  John  and  Anne  Hanford  (16 16). 
The  Hanfords  lived  at  Wollas  Hall,  a  house 
the  greater  part  of  which  dates  from  161 2. 
At  the  entrance  to  the  village  is  a  small 
wayside  cross,  restored  in  1837.  Midway 
between  Eckington  and  its  northern  neigh- 
bour, Birlingham,  the  Avon  is  crossed  by 
Eckington  Bridge,  a  fine  example  of  sixteenth- 
century  work,  which  is  well  worthy  of  an 
artist's  brush. 

Pershore  is  noted  for  its  plums,  and  for 
all  that  is  left  of  its  once  famous  mitred 
Abbey,  which  was  founded  in  689  by  Oswald, 
son  of  Ethelred  I.  At  the  Dissolution  the 
Abbey  was  handed  over  to  the  Royal  Com- 
missioners by  John  Stanwell,  the  last  Abbot, 
and  soon  afterwards  the  nave  was  pulled  down 
— a  fate  which  also  befell  one  of  the  transepts, 
the  Lady  Chapel,  and  cloisters.  The  best 
Norman  work  is  to  be  seen  at  the  west  end, 
especially  the  four  great  arches  upholding 
the  tower.  The  rest  of  the  building  is  of 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  century  work. 

The  chief  monuments  are  two  of  the 
Elizabethan  period  to  members  of  the  Hazle- 
wood  family,  a  mutilated  effigy  of  a  knight, 
with  crossed  legs  and  a  hunting  horn  by  his 

VOL.    III. 


side,  and  the  tomb  of  William  de  Her- 
vington,  Abbot,  whose  head  rests  on  his 
mitre.  Some  curious  modern  glass  depicts 
scenes  from  the  history  of  the  Abbey. 

Earls  Croome  is  situated  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Severn,  near  Upton.  The  house  is 
a  very  fine  example  of  seventeenth  or  six- 
teenth century  black-and-white  work.  The 
Jefferys  lived  here  for  a  considerable  time, 
and  Samuel  Butler  was  secretary  to  one 
member  of  the  family.  There  is  an  inscription 
in  the  church  to  Thomas  Jeffery,  obiit  1650. 

Just  over  the  Gloucestershire  border  is 
the  village  of  Twyning.  Here  there  is  an 
interesting  church  where  a  sermon  on 
marriage  is  annually  preached  on  April  6, 
in  accordance  with  an  old  bequest.  The 
most  interesting  monument  is  the  recumbent 
effigy  of  Sybill  Clare  (1577),  whose  baby  lies 
by  her  side.  Under  the  tower  is  a  mural 
tablet  with  busts  of 'three  members  of  the 
Hancocke  family,  who  died  at  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

A  spot  much  sought  after  by  artists  is  the 
little  village  of  Ripple,  where  there  is  an  old 
village  cross,  at  the  foot  of  which  are  the 
stocks  and  whipping-post.  As  a  background 
there  are  several  old  cottages  and  some 
almshouses,  rebuilt  in  1701.  The  church 
dates  from  the  twelfth  century,  and  contains 
fourteen  splendidly  carved  miserere  seats 
and  a  Bishop's  Bible,  dated  1603. 

This  part  of  the  country  has  seen  its  share 
of  battles  during  both  the  Wars  of  the  Roses 
and  the  Great  Rebellion.  On  Brockeridge 
Common  is  a  huge  oak,  known  as  the 
"  Haunted  Oak,"  because  it  is  supposed  to 
be  haunted  by  the  ghosts  of  those  slain  in 
the  disastrous  rout  from  Tewkesbury,  when 
the  Yorkists  pressed  hard  on  the  heels  of  the 
flying  Lancastrians. 

At  Upton-on-Severn  a  very  smart  affair 
took  place  during  the  Civil  War  as  a  prelude 
to  the  Battle  of  Worcester.  The  Royalists 
were  holding  the  town,  and  had  broken  down 
the  bridge  over  the  Severn.  A  few  Round- 
heads, however,  in  the  face  of  a  heavy  fire, 
managed  to  get  across  by  one  plank  which 
had  been  left  intact.  Covered  by  their  fire, 
more  Parliamentarians  managed  to  cross. 
The  Royalists  were  surrounded  and  besieged 
in  the  old  church,  and  were  at  last  com- 
pelled to  capitulate. 

D 


*6 


SAMUEL  BUTLER'S  COUNTRY. 


All  these  commons,  like  the  aforemen- 
tioned Brockeridge  and  Deffoid,  formed 
part  of  the  great  Malvern  Chase.  This  vast 
expanse  of  forest  land  extended  right  up  to  the 
top  of  the  Malvern  Hills,  where  it  adjoined 
the  demesne  of  the  Bishops  of  Hereford.  To 
prevent  boundary  disputes,  Gilbert  de  Clare, 
Earl  of  Gloucester,  who  married  the  daughter 
of  Edward  I.,  and  through  her  obtained 
Malvern  Chase,  dug  a  ditch  along  the  top 
of  the  Malvern  Hills,  which  still  goes  by  the 
name  of  the  Red  Earl's  Dyke. 

The  keeper  of  Malvern  Chase  resided  at 
Hanley  Hall,  a  pleasant  black  and  white 
house.  It  is  in  the  parish  of  Hanley  Castle, 
a  village  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Severn, 
which  is  also  noteworthy  as  having  been  the 
birthplace  of  Bishop  Bonner. 

Other  noteworthy  old  houses  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood are  Eastington  Court  and  Pirton 
Court  The  former  is  in  the  parish  of 
Longdon,  and  in  the  church  there  is  a  brass 
to  a  William  de  Eastington  (1523). 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  interesting  old 
houses  in  the  district  is  Birts  Morton  Court, 
a  type  of  the  defensible  dwelling-house  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  surrounded  by 
a  broad  moat,  and  has  an  old  castellated 
gateway  on  the  north  side.  Here  for  several 
centuries  lived  the  Nanfans,  a  family  of 
Cornish  extraction.  The  manor  was  granted 
to  Sir  John  Nanfan,  Esquire  to  the  Body 
to  King  Henry  VI.  He  has  a  fine  tomb 
to  his  memory  in  the  church.  No  reference 
to  Birts  Morton  would  be  complete  without 
mention  of  the  shadow  of  the  Raggedstone, 
which  is  especially  supposed  to  hang  over 
the  Court.  This  Raggedstone  is  one  of  the 
most  southerly  hills  of  the  Malvern  Range, 
and  the  shadow  is  a  curious  phenomenon, 
caused  by  a  cloud  coming  up  behind  the 
twin  peaks  of  the  hill,  and  throwing  a  shadow 
over  the  surrounding  country.  Legend  attri- 
butes it  to  a  monk  of  Little  Malvern  Priory, 
who,  for  some  sin,  had  to  crawl  daily  on  hands 
and  knees  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  He  died 
in  the  execution  of  his  penance,  and  with 
his  last  breath  cursed  whomsoever  the 
shadow  should  fall  on.  The  final  fall  of 
the  great  Cardinal  Wolsey  is  attributed  to 
this  curse,  because,  when  chaplain  to  the 
Nanfans,  he  was  once  overshadowed  by  the 
cloud.     Sir  John  Oldcastle,  Lord  Cobham, 


once  took  refuge  from  his  pursuers  in  the 
Court,  and  Queen  Margaret  and  Prince 
Edward  are  said  to  have  done  the  same  ; 
but  whether  the  shadow  put  in  an  appearance 
then,  history  does  not  say. 


JnscribeD  Eoman  Jfitmlrc, 

By  Thomas  Sheitard,  F.G.S. 


MONGST  a  large  collection  of  ob- 
jects of  Roman  date  found  at 
South  Ferriby,  Lincolnshire,  by 
the  late  Thomas  Smith,  and 
recently  acquired  by  the  Hull  Corporation 
for  its  Municipal  Museum,  are  two  brooches 
and  a  fragment  of  a  third  of  altogether  ex- 
ceptional interest.  The  special  feature  about 
these  is  that  they  bear  inscribed  upon  them  the 
maker's  name,  Aucissa  (avcissa).  In  general 
shape  and  ornamentation  these  brooches  do 
not  differ  greatly  from  the  ordinary  types  of 
fibulas.  The  arch  is  half-pear  shaped;  one 
end — the  stalk,  as  it  were,  of  the  pear — 
terminates  in  a  knob,  and  is  beaten  out  into 
a  thin  wing  or  flange,  bent  round  along  the 
entire  outer  edge  to  form  a  catch  for  the  pin. 
The  other  end  is  flattened  transversely,  and 
rolled  up  outwards  into  a  small  hollow  cylin- 
der. This  is  cut  through  in  the  centre  for 
the  pin,  which,  inserted  here,  plays  or  hinges 
upon  a  piece  of  bronze  wire  thrust  length- 
wise through  the  cylinder.  It  is  just  above 
this  cylinder  that  the  name  avcissa  is 
placed.  The  ornamentation  of  these  hrooches 
is  very  simple.  Along  the  centre  of  the 
uppermost  side  of  each  are  three  raised 
parallel  lines,  the  centre  one  being  broken 
up  into  a  series  of  raised  points  or  dots,  and 
parallel  to  each  edge  is  another  raised  line. 
On  the  flattened  hinge  portion,  lines  at  right 
angles  to  the  preceding  are  drawn,  between 
two  of  which  the  name  avcissa  is  placed. 
In  each  case,  unfortunately,  the  pin  is  miss- 
ing, though  in  one  of  the  brooches  a  portion 
still  remains,  showing  a  projecting  piece, 
which  prevents  the  pin  from  going  too  far 
inwards,  and  at  the  same  time  makes  a 
spring  unnecessary. 

An    important    paper    dealing    with    the 


INSCRIBED  ROMAN  FIBULA. 


27 


Aucissa  fibulae  occurs  in  the  Archczological 
Journal  for  1903.  This  is  from  the  pen  of 
Mr.  F.  Haverfield,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  of  Oxford. 
From  it  we  extract  the  following :  "  These 
brooches  all,  so  far  as  is  recorded,  belong  to 
one  and  the  same  type  of  fibula.  It  is  a 
simple  type,  devoid  of  elaborate  devices  or 


semicircular ;  it  is  a  flat  narrowish  band  of 
metal,  widest  near  the  hinge,  and  decorated 
only  by  lines  and  beading  which  run  along 
it.  Enamelling  seems  in  no  case  to  be  used. 
This  type  of  fibulae  is  not  confined  to  the 
name  Aucissa.  It  occurs  occasionally  with 
other  names.     It  occurs  exceedingly  often 


complicated  ornament,  but  it  possesses  defi- 
nite features.  Instead  of  the  usual  spiral 
coil  or  spring  to  control  the  pin,  it  has  (like 
some  other  Roman  types)  a  hinge,  working 
inside  a  tiny  cylinder,  which  is  so  short  as 
hardly    to    project    sideways     beyond    the 


breadth  of  the  rest  of  the  object.  The 
name  Aucissa  is  in  each  case  placed  just 
above  this  cylinder.  The  pin  is  straight ; 
the  sheath  in  which  its  point  rests,  when  it  is 
fastened  for  use,  is  plain  and  small,  and  often 
terminates  in  a  knob.     The  bow  is  roughly 


uninscribed,  having  been  found  very  com- 
monly in  many  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire 
north  of  the  Mediterranean  and  outside  it. 
Almgren  quotes  an  example  found  as  far 
away  as  the  Government  of  Tomsk,  in 
Siberia,  and  Tischler  mentions  instances 
from  the  Caucasus." 

Mr.  Haverfield  then  follows  with  a  list  of 
the  known  examples  of  the  brooch,  and  the 
places  where  they  occur.*  Among  them  are 
localities  in  Italy,  Germany,  France,  Siberia, 
etc.  With  regard  to  its  name,  Aucissa, 
Mr.  Haverfield  writes  :  "  The  name  Aucissa 
appears  to  be  Gaulish,  or  at  least  Celtic. 
It  has  been  called  Etruscan  or  Etrusco- 
Roman,  but  names  in  '  -issa '  do  not  occur 
in  Etruscan,  while  in  Latin  they  first  appear 
in  the  Romance  period,  and  then  only  as 
feminines.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  com- 
mon, as  masculines,  in  Gaul  and  in  the 
Celtic  lands  of  Central  Europe.  The  first 
part  of  the  name  is  also  explicable  as  Celtic, 
since  names  beginning  with  'Auc-'  and 
'  Auci- '  are  not  uncommon  in  Gaul ;  and 
the   whole   name,  Aucissa,  seems   to  occur 

*  Since  the  above  was  written,  Mr.  Haverfield  has 
made  a  further  contribution  to  the  Archaological 
Journal  (vol.  lxii.,  No.  248,  1906,  pp.  265-269), 
entitled  "Notes  on  Fibulae."  In  this  the  Ferriby 
and  other  examples  are  recorded. 

D    2 


28 


INSCRIBED  ROMAN  FIBULA. 


on  a  broken  piece  of  Samian  found  in  Paris 
about  a  hundred  years  ago. 

"  Moreover,  a  Gaulish  fibula  maker  is  no 
novelty.  The  Gauls  are  well  known  to  have 
been  skilful  in  the  manufacture  of  small 
metal  objects  like  fibulae,  and  we  can  point 
to  traces  of  actual  work  in  fibulas  which  con- 


— a  much  rarer  practice — of  stamping  fibulas 
made  in  Gaul.  But  the  Gaulish  potters 
copied  an  Etruscan  fashion,  and  the  Gaulish 
fibula-makers  might  have  done  the  same,  so 
that  the  argument  is  not  much  advanced  by 
such  a  consideration.  On  the  whole,  the 
balance    of    direct    and    indirect    evidence 


stitute  a  good  parallel  to  Aucissa.  Mowat 
has  recorded  in  the  Bulletin  Epigraphique 
about  a  score  of  names  inscribed  on  fibula? 
found  in  Gaul.  They  are  obviously  makers' 
names,  and  while  about  half  of  them 
are  ordinary  Roman  names,  the  rest  are 
Gaulish  names — Accu,  Atrectos,  Boduos, 
Carillus,  Durnacus,  Iovincillus,  Iulios,  Avo, 
Litugenus,  Nertomarus,  and  the  like.  The 
fibula;  which  bear  these  names  vary  in 
character,  but  some  belong  to  the  Aucissa 
type,  as,  for  instance,  the  fibula  of  Durnacus. 
Now,  these  names  are  not  only  Gaulish,  but 
most  of  them  occur  only  in  Gaul ;  they  do 
not  belong  to  any  Eastern  Celtic  district  in 
Central  Europe.  And  it  is  to  be  added  that 
the  whole  practice  of  placing  makers'  names, 
whether  Gaulish  or  Roman,  on  fibulae  seems 
especially  Gaulish.  That  country  has  yielded 
the  largest  number  of  recorded  fibulae  thus 
inscribed.  In  other  provinces  the  inscribed 
fibulae  are  generally  of  a  different  kind  ;  they 
bear  such  inscriptions  as  '  Constanti  vivas' 
or  '  Utere  felix,'  and  they  usually  belong  to 
a  far  later  date  than  that  which  we  have 
assigned  to  the  Aucissa  species.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  we  should  go  on  to  trace  some 
connection  between  the  practice  of  stamping 
Samian  ware  made  in  Gaul  and  the  practice 


favours  the  view  that  the  fibulae  stamped 
with  the  name  Aucissa  were  made  in  Gaul, 
or  at  least  copied  from  Aucissa  fibulae  made 
in  Gaul.  It  does  not  follow  that  the  un- 
inscribed   fibulae    of    the    same    type   were 


Gaulish,  or  that  the  type  had  a  Gaulish 
origin.  In  deciding  these  questions  caution 
will  be  desirable,  and  until  further  evidence 
be  discovered  the  verdict  may  be  reserved." 
It  is  particularly  gratifying  to  find  two 
brooches  of  this  character  so  near  Hull  as 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


29 


South  Ferriby.  In  addition  to  the  examples 
figured  above,  there  is  a  fragment  of  rather 
more  than  half  of  a  fibula  of  undoubtedly 
the  same  type.  This  is  much  corroded,  but 
the  name  can  partly  be  seen.  With  regard 
to  other  avcissa  fibulae,  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  only  two  examples  marked  with 
the  name  in  this  way  have  previously  been 
found  in  this  country.  These  are  figured  by 
Mr.  Haverfield,  and  were  found  at  Charter- 
house on  Mendip,  near  Cheddar,  in  Somerset. 
They  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  the 
Ferriby  brooches  figured  above,  one  of  them 
having  three  upright  marks  before  the  name 
similar  to  one  of  the  Ferriby  examples. 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  illustrations,  the 
letter  "  1  "  on  one  of  the  brooches  (Fig.  1  a) 
is  rather  small,  and  seems  to  be  crowded  in 
between  the  "  c "  and  "  s."  The  other 
example  (Fig.  2  a)  has  three  upright  marks 
before  the  word,  the  "  c  "  and  "  1 "  are  almost 
joined  together,  and  between  the  last  "  s  " 
and  "  a  "  there  is  a  slight  mark  inserted. 


at  tfje  §>ign  of  tbe  £DtoL 

At  the  recent  annual  meeting 
of  the  Scottish  History  Society, 
Lord  Rosebery,  in  the  course  of 
his  presidential  address,  made 
two  interesting  suggestions.  In 
the  first  place,  he  said  he 
thought  they  ought  to  try  to 
elicit  further  information  with 
regard  to  the  history  of  the 
Highlands  during  that  obscure 
time  up  to  the  Rebellion  of  1745,  when  they 
had  a  history  so  distinctly  their  own.  There 
was  an  interesting  veil  of  darkness  over  that 
period.  Where  Sir  Walter  Scott  found  the 
material  on  which  to  base  his  immortal 
representations  of  life  in  the  Highlands 
anterior  to  and  of  that  time,  he  did  not 
know.  He  supposed  it  must  have  been 
largely  from  oral  tradition,  but  everybody 
must  feel  that  there  was  a  singular  darkness 
regarding  that  strange  history  during  the 
Highlands'  prehistoric  times.  North  of  the 
Firth  of  Forth  they  had  clans  living  almost 


like  the  tribes  found  in  Africa,  conducting 
their  affairs  almost  without  reference  to  a 
central  government,  having  their  own  petty 
warfares,  their  pitched  battles,  their  districts 
bounded  not  by  parchment  so  much  as  by 
immemorial  traditions  and  the  jealousy  of 
the  tribes  which  inhabited  them.  They  had 
a  condition  of  things  almost  barbarous  in 
many  respects,  immediately  neighbouring 
civilization  of  a  somewhat  advanced  type. 

Those  genealogical  and  geographical  col- 
lections of  MacFarlane's,  three  volumes  of 
which  have  already  been  published,  threw 
much  interesting  light  on  the  point,  and 
therefore  he  welcomed  them  ;  but  in  the 
muniment  rooms  of  the  great  Highland  lords 
and  lairds  there  must  be  documents — living 
documents,  human  documents,  rude  though 
they  be — that  bore  on  the  history  of  those 
times,  and  that  those  magnates  should  entrust 
to  their  society  so  that  the  information  could 
be  preserved  for  all  time.  He  appealed  to 
great  noblemen  like  the  Duke  of  Sutherland 
and  Lord  Breadalbane,  who  had  great  charter 
chests  at  their  disposal  and  a  great  mass  of 
family  papers,  and  to  the  heads  of  great 
clans  like  Cluny  and  MacLeod,  to  bring  into 
public  light  documents  they  might  possess 
containing  facts  worthy  of  preservation. 

^*  t£T*  tZ'* 

Lord  Rosebery 's  second  suggestion  was  the 
collection  of  records  relating  to  the  social 
clubs  of  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow.  In  the 
eighteenth  century,  Edinburgh,  and  in  a 
lesser  degree  Glasgow,  were  the  home  and 
centre  of  social  clubs.  They  "swarmed"  in 
Edinburgh,  and  were  convivial  for  the  most 
part.  They  had  now  gone,  and  the  state 
of  society  which  furnished  their  recruiting 
ground  had  vanished  largely,  too.  But 
somewhere  or  another — unless  they  had 
been  burned  in  a  moment  of  conviviality — 
the  records  of  those  clubs  should  be  extant, 
and  he  thought  the  council  might  make 
some  effort  to  recover  such  valuable  indica- 
tions of  the  social  life  of  Edinburgh  and 
Glasgow  in  the  past. 

t^*  e^*  t*5* 

With  regard  to  the  first  suggestion,  the  "  veil 
of  darkness  "  is  hardly  so  thick,  I  think,  as 
Lord  Rosebery 's  words  seem  to  imply  ;  still, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  there  is  much  need 
for  more  light.     Even  so  comprehensive  and 


3° 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


good  a  book  as  Mr.  H.  G.  Graham's  Social 
Life  of  Scotland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century 
(2  vols.,  1899) — one  of  the  most  delightful 
works  on  social  history  ever  published — 
though  full  of  valuable  detail  regarding  the 
Lowlands,  makes  but  few  and  scanty  refer- 
ences to  life  in  the  Highlands. 

f2r*  t&*  *2r* 

At  Chester  on  November  29  the  English 
Drama  Society  gave  two  very  successful  per- 
formances of  three  of  the  Chester  mystery 
plays,  The  Salutation  and  Nativity,  The 
Play  of  the  Shepherds,  and  The  Adoration  of 
the  Magi,  in  order  to  convince  the  citizens 
of  the  perfect  propriety  of  reproducing  next 
Whitsuntide  the  complete  cycle  of  the  old 
plays.  The  performances  were  a  thoughtful 
concession  to  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  who, 
speaking  some  little  time  ago,  expressed  some 
fears  about  at  least  portions  of  the  plays 
portraying  the  most  sacred  subjects.  The 
acting  versions  produced  on  this  occasion 
were  edited  by  Dr.  Bridge,  the  cathedral 
organist,  who  also  contributed  a  historical 
preface. 

t£T*  1&*  t2^* 

Relics  of  "  Rare  Ben  "  usually  fetch  good 
prices.  Only  a  few  months  ago  Jonson's 
Bible,  with  a  very  few  lines  in  his  autograph 
— a  signature  and  a  verse  from  a  Latin 
Psalm — fetched  ^320,  and  before  that  a 
short  letter  in  his  hand  brought  about  ^500. 
On  November  21,  in  the  third  day's  sale  of 
the  Trentham  Library,  Jonson's  copy  of 
Martial  was  offered.  It  is  a  16 19  edition, 
bears  his  signature  and  motto,  "  Tanquam 
explorator,"  and  contains  many  marginal 
notes.  It  was  secured  by  Mr.  Sabin  for  ^ico. 
On  the  following  day  a  dedication  copy  to 
Henry  III.  of  France  of  Le  Roy's  Les  Poli- 
tiques  d'Aristole,  1576-79,  superbly  bound 
by  Clovis  Eve  in  red  morocco  gilded  with 
leaf,  and  branched  scrolls,  with  the  King's 
arms,  went  to  Mr.  Quaritch,  after  a  spirited 
contest,  for  ^660,  which  is  probably  the 
highest  sum  bid  at  auction  for  a  book- 
binding. 

^*  t&*  t2F* 

Mr.  William  Gilbert,  of"  Montrose,"  Crescent 
Road,  South  Woodford,  Essex,  informs  me 
that  a  work  dealing  with  the  various  branches 
of  the  family  of  Shallcross  (or  Shawcross), 
formerly  of  Shallcross  Hall,  Derbyshire,  is  in 


course  of  preparation.  It  will  be  edited  by 
the  Rev.  W.  H.  Shawcross,  Vicar  of  Bret- 
forton,  Worcester,  who  contributed  a  long 
paper  on  "  The  Owners  of  Shallcross  "  to 
the  last-issued  volume  of  the  Derbyshire 
Archaeological  Journal.  Mr.  Gilbert,  from 
whom  full  particulars  of  the  scope  of  the 
book  can  be  obtained,  will  be  glad  to  hear 
from  anyone  connected  with,  or  interested 
in,  the  name. 

^3*  t^*  t£s* 

The  old  folio  found  at  Whitley  Beaumont, 
containing  three  Caxton  fragments,  the  dis- 
covery of  which  I  mentioned  last  month,  was 
sold  at  Hodgson's  for  ,£470,  and  has  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  British  Museum. 
Thus,  at  last,  the  national  collection  contains 
a  large,  though  unfortunately  mutilated,  frag- 
ment of  The  Book  of  Good  Manners,  of 
which  the  Cambridge  University  example 
is  the  only  perfect  one  in  this  country,  while 
at  Lambeth  is  a  second,  lacking  half  a  dozen 
leaves  or  so. 

t^*  *2f*  llr* 

The  Museum  lately  acquired  another  Caxton 
by  gift.  Mr.  E.  C.  Peele,  the  chairman  of 
the  Local  Committee  of  the  Governing  Body 
of  Shrewsbury  School,  writes :  "  It  may 
interest  some  of  your  readers  to  know  that 
a  very  good,  sound  copy  of  Gower's  Con- 
fessio  Amantis  by  Caxton  (1493  for  1483) 
has  been  deposited  in  the  British  Museum 
by  the  Governing  Body  of  Shrewsbury 
School,  in  whose  library  it  has  been  for  a 
very  great  number  of  years.  It  was  felt  that 
it  was  lost  in  a  local  library  but  rarely  visited 
by  strangers,  and  it  has  accordingly  been 
placed  in  the  Museum,  in  order  that  anti- 
quaries who  desire  to  do  so  may  have  an 
opportunity  of  inspecting  it. 

^*  t^*  t£* 

A  highly  interesting  discovery,  says  the 
A  thence  um  of  December  1,  is  announced 
from  Egypt.  M.  Lefebvre,  one  of  the  in- 
spectors in  the  service  of  the  Egyptian 
Department  of  Antiquities,  has  been  fortu- 
nate enough  to  disinter  a  large  number  of 
leaves  of  a  papyrus  codex  of  Menander,  con- 
taining upwards  of  1,200  lines.  The  leaves 
are  not  continuous,  but  he  has  found  as 
much  as  500  lines  from  each  of  two  plays, 
two  more  being  represented  by  smaller  quan- 
tities.   The  publication  of  this  most  welcome 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


3i 


discovery  is  promised  for  next  year,  and 
should  enable  modern  scholars  for  the  first 
time  to  form  an  independent  judgment  on 
the  style  and  genius  of  the  famous  comic 
dramatist. 

t&P  t£r*  1£r* 

Mr.  Elliot  Stock  announces  for  immediate 
publication  The  Law  concerning  Names  and 
the  Changes  of  Names,  by  A.  C.  Fox-Davies 
and  P.  W.  P.  Carlyon-Britton.  In  some  of 
its  chapters  the  question  of  the  validity  of 
the  present  modes  of  changing  names  is 
discussed,  and  the  strictly  legal  method  of 
the  alteration  of  surnames  is  set  forth. 

«5"  i2^*  t&* 

Messrs.  Dent  are  about  to  publish  Father 
Paschal  Robinson's  translation  of  The 
Writings  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  This 
volume,  although  based  on  the  Quaracchi 
text,  is  not  restricted  to  St.  Francis's  Latin 
writings,  but  takes  into  account  all  the  recent 
research  work  on  the  subject.  It  includes 
the  beautiful  Office  of  the  Passion,  never 
before  rendered  into  English,  besides  a  new 
literal  translation  of  the  Canticle  of  the  Sun. 
A  list  of  the  lost,  doubtful,  and  spurious 
writings  of  St.  Francis  is  included. 

<^"  t£r*  *2>* 

A  subject-index  to  the  modern  books  added 
to  the  British  Museum  Library  between  1901 
and  1905,  compiled  by  Mr.  G.  K.  Fortescue, 
Keeper  of  the  Printed  Books,  has  just  been 
issued.  It  is  proposed  to  carry  this  index 
on  regularly  with  a  volume  for  every  five 
years. 

t2f*  t^'  4&* 

The  final  volume  of  Dr.  Raymond  Beazley's 
important  work  on  The  Dawn  of  Modern 
Geography  is  to  appear  at  once  with  the 
Clarendon  Press.  The  whole  book  is  not 
only  a  history  of  geographical  science  from 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  to  the  early 
years  of  the  fifteenth  century,  but  it  deals 
with  the  history  of  exploration  and  European 
expansion  generally  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages.  Dr.  Beazley  says :  "  I  can  only 
express  the  hope  that  this  study  of  the  later 
middle  ages,  as  an  attempt  to  open  up  com- 
paratively new  fields  of  historical  and  geo- 
graphical inquiry,  may  be  no  less  kindly 
judged  by  those  who  have  welcomed  the 
former  volumes  on  the  early  and  central 
mediaeval  periods." 


The  latest  issue  of  the  Ashendene  Press 
(Shelley  House,  Chelsea)  is  a  beautiful  re- 
print of  More's  Utopia,  as  translated  by 
"  Raphe  Robynson  Citizein  and  Goldsmythe 
of  London,  at  the  procurement,  and  earnest 
request  of  George  Tadlowe  Citezein  and 
Haberdassher  of  the  same  Citie."  The  book 
is  reprinted,  in  quarto,  in  black  and  red, 
with  marginal  notes,  from  the  text  of  the 
second  edition  of  1556. 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  iRetos. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.} 

SALES. 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  were 
engaged  during  the  whole  of  last  week  in  selling  the 
Trentham  Hall  Library,  the  property  of  the  Duke  of 
Sutherland.  The  following  high  prices  were  realized  : 
/Esop,  with  German  woodcuts,  1501.  £2$  ;  L' Archi- 
tecture a  la  Mode,  157  plates,  by  Le  Pautre,  Berain, 
etc->  £32  5  Ornements  inventez  par  J.  Berain,  132 
plates,  Paris,  s.d.,  £76  ;  Bowdich's  Freshwater 
Fishes,  1828,  ^"36  ;  Breviarium  de  Camera  secundum 
Usum  Romanum,  1494,  £29  ios.  ;  Cervantes,  Don 
Quixote,  Ibarra's  fine  edition,  4  vols.,  bound  by 
Derome,  1780,  ,£26  ;  Poliphilo  di  Columna,  1545, 
^31  ;  Coryat's  Crudities,  161 1,  ^36  ios.  ;  Walter 
Cromer's  Treatise  of  Medicine  and  Chirurgery,  MS. 
(dedicated  to  and  bound  for  Edward  VI.),  c.  1550, 
;£io6;  Dallaway's  Sussex,  4  vols..  1815-32,  ^35; 
Daniell's  Voyage  round  Great  Britain,  coloured  plates, 
8  vols.,  1814-25,  ^49;  Sir  F.  Drake,  Expeditio  in 
India,  Leydse,  1588,  ^340;  Sydenham's  Botanical 
Register,  32  vols.,  1815-46,  £26  ios.  ;  Erasmus's 
New  Testament  in  Greek  and  Latin,  first  five  editions, 
I5I6'35,  ;£39  ios-  >  Bucaniers  of  America,  large 
paper,  1784-85,  ,£20;  Froissart's  Chronicles,  Pynson, 
1523-25,  ^30;  Gander's  The  Glory  of  Queen  Anne 
in  her  Royal  Navy,  1703,  fine  binding,  ^30  ;  Corona- 
tion Service  of  King  George  III.  and  Queen  Char- 
lotte, finely  bound,  1761,  £10;  Gould's  Birds, 
25  vols.,  ^146  ;  Gower,  De  Confessione  Amantis, 
1554,  ^35  ;  Higden's  Polychronicon,  1527,  ^29  ios.  ; 
Tory  Hours,  1549,  ^59  ;  Hours,  on  vellum,  Hardouin, 
1505,  ^49  ;  Houbraken's  Heads,  large  paper,  1743, 
^35  ;  Ben  Jonson's  copy  of  Martial,  with  autograph 
and  MS.  notes,  1619,  £\oo  ;  Lafontaine's  Fables, 
plates  by  Oudry,  1755-59,  £&  ;  Jo.  de  Latterbury 
in  Threnos  Jeremise,  Oxford,  1482,  ^"154;  Le  Roy, 
Les  Politiques  d'Aristote,  1576-79;  dedication  copy 
to  Henry  III.  of  P'rance  and  Poland,  finely  bound  by 
Clovis  Eve,  ,£660  ;  Melanchthon's  copy  of  Homer's 
Odyssey,  etc.,  Argent.,  1525,  ,£26  ios.  ;  Early  English 
Metrical  Romances,  fifteenth  century,  ^100  ;  Moreau, 
Monument  du  Costume  du  dix-huitieme  Siecle,  1789, 
£57 ;    Nieremberg,    Historia    Naturae,    etc.,    1635, 


32 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


Charles  I.'s  copy,  finely  bound,  .£395 ;  Duke  of 
Northumberland's  Arcano  del  Mare,  2  vols.,  com- 
plete, 1646  -  47,  ^50  ;  Oxford  School  -  Books  (3), 
printed  by  Treveris  of  Southwark,  and  published  by 
J.  Thorne  of  Oxford,  1527,  ^59  ;  Earl  of  Pembroke's 
Poems,  1660,  jC2°  >  Pennant's  Works,  26  vols.,  1776, 
etc.,  £2$;  Piranesi's  Works,  23  vols.,/"75;  English 
MS.  Psalter,  S.ec.  XIV.,  illuminated,  ^325  ;  Specu- 
lum Vitre,  MS.,  Sxc.  XIV.,  ^141  ;  Rubens,  Galerie 
de  Luxembourg,  1710,  ^32;  Shakespeare's  Plays, 
third  edition,  1664,  ^390  ;  Sibthorp's  Flora  Grieca, 
1806-40,  ,£175  ;  Silius  Italicus,  1 55 1,  Clovis  Eve 
binding  for  Marguerite  de  Valois,  ,£88. — Athenaum, 
December  1.  

PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
The  new  issue  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Essex 
Archaological  Society  (Vol.  X.,  Part  1)  opens  with  a 
paper  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Round  on  "Some  Tours  in 
Essex,"  in  which  extracts  are  given  or  summarized 
from  the  travels,  as  recorded  in  various  reports  of  the 
Historical  Manuscripts  Commission,  of  Thomas  Bas- 
kervill  in  1662,  who  relates  much  of  interest  con- 
cerning the  culture  of  hops  and  saffron  in  Essex  ;  of 
a  Mr.  Browne,  a  clergyman,  who  visited  the  county 
in  1700  ;  of  Edward  Harley,  Earl  of  Oxford,  in  1737  ; 
and  of  George  Vertue  in  1739.  Mr.  Browne  praised 
highly  the  beauty  of  the  county,  and  spoke  well  of 
the  inhabitants  generally  ;  but,  he  says,  "for  them 
who  live  in  the  Hundreds  (as  they  call  that  part  of 
the  country  which,  lying  more  low  and  fiat,  and  near 
to  the  sea,  is  full  of  marshes  and  bogs),  they  are 
persons  of  so  abject  and  sordid  a  temper  that  they 
seem  almost  to  have  undergone  poor  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's fate,  and  by  conversing  continually  with  the 
beasts  to  have  learned  their  manners."  Mr.  H. 
Laver  describes  Langford  Church,  which  has  the 
unusual  feature  of  an  apse  at  the  west  end  (sketched 
here  by  Mr.  C.  Lynam) ;  some  further  "  Essex 
Monastic  Inventories"  are  supplied  by  Mr.  R.  C. 
Fowler,  and  among  the  remaining  papers  are  "  Dr. 
Robert  Aylett"  (with  a  portrait  and  facsimile  of  auto- 
graph memorandum)  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Round  ;  an 
account,  illustrated,  of  Bradwell  Church,  near  Brain- 
tree,  by  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Curling;  and  "The  Last 
Days  of  Bay-making  in  Colchester,"  by  Mr.  H. 
Laver. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries last  night  an  account  was  read  of  "Recent 
Excavations  on  the  Site  of  the  Roman  Town  of  Cor- 
stopitum,  near  Corbridge,"  by  Mr.  C.  L.  Woolley. 
The  excavators  found  no  town  wall,  but  cut  the  ditch 
at  several  places  and  discovered  many  remains  of 
pottery,  coins  covering  a  period  of  200  years,  spear- 
heads, and  ornaments.  Remains  of  buildings  were 
found  with  walls  and  coloured  tiles  and  floorings  of 
concrete.  The  site  of  the  town  covered  twenty  acres, 
and  Mr.  Dendy,  the  chairman  of  the  meeting,  indi- 
cated that  the  whole  area  was  to  be  systematically 
excavated   by  the  Newcastle   Society  in  association 


with  the  London  Society  of  Antiquaries  and  the 
London  Archaeological  Society  and  Institute.  The 
town,  Mr  Dendy  stated,  was  at  the  point  where  the 
bridge  led  the  Roman  road  across  the  Tyne  and  was 
probably  used  as  a  mart.  —  Times,  November  29. 

••$  +$  +$ 

On  November  27  the  members  of  the  London  and 
Middlesex  Arch/Eological  Society  visited  the 
Royal  Palace  of  Westminster,  the  Pyx  Chapel,  and 
Westminster  School,  under  the  guidance  of  Sir  Ben- 
jamin Stone,  M.P.,  F.S.A.,  who  had  obtained  special 
facilities  for  the  society's  visit.  The  architectural 
features  of  Westminster  Hall  and  its  fascinating  his- 
torical associations  were  eloquently  discoursed  upon 
by  Sir  Benjamin.  After  visiting  the  chambers  and 
other  apartments  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and 
an  inspection  of  the  crypt  of  St.  Stephen's  Chapel, 
the  society  proceeded  to  Westminster  School,  where 
Dr.  Gow,  the  headmaster,  gave  an  address  on  the 
history  of  the  school  and  the  surviving  portions  of 
the  ancient  Abbey  of  Westminster,  in  which  it  is 
housed.  The  bold  signature  of  Dryden,  cut  by  the 
poet  in  one  of  the  old  school  benches,  was  examined 
with  much  interest.  After  luncheon  at  the  West- 
minster Palace  Hotel,  at  which  Sir  John  Watney, 
F.S.A.,  took  the  chair,  the  meeting  reassembled  in 
the  Abbey  cloisters,  and  were  allowed  by  special 
permission  to  inspect  the  venerable  Pyx  Chapel, 
where  Sir  Benjamin  Stone  recounted  the  many 
stirring  and  romantic  incidents  in  its  history,  this 
being  also  the  most  ancient  part  of  the  Abbey  build- 
ings, and  dating  from  the  time  of  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor. The  meeting  concluded  by  visits  to  the 
Jerusalem  Chamber,  the  scene  of  the  death  of  King 
Henry  IV.,  the  Abbey  refectory,  and  the  Jericho 
Chamber. 

+§  *>$  «•$ 

A  meeting  of  the  Scottish  Ecclesiological 
Society  was  held  in  the  Architectural  Association's 
rooms,  Edinburgh,  on  Saturday,  the  Rev.  Professor 
Cooper,  Glasgow,  presiding  in  the  early  part  of  the 
proceedings,  after  which  he  was  succeeded  by  Bishop 
Dowden.  Mr.  George  Watson,  Jedburgh,  read  a 
paper  on  "The  Black  Rood  of  Scotland,"  in  which 
he  stated  that  from  the  earlier  accounts  of  it  they 
learned  that  it  was  a  piece  of  the  true  Cross,  nearly 
three  feet  in  length,  upon  which  was  fixed  a  figure  of 
our  Saviour.  It  was  brought  here  by  Queen  Mar- 
garet about  1067,  and  when  she  was  dying  in  Edin- 
burgh Castle  in  1093  she  requested  it  to  be  given  her, 
and  when  presented  she  kissed  it.  Before  he  died  at 
Carlisle  in  1153,  David  I.  made  a  similar  request. 
Mr.  Watson  argued  that  there  was  no  connection 
whatever  between  the  Black  Rood  of  Scotland  and 
the  origin  of  Holyrood.  Edinburgh.  The  first  writer 
who  mentioned  that  was  Hector  Boece,  but  the  charter 
of  Holyrood  expressly  stated  that  the  Abbey  was 
founded  in  honour  of  Holy  Rood.  The  Black  Rood 
was  afterwards  found  by  the  officials  of  Edward  I.  in 
Edinburgh  Castle  in  1292,  and  it  was  probably  sent 
to  Berwick  in  that  year,  when  it  was  taken  possession 
of  by  him.  Five  years  later  he  caused  many  Scottish 
magnates,  both  territorial  and  ecclesiastic,  to  swear 
fealty  to  him  on  the  Black  Rood.  By  the  Treaty  of 
Northampton  in  1328,  the  Rood  was  returned  to  the 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


33 


Scottish  nation,  along  with  the  Ragman's  Roll,  which 
was  burned  by  the  Scots  when  it  came  into  their 
possession.  David  II.  took  the  Rood  in  his  ill-fated 
expedition  which  ended  in  the  Battle  of  Durham  in 
1346,  and  the  English,  finding  it  among  the  spoils, 
made  an  offering  of  it  to  St.  Cuthbert  in  Durham 
Cathedral.  Bellenden,  writing  in  1533,  said  it  was 
there  at  that  time,  and  was  held  in  great  veneration, 
but  it  was  never  afterwards  heard  of,  and  the  prob- 
ability was  that  it  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  emis- 
saries of  Henry  VIII.  when  the  Durham  Monastery 
was  dissolved  in  1539. 

+$  «o$  *$ 
At  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  held  on  November  30, 
the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  Bart.,  was 
elected  President  for  the  ensuing  year.  Mr.  W.  K. 
Dickson,  secretary,  submitted  a  report  on  the  progress 
and  work  of  the  society,  from  which  it  appeared  that 
its  127th  session  opened  with  a  membership  of  701. 
The  fortieth  volume  of  the  Proceedings,  of  which  an 
advance  copy  was  on  the  table,  contains  twenty-four 
papers,  the  most  important  of  which  is  a  description, 
very  fully  illustrated,  of  the  excavation  by  Mr. 
Alexander  Whitelaw,  of  Gartshore,  F.S.A.Scot.,  of 
the  Roman  forts  on  Bar  Hill,  Dumbartonshire,  com- 
municated to  the  society  by  George  Macdonald,  LL.D., 
and  Mr.  Alexander  Park,  F.S.A.Scot.,  with  a  note 
on  the  architectural  remains  by  Thomas  Ross,  archi- 
tect, F.S.A.Scot.  These  excavations  have  brought 
us  for  the  first  time  into  certain  contact  with  the 
handiwork  of  Agricola — have  yielded,  besides  an 
abundance  of  the  usual,  and  some  very  unusual, 
relics,  the  largest  and  finest  collection  of  Roman 
architectural  fragments  hitherto  found  in  Scotland. 
Special  mention  was  also  made  of  a  paper  by  Mrs. 
Place,  of  Loch  Dochart,  describing  the  clearing  out 
of  the  ruins  of  the  sixteenth-century  castle  on  the  Isle 
of  Loch  Dochart.  An  ornament  to  the  volume  is  an 
illustration  of  the  beautiful  bust  of  Paul  Jones  by 
Houdon,  and  equally  noticeable  is  the  fine  series  of 
illustrations  to  Mr.  A.  J.  S.  Brook's  paper  on  two 
table  clocks  in  the  museum.  The  excavation  of  the 
Roman  military  station  at  Newstead,  Melrose,  begun 
in  February,  1905,  has  proceeded  steadily  during  the 
year.  A  preliminary  report  of  the  results,  which  have 
far  exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectations,  was  to 
be  presented  to  the  society  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 
session,  on  December  10,  by  Mr.  James  Curie,  to 
whose  unremitting  exertions  the  splendid  success  of 
these  operations  is  due. 

*>$  *£  «0$ 

Mr.  James  Bryce,  M.P.,  presided,  on  November  20, 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  subscribers  to  the  British 
School  at  Rome,  at  the  rooms  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries,  Burlington  House,  and  in  moving  the 
adoption  of  the  report  remarked  that  they  had  a 
satisfactory  record  of  varied  work  and  prospects. 
Rome  was  their  centre  of  research,  but  the  work  was 
not  confined  to  Rome,  and  was  now  extended  to 
Sardinia  and  Sicily.  The  School  was  receiving  a 
small  grant  from  the  Government,  and  it  was  a  matter 
of  congratulation  that  the  duty  of  the  State  towards 
archaeological  research  was  beginning  to  be  recognised. 
Similar  schools  established"  by  France  and  Germany 
VOL.  HI. 


received  much  support  from  public  money,  and  the 
school  of  the  United  States,  being  supported  by  the 
Universities,  was  in  a  state  of  affluence  compared  with 
ours.  Wealthy  noblemen  of  the  eighteenth  century 
spent  no  inconsiderable  sums  in  developing  the  fine 
arts  and  archaeology,  but  it  was  lamentable  how  little 
interest  was  now  displayed  in  such  subjects.  Still,  the 
School  did  the  best  it  could  out  of  its  scanty  resources. 
Comparing  archaeology  with  science,  he  said  that 
interest  in  the  new  discoveries  of  science  grew  fainter 
as  they  became  familiar,  but  interest  in  the  early 
history  of  mankind  would  become  greater  as  time 
went  on.  He  desired  that  Great  Britain  should  bear 
her  share  of  the  investigations  with  other  civilized 
nations.  We  were  in  a  true  sense  the  children  of 
Rome,  affected  by  her  civilization,  laws,  and  thought, 
and  by  her  development  of  Christianity.  Life  in 
Rome  had  a  value  for  the  making  and  training  of 
historians,  for  history  lay  there  under  the  eye  in  a 
continuous  record,  such  as  was  not  to  be  found 
anywhere  else. — The  Italian  Ambassador,  in  second- 
ing the  motion,  said  that  through  such  research  as 
that  in  which  the  School  was  engaged  the  spirit  of 
Imperial  and  Mediaeval  Rome  had  been  revived. 
English  civilization  was  Ihe  modern  pendant  of  the 
history  of  Rome,  and  in  our  science  and  political 
development  were  expressed  its  continuity.  He 
recognised  in  the  researches  that  were  being  carried 
on  a  uniting  influence  between  the  two  countries. — 
Mr.  A.  H.  Smith  gave  an  explanation  of  the  modern 
inscription,  "  Aesculapio  Tarantino  Salenius  Areas," 
which  is  on  a  relief  in  the  British  Museum.  He  sug- 
gested that  "  Salenius  Areas  "  was  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  the  Arcadi,  probably  Gregorio  Massere, 
the  Hellenist,  commonly  known  as  "II  Salentino," 
and  that  the  "  Aesculapius  "  of  Tarentum  was  one 
Cataldo  Antonio  Mannarino,  a  physician  of  Tarentum, 
a  pastoral  poet,  and  great-grandfather  of  Gregorio 
Messire. — Mr.  H.  Stuart  Jones  (late  director  of  the 
School)  deduced  some  theories  as  to  Trajan's  cam- 
paigns from  the  Column  of  Trajan  ;  and  Mrs.  Strong 
drew  attention  to  some  fifteenth-century  drawings  of 
Trajan's  Column,  discovered  at  Chatsworth. 

+Q  *$  +§ 

An  evening  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  Ireland  was  held  at  Dublin  on 
November  27,  Mr.  W.  C.  Stubbs  presiding.  There 
were  two  interesting  papers,  with  lantern  illustrations. 
The  first  was  a  paper  by  Dr.  M'Dowel  Cosgrave, 
which  he  described  as  "  A  Contribution  towards  a 
Catalogue  of  Engravings  of  Dublin,  1800-1830."  In 
this  Dr.  Cosgrave  referred  to  numerous  illustrations 
of  the  old  city  which  are  to  be  found  scattered  among 
histories  and  guide-books.  The  collection  of  these 
and  the  making  lantern-slides  of  them  was  no  easy 
matter  ;  but  Dr.  Cosgrave  has  succeeded  in  collecting 
a  valuable  lot  of  views  of  Dublin  as  it  was  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  These  include  several  engravings 
of  Sackville  Street,  showing  Nelson's  Pillar,  the 
General  Post  -  Office,  and  the  Rotunda ;  the  old 
Houses  of  Parliament  as  they  looked  before  they 
were  used  and  altered  by  the  Bank  of  Ireland ; 
Trinity  College  and  Westmoreland  Street ;  the  old 
Carlisle  Bridge ;  Moira  House,  in  its  original  con- 
dition ;  views  of  various  lengths  of  the  River  Liffejfo 

E 


34 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


Christ  Church  and  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  before  they 
were  restored,  and  many  other  historical  buildings. — 
The  second  paper  was  "  Some  Further  Notes  on  the 
Castles  of  North  Limerick,"  by  Mr.  T.  J.  Westropp. 

^£  +Q  *><} 

At  the  bi-monthly  meeting  of  the  Leicestershire 
Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society 
held  at  Leicester  on  November  26,  the  Rev.  Canon 
Rendell  in  the  chair,  Mr.  J.  W.  Spurway  exhibited  a 
Roman  cinerary  urn,  containing  about  sixty  coins, 
which  was  found  at  a  depth  of  about  11  feet  in 
Causeway  Lane  on  July  3,  1906,  during  sewering 
operations.  The  denarii  were  distributed  among  the 
navvies,  the  urn  was  sold  to  a  local  broker,  from 
whom  it  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Noel  Spurway,  and 
the  bulk  of  the  denarii  have  also  been  purchased. 
The  urn  is  considered  to  have  contained  the  hoard  of 
a  Roman  soldier,  and  that  it  was  hidden  about  the 
time  of  the  Roman  withdrawal  from  Britain  (412  A.D.). 
The  coins,  when  found,  were  coated  with  lead  ;  this 
lead  is  believed  to  have  been  used  to  cover  the  open- 
ing to  the  urn,  and,  as  the  urn  had  been  subjected  to 
heat,  the  lead  had  found  its  way  amongst  the  coins, 
and  great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  removing  it. 
Akerman  states  that  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
denarius  at  the  time  these  were  buried  was  equal  to 
7^d.  of  our  money,  that  it  was  a  labourer's  wages  for 
a  day,  and  was  also  the  tribute  money. 


*>§      ^ 


+$ 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Cork  Historical  and  Archae- 
ological Society  on  November  16  the  President, 
Mr.  Robert  Day,  F.S.A.,  read  a  paper  on  the  gold 
finger-rings  given  by  barristers  upon  their  elevation  to 
the  rank  and  dignity  of  serjeants-at-law,  and  also  a 
paper  on  the  primitive  system  of  currency  in  ancient 
Erinn,  and  the  marked  similarity  in  form  and  material 
that  existed  in  other  countries  far  apart  and  widely 
separated  from  Ireland.  To  illustrate  his  subject,  he 
exhibited  the  following  examples  of  money  from  his 
own  collection,  some  of  which  preceded  the  Bronze 
Age  in  this  country : 

1.  Fifteen  specimens  of  gold  ring  money  from 
Ireland. 

2.  Three  examples  of  gold  spiral  wire  money, 
Scandinavian,  but  found  in  Ireland. 

3.  One  gold  mamillary  fibula  ;  weight,  3  ounces 
4  pennyweights — Irish. 

4.  Three  specimens  of  copper  ring  money  found 
near  Kanturk,  from  the  Windele  Collection,  1840. 
These  are  of  massive  size,  and  covered  with  a  lustrous 
green  patination,  and  of  a  high  antiquity. 

5.  One  gold  penannular  ring  from  Ashanti,  similar 
to  those  found  in  Ireland,  but  hollow. 

6.  Three  somewhat  similar  from  Ulster,  of  silver. 

7.  A  bronze  fibula,  King's  County. 

8.  A  copper  ring,  known  as  "  Bonny  River  money," 
West  Coast  of  Africa. 

9.  Another  of  iron,  of  the  same  shape,  from  West 
Africa. 

Numbers  3,  4,  7,  8,  and  9  are  all  of  the  same  char- 
acter, semicircular  in  form,  with  discoid  ends. 

10.  The  silver  fish-hook  money  of  Ceylon. 

11.  Thirteen  examples  of  Siamese  bullet  money,  in 
gold  and  .silver. 


12.  Two  of  the  "coppers"  or  shield  money  of  the 
Indians  on  Puget  Sound  and  Vancouver. 

13.  Examples  of  the  ancient  hoe  and  knife  money 
in  bronze — China. 

14.  Bronze  axe-head  money — ancient  Mexico. 

15.  A  treaty  belt  of  wampum — North  American 
Indians. 

16.  A    necklet    of    thirteen    whale's    teeth  —  Fiji 
Islands. 

17.  Four  Japanese  kobangs — viz.,   three  of  gold, 
one  of  silver. 

*>$  *>$  +§ 

The  paper  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  ARCHAE- 
OLOGICAL Institute  on  December  5  was  "Church 
Chests  of  the  Thirteenth  Century  in  England,"  with 
lantern  illustrations,  by  Mr.  Philip  M.  Johnston. 


*>$  ^ 


«©£ 


On  November  29  Mr.  G.  T.  Shaw  read  a  paper 
before  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Historic 
Society  on  "  The  Early  Liverpool  Directories  :  with 
Special  Reference  to  the  First  Directory  (1766)."  The 
paper  was  founded  on  a  "  street  "  directory  of  1766, 
which  had  just  been  compiled  by  the  lecturer  and  his 
sister,  Miss  Isabella  Shaw.  Mr.  Paul  Rylands 
presided.  In  the  course  of  his  lecture  Mr.  Shaw  said 
that  the  directory  of  1766  contained  the  names  of 
twenty-nine  people  who  were  described  as  gentlemen, 
188  residents  being  described  as  merchants,  sixteen 
as  ministers  (four  being  Dissenters),  twenty-two  as 
attorneys,  four  as  physicians,  seventeen  as  surgeons 
(some  apothecaries),  seven  as  druggists  and  apothe- 
caries, and  six  as  architects  and  surveyors.  Under 
"  Education  "  were  two  boarding  schools  (both  kept 
by  ladies),  thirteen  schoolmasters,  one  (Egerton 
Smith)  being  described  as  schoolmaster  and  printer, 
one  as  French  teacher,  one  as  fencing  master,  and 
two  as  dancing  masters.  Booksellers  and  stationers 
numbered  four,  bookbinders  two,  while  there  was 
only  one  engraver,  and  one  portrait  painter  (William 
Caddock).  Of  captains  and  mariners  there  were 
eighty-seven,  but  only  four  pilots.  There  were  only 
four  boatbuilders,  but  numerous  blockmakers,  sail- 
makers,  ropemakers,  ship  carpenters,  and  anchor 
smiths.  The  potters  and  mugmen  numbered  twenty- 
four,  the  sugar  bakers  seven,  and  there  was  one  firm 
of  silk  weavers,  appropriately  located  in  Spitalfields 
(a  street  formerly  at  the  Haymarket  end  of  Victoria 
Street).  There  were  three  coal  merchants,  one  fish- 
monger, and  one  pawnbroker.  There  were  thirty- 
eight  brewers,  many  of  these  being  probably  inn- 
keepers, who  brewed  the  ale  they  retailed  and  a  little 
more.  Twenty-four  hotel  and  inn  keepers  were 
recorded.  Fifty  public-houses  for  a  population  of 
30,000  seemed  moderate.  However,  Samuel  Derrick, 
Master  of  Ceremonies  at  Bath,  who  visited  Liverpool 
in  1760,  wrote  :  "  The  rum  is  excellent,  of  which  the 
merchants  consume  large  quantities.  But  they  pique 
themselves  greatly  upon  their  ale,  of  which  almost 
every  house  brews  a  sufficiency  for  its  own  use,  and 
such  is  the  unanimity  prevailing  among  them  that  if 
by  accident  one  man's  stock  runs  short,  he  sends  his 
pitcher  to  his  neighbour  to  be  filled."  Having  ex- 
plained that  the  object  of  this  paper  was  to  show  the 
value  of  the  old  Liverpool  directories  to  students  of 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


35 


local  history,  the  lecturer  said  it  would  be  impossible 
at  present  to  make  a  complete  set  of  perfect  copies. 
The  only  known  copy  of  the  original  issue  of  the  first 
Liverpool  directory  was  in  the  Athenaeum. 

*S  +§  +§ 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archae- 
ology on  December  12,  the  paper  read  was  "  Assyrian 
Notes,"  by  the  Rev.  C.  J.  Ball. 

4H$  «0$  *>$ 

At  an  afternoon  meeting  held  on  November  19,  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh — Dr.  R.  H. 
Traquair,  vice-president,  in  the  chair — interesting 
communications  were  made  by  Professor  O.  Charnock 
Bradley,  D.Sc,  and  Professor  Cossar  Ewart  on  the 
skulls  of  horses — the  latter  with  special  reference  to 
remains  of  Roman  horses  found  at  Newstead,  near 
Melrose.  Professor  Bradley  first  gave  the  measure- 
ments of  the  skull  of  a  wild  horse  of  the  Prejvalskii 
or  Mongolian  type,  and  compared  these  with  the 
measurements  of  skulls  of  Celtic  and  Iceland  ponies. 
The  differences,  he  said,  were  sufficiently  striking  and 
important  to  be  communicated,  though  the  research 
had  been  of  a  limited  nature.  The  conclusion,  gener- 
ally, was  that  the  wild  horse  had  a  long  narrow  face, 
and  the  Iceland  a  short  broad  face,  while  the  Celtic 
occupied  an  intermediate  position.  The  orbit  of  the 
wild  horse  was  elongated  and  placed  far  back,  while 
that  of  the  Celtic  and  Iceland  was  comparatively 
rounded.  Zelinski,  the  St.  Petersburg  zoologist,  who 
had  written  on  the  wild  horse  of  the  desert,  had  indi- 
cated that  it  had  a  wide  muzzle.  In  this  specimen, 
however,  examined  by  Professor  Bradley,  the  muzzle 
was  not  so  broad  as  that  of  the  Celtic  or  Iceland 
pony.  In  his  paper  on  skulls  of  horses  from  the 
Roman  fort  at  Newstead,  near  Melrose,  Professor 
Cossar  Ewart  said  that  in  the  excavations  at  that  camp 
undertaken  by  the  Scottish  Antiquarian  Society 
thirteen  skulls  of  horses  had  been  found  in  pits,  in 
conjunction  with  the  remains  of  other  animals.  The 
date  of  these  remains  had  been  provisionally  fixed  as 
the  end  .of  the  first  century  and  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century  a.  d.  From  a  careful  examination  of 
the  remains  Professor  Cossar  Ewart  gave  it  as  his 
view  that  three  of  the  small  skulls  belonged  to  British 
ponies  of  the  Hebridean  type,  which  had  somehow 
got  into  the  Roman  camp.  Taking  the  larger  skulls, 
and  estimating  from  the  relation  the  size  of  a  horse's 
head  has  to  its  body,  he  was  of  the  view  that  the 
Roman  auxiliaries  at  the  Newstead  camp  possessed 
horses  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hands  in  height,  and 
that  these  belonged  to  three  distinct  types — the  long- 
faced  horse  of  the  Mongolian  type,  which  probably 
came  from  Germany  or  Spain  ;  the  broad-headed 
horse,  which  probably  came  from  the  Low  Countries  ; 
and  some  cross-breeds,  which  probably  had  come  from 
theNorth  of  France  or  been  bred  in  England. 


iRetnetos  ann  Notices 
of  iReto  l5oofes. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.  ] 

The  Domesday  Inquest.     By  Adolphus   Ballard, 

B.A.,   LL.B.     With   twenty-seven   illustrations. 

London:  Methuen  and  Co.,  1906.     Demy  8vo., 

pp.  xvi,  284.     Price  7s.  6d.  net. 

This  volume  of  "  The  Antiquary's  Books  "  meets  a 

want  that  has  long  been  felt  by  students  of  the  great 

record.    It  is  not  the  privilege  of  every  local  historian 

to  have  at  hand  the  latest  results  of  Domesday  study, 

and  perhaps  he  has  not  the  time  nor  the  opportunity 

to   consult   the   literature   of  the  subject  in  a  good 

library.     Standard  works  like  those  of  Kelham  and 

Ellis  may  be  familiar,  but  he  must  have  been  asleep 

for  a  generation  or  two  if  he  does  not  know  that  vast 

strides  have   been   made   in  the   interpretation   and 

analysis  of  the  great  Inquest  since  the  books  of  these 

scholars  were  published. 

No  study  of  Domesday  could  be  complete  without 
the  guidance  of  such  masters  of  the  record  as 
Professors  Maitland  and  Vinogradoff  and  Mr.  J.  H. 
Round,  who  have  done  so  much  to  explain  its  contents 
and  solve  its  difficulties.  In  Mr.  Ballard  we  have  an 
interpreter  who  is  strong  enough  to  acknowledge  his 
indebtedness  to  the  labours  of  his  distinguished  pre- 
decessors, though  he  is  independent  enough  to  stand 
by  his  own  opinion  when  he  thinks  the  evidence 
warrants  it.  Throughout  his  pages  there  is  a  lucid 
restatement  of  the  elementary  teaching  of  the  Inquest, 
which  will  be  helpful  to  the  working  antiquary  and 
lead  him  on  to  more  advanced  study.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  man  of  average  intelligence,  who  has  no 
intention  of  reproducing  with  pen  and  ink  the  results 
of  his  perusal,  will  find  in  the  book  some  instructive 
reading  on  the  nature  of  the  institutions  and  the  con- 
ditions of  life  which  prevailed  in  England  at  the  end 
of  the  eleventh  century.  Mr.  Ballard  has  kept  the 
object  of  the  series  well  in  view,  for  indeed  the  volume 
has  been  arranged  and  written  in  such  a  way  as  to 
commend  it  to  the  general  reader  as  well  as  the  local 
historian  or  archaeologist. 

In  the  introductory  chapter  the  author  gives  a  com- 
prehensive account  of  the  origin  of  the  Domesday 
Inquest,  in  which  are  included  short  discussions  on 
such  subjects  as  the  standpoint  of  the  Conqueror,  who 
regarded  himself  as  the  rightful  heir  of  the  Confessor, 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  compiled  and  the 
method  of  its  compilation.  In  this  connection  it  may 
be  noted  that,  as  there  is  nothing  like  leather,  one 
cannot  be  surprised  that  a  Town  Clerk  should  regard 
Domesday  in  the  light  of  a  gigantic  rate-book  "com- 
piled primarily,"  as  he  says,  "for  fiscal  purposes,  to 
show  the  Conqueror  the  proportion  of  geld  payable 
from  each  estate,  and  the  person  liable  for  the  pay- 
ment, and  that  its  fiscal  purpose  colours  every  page  of 
the  record."  We  need  not  quarrel  with  Mr.  Ballard 
on  this  account :  as  a  guess  it  is  as  good  as  any  of  the 
others  which  he  discusses  and  rejects,  but  perhaps  no 
better. 

E    2 


36 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


The  body  of  the  volume  comprises  interesting 
chapters  on  the  hide  and  the  teamland,  the  vill  and 
the  manor,  the  hundred  and  the  shire,  soke  and  sobe, 
the  magnates,  the  humble  folk  discussed  as  to  their 
condition  before  the  Conquest,  at  the  Conquest,  at 
the  time  of  the  survey  and  afterwards,  the  appur- 
tenances of  the  manor,  including  the  woods,  meadows 
and  pastures,  the  mill,  the  fisheries,  burgesses,  castles, 
markets  and  miscellaneous  appurtenances,  the  church, 
the  Welshmen,  farming,  encroachments,  values  and 
renders,  incidence  of  the  geld,  and  a  typical  village. 
Few  will  gainsay  the  fullness  and  comprehensiveness 
of  this  method  of  treatment.  Each  of  the  subjects  is 
discussed  in  a  manner  that  sustains  the  interest  of  the 
reader,  while  it  instructs  him  on  many  curious  points 
of  ancient  lore.  At  first  sight  one  would  think  that 
the  study  of  the  Domesday  Survey  must  necessarily 
be  dry  and  forbidding,  but  after  the  reader  has  got 
full  seisin  of  Mr.  Ballard's  pages,  he  will  find  that  they 
possess  an  attraction  which  will  compel  him  to 
continue.  Chapters  like  those  on  the  social  condition 
of  the  mass  of  the  people  and  their  modes  of  life,  not 
to  speak  of  the  ubiquity  and  influence  of  the  Church, 
afford  welcome  insight  to  themes  of  abiding  interest. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  the  testimony  of  the 
great  record  is  almost  the  sole  authority  for  the  eluci- 
dation of  such  matters  at  a  critical  epoch  of  the 
country's  history,  it  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  that 
their  discussion  should  have  been  assigned  to  an 
author  of  proved  capacity  for  the  task.  The  treatise 
on  The  Domesday  Inquest  should  have  a  place  on  the 
shelf  of  every  antiquary  by  the  side  of  The  Domesday 
Boroughs. 

It  should  be  stated  that  the  illustrations  are  a 
pleasant  and  useful  feature  of  the  book,  and  though 
some  of  them  are  necessarily  conventional  and  suffi- 
ciently well  known,  it  cannot  be  said  that  they  ought 
to  have  been  omitted.     The  index  also  is  adequate. 

*      *      * 
A    Register    ok    the    Members  of  St.   Mary 
Magdalen   College,  Oxford.     New  Series. 
Vol.     V.,    1713-1820.       By    W.    D.     Macray, 
D.Litt.,  F.S.A.   Two  portraits.   London:  Henry 
Frowde,  1906.     8vo.,  pp.  xii,  184,    Price  7s.  6d. 
net. 
The  present  volume  of  Dr.  Macray's  laborious  and 
most  useful  Register  covers  a  period  not  marked  by 
the  turbulence  and   unrest  characteristic  of  periods 
dealt  with  in  some  previous  volumes.     During  the 
peaceful  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  was 
little  to  disturb  the  even  flow  of  academic  life.     In 
the  record  of  Fellows  there  are  not  many  outstanding 
names,    though   those  of    Home,    president   of   the 
College,    and    later    Bishop   of   Norwich    (of  whose 
numerous    works  a   useful    bibliography   is   given)  ; 
Henry   PhiUpotts,    the   militant    Bishop  of  Exeter  ; 
Charles  Daubeny,  famous  in  the  annals  of  science  ; 
and  Martin  Joseph  Routh,  the  venerable  president, 
are  conspicuous.     With  regard    to   the   last  named, 
Dr.  Macray  writes  from  affectionate  personal  recol- 
lection.   A  striking  portrait  of  the  almost  centenarian 
president   is  given.      But   the  chief   value    of   Dr. 
Macray's  work  lies  not  in  these  notices  of  well-known 
men,  whose  biographies  are  otherwise  easily  accessible, 
but  in  those  of  the  less  distinguished  many,  concern- 
ing whom  he  brings  together  so  much  carefully  col- 


lected matter.  His  scholarship  and  industry  provide 
very  valuable  material.  The  first  part  of  the  book  is 
occupied,  as  usual,  by  notes  and  extracts  from  the 
College  Registers  and  Accounts  relating  to  the  period 
covered  by  the  volume.  It  is  interesting  to  note  the 
constant  charity  of  the  college.  Entries  of  gifts  to 
relieve  suffering  by  fire  at  various  places  about  the 
country  are  frequent.  In  1743  £\  were  given  to  a 
poor  prisoner  for  debt  (p.  14).  There  are  several 
notes  of  gifts  to  Greek  priests  between  1725  and 
1762;  in  1734  for  example,  "Domino  Archiepiscopo 
Nicotiae  ex  ordin.  Prces.  et  Soc,  21'  2s."  In  1756  ten 
guineas  were  given  to  the  Protestant  College  at 
Debrcczin,  in  Hungary.  In  1765  the  entries  include 
"  Abaissi,  Principi  e  Palestina,  21'  2s."  One  would 
like  to  know  who  this  Prince  from  Palestine  was. 
The  College  subscribed  to  various  books,  such  as 
Hanmer's  edition  of  Shakespeare  in  1746  (three 
guineas),  while  in  1765  seven  guineas  were  given 
towards  the  cost  of  Bishop  Hildesley's  Manx  version 
of  the  Bible.  These  notes  and  extracts  throw  many 
sidelights  on  eighteenth-century  academic  life. 

A    Genealogical    History    of    the    Savage 
Family  in  Ulster.     Edited  by  G.  F.  Savage- 
Armstrong.        Many     illustrations.        London  : 
Printed  at  the  Chiswick  Press,  1906.     4to. ,  pp. 
xx,  381.     Price  2ls.  net. 
This  handsomely  printed  and  well-illustrated  quarto 
volume  is  a  revision  and  very  considerable  enlargement 
of  certain  chapters  of  an  earlier  book,  The  Savages  of 
the  Ards.     "  Its  aim  is  to  treat  solely  of  the  family 
founded  in  the  Ards  by  William   Baron  Savage  in 
A.D.  1 177,  which  has  proved  the  most  eminent  and 
most  durable  of  all  the  offshoots  of  the  historical  house 
of  the  Savages,  Earls  Rivers."     It  is  melancholy  to 
learn  that  Mr.  Savage-Armstrong,   who  devoted  so 
much  time  and  talents  to  the  subject,  died  last  July, 
and  was  buried  in  the  graveyard  of  the  ruined  church 
of  Ardkeen,  Co.  Down,  when  the  last  pages  of  this 
volume  were  in  the  hands  of  the  printer. 

The  historical  documents  cited,  as  well  as  a  con- 
siderable number  of  wills  and  papers  of  general  social 
value,  make  a  volume  of  no  little  interest  to  many  a 
student  who  cannot  claim  any  connection  with  this 
widespread  and  distinguished  family. 

The  Savages  sprang  from  Derbyshire.  They  were 
established  at  Stainsby,  a  hamlet  of  Hault  Hucknall, 
near  the  great  Cavendish  house  of  Hardwick,  in  early 
Norman  days.  A  word  or  two  might  well  have  been 
spared  as  to  their  position  in  that  county,  and  how 
even  now  there  are  traces  of  them  in  the  churches  of 
Hault  Hucknall,  North  Wingfield,  and  Sutton-in-Dale. 
Thomas  Savage,  who  was  successively  Bishop  of 
Rochester  and  London,  and  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
York,  between  1496  and  1508,  came  direct  from  the 
Derbyshire  home  of  Stainsby,  as  well  as  various  dis- 
tinguished knights  of  successive  generations.  From 
Derbyshire  the  Savages  branched  forth  into  Cheshire, 
Kent,  and  other  English  counties,  and  from  the 
Derbyshire  homestead  of  Stainsby  went  forth,  in  1 177, 
William  Savage,  one  of  the  twenty-two  knights  who 
fought  by  De  Courcy  in  the  subjugation  of  Ulster, 
and  who  subsequently  became  one  of  the  palatine 
barons  of  Ulster. 
Through    some   400    pages   the   descent    of  the 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


37 


Savages  of  Portaferry  and  Ardkeen,  with  their 
various  branches,  is  traced  with  considerable  genea- 
logical skill,  whilst  various  interesting  historical 
incidents  and  local  touches  brighten  the  narrative 
from  time  to  time.  Thus,  in  [572  Queen  Elizabeth 
granted  to  Patrick  Lord  Savage,  of  Portaferry,  the 
office  of  seneschal  of  that  portion  of  the  territory  of 
Ard  in  the  North  of  Ireland  of  which  his  father, 
Rowland,  had  been  captain  ;  "  with  power  to  assemble 
and  command  the  inhabitants  for  defence  ;  to  punish 
malefactors,  rebels,  vagabonds.rhymers,  Irish  harpers(!), 
and  idle  men  and  women  ;  and  to  hold  a  court-baron. " 
Such  documents  as  these  help  us  to  understand  the 
bitterness  of  feeling  still  prevalent  in  Ulster.  It  was 
of  this  particular  district  under  Savage  rule  that  the 
Irish  satirist  O'Daly  wrote  : 

"  Ardh-Uladh,  destitute,  starving, 

A  district  without  delight,  without  mass, 

Where  the  son  of  Savage,  the  English  hangman, 

Slaughters  barnacles  with  a  mallet." 

The  antiquarian  details  of  the  volume  show  but 

little  archceological  knowledge.     The  attempt  to  find 

an  imaginary  subterranean  passage  from  the  church 

of  Ardkeen   to  the  castle,  with  the   statement  that 

such  passages  were  not  uncommon  to  provide  for  the 

escape  of  women  and   children  in  case    of  sudden 

attack  by  the  native  Irish,  shows  amusing  credulity. 

Of  course  no  passage  was  found.     A  like  attempt  at 

the  investigation  of  what  is  grandiloquently  termed  in 

capital  letters  "  The  Soutterain  at  Ballygalet,"  only 

failed  in  completeness  because  of  "  the  wasting  away 

of  the  candle."      There  can  be  no  doubt  that   the 

mysterious  low  passage  of  slabs  of  stone  with  a  metal 

grating  at  the  end  was  merely  a  sewer,  though  that 

commonplace  notion  seems  never  to  have  entered  the 

writer's  head. 

A  very  grave  deficiency  in  such  a  book  as  this  is 
the  lack  of  an  index,  or  even  of  any  detailed  state- 
ment of  contents. 

*  *  * 
The  Printers,  Stationers,  and  Bookbinders 
of- Westminster  and  London  from  1476  to 
1535.  By  E.  Gordon  Duff,  M.A.  Seven  plates. 
Cambridge:  University  Press,  1906.  8vo.,  pp. 
256.  Price  5s.  net. 
This  well-printed  volume  contains  two  series  of 
"Sanders"  lectures  delivered  by  Mr.  Duff  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1899  and  1904.  In  the  first  part  the  author 
deals  with  the  introduction  of  printing  into  England  and 
with  the  work  of  Caxton  and  his  successors,  Wynkyn 
de  Worde,  Julian  Notery,  Letton,  Machlinia  and 
Pynson,  from  1476  to  1500 ;  with  the  books  printed 
abroad  for  the  English  market,  and  the  English 
stationers  who  sold  them  ;  and  with  the  bookbinders 
of  London  and  Westminster  during  the  same  period. 
In  the  second  part  Mr.  Duff  continues  the  history  of 
the  work  of  the  same  printers  and  their  brethren  of 
the  craft,  and  of  the  stationers  and  bookbinders 
during  the  further  period  of  1 501 -1 535.  The  lectures 
read  easily,  but  every  page  bears  witness  to  untiring 
labour  and  research.  Mr.  Duff  knows  his  subject  as 
very  few  of  his  brother  bibliographers  do,  and  can 
present  a  wealth  of  detail,  the  fruits  of  years  of  work, 
in  a  readable  and  pleasant  form.  He  has  been  an 
apt  pupil  in  the  school  of  Henry  Bradshaw,  and  no 
higher  praise  can  be  given  to  the  present  volume  than 


to  say  it  is  one  which  that  master  would  assuredly 
have  warmly  welcomed.  Mr.  Duffs  book,  indeed, 
will  be  indispensable  to  all  students  of  the  biblio- 
graphy of  English  printing.  The  plates  of  title-pages, 
devices,  etc.,  are  admirably  clear  and  well  produced, 
while  the  index,  by  Mr.  II.  G.  Aldis,  is  all  that  the 
index  to  such  a  book  should  be. 

*  *      * 
Bibliography  of  Folk-lore,  1905.     Compiled  by 

N.    W.    Thomas.     London  :    Published  for  the 
Folk-lore  Society  by  David  Nutt,  1906.     Demy 
8vo.,  pp.  xxxvi.     Price  is.  net. 
A  bibliography  of  folk-lore  was  one  of  the  objects 
set  before  itself  by  the  Folk-lore  Society  when  it  first 
came   into  being,  nearly  thirty  years  ago.     Several 
spasmodic  attempts  in  that  direction  have  been  made, 
but  they  have  not  come  to  very  much.    The  pamphlet 
before  us  in  the  familiar  orange  paper  covers  is  a 
capital  piece  of  work.     It  comprises  works  and  peri-* 
odicals  published  in  the  British  Empire  in  1905,  in- 
cluding several  periodicals  (Indian  and  African)  not 
easily  accessible.     We  hope  this  is  the  first  of  a  series 
of    annual    bibliographies.      No   more   useful    work 
could  be  undertaken  by  the  Society. 

*  *      * 

The  Dawn  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  in 
England.  By  John  Ashton.  With  114  illustra- 
tions. Cheap  edition.  London  :  T.  Fisher 
Unwin,  1906.  8vo.,  pp.  xx,  476.  Price 
2s.  6d.  net. 
Clearly   printed   and   strongly    bound,    this    is    a 

wonderfully  cheap  reissue  of  one  of  the  best  of  Mr. 


A  fireman,   1805. 

Ashton's  many  volumes  of  sketches  of  the  social 
history  of  bygone  days.  In  a  series  of  interesting 
chapters  the  author  sketches  the  various  features  of 


38 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


everyday  life  in  London  and  the  country  during  the 
early  years  of  the  last  century.  Politics — foreign  and 
domestic — trade,  travel,  the  army  and  navy,  literature, 
art,  science,  crime,  social  life,  smuggling,  the  press, 
the  theatre,  gambling,  sport,  costume,  and  half  a 
hundred  other  aspects  of  English  life  in  the  last 
twenty  years  of  the  reign  of  George  III.,  are  all 
brought  vividly  before  the  reader.  The  numerous 
illustrations,  which  are  all  drawn  by  the  author  from 
contemporary  engravings  and  caricatures,  add  much 
to  the  attractiveness  of  a  chatty  and  readable  book. 
We  are  courteously  allowed  to  reproduce  two,  which 
show  a  fireman,  and  the  watchmen  (the  dogberries 
who  vanished  at  the  coming  of  the  new  police)  of  a 
century  ago. 


chapels.  One  announced  a  play  of  '  Joseph  and  His 
Brethren,' Joseph  to  have  thirteen  colours  in  his  coat. 
The  opposition  at  once  announced  the  same  play,  but 
with  fourteen  colours  in  the  coat.  So  it  progressed 
till  we  had  Joseph  with  seventeen  colours  in  his  coat, 
and  the  opposition  announced  'Joseph  with  always 
one  more  colour  in  his  coat  than  the  other  !' " 

*      *      * 
Antoine  Watteau.    By  Camille  Mauclair.    Thirty- 
five  illustrations.     London :  Duckivorlh  and  Co. 
[1906].      i6mo.,   pp.  xiv,    200.      Price   2s.    net, 
cloth  ;  2s.  6d.  net,  leather. 
Watteau's  brief  life — he  died  of  consumption  at  the 
age  of  thirty-seven — gives  little  scope  for  biographical 
detail,  so  this  new  volume  of  the  "Popular  Library  of 


WATCHMEN   GOING   ON   DUTY,    1808. 


The  Old  Cornish  Drama.  By  Thurstan  C.  Peter. 

Six  illustrations.     London  :    Elliot  Stock,  1906. 

8vo.,  pp.  iv,  49.  Price  2s.  6d.  net. 
Mr.  Peter  here  amplifies  a  lecture  which  gives  a 
popular  view  of  the  old  folk-dramas  of  Cornwall. 
Although  the  author  modestly  says  he  pretends  "  at 
no  more  than  a  popular  tract,"  he  gives  in  convenient 
form  a  very  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of 
English  miracle  plays.  The  Cornish  plays  differ 
markedly  from  those  familiar  elsewhere  —  the 
Towneley  and  the  Chester  plays,  for  example — in  their 
comparative  freedom  from  coarseness  and  what  we 
should  now  regard  as  profanity.  The  stage  directions 
are  mostly  in  English,  and  are  full  of  quaintnesses,  of 
which  Mr.  Peter  gives  several  instances.  It  appears 
that  sacred  plays  are  still  performed  in  Cornish  rural 
chapels.  "Not  many  years  ago,"  says  Mr.  Peter, 
"in    a    village  in  West  Cornwall   were  two    rival 


Art "  is  necessarily  in  the  main  critical.  M.  Mauclair 
analyzes  keenly,  and  from  a  fresh  standpoint,  the 
characteristics  of  Watteau's  work.  He  puts  aside  the 
superficial  view,  and  proceeds  on  the  lines  of  psycho- 
logical analysis,  tracing  the  relation  of  Watteau's 
artistic  work  to  his  physical  condition.  The  theory 
he  sets  out  and  argues  with  great  ability  may  be  stated 
briefly  thus — that  Watteau's  art  was  very  largely  in- 
fluenced and  inspired  by  the  effect  on  his  imagination, 
and  on  his  whole  artistic  consciousness,  of  the  fell 
pulmonary  disease  to  which  he  fell  a  victim.  This 
theme  takes  the  reader  out  of  the  ordinary  province 
of  art  criticism;  but  M.  Mauclair's  argument  is  strong 
and  well  knit,  and  deserving  of  serious  study  and  con- 
sideration. The  little  book  is  a  contribution  to  the 
psychology  of  the  consumptive  as  well  as  to  artistic 
criticism.  The  illustrations  vary  considerably  in 
quality.     The   charm  of  Watteau's  pictures  is  of  a 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


39 


nature  peculiarly  difficult  to  convey  or  suggest  in  the 
small  reproductions  here  given.  The  volume  is  sup- 
plied with  a  useful  bibliographical  note  and  a  good 
index. 

*     *     * 

Parish  Life  in  Mediaeval  England.  By  Abbot 
Gasquet,  D.D.  With  many  illustrations. 
London:  Methuen  and  Co.,  1906.  Demy8vo., 
pp.  xix,  279.  Price  7s.  6d.  net. 
The  General  Editor  of  the  series  of  "The  Anti- 
quary's Books,"  to  which  this  volume  belongs, 
has  been  singularly  happy  in  his  choice  both  of 
topics  and  writers.  And  here  the  right  writer 
has  a  subject  "made  to  his  hand."  Much  has 
been  written  on  various  aspects  of  mediaeval  parish 
life,  and  material  in  abundance  lies  scattered 
through  a  very  large  number  of  both  manuscript  and 
printed  sources.  Abbot  Gasquet  is  master  of  the 
material — his  list  of  authorities  has  very  considerable 
bibliographical  value — and  has  here  focussed,  so  to 
speak,  a  great  variety  of  lights  on  a  very  fascinating 
subject.  In  an  introductory  chapter  he  discusses  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "  parish,"  and  the  origin  of  the 
English  parochial  system,  and  then  proceeds  to  re- 
construct for  us,  in  a  series  of  most  readable  chapters, 
mediaeval  parish  life,  under  the  headings  of  Church, 
Clergy,  Officials,  Finance,  Church  Services,  Church 
Festivals,  The  Sacraments,  The  Parish  Pulpit, 
Amusements,  and  Guilds  and  Fraternities.  It  is  a 
comprehensive  scheme,  and  really  includes,  or  at 
least  touches  upon,  much  more  than  might  be  indi- 
cated by  the  title  to  some  readers  ;  for  it  always  has 
to  be  remembered  that  in  the  centuries  gone  by  the 
parish  church,  and  everything  and  everybody  con- 
nected with  it,  formed  the  centre,  not  merely  of 
ecclesiastical  life,  but  practically  of  every  form  of 
common  interest.  Abbot  Gasquet  brings  this  out  in 
many  ways.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  quote  examples  ; 
it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  book  gives  a  vivid  sketch 
of  a  great  and  far-reaching  subject.  The  numerous 
illustrations  are  helpful,  those  taken  from  mediaeval 
manuscripts  and  books  being  particularly  to  be  com- 
mended. 

Chats  on  Costume.  By  G.  W.  Rhead,  R.E. 
With  117  illustrations.  London  :  T.  Fisher 
Unwin,  1906.  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  304.  Price  5s. 
net. 
This  handsomely-produced  book  is  intended,  not 
for  the  scholar  or  student,  but  for  the  general  reader. 
In  a  series  of  readable  chapters  Mr.  Rhead  talks 
pleasantly  about  the  vicissitudes  of  fashion  in  clothes, 
grouping  his  chats  around  certain  well-defined  items 
of  attire,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  tunic  ;  the  mantle  ; 
hats,  caps,  and  bonnets  ;  boots,  shoes,  and  other 
foot-coverings  ;  doublet  and  hose  ;  crinoline,  and  so 
on  ;  with  a  chapter  on  "The  Dressing  of  the  Hair, 
Moustachios,  and  Beard  " — a  subject  hardly  covered 
by  the  title.  On  all  these  and  other  matters  Mr. 
Rhead  chats  with  knowledge,  though  it  is  hardly 
correct  to  describe  the  "chopine"  as  "the  sole, 
elongated  to  an  extravagant  degree  "  (p.  292).  The 
numerous  illustrations  are  useful  aids  to  the  text,  and 
include  thirty-five  line  drawings  by  the  author.  There 
is  a  fair  index. 


Drawings  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  Forty-eight 
plates.  With  an  essay  by  C  Lewis  Hind. 
London  :  George  Newnes,  Ltd.,  1906.  4to., 
pp.  66.     Price  7s.  6d. 

We  have  had  occasion  before  to  praise  this  series  of 
"  Drawings  of  the  Great  Masters,"  which  gathers  a 
rich  material  from  private  as  well  as  public  galleries 
and  cabinets.  Our  own  British  Museum  and  the 
Louvre,  to  say  nothing  of  Italian  cities  like 
Florence  and  Turin,  possess  beautiful  drawings  by 
the  wonderful  man  whose  "  spirit  was  never  at  rest  ; 
his  mind  was  ever  devising  new  things."  The 
examples  which  are  here  collected  amply  justify  the 
saying  of  Mr.  Hind  (in  a  prefatory  note,  which  is 
a  model  of  its  kind  for  felicity  of  judgment  and  sug- 
gestiveness  in  its  information)  that  to  Leonardo  da 
Vinci  "the  use  of  pen  and  crayon  came  as  naturally 
as  the  monologue  to  an  eager  and  egoistic  talker." 
Many  will  be  stimulated  by  this  volume  to  read  yet 
once  again,  as  the  present  writer  has  done,  Pater's 
famous  essay  on  the  master.  In  these  slighter 
sketches  and  studies  we  watch  the  sheer  lifelong 
enjoyment  among  men  and  women,  babes  and  cats, 
and  even  horrible  griffins,  of  the  man  whose  strength 
and  fire  went  out  at  the  end  into  the  production  of 
two  or  three  of  the  world's  greatest  paintings. 

How  few  of  us  know  that  beautiful  drawing  per- 
manently hung  in  an  upper  chamber  at  Burlington 
House  !  Plate  36  should  send  many  pilgrims  to 
Piccadilly.  What  austerity,  and  yet  what  fire,  in  the 
artist's  drawing  of  himself  (Plate  33)  as  an  old  man. 
It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  original  of  Plate  1 1  is 
genuine,  but  Plate  12 — what  a  recompense  ! 

As  we  said  of  Holbein's  Drawings  in   the   same 
series,  a  special  word  of  sincere  praise  is  due  to  the 
quality  of  the  reproductions  and  the  restrained  ele- 
gance of  the  book's  binding.  W    FT   D 
*      *      * 

Heraldic  Badges.  By  A.  C.  Fox-Davies.  Many 
plates.  London:  John  Lane,  1907.  8vo. , 
pp.  162.  Price  5s.  net. 
This  small  book  will  be  found  of  some  use  to 
writers  of  historic  novels,  as  well  as  to  a  certain  class 
of  designers  and  artists,  on  account  of  its  numerous 
illustrations.  An  alphabetical  list  of  badges,  arranged 
according  to  the  families  that  used  them,  takes  up  the 
greater  part  of  these  large-type  pages.  It  is  a  good 
deal  fuller  than  any  list  that  we  have  met  with  else- 
where in  print.  It  is,  however,  assuredly  "  merely  a 
compilation,  and  not  the  result  of  original  research." 
Why  either  author  or  publisher  should  have  thought 
it  worth  while  to  give  so  incomplete  a  little  book  to 
the  public  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  conceive.  Even 
a  few  hours'  study  would  have  materially  improved 
the  list.  We  should  have  thought  that  the  long  cata- 
logue of  badges  given  in  an  oft-cited  manuscript  of  the 
Cottonian  Collection  could  scarcely  have  failed  to 
occur  to  any  writer  on  such  a  subject.  Therein  are 
to  be  found  "  the  names  of  the  Captayns  and  Pety 
Captaynes  with  the  Bagges  in  their  Standents  of  the 
Army  and  Vantgard  of  the  Kyngs  Lefftenaunt  enter- 
ing in  to  France  the  16th  day  of  June  in  the  5th  yere 
of  the  Reigne  of  Kynge  Henry  VIII." 

Had  use  been  made  of  this  one  contemporary 
manuscript,  the  value  of  this  printed  list  would  have 


4o 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


been  doubled.  For  the  single  county  of  Derby,  the 
badges  of  Sacheverell,  Darby,  Fitzherbert,  Secke, 
Gresley,  Linaken,  Twyford,  and  Leech,  might  have 
been  added,  all  duly  set  forth  in  heraldic  parlance. 
We  look  in  vain  for  any  of  these  in  Mr.  Fox-Davies' 
last  book. 

*  *      * 

Mr.  Stock  has  issued  a  revised  and  cheaper  edition 
of  Manx  Nanus,  by  A.  W.  Moore,  C.V.O.,  M.A. 
(price  3s.  6d.),  with  a  preface  by  Professor  Rhys. 
The  book  deals  with  surnames  as  well  as  place-names, 
and  is  a  very  useful  addition  to  the  small  number  of 
volumes  which  treat  the  subject  of  names  according 
to  modern  scientific  methods.  Incidentally  the  work 
contains  much  matter  of  interest  to  students  of  dialect 
and  custom,  as  well  as  to  folk-lorists  and  archaeologists 
generally.  This  new  edition  is  nicely  got  up  at  a  very 
low  price. 

*  *      * 

The  Architectural  Review,  December,  contains, 
besides  the  usual  papers  and  pictures  of  more  strictly 
professional  value,  two  articles  of  archaeological 
interest.  Mr.  R.  P.Jones  supplies  a  second  paper  on 
"Some  Aspects  of  Sicilian  Architecture,"  dealing 
with  the  churches ;  and  Mr.  Champneys  sends 
another  chapter — "Irish  Romanesque" — of  his  ex- 
cellent "  Sketch  of  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Architecture." 
The  illustrations  to  both  papers  are  numerous  and 
very  good.  Those  of  the  cathedral  at  Monreale  are 
particularly  fine.  The  announcements  for  1907 
include  an  enlargement  of  the  magazine,  and  many 
contributions  of  interest  and  importance  are  promised. 

The  Ulster  Journal  of  Archaology  for  October 
makes  a  rather  belated  appearance.  In  a  paper  on 
the  "Royal  Downshire  Militia,"  Colonel  Wallace  gives 
many  extracts  from  the  Order  Books,  during  the 
last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  —a  very  interest- 
ing period  in  Irish  history.  There  are  also  articles 
on  Irish  cromleacs,  a  Co.  Derry  Manor,  standing 
stones  in  Co.  Antrim,  and  other  local  topics.  We 
have  also  before  us  Northamptonshire  Notes  and 
Queries,  September — also  belated — with,  inter  alia, 
extracts  from  the  diary  (1795-1798)  of  the  chaplain  of 
Northampton  County  Gaol,  and  several  good  illus- 
trations ;  East  Anglia,  August,  containing  the  con- 
tinuation of  a  very  quaint  seventeenth-century  Suffolk 
diary,  and  other  good  matter ;  Rivista  d  Italia, 
November ;  Scottish  Notes  and  Queries,  December  ; 
and  book  catalogues  (general)  from  Messrs.  B.  and 
J.  F.  Meehan,  of  Bath,  and  Messrs.  W.  N.  Pitcher 
and  Co.,  of  Manchester. 


architectural  parlance,  it  is  scarcely  so.  The  screen 
in  question  is  a  choir  one.  The  expression  "par- 
close  "  (perclose),  which,  we  assume,  means  partly 
closed,  is  more  generally  used  for  a  screen  enclosing 
a  side  chapel  or  aisle  ;  never  when  it  forms  the  line 
of  demarcation  across  the  main  part  of  an  ecclesi- 
astical edifice.  This  has  been  so  from  the  earliest 
times.  Parker,  in  his  Glossary  (third  edition,  1840), 
thus  illustrates  the  term  : 

"The  carpenters  do  covenant  to  make  and  set  up 
finely  and  workmanly  a  par-close  of  timber  about  an 
organ-loft,  to  stand  over  the  west  door  of  the  said 
chapel,  according  to  pattern  "  {Records  of  Beauchamp 
Chapel,  Warwick). 

And  again  : 

"In  1500  a  perclose  or  chapel,  included  with  lan- 
celli  or  lattices,  was  made  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
south  aisle,  like  that  in  the  north  aisle.  Here  was  a 
gild  of  St.  Anne,  and  images  of  SS.  Martin,  Mary, 
William  of  Norwich,  Margaret,  John,  Christopher, 
Thomas,  Anne,  and  Nicholas,  with  lights  before 
them "  (Blomfield's  History  of  Norfolk,  vol.  iv., 
p.  369,  edit.  1806). 

This  latter  refers  to  a  parclose  in  the  church  of 
St.  Martin  in  the  Plain  at  Norwich. 

The  same  author  says  : 

"  The  name  '  parclose '  seems  to  have  been  given  to 
the  square  space  at  the  east  end  of  an  aisle,  enclosed 
with  screen  work,  generally  with  an  altar  in  it,  and 
used  as  a  chantry  chapel." 

Harry  Hems. 

Fair  Park,  Exeter, 
December  2,  1906. 


FRESCOES,  WALL-PAINTINGS,  STAINED 
GLASS,  AND  ITEMS  ECCLESIASTICAL 
AND  ECCLESIOLOGICAL. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

I  AM  endeavouring  to  collect  information,  and,  where- 
ever  possible,  prints  and  photos  of  any  instance 
throughout  the  country  of  all  existing  examples  of  any 
of  the  above.  Many  of  these  things  are  yearly  pass- 
ing away  beyond  recall,  and  in  these  days  of  camera 
and  photo-picture  postcard,  much  might  be  done  to 
save  them  to  posterity.  Any  help  I  should  esteem 
most  gratefully. 

H.  P.  Feasey,  O.S.B., 
St.  Augustine's,  F.R.  Hist.  Soc. 

Ramsgate. 


Correspontjence. 

PARCLOSE  SCREENS. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

Although  it  may  be  argued  that  the  definition 
"Parclose  Screen"  accompanying  Dr.  Alfred  C. 
Fryer's  illustration  of  the  east  end  of  St.  David's 
Cathedral  in  December's  issue  is  absolutely  correct,  I 
venture  to  point  out  that,   technically,  in   accepted 


Note  to  Publishers. — We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  general  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  of 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communication*  or 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


4i 


The   Antiquary. 


FEBRUARY,  1907. 


iBotes  of  tbe  ^ontb. 


The  Manchester  Classical  Association  has 
been  conducting  excavations  on  the  site  of 
the  old  Roman  fort  of  Mancunium — an 
enterprise  not  unattended  with  difficulty,  for 
the  site  is  in  the  centre  of  the  great  city  of 
to-day.  Yet  in  some  ways  the  work  has 
entailed  less  difficulty  than  might  have  been 
expected.  The  site  of  the  camp  is  crossed 
by  railway  arches,  and  the  soil  underneath 
them  can  be  dug  without  disturbing  any 
buildings.  Some  of  the  land,  again,  has 
never  been  built  upon,  and  one  part  is 
covered  by  a  tip,  under  which  lies  the  virgin 
soil.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ground,  as  can 
be  imagined,  is  packed  hard,  and  progress 
has  been  slow.  Part  of  the  western  rampart 
of  the  fort,  and  some  foundations  within  the 
Castellum,  have  been  uncovered ;  and  among 
the  miscellaneous  finds  have  been  roofing- 
tiles,  coins,  a  fine  "Samian"  bowl,  part  of 
the  stone  capital  of  a  pillar,  bricks,  and  frag- 
ments of  pottery,  querns,  etc.  The  western 
rampart  was  found  almost  exactly  in  the 
position  indicated  by  Whitaker,  who  gives 
a  graphic  description  of  the  walls  as  he  saw 
them  in  1 77 1.  "  The  upper  surface  of  what 
remains  of  the  wall,"  says  the  Manchester 
Guardian  of  January  7,  "is  hardly  2  feet 
below  the  present  ground  level,  and  a  clean 
section  shows  the  structure  to  consist  of 
2  feet  of  clay,  about  \\  feet  of  small  boulders 
laid  in  puddled  clay,  and  a  mortared  wall 
above.  Running  apparently  parallel  to  this 
line  of  rampart  (the  exact  position  will  be 

VOL.  III. 


known  when  the  results  of  the  survey  have 
been  plotted),  two  well  -  preserved  floors, 
paved  with  red  sandstone,  have  been  laid 
bare.  One  of  these  (about  100  feet  long) 
was  evidently  the  floor  of  an  important 
building,  and  an  excellent  facing  marks  its 
eastern  boundary ;  the  west  face  has  not  yet 
been  traced.  While  this  was  being  surveyed 
on  Saturday  it  was  pointed  out  by  Mr.  John 
Swarbrick  that  the  fragments  of  wall  flanking 
the  building  had  the  appearance  of  having 
been  buttresses.  In  all  the  Roman  forts  in 
Britain  long  buttressed  buildings  with  raised 
floors  are  found,  having  cross-walls  connect- 
ing the  buttresses.  They  are  conjectured 
with  good  reason  to  represent  the  granary 
or  storehouse,  of  which  Tacitus  gives  such 
graphic  details  in  the  Agricola.  Now  at 
least  one  cross-wall  is  indicated  in  line  with 
one  of  the  supposed  buttresses  in  our  build- 
ing, which  may,  therefore,  turn  out  upon 
fuller  investigation  to  have  been  one  of  the 
granaries  of  Mancunium." 

&        $         ty 

Funds  are  much  needed  for  the  further  pro- 
secution of  the  excavations.  The  honorary 
secretary  of  the  committee  which  has  the 
work  in  hand  is  Mr.  F.  A.  Bruton,  2,  Clyde 
Road,  West  Didsbury,  Manchester.  In  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Bruton,  promising  a  donation 
to  the  fund,  Dr.  Haverfield  says  : 

"  I  am  extremely  glad  that  you  have  found 
the  rampart  and  other  things.  The  buttressed 
building,  of  course,  occurs  elsewhere  regularly, 
and  often  near  the  rampart — compare,  for 
example,  Gellygaer.  In  respect  to  the  exist- 
ence of  stone  buildings  .  .  .  the  tendency  to 
use  stone  for  ramparts  or  interior  buildings 
was  undoubtedly  stronger  in  the  late  second 
and  third  than  in  the  late  first  and  early 
second  centuries.  But  the  supply  of  acces- 
sible stone  and  wood  and  other  accidental 
circumstances  caused  varieties,  as  is  natural 
in  a  transition  period,  and  certain  important 
buildings,  like  the  storehouses  (or  whatever 
the  buttressed  buildings  were),  were  almost 
always  stone  in  permanent  forts.  The  size 
and  importance  of  the  fort  had  less  to  do 
with  the  choice — I  think,  indeed,  it  had  very 
little,  so  long  as  the  fort  was  intended  to  be 
permanent." 

The  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Antiquarian 
Society  visited  the  site  on  January  12.     Illus- 

F 


42 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


trations  of  the  fine  "  Samian  "  bowl  referred  to 
above  appeared  in  the  Manchester  Guardian 
and  the  Daily  Graphic,  both  of  January  8. 

«jp  c$»  cjjp 

In  a  letter  to  the  Times,  Mr.  Caroe  cites 
Canterbury  Cathedral  as  an  instance  of  the 
irreparable  injury  that  is  being  caused  to 
historic  buildings  by  the  action  of  coal 
smoke.  Although  a  small  city  with  no 
large  manufacturing  establishments  (says  the 
Builder  of  December  29),  Canterbury  is, 
nevertheless,  capable  of  producing  smoke  in 
sufficient  volume  to  cause  the  most  serious 
results.  Following  the  expenditure  of  ^9,000 
upon  three  faces  of  the  Angel  Tower,  the 
scaffolding  has  been  arranged  so  as  to 
permit  examination  of  the  fourth  face,  with 
the  result  that  Mr.  Caroe  finds  it  to  be  in  a 
deplorable  condition.  The  stone  is  rotten 
behind  the  crust  of  smoke,  and  the  work 
of  the  ancient  craftsman  is  gone  for  ever. 
Analysis  proves  that  this  condition  is  due 
entirely  to  coal  smoke,  an  agent  whose  de 
structive  qualities  cannot  be  realized  by  those 
who  produce  it  so  freely,  or  by  those  who 
ought  to  prevent  its  production.  We  are 
quite  in  sympathy  with  Mr.  Caroe  in  his 
appeal  to  the  manufacturers  and  local 
authorities  of  Canterbury,  but  fear  that  even 
if  the  discharge  from  factory  chimneys  were 
rendered  smokeless,  there  would  still  be 
something  to  fear  from  the  invisible  products 
of  combustion,  as  well  as  from  the  smoke 
emitted  by  domestic  chimney-pots,  which, 
taken  collectively,  are  not  less  harmful  than 
isolated  flues  of  more  monumental  propor- 
tions. 

4?      4?      $? 

An  appeal,  backed  by  a  very  strong  com- 
mittee, is  being  issued  for  funds  to  provide 
a  new  Museum  of  Archaeology  and  Ethnology 
at  Cambridge.  The  University  possesses 
collections  which  are  both  numerous  and 
valuable,  but  all  this  material  is  "rendered 
practically  useless  by  the  fact  that  only  a 
fraction  of  it  can  be  exhibited.  Oxford 
possesses  in  the  Pitt  Rivers  Museum  a 
magnificent  building  which  permits  of  the 
exhibition  of  its  collections  in  a  manner  that 
specially  facilitates  teaching,  but  the  museum 
at  Cambridge  is  little  more  than  two  narrow 
passages.      Not   only   are   there   no   rooms 


available  for  demonstration  or  research,  but 
a  corner  of  the  basement  has  to  serve  as 
workroom,  and  cases  have  to  be  unpacked 
in  the  galleries.  Even  the  basement  became 
so  crowded  three  years  ago  that  a  warehouse 
half  a  mile  distant  had  to  be  hired  for  storing 
part  of  the  collections.  Under  such  condi- 
tions, as  may  readily  be  conceived,  the 
actual  preservation  of  the  specimens  is 
becoming  a  matter  of  difficulty.  It  is, 
moreover,  found  that  potential  donors  are 
beginning  to  hesitate  about  offering  their 
collections  if  they  are  housed  in  such  dis- 
advantageous circumstances."  We  warmly 
commend  this  appeal  to  our  readers.  The 
secretary  is  Mr.  J.  E.  Foster,  10,  Trinity 
Street,  Cambridge. 

$?  *)&'  «fr 
Alderman  Jacob,  of  Winchester,  writes : 
"  The  great  works  being  carried  out  at 
Winchester  Cathedral  Church  have  brought  to 
light  many  relics  of  the  past  from  the  Roman 
period  to  the  eve  of  that  art-destructive  time, 
the  Reformation.  A  curious  thing  has  this 
month  (December)  been  found — viz.,  a 
yard-measure  made  of  box-wood,  and  in 
perfect  condition  save  that  it  is  very  slightly 
defective  in  length.  Whilst  dealing  with  the 
preparations  to  underpin  a  clustered  column 
of  De  Lucy's  Early  English  work,  a  small 
piece  of  the  beautiful  wainscot  oak  panelling 
of  Bishop  Langton  was  moved  from  its  north 
wall.  Mr.  Ferrar,  the  intelligent  head  of 
Messrs.  Thompson's  staff,  noticed  amidst 
the  flints  and  rubble  at  the  base  of  the  wall 
a  slight  wooden  projection.  Removing  the 
flints,  etc.,  he  found  the  yard-measure,  which 
doubtless  was  mislaid  by  one  of  the  crafts- 
men who  worked  on  the  chantry  at  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  or  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century  (Langton  died  of  the  plague  in  the 
year  1500),  and  it  became  hidden,  and  thus 
buried  in  the  rough  wall.  The  scale  of  inches, 
and  half  and  quarter  ditto,  are  marked  off 
on  the  boxwood,  and  36  indicates  the  inches 
at  the  end.  The  shrinkage  of  the  wood  may 
be  ascribed  to  its  place  in  the  wall.  The 
underpinning  of  the  walls  of  De  Lucy's 
aisles  is  going  forward  steadily,  as  also  is  the 
keying  of  the  vaulting  in  the  three  aisles 
of  this  Bishop's  early  Early  English  work. 
The  plaster  fillets  placed  on  the  outer  walls 
of  the  north  transept — Walkelyn's  Norman 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


43 


work — are  watched  narrowly  in  order  to 
detect  any  '  movement,'  and  that  there  is 
such  motion  is  shown  by  the  cracks  in  the 
plaster.  That  there  were  weak  places  in  this 
transept  at  the  time  of  the  repairs  and  re- 
storations in  the  time  of  Dr.  Knott  and 
Mr.  Garbett,  many  years  ago,  is  evident  by 
the  presence  of  new  stones,  and  one  or  two 
such  recently  pulled  out  have  revealed  a 
great  settlement  or  crack  which  goes  right 
through  the  west  wall  of  the  above  transept, 
enabling  a  person  to  see  into  the  interior  of 
the  structure,  and  to  trace  the  weakness 
right  up  to  the  parapet.  The  walls  will  be 
watched  very  carefully.  The  scaffolding  at 
the  west  front  for  repairing  the  defective 
stonework  of  fifty  years  ago  is  nearly  com- 
pleted, and  a  fine  work  in  itself." 

$?         $»         $? 

The  Scotsman  of  December  6  says  that  Lord 
Leith  of  Fyvie  has  presented  to  the  Royal 
Scottish  Museum,  Edinburgh,  "a  very  inter- 
esting and  somewhat  rare  chamber  organ, 
which  originally  belonged  to  one  of  his  for- 
bears, the  Hon.  Elizabeth  Forbes,  daughter 
of  the  thirteenth  Lord  Forbes.  This  instru- 
ment was  put  into  Canaan  Lodge,  Canaan 
Lane,  when  the  house  was  built  some  time 
between  1750  and  1760,  so  that  it  is  now 
1 50  years  old.  It  is  in  excellent  preservation, 
and  could  still  be  used  effectively  as  a 
musical  instrument.  But  its  chief  interest 
as  a  museum  specimen  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
is  an  example  of  an  organ  belonging  to  the 
period  before  the  manual  had  taken  on  the 
appearance  with  which  we  are  now  so  familiar, 
and  when  the  present  arrangement  was 
exactly  reversed,  all  the  sharps  and  flats 
being  white,  while  the  rest  of  the  notes  are 
black.  The  organ  stands  10 J  feet  in  height, 
and  the  three  Gothic  pinnacles  which  sur- 
mount the  compartments  containing  the 
ornamental  gilt  pipes  forming  the  front  of  the 
instrument  are  suitably  decorated  with  carved 
crockets  and  finials.  There  are  six  stops, 
and  the  bellows  are  worked  both  by  foot  and 
hand  levers." 

«ijp         «$»         «$» 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Stirling  Archaeological 
Society,  held  on  December  18,  Mr.  John  E. 
Shearer  exhibited  two  coins,  blackened  with 
age,  a  little  larger  than  the  present-day  six- 


penny piece,  which  were  picked  up  a  few 
days  before  on  the  Gowan  Hill,  Stirling. 
The  turf  had  got  torn  away,  and  the  coins 
were  exposed  on  the  surface.  When  rubbed 
they  were  found  to  be  in  a  very  good  state 
of  preservation,  and,  curiously,  one  is  a 
silver  penny  of  Edward  I.  of  England,  who 
reigned  1272  to  1307,  and  the  other  a  silver 
penny  of  Alexander  III.  of  Scotland,  who 
reigned  1249 t0  I2%5-  About  two  years  ago, 
at  a  point  very  near  the  same  place,  silver  coins 
of  these  two  Kings  were  found  side  by  side. 
About  this  time  Scotland  was  almost  in  the 
hands  of  England,  and  these  finds  would 
seem  to  show  that  the  English  coinage  was 
being  used  in  Scotland  along  with  the  Scotch 
coinage. 

4p  «fr  & 
To  the  East  Anglian  Daily  Times  Mr. 
Edward  Smith,  of  Putney,  sends  a  long  note 
contesting  the  traditional  association  of 
Dunwich  with  the  site  of  the  See  of  East 
Anglia.  After  quoting  the  various  references, 
earlier  than  Camden,  who  identified  Dunmoc 
with  Dunwich,  to  the  See  of  Dommoc, 
Domuc,  Dunmoc,  Domoc,  as  it  was  variously 
spelt,  Mr.  Smith  continues  :  "  It  seemed  as 
if  '  Dunmow  '  was  a  good  deal  nearer  to 
'  Dunmoc '  than  '  Dunwich,'  and  was  not 
impossible,  seeing  that  we  are  uncertain  as 
to  the  exact  boundaries  of  East  Anglia. 
This  suggestion  was  made  some  years  ago 
in  Notes  and  Queries,  and  rebutted  by  Dr. 
Copinger,  but  that  worthy  scholar  and  anti- 
quary spoilt  his  defence  of  Dunwich  by  giving 
the  very  words  of  Bartholomew  de  Cotton, 
with  which  I  was  previously  unacquainted, 
and  which  dispelled  at  once  any  doubts  as 
to  the  real  site  of  '  Dommoc,'  long  time  sunk 
beneath  the  encroaching  waves  of  the  sea. 
It  remains  to  be  said  that  Felixstowe  records 
and  traditions  tell  of  a  Church  of  St.  Felix, 
and  a  monastic  cell,  which  existed  before  the 
great  inundation  ;  also  that  the  existing  name 
of  the  place  can  have  no  other  origin  but  the 
obvious  one. 

"All  this  is  but  a  step  on  the  lines  of  modern 
research,  which  is  slowly  but  surely  uprooting 
much  error,  great  and  small.  The  mere 
raising  of  the  question  will  interest  most 
East  Anglians,  and  it  will  be  not  a  small 
matter  for  the  folks  of  Felixstowe,  should  it 
be  finally  established  that  their  town  is  on  or 

F2 


44 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


near  the  site  of  the  little  port  of  •  Dommoc,' 
the  landing-place  of  Felix,  the  Apostle  of 
East  Anglia." 

Mr.  Harry  Hems,  of  Exeter,  writes :  "  The 
little  church  dedicated  to  SS.  Peter  and  Paul 
at  Mautby  is  situated  betwixt  and  between 
Norwich  and  Yarmouth.     It  is  of  apparently 


tracery  head,  in  the  second  panel  from  the 
south  wall,  is  a  small  piercing,  little  larger 
than  a  keyhole.  Some  interest  is  attached 
to  this,  as  local  tradition  roundly  asserts  it 
was  formerly  used  as  a  confessional.  The 
penitent — so  everyone  thereabouts  believes — 
devoutly  knelt  before  it,  upon  the  western 
side,  and  whispered  shortcomings  through  to 


$V 


l,$44f 


MAUTBY   CHURCH,    NORFOLK. 


fourteenth-century  construction,  and  possesses 
a  circular  tower,  going  off  to  an  octagon 
towards  the  top.  This  tower  is  evidently 
earlier  date.  Within,  a  fifteenth-century  oak 
screen  forms  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
nave  and  chancel.  As  may  be  seen  from  the 
accompanying  litho- photo,  just  below  the 
transom,  and  level  with  the  springing  of  the 


the  attentive  priest  seated  within  the  chancel. 
The  present  rector  tells  me  he  believes  a 
screen  of  the  same  date  exists  in  the  same 
county  (name  not  given)  that  possesses  a 
similar  aperture,  concerning  which  the  same 
belief  exists. 

"  I  record   the  tale  for  what  it  may  be 
worth.   With  a  somewhat  extended  knowledge 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


45 


of  old  screens,  the  theory  is  altogether  new 
to  me. 

"  P.S. — Since  the  above  was  written,  a  writer 
(Dom  Bede  Camm,  O.S.B.)  in  the  Church 
Times  for  January  4  mentions  similar  piercings 
in  the  old  fifteenth-century  oak  rood-screens 
at  Llangelynin,  Dolwyddelan,  Southleigh 
(Oxon),  and  Guilden  Morden  (Cambs.) 
churches.  The  popular  belief  is  that  these 
were  used  for  confessional  purposes." 

$         $         $ 

We  note  with  pleasure  that  the  award  from 
the  Lyell  Geological  Fund,  established  under 
the  will  of  the  late  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  has 
been  made  this  year  by  the  Council  of  the 
Geological  Society  to  our  valued  contributor, 
Mr.  T.  Sheppard,  F.G.S.,  the  curator  of  the 
Municipal  Museum  at  Hull,  and  to  Mr.  T.  C. 
Cantrill. 

4p        "fr        # 

The  New  Year's  number  of  the  Builder, 
dated  January  5,  is,  as  usual,  a  fine  budget 
of  things  new  and  old.  The  illustrations 
include  no  less  than  twenty-two  plates  of  the 
buildings,  public  and  private,  of  Berlin,  giving 
a  general  impression  of  the  architecture  of 
the  capital  of  the  German  Empire,  with  an 
accompanying  descriptive  and  critical  article. 
There  are  also  a  few  good  drawings,  by 
Mr.  Sidney  Heath,  of  bench-ends  in  the 
church  of  Ottery  St.  Mary,  Devon. 

•fr  %f  %? 
By  the  Act  which  empowers  the  Government 
of  India  to  take  over  for  preservation  archaeo- 
logical works  of  national  interest  and  impor- 
tance, the  Sinbyame  Pagoda,  which  is  the 
only  building  of  its  type  in  the  Mingun 
province  of  Burma,  has  been  placed  under 
State  protection. 

«$>         $         $ 

The  next  historic  pageant  is  to  conclude  the 
Commemoration  festivities  at  Oxford  in  June. 
There  is  no  lack  of  material.  A  programme 
of  twenty-one  scenes  has  been  drawn  up,  some 
of  which  will  be  merely  pageants,  others 
dramatic  episodes.  The  story  of  St.  Frides- 
wide  will  be  the  starting-point — told  in  a 
dramatic  episode — thus  going  back  to  what 
are  supposed  to  be  the  beginnings  of  the 
city.  The  second  scene  will  be  the  presen- 
tation by  King  John  of  a  charter  to  the  city. 


The  original  charter  is  still  preserved  amongst 
the  civic  muniments.  Next  comes  the  arrival 
of  Theobaldus  Stampensis  with  his  scholars, 
from  whence  present-day  historians  date  the 
beginnings  of  the  University  as  now  consti- 
tuted, to  be  followed  by  the  migration  from 
Paris  which  made  the  University  leap  into 
world-wide  fame.  Scenes  in  the  Jewry,  there 
being  a  very  large  settlement  of  Jews  in 
the  city  in  the  Middle  Ages,  will  then  be 
given,  and  the  meeting  between  Fair  Rosa- 
mond and  Queen  Eleanor,  followed  by  the 
arrival  of  the  Pope's  Legate  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.  Next  comes  the  terrible  Town 
and  Gown  fight  of  St.  Scholastica's  Day,  1354. 
The  struggle  continued  for  three  days,  and  on 
the  second  evening  the  townsmen  called  in 
the  country  people  to  their  assistance,  and, 
thus  reinforced,  completely  overpowered  the 
scholars,  numbers  of  whom  were  killed  and 
wounded.  The  town  suffered  severe  penalties 
in  consequence,  and  until  comparatively  re- 
cent times  the  Mayor  and  chief  citizens 
attended  at  St.  Mary's  Church  on  the  anni- 
versary of  the  day,  and,  after  listening  to 
the  Litany,  each  paid  tribute  of  a  penny. 

«fr  «$?  «$? 
The  resistance  of  the  University  to  Arch- 
bishop Arundel  in  1409  will  next  be  pictured. 
Arundel  was  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
his  virulent  persecution  of  the  followers  of 
Wicklif  aroused  such  intense  indignation 
that  all  academical  business  was  suspended, 
and  the  scholars  retired  into  the  country. 
So  serious  did  matters  become  that  the  King, 
Henry  IV.,  himself  wrote  several  letters  to 
the  members  of  the  University,  requesting 
them  to  come  back.  These  rather  gruesome 
scenes  will  be  followed  by  a  masque  of  the 
mediaeval  curriculum,  and  an  incident  intro- 
ducing Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  to 
whom  Oxford  owes  the  original  foundation 
of  the  Bodleian  Library.  An  incident 
in  Wolsey's  Oxford  career,  the  martyrdom 
procession  of  Cranmer,  and  the  funeral 
procession  of  Amy  Robsart  will  next  be 
shown.  A  short  dramatic  episode  will 
give  the  visit  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to 
Oxford.  Next  will  come  the  Reception  of 
Charles  I.  by  Archbishop  Laud ;  an  Oxford 
scene  in  the  Civil  Wars ;  and  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  mace  to  Oxford  by  King  Charles 
when  Parliament  met  there.     The  expulsion 


46 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


of  the  Fellows  of  Magdalen  by  James  II., 
because  they  refused  to  accept  his  nomina- 
tion to  the  headship,  and  the  Jacobite  riots 
will  lead  up  to  the  final  grand  pageant — the 
meeting  of  the  Allied  Sovereigns  in  Oxford 
in  1814. 

«$»      $      <$> 

Bury  St.  Edmunds  will  follow  with  a  pageant 
which  will  take  place  during  the  second  week 
of  July  in  the  famous  Abbey  grounds.  The 
scheme  covers  the  history  of  Bury  and  East 
Anglia  from  the  time  of  the  Romans  until 
the  period  of  Mary  Tudor,  the  story  being 
presented  in  seven  episodes  and  a  final 
tableau.  The  first  episode  has  been  con- 
tributed by  Mr.  Stuart  Ogilvie,  the  author  of 
various  well-known  plays,  and  Mr.  James 
Rhoades  will  be  responsible  for  the  con- 
necting narrative  choruses,  as  he  was  for 
the  Sherborne  and  Warwick  pageants.  The 
official  description  announces  that  "  The 
history  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds  is  so  crowded 
with  picturesque  and  stirring  incidents,  many 
of  which  have  helped  to  shape  the  history  of 
England,  and,  one  might  almost  say,  the 
history  of  the  world,  that  it  has  been  excep- 
tionally difficult  to  decide  what  to  include  or 
what  to  omit  in  our  short  traffic  of  less  than 
three  hours.  A  more  panoramic  plan  than 
those  of  Sherborne  or  Warwick  has,  there- 
fore, been  adopted,  and  some  of  the  episodes 
have  been  made  to  cover  long  periods,  and 
to  include  many  events." 

&  •)&»  «$» 
Excavations  have  been  in  progress  in  the 
Roman  area  of  the  Castle  of  Pevensey,  and 
have  yielded  results  of  considerable  interest 
and  value.  Although  no  foundations  of 
permanent  buildings  have  yet  been  found 
within  the  walls,  evidences  of  occupation  are 
plentiful.  A  number  of  coins,  mostly  of  the 
fourth  century,  a  bronze  steelyard,  stamped 
titles,  and  many  fragments  of  decorated 
pottery,  are  amongst  the  finds.  Much  re- 
mains still  to  be  done,  and  further  funds  are 
required.  Subscriptions  may  be  sent  to  the 
honorary  secretary  of  the  Excavation  Com- 
mittee, Mr.  L.  F.  Salzmann,  10,  Orange 
Street,  W.C. 

$        $        $ 
At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries 
on   January   10  the  following  were  elected 


Fellows  :  The  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of  West- 
minster, Sir  Archibald  Campbell  Lawriei 
Colonel  J.  W.  Robinson  Parker,  Rev.  R.  M 
Serjeantson,  and  Messrs.  A.  R.  Maiden- 
D.  R.  Maclver,  G.  H.  Viner,  and  Rupert  B, 
Howorth. 

$         ijjp         $ 

The  discovery  of  a  bronze  case  containing 
Roman  coins  near  Llandudno  on  January  1 1 
is  to  form  the  subject  of  a  coroner's  inquiry, 
and  the  police  took  possession  of  nearly  five 
hundred  pieces  on  Saturday,  January  12. 
From  the  position  of  the  treasure,  which  was 
found  at  some  depth  in  the  detritus  of  stone 
and  soil  at  the  foot  of  a  limestone  precipice, 
forming  the  southern  face  of  the  Little 
Orme's  Head,  it  is  believed  to  have  lain 
there  for  sixteen  hundred  years. 

«$»         4?         $? 

"  Dr.  von  Lecoq,"  says  the  Times  of  January  3, 
"  who  has  been  travelling  in  remote  parts  of 
Central  Asia  as  a  scientific  emissary  of  the 
Prussian  Government,  and  whose  safe  arrival 
in  Kashmir  was  announced  in  our  telegraphic 
columns  on  November  30,  has  given  the 
Srinagar  correspondent  of  the  Times  of  India 
some  details  of  the  fruits  of  his  expedition. 
Dr.  von  Lecoq,  who  is  an  assistant  in  the 
Royal  Ethnographical  Museum  at  Berlin, 
accompanied  by  a  museum  subordinate,  left 
Berlin  in  September,  1904,  and  proceeded 
to  Urumchi,  the  capital  of  Chinese  Turkes- 
tan, and  thence  proceeded  to  Turfan,  five 
days'  march  distant,  in  about  42  degrees  of 
latitude.  After  three  months  of  fruitless 
excavation,  there  was  a  great  find  of  wall 
pictures  and  of  manuscripts.  The  ten  chief 
languages  of  these  documents  were  Nagari, 
Central  Asian  Brahmi,  Chinese,  Tibetan, 
Tangut,  Syriac,  Manichaean,  Uighur,  Koh- 
Turkish  (the  root  language  of  the  Turks), 
and  an  unknown  tongue,  described  as  '  a 
curious  and  undeciphered  variation  of  Syriac.' 
The  Tangut  is  a  kind  of  Tibetan  speech, 
hitherto  known  merely  in  a  few  rock  inscrip- 
tions. The  Manichaean  writings  are  in  the 
alphabet  invented  by  Mani  (deciphered  in  the 
last  two  or  three  years  by  Dr.  F.  W.  K.  Muller, 
of  the  Berlin  Ethnographical  Museum),  but 
the  language  used  is  Middle  Persian.  These 
manuscripts  are  expected  to  throw  light  upon 
the  hardly-known  Early  Persian  speech,  so 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


47 


important  in  the  history  of  the  Parsis.  Most 
of  the  manuscripts  found  are  on  paper,  never 
on  papyrus,  but  some  are  on  carefully-dressed 
white  leather,  and  others  are  on  wood.  The 
wall  paintings  on  plaster  are  mostly  Budd- 
histic, and  they  are  thought  to  provide  the 
missing  stepping-stone  by  which  Indian  art 
advanced  across  Asia  to  Japan.  The  furious 
zeal  of  the  Chinese  conquerors  of  Turkestan 
against  Buddhism  was  exemplified  by  the 
discovery  of  the  packed  bodies,  still  clad 
and  odorous,  of  a  multitude  of  Buddhist 
monks  driven  into  a  temple,  and  stifled 
there,  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago.  At 
the  end  of  1905,  Professor  Albert  Grunwedel 
joined  Dr.  von  Lecoq  at  Kashgar,  and  together 
they  excavated  at  Kucha  and  Kurla.  They 
made  new  large  finds  of  Nagari  and  Brahmi 
manuscripts,  tablets  with  Brahmi  and  Kha- 
roshti  inscriptions,  and  extraordinary  oil- 
paintings.  Professor  Grunwedel  and  a  sub- 
ordinate are  still  working  in  Turkestan,  but 
Dr.  von  Lecoq  had  to  leave  them  owing  to 
impaired  health,  and  reached  Srinagar  after 
a  perilous  journey  with  Captain  Sherer,  of 
the  Royal  Artillery.  He  told  the  correspon- 
dent that  the  expedition  had  in  no  sense 
trespassed  on  Dr.  Stein's  preserve,  being,  in 
fact,  many  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  the 
scene  of  his  labours  in  Southern  Turkestan. 
The  manuscripts  fill  fifteen  chests,  and  alto- 
gether more  than  200  cases  of  'finds'  have 
been  sent  to  Berlin.  The  expedition  up  to 
that  date  had  cost  the  German  Government 
^10,000,  a  sum  which  may  be  contrasted 
with  the  ;£8oo  spent  on  Dr.  Stein's  epoch- 
marking  expedition  of  1900- 1 901  by  the 
Indian  Government.  Dr.  von  Lecoq  esti- 
mates that  the  publication  of  the  results  of 
the  expedition,  with  plates,  on  the  model  of 
Dr.  Stein's  Ancient  Khotan,  would  fill  twenty- 
five  large  quarto  volumes." 

&         4?         # 

Country  Life  of  December  22  contained  some 
very  fine  photographic  illustrations  of  screens 
in  the  Devonshire  churches  of  Totnes  and 
Berry  Pomeroy ;  and  the  issue  for  January  5 
had  illustrations  of  two  grotesquely  carved 
bench-ends  in  the  parish  church  of  Ufford, 
Northamptonshire. 


^ome  (ZErtracts  from  an 
<£igf)teent[)=(fl:enturg  jftote=&ook. 

By  the  Rev.  Victor  L.  Whitechurch, 
Vicar  of  Blewbury. 

JEPOS1NG  in  the  ancient  chest  of 
the  Church  of  St.  Michael,  Blew- 
bery,  is  a  torn  and  quaint  note- 
book that  was  kept  by  two  of  my 
predecessors  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
These  notes  serve  to  throw  some  light  upon 
the  state  of  things  which  existed  prior  to  the 
time  when  a  tithe-rent  charge  was  commuted. 
In  these  days  the  owner  of  such  a  charge 
watches  week  by  week  the  table  of  corn 
averages,  and  sighs  when  he  sees  a  drop  in 
the  prices.  Then,  however,  the  incumbent 
who  depended  upon  a  tithe-rent  charge  had 
to  watch  many  other  things — to  wit,  his 
neighbours'  fields  and  orchards,  the  gather- 
ing and  selling  of  the  fruit,  the  grazing 
and  shearing  of  the  sheep,  and  as  in  those 
days  the  idea  probably  obtained  as  much  as 
it  often  does  now  of  "  gettin'  the  better  o' 
parson,"  no  doubt  many  a  computation  of 
apples,  corn,  and  cherries  carefully  made  in 
the  Vicarage  study  after  a  series  of  "  pastoral 
visits "  might  have  been  corrected  to  the 
advantage  of  the  said  parson. 

However,  a  certain  John  Webb,  who  was 
Vicar  of  the  old-world  village  of  Blewbury 
from  1720  to  1759,  was  a  gentleman  who 
had  his  eyes  wide  open  with  regard  to  the 
collecting  of  his  tithe.  In  those  days  Berk- 
shire was  in  the  Diocese  of  Salisbury  (from 
1 142  to  1540  there  were  Prebendaries  of 
Blewbury  in  Salisbury  Cathedral),  and  John 
Webb  was,  apparently,  given  the  living  by 
Bishop  Talbot.  His  first  entry  in  the  old 
note-book  is  as  follows  : 

July  25,  1720.  John  Webb,  Then  in- 
ducted into  ye  Vicarage  of  Blewbury  by  ye 
Revd.  Mr  White  of  Hagborne. 


Ffees. 


Presentat" 
Impress  Reg. 
Institution 
Impress  Reg. 


£    s.  d. 

00   10  00 

04  00  5 

05  12  2 
00  17  6 


48        EXTRACTS  FROM  AN  EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY  NOTE-BOOK. 


Apparently,  the  Vicarage  was  not  immedi- 
ately habitable,  for  he  goes  on  to  inform  us 
that  on  "Satur.  August  13th  1720"  he 
"  came  to  Mr.  Witherell  to  Board,  £15  os.  od. 
per  Annum."  Mr.  Witherell  could  scarcely 
have  "got  the  better  of  the  new  parson" 
here  ! 

Then  he  commences  with  his  tithe  notes  : 

"  1720.  Took  the  Vicarage  Dues  in  kind, 
as  they  became  due.  Having  no  transcript 
left  me  whereby  I  might  make  an  estimate 
of  the  value  of  the  Vicar's  dues,  for  my  own 
and  my  Successor's  profit,  that  the  Church 
may  not  be  deprived  by  the  unjust  manage- 
ment of  her  Negligent  Steward,  I  leave  this 
tho'  an  imperfect  account  as  some  direction 
and  help  for  improvement." 

This  outburst  of  indignation  against  his 
predecessor  as  a  "  Negligent  Steward "  is 
very  fine.  But  human  nature  is  the  same  in 
the  twentieth  as  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  the  slanging  of  immediate  predecessors 
by  new  incumbents  is  not  unknown  to-day, 
even  if  the  remarks  made  are  not  so  carefully 
handed  down  to  posterity. 

John  Webb  goes  on  : 

"From  the  Registers'  Office  at  Salisbury 
I  have  taken  a  coppy  of  the  endowment  of 
the  Vicarage,  with  the  Tythe  of  wool  and 
Lamb,  the  commons  for  sheep  being  Letten 
out,  by  the  proprietors,  to  shepherds,  who 
stock  them  with  sheep  of  their  own ;  finding 
it  difficult  to  account  with  them  for  Tithe, 
upon  the  score  of  their  frequent  buying  and 
selling,  put  me  upon  getting  the  augmenta- 
tion and  then  to  take  up  the  Tithe  of  wool 
and  Lambs  in  kind,  when  it  became  due 
on  the  Sheerday,  and  when  the  Lambs  are 
weaned,  or  weanable." 

Poor  perplexed  parson  !  He  evidently 
had  much  trouble  with  these  sheep  and 
lambs  for  several  years.  It  must  have  been 
very  irritating  to  stroll  up  on  the  downs, 
count  a  goodly  number  of  sheep,  figure  out 
the  nice  little  sum  that  a  tenth  of  their  wool 
was  likely  to  bring  at  the  "sheering  day," 
and  then  to  find  that  the  greater  part  of 
them  were  sold,  or  driven  off  to  other 
parishes  by  those  wise  and  far-seeing  shep- 
herds before  that  same  great  day  arrived. 
Here  is  a  piteous  note,  followed  by  an 
indignant  one : 

"  The  ewes  are  sent  away  to  wintering  at 


All  hallows  day  (?)  or  then  about,  and  return 
again  with  their  Lambs  at  Lady  day.  The 
Lambs  are  wean'd  at  Blewbury  yet  pay  no 
Tithe,  tho'  it  does  not  appear  they  pay  any 
where  they  are  wintered." 

"  It  is  but  of  late  years  the  Shepherds 
have  taken  to  keep  Lambs,  so  that  now  the 
stock  of  Sheep  is  less,  &  consequently  the 
Tithe  wool  is  less,  because  of  their  agreement 
to  Stint  the  Commons  with  sheep,  and  so 
increase  in  the  Breeding  of  Lambs,  which 
Lambs  are  not  shorn." 

But  this  horrible  conspiracy  of  the  Shep- 
herds against  the  parson  seems  to  have  been 
eventually  suppressed  by  the  sturdy  John 
Webb,  for  in  1729  there  is  an  exultant  entry 
telling  us  that  he  got  his  nine  years'  arrears 
for  those  Lambs— to  wit,  twelve  pence  for 
every  tenth  lamb,  "  and  so  to  be  continued," 
he  adds,  in  the  words  of  one  who  had  gained 
a  distinct  victory. 

But  the  stock  were  not  the  only  troublous 
items  in  those  days.  Blewbury  was,  and  is 
still,  noted  for  its  cherries  and  apples. 
These,  of  course,  were  duly  tithed.  Now,  in 
the  selling  of  fruit  there  are  certain  customs 
which,  I  believe,  obtain  in  some  cases  to 
this  day,  by  which  bargain  money  is  given 
or  received  apart  from  the  actual  price  of 
the  goods.  John  Webb,  we  may  be  sure, 
was  keen  to  observe  this,  and  he  has  left  the 
following  : 

"  Cherrys  commonly  sold,  sometimes  the 
owner,  sometimes  the  purchaser,  pays  the 
tenth  of  the  mony,  which  is  satisfactory,  but 
the  buyer  gives  a  pair  of  Gloves,  a  Guinea  or 
two,  to  the  Seller's  wife,  which  is  sometimes 
used  a  fraud  to  Cheat  the  Tithe." 

Shepherds  were  bad  enough,  but  when  it 
came  to  women  interfering  in  the  tithe  by 
receiving  "  a  pair  of  Gloves,"  we  can 
imagine  the  case  was  a  still  more  difficult 
one  to  deal  with.  Immediately  under  the 
above  note  is  a  perfectly  beautiful  burst  of 
indignation  written  by  Humphry  Smythies, 
who  became  Vicar  of  Blewbury  in  1759  on 
John  Webb's  death  : 

"  I  own  my  obligation  to  my  Predecessor 
for  his  observation  of  the  fraud  sometime 
practic'd  wth  regard  to  ye  Seller's  wife,  and 
hereby  beg  to  deliver  down  to  Posterity  the 

name  of of  Hagbourn,  whom  I 

detected   in   this    roguery,    declaring,    nay, 


EXTRACTS  FROM  AN  EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY  NOTE-BOOK.        49 


offering  to  confirm  it  upon  Oath  if  required 

that  He  gave but  50s.  for  Cherries 

when  ye  wife  inform'd  me  she  was  to  have 
5s.  besides." 

I  will  cheat  Posterity  by  withholding  the 
names.  Their  descendants  live  in  the 
district,  and  the  sins  of  the  former  Vicar 
might  be  visited  upon  the  present  one  if  I 
disclosed  !  And  I  don't  think  it  is  worth 
the  sixpence  that  good  Humphry  Smythies 
lost  over  the  transaction.  The  moral  in 
those  days  was,  evidently,  "  Cherchez  la 
femme  !" 

There  were  "  cow  commons "  on  the 
downs  in  those  days,  and  a  road  from  the 
village  is  still  called  the  "cow  way."  In 
the  early  morning  a  man  would  collect  the 
various  cows  of  the  village,  which  he  then 
drove  to  pasture  for  the  day.  The  ancient 
bell  which  he  rang  at  the  foot  of  the  "  cow 
road  "  is  still  preserved  in  the  village.  Tithe 
was  paid  on  cows,  and  John  Webb,  who,  it 
will  have  been  observed,  had  a  shrewd  busi- 
ness head  on  his  shoulders,  evidently  thought 
that  something  might  be  done  in  the  way  of 
a  "Vicarage  milk  walk,"  for  he  states  that 
"  if  the  milk  could  be  taken  up  in  kind  it 
would  be  worth  ten  pounds  per  annum." 

The  idea  seems  to  have  commended  itself 
to  the  astute  Humphry  Smythies,  for  in  the 
year  1772  he  remarks: 

"  Recoverd  the  Tythe  of  Milk  in  kind,  not 
taken  in  the  memory  of  man,  but  3d  per  cow 
paid  in  lieu  of  it." 

Also  : 

"  Recover'd  the  Tythe  of  small  seeds  here- 
tofore taken  by  the  Lessees  of  ye  great 
tythes.  (N.B.  Both  these  by  filing  a  Bill  in 
ye  Exchequer,  tho'  they  were  given  up  by  ye 
Defendants  in  ye  bill  without  a  hearing.)  " 

Which  shows  that  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
have  recourse  to  the  law  over  his  dues. 

This  quaint  old  note-book  contains  long 
lists  of  minute  portions  of  tithe  collected 
by  the  Vicars  for  apples,  cows,  etc.  Some- 
times they  took  it  in  kind,  as  in  the  case  of 
honey,  many  pounds  of  which  found  their 
way  to  the  Vicarage  larder.  It  was  the 
custom,  however,  to  farm  out  much  of  the 
tithe,  just  as  in  these  days  incumbents  often 
employ  agents  to  collect  it  on  commission, 
and  many  rough  agreements  appear  in  the 
old    note  -  book    under    this    head.      One, 

vol.  in. 


Thomas  Church,  makes  his  mark  to  such  an 
agreement  in  the  year  1774,  and  besides  the 
payment  of  a  certain  fixed  sum,  he  undertakes 
to  bring  yearly  a  load  of  coals,  consisting  of 
a  chaldron  and  a  half  from  Streatley,  to  which 
place  they  were  probably  brought  by  river. 
The  same  man  appears  in  another  place  as 
discharging  arrears  of  rent  by  the  carriage  of 
faggots  to  the  Vicarage. 

Besides  this  letting  and  farming  of  tithes, 
Humphry  Smythies  to  a  certain  extent 
anticipated  the  Tithe  Commutation  Act  by 
making  numerous  agreements  direct  with 
the  tithe-payers,  by  which  the  latter  com- 
pounded with  the  Vicar  by  paying  a  fixed 
annual  sum  for  a  stated  number  of  years, 
generally  five  or  six.  These  agreements  are 
valuable  as  showing  the  extreme  simplicity 
of  business  arrangements  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  They  are  drawn  up  tersely  enough 
in  the  Vicar's  hand,  and  just  signed  by  the 
tithe-payer,  generally  without  a  witness,  and 
always,  of  course,  without  a  stamp  ;  but  the 
notes  show  that  they  were  punctiliously 
observed. 

Space  does  not  permit  of  more  extracts 
from  this  interesting  old  note-book,  which,  by 
the  way,  contains  other  matter  besides  tithe. 
But  I  will  conclude  with  just  one  that  will 
give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  number  of 
items  that  had  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
by  old-time  country  clergy  in  replenishing 
their  purses. 

The  Respective  Sums  paid  by  Each  Man 
to  the  Vicar  as  his  Dues  at 

MlCHELMAS,    1772. 

Wm  Stone  paid  as  follows  : 

£  s.    d. 

Apples  in  1 772  ...  ...  ...  16  o 

Clover  seed  in  ye  year  1770,  the 

tithe  of  ye  crop  of  ten  acres  ...  1     5  o 
Lambs  bred  in  1771 — 7  score  at 

8/-  ye  score     ...  ...  ..  216  o 

Do.  Agisted  80,  2  months        ...  o     2  8 

Piggs  2   ...  ...  ...  ...  o     7  o 

Calves  4 ...         ...         ...         •••  017  6 

Milk  of  Cows  at  6s.  each  includ- 
ing Calves      ...         ...         •••  1     5  o 

Coltes  3  at  5s.  each       ...         ...  o  15  o 

Yard  Lands  34  at  3d.  each       ...  o     8  6 

Pigeons  30  dozen  at     ...         ...  010  6 


5° 


NOTES  ON  SOME  RUTLAND  ANTIQUITIES. 


Agistments    in    the   Cow    Com 

mons  50 
Fowls  &  offerings 
Agistments  in  1771 — 20 
Dry  cattle 
Apples  in  1 77 1  ... 


£ 

2 

o 
o 
o 
o 


5 
12 

3 
6 


12    15    11 


jftotes  on  §>omc  EutlanD 
antiquities* 

By  V.  B.  Crowther-Beynon,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 


UTLAND,    in   spite   of  its   limited 
size,  contains  much  to  interest  the 
archaeologist,   though   hitherto   its 
claims    in    this    direction    hardly 
seem  to  have  been  adequately  recognised. 

It  is  proposed  here  to  notice  briefly  only 
the  earlier  antiquities  of  the  county  so  far  as 
records  are  available  of  finds  which  have 
occurred  within  its  borders. 

I.  Prehistoric. 

It  is  only  within  the  last  few  years  that  we 
have  been  able  to  establish  definitely  the 
fact  of  Rutland  having  been  occupied  by 
man  during  the  prehistoric  period.  Doubt- 
less this  deficiency  of  recorded  evidence  has 
been  mainly  due  to  an  absence  of  competent 
investigators  in  the  past,  a  state  of  affairs  due 
in  its  turn  to  that  general  lack  of  interest  in 
antiquarian  matters  which  is  now  happily  fast 
disappearing.  Nevertheless,  had  anyone, 
say  five  or  six  years  ago,  set  himself  the  task 
of  compiling  a  set  of  county  maps,  marking 
the  sites  of  prehistoric  discoveries,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  the  Rutland  sheet  would  have 
appeared,  like  the  famous  sea-chart  described 
in  Lewis  Carroll's  Hunting  of  the  Snark,  "  a 
perfect  and  absolute  blank."  Now,  however, 
we  are  able  to  point  to  several  Stone-Age 
finds  within  the  county,  all  of  these  being 
confined,  as  might  have  been  expected,  to 
the  Neolithic  period.  They  include  several 
fairly  good  arrow-heads,  and  a  number  of 
scrapers  and  other  worked  flints  which  have 


come  to  light  in  different  parts  of  the  county. 
The  two  most  noteworthy  finds  occurred  as 
recently  as  1905. 

One  of  these  consists  of  a  well-shaped 
flint  celt,  7  inches  long  by  2 \  inches  in 
greatest  breadth,  which  was  found  in  the 
course  of  drainage  operations  in  a  street  in 
Oakham.  The  implement  is  somewhat 
coarsely  flaked,  and  shows  no  signs  of  polish- 
ing or  grinding,  but,  nevertheless,  is  an 
excellent  example  of  its  type. 

The  second  find  occurred  in  a  "swallow- 
hole"  in  a  Freestone  quarry  at  Great 
Casterton,  and  consisted  of  a  human 
skeleton,  a  polished  hornstone  axe,  a  stone 
"  muller,"  and  three  thin  stone  slabs  of 
small  size,  evidently  intended  for  shaping 
bone  or  horn  implements.  Unfortunately, 
the  information  as  to  the  disposition  of  the 
skeleton  within  the  fissure  and  the  relative 
positions  of  the  other  objects  is  somewhat 
meagre.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  the 
latter  lay  at,  or  perhaps  slightly  above,  the 
level  of  the  human  remains ;  but  in  the 
absence  of  any  accurate  knowledge  on  this 
point  it  would  be  rash  to  assert  positively 
their  connection  one  with  the  other,  though 
all  may  fairly  be  attributed  to  the  Neolithic 
period.  The  skull,*  which  exhibits  some 
interesting  features,  has  been  examined  by 
Dr.  D.  J.  Cunningham,  Professor  of 
Anatomy  at  Edinburgh  University,  and 
by  Dr.  Robert  Munro  (the  well-known 
authority  on  lake  -  dwellings  and  other 
cognate  subjects),  who  have  fully  dealt  with 
the  matter  in  a  joint  paper  read  before  the 
Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  on  March  19, 
1906.  Professor  Cunningham  describes 
the  skull  as  follows  :  "  The  calvaria,  evi- 
dently that  of  a  male,  possesses  certain 
strongly  pronounced  characters,  which  give 
it  a  striking  individuality.  These  are — 
(1)  a  marked  projection  of  the  supra-orbital 
part  of  the  frontal  bone,  due  to  expansion  of 
the  frontal  air-sinuses ;  (2)  a  constriction  of 
the  cranium  behind  the  orbits,  leading  to 
considerable  narrowing  of  the  forehead  at 
this  point ;  and  (3)  a  strong  backward  slope 

*  Vide  illustration,  which  appeared  in  the  paper 
by  Dr.  Munro  and  Dr.  Cunningham,  printed  in 
vol.  xxvi.  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh,  pp.  279  et  seq.  For  permission  to  re- 
produce it  here  we  are  indebted  to  the  Council  of  that 
Society. 


NOTES  ON  SOME  RUTLAND  ANTIQUITIES. 


51 


of  the  frontal  plate  and  the  frontal  bone." 
The  cephalic  index  is  shown  to  be  73*4 
(maximum  length  188,  maximum  breadth 
138),  a  dolichocephalic  index;  but,  as  Pro- 
fessor Cunningham  points  out,  the  large 
antero-posterior  diameter  is  due  in  a  con- 
siderable measure  to  the  inflated  air-sinuses, 
and  not  to  a  deposit  of  bone  in  this  region, 
a  distinction  which  it  is  important  to  note. 
Omitting  the  depth  of  the  frontal  air-sinus 
from  the  calculation,  the  maximum  length  is 
reduced  to  172,  giving  a  cephalic  index 
of  8o#2. 

To  quote  Dr.  Munro  :  "  The  skull  appears 


which  have  come  under  my  observation  for 
dealing  with  bone  and  antler."  These  curious 
and  interesting  tools  have  also  been  sub- 
mitted to  my  friend  Mr.  Wright,  of  the 
Colchester  Museum,  whose  opinion  fully 
coincides  with  that  of  Professor  Boyd 
Dawkins.  The  celt*  found  near  the 
skeleton  is  a  well-formed  hornstone  imple- 
ment of  late  Neolithic  type,  polished  all 
over,  and  having  a  finely  ground  edge.  It 
measures  4  inches  in  length,  2\  inches  in 
width  at  the  lower  and  \\  inches  at  the 
upper  end,  with  a  maximum  thickness  of 
i  inch. 


FIG.   I.— NEOLITHIC   SKULL   AND   CELT. 


to  be  similar  to  those  described  by  Professor 
Boyd  Dawkins,  from  the  sepulchral  caverns 
and  tumuli  of  North  Wales,  as  belonging  to 
the  dark,  long-headed  Iberians."  Professor 
Boyd  Dawkins  has,  at  my  request,  kindly 
examined  the  stone  slabs  above  referred  to, 
and  reports  as  follows  :  "  The  three  sand- 
stone slabs  have,  in  my  opinion,  been  used 
for  making  round  implements,  two  of  them 
by  the  use  of  the  semicircular  depression  in 
the  edge,  and  the  third  by  the  longitudinal 
groove  in  the  middle.  I  am  familiar  with 
similar  semicircular  edges  in  flint  for  making 
round  objects  of  wood ;  these  are  the  first 


The  "  slabs  "  are  irregular  fragments  of 
fissile  stone  about  J  inch  thick,  the  largest 
having  an  area  of  about  4  square  inches. 
In  the  edge  of  two  of  them  is  a  semicircular 
depression,  worn  smooth  by  friction,  and 
slightly  enlarged  or  "countersunk  "  towards 
each  face  of  the  slab.  The  third  slab  has  a 
groove  running  transversely  across  the  stone, 
becoming  shallower  from  one  end  to  the 
other.  Both  the  groove  and  the  semicircular 
depressions  are  about  of  a  size  to  admit  an 
ordinary  slate-pencil. 

A  few  pieces  of  pottery  found  at  a  higher 
*    Vide  illustration. 

c;  2 


52 


NOTES  ON  SOME  RUTLAND  ANTIQUITIES. 


level  in  the  clay  filling  the  fissure  have  been 
pronounced  on  competent  authority  to  be  of 
mediaeval  date.  Their  chief  interest  and 
importance  with  regard  to  the  find  as  a  whole 
consist  in  the  evidence  they  afford  of  the 
very  gradual  filling  up  of  the  hole  from 
above. 

Judging  by  the  attitude  of  the  skeleton 
(so  far  as  our  information  on  this  point 
enables  us  to  judge),  it  seems  most  probable 
that  the  man  met  his  death  by  falling  into 
the  fissure,  the  idea  that  it  represents  an 
interment  being  scarcely  tenable. 

Two  querns  of  the  "  beehive  "  type,  both 
found  within  the  county,  may  be  added  to 
the  list  as  possibly  attributable  to  the  pre- 
historic period.  This  form  has,  I  believe, 
been  found  in  association  with  early  Iron- 
Age  remains,  though  the  type  is  one  which 
survived  to  a  later  date. 

There  remains  the  question  of  barrows, 
earthworks,  and  the  like,  but  here  we  are 
on  very  debatable  ground,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  any  systematic  and  scientific 
explorations  (which  in  the  case  of  remains 
of  this  kind  in  Rutland  have  not  been 
carried  out),  it  would  be  idle  to  assign 
a  definite  chronological  place  to  our  local 
examples. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  there  are  several 
tumuli  within  the  county  which  have  all  the 
outward  appearance  of  being  sepulchral 
barrows,  and  there  are  a  few  earthworks 
(over  and  above  those  known  to  be  of  Roman 
and  mediaeval  date)  which  it  is  possible 
might  yield  on  investigation  proof  of  pre- 
Roman  origin.  To  say  more  than  this  in 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  would 
seem  to  be  futile.  No  reliable  records  of 
Bronze-Age  or  early  Iron-Age  finds  other 
than  the  querns  above  mentioned  are  in 
existence. 

II.  Romano-British. 

The  Roman  occupation  of  the  district 
which  includes  Rutland  has  never  been  in 
doubt,  and  references  thereto  may  be  found 
in  the  writings  of  several  of  the  early  topo- 
graphers. That  the  soil  of  Rutland  should 
have  yielded  proofs  of  the  Roman  settlement 
is  only  what  might  be  looked  for,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  county  is  traversed  by 
one  of  the  chief  military  roads  of  the  time — 


the  Ermine  Street,  now  more  generally 
known  as  the  Great  North  Road.  At 
Casterton,  near  the  south-east  border,  is,  as 
the  name  will  suggest,  a  well-defined  Roman 
camp,  contiguous  to  the  Roman  road,  and 
flanked  by  the  river  Gwash.  Here  many 
discoveries  of  coins  and  other  Roman 
antiquities  have  been  made,  while  in  a  stone 
quarry  a  short  distance  to  the  southward, 
where  the  present  highway  temporarily 
diverges  from  the  original  line  of  the  Roman 
road,  a  good  section  of  the  latter  may  be 
examined,  the  various  layers  of  the  structure 
being  clearly  traceable. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Market  Overton  and  Thistleton,  some  ten 
miles  or  so  north  -  west  of  the  Casterton 
station,  and  close  to  a  branch  road  believed 
to  be  Roman,  that  the  most  important  finds 
have  occurred.  Here,  again,  a  good  example 
of  a  Roman  camp  may  be  found,  the  Parish 
Church  of  Market  Overton  standing  within 
it.  A  carved  stone  capital,  believed  to  be 
Roman,  is  preserved  here,  which  would 
seem  to  point  to  the  existence  here  of  im- 
portant buildings  in  Roman  times,  and  thus 
inferentially  to  the  station  having  been  a 
permanent  and  considerable  one.  An  ex- 
tensive series  of  Roman  objects  from  this 
neighbourhood  have  been  preserved,  and 
are  now  in  the  possession  of  several  collectors 
in  the  county.  The  pottery  includes 
examples  of  several  kinds  of  ware,  the 
Samian  (both  the  genuine  and  "  false  ")  and 
the  native  Durobrivian  (made  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nen  in  Northants)  being,  perhaps,  the 
most  interesting.  Several  potters'  marks 
have  been  recorded  on  the  Samian  ware, 
and  examples  containing  the  contemporary 
leaden  rivets  of  the  Roman  "  china-mender  " 
have  also  occurred.  Coins  have  been  found 
in  great  profusion,  ranging  from  the  reign 
of  Claudius  to  that  of  Gratianus.  Another 
notable  find  (which,  unfortunately,  disap- 
peared about  the  time  that  the  collection 
was  dispersed  after  the  death  of  the  finder, 
Mr.  T.  G.  Bennett,  of  Market  Overton)  was 
a  Roman  silver  spoon,  an  object  of  consider- 
able rarity  in  this  country.  The  same  fate, 
unhappily,  overtook  a  silver  finger-ring  bear- 
ing the  legend  misv.  Two  other  unin- 
scribed  silver  rings  are,  however,  extant,  as 
well  as  a  charming    little  circular   bronze 


NOTES  ON  SOME  RUTLAND  ANTIQUITIES. 


53 


FIG.  2. — ANGLO-SAXON    REMAINS, 
i,  Situla,  or  bucket ;  2,  Umbo,  or  shield-boss. 


54 


NOTES  ON  SOME  RUTLAND  ANTIQUITIES. 


brooch  with  enamelled  decoration.*  Men- 
tion should  also  be  made  of  a  fine  bronze 
statera,  or  steelyard,  of  the  double  fulcrum 
type  (as  well  as  fragments  of  other  examples 
of  the  same  kind  of  object),  a  large  and 
varied  assortment  of  bone  pins,  a  very  perfect 
bronze  fish-hook,  a  number  of  fibulae,  and 
many  other  relics  too  numerous  to  par- 
ticularize. 

Though  the  above  may  be  considered  the 
most  prolific  Roman  site  in  the  county, 
several  others  may  be  named  in  addition. 
At  Ketton,  Tixover,  and  Tinwell  remains  of 
pavements  have  been  found  at  various  times, 
while  other,  apparently  sporadic,  finds  of 
coins,  etc,  have  occurred  at  North  Luffen- 
ham,  Seaton,  Cottesmore,  and  elsewhere. 
At  Ranksborough,  near  the  Leicestershire 
border,  are  the  remains  of  a  camp  occupying 
a  commanding  position.  Near  the  spot  was 
found  a  bronze  statuette,  some  15  inches  in 
height,  in  a  somewhat  mutilated  condition, 
representing  Hercules,  and  exhibiting  con- 
siderable artistic  merit.  This  may  now  be 
seen  in  the  national  collection  at  the  British 
Museum. 

As  the  sites  enumerated  above  are  dis- 
tributed fairly  evenly  over  the  area  of  the 
county,  we  may  reasonably  conclude  that 
this  district  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
Roman  settlers  the  favourable  recognition 
due  to  its  fertile  soil,  healthy  climate,  and 
other  natural  advantages.  Moreover,  the 
fact  that  such  important  stations  as  Ratae 
(Leicester),  Durobrivae  (Castor),  and  Cau- 
sennae  (Ancaster),  would  all  have  been 
within  a  day's  march,  and  Lindum  (Lincoln) 
no  very  great  distance  off,  must  have  made 
the  county  familiar  to  the  Roman  military 
authorities. 

III.  Anglo-Saxon. 

Though  it  is  at  present  possible  to  point 
to  only  a  single  pagan  Saxon  site  within  the 
confines  of  the  county,!  namely,  a  cemetery 
lying  between  the  villages  of  North  Luffen- 
ham  and  Edith  Weston,  the  aggregate  of  the 
objects  found  here  from  time  to  time  may 

*  Vide  Gentleman' s  Magazine,  May,  1866,  where 
an  illustration  of  this  fibula  is  given. 

•f  Since  the  above  was  written  a  find  has  occurred 
in  another  part  of  the  county,  which  may  unhesi- 
tatingly be  assigned  to  this  period. 


claim  to  reach  a  total  by  no  means  incon- 
siderable.* Rutland  is,  of  course,  included 
in  the  area  which  came  under  the  sway  of 
the  Angles,  and  eventually  formed  part  of 
the  extensive  division  of  Mercia.  The 
relics  which  have  come  to  light  are  for  the 
most  part  of  the  recognised  Anglian  type, 
and  among  the  fibulas  the  typical  Midland 
cruciform  type  largely  preponderates.  It  is 
clear  that  in  this  cemetery  both  inhumation 
and  cremation  were  adopted  as  the  methods 
of  disposing  of  the  dead.  A  considerable 
number  of  cinerary  urns  have  been  un- 
earthed in  the  past,  and  I  can  myself  vouch 
for  the  discovery  of  buried  bodies  in  more 
recent  years.  A  striking  circumstance  with 
respect  to  this  site  is  the  large  proportion  of 
swords  which  have  been  found  associated 
with  the  burials.  The  occurrence  of  the 
sword  in  a  grave  has  been  taken  to  denote 
that  the  wearer  was  a  person  of  high  rank, 
and  the  proportion  of  graves  which  have 
contained  this  weapon  has,  in  most  ex- 
cavated sites,  been  small.  Unfortunately 
the  Rutland  cemetery  has  never  been  syste- 
matically examined,  all  the  finds  having 
come  to  light  in  the  course  of  sand-digging 
operations,  so  that  we  cannot  arrive  at  any 
accurate  computation.  I  have  little  hesi- 
tation, however,  in  believing  that  these 
Rutland  graves  would  show  a  higher  per- 
centage of  sword-yielding  interments  than  the 
majority  of  cemeteries.  Several  examples 
of  the  wooden  bronze-mounted  buckets  or 
situlae,  characteristic  of  this  civilization,  have 
been  found,  while  among  other  objects  which 
have  come  to  hand  we  may  mention  spear- 
heads (of  many  forms),  shield-bosses,  and 
knives  —  all  of  iron;  fibulae  (cruciform, 
square-headed,  and  annular),  tweezers,  and 
clasps  —  of  bronze ;  and  a  considerable 
quantity  of  glass  and  porcelain  beads.  Two 
interments  which  I  took  part  in  excavating 
in  1 90 1  showed  a  very  marked  similarity  in 
the  nature  of  their  contents.  In  each  case 
the  skeleton  was  accompanied  by  a  sword, 
a  spear,  a  knife,  a  situla,  an  urn,  and  a  small 
pair  of  bronze  tweezers.  Among  the  fibulae 
are  several  fine  examples,  perhaps  the  most 

*  For  a  more  detailed  account  of  this  cemetery  the 
reader  is  referred  to  two  papers  by  the  present  writer 
published  in  the  Associated  Societies'  Reports,  vol. 
xxvi.,  p.  250,  and  vol.  xxvii.,  p.  220. 


NOTES  ON  SOME  RUTLAND  ANTIQUITIES.  55 


FIG.   3. — ANGLO-SAXON    REMAINS — FIBULAE,    ETC. 


56 


ON  ENGLISH  MEDIAEVAL   WINDOW  GLASS. 


remarkable  being  a  large  and  elaborate  cruci- 
form brooch  of  bronze  gilt,  adorned  with 
zoomorphic  designs,  and  having  a  small 
silver  ornamental  plate  attached,  the  only 
one  remaining,  though  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  there  were  several  others  origin- 
ally embellishing  the  fibula.* 

Though  I  have  here  attempted  little  more 
than  a  cursory  glance  at  some  of  the  earlier 
antiquities  of  our  county,  I  trust  that 
sufficient  has  been  written  to  establish  for 
Rutland  the  right  to  take  in  this  respect  a 
place,  if  not  pre-eminent,  yet  at  least  by  no 
means  insignificant,  among  the  other  and 
larger  counties  of  England. 


By  E.  Wyndham  Hulme. 


JjRIOR  to  the  appearance  in  1904  of 
Mr.  T.  May's  Warrington's  Roman 
Remains,  the  manufacture  of  glass 
by  the  Romans  in  this  island  had 
remained  an  open  question.  The  discovery 
at  Warrington  has  proved  a  notable  one,  for, 
in  addition  to  iron-smelting  furnaces,  pottery 
kilns,  and  bronze  foundries,  we  have  here 
revealed  no  less  than  five  glass  furnaces, 
which  upon  examination  have  yielded  speci- 
mens of  half-calcined  flints,  massse,  or  glass 
in  the  making,  sandever,  together  with  the 
finished  products  of  the  glass-maker's  craft — 
vessels,  rods,  beads,  cut  crystal,  and  window 
glass.  The  use  of  flint — a  substance  foreign 
to  the  district — is  worthy  of  note,  as  the  beds 
of  sand  on  which  the  furnaces  were  dis- 
covered have  long  been  utilized  by  the  local 
glass-makers.  To  our  knowledge  of  glass- 
making  in  Saxon  times  no  notable  addition 
has  been  made  of  recent  years.  The  few 
facts  collected  by  Mr.  Clephan  in  1864 
relative  to  the  glazing  of  the  churches  and 
monasteries  of  Northumbria  and  Worcester- 
shire in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries 
suggest  that  glass-making  in  this  country  was 

*    Vide  Fig.  3,  No.  16. 


confined  to  monkish  artists,  imported  from 
the  Continent,  and  that  the  industry  had  no 
continuous  existence  here.  We  may,  there- 
fore, pass  at  once  to  a  consideration  of  the 
Chiddingfold  industry  as  constituting  the 
first  well  authenticated  instance  of  glass- 
making  in  the  country  on  an  industrial  scale 
since  the  departure  of  the  Romans. 

The  references  to  this  humble  but  ancient 
trade  by  writers  from  Charnock  to  Fuller 
have  been  summarized  by  many  writers,  and 
some  additional  facts  of  importance,  due  to 
the  industry  of  the  Rev.  T.  S.  Cooper,  of 
Chiddingfold,  have  recently  appeared  in 
the  Surrey  volumes  of  the  Victoria  County 
Histories.  These  data  I  take  as  my  point 
of  departure. 

In  the  course  of  a  long  correspondence 
with  Mr.  Cooper,  extending  from  1894  to 
1900,  my  attention  was  drawn  to  the  fact 
that  the  accounts  of  the  building  of  St. 
George's  Chapel,  Windsor,  contained  refer- 
ences to  the  Chiddingfold  industry,  which 
supplemented  the  accounts  of  the  same 
period  for  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  West- 
minster. The  documents  here  reproduced 
are  from  the  Exchequer  Q.R.  Accounts, 
Bundles  492,  493,  which  were  examined  for 
me  in  the  year  1898,  and  the  portions 
relating  to  the  glazing  of  the  chapel  ex- 
tracted : 

Exchequer  Q.R.  Accounts,  Bundle  492,  n.  28  ; 
25  and  26  Edward  III.  [1351-52]. 

Magistrc  Johanni  Lyncolnire  et  Magistro 
Johanni  Athelard  vitriariis  operantibus  super 
protractacionem  et  ordinacionem  vitri  pro 
fenestris  Capellas  Regis  apud  Wyndesore  per 
dies  Lunos  Martiset  Mercurii  utrique  ipsorum 
per  diem  x\)d.-v')s.  Willelmo  Walton  Johanni 
Waltham  Johanni  Carlton  Johanni  Loord  et 
Nicholao  Daducton  v.  vitriariis  depictantibus 
vitrum  pro  fenestris  domus  Capituli  per 
supradictas  vj  dies  cuilibet  eorum  per  diem 
\Y)d.-xv\)s.  \]d.  Johanni  Coventrise  Willelmo 
Hamme  Johanni  Cofyn  Andreae  Horkesleye 
Willelmo  Depyng  Willelmo  Papelwyk  Johanni 
Brampton  Willelmo  Bromle  Johanni  Lyons 
et  Willelmo  de  Naffreton  x.  vitriariis  operan- 
tibus super  fractionem  et  cubacionem  vitri 
pro  vitriacione  dictarum  fenestrarum  per 
idem  tempus  cuilibet  eorum  per  diem  v]d. 
-xxxs.     Roberto  Saxton  laborario   adjuvanti 


ON  ENGLISH  MEDIAEVAL   WINDOW  GLASS. 


57 


eisdem  per  idem  tempus  capienti  per  diem 
iiid.-x\i\jd. 

[Similar  entry  a  little  lower  down.] 
Die  Lunae  xxvj.  die  Marcii.  Willelmo 
Holmere  pro  cc.  vitri  albi  empti  pro  vitro 
fenestrarum  domus  Capituli  pretium  centenae 
xviijy.  quaelibet  centena  continet  xxiiijor  pon- 
dera  et  quodlibet  pondus  continet  v.  libras- 
xxxvJ5.  Eidem  pro  iiijor  ponderibus  vitri  sasiri 
coloris  emptis  pro  eisdem  fenestris  pretium 
ponderis  iiJ5-.-xiJ5.  In  cariagio  ejusdem  vitri 
de  London  usque  Westmonasterium  per 
terram  \)d. 

Summa  empcionum — xlviiji1.  \]d. 

[Another  entry  relating  to  Master  John 
Lyncoln.] 

Johanni  Podenhale  pro  dimidia  c.  Talschid 
empta  pro  vitro  enalando  [i.e.,  anellando] 
\\)s.  \xd.  Symoni  le  Smyth  pro  xij.  Croisures 
emptis  pro  vitro  operando  x\d.  Johanni 
Geddyng  pro  dimidia  libra  de  Geet  [i.e.,  Jet] 
empta  pro  puttura  [i.e.,  pictura]  vitri  iijd. 
In  iij  lagenis  Cervisiae  emptis  pro  mensis  vitri 
lavandis  et  dealbandis.     \]d. 

Die  Lunae  xxx°  die  Aprilis. 

Johanni  Alemayne  pro  ccc.  et  xxiiij.  pon- 
deribus vitri  albi  emptis  pro  fenestris  ibidem 
pretium  centenae  x\)s.  et  ponderis  \)d.-xW\)s. 
\]d.  Willelmo  Holmere  pro  cariagio  dicti 
vitri  de  Chiddingfold  usque  Londonium  viijj. 
Et  in  cariagio  dicti  vitri  de  Londonio  usque 
Westmonasterium  v\i]d.  In  Cervisia  empta 
pro  mensis  vitri  dealbandis  iu]d. 

Johanni  Athelard  vitriario  operanti  super 
ordinacionem  [vitri]  et  pro  tractatura  ymagi- 
narum  in  fenestris  praedictis. 

Die  Lunae  xiiij°  die  Maii. 

Ricardo  de  Thorp  pro  xxvj.  Centenis  vitri 
diversi  coloris  emptis  pro  fenestris  Capellae 
vitriandis  pretium  Centenae  xxviiji-.-xxxvj//. 
vn)s.  In  portagio  et  batillagio  ejusdem  vitri 
de  Londonio  usque  Westmonasterium  v'ri)d. 

Nicholao  Pentrer  pro  c.  libris  stanni  emptis 
pro  sOldura  ad  fenestras  vitri  capellae  praedictae 
xxijs.  Johanni  Geddyng  pro  limatura  argenti 
empta  pro  pictura  vitri  \ii]d. 

[25  June]  Willelmo  Hamme  cum  viij. 
sociis  suis  cubanti  et  conjungenti  vitrum  pro 
dictis  fenestris  per  dictum  tempus  cuilibet 
eorum  per  diem  \)d.-xxi']s.  v)d. 

vol.  ill. 


Die  Lunae  ix°die  Julii.  Johanni  Geddyng 
pro  vj.  libris  de  Geet  emptis  pro  pictura  vitri 
v)s.  pro  cervisia  empta  tarn  pro  congelacione 
vitri  quam  pro  mensis  vitriariorum  lavandis 
\'\\]d.  Eidem  pro  lymatura  argenti  empta 
pro  pictura  vitri  \'\\)d.  Willelmo  de  Newerc 
pro  cc.  Talshid  emptis  pro  vitro  anellando 
et  frangendo  pretium  centenae  vijj.-xiiijj. 
Johanni  Madfray  pro  j.  libra  de  Gum  arebik 
empta  pro  pictura  vitri  \\}d.  Ricardo  Thorp 
pro  xv.  centenis  vitri  diversi  coloris  pretium 
centenae  x\s.-xxxli.  In  portagio  et  batillagio 
ejusdem  vitri  de  Temesestreete  usque  West- 
monasterium xd. 

Summa  empcionum  xxxj/i.  ijs.  yd. 

Die  Lunae  xxiij°  die  Julii. 

Willelmo  Hamme  cum  vij.  sociis  suis 
vitrum  depictanti  conjungenti  cloranti  vitrum 
pro  dictis  fenestris  per  idem  tempus  cuilibet 
eorum  per  septimanam  iijx.-xxiiijj-. 

[The  above  roll  is  headed  :  "  Particular 
account  of  Robert  Bernham,  Clerk,  super- 
visor of  all  the  works  of  the  King  in  the 
Castle  of  Windsor,  from  1  Aug.  25  Edw.  III. 
to  the  feast  of  St.  Michael  26  Edw.  III."] 

Exchequer  Q.R.  Accounts,  Bundle  492, 
n.  29. 

Account  of  the  said  Robert  Bernham  from 
27-29  Edward  III. 

Et  in  xliij.  Centenis  xl.  ponderibus  vitri 
diversorum  colorum  emptis  pro  vitriacione 
fenestrarum  Capellae  Regis  ibidem.  Centena 
continet  xxiiij.  pondera  et  quodlibet  pondus 

continet  v.  libras  —  iiij/z.  x\\\}d.  Et  com- 
putat  praedictum  vitrum  expendendum  super 
vitriacionem  dictarum  fenestrarum  praedictas 
Capellae.  Et  in  cervisia  pro  mensis  vitriario- 
rum lavandis  et  dealbandis  limatura  argenti 
Gumme  arabik  et  Ge  [here  the  memb.  is  torn 
away]  pro  pictura  vitri  pro  dictis  fenestris 
vitriandis  xliiji'.  \\)d.  Quae  omnia  computat 
expendenda  super  deputacionem  vitri[acionis] 
dictae  Capellae. 

Exchequer  Q.R.  Accounts,  Bundle  492, 
n.  30. 

Acc£  of  the  said  Rob.  Bernham  for 
27-28  Edw.  III.  Windsor.  [No  mention 
of  glass.] 


5« 


ON  ENGLISH  MEDIEVAL   WINDOW  GLASS. 


Exchequer  Q.R.  Accounts,  Bundle  493,  //.  1, 
29-30  Edivard  III. 
Et  in  iiijor  Centenis  vitri  emptis  de  Johanne 
Alemayne    xxiij.    die   Januarii    apud    Chid- 
dyngfold  pretium  Centenae  xiijj.  \\\)d. — liij.r. 
\\\)d.    Et  in  cariago  dicti  vitri  de  Chiddyngfold 
usque  Wyndesore  iiij*.     Et  in  Get  empto  pro 
pictura  vitri  \\)d.      Et  in  cinopro   lymatura 
Trumenti  [in  error  for  Argenti]  emptis  pro 
pictura  vitri  pro  fenestris  del  Tres[or]  xv)d. 
Summa  lviijj.  x)d. 

From  the  above  extracts  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  scene  of  operations  is  at  West- 
minster, and  not  at  Windsor,  and  that  the 
composition  of  the  body  of  workmen  en- 
gaged is  practically  identical  with  that  of  the 
glass-painters  and  glaziers  at  St.  Stephen's 
Chapel,  Westminster  (Smith,  Ant.  West- 
minster, p.  196  et  sea.).  It  is  only  in  the 
accounts  29-30  Edward  III.  that  glass  and 
materials  for  glass-painting  are  sent  direct 
from  Chiddingfold  to  Windsor.  The  bulk 
of  the  glass,  therefore,  was  designed,  painted, 
and  leaded  at  Westminster,  and  sent  ready 
for  erection  at  Windsor.  A  few  technical 
notes  may  usefully  supplement  the  accounts 
given  by  Winston  and  other  writers. 

Limatura  Argenti. — Silver  filings  for  the 
yellow  stain,  not  for  whitening  the  glass,  as 
recently  suggested. 

Mr.  H.  Powell,  of  the  Whitefriars  Glass- 
works, informs  me  that  metallic  silver  would 
not  of  itself  impart  a  yellow  colour  to  glass, 
and  that  it  is  probable  that  the  metal  was 
first  converted  into  a  sulphide,  and  then 
reduced  to  an  oxide.  This  is  confirmed  by 
the  account  given  by  Eraclius  of  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  oxide  of  lead  which  was  mixed 
with  orpiment  (sulphuret  of  arsenic),  and 
then  reduced  to  a  cinder.  Here  the  silver 
filings  appear  to  have  been  converted  into 
the  oxide  by  melting  with  cinoprum  (sulphide 
of  mercury),  which  is  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  the  words  "limatura  truementi," 
an  obvious  blunder  for  the  word  "argenti." 

Geet. — Jet  as  a  pigment  for  glass  was  a 
difficulty  to  me  for  some  years,  until  I  found 
in  Gedde  (Sondvy  Draughtes,  etc.)  the  follow- 
ing receipt,  which  set  the  matter  at  rest  : 

"  To  make  a  fair e  Blacke. 
"  Take  the  scales  of  iron  and  copper,  of 
each   a    like   waight   &  put   it    in   a  cleane 


vessell  that  will  incluse  the  fire,  till  they  be 
red  hotte,  then  take  halfe  as  much  Ieate  and 
stamp  them  into  small  powder,  then  mix  them 
with  gum  water  and  grind  them  fine  upon  a 
painter's  stone  and  so  drawe  with  it  upon 
your  glasse." 

Jet  was  also  used  for  making  a  gray 
colour — "  The  more  Jeate  ye  take  the  sadder 
the  collour  will  be  &  likewise  the  more 
christall  you  put  to  it  the  lighter." 

Readers  of  Winston  will  remember  that 
that  writer  distinguishes  between  the  enamel 
brown  used  by  the  mediaeval  glass-painters 
and  the  warmer  tint  of  the  enamel  introduced 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Jet 
and  arnement  ( =  atramentum,  mistranslated 
by  Smith  as  "  orpiment  ")  would  appear  to  be 
the  ingredients  of  the  brown  enamel  at  this 
date.  Arnement  in  Smith's  Westminster  is 
bought  by  the  pound — from  3d.  to  4d.  per 
pound  (p.  198).  It  was  no  doubt  the 
mineral  green  vitriol  (copperas,  or  sulphate 
of  iron),  or  possibly  blue  vitriol  (sulphate  of 
copper).  In  either  case  it  would  have  been 
melted  as  a  preliminary  to  grinding  as  a 
pigment,  as  both  the  above  salts  contain  a 
large  quantity  of  water  of  crystallization. 
Theophilus,  however,  has  a  receipt  for  this 
purpose,  consisting  of  the  calx  of  copper 
ground  with  the  fluxes,  green  glass,  and 
Greek  sapphire  (glass). 

Ta/schid.—The  word  obviously  suggests 
talc,  an  Arabic  or  Persian  word,  but  its 
application  "  pro  vitro  anellando "  was 
obscure  until  I  found  the  solution  in 
Theophilus.  I  must  first,  however,  observe 
that  the  above  furnace  is  clearly  the  enamel- 
ling furnace  in  which  the  mineral  pigments 
are  fixed  on  the  glass.  The  "  annealing  " 
furnace  belongs  to  glass  manufacture,  with 
which  the  mediaeval  glazier  had  nothing  to 
do.  Theophilus  gives  a  minute  description 
of  an  enamelling  furnace.  Its  dimensions, 
i£  feet  high  and  2  feet  long,  show  that  it 
was  a  portable  furnace.  Holes  were  made 
in  the  sides  for  the  insertion  of  thin  iron 
rods,  on  which  an  iron  plate  of  the  same 
size  as  the  interior  of  the  furnace,  and  fitted 
with  a  handle,  was  placed.  Quick-lime  or 
ashes  "  to  the  depth  of  one  straw  "  were  sifted 
on  to  the  plate  to  preserve  the  glass  from 
contact  with  the  iron,  that  it  might  not  be 
broken  by  the  heat.      With  these  facts   to 


COULSDON  CHURCH,  SURREY. 


59 


guide  us,  we  may  conclude  that  talc  ("  talc- 
schist  "  corrupted  to  "  talcshid  "),  either  in 
the  form  of  plates  or  powder,  was  used  in 
place  of  the  quick-lime  or  ashes  of  Theo- 
philus.  The  properties  of  talc  would  satisfy 
the  conditions  required — viz.,  unalterability 
when  heated  with  a  low  conductivity  of  heat. 
The  object  of  the  ale  pro  congelacione  vitri  is 
not  so  obvious. 

Turning  from  the  technical  details  of  glass- 
painting  to  the  sources  and  prices  of  the  glass, 
it  is  clear  that  the  whole  of  the  white  glass 
came  from  the  Weald.  The  price  of  the 
glass  is  fairly  uniform,  at  from  12s.  to 
13s.  4d.  per  hundred,  or  6d.  per  ponder,  at 
Chiddingfold,  to  16s.  per  hundred,  or  7d.  per 
ponder,  in  London,  the  difference  being 
due  to  cost  of  carriage.  The  Crown  em- 
ployed several  glaziers,  including  William 
Hoi  mere,  as  buyers,  while  John  d'Almeyne 
appears  to  have  represented  the  Chidding- 
fold glass-makers  as  their  salesman.  The 
question  of  the  nationality  of  these  glass- 
makers  is  still  undecided,  but  the  term 
Almain  suggests  a  German  or  Flemish 
nationality. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  think  it  is  clear  that 
the  coloured  glass  was  derived  from  another 
source.  The  facts  before  us  warrant  no  final 
conclusion,  but  the  accounts  show  that  the 
bulk  of  the  coloured  glass  was  purchased  in 
London,  in  Candlewick  Street  or  Thames 
Street,  and  thence  was  sent  by  water  to 
Westminster.  With  the  origin  of  this  pot- 
metal  glass  I  hope  to  deal  in  another  article. 
Here  I  shall  merely  point  out  the  relative 
prices  of  the  different  glasses.  The  most 
costly,  the  sapphire  blue,  about  which 
Theophilus  has  so  much  to  tell  us,  works  out 
at  ^3  12s.  per  hundred,  or  3s.  per  ponder  (of 
5  pounds) ;  red  glass  comes  next  in  order  at 
2s.  2d.  per  ponder ;  a  small  lot  of  blue 
glass  at  is.  per  ponder  (possibly  broken 
glass,  to  be  used  as  a  flux),  and  several  lots  of 
various  colours  at  40s.  per  hundred,  one  lot 
of  43  hundreds  being  bought  for  the  sum  of 
;£8o  is.  2d. 


Coulsnon  Cburcf),  §>urrep. 

By  John  Sydney  Ham. 


HE  Parish  Church  of  Coulsdon  in 
Surrey,  dedicated  to  St.  John  the 
Evangelist,  is  picturesquely  situated 
on  the  chalk  hills  about  five  miles 
to  the  south  of  the  town  of  Croydon. 
Although  a  building  possessing  features  of 
considerable  interest  to  the  archaeologist,  it 
appears  to  be  comparatively  little  known, 
owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  the  few 
cottages  which  constitute  the  village, 
together  with  the  church,  are  approached  by 
a  steep  gradient  of  over  a  mile  from  the  main 
road,  and  that  comparatively  few  persons, 
except  those  resident  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  those  whose  business  it  is  to  attend  to 
the  requirements  of  the  residents,  feel 
tempted  to  turn  aside  from  the  broad 
thoroughfare  and  mount  the  hill,  unless  they 
have  some  particular  object  in  view.  To 
those,  however,  of  an  antiquarian  turn  of 
mind  the  little  village  on  this  by-road,  to  the 
large  and  more  important  one  of  Cater- 
ham,  proves  an  incentive  to  turn  aside  and 
visit  the  apparently,  at  first  glance,  unpre- 
tentious church,  which  lies  well  back  from 
the  highway. 

The  sacred  edifice,  which  replaces  one  of 
an  earlier  date,  is  in  general  of  the  Early 
English  period,  the  porch  at  the  west  end 
having  been  added  in  the  Perpendicular,  and 
the  north  aisle  having  quite  recently  been 
rebuilt.  It  consists  of  a  chancel,  nave,  and 
aisles,  with  a  short  tower  and  spire  at  the 
west  end. 

The  font,  which  stands  close  to  the  west 
door,  is  a  good  imitation  of  fifteenth-century 
work,  but  quite  modern. 

The  nave  and  aisles  are  divided  on  either 
side  by  two  arches,  supported  by  octagonal 
piers,  with  well-moulded  capitals  of  thirteenth- 
century  date. 

A  porch  still  exists  in  the  south  aisle,  but 
is  now  used  as  a  vestry,  the  entrance  having 
been  walled  up. 

A  credence  shows  that  a  chapel  formerly 
existed  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  north 
aisle,  and  the  window  situated  above  is  the 
original  one.    Immediately  over  this  credence 

h  2 


6o 


COULSDON  CHURCH,  SURREY. 


is  an  arch,  with  a  corresponding  one  opposite. 
The  use  of  these  openings  is  uncertain,  but 


FIG.   I. — COULSDON  CHURCH  :    INTERIOR,  LOOKING 
SOUTH-WEST   FROM   CHANCEL. 

it  is  thought  that  they  had  some  connection 
with  the  rood  loft,  which  no  longer  exists. 

The  chancel  arch,  contemporary  with  the 
rest  of  the  building,  is  particularly  fine  and 
imposing,  and  well  moulded  (Fig.  i). 

The  chief  points  of  interest  in  connection 
with  the  church  are,  however,  within  the 
chancel.  The  blank  arcade  on  either  side 
(Figs,  i  and  2)  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of 
Early  Gothic  work,  and  the  piscina  and 
sedilia  within  the  sanctuary  are  capital 
examples  of  the  thirteenth-century  mason's 
skill.  The  mouldings  are  very  deeply  cut, 
the  shafts  detached,  and  set  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  wall  (Fig.  3).  The  whole 
forms  a  striking  picture,  and  one  not  easily 
to  be  forgotten.  The  windows  of  the  church 
are  of  late  thirteenth-century  date,  those  in 
the  north  aisle  being,  of  course,  reproduc- 
tions, and  are  not  of  any  particular  note, 
although  the  east  window  contains  some 
good  bar  tracery. 


A  matter  worthy  of  mention  is  recorded 
by  Aubrey,  the  Surrey  historian,  who  pub- 
lished his  work  in  the  year  17 18.  He 
records  the  presence  in  one  of  the  chancel 
windows  of  a  shield  charged  with  three 
coronets  in  chief  and  the  letters  "I.  R." 
crowned,  and  that  he  was  informed  by  Sir 
William  Dugdale  that  stained  glass  was  intro- 
duced into  this  country  in  the  reign  of  King 
John. 

Manning  and  Bray,  ninety  years  later,  speak 
of  the  glass  as  being  greatly  damaged,  and 
since  then  it  has  completely  disappeared. 
The  outline  of  what  was  undoubtedly  a 
priests'  door  may  still  be  traced  in  the  south 
wall  of  the  chancel  from  the  outside. 

The  original  paper  register  of  Coulsdon 
no  longer  exists,  but  a  transcript  on  parch- 
ment, bound  in  vellum,  records  that  Antonie 
Bois  was  presented  with  the  living  in  1588, 
and  on  the  first  page  is  recorded  the  birth 


FIG.  2. — COULSDON  CHURCH  :  PART  OF  CHANCEL 
ARCH  AND  NORTH  WALL  OF  CHANCEL,  SHOWING 
BLANK   ARCADE. 

of  Richard,  son  of  Richard  Roberts,  minister, 
on  March   15,   1653.     A  subsequent  trans- 


COULSDON  CHURCH,  SURREY. 


61 


cription  was  made  by  a  certain  John  Caul- 
field,  who  was  curate  in  1765.  This  volume 
is  far  more  up  to  date  in  its  appearance 
than  the  preceding  one,  all  the  entries  being 
tabulated. 

The  historians  speak  of  a  chapel  that 
formerly  stood  in  this  parish  in  the  hamlet 
of  Waddington  or  Wattentone.  It  appears 
to  have  passed  from  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  to  a  certain  Henry  Polsted  in  the 
year  1549,  a  significant  fact,  considering  the 
disturbed  state  of  the  Anglican  Church  in 
that  year,  and  was  eventually,  after  having 


FIG.  3.  —  COULSDON  CHURCH  :  EAST  END  OF  SOUTH 
WALL  OF  CHANCEL,  SHOWING  PART  OF  BLANK 
ARCADE,    WITH   PISCINA  AND   SEDILIA   BELOW. 

been  used  for  secular  purposes,  burned  down 
in  1780,  only  a  ruin  being  saved. 

The  Manor  of  Coulsdon  was  anciently 
held  by  the  important  and  influential  Abbey 
of  Chertsey,  which  owned  a  great  deal  of 
property  in  this  neighbourhood  ;  it  has  since 
passed  through  various  hands,  including  the 
Crown,  and  is  now  private  property. 

Those  parts  of  this  ancient  parish  which 
adjoin  the  main  road  are  rapidly  becoming 
one  large  neighbourhood  of  houses,  and  the 
open  country  which  is  left  a  favourite  resort 
for  trippers ;  but  away  on  the  summit  of  the 
hill  the  old  and  venerable  witness  to  the 
religion  of  many  generations  and  the  national 


faith  of  this  land  stands  in  its  primitive 
glory ;  and  though  in  this  utilitarian  age  its 
architectural  beauties  and  associations  with 
the  past  are  appreciated  but  by  the  few,  may 
we  not  hope  that  many  generations  ahead  it 
will  please  our  descendants  in  the  same  way 
that  it  delights  us  now? 

Note. — The  illustrations  are  from  photo- 
graphs by  J.  M.  Hobson,  M.D. 


Cfte  LonDon  Tigris  ant)  ttcir 
associations. 

By  T-  Holden  MacMichael. 
{Continued  front  vol.  xlii.,  p.  350.) 


HE  Bird-Cage  as  a  sign  did  not 
intimate  merely  the  sale  of  cage- 
birds  and  bird-cages,  for  "  bird- 
cage maker"  was  a  generic  way 
of  signifying  the  sale  also  of  "  Corn,  Gravel, 
and  Lime  Screens,  Brass  and  Iron  Sieves  ; 
and  all  sorts  of  curious  Brass  wire-work  for 
Libraries  and  Window-blinds,  and  Moulds 
for  Paper-makers,"  etc.*  Perhaps  this  was 
a  later  development  of  the  birdseller's  trade, 
for  in  the  Weekly  Journal 'of  August  31,  1723, 
is  the  following  advertisement :  "Just  arrived 
from  Switzerland,  A  Choice  Parcel  of  fine 
Canary  Birds,  both  for  Song  and  Colour, 
far  excelling  any  that  hath  been  brought 
from  Germany  :  Likewise  there  is  to  be  sold, 
Scarlet  and  English  Nightingales,  with  all 
Sorts  of  singing  Birds,  at  Matthew  Ward's 
at  the  Bird-Cage  in  King  Street,  near  the 
Victualling-Office  on  Tower-Hill."  There 
was  a  Bird-Cage  in  Wood  Street,  Cheap- 
side;  but  cf.  the  Bell  and  Bird-Cage.  Bird- 
Cage  Walk,  in  St.  James's  Park,  was  not 
named  after  the  sign,  but  from  the  aviary 
established  there  in  the  reign  of  James  I.t 
Bird-Cage  Alley,  however,  in  Southwark,  was, 
according  to  London  and  its  Environs,  1761, 
so  named  from  such  a  sign. 

*  See  the  Universal  Director ;  or,  The  Nobleman 
and  Gentleman 's  True  Guide,  by  Mr.  Mortimer, 
1763. 

f  See  Amusements  of  London,  by  Tom  Browne, 
l2mo.,  1700,  p.  68. 


62 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


The  Bird-in-Hand,  Bird-in-Hand  Court 
(known  in  1761  as  Bird-in-Hand  Alley), 
between  Nos.  77  and  78,  Cheapside,  opposite 
Mercer's  Hall,  Ironmonger  Lane,  takes  its 
name  from  a  tavern  with  such  a  sign,  which 
seems  to  have  had  its  origin  in  the  idea  of 
jokingly  intimating  to  customers  that  no 
credit  could  be  given,  in  allusion  to  a  bird 
in  the  hand  being  worth  two  in  the  bush. 
So  widely  was  the  necessity  for  such  pre- 
caution recognised  that  it  is  pointed  out  in 
the  History  of  Signboards  how  the  custom 
prevailed  in  ruined  Pompeii  and  modern 
China,  and  in  these  isles,  from  Cork  to 
Durham,  and  from  Norfolk  to  Devonshire. 
The  tavern  alluded  to  is  mentioned  in  the 
Vade-Mecum  for  Mal/ivorms,  written  about 
the  time  of  Queen  Anne  or  George  I.,  when 
it  was  a  "  house  of  note."  Keats,  the  poet, 
when  he  left  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Borough,  lived  with  his  brother  over  this 
passage,  in  apartments,  over  the  second 
floor, *  and  here  he  wrote  his  magnificent 
sonnet  on  Chapman's  Homer,  and  all  the 
poems  in  his  first  little  volume,  t  What  is 
now  the  Queen's  Arms  (o.v.)  was  apparently 
the  old  Bird-in-Hand,  although  there  might 
have  been  two  taverns  in  the  court. 

There  was  a  Bird-in-Hand  in  Fleet  Street, 
which  Mr.  Hilton  Price  has  been  unable  to 
localize.  In  1665,  in  the  Newes  of  April  27, 
1665,  Ambrose  Mead,  a  goldsmith,  invites 
notice  to  be  given  at  this  sign  of  the  recovery 
of  a  gold  watch  which  had  been  lost,  made 
by  Benjamin  Hill,  in  black  case  studded 
with  gold,  with  a  double  chain,  and  the  key 
on  a  single  chain  with  a  knob  of  steel 
upon  it. 

From  another  Bird-in-Hand,  over  against 
Old  Round  Court  in  the  Strand,  issued  an 
advertisement  which  perhaps  supplies  a 
typical  description  of  a  country  house  of  the 
time: 

"To  be  Lett,  ready  furnish'd,  On  Ger- 
rard's  Cross  Heath,  Bucks,  A  Convenient 
new-built  Brick  House,  not  large,  four 
Rooms  on  a  Floor,  a  Kitchen,  Pantry,  and 
Wash-House,  with  Servants'  Room  over 
them ;  a  Brewhouse,  with  all  Conveniences 
for  Brewing;  a  Coach-House  and  Stable,  a 

*  Recollections  of  Writers,  by  Charles  and  Mary 
Cowden . 
\  Cunningham's  London. 


Garden  and  Orchard,  and  other  Conveni- 
ences, situate  in  a  very  good  Air;  several 
Coaches  and  Waggons  passing  by  every  Day, 
and  the  Post  every  Night,  it  being  in  the 
Oxford  Road,  nineteen  Miles  from  London. 
Enquire  at  the  Bull,  at  Gerrard's  Cross  ;  or 
at  Mrs.  Crane's,  The  Bird-in-Hand,  over 
against  New  Round  Court,"  etc.* 

A  Beaufoy  token  relates  to  a  Bird-in- 
Hand  in  Curriers'  Alley,  Shoe  Lane.  The 
token  bears  a  hand  holding  a  bird  in  the 
field.  Two  other  Beaufoy  tokens  relate  to 
St.  John's  Lane,  Clerkenwell,  and  Petticoat 
Lane.t 

There  was  a  Bishop's  Head  in  the  Old 
Bailey  mentioned  in  the  Vade-Mecum  for 
A/a //worm  s.t 

At  the  Bishops  Head  in  Duck  Lane  one 
of  the  first  editions,  in  1688,  of  Paradise 
Los/  was  printed  and  published  by  Samuel 
Simmons,  and  sold  by  S.  Thomson.  This 
appeared  in  folio,  with  a  portrait,  under  which 
are  engraven  certain  lines  which  Dryden 
had  furnished  to  his  publisher.  As  Charles 
Knight  says,  "  Times  have  changed  since 
Samuel  Simmons  paid  his  five  pounds  down 
for  the  copy,  and  agreed  to  pay  five  pounds 
more  when  thirteen  hundred  were  sold."§ 
Among  the  miscellaneous  documents  ex- 
hibited in  the  Manuscript  Department  of  the 
British  Museum  are  the  original  articles  of 
agreement,  dated  April  27,  1667,  between 
John  Milton,  gentleman,  and  Samuel  Sym- 
mons,  printer,  for  the  sale  of  the  copyright 
of  A  Poem  in/i/u/ed  Paradise  Los/,  signed 
"John  Milton,"  with  his  seal  of  arms  affixed. 
This  was  presented  by  Samuel  Rogers  in 
1852.ll  For  this  sacred  treasure  ^100  was 
given,  presumably  by  Rogers. 

There  was  a  Bishops  LLead  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard  long  before  Robert  Knaplock 
published  at  that  sign  Hatton's  New  View 
of  London  in  1708.  Mr.  Ashbee  gives  the 
dates  when  the  sign  occurs  as  1591,  1607- 
161 1,  1619,  1627-1648,  1695-1697.  Robert 
Knaplock  was  still  at  the  Bishops  Head  in 
St.  Paul's  Churchyard  in  1722,  when  he 
advertises   the    second   edition    of    A   Netv 

*  Daily  Advertiser,  April  8,  13,  and  May  I,  1742. 

t  Daniel  Debourck. 

%  Note  to  "  Props  to  the  Crown,  Hatton  Garden." 

§  Shadows  of  the  Old  Booksellers. 

||  Additional  MS.,  18,861. 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


63 


Theory  of  Consumptions,  etc.,  by  Benjamin 
Martin,  M.D.* 

There  was  a  Bishop's  Head  in  Cornhill, 
opposite  the  Royal  Exchange,  in  1684.! 

Mary  Smith,  at  the  Bishop  Beveridge's  Head 
in  Paternoster  Row,  published  "  The  Devout 
Mourner  in  Time  of  Pestilence  ;  or,  Necessary 
Preparations  at  the  Approach  of  Publick 
Calamity,  by  an  eminent  Divine  of  the 
Church  of  England";  and  "A  Legacy  to  the 
Church  of  England,  vindicating  her  Orders 
from  the  Objections  of  Papists  and  Dissenters, 
fully  explaining  the  Nature  of  Schism,  and 
cautioning  the  Laity  against  the  Delusion  of 
Impostors:  a  Work  undertaken  before  the 
Revolution,  by  the  especial  Command  of 
Archbishop  Sancroft  and  Dr.  Floyd,  Bishop 
of  Norwich,  Licens'd  by  Bishop  Compton  in 
1692,"  etc. I 

The  Bishop's  Mitre  was  a  bookseller's  sign 
"Within  Ludgate"  from  1548  to  155 1.§ 

The  sign  of  the  Black  Bear  could  scarcely 
have  been  assumed  by  the  innkeeper  before 
the  landing  of  Giovanni  Cabot  and  his  two 
sons  on  the  North  American  continent. 
Subsequently,  no  doubt,  ursus  Americanus 
became,  like  the  Indian,  a  curiosity  of  the 
New  World  worthy  of  commemoration  on  the 
signboard,  where,  however,  its  appearance 
was  a  "  strain  of  rareness."  So  scarce,  indeed, 
was  it  that  only  two  or  three  instances 
seem  to  have  occurred  in  London,  while 
not  even  one  is  recorded  in  the  present 
London  Directory.  There  was  a  Black  Bear 
in  Black  Bear  Yard,  St.  Giles's,  ||  perhaps, 
like  the  Black  Bear  in  Piccadilly,  a  coaching- 
house,  though  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
is  mentioned  in  Cary's  Book  of  Roads.  The 
Black  Bear  in  Piccadilly  depended,  accord- 
ing to  the  author  of  the  Epicure's  Almanack, 
181 5,  chiefly  on  passengers  by  the  numerous 
western  stages  which  stopped  there.  The 
inn  appears  to  have  been  a  rival  of  the  White 

*  London  journal,  May  5,  1722. 

f  The  late  Mr.  Ashbee  in  the  Bibliographer. 

X  London  journal,  May  26  and  July  7,  1722  ;  and 
the  Weekly  Journal,  December  9,  1721. 

§  The  Bibliographer . 

||  Parton's  St.  Giles  in  the  Fields,  1882,  p.  243. 
Although  it  is  not  definitely  known  when  the  Black 
Bear  ceased  to  exist  as  a  public-house,  it  is  probable, 
from  its  name  being  nowhere  mentioned  after  the  end 
of  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  that  it  was  discontinued 
as  such,  or  pulled  down,  at  about  that  date.  Clinck's 
Bloomsburv  and  St.  Giles's,  1 890,  p.  45. 


Bear  close  by.  But  if  this  was  the  case,  it 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  an  altogether 
successful  rival,  for  the  "  Estate  and  Interest 
of  the  said  Bankrupt  (i.e.  James  Dolman, 
Innholder  and  Chapman),  of  and  in  the 
Lease  of  the  said  Bankrupt's  late  Dwelling- 
House,  known  by  the  Name  of  the  Black 
Bear  Inn  in  Piccadilly  was  in  1 756  advertised 
to  be  sold  to  the  "best  Bidders,"  together 
with  "  the  Lease  of  two  Stables,  Hayloft,  and 
four  Rooms,  with  their  appurtenances  in 
Shug  Lane."  * 

Neither  Cunningham,  nor  the  authors  of 
either  the  History  of  Signboards  or  Old  and 
New  London,  make  any  mention  of  this  inn, 
but  J.  T.  Smith,  in  his  Streets  of  London,  says  : 
"  At  the  east  end  of  Piccadilly  stood  for  many 
years  the  two  inns,  the  Black  Bear  and  the 
White  Bear  (formerly  the  Fleece  Inn),  nearly 
opposite  to  each  other  ;  the  former  of  which 
was  taken  down  (1820)  to  make  way  for  the 
north  side  of  the  Regent  Circus  ;  the  latter 
still  remains,  and  stands  on  Crown  Land  " 
(edition  1849,  p.  17). 

"  For  Bath,  a  Good  Coach  and  four  able 
Horses  will  set  out  from  the  Black  Bear  Inn 
in  Piccadilly,  on  Monday  next "  (Daily 
Advert.,  Oct.  15,  1742). 

The  Black  Bear  and  Star  was  the  sign  in 
1685  of  Obadiah  Blagrave  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  for  whom  was  printed  by  James 
Rawlins  The  Mysteries  of  Love  and 
Eloquence ;  or  the  Arts  of  Wooing  and 
Complimenting,  as  they  are  managed  in 
Spring  Gardens,  Hide  Park,  the  New 
Exchange,  etc.,  etc. 

The  Black  Bell. — Two  Beaufoy  tokens, 
Nos.  361  and  1142,  relate  to  the  sign  of  the 
Black  Bell.  There  is  a  Bell  in  Bell  Alley, 
Gracechurch  Street,  which  is  certainly  painted 
black,  and  there  is  a  curious  remnant  of  a 
crypt  which  is  part  of  the  cellars  appertain- 
ing. With  regard  to  the  Black  Bell  on  Fish 
Street  Hill,  see  the  History  of  Signboards, 
quoting  Stow. 

The  Black  Boy. — This  sign,  once  very 
common,  is  now  rarely  seen.  It  does  not 
appear  to  have  had  its  origin,  as  generally 
imputed  to  it,  in  the  association  of  the 
negro  with  the  tobacco  industry  of  Virginia, 
although  it  became  thus  associated  almost 
exclusively  at  a  later  period.  In  Machyn's 
*   Whitehall  Evening  Post,  March  4,  1756. 


64 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


Diary,  for  instance  (xxx.  Dec,  1562), 
mention  is  made  of  a  house  with  the  sign  of 
the  Black  Boy,  a  circumstance  indicating 
rather  that  the  sign  became  first  known 
through  the  novelty  of  the  Indian's  appear- 
ance, soon  after  the  discovery  of  America, 
when  descriptions  of  the  Indigene,  Indien,  or 
Indian,  began  to  circulate.  This  hypothesis 
receives  some  support  from  the  fact  of  the 
carved  figures  of  the  sign  of  the  Black  Boy 
sometimes  bearing  a  medal  on  the  breast. 
This  was  the  case  with  one  in  the  possession 
of  the  late  Mr.  H.  S.  Cuming,  a  drawing  of 
which  I  exhibited  at  a  meeting  of  the  British 
Archaeological  Association.  Whereas  the 
sign  of  the  Black  Boy  existed  at  least  so  early 
as  1562,  the  date  ascribed  to  the  use  of 
smoking  tobacco  is  1586.  Rafe  Lane,  first 
Governor  of  Virginia,  who  came  home  with 
Drake  in  the  latter  year,  is  the  supposed 
introducer  of  tobacco-smoking  in  pipes.  This 
was  at  the  termination  of  the  third  of  the 
expeditions  at  the  expense  of  Raleigh.*  An 
Indian  or  copper-face  with  precisely  the  same 
costume  as  that  represented  in  the  carved 
black  boy  belonging  to  Mr.  Cuming's  col- 
lection serves  as  the  sinister  supporter  of  the 
Arms  of  the  Distillers'  Company,  where,  how- 
ever, the  medal  is  absent. t  In  what  seems 
some  inexplicable  manner  the  negro  and  the 
Indian  became  confused  in  the  signboard 
art  of  the  Elizabethan  period,  both  being 
represented  with  the  kilt  of  tobacco-leaves. 

At  the  Black  Boy,  in  Paternoster  Row,  was 
published  by  T.  Warner,  "  Belsize  House,  a 
Satyr,  exposing:  (1)  The  Fops  and  Beaux 
who  daily  frequent  that  Academy;  (2)  The 
Characters  of  the  Women  (whether  Maid, 
Wife,  or  Widow)  who  make  this  an  Exchange 
for  Assignation  ;  (3)  The  Buffoonry  of  the 
Welsh  Ambassador ;  (4)  The  Humours  of 
his  Customers  in  several  Apartments.  With 
the  Rake's  Song  on  the  Falsehood  of  Woman : 
The  Libertine's  Song.  Another  by  a  Rejected 
Virgin.  And  the  Belsize  Ballad. — Facit 
Indignatio  Versum.     Juv.  Sat.  I."  % 

The  "  Welsh  Ambassador  "  alluded  to  was 
Howell,  the  proprietor,  who  was  thus  nick- 
named. In  June,  1722,  two  months  before 
the  appearance  of  the  foregoing  advertise- 

*  Hakluyt's  Voyages,  vol.  Hi.,  p.  272. 

t  London  Armoury. 

X  Weekly  Journal,  September  1,  1722. 


ment,  Belsize  House  had  acquired  such 
notoriety  as  a  scene  of  riot  and  dissipation 
that  the  Middlesex  magistrates  at  the  quarter 
sessions  issued  a  precept  for  the  prevention 
of  "  unlawful  gaming,  riots,  etc.,  at  Belsize 
House."* 

The  Black  Boy  on  London  Bridge  is  de- 
scribed in  the  Luttrell  Collection  as  being 
"near  the  drawbridge  on  London  Bridge." 
This  is  evidently  identical  with  the  sign,  the 
Black  Boy  of  M.  Hotham,  who  appears  to 
have  succeeded  John  Back,  who  published 
one  of  the  early  editions  of  Cocker's  Arith- 
metic in  1694.  Hotham  advertises  in  1721  : 
"The  Life  and  most  surprizing  Adventures 
of  Robinson  Crusoe,  of  York,  Mariner,  who 
lived  28  Years  in  an  uninhabited  Island  on 
the  Coast  of  America,  lying  near  the  Mouth 
of  the  great  River  of  Oroonoque,  having 
been  cast  on  Shoar  by  Shipwreck,  wherein 
all  the  Men  were  drowned  but  himself;  as 
also  a  Relation  how  he  was  wonderfully 
deliver'd  by  Pyrates.  The  whole  three 
Volumes  faithfully  abridg'd,  and  set  forth 
with  Cuts  proper  to  the  Subject.  Sold  by 
.  .  .  M.  Hotham  at  the  Black  Boy.  .  .  . 
Price  bound  2s.  6d.'t  At  this  Black  Boy  on 
London  Bridge  was  sold  a  nostrum  not  given 
in  the  index  of  patent  medicines  at  the  end 
of  Paris's  Pharmacologia  —  namely,  "  The 
Great  Cathartic,  or  the  Great  Restorer  and 
Preserver  of  Health "  —  which  was  much 
advertised  at  the  time.* 

The  Black  Boy  was  the  sign  of  one  Mil- 
ward,  tobacconist,  in  Redcross  Street,  Bar- 
bican^ and  it  was  the  sign  also  of  a  tobacco- 
nist in  Fore  Street,  "near  the  Green  Yard."|| 

How  it  was  that  the  sign  became,  in 
another  instance,  that  of  a  bookseller,  this 
time  in  Paternoster  Row,  one  cannot  say, 
but  a  scarce  work  on  witchcraft,  unknown  to 
Lowndes,  entitled  Belief  in  Witchcraft  Vindi- 
cated, Proving  from  Scripture  there  have  been 
Witches,  and  from  Reason  that  there  may  be 

*  See  also  Mist's  Journal,  April  16, 1720;  Thome's 
Environs  of  London  (Hampstead) ;  Palmer's  History 
of  St.  Pancras,  p.  227  ;  Park's  History  of  Hampstead ; 
and  Lyson's  Environs. 

t  London  Journal,  April  7,  1721. 

\  Ibid-,  July  7,  1722. 

§  Daily  Advertiser,  October  15,  1742. 

|j  In  tobacco-papers  among  the  Banks  Collection, 
and  two  black  boys  smoking,  with  the  motto,  Sic 
transit  gloria  mundi,  in  the  Bagford  (Harleian) 
Collection,  5996,  No.  135. 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


65 


Such  Still,  by  G.  R.,  was  published  at  the 
Black  Boy  in  Paternoster  Row  in  1712.  In 
1732-3  T.  Warner  published  the  Parlia- 
mentary Proceedings  of  the  time,  and 
Historical  and  Critical  Remarks  on  the 
History  of  Charles  XII.,  King  of  Sweden,  by 
Mr.  de  Voltaire,  Design'd  as  a  Supplement 
to  that  Work,  in  a  Letter  to  the  Author,  by 
Mr.  A.  de  la  Motraye,  etc.*  He  also  adver- 
tises Apollo's  Maggot  in  His  Cups:  Or,  the 
whimsical  Creations  of  a  little  satyrical  Poet, 
A  Lyrick  Ode.  .  .  .  Merrily  dedicated  to 
Dicky  Dickinson,  the  witty  but  deform'd 
Governor  of  Scarborough  Spaw,  by  E.  Ward, 
Gent.     Price  is.t 

The  Black  Boy  was  also  the  sign  of  a 
linen-draper  in  Milk  Street,  near  Cheapside  t 
("  near  Cheapside,"  apparently,  because  the 
north  side  as  we  have  it  now  was  by  no 
means  completed) ;  Cheapside  was  literally  a 
"side" — i.e.,  only  one  side — and  was  called 
the  "Beauty  of  London."  How  long  this 
unfinished  state  continued,  and  when  the 
thoroughfares,  now  leading  from  the  north 
side,  became,  by  their  being  connected  with 
houses,  something  more  than  mere  lanes,  is 
not  very  evident,  but  the  process  was 
probably  very  gradual,  whereby  the  street, 
as  we  understand  a  "street,"  was  formed. 
The  linen-draper's  name  was  Cove,  perhaps 
a  successor  of  W.  A.  T.,  who,  according  to  a 
token  in  the  Beaufoy  Collection,  lived  under 
the  sign  of  the  "  Blake  Boy  in  Chepside  in 
1652  "(No.  314). 

Mrs.  Skinner,  of  the  old-established 
tobacconist's  opposite  the  Law  Courts  in 
the  Strand,  possessed,  about  the  year  1890, 
two  signs  of  the  Black  Boy,  appertaining,  no 
doubt,  to  the  old  house  of  Messrs.  Skinner's 
on  Holborn  Hill,  of  the  front  of  which  there 
is  an  illustration  in  the  Archer  Collection  in 
the  Print  Department  of  the  British  Museum, 
where  the  black  boy  and  tobacco-rolls  are 
depicted  outside  the  premises.  Messrs. 
Skinner's,  of  221,  Strand,  and  Holborn  Hill, 
were,  I  think,  merged  into  the  firm  of  John 
Redford  and  Co.,  tobacco  manufacturers,  of 
49,  Exmouth  Street,  Clerkenwell. 

*  Craftsmen,  January  6,  1732-33,  and  April  29, 
1733. 

■(•  Daily  Advertiser,  May  22  and  24,  1742.     There 
is  a  token  extant  of  the  Black  Boy  in  Cheapside,  1652 
(No.  66,  the  Beaufoy  Collection). 
VOL.  III. 


The  Black  Boy  was  apparently  also  a 
pawnbroker's  sign,  but  such  signs  were 
sometimes  inherited  or  adopted  owing  to 
previous  associations.  "Stopt  on  Saturday 
last,  by  John  Fennell,  at  the  Black  Boy  in 
Fleet  Lane,  a  Half-Hundred  Leaden  Weight, 
about  the  same  Weight  of  Sheet-Lead,  and  a 
Brass  Candlestick,  The  Owner  describing  the 
Marks  of  the  same,  and  paying  the  Charge, 
may  have  them  again."* 

Of  the  Black  Boy  against  St.  Dunstan's 
Church,  Fleet  Street,  ample  account  is  fur- 
nished by  Mr.  F.  G.  Hilton  Price  in  his 
"Signs  of  Old  Fleet  Street, "t  but  he  does 
not  allude  to  the  sale  of  the  "  Fam'd  Royal 
Eye  Water  "  sold  by  Mr.  Huxley,  a  hatter,  at 
the  Black  Boy  against  St.  Dunstan's  Church 
in  Fleet  Street.  %  This  remedy  is  not  men- 
tioned in  Dr.  Paris's  Pharmacologia. 

There  was  a  Black  Boy  near  Billingsgate 
in  1782,  and  other  instances  occur  in  the 
Banks  Collection.  §  It  was  the  sign  of 
William  Whetstone,  after  whom  Whetstone 
Park,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  was  named,  and 
it  occurs  frequently  among  the  Beaufoy 
Tokens.  || 

At  the  Black  Boy  in  the  Strand,  between 
St.  Martin's  Lane  and  Lancaster  Court,  was 
printed  for  and  sold  by  the  author,  "  The 
Causes  of  Heat  and  Cold  in  the  several 
Climates  and  Situations  of  this  Globe,  so  far 
as  they  depend  on  the  Pays  of  the  Sun,  con- 
siderd ;  in  order  to  shew  that  the  Difference 
of  the  Heat  a  fid  Cold  in  other  Countries 
may  be  neatly  ascertained  by  a  Thermometer, 
as  it  was  read  to  the  Royal  Society  by 
T.  Sheldrake,  Author  of  the  Herbal  of 
Medicinal  Plants,  the  Thirteenth  Number  of 
which  Herbal  will  be  published  on  Saturday 
next."H 

Although  rare  now,  the  editor  of  the 
Beaujoy  Tokens  observed  truly  that  the 
chubby-faced  ebonized  edition  of  humanity 
generally  adopted  by  the  tobacco-sellers  of 
the  seventeenth  century  was  still  in  his  time, 
as  it  was  until  lately,  "  the  prevailing  sign  of 
tobacconists."     And  the  Black  Boy  with  his 

*  Daily  Advertiser,  February  16,  1742. 

\    The  Arcluzological  Journal.  December,  1895. 

X  Weekly  Journal,  May  21,  1720. 

§  Portfolio,  5. 

||  Nos.  276,  314,  621,  780,  923,  and  1276. 

If  Whitehall  Evening  Post,  1756. 

I 


66 


A  MEMORIAL  OF  HAN  WORTH  MANOR. 


kirtle  of  tobacco-leaves  in  St.  Catherine's 
Lane  by  the  Tower  was  no  doubt  one  of  the 
earliest  signs  commemorative  of  the  Lon- 
doner's knowledge  of  this  ethnological  wonder 
— probably  the  Virginian  slave.  St.  Catha- 
rine's Court,  perhaps  identical  with  the  Lane, 
stood  by  the  Tower,  near  the  church  dedicated 
to  St.  Catharine." 

In  1683,  Locke,  one  of  the  most  valuable 
writers  of  his  age  and  country,  requested 
that  letters  for  him  should  be  left  with  Mr. 
Percivall,  at  the  Black  Boy  in  Lombard 
Street! 

( To  be  continued.) 


a  Memorial  of  Oantoortfi 
a^anor. 

By  J    Tavenor-Perry. 

N  the  wall  of  an  outbuilding,  once 
belonging  to  the  old  Manor-house 
of  Hanworth  in  Middlesex,  may 
be  seen  a  decayed  piece  of  stone- 
work sculptured  with  a  remarkable  shield  of 
arms.  Although  the  face  of  the  stone  has 
suffered  much  from  decay  and  accidents,  the 
arms  are  quite  decipherable,  and  may  be 
blazoned  as  :  Quarterly,  one  and  four,  the 
Royal  Stuart  arms  ;  two  and  three,  quarterly, 
gu.  and  or,  in  the  first  a  mullet  arg.,  which 
were  the  arms  of  the  De  Veres  of  Oxford. 
The  shield  is  surrounded  with  some  well- 
carved  mantling,  and  ensigned  with  a  baron's 
coronet,  and  it  bears  over  all  an  escutcheon 
of  pretence,  on  which  can  be  distinguished  a 
chevron,  and,  perhaps,  the  remains  of  some 
other  bearings. 

This  sculptured  stone  is  almost  the  sole 
surviving  historical  memorial  of  an  interest- 
ing manor,  for  the  manor-house  itself  was 
destroyed  by  fire  a  century  ago,  and  the 
neighbouring  church  has  been  entirely  rebuilt 
in  recent  years.  Henry  VIII.  appears  at 
times  to  have   resided   here,  and   after   his 

*  See  a  scarce  little  book  entitled  The  Stranger  s 
Guile  to  London,  1721  ;  and  Burns's  Beaufoy  Tokens, 
No.  276. 

t  Hutton's  Literary  Landmarks,  and  F.  G.  H. 
Price's  Signs  of  Lombard  Street. 


death  it  devolved  on  Catherine  Parr,  who, 
with  her  last  husband,  Lord  Seymour  of 
Sudleye,  divided  her  time  between  Hanworth 
and  Chelsea  during  her  guardianship  of  the 
Princess  Elizabeth.  It  was  the  property  in 
1628  of  Sir  Francis  Cottington,  who  in  that 
year  was  created  Baron  Cottington  of  Han- 
worth. The  history  of  our  shield  of  arms 
was    not,  however,  connected    with    any   of 


SHIELD   OF   ARMS:    HANWORTH    PARK,   MIDDLESEX. 

these  earlier  holders  of  the  manor,  but  it 
begins  with  the  grand-daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Chambers,  who  bought  it  in  1670,  when  she 
married,  in  1736,  Lord  Vere  Beauclerk,  the 
son  of  the  Duke  of  St.  Albans.  This  Lord 
Vere  was  born  in  the  year  1699,  and  was  the 
third  son  of  the  first  Duke,  and  in  1750, 
after  his  marriage  with  Mary  Chambers,  who 
was  her  grandfather's  sole  heiress,  he  was 
created  Baron  Vere  of  Hanworth.  He 
thereupon  assumed  the  arms  of  which  the 
sculptured  stone  gives,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  an  incorrect  representation.  He  died 
in  1 781,  and  she  in  1783,  and  was  buried  in 
St.  James's,  Westminster,  leaving  issue  a  son, 
Anthony,  who  became  second  Baron  Vere, 
and  in  1787  succeeded  to  the  dukedom  of 
St.  Albans  on  the  death  of  his  cousin,  George 
Beauclerk,  the  fourth  Duke ;  and  since  then 
the  Hanworth  title  has  been  merged  in  that 


THE  ANTIQUARY'S  NOT  E-BOOK. 


67 


of  St.  Albans.  Anthony  in  1763,  before  his 
father's  death,  was  married  to  Catherine, 
daughter  of  William  Ponsonby,  second  Earl 
of  Bessborough,  who  died  in  1789,  and  was 
buried  in  Hanworth  Church. 

Time  and  the  elements  may  have  reduced 
the  escutcheon  of  the  Chambers  family,  by 
the  erosion  of  some  of  its  bearings,  to  its 
present  condition,  but  to  these  causes  cannot 
be  assigned  the  absence  of  the  unpleasant 
abatement  to  the  royal  arms  which  the  shield 
presents ;  and  whether  this  be  due  to  the 
ignorance  of  the  sculptor  or  the  assumption 
of  his  lordship,  the  mark  of  illegitimacy  has 
been  omitted,  and  the  full  royal  arms  thus 
appear  on  the  shield  of  a  subject. 

The  descent  of  the  second  Baron  de  Vere 
of  Hanworth  appears  thus  : 

Charles  Beauclerk,  =f  Lady  Diana  Vere, 

natural  son  of  |     heiress  of  Anthony, 

diaries  II.,  ist  Duke  last  Earl  of 

of  St.  Albans.  Oxford. 


Charles,  2nd  Duke.      Lord  William  Beauclerk. 
Charles,  3rd  Duke.       George,  4th  Duke. 


Lord  Vere  Beauclerk,  —  Mary,  dau.  and  heiress 


b.  1699,  d.  1781 

ist  Baron  Vere  of 

Hanworth. 


of  Sir  Thomas 
Chambers,  d.  1783. 


Anthony,  2nd  Baron, 
5th  Duke  of 
St.  Albans. 


Catherine,  dau.  of 
Earl  of  Bess- 
borough. 


Present  ducal 
family. 


Cfte  antiquary  jf3ot^15oofe. 

THE  PASSING  OF  OLD  LONDON. 
{Y  the  erection  of  the  new  building 
for  the  City  Inspection  of  Weights 
and  Measures  on  the  site  of  the 
City  Green  Yard,  another  pictur- 
esque link  with  London  life  in  olden  days 
has  disappeared.  The  Green  Yard,  or  City 
Mews,  as  it  is  variously  called,  was  formerly 
the  common  pound  for  the  City,  where  stray 
horses,  cattle,  and  carriages  were  taken  and 
impounded.     It  lay  due   north,  a  little  be- 


yond London  Wall,  on  the  east  side  of 
Whitecross  Street,  near  its  junction  with 
Fore  Street.  A  little  further  to  the  east  was 
Moor  Lane,  the  starting-point  of  the  great 
northern  moor,  the  citizens'  playing-ground 
for  many  centuries,  which  extended  far  away 
to  Islington.  The  situation  chosen  was  at 
once  easily  accessible  and  sufficiently  re- 
moved from  busy  centres,  where  the  bellow- 
ing of  rebellious  beasts  might  prove  an 
annoyance.  For  in  ancient  days  the  ground 
was  not  only  a  place  of  detention,  but  also  a 
prison  where  animals  and  even  things  in- 
animate found  guilty  of  inflicting  fatal  injury 
on  human  beings  were  confined  for  their 
misdeeds,  whilst  awaiting  punishment  by  sale 
or  otherwise.  The  City  records  give  many 
instances  of  this  curious  practice  of  old 
English  law,  under  which  deodands,  or  gifts 
to  God,  were  forfeited  to  the  Crown,  to  be 
applied  to  pious  uses  and  distributed  in  alms 
by  the  high  almoner.  It  was  the  duty  of  the 
Sheriffs,  acting  on  the  King's  behalf,  to 
secure  possession  of  the  deodand  or  the 
amount  of  its  appraised  value.  Three  cases 
of  unwitting  offenders,  a  boat,  a  horse,  and 
a  pear  tree,  are  recorded  in  the  year  1276. 
On  June  17  in  that  year  one  Henry  Grene, 
a  water-carrier,  was  found  drowned  in  the 
tiver  Thames.  The  unfortunate  man  got 
into  a  boat  at  Paul's  Wharf,  intending  to  take 
up  water  with  his  tankard,  or  closed  pail. 
After  filling  his  tankard  he  attempted  to 
place  it  on  the  wharf,  but  the  weight  of  the 
water  in  the  vessel  caused  the  boat  to  move 
away  from  the  wharf,  and  Henry,  losing  his 
balance,  fell  into  the  water  and  was  drowned. 
After  diligent  inquisition  by  the  good  men  of 
the  ward,  his  death  was  found  to  have  been 
a  misadventure,  and  the  offending  boat,  with 
its  tackle  and  the  tankard,  were  appraised  at 
5s.  6d.  In  the  same  year,  Henry  de  Flegge 
met  with  his  death  in  Castle  Baynard  Dock, 
where  he  was  taking  his  horse  to  water  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Punishing  the 
horse  with  his  spur,  the  animal,  "  being  filled 
with  exceeding  viciousness  and  strength," 
carried  its  unfortunate  rider  into  deep  water, 
where,  by  reason  of  the  cold  and  the  force 
of  the  tide,  he  was  drowned,  the  horse  being 
appraised  at  one  mark.  It  was  on  a  Sunday, 
September  14,  that  the  third  misfortune 
happened,  the  victim  being  one  Adam  Schot, 

1  2 


68 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


a  servant,  living  in  the  parish  of  St.  James, 
Garlickhithe.  A  few  days  before  this  un- 
lucky man  was  trying  to  climb  a  pear-tree 
after  dinner,  in  the  garden  of  one  Lawrence, 
in  the  Parish  of  St.  Michael's,  Paternoster 
Royal,  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  pears. 
By  sad  mischance  he  fell  to  the  ground  by 
the  breaking  of  a  branch  on  which  he  was 
standing,  and  died  after  lingering  for  a  few 
days,  the  offending  pear-tree  being  appraised 
at  5s.  Subsequently  to  the  Great  Fire  of 
London,  the  Green  Yard  was  used  as  the 
City  mews,  where  the  State  and  semi-State 
coaches  of  the  Lord  Mayor  were  housed. 
Here,  too,  as  well  as  at  Leadenhall,  the 
permanent  appointments  of  the  Lord  Mayor's 
Show  were  safely  stored,  and  furbished  up 
year  by  year  to  take  their  part  in  the  pro- 
cession. In  1768,  the  almshouses  founded 
by  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  were  removed  here 
from  Gresham  College,  in  Broad  Street, 
which  was  being  pulled  down  to  afford  a  site 
for  the  Excise  Office.  The  almspeople  have 
since  been  removed  from  their  close  neigh- 
bourhood to  the  City  stables  to  a  more  suit- 
able home  at  Brixton.  Among  its  other 
varied  uses,  the  Green  Yard  has  served  as  a 
storehouse  of  materials  for  the  City  clerk  of 
the  works,  and  here  for  some  ten  years  lay 
the  numbered  stones  of  Temple  Bar.  The 
scattered  materials  of  the  grim  old  edifice 
were  afterwards  presented  to  Sir  H.  B. 
Meux  by  the  Common  Council,  at  his 
request,  for  the  purpose  of  re-erecting  Temple 
Bar  at  the  entrance  to  Theobald's  Park, 
Cheshunt. — Daily  Telegraph,  November  26. 


at  tbe  %m  of  t&e  HDtol 

Mr.  Henry  Frowde  has  lately 
published  an  illustrated  pam- 
phlet giving  some  facts  about 
St.  Deiniol's  Library  at  Hawar- 
den,  which  Mr.  Gladstone 
founded  "in  the  cause  of 
divine  learning."  The  books 
which  Mr.  Gladstone  himself 
collected  numbered  32,000 
volumes,  and  during  the  last 
ten  years  5,000  more  volumes  have  been 
added,  partly   by   means    of  the    founder's 


endowment,  and  partly  by  the  generosity  of 
other  donors.  The  sub -warden,  Mr.  S. 
Liberty,  states  :  "  It  would  be  absurd  with 
these  numbers  to  claim  any  exhaustive  com- 
pleteness for  the  library  as  a  place  of  research, 
nor  is  it  a  repository  of  bibliographical 
rarities ;  but  it  is  for  all  ordinary  purposes 
a  good  working  library,  such  as  would  not 
be  found  elsewhere  under  similar  conditions, 
and  it  is  kept  up  to  date,  at  least  on  the 
theological  side.  But  the  side  of  Humanity 
is  well  represented,  too,  as  is  fitting  in  a 
library  inaugurated  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  who 
himself  planned  out  his  storehouse  in  the 
two  sections  of  Humanity  and  Divinity." 

t^*  t£r*  t2^* 

Mrs.  Drew,  in  a  recent  article  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  referring  to  the  treasures  of 
the  library,  calls  attention  to  an  edition  of 
Homer's  Iliad,  and  says  the  visitor  will  be 
interested  in  an  edition  of  Homer  in  which 
"Mr.  Gladstone  read  the  Iliad  for  the 
thirtieth  time,  finding  it  at  every  reading 
'  richer  and  more  glorious  than  before.'  (In 
reading  the  Odyssey  he  always  used  the 
same  one-volume  edition,  having  it  rebound 
whenever  it  wore  out  with  constant  hand- 
ling.) '  Ever  since,'  he  wrote,  '  I  began  to 
pass  out  of  boyhood,  I  have  been  feeling  my 
way,  owing  little  to  living  teachers,  but 
enormously  to  four  dead  ones,  over  and 
above  the  Four  Gospels.'  This  Mr.  Glad- 
stone wrote  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine,  the  four 
to  whom  he  referred  being,  as  is  well  known, 
Aristotle,  Augustine,  Dante,  and  Butler." 

It  may  be  recalled  that  Mr.  Gladstone's 
edition  of  Butler's  Analogy  and  Sermons,  and 
his  own  Subsidiary  Studies,  were  published 
by  the  Oxford  University  Press  in  1896. 

Mrs.  Drew,  than  whom  no  one  could 
better  know  her  father's  mind,  explains  that 
St.  Deiniol's  is  '  Not  a  school,  not  a  college 
or  a  free  library  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  a 
home  for  mental  and  spiritual  refreshment 
and  research,  open  to  thinkers  of  every  class, 
even  to  those  to  whom  the  gift  of  faith  has 
been  denied,  earnest  inquirers,  seekers, 
searchers  after  the  truth  that  is  divine.  A 
spirit  of  reverence,  a  love  of  truth,  sympathy 
with  the  aims  of  the  founder,  this  is  all  that 
is  demanded  of  its  visitors.  The  founder 
hoped  that  the  library  '  would  not  be  used 
for    purposes    hostile    to    the    Church    of 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


69 


England.'  This  is  expressed  in  the  trust 
deed.  But  for  'the  advancement  of  divine 
learning '  he  looked  specially  to  the  resident 
community." 

Mr.  Gladstone  hoped  that  students  would 
form  at  Hawarden  a  living  centre  of  religion, 
and  would  do  for  their  own  generation  what 
Pusey,  Stubbs,  Lightfoot,  and  Westcott  had 
done  for  theirs. 

e^*  c^*  t&* 

The  first  part  of  Prince  d'Essling's  great 
work,  Les  Livres  a  Figures  Venitiens  de  la 
Fin  du  XVe  Steele  et  du  Commencement  du 
XVle,  is  announced  for  publication  in 
March.  The  work  will  be  completed  in  four 
volumes  folio,  with  numerous  illustrations, 
including  many  in  colours.  The  edition  is 
limited  to  300  copies  at  500  francs  the  set, 
and  subscriptions  will  be  taken  only  for  the 
set.  The  work  promises  to  be  of  a  monu- 
mental character — one  of  the  most  sump- 
tuous of  its  kind  ever  produced. 

Women  Types:  The  Venus — The  Juno — The 
Minerva,  is  the  title  of  a  new  work  by 
"  Da  Libra,"  which  will  be  published  imme- 
diately by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock.  It  will  present, 
in  a  series  of  historical  sketches,  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  women  of  the  classical  times, 
as  compared  with  those  of  their  sisters  of  the 
present  day,  demonstrating  the  counterparts 
of  the  two  periods,  and  illustrating  modern 
casts  from  ancient  moulds. 

t^"  t&*  1£r* 

I  note  with  regret  the  death  at  an  advanced 
age,  early  in  January,  of  Mr.  John  Corbet 
Anderson,  antiquary  and  historian  of 
Croydon.  He  had  been  a  ticket-holder  of 
the  British  Museum  reading-room  for  sixty 
years.  He  wrote  The  Early  History  and 
Antiquities  of  Shropshire,  1864;  Antiquities 
of  Croydon  Church,  1867  ;  The  Roman  City 
of  Uriconium  at  Wroxeter,  1867  ;  and 
Chronicles  of  Croydon,  1874-1879.  He  illus- 
trated his  own  books,  and  drew  the  illustra- 
trations  for  Nash's  Mansions  of  England. 

t2r*  *5*  t&* 

Drs.  Grenfell  and  Hunt  have  returned  to 
Egypt  to  make  their  last  attempt  on  the 
Oxyrhynchus  site.  Next  winter  they  hope 
to  undertake  excavations  among  the  boxes 
of  papyri  now  in  the  strong-room  at  the 
bottom  of  the  staircase  in  Queen's  College, 


Oxford.  They  may  two  years  hence  return 
again  to  Egypt,  as  it  is  essential  that  im- 
mediate action  should  be  taken  on  the 
remaining  sites,  the  country  being  rapidly 
broken  up  by  the  increase  of  the  irrigated 
area  and  the  removal  of  the  earth  on  the 
town  sites  for  use  as  a  fertilizer. 

t^*  t3*  e^' 

A  noteworthy  feature  of  a  sale  held  at 
Sotheby's  during  the  second  week  of 
December  was  the  Shakespeareana,  which 
included  original  quarto  and  folio  editions 
of  the  plays  and  some  interesting  MSS. 
Five  quartos,  comprising  A  Midsommer 
Nights  Dreame,  1600  ;  The  Excellent  History 
of  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  1600  ;  A  York- 
shire Tragedie,  1 6 1 9  \  True  Chronicle  History 
of  the  Life  and  Death  of  King  Lear,  1608  ; 
and  The  Whole  Contetition  B etwee ne  the  Two 
Famous  Houses,  Lancaster  and  Yorke,  16 19, 
produced  an  aggregate  sum  of  ^1,089,  while 
a  first  edition  of  the  spurious  play,  The  First 
Part  of  the  True  a?id  Honorable  History  of 
the  Life  of  Sir  John  Old- Castle,  the  Good 
Lord  Cobham,  1600,  was  sold  for  ^6o:  and 
a  fourth  folio  edition  of  the  Comedies,  His- 
tories, and  Tragedies,  1685,  fetched  ^80. 

For  the  early  seventeenth -century  Stowe 
MS.,  with  unique  eulogy  of  Shakespeare, 
^51  was  given,  whilst  for  a  thirty-one-page 
MS.  list  of  the  Shakespearean  plays  per- 
formed by  their  Majesties'  Company  at  the 
Theatre  Royal,  Drury  Lane,  1795,  bound 
with  royal  arms  and  monogram,  ^24  10s.  was 
paid. 

t£r*  t^r*  t2r* 

At  the  same  sale  some  exceptionally  fine 
ancient  illuminated  MSS.  were  a  great 
attraction.  A  fourteenth -century  French 
MS.,  Le  Miroir  Historiale,  of  Vincent  de 
Beauvais,  containing  558  beautifully  painted 
miniatures,  fell  to  Mr.  Quaritch,  after  a 
spirited  contest,  at  ^1,290;  and  an  in- 
teresting portion  of  a  very  fine  old  English 
Book  of  Hours  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
with  fourteen  full-page  illuminated  paintings, 
made  ,£390. 

t^*  e^'  *&* 

Mr.  Andrew  Clark  is  about  to  publish, 
through  the  Clarendon  Press,  The  Shirburn 
Ballads,  with  introduction  and  notes. 
These  ballads,  in  a  neat  manuscript  volume, 


7o 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


are  among  the  most  treasured  possessions  in 
the  Earl  of  Macclesfield's  Library  at  Shirburn 
Castle,  Oxfordshire.  In  his  forthcoming 
introduction,  Mr.  Clark  states  that  it  is  plain 
that  the  ballads  were  copied  from  printed 
exemplars.  "  Although  a  veritable  Saul 
among  Davids,"  he  says,  "  and  possessed  of 
only  eight  tens  of  ballads,  as  against  the 
many  hundreds  of  the  great  collections,  the 
Shirburn  set  has  several  features  of  unique 
interest.  It  has  preserved  a  number  of 
pieces  of  no  slight  value,  which  certainly  are 
not  found  in  the  great  collections ;  and 
which,  possibly,  are  found  nowhere  else. 
Further,  it  bridges  over  the  gap  between 
early  ballads  and  post-Restoration  ballads, 
and  shows  that  many  of  the  ordinary  issues 
of  the  Black-letter  press  of  Charles  II.'s  and 
James  II.'s  reigns  had  been  in  common 
circulation  under  Elizabeth  and  James  I. 
It  also  opens  up  an  inviting  field  of  textual 
criticism,  furnishing  earlier,  and  often  better, 
texts  than  the  printed  copies,  but  sometimes 
carrying  back  obvious  corruptions,  destruc- 
tive alike  of  rhyme  and  reason,  for  a  period 
of  eighty  years.  Par-reaching  textual  con- 
clusions may  thus  be  drawn,  not  without 
bearing  on  the  condition  of  the  text  of  the 
great  Elizabethans.  It  is,  above  all,  a  sin- 
gularly representative  collection,  embracing 
ballads  of  almost  every  type  in  circulation, 
and  so  presenting  us  with  just  the  library 
which  was  found  in  most  English  house- 
holds in  Shakespeare's  time.  The  one 
exception,  a  striking  one,  is  the  Robin  Hood 
ballad,  which  is  quite  unrepresented." 

t^F*  t&*  t^* 

The  Church  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great, 
E.C.,  has  further  added  to  its  treasures  by 
the  acquisition  of  the  MS.  of  a  book 
written  in  1554  by  Friar  William  Peryn,  the 
Dominican  prior  of  St.  Bartholomew's  during 
Queen  Mary's  reign.  The  church  not  long 
since  acquired  the  matrix  of  the  priory  seal 
which  Prior  Peryn  had  struck  at  that  period. 
The  MS.  has  been  presented  to  the  church 
by  a  member  of  the  Restoration  Com- 
mittee. It  was  purchased  at  the  Trentham 
Hall  sale,  last  November,  by  Messrs.  Young, 
of  Liverpool,  who  kindly  parted  with  it  at 
cost  price  on  hearing  that  it  was  wanted  at 
St.  Bartholomew's.  It  may  be  seen  in  the 
recently  restored  cloister  of  the  church. 


The  History  of  Hertfordshire,  by  Nathaniel 
Salmon,  1728,  has  no  index.  Mr.  W.  B. 
Gerish,  desiring  to  refer  to  it  frequently  for 
his  work  on  "  Local  Surnames,"  has  been  at 
the  trouble  of  compiling  a  MS.  index  to  the 
names  of  places  therein.  This  index,  Mr. 
Gerish  is  good  enough  to  say,  is  at  the  service 
of  anyone  wishing  to  consult  it  at  his  house 
at  Bishop's  Stortford,  or  inquiries  will  be 
answered  if  a  stamped  and  addressed  enve- 
lope be  enclosed. 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  Betos. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

SALES. 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  at  their  house,  Wellington  Street, 
Strand,  yesterday,  concluded  a  two  days'  sale  of  old 
coins  and  medals.  Among  the  best  items  were  :  A 
Cromwell  gold  broad,  by  Simon,  £6  15s.  (Spink) ; 
Charles  I.  Exeter  half-crown,  1644,  £\o  10s.  (Ready) ; 
Charles  I.  Oxford  crown  piece,  1642,  ^5  (Weight); 
James  II.  tin  halfpenny,  with  copper  plug  in  centre, 
£4  4s.  (Spink) ;  Charles  I.  pattern  halfpenny  in 
silver,  £$  12s.  6d.  (Ready)  ;  Victoria  pattern  five- 
pound  piece,  1839,  £6  10s.  (Weight) ;  Charles  I. 
pound  piece,  Oxford  Mint,  1642,  £6  15s.  (Weight) ; 
Oliver  Cromwell  crown,  half-crown,  and  shilling,  fine 
set,  £6  12s.  (Spink).  The  sale  realized  ^940  13s.  6d. 
— Globe,  December  19. 

^  4>fl  4>$ 

Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  sold  on  the 
14th  and  15th  inst.  the  following  important  books 
and  MSS.  :  Charles  Lever's  Correspondence  and 
Memoranda,  Notebooks,  and  other  MSS.,  1852-72, 
£185  ;  Catnach  Press  Ballads,  etc..  £7$  ;  Robinson 
Crusoe,  1719,  ,£86  ;  Keats's  original  MS.  of  the  Poem 
Cap  and  Bells,  24  11.  (1819),  £290  ;  Lilford's  Birds, 
1885-97,  ^44  ;  Nash's  A  Countercuffe  to  Martin 
Junior,  1589,  ^"18  ;  Autograph  Letters  and  Corre- 
spondence of  Marshal  Turenne,  1643-49,  ^222 ; 
Audubon's  Birds  (150  plates  only),  1827-30,  ^33  ; 
Sir  T.  Browne's  Religio  Medici,  seventeenth-century 
MS.,  £$°;  Gould's  Birds  of  Great  Britain,  1873, 
^50  10s.  ;  Napoleon  I.,  Original  Autograph  Draft 
of  his  Proclamation  to  the  French  Army  in  Italy, 
January  18,  1797  (Battle  of  Rivoli),  .£130;  The 
Battell  of  Alcazar,  a  play  by  George  Peele,  1594, 
^60 ;  Shakespeare's  Midsummer  Night's  Dream, 
1600,  ,£250;  Merchant  of  Venice,  1600,  £380;  Sir 
John  Oldcastle,  1600,  ^"60  ;  A  Yorkshire  Tragedy, 
1619,  ;£loo;  King  Lear,  1608,  ,£300;  The  Whole 
Contention  and  Pericles,  1619,  ^89 ;  Two  Noble 
Kinsmen,  1634,  .£50;  Fourth  Folio,  1685,  ^80; 
Vinciolo's  Lingerie,   1587,  ^20;  Douland's  Andreas 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


7i 


Ornithoparcus,  1609.  ^29  ;  Autograph  Signature  of 
Admiral  Frobisher,  in  an  Italian  edition  of  Machia- 
velli's  works,  1584,  ^49  ;  Goldsmith's  Vicar  of  Wake- 
field, 2  vols.,  1766,  .£92;  Prieres  durant  la  Messe, 
MS.  by  Rousselet,  pupil  of  Jarry,  beautifully  written, 
c.  1700,  ,£85  ;  Horse  ad  Usum  Romanum,  printed  on 
vellum,  Pigouchet  for  Vostre,  Paris,  1498,  £146 ; 
Hubbard's  Troubles  with  the  Indians  in  New  England, 
with  the  rare  original  map,  1676-77,  £100;  Holo- 
graph Letter  of  Sir  W.  Raleigh,  1600,  £"8o ;  Dean 
Swift's  Original  Letters,  Poems,  Essays,  etc.  (33), 
,£510  ;  Blake's  Ten  Original  Drawings  in  Colours  to 
illustrate  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  ,£2,000 ;  Fifty-three 
Original  Sketches  of  Various  Subjects,  £155  ;  Thirty- 
nine  Original  Drawings  by  Richard  Burney,  £98 ; 
Horse  ad  Usum  Sarum,  MS.,  fourteenth  century,  with 
Miniatures  (no  11.  only),  £390  ;  Le  Miroir  Historiale 
de  Vincent  de  Beauvais,  MS.  on  vellum,  with  550  fine 
miniatures,  Ssec.  XIV.,  ,£1,290;  Keats  Relics,  £560. 
— Athenaum,  December  22. 


^>  +Q 


«©S 


At  their  house,  Wellington  Street,  Strand,  yesterday, 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  concluded  a 
three  days'  sale  of  the  Egyptian  antiquities  formed  in 
Egypt  by  Mr.  R.  de  Rustafjaell.  Among  the  im- 
portant items  were :  Two  sepulchral  figures  of  men 
in  squatting  position,  £20  (Ready)  ;  a  large  fountain 
of  stone,  with  projecting  dish  for  ablutions,  £13  10s. 
(Fenton) ;  a  very  early  figure  of  a  man  walking,  the 
eyes  inlaid,  ,£26  (Ready) ;  model  of  a  funerary  boat, 
with  a  numerous  crew  of  boatmen,  £13  (Lawrence) ; 
another,  but  smaller,  ^15  (Lawrence);  a  pair  of 
wooden  paddles,  £10  (Ready) ;  two  Ushabti  boxes  of 
wood,  painted  with  varied  designs  in  colours,  £12  10s. 
(Spink)  ;  a  large  vase  of  alabaster,  £10  (Ready) ; 
small  statuette  of  a  seated  priest  in  black  stone, 
£12  ios.  (Ready);  several  boxes  containing  large 
flakes  of  limestone  with  inscriptions,  designs,  etc., 
£"56  (Ready) ;  small  bronze  figures  of  Neith  and 
others,  £10  5s.  (Ready);  large  bronze  figure  of  Isis 
nursing  the  young  goddess,  ^22  (Ready)  ;  early 
bronze  figure  of  a  King,  £19  (Capper);  bronze  figure 
of  the  goddess  Nut,  £12  (Ready)  ;  a  mummy  in  its 
original  case  of  wood,  finely  deco.ated  with  funereal 
designs  in  colours, £5  15s.  (Fenton) ;  fighting  standard 
of  Osman  Digma  of  black  silk,  ,£8  (Stow)  ;  praying- 
board  of  plain  wood,  the  property  successively  of  the 
Mahdi  and  the  Khalifa,  £$  15s.  (Capper).  The  sales 
realized  £1,843. — Globe,  December  22. 


PUBLICATIONS   OF   ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

We  have  received  The  Registers  of  St.  John,  Dublin, 
1619-1699,  the  first  issue  of  the  newly  formed  Parish 
Register  Society  of  Dublin.  In  the  publication  of 
parish  registers  Ireland  lags  behind  this  country,  and 
the  enterprise  of  the  new  Society  therefore  deserves 
every  encouragement.  By  an  Act  of  1875  it  was 
intended  to  concentrate  the  Parish  Registers  of  the 
former  Established  Church  in  the  Public  Record 
Office  of  Ireland  ;  but,  owing  to  the  preservation  of 
certain  interests  under  the  Act,  and  the  introduction 
of  further  conditions  by  an  Act  of  the  following  year, 


this  concentration  has  been  but  very  partially  effected. 
The  new  Society  proposes  to  issue  copies  of  the  more 
important  and  older  surviving  registers,  beginning 
with  those  of  Dublin,  and  especially  of  those  not 
deposited  in  the  Record  Office.  The  Society  should 
certainly  be  supported  by  every  Irish  antiquary  ;  and 
there  must  be  very  many  families,  both  on  this  side 
St.  George's  Channel  and  in  America  and  the 
Colonies  with  Irish  connections,  who  will  be  interested 
in  work  of  this  kind.  The  Society  makes  an  excel- 
lent start  with  this  important  register  of  a  Dublin 
parish  (the  first  to  institute  a  register)  during  eighty 
years  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  forms  a  thick 
volume  of  338  pages,  carefully  edited  by  Mr.  James 
Mills,  M.R.I.A.,  excellently  printed  on  hand-made 
paper,  very  fully  indexed,  and  issued  in  stiff  grey 
wrappers. 

*>§  *>§  "•$ 

The  chief  item  of  interest  in  the  new  part  of  the 
Tournal  of  the  Friends'  Historical  Society,  vol.  iii., 
No.  4,  is  a  series  of  extracts  from  the  MS.  Memoirs 
of  Barbara  Hoyland,  nee  Wheeler,  who  was  born  in 
1764,  joined  the  Friends  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight, 
and  later  became  a  minister  of  that  body.  There  is 
a  very  interesting  note  also  on  the  "  Esquire  Marsh  " 
of  George  Fox's  Journal. 


VTTwyrrr\ 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

Society  of  Antiquaries.—  November  29. — Lord 
Avebury,  President,  in  the  chair. — On  the  application 
of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Westminster  it  was  unani- 
mously resolved  that  the  Islip  Roll,  which  had  been 
entrusted  to  the  Society  for  reproduction  in  1791  by 
the  Dean  of  the  day,  Dr.  Thomas,  who  was  also 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  should  be  returned  to  the  Dean 
and  Chapter. — Miss  Nina  Layard  communicated  an 
account  of  a  discovery  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  cemetery  in 
Ipswich  of  considerable  extent.  Already  135  graves 
had  been  examined,  and  the  work  was  still  continuing. 
An  exhibition  of  the  numerous  relics  found  included 
a  large  collection  of  spear-heads,  knives,  and  other 
objects  of  iron  and  bronze  ;  some  rare  fibulae,  both  of 
the  square-headed  and  Kentish  types  ;  a  silver  ring- 
necklace  with  amber  bead,  said  to  be  unique  ;  and  a 
large  Frankish  buckle,  besides  numerous  necklaces 
of  beads.  A  special  point  was  made  of  deciding  the 
exact  position  in  which  the  objects  were  found  by 
securing  portions  of  the  bones  on  which  they  were 
resting,  and  which  were  stained  with  verdigris  from 
contact  with  the  metal.  A  considerable  number  of 
urns  of  very  rough  construction  were  either  in  the 
graves  or  buried  separately.  One  coin  only — of 
Marcus  Aurelius,  A.D.  161 — was  discovered  in  the 
grave  of  a  woman.  It  was  much  defaced. — Sir  John 
Evans  recalled  Miss  Layard's  discoveries  of  palaeo- 
lithic implements  above  the  boulder-clay  at  Ipswich, 
and  congratulated  her  on  this  her  first  attempt  in 
another  field  of  archaeology.  He  remarked  on  some 
of  the  leading  features  of  the  find,  such  as  the  brooches, 
beads,  and  glass  vessels. — Mr.  Dale  noticed  the 
absence  of  swords  from  the  cemetery,  and  Mr.  Regi- 
nald Smith  offered  some  remarks  on  the  find  as  a 


72 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


whole.  With  apparently  one  exception,  there  were  no 
cases  of  cremation  in  the  cemetery,  and  the  vases 
exhibited  were  quite  plain,  and  not  of  the  kind 
usually  employed  as  cineraries.  The  direction  (but 
not  the  arrangement)  of  the  graves  was  regular,  the 
head  being  south-west  ;  and  there  could  be,  there- 
fore, no  question  as  to  their  pagan  origin.  Not 
only  were  swords  and  sword-knives  conspicuously 
absent,  but  there  were  also  no  "  long  "  brooches  of 
Norwegian  type,  no  bracket-clasps,  and  no  Roman 
or  Saxon  coins,  such  as  occurred  in  the  Little 
Wilbraham  Cemetery,  which  was  in  many  respects 
parallel,  and  included  a  Kentish  circular  brooch  with 
keystone  garnets,  like  two  from  Ipswich.  The  square- 
headed  brooches  formed  a  remarkable  series,  and 
their  ornamentation  confirmed  the  opinion  that  the 
burials  did  not  extend  over  a  long  period.  They 
displayed,  in  a  somewhat  degraded  form,  the  animal 
ornament  that  appeared  in  the  Teutonic  world  early 
in  the  sixth  century,  and  two  varieties  of  the  type 
were  known,  in  South  Germany  and  South  Scan- 
dinavia respectively  ;  but  the  Ipswich  specimens  were 
evidently  made  in  this  country,  and  bore  only  a  family 
likeness  to  the  Continental.  Everything  pointed  to 
an  exclusive  settlement  on  the  Orwell  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  sixth  century,  perhaps  extending  over  the 
first  quarter  of  the  seventh.  The  cemetery  was  a 
remarkably  pure  one,  and  would  be  useful  as  a  test 
for  other  discoveries  of  the  period,  which  were  gener- 
ally of  a  mixed  character. 

«0£  *£  +§ 

December  6. — Sir  E.  M.  Thompson,  Vice-President, 
in  the  chair. — A  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  W.  R. 
Lethaby  on  "  The  Sculptures  of  the  South  Porch  of 
Lincoln  Minster."  He  showed  that  the  angels  which 
accompany  the  Majesty  have  been  wrongly  restored, 
and  that  they  carried  instruments  of  the  Passion 
instead  of  censers.  He  described  the  sculptures  of 
the  arch-orders  as  the  Wise  and  Foolish  Virgins, 
Apostles,  King-martyrs,  and  Virgins.  The  fine 
images  below,  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  porch, 
within,  are  the  Church  and  the  Synagogue,  the  outer 
figures  being  probably  Apostles.  The  pair  of  royal 
figures  on  the  south-east  buttress  were  most  probably 
intended  for  St.  Ethelbert,  King  and  Martyr,  with 
the  daughter  of  Offa,  to  whom  he  was  about  to  be 
married  when  he  was  murdered. — Mr.  John  Bilson 
read  some  notes  on  a  remarkable  sculptured  repre- 
sentation of  Hell  Cauldron  lately  found  at  York, 
which  he  was  inclined  to  associate  with  portions  of  a 
Norman  tympanum  in  the  York  Museum.  He  con- 
sidered that  both  sculptures  dated  from  the  last 
quarter  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  may  have  formed 
part  of  the  carved  decorations  of  a  former  west  front 
of  the  Minster,  near  to  which  they  were  found. — 
Mr.  John  Noble  exhibited,  through  the  secretary,  an 
unusually  perfect  example  of  a  silver  parcel -gilt 
English  chalice,  the  date  of  which  was  assigned  by 
Mr.  Hope  to  a  period  between  1515  and  1525.  The 
foot  is  sexfoil  in  shape,  and,  with  the  knot,  of  ex- 
ceptional plainness.  The  chalice  bears  no  marks. — 
Colonel  J.  E.  Capper  exhibited  some  photographs  of 
Stonehenge,  taken  from  a  balloon,  illustrating  in  a 
remarkable  manner  the  relative  positions  of  the 
stone  circles  surrounding  earthworks. — Atkenaum, 
December  15. 


December  13. — Sir  Henry  H.  Howorth,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  C.  T.  Martin  read  a 
paper  on  clerical  life  in  the  fifteenth  century  as 
illustrated  by  proceedings  of  the  Court  of  Chancery 
preserved  at  the  Public  Record  Office.  These  pro- 
ceedings mostly  relate  to  disputes  between  parsons 
and  their  parishioners,  and  the  grounds  of  dispute 
are  various.  Where  the  parish  is  the  complaining 
party,  in  one  case  the  parson  is  accused  of  setting  up 
an  image  in  such  a  position  that  some  of  his  congre- 
gation cannot  see  the  performance  of  Divine  service  ; 
in  other  cases  he  is  accused  of  recovering  stolen  goods 
through  the  confession  of  the  thieves,  and  refusing  to 
return  them  to  the  owners  without  a  reward  ;  or  of 
making  money  out  of  bequests  to  provide  vestments 
or  plate  for  his  church.  Where  the  bill  is  put  in  by 
the  parson,  his  complaint  is  usually  of  false  accusa- 
tion of  peculation  of  some  kind,  or  of  misbehaviour 
with  the  feminine  members  of  his  flock  or  his  school. 
One  priest  gives  a  detailed  account  of  a  plot  by  his 
enemies  to  get  up  a  case  of  this  kind  against  him  by 
sending  a  woman  to  call  upon  him.  There  were 
also  some  references  to  the  practice  of  witchcraft, 
especially  to  the  control  exercised  over  a  person's 
well-being  through  enchanted  images  made  to  repre- 
sent him. — Mr.  W.  Dale  read  a  paper  on  "Neolithic 
Implements  from  the  County  of  Hampshire,"  illus- 
trated by  lantern-slides  and  an  exhibition  of  imple- 
ments. Mr.  Dale  said  that  Hampshire  had  yielded 
to  him  Neolithic  implements  almost  of  every  kind, 
and  he  divided  his  exhibit  into  "  roughly  chipped 
celts,"  "  carefully  chipped  celts,"  "  celts  partly 
polished,"  and  "celts  entirely  polished."  He  also 
showed  a  quantity  of  broken  celts,  some  of  which  had 
been  roughly  trimmed  at  the  fractured  part,  so  as  to 
permit  the  cutting  end  to  be  put  back  into  the  stick 
in  which  it  was  hafted.  Amongst  the  polished  celts 
was  a  very  fine  one  of  greenstone,  which  Mr.  Dale 
said  looked  like  an  import  from  Brittany.  The 
arrow-heads  included  one  of  the  leaf  shape,  which, 
though  \\  inches  long,  was  not  more  than  ^  inch 
thick.  With  the  exception  of  the  simple  flake  and 
perhaps  the  scraper,  the  author  thought  the  roughly 
chipped  celt  was  the  most  common  implement  of 
Neolithic  times,  and  spoke  of  the  great  number  he 
had  found.  He  did  not  ihink  there  was  any  proof 
that  they  were  used  for  tilling  the  soil ;  indeed,  he 
was  not  aware  there  was  any  evidence  that  Neolithic 
man  in  Britain  knew  and  cultivated  cereals.  He 
also  said  that  he  knew  of  no  evidence  of  the  Palaeo- 
lithic age  running  into  the  Neolithic  period.  In  our 
own  country  the  evidence  was  all  on  the  opposite 
side,  and  pointed  to  a  great  physical  break  between 
the  two  periods,  which  must  represent  a  long  interval 
of  time.  There  were  added  to  the  exhibition  a  series 
of  stone  tools  from  North  America,  and  a  stone  im- 
plement ready  hafted  which  came  from  New  Guinea, 
and  was  once  the  property  of  Charles  Darwin. — 
Athetueum,  December  22. 

^  «©£  *$ 

British  Numismatic  Society,  November  30. — 
Ordinary  meeting  followed  by  the  third  anniversary 
meeting,  Mr.  Carlyon  -  Britton,  President,  in  the 
chair. — After  the  reading  of  the  report  and  election 
of  officers,  there  was  a  Scottish  exhibition,  and  the 
tables  were  laden  with  Scottish  coins,  medals,  tokens, 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


73 


and  curios. — Miss  Helen  Farquhar  read  a  paper  upon 
the  coinage  of  Prince  James  Stuart  prepared  for  his 
unsuccessful  invasions  of  1708  and  1715-  Of  this 
there  were  four  types  known — namely  :  (1)  Crown 
dated  1709,  on  which  he  is  styled  IACOBVS  III.  ; 
(2)  crown,  or  sixty-shilling  piece,  of  1716,  reading 
iacobvs  viii.  ;  (3)  guinea,  or  quarter-dollar,  of  17 16, 
reading  iacobvs  viii.  ;  and  (4)  guinea  or  shilling  of 
1716,  reading  iacobvs  tertivs.  Only  the  first  was 
represented  by  an  original  coin,  but  the  dies  for  the 
others  had  been  preserved  in  the  family  of  their 
engravers,  the  Roethers,  and  re-strikes  were  made 
from  them.  The  fact,  Miss  Farquhar  suggested, 
would  account  for  the  very  youthful  portrait  on  the 
obverse  of  No.  4  in  conjunction  with  a  reverse  of 
1 7 16,  for  she  believed  the  dies  were  not  a  pair,  and 
that  the  true  reverse  had  not  been  preserved.  In 
support  of  this  view  she  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  die  used  was  really  the  reverse  of  No.  3  in 
an  unfinished  state. 

Mr.  G.  M.  Fraser  contributed  "Treasure-Trove  in 
the  North  of  Scotland,"  in  which  he  reviewed  in 
detail  the  numerous  finds  of  coins  which  have  been 
recorded  in  that  district,  and  particularly  in  and 
around  Aberdeen.  The  discovery  of  several  thousand 
pieces  of  the  time  of  Mary  and  Francis  where  formerly 
had  stood  the  Grey  Friars  Monastery  in  Aberdeen 
raised  the  probability  that  they  were  hidden  in  1559, 
when  all  ecclesiastical  property  in  the  city  was  seized 
by  the  Reformers.  Two  finds  of  Edwardian  pennies 
and  coins  of  Alexander  III.  in  the  same  city  he 
identified  with  the  military  operations  of  Edward  III., 
and  similarly  attributed  the  great  hoard  discovered 
therein  1886.  This  comprised  12,267  coins,  of  which 
nearly  12,000  were  English  of  the  reigns  of  the  three 
Edwards,  and  was  contained  in  a  finely  worked  bronze 
vase,  not  unlike  a  "gipsy  kettle  "  in  design.  There 
seemed  every  indication  that  this  large  hoard  was  part 
of  the  treasure  of  the  English  army  which  invested 
and  burnt  Aberdeen  in  1336. 

«*$  *>$  ^ 

The  first  monthly  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries of  Scotland  for  the  present  session  was 
held  on  December  11,  Dr.  D.  Christison,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair. — A  preliminary  report  on  the 
excavation  of  the  Roman  military  station  at  Newstead, 
Melrose,  was  given  by  Mr.  James  Curie,  F.S.A.Scot., 
illustrated  by  a  plan  of  the  buildings  made  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Ross,  architect,  F.S.A.Scot.,  and  by  many 
lantern  views  of  the  objects  found. — In  the  second 
paper  Mr.  John  Bruce,  F.S.A.Scot.,  of  Sumburgh, 
Shetland,  described  the  results  of  the  excavation  of 
a  broch  there  which  had  extended  over  five  years. 
In  1897  Mr.  E.  M.  Nelson,  President  of  the  Royal 
Microscopical  Society,  and  Professor  Gunther,  who 
were  staying  with  Mr.  Bruce,  had  their  attention 
attracted  by  the  ends  of  walls  jutting  out  of  the 
mound  near  the  shore  crowned  by  the  ancient  Jarls- 
hof,  and  made  tentative  diggings,  which  showed  that 
the  ruins  were  of  some  magnitude  and  importance. 
Mr.  Bruce  afterwards  continued  the  excavations,  which 
ultimately  revealed  the  fact  that  the  ancient  ruin 
known  as  Jarlshof,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  residence  of  some  of  the  Norse  Earls,  and  at  all 
events  was  used  as  a  residence  by  Earl  Robert  Stuart 
in  Queen  Mary's  time,  is  built  on  the  top  of  the  ruins 

VOL.  III. 


of  a  broch,  apparently  without  any  knowledge  of  their 
existence.  Among  the  objects  found  were  a  large 
stone  bowl,  two  stone  chisels,  14  inches  and  18  inches 
in  length  ;  a  stone  saw,  12  inches  long  ;  a  number  of 
stone  whorls  ;  several  stone  discs,  on  one  of  which  is 
cut  a  design  of  interconnected  spirals  ;  bone  imple- 
ments, pottery,  and  a  crook-shaped  pin  of  bronze. — 
The  third  paper  was  on  terra-cotta  lamps,  by  Mr. 
R.  Coltman  Clephan,  F.S.A.Scot.,  illustrated  by  the 
exhibition  of  his  collection  of  lamps — Greek,  Etruscan, 
Roman,  and  Early  Christian.  These  lamps  were  made 
in  moulds,  and  as  they  are  often  highly  ornamented, 
they  record,  perhaps,  better  than  anything  else  the  rise, 
progress,  and  decadence  of  the  ceramic  art.  Some 
of  them  date  back  probably  as  far  as  600  B.C.  They 
are  mostly  circular  or  shoe-shaped,  with  a  handle  at 
the  back  and  a  nozzle  for  the  wick  in  front. 

*§  *>$  *X$ 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archae- 
ology, held  on  January  9,  the  paper  read  was  "  St. 
Menas  of  Alexandria,"  by  Miss  Murray. 

+§  +$  *>§ 

An  interesting  address  was  given  to  the  members  of 
the  Bradford  Historical  and  Antiquarian 
Society  at  their  meeting  on  December  7  by  Mr. 
J.  J.  Brigg,  of  Keighley,  in  which  he  dealt  with  "  The 
Remains  of  a  Roman  Way  in  the  Neighbourhood  of 
Keighley."  Mr.  J.  A.  Clapham,  President  of  the 
Society,  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Brigg's  address 
was  devoted  to  an  examination  of  the  evidence  re- 
lating to  the  Roman  road  from  Ilkley  to  Manchester, 
which,  it  was  supposed,  crossed  Rumbald's  Moor 
and  the  Aire,  and  passed  by  way  of  Harden  Moor 
through  Denholme,  and  on  to  Huddersfield.  Mr. 
Brigg  found  in  the  works  of  the  older  antiquaries 
much  evidence  of  the  former  existence  of  this  road, 
but  on  careful  research  he  discovered  that  nearly  all 
the  paving  had  been  removed  by  farmers  and  others, 
but  that  there  was  a  portion  of  the  road  still  in 
existence  on  Harden  Moor. 

*>$         -•$  -0$ 

The  monthly  meeting  of  the  Glasgow  Archaeo- 
logical Society  was  held  on  December  20,  Mr. 
J.  G.  D.  Dalrymple,  the  chairman,  presiding.  Rev. 
James  Primrose  read  a  paper  on  "Jocelyn  of  Furness 
and  the  Place-name  Glasgow."  There  were  two 
persons  named  Jocelyn — who  were  often  confounded — 
Jocelyn,  Bishop  of  Glasgow  from  1175  to  1199,  and 
Jocelyn,  a  monk  of  Furness,  a  contemporary.  Both 
these  Jocelyns  belonged  to  the  Cistercian  Order  of 
Benedictine  monks.  They  had  some  knowledge  of 
each  other,  and  Bishop  Jocelyn  commissioned  Jocelyn 
the  monk  to  write  a  biography  of  St.  Kentigern.  To 
enable  him  to  perform  this  task  Jocelyn  travelled  to 
Glasgow,  and  wandered  through  the  streets  and  lanes 
of  the  city  searching  for  records  of  the  life  of  St. 
Kentigern.  He  found  one,  which  he  described  as 
"stained  throughout,"  containing  "matter  which 
was  manifestly  contrary  to  sound  doctrine  and  the 
Catholic  faith."  He  also  found  another,  a  little 
volume  in  the  Celtic  dialect,  and  full  of  solecisms. 
These  two  documents  he  incorporated  into  his  bio- 
graphy. The  language  of  this  district  at  the  time, 
about  1 190,  was  WeUh,  with  a  mixture  of  Gaelic, 
while  educated  people  spoke  Saxon,  then  beginning 

K 


74 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


to  make  headway.  Taking  the  monk  of  Furness  as 
an  authority  on  the  Cymric  or  Gaelic  language,  he 
went  on  to  say  that  Jocelyn  said  that  St.  Kentigern 
established  his  cathedral  in  the  town  Deschu,  which 
is  now  called  Glaschu.  A  distinguished  authority 
had  given  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  "  d ''  in  "  Deschu  " 
had  arisen  through  the  copyist  bringing  "c"  and  "1" 
into  too  close  juxtaposition,  thus  forming  a  "d,"so 
that  we  should  read  not  "deschu"  but  "cleshu." 
Again,  it  was  agreed  that  the  terminations  of  the 
names  of  Mungo  and  Glasgow  were  the  same  in  the 
Welsh  form  "go"  or  "  cu,"  signifying  "dear,"  so 
that  Mungo  meant  "dear  man."  Then  it  seemed  to 
Mr.  Primrose  that  "  cles  "  was  an  abbreviation  of  the 
Latin  "  ecclesia,"  a  church;  and  if  so,  then  "  cleshu" 
literally  signified  the  "dear  church."  In  the  dis- 
cussion winch  followed  Mr.  J.  T.  T.  Brown  said  he 
entirely  disagreed  with  Mr.  Primrose,  as  he  thought 
it  preposterous  to  found  anything  on  the  monkish  life 
of  a  saint  in  regard  to  a  question  of  etymology.  With 
regard  to  the  name  Glasgow,  he  thought  the  deriva- 
tion was  to  be  sought  for  in  another  direction.  Mr. 
Renwick,  the  Deputy  Town  Clerk,  in  editing  the 
charters  of  Glasgow,  noted  in  a  very  early  charier  that 
the  burn  was  named  "  Glasgo,"  and  in  tracing  it  he 
found  that  it  ran  through  Glasgow  Green.  He  (Mr. 
Brown)  noted  that  there  was  a  place  in  Devonshire 
called  '"Glasgo,"  and  he  concluded  that  "Glasgow" 
deiived  its  name  from  the  stream  "  Glasgo."  Mr. 
Henderson,  the  Gaelic  lecturer  in  the  University,  said 
that  he  could  not  agree  with  Mr.  Primrose  as  to  the 
derivation  of  the  name  Glasgow.  "Glas  "  in  Gaelic 
meant  "water,"  and  "chu"  meant  "dear,"  and 
"  chu  ' '  was  also  used  in  speaking  of  a  dog.  Professor 
Rhys,  founding  on  a  legend  with  regard  to  the  birth 
and  death  of  St.  Mungo,  had  said  to  him  that  Glasgow 
was  a  pun  upon  the  name  of  St.  Mungo,  that  it  meant 
a  "grey  dog/' and  Mr.  Henderson  said  it  might  mean 
"  water  dog." 

+§  +Q  +§ 

On  December  13  the  Thoroton  Society  of 
Nottingham  arranged  a  conversazione,  combined 
with  an  exhibition  of  views  and  photographs  of  local 
interest,  and  three  lantern  lectures  lasting  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  each.  In  these  Dr.  Millar  and  Mr.  H.  Gill 
devoted  themselves  to  views  of  cathedrals  and  churches 
respectively,  and  Dr.  Davies  Pryce  to  earthworks. 
The  exhibition  brought  to  light  many  pictures  of  great 
interest,  chiefly  views  of  local  bygone  buildings,  etc. 
The  company  was  received  by  the  Mayor  and 
Mayoress  of  the  city,  and  numbered  about  120.  The 
evening  served  the  useful  purpose  of  bringing  many 
members  of  the  society  together,  and  so  enabling  them 
to  become  better  acquainted  with  one  another. 

*>$  ^  ^ 

The  Bristol  members  of  the  Bristol  and  Glouces- 
tershire Archaeological  Society  met  on  De- 
cember 12,  Mr.  J.  J.  Simpson  in  the  chair.  Mr. 
James  McMurtrie,  F.G.S.,  read  a  paper  on  a  Roman 
road  from  Old  Sarum  to  Uphill,  and  its  structure  at 
Chewton  Mendip,  where  it  was  cut  through  during 
the  past  autumn.  So  far  as  Mr.  McMurtrie  knew, 
the  road  had  never  before  been  explored,  and  several 
writers  had  apparently  not  known  of  its  existence. 
Having  quoted  descriptions  of  the  route  taken  by  the 


road,  made,  no  doubt,  to  reach  the  metals  in  the 
Mendip  country,  the  reader  referred  to  the  evidence 
of  an  extensive  Roman  station  at  Charterhouse,  as 
shown,  among  other  ways,  by  the  Capper  Pass  collec- 
tion of  relics  in  the  Bristol  Museum.  The  road  passes 
through  the  land  of  the  Earl  Waldegrave,  and  when 
Mr.  McMurtrie  brought  the  matter  to  his  lordship's 
notice  he  readily  gave  permission  for  the  road  to  be 
explored,  and  lent  the  help  of  men  on  his  estate  as 
well  as  giving  personal  assistance.  The  portion  of 
the  road  selected  for  opening  was  between  Green  Ore 
and  Castle  Comfort,  where  it  crosses  the  Chewton 
Warren  and  adjoining  land,  and  has  been  little  dis- 
turbed from  the  earliest  times.  Before  commencing 
operations  careful  levellings  of  the  surface  were  taken, 
showing  its  elevation  above  the  adjoining  land.  A 
strip  of  turf,  about  2  feet  wide,  was  then  removed 
right  across  the  road  and  a  foot  or  two  on  each  side 
of  it,  the  structural  formation  of  the  road  being  then 
cut  through  layer  after  layer,  the  thickness  being 
carefully  noted  and  specimens  kept  for  reference. 
The  thickness  of  the  road  metal  and  ballast  varied  in 
the  sections  taken  from  7^  inches  to  6  inches,  and  the 
width  from  19  feet  to  19  leet  6  inches.  The  road  was 
next  under  turf  of  about  3  inches  thick,  and  under- 
neath the  metalling  was  black  clay  or  earth,  varying 
from  2^  inches  to  "j\  inches  in  thickness,  which  might 
be  considered  the  bottom  bed  of  the  road  formation. 
The  metal  and  ballast  seemed  to  have  been  obtained 
from  the  old  red  sandstone  of  the  neighbourhood,  the 
stones  of  which  it  was  composed  being  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes,  from  1  inch  to  8  inches  in  length  or  diameter, 
intermixed  with  finer  stone  or  earth.  There  was  no 
appearance  of  paving  or  pitching  of  any  kind,  the 
material  having  been  thrown  promiscuously  together, 
but  with  a  well-rounded-off  convex  surface,  on  which 
there  was  no  apparent  traces  of  ruts  or  tracks  of  any 
kind,  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  it  was  for- 
merly used  by  pack-horses.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
adjoining  ground  quite  like  the  black  clay  or  earth 
under  the  ballast — possibly,  however,  it  was  the  re- 
presentation of  the  "  fine  earth  hard  beaten  in,"  which 
Dr.  Wright  said  was  used  in  road-making  by  the 
Romans.  There  was  a  total  absence  of  the  elaborate 
structure  commonly  associated  with  the  great  military 
roads  and  trunk-roads,  and  such  as  was  seen  when 
the  Fosse  Road  was  opened  at  Radstock  in  1904. 
But  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  all,  or  even  any 
considerable  number,  of  the  Roman  roads  conformed 
to  the  high  standard  of  the  Fosse,  nothing  quite  equal 
to  it  having  been  discovered  in  other  parts  of  Eng- 
land. Besides  the  great  trunk-roads  there  were  others 
in  the  nature  of  cross-roads,  less  perfect  in  their 
structure,  which  would  appear  to  have  been  entirely 
for  commercial  purposes,  and  some  of  them  might 
have  been  the  trade-routes  of  the  ancient  Britons 
before  the  Roman  Conquest.  There  were  also  what 
might  be  styled  country  roads,  as  well  as  by-roads, 
for  communication  between  estates.  The  second 
paper  was  on  "  Ancient  Fisheries  of  the  Severn,"  by 
Mr.  Sanford  D.  Cole. 

+$  +§  +§ 

Mr.  E.  Wooler,  of  Darlington  (a  member  of  the 
Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries),  addressed  the 
Bishop  Auckland  Field  Club  on  December  14 
on  "The  Romans  in  Bishop  Auckland."     There  was 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


75 


no  room  for  doubt,  he  said,  that  Auckland  owed  its 
origin  to  the  Roman  station  at  Vinovia,  and  that  the 
present  Newgate  was  part  of  the  Watling  Street, 
which  was  the  main  route  from  Kent  to  the  North. 
It  was  the  Binovia  of  Ptolemy  and  the  Vinovia  of 
Antonine,  and  occurred  in  Antonine's  first  Iter,  where 
the  station  before  it  is  Vindomora  (Ebchester),  from 
which  it  is  distant  nineteen  miles.  The  foundations 
of  the  buildings  of  Vinovia  were  considerably  more 
than  ioo  feet  above  the  bed  of  the  River  Wear,  and  a 
deep  ditch,  of  which  remains  are  still  visible,  sur- 
rounded it.  As  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century  Vinovia  was  probably  known  and  resorted  to, 
and  perhaps  inhabited  by  some  few  persons,  for  all 
the  stones  of  which  the  Saxon  church  at  Escombe  is 
built  were  undoubtedly  obtained  from  the  ruins  of  the 
Roman  city.  Innumerable  interesting  discoveries  had 
from  time  to  time  been  made  at  Vinovia,  perhaps  the 
most  notable  being  one  early  last  century  of  a  very 
perfect  hypocaust — probably  the  finest  in  the  kingdom. 
Twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  extensive  excavations  laid 
bare  building  after  building  for  a  distance  of  nearly 
ioo  yards.  From  careful  observations  made  it  was 
clear  that  total  destruction  befell  Vinovia  on  two 
occasions  at  least  before  the  Romans  finally  left  it. 
The  first  destruction  seemed  to  have  been  about  the 
time  of  the  Emperor  Commodus  (a.d.  180-193),  and 
Vinovia  is  thought  to  have  been  rebuilt  by  Severus 
(A.D.  193-21  i).  Among  the  many  "finds"  at  Vinovia 
were  several  Roman  altars,  one  of  which  is  now  in 
the  library  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  at  Durham. 
Built  up  in  the  north  wall  of  Escombe  Church  is  an 
altar  showing  a  sculptured  patera,  and  close  by  the 
inscription  L. E.G.,  VI. ,  which  is  specially  interesting, 
as  indicating  the  presence  of  the  Sixth  Legion  at 
Vinovia.  The  Roman  station  at  Vinovia,  he  concluded, 
must  have  been  a  place  of  considerable  importance, 
judging  from  the  many  roads  which  converged  upon  it. 

+$  ^  *>$ 

In'a  paper  read  before  the  Isle  of  Man  Natural 
History  and  Antiquarian  Society  on  Decem- 
ber 20,  Mr.  P.  M.  C.  Kermode  dealt  with  a  stone 
that  was  recently  unearthed  in  Maughold  churchyard 
while  building  the  house  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Society's  crosses.  It  lay  close  to  the  foundation  of 
what  was  believed  to  be  an  ancient  keeill,  close  to 
where  a  stone  containing  similar  runes,  the  only  other 
stone  on  the  island  known  to  contain  such  runes,  was 
found  some  years  ago.  It  was  marked  with  an  Irish 
cross,  a  cross  formed  by  the  junction  of  four  arcs  of  a 
circle,  and  with  several  characters  in  the  Anglian 
runes,  runes  of  a  period  extending  from  the  end  of  the 
seventh  to  the  end  of  the  ninth  century.  It  bore  four 
letters,  with  traces  of  others  having  preceded  them — 
GMON.  The  letters  on  the  other  stone  formed 
the  fairly  common  Anglo-Saxon  name  of  Blacgamon, 
and  he  formed  the  conclusion  that  both  stones  referred 
to  the  same  person,  and  were  connected  with  each 
other.  The  new  stone  was  of  the  common  slate  of 
the  neighbourhood,  and  very  rough  in  character,  and 
he  surmised  the  sculptor  had  tried  his  hand  on  this 
piece,  and  eventually  discarded  it,  and  made  his 
inscription  on  the  other.  He  regarded  the  two  stones 
as  proof  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood, 
who  were  intended  to  read  the  inscription,  were  at 
that  time  Anglo-Saxon. 


Eetnetos  ana  Notices 
of  jReto  15ooks. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  gooa  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.] 

A     PIlSTORY    OF     THE     FAMILY     OF     CAIRNES     OR 

Cairns.  By  H.  C.  Lawlor.  Many  illustra- 
tions and  five  pedigrees.  London  :  Elliot  Stock, 
1906.  Crown  4to.,  pp.  xvi,  292.  Price  2 is. 
This  handsomely -produced  and  well -illustrated 
quarto  volume  represents  a  great  deal  of  patient 
labour  expended  by  Mr.  Lawlor  and  his  friends  in 
compiling  pedigrees  and  collecting  information  with 
regard  to  the  widespread  Cairns  family  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland.  There  is  no  attempt  to  unduly  exalt 
the  family,  but  Mr.  Lawlor  is  able  to  amply  sub- 
stantiate the  fairly  modest  claim  which  he  makes  in 
the  preface — namely,  that  "in  the  six  hundred  years 
covered  by  this  work  the  family  has  supplied  many 
prominent  and  useful  members  to  the  State,  the 
Church,  the  Army,  and  the  Bar."  We  are  not  in 
a  position  to  disprove  another  statement  of  a  most 
extravagant  nature  made  in  the  same  paragraph  ;  but 
the  writer  can  scarcely  imagine  that  he  will  have 
many  believers  when  he  says  that  in  all  these  centuries 
the  family  "  has  produced  none  but  good  citizens, 
whether  of  high  or  low  degree  " !  Mr.  Lawlor  pro- 
ceeds to  state  that  in  all  the  many  hundred  books, 
public  records,  and  private  documents  that  he  has 
had  occasion  to  peruse,  he  has  never  found  the  name 
of  Cairns  sullied  by  unworthy  or  dishonourable  con- 
duct. The  writer  of  this  notice  has  spent  a  large 
portion  of  forty  years  of  his  life  in  original  research, 
and  he  can  only  say  that  if  some  enemy  of  the  Cairns 
family  was  to  offer  a  sufficiently  attractive  reward, 
evidence  of  a  criminal  character  would  be  certainly 
found  enrolled  against  some  of  its  members.  If  not, 
the  Cairns  are  an  absolutely  unique  clan  ! 

The  opening  chapter  places  the  origin  of  the  family 
in  the  parish  of  Mid  Calder,  Midlothian,  where  the 
ruins  of  Cairns  Castle  still  stands,  and  cites  various 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century  documents.  William 
Cairns  served  with  the  English  at  Calais  in  1369,  was 
constable  of  Linlithgow  Castle  1369  1372,  and  of 
Edinburgh  Castle  1372- 1401.  An  elder  brother, 
John,  was  one  of  the  bailies  of  Linlithgow,  in  which 
burgh  he  had  established  himself  as  a  merchant.  He 
had  the  honour  of  securing  the  King  as  a  customer, 
supplying  him,  in  1365,  with  two  casks  of  wine,  at 
a  cost  of  ^13  6s.  8d.  The  Exchequer  Rolls  also 
contain  a  variety  of  interesting  references,  giving  the 
details  of  the  building  of  the  great  tower  by  the 
gate  of  Edinburgh  Castle,  which  was  carried  out  by 
John  Cairns  between  1372  and  1 379.  It  was  known  as 
King  David's  Tower,  and  was  at  that  time  considered 
a  masterpiece  of  engineering  and  absolutely  impreg- 
nable. Cairn's  Tower,  as  it  ought  to  have  been  called, 
was  the  most  imposing  feature  of  ihe  castle,  but  it  fell 
a  victim  to  the  heavy  artillery  of  the  Earl  of  Morton 
at  the  sirge  of  1573.  Thi>  John  Cairns  died  in  1401. 
His  youngest  brother,  Alexander,  who  was  some  time 
provost  of  the  collegiate  church  of  Lincluden,  out- 

K   2 


76 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


lived  him  by  more  than  twenty  years.  The  highly 
interesting  massive  heraldic  slab  over  Alexander's 
grave,  showing  that  he  died  on  July  14,  1422,  was 
brought  to  light  during  some  recent  excavations. 

There  is  equally  interesting  matter  in  the  chapters 
dealing  with  the  Cairns  connected  with  the  Planta- 
tion of  Ulster  in  the  days  of  James  I.  Alexander 
Cairns,  formerly  of  Cults,  Wigton,  settled  in  co.  Done- 
gal in  1610.  His  great-grandson,  William  Cairns, 
born  in  1664,  was  a  captain  in  the  army  of  William 
of  Orange,  and  was  one  of  those  who  rushed  to  shut 
the  gates  of  Derry  against  Lord  Antrim.  He  went 
by  the  name  of  "The  Old  Captain,"  and  died  in 
1740. 

Sir  Hugh  M'Calmont  Cairns,  first  Earl  Cairns  and 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  who  died  in  1885,  and 
gave  such  genuine  lustre  to  the  name,  was  one  of  the 
Cairns  of  co.  Down,  whose  ancestors  fled  from  Scot- 
land after  the  failure  of  the  Stuart  rising  in  1 7 15. 

This  volume,  unlike  many  of  the  same  nature,  will 
prove,  for  the  most  part,  readable  and  entertaining 
to  not  a  few  outside  the  circle  of  this  widespread 
family  and  its  connections.  It  is  brightened  by  a 
variety  of  illustrations,  which  are  chiefly  reproductions 
from  family  portraits  in  possession  of  Lord  Rossmore. 

*  *  * 
Monumenta  Orcadica.  By  L.  Dietrichson.  With 
original  drawings  and  some  chapters  on  St. 
Magnus'  Cathedral,  Kirkwall,  by  Johan  Meyer, 
architect.  With  152  illustrations.  London: 
Williams  and  Norgate,  1906.  4to.,  pp.  xiv, 
77,  and  xvi,  200.     Price  £$  net. 

The  very  handsome  volume  before  us  consists  of 
the  full  Norwegian  text  (represented  by  the  second 
statement  of  pagination  given  above)  of  Messrs. 
Dietrichson  and  Meyer's  work  as  published  at  Chris- 
tiania  last  year,  to  which  is  prefixed  an  abridgment 
(in  seventy-seven  pages)  of  the  text  in  English  trans- 
lation. This  English  abridgment  "passes  with  great 
brevity  over  those  parts  of  the  original  version  in 
which  the  author's  views  coincide  with  those  of 
previous  writers,  and  are  therefore  of  less  interest 
to  British  readers ;  whereas  it  concentrates  its  de- 
scriptive forces  upon  those  points  in  which  the 
authors'  views  differ  from  those  of  earlier  writers, 
and  in  addition  gives  the  description  of  St.  Magnus' 
Cathedral  in  extenso."  The  sub-title  of  the  book,  it 
should  be  added,  is  "The  Norsemen  in  the  Orkneys 
and  the  Monuments  they  have  left,  with  a  Survey 
of  the  Celtic  (Pre-Norwegian)  and  Scottish  (Post- 
Norwegian)  Monuments  on  the  Islands." 

The  method  adopted  seems  as  good  a  one  as  could 
be  devised  to  bring  this  noteworthy  product  of  Nor- 
wegian scholarship  before  British  students.  But,  after 
all,  the  text  does  not  add  much  to  the  knowledge 
already  accessible  in  these  islands  in  the  works  of 
Petrie  and  Anderson  and  Dryden,  and  others,  save 
perhaps  in  the  very  full  and  careful  description,  by 
Mr.  Meyer,  of  St.  Magnus'  Cathedral  and  its  archi- 
tectural history.  This  description  is  an  excellent 
piece  of  work,  and  is  illustrated  by  a  series  of  capital 
drawings,  plans,  sections,  photographs,  etc.,  which 
give  the  volume  a  very  special  value.  Indeed,  for 
these  illustrations,  together  with  the  many  others  of 
Orcadian  remains  (apart  from  the  value  of  the  text), 
the  work  of  Messrs.  Dietrichson  and  Meyer  is  one 


which  all  students  of  Scottish  antiquities  will  be  glad 
to  add  to  their  shelves.  The  book  in  every  respect 
reflects  the  greatest  credit  upon  its  Norwegian  pro- 
ducers. 

*      *      * 

A  History   ok  Royston,   Hertfordshire.    By 
Alfred  Kingston.     Portraits,  plans,  and  illustra- 
tions.    London:  Elliot  Stock,  1906.    Demy8vo., 
pp.  264.     Price  7s.  6d. 
Mr.  Kingston's  previous  books  have  proved  him  to 
be  a  careful  and  painstaking  antiquary,  as  well  as  a 
writer  with  an  agreeable  style  and  a  pleasant  way  of 
presenting  the  results  of  his  researches.     The  volume 
before  us  is  worthy  of  its  author's  reputation.     Mr. 
Kingston   tells  the   story  of  the    foundation  of  the 
monastery  at  Roys  Cross  about  1184,  and  sketches  its 
uneventful  history  and  that  of  the  mediaeval  town 
until   the  Dissolution    in   1536,   giving  some  quaint 
details   by  the  way  (taken   from   the   Bassingbourn 
Churchwardens'  Accounts)  of  the  play  of  Saint  George, 


THE   PRIORY  SEAL. 

which  was  given  at  Bassingbourn  in  151 1.  The 
priory  seal  reproduced  above  is  that  of  which  a  wax 
impression,  broken  as  here  shown,  is  attached  to  the 
deed  of  acknowledgment  of  supremacy,  preserved  in 
the  Public  Record  Office. 

The  later  history  of  Royston  presents  many  points 
of  interest.  The  town  was  a  home  for  many  years  of 
the  Stuart  Kings.  King  James  I.  passed  through 
it  first  on  his  way  to  London  on  his  accession ; 
and  a  little  later  was  busily  engaged  in  building  him- 
self a  house  in  the  town,  which  stood  in  the  middle  of 
the  fine  open  country  that  gave  His  Majesty  ample 
scope  for  the  hunting  and  other  field  sports  of  which 
he  was  so  fond.  During  the  Civil  War  Royston  and 
its  neighbourhood  were  the  scene  of  much  marching 
and  countermarching  on  the  part  of  both  Cavaliers 
and  Roundheads.  It  was  the  centre,  indeed,  of  one 
or  two  very  important  movements.  Of  the  quieter 
eighteenth-century  days  Mr.  Kingston  has  also  much 
of  interest  to  tell  regarding  the  social  history  of  the 
town  and  its  clubs.  The  history  of  the  church  is  fully 
told,  and  the  early  history  of  Nonconformity  in  the 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


77 


town  is  not  neglected.  The  oak  screen  shown  on 
this  page  was  found  about  1850,  hidden  behind 
wainscotting  in  the  chancel.  It  was  fixed  under  the 
gallery  ;  but  a  few  years  later,  on  the  occasion  of 
another  "restoration,"  it  was  mercilessly  "cut  up 
and  used  in  the  construction  of  the  pulpit  and  reading- 
desks,  in  which  the  remaining  portions  may  still  be 
seen"!  One  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  this 
readable  book  is  the  last,  which  treats  of  "Some 
Royston  Worthies  " — a  group  in  which  are  par- 
ticularly noticeable  the  figures  of  Thomas  Cartwright, 
the  Puritan  ;  Henry  Andrews  (06.  1820),  the  as- 
tronomer and  almanac-maker  ;  and  various  members 
of  the  Nash  and  Fordham  families.     The  volume  is 


careful  and  critical  retranslation  of  what  others  have 
published  before.  The  whole  is  skilfully  divided  into 
four  groups,  entitled  "  Life,"  "  Nature,"  "  Ait,"  and 
"Fantasy."  The  moral  aphorisms,  the  shrewd  art 
hints,  the  quaint  fables  and  prophecies,  reflect  a 
genius  whom  it  was  absurd  for  Ruskin  to  dismiss 
airily  as  remaining  "to  the  end  of  his  days  the  slave 
of  an  archaic  smile." 

The  illustrations,  all  of  which,  with  the  exception 
of  the  impressive  sketch  of  himself  as  an  old  man, 
preserved  at  Turin,  are  taken  from  the  Royal  Library  at 
Windsor,  and  indicate  the  range  of  Leonardo's  artistic 
skill,  from  the  grim  sketches  of  "deltoid  muscles" 
to  the  exquisite  study  of  the  "  Star  of  Bethlehem  " 


OAK   SCREEN   FOUND   BEHIND   THE   WAINSCOT   IN    ROYSTON   CHURCH. 


pleasantly  illustrated,  adequately  indexed,  and  nicely 
"got  up." 

*      *      * 
Leonardo    da    Vinci's  Note-books.      Arranged 
and  rendered  into  English  by  Edward  McCurdy, 
M.A.     Thirteen  illustrations.     London  :  Duck- 
worth and  Co.,   1906.     Large   crown  8vo.,  pp. 
xiv,  289.     Price  10s.  6d.  net. 
In  this  work  Mr.  McCurdy,  already  known  as  an 
authority  on  the  great  Italian  artist,  has  aimed  at  pre- 
senting Leonardo  as  a  writer  by  quoting  a  number  of 
passages  from  certain  manuscript  note-books  which 
are  in  different  libraries  and  museums.     The  result  is 
a  volume  containing   much  original  matter,  with  a 


plant.  They  all  illustrate  his  simple  but  profound 
advice  for  art  students  :  "  Remember  to  acquire  dili- 
gence rather  than  facility."  Many  besides  artists 
would  profit  by  another  saying  :  "  I  have  proved  in 
my  own  case  that  it  is  of  no  small  benefit,  on  finding 
one's  self  in  bed  in  the  dark,  to  go  over  again  in  the 
imagination  the  main  outlines  of  the  forms  previously 
studied,  or  of  other  noteworthy  things  conceived  by 
ingenious  speculation  ...  it  is  useful  in  fixing  things 
in  the  memory."  Here  are  a  multitude  of  pithy 
maxims,  such  as  : 

"  Life  well  spent  is  long  "  (p.  51)  ; 

"Thou,  O  God,  dost  sell  unto  us  all  good  things 
at  the  price  of  labour  "  (p.  18)  ; 


78 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


"  Perspective  is  the  bridle  and  rudder  of  painting" 
(p.  21 1 ) ;  and 

"  Feathers  shall  raise  men  even  as  they  do  birds 
towards  heaven — that  is,  by  letters  written  with  their 
quills  "  (p.  279). 

This  interesting  book  makes  a  mine  for  reading  and 
reflection,  and  is  prefaced  by  a  sympathetic  intro- 
duction and  a  scholarly  "  Record  of  the  Manuscripts  " 
from  which  it  is  compiled.  Leonardo's  personality  is 
one  which  more  and  more  "seems  to  outspan  the 
confines  of  his  age,  to  project  itself  by  the  inherent 
force  of  its  vitality  down  into  modern  times."  Every 
English  student  of  that  personality  will  consult  this 
edition  of  his  famous  No/e-books.  -\y    j_j   ^ 

*  *      * 

Pepys's  Memoirs  ok  the  Royal  Navy,  1679-1688. 

Edited  by  J.   R.   Tanner.     Oxford  :    Clarendon 

Press,   1906.     Crown  8vo.,  pp.  xviii,    144,  with 

foiling  table.      Evelyn's  Sculptuka  :   With 

the  unpublished  Second  Part.     Edited  by  C.  F. 

Bell.      Ten    illustrations.      Oxford  :    Clarendon 

Press,  1906.    Crown  8vo.     Part  I.,  pp.  lvi,  151  ; 

Part  II.,  pp.  viii,  32.    Price  5s.  net  each  volume. 

These  are  two  of  the  first  issues  in  a  new  series  of 

books  undertaken  by  the  Clarendon  Press,  called  the 

"Oxford  Tudor  and  Stuart   Library."     The  books 

are  printed  on  linen  rag  paper  from  the  contemporary 

types  given  to  the  University  in  1660  by  Bishop  Fell, 

and  are  bound  in  stiff  white  paper  covers  which  have 

much  of  the  appearance  of  vellum.     Considering  the 

beauty   and   faithfulness  of  these   reproductions,   as 

specimens   of   choice    typography,    and    their   very 

tasteful  and  attractive  format,  the  price  asked  must 

be  regarded  as  extremely  reasonable. 

Pepys's  book  is  comparatively  little  known.  It 
presents  him  in  a  very  different  light  from  that  in 
which  he  figures  as  diarist.  Here  he  is  the  able  man 
of  affairs,  master  of  the  subject  on  which  he  writes, 
and  displaying  a  spirit  of  reasonableness  and  occa- 
sionally a  surprising  breadth  of  vision  and  grasp  of 
principle,  for  which  those  who  know  him  only  as  the 
gossip  and  quidnunc  will  hardly  be  prepared.  Evelyn's 
work  on  the  "  History  and  Art  of  Chalcography  and 
Engraving  in  Copper"  is  perhaps  better  known,  but 
with  it  is  here  printed  for  the  first  time  a  short  second 
part.  The  original  illustrations  are  all  well  repro- 
duced. Evelyn's  book  is  characteristically  written, 
and,  apart  from  its  historical  value,  is  an  interesting 
specimen  of  the  art  criticism  of  two  centuries  ago. 
His  attribution  of  the  invention  of  mezzotint  to  Prince 
Rupert  has  long  been  exploded. 

*  *      * 

A  History  of  the  County  Dublin.     Part  IV. 

By  Francis  Elrington  Ball.     Many  illustrations. 

Dublin  :    Alex,     Thorn    and    Co.,   Ltd.,    1906. 

Demy  8vo.,  pp.  ix,  204.  Price  5s.  net. 
Mr.  Ball  hopes  to  complete  his  history  in  six  parts  ; 
hence  the  increased  size  of  the  present  part,  and  a 
certain  amount  of  delay  in  its  publication.  We 
heartily  congratulate  Mr.  Ball  on  having  the  end  of 
his  labours  in  sight.  The  part  before  us,  like  its 
predecessors,  is  a  monument  of  careful  and  well 
directed  industry,  presented  in  pleasant  and  readable 
form.  The  parishes  here  dealt  with  include  a  number 
in  the  more  western  part  of  the  county  ;  the  chief 


centres  of  interest  being  Luttrellstown  and  its  castle, 
the  Phoenix  Park,  Palmerston,  Lucan,  and  Chapelizod. 
At  Luttrellstown  we  meet  with  a  number  of  repre- 
sentatives of  a  famous  family,  the  most  outstanding 
member  of  which  was  the  Sir  Thomas  Luttiell,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  Ireland  in  Henry 
YIII.'s  time,  and  described  by  Mr.  Ball  as  "  a 
typical  example  of  a  gentleman  of  the  English  pale  of 
his  time."  The  beautiful  parish  of  Lucan,  with  its 
memories  of  the  Sarsfield  family  ;  Chapelizod  (con- 
nected by  tradition  with  "  La  Belle  Isoude  "  of  the 
poets),  which,  as  Mrs.  Delany  tells  us,  was  a  famous 
place  for  entertainment  throughout  the  eighteenth 
century  ;  the  Phcenix  Park  and  its  connection  with 
the  great  Duke  of  Ormonde,  with  many  other  points 
of  interest,  find  full  and  careful  treatment.  Mr. 
Ball  is  quite  impartial,  his  only  anxiety  being  to 
advance  nothing  which  is  not  securely  based  on 
documentary  facts.  The  part  is  fully  indexed,  and 
the  illustrations,  which  are  from  photographs,  draw- 
ings, and  old  engravings,  are  welcome  aids  to  the 
text. 

*      *      * 
Correggio.     By  T.   Sturge  Moore.     With  fifty-six 
illustrations.      London:     Duckworth    and    Co., 
1906.     Crown  8vo.,  pp.  xii,  276.     Price  7s.  6d. 
net. 

If  once  again  we  say  we  welcome  a  new  volume  in 
Messrs.  Duckworth's  "  Red  Series,"  it  is  in  no  con- 
ventional mode  of  praising  what  Mr.  Sturge  Moore 
himself  styles  "the  current  fashion  for  illustrated 
monographs  on  the  great  masters."  For  while  a 
multitude  of  modern  art-books  would  be  poor  stuff 
without  their  pictures,  we  know  that  this  series  keeps 
a  high  standard,  and  comprises  criticism  which  is 
itself  a  contribution  to  literature.  In  Correggio  Mr. 
Sturge  Moore  attacks  a  theme  very  different  from  his 
Diirer,  but  we  find  an  equal  suggestiveness  and 
fertility  of  ideas,  and  the  same  nervous,  if  somewhat 
involved,  method  of  beautiful  phraseology.  Whether 
Mr.  Moore  carries  one  with  him  or  provokes  dissent 
(as  in  certain  erratic  allusions  to  the  spirit  of  Greek 
art),  one  is  bound  to  acknowledge  that  here  is  a  man 
of  letters  striving  to  put  a  study  in  aesthetic  on  the 
same  high  plane  of  thinking  as  a  Ruskin  or  a  Matthew 
Arnold  ;  and  for  that,  in  these  days  of  slipshod 
books,  let  us  be  duly  thankful. 

In  Correggio,  with  all  his  virtues  and  their  defects, 
we  study  a  painter  who,  in  the  phrase  of  Mr.  Arthur 
Strong  (the  original  editor  of  this  series,  to  whose 
memory  Mr.  Moore  pays  a  pathetic  and  generous 
tribute),  "owes  least  to  biographers."  Even  his 
works,  of  which  a  large  number  of  adequate  photo- 
graphs are  here  carefully  printed,  are  sadly  marred  by 
time  and  decay  and  "mis-restoration."  But  the 
charm  of  them,  pagan  and  Christian  subjects  alike,  is 
extreme,  within  their  limitations.  Mr.  Sturge  Moore 
ranks  the  two  pictures  of  classical  mythology,  the 
"  Io  "  and  the  "Ganymede,"  among  his  loveliest 
creations,  and  he  adduces  sound  reasons  for  his  faith. 
And  any  amateur  of  the  fine  arts  knows  that  Correggio 
painted  babies  to  perfection.  In  this  connection  we 
venture  to  think  that  the  passage  at  pp.  63  to  64, 
where  Mr.  Moore  describes  the  "two  little  air- 
swimming  cherubs  "  of  the  Dresden  "  Madonna,"  is 
one  of  the  most  exquisite  pieces  of  prose  written  for 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


79 


many  a  day.     If  it  were  only  for  such  pages  as  these, 
this  volume  would  be  a  delight. 

Being  an  artist  himself,  Mr.  Moore  has  seized  this 
opportunity  in  Part  I.  of  his  book  to  tender  some 
reflections  on  the  pretensions  and  possibilities  of  art 
criticism.  His  protest  against  pedantry,  "  the  nag- 
ging of  a  meticulous  science,"  is  timely  ;  and  while  it 
is  impossible  in  a  short  notice  to  pick  up  points  of 
nice  disputation,  one  may  praise  his  bold  sincerity  of 
exposition.  The  short  chapter  on  "The  Question  of 
the  Value  of  Fame's  Portraits  of  Great  Men  "  is  an 
admirable  essay. 

The  illustraiions  show  many  sketches  and  drawings 
besides  the  paintings.  There  is  a  good  index,  and  a 
valuable  "Chronology  of  Correggio's  Paintings," 
compiled  by  Mr.  C.  S.  Ricketts—  W.  H.  D. 

*  *  * 
A  History  of  Oxfordshire.  By  J.  Meade 
Falkner.  Cheap  edition.  London  :  Elliot  Stock, 
1906.  Crown  8vo. ,  pp.  327.  Price  3s.  6d.  net. 
Dipping  into  this  neatly  produced  volume  to  revive 
our  memories  of  a  book  which  was  so  warmly  wel- 
comed in  its  earlier  form,  we  were  struck  by  the  grip 
and  interest  of  the  narrative.  Wherever  we  opened 
the  page  the  fascination  of  the  subject  and  the  writer's 
style  seized  us,  and  it  was  difficult  to  lay  down  the 
volume.  The  history  of  the  county  and  the  history 
of  the  University  are  inextricably  interwoven,  and 
hence,  perhaps,  part  of  the  charm  of  the  narrative. 
The  chapters  relating  to  the  mediaeval  University, 
the  dissolution  of  the  religious  houses,  and  the  sub- 
sequent fluctuations  of  belief  and  practice  during  the 
reigns  of  Mary  and  Elizabeth — in  which  the  University 
played  to  a  large  extent  so  subservient  and  time- 
serving a  part — makes  excellent  reading  ;  still  more 
vivid  are  those  which  tell  the  story  of  the  city  and 
county  during  the  Civil  War  and  the  times  of  the 
Commonwealth  and  Restoration.  Mr.  Falkner  has 
done  his  work  thoroughly  well.  County  history  may 
not  be  considered  a  popular  subject,  but  in  this 
volume  every  page  is  alive,  and  no  reader  can  fail  to 
feel  the  fascination  of  so  strikingly  interesting  a  nar- 
rative as  that  in  which  Mr.  Falkner  has  summarized 
the  story  of  the  county  and  University  of  Oxford. 

if.  *  if. 
Father  Felix's  Chronicles.  By  Nora  Chesson. 
Edited  by  W.  H.  Chesson.  Frontispiece.  Lon- 
don :  T.  Fisher  Umvitt,  1907.  8vo.,  pp.  312. 
Price  6s. 
Fiction  is,  as  a  rule,  outside  the  Antiquary's  pro- 
vince. But  this  posthumous  book  by  Mrs.  Chesson  is 
not  of  the  ordinary  type  of  fiction.  It  is  a  chronicle 
by  a  Father  Felix,  of  Trinity  Priory,  Norwich,  of 
certain  happenings,  chiefly  in  Norwich  and  its  neigh- 
bourhood, and  partly  in  London,  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  IV.  The  preparations  for  a  rising  in  favour 
of  a  supposititious  Richard  II. — the  real  poor  King 
Dickon  being  dead  and  buried,  as  history  records — the 
pitiful  attempt  at  a  rising  itself,  its  suppression  by 
King  Henry,  and  certain  consequent  executions,  with 
subsidiary  incidents  in  London,  and  a  final  painful 
chapter  (which  might  well  have  been  omitted)  depict- 
ing the  infliction  of  the  peine  forte  et  dure  on  a 
woman,  form  the  chief  materials  of  the  book.  As  a 
story,  it  is  decidedly  interesting  and  moving,  while 
archseologically  it  must  be  regarded  as  somewhat  of  a 


tour  de  force  for  a  writer  who  had  won  her  spurs  in 
other  fields.  The  fifteenth-century  setting  and  acces- 
sories are  in  excellent  keeping,  and  the  whole  picture 
of  medkeval  monastic  and  town  life  is  effectively 
wrought.  Perusal  of  the  book  deepens  our  sense  of 
the  loss  sustained  by  literature  in  the  early  death  of 
the  singer  who  was  best  known  as  "  Nora  Hopper." 

if  if  if 
The  Hospital  and  Free  School  of  King 
Charles  II.,  Dublin,  commonly  called  the 
Blue-Coat  School.  By  Sir  F.  R.  Falkiner, 
K.C.  Nine  plates.  Dublin  :  Sealy,  B>yers,  and 
Walker,  1906.  8vo.,  pp.  vii,  314.  Price  7s.  6d. 
It  was  well  worth  while  to  set  forth  the  story  of  the 
foundation  of  the  Blue-Coat  School  of  Dublin.  In  so 
doing,  and  in  compiling  notices  of  its  governors,  from 
the  rise  of  the  hospital  in  1668  until  1840,  when  its 
government  by  the  city  ceased,  Sir  Frederick  Falkiner, 
the  late  Recorder,  has  produced  a  most  interesting 
and  readable  account  of  the  social  life  of  the  Irish 
capital  for  some  two  centuries.  The  mere  outline 
tale  of  the  buildings  is  a  startling  narrative.  The 
hospital  was  not  completed  until  six  years  after  the 
turning  of  the  first  sod.  At  the  opening,  on  May  5, 
1675,  it  was  tenanted  by  sixty  children,  of  whom 
three  were  girls.  The  disturbances  after  the  acces- 
sion of  James  II.  made  the  school  a  cockpit  for  the 
rival  parties,  Romanists  and  Protestants  vying  with 
each  other  to  secure  the  appointment  of  scholars,  and 
to  eject  those  of  the  opposite  creed.  In  1689  the 
hospital  svas  turned  into  a  barrack,  and  afterwards 
was  the  temporary  Parliament  House  whilst  a  new 
one  was  being  built.  New  buildings,  designed  to 
accommodate  300  boys,  were  opened  in  1784.  Much 
of  the  subsequent  history  of  the  school  is  sordid,  and 
in  a  variety  of  ways  it  is  discreditable  to  the  English 
rule  of  Ireland  prior  to  Catholic  emancipation. 
*  *  * 
Among  the  many  pamphlets  on  our  table  are  several 
which  deserve  a  word  or  two  of  notice.  The  Rev. 
James  King,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed,  issues  for  sale,  on  behalf  of  the  poor  of  his 
parish,  a  booklet  on  The  hdwardian  Walls  and 
Elizabethan  Ramparts  of  Berwick-upon-  7 "weed  (price 
is.),  which  contains  a  good  deal  of  scrappy  and  not 
too  well-arranged  information  on  the  subjects  indi- 
cated. The  South  -  Eastern  Union  of  Scientific 
Societies  prints  (price  6d.)  a  useful  little  sketch  of  the 
law  relating  to  The  Preservation  of  Treasure-Trove 
and  other  Relics,  from  the  very  competent  pen  of  Dr. 
William  Martin,  M.A.  The  Rev.  Dr.  H.  J.  D.  Astley 
issues  in  a  neat  booklet  a  reprint  of  his  paper  on  A 
Group  of  Norman  Fonts  in  North- West  Norfolk 
(Norwich:  Goose  and  Son,  price  is. ).  The  corner  of 
Norfolk  referred  to  is  peculiarly  rich  in  fine  Norman 
fonts,  and  Dr.  Astley  here  describes  eleven  of  them, 
and  discusses  learnedly  the  origin  or  source  of  the 
ornamentation  and  sculpture  upon  them,  some  of 
which  are  extraordinarily  rich  and  elaborate.  Eighteen 
fine  photographic  illustrations  add  greatly  to  the 
value  of  this  attractive  booklet.  From  the  Clarendon 
Press  comes  the  :( Romanes  Lecture"  for  1906 — 
Sturla  the  Historian  (price  is.  net),  by  W.  P.  Ker, 
M.A.,  which  was  delivered  in  the  Schools  at  Oxford 
on  November  24  last.  This  all  too  brief  lecture  is  a 
scholarly  and   most  interesting   contribution   to   the 


8o 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


study  of  Icelandic  literature  and  history.     The  Kil- 
dare  Archaeological  Society  publishes  as  a  reprint  from 
its  Journal  an  Index  to  the  Wills  of  the  Diocese  of 
Kiluare  (Dublin  :  E.   Fonsonby,   price   is.   7d.,   post 
free),  edited  by  Sydney  Gary — a  useful  addition  to  the 
genealogist's   tools.      The   Society  proposes,  if  this 
venture  meets  with  sufficient  support,  to  print  other 
indexes  to  records  of  a  similar  nature.     Last,  but  not 
least,  comes  a  capital  little  Short  History  of  Taunton 
Castle,  by  the   Kev.   D.  P.   Alford,  MA.  (Taunton  : 
Barnicolt  and  Pcarce,  price  4d.).     This  excellent  his- 
torical  sketch,   illustrated  by  three  plates,    which  is 
published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Somerset  Archaeo- 
logical Society,  is  a  cheap  fourpennyworth. 
*      *      * 
The  Reliquary  for  January  contains  well-illustrated 
articles    on    "Jugglers,"    by    Mr.    Arthur  Watson ; 
"  Buddh  Gaya" — one  of  the  Buddhist  holy  places,  a 
few  hours  south  by  rail  from  Patna — by  Mrs.  Tench  ; 
and  "  No'.es  on  the  Opening  of  a  Bronze  Age  Barrow 
at  Manton,  near  Marlborough,"  by  Mrs.  Cunnington, 
an   interesting  account  of  a  careful   and   productive 
piece   of    work.      The   Scottish   Historical  Review, 
January,  contains,  inter  alia,  articles  on  "  The  Union 
of  the  Parliaments  of  England  and  Scotland,   1707," 
by    Professor    Hume    Brown;    "Scotland   and    the 
Papacy   during  the  Great  Schism,"  by   Mr.   A.   T. 
Steuart ;    "  A  Contract  of  Mutual  Friendship  in  the 
'45,"  by  Mr.  T-  H.  Stevenson  ;  and  "  Ancient  Legend 
and  Modern  Poetry  in  Ireland,"  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Morison. 
An  attractive  number  of  the  Essex  Review,  January, 
contains    "Louis   XVIII.   at  Gosfield   Hall";    "A 
History  of  Shipbuilding  in  Essex,"  by   Mr.    Miller 
Christy  ;  and  "  More  Recollections  of  Bygone  Essex," 
by  Mr.  Henry  Laver.    The  Cornubian  Annual,  No.  4, 
1906- 1907  (price  3d.)  contains  much  fiction — some  of  it 
familiar — besides  topographical  articles  such  as  "  Lych- 
gates,"  "  A  Famous  Haunt  of  the  Dartmoor  Pixies," 
and   "The  Story  of  St.  Just."     The  printing  leaves 
much  to   be   desired.     We   have   also   received   the 
Seven   Hills   Magazine,    December   (Dublin :  James 
Duffy  and  Co.,  Ltd.,   price  2s.  6d.   net),  which  con- 
tains the  first  part  of  a  learned  study  of  "The  Life 
and   Literature  of  St.    Patrick,"    by   Dr.  W.   J.   D. 
Croke,   of   Rome ;    Auction   Sale  Prices,  the   useful 
record   for   the  quarter  ended    December  31,    1906. 
Rivisla  a"  Italia,   December  ;    Northern   Notes    and 
Queries,     January  ;     the     American     Antiquarian, 
November' and  December;   and  East  Anglian,  Sep- 
tember and  October,  the  latter  number  containing  a 
first  paper  on  certain  Norwich  mediaeval  service-books. 


Cotcespon&encc. 

SELBY   ABBEY. 

TO  THE  EDITOR. 
All  Englishmen  must  regret  the  great  fire  that  lately 
took  place  in  Selby  Abbey,  which  was  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  ecclesiastical  buildings  in  the  country. 
But  to  speak  of  it  as  the  finest  after  York  Minster  is 
a  great  mistake.     In  Yorkshire  alone  Beverley  Minster 


is  much  finer  than  Selby,  and  in  some  things  fine"" 
than  York  itself. 

More  than  forty  years  ago  the  writer  spent  a  week- 
end at  Selby  on  purpose  to  see  the  Abbey  thoroughly, 
and  having  since  seen  it  again  and  again,  it  almost 
seemed  like  a  personal  loss  when  he  read  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  fire,  which  ought  never  to  have 
taken  place.  And  yet  that  fire  may  be  a  blessing  in 
disguise.  The  Selby  tower  was  wretched  in  the  ex- 
treme. It  was  rebuilt  at  a  time  when  the  builders  of 
the  period  considered  Gothic  architecture  the  creation 
of  a  barbarous  people  and  classic  architecture  was  all 
the  fashion.  Some  of  the  views  which  are  not  taken 
from  photographs  hardly  do  justice  to  its  want  of 
symmetry.  If  anyone  will  inspect  the  new  east  end 
of  Wakefield  Cathedral,  he  may  see  how  wonderfully 
superior  in  the  hands  of  a  first-rate  architect  even 
new  work  may  be  made  to  the  old.  Look  at  those 
splendid  spires,  with  the  towering  groined  roof,  made 
of  the  finest  stone.  The  sight  of  them  is  enough  to 
raise  one's  aspirations  heavenward  ! 

Is  it  not  possible  that  the  restored  Selby  Abbey 
may  be  far  more  beautiful  than  the  one  before  the 
fire  ?  Without  a  south  transept,  like  a  dove  with  a 
broken  wing,  and  with  its  miserable  tower,  its  exterior 
could  not  much  excite  our  admiration.  Some  of  us 
may  not  see  it,  but  if  Yorkshire  responds  with  her 
usual  generosity,  Selby  Abbey  may  still  rise  in  greater 
beauty,  and  please  the  eye  of  the  traveller  from 
London  to  Edinburgh  for  ages  to  come. 

John  Arthur  Clapham. 

30,  St.  Paul's  Road,  Bradford. 


CROPPENBERGH  FAMILY. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

I  should  be  much  obliged  if  anyone  could  give  me 
information  as  to  the  marriage  of  Ann  Croppenbergh 
and  George  Sherard.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a 
London  merchant,  and  her  husband,  George  Sherard, 
was  born  in  1626,  and  their  eldest  son,  William,  in 
1652. 

Mary  Croppenbergh  (mother  to  Ann)  in  her  will 
(proved  1652)  describes  herself  as  a  widow.  Any 
information  as  to  Ann  Croppenbergh's  father  also 
would  be  welcome. 

Peirce  G.  Mahony, 

Cork  Herald. 

Office  of  Arms,  Dublin  Castle. 


Note  to  Publishers.— We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  general  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  of 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communications  or 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


81 


The   Antiquary. 


MARCH,  1907. 


Bom  of  tfce  s$ontf). 

Early  in  February  an  interesting  discovery 
of  ancient  gold  ornaments  was  made  in  some 
sand-pits  at  Crayford,  in  Kent.  Four 
labourers  were  at  work  in  a  pit,  which  had 
already  been  excavated  to  a  considerable 
depth,  when,  at  about  3  or  4  feet  from  the 
surface,  some  soil  of  a  dark  colour  was  come 
upon.  In  shovelling  this  into  a  barrow  the 
men  found  some  metal  articles  among  it. 
There  were  nine  of  them  in  all,  lying  close 
together.  They  were,  apparently,  old- 
fashioned  armlets  or  bracelets  of  different 
sizes,  but  of  the  same  shape.  The  labourers 
took  their  find  to  the  police-station  at  Bexley, 
where  it  was  taken  possession  of  on  behalf  of 
the  Crown  as  treasure  trove.  The  armlets 
have  proved  to  be  of  solid  gold,  massive  and 
heavy,  and  are  undoubtedly  of  very  early 
date.  In  shape  they  are  oval,  with  a  space 
left  in  each,  through  which  a  wrist  or  ankle 
would  be  passed.  Judging  by  the  size  of  the 
ornaments,  they  belonged  to  a  woman.  Last 
July,  not  many  yards  from  the  same  spot, 
eight  similar  armlets  were  found,  which  are 
now  in  the  British  Museum.  We  hope  to 
print  an  illustrated  article  by  Mr.  R.  Holt 
White,  of  Bexley  Heath,  on  this  important 
find  in  next  month's  Antiquary. 

&     4?     4? 

The  excavations  on  the  site  of  the  Roman 
camp  at  Manchester  have  been  continued, 
though  the  weather  has  been  far  from  favour- 
able. The  western  wall  was  traced  for  some 
50  feet  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  was  then 

VOL.  III. 


found  to  come  to  an  abrupt  end.  The  stratum 
of  sand  below  disappeared  also,  and  it  is 
assumed  that  the  sand  and  gravel  have  at  some 
period  been  carried  away,  and  the  space  filled 
up  with  the  dredgings  of  the  adjacent  canal. 
The  explorers  have  been  tolerably  fortunate 
in  their  trenching.  There  was  found  and 
traced  on  the  inside  of  the  wall  and  along 
it  a  paved  footway  of  pebbles  or  cobbles 
embedded  in  clay,  with  an  edging  of  small 
boulders  set  in  lime.  This  is  very  perfect 
and  plain  to  view.  It  was  first  found  against 
the  part  of  the  wall  that  was  struck  by  the 
transverse  trench  cut  across  from  the  other 
trenches,  and  it  appears  more  marvellous 
every  day  how  that  trench  should  have  struck 
the  wall  where  it  was  in  all  respects  most 
perfect,  even  to  this  very  well-preserved  foot- 
path along  which  the  Roman  sentry  walked 
his  "  weary  round." 

&       4p       $• 

A  few  days  later,  on  January  24,  the  dis- 
covery of  the  fosse  was  established.  From 
the  face  of  the  western  wall  a  trench  had 
been  dug  outwards  at  right  angles,  with  the 
object  of  finding  the  ditch.  After  traversing 
the  berm,  or  intervening  space,  between  the 
parapet  and  the  fosse,  the  ground,  as 
expected,  fell  for  several  feet,  indicating  what 
seemed  to  be  the  fosse.  To  make  its  identifi- 
cation complete,  however,  it  was  necessary  to 
carry  forward  the  trench  till  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  hypothetical  ditch  had  been 
arrived  at.  This  was  done  on  the  day  named, 
and  at  a  distance  of  20  feet  the  rise  was 
made  out  clearly.  It  was  thus  ascertained 
that,  from  the  base  of  the  wall,  the  berm  and 
fosse  together  took  up  a  width  of  about 
28  feet. 

•)&»  «$?  & 
The  continuation  of  the  deep  cutting  crossing 
the  fosse  revealed  evidences  that  there  were 
probably  two  outer  ditches  here,  as  an  outer 
defence.  There  were  more  than  one  on  the 
south  side,  and  it  may  be  there  were  the 
same  outside  the  northern  part  of  the  western 
wall.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  excavation  to 
be  done  if  anything  is  to  be  adequately 
learned  about  the  structures  that  are  revealed. 

&       4»       «ifc» 
One  result  of  the  frost  and  bad  weather  was 
to  produce  signs  of  speedy  destruction.    The 
Manchester  Courier  says  that  on  January  28, 

L 


82 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


"  after  the  disappearance  of  the  frost  and  the 
subsequent  rain,  a  visit  to  the  trenches 
showed  that  the  work  was  perishing  quickly. 
The  red  sandstone  floors  are  crumbling  into 
sand,  and  their  original  contours  and  distinct 
lines  are  lost.  Here  and  there  there  have 
been  slight  falls  from  the  sides,  and  in  one 
case  with  a  rather  interesting  result.  On  the 
inner  side  of  the  trench,  cut  to  expose  the 
inner  side  of  the  basework  of  the  westerly 
wall,  a  perpendicular  slice  of  clay  has  fallen 
for  a  yard  or  two,  and  revealed  the  fact  that 
this  clay,  which  appears  to  form  a  bank  to 
the  wall,  is  in  layers  really,  and  has  been 
formed  by  alternate  layers  of  sods  and  clay. 
Dark  lines,  about  an  inch  or  less  thick, 
indicate  the  sods,  and  then  there  is  a  broader 
line  of  clay.  Exactly  the  same  thing  is 
shown  in  the  accounts  of  the  excavation  of 
the  Antonine  Vallum.  This  'footing,'  or 
slope  of  clay  and  sods,  appears  to  go  exactly 
up  to  the  level  of  the  foundation  of  the  wall 
that  has  been  exposed.  In  one  place,  too, 
some  of  the  clay  and  boulder  material  form- 
ing the  wall  has  been  disintegrated  by  frost 
and  thaw,  and  fallen  in,  with  the  result  that 
it  shows  in  an  excellent  manner  the  construc- 
tion of  the  foundation." 

•ft*         <j|>         $ 

The  only  objects  of  interest  discovered,  be- 
sides those  mentioned  last  month,  appear  to 
have  been  some  bits  of  red  ware,  two  glass 
counters  —  one  transparent  and  the  other 
white  —  such  as  are  commonly  found  in 
Roman  camps,  and  two  coins,  both  of 
Licinius  the  Elder,  who  was  emperor  a.d.  307- 
324.  These  coins  are  well  preserved,  and 
it  is  easy  to  make  out  the  figures  and 
inscriptions  they  bear  on  both  sides.  The 
reverse  of  one  coin  shows  Jupiter  standing, 
holding  a  figure  of  Victory  on  a  globe  in  his 
right  hand  and  a  spear  in  his  left,  sur- 
mounted by  an  eagle.  A  captive  kneels  on 
his  left  and  an  eagle  is  at  his  feet.  The 
legend  is  Jovi  Conservatori.  The  reverse  of 
the  other  coin,  which  bears  the  legend  Soli 
Invicto  Comiti,  shows  the  god  standing  with 
right  hand  raised  and  holding  a  globe  in  his 
left  hand.  These  details  were  communicated 
to  a  meeting  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
Antiquarian  Society  by  the  secretary,  Mr. 
Yates,  on  February  8.  This  is  not  the  first 
time,  the  Manchester  Guardian  points  out, 


that  coins  of  Licinius  have  been  found  at 
Castlefield.  The  Broughton  collection  of 
coins  from  Mancunium  also  contains  a  coin 
of  this  emperor.  Mr.  Yates  has  duplicates 
of  these  coins  in  his  own  collection  in  better 
preservation.  Nor  are  these  the  coins  of 
latest  date.  A  fairly  continuous  series  runs 
from  Licinius  to  Valentinianus  I.  (364-375), 
while,  as  is  well  known,  at  least  one  coin  has 
been  found  in  another  part  of  Manchester 
dated  more  than  a  century  later  even  than 
these.  The  bronze  objects  found  on  the  site 
of  Mancunium  point  to  a  date  as  late  as  the 
fourth  century. 

«ft»         *fr         «J» 

Since  the  foregoing  note  was  written  it  has 
been  announced  that  on  February  14  further 
finds  were  made,  including  two  more  coins, 
a  piece  of  a  Samian  bowl,  a  whetstone,  an 
Alexandrian  bead,  a  supposed  spear-head,  a 
number  of  Roman  nail-heads,  and  part  of  a 
quern.  One  of  the  coins  is  very  much 
laminated,  but  the  other  is  more  recognisable, 
and  is  believed  to  date  back  to  the  second 
century. 

c$»  tfc  «J, 

A  surprising  discovery  of  the  greatest  interest 
and  importance,  in  Egypt,  was  announced  in 
the  Times  of  February  8.  This  is  no  less 
than  the  discovery  by  Mr.  Theodore  M.  Davis 
of  the  tomb  and  mummy  of  Queen  Teie  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings  at 
Thebes.  "  Teie,"  says  the  Times  contributor, 
"  was  the  mother  and  inspirer  of  the  famous 
'Heretic  King'  of  Egyptology.  Under  the 
influence  of  his  mother,  Amen-hotep  IV.  of 
the  Eighteenth  Dynasty  broke  with  the  re- 
ligious traditions  of  Egypt  and  endeavoured 
to  introduce  a  new  and  foreign  form  of  creed. 
It  was  a  pantheistic  monotheism,  the  visible 
symbol  of  which  was  the  solar  disc.  The 
worship  of  Amon,  the  god  of  his  fathers,  was 
proscribed,  and  for  the  first  time  in  history 
there  was  persecution  for  religion's  sake. 
The  struggle  between  the  Pharaoh  and  the 
powerful  priesthood  of  Thebes  ended  in  the 
flight  of  the  Court  from  the  old  capital  of 
the  country  and  the  foundation  of  a  new 
capital  further  north.  Here,  surrounded  by 
adventurers  from  Asia  and  the  adherents  of 
the  new  faith,  the  Pharaoh  raised  a  temple 
to  the  omnipresent  deity,  the  '  creator '  and 
'  father  of  all  men,'   barbarian   as  well  as 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


83 


Egyptian,  and  himself  delivered  sermons  on 
the  dogmas  and  articles  of  a  creed,  which, 
in  anticipation  of  Constantine,  had  been 
drawn  up  under  royal  patronage."  The 
reformed  religion  had  but  a  short  life.  The 
old  faith  triumphed ;  the  memory  of  the 
"  Heretic  King "  was  torn  to  pieces,  his 
followers  were  scattered,  and  the  new  capital 
was  destroyed.  And  now  Mr.  Davis's  dis- 
covery shows  with  what  rage  and  hatred  the 
victorious  priesthood  of  Thebes  tried  to 
obliterate  every  sign  and  memorial  of  the 
hated  reformer.  "  The  doorway  of  piled 
stones,"  continues  the  chronicler  of  this 
extraordinary  discovery,  "  which  was  sealed 
with  the  royal  seal  bearing  the  impression 
of  three  captives,  has  been  partially  broken 
through,  the  wooden  doors  have  been  wrenched 
from  their  hinges,  the  great  catafalque  which 
stood  above  the  coffin  has  been  torn  in  pieces, 
and  the  mummy  itself  turned  over  in  order  to 
erase  the  name  of  Akh-en-Aten  incised  on  the 
sheet  of  gold  which  lay  beneath  it.  Wherever 
the  name  of  the  heretic  was  found  it  was  care- 
fully destroyed,  and  the  figure  of  the  King, 
adoring  the  solar  disc,  which  had  been  en- 
graved on  one  of  the  gold  plates  of  the  cata- 
falque, is  chiselled  out.  The  men,  however, 
who  thus  violated  the  tomb  were  no  common 
robbers ;  the  jewellery  of  the  Queen  and  the 
sheets  of  solid  gold  with  which  the  sepulchre 
is  literally  filled  were  left  untouched;  the 
havoc  they  wrought  was  the  result  of  religious 
zeal,  and  even  the  needs  of  '  Mother  Church ' 
were  not  sufficient  to  make  them  carry  away 
the  gold  that  had  been  polluted  by  heresy. 
Wherever  the  excavators  walked  they  trod 
upon  fragments  of  gold  plate  and  gold  leaf." 

For  full  details  of  the  various  wonders  that 
met  the  discoverers'  gaze,  we  must  refer  our 
readers  to  the  narrative  in  the  Times.  We 
can  only  allow  ourselves  one  more  quotation. 
The  Queen's  coffin,  we  are  told,  "  is  intact, 
and  is  a  superb  example  of  the  jeweller's 
work.  The  wood  of  which  it  was  composed 
is  entirely  covered  with  a  frame  of  gold  inlaid 
with  lapis  lazuli,  cornelian,  and  green  glass. 
The  inlay  represents  for  the  most  part  a 
pattern  of  scales,  but  down  the  middle  runs 
an  inscription  from  which  we  learn  that  the 
coffin  was  '  made  for  Teie '  by  her  son.  The 
mummy  itself  was  wrapped  from  head  to  foot 


in  sheets  of  gold.  The  water,  which  for  so 
many  ages  has  been  draining  through  it,  has 
reduced  it  to  little  more  than  pulp,  and  it  fell 
to  pieces  when  examined  in  the  presence  of 
several  Egyptologists  on  January  26.  There 
were  bracelets  on  the  arms,  and  a  necklace 
of  gold  beads  and  ornaments  of  gold  inlaid 
with  precious  stones  round  the  neck,  while 
the  head  was  still  encircled  by  an  object 
priceless  and  unique — the  Imperial  crown 
of  the  Queens  of  ancient  Egypt.  It  is  at 
once  simple  and  exquisitely  fashioned,  and 
represents  the  royal  vulture  holding  a  signet- 
ring  in  either  talon,  while  its  wings  surround 
the  head,  and  are  fastened  at  the  tips  behind 
by  a  pin.  The  whole  is  of  solid  gold  with- 
out inlay  or  other  adventitious  ornament.  It 
was  difficult  to  avoid  a  feeling  of  awe  when 
handling  this  symbol  of  ancient  sovereignty 
which  has  thus  risen  up,  as  it  were,  from  the 
depths  of  a  vanished  world." 

«fr  &  4p 
The  coins  found  near  Llandudno,  to  which 
we  referred  in  last  month's  "  Notes,"  have 
been  returned  to  the  finders.  They  were  all 
of  bronze  and  most  of  them  were  minted  by 
Carausius.  The  Romans  mined  for  copper 
on  the  Great  Orme,  and  the  coins  may  have 
been  wages  for  the  miners  or  pay  for  the 
soldiers. 

4?      &      4p 

A  beautiful  tessellated  Roman  pavement  was 
discovered  at  Colchester  on  January  29, 
during  the  levelling  of  a  new  green  for  the 
Colchester  Bowling  Club.  Near  the  pave- 
ment, which  was  in  two  sections,  and  covered 
about  150  square  feet,  was  a  thick  stratum 
of  Roman  cement.  The  bowling-green  was 
evidently  the  unsuspected  site  of  a  Roman 
villa. 

•fr         4?         $ 

The  first  open  meeting  of  the  British  Archaeo- 
logical School  was  held  at  Rome  on  the 
afternoon  of  January  26,  when  the  director, 
Dr.  Thomas  Ashby,  read  an  interesting  paper 
upon  "  Ancient  Remains  near  Crocicchie," 
the  "cross-roads,"  which  give  their  name  tc 
a  station  on  the  railway  between  Rome  and 
Viterbo.  He  first  described  the  ruins  of 
a  Roman  villa  about  two  miles  to  the  south 
of  the  point  where  the  Via  Clodia  crosses 
another  Roman  road.  The  pavement  of  the 
latter  is  still  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation  for 

L  2 


84 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


a  distance  of  over  ioo  yards  on  the  way  to 
the  villa,  which  is  erroneously  supposed  to 
have  belonged  to  a  certain  C.  Crecilius,  but 
is  now  known  as  S.  Stefano,  from  a  mediaeval 
church  dedicated  to  that  saint  which  was 
built  into  it.  The  most  remarkable  portion 
of  the  villa  is  a  large  building,  some  50  feet 
square,  built  of  concrete  faced  with  brick- 
work, which  on  the  exterior  is  extremely 
fine.  It  is  in  three  storeys  and  rises  to  a 
height  of  some  50  feet  or  more.  The  pilasters 
with  which  the  exterior  is  decorated  belonged 
at  the  top  and  bottom  to  the  Corinthian 
order,  and  in  the  centre  to  the  Doric;  the 
capitals  are  cut  out  of  the  brickwork.  A 
large  staircase  on  the  south  formed  the  means 
of  access  to  the  two  upper  storeys,  and  the 
main  entrance  was  on  the  north.  The  lowest 
storey  was  vaulted,  the  roof  being  supported 
by  four  pilasters,  while  the  middle  storey  was 
perhaps  divided  into  eight  small  rooms  with 
an  open  space  in  the  centre. 

$  «)fc»  & 
Dr.  Ashby  next  described  a  group  of  caves 
about  four  miles  from  Crocicchie,  which  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  noticed  by  any  previous 
investigator  of  the  Campagna.  Some  of  them 
are  of  considerable  size,  and  may  have  served 
first  as  quarries,  then  for  human  habitation ; 
others  are  tombs  (all  apparently  of  the  Roman 
period) ;  one,  known  as  the  Grotto  della  Re- 
gina,  still  preserves  considerable  remains  of 
architectural  decoration  cut  in  the  natural 
tufa,  while  the  roof  of  another  is  still  covered 
with  reliefs  in  stucco,  now  blackened  entirely 
by  the  smoke  of  shepherds'  fires.  These  caves 
are  divided  by  a  branch  valley  running  north 
and  south,  much  widened  by  quarrying ;  the 
stream  which  once  traversed  it  was  carried 
in  Roman  times  through  a  tunnel,  which  is 
still  in  existence.  Roads  and  flights  of  steps 
cut  in  the  rock  form  the  approaches  to  this 
interesting  group  of  caves,  and  the  site  itself 
is  most  picturesque. 

ejfp  ijfj»  «jt> 

Mr.  T.  H.  Hodgson,  F.S.A.,  writes:  "With 
reference  to  Mr.  Tavenor-Perry's  note  on  an 
armorial  stone  at  Han  worth,  in  the  February 
Antiquary,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  mention 
that  it  is  stated  in  Lysons'  Cumberland  that 
the  Sir  Thomas  Chambers  who  purchased 
the  manor  of  Hanworth  in  1670  was  of  the 
family  of  Chambers  of  VVolsty  in  Cumber- 


land (I  think  probably  the  representative  of 
that  family).  The  arms  on  the  escutcheon 
of  pretence  would  therefore  be  those  of 
Chambers  of  Wolsty — viz.,  arg.,  a  chevron 
azure  between  three  trefoils  gules.  It  ap- 
pears from  the  note  that  the  chevron  is  all 
that  can  now  be  distinguished,  but  it  is  also 
suggested  that  there  may  have  been  other 
charges,  now  perished  by  time." 

4?      #»       #» 

The  original  manuscript  order  for  the  massacre 
of  Glencoe,  signed  by  Major  Robert  Dun- 
canson,  Argyle  Regiment,  and  directed  to 
Captain  Campbell  of  Glenlyon,  is  shortly  to 
be  offered  at  auction  by  Messrs.  Puttick  and 
Simpson.  The  order,  which  is  on  a  single 
sheet  of  paper,  is  in  the  following  terms  : 

"12  February,  1692. 
"  Sir, — Yow  are  hereby  ordered  to  fall 
upon  the  rebells,  the  Macdonalds  of  Glenco, 
and  to  putt  all  to  the  sword  under  seventy. 
Yow  are  to  have  speciall  care  that  the  old 
Fox  and  his  sones  do  not  escape  your  hands. 
Yow  are  to  secure  all  the  avenues,  that  no 
man  escape.  This  yow  are  to  putt  in  execu- 
tion att  fyve  of  the  clock  precisely ;  and  by 
that  time,  or  verie  shortly  after  it,  I  will 
strive  to  be  at  yow  with  a  stronger  party.  If 
I  do  not  come  to  you  at  fyve  yow  are  not  to 
tarry  for  me,  butt  to  fall  on.  This  is  by  the 
King's  speciall  commands,  for  the  good  and 
safety  of  the  countrey,  that  these  miscreants 
be  cutt  off  root  and  branch.  See  that  this 
be  putt  in  execution  without  fear  or  favour, 
or  yow  may  expect  to  be  dealt  with  as  one 
not  true  to  King  nor  Government,  nor  a 
man  fit  to  carry  commission  in  the  King's 
service.  Expecting  yow  will  not  fail  in  the 
fulfilling  hereof,  as  yow  love  yourselfe,  I 
subscryve  this  with  my  hand  at  Balicholis, 
Feb.  12,  1692. 

"  R.    DUNCANSON. 
"  For  their  Majies  Service. 
"To  Capt.  Robert  Campbell  of  Glenlyon." 

Professor  Orsi,  of  the  Syracuse  Museum, 
after  nearly  three  months  of  work  at  Gela, 
the  ancient  Dorian  colony  near  the  modern 
Terranova,  has  laid  bare  the  stylobate  of  an 
archaic  Greek  temple,  which  he  ascribes  to 
the  end  of  the  seventh  or  the  beginning  of 
the  sixth  century,  B.C. — that  is  to  say,  to  the 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


85 


early  days  of  the  colony.  From  a  frag- 
mentary inscription,  cut  on  the  edge  of  a 
large  jar,  Professor  Orsi  thinks  that  this  very 
ancient  temple  was  dedicated  to  Athene,  and 
that  it  was  destroyed  by  the  colonists  them- 
selves, who  desired  to  rebuild  it  on  a  grander 
scale  where  the  remains  of  the  other  Doric 
temple  still  stand.  Many  fragments  of  terra- 
cotta and  pieces  of  statues  have  been  dis- 
covered in  the  sand  which  covered  the 
temple. 

4?        $»         •$» 

There  seems  at  length  a  prospect,  says  the 
Outlook,  of  a  law  being  passed  to  protect 
the  art  treasures  of  Italy  and  encourage  new 
discoveries.  A  Bill  drafted  by  the  Minister 
of  Education,  and  submitted  to  Parliament 
in  Rome,  has  met  with  such  general  approval 
that  it  will  doubtless  pass  in  the  ensuing 
session.  It  is  proposed  to  create  a  Superior 
Council  of  Antiquities  and  Fine  Arts  to 
assume  control  over  all  monuments  and 
things  of  historical,  archaeological,  or  artistic 
value,  with  the  single  limitation  that  they 
must  be  more  than  fifty  years  old.  Places 
of  natural  beauty  or  historic  association  come 
within  the  scope  of  this  far-reaching  measure, 
and  thus  the  Falls  of  Tivoli,  the  Forest  of 
Ravenna,  and  the  cypresses  of  the  Villa 
Ludovisi  will  be  saved  from  the  vandalism 
which  has  already  overtaken  other  places  of 
similar  interest  Power  is  conferred  upon 
the  Government  to  authorize  excavations  to 
be  made,  as  in  Greece,  for  purposes  of 
archaeological  discovery,  and  the  privilege 
will  be  extended  to  foreigners.  Should  the 
regulations  to  be  prescribed  be  as  liberal  as 
those  at  Delphi  and  Olympia,  we  may  look 
for  interesting  discoveries,  of  which  the  trea- 
sures just  revealed  by  the  excavations  at  the 
Necropolis  at  Palestrina  are  but  a  foretaste. 

•fr  «!&»  4p 
The  Builder  of  February  2  had  an  article  by 
Mr.  J.  H.  Shearer  on  "  St.  Mary  Arches 
Church,  Exeter,"  a  twelfth-century  church 
in  a  quaint,  narrow  street  bearing  the  same 
name.  In  the  sixteenth  century  it  was 
looked  upon  as  the  municipal  church,  and 
"  to  revive  this  ancient  custom  the  last 
Mayor  of  Exeter  attended  this  church  in 
state  during  his  year  of  office."  The  same 
number  contained  two  sketches  by  Mr. 
A.  C.  Conrade  of  old  houses  in  Bristol.     In 


the  issue  of  our  contemporary  for  the  follow- 
ing week,  February  9,  there  was  a  capital 
article  on  the  interesting  church  at  Aldworth, 
Berkshire,  with  its  fine  series  of  stone  effigies 
of  the  De  la  Beche  family,  nine  in  number — 
all  of  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century 
— three  of  which  occupy  as  many  remarkably 
beautiful,  ogee-shaped  recesses  in  the  north 
wall  of  the  nave,  and  three  others  a  similar 
number  of  like  recesses  in  the  south  wall 
of  the  aisle.  Illustrations  were  given  of  the 
exterior  and  interior  of  the  church,  and  of 
the  two  series  of  canopied  recesses. 

•fr  $»  $? 
The  next  International  Archaeological  Con- 
gress will  meet  at  Cairo  from  the  10th  to 
the  2 1  st  of  April,  under  the  distinguished 
presidency  of  Professor  Maspero.  It  will  be 
held  in  three  sections — at  Cairo,  Alexandria, 
and  Thebes.  The  last  Congress  met  at 
Athens  in  1905. 

4?      4p      £ 

Some  interesting  particulars,  says  the 
Athenceufii  of  February  2,  are  given  in  the 
Indian  papers  received  by  the  last  mail 
on  the  subject  of  the  discoveries  made  by 
Dr.  Stein  in  the  sand-buried  region  of 
Khotan.  His  first  operations  were  at  the 
great  Stupa  of  Rawak,  which  he  had  partly 
excavated  in  1900.  On  this  occasion  he 
found  a  ruined  temple  on  the  Hanguya  Tati 
which  yielded  some  interesting  terra-cotta 
relievos.  Their  style  was  plainly  derived 
from  Graeco- Buddhist  art.  The  best  results 
were  obtained  from  a  group  of  small  ruined 
sites  in  the  shrub-covered  desert  not  far 
from  the  village  of  Domoko,  east  of  Khotan. 
At  Khadalik,  in  a  Buddhist  shrine,  Dr.  Stein 
recovered  a  large  number  of  MSS.  in  San- 
skrit, Chinese,  and  the  unknown  language 
of  old  Khotan,  besides  many  wooden  tablets. 
This  temple  also  furnished  portions  of  a  far 
older  Sanskrit  MS.  on  birch  bark,  no  doubt 
imported  from  India.  All  these  remains  are 
said  to  be  of  the  eighth  century  or  earlier, 
for,  apparently,  these  towns  were  abandoned 
about  that  period.  In  a  rubbish  mound 
near  the  southern  edge  of  the  Domoko  oasis 
were  found  documents  in  the  Brahmi  script 
of  old  Khotan,  and  a  large  collection  of 
Chinese  records  on  wood  of  an  adminis- 
trative character.  Here  again  the  latest 
assumed  date  is  the    end    of   the    eighth 


86 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


century.  On  leaving  Khotan  Dr.  Stein  pro- 
ceeded to  Keriya,  but  no  particulars  of  his 
visit  are  yet  known. 

<$»         $         $ 

Mr.  Percy  E.  Newberry,  who  is  well  known 
for  his  archaeological  research  work  in  Egypt, 
has  been  appointed  to  the  Brunner  Chair  of 
Egyptology,  and  Mr.  John  Garstang  to  the 
John  Rankin  Chair  of  Methods  and  Practice 
of  Archaeology  at  the  Liverpool  University. 
The  terms  of  appointment  in  both  cases  are 
such  as  to  leave  both  professors  free  for  a 
certain  portion  of  each  year  to  continue  their 
work  of  exploration  and  research  wherever 
opportunity  may  serve. 

$  $  $ 
Mr.  George  Alp,  jun.,  blacksmith,  of  Great 
Wakering,  says  the  Essex  Herald  of 
January  29,  in  collecting  metal  to  sell  to  a 
London  iron  and  metal  merchant,  came 
across  a  piece  of  metal  that  had  been 
keeping  his  washhouse  door  open  for  the 
last  four  or  five  years.  On  turning  up  the 
side  that  had  been  on  the  ground  Mr.  Alp 
found  a  coin  the  shape  and  size  of  a  shilling. 
Having  made  this  discovery,  he  put  the 
metal  from  which  the  coin  came  into  the 
fire,  and  after  it  had  melted  down  he  found 
fifty-nine  coins — some  gold,  some  silver,  and 
some  copper.  Some  bear  the  date  1817 
and  1837,  and  on  others  the  dates  cannot 
be  made  out. 

$  &  «J? 
The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Morning 
Post  says  that  "  Mr  Joseph  Whitaker,  a 
member  of  the  well-known  English  family 
so  long  settled  in  Sicily,  is  just  about  to 
resume  the  very  interesting  excavations  which 
he  has  been  carrying  on  at  intervals  since 
March  of  last  year  in  the  little  island  of 
St.  Pantaleo  entirely  at  his  own  expense. 
St.  Pantaleo,  which  lies  in  the  shallow 
Stagnone  just  north  of  Marsala,  is  the  ancient 
Motye,  one  of  the  three  last  refuges  of  the 
Phoenician  colonists  of  Sicily,  whither,  as 
Thucydides  tells  us,  those  adventurous 
Orientals  were  forced  to  flee  before  the 
Greek  wave  of  immigration,  and  which  was 
destroyed  by  Dionysios  I.  of  Syracuse  in 
397  B.C.  Mr.  Whitaker,  some  twenty  years 
ago,  set  about  acquiring  the  island,  a  work 
of  considerable  difficulty,  as,  though  little 
more  than  two  miles  in  circumference,  it 


belonged  to  more  than  a  hundred  small 
proprietors.  When  he  had  at  last  bought 
them  all  out  he  began  excavating.  The 
ruins  of  ancient  houses,  two  fine  flights  of 
twenty-one  and  thirteen  steps  respectively, 
both  leading  down  to  the  sea,  and  a  small 
obelisk,  intended  as  a  votive  monument,  and 
similar  to  one  in  the  British  Museum,  but 
devoid  of  any  inscription,  were  the  results 
of  this  preliminary  search.  Mr.  Whitaker 
then  asked  Professor  Salinas,  of  Palermo, 
to  resume  the  work,  which  led  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  whole  line  of  fortifications 
round  the  island,  and  of  the  remains  of 
two  gates,  one  at  the  north-east  and  the 
other  at  the  scuth-west.  Near  the  latter 
Professor  Salinas  found  several  huge,  rounded 
battlements.  The  forthcoming  excavations 
will  be  made  in  the  interior  of  the  island.' 

♦  #    ♦      4p 

Early  in  January  interesting  discoveries  were 
made  on  the  site  of  what  appears  to  have 
been  an  ancient  burial-ground  on  Dover 
Hill,  leading  out  of  Folkestone.  More  than 
thirty  skeletons  were  unearthed,  and  Roman 
coins  found  in  the  graves  are  of  the  third 
century.  It  may  be  noted  that  in  the  imme- 
diate neighbourhood  of  the  burial-ground, 
in  a  very  commanding  position  on  the  crest 
of  the  hills,  is  what  is  known  to  this  day 
as  "  Caesar's  Camp." 

ft  4?  & 
Students  interested  in  Scottish  antiquities 
may  like  to  note  that  a  long  first  article  on 
"The  Romans  in  Scotland:  A  Retrospect 
and  a  Survey,"  from  the  very  competent  pen 
of  Dr.  George  Macdonald,  appeared  in  the 
Glasgow  Herald  of  February  9. 

4p       4p       4? 

The  Glastonbury  Abbey  Estate  is  to  be 
offered  for  sale  by  auction  in  the  month  of 
June  by  Mr.  Robert  Browning,  of  Wells. 
The  book  which  has  been  issued  giving 
particulars  of  the  properties  comprised  in 
the  sale  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  one. 
There  are  several  excellent  views  of  the 
historic  ruins,  and  the  story  of  Glastonbury 
Abbey  is  told  by  the  Rev.  Chancellor  Scott 
Holmes.  The  Abbey  House  Estate  com- 
prises a  residence  in  the  Tudor  style  of 
architecture,  dating  from  the  early  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Particulars  as  to 
the  mansion  and  estate  are  followed  by  the 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


87 


announcement :  "  In  a  portion  of  the  grounds 
stand  the  magnificent  historic  ruins  of 
Glastonbury  Abbey,  which  are  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation,  and  which  will  be  sold 
by  auction  in  one  lot  unless  previously  dis- 
posed of  by  private  treaty." 

4p       4p       & 

Another  of  the  city  of  York's  links  with  the 
past  is  in  danger  of  destruction.  The  ancient 
buildings  which  stand  on  the  Pavement,  at 
present  occupied  by  brewery  stores,  are,  it  is 
said,  shortly  to  be  taken  down,  owing  partly  to 
their  dangerous  condition,  and  partly  to  the 
exigencies  of  modern  requirements.  It  was 
in  one  of  the  rooms  of  these  buildings  that 
Henry  II. 's  first  Parliament  is  reputed  to 
have  met.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  city 
may  be  able  to  preserve  these  buildings,  both 
on  account  of  their  architectural  and  historical 
interest. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Shropshire  Parish 
Register  Society  was  held  at  the  Shire  Hall, 
Shrewsbury,  on  February  2,  the  Earl  of  Ply- 
mouth, president  of  the  society,  being  in  the 
chair.  The  report  of  the  council  was  pre- 
sented by  Sir  Offley  Wakeman,  Bart,  the 
chairman  of  the  council.  During  the  past 
year  the  registers  of  Middleton  Scriven, 
Deuxhill,  and  Glazeley,  Claverley,  Montford, 
Clive,  and  Habberley,  and  portions  of  the 
registers  of  Wem,  Wrockwardine  and  Oswes- 
try, together  with  nine  indexes,  were  issued 
to  members,  the  total  output  for  the  year 
being  1,528  pages.  This  large  output  is  due 
to  the  kindness  of  several  gentlemen  in  pay- 
ing the  whole  or  part  of  the  cost  of  particular 
registers  in  which  they  are  interested.  During 
the  year  bound  and  indexed  copies  of  their 
register  were  presented  to  the  incumbents  of 
nine  parishes,  thus  making  a  total  of  sixty- 
three  Shropshire  parishes  to  which  their 
registers  have  already  been  given.  Copies 
were  also  sent  to  the  diocesan  registries. 
The  society  has  been  in  existence  nine  years, 
and  during  that  time  has  printed  sixty-six 
parochial  registers,  from  their  commencement 
to  the  year  181 2,  and  ten  Nonconformist 
registers.  In  that  period  about  one-third  of 
the  total  registers  of  the  county  have  been 
printed.  Some  ninety  other  registers  have 
been  transcribed,  and  are  ready  for  printing 
as  soon  as  funds  permit.     The  report  gives  a 


useful  estimate  of  the  cost  of  printing  about 
sixty  of  these  transcripts,  the  cost  varying 
from  j£t>  to  ;£J45>  according  to  the  length 
of  the  register.  To  show  what  the  energy  of 
those  interested  in  the  matter  can  accomplish, 
it  was  stated  by  the  hon.  secretary  at  the 
meeting  that  one  member  of  the  society  has 
himself  transcribed  upwards  of  eighty  re- 
gisters. 

■fr         $»         #P 

"  During  the  course  of  excavations  on  the 
north  side  of  St.  Olave's  Church,  York,"  says 
the  Yorkshire  Herald  of  February  12,  "some 
interesting  archaeological  discoveries  have  been 
made.  The  excavations  were  embarked  upon 
to  prepare  the  foundations  of  a  new  chamber, 
abutting  at  right  angles  to  the  north  wall, 
which  is  to  provide  accommodation  for  an 
electrically  propelled  blowing  for  the  new 
organ.  When  the  workmen  engaged  upon 
the  undertaking  had  gone  a  few  feet  below 
the  surface  they  came  upon  the  foundations 
of  what  had  apparently  been  a  stone  cell  or 
apartment,  which  undoubtedly  at  one  time 
formed  part  of  an  ecclesiastical  building. 
Around  the  interior  of  the  apartment  runs  a 
stone  bench.  At  each  of  the  two  ends 
visible  is  a  stone  column,  one  of  which  has 
been  broken  off  near  the  base,  but  the  other 
is  almost  perfect.  From  a  capital  at  the  apex 
of  this  column  was  a  vaulting  rib,  and  it 
seems  very  probable  that  the  apartment  has 
had  a  groined  roof.  To  all  appearances  the 
building  continues  further  underground  than 
is  revealed  by  the  present  excavations,  and 
further  excavations  may  be  undertaken  to  see 
if  this  is  the  case.  Probably  if  this  were 
done  more  light  might  be  thrown  upon  the 
nature  and  character  of  the  building.  We 
understand  that  no  decision  has  been  come 
to  at  present  as  to  whether  there  shall  be 
further  excavations.  The  cell  is  almost,  but 
not  quite  parallel,  with  the  chancel  of  St. 
Olave's  Church,  diverting  a  little  from  the 
north-west.  As  to  what  the  building  was 
originally  it  is  impossible  to  say  definitely. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  it  may  have  formed 
an  integral  part  of  the  old  St.  Olave's  Church, 
but  this  view  is  not  supported  by  the  fact 
that  it  is  outside  the  spot  where  stood  the  old 
east  wall  of  the  church.  Another  suggestion 
is  that  it  was  originally  a  chapel  of  the  church, 
or  a  portion  of  a  monastic  building.     Mr.  G. 


88 


SOME  SUFFOLK  ARROW-HEADS. 


Benson,  architect,  of  Avenue  House,  who 
has  inspected  the  ruins,  inclines  to  the  view 
that  the  building  once  formed  part  of  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  although  he  adds  that  it  may 
have  belonged  to  St.  Olave's  Church,  which  is 
a  very  ancient  structure.  .  .  .  Within  the  cell 
there  was  discovered,  also  embedded  in  the 
earth,  a  fragment  of  beautifully  carved  stone, 
the  main  features  of  which  are  in  a  remark- 
able state  of  preservation.  It  is  conjectured 
that  the  fragment — the  quality  of  which  is 
what  is  known  as  Tadcaster  stone — has  at 
one  time  formed  part  of  a  shrine  or  a  tomb, 
as  it  ends  quite  abruptly,  as  though  having 
been  attached  to  a  wall.  Its  character,  too, 
points  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  only  a 
part  of  a  greater  piece  of  ornamental  sculpture. 
The  carving  is  fine  and  delicate,  the  figures 
of  angels  being  represented  upon  four  ornate 
panels.  The  four  angels  are  each  portrayed 
as  playing  musical  instruments,  one  a  pipe, 
another  a  fiddle  or  harp,  another  two  drums, 
and  another  an  instrument  that  resembles  an 
ancient  barrel-organ.  So  far  as  can  be  judged 
the  architecture  is  fourteenth-century  style." 


^ome  Suffolk  arroto=beat).s. 

By  Edward  R.  H.  Hancox. 


LTHOUGH  it  is  often  stated  that 
arrow-heads  of  flint  are  very 
common  in  many  parts  of  England, 
their  appearance  nowadays  is  not 
of  sufficiently  frequent  occurrence,  even  in 
districts  where  worked  flints  abound,  to 
justify  their  classification  among  antiquities 
which  may  be  readily  obtained.  Undoubtedly 
at  one  period  very  many  existed  upon  the 
surface  in  those  localities  where  Neolithic 
man  found  conditions  favourable  to  his 
occupation.  In  such  districts,  however, 
where  the  soil  has  been  under  cultivation  for 
any  length  of  time,  a  large  proportion  must 
have  been  destroyed,  and  now  only  at  rare 
intervals,  in  the  course  of  agricultural  opera- 
tions, is  a  perfect  specimen  exposed  in 
company  with  the  less  obvious  works  of 
prehistoric  man. 


On  the  Yorkshire  moors,  and  on  other 
uncultivated  tracts  in  the  east  of  England, 
probably  many  lie  hidden  a  little  below  the 
surface ;  and  many  beautiful  specimens  of 
Neolithic  art  are  undoubtedly  preserved  in 
the  alluvium  of  lake  and  river,  and  in  the 
peaty  soil  of  marshland  districts — favourite 
hunting-grounds  of  men  of  the  later  Stone 
Age. 

From  the  preponderance  of  Suffolk  speci- 
mens to  be  seen  in  public  and  private  collec- 
tions, it  may  be  assumed  that  Neolithic  man 


enjoyed  a  long  habitation  in  this  part  of  East 
Anglia ;  and  the  excellence  of  form  and 
surface  chipping  of  the  weapons,  and  their 
similarity  to  Danish  types,  would  suggest,  if 
not  an  intercourse  between  the  two  peoples, 
a  long  and  independent  apprenticeship  to  the 
art  of  working  in  flint. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  no  county  is  of 
greater  interest  to  the  devotee  of  this  branch 
of  prehistoric  archaeology  than  that  of  Suffolk. 
The  proximity  to  its  borders  of  Grimes 
Graves — the  largest  and  most  important 
prehistoric  flint-mines  known  in  this  country 


SOME  SUFFOLK  ARROW-HEADS. 


89 


— implies  a  demand  for  flint  by  a  large 
population  dwelling  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  although  it  is  probable  that 
the  chief  trade  of  these  mines  consisted  in 
the  raw  material  and  the  larger  implements, 


The  accompanying  illustrations  of  some 
Suffolk  types  of  Neolithic  arrow-heads  afford 
an  idea  of  the  beauty  of  these  lasting  records 
of  prehistoric  civilization;  the  accuracy  of 
form  and  delicacy  of  finish  of  the  originals 


PLATE  11. 


the  more  delicate  weapons  were  universally 
used  by  the  Neolithic  hunter  in  East  Anglia, 
and  were  fabricated  in  large  numbers,  prob- 
ably by  experts,  while  the  ability  to  produce 
an  equally  serviceable  but  rougher  article  may 
have  been  general. 

VOL.  III. 


fill  one  with  wonder  that  so  much  patience 
and  care  should  have  been  bestowed  upon 
the  production  of  weapons  destined  to  be 
either  lost  or  broken,  if  not  on  their  first 
mission,  at  least  after  a  short  period  of  use. 
The     weapon     first     figured     deservedly 


go 


SOME  SUFFOLK  ARROW-HEADS. 


occupies  the  premier  position.  It  is  of 
unusual  size,  and  was  found  at  Icklingham 
in  1873.  The  photograph  was  kindly  supplied 
me  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Fenton,  of  New  Oxford 
Street,  who  possesses  the  original.  Imple- 
ments of  this  size  are  regarded  by  Sir  John 


production  of  Neolithic  man,  and  it  would 
seem  that  the  transition  from  such  to  the 
stemmed,  and  then  the  stemmed  and  barbed, 
would  be  an  easy  and  natural  one ;  but  the 
beauty  of  form  and  finish  of  these  imple- 
ments, as  a  class,  argue  their  contemporary 


PLATE   III. 


Evans  as  having  been   used    as    spear  or 
javelin  heads  rather  than  as  arrow-tips. 

The  first  six  figures  of  Plate  II.  represent 
typical  examples  of  the  leaf-shaped  arrow- 
head found  in  the  county.  These  forms  are 
generally  considered  to  have  been  the  earlier 


use  with  the  better-known  and  perhaps  more 
generally  attractive  forms.  A  chronological 
arrangement  of  arrow-heads  of  the  Surface 
period,  however  apparently  rational,  would 
be  useless ;  such  an  arrangement  could  only 
be  made  in  the  case  of  implements  of  the 


SOME  SUFFOLK  ARROW-HEADS. 


9i 


Cave  and   Drift   periods,   where   geological 
considerations  come  to  our  aid. 

Fig.  t,  Plate  III.,  represents  a  fine  stemmed 
and  barbed  arrow-head  of  a  type  most  fre- 
quently met  with  in  the  county  of  Suffolk ; 
the'original  was  found  in  a  garden  at  Bright- 
well".  A  specimen  from  Ipswich  (Fig.  2) 
would  have  been  an  exceedingly  elegant  little 
weapon  but  for  an  obstinate  portion  of  its 
surface,  which  refused  to  yield  to  the  skill  of 
the  artist. 

The  central  figure  of  Plate  III.  is  that  of 
a  fine  specimen  of  [the  winged  type  of  arrow- 
head fashioned  into  triangular  shape  by  a 
series  of  parallel  or  ripple  flaking,  worked 
from  the  thicker  portion  of  the  flint.  The 
other  face  of  the'weapon  is  also  worked,  but 
less  carefully,  and  the  base  shows  similar 
treatment,  the  small  projecting  wing  being 
left,  probably  for  more  convenient  attach- 
ment to  the  shaft.  Implements  of  the  same 
general  character  have  occurred  in  the  north- 
west of  the  county,  and  also  in  Yorkshire. 

The  bottom  figure,  Plate  III.,  is  of  a  type 
of  rare  occurrence  in  England.  It,  as  well 
as  the  last  mentioned,  is  from  the  fruitful 
district  of  Martlesham,  near  Woodbridge, 
and  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Rector,  who 
kindly  lent  it  me  for  the  purpose  of  illustra- 
tion. 

Many  arrow-heads,  both  of  the  leaf-shaped 
and  also  the  stemmed  and  barbed  varieties, 
have  been  found  in  the  county  of  Suffolk, 
which,  while  showing  the  same  appreciation 
of  form,  were  left  untouched  on  one  or  both 
faces,  their  edges  merely  being  trimmed  into 
shape.  Such  are  represented  by  Fig.  3, 
Plate  II.,  and  Fig.  3,  Plate  III.  The  former, 
a  Nacton  find,  also  shows  a  portion  of  the 
original  crust  of  the  flint  on  the  face  which 
is  most  worked ;  the  latter  is  an  Icklingham 
example.  By  far  the  greater  proportion, 
however,  of  these  Suffolk  implements  are 
those  which  were  carefully  worked  on  both 
faces.  Of  the  last  three  figures  of  Plate  II., 
the  first  is  given  as  showing  the  order  in 
which  a  barbed  arrow-head  was  fashioned. 
Such  fragments  are  of  frequent  occurrence ; 
they  all  show  the  finished  point,  and  are 
worked  on  both  faces.  The  last  operation 
to  be  performed  was  the  notching  to  produce 
the  barbs,  when  probably  recourse  was  made 
to  direct  and  sharp  blows ;   this  treatment 


in  many  cases  damaged  the  implement,  which 
was  then  thrown  away  as  a  "waster."  The 
other  two  figures  probably  represent  imple- 
ments hurriedly  fashioned  to  meet  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  moment. 

In  these  days  of  fashion  to  collect,  almost 
everything  that  bears  the  stamp  of  age  comes 
within  the  range  of  objects  sought  for,  and 
often  the  ugliness  of  the  thing  gives  it  an 
added  charm.  There  are,  however,  very  few 
who  recognise  the  claim  of  flint  implements 
to  be  included  in  the  list  of  antiquities  worthy 
of  more  than  a  passing  notice ;  yet  it  will  not 
be  disputed  that  these  weapons  are  often 
works  of  art,  and  are  of  an  antiquity  far  greater 
than  can  be  claimed  for  many  of  the  various 
objects  that  find  favour  with  the  collector. 


€be  iftecent  Discotoetp  of  ©uman 
Eematns  at  iReatung. 

By  W.  Ravenscroft,  F.S.A. 


HE  discovery  of  human  remains  in 
the  Forbury  Gardens  at  Reading 
during  the  month  of  November, 
1906,  while  excavations  were  being 
made  for  the  purposes  of  a  drain,  opens  up  a 
most  interesting  inquiry,  and  suggests  a  pos- 
sible connection  between  the  most  ancient 
burial-ground  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Read- 
ing, and  the  place  of  sepulture  in  use  at  this 
very  day. 

The  present  paper,  however,  must  not  be 
supposed  to  do  more  than  suggest  such  pos- 
sible connection,  and  while  it  will  endeavour 
to  set  forth  facts  which  are,  or  have  been 
ascertainable,  at  the  same  time  it  will  en- 
deavour to  keep  such  facts  distinct  from 
inferences  drawn  from  them. 

Particulars  relating  to  the  recent  discovery 
will  be  dealt  with  in  due  course,  but  first  it 
is  proposed  to  call  attention  to  the  finding  of 
two  burial-places  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Reading,  on  which  the  late  Dr.  Stevens  has 
left  some  valuable  notes.  These  are  situated, 
the  one  at  a  little  distance  from  the  Dread- 
nought public-house,  which  stands  on  the 
banks  of  the  Thames  just  a  little  eastward  of 

m  2 


92     THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  HUMAN  REMAINS  AT  READING. 


the  junction  of  the  Kennet  with  the  main 
river,  and  through  which  the  Great  Western 
line  passes ;  the  other,  opposite  the  Jack  of 
Both  Sides  public-house,  which  stands  at  the 
junction  of  the  London  and  King's  Roads. 
This  cemetery  was  on  the  north  side  of 
King's  Road  just  opposite  the  Jack.  The 
former  of  these  two  burying-places  may  be 
regarded  as  chiefly  if  not  wholly  pagan  Saxon, 
the  latter  as  mainly  Christian  British  and 
Saxon.  With  the  latter,  therefore,  we  will 
first  deal. 

Dr.  Stevens's  paper  appeared  in  the  Berks, 
Bucks,  and  Oxon  Archccological  Journal  for 
January,  1896,  but  the  discovery  was  made 
in  1890.  It  was  during  excavations  for  the 
foundations  of  buildings  that  the  skeletons, 
etc.,  were  found,  and  a  series  of  the  crania 
was  arranged  in  the  Reading  Museum. 

Some  fifty  skeletons  were  uncovered  at 
three  different  levels,  the  lowest  on  a  bed  of 
gravel  at  6  feet  depth,  the  next  at  3  feet  to 
4  feet  depth,  and  the  uppermost  at  2  feet 
6  inches  depth.  The  material  of  the  grave- 
yard consisted  of  dark  loam  mixed  with  flint 
and  gravel.  The  bodies  occupying  the  lowest 
tier  were  orientated  after  the  Christian  manner, 
from  west  to  east.  Many  of  those  occupying 
the  upper  levels  were  lying  in  various  direc- 
tions, and  it  was  with  these  chiefly  that  relics 
were  found.  Stout  nails  were  found  in  some 
of  the  deepest  graves,  but  never  more  than 
three  in  a  grave,  implying  that  coffins  had 
been  used,  or  possibly  boards  simply  nailed 
together.  Some  thirty  nails  in  all  were  found, 
of  a  coarse  Romano-British  type.  In  the 
upper  graves  in  two  instances  what  appear  to 
have  been  grave-pins  were  present,  suggesting 
the  bodies  had  been  buried  in  wrappers. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  go  into 
details  of  the  discoveries  from  this  cemetery, 
but  a  few  of  them  throw  light  on  the  nature 
of  burial,  such  for  instance  as  in  the  case  of 
one  of  the  uppermost  bodies.  This  lay  at  a 
depth  of  about  2  feet  6  inches  from  the  sur- 
face, and  underneath  the  left  shoulder  some 
fragments  of  pewter  were  found,  which,  when 
put  together,  formed  a  rude  coffin-plate.  It 
was  pierced  with  two  small  holes,  apparently 
for  fixing  to  a  board,  but  no  traces  of  a  coffin 
were  found.  On  this  plate,  however,  were 
three  line-drawn  Greek  crosses,  which  cer- 
tainly suggest  Christian  burial.    Pewter  vessels 


were  also  found,  suggestive  of  the  poverty  of 
the  period,  and  a  cruciform  pewter  pendant. 
One  brick,  or  rather  tile  and  mortar  con- 
structed tomb,  was  discovered  with  finger 
bones,  and  a  circular  bronze  broad  buckle  of 
Saxon  type.  This  tomb,  however,  had  some 
appearance  of  having  been  rifled.  With  the 
lower  graves  were  found  fragments  of  Romano- 
British  pottery ;  and  the  discovery  of  a  foun- 
dation wall  of  coarse  flints  and  mortar,  very 
like  Romano-British  mortar,  suggests  a  pos- 
sible cemetery  chapel.  Generally  the  soil 
just  below  the  top  yielded  traces  of  various 
races  from  the  Romano-British  period  down 
to  the  fourteenth  century. 

In  summing  up  the  evidences  from  this 
cemetery,  Dr.  Stevens  points  out  that  it  was 
evidently  of  early  date  and  long  usage  ;  that 
the  absence  of  weapons  and  the  use  of  lead 
and  pewter  imply  a  settled  people,  but  with 
little  wealth  ;  that  it  was  a  place  of  general 
interment  from  the  fact  that  old,  middle- 
aged,  and  young  are  all  buried  there  ;  that 
difference  both  of  period  and  race  is  evidenced 
by  the  deepest  graves  being  orientated  and 
without  relics,  as  well  as  by  their  occupants 
being  tall,  with  globular  crania,  powerful 
jaws,  and  high  cheek-bones,  characteristic  of 
the  Celtic  race;  while  the  shallower  graves 
yield  secular  objects  with  the  bodies,  which 
were  not  buried  in  so  orderly  a  way,  their 
occupants  having  longer,  broader,  and  more 
capacious  skulls.  A  comparison  of  the  types 
of  these  two  shapes  of  skull  with  others  of 
ascertained  race  further  evidenced  the  sug- 
gestion that  we  have  here  found  a  Christian 
British  cemetery  afterwards  used  by  Christian 
Saxons,  but  from  whose  practices  pagan 
superstition  had  not  been  wholly  eliminated. 

So  much  then  for  the  Christian  cemetery, 
with  which  this  paper  has  first  dealt,  because 
it  appears  as  if  in  point  of  time  the  next  one 
to  be  reviewed  comes  in  between  the  dates 
to  which  we  assign  this  one.  In  other  words, 
we  get  first  of  all  the  British  burials  near  the 
Jack  of  Both  Sides ;  then,  probably,  the  pagan 
burials  to  which  we  are  about  to  turn,  and 
after  that  the  Christian  Saxon  burials,  which 
might  well  bring  us  down  to  about  a.d.  740. 
This,  however,  is  but  a  speculation,  although 
not  without  some  foundation. 

With  regard  to  the  pagan  cemetery,  as 
already  stated,  it  is  situated  close  to,  and, 


THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  HUMAN  REMAINS  AT  READING.     93 


*•  indeed,  in  part  at  least,  on  the  site  of  the 
Great  Western  line,  and  south-east  of  the 
Dreadnought  public-house.  It  was  discovered 
in  1 89 1,  while  excavations  were  being  made 
during  the  process  of  widening  the  line,  and 
formed  the  subject  of  a  paper  read  by  Dr. 
Stevens  in  1893  before  the  Winchester  Con- 
gress of  the  British  Archaeological  Associa- 
tion, and,  as  in  the  reference  to  the  other 
cemetery  in  this  paper,  information  is  largely 
drawn  from  what  Dr.  Stevens  says. 

First  of  all,  then,  there  were  no  tumuli ; 
but  they  may  have  been  previously  destroyed 
on  forming  the  line.  Unlike  the  former 
cemetery,  however,  in  this  case  the  bodies 
were  sufficiently  far  apart  to  have  made 
tumuli  possible,  although  it  is  not  unusual 
to  find  graves  without  tumuli  in  pagan  Saxon 
cemeteries.  The  interments  were  both  in- 
cinerated and  inhumed,  the  latter  lying  east 
and  west.  These  bodies  were  generally  but 
superficially  buried,  one  being  found  25 
inches  below  the  surface  only.  Dr.  Stevens 
enumerates  in  all  thirteen  interments,  of 
which  but  four  were  inhumed  burials,  and 
from  his  very  careful  examination  of  the 
ornaments  and  other  articles  found,  he  came 
to  the  conclusion  they  were  of  thoroughly 
Saxon  type,  and  remarks :  "  When  we  con- 
sider the  shallowness  of  these  interments,  the 
presence  of  secular  relics,  and  the  absence  of 
orientation,  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  are 
pagan,  although  probably  of  late  date.  The 
contemporaneous  practice  of  cremation  and 
inhumation  is  of  considerable  importance  in 
showing  when  the  heathen  custom  of  burning 
the  dead  was  on  the  point  of  change  to  the 
Christian  mode  of  sepulture." 

He  concludes  his  paper  by  remarking: 
"  As  Christianity  opposed  itself  to  the  prac- 
tice of  cremation  the  new  discoveries  that 
are  continually  turning  up  (and  will  to  a  yet 
greater  extent  as  the  country  becomes  more 
thoroughly  broken  up  under  the  exigencies  of 
an  increasing  population)  serve  to  show  with 
those  already  made  how  completely  England 
was  overrun  with  pagan  Teutons.  The  dual 
practice  of  cremation  with  inhumation  with 
relics  and  without  orientation  observed  in 
many  burial  -  places,  particularly  in  the 
Northern  counties,  evidences  that  the  one 
was  so  far  as  pagan  as  the  other.  Authorities 
have  not  been  wanting  who  have  advocated 


that  the  two' forms  were]coexistent  in  time 
and  place.  There  is  no  doubt  of  their  co- 
existence in  place,  but  if  they  cannot  be  cor- 
related in  time,  inhumation,  although  accom- 
panied with  pagan  accessories,  would  appear 
to  indicate  that  those  who  practised  it  were 
becoming  more  in  sympathy  with  the  Chris- 
tian form." 

We  now  come  to  the  recent  discoveries  in 
the  Forbury  Gardens,  and  the  facts  concern- 
ing these  are  as  follows  :  A  drain  was  required 
from  the  subway  leading  from  the  Forbury 
Gardens  to  the  abbey  ruins,  and  this  passes 
beneath  the  way  from  the  Abbot's  Walk  to 
the  grounds  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 
This  drain  of  necessity  had  to  be  deep,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  some  10  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground.  It  passed  to  the  Forbury 
Road  on  the  north  side  of  the  gardens, 
having  an  inclination  slightly  towards  the 
west,  but  not  very  great,  the  drain  running 
in  a  straight  line.  The  excavations  were 
commenced  at  the  northern  end,  and  gene- 
rally were  carried  down  to  the  gravel,  but  as 
the  work  proceeded  southwards  bodies  were 
found  at  about  4  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  the  first  remains  being  some- 
where opposite  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
church,  but  of  course  inside  the  gardens. 
From  this  point  southwards  enough  skele- 
tons were  found  to  account  for  some  forty 
bodies,  all  practically  having  their  feet  to- 
wards the  east.  They  were  of  varying  size, 
one  or  two  of  quite  young  people,  some  pos- 
sibly of  women.  Some  were  large,  and 
belonged  apparently  to  powerful  men,  and 
some  of  the  teeth  were  in  excellent  preserva- 
tion. No  trace  of  coffin-nails  or  grave-cloth 
pins  was  to  be  found,  or  of  wood  which  might 
account  for  coffins,  and  no  relics  appear  to 
have  been  buried  with  the  bodies,  except  a 
few  flint  chippings  and  oyster-shells.  There 
were  also  one  or  two  horse-bones  and  a  dog's 
tooth. 

In  one  or  two  cases  the  bodies  were 
very  close  together,  as  if  buried  one  over 
another  after,  perhaps,  a  considerable  lapse  of 
time,  and  in  one  or  two  instances  leg-bones 
were  disturbed,  possibly  by  being  interfered 
with  through  subsequent  burials,  but  there 
was  no  indication  of  bodies  having  been 
buried  in  a  cramped  position.  One  flint 
implement  of  a  rude  description  was  found, 


94     THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  HUMAN  REMAINS  AT  READING. 


but  in  all  probability  this  was  accidental,  and 
had  no  bearing  on  the  question  of  the  date 
of  these  burials.  No  traces  of  cremation  or 
of  cinerary  urns  were  discovered.  The  con- 
dition of  the  bones  was  very  dry,  and  all 
traces  of  gelatine  had  entirely  disappeared. 

Of  course,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
excavations  afforded  but  limited  scope  for 
research,  the  trench  being  nowhere  3  feet  in 
width,  and,  indeed,  it  is  remarkable  that  so 
narrow  a  cutting  should  yield  so  much.  It 
may  also  be  remarked  here,  that  some  thirty 
years  ago  three  bodies  were  reported  as  lying 
buried  in  the  North  Forbury  Road,  close  to 
what  is  now  the  North  gate  leading  from  that 
road  to  the  Forbury  Gardens,  all  orientated, 
and  that  since  then  others  have  been  found 
in  the  neighbourhood,  such  being,  apparently, 
from  the  description  given  of  them  of  more 
recent  date  than  those  under  review.  As 
the  excavations  approached  what  should  be 
the  site  of  the  north  wall  of  the  north  aisle  of 
the  nave  of  the  abbey  church,  there  became 
indications  of  disturbance  in  the  earth  running 
deeper  than  the  average  of  4  feet,  in  which 
the  bodies  were  found.  (By  the  way,  one 
body  is  reported  to  have  been  found  on  the 
gravel  at  a  depth  of  6  feet  from  the  surface.) 
The  deepest  part  of  this  disturbance  which 
slopes  each  way  from  the  average  of  4  feet 
until  a  depth  of  10  feet  is  reached,  is  at  a 
point  about  60  feet  north  of  the  present  south 
boundary  wall  of  the  Forbury  Gardens,  and 
is,  roughly  speaking,  somewhere  about  where 
the  north  wall  of  the  north  aisle  above  referred 
to  should  be  found.  Here  bones  have  been 
thrown  in  together,  evidently  after  having 
been  disturbed,  and  beneath  them  there  are 
flints  roughly  scattered  here  and  there,  and 
of  coarse  description,  with  remains  of  mortar. 

No  bodies  have  been  found  south  of  this 
point ;  indeed,  nothing  to  speak  of,  except  a 
fragment  or  two  of  encaustic  tile,  evidently  of 
the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century.  The 
older  remains  appear  to  be  those  nearer  to 
the  north  aisle  wall,  but  that  may  not  count 
for  very  much.  The  skulls  generally  were  of 
both  shapes,  round  and  oval,  but  this,  again, 
may  be  due  to  mixture  of  race,  and  the 
differences  not  greatly  marked.  Let  it  be 
remembered  we  are  still  recording  facts,  and 
so  we  will  turn  our  attention  to  the  doorway 
leading  from  the  south  aisle  of  the  abbey  to 


the  cloisters.  Here  we  have  the  bases  of 
what  appear  to  be  either  Norman  or  Tran- 
sitional shafts,  and  on  excavating  round  such 
it  was  found  that  at  a  distance  of  5  inches 
below  the  bottom  moulding  there  was  a  line 
on  the  masonry,  and  at  a  further  distance 
down  of  2 .1  inches  the  freestone  ceased,  and 
flints  were  found  tolerably  well  compacted  as 
a  foundation.  This  line  apparently  indicated 
the  floor  level  of  the  nave,  and  if  not  so,  it 
cannot  have  been  many  inches  away  from 
it  in  level.  Taking  this,  then,  as  a  datum,  a 
carefully  worked  out  section  gave  the  abbey 
floor  at  18  inches  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground  in  which  the  bodies  were  found,  or 
2  feet  6  inches  above  the  bodies  themselves. 
If  1  foot  were  allowed  as  the  distance  from 
the  abbey  floor  to  the  ground  outside,  and 
that  is  really  very  little,  we  should  get  the 
bodies  but  18  inches  under  the  ground-level 
outside  the  abbey  on  the  north  side.  More 
of  this,  however,  hereafter.  One  other  point 
might  be  mentioned,  and  that  is,  there  were 
under  several  of  the  skulls  very  coarsely  made 
tiles.  So  much,  then,  for  facts  ;  and  now  for 
inferences.  Of  course,  several  suggestions 
have  been  made  as  to  the  antiquity  of  these 
burials  ;  they  are  chiefly  as  follows  : 

1.  They  were  prehistoric. 

2.  They  were  the  result  of  the  battle  of 
871. 

3.  They  were  Saxon  Christians. 

4.  They  were  the  result  of  the  Civil  War. 

5.  They  were  victims  of  the  Plague. 

As  to  the  prehistoric  claim,  that  would 
seem  to  be  met  at  once  by  the  orientation  of 
these  skeletons,  as  well  as  by  the  absence  of 
really  anything — but  one  rough  flint — which 
would  justify  even  the  bare  suggestion,  and 
which,  in  point  of  date,  would  be  long  ages 
before  that  of  the  skeletons  under  review. 

That  they  were  the  result  of  the  battle  of 
871,  unless  exception  be  made  in  the  case  of 
a  few  Danes,  seems  unlikely  on  several 
grounds.  First,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
then  the  Danes  were  encamped  at  Reading, 
and  from  the  description  of  the  fight,  or, 
rather,  series  of  encounters  between  Danes 
and  Saxons  given  in  the  Anglo  -  Saxon 
Chronicle,  they  must  have  taken  place  con- 
siderably west  of  the  Forbury.  This  is  the 
record  :  "A.  871.  This  year  the  army  came 
to  Reading  in  Wessex ;  and  three  days  after 


THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  HUMAN  REMAINS  AT  READING.     95 


this,  two  of  their  earls  rode  forth.  Then 
Ethelwulf,  the  earldorman,  met  them  at 
Englefield,  and  there  fought  against  them 
and  got  the  victory  ;  and  there  one  of  them, 
whose  name  was  Sidrac,  was  slain.  About 
three  days  after  this  King  Ethelred  and 
Alfred  his  brother  led  a  large  force  to 
Reading,  and  fought  against  the  army,  and 
there  was  great  slaughter  made  on  either 
hand.  And  Ethelwulf  the  Earldorman  was 
slain,  and  the  Danishmen  had  possession  of 
the  place  of  carnage." 

Roger  de  Hoveden's  description  tells  us 
still  more,  for  he  says  : 

"These  (the  foraging  party  above  men- 
tioned) were  met  by  Ethelwulf  Earl  of  Berks, 
at  a  place  called  Englefield,  that  is,  '  the 
field  of  the  English.'  Here  both  parties 
fought  with  the  utmost  animosity  till,  one  of 
the  Danish  generals  being  killed  and  their 
army  being  either  routed  or  destroyed,  the 
Saxons  obtained  a  complete  victory.  Four 
days  after  this  battle  King  Ethelred  and  his 
brother  Alfred,  having  collected  their  forces, 
marched  to  Reading,  killing  and  destroying 
all  before  them  as  far  as  the  gates  of  the 
fortification.  At  length  the  Danes,  sallying 
out  from  all  the  gates,  attacked  the  victorious 
army,  when,  after  a  long  and  bloody  battle, 
the  Danes  obtained  the  victory." 

Now,  it  is  quite  likely  that  while  every  care 
would  be  taken  that  the  bodies  of  Sidrac  and 
any  other  chieftains  of  their  party,  or  even 
less  distinguished  Danes,  should  be  taken 
back  and  buried  within  their  lines,  it  is  not 
likely  the  same  treatment  would  be  accorded 
to  their  Saxon  foes,  so  that  if  there  is  any 
connection  between  this  burial-ground  and 
the  fight  of  871  it  would  be  but  a  limited 
one. 

Christian  burial  neither  party  would  get  at 
the  hands  of  the  Danes,  but  who  shall  say 
what  the  Forbury  Hill  would  show  if  opened, 
and  might  not  the  very  Yarl  Sidrac  himself 
lie  therein  ? 

That  they  were  the  outcome  of  the  Civil 
War,  or  the  Plague,  may  be  dismissed  at 
once,  since  the  presence  of  tiles  under  the 
heads,  and  of  shells  and  flints,  together  with 
the  absence  of  buttons,  implements  of  war, 
etc.,  would  render  the  former  untenable, 
while  the  latter  would  be  equally  so  from  the 
number  of  corpses  found  in  so  small  a  space 


of  excavation,  all  laid  in  order,  and  close  to 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  This  all  leads  to 
the  conclusion  that  here  we  have  the  first 
Christian  Saxon  graveyard  in  Reading.  Be 
it  noted,  the  word  graveyard  is  here  used  as 
distinct  from  cemetery,  to  indicate  the  yard 
around  the  church  in  which  the  Christian 
dead  were  laid. 

Evidences  in  favour  of  this  are  numerous, 
and  if  not  absolutely  conclusive,  they  are 
largely  so.  To  begin  with  we  have  seen  that, 
according  to  Dr.  Stevens,  the  cemetery  near 
the  Jack  of  Both  Sides  was  Romano-British 
first,  and  afterwards  Christian  Saxon.  Now, 
in  the  year  742,  Cuthbert,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (according  to  Weever)  introduced 
the  practice  of  burials  in  churchyards,  they 
having  previously  been  outside  the  towns, 
probably  as  a  survival  of  Roman  custom. 
Pagan  usages,  however,  died  hard,  and  even 
as  late  as  the  days  of  Canute  (1014)  enact- 
ments were  made  against  them.  Hence  the 
presence  of  pagan  relics  in  the  Saxon 
cemetery  by  the  "Jack."  Lord  Stowell 
(Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  537,  under  burial) 
says,  "  In  England,  about  a.d.  750,  spaces  of 
ground  adjoining  the  churches  were  carefully 
enclosed  and  solemnly  consecrated,  and 
appropriated  to  the  burial  of  those  who  had 
been  entitled  to  attend  Divine  service  in 
those  churches,  and  who  now  became  en- 
titled to  render  back  into  those  places  their 
remnants  to  earth,  the  common  mother  of 
mankind,  without  payment  for  the  ground 
which  they  were  to  occupy,  or  for  the  pious 
offices  which  solemnized  the  act  of  inter- 
ment." Kerry  remarks  (St.  Lawrence, 
Reading)  that  these  graveyards  and  their 
churches  were  inseparable,  and  that  from  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century  there  was  no 
parish  church  in  the  country  without  its 
graveyard,  and  no  graveyard  without  its 
parish  church  ;  moreover,  that  the  situation 
of  the  graveyards  was  regulated  entirely  by 
the  position  of  the  church,  and  not  vice  versa. 
Thus  he  says  :  "The  old  parish  Church  of 
St.  Lawrence  "  (possibly  then  dedicated  to 
St.  Matthew)  "  before  the  foundation  of  the 
Abbey,  stood  within  or  near  this  ancient 
Parish  Cemetery  " — stood  in  fact  in  the  heart 
of  the  old  Saxon  burgh. 

This   evidence   as   to   the   association  of 
churches   and   churchyards   naturally  raises 


96     THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  HUMAN  REMAINS  AT  READING. 


the  question  as  to  how  it  came  about  that 
the  church  of  St.  Lawrence  had  originally 
and  for  centuries  no  churchyard.  An  entry 
in  the  churchwarden's  accounts  for  the  parish 
of  St.  Lawrence  throws  light  upon  this. 
Coates'  account  runs  as  follows : 

"Churchyard.  In  the  year  1556,  Queen 
Mary  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish 
of  St.  Lawrence  '  a  certayne  grounde  lying 
next  unto  the  parishe  churche  ther,  ffor  to 
erecte  and  make  thereof  a  churche-yarde  for 
the  seid  churche  and  parishe,  as  by  the  wall 
and  enclosure  thereof,  then  and  ther  made, 
it  doth  and  may  appeare  which  seid  grounde 
for  the  seid  Churche-yarde  so  granted  was 
and  is  in  recompense  to  the  seid  inhabitantes 
and  parishe  of  and  for  another  churche-yarde 
of  late  belonging  unto  the  seid  parishe  lying 
next  unto  the  late  churche  of  the  late 
monastery  there  and  from  the  seid  inhabitants 
taken.  The  charge  for  the  makyng  of  the 
seid  newe  churche-yarde  was  borne  and  paied 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  sed  parishe  in 
manner  and  forme  as  hereafter  followeth  : — 
that  is  to  witt  for  ev'y  perch  of  the  seid  wall 
conteyning  XVIII  fetes  VIjs.'" 

The  churchyard  of  St.  Lawrence,  thus 
granted  by  Queen  Mary,  was  considerably 
smaller  than  the  present  one,  it  having  been 
enlarged  on  its  east  side  in  1791. 

From  this  it  will  be  tolerably  clear  that 
the  original  churchyard  was  the  one  under 
our  review,  viz.,  that  to  the  north  of  the 
abbey,  and  possibly  on  the  site  of  it  also, 
and  somewhere  here  must  have  been  the 
original  Saxon  parish  church. 

The  date  of  the  earliest  parts  of  St. 
Lawrence's  church  indicates  that  it  must  have 
been  built  somewhere  about  the  time  the 
abbey  was  founded,  or  shortly  after,  and  the 
obvious  conclusion  is  that  the  site  of  the  old 
Saxon  church  was  required  for  the  abbey, 
that  such  church  was  pulled  down  for  this 
same  purpose,  and  a  new  church  was  erected, 
being  no  other  than  that  of  St.  Lawrence. 
Thus  we  get  the  new  church  separated  from 
the  old  churchyard,  and  may  be  tolerably 
sure  that  had  there  not  been  rights  of  burial 
in  the  old  churchyard  before  the  acquisition 
of  the  land  by  the  abbey,  these  would  never 
have  been  granted  right  up  to  the  church 
wall,  but  rather  another  site,  in  all  probability 
such  as  now  forms  the  churchyard  of  St. 


Lawrence,  would  have  been  given.  And 
further,  this  churchwarden's  account  speaks 
of  the  older  churchyard  as  having  been  taken 
from  the  inhabitants,  indicating  that  at  the 
suppression,  or  subsequently  when  the  abbey 
grounds  passed  into  royal  hands,  this  was 
appropriated,  and  hence  reparation  would 
naturally  have  to  be  made,  this,  significantly 
enough,  being  done  by  Mary.  There  seems 
to  be  no  other  way  of  accounting  for  the 
possession  by  the  parish  of  this  older  church- 
yard, except  it  be  an  ownership  prior  to  the 
founding  of  the  abbey. 

In  passing,  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  at 
the  south-west  corner  of  the  chapterhouse, 
and  on  the  return  wall,  both  on  the  outside 
of  the  chapterhouse,  there  is  some  walling 
which,  from  the  zigzag  way  in  which  the 
flints  are  laid,  would  indicate  earlier  work 
than  any  other  part  of  the  abbey,  and  it  is 
also  worthy  of  note  that  this  portion  of  the 
wall  is  of  greater  thickness  than  the  abbey 
walling  generally.  This  may,  indeed,  have 
formed  a  portion  of  the  Saxon  church  which 
existed  after  1006,  when  the  Danes  destroyed 
the  town  ;  and  as  from  Domesday  Book  we 
learn  the  latter  was  rebuilt,  it  is  probable 
the  church  also  was  rebuilt  at  the  same  time, 
and  in  flint,  etc.,  instead  of  wattle  and  mud. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  evidence  we  get 
from  the  burials  themselves  ;  and  first,  as  to 
their  depth. 

They  are  nearly  all  some  4  feet  below  the 
present  surface  of  the  ground,  but  the  abbey 
floor  level,  as  has  already  been  shown,  was 
some  18  inches  below  this  level,  so  that, 
allowing  for  the  ground  on  the  north  side  of 
the  abbey  being  but  1  foot  lower  than  the 
nave  floor,  we  should  get  these  bodies  buried 
in  only  18  inches  of  earth.  If  they  had 
been  subsequent  to  the  abbey,  they  would 
never  surely  have  been  allowed  at  such  a 
shallow  depth  ;  but  if,  as  it  would  be  quite 
reasonable  to  suppose,  the  land  northward 
of  the  abbey  was  levelled  down  at  its 
building,  this  would  account  for  the  shallow- 
ness of  the  burials. 

The  absence  of  any  discovery  of  inter- 
ments under  the  floor  of  the  abbey  does  not 
count  for  much,  seeing  at  the  demolition  not 
only  were  the  wrought  stones  taken  away, 
but  in  the  case  of  the  little  bit  of  aisle  wall 
we  ought    to    have    found,   the    very   flint 


THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  HUMAN  REMAINS  AT  READING.     97 


foundations  were  also  removed.  The  made 
ground,  the  jumbled  conditions  of  bones 
about  here,  all  indicate  that  excavations  were 
made  subsequently  to  the  suppression  of  the 
abbey;  and,  moreover,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  recent  trench  ran  but  a 
short  way  under  the  abbey  floor,  so  that 
there  was  not  much  scope  for  discovery. 
Not  only  so,  but  in  building  the  abbey  it  is 
just  possible  any  bodies  found  might  have 
been  removed. 

As  regards  the  further  evidences  of  this 
being  a  Christian  burial-ground,  we  have  : 

1.  The  orientation  of  the  bodies. 

2.  The  absence  of  pagan  relics. 

3.  The  absence  of  incineration. 

The  arguments  for  this  being  a  Saxon 
burial-ground  are  : 

1.  The  similarity  of  shape  and  character 
of  the  skulls  to  other  known  Saxon  skulls. 

2.  The  absence  of  gelatine  from  skulls 
and  bones,  indicating  considerable  age. 

3.  The  presence  of  flints  and  oyster  shells, 
the  placing  of  which  some  regard  as  corre- 
sponding to  the  present  practice  of  throwing 
in  earth,  etc. ;  flints  and  shells  are  found 
both  in  Romano-British  and  Saxon  burials. 

4.  The  comparative  shallowness  of  the 
interments. 

5.  The  greater  apparent  age  of  skeletons 
found  near  the  abbey  church  would  suggest 
that  after  its  building  burials  would  be  carried 
on  further  north,  but  there  is  not  sufficient 
evidence  as  yet  on  this  point  to  draw  any 
definite  inference  from  it. 

6.  The  presence  of  tiles  under  the  heads 
upon  which  subject  Professor  Rolleston 
remarks : 

{Scientific  Papers  and  Addresses,  Rolleston, 
ed.  1884,  p.  683.)  "In  some  cases  it 
is  possible  to  be  nearly  sure  that  we  have  to 
deal  with  an  Anglo-Saxon,  even  though  there 
be  no  arms  or  insignia  in  the  grave.  These 
cases  are  those  in  which  we  have  evidence 
from  the  presence  of  stones  under  the  skull 
that  no  coffin  was  employed  in  the  burial, 
and  in  which  stones  are  set  alongside  of  the 
grave  as  if  vicariously. 

If  thus  we  may  be  allowed  to  conclude  we 
have  found  the  original  Saxon  churchyard  of 
Reading,  we  have  a  series  of  burial-grounds 
extending  from  the  times  when  the  Romans 

VOL.  III. 


occupied  our  land  to  the  present  day.  First 
the  cemetery  by  the  Jack  of  Both  Sides — 
Romano-British  and  Christian ;  then  the 
pagan  cemetery  near  the  Dreadnought ;  then 
the  Saxon  burials  in  the  first-named  cemetery, 
also  Christian,  extending  probably  down  to 
about  750  ;  then  the  first  churchyard,  in  the 
Forbury  Gardens,  and  close  to  the  abbey  ; 
then  the  churchyard  of  St.  Lawrence  formed 
in  1556,  and  lastly,  the  present  cemetery  of 
the  town. 

One  ventures  to  think  very  few  towns  in 
England  or  elsewhere  can  show  such  a  long 
succession  of  burials  as  we  have  here  in 
Reading,  and  as  regards  the  recent  discoveries 
one  is  tempted  to  add  :  if  the  church  was 
the  centre  of  the  churchyard,  and  both  were 
the  centre  of  the  Christian  Saxon  town, 
surely  we  have  a  strong  confirmation  here  of 
the  site  of  Saxon  Reading  being  eastward  or 
St.  Lawrence's  church,  and  on  the  higher 
ground  between  the  Thames  and  the  Kennet. 

Two  things  only  remain  to  be  said  :  One 
is,  that  further  excavations  are  greatly  to  be 
desired,  and  surely  ought  to  be  forthwith 
undertaken,  including  the  boring  of  the 
mound  ;  the  other,  that  in  the  preparation  of 
this  paper  one  would  desire  to  warmly 
express  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Colyer,  of  the 
Reading  Museum,  for  help,  without  which  it 
could  not  have  been  written.  Also  to  the 
Rev.  Alan  Cheales  for  valuable  assistance  in 
collecting  evidence. 

Since  the  foregoing  notes  were  written 
Mr.  Colyer  has  kindly  furnished  the  follow- 
particulars  which  have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  question  under  review. 

A  comparison  of  the  skulls,  or  at  least  six 
of  the  skulls  found  in  the  Forbury  Gardens 
with  six  Saxon  skulls  taken  in  the  following 
order  from  Davis's  "  Crania  Brittannica  "  (the 
best  work  on  the  subject),  resulted  in  the 
following : 

Average  circumference  of  Forbury  skulls 
2i|  inches;  average  circumference  of  Saxon 
skulls  from  "Crania  Brittannica"  2i|  inches. 

Average  length  of  Forbury  skulls  7*47 
inches  ;  average  length  of  Saxon  skulls  from 
Crania  Britamiica  7*5  inches. 

Average  width  of  Forbury  skulls  5.34 
inches  ;  average  width  of  Saxon  skulls  from 
Crania  Britannica  5*5  inches. 

N 


98 


OLD  HALIFAX. 


Th:  imperfect  condition  of  skulls  made 
other  measurements  impossible. 

The  skull  of  a  Saxon  found  by  Dr.  Stevens 
with  a  pewter  pendant,  at  King's  Road 
cemetery,  is  almost  identical  in  all  measure- 
ments with  the  Forbury  specimens. 

Two  Norman  skulls  in  the  museum  are 
more  globular,  being  wider  but  not  so  long. 
Romano-British  skulls  are  also  of  a  larger 
size.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
bone  of  both  the  Norman  skulls — one  is 
of  a  knight-templar  from  Brimpton  (period 
1300-1320),  is  full  of  gelatine,  while  those 
from  the  Forbury  show  no  trace  of  it. 

My 


volume  may  be  considered  a  final  statement 
of  all  that  is  known  relating  to  a  curious 
chapter  in  eighteenth  century  social  history. 
Of  more  interest  to  antiquaries  generally  are 
Mr.  Roth's  little  excursuses  on  such  related 
topics  as  the  state  of  the  coinage  at  the  time, 
and  pocket  guinea  and  sovereign  balances. 
The  latter  were  sold  to  the  public  for 
their  protection  against  the  clipping  and 
counterfeiting  of  coins.  People  carried 
balances  in  their  pockets  so  as  tc  be  able 
to  test  proffered  guineas  or  sovereigns  for 
themselves.  Mr.  Roth  figures  and  describes 
several   Yorkshire    examples    of    these    ap- 


[GU1NEA    BALANCE    IN    15ANKKIELD    MUSEUM. 


©it)  ©alifar/ 


HIS  volume  is  somewhat  of  the 
nature  of  a  miscellany.  In  the 
first  part  Mr.  Ling  Roth  gives  the 
fullest  account  yet  printed  of  the 
operations,  detection,  trial,  and  punishment, 
of  a  gang  of  coiners  who,  in  the  years  1769- 
1783,  carried  on  their  nefarious  work  in  a 
quiet  corner  of  the  lonely  moorlands  near 
Halifax.  The  news  paragraphs  in  the  local 
papers,  the  relative  advertisements,  state- 
ments of  witnesses,  proofs  of  evidence  (in 
the  briefs),  proclamations,  and  so  forth,  are 
given    verbatim,   so   that   this   part    of    the 

*  The  Yorkshire  Coiners,  1 767- 1783,  and  Notes 
on  Old  and  Prehistoric  Halifax.  By  H.  Ling  Roth. 
With  many  illustrations,  and  chapters  by  John  Lister, 
M.A. ,  anil  J.  Lawson  Russell,  M.B.  Halifax: 
/'.  King  ami  Sons,  Limited,  1905,  410.,  pp.  xxvii, 
322.  Price  21s.  net.  We  are  indebted  to  the 
publishers'  courtesy  for  the  use  of  the  blocks. 


p'iances.  The  one  shown  above  is  "a 
typical  balance,  with  the  movable  '  turn ' 
indicated  by  dotted  lines.  The  directions  in 
the  case  are,  'The  turn  at  the  end  for  a 
guinea  ;  to  the  centre  for  half  a  guinea  ;  and 
the  slide  at  the  cypher  where  it  stops  ;  every 
stop  nearer  the  centre  is  a  farthing  above 
the  currency;  the  divisions  the  other  way 
are  a  penny  each,  for  the  light  gold.'  "  This 
was  made  by  Wilkinson,  of  Kirkby,  near 
Liverpool.  There  is  a  similar  balance  by 
the  same  maker  in  the  Chadwick  Museum 
at  Bolton,  but  fitted  in  a  brass  instead  of  a 
wooden  box. 

Another  interesting  balance  is  that  here 
figured.  It  is  of  iron,  and  was  used  for  weigh- 
ing and  gauging  the  thickness  of  diameter 
of  guineas,  half-guineas,  and  third  guineas. 
It  is  now  in  York  Museum.  Many  of  the 
pocket  balances  were  not  only  ingenious  in 
design,  but  remarkably  compact  and  handy 
when  folded  up.  Mr.  Roth  quotes  an 
amusing   incident  from   a   Newcastle  news- 


OLD  HALIFAX. 


99 


paper  of  December,  1773:  "Sunday  Se'n- 
night  a  Clergyman  in  the  North,  remarkable 
for  his  moderation  in  the  tyth-laws,  having 
left  his  sermon  at  home,  dispatched  the 
beadle  for  the  same,  who  returned  with  a 
small  parcel  wrapped  up  in  cloth  ;  and  the 
pastor,  supposing  it  to  be  the  discourse  for 
the  day,  ascended  the  pulpit  therewith, 
when,  on  opening  the  budget,  he  was  not 
a  little  Confounded  to  find,  instead  of  the 
sermon,  A  Small  Box  with  Gold  Scales 
and  Weights.  As  time  would  not  admit 
a  second  messenger  to  go  and  return,  the 
congregation  were  dismissed  with  the  usual 
benediction." 


the  Manor  of  Wakefield — and  conveys  much 
information  in  a  readable,  pleasant  fashion. 
Mr.  Lister  remarks,  what  is  certainly  curious, 
that  he  has  not  yet  found  in  the  court  rolls 
"any  entries — so  often  to  be  found  in  other 
manors — which  indicate  the  ravages  of  the 
terrible  'Black  Death  '  of  1348-49,"  though 
he  quotes  a  reference  to  the  pestilence  of 
1361-62. 

One  of  the  most  curious  (and  familiar) 
items  in  the  history  of  Halifax  is  its  famous 
Gibbet  Law.  At  page  131  Mr.  Lister  quotes 
an  early  reference  to  this  of  1360,  and  clears 
away  the  confusion  of  the  Gibbet  Law  with 
forest   law — connected   with  "  the  probably 


IRON  GUINEA  BALANCE  IN  YORK  MUSEUM. 


The  second  and  third  parts  of  the  volume 
consist  of  notes  on  old  and  prehistoric 
Halifax.  We  could  have  wished  that  the 
contents  of  these  parts  had  been  better 
digested  and  arranged  —  they  begin  with 
mediaeval  and  end  with  prehistoric  Halifax — 
but  they  abound  in  matters  of  interest.  The 
principal  chapter — "The  Making  of  Halifax" 
— is  by  Mr.  John  Lister,  who  sketches  the 
history  of  the  town,  as  seen  from  various 
points  of  view,  from  the  thirteenth  century 
onwards.  The  narrative  is  founded  upon 
the  original  authorities — charters,  the  Arch- 
bishops' registers  at  York,  the  coroners'  rolls 
in  the  Record  Office,  and  the  court  rolls  of 


mythical  '  Forest  of  Hardwick  '  " — and  then 
continues  his  general  history  of  the  town  and 
of  the  development  of  its  woollen  trade. 
But  a  little  later  in  the  book  he  gives  a 
special  chapter  (pp.  192-206)  to  the  Gibbet 
Law — the  privilege  of  beheading  criminals 
without  regular  trial,  when  caught  red-handed 
— which  survived  in  Halifax  so  long  after  it 
had  been  abandoned  elsewhere.  He  refers 
to  another  suggested  origin  for  the  custom, 
which  has  been  proposed  by  several  writers, 
who  connect  it  with  the  cloth  trade.  He 
quotes  from  a  manuscript  in  the  Lansdowne 
Collection,  British  Museum,  a  curious  pas- 
sage,   hitherto    unpublished,    in   which   the 

N  2 


100 


OLD  HALIFAX. 


writer,  a  Mr.  James  Ryder,  in  Commendations 
of  Yorkshire,  addressed  to  Lord  Burleigh, 
and  dated  January  3,  1589,  speaks  in  high 
praise  of  the  clothiers  of  the  county,  and 
especially  of  those  of  Halifax.  "These,  I 
say,"  says  Ryder  of  the  Halifax  clothiers, 
"  excel  the  rest  in  policy  and  industry 
for  the  use  of  their  trade  and  grounds, 
and,  after  the  rude  and  arrogant  manner 
of  their  wild  country,  they  surpass  the  rest 
in     wisdom     and     wealth.      They    despise 


facsimile  of  illustration'  of  thf.  gibbet  in 
Jacob's  "history  of  Halifax,"  1789. 

their  old  fashions  if  they  can  hear  of  a 
new,  more  commodious,  rather  affecting 
novelties  than  allied  to  old  ceremonies. 
Only  the  ancient  custom  of  beheading  such 
as  are  apprehended  for  theft  without  trial 
after  the  course  of  law,  they  are  driven  by 
the  same  need  and  necessity  to  continue 
that  enforced  them  to  take  it  up  at  the  first, 
otherwise  their  trade  in  that  wild  place  could 
not  have  been."  A  side-note  to  this  passage 
says  :  "  By  cutting  off  these  heads  they  cut 
off  much  untruth  that  the  rest  of  the  country 


is  troubled  with."  But  this  plausible  story 
is  as  unreal  as  that  which  connects  the 
Gibbet  with  forest  law.  The  "  Halifax 
Law "  was  a  survival  simply  of  the  old 
manorial  privilege  of  Infangthief  and  Utfang- 
thief.  The  chapter  is  illustrated  by  several 
pictures  from  old  books  of  the  gibbet, 
mostly  founded  on  fancy.  The  one  repro- 
duced opposite  is  a  facsimile  of  the  illustration 
in  Jacob's  History  of  Halifax,  1789.  It  has 
the  words  "John  Hoyle  del.  1650"  en- 
graved at  foot.  The  original  gibbet  plat- 
form was  brought  to  light  in  1839. 

Besides  these  historical  chapters  by  Mr. 
Lister,  the  second  part  of  the  volume  con- 
tains a  miscellany  of  sections  dealing  with 
various  aspects  of  bygone  Halifax.  One 
gives  "  The  Genesis  of  the  Halifax  Manufac- 
turers' Hall " ;  another  contains  delicate  re- 
productions of  pencil  drawings  of  old  houses, 
etc.,  in  and  near  Halifax,  made  by  T.  Binns 
in  the  years  1841-1856 ;  and  a  third  contains 
an  interesting  set  of  illustrations  of  old 
domestic  utensils,  ladies'  headgear,  "tally" 
irons,  jugs,  spoons,  stone  ovens,  etc.  Two 
chapters  are  given  to  some  notable  Halifax 
folk,  especially  the  Frobishers  and  Rawsons ; 
another,  abundantly  illustrated,  to  old  trade 
and  school  handbills  and  advertisements ; 
and  a  few  pages  are  occupied  by  a  descrip- 
tion of  "  The  House  at  the  Maypole " — a 
house  of  Henry  VII. 's  time,  which  formerly 
stood  in  Halifax,  at  the  corner  of  Crown 
Street  and  Corn  Market.  It  was  pulled 
down  in  the  summer  of  1890,  to  make  way, 
as  usual,  for  "  modern  improvements  " ;  but 
having  been  bought  by  Mr.  Lister,  its  de- 
molition was  very  carefully  superintended, 
and  it  was  re-erected,  as  shown  in  the  illus- 
tration, on  the  hillside  at  Shibden.  The 
situation  for  an  ancient  town-house  is  some- 
what incongruous,  but  gratitude  is  due  to  the 
generous  owner  for  preserving  so  interesting 
a  specimen  of  old-time  building.  The  care- 
ful description  of  the  house  is  accompanied 
by  many  illustrations  of  details. 

The  third  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to 
"  Prehistoric  Halifax,"  and  contains  two 
chapters.  The  first  deals  with  "Scattered 
Remains,"  and  records  much  careless  and 
unscientific  excavation,  and  many  miscel- 
laneous finds  of  flint  implements,  polished 
stone    celts,    bronze    celts    and    palstaves, 


OLD  HALIFAX. 


IOI 


-^     V 


THE    "HOUSE  AT  THE   MAYPOLE "  AS   RE-ERECTED   AT   SHIBDEN  AND   NOW   KNOWN  AS   DAISYBANK. 


cinerary  urns,  etc.  The  second  chapter,  by 
Mr.  J.  Lawson  Russell,  M.B.,  contains  an 
account  of  the  opening  of  the  grassy  circle 
known  as  Blackheath  Barrow,  near  Tod- 
morden,  and  of  the  relics  found  therein — a 
very  interesting  and  suggestive  narrative.  It 
only  remains  to  be  added  that  the  book, 
which,  as  we  have  indicated,  is  abundantly 
illustrated,  is  well  printed  and  satisfactorily 
produced.  There  is  a  full  index  of  names, 
but,  unfortunately,  of  names  only. 

H.  R.  C. 


Cfce  IPiiffrimage  of  t&e  Eoman 

mm. 

By  H.  F.  A  bell. 

I.—  SEGEDUNUM  TO  CILURNUM. 

|T  entirely  depends  upon  the  spirit 
in  which  the  pilgrim  embarks  upon 
the  exploration  of  what  is  certainly 
the  most  interesting  relic  of  Roman 
rule  in  Britain,  and  possibly,  from  its  unique 
character,  out  of  Italy,   whether  he  travels 


102 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


from  the  very  beginning  to  the  very  end — 
from  the  busy  Northumbrian  shipyard  to  the 
lone,  silent  little  Cumbrian  coast  village — or 
whether  he  starts  further  along,  where  the 
evidences  of  its  existence  are  most  palpable 
and  most  interesting ;  whether,  in  fact,  he 
goes  as  a  Dryasdust  or  as  a  holiday-maker 
of  antiquarian  tastes. 

The  writer,  who  has  performed  the 
pilgrimage  more  or  less  thoroughly  half  a 
dozen  times,  would  recommend  to  the 
ordinary  visitor,  as  distinguished  from  the 
profound  investigator,  a  start,  say  at  Harlow 
Hill,  some  fifteen  miles  from  Newcastle  ;  for, 
although  between  the  actual  starting  point 
of  the  Wall  in  Messrs.  Swan  and  Hunter's 
shipyard  at  Wallsend,  and  Harlow  there  are 
scattered  objects  of  real  interest,  the  con- 
tinuity is  necessarily  very  much  broken  in  a 
district  where  the  exigencies  of  a  tremendous 
commerce  have  obliterated  much  that,  how- 
ever valuable  from  a  historical  point  of  view, 
is,  after  all,  sentimentally  attractive. 

A  few  hints  before  starting.  If  you  can 
walk,  by  all  means  do  so ;  it  is  the  best  way 
of  doing  the  Roman  Wall,  for  he  who  tramps 
enjoys  a  hundred  advantages  over  him  who 
rides  and  drives  here.  Still,  much  of  the 
journey  of  seventy -five  miles  can  be  per- 
formed on  wheels.  But  for  the  most  fasci- 
nating, most  interesting,  and  most  romantic 
part,  walking  is  necessary.  A  week  is  none 
too  much  to  spend  on  the  Wall,  but  it  can  be 
easily  tramped  in  four  days  by  him  who  does 
not  sketch  nor  photograph,  who  can  live  on 
temperance  drinks,  and  who  does  not  want  to 
stop  and  argue  about  trifles,  thus  :  First  day, 
Newcastle  to  Chollerford ;  second  day, 
Chollerford  to  Gilsland ;  third  day,  Gilsland 
to  Carlisle  ;  fourth  day,  Carlisle  to  Bowness 
on  Solway  and  back. 

Well,  for  the  benefit  of  south  country 
enthusiasts,  I  shall  do  it  from  end  to  end. 

A  few  particulars  about  the  Wall : 

It  was  seventy-five  miles  long.  It  was  on 
an  average  8  feet  thick,  and  14  feet  high, 
including  the  parapet  It  was  built  of 
wedge-shaped  facing  stones,  about  17  inches 
long,  9  inches  broad,  and  8  inches  thick, 
enclosing  rubble  cemented  with  lime,  mixed 
with  sand  and  gravel,  and  poured  in  fresh, 
thus  giving  an  almost  indestructible  con- 
sistency.     Thus,  when  1  shall  speak  of  a 


piece  of  the  wall  being  eight  courses  high,  I 
shall  mean  about  5  feet  4  inches. 

Along  the  Wall  were  twelve  stations,  some 
of  them  practically  towns ;  within  easy 
distance  were  three  more,  the  sites  of  all  of 
which  are  accurately  known,  and  all  of  which 
have  been  more  or  less  explored.  Between 
these  stations  were  mile-castles,  forty-seven 
of  which  have  been  located ;  and  between 
the  mile  castles,  at  distances  of  350  yards 
apart,  were  stone  turrets. 

The  sites  of  fifteen  supporting  camps 
north  and  south  of  the  Wall  have  been 
marked ;  but,  of  course,  there  were  many 
more,  so  that  a  perfect  system  of  constant 
and  rapid  communication  was  established, 
not  only  from  end  to  end  of  the  Wall  itself, 
but  with  depots  and  bases  away  from  it. 

North  of  the  Wall  ran  a  ditch,  varying  from 
2  5  t0  35  feet  ,n  width,  and  about  15  feet 
deep.  This  ditch  exists  in  wonderful  per- 
fection along  a  great  portion  of  the  wall-site 
— indeed,  it  is  deepest  and  clearest  where 
the  Wall  itself  has  disappeared.  South  of  the 
Wall,  at  a  distance  of  about  20  feet,  ran  a 
paved  military  road,  curbed  at  each  side  and 
double  curbed  in  the  middle,  about  20  feet 
wide.  In  one  or  two  places  traces  of  a  paved 
footway  nearer  the  Wall  have  been  found, 
and  of  ditches  on  either  side  of  the  road. 
At  a  distance  varying  from  200  feet  to  half  a 
mile,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  country, 
a  series  of  earthworks  accompanies  the  Wall 
on  its  southern  side,  consisting  of  a  north 
mound,  a  berm,  a  ditch,  a  ditch  marginal 
mound,  a  berm,  and  a  third  mound.  These 
constitute  the  vallum.  About  this  vallum 
there  has  been  more  controversy  than  about 
any  other  detail  of  the  Wall  system.  It  has 
been  considered  to  have  been  a  line  of  com- 
munication, a  protection  against  attack  from 
the  south,  a  previous  work  to  the  Wall,  and, 
lastly,  a  fortification  built  contemporaneously 
with  the  Wall  for  the  protection  of  the  quarry- 
men  and  the  road  and  Wall  builders. 

I  do  not  presume  to  give  an  opinion,  but 
I  incline  to  the  last  theory. 

Now  to  our  journey. 

In  Messrs.  Swan  and  Hunter's  shipyard  at 
Wallsend  the  great  Wall  starts  on  its  western 
journey.  Not  a  trace  of  the  Wall  itself  exists 
here  to-day  above  ground,  although  in  1903 
a   10-feet  length,  about  4^    feet   high,  was 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


103 


exposed  on  digging  away  the  steep  bank  on 
the  north  side  of  the  shipyard.  Camp 
House  marks  the  south-east  angle  of  the 
station  of  Segedunum,  and  from  here  the 
Wall  went  to  the  river.  The  garrison  con- 
sisted of  the  fourth  cohort  of  the  Lingones,  a 
people  of  Belgic  Gaul. 

Passing  along  Roman  Wall  Street,  at  the 
back  of  Carville  Street,  we  notice  near  Stotes 
House  Farm  a  series  of  ponds  which  mark 
the  line  of  the  north  ditch  of  the  Wall,  and 
this  is  at  intervals  traceable  in  the  fields  by 
Old  Walker  and  Byker  Hill.  Naturally,  we 
do  not  expect  to  find  many  traces  of  the 
second  station,  Pons  (Elii,  in  the  busy  streets 
of  Newcastle,  but  it  stood  to  the  south  of 
St.  Nicholas  Church.  We  may  therefore 
push  through  the  "  canny  town  "  and  follow 
Westgate  Street  out  of  the  city  to  Benwell, 
where  was  the  third  station,  Condercum,  two 
miles  from  Newcastle. 

The  road,  which  has  run  from  Newcastle 
on  the  top  of  the  Wall,  cuts  Condercum  in 
half.  A  reservoir  occupies  the  northern  half, 
but  in  private  grounds  on  the  south  side  of 
the  road  some  ramparts  are  distinct,  and  in 
the  garden  of  Condercum  House  may  be 
seen  the  circular  apse  of  a  sacellum,  where 
were  found  two  altars  dedicated  to  what  was, 
perhaps,  a  local  god,  Antenociticus.  At 
East  Denton,  a  mile  on,  we  see  the  first 
actual  piece  of  the  Wall  above  ground,  a 
fragment  two  courses  high.  The  north  fosse 
and  the  south  vallum  are  here  distinct. 
Denton  Hall,  an  interesting  gabled,  ivy-clad 
house  on  our  right,  was  famous  as  the  resi- 
dence of  Mrs.  Montagu,  who  entertained 
here  Johnson,  Reynolds,  Garrick,  Beattie, 
and  other  literary  giants  of  the  latter 
eighteenth  century.  "  Silky  of  Denton,"  the 
ghost  of  a  jealous  murderess,  was  seen,  or 
heard,  I  am  not  sure  which,  so  lately  as 
1884. 

At  West  Denton  a  mound  near  a  lodge 
gate  marks  our  first  mile-castle.  A  mile 
further,  at  Walbottle  Dene,  the  north  gate- 
way of  another  has  been  preserved.  Two 
miles  on,  just  before  Heddon  on  the  Wall, 
the  north  ditch  and  the  vallum  works,  espe- 
cially the  ditch  of  the  latter,  on  the  south, 
are  very  distinct ;  and  further  on,  over  the 
road-wall  on  the  left,  is  the  first  really  good 
piece  of  the  Wall  we  have  seen,  six  courses 


high  on  its  faces.  In  the  Wall  is  a  circular 
chamber,  7  feet  in  diameter,  with  a  small 
slanting  passage  leading  from  it,  which 
puzzles  antiquaries,  as  nothing  like  it  has 
been  found  in  the  Wall  elsewhere.  The 
road  to  Corbridge  branches  off  to  the  left 
here,  but  we  keep  straight  on  along  the 
military  road  made  by  General  Wade  after 
the  experience  of  the  "Forty -five"  had 
showed  how  easy  it  was,  at  a  time  when  no 
decent  communication  existed  between  the 
east  and  west  hereabouts,  for  a  northern  foe 
to  do  as  the  Scots  did  with  impunity — slip 
down  the  border  line  to  Carlisle  before 
Wade,  who  had  counted  on  their  coming 
along  the  east  coast,  could  intercept  them. 
Wade  simply  tumbled  the  Roman  Wall  down 
and  made  his  road  on  it  and  out  of  it  for  twenty 
miles  out  of  Newcastle.  The  road,  however, 
has  never  thriven,  and  one  may  walk  for 
miles  along  it  without  meeting  a  soul. 
Motors  may  stir  it  up  a  bit,  but  if  they  don't, 
until  the  next  Scottish  invasion  comes  off  it 
is  not  likely  to  be  much  more  lively  than  it 
is.  The  first  time  I  walked  along  it,  twenty 
years  ago,  I  saw  a  large  parcel  lying  by  the 
roadside,  and,  picking  it  up,  sang  out  to  a 
man  in  a  cart  who  had  just  passed,  thinking 
he  had  dropped  it.  But  he  shook  his  head  ; 
so  I  examined  it,  and  read  on  a  label  an 
address  in  Gateshead,  and  a  note  "To  be 
picked  up  by  Robson,  carrier." 

A  mile  from  the  turning  we  reach  Rut- 
chester  where  was  the  station  of  Vindobala. 
Here,  as  at  Condercum,  the  Wall  struck  and 
left  the  station  in  the  centre.  There  are 
some  traces  of  ramparts  behind  the  farm- 
buildings  on  the  left.  The  farmhouse  itself 
shows  traces  of  having  been  a  Border  pele 
tower,  but  beyond  this  and  the  trough  cut 
in  the  solid  rock,  known  as  "The  Giant's 
Grave,"  there  is  nothing  to  keep  us  at  Rut- 
chester,  and  as  we  want  to  get  on  to  the 
really  interesting  part  of  the  pilgrimage,  I 
shall  be  brief  in  my  description  for  some 
miles  to  come. 

After  leaving  Rutchester  the  north  fosse 
becomes  very  deep  and  straight,  and  con- 
tinues so  to  Harlow  Hill,  where  is  a  Temper- 
ance Inn  wiih  some  quaint  bits  of  furniture, 
but  not  always  provided  against  the  incursions 
of  hungry  guests,  as  some  of  us  found  out 
last  June.    We  are  now  fairly  in  the  country, 


104 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


although  small  clouds  of  smoke  dotted  along 
the  South  Tyne  Valley  to  our  left  proclaim 
the  presence  of  the  necessary  monster  which 
must  in  no  long  time  desecrate  and  deform 
this  beautiful,  romantic  land,  as  it  has  so 
effectually  in  neighbouring  Durham.  South 
of  Harlow  Hill  stands  the  interesting  little 
fortified  house,  Welton  Hall,  constructed 
from  Wall  stones.  We  push  on — the  fosse 
on  our  right,  close  to  the  road,  being  very 
deep  and  planted  with  trees — till  we  reach 
Down  Hill.  The  Wall  here  runs  straight 
over  the  hill-top,  the  road  bears  to  the 
right,  and  the  vallum,  most  deeply  and  dis- 
tinctly marked  as  three  ridges,  bends  round 
the  hill  to  the  left.  It  is  worth  something 
to  rest  awhile  on  one  of  these  grassy  ridges 
and  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace,  so  in  keeping 
with  the  silence  and  beauty  and  sweetness 
of  all  around  us.  Straight  ahead  of  us  west- 
ward goes  the  road  on  the  Wall  like  a  tape 
line,  the  vallum  ridges  distinctly  marked  on 
the  left  and  the  fosse  deeply  cut  on  the  right, 
and  even  the  hardened  antiquary  feels  an 
inclination  to  rhapsodize  a  little  ere,  with 
the  well-worn  watchwords  on  his  lips,  Per 
lineam  Valli,  he  pursues  his  task.  On  low 
ground  west  of  Down  Hill  are  the  hardly 
discernible  remains  of  the  station  of  Hunnum. 
Here  again  the  road  divides  the  station.  It 
is  worth  while  to  follow  a  path  to  the  left 
which  leads  to  Halton  Tower — an  ancient 
pele  with  round  angle  turrets  to  which  has 
been  attached  an  ordinary  house — the  whole 
built  of  Wall  stones.  An  interesting  old 
custom  is,  or  was  until  within  late  years, 
observed  in  connection  with  Halton  Tower, 
called  the  Bond  Darge.  The  freeholders  of 
Great  Whittington  are  or  were  obliged  to 
send  seven  mowers  and  fourteen  reapers  to 
Halton  for  one  day  in  the  year  when  called 
upon.  They  receive  no  wages,  but  are  sup- 
plied with  victuals  and  drink.  A  mile  and 
a  half  south  of  Halton  is  Aydon  Castle,  a 
most  picturesquely  situated  thirteenth-century 
fortified  house. 

Half  a  mile  beyond  Halton,  Watling  Street, 
coming  up  from  Corbridge  and  the  South, 
crosses  the  line  of  the  Wall  at  a  point  still 
significantly  known  as  Port-gate,  and  strikes 
away  in  a  north-westerly  direction  to  Redes- 
dale,  Bremenium,  and  thence  across  the 
wild,    solitary,    fascinating    fells    to    Chew 


Green  on  the  Border,  and  so  over  the 
hills  into  Scotland.  Solitary  enough  as  this 
old  road  is  during  the  greater  part  of  its 
course,  it  was  busy  enough  in  pre-railway 
days  as  one  of  the  chief  drove-roads  from 
Scotland  into  England.  I  can  from  personal 
experience  recommend  a  tramp  along  Watling 
Street  as  far  as  Jedburgh,  and  also  along  the 
other  Roman  road  which  leaves  it  at  Bewclay, 
about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  north  of  the  Wall, 
known  as  Cobbs'  or  the  Devil's  Causeway, 
and  leading  across  the  most  romantic  and 
interesting  part  of  Northumberland  to  Ber- 
wick-on-Tweed. 

Just  south  of  the  Errington  Arms,  the 
point  where  Watling  Street  cuts  the  Wall,  is 
the  broad  expanse  of  Stagshaw  Bank,  the 
scene  for  many  centuries  of  one  of  the  most 
famous  cattle  "  trysts  "  in  the  kingdom.  Here, 
on  the  west  side  of  Watling  Street,  are  the 
ramparts  of  a  camp  which,  from  its  proximity 
to  a  series  of  quarry  traces,  Mr.  Neilson  thinks 
was  a  temporary  protection  for  the  Wall  work- 
men. He  emphasizes  the  position  of  another 
camp  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant — in 
contact  with  the  south  agger  or  bank  of  the 
vallum — in  support  of. his  theory  that  the 
vallum  was  a  protection  for  workers  on  the 
Wall  and  not,  according  to  the  long-accepted 
theory,  a  defence  against  southern  attack. 

From  the  Stanley  Plantation  between  Port- 
gate  and  Errington  Hill  Head,  we  get  one 
of  the  many  magnificent  views  which  will 
delight  us  during  our  journey,  and,  moreover, 
see  the  courses  of  the  north  fosse  and  the 
south  vallum  to  perfection.  A  mile  and  a 
half  further  we  see  on  our  right  S.  Oswald's 
Church.  Close  by  was  fought  in  633  the 
great  Battle  of  Heavenfield,  in  which  Oswald 
of  Northumbria  commenced  the  reign  of 
Christianity  in  that  kingdom  by  his  victory 
over  the  pagan  Cadwalla,  King  of  North 
Wales.  Just  before  the  twentieth  milestone, 
at  Plane-trees  Field,  there  is  a  fine  piece  of 
the  Wall  on*  the  left  of  the  road,  and  beyond 
this  the  modern  road  leaves  the  Wall  for  the 
first  time  and  strikes  steeply  down  the  hill  to 
the  bridge  at  Chollerford. 

We  follow  the  Wall,  and,  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  owner  of  Bruntons,  are  per- 
mitted to  enter  his  grounds  and  examine  the 
interesting  remains  which  would  assuredly 
never  have  been  preserved  but  for  the  fact 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


105 


of  their  being  in  private  grounds.  They 
consist  of  a  good  length  of  Wall  with  nine 
courses  of  facing  stones — six  feet  in  height, 
and,  getting  over  the  wall  to  its  south  side, 
we  see  the  best-preserved  turret  along  the 
course  of  the  Wall — a  quadrangular  space 
12  feet  9  inches  by  n  feet  6  inches  with  an 
entrance  about  4  feet  wide,  and  penetrating 
the  wall  about  4  feet.  The  wall  itself,  form- 
ing the  north  wall  of  the  turret,  is  more  than 
8  feet  high. 

Regaining  the  main  road  we  descend  the 
steep  hill,  but  instead  of  crossing  the  bridge 
which  has  superseded  the  ancient  ford  com- 
memorated in  the  ballad  of  "Jock  o'  the  Side," 
we  cross  a  stile  on  the  left  hand,  and  follow 
a  riverside  path  which  will  bring  us  to  one 
of  the  most  interesting  and  impressive  relics 
of  Roman  Britain.  This  is  the  eastern  abut- 
ment of  the  bridge  across  the  North  Tyne 
between  Cilurnum  and  the  Wall  pursuing  its 
westward  course. 

The  remains  are  now  some  60  feet  inland, 
showing  how  the  course  of  the  river  has 
changed  during  the  past  sixteen  centuries, 
and  Nature,  whose  kindness  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  relics  of  Roman  Britain  contrasts 
so  markedly  with  the  ruthlessness  of  man, 
has  preserved  to  us  one  of  the  most  striking, 
and,  may  I  add,  pathetic,  monuments  of  the 
genius  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  an  astonish- 
ingly perfect  manner.  The  remains  consist 
of  a  solid  mass  of  masonry  with  a  face 
towards  the  river  22  feet  long,  from  which 
slope  inland  two  faces  respectively  53  feet 
and  80  feet.  Upon  this  space  are  tumbled 
and  heaped,  apparently  in  inextricable  con- 
fusion, stones  of  all  shapes  and  sizes.  But 
amidst  the  chaos  the  practised  eye  soon 
discerns  (1)  the  stones  of  a  former  bridge 
pier,  which  proves  that  even  during  the 
Roman  occupation  the  river  had  shifted  its 
course  westward ;  (2)  the  Wall  itself;  (3)  a 
castellum  at  the  end  of  the  Wall ;  and  (4)  a 
covered  way  running  north  and  south. 

The  south  face  of  the  abutment  is  some 
27  feet  longer  than  that  on  the  north.  This 
was,  perhaps,  in  order  to  afford  room  for 
fortifications.  The  north  abutment  rises 
6  feet  above  the  foundation  course  ;  some  of 
the  stones  are  very  large.  Many  of  the 
stones  retain  their  luis  holes,  and  all  have 
been  bound   together  by  rods   of  iron   set 

VOL.  III. 


in  lead.  Part  of  the  southern  abutment 
preserves  its  bevelled  edging  intact.  Amongst 
the  stones  scattered  about  are  three  which 
call  for  remark.  One  is  cask-shaped,  with 
eight  holes  round  the  centre  of  the  diameter, 
\\  inches  deep  ;  the  second  is  a  monolith 
9  feet  1  inch  long,  with  a  rectangular  base 
2  feet  2  inches  high  ;  the  third  is  the  fragment 
of  what  was  apparently  a  companion  pillar  to 
the  last 

Mr.  Sheriton  Holmes  has  ingeniously 
suggested  that  these  three  stones  formed  part 
of  the  apparatus  by  which  the  first  length  of 
the  bridge,  which  was  of  wood,  was  raised  or 
depressed  at  will.  The  cask-shaped  stone, 
forming  a  counterpoise  to  the  bridge  length, 
was,  he  suggests,  suspended  by  ropes  passing 
into  the  eight  holes  from  a  beam  which  would 
be  balanced  on  a  cross-beam  supported  by 
the  two  pillars.  The  theory  seems  a  perfectly 
feasible  one.  The  bridge  itself  consisted  of 
four  spans,  about  34  feet  each  in  length, 
supported  on  three  piers,  each  16  feet  wide, 
and  the  two  abutments.  Of  the  three  piers, 
one  still  lies  under  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
river,  and  two  others  are  said  to  be  visible  in 
mid-stream  under  certain  conditions  of  light 
and  tide.  I  have,  however,  only  seen  one. 
The  western  abutment  can  also  occasionally 
be  seen. 

The  Wall  on  the  east  abutment  is  about 
8  feet  high  and  6  J  feet  thick.  In  the  castellum 
at  the  end  of  it  much  charred  wood  and  ash 
was  found  when  first  excavated,  which  would 
indicate  a  fate  which  overtook  at  one  time  or 
another  almost  every  one  of  the  stations  along 
the  line  of  the  Wall.  The  covered  way  which 
crosses  the  abutment  no  doubt  formed  part 
of  the  fortifications  which  guarded  the  bridge  ; 
but  its  probable  use  is  still  a  disputed  point. 

The  George  Inn,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river,  affords  excellent  accommodation  at 
a  reasonable  rate  ;  but  it  is  as  well  to  secure 
a  room  beforehand,  as,  although  it  has  been 
doubled  in  size  since  I  first  knew  it  thirty 
years  ago,  quite  in  proportion  have  increased 
the  tourist  and  picnicker  traffic,  not  to  speak 
of  the  angling  fraternity.  Our  business  is 
with  the  Wall,  but  it  may  be  remarked  that 
Chollerford  is  an  excellent  centre  for  the 
exploration  of  the  beautiful,  historic,  and 
romantic  country  through  which  the  North 
Tyne  flows. 

0 


io6 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


From  the  George  Inn  we  turn  to  the  right 
until  we  reach  the  lodge-gates  of  Chesters, 
the  domain  in  which  are  the  remains  of  what 
many  regard  as  the  bonne  bouche  of  the  Wall  — 
the  station  of  Cilurnum. 

Close  to  the  gates  is  the  museum,  in  which 
are  admirably  arranged  relics,  not  merely 
from  Cilurnum,  but  from  the  other  Wall 
stations  situated  on  the  Clayton  estates,  and 
the  visitor  unfettered  by  time  will  do  well  to 
pass  a  long  hour  here. 

Cilurnum  was  evidently  something  more 
than  a  mere  fortress.  Relics  abound  which 
show  that  at  this  favoured  spot,  beautifully 
situated  on  ground  sloping  down  to  the  river, 
there  was  social,  domestic  and  mercantile,  as 
well  as  military  life. 

Borcovicus,  to  which  we  shall  journey 
presently,  seems  to  have  been  a  station  of 
similar  character  —  as  strong,  indeed,  as 
natural  situation,  seconded  by  superb 
engineering,  could  make  it — but  also  associ- 
ated with  the  lighter  and  brighter  features  of 
colonial  life.  But  the  situation  of  Borcovicus 
cannot  be  compared  with  that  of  Cilurnum. 
At  Cilurnum,  we  may  presume  to  imagine, 
the  wives  and  families  of  officers  and  men,  on 
Wall-duty  elsewhere,  were  congregated,  and 
that  it  was  a  sanatorium  for  men  worn  with  a 
ferocious,  ceaseless  strife,  in  a  hard,  variable 
climate.  At  any  rate,  this  is  the  impression 
produced  by  the  aspect  of  the  place  which 
has  probably  not  materially  changed  since 
Roman  times,  and  which  contrasts  strongly 
with  the  aspects  of  the  stations  situated  in  the 
silent,  desolate  fell  country.  This  paper  is 
not  written  as  a  guide  to  the  Wall,  so  much 
as  a  passing  description  of  it,  so  that  it  would 
be  impossible  within  its  limits  to  detail  the 
attractions  of  Cilurnum — attractions  which 
are  owing  entirely  to  the  energy,  generosity, 
and  far-sightedness  of  the  late  Mr.  Clayton. 

Briefly,  Cilurnum  is,  next  to  Amboglanna  at 
Birdoswald,  the  largest  station  on  the  Wall,  its 
area  being  more  than  five  acres.  Like  Ambo- 
glanna it  has  six  gates  instead  of  the  orthodox 
four.  The  great  Wall  meets  and  leaves  it  at  its 
great  eastern  and  western  gateways,  which  are 
more  northerly  than  the  smaller  eastern  and 
western  entrances,  and  not,  as  is  usual, 
although  not  invariable,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a 
line  with  the  northern  boundary. 

All  the  great  gates  are  in  good  preserva- 


tion, especially  the  eastern,  and  all  present 
the  usual  feature  of  a  double  portal,  with 
guard  chambers  on  each  side.  It  may  be 
noted  that  for  some  reason  best  known  to 
themselves,  the  Roman  engineers  brought 
the  great  Wall  to  the  south  jambs  of  the  east 
and  west  gates  instead  of  to  the  north,  thus 
apparently  leaving  the  gates  exposed  to  an 
enemy.  Where  it  comes  to  the  west  gate  it 
is  7  feet  thick  and  more  than  4  feet  high.  At 
the  great  south  gate,  the  iron  of  the  gate 
pivot  is  still  visible  in  the  pivot  hole,  and  the 
flags  are  deeply  worn  by  chariot  wheels.  At 
this  gate  there  are  evidences  of  one  of  those 
terrible  catastrophes  which  seem  to  have 
temporarily  overwhelmed  most  of  the  Wall 
stations.  When  first  excavated  a  deep  layer 
of  wood  ashes  covered  the  floor  of  the  east 
portal  of  the  south  gate,  and  the  floor  itself 
had  been  raised  considerably  higher  than 
that  of  the  other  portal,  thus  telling  a  tale  of 
capture,  recapture,  and  hasty  repair.  Again, 
the  west  portal  of  this  gate  had  been  walled 
up  at  a  later  period,  probably  to  reduce  space 
necessary  to  be  defended,  but  the  walling  has 
been  removed,  and  the  gate  is  as  it  originally 
was.  We  shall  see  the  same  evidence  of 
calamity  at  Aesica. 

The  north  gate — that  nearest  the  mansion 
of  Chesters — is  in  less  perfect  condition  than 
the  others.  The  great  east  gate  is  in  very 
fine  preservation,  the  wall  of  the  south  guard 
chamber  being  12  courses — nearly  8  feet 
high,  and  the  great  Wall  may  be  noticed 
coming  up  to  the  south  jamb  of  the  portal,  as 
at  the  west  gateway. 

Within  the  space  enclosed  by  the  walls  of 
the  station  have  been  unearthed  the  traces 
of  buildings  of  great  interest — buildings  which 
support  the  idea  that  Cilurnum  was  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  Wall  fortress.  There 
is  the  forum,  of  which  the  most  interesting 
feature  to  the  ordinary  visitor  will  probably 
be  the  arariutn,  or  treasury  of  the  station,  a 
large  underground  vault  of  massive  stones, 
with  a  triply-vaulted  roof  of  stones  set  edge- 
ways, and  to  which  we  descend  by  steps 
beneath  a  huge  roof  stone.  When  first  dis- 
covered the  entrance  to  this  vault  was  barred 
by  an  oaken  door  bound  with  iron,  which, 
however,  fell  to  pieces  upon  exposure  to  the 
air  after  its  burial  of  fifteen  centuries.  East 
of  the  forum  and  its  associated  buildings  is 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


107 


the  pretorium,  the  floors  of  which  are  sup- 
ported by  brick  and  stone  pillars,  showing 
the  system  of  hot-air  heating  employed  ;  and 
scattered  about  the  area  of  the  camp  are 
more  or  less  interesting  remains  of  public 
and  ordinary  buildings,  notably  of  a  street  in 
the  north-east  corner,  which  shows  how  ex- 
tremely narrow  were  the  by-ways  of  a  Roman 
station.  Outside  the  station  are  the  exten- 
sive remains  of  buildings,  especially  notable 
being  those  which  we  reach  by  the  small 
south-east  gateway,  by  the  road  along  which 
it  is  supposed  most  of  the  bridge  traffic 
passed. 

On  the  north  side  of  a  large  paved  court- 
yard, 45  feet  by  30  feet,  are  seven  round- 
arched  niches,  each  3  feet  high,  2  feet  wide, 
and  1  foot  6  inches  in  depth,  the  original  use 
of  which  is  still  matter  for  argument.  From 
this  courtyard  a  passage,  of  which  the  door- 
jambs  are  6  feet  high  monoliths,  we  pass  into 
a  series  of  good-sized  rooms,  presenting  some 
interesting  features.  One  has  the  remains  of 
one  of  the  only  three  Roman  windows  in  the 
North  of  England,  the  others  being  at  South 
Shields  and  at  Ravenglass  in  Cumberland. 
In  another  room  were  found  the  skeletons  of 
thirty-three  human  beings,  of  two  horses,  and 
a  dog,  significant,  perhaps,  as  telling  mutely 
a  terrible  story  of  sudden  attack,  flight,  and 
death,  especially  as  traces  of  destruction  by 
fire  are  apparent  throughout  the  buildings. 
From  the  careful  construction  of  this  block 
of  buildings,  their  size  and  arrangement,  and 
the  general  heating  system  throughout,  it  has 
been  surmised  that  here  on  the  sloping  bank 
of  the  river,  overlooking  the  bridge,  and  its 
constant  flow  of  life,  was  the  suburban  villa 
of  a  high  official — perhaps  of  the  Governor 
of  Cilurnum. 

Along  both  sides  of  the  road  leading  to 
the  bridge  are  mounds  of  earth,  which  no 
doubt  hide  buildings,  and  as  similar  mounds 
are  observable  on  the  southern  and  western 
sides  of  the  station,  Cilurnum  must  have 
been  quite  a  large  colony.  The  burial-ground 
of  the  station  was  probably  on  the  south  side, 
where  the  scenery  of  hill  and  wood  and  river 
is  especially  beautiful. 

Cilurnum  was  garrisoned  by  Asturians,  a 
Spanish  tribe,  and  a  little  purple  flower  which 
flourishes  there,  called  Erinus  Hispanicus, 
said  to  abound  nowhere  else  along  the  Wall, 


is  ascribed  to  them.  At  anyrate,  this  is  what 
we  of  the  1886  pilgrimage  were  told,  and 
believed  it  and  told  others,  so  that  it  has  got 
to  be  one  of  the  orthodox  wall  on  dits. 

{To  be  continued.) 


a  EecotoereD  Combstone. 

By  the  Rev.  D.  S.  Davies. 


N  Archceologia,  vol.  xxiii.  (1830),  Mr. 
F.  Madden,  F.S.A.,  printed  a 
petition  of  Richard  Troughton, 
bailiff  of  South  Witham,  Lincoln- 
shire, to  the  Privy  Council,  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Mary,  relative  to  the  share  taken  by 
him  in  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  Plot. 
The  charges  against  Troughton  were  : 

1.  Helping  the  Duke  of  Northumberland 
to  set  Lady  Jane  Grey  on  the  throne. 

2.  The  dilapidation  of  the  church  at  South 
Witham. 

These  were  brought  against  him  by  Thomas 
Wymberley  of  South  Witham. 

To  refute  these  accusations  Troughton 
recapitulates  a  narrative  or  diary  of  his  actions 
from  July  11,  1553,  when  the  news  of  King 
Edward's  death  was  first  made  known  in 
Lincolnshire,  to  the  21st  day  of  the  same 
month,  when  Mary  was  announced  as  Queen. 
This  document  is  of  much  local  interest.  In 
it  appears  the  following  : 

"  It  is  thought  that  the  Chancel  and  Church 
there  (South  Witham)  was  not  unbuilded  vc 
years  past  whereof  I  have  diminished  no  part, 
but  being  overgrown  with  ivy  many  years 
before  I  was  born,  who  have  dwelt  there  but 
12  years,  one  piece  of  the  chancel  so  far  as 
the  ivy  grew,  is  fallen  down,  wherewith  I  had 
nothing  to  do." 

Mr.  Madden  here  makes  a  remark : — 

[In  the  return  made  by  the  Ecclesiastical 
Commissioners  to  Cardinal  Pole,  1556,  on  the 
state  of  churches  in  Lincolnshire,  this  is  not 
mentioned.  Was  the  chancel  repaired  or 
pulled  down  between  Troughton's  petition 
and  the  date  of  visitation  ?] 

o  2 


io8 


A  RECOVERED  TOMBSTONE. 


Troughton  goes  on  : 

"  I  bought  a  Altar  Stone  in  the  4th  year  of 
King  Edward  which  never  came  in  any 
bankkettying  house  of  mine  and  lieth  on  two 
pieces  of  wood  in  my  orchard  to  this  day. 
Upon  the  bridge  next  my  house  there  lieth  a 
grave  stone,  that  was  covered  with  earth  in 
the  Churchyard  and  did  no  good  there  which 


my  neighbour  brought  and  laid  on  the  bridge, 
which  is  no  Altar  stone." 

In  Peacock's  Church  Furniture^  p.  167,  is 
the  note : 

"  South  W'tham  —  harrie  hodshon  and 
Johnne  Croftes   Churchwardens    18    March 

1565- 

"  Itm  the  rode  lofte  was  made  awaie  in 
Kinge  Edward  the  vj  daies  by  reasonne  that 
o'r  chauncell  fell  down  and  brake  down  the 
said  roode  lofte." 


From  these  accounts,  and  from  a  tradition 
in  the  village,  we  know  that  South  Witham 
Church  had  a  chancel.  The  only  trace  of  it 
was  the  arch  at  the  east  end  of  the  nave  filled 
up  with  stone  and  mortar.  The  church  was 
restored  a  few  years  ago  by  the  Rev.  T.  S. 
Raine,  the  present  Rector,  and  he  still  hopes 
to  be  able  to  build  a  chancel  on  the  old  site. 

After  reading  the  above  petition,  I  examined 
the  two  footbridges  at  South  Witham,  and 
found  on  the  footbridge  on  the  north  side  of 
the  village  a  stone  answering  the  description, 
and  with  the  permission  of  the  road  surveyor, 
I  took  some  masons  over  to  remove  the  stone, 
and  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Rector  there,  we 
placed  it  inside  the  church  for  the  present. 

The  house  in  which  Troughton  lived  was 
in  a  field  on  the  west  side  of  the  road  ;  it  was 
pulled  down  some  years  ago  and  the  stones 
carted  away. 

A  drawing  of  the  recovered  tombstone  was 
sent  to  Colonel  A.  Welby,  who  (after  consulting 
Mr.  Everard  Green,  of  the  Heralds'  College) 
wrote  to  say  that  "the  tomb  is  probably  late 
Henry  III.  or  early  Edward  I."  This  makes 
it  over  600  years  old.     The  stone,  which  is 

6  feet  10  inches  long  and  9  inches  thick,  was 
the  lid  of  a  coffin,  "  for  the  cross  was  only 
placed  over  the  body,  as  the  body  by  the 
cross  is  crucified  with  the  affections  and 
lusts." 

Parker,  in  his  Glossary  of  Terms  of  Gothic 
Architecture,  vol.  i.,  p.  310,  mentions  that  this 
kind  of  tomb  was  sometimes  placed  beneath 
a  low  arch  or  recess  formed  within  the  sub- 
stance  of    the   church    wall,    usually   about 

7  feet  in  length  and  not  more  than  3  feet 
above  the  coffin  even  in  the  centre.  These 
stones  diminished  in  width  from  the  head  to 
the  feet  to  fit  the  coffin  of  which  they  formed 
the  lid. 

It  is  not  only  interesting  to  find  the  stone 
in  such  a  good  state  of  preservation,  but  the 
cross  is  one  of  the  best  design  that  is  known, 
At  first  we  were  inclined  to  think  the  face 
was  that  of  a  woman,  but  Mr.  Green  is  not  of 
that  opinion,  for  men  wore  their  hair  long  at 
that  period. 

After  doing  service  over  the  coffin  of 
some  noted  man  (whose  name  is  still  un- 
known to  us)  within  the  sacred  precincts  of 
the  church  for  about  260  years,  it  was  removed 
about  the  year  1551  and  placed  on  the  foot- 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


iog 


bridge  (fortunately  wrong  side  up)  for  the 
foot  of  man  to  desecrate  for  350  more  years. 
It  has  now  again,  in  the  year  1906,  found  a 
resting-place  within  the  church.  We  hope 
some  day  to  find  out  for  whose  coffin  it  was 
the  covering. 


at  tbe  §>ig;n  of  tbe  flDtoi. 


The  sixteenth  century  manu- 
script of  the  German  translation 
of  the  Hortulus  Animoz  is  not 
only  one  of  the  greatest  trea- 
sures of  the  Imperial  Royal 
Court  Library  at  Vienna,  but 
is  also  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful illuminated  manuscripts  in 
existence.  It  is  about  to  be 
reproduced  in  a  page  by  page 
facsimile  by  Mr.  Oosthoek,  of  Utrecht,  the 
printing  and  issue  of  the  work  being  carried 
out  under  the  supervision  of  Koloman  Moser, 
Professor  of  the  Industrial  Art  University  at 
Vienna.  The  pages  of  splendid  miniatures, 
109  in  number,  will  be  printed  in  colours ; 
the  remaining  857  pages  (the  text)  will  be  in 
monotone.  Dr.  Dornhoffer  will  supply  an 
exhaustive  introduction.  The  work  will  be 
issued  in  eleven  parts,  the  last  part  appearing 
in  the  spring  of  19 10.  The  sole  English 
agents  are  Messrs.  Ellis,  of  29,  New  Bond 
Street. 

«5*  t&*  t£T* 

Dr.  T.  F.  Dibdin,  in  the  third  volume  of  his 
Bibliographical  Tour,  gives  several  pages  to 
the  description  of  this  magnificent  manu- 
script, and  prints  five  illustrations  of  the 
miniatures.  Of  the  latter  he  says  :  "  Such  a 
series  of  sweetly  drawn  and  highly  finished 
subjects  is  hardly  anywhere  to  be  seen,  and 
certainly  nowhere  to  be  eclipsed."  It  was 
written  and  decorated  between  the  years  1 5 1 7 
and  1523  for  the  Archduchess  Margaret  of 
Austria,  the  art-loving  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Maximilian  I.  The  miniatures  were  painted  by 
Gerard  Horebout,  who  designed  the  majority 
of  the  miniatures  in  the  famous  Grimani 
Breviary. 


The  Hortulus  Animce  is  one  of  the  devo- 
tional books  which  were  so  much  in  use 
both  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  Germany, 
and  corresponds  in  many  ways  with  the 
Livre  d' Heures  in  France.  The  text  of  the 
manuscript  is  German,  elaborated  from  the 
original  of  Sebastian  Brandt,  and  has  been 
proved  to  be  an  exact  copy  of  the  work 
printed  in  15 10  by  Flach  at  Strasburg,  which, 
however,  may  be  numbered  amongst  the 
"lost  books,"  for  no  copy  is  now  known  to 
bibliophiles,  and  it  has  probably  entirely 
disappeared.  Thus  the  work  is,  from  a 
liturgical  and  literary  point  of  view,  of  great 
scientific  value,  as  it  preserves  the  text  of  a 
lost  volume.  An  exhaustive  study  of  the 
manuscript  by  Dr.  Ed.  Chmelarz  will  be 
found  in  Jahrbuch  der  Kunsthistorischen 
Sammlungen  des  Alterhochsten  Kaiserhauses, 
vol.  ix.,  pp.  429-455- 

^*  C^*  *&* 

"  The  greatest  Hebrew  bibliographer  of  the 
nineteenth  century,"  says  the  Athenceum  of 
February  2,  "  has  just  passed  away  in  the 
person  of  Professor  M.  Steinschneider.  His 
numerous  works,  bearing  on  Hebrew  and 
Hebrew-Arabic  literature  in  all  its  branches, 
are  of  lasting  importance.  He  published 
catalogues  of  the  Hebrew  manuscripts  of 
Leyden,  Munich,  Berlin,  and  other  libraries. 
His  most  important  work,  however,  is  his 
catalogue  of  the  Hebrew  printed  books  in 
the  Bodleian,  which  he  completed  in  i860. 
He  had  for  many  years  resided  permanently 
in  Berlin,  and  was  close  upon  ninety-one." 

^"  t2r*  t&* 

In  the  vaults  of  the  Town  Hall  at  Merthyr 
Tydfil  were  placed  a  large  number  of  ancient 
manuscripts,  on  their  removal  from  the  old 
parish  chests,  when  the  Urban  District 
Council  took  over  the  powers  of  the  vestry. 
These  records  relate  to  the  early  history  of 
Wales,  and  among  them  are  some  which 
throw  light  on  Prince  Llewellyn.  They  are 
to  be  examined  and  reported  on  by  a  com- 
petent authority. 

igr*  *2r*  t£"* 

A  cheap  edition  of  the  late  Dr.  John  J. 
Raven's  History  of  Suffolk  is  announced  for 
early  publication  by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock.  The 
work  gives  special  attention  to  the  history 
during  the  Roman  Period  and  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  though  the  entire  history  of  the  county 


no 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  century 
is  dealt  with. 

^*  igF*  l2r* 

The  Gentleman's  Magazine  in  its  new,  or 
revived,  form  is,  I  am  glad  to  see,  still — in 
sporting  phrase — "going  strong."  The 
January  number,  issued  in  the  middle  of 
the  month,  contains  a  pleasant  antiquarian 
miscellany,  with  articles  on  such  topics  as 
"  The  Admirable  Crichton,"  "  The  Trade  of 
Literature,"  "  Bone  Caves  and  Prehistoric 
Men,"  and  "Disraeli  and  his  Love  of  Lite- 
rature." Correspondence — always  a  strong 
point  with  the  old  Gentleman  s — Review  of 
the  Month,  Obituary  (a  record  of  permanent 
value),  and  the  chit-chat  of  Sylvanus  Urban's 
Note-Book,  are  the  other  chief  features. 

<^"  l2r*  1£^* 

Few  new  publishing  societies  have  done  so 
much  good  work  in  so  short  a  space  of  time 
as  the  Devon  and  Cornwall  Record  Society. 
The  society  commenced  publishing  two  years 
ago,  and  has  so  far  completed  the  issue  of 
the  Exeter  Cathedral  Register  of  Baptisms, 
Marriages,  and  Burials,  The  Register  of  the 
Parish  of  Parkham,  and  the  Inquisitiones 
Post-Mortem  Calendar  for  Cornwall  and 
Devon.  Arrangements  have  already  been 
made  for  the  publication  of  the  Feet  of  Fines 
and  the  Inquisitiones  Post-Mortem  for  Corn- 
wall and  Devon,  John  Hooker's  History  of 
Exeter,  and  his  Commonplace  Book,  both 
written  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  until  now  preserved  in  the 
Archives  of  the  Exeter  City  Council. 

t^*  t^*  t&* 

For  future  issues  the  society  has  under 
consideration  the  Registers  of  various 
parishes,  the  Archives  of  the  City  of  Exeter 
and  the  Town  of  Bideford,  Manor  Accounts, 
Court  Rolls,  Parish  Minute  Books,  Subsidy 
Rolls,  the  Calendar  of  the  Ancient  Cornish 
Wills  at  Bodmin,  and  the  Prerogative  Court 
of  Canterbury.  The  society  has  already 
received  such  encouraging  support  that  the 
council  hopes  that  at  least  three  parts  of 
Transactions  will  be  issued  annually  instead 
of  two,  as  originally  anticipated. 

i2^*  t&*  9&* 

The  Rivista  d 'Italia  for  January  contains  an 
art  review  by  Signor  L.  Montalto,  treating 
first  of  the  monograph  on  the  Monastery  of 
San  Benedetto  in  Polirone,  which  the  author, 


Professor  Bellode,  has  illustrated  by  his  own 
sketches  as  well  as  photographs,  some  of 
which  are  reproduced  in  the  magazine  ("  II 
Monastero  di  San  Benedetto  in  Polirone 
nelle  Storia  e  nell'  Arte,"  con  84  illustrazioni, 
Mantova,  Eredi  Segna).  Signor  Montalto 
next  gives  an  account  of  the  Casa  Bazzoni, 
an  ancient  palace  of  Arezzo,  now  in  process 
of  restoration,  accompanied  by  some  in- 
teresting illustrations  of  the  building  and  its 
interior.  In  the  same  number  there  is  a 
review  of  the  second  part  of  Signor  Pompeo 
Molmenti's  recently  published  book,  La 
Storia  di  Venezia  nella  vita  privata  (Bergamo, 
1906),  written  by  Signor  A.  Medin,  and  called 
"  Venetian  Art  and  Life  in  the  Golden  Age  " 
("  L'Arte  e  la  Vita  veneziana  nel  secolo 
d'oro  "). 

t^r*  t2^*  t&* 

The  sixth  edition  of  The  Parsons  Handbook, 
by  the  Rev.  Percy  Dearmer,  containing  a 
large  amount  of  additional  matter  and  thirty- 
one  illustrations,  will  be  published  by  Mr. 
Henry  Frowde  immediately.  This  volume 
was  first  printed  in  April,  1S99,  and  it  has 
since  been  thoroughly  revised  twice.  Mr. 
Dearmer  has  tried  to  make  the  Handbook 
suitable  for  all  parsons ;  "  it  is,  like  the 
Church  of  England,  comprehensive,"  and  it 
appeals  not  only  to  the  clergy,  but  also  to 
all  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  service  of 
the  Church,  or  interested  in  her  manner  of 
worship. 

t^*  c^*  v* 

Book-lovers  and  book-purchasers  will  realize 
with  something  like  a  shock  thaf'Quaritch's," 
the  famous  Piccadilly  bookshop,  is  going. 
The  building  is  coming  down,  and  the  great 
bookseller  is  migrating,  with  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  volumes  that  crowd  the  shelves 
of  the  three-storied  house  in  Piccadilly,  to 
Grafton  Street. 

t^*  f2f*  9&* 

Among  many  interesting  announcements  by 
various  publishers,  we  note  that  the  Cam- 
bridge University  Press  will  publish  an 
edition  of  the  complete  works  of  William 
Dunbar,  with  introduction,  notes,  and  glossary 
by  Dr.  H.  Bellyse  Baildon.  The  text  will 
also  include  poems  attributed  to  Dunbar. 
The  next  volume  of  "  The  Antiquary's 
Books  "  to  be  issued  by  Messrs.  Methuen 
will  be  The  Brasses  of  England,  by  Herbert 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


in 


W.  Macklin,  M.A.,  the  president  of  the 
Monumental  Brass  Society.  The  same  firm 
promise  what  should  be  a  very  entertaining 
volume,  The  Old  Parish  Clerk,  by  the  in- 
defatigable Rev.  P.  H.  Ditchfield,  M.A., 
F.S.A.  Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Bowes,  of 
Cambridge,  are  now  issuing  Reproductions 
from  Illuminated  Manuscripts  in  the  British 
Museum,  the  first  two  series  consisting  of 
too  collotype  plates  from  the  manuscripts 
shown  in  the  Grenville  Library. 

t^*  *£r*  t&* 

All  bibliographers  and  students  of  early 
printing  will  be  glad  to  know  that  Mr. 
Seymour  de  Ricci,  who  prepared  the  excel- 
lent hand-list  of  the  library  of  Lord  Amherst 
of  Hackney,  is  busy  upon  a  census  of  all  the 
known  copies  of  books  printed  by  Caxton.  In 
this  formidable  task  he  will  have  the  assistance 
of  Mr.  Gordon  Duff,  of  the  Rylands  Library. 
Manchester,  one  of  the  foremost  of  English 
bibliographers.  William  Blades's  exhaustive 
work  on  England's  first  printer,  which  in  its 
complete  form  appeared  in  the  sixties,  and  has 
not  been  reissued,  is  as  a  census  somewhat 
out  of  date.  Several  new  Caxtons  have  been 
discovered,  besides  a  good  many  additional 
copies  of  known  works. 

^3*'  t&*  *3^ 

At  the  January  meeting  of  the  Bibliographical 
Society,  Mr.  G.  K.  Fortescue  read  a  paper 
offering  "AComparison  between  the  Pamphlet 
Literature  of  the  English  Civil  War  and  that 
of  the  French  Revolution."  Some  of  the  super- 
ficial resemblances  are  curious — for  instance, 
the  foreshadowing  in  the  pamphlets  and  peti- 
tions of  Lilburne  and  his  fellow  Levellers 
and  Agitators  of  the  teachings  of  Rousseau's 
Social  Contract.  Just  as  the  Jacobins  desired 
to  rename  their  country  Gaul,  so  the  Levellers 
wished  to  revive  the  name  of  Britain.  Mr. 
Fortescue  pointed  out  a  striking  coincidence 
— fortuitous,  no  doubt — in  the  practical  iden- 
tity of  the  reply  of  Hugh  Peters  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons  expelled  by 
Colonel  Pride,  with  that  of  the  officer  who, 
on  the  1 8th  Fructidor  of  the  year  V.  (Sep- 
tember 4,  1797)  conveyed  the  arrested  mem- 
bers of  the  Corps  Legislatif  to  the  Temple, 
when  respectively  questioned  as  to  the  autho- 
rity for  such  action.  "The  Power  of  the 
Sword,"  was  the  answer  of  Hugh  Peters ; 
"  Le  Loi   c'est   la   Sabre,"  was  that  of  the 


Frenchman,  who  had  assuredly  never  heard 
of  his  English  predecessor.  Mr.  Fortescue 
also  gave  a  detailed  comparison  between  the 
measures  taken  to  enforce  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath  during  the  Presbyterian  ascend- 
ancy and  the  curiously  similar  measures  for 
enforcing  the  observance  of  the  Decadi  in 
1798  and  1799.  But  the  fundamental  con- 
trasts between  the  two  periods,  the  lecturer 
showed,  were  as  striking  as  their  surface  re- 
semblances. A  notable  symptom  of  this, 
which  Mr.  Fortescue  worked  out  in  detail, 
may  be  seen  in  the  practical  freedom  of  the 
press  during  the  Civil  War  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  utter 
absence  of  such  freedom  during  the  French 
Revolution.  Contrast,  for  instance,  the  thirty- 
four  editions  of  Eikon  Basilike,  published 
before  the  end  of  1649,  a^  circulating  in 
England,  or  the  numerous  pamphlet  tributes 
to  King  Charles  printed  during  the  same  year, 
with  the  De  Mortuis  nil  nisi  malum,  which, 
as  Mr.  Fortescue  well  said,  was  the  single 
consistent  note  of  writers,  speakers,  and 
journalists  during  the  Revolution,  whether 
the  dead,  or  the  fallen,  were  Necker,  the 
King,  the  Girondists,  Robespierre,  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,  Carnot,  or  the 
Members  of  the  Corps  Legislatif  after  the 
1 8th  Fructidor.  The  paper  was  interesting 
and  suggestive  in  a  high  degree. 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  jftetos. 

[  We  shall be  glad to  receive  information  from  ourreaders 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

SALE. 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  in- 
cluded in  their  sale  of  the  14th  to  the  18th  inst.  the 
following  books  :  Dugdale's  Monasticon  Anglicanum 
8  vols.,  1846,  ^23  ;  Coningsby's  Collections  of  the 
Manor  of  Marden,  1722,  ,£19  10s.  ;  Drummond's 
Noble  Families,  2  vols.,  1846,  ^11  5s.  ;  Shake- 
speare's Plays,  Second  Folio  (imperfect),  1632, 
^29  10s.  ;  fourth  edition  (imperfect),  1685,  ^44  ; 
Sheridan's  The  Rivals,  first  edition,  1775,  £<)  15s.  ; 
Lysons's  Environs  of  London,  large  paper,  5  vols., 
extra-illustrated,  1810-n,  ^"32  ;  Ackermann's  Micro- 
cosm of  London,  3  vols.,  1808-10,  ^"16 ;  Sidney's 
Countess  of  Pembroke's  Arcadia,  first  ediiion,  1590 
(imperfect),  ^165  ;  Pyne's  Royal  Residences,  3  vols., 
18 19,  ^13  5s.;  Parkinson's  Paradisus,  1629,  ^26; 
Williamson's    Oriental    Field    Sports,    1807,   £\o  ; 


112 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


Crescentius,  De  Agricultura,  Basil.,  1548,  £14; 
Skelton's  Marie  Stuart,  Japanese  paper,  1893, 
;£io  10s.  ;  Armstrong's  Gainsborough,  1898,^9  15s.  ; 
Dickens's  Works,  Edition  dc  Luxe,  30  vols.,  1881-82, 
^12  17s.  6d.  ;  Pickwick  Tapers,  first  edition,  with 
autograph,  1837,  ^11  5s.;  Byron's  Poems  on 
Several  Occasions,  Newark,  Ridge,  1807,  ,£38  ; 
Cruikshank's  Comic  Almanac,  complete  set,  1835-53, 
£q ;  Ireland's  Life  of  Napoleon,  illustrated  by 
Cruikshank,  4  vols.,  1823-27,  £17  5s.  ;  Tudor 
Translations,  40  vols.,  1892- 1 905,  .£22  ;  Triplet's 
Writing  Tables,  1600,  ,£20  ios.  ;  Aiken's  Hunting 
and  other  Scenes,  20  plates,  1850.  etc.,  ,£14  ; 
Shelley's  Zastrozzi,  first  edition,  1810,  ^16  ios.  ; 
Burton's  Arabian  Nights,  10  vols.,  1885-86,  .£17  ; 
Huth  Library,  edited  by  Grosart,  29  vols.,  1881-86, 
;£i8  5s.  ;  Pope's  Essay  on  Criticism,  first  edition, 
171 1,  ,£15  5«.  ;  Boydell's  Shakespeare  Gallery, 
,£16  ios.  ;  Caricatures  (about  500),  by  Cruikshank, 
Gillray,  Rowlandson,  etc,  £6$  ;  Stafford  Gallery, 
coloured  plates,  1818,  £25  ios. — Athenctum, 
January  26. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN 
SOCIETIES. 

In  No.  XLIII.  of  the  Cambridge  Antiquarian 
Society's  Octavo  Publications —  The  Riot  at  the  Great 
Gate  of  Trinity  College,  February,  1 610- 1 1 — Mr. 
J.  W.  Clatk  prints  the  manuscript  which  contains  a 
contemporary  account  of  this  great  "Town  and 
Gown  "  row.  The  record  is  in  a  very  muddled  form, 
which  must  have  given  its  editor  an  enormous  amount 
of  trouble.  The  learned  Registrary  .prefixes  the 
document  with  an  introduction,  in  which  he  not  only 
elucidates  and  comments  upon  the  various  points  of 
the  narrative,  but  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  riot, 
with  various  amusing  extracts  from  the  depositions. 
The  sentence  of  the  court  which  heard  the  case 
against  the  rioters  is  given  in  facsimile,  photographed 
from  the  original  manuscript,  and  a  shockingly  bad 
piece  of  penmanship  it  is.  The  whole  story  of  the 
riot  is  amusing  to  read,  and  forms  an  entertaining 
and  illuminating  chapter  in  University  history. 

^  *>$  4*2 
Vol.  III.,  Part  4,  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Hull  Scien- 
tific and  Field  Naturalists'  Club,  edited  by  T.  Sheppard, 
F.G.  S.  (Hull :  A.  Brcnvn  and  Sons,  Limited.  Price 
2s.  6d.  net  to  non-members),  contains  the  first  part  of 
an  elaborate  paper  by  the  editor  on  "A  Collection 
of  Roman  Antiquities  from  South  Ferriby,  in  North 
Lincolnshire."  The  article,  written  in  Mr.  Sheppard's 
usual  lucid  style,  is  very  fully  illustrated  by  excellent 
plates.  Mr.  John  Nicholson  has  some  amusing  notes 
on  "Some  Holderness  Dialect  Fighting  Words" — 
some  of  which  are  by  no  means  peculiar  to  Holder- 
ness, or,  indeed,  to  any  particular  part  of  the  country. 
The  other  contents  of  these  well-produced  Transactions 
deal  with  botanical  and  natural  hi>tory  topics. 

«•£  +§  «•§ 

Vol.  XXVII.  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Dorset 
Natural  History  and  Antiquarian  Field  Club,  1906 
(Dorchester  :  Sime  and  Co.  Price  ios.  6d.  net),  illus- 
trated, and  of  nearly  400  pages,  is  edited  by  the  Rev. 
Herbert  Pentin,  Vicar  of  Milton  Abbey.     The  follow- 


ing is  a  list  of  some  of  its  chief  papers  of  antiquarian 
interest  :  "Cross-legged  Effigies  in  Dorset,"'  by  Mr. 
Sidney  Heath  ;  "  The  Rolls  of  the  Court  Baron  of 
the  Manor  of  Winterborne  Monkton,"  by  the  Rev. 
W.  Miles  Barnes  ;  "  Dorset  Chantries,"  by  Mr.  E.  A. 
Fry  ;  "  Wimborne  Minster,"  by  the  Rev.  T.  Perkins  ; 
"  Roman  Pavements,"  by  Dr.  H.  Colley  March, 
F.S.A.  ;  and  "Old  Dorset  Songs,"  by  the  Editor. 
The  late  Canon  Raven's  concluding  article  on  "  The 
Church  Bells  of  Dorset "  is  completed  by  Mr.  Barnes, 
and  Mr.  W.  de  C.  Prideaux  continues  his  series  of 
papers  on  the  "  Ancient  Memorial  Brasses  of  Dorset." 
There  are  also  some  important  contributions  on 
Natural  History  and  the  Physical  Sciences  by  the 
president  of  the  Club  (Mr.  Nelson  Richardson) ;  the 
Rev.  O.  Pickard-Cambridge,  F.R.S.  ;  Dr.  A.  Smith 
Woodward,  F.R.S.  ;  Mr.  W.  H.  Iludleston,  F.R.S. ; 
Dr.  G.  E.  J.  Crallan  ;  Mr.  H.  Stilwell ;  and  Mr. 
W.  Parkinson  Curtis. 

^§  OQ  ^$ 

The  first  part  of  Vol.  IV.  of  the  Journal  of  the 
Friends'  Historical  Society  (January)  is  a  strong 
number.  It  opens  with  a  biographical  account  of 
John  Whiting  (1656- 1 722),  one  of  the  three  well-known 
bibliographers  of  Quaker  literature.  This  is  followed 
by  some  interesting,  well  -  annotated  "American 
Letters  of  Edmund  Peckover,"  written  in  1742-43. 
The  number  also  contains  a  bibliographical  note  on 
"  The  Collection  of  Friends'  Books  in  the  Library  of 
Haverford  College,  Haverford,  Pennsylvania,"  and  a 
variety  of  short  articles  and  notes  on  topics  related  to 
the  history  of  the  Friends. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
Society  of  Antiquaries.— fanuary  17. — Sir  Ed- 
ward Brabrook,  V.P.,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  Reginald 
Smith  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Wreck  on  Pudding- pan 
Rock,"  a  shoal  in  the  Thames  estuary  four  miles 
north  of  Heme  Bay.  There  has  long  been  a  tradi- 
tion that  a  boat,  laden  with  Roman  pottery  of  the 
so-called  Samian  ware,  ran  ashore  at  this  point  and 
became  a  wreck,  and  the  fact  that  a  number  of  such 
bowls  have  been  dredged  from  the  Rock  by  oyster- 
fishermen  would  in  this  way  be  reasonably  explained. 
Governor  Pownall,  a  Fellow  of  the  Society,  drew 
attention  to  these  discoveries  as  long  ago  as  1778, 
and  his  memoir  called  forth  some  acute  criticisms  in 
the  succeeding  volume  of  Archceologia.  Recent  inves- 
tigations in  France  are  alone  sufficient  to  demolish  his 
theory  that  the  ware  was  manufactured  on  the  spot, 
though  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  Rock 
formed  part  of  the  mainland  in  Roman  times.  The 
erosion  of  the  London  clay  westward  from  Reculver 
has  been  very  rapid,  and  it  is  stated  that  between 
1872  and  1896  as  much  as  1,000  feet  was  lost.  But 
the  geographical  question  is  of  secondary  importance, 
as  no  wasters  or  handbricks,  no  moulds  or  potters' 
stamps,  have  been  recovered  from  the  Rock  ;  and  the 
potters  whose  names  appear  on  the  ware  are  in  several 
cases  known  to  have  worked  at  Lezoux,  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Puy-de-Dome,  in  the  second  century  of  our 
era.  Of  these  names,  thirty  are  now  known  from 
167  specimens  recently  examined  from  the  shoal,  and 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


"3 


everything  points  to  a  common  centre  of  production. 
Of  extant  examples,  fourteen  is  the  largest  number 
stamped  by  the  same  potter,  and  single  specimens  of 
eleven  others  have  so  far  been  recovered.  Seventeen 
potters  on  the  list  seem  to  have  restricted  themselves 
to  one  or  another  of  the  fourteen  shapes  represented  ; 
eight  produced  two  forms  each,  and  five  affixed  their 
stamps  to  three  forms.  The  fourteen  shapes  fall  into 
seven  types,  and  only  eight  of  the  number  bear  the 
potter's  name,  though  rosettes  and  concentric  rings 
occur  in  place  of  them.  Except  for  ivy  leaves  in 
"  slip  "  on  some  of  the  rims,  the  bulk  of  the  ware  is 
unornamented,  of  fine  red  with  coralline  glaze.  A 
totally  distinct  ware  is,  however,  represented  by  one 
two-handled  vase,  and  a  larger  specimen  is  recorded 
and  described  as  "  Tuscan."  The  paste  is  pale  brown 
with  a  black  surface  of  the  finest  quality,  and,  if  the 
wreck  theory  is  accepted,  was  doubtless  manufactured 
at  Lezoux.  Various  considerations  point  to  the  latter 
half  of  the  second  century  as  the  date  of  manufacture  ; 
and  a  bowl  belonging  to  one  of  the  Rock  types,  but 
with  a  strange  potter's  mark,  has  been  found  in  Nor- 
folk containing  coins  that  were  deposited  in  A.D.  175. 
The  name  of  the  Rock  is  due  to  the  Whitstable  custom 
of  serving  the  "  pudding-pie  "  in  these  vessels  on  Ash 
Wednesday,  and  the  association  of  fourteen  strictly 
contemporary  forms  from  the  wreck  will  be  of  service 
in  dating  Romano-British  remains. — Specimens  were 
exhibited  to  illustrate  the  paper  by  Mr.  G.  M.  Arnold, 
Dr.  J.  W.  Hayward,  and  Mr.  Sibert  Saunders  ;  and 
a  series  was  lent  by  the  Royal  Museum,  Canterbury, 
by  permission  of  the  Mayor.  Thirty-three  specimens 
are  now  exhibited  together  in  the  British  Museum. — 
Mr.  H.  Thackeray  Turner  exhibited  casts  of  two 
sculptures,  now  somewhat  weathered,  on  one  of  the 
tower  buttresses  of  Bucklebury  Church,  Berks.  The 
one  represents  the  rood  with  a  black-letter  inscrip- 
tion, of  which  the  final  words  are  "  Ihe  merci,"  and 
what  may  once  have  been  a  seated  figure  of  Our 
Lady  and  Child.  The  other  carving  probably  repre- 
sents a  wheelwright  dressing  the  edge  of  a  large 
wheel  with  an  adze.  The  carvings  are  apparently 
temp.  Edward  IV. — Atheimum,  January  26. 

+§  «*S  *>§ 

Society  of  Antiquaries. — January  24. — Mr.  P. 
Norman,  Treasurer,  in  the  chair. — A  letter  from  Mr. 
Somers  Clarke  was  read  calling  attention  to  a  pro- 
posal to  raise  the  great  dam  on  the  Nile  at  Assuan  to 
the  level  originally  suggested,  despite  the  undertaking 
given  in  1894  that  it  should  not  be  carried  higher  than 
at  present.  Mr.  Clarke  recalled  the  disastrous  effect 
such  raising  would  entail  both  as  regards  the  temples 
at  Philse  and  a  large  part  of  Nubia,  which  would  be 
hopelessly  drowned,  and  suggested  that  the  Society 
take  action  in  the  matter.  The  following  resolution 
was  accordingly  unanimously  adopted,  and  a  copy  of 
it  directed  to  be  sent  to  Lord  Cromer :  "  The  Society 
of  Antiquaries  of  London  has  heard  with  some  sur- 
prise that  a  proposal  is  seriously  entertained  by  the 
Egyptian  Government  to  raise  the  level  of  the  Nile 
dam  at  Assuan  to  the  height  originally  proposed. 
The  Society  would  point  out  that  it  is  informed  that 
such  an  alteration  would,  at  high  Nile,  submerge  the 
temples  at  Philae,  and  would  result  also  in  the  flood- 
ing of  a  large  area  in  Nubia  undoubtedly  containing 
many  interesting  sites.  The  Society  feels  bound  to 
VOL.   III. 


enter  a  protest  against  any  scheme  that  would  involve 
such  a  wholesale  destruction  of  archaeological  remains, 
unless  it  be  clearly  demonstrated  that  the  scheme  is 
an  absolute  necessity  for  the  well-being  of  Egypt,  and 
that  the  same  benefits  cannot  be  obtained  in  any  other 
way.  The  Society  feels  the  greater  confidence  in 
making  this  protest  to  the  Egyptian  Government  in 
view  of  the  important  and  costly  works  of  conserva- 
tion  that  have  already  been  carried  out  at  Philae." 

January  31. — Viscount  Dillon,  P.,  in  the  chair. — 
On  the  invitation  of  the  Dean  of  Westminster,  the 
meeting  was  held  in  the  College  (formerly  the  Abbot's) 
Hall  of  the  Deanery.  Notice  was  given  of  certain 
amendments  to  the  proposed  draft  of  alterations  in 
the  statutes  to  be  considered  at  the  special  meeting  of 
the  21st  inst. — Mr.  W.  H.  St.  John  Hope  read  a 
paper  on  "The  Funeral  Effigies  of  the  Kings  and 
Queens  of  England,"  with  special  reference  to  those 
in  the  Abbey  Church  of  Westminster.  It  was  shown 
that  in  the  earliest  recorded  royal  funerals,  such  as 
that  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  the  body  of  the  dead 
King  was  carried  to  the  grave  upon  a  bier,  entirely 
covered  by  a  pall.  Henry  II.  is  expressly  said  to 
have  been  carried  with  his  face  uncovered,  and  this 
led  to  various  attempts  to  embalm  the  body,  especially 
when  it  had  to  be  taken  to  a  distance.  Henry  III. 
seems  to  have  been  enclosed  in  a  wooden  coffin,  and 
his  body  represented  by  a  waxen  image  outside  it, 
arrayed  in  the  crown  and  other  royal  ornaments. 
Edward  II.  and  Edward  III.  were  similarly  repre- 
sented by  figures  carved  out  of  wood.  Henry  V.'s 
figure  was  made  in  France,  and  of  boiled  leather. 
Those  of  Henry  VII.  and  Elizabeth  of  York,  his  con- 
sort, had  the  bodies  and  limbs  made  of  leather  padded 
with  hay,  and  faces  and  hands  of  modelled  gesso  ;  and 
later  figures,  such  as  those  of  the  Stuart  period,  had  a 
wooden  framework  stuffed  and  padded,  and  jointed 
for  convenience  of  dressing. — The  Dean  of  West- 
minster also  read  some  notes  on  the  tradition  of  the 
identification  of  the  figures  now  preserved  in  the 
Abbey  Church,  and  on  the  subsequent  addition  of 
other  personages.  The  latter  constitute  the  well- 
known  "waxworks,"  but  the  older  series — which  used 
to  be  called  the  "  Ragged  Regiment,"  from  the  con- 
dition into  which  they  had  fallen — included  figures  of 
Edward  III.,  Anne  of  Bohemia  (head  only  left), 
Katharine  of  Valois,  Elizabeth  of  York,  Henry  VII., 
Mary,  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  Anne  of  Denmark, 
and  James  I.  (the  last  for  whom  a  funeral  effigy  was 
made).  There  was  also  a  figure  for  General  Monk, 
Duke  of  Albemarle.  The  earlier  series  of  figures, 
which  have  long  been  withdrawn  from  public  view, 
were  exhibited  in  illustration  of  the  papers  read. — In 
thanking  the  Dean  for  allowing  the  Society  to  meet 
in  his  ancient  hall,  the  chairman  handed  over  to  him, 
on  behalf  of  the  Chapter,  the  series  of  drawings  on 
vellum  known  as  the  Islip  Roll,  which  had  been  lent 
to  the  Society  for  reproduction  by  the  Dean  of  West- 
minster, Dr.  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  in  1791, 
and  not  returned,  owing  to  his  death  while  the  work 
was  in  progress. — Athenceum,  February  9. 

+Q  ^  «Otf 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Bristol  members  of  the 
Bristol  and  Gloucestershire  Archaeological 
Society  on  January  23,  Dr.  A.  Harvey  presiding, 
Mr.    J.    E.   Pritchard,   F.S.A.,    read    a    paper    on 

P 


n4 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


"  Bristol  Archaeological  Notes  for  1906,"  illustrated 
by  limelight  views.  It  is  impossible  in  the  space  at 
our  command  to  give  a  detailed  summary  of  an 
excellent  lecture,  but  we  may  mention  that  Mr. 
Pritchard  recorded  the  finding  of  several  prehistoric 
implements  on  the  banks  of  the  Froom  ;  a  brass  seal 
top  spoon  and  sundry  coins  during  the  work  at 
All  Saints'  Church ;  some  seventeenth-century  clay 
tobacco-pipes,  an  Abbey  Piece  of  a  somewhat  scarce 
type,  and  other  objects  found  in  excavating  Lodge 
Street  for  new  water-pipes  ;  and  a  variety  of  other 
finds  in  the  course  of  sundry  excavations.  Turning 
to  the  passing  of  old  Bristol,  Mr.  Pritchard  had  rather 
a  long  list  of  demolitions  to  record — the  lire  at  Spicer's 
Hall,  the  destruction  of  the  Rising  Sun  and  the 
Crown  Inns,  and  of  Langton's  House.  Mr.  Pritchard 
urged  the  necessity  for  establishing  an  Architectural 
Court,  in  which  local  architectural  antiquities  cou'.d 
be  preserved  and  exhibited. 

+Q  ^  «0$ 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  ok 
Antiquaries  of  Ireland  was  held  on  January  29, 
Mr.  R.  O'Shaughnessy,  C.B.,  presiding,  when  a 
satisfactory  report  was  presented.  At  the  evening 
meeting  Dr.  MacDowel  Cosgrave  read  a  paper,  illus- 
trated by  lantern  slides,  being  Part  II.  of  what  he 
described  as  a  contribution  towards  a  catalogue  of 
nineteenth-century  engravings  of  Dublin.  A  paper 
by  the  Rev.  St.  J.  Seymour  on  "  Old  Dublin  Cari- 
catures "  was  also  read. 

+S  *§  +§ 

Mr.  C.  E.  Keyser,  F.S.A.,  gave  a  lantern  lecture  on 
"A  Day's  Excursion  among  the  Churches  of  South- 
East  Norfolk  "  at  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Arch.eo- 
logical  Institute  on  February  6. 

^S  4>§  *>$ 

The  monthly  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries OF  Scotland  was  held  on  January  14, 
Dr.  Christison  presiding.  The  first  paper,  by  Mr. 
James  Barbour,  architect,  Dumfries,  gave  an  account 
of  the  excavation  from  June  to  October,  1905,  of  an 
ancient  stone  fort  near  Kirkandrews  by  the  pro- 
prietor, Mr.  James  Brown,  of  Knockbrea.  The  fort, 
or  castle,  is  situated  on  a  promontory  in  a  little  bay 
half  a  mile  to  the  west  of  Kirkandrews,  and  is 
mentioned  in  the  New  Statistical  Account  as  then 
bearing  the  name  of  Castle  Hayne.  In  plan  it  is  oval 
on  the  east  and  straight  on  the  west,  and  consists  of 
a  central  area  60  by  35  feet,  begirt  by  a  great  dry- 
built  wall  about  15  feet  thick,  having  a  gallery  on  the 
east  side  in  the  middle  of  its  thickness  80  feet  long 
and  3^  feet  wide,  and  on  the  west  side  a  gallery  or 
long  chamber  54  feet  in  length  and  3^  feet  in  width, 
and  at  a  little  distance  a  smaller  chamber  14  feet 
long  and  4  feet  wide.  The  relics  found  in  the  fort 
consisted  of  a  quern-stone  and  some  stone  pounders 
and  whetstones,  a  spindle  -  wheel,  a  rough  stone 
disc  with  perforation  in  the  centre,  a  bead  of  blue 
vitreous  paste  ornamented  with  white  wavy  lines,  a 
ring-bead  of  amber,  two  spiral  finger-rings  of  bronze 
wire,  a  bronze  penannular  brooch,  and  fragments  of 
chain  mail.  The  bones  found  were  those  of  domestic 
animals,  chiefly  ox  and  swine.  Remains  of  red-deer 
were  met  with,  and  fowls  and  fish  were  also  indicated. 
Judging  from  the  relics  found,  and  from  the  character 


of  the  building,  the  date  of  the  fort  is  probably  pre- 
medkeval. — The  second  paper,  by  Mr.  Alan  Reid, 
F.S.  A.  Scot.,  dealt  with  the  churchyard  monuments 
of  Lasswade  and  Pentland,  photographs  of  which,  by 
Mr.  James  Moffat,  were  shown  on  the  screen. — In 
the  third  paper  Mr.  Alexander  O.  Curie,  secretary, 
gave  some  notes  from  an  account  of  the  expenditure 
of  Archibald,  ninth  Earl  of  Argyll,  in  the  maintenance 
of  his  household  at  Inveraray  in  the  year  1680.  The 
account  book  may  be  taken  as  giving  a  more  or  less 
complete  statement  of  the  expenditure  of  his  estab- 
lishment at  Inveraray  for  the  year  to  which  it  refers, 
and  is  interesting  for  the  glimpses  it  affords  of  the 
economy  of  a  great  Highland  household.  It  is 
noticeable  that  while  there  is  not  a  single  entry  in 
the  accounts  for  meat,  which  with  the  ordinary  pro- 
duce of  the  country  would  be  supplied  from  the 
payments  of  rents  in  kind,  flour  and  bisket  come 
from  the  barter  in  Glasgow.  Herrings  are  laid  in 
in  June  at  7s.  per  hundred,  and  a  quarter-hundred 
of  hard  fish  costs  £g.  No  other  fish  are  mentioned, 
but  of  shell-fish  there  are  occasional  entries  of  oysters. 
Brandie  is  mentioned,  but  no  whisky,  unless  the 
entry  of  6s.  for  a  worm  supplied  to  Mr.  James 
indicates  the  operation  of  a  small  still.  A  hogshead 
of  sack  costs  ,£162,  and  there  are  frequent  entries  of 
a  light  sour  wine  called  vinigar.  Drinking-glasses 
were  just  then  coming  into  fashion,  and  vinigar- 
glasses  from  Glasgow  cost  6s.  apiece,  and  a  dozen 
and  a  half  of  ordinary  glasses  4s.  each.  There  is 
little  mention  of  other  table  or  household  utensils. 
The  tinkler  is  entrusted  with  the  mending  of  the 
silver  laver,  and  old  English  and  Scots  pewter  flagons 
and  other  vessels  are  exchanged  for  new  ones.  Peats, 
which  were  used  when  coals  ran  out,  cost  2s.  6d.  to 
3s.  per  load,  and  the  coal  bill  from  April  to  October 
amounted  to  ^365,  at  ios.  a  barrel.  Soap  comes 
from  Holland,  and  ordinary  candles  cost  £2  18s.  per 
stone,  while  those  with  cotton  wicks  cost  £2  6s. 
per  stone.  There  is  a  garden  in  which  the  gardener 
plants  in  the  spring  700  bowkail,  and  later  goose- 
berry and  currant  sets,  the  account  for  the  latter 
amounting  to  ^21.  For  the  children's  education 
^40  is  paid  to  Mr.  John  Campbell,  doctor  of  the 
Grammar  School,  Glasgow.  A  fencing- master  re- 
ceives £i\J  ;  fishing-lines  are  brought  to  them  from 
Greenock,  golf-balls  from  Edinburgh  ;  powder  and 
lead  for  shooting,  and  arrows  for  archery,  are  also 
supplied,  and  their  clothing  and  boots  and  shoes 
come  from  Edinburgh.  The  total  of  the  year's 
expenditure  amounts  to  ,£18,417,  but  includes  several 
considerable  sums  paid  to  the  Earl  himself  for  objects 
not  disclosed,  and  sums  expended  by  the  Countess 
for  charitable  purposes. 

+§  +Q  +Q 

British  Archaeological  Association.— January 
16. — Mr.  C.  H.  Compton  in  the  chair. — The  Rev. 
W.  S.  Lach-Szyrma  read  a  paper  on  the  "Restora- 
tion of  Ancient  British  Churches,"  touching  upon  the 
vexed  question  of  restoration  or  repair,  and  argued 
that  it  was  better  that  old  buildings  should  be  restored 
in  a  careful  and  reverent  manner  than  that  they  should 
be  left  to  the  tender  mercy  of  the  relic-hunter.  The 
only  really  safe  place  for  relics  of  antiquity  was  the 
nearest  museum,  where,  at  any  rate,  they  would 
be  safe  from   vandal    hands.      In    this    connection 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


IX5 


it  was  a  noteworthy  fact  that  in  the  Middle  Ages 
many  carved  stones  that  were  found  were  preserved 
and  built  into  the  fabric  of  the  nearest  church,  and 
thus  many  important  relics  had  been  preserved  and 
handed  down  to  this  day,  particularly  some  of  the 
inscribed  stones  of  the  fifth  and  earlier  centuries. 
The  churches  specially  dealt  with  in  the  paper  were 
those  of  Perranzabuloe,  G  withian,  and  Llantwit  Major. 
Mr.  R.  II.  Forster  advocated  the  repair  and  preserva- 
tion of  ancient  buildings  rather  than  restoration, 
and  instanced  several  attempts  at  the  restoration  of 
mediaeval  castles  that  were  failures.  Messrs.  Comp- 
ton,  Shenstone,  and  Tooker,  also  took  part  in  the 
discussion. 

*$  -0$  *$ 

On  January  28  Mr.  S.  Perkins  lectured  before  the 
Cambridge  Antiquarian  Society  on  "The  Decay 
of  Artistic  Handicraft."  Previous  to  the  lecture  the 
chairman  (Rev.  D.  H.  S.  Cranage)  alluded  to  the  loss 
they  had  sustained  by  the  death  of  Professor  Maitland. 
He  did  not  ask  them  to  pass  a  vote  of  condolence, 
because  that  had  already  been  done  by  the  council, 
but  he  was  sure  they  would  heartily  endorse  that  vote. 
He  need  not  take  up  the  time  by  dilating  upon  the 
excellent  qualities  of  the  deceased  gentleman.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  society,  and  a  member  who  did 
a  good  deal  for  them.  Some  years  ago  he  edited  the 
Charters  of  Cambridge,  in  company  with  Miss  Bate- 
son,  whose  loss  they  had  had  lately  to  deplore. 

«•$  «•$  ^ 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Louth  Archaeological 
Society  was  held  at  Dundalk  on  January  30,  Mr.  J. 
Dolan  presiding.  The  secretary  read  the  annual 
report,  giving  a  brief  sketch  of  the  working  of  the 
society  since  its  formation  four  years  ago.  It  now 
includes  about  180  members.  "  During  the  past 
year,"  the  report  continued,  "the  protection  of  St. 
Mochto's  Oratory  at  Louth,  so  long  talked  about,  was 
accomplished,  and  in  Drogheda  the  Magdalene  tower 
was  also  enclosed  by  a  neat  railing,  thanks  to  the 
efforts  of  the  Rev.  Father  Coleman  and  a  small  com- 
mittee of  Drogheda  people.  To  carry  out  other 
works  of  its  kind  the  restoration  fund  had  been  estab- 
lished, and  has  met  with  marked  success  so  far,  close 
on ^30  being  already  subscribed.  On  the  whole  we 
hope  that  the  efforts  of  the  Council  will  meet  with  the 
appreciation  of  the  members,  and  that  each  member 
will  feel  it  a  duty  to  loyally  support  the  Society  and 
enlarge  the  circle  of  its  membership,  and  thus  enable 
us  to  continue  the  work  so  well  begun,  and  perhaps 
to  attempt  still  greater  things  in  the  future." 

*$  «0$  +§ 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archae- 
ology, held  on  February  13,  Mr.  E.  J.  Pilcher  read 
a  paper  on  "  The  Himyaritic  Script  derived  from 
the  Greek." 

*$  «0£  +§ 

The  ninety-fourth  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  ofNewcastle  was  held  on  January  30, 
the  Duke  of  Northumberland  in  the  chair.  The 
annual  report  showed  much  activity  on  the  part  of  the 
society,  and  included  an  account  of  the  pilgrimage  of 
the  Roman  Wall  last  year  ;  but  the  most  important 
part  was  the  following  reference  to  the  ancient  city 
walls:    "Your  council  has  from  time  to  time  con- 


cerned itself  with  the  important  question  of  the  ancient 
town  walls  and  towers  of  the  city.  The  possibility  of 
further  destruction  of  these  priceless  relics  of  our 
municipal  history  induced  your  Council  to  appoint  a 
special  sub-committee  to  deal  with  the  question.  A 
conference  with  the  chairman  of  the  stewards  of  the 
Incorporated  Companies  ensued.  At  this  the  hold- 
ings of  the  Freemen  of  Newcastle  in  certain  of  the 
structures  were  discussed  with  every  courtesy  by  their 
representative.  Subject  to  their  pecuniary  interests 
in  the  various  towers  and  rights  of  user  on  adjoining 
walls  being  recognised,  the  freemen  were  prepared  to 
negotiate.  But  at  this  stage  it  was  ascertained  that 
the  City  Council  had  intervened,  its  finance  com- 
mittee having  appointed  a  '  Town  Walls  and 
Towers  Sub-Committee '  to  investigate  the  whole  sub- 
ject. The  report  of  that  sub-committee  has  been 
submitted  to  the  finance  committee  and  approved  by 
them,  and  it  now  awaits  confirmation  by  the  council 
itself.  Their  ratification  is  to  be  desired.  Its  result 
will  be  that  the  City  Council  will  take  into  their  own 
hands  all  the  remaining  walls  and  towers,  with  the 
view  of  acting  as  guardians  for  their  preservation.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  the  issue  is  being  watched  with 
anxiety,  not  only  by  a  numerous  body  of  our  own 
citizens,  but  by  representative  bodies  throughout  the 
kingdom,  the  famous  town  walls  of  Newcastle  being 
looked  upon  far  and  wide  as  a  national  possession  of 
inestimable  value.  Your  council  record  in  this  con- 
nection the  enlightened  policy  pursued  in  the  past  by 
the  City  Council,  as  exemplified  by  them  in  acquiring 
the  Norman  Keep  and  the  Black  Gate,  and  in  com- 
mitting these  great  historic  structures  to  the  care  and 
keeping  of  your  society  as  tenants.  By  this  wise 
action  the  intellectual  life  of  the  city  has  been  enriched 
by  the  access  to  these  unique  buildings  of  an  earlier 
time,  and  in  the  educational  value  of  their  contents  to 
the  historical  student.  In  hardly  less  a  degree  will  it 
redound  to  the  wisdom  and  intelligence  of  our  city 
councillors,  now  and  for  generations  to  come,  if  they 
maintain  the  same  wise  policy  in  securing  and  pre- 
serving for  all  time  the  relics  of  Newcastle's  early 
municipal  greatness  in  its  ancient  walls  and  towers." 

<*$  4»§  «©§ 

The  Glasgow  Archaeological  Society  met  on 
January  17.  Mr.  J.  D.  G.  Dalrymple,  who  occupied 
the  chair,  referred  to  the  loss  sustained  in  the  death 
of  the  Rev.  Principal  Story. — Mr.  Charles  L.  Spencer 
afterwards  read  a  paper  on  "The  Crossbow."  He 
traced  the  development  of  the  weapon  from  the  Middle 
Ages  till  last  century,  when  it  was  used  for  sporting 
purposes.  The  paper  was  illustrated  by  specimens 
from  Mr.  Spencer's  collection.  They  were  shown  in 
working  condition,  and  the  method  of  using  was  de- 
monstrated. 

+§  «*?  +§ 

Other  meetings  which  we  have  not  space  to  record  in 
detail  have  been  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Sunder- 
land Antiquarian  Society  on  January  15  ;  the 
fiftieth  annual  meeting  of  the  Hawick  Archaeo- 
logical Society  on  January  31  ;  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  Kildare  Archaeological  Society  on  Janu- 
ary 25,  when  Lord  Walter  Fitzgerald  spoke  on 
"  Customs  Peculiar  to  Certain  Days  formerly  ob- 
served in  the  Co.  Kildare  ";  the  first  winter  meeting 

P    2 


u6 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


of  the  East  Riding  Antiquarian  Society  on 
February  II,  when  the  Rev.  R.  C.  Wilton  read  an 
exhaustive  paper  on  "  The  Cliffords  and  Boyles  of 
Londesborough "  ;  the  monthly  meeting  of  the 
Halifax  Antiquarian  Society  on  February  5  ; 
and  the  meeting  of  the  Cork  Historical  and 
Arch.-eological  Society  on  February  1. 


iRetnetos  ant)  Notices 
of  Jfteto  I5ook0. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.] 

Ancient    Legends    of    Roman    History.      By 
Ettore   Pais,   LL.D.     Translated   by  Mario  E. 
Cosenza.     Many  illustrations.     London :   Swan 
Sonnenschein  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1906.    8vo.,  pp.  xiv, 
336.     Price  15s. 
The  majority  of  the  chapters  of  this   book  were 
prepared   as   lectures   for   the    Lowell    Institute   at 
Boston,  and   the  others  were  read   before  different 
Universities  of  the  United  States.     The  first  of  these 
is  an  essay  on  the  critical  method  that  ought  to  be 
pursued  in  the  study  of  the  most  ancient  of  Roman 
history,   and   it   is   followed    by  an   account   of  the 
excavations  in  the  Roman  Forum  brought  up  to  date. 
To  this  succeeds  a  chapter  on  the  origins  of  Rome, 
with    more    particular    reference    to   a    remarkable 
Pompeian  fresco,  which  was  discovered  in   1903,  at 
the  time  when  Signor  Pais  was  director  of  the  exca- 
vations.    A  copy  of  this  highly  interesting  fresco  is 
given  as  a  frontispiece.     Its  subject,   which  is  dis- 
cussed at  considerable  length,  is  the  early  legend  as 
to  the  founding  of  the  great  city. 

The  old  story  goes  that  Rhea  Sylvia,  the  daughter 
of  an  Alban  prince,  whose  throne  had  been  usurped 
by  his  brother  Amalius,  was  forced  to  become  a 
vestal  virgin,  whilst  her  brother  was  killed.  Sylvia, 
however,  whilst  going  to  the  grove  of  Mars  to  pro- 
cure water  for  her  sacred  duties,  met  with  the  god, 
and  became  his  bride.  Amalius  condemned  her  to 
death  for  having  broken  her  vows,  and  her  twin  sons 
were  flung  into  the  Tiber,  but  a  she-wolf  saved  them 
from  imminent  death.  Faustulus,  the  king's  chief 
swineherd,  chanced  to  see  them,  lifted  the  god-born 
infants  into  his  arms,  and  carried  them  to  his  wife. 
The  latter  retained  them  as  her  sons  until,  having 
become  the  brave  leaders  of  the  shepherds,  their 
birth  was  ere  long  duly  acknowledged,  the  ancient 
Alban  lineage  restored,  and  the  square  city  of  the 
Palatine  was  founded.  It  is  here  shown,  after  a 
scholarly  fashion,  that  the  fundamental  elements  of 
the  legend  are  formed  from  two  different  and  entirely 
separate  myths.  The  remarkable  newly-discovered 
fresco,  of  no  small  artistic  merit,  is  a  composite 
picture,  in  which  a  variety  of  incidents  are  grouped 
together,  and  their  explanation  gives  full  scope  to  the 
scholarly  ingenuity  of  the  author. 


In  subsequent  chapters  the  various  stories  or 
legends  of  the  maid  Tarpeia,  of  Servius  Tullius,  of 
the  Horatii  and  the  cult  of  Vulcan,  of  the  Spartans 
at  Thermopylae,  of  Lucretia  and  Virginia,  as  well  as 
others  with  which  we  were  familiar  in  school-day 
mythology,  are  scientifically  discussed,  and  their  irue 
historic  value  carefully  estimated.  The  last  chapter 
deals  with  the  topography  of  the  earliest  Rome,  and 
this  is  followed  by  a  variety  of  learned  notes. 

To  the  deeper  students  of  Roman  history,  as  well 
as  to  archaeologists  who  visit  Rome,  or  take  an 
interest  in  the  excavations  that  are  so  continuously 
in  progress,  a  volume  such  as  this  cannot  fail  to  be 
of  extreme  value. 

*      *      * 

Glimpses  of  Ancient  Leicester.     By  Mrs.  T. 
Fielding  Johnson.     Second   edition,   with  sup- 
plementary notes.   Many  illustrations.   Leicester: 
Clarke  and Satchell ;  London :  Simpkin,  Marshall 
and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1906.     8vo.,  pp.  xvi,  439.     Price 
4s.  6d.  net. 
Leicester  has   been   fortunate   in   its   chroniclers. 
The  late  Miss  Bateson  did  much  admirable  work  for 
students  and  scholars  in  her  splendid  edition  of  the 


JACOBEAN    FIREPLACE   IN   THE   MAYOR'S 
PARLOUR. 

Leicester  Borough  Records,  while  Mrs.  Fielding 
Johnson  in  the  book  before  us,  of  which  we  are  glad 
to  see  a  second  edition  has  been  called  for,  has  pro- 
vided a  capital  sketch  of  the  many  picturesque  phases 
of  Leicester's  past  for  the  every-day  reader.  Whether 
dealing  with  the  Roman  or  the  Norman  period,  or 
with  the  history  of  the  city  in  mediaeval  and  later 
times,  Mrs.  Johnson  is  always  readable,  usually  ac- 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


117 


curate,  and  gives  us  a  narrative  of  which  the  interest 
is  unfailing.  One  of  the  most  cherished  remains  of 
the  older  Leicester,  which  still  delights  the  eye  of  the 
modern  citizen,  is  the  old  Town  Hall  and  the  adjoining 
Mayor's  Parlour.  The  Hall,  in  which  the  municipal 
business  of  the  borough  was  transacted  from  1563  to 
1874,  was  purchased  for  the  town  in  the  former  year, 
prior  to  which  date  it  had  served  as  the  Hall  of  the 
Guild  of  Corpus  Christi — the  most  important  guild  of 
mediaeval  Leicester,  founded  in  1343  and  dissolved 
in  1548.  The  Mayor's  Parlour,  with  its  curious  row 
of  stained  window-lights,  took  its  present  form  in 
1637.    Close  by  are  the  premises  containing  the  Town 


as  for  the  illustrations,  their  name  is  legion.  Parti- 
cularly welcome  are  the  many,  taken  from  old  prints 
and  drawings,  which  show  various  parts  of  the  town 
as  they  appeared  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  the 
earlier  decades  of  the  nineteenth  ;  and  special  value 
attaches  to  the  excellent  reproductions  of  Stukeley's 
Map  of  Leicester,  1722,  Speed's  Map,  1610,  and  the 
large,  folding-sheet  plan  of  Leicester  as  made  from 
actual  survey  in  1828.  Altogether  Mrs.  Johnson's 
work,  which  is  well  printed  and  handsomely  pro- 
duced, deserves  to  take  a  high  place  amongst  popular 
works  of  topography  and  local  history.  It  is  remark- 
ably cheap. 


_______ 


EXTERIOR  OF^MAYOR's   PARLOUR   FROM    THE  OLD   TOWN    HALL   YARD   (IQ06). 


Library,  which  are  generally  supposed  to  have  been 
originally  the  Chantry-house  occupied  by  the  priests 
of  the  Corpus  Christi  Guild.  Mrs.  Johnson  gives  a 
number  of  capital  illustrations  of  both  the  interior  and 
the  exterior  of  the  picturesque  old  buildings,  two  of 
which  we  are  courteously  allowed  to  reproduce.  The 
first  shows  the  richly  ornamented  Jacobean  fireplace 
in  the  Mayor's  Parlour  ;  the  second  illustration,  taken 
from  the  old  Town  Hall  Yard,  gives  the  exterior  of 
Mayor's  Parlour.  Among  the  larger  illustrations  of 
the  volume  are  fine  photographic  pictures  of  the 
interiors  of  the  Parlour  and  of  the  old  Town  Hall. 
The  work,  indeed,  is  an  attractive  picture-book  as 
well  as  delightful  to  read.  The  vivid  sketch  of  the 
siege  of  Leicester  during  the  Civil  War,  and  the 
chapter  on  the  history  of  the  town  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  may  be  specially  mentioned  in  justification  of 
the  statement  that  the  book  is  delightful  to  read  ;  while 


The    Old   Castle    Vennal    of   Stirling   and 
its  Occupants,   with    the    Old    Brig   of 
Stirling.     By  J.   S.    Fleming,    F.S.A.    Scot. 
Eighty  pen  and  ink  and  other  drawings  by  the 
author.     With    introductory   chapter    by    John 
Honeyman,  architect,   LL.D.,  R.S.A.   Stirling: 
Observer  Office,    1906.     Demy   4to.,    pp.    160. 
Price  10s.  6d. 
For  the  benefit  of  some  readers  of  the  Antiquary 
it  may  be  explained  that  the  word  vennal  or  vennel 
(the  French  venelle)  is  used  in  Scotland,  in  England 
north  of  the  Humber,  and  in  Ulster,  to  denote  an 
alley  or  narrow  street.    The  Castle  Vennel  of  Stirling, 
whose  ancient    buildings    are    here    portrayed   and 
explained  by  Mr.  Fleming,  is  the  thoroughfare  lead- 
ing up  from  the  town  of  Stirling  to  the  steep  rock  on 
which  its  castle  stands.      "Along  this  now  deserted 
lane,"   says   Dr.    Honeyman   in    his    preface,    ''for 


n8 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


centuries  there  ebbed  and  flowed  the  troubled  stream 
of  regal  and  aristocratic  life.  At  the  head  ot  the 
now  silent  street  still  stand  the  Palace  and  the 
Parliament  House,  deserted  and  desecrated  relics  of 
departed  dignity  and  power."  Of  the  old  mansions 
of  the  Scottish  nobles,  only  two  have  survived  to  the 
present  day,  the  mansion  of  the  Earl  of  Stirling  and 
the  "lodging"  of  that  Earl  of  Mar  who  was  for  a 
time  ( 1 571- 1 572)  Regent  of  Scotland,  the  young 
King,  James  VI.,  being  then  a  child.  Mr.  Eleming 
describes  the  architectural  features  of  lx>th  of  these 
buildings,  with  many  interesting  pictorial  details,  and 
he  also  reproduces,  from  authentic  originals,  pictures 
of  other  patrician  homes  in  the  same  neighbour- 
hood which  were  demolished  long  ago.  As  in  other 
contemporary  Scottish  castles  and  houses,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Flemish  and  French  schools  of  archi- 
tecture is  distinctly  traceable.  Mr.  Fleming  is  to  be 
congratulated  on  having  placed  on  record,  with  much 
skill  and  loving  labour,  these  various  interesting 
memorials.  Exception  may  be  taken,  however,  as 
a  matter  of  terminology,  to  his  use  of  the  archaic 
"  Judging"  instead  of  "lodging,"  and  to  the  hybrid 
"old  brig"  for  "old  bridge."  "  Auld  brig"  is  the 
correct  form,  if  "old  bridge"  is  not  good  enough. 

*  *      * 

The  Story  of  the  Later  Popes.     By  the  Rev. 

C.  S.   Isaacson,  M.A.     Frontispiece  and   forty 

reproductions  of  Papal  medals.     London  :  Elliot 

Stocky   1906.     Crown   8vo.,  pp.  ix,  301.     Price 

7«.  6d.  net. 

This  is  not  a  book  for  the  student,  but  for  that 

much   catered   for  individual  —  the   general   reader. 

Mr.  Isaacson,  in  a  series  of  rather  sketchy  chapters, 

tells  briefly,  in  popular,  anecdotal  fashion,  the  story 

of  the  Popes  from  the  election  of  Martin  V.,  in  14 17, 

to  the  present  day.     The  most  interesting  feature  of 

the  book  is  to  be  found  in  the  photographic  plates 

copied  from  the  originals,  which  contain  excellent 

reproductions  of  a  large  number  of  papal  medals. 

In  nearly  all  of  them  the  obverse  gives  a  likeness  of 

the  Pope,  while  the  reverse  represents  some  incident 

in  his  life.     There  is  a  splendid  collection  of  medals 

issued  by  the  Papal  Mint  in  the  British  Museum,  and 

not  a  few  of  the  finest  specimens  are  here  reproduced. 

They  repay  careful  study,  not  merely  for  the  quality, 

in  many  cases,  of  the  workmanship,  but  for  their 

suggestiveness  in  relation  to  the  minds  and  intentions 

of  the  Popes  who  caused  them  to  be  struck. 

*  *     * 

The  Royal  Manor  of  Hitchin  and  its  Lords, 
Harold  and  the  Balliols.     By  Wentworth 
Huyshe.     With   illustrations   by   F.    L.    Griggs 
and  D.  Macpherson.     London  :  Mac?nillan  and 
Co.,   Ltd.,    1906.     Demy    8vo.,    pp.   xiv,    197. 
Price  10s.  6d.  net. 
To  a  certain  class  of  fairly  intelligent  readers  any 
kind  of  a  work  that  deals  with  manors  or  manorial 
descent  is  at  once  set  down  as  the  dryest  form  of 
local  history,  only  to  be  perused  by  antiquaries  or  en- 
thusiastic genealogists.     Now,  although  the  antiquary, 
local   or  otherwise,   will   find   genuine  grounds   for 
enjoying   this  volume  about   Hitchin,   we  have   no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  these  pages  will  be  found  to 
abound  in  stirring  incidents,  in  strange  tales,  and  in 
pathetic  episodes,  extending  from  the  days  of  Earl 


Harold  to  the  death  of  Denvorguil  de  Balliol  in  1290. 
It  is  seldom,  indeed,  that  we  have  had  occasion  to 
take  up  a  book  of  this  size  outside  fiction  so  full  of 
dramatic  scenes.  Mr.  Huyshe,  in  his  toilsome  in- 
vestigation as  to  the  past  history  of  the  royal  manor 
of  Hitchin,  has  broken  new  ground  by  showing  for 
the  first  time  its  pre-Conquest  connection  with  Tork 
and  Harold.  In  following  up  this  clue,  and  in  telling 
in  happily-selected  passages  the  story  of  the  rise  to 
power  of  the  great  baronial  family  of  Balliol,  followed 
by  its  comparatively  speedy  fall  and  disappearance,  a 
series  of  vivid  historical  vignettes  has  been  produced, 
of  which  their  writer  may  be  justly  proud. 

The  book  is  also  excellently  illustrated  by  Messrs. 
Griggs  and  Macpherson.  It  certainly  merits  a  general 
as  well  as  a  local  circulation,  and  cannot  prove  dull 
to  anyone  of  decent  education,  save  those  perchance 
who  delight  to  batten,  to  the  enfeeblement  of  their 
mental  powers,  on  the  coarse  and  slovenly  diet  pro- 
vided by  those  modern  novelists  whose  wares  are  said 
to  sell  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand  a  day. 

The  book  has,  however,  a  genuine  blot.  We  turn 
to  the  end  for  the  index,  and  find  a  mere  "  List  of 
Subscribers." 

*  *  * 
Memorials  of  Old  Shropshire.  Edited  by 
Thomas  Auden,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  Illustrated  by 
Katharine  M.  Roberts.  London  :  Bemrose  and 
Sons,  Ltd.,  1906.  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xiv,  301. 
Price  15s. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  man  better  qualified 
for  the  preparation  of  such  a  volume  as  this  than  the 
Vicar  of  Condover.  Mr.  Auden  is  a  devoted  Salopian 
who  is  thoroughly  versed  in  the  history  and  antiquities 
of  his  county — a  county  conspicuously  rich  in  historical 
associations  and  in  surviving  relics,  archaeological  and 
architectural,  of  the  storied  past.  As  usual  with 
volumes  of  this  kind,  one  great  difficulty  has  been 
the  task  of  selection  ;  but  Mr.  Auden  may  be  warmly 
congratulated  on  the  success  of  his  attempt  to  "avoid 
the  scrappiness,"  which,  as  he  well  says,  "  is  too  apt 
to  attach  to  a  volume  like  the  present."  After  an 
introductory  chapter  on  the  "  General  Story  of  the 
Shire,"  by  the  editor,  which  shows  his  admirable 
grasp  of  both  county  and  related  national  history, 
Miss  H.  M.  Auden  treats  of  "  The  Origin  and  Evolu- 
tion of  the  Towns,"  and  traces  in  capable  fashion 
the  early  history  of  Shrewsbury,  Ludlow,  Oswestry, 
Bridgnorth,  Clun,  Whitchurch,  Wellington,  and  a 
number  of  other  urban  centres.  This  is  followed 
by  "  Religious  Movements  —  Mediaeval  and  Post- 
Mediaeval,"  by  the  editor — a  full  chapter  for  which 
the  history  of  the  various  abbeys  and  other  religious 
foundations,  of  which  such  beautiful  remains  still  exist 
as  those  at  Buildwas  and  Haughmond,  provides 
abundant  material.  The  coming  of  the  friars,  the 
Lollard  movement,  the  Reformation,  and  later  religious 
developments,  such  as  Quakerism  and  Methodism, 
are  all  briefly  discussed  so  far  as  they  affected  Shrop- 
shire, In  the  next  section  Miss  C.  S.  Burne  deals 
with  the  county  "  Folk- Lore  :  Legends  and  Old 
Customs" — a  subject  of  which  her  well  known  and 
much  valued  Shropshire  Folk-Lore  showed  long  ago 
that  she  was  a  past  mistress.  Other  aspects  of  the 
county's  story  are  ably  dealt  with  in  chapters  on 
"  Ludlow  and  the  Council  of  the  Marches,"  by  Miss 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


tig 


Caroline  Skeel,  D.Litt;  "Shropshire  and  the  Civil 
War,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Auden — a  chapter  full  of 
life  and  movement  which  usefully  supplements  Mr. 
Willis  Bund's  valuable  study  of  the  The  Civil  War 
in  Worcestershire,  published  a  year  or  two  ago ; 
"Shropshire  and  its  Schools,"  by  the  same  writer, 
containing  much  matter  relating  to  the  earlier  history 
of  the  various  noteworthy  grammar  schools  of  the 
county  which  will  be  new  to  many  readers  ;  "Archi- 
tectural Story  :  Representative  Buildings" — a  subject 
for  which,  again,  there  is  a  wealth  of  material — by 
Miss  H.  Auden  ;  and  "  Illustrious  Salopians,"  by 
the  editor.  The  late  Mr.  Stanley  Leighton's  paper 
on  "Old  Shropshire  Families"  is  also  included  and 
brought  up  to  date.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  themes 
chosen,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  sections,  give  the 
book  a  certain  unity,  and  certainly  fulfil  the  editor's 
promise  that  the  reader  who  reads  the  volume  through 
"  will  be  in  possession  of  a  fairly  clear  idea  of  the 
past  history  of  the  county,  viewed  under  several 
aspects."  Miss  K.  M.  Roberts's  drawings,  though 
somewhat  unequal,  are  on  the  whole  very  effectively 
illustrative,  and  add  much  to  the  attractiveness  of  a 
capital  volume.     There  is  a  good  index. 

if.     if.     if. 
The  Evolution  of  Culture,  and  other  Essays. 
By  the  late  General  Pitt-Rivers,  F.R.S.     Edited 
by  J.  L.  Myres,  M.A.,  with  an  Introduction  by 
Henry    Balfour,    M.A.      Twenty  -  one    plates. 
Oxford :    Clarendon  Press,    1906.     Demy   8vo., 
pp.  xx,  232.     Price  7s.  6d,  net. 
The  series  of  essays  in  this  volume  by  the  late 
General  Pitt  Rivers,  which  are  edited  by  Mr.  Myres, 
are  well  worth  putting  together  in  a  single  volume. 
Hitherto  they  have  been  difficult  to  obtain,  for  they 
spread  over  a  period  extending  from  1867- 1874,  and 
were  chiefly  to  be  found  in  technical  journals  which 
are  only  issued   to  subscribers.      They  contain   the 
first-fruits  of  the  earliest  attempts  to  apply  the  theory 
of  evolution  to  human  handicraft.     The  reason  that 
induced  General  Pitt-Rivers  to  begin  to  gather  to- 
gether his  famous  ethnographical  collection,  which  is 
now  stored  at  the  great  museum  in   Oxford  which 
bears  its  name,  is  a  curious  and  interesting  story.     As 
long  ago  as  185 1  Colonel  Lane-Fox  (which  was  then 
his  title  before  he  succeeded  to  the  Rivers  estates) 
undertook  a  professional  investigation  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  the  best  methods  whereby  the  Service  fire- 
arms might  be  improved   at  a   time  when  the  old 
Tower    musket   was    being   finally   discarded.      He 
entered  upon  this  question  with  the  zeal  and  scientific 
energy  that  characterized  all  his  actions  to  the  close 
of  his  life. 

"  He  observed  that  every  noteworthy  advancement 
in  the  efficiency,  not  only  of  the  whole  weapon,  but 
also  of  every  individual  detail  in  its  structure,  was 
arrived  at  as  a  cumulative  result  of  a  succession  of 
very  slight  modifications,  each  of  which  was  but  a 
trifling  improvement  upon  the  one  immediately  pre- 
ceding it.  Through  noticing  the  unfailing  regularity 
of  this  process  of  gradual  evolution  in  the  case  of 
firearms,  he  was  led  to  believe  that  the  same  prin- 
ciples must  probably  govern  the  development  of  the 
other  arts,  appliances,  and  ideas  of  mankind." 

From  that  date  onwards  General  Pitt- Rivers  began 
a  systematic  collection  of  a  vast  variety  of  various 


articles  of  human  handicraft,  with  a  definite  object 
in  view.  The  first  of  his  lectures  as  the  result  of  his 
classified  collections  was  given  in  the  year  1867  at  the 
Royal  United  Service  Institution  upon  primitive  war- 
fare. This  subject  was  afterwards  elaborated  in  two 
additional  essays.  The  greater  portion  of  this  volume 
is  occupied  by  these  three  lectures  with  a  highly 
interesting  series  of  explanatory  plates.  Another 
essay  deals  with  the  early  modes  of  navigation,  whilst 
the  earlier  sections  give  reprints  of  his  more  general 
papers  on  the  principles  of  classification,  and  on  the 
evolution  of  culture. 

These  essays,  with  an  excellent  introduction  by 
Mr.  Henry  Balfour,  who  is  the  Curator  of  the  Pitt- 
Rivers  Museum,  have  been  issued  with  the  primary 
intention  of  supplying  the  needs  of  candidates  for  the 
Oxford  Diploma  in  Anthropology.  There  can,  how- 
ever, be  no  doubt  that  they  will  also  appeal  to  a  far 
wider  public,  and  they  most  certainly  ought  to  find  a 
place  on  the  shelves  of  every  local  museum. 

*  *  * 
The  Law  Concerning  Names  and  Changes  ok 
Name.  By  A.  C.  Fox-Davies  and  P.  W.  P. 
Carlyon-Britton,  F.S.A.  London  :  Elliot  Stock. 
1906.  8vo.,  pp.  iv,  118.  Price  3s.  6d. 
The  growing  habit  of  changing  surnames  and  of 
adding  to  them  has  made  the  need  for  such  a  manual 
as  this  urgent.  It  is  true  that  names  are  often  changed 
with  but  little  regard  to  the  accuracy  or  the  com- 
parative validity  of  the  methods  adopted  ;  but  that 
does  not  make  it  the  less  desirable  that  the  law  con- 
cerning such  changes  should  be  stated  and  explained 
in  a  convenient  and  accessible  form.  The  authors 
point  out  that  "the  Crown  asserts  and  exercises  a 
prerogative  requiring  compliance  with  one  appointed 
method,  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  popular  desire, 
backed  by  the  almost  universal  opinion  of  the  legal 
profession,  either  denies  the  existence  of  that  pre- 
rogative, or  seeks  to  declare  a  recognition  thereof  to 
be  unnecessary."  This  little  work  not  only  defines 
and  discusses  this  point  of  divergence,  but  gives  much 
information  on  the  subject  of  names  in  general,  and 
their  sources  of  origin  and  methods  of  development, 
which  should  render  it  attractive  to  all  interested  in 
that  fascinating  topic,  as  well  as  to  those  to  whom  the 
more  purely  legal  discussion  makes  special  appeal. 

if      if.      if 
The  Old  Engravers  of  England  (1540  to  1800). 
By  Malcolm  C.  Salaman.    With  forty-eight  illus- 
trations.    London:   Cassell  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1906. 
Crown  8vo.,  pp.  viii,  224.     Price  5s.  net. 
This  is  not  a  catalogue  raisonne,  nor  even  a  special- 
ist's book,  like  many  of  those  included  in  the  useful 
bibliography  which  precedes  the  equally  useful  index 
at  the  close  of  the  volume  ;  but  it  is  an  entertaining 
and  accurate  handbook  to  a  delightful,  if  expensive, 
hobby — the  collection  of  those  beautiful  engravings, 
chiefly  in  the  form  of  translation  from  famous  paintings, 
which  will  always  rank  high  in  the  annals  of  British 
art.     The  intimate  relation  between  the  painter  and 
the  engraver  is  illustrated  in  these  pages  by  such  stories 
as  those  of  Kneller,  who  invited  John  Smith  "  to  live 
with  him  at  his  house  in  Bow  Street,  Covent  Garden, 
and  engrave  his  pictures  as  he  rapidly  painted  them  ;" 
and    of   Reynolds,    who    generously    exclaimed    ot 


120 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


McArdell's  mezzotints,  "  By  this  man  I  shall  be  im- 
mortalized !" 

Both  the  collector  and  the  student  of  social  history 
who  can  spend  little  or  nothing  on  these  enviable 
possessions  (though  it  is  surprising  what  bargains  a 
little  luck  and  enterprise  can  still  secure  !)  will  find 
an  abundance  of  gay  anecdote  and  lively  detail  in 
.Mr.  Salaman's  fluent  record.  He  looks  upon  old 
prints  firstly  as  works  of  art,  but  also  as  "links  of  in- 
timacy with  bygone  times,"  reviving  for  us  "the 
human  atmosphere  of  a  past  age."  It  is  pleasant  to 
think  of  lair  ladies  like  "  Lady  Mary  Coke,"  the  re- 
production of  whose  portrait  is  here  capitally  rendered  ; 
and  we  can  taste  here  the  strength  and  sweetness  of 
Reynolds's  wondrous  art  in  Wilkins'  stipple  engraving 
of  his  "  Lady  Cockburn  and  her  Children."  Mr. 
Salaman  tells  us  of  the  struggles  of  Hollar,  the  claims 
of  Prince  Rupert  as  an  inventor,  the  advance  which 
Blooteling  gave  to  mezzotint  by  discovering  the 
"rocker."  He  is  equally  interesting  in  his  orderly 
and  enthusiatic  narrative  of  the  triumphant  days  of 
Valentine  Green  and  John  Raphael  Smith,  who  can 
scarcely  have  dreamed  of  the  high  prices  which  their 
proof  impres-sions  now  command.  We  can  heartily 
recommend  this  volume. 

*  *      * 

A  Jacobite  Stronghold  ok  the  Church.  By 
Mary  E.  Ingram.  Four  illustrations.  Edin- 
burgh :  A'.  Grant  and  Son,  1907.  Small  8vo., 
pp.  xii,  124.  Price  3s.  6d.  net. 
In  this  well  printed  and  neatly  got  up  little  book 
Miss  Ingram  makes  a  contribution  of  some  value  to 
the  study  of  what  may  not  unfairly  be  called  a  byway 
of  Scottish  ecclesiastical  history.  The  "  Stronghold  " 
is  the  Episcopalian  "  Old  St.  Paul's  "  of  Edinburgh. 
Miss  Ingram,  who  is  clearly  a  zealous  and  devoted 
daughter  of  the  Church,  tells  the  story  of  its  connection 
with  the  disestablishment  of  Episcopacy  in  Scotland 
in  1689 — for  the  congregation  of  St.  Paul's  claims 
unbroken  descent  from  that  ejected  from  St.  Giles  in 
the  year  named — with  the  Jacobite  movements  of  the 
next  century,  its  relation  to  the  Scottish  consecration 
in  1784  of  the  first  bishop  of  the  American  church, 
and  its  further  history  up  to  the  present  time.  The 
earlier  chapters  are  the  more  interesting,  and  form  a 
valuable  study,  breaking  somewhat  new  ground,  of  the 
first  Scottish  Nonjurors,  and  of  the  close  and  intimate 
relations  between  the  ministers  and  many  of  their 
adherents,  and  the  Jacobite  movements  of  1715  and 
1745,  especially  the  latter.  Miss  Ingram  writes  so 
well  that  one  or  two  curious  grammatical  slips  surprise 
the  reader. 

*  *     * 

Among  the  booklets  on  our  table  we  may  name 
Plymouth  in  History,  by  Roger  Barnicott,  with  many 
illustrations  by  W.  S.  Lear  (London  :  Cornubian 
Press.  Price  is.  net),  which,  in  114  well  printed 
pages,  pleasantly  sketches  the  history  of  the  famous 
old  western  town  ;  A  Catalogue  of  the  Permanent  and 
Fifth  Loan  Collection  of  Pictures,  etc. ,  in  the  Bristol 
Art  Gallery,  compiled  by  Richard  Quick  (price  2d.); 
we  congratulate  the  superintendent  and  the  Bristolians 
on  the  importance  and  variety  of  the  loan  collection 
here  catalogued  ;  and  From  Stone  to  Steel  (price  3d.), 
a  handbook  to  the  cases  in  the  Horniman  Museum, 
Forest  Hill,  illustrating   the  ages  of  Stone,  Bronze, 


and  Iron,  admirably  prepared  by  the  curator,  Dr. 
H.  S.  Harrison,  and  issued  by  the  London  County 
Council.  This  handbook,  which  is  illustrated  by  two 
good  plates,  and  provided  with  a  glossary  and  biblio- 
graphy, forms  a  very  cheap  popular  introduction  to 
the  science  of  Archaeology. 

*  *  * 
The  Architectural  Review,  January,  reached  us  too 
late  for  notice  last  month.  Besides  the  abundant 
nutter,  freely  illustrated,  of  more  strictly  professional 
interest,  there  is  an  exellent  paper,  with  twenty-four 
illustrations,  on  "English  Lead  Spires"  by  Mr. 
Laurence  Weaver,  whose  special  studies  in  lead-work 
would  make  a  most  attractive  volume.  The  February 
issue  includes  illustrated  papers  on  "The  Work  of 
George  Devey,"  by  Mr.  \V.  H.  Godfrey,  and  "The 
Old  War  Office,"  by  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Loftie.  Fenland 
Notes  and  Queries,  January,  contains,  among  much 
other  good  matter,  the  music  and  words  of  a  Peter- 
borough May-day  song,  and  notes  on  "  The  Fens  in 
1761  "  and  "The  Peterborough  Psalter."  In  the 
Berks,  Bucks  and  Oxon  Archcrohgical  Journal, 
January,  the  outstanding  feature  is  Mr.  C.  E.  Keyser's 
careful  architectural  account  of  Buckland  Church, 
Berkshire,  illustrated  by  no  less  than  fourteen  fine 
photographic  plates.  We  have  also  received  Rivista 
d Italia,  January,  to  which  reference  is  made  in  "At 
the  Sign  of  the  Owl,"  ante;  Scottish  Notes  and 
Queries,  February,  containing  a  "  Bibliography  of 
Works  on  the  Stewart  and  Stuart  Families,"  and  a 
first  instalment  of  "Notable  Men  and  Women  of 
Forfarshire." 


CortesponDence. 


THE   FLAIL. 

TO    THE    EDITOR. 

Without  wishing  to  minimize  the  desirability  of 
collecting  old-time  flails,  I  may  say  that  very  similar 
implements  are  not  yet  obsolete. 

At  the  present  time  a  farmer  in  the  heart  of  Suffolk 
makes  them  for  sale  to  his  neighbours  and  others, 
and  complains  that,  owing  to  the  increasing  use  of 
machinery  for  threshing,  he  can  obtain  for  them  only 
2s.  3d.  each. 

Dr.  T.  M.  Allison  contributed  a  valuable  paper  on 
"  The  Flail  and  its  Varieties  "  to  a  recent  part  of 
Arclucologia  sEliana,  dealing  with  and  abundantly 
illustrating  the  varied  types  of  flails,  ancient  and 
modern. 

In  this  paper  the  distribution  of  different  types  is 
discussed,  raising  questions,  anthropologic  as  well  as 
antiquarian. 

The  short  entry  in  your  always  interesting  "Notes 
of  the  Month  "  (January)  suggests  this  letter. 

I.  Chalkley  Gould. 

Loughton. 

Note  to  Publishers. —  We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


The   Antiquary. 


APRIL,  1907. 


K3ote0  of  tbe  $$ont&. 

At  a  meeting  held  at  Pevensey  on  March  9 
of  archaeologists  and  others  interested  in  the 
excavations  recently  made  within  the  Roman 
area  of  Pevensey  Castle,  Mr.  J.  E.  Ray  gave 
an  account  of  what  had  been  done.  He 
said  the  work  naturally  divided  itself  into 
three  parts  —  viz.:  (1)  preliminary  work; 
(2)  excavation  to  expose  the  postern-gate 
and  foundation  of  the  wall,  and  also  the 
eastern  gate ;  and  (3)  exploration  work  in 
the  area  of  the  castra.  In  order  to  ascertain 
the  nature  of  the  ground  seven  experimental 
shafts  were  sunk,  it  being  hoped  that  one  of 
these  would  strike  a  path  which  might  have 
run  across  the  Castle  from  postern  to  postern, 
and  also  because  that  direction  was  apart 
from  any  previous  excavation  work.  A  dip 
was  found  westward  of  the  line  of  boulders 
which  indicated  the  supposed  path,  which 
was  found  covered  with  black  earth  and  a 
lot  of  animal  remains.  Operations  were 
continued  at  the  northern  postern-gate,  but 
few  finds  were  recorded,  this  area  having 
been  previously  excavated  in  1852.  The 
main  object  was  to  uncover  the  foundations 
of  the  wall  and  the  postern-gate,  with  a  view 
to  making  an  accurate  plan.  A  trench 
parallel  to  the  southern  boundary  proved 
very  interesting,  from  the  fact  that  it  dis- 
closed the  depth  of  the  tipped  clay,  and 
indicated  that  the  original  surface  in  Roman 
times  approached  very  nearly  the  level  of  the 
present  surface.  At  the  western  end  there 
was  a  considerable  depth  of  black  earth, 
where  more  articles  were  found,   including 

VOL.  III. 


a  coin  of  the  Constantius  period,  and  many 
pieces  of  distinctly  Roman  pottery.  In  a 
northern  trench  a  coin  of  Carausius  was 
found,  and  upon  proceeding  in  a  westerly 
direction  a  peculiar  arrangement  of  tiled 
patches  was  unearthed,  the  tiles  having  a 
carved  surface.  The  trench  running  dia- 
gonally towards  the  mediaeval  Castle  did  not 
produce  as  much  pottery  or  animal  remains 
as  other  trenches.  Mr.  Ray  had  prepared 
a  number  of  sketches  which  materially 
assisted  in  explaining  his  remarks. 

Mr.  Peers  mentioned  that  real  Samian 
ware  had  been  found,  and  this  was  very 
uncommon,  though  there  were  imitations. 
The  coins  were  of  the  latter  part  of  the  third 
century,  which  showed  that  the  site  was 
occupied  at  that  time,  though  the  walls 
might  not  have  been  built  then.  The  walls 
were  not  necessarily  evidence  of  the  first 
occupation  of  the  site. 

In  making  an  appeal  for  further  contribu- 
tions, Mr.  Salzmann  informed  the  company 
that  work  would  shortly  be  started  in  the 
inner  castle,  and  the  keep  would  be  ex- 
plored, Mr.  H.  Sands  having  consented  to 
assist.  Altogether  ^65  12s.  6d.  had  been 
subscribed,  and  the  expenses  had  amounted 
to  ;£68  17s.  6d.  He  asked  for  about  ^20 
with  which  to  commence  work  again.  Mr. 
Salzmann  thanked  all  who  had  assisted  in 
any  way. 

$?  «$»  $ 
Sir  A.  Weldon,  Bart.,  of  Kilmorony,  Athy, 
Ireland,  writes  :  "I  shall  be  much  obliged 
for  any  information  concerning  Thomas  (?) 
Weldon,  of  Weldon,  in  Staffordshire  (?), 
possibly  Northamptonshire  or  Northumber- 
land, whose  four  sons — Walter,  M.P.  for 
Athy,  1 61 3,  married  Jane,  daughter  of  John 
Ryder,  Bishop  of  Killaloe;  William,  married  (?) 
Jane,  daughter  of  John  Bolton,  of  Great 
Fenton,  Staffordshire;  Robert,  married  (in 
1616  at  St.  Mary  le  Strand,  London) 
Katherine  Bambridge,  Bainbridge,  or  Bam- 
brick,  of  Apeley  (?),  Cumberland  ;  and 
Thomas,  married  Anne,  daughter  of  .  .  . 
Blood,  of  Dunbryn,  co.  Meath.  They  settled 
in  Ireland  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century." 

^         $         & 
The   Dublin  Freeman's  Journal  announces 
that    the    Congress    of   Prehistoric    Anthro- 

Q 


122 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


pology  and  Archeology  has  accepted  the 
invitation  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
and  Technical  Instruction  to  hold  the  next 
session  of  the  Congress  at  Dublin  in  1909. 
In  consultation  with  the  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
the  Department  has  arranged  for  a  small 
local  committee  to  take  the  necessary  local 
action  when  the  time  arrives.  An  early 
preliminary  notice  is,  however,  desirable  to 
enable  papers  to  be  prepared  by  intending 
contributors  to  the  meetings.  The  import- 
ance of  a  meeting  at  Dublin  to  students  of 
the  early  race  problems  of  Ireland  and  of 
prehistoric  archaeology  will  be  generally  recog- 
nized. 

•$>      4*      $ 

Colonel  W.  LI.  Morgan,  of  Swansea,  lectur- 
ing at  the  Royal  Institute,  Swansea,  on  the 
remains  of  the  Roman  camp  which  he  has 
been  instrumental  in  bringing  to  light  at 
Colbren,  said  that  the  Roman  road  in  this 
district  could  be  traced  for  a  considerable 
distance,  and  had  been  described  as  one  of 
the  finest  in  the  country.  Describing  the 
ramparts  of  the  camp,  he  said  it  was  the  only 
example  in  the  county  of  a  Roman  fortifica- 
tion built  of  logs.  The  logs  were  supported 
by  piles,  and  placed  in  such  positions  that 
there  could  be  no  doubt  they  were  built  to 
resist  attack.  In  the  ditches  around  bones 
and  sharp  spikes  and  pottery  of  the  second- 
century  Roman  type  were  found. 

$  $  $ 
The  Builder  of  March  9  contained  a  charm- 
ing sketch  by  Mr.  Sidney  Heath  of  the  old 
manor-house  of  Baddesley  Clinton,  a  War- 
wickshire moated  grange.  "  It  has  been  for 
more  than  four  centuries,"  says  Mr.  Heath, 
"  in  the  possession  of  the  Midland  branch 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Ferrers,  and  sur- 
rounded by  moats,  ornamental  waters,  and 
walled  -  in  gardens,  it  affords  us  a  good 
example  of  an  old  domestic  house,  built 
when  such  houses  required  to  be  made 
sufficiently  strong  to  ensure  the  safety  of 
their  inmates  from  anything  except  a  well- 
directed  siege.  The  greater  part  of  the  house 
dates  from  the  fifteenth  century,  and  can 
only  be  entered  over  a  bridge  of  two  arches 
on  the  north  side." 

<fr         ♦         ♦ 

Mr.  H.  St.  George  Gray,  of  Taunton  Castle, 
and  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Whistler,  of  Stockland 


Vicarage,  Bridgwater,  send  us  a  circular  on 
behalf  of  the  Somersetshire   Archaeological 
Society  and  the  Viking  Club,  intimating  that 
the  two  societies  intend  to  conduct  archaeo- 
logical excavations  in  this  month  of  April 
"  at  the  Wick  Barrow,  in  the  parish  of  Stoke 
Courcy — some  two  miles  distant  from  that 
village,  and  about  eight  miles   in   a  direct 
line    north-west    from    Bridgwater — in    the 
endeavour  to  throw  fresh  light  on  the  Danish 
invasion  of  Somerset  in  a.d.  878.     It  has 
been  suggested  that  the  mound  may  be  that 
at  one  time  called  the   '  Hubbelowe,'   the 
burial-place  of  Hubba,  the  Danish  chieftain 
who  fell  in  this  campaign,  who  is  known  to 
have  been  buried  in  sight  of  his  ships.    This 
is  not  impossible,  but  in  any  case  its  unusual 
size  and  position  render  the  exploration  of 
the  mound  of  great  promise  as  to  results. 
Before  excavation  a  contoured  plan  of  the 
barrow  will  be  made,  and  the  digging  will  be 
supervised  with  every  attention  to  detail  by 
the  undersigned.     Both  societies  will  have 
equal  rights  with  regard  to  the  publication 
of  results,  and  any  relics  found  will  become 
the  property  of  the  Somersetshire  Archaeo- 
logical  Society   for    exhibition   in  Taunton 
Castle  Museum.     The  thorough  excavation 
of    the   mound   will    entail   a   considerable 
amount  of  labour,  as  it  is  believed  that  the 
barrow  is  composed  chiefly  of  stone.     Any 
surplus  funds  which  may  remain  would  be 
devoted  to  illustrated  reports  of  the  explora- 
tion ;  and  should  there  be  a  further  balance, 
it  could  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  a  fund 
for  the  future   exploration  of  the  camp  at 
Cannington  Park.    Contributions  towards  the 
expenses  of  this  work,  which  it   is   hoped 
may  prove  to  be  of  considerable  interest  and 
historical    importance,   are    invited.     Every 
contributor  will  receive  a  copy  of  any  illus- 
trated paper  or  papers  which  may  be  pub- 
lished."    Donations  may  be  sent  to  either 
of  the  gentlemen  named. 

$         $         $ 

Dr.  George  Macdonald's  second  and  con- 
cluding article  on  "  The  Romans  in  Scotland : 
a  Retrospect  and  a  Survey,"  appeared  in  the 
Glasgow  Herald  of  February  16. 

The  following  appeared  in  a  February  issue 
of  the  Egyptian  Gazette:  "A  comic  mis- 
adventure to  Professor  Petrie  is  reported  from 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


I23 


Assiout,  where  the  Omdeh,  finding  a  person 
unknown  to  him  on  the  ground  set  aside  for 
the  professor's  excavations,  seized  him,  and 
had  him  thrust  into  gaol,  despite  his  protests 
that  he  was  the  Professor  Petrie  in  question. 
The  Omdeh  and  the  police  declared  that  it 
'  would  not  wash,'  and  the  professor  spent  a 
night  in  gaol.  Such  is  the  story  as  we  heard 
it,  though  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  pro- 
fessor's sojourn  in  Coles  Pasha's  hotel  may 
have  increased  miraculously  between  Assiout 
and  Alexandria." 

<fr      4f      ♦ 

In  the  Grseco-Roman  Department  of  the 
British  Museum  there  has  lately  been  arranged 
a  very  interesting  collection  of  objects  illus- 
trating the  home  life  and  training  of  children 
in  Greece  and  the  Roman  Empire,  as  also  of 
their  colonies.  By  its  means  one  may  range 
over  1,000  years  of  work  and  play  in  half  an 
hour,  from  early  Hellas  to  the  decline  of 
Rome. 

The  earliest  Greek  specimens  comprise 
archaic  dolls  and  toys,  the  latter  including 
an  earthenware  rattle  roughly  oval.  The 
skilled  workers  of  Ephesus  in  a  later  age 
contribute  dolls  in  alabaster  and  plaster,  with 
beautifully  chased  features.  The  doll's  house 
was  evidently  as  popular  in  classic  days  as  in 
the  present,  for  there  are  a  number  of  models 
for  its  furnishing  in  bronze  or  glazed  earthen- 
ware, chairs,  stands,  and  kitchens.  The 
circular  discs  or  tokens,  engraved  with  rams' 
heads,  fowls,  rats,  or  flies,  and  formerly  sup- 
posed to  have  been  vouchers  for  seats  at 
theatre  or  amphitheatre,  are  here  in  abun- 
dance. These  are  now  classed  as  counters 
for  games,  and  there  are  others  in  bone  and 
crystal  inscribed  with  Greek  or  Latin  legends. 
Knuckle-bones  go  back  likewise  to  remote 
antiquity ;  they  were  made  of  bronze  or 
chalcedony,  and  clever  artificers  with  a  comic 
vein  shaped  them  in  such  forms  as  that  of  a 
satyr  or  a  dwarf,  still  preserving  the  old  shape 
as  far  as  practicable. 

The  pastimes  of  "  children  of  a  larger 
growth  "  are  suggested  by  those  inventions  of 
Palamedes — dice.  These,  made  of  ivory, 
bone,  or  close-grained  wood,  show  the  same 
disposition  of  numbers  as  our  own,  the  points 
on  opposite  sides  summing  seven.  Adjacent 
to  these  is  a  nondescript  article  in  the  form 
of  a  twenty-sided  model,  some  3  inches  in 


length,  and  evidently  used  in  some  game. 
From  Cologne  come  painters'  palettes,  with 
a  large  cake  of  ultra-marine  pigment ;  from 
Fay-yum  a  large  portrait,  akin  to  those  painted 
on  mummy  cases  of  the  later  period,  and  two 
beautiful  panels  about  3  by  4  inches  in  dimen- 
sion ;  also  six  saucers  containing  various 
pigments. 

Literature  and  pedagogics  are  represented 
by  various  specimens  of  the  ancient  stylus, 
and  of  wooden  tablets  prepared  with  wax  for 
their  employment,  pens  all  in  one  piece,  ink- 
stands in  earthenware  and  metal,  and  alpha- 
betical exercises  on  earthenware,  in  one  of 
which  each  consonant  is  followed  in  rotation 
by  the  vowels.  There  are  also  an  iron-handled 
writing-board,  inscribed  with  six  lines  from 
Homer,  and  a  papyrus,  written  in  Greek 
with  a  pen. 

fjw  fjji  rj» 

The  Rev.  W.  Y.  Drake,  of  St.  Michael's 
Rectory,  Long  Stratton,  Norfolk,  sends  par- 
ticulars of  an  inscription  of  some  sort  which 
has  just  been  unflaked  in  his  parish  church, 
in  the  centre  of  the  north  wall,  in  which  there 
is  no  window.  It  is  contained  in  a  square 
about  6  feet  each  way.  "  The  border  is 
ornamented  in  black  colour.  The  lettering 
appears  to  be  old  English."  The  right  side 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  square  is  a  plaster 
patch  with  no  writing  on  it.  On  the  left  side 
is  the  inscription : 

EE   THAT    H    .    TH.    .    .    . 
LORD,    AND 
HATH    GIVEN, 

GOOD 
AT    THE    HOWLL.    .    .    . 
SHALL   GIVE   Y0W 
MES    SAKE,    BEC.    .    .    . 

YOW 

THIS 

There  is  an  inscription  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  square,  but  the  writing  is  different  in 
character  from  that  in  the  upper  part,  being 
somewhat  larger  and  rougher  work  ;  none  of 
it  is  legible.  "It  would  seem,"  says  Mr. 
Drake,  "that  a  large  piece  of  the  original 
square  must  have  fallen  away  at  some  time 
and  been  patched  up  again  ;  hence  it  is  only 
a  fragment,  and  there  is  not  much  in  the 
way  of  a  clue  to  the  nature  of  the  inscription. 
"  Might  it  be  a  text  from  the  Bible,  or  a 

Q  2 


I2+ 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


succession  of  texts  ?  or  a  sort  of  memorial 
tablet?  or,  again,  a  quotation  of  some  sort? 
or,  again,  something  in  the  nature  of  a  docu- 
ment ?  The  patronage  of  this  benefice  was 
transferred  from  an  alien  priory  in  Normandy 
to  New  College,  Oxford,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  by  William  of  Wykeham. 

"  I  thought  at  first  that  it  might  be  text- 
work  from  the  Bible  :  '  He  that  hath  pity 
upon  the  poor  lendeth  unto  the  Lord,  and 
look  what  he,'  etc.,  but  that  does  not  seem 
to  fit  in  at  that  point. 

"  Perhaps  you  might  be  able  to  throw 
some  light  upon  it  through  your  paper,  there 
being  possibly  other  instances  of  such  in- 
scriptions. 

"  When  we  unflaked  I  quite  expected  to 
come  upon  a  fresco,  there  being  two  churches 
in  this  neighbourhood  where  frescoes  have 
been  found  on  similar  north  walls." 

«$>       rt?       $? 

The  clergy  would  do  well  (writes  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  Guardian  of  March  6)  to 
forage  in  their  old  parish  chests,  cupboards, 
etc.,  for  hidden  treasures.  Frequently  valu- 
able vessels,  old  account  books,  ancient 
maps,  etc.,  are  found,  whose  existence  has 
been  unknown  to  the  present  generation. 
When  the  book  on  The  Old  Church  Plate  in 
the  Diocese  of  Carlisle  was  published  about 
twenty  years  ago,  the  venerable  Vicar  of 
Westward,  Cumberland,  stated  that  the  cover 
of  a  silver-gilt  chalice  (mentioned  in  the 
terriers  of  1749  and  1777)  had  been  lost 
before  he  was  instituted  to  the  living  in  1882. 
However,  after  his  death,  it  was  discovered 
in  a  cupboard  at  the  Vicarage,  and  has  been 
restored  to  the  church.  It  is  an  elegant 
specimen  of  the  steeple  cover  of  the  early 
seventeenth  century.  The  lid  proper  is 
richly  repousse^  and  ornamented  with  six 
scallops  surrounded  by  leaves  ending  in  a 
flower  of  four  petals.  The  leaves  are  held 
together  by  a  curb,  and  end  in  an  incised 
trefoil.  The  cover  is  surmounted  by  three 
lion's  claws  terminating  in  heads,  bearing  a 
triangular  spire,  not  pierced  as  in  many  other 
examples,  but  evidently  made  to  represent  a 
church  spire  covered  with  lead.  The  cup 
itself,  which  is  in  constant  use,  is  of  repousse 
work.  It  is  10  inches  in  height,  and  has 
many  features  common  with  the  "  Edmonds  " 
cup  belonging  to  the  Carpenters'  Company, 


of  which  an  engraving  is  given  in  Cripps's 
Old  English  Plate,  eighth  edition,  p.  344. 
Most  probably  the  cups  of  this  design  were 
originally  manufactured  for  secular  purposes, 
and  then  afterwards  presented  by  wealthy 
patrons  to  their  parish  church,  to  be  used  in 
the  administration  of  the  Holy  Communion. 
A  "  find  "  of  ancient  church  plate  has  been 
made  at  Yarmouth  Parish  Church,  and  the 
articles,  consisting  of  four  cups  and  two 
patens,  have  been  exhibited  by  the  Vicar 
(Canon  Willink)  at  a  special  vestry  meeting. 
One  of  the  cups,  which  has  an  inscription 
denoting  that  it  was  the  gift  of  "  a  marriner  of 
Yarmouth,"  is  dated  1648,  and,  in  expert 
opinion,  all  the  silver  is  probably  of  the  same 
date,  and  practically  priceless.  The  plate 
had  been  kept  so  securely  in  a  box  in  the 
church  safe  that  the  present  generation  knew 
nothing  of  its  existence,  as  the  key  of  the  box 
had  been  lost.  However,  reference  to  the 
church  "terrier"  showed  mention  of  this 
ancient  plate,  and  the  Vicar  accordingly  had 
the  box  opened. 

A  remarkable  fresco  was  discovered  in  March 
in  an  oak-panelled  room  in  what  was  once 
the  Old  Flushing  Inn,  and  probably  formerly 
one  of  the  religious  houses  (built  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  IV.)  of  the  ancient  Cinque 
Ports  town  of  Rye,  Sussex.  The  house 
itself  is  very  quaint  and  interesting,  and  has 
old-fashioned  chimney  corners  in  all  the 
rooms.  The  fresco  now  discovered  is  16  feet 
long  and  6  feet  high,  with  a  frieze  15  inches 
in  depth.  Just  under  the  frieze  are  three 
panels,  the  first  containing,  in  five  lines  of 
Early  English  black  lettering,  the  opening  of 
the  Magnificat,  the  central  the  second 
part,  and  the  third  the  words  "Glory  be," 
the  rest  being  obliterated.  These  panels  are 
supported  by  cherubs.  The  fresco  is  richly 
coloured  and  beautifully  designed,  the  motive 
being  chiefly  conventional  scrolls  and  alle- 
gorical animals  ;  but  there  are  three  imposing 
oblique  scrolls  cutting  through  the  ground- 
work, and  on  each  is  boldly  inscribed,  "Soli 
Deo  honor." 

$  $         $ 

West  Walton  Church  and  Tower,  near  Wis- 
bech, are  in  such  a  ruinous  state,  says  the 
Athenceum  of  March  9,  that  collapse  seems 
inevitable,   unless   repairs    can    be   quickly 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


™5 


carried  out.  The  tower,  which  is  detached 
from  the  church,  is  a  fine  example  of  East 
Anglian  architecture ;  but  lightning  has 
struck  it  twice,  and  the  bells  it  contains 
are  mute.  The  church  roof  lets  in  rain 
through  the  torn  leading,  and  pools  of  water 
stagnate  on  the  seats  and  floor.  The  carved 
fifteenth-century  roof-timbers  have  drawn  out 
in  some  places  about  18  inches  from  the 
wall.  We  are  not,  therefore,  surprised  that 
Dr.  Leadbitter,  the  Rector,  wants  help  to 
"put  his  house  in  order." 

4p       4»       4? 

A  typical  series  of  bronze  ornaments  and 
pottery  discovered  in  graves  of  the  Early  Iron 
Age  in  the  Ticino  Valley,  and  presented  to 
the  British  Museum  by  Sir  John  Brunner, 
M.P.,  have  recently  been  placed  on  exhibi- 
tion in  the  prehistoric  saloon.  The  site,  which 
was  excavated  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  authorities  of  the  Swiss  National  Museum 
at  Zurich,  is  important  as  lying  on  the  ancient 
trade  route  between  Italy  and  Northern 
Europe.  The  objects  exhibited  are  in  an 
excellent  state  of  preservation,  and  include 
bronze  brooches,  armlets,  amber  beads,  and 
some  well-made  pottery.  The  objects  ap- 
pear to  have  been  deposited  between  the 
fifth  and  sixth  centuries  b.c. 

4p       4»       «i5? 

Mr.  J.  A.  Clapham,  of  Bradford,  writes : 
"  Will  you  kindly  allow  me  to  correct  a  mis- 
take in  my  letter  upon  Selby  Abbey  in  the 
February  Antiquary  ?  In  respect  to  Wake- 
field Cathedral  I  am  made  to  say,  '  Look  at 
those  splendid  spires ' ;  but  for  '  spires '  please 
read  '  columns.'  The  spire  of  Wakefield  is 
one  of  the  loftiest  in  the  kingdom,  but  I 
was  not  referring  to  that,  but  to  the  pillars 
which  support  the  groined  roof  of  the  new 
east  end." 

s8?         «&'         •fr 
The  Annual  Congress  of  the  British  Archaeo- 
logical Association  will  probably  be  held  this 
summer  at  Weymouth. 

«fr       #»       *fr 

The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Standard 
says  that  a  most  interesting  lecture  was  given 
by  Professor  Lanciani  before  the  Italian 
Archaeological  Society  on  the  programme 
which  it  is  hoped  to  carry  out  in  order  to 
celebrate  in  the  year  191 1  the  jubilee  of  the 
declaration  of  Rome  as  the  capital  of  Italy 


after  the  liberation  of  the  country  from 
Austrian  domination.  The  event  is  to  be 
commemorated  in  Turin  by  an  important 
exhibition,  but  the  artistic  and  archaeological 
celebration  is  to  take  place  in  Rome.  The 
most  suitable  and  desirable  archaeological 
undertakings,  which  have  the  sympathy  of 
all,  are  the  clearing  out  and  planting  of  the 
magnificent  Baths  of  Diocletian,  near  the 
principal  station  of  Rome,  and  the  isolation 
of  the  ruins  of  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus. 

The  Baths  of  Diocletian  are  the  most  ex- 
tensive remains  of  ancient  baths  in  Italy, 
and  include  the  beautiful  museum  where  all 
antiques  found  within  the  limits  of  the  city 
are  placed,  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria 
degli  Angeli  (both  of  which  were  converted 
into  their  present  forms  after  designs  by 
Michael  Angelo),  and  also  various  buildings, 
of  which  a  great  part  are  antique,  and  which 
it  is  proposed  to  disencumber  of  the  modern 
buildings  and  mean  shops  which  have  been 
allowed  to  intrude  themselves  into  the  splen- 
did ruins.  Of  these  quite  sufficient  remain 
to  give  a  clear  idea  of  the  magnificent  im- 
perial building,  which  once  covered  a  square 
mile  of  space,  and  was  capable  of  accom- 
modating 3,000  bathers. 

$»         «fr         ♦ 

The  huge  remains  of  the  Theatre  of  Mar- 
cellus, which  was  completed  by  Augustus  in 
13  B.C.,  still  show  twelve  magnificent  arches, 
which  formed  the  outer  wall  of  the  audi- 
torium, and  have  now  degenerated  into  work- 
shops. It  retains,  even  in  these  days,  the 
Doric  and  Ionic  storeys,  above  which  there 
was  probably  originally  one  of  the  Corinthian 
order.  This,  when  freed  from  modern  accre- 
tions, will  be  a  splendid  addition  to  the 
archaeological  treasures  of  Rome.  After 
having  mentioned  the  proposed  passeggiata 
archceologica,  which  should  include  the  most 
important  monuments  of  ancient  Rome, 
Professor  Lanciani  made  a  genial  suggestion, 
that,  instead  of  the  ordinary  commonplace 
exhibition  building,  the  display  of  191 1 
should  be  housed  in  a  reproduction  of  the 
great  Baths  of  Caracalla,  which  would  not  be 
a  work  of  excessive  difficulty,  since  the  artists 
and  architects  of  the  fifteenth  century  made 
full  plans  and  reproductions  of  the  structure, 
of  which  a  great  part  was  still  standing  in 
those  days.     The  esedra  would  be  used  as  a 


126 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


lecture  or  concert  hall,  and  in  the  niches 
would  be  plaster  casts  of  the  great  pieces  of 
sculpture,  the  Farnese  Bull,  the  Hercules, 
the  Flora,  etc.,  which  were  originally  found 
on  the  spot,  and  which  would  make  a  worthy 
and  characteristic  home  for  the  first  exhibi- 
tion of  Roman  antiquities  to  celebrate  the 
greatest  event  in  the  history  of  modern  Italy. 

♦         «Jp         ♦ 

There  have  been  one  or  two  discoveries  of 
coins  recently.  When  ploughing  in  Long 
Field,  at  Tadlow,  near  Royston,  in  February, 
Mr.  John  Perkins  turned  up  two  bronze 
coins — one  of  the  Emperor  Antoninus  Pius, 
and  the  other  of  Lucius  Aurelius  Verus.  At 
Goring,  in  Sussex,  a  brickmaker  in  the  same 
month  dug  up  in  a  brickfield  an  earthenware 
vase  containing  some  300  brass  Roman  coins. 
"  They  are  in  good  preservation,"  says  the 
Sussex  Daily  JVe7Vs,  "but  are  smaller  than 
the  mould  from  which  they  were  struck,  and 
therefore  do  not  exhibit,  except  in  a  few 
instances,  the  inscriptions.  Expert  opinion 
goes  to  show  that  the  coins  were  apparently 
struck  by  some  of  the  thirty  tyrants  who 
ruled  Gaul,  as  well  as  governed  Britain,  about 
1,650  years  ago.  The  coins  are  fairly 
common,  some  thousands  having  been  found 
along  the  Sussex  coast.  They  were  taken  to 
Mr.  Sayers  (Messrs.  Bennett  and  Marsh), 
Worthing,  for  examination,  and  he  has  fur- 
nished the  above  details.  Unfortunately,  the 
vase,  which,  if  intact,  would  have  been  of  far 
greater  value  than  the  coins,  was  broken." 
In  the  North  two  Roman  coins,  one  of  the 
Emperor  Severus  and  the  other  of  Con- 
stantine,  have  been  dug  up  by  men  excavating 
for  foundations  on  a  building  site  at  Seaham 
Harbour. 

$  $  $ 
A  good  deal  of  correspondence  has  appeared 
in  the  newspapers  about  the  fate  of  Professor 
Waldstein's  scheme  for  the  international 
excavation  of  Herculaneum,  and  a  final 
decision  appears  to  have  been  come  to  by 
the  Italian  Government  to  reject  the  inter- 
national proposals,  and  to  carry  out  the 
excavations  themselves,  with  Italian  money 
only.  The  task  for  the  Italian  Government 
to  tackle  single-handed  is  a  tremendous  one, 
and  we  fear  the  decision  means  that  if  the 
work  be  accomplished  at  all  it  can  only  be 
finished  at  some  very  distant  date. 


A  grand  historical  pageant  is  announced  to 
take  place  at  St.  Albans,  Hertfordshire,  on 
July  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  and  20,  at  three 
o'clock  each  afternoon,  when  episodes  repre- 
sentative of  the  history  of  St.  Albans  are  to  be 
given  by  about  1,600  performers,  drawn  from 
the  city  and  the  county.  The  selected 
episodes  include :  54  B.C.,  the  meeting  of 
Julius  Csesar  and  Cassivelaunus  at  Veru- 
lamium  ;  a.d.  61,  Boadicea  storms  and  burns 
Verulamium ;  a.d.  303,  the  martyrdom  of 
St.  Alban ;  a.d.  739,  the  founding  of  St. 
Albans  Monastery  by  Offa,  King  of  Mercia ; 
a.d.  1 38 1,  the  peasants'  revolt  and  the  men 
of  St.  Albans;  a.d.  1461,  the  second  battle 
of  St.  Albans;  and  a.d.  1572,  the  visit  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  to  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon  at 
Gorhambury  and  reception  by  the  Mayor 
and  Corporation  of  St.  Albans. 

$        $        $ 

Yet  another  historical  pageant  is  to  be  held 

this  summer,  Porchester  having  decided  to 
hold  one  in  the  grounds  of  Porchester  Castle 
on  June  28  and  29.  Among  the  scenes 
proposed  to  be  included  in  the  pageant  pro- 
gramme are  a  Druidical  sacrifice  in  the  year 
a.d.  20,  the  establishment  of  a  priory  of 
Augustine  monks  in  1138,  a  proclamation 
issued  by  Edward  II.  in  132 1,  Henry  V. 
departing  for  Harfleur  just  before  the  Battle 
of  Agincourt,  Henry  VIII.  at  Porchester 
Castle  in  1526,  Queen  Elizabeth  granting 
a  renewal  of  the  ancient  customs  to  the 
villagers,'  and  the  liberation  of  the  French 
prisoners  from  the  castle  in  1814  as  the  con- 
cluding scene.  Is  not  the  pageant  idea  in 
danger  of  being  overworked  ? 


C6e  Biscotoerp  of 
<$oU>  bracelets  neat  Crapfotu. 


By  R.  Holt-White. 


>N  July,  1906,  the  manager  of  the 
Sand,  Gravel,  and  Brick  Works, 
situate  on  the  Wansunt  Estate, 
between  Bexley  and  Crayford, 
brought  a  gold  armlet,  or  bracelet,  with  open 
ends,  to  the  Vicar  of  Bexley,  who  has  inter- 
ested himself  in  antiquities,   reporting  that 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD  BRACELETS  NEAR  CRAY  FORD.        127 


THE   GOLD   BRACELETS    FOUND   IN  JULY,    1906. 


seven  other  similar  ones  had  been  found  as 
his  men  were  quarrying  gravel  in  a  very  large 
pit  which  has  been  for  several  years  past 
cutting  away,  for  a  considerable  depth,  part 
of  the  southern  side  of  the  Cray  Valley, 
immediately  north  of,  and  close  to,  Dartford 
Heath.  With  the  Vicar's  assistance  all  these 
gold  ornaments  were  secured  for,  and  are 
now  to  be  seen  in  the  gold -room  of  the 
British  Museum.  They  are  of  two  patterns, 
apparently,  one  being  of  rather  more  massive 
character  than  the  other,  and  vary  somewhat 
in  size,  but  are,  roughly,  about  2  to  2|  inches 


in  diameter,  composed  ot  very  pure  gold, 
without  any  ornament  or  chasing  whatever, 
with  flattened  terminals.  The  eight  are  figured 
on  this  page.     Their  weights  are  as  follows  : 


Oz. 

dwt. 

«?r. 

No.  1 

2,080 

grains 

= 

4 

6 

16 

No.  2 

.     2,046 

= 

4 

5 

6 

No.  3       . 

2,015 

= 

4 

3 

23 

No.  4 

•     I.33Q 

= 

2 

15 

10 

No.  5      . 

.     1,070 

= 

2 

4 

14 

No.  6      . 

.     1,070 

= 

2 

4 

14 

No.  7 

.     1,060 

= 

2 

4 

4 

No.  8 

•     1,047 
weight  of 

gold 

= 

2 

3 

15 

Total 

24 

8 

6 

128       THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD  BRACELETS  NEAR  CRAY  FORD. 


On  February  4  of  the  present  year  nine 
more  bracelets,  similar  to  those  already 
described,  were  found  in  the  same  pit,  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  previous  discovery. 
These  have  been  taken  possession  of  by  the 
Treasury,  and  will  no  doubt  in  a  short  time 
join  the  others  in  our  National  Museum.  The 
Vicar  of  Bexley,  who  visited  the  gravel-pit 
immediately  upon  the  first  find  being  reported 
to  him,  writes  that,  on  examination,  he  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  bracelets  were 
found  about  3  feet  below  the  present  surface 
of  the  ground,  and  that  he  thought  that  he 
saw  indications  of  a  burial  and  of  a  layer  of 
burnt  wood  and  bones.  The  present  writer, 
who  visited  the  spot  soon  after  the  second  dis- 
covery, and  closely  questioned  a  workman  who 
was  present  at  the  time,  was  told  that  there 
were  no  signs  whatever  of  any  burnt  earth  or 
wood  or  bones  at  this  later  find.  Probably 
all  the  articles  were  hidden  for  safety,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  various  hoards  of  bronze 
implements  which  have  been  discovered  at 
different  times. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  these  gold  brace- 
lets belong  to  the  Bronze  Period,  and  perhaps 
may  be  assigned  to,  roughly,  circa  700  B.C., 
when,  prior  to  later  discoveries  in  the  South 
of  Europe,  Ireland,  and  perhaps  Wales,  were 
the  chief  sources  of  gold,  which  was  found  in 
quantities  sufficient  to  become  an  article  of 
commerce.  As  is  well  known,  numerous 
ornaments  of  gold  found  in  Ireland  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  Royal  Hibernian  Museum  at 
Dublin,  and  at  the  British  Museum  ;  but  not 
many  such  objects  have  been  found  in  Eng- 
land, the  British  Museum  only  possessing, 
for  instance,  one  bracelet  similar  to  these 
recently  found  Kentish  ones  :  this  was  dis- 
covered at  Tisbury,  Wilts.  Two  smaller 
ones,  however,  of  lighter  make,  but  very 
similar  pattern,  are  exhibited  there :  these 
were  found  near  Beachy  Head,  Sussex. 

Kent,  that  prolific  source  of  antiquities  of 
many  kinds,  may  nevertheless  claim  to  have 
produced  three  bracelets  of  very  similar 
pattern  to  these  recent  discoveries,  which 
were  described  by  the  late  Mr.  Edward 
Pretty,  F.S.A.,  in  the  fifth  volume  of  Archceo- 
logia  Cantiana,  pp.  41-44,  where  they  are 
illustrated  in  colours.  Mr.  Pretty  purchased 
these  in  1861,  when  they  were  stated  to  have 
been  "  found  in  the  Medway  below  Ayles- 


ford  enclosed  in  a  box,  which  was  not 
produced,  but  was  alleged  to  have  been 
thrown  again  into  the  river."  They  subse- 
quently became  the  property  of  the  Kent 
Archaeological  Society,  and  were  placed  in 
the  museum  at  Maidstone.  These  bracelets 
have  traces  of  slight  chasing,  otherwise  they 
are  very  like  our  most  recent  Kentish  finds, 
though  the  terminals  are  not  so  much 
flattened  out. 


an  £Drforn.sf)ite  TOlage  in  tbe 
C&irteentf)  Centurp. 

By  Adolphus  Ballard,  M.A.,  LL.B. 


rarresa'HEX  a  man  attempts  to  reconstruct 
»Wya  a  picture  of  the  past,  he  is  naturally 
^Afcf  asked  what  is  his  authority.  In 
attempting  to  draw  a  picture  of 
ancient  Bladon,  reliance  will  be  made  on 
the  survey  of  the  manor  contained  in  the 
Hundred  Rolls,*  and  on  two  sets  of  bailiffs' 
accounts  preserved  in  the  Record  Office,  the 
earlier  extending  from  1243  to  1250,  and  the 
later  dealing  with  the  two  years  1262  and 
1263.1  The  details  of  these  documents  are 
wearisome  in  the  extreme,  but  they  will 
supply  the  dry  bones  from  which  we  can 
reconstruct  old  Bladon  in  the  same  way  as 
Sir  Richard  Owen  could  reconstruct  pre- 
historic animals  from  their  fossil  bones. 

But  before  the  evidence  of  these  docu- 
ments can  be  considered,  we  must  first 
answer  a  few  questions  about  the  geography 
of  the  village ;  fully  one  half  of  the  parish  is 
above  the  300-feet  contour  line,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  remainder  slopes  gradually 
down  to  the  Evenlode,  which  forms  its 
natural  boundary  on  the  south-west.  The 
southern  boundary  is  formed  by  two  large 
woods  called  Bladon  Heath  and  Burleigh 
Wood,  but  the  other  boundaries  are  all 
artificial,  and  of  these  Blenheim  Park  wall 
on  the  west  is  the  most  prominent. 

The  land  within  these  boundaries  presented 
a  very  different  appearance  in  the  thirteenth 
century  from  what  it  does  to-day  ;  the  woods 

*  II.  851. 

t  Ministers'  Accounts,  962  (4)  and  957  (5). 


AN  OXFORDSHIRE  VILLAGE  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY.     129 


were  probably  far  more  extensive.  Domes- 
day Book  states  that  the  wood  at  Bladon 
was  a  league  (12  furlongs)  in  length  and 
half  a  league  in  breadth  ;  to-day  the  extreme 
measurements  of  these  woods  are  about 
9  furlongs  by  3  furlongs.  Then,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  the  land  was  all  cultivated  on 
the  open  field  system,  the  principles  of  which 
are  probably  known  to  every  reader  of  the 
Antiquary. 

Our  documents  do  not  tell  us  the  area  of 
the  cultivated  land  in  the  manor,  but  they 
give  details  from  which  this  number  can 
be  approximately  ascertained.  The  Hundred 
Rolls  state  that  the  lord  of  the  manor,  who 
till  1269  was  the  King,  held  two  carucates 
in  demesne — in  other  words,  that  his  home 
farm  employed  two  plough  teams,  while 
the  land  in  the  occupation  of  the  tenants 
amounted  to  14^  virgates.  But  a  virgate 
was  the  fourth  part  of  a  carucate,  so  that  the 
area  of  the  cultivated  land  amounted  to 
22!  virgates.  The  text-books  tell  that  the 
number  of  acres  in  a  virgate  varied  from 
manor  to  manor ;  and  so  we  must  attempt  to 
discover  the  number  of  acres  in  a  Bladon 
virgate. 

The  bailiffs'  accounts  invariably  state  the 
quantity  of  each  kind  of  corn  that  was  used 
for  seed ;  those  for  other  manors  of  later 
date  also  state  the  number  of  acres  on  which 
this  corn  was  sown,  but  this  information  is 
not  given  in  any  of  our  documents.  How- 
ever, the  accounts  for  the  neighbouring 
manor  of  Combe  in  1277  state  that  there 
2  bushels  each  of  wheat  and  barley  and 
4  bushels  of  oats  were  sown  on  an  acre. 
Our  accounts  show  that  in  the  years  1246 
and  1249  13  quarters  of  wheat,  5  quarters  of 
barley,  and  40  quarters  of  oats  were  sown  on 
the  demesne  at  Bladon,  and,  according  to 
the  rates  in  use  at  Combe  a  few  years  later, 
these  figures  show  that  52  acres  of  wheat, 
20  acres  of  barley,  and  80  acres  of  oats  were 
planted  in  those  two  years.  From  the  fact 
that  the  area  under  crop  in  1249  was  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  it  was  three  years  earlier, 
we  gather  that  Bladon  was  a  three-field 
manor,  and  that  the  field  which  produced 
oats  in  one  year  was  fallow  the  next  and 
wheat  in  the  third  year.  Now,  the  area 
under  oats  in  1245  was  83  acres  in  extent,  so 
that  the  two  carucates  in  demesne  at  Bladon 

VOL.  III. 


were  about  235  acres  in  extent,  the  tenants' 
virgate  was  about  29  acres,  and  the  whole 
of  the  cultivated  area  was  about  640  acres. 
But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  these  acre 
strips  were  a  statute  acre  in  extent ;  the  old 
maps  of  Oxfordshire,  published  by  the 
Clarendon  Press,  show  that  the  customary 
acre  in  Oxfordshire  varied  from  90  to  120 
poles. 

To  drive  the  two  ploughs  employed  on  the 
demesne  farm  four  ploughmen  were  em- 
ployed at  a  wage  of  5s.  each  and  an  allow- 
ance of  36  bushels  of  corn  every  year ;  there 
was  also  a  carter  who  received  a  similar 
allowance  of  corn  and  a  wage  of  3s.  6d.  a 
year,  and  these  five  were  the  only  regularly 
paid  labourers.  Most  of  the  other  necessary 
labour  was  supplied  by  the  tenants  as  part  of 
the  consideration  for  which  they  held  their 
lands ;  eight  of  these  tenants,  who  held  a 
virgate  each,  employed  their  teams  for  three 
days  each  on  the  demesne,  while  six  others, 
holding  half  a  virgate  each,  provided  nine 
days'  ploughing  between  them.  But  the 
greater  part  of  their  forced  labour  was  per- 
formed in  the  autumn ;  the  eight  virgaters 
worked  on  the  demesne  every  day  between 
Midsummer  and  Michaelmas  except  Saturday, 
each  had  to  find  two  men  to  work  on  two 
days,  and  every  tenant  on  the  manor  had  to 
bring  his  whole  family  to  work  for  one  day 
at  the  "  metebedrip."  For  this  work  they 
received  some  allowances,  with  which  we 
will  deal  later.  The  six  half-virgaters  per- 
formed only  half  the  work  that  was  required 
of  the  virgaters,  while  the  three  cottagers 
worked  only  one  day  a  week  from  Midsummer 
to  Michaelmas.  It  might  be  thought  that  the 
forced  labour  of  these  seventeen  men,  amount- 
ing in  all  to  850  days  in  the  year,  with  the 
twenty-seven  days'  labour  performed  by  the 
free  tenants,  would  supply  all  the  labour 
required  for  cutting  the  lord's  hay  and  reaping 
his  corn ;  but  the  accounts  frequently  show 
a  payment  of  10s.  for  extra  mowing,  and  in 
1262  and  1263  there  were  payments  of 
12s.  6d.  and  15s.  for  extra  reaping. 

But  after  all  the  processes  of  agriculture, 
it  was  a  wretched  crop  that  rewarded  the 
farmer;  in  the  harvests  of  1243- 1249*  the 
average  yield  of  wheat  was  5^  bushels  per 
acre,  that  of  barley  less  than  9  bushels,  and 
*  See  table  appended. 

R 


i3o    AN  OXFORDSHIRE  VILLAGE  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 


that  of  oats  less  than  7^  bushels  to  the  acre. 
The  best  crop  of  wheat  was  less  than 
6|    bushels    in    1244,    and    the   worst   was 

3 1  bushels  in  1246;  the  best  crop  of  barley 
was  io£  bushels  in  1249,  and  the  worst  was 
7^  bushels  in  1244.  The  best  crop  of  oats 
was  1 2  if  bushels  in  1244,  and  the  worst  was 
that  of  1243,  when  the  crop  actually  yielded 
4  bushels  less  than  the  seed.  One  explana- 
tion of  these  poor  crops  may  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  neither  the  survey  in  the  Hundred 
Rolls  nor  the  accounts  afford  evidence  either 
that  the  tenants  were  obliged  to  weed  the 
lord's  crops,  or  that  any  payment  was  made 
for  weeding.  And  it  must  be  remembered 
that  there  were  sundry  pickings  before  the 
crop  reached  the  lord's  barn — the  rector 
would  take  every  tenth  sheaf  by  way  of  tithe, 
and  the  reapers  received  a  quarter  of  a  sheaf 
every  day  that  they  reaped. 

The  bailiffs'  accounts  set  out  in  detail  how 
the  produce  of  the  harvest  was  disposed  of ; 
thus,  in  1246,  of  the  35  quarters  of  wheat 
produced  in  the  preceding  year,  13  quarters 
were  used  for  seed,  12  quarters  were  given 
to  the  ploughmen  and  carter,  and  10  quarters 
were  sold  for  23s.  4d.  A  quantity  of  corn 
was  always  sold  from  Bladon  while  it  was  in 
the  King's  hands;  thus,  in  1245  there  were 
sold — 

£  s.  d. 

20  quarters  of  wheat  at  2s.  4d.  a  quarter  ...     268 

2J      ,,       of  barley  at  is.  od.  a  quarter  ...     039 

32  ,,  of  mixed  corn  at  is.  4d.  a  quarter  228 
73        ,,        of  oats  at  is.  id.  a  quarter     ...     3  19     1 


8  12     2 

But  the  receipts  from  the  sale  of  corn 
did  not  average  much  more  than  half  this 
amount.  In  1263  the  surplus  of  the  crop  of 
wheat  was  not  sold,  but  was  delivered  to  the 
King's  baker,  and  2d.  a  quarter  was  paid  for 
its  carriage  to  Oxford,  where  the  King  was 
evidently  in  residence  at  his  palace  of  Beau- 
mont. 

Next  to  the  corn,  the  hay  crop  was  the 
most  valuable  produce  of  the  manor,  and  the 
bailiff  accounts  for  an  average  of  £$  a  year 
for  hay  sold.  Most  of  this  came  from  Long 
Acre,  a  meadow  on  the  banks  of  the  Evenlode, 
which  still  bears  its  old  name;  this  was 
mowed  by  the  forced  labour  of  the  tenants, 
each  of  whom  was  allowed  to  take   home 


with  him  on  every  day  he  mowed  as  much 
hay  as  he  could  lift  as  high  as  his  breast  on 
his  scythe,  and  also  to  turn  his  horses  hobbled 
into  the  meadow  while  he  was  mowing. 
There  was  another  meadow  in  Woodstock 
Park,  known  as  Lawmead,  to  mow  which  the 
tenants  had  to  work  and  provide  an  assistant 
on  one  day  in  every  year,  and  again  they 
were  allowed  to  take  home  a  bundle  of 
hay. 

The  accounts  under  review  differ  from  the 
later  accounts  of  other  manors  in  that  they 
contain  no  account  of  the  live  stock,  a  list 
of  which  was  usually  endorsed  on  similar 
accounts,  and  it  is  only  from  incidental 
references  to  stock  bought  and  sold  that  we 
can  learn  anything  about  the  animals  kept  on 
the  manor.  A  horse  was  bought  in  1243  f°r 
14s.,  and  in  the  following  year  and  again  in 
1263  two  oxen  were  bought  for  10s.  6d. 
each  ;  it  was  only  the  old  stock  that  was  sold. 
Two  old  oxen  were  sold  in  1244  for  12s., 
and  a  feeble  horse  was  sold  in  1249  f°r 
2s.  8d. ;  even  animals  that  died  of  natural 
causes  were  turned  into  money,  and  in  1243 
the  bailiff  accounted  for  3s.  6d.  for  an  ox 
that  had  died  of  the  murrain.  There  are  no 
records  of  any  transactions  in  sheep  or  pigs 
at  Bladon,  nor  for  butter  and  cheese,  which 
at  Combe  about  this  time  produced  an 
average  of  25s.  a  year.  Nor  is  there  any 
evidence  that  beans  or  peas  were  planted  at 
Bladon  during  the  years  under  review. 

But  the  lord  had  a  more  lucrative  source 
of  income  than  his  demesne  farm ;  every 
tenant  in  the  manor  was  bound  to  have  his 
corn  ground  at  the  lord's  mill,  and  its  profits 
averaged  35s.  a  year.  The  mill  was  closed  for 
repairs  in  the  spring  of  1 248,  and  after  it  had 
been  repaired  a  new  system  of  book-keeping 
appears  to  have  been  adopted  ;  previously 
the  farm  of  the  mill  had  been  returned  in 
one  sum  without  any  details,  but  in  1248  we 
find  that  the  miller  was  paid  a  wage  of  4s., 
which  was  increased  in  the  following  year  to 
5s.  From  1248  onwards  the  tolls  of  the  mill, 
which  were  paid  in  kind,  are  set  out  at  length 
in  the  accounts;  in  1249  they  were:  8  quarters 
of  wheat  sold  for  13s.  4d.,  12  quarters  of 
malt  sold  for  18s.,  and  6  bushels  of  oatmeal 
sold  for  2s.  6d.,  a  total  of  £1  13s.  iod.  A 
new  mill-stone  was  bought  in  1263  for  4s. 

Passing  now  to  the  villagers,  we  find  that 


AN  OXFORDSHIRE  VILLAGE  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY.     131 


nineteen  were  styled  servi,  or  serfs,  and  that 
five  were  freeholders ;  eight  of  these  servi 
held  a  virgate  each,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
consisted  of  some  twenty-nine  acre  strips  scat- 
tered throughout  the  open  fields  of  the  manor. 
Six  held  half  a  virgate  each,  and  five  were 
cottagers;  for  their  house  and  land  the 
virgaters  paid  3s.  6d.  each,  and  performed 
the  works  to  which  we  have  referred.  The 
half- virgaters  paid  is.  iod.  each,  and  like- 
wise performed  certain  services,  while  three 
of  the  cottagers  paid  i8d.  each.  But  there 
is  one  day's  work  which  requires  a  little  more 
notice  :  to  the  "  metebedrip  "  every  tenant 
of  the  manor,  whether  servile  or  free,  was 
bound  to  bring  all  his  family  to  do  a  day's 
reaping,  but  during  this  day's  work  they  were 
provided  with  food  at  the  lord's  expense. 
For  instance,  in  124^5  the  flour  from 
8|  bushels  of  wheat  was  baked  for  bread  for 
this  day's  food,  and,  in  addition,  the  bailiff 
expended  4s.  in  beer,  3s.  iod.  in  meat, 
6d.  in  cheese,  and  2d.  in  salt,  so  that  a  good 
meal  was  provided  for  the  reapers ;  and 
though  details  are  not  given,  a  somewhat 
similar  amount  was  expended  in  every 
year. 

The  freeholders  were  less  heavily  bur- 
dened :  three  persons  held  two  virgates 
jointly,  for  which  they  paid  a  rent  of  10s. 
a  year,  and  performed  three  days'  ploughing, 
provided  fifteen  days'  work  in  the  autumn, 
and  with  their  families  came  to  the  "  mete- 
bedrip"; a  fourth  held  a  virgate  at  5s.  a 
year  and  somewhat  similar  services;  while 
the  fifth  was  William  the  Fisherman,  who 
held  a  house  and  3  acres,  and  a  certain 
island,  with  the  fishery  as  far  as  Osney  Weir, 
at  9s.  a  year,  and  one  boon  work,  while  the 
lord  reserved  for  himself  the  produce  of  one 
day's  fishing  in  every  year.  But  we  must 
not  think  of  this  fishery  as  merely  the  right 
to  fish  with  rod  and  line  from  the  river 
banks,  for  which  so  many  persons  pay  high 
prices  to-day  on  certain  rivers.  Domesday 
Book  is  full  of  reference  to  fish-traps  and  weirs, 
and  at  this  very  time  the  eels  from  the  mill- 
stream  at  Woodstock  realized  20s.  a  year,  the 
price  of  eight  or  ten  quarters  of  wheat. 
During  the  eight  years  1243-1250  the  rents 
of  the  tenants  amounted  to  an  average  of 
£s  3s.  a  year,  but  in  1279  they  had  in- 
creased to  £$  7s.  9d. ;  and  the  total  number 


of  days'  work  in  the  latter  year  amounted  to 
877,  from  both  the  servile  and  the  free 
tenants. 

But,  it  will  be  said,  if  the  tenants  worked 
so  frequently  on  the  demesne,  what  time 
could  they  devote  to  the  cultivation  of 
their  own  holdings  ?  A  little  consideration 
will  answer  this  question ;  each  of  them 
probably  had  some  grown-up  sons  living 
with  them,  and  so  long  as  the  work  was  per- 
formed by  some  capable  person,  it  made  no 
difference  to  the  lord  whether  it  was  per- 
formed by  the  tenant  in  person  or  by  deputy ; 
no  mention  of  these  grown-up  sons  is  made 
in  the  Hundred  Rolls,  for  they  were  not 
census  returns,  but  merely  custumals  to  in- 
form the  lord  of  the  rents  and  services  due 
from  his  tenants. 

Although  a  large  number  of  these  tenants 
were  styled  serfs,  yet  their  position  was  far 
removed  from  absolute  slavery :  families 
could  not  be  separated  as  under  the 
American  system ;  the  work  that  was  re- 
quired from  them  was  fixed  by  custom  ; 
their  cattle  and  furniture  and  earnings  were 
their  own,  and  they  could  recover  it  by  law 
from  any  person  (except  their  lord)  who  took 
it  from  them,  and  they  could  remain  away 
from  the  village  in  which  they  were  born  by 
paying  chivage  to  their  lords  ;  their  sons 
could,  and  occasionally  did,  rise  in  the 
world.  Grostete,  who  was  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
at  the  very  time  these  accounts  were  written, 
was  the  son  of  a  serf,  as  was  Sir  Walter 
Manny,  the  famous  General  of  the  next 
century.  The  only  mark  of  serfdom  recorded 
in  the  Bladon  survey  was  the  payment  "  pro 
redemptione  puerorum  suorum,"  a  payment 
for  permission  for  their  sons  to  go  to  school 
and  leave  the  manor,  and  for  their  daughters 
to  marry  outside  the  King's  demesne,  which 
in  the  neighbouring  manor  of  Handborough 
was  4d.  All  the  tenants,  both  free  and 
servile,  had  to  make  suit  to  the  lord's  court 
within  the  manor,  and  were  there  fined  for 
their  transgressions  against  manorial  rules ; 
and  the  pleas  and  perquisites  of  the  court 
made  no  small  addition  to  the  lord's  in- 
come. 

The  economic  position  of  the  villagers 
requires  some  little  investigation.  We  have 
seen  that  eight  servi  held  a  virgate  each  of 
some    29   acres,    of   which   one-third  —  say, 

r  2 


i32     AN  OXFORDSHIRE  VILLAGE  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 


10  acres — would  be  in  fallow  every  year;  of 
the  remainder,  according  to  the  rule  by  which 
all  the  holders  of  land  in  any  field,  whether 
lord  or  tenant,  followed  the  same  course  of 
cultivation  as  their  neighbours,  8  acres  would 
be  in  wheat,  2  in  barley,  and  9  in  oats. 
Their  average  produce  for  the  seven  harvests, 
1243  to  1249,  would  be  42  bushels  of  wheat, 
17^  of  barley,  and  67  of  oats;  of  this  pro- 
duce, 16  bushels  of  wheat,  4  of  barley,  and 
36  of  oats  would  be  required  for  seed  the 
following  year,  leaving  a  net  produce  of 
26  bushels  of  wheat,  13J  of  barley,  and 
3 1  of  oats.  Deduct  from  this  the  40  bushels 
of  corn  which,  according  to  the  scale  of 
allowances  in  force  in  the  neighbouring 
manors,  was  the  usual  quantity  required  by 
a  man  and  his  family  in  one  year,*  and  the 
tenant  would  have  about  4  quarters  of  corn 
for  sale,  which  would  not  realize  more  than 
7s.  or  8s.,  and  out  of  this  he  had  to  pay  a 
money  rent  of  3s.  6d.  to  his  lord.  But  these 
calculations  are  based  on  the  average  pro- 
duce, and  in  years  in  which  one  of  the  crops 
failed,  as  in  1243  the  oats  failed,  he  would 
be  decidedly  in  evil  plight.  The  position  of 
a  half-virgater  was  naturally  worse:  his  average 
crop  would  be  21  bushels  of  wheat,  9  of 
barley,  and  33  of  oats — a  crop  which,  after 
the  deduction  of  seed  for  the  following  year, 
would  be  insufficient  to  furnish  him  with  the 
necessary  40  bushels  of  corn  for  bread  and 
beer.  He  would  have  to  work  for  wages  to 
earn  the  cash  for  payment  of  his  rent.  Of 
course,  the  cottager  would  be  obliged  to  work 
for  wages  the  whole  year  round.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  all  the  tenants  kept  some 
live  stock,  and  that  their  pigs  would  keep  them 
in  meat  all  the  year  round ;  they  would  be 
entitled  to  fuel  from  the  woods,  their  clothes 
were  homespun  and  home-made,  and,  as  we 
have  seen,  they  received  certain  allowances 
of  corn  and  hay  when  they  reaped  and 
mowed.  The  forced  labour  of  the  virgater 
was  seventy-three  days  a  year. 

This  picture  differs  from  that  of  the  villein 
tenant  at  Cuxham  drawn  by  Professor  Thorold 
Rogers  (Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages, 
p.  175) ;  but  its  differences  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  facts  that  Cuxham  was  more  fertile 
than  Bladon,  the  average  yield  of  wheat  at 

*  A  bushel  of  wheat  will  make  twelve  4-pound 
loaves. 


Cuxham  being  10  bushels  to  the  acre,  and 
that  the  price  of  wheat  in  the  decade  1330- 
1340  was  4s.  8d. — more  than  double  the 
price  in  1243 — while  rent  and  services  re- 
mained the  same. 

But  now  let  us  consider  what  the  estate 
was  worth  to  the  lord ;  and  a  tabular  state- 
ment of  the  receipts  and  expenditure  will 
help  us  to  answer  this  question. 


Receipts  for  the  Y 

EAR   ENDINO 

Michaelmas, 

1243. 

£ 

s. 

d. 

Rents           

3 

1 

2 

Profit  of  the  mill    

1 

12 

10 

Pleas  and  perquisites  of  court 

0 

7 

2 

Sales  of  produce — 

Hay      

2    II 

0 

19^  quarters  of  wheat 

2    12 

0 

40         ,,       of  oats   ... 

2      6 

8 

A  dead  ox        ...      .... 

0    3 

6 

7 

13 

2 

Total  receipts 

12 

14 

4 

Expenditure. 

A  horse  bought  for  the  cart 

0 

14 

0 

Wages  and  allowances 

2 

9 

7 

Repairs  and  sundries 

0 

19 

H 

4    3    3i 

But  these  expenses  must  be  set  against  the 
receipts  from  the  demesne,  so  that  the  net 
farming  profit  that  year  was  ^3  9s.  io|d. ; 
1243  was  a  good  year,  but  in  1263  the 
sales  from  the  demesne  amounted  only  to 
jQl  12  s.  2d,  while  the  expenses  were 
^5  2s.  n£d.,  showing  a  loss  in  that  year 
of  jQi  1  os.  9^d.;  but  these  calculations  made 
no  allowance  for  the  interest  on  the  capital 
employed  in  stocking  the  farm,  nor  for  the 
rent  of  the  land,  and  the  profit  in  1243  of 
^3  9s.  io|d.  was  obtained  only  by  the 
employment  of  the  tenants  without  payment 
for  877  days  in  the  year.  If  the  lord  had 
been  obliged  to  obtain  hired  labour  for  the 
performance  of  their  work,  even  at  the  rate 
of  id.  a  day,  he  would  have  spent  ^3  13s.  id. 
in  wages,  which  would  have  more  than  swal- 
lowed up  the  profit.  That  being  so,  it  is 
obvious  that  this  system  of  dominical  farming 
with  forced  labour  was  bound  to  cease  as 
soon  as  the  tenants  struck  against  their  work, 
and  as  soon  as  the  lords  could  find  tenants 
to  rent  their  lands,  and  other  employment 


AN  OXFORDSHIRE  VILLAGE  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY.     133 


for  the  capital  they  had  sunk  in  their 
stock. 

Everyone  knows  of  the  Black  Death,  and 
how  under  its  ravages  a  large  number  of  the 
labouring  population  died  in  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century;  immediately  there 
was  an  increased  demand  for  labour,  and  the 
serfs  struck  against  their  forced  labour  to 
their  lords,  and  went  where  they  could  obtain 
higher  wages.  In  vain  did  Parliament  forbid 
the  payment  of  higher  wages  than  those 
customary  the  year  before  the  plague ;  and  in 
the  fifteenth  century  the  system  of  dominical 
farming  died  a  natural  death.  In  many 
places  the  lords  evicted  their  servile  tenants 
and  turned  the  whole  manor  into  one  large 
sheep-farm,  but  at  Bladon  the  subsequent 
history  was  very  different. 

There  is  in  the  British  Museum  a  rental 
of  Bladon,  dated  1545,*  which  shows  that 
the  whole  manor  was  then  let  to  tenants,  who 
paid  for  the  bury  lands  ^7  6s.  8d.,  and  for 
the  other  lands  (called  in  a  later  document 
free  and  customary  lands)  £4  os.  ifd. 
Another  document  in  the  same  collection 
of  manuscriptst  tells  how  the  bury  lands  came 
into  existence.  The  King  wished  to  enlarge 
Woodstock  Park  by  taking  into  it  certain 
lands  in  the  occupation  of  his  tenants  in  the 
manors  of  Bladon,  Combe,  and  Wootton, 
and  to  secure  their  consent  to  his  so  doing, 
he  granted  out  his  demesne  to  them  in 
parcels,  for  which  they  paid  money  rents ; 
and  the  land  so  granted  out  was  known  as 
bury  lands.  There  was  an  attempt  during 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  evict  the 
tenants  from  these  bury  lands,  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  only  tenants  at  will;  but  it 
evidently  failed,  as  these  lands  were  still  in 
the  possession  of  tenants  when  the  manor 
was  granted  to  the  Duke  of  Marlborough 
by  Queen  Anne. 

Although  the  dominical  system  proved  a 
failure  in  the  fifteenth  century,  yet  it  was  the 
only  possible  system  in  the  earlier  centuries, 
when  land  was  plentiful  and  coin  was  scarce, 
when  there  was  no  demand  for  labour,  and 
no  opportunities  for  the  employment  of 
capital;  by  it  the  labourer  was  enabled  to 
obtain  his  food  and  clothes  from  the  land 
he  tilled,  and  the  lord  secured  the  labour  he 
required  to  provide  him  and  his  retinue  with 


food.     But  it  was  bound  to  fail  as  soon  as 
there  was  a  demand  for  labour. 

Table  showing  Yield  of  Corn  Crops. 


V 

t 

a 

X 

Wheat. 

Barley. 

Oats. 

< 

d 
0 

u 

V 
&.  -J 

•0  B 
> 

•a 

V 
V 

en 

0 

< 

d 
O 

> 

-0 

C/3 

< 

d 

0 

O 

14 
V 

&„• 
2  u 
S< 
> 

1243 

bus. 
136 

68 

bus. 
396 

bus.  bus. 

si  1  32 

16 

bus. 
132 

bus. 
84 

bus. 
328 

82 

bus. 
324 

bus. 

4 

1244 

112 

56 

376 

6}  j  40 

20 

152 

7i 

292 

74 

946 

12} 

1245 

116 

58 

280 

5  i  40 

20 

204 

10} 

332 

83 

592 

7t 

1246 

104 

52 

192 

3}  |  40 

20 

174 

7i 

320 

80 

679 

8J 

1247 

112 

56 

274 

5  !  4° 

20 

188 

9* 

320 

80 

536 

6} 

1248 

96 

48 

208 

4&  40 

20 

184 

9i 

304 

75 

616 

8 

1249 

104 

52 

322 

6  j  40 

20 

204 

i°l 

320 

80 

440 

Si 

1263 

M 

37 

148 

4  J48 

24 

119 

5 

268 

67 

280 

4 

Lansdown  MSS.,  758. 


t  27-46. 


C6e  TBrasses  of  Cnrjlanu.* 

HIS  volume,  unless  we  are  much 
mistaken,  will  prove  to  be  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  popular  of 
the  series  of  "  Antiquary's  Books." 
Notwithstanding  the  large  number  of  publica- 
tions on  the  subject  of  monumental  brasses, 
including  a  small  manual  by  Mr.  Macklin 
himself,  which  appeared  in  1889,  there  is 
ample  room  for  this  volume  by  one  who  is 
the  President  of  the  Monumental  Brass 
Society,  and  who  is  admittedly  the  most 
skilful  expert  as  to  their  interpretation  and 
history.  The  particular  attraction  of  this 
book  is  its  admirable  arrangement  in  historic 
periods,  and  the  clearness  with  which  par- 
ticular subjects,  such  as  the  heraldry,  archi- 
tectural ornament,  and  foreign  workmanship, 
are  treated.  Then,  too,  the  special  appen- 
dices which  deal  with  certain  matters  per- 
taining to  these  memorials  are  not  run  to- 
gether in  small  print  at  the  end  of   the 

*  The  Brasses  of  England,  by  Herbert  W.  Macklin, 
M.A.  With  eighty -five  illustrations.  London  : 
Methuen  and  Co.,  1907.  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xx,  336. 
Price  7s.  6d.  net.  We  are  much  indebted  to  Messrs. 
Methuen  for  the  loan  of  three  blocks  to  illustrate 
this  notice. 


134 


THE  BRASSES  OF  ENGLAND. 


THOMAS   POWNDER,    MERCHANT,   AND   HIS   WIFE   EMMA,    1525   (ST.   MARY  QUAY,    IPSWICH). 

volume,  where  they  are  likely  to  be  over-  are  two  appendices,  the  one  dealing  with  the 

looked,  but  are  arranged  at  the^end  of  the  woolstaplers    and   the   other  with  the  legal 

chapters  with  which  they  have  most  concern,  profession.     This  is  just  as  it  should  be,  for 

Thus   chapter  vii.  deals   with   the    Lancas-  during  that  period  the  woolstaplers  formed 

trian  period,    T400-1453,  and  to  this  there  the  most  influential  trade  guild  of  the  country, 


THE  BRASSES  OF  ENGLAND. 


135 


and  the  brasses  to  their  memory,  particularly 
in  Gloucestershire  and  Lincolnshire,  were  of 
the  first  importance.  The  brass  student  in 
this  case,  instead  of  having  to  look  up  half  a 
dozen  different  authorities  to  discover  what 
is  necessary  for  his  purpose  as  to  wool- 
stapling,  finds  everything  requisite  concisely 
put  together  in  a  few  pages  by  Mr.  Macklin, 
together  with  a  full  list  of  other  brasses  of 
the  same  character.  The  like  is  also  the 
case  with  regard  to  the  special  costume  of 
leading  members  of  the  legal  profession,  and 
it  is  in  the  Lancastrian  period  that  there  is 
such  an  interesting  series  of  brasses  in 
memory  of  judges  and  other  distinguished 
lawyers. 

In  the  same  manner  the  chapter  on  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses — 1453-1485 — has  for 
appendices  short  but  admirable  treatises  on 
chalice  brasses,  heart  brasses,  and  shroud 
brasses.  Chapter  xi.,  which  gives  the  story 
of  brasses  of  the  Tudor  period — 1485-1547 — 
has  two  appendices,  which  deal  respectively 
with  the  Edwardian  and  Marian  transitions, 
and  with  the  merchant  companies  and  their 
arms. 

As  to  the  illustrations,  we  should  have 
liked  more ;  but  considering  the  modest 
price  of  the  book,  we  perhaps  ought  to  be 
well  content  with  the  eighty-five  that  are 
given.  At  all  events,  those  that  are  supplied 
are  excellent  of  their  kind  and  particularly 
well  selected.  We  are  glad  to  note  that 
there  are  no  attempts  in  this  volume  to 
give  photographic  pictures  of  brasses;  for 
such  illustrations,  however  faithful,  are 
usually  quite  unsatisfactory,  and  give  more 
details  of  the  crudities  of  the  stone  in  which 
the  brass  is  set  than  of  the  actual  memorial. 

In  the  chapter  on  brasses  of  foreign 
workmanship,  a  good  illustration  (here  re- 
produced) is  given  of  the  interesting  Flemish 
brass  to  Thomas  Pownder,  merchant,  and 
his  wife  Emma,  1525,  which  is  in  the  church 
of  St.  Mary  Quay,  Ipswich.  It  bears  the 
arms  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers,  and 
forms  a  complete  engraved  picture  of  most 
skilful  arrangement.  When  studying  it,  we 
cannot  doubt  that  the  faces  of  this  merchant 
and  his  wife  are  intended  to  be  faithful 
portraits. 

Another  remarkably  good  illustration  of  a 
brass  of  a  totally  different  character  is  that 
to  Robert    Ingylton,    1472,   and   his   three 


ROBERT  INGYLTON,  ESQ.,  AND  HIS  WIVES  MAR- 
GARET, CLEMENS,  AND  ISABELLA,  I472  (THORN- 
TON,   BUCKINGHAMSHIRE). 

wives — Margaret,    Clemens,  and    Isabella — 
which    occurs    at    Thornton,    Buckingham- 


i36 


THE  BRASSES  OF'ENGLAND. 


ANNUNCIATION,   FROM   THE  BRASS  OF  WILLIAM   PORTER,    S.T.P.,    1524  (HEREFORD  CATHEDRAL). 

shire.     This  brass  is  of  considerable  charm,  for  Robert  Ingylton,  who  was  a  lawyer  of 

owing   to   the    beautiful    character    of   the  note  and   at  one  time  Chancellor  of  the 

canopies  by  which  the  four  main  figures  are  Exchequer,  is  not  represented  in  any  kind  of 

surmounted.     It  is  otherwise  rather  curious,  legal  costume,  but  in  full  armour. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


137 


The  somewhat  debased  brasses  of  the 
Tudor  period  have  usually  been  too  much 
overlooked  in  works  of  this  description  ;  but 
Mr.  Macklin  shows  us  that,  although  the  art 
is  degraded  as  compared  with  that  of  pre- 
vious centuries,  the  interest  even  of  an 
artistic  character  is  by  no  means  inconsider- 
able. There  is,  for  instance,  a  considerable 
degree  of  merit  pertaining  to  the  representa- 
tion of  the  Annunciation  as  portrayed  in  the 
head  of  the  brass  of  William  Porter,  1524, 
in  Hereford  Cathedral,  although  Mr.  Macklin 
terms  it  "  a  most  inartistic  renaissance 
canopy."  William  Porter  was  the  Warden 
of  New  College,  Oxford,  and  held  in  addi- 
tion a  canonry  of  Hereford. 

The  volume  is  exceptionally  well  indexed, 
and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  be  able  to  recommend 
it  without  any  reservation. 


C&e  Progress  of  antiquarian 

iResearcf)  up  to  ann  in  tjje 

iRineteentfr  Century* 

By  Sir  Edward  Brabrook,  C.B.,  V.-P.S.A. 

OHN  LELAND  is  said  to  have  had 
the  title  of  Antiquary  conferred 
upon  him  by  Henry  VIII.  A 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  over  which 
Archbishop  Parker  presided,  was  founded  at 
the  house  of  Sir  Robert  Cotton  in  1572,  the 
fourteenth  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Among 
its  members  were  Lancelot  Andrews,  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  William  Camden,  Sir  William 
Dethicke,  Garter,  William  Lambarde,  James 
Ley,  Earl  of  Marlborough,  John  Stow,  Mr. 
Justice  Whitelock,  and  many  other  anti- 
quaries of  distinction.  James  I.,  "alarmed 
for  the  arcana  of  his  Government,  and,  as 
some  think,  for  the  Established  Church,"  put 
an  end  to  the  Society  in  1604.  It  remained 
in  abeyance  during  the  whole  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  though  Mr.  Ashmole  records 
an  "  antiquaries'  feast "  as  having  been  held 
on  July  2,  1659,  and  the  author  of  the 
historical   introduction   to  the  first  volume 

*  A  presidential  address  to  the  Lewisham  Anti- 
quarian Society  and  the  Balham  and  District  Anti- 
quarian and  Natural  History  Society  at  their  respective 
annual  meetings  in  January,  1907. 

VOL.  III. 


of  Arehceologia  enumerates  many  great  anti- 
quaries who  lived  at  that  time. 

Among  these  are  Sir  William  Dugdale, 
John  Selden,  Aubrey,  Weever,  Fuller,  and  a 
host  of  others.  The  sacred  lamp  of  archaeology 
was  thus  kept  alight  without  any  organization 
for  supplying  it  with  oil ;  till  on  November  5, 
1707,  a  few  antiquaries  of  that  day  agreed  to 
meet  every  Friday  at  six  o'clock  at  the  Bear 
Tavern  in  the  Strand,  and  discuss  the  history 
and  antiquities  of  Great  Britain  preceding  the 
reign  of  James  I.  They  discreetly  resolved 
not  to  sit  later  than  ten  o'clock.  They  after- 
wards removed  to  the  Young  Devil  Tavern, 
and  subsequently  to  the  Fountain  Tavern  in 
Fleet  Street.  Le  Neve  presided  over  these 
gatherings,  and  among  those  who  attended 
them  were  Rymer,  Madox,  Browne  Willis, 
and  Stukeley.  In  1 7 1 7  they  organized  them- 
selves into  a  formal  Society,  which  is  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London  now  exist- 
ing. They  agreed  to  meet  every  Wednesday 
evening,  and  that  each  member  should  pay 
ten  shillings  and  sixpence  on  his  admission 
and  one  shilling  on  the  first  Wednesday  in 
every  month  towards  defraying  the  expense 
of  engraving  and  publishing  matters  approved 
by  the  majority. 

The  minutes  of  their  proceedings  are  care- 
fully kept  in  the  archives  of  the  Society,  and 
form  a  most  interesting  record,  which  I 
hope  will  some  day  be  given  to  the  public. 
Volume  1  contains  the  report  of  the  meetings 
from  January  1,  17 18,  to  October  26,  1732, 
and  is  nearly  all,  I  believe,  in  the  handwriting 
of  Dr.  Stukeley,  the  secretary.  It  is  headed 
"The  Minute  Book  of  the  Antiquarian  Society, 
London,  17 18,"  underneath  which  is  the  ap- 
propriate motto  :  Nee  veniam  antiquis>  sed 
honorem  et  pramia  posei,  which  may  be 
roughly  translated,  "I  do  not  ask  indulgence 
merely,  but  honour  and  reward,  for  the  old 
things  " — a  motto  which  I  rather  prefer  to 
Non  extinguetur  now  in  use.  The  ingenious 
secretary  prefixes  the  following  to  his  formal 
record : 

"  The  study  of  Antiquitys  has  ever  been 
esteemed  a  considerable  part  of  good  literature 
no  less  curious  than  useful :  whether  we  regard 
it  as  assisting  us  in  a  clearer  understanding 
the  invaluable  writings  of  the  antient  and 
learned  Nations,  or  as  it  preserves  the  vener- 
able remains  of  our  Ancestors.     Therefore 


i38 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


the  forming  a  Society  to  carry  on  so  good 
a  work  by  their  joint  endeavors  must  be 
accounted  laudable  and  highly  conducive  to 
those  purposes. 

"  And  whereas  our  own  country  abounds 
with  valuable  reliques  of  the  former  ages, 
now  in  the  custody  of  private  gentlemen,  or 
lying  in  obscurity  ;  and  more  are  daily  dis- 
covered either  by  chance  or  by  the  diligence 
of  such  as  tread  in  the  commendable  foot- 
steps of  those  who  revived  the  spirit  of  this 
kind  of  learning  among  us,  in  the  last  century : 
to  the  end  the  knowledge  of  them  may  become 
more  universal,  be  preserv'd  and  transmitted 
to  futurity,  several  gentlemen  have  agreed  to 
form  themselves  into  such  a  Society  here  in 
London,  with  a  design  at  their  own  charge, 
to  collect  and  print  all  accounts  of  antient 
Monuments  that  come  to  their  hands  whether 
Ecclesiastic  or  Civil,  which  may  be  commu- 
nicated to  them  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdoms 
of  Great  Bryttain  and  Ireland,  such  as  Old 
Citys,  Stations,  Camps,  public  Buildings, 
Roads,  Temples,  Abbys,  Churches,  Statues, 
Tombs,  Busts,  Inscriptions,  Castles,  Ruins, 
Altars,  Ornaments,  Utensils,  Habits,  Seals, 
Armour,  Pourtraits,  Medals,  Urns,  Pave- 
ments, Mapps,  Charts,  Manuscripts,  Genea- 
logy, Historys,  Observations,  Emendations 
of  Books,  already  published,  and  whatever 
may  properly  belong  to  the  History  of 
Bryttish  Antiquitys." 

Then  follow  the  articles  or  original  rules 
under  which  the  Society  was  constituted 
before  it  received  its  Royal  Charter  in  the 
twenty-fifth  year  of  King  George  II.  (1752) 
and  the  minutes,  all  very  neatly  written 
and  some  of  them  embellished  with  careful 
sketches  of  the  objects  exhibited  at  the 
Society's  meetings.  As  I  hope  these  will 
some  day  be  published,  I  need  not  refer  to 
them  in  any  detail,  but  some  of  the  early 
minutes  are  interesting.  Taking  a  few  notes 
from  the  second  volume,  we  find  Mr.  Vertue 
employed  to  engrave  a  number  of  drawings 
of  castles  and  other  buildings.  On  Novem- 
ber 9,  1732,  two  sketches  of  rock  inscriptions 
from  the  river  Taunton  in  New  Zealand,  one 
made  in  1680,  the  other  in  1730,  were  ex- 
hibited, and  as  it  turned  out  that  they 
differed  considerably,  a  learned  member 
frankly  acknowledged  that  the  later  one  had 
been  "doctored"  by  him — a  curious  instance 


of  the  liberties  some  of  the  antiquaries  of 
that  day  allowed  themselves. 

On  November  7,  1734,  an  impression  of 
a  seal  was  exhibited,  which  gave  rise  to  a 
long  dissertation.  On  March  31,  1737,  when 
Mr.  Vice-President  Folkes  was  in  the  chair 
and  twenty  others  were  present,  Mr.  Ames 
presented  a  book  called  Lewis  on  the  Isle  of 
T/ianet,  which  is  still  to  be  found  in  the 
Society's  library.  The  secretary  read  a 
paragraph  from  it  about  brass  spear  and  axe 
heads.  Mr.  Cary  made  a  very  curious  remark, 
but  what  that  remark  was  does  not  appear. 
On  November  n,  1736,  Mr.  Theobald  had 
leave  to  make  some  extracts  from  the  minutes. 

At  each  meeting  one  or  more  members 
would  bring  something  of  interest  to  show 
to  his  brethren,  as  the  finds  in  a  barrow,  a 
deed  with  seal  of  Joan,  wife  of  Henry  IV., 
a  deed  of  the  Mayor  of  London  dated  1446, 
a  MS.  almanack  on  vellum,  1544,  and  the 
like.  At  first  the  publications  of  the  Society 
were  only  occasional.  Thus,  on  May  30, 1 733, 
a  letter  from  Browne  Willis  on  gold  coins  was 
proposed  to  be  printed,  but  I  cannot  find  a 
copy  of  this  publication  even  in  the  Society's 
own  library.  Other  communications  were 
ordered  to  be  entered  in  the  Society's  register 
book.  It  also  kept  a  drawing-book,  which 
was  an  old  one  in  1736,  when  Mr.  Director 
Frederick  made  some  drawings  of  spear- 
heads in  it.  At  that  time  the  affairs  of  the 
Society  were  conducted  on  a  very  modest 
scale.  For  the  year  1736  its  gross  income 
was  only  £6 1,  and  its  expenditure  was  but 
jQn,  so  that  it  increased  its  accumulated 
funds  to  ^134.  The  Society  has  thus,  from 
the  very  first,  been  well  served  by  its  treasurers. 

Notwithstanding  the  meagreness  of  its 
financial  resources,  the  Society  in  1737 
published  an  engraving  by  Vertue  of  Aggas's 
Map  of  London  (1560),  and  in  1747  com- 
menced the  publication  of  Vetusta  Monu- 
menta. 

The  early  meetings  were  meetings  of  the 
whole  body,  though  the  attendance  on  one 
occasion  at  least  dropped  as  low  as  four. 
Now  and  then  they  appointed  committees 
for  special  purposes,  as  one  to  view  the 
Cottonian  Library,  and  another  to  inquire 
into  the  records  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster. 
The  idea  of  a  general  committee  for  manage- 
ment did  not  occur  till  later  on,  when  the 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


139 


nucleus  of  the  Council  was  created.  The 
Royal  Charter  in  1752  gave  it  the  form 
which  it  still  retains,  and  provided  that 
the  Council  should  at  all  times  thereafter 
consist  of  twenty-one  persons,  whereof  the 
President  for  the  time  being  should  always 
be  one.  It  declared  the  King  to  be  the 
Founder  and  Patron  of  the  Society,  and 
nominated  Martin  Folkes  as  the  first  Presi- 
dent, and  Viscount  Fitzwilliam,  Lord  Wil- 
loughby  of  Parham,  Sir  John  Evelyn,  Bart., 
Sir  Joseph  Ayloffe,  Bart,  Sir  C.  C.  Dormer,  Kt., 
James  West,  James  Theobald,  Charles  Comp- 
ton,  Philip  Yorke,  Samuel  Gale,  Edward 
Umfreville,  P.  C.  Webb,  and  Daniel  Wray, 
Esquires  ;  John  Ward,  LL.D.,  Jeremiah  Mil- 
les,  D.D.,  Cromwell  Mortimer,  M.D.,  Richard 
Rawlinson,  LL.D.,  Browne  Willis,  LL.D., 
George  Vertue,  and  Joseph  Ames,  gentle- 
men, as  the  other  members  of  Council.  It 
empowered  the  Council  within  two  months 
to  choose  new  members  "  and  by  how  much 
any  persons  shall  be  more  excelling  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  antiquities  and  history  of 
this  and  other  nations;  by  how  much  the 
more  they  are  desirous  to  promote  the  honour, 
business,  and  emoluments  of  this  Society; 
and  by  how  much  the  more  eminent  they 
shall  be  for  piety,  virtue,  integrity,  and 
loyalty ;  by  so  much  the  more  fit  and  worthy 
shall  such  person  be  judged  of  being  elected 
and  admitted  into  the  said  Society."  Yearly, 
on  April  23,  eleven  out  of  the  twenty-one 
persons  of  the  present  Council  are  to  be 
appointed  to  continue  in  office  for  another 
year,  and  ten  other  members  of  the  Society 
to  be  appointed  in  place  of  the  ten  who 
retire.  The  Charter  also  enabled  the  Presi- 
dent, Council,  and  Fellows  to  have  and 
employ  one  serjeant  -  at  -  mace,  and  such 
other  servants  as  may  be  necessary  and 
useful  to  the  said  Society  to  attend  upon 
the  President  or  his  deputy  upon  all  proper 
occasions,  or  to  do  such  other  things  as  may 
from  time  to  time  be  expedient  for  the  service 
of  the  Society.  The  object  which  represents 
the  mace — it  is  not  a  proper  mace — is  a 
formidable  weapon,  which  the  President 
holds  in  his  left  hand  on  the  occasion  of 
the  solemn  admission  of  a  Fellow ;  at  other 
times  it  rests  on  the  table  near  the  cocked 
hat  which  in  former  days  used  to  be  donned 
by  the  President  on  such  occasions. 


In  1754  the  Society  issued  a  series  of 
queries  proposed  to  gentlemen  in  the  several 
parts  of  Great  Britain,  and  in  1755a  pamphlet 
was  published  containing  considerations  re- 
lating to  publication  of  papers.  This  bore 
fruit  in  1770,  when  the  first  edition  of  the 
first  volume  of  Archceologia  appeared. 

Archtzologia  opened  with  the  speech 
delivered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milles,  Dean  of 
Exeter,  on  January  12,  1769,  when  he 
became  President  on  the  death  of  the 
Bishop  of  Carlisle.  It  is  wholly  occupied 
with  the  praise  of  his  predecessor ;  but  it  set 
the  fashion  of  the  long  series  of  anniversary 
addresses  which  have  continued  to  be  de- 
livered to  the  present  time,  and  are  always 
followed  by  the  resolution  that  the  thanks  of 
the  Society  be  given  to  the  President  for  his 
address,  and  that  he  be  requested  to  allow 
it  to  be  printed.  The  address  is  always 
of  the  same  type — dwells  on  the  merits  of 
deceased  members,  reviews  the  antiquarian 
work  of  the  year,  and  congratulates  the 
Society  on  its  growing  prosperity  and  use- 
fulness. The  late  Lord  Carnarvon  tried  the 
experiment  of  omitting  the  obituary,  but 
failed. 

I  may  now  pass  on  to  the  principal  subject 
of  this  address,  which  is  the  progress  that 
antiquarian  research  made  during  the  nine- 
teenth century.  For  this  purpose,  I  think  I 
cannot  do  better  than  compare  vol.  xiii.  of 
Archczologia,  which  was  issued  in  1800,  with 
vol.  lvii.,  the  first  part  of  which  was  issued  in 
1900.  Among  the  communications  printed 
in  vol.  xiii.  is  one  which  exactly  suits  our 
purpose.  It  is  the  memorable  account 
rendered  by  John  Frere,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.A.S., 
of  flint  weapons  discovered  at  Hoxne,  in 
Suffolk,  read  on  June  22,  1797,  and  illustra- 
ted by  two  plates  of  fine  typical  leaf-shaped 
palaeolithic  implements.  He  said  :  "  They  are, 
I  think,  evidently  weapons  of  war,  fabricated 
and  used  by  a  people  who  had  not  the  use  of 
metals.  They  lay  in  great  numbers  at  the 
depth  of  about  12  feet,  in  a  stratified  soil, 
which  was  dug  into  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
clay  for  bricks.  The  situation  in  which  these 
weapons  were  found  may  tempt  us  to  refer 
them  to  a  very  remote  period  indeed ;  even 
beyond  that  of  the  present  world.  The 
manner  in  which  they  lie  would  lead  to  the 
persuasion  that  it  was  a  place  of  their  manu- 

s  2 


140 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


facture  and  not  of  their  accidental  deposit ; 
and  the  numbers  of  them  were  so  great  that 
the  man  who  carried  on  the  brickwork  told 
me  that,  before  he  was  aware  of  their  being 
objects  of  curiosity,  he  had  emptied  baskets 
full  of  them  into  the  ruts  of  the  adjoining 
road."  This  remarkable  communication  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  science  of  prehistoric 
archaeology.  It  is  true  that  a  similar  imple- 
ment had  been  found  in  1690  in  Gray's  Inn 
Road,  and  had  been  preserved  in  Sir  Hans 
Sloane's  collection,  now  at  the  British 
Museum;  but  it  was  there  catalogued  as  "a 
British  weapon,  found  with  elephant's 
tooth."  Mr.  Frere  was  the  first  person  to 
perceive  and  declare  the  real  significance  of 
these  implements. 

In  1830  "a  good  whitish  grey,  fiat,  sub- 
triangular,  sharp-edged  palaeolithic  imple- 
ment" was  picked  up  by  Mr.  William 
Gutteridge,  of  Dallow  Farm,  near  Luton,  on 
the  surface  of  the  ground  there,  and  it  is  now 
in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Worthington  G. 
Smith.  It  was  kept  by  Mr.  Gutteridge  as 
one  of  a  series  of  curious  stones  picked  up  on 
his  farm. 

The  strange  thing  about  all  this  is  that  Mr. 
Frere's  magnificent  discovery  fell  absolutely 
fiat.  His  paper  was  read  and  printed  and 
nobody  thought  anything  more  about  it.  It 
was  not  until  1847,  just  fifty  years  afterwards, 
that  M.  Boucher  de  Crevecceur  de  Perthes 
published  his  discoveries  at  Abbeville,  which, 
however,  had  been  in  course  of  printing 
during  the  three  previous  years.  A  second 
volume  appeared  in  1857.  Even  these  did 
not  at  first  receive  from  men  of  science  the 
attention  to  which  they  were  justly  entitled, 
and  the  first  of  Sir  John  Evans's  numerous 
contributions  on  this  subject  to  Archceologia 
was  not  made  until  June,  1859.  In  the 
previous  April  he  and  Sir  Joseph  Prestwich 
had  visited  Abbeville,  inspected  M.  Boucher's 
collections,  and  carefully  investigated  the 
sites  from  which  they  had  been  derived. 
Among  the  implements  contained  in  these 
collections,  found  under  conditions  that 
testify  to  their  extremely  remote  antiquity, 
were  many  precisely  similar  to  those  found  by 
Mr.  Frere  at  Hoxne. 

Two  years  after,  in  1861,  Sir  John  Evans 
gave  an  account  of  some  further  discoveries. 
He  said  that  those  of  Mr.  Frere  and  M. 


Boucher  de  Perthes  "  afforded  strong,  if  not 
conclusive,  evidence  of  the  existence  of  man 
at  that  remote  period,  when  the  Siberian 
mammoth  roamed  through  our  forests,  the 
extinct  rhinoceros  and  hippopotamus  fre- 
quented our  marshy  jungles  and  broadly- 
flowing  rivers,  and  the  mighty  tigers,  bears, 
and  hyaenas  of  our  caverns  preyed  upon 
herds  of  oxen  and  horses  of  species  now 
extinct."  Flint  implements  of  a  similar  type 
to  those  of  Abbeville  had  been  discovered  at 
Reculvers,at  Biddenham  in  Bedfordshire,  and 
at  other  places,  and  altogether  enough  were 
collected  to  enable  Sir  John  Evans  to  classify 
and  distinguish  their  various  forms.  He  gave 
four  specimens  of  flakes,  thirteen  of  pointed 
implements,  and  three  of  oval  implements, 
all  slightly  varying ;  and  he  urged  antiquaries 
not  to  neglect  the  new  field  that  was  opening 
for  their  researches. 

{To  be  concluded.) 


Cfce  Coffin  of 

Ccaiiltam  foatbep,  AMD.,  ©emp= 

0teao  Cburcft,  Csser. 

By  G.  Montagu  Benton. 

OR  the  excellent  copyright  photo- 
graph reproduced  of  the  coffin  of 
William  Harvey,  M.D.,  discoverer 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  I 
am  indebted  to  Mr.  T.  Stokoe,  chemist,  of 
Clare,  Suffolk,  who  has  kindly  allowed  it  to 
appear  in  this  Journal  only  ;  it  was  taken  in 
1882. 

The  coffin  containing  the  remains  of 
the  doctor,  after  resting  for  over  two  cen- 
turies in  the  Harvey  vault  beneath  the  south 
chapel  of  Hempstead  Church,  Essex,  to- 
gether with  many  members  ot  the  family 
who  died  between  the  years  1660  and  1830,* 
was  in  October,  1883,  restored,  and  trans- 
lated with  much  ceremony  to  a  sarcophagus 
of  Carrara  marble,  provided  for  its  reception 
in  the  chapel  above,  where  there  is  also  a 
mural  monument  of  white  marble  to  Harvey, 
consisting  of  a  bust  and  inscription. 

*  See  Inscriptions  in  Harvey  Vault  and  Chapel, 
Hempstead  Church,  co.  Essex,  4to.,  1886. 


THE  COFFIN  OF  WILLIAM  HARVEY,  M.D. 


141 


This  coffin  or  mortuary  chest  is  of  lead, 
the  upper  part  being  fashioned  into  a  human 
face.  On  the  breastplate  is  the  following 
inscription   in   relief :   "  docter  |  william  . 

HARVRY  I   DECESED   .  THE   .  3    .   |  OF  .    IVNE  . 
1657  .   I  AGED  .  79  .  YEARS." 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  give  a 
summary  of  the  circumstances  which  led  to 
the  discovery,  and  finally  the  careful  pre- 
servation, of  this  interesting  relic.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Ward  Richardson,  F.R.S.,  whilst 
acting  as  assistant  to  a  medical  practitioner 
at  Saffron  Walden,  heard  of  a  local  tradition 
which  stated  that  a  "  great  Doctor  Harvey  " 
was  buried  in  Hempstead  Church.  This 
caused  him  to  visit  the  church  in  1847. 
He  found  the  vault,  which  had  been  long 
neglected,  practically  open  to  the  public, 
and  the  lead  coffin  cracked  and  exposed  to 
drifting  rain.  On  another  visit,  paid  in  1 868, 
the  crack  was  found  to  be  still  larger,  and 
whilst  it  was  being  examined  a  frog  leaped 
out.  At  that  time  the  coffin  was  free  from 
water.  A  third  visit  was  made  on  July  19, 
1878,  and  on  this  occasion  the  aperture  in 
the  coffin  was  smaller  than  before,  owing  to 
a  further  collapse.  This  rendered  any  de- 
tailed examination  of  the  interior  impossible, 
but  it  was  found  to  be  filled  with  a  thick, 
dirty,  mud-like  fluid,  possessing  a  peculiar 
organic  odour.  Dr.  Richardson,  who  pub- 
lished his  observations  in  the  Lancet  of 
November  30,  1878,  pp.  776-778,  wrote  that 
"  there  can  be  little  remaining  of  the  body, 
and  not  much,  probably,  even  of  the 
skeleton." 

Things  remained  thus  until  the  end  of 
January,  1882,  when  the  tower  of  the  church 
fell.  Dr.  Richardson  again  wrote  to  the 
Lancet  on  the  subject  of  the  preservation  of 
Harvey's  remains.  At  length  the  Royal 
College  of  Physicians  moved  in  the  matter, 
and  "the  leaden  mortuary  chest  .  .  .  was 
repaired,  and  as  far  as  possible  restored  to 
its  original  state,"  and  on  October  18,  1883, 
after  a  short  religious  ceremony,  was  de- 
posited, with  a  copy  of  Harvey's  works  and 
a  roll  recounting  the  incidents  of  the 
translation,*  in  the  sarcophagus  previously 
mentioned,  in  the  presence  of  four  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Harvey  family,  and  of  the 

*  A  duplicate  roll  hangs  in  the  library  of  the 
College  of  Physicians. 


President  (Sir  William  Jenner)  and  office- 
bearers of  the  college,  and  the  sarcophagus 
was  "  sealed  up  for  all  ages."  An  account 
of  this  ceremony  will  be  found  in  the  Lancet 
for  October  20,  1883,  and  a  copy  of  the  in- 


scription plate  is  given  in  the  Laticet  (with 
other  illustrations)  for  November  30,  1878, 
and  in  Miscellanea  Genealogica  et  Heraldica, 
vol.  i.,  Series  2. 

The  following  biographical  notes  will  form 


I42 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


a  fitting  conclusion.  William  Harvey  was 
born  at  Folkestone  on  April  I,  1578,  in  a 
house  which  belongs,  and  which  he  be- 
queathed, to  Gonville  and  Caius  College, 
Cambridge,  of  which  college  he  was  a 
member.  In  1588  he  was  sent  to  the  King's 
School,  Canterbury,  and  in  1593  went  to 
Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  B.A.  in 
1597.  He  then  continued  his  medical 
studies  at  the  famous  school  at  Padua,  and 
graduated  M.D.  there  in  1602  ;  returning  to 
England,  he  graduated  M.D.  at  Cambridge 
in  the  same  year. 

On  April  16,  17,  and  18,  16 16,  he  de- 
livered the  memorable  course  of  lectures  at 
the  College  of  Physicians,  which  first  made 
public  his  ideas  concerning  the  circulation 
of  the  blood.  The  original  MS.  notes  still 
exist,  and  are  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum.  It  was  not  until  1628,  twelve 
years  later,  that  he  published  at  Frankfurt 
the  famous  book  on  his  great  discovery;  it 
is  a  small  quarto  entitled  Exercitatio 
Anatomica  de  Motu  Cordis  et  Sanguinis  in 
Animalibus.  Dr.  Harvey  not  only  enriched 
the  library  and  museum  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians  with  his  collections,  but  also 
endowed  that  body  in  perpetuity  with  his 
patrimonial  estate  at  Burmarsh,  Kent.  A 
pedigree  of  the  Harvey  family  is  given  in 
Wilson's  History  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Lawrence, 
Pountney,  London,  1831. 

In  closing,  I  wish  to  acknowledge  the 
kind  help  that  I  have  received  in  preparing 
these  notes  from  my  friend  Mr.  Francis  G. 
Binnie,  of  Chesterton,  Cambridge. 


Cfce  lonDon  ^igng  ana  tbeit 
90soriation0. 

By  J.  Holden  MacMichael. 
{Continued  from  p.  66.) 

OOKSELLERS'  auctions  were  held 
at  the  Black  Boy  coffee-house  in 
Ave-Mary  Lane,  near  Ludgate,  in 
171 1,*  and  also  at  Nos.  109-110, 
Paternoster  Row.t 

No.  108,  Cheapside,  opposite  Bow  Church, 

*  BagforJ  (Harleian)  Collection,  5996.      f  J  bid. 


was  rebuilt,  after  the  Great  Fire,  upon  the 
sites  of  three  ancient  houses,  called  respect- 
ively the  Black  Bull,  the  Cardinals  Hat, 
and  the  Black  Boy* 

A  Mr.  Milward  was  a  tobacconist  at  the 
Black  Boy,  in  Red  Cross  Street,  Barbican,! 
and  Roger  Price  hung  out  the  Black  Boy  in 
Wapping,  and  issued  a  token. \  Let  us  hope 
that  Thomas  Upton,  at  the  Black  Boy,  in 
Smithfield,  recovered  a  horse,  stolen  or 
strayed  from  Abraham  Hutchings,  of  the 
parish,  appropriately  enough,  of  Horsington, 
near  Winecanton  (sic),  Somersetshire.  § 
William  Cordwell,  frame-work  knitter,  dwel- 
ling at  the  Black  Boy,  in  Wheeler  Street, 
Spitalfields,  would  have  been  more  histori- 
cally correct  if  he  had  used  as  a  sign,  "a 
Student  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  vested 
proper,"  for  this  was  the  dexter  supporter  of 
the  London  frame-work-knitter's  arms.  It  is 
not  stated  how  much  he  paid  John  Moore, 
the  apothecary,  for  the  testimonial,  but  the 
latter  induced  his  patient  to  insert  an 
announcement  that  he  had  been  cured  by 
this  knight  of  the  pestle  and  mortar  of  the 
stone,  of  shortness  of  breath,  and  of  a 
dropsical  swelling  in  his  legs,  afterwards 
relieving  his  wife  of  an  apoplexy  and  palsy.H 
There  was  a  Black  Boy  in  Fore  Street,  near 
the  Green  Yard.  Two  black  boys  are 
represented  smoking,  with  the  motto:  "Sic 
transit  gloria  mundi,"^[  perhaps  reminiscent 
of  the  tow  burnt  at  the  enthronization  of  a 
new  Pope,  to  signify  the  transitoriness  of 
earthly  grandeur. 

The  deeds  of  the  present-day  "  rough," 
and  of  the  "  hooligan,"  bad  as  they  are,  are 
almost  gentle  in  comparison  with  the  atrocities 
of  those  which  the  eighteenth  century  pro- 
duced. The  Black  Boy  was  evidently  a  sign 
which  gave  its  name  to  Black  Boy  Alley,  in 
Chick  Lane,  while  the  alley  gave  its  name 
to  the  "  Black  Boy  Alley  Gang,"  who  so  late 
as  the  reign  of  George  II.  were  the  terror  of 
the  whole  city.  It  is  said  to  be  this  gang 
which  is  depicted  engaged  in  acts  of  robbery 
and  murder  in  Hogarth's  ninth  plate  of 
Industry  and  Ldleness.     But  even  Hogarth's 

*  Old  and  New  London,  vol.  i.,  p.  339. 

t  Daily  Advertiser,  October  15,  1742. 

X  Beaufoy  Collection,  No.  1250. 

§   Weekly  fournal,  September  23,  1 72 1. 

||   London  fournal,  February  17,  1 721. 

IT  Bagford  (Harleian)  Collection,  5996,  No.  135. 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


143 


faithful  and  powerful  pencil  has  failed  in 
giving  a  true  picture  of  their  diabolical  deeds. 
The  gang  occupied  some  miserable  tene- 
ments in  the  alley,  where  the  unwary  were 
decoyed  by  means  of  depraved  "  females," 
and  when  gagged  were  dragged  to  a  conve- 
nient place  for  their  swiftly  approaching  end. 
Robbed  and  murdered,  their  dead  bodies 
were  thrown  into  the  Fleet  Ditch.  "  To  so 
alarming  an  extent,"  says  one  account,  "did 
this  gang  carry  their  atrocities,  that  Govern- 
ment lent  its  aid  to  the  ordinary  police,  by 
means  of  which  the  principal  members  were 
apprehended,  and  nineteen  of  them  were 
executed  at  one  time."  * 

Black  boys  and  monkeys  were  commonly 
adopted  by  ladies  as  pets,  as  seen  in  Hogarth. 
The  former  were  frequently  united  with  other 
objects  on  the  signboard,  as  will  be  seen  by 
the  following  : 

In  the  sign  of  the  Black  Boy  and  Camel, 
the  "camel"  no  doubt  had  an  accessory 
signification  allusive  to  fragrant  importations 
from  the  East.  The  late  Sir  Henry  Peek, 
of  the  great  firm  of  Peek  Brothers,  once 
kindly  informed  me,  in  the  course  of  my 
city  wanderings,  that  the  sculptured  stone 
bas-relief  of  the  "  three  camels  "  over  the 
entrance  to  the  premises  in  Eastcheap  origi- 
nated, by  suggestion,  with  himself.  Of  this 
interesting  prefigurement  the  sculptor  Theed 
was  the  designer — the  same  artist  who  was 
responsible  for  the  group  "  Africa "  at  the 
south-east  corner  of  the  steps  which  lead 
up  to  the  basement  of  the  Albert  Memorial. 
The  camels  are  intended  to  suggest  the 
transportation  of  the  principal  commodities — 
coffee,  tea,  and  spice — in  which  the  firm  deals. 

But  it  should  be  observed  that  the  camel 
solus  was  the  crest  already  of  the  Grocers' 
Company,  while  two  camels  are  supporters 
of  the  Merchant  Taylors'  arms. 

The  Black  Boy  and  Camel  was  the  sign  ot 
a  noted  tavern  up  a  narrow  passage  a  few 
yards  westward  of  the  East  India  House,  in 
Leadenhall  Street.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
one  of  the  oldest  taverns  in  London,  and 
one  of  the  places  where  Guy  Fawkes  and 
his  associates  assembled  to  concert  means 
for  carrying  the  Gunpowder  Plot  into  effect.! 

*  "  Percy  Histories,"  quoted  in  the  Mirror, 
January  24,  1824,  p.  55. 

I  Creed  Collection  of  Tavern  Signs  (British  Museum 
Library),  vol.  ii. 


The  Black  Boy  and  Comb. — This  was  the 
sign,  apparently,  of  Thomas  Winstone,  who 
sold  the  famous  Hungary  Water  once  much 
in  vogue,  and  who  removed  in  1722  from 
the  Black  Boy  and  Comb  in  Fleet  Street  to 
the  Black  Boy  and  Comb  on  Ludgate  Hill, 
a  toyshop  at  the  corner  of  Belle  Savage 
Inn.*  In  the  History  of  Signboards,  it  is 
stated  that  the  sign  of  the  Comb  arose  from 
the  combs  dangling  at  the  doors  of  the 
shops  where  they  were  sold.  This  is  ques- 
tionable. Why  should  the  Company  of 
Combmakers  be  left  in  the  lurch  in  account- 
ing for  the  origin  of  the  sign  ?  Their  arms 
are  :  Azure  a  lion  passant  guardant  between 
three  combs,  or ;  and  the  crest,  on  a  wreath  a 
mount,  thereon  an  elephant  standing  against 
a  tree,  all  proper.! 

The  Hungary  Water,  advertised  so  much 
at  the  Black  Boy  and  Comb,  is,  when  genuine, 
a  pure  spirit  distilled  from  the  rosemary,  and 
is  strongly  scented  with  the  rich  perfume  of 
that  aromatic  plant.  Salmon,  in  his  New 
London  Dispensatory,  1676,  says  of  the 
flowers  of  the  rosemary  that  "  they  help  all 
Infirmities  of  the  Head,  proceeding  from 
cold  and  moisture,  dry  the  Brain,  quicken 
the  Senses,  cause  Watchfulness,  cure  Palsies, 
strengthen  the  Nerves,  cure  the  Yellow 
Jaundice,  evil  Breath,  preserve  Health,  and 
keep  back  Old  Age ;  you  may  either  make 
them  into  a  Conserve  or  Preserve,  or  make  a 
strong  Tincture  with  rectified  Spirit  of  Wine, 
or  Rhenish  Wine.  Of  these  Flowers  is  made 
the  Queen  of  Hungaria's  Water,  so  much 
esteemed  and  cried  up  all  the  World  over."  % 
It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  remarks  of 
Salmon  that  Beckmann  is  wrong  when  he 
says  that  the  botanists  of  the  seventeenth 
century  "  spoke  of  and  extolled  the  various 
properties  of  rosemary  without  mentioning 
Hungary  Water."  §  Beckmann  observes  that 
the  name  Peau  de  la  reine  d ' Hongrie  was 
probably  chosen  by  those  who  in  later  times 
prepared  rosemary-water  for  sale,  in  order  to 
give  greater  consequence  and  credit  to  their 
commodity,  implying  and  even  allowing  that 

*  See  London  Journal,  December  15,  1722. 

t  Ben  Jonson's  partiality  for  the  Devil  Tavern  led 
him  to  take  up  his  residence,  as  Aubrey  says,  "  with- 
out Temple  Bar,  at  a  combmaker's  shop." 

%  Dispensatory,  p.  119,  col.  a.  See  also  R.  J. 
Thornton's  Neiu  Family  Herbal,  18 10,  p.  29. 

§  History  of  Inventions,  Bohn,  1846^0!.  i.,p.  317. 


144 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


the  name  of  aqua  vita,  and  the  practice  of 
distilling  spirit  of  wine  upon  aromatic  herbs, 
may  have  been  known  in  Hungary  so  early 
as  the  fourteenth  century.*  In  the  adver- 
tisements alluded  to  the  description  "  right 
French  Hungary  Water "  was  due  to  the 
genuine  French  brand  having  been  prepared 
particularly  at  Beaucaire,  Montpelier,  and 
other  places  in  Languedoc,  where  rosemary 
grew  in  great  abundance.  Of  the  genuine  it 
was  announced  that  "one  spoonful  turns  a 
Glass  of  Water  as  white  as  Milk,  which  the 
counterfeit  Sort  made  here  only  turns  of  a  Sky 
Colour,  by  reason  the  Spirit  and  Flowers  are 
not  so  good  in  this  Country  as  in  France. "t 
The  Black  Boy  and  Comb  was  again  re- 
moved in  1726  "from  the  Bell  Savage  Inn 
over  the  Way,  next  Door  to  the  Pastry  Cook's 
on  Ludgate  Hill." 

At  the  Black  Boy  and  Harrow  in  St. 
Martin's  Lane  might  be  had,  in  accordance 
with  notice  given  by  "Sir  John  Yeomans, 
the  Great  Mustard  Master-General,  ...  his 
new -invented  Royal  Flower  of  Mustard- 
seed  (which  will  keep  good  in  the  Flower, 
as  long  as  in  the  Seed).  .  .  .  This  Noble 
Flower  makes  the  best  and  most  wholesome 
Mustard  in  the  whole  World,  by  mixing  it 
according  to  the  printed  Directions,  etc."  J 

At  the  Black  Boy  and  Pelican  (in  her  nest) 
"  uppon  Wapping  Wall"  dwelt,  in  1667, 
Francis  Palmer,  a  tobacconist^ 

The  Black  Boy  and  Truss  was  the  sign  of 
John  Pindar,  in  Bartholomew  Close,  West 
Smithfield.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1771 
that  a  transverse  spring  truss  for  ruptures 
was  patented  by  Robert  Brand  and  by  many 
other  persons  since.  But  the  hernial  truss 
for  what  was  called  a  "  bursten  belly "  was 
being  advertised  so  early  as  1721,  the  ad- 
vertisement being  accompanied  by  a  wood- 
cut representing  a  "  blackamore  "  with  truss 
in  hand  : 

"Made  and  sold  only  by  John  Pindar,  at 
the  Black  Boy  and  Truss.  .  .  .  Fine  Leather 
and  Dimity  Trusses  for  the  Cure  of  Ruptures, 

*  History  of  Inventions,  Bohn,  1846,  vol.  i.,  p.  317. 

f  London  Journal,  April  7,  1721,  and  December  15, 
1722  ;  Craftsman,  September  20,  and  October  4, 
1729  ;  and  Daily  Advertiser,  No.  3,612,  where  there 
is  a  cut  representing  a  black  boy  holding  a  comb  in 
one  hand,  and  a  bottle  of  the  water  in  the  other. 

\  London  Journal,  December  15,  1722. 

§  Burn's  Beaufoy  Tokens,  No.  1 260. 


easy  to  a  new  born  Babe,  and  effectual  in 
keeping  up  the  Ruptures  in  Old  and  Young, 
and  by  far  exceeds  all  sorts  of  Steel  Trusses. 
Those  in  the  Country  sending  their  Bigness 
round  their  Wast,  and  which  Side  the  Rup- 
ture is,  may  be  well  served.  He  likewise 
maketh  Strait  Stocking  and  Navel  Trusses 
that  are  entirely  of  a  new  Invention,  and  the 
Experience  of  them  has  proved  a  wonderful 
Happiness  to  many  Persons,  even  beyond 
Expectation. 

"  N.B. — Those  that  come  may  depend  on  a 
Cure,  if  curable,  he  being  never  known  to 
fail,  his  Wife  being  as  able  and  dexterous  in 
curing  them  of  her  own  Sex.  N.B. — Those 
that  are  disposed  to  have  Steel  Trusses,  may 
have  of  all  Sorts.  N.B. — The  said  John 
Pindar  married  the  Daughter  of  the  famous 
Mr.  William  Jones  who  practised  the  Busi- 
ness, and  kept  the  said  House  for  above 
30  Years;  and  for  preventing  Mistakes,  the 
House  goes  up  with  5  stone  Steps."* 

At  the  Black  Bull,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  St.  Giles's,  where  a  burial  society  was  held, 
the  first  article  announced  "  That  whereas 
many  persons  find  it  very  difficult  to  bury 
themselves  .  .  ."t 

The  Bull  sable,  with  horns,  hoofs,  and 
members  or,  was  an  early  badge  of  the  House 
of  Clare  or  Clarence,  through  which  the  line 
of  York  derived  their  right  to  the  throne.  % 
This  black  bull  was,  until  1904,  represented 
outside  the  old  inn  of  that  sign  opposite 
Fetter  Lane,  Holborn,  where,  on  the  unim- 
peachable authority  of  Betsy  Prig  in  Martin 
Chuzzlewit,  "all  the  drinks  is  good."  The 
horns  and  hoofs  of  the  bull  were,  as  I 
remember,  correctly  gilded  in  accordance 
with  the  heraldic  description  of  the  badge  of 
the  ancient  House  of  Clare.  The  black  bull 
was  used  as  a  badge  by  Edward  IV.,  in 
memory  of  his  descent  from  Lionel  of  Ant- 
werp, Duke  of  Clarence.  In  front  of  the 
George  Inn  at  Glastonbury  are,  or  were,  to  be 

*  London  Journal,  June  24,  1 721  ;  and  Mist's 
Weekly  Journal,  September  3,  1726. 

t  Encyclopedia  of  Wit,  circa  1800,  p.  268. 

X  List  of  signs  originating  from  badges  in  Bagford's 
Collectanea  de  Arte  Typographia,  Harleian  MS.,  5910, 
part  ii.  ;  and  among  the  badges  of  Richard  Duke  of 
York,  described  on  a  blank  leaf  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Digby  MS.,  82,  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford,  is  one 
"  Black  Bolle,  rough,  his  Homes  and  his  deyes  and 
membrys  of  Gold,  by  the  Honor  of  Clare  "  (Archce- 
ologia,  vol.  xviii.). 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


H5 


seen  the  arms  of  Edward  IV.,  supported  on 
the  dexter  side  by  a  lion,  and  on  the  sinister 
by  a  bull.  But  what  has  become  of  the  old 
lifelike  sign  of  the  Bull  with  golden  hoofs  ? 

In  1737,  on  the  night  of  December  5,  a 
fire  broke  out  at  Mrs.  Holmes's,  the  Bull  Inn 
in  Holborn,  which  entirely  consumed  the 
stables,  and  greatly  damaged  those  of  the 
Bell  Inn  adjoining.  By  the  timely  assistance 
of  the  firemen,  however,  the  damage  was 
confined  to  the  stables  of  the  Bull  and  the 
Bell.  The  fire  broke  out  in  a  hayloft  be- 
tween the  stabling  of  the  two  inns.* 

Here  Mrs.  Gamp  at  night  relieved  Betsy 
Prig  in  the  nursing  of  Mr.  Lewsome.  "There 
is  a  gent,  sir,  at  the  Bull  in  Holborn,"  she 
told  Mr.  Mould,  the  undertaker,  "as  has 
been  took  ill  there,  and  is  bad  abed.  They 
have  a  day  nurse  as  was  recommended  from 
Bartholomew's,  who  well  I  knows  her,  Mr. 
Mould,  her  name  bein'  Mrs.  Prig,  the  best  of 
creeturs.  But  she  is  otherways  engaged  at 
night,  and  they  are  in  wants  of  night-watch ing, 
consequent  she  says  to  them,  having  re- 
posed the  greatest  friendliness  in  me  for 
twenty  year :  '  The  soberest  person  going, 
and  the  best  of  blessings  in  a  sick-room  is 
Mrs.  Gamp.'  "t  Then  again,  as  Mrs.  Gamp 
looked  out  of  the  window  of  the  inn,  she 
remarked,  "  A  little  dull,  but  not  so  bad  as 
might  be.  I'm  glad  to  see  a  parapidge  in 
case  of  fire,  and  lots  of  roofs  and  chimley- 
pots  to  walk  upon."  I  remember  Mrs. 
Rosanna  Warren's  tenancy  in  the  nineties, 
and  that  she  had  a  bar-parlour  where  Dickens 
was  said  to  have  made  notes  for  Martin 
Chuzzlewit. 

Near  the  Black  Bull  in  the  Old  Bailey, 
1690,  was  printed  for  Richard  Baldwin  the 
third  of  three  dialogues  by  the  facetious 
Thomas  iBrown,  a  skit  upon  Dryden,  en- 
titled The  Reasons  of  Mr.  Hains  the  Player's 
Conversion  and  Re-conversion. 

The  Black  Bull  on  Tower  Hill.— At  a 
dirty  alehouse  with  this  sign  Otway,  the  poet 
and  dramatic  writer,  died  in  the  greatest 
penury  in  the  year  1685,  in  the  thirty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  an  early  death  caused  by  his 
"negligence  of  the  consequences  of  hard 
drinking."|    "Having  been  compelled  by  his 

*  St.  James's  Evening  Post,  December  6,  1737. 
t  Martin  Chuzzlewit,  ch.  xxv. 
%  List  of  Dramatic  Poets,  1747,  British  Museum 
Library. 
VOL.  III. 


necessities,"  says  Johnson,  "to  contract  debts, 
and  hunted,  as  is  supposed,  by  the  terriers  of 
the  law,  he  retired  to  a  public-house  on 
Tower  Hill,  where  he  is  said  to  have  died  of 
want,  or,  as  it  is  related  by  one  of  his  bio- 
graphers, by  swallowing,  after  a  long  fast,  a 
piece  of  bread  which  charity  had  supplied. 
He  went  out,  as  is  reported,  almost  naked, 
in  the  rage  of  hunger,  and,  finding  a  gentle- 
man in  a  neighbouring  coffee-house,  asked 
him  for  a  shilling.  The  gentleman  gave  him 
a  guinea,  and  Otway,  going  away,  bought  a 
roll,  and  was  choked  with  the  first  mouthful."* 
No  sign  of  the  Bull  is  to  be  found  on  Tower 
Hill  now,  and  the  exact  site  of  Otway's  tavern 
is  unknown.  Neither  does  any  stone  mark 
the  spot  where  the  poet  was  buried  in  St. 
Clement  Dane's  Churchyard,  April  16, 1685. t 

"Newly  come  from  Germany,  several 
hundreds  of  very  choice  Canary-Birds  of 
White,  Black,  Mottled,  and  other  Colours, 
which  are  to  be  Sold  by  Thomas  Bland  at 
the  Black  Bull  at  Tower  Dock,  London. "X 

At  the  Black  Bull  in  Wood  Street  the 
landlord's  "Tap  Exercise"  consisted 

In  drawing  York's  Pale-Ale,  or  Bull's  Milk  Beer, 
And  right  Barbadoes  Rum,  that's  neat  and  clear. § 

At  times  in  its  history  the  Black  Bull  in 
Whitechapel  appears  to  have  been  the  most 
famous  London  inn  for  travellers  on  the 
great  Essex  Road ;  from  Barking,  Ilford, 
Epping,  and  Hornchurch,  to  Bishop's  Stort- 
ford,  Chelmsford,  Colchester,  Dunmow,  as 
far  as  Ipswich,  all  Essex  bent  on  London 
trundled  to  the  Bull  in  Whitechapel. ||  So 
early  as  1741  you  might  have — 

"POST-CHAISES   for   HARWICH. 

"  This  is  to  acquaint  the  Publick,  that  the 
several  Post-Masters  on  the  Road  between 
London  and  Harwich  are  ready  to  furnish 
any  Gentlemen,  or  others,  with  Post-Chaises, 
at  the  same  warning  as  for  Post-Horses,  at 
any  Hour,  either  in  the  Day  or  Night;  and 
that  Gentlemen,  who  have  occasion  to  go 
Post  upon  the  Harwich  Road,  are  desir'd  to 

*  Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets,  1827,  vol.  i., 
p.  210. 

t  L.  Hutton's  Literary  Landmarks,  1889,  p.  231. 
%  Eighteenth-century  newspaper  cutting. 
§    Vade  Mecum  for  Mallworms,  part  ii.,  circa  1700. 
||    Carey's  Book  of  Roads. 

T 


146 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


apply  to  Mr.   Roberts,  Post-Master,  at  the 
Black  Bull  in  Whitechapel."* 

Again : 

"  This  is  to  acquaint  all  Gentlemen,  and 
others,  who  may  have  Occasion  to  go  Post, 
on  the  Norwich,  Yarmouth,  and  Harwich 
Roads,  that  the  Post  Office,  which  was 
lately  kept  at  the  King's  Arms  in  Leadenhall 
Street,  is  now  remov'd  to  the  Black  Bull 
in  Whitechapel ;  where  all  Gentlemen,  and 
others,  going  Post  on  those  several  Roads, 
will  be  furnish'd  with  Horses  and  Guides,  by 
"  Their  most  humble  Servant, 

"Thomas  Roberts." 

The  Black  Bull  must  have  afforded  rest 
and  comfort  to  many  a  sturdy  Essex  farmer 
when  he  journeyed  to  London  to  dispose  of 
his  corn  and  hay  at  the  Whitechapel  Hay- 
market.  About  the  year  1750,  the  landlord 
Johnson,  formerly  "  boots  "  at  the  inn,  was 
in  such  good  credit  with  his  customers  that 
they  left  their  samples  with  him,  and  he 
acted  as  middleman  with  so  much  satisfac- 
tion that  he  shortly  after  opened  an  office 
upon  Bear  Quay,  styling  himself  "The 
Factor  of  the  Essex  Farmers."  Having  no 
rival,  he  acquired  a  good  fortune,  which  he 
left  to  his  son;  it  afterwards  descended  to 
his  grandson,  whose  partner,  a  Mr.  Neville, 
afterwards  assumed  the  name  of  Claude 
Scott,  and  with  the  money  bequeathed  by 
the  father  of  his  partner  carried  on  an  ex- 
tensive business  as  a  corn-factor. 

Then  in  181 5  the  Bull  was  kept  by  Mrs.  Anne 
Nelson,  a  famous  hostess,  whose  guests  were 
still  mostly  from  the  East  Anglian  counties. 
Mr.  Norman  informs  us  that  she  could  make 
up  nearly  200  beds,  and  lodged  and  boarded 
about  three  dozen  of  her  guards  and  coach- 
men. Most  of  her  trade  was  to  Essex  and 
Suffolk,  but  she  also  owned  the  Exeter 
coach.  She  must  have  been  landlady  on 
the  memorable  occasion  when  Mr.  Pickwick 
arrived  in  a  cab  after  "  two  mile  o'  danger  at 
eightpence,"  and  it  was  through  this  very 
archway  that  he  and  his  companions  were 
driven  by  the  elder  Weller  when  they  started 
on  their  adventurous  journey  to  Ipswich,  t 

*  Daily  Advertiser,  November  7,  1741. 

f  English  Illustrated  Magazine,  December,  1890, 
"The  Inns  and  Taverns  of  Old  London."  by  Philip 
Norman. 


The  sign  may  well  have  had  its  origin  in 
some  connection  with  the  De  Veres,  Earls 
of  Oxford,  as  in  the  case  also  probably  of 
the  Blue  Boar  Inn  close  by.  The  visits  of 
the  Earls  of  Oxford  to  London  from  Castle 
Hedingham  in  Essex  would  certainly  be  by 
way  of  the  Whitechapel  Road.  Whether 
the  sign  was  hung  out  by  one  of  his  retainers 
or  not,  certain  it  is  that  the  Bull,  or  "  Ox 
crossing  a  ford,"  a  rebus  on  the  word  Oxford, 
was  a  badge  of  the  De  Veres,*  and  the  sign, 
to  be  properly  represented,  should  resemble 
a  seal  of  1597,  where  a  species  of  bull,  evi- 
dently of  a  wild  type,  is  crossing  a  stream. 

A  nice  point  in  tavern  law  in  connection 
with  the  Black  Bull,  358,  Fulham  Road,  was 
explained  by  Mr.  Rose,  the  local  magistrate. 
If  during  a  gale  in  March,  1895,  anyone  had 
noticed  a  man  hurrying  home  with  a  pewter- 
pot  on  his  head,  he  need  not  have  supposed 
the  covering  was  the  latest  thing  in  hats, 
warranted  by  its  weight  not  to  blow  away. 
The  fact  was  that  the  man's  ordinary  hat 
had  been  distrained  upon  by  the  manageress 
of  the  Black  Bull  for  drink  supplied,  and 
the  hatless  man  had  appropriated  a  pewter- 
pot  as  a  substitute.  He  called  it  his  pot-hat. 
But  Mr.  Rose  explained  to  the  energetic 
landlady  that  she  had  done  wrong  to  distrain 
the  hat,  just  as  the  man  had  done  wrong  to 
clothe  his  head  in  a  pewter-pot.  She  ought 
to  have  seen  that  the  beer  was  paid  for 
before  she  even  drew  it,  because  the  very 
drawing  of  it,  even  without  blowing  off  the 
froth,  brought  the  price  within  the  category 
of  civil  debts  recoverable  only  by  due  pro- 
cess of  law.  The  manageress  must  sue  in 
the  county  court  for  the  price  of  the  beer — 
fourpence.f 

At  the  Black  Bull  Inn,  the  upper  end  of 
Hatton  Garden,  was 

"  To  be  SOLD 
"  A  Very  good  handsome  Chariot.     En- 
quire, etc."  I 

*  See  Transactions  of  the  Essex  Archaeological 
Association,  "  Badges  of  the  De  Veres,"  by  the  Rev. 
H.  L.  Elliot.  There  was  a  Cowford  in  the  ancient 
parish  of  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster  (Archceologia, 
vol.  xxvi.,  p.  228).  Chaucer  has  the  word  "Oxen- 
ford"  in  full  for  "Oxford":  "A  Clerk  ther  was  of 
Oxenford  also  "  (Prologue  to  Canterbury  Tales). 

f  "  London  Day  by  Day,"  Daily  Telegraph, 
March  26,  1895. 

J  Daily  Advertiser,  January  26,  1 742. 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


H7 


The  Black  Bull  in  Cornhill  was  a  ballad 
sign,*  probably  identical  with  the  Black  Bull 
"  over  against  the  Royal  Exchange  "  in  Corn- 
hill,  the  sign  of  a  bookseller.  + 

The  Black  Bull  seems  to  have  been  in  the 
days  of  Taylor  the  water-poet  the  sign  of 
what  was  known  later  as  the  Bull  Inn  in 
Bishopsgate  Street.  Here  the  wainmen 
from  Cambridgeshire  used  to  lodge.  The 
"  royal  farthing  tokens,"  nicknamed  "  Har- 
ingtons,"  from  Lord  Harington,  the  patentee, 
were  launched  upon  an  indignant  public  in 
1613,  "  from  the  office  in  London,  in  Bishops- 
gate  streete,  neere  to  the  signe  of  the  Black 
Bull.  They  are  said  to  have  been  utterly 
worthless,  and  were  issued  prohibitory  of  all 
private  tokens."  % 

Old  Hobson  the  carrier,  immortalized 
proverbially  in  "Hobson's  choice;  that  or 
none,"§  amassed  a  comfortable  fortune  in 
his  journeyings  between  his  own  home  in 
Cambridge  and  the  Bull  Inn,  Bishopsgate, 
where  a  curious  portrait  of  Hobson,  mounted 
on  a  stately  black  nag,  was  preserved  for 
many  years,  ||  afterwards  passing  into  the 
hands  of  Messrs.  Swann  and  Sons,  the  Cam- 
bridge carriers.  The  yard  of  the  Bull  supplied 
a  stage  to  our  early  actors  before  Burbage  and 
his  fellows  obtained  a  patent  from  Queen 
Elizabeth  for  erecting  a  permanent  building 
for  theatrical  entertainments.  11 

The  roads  traversed  by  the  coaches  from 
the  Bull,  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  had  their  fair  share  of  experiences 
with  the  highwayman,  as  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing announcement : 

'•The  NORWICH  Stage-Coach, 
That  goes  the  Essex  Road, 

SETS  out  from  the  Bull  Inn  in  Bishops- 
gate-Street,  London,  on  Monday  the 
5th  instant,  and  goes  in  three  Days,  and  will 
continue  going  from  the  said  Inn  every 
Monday  and  Wednesday  during  the  Winter. 

*  See  the  Blackamoor 's  Heart,  etc.,  Tracts  B,  484, 
British  Museum  Library. 

t  Bagford,  Harleian  Collection,  5996,  No.  159. 

%  See  Burns's  Beaufoy  Tokens. 

§  The  true  meaning  of  this  proverb,  which  is  often 
perverted,  is  that  there  is  plenty,  but  you  must  make 
such  choice  as  not  to  hurt  another  who  is  to  come 
after  you  (see  Spectator,  No.  509). 

||    Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge,  vol.  iii.,  p.  236. 

IT  Collier's  Annals  of  the  Stage,  vol.  iii.,  p.  298. 


The  Lynn  Stage-Coach,  that  goes  the  Essex 
Road,  sets  out  from  the  aforesaid  Inn  on 
Wednesday  the  7th  instant,  and  goes  in  three 
Days,  and  will  continue  going  every  Wednes- 
day during  the  Winter.  The  St.  Edmund's 
Bury  and  Sudbury  Stage-Coaches,  in  two 
Days,  and  the  Braintree  Stage-Coach,  in 
one  Day,  set  out  from  the  aforesaid  Inn  on 
Monday  the  5th  instant,  and  will  continue 
going  every  Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday, 
during  the  Winter.     Perform'd  by 

Alexander  Appleyard    Benjamin  Pottinger 
Thomas  Goodchild  St.  George  Norman. 

"N.B.  To  prevent  the  being  under  the 
same  Inconvenience  that  attended  the  Stage- 
Coaches  to  the  abovesaid  Towns  last  Winter, 
that  is,  their  going  from  London  so  early  in 
the  Morning,  and  their  getting  to  their  Inns 
so  late,  by  which  the  Coaches  were  often 
robb'd,  and  the  Passengers  very  much 
fatigued,  the  above  Stage-Coaches  do  not 
set  out  from  London  till  Seven  o'Clock  in 
the  Morning,  and  will  be  perform'd  with  five 
Sets  of  Horses  to  Norwich,  five  Sets  of  Horses 
to  Lynn,  four  Sets  of  Horses  to  Bury,  three 
to  Sudbury,  two  to  Braintree,  and  by  the 
Conveniency  of  changing  Horses  so  often, 
the  Passengers  will  get  to  their  Inns  by  Day- 
light."* 

In  another  advertisement  the  fares  are 
stated  to  be:  To  Norwich,  10s.;  Lynn,  10s. ; 
Bury,  8s. ;  Sudbury,  7s. ;  Heningham  (?  He- 
dingham),  6s. ;  and  Braintree,  5s.!  During 
the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
great  approaches  to  the  capital  were  haunted 
by  mounted  highwaymen  either  singly  or  in 
bodies.  Paragraphs  innumerable  appear  in 
the  prints  of  the  period  describing  robberies 
committed  upon  travellers  and  the  mails. 
Sanguinary  encounters  were  frequent,  and 
few  travelled  by  coach  unless  well  armed. 
Sir  Francis  Wronghead's  mode  of  travelling 
to  London  was  not  unusual.  Two  strong 
carthorses  were  added  to  the  four  old  geldings 
that  drew  the  ponderous  family  carriage  laden 
at  the  top  with  trunks  and  boxes,  while  seven 
persons  and  a  lap-dog  were  stowed  within. 
The  danger  of  famine  was  averted  by  a 
travelling  larder  comprising  baskets  of  plum- 
cake,  Dutch  gingerbread,  Cheshire  cheese, 

*  Daily  Advertiser,  October  I,  174 1, 
f  /did.,  February  9,  1742. 

T    2 


148 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


Naples  biscuits,  neat's  tongues,  and  cold 
boiled  beef;  the  risk  of  sickness  was  pro- 
vided for  by  bottles  of  usquebaugh,  black 
cherry  brandy,  cinnamon  water,  sack,  tent, 
and  strong  beer ;  while  the  convoy  was  pro- 
tected by  a  basket-hilted  sword,  a  Turkish 
scimitar,  an  old  blunderbuss,  a  bag  of  bullets, 
and  a  great  horn  of  gunpowder.* 

{To  be  continued.) 


at  tbe  §>irjn  of  tbe  HDtol. 


Rutland  is  the  smallest  of 
English  counties,  but  its  maga- 
zine is  very  far  from  being  the 
least  important  of  county  peri- 
odicals. I  have  been  looking 
through  the  second  volume  of 
the  Rutland  Magazine,  just 
published  by  Mr.  C.  Matkin, 
Oakham — which  includes  the 
eight  quarterly  parts  for  1905 
and  1906 — and  found  something  to  interest 
or  attract  on  nearly  every  page.  The  editor 
wisely  sticks  to  his  text,  and  the  articles  deal 
almost  exclusively  with  Rutland  themes, 
which  is  as  it  should  be.  The  volume  opens 
with  an  article  on  the  manorial  history  of 
Uppingham,  and  among  other  topographical 
contributions  are  papers  on  Stamford,  Rid- 
lington — a  manor  held  of  old  by  a  rent  of 
12s.  and  one  pound  of  pepper  yearly — and 
the  village  of  Stoke  Dry,  formerly  the  home 
of  the  Digbys.  The  churches  of  the  places 
named  are  described  fully,  with  excellent 
illustrations.  Several  papers  by  Mr.  G. 
Phillips  deal  with  "  Rutland  Authors  and 
their  Books,"  and  one  of  these  worthies  was 
Vincent  Wing,  whose  biography  is  illus- 
trated by  the  curious  portrait  which  I  am 
courteously  allowed  to  reproduce  on  the  next 
page.  Wing  is  well  known  as  one  of  the 
seventeenth  century  astrological  almanac- 
makers,  whose  productions  had  such  an 
enormous  popularity.  Mr.  Phillips  remarks 
that  the  Stationers'  Company  considered  a 

*  See  the  amusing  picture  of  the  manners  of  the 
time  in  the  Provoked  Husband ;  or,  A  Journey  to 
London,  by  Sir  John  Vanbrugh. 


sale  of  50,000  copies  a  year  of  Wing's 
almanacs  an  indifferent  one.  The  portrait 
is  from  an  old  print. 

Among  the  other  contents  of  the  Rutland 
Magazine  I  note  readable  papers  on  "  Local 
Provincialisms" — a  capital  collection — "  May 
Day  at  Stretton,"  "  Edith  Weston  Village 
Institutions,"  a  "  Household  Inventory  of 
1680,"  and  "Horseshoe  Folk-Lore,"  with 
two  plates  of  the  peers'  and  royal  tributary 
shoes  which  adorn  the  walls  of  the  old  castle 
hall  of  Oakham;  an  account  of  human 
remains  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  period  found 
in  the  county  ;  and  a  curious  eighteenth- 
century  ghost  story  relating  to  Uppingham. 
The  illustrations  throughout  the  volume, 
which  is  most  creditably  printed  and  pro- 
duced, are  admirable. 

t^"  1&r*  l2^* 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Cambridge  Antiquarian 
Society  held  on  February  25,  the  Rev.  C.  H. 
Evelyn  White,  F.S.A.,  Rector  of  Rampton, 
read  portions  of  a  paper  explanatory  of  the 
Velus  Liber  Archidiaconatus  Eliensis,  a 
manuscript  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,  now  preserved  in  the  library  of 
Gonville  and  Caius  College.  This  document 
of  an  old-time  Archdeacon  of  Ely  Mr.  White 
supposed  to  be  a  kind  of  commonplace  book, 
put  together  at  odd  moments.  It  contains 
several  regulations  for  the  guidance  in 
secular  affairs  of  ministers  of  religion.  For 
instance,  a  clergyman  shall  not  lend  out 
money  at  interest,  such  a  proceeding  being 
held  to  contravene  the  injunction,  "  Lend, 
hoping  for  nothing  again."  Priests  are  to 
warn  their  hearers  against  overlaying  their 
children,  against  secret  marriages  and  drink- 
ing bouts.  There  are  also  references  to 
testatory  matters,  because  in  days  gone  by 
wills  were  proved  in  the  archdeacon's  court. 
The  inventories  of  Church  goods,  which 
occupy  sixty-seven  pages  of  the  book,  treat 
of  property  in  the  Deaneries  of  Cambridge, 
Camps — which  then  extended  over  a  much 
larger  area  than  it  comprises  at  the  present 
time — Chesterton,  Barton,  Shingay,  Wisbech, 
and  Ely,  for  all  these  were  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Archdeacon  of  Ely.  The  only 
part  written  in  English  relates  to  the  drawing 
up  of  wills,  and,  according  to  Mr.  White, 
"  the  English  is,  perhaps,  worse  than  the 
Latin."    The  reader  of  the  paper  thought  the 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


149 


Sij~acie.,mjp?>£les,  d^ldxt&Xrs  ^Vwlttifp  0tgtinaitv- 
Qmh  animi    Botes  <sj£rs  till    nulla    refer t    . 

3MJ"  trot,  ciff'w  Jtudium  patcfecit  Qtympicm^- 
Qirranwiap  novos.  dwelt  ui   orbt  gyros 

Corf  oris 3lLnlViv  amT'Mor  ubL  frodiait  wnbrinti- 
Mc-ntis  Jehihro  eft  umbnt  petcndiz .  Sua'.- 

LL. 


VINCENT  WING. 
(From  an  old  print.) 


society  could  not  undertake  a  more  useful 
work  than  that  of  printing  the  book.  At  the 
same  meeting  Baron  von  Hugel  read  a  paper 


on  a  gold  armilla  found  in  Grunty  Fen  in 
1844,  and  now  belonging  to  the  Cambridge 
Archaeological  Museum. 


i5o 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


Mr.  H.  B.  McCall,  the  author  of  a  History 
of  Midcalder,  is  about  to  publish  through 
Mr.  Elliot  Stock  The  Early  History  of 
Bedale.  It  will  contain  a  record  of  the 
principal  historic  events  which  have  affected 
the  town,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  chief 
political  and  military  leaders  of  the  district, 
giving  special  attention  to  the  events  during 
the  thirteenth  century  and  down  to  the 
Rebellion  of  1569.  The  ecclesiastical  part 
of  the  book  refers  to  the  many  interesting 
churches  of  the  district.  In  the  historical 
portions  will  be  found  much  new  information 
which  has  not  hitherto  been  opened  up. 
The  work  is  illustrated  by  many  views,  plans, 
pedigrees,  etchings,  etc. 

QfiP  1£r*  t&* 

In  the  illustrated  "Review  of  Art"  of  the 
February  number  of  the  Rivista  d  Italia, 
Signor  L.  de  Gregori  discusses  the  debt 
early  Italian  art  owes  to  the  East.  Dr. 
Munoz,  whose  book  (L 'Art  Byzantin  a 
f  Exposition  de  Grottaf errata.  Rome  : 
Danesi,  1906)  is  the  subject  of  the  article, 
has  made  a  special  study  of  mediaeval  art, 
and  has  brought  to  light  fresh  proofs  of  the 
theory  of  its  Oriental  origin,  hitherto  main- 
tained by  German  scholars,  but  not  entirely 
accepted  in  Italy  itself.  In  the  exhibition  at 
Grottaferrata  there  are  many  examples  of  the 
icons  from  the  Russian  schools  at  Kiev, 
Novgorod,  and  Moscow,  dating  from  the 
tenth  to  the  seventeenth  centuries.  It  is  in 
the  latter  that  we  find  work  of  real  artistic 
merit  combined  with  the  traditional  style, 
such  as  the  "  Christ"  of  Simon  Ouchakoff 
(1626-1686)  at  Moscow.  In  the  article  a 
reproduction  of  this  icon  is  given,  as  well  as 
a  modern  example  from  the  Sterbini  Collec- 
tion at  Rome,  a  good  instance  of  the  fixed 
convention  which  his  governed  the  Orthodox 
Church  from  the  earliest  Christian  era  to  the 
present  day,  quite  impervious  to  outside 
influences  of  art.  This  "  artistic  phenome- 
non "  Dr.  Munoz  attributes  to  the  fact  that 
the  Eastern  Church  regarded  the  maker 
of  icons  rather  as  a  theologian  than  as  an 
artist. 

Theillustrations  also  include  a  reproduction 
of  an  early  twelfth-century  manuscript,  The 
Doctrine  of  St.  Dorothea,  from  the  monastery 
at  Monte  Cassino.  Dr.  Munoz  is  of  opinion 
that  the  Benedictine  monks,  famous  for  their 


illuminated  manuscripts,  drew  their  inspira- 
tion largely  from  Syrian  and  Greek  examples. 
This  influence  has  been  generally  recognized 
in  Southern  Italy,  a  notable  example  being 
found  in  the  British  Museum  in  an  eighth- 
century  Gospel.  Dr.  Munoz  has  in  the  press 
a  new  edition  of  the  manuscript  at  Rossano, 
to  be  reproduced  in  facsimile,  the  photographs 
for  the  first  time  to  be  taken  direct  from  the 
pages  of  the  manuscript  itself.  He  is  also 
preparing  to  publish  some  illuminated  books 
he  has  found  in  the  mysterious  library  of  the 
Seraglio  at  Constantinople,  where  no  one 
penetrates  without  an  trade  from  the  Sultan 
himself. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Bernon,  of  Pendeen,  Bowes  Road, 
Walton-on-Thames,  is  collecting  material  for 
a  Genealogical  Directory,  to  contain  the 
names  and  addresses  of  all  those  who  are 
interested  in  genealogical  study,  with  the 
surnames  of  the  families  in  which  they  are 
interested.  Genealogical  students  should 
write  to  Mr.  Bernon  for  particulars. 

1£r*  t&*  9&* 

The  library  of  the  late  Dr.  William  Roots, 
F.S.A.,  was  sold  by  Messrs.  Hodgson  on 
March  20.  In  a  note  on  the  collection  con- 
tributed to  the  Surrey  Advertiser,  Mr.  S.  W. 
Kershaw  pointed  out  that  the  name  of  Dr. 
Roots  has  long  been  known  in  the  county, 
and  especially  at  Kingston.  The  charters  of 
Kingston  were  translated  by  George  Roots, 
and  published  in  1797.  This  attempt  to 
make  these  documents  better  known  has  been 
followed  by  the  efforts  of  the  Corporation  to 
have  them  arranged  in  order.  An  abstract  of 
these  papers  was  published  in  the  third  report 
of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission  in 
1872.  Among  the  works  in  Dr.  Roots's 
library  included  in  the  sale  were  a  unique 
copy  of  Aubrey's  Surrey,  purchased  from  the 
famous  "  Strawberry  Hill"  Collection.  More 
than  two  hundred  topographical  views,  por- 
traits, and  sepia  drawings  of  churches  and 
monuments  are  inserted  in  this  copy.  A 
companion  history,  Brayley's  Surrey,  is  also 
fully  illustrated  by  more  than  five  hundred 
prints,  portraits,  water-colour  drawings,  etc., 
and  handsomely  bound  in  eleven  volumes. 
An  item  of  local  interest  was  the  diary  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Roots  between  1749  and  1756,  con- 
taining entries  of  his  visits  to  patients,  includ- 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


151 


ing  attendance  on  David  Garrick,  who  was 
then  living  at  Hampton. 

t2r*  t&*  t&* 

One  comes  sometimes  upon  articles  with  an 
antiquarian  flavour  in  unlooked-for  direc- 
tions. The  British  and  Colonial  Printer 
and  Stationer — a  weekly  trade  paper  now  in 
its  sixtieth  year,  of  which  I  never  heard  till  a 
copy  reached  me  the  other  day — is  printing  a 
series  of  articles  dealing  with  ''  Printers'  and 
Booksellers'  '  Privileges  '  and  Licences  of  the 
Olden  Times,"  a  subject  which  includes  not 
only  royal  privileges  and  the  like,  such  as  the 
example  printed  in  full  in  the  paper  before 
me  (the  issue  for  March  7) — the  royal  privi- 
lege granting  exclusive  copyright  to  Pals- 
grave in  his  L'  Eclaircissement  de  la  Langue 
Eran$aise,  1530 — but,  necessarily,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  the  history  of  copyright. 

^*  t^*  1£r* 

Benn's  Country  and  Other  Buckinghamshire 
Sketches  is  the  title  of  a  new  book  by  Mr. 
E.  S.  Roscoe,  announced  to  be  published 
very  shortly.  The  work  is  accompanied  by 
an  itinerary,  some  interesting  biographical 
notes,  and  a  full  index.  It  will  contain  many 
illustrations  of  the  locality,  including  photo- 
graphs of  buildings,  a  facsimile  of  Gray's  manu- 
script of  the  Elegy,  and  some  portraits,  hitherto 
unpublished,  of  celebrities  of  the  district. 

In  a  very  interesting  article  on  "Assurbani- 
pal's  Library "  at  Nineveh,  in  the  Globe 
of  March  n,  from  which  I  regret  I  can  give 
only  one  brief  quotation,  Mr.  W.  St.  Chad 
Boscawen  remarks  :  "  If  the  architecture  and 
decoration  of  the  Assyrian  palaces  was  a 
vindication  of  the  culture  of  the  House 
of  Ninus,  how  much  more  astonishing  was 
the  discovery  of  a  vast  mass  of  literature  em- 
bracing almost  every  branch  of  human  know- 
ledge !  The  discovery  of  the  rich  library  in 
the  palace  of  Assurbanipal  is  undoubtedly  the 
greatest  event  in  the  chronicles  of  Oriental 
literature.  The  pedantic  classical  school  who 
had  expended  their  sarcasm  on  the  unlettered 
East — the  land  of  dream  and  fable — had  now 
to  face  a  literature  of  the  highest  standard. 
It  was  not  merely  a  religious  literature,  a 
collection  of  hymns  and  prayers  :  it  possessed 
far  more  solid  elements.  The  tablets  found 
show  that  the  scribes  studied  their  literature. 
Commentaries,     dictionaries,     and    critical 


works  show  a  love  of  literature,  not  mere 
making  of  books.  The  Ninevite  library  pre- 
sents several  curious  features  which  it  has 
hitherto  been  difficult  to  explain.  In  the  first 
place  we  have  no  tablets,  except  State  docu- 
ments or  historical  inscriptions,  prior  to  the 
reign  of  Assurbanipal  (668-625  B-c-)s  which 
shows  that  the  library  was  founded  in  his 
reign.  Next,  the  careful  arrangement  of  the 
tablets  in  groups  and  sets,  with  in  many 
cases  an  index  or  catalogue,  shows  that  it  was 
formed  on  a  definite  plan,  and  not  a  gradual 
growth  during  a  long  period  of  time.  Finally, 
very  large  numbers  of  the  tablets  have  a 
colophon  or  endorsement  which  states  that 
they  were  '  like  the  old  copy,'  which  shows 
that  they  were  new  editions  of  older  works." 

%2J*  t&*  *2r* 

Mr.  Bertram  Dobell  announced,  in  the 
Athenaum  of  March  16,  his  discovery  of  a 
remarkable  manuscript  copy  of  Sir  Philip 
Sidney's  Arcadia.  He  believes  it  to  be  not 
merely  an  "  Arcadia,"  but  the  "  Arcadia." 
"  It  differs  greatly,"  he  writes,  "  from  the 
printed  texts.  It  contains  much  matter 
which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  latter,  while 
it  omits  much  that  appears  in  them.  It 
gives  us  five  new  poems,  and  many  fresh 
readings  in  the  known  poems.  Among  the 
'  Dyvers  and  Sondry  Sonetts  '  there  is  also 
an  unknown  poem."  Mr.  Dobell  concludes  : 
"  Short  of  the  discovery  of  a  Shakespearean 
manuscript,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  a  more 
valuable  treasure-trove  of  its  kind.  Two 
things  are  plain  :  firstly,  that  it  should  find  a 
place  in  one  of  our  great  public  libraries ; 
and,  secondly,  that  it  should  be  printed  with 
as  little  delay  as  possible." 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  I3eto0. 

f  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.} 

PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

Vol.  LII.  of  the  Somersetshire  Archaeological  and 
Natural  History  Society's  Proceedings  contains  a  varied 
assortment  of  good  papers,  besides  the  usual  business 
details  and  a  full  account  of  the  annual  meeting.  The 
latter  was  held  at  Minehead,  under  the  presidency  of 
Mr.  G.  F.  Luttrell.     Cleeve,  Dunster,  Withycombe, 


J52 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


Porlock,  and  Selworthy,  were  among  the  many  in- 
teresting places  visited.  The  part  of  the  volume 
devoted  to  papers  opens  with  a  full  historical  account 
of  Cleeve  Abbey  from  its  foundation  between  n86and 
1 191  to  the  Dissolution,  with  many  documentary 
illustrations  by  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Weaver.  Mr.  St. 
George  Gray  follows  with  a  description  of  the  Stone 
Circle  on  Withypool  Hill,  Exmoor,  to  which  we 
referred  in  a  recent  "  Note,"  which  was  accidentally 
discovered  a  few  years  ago.  Mr.  Gray  carefully 
examined  the  Circle  last  August,  and  found  that 
the  remaining  stones,  nearly  forty  in  number,  enclosed 
a  circular  area  about  40  yards  in  diameter,  and  "  that 
there  was  no  doubt  that  the  site  represented  a  '  Stone 
Circle'  of  prehistoric  origin,  dating,  perhaps,  from  the 
early  Bronze  Age."  The  paper  is  illustrated  by  a 
map  and  plan.  Mr.  Gray  contributes  one  or  two 
other  shorter  notes,  and,  with  Mr.  A.  Bulleid,  gives 
an  elaborate  and  very  interesting  account,  fully  illus- 
trated, of  a  portion  of  the  excavations  on  the  site  of 
the  Glastonbury  Lake  Village  in  1905  and  1906.  In 
"Screenwork  in  the  Churches  of  the  Minehead 
District,"  Mr.  F.  B.  Bond  has  a  delightful  subject,  for 
ancient  woodwork  is  abundant  in  the  old  churches  of 
the  country  round  Minehead  and  Dunster,  and  Mr. 
Bond  is  well  able  to  do  justice  to  the  theme.  The 
paper  is  accompanied  by  eleven  capital  illustrations. 
Other  papers  in  the  volume  are  an  account,  with 
photograph,  of  a  "Prehistoric  Boat  found  at  Shap- 
wick,  1906,"  by  Mr.  A  Bulleid  ;  "  The  Norman  Con- 
quest of  Somerset,"  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  P.  Greswell ; 
"  On  the  Position  of  Church  Doorways,"  by  the  Rev. 
R.  A.  Cayley — a  brief  study  which  would  bear  expan- 
sion— and  some  Miscellanea,  including  a  note  on  a 
"  Possible  Site  of  a  Roman  Villa  on  Ham  Hill,"  by 
Mr.  R.  Hensleigh  Walter. 

The  Transactions  of  the  Shropshire  Archaeological 
and  Natural  History  Society  for  the  year  1906,  issued 
to  members,  contain  the  following  amongst  other 
papers  :  "  The  Churchwardens'  Accounts  of  Worfield, 
1523-1532,"  edited  by  Mr.  H.  B.  Walters,  who  also 
contributes  "The  Church  Bells  of  Shropshire, 
Deaneries  of  Pontesbury,  Condover,  Oswestry,  and 
Llangollen  ";  "The  Sequestration  Papers  of  Thomas 
Pigott,  of  Chetwynd,"  edited  by  the  Rev.  W.  G.  D. 
Fletcher  ;  "  Notes  on  the  Parish  of  Worthen  and 
Caus  Castle,"  by  the  late  Rev.  Lancelot  John  Lee ; 
"The  Shropshire  Lay  Subsidy  Roll  of  1327,  Stottes- 
den  Hundred,"  with  notes  by  Miss  Auden  ;  "  Sir 
Richard  de  Sandford  of  Sandford,"  by  the  Rev. 
W.  G.  D.  Fletcher ;  "  Shropshire  Feet  of  Fines, 
1218-1248";  "The  Provosts  and  Bailiffs  of  Shrews- 
bury," and  "  The  Mayors  of  Shrewsbury,"  by  the  late 
Joseph  Morris  ;  "  The  College  of  Tong,"by  the  Rev. 
J.  E.  Auden  ;  "The  Escapades  of  Richard  Peshale, 
of  Chetwynd,"  by  the  Rev.  W.  G.  D.  Fletcher; 
"  The  History  of  Chirbury,"  edited  by  Miss  MacLeod  ; 
"  The  Topographical  History  of  Shrewsbury,"  by  the 
late  Rev.  J.  B.  Blakeway  ;  and  a  biographical  notice 
of  the  late  Mr.  William  Phillips,  F.L.S.  There  are 
also  sixteen  minor  papers  or  notes  under  the  head 
of  "Miscellanea,"  a  number  of  illustrations,  and 
a  capital  and  well-arranged  index  to  the  volume. 
The  papers  are  of  a  high  order,  and  the  volume 
is  quite  up  to  the  average. 


The  last  part  for  1906  of  the  Journal  of  the  Cork 
Historical  and  Archaological  Society  contains  an 
"  Account  of  the  Bishops  of  Cork,"  edited,  with  notes, 
by  Colonel  Lunham,  from  a  manuscript  once  in 
the  possession  of  the  Augustinian  Convent  in  Cork,  of 
which  a  copy  is  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy.  The  paper  is  illustrated  by  a  plate 
of  the  Seals  of  Cork  and  a  map  of  Cork  drawn  by  a 
French  artist  circa  1506.  Other  papers  are  the  first 
part  of  "  An  Irish  Account  of  the  Battle  of  Kinsale  "; 
"The  Rhincrew  Duel  in  1826,"  by  Canon  Moore; 
"  Medals  of  the  Kerry  Legion  and  Baltimore  Legion," 
illustrated,  by  Mr.  R.  Day  ;  and  the  first  part  of  "  A 
History  of  the  O'Mahony  Septs  of  Kinelmeky  and 
Ivagha,"  by  Canon  O'Mahony. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCH/EOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

Society  of  Antiquaries. — February  7. — Lord  Ave- 
bury,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  Reginald  Smith 
brought  forward  a  suggestion  with  regard  to  the 
timekeepers  of  the  ancient  Britons.  Among  the 
studies  pursued  by  the  Druids  of  Britain  and  Gaul 
Caesar  mentions  astronomy,  and  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  much  progress  could  be  made  in  that  science 
without  some  instrument  for  measuring  time.  Before 
our  forests  were  cleared  and  marshes  drained,  the 
atmosphere  would  seldom  be  clear  enough  for  sys- 
tematic observation  of  the  heavens,  and  Strabo  states 
that  in  Britain  the  sun  was  visible  only  for  three  or 
four  hours  about  noon.  The  theory  of  clock-stars, 
adopted  by  Sir  Norman  Lockyer,  is  for  the  same 
reason  invalid  apart  from  some  other  system  inde- 
pendent of  the  weather.  A  possible  solution  of  the 
problem  is  suggested  by  the  recent  gift  to  the  British 
Museum  of  a  large  bronze  vessel  found  some  years 
ago  on  the  property  of  the  donor,  Mr.  Richard  Wall. 
By  the  side  of  a  watercourse  communicating  with  the 
Berth  Pool,  near  Baschurch,  Salop,  was  unearthed  a 
cauldron  of  extremely  thin  metal,  with  a  maximum 
diameter  of  17!  inches,  12  inches  high,  and  weighing 
in  its  present  imperfect  state  nearly  3^  pounds.  On 
the  vertical  neck  are  traces  of  two  iron  attachments 
of  anchor  form  exactly  opposite  one  another,  and  two 
rivet-holes  for  each,  while  a  single  rivet-hole  near  the 
rim  is  exactly  one-third  of  the  circumference  from  one 
of  the  attachments,  and  a  third  has  apparently  been 
lost.  The  base  is  rounded,  and  has  in  the  centre  a 
perforation  \  inch  in  diameter,  recalling  a  similar 
feature  in  copper  bowls  till  recently  used  as  water- 
clocks  in  Ceylon.  This  primitive  type  of  clock  is 
known  also  from  India,  the  bowl  being  placed  on  the 
surface  of  water,  and  gradually  filling  till  it  sinks  in  a 
certain  period,  and  is  then  floated  again  by  an  atten- 
dant. The  time  taken  to  fill  and  sink  was  called  in 
Ceylon  a  gari,  the  day  and  night  together  containing 
60  or  64  of  such  divisions.  There  are  Sanskrit  texts 
that  take  back  the  use  of  this  kind  of  water-clock  for 
astronomical  purposes  before  the  Christian  era. 
Hemispherical  specimens  of  extremely  thin  bronze  in 
the  national  collection  have  been  found  in  the  Thames 
at  Battersea,  and  at  Walthamstow  on  the  site  of  pile- 
dwellings,  but  the  latter  specimen  now  has  the  per- 
foration closed  by  a  rivet :  an  iron  band  was  riveted 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


J53 


round  the  rim  of  each  to  give  some  degree  of  stability. 
A  smaller  specimen  in  the  same  collection  came  from 
the  Thames  at  Hammersmith,  while  a  somewhat 
heavier  bowl,  with  perforated  base  and  three  rivet- 
holes  at  equal  distances  round  the  rim,  probably  came 
from  Nimrud.  As  the  Romans  had  no  water-clocks 
till  159  B.C.,  and  the  Greeks  as  early  as  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  had  water-clocks  on  a  different  principle, 
it  is  unlikely  that  the  Britons  borrowed  from  Europe, 
and  quite  possible  that  the  device  was  introduced  from 
Babylonia  or  India.  The  Druidic  culture  has  always 
been  associated  with  Pythagoreanism,  and  Pythagoras 
is  said  to  have  visited  India  and  many  other  countries. 
The  Druids  are  known  to  have  attached  special  im- 
portance to  lakes,  and  the  British  perforated  bronzes 
were  all  found  near  water,  though  vessels  found  in 
similar  situations  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  are  all  said 
to  be  without  pierced  bases.  Should  this  interpreta- 
tion of  the  British  specimens  be  accepted,  it  would 
seem  probable  that  the  well-known  earthworks  called 
the  Berth,  once  in  the  middle  of  a  mere,  were  formerly 
occupied  by  a  college  of  Druids,  who  used  the  enclosed 
hill  as  an  observatory. — The  Rev.  E.  H.  Bates  ex- 
hibited a  palimpsest  brass  of  a  lady  circa  1580,  until 
a  recent  date  in  Fivehead  Church,  Somerset,  showing 
on  the  reverse  portions  of  one  or  perhaps  two  large 
Flemish  brasses  circa  1360  ;  part  of  an  inscription  to 
Gilbert  Thornbern,  rector  of  some  unknown  place, 
who  died  in  1428  ;  and  part  of  another  inscription. — 
Athenceum,  February  16. 

*>§  «0£  4$ 

Society  of  Antiquaries. — February  14. — Lord 
Avebury,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  W.  Dale,  as 
local  secretary  for  Hampshire,  sent  a  report  on  certain 
alterations  and  repairs  lately  undertaken  at  Mottisfont 
Abbey,  which  had  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  many 
mediaeval  features.  These  had  been  identified  by 
Mr.  Hope,  who  showed  that  the  main  part  of  the 
existing  house  was  the  nave  and  crossing  of  the 
monastic  church,  and  that  the  pulpitum  at  the  west 
of  the  quire  was  still  in  existence  as  an  internal 
division  of  the  house.  Remains  of  the  claustral 
buildings  also  existed,  and  their  general  arrangement 
could  be  laid  down  with  some  certainty.  A  recent 
removal  of  turf  had  revealed  parts  of  the  chapter- 
house, parlour,  and  dorter,  and  these,  together  with 
the  rest  of  the  buildings,  had  been  examined  and 
measured  by  Mr.  C.  R.  Peers  in  the  autumn  of  1906. 
Mr.  Peers  then  read  a  paper,  illustrated  by  photo- 
graphs taken  by  Mr.  Dale,  on  the  buildings  at 
Mottisfont,  giving  an  historical  introduction  to  the 
subject,  and  exhibiting  a  plan  of  the  mediaeval  build- 
ings as  far  as  they  have  been  uncovered.  The  church 
has  been  reduced  to  a  rectangle  135  feet  by  34  feet, 
the  presbytery  with  its  chapels,  the  north  transept, 
and  the  north  chapel  of  the  nave,  being  destroyed  at 
the  Suppression.  The  earliest  work  appears  at  the 
east  end,  dating  from  the  last  decade  of  the  twelfth 
century  ;  and  at  the  west  of  the  church  the  arcade  on 
the  south  wall  is  some  few  years  later,  showing  the 
gradual  progress  of  the  building.  Many  original 
features  are  hidden  by  panelling,  but  the  most  inter- 
esting relic  is  the  pulpitum  at  the  west  of  the  choir, 
which  remains  virtually  intact,  and  bears  the  arms  of 
Brewer,  the  founder  ;  Patrick  Chaworth  and  the  Earl 
of  Lancaster,  patrons  ;  and  Huttoft,  Sheriff  of  South- 
VOL.  III. 


ampton  in  1521,  and  probably  the  benefactor  who 
gave  the  money  for  the  pulpitum.  The  lately  exposed 
chapter-house  was  of  early  thirteenth-century  date, 
vaulted  in  three  spans,  with  marble  columns  and 
capitals  ;  and  next  to  it  was  the  parlour,  which  showed 
the  unusual  feature  of  a  doorway  from  the  dorter  sub- 
vault,  apparently  connected  with  a  day-stair  from- 
the  dorter  which  communicated  with  the  parlour,  and 
not,  as  usual,  directly  with  the  cloister.  The  north 
end  only  of  the  dorter  subvault  is  now  to  be  seen,  the 
remainder,  together  with  the  frater  and  warming-house 
on  the  south  of  the  cloister,  being  as  yet  unexcavated. 
The  infirmary  buildings  probably  lie  to  the  south  of 
the  main  block,  but  their  site  is  not  certain.  The 
ground  story  of  the  western  range,  with  the  outer 
parlour,  is  in  a  very  good  state  of  preservation,  covered 
with  a  ribbed  vault  of  four  bays.  The  floor-level  in 
all  the  claustral  buildings  has  been  raised,  probably 
on  account  of  the  liability  to  floods  which  the  lowness 
of  the  site  entails.  The  present  house  is  in  the  main 
of  eighteenth-century  date,  but  contains  some 
sixteenth-century  work,  probably  done  by  Lord 
Sandys,  to  whom  the  place  was  granted  in  1536  ;  and 
with  little  difficulty  much  more  old  work  might  be 
revealed. — Mr.  W.  H.  Aymer  Vallance  exhibited  a 
bronze  casting  inlaid  with  silver,  found  at  Canterbury 
some  years  ago,  apparently  the  pinnacle  of  a  censer 
of  twelfth-century  work.  He  also  exhibited  portions 
of  a  board  with  sockets  and  candle-holders  on  the 
upper  edge,  and  rude  arcading  on  each  side,  from 
Doddington  Church,  Kent,  perhaps  part  of  a  rood  or 
candle-beam  of  the  early  years  of  the  thirteenth 
century. — Mr.  J.  W.  Laver  exhibited  a  number  of 
clay  objects  of  unknown  use,  found  on  the  site  of  a 
Roman  villa  at  Grimston,  Norfolk.  Mr.  A.  J. 
Copeland  exhibited  a  Roman  iron  key  with  bronze 
handle,  found  at  Canterbury. — Athenceum,  March  2. 

*>$  *£  *>$ 

Society  of  Antiquaries. — February  28. — Viscount 
Dillon,  Vice-President,  in  the  chair. — The  Rev. 
Oswald  J.  Reichel  communicated  a  paper  on  "  The 
Treasury  of  God  and  the  Birthright  of  the  Poor,"  and 
Mr.  Albert  Hartshorne  exhibited  a  further  series  of 
damasked  linen  cloths  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries. 

*>§  4$  ^S 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Royal  Archaeological  Insti- 
tute on  March  6,  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Dewick,  M.A., 
F.S.A.,  read  a  paper  on  "  Consecration  Crosses  and 
the  Ritual  connected  with  Them." 

4$  4$  4$ 

The  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland 
met  on  February  26,  Dr.  P.  W.  Joyce  in  the  chair. — 
The  Rev.  St.  John  Seymour  read  a  paper  on  "Old 
Dublin  Caricatures."  The  reverend  gentleman  has 
made  a  collection  of  very  quaint  and  comical  pictures, 
illustrating  social  and  political  events,  and  the 
manners  of  the  time,  sixty  or  one  hundred  years  ago. 
These  he  had  thrown  on  the  screen  for  the  benefit  of 
the  meeting. — Mr.  Henry  S.  Crawford  read  a  paper  on 
"  Irish  Crosses,"  and  showed  quite  a  large  and  inter- 
esting number  of  lantern  illustrations.  Mr.  Crawford 
has  photographed  the  crosses  where  he  had  seen  them 
in  different  parts  of  Ireland,  and  he  has  marked  their 
sites  on  the  ordnance  maps,  so  that  the  future  inquirer 

U 


154 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


may  the  more  easily  be  able  to  locate  them.  The 
photographs  constitute  a  valuable  collection. — Mr. 
Edward  Martyn  moved  that  the  paper  and  the  illus- 
trations be  referred  to  the  Council  for  publication. — 
Mr.  J.  R.  Garstin  seconded.  He  said  he  had  found 
crosses  in  Italy  with  ornamentation  similar  to  that  on 
the  old  Irish  crosses,  and  that  suggested  a  ground  of 
inquiry  as  to  whether  the  designs  had  come  from  Italy 
and  Rome,  or  whether  they  were  carried  thither  from 
Ireland. — Count  Plunkett  said  that  the  chronology  of 
the  crosses  might  form  a  fitting  subject  of  investiga- 
tion. Mr.  Crawford  had  opened  up  a  wide  field  of 
investigation  which  could  not  fail  to  be  beneficial  and 
interesting  to  the  archaeologist. — The  Rev.  J.  Everard, 
P.P.,  sent  a  paper  on  "Everard  Castle,"  co. 
Tipperary. 

^  ->  ^ 

The  paper  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Society  of 
Biblical  Archaeology  on  March  13  was  "Some 
Account  of  Cuneiform  Tablets  :  their  Production  and 
Contents,"  by  Dr.  Pinches. 

«•$  *>$  «•$ 

Dr.  Christison  presided  at  the  February  meeting  of 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland. — In 
the  first  paper  Mr.  J.  Graham  Callander,  F.S.A.  Scot., 
gave  notices  of  some  recently  discovered  cists  with 
urns  in  Aberdeenshire.  At  Mains  of  Leslie,  in  the 
parish  of  Premnay,  a  cist  was  opened  by  Mr.  Peter 
Thomson,  the  farmer,  and  Mr.  John  Morrison, 
measuring  about  3^  feet  in  length  by  less  than  2\  feet 
in  breadth  and  depth.  The  skeleton  lay  on  its  right 
side  in  the  usual  contracted  position,  and  behind  the 
head  were  the  fragments  of  an  urn  of  the  drinking- 
cup  type,  finely  ornamented  with  parallel  zones  of 
linear  patterns  impressed  in  the  clay  when  soft  by  a 
comb-like  stamp.  The  skeleton  was  that  of  a  man 
about  5  feet  1  inch  in  height,  and  between  twenty- 
five  and  forty-five  years  of  age.  At  Mill  of  Wardes, 
in  the  parish  of  Insch,  Mr.  Alexander  Redford  dis- 
covered a  portion  of  a  cinerary  urn  in  the  face  of  a 
section  of  a  sandpit.  No  other  remains  of  an  inter- 
ment were  found  with  it,  but  the  urn  is  remarkable 
for  its  small  size,  being  only  4  inches  in  diameter  and 
a  little  less  in  height,  and  ornamented  on  the  upper 
part  by  parallel  lines  obliquely  crossing  each  other, 
and  drawn  with  a  pointed  tool.  At  East  Law,  in  the 
parish  of  Rayne,  Mr.  Alexander  Gilmour,  the  farmer, 
came  upon  a  cist,  the  walls  of  which  had  been 
roughly  built  instead  of  being  made  with  slabs  as 
usual,  in  which  were  found  some  fragments  of  a 
cinerary  urn,  which  had  been  about  9  inches  in 
diameter  at  the  mouth.  No  bones  or  other  remains 
were  discovered  in  connection  with  the  cist,  which, 
however,  seemed  to  have  been  disturbed  before. 
Other  cases  of  cists  with  dry-built  walls  have  occurred 
in  the  same  district. 

In  the  second  paper,  which  was  a  report  on  stone 
circles  in  the  North- East  of  Scotland  surveyed  in  1906 
by  Mr.  F.  R.  Coles,  assistant  keeper  of  the  Museum, 
the  district  of  Lower  Speyside  was  dealt  with.  Several 
important  megalithic  remains  at  Doune  of  Dalmore, 
Ballindalloch,  and  Garmouth  were  described.  A  re- 
markable circle  at  Lagmore  presented  features  differ- 
ing from  any  that  have  been  described,  and  at 
Templemore,  in  Rafford.  a  group  of  four  monoliths 
are  set  in  a  square  form.     The  report  emphasized  the 


fact  that  circles  with  a  recumbent  stone  did  not 
occur  on  Speyside,  and  that  these  continued  surveys 
had  now  brought  the  description  and  planning  of  the 
circles  of  North- East  Scotland  from  Kincardineshire 
northwards  to  those  of  Nairn  and  those  of  the 
Inverness-shire  type. 

In  the  third  paper  the  Rev.  W.  Fotheringham 
gave  an  account  of  the  old  Cross  Kirk  of  Dunross- 
ness,  in  Shetland,  which  was  the  church  of  the  parish 
till  1790,  and  of  some  remarkable  tombstones  which 
still  remain  in  its  graveyard. 

In  the  fourth  paper,  Captain  Macdougall,  of 
Dunollie,  described  the  recent  excavation  of  a  rock 
shelter  at  Dunollie,  Oban.  The  floor  contained  a 
deposit  of  about  2  feet  deep  in  the  centre  of  black 
earth  mixed  with  ashes,  shells  of  edible  molluscs,  and 
bones  of  animals  broken  and  split,  evidently  the  re- 
mains of  the  food  of  the  occupants.  Near  the  edge 
of  the  deposit  were  found  the  bones  of  an  infant. 
The  only  manufactured  object  discovered  was  a  well- 
made  bone  needle,  about  3  inches  in  length. 

Mr.  A.  J.  S.  Brook  described  three  brooches  ex- 
hibited by  Mrs.  A.  L.  Traill.  One  was  an  open 
circular  Highland  brooch  of  silver,  ornamented  with 
engraved  foliageous  ornament  and  circles,  and  anchor 
patterns  inlaid  in  niello,  and  having  on  the  back  the 
date  1766;  another  was  a  Luckenbooth  brooch,  also  of 
silver,  in  the  shape  of  a  crowned  heart,  with  initials 
engraved  on  the  back  ;  the  third  a  brooch  of  brass, 
found  in  Tiree  prior  to  1859  by  the  late  Dr.  W.  F. 
Skene. 

Of  three  old  watches,  exhibited  by  Mr.  William 
Ranken,  the  first,  a  gold  verge  watch,  belonged  to 
James  Kettle,  writer,  in  Edinburgh,  who  died  in 
*793  >  ^e  second,  a  gold  verge  repeating  watch  of 
French  make,  with  enamelled  dial,  and  figures  of  a 
female  and  Cupid  in  relief,  which  strike  the  bells  in 
dumb  show,  is  also  of  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
or  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  ;  the  third, 
a  hall-marked  silver  watch  of  1755,  m  trie  inside  of 
the  outer  case  of  which  are  inserted  three  sampler 
watch  labels,  sewn  on  coloured  silk,  and  bearing  in- 
scriptions indicating  that  they  were  presents  from  the 
ladies  whose  initials  they  bear.  Similar  embroidered 
silk  sampler  labels  are  frequently  found  in  watches 
of  about  the  commencement  of  last  century.  Mr. 
Ranken  also  exhibited  a  case  of  small  pistols,  popu- 
larly called  ladies'  pistols,  dating  from  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  They  are  of  very 
fine  workmanship,  under  5  inches  in  length,  with 
flint  locks,  the  name  of  the  maker,  John  M'Farlane, 
being  found  in  the  directory  of  the  time  as  a  gun- 
maker  in  Parliament  Square,  Edinburgh. 

*>$  +$  «•£ 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Bradford  Historical  and 
Antiquarian  Society  on  February  15,  the  Rev. 
Bryan  Dale  in  the  chair,  Mr.  George  Hepworth  gave 
a  much  appreciated  illustrated  lecture  on  "  Yorkshire, 
Historic  and  Picturesque." 

At  the  meeting  on  March  I,  Mr.  J.  A.  Clapham 
presiding,  Mr.  W.  A.  Brigg  lectured  on  "  A  Forgotten 
Manor  " — viz.,  that  of  Exley,  in  the  parish  of  Keighley. 
Mr.  Brigg  produced  a  grant  made  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  from  Francis  Paslewe, 
of  Riddlesden,  and  Walter  Paslewe,  his  son,  to  John 
Paslewe,  of  Wiswall,  in  the  county  of  Lancashire, 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


155 


for  ,£300,  and  a  previous  grant  of  lands  in  the  manor, 
made  in  the  twenty  -  fourth  year  of  Henry  VIII. 
Certain  entries  in  Kirkby's  Inquest  and  in  an  Inquest 
Post-mortem,  made  in  1546,  on  the  death  of  Walter 
Paslewe,  were  also  read  by  Mr.  Brigg  to  suggest  that 
the  manor  of  Exley  was  a  sub-manor  of  that  of 
Bingley,  but  he  admitted  that  he  was  unable  to  throw 
further  light  on  the  origin  of  the  manor.  It  was 
shortly  afterwards  sold  by  John  Paslewe  to  the  Lay- 
cocks,  of  Carr  Head,  Cowling,  and  afterwards  of 
Lincolnshire,  and  was  held  by  them  until  1774,  when 
it  was  sold  to  Mr.  George  Griffin,  and  no  further 
evidence  of  its  existence  was  known  to  him.  Mr. 
Brigg  also  read  certain  quaintly  worded  Chancery 
proceedings  which  took  place  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth 
between  John  Paslewe  and  Robert  Rishworth,  the 
latter  of  whom  eventually  succeeded  in  ousting  the 
Paslewes  from  their  Riddlesden  estate.  The  lecture 
gave  rise  to  an  interesting  discussion.  A  vote  of 
thanks  to  the  lecturer  was  proposed  by  the  Rev. 
Bryan  Dale,  and  seconded  by  Mr.  John  Clapham. 
Mr.  Harry  Speight,  in  supporting  the  motion,  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  Mr.  Brigg  would  take  up  the  task 
of  compiling  a  history  of  his  own  parish  of  Kildwick. 

+§  +$  ^ 

British  Numismatic  Society. — February  20. — 
Mr.  Carlyon  -  Britton,  President,  in  the  chair.  — 
Lieutenant-Colonel  H.  W.  Morrieson  read  a  paper 
on  "  The  Influence  of  War  on  the  Coinage  of  Eng- 
land," in  which  he  traced  the  close  connection  be- 
tween the  legends  and  devices  of  the  money  and 
passing  constitutional  changes  in  the  history  of  Eng- 
land. In  illustration  of  this  subject  the  author,  Mr. 
Bernard  Roth,  and  Mr.  S.  M.  Spink  exhibited  a 
large  series  of  coins. — Mr.  Nathan  Heywood  con- 
tributed a  paper  on  "  The  Coins  of  the  Ionian  State," 
with  special  reference  to  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
exhibited  a  selection  of  the  coinage. — In  a  note  on 
the  Irish  copper  pieces  known  as  "St.  Patrick's 
Pence,"  Mr.  W.  Sharp  Ogden  made  the  suggestion 
that  they  were  issued  for  political  purposes,  and  that 
their  legends  would  bear  a  double  interpretation. 
— An  autograph  album,  presented  to  the  Society  by 
Mr.  T.  A.  Carlyon,  was  exhibited,  in  which  Her 
Majesty  Queen  Alexandra  and  His  Royal  Highness 
the  Prince  of  Wales  had  graciously  written  their  sig- 
natures.— Mr.  Willoughby  Gardner  exhibited  speci- 
mens of  the  coins  of  Carausius  recently  found  on  the 
Little  Orme,  North  Wales  ;  Mr.  L.  A  Lawrence  three 
varieties  of  the  pennies  of  Edward  the  Confessor ; 
Mr.  A.  H.  Baldwin  a  seventeenth-century  token 
issued  by  Samuel  Benet  for  his  coach  between  the 
Queen's  Head,  Windsor,  and  the  Eagle  and  Child  in 
the  Strand  ;  and  Mr.  Lionel  L.  Fletcher  coins  of  the 
Ionian  Isles  and  Richard  Greenwood's  seventeenth- 
century  token  of  Dublin. 

*$  ^  +Q 

On  February  26  Mr.  Edward  Wooler  read  a  paper 
before  the  Darlington  Naturalists'  Field  Club 
on  "  The  Romans  in  and  around  Darlington." 
There  were  no  traces,  he  said,  of  the  Roman  occupa- 
tion of  Darlington  proper,  but  in  almost  every  direc- 
tion around  it  many  most  interesting  discoveries  had 
been  made  from  time  to  time,  which  proved  con- 
clusively that  there  had  been  a  more  or  less  perma- 
nent occupation  by  the  Romans.     For  many  years 


he  had  been  engaged  in  investigations  having  refer- 
ence to  the  Roman  occupation  in  the  North,  and 
had  made  minute  examinations  of  the  ancient  British 
camp  at  Stanwick,  which  was  the  largest  of  the  kind 
that  had  been  discovered  in  Great  Britain.  It  appeared 
to  have  been  a  gigantic  but  ineffectual  attempt  to  repel 
the  Roman  invasion.  So  huge  was  that  encampment 
— it  covered  some  800  acres — that  he  concluded  that 
several  tribes  sank  their  internecine  differences  and 
combined  to  stem  the  progress  of  the  invaders.  He 
conjectured  that  Caractacus,  the  chief  of  the  Silures, 
when  defeated  by  Ostorius,  sought  refuge  at  Stanwick 
camp,  and  was  there  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Romans  byCartismandua,  the  Queen  of  the  Brigantes. 
Probably  the  name  Catterick,  given  to  a  village  but  a 
few  miles  away,  commemorated  the  actual  place  of  the 
betrayal.  But  it  was  at  Piercebridge  that  the  most 
definite  and  important  traces  of  Roman  occupation 
had  been  discovered.  The  Romans  had  a  military 
station  there  some  230  yards  west  of  the  Watling 
Street.  It  was  610  feet  wide  and  765  feet  long,  giving 
an  area  within  the  walls  of  some  iof  acres,  which  was 
a  large  size  for  a  Roman  station.  Nearly  180  years 
ago  an  aqueduct  a  yard  wide  and  about  4  feet  deep 
was  discovered.  It  had  evidently  been  constructed 
to  supply  the  camp  and  its  fosse  with  water  ;  and  up 
to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  remains  of  a 
Roman  bridge  across  the  Tees  were  distinctly  visible. 
In  addition  to  a  large  number  of  coins,  pieces  of 
Samian  and  other  ware  had  been  found  at  Pierce- 
bridge, and  a  small  bronze  statue  of  Mercury,  of 
elegant  workmanship,  stone  altars,  and  other  in- 
scribed or  sculptured  stones,  and  a  stone  coffin  with 
a  skeleton  6  feet  long.  Near  Cliffe  Hall,  close  by,  a 
Roman  memorial-stone  was  found. 

«•$  «•$  ^ 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of 
Antiquaries  on  February  27,  Mr.  F.  W.  Dendy 
presiding,  Mr.  J.  C.  Hodgson,  F.S.A.,  contributed  a 
"  Note  on  the  Devolution  of  Monastic  Lands."  He 
submitted  a  table  showing  that,  out  of  an  aggregate  of 
5,505  parcels  of  tithes  in  England  and  Wales  granted 
to  laymen  and  lay  corporations,  1,429  were  granted 
by  Henry  VIII.,  699  by  Edward  VI.,  63  by  Mary, 
1,863  by  Elizabeth,  and  1,451  by  ihe  two  Stuarts. 

Mr.  Maberley  Phillips  gave  a  researchful  and 
interesting  lecture  on  "  Manners  and  Customs  in  Our 
Grandfathers'  Times."  It  was  illustrated  by  an 
excellent  series  of  limelight  views,  showing,  among 
other  curious  things,  a  pulpit  hour-glass,  such  as  was 
formerly  used  in  every  pulpit  in  the  country  ;  different 
kinds  of  early  coaches,  wind  and  kite  carriages ;  the 
first  tram  and  railway ;  a  Newcastle  pillory,  and  stocks 
at  Wallsend,  Jarrow,  and  North  Shields. 

*>$  +Q  +Q 

A  meeting  of  the  Glasgow  Archaeological 
Society  was  held  on  February  22,  Mr.  J.  D.  G. 
Dalrymple  in  the  chair,  when  Mr.  J.  Hepburn 
Millar  read  a  paper  on  "The  Pre-Union  Legislation 
of  Scotland." 

*X>  «•$  «•$ 

Other  meetings  have  been  those  of  the  Bristol  and 
Gloucestershire  Arch/eological  Society  at 
Bristol  on  February  20 ;  the  Sunderland  Anti- 
quarian  Society  on  February  12,  when  Mr.  Pater- 

U   2 


1 56 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


son  gave  "Extracts  from  the  Parish  Registers 
and  Ancient  Books  of  Boldon  Church  ";  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Greenwich  Antiquarian  Society 
on  February  1 5 ;  and  a  City  perambulation  by 
members  of  the  London  and  Middlesex  Archaeo- 
logical Society  on  March  9, 


^mmm 


iRemeto0  anD  Notices 
of  iReto  IB00U. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.  ] 

The  Alhambra.  By  Albert  F.  Calvert.  With 
numerous  coloured  and  other  plates.  London  : 
John  Lane,  1907.  Crown  4to.,  pp.  lvi,  480. 
Price  42s. 

We  have  before  had  occasion  to  notice  an  instal- 
ment of  Mr.  Calvert's  elaborate  review  of  "  Moorish 
Remains  in  Spain."  The  present  volume,  which  is 
confined  to  "  the  Acropolis  of  Granada,"  and  appears 
to  be  a  new  edition  of  a  previous  treatise,  strikes  us  as 
rather  more  satisfactory  than  its  predecessor,  although 
it  has  similar  virtues  and  defects.  We  find  again  the 
same  laborious  enthusiasm  for  his  subject,  and  the 
same  lavish  display  of  illustration.  The  defects  are 
points  which  it  would  not  be  fair  to  dwell  upon 
before  bestowing  praise  where  praise  is  due. 

Set  on  a  forbidding  fortress-rock,  the  Alhambra, 
originally  due  to  Mohammed  I.  (born  in  1195),  was 
a  palace  where  all  was  subservient  to  luxury. 
To-day  its  remains  are  so  gorgeous  and  its  decay  so 
lovely  that  visitors  are  happily  drawn  rather  by  the 
sheer  pleasure  of  beauty  than  by  those  tragic  in- 
cidents, such  as  the  murder  of  Yusuf  in  1354,  which 
attract  so  many  nowadays  to  places  like  Holyrood 
Palace  and  the  Tower  of  London.  Mr.  Calvert's 
book  contains  really  beautiful  photographs  of  the 
exquisite  balcony  of  the  favourite  Lindaraja  and  the 
fairy-land  arcades  and  gardens  of  the  Generalife, 
especially  a  small  one  on  p.  427.  Among  the 
coloured  plates,  which  are  confined  to  the  decorations 
of  the  buildings,  are  a  number  which  should  be 
valuable  to  architects  and  artists  ;  antiquaries  will 
be  more  interested  in  the  figure-scenes  painted  on 
the  ceiling  of  the  Court  of  Justice,  and  in  separate 
objects  like  the  white,  blue,  and  gold  Arab  Vase  in 
the  Museum  and  the  Arab  Lamp  in  the  Mosque. 
The  illustrations,  as  well  as  Mr.  Calvert's  running 
text,  show  that  the  religion  of  the  Moors  forbade 
symbolism  in  their  ornament,  but  they  make  abun- 
dantly clear  the  pitch  to  which  they  brought  the 
balance  and  contrast  of  the  straight,  the  inclined,  and 
the  curved. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  300  and  more  plates  are 
obviously  taken  from  old  prints,  and  although  Mr. 
Calvert  in  his  introduction  acknowledges  a  debt  to 
the  works  of  Jules  Goury  and  J.  C.  Murphy  of  a 
century  ago,  we  must  repeat  that  each  plate  should 
contain  its  source  for  the  sake  of  justice  and  archae- 


ology alike.  It  seems  to  us  scarcely  right  otherwise 
to  speak  about  giving  "  pride  of  place  to  the  pictorial 
side"  of  one's  volume.  And,  frankly,  we  are  rather 
suspicious  about  the  background  of  the  author's  cos- 
tume portrait  which  serves  as  frontispiece.  A  serious 
objection  to  the  volume  is  its  weight  ;  division  into 
two  volumes,  each  with  the  handsome  binding  of  the 
one  before  us,  would  have  caused  less  ache  of  wrist 
to  the  hand  which  pens  these  lines  of  apprecia- 
tion for  a  handsome  and  interesting  publication. — 
W.  H.  D. 

*  *  * 
The  Ancient  Crosses  and  Holy  Wells  of 
Lancashire.  By  Henry  Taylor,  F.S.A.  Many 
illustrations  and  maps.  Manchester  :  Sherratt 
and  Hughes,  1906.  Large  Svo.,  pp.  xxiv,  516. 
Price  31s.  6d.  net. 
In  the  course  of  the  last  seven  or  eight  years 
Mr.  Taylor  has  read  a  series  of  papers  before  the 
Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Antiquarian  Society  on  the 
ancient  crosses  and  holy  wells  of  Lancashire,  and 
these  papers,  thoroughly  revised  and  abundantly 
illustrated,  are  collected  in  the  portly  and  handsome 
volume  now  before  us.  Classifying  the  remains 
under  the  Hundreds — the  ancient  historical  county 
divisions — of  Lancashire,  Mr.  Taylor  here  gives  a 
descriptive  account  of  the  sites  and  remains  (often 
very  fragmentary,  occasionally  surprisingly  perfect) 
of  the  boundary,  market,  wayside,  preaching,  church- 
yard, and  other  crosses  which  abound  throughout 
Lancashire,  and  especially  in  the  valley  of  the  Ribble. 
It  is  difficult  in  a  brief  notice  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
wealth  of  material  here  brought  together,  not  only 
in  connection  with  the  immediate  subject  of  the  book, 
but  as  illustrating  history  from  very  many  points  of 
view.  The  sites  of  ancient  crosses  and  holy  wells 
are  naturally  centres  for  much  folk-lore,  for  a  world 
of  religious  and  superstitious  ceremonies  and  prac- 
tices. Crosses  were  frequently  planted  on  village 
greens — the  natural  meeting- places  of  early  com- 
munities— hence  much  related  lore.  Similarly  the 
recording  of  market  crosses  involves  a  good  deal 
of  early  municipal  history.  In  connection  with 
ecclesiastical  crosses,  Mr.  Taylor  uses  most  effec- 
tively, quoting  freely  from  it,  the  Cockersand  Abbey 
Chartulary.  Incidentally  there  is  much  matter  of 
interest  and  importance  bearing  on  the  early  history 
of  Manchester,  Salford,  Ormskirk,  Bury,  Preston, 
and  other  Lancashire  towns.  Pre- Norman  sculptures, 
place-names,  stocks,  funeral  customs,  pre- Reformation 
chapels,  and  Roman  roads  and  stations,  are  among 
the  many  subjects  illustrated  or  discussed  in  these 
pages.  The  whole  book  testifies  to  unbounded  in- 
dustry on  the  part  of  the  author,  and  its  publication 
should  do  much  to  stimulate  Lancashire  antiquaries 
to  further  research,  for  much  of  the  matter  is  highly 
suggestive.  For  example,  the  sites  of  so  many 
ancient  crosses  are  here  carefully  traced  and  re- 
corded, that  we  may  hope  with  the  author  that  "  they 
may  lead  to  a  careful  examination  of  the  localities, 
and  perhaps  to  discoveries  of  much  value,  for  it  is  well 
known  that  crosses  were  often  buried  to  save  them 
from  sacrilegious  hands." 

The  illustrations  are  very  numerous  and  most 
useful.  Besides  some  dozens  of  photographic  plates 
and  line  drawings  of  surviving  crosses,  of  details  of 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


157 


sculpture  and  the  like,  including  folding  -  maps  or 
plans  of  old  Liverpool,  Preston,  Manchester,  and 
Bury,  there  is  prefixed  to  each  of  the  six  chapters 
devoted  to  the  remains  in  the  respective  Hundreds, 
a  large  folding-map  of  the  Hundred  on  which  are 
marked  the  sites  of  ancient  crosses,  pre- Reformation 
churches,  and  monastic  institutions.  A  glance  at 
these  maps  is  sufficient  to  show  the  extraordinary 
abundance  of  crosses  in  the  county.  There  is  a  good 
index,  and  the  volume  is  in  every  way  produced  most 
satisfactorily. 

*  *  * 
The  Diary  of  John  Evelyn.  With  an  In- 
troduction and  Notes  by  Austin  Dobson. 
Illustrations.  London:  Macmillan  and  Co., 
Ltd.,  1906.  Three  vols.,  8vo.,  pp.  lxxiv,  355  ; 
vi,  420;  vi,  479.  Price  31s.  6d.  net. 
At  last  we  have,  if  not  the  ideal,  yet  the  best 
edited  and  most  pleasantly  presented  edition  of 
Evelyn  that  has  so  far  tempted  book-buyers.  The 
ideal  edition  can  only  be  produced  when  the  present 
or  some  future  owner  of  the  original  MSS.  can  be 
prevailed  upon  to  permit  them  to  be  used  for  a 
thorough  and  systematic  re-collation  of  the  book. 
In  the  meantime,  a  better  presentation  of  the  Diary — 
which  is,  strictly  speaking,  not  a  diary  at  all — than 
that  contained  in  the  three  handsome  volumes  before 
us  can  hardly  be  hoped  for  or  desired.  Apart  from 
the  attractiveness  of  the  text,  here  printed  in  delight- 
fully bold,  clear  type,  the  edition  has  several  specially 
valuable  features.  Mr.  Dobson,  in  his  preface, 
makes  an  apology,  as  an  eighteenth-century  student, 
for  appearing  "in  this  particular  galley  of  the 
seventeenth  century,"  but  the  apology  is  quite  un- 
necessary. In  both  the  lengthy  introduction  and  in 
the  very  numerous  notes  which  he  has  added  to  those 
of  his  predecessors  (which  have  also  been  thoroughly 
overhauled  and  revised),  Mr.  Dobson  shows  those 
same  qualities  of  scholarly  knowledge  of  detail,  of 
minuteness  of  accurate  knowledge  combined  with 
the  power  of  writing  prose  which  is  both  graceful 
and  virile,  which  have  been  the  distinguishing  marks 
of  the  various  charming  volumes  in  which  he  has 
dealt  with  eighteenth-century  subjects.  Besides  the 
introduction,  notes,  and  bibliographical  and  other 
appendices,  there  are  two  other  special  features 
of  this  edition  of  Evelyn  which  must  be  noticed. 
One  is  the  splendid  general  index,  which  fills  no  less 
than  ninety-five  double-columned  pages ;  the  other 
is  the  excellence  of  the  illustrations.  The  latter  have 
been  selected,  as  Mr.  Dobson  explains,  "for  their 
informing  rather  than  their  pictorial  quality,"  and  are 
as  far  as  possible  contemporary  with  the  text ;  hence 
their  genuinely  illustrative  value.  They  include  por- 
traits, maps,  plans,  and  views  of  places  associated 
with  Evelyn's  own  life,  or  mentioned  in  the  pages  of 
the  Diary. 

Braintree  and  Booking.     By  May  Cunnington 
and    S.    A.    Warner,    B.A.      Thirteen    colour- 
plates,   six  half-tones,   and  fifty  line  drawings. 
London:  Arnold  Fairbairns,  1906.    Large  8vo. , 
pp.  viii,  56.     Price  3s.  6d.  net. 
The  sub-title  describes  this  most  attractively  pro- 
duced book  as  "  A  Pictorial  Account  of  Two  Essex 
Townships."     The  letter-press  is  slight.     The  authors 


have  jotted  down  in  rather  jerky  fashion  a  number  of 
interesting  details  relating  to  the  history  of  the  two 
old  parishes  ;  but  with  regard  to  Bocking  Hall  they 


remark,  "In  the  front  door  [of  which  and  porch  a 
charming  drawing  is  given]  may  be  seen  what  some 
think    to    have   probably  been  a  sanctuary  ring." 


This  only  shows  that  "some  think,"  very  foolishly. 
The  idea  that  the  ordinary  closing  ring  shown  in  the 
drawing  can  be  a  sanctuary  ring,  or  that  a  secular 
domestic  building  could   have   such   a   ring   is  pre- 


158 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


posterous.  Genuine  sanctuary  rings  are  extremely 
rare.  But  the  primary  object  of  the  book  is  pictorial, 
and  right  well  that  object  has  been  achieved.  The 
authors  have  done  excellent  service  in  preserving 
those  picturesque  aspects  of  two  old  English  town- 
ships which  are  so  rapidly  disappearing.  The  dainty 
colour  -  plates  are  most  beautifully  produced.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  better  reproductions  in 
colour  than  some  of  those  in  this  book — the  "  Wool- 
pack  Inn,"  for  instance,  facing  p.  40,  or  the 
"  Bocking  Hill,"  facing  p.  34.  The  plates  from 
photographs  and  the  line  drawings  are  also  excellent. 
Three  of  the  latter  we  are  courteously  allowed  to  re- 
produce. They  show  three  fine  bosses  which  were 
taken  from  the  old  north  aisle  roof  of  Braintree  Church 
in  1865  (the  authors  do  not  explain  why  they  were 
removed),  atid,  after  passing  through   other  hands, 


fig.  3. 

were  bought  in  1886  by  the  Vicar,  fthe  Rev.  J.  W. 
Ken  worthy,    n  whose  possession  they  remain.     The 
arms   are   described   by  the  Rev.    H.    L.    Elliot   as 
(1)  a  chevron  and  label  of  three  points  (Hanningfield 
family)  ;    (2)    seven     mascles    conjoined    within    a 
bordure   (Braybrooke)  ;    and  (3)  on  a  bend   double 
cottised    three    eagles    displayed    (Baddow-Nayling- 
hurst).     The  book  is  a  charming  memorial  of  pleasant 
scenes  too  rapidly  passing  away. 
*      *      * 
The  Archeology  of  the  Cuneiform  Inscrip- 
tions.     By   the   Rev.    A.    H.    Sayce.      Many 
illustrations.      London  :    Society  for  Promoting 
Christian    Knowledge,    1907.      8vo.,   pp.    220. 
Price  5s. 
Professor   Sayce   here  prints   the   Rhind   lectures 
which  he  delivered  at  Edinburgh  last  October,  with 
the  addition  of  an  article  on  "  Canaan  in  the  Century 
before   the   Exodus,"   which    first    appeared   in   the 
Contemporary  Rez'iew  for  August,  1905.    The  weakest 
part  of  the  book  seems  to  us  to  be  that  which  deals 


with  the  parallelisms  in  Egyptian  and  Babylonian 
civilization.  Here  the  author  seems  inclined  to  draw 
conclusions  which  the  facts  hardly  warrant.  But  for 
the  treatment  of  the  main  theme  of  the  volume  we 
have  nothing  but  praise.  Professor  Sayce  has  here 
done  admirable  work  in  tracing  in  this  usefully  handy 
form  the  story  of  the  decipherment  of  the  cuneiform 
inscriptions,  and  the  developments  resulting  from 
that  epoch-making  discovery.  Not  only  have  we 
here  the  story  of  the  decipherment  of  the  records, 
and  thereby  the  recovery  of  the  early  history  of  the 
Empire  of  Assyria,  with  the  result  that  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  civilizations  have  both  been  traced  to  the 
earlier  Sumerian  race  ;  but  Professor  Sayce  discusses 
the  problem  as  to  whence  came  the  Sumerian  culture, 
and  seems  inclined  to  look  in  a  westerly  direction  for 
its  origin,  perhaps  to  Armenia.  The  whole  of  this 
part  of  his  book  is  most  suggestive,  and  deserving  of 
careful  study.  Professor  Sayce  also  throws  much 
fresh  light  on  the  very  difficult  problems  connected 
with  the  Hittite  race  and  language.  We  have  not 
space  to  consider  in  detail  his  discoveries  and  dis- 
cussions, but  can  strongly  commend  the  book  to 
every  student  of  the  ancient  civilizations  of  the  East, 
The  index  might  with  advantage  have  been  fuller. 

Paradise  Row  ;  or,1  a  Broken  Piece  of  Old 
Chelsea.  By  Reginald  Blunt.  With  many 
illustrations.  London:  Mactnillan  and  Co., 
1906.  Medium  8vo.,  pp.  xvi,  119.  Price 
10s.  6d.  net. 
"  A  single  poor  sentence  of  the  topographer,"  says 
Mr.  Reginald  Blunt,  "  may  often  represent  the  barren 
yield  of  a  long  day  at  the  British  Museum,"  compared 
with  the  outflow  of  a  happy  novelist's  teeming  fancy. 
However  this  may  be,  Mr.  Blunt  has  delved  in  central 
and  local  archives  to  good  purpose,  for  he  has  pro- 
duced a  charming  book  about  an  interesting,  if 
broken,  "  piece  of  old  Chelsea."  He  doubts,  with  a 
pride  which  must  be  pardoned  in  a  resident,  whether 
"  any  other  village  road  in  Europe  can  boast  associa- 
tion with  so  many  famous  folk  "  as  his  400  yards  of 
"  a  modest  river  by-way."  Writing  in  the  riverside 
quiet  of  an  eighteenth-century  house  a  little  higher 
up  the  Thames  than  Chelsea,  the  present  scribe  can 
share  with  Mr.  Blunt  the  zest  of  the  hunt  for  relics 
and  old  prints  of  the  bygone  inhabitants,  and  the 
echoes  of  the  storied  past ;  he  can  add  the  satisfaction 
of  wishing  to  preserve  the  old  structures  and  orna- 
ments, the  like  of  which  Mr.  Blunt  so  pathetically 
and  humourously  laments  in  his  final  chapter  of 
"  Unto  this  Last." 

Built  in  169 1,  or  even  earlier  in  parts,  Paradise 
Row  in  Chelsea,  sloping  up  from  the  river  at  Cheyne 
Walk  to  the  Chelsea  Royal  Hospital,  provided  homes 
for  two  centuries  for  a  number  of  famous  men  and 
women.  Their  history  is  that  of  a  London  microcosm 
of  much  fascination  and  variety.  Bowack  in  1705 
wrote  of  Chelsea  that  "its  vicinity  to  London  has 
been  no  small  cause  of  its  late  prodigious  growth ; 
and,  indeed,  'tis  not  much  to  be  wondered  at  why  a 
place  should  so  flourish  where  a  man  may  perfectly 
enjoy  the  pleasures  of  Country  and  City  together, 
and  when  he  pleases,  in  less  than  an  hour's  time, 
either  by  water,  coach,  or  otherwise,  beat  the  Court, 
Exchange,  or  in  the  midst  of  his  business.     The  walk 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


*59 


to  town  is  very  even  and  very  pleasant."  Many 
notable  dwellers  in  Paradise  Row  found  it  so — the 
Duchess  of  Mazarin,  to  whom  and  her  gallant  old 
cavalier,  M.  de  St.  Evremond,  Mr.  Blunt  devotes  a 
whole  chapter,  with  a  couple  of  rare  portraits  ;  Sir 
Hans  Sloane,  and  his  grand  old  Physic  Garden  ; 
Edward,  first  Earl  of  Sandwich,  with  many  another 
figure  of  the  Pepysian  day  ;  Sir  Francis  Windham, 
whose  name  prompts  Mr.  Blunt  to  give  us  a  lively 
account  of  the  Boscobel  adventures  of  Charles  II. ; 
Nell  Gwynn,  beloved  of  the  Chelsea  pensioners, 
mother,  at  any  rate,  of  a  resident  in  the  Row,  that 
princeling  James  Beauclerk,  the  first  Duke  of  St. 
Albans,  of  whose  title  Mr.  Blunt  tells  us  an  anecdote, 
and  whose  child  portrait  he  reproduces  in  a  quaint 
old  print  by  White ;  Dr.  Richard  Mead,  physician 
to  Queen  Anne  and  George  II.,  a  great  connoisseur 
and  a  striking  character ;  Richard  Suelt,  prince  of 
comedians,  and  many  another,  even  down  to  Charles 
Keene  of  Punch  fame,  who  lived  in  the  Row  for  six 
years  from  1873.  Ormonde  House,  the  Ship  House, 
Walpole  House,  Gough  House — what  a  host  of 
associations  they  recall  !  And  in  his  sketch  of  the 
Royal  Hospital  Infirmary,  which  alone  of  the  hospital 
buildings  can  be  properly  included  in  Paradise  Row, 
Mr.  Blunt  includes  an  elaborate  portrait  of  that  quaint 
character  Dr.  Messenger  Monsey,  its  physician  and 
surgeon  from  1742  to  1788.  One  of  the  most  remark- 
able portraits  which  this  volume  contains,  in  addition 
to  a  number  of  well-selected  engravings,  drawings, 
and  photographs  of  buildings  now  demolished,  is 
Mary  Black's  painting  of  Dr.  Monsey,  preserved  in 
the  Royal  College  of  Physicians. 

Mr.  Blunt  (who,  by  the  way,  pays  a  discriminating 
tribute  to  the  work  of  old  Faulkner)  has  given  love 
and  zeal  to  his  task.  He  may  not  always  be  safe  in 
his  inferences  ;  for  instance,  he  gives  the  slenderest 
evidence  for  including  Blanco  White  as  a  resident  in 
the  Row — the  mere  dating  of  a  letter,  with  nothing 
more  circumstantial  or  definite  to  support  it.  But 
his  finely  printed  volume  is  a  model  of  orderly  and 
delightful  gossip  about  a  corner  of  famous  London 
town,  and  should  stimulate  others  to  do  the  like 
service  for  other  parts  of  the  metropolis  before  "the 
old  world  "  passes,  and  gives  place  to  blocks  of  flats 
and  the  motor  vehicle  which  would  spin  Bowack  from 
Chelsea  to  the  city  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour. — W.H.D. 

*      *      * 
Memorials  of  Old  Kent.     Edited  by  the  Rev. 
P.  H.  Ditchfield,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  and  G.  Clinch, 
F.G.S.    With  many  illustrations.  London  :  Bern- 
rose  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1907.     Demy  8vo. ,  pp.  xiv, 
335.     Price  15s.  net. 
The  series  of  the  "Memorials  "  of  English  counties 
grows  apace.     In  connection  with  the  storied  county 
of  Kent  the  task  of  selection  must  have  been  unusually 
difficult,  for  not  one  but  many  volumes  might  easily 
be  compiled  concerning  that  favoured  county  on  the 
lines  of  the  beautiful  book  before  us.     The  editors 
may  be  congratulated,  however,  on  the  varied  bill  of 
fare  they  offer  the  reader.     The  volume  opens  with  a 
sketch   of  "  Historic   Kent "  from  Mr.   Ditchfield's 
practised  pen,  in  which  the  outlines  of  county  history 
are  rapidly  traced.     The  same  writer  is  responsible 
for  an  account  of  Hever  Castle,  that  fine  fifteenth- 
century  mansion-castle  which  is  so  curious  a  "  mixture 


of  a  domestic  house  and  a  feudal  castle,"  and  is  so 
rich  in  associations  with  poor,  unfortunate  Anne 
Boleyn.  Mr.  Ditchfield  seems  to  take  a  very  favour- 
able view  of  the  drastic  restoration  or  renovation  now 
in  progress  at  the  hands  of  its  new  owner,  Mr.  W.  W. 
Astor ;  we  hope  the  results  may  justify  his  confidence 
that  Mr.  Astor  "  will  treat  the  historic  walls  of  Hever 
with  reverence  and  care."  His  colleague,  Mr.  Clinch, 
contributes  chapters  on  "  Romney  Marsh  in  the  Days 
of  Smuggling,"  an  interesting  sketch  of  a  closed 
chapter  of  history,  and  "Kentish  Insurrections." 
The  longest  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters 
in  the  volume  is  that  on  "  Mediaeval  Rood-Lofts  and 
Screens  in  Kent,"  by  Mr.  Aymer  Vallance,  F.S.A. 
We  sympathize  strongly  with  his  protest  against  the 
mischief  wrought  by  "  decorations"  on  ancient  church 
woodwork.  "  Screens  and  other  ancient  woodwork," 
he  says,  "  which  have  survived  the  wrack  of  four  or 
five  centuries,  are  now  threatened  with  rapid  ex- 
tinction ;  mediaeval  mouldings  and  carvings — it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  it — literally  bristling  with  nails 
and  tin-tacks,  the  wood  itself  being  bruised  and 
chipped  and  pierced  and  split  in  a  way  that  no  house- 
holder would  dream  of  treating  the  furniture  in  his 
own  private  dwelling,  nor  suffer  anyone  else  to  treat 
it."  The  chapter,  though  of  disproportionate  length, 
is  a  thorough  and  careful  piece  of  work  of  permanent 
value.  The  illustrative  plates  are  admirable,  as 
indeed  they  are  throughout  the  volume.  Among  the 
other  contents  we  may  name  ' '  St.  Augustine's  Abbey, 
Canterbury,"  by  Mr.  Sebastian  Evans,  jun.  ;  "Some 
Kentish  Castles,"  by  Mr.  Harold  Sands ;  "  Dickens 
and  Kent,"  by  Canon  Benham  ;  "  Penshurst  Place," 
appropriately  enough  by  Mr.  Philip  Sidney  ;  "  Re- 
fugee Industries  in  Kent,"  by  Mr.  S.  W.  Kershaw ; 
"  Chillington  Manor -House,  Maidstone,"  by  Mr. 
J.  H.  Allchin  ;  and  a  particularly  attractive  chapter 
on  "  The  River  Medway  and  its  Mediaeval  Bridges," 
by  Mr.  J.  Tavenor- Perry,  who  also  writes  on  "  Seven- 
teenth-Century Church  Architecture  in  Kent."  There 
is  a  fair  index,  and  the  book  is  beautifully  produced 
and  freely  illustrated. 

*     if.     if. 
Sir    Henry    Chauncy,    Kt.      A    Biography,    by 
W.  B.  Gerish.     Illustrations.     London  :  Water- 
low  and  Sons,  Ltd.  ;  Bishop's  Stortford  :  Board- 
man  and  Son,    1907.      Demy   8vo.,   pp.    114. 
Price  7s.  6d. 
This  is,  apparently,  the  first  of  a  series  of  lives  of 
"  The  Hertfordshire  Historians,"  which  Mr.  Gerish,  the 
honorary  secretary  of  the  East  Herts  Archaeological 
Society,  proposes  to  write.     He  here  makes  a  good 
start.     As  the  known  materials  for  a  life  of  Sir  Henry 
Chauncy  were  very  scanty,  he  has  been  fortunate  in 
having  placed  at  his  disposal  a  valuable  manuscript 
volume  entitled  Memoranda  Touching  the  Family  oj 
Chauncy,  1888,  which  was  compiled  by  the  late  Mr. 
C.  A.  W.  Chauncy.    The  most  interesting  thing  in  the 
first  section  of  Mr.  Gerish's  book,  dealing  with  the  his- 
torian's ancestry,  is  the  full  text  of  the  will  of  Sir 
Henry's  father  (1600-1 681),  here  for  the  first  time 
printed.     It   is   of  considerable   length,   and   shows 
great  affection  for  his  wife,  and  considerable  sharpness 
towards  his  sons,  who  appear  to  have  been  bad  men 
of  business.      Of  interest,  too,  is  the   instruction — 
surely  a  survival  at  that  date  (1680) — to  pay  certain 


i6o 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


legacies  of  small  amount  ir.  the  church  porch.  There 
are  also  forcible  remarks  on  funeral  display :  he 
wished  to  he  buried  "  in  a  plain  sober  civil  way,  for  I 
much  dislike  the  rudeness  and  disorders  which  are  at 
many  burials."  Altogether,  the  will  is  a  very  inter- 
esting human  document.  The  second  part  of  the 
book  deals  with  Sir  Henry  Chauncy's  life,  to  which 
Mr.  Gerish  is  not  able  to  add  much  new  matter  ;  and 
in  the  third  he  discusses  Sir  Henry's  famous  county 
history,  and  incidentally  puts  on  record  much  inter- 
esting bibliographical  detail.  Mr.  Gerish's  work 
represents  a  large  amount  of  labour,  much  more, 
necessarily,  than  is  evident  on  the  surface  of  the  book, 
and  we  trust  the  volume  will  receive  a  hearty  welcome 
not  only  from  Hertfordshire  antiquaries,  but  from  all 
interested  in  historical  topography.  Among  the 
illustrations  are  two  portraits  of  Chauncy,  and  views 
of  his  homes.  An  index  would  have  been  a  useful 
addition. 

*  *      * 

Among  the  pamphlets  on  our  table  we  note  the 
Report  of  the  Curator  of  the  Maidstone  Museum, 
Library,  and  Art  Gallery,  for  the  year  ended  Octo- 
ber 31,  1906,  which  chronicles  steady  progress  and 
development,  and  is  illustrated  by  several  good  plates 
of  recent  accessions  to  the  collections,  including 
ethnological  articles  from  the  Malay  Peninsula  (here 
repeatedly  mis-spelt  "Peninsular");  a  Guide  to  the 
Hull  Municipal  Museum,  by  Mr.  T.  Sheppard 
(price  id.),  corrected  and  brought  up  to  date  on 
account  of  the  removal  of  many  articles  to  the  new 
Wilberforce  House  Museum,  and  illustrated  by  several 
plates,  and  the  Quarterly  Record  of  Additions  to  the 
same  museum  (price  id.),  including  a  number  of 
domestic  curiosities  ;  and  Some  Historical Notes  on  the 
Riddle  Fisheries,  by  Mr.  Albert  Wade,  reprinted 
from  the  Preston  Guardian. 

*  *  * 
Northamptonshire  Notes  and  Queries,  December, 
1906,  appears  belatedly.  It  contains  an  interesting 
account  of  one  Francis  Gray,  who  was  Clerk  of  the 
Peace  for  the  county  during  the  Civil  War,  and  found 
the  office  far  from  peaceful  ;  notes  on  church  bells  at 
Catesby  and  Slapton,  with  illustrations  of  inscriptions, 
and  other  matters  of  interest.  We  have  also  before 
us  Scottish  Notes  and  Queries,  March  ;  East  Anglian, 
November,  with  an  interesting  note  on  "  Mediaeval 
Church  Government  in  Ely  Diocese ";  Rivista  a" 
Italia,  February,  noticed  in  "At  the  Sign  of  the 
Owl,"  ante  ;  and  a  book-catalogue  (chiefly  theology) 
from  K.  T.  Volcker,  Frankfort. 


Corresponnence. 

HOLES  IN  CHANCEL  SCREENS. 

TO    THE     EDITOR. 

In  your  February  number  attention  is  called  on  p.  44 
to  a  hole  in  the  chancel  screen  of  Mautby  Church, 
Norfolk,  which  is  thought  to  have  been  used  as  a 
confessional,  and  your  correspondent  says  "the  theory 


is  altogether  new  to  me."  I  came  across  a  similar 
instance  a  few  years  ago  in  Holy  Trinity  Church, 
Wysall,  Notts,  and  the  Vicar  of  that  day  propounded 
the  same  theory  respecting  the  holes  in  the  screen 
there,  which  is  of  the  Decorated  period.  In  this 
instance  there  are  several  holes  of  slightly  varying 
heights,  which  appear  to  have  been  carefully  made. 
This  adds  another  to  the  list  of  churches  enumerated 
in  your  issue  where  such  holes  may  be  found. 

George  Fellows. 


THE  DUKE  OF  CLARENCE  AND  SIR 
EDWARD  CODRINGTON. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

Perhaps  some  of  your  readers  will  be  interested  in 
this  small  material  to  refute  an  old  legend,  and  will 
you  therefore  give  it  a  place  in  the  "  Correspondence  " 
of  the  Antiquary. 

A.  M.  Cramer, 
Keeper  of  the  MSS.  in  the  Uni- 
versity  Library  of  Amsterdam. 
Amsterdam, 
February  27,  1907. 

From  the  Memoir  of  the  Life  oj  Admiral  Sir 
Edward  Codrington  (1873),  it  appears  very  clearly 
that  the  story  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  animating  Sir 
Edward  Codrington  into  action  with  the  words  "  Go 
[in,  my  dear],  Ned,"  etc.,  is  a  legend  without  sub- 
stance. From  private  correspondence  betwixt  Her 
Highness  the  Princess  Ida  Caroline  Louise  of 
Schaumburg-Lippe,  and  the  Dresden  Bibliothecary 
Falkenstein,  kept  at  the  University  Library  at 
Amsterdam  (collection  Diederichs),  this  fact  also 
becomes  evident.  Her  Highness  writes  on  Septem- 
ber 7,  1838 :  " .  .  .  .  Further,  the  Admiral  often  in 
my  presence  declared  to  be  totally  fictitious  and  a  lie 
the  story  of  the  King's  (in  his  character  of  a  High 
Admiral)  pretended  injunction,  'Go,  Ned!'  etc., 
exactly  saying  what  follows  :  '  It  would  be  a  vtry 
vulgar  and  indecent  address,  in  his  station  and  mine, 
and  the  present  King  has  never  .'aid  to  me  a  single 
word  which  was  not  convenient  to  the  case  or  business 
we  had  to  treat.1 " 


Note  to  Publishers.—  We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

To  intending  Contributors.— Unsolicited  MSS. 
will  always  receive  careful  attention,  but  the  Editor 
cannot  return  them  if  not  accepted  unless  a  fully 
stamped  and  directed  envelope  is  enclosed.  To  this 
rule  no  exception  will  be  made. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted,  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  general  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  of 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communications  ot 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


161 


The   Antiquary. 


MAY,  1907. 


Jl3ote0  of  tfie  8£ontb. 

We  welcome  the  foundation  of  the  Manorial 
Society,  as  a  result  of  the  Report,  issued  some 
little  time  ago,  of  the  Parliamentary  Local 
Records  Committee.  The  Report  shows  that 
some  invaluable  records — such  as  Court 
Rolls,  Bailiffs'  Accounts,  Rentals,  Surveys, 
and  Leases,  of  national  as  well  as  of  local 
importance,  have  been  lost  or  mislaid,  and 
that  others  have  perished  from  mischance  and 
neglect  in  the  past,  and  it  urges  the  necessity 
of  efficient  measures  being  taken  for  the  pre- 
servation of  those  that  remain.  After  point- 
ing out  that  the  last  half-century  has  seen  a 
general  quickening  of  interest  in  the  preser- 
vation and  study  of  all  records  of  the  past, 
and  that  such  interest  is  still  growing,  the 
Report  continues : 

"Much  of  our  English  local  history  has 
still  to  be  written,  or  rewritten,  on  the  basis 
of  facts  contained  in  the  old  documents,  but 
not  yet  adequately  scrutinized.  To  take  two 
obvious  instances,  more  light  remains  to  be 
thrown  upon  land  customs  and  the  economic 
side  of  land  tenure  by  the  examination  of 
manor  and  other  court  records."  And 
again :  "  The  study  of  local  history  may  have  a 
practical  value  for  the  people  as  well  as  a 
scientific  value  for  the  scholar." 

«$»  ft  %> 
No  learned  society  has  hitherto  given 
separate  organized  attention  to  manorial 
records  and  institutions,  and  in  view  of  the 
Report  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee  it  was 
felt  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  carry 
out  its  principal  recommendations,  so  far  at 

VOL.  III. 


least  as  manorial  records  are  concerned,  and 
with  this  object  a  number  of  archaeologists 
and  antiquaries  interested  in  the  study  of 
mediaeval  manorial  and  agrarian  history 
resolved  to  establish  the  Manorial  Society. 
As  a  preliminary  step  in  that  direction,  a 
provisional  council,  comprising  the  lords, 
ladies,  and  chief  officials  of  about  340  manors 
throughout  England  and  Wales,  has  been 
formed,  an  executive  committee  appointed, 
a  set  of  rules  framed,  and  other  necessary 
preliminary  work  accomplished.  Full  par- 
ticulars as  to  the  work  of  the  society,  at 
present  in  hand  and  in  contemplation  for  the 
future,  can  be  obtained  from  the  honorary 
secretary  at  1,  Mitre  Court  Buildings, 
Temple,  E.C. 

<$>  «$,  rj, 

A  discovery  of  considerable  interest  has  been 
made  at  Lincoln  in  connexion  with  the 
improvement  of  the  historical  High  Bridge. 
Workmen  were  removing  the  old  wall  beneath 
the  stone  steps  leading  down  from  the  High 
Street  to  Waterside  North,  when  they  exposed 
to  view  a  buttress  of  stonework.  This,  it  is 
believed,  is  a  part  of  the  chapel  of  Thomas  a 
Becket,  which  stood  on  the  bridge  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century.  An  oak 
door  is  to  be  placed  in  the  brick  wall  before 
the  buttress,  in  order  to  give  access  to  this 
interesting  relic.  A  space  is  also  to  be  left 
in  the  wall  to  permit  of  a  view  being  obtained 
of  the  ground  arches  of  what  is  believed  to 
be  the  oldest  mediaeval  bridge  in  England 
with  houses  upon  it. 

%?  %?  $? 
We  are  glad  to  hear  that  a  strong  committee 
of  local  ladies  and  gentlemen  has  been  formed 
at  Fressingfield  to  establish  in  the  village 
some  fitting  memorial  to  the  late  Vicar,  the 
Rev.  Canon  Raven,  D.D.,  F.S.A.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  place  a  stained  east  window  in  the 
church.  Canon  Raven  as  an  antiquary,  and 
especially  as  a  great  campanologist,  was  so 
widely  known  and  so  universally  respected 
that  there  are  probably  many  in  various  parts 
of  the  country  who  will  be  glad  to  join  in  the 
proposed  memorial.  The  honorary  secretary 
is  Mr.  H.  J.  Joyce,  Fressingfield,  Harleston, 
Suffolk. 

«$?         «fr         %? 
The  Shrewsbury  Chronicle  of  April  5  reports 
that  a  number  of  interesting  discoveries  have 

x 


1 62 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


been  made  during  the  excavations  at  Haugh- 
mond  Abbey,  which  were  begun  on  Monday, 
March  25,  under  the  expert  direction  of  Mr. 
W.  H.  St.  John  Hope,  assistant  secretary  of 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London,  and 
Mr.  H.  Brakspear.  Last  September  Mr. 
H.  R.  H.  Southam,  local  secretary  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London,  com- 
menced the  excavations,  with  the  assistance 
of  Mr.  Brakspear,  and  was  fortunate  in  find- 
ing that  the  existing  plans  of  Haughmond, 
especially  those  connected  with  the  church, 
are  inaccurate,  and  that  it  was  very  desirable 
that  a  systematic  excavation  should  take 
place.  He  immediately  started  to  collect 
subscriptions  for  this  purpose,  and  during  the 
recent  excavations  twenty-three  men  were 
employed.  The  work  was  to  end  on  Satur- 
day, April  6,  and  it  was  expected  that  by  that 
time  the  whole  plan  of  the  magnificent  church 
would  be  exposed,  as  well  as  various  domestic 
offices  and  buildings  which  have  been  below 
the  surface  for  some  hundreds  of  years.  The 
result  of  the  excavations  will  be  carefully 
written  and  correct  plans  made,  and  as  much 
as  possible  of  the  foundations,  etc.,  will  be 
permanently  left  for  visitors  to  see.  Mr. 
Hugh  Corbet,  of  Sundorne  Castle  and 
Downton,  Shrewsbury,  the  owner  of  the 
Abbiy,  has  most  generously  repaired  all  the 
old  exposed  buildings,  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  his  agent,  Mr.  Burges,  and  in  future 
the  most  interesting  parts  will  be  enclosed,  to 
prevent  the  constant  acts  of  vandalism  which 
have  threatened  the  destruction  of  columns 
and  figures.  That  pernicious  weed,  ivy,  has 
been  utterly  destroyed.  To  enable  the 
undertaking  to  be  completed,  funds  are  still 
needed,  and  will  be  thankfully  received  by 
Mr.  H.  R.  H.  Southam,  Innellan,  Shrews- 
bury. 

$      $      $ 

In  accordance  with  final  arrangements,  the 
celebration  of  the  centenary  of  the  Geological 
Society  of  London,  of  which  Sir  Archibald 
Geikie  is  president,  will  take  place  on 
September  26-28  next.  The  occasion  will  be 
marked  by  the  attendance  of  a  considerable 
number  of  foreign  men  of  science.  In  regard 
to  the  origin  of  the  society,  it  may  be  recalled 
that,  with  the  view  of  enabling  Count  de 
Bournon  (a  French  subject  exiled  by  the 
Revolution  in  1 790)  to  publish  a  mineralogical 


monograph,  Ur.  Babington,  in  1807,  invited 
to  his  house  a  number  of  persons  interested 
in  geological  and  kindred  pursuits.  Subse- 
quently other  meetings  were  arranged  for 
mutual  intercourse  and  instruction,  and  from 
such  small  beginnings  sprang  the  Geological 
Society. 

4*      <fr      4? 

The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Morning 
Post,  writing  on  March  29,  says :  "  The 
Italian  Government  proposes  to  undertake 
the  excavation  of  the  ancient  Umbrian  city 
of  Norcia,  thefrigida  Nursia  of  the  sEneid, 
the  birthplace  of  Sertorius,  and  of  St.  Bene- 
dict and  his  sister  Scholastica.  In  the 
Roman  Forum  Commendatore  Boni  pro- 
poses during  the  rest  of  the  season  to  com- 
plete the  exploration  of  the  Sepolcretum 
before  proceeding  to  the  excavation  of  the 
Basilica  Emilia.  The  question  of  uniting 
the  Palatine  and  the  Forum  still  remains 
unsettled,  as  the  Minister  of  Education  seems 
unable  to  make  up  his  mind  on  this  important 
matter.  The  question  is  really  one  of 
finance ;  from  an  archaeological  standpoint, 
the  union  of  the  two  adjacent  sites  is  much 
to  be  desired,  but  the  Ministry  of  Education 
does  not  like  the  idea  of  losing  the  extra  lira 
which  the  visitor  now  pays  for  admission  to 
the  Palatine. 

"  During  the  last  few  days  a  number  of 
Greek  tombs  of  the  fourth  century  before 
Christ  have  been  discovered  at  Metaponto  in 
Magna  Graecia,  together  with  considerable 
remains  of  the  walls  of  the  old  Greek  colony 
in  that  now  desolate  spot — one  of  the  dreariest 
railway  junctions  in  Southern  Italy.  From 
Sarno,  near  Pompeii,  comes  the  news  that  a 
house  of  the  first  or  second  century  of  our 
era,  with  Pompeian  figures  on  its  walls,  has 
been  discovered  by  accident  by  some  work- 
men engaged  in  digging  a  trench." 

«J?         <ifr         «$» 
A  ploughman,  working  in  a  field  near  Monks 
Risboro',  Buckinghamshire,  in  March  turned 
up  a  Roman  copper  coin  of  Constantius  II. 
in  a  remarkably  good  state  of  preservation. 

$.<$»<$> 
The  Rev.  C.  V.  Goddard,  of  Baverstoke 
Rectory,  Salisbury,  sends  us  the  two  drawings 
reproduced  on  page  163,  as  illustrating  the 
development  of  a  conventional  ornament.  He 
writes  :  "  Nearly  every  horse  in  the  Austrian 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


163 


Tyrol  has  a  large  ornamental  brass  comb 
attached  to  the  collar.  Fig.  1  represents  an 
old  comb  which  is  mounted  on  a  pad  of  stiff 
leather  by  loops,  and  a  large  circular  brass 
button  on  a  leathern  thong  through  the  ring 


at  top  (not  shown  in  Fig.).  Fig.  2  is  a 
modern  specimen ;  such  is  usually  fixed  to 
the  collar  without  any  mount.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  old  comb  has  sharp  teeth, 
and   could   be   used,  whereas   the   new  has 


blunt  teeth,  and  is  fixed  to  the  harness  as  a 
mere  conventional  ornament.  Fig.  1  is  solid 
throughout,  Fig.  2  is  cast  with  hollows  in  the 
back.  Both  were  obtained  at  Meran.  It 
may  be  added  that  no  harness  in  Tyrol  is 


complete  without  a  badger's  skin,  often  lined 
with  red,  hung  on  one  of  the  hames." 

«$?  $?  «$■ 
The  remains  of  the  historic  Norman  keep  at 
Canterbury  are  at  length  to  be  rescued  from 
their  use  as  a  coal  store  by  the  local  gas  and 
water  company.  The  Mayor,  Alderman 
Bennett  Goldney,  F.S.A.,  announced  at  a 
meeting  on  March  21  that  the  company 
directors  had  offered  to  sell  for  ;£  1,000,  and 
he  had  accepted  the  offer  on  behalf  of  the 
city.  He  was  prepared  to  accept  the  financial 
responsibility  until  other  arrangements  could 
be  made. 

^»        $»        $? 

In  the  Times  of  April  9  M.  Edouard  Naville, 
reporting  on  the  work  of  the  Egypt  Explora- 
tion Fund  at  Deir  el  Bahari  during  the  past 
season,  describes  the  discovery  of  a  sub- 
terranean sanctuary.  Last  year  the  workers 
stopped  at  the  entrance  of  a  sloping  passage 
extending  down  below  the  pavement,  the 
door  of  which  was  obstructed  by  heaps  of 
enormous  stones  and  rubbish.  This  has  now 
been  cleared  away,  and  the  passage  was  found 
to  be  a  well-cut  rock  tunnel,  going  straight 
down  for  about  500  feet.  "  On  more  than 
half  of  its  length  it  is  vaulted  ;  two  sandstone 
blocks  leaning  against  each  other  at  the  top, 
and  cut  in  the  form  of  an  arch,  rest  on  the 
rock  and  on  walls  of  dry  stones  erected  on 
both  sides.  Except  at  the  entrance,  where 
there  was  a  pile  of  stones,  the  passage  was 
free.  Between  the  two  walls  there*  was  a 
path  sufficiently  wide  for  a  man  to  go  down. 
"At  the  end  of  the  tunnel  there  is  a  room 
of  granite  made  of  big  blocks  extremely  well 
joined,  like  the  chambers  in  the  pyramids. 
The  door  was  blocked  by  a  stone.  One 
might  have  expected  that  this,  chamber  was  a 
tomb,  but  it  seems  clear  that  it  had  a  different 
purpose.  The  greatest  part  of  it  is  occupied 
by  a  great  alabaster  shrine,  made  of  large 
blocks  of  that  beautiful  stone.  Except  a 
cornice  and  a  moulding,  it  has  no  sculpture 
or  ornament  of  any  kind.  The  ceiling  is 
made  of  an  enormous  monolithic  red  granite 
slab,  over  which  comes,  again,  alabaster." 

rj>  cjj)  rji 

"This  shrine,"  continues  M.  Naville,  "was 
empty  except  for  a  few  well-cut  black  granite 
stones,  which  were  part  of  a  casing  inserted 
between   the   shrine  and   the   walls   of  the 

x  2 


164 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


chamber.  In  my  opinion  this  shrine  was  a 
sanctuary  ;  it  was  the  abode  of  the  ha,  as  the 
Egyptians  called  the  double  or  the  image 
of  the  King,  which  was  represented  by  a 
statue  now  destroyed.  In  front  of  the  shrine 
there  was  a  heap  of  broken  wooden  figures, 
fragments  of  furniture,  and  a  quantity  of 
cloth  in  which  must  have  been  wrapped 
offerings,  or  perhaps  mummified  animals ; 
also  a  few  small  pieces  of  bone  said  to  be 
human.  But  there  was  no  trace  of  a  wooden 
or  stone  coffin,  no  definite  evidence  of  a 
burial.  That  is  the  reason  why  I  consider 
this  shrine  as  a  sanctuary.  This  agrees  with 
a  decree  found  on  a  large  stele  at  the  entrance 
of  the  passage,  in  which  a  successor  of 
Mentuhetep,  of  the  following  dynasty,  orders 
that  for  what  he  calls  'the  cave  of  Mentu- 
hetep' should  be  provided  every  day  food 
and  drink,  and  whenever  a  bull  should  be 
slaughtered  in  the  great  Temple  of  Ammon, 
roast  meat  should  be  brought  to  that  cave. 
These  offerings  are  those  of  a  god  or  of  the 
King  adored  as  such  ;  they  are  not  funerary. 
The  shrine,  which  is  3-50  metres  long,  2-25 
metres  wide,  and  2-50  metres  high,  is  striking 
by  its  fine  architecture  and  the  beautiful 
material  out  of  which  it  is  made.  It  would 
be  extremely  difficult  to  remove  it  to  a 
museum.  It  would  be  an  expensive  work, 
also  somewhat  dangerous.  Besides,  in  a 
large  hall  it  would  by  no  means  produce  the 
same  effect  as  it  does  in  its  subterranean 
granite  chamber.  It  will  remain  for  the 
present  in  its  deep  hiding-place.  The 
passage  will  be  closed  by  a  door,  so  that 
people  specially  interested  in  Egyptian  archi- 
tecture may  reach  it ;  for  it  is  not  advisable 
for  tourists  to  go  in,  nor  would  they  much 
enjoy  it." 

Professor  Conway,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Manchester  Courier  of  April  6,  summarizes 
the  results  of  further  excavations  on  the  site 
of  the  Roman  fort  at  Manchester.  These 
have  led  to  the  discovery  of  four  or  five  coins, 
none  of  which  can  have  been  struck  before 
a.d.  117,  nor  after  a.d.  176.  One,  a  rather 
rare  bronze  of  Antoninus,  was  certainly  struck 
in  a.d.  145.  The  inferences  from  the  sur- 
rounding conditions  are  that  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  buildings  took  place  either  before 
or  during  the  reign  of   Hadrian,   and  that 


some  part  at  least  of  the  second  series  of 
buildings  in  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
camp  may  have  been  destroyed  by  fire  some- 
where about  the  time  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 
It  is  a  tempting,  but  unsafe,  conjecture  to 
suppose  that  the  wall  was  built  instead  of  a 
clay  rampart  at  the  end  of  the  second  century 
a.d.,  to  protect  the  camp  from  such  sudden 
raids  of  the  brigands  of  the  hills  as  had 
possibly  caused  the  fire,  or  fires,  from  which 
the  coins  on  the  camp  floors  have  suffered. 
The  work  of  excavation  was  to  be  continued 
until  about  the  end  of  April. 

4p       4»       «fr 

On  Easter  Monday,  Mr.  R.  H.  Forster,  of 
the  British  Archaeological  Society,  and  editor 
of  the  British  Archceological  Journal,  in 
company  with  Mr.  J.  Forster,  of  the  New- 
castle Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  the  Rev. 
J.  King,  B.D.,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Berwick, 
made  a  tour  of  inspection  round  the  Berwick 
Walls,  and  the  results  of  the  survey  will 
shortly  be  set  forth  in  the  Archceological 
Journal.  The  nation  is  gradually  realizing 
the  fact  that  Berwick  is  the  best  walled  town 
in  England,  the  only  bastioned  fortification 
in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  the  only  strong- 
hold in  Europe  with  open  rectangular  retreats, 
familiarly  known  as  "  flankers." 

4fr      4f      ♦ 

The  City  Press  of  March  30,  referring  to 
the  proposal  to  demolish  the  Church  of  St. 
Alphage,  London  Wall,  and  to  unite  the 
benefice  to  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  the 
Virgin,  Aldermanbury,  remarks  that  "  to  the 
scheme  in  the  main  no  objection  is  taken, 
as  the  church  dates  back  only  to  the  year 
1774,  possesses  few,  if  any,  historical  associa- 
tions, and  cannot  lay  claim  to  architectural 
beauty.  Its  tower  is,  however,  of  unique 
interest,  and  to  demolish  it  would  be  an  act 
of  sheer  vandalism,  utterly  unjustifiable  in 
character.  Not  only  did  it  form  part  originally 
of  the  Elsing  Spital,  an  institution  founded 
in  the  year  1329  for  the  relief  of  the  blind, 
but  it  is  to-day  absolutely  the  last  archi- 
tectural remnant  of  the  numerous  smaller 
charitable  institutions  of  the  mediaeval  City. 
Moreover,  the  tower,  with  its  fine  arches  and 
its  winding  staircase,  is  perhaps  unique  as 
a  specimen  of  early  Decorated  architecture  in 
the  City.  The  contention  of  archaeologists  is 
that  the  Bishop  of  London  should  be  asked 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


165 


to  make  it  a  condition  in  any  scheme  of 
union  that  the  tower  should  be  incorporated 
in  the  building  erected  on  the  site  of  the 
church.  Some  may  be  inclined  at  first  to 
ridicule  the  suggestion,  and  to  suggest  that 
so  placed  the  tower  would  be  utterly  out 
of  harmony  with  its  surroundings ;  but  all 
who  thus  criticize  may  be  advised  to  visit, 
in  Ironmonger  Lane,  the  Rectory  of  St. 
Margaret,  Lothbury,  and  note  the  successful 
utilization  of  the  tower  of  St.  Olave  Jewry  in 
the  new  building.  A  like  incorporation  might 
be  effected  with  similarly  pleasing  results  in 
the  case  of  St.  Alphage.  The  parishioners' 
sanction  to  the  union  suggested  should  be 
given  solely  on  the  condition  that  the  tower 
is  preserved.  So  interesting  a  relic  of  old- 
world  architecture  must  not  be  sacrificed 
under  any  considerations."  Our  contem- 
porary's note  is  illustrated  by  a  sketch  of 
the  fourteenth-century  tower. 

4f      $r      4p 

The  Cambrian  Archaeological  Association 
will  hold  its  annual  meeting  this  summer 
at  Llangefni,  Anglesea.  Llangefni  is  near 
Llanerchymedd,  celebrated  for  a  most  decisive 
battle  between  Owen  Gwynedd,  Prince  of 
North  Wales,  and  an  invading  army  of 
Manxmen,  Irish,  and  Normans,  in  which 
Owen  was  triumphant.  Near  Llangefni,  his- 
torians say,  the  crwth,  ancestor  of  the  violin, 
was  last  played. 

The  quaint  old  town  of  Winchelsea  has  just 
received  an  interesting  addition  to  its  his- 
torical mementoes  in  the  shape  of  its  original 
seal,  which  had  been  lost  to  the  borough, 
although  it  was  well  known  to  have  been  in 
the  possession  of  a  local  private  owner  for 
over  100  years.  Experts,  to  whom  the 
recovered  treasure  has  been  submitted,  place 
the  date  of  its  striking  somewhere  between 
the  years  1280  and  1300,  and  it  is  con- 
sidered a  particularly  fine  specimen  of  work- 
manship. The  borough  owes  its  restoration 
to  Mr.  Walter  Inderwick,  son  of  the  late 
Mr.  Inderwick,  K.C.,  who  took  such  keen 
interest  in  the  fortunes  of  the  town. 

«ifc»         4p         & 
Mr.  Vincent  Yorke,  the  honorary  treasurer 
of  the  British  School  at  Athens,  writes  to  the 
Times  of  April  10  :  "  Mr.  R.  M.  Uawkins,  who 
is  directing  the  excavations  which  are  being 


conducted  at  Sparta  by  the  British  School  at 
Athens,  telegraphs  that  he  and  his  associates 
have  discovered  the  site  of  the  Sanctuary  of 
Athene  Chalkioikos.  This  sanctuary,  known 
from  literature  to  be  situated  on  the  Acro- 
polis, was  a  famous  one  in  antiquity,  and 
was  the  scene  of  the  walling  up  of  the  royal 
traitor  Pausanias,  which  is  so  vividly  described 
in  the  first  book  of  Thucydides.  It  is  difficult 
to  overestimate  the  importance  of  the  dis- 
covery last  year  of  the  Temple  of  Artemis 
Orthia,  and  now  of  this  sanctuary  •  but  the 
new  '  find '  will  entail  fresh  demands  upon 
the  slender  fund  available  for  the  excava- 
tions. The  appeal  for  ,£1,500  issued  last 
autumn  has  only  brought  in  ^500,  and  it 
is  most  necessary  that  further  support  should 
now  be  forthcoming.  Any  contributions  sent 
to  me  at  this  address  [Farringdon  Works,  Shoe 
Lane,  E.C.]  will  be  gratefully  acknowledged." 

The  final  series  of  excavations  in  the  Glaston- 
bury Lake  Village  will  be  commenced  on 
May  6,  and  will  be  continued  for  six  weeks, 
the  work  having  to  be  speedily  completed  in 
order  that  a  donation  of  ^50  towards  the 
cost  may  be  claimed.  The  work  of  explora- 
tion will  again  be  in  the  capable  hands  of 
Mr.  Arthur  Bulleid  and  Mr.  St.  George  Gray, 
who,  later  on,  will  proceed  with  the  prepara- 
tion of  an  important  volume  giving  a  com- 
plete description  of  the  site  and  of  the  results 
of  the  excavations. 

$?      4?      # 

A  recent  discovery  of  old  coins  in  the  well 
which  is  being  excavated  in  the  ruins  of 
Scarborough  Castle  has  aroused  much  in- 
terest. Some  of  the  coins  were  sent  to  Mr. 
H.  A.  Grueber,  the  keeper  of  the  coins  at 
the  British  Museum,  by  Alderman  Hastings 
Fowler,  the  Deputy  Mayor  of  Scarborough, 
who  has  written  to  the  local  press  as  follows  : 
"  As  considerable  curiosity  has  been  aroused 
by  the  recent  finding  of  coins  in  the  Castle 
yard  well,  I  think  it  may  be  of  interest  to 
the  public  to  know  something  of  the  facts. 
The  find  consists  of  a  large  mass  of  copper 
or  bronze  strips  out  of  which  coins  have 
been  punched,  together  with  a  number  of 
imperfectly  struck  coins.  The  find  took 
place  at  a  distance  of  130  feet  from  the 
surface.  I  have  submitted  specimens  to 
Mr.  H.  A.  Grueber,  the  keeper  of  coins  at 


1 66 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


the  British  Museum,  and  he  pronounces 
the  coins  to  be  uncompleted  farthings  of 
Charles  I.,  issued  between  1626  and  1630. 
It  appears  that  the  right  to  issue  these  coins 
was  granted  by  Charles  I.  to  the  Dowager 
Duchess  of  Richmond  and  Sir  Francis  Crane, 
who  no  doubt  made  a  considerable  profit  on 
their  monopoly.  The  result  of  this  monopoly 
seems  to  have  been  that  extensive  forgeries 
of  these  coins  took  place,  and  Mr.  Grueber 
is  of  opinion  that  the  coins  found  in  the 
Castle  well  are  forgeries  struck  at  the  time, 
and  that  in  all  probability  they  were  thrown 
down  the  well  to  avoid  detection." 

4p       4p       4p 

In  carrying  out  the  excavations  for  the  new 
nave  for  Hexham  Abbey  Church,  some  very 
interesting  discoveries  have  been  made.  As 
many  may  be  aware,  says  the  Newcastle 
Journal oi  April  5,  there  are  in  the  Saxon  crypt 
of  the  church  several  Roman  worked  stones. 
A  roofing  slab  in  the  north  passage  is  of 
considerable  historical  importance,  for  the 
name  of  the  Emperor  Geta  has  been  erased 
from  the  inscription,  as  in  all  similar  monu- 
ments, in  accordance  with  the  instructions 
of  Marcus  Aurelius,  after  the  murder  of  his 
brother.  Another  portion  of  the  slab  has 
now  been  found.  The  inscription  can  now 
be  read  as  follows  : 

IMP  .  CAES  .  L  .  SEP  .  S/EVERUS  .  PI 
PERTINAX  .  IMP  .  CA/ESAR  .  MV  . 
AVR  .  ANTONINUS  .  Pl/vS  .  AVE  . 
VS  .  ET  .  PUBLIVS  .  SEPTIMIVS  . 
CAES  .  COHORTEM  .  .  M  .    ... 

VEXILLATIONEM 

FECERVNT  .  SVB 

The  name  of  Publius  Septimus  Geta  is 
erased,  the  final  word  so  much  so  that  it 
cannot  be  traced.  The  stones  are  divided 
between  s  and  e  in  Severus  in  the  first  line. 
The  upper  part  of  a  well -finished  altar,  a 
stone  hypocaust  pillar,  and  a  number  of 
smaller  stones,  with  various  ornaments,  are 
amongst  the  architectural  vestiges.  A  part 
of  what  was  apparently  a  sculptured  panel 
has  a  finely  cut  bust  of  a  Roman  Emperor, 
probably  Severus,  and  a  portion  of  a  legionary 
stone  has  the  remains  of  two  panels  divided 
by  pilasters  with  pediments.  It  is  much 
shattered,  but  the  sculpture  is  very  fine. 
Also,  to  the  north  wall,  at  a  level  somewhat 


below  that  of  the  foundations,  are  five  in- 
terments of  the  Anglo-Saxon  period.  They 
are  in  stone-built  graves,  which  are  furnished 
with  stone  covers  of  rough  undressed  slabs 
of  various  lengths.  The  skeletons  are  re- 
markably fresh  and  clean,  and  were  interred 
in  a  fine  gravel  soil. 

«Jp         «fc         «fr 

Alderman  Jacob  kindly  sends  us  the  following 
report,  written  by  Mr.  Ferrar,  on  the  progress 
of  the  works  of  preservation  now  going  on  at 
Winchester  Cathedral :  "We  note  with  some 
relief  that  the  timber  shoring  is  now  being 
removed  from  the  south  side  of  the  presby- 
tery, after  most  of  it  has  been  successfully 
underpinned.  On  looking  round,  the  under- 
pinning is  not  of  much  interest  to  the  visitor, 
as  very  little  of  this  work  below  can  be  seen 
from  the  ground  above,  but  to  the  experi- 
enced eye,  and  to  those  who  have  anxiously 
watched  the  steady  progress  of  the  work  week 
by  week,  and  the  difficulties  that  have  had  to 
be  surmounted,  it  is  with  a  sigh  of  relief  that 
we  now  see  the  large  props  being  gradually 
removed,  and  the  building  appearing  before 
us  with  all  its  ancient  grace  and  line,  and 
looking  as  undisturbed  as  if  danger  had  never 
been  within  a  thousand  miles  of  it,  and  the 
greatest  praise  is  due  to  those  who  have 
directed  and  carried  out  the  work.  The 
underpinning  of  Bishop  de  Lucy's  work  is 
fast  nearing  completion  under  the  hands  of 
Messrs.  Thompson's  large  staff  of  workmen, 
and  those  in  charge  of  the  work  are  now 
turning  their  attention  to  the  north  transept, 
which  has  been  found  to  be  so  much  torn 
about  by  the  movements  of  this  part  of  the 
building  that  a  little  child  could  easily  crawl 
into  some  of  the  cracks.  The  same  methods 
of  treatment  will  have  to  be  carried  out  in  this 
part  of  the  work  as  are  now  being  employed 
at  the  east  end,  and  we  hope  it  will  turn  out 
to  be  none  the  less  successful.  The  vaulting 
inside  is  being  very  carefully  dealt  with,  and 
every  piece  of  the  old  chalk  ashlaring,  where 
not  found  broken  and  crushed  with  the  strains 
and  settlements,  is  being  preserved,  which 
now  makes  the  vaulting  a  pleasure  to  behold, 
and  enables  anyone  to  gather  what  it  was 
like  before  whitewash  and  plaster  obscured 
its  beauty.  The  preparations  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  west  front  are  going  on  apace;  the 
scaffolding  which  is  now  around  the  north 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


167 


spire  foretells  that  in  a  short  time  we  shall 
see  this  cracked  and  shaken  part  of  the 
cathedral  put  into  proper  line,  and  all  the 
decayed  and  dangerous  stonework  removed. 
A  very  interesting  piece  of  what  appears  to 
be  early  foundation  work  has  been  unearthed 
during  the  underpinning  excavations  in  the 
Lady  Chapel.  Extra  large  piles  and  cross 
timber  (now  very  rotten  and  decayed)  have 
been  put  round  this  part  of  the  building, 
probably  to  help  keep  it  from  sinking  and 
otherwise  dislodging  itself.  This  will  all  be 
removed,  together  with  the  chalk  and  peat, 
and  be  replaced  by  a  solid  foundation  on  to 
the  gravel  bottom,  similar  to  what  is  being 
done  in  other  parts  of  the  building." 

tip  tip  rj"> 

Sir  Hugh  Bell,  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Medley,  and 
Messrs.  K.  C.  Bayley,  Wm.  Wright,  Cornelius 
Brown,  T.  A.  C.  Atwood,  T.  W.  Greene, 
T.  F.  Hobson,  and  J.  H.  Etherington  Smith, 
have  been  elected  Fellows  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries. 

$      $      $ 

We  note  with  regret  the  deaths  of  the  Earl 
of  Liverpool,  better  known,  perhaps,  by  his 
earlier  title  of  Lord  Hawkesbury,  F.S.A., 
who  took  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  more 
than  one  Northern  archaeological  society ; 
and  of  Mr.  E.  M.  Beloe,  of  King's  Lynn, 
whose  works  on  the  antiquities  of  that 
ancient  town  are  well  known. 

$?  ^  «$» 
Some  interesting  facts  concerning  the  ancient 
wills  preserved  among  the  borough  archives 
of  Bridport  were  brought  to  light  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Dorset  Field  Club  by  the  Rev.  R.  G. 
Bartelot,  Vicar  of  Fordington  St.  George. 
Out  of  a  total  of  sixty-five  documents,  no 
fewer  than  forty-nine  are  dated  in  the  four- 
teenth century ;  and  when  it  is  remembered 
that  the  wills  of  the  Canterbury  Court  date 
from  only  1383,  while  those  of  York  do  not 
begin  till  six  years  later,  the  historic  interest 
of  these  Dorset  documents,  the  earliest  of 
which  is  dated  1268,  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated. The  church  has  always  been  the 
keeper  of  documents  testamentary,  but  like 
the  Court  of  the  Hustings  in  London,  and 
the  Corporation  of  Bristol  in  their  compila- 
tion of  the  Great  Orpha?i  Book,  the  Bridport 
Borough  Court  in  the  past  actually  proved 


and  recorded  in  their  archives  the  wills  not 
only  of  townsmen,  but  of  residents  outside 
their  jurisdiction. 

#»         $»         «fr 

While  digging  the  foundations  of  the  new 
hospital  at  Ancona  in  March,  the  workmen 
discovered  two  ancient  tombs  of  the  third 
century  B.C.,  containing  a  gold  ring,  gold 
earrings,  and  various  other  artistic  ornaments. 
They  also  unearthed  a  bronze  sword,  which 
Professor  Pellegrini,  of  Ancona,  ascribes  to 
the  fifth  or  sixth  century  B.C.,  and  which  he 
considers  to  be  almost  unique. 

%f        «fr        4? 

In  a  letter  to  the  Times,  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  Lord  Avebury,  Canon 
Greenwell,  and  Mr.  F.  Haverfield,  make  a 
strong  appeal  for  funds  for  the  systematic 
excavation  of  the  Roman  site  of  Corstopitum, 
near  Hexham.  This  site  "  has  long  been 
recognized  as  likely  to  offer  valuable  results 
to  excavators.  Situated  at  the  point  where 
the  main  road  from  York  crosses  the  Tyne, 
its  position  and  extent  distinguish  it  alike 
from  the  military  camps  along  Hadrian's 
Wall  and  from  the  fortified  halting-places 
on  the  Roman  road ;  while  the  former  finds 
of  a  massive  silver  dish  and  two  altars  with 
Greek  inscriptions  show  that  here  are  the 
buried  traces  of  a  wealthier  and  more  mixed 
community  than  was  to  be  found  elsewhere 
on  the  military  frontier  of  Roman  Britain. 
The  whole  area  is  cultivated  land,  and  has 
apparently  been  unoccupied  since  the  time 
of  the  Roman  evacuation. 

"  Excavations  on  the  site,  with  a  view  to 
determining  its  general  character,  were  carried 
out  during  last  summer  by  the  Northumber- 
land County  History  Committee.  Briefly, 
the  results  were  to  show  that  the  foundations 
of  Roman  buildings  remained  intact  at  all 
points,  and  that  in  some  places  walls  re- 
mained 6  or  7  feet  high.  Built  into  one  of  the 
walls  were  discovered  the  quoins  of  the  largest 
and  most  elaborate  arch  yet  met  with  in  the 
North  of  England.  The  outer  defences  of 
the  town  were  also  found,  and  the  uncovering 
of  painted  plaster  and  flooring  of  good  quality 
corroborated  the  view  that  Corstopitum 
possessed  buildings  superior  to  anything 
hitherto  known  near  Hadrian's  Wall. 

"The  remains  of  the  Roman  bridge  were 
surveyed,  three  or   four  of  its  piers  being 


1 68 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


found  embedded  in  the  northern  bank  of 
the  Tyne. 

"  These  results  demonstrate  that  the  syste- 
matic excavation  of  Corstopitum  will  yield 
most  valuable  information  regarding  Roman 
civil  life  as  brought  into  touch  with  the 
troops  on  the  frontier."  The  treasurer  is 
Mr.  Howard  Pease,  F.S.A.,  Otterburn  Tower, 
Northumberland.  An  illustrated  report  of 
the  excavations  will  be  sent  to  annual  sub- 
scribers of  upwards  of  two  guineas,  and  to 
all  donors  of  ten  pounds. 

The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Standard, 
writing  on  March  19,  said:  "Professor 
Marucchi,  the  distinguished  archaeologist, 
who  just  a  year  ago  gave  a  very  interesting 
lecture  to  the  British  and  American  Archaeo- 
logical Society  of  Rome,  in  which  he  showed, 
almost  conclusively  that  the  death  of  St.  Peter 
took  place  in  or  near  the  Vatican  and  the 
great  church  that  bears  his  name,  and  not, 
as  later  tradition  affirmed,  on  the  Janiculum, 
where  the  church  of  S.  Pietro  in  Montorio 
now  stands,  to-day  gave  a  lecture  in  the 
crypt  of  St.  Peter's,  the  unquestionable  site 
where  the  sarcophagus  of  the  great  Apostle 
is  still  to  be  found. 

"  Professor  Marucchi  pointed  out  that  the 
present  basilica  stands  on  the  very  spot 
which  was  once  the  great  villa  of  Nero,  and 
that  many  pagan  tombs  were  found  there, 
proving  that  the  grounds  of  the  villa  con- 
tained a  burying-place,  probably  for  the  use 
of  Caesar's  household.  If  St.  Peter  were 
martyred  there  together  with  the  other 
Christians  who  perished  in  the  persecution 
of  Nero  it  would  be  extremely  probable  that 
he  would  be  interred  in  the  tomb  of  one 
of  Caesar's  servants,  since  the  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians  proved  that  Christians  were  to 
be  found  in  the  household  of  the  Emperor. 
This  would  account  for  the  fact  that  no 
Christian  cemetery  grew  up  round  the  remains 
of  St.  Peter,  as  so  often  happened  round  the 
resting-place  of  a  specially  holy  martyr,  since 
the  surrounding  pagan  tombs  would  render 
this  impossible.  Professor  Marucchi  quoted 
authorities  which  prove  that  from  the  early 
days  of  the  second  century  there  was  a 
continuous  and  undoubted  chain  of  witnesses 
and  tradition  which  make  it  certain  that  the 


body  of  the  great  Apostle  was  really  to  be 
found  there. 

"St.  Gregory  of  Tours,  who  came  to  Rome 
as  a  pilgrim,  describes  how  he  descended  into 
the  Confession,  and  saw  the  sarcophagus ; 
but  after  the  ninth  century  the  tomb  was 
walled  up,  probably  for  fear  of  the  Saracens, 
who  at  that  time  were  sacking  the  country 
round.  The  little  memorial  cell,  which 
covered  the  remains  of  the  Apostle  in  early 
days,  formed  the  nucleus  which  Constantine 
developed  into  the  first  Basilica,  which  was 
finally  transformed  into  the  Renaissance 
structure,  and  crowned  by  Michelangelo's 
glorious  dome." 

4p       •fr       «$• 

On  March  28  last  (writes  a  correspondent)  a 
silver  denarius  of  the  Emperor  Trajan  was 
found  by  chance  at  Hammersmith,  near  the 
river,  at  a  depth  of  5  feet.  The  coin  is  in  a 
very  fair  state  of  preservation,  especially  the 
obverse,  with  the  handsome  Emperor's 
head.  The  reverse  shows  Fortune  seated, 
with  a  cornucopia  in  one  hand  and  the  rudder 
of  the  ship  of  state  in  the  other.  The  in- 
scription of  the  type,  showing  it  to  date  from 
1 16-11 7  a.d.,  runs  as  follows: 

Obv. :    imp[eratori]    c^es[ari]  nerv[\e 
traian[o]  optim[o1  aug[usto]  germ[anico 

DAC[lC0j. 

Rev. :  parthico  p[ontifici]  m[aximo] 
tr[ibunicaJ  p[otestate]  cos[  =  CONSULl]  VI 
p[atri]  p[atri^e]  s.p.q.r. 

And  in  the  exergue  :  fort[una] 
red[ux], 

Mr.  A.  Randall  Davis,  of  Oaklands,  Hythe, 
writes :  "  The  recent  discovery  of  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  burial-ground  on  the  Dover  Hill  was 
explained  on  March  26  at  a  joint  meeting 
of  the  Kent  Archaeological  Society  and  the 
Folkestone  Natural  History  Society  by  the 
Borough  Engineer,  Mr.  Nichols,  with  the  aid 
of  limelight  photographs.  A  view  of  each  of 
the  graves,  some  twenty-four  in  number,  with 
the  skeleton  in  situ  was  shown.  Most  of  the 
skeletons  grasped  a  small  knife  in  the  left 
hand,  the  other  weapons  being  on  the  right 
side.  Several  were  women  and  children. 
One  had  a  shell  in  the  mouth.  The  feet  all 
pointed  to  the  east.  The  height  varied  from 
5  feet  3  inches  to  5  feet  7  inches.     One  was 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


i6g 


6  feet  i  inch.  Mr.  Sebastian  Evans,  hono- 
rary secretary  to  the  Kent  Archaeological 
Society,  said  most  of  the  burials  took  place 
from  a.d.  550  to  a.d.  650.  It  was  an 
ordinary  Saxon  cemetery,  and  the  slight 
difference  in  the  position  of  the  feet  of  the 
skeletons  was  probably  influenced  by  the 
position  of  the  sun  at  different  times  of  the 
year.  The  finding  of  a  shell  in  the  mouth  is 
not  altogether  uncommon  in  Kent.  There 
were  some  proofs  that  the  bodies  were  buried 
in  coffins. 

"A  number  of  fibulae  were  found,  one 
being  faced  with  gold  and  set  with  white 
shell  and  red  garnets.  Of  the  two  shield 
bosses  one  was  furnished  with  silver  studs. 
There  were  also  a  sword  and  several  knives, 
spear-head,  amber  necklaces,  glass  beads, 
keys,  pincers,  pins,  and  one  piece  of  Roman 
pottery. 

"  The  greatest  credit  is  due  to  the  Folke- 
stone municipal  body  for  the  care  that  was 
taken  that  everything  should  be  recorded ; 
and  by  the  kindness  of  Lord  Radnor  the 
relics  are  placed  in  the  Folkestone  Museum." 


C6e  IPilgrimage  of  t&e  Roman 

By  H.  F.  Abell. 
( Continued  from  p.  1 07. ) 

II.— CILURNUM   TO  AMBOGLANNA. 

ROM  our  comfortable  quarters  at 
the  George,  Chollerford,  we  go 
straight  up  the  pleasantly  shaded 
hill,  past  the  lodge-gates  of  the 
Chesters,  the  Wall  being  in  the  plantation 
on  our  left  at  first,  but  soon  coming  under 
our  road,  and,  after  heavy  rain,  quite  clearly 
visible,  the  vallum  lines  being  discernible  on 
our  left.  From  Walwick  Hill  we  get  the  first 
of  the  many  fine  views  we  shall  see  to-day,  the 
countryside  being  so  thickly  wooded  and 
smiling  with  parti-coloured  fields  that  we 
might  be  in  our  native  Kent,  instead  of  on 
the  edge  of  some  of  the  wildest  districts  in 
England. 

VOL.  III. 


As  we  continue  the  ascent  of  the  next  hill, 
the  military  way  and  the  Wall  part  company, 
the  former  taking  the  line  of  the  vallum. 
We  pass  on  our  right  Tower  Taye,  an  edifice 
constructed  in  the  eighteenth  century  of 
Wall  stones ;  on  our  left  the  south  ditch  is 
deep  and  clear,  and  at  the  top  the  whole 
vallum  system  is  fully  developed.  We  next 
pass  the  traces  of  a  mile-castle,  a  fine  piece 
of  the  Wall,  fourteen  courses  high,  and  a 
good  turret — all  in  the  field  on  our  right. 
Finally  we  ascend  Limestone  Bank,  which 
marks  the  commencement  of  the  wild,  lone 
country  which  will  be  our  world  for  many 
miles  to  come.  The  view  from  here  is 
magnificent — to  the  north  over  Chipchase, 
and  Swinnerton,  and  "  the  wild  hills  of 
Wannys  "  of  which  Edward  Armstrong  sang 
so  sweetly,  and  the  Carter ;  to  the  north- 
east, Cheviot  and  its  range;  and  to  the 
south-west  as  far  as  Cross  Fell.  But,  fair  as 
the  prospect  is,  duty  calls  us  to  look  upon 
one  of  the  most  striking  instances  of  the 
energy  and  determination  of  the  Roman 
engineers  along  the  whole  course  of  the 
Wall.  On  each  side  of  us  the  basalt  rock 
has  been  cut  through  for  a  length  of  about 
300  yards,  to  a  depth  of  about  12  feet  and  a 
width  of  about  20  feet,  to  form  the  north  fosse 
of  the  Wall  and  the  fosse  of  the  vallum. 
We  stand  above  the  excavations,  and  see, 
either  thrown  up  around  us  or  lying  as  left  by 
the  Romans,  huge  masses  of  rock,  the  moving 
of  which  must  have  meant  enormous  labour 
and  high  mechanical  skill.  One  mass  lies  in 
the  fosse  of  the  Wall,  which  had  been 
prepared  for  breaking,  as  we  may  see  by  the 
wedge  holes  in  it,  but  which  had  never 
been  loosened.  Another,  on  the  bank,  which 
has  been  split  by  frost,  is  calculated  to  weigh 
13  tons,  and  lies  just  as  it  was  hoisted 
out.  To  me  these  two  ditches  in  Limestone 
Bank  preach  as  touching  a  sermon  in  stones 
upon  the  mutability  of  human  grandeur  as 
there  is  on  this  Wall  line,  so  full  of  such 
sermons.  I  don't  think  the  most  matter-of- 
fact  antiquary  can  help  moralizing  a  little  as 
he  stands  on  this  lone  piece  of  Northumber- 
land. I  once  was  here  alone  in  the  dim  light 
of  a  fading  mid-winter  day,  and  I  peopled 
the  glimmering  snow-covered  rocks  with  such 
an  array  of  ghosts,  struggling  and  straining  as 
they  hauled  and  hoisted  in  response  to  sharp 


170 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


word  of  command,  or  cheery  exhortation,  or 
stinging  invective,  that  I  was  really  glad  to 
get  away  and  leave  them  at  their  task. 
Beyond  this  we  cross  Tepper  Moor,  pass  on 
our  left  Carrowburgh  farm-house,  where  we 
get  butter-milk  (and  suffer  afterwards  accord- 
ingly), and  reach  the  station  Procolitia.  Not 
much  detains  the  stranger  here,  as  no 
systematic  excavations  have  been  made,  but 
the  height  of  the  earth-mounds  seems  to  give 
promise  of  success.  Six  days  out  of  the  seven 
you  may  sit  down  for  hours  at  Procolitia  and 
not  see  half  a  dozen  people,  but  a  few  years 
ago  half  the  countryside  made  a  rush  here 
one  summer  day  when  the  rumour  ran  that 
treasure  was  to  be  had  for  nothing  at 
Carrowburgh ;  the  fact  being  that  a  long- 
disused  and  half-forgotten  well,  outside  the 
station  on  the  western  side,  had  been  tapped 
by  some  prospectors  for  lead,  and  found  to  be 
packed  with  altars,  articles  of  ornament  and 
jewellery,  carved  stones,  and,  above  all,  gold 
and  silver  coins.  Mr.  Clayton,  however,  the 
owner  of  the  ground,  was  soon  on  the  spot, 
and  took  steps  to  protect  the  treasure-trove, 
but  not  before  many  hundreds  of  coins  had 
been  taken  away.  Mr.  Clayton  alone  secured 
16,000.  The  well  is  known  as  Coventina's 
Well,  from  dedicating  stones  to  a  goddess  of 
that  name  found  here.  As  her  name  is 
not  known  in  mythology,  it  is  supposed  that 
she  was  the  presiding  deity  of  this  particular 
well.  Opinion  differs  as  to  whether  the  very 
varied  treasure  found  in  the  well  represents 
votive  offerings,  or  whether  it  points  to  a 
story  of  sudden  attack  and  of  panic,  during 
which  as  many  valuables  as  possible  were 
thrown  into  the  well  to  escape  capture. 
Procolitia  was  garrisoned  by  Batavians. 

We  continue  our  journey  past  the  remains 
of  three  mile-castles,  until,  just  beyond  the 
twenty-seventh  milestone,  the  military  way 
turns  to  the  left,  to  follow  the  line  of  the 
vallum,  and  we  follow  in  deep  grass  the  line 
of  the  Wall,  and  presently  reach  the  Sewing- 
shields  farm-house. 

This  is  the  centre  of  a  district  full  of 
romantic  legend.  Here  was  the  famous 
castle  of  the  Seven  Shields,  written  of  by 
Sir  Walter  Scott  in  Harold  the  Dauntless, 
and  here  King  Arthur  is  more  than  tradi- 
tionally said  to  have  held  his  Court.  To  the 
benighted   Southern   mind    King  Arthur   is 


chiefly  associated  with  Cornwall  and  South 
Wales,  but,  as  Mr.  Bates  puts  it  in  his 
History  of  Northumberland : 

"  Particular  ridicule  has  been  cast  on  the 
stories  of  Arthur's  victories  over  Gauls, 
Dacians,  Spaniards,  and  Romans ;  but,  con- 
sidering the  polyglot  character  of  the 
garrisons  on  the  Wall,  he  may  easily  have 
fought  and  beaten  all  these,  and  Moors'  and 
Syrians  into  the  bargain,  without  stirring 
more  than  twenty  miles  from  Carlisle." 
As  if  the  old  Wall  was  not  romantic  enough 
in  itself  as  a  monument  of  Roman  grandeur 
and  might  in  a  world  of  shades  as  dark  and 
as  impenetrable  as  the  remotest  strongholds 
of  African  barbarianism  now  are,  it  is  not  an 
impossible  dream  to  find  it  linked  some  day 
historically  with  the  life  of  England's  darling 
Lord  of  Chivalry. 

We  get  up  to  the  Sewingshields  Crags  by 
no  primrose  path,  and  noting  how  the 
ancient  tribal  boundary,  the  Black  Dyke, 
strikes  away  north-west,  in  its  course  from 
Allenheads,  beyond  the  South  Tyne,  pause 
to  enjoy  the  excellent  prospect  of  the  line  of 
the  Wall  ahead  of  us  by  Housesteads,  and 
away  over  the  lofty  cliffs  beyond,  with  the 
pools  pleasantly  known  as  "  the  Northumber- 
land Lakes  "  at  their  feet 

The  Wall  stands  here  about  six  courses 
high,  and  as  it  is  7  feet  thick,  with  a  smooth, 
grass-grown  top,  the  best  plan  is  to  climb  up 
and  walk  along  it.  We  descend  presently  to 
Busy  Gap.  This,  being  wide  and  low,  was 
carefully  fortified  by  the  Romans.  The 
north  fosse,  which  has  ceased  to  be  since 
the  Wall  has  run  along  the  crags,  more  than 
1,000  feet  high,  reappears,  and  in  addition, 
a  large  triangular  space  north  of  the  Wall 
was  ramparted.  The  Gap  probably  won  its 
name  from  being  a  favourite  centre  of  opera- 
tions during  the  Border  warfare  days.  Now 
it  is  quiet  and  lonely  enough.  The  character 
of  the  countryside  here  accords  with  its 
history.  On  either  side  of  the  Wall  stretches 
a  wild,  bare,  solitary,  wind-swept  tract  of 
rolling  hill  and  dale,  unbroken  by  house  or 
tree,  of  which  the  silence  is  only  disturbed 
by  the  sweep  of  the  wind  and  the  cry  of  the 
wild  bird,  but  which  has  a  beauty  of  its  own 
in  bright  weather,  when  the  sunshine  flecks  it 
with  light  and  colour,  as  striking  as  is  its 
weirdness  when  the  storms  of  winter  break 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN   WALL. 


171 


over  it.  Small  wonder  is  it  that  Spaniards, 
Italians,  Dacians,  who  went  home  after  a 
period  of  Wall  service,  spoke  of  Britannia  as 
on  the  border  of  the  great  unknown  Shade 
World  !  After  Busy  Gap  we  "  negotiate  "  two 
steepish  gaps,  and  then  descend  to  that 
which  served  as  the  eastern  defence  of  Bor- 
covicus,  one  of  the  mile-castles  which  we 
pass,  standing  on  a  very  steep  slope. 

Borcovicus,  or  Housesteads,  stands  on  a 
plateau,  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Knag- 
burn  Valley  and  on  the  west  by  a  dark 
plantation.  As  we  cross  this  valley  we  may 
see  on  our  right,  north  of  the  Wall,  a  large 
basin  in  the  ground,  about  100  feet  across 
and  10  feet  deep,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
the  amphitheatre  of  the  station,  a  surmise 
which  has  support  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
Wall  opposite  are  the  remains  of  a  large 
double  -  portalled  gateway,  with  guard- 
chambers. 

We  follow  the  military  way  to  the  east 
gateway  of  Borcovicus,  the  Wall  joining  the 
rounded  north-east  corner  of  the  station. 
The  east  gateway  is  in  excellent  condition, 
apparently  needing  but  the  superposition  of 
a  few  stones  in  order  to  reproduce  it  exactly 
as  it  was.  It  has  the  usual  double  portals,  of 
which  the  pavement  is  deeply  grooved  by 
chariot  wheels,  the  guard-chambers,  the 
pivot-holes  of  the  gates,  and  the  central 
stone  against  which  the  gates  shut.  One  of 
the  portals  has  been  built  up,  probably  at  a 
late  period  of  the  Roman  occupation,  when 
the  attacks  of  the  barbarians  were  stronger 
and  the  defence  weaker — a  fact  we  shall 
notice  elsewhere.  The  west  gateway  is  even 
more  perfect.  The  north  gateway  is  best 
seen  from  the  outside,  its  splendid  masonry 
and  perfect  facing-stones  not  being  hidden, 
as  on  the  inside,  by  the  accumulation  of  soil. 
This  is  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  work  along 
the  Wall.  Inside  this  gate  is  a  large  stone 
trough,  and  close  to  it  what  have  been  con- 
sidered to  be  the  remains  of  a  blacksmith's 
shop.  The  south  gateway  is  like  the  others 
in  arrangement,  and,  like  the  others,  has  had 
one  of  its  portals  built  up,  and  the  space 
turned  into  a  room.  The  south  wall  here  is 
about  8  feet  high. 

The  interior  of  the  station — nearly  five 
acres — abounds  with  interesting  remains, 
although,  of  course,  it  has  been  necessary 


to  take  away  to  museums  portable  objects, 
in  order  to  save  them  from  the  hands  of  the 
spoiler — and  they  have  been  busy  in  times 
past  at  Borcovicus.  A  platform  of  masonry 
is  conjectured  to  have  been  a  support  for  a 
balista,  or  catapult,  a  theory  which  may  be 
confirmed  by  the  discovery  of  conical  stones 
near  it  and  near  the  north  wall.  A  large 
building  supported  by  buttresses  is  called 
the  "  Granary,"  because  the  ashes  of  much 
burnt  corn  were  found  here.  The  west  wall 
of  the  station  is  very  fine,  fourteen  courses 
of  facing-stones  being  above  ground.  South 
of  the  station  are  evidences  of  extensive 
suburbs ;  quarry-holes  abound  in  the  hill- 
side, and  traces  of  cultivation  may  be  noticed. 
For  the  art  treasures  discovered  here — the 
carved  pillar  capitals,  the  friezes,  the  frag- 
ments of  statuary,  the  altars,  and  the  inscribed 
stones,  all  of  which  testify  to  Borcovicus 
having  been,  like  Cilurnum,  something  more 
than  a  mere  rugged  fortress — we  must  go  to 
the  museums  at  Chesters  and  Newcastle. 

Altogether,  perhaps  Borcovicus  is  the  most 
fascinating  station  along  the  Wall,  from  the 
fact  that  the  world  in  which  its  ruins  now 
stand  is  so  utterly  dead  and  lonesome.  At 
Cilurnum,  at  Amboglanna,  the  life  of  to-day 
is  comparatively  close  by,  but  Borcovicus 
remains  far  removed  from  all  that  can  break 
in  to  disturb  its  solemn  death  silence. 

Quitting  Borcovicus,  we  enter  a  dark 
plantation  on  the  very  edge  of  the  precipitous 
rocks  which  overhang  a  lake.  The  Wall  here 
is  little  more  than  a  raised  bank  of  jumbled 
stones,  much  encumbered  with  growth,  along 
which  we  have  to  pick  our  way  with  some 
care  ;  but  when  we  issue  from  the  gloom  of 
the  trees  it  becomes  high  and  very  well  pre- 
served, especially  on  its  northern  face.  The 
best  plan  for  the  cautious  pilgrim  is  to  walk 
along  its  top,  which  is  5  feet  broad.  It  is 
not  quite  like  the  pavement  of  Piccadilly,  but 
it  is  safer  than  plunging  along  through  the 
deep  grass  at  its  base,  at  momentary  risk  of 
spraining  an  ankle  amongst  the  stones  therein 
hidden.  Moreover,  the  magnificent  view  of 
the  country  on  both  sides  is  herefrom  most 
completely  enjoyed.  Ladies  and  tender-feet 
should  follow  the  accompanying  military  way 
on  the  south  side,  which  is  easily  traceable  by 
the  line  of  field  gates.  On  a  fine  day 
nothing    can    be    more    enjoyable    than   a 

y  2 


172 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


tramp  along  these  heights ;  but  on  a  day  such 
as  June  26,  1906,  when  a  sou'-westerly  gale 
swept  its  hardest  across  the  Wall,  and  with  it 
rain  which  came  down  in  stinging  sheets,  it 
requires  enthusiasm  not  easily  damped. 

A  quarter  of  a  mile  from  Borcovicus  is  the 
Housesteads  mile-castle,  one  of  the  finest  on 
the  Wall.  The  Wall  itself,  here  more  than  9 
feet  high,  forms  the  north  rampart  of  the 
castle,  and  there  yet  remain  on  the  huge 
stones  on  each  side  of  the  gap  which  marks 
the  north  gate  the  "  springers  "  of  the  arch 
over  it.  The  castle  measures  58  feet  from 
east  to  west,  and  50  feet  from  north  to  south  ; 
the  average  thickness  of  the  walls  is  9  feet, 
and  on  the  north  side  10  feet.  The  south 
angles  of  the  castle  are  rounded  outside  and 
square  inside.  From  the  abundant  traces  of 
fire  here  and  from  other  signs,  it  seems  that 
the  little  fortress  had  been  overthrown  and 
burned  more  than  once. 

Altogether,  the  Housesteads  mile-castle  is 
a  relic  to  be  studied  leisurely  and  carefully, 
for  it  abounds  with  interesting  features. 

We  resume  our  westward  journey,  and,  look- 
ing back  when  we  reach  the  top  of  the  next 
hill,  Cuddy's  Crag,  we  get  an  excellent  view 
of  the  course  we  have  traversed.  We  descend 
now  rapidly,  and  as  the  Wall,  although  of 
good  height,  is  very  rough  at  the  top,  it  is 
best  to  jump  down  into  the  grass.  We  next 
reach  the  Hot  Bank  farm-house.  Here  we 
can  get  refreshment  as  we  examine  the 
engraving  of  Mr.  Spence's  Academy  picture 
"Borcovicus,"  and,  if  the  weather  be  fine, 
smoke  the  pipe  of  peace  outside,  and  follow 
the  course  of  the  Wall  with  our  eyes,  as  it 
dips  below  us,  reappears,  enters  the  dark 
plantation  on  the  heights  above  Crag  Lough, 
and  winds  away  in  the  far  distance  along  the 
top  of  the  precipices. 

Once,  when  we  were  young  and  thought- 
less and  the  sun  smote  hot,  we  bathed  in 
Crag  Lough.  Advice  to  such  as  are  not 
ordered  mud  cure :  Don't ! 

From  Hot  Bank  he  who  is  not  pressed  for 
time  should  leave  the  line  of  the  Wall  and 
strike  due  south  to  visit  Vindolana,  near 
Chesterholm,  one  of  the  stations  south  of  the 
Wall  and  the  Roman  milestone  near  thereto. 
Not  that  there  is  much  left  of  Vindolana, 
nor  that  there  is  anything  more  remarkable 
about  the  milestone  than  that  it  is  the  only 


one  in  situ  in  Great  Britain.  Still,  it  is  a 
pleasant,  picturesque  stroll,  and  we  pass 
under  Barcombe  Hill — once,  they  say, 
Borcum,  from  which,  it  is  said,  the  name  of 
Borcovicus  is  derived — and  the  farm-build- 
ings, with  the  old  Roman  Stane  or  Carel 
gate  coming  down  from  the  highland  make 
a  pretty  sketch,  and  it  is  something  to  see  a 
milestone  which  has  been  doing  duty  for 
1670  years.  A  mile  west  of  this  sturdy  old 
relic,  which  is  5  feet  high  and  6  feet  in  cir- 
cumference, is  the  shattered  shaft  of  another. 
This  road,  by  the  way,  leads  to  the  Bardon 
Mill  station  on  the  Newcastle  and  Carlisle 
Railway. 

Returning  to  Hot  Bank,  we  dip  down 
westward  to  Milking  Gap,  where  the  north 
fosse  is  deep  and  clear,  and  ascend  a  stiffish 
hill,  Steel  Rig  ;  then,  if  we  are  conscientious 
companions  of  the  Wall,  we  descend  the 
still  stiffer  western  side.  This  is  a  genuine 
bit  of  rock-work — from  the  unpractised 
mountaineer's  point  of  view— and  even  the 
Wall,  although  it  shirks  nothing,  is  built  with 
its  courses  of  stones  parallel  to  the  plain,  and 
not,  as  in  less  marked  declivities,  following 
the  slope  of  the  ground.  Again  we  ascend 
and  descend  to  Castle  Nick,  where  are  the 
very  good  remains  of  a  mile-castle,  of  which 
the  walls  are  6  feet  high  and  7  feet  thick ; 
the  depth  from  north  to  south  62  feet,  and 
the  breadth  from  east  to  west  50  feet. 
There  are  boundary  walls  inside,  but  ap- 
parently of  later  construction  than  the  castle, 
for  during  the  troublous  period  of  the  Border 
wars  the  mile-castles,  so  easily  rendered 
useful  as  stables,  halting-places,  and  even 
places  of  sojourn,  were  largely  utilized  by  the 
moss-troopers. 

A  peculiarity  which  even  the  Southern 
know-nothing  must  notice  is  that  there  is 
a  north  gateway  in  this  castle,  which 
simply  leads  out  on  to  the  edge  of  the 
precipice.  This  is  cited  as  a  proof  that  even 
in  Roman  days  red-tape  was  not  unknown. 
We  ascend  gently,  and  on  the  other  side 
descend  anything  but  gently  by  what  are 
fitly  called  the  "  Cats'  Stairs."  Again  we 
ascend,  and  again  we  descend,  and  very 
roughly,  the  not  far  from  perpendicular  Peel 
Crag,  and  reach  a  broad  gap  where  the  wall 
takes  a  bend  inwards,  like  the  arc  of  a  bow. 
This  bend  was  strategic,  for  the  ground  in 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


173 


front  of  the  bend  was  once  a  deep  swamp, 
and  the  apparently  weak  spot  in  the  line  of 
fortification  must  have  often  proved  a  fatal 
trap  to  invaders. 

We  now  ascend  Whinshields  Fell,  where 
the  Wall  attains  its  highest  point— 1,230  feet 
above  the  sea-level.  The  view  from  the  top 
is  magnificent.  Westward,  far  away,  glimmers 
the  Solway  Firth,  beyond  which,  in  dim  blue 
outline,  are  the  Scottish  hills.  Far  away  to 
our  right  can  be  seen  the  masses  of  Criffel 
and  Birrenswark,  and  in  the  middle  distance 
the  wild,  almost  trackless,  waste  of  the  Bew- 
castle  Fells. 

After  a  well-earned  rest  we  descend  to 
Shield  on  the  Wall,  where  are  traces  of  a 
mile -castle  ;  ascend  over  rough,  rocky 
ground,  and  descend  steeply  to  Bogle 
Hole;  climb  again,  and  get  down  to  Caw 
Gap,  the  Wall  all  this  time  being  alternately 
a  wreck  and  in  fair  condition.  Two  more 
gaps  have  to  be  negotiated — I  use  the  word 
literally,  and  not  in  its  ridiculous  football 
sense,  for  all  the  care  of  a  delicate  business 
transaction  has  to  be  exercised  if  we  would 
avoid  tumbles  and  sprains — and  in  the  third 
gap  stands  the  interesting  Cawfields  mile- 
castle. 

Cawfields  measures  49  feet  north  to 
south,  and  63  feet  east  to  west ;  its  walls 
average  6  feet  in  height  and  8  feet  in  thick- 
ness ;  and  the  masonry  of  the  north  and 
south  gates  is  in  very  fine  condition,  their 
width  being  10  feet. 

About  150  yards  west  of  Cawfields,  at 
Burnhead,  one  of  the  best  turrets  on  the 
Wall  was  excavated  in  1905,  its  projection 
from  the  Wall  being  11  feet.  Close  up  to 
the  turret  quarries,  hateful  to  the  view,  have 
come,  and  for  a  long  distance  the  Wall  has 
been  destroyed.  We  cross  the  quarry  yard 
with  evil  thoughts  in  our  minds,  and  regain 
the  north  ditch  of  the  Wall,  here  very  deep. 
Crossing  Haltwhistle  Burn,  we  make  a  steep 
ascent,  and  are  presently  at  the  important 
and  interesting  station  ^Esica.  When  I  first 
tramped  the  Wall,  twenty  years  ago,  yEsica 
was  little  more  than  a  collection  of  grassy 
mounds.  Since  then  careful  excavation  has 
proved  it  to  be  one  of  the  most  interesting 
of  the  Wall  stations.  As  an  instance  I  may 
quote  the  west  gateway,  of  which  Dr.  Bruce 
wrote,  "  no  satisfactory  traces  remain,"  and 


which  is  now  one  of  the  most  remarkable. 
^Esica  covered  three  acres,  without  the 
suburbs,  and  was  garrisoned  by  a  cohort  of 
Asturians  from  Spain. 

The  whole  of  the  ramparts  and  the  gates 
are  now  above  ground,  and  the  chief  objects 
of  interest  are  :  (1)  The  west  gate,  with  its 
mute  story  of  calamity  and  destruction,  told 
by  the  evidence  of  the  built-up  south  portal, 
and  the  rough  pavement  of  the  north  portal, 
raised  upon  the  debris  of  previous  ruin — 
such  a  rough  and  hasty  piece  of  work  that  it 
is  questioned  if  even  degenerate  Romans 
performed  it.  The  latest  researches  seem  to 
show  that  there  had  been  three  occupations 
of  ^Esica,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  recon- 
structing work  is  of  worse  quality  as  we  get 
higher.  (2)  The  fortress  arrangement  at  the 
junction  of  the  great  Wall  and  the  rounded 
north-west  angle  of  the  station.  (3)  The 
supposed  cerarium,  or  treasure-chamber,  of 
the  same  character  as  that  at  Cilurnum. 
(4)  The  remains  of  a  large  building  which, 
from  its  appearance  and  from  relics  found 
there,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  granary, 
which  collapsed  and  was  rebuilt  about 
230  a.d.,  according  to  an  inscribed  stone 
discovered.  (5)  The  traces  of  the  water- 
course on  the  north  side  of  the  Wall,  by 
which  the  camp  was  supplied  from  the 
Cawburn.  There  are  evidences  of  extensive 
suburbs  on  the  south  side  of  the  station,  and 
of  quarries  on  the  hillsides.  Between  ^Esica 
and  Lowtown,  which  lies  west,  the  lines  of 
the  vallum  are  seen  distinctly,  and  are 
particularly  interesting  to  those  who  agree 
with  Mr.  Neilson's  theory  as  to  its  purpose. 
In  ruined  /Esica,  but  still  a  more  imposing 
^Esica  than  that  we  see  to-day,  St.  Cuthbert 
is  said  to  have  preached  during  his  evangeliz- 
ing tour  through  the  wild  parts  of  North- 
umbria. 

After  ^Esica  we  set  to  crag-work  again, 
and  here  the  Wall  is  little  better  than  a 
rubbish  mound ;  but  after  Cockmount  Hill 
a  good  stretch  or  two  appear,  the  facing- 
stones  on  the  north  side  being  very  well 
preserved.  We  pass  Allolee  Farm,  into  the 
walls  of  which  inscribed  stones  have  been 
built,  and  then  we  start  the  stiff  passage  of 
the  Nine  Nicks  of  Thirlwall.  We  give  the 
name  as  spoken  and  printed,  but  to  him 
who  has  already  had  some  hours  of  up-and- 


174 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN   WALL. 


down  work  there  seem  to  be  more  like 
ninety  nicks.  It  is  pretty  hard  walking,  as 
there  is  no  level  and  not  much  smooth 
ground,  but  the  varied  views,  the  fine  air, 
and  the  absorbing  quest  of  the  Wall,  keep 
one  going  strongly  and  enjoyably.  At  Muckle- 
bank,  the  highest  of  the  nicks,  a  fine  turret 
has  been  comparatively  lately  excavated, 
where  the  Wall  makes  a  sharp  southward 
turn,  so  that  north  and  west  sides  of  the 
turret  are  formed  by  the  Wall. 

At  Walltown  is  a  spring  known  as  the 
King's  Well,  of  ancient  historical  and  legend- 
ary fame,  whereat  all  good  Wall  pilgrims 
drink,  and  in  the  crevices  of  the  rocks 
around  wild  chives  grow  abundantly,  as  they 
are  said  to  have  grown  ever  since  Roman 
times. 

Still  continuing  up  and  down  the  crags,  along 
the  very  top  of  which  the  Wall  unswervingly 
runs,  we  reach,  at  two  and  a  half  miles 
from  y£sica,  the  site  of  Magna,  now  called 
Carvoran.  It  is  not  strictly  a  Wall  station,  as 
it  stands  ioo  yards  south  of  the  vallum  on  the 
Stane  or  Carel  gate,  and  was  probably  built 
before  the  Wall.  The  station  contained  3^ 
acres,  but  since  the  days  of  Stukely,  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  described 
the  ruins  as  "  stately,"  the  plough  has  been  so 
constantly  at  work  on  the  site  that  very  little 
remains  to  be  seen.  Magna,  however,  is 
remarkable  for  the  number  of  valuable  and 
interesting  inscribed  stones  which  have  been 
found  there,  and  this,  coupled  with  the  facts 
that  two  important  roads — the  Stane  gate, 
running  east  and  west,  and  the  Maiden  way, 
running  north  and  south — came  under  its 
walls,  and  that,  as  commanding  the  Tipalt 
Valley,  it  was  strategically  important,  would 
establish  it  as  a  station  of  more  than 
ordinary  value. 

Here  we  bid  farewell  to  the  lone  and 
mountainous  portion  of  our  journey ;  we 
descend  to  the  fertile  plains,  and  shall  be 
more  or  less  in  touch  with  the  life  of  to-day 
for  the  rest  of  the  way.  We  pass  by 
Thirlwall  Castle,  a  dark,  gloomy  mass  built 
of  Wall  stones,  appropriately  linked  with  at 
least  one  grim  legend,  of  which  the  name 
undoubtedly  is  derived  from  the  weakness  of 
the  Wall's  position  here.  No  less  than  five 
hill  camps — at  Glenwhelt  Leazes,  Chapelrig, 
Crooks,  Thorp  and  Willowford — testify  to  the 


Roman  appreciation  of  this  weakness.  We 
lose  here  for  the  first  time  all  traces  of  Wall 
and  vallum  in  the  broad  meadow  between 
the  castle  and  the  railway,  which  we  cross 
near  Greenhead  Station,  but  the  latter  re- 
appears when  we  reach  the  Poltross  Burn — 
the  border-line  of  Northumberland  and 
Cumberland. 

At  the  burn-side  traces  of  the  retaining  walls 
of  the  vallum  ditch  where  it  crossed  are 
visible,  and  the  cutting  through  which  the 
stane  gate  approached  the  stream,  was  found 
to  have  been  lined  with  masonry.  Of  the 
bridge  nothing  is  left,  unless  a  stone  in  mid- 
stream is  a  pier.  Above  the  burn,  on  the 
west  side,  a  place  locally  known  as  "  The 
King's  Stables  "  probably  is  the  site  of  the 
mile-castle  which  guarded  the  passage. 

Guided  by  the  vallum  fosse,  which  is 
here  very  wide  and  deep,  we  cross  the  rail- 
way again,  and  get  to  the  garden  of  Gilsland 
Vicarage,  where  we  are  courteously  allowed 
to  examine  the  fine  length  of  Wall,  with  a  30- 
inch  projecting  course  at  its  base,  and  many 
stones  and  other  relics  unearthed  here. 
(To  be  concluded. ) 


^ome  antiquities  of  Ciree, 

By  W.  G.  Collingwood,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 

HE  Captain  says,  could  he  see 
you  on  the  bridge."  I  left  my 
breakfast  and  ran  up.  It  was 
a  brilliant  morning  of  blue  and 
white,  such  as  one  gets  only  at  sea  or  on  snow- 
peaks,  and  the  foam  was  shooting  in  geysers 
from  skerries  and  nesses  all  round  us.  Well 
had  the  Vikings  called  that  harbour  Skerry- 
ness,  Scarinish. 

"  I  can't  put  you  ashore,"  said  the  Captain. 
"Oh,  but  you  must,"  said  I ;  for  across  the 
tumult  of  roller  and  rock  yonder  was  the 
shrine  of  our  pilgrimage,  low  green  hills 
gleaming  in  the  sun,  and  the  ghosts  of  a 
thousand  romantic  years  beckoning.  For 
Tiree  is  an  enchanted  island.  Strange  tribes 
lived  there  before  the  dawn  of  history,  and 
you  can  pick  up  their  pots  and  tools  in  the 
sand.     Unknown  architects  built  fairy  castles 


SOME  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIREE. 


l75 


on  sea-crags  and  islands ;  Pictish  farmers 
made  the  bleak  soil  into  a  "  land  of  corn," 
Tir-heth,  while  the  Saxons  were  still  fighting 
for  Britain ;  Irish  monks  found  paradise  here, 
laborantes  oranles  ;  Vikings  brought  the  ser- 
pent on  their  prow  and  the  saga  in  their 
wake,  then  settled  as  "jarls"  and  "holds," 
and  bred  the  MacDonalds  who  defied  King 
Hakon,  and  the  MacLeans  who  defied 
King  James.  And  so  down  to  modern 
times  Tiree  has  been  a  land  apart,  and  still 
teems  with  the  memorials  of  romance.  Had 
we  not  read  it  all  in  the  book  of  Mr. 
Erskine  Beveridge?  and  must  we  return 
disappointed  ? 


enough  to  see  and  sketch,  and  we  could  not 
go  hunting  for  vague  relics  of  sand-blown 
burials  and  kitchen-middens.  If  we  could 
ever  come  again,  there  is  Brown's  hotel  near 
the  harbour  for  headquarters  on  a  longer 
stay;  a  "temperance"  inn — for  it  is  a  tee- 
total island,  whence,  some  remarked,  the 
tidy  and  prosperous  look  of  the  tarred 
cottages,  so  different  from  the  forlorn  huts 
of  many  West  Highland  and  Hebridean 
crofters. 

Past  the  Manse,  standing  rather  cheer- 
lessly alone  on  a  wind-swept  flat,  we  came 
to  our  first  fort,  Dun  Gott  (Fig.  i).  This 
is  just  a  rocky  and  grass-grown  headland, 


FIG.    I. — DUN    GOTT,    TIREE. 
(From  a  sketch  by  W.  G.  C.) 


This  I  explained  to  the  Captain  on  the 
bridge,  and  wrested  leave  from  him  to  go 
ashore  if  we  could.  We  did,  and  never  re- 
pented it.  There  was  some  rather  nervous 
work  in  getting  the  ladies  from  the  flooded 
gangway  to  the  pitching  boat,  but  our  High- 
land padre  caught  them  in  stalwart  arms  as 
they  jumped.  At  the  end  of  the  trip  two 
kind  ministers  of  Tiree  were  ready  to  give  a 
hand  up  the  slimy  wharf.  Wet  clothes  dried 
quickly  in  sun  and  wind,  and  we  had  a 
glorious  day. 

We  wanted  to  sample  the  island;  there 
was  not  time  to  explore  it.  There  are  fifteen 
or  sixteen  sites  of  ancient  chapels,  and  twice 
as  many  of  early  forts.     Three  of  each  were 


peninsular  at  high  tide,  and  then  rising  but 
little  above  the  waves.  Its  scale  can  be 
gathered  from  the  fence  wall  running  over  it, 
which  would  be  some  4  feet  high.  At  first 
one  sees  nothing  to  justify  the  name  of 
Dun,  for  any  stones  of  its  wall  have  fallen 
into  the  sea,  or  been  used  in  building  the 
fence.  But  in  the  hollow  of  its  green  cup 
there  are  four  distinct  hut-circles  (not,  I 
think,  previously  mentioned),  and  traces  of 
more,  and  under  the  turf  slight  suggestion  of 
rampart.  Mr.  Beveridge  gives  its  size  as 
"  some  6  yards  by  8." 

To  restore  the  fort  as  it  was  in  pre- 
Columban  days,  one  must  imagine  a  high 
wall  rising  from  the  rock's  edge,  with  a  gate- 


176 


SOME  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIREE. 


way  to  landward,  and  dome-shaped  houses 
within.  They  might  hold  two  dozen  of 
people — hardly  more  as  regular  residents — 
pounding  their  corn  with  hammer-stones, 
cooking  their  broth  in  roughly-shaped  and 
rudely-ornamented  pots  by  throwing  in  the 
hot  pebbles  from  the  fire,  chipping  arrow- 
heads of  flint,  and  dressing  skins  with  flint 
scrapers.  Outside  would  be  their  coracles 
on  the  beach,  and  on  the  open  grassy  plain 


load  of  determined  invaders,  and  yet  the 
labour  of  its  building  must  have  been  worth 
while.  Long  before  the  Viking  Age  there 
were  pirates  in  these  seas,  as  we  gather 
from  Adamnan's  Life  of  Columba  ;  it  needed 
no  distinction  of  race  to  set  the  ancient  Celt 
against  his  neighbours,  and  these  forts, 
fringing  the  coast,  must  have  been  necessary. 
But  they  would  be  most  useful  rather  as 
refuges    than    as   dwellings,    like    the    peel- 


FIG.  2. — DUN    BEG   VAUL   IN   THE   DISTANCE,    FROM   THE   TOP   OF   DUN    MOR   VAUL,    TIREE. 

(From  a  sketch  by  W.  G.  C.) 


their  cornfields  and  cows.  Such  details  we 
gather  from  the  remains  found  in  similar 
forts  on  the  island. 

But  was  it  a  place  of  regular  residence? 
In  stormy  weather,  with  a  wind  from  the 
east  and  a  high  tide,  it  would  be  spray- 
swept.  Out  of  the  small  number  of  families 
it  would  hold,  very  few  persons  could  be 
effective  soldiers,  though  the  ancient  Gaelic 
women  fought  alongside  of  their  men.  So 
few  could  hardly  garrison  it  against  a  boat- 


towers  near  the  harbours  and  at  the  river- 
fords  of  Northern  England.  When  strangers 
were  sighted  those  of  the  natives  who  could 
run  ran  to  the  fort,  and  held  it  until  the 
enemy  retired  with  what  plunder  he  could 
carry  off,  or  was  driven  from  the  attack. 
Such  raids  were  transitory,  but  farming  was 
always  a  hardy  perennial. 

Two  miles  and  a  half  north  of  Dun  Gott, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  island,  is  a 
different  type  of  fort,   Dun   Beg  Vaul,  and 


SOME  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIREE. 


177 


near  that  a  third  type  in  Dun  Mor  Vaul. 
Both  are  close  to  the  shore  of  Vaul  Bay. 
Mr.  Erskine  Beveridge  thinks  that  the  name 
Vaul  is  evidently  of  Norse  origin,  like  so 
many  in  the  Hebrides,  and  suggests  the 
Icelandic  vcigr,  a  bay,  or  vollr,  a  field.  The 
word  vagr  means  rather  a  long  inlet,  voe, 
than  a  bay,  and  hardly  applies  here.  But 
he  traces  the  old  name  Weill,  Wyle,  or 
Woill  as  possibly  denoting  a  strip  of  flat 
land  stretching  across  the  island  northward 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  Scarinish,  like 
another  called  the  Reef,  more  to  the  west. 
This  flat  land  reaches  Vaul  Bay,  and  would 
be  the  voll  of  the  Norse.  The  terminal  r  is 
merely  the  nominative  case-ending,  usually 
dropped  in  derivative  place-names  in  Britain. 
So  that  I  suggest  for  a  translation  of  Dun 
Mor  and  Beg  Vaul,  Great  and  Little  Fort  of 
the  Fields. 

Dun  Beg  Vaul  is  a  big  truncated  cone, 
looking  from  a  distance  exactly  like  a  moot- 
hill.  It  was  built  up  with  many  a  ton  of 
smallish  stones  and  earth  upon  a  core  of 
rock,  and  at  first  approach  suggests  a  huge 
broch  gone  to  ruin.  But  on  the  top,  towards 
the  south-east,  there  is  an  inner  circle  of 
walling,  5  feet  thick ;  and  there  seem  also  to 
have  been  walls  round  the  bottom  of  the 
mound  and  round  the  cone  half  way  up,  and 
again  round  the  edge  of  the  summit,  so  that 
it  must  be  classed  with  the  more  elaborate 
though  minor  stone-walled  forts.  On  the  flat 
summit,  towards  the  north,  are  some  small 
buildings — later,  I  think,  than  the  ruin  of 
the  fort ;  and  on  the  north  side  we  noticed 
a  rock  basin,  reminding  us  of  one  on  Dun 
Domhnuill  in  Oransay,  which  was  perhaps 
useful  as  a  dew-pond  or  rain-tank.  Mr. 
Erskine  Beveridge  records  a  little  pottery, 
kitchen-midden  shells  and  bones,  and  a  few 
rude  hammer-stones,  giving  as  early  a  date 
as  that  of  other  forts  in  Tiree.  A  small  hut- 
circle  is  on  the  flat  ground  to  south  of  the 
fort,  and  there  are  traces  of  roadways  ap- 
proaching the  Dun  from  the  south-east  and 
east. 

This  fort  is  near  the  still  greater  work  of 
Dun  Mor  Vaul,  and  within  full  view  of  it,  as 
the  sketch  shows  (Fig.  2).  Dun  Mor  Vaul 
is  called  by  Mr.  Erskine  Beveridge  a  "  semi- 
broch,"  and  is  one  of  a  series  which  he 
has  found  in  Tiree  in  four  clearly -defined 

VOL.  III. 


examples,  while  he  can  only  suspect  one  in 
the  many  duns  of  the  neighbouring  island 
Coll,  and  can  only  suggest  that  some  of  the 
more  ruined  brochs  of  the  Long  Island  may 
have  been  of  this  type.  So  very  limited  is 
the  area  of  "  semi-brochs "  that  they  can 
hardly  be  said  to  exist  outside  Tiree ;  and 
yet  they  are  of  curious  interest  in  the  history 
of  primitive  architecture. 

A  broch,  roughly  speaking,  is  a  big  round 
tower,  built  without  mortar,  and  having  pas- 
sages in  the  thickness  of  its  walls  all  round 
the  tower,  and  one  over  another,  with 
windows  looking  inwards  to  the  well  of  the 
tower,  and  stairs  in  the  passages,  winding 
round  to  the  top.  People  could  hardly  have 
lived  in  those  passages — they  are  too  narrow, 
but  through  them  the  defenders  could  reach 
the  "  fighting-deck"  on  the  top.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  in  any  broch  where  the  remains  are 
pretty  complete  there  are  hut-circles  in  a 
sort  of  outer  bailey,  and  there,  no  doubt, 
people  lived.  A  "semi-broch"  is  a  one-story 
broch  with  no  stairs.  It  seems  like  the 
transitional  form  between  the  round  stone 
fort  with  guard-rooms  in  the  thickness  of  the 
walls  and  the  high  broch.  In  the  sketch  the 
passage  is  seen,  as  excavated  some  years  ago, 
with  one  roofing-slab  still  in  place.  It  is 
built  of  bigger  stones  than  Dun  Beg  Vaul, 
and  this,  together  with  its  more  complicated 
structure,  suggests  a  somewhat  later  period 
of  development,  though  the  finds  recorded 
(pottery,  hammer-stones,  pebbles,  flints,  etc.) 
give  no  hint  of  difference  in  the  culture  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  the  exterior  ramparts, 
enclosing  hut-circles  and  a  well,  are  not 
unlike  what  we  have  observed  already.  In 
the  sketch  the  smooth,  rounded  hill  to  the 
right,  with  a  heap  of  stones  on  its  side,  is 
part  of  the  great  exterior  rampart. 

And  yet  why  should  these  two  forts  be  so 
close  together  if  contemporary  ?  Dun  Mor 
may  have  superseded  Dun  Beg,  as  many  a 
new  mansion  has  superseded  the  old  castle 
near  it.  The  convenience  of  getting  upon 
the  "  fighting-deck  "  at  any  point,  by  rising 
out  of  the  passage  without  exposing  oneself 
in  the  act,  would  be  an  improvement  upon 
the  old  plan  of  standing  up  there  as  a  target. 
At  any  rate,  it  gives  us  a  high  idea  of  the 
architectural  inventiveness  of  the  Picts,  the 
traditional  "  fairy  "  masons  of  all  the  North 

z 


178 


SOME  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIREE. 


of  Britain,  to  see  them  try  one  form  after 
another  of  laborious  and  costly  fortification. 
They  had  only  rough  stones  to  use,  and  how 
cleverly  they  handled  their  materials  ! 

On  our  way  back  to  Scarinish  we  revisited 
the  three  chapel  sites  at  Kirkapoll,  the  Norse 
Kirkju-bol,  "kirkstead."  Of  these  one  has 
lost  its  chapel  except  traces  of  foundations, 
and  retains  only  the  burying-ground,  known 
as  Claodh  Mor  or  Claodh  Odhrain  (St.  Oran's 
Graveyard).  The  larger  and  more  recent  of 
the   two   standing   ruins   is  called  from  its 


in  Tiree ;  fire  and  water  have  swept  them 
entirely  away,  as  in  Iona.  But  since  the 
monasteries  of  the  period  were  so  very  com- 
monly fortified,  we  might  expect  the  sites  to 
be  in  or  near  Duns.  One  of  these  monas- 
teries in  Tiree  was  that  known  anciently  as 
Artchain,  founded  by  St.  Findchan,  and 
Ardkirknish  is  supposed  to  represent  the 
place.  This  is  close  to  Dun  Balaphetrish, 
"  the  fort  of  the  town  of  St.  Patrick,"  a  large 
flat  space,  strongly  ramparted,  like  the 
fortified  monasteries  in  Ireland,  and  like  the 


*T 


TJotk  CK*pr<  -.-  Tiree, 


FIG.   3. — THE    ROCK    CHAPEL. 
(From  a  sketch  by  Miss  D.  S.  Collingwood.) 


graveyard  Claodh  Beg  ;  the  smaller  and  more 
ancient  is  believed  to  have  been  dedicated 
to  St.  Columba,  for  it  seems  to  be  mentioned 
in  a  Papal  document  (published  by  Munch) 
as  the  Church  of  St.  Columba  "  de  Kerepol 
Sodoriensis  diocesis,"  and  it  is  generally 
known  as  the  Rock  Chapel,  because  it  stands 
perched  on  a  rocky  mound  alone  and  un- 
enclosed. 

There  are  naturally  no  remains  of  the 
wattled  churches  and  monasteries  of  the 
Columban  period,  of  which  four  are  recorded 


site  which  I  have  elsewhere  discussed  as 
possibly  representing  Columba's  Rath  in 
Iona.  But  there  is  no  fort  at  Soroby, 
usually  identified  with  Columba's  own 
foundation  in  Tiree  at  "  campus  navis,  id  est 
Mag-lunga";  nor  can  we  yet  say  where  the 
monasteries  stood  which  St.  Comgall  (565) 
and  St.  Brendan  (about  the  same  time) 
founded  here. 

Our  chapels  are  many  centuries  younger. 
The  Rock  Chapel  has  two  lancet  windows  at 
the  east  end  (not  seen  in  the  sketch,  Fig.  3), 


SOME  ANTIQUITIES  OF  TIREE. 


179 


though  the  narrow  door  (seen  in  the  sketch) 
is  round-headed — no  proof  of  twelfth-century 
building  in  the  Hebrides,  where  round  arches 
and  grave  crosses  survived  to  a  late  period. 
At  the  west  end,  outside,  is  a  little  recess, 
apparently  for  an  image.  No  engraving  or 
photograph  can  suggest  the  curious  blend  of 
gold  and  grey  which  the  lichen  has  given  to 
both  these  ruins,  making  their  colour  gor- 
geously rich  in  the  sunshine  against  the  blue 
of  the  sea  and  sky. 


case  of  the  forts,  why  are  these  three  churches 
so  close  together  and  so  nearly  of  a  date? 
At  Bowes  in  North  Yorkshire  there  are  two 
fonts  apparently  of  the  twelfth  century,  one 
broken.  It  seems  as  though  a  Scottish  raid 
smashed  the  fine  original  basin,  and  village 
art  produced  a  ruder  substitute.  So  here,  in 
the  wars  of  the  clans,  following  the  transfer 
of  the  Hebrides  from  Norway  to  Scotland, 
perhaps  the  site  was  more  than  once  dese- 
crated, and  religious  feeling  required  a  new 


Ctaodfi   Bef!  Tiree 


FIG.   4.— CLAODH    BEG. 
(From  a  sketch  by  Mhs  Hilde  Hamburger.) 


The  chapel  at  Claodh  Beg  (the  smaller 
graveyard,  but  the  bigger  chapel)  is  more 
recent,  though  Muir  assigned  the  thirteenth 
century  (Fig.  4).  But  its  round  arches  are 
again  no  proof,  and  the  West  Highland 
grave-slabs  in  it  are  late  of  their  style ;  one  is 
dated  1495.  These  slabs,  we  were  told, 
have  been  rubbed  by  Lady  Victoria  Camp- 
bell as  models  for  a  local  carving-class — a 
capital  example  of  using  native  subjects  for 
native  art.     But,  as  we  asked  before,  in  the 


erection.  Even  in  heathen  times  this  was 
felt  and  done.  We  have  the  tenth-century 
example  of  the  desecration  of  the  temple  on 
Thorsness  in  Iceland,  and  its  rebuilding  on 
a  site  at  some  little  distance. 

At  Claodh  Mor  (Claodh  Odhrain)  traces 
of  foundation  have  proved  that  there  was  a 
chapel,  as  might  be  inferred,  and  the  pre- 
sumption is  that  it  was  dedicated  to  St.  Oran, 
who  was,  from  the  legend  cf  his  living  burial, 
the  tutelary  of  graveyards.     Here  there  are 

z  2 


i8o 


"THE  PARISH  CLERK." 


late  mediaeval  and  modern  tombs,  but  one 
stone  with  a  plain  I^atin  cross  incised  appears 
to  date  back  to  an  earlier  age  than  any  other 
remains  at  Kirkapoll.  The  dedication  to 
St.  Oran  would  suggest  a  possibly  earlier  date 
than  either  of  the  existing  chapels,  as  at  Iona, 
though  by  no  means  necessarily  carrying  us 
back  to  the  Columban  period. 

The  famous  cross  at  Soroby  is  so  well 
illustrated  in  Mr.  Erskine  Beveridge's  Coll 
and  Tiree  that  it  needs  no  attempt  to  sketch 
and  describe  it.  The  other  forts,  though 
each  has  a  character  of  its  own,  are  more  or 
less  repetitions  of  the  types  here  given — 
strange  and  fascinating  problems  not  yet 
wholly  solved  by  the  antiquary,  but  still 
awaiting  the  exploration  and  comparison 
which  shall  turn  their  misty  romance  into 
the  no  less  poetical  twilight-glimmer  of  our 
Northern  Mother  Age. 


»# 


"Cbe  IPatisf)  Clerk,' 


HE  parish  clerk  was  once  so  im- 
portant a  figure  in  matters  ecclesi- 
astical— the  mediaeval  clerk's  duties 
were  multifarious  —  his  office  is 
associated  with  so  much  in  Church  history 
and  ritual  that  is  of  interest,  and  he  himself 
has  become  the  centre  of  such  a  mass  of 
anecdote  and  tradition,  that  it  is  surprising 
that  a  complete  monograph  on  him  and  his 
office  was  not  published  long  ago.  The  gap, 
however,  is  now  most  satisfactorily  filled. 
The  story  of  the  parish  clerk  could  not  have 
been  placed  in  better  hands  than  those  of 
Mr.  Ditchfield.  In  the  handsome  volume 
before  us  he  has  done  full  justice  to  the 
theme.  The  book  is  not  only  a  most  enter- 
taining storehouse  of  anecdote,  but  it  dis- 
cusses fully  and  well  the  archaeology — if  we 
may  use  the  word — of  the  clerk's  office. 

The  clerkship  in  mediaeval  times  seems 
often  to  have  served  as  a  kind  of  apprentice- 
ship to  the  ministry,  being  accepted  by  poor 
scholars  with  a  view  to  later  service  in  the 

*  The  Parish  Clerk.  By  P.  H.  Ditchfield,  M.A., 
F.S.A.  With  31  illustrations.  London:  Methuen 
and  Co.,  1 907.  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  x,  340.  Price 
7s.  6d.  net. 


higher  office.  Mr.  Ditchfield  quotes  the  will 
of  a  rector  in  1389,  who  bequeaths  to  "  John 
Penne,  my  clerk,  a  missal  of  the  New  Use  of 
Sarum,  if  he  wishes  to  be  a  priest,  otherwise  I 
give  him  20s.";  in  1337  a  Giles  deGadlesmere 
left  "  to  William  Ockam,  clerk,  two  shillings, 
unless  he  be  promoted  before  my  death  ";  a 
canon  of  Newburgh  asked  for  Sir  William 
Plumpton's  influence  that  his  brother  might 
have  a  clerkship,  and  "  even  the  sons  of  kings 
and  lords  did  not  consider  it  beneath  the 
dignity  of  their  position  to  perform  the  duties 
of  a  clerk."  These  duties  were  varied  ;  they 
often  included  the  opening  of  the  church,  the 
ringing  of  bells,  the  oversight  of  books  and 
vestments  for  the  priest,  singing  in  the  choir, 
the  sweeping  of  the  floor  of  the  church,  the 
care  of  the  roofs  and  gutters,  and  generally 
the  oversight  of  all  church  furniture.  At 
special  seasons  he  had  special  duties.  He 
provided  palms  for  Palm  Sunday,  watched 
the  Easter  sepulchre  "  til  the  resurrecion  be 
don,"  and  then  took  down  the  "lenten 
clothys "  from  the  altar  and  rood.  For 
flagellation  he  provided  discipline  rods.  He 
bore  holy  water  to  the  parishioners,  dis- 
tributed portions  of  the  loaf  blessed  by  the 
priest,  and  performed  a  variety  of  other 
functions,  which  often  varied  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  He  was  sometimes,  for 
instance,  schoolmaster  and  choirmaster,  as 
shown  by  extracts  from  Churchwardens' 
Accounts  quoted  by  Mr.  Ditchfield. 

The  clerk's  most  important  duties  were,  of 
course,  those  connected  with  the  part  he 
took  in  the  services  of  the  church,  in  reading 
and  singing.  He  had  a  right  to  read  the 
epistle  and  one  of  the  lessons  ;  he  chanted 
the  opening  words  of  the  psalms  when  they 
were  sung,  and  read  psalms  and  responses 
when  they  were  not  sung.  As  the  office 
sank  in  esteem,  and  was  filled  by  men  of 
little  education,  the  part  played  by  the  clerk 
became  restricted,  until  in  days  still  within 
living  memory  he  was  little  more  than  a 
survival. 

Mr.  Ditchfield,  after  discussing  the  antiquity 
and  continuity  of  the  office,  and  after  treating 
fully  of  the  mediaeval  clerk  and  his  duties, 
deals  in  a  succession  of  chapters,  brightly 
written  and  abounding  in  illustration  and 
anecdote,  with  the  clerk  in  literature,  in 
smuggling  days,  and  in  epitaph  ;   with  the 


"THE  PARISH  CLERK." 


181 


company  of  parish  clerks,  the  clerks  of 
London — their  duties  and  privileges,  Clerken- 
well  and  Clerks'  Plays,  clerks  and  parish 
registers,  the  clerk  as  a  poet,  as  a  giver  out 
of  notices,  and  in  art  •>  women  clerks,  York- 
shire clerks,  old  clerks  and  their  ways,  and 
so  on  through  a  variety  of  delightfully  readable 
chapters.  The  book  abounds  with  good 
stories  of  all  dates,  from  Jacobean  and  earlier 
times  downwards.  Some  are  familiar;  very 
many  are  new ;  all  are  good.  We  cite  a  few 
examples.  First,  the  poetical  clerk.  One  of 
these  worthies,  in  a  North  Devon  parish,  who 
had  a  great  admiration  for  Bishop  Phillpotts 
of  Exeter,  on  giving  out  the  hymn,  said  : 
"  Let  us  sing  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  of  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Exeter."  On  another  occa- 
sion when  the  Bishop  visited  the  church  he 
was  surprised  to  hear  the  clerk  give  out  at 
the  end  of  the  service,  "  Let  us  sing  in  honour 
of  his  lordship,  '  God  save  the  King.'  "  The 
Bishop  rose  hastily,  saying  to  his  chaplain, 
"  Come  along,  Barnes  ;  we  shall  have  '  Rule, 
Britannia  !'  next." 

Next,  the  clerk  as  notice-giver.  The  laxity 
of  things  in  early  nineteenth-century  days  is 
revealed  by  the  story  of  the  Shropshire  clerk 
who  on  Easter  Day  announced,  "  Last  Friday 
was  Good  Friday,  but  we've  forgotten  un  ; 
so  next  Friday  will  be."  A  Northumbrian 
clerk  used  to  give  out  the  metrical  version  of 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Psalms  thus  : 

As  pants  the  'art  for  coolin'  streams 
When  'eated  in  the  chaise, 

which,  Mr.  Ditchfield  remarks,  "  seems  to 
foreshadow  the  triumph  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion, the  carted  deer."  Stories  of  sporting 
clerks  abound.  One  on  Quinquagesima 
Sunday  announced  with  regard  to  Ash 
Wednesday,  "There  will  be  no  service  on 
Wednesday — 'coss  why?  Mester  be  going 
hunting,  and  so  beeze  I !" — with  triumphant 
emphasis. 

A  few  miscellaneous  stories  in  conclusion. 
An  old  country  clerk,  in  showing  visitors 
round  the  churchyard,  used  to  stop  at  a 
certain  tombstone  and  say :  "  This  'ere  is  the 
tomb  of  Thomas  'Ooper  and  'is  eleven  wives." 
One  day  a  lady  remarked :  "  Eleven  ?  Dear 
me,  that's  rather  a  lot,  isn't  it?"  The  old 
man  looked  at  her  gravely  and  replied : 
"  Well,  mum,  yer  see  it  was  an  'obby  of  'is'n." 
At  Barkham,  Mr.  Ditchfield's  own  church, 


there  is  an  old  clerk  who  succeeded  his  father 
fifty  years  ago.  The  father's  name  was 
Elijah,  and  on  one  occasion,  during  the 
rebuilding  of  the  church,  he  attended  service 
at  a  neighbouring  parish  church,  but  arrived 
late,  just  as  the  rector  was  giving  out  his 
text — "  What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah  ?" 
Elijah  saluted  respectfully,  and  made  reply : 
"  Please,  sur,  Barkham  Church  is  undergoing 
repair,  so  I  be  cumed  'ere  !"  A  London 
clergyman,  preaching  in  a  Wiltshire  church 
which  possessed  an  illiterate  clerk,  after  dis- 
coursing on  the  story  of  the  demoniac  at 
Gadara  and  the  destruction  of  the  herd  of 
swine,  was  anxious  to  find  out  how  far  his 
hearers  had  listened  to  or  understood  his 
sermon.  So  on  the  Monday  he  asked  the 
clerk  if  he  understood  it.  The  clerk  replied 
by  a  doubtful  "  Yes."  "  But  is  there  any- 
thing you  do  not  quite  understand  ?"  said  the 
parson  ;  "  I  shall  be  only  too  glad  to  explain 
anything  I  can,  so  as  to  help  you."  After  a 
good  deal  of  hesitation  and  head-scratching, 
the  clerk  replied :  "  Who  paid  for  them 
pigs  ?"  At  another  church  a  stranger  taking 
the  duty  remarked  upon  the  weather,  ventur- 
ing the  assertion  that  it  promised  to  be  a  fine 
day  for  the  haymaking  to-morrow.  "Oh, 
sir,"  replied  the  clerk,  "  they  do  say  that  the 
hypocrites  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky." 

But  we  must  stop.  We  have  picked  out  but 
a  few  of  Mr.  Ditchfield's  plums.  His  book, 
which  is  written  by  the  pen  of  a  practised 
penman,  besides  its  solid  value  as  a  very 
useful  contribution  to  a  minor  branch  of 
ecclesiastical  history,  is  a  delightful  mis- 
cellany of  anecdotes  of  worthies  of  an 
outworn  type,  and  of  graphic  pictures  of 
conditions  of  Church  life  now  practically 
extinct.  A.  L.  G. 


C&e  <2En0it0f)  0tp0ie*  in  1818. 

By  William  E.  A.  Axon,  LL.D. 


DO  not  remember  in  the  course  of 
my  excursions  in  gipsy  literature 
to  have  met  the  name  of  D. 
Copsey  of  Braintree.  He  is 
entitled  to  remembrance  as  a  keen,  as  well 
as  a  friendly,  observer  of  the  Romanis  in 


182 


THE  ENGLISH  GIPSIES  IN  1818. 


the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
His  attention  was  called  to  the  subject  by 
the  publication  of  John  Hoyland's  well- 
known  Historical  Survey,  which  appeared 
in  1816.  In  a  letter  to  the  Monthly 
Magazine,  then  under  the  editorial  control 
of  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  of  whom  Borrow 
has  given  so  prejudiced  a  portrait,  Mr. 
Copsey  gives  some  particulars  of  his  inter- 
course with  the  Lovell  family.  He  writes 
from  Braintree,  October  22,  1818,  and  a 
portion  of  his  communication  is  worth  re- 
printing. He  begins  by  mentioning  Hoy- 
land's  book,  and  proceeds : 

"  Since  the  perusal  of  the  above  work  I 
have  looked  anxiously  for  the  arrival  in  this 
neighbourhood  of  some  of  these  English 
Arabs  ;  but  I  was  not  gratified  by  meeting 
with  any  till  about  the  middle  of  the  present 
month.  Having  observed  some  smoke  arising 
in  one  of  the  retired  lanes  near  this  town,  I 
approached  the  spot,  and  discovered  that  it 
proceeded  from  a  fire  kindled  by  some  gipsies, 
for  the  purpose  of  preparing  their  supper. 
The  family  consisted  of  four  persons — viz., 
an  old  man  and  woman,  their  daughter, 
aged  about  eighteen,  and  a  little  boy,  whose 
father  and  mother,  as  they  informed  me, 
were  travelling  in  another  part  of  the  country. 
Recollecting  that  the  writer  of  those  amusing 
papers,  under  the  title  of  '  A  Walk  to  Kew,' 
which  appeared  lately  in  the  Monthly 
Magazine,  had  mentioned  the  unwillingness 
of  this  people  to  give  any  information  re- 
specting their  language,  and  being  furnished 
with  a  copy  of  the  list  of  words  given  in  Mr. 
Hoyland's  work,  I  was  desirous  of  ascertain- 
ing how  far  it  was  correct,  and  of  obtaining 
from  them  a  more  extended  vocabulary.  I 
found  that  they  understood  nearly  all  the 
words  in  my  list ;  and  they  very  readily 
communicated  to  me  all  the  information  I 
requested. 

"  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  words  and 
phrases  with  which  they  furnished  me.  I 
am  aware  that  my  mode  of  spelling  the 
words  is  open  to  much  dispute  and  objection  ; 
I  have  endeavoured  to  choose  such  com- 
binations of  letters  as  serve  to  express,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  the  sounds  pronounced 
by  the  gipsies.  In  the  phrases  I  could  not 
exactly  discover  the  separate  words  of  which 
they  were  composed,  as  these  persons  uttered 


them  with  great  rapidity,  and  were  unable  to 
give  me  any  information  on  this  point. 


House 

...     Kair. 

Fire 

...     Yog. 

Food 

...     Hobben. 

Good  food 

Kozo  hdbben. 

Bad  food  ... 

Kannella. 

Tobacco   . . . 

. . .     Toovoloo. 

Pipe 

...     Sweglah. 

Candle 

. . .     Modmlee. 

Candlestick 

...     Moomlingoree. 

Hat 

. . .     Stadee. 

Shoes 

. . .     Chorhor. 

Coat 

...     Chaokhor. 

Waistcoat . . . 

Bangaree. 

Breeches  ... 

. . .     Boolingoree. 

Stockings  . . . 

...     Hoovelah. 

Knife 

...     Chooree. 

Fork 

Hormingoree. 

Plate  or  dish 

Chorroo. 

Kettle 

. . .     Bilarrah. 

Tea 

Mootamongree. 

Sugar 

. . .     Goodloo. 

Butter 

...     Kil. 

Spoon 

. . .     Rotsch. 

Whip 

...     Chokenee. 

Horse 

...     Gri. 

Saddle 

Boshta. 

Boy 

Chaavo. 

Girl 

. . .     Chay. 

Woman 

...     M6nishee. 

Man 

. . .     Moosh. 

Brother     . . . 

...     Pallah. 

Sister 

Pennah. 

Church 

Kongree. 

Cold 

...     Shil. 

Water 

...     Pawnee 

Hand 

. . .     Vast. 

Foot 

...     Pe>o. 

Face 

. . .     Mooi. 

Day 

Deviis. 

Night 

. . .     Rattee. 

Wood 

. . .     Kosh£w. 

Yes 

. . .     Ahwah. 

No 

...     Nah. 

I  am  sick — Nah  fale*e  shum. 

I  walk,  or  am  going  away — Jortookee. 

I  run — Praaser. 

How  do  you  do,  brother? — Sarsum  pallah  ? 

Very  well — Very  dooster  shum. 

What  is  your  name  ? — Pen  your  naave  ? 


THE  ENGLISH  GIPSIES  IN  1818. 


183 


How  far  have  you  travelled  to-day  ? — How 

ddevee  ankee  deviis  ? 
The  horse  trots  well — Gri  jaramishts. 
Whither  are  you  going  to-day  ? — Kyshinka 

jasha  kata  deviis  ? 
I  go  to  church — I  go  kata  kongree. 
The  wind  blows  cold — Baval  pdorah  shil. 
I  am  hungry — Bokolo  shum. 
Fine  weather — Fina  deviis. 
Bad  weather — Shillal£e  deviis. 
It  rains — Bishenoo  dellah. 
I  am  sleepy,  and  must  go  to  bed — Soothe 

shum,  mussa  jaw  savah. 
Farewell — Deveriisa. 

"  I  have  now  to  communicate  the  answers 
these  gipsies  gave  to  several  questions  which 
I  proposed  to  them  respecting  their  mode  of 
living,  etc.,  etc.  The  name  of  the  persons 
composing  this  family  was  Lovell ;  the  old 
man  was  more  than  sixty  years  of  age,  his 
wife  not  so  old.  They  appeared  to  enjoy 
very  vigorous  health,  and  declared  that  they 
never  felt  any  great  inconvenience  from 
sleeping  abroad,  and  were  wholly  free  from 
rheumatic  affections,  although  they  very 
frequently  slept  on  the  ground  when  it  was 
very  wet ;  and  their  tent  would  not  have 
protected  them  from  a  smart  shower  of  rain. 

"  They  spoke  of  many  old  persons  whom 
they  knew  among  the  different  tribes,  and 
believed  that,  in  general,  the  gipsies  enjoy 
very  good  health.  They  encamp  in  the 
country  during  seven  months  in  the  year, 
and  generally  go  to  take  up  their  winter 
quarters  in  London  early  in  November, 
unless  the  season  be  very  mild.  Occasionally 
they  have  passed  the  winter  in  their  tents ; 
but  this  is  very  rarely  done. 

"  Last  year  this  family  had  travelled  into 
the  West  of  England ;  and  during  the  past 
summer  they  had  not  left  Essex. 

"  The  man  called  himself  a  tinker,  and 
the  woman  said  she  sold  earthenware ;  but 
they  had  none  with  them  when  I  saw  them. 
They  denied  practising  fortune-telling,  but 
the  old  woman  had  too  much  the  appearance 
of  a  Sybil  to  countenance  such  an  assertion. 
They  prefer  pitching  their  tents  in  the  same 
place  every  year,  unless  opposed  by  the 
farmers.  They  had  not  met  with  many 
travelling  companies  this  year — having  seen 
only  three  or  four ;  and  they  disavowed  all 


knowledge  of  any  form  of  government  exist- 
ing among  them,  and  denied  that  they 
had  any  regular  communication  established 
between  the  different  tribes.  On  this  point, 
however,  I  think  they  were  unwilling  to 
satisfy  my  curiosity ;  for  they  certainly  have 
some  mode  of  conveying  speedy  intelligence 
to  each  other ;  and  the  following  circum- 
stance, which  has  been  related  to  me,  seems 
to  establish  this  fact  beyond  a  doubt. 
About  thirty  years  ago  a  gipsy  was  under 
condemnation  in  Bury  Gaol ;  and  very  shortly 
after  the  sentence  of  death  had  been  passed, 
the  lanes  near  the  town  were  filled  with  the 
numerous  tribes  of  gipsies,  who  encamped 
there,  waiting  the  issue  of  the  sentence. 

"  Had  there  not  been  some  form  of 
government,  and  a  regular  communication 
among  them,  these  different  tribes,  who  were 
dispersed  all  over  England,  could  not  have 
so  soon  assembled  into  one  spot.  It  appears 
that  considerable  doubts  had  arisen  in  the 
minds  of  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Bury 
respecting  the  guilt  of  this  man ;  and  they  so 
warmly  interested  themselves  in  his  behalf 
that  he  was  eventually  liberated. 

"  My  gipsy,  Joseph  Lovell,  disclaimed, 
with  every  mark  of  abhorrence,  the  charge 
of  eating  the  carcasses  of  animals  found  dead 
in  the  fields ;  but  such  an  allegation  is  made 
in  the  work  of  Mr.  Hoyland. 

"  They  solemnize  their  marriages  in  the 
Established  Church,  and  bury  their  dead  in 
consecrated  grounds.  The  girl  belonging  to 
this  family  could  read  and  write,  having 
been  instructed  in  London  at  her  father's 
expense ;  but  the  old  people  were  illiterate. 
They  had  never  possessed  a  Bible,  but 
received  one  (which  I  procured  from  the 
Bible  Association  in  this  town)  with  the 
greatest  appearance  of  thankfulness,  and 
promised  that  it  should  be  read  to  them 
daily." 

The  remainder  of  Mr.  Copsey's  letter  is 
devoted  to  extracts  from  Z' Office  et 
Auctoryte  des  Justyces  rfe  Peas  (1538), 
which  show  how  "tramps"  were  regarded 
in  the  Tudor  days. 

The  Daniel  Copsey  who  wrote  Essays 
(182 1 )  and  Studies  in  Religion  is,  it  may 
be  conjectured,  identical  with  our  student 
Romanes,  but  I  am  not  aware  of  any  further 


1 84 


THE  PAINTED  GLASS  IN  MILTON  ABBEY  CHURCH. 


contributions  of  his  to  the  literature  of  the 
English  gipsies. 

It  would  take  too  much  space  to  examine 
the  vocabulary  in  detail,  but  it  can  be  use- 
fully compared  with  the  forms  in  Borrow's 
Lavo-Lil  and  in  the  excellent  lexicon  in 
Crofton  and  Smart's  Dialect  of  the  English 
Gipsies. 


Cbe  IPamteD  (©lass  in  Hilton 
atibep  Cburcb. 

By  the  Rev.  Herbert  Pentin,  M.A.,  Vicar. 

HERE  is  no  record  of  any  painted 
glass  in  the  Abbey  Church  of 
Milton,  Dorset,  prior  to  the  time 
of  Abbot  William  de  Middleton 
(1481-1525).  The  choir  windows  were 
painted  in  mosaic  at  his  cost,  and  he  glazed 
the  windows  of  St.  John  the  Baptist's  Chapel 
at  the  east  end  of  the  north  aisle  of  the 
church — "fenestras  suis  vitravit  su'fltid's." 

The  Abbey  Church  to-day  contains  no 
pre-Reformation  coloured  glass  except  that 
in  the  dwarfed  east  window  of  seven  lights 
above  the  high  altar  screen  (see  illustration). 
This  glass  was  put  in  its  present  position  in 
the  year  1789,  under  the  guidance  of  Joseph 
Damer,  Lord  Milton.  Some  of  the  glass 
came  from  the  windows  of  the  chamber 
within  the  dining-room,  and  from  the  Star 
Chamber,  in  the  monastic  house — e.g.,  the 
Arundell,  Trenchard,  and  Hussey  coats  ;  and 
some  came  out  of  the  windows  in  the  Baptist's 
Chapel  aforesaid.  Most  of  the  glass  is  de- 
corative— geometrical  patterns,  roses  and 
leaves  of  various  colours,  etc.  But  in  the  first, 
fourth,  sixth,  and  seventh  lights  there  are  five 
coats  of  arms,  of  which  a  description  follows  : 

1.   Trenchard  Coat. 
First  and  fourth  :  Grand  quarters. 

First  and  third  :  Paly  of  six,  argent  and 
sable. 

Second  and  fourth  :  Azure  {Trenchard  of 
Lytchett  Matravers,  Dorset). 

Second  and  third  :  Grand  quarters. 
Ermine,  a  maunch  gules  with  a  fleur-de- 


lis   or  (Afohun  :     these    arms    are    usually 
blazoned  Gules,  a  maunch  ermine,  etc.). 

2.  Royal  Coat. 

First  quarter  :  Azure,  three  fleurs-de-lis  or 
{France). 

Second  and  third  quarters :  Gules,  three 
lions  passant  guardant  or  {England). 

Fourth  quarter  {mutilated)  :  the  arms  of 
France  should  be  here. 

3.   The  Arms  of  King  Athelstan,  Founder  of 
Milton  Abbey. 
Per  saltire  gules  and  azure,  a  cross  botone 
on  a  mound  crowned  or.     Motto  :  Spes  mea 
in  Deo  est. 

4.  Hussey  Coat. 

First  and  fourth  :  Or,  a  cross  vert. 

Second  :  The  effigies  of  a  woman  {query, 
a  hussy)  {Hussey). 

Third  :  Barry  of  six  ermine  and  gules, 
impaling — 

Argent,  three  chaplets  gules  between  a 
pale  countercharged  argent  and  gules  (  Whap- 
lod). 

5.  Arundell \Coat. 

First,  quarterly  :  Argent,  five  martlets 
sable,  one,  two,  two  {Arundell,  wrongly 
blazoned.  It  should  be  sable,  six  martlets 
argent,  three,  two,  one). 

Second,  quarterly  :  In  the  first  and  fourth 
quarters,  Gules,  a  fess  indented  of  four  fusils 
ermine  {Dinham)';  in  the  second  and  third, 
Gules,  a  double  arch  and  a  single  arch  argent 
{De  Arches,  co.  Devon). 

Third :  Gules,  an  escutcheon  or  within 
an  orle  of  martlets  argent  {Chideock,  co. 
Dorset). 

Fourth :  Azure,  a  bend  or  {Carminow,  co. 
Cornwall). 

In  the  first,  fourth,  and  seventh  lights  of 
the  window,  Abbot  William  de  Middleton  is 
commemorated.  In  a  lozenge  there  is  a  W 
with  a  pastoral  staff  and  three  rudders.  The 
rudder  is  the  badge  of  the  family  of  Wil- 
loughby  de  Broke,  and  possibly  William, 
Abbas  de  Middleton  {i.e.,  Abbot  of  Milton), 
was  connected  with  that  ancient  family,  which, 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  had  connections 
with  the  county  of  Dorset.  There  is  also  a 
shield  containing  the  monogram  W.  M.  and 
pastoral  staff,  with  a  black-letter  inscription 


THE  PAINTED  GLASS  IN  MILTON  ABBEY  CHURCH. 


185 


which  is  indecipherable.  The  rudder-badge 
often  appeared  in  the  windows  of  the  monastic 
house  at  Milton — a  mark  of  Abbot  William's 
many  benefactions  ;  and  it  also  appears  with 
the  Abbot's  monogram  in  two  windows  in 
Melcombe  Bingham  Church,  Dorset. 

The  only  other  interesting  pieces  of  glass 
in  the  dwarfed  window  show  a  kneeling  monk 


In  connection  with  the  glass  in  the  windows 
of  Milton  Abbey,  it  maybe  of  interest  to  add 
the  tradition  that  John  Milton  "  planned  "  his 
77  Penseroso  at  Milton,  and  that  the  following 
lines  in  the  poem  are  supposed  to  have  been 
suggested  to  him  by  the  Abbey  Church : 

But  let  my  due  feet  never  fail 

To  walk  the  studious  cloister's  pale, 


'ft  IB 

■rf  fi 

■ 

am 

{ 

.  ■ 

• 

• 

in  a  dark  blue  habit,  an  angel  blowing  a 
trumpet,  and  the  sun  shining  on  an  inverted 
crown. 

The  north  window  of  the  north  transept  of 
the  church  contains  some  eighteenth-century 
armorial  glass  (the  Darner  family),  and  the 
Jesse  window  in  the  south  transept  is  by  the 
elder  Pugin. 

VOL.  III. 


And  love  the  high  emhowed  roof 
With  antic  pillars  massy  proof, 
And  storied  windows  richly  dight 
Casting  a  dim  religious  light ; 
There  let  the  pealing  organ  blow, 
To  the  full-voiced  quire  below, 
In  service  high  and  anthems  clear 
As  may  with  sweetness,  through  mine  ear, 
Dissolve  me  into  ecstasies, 
And  bring  all  heav'n  before  mine  eyes. 

2  A 


1 86 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


C&e  progress  of  antiquarian 

Eesearcf)  up  to  an&  in  t&c 

iRinetecntf)  Centurp. 

By  Sir  Edward  Brabrook,  C.B.,  V.-P.S.A. 
( Concluded  from  p.  1 40. ) 

ET  us  now  turn  to  the  prehistoric 
archaeology  in  vol.  lvii.  There  is 
none.  The  labours  of  Sir  John 
Evans  and  others  had  set  the 
science  upon  so  firm  a  basis  that  there 
was  nothing  then  to  be  added.  To  this 
result  Sir  John  Lubbock,  now  Lord  Avebury, 
the  present  President  of  the  Society,  largely 
contributed,  when  in  1865  he  published  his 
classical  work  on  Prehistoric  Times.  In  that 
work  he  laid  down  the  distinction  between 
the  palaeolithic  and  neolithic  divisions  of  the 
great  Stone  Age,  a  distinction  not  only  marked 
by  differences  in  the  form  of  the  implements, 
the  later  ones  being  polished  and  the  earlier 
ones  only  roughly  chipped,  but  covering  an 
enormous  lapse  of  time,  and  marking  an 
absolute  change  in  character  and  in  habits. 
We  have  to  adopt  high  sounding  Greek 
words  for  scientific  purposes,  but  these  only 
mean  "  old  stone  "  and  "  new  stone  "  respec- 
tively. Palaeolithic  man  was  a  hunter  and  a 
savage ;  neolithic  man  was  an  agriculturalist 
and  had  made  some  progress  towards  civiliza- 
tion. From  the  beginning  of  the  one  to  the 
end  of  the  other  extends  a  lapse  of  untold 
centuries. 

Mr.  Worthington  Smith,  in  an  excellent 
little  book  entitled  Man  the  Primeval  Savage, 
sums  up  what  we  know  and  what  we  are 
entitled  to  conjecture  about  the  workers  of 
these  palaeolithic  implements ;  but  even  these 
must  have  had  still  ruder  predecessors.  "  It 
is  clear  that  man  must  have  existed  for 
thousands  of  years  as  a  being  incapable  of 
designing  and  making  stone  weapons  and 
tools  of  geometrically  correct  form.  The 
primeval  savage  first  detected  in  Northern 
Europe  is  already  a  skilful  designer  and 
maker  of  tools  of  different  designs,  obviously 
made  for  different  purposes  and  indicating 
provision  for  a  variety  of  wants  and  experi- 
ences." Of  his  predecessors  we  have  no 
remains  that  we  can  look  upon  with  con- 
fidence.    The    rough  stones   called  eoliths 


may  or  may  not  have  been  their  work.  It 
has  been  shown  that  these  can  be  produced 
in  any  number  by  a  mere  mechanical  process, 
simulating  the  operations  of  Nature.  That  is 
what  might  have  been  expected :  for  man 
would  first  use  a  naturally  chipped  flint  and 
then  chip  one  himself  long  before  it  would 
occur  to  him  to  work  it  into  a  definite  form. 

We  thus  see,  as  one  of  the  products  of 
nineteenth-century  research,  that  the  hint  of 
Mr.  Frere  that  his  weapons  might  be  referred 
to  a  very  remote  period  indeed,  even,  as  he 
quaintly  puts  it,  beyond  that  of  the  present 
world,  has  developed  into  a  completely 
equipped  evolutionary  science.  My  friend 
Dr.  Robert  Munro,  Vice-President  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  has  traced 
the  history  of  man  to  its  very  source,  and  has 
reasoned  out  the  consequences  that  followed 
from  his  acquiring  the  erect  position.  In  his 
address  to  Section  H  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion at  Nottingham  in  1893  he  remarked  that 
"  in  the  process  of  organic  evolution  it  would 
almost  appear  as  if  Nature  acted  on  teleo 
logical  principles,  because  many  of  her 
products  exhibit  structures  which  combine 
the  most  perfect  adaptation  of  means  to  ends 
with  the  greatest  economy  of  materials."  He 
showed  that  man  is  distinguished  from  all 
other  animals  by  the  fact  that,  in  the  normal 
position  of  walking  or  running,  he  carries 
his  body  upright — i.e.,  with  the  axis  of  the 
vertebral  column  perpendicular.  The  upper 
limbs  are  relieved  from  their  original 
function  of  locomotion.  The  lower  limbs 
are  strengthened  by  the  development  of 
the  calf  of  the  leg.  The  organs  which  in 
the  foot  are  applied  to  supporting  the  weight 
of  the  body  and  mechanically  impelling  it 
forwards  are  in  the  extremity  of  the  arm 
modified  into  the  human  hand,  the  most 
complete  and  perfect  mechanical  organ 
Nature  has  ever  produced.  Its  position  gives 
to  man  a  superiority  of  attack  and  defence 
over  all  other  animals.  With  the  advantage 
of  these  manipulative  organs  and  a  progressive 
brain,  man  gradually  developed  a  capacity  to 
understand  and  utilize  the  forces  of  Nature. 
He  fashioned  tools  and  weapons,  and 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  uses  of  fire. 
Every  addition  to  his  knowledge  widened 
the  basis  for  further  discoveries.  The 
progress  of  humanity  on  these  lines  was  slow, 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


187 


but  in  the  main  steadily  upwards.  Thus  the 
civilized  world  of  modern  times  came  to  be 
fashioned. 

With  regard,  therefore,  to  the  science  of 
prehistoric  archaeology,  we  may  rightly  claim 
that  the  nineteenth  century  has  seen  its  very 
beginning  and  its  complete  construction. 
There  are  still  problems  to  be  worked  out — 
e.g.,  the  possibility  of  a  mesolithic  interval 
between  the  palaeolithic  and  neolithic  times ; 
but  the  structure  of  the  science  itself  rests 
upon  a  sound  basis. 

Next  in  the  order  of  antiquity  of  the 
articles  in  the  thirteenth  volume  of  Archce- 
ologia  is  another  link  with  the  present  stage 
of  antiquarian  research.  It  is  an  account  of 
the  fall  of  some  of  the  stones  of  Stonehenge 
on  January  3,  1796,  by  Mr.  W.  G.  Maton. 
This  was  the  fall  of  one  of  the  great  trilithons 
of  the  inner  circle.  The  author  remarked 
that  in  the  cavities  left  in  the  ground  there 
were  a  few  fragments  of  stone  and  some 
masses  of  chalk.  The  capstone  was  caught 
against  one  of  the  trilithons  of  the  outer 
circle.  Mr.  Maton  estimated  the  weight  of 
the  three  fallen  stones  as  seventy  tons,  of 
which  the  capstone  counted  for  more  than 
eleven.  The  height  of  the  two  other  stones 
was  respectively  22  and  23  feet. 

On  the  very  last  day  of  the  nineteenth 
century  two  stones  of  the  outer  circle  fell, 
and  the  attention  of  Sir  Edmund  Antrobus, 
the  public-spirited  owner  of  this  great  struc- 
ture, was  directed  to  the  measures  necessary 
to  be  taken  to  prevent  further  havoc.  He 
called  to  his  assistance  an  advisory  com- 
mittee of  antiquaries,  over  which  Lord  Dillon, 
then  President  of  the  Society,  presided,  and 
they  proceeded  to  Stonehenge,  and  reported 
on  the  steps  they  considered  should  be  taken. 
The  most  important  of  these  was  the  restoring 
to  an  upright  position  the  great  leaning  stone, 
said  to  be  the  largest  native  monolith  in 
Britain.  This  operation  was  effected  with 
remarkable  skill  and  success  by  Professor 
Gowland.  A  wooden  frame  or  cradle  of 
stout  timbers  was  first  fitted  carefully  to  the 
stone.  This  was  connected  by  means  of 
strong  cables  with  two  powerful  winches 
about  45  feet  distant.  The  stone  was  raised 
2  or  3  inches  at  a  time,  and  at  each  interval 
was  shored  up  with  larch  struts.  After  it  had 
been  set  upright  in  a  south-west  direction,  its 


inclination  to  the  south-east  was  rectified  by 
means  of  a  hydraulic  jack  working  against 
the  lower  side  of  the  cradle  until  the  sloping 
side  of  its  base  practically  rested  on  its  old 
supporting  stone.  The  raising  of  the  stone 
began  on  September  18,  1901,  and  was 
finished  on  September  25. 

In  this  great  and  costly  undertaking  Sir 
Edmund  Antrobus  showed  himself  to  have 
been  guided  by  the  best  motives  that  can 
actuate  a  landed  proprietor  in  dealing  with  a 
monument  of  high  antiquity,  as  well  as  by 
the  best  available  expert  advice.  He  realized 
that,  as  Stonehenge  had  come  down  to  him 
with  a  record  of  many  centuries,  so  it  was  for 
him  to  protect  it  from  injury  and  preserve  it  for 
the  generations  to  come.  To  prevent  damage 
by  mischievous  trespassers  he  surrounded  it 
at  some  distance  with  a  fence  so  designed 
that  it  did  not  interfere  with  the  view  of  the 
monument,  and  he  took  the  necessary  steps 
to  divert  a  road  which  had  been  made  through 
its  very  centre.  By  a  strange  perversity, 
these  things,  which  ought  to  have  won  him 
commendation,  were  made  matter  of  com- 
plaint, and  a  society  having  for  its  declared 
object  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the 
public  took  action  against  him  in  the  law- 
courts.  It  ended  in  the  complete  vindica- 
tion of  Sir  Edmund's  proceedings,  and  in  the 
establishment  of  his  rights  as  proprietor — a 
decision  which  may  some  day  prove  incon- 
venient when  a  real  grievance  arises  against 
an  ill-advised  anddestructively-minded owner. 

The  antiquity  of  Stonehenge  was  a  ques- 
tion that  interested  our  forefathers.  Hearne 
records  in  his  Diary  (Oxford  Hist.  Soc.  edi- 
tion, 1906,  vol.  vii.,  p.  350)  that  on  the  night 
of  April  19,  1722,  he  was  in  company  of  Dr. 
Halley  and  Mr.  Bradley,  the  two  Savilian 
professors.  Dr.  Halley  had  a  strange,  odd 
notion  that  Stonehenge  was  as  old,  or  at  least 
almost  as  old,  as  Noah's  flood.  Professor 
Gowland,  in  the  paper  describing  his  work, 
and  the  discoveries  he  made  in  the  course  of 
it  in  the  fifty-eighth  volume  of  Archceologia, 
also  discusses  the  question  of  the  antiquity  of 
Stonehenge,  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  it 
was  erected  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
neolithic  age,  or  the  period  of  transition  from 
Stone  to  Bronze,  which  he  thinks  should  be 
placed  at  least  as  far  back  as  1800  b.c. 
While  he  was   engaged    upon   this   inquiry, 


i88 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


upon  purely  archaeological  grounds,  Sir  Nor- 
man Lockyer  and  Mr.  Penrose  were  busy  in 
calculating  the  antiquity  of  the  monument 
upon  the  assumption  of  its  having  been  a 
solar  temple,  so  constructed  that  at  that  time 
the  midsummer  sun  would  rise  at  its  exact 
centre  ;  and  they  estimated  the  date  at  which 
this  condition  would  have  been  fulfilled  at 
not  more  than  200  years  before  1680  B.C. 
This  is  certainly  a  wonderfully  close  agree- 
ment, and  may  be  taken  as  marking  the  pro- 
gress which  the  nineteenth  century  has  seen 
in  the  comprehension  of  these  great  structures. 
Many  of  the  stone  monuments  of  the  country 
have  long  been  used  as  quarries  by  the  in- 
habitants, and  they  are  still  insufficiently  pro- 
tected from  destruction,  but  we  have  learned 
much  about  them  since  the  days  of  Stukeley 
and  Halley. 

Of  the  next  great  epoch  in  our  history — the 
Late  Celtic  period — it  is  curious  to  notice  that 
neither  vol.  xiii.  nor  vol.  lvii.  contains  any 
trace.  This  was  the  period  of  growing  civili- 
zation which  preceded  the  Roman  occupa- 
tion of  this  country.  We  know  of  it  from 
numerous  finds  made  in  various  places,  espe- 
cially in  the  South  of  England.  We  have 
also  the  direct  testimony  of  Pytheas,  a  Greek 
traveller,  who  visited  this  country  330  b.c. 
We  know  that  our  Celtic  ancestors  had  a 
gold  coinage,  on  which  they  stamped  Greek 
designs,  which  perhaps  they  had  learned  from 
Pytheas  himself.  I  may  quote,  as  a  typical 
instance  of  Late  Celtic  discoveries,  one 
which  was  communicated  by  our  friend  Mr. 
Joshua  James  Foster,  then  of  Dorchester,  in 
the  year  1882,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Edward 
Cunnington,  of  objects  found  in  Belbury 
Camp,  Dorset.  We  owe  to  the  late  Sir  A. 
Wollaston  Franks  the  definition  of  the  Late 
Celtic  period  and  the  identification  and  clas- 
sification of  objects  belonging  to  it.  He 
then  pointed  out  the  love  of  variety  which 
characterized  the  art  of  that  period,  and  the 
gradual  conventionalization  of  animal  forms 
which  also  marked  it.  Of  the  swords  of  this 
period  he  gave  a  full  account  in  the  forty-fifth 
volume  of  Archceologia.  When  we  think  of 
the  profound  and  luminous  study  that  Sir 
A.  W.  Franks  devoted  to  this  time,  we  may 
almost  say,  as  we  said  of  prehistoric  archae- 
ology, that  the  knowledge  of  it  is  the  creature 
of  the  nineteenth  century. 


The  next  stage  in  our  history  is  the  Roman 
occupation.  That  has  always  been  an  ab- 
sorbing subject  of  study.  In  the  thirteenth 
volume  the  only  contribution  relating  to 
Roman  antiquities  was  a  description  of  what 
is  called  a  Roman  camp  in  VVestphalia,  by 
the  Abbe"  Mann,  an  honorary  Fellow  of  the 
Society. 

It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that  in  the 
fifty-seventh  volume,  as  in  the  thirteenth,  the 
Society  was  indebted  to  one  of  its  honorary 
Fellows  for  a  communication  relating  to 
Roman  antiquity.  Commendatore  Giacomo 
Boni,  whose  name  is  so  honourably  associated 
with  discoveries  in  Rome,  describes  that  of 
the  Niger  Lapis  in  the  Comitium,  which 
yielded  the  most  ancient  specimen  of  Roman 
writing  yet  known.  I  need  hardly  point  out 
the  great  progress  that  has  been  made  in  the 
discovery  of  relics  of  ancient  Rome  during 
the  nineteenth  century. 

The  fifty-seventh  volume  also  contains 
reports  of  excavations  at  Silchester,  Hants, 
on  the  site  of  the  Roman  city  of  Calleva 
Attrebatum,  and  at  Caerwent,  Monmouth- 
shire, on  the  site  of  the  Roman  city  of  Venta 
Silurum,  as  well  as  an  argument  in  favour  of 
the  Roman  origin  of  Cardiff  Castle.  This 
last  communication  illustrates  what  we  have 
said  as  to  the  continuous  hiterest  taken  in 
Roman  antiquities,  inasmuch  as  the  author, 
Mr.  Ward,  in  it  adopts  the  view  which  was 
first  propounded  to  the  Society  by  the  Rev. 
W.  Harris  in  1763,  when  he  identified  the 
earth  with  the  station  of  Jupania.  So  also 
with  regard  to  Silchester.  In  the  record  by 
Hearne  of  the  conversation  in  1722,  which  I 
have  already  mentioned,  he  says:  "  Dr.  Halley 
hath  also  an  odd  notion,  and  he  is  very  posi- 
tive in  it,  that  Silchester  in  Hampshire  is 
Antoninus's  Calleva.  But  when  he  is  pos- 
sessed of  a  notion,  he  very  hardly  quits  it." 

The  work  at  Silchester  is  now  approaching 
completion,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  space 
within  the  walls,  and  is,  I  think,  the  first 
complete  exhumation  of  an  entire  Roman 
city  that  has  been  accomplished,  at  any  rate 
in  this  country.  Begun  in  the  year  1890,  it 
has  occupied  seventeen  years  of  close  labour 
during  the  proper  season  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Mill  Stephenson,  Mr.  St.  John  Hope,  Mr. 
G.  E.  Fox,  Mr.  Herbert  Jones,  and  others. 

In  the  Museum  at  Reading  are  a  series  of 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


189 


models  of  the  excavations,  and  a  collection 
of  the  objects  found  in  the  course  of  them, 
which  are  very  instructive. 

The  excavations  at  Caerwent  have  been 
conducted  by  Mr.  Alfred  Price  Martin,  Mr. 
Thomas  Ashby,  jun.,  and  Mr.  Alfred  E.  Hudd, 
all  Fellows  of  the  Society,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  committee  of  the  Caerwent  Explora- 
tion Fund,  raised  in  1899.  Venta  Silurum 
was  a  rectagonal  walled  city,  1,500  feet  in 
length  by  1,200  in  breadth,  with  the  high 
road  from  Chepstow  to  Newport  passing 
through  its  centre  from  east  to  west.  The 
explorations  have  proceeded  upon  the  same 
system  as  those  at  Silchester,  and  have  re- 
sulted in  the  discovery  of  mosaic  pavements, 
with  human  and  animal  figures,  in  addition 
to  the  usual  geometrical  forms,  but  of  some- 
what rude  workmanship,  of  the  inscribed 
pedestal  of  a  public  monument  erected  by 
the  community  in  honour  of  a  high  official, 
of  another  dedicated  to  Mars  Lenus  or 
Ocelus,  and  of  many  other  objects  of  interest. 
The  north  gate,  which  is  about  600  feet  from 
the  north-west  angle  of  the  city,  and  the 
amphitheatre  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city, 
have  been  excavated.  By  the  reports  on 
Silchester  and  Caerwent,  as  typical  instances 
of  complete  and  scientific  exploration,  we 
may  gauge  the  progress  that  has  been  made 
in  that  respect  during  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  most  remarkable  evidence  of  that 
progress,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
magnificent  work  done  by  General  Pitt- 
Rivers  in  investigating  and  recording  the 
Romano-British  antiquities  on  his  estate  at 
Rushmore,  in  the  ancient  Cranborne  Chase. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  enjoy  the  friendship 
of  the  General  from  th  ?  time  he  joined  the 
Anthropological  Society,  about  1865,  when 
he  was  Colonel  Lane  Fox,  until  his  death,  in 
1900.  1  served  under  him  as  Director  when 
he  was  President  of  the  Anthropological  In- 
stitute, and  had  the  pleasure  of  helping  in 
some  of  his  diggings  at  Cissbury,  Seaford,  and 
other  places.  His  military  skill  was  far 
beyond  that  which  we  are  accustomed  to 
attribute  to  an  officer  of  the  Grenadier  Guards, 
and  it  was  a  most  instructive  thing  to  stand 
with  him  on  the  ramparts  of  some  ancient 
camp  and  listen  to  his  lucid  explanations  of 
its  military  bearing  and  his  mental  reconstruc- 
tion of  its  original  appearance  and  use. 


His  methods  comprised  the  most  exact 
measurements  of  the  ground  and  of  every 
object  discovered,  the  careful  planning  of  the 
ground  with  all  its  contours,  and  copying  of 
every  object,  with  an  accurate  description 
of  the  place  where  it  was  discovered,  and  the 
construction  of  models  strictly  according  to 
scale.  The  results  of  his  excavations  in 
Cranborne  Chase  are  set  forth  in  four  noble 
quarto  volumes,  not  published,  but  printed 
entirely  at  his  own  expense,  and  given  away 
by  him  to  such  persons  only  as  he  knew  to 
have  a  real  interest  in  the  matter. 

Besides  this  exact  observation  of  the  facts 
discovered,  which  has  left  them  on  record  for 
future  students,  General  Pitt-Rivers  devoted 
many  years  of  study  to  the  investigation  of 
the  evolution  of  weapons  and  implements, 
and  to  the  collection  of  illustrative  specimens 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  In  June,  1874, 
he  lent  his  collections,  then  numbering  1,247 
specimens,  for  exhibition  to  the  Bethnal 
Green  Museum,  and  prepared  a  catalogue  of 
184  pages,  with  135  illustrations,  in  which 
he  expounded  his  views  as  to  the  gradual 
development  of  the  various  forms. 

The  most  striking  monuments  to  his 
memory  are  the  Pitt-Rivers  Museum  at 
Oxford,  which,  under  Professor  Tylor  and 
Mr.  Henry  Balfour,  is  maintained  and  en- 
riched upon  the  principles  laid  down  by  him, 
and  the  museum  at  Farnham,  in  Dorset, 
which  is  principally  stored  with  the  things 
discovered  on  his  own  estates,  but  contains 
many  other  exhibits  necessary  for  acquiring 
a  knowledge  of  ancient  workmanship. 

Passing  on  to  the  Saxon  period,  the 
thirteenth  volume  of  Archaologia  contains  a 
paper  on  the  tomb  of  King  Alfred  at  Hyde 
Abbey,  near  Winchester,  by  Mr.  Henry 
Howard  ;  the  fifty-seventh  a  paper  on  the 
tomb  of  St.  Cuthbert  in  Durham  Cathedral, 
by  Canon  Fowler.  Honours  thus  appear  to 
be  equally  divided,  and  1899  cannot  claim 
much  superiority  over  1798  in  its  devotion 
to  the  study  of  this  particular  portion  of  our 
history.  Anglo-Saxon  antiquities  have  not, 
however,  been  neglected,  and  I  cannot  but 
refer  in  this  connection  to  the  excellent 
papers  by  my  lamented  friend  Mr.  J.  T. 
Micklethwaite  on  Anglo-Saxon  churches. 

Anglo-Norman  literature  is  the  subject 
of  two  communications  by  the  Abbe  la  Rue 


i  go 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTIQUARIAN  RESEARCH. 


in  the  thirteenth  volume.  Mary,  probably  a 
native  of  Normandy,  came  to  England  early 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  wrote  lays  in 
French  (MS.  Harl.,  978),  and  some  other 
poetical  works.  Stephen  Langton,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  introduced  a  pretty 
love-song  into  one  of  his  sermons,  with  the 
refrain  : 

Ceste  est  la  Bele  aliz 

Ceste  est  la  flur,  cest  est  le  lis. 

Of  course,  he  applied  it  mystically.  Other 
poets  of  the  same  century  are  passed  in 
review  by  the  learned  Abbe.  No  similar 
communication  is  to  be  found  in  the  fifty- 
seventh  volume.  Here,  therefore,  the  honours 
rest  with  the  writers  of  1796-1797;  and  to 
them  is  also  to  be  accredited  an  excellent 
treatise  on  the  Norman  church,  occupying 
the  site  of  an  earlier  Saxon  structure,  at 
Melbourne  in  Derbyshire,  by  Mr.  Wilkins. 
Norman  architecture,  however,  has  of  late 
received  much  attention,  and  papers  by  Mr. 
C.  R.  Peers  on  Romsey  Abbey,  Hants,  and 
by  Mr.  Harold  Brakspear  on  Lacock  Abbey, 
Wilts,  with  their  elaborate  plans,  carefully 
coloured  to  show  the  successive  stages  in 
those  buildings,  prove  the  industry  and 
the  skill  which  our  younger  architectural 
antiquaries  are  bringing  to  the  study  of 
Norman  times. 

Mediaeval  antiquities  received  some  atten- 
tion at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  Several 
abbey  seals  were  exhibited  and  figured.  A 
curious  fourteenth  -  century  pardon  to  a 
woman  who,  charged  with  the  murder  of 
her  husband,  and  refusing  to  plead,  had 
borne  the  peine  forte  et  dure  with  impunity, 
through,  as  was  believed,  the  intervention  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  was  communicated.  The 
inscription  on  Great  Bookham  Church, 
Surrey,  was  figured.  A  fifteenth-century 
deed  relating  to  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  Milk 
Street,  was  transcribed.  An  account  of  the 
life  of  Cicely,  Duchess  of  York,  was  fur- 
nished. A  paper  on  crosses  and  crucifixes, 
oddly  mixed  up  with  stone  pillars,  was  read. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  interest  in 
mediaeval  antiquities  greatly  increased  during 
the  later  portion  of  the  century.  Coupled  as 
it  was  with  a  sort  of  disdain  for  everything 
that  was  not  mediaeval  in  the  minds  of  the 
destructive  "restorers,"  who  did  such  irre- 
parable  damage   in   the    middle    and   later 


decades,  this  has  certainly  not  been  an  un- 
mixed blessing.  It  is  deplorable  to  think  of 
the  havoc  the  craze  for  a  revival  of  mediaeval- 
ism  has  worked.  This,  however,  is  past 
praying  for.  The  papers  in  the  fifty-seventh 
volume  which  relate  to  mediaeval  times  are 
particularly  sane  and  finely  illustrated.  They 
bear  upon  the  charters  of  the  Manor  of 
Meonstoke,  commencing  13 18;  the  dwellings 
in  London  of  Sir  John  de  Pulteney,  Mayor 
in  1 33 1- 1 337;  the  fine  library  of  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  ofWells,  erected  about  1425  ;  an 
illuminated  MS.  of  Ordinances  of  Chivalry, 
written  shortly  after  1438;  a  defence  of  the 
liberties  of  Chester,  dated  1450;  a  copy 
of  the  statutes  of  the  realm,  illuminated  and 
emblazoned  with  the  arms  of  Fitzwilliam  in 
1460  ;  the  heraldic  glass  in  Great  Malvern 
Church,  executed  in  1502;  and  a  sundial 
that  was  made  for  Cardinal  Wolsey,  between 
1 5 18  and  1530.  These  treatises,  with  some 
relating  to  foreign  antiquities  that  I  have 
omitted  to  mention,  throw  much  light  on 
history,  literature,  art,  and  heraldry. 

England  in  Tudor  times  received  attention 
from  antiquaries  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  and  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that 
not  fewer  than  four  papers  related  to  the 
measures  taken  by  Queen  Elizabeth  for  the 
defence  of  the  country  and  the  strengthening 
of  the  navy.  Stuart  times  were  also  not 
neglected.  Sir  Joseph  Banks  communicated 
a  MS.  breviate  dated  1605,  "touching 
the  order  and  government  of  a  nobleman's 
house,  with  the  officers,  their  places  and 
charge,"  which  is  full  of  amusing  detail ;  and 
the  Rev.  Mark  Noble  contributed  two  papers 
on  a  coin  and  a  medal  of  Charles  I.  Not 
one  paper  relating  to  these  periods  of  our 
history  is  to  be  found  in  volume  fifty-seven, 
so  that  here  again  our  predecessors  score. 

So  much  for  the  publications  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  of  London.  The  Societies  of 
Antiquaries  of  Scotland  and  of  Ireland  have 
also  a  record  of  good  work  during  the  past 
century.  Classical  and  foreign  antiquities 
have  been  fruitfully  studied  by  British  and 
foreign  scholars,  but  I  shall  not  presume 
here  to  attempt  any  appreciation  of  these. 
There  is  one  development  of  antiquarian 
energy,  however,  to  which  I  may  call  atten- 
tion. Some  time  in  the  thirties,  Charles 
Roach  Smith,  whose  acquaintance  I  had  the 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


191 


privilege  of  making  in  his  later  years,  settled 
in  London,  and  began  to  form  that  fine 
collection  of  Roman  and  other  London 
antiquities  which  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  is  commemorated  in  his 
"Collectanea  Antiqua."  His  genial  qualities 
and  great  learning  made  his  house  the  resort 
of  antiquaries,  and  the  idea  gradually  grew  in 
the  course  of  their  discussions  that  it  would 
be  pleasant  and  useful  to  organize  a  body 
which  should  visit  places  of  antiquarian 
interest  and  investigate  them  on  the  spot. 
This  was  the  origin,  in  1844,  of  the  British 
Archaeological  Association,  which  held  its 
first  meeting  at  Canterbury  with  great  success. 
Very  shortly  after  dire  dissensions  arose,  and 
the  association  split  into  two,  honours  being 
divided :  one  party  keeping  the  name,  the  other 
keeping  the  journal,  and  adopting  the  name 
of  the  Archaeological  Institute,  to  which  the 
word  "Royal"  has  now  been  prefixed.  Every 
one  of  the  fighters  in  that  great  struggle  is  now 
deceased,  but  the  two  bodies  still  keep  their 
separate  way.  All  over  England  county 
societies  have  been  formed,  and  a  final 
development  has  been  the  establishment  of 
local  town  societies.  By  these  various  means 
the  study  of  antiquity  has  become  increasingly 
popular,  and  has  been  pursued  with  ever- 
growing interest  and  success. 


at  t&e  §>ign  of  tbe  £DtoL 


The  "  Grangerised  "  copies  of 
Brayley's  Surrey,  in  eleven 
volumes,  and  Aubrey's  Surrey, 
in  five  volumes,  from  the  library 
of  the  late  Dr.  William  Roots, 
F.S.A.,  mentioned  in  my  last 
month's  notes,  sold  for  ^77 
and  ^24  respectively.  At  a 
sale  held  a  few  days  later,  on 
March  23,theLocker-Lampson 
copy  of  the  first  folio  Shakespeare  fetched 
the  enormous  sum  of  ^3, 600.  It  was  bought 
by  Mr.  Quaritch,  and  book-lovers  hoped  that 
it  would  remain  in  this  country.  But  "  west- 
ward the  course  of"  bibliographical  rarities 
"takes  its  way,"  and  the  volume  has  since 


passed  into  the  possession  of  an  American 
collector. 

t£r*  t£r*  t&* 

Another  very  fine  copy  of  the  first  folio  is  to 
be  sold  by  Messrs.  Sotheby  this  month 
(May).  It  appears  in  Mr.  Sidney  Lee's 
"  Census  "  as  No.  xix.  "  It  was  purchased," 
says  the  Athenceum,  "apparently  about  1660, 
by  Colonel  John  Lane,  of  Bentley  Hall, 
Staffordshire,  Charles  II. 's  protector,  and 
remained  in  the  family  until  the  sale  of  the 
Lane  Library  in  April,  1856,  when  it  was 
purchased  by  the  third  Earl  of  Gosford  for 
157  guineas.  The  fourth  Earl  sold  it  to 
James  Toovey,  the  bookseller,  in  1884,  for 
^470.  The  fly-leaf  and  title  are  mounted, 
and  two  leaves  are  repaired.  It  is  in  a  choice 
red  morocco  binding  by  Roger  Payne.  At 
the  same  time  copies  of  the  three  other  folios 
will  be  sold — that  of  the  third  folio  being  the 
Langham  copy,  with  the  additional  title 
(1663),  which  sold  for  ^435  in  July,  1894." 

The  "  Malone  Society "  has  recently  been 
founded  for  the  purpose  of  making  accessible 
materials  for  the  study  of  the  early  English 
drama.  The  publications  of  the  society, 
which  will  be  issued  to  members  only,  will 
consist  of  faithful  reprints  of  old  plays,  mostly 
Tudor,  and  of  documents  illustrative  of  the 
history  of  the  drama  and  the  stage. 

The  first  issue,  which  is  on  the  eve  of 
publication,  will  consist  of  the  following  four 
plays : 

St.  Johan  the  Evangelist.     4to.     n.d. 

Wealth  and  Health.     4to.     n.d. 

The  Battle  of  Alcazar  [by  George  Peele]. 

4to.     1594. 
Orlando  Furioso  [by  Robert  Greene].    4to. 

1594- 

t£r^  t&*  £r* 

Much  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  reprinting 
old  plays,  but  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  the 
work  of  the  Malone  Society  in  its  chosen 
field.  Future  publications  of  the  society 
will  be  selected  from  the  following  : 

The    Beauty    of    Women     (Calisto    and 

Melibaea).     Folio,     n.d. 
Apius  and  Virginia,  by  R.  B.    4to.     1575. 
The  Tragical  reign  of  Selimus.    4to.    1594. 
A  Knack  to  Know  an  Honest  Man.     4to. 

1596. 


192 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


Sir  John  Oldcastle.     4to.     1600. 

The   Weakest    goeth   to   the   Wall.     4to. 

1600. 
King  Leir  and  his  Three  Daughters.     4to. 

1605. 
Sir  Thomas  More.     MS.  Harley  7368. 

Should  there  be  an  increase  of  members 
sufficient  to  warrant  the  expense,  a  volume 
of  collected  papers  and  documents  may  be 
published  as  a  further  instalment  of  the  first 
year's  issue.  It  is  hoped  that  one  play  or  its 
equivalent  may  be  issued  annually  for  every 
twenty-five  members.  Correspondence  with 
regard  to  membership  should  be  addressed 
to  the  Hon.  Secretary,  Mr.  Arundell  Esdaile, 
at  the  British  Museum. 

^*  t^"  t&* 

Mr.  G.  M.  Arnold,  Mayor  of  Gravesend,  and 
honorary  general  secretary  of  the  Kent  Archaeo- 
logical Society,  wrote  to  the  Times  of  April  4  : 
"  The  present  temporary  interlude  in  public 
affairs  encourages  me  to  think  that  the  follow- 
ing translation  of  an  ancient  charter-party 
would  not  be  unacceptable  to  many  of  your 
readers.  It  has  recently  turned  up  in  my 
collection  of  MSS.,  and  is  interesting  as 
bearing  upon  an  early  trading  connexion 
with  the  south  of  France  :  '  Know  all  those 
who  shall  see  and  hear  this  charter  that  Sir 
Hugh  de  Berham,  in  the  name  and  place 
of  Sir  Adam  de  Limbergue,  Constable  of  the 
Castle  of  Bordeaux,  and  on  behalf  of  our 
Lord  the  King  of  England,  Duke  of  Guienne, 
and  in  the  name  and  place  of  our  said  Lord 
the  King,  and  Duke,  has  freighted  and 
ladened  at  Bordeaux,  the  Coq,  "our  Lady  of 
Lyme,"  of  Walter  Giffard,  the  Master,  93 
Tuns  and  18  pipes  of  Wine,  whereof  are  one 
Tun  4  pipes  of  Stock  Wine,  and  44  Tuns  of 
Flour,  to  go  to  Newcastle-on-Tyne  straight- 
way, for  9  shillings  of  good  Crown  sterlings 
of  England,  each  tun  of  freight  at  the  rate  of 
21  Tuns  1  pipe  for  20,  and  the  residue  of  the 
pipes  2  for  the  freight  of  one  Tun.  For 
which  freights  the  said  Master  acknowledges 
that  he  was  paid  in  the  sum  of  £1  2s.  od.  of 
good  Crown  sterlings  of  England  in  part 
payment  of  the  said  freight,  and  held  himself 
thereof  well  paid.  And  within  fifteen  days, 
counting  one  day  after  another,  after  God,  he 
shall  have  conducted  and  brought  the  said 
ship  across  to  safety  to  her  right  discharge. 


The  wine  and  flour  shall  be  discharged,  and 
the  Master  paid  for  all  his  freight  without 
any  delay  and  without  any  demurrage. 
Towage  and  petty  lademanage  are  on  the 
Merchants.  And  when  the  ship  left  Bordeaux 
the  Master  and  the  Merchants  were  in  good 
peace,  and  in  good  love,  and  without  any 
quarrel.  That  is  to  say,  the  8th  day  from 
the  end  of  May  a.d.  1322,  King  Charles 
reigning  in  France,  Edward  reigning  in 
England,  Duke  of  Guienne  (  .  .  .  ),  Arch- 
bishop of  Bordeaux.  Witnesses,  Richard 
Esparver,  Thomas  Rosen  P.  Mauran,  John 
de  Rosorde,  and  that  John  Alcin,  Notary 
Public  of  the  Duchy  of  ...  of  June,  which 
P.  Mauran,  registrar  of  Charters,  wrote  by 
my  will  + .'  The  parchment  bears  the  follow- 
ing endorsement :  '  Sum  of  the  freight  of  the 
Ship  of  Walter  Giffard,  Master  of  the  Ship, 
the  St.  Mary  Coq  of  Lyme,  ^53  us.  od.,  of 
which  are  paid  by  A.  de  Limbergue  ^7  2s., 
and  by  Polhowe  ^46  10s.  He  delivered  to 
Polhow  86  tuns  of  Wine  and  43  tuns  of  flour, 
and  there  are  wanting  16  tuns  of  Wine.' 
The  original,  I  need  not  add,  is  at  any  time 
accessible  for  inspection." 

^*  ^r*  16^* 

A  History  of  the  Ancient  Society  of  Cogers, 
by  Peter  Rayleigh,  was  issued  some  years 
ago  for  private  circulation,  and  has  long  been 
out  of  print.  Mr.  Elliot  Stock  is  about  to 
issue  a  new  edition,  with  additional  matter 
and  fresh  illustrations.  It  will  give  a  history 
of  the  society  from  its  foundation  in  1757, 
and  furnish  much  curious  and  interesting 
information  about  the  characteristics,  rules, 
customs,  and  etiquette  of  the  club,  as  well  as 
many  humorous  stories  of  its  members  and 
their  doings. 

f£**  1&*  1&* 

The  Guardian  of  April  4  says  :  "  By  the 
courtesy  of  the  Canterbury  and  York  Society 
members  of  the  Cumberland  and  Westmor- 
land Antiquarian  Society  have  been  allowed 
to  subscribe  to  the  series  of  Carlisle  Episcopal 
Registers  now  being  published.  The  first 
volume  consists  of  'The  Register  of  John 
de  Halton,  Bishop  of  Carlisle.  Part  I.  Com- 
prising the  years  1293-1300.'  It  is  edited 
and  transcribed  by  W.  N.  Thompson,  of 
St.  Bees.  Chancellor  Prescott  {Register  of 
Wetherat)   mentions  amongst   local   unpub- 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


*93 


lished  manuscripts  :  '  The  oldest  registers  of 
the  Bishops  of  Carlisle — viz.,  of  Bishop  John 
Halton,  Bishop  John  Rosse,  Bishop  John 
Kirkby,  Bishop  Gilbert  Welton,  and  Bishop 
Thomas  Appleby.  These  registers  are  in 
two  volumes,  and  cover  a  period  from  1293 
to  1386,  but  there  are  no  entries  from  1345 
to  1353.  They  contain  much  valuable  in- 
formation, often  difficult  to  decipher.'  An 
account  of  them  by  Mr.  J.  Brigstocke 
Sheppard,  dated  1881,  is  contained  in  the 
ninth  report  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts 
Commission.  This  excited  so  much  interest 
locally  at  the  time  (to  quote  Chancellor 
Ferguson  in  Testamenta  Karleolensia)  that 
Mr.  Sheppard  was  induced  to  undertake 
their  transcription  by  the  Cumberland  and 
Westmorland  Antiquarian  Society,  with  the 
intention  ultimately  of  printing  and  publish- 
ing them.  Mr.  Sheppard's  plan,  it  seems, 
was  to  copy  at  length  only  certain  extracts. 
Presentations,  institutions,  collations,  etc., 
he  gave  in  short  abstract.  Of  State  papers, 
Papal  Bulls,  Commissions  of  Nuncios,  bare 
titles  and  references  alone  are  given.  Thus 
his  transcript  does  not  represent  more  than 
a  quarter  of  the  contents  of  the  original 
registers.  It  has  now  been  thought  desirable 
to  make  a  fresh  copy  from  the  original  MSS. 
A  portion  of  this  has  been  very  ably  done  by 
Mr.  Thompson,  and  is  being  issued  as  Part  I. 
of  Bishop  Halton's  register.  It  is  intended 
that  instalments  shall  follow  at  intervals  until 
the  whole  of  the  surviving  ancient  registers 
of  Carlisle  are  accessible  for  reference  and 
study  in  a  readable  form." 

t£P  t^*  w* 

In  The  Poet  at  the  Breakfast  Table  we  have 
Dr.  Holmes's  plan  for  filling  his  book-cases. 
"  In  the  first  place,  you  see,  I  have  four 
extensive  cyclopaedias.  Out  of  these  I  can 
get  information  enough  to  serve  my  immediate 
purpose  on  almost  any  subject."  Apropos  of 
this,  Dr.  W.  Robertson  Nicoll  (in  his  intro- 
duction to  the  Poet,  now  included  in  the 
excellent  series  of  World's  Classics  published 
by  Mr.  Henry  Frowde)  tells  a  true  story  of 
Dr.  Holmes  on  his  last  visit  to  England.  He 
was  at  Cambridge,  and  his  host  told  him 
that  he  would  meet  Professor  Robertson 
Smith,  a  man  of  universal  knowledge.  Said 
Holmes,  "I  do  not  much  believe  in  these 
men,  but  I  have  tests  for  them,  and  I  will 
vol.  111. 


apply  them."  In  due  course  he  asked 
Robertson  Smith  to  give  him  information 
about  the  Apollinarians.  "  Will  you  tell  me," 
was  the  reply,  "what  you  know  about  the 
subject  already  ?"  Holmes  went  over  his 
stock  of  information.  "  I  see,"  said  Robert- 
son Smith,  "you  have  read  all  this  in  Rees's 
Encyclopedia,  and  it  is  all  wrong." 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  jRetos. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.} 

SALES. 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  sold 
on  the  15th  and  16th  inst.  the  following  important 
books  and  manuscripts  :  Pope's  Dunciad,  first  edition, 
1728,^55;  Bartholomew  Fair,  by  H.  Morley,  extra 
illustrations,  ^80  ;  Vauxhall  Gardens,  extra  illus- 
trations, £120  ;  Kelmscott  Chaucer,  bound  by 
Cobden-Sanderson,  1896,  £d\  ;  Bulletins  de  la  Con- 
vention Nationale,  1792-95,  ^141  ;  Watts's  Divine 
Songs  for  Children,  1715,  .£55  ;  Rites  of  Funeral, 
Ancient  and  Modern,  dedication  copy  to  S.  Pepys, 
1683,  £bi  ;  Horse  B.  V.  M.,  17  miniatures  on 
vellum,  Ssec.  XV.,  £50;  Bret  Harte,  Original  MSS. 
of  the  Devotion  of  Henriquez,  Barker's  Luck,  and 
Susy,  £82;  Sidney's  Arcadia,  first  edition  (imperfect), 
'59°)  £lo°  5  Ben  Jonson's  Celestina,  1631,  with  his 
autograph,  £50  ;  Breviarium  Romanum,  illuminated 
MS.  on  vellum,  Ssec.  XV.,  ,£70  ;  Bible  in  English, 
Day  and  Seres,  1549,  /50 ;  Shelley's  Queen  Mab, 
first  edition,  1812,  ^53  ;  Adonais,  Pisa,  1821,^92; 
Frobisher's  Three  Voyages,  in  English,  1577-78, 
£2,680 ;  Hawkins's  Second  Voyage,  1569,  £630; 
Horse  B.  V.  M.,  MS.  on  vellum,  27  miniatures, 
Ssec.  XV. -XVI.,  £220;  Shakespeare,  Second  Folio, 
Aspley  imprint,  1632,  £220;  Thackeray's  King 
Glumpus,  1837,  £153  ;  The  Exquisites,  1839,  £76  ; 
A  Relation  of  Maryland,  with  map,  1635,  £400  ; 
Paradise  Lost,  1667,^125;  Horse  B.  V.  M.,  illumin- 
ated Italian  MS.  on  vellum,  16  miniatures,  Ssec.  XV., 
£410  ;  Preces  Pise,  17  miniatures,  Ssec.  XV., 
2"355  ;  another,  15  large  miniatures,  from  the 
library  of  Anne  of  Brittany,  Ssec.  XV,  £515;  another, 
similar,  8  fine  large  miniatures  (French),  Ssec.  XV., 
£560;  another  illuminated  French  MS.,  with  6 
miniatures,  Ssec.  XVI.,  ^1,170;  Horse  ad  Usum 
Sarum,  illuminated  English  MS.,  Ssec.  XIV.,  £950. 
— Athenceum,  March  23. 

**$  ^  ^ 

The  same  auctioneers  sold  on  the  22nd  and  23  ult. 
the  collection  of  rare  books  in  English  literature 
formed  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Van  Antwerp,  of  New  York, 
which  contained  many  works  of  great  importance  and 
rarity,  the  chief  of  which  follow  :  Shakespeare,  First 

2  B 


194 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


Folio,  1623  (Rowfjni  copy),  ^,600;  Second  Folio 
Aspley  imprint,  1632,  £210  ;  Third  Folio,  Chetwynd 
title,   1663-64,  £650.     Midsummer   Night  s   Dream, 
1600,  £180,  King  Lear,  1608,  £200;  Merry  Wives, 
1619,  2'20  ;  Rape  of  Lucreece,  1624,  £350  ;  I  oems, 
1640   £215  ;  Walton's  Angler,  first  edition,  Locker- 
Lampson's  fine  copy,  1653,  £1,290  (record  price) 1  ; 
Burns's    Poems,    Kilmarnock    edition,    uncut.    1786, 
/700 ;  Cicero  on  Old  Age  and  Friendship,  printed 
by  Caxton,  1481,  £600;  Goldsmith's  Traveller,  1764, 
/216;  Gray's  Elegy,   !75>.  £2°S  •   Herbert's  Typo- 
graphical Antiquities,    1785-90,  with  original  speci- 
men leaves  of  Caxton  and  other  early  English  printers, 
^245  ;  John  Heywood's  One  Hundred  Epigrammes, 
1550,  £126  ;  Hubbard's  Troubles  with  the  Indians  in 
New  England,   1677,  with  autographs  of  the  Haw- 
thorne family,  £450;  Milton's  Comus,  1637,  £162; 
The  Three  Tailes  of  the  Three   Priests   of  Pebhs, 
Edinb.,    1603,    £120;  Edward   VI.,    Prayer   Book, 
1549,    Mense    Martii,   £100;    Purchas's    Pilgnmes, 
original  edition,  with  engraved  title  dated  1624,  £W< 
Scott's  Novels,  complete  set  of  original  editions  in 
boards,    uncut,    1814-29,    £300;    Sidney's   Defence 
of  Poesie,  W.  Ponsonby,  1595,  j£iio;  Arcadia,  first 
edition,  1590,  £315  ;  Swift's  Gulliver  (Rowfant  copy), 
1726,  £132  ;  Vitae  Patrum,  Wynkyn  deWorde,  1495, 
£140;    The   Golden   Legend,   Wynkyn   de  Worde, 
1527,  £100.     The  total  of  the  sale  (243  lots)  reached 
£16,351  15s.  6d. — Athenaum,  April  6. 


wrwvTWVYTvm 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
We  have  received  the  two  parts  for  1906  (Vol.  VI., 
No.  3,  Parts  1  and  2)  of  the  Journal  of  the  Associa- 
tion for  the  Preservation  of  the  Memorials  of  the 
Dead,  Ireland.  The  association  was  founded  some 
years  ago  with  the  object  of  urging  the  better  care  of 
Irish  burial-grounds,  and  of  recording  all  existing 
tombs  and  monuments  of  any  interest,  with  accurate 
copies  of  their  inscriptions,  and  for  other  kindred 
purposes.  It  is  clear  from  the  two  well-printed  parts 
of  the  Jturnal  before  us  that  the  Association  is  doing 
excellent  work.  There  are  many  illustrations  of  arms, 
with  careful  descriptions,  and  also  of  important  or 
specially  interesting  tombs.  With  regard  to  the 
value  of  the  inscriptions,  it  has  to  be  remembered  that, 
owing  to  the  absence  of  early  parish  registers  in 
Ireland,  except  in  Dublin,  these  inscriptions  are  often 
the  only  means  of  tracing  pedigrees.  The  Journal  is 
thus  of  special  value  to  students  of  Irish  genealogy  and 
heraldry.  In  the  parts  before  us  we  note  especially  a 
complete  collection  of  the  monumental  inscriptions, 
prior  to  the  year  1840,  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
Dublin,  copied  by  the  Dean  last  year,  and  containing 
many  famous  names  ;  an  illustration  of  a  very  interest- 
ing sixteenth-century  heraldic  mural  slab  in  Lyons 
Churchyard,  carefully  described  by  Lord  Walter  Fitz- 
Gerald  ;  and  another  of  a  seventeenth-century  heraldic 
and  inscribed  slab  in  a  fragmentary  condition  in  the 
nave  of  the  ruined  church  at  Balsoon,  co.  Meath. 
The  Association  clearly  deserves  the  support  not 
only  of  Irish  antiquaries,  but  of  all  interested  in  Irish 
genealogy  and  heraldry.  Particulars  can  be  obtained 
of  Mr.  E.  R.  McC.  Dix,  17,  Kildare  Street,  Dublin. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
At  the   March  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries  OF  Scotland,  Bishop  Dowden  presiding, 
the  first  paper  read  was  on  the  chronology  of  some 
cinerary  urn  types  of  Britain  and  Ireland,  by  the  Hon. 
John  Abercromby.     The  object  of  the  paper  was  to 
present  in  broad  outline  a  connected  view  of  the  later 
part  of  the  Bronze  Age,  characterized  by  the  presence 
of  these  urns  in  its  burials.     In  the  second  paper, 
which  was  communicated  by  the  Hon.  John  Aber- 
cromby,  Mr.    H.   St.  George  Gray  described   some 
excavations   made   at   Forglen,   on   the    borders    of 
Aberdeenshire  and  Banffshire,  in  July  last.     In  the 
third  paper,  Lord  Guthrie  gave  an  account  of  certain 
documents     relating     to    the    imprisonment,     trial, 
sentence,   and   release   of  George  Buchanan  by  the 
Inquisition    in    Portugal.     These    documents    were 
discovered   in  the   archives  of  the  Inquisition,  pre- 
served at  Lisbon,  in  1893.     They  include  shorthand 
records  of  four  examinations  of  Buchanan  on  charges 
of  heresy  and   writing  a   poem   when   in   Scotland 
satirizing  the  Franciscan  Friars,  a  copy  of  his  defence, 
written   and   signed   by  himself,  a  full  copy  of  the 
sentence  signed  by  seven  members  of  the  Inquisition, 
a  copy  of  the  order  for  his   release  signed   by  the 
Grand  Inquisitor  and  the  Cardinal  Prince,  afterwards 
Henry,  King  of  Portugal,  dated  December  12,  1551. 
It    was   while    undergoing   this   imprisonment    that 
George  Buchanan  began  his  immortal  version  of  the 
Psalms.     In  the  fourth  paper,    Rev.   W.  A.    Stark 
described  a  presentation  by  George  III.  to  the  church 
and  parish  of  Kirkpatrick-Durham,  the  original  docu- 
ment being  exhibited.     In  the  last  paper,  Dr.  Robert 
Munro  gave  a  notice  of  two  specimens  of  ornamented 
stone  balls,  presented  to  the  National  Museum  by 
Mr.   Andrew  Urquhart,   with  notes  on  the  general 
subject  of  the  archaeological  relations  of  this  interest- 
ing group   of  enigmatical   objects,   of  which  about 
200  are  known,  all  but  one  having  been  found  in 
Scotland.      After  reviewing   the   recorded   evidence 
regarding  the  associations  of  these  objects,  and  dis- 
cussing their  technique  and  ornamentation,  he  came 
to    the    conclusion    that    their   chronological   range 
extends  from  the  end  of  the  Stone  Age  down  to  the 
close  of  Paganism  in  Scotland,  that  they  probably 
owed  their  origin  to  the  Picts  or  Caledonians,  and  not 
to  any  of   the  Celtic   immigrants   into    Britain,    for 
otherwise  some  specimens  would  have  been  met  with 
in  the  wider  lands  so  long  occupied  by  them  outside 
the  Scottish  area  ;  and  that  the  only  suggestion  as  to 
the  use  of  the  balls,  which  seem  to  have  a  better  foot- 
hold than  any  that  have  been  made,  is  that  they  were 
used  as  badges  of  distinction  and  solemnity  in  the 
performance  of  religious  ceremonies,  and  might,  there- 
fore, be  regarded  as  holding  a  position  analogous  to 
that  of  the  crosier  of  the  subsequent  Christian  period. 

At  the  April  meeting  Dr.  Christison  presided.  The 
first  paper  was  a  calendar  of  the  original  charters  and 
other  writs  in  possession  of  the  Society  relating  to 
lands  or  benefices  in  Scotland,  by  Mr.  Matthew 
Livingstone,  F. S.A.Scot.  The  Society's  collection 
of  charters  is  of  considerable  extent  and  value  from 
historical  or  genealogical  points  of  view,  and  the 
object  of  the  calendar,  which  will  be  printed  in  the 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


195 


Proceedings  of  the  Society,  is  to  make  the  contents  of 
these  documents  accessible.     The  second  paper  was 
a  notice  of  the  discovery  of  a  Bronze- Age  cist  and 
urn  in  the  West  Links,  North  Berwick,  by  Mr.  James 
Edward  Cree,  F.S.A.Scot.,  and  Mr.  J.  S.  Richardson. 
In  January  last  the  workmen  forming  a  new  bunker 
on  the  West  Links,  near  the  disused  quarry,   dis- 
covered a  short  cist  containing  a  skeleton  and  an  urn. 
The  cist  was  3  feet  long,  about  2  feet   broad,  and 
16  inches  deep,  with  its  long  axis  east  and  west.  The 
skeleton  lay  in  the  usual  contracted  position  on  its 
right  side,  with  the  head  towards  the  east,  the  urn 
hying  on  its  side  immediately  in  front  of  the  skull. 
The  urn  is  of  the  food-vessel  type,  almost  6  inches  in 
height  and  4^  inches    in   diameter    at   the   mouth, 
narrowing  to  3  inches  at  the  bottom.    The  upper  part 
is  ornamented  with  a  herring-bone  pattern.     Outside 
the  cist,  and  at  a  distance  of  3§  feet  from  the  centre, 
there  were  found  some  portions  of  another  urn,  orna- 
mented with  a  thumb-nail  pattern.      Portions  of  a 
skull  and  other  parts  of  a  second  skeleton  were  also 
found  here.     The   urn   has   been   presented   to   the 
National  Museum  of  Antiquities  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hamilton-Ogilvy,    the     proprietors     of    the    estate 
of  Archerfield,    on   which    the  cist  was  discovered. 
In  the  third  paper,  Dr.  D.  Hay  Fleming,  F.S.A., 
Scot.,  described  a  cist  discovered  in  the  last  week  of 
February  at   Balnacarron,  near  St.   Andrews.     The 
sand  and  gravel,  of  which  it  was  full,  had  been  all 
shovelled  out,  but  a  few  fragments  of  pottery  and 
bone  having  been  found  among  the  excavated  soil, 
Dr.  John  H.  Wilson  put  the  whole  of  it  through  a 
riddle,  and  thus  recovered  a  jet  necklace,  many  pieces 
of  pottery,  and  calcined  bones.    The  necklace  consists 
of  seventy-nine  oblong  beads,  six  plates  of  the  usual 
form,  finely  ornamented  with  triangles  of  dots,  and 
a  small  triangular  pendant.     The  pottery  included 
fragments  of  two  beakers  and  of  at  least  four  cinerary 
urns,  and  of  five  vessels  of  late  mediaeval  fabric,  some 
of  which  showed  the  characteristic  greenish-yellow 
glaze.     Another  cist,  only  a  few  yards  distant,  was 
discovered  on  March  7,  but  was  covered  up  again 
after  having  been  imperfectly  examined.    Dr.  Fleming 
also  gave  an  account  of  the  discovery  in  the  same 
field  in  1859  of  a  cremation  cemetery,  from  which 
were  taken  eighteen  or  twenty  large  cinerary  urns 
and  two  of  the  characteristic  small  oval  bronze  blades 
with  tangs.     The  urns  were  not  in  cists,  but  simply 
set  in   the  ground,  with    flat  stones  covering   their 
mouths,  or  inverted  over  the  burnt  bones. 

«•$  «$  *K 
On  March  26  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries 
of  Ireland  held  a  meeting,  the  Most  Rev.  Dr. 
Donnelly,  Bishop  of  Canea,  presiding.  Mr.  Goddard 
H.  Orpen,  M.A.,  read  a  paper  entitled  "Motes  and 
Norman  Castles  in  Ireland."  In  the  course  of  his 
paper,  he  held  that  the  old  motes  and  castles  in 
Ireland  were  of  Norman  origin.  There  was  sufficient 
evidence  to  show  that  the  Normans  raised  "  motes  " 
in  Ireland  in  defence  of  their  castles.  Slane  and 
Trim  might  be  mentioned  in  support  of  this,  while 
there  was  no  evidence  that  the  Irish  of  an  earlier 
time  used  this  form  of  fortification.  It  was  certain 
that  the  vast  majority  of  the  motes  were  to  be  found 
in  the  great  Norman  lordships  of  Meath,  Leinster, 
Ulster,  and  the  district  of  Uriel,  while  they  were  not 


to  be  found  in  the  exclusively  Irish  districts.  These 
motes  were  simply  essential  parts  of  rathworks  of 
private  castles,  erected  by  early  Norman  invaders 
wherever  they  could  get  a  foothold  in  Ireland.  Mr. 
Orpen  dealt  in  a  very  exhaustive  manner  with  the 
subject. 

«•$  +$  «•$ 

British  Numismatic  Society. — March  20.— Mr. 
Carlyon-Britton,  President,  in  the  chair —The  Biblio- 
theque  Naiionale  de  France  was  elected  to  membership. 
The   President  read   a   paper  upon  the  Giothaburh 
mint  of  /Fthelred  II.,  Canute,  and   Harold  I.,  the 
name  of  which  appears  upon    the   coins  under  the 
forms   gothabyri,  iothab,    etc.     He  agreed   that 
this  mutt  be  the  Judanburh   mentioned   under  the 
year  952  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  as  the  place 
of  confinement   of  Wulfstan,   Archbishop  of  York. 
Previous    authorities    have   variously    attempted    to 
identify  Judanburh  with  Jedburgh,  Woodborough  in 
Nottinghamshire,  and   Idbury  in  Oxfordshire  ;   but, 
as  Mr.  Carlyon-Britton  explained,  there  were  objec- 
tions to  all  of  these  suggestions.     He  called  attention 
to   the   passage   in   Bede    referring    to    the    city   of 
Ythancaestir,  and  submitted  philological  evidence  to 
show  that  the  names  might  be  identical,   and  that 
the  forms  were  not    inconsistent  with  the  phonetic 
changes  made  in  the  intervening  centuries.     Ythan- 
caestir as  a  city  had  disappeared  before  the  Norman 
Conquest,    but   its   site   was   believed    by  some   in- 
vestigators to  be  indicated  by  Effecestre  in  Domesday, 
which  is  represented  by  the  ancient   chapel  of  St. 
Peter-on-the-Wall  on  the  sea-coast  of  Essex.     Mr. 
Carlyon-Britton    pointed    out,   however,   that   Bede 
located  Ythancaestir  on  the  River  Pant,  or  Black- 
water.— Mr.  Alfred  Chitty,  Corresponding  Member 
for  Melbourne,  contributed  a  monograph  upon  the 
early  coinage  of  Australia,  in  which  he  treated  his 
subject   in   detail   both   from    the    evidence  of   the 
records  and  from  that  of  the  coinage  itself.     Amongst 
numerous    exhibitions    were  :    A   remarkable    silver 
penny  of  Coenwulf,  of  Hawkins  type,  Fig.   75,  by 
the   committee  of  Colchester   Museum.     This   coin 
reads    on    the    obverse    +CSORCDCX,    and    on  the 
reverse  bears  the  moneyer's  name  tvr.     It  was  found 
at  Bradwell-on-Sea  in  the  course   of  Mr.    Parker's 
excavations  on   the  supposed   site    of    Othona.      A 
silver  penny  from  the  Cuerdale  hoard,  believed  to 
be  of  Halfden,  by  Mr.  W.  Sharp  Ogden.     A  silver 
penny  of  the  Giothaburh   mint   of  Canute,   by  the 
President.     A  heavy  silver  penny  of  Henry  IV.   of 
York,    and    halfpenny  of    London,    exhibiting    the 
sunken  annulet  on  the  cross  mint-mark,  and  a  half- 
groat  of  James  III.  of  Scotland,  of  the  Edinburgh 
mint,  bearing  the  letters  A  T,  by  Mr.  L.  A.  Lawrence. 
An   engraved   half-guinea   token    issued    by   Robert 
Wilson,  of  Sowerby  Bridge,  by  Mr.   S.   H.  Hamer. 
A  series  of  Australian  tokens  by  Mr.  L.  L.  Fletcher, 
and  collections  of  early  leaden  tokens,  by  Mr.  A.  H. 
Baldwin  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Heathcote. 
•0$         ^         «Otf 

At  its  meeting  of  the  Royal  Archaeological 
Institute  on  April  9,  there  were  exhibits  of 
alabaster  figures  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Fison  and  the  Rev. 
E.  S.  Dewick.  Mr.  Howard  Candler  read  a  paper 
on  "  How  the  Elephant  became  a  Bishop,  a  study 

2  B   2 


196 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


into  the  origin  and  the  names  of  Chess- Pieces." 
Mr.  Candler  remarked  that  the  bishop  had  originally 
been  an  elephant,  called  by  the  Arabs  "  al  phyl," 
and  hence  came  the  Italian  "  alfiere,"  which  meant 
a  standard-bearer.  The  development  of  the  French 
form  "  le  fou  "  was  curious.  "  Al"  became  "le" 
and  "  fil "  successively  changed  into  "  fol "  and 
"  fou,"  the  piece  being  taken  to  represent  the  Court 
fool.  The  lecturer  traced  a  connection  between  fools 
and  clergy  in  mediaeval  verse,  which  was  given  to 
satirizing  the  priests,  and  he  mentioned  that  in 
England  the  ancient  "  Festival  of  Fools  "  had  its 
boy  bishop.  But  the  ecclesiastical  character  of  the 
piece  seemed  to  have  a  Scandinavian  origin,  suggested 
by  the  fine  old  chessmen  that  had  been  found  in  the 
Island  of  Lewis.  In  various  countries  the  piece  had 
been  represented  as  a  high  personage — a  judge,  a 
cleric,  or  a  prince.  He  suggested  that  the  prelate 
had  been  given  a  place  on  the  chessboard  for  the 
purpose  of  making  the  Court  assembly  at  a  tourna- 
ment as  complete  as  possible,  there  being,  when  the 
other  chessmen  had  been  named,  no  other  dignity 
left. 


+$  4H$ 


+$ 


The  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries  met  on 
March  27,  Mr.  F.  W.  Dendy  presiding. — Mr.  J.  C. 
Hodgson,  F.S.A.,  read  papers  entitled  "  An  Episode 
in  the  History  of  a  Morpeth  Family,"  and  "Proofs 
of  Age  "  (in  continuation  of  the  former  series).  He 
dealt  with  the  settlement  of  one  of  the  sons  of  the 
family  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  in  Carolina, 
and  read  ancient  records  of  proofs  of  age.  When  a 
man  died  and  his  son  had  not  attained  his  twenty- 
first  year,  the  Crown  took  possession  of  his  estate 
and  exacted  the  death  duties.  When  the  owner  of 
the  estate  came  to  age  and  claimed  his  land,  the 
Crown  said  he  must  prove  his  age,  and  a  jury  was 
empannelled  and  the  evidence  heard  in  support  of  the 
claim. 

The  chairman,  in  moving  a  vote  of  thanks  to 
Mr.  Hodgson,  said  the  paper  showed  some  valuable 
information,  and  gave  many  side-lights  on  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  time  and  of  the  people.  For 
example,  Robert  Widdrington  recalled  the  time, 
about  which  he  gave  evidence,  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  present  at  the  Battle  of  Bannockburn. 

A  paper  on  "  Kepier  School,  Houghton-le-Spring, 
and  its  Library,"  contributed  by  Mr.  R.  W.  Ramsey, 
was  read.  It  stated  that  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  Houghton  was  a  centre  of  resi- 
dence of  the  gentry,  and  some  of  their  sons  were 
educated  at  Kepier  School,  which  was  known  as  the 
Eton  of  the  North. 


-•? 


*s       +§ 


At  the  March  meeting  of  the  Sunderland  Anti- 
quarian Society,  Mr.  G.  W.  Bain  presiding,  an 
interesting  paper,  entitled  "  Some  Account  of 
Sunderland  Bridge,"  was  read  by  the  Rev.  J.  T. 
Middlemiss. 

+Q  +Q  +Q 

On  March  22  the  Rev.  E .  Ceredig  Jones  read  a  paper 
before  the  Bradford  Historical  and  Anti- 
quarian   Society  on   "The  Arthurian   Legends." 


Mr.  J.  A.  Clapham  presided.  Mr.  Jones  said  that 
the  Arthurian  legends  might  justly  be  regarded  as 
the  largest  subject  in  the  whole  range  of  literature. 
The  traditions  seemed  to  the  lecturer  to  establish 
beyond  dispute  the  reality  of  King  Arthur's  per- 
sonality. As  a  Celt  he  attached  very  great  importance 
to  them,  and  was  not  willing  to  reduce  his  hero  to 
a  solar  myth.  Speaking  of  the  manner  of  the  dis- 
semination of  the  legends,  Mr.  Jones  said  that  Arthur 
died  about  the  year  A.D.  543,  and  soon  after  the  bards 
celebrated  his  virtue  in  verse.  Their  works  were  taken 
over  to  Brittany,  and  became  the  common  property  of 
the  Celts  both  in  Britain  and  on  the  Continent.  In 
the  eighth  century  Nennius  wrote  his  history  of  the 
Britons,  in  which  he  gave  a  prominent  place  to 
Arthur.  About  the  time  when  the  Normans  con- 
quered Britain  there  was  a  closer  relation  between 
them  and  the  people  of  Brittany,  and  the  Arthurian 
legends  were  translated  into  Norman-French.  During 
the  same  period  the  Normans  established  settlements 
in  Sicily,  and  from  that  island  the  legends  were 
imported  into  Italy.  By  the  Norman  Conquest  the 
Celts  of  France  and  those  of  Britain  were  brought 
into  close  touch.  Their  literary  men  exchanged 
ideas,  and  in  this  manner  a  new  interest  was 
awakened  in  the  old  legends  in  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries.  The  Mabinogion,  which  were  the 
Welsh  version  of  the  romances,  assumed  their  form 
in  the  latter  part  of  this  period.  In  the  first  half  of 
the  twelfth  century  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  wrote  his 
celebrated  "History  of  the  Kings  of  Britain."  In 
this  book  the  story  of  Arthur  as  the  founder  of  the 
Order  of  the  Round  Table  was  given  in  a  most  charming 
manner.  So  fascinated  was  Henry  II.,  King  of  Eng- 
land, with  it  that  under  his  patronage  Richard  Wace 
issued  a  French  translation  of  it  in  verse.  The  legends 
were  rewritten  in  a  more  elaborate  style,  embodying 
developments  by  several  French  authors,  and  finally 
by  Sir  Thomas  Malory  in  English  in  the  year  1469. 

-*>£  *$  *$ 

The  East  Riding  Antiquarian  Society  visited 
the  Wilberforce  House  Museum  at  Hull  on  March  12. 
The  visitors  were  welcomed  by  Councillor  Brown, 
and  a  very  instructive  address  on  the  house  was 
given  by  Mr.  T.  Sheppard,  who  reviewed  the  steps 
taken  by  the  Corporation  to  acquire  the  house,  and 
the  efforts  they  had  made  to  restore  the  building  and 
to  become  the  possessors  of  historic  relics.  He  further 
adduced  some  interesting  data  to  prove  that  the  house 
was  erected  between  the  years  1590  and  1600.  In 
a  pamphlet  published  relating  to  Wilberforce  House 
some  years  ago  it  was  stated  that  the  building  could 
not  have  been  erected  before  the  year  16 16.  That 
conclusion  was  arrived  at  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
mantelpiece  in  one  room  could  be  seen  the  crest  and 
coat-of-arms  of  the  second  John  Lister,  knight.  It 
was  therefore  assumed  that  the  overmantel  was  con 
temporary  with  the  erection  of  the  building,  but  from 
the  restorations  which  had  recently  been  made  by  the 
Corporation  there  was  unquestionable  evidence  that 
the  oak  panelling  in  the  whole  of  the  rooms  was  not 
originally  placed  there,  but  had  been  added  at  some 
subsequent  period,  possibly  by  Sir  John  Lister.  That 
by  itself  pointed  to  the  fact  that  the  building  was 
older  than  the  knighthood,  and  it  might  fairly  be 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


197 


assumed  that  the  building  was  erected  by  John 
Lister,  the  merchant,  who  appeared  to  have  come 
to  Hull  about  1590,  and  served  as  alderman,  chamber- 
lain, sheriff,  and  mayor,  and  also  represented  the 
borough  in  Parliament.  In  his  subsequent  remarks 
the  speaker  referred  to  the  "  horrible  mutilations  " 
the  house  received  in  the  nineteenth  century,  when  it 
was  used  as  an  office  and  a  bank. 

*g  *$  +§ 

The  Annual  meeting  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy 
was  held  on  March  16,  Professor  Tarleton  in  the 
chair.  The  following  were  elected  as  President  and 
Council  for  the  year  1 907- 1908  :  President,  Francis  A. 
Tarleton,  LL.D.,  Sc.D.  Council.  Committee  of 
Science,:  Rev.  W.  R.  Westropp  Roberts,  B.D.  ; 
R.  Lloyd  Praeger,  B.E.  ;  Richard  M.  Harrington, 
M.A.  ;  John  Ellard  Gore,  F.R.A.S. ;  Frederick  W. 
Moore ;  Walter  E.  Adeney,  D.Sc.  ;  John  A. 
M'Clellard,  M.A.  ;  Frederick  Purser,  M.A  ;  George 
H.  Carpenter,  B.Sc.  ;  Grenville  A.  J.  Cole,  F.G.S. ; 
Sydney  Young,  Sc.D.,  F.R.S.  Committee  of  Polite 
Literature  and  Antiquities:  Louis  C.  Purser,  Litt.D.  ; 
Thomas  J.  Westropp,  M.A.  ;  Rev.  Edmund  Hogan, 
S.J.,  D.  Litt.  ;  Count  Plunkett,  F.S.A.  ;  C.  Litton 
Falkiner,  M.A. ;  John  Ribton  Garstin,  M.A.,  F.S.A. : 
Kuno  Meyer,  Ph.D.;  F.  Elrington  Ball;  Henry  F. 
Berry,  I.S.O.  ;  George  Coffey.  The  President,  under 
his  hand  and  seal,  appointed  :  F.  Purser,  F.T.C.D.  ; 
J.  R.  Garstin,  D.L. ;  W.  E.  Adeney,  D.Sc;  and 
Count  Plunkett  as  Vice-Presidents  for  1907- 1908. 

+Q  •*£  ^ 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Brighton  and  Hove  Archaeo- 
logical Club  held  on  April  3,  Mr.  Harold  C.  Sturt 
read  a  paper  on  "  Roman  Antiquities  near  Portslade, 
with  some  account  of  a  supposed  Roman  Road." 
Mr.  Sturt's  paper  was  based  very  largely  on  original 
research.  The  supposed  Roman  road  with  which  he 
chiefly  dealt  runs  from  Portslade  to  the  Dyke.  It  is 
to  be  encountered  north-west  of  Portslade  Station, 
and  could,  he  said,  be  traced  for  a  considerable 
distance  north  until  it  suddenly  disappeared,  Mr. 
Sturt's  explanation  being  that  it  had  been  ploughed 
away  at  this  point.  The  width  of  it  at  Mount  Zion 
was  40  feet.  Two  branches  from  it  could  also  be 
traced,  one  of  them  running  in  the  direction  of  the 
Roman  villa  at  Southwick.  Although  the  northern 
destination  of  the  road  is  lost,  Mr.  Sturt  thought  it 
likely  that  it  was  a  branch  of  the  road  which  skirted 
Poynings,  and  probably  communicated  with  a  Roman 
station.  In  support  of  his  theory  he  had  prepared  a 
map  on  which  were  indicated  the  points  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  supposed  road  where  Roman  remains 
had  been  found.  These  included  coins,  pottery,  and 
tiles,  among  other  things.  Mr.  Sturt  dealt  with  these 
in  detail.  He  suggested  that  the  Club  should  apply 
for  permission  to  open  a  section  of  the  supposed  road, 
and  the  proposal  by  the  chairman  that  a  ' '  crowbar 
brigade "  should  be  formed  to  investigate  this  and 
seek  for  archaeological  evidence  was  favourably 
received. 

^S        «•$         *$ 

On  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  April  6,  the  Lon- 
don and  Middlesex  Archaeological  Society 
organized  for  the  first  time  in  history  a  celebration 


of  the  anniversary  of  the  death  of  John  Stowe, 
compiler  of  the  Annals  of  England,  and  the  still 
more  famous  Survey  of  London.  This  celebration 
practically  amounted  to  a  tercentenary,  as  the  death 
of  Stowe  occurred  302  years  ago,  on  April  5,  1605. 
At  the  church  of  St.  Andrew  Undershaft,  Leadenhall 
Street,  on  Saturday,  Sir  Edward  Brabrook,  treasurer 
of  the  society,  laid  a  wreath  of  laurel  at  the  tomb 
of  Stowe.  Mr.  Allen  Walker,  who  read  a  paper  on 
the  life  and  work  of  Stowe,  mentioned  that  without 
Stowe's  Survey  of  London  we  should  practically  have 
no  knowledge  of  the  appearance  of  London  before 
the  fire.  It  was  not  generally  known  that  it  was 
Stowe  who  received  a  royal  sanction  to  beg,  James  I. 
having  granted  it  owing  to  the  antiquary's  im- 
poverished condition. 

««$  +$  +§ 

The  members  of  the  Bath  and  District  Branch  of 
the  Somerset  Archaeological  Society  made  an 
excursion  to  Taunton  on  April  8.  They  visited  the 
churches  of  St.  James,  where  notes  by  the  Rev.  D.  P. 
Alford  were  read,  and  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  where 
they  were  received  by  the  vicar  (Ven.  Archdeacon 
Askwith),  who  kindly  presented  them  with  his 
pamphlet  giving  a  hislory  of  the  church.  After 
luncheon  Taunton  Castle  and  the  Society's  museum 
there  were  visited.  Mr.  Charles  Tite,  one  of  the 
hon.  secretaries  of  the  Society,  gave  an  interesting 
history  of  the  building.  The  first  castle  on  the  site 
was  founded  by  Ine,  King  of  Wessex,  between  the 
years  710  and  720,  but  the  most  ancient  part  of  the 
present  building  was  erected  by  Henry  de  Blois,  a 
brother  of  King  Stephen.  Mr.  Tite  also  described 
the  stirring  events  in  English  history  in  which  the 
castle  played  a  part,  including  Perkin  Warbeck's 
Rebellion,  the  Parliamentary  War,  the  Monmouth 
Rebellion,  and  the  Bloody  Assize. 

Some  of  the  principal  contents  of  the  museum 
were  described  by  Mr.  H.  St.  George  Gray,  the 
curator  and  assistant  secretary  of  the  Society.  These 
included  the  reliquary  said  to  contain  the  blood  of 
St.  Thomas  a  Becket ;  a  sixteenth-century  Nassau 
jug,  the  pewter  cover  of  which  bears  Shakespeare's 
autograph  and  the  date  1602 ;  the  kist-vsen  with 
human  remains,  dating  from  1700  B.C.,  found  on  Lord 
Lovelace's  property  at  Culbone,  Exmoor ;  a  collection 
of  Nailsea  glass ;  the  best  collection  of  Bronze  Age 
implements  in  England  ;  a  collection  of  pewter  formed 
by  Mr.  Charbonnier,  of  Lynton,  on  loan  ;  a  collection 
of  Elton  ware,  given  by  Sir  E.  H.  Elton ;  Somerset 
and  Bristol  pottery  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries ;  bones  of  extinct  mammalia,  found  in 
Somerset,  the  most  complete  collection  of  the  kind 
in  the  country ;  a  remarkable  collection  of  160 
specimens  of  the  ornamental  brass  tops  of  village 
club  staves,  dating  from  1750;  and  the  Walter  and 
Morris  collections. 


198 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


Eetnetos  ann  Notices 
of  J13eto  IBoofes. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book  buying  readers.] 

Highways  and  Byways  in  Berkshire.     By  J.  E. 

Vincent.     With   illustrations   by   F.  L.   Griggs. 

London:    M  until  Ian    and    Co.,     1906.      8vo., 

pp.  xv,  430.  Price  6s. 
Mr.  Vincent  is  an  admirable  companion.  He 
buttonholes  his  reader  and  leads  him  through  some 
of  the  pleasantest  and  most  varied  bits  of  English 
rural  scenery,  talking  cheerfully  and  entertainingly  the 
while.  He  is  so  pleasant  a  companion,  indeed,  and 
the  fresh,  sweet  air  of  the  Berkshire  Downs,  and  the 
fragrance  ol  the  Berkshire  meadows,  blow  so  freely 
through  the  pages  of  his  book,  that  the  reader  feels 
loath  to  utter  a  grumble.  Yet  there  is  some  little 
ground  for  grumbling,  inasmuch  as  some  few  omis- 
sions seem  hard  to  explain.  Excessive  space  is 
devoted  to  Windsor,  while  Newbury,  for  instance, 
gets  but  the  slightest  notice.  There  are  some  charm- 
ing districts,  too,  which  get  but  scant  attention, 
especially  in  the  south  of  the  county.  The  worst 
omission,  and  the  strangest,  is  the  absence  of  an 
index.  To  a  book  of  this  kind  an  index  is  absolutely 
indispensable,  the  more  that  the  contents  of  the 
chapters  are  but  meagrely  indicated  ;  yet  the  indis- 
pensable key  is  not  forthcoming.  But  a  truce  to 
grumbling  ;  there  is  so  much  that  is  delightful  in  the 
pages  of  the  book  before  us,  and  Mr.  Vincent  is  so 
genial  a  conductor,  that  it  is  pleasanter  to  enjoy 
what  is  set  before  us  than  to  complain  of  what  is 
absent.  Mr.  Vincent  is  at  his  best  when  dealing 
with  the  Down  country,  and  with  certain  of  the  old 
towns.  A  lover  of  the  Sussex  Downs  can  only  admire 
their  Berkshire  brethren  with  certain  mental  reserva- 
tions, yet  these  Berkshire  Downs  are  hard  to  beat. 
Their  attractions  are  varied.  "And  if  the  Downs," 
says  Lord  Avebury,  "seem  full  of  life  and  sunshine, 
their  broad  shoulders  are  types  of  kindly  strength,  so 
that  they  give  an  impression  of  power  and  antiquity  ; 
while  every  now  and  then  we  come  across  a  tumulus, 
or  a  group  of  great,  grey  stones,  the  burial-place  of 
some  ancient  hero,  or  a  sacred  temple  of  our  pagan 
forefathers."  Mr.  Vincent  writes  well  of  the  spacious 
heights  of  the  Downs,  their  deep,  springy  turf,  and 
the  marvellously  fresh,  sweet  air,  laden  with  the  faint 
fragrance  of  hundreds  of  tiny  flowers,  that  sweeps  over 
them.  But  no  description  can  convey  the  fascination 
that  those  who  love  the  Downs  find  in  their  rounded 
forms.  Mr.  Vincent  is  also  very  pleasantly  and  very 
satisfactorily  readable  in  dealing  with  some  of  the  old 
Berkshire  towns.  Especially  good  are  the  chapters 
dealing  with  Abingdon,  that  most  delightful  of  old- 
world  towns,  and  Wallingford,  and  the  country  that 
surrounds  (so  far  as  Berkshire  is  concerned)  these  two 
centres. 

The  chapter  on  Wantage,  and  "  King  Alfred's 
Country,"  is  also  much  to  be  commended.  In  it  we 
note  a  sympathetic  account  of  Hendred  House,  which 
has  been  in  continuous  occupation  of  the  Eyston  family 


since  1450,  and  of  the  private  chapel,  dating  from  the 
thirteenth  century,  in  which  for  more  than  600  years 
the  services  of  the  Catholic  Church  have  been  daily 
held.  We  are  glad  to  see,  too,  a  kindly  reference  to 
the  Berkshire  books  of  Miss  Eleanor  Hayden,  which 
are  true  and  good,  and  have  hardly  received  the  atten- 
tion they  deserve. 

A  word  must  be  added  in  praise  of  the  illustrations. 
Mr.  Griggs's  work  in  former  volumes  of  the  "  High- 
ways and  Byways  "  series  has  been  universally  com- 
mended, and  in  the  volume  before  us  he  has  many 
excellent  drawings.  Author  and  artist  have  given 
us  a  captivating  book,  despite  the  omissions  already 
grumbled  at. 

The  History  of  Suffolk.  By  the  late  Rev.  J.  J. 
Raven,  D.D.,  F.S.A.  Cheap  edition.  London: 
Elliot  Stock,  1907.  Crown  8vo.,'pp.  viii,  287. 
Price  3s.  6d.  net. 
When  this  work  first  appeared  in  the  series  of 
"Popular  County  Histories,"  it  was  at  once  recog- 
nized that  subject  and  writer  were  singularly  well 
suited.  The  late  Canon  Raven  spent  nearly  the 
whole  of  his  life  in  the  Eastern  Counties,  and  was 
steeped  in  their  history  and  lore.  Besides  possessing 
a  vast  amount  of  erudition,  he  possessed  a  singularly 
lucid  style,  and  wielded  a  vigorous  pen.  The  result, 
so  far  as  the  history  of  Suffolk  was  concerned,  was  a 
book  of  exceptional  interest  and  ability.  It  is  need- 
less to  repeat  what  has  been  said  before  by  many 
critics  as  to  his  able  handling  of  the  early  history  of 
the  county.  In  mediaeval  and  later  days  he  was 
equally  at  home.  In  the  chapter  on  Colleges — the 
Colleges  of  Priests  which  became  numerous  in  the 
fourteenth  century — Lollards,  Pilgrimages,  etc.,  and 
in  the  chapter  which  follows  it,  Dr.  Raven  gives  a 
graphic  picture  of  mediaeval  social  life.  In  the 
chapter  on  Queen  Mary,  the  general  arming  for  the 
Queen  in  opposition  to  the  Dudleys — illustrated  by 
extracts  from  parish  accounts — is  clearly  brought  out, 
in  sad  and  strange  contrast  to  the  painful  story  of 
the  burnings  in  the  same  district — at  Aldham,  Lax- 
field,  Ipswich,  Bury,  and  elsewhere — which  have  to 
be  recorded  a  few  pages  later  under  the  same  Queen. 
The  history  of  the  county  during  early  Stuart,  Civil 
War  and  later  times  is  vigorously  sketched,  but  the 
rapidity  of  the  narrative  makes  the  reader  feel  in- 
clined to  ask  for  fuller  detail  than  the  limits  of  the 
book  permit.  In  the  chapter  which  treats  of  early 
Georgian  days  we  notice  that  Dr.  Raven  makes 
some  very  quaint  quotations  from  the  diary  (1693- 
1729)  of  Mr.  William  Coe  of  Mildenhall,  and  remarks 
that  "  it  would  be  impossible  to  publish  the  diary 
in  extenso."  It  may,  perhaps,  be  worth  while  to 
point  out  that  this  is  actually  now  being  done  in  the 
pages  of  the  East  Anglian,  under  the  editorship  of 
the  Rev.  C.  H.  Evelyn  White.  It  is  a  singular 
human  document,  in  which  the  writer  keeps  a  ledger- 
like account  of  "  mercies  received  "  on  one  page,  and 
opposite  this  a  record  of  broken  vows.  Dr.  Raven's 
last  chapter  treats  of  Suffolk  ethnology,  surnames, 
dialect,  folklore,  on  which  he  was  a  first-hand  and 
excellent  authority.  Some  amusing  examples  are 
given  of  peculiarities  of  Suffolk  speech.  The  book 
in  its  present  cheap  and  attractive  form  should  gain 
many  fresh  readers. 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


i  gg 


The  Shirburn  Ballads,  1585-1616.     Edited  from 

the  MS.  by  Andrew  Clark.     With    thirty-nine 

illustrations  from  black-letter  copies.      Oxford  : 

Clarendon  Press,    1907.     Demy  8vo. ,  pp.   viii, 

380.     Price  10s.  6d. 

Not   for  years   past    has   any   addition   to   ballad 

literature  been  made  comparable  in  value  with  the 

volume  before  us.     These  specimens  of  Elizabethan 

and  Jacobean   folk-song  are   printed    from   a    MS. 

which  is  one  of  the  treasures  of  Lord  Macclesfield's 

library  at  Shirburn  Castle,  Oxfordshire — hence  the 

title.     They  are,  as  Mr.  Clark  says,  "the  folk-songs 

of  Shakespeare's  time  that  pass  in  review  before  us — 

the  songs  that  Poor  Tom  sang  and  that  Autolycus 

vended."     Some   are   familiar  in  other   versions,    or 

deal  with  familiar  topics.     There  are,  for  instance, 

two  "Miller  of  Mansfield"  ballads.     But  many  are 

quite  new,  or,  at  all  events,  are  not  to  be  found  in  the 

great  collections ;   while  others,  as  Mr.  Clark  says, 


Cleveland  " — that  is,  the  Rhenish  duchy  of  Cleves — 
is  reproduced  as  the  frontispiece  to  the  volume  before 
us.  It  is  a  little  curious  that  somewhat  earlier  another 
German  fasting-girl  should  have  attained  a  certain 
measure  of  notoriety.  A  reprint  of  a  rare  pamphlet 
of  1589,  giving  the  history  of  Katharine  Binder  or 
Cooper,  of  Schmidweiler,  the  fasting-girl  in  question, 
with  introductory  comment  by  Dr.  Axon,  appeared 
in  the  Antiquary  for  1901  (pp.  269-272,  305-309). 
Mr.  Clark  makes  no  reference  to  this  Schmidweiler 
maiden,  but  one  cannot  help  thinking  that  probably 
there  was  some  common  origin  for  the  abstemious 
Katharine,  and  the  equally  abstemious  but  more 
legendary  lady  of  the  ballad. 

The  actual  text  of  the  ballads  is  here  given  with 
but  very  slight  change  or  omission,  the  editor's  aim 
being  to  make  the  book  useful,  especially  to  students 
of  Elizabethan  letters  and  social  conditions.  The 
text  of   Shakespeare  and  the  manners  of  the   time 


"A   WHIFFE   OF    YOUR    TRINIDADO? 
(From  "  The  Shirburn  Ballads.") 


bridge  the  gap  between  early  and  post- Restoration 
ballads,  and  show  that  "  many  of  the  ordinary  issues 
of  the  black-letter  press  of  Charles  H.'s  and  James  II.'s 
reigns  had  been  in  common  circulation  under  Eliza- 
beth and  James  I."  Mr.  Clark  also  points  out,  what 
is  certainly  very  curious,  that  although  the  collection 
is  strikingly  representative,  "  embracing  ballads  of 
almost  every  type  in  circulation,"  yet  there  is  no 
representation  of  the  Robin  Hood  ballad.  No.  10, 
dated  1613,  describes  the  life  of  a  fasting  girl  of 
Meurs,  a  town  to  the  south-east  of  Dusseldorf,  and 
is  supposed  to  be  written  by  herself.  Her  name 
does  not  occur  in  the  ballad,  though  she  regards 
herself  as  famous — 

"  A  wonder,  sure,  in  that  my  name 
about  the  world  is  spread"— 
but  was  discovered  by  the  editor,  just  as  the  book 
was  on  the   point   of   issue,    in   Ellis's   new  print- 
catalogue.      The    print,    which    purports    to    be    a 
portrait  of  "  Ena  Fliegen,  a  fasting-girl  of  Meurs  in 


receive  frequent  illumination.  Mr.  Clark  has  done 
his  work  in  a  thorough  and  scholarly  fashion  ; 
besides  giving,  in  an  introduction,  a  detailed  account 
of  the  manuscript,  and  a  general  study  of  contem- 
porary balladry,  he  fully  annotates  each  ballad, 
bringing  together  much  useful  illustrative  matter. 
Full  indexes  and  glossary  complete  a  valuable 
book.  The  illustrations  are  taken  from  black-letter 
copies ;  some  of  them  were  used  again  and  again. 
We  are  courteously  allowed  to  reproduce  one  which 
heads  a  convivial  ballad  with  a  rattling  chorus  ;  it 
is  a  tavern  scene  taken  from  4to.  Rawl.  566,  f.  155 
(olim  251)  (Bodleian  Library). 

*      *      * 

A  History  of  Plympton  Erle.     By  J.  Brooking 

Rowe,    F.S.A.      Many   illustrations.       Exeter : 

James  G.    Commin,   1906.     8vo.,  pp.   xii,  419. 

Price  12s.  6d.  net. 

This  handsome  and  substantial  volume  is  a  monu- 

mer.t  of  laborious  industry.     The  chapters  deal  sue- 


200 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


cessively  with  the  early  history  of  this  ancient  Devon 
borough  ;  the  castle,  which  is  in  such  a  remarkably 
good  state  of  preservation  ;  the  charters  and  municipal 
history  ;  parliamentary  representation  ;  the  church  ; 
the  clergy  and  church  officers  ;  the  ancient  Guildhall ; 
the  grammar  school ;  and  the  parish  charities  ;  with 
a  few  pages  in  conclusion  on  the  streets  and  old 
houses,  trade,  local  biography,  etc.  Each  chapter  is 
enriched  with  a  wealth  of  documentary  and  other 
illustrations.  The  reader  of  the  chapter  on  the 
municipal  history  of  the  borough — which  came  to  an 
end  in  1859,  when  no  Mayor  was  elected,  municipal 
affairs  were  wound  up,  and  the  corporate  rights  of 
the  borough  under  its  ancient  charters  were  allowed 
to  lapse — is  bound  to  share  Mr.  Rowe's  opinion 
that  a  mistake  was  made  in  ceasing  to  exercise  the 
powers  granted  by  charter,  and  to  feel  regret  that 
an  ancient  corporation  should  thus  deliberately  have 
committed  suicide.  Some  curious  extracts  are  given 
from  eighteenth-century  accounts  of  the  corporation. 
In  the  succeeding  chapter  on  "  Parliamentary  Repre- 
sentation," which  contains  in  a  few  pages  the  results 
of  much  laborious  research,  there  are  also  some  sug- 
gestive bills  for  dinners  and  liquors  at  election  times 
in  1742  and  1784 — bills  which  throw  bright  side- 
lights on  election  manners  and  customs  in  pre-Reform 
days.  The  history  of  the  church  is  fully  given,  and 
the  fabric  carefully  described.  The  building  is  not  of 
any  special  interest,  and  does  not  appear  to  possess 
many  ancient  features  calling  for  remark,  save  "the 
base  of  the  ancient  stone  pulpit,  approached  by  four 
granite  steps,  still  in  situ  and  forming  part  of  the 
pillar  "  of  one  of  the  arches  separating  the  chancel 
from  the  aisle.  The  windows,  which  are  modern, 
including  an  elaborately  heraldic  one  in  memory  of 
members  of  the  Trelawny  family,  carefully  figured 
and  described  in  detail ;  the  communion  plate  ;  the 
bells  ;  and  the  tombs  and  inscriptions,  are  all  fully 
described,  many  of  the  inscriptions  being  given  in 
full.  Among  the  monuments,  it  may  be  noted,  is  a 
medallion  head  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  was  a 
native  of  the  town.  We  have  not  space  to  discuss 
the  other  chapters  of  Mr.  Rowe's  book.  It  is  a  sound 
and  thorough  contribution  to  local  history.  Well 
indexed,  well  printed,  well  bound,  and  freely  illus- 
trated, its  production  reflects  the  greatest  credit  on  its 
West-Country  publisher. 

Mr.  Rowe,  in  his  preface,  points  out  that  although 
he  deals  here  with  the  Manor,  Castle,  Parish,  and 
Town  of  Plympton  only,  he  yet  has  a  good  deal  of 
information  with  respect  to  the  Priory,  the  Church  of 
St.  Mary,  and  the  other  Plympton  Manors,  which  he 
hopes  some  day  to  put  into  print.  We  trust  that  the 
reception  of  this  goodly  volume,  which  is  issued  in  a 
limited  edition  of  250  copies,  will  be  such  as  to 
induce  him  speedily  to  publish  his  remaining  material. 

*      *      * 

English   Heraldry.     By  Charles  Boutell,   M.A. 

With   450  illustrations.     Ninth  edition,  revised 

by  A.    C.    Fox-Davies.     London  ;    Reeves  and 

Turner,  1907.    8vo.,  pp.  xix,  347.     Price  7s.  6d. 

Boutell's  book  is  so  well  known  that  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  do  more  than  chronicle  the  appearance 
of  this  new  edition  of  its  shortened  form,  revised  by 
Mr.  Fox-Davies.  In  handy  form,  lavishly  illustrated, 
it  is  a  compact  and  pretty  comprehensive  handbook 


to  that  science  which,  though  regarded  somewhat 
contemptuously  by  some,  possesses  an  endless  fasci- 
nation for  its  devotees,  and  some  knowledge  of  which 
is  absolutely  essential  to  the  student  of  history  as  well 
as  to  the  working  antiquary.  The  book  is  well 
produced,  and  should  be  welcomed  by  many 
students. 

*  #  * 
In  a  Scottish  historical  periodical,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots 
is  like  King  Charles's  head  in  Mr.  Dick's  memorial. 
The  irrepressible  topic  turns  up  in  the  Scottish 
Historical  Review  for  April  in  an  article  by  Father 
Hungerford  Pollen  on  "  The  Dispensation  for  the 
Marriage  of  Mary  Stuart  with  Darnley,  and  its  Date," 
and  again  in  Dr.  McKechnie's  paper — a  study 
marked  by  careful  research — on  "  Thomas  Maitland," 
brother  of  Mary's  famous  secretary.  Miss  Sophia 
MacLehose  writes  well  on  a  subject  specially  appro- 
priate just  now — "  Separation  of  Church  and  State 
in  France  in  1795"  Among  the  other  contents  we 
note  Sir  J.  Balfour  Paul's  brief  paper  on  "The 
Balfours  of  Pilrig,"  and  the  valuable  section  devoted 
to  reviews  which  are  marked  by  the  authority  and 
thoroughness  characteristic  of  these  pages  of  the 
Review.  The  Reliquary,  April,  contains,  besides  the 
usual  variety  of  archaeological  notes,  illustrated  articles 
on  "  Churches  in  the  Teign  Valley  "  (G.  Le  B.  Smith); 
"The  Story  of  the  Tobacco  Pipe"  (T.  P.  Cooper); 
and  "Damme:  a  city  of  the  Netherlands'  (J. 
Tavenor-Perry). 

*  *  * 
In  the  Architectural  Review,  April,  the  principal 
article  is  an  account  of  the  Royal  College  of  Science, 
abundantly  illustrated.  The  frontispiece  is  a  capital 
view  of  the  interior  of  Holyrood  Chapel.  We  are 
glad  to  see  that  our  contemporary  supports  Professor 
Lethaby's  view  that  the  proposed  "  restoration " 
could  only  be,  in  effect,  a  re-building,  and  is,  there- 
fore, on  various  grounds  to  be  deprecated.  The 
Essex  Review,  April,  has  readable  papers,  mostly 
illustrated,  on  "  Buried  Treasure  at  Beeleigh  Abbey," 
"  A  Yeoman's  Commonplace  Book  at  the  Commence- 
ment of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  "The  Grocers' 
Company  in  Connection  with  Essex,"  "King 
Charles  I.'s  Bible  at  Broomfield,"  and  other  Essex 
topics.  The  Ulster  Journal  of  Archeology  begins  a 
new  volume  well  with  the  February  part.  The  con- 
tents include  papers  on  Ulster  families  and  individuals, 
Ulster  bibliography,  topography  and  history.  The 
Journal  is  well  printed  and  freely  illustrated,  and 
deserves  the  support  of  Irish  antiquaries.  We  have 
also  on  our  table  Rivista  a"  Italia,  March  ;  Fenland 
Notes  and  Queries,  April,  with  a  varied  and  excellent 
collection  of  local  notes  ;  Northern  Notes  and  Queries, 
April,  with  much  matter  relating  to  family  history ; 
Sale  Prices,  March  30,  a  useful  record  as  usual ; 
Scottish  Notes  and  Queries,  April,  and  East  Anglian, 
December,  both  good  in  their  respective  ways ;  the 
American  Antiquarian,  January  and  February  ;  and 
a  book  catalogue  (partly  topographical)  from  Messrs. 
W.  N.  Pitcher  &  Co.,  Manchester. 

Note  to  Publishers. —  We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


The   Antiquary. 


JUNE,  1907. 


jftotes  of  t&e  8#ont&. 


The  Corporation  of  Lancaster  proposes  to 
hold  an  "  Old  Lancaster "  Exhibition  in 
1908.  The  Town  Clerk,  Mr.  T.  Cann 
Hughes,  himself  a  well-known  antiquary, 
sends  us  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Town  Council  on  the  subject,  in  which  it  is 
stated  that  the  articles  exhibited  might  con- 
sist of  paintings,  engravings,  photographs, 
autographs,  deeds,  charters,  seals,  tokens, 
medals,  newspapers,  books,  broadsides,  arms, 
armour,  and  pottery,  old  prints  of  Lancaster 
and  district,  paintings  by  Lancaster  artists, 
portraits  of  old  Members  of  Parliament, 
Mayors,  and  prominent  townsmen,  portraits 
and  memorials  of  the  old  Dukes  of  Lancaster 
and  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  etc.  These 
would,  as  far  as  possible,  be  arranged  in 
chronological  order  relating  to  the  British, 
Roman,  Saxon,  Norman,  Mediaeval,  Tudor, 
Stuart,  and  Hanoverian  periods. 

Before  coming  to  a  final  decision  to  hold 
the  Exhibition,  the  Corporation  is  anxious 
to  ascertain  whether  a  sufficient  number  of 
objects  of  interest  can  be  secured  to  ensure 
the  success  of  the  undertaking.  Anyone 
possessing  anything  of  the  kind  indicated, 
and  being  willing  to  lend  it,  should  com- 
municate as  soon  as  possible  with  the 
Town  Clerk. 

<g>         $         $ 
The  Rome  correspondent  of  the   Morning 
Post,  under  date  April  22,  wrote:  "A  very 
interesting  discovery  of  a  prehistoric  necro- 
polis, apparently  of  the  same  period  as  that 

VOL.  III. 


which  Commendatore  Boni  has  excavated  in 
the  Forum,  was  made  yesterday  on  the 
south-west  side  of  the  Palatine,  to  the  left 
of  the  so-called  'Stairs  of  Cacus,'  the 
marauding  son  of  Vulcan,  slain  by  Hercules 
for  sheep-stealing.  At  that  spot  there  is  a 
flat  piece  of  ground,  at  the  foot  of  an  old 
wall,  and  it  occurred  to  Count  Cozza,  who 
has  had  a  large  expeiience  of  similar  sites, 
that  tombs  would  be  found  there.  Accord- 
ingly, as  yesterday  was  the  birthday  of  Rome, 
an  excavation  was  made,  and  already  the 
remains  of  a  primitive  burial-place  and  a 
piece  of  tufa  wall  have  been  laid  bare. 
Count  Cozza  expressed  the  opinion  when 
I  saw  him  to-day  that  this  must  have  been 
the  cemetery  of  a  chieftain's  family,  as  the 
common  people  would  not  have  been  buried 
on  the  Acropolis.  Thus  we  have  another 
trace  of  the  very  earliest  inhabitants  of 
Rome." 

$       $      $ 

The  same  correspondent  wrote  on  April  30  : 
"  A  fresh  discovery  has  been  made  at  the 
ancient  necropolis  on  the  Palatine,  consisting 
of  a  fresh  and  much  larger  tomb  containing  a 
skeleton  and  a  red  funeral  vase,  the  latter 
apparently  dating  from  the  fourth  or  fifth 
century  B.C.  If  this  date  should  prove 
correct,  the  Palatine  must  have  been  used  as 
a  place  of  burial  very  much  later  than  is 
usually  supposed,  and  that  hill  cannot  have 
been  fortified  before  that  period,  because 
the  tomb  was  below  the  wall.  Thus  the 
theory  with  regard  to  the  Roman  walls, 
recently  advanced  by  Signor  Pais  in  his  last 
book,  has  found  remarkable  confirmation 
from  this  important  discovery." 

4p      &      & 

A  discovery  of  about  300  gold  and  silver 
coins  and  two  silver  rings  is  announced 
from  Montais,  in  the  commune  of  Domerat 
(Allier).  The  coins  bear  the  effigies  of 
Henri  II.,  Charles  IX.,  and  Henri  III., 
Kings  of  France;  Philippe  II.  and  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  of  Spain;  Hercules,  Due 
de  Ferrara,  and  Charles  Quint.  This  treasure 
trove  was  in  a  canvas  bag,  and  placed  in  an 
earthenware  vessel  in  the  wall  of  a  building 
which  had  long  been  used  as  a  cellar. 

&        $»        «$» 

In  the  city  of  Numantia,  destroyed  by 
Scipio  in  the  Gracchan  age,  and  rebuilt  as 

2  c 


202 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


a  Roman  municipality  under  the  Empire, 
Dr.  A.  Schulten  has  been  excavating  with 
funds  provided  by  the  Prussian  Govern- 
ment, and  he  has  already  detected,  says  the 
Athenceum  of  May  4,  not  only  the  site  of 
the  old  Numantia  itself,  but  also  the  positions 
of  the  Roman  forts  which  provided  a  centre, 
as  it  were,  for  the  beleaguering  forces  under 
Scipio.  Minor  finds,  except  early  pottery, 
are  said  so  far  to  be  unimportant.  But  the 
general  value  of  the  discoveries  is  unmis- 
takable. They  will  help  us  to  criticize 
Appian  intelligently;  they  will  afford  con- 
siderable light  on  the  Roman  army  of  the 
Republic,  hitherto  known  mostly  from  obscure 
texts ;  and  they  will  restore  vigour  to  an 
almost  exhausted  period  of  study.  Historians 
will  look  eagerly  for  more  results  of  this 
interesting  work. 

$  <gp  <$. 
Mr.  F.  W.  Hackwood  is  contributing  to  the 
Midland  Evening  News  a  series  of  papers  on 
"The  Annals  of  Willenhall."  In  the  twelfth, 
which  appeared  in  the  issue  for  May  8, 
Mr.  Hackwood  printed  some  documents 
relating  to  a  disturbance  in  connexion  with 
a  Morris  dance  given  by  a  local  company 
of  mummers  at  Willenhall  Fair  in  the  year 
1498.  In  this  dance,  according  to  the 
documents,  strange  to  say,  a  character  was 
introduced  called  the  "  Abbot  of  Marham  " 
or  "  Marram,"  and  Mr.  Hackwood  perti- 
nently remarks  that :  "  It  would  be  interest- 
ing to  discover  why,  in  this  local  version, 
the  character  called  the  '  Abbot  of  Marham ' 
was  introduced  into  the  play.  Marham 
Nunnery  was  situated  in  Norfolk,  a  long  way 
from  the  usual  forest  scenes  of  Sherwood 
and  Needwood."  Perhaps  some  reader  of  the 
Antiquary  can  suggest  an  answer  to  the 
question. 

4t      4f      4f 

The  Keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum, 
Oxford,  in  his  annual  report  remarks  that : 
"  During  the  past  year  the  considerable  dis- 
turbances of  the  ground  for  the  foundations  of 
new  buildings  in  the  city,  at  Hertford  College, 
Jesus  College,  St.  John's  College  (for  the  new 
Forestry  Laboratory),  in  High  Street  (for  the 
new  Masonic  Hall),  and  in  Cornmarket,  on 
the  sites  of  the  Civet  Cat  and  Leopold  Arms, 
have  produced  many  remains  of  pottery  and 
glass  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 


turies. .  .  .  They  consist  of  twelve  pieces 
of  lead-glazed  earthenware  of  various  dates, 
and  nine  pieces  of  German  salt-glazed  stone- 
ware, including  fragments  of  five  greybeards. 
One  of  the  latter  (Civet  Cat  site)  bears  a 
medallion  with  arms  and  name  of  Jacob 
Margraf  von  Haghberg ;  another  (from  the 
same  site)  three  medallions  of  heads,  in- 
scribed '  Gafn  Federich  '  (sic) ;  two  others 
have  mottoes,  '  Drinck  und  est  und  der 
armen  nit  verges'  (Leopold  Arms  site), 
'[VVer]  drinck  und  est  Godes  leit  vergeist' 
(Masonic  Hall  site).  Amongst  the  seven 
examples  of  eighteenth-century  salt-glazed 
ware  is  a  fragment  bearing  the  arms  of  the 
University  (Masonic  Hall  site) ;  another  of 
a  mug,  inscribed  '  Chas.  Cook  Kocardo' 
(Leopold  Arms  site) ;  and  a  cup  (the  same 
site)  with  enamelled  decoration,  the  first 
specimen  of  this  class  yet  found  in  Oxford. 

"The  specimens  of  tin-enamelled  ware  are 
mostly  fragments  of  albarelli  or  drug  jars 
(Masonic  Hall  site),  possibly  used  in  the 
first  place  for  an  importation  of  condiments 
from  abroad. 

"  The  glass  consists  of  nine  pieces,  eight 
of  which  are  sack-bottles  or  fragments  of 
such,  bearing  Vintners'  or  College  stamps. 
The  most  interesting  stamp  has  a  rough 
representation  of  two  men  playing  tennis 
and  the  inscription  T.W.  (site  of  new 
Forestry  Laboratory)." 

&      4p      4? 

Commendatore  Boni,  whose  work  in  the 
Roman  Forum  is  so  well  known,  is  in 
England.  On  May  2  he  began  a  course 
of  six  lectures  with  lantern  illustrations  at 
King's  College,  London,  on  recent  dis- 
coveries in  Rome.  In  the  course  of  his 
second  lecture,  on  May  6,  he  made  it  clear 
that  cremation  and  pottery -making  were 
practised  at  a  much  earlier  period  than 
people  generally  supposed.  There  was  much 
ceremonial  attaching  to  funerals  in  the 
epoch  before  Romulus  and  Rome.  Side  by 
side  with  the  bones  or  cremated  remains  of 
the  dead,  traces  of  the  funeral  feast — such  as 
beans,  porridge,  and  fish — were  frequently 
met  with,  in  addition  to  evidence  of  gladia- 
torial fights,  athletic  games,  and  other  ex- 
hibitions at  that  period  associated  with 
funeral  rites.  Some  of  the  vases  contained 
in   the  older  cremation   tombs   must  have 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


203 


been  of  a  date  prior  to  the  eighth  century  b.c, 
and  a  few  seemed  even  to  point  to  the 
twelfth  century  b.c.  They  were  obviously 
fashioned  by  hand,  and  baked  in  open  fires 
in  contact  with  smoky  flames,  producing  a 
very  dark  effect.  "The  Religion  of  the 
Early  Romans  and  its  Monuments  "  was  the 
subject  of  the  next  lecture. 

A  fine  old  house,  close  to  Lewes  Castle,  has 
been  secured  by  the  Sussex  Archaeological 
Society  for  the  purposes  of  a  museum  and 
library. 

«fr         4?         «fr 

A  Reuter's  telegram  from  Allahabad,  dated 
May  3,  says  that  Dr.  M.  A.  Stein,  the  leader 
of  the  Indian  Government  Mission  to  Eastern 
Turkestan,  has  made  a  further  series  of  im- 


found.  Many  highly  interesting  art  remains 
were  found  in  a  ruined  Buddhist  shrine,  in- 
cluding colossal  stucco  relieves  very  closely 
related  to  the  Graeco-Buddhist  sculpture  of 
the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 

The  excavations  at  Miran  promise  results 
of  the  utmost  importance. 

#»         $?         «fr 

Mr.  T.  Sheppard,  F.G.S.,  kindly  sends  us  an 
illustrated  guide,  which  he  has  prepared,  to 
the  "  Wilberforce  Museum "  at  Hull.  It 
gives  the  history  of  the  house,  describes 
briefly  the  contents,  is  well  illustrated,  and 
is  sold  for  one  penny.  At  the  same  price  is 
issued  the  twentieth  Quarterly  Record  of 
additions  to  the  Hull  Museum,  also  by  Mr. 
Sheppard,  to  whose  courtesy  we  are  indebted 
for  the  use  of  the  accompanying  block.    This 


MAN-TRAP    IN   THE    HULL    MUSEUM. 


portant  archaeological  discoveries  in  Chinese 
Turkestan. 

On  the  site  of  an  ancient  village  in  the 
desert  north  of  Niya,  Dr.  Stein,  according 
to  the  Pioneer,  obtained  a  rich  yield  of 
antiquities  illustrating  everyday  life  seventeen 
centuries  ago,  and  showing  the  predominant 
influence  of  Graeco-Buddhist  art. 

Many  valuable  records  were  discovered 
written  on  wooden  tables  in  the  Kharosthi 
script  peculiar  to  the  extreme  North- West  of 
India. 

At  an  ancient  site  north  of  Lobnor  Dr. 
Stein  found  quantities  of  written  records  on 
wood  paper  mostly  in  Chinese,  but  many  also 
in  Kharosthi.  The  constructive  features  of 
houses  and  shrines  and  of  carvings  and 
objects  of  industrial  art  show  a  striking 
agreement  with  those  of  Niya.  At  Miran 
nearly   a    thousand    Tibetan    records   were 


shows  a  recent  acquisition — one  of  those 
wicked  old  "  man -traps  "  with  which  tres- 
passers used  to  be  threatened.  The  example 
here  figured  comes  from  Robin  Hood's  Bay. 
"  It  is  of  an  exceptionally  cruel  nature," 
writes  Mr.  Sheppard,  "the  teeth  being  un- 
usually long  and  sharply  pointed.  The  total 
length  of  the  trap  from  end  to  end  is  5  feet 
8  inches,  and  on  each  side  is  a  powerful 
spring  measuring  2  feet  4  inches  in  length. 
The  jaws  are  square,  and  when  apart  are 
2  feet  across,  and  each  one  is  \\  inches  in 
width,  the  iron  being  yg  inch  in  thickness. 
One  jaw  is  provided  with  seven  teeth,  and 
the  other  with  six.  Each  tooth  has  a  total 
length  of  4  inches,  and  is  bent  at  a  right- 
angle  where  inserted  into  the  iron  plate. 
The  greatest  width  is  about  £  inch,  and  from 
that  each  spike  gradually  tapers  to  a  sharp 
four-sided  point.      The  foot-plate  is  1  foot 

2  c  2 


204 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


8  inches  by  i  foot  2\  inches,  and  has  two 
semicircular  pieces  cut  out  of  it,  within 
which  the  spring  works.  The  whole  trap  is 
exceedingly  heavy,  is  very  well  made,  and  is 
still  in  excellent  working  order.  The  long 
bar  of  iron  upon  which  the  spring  works  is 
i£  inches  wide  and  nearly  \  inch  in  thick- 
ness, and  to  this  the  trap  and  the  springs  are 
fixed.  At  each  end  is  a  large  stud  and  a 
hole  for  fastening  the  trap  in  position. 
Earlier  types  of  man-traps  were  provided 
with  one  spring  only  ;  thus  it  was  possible  for 
the  individual  caught  to  liberate  himself  by 
pressing  down  the  spring  with  his  free  leg. 
In  the  trap  figured,  however,  with  the  double 
spring  this  would  be  impossible."  The 
setting  of  such  traps  has  been  illegal  since 
1827. 

Replying  to  a  question  in  the  Italian 
Chamber  on  April  24,  the  Under-Secretary 
of  State  for  Education  stated  that  the 
Government  intended  to  reserve  to  itself  the 
entire  direction  of  the  Herculaneum  excava- 
tions, which  it  was  not  proposed  to  undertake 
on  a  large  scale.  A  few  tentative  excavations 
would  be  made  immediately,  and  the  new 
work  would  begin  in  the  course  of  the  forth- 
coming financial  year.  If  the  funds  provided 
in  the  Budget  for  excavations  generally 
proved  to  be  insufficient  for  those  at  Hercu- 
laneum, Parliament  would  be  asked  for  a 
special  grant.  We  fear  that  the  decision  to 
which  the  Italian  Government  has  come 
means  the  indefinite  prolongation  of  opera- 
tions. On  April  25  several  morning  news- 
papers printed  under  the  title  of  "A  Last 
Word  on  Herculaneum  "  a  long  letter  from 
Professor  Waldstein,  reciting  the  history  of 
his  well-intentioned  efforts.  He  has  the 
sympathy  of  all  antiquaries,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  failure  of  his  scheme,  but  on 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  that  failure 
appears  to  have  been  brought  about. 

<$>  cjfc>  r;, 
In  our  April  "  Notes  "  we  drew  attention  to 
the  excavations  about  to  be  undertaken 
jointly  by  the  Somerset  Archaeological 
Society  and  the  Viking  Club,  at  Wick 
Barrow,  Stoke  Courcy,  near  Bridgwater. 
An  interim  report  of  the  work  has  been 
issued,  dated  May  1,  from  which  we  learn 
that  the  excavation  of  the  mound  has  been 


satisfactorily  carried  out  up  to  a  certain 
point,  but  the  work  proved  much  heavier, 
and  in  some  respects  more  important,  than 
was  anticipated.  For  this  and  other  reasons 
it  was  found  to  be  impossible  to  complete  it 
satisfactorily  in  the  time  at  present  available. 
It  was  therefore  decided — with  the  concur- 
rence of  all  concerned — to  suspend  it  at  the 
definite  point  reached,  and  to  resume  the 
work  later  on  in  the  year. 

"  The  results  so  far,"  continues  the  report, 
"may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows: 
The  barrow  dates  from  the  Early  Bronze 
Age,  and  we  have  found  no  evidence  of  its 
use  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  or  Viking  period. 
A  very  large  portion  of  it  is,  however,  still 
unexplored.  Two  almost  perfect  secondary 
interments  (contracted)  have  been  found  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  mound,  each  accom- 
panied by  a  finely  ornamented  drinking- 
vessel,  or  beaker,  of  Early  Bronze  Age  type, 
in  fragments,  but  capable  of  restoration.  A 
finely  worked  flint  knife  -  dagger  (length 
5|  inches)  and  a  worked  flint  flake  were  also 
found  with  one  of  these  interments.  Near 
them,  also,  a  large  miscellaneous  collection 
of  human  bones  was  found,  the  tibiae  ex- 
hibiting marked  platycnemism.  Traces  of 
other  disturbed  and  scattered  human  remains 
were  found  nearer  the  surface  and  on  the 
north-west  slope  of  the  mound,  where  it  had 
been  quarried  for  stone  up  to  recent  times. 
Some  scattered  animal  -bones,  pottery,  flint 
flakes,  shells,  etc.,  were  also  found,  as  might 
have  been  expected  in  a  mound  of  such  size. 

"  In  the  lower  part  of  the  barrow  we  came 
upon  a  circular  walled  enclosure  of  consider- 
able size,  and  apparently  of  an  unusual 
character ;  but  as  the  time  at  our  disposal 
did  not  admit  of  this  being  properly  investi- 
gated, it  was  decided  to  leave  its  examination 
over  till  the  work  is  renewed. 

"  The  excavations  have  been  filled  in  to 
prevent  the  mound  being  tampered  with  in 
the  interim.  A  complete  examination  of  the 
human  remains  found  has  to  be  done,  and 
while  the  results  are  so  incomplete,  those 
responsible  for  the  work  hope  that  no  un- 
authorized reports  or  photographs  will  be 
published." 

ijji>         <$.         «$, 
On  April  23  the  ancient  Court  Leet  or  Law 
Day  of  Southampton  was  held  at  the  Audit 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


205 


House,  under  the  presidency  of  Sheriff 
Sharp,  who  is  ex-officio  foreman  of  the  jury. 
The  court  is  summoned  every  year,  and 
stimulates  an  active  interest  in  the  antiquities 
and  ancient  customs  of  the  borough.  Dr. 
Hearnshaw,  Professor  of  History  at  Hartley 
University  College,  gave  an  interesting 
address,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said  that 
in  some  parts  of  the  country  these  ancient 
Courts  Leet  still  exercised  practical  functions. 
Several  local  antiquaries  addressed  the 
assembly. 

<$»  $  $ 
A  number  of  examples  of  German  ironwork 
— keyhole  plates,  door  and  drawer  handles, 
door-knockers,  and  other  ironwork  for  doors 
and  chests — from  the  collection  lately  on 
view  at  the  Gallery  of  the  Fine  Art  Society 
were  figured  in  the  Builder  of  April  27.  The 
same  number  contained  a  sketch  by  Mr. 
Sidney  Heath  of  the  south  door  of  St. 
Saviour's  Church,  Dartmouth,  remarkable 
for  its  ironwork,  representing  two  lions  and 
a  tree,  from  which  scrolls  and  leaves  branch 
out  in  every  direction.  Below  the  upper 
animal  is  the  date  1631.  "The  whole," 
says  Mr.  Heath,  "  presents  an  effect  of  great 
richness,  the  leaves  and  details  being  most 
carefully  worked,  whilst  the  skilful  manner  in 
which  the  tails  have  been  utilized,  both  for 
the  purposes  of  construction  and  design,  is 
worthy  of  attention.  The  door  itself  is  of 
the  same  age  as  the  ironwork  it  supports,  and 
among  the  many  attractions  of  Dartmouth 
this  fine  piece  of  work  should  not  be  missed 
by  architect  or  antiquary." 

i>       ^       i 

There  has  lately  been  added  to  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History  in  New  York  a  very  large 
and  valuable  collection  of  prehistoric  gold 
and  silver  ornaments  belonging  to  the  Incas. 
The  remains  were  obtained  principally  from 
ancient  burial  sites.  Among  the  Incas,  as 
among  many  other  races,  it  was  usual  to 
bury  with  the  dead  their  personal  ornaments, 
their  garments,  and  vessels  containing  food 
for  the  long  journey.  The  Incas  buried 
their  dead  in  tall  towers  called  chulpas. 
Most  of  these  were  round,  but  a  few  were 
square-shaped.  The  Incas  used  no  mortar, 
but  had  extraordinary  skill  in  joining  stone. 
Some  of  the  chulpas  had  a  single-vaulted 
chamber,    others   two.      A   number   of  the 


objects  found  in  these  chulpas,  and  now  on 
view  in  New  York,  including  gold  and  silver 
cups,  toilet  appliances,  a  large  silver  death- 
mask,  and  gold  and  silver  images  of  the 
llama,  were  figured  in  the  Illustrated  London 
News  of  April  27. 

$         $         $ 

The  Exhibition  of  the  Order  of  the  Golden 
Fleece  will  begin  in  Bruges  on  June  15,  and 
will  remain  open  for  three  months.  The 
period  covered  is  from  1429  till  1598.  The 
Exhibition  comprises  not  only  portraits,  sub- 
ject pictures,  armour,  medals,  manuscripts, 
illuminations,  books,  etc.,  concerning  the 
knights  of  the  Order,  but  also  examples  of 
the  art  illustrating  the  period  under  the 
Dukes  of  Burgundy  from  Van  Eyck  to 
Rubens. 

«fr      #»      <jb 

The  National  Art  Collections  Fund  has 
recently  received  from  two  of  its  members 
a  large  panel  of  whale's  bone  of  the  Carlo- 
vingian  period,  carved  in  relief,  with  King 
David  dictating  his  Psalms — an  object  of 
exceptional  rarity.  The  interest  attaching  to 
it  is  increased  by  the  fact  that  it  was  found 
about  1845,  during  the  demolition  of  an  old 
house  in  Hoxton,  traditionally  associated 
with  the  name  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  and 
supposed  to  have  been  used  at  a  later  period 
as  a  meeting-place  for  Huguenots  and  Jews. 
The  same  subject,  treated  in  an  almost  iden- 
tical manner,  occurs  upon  a  smaller  ivory 
panel  in  the  Louvre,  which  probably  dates 
from  the  ninth  century.  The  panel  has  been 
presented  by  the  fund  to  the  trustees  of  the 
British  Museum  for  exhibition.  A  photo- 
graph of  it  was  reproduced  in  the  Daily 
Graphic  of  May  8. 

4f      4f       4p 

Discoveries  of  interest  are  reported  from 
various  parts  of  the  country.  In  April  Mr. 
James  Govett,  junior,  of  Trembraze,  Lis- 
keard,  whilst  scraping  up  his  farmyard,  found 
thirty  gold  coins  at  a  spot  where  the  rain  had 
washed  out  a  pit.  One  of  the  coins  was 
Portuguese,  of  the  size  of  a  five-shilling  piece, 
while  the  remainder  were  English,  of  the 
reigns  of  James  II.  and  Queen  Anne.  It 
may  be  recalled  that,  in  1745,  a  similar,  but 
more  important,  find  was  made.  At  that 
time  no  fewer  than  eighty-five  guineas  were 
dug   up   underneath   the   barn   floor.      The 


206 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


coroner  held  an  inquest  on  April  18 — the 
first  inquiry  of  the  kind  held  in  Cornwall  for 
at  least  ioo  years,  he  said — and  the  jury 
found  that  the  coins  were  "  treasure  trove." 

$      *$*      $ 

Several  remains  of  Roman  Britain  have  come 
to  light.  During  the  excavations  on  the  site 
of  Christ's  Hospital,  Newgate  Street,  a  wide 
range  of  the  old  London  Wall  has  been 
unearthed.  At  Stone  Court,  near  Dartford, 
Kent,  excavations  have  been  in  progress, 
and  at  a  depth  of  18  inches  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground  cremated  human  remains  were 
found  in  Roman  vases.  The  vases,  which 
were  7^  and  8£  inches  in  height,  were  in  an 
excellent  state  of  preservation.  Two  feet 
lower  down  were  discovered  two  pieces  of 
pottery,  which  are  considered  to  be  most 
valuable.  One  of  these  is  3  inches  and  the 
other  9  inches  in  height.  Other  vases,  one 
damaged  and  one  perfectly  sound,  were  at 
4  and  6  feet  below  the  surface.  The  scene 
of  these  discoveries  is  supposed  to  have  been 
a  private  burial-ground.  Illustrations  of  the 
pit  in  which  the  relics  were  found  and  of 
some  of  the  vases  appeared  in  the  Daily 
Graphic  of  April  29.  Roman  pottery,  chiefly 
large  and  small  urns,  some  in  a  perfect  state, 
and  notably  a  splendid  and  well-preserved 
red  glazed  bowl  of  Samian,  has  also  been 
found  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  D.  Cook,  Sewell, 
Dunstable. 

•ijp  &  4? 
At  Lansdown,  near  Bath,  in  the  course  of 
exploration  work,  what  was  at  first  thought 
to  be  a  boundary  wall  was  discovered  about 
15  inches  from  the  level  of  the  ground ;  but 
on  the  work  being  proceeded  with,  it  ap- 
peared that  the  wall  was  but  one  side  of  a 
very  fine  three-roomed  villa,  the  foundations 
of  which  are  perfectly  preserved,  and  it  is 
believed  this  interesting  find  dates  back  to 
the  Roman  period.  Other  relics  in  the 
shape  of  iron  implements  and  bronze  coins 
were  also  unearthed. 

A  "  find  "  of  great  interest,  from  an  historical 
and  antiquarian  point  of  view,  was  made  on 
April  18  (says  the  Newcastle  Chronicle)  on  the 
site  of  the  nave  of  Hexham  Abbey  by  the 
resident  architect,  Mr.  C.  C  Hodges.  It  is 
a  fine  specimen  of  the  class  of  carved  grave 


covers  known  as  the  "hog-backed."  The 
date  of  the  example  found  is  probably  about 
800  a.d.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  North 
of  England,  and  the  second  only  that  North- 
umberland has  produced.  So  rare  is  this 
type  of  memorial  that  almost  the  whole  area 
of  the  southern  counties  cannot  show  a  single 
specimen.  Lancashire  has  one  and  Derby- 
shire has  one.  At  the  other  end  of  the 
country  interesting  discoveries  have  been 
made  during  drainage  excavations  at  Wilton, 
Wiltshire.  In  Russell  Street  the  greater  part 
of  an  old  spur,  with  a  rowel  1  inch  long,  was 
found,  and  near  it  what  appeared  to  be  a 
harness  buckle.  The  spur  is  such  as  was 
used  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  Several 
coins  have  been  unearthed,  one  of  which  is 
a  William  and  Mary  sixpence,  and  the  other 
a  William  III.  halfpenny,  dated  1698.  At 
one  part  of  Russell  Street  great  piles  of  bones 
were  discovered,  and  in  the  river  crossing  of 
the  neighbourhood  horse-shoes  were  found, 
one  of  which  is  believed  to  date  from  Roman 
times.  At  Worcester  a  discovery  of  interest 
to  local  antiquaries  was  made  on  May  2. 
In  the  course  of  excavations  there  was 
brought  to  light  the  foundations  of  one  of 
the  towers  of  Sidbury  Gate,  a  short  distance 
from  Fort  Royal,  where  one  of  the  hottest 
fights  in  the  Battle  of  Worcester  took  place. 
According  to  tradition,  King  Charles  was 
only  saved  from  capture  at  Sidbury  Gate  by 
a  friend  overturning  a  load  of  hay  and  thus 
preventing  pursuit  by  Cromwell's  troops. 

«fr       4p      «$» 

A  rather  curious  and  interesting  archaeo- 
logical discovery  (says  the  Athenceum  of 
April  27),  has  been  made  during  recent  excava- 
tions at  the  Roman  villa  of  Mettet,  near  Namur. 
This  is  a  bronze  head  with  the  hair  long  and 
drawn  backwards,  while  the  beard  is  in 
curled  locks,  as  seen  on  many  Roman  busts. 
The  ears  are  those  of  an  animal,  probaby 
a  he-goat,  and  one  of  them  is  turned  round 
towards  the  face.  The  Director  of  the 
Namur  Archaeological  Museum  is  of  opinion 
that  it  is  the  work  of  a  (probably  young) 
Gallo-Roman  artist  of  the  second  or  third 
century  of  our  era,  who  had  good  technical 
knowledge,  but  was  ignorant  of  classic  art ; 
and  so  far  as  the  Director  is  aware,  it  is  the 
only  specimen  of  Roman  times  showing  the 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


207 


hair  worn  long  at  the  back  of  the  head.  In 
the  Museum  at  Spires  there  is  a  Centaur 
with  beard  and  ears  very  like  those  of  the 
new-found  bronze,  which  further  resembles 
it  in  that  neither  shows  any  trace  of  a  neck. 
At  St.  Germain-en-Laye  also  there  is  the 
head  of  a  god  with  the  ears  and  horns  of  an 
ox,  and  a  beard  arranged  precisely  like  that 
of  the  bronze  head  discovered  at  Mettet. 
In  neither  case,  however,  is  the  hair  long  or 
drawn  back. 

$?        #»         4? 

At  a  meeting  of  the  British  and  American 
Archaeological  Society  of  Rome,  held  in 
April,  Dr.  W.  J.  D.  Croke,  the  writer  of  a 
paper  printed  in  this  issue  of  the  Antiquary, 
delivered  an  interesting  lecture  on  "  English 
Memories  at  the  Church  of  Domine,  Quo 
Vadis,  on  the  Via  Appia."  The  lecturer 
derived  the  origin  of  the  well-known  legend 
that  St.  Peter  here  met  our  Lord,  who  told 
him  in  answer  to  his  question  that  He  was 
going  to  Rome  to  be  crucified  again,  from  a 
phrase  in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  St.  John's 
Gospel.  He  then  showed  that  the  second  of 
the  two  chapels  which  bears  the  name  was 
not,  as  is  usually  stated,  built  by  Cardinal 
Pole,  the  last  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  but  was  mentioned  in  docu- 
ments as  having  been  in  existence  in  1370, 
or  far  more  than  a  century  before  the 
Cardinal's  birth.  Mr.  Croke  considered  that 
there  must  have  been  an  English  shrine  at 
this  spot  in  the  fourteenth  century  dedicated 
to  St.  Peter,  who  was  a  favourite  saint  with 
our  mediaeval  ancestors.  He  proved  by 
further  documentary  evidence  that  the  shrine 
was  restored  as  early  as  1531,  also  before  the 
time  when  Cardinal  Pole  was  in  Rome,  and 
explained  the  exclusive  association  of  his 
name  with  the  restoration  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  the  most  celebrated  Englishman  known 
to  the  Roman  community — a  man  who  was 
nearly  a  Pope,  and  nearly  a  Prince  Consort. 
In  any  case,  the  honour  of  restoring  the 
chapel  rests  with  the  Cardinal's  fellow- 
countrymen,  the  English  Corporation  in 
Rome. 

$        <$>         $ 

At  the  close  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Hampshire  Archaeological  Society,  held  at 
Winchester  on  May  3,  the  honorary  secretary 


exhibited  a  condoned  bucket,  of  the  date 
700  B.C.,  which  had  recently  been  excavated 
at  the  new  motor  track  at  Weybridge,  and 
which  was  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation. 
It  had,  according  to  authorities,  been  made 
in  Northern  Italy,  and  went  to  prove  that  at 
that  early  age  there  must  have  been  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  that  country  and 
this.  It  was  the  first  of  the  kind  found  in 
Great  Britain.  Mr.  N.  C.  H.  Nisbett  ex- 
hibited a  pewter  brooch  which  had  been 
found  during  the  excavations  at  the  cathedral, 
the  principal  interest  of  which  was  that  the 
coin  from  which  the  centre  had  been  cast 
was  of  the  time  either  of  Edward  the  Elder 
or  Alfred  the  Great.  It  was  surrounded  by 
filigree  work,  and  was  in  a  remarkable  state 
of  preservation,  the  pin  working  freely  on  its 
pivot. 

<fe      4?      4p 

Among  recent  newspaper  articles  of  anti- 
quarian interest  we  note  a  paper  on  the 
Rolle  family  in  the  Exeter  Flying  Post, 
April  27  ;  a  very  finely  illustrated  article  by 
Mr.  C.  H.  Eden  on  "Black  Fonts  in 
Hampshire,"  in  Country  Life,  May  4 ; 
"Greek  and  Roman  Life  at  the  British 
Museum,"  in  The  Times,  May  13;  and 
"  The  Astronomical  and  Archaeological 
Value  of  the  Welsh  Gorsedd,"  by  Mr.  J. 
Griffith,  in  Nature,  May  2. 

#»  «$»  $? 
Among  other  finds  on  the  site  of  the  sanctu- 
ary of  Athena  Chalkioikos,  the  committee  of 
the  British  School  at  Athens  announce  the 
discovery  of  ten  bronze  statuettes,  varying  in 
height  from  3  to  5  inches,  and  all  either 
archaic  or  of  good  period.  The  finest  is  a 
most  beautiful  figure  from  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century  in  magnificent  preservation.  It 
is  13  centimetres  high  and  represents  a 
trumpeter.  It  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best 
things  yet  found  in  Laconia.  A  sixth-century 
archaic  statuette  of  a  herm  wears  a  tight 
dress  decorated  with  a  pattern  of  rings,  pre- 
sumably representing  chain -mail.  Other 
statuettes,  mostly  archaic,  represent  an 
Athena,  a  man  with  a  wreath,  Aphrodite 
armed,  a  negress,  a  horse,  a  lion,  and  a  bull. 


208 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  CHAPEL  ON  CARTMEL  FELL. 


^t.  antbonp\0  Cftapel  on 
Cartmel  jFell. 

By  the  Very  Rev.  J.  L.  Darhy,  D.D.,  Dean 
ok  Chester. 


^gS1|N  the  Fell,  which  lies  east  of  the 
lower  end  of  Windermere,  known 


Xs&K  )  as  Cartmel  Fell,  is  the  Chapel  of 
St.  Anthony — small  indeed,  but 
highly  interesting.  It  is  easily  reached  from 
Grange-over-Sands,  distant  about  nine  miles. 
From  the  churchyard  there  is  a  fine  view  of 
the  Westmorland  Hills,  while  below  lies 
the  Valley  of  the  Winster. 

The  chapel  dates  from  the  fifteenth  cen- 


FIG.  2. 


tury,  but  the  interior  has  been  dealt  with 
both  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.     The  pulpit  and  reading-desk  are 


dated  1698,  and  in  the  north-eastern  corner 
is  a  pew  dated  1696.  The  rest  of  the  chapel 
is   seated   with   uncomfortable,   and   by  no 


FIG.  3. 

means  beautiful,  benches.  There  is,  how- 
ever, one  large  pew  surrounded  by  wood- 
work, about  which  there  is  some  difference 
of  opinion,  some  thinking  that  it  is  now  in 
its  original  position,  others  that  it  was  formerly 
the  screen  (Fig.  2).  As  there  is  the  letter 
M  carved  on  a  small  shield  to  the  left  of  the 
centre  crown,  and  J  to  the  right,  which 
probably  denote  Mary  and  John,  who 
would  naturally  stand  on  either  side  of  the 
rood,  it  seems  likely  that  the  structure  was 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  CHAPEL  ON  CARTMEL  FELL. 


209 


IF^  -^^HflBBh^^^^ttf 

-.    si* 

73f3 

""^W^jk  ■■ 

1 

- 

jg^** 

^fSj-A^H 

a?Sy 

9*m 

3Hti\  /> 

, 

^       1 

^  Hfc. 

Li^ 

FIG.  I.— ST.  ANTHONY'S  CHAPEL. 


FIG.  4.— ST.    ANTHONY'S   CHAPEL:   THE   EAST   WINDOW. 


VOL.    III. 


2  D 


2IO 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


the  screen.  The  measurement  of  it  corro- 
borates this  suggestion.  The  figure  of  our 
Lord  is  now  preserved  in  the  vicarage.  The 
photograph  here  given   shows  its  character 

(Fig-  3)- 

Another  most  interesting  feature  is  the  east 
window  (Fig.  4,  p.  209).  It  is  filled  with 
fragments  of  glass  which  have  been  from 
time  to  time  rearranged.  Some  pieces  have 
been  inserted  upside-down.  It  might  be 
possible  to  arrange  the  work  more  in  con- 
formity with  the  idea  of  the  designer,  but 
it  would  require  both  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  craft  and  skill  in  workmanship  to 
justify  the  attempt.  The  glass  is  said  to 
be  the  design  of  Roger  van  der  Weyden, 
the  most  celebrated  scholar  of  Jan  van 
Eyck,  and  from  the  several  lights,  five  in 
number,  the  subjects  are  seen  to  be  the 
Seven  Sacraments.  In  the  light  to  the  north 
is  the  figure  of  St.  Anthony  with  his  staff, 
on  which  hangs  a  bell  with  a  wild  boar 
creeping  up  it. 

In  the  second  light  there  is  a  Bishop  or 
a  mitred  Abbot,  and  below  a  group  of 
figures  at  a  marriage,  and  fragment  of  a 
figure  of  St.  Leonard  with  a  large  chain,  an 
allusion  to  his  releasing  captives. 

In  the  third  light  is  the  figure  of  our  Lord 
on  the  Cross. 

In  the  fourth  light  is  another  figure  of  our 
Lord,  His  feet  resting  on  grass,  possibly  as 
He  appeared  after  His  Resurrection. 

In  the  fifth  light  there  is  a  head  of  a 
Bishop  wearing  his  jewelled  mitre,  and  there 
are  fragments  taken  from  other  lights — e.g., 
part  of  a  chain  evidently  belonging  to  the 
subject  in  the  second  light. 

It  was  by  the  courtesy  of  the  present 
Vicar,  the  Rev.  \V.  Summers,  that  the 
photographs  were  taken,  and  by  his  per- 
mission are  published  in  the  Antiquary. 


15urp  §>t  <£rjmtmt)s :  Jftotes 
anD  Jmpresstons. 

By  the  Rev.  II.  J.  Dukinfield  Astley,  M.A., 
Litt.D. 

OVERS  of  Dickens  will  not  need  to 
be  reminded  that  it  was  at  Bury 
St.  Edmunds  that  some  of  the 
most  eventful  occurrences  in  Mr. 
Pickwick's  adventurous  career  took  place. 

"  Beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  said  Sam,  sud- 
denly breaking  off  in  his  loquacious  dis- 
course, "  is  this  Bury  St.  Edmunds  ?" 

"  It  is,"  replied  Mr.  Pickwick. 

The  coach  rattled  through  the  well-paved 
streets  of  a  handsome  little  town,  of  thriving 
and  cleanly  appearance,  and  stopped  before 
a  large  inn  situated  in  a  wide,  open  street, 
nearly  facing  the  old  abbey. 

"  And  this,"  said  Mr.  Pickwick,  looking 
up,  "is  the  Angel.     We  alight  here,  Sam." 

Mr.  Pickwick  and  his  faithful  follower,  it 
will  be  remembered,  had  journeyed  from 
Eatanswill  (probably  Sudbury)  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exposing  the  villainies  of  the  egre- 
gious Jingle,  and  while  there  Mr.  Pickwick's 
midnight  adventure  in  the  young  ladies' 
school,  and  his  subsequent  discovery  in  the 
Pound,  where  he  had  been  put  by  the 
furious  Captain  Boldwig,  at  the  close  of  a 
day's  partridge-shooting,  are  recorded.  It 
was  at  Bury,  too,  that  the  fatal  missive  from 
Messrs.  Dodson  and  Fogg  was  put  into  his 
hand,  which  led  to  the  celebrated  case  of 
Bardell  v.  Pickwick. 

It  was  with  memories  of  these  stirring 
episodes  in  mind  that  the  writer  piloted  his 
motor-car  through  the  streets  of  Bury,  and 
alighted  with  his  wife  at  the  Angel  on  a 
beautiful  evening  in  September,  1906 ;  but 
he  had  no  sooner  entered  the  noted  hostelry, 
and  gazed  from  its  windows  across  to  the 
majestic  gateway  of  the  now  ruined  and 
deserted  abbey,  than  far  other  thoughts 
occurred — thoughts  that  carried  him  back 
in  imagination  to  the  days  of  Bury's  bygone 
greatness,  when  the  abbey  was  the  centre 
of  its  life  and  the  source  of  its  prosperity. 
Those  were  pre-eminently  the  days  when 
Abbot  Samson  ruled,  and  Jocelin  of  Brake- 
londe  was  inditing  the  pages  of  his 
"Chronicle"  for  the  delectation   of  future 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


211 


generations  of  readers  and  students  of  the 
past. 

Leaving  the  exploration  of  the  abbey  ruins 
and  the  other  antiquities  of  Bury  for  the 
following  day,  a  stroll  through  the  town,  in 
which  the  streets  were  now  fast  lighting  up 
as  the  darkness  of  the  still,  summer-like 
evening  gradually  gathered  in,  was  sufficient 
to  justify  the  impression  derived  from 
Dickens's  description  in  the  second  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  to-day 
what  it  was  then,  "  a  handsome  little  town 
of  thriving  and  cleanly  appearance,  with 
well-paved,"  and,  we  may  add,  well-lighted, 
■"streets";  and  the  Angel,  notwithstanding 
many  alterations  and  improvements  within, 
retains  to  this  day  the  same  appearance  of 
solid  Georgian  respectability  in  its  exterior 
which  it  must  have  presented  to  the  eyes  of 
the  travellers  as  they  descended  from  the 
coach  on  that  memorable  evening  long  ago. 

In  entering  a  town  like  Bury  St.  Edmunds, 
traversing  its  streets,  and  taking  a  first  brief 
but  loving  glance  at  its  antiquities,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  sympathize  with  the  feelings  of 
American  visitors  to  our  country,  who  find 
themselves  transported  by  the  very  atmos- 
phere of  the  place  into  the  past,  and  filled, 
at  times,  it  may  be,  almost  despite  themselves, 
with  the  genius  loci.  It  is  natural  for  them, 
realizing  what  it  means  for  such  a  town  to  have 
its  roots  fixed  fast  in  antiquity,  while  it 
stretches  out  its  branches  to  touch  with  eager- 
ness the  busy,  teeming,  multitudinous  life  of 
to-day,  to  contrast  this  with  the  comparatively 
mushroom  growth  of  even  their  most  his- 
toric cities ;  and  while  he  thinks  of  these 
visitors  from  across  the  ocean,  the  English- 
man may  be  pardoned  if  a  thrill  of  genuine 
patriotism  pervades  his  being,  and  a  glow  of 
grateful  pride  suffuses  his  soul,  at  the  thought 
that  England,  with  all  her  storied  past,  and 
all  the  great  deeds  of  Kings  and  warriors  and 
ecclesiastics — aye,  and  of  humble  burghers 
and  peasants  too — is  his  own  motherland, 
whose  fair  fame  it  is  his  to  hand  down  un- 
sullied to  the  future,  even  as  the  past  has 
handed  it  down  to  him. 

Such  were  the  thoughts  that  occurred  to 
the  writer  during  the  evening  stroll  through 
the  streets  of  Bury;  but  the  next  morning, 
after  a  good  night's  rest  at  the  Angel,  the 
first  glance  from  the  window  across  to  the 


great  gateway  of  the  abbey  made  him  deter- 
mine to  lose  no  time  before  sallying  forth  to 
view  its  beauties  by  daylight. 

It  was  a  lovely  morning  in  early  autumn, 
and  the  whole  town  was  bathed  in  delicious 
sunshine,  tempered  by  a  mellow  breeze, 
which  recalled  the  statements  of  Wildish's 
valet  in  Shadwell's  (the  Norfolk  Laureate) 
play  of  Bury  Fair  ; 

"  Now,  I  hope,  sir,  you  will  acknowledge 
you  see  a  sweet  town,  clean,  and  finely 
situated  in  a  delicate  air  ;  here  I  was  born, 
and  here  I  sucked  in  my  first  breath."  To 
which  Wildish  replies  :  "  Thus  every  cox- 
comb is  big  with  the  praise  of  the  county 
and  place  of  his  nativity,"  and  the  valet 
rejoins  :  "  All  the  world  says  as  much  of 
St.  Edmund's  Bury  "  ;  while  later  on  in  the 
same  amusing  play  of  a  poet  who  has  suf- 
fered from  undeserved  neglect,  owing  largely 
to  the  cruel  censures  of  his  great  antagonist, 
Dryden,  in  MacFlecknoe  and  elsewhere,  but 
due  a  good  deal  also  to  the  coarseness 
characteristic  of  his  age,  we  find  Lord 
Bellamy  saying,  in  reply  to  Wildish's  "  My 
dear  lord,  I  am  glad  you  are  come.  Here 
is  the  best  company  in  Bury "  :  "  'Tis  a 
delicate  morning ;  I  have  been  sucking  in 
the  sweetest  air  in  England." 

It  was  indeed  "a  delicate  morning"  on 
the  occasion  of  our  visit,  and  one  could  well 
agree  that  without  exaggeration  one  was 
"sucking  in  the  sweetest  air  in  England." 

But  once  passed  within  the  abbey  pre- 
cincts, one's  thoughts  were  immediately 
caught  back  into  the  past,  and,  as  is  the 
case  in  most  of  England's  historic  spots,  the 
contrast  between  then  and  now  overbore 
every  other  consideration. 

All  around  lie  the  remains  of  former 
grandeur — ruined  blocks  of  masonry,  fallen 
piers,  broken  arches,  telling  where  great 
buildings  once  stood,  the  sadness  mitigated 
by  the  gay  parterres  of  what  is  now  a 
botanic  garden  for  the  pleasure  and  instruc- 
tion of  the  good  people  of  Bury.  Hither 
in  the  coming  month  of  July  they  have 
invited  crowds  of  their  fellow-countrymen 
and  visitors  from  all  quarters  to  witness 
the  tale  of  their  fortunes  as  it  will  be  told 
in  one  of  those  historic  "  pageants "  in 
which  so  many  of  our  towns  have  been, 
and  are,  indulging,  and  none  with  more  legiti- 

2  D    2 


212 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


mate  excuse  than  they.  We  wish  them  a 
most  successful  pageant ;  the  scenes  are  sure 
to  be  not  only  well  thought  out,  but  well 
executed,  with  Mr.  Lewis  Parker  in  supreme 
command,  and  in  all  the  crowds  who  will 
then  be  enjoying  the  entertainment  provided 
we  trust  there  will  be  many  who,  with  "  the 
sweetest  air  in  England,"  will  also  "suck  in" 
a  deeper  and  fuller  patriotic  enthusiasm,  and 
will  echo  the  words  of  the  poet :  "  Here  and 
here  has  England  helped  me.  How  can  I 
help  England  ?     Say  !" 

But  on  that  autumn  morning  in  Sep- 
tember, 1906,  we  had  the  precincts  to  our- 
selves, and  were  able  in  calmness  and  soli- 
tude to  review  the  memories  which  these 
scattered  heaps  of  ruins  brought  to  mind. 

The  history  of  Bury  is  practically  the 
history  of  the  abbey  from  its  foundation 
to  the  dissolution,  varied  by  the  struggles  of 
the  townspeople,  on  more  than  one  occasion 
leading  to  bloodshed  and  disorder  (for  they 
were  not  always  mindful  of  the  benefits  they 
received  from  the  presence  of  so  renowned 
a  religious  house  in  their  midst),  to  secure 
enlarged  rights  for  themselves,  and  immunity 
from  abbatial  exactions. 

In  Saxon  times  Bury  was  known  as 
"  Beodric's  Worth  " — i.e.,  the  garth  or  manor 
of  Beodric — and  it  is  just  possible  that  this 
may  be  merely  a  translation  of  "Villa 
Faustini,"  mentioned  in  the  Fifth  Iter  of 
Antoninus,  which  is  supposed  to  have  stood 
in  or  near  the  present  site  of  Bury.*     It  was 

*  Beodric,  like  FausHnus,  means  "fortunate,"  or 
"of  good  omen."  Whether  the  Faustinus  who  owned 
this  villa  was  the  individual  to  whom  Martial  addressed 
an  epigram  is  not  known,  but  if  so  an  added  meaning 
belongs  to  the  poet's  "  Cineri  gloria  sera  venit." 
Mr.  W.  J.  Andrew,  in  his  Numismatic  History  of 
Hetvy  J.,  spells  the  Saxon  name  of  the  city 
"  Beorhtric's  Worthe,"  and  says:  "Hence  it  prob- 
ably owes  its  origin  to  Beorhtric,  King  of  East 
Anglia,  circa  850-855."  Mr.  Andrew  probably  refers 
to  the  King  of  Mercia,  of  which  East  Anglia  then 
formed  a  province,  whom  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle 
calls  "  Burhred,"  and  Speed  and  others  "  Burdred," 
after  whose  death  Edmund,  the  son  of  Alkmund, 
who  had  been  adopted  by  Offa,  of  the  royal  line 
of  East  Anglia,  succeeded  as  the  last  independent 
Sovereign  of  that  kingdom  ;  but  this  derivation  is 
extremely  doubtful,  and  philologically  improbable,  if 
not  impossible.  Edmund  was  crowned  at  Beodric's 
Worth  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  made  it  his  capital ; 
thus  there  was  a  special  fitness  in  bringing  his  body 
thither  for  burial  after  its  recovery  from  the  Danes, 


to  Beodric's  Worth  that  King  Sigebert,  called 
"The  Learned,"  of  East  Anglia,  retired, 
after  having  promoted  to  his  utmost  the 
efforts  of  good  Bishop  Felix,  the  apostle 
from  Burgundy,  to  convert  his  pagan  sub- 
jects, and  here  he  founded  the  first  monastery, 
in  accordance  with  the  Benedictine  rule,  about 
a.d.  640,  a  mere  collection  of  wooden  huts 
surrounding  a  wooden  church,  almost  at  the 
same  time  that  the  saintly  Fursey,  the  apostle 
from  Ireland,  was  founding  a  monastery  at 
Cnobbesburgh,  or  Burgh  Castle,  the  ancient 
Garianonum;  and  these  two  were  the  earliest 
monastic  houses  in  East  Anglia.  Little  is 
known  of  the  fortunes  of  the  Saxon  house, 
but  its  fame  begins  in  the  year  903,  when 
the  body  of  the  martyred  King  Edmund, 
who  had  been  slain  by  the  Danes  at  Hoxne 
in  Suffolk,*  as  commonly  stated,  in  the  year 
870,  was  transferred  hither,  owing  to  the 
reputation  which  it  had  obtained  for 
miraculous  powers,  and  Beodric's  Worth 
became  from  that  time  St.  Edmund's  Bury, 
or  Bury  St.  Edmunds.  A  new  church  was 
built  in  his  honour  by  some  secular  priests, 
and  incorporated  by  King  Athelstan  in  925, 
and  the  establishment  made  collegiate. 

In  1 010  the  town  and  church  were  almost 
wholly  destroyed  by  the  Danes  under  King 
Sweyn,  during  the  invasion  undertaken  by 
that  monarch  to  avenge  the  massacre  of  their 
countrymen  settled  in  England,  which  had 
been  ordered  and  carried  out  by  Ethelred. 
But  the  desolation  was  not  of  long  duration, 
for  King  Canute  restored  the  town,  and 
raised  it  to  a  greater  splendour  than  it  had 
known  before.  He  rebuilt  the  church  and 
monastery,  which  he  endowed  with  rich 
possessions,  until  in  rank  and  importance  it 
was  only  second  to  Glastonbury ;  and,  ex- 
pelling the  secular  priests,  replaced  them 
with  regular  monks,  who  were  once  more 
under  the  Benedictine  rule.  Camden  tells 
us  that  the  King  "  offered  his  own  crown  to 
the  holy  martyr,  brought  in  the  monks  with 
their  Abbot,  enriched  it  with  many  fair 
estates,  and,  among  others,  this  town  entire, 
whereupon   the  monks   governed   here  and 


and  the  reuniting  of  the  severed  head  to  the  corpse 
transfixed  by  the  pagan  arrows,  according  to  the 
legend. 

*  See  note  on  St.  Edmund  at  end. 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


213 


administered  justice  by  their  Steward."  It 
was  this  that  caused  all  the  troubles  between 
the  town  and  the  abbey  in  later  days,  the 
worst  of  which  happened  in  the  year  1327. 
"  In  this  year,"  says  Knight's  Topographical 
Dictionary,  "  the  townsmen  and  neighbour- 
ing villagers,  assembling  to  the  number  of 
20,000,  headed  by  their  aldermen  and  capital 
burgesses,  made  a  violent  attack  upon  it,  and 
reduced  a  considerable  part  to  ashes.  They 
wounded  the  monks  and  pillaged  the  coffers, 
from  which  they  took  the  charters,  deeds, 
and  other  valuable  property,  including  plate 
and  3,000  florins  of  gold.  The  King,  on 
being  informed  of  the  outrage,  sent  a  military 
force  to  quell  the  tumult.  The  aldermen 
and  twenty-four  of  the  burgesses  were  im- 
prisoned, and  thirty  carts  loaded  with  rioters 
were  sent  to  Norwich.  Of  these,  nineteen 
were  executed,  thirty-two  of  the  parochial 
clergy  were  convicted  as  abettors,  and  the 
town  was  adjudged  to  pay  a  huge  fine,  which 
was  afterwards  mitigated  on  the  restoration 
of  the  stolen  property." 

The  cause  of  these  commotions  and  of 
many  others  both  before  and  after — notably, 
again,  in  the  time  of  the  Peasants'  Rebellion 
in  1 38 1,  when  East  Anglia  joined  the  revolt 
under  "  Jack  Strawe,"  and  John  de  Cam- 
bridge, the  then  Prior,  and  Sir  John  Caven- 
dish, the  Chief  Justice,  were  murdered,  for 
which  the  town  of  Bury  was  outlawed  and 
fined  2,000  marks — was,  to  a  large  extent, 
the  exactions  put  upon  the  citizens  by  the 
abbey  at  the  hands  of  the  Steward,  who 
assumed  almost  royal  prerogatives,  and 
claimed  implicit  obedience  on  the  strength 
of  Cnut's  charter.  For  example,  "the 
Inquisition  taken  in  30  Edward  I.  before  the 
Escheator  shows  that  the  office  of  Seneschal 
or  Steward  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds  was  a  place 
of  much  honour,  and  held  in  fee  by  the 
family  of  Hastings,  who  had  several  great 
fees  and  allowances  for  the  same  by  Custom, 
in  case  they  executed  that  office  themselves ; 
but  if  they  did  it  by  Deputy,  then  that 
Deputy  received  half"  (Dugdale). 

Another  circumstance  which  tended  to 
enhance  the  magnificence  of  the  Abbey  of 
Bury  was  the  fact  that  by  the  charter  of 
Cnut  not  only  was  the  grant  to  St.  Edmund 
confirmed,  and  the  monks  given  the  dues 
they  formerly  paid  the  Danes,  and  a  right 


of  fishery,  but  also  the  abbey  was  exempted 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese.  This  practical  establishment  of  an 
imperium  in  imperio  led,  as  in  the  few  other 
instances  in  which  it  existed,  to  many  dis- 
turbances, as  in  the  year  1345,  when  a 
quarrel  arose  between  the  abbey  and  Bishop 
Bateman  of  Norwich  on  the  question  of  the 
right  of  visitation,  and  the  Bishop  so  far 
gained  his  point  for  the  time  being  as  to 
appoint  commissioners  to  investigate  the 
state  of  affairs  which  had  been  reported 
against ;  and  this  report  was  confirmed  by 
the  commissioners,  who  found  that  both 
"the  morality  and  discipline  of  the  abbey 
were  bad."  The  Bishop's  triumph,  however, 
was  brief,  for  the  Abbot,  William  of  Bern- 
ham,  who  had  been  sub  -  Prior,  and  was 
hastily  elected  on  the  death  of  the  previous 
Abbot  in  1335  for  fear  of  the  Pope's  inter- 
ference, appealed  to  the  Pope  in  1346,  and 
sued  the  Bishop  in  the  King's  Court,  plead- 
ing the  charter  of  Hardicnut,  which  had 
been  granted  in  1035,  and  which  imposed  a 
fine  of  "thirty  talents  of  gold"  on  anyone 
found  infringing  the  abbey's  franchises,  and 
the  judges  gave  sentence  in  the  Abbot's 
favour. 

In  the  course  of  the  Middle  Ages  Bury 
was  honoured  by  many  royal  visits,  and  on 
most  of  these  occasions  the  abbey  managed 
to  secure  further  immunities  or  privileges  for 
itself.  Henry  I.  was  here  "on  a  pilgrimage" 
in  1 132.  King  John  was  here  in  1203,  when 
Abbot  Samson,  of  whom  we  shall  have 
many  things  to  say  later  on,  ruled,  and  made 
rich  offerings,  but  at  the  same  time  prevailed 
on  the  convent  to  grant  him  for  life  the  use 
of  the  jewels  which  his  mother,  Queen 
Eleanor,  had  presented  to  St.  Edmund  ;  and 
he  was  here  again  in  12 14,  when  he  asserted 
his  rights  in  the  election  of  Abbot  on  the 
death  of  Samson.  It  was  in  connexion  with 
this  visit  that  the  most  memorable  incident 
in  the  annals  of  the  abbey  took  place — viz., 
the  share  which  it  had  in  extorting  Magna 
Carta  from  the  King.  John  had  been 
abroad,  and  on  his  return  to  England  in  the 
middle  of  October  of  this  year,  1 2 1 4,  he  found 
himself  confronted  with  a  crisis  unique  in 
English  history. 

During  his  absence  the  opponents  of  his 
misrule  had   drawn   together   and   matured 


2I4 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:   NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


their  plans,  and  the  embarrassments  of  the 
King  on  the  Continent  heartened  the  opposi- 
tion. The  northern  barons  took  the  lead. 
Within  a  fortnight  of  his  landing  John  held 
an  interview  with  the  malcontents  at  Bury  St. 
Edmunds  (November  4,  12 14).  At  their 
head  was  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  who  brought  to  light  the  Charter 
of  Liberties  of  Henry  I.  (1100)  which  appar- 
ently had  been  forgotten  and  overlooked. 
This  became  subsequently  the  model  of  the 
Creat  Charter.  No  compromise  was  effected, 
and  John  retired.  Thereupon  a  second 
meeting  was  held  on  St.  Edmund's  Day, 
November  20,  "  as  if  for  prayers,"  but 
"  there  was  something  else  in  the  matter, 
for,  standing  at  the  High  Altar  in  St. 
Edmund's  Church,  the  Archbishop  produced 
the  forgotten  charter,  and  the  barons  swore 
to  withdraw  their  fealty  and  wage  war  on 
the  King  unless  he  granted  their  liberties," 
which  thing  was  accomplished  on  the  19th  of 
the  following  June  at  Runnymede,  when  the 
King  affixed  his  signature  to  Magna  Carta. 
Thus  may  Bury  St.  Edmunds  proudly  account 
herself  the  cradle  of  England's  freedom.* 
During  his  final  struggle  with  the  barons 
Bury  was  a  stronghold  of  the  King,  and 
consequently  escaped  the  destruction  which 
fell  upon  the  patrimony  of  St.  Etheldreda  at 
Ely.t 

In  1265,  after  the  defeat  and  death  of 
Simon  de  Montfort,  many  of  the  barons  of 
his  party  took  shelter  at  Bury,  but  were  dis- 
lodged, and  in  1267  Henry  III.  summoned 
the  barons  who  owed  him  military  service  to 
meet  him  at  Bury.  In  1272  the  King  was 
here  on  his  way  to  Norwich,  and,  according 
to  Rishanger,  he  died  here  in  the  same  year. 

In  1275  Edward  I.  and  his  Queen  came 
to  Bury  on  a  pilgrimage,  "  as  they  had  vowed 
in  the  Holy  Land,"  and  in  1285  the  King 
and  Queen  and  their  three  daughters  were 
again  on  pilgrimage  here.  In  1294  the  King 
was  once  more  here  "  with  great  devotion," 
and  in  1296  he  held  a  Parliament  at  Bury. 
In  1326  Edward  II.  spent  Christmas  here, 
just  before  the  great  riots  of  the  following 
year.     In   1433-34   Henry  VI.  was  at  Bury 

*  Roger  of  Wendover,  iii.,  p.  293;  Miss  Norgate, 
John  Lackland,  p.  221  ;  McKechnie,  Magna  Carta, 
p.  38. 

f  Miss  Norgate,  John  Lackland,  pp.  257,  258. 


from  Christmas  to  St.  George's  Day,  when 
the  monastery  presented  him  with  a  magnifi- 
cently illuminated  Life  of  St.  Edmund,  by 
John  Lydgate  (now  in  the  British  Museum, 
Had.  MS.  2248).  In  1447  the  King  held  a 
Parliament  in  the  abbey  refectory  here,  when 
Duke  Humphrey  of  Gloucester  was  present, 
and  was  arrested  for  high  treason.  He 
was  the  youngest  son  of  Henry  IV.,  and  on 
the  death  of  his  brother,  Henry  V.,  was  made 
Protector,  and  later  on  Lieutenant,  of  the 
kingdom.  He  married,  as  his  second  wife, 
his  mistress,  Eleanor  Cobham,  and  was 
powerless  to  prevent  her  trial  and  condemna- 
tion for  witchcraft.  He  is  best  known  to 
English  readers  through  the  fine  scenes  in 
which  he  is  introduced  by  Shakespeare  into 
Henry  VI.,  Part  II.,  the  whole  of  the  third 
Act  of  that  play  passing  at  Bury,  and 
describing  his  arrest  and  subsequent  murder 
at  the  instigation  of  the  Cardinal  Beaufort 
(whom  he  had  refused  to  recognize  as  Papal 
Legate),  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  and  Queen 
Margaret.  His  self-vindicatory  speech,  com- 
mencing, "Ah,  gracious  Lord  !  these  days 
are  dangerous,"  will  be  remembered,  and 
one  of  the  most  terrible  pictures  of  a  death- 
bed poisoned  by  remorse  is  that  which  our 
great  dramatist  has  drawn  of  the  death  of 
Beaufort.  But  as  regards  Duke  Humphrey 
Shakespeare  was  mistaken,  for  subsequent 
investigation  has  proved  that  the  popular 
suspicions  of  foul  play,  which  he  endorsed, 
were  groundless. 

Of  the  Duke  Camden  says  :  "  If  England 
ever  suffered  by  the  loss  of  any  man,  it  was 
in  this  place.  For  that  true  father  of  his 
country,  Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester 
(a  strict  patron  of  justice,  and  one  who  had 
improved  his  excellent  natural  endowments 
by  a  course  of  severe  studies),  after  he  had 
governed  the  kingdom  under  Henry  VI.  for 
twenty -five  years  together,  with  so  great 
applause  and  commendation  that  neither 
the  good  could  find  reason  for  complaints 
nor  the  bad  for  calumnies,  was  cut  off  in  this 
place  by  the  malice  of  Margaret  of  Lorrain, 
who,  observing  her  husband,  King  Henry  VI., 
to  be  of  a  low  and  narrow  spirit,  set  about 
this  villainous  contrivance  to  get  the  manage- 
ment of  the  government  into  her  own  hands. 
But  in  the  issue  it  was  the  greatest  misfor- 
tune that  could   have   befallen  her  or  the 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS :   NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


215 


kingdom."  This  is  that  Duke  Humphrey 
who  was  surnamed  "the  Good,"  from  his 
patronage  of  men  of  letters,  including 
Lydgate,  who  was  himself  a  monk  of  Bury, 
and  Capgrave.  He  was  a  strong  Church- 
man, a  persecutor  of  the  Lollards,  and  a 
favourer  of  the  monasteries,  especially  St. 
Albans.  He  was  a  collector  of  books  from 
his  youth,  read  Latin  and  Italian  literature, 
and  gave  the  first  books  for  a  library  at 
Oxford,  which  collection  was  dispersed  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  VI.,  to  the  great  grief  of  all 
lovers  of  learning." 

In  1533,  Mary  Tudor,  sister  of  Henry  VIII., 
was  buried  with  great  pomp  at  the  abbey, 
and  was  afterwards  reinterred  in  St.  Mary's 
Church.  In  1538  Cromwell's  commis- 
sioners report  that  they  have  been  to  Bury, 
"  where  we  found  a  rich  shrine  which  was 
very  comberous  to  deface.  We  have  taken 
in  the  said  monastery  in  golde  and  silver 
MMMMM  marks  and  above,  over  and 
besyde  a  well  and  rich  crosse  with  emereddes, 
as  also  dyvers  and  sundry  stones  of  great 
value,  and  yet  we  have  left  the  Churche, 
Abbott  and  convent  very  well  ffurnisshed 
with  plate  of  silver  necessary  for  the  same  " 
(MS.  Cott.,  Cleop.,  E,  iv.  229).  In  1539 
the  end  came,  when  the  Deed  of  Surrender 
of  the  abbey  was  signed  by  Abbot  Reeve, 
Prior  Thomas  Denysse,  of  Ringstede  (in 
Norfolk),  and  forty-one  other  monks. 

So  passed  away  the  glory  of  the  Abbey  of 
St.  Edmunds  Bury,  and  the  few  scattered 
ruins,  amid  which  we  were  seated,  with  some 
remains  of  the  great  church,  now  built  into 
private  houses,  the  Norman  tower,  the 
Abbot's  Bridge,  and  the  great  gateway,  are 
all  that  are  left  to  tell  the  tale  of  its  former 
grandeur.  The  whispering  morning  breeze 
bore  the  wail  of  the  ruined  walls  that  once 
enclosed  the  shrine  of  St.  Edmund  on  its 
wings,  as  it  echoed  the  poet's  lines : 

The  glories  of  our  birth  and  state 
Are  shadows,  not  substantial  things  ; 

There  is  no  armour  against  Fate — 

Death  lays  his  icy  hand  on  Kings.  .  .  . 

Only  the  actions  of  the  just 

Smell  sweet,  and  blossom  in  the  dust. 

But  though  St.  Edmund's  shrine  has 
vanished,  and  his  "  incorruptible "  body 
mingles   its   dust  with   that    of   those  who 

*  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  xxviii.  238. 


watched  beside  it  for  seven  long  centuries, 
his  memory  still  "smells  sweet,"  as  does  that 
of  more  than  one  of  those  who  kept  that 
memory  green  for  so  many  ages.  Before 
giving  a  passing  tribute  to  one  or  two  of 
those  whom  history  specially  singles  out,  we 
will  take  a  stroll  through  the  abbey  precincts 
and  note  briefly  what  is  left. 

That  piece  of  ruined  wall  beside  the  great 
gateway  is  all  that  remains  of  the  abbey 
mint,  in  which  coins  continued  to  be 
issued  till  the  year  1325.  An  interesting 
account  of  the  Bury  Mint  is  contained  in 
a  paper  read  by  Mr.  C.  Golding  before 
the  Royal  Archaeological  Institute.  From 
this  it  appears  that  the  first  grant  of  a 
mint  to  Bury  was  by  Edward  the  Confessor 
in  1065,  and  the  name  of  a  moneyer,  Moore, 
appears  on  the  coins  struck  in  this  town.* 
The  mint  is  not  mentioned  in  Domesday, 
but  coins  of  William  I.  and  II.  exist  which 
belong  to  this  mint ;  and  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  I.  coins  were  issued  belong- 
ing to  seven  of  the  fifteen  types  of  that 
reign,  as  Mr.  W.  J.  Andrew  has  shown  in 
his  monograph  on  the  subject  {Num.  Hist, 
of  the  Reign  of  Henry  I.).  In  the  reign  of 
Henry  II.  the  names  of  four  moneyers  are 
given  on  the  coins.  No  coins  of  John  can 
be  assigned  to  any  particular  mint,  but  those 
of  Henry  III.  are  very  numerous  ;  and  so 
many  moneyers'  names  occur  in  connexion 
with  the  mint  in  that  reign  that  it  must 
have  been  extensively  worked.  After  1320 
no  evidence  occurs  of  the  continuance  of 
the  mint,  but  as,  in  the  great  riots  of  1327, 
the  townspeople  carried  off  no  less  than 
twenty  chests  or  coffers  from  the  abbey,  it 
is  concluded  that  the  mint  remained  in 
active  use  till  then,  after  which  no  further 
mention  is  made  of  it. 

The  great  gateway  itself  is  a  beautiful 
example  of  the  Decorated  style,  having  been 
completed  about  1346  to  take  the  place  of 

*  Mr.  Andrew  {op.  cit.)  carries  the  mint  back  to 
the  ninth  century,  and  mentions  coins  of  Beohrtric 
and  of  Eadmund  and  Ethelstan  II.  as  being  "  doubt- 
less "  struck  here.  He  "assumes"  that  Edgar (959- 
975),  in  the  charter  which  he  granted  to  the  Abbot, 
conferred  the  privilege  of  a  moneyer,  as  at  Peter- 
borough, and  adds:  "We  have  coins  of  this  reign 
bearing  the  name  of  this  mint,  and  of  his  successors, 
Edward  the  Martyr  and  Ethelred  II." ;  but  no  more, 
after  Sweyn's  raid,  till  the  charter  of  Edward  the 
Confessor,  1065. 


2l6 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:   NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


a  previous  one  destroyed  during  the  riots  in 
1327.  The  west  front  is  richly  ornamented, 
and  the  tracery  of  the  interior  and  of  the 
windows  in  the  rooms  above  is  worth  more 
than  a  passing  notice.  In  the  gardens 
there  are  the  remains  of  the  kitchen,  refec- 
tory, and  cellarer's  department,  amid  which 
we  have  been  sitting;  and  further  on  there 
is  the  so-called  "Abbot's  Parlour,"  supposed 
to  be  the  crypt  of  the  Abbot's  dining-hall. 
Near  the  stream  is  a  fourteenth  -  century 
tower  called  the  Dove-cote,  and  across  it 
are  the  terraces  where  the  vineyards  flour- 
ished, which  can  still  be  traced.  The 
Abbot's  Bridge,  which  crosses  the  Lark 
lower  down,  with  its  beautiful  Early  English 
arches,  piers,  and  buttresses,  was  built  in 
1225,  and  is  still  complete. 

Retracing  one's  steps  to  the  vestiges  of 
the  domestic  buildings  already  described, 
and  continuing  south  through  what  was  once 
the  great  cloister,  we  come  to  all  that  remains 
of  the  west  front  of  the  abbey  church,  now 
forming  part,  as  stated  above,  of  a  number  of 
private  houses  and  offices  which  have  been 
built  on  to  it.  The  church  was  burnt  down 
and  completely  gutted  in  1465,  only  St. 
Edmund's  shrine  escaping ;  and  this  west 
front  belonged  to  the  new  church  which  was 
rebuilt  on  the  site  in  the  Perpendicular  style 
by  Abbot  Boon.  This  was  the  third  church 
in  succession  to  enshrine  the  body  of  the 
royal  martyr,  which  was  first  translated  hither 
in  1095,  and  a  truly  magnificent  building  it 
was.  Its  length  from  west  to  east  was  about 
500  feet,  the  breadth  of  the  nave  was  80  feet, 
and  the  west  front  extended  250  feet  from 
north  to  south.  The  church  consisted  of 
nave,  aisles,  transepts,  and  choir,  and  the 
enormously  thick  walls  of  rubble  were  faced 
with  Barnack  stone. 

Proceeding  now  due  west,  we  come  to  the 
splendid  Norman  tower,  built  about  1121  by 
Anselm  the  seventh  Abbot,  a  nephew  of 
St.  Anselm,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  This 
tower  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  finest 
specimens  of  its  period  in  the  whole  of 
Europe.  It  is  exactly  opposite  the  west  door 
of  the  abbey  church,  and  formed  the  principal 
entrance  to  the  cemetery.  It  is  86  feet  high 
and  36  feet  square,  the  walls,  which  are  6  feet 
thick,  being  also  faced  with  Barnack  stone. 
When  it  was  restored  in  1 846,  and  the  rubbish 


which  had  accumulated  at  its  base  had  been 
cleared  away,  a  beautiful  little  square-headed 
postern  door  was  uncovered  in  the  south 
wall.  It  stands  between  the  church  of  St. 
James,  originally  erected  in  1125,  and  rebuilt 
about  1420,  of  which  it  now  forms  the  belfry, 
and  that  of  St.  Mary,  originally  founded  by 
King  Sigebert  on  another  site,  and  transferred 
here  in  1105,  and  wholly  rebuilt  in  1424. 
Both  these  churches  contain  interesting 
monuments,  of  which,  as  well  as  of  those 
which  once  adorned  the  abbey  church,  a 
good  account  is  given  in  Weever's  Funeral 
Monuments.  In  the  vestry  of  St.  James's 
Church  are  a  few  books  and  MSS.  which 
once  belonged  to  the  abbey  library.  A 
catalogue  of  the  library,  as  well  as  of  194 
other  monastic  libraries,  was  compiled  in 
1410  by  John  Boston,  monk  of  Bury. 

(To  be  concluded '.) 


Monumental  Skeletons. 

By  G.  L.  Apperson,  I. SO. 

EDIiEVAL  symbolism  revelled  in 
the  gruesome  and  the  ghastly. 
The  moralizing  tendency,  informed 
with  grim  humour,  which  found 
vent  in  one  direction  in  drawings  and  designs 
of  the  kind  typified  by  the  well  -  known 
"  Dance  of  Death,"  displayed  itself  in 
another  form  in  the  carvings  of  tombstones 
and  monumental  effigies.  The  various 
emblems  of  death — hour-glass,  skull,  spade, 
scythe,  cross-bones,  mattock,  and  the  like — 
were  frequently  carved  on  the  sides  of 
tombs,  as  well  as  on  upright  head  -  stones, 
and  their  use  persisted  till  the  early  decades  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Upright  gravestones 
have  occasionally  further  decoration  in  the 
shape  of  a  skeleton.  In  the  churchyard  of 
St.  Cuthbert's,  Darlington,  there  is  a  head- 
stone, dated  so  late  as  1770,  which  bears 
some  eight  or  ten  emblematical  designs,  of 
which  the  most  curious  is  a  representation  of 
a  skeleton  arching  its  back,  and  so  raising  the 
lid  of  its  own  tomb. 

Of  still  later  date,  182 1,  is  a  head-stone  at 


MONUMENTAL  SKELETONS. 


217 


Speldhurst,  Kent,  which  is  carved  with  a 
representation  of  the  Resurrection,  in  which 
a  winged  figure  tramples  upon  a  skeleton 
Death,  breaking  his  dart  and  dislodging  his 
crown.  Examples  of  eighteenth  -  century 
head-stone  skeletons  are  also  found  in  Scot- 
land. At  Logie  Pert,  Forfarshire,  there  is  a 
head-stone  "in  which  a  panel  at  the  foot  is 
filled  with  a  dignified,  winged  and  crowned 
figure,  blowing  through  a  twisted  trumpet 
into  the  ear  of  a  skeleton,  representing 
Death,  with  his  dart  reversed,  who  arises  with 
an  air  of  pleased  surprise  from  a  coffin,  above 
which  is  introduced  a  disproportionately  large 
hour-glass."*  This  monument,  to  a  family 
of  Buchanans,  was  probably  carved  about 
1737.  At  Inverarity,  in  the  same  county,  an 
extraordinarily  carved  head-stone  shows  two 
winged  trumpeters,  one  on  each  side,  "  blow- 
ing into  the  ears  of  the  rising  skeleton."! 

The  usual  mediaeval  form  for  the  skeleton 
monument  was  the  table-tomb,  either  under 
or  on  which  was  carved  an  effigy,  not  of  the 
usual  type  of  clothed  recumbent  figure,  but 
in  the  form  of  a  shrouded  skeleton,  more  or 
less  fully  revealed.  There  is  an  example  in 
almost  every  cathedral  church  in  England. 
Most  of  the  cathedral  tombs  of  this  type 
date  from  the  fifteenth  century,  but  there  is 
at  least  one  example  of  the  thirteenth  century 
(1241) — the  tomb  in  York  Minster  of  Robert 
Claget,  treasurer  of  that  cathedral  —  and 
some  of  later  date — the  tomb  in  Bristol 
Cathedral  of  Paul  Bush,  the  first  Bishop  of 
the  see,  who  died  in  1558  ;  the  shrouded 
figure  of  Dean  Donne,  1631,  in  St.  Paul's; 
and  the  tomb  of  Dean  Colet,  15 19,  with  his 
bust  above,  and  a  carved  wooden  skeleton 
lying  on  a  highly  finished  matrass,  which  in 
an  incomplete  state  is  still  to  be  found 
beneath  the  same  cathedral. 

The  many  cathedral  shrouded  skeletons 
lying  under  or  on  table-tombs  are  mostly 
figured  and  described  in  Gough's  Sepulchral 
Monuments.  The  principal  examples  may 
be  briefly  mentioned.  To  the  north  of  the 
east  end  of  Lincoln  Cathedral  is  the  monu- 
ment and  chapel  of  Bishop  Richard  Flem- 
ming,  who  died  at  Sleaford,  1430.  The 
figure  is   in  free-stone,  pontifically  habited. 

*  Proceedings   of  the    Society  of  Antiquaries   of 
Scotland,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  311. 
f  Ibid.,  p.  352. 
VOL.  III. 


"  On  the  slab  on  the  outside  is  inscribed 
a  cross  in  a  circle,  and  under  the  slab  a 
skeleton  in  a  shroud,  as  on  other  tombs. 
This,  in  Dugdale's  survey  of  this  church,  in 
Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa,  and  in  Bishop 
Sanderson's  manuscript,  is  called  '  a  death  in 
his  sheet.'  "*  A  similar  effigy,  lying  under  a 
flat  canopy,  marks  the  tomb  of  Archbishop 
Henry  Chichele,  died  1442,  in  Canterbury 
Cathedral.  At  Wells,  in  the  south  aisle  of 
the  presbytery  of  the  cathedral,  Bishop 
Beckington  lies  on  the  upper  slab,  habited 
in  the  episcopal  robes  in  which  he  appointed 
to  be  buried,  while  beneath  reposes  a  stone 
skeleton.  Under  the  north  end  of  the 
choir  at  Arundel  lies  John  FitzAlan,  died 
1434.  "  The  figure  lies  on  a  table  supported 
by  four  pillars  on  a  side,  forming  double 
arches  with  pendants,  and  on  the  floor  below 
is  a  handsome  representation  of  the  body 
in  a  shroud,  and  reduced  almost  to  a 
skeleton."! 

Other  examples  are  the  tombs  of  Bishop 
Lacy  (1420-1455)  at  Exeter,  and  of  Dean 
Heywood  in  the  north  transept  of  Lichfield 
Cathedral.  Hawthorne,  in  Our  Old  Home, 
describes  the  latter  as  "  a  reclining  skeleton, 
as  faithfully  representing  an  open-work  of 
bones  as  could  well  be  expected  in  a  solid 
block  of  marble,  and  at  a  period,  moreover, 
when  the  mysteries  of  the  human  frame  were 
rather  to  be  guessed  at  than  revealed.  What- 
ever the  anatomical  defects  of  his  production, 
the  old  sculptor  had  succeeded  in  making  it 
ghastly  beyond  measure."  The  writer  con- 
tinues in  a  strain  which  comes  rather  oddly 
from  the  author  of  the  Scarlet  Letter,  and 
which  certainly  reveals  a  lack  of  knowledge 
or  of  appreciation  of  Gothic  art.  "  How 
much  mischief  has  been  wrought  upon  us  by 
this  invariable  gloom  of  the  Gothic  imagina- 
tion ;  flinging  itself  like  a  death-scented  pall 
over  our  conceptions  of  the  future  state, 
smothering  our  hopes,  hiding  our  sky,  and 
inducing  dismal  efforts  to  raise  the  harvest 
of  immortality  out  of  what  is  most  opposite 
to  it — the  grave  !" 

Monuments  of  this  kind  are  not  confined 
to  cathedrals.  Examples  may  be  seen  in 
churches  at  Dursley  (Gloucestershire), 
Ewelme  (Oxfordshire),  Fyfield  (Berkshire), 
Stalbridge  (Dorset),  and  elsewhere.     Of  the 

*  Gough,  II.,  i.  96.  f  Ibid.,  ii.  359. 

2  E 


2l8 


MONUMENTAL  SKELETONS. 


Stalbridge  example,  Sir  Frederick  Treves,  in 
his  delightful  Highivays  and  Byways  in 
Dorset,  remarks  (p.  34)  :  "  On  one  altar- 
tomb— so  old  that  all  knowledge  of  its  date 
is  lost — is  the  recumbent  figure  of  a  corpse 
in  a  shroud.  It  is  a  gruesome  object,  for 
the  body  of  the  unknown  is  so  profoundly 
emaciated  that  the  ribs  appear  as  entrench- 
ments through  the  skin.  His  head  reclines 
on  a  pillow  with  roses.  What  is  most  notice- 
able about  him  is  the  very  determined  ex- 
pression of  his  mouth,  as  if  on  the  set  lips 
was  the  resolve  to  get  no  thinner  under  any 
possibilities."  At  Ewelme  the  tomb  is  that 
of  Alice,  Duchess  of  Suffolk,  who  died  in 
1475.  It  is  a  sumptuous  monument.  Above 
lies  the  Duchess's  recumbent  effigy,  "  on  her 
head  the  ducal  coronet,  on  her  arm  the 
garter -ribbon,  at  her  feet  the  lion  of  her 
ancestry ;  while  angelic  figures  support  the 
cushion  of  her  head  and  surmount  the 
canopy  above  her,  and  hold  the  numerous 
shields  of  the  families  with  which  she  owned 
connexion.  A  second  effigy  below  repre- 
sents her  shrouded  and  emaciated  in  death."* 
Another  Oxfordshire  example  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fine  church  at  Burford,  where  the 
splendid  tomb  of  Sir  Lawrence  and  Lady 
Tanfield  (Sir  Lawrence  was  Lord  Chief 
Baron)  shows  the  pair  reposing  above — 
stately  figures,  he  in  his  judicial  robes,  with 
a  skeleton  below ;  their  daughter  Elizabeth, 
Viscountess  Falkland,  kneeling  at  the  head ; 
and  Elizabeth's  illustrious  son,  the  beloved 
Lucius  Cary,  clad  in  armour,  kneeling  at  the 
foot. 

In  Tewkesbury  Abbey,  at  the  entrance  to 
St.  Edmund's  Chapel,  is  a  fine  tomb  with  a 
canopy  of  decorated  work,  beneath  which 
lies  "  a  corpse-like  effigy  of  some  person  as 
he  might  be  supposed  to  appear  after  being 
some  time  in  the  grave."t  This  is  usually 
taken  to  be  the  tomb  of  Abbot  Wakeman, 
the  last  of  the  abbots,  who  later  became 
Bishop  of  Gloucester,  and  died  in  1549, 
being  buried  at  "  Forthington,  a  manor- 
house  of  the  abbey,  which  he  managed  to 
secure,  with  a  very  large  pension,  when  all 
his  monks  were  sent  into  the  world  homeless, 

*  Mi.  J.  E.  Field  in  Memorials  of  Old  Oxfordshire, 
1903,  PP-  "5.  1 16. 

t  Tewkesbury  Abbey  and  its  Associations,  by  J.  H. 
Blunt,  F.S.A.,  p.  123,  second  edition,  1898. 


with  pittances  small  enough  for  experienced 
ascetics."*  But  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Blunt,  in 
the  little  book  just  quoted,  gives  good 
reasons  for  doubting  the  accuracy  of  the 
Wakeman  claim  to  this  tomb. 

There  are  one  or  two  striking  examples  of 
the  skeleton  style  of  mortuary  adornment  in 
Ireland.  In  one  of  the  side-chapels  off  the 
ruins  of  the  Franciscan  Abbey  at  Castle- 
dermot  there  is  a  thick  tombstone  slab,  more 
than  6  feet  long,  which  bears,  cut  in  low 
relief,  an  eight-armed  cross,  with  a  male 
skeleton  on  one  side  of  the  shaft,  and  on  the 
other  a  shrouded  female  figure,  the  body  of 
the  shroud  being  open  to  reveal  the  skeleton 
within,  with  worms  intertwined  between  the 
ribs.  The  slab  is  believed  to  date  from  the 
first  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  but  there 
is  nothing — neither  legible  inscription  nor 
local  tradition  or  legend — to  account  for  the 
strange  carving.t  A  tomb  somewhat  simi- 
larly adorned  can  be  seen  in  the  Protestant 
Cathedral  at  Waterford.  This  is  said  to  be 
the  monument  of  a  certain  James  Rice,  who 
was  Mayor  of  the  city  in  1469.  There  are 
two  effigies  side  by  side,  one  that  of  a  man 
in  armour,  the  other  that  of  a  skeleton  in  a 
partially  open  shroud.  Both  represent  this 
James  Rice,  who  is  said  to  have  left  in- 
structions in  his  will  that  two  monuments 
were  to  be  erected  to  him,  one  representing 
him  as  he  was  in  life,  and  the  other  as  he 
appeared  a  year  after  his  burial.  The  in- 
structions were  faithfully  carried  out,  the 
body  being  exhumed  a  year  after  Rice's 
death,  so  as  to  serve  as  the  model  for  the 
second  effigy  !  The  worms  were  carefully 
copied  in  stone,  "  as  well  as  a  frog,  which 
apparently  had  flopped  on  to  the  body 
during  the  exhuming  operations."!  Two 
skeleton  figures,  representing  a  man  and  his 
wife,  can  be  seen  on  a  tomb  in  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Drogheda,  and  another  at  Kinsale, 
dated  1627.  A  correspondent  of  the  Gentle- 
tnan's  Magazine,  liv.  348,  mentions  the 
tomb  of  a  Due  de  Croy  "in  the  church  of 
the  Celestines  at  Heverle,  ^near  Louvain, 
where  the  skeleton  is  represented  with  the 
worms  preying  upon  it." 

*  ibid. 

t  Lord  Walter  FilzGeraXd  in  Journal  of  the  County 
Kildare  Archceological  Society,  1898,  vol.   ii.,  No.   6. 

P-  379- 
%  Ibid. 


MONUMENTAL  SKELETONS. 


219 


Occasionally  a  ghastly  skeleton  appears  in 
some  other  part  of  a  monument  than  re- 
posing above  or  below  a  table-tomb,  as  in 
the  familiar  instance  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
where  the  grim  figure  of  Death  emerges  from 
the  lower  part  of  the  tomb  to  strike  with  his 
dart  at  the  image  of  his  victim  above.  Again, 
in  that  strange  and  impressive  relic  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  Aitre  St.  Maclou,  the 
oldest  cemetery  in  Rouen,  the  ancient 
wooden  galleries  which  surround  the  open 
space  where  poor  folk  were  buried  are  carved 
with  many  emblems  of  Death.  The  figure 
groups  on  the  pillars  of  the  St.  Maclou 
ground  are  now  so  mutilated  and  indistinct 
that  they  are  very  difficult  to  decipher. 
From  descriptions  and  drawings,  however, 
which  were  made  long  ago  by  M.  Langlois, 
we  know  that  the  groups  carved  in  relief 
represented  some  living  figure  being  dragged 
to  death  by  a  triumphant  skeleton.  Em- 
perors and  Kings,  Popes  and  Cardinals, 
with  lesser  dignitaries,  appeared  among  the 
doomed  figures,  and  all  pointed  the  obvious 
moral  of  Death  the  great  leveller.*  These 
Rouen  carvings  were,  indeed,  but  another 
version  of  that  idea  of  the  "Danse  Macabre" 
— the  "  Dance  of  Death  " — which  dates  from 
the  fourteenth  century,  and  has  been  made 
familiar  to  so  many  people  by  the  various 
reproductions  of  the  designs  of  Hans  Holbein 
the  younger. 

The  idea  of  thus  illustrating  the  tragedy  of 
human  life  is,  however,  much  older  than  the 
mediaeval  "  Todtentanz."  A  silver  vase  with 
skeletons  figured  on  it  was  unearthed  some 
years  ago  on  the  site  of  what  has  since  been 
discovered  to  be  a  Roman  villa  at  Bosco 
Reale,  near  Naples,  And  in  the  autumn  of 
1902  an  earthen  drinking  -  cup,  similarly 
adorned,  which  had  been  found  in  Egypt, 
was  presented  to  the  Louvre  Museum.  This 
cup,  which  was  richly  painted  and  orna- 
mented, was  described  at  the  time  as 
having  upon  it  "  seven  dancing  and  grinning 
skeletons,  each  of  which  is  whirling  with 
drunken  joviality  a  Bacchic  thyrsus.  The 
figures  seem  to  be  saying  to  the  drinkers  who 
used  the  cup,  '  Eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  for 
to-morrow  you  will  be  one  of  us.'"  The 
"  Danse  Macabre  "  of  the  Middle  Ages,  it  is 

*  See  The  Story  of  Rouen,  by  T.  A.  Cook,  1899, 
pp.  299-306. 


clear,  was  only  a  revival  of  an  ancient 
idea. 

The  skeleton  at  the  feast  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians  suggested  the  same  thought,  the 
grim  reminder  of  the  future  lot  of  all  serving 
as  a  stimulant  to  the  greater  enjoyment  of 
the  passing  moment,  a  spur  to  the  determina- 
tion to  make  the  most  of  the  present  hours  of 
consciousness.  The  same  idea  is  a  familiar 
theme  in  classic  poetry.  The  past  is  dead; 
the  future  is  dark  and  uncertain ;  therefore 
make  the  best  you  can  of  the  evanescent 
parenthesis  of  life.  It  is  the  well  known 
philosophy  of  Horace,  who  notes  that  Death 
is  the  equal  lot  of  all — 

Pallida  Mors  requs  pulsat  pede  pauperum  tabernas 
Regumque  turres — 

and  so,  seeing  how  swiftly  time  flies — "  Dum 
loquimur  fugerit  invida  aetas  " — he  takes  for 
his  motto  "  Carpe  diem."  Hedonism  of  this 
kind  is  practised  freely  enough  still,  and  is 
occasionally  boldly  preached,  but  the  moral 
is  no  longer  enforced  by  the  crude  device  of 
a  hortatory,  minatory  skeleton. 


^atnt  George,* 

HE  legend  that  our  patron  saint  was 
the  rascally  George  of  Cappadocia, 
the  Arian  Bishop  of  Alexandria, 
which  Gibbon's  authority  did  so 
much  to  perpetuate,  has  long  been  exploded. 
In  the  first  section  of  the  comely  volume 
before  us,  Mrs.  Gordon  makes  the  most  of 
the  scanty  materials  for  the  life  of  the  real 
St.  George — hero  and  martyr.  St.  George 
was  born  at  Lydda,  in  the  Plain  of  Sharon, 
some  twenty-three  miles  from  Jerusalem,  his 
father  being  of  a  noble  Cappadocian  Christian 
family — hence  the  confusion  with  the  other 
Cappadocian  George — and  early  in  life 
appears  to  have  been  distinguished  as  a 
soldier.  It  is  probable  that  he  accom- 
panied the  Emperor  Diocletian  on  his  short 

*  Saint  George,  Champion  of  Christendom  and 
Patron  Saint  of  England.  By  E.  O.  Gordon.  Twenty- 
five  illustrations.  London  :  Swan  Sonnenschein  and 
Co.,  Limited,  1907.  Royal  8vo.,  pp.  viii,  142. 
Price  2 is.  net.  We  are  indebted  to  the  publishers 
for  the  loan  of  three  blocks  to  illustrate  this  notice. 


220 


SAINT  GEORGE. 


>9-^r  tk^'^  fiymj^l-^^O^i. 


______  __ 


ST.  GEORGE,  FROM  TRADESCANT  S  DRAWING  OF  A  PAINTED  GLASS  WINDOW  IN  THE 
CATHEDRAL  CHURCH  OF  ST.  SOPHIA,  CONSTANTINOPLE.  (ASHMOLEAN  COL- 
LECTION,  BODLEIAN   LIBRARY.) 


SAINT  GEORGE. 


221 


Egyptian  campaign  in  295,  and  that  he 
served  under  Galerius  during  his  prolonged 
operations  in  Persia.  While  in  Persian 
Armenia  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  did  much 
"to  organize  and  energize  the  Christian 
community,  which  tradition  says  already 
existed  there."  Mrs.  Gordon  points  out  that 
the  most  famous  church  at  Urmi  is  St. 
George's,  built  on  a  hill  outside  the  town, 
which  became  a  popular  place  of  pilgrimage ; 


appears  to  have  lived  at  Beirut,  and  at 
some  indefinite  date  to  have  been  sent  by 
Diocletian  to  Britain.  A  little  later  came 
the  edict  of  Diocletian  ordering  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Christians.  St.  George,  then 
back  in  the  East,  determined  to  go  to  the 
Emperor  to  intercede  with  him  for  his  fellow- 
Christians.  On  his  way,  at  Beirut,  took 
place,  according  to  the  popular  legend,  the 
famous    conflict    with    the    dragon.      Mrs. 


FRONTISPIECE  TO   COPLAND'S   ILLUSTRATED   EDITION   OF   MALORY'S   MORTE  D'ARTHUR,  1557. 


and  that  there  are  many  other  churches  of 
like  dedication  in  the  neighbourhood.  It  is 
worth  noting  also,  in  view  of  the  connexion 
between  our  patron  saint  and  the  red  rose 
of  England,  that  near  one  of  these  churches 
in  the  vicinity  of  Urmi  is  a  sacred  rosebush 
of  "  the  single  Persian  kind,  covering  some 
50  square  yards,  and  visible  miles  away, 
making  the  whole  air  heavy  with  its  scent." 
After   the   Persian   campaign  St.   George 


Gordon  relates  the  story,  and  refers  briefly 
to  the  various  dragons  and  "  loathly  worms  " 
of  English  legend.  But  all  this  is  familiar 
ground.  Arrived  at  the  Imperial  Court,  he 
defied  the  edict,  and  was  beheaded  on 
April  23,  a.d.  304. 

This  is  a  brief  sketch  of  what  would 
appear  to  have  been  the  history,  somewhat 
shadowy  in  outline  and  much  lacking  in 
authentic  detail,  of  the  real  St.  George,  the 


222 


SAINT  GEORGE. 


patron  saint  whose  name  England  may  well 
be  proud  to  honour.  Constantine  the  Great 
seems  to  have  held  St.  George  in  the  highest 
honour  and  esteem.  It  was  during  his  reign 
that  he  was,  according  to  the  Greek  Church, 
canonized  as  St.  George ;  and  it  was  on  his 
immediative  initiative  that  many  churches 
were  built  and  dedicated  to  St.  George. 
In  particular,  Constantine  erected  a  church 
over  the  saint's  tomb  at  Lydda,  and  paid 
glorious  homage  to  his  memory  by  building  the 
splendid  church  at  Byzantium  which  is  now 
the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia  (Constantinople). 
The   accompanying  illustration    (p.    220)  is 


legends  connected  with  Hercules  and  Perseus, 
and  with  the  story  of  Sigurd  and  Fafni  in 
the  Nibelungenlied.  The  theme  might  have 
given  Mrs.  Gordon  an  interesting  chapter. 
Her  second  section  deals  with  the  Com- 
memoration of  the  Saint  in  Church  Liturgies 
and  National  Institutions,  the  third  with 
Celebrated  Knights  of  St.  George  from  the 
Sixteenth  to  the  Twentieth  Century,  and  the 
fourth  and  last  with  St.  George  in  Art, 
Hostels,  Customs,  and  Traditions. 

These  sections  abound  with  interesting 
and  suggestive  matter.  We  can  only  touch 
on  a  few  points.    The  discussion  of  the  story 


THE    ROUND   TABLE    IN    WINCHESTER   HALL,  AS    DECORATED 
BY  HENRY   VIII. 


reproduced  from  the  drawing  of  the  stained- 
glass  window  representing  the  saint,  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Sophia,  which  John  Tradescant, 
the  famous  traveller,  made  among  his  notes, 
which  are  now  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 

Mrs.  Gordon,  although  she  refers  briefly, 
as  we  have  said,  to  several  English  dragon 
legends,  makes  no  attempt  to  deal  with  the 
subject  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon  from 
the  standpoint  of  comparative  mythology. 
In  a  monograph  on  St.  George  this  is  rather 
an  omission.  The  story  evidently  has  re- 
lations with  the  Babylonian  story  of  Mero- 
dach    and    the    Dragon,   with    the    Greek 


of  Arthur's  founding  of  the  Order  or  Society 
of  St.  George  and  the  Round  Table  is  illus- 
trated by  some  capital  full-page  illustrations. 
These  include  a  reproduction  of  a  drawing 
by  Sir  R.  Colt  Hoare,  of  Caerleon-on-Usk  in 
1800  ;  a  reproduction  of  Stukeley's  "  Pros- 
pect of  Camalet  Castle"  (1723)  —  i.e., 
Camelot,  or  Cadbury  Mound,  Somerset, 
showing  clearly  defined  lines  of  circum- 
vallation,  which  nowadays  are  largely  ob- 
scured by  trees ;  a  reproduction  of  Ashmole's 
"  Prospect  "  of  Windsor  Table  -  Mound, 
topped  by  Edward  III.'s  Round  Tower  as  it 
appeared  in  the  days  of  Charles  II. ;  and  a 


SAINT  GEORGE. 


223 


good  illustration  of  one  of  Mr.  Armstead's 
carved  oak  panels  in  the  King's  Robing- 
Room  in  Westminster  Palace,  which  depict 
the  life-story  of  King  Arthur.  A  suggestive 
piece  of  evidence  linking  the  "  goodly  fellow- 
ship "  of  Arthur  with  the  Champion  of 
Chivalry  is  that  reproduced  on  p.  221, 
the  woodcut  which  adorns  the  title-page  of 
an  illustrated  edition  of  Malory's  Morte 
<? Arthur,  printed  by  Copland  in  1557. 

The  traditionary  Round  Table  hangs 
against  the  gable  wall  in  the  Great  Hall  of 
Winchester  Castle.  It  appears  to-day  as  it 
was  painted  and  decorated  by  Henry  VIII., 
in  green  and  white,  with  the  names  of  the 
first  Knights  of  St.  George  inscribed  on  the 
margin.  In  the  centre  is  the  red  Tudor 
rose,  which,  Mrs.  Gordon  remarks,  may  be 
intended  "  to  represent  either  the  Tudor  rose 
or  the  badge  of  St.  George,  possibly  the 
union  of  the  Rose  of  England  with  the  Rose 
of  Sharon  !"  Above  the  rose  King  Henry 
had  himself  pourtrayed  as  Sovereign  of  the 
Order. 

In  the  chapter  on  "  Celebrated  Knights  " 
the  story  of  the  chivalry  of  King  Charles  I.'s 
young  son,  Duke  Henry  of  Gloucester;  the 
foundation  of  the  Honourable  Artillery  Com- 
pany, first  incorporated  under  the  title  of 
"  The  Guild  or  Fraternity  of  St.  George "; 
the  foreign  potentates  who  were  installed 
Knights  of  St.  George  in  days  gone  by ;  the 
bill  of  fare  of  one  of  Charles  II. 's  Feasts  of 
St.  George ;  and  the  order  of  ceremonial  at 
royal  and  other  installations  in  June,  1730, 
are  among  the  matters  dealt  with.  The  last 
section — on  St.  George  in  Art  (briefly  and 
somewhat  perfunctorily  treated),  in  Hostel 
and  Inn  Signs,  and  in  the  Christmas  mum- 
mings  (of  which  much  has  been  written) — 
might  well  have  been  expanded.  A  single 
paragraph  for  the  St.  George  of  the  Christ- 
mas mummers  is  a  very  inadequate  way  of 
dealing  with  an  interesting  and  curious  folk- 
lore survival.  But  although,  like  Oliver,  we 
"ask  for  more,"  we  are  grateful  for  what 
Mrs.  Gordon  has  given  us.  The  illustrations, 
to  several  of  which  we  have  referred,  are 
numerous  and  very  good.  There  is  a  fair 
index,  and  the  book  is  handsomely  pro- 
duced. A  special  feature  is  made  of  the 
binding.  This  is  a  transcript  from  an  old 
English,  panel-stamped  binding  of  the  six- 


teenth century,  representing  St.  George  and 
the  Dragon  in  the  foreground,  with  the  dis- 
tressed virgin  and  the  castle  in  the  distance. 
On  the  upper  part  of  the  border  is  a  view  of 
the  castle ;  below  is  a  hunting  scene,  with  a 
hound  and  a  stag  ;  and  at  the  sides  the  rising 
sun,  with  the  dragon  and  the  lion  on  either 
side  of  it.  The  idea  has  been  capitally 
carried  out  by  Messrs.  Leighton,  Son  and 
Hodge,  with  the  result  that  Mrs.  Gordon's 
book  is  most  appropriately  and  attractively 
bound.  R-  w#  B> 


C&e  National  Cnglisf) 
institutions  of  Sj2eUia>tml  Eome. 

By  William  J.  D.  Croke,  LL.D. 

ERY  few  are  more  than  aware  of  the 
existence  in  Rome  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  of  the  after-life 
until  the  French  Revolution,  of 
various  English  institutions,  popular  at  first, 
but  royal  at  the  last,  democratic  and  re- 
ligious, fraternal  and  hospitable. 

Out  of  their  scanty  literature  an  adequate 
historical  account  could  scarcely  be  drawn 
up.  Fortunate  chances,  however,  brought 
about  the  amalgamation  of  those  surviving 
at  the  end  of  the  mediaeval  period,  and  thus 
made  possible  the  preservation  of  their 
common  archives. 

The  scantiness  and  inaccuracy  of  this 
literature  I  have  noticed  elsewhere  (papers 
read  at  Munich  in  September,  1900 — Akten 
des  V.  Intern.  Kong.  Kath.  Gelehr.,  S.  304  ; 
and  at  Rome  before  the  International  His- 
torical Congress  of  1903 — Atti  del  Cong. 
Intern,  di  Sc.  Stor.,  vol.  hi.,  Sez.  ii.,  1906  ; 
series  of  articles  in  the  Dublin  Review,  July 
and  October,  1898,  April,  1904).  Yet  the  con- 
trast between  the  meanness  of  the  literature 
and  the  store  of  unused  records  is  very 
striking,  although  the  latter  are  not  com- 
plete, because  of  conditions  dealt  with  below. 

The  English  College,  from  the  fact  of  its 
having  originated  in  the  principal  hospital, 
that  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  St.  Thomas,  is 
in  possession,  not  only  of  the  entire  collec- 
tion, but  also  of  the  central  properties,  and 


224    THE   NATIONAL  ENGLISH  INSTITUTIONS  OF  MEDIAEVAL  ROME. 


of  many  interesting  memorials,  architectural, 
sculptural,  epigraphic,  etc.,  illustrating  the 
late  mediaeval  institutions.  Very  many  more 
of  the  properties  are  scattered  throughout 
Rome,  especially  in  the  Parione,  Ponte, 
Pigna,  Trastevere,  and  Sant'  Angelo  wards, 
and  beyond  ten  of  the  gates.  The  archives 
are  almost  untouched  as  well  as  rich,  else  the 
literature  of  the  subject  would  not  be  so 
scanty  and  unsatisfactory. 

First,  there  are  the  parchment  rolls,  begin- 
ning at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century 
and  reaching  down  to  1581  (inclusively); 
next  the  "  Books,"  or  bound  collections  of 
parchments  (very  few  in  number)  and  papers  ; 
last  and  least,  but  still  useful,  the  five 
volumes  of  catalogue. 

As  to  the  parchment  rolls,  they  may  be 
enumerated  as  follows:  One  is  of  1280. 
There  are  several  Papal  Bulls  of  earlier  dates, 
but  they  are  English  material  only,  because 
of  their  relation  with  the  college,  which  suc- 
ceeded to  the  principal  hospital.  No  other 
parchment  of  the  thirteenth  century  exists. 

From  the  fourteenth  century  have  come 
down  149  rolls — viz.,  a  remainder  of  these 
pieces  counted  to  150. 

The  first  and  second  are  of  1300,  the  third 
is  of  1312,  the  fourth  of  1324;  the  others 
are  distributed  about  equally  throughout  the 
century. 

All  the  remaining  reckoned  here  between 
numbers  151  and  218,  in  each  case  in- 
clusively, are  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Three 
parchment  rolls  belong  respectively  to 
a.d.  1400,  1401,  1402,  and  1403,  and  a  like 
proportion  between  years  and  documents 
is  pretty  well  sustained  throughout  the 
century. 

From  number  219  (inclusively)  to  number 
305  (also  inclusively)  are  documents  of 
the  sixteenth  century  down  to  1581.  At 
this  date  the  institutions  founded  during 
the  Middle  Ages  had  just  ceased  to  exist  in 
a  corporate  way,  being  merged  in  the  English 
College  founded  by  Pope  Gregory  XIII. 

During  this  century,  also,  the  parchment 
rolls  are  representative  of  the  entire  period 
by  their  fairly  equal  distribution  as  to  year- 
dates. 

Thus,  the  305  rolls  appear  as  distributed 
almost  equally  over  the  space  between  1 280 
and  1581. 


As  they  embody  a  variety  of  transactions, 
exemplify  many  forms  of  law  and  elements  of 
life,  they  differ  extremely  as  to  length,  and 
vary  also  as  to  their  degree  of  national  interest, 
but  those  in  which  English  names  do  not 
emerge  concern  English  possessions. 

The  "  Books "  consist  of  two  volumes, 
described  as  Liber  Primus  Lnstrumentorum 
and  Liber  Secundus  Lnstrumentorum  ;  of  a 
third  called  Libro  dPsiromenii,  marked  III., 
and  of  a  Chronologia  Monumentorum  ab  anno 
1 145  ad  1549,  which  run  from  4  or  IV. — 
this  set  being  a  continuation  from  the  pre- 
ceding two — as  far  as  XII. 

The  first  volume  is  in  folio,  the  others  are 
bound  in  large  octavo.  They  are  all  registers 
compiled  in  local  fashion,  like  those  of  which 
the  Societa  Romana  di  Storia  Patria  began 
the  publication  with  that  of  Sant'  Anastasio  ad 
Aquas  Salvias  in  1877  {Arch  delta  Soc.  Rom. 
di  Stor.  Patr.,  vol.  i.,  fasc.  i.,  pp.  57  sea.) 
— -"  volumes  into  which  documents  were 
transcribed,  with  the  intent  of  collecting  all 
the  titles  which  could  serve  to  defend  the 
rights  and  the  possessions  of  the  commune 
or  the  church "  in  question,  and  called  by 
the  name  of  "registers";  coming  "down 
from  the  eleventh  century,  when  the  spoiling 
of  the  old  papers  suggested  the  compilation  " 
(S.  Georgi,  ibid.,  pp.  47,  48). 

The  "  Books"  contain  copies  or  transcripts 
of  wills,  rentals  of  the  hospitals  for  certain 
years,  inventories  of  all  the  possessions,  lists 
of  visitors,  notices  of  royal  interference  and 
other  acts  pertaining  to  the  administration, 
Papal  Bulls  and  briefs,  legal  decisions,  and 
so  forth.  What  is  not  original  consists  of 
official  copies  made  from  documents  other- 
wise probably  lost,  or  at  least  not  known. 

Thus  the  two  sets — namely,  the  parch- 
ment rolls  (which  answer  to  the  Roman 
Chartularii)  and  the  "Books"  —  complete 
each  other  and  the  subject.  This  is  the 
more  fortunate,  because,  while  nearly  all  the 
possessions  of  the  interiors — of  the  Hospital 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  St.  Thomas,  at  least 
— were  pillaged  or  destroyed  in  the  Sack  of 
1527,  the  administrative  centre  of  it,  if  not 
also  of  St.  Edmund's,  disappeared  between 
1580  and  1700.  Scarcely  more  than  the 
sites  survived.  The  French  revolutionaries 
achieved  yet  further  destruction  on  their 
occupation  of  Rome,  and  tne  alterations  in 


THE  NATIONAL  ENGLISH  INSTITUTIONS  OF  MEDIEVAL  ROME.   225 


the  Trastevere  after  1870  completed  the  work. 
As  to  the  archives,  they  suffered  losses  and 
damage  then  as  well  as  later.  But  the 
ample  catalogues  drawn  up  during  the 
eighteenth  century  (and  of  which  the  date  of 
compilation  cannot  be  later  than  1774 — as 
a  matter  of  fact  it  is  earlier)  describe  the 
missing  elements  of  the  muniment-room, 
and  from  this  and  those  can  be  reconstructed 
both  the  hospitals  and  their  dependencies 
within  and  without  the  walls. 

These  properties  in  town  and  country  are 
still  in  English  hands,  or  English  by  title- 
deed,  and  let  out  on  long  terms. 

Taken  with  the  early  Saxon  settlement  in 
the  Borgo,  about  which  no  original  docu- 
ment has  remained  unpublished,  nor  yet 
any  received  due  and  specific  study,  and  the 
history  of  which  in  consequence  calls  for 
new  and  exhaustive  critical  treatment,  espe- 
cially because  of  a  vital  relation  with  home 
affairs,*  these  late-mediaeval  institutions  pre- 
sent a  long  stretch  of  English  life  in  Rome. 
Presumably,  the  beginnings  of  this  Saxon 
Schola  would  have  to  be  traced  to  about 
a.d.  650.  Reasons  are  not  wanting  (as  a 
reference  to  the  studies  mentioned  above 
will  show)  for  the  belief  that  there  was  a 
continuity  between  the  earlier  and  later 
institutions.  When,  during  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  the  Pope  converted  the  amal- 
gamated hospitals  into  the  English  College, 
the  obligation  of  hospitality  endured  ;  indeed, 
this  duty  was  observed  up  to  the  French 
Revolution.  Whatever  the  exact  date  of  its 
termination,  there  is  a  guest-book  which 
stops  abruptly  at  1771. 

It  is  principally  in  relation  to  this  modern 
exercise  of  hospitality  that  the  subject  has 
a  literature.  See,  for  instance,  besides  the 
authors  referred  to  in  my  studies  above, 
chapter  vii.  of  Lanciani's  New  Tales  of 
Old  Rome.  As  to  the  general  history, 
Gillow,  Bibliographical  Dictionary  of  English 
Catholics,  vol.  ii.,  p.  514,  devotes  only  a  page 
to  it,  yet  his  notice  is  one  of  the  fullest,  and, 
though  not  quite  accurate,  is  the  best 
account.  He  corrects  Foley,  f  The  latter's 
sources  were  the  researches  of  Stevenson, 

*  I  have  dealt  with  the  settlement  in  the  Dublin 
Review,  July  and  October,  1898. 

f  Records  of  English  Province,  S.f,  vol.  vi., 
Introd. 

VOL.  III. 


the  only  investigator  of  the  Archives,  and 
who  confined  himself  to  the  late  sixteenth 
century.  Gillow's  authorities  were  Maziere 
Brady, *  Tierney's  Doddt  and  Knox.  J 

There  is,  then,  a  cycle  (one  thousand  years) 
of  English  life  in  Rome  about  which  it  may 
be  said,  rather  than  that  its  history  has  to  be 
written,  that  there  has  yet  to  be  made  any 
presentment  of  it. 

But  one  document  not  of  English  perti- 
nence is  in  the  collection ;  it  is  a  contract 
of  15 14,  28  October,  and  concerns  the 
adjoining  Swedish  hospital.  Englishmen  act 
as  notaries  and  witnesses  in  the  legal  trans- 
actions. Other  incidental  English  mentions 
are  very  numerous.  The  names  of  the 
members  of  the  institutions  and  of  the  wider 
associations  established  in  England  and 
Rome  for  the  support  of  these  become 
known,  and  it  chances  that  the  officials  are 
often  prominent  otherwise.  Many  of  the 
English  memorials  of  Rome  come  into  a 
very  full  light,  while  they  thus  render  a  new 
meaning ;  classic  and  Christian  monuments, 
such  as  the  Palatine  and  the  Quo  Vadis,§ 
receive  an  English  aspect,  or  their  already- 
known  English  history  is  made  clear  or 
corrected. 

But  it  is  not  easy,  within  the  limits  of  an 
article,  to  give  any  due  conception  of  the 
result — namely,  that  the  Archives  down  to 
1 58 1  supply  a  complete  and  important 
chapter  of  English  national  life.  It  may 
perhaps  suffice  to  mention  that  the  first 
embassies  from  England  to  Rome  were 
associated  in  the  closest  way  with  the 
principal  hospital,  which  thus  became  the 
Ambassador's  residence,  and  that  this  history 
of  the  beginning  of  diplomatic  relations,  as 
yet  unwritten,  is  but  a  phase  of  one  period 
of  public  interest  in  the  record  of  the 
institution.  This  record — and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  all  the  subject— is  never  simply 

*  Episcopal  Succession,  ii.  305. 

t  Dodd's  Church  History,  Ed.  Tierney,  ii.,  168, 
et  sea. 

X  Record  oj  English  Catholics,  Diary  of  English 
College,  Douay,  I.  lvii. ,  et  sea. 

§  I  have  given  such  an  account  of  each  in  lectures 
at  the  sites  to  the  British  and  American  Society  of 
Archaeology  on  April  16  and  30  respectively,  1907. 
The  Palatine  thus  becomes  largely  covered  with 
English  associations  :  the  Quo  Vadis  becomes  an 
English  site  at  least  from  1370  on. 

2  F 


226 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


domestic  or  local,  because  it  belongs  to  the 
Urbs. 

While  there  is  very  little  of  the  religious 
or  theological,  and  this  only  in  an  incidental 
way,  in  the  Chartulary  and  "  Books  "  down 
to  1581,  the  lives  of  men  like  Cardinal  Pole, 
Sir  Edward  Came,  Kyrton,  Harpsfield, 
Sander,  Morton,  Abbot  Feckenham,  Bishop 
Pate,  Cardinal  Peyto,  Bishop  Goldwell, 
Maurice  Clenock,  and  the  like  are  much 
illustrated,  as  in  an  earlier  period  those  of 
Bishop  Shirwood,  the  de'  Gigli,  Bishop 
Sherborne,  Cardinal  Bainbridge,  Archbishop 
John  Allen,  Bishop  Halsey,  John  Clerk,  and 
those  whose  names  figure  prominently  or  in 
minor  degree  in  English  foreign  affairs  during 
the  early  Tudor  period. 

Much  of  this  is  new,  and  at  times  surprise 
fairly  keeps  pace  with  revelation,  so  that  the 
name  of  "discovery,"  in  its  full  meaning, 
often  befits  the  case.  But  it  is  principally 
as  a  manifestation  of  English  life  in  mediaeval 
Rome  that  any  study  of  the  Archives  will 
have  interest. 


€t)e  4MI  <2Epe  ana  tbe  ^olar 
OBrnMem. 

By  J.  Holden  MacMichael. 


HAT  the  time-honoured  and  pre- 
historic superstition  of  the  Evil 
Eye  did  not  cease  to  flourish 
with  the  destruction  of  European 
paganism,  and  even  to  this  day  refuses  to  be 
put  "under  the  hatches,"  is  to  be  accounted 
for,  probably,  by  the  fact  that  the  same  diffi- 
culties, the  same  warring  elements  of  Nature, 
the  same  Night  and  Day,  are  the  conditions 
which  confront  Man  in  all  his  terrestrial 
undertakings,  unaltered,  as  Milton  has  it, 
since  "  Nature  began  her  farthest  verge,  and 
Chaos  to  retire."  These  chaotic  conditions 
thus  rendered  the  organ  of  vision  of  supreme 
importance  in  the  anatomy  and  physiology 
of  man,  and  became  indispensable  to  the 
enjoyment  of  his  autonomy,  since  they  must 
have  created  not  only  very  vivid  conceptions 
as  to  the  momentous  conflicts  of  Good  and 


Evil  which  he  witnessed  around  him,  but  also 
an  ever-present  solicitude  as  to  their  influence 
upon  his  daily  life  and  happiness.  Thus  he 
evolved  a  rational  dualism,  signalizing  for 
him  a  struggle  between  Good  and  Evil. 
Although  the  Sun  in  his  influence  upon 
man's  daily  life  is  almost  entirely  beneficent, 
there  are  circumstances  in  which  he  may 
become  malignant.  To  Shakespeare  the 
sun  was  the  "  eye  of  heaven,"*  but  the  solar 
orb,  to  early  man  in  Austral  climes,  had  its 
evil,  putrefying  aspect  also.  This  aspect, 
however,  although  it  bore  its  part  in  the 
belief  in  an  evil  influence,  was  not  the 
primary  one,  which  must  have  been  that  of  a 
conflict  between  Sun  and  Night,  Storm  and 
Calm,  represented  later  in  the  Life  and 
Death,  in  conflict,  of  solar  impersonations, 
from  Cain  and  Abel  to  Arthur  and  the 
treacherous  Mordred.  So  the  heart  of  man 
quickly  became  at  the  outset  of  his  career 
on  earth  a  nursery  of  superstition,  through 
an  eternal  desire  to  penetrate  the  unseen, 
and  to  know  something  more  of  that  evil 
terrestrial  influence  which,  in  process  of  time, 
he  embodied  with  varying  degrees  of  malig- 
nancy in  the  serpent  and  dragon,  and  in  what 
is  at  the  present  day  the  popular  conception 
of  the  Adversary  of  mankind.  Nimrod  is  an 
incarnation  of  the  Sun,  whose  rays  were  the 
spears  of  "the  mighty  hunter,"  when  he 
brought  the  Night  to  bay  ;  and  perhaps  it 
was  his  mastery,  as  in  the  case  of  Guy,  Earl 
of  Warwick,  over  the  wild  bull,  which 
rendered  that  animal  sacred  for  protective 
purposes  when  placed  at  the  portals  of  the 
palace.  In  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon 
is  a  woodcut  representing  Nimrod,  the 
Assyrian  solar  hero,  attacking  a  bull,  whose 
horns  he  sets  on  his  own  head ;  and  Hislop, 
in  his  learned,  if  somewhat  erratic,  work,  The 
Two  Baby  Ions,  shows  how  the  "  pagan  Anglo- 
Saxon  Zernebogus,"t  the  exact  counter- 
part of  the  modern  idea  of  the  Devil,  is  a 
perversion  of  the  Assyrian  Hercules,  who  is 
represented,  not  only  with  the  bull's  horns 
on  his  head,  as  a  trophy  of  victory  and  symbol 

*  And  "the  eyeless  night"  {King  John,  v.  6). 
The  Sun,  as  the  Eye  of  Heaven,  is  discussed  in  Isaac 
Goldziher's  Mythology  among  the  Hebrews,  1877, 
pp.  106,  107. 

f  See  Sharon  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  vol.  i.,  p.  217, 
and  Kitto's  Illustrated  Family  Bible,  Isa.  xlvi., 
note  to  verse  I. 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


227 


of  power,  but,  from  the  middle  downwards, 
with  the  legs  and  cloven  feet  of  the  bull. 
The  evil  genius  of  the  adversaries  of  the 
Egyptian  sun  -  god,  Horus,  is  frequently 
figured  under  the  form  of  a  snake,  whose 
head  he  is  seen  piercing  with  a  spear.  The 
same  fable  occurs  in  India,  where  the 
malignant  serpent  Calyia  is  slain  by  Vishnu 
in  his  avatar  of  Creeshna."  The  Scandi- 
navian Thor  was  said  to  have  bruised  the 
head  of  the  great  serpent  with  his  mace, 
and  Humboldt  reminds  us  in  his  Mexican 
Researches  that  the  serpent  crushed  by  the 
great  spirit  Teotl,  when  he  takes  the  form  of 
one  of  the  subaltern  deities,  is  the  genius  of 
Evil,  a  real  Kakodsemon.f  Apollo  the  Sun, 
with  his  arrows,  the  sun's  rays,  slays  the  evil 
cave-haunting  serpent  Python,  produced  from 
the  mud  left  on  the  earth  after  the  deluge  of 
Deucalion.  Romulus  and  Remus  put  the 
evil-eyed  Amulius  to  death ;\  Hercules  in 
his  cradle,  another  solar  hero  like  Samson, 
strangles  serpents.  Laius  is  slain  by  CEdipus, 
and  Astyages§  is  everthrown  by  Cyrus. 

It  is  thus  the  misinterpreted  explanations 
of  such  physical  phenomena  as  light  and 
darkness,  storm  and  sunshine,  sun  and  dawn, 
dawn  and  dew,  winter  and  summer,  which, 
as  Professor  Sayce  has  pointed  out,  formed 
in  the  mind  of  man  the  beginnings  of  myth, 
and,  consequently,  of  that  particular  super- 
stition of  the  Evil  Eye,  which  became  a 
noxious  growth,  rooted  in  the  popular  ignor- 
ance of  the  natural  causes  of  things.  "  Felix 
qui  potuit  rerum  cognoscere  causas  "  is  the 
misapplied  quotation  from  Virgil  which 
invites  the  perusal  of  a  hopelessly  credulous 
Italian  book  upon  the  subject  of  the  Evil 
Eye. 

This  belief  in  the  principle  of  Good,  as 
emanating  from  the  material  source  of  light 
and  heat,  led  to  the  representing  of  the  solar 
orb,  first  by  the  symbol  of  a  circle,  and  then 
by  the  linga  and  the  phallus,  the  male 
sexual  types  of  the  solar  regenerator,  with 

*  Wilkinson's  Egyptians,  vol.  iv.,  p.  395, 
Plate    XLIL,    and    Coleman's    Indian    Mythology, 

P-  34- 

f  Vol.  i.,  p.  228. 

\  Plutarch's  Lives  (Romulus). 

§  See  Cox's  Popular  Romances  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
1 87 1,  pp.  57,  58,  where  the  name  Astyages,  the 
Persian  Asdahag,  is  shown  to  be  Azidahaka,  the 
biting  snake  Zohak, 


the  result  that  we  have  in  monuments  of 
antiquity  constant  repetitions  of  the  circle 
and  the  "  upright  emblem," :;:  first  as 
symbols  and  later  as  charms  or  amulets 
against  evil  influences. 

In  these  circumstances  the  Eye  of  Man, 
posted  in  constant  vigilance  upon  the 
barbican  of  the  Mind,  became  as  a  sentry 
stationed  by  the  throne  of  Thought,  challeng- 
ing every  foe  of  his  moral  and  physical  well- 
being.  And  peculiarly  associated  with  this 
solicitude  for  his  present  and  prospective 
welfare — thus  accounting,  in  fact,  for  the 
particular  phase  of  credulity  with  which  these 
remarks  are  concerned — are  the  qualities  of 
prudence  and  prescience  in  matters  apper- 
taining to  his  conduct  in  this  life.  In  the 
eye,  says  Buffon,  more  than  in  any  other 
feature,  are  depicted  the  images  of  our  secret 
agitations,  and  there  they  are  chiefly  dis- 
tinguishable. "  The  eye  belongs  to  the  soul 
more  than  any  other  organ.  It  seems  in 
perfect  contact  with  it,  and  to  participate  in 
all  its  movements  ;  it  expresses  passions  the 
most  lively  and  emotions  the  most  tumul- 
tuous, as  well  as  movements  the  most  gentle 
and  sentiments  the  most  delicate.  It  con- 
veys them  with  all  their  force,  with  all  their 
purity.  Just  as  they  arise  it  transmits  them 
with  a  rapidity  which  instantly  communi- 
cates to  another  the  fire,  the  action,  the 
image  of  that  soul  from  which  they  proceed. 
The  eye  receives  and  reflects  at  once  the 
light  of  thought  and  the  warmth  of  feeling  ; 
it  is  the  sense  of  the  mind  and  the  tongue  of 
the  intelligence."!  "He  is  a  wise  man," 
says  an  old  writer,  ;<  that  carries  his  eyes  in 
his  head,  making  them  his  sentinels  ;  but  he 
is  foolish  that  sends  them  out  like  spies,  to 

*  "In  the  digging  of  the  Ruines  and  foundations 
of  London  (after  the  Conflagration)  there  were  found 
severall  little  Priapuses  of  Copper  about  an  inch  long, 
wch  the  Romans  did  weare  about  their  necks  (to  avert 
fascination).  Elias  Ashmole  hath  some  of  them 
among  his  collection  of  xe'A"Ata"  (see  Aubrey's 
Remaines,  James  Britton,  F.L.S.,  edition  1881,  p.  32). 
The  usual  symbol  of  reproductive  power  among  the 
ancients  as  a  charm  against  the  Evil  Eye  was  also 
encountered  in  Etruscan  sepulchres  (see  Dennis's 
Etruria,  vol.  ii.,  p.  52) ;  and  satyrica  signa  were 
placed  in  the  gardens  and  houses  of  the  ancients  to 
avert  the  effects  of  the  same  Envious  Eye  (Pliny, 
XIX.,  xix.  1,  and  appendix  to  XXX.). 

t  See  also  a  valuable  chapter  on  "The  Human 
Eye  and  its  Uses"  in  The  Five  Windows  of  the  Sotil, 
by  E.  H.  Aitken,  1898,  pp.  152-168. 

2  F    2 


228 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


betray  his  soul  to  the  objects  of  vanity."* 
And  again  :  "  The  eye  of  our  body  is  like 
the  orb  of  the  world :  it  moveth  in  the  head 
as  the  sun  in  the  firmament.  Take  away 
the  sun,  and  there  is  darkness.  By  the 
deprivation  of  the  eye  there  ensueth  blind- 
ness." But  while  this  deprivation  was 
followed  by  blindness  in  the  victim,  it  did 
not  always  follow  that  the  eye  lost  its  attri- 
butes as  the  incarnation  of  the  soul ;  for 
among  the  Maoris,  when  a  chief  who  was  an 
atna  or  god,  was  slain,  the  warrior  who  slew 
him  immediately  gouged  out  his  eyes  and 
swallowed  them,  the  atua  tonga  or  divinity 
being  supposed  to  reside  in  that  organ. 
Thus  the  warrior  not  only  killed  the  body 
but  assimilated  the  soul  of  his  enemy ;  and 
the  more  of  his  enemies  who  were  chiefs 
that  he  killed,  the  greater  thus  did  his 
divinity  become."!  And  in  this  he 
acquiesced  in  the  belief  of  primitive  man, 
who  regarded  the  eyes  as  open  doors  through 
which  the  soul  could  escape  from  its  body,  a 
belief  to  which  it  is  thought  can  be  traced 
the  pious  habit  of  closing  the  eyes  of  relatives 
soon  after  they  have  expired,  for  the  purpose 
of  removing  the  rigid  impression  caused  by 
the  staring  look  of  a  lifeless  body.  { 

In  the  Hindu  mythology  Ganesa,  the 
elephant-headed  god  of  reproductiveness, 
whose  original  head  is  destroyed  by  a  glance 
from  the  eye  of  Rudra — that  is,  Siva  the 
Sun — in  his  destructive  aspect,  is  repre- 
sented as  riding  upon  or  having  near 
him  a  rat,§  emblem  of  Prudence  and  Fore- 

*  Essays  upon  the  Five  Senses,  in  "Archaica": 
reprints  of  Scarce  Old  English  Prose  Tracts,  etc.,  by 
Sir  (S.)  E.  Brydges,  Bart.,  M.P.,  1815,  vol.  ii.,  p.  8. 

■f  Te  ika  a  Maui;  or,  Ne-M  Zealand  and  its 
Inhabitants,  by  R.  Taylor,  London,  1870,  p.  352 
(see  also  p.  173);  Wells's  Polynesian  Researches, 
*•  358  5  J-  Dumont  D'Arville,  Voyage  autour  du 
Monde  surla  Corvette  "Astrolabe"  ii.  547 ;  E.  Tregear, 
The  Maoris  of  Neiv  Zealand,  in  Journ.  of  Anlhrop. 
Inst.,  1890,  xix.  108,  cited  by  Frazer  in  The  Golden 
Bough,  1900,  ii.  360,  361, 

%  Volker-Psychologie,  by  Professor  Wilhelm  Wundt, 
iv.  28,  quoted  in  Notes  and  Queries,  December  15, 
1906,  p.  466. 

§  The  objection  of  the  Hindu  population  to  rats 
being  killed  has  led  an  influential  native  banker  to 
propose,  apparently  in  the  interests  of  public  health, 
that  a  rat-ruksha,  or  sort  of  pen,  should  be  provided, 
in  which  the  captured  rats  may  be  confined  as 
pensioners  for  the  natural  term  of  their  lives,  the 
male  and  female  being  kept  apart.  To  the  home- 
staying  European  this  appears  too  "Gilbertian"  for 


sight,*  the  rat  having  been  also,  and  probably 
for  the  same  reason,  sacred  to  the  Egyptian 
sun-god  Ra.f  This  circumspect  devotion 
to  earthen  sun-gods  is  again  exemplified 
among  the  Brahmans  when  they  place  the 
image  of  Ganesa  over  the  doors  of  houses 
and  shops  to  ensure  the  temporary  success 
of  their  owners,  and  their  protection  from 
the  Evil  One  and  the  Evil  Eye. 

"  Cup-and-ring "  marks  are  still,  to  the 
archaeologist,  in  the  lap  of  the  gods,  but 
some  day  perhaps  he  will  have  the  satis- 
faction of  establishing  a  connexion  between 
these  mystic  traces  of  early  symbolism  and 
the  Evil  Eye.  When  in  1891  or  1892  a 
Roman  mosaic  pavement  was  discovered  on 
the  Coelian  Hill,  on  which  the  Evil  Eye  was 
represented  as  being  attacked  by  various 
forces,  Miss  Russell,  in  a  paper  read  at  a 
meeting  of  the  British  Archaeological  Asso- 
ciation, pointed  out  the  general  resemblance 
of  the  design  to  various  cup-and-ring 
markings  in  England,  which  are  traversed 
by  a  parallel  line  like  a  javelin,  and  sug- 
gested that  these  markings  were  charms 
against  the  Evil  Eye.  In  the  prehistoric 
rock-sculptures  of  Ilkley  the  cups  are  sur- 
rounded by  several  concentric  rings,  and 
intersected  by  one  or  more  radial  grooves. 
Professor  Nilsson  believes  that  these  "cup- 
and-ring"  marks  are  connected  with  Baal 
and  with  sun-worship.  \  In  that  case  they 
are  allied,  in  their  protective  capacity,  to  the 
sivastika  or  the  fylfot,  which  are  also 
believed  to  be  different  or  varied  forms  of 
the  symbol  of  Baal  or  Woden,  §  and  well 
calculated  to  baffle  the  machinations  of  the 
Evil  One  as  operating  by  means  of  the  Evil 
Eye.  A  traveller  in  Persia  has  observed 
that  the  patterns  of  carpets  are  made  in- 
tricate, so  that  the  Evil  Eye  resting  on  them, 
and  following  the  design,  loses  its  power. 
And  whatever  the  interlacing  ornament  in 
Celtic  and    Norse  design   may  have   been 


grave  consideration,  but  the  proposal  has  been  most 
gratefully  received  by  Major  Buchanan,  I. M.S.,  who 
is  in  charge  of  the  plague  operations  (see  the  Journal 
of  Tropical  Medicine). 

*  Coleman's  Indian  Mythology,  1832,  4to. 

t  Vide  Wilkinson's  Egyptians,  vol.  iii.,  p.  294, 
quoting  the  Ritual  XXXIII. 

X  Journ.  Brit.  Arch.  Assoc,  vol.  xxxv.,  p.  15. 

§  See  Professor  Simpson's  Works,  p.  73. 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


229 


intended  to  represent,  whether  the  inter- 
twining of  the  oak-clinging  ivy  or  not,  its 
motive  seems  to  have  been  the  same,  the 
baffling  of  the  Evil  One  by  means  of  designs 
and  symbols  sacred  to  the  Sun.*  Thus  the 
Chinese  employ  the  circle  with  a  dot  in  the 
centre  as  a  symbol  of  the  sun  for  protective 
purposes,  and,  if  one  remembers  aright,  it  is 
so  used  to  this  day  in  red  pencil  on  their 
ancestral  tablets.!  Red  was,  no  doubt, 
primarily  the  colour  in  universal  favour  for 
protective  purposes,  and  there  is  super- 
abundant evidence  that  this  was  so;  but 
other  colours,  especially  blue,  also  became 
potent  factors  in  combating  evil  influences. 
The  custom  of  using  colours  to  distract 
attention  exists  notably  in  India,  and  the 
gaudier  the  colours  the  more  interested  the 
eye  becomes  in  resting  on  them,  an  attraction 
whereby  evil  is  diverted.  Mrs.  Murray- 
Aynsley  calls  attention  to  Madame  Carla 
Serena's  work  Seule  dans  les  Steppes  (1883), 
where  the  author  says  that  the  Kirghiz  have 
a  great  fear  of  the  Evil  Eye,  and  ornament 
the  heads  of  their  ^beasts  of  burden  with 
bright-coloured  ribbons  to  frighten  it  away. 
Whole  troops  of  camels  are  spoken  of  also 
as  having  been  seen  in  her  wanderings  thus 
decorated.  \ 

The  Eye — the  all-seeing  Eye  of  Day — was 
the  symbol  of  vigilance  among  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  emblem  of  Horus  and  token  of 
the  recreating  Sun,  its  equivalent  generally 
among  the  peoples  of  historic  antiquity 
having  been  a  circle  with  rays,  with  or  with- 
out a  central  dot,  and  derived,  perhaps, 
from  the  Zero  of  the  Chaldees.  Sometimes 
two  eyes  are  found  :  one  red,  to  represent 
the  sun,  and  the  other  blue,  for  the  moon. 
On  the  elaborate  shield  of  Achilles,  as 
described  by  Homer,  is  a  representation  of 
the  moon  in  the  full,  and  also  the  disk  of 
the  sun.  A  relief  among  the  sculptures 
of  Palenque,  claimed  to  have  adorned  a 
facade  of  a  "  temple  of  asterisms,"  represents 
the  moon  and  an  eye  upon  one,  and  the 
solar  disk  upon  the  other  side  of  a  figure 
supposed   to    represent   Equilibrium.      The 

*  C.  Godfrey  Leland's  Etruscan  Roman  Remains 
1892,  p.  337. 

f  The  Folk-lore  of  China,  by  N.  B.  Dennys,  Ph.D., 
F.R.G.S.,  1876. 

X  The  Symbolism  of  East  and  West,  by  Mrs.  Murray- 
Ay  nsley,  1900,  p.  140. 


discal  symbol  is  encountered  again  in  the 
"  hag-stone,"  a  stone  with  a  hole  in  it,  sus- 
pended in  stables  and  in  other  places  to 
keep  the  witches  away,  especially  from  the 
cattle — a  charm  of  solar  potency  not  only 
because  of  its  discal  form,*  but  because  of 
its  fire-producing  properties,  the  flint-stone 
being,  in  fact,  known  in  Dutch  and  German 
as  "  fire-stone,"  whence  it  would  have  been 
the  agency,  as  well  as  by  means  of  two 
pieces  of  wood,  by  which  the  solar  fire  was 
produced.  The  hag-stone  superstition  sur- 
vived to  a  late  period  in  both  Suffolk  and 
Yorkshire. 

John  Aubrey,  in  his  very  interesting 
volume  of  Miscellanies,  says  that  to  hinder 
the  "night-mare" — i.e.,  to  prevent  the  hag 
or  witch  from  riding  their  horses,  which  will 
sometimes  sweat  all  night— a  string  attached 
to  a  flint  with  a  naturally-formed  hole  in  it 
is  hung  by  the  manger,  or,  best  of  all,  about 
the  animals'  necks,  "and  a  flint  will  do  it 
that  has  not  a  hole  in  it.  The  flint,"  he  says, 
"thus  hung  does  hinder  it."t  The  asso- 
ciation of  the  fire-producing  flint  with  the 
solar  fire  appears  to  have  suggested  the 
amuletic  value  of  this  object  also  for  ridding 
the  stable  of  the  "Bitch  Daughter."  An 
old  writer  in  a  work  entitled  Farriery  Im- 
proved, is  enlightened  enough  in  the  year  of 
grace  1767  to  pooh-pooh  this  absurd  belief. 
"  I  cannot,  in  this  Place,"  he  says,  "  forbear 
to  take  notice  of  that  ridiculously  foolish 
Notion,  among  Country  People  {viz.),  That 
of  a  Horse's  being  rid  by  the  Bitch- Daughter, 
as  they  term  it,  for  nothing  can  be  more 
absurd  than  such  Imagination  ;  therefore 
I  am  almost  void  of  Patience  at  the  bare 
Mention    of    them,    by    Reason    Mankind, 

*  Gentleman  s Magazine,  1867,  parti.,  pp.  307-322. 
Professor  Belluci  {Amuleti  Ilaliani  Contemporanei, 
p.  68)  describes  an  amulet  which  he  acquired  in  Tuscany 
— a  protection  against  the  Evil  Eye.  It  consisted  of 
a  dentated  disk,  on  one  side  of  which  is  engraved  an 
eight-pointed  star  and  the  letter  S,  which  stands  for 
"sole,"  thus  emphasizing  the  meaning  of  the  disk  ; 
and  this  interpretation  of  the  disk,  says  Miss  Lina 
Eckenstein  in  the  Reliquary,  explains  the  liberal  use 
of  disks  in  horse-decoration  in  Germany  (on  "  Horse 
Brasses  "  in  the  Reliquary,  October,  1906,  p.  258  ; 
see  also  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries, 
February  8,  1906  (Mr.  Worthington  G.  Smith  on 
"  Holed-stone  Folk-lore  "),  quoted  by  "  Astarte  "  in 
Notes  and  Queries,  10  S.,  vii.  26. 

+  Fourth  edition,  1857  {Library  of  Old  Authors, 
published  by  John  Russell  Smith). 


230 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


though  blessed  above  Brutes  with  the  happy 
Talent  of  drawing  inferences,  yet  shall  they 
run  on  Head-long  in  Error  and  Confusion, 
with  relation  not  only  to  this,  but  many 
more  Particulars.  .  .  .  When  any  Horse  is 
kept  too  long  at  hard  Meat,  and  is  not  well 
dressed,  exercised,  Sec,  he  is  apt  to  have  his 
Belly  clung  up,  and  to  hang  all  over  with 
a  Kind  of  dewy  Sweat,  as  if  he  had,  in  Fact, 
been  rid  out  upon  the  Road  ;  and  this,  no 
doubt,  has  occasioned  the  Vulgar  to  imagine 
their  Horses  bestrid  by  Witches,  and  there- 
fore they  hang  up  a  hollow  Stone,  or  Piece 
of  Iron  over  the  Horse's  Back,  to  dissolve 
the  Charm  :  And  this,  together  with  better 
looking  to,  as  we  call  it,  and  an  Allowance 
of  more  Corn  or  Beans,  as  well  as  Exercise, 
is  found  sufficient  to  restore  the  Horse  to 
a  better  State  of  Health ;  but  whether  the 
Cure  is  performed  by  the  Hollow  Stone  or 
Piece  of  Iron,  I  much  doubt  it ;  and  yet  the 
Generality  of  the  World  are  so  stupid,  that 
they  attribute  the  Horse's  Recovery  to  those 
(sic)  Sort  of  Trifles,  forgetting  that  they 
altered  the  Creature's  Manner  of  Living, 
and  gave  him  more  Corn  than  Exercise."* 
And  again,  "  when  a  Horse  is  full  of  foul 
Feeding,  and  has  little  Exercise,  the  Country 
People  imagine  he  is  rid  by  the  Bitch- 
Daughter  ;  but  I  believe  I  forgot  to  mention 
that  the  same  whimsical  Notion  happens 
when  any  Horse  has  been  rid  down  by  an 
idle  Fellow,  that  neglects  to  see  the  poor 
Creature  fed  that  carries  him  upon  his 
business  ;  however,  as  the  first  is  cured  with 
Exercise,  in  a  great  Measure,  without  the 
Help  of  the  Horse-Shoe  or  Hollow-Stone 
hung  over  his  back,  so  is  the  other  by  a 
better  and  more  generous  Allowance  of 
Corn,  and  more  moderate  Riding,  for,  if  the 
Master  will  not  feed  hard  when  he  rides 
hard,  the  Horse  he  rides  may  truly  be  said 
to  be  rid  by  the  Bitch- Daughter  or  a  worse 
Fiend."  t . 

*   The  Art  of  Farriery  Improved,  by  Henry  Bracken, 
M.D.,  1767,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  94,  95. 
t  Ibid. 

(To  be  continued.) 


at  tbe  §>ign  of  tbe  flDtoL 


I  note  with  pleasure  that 
Dr.  George  Macdonald,  lately 
honorary  curator  of  the  Hun- 
terian  Coin  Cabinet,  Glasgow, 
has  received  a  well -merited 
honour.  His  Catalogue  of 
Greek  Coins  in  the  Glasgow 
Museum  has  been  crowned 
by  the  French  Academie  des 
Inscriptions  et  Belles  Lettres, 
and  the  "  Prix  Allier  de  Hauteroche  "  has 
been  divided  between  him  and  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Corpus  Nummorum,  now  in 
course  of  publication  by  the  Prussian  Academy 
of  Sciences. 

t^*  i^r*  i2P* 

The  Report  for  1906  of  the  Worcestershire 
Historical  Society  records  a  regrettable  dimi- 
nution in  the  membership,  but,  as  usual,  much 
good  work  has  been  done.  There  have  been 
issued  to  members  during  the  past  year  the 
Kyre  Park  Charters,  and  the  Catalogue  of 
MSS.  in  Worcester  Cathedral  Library ;  and 
much  excellent  historical  material  is  in  an 
advanced  state  of  preparation. 

t^r*  i£r*  i2r* 

Mr.  W.  Tempest,  of  the  Dundalgan  Press, 
Dundalk,  announces  for  early  publication  a 
History  of  the  Parishes  in  the  Union  of 
Kilsara?i,  County  Louth,  by  the  Rev.  James 
B.  Leslie,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Kilsaran.  The 
book  will  contain  much  hitherto  unpublished 
material,  and  will  be  freely  illustrated. 

t^*  t^*  t^* 

I  am  glad  to  hear  that  Canon  Mayo,  of 
Long  Burton  Vicarage,  Sherborne,  is  about 
to  edit  the  municipal  records  of  Dorchester, 
Dorset,  if  a  sufficient  number  of  subscribers 
is  forthcoming.  These  documents  com- 
prise, among  other  MSS.,  the  letters  patent 
and  royal  charters  to  the  burgesses  from 
1305  onwards;  and  the  Dorchester  Domes- 
day a  large  collection  of  deeds  relating  to 
the  town,  enrolled  from  time  to  time  in  the 
register  thus  entitled.  Mr.  A.  W.  Gould 
will  assist  Canon  Mayo. 

VF*  l2r*  t&* 

Readers  interested  in  classical  archaeology 
should  not  miss  the  volume  lately  issued  by 
the  Classical  Association,  entitled  The  Year's 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


23* 


Work  in  Classical  Studies,  1906,  published 
by  Mr.  Murray  at  half  a  crown  net.  Among 
the  papers  are  "  Prehistoric  Archaeology,"  by 
Mr.  J.  L.  Myres ;  and  "  Private  Antiquities  " 
and  "  The  Greek  Warship,"  by  Mr.  W.  C.  F. 
Anderson.  Mr.  F.  Haverfield  has  a  con- 
tribution on  "  Roman  Britain,"  and  also 
deals  with  Latin  inscriptions,  while  Mr. 
M.  N.  Tod  is  responsible  for  Greek  in- 
scriptions. 

t^*  t^*  t2r* 

The  current  number  of  the  International 
Journal  of  Apocrypha  contains  numerous  in- 
stances of  the  extent  to  which  references  to 
the  characters  and  sayings  of  the  Apocrypha 
are  found  in  literature.  Among  other  articles 
I  note  specially  "  The  Oxyrhynchus  Agrapha," 
by  the  Rev.  C.  Taylor,  D.D.,  a  brief  study 
of  certain  sayings  ascribed  to  our  Lord  on  a 
fragment  of  the  papyri  found  in  the  winter 
of  1896-97.  Full  particulars  of  the  Inter- 
national Society  of  the  Apocrypha  can  be 
obtained  from  the  Rev.  H.  Pentin,  Milton 
Abbey,  Dorset. 

t^"  t£r*  t2^* 

I  take  the  following  interesting  note  on  the 
beginnings  of  true  cartography  from  Mr. 
Raymond  Beazley's  The  Dawn  of  Modern 
Geography,  lately  issued  by  the  Clarendon 
Press :  "  Good  maps  were  as  valuable  for 
true  progress  as  good  instruments ;  and  here 
the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century  witnessed 
a  momentous  revolution.  At  a  time  when 
most  European  cartography  was  still  half 
mythical,  when  map  designs  were  often  rather 
picture-books  of  zoological  and  theological 
legend  than  delineations  of  the  world,  strictly 
scientific  coast-charting  begins  with  the  Medi- 
terranean 'Portolani'  [i.e.  'handy-plans' — 
what  the  ordinary  pilot  or  skipper  could 
conveniently  handle  and  take  with  him]. 
The  earliest  existing  specimen  is  of  about 
1300  ;  but  the  type  which  then  appears  (with 
the  Carte  Pisane)  must  have  been  for  some 
time  in  process  of  elaboration,  and  it  is 
probable  that  examples  of  such  work,  dealing 
with  sectional  areas  of  shore-line,  at  least 
inside  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  may  yet  be 
discovered  from  the  time  of  the  last 
Crusades.  .  .  .  The  first  true  maps  con- 
stitute an  important  chapter  in  the  history 
of  our  civilization ;  they  mark  the  essential 
transition,  in  world  delineation,  from  ancient 


to  modern,  from  empirical  to  scientific,  from 
theory  to  practice;  but  they  are  only  just 
beginning  to  receive  adequate  recognition. 
For  they  '  never  had  for  their  object  to 
provide  a  popular  and  fashionable  amuse- 
ment ' ;  they  were  not  drawn  to  illustrate  the 
works  of  classical  authors  or  famous  prelates  ; 
still  less  did  they  embody  the  legends  and 
dreams  of  chivalry  or  romance ;  they  were 
seldom  executed  by  learned  men ;  and  small 
enough,  in  return,  was  the  acknowledgment 
which  the  learned  made  them  when  their 
work  was  incorporated,  by  the  geographical 
compilers  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  in  pompous  atlases  of  far  inferior 
merit.  .  .  ." 

t&&  t&*  t&* 

In  the  same  book  Mr.  Beazley  identifies 
Sir  John  Mandeville,  whose  Book  old  Samuel 
Purchas  considered  to  be  the  genuine  record 
of  the  "greatest  Asian  traveller  (after  Polo) 
that  ever  the  world  had,"  with  a  "  stay  at- 
home  (but  ingenious  and  unscrupulous) 
physician  of  Liege,"  one  Jean  de  Bourgogne. 
who  practised  as  a  medical  man  among  the 
Liegeois  from  1343  to  1372,  when  he  died 
and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  the  Guillel- 
mins  in  Liege.  "  On  his  death-bed,"  says 
Mr.  Beazley,  "he  'revealed  himself  to  the 
Netherland  chronicler  Jean  d'Outremeuse  as 
'John  de  Mandeville,  knight,  Earl  of  Mont- 
fort  in  England,  and  lord  of  Campdi  Island 
and  of  Chateau  Perouse,'  who  in  expiation 
of  an  unlucky  homicide  had  travelled  in  the 
three  parts  of  the  world.  The  truth  is 
probably  to  be  reached  by  reading  this 
'  confession '  backward." 

t^*  «^*  *5* 

I  hear  with  pleasure  that  the  Gypsy  Lore 
Society,  which,  after  publishing  for  four  years 
a  quarterly  journal  of  considerable  value,  has 
been  dormant  since  1892,  has  now  been 
revived  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  David 
MacRitchie,  the  original  founder  of  the 
Society.  It  is  proposed  to  issue  on  July  1  the 
first  number  of  the  new  series  of  its  journal. 
While  it  is  no  part  of  the  plan  of  the  journal 
to  exclude  popular  articles  of  interest  and 
merit,  it  is  proposed  to  maintain  a  high 
standard  of  scholarship  in  essays  which  deal 
with  the  language,  ethnology,  and  folk-lore  of 
the  Gypsy  race,  written  by  the  chief  authori- 
ties on  these  subjects ;  and   it  is  hoped  to 


23: 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


devote  special  attention  to  elucidating  the 
almost  unknown  Asiatic  dialects  of  Romani. 
Occupying  a  subordinate  place,  occasional 
papers  embracing  a  wider  field  will  be  printed 
on  such  subjects  as  secret  languages,  cant 
and  slang,  and  especially  Shelta,  the  ancient 
jargon  of  the  Irish  tinkers.  Unpublished 
work  on  Shelta  by  Professor  Kuno  Meyer, 
Mr.  John  Sampson,  and  the  late  Charles 
Godfrey  Leland  is  already  in  the  Society's 
possession.  Room  will  also  be  found  for 
articles  of  importance  which  have  appeared 
in  places  not  easily  accessible  to  the  Gypsy 
scholar,  reissued  with  the  permission  of  the 
authors  and  their  latest  corrections ;  and  an 
attempt  will  be  made  to  garner  not  only 
waifs  and  strays  of  curious  Gypsy  lore  lying 
scattered  through  local  histories,  old  news- 
papers, and  books  of  travel,  but  also  vocabu- 
laries and  observations  by  independent  col- 
lectors which  would  otherwise  perish.  Full 
particulars  can  be  obtained  from  the  honorary 
secretary,  Mr.  R.  A.  Scott  Macfie,  6,  Hope 
Place,  Liverpool. 

IgF*  t&*  t£r* 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of 
Shakespeare's  Birthplace,  held  at  Stratford- 
on-Avon,  on  Tuesday,  May  7,  it  was  reported 
that  40,283  persons  had  visited  the  Birthplace 
during  the  financial  year  ended  March  31, 
1907 — 5,775  more  than  in  any  previous  year. 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  jftetos. 

[  We  shall  be  glad '  to  receive  infor?nationfrom  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

SALES. 

At  the  Delbeke  sale  of  old  Greek  coins,  which  ended 
at  Sotheby'son  April  25,  a  tetradrachmof  Amphipolis, 
wilh  the  head  of  Apollo,  minted  400  years  before  our 
era,  sold  for  £ido.  A  superb  dekadrachm,  with  the 
head  of  Pallas  Athene,  100  years  older,  fetched 
^200  (Spink),  and  only  four  other  specimens  are 
known,  three  being  in  the  British,  the  Berlin,  and 
Paris  Museums.  The  fourth  was  in  the  Rhouso 
Poulos  collection  sale  at  Munich  in  1905,  and  then 
realized  5,000  marks.  The  Delbeke  specimen  once 
belonged  to  Photiades  Pacha.  A  tetradrachm  of 
Pyrrhus  of  Epirus,  295-272  B.C.,  reached  £i$\ 
(Spink),  and  an  Arethusa  dekadrachm  of  Syracuse 
^200  (Rollin).     Three  years  ago  in  Paris  this  coin 


brought  .£105.  Another  with  the  head  of  Kore  or 
Persephone  made  ^110  (Spink).  Others  were  :  A 
Thurium  tetradrachm,  390-300  B.C.,  ^81,  as  against 
£2$  in  the  Bunbury  sale,  1896  ;  a  stater  of  Phaestus 
in  Crete,  431-300  B.C.,  ^94  10s.  (Dr.  Hirsch,  the 
buyer  of  the  tetradrachm  of  Amphipolis)  ;  a  tetra- 
drachm of  Hidrieus  of  Curia,  ^104  (ditto);  and 
another  of  Rhegium,  ^"69.  This  was  bought  in  the 
Bunbury  sale  for  ^20. 

^  ^  ^ 

Messrs.  Hodgson  included  in  their  sale  on  Tuesday 
last  the  library  of  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Woodin,  of 
Anerley,  and  other  properties.  The  following  were 
the  chief  prices  :  Goulds  Birds  of  Australia,  with  the 
rare  Supplement,  in  the  forty-one  original  parts, 
^131 ;  Birds  of  Great  Britain,  5  vols.,  morocco,  ,£56  ; 
Birds  of  Europe,  5  vols.,  ,£45  ;  and  Humming-Birds, 
5  vols.,  ^"23  ios.;  Hogg's  Herefordshire  Pomona, 
2  vols.,  /13.  Doubleday  and  Westwood's  Diurnal 
Lepidoptera,  2  vols.,  £\b  15s.  Smith's  Zoology  of 
South  Africa.  5  vols.,  £21  ios.  Harris's  Game  and 
Wild  Animals  of  South  Africa,  £\\  5s.  Angas's 
Kafirs  Illustrated,  ^12  15s.  Bewick's  Works,  5  vols., 
.£11  15s.  Strutt's  Dress  and  Habits  of  the  People  of 
England,  etc.,  3  vols.,  ^"11  5s.  Shakespeare's  Works, 
extra-illustrated,  15  vols.,  morocco  extra,  ^22  15s. 
Napier's  Peninsular  War,  extra-illustrated,  10  vols., 
,£15  5s.  Thackeray's  Works,  Edition  de  Luxe, 
24  vols.,  morocco,  ^24  ios.  Apperley's  Life  of  a 
Sportsman,  first  edition,  half-morocco,  £\d.  The 
day's  sale  realized  ^844. — Athenccum ,  May  4. 

*>§  ^  +§ 

A  rare  Elizabethan  silver-gilt  tankard  and  cover,  with 
London  hall-mark  1599,  was  sold  at  Messrs.  Robinson 
and  Fisher's  rooms  on  May  3  for  the  great  sum  of 
,£2,300.  The  tankard,  which  is  "j\  inches  high  and 
weighs  21  ounces  15  pennyweights,  was  the  property 
of  the  late  Mr.  Henry  Valentine  Story,  of  Lockington 
Hall,  Kegworth,  Derby.  A  similar  one  is  in  the 
Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford. 

^  *>§  +§ 

A  curious  collection  of  old  City  maces,  pewter-ware, 
and  objects  of  art  was  sold  by  auction  at  the  Argyll 
Galleries,  W.,  by  Messrs.  Glendining  and  Co. 
yesterday  afternoon.  A  watchman's  staff  of  the 
Farringdon  Ward  Within  made  £2 :  an  old  Bow- 
Street  staff,  as  carried  inside  the  court,  £2  ios.  ; 
a  warrant  officer's  mace  in  brass,  £$  3s.  ;  a  water 
bailiffs  mace,  engraved  with  Georgian  arms,  used 
among  other  purposes  for  reclaiming  certain  persons 
from  the  press-gangs,  £$  15s.  ;  and  another  in  solid 
silver,  ^22.  All  these  staves  were  temp.  George  III. 
Other  prices  of  interest  included  a  Chippendale  arm- 
chair, ,£38  ;  early  horn  beaker  mounted  with  silver, 
£11  ios.  ;  a  seal-top  pewter  spoon,  £4  5s.  ;  and  an 
Early  English  pewter  trencher  salt-cellar,  £3  ios. — 
Globe,  May  11. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

We  have  received  Vol.  V.,  Part  III.,  of  the  Papers  and 
Proceedings  of  the  Hampshire  Archaeological  Society, 
being  the  issue  for  1906.  There  are  eleven  good 
papers,  and  padding  is  conspicuous  by  its  absence. 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


233 


Mr.  J.  F.  Guyer  describes  a  number  of  the  "  Norman 
Doorways  of  Hampshire  and  the  Isle  of  Wight,"  with 
illustrations  from  careful  drawings  by  himself;  in 
"Prisoners  of  War  at  Winchester,"  the  Rev.  G.  N. 
Godwin  returns  to  a  subject  he  has  made  his  own  ; 
Mr.  Moray  Williams  describes  the  Roman  Villa,  near 
West  Meon,  excavated  in  1905-6,  with  a  plan  and 
several  excellent  illustrations,  one  showing  a  fine  and 
remarkably  perfect  mosaic  pavement  ;  an  interesting 
account  of  "  The  Chapel  of  St.  Nicholas  in  Castro, 
Carisbrooke,"  is  given  by  Mr.  Percy  Stone,  F.S.A., 
illustrated  by  plans  of  the  successive  chapels,  and 
views  of  the  chapel  as  restored  in  1904,  as  a  memorial 
of  King  Charles  I.'s  imprisonment  within  the  castle 
walls  ;  and  Dr.  Whitehead  supplies,  with  explanatory 
comment,  a  sixteenth-century  inventory,  well  worth 
printing,  of  Sir  Richard  Worsley  of  Appuldurcombe. 
The  other  papers  are  :  "  Southwick  Priory,"  by  Mr. 
G.  H.  Green;  "Notes  on  a  Ruined  Building  in 
Warnford  Park" — probably  a  domestic  building  of 
thirteenth-century  date — by  Mr.  N.  C.  H.  Nisbett ; 
"Extracts  from  the  Papal  Archives  relating  to  the 
Winchester  Diocese,"  by  Mrs.  H.  Dawson  ;  "Notes 
on  Broadlands,"  by  Mrs.  Suckling  ;  a  very  interesting 
contribution  on  "  The  Quest  for  Folk  Songs  in 
Hampshire,"  by  Dr.  Gardiner — a  highly  successful 
quest  ;  and  "Notes  on  Recent  Publications  concern- 
ing Hampshire,"  by  Mr.  O.  Gilbert. 

^  *H$  *$ 

The  chief  papers  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland,  March  31,  are :  "  The 
Principal  Ancient  Castles  of  the  County  Limerick," 
by  Mr.  T.  J.  Westropp,  with  illustrations  of  several 
of  the  beautiful  old  ruins  ;  an  illustrated  account  by 
Mr.  G.  Coffey  of  a  recent  "  Find  of  Bronze  Imple- 
ments" in  County  Tipperary ;  and  a  study  by  Professor 
Rhys  of  "The  Kilmannin  Ogam,  County  Mayo." 
Dr.  Cosgrave  contributes  from  his  apparently  in- 
exhaustible stores  the  second  part  of  his  "  Catalogue 
of  Nineteenth-Century  Engravings  of  Dublin  "  ;  and 
the  remainder  of  the  contents  of  the  part  are  quite  up 
to  the  usual  high  standard  of  the  Journal. 

^  «•$  *£ 

The  first  part,  dated  January — March,  1907,  of  a  new 
volume  of  the  Journal  of  the  Cork  Historical  and 
Archaological  Society  is  attractively  produced.  It 
contains,  inter  alia,  a  well-illustrated  documentary 
contribution  to  the  history  of  "  Kinsale  in  1 641  and 
1642,"  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Fuller  ;  an  illustrated  paper  on 
"The  Ogham  Inscriptions  preserved  in  the  Queen's 
College,  Cork,"  by  Mr.  R.  A.  S.  Macalister  ;  the 
continuation  of  Canon  O'Mahony's  "  History  of  the 
O'Mahony  Septs "  ;  and  a  pleasantly  written  and 
illustrated  account  of  the  "  Town  of  Passage  West 
and  the  Parish  of  Marmullane,"  by  the  Rev.  C.  A. 
Webster. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  on 
April  11,  Mr.  Charles  Dawson,  F.S.A. ,  of  Lewes, 
read  a  paper  on  the  discovery  of  certain  inscribed  and 
impressed  bricks  and  tiles  at  Pevensey  Castle.  Mr. 
Dawson  said  the  tiles  and  bricks,  which  he  discovered 
in  the  Roman  Castrum,  had  an  important  bearing  on 
VOL.  III. 


the  date  of  the  castrum.  The  provisional  inference 
that  might  be  drawn  from  the  stamps  was  that  the 
walls  of  the  castrum  were  erected  quite  at  the  end  of 
the  Roman  occupation  of  Britain,  within  a  few  years 
of  the  final  withdrawal  of  the  legions.  Apart  from 
the  stamps,  however,  there  was  considerable  evidence 
of  an  earlier  occupation  of  the  site.  Mr.  Dawson 
mentioned  that  three  different  sets  of  stamps  had  been 
discovered.  He  paid  particular  attention  to  the 
black  brick  which  he  exhibited,  and  which  he  said  he 
discovered  beneath  the  arch  of  the  postern  gate  in  the 
north  side  of  the  wall  in  1902.  It  had  evidently 
fallen  down  with  other  pieces  from  the  roof  of  the 
arch  where  similarly  burnt  bricks  were  to  be  seen. 
It  had  stamped  upon  it  an  oblong  impression  with 
rounded  corners  and  within  it  appeared  the  letters  in 
relief  "  Honaug  Andria."  This,  Mr.  Dawson  argued, 
showed  that  the  building  of  that  part  of  the  wall  of 
the  castrum  took  place  probably  in  the  reign  of  the 
Roman  Emperor  Honorius,  a.d.  395"423-  He  could 
not  definitely  state  to  what  the  word,  or  abbreviated 
word,  "  Andria  "  referred.  He,  however,  suggested 
that  it  might  have  been  the  geographical  name  for 
Pevensey  castrum,  and  thus  the  feminine  form  of  the 
name  of  an  island  in  the  /Egean  Sea  (Andros)  would 
be  applied  to  an  island  in  Pevensey  Marsh.  He 
mentioned  that  the  view  had  been  expressed  that  the 
word  was  perhaps  "  Andrea  "  (Andrew),  or  the  Greek 
word  for  "courage,"  used  as  the  name  of  a  ship. 
This  latter  interpretation  was,  however,  not  very 
likely,  as  Greek  names  were  rarely  used.  Mr. 
Dawson  illustrated  his  paper  with  two  trays  of  speci- 
mens from  the  Castle — one  containing  his  own  dis- 
coveries during  the  last  ten  years  ;  and  the  other 
exhibited  on  behalf  of  the  committee  of  the  explora- 
tions carried  on  at  the  Castle. — The  chairman,  Sir 
Henry  Howorth,  expressed  the  opinion  that  "Andria" 
was  a  local  name,  probably  synonymous  with  "  Ande- 
rida  "  of  the  Roman  Notitia. 

+§  +$  ^ 

Lord  Avebury  delivered  his  annual  address  as 
President  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  last  night. 
In  reference  to  some  of  the  principal  researches  and 
discoveries  during  the  year,  he  said  perhaps  the  most 
important  was  the  finding  of  the  tomb  of  Queen  Tii, 
wife  of  Amenhetep  III.,  in  Egypt.  The  objects 
found  had  unfortunately  suffered  from  the  incursion  of 
water,  but  were  very  beautiful.  Professor  Naville's 
work  for  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund  at  Deir  al 
Bahari  had  been  brought  to  a  close  with  the  excava- 
tion by  him  and  Mr.  Hall  of  a  very  interesting  temple, 
dating  from  about  2000  B.C.  Lord  Avebury  alluded 
to  some  of  the  most  important  archaeological  works 
which  have  appeared  during  the  past  year,  such  as 
Sir  Norman  Lockyer's  Stotiehenge  and  Mr.  Lang's 
Homer  and  His  Age.  Without  presuming  to  express 
an  opinion  as  between  Mr.  Lang,  Mr.  Monro,  Mr. 
Leaf,  and  other  great  Homeric  authorities,  he  sug- 
gested that  the  comparative  study  of  early  and  back- 
ward races  threw  light  on  one  important  point  in 
reference  to  the  H  omeric  Poems — namely,  the  character 
and  position  of  Helen.  Though  Helen  was  severely 
blamed  by  some  of  the  later  Greek  tragedians,  in 
Homer  she  was  never  condemned.  Even  Hector  and 
Priam  themselves  treated  her  with  affection  and 
respect,  and  Menelaus  took  her  back  as  a  matter  of 

2  G 


2  34 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


course  and  with  all  honour.  In  the  ordinary  view 
this  was  surely  a  serious  blot  on  a  great  poem.  Lord 
Avebury  pointed  out  that  marriage  by  capture  was  a 
recognized  institution  in  early  times,  and  that  almost 
all  over  the  world  women  carried  off  by  force  were 
not  held  in  any  way  to  blame.  He  suggested  that 
the  abduction  of  Helen  by  Paris  was  a  case  of 
"  marriage  by  capture,"  and  had  been  misunderstood 
not  only  by  recent  critics  but  by  some  of  the  Greek 
tragedians. — Morning  Post,  April  24. 


^C  4X$ 


*S 


At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Arch.kological 
Association  on  April  17,  a  paper,  illustrated  by 
lantern  views,  was  read  by  Mr.  T.  S.  Bush.  It 
dealt  with  some  extremely  interesting  excavations 
which  are  being  conducted  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Lansdown,  near  Bath.  Mr.  Bush  described  the 
discovery  of  the  site  and  the  trial  trenches  which 
were  started  in  June,  1905.  Generally  speaking,  the 
solid  rock  is  met  with  at  a  depth  of  18  inches,  and  in 
most  cases  only  about  a  height  of  9  inches  of  any  of 
the  walls  is  now  standing ;  only  one  building  has  as 
yet  been  opened  up,  and  it  measures  52  feet  long  by 
25  feet  wide,  with  a  cross  wall  11^  feet  from  the 
north  end.  Three  stone  coffins  have  been  discovered, 
but  no  trinkets  or  pottery  of  interest  were  found  with 
them  ;  in  each  case,  however,  a  large  number  of 
hobnails  were  discovered  at  the  feet  of  the  skeletons. 
Of  coins  a  number  have  been  found,  among  them  a 
British  silver  coin,  weighing  15  grains,  and  Roman 
coins  covering  a  period  of  about  250  years  from 
Antoninus  Pius.  A  coin  of  Constantine  the  Great 
was  of  interest,  as  Mr.  Bush  observed  that  no  speci- 
men was  to  be  found  in  the  British  Museum.  A  fair 
number  of  flint  scrapers,  bone  pins,  beads,  counters, 
spindle-whorls,  etc.,  were  discovered.  The  work  is 
being  carried  out  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Bush, 
Rev.  H.  H.  Winwood,  and  Mr.  Gerald  Grey. 


*s 


4>§       +$ 


The  annual  meeting  of  the  Surrey  Archaeological 
Society  was  held  at  Guildford  on  April  13,  Sir 
E.  W.  Brabrook  presiding.  The  report  presented 
mentioned  that  the  Council  had  put  in  hand  the  work 
of  preparing  a  general  index  to  the  first  twenty 
volumes  of  the  "Collections,"  and  considerable  pro- 
gress has  been  made  with  the  task.  The  new  cata- 
logue of  the  books  in  the  Society's  library  was  issued 
to  all  members  last  year.  Towards  the  reduction  of 
the  debt  of  £42  4s.  8id.  upon  the  Waverley  Abbey 
Excavation  Fund,  the  Council  acknowledged  with 
cordial  thanks  the  receipt  of  donations,  amounting 
to  £2S  2s.  6d. ,  including  the  Right  Hon.  Viscount 
Midleton  (president)  ,£10,  and  the  Rev.  T.  S.  Cooper, 
M.A.,  F.S.A.,  £10.  As  the  president's  and  Mr. 
Cooper's  generous  donations  were  made  on  the 
express  condition  that  the  whole  debt  should  be  paid 
off  by  the  end  of  last  year,  and  as  the  debt  on  the 
fund  had  been  outstanding  for  several  years,  the 
Council  decided  to  accept  this  condition,  and  to 
guarantee  the  payment  from  the  Society's  funds  of  the 
still  remaining  balance  oi  £17  2s.  2^d.  That  amount 
was  accordingly  forwarded  at  the  commencement  of 
the  present  year  to  the  treasurer  of  the  fund,  and  the 
account  had  now  been  closed. 


At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  ok  Biblical  Archae- 
ology held  on  May  8,  the  paper  read  was,  "  A 
Hammurabi  Text,  from  Assurbanipal's  Library,"  by 
the  Rev.  W.  T.  Pilter. 

+$  -Off  *$ 

British  Numismatic  Society. — April  24. — Mr. 
Carlyon-Britton,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  George 
C.  Yates  contributed  a  paper  on  "  British  Leaden 
Tokens,"  in  which  he  traced  their  use  in  supplying 
the  small  change  necessary  in  commerce  and  every- 
day transactions  from  mediaeval  times  until  they 
were  gradually  superseded  by  the  copper  issues  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Mr.  Yates 
quoted  the  churchwardens'  accounts  of  St.  Peter's, 
Mancroft,  Norwich,  to  show  that  in  1632  leaden 
tokens  were  cast  and  supplied  to  the  parishioners  for 
the  purpose  of  contribution  to  the  Church. — Mr.  J.  B. 
Caldecott  followed  with  an  address  upon  the  chrono- 
logical sequence  of  these  tokens,  illustrated  by 
numerous  examples  from  his  collection.  From  these 
he  demonstrated  how  the  merchants'  marks  of  the 
fifteenth  century  were  reproduced  on  them,  and  pre- 
sently the  design  gave  place  to  the  simple  initials 
which  they  so  frequently  bore.  In  this  he  traced  the 
origin  of  the  general  custom  of  the  seventeenth-cen- 
tury trader  of  placing  both  his  own  and  his  wife's 
initials  on  his  money,  which  Mr.  Caldecott  thought 
revealed  the  closer  business  connection  between 
husband  and  wife  which  still  survives  among  our 
bourgeois  friends  across  the  Channel.  Amongst 
numerous  exhibitions  were  a  collection  of  leaden 
tokens  and  a  gun-money  crown,  overstruck  on  a 
silver  half-crown  of  the  same  coinage,  by  Mr.  W. 
Charlton  ;  four  cast  ingots  of  gold,  found  with  and 
prepared  for  the  striking  of  early  British  money  of 
Evans,  type  B.  8,  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Baldwin  ;  a  curious 
forgery  or  jetton  of  the  short  cross  type  by  Mr.  L.  A. 
Lawrence  ;  and  an  imitation  of  the  rose-noble  of 
Edward  IV.,  probably  of  Flemish  work,  by  Mr. 
J.  B.  S.  Macllwaine.  Mr.  W.  J.  Webster  submitted 
a  medallion  portrait  of  Samuel  Pepys  by  Roettier. 
The  medallion,  which  is  of  bronze,  is  in  high  relief, 
measures  3*9  by  3*3  inches,  and  is  believed  to  be  a 
hitherto  entirely  unpublished  memorial  of  the  famous 
diarist. 

*>$  ^  *>$ 

The  monthly  meeting  of  the  Royal  Arch/EO- 
logical  Institute  was  held  on  May  1,  when 
"  Notes  on  the  Architecture  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Candida,  of  Whitechurch  Canonicorum,  Dorset," 
with  lantern  illustrations,  were  read  by  Miss  E.  K. 
Prideaux.  The  present  building  replaced  an  older 
one,  and  there  was  evidence  that  King  Alfred  be- 
queathed land  to  this  and  other  churches.  It  is  a 
cruciform  building,  with  nave  and  aisles,  transepts, 
and  a  western  tower.  The  south  arcade  was  a  good 
specimen  of  Norman  work,  the  south  side  was  Early 
English,  and  the  transepts,  tower,  and  south  porch 
were  Perpendicular.  The  font  was  of  Norman  date, 
supported  on  a  massive  pillar,  and  ornamented  with 
interlaced  arcading  with  star  moulding  on  the  top  and 
cable  moulding  at  the  base.  Much  of  the  carving  in 
the  north  arcade  was  of  the  same  type  as  at  Wells, 
and  some  of  it  was  of  great  interest  as  showing  the 
development  of  elaborate  decoration  from  a  simple 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


235 


form.  The  great  glory  of  the  church  was  the  shrine 
of  the  saint  in  the  north  transept,  where  a  small 
leaden  box,  bearing  an  inscription  that  it  contained 
her  relics,  had  been  discovered.  It  was  in  the  shape 
of  an  altar  tomb,  with  three  large  openings  in  front, 
probably  for  the  insertion  of  diseased  limbs,  or  hand- 
kerchiefs to  be  applied  to  sick  people  who  could  not 
visit  the  shrine.  Of  the  personality  of  St.  Candida 
nothing  appeared  to  be  known,  and  it  was  suggested 
that  she  was  a  local  saint.  Some  discussion  followed, 
and  Miss  Prideaux  was  thanked  for  her  paper. 

■0$  +§  *$ 

The  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries,  at  their 
meeting  on  April  24,  Mr.  Richard  Welford  presiding, 
arranged  to  hold  country  meetings  during  the  summer 
at  Aycliffe,  Berwick,  Haltwhistle,  Burn  Camp,  and 
Bothal.  A  rush  holder  or  "torn"  candle  was  pre- 
sented by  Sir  Gainsford  Bruce. — The  chairman,  in 
showing  how  to  obtain  a  light  from  flint  and  steel, 
said  the  steel  was  held  in  the  left  hand  and  the  flint 
in  the  right.  The  matches  he  showed  he  made  when 
a  boy  of  twelve  years. — Dr.  Hardcastle  exhibited  a 
leather  jug  of  the  seventeenth  century,  inscribed  on 
its  silver  rim,  "  John  Mann  in  Pilgrim  Street." 

Mr.  J.  P.  Gibson  gave  an  interesting  account  of 
the  excavations  at  the  Haltwhistle  Burn  Camp.  Mr. 
F.  Gerald  Simpson,  a  member  of  the  Society,  he  said, 
had  been  at  work  a  fortnight,  and  the  results  were 
exceedingly  encouraging.  The  camp  lay  at  a  point 
where  Haltwhistle  Burn  crossed  the  military  way, 
and  was  very  striking  in  its  appearance.  The  ram- 
parts and  ditch  were  very  marked.  Immediately 
contiguous  to  it  were  three  very  large  marching 
camps.  Two  of  them  had  traverses  before  the  gates, 
showing  that  there  had  been  considerable  military 
occupation.  The  camp  was  on  the  line  of  the  Stane- 
gate,  and  had  been  there  before  the  latter  was  made. 
It  was  possibly  one  of  the  earliest  camps  we  had 
in  Northumberland.  The  excavations  had  included 
almost  the  whole  of  the  outer  rampart  of  the  camp. 
The  great  peculiarity  of  the  camp  was  the  gateways. 
Instead  of  their  being  represented  with  towers  on 
each  side,  as  they  found  in  the  camps  on  the  line 
of  the  Wall,  there  were  huge  semicircles — something 
totally  different  to  anything  they  had  seen  before  in 
the  North  of  England.  The  excavations  had  not 
been  completed,  .but  they  had  revealed  the  north 
rampart,  which  was  without  a  gate.  The  ditch  was 
deep  and  the  rampart  tolerably  high.  They  had  not 
found  any  quantity  of  small  objects.  They  had  come 
across  a  little  pottery  and  some  pieces  of  metal, 
showing  that  the  occupation  had  been  only  short — 
probably  something  like  one  winter.  There  were 
certain  circumstances  about  the  whole  thing  that 
made  him  think  it  must  have  been  built  before  the 
Wall. 

*$  <•$  +$ 

The  Thoroton  Society  held  its  annual  meeting 
on  April  15,  the  Mayor  of  Nottingham  presiding. — 
The  report  of  the  Council  states  that  the  Society 
maintains  its  strength  numerically,  !but  expresses 
regret  that  the  funds,  after  paying  for  the  annual 
volume  of  Transactions,  etc.,  do  not  admit  of  as 
much  printing  being  done  as  is  desirable,  and,  conse- 
quently, that  documents  now  in  hand  cannot  be  pro- 


duced and  circulated  among  the  members.  Steps 
are  being  taken  to  raise  a  fund  among  the  members 
of  the  Society  sufficient  to  provide  a  suitable  memorial 
to  Dr.  Robert  Thoroton,  the  author  of  the  Antiqui- 
ties of  Nottinghamshire,  from  whom  the  Society  takes 
its  patronymic.  So  far  nothing  has  been  done  in  the 
county  to  celebrate  the  memory  of  the  compiler 
of  the  valuable  history  he  issued  in  1677,  which  still 
continues  to  be  the  premier  work  of  this  nature  in  the 
county.  The  Mayor,  in  moving  the  adoption  of  the 
report,  referred  to  the  many  people  that  Nottingham- 
shire had  produced  who  had,  in  various  ways,  contri- 
buted to  make  history,  such  as,  in  religion,  Cranmer 
and  Brewster  ;  in  literature,  Byron,  Kirke  White, 
and  Darwin  ;  in  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  Ireton, 
Whalley,  and  Stanhope ;  in  law,  Babington  and 
Mellish ;  in  invention,  Lee  and  Cartwright ;  in 
Parliament,  Holies,  Newcastle,  Bentinck,  Manners- 
Sutton,  Sherbrooke,  and  Denison  ;  and  also  such 
heroes  of  the  "wooden  walls"  as  Howe,  Eyre,  and 
Warren.  The  Society  has  now  reached  the  first 
decade  of  its  existence.  The  president  (the  Duke  of 
Portland,  K.G.),  vice-presidents,  and  officials  were 
elected  for  the  year,  and  a  vote  of  condolence  was 
passed  to  the  Dowager  Countess  of  Liverpool  and 
family,  the  late  Earl,  when  Lord  Hawkesbury, 
being  one  of  the  most  active  founders  of  the  Society, 
and  latterly  a  vice-president  and  interested  member 
of  the  Society.  A  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Mayor  for 
presiding  and  for  permitting  the  use  of  the  Exchange 
Hall  for  the  meeting  being  passed,  the  proceedings 
terminated. 

+§  «•$  «0§ 

On  April  25  the  Rev.  M.  Parkin,  Vicar  of  Selby 
Abbey  Church,  lectured  before  the  Bradford  His- 
torical and  Antiquarian  Society  upon  Selby 
Abbey  and  its  restoration,  Mr.  J.  A.  Clapham  being 
in  the  chair.  The  lecture  was  illustrated  by  a  fine 
series  of  lantern  pictures  from  old  prints  and  from 
photographs  taken  before  and  since  the  fire.  Mr. 
Parkin  took  his  audience  round  the  building  in- 
ternally and  externally,  examining  in  detail  the 
features  of  architectural  and  archaeological  interest. 
Speaking  of  the  damage  done  by  the  fire,  he  said 
that  as  lime  alleviated  the  shock  which  it  occasioned 
he  almost  felt  that  there  was  more  blessing  than  pain 
in  the  disaster,  for  it  had  been  found  when  the 
portions  of  the  nave  roof  which  escaped  being  burned 
came  to  be  examined  that  they  were  in  a  terribly 
rotten  condition.  Some  of  the  huge  beams,  which 
were  30  feet  long  and  of  immense  weight,  rested  upon 
the  brackets  by  a  single  inch  of  timber,  and  that  was 
in  such  a  condition  that  it  could  be  picked  to  pieces 
with  a  pin.  Had  not  the  fire  occurred,  something 
infinitely  worse  must  have  happened  had  the  roof 
fallen  at  a  time  when  the  church  was  full  of 
worshippers.  The  lecturer  showed  that  already, 
within  six  months  from  the  fire,  the  nave  was  entirely 
roofed  in,  eleven  out  of  the  twelve  piers  of  the  choir, 
which  had  been  badly  cracked  by  the  burning  of  the 
stalls,  had  been  reconstructed,  and  work  was  actively 
proceeding  for  the  underpinning  of  the  tower.  By 
the  anniversary  of  the  fire  they  confidently  hoped  to 
be  worshipping  once  more  in  the  nave,  and  within 
three  months  from  the  present  time  it  was  hoped  also 
that  the  choir  would  be  roofed  in. 

2  G    2 


236 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


There  was  a  large  attendance  at  the  quarterly  general 
meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  ok  Antiquaries 
ok  Ireland  on  April  23,  Count  Plunkett  presiding, 
when  the  statement  of  accounts  for  the  year  1906 
was  read.  The  paper  read  was  on  "Abbey  Owney, 
Co.  Limerick,"  by  the  Rev.  St.  John  Seymour.  On 
May  15  the  Society  held  a  very  successful  conver- 
sazione in  the  Dublin  Museum  of  Science  and  Art. 

+$  +§  *>§ 

A  meeting  of  the  Cambridge  Antiquarian 
Society  was  held  on  April  29,  the  Rev.  W.  G. 
Searle  in  the  chair. — Baron  von  Hugel  drew  atten- 
tion at  first  to  the  characteristics  of  the  gold  armilla 
found  in  Grunty  Fe"n  in  1844,  and  contrasted  it  with 
other  prehistoric  gold  ornaments  now  preserved  in 
the  Archaeological  Museum.  It  is  a  slender,  flexible 
piece  of  wrought  metal,  containing  comparatively 
little  alloy.  The  work,  Baron  von  Hugel  was  told 
by  an  expert  goldsmith,  would  be  considered  very 
difficult  for  a  modern  jeweller  to  perform.  Spiral 
torques  are  not  uncommon  in  P'rance,  and  they  have 
been  discovered  fairly  frequently  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  but  the  great  interest  about  the  Grunty 
P'en  armilla  is  that  it  was  found  below  three  bronze 
implements,  and  it  appeared  that  this  beautiful  gold 
ornament  was  made  at  a  very  early  period  of  the 
Bronze  Age.  A  gold  bracelet  with  seal-like  ends 
was  exhibited  by  the  curator  as  typical  of  a  kind 
especially  common  in  Ireland.  Excepting  the  armilla, 
the  only  local  gold  ornament  probably  of  prehistoric 
date  which  the  museum  contains  is  the  upper  part  of 
a  little  pin  from  Grantchester.  Of  stone  implements, 
the  curator  said,  the  museum  now  holds  a  very  fine 
collection.  One  unfortunately  broken,  an  axe-head, 
was  probably  used  as  a  ceremonial  weapon  in  the 
later  Stone  Age,  or  at  a  period  contemporaneous 
with  the  Bronze  Age.  Perforated  axe-heads,  some 
of  which  were  exhibited,  are  fairly  common  in 
Denmark,  but  extremely  rare  in  Great  Britain. 
Another  prehistoric  stone,  carved  and  roughly 
spherical,  Baron  von  Hugel  supposed  to  have  been 
emblematic.  Having  shown  two  charms  worn 
locally  less  than  a  century  ago  as  an  insurance  re- 
spectively against  general  accident  and  small-pox, 
the  curator  asked  ladies  to  give  to  the  museum  old  . 
disused  jewellery  they  had  acquired.  He  pointed  out 
that  very  often  cheap  jewellery  made  for  the  poorer 
classes  before  the  coming  of  machinery  was  of  con- 
siderable antiquarian  interest,  and  referred  par- 
ticularly to  the  rough  ear  rings  worn  in  earlier 
generations.  A  number  of  idols  and  cases  of  flint 
weapons  were  included  in  the  exhibition,  for  arranging 
which  Baron  von  Hugel  was  thanked. 

+$     «•$      *s 

Lingard,  the  historian,  was  the  subject  of  a  paper 
by  Mr.  T.  Cann  Hughes  (town  clerk  of  Lancaster) 
read  before  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
Antiquarian  Society  in  Manchester  on  April  12. 
The  Bishop  of  Salford  (Dr.  Casartelli)  was  in  the 
chair,  and  the  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Sutton 
(chief  librarian  of  Manchester).  During  last  summer 
the  Society  had  an  excursion  to  Hornby,  near  Lan- 
caster, where  they  visited  the  chapel  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Mission,  of  which  the  Rev.  John  Lingard 
was  for  forty  years  priest  in  charge.     Lingard  was 


the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  of  long  Roman  Catholic 
descent.  He  was  sent  by  Bishop  Talbot  to  the 
English  College  at  Douay  in  1782.  Mr.  Hughes 
said  Lingard  was  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  at 
Ushaw,  and  in  181 1  retired  to  Hornby.  Visiting 
Rome  for  a  second  time  in  1825,  he  was  presented 
by  Pope  Leo  XII.  with  a  gold  medal,  now  missing, 
but  formerly  preserved  at  Ushaw,  such  as  was  only 
given  to  Cardinals.  Dr.  Lingard  was  at  Douay 
University  when  the  French  Revolution  broke  out, 
and  was  frequently  in  danger  from  his  love  of 
curiosity.  On  one  occasion  he  was  made  to  sing  the 
"  Ca  ira  "  with  the  muzzle  of  a  gun  at  his  breast. 

The  Bishop  of  Salford,  in  the  course  of  some  con- 
versation, said  the  question  whether  Lingard  was 
ever  made  a  Cardinal  was  very  interesting,  and  had 
been  much  discussed,  but  not  decided.  It  was  sup- 
posed there  was  some  intention  to  raise  him  to  that 
rank.  The  Bishop  brought  for  the  inspection  of  the 
members  a  photograph  of  the  Lingard  memorial 
brass  in  the  graveyard  of  Ushaw  College,  together 
with  a  snuff-box,  appropriately  made  of  tortoiseshell, 
which  had  belonged  to  Lingard,  and  a  manuscript 
letter,  undated,  written  by  him  to  the  Bishop  of 
Liverpool  during  illness. 

*>$  4>$  +Q 

The  Penzance  Natural  History  and  Anti- 
quarian Society,  by  the  permission  of  Sir  G. 
Fitzgerald,  has  been  opening  a  barrow  at  Carne- 
quidden.  The  work  was  begun  on  Wednesday, 
April  24,  under  the  management  of  Mr.  F.  Holman, 
Mr.  E.  Triggs,  Captain  J.  S.  Henderson,  and  Mr. 
J.  B.  Cornish.  The  weather  on  Friday  morning 
prevented  the  barrow  being  completely  opened  in 
time  for  the  visit  of  members  and  friends  of  the 
Society  in  the  afternoon.  The  barrow  is  about 
18  by  24  feet.  As  far  as  the  excavation  had  been 
carried  out  on  Friday  (April  26),  no  trace  of  the 
signs  of  cremation  or  of  burial  usual  in  the  barrows 
of  West  Cornwall  had  been  found,  but  three  large 
stones  resting  on  the  rab  were  lying  in  a  slightly 
curved  line  through  the  exact  middle.  They  were 
completely  buried  under  the  pile  of  small  stones  and 
earth  of  which  the  barrow  was  made,  and  are  said 
to  be  a  unique  feature.  The  line  of  these  three 
stones  gave  a  circle  with  a  radius  of  20  feet,  and  on 
tracing  out  such  a  circle  from  a  centre  just  outside 
the  barrow  on  the  north-east  side,  the  line  of  the 
circumference  was  found  to  pass  through  four  other 
large  stones  lying  out  in  the  surrounding  croft,  thus 
giving  a  very  similar  result  to  the  circle  ami  barrow 
at  Boskednan.  This  discovery  might  throw  some 
light  on  Sir  Norman  Lockyer's  theory  as  to  the 
astronomical  relations  of  barrows  and  circles,  and 
will  be  followed  up  carefully  by  the  Society. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Berks  Arch/F.ological 
Society  was  held  on  April  17,  the  Rev.  P.  H. 
Ditchfield  in  the  chair.  A  very  satisfactory  report 
and  statement  of  accounts  were  presented.  It  was 
pointed  out  in  the  former  that  the  discovery  of  a 
quern  and  some  Romano-British  pottery  at  the 
Prospect  Park  Brickworks,  Reading,  seems  to  indi- 
cate the  existence  of  some  important  Roman  building 
on  that  site,  which  has  been  examined  by  the  officers 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


237 


of  the  Society  and  by  Mr.  Mill  Stephenson,  the 
director  of  the  excavations  at  Silchester.  The 
honorary  librarian  reported  the  discovery  at  the 
Society's  meeting  in  February,  and  it  is  hoped  that 
some  excavations  may  be  made  which  may  reveal  the 
presence  of  a  Roman  villa. 

«0£  *H$  *H$ 

The  annual  business  meeting  of  the  Dorset  Natural 
History  and  Antiquarian  Field  Club  was  held 
on  May  2,  Mr.  N.  M.  Richardson  presiding.  The 
president  gave  an  able  and  very  comprehensive 
address  ;  and  besides  the  transaction  of  much  routine 
business,  four  summer  meetings  were  arranged.  It 
was  decided  to  open  the  season  on  Thursday,  June  20, 
with  a  "pilgrimage"  up  the  Valley  of  the  Pydel  to 
Buckland  Newton,  where  Canon  Ravenhill  has  kindly 
invited  the  party  to  tea.  The  district  is  rich  in 
Celtic  and  Roman  earthworks.  Then  the  club 
accepted  the  invitation  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Hudleston, 
past  president  of  the  Royal  Geological  Society,  an 
invitation  renewed  from  last  year,  when  it  had  to  be 
abandoned  owing  to  Mr.  Hudleston's  illness,  to  be 
his  guests  in  a  trip  by  steamboat  on  or  about  July  I 
from  Swanage  to  Weymouth  for  the  study  of  the 
geology  of  the  coast,  the  exposure  of  the  beds  pre- 
senting many  features  of  exceptional  interest.  Lord 
Eustace  Cecil,  ex-president  of  the  club,  had  invited 
the  club  to  his  seat  at  Lytchett,  to  take  tea,  in 
August,  and  it  was  decided  to  combine  the  acceptance 
of  this  invitation  with  a  proposed  visit  to  Wareham 
"the  walled  town."  The  fourth  and  last  excursion 
will,  by  the  kind  invitation  of  the  owner,  Mr.  Freeman 
Roper,  be  made  to  Forde  Abbey  in  September. 

^  +§  +§ 

The  subscribers  to  the  British  School  of  Arche- 
ology in  Egypt  and  to  the  Egyptian  Research 
Account  were  invited  yesterday  afternoon  to  Univer- 
sity College  to  hear  from  Professor  Flinders  Petrie  a 
lecture  on  the  excavations  of  the  current  year.  Work, 
said  the  lecturer,  had  been  carried  on  at  two  different 
places  for  about  a  month  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Pyramids  of  Gizeh,  and  for  two  months  near  Assiout. 
At  Gizeh  he  worked  on  a  site  where  some  years  ago 
an  Egyptian  official  discovered  a  tomb  of  the  period 
of  the  First  Dynasty.  That  was  a  large  tomb,  prob- 
ably of  a  royal  personage,  though  not  of  a  King. 
It  had  been  cleared  out,  but  round  it  he  found  forty- 
nine  graves,  many  containing  objects  of  interest, 
stone  vases,  a  bracelet  and  collar  of  blue  glaze, 
showing  that  the  dependents  imitated  the  jewellery  of 
their  masters,  and,  above  all,  a  fine  example  of  a 
slate  paint  palette,  some  ivory  dancing  wands,  and 
two  large  flint  knives  similar  to  those  which  had 
been  found  in  the  central  tomb.  In  another  spot 
was  found  a  tomb  of  the  period  of  the  Second 
Dynasty,  from  which  some  stone  vases  and  a  large 
number  of  marbles  in  brown  quartz,  one  of  them  of 
red  cornelian,  were  obtained.  In  that  tomb  also  was 
a  flint  slab  about  a  foot  long,  thin  and  translucent,  of 
which  he  could  not  say  the  use.  It  was  highly 
finished,  and  he  had  seen  nothing  like  it.  That 
remained  in  Egypt,  but  Professor  Maspero  had  been 
generous  in  connexion  with  the  other  finds,  many  of 
which  were  coming  to  England,  and  would  be  ex- 
hibited in  July.  He  found  along  the  hill-side  a 
number  of  Fifth  Dynasty  tombs,  some  with  inscribed 


lintels.  He  also  worked  on  a  poor  and  very  crowded 
cemetery  of  more  recent  periods,  and  brought  home 
1,600  skulls  for  examination  by  the  proper  authori- 
ties. At  Assiout  he  worked  eight  miles  south  of  the 
place,  on  a  cemetery  which  had  gradually  been 
covered  up  by  the  gravel  washed  down  from  the  hills. 
The  graves  were  from  the  Sixth  to  the  Twelfth 
Dynasty,  and  were  fairly  well  preserved.  The  most 
interesting  finds  were  the  trays  used  for  food  offerings, 
which  gradually  developed  till  they  became  models  of 
dwellings,  with  staircases,  portico,  and  the  like,  some 
of  them  2  feet  high.  Thus  he  had  been  able  to  ascer- 
tain what  the  old  Egyptian  dwelling  was  like.  Very 
few  of  these  objects  were  known  before,  but  he  had 
now  found  150  of  them  in  more  or  less  perfect  con- 
dition. One  wooden  tomb  of  the  Twelfth  Dynasty 
was  one  of  the  finest  he  had  ever  seen.  It  was  at  the 
mouth  of  the  rock  tomb  of  a  chief,  and  contained 
five  statuettes  and  other  objects.  He  had  often  won- 
dered at  the  size  of  the  rock  tombs,  but  he  concluded 
from  what  he  had  seen  of  unfinished  ones  that  they 
were  used  as  a  quarry  by  the  chief  to  build  the  house 
he  would  inhabit  in  life,  and  then  the  space  quarried 
out  was  used  for  his  last  long  sleep  in  death.  He 
had  found  also  two  complete  models  of  boats  and 
a  black  granite  figure  seated,  some  15  inches  high, 
which  showed  much  anatomical  knowledge,  though 
the  proportions  were  not  always  correct.  Such 
figures  were  rare  in  the  Twelfth  Dynasty  tombs.  The 
lecture  was  illustrated  by  lantern  slides,  showing 
many  of  the  objects  found. — Morning  Post,  May  10. 


iRetiietos  ann  Notices 
of  jfteto  IBooks. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review^  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.} 

The  Old  Church  Plate  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 
By  E.  Alfred  Jones.  Twenty  plates.  London  : 
Bemrose  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1907.  Demy  4to. , 
pp.  xxxii,  33.  Price  103.  6d.  net. 
Mr.  Alfred  Jones's  rare  industry  in  connection  with 
old  church  plate  is  again  exemplified  by  the  produc- 
tion of  this  handsome  and  well-illustrated  volume 
dealing  with  the  plate  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  Notwith- 
standing its  small  area,  the  island  can  show  two  pieces 
of  pre-Reformation  plate,  whilst  much  of  the  remainder 
is  of  more  than  usual  interest.  The  chalice  at  Kirk 
Patrick  of  Jurby,  an  admirable  reproduction  of  which 
forms  the  frontispiece  to  this  work,  bears  the  London 
date-letter  of  1521-22.  It  has  the  usual  plain  shallow 
bowl,  with  hexagonal  stem,  divided  by  an  ornate  knop, 
which  bears  six  diamond-shaped  projections  decorated 
with  angel  faces.  The  foot  is  sexfoil  in  form,  and  has 
a  rudely-engraved  crucifix.  The  mediseval  paten  at 
Kirk  Malew  is  of  particular  interest  because  of  the 
legend  engraved  round  the  rim — Sancte  Lupe  ora  pro 
nobis.     It  has  recently  been  argued  that  this  inscrip- 


238 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


tion  connects  the  church  with  an  Irish  saint,  Moliba 
or  Molipa,  under  a  Latinized  form  ;  but  the  more 
obvious  idea  that  it  refers  to  St.  Lupus,  a  pupil  of 
St.  German,  is  far  preferable.  This  paten  bears  no 
date-letter  or  other  marks,  but  it  is  obviously  one  of 
the  earlier  part  of  Henry  VIII. 's  reign.  The  vernicle 
or  face  of  our  Lord  is  engraved  in  the  sunk  sexfoil 
centre. 

One  of  the  remarkable  features  of  the  twenty  and 
odd  old  Manx  churches  is  that  they  do  not  possess 
a  single  example  of  the  Elizabethan  communion-cup 
with  paten-cover,  which  occurs,  generally  with  much 
frequency,  in  every  county  of  England  and  Wales. 
Mr.  Jones  suggests  that  "this  may  be  accounted  for 
by  the  tenacious  hold  on  the  people  of  many  of  the 
customs  of  the  unreformed  Church,  long  after  such 
'  reliques  of  superstition '  had  been  abandoned  in 
England."  Nevertheless  the  island  does  possess  one 
piece  of  Elizabethan  plate,  in  the  fine  beaker,  dated 
1591-92,  which  serves  as  a  communion-cup  at  Kirk 
German.  This  stemless  domestic  drinking-cup — it  is 
hardly  possible  to  conceive  a  more  inconvenient  if  not 
irreverent  shape  to  be  used  as  a  chalice — has  a  deli- 
cately engraved  band  of  strap  ornament  of  the  same 
kind  as  usually  appears  on  the  Elizabethan  com- 
munion-cups ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever 
that  this  vessel  was  designed  for  secular  use,  and  it 
was  probably  not  given  to  the  church  until  fully  a 
century  after  its  construction.  The  unfortunate  thing 
about  this  Kirk  German  beaker  is  that  it  evidently 
created  a  taste  for  this  kind  of  Dutch  drinking-cup  in 
Manxland.  There  is  one  of  Dutch  workmanship 
dating  from  about  1600,  which  was  given  in  1747  to 
St.  Paul's,  Ramsey ;  another  one,  hall-marked  at 
Dublin  in  1708-10,  is  at  Kirk  Patrick  ;  and  a  French 
One,  circa  1720,  is  at  the  church  of  Kirk  Marown. 
Other  beakers,  all  of  eighteenth-century  date,  may  be 
noticed  at  Kirk  Lonan,  Kirk  German,  Douglas  St. 
Matthew,  Kirk  Braddon,  and  Kirk  Santon.  St.  Paul's, 
Ramsey,  possesses  a  second  beaker,  given  by  Bishop 
Short  in  1843.  This  brings  the  number  of  these 
beakers  up  to  ten  ;  though  so  obviously  unsuited  for 
their  sacred  purpose,  these  vessels  have  their  interest 
as  pieces  of  plate,  and  no  two  are  alike. 

The  Commonwealth  is  naturally  but  little  repre- 
sented anywhere  in  church  plate,  but  the  diocese  of 
Sodor  and  Man  contains  three  good  examples.  At 
Kirk  German  are  a  chalice  and  flagon,  made  in  1650, 
but  not  presented  to  that  church  until  twenty  years 
later.  The  donor  was  Bishop  Henry  Bridgeman, 
who  held  the  see  from  1671  to  1682.  The  number 
of  pieces  of  plate  that  he  gave  to  the  Isle  of  Man 
coincide  with  the  number  of  visits  that  he  paid  to  his 
diocese,  for,  as  Mr.  Jones  says,  his  "chief  claim  to 
distinction  appears  to  be  that  he  visited  his  see  only 
twice."  The  other  piece  of  Commonwealth  plate 
also  occurs  at  Kirk  German  ;  it  is  a  plain  cylindrical 
flagon,  bearing  the  hall-mark  of  1653-54,  and  has  in 
front,  within  an  oval,  a  standing  figure  of  our  Lord 
as  the  Good  Shepherd,  engraved  by  a  contemporary 
artist.  Pictorial  engravings  on  post  -  Reformation 
sacramental  plate  are  most  rare,  and  we  believe  that 
this  is  the  only  known  instance  of  the  Commonwealth 
period. 

A  rare  little  chalice  of  much  interest  —  circa 
1685 — has  a  poorly  engraved  representation  of  the 


Crucifixion,  with  the  sacred  monogram  above  ;  below 
is  the  unique  inscription,  Andreas  Christi  famulus. 
It  pertains  to  the  church  of  Kirk  Andreas. 

Among  several  secular  cups  that  have  been  pre- 
sented to  Manx  churches  for  sacred  use  from  time  to 
time  is  a  silver  goblet,  made  in  1807-8,  at  Kirk 
Braddan.  It  was  originally  offered  by  a  noted 
Manxman,  John  Christian  Curwen,  M.P.  for  Carlisle 
and  afterwards  for  Cumberland,  as  a  prize  for  the 
best-cultivated  farm  in  the  Isle  of  Man.  An  English 
church  can  put  this  instance  in  the  shade,  for  the 
church  of  Spondon,  Derbyshire,  has  a  great  two- 
handled  plated  cup,  which  was  won  at  a  coursing 
match  ! 

Space  prohibits  any  further  reference  to  the  most 
interesting  contents  of  this  tasteful  volume. 

J.  Charles  Cox. 
if.  if.  -if. 
The  Khasis.  By  Major  P.  R.  T.  Gurdon,  LA. 
With  an  Introduction  by  Sir  Charles  Lyall, 
K. C.S.I.  Nineteen  illustrations.  London  : 
David  Null,  1907.  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xxviii,  227. 
Price  7s.  6d.  net. 

This  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  monographs  on  the 
chief  tribes  and  castes  of  Assam,  to  be  published 
under  the  orders  of  the  Government  of  Eastern 
Bengal  and  Assam.  The  writer  is  serving  in  the 
province  as  Deputy  Commissioner  and  as  Superin- 
tendent of  Ethnography,  and  has  for  a  considerable 
period  thus  been  in  close  touch  with  the  Khasi  race, 
whose  habits  and  institutions,  laws  and  customs, 
religion  and  folk-lore,  he  here  describes  and  dis- 
cusses. The  reader  having  these  facts  in  mind  will 
be  prepared  for  a  volume  of  ethnographical  and  folk- 
lore importance,  and  he  will  not  be  disappointed. 
The  book,  indeed,  is  of  marked  and  peculiar  interest ; 
and  not  least  so  because  the  social  fabric  of  the  Khasis 
is  an  extraordinarily  perfect  example  of  matriarchal 
institutions  still  surviving  and  carried  out  in  the  most 
thorough-going  manner.  The  wife  takes  her  husband 
home  to  live  in  his  mother-in-law's  house ;  when 
reckoning  descent,  the  Khasis  count  from  the  mother 
only  ;  their  ceremonial  religion,  especially  on  its 
domestic  side,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  women  ;  all 
property  which  has  been  acquired  by  a  man  before 
marriage  is  considered  to  belong  to  his  mother  ;  and 
so  in  many  ways  the  influences  of  the  matriarchate 
make  themselves  apparent. 

For  folk-lore  students  the  volume  is  specially 
valuable.  Major  Gurdon,  in  discussing  ancestor- 
worship,  and  birth  and  other  customs,  points  out 
interesting  parallels  to  and  illustrations  of  points 
discussed  in  Dr.  Fraser's  Golden  Bough.  He  also 
prints,  both  in  the  original  and  in  translation,  a 
number  of  typical  folk-tales.  The  Khasis  are  strong 
in  folk-tales.  The  extraordinary  abundance  of 
"memorial  stones,"  and  the  uses  to  which  they  are 
put,  supply  a  chapter  of  special  interest.  From  an 
ethnographic  point  of  view,  Major  Gurdon's  descrip- 
tion of  the  dress  and  ornaments,  the  domestic  life — 
houses  and  furniture,  games,  occupations  and  manu- 
factures— and  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  Khasis, 
are  of  lasting  value. 

The  author  remarks  that  "  in  a  few  years'  time,  if 
the  progressive  rate  of  conversions  of  Khasis  to 
Christianity  continues,  probably  the  greater  number 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


239 


of  the  Khasi  social  customs  will  have  disappeared." 
This  makes  the  value  and  importance  of  the  work 
here  accomplished  by  Major  Gurdon  all  the  greater. 
If  the  other  monographs  which  are  to  follow  this 
volume  are  prepared  in  the  same  able  manner,  and 
from  a  like  wealth  of  first-hand  information,  it  will 
be  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  importance  of  the 
services  rendered  by  the  Government  to  anthropo- 
logical science  in  arranging  for  and  superintending 
their  publication.     Of  the  nineteen  full-page  illustra- 
tions, eight  are  very  effective  reproductions  in  colour 
of  pictures  of  characteristic  types  of  the  people,  while 
the  others  are  from  photographs  of  scenes  and  places. 
Among  the  latter  the  views  of  a  Khasi  Stonehenge, 
the  Khasi  burning  platform,  and  the  great  Monolith 
at  Nartiang  are  specially  striking. 
*      *      * 
Ightham  :  the  Story  of  a  Kentish  Village. 
By  F.  J.  Bennett,  F.G.S.     Many  illustrations, 
plans,   and   a   map.     London  :    The   Homeland 
Association,    1907.     8vo.,   pp.  viii,    158.     Price 
7s.  6d.  net. 

The  picturesque  village  of  Ightham  claims  the  par- 
ticular notice  of  all  antiquaries  from  the  fact  that 
through  the  indefatigable  labours  of  one  of  its  sons, 
we  are  in  possession  of  information  relating  to  the 
earliest  human  occupation  of  the  British  Islands. 
Mr.  Benjamin  Harrison,  who  has  been  aptly  com- 
pared to  Robert  Dick  of  Thurso,  is  a  working  man 
whose  energy  and  perseverance  have  put  his  more 
learned  scientific  brethren  in  possession  of  unim- 
peachable evidence  of  the  occupation  of  his  district 
by  an  implement-making  biped  at  a  much  earlier 
period  than  was  previously  thought  possible.  To 
the  oldest  implements  which  Mr.  Harrison  has  found 
(and  these  can  now  be  seen  in  all  the  principal 
museums),  the  name  of  eoliths  has  been  given,  and 
it  can  be  safely  stated  that  they  represent  the  dawn 
or  the  beginning  of  a  period  of  artificially-worked 
stones. 

But  apart  from  this  most  important  chapter  in  the 
history  of  our  race,  the  Ightham  district  commends 
itself  to  our  notice  from  the  fact  that  in  the  famous 
ossiferous  fissures  a  wealth  of  organic  remains  has 
been  obtained,  which  throw  a  flood  of  light  upon  the 
exceedingly  early  fauna  and  flora  of  Great  Britain, 
dating  back  to  the  time  when  this  country  was  un- 
questionably part  of  the  Continent.  These  remains 
are  carefully  described  in  the  present  volume  by  Mr. 
W.  J.  Lewis  Abbott,  who  has  spent  so  much  time  in 
working  them  out.  As  becomes  a  volume  dealing 
with  so  interesting  a  district,  it  is  largely  devoted  to 
the  geological  history  of  the  area,  and  it  is  perhaps  as 
well  that  this  is  so,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  archae- 
ologists necessarily  must  court  the  aid  of  the  geologists 
in  dealing  with  that  period  when  man  first  makes  his 
appearance.  In  view  of  this  the  author,  Mr.  F.  J. 
Bennett,  F.G.S.,  formerly  of  H.M.  Geological  Survey, 
who  is  exceedingly  well  qualified  to  deal  with  the 
subject,  must  be  congratulated  on  making  a  welcome 
addition  to  the  literature  of  a  district  which  has  so 
important  a  bearing  upon  the  history  of  the  whole 
country. 

In  dealing  with  more  modern  times  the  author  has 
courted  the  assistance  of  others,  and,  in  addition  to 
Mr.  Lewis  Abbott's  contribution,  we  find  chapters 


written  by  E.  W.  Filkins,  Beniamin  Harrison, 
J.  Russell  Larkby,  J.  Scott  Temple,  and  H.  J. 
Osborne  White,  F.G.S.  Amongst  these  latter 
articles  one  of  exceeding  interest  is  that  dealing  with 
the  curious  ornamental  tombstones  found  in  Kentish 
graveyards,  and  from  the  excellent  illustrations  given 
it  is  obvious  that  there  is  some  work  to  be  done  in 
this  direction,  though  we  should  doubt  very  much 
the  suggestion  made  that  the  place-name  Ightham 
can  have  any  connexion  with  the  "all-seeing  eye  of 
God  "  represented  on  some  of  the  tombstones. 

There  are  some  excellent  illustrations  of  the  interest- 
ing old  buildings  in  Ightham,  particular  attention 
being  deservedly  drawn  to  the  Ightham  Mote,  which 
contains  so  many  records  of  bygone  times.  The  Mote 
was  apparently  first  occupied  by  Sir  Ivo  de  Haut, 
who  possessed  it  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  and  from 
then  until  the  present  time  a  list  is  given  showing 
the  various  owners.  As  might  be  expected,  the 
building  has  been  added  to  from  time  to  time,  but 
it  is  quite  easy  to  distinguish  when  and  how  the 
alterations  were  made,  even  including  the  quite 
modern  additions  !  Another  interesting  building  is 
the  Town  House,  which,  though  it  appears  to  bear 
the  date  1587,  is  obviously  much  older.  A  most 
valuable  appendix  is  added  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Harri- 
son, and  contains  a  very  lengthy  list  of  the  place- 
names  in  Ightham  parish.  Some  of  these  are  very 
interesting  indeed,  and  Mr.  Harrison  is  to  be  con- 
gratulated on  the  thoroughness  with  which  he  has 
done  this  work.  Messrs.  White  and  Abbott  also  con- 
tribute a  useful  bibliography  of  the  principal  works 
dealing  with  the  geology  and  flint  implements  of  the 
Ightham  district,  dating  from  1853  to  the  present 
time.  As  a  frontispiece  is  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Benjamin 
Harrison,  and  there  are  numerous  illustrations,  plans, 
sections,  etc.,  and  a  map  of  the  district  in  a  pocket 
at  the  end  of  the  volume. 

T.  Sheppard. 
*     *     * 

Popular  Poetry  of  the  Baloches.  By  M. 
Long  worth  Dames,  M.R.A.  S.  Two  vols,  in 
one.  London  :  for  the  Folk-Lore  Society,  David 
Nutt,  1907.  8vo.,  pp.  xl,  204.  and  224.  Price  15s. 
net. 
The  Folk-Lore  Society  issues  this  book  as  the 
members'  volume  for  1905,  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society 
co-operating  in  the  publication.  It  will  be  sufficient 
to  show  the  importance  of  the  work  undertaken  to 
point  out  that  hardly  any  specimens  of  Balochi  poetry 
have  hitherto  been  accessible  to  Oriental  students, 
and  the  few  that  have  appeared  have  left  much  to 
be  desired  in  the  matter  of  accuracy  of  printing.  Mr. 
Dames  has  spent  years  in  Balochistan,  and  has 
devoted  much  time  and  labour  to  the  task  here  so 
successfully  accomplished.  The  ballad  poetry  of  the 
Baloches  has  been  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation  by  families  known  as  hereditary  bards  and 
minstrels.  "  Among  the  Baloches,"  says  Mr.  Dames, 
"  they  are  the  professional  minstrels  ;  they  sing  the 
poems  in  the  assemblies  of  the  clans,  but  are  not  poets 
themselves,  as  they  often  are  among  the  Afghans." 
There  is  little  of  the  literary  element  in  the  poetry  of 
the  Baloches  ;  its  origin  is  purely  popular.  The 
ballads  here  translated  reflect  the  racial  history  and 


240 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


characteristics  of  the  people,  and  often  give  vivid 
pictures  of  life  and  of  the  aspect  of  the  country.  Mr. 
Dames  classifies  them  as  heroic  or  epic  ballads,  war 
ballads,  romantic  ballads,  love-songs  and  lyrics,  re- 
ligious and  didactic  poems,  and  legends  of  saints,  a 
few  legends  in  prose,  and  some  cradle-songs,  riddles, 
etc.  He  wisely  does  not  attempt  to  reproduce  metri- 
cal forms  in  his  translations,  but  gives  the  meaning 
fully  in  simple  prose.  In  the  second  volume,  bound 
up  with  the  first,  the  full  Balochi  texts  are  given.  In 
an  erudite  introduction  Mr.  Dames  discusses  the 
sources,  origin,  character,  and  classification  of  Balochi 
poetry,  forms  and  metres,  methods  of  singing,  and 
the  antiquity  of  the  heroic  poems.  At  the  end  of  the 
volume  there  is  a  chapter  on  the  language  of  Balochi 
poetry,  with  a  glossary,  indexes,  and  other  apparatus. 
Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  Mr.  Dames  has 
broken  almost  virgin  soil,  and  has  produced  an 
original  work  of  unusual  value.  The  Folk-Lore 
Society  has  printed  many  good  books  ;  and  Mr. 
Dames's  volume  is  worthy  to  rank  with  the  best. 

*  *      * 

Dr.  Davies  Pryce  sends  us  his  paper  on  "Earth- 
works of  the  Moated  Mound  Type,"  reprinted  from 
Wit  Journal  oi  the  British  Archaeological  Association. 
The  general  trend  of  recent  opinion — and  the  subject 
has  of  late  been  pretty  fully  discussed — is,  as  Dr. 
Pryce  says,  "in  the  direction  of  regarding  all  moated 
mounds  as  of  Norman  origin."  In  this  paper,  which 
is  well  illustrated,  Dr.  Pryce  reviews  the  evidence 
and  discusses  the  whole  subject  with  marked  ability, 
and  with  a  most  praiseworthy  impartiality  and  sanity. 
His  conclusions,  so  far  as  examples  of  the  moated 
mound  type  of  fortress  in  these  islands  are  concerned, 
is  that  though  "  the  case  for  Norman  origin  and  occu- 
pation may  be  regarded  as  definitely  proved,  there 
are  good  grounds  for  concluding  that  some  examples 
are  of  much  earlier  date."  We  are  at  one  with  him 
in  deprecating  too  hasty  generalizations  on  a  subject 
with  regard  to  which  our  knowledge  is  not  yet  com- 
plete, and  meanwhile  thank  him  for  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  the  debate. 

*  *     * 

The  chief  attraction  in  the  Architectural  Review, 
May,  is  an  article,  liberally  and  finely  illustrated,  by 
Mr.  C.  J.  Blomfield,  on  "Alston  Court  and  its 
Reparation."  The  Court  (at  Nayland)  is  a  most 
interesting  example  of  the  minor  domestic  archi- 
tecture of  the  latter  part  of  the  time  of  Edward  IV. 
It  is  a  half-timbered  house,  which  had  begun  to  get 
into  a  rather  dilapidated  condition.  Mr.  Blomfield 
has  carried  out  a  fine  scheme  of  conservative  repara- 
tion and  adaptation.  We  have  also  on  our  table 
Rivista  a*  Italia,  April ;  the  Berks,  Bucks,  and  Oxon 
Archaeological  Journal,  April,  with  a  varied  and 
attractive  list  of  contents  ;  East  Anglian,  January 
and  February,  with  papers  on  "The  Norwich  Dutch 
Church  ;  its  Possessions  and  Trusts ";  Scottish  Notes 
and  Queries,  May,  with  a  farrago  of  notes  and  replies 
of  special  interest  to  Scottish  genealogical  students  ; 
the  American  Antiquarian,  March  and  April,  with 
notes  on  American  "Arrowheads  and  Harpoons," 
and  other  contributions  to  transatlantic  archaeology  ; 
and  a  full  catalogue  of  musical  books  and  manuscripts 
from  Ludwig  Rosenthal,  Munich. 


Corasponnence. 

THE  COFFIN  OF  WILLIAM  HARVEY. 

TO   THE    EDITOR. 

The  article  on  the  coffin  of  Wdliam  Harvey  in  the 
April  number  of  the  Antiquary  is  most  interesting, 
and  possibly  you  may  regard  my  recollection  of  the 
coffin  and  vault  at  Hempstead  as  of  some  interest  to 
your  readers.  I  visited  the  church  on  several  occa- 
sions, once  in  1858-59,  and  lastly  in  1864,  in  company 
with  my  brother-in-law,  the  late  Dr.  G.  W.  Marshall, 
F.S.A.,  York  Herald,  we  then  being  undergraduates 
at  Cambridge,  my  home  being  at  Debden,  not  far 
from  Hempstead.  It  was  then  the  common  report 
that  anyone  could  go  to  Hempstead  and  "shake 
Harvey's  bones."  I,  however,  never  saw  this  at- 
tempted. The  coffin  lay  close  under  and  across  an 
unglazed  window  or  opening  in  the  church  wall,  and 
certainly  both  rain  and  snow  could  drift  in  upon  the 
coffin.  The  coffin  had  opened  at  the  soldering  joint, 
from  where  the  ankle-bones  would  be  to  the  lower 
part  of  the  body,  the  split  bring  rather  more  open  at 
the  feet  and  going  off  to  nothing.  I  often  heard  the 
incident  of  the  frog  :  it  must  have  been  a  small  frog, 
as  I  distinctly  remember  the  opening  was  by  no  means 
wide.  Besides  Harvey's  coffin  there  were  several 
almost  exactly  like  it  standing  or  leaning  upright  in  a 
row  against  the  wall  of  the  vault,  and  the  sexton  said 
that  all  originally  had  been  enclosed  in  wooden  cases. 
I  suspect  the  sexton  himself  stood  the  coffins  on  end 
in  order  to  make  more  of  a  show.  I  have  an  indistinct 
recollection  of  one  or  more  coffins  on  the  floor  of  the 
ordinary  kind,  but  I  am  not  sure  on  this  point.  The 
coffin  illustrating  Mr.  G.  Montague  Benton's  article 
is  somewhat  different  to  the  rather  flattened  coffin  I 
remember,  but  possibly  this  is  the  restored  coffin,  as 
I  see  no  trace  of  the  split  down  the  lower  end. 

IIumi'Hrey  F.  Hall. 

Leasbrook,  near  Monmouth. 


A  TOMBSTONE  IN  JARROW  CHURCH- 
YARD. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

In  the  churchyard  of  Bede's  church,  Jarrow,  there 
is  a  tombstone,  a  horizontal  slab  which  the  caretaker 
calls  a  "  rhymnal  stone."  The  corners  are  broken, 
because,  says  the  caretaker,  folk  used  to  run  round  it 
knocking  these  corners  with  another  stone  held  in  the 
hand,  at  the  same  time  uttering  some  rhythmical 
incantation. 

Any  information  on  this  matter — and,  if  I  remember 
rightly,  the  custom  is  by  no  means  unique — will  be 
very  welcome  to 

Harry  Lowerison. 

Heacham-on-Sea,  Norfolk, 
May  3,  1907. 


Note  to  Publishers.— We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
cf  books  sent  for  review. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


241 


The   Antiquary. 


JULY,  1907. 


Bom  of  t&e  3£ontb. 


The  question  of  the  moment  is,  What  is  to 
become  of  Crosby  Hall  ?  The  freeholder, 
Alderman  Sir  Horatio  Davies,  has  sold  it  to 
the  directors  of  the  Chartered  Bank  of  India 
at  a  price,  it  is  understood,  of  ^178,000, 
and  the  directors,  it  is  believed,  propose  to 
demolish  the  historic  building  and  replace  it 
by  a  modern  bank.  We  can  hardly  believe 
that  Londoners  will  stand  quietly  by  and  see 
such  destruction  wrought  without  a  strong 
effort  to  prevent  it.  The  Court  of  Common 
Council  at  first  refused  to  move  in  the  matter, 
but  has  now  agreed  to  reconsider  its  position. 
Many  of  the  citizens  have  shown  that  they 
are  neither  ignorant  nor  neglectful  of  their 
historic  past,  and  are  doing  their  utmost  to 
preserve  Crosby  Hall  from  demolition.  The 
building  has  many  historic  associations,  and 
is  a  fine  example  of  fifteenth-century  domestic 
architecture.  Especially  noteworthy  is  the 
splendid  timber -work  of  the  inner  roof  of 
the  great  hall,  which  dates  from  1466. 
When  Sir  John  Crosby,  who  built  the  Hall, 
died,  the  house  passed  by  purchase  to  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  afterwards  Richard  III. 
Within  its  walls,  in  1483,  the  crown  was 
offered  to  Richard  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and 
citizens.  Later  it  became  an  appropriate 
residence  for  the  Lord  Mayor.  Between 
15 1 6  and  1523  Crosby  Hall  was  occupied 
by  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  welcomed 
Henry  VIII.  more  than  once  to  the 
mansion.  After  the  Dissolution,  it  was 
bought  by  one  Antonio  Bonvici,  a  merchant 

VOL.  III. 


of  Lucca,  from  the  King  for  ,£207  18s.  4d. 
Bonvici  subsequently  forfeited  the  property, 
which  was  then  granted  by  Henry  VIII.  to 
Lord  Darcy.  Another  resident  at  Crosby 
Hall  was  Lord  Mayor  Sir  John  Spencer, 
"  the  rich  Spencer,"  who  entertained  Queen 
Elizabeth  there,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  Shakespeare  was  in  1598  a  parishioner 
of  St.  Helen's.  The  Earl  of  Northampton 
and  Sir  John  Langham  subsequently  tenanted 
the  Hall,  which  at  one  period  was  used  as  a 
prison  for  the  Royalists  detained  for  trial. 

4p  &         <fe 

The  palace  escaped  the  Great  Fire.  A  floor 
was  put  in  the  great  hall  in  1672,  so  that  the 
upper  part  from  the  level  of  the  minstrels' 
gallery  might  be  used  for  Nonconformist 
meetings,  and  for  ninety-two  years  it  was 
devoted  to  these  religious  services.  The 
last  sermon  was  preached  there  on  October  1, 
1769.  In  1692  the  lower  part  of  the  hall 
was  let  as  a  warehouse,  and  eight  years  later 
the  building  was  the  meeting-house  of  the 
East  India  Company.  The  place  was  re- 
stored by  public  subscription  in  1836,  and 
reopened  by  the  Lord  Mayor.  It  was  sub- 
sequently the  head-quarters  of  a  literary  and 
scientific  institute,  in  which  the  late  Prince 
Consort  took  a  deep  interest.  In  i860  the 
Hall  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  firm  of  wine 
merchants ;  and  twelve  years  later,  again 
changing  hands,  it  became  a  restaurant,  and 
has  so  remained  till  the  present  time. 

The  illustration  on  the  next  page,  for  the  use 
of  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of 
the  proprietors  of  the  London  Argus,  shows 
the  gabled  front  of  the  Hall  in  the  main 
street,  which  is  modern  work.  But  the 
building  behind  —  the  ancient  mansion, 
which  is  associated  with  so  many  great 
names  and  with  so  many  moving  events  in 
our  English  history — should  surely  be  pre- 
served. It  will  be  a  pitiful  blot  upon  the 
civic  record  if  so  storied  a  house  be  allowed 
to  perish. 

«fr  •fr  4? 
Referring  to  the  splendid  timber-work  in  the 
roof  of  Crosby  Hall,  mentioned  in  the  first 
"Note"  above,  the  Builder  of  June  8  thus 
describes  it :  "  Ornamented  pendants  hang 
from  the  points  of  intersection  of  low-pointed 
arches,  the  spandrels  being  pierced  with 
trefoil  -  headed    openings.       The    principal 

2  h 


242 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


CROSBY    HALL. 


timbers  are  carved  with  flowers  and  foliage 
in  a  hollow,  and  the  whole  springs  from 
octangular  stone  corbels  on  the  piers  between 
the  windows.  The  oriel  of  the  hall  is  vaulted 
in  stone  and  beautifully  groined,  having  ribs 


that  spring  from  angle  pillars  with  bosses  and 
foliage  at  the  points  of  intersection." 

$  $  $ 

The  duty  of  the  moment  is  to  save  Crosby 
Hall  from  destruction  ;  consideration  of  the 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


243 


uses  to  which  it  might  be  put  will  come  later. 
Meanwhile,  we  note  with  approval  an  ad- 
mirable suggestion  made  by  Mr.  Thackeray 
Turner,  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  for  the 
Protection  of  Ancient  Buildings,  that  the 
Hall  "  would  make  a  magnificent  City 
museum  of  the  type  of  the  Cluny  in  Paris." 

•fr  «$»  $? 
By  a  curious  coincidence,  it  is  announced 
that  amongst  a  quantity  of  what  were  sup- 
posed to  be  waste  papers,  acquired  a  little 
while  ago  by  Messrs.  Puttick  and  Simpson, 
have  been  found  a  number  of  valuable  docu- 
ments of  the  time  of  King  Edward  VI.  and 
Queens  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  relating  to  the 
various  tenancies  of  Crosby  Hall,  or  Crosby 
Place. 

♦         $?        «fr 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries 
held  on  June  6  the  following  gentlemen  were 
elected  fellows  :  The  Hon.  John  Fortescue 
and  Messrs.  A.  W.  N.  Burder,  F.  S.  Danson, 
Alban  Head,  F.  H.  Tristram  Jervoise,  and 
Edward  Wooler. 

%?  4?  %? 
It  is  proposed  to  place  a  memorial  of  the 
late  Rev.  J.  L.  Fish,  for  forty  years  Rector 
of  St.  Margaret-Pattens,  in  the  City,  in  the 
Chapel  of  St.  Nicholas,  Carisbrooke  Castle. 
Mr.  Fish  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  restora- 
tion of  this  chapel.  The  honorary  secretaries 
of  the  movement  are  the  Rev.  S.  E.  L. 
Spooner-Lillingston,  29,  Hanover  Court, 
Hanover  Square,  W.,  and  Mr.  J.  S.  Ham, 
Einhallow,  Addiscombe,  Croydon. 

#»      $»     4? 

Antiquaries,  and  all  who  value  the  preserva- 
tion of  archaeological  remains,  will  learn  with 
unmixed  pleasure  of  the  steps  to  be  taken  by 
the  Egyptian  Government  to  secure  that  the 
raising  of  the  Assouan  dam  and  the  con- 
sequent submergence  of  a  vast  area  of 
country  rich  in  historic  remains  shall  not 
be  permitted  to  work  more  havoc  than  is 
inevitable  in  carrying  out  this  great  project. 
The  care  already  taken  to  maintain  the 
remains  on  the  Island  of  Philae  is  to  be 
extended  to  other  places  of  archaeological 
and  architectural  interest  which  will  be  sub- 
merged when  the  enlarged  reservoir  is  full. 

&         4?         %? 
No  less  a  sum  than  ^E. 60,000  is  to  be  spent 
by  the  Egyptian  Government,  and  a  thorough 


archaeological  survey  is  to  be  taken  in  hand. 
The  survey,  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  informs  us,  is  to  include  all 
temples  and  town  sites,  cemeteries  and  all 
other  indications  of  ancient  civilization,  plans 
of  these  being  prepared  to  a  large  scale. 
Copies  will  be  made  of  all  inscriptions, 
whether  on  walls  or  rocks,  beginning  with 
those  which  will  be  first  submerged.  The 
ancient  cemeteries,  etc.,  will  be  excavated, 
and  everything  will  be  recorded.  The 
temples  and  other  ancient  buildings  that 
may  possibly  be  affected  by  the  increased 
level  of  the  water  in  the  reservoir  will  be 
underpinned,  fortified,  and  at  the  same  time 
measured  and  drawn.  Lastly,  the  result  of  all 
investigations  will  be  published  to  the  world. 

«$»  &  «fr 
The  remains  of  a  Roman  villa  of  considerable 
size  have  been  unearthed  by  Dr.  Hensleigh 
Walter,  of  Stoke-under-Ham,  at  the  eastern 
entrance  of  the  Roman  stronghold  of 
Hamdon  Hill,  Somerset.  Portions  of  several 
rooms  have  been  uncovered,  and  pieces  of 
plaster  frescoed  in  various  colours,  numerous 
fragments  of  Roman  tiles,  pottery,  window- 
glass,  etc.,  have  been  discovered.  In  other 
parts  of  the  hill  Dr.  Walter  has  recently  dis- 
covered various  articles  of  great  antiquarian 
interest,  including,  it  is  reported,  one  of  the 
finest  Roman  steel-yards  that  has  been  found 
in  Britain,  with  leaden  weight  and  bronze 
scale-pan  complete. 

$  $»  %> 
During  May  some  excavations  were  made  by 
the  Aldeburgh  Literary  Society  in  a  small 
sandy  mound  on  the  edge  of  the  River  Aide, 
near  Aldeburgh.  The  results  show  that  the 
mound  is  the  site  of  some  kind  of  Roman 
settlement.  Trenching  revealed  a  quantity 
of  Roman  pottery,  in  a  very  fragmentary  con- 
dition, unfortunately,  but  the  larger  part  of 
an  urn  (dark  grey  in  colour),  5  inches  across 
the  rim,  and  10  inches  in  height,  with  a 
criss-cross  pattern,  was  found,  together  with 
a  whole  mortar  in  two  pieces,  9  inches  in 
diameter.  Several  specimens  of  "  Samian  " 
ware,  one  part  of  a  cup  or  small  bowl,  with 
the  clearly  incised  name  of  the  maker, 
Quinti,  at  the  bottom  inside,  and  many 
fragments  with  patterns,  were  also  found. 
Professor  Flinders  Petrie,  writes  the  Secretary 
of  the  Society,  pronounced  the  pottery  to  be 


2  h  2 


244 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


of  the  first  or  second  centuries,  certainly 
before  Constantine,  and  therefore  of  good 
design  and  workmanship,  the  presence  of 
Samian  ware  also  denoting  that  the  post  was 
probably  at  one  time  of  some  official  im- 
portance. Later  there  was  unearthed  a 
pretty  little  bronze  locket,  opening  on  a 
hinge,  with  a  pattern  of  circles  on  the  lid, 
and  a  ground-work  of  blue  enamel.  A  pair 
of  bronze  tweezers,  a  bronze  ring,  a  bronze 
bodkin,  a  few  pieces  of  lead  originally 
attached  to  fishing -nets,  some  iron  nails, 
much  refuse  in  the  shape  of  animal  bones, 
shells  of  oysters,  cockles,  whelks,  etc.,  a  few 
remains  of  brick  tiles  and  flues,  some  burnt 
earth  and  charcoal,  and  an  Anglo  -  Saxon 
horseshoe,  were  also  discovered.  No  foun- 
dations of  any  kind  could  be  traced.  The 
oyster-shells,  by  the  way,  are  of  enormous 
size,  and  quite  unlike  those  of  the  present 
natives  found  on  the  Suffolk  coast.  The 
Honorary  Secretary,  Mr.  Percy  Clark,  The 
Hatch,  Aldeburgh,  Suffolk,  will  be  glad  to 
receive  donations  in  aid  of  the  further  ex- 
cavations which  the  results  already  obtained 
show  to  be  desirable. 

On  June  6  the  ruins  of  the  historic  Abbey  of 
Glastonbury,  together  with  the  surrounding 
estate,  comprising  altogether  about  33  acres, 
were  sold  by  auction.  Prior  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  bidding  the  auctioneer  referred 
to  the  historical  associations  of  the  place,  and 
mentioned  that  the  income  from  the  estate 
was  ^625  a  year.  The  first  bid  was  one  of 
^24,000,  and  an  American  competitor  ran  up 
the  price  by  bids  of  ,£1,000  to  ^30,000,  at 
which  price  the  property  was  knocked  down 
to  Mr.  Ernest  Jardine,  of  Nottingham,  a  lace 
machinery  manufacturer.  Since  the  sale  it 
has  become  known  that  Mr.  Jardine  pur- 
chased Glastonbury  Abbey  with  a  view  to  its 
being  acquired  by  the  Church  of  England. 
The  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  has  made 
himself  responsible  for  the  ultimate  payment 
to  Mr.  Jardine  of  ,£30,000,  in  addition  to 
the  expenses  of  the  sale  and  the  payment  of 
interest  upon  the  money  the  latter  advances 
at  a  reasonable  rate,  until  the  whole  is  paid 
off.  In  response  to  an  appeal  issued 
privately,  the  Bishop  has  received  guarantees 
to  the  amount  of  .£15,000,  and  he  now 
makes  a  public  appeal  to  members  of  the 


Church  of  England  for  their  generous  assist- 
ance. A  "  Glastonbury  Abbey  Fund " 
Account  has  been  opened  at  Messrs.  Stuckey 
and  Co.'s  Bank,  Wells,  to  which  contri- 
butions may  be  sent,  or  they  may  be  paid 
direct  to  the  Bishop. 

#>         #»         $» 

Under  the  presidency  of  the  Master  of 
Trinity,  Commendatore  Boni  lectured  in  the 
Sedgwick  Museum,  Cambridge,  on  May  27, 
on  his  recent  excavations  of  the  Forum  in 
Rome.  In  a  succession  of  word  pictures, 
drawings,  and  photographs,  he  sketched  with 
breathless  rapidity  the  ancient  city  from 
Neolithic  to  Early  Christian  times,  and 
briefly  referred  to  the  work  which  he  hoped 
to  complete  at  Rome.  The  lecture  was 
especially  interesting  from  a  personal  touch 
at  its  close.  Commendatore  Boni  and  Dr. 
Waldstein  have  been  brought  into  opposition 
by  the  recent  controversy  over  the  proposed 
excavation  of  Herculaneum ;  but  the  occa- 
sion was  seized  for  reconciliation.  Signor 
Boni  closed  his  remarks  with  a  reference  to 
the  Herculaneum  project,  and  a  tribute  to 
Dr.  Waldstein's  interest  therein,  and  Dr. 
Waldstein,  standing  with  him  on  the  same 
platform,  gave  expression  to  the  value  of  the 
work  of  Commendatore  Boni,  and  to  the 
pains  the  enthusiast  who  gave  of  his  best  to 
work  of  this  kind  had  to  suffer  from  un- 
appreciated efforts.  He  wished  Commen- 
datore Boni  all  success  in  the  task  yet  before 
him,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  his  labours 
might  receive  the  recognition  they  deserved 
in  his  lifetime.  The  moment  and  the  utter- 
ances were  worthy  of  two  distinguished  men 
of  science. 

$      $      $ 

In  connexion  with  the  forthcoming  celebra- 
tion of  Liverpool's  700th  birthday  there  are 
to  be,  among  other  events,  an  exhibition  of 
local  products  and  antiquities,  to  be  held  in 
the  Walker  Art  Gallery  from  July  15  to 
August  10;  a  thanksgiving  service  in  St. 
George's  Hall  on  Sunday,  August  4 ;  and  a 
great  historical  pageant  and  procession  in  the 
Wavertree  Park  on  August  3,  5,  and  6. 

•fr         •)$?         <$? 
An   exceptionally   interesting    archaeological 
discovery,  says  the  Yorkshire  Post,  has  been 
made  at  Hunmanby,  near  Filey,  in  a  clay-pit 
near  the  station,  the  property  of  Mr.  Parker. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


245 


A  recent  landslip  disclosed  the  presence  of 
some  pieces  of  bronze,  and  Mr.  T.  Sheppard, 
F.G.S.,  of  the  Hull  Municipal  Museum,  to 
whom  a  telegram  was  sent,  promptly  visited 
the  place,  and  with  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
C.  G.  Danford,  of  Reighton  Hall,  conducted 
excavations  which  yielded  important  results. 
The  objects  whose  exposure  by  the  fall  of 
gravel  had  suggested  investigation  were 
readily  identified  as  a  bronze  bridle-bit  and 
fragments  of  a  thin  bronze  plate,  and  a  care- 
ful examination  of  the  slipped  mass  of  gravel 
resulted  in  the  finding  of  the  iron  hoop  of  a 
chariot  wheel,  although  this  was  in  numerous 
fragments.  From  the  specimens  obtained 
the  diameter  of  the  wheel  is  calculated  to 
have  been  nearly  3  feet.  Portions  of  the  iron 
hoops  for  the  naves  were  also  secured. 
These  appeared  to  be  of  thicker  material, 
and,  if  complete,  would  be  6  or  7  inches 
across.  Obvious  traces  of  wood  were  found 
adhering  to  the  iron  of  both  the  large  and 
small  hoops,  but  nothing  was  present  to 
indicate  how  many  spokes  existed.  One  or 
two  pieces  of  curved  iron  were  also  found, 
but  until  they  are  cleaned  it  is  not  possible  to 
assign  their  use. 

&        &        <fe 

Further  very  careful  examination  of  the  grave 
in  which  the  chariot  had  been  buried  revealed 
towards  the  bottom  traces  of  bronze,  and 
after  several  hours'  work  it  was  seen  that 
lying  on  the  bottom  of  the  grave  was  a  large 
shield  of  wood,  apparently  oak,  ornamented 
on  the  upper  surface  with  exceedingly  thin 
plates  of  bronze,  and  with  a  border  formed 
of  more  substantial  material — a  strip  of 
bronze  about  -^  inch  in  thickness  and  f  inch 
in  width.  This  had  been  carefully  hammered 
over  into  a  U  section,  into  which  the  edge  of 
the  wood  shield  was  clearly  fitted.  This 
bronze  strip  was  fastened  to  the  wood  by 
means  of  small  bronze  rivets  about  £  inch 
long,  exactly  the  thickness  and  shape  of  the 
ordinary  household  pin  head. 

Unfortunately  the  greater  portion  of  this 
shield  had  fallen  with  the  landslip,  and 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  pieces  of  the 
bronze  forming  the  border  none  of  it  was 
recovered,  nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at, 
as  even  in  that  portion  examined  in  position 
both  the  wood  and  the  thin  ornamental 
plates   were    so    fragile    and    decayed   that 


they  would  not  bear  touching.  As  much 
as  could  be  possibly  moved  was  taken  away, 
though  this  was  only  accomplished  by  also 
removing  the  soil  upon  which  it  rested.  The 
portion  of  the  shield  remaining  was  nearly 
2  feet  long — almost  straight  sided — except 
towards  one  end,  where  the  edge  curved 
round,  from  which  it  would  appear  that  the 
complete  shield  was  probably  straight  sided, 
with  rounded  ends,  and  probably  resembled 
in  shape  the  well-known  enamelled  bronze 
shield  from  the  Thames  at  Battersea,  figured 
as  frontispiece  to  the  recently  issued  Guide  to 
Antiquities  of  the  Early  Iron  Age  in  the 
British  Museum.  At  Hunmanby,  however, 
it  was  obvious  that  the  whole  of  the  shield 
had  not  been  covered  with  bronze,  but  was 
ornamented  with  thin  plates,  riveted  on  to 
the  wood.  Where  the  bronze  had  not 
entirely  disappeared,  it  was  seen  to  be  orna- 
mented with  the  scroll  work  in  repousse,  so 
characteristic  of  the  late  Celtic  period.  Small 
pieces  of  this  remained,  and  were  carefully 
removed,  whilst  in  other  places  the  rivets 
alone  indicated  where  the  bronze  covering 
had  been. 

$  $?  «J(» 
Across  one  end  of  the  shield  were  the 
remains  of  a  flattened  tube  of  thin  bronze,  of 
which  little  more  than  the  cast  remained,  the 
metal  having  almost  entirely  disappeared. 
This  was  traced  for  about  6  inches,  and  may 
have  been  the  remains  of  the  thin  end  of  a 
bronze  scabbard,  or  of  a  spear — most  probably 
the  latter,  as  no  other  signs  of  a  sword  were 
visible.  Near  the  edge  of  the  shield,  and  a  few 
inches  above  it,  were  two  large  curved  pieces  of 
iron,  of  doubtful  use,  possibly  part  of  the 
chariot ;  as  well  as  various  other  pieces  of  that 
metal.  Amongst  the  latter  were  two  rivet- 
shaped  pieces  of  iron  (i.e.,  small  bars  with 
"  heads  "  at  the  ends),  with  the  wood  still 
adhering  to  the  sides,  evidently  used  in  con- 
nexion with  the  construction  of  the  chariot. 
These,  and  many  other  evidences  of  the 
vehicle  itself,  having  been  buried,  are  of 
importance,  as  according  to  some  authorities 
a  "chariot-burial"  sometimes  means  that 
only  the  wheels  and  horse-trappings  were 
interred  with  the  warrior. 

$>         $>         «$? 
Fragments  of  bones  and  of  a  horse's  teeth  were 
found,  and  also  the  iron  tyre  of  the  second 


246 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


wheel.  The  position  of  the  iron  demonstrated 
that  the  wheel,  and  presumably  the  chariot  also, 
had  been  buried  in  its  normal  standing  posi- 
tion, and  that  as  the  wood  decayed,  the  tyre 
gradually  subsided  under  the  weight  of  the 
earth  above.  Had  the  wheels  alone  been 
buried,  even  in  a  "standing"  position,  the 
soil  would  gradually  have  taken  the  place  of 
the  decaying  wood,  and  the  tyre  would  have 
been  found  complete.  Between  the  two 
crushed  portions  of  this  iron  rim  were  found 
the  remains  of  the  smaller  ring  of  iron  which 
surrounded  the  nave  of  the  wheel.  The 
burial  probably  dates  from  the  second  or  first 
century  B.C.  When  it  is  remembered  that 
Canon  Greenwell,  Mr.  Mortimer,  and  others 
have  opened  somewhere  about  700  early 
British  burial  mounds  in  the  East  of  York- 
shire, and  that  out  of  that  enormous  number 
only  about  half  a  dozen  chariot  burials  were 
met  with,  the  importance  of  the  present 
discovery  at  Hunmanby  will  be  appreciated. 
The  relics  have  been  placed  in  the  Municipal 
Museum  at  Hull. 

4?         «fr         «$? 

We  are  glad  to  hear  that  the  ancient  gate- 
house of  Westbury  College,  at  Westbury-on- 
Trym,  has  been  handed  over  to  the  care  of 
the  National  Trust  for  Places  of  Historic 
Interest  or  Natural  Beauty. 

«fr      4p      4p 

The  country  house  and  grounds  known  as 
"  Kit's  Coty  Estate "  are  in  the  market  for 
sale.  The  estate  takes  its  name  from  the 
well-known  cromlech  known  as  "  Kit's  Coty 
House,"  which  stands  in  one  of  the  fields. 

i?        «i*c»        •fr 

A  terracotta  urn  containing  more  than  100 
copper  coins  was  unearthed  on  Whit-Monday 
by  workmen  engaged  in  preparing  the 
Brooklands  Motor  Track  at  Weybridge. 
There  was  a  scramble,  and  some  of  the 
coins  were  sold  and  pawned.  The  police 
recovered  sixty-eight,  but  the  urn  was  broken 
and  lost.  The  Coroner  sat  on  June  7,  and 
the  jury  found  that  "  the  sixty-eight  coins 
were  treasure  trove,  to  be  taken  and  seised 
unto  His  Majesty." 

4p       if       i? 

In  May,  while  one  of  the  Sisters  at  Mailing 
Abbey  was  at  work  in  the  garden,  she  came 
across  a  small  metal  figure,  of  which  an 
enlarged  photograph  is  reproduced  opposite. 


It  is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  pilgrims' 
signs  which  were  of  old  given  to  those  who 
visited  the  Abbey.  It  probably  dates  from 
about  1300.  The  sign  is  a  figure  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  crowned,  with  a  sceptre  in  her 
right  hand,  and  the  infant  Saviour  in  the 
left.  The  lower  part  of  the  child's  body  is 
concealed  by  the  cloak  which  the  Virgin  is 
wearing.  At  the  base  is  the  inscription  in 
perfectly  legible  letters :  "  Ego  diligentes 
me  diligo  "  ("  I  dearly  love  those  who  love 
me").  The  long  pigtail  of  hair  falling  down 
the  back  is  an  aid  to  fixing  the  date  as  the 


(From  a  photograph  by  Mr.  El  win  Baldock,  West  Mailing.) 

fourteenth  century.  The  figure  is  an  inch 
in  length,  and  weighs  3  dwts.  18  grs.  (Troy 
weight).  For  the  use  of  the  block  we  are 
indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  the  editor  of  the 
Kent  Messenger. 

if      if       if 

The  Derbyshire  Pennine  Club,  which  has 
recently  been  carrying  on  excavations  at 
Rainster  Rocks,  in  the  Peak  district,  has 
made  some  remarkable  finds.  Four  bronze 
coins  which  were  found  have  been  assigned 
by  Mr.  John  Ward,  F.S.A.,  to  the  period 
a.d.  250-280.  There  was  also  unearthed  a 
quantity  of  ironwork,  including  an  axe-head, 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


247 


a  buckle,  and  a  miniature  sickle  hook,  while 
many  varieties  of  pottery,  embracing  no 
fewer  than  thirty-five  different  designs  of 
rims,  were  discovered.  Some  of  the  designs 
are  plain  and  others  ornamental,  but  all  are 
very  beautiful.  Among  the  other  finds  are 
part  of  a  quern,  a  piece  of  grey  glazed  ware, 
representing  Roman  "  engine  turning,"  bottle- 
neck and  flat  dishes,  fragments  of  "  Samian  " 
pottery,  and  a  most  delicate  piece  of  earthen- 
ware, which  appeared  to  be  part  of  a  seven- 
teenth-century drinking-cup. 

<$»         $         & 

The  annual  meetings  of  the  Wilts  Archaeo- 
logical Society  will  be  held  at  Swindon  on 
July  3,  4,  and  5  ;  and  of  the  Somersetshire 
Archaeological  Society  at  Shepton  Mallet  on 
July  9,  10,  and  n. 

&         $»         «fr 

Romsey  is  to  have  its  pageant  in  celebration 
of  the  millenary  of  the  founding  of  its  Abbey 
on  July  25,  26,  and  27,  in  Broadlands 
Park,  the  beautiful  seat  of  Mr.  Evelyn 
Ashley.  On  each  day  there  will  be  a  solemn 
service  in  the  fine  old  Abbey,  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  has  expressed  the 
hope  that  he  will  be  able  to  attend  and 
preach  on  the  opening  day.  The  pageant 
is  under  the  control  of  Mr.  F.  R.  Benson, 
while  the  eleven  episodes  have  been  written 
by  Mr.  W.  H.  Cooke- Yarborough  (brother 
of  the  Vicar),  Canon  Skrine,  and  Miss  M. 
Anderson  Morshead,  the  music  having  been 
composed  by  Mr.  Louis  Tours. 

$>  $?  "fr 
The  Manorial  Society  is  about  to  issue  the 
first  of  a  series  of  lists  of  such  Manor  Court 
Rolls  as  are  in  the  possession  of  private 
individuals,  or  in  the  custody  of  the  stewards 
of  the  manors  to  which  the  Rolls  relate,  or 
in  that  of  corporate  bodies,  as  distinguished 
from  those  Court  Rolls  which  are  preserved 
in  the  Public  Record  Office,  the  British 
Museum  Library,  and  other  public  deposi- 
tories of  collections  of  MSS.  and  other 
documents  of  antiquarian  interest.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  success  of  such  an  under- 
taking will  depend,  to  a  great  extent,  on  the 
loyal  support  and  cordial  co-operation  of 
local  antiquaries.  Any  information  respect- 
ing the  existence  of  Court  Rolls,  the  periods 
which  they  cover,  and  their  present  cus- 
todians,  will  be  gratefully  received  by  the 


Registrar  of  the  Society  (Mr.  Charles  Green- 
wood, F.C.I.S.),  1,  Mitre  Court  Buildings, 
Temple,  E.C  The  lists  will  be  issued  in 
parts,  at  intervals,  as  such  information 
accumulates,  and  supplied  gratuitously  to 
members  of  the  Society. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  the 
value  of  such  lists  to  the  cause  of  antiquarian 
research,  especially  as  they  will  supplement 
those  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  national 
and  other  public  collections  above  referred  to. 

«fr         $»         $» 

The  Builder  had  one  of  its  always  good 
ecclesiological  articles  in  its  issue  for  June  15, 
describing,  this  time,  the  church  at  West 
Walton,  one  of  the  five  splendid  churches 
— the  Marshland  Churches — which  adorn  the 
north-west  corner  of  Norfolk.  West  Walton 
has  not  only  great  constructive  beauty  and 
dignity,  but  presents  many  points  of  detail 
of  interest,  to  which  full  justice  is  done  by 
the  writer  of  the  article.  One  noticeable 
feature  is  the  fine  detached  bell-tower.  This 
peculiarity  is  not  so  uncommon  as  is  some- 
times supposed,  for,  "  all  told,  there  are 
between  thirty  and  forty  cases  in  England 
where  the  tower  stands  isolated  from  the 
rest  of  the  fabric."  The  last  paragraph  of 
the  article,  which  is  accompanied  by  several 
illustrations,  is  painful  reading:  "It  is  most 
distressing  to  note  the  shocking  state  of 
repair  of  this  singularly  beautiful  and  in- 
valuable relic  of  the  skill  of  our  forefathers 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  For  many  years 
the  fabric  has  been  going  from  bad  to  worse. 
At  the  present  time  the  rain  streams  into 
nave  and  aisles  whenever  there  is  a  storm ; 
their  use  has  been  abandoned,  and  the 
chancel  has  been  fenced  off  with  match- 
boarding  for  services.  Its  condition  is  a 
crying  scandal  to  all  concerned." 

4?  $»  $? 
The  Tribune  Rome  correspondent,  under 
date  June  14,  writes  :  "  Some  very  important 
discoveries  have  been  made  this  week  on  the 
Palatine  Hill,  where  excavations  have  been 
constantly  in  progress  for  some  time  past. 
The  operations  have  been  conducted  with 
especial  care,  in  order  to  avoid  destroying 
the  upper  stratum  of  antiquities  while 
seaching  for  treasures  beneath. 

This  patient  burrowing,  carried  out  under 
the  direction  of  Professor  Vaglieri  and  Count 


248 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


Cozza,  has  met  with  a  rich  reward  in  the 
laying  open  of  a  burial-place  enclosing  the 
remains  of  a  chief  of  an  ancient  tribe  belong- 
ing to  a  period  anterior  to  the  foundation  of 
Rome.  This,  however,  is  only  one  of  a 
series  of  interesting  discoveries  at  various 
points  on  this  historic  hill.  So  numerous 
are  they,  in  fact,  that  the  addition  of  appen- 
dices to  guide  books  will  become  an 
immediate  necessity." 

•Up       ■fr       4p 

During  the  progress  of  some  excavations  in 
Blue  Boar  Lane,  Leicester,  workmen  have 
come  across  a  well-preserved  massive  stone 
column,  at  a  depth  of  about  20  feet.  The 
discovery,  which  probably  goes  back  to  the 
Roman  period,  strengthens  the  supposition 
that  the  Forum  or  Market  Place  stood  near 
the  spot  known  as  Holy  Cross.  Mrs.  Fielding 
Johnson,  in  her  interesting  history,  says:  "  In 
close  proximity  to  the  Forum  would  stand 
the  Prsetorium,  or  Governor's  residence,  and 
the  Basilica,  or  Court  of  Justice;  while  baths, 
temples,  and  other  public  buildings,  and  the 
private  and  official  dwellings  of  the  more 
important  citizens,  would  each  lend  their  con- 
tribution to  the  dignity  and  beauty  of  this 
part  of  the  town."  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  latest  discovery  at  one  time  formed 
a  part  of  the  Forum,  or  one  of  the  public 
buildings.  Steps  are  being  taken  to  preserve 
the  column,  and  excavations  will  be  extended 
round  about  the  spot. 

4?      4?      4p 

In  the  Church  of  Muchelney,  the  Somerset 
village  famous  for  its  historical  association 
with  Alfred  the  Great,  a  new  organ  has  been 
placed  to  succeed  an  instrument  which  has 
done  service  there  for  the  past  100  years. 
The  old  instrument  was  of  the  barrel  organ 
type,  and  limited  the  congregation  to  twelve 
tunes  only.  It  is  still  in  good  working  order, 
and  is  believed  to  be  one  of  the  very  few 
remaining  of  its  kind.  The  story  was  told 
at  the  dedication  gathering  how  on  one 
occasion  the  century-old  organ,  having  been 
duly  wound  up  and  started  with  a  tune, 
refused  to  stop  when  the  time  came  for  the 
sermon,  and  had  to  be  removed  bodily  to 
the  churchyard.  We  fancy  this  story  has 
seen  considerable  service  in  relation  to  more 
than  one  organ  of  the  old  type. 


The  original  warrant  for  the  Massacre  of 
Glencoe,  which  was  printed  in  full  in  our 
March  "  Notes,"  was  sold  by  Messrs.  Puttick 
and  Simpson  on  May  29.  Bidding  began  at 
,£50,  and  the  hammer  fell  to  ^1,400,  the 
purchaser  being  Mr.  Tregaskis,  the  well- 
known  bookseller  of  Holborn. 

•fr  4?  4? 
Among  recent  newspaper  antiquarian  articles 
we  note  "Old  Tavern  Signs," with  illustrations, 
in  the  City  Press,  May  25;  "Dr.  Stein's  Expe- 
dition in  Central  Asia,"  a  long  and  interest- 
ing account,  in  the  Times,  May  25 ;  the 
"  History  of  Canterbury  Castle,"  by  Mr. 
B.  F.  Hopper,  in  the  Kentish  Express, 
May  18;  "Notts  and  Lincolnshire  Brasses," 
in  the  Nottingham  Guardian,  May  23 ; 
"  Village  Surnames  around  Grantham,  1327- 
1332,"  by  Mr.  A.  Welby,  in  the  Grantham 
Journal,  June  T5  ;  and  two  beautifully  illus- 
trated papers  in  Country  Life — one  on  "  Old 
Wealden  Ironwork  at  Warnham  Court,"  by 
Mr.  J.  Starkie  Gardner,  in  the  issue  for 
May  25,  and  the  other  on  "Dials  and 
Diallers,"  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Tipping,  in  the 
number  for  June  8. 


^>ome  Chelsea  street  Barnes. 

By  J.  Tavenor-Perry. 

HELSEA,  like  many  other  of  the 
suburbs  of  London,  possessed  a 
certain  number  of  street  names 
peculiar  to  itself,  derived  from 
some  local  custom  or  exceptional  circum- 
stance ;  and  such  names  are  gradually  dis- 
appearing, either  by  the  renaming  of  the 
roads,  or  by  the  destruction  of  the  streets 
themselves  to  make  way  for  modern  improve- 
ments. Their  extinction  is  always  to  be 
regretted,  whether  the  result  of  ignorance  or 
of  necessity,  since  they  alone  often  kept  alive 
the  memory  of  things  or  events  of  more  or 
less  importance  with  which  they  were 
associated.  Of  such  names,  very  many 
suggest  their  own  origin  ;  many  are  known 
to  have  arisen  from  circumstances  or  con- 
ditions which  have  not  been  wholly  for- 
gotten, whilst  the  derivation   of  not  a  few 


SOME  CHELSEA  STREET  NAMES. 


249 


remains  yet  to  be  discovered.  Of  these  last 
some  attempts  have  been  made,  with  more 
or  less  success,  to  solve  the  mystery  ;  or  the 
solution  has  been  regarded  in  some  cases  as 
hopeless.  Such  was  the  case,  for  instance,  with 
the  name  of  "  Paradise  Row,"  the  author  of 
a  work  on  which  considers  it  due  to  no  other 
cause  than  the  general  applicability  of  the 
description.  In  giving  a  list  of  these  Chelsea 
names  most  worthy  of  notice,  we  will  dis- 
tinguish those  which  have  disappeared  from 
the  map  by  italics,  at  the  same  time  giving 
none  which  have  not  been  more  or  less 
in  vogue  during  the  last  half-century.  In  this 
list  none  of  the  personal  names  given  to  streets 
are  quoted ;  not  only  are  the  common  ones 
of  Arthur,  George,  Smith,  etc.,  which  Chelsea 
shares  with  many  other  place's,  omitted, 
but  also  such  as  Sloane  Street,  Hans  Place, 
and  Cadogan  Square,  with  which  the  history 
of  the  parish  is  so  closely  identified. 
The  list  comprises  the  following  names : 
(1)  Blacklands  Lane ;  (2)  Bloody  Bridge; 
(3)  Burton's  Court;  (4)  Butterfly  Alley; 
(5)  Bywater  Street ;  (6)  Crooked  Usance  ; 
(7)  Jews  Row  ;  (8)  Justice  Walk  ;  (9)  King's 
Road;  (10)  Leader  Street;  (11)  Lombard 
Street;  (12)  Lordship  Place;  (13)  Lots 
Road  ;  (14)  Paradise  Row ;  (15)  Pavilion 
Street;  (16)  Pont  Street;  (17)  Queen's 
Elm;  (18)  Twopenny  Walk;  (19)  Turks 
Row;  (20)  White  Stiles ;  (21)  World's  End 
Passage. 

1.  Blacklands  Lane. — This  commenced 
with  a  narrow  and  winding  street  starting 
from  the  King's  Road  nearly  opposite  the 
chapel  of  the  Duke  of  York's  Schools,  and 
extending  to  the  Fulham  Road  by  the 
Admiral  Keppel.  Between  it  and  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  parish  extended  a  large 
wood,  the  site  of  which  is  now  intersected 
by  Sloane  Street,  the  whole  of  which  was 
anciently  known  as  "  Blacklands."  The 
name  of  the  lane  was  altered  J;o  Marlborough 
Road,  but  the  name  itself  survived  till  quite 
recently  in  the  designation  of  a  large  house 
which  stood  near  the  south-west  corner  of 
the  land,  and  which  was  for  the  last  few 
years  of  its  existence  a  well-known  private 
lunatic  asylum.  Next  to  this  house  and 
in  the  same  lane  stood  an  older  house,  known 
as  Whitelands  ;  why  so  named,  except  for 
greater  distinction,    is   unknown.     Both   of 

VOL.  III. 


these  houses  have  been  recently  cleared 
away  for  improvements,  but  the  name  of  the 
latter  has  been  continued,  for  no  apparently 
logical  reason,  by  a  successful  educational 
establishment  near  by  in  the  King's  Road. 

2.  Bloody  Bridge. — This  was  a  name  given 
to  a  small  brick  bridge — narrow  and  steep, 
like  those  still  to  be  seen  crossing  canals 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  London — which 
spanned  the  stream  of  the  Westbourne 
running  along  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
parish,  a  bridge  which  was  standing  well 
within  the  memory  of  many  still  living.  A 
foot  or  plank  bridge  existed  here  as  early  as 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  even  then  known  by 
the  same  sad  name.  But  the  brick  bridge 
was  constructed  mainly  to  carry  the  King's 
Road  from  St.  James's  to  Hampton  Court 
through  Chelsea.  It  was  chiefly  used  by  the 
foot  passengers  coming  from  or  going  to 
London  across  the  open  fields,  now  covered 
by  Belgravia,  which  stretched  from  Hyde 
Park  Corner  to  Ranelagh  and  Chelsea.  The 
distance  was  a  good  mile  of  very  bad  walking 
between  gravel-pits  and  swampy  ground  in- 
fested with  footpads,  and  extremely  dangerous 
at  night.  The  stories  of  their  adventures 
which  some  of  the  last  generation  could  tell 
their  successors  were  thrilling  in  the  extreme. 
It  was  customary  for  those  who  desired 
to  cross  the  fields  to  Chelsea  at  night  to  wait 
at  Hyde  Park  Corner  until  their  number  was 
sufficient  for  mutual  protection,  though  even 
this  was  risky,  since  in  the  dark  no  one 
could  distinguish  friend  from  foe  ;  and  the 
numerous  murders  which  took  place  in  its 
vicinity  during  the  eighteenth  century  caused 
the  opprobrious  epithet  to  cling  to  the  bridge 
long  after  the  danger  had  passed  away. 

3.  Burton's  Court. — This  name  was  for 
many  years  given  to  the  open  ground  lying  to 
the  north  of  the  Hospital,  and  now  separated 
from  it  by  the  present  Queen's  Road.  Until 
nearly  the  middle  of  the  last  century  it  formed 
an  integral  part  of  the  Hospital  grounds, 
as  only  a  footpath,  where  old  ladies  on 
entering  were  required  to  take  off  their  clogs 
or  pattens,  lest  they  should  injure  the  gravel 
walk,  connected  Jews  Row  with  Paradise 
Row.  The  origin  of  the  name  is  obscure 
and  unconnected  with  any  of  the  surround- 
ing streets  or  houses,  and  it  may  only  have 
had  some  forgotten  personal  signification. 

21 


25° 


SOME  CHELSEA  STREET  NAMES. 


4.  Butterfly  Alley. — This  name  was,  per- 
haps, never  officially  recognized,  and  was 
merely  intended  to  be  a  descriptive  one.  It 
is  now  known  as  the  south  end  of  Keppel 
Street,  but  was  within  the  last  few  years 
a  countrified  lane  closed  at  the  King's  Road 
end  by  a  swing  gate,  with  a  row  of  cottages 
on  one  side  and  on  the  other  a  hedgerow, 
which  divided  it  from  some  large  nursery 
gardens,  whence,  doubtless,  rather  than  from 
the  cottages,  came  the  butterflies  which  gave 
it  its  name. 

5.  By  water  Street. — This  is  a  short  street, 
which  is  a  cul-de-sac,  running  northwards  out 
of  the  King's  Road,  near  the  White  Stiles,  and 
was  erected  some  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  by 
Mr.  Charles  Lahee,  the  then  parish  surveyor. 
The  name  may  be  an  arbitrary  one,  or  due 
to  the  association  of  some  one  of  that  name 
with  the  place.  But  a  different  reason  for  it 
has  been  suggested.  There  was  once  a 
stream  running  across  Chelsea  which  came 
down  from  the  ponds  of  Cromwell  House 
across  the  "Flounder  Field  "  whereon  Bromp- 
ton  Crescent  now  stands,  and  filled  the 
canals  of  the  Dutch  garden  of  the  Hospital. 
The  course  of  this  stream  may  still  be  traced 
by  the  depressions  of  the  ground,  as  in  Ives 
Street,  behind  the  Marlborough  Road,  and  in 
Little  Smith  Street;  and  there  are  those 
living  who  can  remember  it  a  willow-shaded 
brook  as  it  crossed  the  middle  of  Walton 
Street.  Bywater  Street  backs  on  to  this 
watercourse,  and  shows  by  its  curve  that  it 
was  adapted  to  one  of  the  sinuosities  of  the 
stream,  which  suggests,  though  it  does  not 
prove,  the  origin  of  the  name. 

6.  Crooked  Usance. — How  this  singularly 
inappropriate  name,  which  it  now  bears,  and 
has  for  many  years  borne,  came  to  be  assigned 
to  this  street  must  ever  remain  a  mystery, 
and  can  only  be  regarded  as  the  outcome  of 
purely  poetic  fancy,  untrammelled  by  any 
regard  for  prosaic  fact.  It  runs  from  Cale 
Street  to  Russell  Street  by  the  workhouse  in 
as  straight  a  line  as  any  tie-square  could 
make  it,  and,  except  by  a  stray  cat  or  two, 
appears  to  be  entirely  unused.  There  do 
not  appear  to  be  any  houses  in  it,  and  the 
London  directory  knows  it  not. 

7.  Jews  Row. — The  portion  of  Queen's 
Road  facing  the  hospital  burial-ground  re- 
tained   the    name    of  Jews  Row   until   its 


rebuilding  a  very  short  time  ago,  and  was 
an  extremely  unsavoury  locality,  gaining  its 
name  and  its  unenviable  repute  from  the 
habits  of  its  earlier  inhabitants.  In  years 
gone  by,  the  out-pensioners  of  the  Hospital 
had  to  attend  at  Chelsea  to  receive  their 
pensions,  and  the  people  of  Jews  Row,  which 
stood  by  the  Hospital  gates,  laid  themselves 
out  to  intercept  as  much  of  the  cash  as  they 
could  do  by  fair  means  or  foul ;  and  their 
great  success  in  this  walk  of  life  caused  this 
familiar  name  to  be  associated  with  the 
locality. 

8.  Justice  Walk. — This  is  now  a  short 
paved  alley,  a  little  to  the  north  of  the  old 
church,  leading  from  Church  Street  into 
Lawrence  Street.  It  was  once  a  pleasant 
grove  of  lime-trees,  and  a  favourite  walk  for 
the  villagers.  No  other  suggestion  for  the 
origin  of  its  name  has  been  made  except 
that  once  near  it  resided  some  nameless 
justice ;  but  the  fact  that  the  old  manor-house 
of  the  Lawrence  family  stood  at  the  end  of 
it  wherein  justice  of  some  sort  was  frequently 
dispensed,  makes  it  more  probable  that  the 
name  came  from  the  abstract  idea  rather  than 
from  its  personal  manifestation. 

9.  King's  Road. — At  the  present  time  the 
King's  Road  is  the  most  important  part  of 
Chelsea,  but  until  quite  modern  times  there 
was  no  such  thoroughfare,  and  Chelsea  had 
become  "  a  village  of  palaces "  before  ever 
the  King's  Road  was  thought  of.  The  name 
was  not  a  mere  appellation,  as  is  the  case 
with  numerous  "  King's  "  roads  to  be  found 
elsewhere,  but  intended  to  distinguish  it  as 
a  road  made  for  the  King's  exclusive  use, 
and  this  although  the  road  occupied  for  its 
whole  length,  more  or  less,  the  position  of 
earlier  footways  or  accommodation  roads. 
Indeed,  in  the  reign  of  George  I.  an  attempt 
was  made  to  close  it  altogether  against  the 
parishioners.  This  was  too  much  for  the 
people  of  Chelsea,  who  had  gladly  consented 
to  Charles  II.  making  his  new  road  to 
Hampton  Court  while  they  shared  in  the 
benefits  of  it,  but  objected  to  it  being  mono- 
polized by  the  Hanoverian.  The  Duchess 
of  Beaufort,  who  had  stables  by  the  roadside, 
energetically  protested,  and  her  stewards  and 
servants  cut  down  an  obstructive  gate  which 
the  Surveyor-General  had  erected,  and  carried 
away  the  posts,  being  set  up,  she  said,  on  her 


SOME  CHELSEA   STREET  NAMES. 


251 


ground.  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  as  lord  of  the 
manor,  joined  in  the  protest,  with  the  result 
that  the  royal  claim  was  quietly  withdrawn ; 
but  reminiscences  of  it  remained  well  into 
the  last  century  in  the  gates  which  several  of 
the  older  streets  retained  across  them  at  their 
King's  Road  ends. 

10.  Leader  Street. — Until  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century  the  area  lying  between 
the  King's  Road  and  the  Fulham  Road  was 
open  land  known  as  Chelsea  Common,  and 
the  story  of  its  gradual  enclosure  and  the 
changes  it  underwent  in  the  course  of  the 
nineteenth  century  would  form  an  interesting, 
and  perhaps  not  very  edifying,  chapter  in 
local  history,  and  remains  yet  to  be  written. 
Before  the  present  church  of  St.  Luke  was 
built  in  the  centre  of  it,  this  common  was 
full  of  yawning  gravel-pits,  many  of  which 
became  ponds  of  dangerous  depth,  the 
memory  of  which  survives  in  "  Pond  Place," 
one  of  the  modern  streets  now  standing  on 
the  common.  Thus,  although  intersected 
by  several  paths,  one  of  which,  running 
obliquely  across  it  from  the  Admiral  Keppel 
to  Chelsea  village,  was  much  used,  it  was 
very  dangerous  to  cross  it  on  a  dark  night, 
particularly  if  the  visit  to  the  Admiral  had 
been  too  prolonged.  But  a  blind  man  who 
resided  near  by,  and  to  whom  the  darkness 
and  the  light  were  both  alike,  was  regularly 
employed  as  a  guide  to  conduct  the  belated 
ones  safely  across  the  common  and  clear  of 
the  ponds.  The  line  of  the  path  by  which 
he  travelled  became  a  right  of  way  not  to  be 
interfered  with  when  the  common  was  built 
over ;  and  although  his  name  has  been  lost, 
that  of  his  office  as  a  leader  is  preserved  in 
the  street  which  occupies  the  site  of  the 
same  path. 

1 1 .  Lombard  Street. — Chelsea  shared  alone 
with  Lombard  Street  in  the  City  the  honour 
of  preserving  in  London  this  historic  name, 
which  it  perhaps  assumed  at  as  early  a  date. 
No  attempt  appears  ever  to  have  been  made 
to  account  for  the  appearance  of  this  name 
in  Chelsea,  beyond  the  merest  suggestion 
made  that  perhaps  someone  of  that  name 
once  resided  there ;  but  perhaps  a  short  study 
of  the  early  history  of  Chelsea  may  give  a 
clue  to  the  mystery.  Old  Lombard  Street 
was  a  row  of  houses  adjoining  the  old 
church,  and  formed  in  itself  a  close,  having 


no  entrance  or  exit,  until  comparatively 
modern  times,  except  by  an  archway  at  the 
east  end,  or  from  the  river.  The  Manor  of 
Chelsea,  together  with  a  large  proportion  of 
the  manors  of  West  Middlesex,  belonged  to 
the  monks  of  Westminster,  and  no  small  part 
of  their  income  was  derived  from  the  sale  of 
the  wool  produced  by  the  sheep  on  their 
pastures.  Chelsea  was  a  convenient  place 
to  which  to  bring  the  wool  from  these  manors, 
as  being  the  first  piece  of  hard  ground  up  the 
river  from  Westminster  on  which  a  wharf 
could  be  made.  When  the  wool  was  largely 
exported,  and  before  the  Staple  at  Westminster 
was  established,  the  trade  was  almost  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  foreign  merchants,  who, 
although  frequently  Flemmings,  were  com- 
monly classed,  with  other  merchants  and 
bankers,  under  the  common  name  of  Lom- 
bards ;  and  it  is  easy  to  suppose  that  the 
permanent  or  temporary  residence  of  one  of 
their  factors  engaged  in  purchasing  wool  from 
the  Middlesex  manors  caused  the  name  to 
be  identified  with  this,  the  oldest,  part  of 
Chelsea.  Lombard  Street,  together  with  its 
later  continuation,  Duke  Street,  which  got  its 
name  from  the  Duke  of  Beaufort's  House,  to 
which  it  gave  access,  were  swept  away  when 
the  Embankment  was  continued  along  the 
Chelsea  front  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, but  the  name  can  be  still  read  on  a 
tablet  affixed  to  the  corner  house  opposite 
the  old  church. 

12.  Lordship  Place. — This  was  a  short 
street  which  led  from  Lawrence  Street  into 
Cheyne  Row  nearly  opposite  to  Carlyle's 
House.  It  derived  its  name  from  the  barns 
of  the  lords  of  the  manor  which  stood  beside 
it,  the  last  remains  of  which  were  only  cleared 
away  to  make  room  for  the  present  Peabody 
Buildings  which  now  stand  on  their  site. 

13.  Lots  Road.  This  important  business 
thoroughfare  was,  but  a  few  years  ago,  part 
of  an  open  meadow,  entered  through  a  gate 
at  the  end  of  Cremorne  Lane,  which  formed 
part  of  the  Lammas  Lands  of  Chelsea,  then 
known  by  the  name  of  "  The  Lots."  It  was 
enclosed  on  two  sides  by  water — by  the 
Thames  on  the  south,  and  on  the  west  by  a 
stream,  there  called  "Counter's  Creek," 
which  separated  the  parishes  of  Fulham  and 
Chelsea.  Although  the  parishioners  had  the 
right  of  pasture  over  it  for  six  months  in  the 

2  1   2 


SOME  CHELSEA  STREET  NAMES. 


year  for  their  geese  and  cattle,  it  lay  forgotten 
and  neglected  until  the  West  London  Exten- 
sion Railway  began  to  encroach  upon  it, 
when  its  value  became  apparent  to  those  who 
had  previously  neglected  it ;  and,  in  spite  of 
much  litigation  in  the  settlement  of  the 
ownership  of  it,  it  has  now  become  a  useful 
business  quarter  of  the  parish,  and  its  memory 
is  preserved  in  the  name  "  Lots  Road." 

14.  Paradise  Row. — This  was  a  portion 
of  what  is  now  known  as  Queen's  Road, 
standing  on  the  west  side  of  the  Hospital, 
and  formed  part  of  the  road  which  led  from 
Pimlico  to  Cheyne  Walk.  Its  old  houses, 
which  were  of  a  most  picturesque  character, 
have  been  destroyed  within  the  last  year  or 
two,  and  were  once  the  residences  of  people 
of  importance  and  historical  interest.  There 
was  not  only  this  Paradise  Row,  but  turning 
out  of  it  and  leading  to  the  river  was  Paradise 
Walk,  in  which  was  an  old  chapel  called 
"  Paradise,"  which  was  only  destroyed  some 
time  after  the  Thames  Embankment  had 
been  built.  Mr.  Reginald  Blunt,  the  author 
of  a  recent  interesting  work  on  Paradise  Row 
and  its  associations,  confesses  himself  unable 
to  say  why  the  name  came  to  be  attached  to 
the  locality,  unless  it  was  in  compliment  to 
its  charms;  but  the  following  has  been  offered 
as  a  solution  of  the  difficulty  : 

How  Paradise  Row  got  its  name  we  all  know, 
Though  we  don't  know  the  name  of  the  giver  ; 

The  "  Paradise  "  came  from  the  chapel  hard  by, 
And  the  "  Row,"  of  course,  came  from  the  river. 

15.  Pavilion  Street. — This  is  the  name  of 
a  small  opening  to  the  west  of  Sloane  Street, 
separating  the  Cadogan  Hotel  from  the  house 
of  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  and  received  its  designa- 
tion from  an  adjoining  mansion  of  that  name, 
now  destroyed.  This  mansion  did  not 
receive  its  name  of  "  The  Pavilion  "  from  a 
mere  freak  of  fancy,  but  because  it  was 
erected  by  Holland,  the  architect  to  the 
Prince  Regent  and  the  designer  of  Carlton 
House,  to  serve  as  a  model  for  the  pavilion 
which  the  Prince  then  intended  to  erect  at 
Brighton.  Holland,  who  was  a  very  cele- 
brated architect  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  erected  this  house  for  his  own  resi- 
dence, and  adorned  the  extensive  grounds 
not  only  with  a  lake  of  some  dimensions, 
but,  in  the  most  approved  fashion  of  his  time, 


with  the  sham  ruins  of  a  priory,  which  had, 
however,  so  much  reality  in  them  that  their 
stones  and  ornaments  had  been  torn  from 
Cardinal  Wolsey's  Palace  at  Esher.  The 
site  of  the  Pavilion  estate  is  now  covered  by 
Cadogan  Square  and  the  extension  of  Pont 
Street ;  and  the  old  Pavilion  at  Brighton,  of 
which  this  was  the  prototype,  has  been  hidden 
and  encased  beneath  the  Oriental  mon- 
strosities of  Nash. 

16.  Pont  Street. — This  was  a  very  short 
street,  not  much  longer  than  the  structure 
from  which  it  took  its  name,  formed  to 
connect  Chesham  Place  and  Sloane  Street, 
but  which  has  in  late  years  been  extended 
westward  towards  the  Brompton,  and  is 
now  lined  with  palatial  houses.  It  was 
made  about  the  time  of  the  building  of 
Belgrave  Square,  which  was  begun  in  1825 
from  the  designs  of  Basevi,  whose  name  the 
curious  may  still  see  incised  on  several  of  the 
porches,  the  first  works  being  undertaken  by 
a  French  company.  As  the  street  consisted 
of  little  more  than  a  bridge  over  the  then 
open  stream  of  the  Westbourne,  to  connect 
the  new  quarter  with  Chelsea,  it  received 
its  appropriate  name  in  a  French,  and  not  in 
an  English,  form. 

1 7.  Queen's  Elm. — This  is  now  merely  a 
geographical  expression  maintained  in  the 
sign  of  a  public-house  which  stands  at  the 
corner  of  Church  Street  and  the  Fulham 
Road ;  but  in  the  days  when  Croker  made 
his  famous  walk  from  London  to  Fulham  the 
memory  of  the  royal  tree  was  still  fresh,  and 
a  stump  in  the  roadway  was  still  pointed  out 
as  the  remains  of  it.  The  story  is  that  Queen 
Elizabeth  once,  in  the  company  of  Lord 
Burleigh,  who  lived  in  Old  Brompton,  found 
shelter  from  a  shower  beneath  its  branches. 
The  tradition,  for  once,  seems  to  be  well 
supported  by  evidence,  as  it  is  called  the 
"  Queen's  Tree  "  in  the  parish  records  of 
Elizabeth's  reign,  and  is  continually  referred 
to  as  the  "  Queen's  Elm  "  in  later  times. 

18.  Twopenny  Walk. — This  was  one  of 
the  names  given  to  what  is  now  called  Park 
Walk,  a  street  which  ran  down  by  the  side  of 
Chelsea  Park  from  the  Goat  in  Boots  to 
the  Man  in  the  Moon.  It  also  enjoyed 
the  not  very  distinctive  name  of  the  "  Lovers' 
Walk,"  for  which  no  explanation  is  needed ; 
and  it  is,  perhaps,  because  lovers  were  both 


SOME  CHELSEA  STREET  NAMES. 


253 


plentiful   and  cheap  in  the   neighbourhood 
the  walk  gained  its  less  enviable  name. 

19.  Turks  Row. — This  was  a  street  running 
parallel  to  and  behind  Jews  Row,  and  con- 
nected with  it  by  innumerable  narrow  and 
dangerous  alleys.  It  is  not  known  when  it 
first  acquired  its  name,  but  the  community 
of  interest  of  the  people  in  the  two  Rows,  and 
the  close  association  of  Jews  and  Turks  in 
the  Prayer  Book  may  have  been  sufficient 
suggestion. 

20.  White  Stiles. — This  is  the  name  given 
to  the  open  space  lying  between  the  King's 
Road  on  the  north  and  Burton's  Court  on 
the  south,  and  forms  now  the  open  square 
which  bears  the  appellation  of  "  Royal 
Avenue,"  a  meaningless  name,  since  there  is 
nothing  royal  about  it  either  in  its  appearance 
or  association,  and  as  it  is  an  approach 
to  nowhere,  it  can  hardly  be  called  an 
avenue.  We  have  already  seen  how  the 
King's  Road,  at  its  first  formation,  was 
intended  only  for  the  King's  use,  and  the 
properties  on  either  side  of  it  were  parted  off 
by  fences  or  otherwise  ;  and  when  the  row  of 
houses,  looking  now  somewhat  old-fashioned 
and  forlorn,  called  Hemus  Terrace  was 
built  on  the  east  side  of  the  space,  the  post 
and  pales  which  separated  it  from  the  road 
and  were  painted  white  suggested  its  name. 
These  fences  were  standing  much  in  their 
original  state  at  the  time  of  the  lying  in  state  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  1 85  2.  But  the  great 
crowds  which  on  that  occasion  poured  across 
the  area  did  much  damage  to  the  enclosure, 
and  shortly  afterwards  it  was  rearranged  at 
the  sacrifice  of  many  of  the  trees,  and  assumed 
its  present  appearance,  while  the  name  White 
Stiles,  having  ceased  to  be  descriptive,  fell 
into  desuetude. 

2r.  World's  End  Passage. — This  is  a  very 
narrow  and  curious  alley  which  leads  from 
the  river-end  of  Milman's  Row  to  the  King's 
Road  by  the  World's  End  public-house,  the 
sign  of  which  recalls  the  fact  that  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Chelsea  in  the  old  days  the 
position  was  literally  the  end  of  the  world, 
since  the  road  beyond  was  frequently  an 
impassable  swamp.  Although  the  place  was 
known  by  this  name  as  early  as  the  time  of 
Charles  II.,  when  he  made  his  road  to 
Hampton  Court,  yet  in  evidence  relating  to 
the   locality   given    before   a   Parliamentary 


Committee  as  recently  as  1837,  it  is  more  than 
once  referred  to  as  "  Land's  End,"  which 
was,  even  then,  a  perfectly  suitable  name,  as 
the  road  beyond  it  was  frequently  under 
water.  In  the  time  of  the  "  Merry  Monarch  " 
there  were  some  rather  notorious  gardens 
here,  as  to  which  there  is  a  very  amusing 
dialogue  between  Mrs.  Eoresight  and  Mrs. 
Frail  in  Congreve's  Love  for  Love,  and  it  is  a 
curious  coincidence  that  two  hundred  years 
later  Cremorne  Gardens  occupied  nearly  the 
same  site. 

*  *  *  * 

Many  of  the  statements  which  appear  in  the 
foregoing  notes  are  not  to  be  found  in  the 
books,  but  are  gleaned  from  the  "  tales  of  a 
grandfather  "  who  was  born  and  died  in  the 
parish,  and  was  intimately  acquainted,  during 
a  long  life,  with  the  affairs  of  Chelsea. 


Cfje  X^apeur  Capesttp  in  tfje 

©anus  of  "  IRestorcrs,"  anD 

©oto  it  6a0  jTareD, 

By  Charles  Dawson,  F.S.A. 


^jNE  cannot  enter  upon  this  matter 
without  remembering  the  words 
n£3I^  of  Miss  Agnes  Strickland  in  her 
Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England, 
Ed.  1853,  p.  65  n.,  on  the  subject  of  the 
authorship  and  antiquity  of  the  Bayeux 
tapestry.  She  was  indignant  that  anyone 
who  is  not  learned  in  crewel-stitch  should 
venture  to  discuss  the  matter.  Before  arguing 
she  wishes  to  know  whether  we  can  sew. 
She  wrote :  "  With  all  due  deference  to  the 
judgment  of  the  lords  of  creation  on  all 
subjects  connected  with  policy  and  science, 
we  venture  to  think  that  our  learned  friends, 
the  archaeologists  and  antiquaries,  would  do 
well  to  devote  their  intellectual  powers  to 
more  masculine  objects  of  inquiry,  and  leave 
the  question  of  the  Bayeux  tapestry  (with  all 
other  matters  allied  to  needle-craft)  to  the 
decision  of  the  ladies  to  whose  province  it 
belongs.  It  is  a  matter  of  doubt  to  us 
whether  one,  out  of  many  gentlemen  who 
have  disputed  Mathilda's  claim  to  the  work, 


254      THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS." 


if  called  upon  to  execute  a  copy  of  either 
of  the  figures  on  canvas,  would  know  how 
to  put  in  the  first  stitch." 

But  Miss  Strickland  had  been  deceived, 
for  little  did  the  authoress  of  this  early 
Victorian  tirade  imagine  that,  unknown  to 
her,  the  masculine  cobbler  had  already  been 
at  work,  not  merely  upon  a  waste  piece  of 
canvas,  such  as  we  might  suppose  she  would 
have  selected  for  the  trial,  but  upon  the 
actual  groundwork  of  the  original  embroidery. 
The  restorer's  hands  have  not  merely  cobbled 
on  an  occasional  suit  of  chain-mail,  a  horse 
or  two,  or  a  border -figure,  but  they  have 
actually  interfered  largely  with  and  added 
to  the  inscriptions;  and  beyond  all,  in  the 
culminating  scene  of  the  design,  that  of 
Harold's  figure  by  the  standard,  they  have 
considerably  restored  the  figure,  and  have 
actually  worked  in  the  arrow  which  the  hand 
of  the  King  grasped,  or  is  recorded  to  have 
grasped,  when  it  entered  his  eye  on  that 
fateful  day ! 

As  to  the  justification  for  such  proceedings, 
there  can  be  none;  but,  before  going  into 
the  question  of  how  the  restorers  of  the 
tapestry  have  acquitted  themselves  of  their 
task,  we  will  first  answer  shortly  an  inquiry 
as  to  how  it  came  to  be  considered  in  need 
of  restoration. 

The  earliest  recorded  mention  of  the  exis- 
tence of  the  tapestry  occurs  in  the  inventory  of 
the  Cathedral  of  Bayeux  in  the  year  1476,  and 
again  in  1563.  From  that  time  forward  we 
hear  nothing  of  it  down  to  the  year  1729, 
the  time  of  its  discovery  to  the  archasological 
world.  It  had  long  been  the  custom  to 
exhibit  the  embroidery,  on  the  Feast  of 
Relics  and  its  octaves,  hung  around  the 
nave  of  the  Cathedral  of  Bayeux ;  and  at 
other  times  it  was  kept  in  a  press  in  a  chapel 
on  the  south  side  of  the  cathedral.  The 
interest  aroused  by  its  discovery,  of  course, 
led  to  a  more  frequent  and  casual  exhibition 
of  it;  and,  as  no  proper  method  was  adopted 
for  its  preservation,  it  no  doubt  suffered 
considerably.  During  the  anarchy  of  1729 
it  was  suddenly  requisitioned  as  a  covering 
for  a  military  cart  in  need  of  canvas,  from 
which  peril  it  was  rescued  by  a  Commissary 
of  Police;  but  again,  in  1794,  it  was  in 
danger  of  being  cut  up  and  used  as  a  decora- 
tion during  a  civic  festival,  from  which  fate 


it  was  happily  once  more  rescued.  In  1803 
it  was  taken  by  order  of  the  First  Consul 
Napoleon  for  exhibition  in  Paris,  but  returned 
to  Bayeux  the  next  year.  When,  in  18 14, 
Mr.  Hudson  Gurney  saw  it,  it  was  coiled 
round  a  winch  (Fig.  1),  or,  as  he  described 
it,  "A  machine  like  that  which  lets  down 
buckets  into  a  well,"  and  was  exhibited  to 
visitors  by  being  drawn  out  over  a  table. 
Mr.  Dawson  Turner,  writing  two  years  later, 
said  that  the  necessary  rolling  and  unrolling 
was  performed  with  so  little  attention  that 
the  tapestry  would  have  been  wholly  ruined 
in  the  course  of  half  a  century  if  left  under 


FIG.   I.— SHOWING   THE   FORMER    MODE   OF 
EXHIBITION   BY   MEANS  OF  A  WINCH. 

its  then  management.  He  describes  the 
tapestry-roll  as  being  injured  at  the  begin- 
ning and  very  ragged  towards  the  end,  where 
several  figures  had  completely  disappeared, 
and  adds  that  the  worsted  was  unravelling  in 
many  intermediate  parts.  Later  on  the  end 
is  described  as  a  mere  bundle  of  rags  (Fig.  2). 
To  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  restoration 
of  the  tapestry  since  its  discovery,  one  must 
necessarily  have  recourse  to  the  descriptions 
and  drawings  of  it  which  exist.  The  earliest 
known  is  that  which  was  found  in  the  cabinet 
of  the  antiquary  M.  Foucault  (an  ex-Intendant 
of  Normandy,  1688-1704)  in  1721,  the  exact 
date  and  origin  of  which  is  unknown.     It 


THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS."      255 


was  this  drawing  which,  in  the  hands  of 
M.  Lancelot  and  Father  Montfaucon,  led 
to  the  discovery  of  the  original  work ;  but 
the  delineation  only  covered  a  small  portion 
of  the  design.  Father  Montfaucon  published 
an  engraving  of  the  tapestry,  so  far  as  it  was 
then  known  from  M.  Foucault's  drawing,  in 
his  Monumens  de  la  Monarchic  Frangoise, 
Part  I.,  1729.  The  first  representation  of 
the  remainder  was  made  by  Antoine  Benoit 
upon  copper,  by  the  instruction  of  Father 


We  believe  that  these  plates  became  the 
basis  of  all  the  subsequently  published  plates, 
down  to  the  year  1 8 1 6- 1 7 ,  when  the  celebrated 
antiquarian  draughtsman  Charles  Stothard 
was  commissioned  by  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries of  London  to  make  as  perfect  a 
drawing  of  the  tapestry  as  its  dilapidated 
condition  would  admit.  This  was  engraved 
by  Basire,  and  still  remains  one  of  the  most 
authentic  representations  of  the  tapestry  as  it 
appeared  in  the  time  of  Stothard,  the  later 


-MODERN   MODE   OF   EXHIBITION  OF  THE   TAPESTRY  ON   BOTH   SIDES  OF  CASES 
IN   THE  UPPER  TIERS   IN   THE   MUNICIPAL   LIBRARY   AT   BAYEUX. 


Montfaucon,  who  gave  him  orders  to  reduce 
it  to  a  given  size,  but  to  alter  nothing. 
Father  Montfaucon  published  it  in  a  series 
of  plates  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Monu- 
mens de  la  Monarchie  Francoise,  Part  II., 
1730.  These  plates  are  by  no  means  so 
inaccurate  as  they  have  been  represented, 
and  it  is  by  studying  them  and  the  former 
engraving  from  M.  Foucault's  drawing  with 
the  tapestry  that  one  can  alone  recognize 
the  original  work  from  the  subsequent  series 
of  restorations. 


photographic  copies  having  taken  over  all 
the  subsequent  restorations  which  have  been 
made. 

To  return  to  the  year  1729,  the  tapestry 
had  not  long  been  discovered  before  the 
destructive  hand  of  the  "  restorer  "  was  set  to 
work.  M.  Benoit  had  freely  and  legitimately 
indicated  in  his  etchings,  by  means  of  dotted 
or  broken  lines,  such  of  the  missing  parts  of 
the  embroidery  as  he  believed  to  have 
formerly  existed. 

To    commence    an    examination    of    the 


256      THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS." 

actual  restoration  of  the  embroidery,  let  us  alone  sufficient  to  indicate.  The  first  word 
take  the  first  compartment  of  the  tapestry,  of  the  next  compartment  was  mutilated,  and 
that  of  Edward  the  Confessor  conversing  with     has  since  been  restored  as  "  Ubi."     Father 


fig.  3  (a).— M.  foucault's  drawing  (circa  1721). 

two  of  his  chieftains  (Fig.  3,  a,  l>,  c).  Formerly  Montfaucon  noticed  its  absence,  and  said 
the  title  or  inscription  above  the  Confessor's  that  the  mutilated  word  was  obviously 
head  consisted  merely  of  the  word  "  Rex  "      "  Edward  "  (or  presumably  a  contraction  of 


FIG.  3  (b). — SHOWING  ADDITION  OF  THE  WORD    "  EDWARD  " 
(STOTHARD,    1817). 


on     the    left    side    thereof.       The    word  it),    and    restored    the    terminal    mutilated 

"  Edward,"  as  we  see  it,  on  the  right  side  of  letters  in  the  plate  as  "  RD."     The  tapestry 

the  head,  did  not  then  exist,  as,  indeed,  the  soon  after  was  considered  by  the  Cathedral 

form   of   the   lettering  and  orthography  is  chapter  to  be  in  need  of  "  relining,"  and  this 


THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS."      257 


operation  initiated  the  opportunity  of  effect- 
ing the  first  restoration.  The  tapestry, 
which  was  then  in  two  pieces,  was  finely 
drawn  together  into  one,  the  word  "  Edward  " 
(not  Eadwardus)  was  inserted  on  the  right 
side  of  the  Confessor's  head,  and  the 
mutilated  letters  made  into  "  'BI "  instead 
of  "RD."  Again,  later  on  in  the  design, 
where  Bishop  Odo  is  represented  rallying 
the  Norman  troops,  the  title  formerly  existed 
as  Eps  Odo  Baculum  Tenens  com/or,  and 
Father  Montfaucon  remarked  that  the  rest 
of  the  sentence  "  is  effaced,"  but  that  it  un- 
doubtedly was  Comfortat  Francos.  Later  on, 
however,  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux  wrote  to 
Lancelot,  presumably  at  Benoit's  suggestion, 


restoration  of  the  tapestry  itself,  and  almost 
apologizes  for  his  temerity  for  introducing  a 
suggested  restoration,  like  Benoit,  by  means 
of  dotted  or  broken  lines  upon  his  plates 
(see  Vetusta  Monumenta,  vol.  vi.). 

Stothard  dealt  apparently  so  reverently 
with  his  subject  that  one  is  surprised  to  hear 
of  pieces  of  the  tapestry  in  his  possession, 
one  of  which  had  been  cut  clean  out  of  the 
upper  border  with  a  semi-lunar  cut,  as  if 
hurriedly  done  with  a  pair  of  scissors.  Mrs. 
Stothard,  in  1818,  then  on  her  first  honey- 
moon, has  lately  denied  the  not  too  soft 
impeachment  levelled  at  her  (Times,  Sep- 
tember 24,  1881);  but  it  is  significant  that 
Stothard   in   his   plate   showed  the  missing 


FIG.  3  (c). — SHOWING   ADDITION  OF   MOUSTACHE   TO   THE   SUPPOSED 
FIGURE  OF   HAROLD  AND   RESTORATION   OF   THE  WORD    "  VBI." 


that  the  words  might  be  restored  as  Com- 
fortat Pueros,  a  free  translation  of  which 
would  be  "  Odo  holding  a  mace  cheers  up 
the  lads."  The  tapestry  was  accordingly  so 
restored,  to  the  wonderment  of  posterity  ! 
But,  besides  the  examples,  a  whole  host  of 
restorations  were  effected  upon  the  tapestry, 
following,  as  to  details,  the  suggestion  of 
Benoit  as  indicated  by  means  of  the  dotted 
or  broken  lines  in  his  plates.  The  years 
following  between  the  lining  of  the  tapestry 
and  the  time  of  Stothard  probably  included 
the  greatest  period  of  obliteration  of  the 
already  much-restored  embroidery,  owing  to 
the  want  of  method  in  its  casual  exhibition. 
Stothard  seems  to  have  effected  no  actual 

VOL.  III. 


portion  in  situ,  and  in  its  proper  design, 
without  any  trace  of  mutilation,  whereas  the 
restoration  effected  on  the  tapestry  depicts  a 
variation  of  the  original,  which  the  British 
Government  has  courteously  purchased  and 
returned  to  the  custodian  of  the  tapestry. 
However,  Stothard's  work  bears  the  stamp 
of  conscientiousness  and  ability,  although  we 
must  remember  that  his  work  includes  the 
former  restorations,  without  distinction  from 
the  original  work.  We  only  remark  one 
slight  occasion,  when  a  more  recent  restorer 
has  caught  him  at  fault  in  a  minor  matter  on 
the  plate  X. :  he  restores  "  H.  stinga  "  -  as 
"  Hastinga,"  whereas  the  later  restorer  has 
rightly     put     "  Hestinga "    (m).       One     of 

2  K 


258      THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS. 


Stothard's  chief  restorations,  or  suggested 
restorations,  was  that  in  which  he  identifies 
the  mutilated  word  or  name  in  the  margin  of 
the    tapestry   as    "eustatius."      Only    an 


FIG.  4  (a).— BENOft  (1730). 

"E"  which  (with  the  "T"  he  discovered) 
and  the  final  "  tius  "  are  shown  by  Stothard 
as  remaining,  but  the  letters  are  in  alternate 
colouring  (green  and  buff),  and  by  allotting 


fig.  4  (£).  —  stothard's  restoration  (1818), 
adopted  by  restorer  of  tapestry  in  1 842. 
stothard  added  the  letters  "e.t."  to  the 
title,  and  added  a  moustache  to  the 
figure,  and  restored  the  banner  staff. 

letters  to  the  vacant  space  he  supplied  a  solu- 
tion of  the  four  missing  letters,  and  suggested 
Eustace  of  Boulogne  as  the  person  depicted  be- 
neath. The  figure  of  the  knight  below  carries 
a  gonfalon,  or  a  banner,  in  front  of  Duke 


William,  and  he  might  well  have  been  taken 
for  Tostein  le  Blanc,  the  standard-bearer 
at  the  Battle  of  Hastings,  especially  as, 
according  to  some  contemporary  accounts, 
Eustace  of  Boulogne  did  not  behave  in  that 
gallant  manner  in  which  the  figure  is  depicted. 
But  Stothard  shows  him  wearing  a  moustache, 
a  thing  unique  among  the  Norman  knights 
of  the  tapestry.  Now  Eustace,  second  Count  of 
Boulogne,  nicknamed  Aux  Grenons,  was,  as 
his  nickname  implies,  remarkable  for  this  un- 
usual feature;  and  although  we  are  not  aware 
whether  Stothard  knew  this,  we  should  feel 
more  comfortable  as  to  this  identification,  if 
this  moustache  had  appeared  in  former  draw- 
ings, which,  unfortunately,  it  does  not. 

(To  be  concluded. ) 


B 


l6urp  %t  cnmunus :  U3ote0 
ano  3!mpres0ion0. 

By  the  Rev.  II.  J.  Dukinfield  Astley,  M.A., 
Litt.D. 

( Concluded  from  p.  216.) 

ELAND,  the  antiquary,  was  here, 
about  1538,  in  search  of  ancient 
books  and  records,  and  a  letter  is 
extant,  preserved  in  the  Appen- 
dix to  the  fourth  book  of  his  Itinerary,  in 
which  we  read :  "  And  where  as  Master 
Leylande  at  this  praesent  tyme  cummith  to 
Byri  to  see  what  Bookes  be  lefte  in  the 
Library  there,  or  translated  thens  ynto  any 
other  corner  of  the  late  monastry,  I  shaul 
desity  yow  right  readily  to  forder  his  cause," 
etc.  Referring  to  this  visit,  Camden  quotes 
Leland's  impressions  in  the  following  terms  : 
"A  city  more  neatly  seated  the  sun  never 
saw,  so  curiously  doth  it  hang  upon  a  gentle 
descent,  with  a  little  river  upon  the  east  side ; 
nor  a  monastery  more  noble,  whether  one 
considers  the  endowments,  largeness,  or  un- 
paralleled magnificence.  One  might  think 
even  the  monastery  alone  a  city,  so  many 
gates  it  has  (some  whereof  are  brass),  so 
many  towers,  and  a  church  than  which 
nothing  can  be  more  magnificent :  as  appen- 
dages to  which  there  are  three  more  "  (now 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


259 


only  two)  "  in  the  same  churchyard,  of 
admirable  beauty  and  workmanship."  The 
library  in  which  Leland  prosecuted  his 
search  for  rare  and  curious  books  was  built 
by  Abbot  William  Curteys  (1429-45)  about 
1430.  Its  site  is  now  unknown,  but  "his 
work  is  worth  commemorating,"  says  Mr. 
J.  W.  Clark  in  The  Care  of  Books  (p.  108), 
"  as  another  instance  of  the  great  fifteenth- 
century  movement  in  monasteries  for  pro- 
viding special  rooms  for  books."  Many 
other  instances,  as  at  Winchester,  Worcester, 
and  St.  Albans,  are  noted  by  that  author  in 
his  admirable  monograph  on  this  subject. 
Having  built  his  library,  Abbot  Curteys 
drew  up  careful  regulations  for  the  use  of  the 
books,  which  may  be  seen  in  Mr.  Montague 
R.  James's  paper  on  Bury  Abbey  Library, 
published  by  the  Cambridge  Antiquarian 
Society.  Mr.  Clark  gives  the  rules  drawn  up 
for  the  Cluniacs,  Cistercians,  Augustinians, 
and  other  Orders  {pp.  cit,  pp.  66  etseq.\  which 
are  very  similar  the  one  to  the  other,  and 
show  the  intense  reverence  with  which  books 
were  regarded  in  the  days  when  each  copy 
had  to  be  laboriously  produced  by  hand,  and 
when  months,  and  even  years,  were  spent  in 
the  illumination  of  special  books,  such  as 
Gospels,  service-books,  etc. 

Before  special  rooms  or  libraries  were  built 
for  books  and  study,  the  cloister  was  devoted 
to  reading  and  writing,  as  well  as  to  converse 
and  recreation.  Usually  one  side  was  set 
apart  for  this  purpose,  and  the  space  con- 
tained by  each  window  looking  out  on  to 
the  central  court  was  partitioned  off  and 
arranged  for  the  use  of  a  single  monk.  This 
was  the  case  at  Bury,  where  the  south  side  of 
the  cloister,  that  nearest  the  church,  was 
fitted  up  in  this  way,  the  other  three  sides 
being  left  free  for  traffic.  These  partitions 
were  called  "carrells";  no  trace  of  them 
remains  at  Bury,  but  at  Gloucester  they  are 
still  almost  perfect,  and  might  be  used  to-day. 
"  In  the  south  cloister  at  Gloucester,"  says 
Mr.  Clark,  "  there  is  a  splendid  series  of 
twenty  stone  carrells,  built  between  1370  and 
1412.  There  is  no  trace  of  any  woodwork, 
or  of  any  bookpress  having  ever  stood  near 
them.  The  easternmost  carrell,  however, 
differs  a  good  deal  from  the  others,  and  it 
may  have  been  used  as  a  book-closet.  Each 
carrell  must  have  closely  resembled  a  modern 


sentry-box,  with  this  difference  that  one  side 
was  formed  by  a  light  of  the  window  looking 
into  the  cloister-garth,  opposite  to  which  was 
the  door  of  entrance.  The  seat  would  be  on 
one  side  of  the  carrell,  and  the  desk  on  the 
other."  The  earliest  mention  of  carrells  is  in 
the  customary  of  Abbot  Ware  of  Westminster, 
about  1275.  At  Bury  the  destruction  of  the 
carrells  is  mentioned  among  the  other  out- 
rages in  the  riots  of  1327  [op.  cit., pp.  g6etseq.). 
Before  the  cloister  windows  were  glazed  the 
studiously  inclined  among  the  monks  were 
sometimes  much  hampered  by  cold  and  bad 
weather.  Orderic  closes  the  fourth  book  of 
his  Ecclesiastical  History  with  a  lament  that 
he  must  lay  aside  the  work  for  the  winter ; 
and  a  monk  of  Ramsey  Abbey,  Hunts,  has 
recorded  his  discomforts  in  a  Latin  couplet 
which  seems  to  imply  that  in  a  place  so 
inconvenient  as  a  cloister  all  seasons  were 
equally  destructive  of  serious  work — 

In  vento  minime  pluvia  nive  sole  sedere 
Possumus  in  claustro  nee  scribere  neque  studere — 

which  we  will  translate,  improving  on  Mr. 
Clark : 

As  we  sit  here  in  wind,  rain,  snow,  and  sun, 
Nor  writing  nor  reading  in  cloister  is  done. 

But  things  improved  after  glass  was  intro- 
duced. At  Bury  part  of  the  cloister  had 
"painted  windows,  representing  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars,  and  the  occupations  of  the 
months  "  ;  and  when  the  library  was  once 
built  study  became  no  longer  a  hardship, 
but  an  easy  and  pleasant  toil. 

As  we  think  over  the  various  occupations 
of  the  monks  of  Bury,  and  see  them  in 
imagination  pursuing  their  multifarious  avoca- 
tions, in  the  busy  hours  between  the  frequent 
services,  some  going  to  the  farm,  some  to 
the  garden,  some  to  study  and  the  copying 
of  manuscripts,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Jocelin, 
to  the  composition  of  a  chronicle,  destined, 
though  the  modest  writer  knew  it  not,  to  be 
a  monument  cere  perennius,  and  as  we  watch 
the  various  officials  attending  to  their  several 
duties,  we  must  not  forget  one  very  important 
part  of  the  work  incumbent  on  a  monastic 
house — that  of  the  schools.  Here  the  youth 
of  the  town  were  trained  in  the  humanities 
and  in  craftsmanship,  and  fitted  to  fulfil  the 
functions  of  loyal  and  capable  citizens  of  the 
State,  and  children  of  Mother  Church. 

2  K    2 


260 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


Dr  Jessopp,  in  his  paper  on  Bury,  con- 
tained in  his  Studies  by  a  Recluse,  pictures 
one  side  of  the  cloister  as  used  for  the  pur- 
poses of  a  school ;  this  would  be  the  same 
side  as  that  devoted  to  study,  and  it  certainly 
was  so  at  Westminster. 

His  words  are  worth  quoting  :  "  The  four 
sides  of  this  arcade  or  cloister  were  used  for 
different  purposes.  In  one  of  the  walks  the 
school  was  held,  and  I  think  it  very  probable 
that  if  such  removal  of  the  rubbish  as  I  have 
hinted  at  were  made,  you  would  find  here, 
as  you  may  see  at  Westminster  and  at 
Norwich,  not  only  the  stone  cupboards  in 
which  the  school-books  were  kept,  but  the 
marks  of  the  boys'  games  actually  remaining 
on  the  stone  benches  and  pavements.  Yes  ! 
it  is  quite  certain  that  little  boys  in  the 
monastic  schools  played  at  marbles,  and 
were  in  the  habit  of  working  holes  into  the 
solid  wall  when  the  monks'  backs  were 
turned." 

However,  at  Bury  we  know  where  the 
school  actually  was,  so  the  "  little  boys " 
probably  did  not  play  at  marbles  in  the 
cloister  !  "On  a  small  scale,"  says  Mr. 
Gordon  Hill  in  a  paper  contributed  to  the 
Journal  of  the  British  Archaeological  Associa- 
tion in  1865,  on  "  The  Antiquities  of  Bury," 
"  the  school  of  the  monastery  was  usually 
held  in  a  part  of  the  wing  of  the  building 
extending  from  the  transept  of  the  church."  It 
was  so  here  originally,  and  was  situated 
between  the  north  transept  and  the  monks' 
parlour  and  dormitory  and  the  infirmary, 
which  enclosed  a  small  cloister-garth,  as  may 
be  judged  from  the  mention  of  three  boys 
of  the  school  who  saw  {circa  1095)  from  a 
window  of  the  infirmary  (the  adjoining  build- 
ing to  the  north)  the  Bishop  of  Rochester — 
Radulph — confirming  the  people  on  the  spot 
where  St.  Andrew's  Chapel  afterwards  stood 
in  the  monks'  cemetery.  Abbot  Samson 
removed  the  school  to  a  position  east  of  St. 
Margaret's  Gate,  now  destroyed,  and,  as 
Jocelin  tells  us,  purchased  stone  houses  in 
the  town  for  the  purpose.  His  account  is 
confirmed  by  one  of  the  registers,  which  also 
hands  down  to  us  some  of  the  rules  of  the 
foundation.  The  scholars,  whether  rich  or 
poor,  were  to  be  free  of  payment  from 
conductione  domus,  and  forty  poor  clerks  free 
of  all  payment  to  the  masters  for  their  learn- 


ing, in  which  number  were  first  to  be  taken 
relatives  of  the  monks,  and  the  rest  to  be 
filled  up  as  the  master  should  appoint. 
One  of  the  scholars  of  Bury  was  Richard 
de  Bury,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Durham, 
and  the  author  of  the  Philobiblon,  or  treatise 
on  the  love  of  books,  which  was  completed 

in  1345- 

The  only  one  of  the  good  works  performed 
by  the  monks  which  survived  the  Dissolution 
was  their  educational  work.  No  part  of  the 
confiscated  abbey  lands  or  funds  was,  how- 
ever, devoted  to  the  cause.  As  in  other 
instances,  the  grammar  school,  which  was 
founded  by  King  Edward  VI.  in  1550,  and 
which  was  the  first  of  thirty  such  founda- 
tions, was  endowed  "  with  several  lands  of 
dissolved  chantries  "  only.  Bury  Grammar 
School,  situated  first  in  Eastgate  Street,  and 
transferred  to  Northgate  Street  in  1650, 
celebrated  its  tercentenary  in  1850,  when  a 
sermon  was  preached  by  Dr.  Blomfield, 
Bishop  of  London ;  and  now,  at  the  end  of 
357  years,  it  is  still  carrying  out  the  pious 
purposes  ot  its  founder. 

It  has  been  distinguished  for  many  ncted 
alumni,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
Sancroft,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
afterwards  a  Non-juror;  Kemble,  the  editor 
of  Beowulf  and  historian  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons ;  besides  two — Brundish,  1773,  and 
Alderson,  1809  —  who  were  both  Senior 
Wranglers  and  Senior  Classics  at  Cambridge, 
the  latter  of  whom  was  the  famous  Baron  of 
the  Exchequer. 

It  is  time  that  we  now  devote  a  brief 
space  to  the  men  who  form  the  chief  glory 
of  Bury  Abbey  in  modern  eyes  —  Abbot 
Samson  and  his  biographer,  Jocelin  of 
Brakelonde ;  for  if  Bury  was  fortunate  in 
securing  the  services  of  such  an  Abbot,  the 
Abbot  was  still  more  fortunate  in  his  bio- 
grapher, and  more  fortunate  still  are  we  in 
that  we  not  only  have  the  gossiping  monk's 
most  human  document  itself,  but  that,  when 
first  published  by  the  Camden  Society  in 
1 840,  it  should  have  fallen  under  the  notice 
of  the  Sage  of  Chelsea,  and  should  have 
been  enshrined  for  all  time  in  the  pages  of 
Past  and  Present,  where  it  probably  comes 
under  the  notice  of  most  English  readers 
for  the  first  time.  It  was  so  with  the  writer, 
and,  as  he  sat  once  more  amid  the  ruins 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS :  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


261 


many  a  glowing  phrase  of  Carlyle's  inimitable 
style  recurred  to  his  mind. 

The  facts  of  Abbot  Samson's  life  may  be 
summarily  recalled.  He  was  born  at 
Tottington,  near  Thetford,  in  the  first  year 
of  the  reign  of  King  Stephen,  1135,  and  was 
taken  by  his  mother  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Bury 
in  1 144,  in  consequence  of  a  dream  he  had 
had,  in  which  he  saw  himself  "  standing 
before  the  gates  of  the  cemetery  of  the 
church  of  St.  Edmund,  and  the  devil,  with 
outspread  arms,  preparing  to  seize  him,  had 
not  St.  Edmund,  standing  by,  taken  him  in 
his  arms,  whereupon  he  screamed,  '  St. 
Edmund,  save  me !'  and,  thus  calling  upon 
him  whose  name  he  had  never  heard, 
awoke."  Alter  studying  in  Paris  and  visit- 
ing Rome,  about  n  60  he  returned  to 
England,  and  became  a  monk  about  11 66. 
In  1 1 75  he  was  made  master  of  the  novices 
at  Bury  (Jocelin  having  entered  the  monas- 
tery in  1 1 73),  and  in  11 80  he  wrote  his  work 
De  Miraculis  Sancti  Edmundi. 

In  1 180  Abbot  Hugh  died,  and  in  1182 
Samson  was  appointed  Abbot,  and  ruled  the 
convent  with  judgment  and  prudence  till  his 
death  in  121 1,  "in  the  fourth  year  of  the  Inter- 
dict," in  consequence  of  which  he  was  buried 
at  first  in  unconsecrated  ground  in  pratello, 
whence  in  12 14  his  body  was  removed  and  re- 
interred  in  the  chapter-house.  Thus  the  last 
years  of  the  aged  Abbot  were  saddened  by  the 
cessation  of  all  public  worship  in  his  beloved 
abbey;  the  altars  were  stripped  and  the 
church  doors  closed,  in  view  of  the  Interdict 
hurled  at  the  recalcitrant  John  by  Pope 
Innocent  III.,  and  his  sun  went  down  in 
darkness  and  gloom.  But  not  before  he  had 
proved  himself  a  right  noble  Englishman 
and  a  worthy  supporter  of  the  rights,  privi- 
leges, and  honours  of  St.  Edmund.  In 
1 1 50  a  great  fire  had  destroyed  the  con- 
ventual buildings — Abbot's  palace,  refectory, 
dormitory,  the  old  infirmary  and  chapter- 
house— and  these  had  soon  been  restored ; 
but  it  remained  for  Samson  to  rebuild  the 
abbey  church  and  the  great  tower,  which  he 
did  with  much  magnificence  and  a  lavish 
expenditure  of  money.  He  was  a  favourite 
of  King  Richard  I.,  whom  he  visited  during 
his  imprisonment  by  Leopold  of  Austria,  and 
contrived  to  keep  on  good  terms  even  with 
the  rapacious  John,  who  supported  him  in  a 


quarrel  he  had  with  his  monks  in  1199,  and 
ratified  a  charter  he  had  granted  to  St. 
Saviour's  Hospital  at  Babwell.  But  were  it 
not  for  his  chronicler  Abbot  Samson  would 
have  sunk  into  the  dim  vistas  of  the  past, 
with  little  more  chance  of  immortality  than 
the  rest  of  his  brethren  who,  at  Bury  and 
elsewhere,  ruled  the  religious  houses  of 
England  during  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the 
pages  of  Jocelin  both  "  chronicler "  and 
"  chronicled "  are  living  figures,  and  the 
gossiping  narrative  of  the  Bury  monk  is  as 
vital  and  vivid  in  its  picture  of  a  central 
figure  of  the  twelfth  century  as  are  the  pages 
of  Boswell  in  their  picture  of  the  great  lexi- 
cographer of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
latest  edition  of  Jocelin  lies  before  us  as  we 
write,  published  in  that  excellent  series, 
"The  King's  Classics,"  by  Alexander 
Moring,  and  edited  by  Sir  Ernest  Clarke, 
M.A.,  F.S.A.,  and  to  its  pages  we  would 
refer  our  readers ;  but  we  cannot  refrain 
from  a  few  telling  quotations  both  from  the 
Chronicle  itself  and  from  Carlyle's  comments 
thereon.  As  regards  Jocelin,  we  agree  with 
his  latest  editor  that  Carlyle's  appreciation  of 
him  cannot  be  bettered  :  "An  ingenious  and 
ingenuous,  a  cheery -hearted,  innocent,  yet 
withal  shrewd,  noticing,  quick-witted  man, 
and  from  under  his  monk's  cowl  has  looked 
out  on  the  narrow  section  of  the  world  in  a 
really  human  manner  ...  of  patient,  peace- 
able, loving,  ever-smiling  nature,  open  for 
this  or  that  .  .  .  also  he  has  a  pleasant  wit, 
and  loves  a  timely  joke,  though  in  mild, 
subdued  manner.  A  learned,  grown  man, 
yet  with  the  heart  as  of  a  good  child."  And 
what  can  be  better  than  these  remarks  on  the 
Chronicle  and  its  hero  :  "One  of  the  things 
that  strikes  us  most  in  these  old  monastic 
books,  written,  evidently,  by  pious  men,  is  this, 
that  there  is  almost  no  mention  of  '  personal 
religion '  in  them  ;  that  the  whole  gist  of 
their  thinking  and  speculation  seems  to  be 
1  the  privileges  of  our  Order '  .  .  .  '  God's 
honour '  (meaning  the  honour  of  our  Saint), 
and  so  forth.  .  .  .  How  is  this  ?  Jocelin 
and  the  rest  have  as  yet  nothing  of '  Metho- 
dism,' no  doubt  or  even  root  of  doubt. 
Religion  is  not  a  diseased  self-introspection, 
an  agonizing  inquiry.  Their  duties  are  clear 
to  them,  the  way  of  supreme  good  plain,  and 
they  are  travelling  on  it.     Religion  lies  over 


262 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


them  like  an  all-embracing,  heavenly  canopy, 
an  atmosphere  which  is  not  spoken  of,  which 
in  all  things  is  presupposed  without  speech." 
And  again :  "  Our  religion  is  not  yet  a 
horrible,  restless  doubt,  still  less  a  far 
horribler  composed  cant,  but  a  great  heaven- 
high  unquestionability,  interpenetrating  the 
whole  of  life.  We  are  here  to  testify  that 
this  earthly  life,  and  its  riches  and  possessions, 
and  good  and  evil  ways,  are  not  intrinsically 
a  reality  at  all,  but  are  a  shadow  of  realities 
eternal,  infinite  .  .  .  and  man's  little  life  has 
duties  that  are  great,  and  go  up  to  heaven 
and  down  to  hell."  And  as  regards  Samson 
himself  when  he  was  made  Abbot :  "  A 
personable  man  of  seven-and-forty ;  stout- 
made,  stands  erect  as  a  pillar,  with  bushy 
eyebrows,  the  eyes  of  him  burning  into  you 
in  a  really  strange  way ;  the  face  massive, 
grave,  with  '  a  very  eminent  nose ';  his 
head  almost  bald,  its  auburn  remnants  of 
hair  and  the  copious  ruddy  beard  getting 
slightly  streaked  with  grey  "...  "a  thought- 
ful firm  -  standing  man  —  much  loved  by 
some,  not  loved  by  all,  his  clear  eyes  flash- 
ing into  you  in  an  almost  inconvenient  way." 
And  this,  again,  in  reference  to  Samson's 
early  difficulties  with  his  monks,  and  the 
efforts  he  made,  as  soon  as  he  found  himself 
firmly  in  the  saddle,  to  rid  the  convent  of  its 
debts  and  repair  its  ruined  buildings  :  "  This 
Samson  had  served  a  right  good  apprentice- 
ship to  governing — viz.,  the  harshest  slave- 
apprenticeship  to  obeying.  To  learn  obeying 
is  the  fundamental  art  of  governing."  And  : 
"  The  clear  -  beaming  eyesight  of  Abbot 
Samson  .  .  .  penetrates  gradually  to  all 
nooks,  and  of  the  chaos  makes  a  kosmos  or 
ordered  world.  He  arranges  everywhere, 
struggles  unweariedly  to  arrange,"  knowing 
that  "  man  is  the  missionary  of  order,  the 
servant  of  God  and  of  the  universe." 

Jocelin  tells  us  how  "that  which  I  have 
heard  and  seen  have  I  taken  in  hand  to 
write,  which  in  our  days  has  come  to  pass  in 
the  church  of  St.  Edmund,  from  the  year 
when  the  Flemings  were'  taken  captive  with- 
out the  town"  (i.e.,  1173,  when  the  younger 
Henry  had  organized  a  revolt  against  his 
father,  which  was  joined  by  many  of  the 
barons,  including  Earl  Hugh  Bigod  of 
Norfolk,  and  Earl  Robert  de  Beaumont  of 
Leicester,  who  had  landed  in  Suffolk  at  the 


head  of  a  force  of  Flemings,  and  was  defeated 
at  Fornham,  near  Bury,  and  the  revolt  easily 
suppressed,  all  which  may  be  read  in  the 
interesting  pages  of  Miss  Kate  Norgate's 
England  under  the  Angevin  Kings,  ii., 
150-156),  "at  which  time  I  took  upon  me 
the  religious  habit ;  and  I  have  mingled  in 
my  narration  some  evil  deeds  by  way  of 
warning,  and  some  good  by  way  of  profit." 
So  the  good  monk  begins,  and  well  has  he 
carried  out  his  promise.  We  see  Samson, 
above  all,  in  all  phases  of  his  career,  the 
masterful,  impetuous,  and  yet  wise  and 
generous  man,  nick -named  the  "Norfolk 
barrator"  —  i.e.,  litigious  person  (Norfolk 
being  celebrated  for  its  fondness  for  law- 
suits), from  his  determination  to  uphold  at 
all  costs  the  rights  of  St.  Edmund  and  his 
own,  speaking  always  in  his  broad  Norfolk 
dialect,  which  his  humble  origin  made  him 
partial  to,  winning  his  way  by  slow  degrees, 
by  his  own  unaided  merit,  to  the  highest 
position,  and  then  maintaining  it  with  justice 
and  kind  severity  for  nearly  thirty  years,  and 
winning  the  esteem  and,  more  than  that,  the 
love  of  his  subordinates,  before  he  is  called 
away.  We  see  him  in  his  habit  as  he  lived, 
riding  on  his  palfrey  at  the  head  of  his 
retinue  to  receive  his  royal  and  noble 
visitors,  keeping  his  keen  eye  on  every  detail 
of  the  convent  management,  attending  to 
the  estates,  enlarging  and  beautifying  the 
church  and  precincts ;  and  at  every  point  we 
feel  that  we  are  in  contact,  not  with  a  mere 
lay-figure,  but  with  a  man  of  living  flesh  and 
blood  So  old  Jocelin  rambles  on,  caring 
nothing  for  chronological  exactitude,  until  at 
length  his  book  closes,  just  when  Samson  has 
been  summoned  across  the  seas  to  advise 
King  John  on  a  brief  sent  by  the  Pope  as  to 
the  dispensation  of  certain  Crusaders  from 
their  vows  in  1203  ;  and,  to  quote  Carlyle  for 
the  last  time  :  "  Jocelin's  Boswellian  narra- 
tive, suddenly  shorn  thin  by  the  scissors  of 
Destiny,  ends.  There  are  no  words  more. 
The  miraculous  hand  that  held  all  this 
theatric  machinery  suddenly  quits  hold  ;  im- 
penetrable time- curtains  rush  down;  our 
real  phantasmagory  of  St.  Edmundsbury 
plunges  into  the  bosom  of  the  twelve  century 
again,  and  all  is  over.  Monks,  Abbot,  hero- 
worship,  government,  obedience,  and  St. 
Edmund's  shrine,  vanish  like  Mirza's  vision, 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


263 


and  there  is  nothing  left  but  a  mutilated 
black  ruin  amid  green  botanic  expanses,  and 
oxen,  sheep,  and  dilettanti  pasturing  in  their 
places." 

So  meditating,  we  prepared  to  go ;  but 
first  we  remembered  to  give  a  passing  glance 
to  the  spot  where,  four  years  ago,  on  the  site 
of  the  chapter-house,  five  stone  coffins  with 
skeletons  were  discovered  in  the  position 
assigned  in  a  Bury  MS.  to  five  of  the  Abbots, 
one  of  which  undoubtedly  contained  the 
remains  of  Abbot  Samson. 

Little  time  remained  to  view  the  other 
beauties  of  Bury,  including  the  Moyses 
Hall,  now  used  as  the  Borough  Museum, 
but  supposed  to  have  been  a  Jewish  dwelling- 
house  of  the  early  twelfth  century,  and  as 
such  almost  the  only  specimen  in  England. 
The  outside  has  been  much  modernized,  but 
the  interior  contains  a  beautiful  crypt-like 
hall,  having  arches  of  stone  springing  from 
squat  pillars,  with  cushion  capitals  support- 
ing a  groined  roof. 

The  Jews  were  finally  expelled  from 
England,  after  long-continued  oppressions 
and  exactions,  in  1290,  not  to  return  till  the 
time  of  Cromwell,  three  and  a  half  centuries 
afterwards.  Moyses  Hall  would  then  be 
nearly  200  years  old.  Dr.  Margoliouth,  in 
a  paper  on  "The  Vestiges  of  the  Historic 
Anglo-Hebrews  in  East  Anglia,"  holds  that 
it  was  not  a  private  dwelling,  but  a  synagogue, 
and  says  :  "  Moyses  Hall  is  a  fair  specimen  of 
synagogues  built  in  East  Anglia  about  the 
time  of  Henry  I.  It  was  known  among  its 
original  possessors  as  'the  synagogue  of 
Moses,'  and  was  no  doubt  a  Jewish  place  of 
worship.  It  corresponds  in  its  architectural 
details  with  the  oldest  existing  synagogue  in 
Europe — that  of  Prague.  I  am  of  opinion 
that  the  whole  side  of  the  market-place  be- 
longed to  the  synagogue  establishment, 
including  a  seminary,  official  residences,  etc. 
— in  fact,  a  sort  of  Hebrew  Abbey  of 
Bury." 

But  the  glory  of  Bury  is  to-day,  as  it  has 
ever  been,  the  abbey.  Pack-horses  and 
chariots  and  coaches  have  given  place  to  the 
railway  and  the  motor-car.  We  have  no 
time  for  architecture  now ;  but  these  majestic 
remains  of  departed  grandeur  tell  us  what 
art  sanctified  by  religion  was  capable  of  in 
its  best  period,  and  as  we  take  a  last  lingering 


look  at  the  great  gateway  and  the  Norman 
tower  on  leaving  the  town,  our  regret  is 
tempered  by  remembrance  of  the  poet's 
words : 

A  thing  of  beauty  is  a  joy  for  ever  : 
Its  loveliness  increases  ;  it  will  never 
Pass  into  nothingness  ;  but  still  will  keep 
A  bower  quiet  for  us,  and  a  sleep 
Full  of  sweet  dreams.  .  .  . 

Such  the  sun,  the  moon, 
Trees  old  and  young,  sprouting  a  shady  boon 
*#*#*■ 

'Gainst  the  hot  season — 
And  such,  too,  is  the  grandeur  of  the  dooms 
We  have  imagined  for  the  mighty  dead  ; 
All  lovely  tales  that  we  have  heard  or  read  : 
An  endless  fountain  of  immortal  drink, 
Pouring  unto  us  from  the  heaven's  brink. 

Note  on  St.  Edmund  the  King. 

As  stated  in  the  text,  Edmund  is  commonly 
said  to  have  been  murdered  by  the  Danes  at 
Hoxne,  in  Suffolk.  Lord  Francis  Hervey,  how- 
ever, in  his  edition  of  Reyce's  Suffolk  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  has  devoted  a  long  note 
to  an  exhaustive  and  searching  analysis  of  the 
whole  story,  together  with  a  critical  examina- 
tion of  all  the  authorities,  and  he  concludes 
that  the  tradition  is  at  fault.  The  Saxon 
Chronicle,  under  871,  merely  says  :  "  In  this 
year  the  army  rode  over  Mercia  into  East 
Anglia,  and  took  winter  quarters  at  Thetford, 
and  in  that  winter  King  Edmund  fought 
against  them,  and  the  Danes  gained  the 
victory,  and  slew  the  King."  Asser's  account 
implies  that  Edmund  died  on  the  field  of 
battle,  wherever  that  was.  Abbo's*  only 
authority  for  the  life  and  death  of  Edmund 
was  Dunstan,  and  Dunstan  had  his  tale  a 
quodam  decrepito  sene,  who  came  to 
Athelstan's  Court  about  937,  sixty- seven 
years  after  the  battle,  and  swore  that  he  had 
been  Edmund's  armour-bearer  on  that  fatal 
day.  The  rest  of  the  chroniclers  and  Abbot 
Samson  simply  follow  Abbo's  tale,  and  the 
conclusion  is  that  we  do  not  know  the 
circumstances  of  Edmund's  death,  or  of  his 
first  sepulture.  Lord  Francis  Hervey  suggests 
Hailesdon,  near  Bromeswell,  as  the  site  of 
the  battle,  and  says :  "  May  not  Halgeston 
(Domesday  Book),  Hollesley,  Hailesdon,  or 

*  Abbot  of  Fleury  ;  wrote   Life   of  St.  Edmund, 
circa  985. 


264 


BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS:  NOTES  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 


Hallesdene  signify  respectively  the  stow  or 
place,  the  lea,  or  the  down  or  dene  of  the 
Hallows  or  Holies — i.e.,  of  the  Christian 
soldiers  who  fell  with  their  King  in  battle 
against  the  heathen?"* 

As  regards  St.  Edmund's  canonization, 
Lord  Francis  Hervey  also  says :  "  Mr.  Carlyle, 
in  Past  and  Present,  countenances,  or  has 
originated,  the  view  that  St.  Edmund  was 
canonized  by  papal  decree,  'till,  at  length, 
the  very  Pope  and  Cardinals  at  Rome  were 
forced  to  hear  of  it,  and  they,  summing  up  as 
correctly  as  they  could  .  .  .  the  general  ver- 
dict of  mankind,  declared  that  he  was  gone, 
as  they  conceived,  to  God  above,  and  reaping 
his  reward  there.' 

"  It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  such 
procedure  was  observed.  ...  As  regards 
Edmund  of  East  Anglia,  the  '  cult '  following 
upon  the  occurrence  of  miracles  is  thought 
to  have  established  the  attribution  of  sanctity 
without  the  authorization  of  formal  pro- 
ceedings such  as  became  usual  in  a  later 
age. 

"To  sum  up.  Of  Edmund  as  fact,  as 
historical  figure,  we  know  next  to  nothing. 
Of  Edmund  as  ideal,  we  are  much  more 
certain."  ...  In  him  "  the  religious  ideal  of 
meekness,  devotion,  and  purity  became 
mingled  with  the  secular  ideal  of  manly 
valour  and  martial  prowess  .  .  .  mighty  to 
save  the  sick,  the  suffering,  the  penitent,  and 
the  oppressed." 

Possessing  this  double  ideal,  it  is  no  longer 
surprising  that  "  the  great  abbey  drew  round 
itself  wealth  and  power,  and  brought  the 
most  proud  and  haughty  monarchs  to  tremble 
at  its  shrine ;  drew  a  considerable  town 
around  it ;  expelled  all  spiritual  jurisdiction 
that  it  might  reign  supreme ;  became  the 
chief  secular  power  in  the  county ;  filled  the 
place  with  some  of  the  finest  architectural 
triumphs  of  succeeding  ages  —  Norman, 
Decorated,  and  Perpendicular;  made  it  an 
object  of  ambition  to  the  greatest  noble  to 
belong  to  the  fraternity,  and  to  be  buried 
within   its   hallowed  walls ;   and  all  this  on 

*  Curiously  enough,  Hollinshed  makes  "Eglesdun" 
the  place  to  which  St.  Edmund's  body  was  taken, 
and  says :  "  Where  afterwards  a  faire  monastry  was 
builded  by  one  Bishop  Alwyn,  and  chaunging  the 
name  of  the  place,  it  was  after  called  St.  Edmund's- 
bury. "  But  Hollinshed,  like  the  rest  of  the  chroniclers, 
was  not  critical. 


account  of  its  possessing  the  body  of  an 
obscure  and  petty  king  of  East  Anglia  who 
had  been  slain  by  the  Danes."* 


§>ome  DID  Ulster  Cotons. 

By  William  J.  Fennell,  M.R.I.A. 


IV.   DONEGAL. 

Where  the  Masters  Wrote. 

HE  town  of  Donegal,  the  "fort  of 
the  strangers,"  and  the  capital  of 
ancient  Tyrconnell,  is  seated  on 
the  river  Eske,  where  it  delivers 
its  waters  into  the  deep  inland  bay  of 
Donegal.  The  modern  town  is  small,  well 
built,  and  is  the  centre  of  a  flourishing 
market  trade. 

The  associations  which  cling  round  it  are 
those  of  a  brilliant,  heroic  dash  for  freedom 
on  the  part  of  the  Irish  Princes  of  O'Donnell 
in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  ending  in  a 
melancholy  failure  brought  about  more  from 
treachery  and  jealousy  within  than  from  the 
soldierly  merits  of  the  English  commanders. 

The  castle  of  the  O'Donnells  is  in  the 
town,  and  is  a  well  preserved  ruin  of  Per- 
pendicular and  Jacobin  workmanship  of  a 
later  date  than  the  time  of  occupation  by  the 
last  Irish  prince.  The  O'Donnell  estates, 
being  confiscated,  passed  into  the  hands  of 
English  owners,  and  as  a  result,  the  castle  as 
it  now  stands  is  the  remnant  of  an  English 
mansion  of  the  time,  and  not  the  stronghold 
of  a  famous  Irish  chief. 

As  the  home  of  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell  and 
the  scenes  of  his  stirring  history  and  many  a 
daring  venture,  and  the  base  from  which  he 
marched  and  inflicted  many  a  crushing  defeat 
on  the  English  power,  Donegal  will  be  ever 
remembered  in  Ireland's  history ;  but  when 
the  prince  was  dead,  his  people  scattered 
and  his  home  a  ruin,  there  came  an  episode 
which   connects   Donegal  inseparably  again 

*  Address  delivered  before  the  Royal  Archaeo- 
logical Institute  by  Lord  Arthur  Hervey,  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  in  whose  family  the  site  of  the  abbey 
is  now  vested. 


SOME  OLD  ULSTER  TOWNS. 


265 


with  history    as    the    home    of    the    Four 
Masters. 

One  can  readily  understand  that  the  place 
where  the  Masters  wrote  is  inseparably 
welded  with  the  History  of  Ireland,  and  this 
year  (1900)  the  writer  bent  his  steps  towards 
it  to  make  a  record  of  the  little  that  is  left 
of  that  once  prosperous  Religious  House, 
before  that  little  vanishes  away  for  ever. 
Picturesquely  lying  on  a  gentle  bend  formed 
by  the  Eask  River  as  it  winds  down  from  its 
source — a  lonely  lake  in  Donegal — and  meets 
the  tidal  waters  of  the  estuary  from  the 
Atlantic,  are  a  few  hallowed  stones,  the  sole 
remnants  of  a  monastery  round  which  should 


crept  in  perilous  times  of  devastation  and 
cruelty  the  Four  Masters — time  honoured 
monks — to  write  a  history  that  a  nation 
might  well  be  proud  of. 

When  we  remember  the  associations  that 
must  for  all  time  linger  around  this  old  ruin 
it  seems  marvellous  to  us — and  almost  beyond 
conception — that  the  inhabitants  of  Donegal 
could  rest  satisfied  in  a  sleepy  apathy  ot 
thorough  indifference,  almost  amounting  to 
contempt,  for  what  should  be  revered  and 
cherished  by  them  more  than  by  all  others. 

A  committee  of  the  local  inhabitants,  by 
means  of  a  small  annual  subscription  of  half- 
a-crown  or  five  shillings  a  head,  could  have 


DONEGAL   ABBEY. 
(Photograph  by  R.  Welch,  Belfast.) 


cling  for  ever  loving  memories  and  deeply 
cherished  reverence.  There  is  a  halo  of 
peaceful  glory  and  the  tranquillity  of  age 
quietly  spreading  over  the  broken  arches  and 
crumbling  gables  as  with  an  air  of  dreamy 
pathos  the  ruin  seems  to  gaze  towards  the 
setting  sun  over  a  scene  which  looks  like  an 
enchanted  dream — waters  with  verdant  banks 
and  clustering  islands,  rich  with  manifold 
colours,  glistening  in  reflected  rays  of  light — 
and  peaceful  beyond  expression. 

Such  was  once  the  ideal  site  selected  by  an 
Irish  prince  for  the  followers  of  St.  Francis 
of  Assisi  on  which  to  found  their  home,  and 
back  to  those  well  loved,  but  crumbling,  walls 

VOL.   III. 


kept  these  walls  in  preservation — yet  so 
thoroughly  dead  are  they  to  the  fact  of 
possessing  at  their  door  a  great  treasure  that 
during  the  past  year  the  east  gable  has  been 
allowed  to  fall  in,  carrying  with  it  the  head  of 
the  east  or  sanctuary  window,  and  not  a  hand 
stretched  out  to  save  it ! 

Had  we  seen,  as  we  entered,  a  noble  Celtic 
Cross  richly  worked  in  the  chastely  subtle 
beauties  of  our  native  art,  erected  to  the 
memory  of  Michael  O'Clery,  and  then  come 
on  a  ruin  cared  for  and  preserved  with  the 
same  love  and  protection  that  so  distinguishes 
the  great  monastic  ruins  of  England,  we 
would  not  have  been  surprised.     We  do  not 

2  L 


266 


SOME  OLD  ULSTER  TOWNS. 


look  for  restorations,  but  we  expect — we  had 
almost  said  we  demand — preservations,  and 
in  their  stead  we  find  neglect  and  desolation 
that  is  positively  degrading. 

It  is  now  over  two  centuries  and  a  half 
since  the  "  Four  Masters  "  completed  their 
labours,  and  ever  since  then  the  site  seems 
to  have  been  a  general  burying-ground,  and 
while  we  honour  the  desire  to  repose  in  such 
hallowed  earth,  we  regret  the  uncontrolled 
scramble  for  every  inch  of  it  which  has 
thrown  up  the  soil  into  shapeless  and 
unkempt  masses — in  some  places  to  over 
four  feet  above  the  original  level  of  the  floor 
line. 

Under  this  floor  line,  most  possibly  in  the 
sanctuary,  were  laid  to  rest  the  remains  of 
some  of  Ireland's  princes  and  illustrious 
great. 

First  in  honour  was  the  founder,  O'Donnell, 
who  died  in  1505,  whom  the  Masters  describe 
as  "the  full  moon  of  hospitality  and  nobility 
of  the  north,  and  the  most  eminent  for  agree- 
able manners,  feats  of  arms,  the  best  man  for 
either  peace  or  war,  and  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  Irish  in  Irelapd  in  his  time  for  Govern- 
ment, laws  and  regulations,  for  throughout 
Tirconnell  during  his  time  no  watching  was 
kept,  and  the  people  only  closed  the  doors  to 
keep  out  the  wind."  He  also  erected  the 
first  Castle  in  Donegal.  Here  also  rested 
Murrogh  O'Brien,  Baron  of  Inchiquin. 

This  Irish  nobleman  joined  the  English, 
and  led  the  attack  on  Ballyshannon  in  1597, 
and  "  on  his  horse  outside  the  soldiers,  he 
was  in  the  centre  and  in  the  depth  of  the 
river,  protecting  them  from  being  drowned 
and  encouraging  them  past  him,  but  fate 
ordained  that  he  was  directly  aimed  at  by 
one  of  O'Donnell's  men  by  a  shot  of  a  ball 
at  the  separation  of  his  mail  armour  in  the 
arm  pit — and  it  passed  through  the  other 
arm  pit ;  he  could  not  be  helped  until  he  fell 
from  his  horse  in  the  depth  of  the  stream 
and  was  immediately  drowned."  We  notice 
here  how  the  "  Masters,"  in  the  greatness  of 
their  generous  natures,  could  pause  to  praise 
an  enemy,  and  they  proceed  to  relate  how 
much  he  was  mourned  by  all. 

The  body  was  recovered  after  the  defeat 
of  his  force  by  the  Cistercians  of  Asseroe 
near  Ballyshannon,  and  buried  by  them  in 
their    monastery,    but    the    Franciscans    of 


Donegal  claimed  it  "  because  it  was  in  the 
monastery  of  St.  Francis  in  his  own  country 
that  his  ancestors  were  buried  j"  finally  they 
made  good  their  claim,  and  after  three 
months  the  body  was  exhumed  and  reverently 
placed  to  rest.  How  long  these  noble 
remains  rested  it  is  not  for  us  to  say,  but 
with  the  floors  rooted  out  and  strangers  bury- 
ing in  every  available  place — both  inside  and 
out — they  may  have  mingled  with  those  of 
many  a  humble  brother  owing  to  the  con- 
stant disturbance  of  the  place.  Possibly  the 
unburied  portion  of  a  skull,  which  we 
accidentally  crushed  under  foot  in  this 
neglected  God's  acre,  may  have  roofed  "  the 
palace  of  the  soul  "  of  one  of  the  truly  great. 
We  hope  that  ere  long  the  grave  may  again 
yield  them  that  quietude  which  is  now-a-days 
associated  with  it. 

So  much  has  this  abbey  suffered  from  con- 
tending armies  and  careless  people  that  its 
ground  plan  is  almost  blotted  out,  and  it  is 
with  great  difficulty  that  portions  of  it  can  be 
traced  with  any  degree  of  certainty.  Still,  we 
went  to  work  to  survey  it,  with  the  hope  that 
our  efforts  might  lead  to  some  attempt  to 
save  what  little  is  left,  if  not  by  local 
energy — if  any  such  can  be  still  found  in 
Donegal — then  by  the  Board  of  Works. 

This  monastery  was  founded  for  the 
Franciscans  of  Strict  Observance  in  the  year 
1474  by  Hugh  Roe,  "The Great  O'Donnell," 
son  of  Nial  Garve  O'Donnell,  Prince  of 
Tirconnell,  and  by  his  wife  Fione-Ualla, 
daughter  of  Connor-na-Srona  O'Brien,  Prince 
of  Thomond,  and  by  them  dedicated  to  God. 
It  flourished  till  1601,  a  period  of  127  years 
— short  for  a  monastic  existence — but  full 
of  life  and  vigour,  the  brethren  following  the 
footsteps  of  St.  Francis — for  good  works  to 
the  poor  first — and  all  others  after ;  and 
when  the  final  storm  swept  over  it,  with  fire 
and  merciless  hatred,  more  than  one  thousand 
victims  perished  miserably  in  its  destruction 
(Doherty).  This  occurred  in  160 1,  when  it 
was  invested  by  the  English. 

The  brethren  fled  on  the  approach  of  the 
hostile  forces — some  to  die  in  the  wilds  of 
Donegal — some  by  sea  to  distant  lands, 
where  Irish  Colleges  offered  them  asylums 
and  the  repose  which  was  denied  at  home. 
The  monastery  was  plundered  of  all  it  held 
sacred  and  converted  into  a  garrison,  only  to 


SOME  OLD  ULSTER  TOWNS. 


267 


be  destroyed  by  an  explosion  of  the  powder 
stored  by  the  troops,  which  wrecked  the 
buildings  and  dealt  death  broadcast.  In  this 
the  Irish  mind  traced  the  hand  of  God 
chastising. 

The  Masters  record  that  the  powder 
ignited  "so  that  it  burned  the  boarded 
chambers  and  the  stone  and  zvooden  build- 
ings of  the  entire  monastery."  That  part  of 
the  establishment  should  consist  of  wooden 
buildings   is  not  to  be  wondered  at.     Such 


monks  wander  back  to  say  mass  in  old 
neglected  ruins  of  their  Order  with  that  true 
love  which  time,  adversity,  and  trouble  have 
only  made  deeper  and  stronger.  Can  we 
then  wonder  that  the  Four  Masters,  in  the 
evening  of  their  lives,  also  turned  their  faces 
to  this  most  perfect  spot  on  earth  in  order  to 
complete  their  last  and  greatest  work  ? 

This  monastery  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  affected  by  the  Dissolution,  as  its 
destruction   was   in    1602,   in   the   reign   of 


exist  even  in  these  days,  and  under  circum- 
stances where  stone  and  mortar  can  more 
readily  be  obtained  than  in  1601. 

With  the  famous  flight  of  the  Chiefs  of 
O'Donnell — degraded,  as  some  said,  to  the 
rank  of  English  Earls — came  the  Plantation, 
and  this  great  centre  of  religious  thought 
and  teaching  became  a  thing  of  the  past ; 
but  no  persecution  can  extinguish  a  monk's 
love  for  the  cloister  and  its  seclusion,  and  if 
many  wandered  back  to  linger  beside  it  or 
look  at  its  old  walls  who  can  blame  them  ? 

The   writer    has    seen    many   Franciscan 


Elizabeth,  up  to  which  date  it  was  occupied 
by  the  Order. 

At  this  time  the  O'Donnell  Chief  was  in 
Spain  seeking  the  assistance  of  Philip  III. 
to  restore  his  fallen  fortunes.  He  died  on 
September  10,  1602.  The  changed  condition 
of  the  loved  Tirconnell  following  upon  his 
death  is  best  told  in  the  Masters'  own  words : 

"  Mournful  was  the  condition  of  the  men  of 
Ireland  after  the  death  of  O'Donnell,  for 
their  energy  and  spirit  was  broken  down ; 
they  exchanged  their  courage  for  cowardice, 
their  greatness  for  weakness  of  mind,  and 

2  L    2 


268 


SOME  OLD  ULSTER  TOWNS. 


their  pride  for  servility ;  their  success,  bravery, 
valour,  chivalry,  triumph,  and  battle  sway, 
forsook  them  after  his  death ;  they  gave  up 
all  hopes  of  relief,  so  that  the  greater  part  of 
them  were  obliged  to  seek  refuge  amongst 
enemies  and  strangers,  while  others  of  them 
were  scattered  and  dispersed,  not  only 
throughout  Ireland,  but  through  foreign 
countries,  in  general  as  poor,  indigent, 
wretched  wanderers ;  and  other  parties  of 
them  sold  their  military  services  to  foreigners, 
so  that  immense  numbers  of  these  freeborn 
noble  sons  of  the  men  of  Ireland  were  slain 
and  destroyed  in  various  distant  foreign 
countries  arrd  strange  places,  and  unhereditary 
graveyards  became  their  burial-places  in  con- 
sequence of  the  death  of  that  one  man  who 
departed  from  them — Red  Hugh  O'Donnell." 

This  prince  was  only  twenty-nine  years  old 
when  he  died,  and  under  the  chancel  floor  of 
the  Monastery  of  St.  Francis,  at  Valladolid, 
he  found  a  more  peaceful  grave  than  his 
ancestors  did  in  turbulent  Donegal ;  even 
though,  as  the  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Healy,  Bishop 
of  Clonfert,  says,  "  it  was  far,  far  away  from 
the  dear  old  abbey  by  the  sea  at  Donegal, 
where  his  fathers  sleep." 

It  is,  as  we  have  said,  difficult  to  make 
anything  like  a  perfect  ground  plan  of  the 
monastery,  but  what  we  have  done  shows 
that,  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  site,  which 
seems  to  have  been  limited  on  the  south  for 
some  reason,  the  buildings  hugged  the  line 
of  shore,  thereby  placing  the  cloister-garth 
and  some  of  the  more  domestic  buildings  on 
the  north  and  west  sides. 

The  church  proper  was  perfectly  oriented 
and  lighted  from  the  east  end  and  south  side. 

The  east  window  was  tall,  well-proportioned, 
and  was  filled  in  with  tracery,  the  two  top 
stones  of  which  are  now  thrown  into  the 
piscina,  which  is  on  the  gospel  side  of  the 
east  wall,  and  it  too  is  also  half  destroyed. 
The  sill  of  this  window  has  been  "  removed," 
and  since  the  fall  of  the  arch  the  ope  forms  a 
convenient  "hole  in  the  watt"  for  people 
who  should  be  the  custodians  to  walk  through, 
a  more  convenient  and  easy  mode  of  entrance 
than  by  going  round  to  the  old  door  of  the 
cloister,  or  to  the  prior's  door  that  leads  to  the 
sanctuary.  Following  the  usual  Franciscan 
rule,  the  church  appears  to  have  been  long 
and  narrow,  over  130  feet  by  22  feet  4  inches, 


with  a  long  transept  of  about  the  same  width 
on  the  south  side.  No  trace  remains  to  in- 
dicate the  existence  of  the  usual  graceful 
tower  which  generally  rose  from  the  centre 
of  these  churches,  dividing  the  nave  from  the 
chancel.  So  far  as  we  can  judge,  the  plan 
in  this  case  was  forced  to  depart  from  the 
special  rule  by  the  limitations  of  the  site. 
The  north  wall  of  the  church  is  broken  at 
about  45  feet  from  the  east  end,  leaving  a 
gap  of  37  feet,  the  width  of  the  garth,  and 
against  this  gap  was  the  south  cloister, 
covered  with  a  lean-to  roof  abutting  on  the 
church  wall.  At  the  point  where  the  break 
commences  in  the  north  wall,  the  east  cloister 
starts  at  right  angles  to  the  church,  with  a 
walk  7  feet  6  inches  wide.  This  walk  was 
covered  by  a  range  of  buildings  extending 
northwards  and  eastwards,  lineable  with  the 
chancel  gable.  These  must  have  comprised 
the  Slype,  Sacristy,  Chapter  House  and 
Scriptorium,  for  it  is  stated  that  this  monas- 
tery contained  a  fine  library.  The  cloister 
continued  its  walk  on  the  north  and  west 
sides  and  completed  the  rectangle.  At  the 
broken  point  of  the  church  wall  just  referred 
to,  the  latter  is  thickened  to  contain  a  stair- 
case which,  starting  from  the  south-east 
corner  of  the  cloister,  leads  to  the  dormi- 
tories, etc.,  over  the  east  range  of  buildings ; 
and  from  the  Slype  was  the  prior's  door, 
which  still  remains.  It  is  reasonable  to  con- 
jecture that  the  church  had  an  additional 
entrance  for  the  brethren  from  the  south 
cloister ;  but  all  other  evidences  of  doors  to 
the  church  are  completely  lost.  At  the  south- 
west angle  of  the  cloister  the  wall  again 
thickens,  and  holds  a  pair  of  chambers,  one 
over  the  other,  which  may  have  been  stores. 
These  are  sometimes  referred  to  as  the 
"  murder  holes  " — a  contemptible  expression 
— and  we  have  yet  to  learn  that  the  Fran- 
ciscans were  an  order  of  murderers.  Another 
wild  fancy  is  the  existence  of  a  subterranean 
passage  connecting  the  abbey  with  the  castle  ; 
but  this  mysterious  means  of  communication 
has  been  suggested  of  so  many  abbeys,  and 
never  having  found  such  a  passage  yet,  we 
are  not  inclined  to  believe  in  its  existence. 
The  wall  of  the  cloister  on  the  extreme  north 
also  shows  evidence  of  a  two-story  range  of 
buildings,  but  it  is  purely  conjectural  as  to 
what  filled  up  the  ground  on  the  west  side 


SOME  OLD  ULSTER  TOWNS. 


269 


of  the  walk.  We  have,  at  least,  a  door  from 
it,  and  close  beside  it  a  porch  of  peculiar 
plan,  containing  the  commencement  of  two 
staircases,  and  a  door,  placed  on  the  angle, 
leading  down  to  some  domestic  building, 
and  adjoining  it  is  the  old  open  sewer,  still 
in  working  order,  discharging  under  a  modern 
walk  into  the  Eask.  The  details  of  the 
architectural  work  are  nearly  all  gone,  and 
the  cloister  arcading  is  the  only  piece  of  any 
importance  left.  There  is  a  series  of  well- 
shaped  and  double-chamfered  pointed  arches 
springing  off  semi-octagonal  doubly-worked 
piers,  whose  section  is  carried  round  the 
arch,  and  whose  caps  and  bases  are  skilfully 
moulded.  Larger  arches  seem  to  have 
spanned  the  junction  of  the  cloisters,  of 
double  orders,  the  inner  one  springing  off 
well-worked  corbels,  and  the  cloisters  are 
wide  and  well-proportioned.  Such  are  now 
the  dim  outlines  of  the  fast-disappearing 
walls,  beside  which,  in  1632,  Michael 
O'Clery  and  his  companion  workers  built 
their  temporary  huts,  in  which  they  lived  till 
August,  1636,  while  they  compiled  the 
"  Annals ";  and  one  can  almost  picture 
these  venerable  fathers  working  in  the  old 
falling  cloisters  for  four  years,  and  the  melan- 
choly scene  of  their  departure  from  it  and 
one  another  in  the  autumn  evening  when  all 
their  work  was  done. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  enter  here  on  a 
description  of  the  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters,  or  the  other  works  of  these  men — 
those  who  wish  can  read  the  histories  for 
themselves,  and  the  originals  can  still  be 
seen  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  in  Dublin. 
The  Masters  called  their  work  The  Annals 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  but  Colgan,  a 
Donegal  Franciscan  father  and  Professor  at 
Louvain,  renamed  it  the  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters,  by  which  title  the  composition  will 
be  for  ever  known. 

With  the  Abbey  of  Donegal  is  inseparably 
linked  the  Irish  College  in  Louvain  in 
Belgium,  and  no  description  of  the  place 
where  the  Masters  wrote  could  be  perfect 
without  a  reference  to  it,  and  no  visitor  to 
Donegal  Abbey  can  leave  those  historic 
ruins  without  turning  his  thoughts  towards 
this  venerable  and  hospitable  retreat  of 
learning,  as  O'Clery  did  on  that  August 
evening  in  1636, 


The  University  of  Louvain  contained  no 
less  than  fifty  colleges,  one  of  them  being 
for  Irish  Franciscans.  (This  was  one  of  the 
five  colleges  set  apart  for  the  Irish  Franciscans 
on  the  continent.) 

We  mentioned  that  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell 
went  to  Spain  to  seek  military  assistance,  and 
died  there.  He  took  with  him  one  Florence 
Mulconry.  This  Franciscan  was  with  Hugh 
when  he  died,  and  to  him  the  Irish  College 
at  Louvain  owes  its  existence.  He  was 
appointed  Archbishop  of  Tuam  in  1608, 
but  never  visited  his  diocese  ;  this,  however, 
was  not  a  usual  procedure,  but  still,  such 
cases  are  not  entirely  unknown.  We  have 
read  of  an  Archbishop  of  Armagh  who  never 
saw  his  diocese.  Mulconry  died  in  1629  in 
Spain,  and  his  remains  were  transferred  to 
Louvain  and  buried  on  the  gospel  side  of 
the  altar.  Another  great  Irishman  was 
Father  Hugh  Ward,  a  man  of  great  research 
and  deep  learning,  and  who,  shortly  after  the 
foundation  of  Louvain  College,  became  its 
guardian.  One  day  a  man,  well  advanced 
in  life,  and  knowing  no  Latin,  knocked  at 
the  College  gate  and  humbly  requested  Ward 
to  admit  him  as  a  lay  brother.  This  poor 
wanderer  was  no  other  than  the  high  souled 
Michael  O'Clery — the  Irish  "  Ollamh  "—one 
of  a  family  of  historians  and  poets  to  the 
great  Princes  of  O'Donnell ;  but  if  he  knew 
no  Latin  he  was  well  versed  in  Irish  lore  and 
literature,  and  his  abilities  soon  became 
apparent  to  the  scholars  of  Louvain.  Ward 
obtained  permission  to  employ  him  to  collect 
materials  in  Ireland  for  him,  and  this  brought 
him  back  as  a  Franciscan  to  his  native  land, 
where  he  laboured  to  gather  together  the 
archives  required,  and  one  can  now  only 
with  great  difficulty  realize  his  task  of  journey- 
ing from  one  end  of  Ireland  to  the  other  in 
such  times  and  amid  such  dangers.  While 
on  this  mission  for  Ward  he  conceived  the 
ideaof  collecting  and  compiling  the  "Annals" 
"for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  honour  of 
Erinn,"  and  we  have  told  how  and  where 
he  completed  this  noble  work.  In  this 
labour  he  was  assisted  by  Fergus  Mulconry, 
Peregrine  O'Duigenan,  and  Peregrine  O'Clery 
— and  Conary  O'Clery  as  Secretary. 

The  college  lasted  till  the  French  took 
possession  of  Belgium  in  1796,  and  the 
building  is  now  an  Industrial  School  in  care 


270 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


of  Les  Freres  de  la  Charite  de  S.  Joseph. 
Michael  O'Clery,  an  old  man  when  his  work 
at  Donegal  was  done,  wandered  sadly  back 
to  the  peaceful  college  of  Louvain  to  die,  and 
there  in  1643  he  was  laid  to  rest ;  but  there 
seems  to  be  little  repose  for  the  Irish  Fran- 
ciscans of  that  period  even  in  the  grave,  for 
Louvain  had  its  troublous  times  also,  and 
O'Clery's  grave  became  lost  in  the  upheaval 
and  confusion. 

Such  briefly  is  the  place  where  the  Masters 
wrote — where  the  great  history  of  their 
country  was  compiled  with  unequalled,  in- 
domitable perseverance  and  under  ever 
pressing  difficulties,  in  hunger,  poverty,  and 
desolation ;  but  also  amidst  a  scene  of  such 
natural  beauty  that  in  its  quietude  and 
splendour  it  seemed  as  if  it  had  known  no 
trouble  or  evil.  Before  we  left  it  we  recalled 
the  words  of  a  great  man  who  said,  referring 
to  another  famous  Irish  settlement,  "to  ab- 
stract the  mind  from  all  local  emotion  would 
be  impossible  if  it  were  endeavoured,  and 
would  be  foolish  if  it  were  possible. 

"  Whatever  withdraws  us  from  the  power 
of  our  senses,  whatever  makes  the  past,  the 
distant,  or  the  future  predominate  over  the 
present  advances  us  in  the  dignity  of  human 
beings. 

"  Far  from  us  and  our  friends  be  such 
frigid  philosophy  as  may  conduct  us  in- 
different and  unmoved  over  any  ground 
which  has  been  dignified  by  wisdom,  bravery 
and  virtue." 


at  tfje  ^ign  of  t&e  flDtol. 

I  hear  of  several  antiquarian 
books    of    some    importance 
which  are  approaching  publica- 
tion.    It  is  proposed  to  issue 
as  soon  as  possible  an  Index 
to     Wills     Proved    in      Vice- 
Chancellor s    Court    at    Cam- 
bridge,    1501- 1765.       These 
records,   which   are  now  pre- 
served at  Peterborough  Regis- 
much     light    on    the    ways   of 
Cambridge  folk  during  the  period  specified, 
and  are  a  valuable  source  of  information  as 


try,    throw 


to  the  past  history  of  many  of  the  inhabitants 
or  of  those  connected  with  the  University  or 
dependents  thereon.  The  wills  of  many 
noteworthy  persons  are  recorded,  such  as 
Dillingham,  Mapletoft,  Castel,  compiler  of 
the  first  Arabic  Lexicon,  Lowndes,  the 
founder  of  the  Lowndean  Professorships, 
Wren,  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  others.  The  work 
will  be  issued  in  demy  octavo,  and  a  few 
large  paper,  quarto,  for  subscribers  only. 
Messrs.  Phillimore  and  Co.  will  publish  this 
month  the  Gild  Book  of  Stratford-upon-Avon, 
which  should  be  an  interesting  addition  to 
the  Shakespearean  library.  The  book,  which 
is  edited  by  the  Rev.  J.  Harvey  Bloom,  con- 
tains lists  of  admissions  to  the  Gild  for  the 
130  years  just  before  the  establishment  of 
parish  registers.  Another  volume  of  interest 
should  be  a  book  which  Mr.  A.  W.  a  Beckett 
has  in  hand,  dealing  with  the  duties  of  the 
Master  of  the  Revels,  an  office  dating  from 
Plantagenet  times. 

tfr*  t£r*  1£r* 

A  History  of  the  Pembrokeshire  Imperial 
Yeomanry,  by  Colonel  F.  C.  Meyrick,  C.B., 
and  Lieutenant  B.  M.  Freeman,  Royal  Navy, 
is  announced  for  publication  shortly.  The 
work  gives  an  account  of  this  regiment,  which 
is  the  oldest  in  the  country,  from  1794  to  the 
present  time.  Among  other  notable  incidents 
narrated  in  the  work  is  a  detailed  account, 
with  much  new  information,  of  the  well- 
known  invasion  of  Fishguard  by  the  French 
in  1797,  which  we  repulsed  by  the  "Castle- 
martin  "  Yeomanry  under  the  first  Lord 
Cawdor.  It  is  compiled  from  official  papers, 
Record  Office  documents,  and  pay  lists,  and 
will  be  embellished  by  many  interesting  and 
hitherto  unpublished  illustrations,  scenes 
and  facsimiles.  The  volume  will  be  issued 
by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock. 

l2r*  *2^*  *2r* 

Another  interesting  announcement  is  that  the 
Welsh  Folk-Song  Society,  which  was  formed 
during  last  year's  National  Eisteddfod,  has 
the  first  of  its  proposed  half-yearly  issues 
of  songs  almost  ready  for  publication.  The 
booklet  will  contain  sixteen  songs,  five  of 
them  newly  collected  and  never  before  pub- 
lished. For  the  Welsh  words  the  co-opera- 
tion of  such  authorities  as  Professor  J.  Morris 
Jones,  the  Rev.  Elvet  Lewis,  and  Llew  Tegid 
has  been  secured,  and  many  of  the  English 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


271 


verses  will  be  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Alfred 
Pereeval  Graves,  who  has  already  rendered 
such  valuable  service  to  Irish  folk-song.  The 
interest  and  value  of  the  book  will  be  greatly 
enhanced  by  a  critical  introduction,  which  is 
expected  to  throw  much  light  upon  the  in- 
fluence of  the  old  triple  harp  on  the  develop- 
ment of  Welsh  folk-tunes.  It  will  suggest, 
among  other  interesting  points,  that  the 
facilities  which  that  instrument's  central 
row  of  strings  afforded  for  the  playing  of 
sharps  account  for  the  modern  ring  which 
there  seems  to  be  about  some  indisputably 
old  Welsh  tunes. 

^*  f2r*  *2r* 

Many  antiquaries  (says  the  Athenaum  of 
June  8)  will  be  interested  in  the  proposal 
put  before  the  recent  General  Assembly  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  to  bring  Scott's 
Fasti  Ecclesice.  Scoticance  up  to  date.  This 
work,  published  in  six  volumes — 1866-187 1 — 
gives  a  notice,  more  or  less  complete,  of  every 
minister  who  held  office  in  the  Church  of 
Scotland  from  1560  to  1839,  and  its  value 
would  be  immensely  increased  by  continu- 
ance up  to  the  present  time.  The  author, 
Hew  Scott,  finds  a  place  in  the  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography  solely  on  its  account. 

t2r*  1£r*  t£^* 

A  first  folio  Shakespeare  sold  on  Saturday, 
June  1,  fetched  ^2,400.  Although  this  was 
not  a  "  record  "  price — for  only  three  months 
ago  Mr.  Van  Antwerp's  copy  realized  ^3,600 
— yet  the  appreciation  in  its  selling  value 
has  been  remarkable.  Purchased  in  1660  by 
Colonel  John  Lane,  of  Bentley  Hall,  Stafford- 
shire, it  descended  to  Colonel  John  Lane,  of 
King's  Bromley,  and  at  the  sale  of  the  Lane 
library  in  1856  it  was  bought  for  157  guineas 
by  Lord  Gosforth.  In  1884  it  was  sold  to 
Mr.  Toovey,  the  Piccadilly  bookseller,  for 
,£470.  Having  changed  hands  once  more, 
it  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Abel  Buckley,  who 
was  present  at  the  sale  on  Saturday,  when  it 
fell  to  Mr.  Quaritch  at  ^2,400.  It  is  in  a 
red  morocco  binding,  and  measures  13  inches 
by  8^  inches. 

^*  t£T*  t^^ 

I  note  with  pleasure  that  Mr.  F.  J.  Haver- 
field,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
has  been  elected  to  the  Camden  Professor- 
ship of  Ancient  History  in  place  of  the  late 
Professor    Pelham.      Professor   Haverfield's 


services  to  archaeology,  especially  to  that 
phase  of  it  relating  to  the  Roman  occupa- 
tion of  this  island,  have  been  many  and 
great. 

t^*  t&*  *£?* 

A  note  in  the  Periodical  for  May  chronicles  a 
quaint  bibliographical  fact — viz.,  that  the  final 
copy  of  a  book  published  by  the  Oxford 
University  Press  in  17 16  at  12s.  6d.,  and 
continuously  on  sale  at  this  price  ever  since, 
has  been  sold.  The  volume,  which  has 
enjoyed  191  years  of  uninterrupted  if  some- 
what slow  circulation,  and  has  never  under- 
gone the  indignity  of  being  "remaindered," 
is  Wilkins's  New  Testament  in  Coptic.  The 
title  page  runs  :  Hoc  est  |  Novum  Testa- 
mentum  |  ^Egyptium  vulgo  Copticum  |  Ex 
MSS  Bodlejanis  descripfit  |  Cum  Uaticanis 
et  Parifienfibus  contulit,  |  et  in  Latinum  fer- 
monem  convexit  |  David  Wilkins  |  Ecclesiae 
Anglicanae  Presbyter  |  Oxonii  |  E  Theatro 
Sheldoniano  Typis  et  Sumptibus  Academise, 
1716. 

i£r*  1&*  t2r* 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Academy 
the  Dean  of  Westminster  read  a  paper  on 
"  An  Unrecognised  Westminster  Chronicler  " 
— i.e.,  the  author  of  a  chronicle  which  has 
been  printed  as  a  part  of  John  Malvern's 
continuation  of  Higden's  Polychronicon  in 
vol.  ix.  of  the  Rolls  Series  edition.  It  relates 
to  the  reign  of  Richard  II.,  and  covers  the 
period  138 1  to  1394.  The  Dean  pointed  out 
that  the  writer  shows  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  and  gives  much  in- 
formation concerning  it  which  has  not  yet 
been  utilized.  His  story  of  the  loss  of  one 
of  the  Coronation  shoes,  when  the  little  King 
Richard  was  carried  back  to  the  palace  in 
the  arms  of  Sir  Simon  Burley,  has  recently 
been  confirmed  by  a  newly  discovered  docu- 
ment describing  defects  in  the  regalia — 
part  of  a  batch  of  documents  which  had  been 
mislaid  since  Queen  Victoria's  coronation 
seventy  years  ago. 

t2r*  t£^*  m^ 

Dr.  J.  S.  Milne's  long  monograph  on  Surgical 
Instruments  in  Greek  and  Roman  Times  will 
be  issued  immediately  from  the  Oxford 
University  Press.  No  clear  conception  of  a 
surgical  operation,  ancient  or  modern,  can 
be  formed  from  a  written  description  without 
some  previous  knowledge  of  the  instruments, 


272 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


and  the  author  points  out  that  many  in- 
teresting operations  described  in  detail  in 
the  clinical  authors  are  rendered  obscure  or 
quite  unintelligible  from  lack  of  such  know- 
ledge. No  systematic  attempt  to  recon- 
struct the  different  instruments  used  by  the 
ancients  has  hitherto  been  made,  this  de- 
partment of  archaeology  having  received 
scant  attention.  The  volume,  which  em- 
bodies investigations  extending  over  several 
years,  is  illustrated. 

The  autograph  manuscript  of  Gilbert  White's 
Natural  History  and  Antiquities  of  Selbome, 
which  has  been  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Stuart  M.  Samuel,  M.P.,  since  1895,  when 
it  was  put  up  for  sale  by  White's  descendants, 
will  be  sold  at  Sotheby's  on  July  1. 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  U3eto0. 

[  IVe  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

SALES. 
Messrs.  Christie,  Manson,  and  Woods  sold  yes- 
terday old  English  silver,  the  property  of  the  late 
Mr.  F.  H.  Woodroffe,  of  Down  Street,  Piccadilly, 
and  from  other  sources,  the  chief  lots  including  the 
Booke  of  Common  Prayer,  Ixmdon,  1635,  in  silver 
cover,  chased  with  portraits  of  Charles  I.  and 
Henrietta  Maria,  pierced  and  engraved  wiih  arab- 
esques and  emblematic  figures,  seventeenth  century, 
;£i8o  (Heigham)  ;  a  Charles  I.  plain  goblet,  with 
nearly  cylindrical  bowl,  8£  inches  high,  11  ounces 
4  dwt.,  1625,  at  210s.  per  ounce,  ,£117  12s.  (Crich- 
ton)  ;  and  a  Charles  II.  porringer,  with  shaped  sides, 
embossed  with  a  wreath  of  large  flowers  and  foliage, 
3£  inches  diameter,  167 1,  6h  ounces,  at  170s.  per 
ounce,  ^55  5s.  (Crichton).  —  'times,  June  6. 

«*$  <o§  ^ 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  sold  on 
May  31  and  following  day  the  under-mentioned  im- 
portant books  and  MSS.  :  Original  Drawings  of 
Humorous  Subjects  by  J.  F.  Herring,  183 1,  ^69  ; 
Oscar  Wilde's  Duchess  of  Padua,  1883,  £41  ;  Thirty- 
four  Autograph  Letters  of  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield, 
addressed  chiefly  to  his  Sister  Sarah,  1874-80,  ;£ioi  ; 
FitzGerald's  Omar  Khayyam,  1859,  ,£41  ;  Military 
Uniforms,  1771  (70),  ,£55  ;  Blagdon's  Memoirs  of 
G.  Morland,  1806,  ^30  ;  Caxton's  Golden  Legend, 
1483  (imperfect),  ,£480  ;  Benedictionale,  illuminated 
MS.  on  vellum,  Stec.  XV.,  ^92  ;  Preces  Pi?e,  illumin- 
ated MS.  on  vellum,  Saec.  XV.,  .£90  ;  Henry  VIII., 
Litterae  contra  Lutherum,  Pynson,  1526,  royal  bind- 
ing  by  John    Reynes,    £96 ;    Liturgie    de    l'Eglise 


Anglicane,  fine  English  binding,  1678,  ,£120  ;  Gold- 
smith's Haunch  of  Vension,  uncut,  1776,  ,£43; 
Byron's  Fugitive  Pieces,  original  corrected  proofs 
for  the  "  Hours  of  Idleness,"  Newark,  Ridge,  1806, 
,£182  ;  Burns,  Original  Letter  to  "Clarinda,"  and  of 
"  Clarinda "  to  Burns,  .£60  10s.  ;  Sir  W.  Scott's 
Original  MS.  of  the  History  cf  Scotland  for  the 
"  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,"  £5  ic  ;  La  Fontaine,  Fables 
Choisies,  with  arms  of  the  Comte  d'Artois,  1755-9, 
,£140:  Bibliothcque  Historiale,  fine  binding  by  Clovis 
Eve,  1588,  /115.  Shakespeare:  First  Folio,  1623, 
,£2,400;  Second  Folio,  1632,  ,£140;  Third  Folio, 
special  copy,  1663-4,  ^1,550;  Third  Folio,  1664, 
,£205  ;  Fourth  Folio,  1685,  ,£80  ;  the  First  Part  of  the 
Contention,  1594,  ,£1,910;  King  Richard  III.,  1629, 
,£80 ;  Merchant  of  Venice,  1600,  ,£510;  Merry 
Wives,  1619,  ,£100;  King  Lear,  1608,  ,£250;  Ham- 
let, J.  Smethwicke,  n.d.,  ,£180 ;  Othello,  1630, 
/101  ;  Arden  of  Feversham,  1592,  ,£1,210  ;  London 
Prodigall,  1605,  ,£51  ;  A  Yorkshire  Tragedie,  1619, 
,£46.  The  Andria  of  Terence  in  English,  1588, 
,£40;  Appius  and  Virginia,  Comedie,  1575,  ^72; 
Bale's  The  Promises  of  God  unto  Man,  1538,  ,£170; 
Thre  Lawes,  by  the  same,  1562,  ,£101  ;  Johan  Evan- 
gelist, J.  Waley,  n.d.,  ,£51  ;  Common  Conditions, 
1576,  .£255;  Everie  Woman  in  her  Humour,  1609, 
,£103  ;  Like  will  to  Like,  quoth  the  Devil  to  the 
Collier,  by  Ulysian  Fulwell,  1587,  .£101  ;  Gas- 
coigne's  Glasse  of  Governement,  1575,  ;£97;  George 
a  Greene  the  Pinner  of  Wakefield,  1599,  ,£109; 
Heywood's  Four  P's,  n.d.,  .£151  ;  John  Phillip's 
Commodie  of  Patient  and  Meeke  Giissell,  T.  Cohvell, 
n.d.,  ,£250  ;  Thersytes,  Interlude,  J.  Tysdale  [15 — ], 
^130  ;  Warning  for  Faire  Women,  1599,  ,£105  ; 
Welth  and  Helth,  an  enterlude  [15 — ],  ,£105. — 
Athenceum,  June  8. 

4>$  ^  «©$ 

The  sale  of  a  collection  of  interesting  old  staves  and 
maces  at  the  Argyll  Galleries,  W.,  by  Messrs. 
Glendining  and  Co.,  attracted  a  full  attendance  late 
yesterday  afternoon.  Bidding  throughout  was  good, 
a  warrant  officer's  pocket  mace,  temp.  Geo.  III., 
realizing  ,£1  12s.  ;  mace  of  office  of  the  chief  constable 
of  Iver,  1843,  £2  2S"  '>  tne  hand  mace  of  the  police 
office,  Hatton  Garden,  temp.  Geo.  II.,  £2  2s.  ; 
another  of  the  public  office,  Bow  Street,  head- 
quarters of  the  famous  Bow  Street  runners,  £3  10s. ; 
the  companion  mace  for  use  by  the  City  warrant 
officer,  £1 ;  old  warrant  officer's  mace,  temp. 
William  IV.,  £1  17s.  ;  mace  and  staff  of  City  of 
London  on  watch,  temp.  Geo.  III.,  £4  2s.  6d.  ;  staff 
of  the  old  Marlborough  Street  court,  £1  us.  ;  the 
staff  of  office  of  the  head  constable  of  Brighton,  temp. 
Geo.  III.,  £2  16s.  ;  a  Queen  Victoria  silver  and 
ebony  presentation  baton,  ^4  10s.  ;  and  the  mace  of 
the  Royal  Dockyard  Battalion,  Portsmouth,  ,£3. — 
Globe,  June  15. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

The  new  volume  of  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  Scotland— Vol.  XL.  (Fourth  Series, 
Vol.  IV.) — contains  a  varied  selection  of  papers. 
The  most  important  is  that  which  comes  last — viz. , 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


273 


the  very  careful  and  detailed  report  by  Dr.  George 
Macdonald  and  Mr.  A.  Park  on  "  The  Roman  Forts 
on  the  Bar  Hill,  Dumbartonshire" — remains  to  which 
attention  had  been  often  directed  during  the  last  200 
years,  but  of  which  the  thorough  and  systematic 
excavation — generously  undertaken  at  his  own  ex- 
pense by  Mr.  A.  Whitelaw,  of  Gartshore — began 
only  in  1902.  The  report,  which  is  illustrated  by 
four  plates  and  many  excellent  figures,  deserves  care- 
ful study.  Mr.  F.  R.  Coles  continues  his  "  Report  on 
Stone  Circles  surveyed  in  the  North-East  of  Scot- 
land" ;  Mr.  L.  McLellan  Mann  describes  the  "Ex- 
ploration of  the  Floor  of  a  Prehistoric  Hut  in  Tiree," 
and  the  discovery  of  "  A  Cairn  containing  Sixteen 
Cinerary  Urns"  in  Ayrshire.  A  paper  rather  out  of 
the  usual  line  is  by  Mr.  F.  C.  Inglis  on  "A  Wax 
Medallion,  and  Relative  Autograph  Letter  of  Paul 
Jones,"  which  was  presented  to  the  Society  in  i860. 
Several  papers  deal  with  discoveries  in  various  parts 
of  Scotland  of  stone  cists,  inscribed  slabs,  stone 
moulds,  urns,  and  other  antiquities.  Bibliography  is 
represented  by  a  "Note  on  a  Copy  of  the  First 
Folio  Shakespeare  "  in  the  Society's  library.  The 
volume,  besides  the  usual  reports,  lists,  and  business 
details,  contains  no  less  than  twenty-four  papers, 
accompanied,  as  is  the  wont  of  this  Society,  by 
a  great  abundance  of  excellent  and  most  useful 
illustrations. 

From  the  Friends'  Historical  Society  comes  the  new 
part  of  their  Journal  (Vol.  IV.,  No.  2),  containing, 
inter  alia,  the  first  instalment  of  "The  Quaker 
Allusions  in  Samuel  Pepys's  Diary"  and  "  Episodes 
in  the  Life  of  May  Drummond,"  a  remarkable  Scot- 
tish lady,  a  fluent  and  popular  preacher  among  the 
Friends,  to  whom  Pope  alluded  in  the  lines  : 

"  A  simple  Quaker  or  a  Quaker  s  Wife 
Outdo  Landaff  in  doctrine,  yea  in  life." 

The  Society  has  also  completed,  in  Journal  Sup- 
plement No.  5,  the  publication  of  The  First  Pub- 
lishers of  Truth,  a  very  valuable  contribution  from 
original  sources  to  the  early  history  of  the  Quakers. 
This  concluding  part  contains  a  very  full  index  and 
some  good  facsimiles  of  documents.  No.  6  of 
the  Journal  Supplement  is  an  illustrated  account  of 
"John  Ap  John,"  an  early  Welsh  Quaker  propa- 
gandist, and  of  "  Early  Records  of  Friends  in 
Wales,"  compiled  by  Mr.  W.  G.  Norris. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

Society  of  Antiquaries. — May  16. — Sir  Edward 
Brabrook,  Vice-President,  in  the  chair.— The  treasurer 
called  attention  to  a  proposal  to  pull  down  the  church 
of  St.  Alphege,  London  Wall,  which,  although  for  the 
most  part  a  comparatively  recent  building  of  no 
architectural  value,  possessed  a  mediaeval  tower  of 
more  than  usual  interest,  as  well  as  a  fine  Elizabethan 
monument  of  a  former  Lord  Mayor  of  London.  He 
accordingly  moved  the  following  resolution,  which 
was  seconded  by  the  Rev.  R.  S.  Mylne,  and  carried 
unanimously  :  "  That  the  attention  of  the  parishioners 
of  St.  Alphege,  London  Wall,  be  drawn  to  the  great 
VOL.  III. 


artistic  and  historical  interest  of  the  tower  of  their 
church,  and  that  they  be  asked  not  to  agree  to  any 
scheme  of  union  of  St.  Alphege  with  St.  Mary, 
Aldermanbury,  which  does  not  provide  for  the  pre- 
servation and  maintenance  of  their  tower."  —  Dr. 
Edwin  Freshfield  read  a  paper  on  a  ruined  monastery 
in  the  Kara  Dagh  mountains  of  Lycaonia,  illustrated 
by  lantern-slides  (taken  by  himself)  of  the  curious 
early  churches  and  other  buildings  upon  the  site. 

May  30. — Sir  Edward  Brabrook,  V.P.,  in  the  chair. 
— Mr.  A.  Tiice  Martin  presented  the  report,  which 
had  been  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Ashby,  on  the  excavations 
carried  on  at  Caerwent  (Venta  Silurum)  during  1906. 
The  work  mainly  consisted  of  the  excavation  of  a 
large  house  of  the  courtyard  type  in  the  land  lately 
bought  by  Lord  Tredegar.  As  usual,  this  house 
showed  evidence  of  rebuilding  at  two  or  more  periods, 
and  Mr.  Martin,  by  means  of  lantern-slides,  tried  to 
show  what  had  probably  been  the  plan  of  the  house 
at  each  stage.  One  feature  of  interest  in  this  house 
was  the  indication  of  date  by  its  encroachment  on  a 
street  which  had  been  obliterated  by  the  "ampi- 
theatre  "  further  to  the  north.  The  finds— many  of 
which  were  exhibited — were  of  an  interesting  nature, 
some  of  the  bronze  objects  showing  greater  artistic 
merit  than  usual.  One  find  consisted  of  a  large  jar 
carefully  covered  by  an  inverted  mortarium,  and  con- 
taining a  series  of  three  smaller  vessels  of  red  ware 
and  two  of  black,  besides  fragments  of  pewter  vessels. 
In  one  of  the  black  pots  were  the  remains  of  a  fabric. 
Mr.  Clement  Reid,  Mr.  Lyell,  and  Mr.  Newton,  con- 
tributed valuable  notes  on  the  seeds  and  bones  found 
during  the  season  ;  and  Mr.  Gowland  supplied  an 
analysis  of  the  pewter,  showing  that  the  composition 
was  much  the  same  as  at  the  present  time.  The  work 
for  this  season,  which  has  already  begun,  promises  to 
be  even  more  extensive  and  interesting  than  that  of 
last  year. — A  memorandum  was  read  from  Mr.  Somers 
Clarke,  local  secretary  for  Egypt,  on  the  proposed 
submersion  of  part  of  the  Nile  Valley  by  the  raising 
of  the  Assuan  Dam,  and  the  measures  to  be  taken  by 
the  Egyptian  Government  to  minimize  the  evil.  On 
the  recommendation  of  the  council,  it  was  resolved 
that  a  copy  of  Mr.  Clarke's  memorandum  be  sent  with 
a  covering  letter  to  the  Times. — Sir  J.  C.  Robinson 
exhibited  two  portraits,  believed  to  represent  King 
Ferdinand  and  Queen  Isabella  of  Spain,  on  the  wings 
of  a  devotional  triptych. — Athenceum,  June  8. 

*>§  *H$  *H$ 

The  last  monthly  meeting  of  the  session  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland  was  held  on  May  13, 
Dr.  D.  Christison,  Vice-President,  in  thechair. — In  the 
first  paper,  Dr.  Christison  gave  a  description,  with 
plan  and  photographs,  of  the  scanty  remains  of  Duke 
Murdoch's  Castle,  situated  on  a  small  island  on  Loch 
Ard.  Nothing  authentic  seems  to  be  known  of  the 
origin  of  the  name  of  this  ruin. — In  the  second  paper 
Mr.  A.  J.  S.  Brook  discussed  the  subject  of  Scottish 
communion  tokens  used  in  churches  generally  from 
the  Reformation  down  to  a  recent  period. — In  the 
third  paper  Mr.  J.  S.  Richardson  described  some  pre- 
historic kitchen  midden  deposits  disclosed  in  the 
section  of  the  soil  above  the  quarry  near  the  base  of 
North  Berwick  Law,  from  which  were  obtained  a 
number  of  bone  implements,  including  a  deerhorn 
handle  with  socket,  a  bone  pin,  three  fork-like  imple- 

2  M 


274 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


ments  of  bone  with  two  prongs  each,  fragments  of  rude 
pottery  hand-made,  and  two  flint  implements  of  neo- 
lithic types.  At  the  east  end  of  the  Rhodes  Golf 
Links,  under  the  face  of  a  rock,  were  traces  of  habita- 
tion. Some  mediaeval  remains  recently  found  were 
also  described.  Mr.  Richardson  also  showed  draw- 
ings of  a  hog-backed  monument  in  the  churchyard 
of  Edrom,  Berwickshire,  and  of  an  undescribed 
sculptured  stone  of  early  Christian  type  discovered  in 
the  island  of  Raasay. — In  the  fourth  paper  Dr.  Joseph 
Anderson  described  a  collection  of  bronze  ornaments 
from  Colonsay,  presented  to  the  National  Museum  by 
Lord  Strathcona.  These  included  articles  found  in  a 
low  tumulus  near  the  beach  on  the  east  side  of 
Cronsay,  which  had  been  heaped  over  a  boat  burial 
of  the  Viking  time.  Another  boat  burial  at  Kiloran 
Bay,  dated  by  the  presence  of  Anglo-Saxon  coins 
struck  between  a.d.  808  and  854,  and  three  prehistoric 
cists  at  Uragaig  were  also  described  from  notes  by  the 
late  Mr.  W.  Galloway.— In  the  last  paper  Mr.  A.  O. 
Curie,  secretary,  described  the  results  of  some  excava- 
tions at  Ruberslaw,  Roxburghshire,  undertaken  with 
the  view  of  ascertaining  whether  there  were  any  traces 
of  Roman  occupation,  which  might  explain  the 
presence  of  Roman  dressed  stones  on  the  summit  and 
on  the  plateau  on  the  south  side.  An  elevated  area 
at  the  east  end  of  the  summit  proved  to  be  a  rampart 
of  native  construction,  but  the  result  as  regards  Roman 
occupation  was  entirely  negative. — Mr.  C.  E.  White- 
law  exhibited  two  brooches,  with  talismanic  inscrip- 
tions, and  a  finger  ring  of  bronze  ;  Mr.  James  Cald- 
well exhibited  three  small  vessels  of  mediaeval  pottery, 
dug  up  in  Paisley,  and  Mr.  D.  M' Naught  exhibited  a 
polished  stone  axe  and  a  barbed  arrow-head  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Troon. 

0$        ^        4H$ 
At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Arche- 
ology, held  on  June  12,  the  paper  read  was  "  Hittite 
Inscriptions :  a  Resume  with  Proofs  and  Verifications," 
by  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce. 

+§  +$  +$ 

British  Numismatic  Society. — May  29. — Mr. 
Carlyon-Britton,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  Rev. 
Dr.  Cox  read  a  paper  styled  "An  Elizabethan 
Coiner,"  which  detailed  the  remarkable  criminal 
actions  of  Sir  John  Brockett,  Commandant  of  the 
fort  of  Duncannon,  guarding  Waterford  Harbour  in 
1 60 1  -  1602,  who  occupied  his  leisure  in  forging 
counterfeit  coins,  cleverly  imitating  the  debased 
silver  coinage  of  Ireland,  and  more  especially  that 
of  Spain.  To  obtain  metal  for  the  purpose,  he  broke 
a  piece  of  brass  ordnance  which  helped  to  guard  the 
fort.  During  his  absence  in  England  an  accomplice 
betrayed  him,  and  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  in 
the  Gatehouse,  London.  There  are  numerous  deposi- 
tions referring  to  this  case  among  the  Irish  State 
Papers  and  the  Carew  Papers  at  Lambeth.  Sir 
John  pleaded  that  he  was  justified  in  counterfeiting 
Spanish  coin,  as  that  country  was  at  enmity  with  his 
Queen. — A  treatise  on  "Leather  Money"  was  read 
by  Mr.  William  Charlton,  in  which  he  demonstrated 
that  at  one  time  or  another  in  its  history  nearly  every 
nation  had  had  resource  to  this  expedient  when 
suffering  from  depletion  of  bullion.  There  was  some 
evidence  that  in  mediaeval  times  leather  money  had 


occasionally  been  current  in  Britain.  In  England 
and  Ireland  various  tradesmen  adapted  it  to  their 
token  coinage  during  the  last  three  centuries.  In 
1808  the  Birmingham  overseers  issued  crown  and 
half-crown  notes  in  leather  and  cardboard  "for  the 
convenience  of  paying  the  poor";  and  the  firm  of 
Malcolmson  Brothers,  flax 'spinners,  near  Waterford, 
used  a  leather  and  card  currency  in  the  mid-Victorian 
period,  which  continued  in  circulation  until  as  late  as 
1876.— Mr.  Charlton,  Mr.  R.  Donald  Bain,  and 
Mr.  W.  J.  Davis  exhibited  a  series  of  leather  and 
card  currency  in  illustration  of  the  latter  paper. 
Other  exhibitions  included  an  ancient  British  stater 
found  at  Balsdean,  Sussex,  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Daniels  ;  a 
silver  penny  of  Wulfred,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
reading  vvlfredi  archiepiscopi,  a  half-groat  of 
Canterbury  of  Henry  VIII.'s  first  issue,  with  mint- 
mark  bys  and  initials  of  Archbishop  Wareham,  and 
a  silver  penny  of  London  of  the  same  King,  mint- 
mark  sun  and  cloud,  by  Mr.  L.  A.  Lawrence ;  a 
silver  penny  of  William  II.  (Hawkins,  246)  reading 
ieglier  :  on  :  stefn,  for  the  mint  lately  proved  by 
Mr.  Carlyon-Britton  to  be  Launceston,  by  Mr. 
Reginald  Huth  ;  four  varieties  of  the  royal  dor  of 
Edward  the  Black  Prince,  by  Mr.  Bernard  Roth  ;  an 
early  leaden  token  of  the  City  of  Bristol,  dated  151 1, 
by  Mr.  F.  E.  Macfayden  ;  a  contemporary  forgery  of 
the  coinage  of  Henry  III.,  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Baldwin; 
and  a  half-crown  and  a  shilling  of  the  Aberystwith 
mint  of  Charles  II.,  for  which  the  punches  of  the 
Shrewsbury  mint  seem  to  have  been  used  for  the 
obverse,  and  a  proof  of  the  penny  for  i860,  struck 
on  a  copper  piece  of  George  III.,  by  Dr.  E,  C. 
Carter. 

<§  *$  +% 

M.  W.  M.  Fawcett  presided  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Cambridge  Antiquarian  Society  on  May  13. 
Mrs.  Wherry  read  a  paper  on  "The  Dancing  Towers 
of  Italy."  These  towers  are  slender  hollow  struc- 
tures of  wax,  wood,  and  paper,  decorated  and  painted 
very  beautifully,  and  usually  about  40  or  60  feet  high. 
In  some  towns  in  Italy  on  certain  festivals  these 
towers  are  drawn  or  carried  through  the  streets  in 
procession,  and  are  swayed  about  in  eccentric  evolu- 
tions. These  processions  were  held  in  Italy  as  far 
back  as  1492.  It  is  believed  that  they  began  centuries 
earlier.  In  India  and  Japan  similar  ceremonies  take 
place.  Mr.  Mark  Sykes  read  an  interesting  paper  on 
"A  Journey  in  the  Plains  of  Mesopotamia,  the  Forests 
of  Pontus,  and  the  Highlands  of  Kurdistan."  Both 
papers  were  well  illustrated  by  lantern-slides. — The 
annual  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  on  May  27, 
when  the  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year. 
Thereafter,  Mr.  H.  B.  Walters,  of  the  British 
Museum,  gave  an  interesting  explanation  of  the 
Arretine  Vase,  which  was  found  in  a  fragmentary 
condition  at  Foxton  in  1852,  and  is  now  in  the 
Archaeological  Museum ;  and  Dr.  A.  C.  Haddon  gave 
a  paper  on  the  "Morning  Star  Ceremony  of  the 
Pawnee, ' '  describing  some  of  the  religious  observances 
of  the  American  Indians.  Both  communications  were 
illustrated  by  some  excellent  lantern-slides. 

+$  *>$  +$ 

A  party  of  the  members  of  the  Lancashire  and 
Cheshire   Antiquarian    Society  proceeded  on 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


275 


May  29  to  Heatley,  and  from  thence  to  Warburton, 
first  visiting  the  Steps  of  Mold,  Market  Cross,  and 
the  Stocks,  one  of  the  posts  of  which  showed  evidences 
of  it  having  been  used  as  a  whipping-post.  The 
party  then  visited  Warburton  Old  Church,  a  charm- 
ing old  black  and  white  building,  with  a  brick  tower 
partly  covered  with  ivy.  The  interior,  with  its  rough - 
hewn  timbers  which  support  the  single  roof  that  spans 
the  nave  and  arches,  is  most  interesting,  as  are  also 
the  old  font,  the  carved  pulpit,  the  hour-glass  holder, 
and  the  hat-pegs  made  of  bucks'  horns  nailed  to  the 
pillars.  In  one  of  the  pews  is  an  ancient  stone  coffin, 
with  lid  complete,  found  in  the  churchyard,  where, 
according  to  the  old  sexton's  account,  several  others 
are  still  waiting  to  be  unearthed.  A  visit  to  the 
Rectory  gardens  completed  a  very  interesting  meeting. 
On  June  1  another  party  visited  Ince  Blundell,  the 
Lancashire  seat  of  Mr.  C.  J.  Weld  Blundell.  The 
object  of  the  visit  was  the  inspection  of  the  collection 
of  ancient  marbles  gathered  together  by  the  late 
Mr.  Henry  Blundell  (who  died  in  1810)  deposited  in 
the  room  specially  built  for  them,  and  known  as  the 
Pantheon,  a  large  hall  with  a  cupola  and  circular 
skylight.  Here  are  brought  together  a  great  number 
of  antique  statues  and  other  works  of  art  which 
Mr.  Blundell  acquired  from  1777  onwards,  and  was 
fortunate  in  being  able  to  increase  by  purchases  en 
bloc  in  1800,  l8or,  and  1802,  owing  to  auction  sales 
following  the  plunder  by  the  French  of  the  Pope's 
apartments.  On  leaving  Ince  Blundell,  the  party 
drove  to  Sefton,  where  the  parish  church  was 
inspected  ;  and  through  Maghull  to  Lydiate  Abbey, 
an  ancient  building,  now  in  ruins,  consisting  of  a 
nave  and  castellated  tower. 

**§  ^$  +Q 

The  first  country  meeting  of  the  year  of  the  Durham 
and  Northumberland  Arch.^eological  Society 
was  held  on  May  24.  During  the  day  Prudhoe 
Castle,  the  Grange  at  High  Prudhoe,  Ovingham 
Church,  Bywell  Castle,  and  the  contiguous  churches 
of  Bywell  St.  Andrew  and  Bywell  St.  Peter  were 
visited,  short  descriptions  of  each  being  given  by 
Mr.  W.  H.  Knowles,  F.S.A.,  of  Newcastle.  Prudhoe 
Castle  is  romantically  situated  on  an  isolated  mound 
about  500  yards  from  the  River  Tyne,  and  occupies 
what  would  in  the  mediaeval  days  be  considered  an 
ideal  site  for  strength  and  invulnerability.  The  castle 
is  the  property  of  His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land, and  the  modern  dwelling  within  it  is  now  occu- 
pied by  Mr.  T.  D.  Milburne,  by  whose  permission 
the  members  were  allowed  to  go  over  it.  The  castle 
was  approached  by  the  barbican  and  inner  gateway, 
between  which  was  the  drawbridge  over  the  moat 
before  the  latter  was  filled  up.  This  gateway,  as 
Mr.  Knowles  explained,  is  the  earliest  part  of  the 
castle,  and  is  Norman.  The  castle  was  occupied  by 
one  of  the  Umfravilles,  who  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror,  and  received  as  his  reward  lands  in  the 
Redesdale  district,  these  being  subsequently  aug- 
mented by  the  estate  at  Prudhoe.  The  chapel  above 
the  old  gatehouse  is  about  a  century  later,  probably 
of  Edward  I.'s  time.  It  has  a  beautiful  little  oriel 
bay  forming  the  chancel,  lighted  by  two  lancets,  and 
forms  a  very  choice  little  bit  of  early  English  domestic 
work.  The  party  then  passed  through  the  outer 
bailey,  and  in  the  wall  examined  the  entrance  of  what 


is  supposed  to  be  a  subterranean  passage  leading  down 
to  the  river.  The  great  tower  or  keep,  partially 
dilapidated,  was  inspected.  It  is  about  the  same 
date  as  the  keep  at  Newcastle,  which  was  built 
between  11 70  and  11 80.  Leaving  the  castle  by  way 
of  the  picturesque  gardens,  the  party  climbed  the  hill 
to  Prudhoe  to  see  the  Grange,  now  a  modernized 
residence,  but  which  contains  a  doorway  with  early 
English  mouldings  and  walls  of  great  thickness, 
probably  forming  part  of  the  chantry  chapel  of 
St.  Thomas  the  Martyr.  The  doorway  is  a  very 
interesting  specimen,  and  was  generally  voted  to  be 
well  worth  the  climb  up  the  steep  bank  to  view  it. 

Returning,  the  company  crossed  the  river  and 
inspected  Ovingham  Church,  being  welcomed  there 
by  the  Vicar,  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Thorp.  Mr.  Knowles 
described  the  church,  and  later  the  party  took  train  to 
Stocksfield.  A  pleasant  walk  brought  the  company 
to  Bywell  Castle.  At  Bywell,  as  at  Dunstanborough, 
Bothal,  and  Tynemouth,  the  gatehouse  was  the  keep, 
and  there  they  got  the  entrance  into  the  castle  proper. 
Bywell  is  first  mentioned  in  connection  with  Guy  of 
Baliol,  one  of  the  followers  of  the  Conqueror,  and  in 
Edward  I.'s  reign  it  was  occupied  by  one  of  the 
Nevilles.  The  machicolations  above  the  gateway 
from  which  to  throw  molten  substances  upon  an 
attacking  foe  claimed  attention,  as  did  the  aperture 
over  the  straight  stairway  leading  to  the  first  floor, 
used  for  a  similar  purpose.  The  place  is  full  of  nice 
architectural  detail  in  the  way  of  window  embrasures 
and  fireplaces  and  turrets,  and  the  grooves  for  the 
portcullis,  together  with  the  original  iron  grill  at  the 
foot  of  the  staircase  and  the  oaken  gate  at  the 
entrance,  all  attracted  the  attention  of  the  visitors. 
The  date  of  the  present  building  is  fifteenth  century. 
The  Church  of  St.  Andrew  was  then  inspected, 
Mr.  Knowles  stating  that  it  was  another  of  the  early 
pre-Conquest  Churches  similar  to  those  at  Warden, 
Billingham.  and  Lincoln,  and  was  the  smallest  of  the 
lot.  The  wall  on  the  east  side  of  the  tower  denotes 
the  width  and  position  of  the  nave  that  was  con- 
temporary with  it.  One  reason  why  it  was  supposed 
to  be  merely  pre-Conquest  and  not  of  the  early  part 
of  the  Saxon  period,  was  the  fact  that  early  stones, 
similar  to  those  of  Saxon  crosses,  were  built  into  the 
tower. 

o§        «o$        ^ 

On  May  30  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries had  an  excursion  to  Aycliffe,  Heighington, 
and  the  district,  ending  with  an  inspection  of  St. 
Cuthbert's  Church,  Darlington.  The  weather  was 
dismally  unfavourable.  At  Aycliffe  Mr.  E.  Wooler 
described  the  church.  There  are  two  Saxon  crosses 
standing  in  the  churchyard,  and  in  the  church  are 
numerous  fragments  of  others  discovered  during  the 
restoration  in  1881.  The  two  crosses  were  formerly 
employed  as  the  inner  and  outer  lintels  of  a  doorway. 
The  other  Saxon  remains  are  in  the  Cambridge 
Museum.  The  smaller  but  more  complete  cross  is 
almost  entirely  covered  with  reptile  pattern  (lizard), 
some  of  the  interlacing  being  formed  of  the  bodies 
and  tails  of  serpent-like  creatures.  On  the  lower  part 
of  one  side  is  a  panel  containing  a  representation  of  a 
nondescript  animal.  The  larger  cross  presents  on  the 
lowest  panel  of  one  side  a  representation  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion :  two  soldiers  with  a  spear,  and  the  other  with 

2  M    2 


276 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


a  sponge  fixed  to  a  rod.  In  the  upper  corners  are 
two  heads,  representing  sun  and  moon.  Over  this 
subject  is  a  panel  filled  with  knot-work.  The  next 
panel  contains  three  figures,  each  holding  a  book. 
The  highest  panel  is  partly  broken  away,  but  contains 
interlacing  nondescripts.  The  lowest  panel  on  the 
other  side  is  filled  with  knot-work.  Above  this  is  a 
panel  containing  three  more  figures,  each  holding  a 
book.  The  next  panel  contains  two  figures,  but  what 
they  hold  it  is  impossible  to  determine.  The  upper 
panel  also  contains  two  figures,  one  apparently  hold- 
ing a  crosier  and  the  other  a  sceptre.  One  of  the 
edges  has  two  panels,  both  filled  with  interlacing 
designs.  The  other  is  divided  into  three  panels,  the 
uppermost  filled  with  a  pattern  of  knot-work  ;  the 
lowest  is  with  interlacing  nondescript.  The  middle 
one  bears  a  singular  representation  of  the  crucifixion 
of  St.  Peter  head  downwards — the  only  instance  of  a 
legendary  scene  on  Saxon  monument.  Heighington 
Church  was  well  described  by  the  Vicar,  the  Rev. 
H.  D.  Jackson. 

At  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Society  on  May  29 
Mr.  W.  H.  Knowles  presented  a  plan  of  a  portion  of 
the  town  wall  which  was  discovered  by  some  work- 
men ten  days  before.  The  workmen  were  excavating 
on  the  quayside  for  the  purpose  of  laying  a  water- 
pipe,  when  they  disclosed  part  of  the  wall.  Its 
position  does  not  agree  precisely  with  the  position 
shown  on  the  Ordnance  Map,  being  about  31  feet 
south  of  the  present  Post-office,  and  about  41  feet  east 
of  King  Street.  The  top  of  the  masonry  is  about 
2  feet  6  inches  below  the  present  road-level,  and  on 
the  outer  of  the  south  face  are  two  splayed  offsets. 
The  direction  of  the  wall  seemed  to  incline  to  the 
north,  but  as  further  excavations  are  contemplated, 
this  point  may  be  ascertained  with  greater  certainty. 
The  whole  of  the  wall,  Mr.  Knowles  said,  between 
Sandhill  and  Sandgate  was  taken  down  in  the  year 
1762,  when  the  Corporation  petitioned  the  Crown  for 
leave  to  remove  it  and  to  use  the  stones  in  the  re- 
building of  St.  Ann's  Chapel,  that  building  having 
become  ruinous. 

«•$  ^  *§ 

On  June  1  the  members  of  the  Bradford  His- 
torical and  Antiquarian  Society  made  an  ex- 
cursion to  Ripon  Cathedral  and  Fountains  Abbey, 
and  although  the  weather  was  not  so  fine  as  was 
desirable,  everything  passed  off  well,  and  the  party 
much  enjoyed  their  visit.  At  the  Cathedral  the  Dean 
of  Ripon,  the  Ven.  \V.  II.  Freemantle,  D.D.,  gave 
them  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  church,  pointing 
out  many  objects  of  interest,  and  the  verger  took 
them  round  the  choir,  the  chapter  -  house,  and 
Wilfred's  crypt.  At  Fountains  Abbey  Mr.  J.  A. 
Clapham,  from  the  western  front,  told  how  the 
puritans  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey  became  dissatisfied  with 
the  rule  of  the  monks,  which  they  considered  sadly 
too  lax,  escaped  from  the  city,  and  settled  in  huts  by 
the  side  of  the  Skell,  three  miles  from  Ripon.  Here 
they  suffered  great  privations,  even  having  to  eat 
from  the  leaves  of  the  trees  at  the  banks  of  the  river. 
When  they  were  in  their  last  extremity  Hugh,  Dean 
of  York,  came  to  their  rescue  with  a  rich  inheritance, 
and  many  others  helped  them,  so  that  they  built  in 
twenty-five  years  the  solid  nave,  with  its  substantial 
Norman  pillars  and  transitional  architecture.      The 


fine  Huby  Tower,  the  chapter-house,  the  guest-houses, 
the  Chapel  of  Nine  Altars,  the  monks  and  lay 
brothers'  quarters,  the  two  infirmaries,  the  cemetery 
at  the  east  end,  were  pointed  out  and  much  admired. 

Other  meetings  and  excursions  which  we  have  not 
space  to  record  in  detail  have  been  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Norfolk  Archaeological  Society  on 
May  30,  when  several  churches  were  visited  and 
good  papers  read  ;  the  Surrey  Archaeological 
Society's  ramble  on  May  25  in  and  about  Camber- 
well  ;  the  spring  meeting  of  the  Bristol  and 
Gloucestershire  Archaeological  Society,  held 
on  May  28  at  the  old-world  town  of  Northleach  in 
the  Cotswolds  and  its  delightful  neighbourhood  ;  the 
meeting  of  the  York  Archaeological  Society  on 
May  17,  when  the  Rev.  T.  A.  Brode  gave  an  account 
of  the  old  parish  account  books  belonging  to  the 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  York ;  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Derbyshire  Archaeological 
Society  at  Buxton  on  May  31  ;  and  the  quarterly 
excursion  of  the  Essex  Archaeological  Society 
to  Prittlewell,  Wakering,  Barling  and  other  churches 
on  June  6. 


iRetnetos  ann  Notices 
of  U3eto  I6OO&0. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.  ] 

Charters  and  Records  ofNealesof  Berkeley 
Yate,  and  Corsham.  By  J.  Alexander  Neale, 
D.C.L.  Warrington:  Mackie  and  Co.,  Ltd., 
1907.  Small  folio,  pp.  263.  Trice,  stiff  paper 
covers,  21s.  ;  half-bound  vellum,  26s.  6d. 
This  is  no  ordinary  volume  of  pedigree  and  family 
genealogy.  All  such  books,  if  carefully  and  con- 
scientiously done,  throw  some  light  on  social  and 
local  history  outside  the  mere  family  record.  But 
in  this  particular  instance,  almost  the  whole  of  these 
250  small  folio  pages,  which  are  admirably  printed, 
are  of  distinct  importance  in  a  variety  of  ways  quite 
apart  from  dry  family  descent.  The  first  object  of 
the  book  is  to  give  printed  lists  of  the  Neales  of 
Berkeley  and  of  Yate,  Gloucestershire,  and  of  Cor- 
sham, Wiltshire,  to  serve  as  a  key  to  the  abstracts  of 
a  large  and  important  series  of  private  charters  and 
other  records.  The  record  part  of"  the  book  is  divided 
into  three  heads — the  first  dealing  with  the  Neales 
prior  to  their  settlement  at  Yate,  covering  a  period 
extending  from  1 100  to  1500,  and  for  particulars  of 
whom  recourse  has  been  chiefly  had  to  the  muniments 
of  Berkeley  Castle ;  the  second  contains  Neales  of 
Yate,  from  1500  to  the  present  day,  during  which 
time  they  have  continuously  held  lands  in  that  parish  ; 
and  the  third,  which  treats  of  the  Neales  of  Corsham 
and  Shaw,  Wilts,  covering  a  period  of  about  two 
centuries,  from  1700  to  the  present  time. 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


277 


To  the  mere  lists  of  names  and  deed  abstracts  Dr. 
Neale  prefixes  a  vividly  written  introduction,  from 
which  we  can  readily  glean  the  important  life  led 
from  time  to  time  by  members  of  this  family,  as  well 
as  their  alliance  or  connection  with  not  a  few  persons 
of  distinction  and  merit  about  whom  it  is  pleasant  to 
learn  anything  new.  What  makes  the  book  far  more 
readable  than  many  of  its  kind  is  that  the  author 
indulges  in  no  vainglorious  balderdash  as  to  his 
ancestors.  The  most  distinguished  of  the  early 
Neales  of  Berkeley  was  Friar  John  Neell,  the  cele- 
brated master  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Thomas  of  Aeon 
(St.  Thomas  a  Becket  of  Acre)  ;  he  obtained  an  Act 
for  the  incorporation  of  the  hospital  in  1444,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  new  Grammar  Schools 
in  London  in  1447.  Another  celebrity  was  Thomas 
Neall,  who  entered  Winchester  College  at  the  age  of 
twelve  in  1531,  and  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  New 
College,  Oxford,  in  1540.  During  Mary's  reign  he 
was  chaplain  to  Bishop  Bonner,  but  on  Elizabeth's 
accession  he  returned  to  Oxford,  and  from  1559  to 
1569  held  the  Hebrew  professorship  at  Christ  Church. 
It  seems  probable  that  this  great  scholar  and  divine 
was  the  father  of  Richard  Neale,  Archbishop  of  York. 

The  Shaw  House  estate  and  other  property  came 
to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Neale,  wife  of  Robert  Neale  of 
Corsham,  on  the  death  of  her  brother,  without  issue, 
in  1757.  Thomas  Smith,  the  father  of  Elizabeth, 
left  behind  him  a  diary  of  the  last  two  years  of  his 
life,  1721-23.  This  delightful  diary,  given  in  full  in 
an  appendix,  forms  the  chief  attraction  of  this  volume. 
The  honest  squire  sets  forth,  through  his  brief  entries, 
all  unconsciously,  a  vivid  picture  of  the  early  seven- 
teenth-century life  of  the  best  type  of  country  gentleman 
of  his  day.  He  attends  regularly  with  his  household 
in  the  family  pew  at  Meltsham  for  Sunday  service, 
and  enters  the  texts  of  the  Vicar's  sermons  ;  he  dis- 
cusses with  the  surrounding  gentlefolk  the  fitness  of 
candidates  for  Parliament,  and  journeys  to  Salisbury 
to  select  and  support  them.  He  gives  constant  atten- 
tion to  a  somewhat  exacting  mother,  and  ever  mani- 
fests his  love  for  home  and  his  affection  for  his  children  ; 
he  travels  to  Oxford  to  enter  his  son  John  at  Oriel, 
and  dines  at  the  Provost's  house.  He  is  devoted  to 
his  dogs  and  simple  sports  of  shooting  and  coursing, 
telling  us  of  Dido,  Tiptoe,  Hero,  Topsy,  and  others  ; 
he  is  fond,  too,  of  horses,  and  is  constantly  in  the 
saddle,  hunting  or  taking  short  excursions,  or  longer 
journeys  to  Oxford  or  London.  He  tells  of  his  brief 
sojourn  in  town,  how  on  Sunday  he  worshipped  at 
St.  Clement's  in  the  morning,  attending  the  afternoon 
service  at  St.  Paul's,  or  how  he  finished  up  a  week- 
day with  a  visit  to  the  playhouse  ;  and  we  learn  much 
of  his  neighbours  and  his  friends  through  a  constant 
round  of  visits. 

The  little  domestic  incidents  read  quaintly  from 
their  very  brevity.  Space  can  perhaps  be  found  for 
two  entries  in  May,  1722  : 

"  Wednesday,  2yd. — Farmer  Briant  was  wth  me  in 
ye  Morning,  and  Watty  went  to  Bath  again  to  see  his 
Grandmother,  and  we  heard  that  my  Bro.  Selfe's 
Washouse  was  plunder'd  of  all  the  Clothes  of  their 
Wash  this  last  Night,  the  same  being  wet  and  left 
there  as  usual  after  washing  ;  'twas  privately  done 
and  without  any  disturbance  or  knowledge  of  the 
Family,  'till  perceiv'd  in  ye  morning." 


"  Thursday,  29M. — The  Coach  went  with  Peggy 
to  Mr.  Bisses  at  Coulston,  and  from  thence  to  a  Race 
which  was  on  Warminster  Downs,  and  Home  in  the 
Evening  in  bad  Weather  and  bad  Ways.  Peggy, 
Watty,  and  Miss  Guppy  were  in  it  ;  Whilst  I  was  left 
at  Home  I  discover'd  one  of  my  Maides  stealing  Ale, 
and  for  that  and  not  well  liking  her  Service  in  other 
Matters,  gave  her  Notice  of  leaving  at  Midsummer  ; 
'tis  Mary  our  upper  Maid." 

Arms,  Armour  and  Alabaster  Round  Not- 
tingham. By  George  Fellows.  Nottingham  : 
H.  B.  Saxton,  1907.  4to.,  pp.  vi,  35,  and  21 
plates.  Price  12s.  6d. 
Nottingham's  "  alablastermen  "  were  as  famous  in 
mediaeval  times  as  those  of  Tutbury,  and  fine  speci- 
mens of  their  workmanship  are  to  be  found  not  only 
in  various  parts  of  England,  but  in  places  abroad,  so 
far  removed  from  one  another  as  Italy  (Ferrara)  and 
Iceland,  as  well  as  in  many  parts  of  France.  In  his 
introduction  to  this  handsome  volume,  Mr.  Fellows 
gives  a  few  details  from  the  borough  records  of  Not- 
tingham bearing  on  the  trade,  with  some  remarks  on 
the  quarries  whence  the  alabaster  was  obtained  ;  but 
the  main  object  of  the  book  is  to  describe  briefly,  and 
to  illustrate,  some  of  the  more  noteworthy  of  the 
local  alabaster  altar  tombs.  Mr.  Fellows  says  very 
modestly:  "This  book  does  not  profess  to  be  a 
history  of  the  several  families  mentioned  in  its  pages, 
but  rather  consists  of  extended  notes  on  the  monu- 
ments in  churches  which  I  have  visited  on  various 
occasions.  Armour  and  Heraldry  being  highly  technical 
subjects,  and  the  inscriptions  and  shields  of  arms 
being  in  some  cases  difficult  to  decipher,  it  is  possible 
that  errors  may  be  found  in  the  following  pages,  for 
which  I  ask  the  reader's  forbearance."  We  have  not 
noticed  any  errors  worth  mentioning,  but  no  reader 
can  help  noticing,  and  being  grateful  for,  the  very 
careful  and  thorough  description  which  is  given  not 
only  of  each  tomb  and  recumbent  figure,  but  of  the 
details  of  armour  and  costume.  Moreover,  although 
the  book  is  not  a  history  of  the  families  mentioned  in 
its  pages,  yet  it  contains  not  a  few  valuable  materials 
for  such  history.  Students  interested,  for  instance,  in 
the  Clifton,  Sacheverell,  and  Strelley  families,  will 
find  it  worth  looking  at.  The  chief  attraction  of  the 
volume,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  the  plates,  which 
are  extremely  good.  It  would  be  difficult  to  get 
better  photographic  plates  than  those  of  the  Pierre- 
pont  tombs  (facing  pp.  9  and  10),  and  those  of  Ra- 
dulphus  and  Henry  Sacheverell  (facing  p.  16),  to 
name  no  others.  They  enable  the  reader  to  realize 
both  the  beauty  of  the  material  from  which  the  tombs 
were  carved  and  the  perfection  of  the  work  of  the 
"  marblers  "or  "  kervers."  The  book  is  charmingly 
produced,  and  reflects  much  credit  upon  its  Notting- 
ham publisher. 

*      *      * 
Penn's  Country,  and  Other  Buckinghamshire 
Sketches.     By  E.  S.  Roscoe.     With  thirteen 
illustrations.       London :     Elliot    Stock,     1907. 
Crown  8vo.,  pp.  x,  115.      Price  4s.  6d. 
The  district  here  called  "Penn's  Country,"  which 
includes   the   villages   of  Penn,  Chalfont    St.  Giles, 
Chalfont  St.  Peter,  and  Jordans,  the  Quaker  meeting- 
house and  burial-place,  and  the  slightly  farther  afield 


»78 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


parts  of  Buckinghamshire  touched  upon  in  Mr.  Ros- 
coe's  other  sketches,  were  not  so  very  long  ago  among 
the  most  secluded  bits  of  country  to  be  found  within 
so  short  a  radius  of  London.  The  opening  of  new 
lines  of  rail,  however,  has  done  much,  and  will  do 
more,  to  bring  them  to  the  notice  of  Londoners. 
Mr.  Roscoe's  little  book,  therefore,  makes  a  timely 
appearance.  About  Penn  and  the  other  villages 
named  ;  about  Stoke  Poges  ;  Beaconsfield  and  Burke  ; 
Bradenham  and  Hughenden  and  the  Disraelis  ;  Drop- 
more  and  Lord  Grenville  ;  Bulstrode  and  the  Port- 
lands ;  Hampden  and  Great  Missenden  ;  Chenies 
and  the  Russells ;  Chequers  Court  and  Frances 
Cromwell,  the  Protector's  youngest  daughter  ;  Olney, 
Weston  Underwood  and  Cowper,  Mr.  Roscoe  writes 
pleasantly  and   with   intimate   personal   knowledge. 


duced  on  this  page,  is  an  old  flint  and  brick  building, 
with  no  special  architectural  features,  but  within  are 
the  Penn  monuments  and  brasses.  Mr.  Roscoe 
illustrates  the  brasses  of  William  Penn  (1638)  and  his 
wife.  The  book  is  indexed,  well  printed,  and  prettily 
got  up. 

*     *     * 
Roman  Sculpture.     By  Mrs.  Arthur  Strong,  LL.D. 
With  130  photographic  plates.     London  :  Duck- 
worth and  Co.,  1907.     Crown  8vo.,  pp.  xx,  408. 
Price  1  os.  6d. 
This  handsome  volume  is  a  remarkable  contribu- 
tion to  the  literature  of  art-archasology,  partly  because 
of  its  full  and  learned  treatment,  and  partly  because 
the  new  or  revived  interest  in  classical  Rome  is  now 
being  attended  by  industrious  efforts  on  the  part  of 


PENN   CHURCH. 


He  has  fresh  information,  too,  to  give  us.  In  the 
chapter  treating  of  Frances  Cromwell's  life  at 
Chequers  Court,  a  picturesque  Elizabethan  house 
somewhat  altered  by  Georgian  additions,  lying  in  a 
gap  of  the  Chilterns,  he  has  been  able  to  make  good 
use  of  the  contemporary  letters  and  other  papers 
preserved  at  the  Court.  Frances  Cromwell  married 
first  Robert  Rich,  the  grandson  of  Lord  Warwick, 
who  died  three  months  after  the  marriage,  and  five 
years  later,  Sir  John  Russell,  of  Chippenham.  Mr. 
Roscoe  gives  some  interesting  extracts  from  her 
homely  and  affectionate  letters.  The  illustrations 
include  good  reproductions  from  photographs  of 
Hughenden  Manor,  Milton's  cottage  at  Chalfont,  and 
Penn  Church  ;  portraits  of  the  Penns,  Burke,  Hamp- 
den, and  Frances  Cromwell ;  and  one  or  two  fac- 
similes.    Penn  Church,  the  view  of  which  is  repro- 


Italian  excavators  like  Signor  Boni  and  by  the  British 
School  at  Rome.  In  writing  as  she  does  of  the  de- 
velopment of  Roman  sculpture  from  Augustus  to 
Constantine,  Mrs.  Strong  admits  that  she  deals  with 
"  a  period  forgotten  and  neglected."  The  admission 
is  at  once  her  excuse  and  her  justification.  For  how- 
ever much  we  may  feel  that  she  has  an  uphill  task  in 
setting  the  claims  of  the  Roman  school  against  the 
Greek,  and  however  much  we  may  miss,  in  the  sculp- 
tures which  she  has  here  so  lavishly  illustrated,  the 
sublime  ideality  of  the  Elgin  marbles,  she  proves 
abundantly  the  serious  claim  of  the  makers  of  Roman 
sculpture  upon  the  regard  and  the  admiration  of  all 
lovers  of  art.  No  one  can  deny  this  who  follows,  for 
instance,  in  her  pages  her  account  of  the  "Ara 
Pacis,"  of  Trojan's  column,  or  of  the  portraiture  of 
which  so  many  delightful  examples  are  given  at  the 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


279 


end  of  this  volume,  especially  the  children  in  plates 
107,  108,  in,  117,  and  118. 

The  illustrations  themselves  form  a  gallery  which 
will  do  great  service  in  calling  up  an  image  of  Roman 
sculpture  and  habituating  the  minds  of  cultured  readers 
to  this  decoration  of  Roman  imperial  life.  Mrs. 
Strong  bases  her  exhaustive  survey  of  the  subject 
mainly  on  Petersen  and  Wickhoff,  but  not  so  slavishly 
as  to  deprive  us  of  the  pleasure  of  a  narrative  of  fresh 
and  independent  exposition,  with  an  abundance  of 
criticism  on  small  points  of  either  technical  or  his- 
torical value.  One  notes,  for  instance,  her  telling 
comments  on  the  Greek  dislike  of  death-images,  or, 
again,  the  pithy  contrast  of  Augustan  and  Flavian 
art  on  page  56.  Her  observations  on  "individual 
portraiture,"  on  page  351,  make  a  wholesome  protest 
against  a  fashionable  supposition.  Occasionally  her 
zeal  for  her  theme  seems  to  warp  her  appreciation  of 
Greek  sculpture,  as  when  she  fails  to  find  any  dramatic 
central  situation  in  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon. 

The  book,  as  a  whole,  is  so  valuable  that  one  begs 
to  look  forward  to  a  companion  volume  on  "  Grseco- 
Roman  Art  "  from  Mrs.  Strong's  pen. 

For  succeeding  editions,  which  the  Universities  and 
schools  will  surely  require,  one  notes  a  few  trifling 
printer's  errors  on  pages  43,  55,  150,  and  153. 

*      *      * 
London  Topographical  Record.   Vol.  IV.    Illus- 
trated.    Printed  at  the   Chiswick  Press  for  the 
Lotidon  Topographical  Society,  1907.    Demy8vo., 
pp.  x,  160. 

This  fourth  volume  of  the  Record  contains,  besides 
the  seventh  annual  report  of  the  Society,  and  an 
account  of  the  proceedings  at  the  annual  meeting, 
several  items  worthy  of  note.  Mr.  Hilton  Price 
continues  his  notes  on  "  Signs  of  Old  London," 
dealing  this  time  with  those  in  Cheapside  and  the 
adjacent  streets,  and  giving  names  of  shopkeepers 
with  dates.  The  illustrations,  which  are  numerous 
and  very  well  produced,  are  taken  from  old  bill-heads 
in  the  Banks  Collection  of  the  British  Museum,  or  in 
Mr.  Price's  own  collection.  It  is  a  pity  that  Mr. 
Price  does  not  add  the  references  to  his  many  quota- 
tions. Two  other  well-illustrated  papers  are  Mr. 
Philip  Norman's  address  on  the  Roman  wall  of 
London,  delivered  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Society  ;  and,  under  the  title  of  "  Recent  Demolitions 
in  Blackheath,"  an  account  of  Vanbrugh  House  and 
Vanbrugh  Castle,  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Lovegrove.  The 
volume  also  includes  the  catalogue  of  the  remarkable 
collection  of  maps,  plans  and  views  of  London,  which 
was  exhibited  at  the  Society's  conversazione,  held 
at  Drapers'  Hall  in  March,  1905. 

English  Proverbs  and   Proverbial  Phrases. 
By  W.  Carew  Hazlitt.     New  edition.     London  : 
Reeves  and   Turner,    1907.      Crown   8vo.,  pp. 
xxxii,  580.     Price  7s.  6d. 
The  ideal  dictionary  of  proverbs  has  yet  to  be  com- 
piled.    It  is  badly  wanted,  but  it  is  hardly  likely  to 
be  achieved   without   co-operative   effort.     What  is 
wanted  is  a  dictionary  of  proverbs  on  lines  similar  to 
those  followed  in   the    Oxford  English  Dictionary, 
and  in  other  works  of  reference  which  have  sprung 
from  that  great  original — that  is  to  say,  on  historical 
lines,  in  which  the  history  and  development  of  each 


proverb  or  proverbial  phrase  in  our  own  literatuie 
should  be  traced  as  far  as  possible  by  a  series  of  quo- 
tations and  references  arranged  in  chronological 
order,  with  an  indication  of  the  classic  or  other 
origin  where  known.  Failing  the  production  of  such 
a  dictionary,  the  student  must  in  the  meantime  be 
grateful  to  Mr.  Hazlitt  for  his  labours  in  the  pro- 
verbial field.  The  present  issue  of  his  book  is  said  on 
the  title-page  to  be  "with  much  matter  not  pre- 
viously published  "  ;  and  in  any  case  it  is  easily  the 
best  collection  so  far  made.  Mr.  Hazlitt  gives  early 
references  for  a  great  many  proverbs,  and  his  book 
would  be  an  admirable  basis  for  the  larger  dictionary 
on  the  lines  indicated.  We  only  wish  he  had  com- 
mented more  freely  and  given  more  references  than 
he  has  done,  but  perhaps  this  is  hardly  reasonable  in 
view  of  considerations  of  space  and  size.  We  thank 
him  sincerely  for  an  enlarged  and  improved  edition 
of  a  very  useful  and  comprehensive  handbook. 

if  if  if. 
The  Laws  of  Hammurabi  and  Moses.  Trans- 
lated from  the  German  of  H.  Grimme  by  the 
Rev.  W.  T.  Pilter.  London :  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge,  1907.  Small 
8vo.,  pp.  149.  Price  2s. 
This  neat  little  book  contains  a  good  deal  more  than 
is  indicated  in  the  title  here  abbreviated.  Besides  a 
translation  of  Grimme's  tractate — which  is  written 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  conservative  critic — and 
a  version  from  the  Babylonian  of  such  parts  of  the 
Hammurabi  Code  as  are  discussed  in  detail  therein, 
Mr.  Pilter  supplies  several  chapters  which,  he  suggests, 
"  may  serve  as  a  succinct,  practical  introduction  to 
the  archaeology  of  the  Pentateuch  from  the  period 
of  Abraham."  The  discovery  of  the  Hammurabi 
stela  was  an  event  of  great  importance  in  the  history  of 
Babylonian  discovery,  and  of  still  greater  importance 
in  its  bearing  upon  Old  Testament  history  and  law. 
There  are  very  many  people  who  take  but  a  languid 
interest  in  the  early  history  of  Babylonia  per  se,  but 
who  are  keenly  alive  to  all  that  bears  upon  latter-day 
theories  about,  and  criticism  of.  the  Old  Testament. 
To  such  folk  this  little  book  should  especially  appeal. 
It  is,  within  its  limits,  a  handy  and  useful  manual, 
nicely  got  up  and  well  indexed. 

*  *      * 

A  cheap  re-issue  of  Literary  Celebrities  of  the  English 
Lake  District,  by  Mr.  Frederick  Sessions,  is  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock  (price  2s.  6d.).  It  appears 
at  an  opportune  season.  The  tourist  need  not  expect 
to  find  in  it  a  guide-book  of  the  usual  kind,  but  he 
will  certainly  find  it  a  pleasant  pocket  travelling 
companion.  Mr.  Sessions  chats  brightly  about  the 
greater  names  associated  with  the  Lake  District,  and 
has  also  much  of  interest  to  say  regarding  a  number 
of  less  well-known  folk.  Among  the  latter  we  may 
name  Richard  Braithwaite  ("Drunken  Barnaby "), 
Dr.  Craig  Gibson,  a  master  of  the  local  dialect, 
Elizabeth  Smith,  and  William  and  Lucy  Smith.  The 
illustrations  —  portraits  and  views  —  are  good,  and 
adorn  a  very  readable  volume. 

*  *      * 

Several  pamphlets  worthy  of  note  are  on  our  table. 
In  A  Hertfordshire  St.  George,  reprinted  from  the 
Transactions  of  the  East  Herts  Archaeological  Society, 
Mr.  W.  B.  Gerish  tells  the  story,  with  several  illus- 


280 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


trations,  of  "0  Piers  Shonks  and  the  Pelham 
Dragon,"  a  curious  legend  here  dealt  with  in  an 
entertaining  manner.  Mr.  Gerish  comes  to  the  con- 
clusion that  "dragon  stories  like  those  of  Piers 
Shonk  are  simply  Norse  mythological  traditions 
transplanted  to  English  soil."  Mr.  S.  W.  Kershaw, 
F.S.  A.,  has  issued  Oatlands  in  Weybridge  (London  : 
S.  Bagster  and  Sons,  Limited.  Price  6d.),  an 
account,  originally  written  for  the  British  Archaeo- 
logical Association,  and  now  revised  and  enlarged, 
of  the  famous  palace  at  Oatlands,  built  in  its  first 
form  by  Henry  VIII. ,  which  has  been  much  less 
often  described  than  its  Surrey  companions  at  Non- 
such and  Richmond.  Mr.  Kershaw's  pamphlet, 
with  its  illustrations,  usefully  fills  a  gap.  The  Ber- 
wick-upon-Tweed Historic  Monuments  Committee 
has  issued  an  Official  Guide  to  the  Fortifications,  with 
explanatory  diagrams,  by  Commander  F.  M.  Norman, 
R.N.  (Berwick:  George  C.  Grieve.  Price  6d.),  a 
booklet  which  all  visitors  to  the  singularly  interesting 
old  town,  with  its  unique  fortifications — unique,  at 
least,  so  far  as  these  islands  are  concerned — should 
find  extremely  useful. 

*  *  * 
The  Architectural  Review  for  June  is  an  unusually 
attractive  number.  Besides  items  which  are  chiefly 
of  professional  interest,  there  are  the  third  and  last 
part  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Godfrey's  study,  finely  illustrated, 
of  "The  Work  of  George  Devey  "  ;  and  a  further 
instalment  of  "A  Sketch  of  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Archi- 
tecture," in  which  Mr.  A.  C.  Champneys  dis- 
cusses the  increase  of  foreign  influence  on  Irish 
building  art  towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century. 
The  paper  is  accompanied  by  no  less  than  thirty-two 
illustrations  of  doorways,  windows,  and  other  details 
from  Kilkenny,  Jerpoint,  Mellifont,  Cashel,  Clon- 
macnoise,  and  other  cathedrals  and  churches.  We 
have  also  on  our  table  Rivista  cf  Italia,  May ;  East 
Anglian,  March  ;  Scottish  Notes  and  Queries,  June 
—  strong  in  bibliography  and  family  history ;  and 
book  catalogues  (miscellaneous)  from  Messrs.  James 
Fawn  and  Son,  Bristol,  Herr  K.  T.  Volcker,  Frank- 
fort, Messrs.  W.  N.  Pitcher  and  Co.,  Manchester,  and 
Mr.  J.  F.  Meehan,  Bath. 


Corresponnence. 

BURY  ST.  EDMUNDS. 

TO  THE  EDITOR. 
UNDER  this  heading  in  the  June  Antiquary,  p.  212, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Astley  writes,  "  Mr.  W.  J.  Andrew  in 
his  Numismatic  History  of  Henry  I.  spells  the  Saxon 
name  of  the  city  Beorhtric's  Worthe,  and  says : 
'  Hence  it  probably  owes  its  origin  to  Beorhtric,  King 
of  East  Anglia  circa  850-855. '  Mr.  Andrew  probably 
refers  to  the  King  of  Mercia  .  .  .  whom  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Chronicle  calls  Buihred.  .  .  ."  Having  com- 
placently assumed  that  though  I  wrote  one  thing  I 
meant  another,  Dr.  Astley  proceeds  to  discuss  the 
philological  improbability  of  his  own  assumption. 
Quite  so  ;  for  King  Cole  would  have  been  as  germane 
to  the  question  as  was  Burgred,  King  of  Mercia. 


Dr.  Astley  is  evidently  unaware  that  the  immediate 
predecessor  to  Edmund,  a.d.  855,  was  Beorhtric. 
He  is  believed  to  have  been  the  witness,  Berhtric 
Jilius  regis,  to  Berhtulf's  charters  of  A.D.  845,  and  he, 
certainly,  succeeded  to  the  crown  of  East  Anglia 
before  855,  for  he  has  left  us  a  series  of  coins  bearing 
his  title  as  King  of  the  Angles,  namely,  Beorhtric 
Rex  A. 

W.  J.  Andrew. 
Cadster, 

Whaley  Bridge. 


GYPSY  WORDS. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

With  reference  to  the  article  in  your  May  number 
by  Mr.  W.  E.  A.  Axon,  LL. D. ,  I  send  you  some 
notes  on  the  same  subject  made  by  my  great-grand- 
father in  1796.  If  you  think  them  worth  printing  in 
your  next  issue  please  do  so. 

William  A.  Cragg. 
Threekingham  House, 

Near  Folkingham,  Lincolnshire, 
May  28,  1907. 

From  notes  by  Mr.  John  Cragg,  of  Threekingham, 
Lincolnshire:  "July  1796:  I  had  some  conversation 
with  the  people  calling  themselves  Egyptians,  and 
have  put  down  below  several  of  their  words,  which  I 
have  corroborated  by  asking  others  their  names  for 
such  and  such  things,  but  what  sort  of  language  it  is 
derived  from  I  am  not  able  to  say.  These  people 
nowadays  chiefly  pretend  to  deal  in  pots,  etc.  It  is 
remarkable  that  nine  out  of  ten  have  black  hair — 


Gri            

...     A  horse. 

Grasney    ... 
Monish 

...     A  mare. 
...     A  man. 

Juval 

Bocoro 

Gall           

...     A  woman. 
...     A  sheep. 
...     A  town. 

Care 

...     A  house. 

Congre 

...     A  church. 

Jucal 
Sasham  Halla 

...     A  dog. 

How  do  you  do, 

Aslo  de  Clessa     ... 

my  friend  ? 
...     I  wish  you  well." 

Note  to  Publishers. — We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

To  INTENDING  Contributors.  —  Unsolicited  MSS. 
will  always  receive  careful  attention,  but  the  Editor 
cannot  return  them  if  not  accepted  unless  a  fully 
stamped  and  directed  envelope  is  enclosed.  To  this 
rule  no  exception  will  be  made. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  getieral  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  of 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communications  or 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


281 


The   Antiquary. 


AUGUST,  1907. 


jRotes  of  tbe  9£ont&. 

The  almost  continuous  wet  weather  of  the 
latter  part  of  June  and  of  the  first  half  of 
July  has  served  to  accentuate  the  popularity 
of  the  historical  pageants  which  are  so  marked 
a  feature  of  the  summer  of  1907.  Notwith- 
standing lowering  clouds,  varied  by  interludes 
of  differing  duration  of  downright  rain,  the 
three  pageants  of  the  first  rank — namely, 
those  of  Romsey,  Oxford,  and  Bury  St. 
Edmunds  —  have  each  proved  remarkably 
successful,  and  have  contributed  handsome 
profits  to  the  good  causes  to  which  their 
respective  balances  were  appropriated.  Had 
the  weather  been  normal,  we  can  only  suppose 
that  their  success  would  have  been  yet  more 
triumphant.  Our  reference  to  the  pageant 
at  St.  Albans,  which  promises  well,  must  be 
deferred  until  our  September  issue. 

«$»  ^  4p 
To  institute  any  exact  comparison  between 
these  three  pageants  would  not  only  be  in- 
vidious, but  obviously  unfair.  For  a  true 
pageant  depends  far  more  upon  general 
spectacular  effect  than  upon  dramatic  ability ; 
in  short,  it  is  a  question  of  the  eye  rather 
than  of  the  ear.  That  being  the  case,  the 
town  or  district  which  has  the  largest  popula- 
tion— provided  its  interest  can  be  duly 
aroused — has  a  great  advantage  over  those 
of  smaller  numbers.  The  little  Hampshire 
town  of  Romsey,  clustering  under  the  shadow 
of  the  splendid  abbey  church,  has  an  approxi- 
mate population  of  some  5,000 ;  Bury  St. 
Edmunds  has  about  three  times  that  number ; 

VOL.  III. 


whilst  Oxford  about  triples  the  total  of  the 
East  Anglian  town.  Hence  Oxford  found 
no  difficulty  in  providing  a  great  stage  army 
of  3,500  performers,  whilst  Bury  had  to  be 
content  with  2,000,  and  Romsey  and  district 
with  i,oco. 

♦  #  ^ 
The  Romsey  series  of  spectacles,  however, 
well  repaid  the  care  and  long- sustained 
attention  that  had  been  expended  on  their 
production.  They  gave  the  greatest  satisfac- 
tion to  crowded  audiences.  The  story  of  the 
abbey  from  its  founding  by  Edward  the 
Elder  in  907  down  to  the  time  of  its  dissolu- 
tion was  vividly  portrayed.  The  site  chosen 
in  the  beautiful,  well-timbered  park  of  Broad- 
lands  was  excellent  for  the  purpose.  The 
arena  was  bordered  on  the  further  side  by 
the  waters  of  the  Test,  which,  though  a  river 
of  modest  size,  was  found  sufficient  to  permit 
of  the  use  of  war- boats  by  the  marauding 
Danes  when  they  landed  and  burnt  the 
abbey  in  the  year  994.  This  was  one  of  the 
most  stirring  episodes  depicted.  The  most 
plaintive  scene,  acted  with  true  pathos  and 
dignity,  was  the  passing  of  King  Charles  I. 
through  Romsey  on  his  last  journey  on 
December  n,  1648. 

&         tf»         $» 

The  Oxford  pageant  will  ever  live  in  the 
memory  of  those  who  were  fortunate  enough 
to  see  it ;  for  the  grandeur  and  colour  con- 
trasts, and  harmony  of  the  series  of  varied 
episodes,  beginning  with  the  finely-acted 
representation  of  the  legend  of  St.  Frides- 
wide,  were  almost  beyond  praise.  The  vast 
size  of  the  arena,  used  as  a  stage,  added  to 
the  dignity  and  picturesqueness  of  many  of 
the  scenes.  The  wide  temporary  bridge 
across  the  Cherwell  permitted  of  the  use  of 
the  splendidly  treed  meadows  on  the  further 
side,  so  that  some  of  the  royal  processions 
could  be  watched  for  over  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  as  they  gradually  drew  near.  Over  two 
hundred  horsemen  took  part  in  different 
scenes,  and  the  river  was  put  to  excellent 
use.  Even  the  greatest  successes  have  their 
drawbacks  :  the  jarring  note  at  Romsey  was 
a  most  unfortunate  and  ill-timed  sermon,  or 
rather  lecture,  by  the  Bishop  of  Bristol  on 
the  opening  day  in  the  Abbey  Church  ;  whilst 
"  the  fly  in  the  ointment "  at  Oxford  was  the 

2  N 


282 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


vulgarity  of  the  rendering  of  St.  Giles  Fair 
in  the  days  of  George  III. 

4p      «fr      «fr 

Bury  St.  Edmunds  had  an  absolutely  ideal 
pageant  ground,  save  for  the  absence  of 
water,  within  the  very  precincts  of  the  once 
world-famed  abbey.  The  recollections  of 
Romsey  will,  in  the  main,  be  those  of  a  well- 
sustained  story  of  the  town,  pleasantly  and 
brightly  rendered  ;  Oxford  will  live  through 
the  dazzling  success  and  contrasts  of  its 
immense  and  striking  displays — the  funeral 
of  Amy  Robsart  being  followed  by  the  state 
entry  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  but  Bury  St. 
Edmunds  cannot  fail  to  stamp  on  the 
memory  certain  nobly-rendered  incidents, 
such  as  the  entry  of  the  stately  barbaric 
Queen  Boadicea,  driving  a  pair  of  coal-black, 
fiery  steeds  at  full  speed,  erect  and  solitary, 
in  her  rude  war-chariot ;  or  the  intensely 
powerful,  and  almost  awe-inspiring,  nature 
of  the  scenes  in  the  life  of  the  saintly 
Edmund,  King  and  Martyr,  so  marvellously 
personified.  The  children  played  important, 
natural,  and  engaging  parts  in  all  three  pageants, 
but  the  sudden  breaking-in  of  great  troops 
of  delightful  bell-tinkling,  morris  -  dancing 
children,  who  filled  for  a  time  the  whole 
of  the  Bury  arena  with  their  bright  and 
rhythmic  motion,  can  never  be  surpassed. 

$  $  <&» 
Mr.  Parker  formed  as  good  and  genial 
a  pageant  master  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  as 
he  did  in  previous  summers  at  Sherborne 
and  at  Warwick,  but  Mr.  Lascelles  at  Oxford, 
and  certainly  Mr.  Benson  at  Romsey,  were 
not  one  whit  behind  Mr.  Parker  in  the 
earnestness  and  thoroughness  with  which  they 
marshalled  and  instructed  their  respective 
stage  armies.  The  accuracy  of  all  the 
costumes  and  armour  of  the  multiplicity  of 
periods  was  most  remarkable  throughout 
with  but  small  exceptions.  An  occasional 
inadvertent  anachronism  added  a  little 
wholesome  zest  to  the  performances,  as  when 
the  Romsey  cavaliers  of  1643  energetically 
made  use  of  Bryant  and  May's  matchboxes 
to  kindle  a  camp-fire,  or  an  excited  maiden 
in  a  crowd  of  greeting  at  Oxford  welcomed 
James  I.  by  frantic  waving  over  her  head 
of  a  twentieth-century  umbrella.  In  each  of 
these  three  towns  we  doubt  not  that  a  great 
love  of  local  and  national  history  has  been 


engendered,  and  we  are  equally  certain  that 
much  neighbourly  goodwill  has  been  stirred 
up  through  a  happy  mingling  of  all  classes 
and  denominations  in  the  gratuitous  and 
long-sustained  work  of  all  that  pertains 
to  the  preparing  and  acting  of  these  stirring 
scenes. 

In  the  course  of  the  annual  report  of  the 
Wilts  Archaeological  Society,  presented  at 
the  general  meeting  held  at  Swindon,  July  3 
to  5,  it  is  stated  that  "  As  a  consequence  of 
the  change  of  ownership  on  the  sale  of  the 
Meux  estates  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Marl- 
borough, a  probability  arose  of  the  destruc- 
tion on  a  large  scale,  for  commercial  purposes, 
of  the  sarsen  stones  lying  in  such  numbers 
on  the  downs  in  that  locality,  and  more 
especially  of  those  adjacent  to  high  roads, 
such  as  the  well-known  '  Grey  Wethers '  in 
Pickle  Dean,  on  the  Bath  Road,  and  the 
very  large  masses  in  Lockeridge  Dean.  The 
committee  having  appointed  a  sub-committee 
to  devise  measures,  if  possible,  for  the  pre- 
servation of  these  two  sites,  the  owner,  Mr. 
Alec  Taylor,  met  them  in  a  very  friendly 
spirit,  and  has  made  a  definite  offer  of  some 
20  acres  on  these  sites  for  ^500.  Our 
society  has  obtained  in  this  matter  the  cordial 
co-operation  of  the  National  Trust  and  of 
the  Marlborough  College  Natural  History 
Society,  and  a  joint  appeal  is  now  being 
issued  by  the  three  societies  with  a  first 
list  of  promises  of  subscriptions  already 
received.  The  committee  commend  this 
effort  to  preserve  intact  at  least  some 
portions  of  these  remarkable  assemblages 
of  sarsen  stones  to  all  who  are  interested 
in  the  county  of  Wilts.  The  two  sites,  if 
purchased,  will  be  vested  in  the  National 
Trust."  We  trust  that  this  appeal  will  meet 
with  a  quick  and  liberal  response. 

•fr         $?         $> 

Man  announces  the  appointment  by  the 
Transvaal  Government  of  a  Commission  to 
report  on  the  Bushmen  paintings  and  stone 
etchings  existing  in  the  Transvaal,  and  to 
advise  what  steps  should  be  taken  to  preserve 
them  from  decay  and  mutilation.  Mr.  John- 
son, one  of  the  members  of  the  Commission, 
is  author  of  a  work  on  The  Stone  Implements 
of  South  Africa. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


283 


No  fewer  than  thirteen  Roman  cinerary  urns 
have  been  discovered  in  a  quarry  at  Portland, 
besides  a  number  of  old  ornaments  and  rings. 
The  relics  were  unearthed  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  Prideaux,  the  curator  of  the  Dorset 
County  Museum.  It  is  thought  that  the 
spot  was  used  exclusively  as  the  burial-place 
of  children,  as  no  fully  developed  human 
remains  have  been  found. 

A  historical  exhibition  of  Liverpool  antiqui- 
ties is  being  held,  in  connexion  with  the 
sept-centenary  celebrations,  in  the  Walker 
Art  Gallery,  from  July  15  to  August  10. 
The  exhibition  comprises  objects  of  his- 
torical interest  connected  with  the  city,  and 
includes  the  town  charters  and  other  docu- 
ments, ship  models,  local  views  and  maps, 
clocks  and  watches,  pottery  and  porcelain, 
and  historical  relics  and  curios  of  all  kinds. 
The  collection  of  Liverpool  pottery  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  most  comprehensive  that 
has  ever  been  got  together,  while  under  the 
head  of  historic  relics  are  included  many 
objects  of  peculiar  interest  and  value  which 
have  not  before  been  shown  to  the  public. 

cj>  rjji  ijfc» 

Mr.  W.  A.  Dutt,  of  438,  London  Road, 
Kirkley,  Lowestoft,  writes  that  in  May, 
"  whilst  digging  in  my  garden  at  Carlton 
Colville,  near  Lowestoft,  I  turned  up  a  small 
stone  figure  of  an  ecclesiastic.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  upper  portion  of  the  head  had 
been  broken  off,  also  the  top  of  what  may 
have  been  a  crozier,  the  lower  part  of  which 
remains  below  the  figure's  hands.  The 
photograph  I  enclose  clearly  shows  a  crucifix 
suspended  from  the  priest's  girdle  on  the 
left  side ;  on  the  other  side  the  end  of  the 
girdle  hangs  down,  terminating  with  a  kind 
of  tassel.  I  have  shown  the  figure  to  Mr. 
C.  H.  Read,  of  the  Department  of  British 
and  Medireval  Antiquities  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  he  tells  me  that  it  appears  to 
be  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  has  evi- 
dently belonged  to  something  larger.  In 
the  base  of  the  figure  there  is  a  round  hole 
rather  less  than  half  an  inch  deep,  suggesting 
that  it  was  intended  to  receive  a  projection 
from  a  small  pedestal.  The  photograph 
slightly  exaggerates  the  size  of  the  figure, 
which  in  a  perfect  state  can  have  been  little 
more  than  3  inches  high.     It  is  carved  out 


of  what  seems  to  be  a  piece  of  soft  whitish 
sandstone.  Probably  it  came  from  some 
church  in  the  neighbourhood,  in  which  case 
I  may  be  able  to  trace  its  origin  ;  or  it  is 
possible  that  it  may  be  a  relic  of  an  anchor- 
ite's cell.  Such  cells  were  frequently  estab- 
lished on  or  near  bridges  or  near  fords,  and 
the  fact  that  there  must  have  been  a  rather 
important  ford  within  fifty  yards  of  the  spot 


where  the  figure  was  found  lends  some  sup- 
port to  the  latter  theory.  Carlton  Colville 
Church  is  quite  a  mile  from  my  garden,  and 
Pakefield  Church  nearly,  if  not  quite,  a  mile 
distant." 

4?         $?        $ 
At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries a  report  of  the  work  done  last  year  at 
Silchester    was   presented,    and  the   objects 

2  N    2 


284 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


found  were  exhibited.  This  year  there  will 
be  no  public  exhibition,  and  the  finds  have 
been  deposited  in  the  Reading  Museum. 
Two  plots  were  dug  over,  and  the  diggings 
yielded  a  quantity  of  fine  pottery,  a  carved 
capital  of  a  pillar,  and  a  number  of  coins. 
The  committee  were  fortunate  in  finding 
very  many  interesting  toilet  articles,  some 
of  which  were  of  great  interest  from  the 
rarity  of  the  type.  There  was  the  usual 
assortment  of  armlets,  bracelets,  neck  rings, 
pins,  rings,  spoons,  glass  beads,  carved  bone 
and  horn  handles  for  knives,  and  fibulae  of 
the  safety-pin  type.  Two  metal  brooches 
are  worth  special  mention.  The  design  of 
one  was  of  four  conjoined  circles,  with  a  boss 
in  the  middle,  and  a  projecting  spur  at  each 
of  the  outer  points  of  contact ;  the  other  was 
of  mosaic  work,  composed  of  tiny  cubes  of 
red  and  blue,  with  a  border  of  larger  pieces 
of  the  same  colour.  A  band  of  narrow  metal, 
apparently  for  inlaying,  was  also  found.  The 
decoration  was  of  a  geometrical  character, 
consisting  of  triangles  and  circles. 

<$>  <$>  <$> 
An  appeal  has  been  issued,  signed  by  Sir  R. 
Hensley,  Sir  W.  B  Richmond,  and  Pro- 
fessors Mahaffy  and  Ernest  Gardner,  on  be- 
half of  a  work  which  the  British  School  of 
Archaeology  in  Egypt  proposes  to  undertake 
in  excavating  the  ancient  Egyptian  capital 
at  Memphis.  All  that  remains  of  the  great 
city  is  a  shapeless  mass  of  ruins,  though  as 
late  as  the  thirteenth  century  a  considerable 
portion  remained  above  ground.  To  clear 
the  100  acres  occupied  by  this  mass  of  ruins 
is  a  task  which  must  occupy  many  years,  and 
it  is  estimated  that  ^3,000  annually  for  fifteen 
years  would  be  needed  to  uncover  the  entire 
space,  which  is  equal  to  the  whole  of  the  site  of 
Karnak  in  Upper  Egypt.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  most  important  material  must  lie 
under  the  few  yards  of  soil  which  hide  the 
ruins,  and  would  be  accessible  within  a 
season  or  two  of  work.  If  the  work  be 
great,  the  reward  will  certainly  be  great  also. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  what  may  not  be  dis- 
covered on  the  site  of  the  city  that  was  the 
capital  of  Egypt  from  the  foundation  of  its 
monarchy,  the  greatest  city  of  the  most 
ancient  culture  on  the  Mediterranean.  The 
splendour  of  its  four  great  temples,  even  in 
their  decadence,  struck  the  Greeks  with  awe. 


11  The  sites  of  those  temples  lie  plainly  before 
us  amid  the  ruins  of  the  city,  and  we  can 
begin  directly  to  uncover  them  and  to  trace 
their  long  history  of  6,000  years  without 
needing  any  preliminary  research."  The  ap- 
peal deserves  the  most  favourable  reception. 

An  exhibition  of  the  antiquities  found  by 
Professor  Flinders  Petrie  and  students  of  the 
British  School  of  Archaeology  in  Egypt  at 
Gizeh  and  Rifeh  during  the  last  season  was 
opened  on  July  1  at  University  College, 
Gower  Street,  and  remained  open  through- 
out the  month.  At  Gizeh,  about  a  mile 
south  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  many  ceme- 
teries have  been  excavated,  yielding  remains 
of  the  first  three  dynasties  before  the  pyramid 
kings ;  while  in  the  cemeteries  of  Rifeh  very 
valuable  finds  were  made  in  the  shape  of  a 
series  of  "  soul-houses  "  made  of  pottery  (to 
be  placed  upon  the  graves  for  the  shelter  of 
the  soul).  In  earlier  times  these  were  just 
small  offerings  for  the  wandering  soul,  a  mat 
with  a  dish  of  flour  set  upon  it  sufficing. 
The  practice  developed,  and  Professor  Petrie 
has  so  arranged  his  splendid  find  at  Rifeh 
that  the  least  initiated  can  follow  the  idea. 
The  "soul -houses"  are  small  models  made 
of  burnt  pottery.  At  University  College  one 
found  first  the  rudest  attempts  at  satisfying 
the  soul.  The  little  houses  develop,  till 
finally  a  two-storied  dwelling  with  veranda 
and  garden  roof  is  found.  In  it  are  a  stair- 
case and  furniture,  with  a  fireplace,  and  a 
little  red-earth  woman  grinding  corn  at  a 
bench.  A  page  of  illustrations  of  these 
"  soul  -houses,"  from  Professor  Flinders 
Petrie's  photographs,  appeared  in  the  Illus- 
trated London  News  of  July  13. 

Another  most  important  exhibit  was  the 
great  twelfth  dynasty  tomb  group.  "The 
tomb,"  says  Mr.  St.  Chad  Boscawen,  "be- 
longed to  two  brothers,  Nekht-Ankh  and 
Khnumu-Ankh,  sons  of  Khumii-aa,  an  '  here- 
ditary prince,'  and  was  found  free  from 
plunderers.  The  coffin  of  the  first  is  perfect, 
and  the  mummy  in  it.  The  case  is  beauti- 
fully painted  with  a  diaper  pattern  in  green 
and  white  on  a  red  ground,  and  decorated 
with  yellow  rosettes.  The  outer  case  is 
modelled  to  the  figure,  the  face  painted  and 
decorated   with    red    chequers   on   a   white 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


285 


ground.  The  box  containing  the  Canopic 
vases  was  entire,  and  the  four  jars  of  pottery 
have  wooden  heads  of  the  four  genii.  Very 
interesting  are  the  two  funeral  boats  found 
in  the  tomb.  One  has  the  mast  down 
and  the  sail  packed,  and  is  being  rowed 
down  the  Nile.  On  the  other,  the  sailors 
are  hoisting  the  sail  to  sail  up  the  Nile. 
The  steersman  and  the  look-out  are  wrapped 
in  cloaks  when  going  down,  and  seated ;  and 
standing  in  short  kilts  when  going  up  the 
river.  There  is  a  cabin  to  each  ship,  in 
which  the  captain  is  seated.  Along  with 
these  boats  were  found  wooden  statuettes  of 
the  two  brothers,  and  female  servants  bear- 
ing cakes  of  offerings."  There  were  many 
minor  exhibits  of  great  interest. 

«jp      4?       $ 

A  second  Egyptian  exhibition  was  opened  at 
King's  College,  Strand,  on  July  9.  Here 
were  shown  during  the  remainder  of  the 
month  the  results  of  the  season's  work  by  the 
Egypt  Exploration  Fund  at  Deir  el  Bahari, 
near  Thebes.  The  exhibition  represents  the 
conclusion  of  one  of  the  greatest  works  of 
archaeological  exploration  ever  undertaken  by 
an  English  society.  More  than  fourteen 
years  ago  the  fund  commenced  its  work  of 
clearing  the  great  temple  on  the  face  of  the 
cliffs  at  Deir  el  Bahari,  near  Thebes.  This 
immense  edifice,  built  by  the  great  Queen 
Hatshepsu,  was  one  of  the  wonders  of  Egypt, 
differing  in  style  from  all  other  temples,  and 
especially  from  the  temples  of  Thebes.  The 
work  entailed  not  merely  the  exploration  of 
the  temple,  but  also,  as  far  as  possible,  a 
restoration  of  the  edifice  by  restoring  the 
fallen  or  broken  pieces  to  their  positions,  and 
the  removal  of  Coptic  and  other  buildings 
which  had  been  built  within  the  temple. 

%?  «$?  «iR» 
After  ten  years'  work  on  the  main  building,  a 
surprising  find  was  made,  in  clearing  away 
what  appeared  to  be  rubbish  heaps  on  the 
south  side  of  the  enclosure,  of  a  beautiful 
funeral  temple  of  Mentuhetys,  of  the  eleventh 
dynasty.  Four  seasons  have  been  devoted  to 
the  exploration  of  this  beautiful  temple,  and 
the  work  is  now  complete,  having  occupied 
about  fourteen  years  at  an  average  expendi- 
ture of  about  ;£i,ooo  a  year.  It  is  from  this 
temple  that  the  objects  exhibited  came. 
There  were  shown  many  objects  of  interest 


— funeral  boats,  little  models  of  groups  of 
servants,  bows,  arrows,  and  staffs  of  office, 
which  had  been  in  many  cases  stripped  of 
their  gold  plating.  One  very  fine  boat  with 
double  line  of  oars  was  exhibited.  Among 
the  many  other  striking  things  shown  were 
beautiful  painted  sculptures,  some  fine  blue 
glazed  ware,  and  good  textile  work,  including 
painted  pieces  of  linen  with  figures  of  a  whole 
family,  and  other  pieces  of  great  rarity  with 
beads  interwoven. 

«fr  ^P  $» 
Yet  a  third  Egyptian  exhibition — of  antiqui- 
ties discovered  at  Abydos,  Upper  Egypt,  by 
Professor  Garstang  and  Mr.  E.  Harold  Jones 
during  the  past  winter — was  opened  by  the 
Duchess  of  Connaught,  on  July  16,  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  Burling- 
ton House.  Any  notice  of  its  contents  must 
be  deferred  till  next  month. 

fy  *$?  «fr 
We  have  received  the  Report  of  the  Col- 
chester Corporation  Museum  for  the  year 
ended  March  31  last.  The  Report  chronicles 
much  progress,  particularly  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  coin  collections.  Alderman 
Henry  Liver,  F.S.A.,  presented  the  unin- 
scribed  gold  ancient  British  coins  previously 
lent  by  him,  while  Sir  John  Evans  enriched 
the  museum  by  the  gift  of  a  series  of  Roman 
imperial  denarii,  consisting  of  351  silver 
coins,  ranging  from  Vitellius  to  Alexander 
Severus,  all  in  nearly  mint  state.  A  fine 
example  of  Roman  mosaic  flooring  found  on 
the  property  of  Mr.  Harrington  Lazell  on 
North  Hill,  Colchester,  was  presented  by  him 
to  the  Museum.  The  Report,  which  contains 
a  complete  list  of  additions  by  gift  and 
purchase,  is  illustrated  by  several  plates  of 
cinerary  urns  and  other  acquisitions. 

<fr  &  & 
A  newspaper  correspondent  says  that  a 
peasant  in  Achaia  has  found  an  ancient  gold 
ring  of  the  Mycenaean  period,  with  a  gold 
chain  attached  to  it,  upon  which  fourteen 
figures  of  marvellous  workmanship  are 
engraved.  The  authorities  have  taken  pos- 
session of  the  jewel. 

«$>         $?         «)fc» 
In  June,  a  Carmarthen  resident,  digging  in 
his  back  garden,  turned  up  a  brass  coin  of 
the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius. 


286 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


The  Antiquary  has  nothing  to  do  with 
current  politics,  but  we  may  note  that  one  of 
the  new  peers,  created  on  the  King's  official 
birthday  in  June — Mr.  Alexander  Peckover 
— is  a  descendant  of  a  very  old  English 
family.  Edmund  Peckover,  who  served 
under  Cromwell,  and  whose  property  he  now 
possesses,  was  his  ancestor.  Mr.  Peckover, 
who  is  nearly  an  octogenarian,  is  connected 
with  many  learned  societies,  and  is  himself 
an  antiquary  of  note.  He  has  a  fine  collec- 
tion of  early  Bibles  and  of  MSS.  Recently 
he  resigned  the  position  of  Lord-Lieutenant 
of  Cambridgeshire. 

4r      4p      4? 

The  Czar  has  granted  a  charter  to  the 
Institute  of  Archaeology  and  Archaeography, 
newly  founded  by  private  enterprise  in 
Moscow,  the  first  higher  educational  estab- 
lishment in  Russia  which  enjoys  from  its 
inception  full  rights  as  an  autonomous  body 
ranking  with  the  universities.  It  will  confer, 
says  the  Russian  correspondent  of  the 
Standard,  the  degrees  of  doctor  of  archaeology 
or  archaeography  upon  satisfactory  completion 
of  a  three  years'  course.  Only  graduates  of 
the  universities,  Russian  or  foreign,  will  be 
admitted  as  students  of  the  institute.  The 
director  is  Professor  Uspensky,  the  well- 
known  archaeologist,  while  on  the  staff  of 
professors  may  be  mentioned  Dr.  Fleischer, 
whose  co-operation  with  English  and 
American  archaeologists  in  excavations  in 
Persia  has  brought  him  into  prominent 
notice. 

$  <$>  $ 
A  number  of  unusually  interesting  newspaper 
articles  on  antiquarian  subjects  have  appeared 
lately.  We  note  the  following  :  A  long  com- 
munication of  surpassing  interest  on  "  Further 
Discoveries  in  the  Palace  of  Knossos,"  by 
Dr.  Arthur  Evans,  in  the  Times,  July  15  ; 
"  Bristol  and  Gloucestershire  Brasses,"  in  the 
Bristol  Times  and  Mirror,  July  1  ;  "  Ford 
Castle,  near  Wooler  :  its  History  and  Asso- 
ciations," illustrated,  by  Mr.  R.  J.  Charleton, 
in  the  Newcastle  Weekly  Chronicle,  June  22  ; 
"  Ancient  Britain  :  Some  Excavations  now  in 
Progress  " — an  excellent  summary— in  the 
Manchester  Guardian,  June  25  ;  thefourteenth 
paper  of  a  series  on  "  Monastic  Sussex," 
dealing  with  "  Robertsbridge,"  in  the  Sussex 
Daily  News,  June  20  and  27  ;  "  The  Mallocks 


of  Cockington,"  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Davy,  in  the 
Ton/nay  Times,  June  21  ;  a  finely  illustrated 
article  on  "The  Priory  of  Binham,"  Norfolk, 
in  Country  Life,  June  29  ;  and  two  parts 
of  "  An  Antiquarian  Tour,"  treating  of 
"  Lincoln  and  its  Cathedral,"  and  "  In  the 
Fenlands,"  in  the  Yorkshire  Daily  Observer, 
July  10  and  1 1. 

«$,  cj.  «$, 
We  fear  that  there  is  now  no  hope  of  saving 
Crosby  Hall.  On  July  1 1  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Council  at  the  Guildhall  adopted  the 
report  of  the  City  Lands  and  Library  Joint 
Committee  to  the  effect  that  it  was  impossible 
to  preserve  the  Hall.  In  submitting  the 
committee's  report,  Mr.  J.  W.  Domoney,  the 
chairman,  said  :  "  We  see  no  possibility  of 
preserving  Crosby  Hall  on  its  present  site. 
And  as  regards  the  removal  and  re-erection 
of  the  fabric  in  another  place,  we  are  of 
opinion  that  an  operation  so  costly  and  diffi- 
cult would  not  be  justified,  seeing  that  the 
historical  associations  which  attach  to  the 
building  are  in  a  great  measure  inseparable 
from  the  site  itself,  and  could  not  be  expected 
to  cling  to  the  building,  however  carefuliy 
re-erected  elsewhere." 

A  letter  was  read  from  the  Chartered  Bank 
of  India  stating  that,  as  all  efforts  to  secure 
another  site  had  proved  unsuccessful,  they 
were  compelled  to  proceed  with  their  inten- 
tion of  erecting  new  premises  on  the  only  site 
at  their  disposal.  Mr.  Ellis,  a  member  of  a 
deputation  that  had  waited  upon  the  bank, 
said  that  Sir  Montagu  Turner  had  told  them 
it  was  not  a  matter  of  money,  as  the  bank 
had  been  offered  a  profit  of  from  ,£10,000  to 
^20,000  on  their  purchase. 

Crosby  Hall  will  be  closed  on  Wednesday, 
July  31,  and  commercialism  is  triumphant. 

<$>  $  $ 
The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Morning 
Post,  writing  under  date  July  6,  says  :  "There 
is  nothing  fresh  to  report  at  present  from  the 
Palatine  Necropolis,  where  the  work  of 
digging  and  propping  up  the  stones  which 
seemed  likely  to  fall  has  been  going  on 
steadily.  The  various  objects  found  have 
now  been  classified  and  arranged  in  order  in 
a  room  of  the  Villa  Mills,  and  are  no  longer 
lying  scattered  in  heaps  on  the  floor  of  the 
former  refectory.  I  hear  from  Palermo  that 
Mr.  Joseph  Whitaker  has  had  a  successful 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


2  87 


season's  work  at  the  excavations,  which  he  is 
conducting  in  the  old  Phoenician  settlement 
on  the  island  of  Motye,  off  Marsala.  Two 
ancient  cemeteries,  of  different  periods,  have 
been  discovered,  one  on  top  of  the  other. 
The  work  will  be  resumed  in  the  autumn, 
after  Mr.  Whitaker's  return  from  England." 

♦  ♦  # 
The  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Ancient 
Buildings  have  issued  the  report  of  a  special 
committee  appointed  to  consider  the  new 
work  (chiefly  canopies  to  the  statues)  on  the 
west  front  of  Exeter  Cathedral.  The  report 
is  an  absolute  and  emphatic  condemnation, 
as  the  following  extracts  will  show  : 

"Visiting  Exeter  Cathedral  on  June  19, 
1907,  we  found  no  work  in  progress  upon 
the  west  front,  but  we  readily  distinguished 
the  additions  of  new  stonework  made  lately, 
since  they  are  executed  in  a  coarse  yellow 
stone.  .  .  .  We  could  discover  no  reason 
for  these  renewals  on  the  ground  of  their 
being  necessary  for  the  stability  of  the  fabric. 
As  to  the  explanation  that  these  renewals  are 
records  of  the  ancient  works,  and  desirable 
on  that  account,  we  cannot  see  that  they 
constitute  any  such  record.  The  ancient 
canopies  were  of  the  finest  white  stone, 
admirably  sculptured,  and  with  expressions 
of  delicacy  and  finish  that  claim  for  the 
work  the  highest  place  in  mediaeval  mason- 
craft.  But  the  renewals  are  carved  in  a 
coarse  stone,  mechanically  executed,  and  with 
detail  ill  conceived  and  coarsely  rendered. 

"On  the  other  hand  .  .  .  the  sculpture 
has  been  left  in  a  deplorable  condition ;  the 
statues  are  fastened  up  with  bits  of  bent 
copper  wire,  and  the  whole  front  is  thickly 
encrusted  with  dirt  that  hangs  in  flakes  and 
festoons  upon  it.  In  the  first  place,  it  ought 
to  be  washed.  .  .  .  There  remain  in  the 
cloister  many  pieces  of  the  ancient  work  that 
has  been  cut  away  for  the  new  stone.  We 
find  that  most  of  these  pieces  are  sound  at 
the  core,  and,  indeed,  little  decayed  on  the 
surface  ;  they  seem  to  have  been  wantonly 
sawn  off.  The  ancient  sculpture  is  still 
shown  by  them  much  more  nearly  than  by 
the  clumsy  copies  that  have  been  substituted. 
These  latter,  therefore,  should  be  removed 
out  of  the  front,  and  the  old  pieces  returned 
to  it — a  work  perfectly  easy  in  competent 
hands.  .  .  . 


"We  condemn  these  additions  to  the 
sculpture  screen  as  incompetent  work,  carried 
out  under  incompetent  advice.  .  .  .  Bit  by 
bit  the  ancient  art  of  this  famous  English 
cathedral  church  is  being  obliterated." 

The  report  is  signed  by  W.  B.  Richmond, 
R.A.,  F.S.  A.,  Frederick  Duleep  Singh,  F.S.A  , 
Philip  Norman,  F.S.A.,  W.  H.  St.  John 
Hope,  M.A.,  Edward  S.  Prior,  F.S.A.,  M.A., 
F.R.I.B.A.,  Detmar  Blow,  F.R.I.B.A.,  and 
William  Weir. 

«$»  «$»  4? 

A  Central  News  telegram  from  Athens,  dated 
July  11,  says:  "Another  interesting  dis- 
covery has  been  made  by  the  archaeologists 
who  are  excavating  what  is  believed  to  be 
the  site  of  the  palace  of  King  Nestor,  near 
Pylos.  A  number  of  prehistoric  jars  have 
been  found  containing  figs  and  grains  of 
wheat.  The  contents  of  the  jars  were  almost 
petrified,  but  could  be  easily  identified.  The 
archaeologists  estimate  that  the  figs  and  wheat 
have  been  in  the  jars  for  5,000  years.  The 
excavations  are  being  carried  out  by  the 
German  Institute  of  Athens." 

&      &      4p 

On  July  8  a  gardener,  levelling  some  ground 
at  a  villa  midway  between  Bangor  and  Don- 
aghadee,  County  Down,  struck  his  spade 
against  what  he  at  first  imagined  to  be  a 
loose  flagstone.  On  raising  the  stone,  he 
found  it  had  been  placed  on  four  others, 
between  which  he  discovered  three  clay  urns 
containing  human  bones.  Only  one  of  these 
vessels,  however,  was  intact. 

$?  «$?  & 
The  Constantinople  correspondent  of  the 
Tribune,  under  date  July  11,  wrote:  "Sir 
William  and  Lady  Ramsay  returned  yester- 
day from  a  successful  archaeological  expedi- 
tion in  the  neighbourhood  of  Caraman,  to 
the  north  of  the  Taurus  range.  Accom- 
panied by  Miss  Lothian  Bell,  they  took 
photographs  and  drew  plans  of  sixty  ruined 
churches  illustrating  the  development  of 
Byzantine  architecture  from  the  fifth  to  the 
eleventh  century.  Discovery  was  also  made 
of  a  series  of  Hittite  monuments  in  Madens- 
heir,  the  ancient  Bareta." 

Professor  Sir  William  Ramsay,  of  Aberdeen 
University,  went  out  on  his  present  expedi- 
tion in  February  last,  Lord  Strathcona,  the 
Chancellor    of    the    Aberdeen    University, 


288      THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS: 


having  generously  made  a  grant  for  that 
purpose  of  ^500  a  year  for  five  years.  The 
excavation  of  the  monuments  of  the  Hittites 
was  the  special  object  of  the  expedition,  and 
it  would  seem  from  the  above  telegram  that 
the  results  have  been  satisfactory. 


Cbc  Tdaytux  Capestrp  in  tbe 

IJmn&s  of  "  Ecstorers,"  anD 

IDoto  it  fja.s  jTarcti, 

By  Charles  Dawson,  F.S.A. 
{Concluded from  p.  258.) 

HAT  we  may  term  the  second  grand 
restoration  of  the  tapestry  took 
place  about  the  year  1842,  when 
it  at  last  reached  a  settled  place 
of  residence  at  the  town-library  at  Bayeux. 
M.  E.  Lambert  became  the  custodian,  and 
he  undertook  the  task  of  refining  it. 

Again  (as  is  all  too  usual  in  "  refining  "  in 
general),  the  opportunity  was  once  more 
used  to  effect  further  restorations  ;  for,  as 
an  account  states,  "  guided  by  the  holes 
of  the  needles,  by  fragments  of  worsted 
adhering  to  the  canvas,  and  by  drawings 
executed  at  earlier  dates,  he  successfully 
restored  certain  portions  which  had  suffered 
from  age  or  from  friction."  We  have 
examined  some  of  this  "  successfulness," 
which  seems  to  have  had  the  more  or  less 
happy  design  of  setting  at  rest  various  con- 
troversies that  had  arisen  regarding  the 
story  of  the  tapestry.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  shorter  figure  of  those  two  chieftains 
to  whom  the  Conqueror  is  speaking  in  the 
first  compartment.  Stothard  depicts  him 
without  a  moustache  (see  Fig.  3^),  as  do 
all  the  previous  draughtsmen.  Someone 
based  thereon  an  argument  that  this  could 
not  be  Harold,  as  he  had  a  moustache, 
which  inconvenient  remark  somewhat  spoiled 
somebody's  pet  theory  as  to  the  story  of  the 
tapestry.  However,  the  "restorer"  has 
obligingly  accommodated  him  with  one,  to 
the  satisfaction  of  everybody  since  then  (see 
Fig-  34 


One  might  have  hoped  that  one  portion 
of  the  tapestry  perhaps  more  sacred  than 
any  other  might  have  escaped  the  "restorer" 
—  namely,  the  figure  which  is  seen  stand- 
ing behind  "the  Dragon  Standard"  in  the 
act  of  clutching  a  shaft  at  or  near  its  right 
eye  (Fig.  5  a,  />,  c).  This  is  regarded  with 
great  probability  as  the  figure  of  Harold. 
The  first  restorers  had  already  added  much 
to  the  figure,  for  in  Benoit's  time  one  of 
its  legs,  the  right  hand  grasping  the  shaft, 
the  spear,  chain-mail,  the  lower  part  of  the 
face,  and  other  details  were  missing,  so  that 
indeed  Father  Montfaucon  did  not  even 
recognize  it  as  the  figure  of  Harold.  The 
shaft  was  first  figured  by  Benoit  as  merely 
a  slanting  line,  without  any  further  indication 
as  to  its  being  an  arrow  (Fig.  $a).  Stothard 
shows  it,  by  means  of  a  suggested  restoration, 
as  a  dotted  line  with  the  addition  of  the 
feathers  (Fig.  5/;) ;  but  the  later  restorer  sets 
all  doubts  at  rest  by  boldly  stitching  it  in 
accordingly  (Fig.  5^). 

There  are,  however,  other  matters  of 
restoration  in  the  tapestry  to  be  pointed 
out,  which  go  to  the  root  of  the  question 
of  the  origin  of  the  tapestry.  It  has  often 
been  contended  that  .Mathilda  or  any  other 
ladies  of  quality  would  not  have  represented 
the  nude  figures  which  occasionally  occur  in 
the  margin  of  the  tapestry,  and  for  the  same 
reason  it  is  improbable  that  such  work  would 
have  been  designed  for  exhibition  in  the 
cathedral.  But  it  is  clear,  on  critical 
examination,  that  certain  details  usually 
omitted  by  artists  in  ideal  representations 
of  the  human  body  have  been  introduced, 
both  as  to  colour  and  outline,  since  the 
time  of  Benoit  and  Stothard ;  in  short,  it 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  some  restorer 
has  added  those  pictorial  details  where  Art 
leaves  off  and  the  Police  come  in  ! 

It  will  be  noticed  upon  careful  examination 
that  some  of  the  later  colours,  especially  the 
blacks,  have  run  into  the  linen,  leaving  a 
sort  of  iron-mould  coloured  stain  which  is 
not  found  in  connexion  with  the  older 
worsted  of  the  original  work. 

In  considering  the  question  of  the  nation- 
ality of  the  work,  much  stress  has  been  laid 
on  the  fact  that  certain  words  in  the  titles  bear 
towards  Anglo-Saxon  origin.  Thus  the  word 
Ceastra  is  one  of  the  words,  the  supporters 


THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS."      289 


of  the  theory  being  ignorant  that  "  Hestenga- 
Ceastra  "  represented  a  geographical  name  of 
the  period.*  Some  will  regret  that  the 
missing  "  H "  to  the  word  "  Arold "  near 
the  end  of  the  tapestry  has  been  supplied 
since  the  time  of  Stothard,  thus  destroying 
a  certain  French  phonetic  aspect  of  the  word, 
and  also  that  the  word  "Adwardus"  (over 
the  Confessor's  death-scene)  has  been  altered 
to  Eadwardus  since  Benoit's  time ;  but  the 
writer  thinks  that  the  theory  of  the  work 
having  been  executed  in  England  and  not 
at  Bayeux  is  altogether  uncalled  for,  especially 
as  Bayeux  was  the  site  of  an  early  Saxon 
settlement,  and  its  inhabitants  spoke  a 
Teutonic  dialect  so  late  as  the  tenth  century, 


fled  (Fig.  6c).  The  rest  appeared  in  Father 
Montfaucon's  time  as  "  a  confused  series  of 
strokes,  which  appeared  to  depict  the  flight 
of  certain  figures  on  foot  pursued  by  horse- 
men," one  of  them  being,  according  to 
Benoit's  restoration,  a  mounted  archer ! 
(Fig.  6a).  Stothard  suggested  a  restoration 
of  the  flight  [including  another  horseman 
(Fig.  6b)\  by  means  of  dotted  lines  upon 
his  plate,  and  this  apparently  the  later  restorer 
of  the  tapestry  endeavoured  to  copy ;  but  he 
seems  to  have  misunderstood  him  in  part. 
The  last  figure,  which  Stothard  depicts  as  a 
man  clutching  at  boughs  as  if  struggling  to 
escape  through  a  forest,  another  draughts- 
man (L.  d'Anisy)  has  "  restored "  into  yet 


fig.  5  (a). — benoit's  restora- 
tions (1730). 


fig.  5  (/')• — benoit's  restora- 
tions INCORPORATED  IN 
TAPESTRY,  AND  FURTHER 
ONES  MADE  BY  STOTHARD 
(l8l8). 


FIG.  5  (c). — BENOIT'S  AND 
STOTHARD'S  RESTORA- 
TIONS BOTH  INCORPO- 
RATED IN  TAPESTRY 
(1842). 


the  Norse  element  having  been  subsequently 
grafted  upon  that  stock.  We  cannot  here 
notice  the  very  large  number  of  minor 
restorations.  The  end  of  the  tapestry-roll 
is  where  the  restoration  has  been  effected 
wholesale  since  Stothard's  drawing  (Fig.  6 
a,  b,  c).  Benoit  does  not  show,  and  Father 
Montfaucon  does  not  mention,  any  title 
remaining  after  the  mutilated  words  Inter- 
feclus  est  (relating  to  the  death  of  Harold), 
but  someone  about  their  time  seems  to 
have  puzzled  out  a  further  title  in  bad  Latin 
to  the  effect  that  the  English  turned  and 

*  The  use  of  the  word  "at,"  instead  of  "ad," 
has  been  remarked  upon,  but  according  to  Benoit's 
plate  this  is  probably  again  due  to  an  incorrect 
"  restoration." 

VOL.  III. 


another  man  on  a  horse.  The  later  restorer 
of  the  tapestry  itself  here  depicts  a  grotesque 
Renaissance  sort  of  a  figure  such  as  one  sees 
in  the  borders  of  the  work,  which,  if  so  drawn 
in  the  original,  would  lead  one  to  suppose 
that  the  design  had  come  to  a  close  with 
the  scene  of  the  English  flight.  This  assumed 
termination  of  the  design,  however,  has 
remained  in  considerable  doubt  both  be- 
fore and  since  the  knowledge  of  another 
and  contemporary  "  tapestry  "  has  been 
acquired. 

The  nature  and  extent  of  the  restorations 
since  Benoit's  and  Stothard's  time  will  be 
gathered  in  part  from  the  accompanying 
plates. 

Before  concluding,  the  writer  would  like 

2  o 


290      THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS." 


to  make  a  few  remarks  respecting  the  origin 
of  the  tapestry.  When  we  come  to  view 
it  alongside  of  the  description  of  the 
other  contemporary  tapestry  {velum)  before- 
mentioned,  of  which  we  have  a  somewhat 


of  the  Conqueror,  and  here  in  the  ducal 
household  the  story  of  Harold's  perjury  and 
downfall  no  doubt  bore  a  special  significance. 
Let  the  reader  compare  the  following  de- 
scriptive  lines   with   the    existing    tapestry ; 


a^MIMI 


1/    i:      /'" 


FIG.  6  (a). — (THE~FLIGHT   OF   THE   ANGLO-SAXONS.)      BENC 
END   OK   THE   TAPESTRY   (1730). 


:ORAT!ON    OK    THE 


fulsome  account  written  by  Baudri  (or 
Baldric)  Abbot  of  Bourgueil  (afterwards 
Archbishop  of  Dol),  it  seems  probable  that 
the  Bayeux  tapestry  was  neither  the  gift  nor 
the  work  of  Mathilda.     Baudri  describes  this 


the  original  in  Latin  was  written  between  the 
years  1079  and  1107. 

"  A  wonderful  tapestry  goes  around  the 
lady's  bed,  which  joins  three  things  in 
material  and  novel  skill.     For  the  hand  of 


FIG.  6(6). — (FLIGHT  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS),  STOTHARD  (l8l8).  SHOWING  THE  STATE 
OF  THE  TAPESTRY  IN  HIS  TIME  WITH  ADDITION  OF  A  HORSE  AND  RIDER,  HIS 
OTHER  RESTORATIONS  BEING  OMITTED.  NOTE  THE  OVERLAPPING  LEG  OF  THE 
SECOND  KNIGHT. 


other  tapestry  dealing  with  the  same  subject, 
and  bearing  titles  similar  to  that  of  the  tapestry 
of  Bayeux,  but  worked  with  much  more 
magnificent  materials,  stating  that  it  hung  in 
an  alcove  around  the  bed  of  Adela,  daughter 


the  craftsman  hath  done  the  work  so  finely 
that  you  would  scarcely  believe  that  to  exist, 
which  nevertheless  you  know  does  exist. 
Threads  of  gold  come  first,  silver  threads 
come  next,  the  third   set  of  threads  were 


THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS."      291 


always  of  silk.  Skilful  care  had  made  the 
threads  of  gold  and  silver  so  fine  that 
I  believe  that  nothing  could  have  been 
thinner.  The  web  was  as  fine  as  that  which 
the  spider  weaves,  and  so  subtle  that  nothing 
could  be  more  so.  ...  Jewels  with  red 
marking  were  shining  amidst  the  work  and 
pearls  of  no  small  price.  In  fine,  so  great 
was  the  glitter  and  beauty  of  the  tapestry 
{velum)  that  you  might  say  it  surpassed  the 
rays  of  Phoebus.  Moreover,  by  reading  the 
inscriptions  you  might  recognize  upon  the 
tapestry  histories  true  and  novel.  That 
tapestry  (velum),  if  tapestry  indeed  it  were, 
bears  upon  it  the  ships  and  the  chiefs  and 
the  names  of  their  chiefs." 

The  tapestry  which  has  descended  to   us 


examples  in  illustration,  taking  into  con- 
sideration that,  in  one  case,  the  figure  is 
drawn  by  the  goose-quill  upon  vellum  and  in 
the  other  laboriously  delineated  in  worsted 
upon  coarse  linen,  and  subsequently  distorted 
by  shrinkage  of  the  materials.  In  the  first 
instance,  take  a  figure  from  the  Bayeux 
tapestry  :  we  will  select  one  that  has  aroused 
some  interest  by  the  doubtful  nature  of  the 
object  which  he  is  carrying,  namely,  the 
figure  which  we  take  to  represent  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  in  the  forage-scene  at  Hastings  im- 
mediately following  the  landing  of  William 
(Fig.  7a) :  the  figure  carrying  a  round  object 
on  his  shoulder  through  which  his  face 
is  seen  (Fig.  7a).  Some  have  suggested 
that   the    object   was    a    glass    dish    or    a 


FIG.  6(c). — (FLIGHT  OF  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS.)      GENERAL  RESTORATION  INCORPORATING  THOSE 
OF  BENOIT  AND  STOTHARD,  WITH  ALTERATIONS  AND  ADDITION  OF  TITLE,  ETC.  (1842).         L, 


probably  owes  its  preservation  to  the  small 
value  of  its  materials,  while  its  bourgeois 
origin  is  plainly  indicated  by  some  of  its 
titles,  though  its  value  as  an  authority  is 
probably  even  greater  than  its  more  splendid 
contemporary  in  the  chamber  of  Adela. 

The  fact  that  the  design  of  the  latter  was 
continued  by  the  representation  of  further 
scenes  may  be  an  indication  that  the  more 
humble  but  existing  velum  is  incomplete 
in  the  form  in  which  it  is  now  known 
to  us. 

If  we  attempt  to  trace  the  origin  of  the 
models  which  influenced  the  design  of  the 
figures  in  the  tapestry  we  may  perhaps  look 
to  the  manuscripts  current  at  the  time.  We 
must  not  carry  this  representation  too  far  in 
a  preliminary  notice ;  but  we  will  select  two 


round  loaf,  others  suggest  a  coil  ot  rope 
with  which  he  is  about  to  lassoe  the  un- 
fortunate ox  in  the  background.  Referring 
to  a  Latin  and  Anglo-Saxon  MS.  (Cotton, 
Cleopatra,  c.  viii.,  folios  9  and  27),  in  the 
British  Museum,  we  see  an  almost  identical 
figure  (reversed)  carrying  a  similar  object 
(Fig.  7^),  in  the  same  manner,  and  from  the 
text  we  learn  that  the  object  raised  to  his 
shoulder  is  a  burden,  the  whole  figure  being 
a  conventional  representation  of  Labour. 
In  the  tapestry  the  figures  may  represent  the 
fact  that  the  Normans  at  the  point  of  the 
lance  had  made  these  complacent  denizens 
of  Hastings  "  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water."  The  burden  has  been  represented 
as  transparent,  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
the  face  of  the  figure  behind  it. 

202 


292      THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  "RESTORERS." 


In  the  same  little  manuscript  one  may 
draw  attention  to  the  figure  in  all  details 
resembling  the  much-disputed  figure  of 
.Klfgyva  and  her  interview  with  "a  certain 
clerk."  In  the  above-mentioned  manuscript 
the  figure  (reversed)  represents  Virtue  (Fig. 
7^),  but  in  the  tapestry  probably  the  opposite 
sense  is  represented  (Fig.  jd).  The  subject 
may  be  gathered  from  the  abrupt  ending  of 
the  title,  inferring,  as  some  believe,  that  the 
rest  of  the  story  was  improper,  and  the 
attitude  of  the  restored  nude  figure  in  the 
margin,  striking  an  attitude  in  mock  imitation 
of  that  of  the  priest's,  lends  colour  to  the 
suggestion  that  the  representation  relates  to 
some  old  scandal  current  at  the  time.  Here 
also  some  would-be  restorer  of  the  tapestry 


§>ome  Eopaltet  LaDics  of  tbe 
Caroline  %e. 

By  W.  G.  Blaikie  Murdoch. 


I. 

F  the  many  passions  which  Sir 
Walter  Scott  handles,  there  are 
few  which  he  treats  with  greater 
skill  than  loyalty.  In  the 
characters  of  Lady  Peveril,  Margaret  Bellen- 
den,  and  Alice  Lee,  he  depicts  that  ardent 
attachment  to  the  Crown  which  marked  so 
many  ladies  of  the  Caroline  Age ;  and  these 
three  heroines  are  among  his  happiest 
creations,  for  they  are  pages  torn  from  the 


FIG.  7  (a). — BAYEUX 
TAPESTRY. 


FIG.  7  (b).— COTTON 
MSS. 


has  pencilled  on  to  the  original  linen  the 
features  of  the  face  of  the  nude  figure  in  the 
border,  as  if  intending  to  "  restore  "  its  pose 
to  full-face  instead  of  a  side-face  aspect  like 
that  of  the  priest. 

But  we  must  now  close  this  discourse  for 
the  present,  while  we  hope  that  in  the  main 
sufficient  has  been  said  to  point  out  to  the 
student  the  necessity  of  caution  in  construing 
the  tale  of  the  tapestry,  and  to  impress  its 
future  reliners  with  the  heinousness  of  inter- 
fering with  one  of  our  most  valuable  con- 
temporary records  of  the  English  and 
Norman  history. 


FIG.  7  (c). — COTTON 
MSS. 


FIG.  7  ((f). — BAYEUX 
TAPESTRY. 


book  of  life  :  history  proves  that  the  devoted 
loyalty  ascribed  to  them  is  perfectly  realistic. 
Throughout  the  reigns  of  Charles  I.  and 
Charles  II.  many  ladies  did  service  for 
Church  and  King.  Some  played  a  stirring 
part  in  the  Civil  War ;  some  glorified  royalty 
with  their  pens  ;  others,  having  little  to  do 
with  matters  historical,  have  yet  left  on 
record  their  devotion  to  the  Crown  and  its 
cause.  In  this  last  category  must  be  in- 
cluded the  Duchess  of  Newcastle,  the 
heroine  of  Charles  Lamb,  who  talks  of  her 
as  "  the  thrice  noble,  chaste,  and  virtuous ; 
but,  again,  somewhat  fantastical,  and  original- 
brain'd,  generous  Margaret  Newcastle." 
This  is  not  the  place  to  detail  the  qualities 
which  mark  the  writings  of  the  Duchess,  but, 


SOME  ROYALIST  LADIES  OF  THE  CAROLINE  AGE. 


293 


in  treating  of  her  as  a  Royalist  lady,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  call  attention  to  one  merit  which 
illumes  her  work — that  of  sincerity.  Much 
of  what  she  wrote  consists  in  eulogies  of  her 
husband.  For  nothing  does  she  praise  him 
so  much  as  for  devotion  to  the  Crown,  and 
nowhere  is  she  more  obviously  sincere  than 
in  these  praises. 

The  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle*  written 
by  the  "excellent  Princess,  Margaret, 
Duchess  of  Newcastle,  his  wife,"  is  inscribed 
to  "  His  most  sacred  Majesty  Charles  II." 
In  her  dedication  the  authoress  notes,  as 
something  of  the  utmost  importance,  the 
loyalty  of  her  husband.  "  Give  me,  there- 
fore, leave  to  relate  here,"  she  says,  "  that  I 
have  heard  him  (Newcastle)  often  say,  He 
loves  Your  Royal  Person  so  dearly  that  he 
would  most  willingly,  upon  all  occasions, 
sacrifice  his  Life  and  Posterity  for  Your 
Majesty."  This  is  her  tone  throughout.  She 
speaks  with  pride  of  the  fact  that  "  my  Noble 
and  Loyal  Lord  "  would  "  have  defended  (if 
humane  power  could  have  done  it)  his  most 
gracious  Soveraign  from  the  fury  of  his 
Rebellious  Subjects."  And  she  mentions 
with  particular  pleasure  that  her  husband,  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  "thought  it 
his  duty  rather  to  hazard  all,  then  (sic)  to 
neglect  the  Commands  of  His  Soveraign ; 
and  resolved  to  shew  his  Fidelity,  by  nobly 
setting  all  at  stake.  .  .  ."  The  Duchess 
refers  to  Charles  I.  as  "  of  blessed  memory," 
and  speaks  of  "  that  Rebellious  and  un- 
happy Parliament,  which  was  the  cause  of  all 
the  ruins  and  misfortunes  that  afterwards 
befell  this  Kingdom.  .  .  ."  That  she  re- 
garded the  King  as  sacred,  and  looked  on 
his  enemies  as  sacrilegious  traitors,  is  proven 
by  various  passages  in  her  autobiography. 
Writing  of  the  hardships  which  her  mother 
endured,  "  by  reason  she  and  her  children 
were  loyal  to  the  King,"  she  declares  that 
the  Parliamentarians  "  would  have  pulled 
God  out  of  Heaven,  had  they  had  power,  as 
they  did  Royalty  out  of  his  throne." 

Anne,  Lady  Fanshawe,  like  Margaret 
Newcastle,  employed  her  pen  in  eulogizing 
her  husband ;  and,  in  so  doing,  threw  much 
light  on  her  own  devotion  to  the  royal  cause. 

*  First  published  in  1667.  The  best  modern 
edition  is  that  lately  edited  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Firth  for 
Messrs.  Routledge's  London  Library. 


In  her  Memoirs  of  her  husband,*  Sir 
Richard  Fanshawe,  which  are  addressed  to 
her  children,  she  mentions  as  Sir  Richard's 
greatest  glory  that  "  He  was  ever  much 
esteemed  by  his  two  masters,  Charles  I.  and 
Charles  II.,  both  for  great  parts  and 
honesty,  as  for  his  conversation,  in  which 
they  took  great  delight,  he  being  so  free 
from  passion,  that  made  him  beloved  by  all 
that  knew  him  ;  nor  did  I  ever  see  him 
moved  but  with  his  master's  concerns,  in 
which  he  would  hotly  pursue  his  interest 
through  the  greatest  difficulties." 

Lady  Fanshawe's  hatred  of  the  Parlia- 
mentarians is  intense,  and  she  speaks  of 
them  as  a  "cursed  crew."  Talking  of  the 
King's  misfortunes  and  execution,  she  says 
that  Charles  "  was  tormented,  and  afterwards 
shamefully  murdered."  And,  describing  her 
last  meeting  with  the  King,  she  writes  what 
is  one  of  the  most  touching  things  extant 
concerning  the  closing  scene  in  the  royal 
martyr's  tragedy  :  "  The  last  time  I  ever  saw 
him,  when  I  took  my  leave,  I  could  not 
refrain  weeping  :  when  he  had  saluted  me,  I 
prayed  to  God  to  preserve  his  Majesty  with 
long  life  and  happy  years ;  he  stroked  me 
on  the  cheek,  and  said,  '  Child,  if  God 
pleaseth,  it  shall  be  so,  but  both  you  and  I 
must  submit  to  God's  will,  and  you  know  in 
what  hands  I  am';  then,  turning  to  your 
father,  he  said,  '  Be  sure,  Dick,  to  tell  my 
son  all  that  I  have  said,  and  deliver  those 
letters  to  my  wife ;  pray  God  bless  her  !  I 
hope  I  shall  do  well ';  and,  taking  him  in 
his  arms,  said,  '  Thou  hast  ever  been  an 
honest  man,  and  I  hope  God  will  bless  thee, 
and  make  thee  a  happy  servant  to  my  son, 
whom  I  have  charged  in  my  letter  to  con- 
tinue his  love  and  trust  to  you ';  adding,  '  I 
do  promise  you  that  if  ever  I  am  restored  to 
my  dignity  I  will  bountifully  reward  you  both 
for  your  service  and  sufferings.'  Thus  did 
we  part  from  that  glorious  sun,  that  within  a 
few  months  after  was  murdered,  to  the  grief 
of  all  Christians  that  were  not  forsaken  by 
God." 

On  the  execution  of  Charles  I.,  Lady  Fan- 
shawe's loyalty  continued  unabated.  In 
1 65 1  she  stayed  in  London  for  seven 
months,  and  the  state  of  jeopardy  in  which 
Charles  II. 's  affairs  then  stood  caused  her 
*  First  published  in  1829. 


294 


SOME  ROYALIST  LADIES  OE  THE  CAROLINE  AGE. 


great  misery.  Indeed,  she  affirms  that  "  in 
that  time  I  did  not  go  abroad  seven  times, 
but  spent  my  time  in  prayer  to  God  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  King.  .  .  ."  When  she 
heard  of  the  Battle  of  Worcester,  and  of 
"the  King  being  missed,"  she  wrote:  "For 
three  days  it  was  inexpressible  what  affliction 
I  was  in."  Her  devotion  to  Charles  II.  was 
only  equalled  by  her  admiration  for  that 
King  ;  and,  writing  in  1660,  she  declares  that 
"  the  glorious  Majesties  of  the  King  and  his 
two  brothers  were  so  beyond  man's  expecta- 
tion and  expression  !"  It  is  obvious  that 
she  regarded  the  Restoration  as  the  work  of 
Heaven,  for,  describing  that  event,  she  says  : 
"  The  sea  was  calm,  the  moon  shone  at  full, 
and  the  sun  suffered  not  a  cloud  to  hinder 
his  (the  King's)  prospect  of  the  best  sight, 
by  whose  light,  and  the  merciful  bounty  of 
God,  he  was  set  safely  on  shore  at  Dover  in 
Kent.  .  .  ." 

Lady  Fanshawe  lived  till  1680,  but  her  life 
after  the  Restoration  was  comparatively  un- 
eventful, and  the  manuscript  of  her  memoirs 
breaks  off  abruptly  in  1670. 

II. 

Writing  to  J.  H.  Reynolds  in  1817,  Keats 
tells  of  the  pleasure  he  has  had  in  reading 
"a  book  of  poetry  by  one  beautiful  Mrs. 
Philips,  a  friend  of  Jeremy  Taylor's,  and 
called  The  Matchless  Orinda."  He  quotes 
ten  verses  by  Mrs.  Philips,  and  adds :  "  In 
other  of  her  poems  there  is  a  most  delicate 
fancy  of  the  Fletcher  kind."*  Orinda  was 
considered  a  great  poetess  by  her  contem- 
poraries, and  her  translation  of  Corneille's 
Horace  was  acted  before  the  King  on 
February  4,  i668.t  She  was  not  only  the 
friend  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  but  of  many  other 
notable  men  of  letters.  Dryden  admired  her 
intensely,!  and  Cowley  wrote  five  stanzas 
"  Upon  Mrs.  Philips  her  Poems."  On  her 
death  her  memory  was  celebrated  in  count- 
less odes,  almost  all  the  Royalist  poets 
writing  in  honour  of  the  poetess. § 

*  Keats's  Works,  ed.  Buxton  Forman,  iv.  81  et  seq. 
(Glasgow,  1901). 

■f  Evelyn's  Diary,  p.  335  (Chandos  Classics). 

\  See  his  "Ode  to  the  Memory  of  Mrs.  Anne 
Killigrew." 

§  The  best  account  of  Orinda's  life  is  that  by 
Mr.  Gosse  in  Seventeenth-Century  Studies.  Many  of 
her  poems  are  included  in  Minor  Poets  of  the  Caroline 
Age,  ed.  Professor  Saintsbury. 


Despite  the  eulogy  which  her  works  won 
from  Keats,  and  the  fame  which  they  enjoyed 
while  their  authoress  was  alive,  the  poems  of 
Orinda  have  been  allowed  to  sink  into  com- 
parative oblivion.  Good  or  bad  as  poetry, 
they  are  of  the  greatest  historical  value  as 
expressing  the  sentiments  of  a  Royalist  lady. 
In  the  folio  edition  of  Katherine  Philips' 
poems,  which  appeared  posthumously  in 
1667,  the  first  piece  is  entitled  "Upon  the 
Double  Murther  of  K.  Charles  I.  :  in 
Answer  to  a  Libellous  Copy  of  Rhymes  by 
Vavasor  Powell."  Powell  was  a  Welsh  Non- 
conformist, and  an  ardent  enemy  of  the 
Church  of  England.  His  published  writings 
do  not  include  the  "  Libellous  Rhymes,"  but 
these  must  have  been  couched  in  bitter 
terms  against  royalty,  for  Orinda  writes  : 

.  .  .  this  is  a  cause 
That  will  excuse  the  breach  of  Nature's  laws. 
Silence  were  now  a  sin  ;  nay,  passion  now 
Wise  men  themselves  for  merit  would  allow  ! 
What  noble  eye  could  see,  and  careless,  pass, 
The  dying  lion  kicked  by  every  ass  ? 
Has  Charles  so  broke  God's  laws  he  must  not  have 
A  quiet  crown,  nor  yet  a  quiet  grave  ? 
Tombs  have  been  sanctuaries,  thieves  lie  there 
Secure  from  all  their  penalty  and  fear. 
Great  Charles  his  double  misery  was  this: 
Unfaithful  friends,  ignoble  enemies. 
Had  any  heathen  been  this  Prince's  foe, 
He  would  have  wept  to  see  him  injured  so. 
***** 

O  to  what  height  of  horror  are  they  come 
Who  dare  pull  down  a  crown,  tear  up  a  tomb. 

Many  of  Orinda's  poems  are  concerned 
with  the  royal  family :  in  one  she  welcomes 
Henrietta  Maria  to  England,  while  in 
another  she  bewails  the  death  of  the  Duke 
of  Gloucester.  Her  devotion  to  the  royal 
martyr  was  not  more  intense  than  her  loyalty 
to  his  son.  In  verses  "  On  the  numerous 
Access  of  the  English  to  wait  upon  the  King 
in  Flanders,"  she  thus  addresses  Charles  II. : 

Hasten,  Great  Prince,  unto  thy  British  Isles, 

Or  all  thy  subjects  will  become  Exiles. 

To  thee  they  flock,  thy  Presence  is  their  home, 

As  Pompey 'scamp,  where  e'er  it  mov'd,  was  Rome. 

They  that  asserted  thy  Just  Cause  go  hence 

To  testify  their  joy  and  reverence  ; 

And  those  that  did  not,  now,  by  wonder  taught, 

Go  to  confess  and  expiate  their  fault. 

To  Orinda,  the  Restoration  was  a  soul- 
stirring  event.  In  a  poem  entitled  "  On  the 
Fair    Weather  just    at    the   Coronation,    it 


SOME  ROYALIST  LADIES  OF  THE  CAROLINE  AGE. 


295 


having  rained  immediately  before  and  after," 
the  poetess  says  of  the  sun  : 

He  therefore  check'd  th'  invading  rains  we  fear'd, 
And  in  a  bright  Parenthesis  appear'd. 
So  that  we  knew  not  which  look'd  most  content, 
The  King,  the  people,  or  the  firmament. 

And  in  "  Arion  on  a  Dolphin,  to  his 
Majesty  at  his  passage  into  England,"  she 
ardently  eulogizes  her  Sovereign  : 

Whom  does  this  stately  navy  bring  ? 
O  !  'tis  Great  Britain's  glorious  King. 
Convey  him  then,  ye  Winds  and  Seas, 
Swift  as  Desire  and  Calm  as  Peace. 

She  declares  that 

A  greater  now  than  Caesar's  here  ; 
Whose  veins  a  richer  purple  boast 
Than  ever  hero's  yet  engrost ; 
Sprung  from  a  father  so  august 
lie  triumphs  in  his  very  dust. 

It  is  obvious  that  she  believes  in  the 
Divine  right  of  the  Stuarts,  for,  talking  of 
the  dangers  which  have  menaced  Charles 
during  his  exile,  she  says  : 

Then  Heaven,  his  secret  potent  friend, 
Did  him  from  drugs  and  stabs  defend. 

She  declares  that  monarchs  of  other 
countries  will  "envy  and  adore"  Great 
Britain  as  ruled  by  her  restored  King,  and 
assures  her  Sovereign  that 

England  shall  (rul'd  and  restor'd  by  You) 
The  suppliant  world  protect,  or  else  subdue. 

She  touches  on  the  urbanity  and  personal 
charm  of  Charles,  whom  she  conjures  to  be 
merciful  to  his  enemies  : 

He  thinks  no  Slaughter-trophies  good, 
Nor  laurel's  dipt  in  subjects'  blood  ; 
But  with  a  sweet  resistless  art 
Disarms  the  hand,  and  wins  the  heart  ; 
And  like  a  God  doth  rescue  those 
Who  did  themselves  and  him  oppose. 
So,  wondrous  Prince,  adorn  that  Throne 
Which  birth  and  merit  make  your  own  ; 
And  in  your  mercy  brighter  shine 
Than  in  the  glories  of  your  line. 

Whatever  were  the  faults  of  Charles  II.,  it 
is  certain  that  he  did  not  need  Orinda's 
incentive  to  mercy,  a  fact  clearly  proven  by 
his  conduct  concerning  the  Act  of  In- 
demnity. In  July,  1660,  the  King  went 
himself  to  the  House  of  Lords  and  said  : 
"I  earnestly  desire  you  to  depart  from  all 


particular  animosities  and  revenge,  or 
memory  of  past  provocation,  and  to  pass 
this  Act  without  other  exceptions  than  those 
who  were  immediately  guilty  of  the  murder 
of  my  father."  ■■'•  One  day,  when  Charles  was 
in  Council,  a  question  arose  as  to  whether 
more  prisoners  should  be  brought  to  trial  for 
offences  under  Cromwell.  On  a  slip  of  paper, 
which  he  passed  to  Clarendon,  the  King 
wrote  :  "I  must  confess  that  I  am  weary  of 
hanging,  except  on  new  offences ;  let  it 
sleep."}  Bishop  Burnet  notes  that  Charles 
did  "  positively  insist "  on  adhering  to  the 
Act  of  Indemnity.  :£  Professor  Masson  has 
pointed  out  that,  if  the  King  had  raised  a 
finger  against  Milton,  the  poet  must  have 
gone  to  the  scaffold  ;  and  Mr.  Osmund  Airy 
declares  that  "  it  is  not  easy  to  overestimate 
the  value  of  the  firmness  with  which  Charles 
and  Clarendon  stood  in  the  path  of  those 
who  sought  for  blood."  §  Orinda's  eulogies 
of  her  King  are  extravagant,  and  her  pro- 
phecies concerning  his  rule  proved  false  ;  so 
it  is  pleasing  to  think  that  she  was  right  in 
one  respect,  that  one  of  the  compliments 
she  paid  her  Sovereign  was  not  misplaced. 
(To  be  concluded^) 


"  €bz  Little  <&mn  §>&op  in 
Cornftili." 


HANGE  succeeds  change  in  the 
appearance  of  London  streets  so 
rapidly  that  it  is  refreshing  to  find 
here  and  there  some  little  relic  of 
an  earlier  day  which  not  only  survives,  but 
is  valued  and  preserved  with  care  and  regard. 
One  such  oasis  in  the  desert  of  the  modern 
stone  and  brick  of  the  City  is  the  house 
which  stands  at  No.  15,  Cornhill,  and  is 
often  referred  to  by  the  title  at  the  head 
of  this  paper,  but  which  is  popularly  and 
briefly   known   as    "  Birch's."      The    house 

*  England  under  Charles  II,  ed.  W.  F.  Taylor, 

p.  25  (English  History  from  Contemporary  Writers). 

f  Charles  II,  by  O.  Airy,  p.  116  (Goupil  edition). 

%  History  of  His   Own    Time,   p.    112   (London, 

1875)- 
§  Charles  II,  ut  supra,  p.  116. 


2o/> 


"7//E  LITTLE  GREEN  SHOP  IN  CORNHILL." 


which  is  the  "  home  of  the  turtle,"  the  head- 
quarters of  Messrs.  Ring  and  Brymer's 
famous  catering  business,  is  a  narrow  five- 
storied  building.  The  low-ceilinged  con- 
fectioner's shop  and  buffet  on  the  ground- 
floor,  with  the  "  soup-rooms  "  on  the  upper 
floors,  have  been  favourite  haunts  for  gene- 
rations of  City  men. 


companying  illustration  from  a  photograph 
taken  after  the  burning-off  process  had  been 
completed  gives  some  idea  of  the  result. 

The  date  when  this  picturesque  old  shop 
was  built  is  uncertain ;  but  the  carving 
suggests  the  Adam  period — the  latter  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  has  been 
asserted  that  this  identical  carved  front  was 


"BIRCH'S,"    15,    CORNIIILL. 


A  month  or  two  ago  the  quaint  old  shop- 
front  underwent  a  process  of  cleaning  and 
redecoration.  Coat  after  coat  of  the  paint 
was  scraped  and  burnt  off,  with  the  result 
that  the  original  carving  was  revealed  in  a 
beauty  which  had  too  long  been  obscured. 
Something  like  200  successive  coats  of  paint 
are  said  to  have  been  removed.     The  ac- 


in  existence  a  century  earlier,  but  this  seems 
to  us  improbable ;  the  Adam  date  is  more 
likely.  Whatever  the  date  of  the  carved 
front  may  be,  the  shop  and  its  business  are 
considerably  older.  The  firm's  books  go 
back  to  1730,  and  others  of  earlier  date  have 
been  destroyed.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
business  was  established   before  the  Great 


THE  LITTLE  GREEN  SHOP  IN  CORNHILL." 


297 


Fire  of  1666,   and   also   that   it   began   in 
George  I.'s  time. 

The  authentic  history  of  the  shop,  how- 
ever, dates  from  the  days  of  Queen  Anne, 
when  a  certain  Samuel  Horton  carried  on 
the  business  of  cook  and  confectioner  which 
had  been  for  some  time  in  existence,  and  may 
have  been  founded,  as  sometimes  alleged, 
before  the  Great  Fire.  Later,  Horton  was 
joined  by  a  partner  named  Birch.  The  son 
of  the  latter  took  an  active  part  in  civic  life, 
and  became  well  known  as  Mr.  Alderman 
Samuel  Birch.  The  Alderman  was  born  in 
1757  and  lived  until  1841.  He  not  only 
continued  the  Cornhill  business — from  the 
excellence  of  his  pastry  he  was  nicknamed 
"  Mr.  Pattypan  " — but  was  of  some  note  as 
a  speaker  and  dramatist  and  writer  of  verse, 
and  became  Sheriff  of  London  in  181 1  and 
Lord  Mayor  in  181 5.  He  had  a  pleasant 
custom  of  presenting  to  the  Lord  Mayor 
every  year  a  splendid  cake  for  the  due 
observance  of  the  Twelfth  Night  festival. 
Among  his  pieces  for  the  stage  were  The 
Mariners,  1793;  The  Packet  Boat,  1794; 
The  Adopted  Child,  1795;  The  Smugglers, 
1796;  Fast  Asleep,  1797,  a  musical  farce; 
and  Albert  and  Adelaide,  1798,  a  romantic 
drama  in  three  acts.  Birch  also  published 
other  prose  and  verse.  The  Adopted  Child, 
the  music  for  which  was  written  by  Thomas 
Attwood,  held  the  stage  for  many  years  after 
its  author  had  passed  away.  "  Pattypan  " 
Birch's  activities  were  so  numerous  and  so 
diverse  that  a  contemporary  wag  wrote  a  skit 
on  him  in  which  an  inquisitive  Frenchman 
visiting  this  country  is  described  as  finding 
Monsieur  Birch  in  every  direction  : 

Guildhall  at  length  in  sight  appears, 
An  orator  is  hailed  with  cheers. 
"Zat  orator,  vat  is  hees  name?" 
"Birch,  the  pastry-cook — the  very  same." 

Elsewhere  he  meets  the  ubiquitous  Birch  as 
colonel  of  militia,  poet,  dramatist,  alderman, 
etc.,  until  he  goes  home  believing  the  won- 
derful Birch  to  be  the  Emperor  of  London  ! 
Ever  since  the  time  of  this  Admirable 
Crichton  of  a  pastry-cook  the  Cornhill  house 
has  been  known  distinctively  as  "  Birch's." 
The  business  did  not  continue  long  in  the 
hands  of  the  Birch  family.  Some  time  in 
the  thirties  of  the  last  century  it  passed  into 
the  possession  of  Messrs.  Ring  and  Brymer, 

VOL.  III. 


the  fathers,  respectively,  of  the  senior  partners 
of  the  present  firm.  Throughout  its  career 
the  shop  has  preserved  its  old-time  appear- 
ance, the  green-painted,  carved,  old-fashioned 
shop-front  being  a  unique  feature  of  the  city. 
It  is  probably  the  oldest  shop-front  in  London. 
We  are  glad  that  the  present  owners  appreciate 
its  value,  and  are  clearly  determined  to  pre- 
serve what  will  yearly  become  more  valuable 
as  one  of  the  rapidly  lessening  number  of 
relics  of  the  City  of  a  bygone  age. 

R.  M. 


€f)e  pilgrimage  of  tfje  IRoman 
OTalL 

By  II.  F.  Akkll. 
( Concluded  from  p.  1 74. ) 

III.— AMBOGLANNA  TO  THE  END 

'E  are  now  at  Gilsland,  a  favourite 
summer  resort  of  the  good  folk  of 
Newcastle,  Shields,  and  Sunder- 
land, whose  idea  of  a  complete 
change  is  to  get  away  to  where  they  are  quite 
certain  of  meeting  the  same  people  they  meet 
during  the  rest  of  the  year,  thus  imitating  in 
a  humble  way  the  "  classy  "  folk  who  go  to 
Brighton  in  November,  and  Monte  Carlo  or 
Egypt  for  the  winter.  It  is  no  place  for  the 
tripper  whose  estimate  of  a  place  is  based 
upon  the  amount  and  sort  of  intoxicating 
liquor  he  can  get  there,  for  there  are  only  two 
houses  in  Gilsland  where  anything  stronger 
than  ginger  ale  can  be  had  for  love  or  money, 
and  it  abounds  with  lodging-houses  and 
establishments  of  the  "tea  and  watercress 
one  shilling  "  order. 

Gilsland  is  inseparably  associated  with  Sir 
Walter  Scott.  Here,  in  1797,  he  met  Miss 
Charpentier,  wooed  her,  and  won  her  at 
the  Popping-stone  whereto  sheepish-looking 
couples  still  largely  resort  during  the  tripper 
season.  Here  was  Mump's  Ha,  where  Brown 
and  Dandie  Dinmont  met  Meg  Merrilies. 

Margaret  Teasdale — the  "Meg  o'  Mump's 
Ha'"  of  the  story  lies  in  Upper  Denton 
Churchyard. 

Gilsland  is  a  convenient  centre  for  the 
exploration  of  the   very  interesting  country 

2  P 


298 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


which  stretches  on  all  sides,  and  excellent 
accommodation  may  be  had  at  the  Orchard 
1  louse  Temperance  Hotel,  pleasantly  situated 
amidst  woodlands  and  gardens  on  a  hill  a 
mile  from  the  town. 

But  to  business. 

The  not  too  conscientious  Wall  explorer 
will  probably  proceed  direct  to  Birdoswald, 
the  Roman  station  Amboglanna,  from  the 
hotel,  descending  the  hill  a  short  way,  taking 
the  first  turning  to  the  right  and  the  first  to 
the  left ;  but  we  of  sterner  mould  will  take 
up  the  thread  we  left  at  Gilsland  Vicarage. 
Starting  from  the  Schoolhouse,  in  the  yard 
of  which  a  14  feet  wide  Roman  road  has 
been  exposed,  we  enter  the  field  opposite,  and 
follow  a  footpath  which  runs  along  the  Fosse 
of  the  Wall  in  the  direction  of  the  River 
Irthing,  the  hedge  line  on  our  left  probably 
being  on  the  site  of  the  Wall.  Passing  by 
Willowford  Farm,  built,  it  is  said,  with  stones 
from  the  Wall  and  the  bridge  abutment,  we 
reach  the  dark-watered,  tumbling,  romantic 
Irthing  at  the  base  of  the  cliffs  on  which 
stands  Amboglanna.  Just  west  of  this  spot 
there  were  traces  of  the  castle  which  de- 
fended the  river  crossing. 

If  the  line  of  the  Wall  was  carried  over 
the  river  by  a  bridge,  no  traces  of  the  latter 
are  discernible,  but  Mr  Hodgson  says  that 
there  are  clamped  stones  in  the  bed  of  the 
river  like  those  of  the  pier  of  the  older  bridge 
at  Cilurnum,  and  Dr.  Bruce  was  told  by  a 
man  engaged  in  building  Willowford  farm 
house  in  1836  that  he  had  seen  the  east 
abutment  of  tne  bridge,  20  feet  long. 

Looking  upward  from  where  we  stand,  we 
can  see  our  old  friend  the  Wall  jutting  over 
the  top  of  the  opposite  cliff,  seven  courses  high. 
We  off  with  boots  and  stockings,  and,  warily 
dodging  the  deep  pools,  get  across  the  Irthing 
and  scramble  up  the  cliff.  Following  the 
Wall  line,  we  cross  a  meadow,  get  over  a 
wall,  cross  the  road,  and  are  at  the  east  gate 
of  Amboglanna. 

N.B. — This  is  the  straight,  but  not  the 
orthodox,  way  of  entering  Amboglanna.  It 
is  now  a  picnickers'  resort,  and  sixpence  a 
head  is  charged  for  entrance,  which  is  by  the 
house  gate  on  the  north  side. 

Amboglanna  was  the  largest  station  on  the 
Wall,  being  5!  acres  in  extent,  and  was 
admirably  placed, with  natural  protections  on 


three  sides.  Like  Cilurnum,  it  has  two  gates 
on  its  east  and  west  sides.  That  by  which 
we  enter,  the  east  gate,  is  in  excellent 
preservation,  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  we  find 
evidences  of  calamity  in  the  blocking  up  of 
the  north  portal,  and  the  raising  of  the  level 
of  the  south.  All  this,  however,  has  been 
cleared  away,  and  we  see  the  east  gate  as  it 
was  in  its  prime,  with  its  splendid  masonry, 
its  guard  chambers,  and,  scattered  about  on 
the  ground,  but  apparently  uninjured,  the 
circular  heads  of  the  arches.  Near  this 
gateway  the  remains  of  three  chambers  have 
been  exposed,  in  one  of  which  is  a  hypocaust. 
The  north  gateway  was  destroyed  when  the 
farm-house  was  built.  Of  the  two  west  gate- 
ways, the  smaller — the  single-arched  one — 
remains.  It  is  in  good  condition,  the  pivot- 
hole  and  the  wheel  grooves  in  the  pavement 
being  distinct.  The  south  side  of  the  station 
is  in  very  good  preservation  ;  the  rampart 
shows  eight  courses  of  facing  stones,  and  is 
6  feet  thick.  The  gateway  is  a  finer  one 
than  usual,  the  portals  being  each  n  feet 
wide  ;  the  west  portal  has  been  built  up. 

The  whole  of  the  interior  of  the  station  is 
a  tumbled  chaos  of  grassy  mounds,  lines,  and 
depressions,  which  mark  the  sites  of  streets 
and  public  buildings.  Notable  among  these 
are  the  guard-chambers  of  the  gates,  a  very 
large  buttressed  building  near  the  farm-house, 
and  a  depression  in  the  middle  which  has 
been  shown  to  have  been  the  water  reservoir 
of  the  station,  the  paved  waterway  leading 
to  it  being  visible  in  Dr.  Bruce's  early  time. 

Amboglanna  has  given  up  a  very  large 
number  of  carved  and  inscribed  stones,  many 
of  which  used  to  be  at  the  farm,  but  all  have 
been  removed  to  museums,  especially  to  that 
in  Tullie  House,  Carlisle. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Pilgrimage  of  1886 
a  fine  altar,  dedicated  to  Jove  by  Julius 
Marcellinus,  of  the  first  Cohort  of  Dacians, 
had  just  been  unearthed,  and  I  remember, 
as  we  were  examining  it  in  situ,  a  shepherd 
telling  us  that  for  years  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  use  the  scrolled  top  which  just  pro- 
jected from  the  turf  as  a  seat.  Not  even  the 
dustiest  of  Dryasdusts  leaves  Amboglanna 
without  a  few  minutes  enjoyment  of  the 
beautiful  and  extensive  view  to  be  seen  from 
the  cliff  edge  on  the  south  of  the  station. 
The  Great  Wall  "adapts  itself"  to  the  north 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


299 


rampart  of  the  station,  and  follows  the  south 
side  of  the  high  road,  the  field  side  facing 
stones  being  very  perfect. 

We  proceed  along  the  fields  westward, 
keeping  on  the  vallum.  At  about  a  mile  west 
of  Amboglanna  we  come  upon  that  extra 
length  of  earthwork  which  has  of  late  years 
so  puzzled  antiquaries.  It  was  reserved  for  the 
Pilgrims  of  1906  to  prove  by  spade-work  that 
this  is  none  other  than  the  famous  Turf  Wall 
— or,  more  correctly,  Wall  of  Turves — which 
old  writers  and  antiquaries  always  declared 
had  preceded  the  Wall  of  Stone,  but  against 
the  very  existence  of  which  recent  authorities 
have  cast  their  veto.  Traces  of  the  ditch  of 
the  Turf  Wall  had  already  been  marked 
leading  to  the  east  gate  of  Amboglanna,  and 
here  it  reappears,  of  the  same  dimensions  as 
the  vallum  ditch  of  the  stone  wall.  The 
Wall  Vallum  crosses  northward  until,  at  about 
a  mile  west  of  Amboglanna,  it  unites  with  the 
Turf  Wall  ditch.  At  a  convenient  break 
of  the  Turf  Wall  by  a  farm  road  just  east 
of  the  woods  in  which  are  the  Combe  Crags, 
spades  were  procured,  and,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  many  sceptics  present,  the  displaying  of 
thirteen  layers  of  turves  conclusively  pointed 
to  the  reality  of  the  Turf  Wall. 

Some  of  us  poor  know-nothings  wonder 
why  such  trouble  should  have  been  taken 
to  build  up  layers  of  turves  into  a  rampart  if 
the  same  defensive  object  could  be  attained 
by  throwing  up  a  mound  of  earth.  It  was 
explained  that,  whilst  a  wall  of  turves  could 
be  built  with  an  almost  perpendicular  face, 
a  mere  earthen  embankment  would  present 
too  low  an  angle  to  be  effective. 

Beyond  the  road  and  the  burn  we  enter 
the  woods,  and  turn  down  by  a  steep,  charm- 
ing path  through  the  heart  of  the  tree  and 
thicket  world  to  view  the  famous  Combe 
Crags  inscriptions.  Here  were  Roman 
quarries,  and  the  workmen  of  seventeen 
centuries  ago  have  left  graffiti  on  the  sides  of 
the  excavations,  the  words  "  Faust,  et  Ruf. 
Cos"  being  very  clear,  and  also  " Matthrianus," 
but  others  are  variously  interpreted.  'Any, 
of  course,  has  left  his  marks  also,  and  one 
bigger  jackass  than  usual  thought  he  would 
preserve  the  Roman  lettering  by  painting  it 
white.  Still,  it  is  fortunate  that,  so  near  to 
such  a  week-end- trippers'  resort  as  Gilsland, 
any  inscriptions  are  left  at  all.     The  contrast 


between  the  soft  beauty  of  these  sylvan 
shades  and  the  stern,  rugged  scenery  amidst 
which  so  much  of  our  time  has  lately  been 
passed  is  sufficiently  striking  to  induce  the 
farthest  gone  of  Wall  lunatics  to  linger  awhile. 
Aye  !  and  we  have  known  some  of  the  species 
who  have  followed  the  descent  to  the  bottom, 
where  the  Irthing  dashes  its  dark  stream  from 
ledge  to  ledge  of  rock,  and  at  a  certain  spot 
peeled  and  taken  headers  into  a  pool  10  feet 
deep  of  pure,  cool  water,  and  remained  there 
till  too  late  to  pick  up  the  Wall-bound  main 
body. 

From  here  it  is  a  delightful  walk  by  the 
Irthing  and  pleasant  fields  and  lanes  to 
Lanercost  and  Naworth.  Perhaps  they  do 
not  come  within  the  scope  of  a  Wall 
pilgrimage  ;  but  assuredly  no  Wall  pilgrim  I 
ever  met  failed  to  quit  the  Wall  and  give  up 
a  few  hours  to  them.  It  is,  however, 
reserved  for  a  very  few  to  have  such  a  treat 
as  we  1906  pilgrims  enjoyed  at  Naworth, 
when  a  fair  daughter  of  the  House  of  Howard 
played  cicerone  to  us  from  basement  to  leads 
of  this  fine  old  Border  hold  with  a  charm, 
a  clearness,  and  a  mastery  of  her  subject 
which  few  of  us  will  forget. 

Limited  sleeping  accommodation  may  be 
had  at  the  picturesquely  situated  little 
temperance  inn  at  the  bridge — a  fact  worth 
noting  in  a  country  where  such  accommoda- 
tion is  very  scarce. 

Resuming  our  journey  from  the  Combe 
Crags,  we  keep  to  the  road  which  follows 
the  line  of  the  Wall,  the  north  ditch  being 
very  distinct  on  our  right,  and  the  vallum  on 
our  left,  having  a  beautiful  prospect  over  the 
densely  wooded  country  beyond  the  vallum. 
We  pass  Banks  Head,  and  the  Banks  Inn 
with  the  swinging-gate  sign,  and  then,  the 
road  making  a  southerly  bend,  we  keep  on 
to  the  rear  of  some  cottages  until  we  reach 
Hare  Hill,  where  we  see  on  our  right  hand  a 
splendid  face  of  the  Wall,  fourteen  courses  or 
1 2  feet  high.  Let  me  state  that  this  is  really 
a  faithful  reconstruction  by  Lord  Carlisle's 
steward. 

Now  from  this  point  onward  we  shall  see 
very  little  of  the  Wall  itself — here  and  there 
a  fragment  of  the  core  in  a  bank  under  a 
hedge,  rarely  a  course  of  facing-stones,  and 
an  occasional  trace  of  a  mile  castle.  But 
the  north  Fosse  and  the  vallum  will  accom- 

2  p  2 


3°o 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN  WALL. 


pany  us  with  tolerable  fidelity  to  Carlisle, 
and  the  task  of  following  per  lineam  Va//i,  if 
it  is  not  rewarded  by  the  contemplation  of  so 
many  actual  relics  as  heretofore,  is  pleasant 
and  interesting. 

We  keep  on  through  the  fields.  From 
Craggle  Hill,  where  the  north  Fosse  is  deep 
and  clear,  we  get  a  wide  and  beautiful  view, 
ranging  from  Bewcastle  and  the  Scottish  hills 
on  the  right  to  Carlisle  and  the  Solway  in 
front,  and  to  the  Tindal  and  Castle  Carrock 
fells,  Skiddaw  and  Blencathara  on  the  left. 
At  Garthside  Farm  there  is  a  piece  of  Wall  in 
the  hedge,  5  feet  high.  We  pass  by  Howgill, 
Low  Wall,  and  Dovecote,  and  strike  across  a 
broad  meadow,  cross  the  King  Water,  and 
ascend  to  the  village  of  Walton,  having  lost 
all  traces  of  the  Wall.  The  inn  here  stands 
upon  the  Wall,  and  the  village  is  full  of  very 
old  cottages,  built  of  clay  and  straw  in  layers, 
with  huge  oak  beams  and  spacious  chimney- 
corners. 

From  Walton  we  pass  by  the  Sandysikes 
farm-house,  noting  the  deep  Fosse  on  our 
right,  and  strike  straight  along  the  line  of  the 
vallum,  the  Wall  line  being  on  our  right, 
until  we  reach  the  private  domain  of  Castle- 
steads,  the  site  of  a  large  and  important 
station  which  is  called  Petriana,  although 
without  any  direct  evidence.  The  gardens 
of  Castlesteads  occupy  the  site  of  the  ancient 
station,  so  that  there  are  only  the  remains  of 
the  Fosse  in  the  beautifully  wooded  grounds 
through  which  we  pass.  Like  all  the  owners 
of  properties  containing  relics  of  the  Wall 
and  its  stations,  Mr.  Johnson  is  most 
courteous  and  painstaking  in  allowing  us  to 
examine  his  large  and  interesting  collection 
of  relics,  ranging  from  the  altars  and 
inscribed  stones  in  the  summer-house  to  the 
delicate  gems  and  intaglios  within-doors,  and 
in  personally  conducting  us  by  woodland 
paths  to  the  picturesque  spot  where  the  Wall 
crossed  the  Cambeck,  the  accompanying 
ditch  being  deeply  cut  in  the  red  sandstone. 

Petriana,  for  the  giving  of  which  name  to 
this  spot  the  only  authoritative  fact  is  that  in 
the  Notitia  it  is  marked  as  the  next  station 
to  Amboglanna,  was  destroyed  in  1791  to 
give  place  to  the  present  house  and  grounds. 
I  have  an  old  early  eighteenth-century 
Cumberland  guide-book  which  speaks  of 
"vast  marks  of  a  castle"  being  visible  near 


the  Cambeck.  It  is  not  necessary  to  detail 
narrowly  the  continuation  of  our  route  from 
this  point.  Necessarily,  as  the  Wall  keeps 
within  the  line  of  cultivation,  and  conse- 
quently amidst  the  dwellings  of  men,  we 
cannot  expect  to  find  above  ground  such 
relics  as  abound  in  such  wild  districts  as 
those  through  which  we  passed  in  North- 
umberland. Hundreds  of  cartloads  of  its 
stones  have  been  removed  within  living 
memory ;  and  although  the  underground 
labours  of  such  untiring  enthusiasts  as  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hodgson  have  resulted  in  the 
exact  tracing  of  the  course  of  the  Wall  and 
its  accessories  through  Cumberland,  after 
Amboglanna  there  are  really  very  few  points 
of  interest  to  others  than  deep  antiquaries. 

However,  we  will  continue  to  the  end. 

After  Castlesteads  we  take  to  fields  and 
byways  the  Wall  itself  being  usually  in  the 
bank  of  a  hedge,  careful  watching  of  which 
will  occasionally  reveal  some  of  its  core,  and 
perhaps  a  facing-stone  or  two. 

At  Old  Wall,  a  miserable  spot,  Roman 
stones  are  largely  used  in  the  cottages,  but 
there  is  nothing  of  note  until  we  reach 
Bleatarn  —  pronounced  "  Blettern."  The 
Wall  here  runs  to  the  north  of  the  farm  and 
of  an  ancient  quarry,  erroneously  called  a 
tarn,  which  enters  into  the  composition  of 
the  place-name,  and  is  probably  under  the 
rough,  raised  cart- tract  which  we  follow. 
The  great  mound  on  our  left  is  probably  old 
quarry  refuse  to  which  modern  rubbish  has 
been  added.  The  western  boundary  of  the 
long,  broad  space  we  traverse  is  formed  by 
the  Baron's  Dyke,  dividing  the  barony  of 
Gilsland  from  that  of  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 
The  names  of  the  hamlets  we  pass — 
Wallhead,  Wallby,  Wallfoot — will  keep  alive 
the  significance  of  the  grand  old  Roman 
monument  to  all  time;  but,  candidly,  the 
Wall  has  become  by  this  part  little  more 
than  a  name,  and  as  we  trudge  the  long 
narrow  lane  which  runs  along  its  course, 
gradually  approaching  the  great  main  road, 
we  find  for  the  first  time  our  talk  drifting 
into  other  channels,  as  the  tangible  relics  of 
the  great  object  of  our  pilgrimage  cease  to 
be. 

Finally,  in  a  park  across  which  runs  a 
deep,  broad  ditch,  we  have  to  abandon  our 
quest  on  this  side  of  Carlisle,  and  strike  into 


THE  PILGRIMAGE  OF  THE  ROMAN   WALL. 


301 


the  great  road.  We  pass  Drawdykes,  a  farm- 
house built  upon  the  site  of  an  old  pele-tower 
with  Wall-stones,  upon  the  parapet  of  which 
grin  three  heads,  which  are  not  Roman,  get 
to  the  unsavoury  suburb  of  Tarraby,  and 
on  through  market-gardens  to  Stanwix — the 
"Staneshaw  Bank."  of  the  ballads — and  at 
Hyssop  Holm  Well — a  bank  overlooking  the 
Eden  and  Carlisle  city — read  on  a  couple  of 
granite  posts  that  at  this  spot  the  Wall  and 
its  Fosse  descended  to  cross  the  river. 

At  Stanwix  there  would  naturally  have 
been  a  large  and  strong  station  to  guard  the 
Eden,  but  as  its  site  is  believed  to  be 
occupied  by  the  church  and  churchyard, 
little  is  known  about  it — not  even  by  what 
nationality  it  was  garrisoned.  It  is  believed 
to  have  been  the  Glanoventa  of  the  Itineraries, 
and  when  the  church  was  being  restored  a 
great  many  relics  were  unearthed,  but  more 
we  know  not.  To  the  South-Countryman 
Carlisle  is  almost  as  disappointing  a  city  as 
is  the  Tokyo  of  to-day  to  him  who  remembers 
it  in  the  past.  Judged  by  ballad-light  it 
ought  to  be  a  quaint  old  collection  of 
time-worn  houses  huddled  about  a  pictu- 
resque market-place,  and  shadowed  by  a 
blunt,  rough-and-ready  castle  of  the  true 
Border  type.  We  look  for  a  more  or  less 
appropriate  setting  to  a  series  of  scenes  in 
which  King  Arthur  and  Guinevere,  Sir 
Gawaine  and  Sir  Kay,  the  bold  Buccleugh 
and  Kinmont  Willie,  Adam  Bell  and  his 
faithful  friends,  Hobbie  Noble,  Dick  o'  the 
Cow,  Hughie  Graeme,  poor  Jean  Gordon 
and  her  idol,  that  poor  creature  the  Young 
Pretender,  and  a  host  of  picturesque  rascals, 
pass  over  the  stage,  and  we  find  "  Merrie 
Carlisle  "  a  very  up-to  date  city,  with  more 
than  a  fair  allowance  of  slums,  utterly  un- 
attractive, and  not  so  interesting  as  many  a 
place  with  not  a  tithe  of  its  historical  associa- 
tions. 

However,  the  Crown  and  Mitre  Hotel  is 
one  of  the  very  best  in  the  North  of  England 
— some  consolation  for  the  stranger  who, 
like  the  writer,  has  been  condemned  to 
spend  a  Sunday  in  Carlisle. 

Between  Carlisle  and  the  site  of  the  Wall 
end  at  Bowness  on  the  Solway  not  one  single 
stone  of  the  Wall  is  visible  in  situ  above 
ground,  but  between  Grinsdale  and  Kirk- 
andrews  a  mound  marks  its  course.      The 


churchyard  at  the  latter  place  is  perhaps  the 
site  of  a  mile  castle,  as  it  is  packed  with 
Roman  stones,  and  its  position  on  the  cliffs 
overlooking  the  river  is  a  good  one.  At 
Burgh-on-the-Sands  a  castle  has  always  been 
marked  as  existing  on  the  right  of  the  road, 
but  the  most  recent  excavations  have  revealed 
no  traces  whatever.  Burgh  Church,  which 
has  much  Roman  work  in  it,  is  a  good 
specimen  of  the  fortress-church  of  these 
once-ceaselessly-disturbed  parts — indeed,  the 
tower  has  every  appearance  of  having  been  a 
"pele,"and  is  still  cut  off  from  the  nave  by  iron 
gates.  Away  on  our  right,  standing  up  from 
the  dead  level  of  this  wide  stretch  of  pasture- 
land,  rises  the  monument  which  marks  the 
spot  where  Edward  I.  died  in  his  tent 
whilst  waiting  a  favourable  condition  of  the 
Solway  to  cross  into  Scotland.  An  old 
woman,  says  tradition,  had  predicted  his 
death  at  Brough,  and  he  had  carefully 
avoided  the  place  of  this  name  in  Westmore- 
land. We  pass  on  to  Drumburgh,  four  and 
a  quarter  miles,  and  just  south  of  Watch 
Hill  we  see  for  the  last  time  our  faithful 
companion  the  vallum.  At  Drumburgh  have 
been  found  the  traces  of  a  large  mile  castle 
measuring  nearly  an  acre.  The  old  Dacre 
fortified  house  here  is  a  good  specimen  of  its 
class  ;  it  is  built  of  Wall-stones ;  its  walls  are 
very  thick,  and  the  rooms  are  large,  with 
great  beams  and  wainscotting.  The  view 
from  the  roof  on  a  bright  day,  when  the 
marsh  is  dotted  with  sheep,  is  very  pleasing. 

From  Drumburgh  we  go  to  Port  Carlisle, 
two  miles.  Port  Carlisle  was  intended,  as 
its  name  testifies,  to  have  a  great  future,  but 
it  has  never  come,  for,  on  account  of  the 
constant  silting  up  of  the  harbour  mouth, 
the  trade  expected  to  come  here  went  to 
Silloth.  It  is  a  dead-and-alive  little  place, 
depending  upon  a  few  quiet-seeking  summer 
visitors  for  its  existence.  Dr.  Bruce  saw  the 
Wall  standing  here  several  feet  high. 

One  mile  from  Port  Carlisle  we  reach 
Bowness,  and  the  end  of  our  journey.  The 
station  was  well  placed  on  a  raised  promon- 
tory, but  all  that  can  be  seen  of  it  to-day 
is  the  west  rampart  with  its  fosse,  which  is 
to  be  wondered  at  when  we  think  that  it  was 
one  of  the  largest  on  the  line  of  the  Wall, 
and,  as  marking  the  terminus  of  that  work 
and  a  seaport  to  boot,  must  have  been  a 


3°2 


DISCOVERY  OF  AN  OLD  ENGLISH  PSALTER. 


place  of  great  importance  and  much  traffic, 
independently  of  its  position  as  a  guard 
against  attack  from  Scotland.  The  Wall 
perhaps  ran  into  the  Solway ;  at  any  rate, 
large  stones  under  water  are  pointed  out  as 
its  foundations.  My  old  Cumberland  guide- 
book before  referred  to  says  :  "  It  has  a  Fort, 
besides  the  Tracts  of  Streets  and  Pieces  of 
old  Walls." 

Here  I  bring  to  a  close  a  journey  which 
is  many  times  more  interesting  to  make 
than  to  read  about,  and  which  possesses 
characteristics  which  render  it  unique  among 
antiquarian  journeyings  in  our  country.  Let 
it  be  clearly  understood  beforehand  by  the 
intending  pilgrim  that  it  bears  no  resemblance 
to  our  South-Country  archaeological  outings; 
that  there  is  no  prancing  in  and  out  of  nice 
brakes  to  see  here  a  church,  here  a  castle, 
here  an  historical  mansion  ;  that  there  are  no 
tea-parties  on  pleasant  lawns,  no  consumption 
of  cakes  and  hot-house  fruit  in  famous  houses ; 
but  that  there  is  a  lot  of  good,  stern,  physical 
labour,  and  that,  as  a  rule,  the  mid-day  meal 
must  be  carried,  and  must  be  consumed 
where  convenient,  and  thorough  enjoyment 
will  be  the  result. 

As  for  the  North-Country  antiquary — well, 
it  would  be  ungrateful  in  one  who  owes 
many  of  the  happiest  days  of  his  life  to 
his  companionship  not  to  say  that  he  carries 
into  his  recreation  exactly  those  characteristics 
which  mark  him  as  a  citizen  of  the  working 
world — keenness,  thoroughness,  caution,  care, 
and,  to  help  it  all  along,  an  irrepressible 
joyousness  of  demeanour  which  invests  an 
assembly  such  as  the  Roman  Wall  Decennial 
Pilgrimage  with  a  family  gathering  air. 


Discotoerp  of  an  HDID  OBngUsi) 
Psalter. 


FEW  weeks  ago  Abbot  Gasquet, 
the  learned  Benedictine  whose 
name  is  familiar  to  all  historical 
students,  gave  a  representative  of 
the  Tribune  newspaper  some  interesting  facts, 
which  are  here  reproduced,  slightly  con- 
densed, concerning  a  valuable  discovery  he 
had  made  of  an  ancient  English  Psalter.     He 


was  recently  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  Turville  Petre, 
of  Bosworth  Hall,  Husbands  -  Bosworth, 
Leicestershire,  where,  in  the  library,  he  found 
the  Psalter,  which  dates  back,  it  is  believed, 
to  a.d.  970,  and  bears  traces  of  Glastonbury 
authorship. 

The  Psalter  was  probably  written  in  a 
religious  house  of  the  Benedictine  Order. 
At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  it  came  into 
the  possession  of  Archbishop  Cranmer,  as  his 
signature  on  the  first  page  of  the  calendar 
attests.  This  signature,  "  Thomas  Can- 
tuarien,"  at  the  top  of  the  page,  and  also 
two  others,  "  Arundel "  and  "  Lumley,"  at 
the  foot,  are  as  clear  and  distinct  as  if  they 
had  been  written  three  years  ago,  instead  of 
at  a  distance  of  three  or  more  centuries. 
"  Arundel "  is  Henry  Fitzalan,  twelfth  Earl 
of  Arundel ;  and  "  Lumley,"  John,  Lord 
Lumley,  who  died  in  1609.  The  Earl  of 
Arundel,  who  evidently  acquired  the  Psalter 
with  other  manuscripts  after  Cranmer's  death, 
bequeathed  it  to  his  son-in-law,  Lord  Lumley, 
and  on  the  latter's  death  the  whole  collection 
was  purchased  by  James  I.  for  his  son,  Henry, 
Prince  of  Wales.  On  his  decease  it  became 
part  of  the  royal  library,  which  eventually 
was  presented  to  the  nation  by  George  III., 
and  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

Abbot  Gasquet  could  not  conjecture  how 
the  Psalter  became  separated  from  the  royal 
collection.  It  found  its  way  into  the  Bos- 
worth Hall  library  from  the  family  of 
Fortescue,  of  Sladen,  in  Buckinghamshire. 
Elizabeth  Fortescue  was  possessed  of  the 
Manor  of  Husbands-Bosworth  in  1762,  and 
she  devised  her  estate  to  Francis  Fortescue 
Turville,  from  whose  descendant  it  has 
passed  to  the  present  owner,  Mr.  Turville 
Petre.  But  from  1609  until  181 5,  when  a 
vague  reference  to  it  was  made  by  a  county 
historian,  its  travels  are  a  mystery. 

For  inspection  Dr.  Gasquet  uncovered  the 
Psalter,  which  had  been  carefully  packed 
away.  In  size  it  approximates  to  imperial 
quarto,  and  consists  of  274  pages  (137  folios) 
of  thick  parchment,  bound  in  oak  boards. 
Its  back  has  an  added  strengthening  of  thin 
leather.  The  boards,  the  Abbot  believes, 
are  the  original  binding  that  was  put  on  the 
splendid  volume.  To  turn  over  the  parch- 
ment pages  is  a  revelation  of  the  beautiful 
workmanship  and  the  artistic  taste  of  the 


DISCOVERY  OF  AN  OLD  ENGLISH  PSALTER. 


303 


old  tenth-century  scribes.  In  the  initial 
letters  the  artist  did  not  use  gold,  but  the 
subdued  tints  of  blue  and  brown  are  almost 
as  fresh  as  if  they  had  been  laid  on  last  year. 


[Photo.  Bosworth. 

A  DECORATED  PAGE  FROM  THE  NEWLY-DISCOVERED 
PSALTER. 

The  text  may  be  judged  by  the  three  speci- 
mens which,  by  the  courteous  permission  of 
the  Tribune,  we  here  reproduce. 

The  Psalter  bears  ample  evidence  of  con- 
stant use.  This  is  indicated  by  the  thumb- 
marks  on  every  page,  of  which  a  trace  re- 
mains in  the  photograph.  But  beyond  the 
fact  that  one  or  two  of  the  sections  are  loose, 
the  whole  book  is  in  perfect  condition. 

The  volume  opens  with  a  calendar,  written. 
as  Abbot  Gasquet  considers,  at  a  later  date 
than  the  body  of  the  book,  and  for  which  a 
finer  quality  of  vellum  has  been  used.  Then 
follow  ninety-one  folios  devoted  to  the  Latin 
Psalter,  including  the  extra  psalm  Pusillus 
eram. 

Eight  folios  are  next  devoted  to  the  Can- 
ticles used  at  Lauds  with  the  psalms  in  the 


liturgical  office  and  the  Benedictus,  .Magnifi- 
cat, and  Nunc  Dimittis,  Te  Deum,  and  other 
prayers  usually  found  at  the  end  of  such 
psalters.  On  folio  100  there  is  a  short  litany 
with  prayers,  written  at  some  later  date. 

Twenty-four  folios  are  occupied  with  a 
complete  hymnal,  comprising  10 1  hymns 
for  the  various  canonical  hours  and  seasons. 
At  the  close  of  the  hymnal  is  a  remarkable 
sketch  of  Christ  in  Majesty,  which  was  never 
finished.  Dr.  Gasquet  thinks  that  at  a  later 
date  some  one  has  gone  over  the  drawing 
with  a  pencil. 

Seven  folios  contain  the  canticles  for  the 
third  nocturn  of  the  monastic  office,  arranged 


SL 


>":"-^<.;::: 


<  J    iwm  *Hfw*»  o*T*  tatlua        *  ,  \  y . 

;  ;.:>>f^&uji««  sw»jk&  Witt  v    S 
^        ^  .a?  '     ^  ^^  ,     ,  , 

„►  .tin^i*  «;f  7#or-  v&xtf -.       ,  kjw  (p»t  .&«?  j^u.c 


[Photo.  Bosworth. 

A    PAGE   OF   TEXT    FROM   THE   NEWLY-DISCOVERED 

PSALTER. 

in  sets  of  three,  and  written  in  double 
columns.  Three  folios  are  set  apart  for  the 
Preface  and  Canon  of  the  Mass,  and  these 
were  probably  written  late  in  the  eleventh 


304 


DISCOVERY  OF  AN  OLD  ENGLISH  PSALTER. 


century.  Lastly,  there  is  the  Mass  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity,  with  neums  of  about  the 
same  date. 

For  the  critical  description  of  the  contents 
of  the  Psalter  here  reproduced,  the  Tribune 
contributor  was  indebted  to  Abbot  Gasquet, 
who,  having  obtained  the  loan  of  the  volume, 
set  to  work,  in  conjunction  with  his  friend 
and  fellow-worker,  Mr.  Edmund  Bishop,  to 
make  a  study  of  the  manuscript.     Mr.  Bishop 


[Photo.  Bosworth. 

A  DECORATED  PAGE  FROM  THE  NEWLY-DISCOVERED 
TSALTER. 

undertook  the  examination  of  the  calendar 
and  Abbot  Gasquet  of  the  Psalter  generally. 
As  the  Abbot  explained,  "  the  whole  in  all 
its  parts  has  been  examined  by  each,  and 
each  of  us  is  responsible  for  the  whole." 

The  Abbot  further  explained  that  the 
version  of  the  Psalms  is  that  known  as  the 
Romana,  which  in  some  places  has  been 
corrected  later  into  the  Gallicana.  Both 
these  versions  are  those  of  St.  Jerome,  the 
Romana  being  the  first,  and  the  Gallicana  the 


second,  and  the  one  now  known  as  the 
Vulgate.  The  Vulgate  gradually  superseded 
the  Romana  even  in  Italy,  but  Dr.  Gasquet 
mentioned  the  curious  fact  that  the  Romana 
version  is  retained  to  the  present  day  in 
St.  Peter's  itself.  St.  Augustine,  when  he  came 
to  England,  brought  with  him  the  Romana 
version,  and  this  was  maintained,  except 
perhaps  in  rare  instances,  until  the  Norman 
Conquest.  Then  came  a  gradual  change, 
for  the  conquerors  insisted  upon  the  use  of 
the  Gallicana  version  to  which  they  had 
been  accustomed.  This  fact  is  evidenced  in 
the  Bosworth  Psalter,  for  apparently  in  the 
twelfth  or  thirteenth  century  an  attempt  was 
made  to  utilize  the  pages  of  the  volume  for 
the  purpose  of  writing  a  glossed  commentary. 
In  order  to  do  this  it  became  necessary  to 
change  the  old  version,  to  the  one  in  use, 
and  where  the  commentary  has  been  written 
the  version  has  been  changed. 

Dr.  Gasquet  hoped  that  the  British 
Museum  would  acquire  the  Psalter.  The 
present  owners  are  willing  to  sell,  and,  he 
said,  are  also  willing  to  accept  the  valuation 
of  competent  authorities.  We  sincerely  trust 
that  the  trustees  of  the  Museum  may  succeed 
in  securing  the  volume ;  otherwise  it  is  toler- 
ably certain  to  follow  so  many  other  literary 
and  bibliographical  treasures  across  the 
Atlantic. 


Cfte  Lonnon  %iQt\$  ana  tWx 
a00ociation0* 

By  J.  Holden  MacMichael. 
( Continued  frotn  p.  1 48. ) 

HE  Black  Crow  was  a  sign  in  Goat 
Alley,  near  Old  Street.*  Goat 
Alley  was  in  Whitecross  Street. f 
The  Black  Dog  in  Cock  Alley, 
near  Ludgate,  was  on  the  south  side  of 
Ludgate  Hill,  a  house  frequented  by  the 
dramatists  and  players  belonging  to  the 
Blackfriars  Theatre,  that  stood  in  Playhouse 
Yard.     The   immediate  site  of  the  theatre 


*  Bagford   Bills   (Harleian   MSS.,  5931,    fol. 
No.  231). 

f  Dodsley's  London  and  its  Environs, 


8i, 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


3°5 


was  occupied  or  built  on  for  the  back 
premises  of  the  Apothecaries'  Hall.* 

The  Black  Dog  at  Highgate.t 

The  Black  Dog  in  King  Street,  West- 
minster.! 

The  Black  Dog  in  Fleet  Street.  "Lost 
from  the  Black  Dog  in  Fleet  Street  a  little 
spout  silver  tankard,  a  Cawdle  cup,  a  cup 
with  two  ears,  a  little  candlestick,  a  silver 
thimble,  two  money  boxes,  etc.,  with  Three 
pounds  five  shillings  in  money  and  Linnen 
and  laces,  etc.  Whoever  gives  notice  that 
the  things  may  be  had  again  to  the  Black 
Dog  in  Fleet  Street,  near  Fetter  Lane,  shall 
have  forty  shillings  reward."  §  In  1698 
J.  Bradley  called  the  sign  the  Derby  Ale 
House.  ||  The  house  may  or  may  not  be, 
since  it  was,  at  all  events,  in  the  same  im- 
mediate neighbourhood,  identical  with  the 
notorious  Black  Dog  next  door  to  the  Devil 
Tavern,  the  shop  of  Abel  Roper,  who  printed 
and  distributed  the  majority  of  the  pamphlets 
and  ballads  that  paved  the  way  for  the  Revo- 
lution of  1688.  Roper  was  the  original 
printer  of  the  ballad  that  is  said  to  have 
been  greatly  instrumental  in  driving  James  II. 
out  of  the  kingdom — Lillibullero. 

The  Black  Doll,  the  sign  of  the  marine- 
store  dealer,  appears  to  be  quite  extinct  in 
London  ;  but,  as  some  shop-bills  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  late  Mr.  H.  Syer  Cuming, 
which  I  inspected,  testify,  two  instances  in 
comparatively  late  years  existed — one  in  East 
Street,  Walworth,  the  corner  of  Bronte  Place, 
and  another  at  12,  Walworth  Road.  The 
yarn  about  the  old  woman  who  left  a  bundle 
at  a  rag-dealer's  in  Norton  Folgate,  in  which 
was  afterwards  found  a  black  doll  with  a  pair 
of  ear-rings  attached,  is  hardly  worthy  of 
notice  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  the  sign. 
I  think  the  author  of  Tavern  Anecdotes  was 
originally  responsible  for  it.  The  doll  was 
represented  as  black  probably  to  signify  the 

*  Beaufoy  Tokens,  1855  (No.  354). 
t  See  Tomlin's  Perambulation  of  Islington,  1858, 
p.   12. 

£  Beaufoy  Tokens,  No.  696. 

§  London  Gazette,  March  27,  1676,  quoted  in 
Mr.  F.  G.  Hilton  Price's  Signs  of  Old  Fleet  Street  at 
the  End  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  p.  387. 

II  Ibid.  There  was  a  Black  Dog  Alley  in  East 
Smithfield,  and  a  Black  Dog  Yard  "  near  Vauxhall  " 
and  in  Shoreditch  (Dodsley's  London  and  its  Environs, 
1761). 

VOL.  III. 


trade  in  disused  clothes  and  faded  finery 
which  it  is  even  now  customary  to  export  to 
Africa  and  other  barbarous  countries  where 
coasting  traders  and  other  agents  barter  with 
the  natives  for  more  valuable  ivory,  gold- 
dust,  etc.  Full-dress  liveries  like  those  of 
the  Lord  Mayor's  footmen  were  the  prizes 
of  the  black  doll  profession,  not  now  so 
closely  identified  with  the  rag-dealer  as  with 
the  enterprising  Hebrew  dealers.  There  are, 
in  fact,  special  markets  for  these  liveries  and 
uniforms,  especially  on  the  west  coast  of 
Africa,  "  where  Nature  puts  on  her  most 
glorious  apparel,  and  the  great  ones  of  the 
land  are  determined  to  have  something  to 
match."* 

The  Black  Fryer  in  Blackfriars,  No.  174, 
Queen  Victoria  Street,  City,  is  probably  a 
very  old  tavern,  although  it  may  not  occupy 
its  exactly  original  site.  Stow  alludes  to  one 
such  sign  further  east.  "In  Thames  Street," 
he  says,  u  on  the  Thames  side,  west  from 
Downegate,  is  Greenwich  Lane  of  old  time 
so  called,  and  now  Frier-lane,  of  such  a  sign 
there  set  up."  The  Wall-Brook  ran  down 
Greenwich  Lane  into  the  Thames,  so  that 
the  sign  in  question  could  hardly  be  that 
mentioned  by  Stow.  It  is  identical,  therefore, 
with  the  Black  Fryer  in  Blackfriars,  probably, 
of  which  there  is  a  token  extant  whose  pos- 
session is  ardently  desired  by  collectors.  It 
is  engraved  in  Snelling's  Copper  Coinage,  t 
Upon  it  a  Dominican  friar  is  represented 
with  cross  and  rosary,  the  insignia  of  his 
calling,  with  an  intimation  across  the  field 
that  the  tavern  was  a  Mum  House,  not  that 
it  was  a  conspirator's  resort  where  things 
were  said  sub  rosa,  but  that  a  strong  kind  of 
beer  called  "Mum"  was  sold  there,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  introduced  from  Bruns- 
wick. It  is  noteworthy  that  there  is  still  a 
Friar  Street  close  by  at  No.  67,  Carter  Lane, 
and  there  is  every  probability  that  the  sign 
is  co-ordinate  in  its  origin  with  the  extension 
of  the  city's  limits  from  Baynard  Castle, 
which  occupied  the  site  of  the  western 
Arx  Palatina,  to  Blackfriars  in  1274,  an 
extension  made  so  as  to  enclose  the  Black- 
friars monastery,  then  newly  removed  from 
Holbourn,    that    community    having    been 

*  See  Waste  Products,  by  P.  L.  Simmons,  p.  25, 
et  sea. 

I  Burn's  Beaufoy  Tokens. 

2Q 


;o6 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


especially  in  the  royal  favour,  as  well  as  in 
that  of  the  Lord  Mayor. 

The  Black  Gown.  See  the  Minister's 
Go-ivn. 

The  Black  Horse.  There  are  good  horses, 
I  believe,  of  every  colour,  but  one  has  never 
heard  it  claimed  for  the  black  that  it  is 
generally  possessed  of  more  speed  or  en- 
durance than  the  bay,  the  roan,  or  the  brown 
chestnut.  So  that  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
account  for  the  frequency  even  to-day  of 
the  Black  Horse  as  a  London  tavern-sign. 
The  heavy  breeds  of  the  English  horse, 
drawn  from  the  northern  parts  of  Europe, 
are  very  frequently  black,  but  a  full-blood 
black  horse  is  very  seldom  met  with.  Youatt 
speaks  of  the  heavy  black  of  Lincolnshire 
and  the  midland  counties  as  "  a  noble 
animal  .  .  .  almost  beyond  price  if  he  could 
be  rendered  more  active."*  Is  it  this  useful 
breed  employed  as  a  "pad"  that  gave  rise 
to  the  sign  of  the  Black  Horse?  It  must 
have  been  a  breed  very  extensively  favoured 
to  have  become  so  popular  on  the  signboard, 
although  one  of  old  Ray's  proverbs  speaks, 
as  most  proverbs  do,  very  truly,  when  it 
says  that  "a  good  horse  cannot  be  of  a  bad 
colour."  Notes  relating  to  no  less  than 
twenty-one  instances  of  the  sign  of  the  Black 
Horse,  in  London  alone,  are  in  the  writer's 
possession,  besides  the  twenty-six  given  in 
the  London  Directory  for  1879 ;  but  with  the 
exception  of  the  Bell  and  Blackhorse,  it  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  not  one  instance  is 
even  alluded  to,  apparently,  in  the  History 
of  Signboards. 

The  rod  for  their  own  back  which  the 
populace  kept  in  pickle  when  they  resented 
any  effort  on  the  part  of  a  venal  Government 
to  narrow  the  operations  of  the  gin  scourge 
was  exemplified  on  behaviour  such  as  that  of 
which  they  were  guilty  on  a  certain  occasion 
at  the  Black  Horse  alehouse  in  Grosvenor 
Mews.  In  the  afternoon  of  one  Thursday 
in  October,  1737,  two  well-dressed  men 
entered  the  alehouse  in  question  and,  pre- 
tending to  be  the  landlord's  acquaintance — 
the  latter  being  then  from  home — induced 
his  wife  to  let  them  have  a  quartern  of  gin, 
which  they  put  into  a  small  bottle.  This 
they  were  about  to  carry  to  a  Justice  (as  was 
supposed)  in  order  to  inform  against  her, 
*  Youatt,  The  Horse,  1866,  p.  348. 


when  the  coachmen  in  the  mews,  being 
apprised  of  their  action,  seized  and  dragged 
them  through  the  channels  into  Bond  Street, 
where  one  of  them  was  run  over  by  a  chariot 
and  bruised  in  a  desperate  manner.  The 
other  was  taken  to  the  stable-yard  in  Han 
over  Street,  where  they  ducked  him  several 
times.  He  was  then  conducted  by  the 
beadle  to  the  end  of  Swallow  Street,  and 
again  attacked  by  the  mob,  "  who  us'd  him 
so  roughly  that  'tis  thought  his  Life  is  in 
danger."* 

Thomas  Bowles,  publisher  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  appears  to  have  been  the  father 
of  John  Bowles  at  the  Black  Horse  in  Corn- 
hill,  one  of  Hogarth's  earliest  patrons,  who 
is  said  to  have  bought  many  a  plate  from 
Hogarth  by  the  weight  of  the  copper.  It  is 
certain  that  the  elder  Bowles,  of  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  actually  offered,  "  over  a  bottle," 
half-a-crown  a  pound  for  a  plate  just  then 
completed.t  The  History  and  Antiquities  of 
the  Abbey  Church  of  St.  Peter,  Westminster, 
in  two  vols.,  folio,  by  John  Dart,  was  adver- 
tised as  "  Printed  for  Thomas  Bowles,  in  St. 
Paul's  Churchyard  ;  and  John  Bowles  at  the 
Black  Horse,  in  Cornhill."J  The  elder  and 
younger  Bowles  also  advertise  "  A  New  and 
Correct  Map  of  Middlesex,  Essex  and  Hert- 
fordshire, with  the  Roads,  Rivers,  Sea-Coast, 
&c.  actually  surveyed  by  John  Wharbutton, 
Esq:  Somerset  Herald,  and  F.R.S.  .  .  . 
Price  1  os.  6d.  in  Sheets,  and  16s.  on  Cloth 
colour'd.  This  Map  has  700  Coats  of  Arms 
of  the  Nobility  and  Gentry  of  those 
Counties,  and  is  about  six  Foot  long  and 
four  deep."g 

Dr.  James's  Medicinal  Dictionary,  printed 
by  the  Society  of  Booksellers  for  Promoting 
Learning,  is  advertised  by  J.  Crockatt  at  the 
Black  Horse,  near  Fleet  Bridge,  in  Fleet 
Street.  James  is  said  to  have  been  assisted 
in  this  work  by  his  friend  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
has  warmly  eulogized  his  professional  skill  in 
his  Lives  of  the  Poets.  Crockatt  published  at 
the  Black  Horse  "John  Dean's  Narrative: 
or  The  true  Account  of  the  Loss  of  the  Ship 
Sussex,  as  sent  by  him  to  the  Directors  of 

*  Si.  fames' s  Evening  Post,  October  27,  1 737. 
t   The  Works  of  William  Hogarth,  by  Nichols  and 
Steevens,  1808,  vol.  i.,  p.  18. 

X  Daily  Advertiser,  July  8,  1742. 
§  Ibid.,  circa  1742. 


THE  LONDON  SIGNS  AND  THEIR  ASSOCIATIONS. 


307 


the  Honourable  East  India  Company''  He 
also  advertises  "  The  Deplorable  State  of  the 
Colony  of  Georgia  in  America.  Written  by 
the  unhappy  Landholders  there,  who  are 
retir'd  to  South  Carolina.  Dedicated  to 
General  Oglethorpe."* 

The  Black  Horse  tavern  in  Old  Boswell 
Court,  Fleet  Street,  was,  within  Diprose's 
memory,  "  one  of  the  best  frequented  and 
most  jovial  houses  of  its  kind  in  London 
before  the  advent  of  music  halls, — in  fact  it 
was  the  concert-room  of  that  time."f  The 
popular  belief  that  Johnson's  Court  and  Bos- 
well's  Court  were  so  called  after  Dr.  Johnson 
and  James  Boswell  is  only  a  vulgar 
error.  J 

The  Black  Horse  in  Aldersgate  Street, 
No.  114  or  115,  existed  so  late  as  1888,  and 
possibly  still  exists.  A  Beaufoy  token 
(No.  92)  relates  to  a  Horse  in  Aldersgate 
Street,  probably  the  same. 

There  was  a  Black  Horse  in  Golden  Lane.§ 

The  Black  Horse  until  lately  at  No.  30, 
Oxenden  Street,  Haymarket,  was  evidently  a 
well-known  place  in  1723  : 

"  This  is  to  give  Notice  to  all  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen,  Lovers  of  Musick,  that  Mr. 
Tabel,  the  famous  Instrument  Maker,  has 
3  fine  Harpsichords  to  dispose  of,  which  are 
and  will  be  the  last  of  his  making,  since  he 
intends  to  leave  off  Business.  They  are  to 
be  seen  till  the  25th  of  this  Month,  at  his 
House  in  Oxenden-street,  over  against  the 
black  Horse,  near  Piccadilly.  N.B.  He  has 
also  some  fine  Aire-wood  for  furnishing  the 
inside  to  dispose  of."  || 

The  Black  Horse  at  the  corner  of  Jermyn 
Street  (No.  46,  Haymarket)  has  the  same 
sign  in  Strype's  map  of  1720. 

From  the  Black  Horse  in  the  Broadway, 
Westminster,  was  advertised  as  stolen  or 
strayed  fjpm  the  grounds  of  Mr.  Philip 
Reading,  at  Little  Holland  House,  between 
Kensington  and  Hammersmith,  "a  bay  Geld- 
ing, 14  hands  3  Inches  high,  Goose  rump'd, 
Lop-ear'd,  with  a  Star  on  his  Forehead,  one 
white  Foot  behind,  and  a  switch  Tail." II 

*  Daily  Advertiser,  March  5,  1742. 
+  History  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Clement  Danes. 
I  Cunningham's  London. 
§  Daily  Advertiser,  June  23,  1742. 
||  London  Evening  Post,  May  30,  1723. 
V  Ibid.,    October    29,    1723.      See  also    Charing 
Cross  and  its  Neighbourhood,  1906,  p.  130. 


"  To  be  SOLD, 

"  A  Light  Berlin  Chariot,  arch'd  and  well 
carv'd,  and  a  Pair  of  Harness,  extraordinary 
good.  Enquire  of  Mrs.  Talbut,  at  the 
'  Black  Horse  '  Inn  in  New  Bond  Street,  over- 
against  Grosvenor  Mews."* 

That  the  Black  Horse  was  generally  a 
travellers'  inn  is  indicated  by  the  frequency 
with  which  horses  and  vehicles  are  advertised 
to  be  sold  at  such  a  sign:  A  "Black 
Gelding,"  at  the  Bltck  Horse  in  Coleman 
Street  ;j  a  "  good  one-horse  Chaise,"  at  the 
Black  Horse,  at  the  bottom  of  the  Minories  ;  J 
a  "  Very  handsome  light  Landau,"  at  the 
Black  Horse,  in  Rathbone  Place  ;§  and, 
"Lost  on  the  1st  of  July,  1723  (supposed  to 
be  dropp'd  out  of  the  Pocket  by  gelling  on 
Horseback,  near  Hanover  Square)  An 
Account  of  Sawyers  Work  done:  Whoever 
will  bring  it  to  Mr.  Deody  (?  Doody),  at  the 
'Black  Horse'  in  Monmouth  Street,  shall 
have  reasonable  Satisfaction,  it  being  of  no 
Use  but  to  the  Owner."  || 

"  LOST  on  Sunday  the  27th  of  May, 
"A  large  mottled  Spanish  pointer,  with 
a  stern  Look,  his  Teeth  broke,  one  Pap 
larger  than  the  rest,  when  lost  a  Leather 
Collar,  with  a  plain  Brass  Plate,  and  a  Brass 
Swivel,  with  the  Swivel  broke.  Whoever 
will  bring  him  to  the  Green  Man  upon 
Epping  Forest,  or  to  the  black  Horse  in 
George  Yard,  near  Whitechapel  Church, 
shall  receive  a  Guinea  Reward. "H 

The  Black  Horse  was  the  sign  of  the 
house  which  is  now  No.  62,  Lombard  Street, 
where  it  was  hung  out  in  1740  by  Messrs. 
Bland  and  Barnett,  who  called  their  house 
the  Black  Horse  after  the  sign  under  which 
they  had  been  established  so  many  years  a 
few  doors  eastward.*"' 

At  the  Black  Horse  in  Long  Acre,  an  inn 
kept  by  his  father,  and  much  frequented  by 
coachmakers,  Thomas  Stothard,  the  painter, 
was  born.  H 

The  Black  Horse  in  Bow  Street,  Shug 
Lane,  Great  Queen  Street,  Water  Lane,  and 

*  Daily  Advertiser.  June  29,  1742. 

t  Ibid. .  July  13,  1742.  J  Ibid.,  April^28,  1742. 

§  Ibid.  ||  IVtekly  Journal,  October  5,  1723. 

IT   Craftsman,  July  14,  1733. 

**  F.  G.  H.  Price's  Signs  of  Lombard  Street. 

tt  Wheatley's  London. 

2  Q    ? 


3o8 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


in  Finsbury  Fields.  See  Notes  and  Queries, 
10  S.,  Vol.  vii.,  p.  475. 

The  Black  Horse  "  near  the  Mews,"  men- 
tioned by  Mr.  William  Norman  in  a  list  of 
London  Coaching  Houses  in  1680  (Notes  and 
Queries,  10  S.,  Vol.  viii.,  p.  1)  is  perhaps  iden- 
tical with  the  tavern  which  was  pulled  down  to 
make  way  for  the  Coliseum  in  St.  Martin's 
Lane  (see  Charing  Cross,  1906,  p.  174). 

The  Black  Horse  and  Bell r 

( To  be  continued. ) 


at  tbe  £>irjn  of  tfte  HDtoL 

The  book  sales  of  recent  years 
have  revealed  various  fresh 
developments  and  new  de- 
partures in  the  way  of  book- 
collecting,  and  one  of  the  most 
marked  features  has  been  the 
enhanced  demand  for  every- 
thing bearing  upon  the  early 
history  and  settlement  of 
America.  The  bibliographies 
of  the  subject  form  a  small  library  in  them- 
selves. There  are  bibliographies  of  the  pre- 
Columbian  discoverers  of  America,  bibli- 
ographies of  its  early  literature,  colonial 
government,  early  history,  native  languages, 
as  well  as  a  large  array  of  volumes  dealing 
generally  with  books  about  the  Continent. 
Without  underrating  the  value  of  the  labours 
of  Henry  Harrisse,  Stevens,  and  other  bibli- 
ographers, it  may  safely  be  said  that  the  chief 
work  of  this  kind — the  only  really  compre- 
hensive American  bibliography — is  Joseph 
Sabin's  Dictionary  of  Books  relating  to 
America. 

i2F*  t2r*  w^ 

Its  deficiencies  are  many,  no  doubt.  The 
first  volume  appeared  in  1868,  and  not  only 
have  a  very  large  number  of  books  and 
pamphlets  relating  to  America  been  dis- 
covered since  that  date,  but  prices  have  been 
revolutionized.  It  is  satisfactory,  therefore, 
to  hear  that  a  new  Bibliographer's  Manual  of 
American  History,  based  on  Sabin,  but 
supplementing  his    deficiencies,    has    been 

*  Beaufoy  Tokens,  1855,  No.  466. 


undertaken  by  two  American  bibliographers 
—Mr.  T.  L.  Bradford  and  Mr.  S.  V.  Henkels. 
This  new  work  will  extend  to  five  royal 
octavo  volumes,  with  an  average  of  1,600 
titles  in  each  volume.  The  last  volume  will 
include  a  double  index — (1)  short  titles 
arranged  alphabetically  by  States,  and  (2)  of 
subjects.  The  prices  realized  for  each  item 
during  the  last  forty  years  will  be  given. 

O*  *2r*  t?* 

A  propos  of  America,  I  note  that  the  two 
earliest  items  in  American  cartography  are 
being  offered  for  sale.  Messrs.  Henry 
Stevens,  Son,  and  Stiles,  of  Great  Russell 
Street,  have  for  sale,  on  behalf  of  the  owner, 
Prince  Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee,  a  volume 
of  maps,  which  contains  the  two  unique 
maps  of  the  world,  engraved  in  1507  and 
1 5 16,  which  were  discovered  in  the  library  of 
Wolfegg  Castle  by  Professor  Fischer  six  years 
ago.  The  map  of  1507,  long  supposed  to 
have  been  lost,  was  compiled  by  Martin 
Waldeseemiiller,  a  geographer  of  St.  Die  in 
the  Vosges,  where  was  published  the  famous 
little  book,  of  the  same  date  as  the  mao, 
which  first  suggested  that  the  new-found 
Western  continent  should  be  called  "  America 
because  Americus  [Vespucius]  discovered  it.:' 

%2r*  i2r*  l2r* 

The  peculiar  interest  of  this  map — a  large 
wall-chart  in  twelve  sheets — lies  in  the  fact 
that  reference  was  made  to  it  in  this  little 
book,  and  that  it  was  the  first  map  in  which 
America  received  its  present  name.  A 
thousand  copies  were  printed ;  only  this  one 
has  survived.  The  later  map  of  15 16  is 
similar  in  size,  and  was  compiled  by  the 
same  geographer ;  oddly  enough,  it  does  not 
give  the  name  America  to  the  New  World, 
though  it  includes  various  details  that  had 
been  added  to  geographical  knowledge  in 
the  nine  years  that  had  elapsed  since  the 
publication  of  the  earlier  map.  The  modest 
price  asked  for  these  two  cartographical 
rarities  is  ,£60,000. 

i&*  O*  O^ 

The  Provost  of  University  College,  London, 
contributes  to  the  current  number  of  the 
International  Journal  of  Apocrypha  a  paper 
on  the  Old  English  poem  of  Judith,  which  is 
contained  in  the  MS.  known  as  Vitellius 
A.  XV.  at  the  British  Museum.  Among 
other  contributions,  there  is  an  interesting 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


3t>9 


article  by  Canon  Warner  on  the  connexion 
of  the  Book  of  Tobit  with  the  legend  of 
Achiacharus,  a  legend  so  widespread  in  the 
folk-lore  of  the  East.  The  Journal  is  pub- 
lished at  15,  Paternoster  Row,  price  sixpence. 

t^*  ^?*  t^* 

Mr.  Warwick  Wroth  has  a  new  book  in  hand 
which  will  supplement  his  London  Pleasure 
Gardens  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  entitled 
Cremorns  and  the  Later  London  Pleasure 
Gardens.  It  will  give  an  account  of  some 
of  the  more  notable  taverns  and  tea-gardens, 
which  were  so  popular  during  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century,  in  various  parts  of 
London  and  the  suburbs.  The  work  will 
contain  much  little  -  known  information, 
derived  from  forgotten  newspapers  and  stray 
hand-bills,  and  will  be  illustrated  by  many 
curious  views,  plans,  scenes,  and  facsimiles. 
It  will  be  published  by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock. 

t£T*  O*  *2r* 

The  London  collector  may  also  like  to  note 
that  a  volume  entitled  Old  London  Memorials, 
written  and  illustrated  by  Mr.  W.  J.  Roberts, 
has  been  added  to  Mr.  Werner  Laurie's  series 
of  "  Leather  Booklets." 

^*  t£>*  t&* 

I  note  with  much  regret  the  death,  on  July  5, 
of  Mr.  J.  Romilly  Allen,  F.S.A.,  at  the  age 
of  sixty.  Mr.  Romilly  Allen  had  for  some  years 
been  editor  of  The  Reliquary  and  of  the 
Archceologia  Cambrensis.  Originally  he  was 
an  engineer  by  profession,  and  his  first  book, 
published  in  1876,  was  on  the  Design  and 
Construction  of  Dock  Walls ;  but  for  many- 
years  past  he  has  been  known  as  a  distin- 
guished archaeologist.  His  Early  Christian 
Symbolism  in  Great  Britain,  1887,  is  a  classic 
in  its  way.  Mr.  Allen's  other  publications 
included  Monumental  History  of  the  Early 
British  Church,  1889;  Early  Christian 
Monuments  of  Scotland,  1903;  and  Celtic 
Art  in  Pagan  and  Christian  Times,  1904,  the 
last  named  being  one  of  Messrs.  Methuen's 
series  of  "The  Antiquary's  Books." 

t2&  *£&  <£* 

A  university  memorial  to  the  late  Professor 
Pelham,  President  of  Trinity,  is  being  pro- 
moted at  Oxford;  it  is  to  take  the  form  of 
a  studentship  in  connexion  with  the  British 
School  at  Rome.  A  strong  committee  has 
been  formed ;  Professor  Bywater  is  acting  as 
treasurer,  and  Messrs.  Tracey,  of  Keble,  and 


Tod,  of  Oriel,  as  secretaries.  The  Chancellor, 
in  asking  to  be  associated  with  the  movement, 
wrote  that  as  an  undergraduate  he  used  to 
attend  Professor  Pelham's  lectures,  which  in- 
vested three  great  periods  of  Roman  history 
with  all  the  dignity  of  science  and  all  the 
fascination  of  romance. 

ti3^  t^*  £r* 

I  paid  a  visit  the  other  day  to  the  shop  of 
Messrs.  Henry  Sotheran  and  Co.,  in  Piccadilly, 
to  see  a  remarkable  collection  of  choice  and 
valuable  books  and  manuscripts,  which  will 
continue  on  view  through  the  month  of 
August.  It  is  not  often  that  so  many  biblio- 
graphical rarities  are  to  be  seen  in  the  show- 
cases of  one  shop.  Many  of  the  manuscripts 
are  of  great  historical  and  artistic  interest ; 
but  the  outstanding  features  of  the  collection 
are  the  liturgical  books,  the  Shakespeareana, 
the  Bibles,  a  splendid  Caxton— a  perfect 
copy  of  the  Golden  Legend  (1483),  for  which 
^"4,000  is  asked — and  a  fine  copy  of  Heine- 
ken's  first  edition  of  the  Biblia  Pauperum 
{ante  1450),  one  of  the  earliest  of  "  block- 
books." 

t^*  t2r*  t£^ 

The  liturgical  books  include  a  most  desirable 
collection  of  various  editions  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  beginning  with  the  first  and 
second  issues,  March  and  May,  1549,  of 
Whitchurch's  edition  of  Edward  VI.'s  first 
Prayer  Book,  and  Grafton's  edition,  also  pub- 
lished in  March,  1549,  and  ending  with  the 
American  Prayer  Book  (Philadelphia)  of 
1828 — thirty-four  rare  issues  in  all.  The 
Shakespeareana  include  net  only  a  remarkable 
series  of  the  quartos,  but  a  very  choice  set  of 
the  first  four  folios.  Space  would  fail  me  to 
name  a  tithe  of  the  beautiful  and  rare  books 
and  sumptuous  bindings  that  adorn  this  col- 
lection of  Messrs.  Sotheran.  A  full  descrip- 
tive catalogue,  entitled  Bibliotheca  Preliosa, 
embellished  with  twenty-six  fine  plates  of 
titles,  specimen  pages,  illuminated  initials, 
bindings,  etc.,  can  be  had  for  a  modest 
half-crown. 

4&&  1£T*  t&* 

Some  interesting  royal  manuscripts,  mostly 
of  the  Tudor  period,  have  recently  been 
arranged  in  a  special  case  in  the  Manuscript 
Room  of  the  British  Museum.  Among  them 
is  a  small  manual  of  prayers  written  in 
English  on  vellum,  and  said  to  have  been  the 


3io 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


copy  used  by  Lady  Jane  Grey  on  the  scaffold, 
February  12,  1553.  On  the  margin  are  a 
few  lines  addressed  to  Sir  John  Gage,  who  at 
that  time  was  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  and 
to  her  father,  the  Duke  of  Suffolk.  Next  to 
this  may  be  seen  a  small  volume  containing  a 
calendar  and  a  table  for  calculating  the 
movable  feasts,  written  by  Edward  Seymour, 
Duke  of  Somerset.  On  the  flyleaf  are  a  few 
verses  from  the  Scriptures,  and  a  statement 
to  the  effect  that  they  were  written  the  day 
before  his  execution,  January  22,  1552. 
There  is  also  a  very  small  book  bound  in 
gold  covers  with  open-leaf  tracery,  and  con- 
taining a  metrical  version  of  some  Psalms. 
This  little  volume  is  said  to  have  been  given 
by  Anne  Boleyn  when  on  the  scaffold  to  one 
of  her  maids  of  honour. 

The  second  part  of  the  Tebtunis  Papyri, 
edited  by  Dr.  B.  P.  Grenfell  and  Dr.  A.  S. 
Hunt,  with  the  assistance  of  Professor  E.  J. 
Goodspeed  of  Chicago,  was  published  by 
Mr.  Henry  Frowde  in  July.  The  first 
volume,  published  in  1902,  dealt  with  the 
papyri  obtained  from  the  mummies  of  croco- 
diles ;  the  new  volume  deals  with  the  papyri 
found  in  the  houses  of  Umm  el  Baragat  (the 
ancient  Tebtunis),  most  of  the  documents 
belonging  to  the  first  three  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era.  An  important  literary  frag- 
ment is  that  of  the  lost  Greek  original  of 
Dictys  Cretensis,  who  is  referred  to  more  than 
once  in  Chaucer.  The  present  work,  it  may 
be  recalled,  is  the  result  of  excavations  under- 
taken for  the  University  of  California,  with 
funds  provided  by  Mrs.  Phcebe  A.  Hearst. 

£F*  9&*  9£^* 

Now  that  the  holiday  season  is  upon  us  I 
may  mention  that  the  same  publisher, 
Mr.  Henry  Frowde,  whose  publications  range 
from  the  most  imposing  and  erudite  of  folios 
and  quartos  to  attractive  miniature  editions  of 
prose  and  verse,  sends  me  three  of  the  latest 
issues  in  his  series  of  "The  World's  Classics." 
These  are  Leigh  Hunt's  The  Town,  Richard 
Cobbold's  Margaret  Catchpole,  and  R.  H. 
Home's  The  New  Spirit  of  the  Age,  with 
brief  introductions  by  Mr.  Austin  Dobson, 
Mr.  C.  K.  Shorter,  and  Mr.  W.  Jerrold 
respectively.  Series  of  reprints  are  so  apt 
to  run  in  grooves  that  it  is  refreshing  to  see 
a  somewhat  new  line  being  taken.     Leigh 


Hunt's  book  is  too  well  known  to  call  for 
comment ;  but  in  this  cheap  and  handy  form 
— the  volumes  cost  but  a  shilling  a-piece  — 
its  pleasant  and  gossipy  chapters  are  sure  to 
attract  a  host  of  new  readers.  Cobbold's 
story  of  the  Suffolk  tragedy,  which  closely 
follows  the  real  events  that  once  stirred  the 
whole  country,  and  Home's  revival  of  the 
idea  which  first  inspired  Hazlitt — a  series  of 
sketches  of  literary  contemporaries — will  both 
be  new  to  the  present  generation,  and  the 
publisher  has  done  a  useful  service  in  making 
them  accessible  in  so  convenient  a  form. 

^*  1&*  t£ir* 

With  such  books  in  his  pocket,  the  holiday- 
maker  may  go  forth  with  the  old  English 
song  on  his  lips — supposing  the  delayed 
summer  to  have  at  last  arrived,  Men  entendu — 

Oh  for  a  booke  and  a  shadie  nooke, 

Eyther  in  doore  or  out  ! 
With  the  greene  leaves  whispering  overhead, 

Or  the  streete  cryes  all  about. 
Where  I  maie  reade  all  at  my  ease, 

Both  of  the  newe  and  old  ; 
For  a  jollie  goode  booke  whereon  to  looke 

Is  better  to  me  than  golde. 

BlBLIOTHECARV. 


antiquarian  U3eto0. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information jrom  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

SALES. 
Messrs.  Puttick  and  Simpson's  two  days'  sale  of 
bouks  and  manuscripts,  concluded  yesterday,  com- 
prised some  interesting  specimens  of  Horn  Books, 
with  the  alphabet,  words  of  two  letters,  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  ranging  in  date  from  1750  to 
1810,  all  exhibited  by  Mr.  K.  R.  II.  Mackenzie, 
in  illustration  of  a  paper  read  befoie  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  in  May,  1863.  Mr.  Quaritch  purchased 
the  series  for  ^23.  The  sale  also  included  a  fine 
autograph  letter  on  one  page  folio  from  George 
Washington,  dated  Mount  Vernon,  July  5,  1763,  and 
addressed  to  Colonel  Bassett  at  Eltham — ,£26  (Sabin) ; 
and  an  interesting  MS.  document  on  three  pages 
folio,  being  the  original  warrant  and  schedule  of  stores 
for  the  celebrated  voyage  of  discovery  of  Drake  and 
Hawkins  in  iiJ95,^io(Hiersmann). —  Times,  June  21. 

+§  -0£  4>$ 

Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  sold  on  the 
8th  inst.  the  following  important  books  and  MSS. 
from  the  library  of  the  Dukes  of  Altemps,  of  the 
Piazza  S.  Luigi  dei  Francesi,  Rome :  Aristophanis 
Comediae,  editto  princefs,  Venet.,  Aldus,  1498,  ,£22  ; 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


311 


Aristotelis  Opera,  editio  princeps,  4  vols,  (of  5), 
Aldus,  1495-98,  ,£41  ;  Berlinghieri,  Geographia  in 
Terza  Rima,  Firenze,  1481,  with  early  metal  maps, 
£$1  ;  Capoddista,  Itinerario  de  Terra  Santa  (Perugia, 
1474),  ,£20  ;  Carazuolo  di  Neapoli,  Dialogo  de  Pali- 
maco  et  de  Piliarcho  (Napoli,  Kissinger,  c.  1472), 
£16  10s.  ;  Cavalcha  da  Vico,  De  Fructi  della  Lingua 
e  Specchio  di  Croce,  Firenze,  c.  1493,  ^21  ;  Cere- 
monies Sacras  Ecclesije  Rominoe,  1560,  fine  binding 
for  Pope  Sixtus  V.,  ,£26  ;  E'ymologicon  Magnum 
Gnece,  large  paper,  Venet.,  Z.  Calliergus,  1499,  ^21  ; 
Florus  et  Sextus  Ruffus,  MS.  on  vellum,  Si.ec.  XV., 
fine  Italian  decorations,  ^106 ;  Eustathii  Commen- 
taria  in  Homerum  Grasce,  editio  princeps,  printed 
upon  vellum,  4  vols.,  Romas,  A.  Bladus,  1542-51, 
,£245  ;  Isocrates,  Orationes  Grasce,  editio  princeps, 
Mediol.,  1493,^32  10s. ;  Libellus  de  Natura  Animalium 
perpulchre  Moralizatus,  1524,  ^90;  Lefevre,  Le 
Recueil  des  Histoires  de  Troyes,  Lyon,  M.  Topie, 
etc.,  1490,  £176  ;  Maximilianus,  Epistola  de  His- 
panorum  in  Orientem  Navigations,  Romas,  1523, 
^30  ;  Miechow,  Chronica  Polonorum,  Cracovias, 
1 521,  £1$  ;  Politiani  Miscellanea  Centuries  Primes, 
Florent.,  1489,  printed  upon  vellum,  ^100 ;  Pro- 
nosticatio  in  Latino  (39  11.),  Venet.,  c.  15 10,  ^21  ; 
Pronosticatione  o  Vero  Judicio  Vulgare,  Venet.,  151 1, 
^30;  Ptolemaei  Geographia,  Argent.,  1513,  .£74; 
Legenda  Sanctorum  Trium  Regum,  Mutinae,  1480, 
^19;  Sextus  Aurelius  Victor,  Romas,  c.  1471,  .£24; 
Fr.  Silvester,  Apologia  de  Convenientia  Institutorum 
Rom.  Ecclesiaa,  fine  Medicean  binding  (Pope 
Clement  VII.),  1525,  ^32  ;  Suetonii  Vitas,  editio 
princeps,  Roma,  P.  de  Lignamine,  1470,  £62. — 
Athencewn ,  July  13. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCH^OLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

The  most  important  paper  in  the  new  volume 
(Vol.  XX.)  of  the  Surrey  Archaological  Collections  is 
"Stoke  D'Abemon  Church,"  by  Mr.  P.  M.  Johnston 
— a  very  full  and  careful  account  of  a  charmingly 
situated  ancient  church,  which  underwent  a  terrible 
mauling  in  a  "  restoration  "  which  took  place  some 
forty  years  ago.  The  drastic  maltreatment  of  that 
date  destroyed  many  ancient  features  of  a  very 
interesting  building.  Mr.  Johnston,  after  stating  the 
various  changes  then  made,  and  lamenting  the 
destruction  wrought,  describes  very  effectively  the 
history  of  the  church,  and,  by  the  help  of  various 
paintings,  engravings,  etc.,  still  in  existence,  its  con- 
dition and  appearance  prior  to  the  destructive 
"restoration"  and  enlargement  of  1866  and  subse- 
quent years.  There  are  several  appendixes  to  the 
paper,  including  one  of  special  importance.  This  is 
a  long  note  on  "  Thirteenth-Century  Church  Chests," 
including  a  general  descriptive  list  of  such  relics  in 
alphabetical  order  of  counties.  This  note  and  the 
paper  which  precedes  it  are  very  freely  illustrated  by 
good  photographic  plates  and  figures  in  the  text 
from  Mr.  Johnston's  own  admirable  drawings.  The 
volume  also  includes  "A  Rental  of  the  Manor  of 
Merstham  in  the  year  1522,"  a  date  when  the  manor 
was  still  monastic  property,  communicated  by  Lord 
Hylton;  a  brief  description  of  "The  Earthwork  at 


Lagham,"  near  Godstone,  by  Mr.  II.  E  Maiden, 
who  also  writes  on  "  Villenage  in  the  Weald  of 
Surrey";  and  illustrated  papers  on  "  Remains  of  an 
Ancient  Building  at  Rotherhithe,"  by  Mr.  P.  Norman  ; 
"  Recent  and  Former  Discoveries  at  Ilawkshill,"  by 
Mr.  R.  A.  Smith  ;  and  "  The  Manor  House,  By- 
fleet,"  by  Miss  F.  J.  Mitchell. 

^  ^  ^ 

In  the  new  part  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institution 
of  Cornwall  (Vol.  XVII.,  Part  I.),  Mr.  W.  P.  Carlyon- 
Brittonhasagood  paper,  with  illustrations,  on '"Cornish 
Numismatics,"  in  which  the  writer  deals  with  coins 
minted  within  the  bounds  of  the  county.  Another 
interesting  paper  is  that  by  Mr.  Thurstan  C.  Peter  on 
the  beautiful  story  of  "  Tristan  and  Iseult,"  with  a  fine 
illustration  of  a  Sicilian  coverlet,  dating  from  about 
A.D.  1400,  now  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum, 
the  fourteen  quilted  panels  of  which  contain  scenes 
from  the  early  part  of  the  story  of  Tristan.  Mr.  P. 
Jennings  writes  briefly  on  "  The  Mayoralty  of  Truro," 
and  the  Rev.  S.  Baring-Gould  concludes  his  "  Cornish 
Church  Dedications  " — a  series  of  papers  forming  a 
most  remarkable  contribution  to  the  literature  of 
hagiography.  The  part  also  includes  papers  on 
botany,  ornithology,  and  other  aspects  of  science 
which  do  not  come  within  our  purview.  The  present 
issue  well  sustains  the  high  reputation  of  the  Cornish 
Institution's  Journal. 


Twwrrrrv* 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

British  Numismatic  Society.— June  26. — Mr. 
Carlyon-Britton,  President,  in  the  chair.  Messrs. 
H.  R.  Garbutt,  George  Ing,  and  F.  H.  Oates  were 
elected  members. — Lieutenant-Colonel  H.  W.  Mor- 
rieson  read  a  paper  on  the  "  English  Silver  Coins  of 
James  I."  He  classified  his  subject  into  three  periods 
— namely,  first,  the  exvrgat  type,  so  called  from  the 
commencement  of  its  reverse  legend,  1603-04  ;  second, 
the  QWE  devs,  similarly  named  from  the  familiar 
motto,  Qua  Deus  conjunxit  nemo  separet,  adapted  by 
James  to  commemorate  the  union  of  the  Crowns  of 
England  and  Scotland,  1604-19  ;  and  the  third, 
a  continuation  of  this  type  under  William  Holle  as 
chief  engraver  to  the  Mint,  1619,  to  the  date  of  the 
King's  death  in  1625.  A  special  feature  of  the  mono- 
graph was  Colonel  Morrieson's  elucidation  of  a  diffi- 
culty which  has  always  puzzled  numismatic  students. 
Most  of  the  money  is  undated,  and  to  determine  the 
year  of  issue  of  a  particular  piece  and  its  place  in 
chronological  order,  the  usual  course  would  be  to 
refer  to  the  mint-mark  and  check  it  with  the  records 
of  the  Mint ;  but  in  this  reign  several  of  the  mint- 
marks  were  used  more  than  once,  and  therefore  the 
actual  date  of  the  coins  bearing  them  has  remained 
uncertain.  By  a  system  of  subdividing  the  whole 
coinage  of  the  reign  into  a  sequence  of  variations  in 
the  workmanship  of  the  dies,  particularly  in  relation 
to  the  bust,  titles,  and  punctuation,  Colonel  Morrieson 
has  been  enabled  to  solve  the  problem  and  assign 
each  doubtful  coin  to  its  true  year.  Amongst  the 
coins  exhibited  were  an  unpublished  3  M  of  Allectus, 
reading  on  the  reverse  fei.icitas  sec,  with  the 
London  mint-mark  in  the  exergue,  by  the  President  ; 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


a  quarter-stater  of  Cunobeline,  Evans  ix.,  13-14,  but 
reading  cvna,  found  at  Kettering;  a  British  stater 
reading  KP  above  the  horse,  found  at  Tonbridge  ;  a 
silver  piece  with  EPA  in  a  similar  position,  by  Mr. 
\V.  C.  Wells  :  a  noble  of  Richard  II.,  bearing  two 
pellets  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  royal  shield,  and 
other  variations,  by  Mr.  L.  A.  Lawrence  ;  and  a 
variety  of  the  Edinburgh  groat  of  James  III.,  by  Mr. 
II.  W.  Taffs.  Presentations  to  the  library  were  re- 
ceived from  the  President  and  Mr.  A.  II.  Baldwin. 

Note. — In  the  report  of  the  last  meeting,  on  May  29, 
{ante,  p.  274),  it  should  have  been  stated  that  Mr. 
Nathan  Heywood  contributed  an  account  of  some 
Roman  brass  coins  found  at  Lincoln,  which  he 
exhibited. 

4>§  +$  <>§ 

The  Connaught  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Antiquaries  ok  Ireland  was  held  at  Athlone  from 
July  2  to 6.  The  places  visited  included  the  castle  of 
Athlone  ;  the  old  Celtic  cross  at  Twyford,  containing 
a  remarkable  panel  representing  a  stag  hunted  by  a 
hound  ;  the  islands  of  Lough  Ree  ;  the  famous  ruins 
at  Clonmacnoise,  including  the  ruins  of  the  "  Seven 
churches,"  two  round  towers,  three  crosses,  the  nuns' 
chapel,  the  castle,  and  many  inscribed  slabs  and  frag- 
ments ;  and  the  old  town  of  Roscommon,  with  its 
ruins  of  abbey  and  castle. 

^>$  *$  *$ 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Royal  Archaeological  Insti- 
tute on  July  3,  Mr.  W.  H.  St.  John  Hope  read  a  paper 
on  "  Excavations  at  Wigmore  Abbey,  Herefordshire, 
in  1906." 

^  *$  **$ 

Members  of  the  Yorkshire  Arch.^ological 
Society  and  the  Thoresby  Society  made  a  joint 
excursion  to  Seamer  and  Scarborough  on  July  3.  At 
Seamer  Mr.  J.  Bilson,  F.S.A.,  described  St.  Martin's 
Church.  The  church,  he  said,  in  its  main  structure, 
represents  a  reconstruction  of  mid-twelfth  century 
daie,  and  follows  the  type  of  plan  universally  adopted 
in  the  Wold  churches  of  this  period  in  having  an  aisle- 
less  oblong  nave  and  square-ended  chancel,  with,  in 
this  case,  a  western  tower,  the  lower  part  of  which 
remained  until  it  was  destroyed  for  the  erection  of  the 
present  tower  towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 
With  the  exception  of  this  and  the  east  end  of  the 
chancel  the  twelfth-century  structure  is  practically 
complete,  and  therefore  of  considerable  interest. 

At  Scarborough  the  afternoon  was  spent  in  the 
parish  church  and  in  the  castle  on  the  hill.  The 
castle  walls,  the  vallum,  and  keep  have  recently  been 
handed  over  by  the  Woods  and  Forests  Department 
on  a  thirty  years'  lease  to  the  corporation,  who  have 
cleared  out  the  basements  of  the  keep  and  forebuild- 
ing.  They  have  removed  the  debris  from  the  well  in 
the  vallum  to  a  depth  of  about  177  feet,  and  they 
have  bared  the  fine  plinth  of  the  keep. 

Mr.  Thomas  Boynton,  F.S.A.,  gave  the  visitors  an 
account  of  the  pottery  and  relics  which  have  been 
found  during  the  clearing,  and  which  had  been 
thoughtfully  displayed  on  tables  for  the  inspection  of 
the  Society.  Among  the  pieces  of  pottery  were  frag- 
ments of  green  glazed  mediaeval  ware  as  early  as  the 
fourteenth  century ;  pieces  of  Cistercian  ware,  dark 
brown  glazed  pottery,  such  as  that  found  at  Fountains 


and  Kirkstall,  fragments  of  Cerman  stone  ware,  and 
pieces  of  large  vessels  in  white  glaze,  probably  Italian. 
There  were  stone  missiles  for  catapults,  iron  cannon- 
balls  and  shells  and  splinters  of  shells ;  pieces  of  chain 
and  plate  armour,  a  number  of  clay  tobacco-pipes, 
horses'  teeth,  tusks  of  wild-boar,  and  tines  of  red 
deer.  Most  interesting,  too,  was  a  number  of  un- 
finished farthings  of  Charles  I.,  together  with  a  large 
quantity  of  copper  scrap  or  clippings  of  the  metal 
Jrom  which  they  had  been  struck.  Mr.  Boynton 
communicated  with  the  British  Museum  authorities 
respecting  these  specimens  of  the  coiner's  art,  and 
they  say  that  the  right  to  issue  these  farthings  was 
granted,  in  1626,  for  a  period  of  seventeen  years  to 
the  Dowager-Duchess  of  Richmond  and  Sir  Francis 
Crane. 

*>$  ^  «0$ 

The  Dorset  Antiquarian  Field  Club  had  an 
excursion  on  June  20  to  the  valley  of  the  Pydel  and 
to  Buckland  Newton.  At  Little  Pydel  the  Rev. 
C.  W.  Dicker  called  attention  to  traces  of  a  British 
valley  settlement.  He  had,  he  said,  been  in  cor- 
respondence on  the  subject  with  Mr.  Gould,  the 
chairman  of  the  Earthworks  Committee  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries,  who  had  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  remains  of  the  settlement  belonged  to  an  ex- 
tremely remote  age,  probably  Palaeolithic,  and  that 
they  were  the  enclosures  in  which  the  stock-raising 
people  who  occupied  these  downs  kept  their  stock 
safe  from  the  attacks  of  wolves  and  also  of  human 
enemies  in  time  of  war.  They  would  in  the  course 
of  their  journey  that  day  pass  a  large  number  of 
these  enclosures,  many  of  them  upon  the  hills,  and 
undoubtedly  used  as  places  of  refuge  in  time  of  war. 
Pydelhinton  Church  was  visited  under  the  guidance 
of  the  rector,  Rev.  J.  E.  Hawksley,  who  briefly  gave 
the  history  of  the  church,  and  described  the  fabric. 
He  called  attention  to  three  brasses  of  interest,  the 
oldest  of  the  date  1445,  and  also  to  the  sedilia  and 
the  little  old  piscina.  There  were  five  bells  in  the 
tower.  On  the  north  side  of  the  chancel  outside  the 
church  he  invited  admiration  of  the  beautiful  moulded 
doorway.  Driving  on  to  South  House,  the  party, 
halted  to  view  the  ancient  "Common-field  Acres," 
which  are  still  clearly  visible  in  the  sloping  fields. 
At  Pydeltrenthide  Church  the  Vicar,  the  Rev.  C.  W. 
Dicker,  pointed  out  the  chief  features  of  interest. 
In  the  capitals  on  one  side  of  the  chancel  arch  they 
had  genuine  Norman  work  of  the  twelfth  century, 
and  on  the  other  side  a  Tudor  reproduction  of  the 
same.  He  pointed  out  traces  of  the  rood-screen,  the 
sockets  of  the  rood-beam,  and  the  stairway  leading  to 
the  rood-loft.  The  tower,  the  most  important  part  of 
the  present  building,  was  erected  in  1487,  as  was 
recorded  in  a  very  quaint  inscription  in  bad  and  diffi- 
cult Latin  carved  across  the  exterior.  The  south  aisle 
appeared  to  be  of  the  same  date  as  the  tower,  but 
the  north  was  a  little  later,  probably  a  little  after 
1500.  The  chancel  was  of  late  fourteenth-century 
work,  and  what  was  now  a  vestry,  and  was  formerly 
known  as  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  was  built 
about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  so  that 
the  church  as  it  now  stands  was  a  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  century  building,  with  a  little  Norman  work 
preserved  in  it.  The  font  was  thirteenth-century — 
Early  English  built  of  a  block  of  marble  from  the 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


3i3 


Turbeck  beds.  The  carved  wooden  cover  of  the 
font,  probably  Jacobean,  was  interesting  and  peculiar 
to  Dorset.  The  excursion  was  continued  to  the 
secluded  village  of  Plu>h,  and  Alton  Church,  and 
Buckland  Newton.  A  party  walked  from  Plush  over 
Ball  Hill  and  Church  Hill  through  a  "  Roman  Camp 
of  Observation  "  (overlooking  the  Vale  of  Blackmore), 
rejoining  the  brakes  at  Alton  Pancra<;.  At  Buckland 
Newton  the  Rev.  Canon  Ravenhill  described  and 
outlined  the  history  of  the  church,  and  entertained 
the  visitors  to  tea. 

■©$  «•$  «©£ 

The  eighteenth  Congress  or  Archaeological 
Societies  was  held  at  Burlington  House  on  July  3, 
Lord  Avebury  presiding.  After  the  transaction  of 
routine  business,  it  was  explained  that,  owing  to  the 
serious  illness  of  Mr.  Chalkley  Gould,  no  formal 
report  from  the  Earthworks  Committee  could  be  pre- 
sented ;  Mr.  Gould  was,  however,  preparing  a  biblio- 
graphy of  publications  on  the  subject  during  the  past 
year.  It  was  understood  that  much  work  had  been 
accomplished  in  a  subject  that  has  become  very 
attractive  to  archaeologists. 

Dr.  Laver  gave  a  brief  account  of  work  that  had 
been  done  in  exploring  the  Red  Hills  in  Essex. 
These  consisted  of  deposits  of  burnt  earth,  generally 
containing  fragments  of  late  Celtic  pottery.  They 
were  found  along  creeks  and  the  seashore  at  about 
5  feet  above  present  high-water  mark,  and  were  sur- 
rounded by  a  rough  moat.  That  they  were  not 
refuges  for  cattle  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  high 
ground  often  adjoined  them.  They  were  distinct, 
and  not  part  of  any  general  settlement.  Dr.  Laver 
asked  that  other  societies  whose  counties  bordered 
on  the  sea  should  look  out  for  similar  mounds  and 
record  them.  It  was  believed  that  they  were  to  be 
found  in  Lincolnshire,  Suffolk,  and  Kent,  and  pro- 
bably in  other  counties. — On  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Alfred  Nutt,  it  was  agreed  by  the  Congress  to  ask  its 
component  societies  to  assist  the  Folk-Lore  Society  in 
the  collection  of  all  printed  matter  relating  to  folk- 
lore in  reference  to  counties. — A  paper  by  Dr.  Copin- 
ger  was  read,  giving  an  account  of  his  method  in  pre- 
paring his  monumental  work  on  Suffolk  Records, 
which  has  brought  together  references  to  all  publica- 
tions of  the  Record  Office,  the  MS.  collections  in  the 
British  Museum  and  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  and  most  other  sources.  He  strongly 
urged  the  paramount  importance  of  the  preparation 
of  such  works  of  reference,  in  order  that  histories  of 
counties  might  be  adequately  treated.  It  was  decided 
to  print  and  circulate  Dr.  Copinger's  paper,  and  to 
tender  to  him  the  thanks  of  the  Congress. 

An  account  was  given  of  the  replies  received  to  a 
paper  sent  out  to  secretaries  asking  for  information 
as  to  the  calendars  published  by  societies  on  various 
subjects,  such  as  Church  Bells  and  Plate,  Feet  of 
Fines,  Inq.  post  Mortem,  etc. — On  the  motion  of 
Mr.  Fry,  a  committee  was  appointed,  with  power  to 
add  to  its  number,  to  take  steps  to  make,  through 
various  sub-committees,  bibliographies  of  such  calen- 
dars and  archreological  records,  and  to  arrange  for 
publishing  them  and  keeping  them  up  to  date.  A 
proposal  to  publish  a  third  list  of  printed  parish  regis- 
ters was  referred  to  this  committee. 
VOL.  III. 


On  June  20  the  members  of  the  East  Herts 
Arch.eological  Society  visited  the  Berkham- 
stead  and  Bayford  district.  The  chief  places  of  in- 
terest seen  were  the  churches  at  Little  Berkham- 
stead,  Essendon,  and  Bayford,  and  the  old  houses  at 
Roxford  and  Bayford  bury.  The  chief  features  at 
Little  Beikhampstead  Church  are  an  altar  table  (a 
memorial  to  Bishop  Ken,  born  here  in  July,  1637) ; 
a  pre- Reformation  bell,  inscribed  "  Ave  Maria  gracia 
plena  Dominus  tecum  benedic'a  tu  in  mulieribus  "  ; 
and  a  memorial  to  Cromwell  Fleetwood,  the  Pro- 
tector's grandson,  and  his  wife  Elizabeth.  At  Essen- 
don are  memorial  brasses,  an  alabaster  monument, 
and  a  handsome  gun-metal  bowl,  used  at  one  period 
for  baptism.  Bayford  Church  has  an  Elizabethan 
recessed  tomb,  with  effigy  of  Sir  George  Knighton. 
— Mr.  H.  T.  Pollard  rend  a  paper  on  the  three 
churches  which  have  stood  on  the  site.  Roxford  was 
formerly  a  moated  manor-house  of  the  Elizabethan 
period,  and  an  account  of  it  and  its  owners  was  given 
by  Mr.  W.  F.  Andrews.  Bayfordbury  House,  which 
was  built  in  1760  by  Sir  William  Baker,  contains  the 
celebrated  portraits  of  the  Kit  Cat  Club  and  many 
literary  treasures.  A  paper  thereon  was  read  by  the 
Rev.  J.  J.  Baker. — On  July  n  the  Society  had  an 
excursion  to  the  old  town  of  Ware,  where  the  Priory 
and  some  interesting  old  houses  were  visited.  In  the 
course  of  the  afternoon  the  American  Ambassador, 
the  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid,  unveiled  a  tablet  in  the 
Parish  Church  to  the  memory  of  the  Rev.  Charles 
Chauncy,  who  was  Vicar  of  Ware  1627- 1633,  emi- 
grated to  America,  and  became  President  (1654-1671) 
of  Harvard  College. 


«*? 


+Q        «©$ 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Hull  Scientific  and  Field 
Naturalists'  Club,  held  on  July  3,  the  president, 
Mr.  T.  Sheppard,  F.G.S.,  read  a  paper  on  "  The 
Roman,  Saxon,  and  Dane  in  East  Yorkshire."  Mr. 
Sheppard's  excavations  and  researches  have  extended 
over  many  years.  In  his  address,  Mr.  Sheppard  first 
dealt  with  the  probable  state  of  East  Yorkshire  before 
the  landing  of  the  Romans.  At  'hat  early  period  the 
Brigantes  and  Parisii  occupied  the  districts  bordering 
the  H umber.  These  people  were  by  no  means 
savages.  They  had  a  coinage  of  their  own,  and  were 
also  familiar  with  war  chariots,  one  of  which  Mr. 
Sheppard  had  recently  unearthed.  Of  the  Romans 
and  their  work  there  are  many  traces  in  East  York- 
shire. Roads,  villas,  and  cemeteries  were  described, 
as  well  as  dozens  of  "  finds  "  of  various  kinds,  such  as 
vases,  coins,  brooches,  etc.  Perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant discovery  in  recent  years  relating  to  this 
period  was  examined  by  the  author  two  years  ago — 
viz.,  the  Roman  villa  at  Harpham.  Of  the  Saxons, 
likewise,  there  are  very  many  relics  in  the  district. 
Several  cemeteries  have  been  excavated,  and  have 
yielded  well-made  and  artistically-ornamented  jewel- 
lery, weapons,  etc.  In  the  churches  also  there  are 
several  evidences  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  occupation.  Of 
the  Danes,  strangely  enough,  but  few  relics  occur. 
The  place-names,  however  (the  "bys,"  "thorps," 
and  "thwaites"),  are  good  proof  of  Danish  occupa- 
tion, in  addition  to  which  many  interesting  references 
from  early  writers  were  given. 

2  R 


3H 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


The  Berks  Arch.*:ological  Society  made  an 
excursion  in  June  to  Great  Coxwell,  Coleshill,  High- 
worth,  and  Buscot.  Among  the  many  places  visited 
not  the  least  interesting  was  the  Coxwell  great  Tithe 
Barn,  which  the  Kev.  P.  H.  Ditchfield  said  was  one 
of  the  finest  in  England.  It  was  not  so  large  as  some 
others,  and  was  surpassed  in  size  by  Cholsey  barn, 
now  destroyed,  and  Tisbury  barn,  near  Salisbury,  was 
also  a  serious  rival.  But  they  would  not  find  a  better 
preserved  barn  of  its  kind.  It  belonged  to  the  Cis- 
tercian Abbey  of  Beaulieu.  Coxwell  Manor  was 
given  to  that  Abbey  by  King  John  in  1204.  The 
barn  was  evidently  of  fourteenth-century  construction, 
and  as  they  drove  to  Highworth  they  would  see  a 
very  similar  building  of  the  same  kind,  though  of 
smaller  size.  Up  to  the  year  1835  all  tithes  were 
paid  in  kind — e.g.,  a  tenth  part  of  all  the  crops  of 
grain,  fruit,  herbs,  peas,  beans,  hay,  straw,  and  wool, 
was  given  to  the  clergy ;  so  that  all  tithe-owners, 
abbots,  rectors,  vicars,  and  others,  were  obliged  to 
have  barns  in  which  to  store  their  produce.  Hence, 
in  medi.eval  times  there  were  tithe  barns  in  nearly 
every  parish  in  England,  and  these  picturesque  old 
buildings  played  an  important  part  in  the  agricultural 
system  and  medkeval  life  of  our  ancestors.  Some  had 
single  or  double  transepts,  and  were  divided  into 
nave  and  aisles  by  arcades  of  stone  or  timber.  They 
saw  the  immense  high  towering  timbers  that  sup- 
ported the  roof  of  a  building  152  feet  long,  40  feet 
wide,  and  51  feet  high,  and  walls  4  feet  thick.  This 
was  not  so  much  a  tithe  barn  as  a  grain  barn.  Beaulieu 
Abbey  owned  the  manor,  and  farmed  it,  having  a 
bailiff  there  who  looked  after  their  property.  They 
had  seen  the  brass  of  John  and  William  Mores  in  the 
church.  William  Mores  was  described  as  sometime 
farmer  at  Cokyswell,  and  when  the  Abbey  was  dis- 
solved he  obtained  the  manor  and  farmed  it  for  him- 
self, as  his  own  master.  Antiquaries  would  be  in- 
terested in  the  fact  that  from  this  family  descended 
Edward  Rowe  Mores,  who  projected  a  history  of 
Berks,  but  did  not  progress  very  far  with  the  work. 
The  manor  was  purchased  from  the  Mores  by  Sir 
Henry  Pratt  of  Coleshill,  but  the  barn  and  manor 
house  did  not  descend  with  the  manor,  and  were  sold 
by  Lady  George  Pratt  Richmond,  alias  Webb,  in 
1700,  and  for  100  years  they  remained  in  his  family. 

**?  *>$  *>$ 

On  June  22  a  party  of  members  of  the  Bradford 
Historical  and  Antiquarian  Society  visited 
York.  From  Micklegate  Bar  a  walk  along  the  city 
wall  to  Skeldersgate  Postern,  passing  on  the  right 
Baile  Hill,  through  old  Skeldersgate,  Ousebridge, 
High  Ousegate,  the  Pavement  (noting  on  the  way 
the  house  in  which  Sir  Thomas  Herbert,  Bart.,  was 
born),  brought  the  party  to  Fossgate.  The  Mer- 
chants' Hall  was  next  seen.  When  the  Merchants' 
Company  was  in  its  prime  no  one  could  commence  in 
business  in  York  without  its  sanction.  The  hall, 
with  its  chapel,  is  one  of  York's  most  interesting 
possessions,  recalling  days  gone  by,  when  the  mer- 
chants met  here  to  manage  the  business  affairs  of  the 
company  and  the  city,  and  attended  service  to  ask 
for  a  blessing  on  their  home  and  foreign  enterprises. 
Services  are  still  held  in  it,  and  also  the  masons  meet 
there  occasionally  to  engage  in  some  of  their  mystical 
functions.     The    motto    over    the   gateway,    "  Dieu 


nous  donne  bonne  aventure,"  is  a  very  suitable  one. 
The  main  hall  has  an  open  timbered  ceiling,  and  is 
65  feet  long  and  _ about  40  feet  in  width.  Some  old 
paintings  are  to  be  seen,  and  altogether  the  old  hall  is 
well  worth  a  visit.  The  party  afterwards  visited  the 
Minster.  Afterwards,  in  conclusion,  a  few  moments 
were  given  to  St.  William's  College  and  St.  Mary's 
Abbey. 

On  July  13  members  of  the  same  Society  made  an 
excursion  to  Richmond,  North  Yorkshire,  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  Harry  Speight.  Visits  were  paid  to 
the  Castle,  the  tower  of  the  Grey  Friars'  Convent, 
and  the  Parish  Church,  and  a  most  enjoyable  walk 
was  made  to  Easby  Abbey,  the  way  thither  being  by 
the  low  road  near  the  river  Swale  and  the  return  by  a 
high  road  commanding  lovely  views  over  the  town 
and  surrounding  country.  Assembled  amid  the 
Abbey  ruins,  a  short  address  was  given  by  Mr. 
Speight  summarizing  the  history  of  the  building. 

^  4>$  *$ 

Members  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries on  July  6  visited  the  Halt  whistle  Burn 
Camp.  Rainy  weather  had  the  effect  of  limiting  the 
number  who  took  part  in  the  excursion.  The  party, 
on  arrival  at  Haltwhistle,  proceeded  to  the  parish 
church.  The  edifice  appears  to  have  been  built 
about  the  year  1250.  In  the  chancel  is  a  series  of 
very  fine  monuments,  including  a  recumbent  effigy  of 
an  armed  knight,  which  is  supposed  to  represent  a 
member  of  the  Blenkinsop  family.  There  are  in  the 
same  part  of  the  church  three  grave-covers.  The 
designs  of  the  crosses  upon  these  are  of  exceptional 
beauty.  The  inspection  of  the  camp,  of  which  Mr. 
J.  P.  Gibson  of  Hexham  supplied  important  details, 
amply  repaid  those  who  undertook  the  walk.  The 
camp  lies  upon  the  Stanegate,  which  has  been  traced 
from  beyond  Gilsland  to  the  North  Tyne,  opposite 
Wall  Railway-station.  Much  of  it  is  still  used  as  a 
road.  It  was  along  the  Stanegate  that  Edward  I. 
journeyed,  by  slow  and  painful  stages,  during  his  last 
illness,  when  marching  to  attack  the  Scotch  in  the 
year  1307. 

4>$  ^$  <4>$ 

The  second  summer  meeting  of  the  Durham  and 
Northumberland  Arch.eological  Society  was 
held  at  Wensley,  Middleham,  and  Jervaulx  on  June  20, 
but  the  weather  was  very  unpropitious.  Mr.  W.  H. 
Knowles  described  the  churches  at  Wensley  and 
Middleham.  The  former  contains  a  very  fine  brass 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  said  to  be  Flemish. 
At  Middleham  Mr.  Knowles  said  they  were  at  that 
moment  in  a  district  peculiarly  wrapped  up  with  the 
Neville  family.  He  thought  the  greater  part  of  the 
church  as  it  was  to-day  was  due  to  one  of  the  family 
who  did  so  much  at  Raby  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
As  one  of  the  Wardens  of  the  Marshes  on  the  Borders, 
he  was  instrumental  as  a  messenger  of  peace  between 
England  and  Scotland  at  that  time.  The  early 
portion  of  Middleham  Church  was  Early  English. 
The  arcade  must  have  been  of  that  early  period. 
There  had  been  a  considerable  number  of  alterations 
made  in  the  rebuilding.  Part  of  the  chancel  frame- 
work was  no  doubt  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Several 
of  the  windows  to  be  seen  were  the  original  ones. 
The  tracery  was  good,  better  than  they  found  in  the 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


3i5 


north  of  Northumberland,  where  the  work  was 
crudest.  The  latest  portion  of  the  church  was  the 
tower.  There  was  a  monument  to  Thornton  in  the 
tower. 

Middleham  Castle  was  next  visited.  Warwick, 
known  as  the  "Kingmaker,"  lived  here  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  and  it  was  at  Middleham  Castle  that 
Richard  gained  his  bride.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
the  castle  came  by  marriage  into  the  family  of  Neville. 
It  is  best  known  as  the  scene  of  some  of  the  chapters 
in  The  Last  of  the  Barons.  The  remains  are  extensive, 
the  keep,  flanking  tower,  and  gateway  being  the  most 
important. 

+Q        +§        *$ 

In  fine  weather  the  members  of  the  Cumberland 
and  Westmorland  Antiquarian  Society  had  a 
most  pleasurable  excursion  on  July  II  through  the 
Crosby  and  Orton  districts  of  Westmorland.  Meet- 
ing at  Shap,  about  eighty  members  drove  to  Wicker- 
slack  Moor,  where  Mr.  W.  G.  Collingwood,  F.S.A., 
described  the  ancient  camp  and  two  stone  circles. 
The  drive  was  resumed  from  the  fells  to  Maulds 
Meaburn.  The  visit  to  Meaburn  Hall  was  most 
interesting,  and  Mr.  J.  F.  Curwen,  F.S.A.,  Kendal, 
gave  an  instructive  account  of  the  history  and  structure 
of  the  Hall,  which,  though  now  used  as  a  farm, 
retains  many  of  its  original  features.  Passing  through 
the  parish,  attention  was  called  to  Crosby  Hall,  which 
has  a  noble  history,  going  back  to  the  time  when 
Earl  Gospatrick,  after  the  Battle  of  Hastings, 
probably  found  shelter  within  its  walls.  Nearly 
four  centuries  ago  it  passed  by  marriage  to  the 
Pickerings,  and  thence  to  the  Lowthers.  Crosby 
Kavensworth  Church,  perhaps  the  finest  specimen 
in  Westmorland  of  an  Early  English  ecclesiastical 
building,  was  also  visited,  and  its  chief  features 
pointed  out  by  the  Rev.  C.  J.  Gordon,  Rector  of 
Great  Salkeld,  and  late  Vicar  of  Crosby. 

The  tour  was  resumed  the  next  day,  July  12,  when 
Mr.  W.  G.  Collingwood  acted  as  guide  to  Castle 
How  Hill  and  the  Roman  station  at  Water  Crook. 
Kendal  Castle  was  described  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Curwen, 
and  after  luncheon  a  visit  to  the  British  camp  at 
Castle  Steads,  near  Oxenholme,  concluded  the  tour. 

+$    ■       +§  «•£ 

Caerwent  Exploration  Fund.  —  The  general 
meeting  of  the  subscribers  to  the  fund  for  excavating 
the  Roman  city  of  Vent  a  Silurum  was  held  recently 
at  Caerwent.  Lord  Tredegar,  who  is  not  only  by  far 
the  largest  subscriber,  but  has  also  bought  fresh  land 
for  excavation,  was  in  the  chair.  The  hon.  treasurer, 
in  presenting  the  accounts  for  last  year,  pointed  out 
that,  as  the  work  of  the  present  season  promised  to 
be  exceptionally  interesting,  it  was  hoped  that 
sufficient  funds  would  come  in  to  make  a  long 
season's  work  possible.  After  the  meeting,  Mr. 
A.  E.  Hudd  conducted  the  subscribers  over  the  ex- 
cavations that  have  already  been  carried  out  this 
season.  These  have  brought  to  light  some  extra- 
ordinarily massive  foundations,  which  appear  to  be 
those  of  a  public  building  of  importance,  the  first  that 
has  been  discovered  in  the  city.  The  work  for  the 
rest  of  the  season  will  consist  in  completing  the  ex- 
ploration of  this  building  and  in  the  excavation  of  a 
house  to  the  south  of  the  one  that  was  uncovered  last 
year. — Times,  July  15. 


Other  meetings  and  excursions  have  been  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Somersetshire  Arch.eological 
Society  at  Shepton  Mallet  on  July  9  to  II,  when 
many  churches  and  other  places  of  interest  were 
visited  ;  the  meeting  of  the  Wilts  Arch.-eological 
Society  at  Swindon  on  July  3  to  5  ;  the  geological 
excursion  of  the  Dorset  Field  Club  from  Swanage 
to  Weymouth  on  July  9;  the  excursion  of  the  Halifax 
Antiquarian  Society  to  Triangle  on  July  6 ;  the 
visit  of  the  archaeological  section  of  the  Cyclists' 
Touring  Club  to  Kingston-on-Thames  on  June  22  ; 
and  the  annual  excursion  of  the  Water  ford  Archaeo- 
logical Society  on  July  9  to  Lismore,  where  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire's  beautiful  castle  and  grounds 
were  kindly  thrown  open  to  the  visitors. 


Eemeto0  ant)  Notices 
of  jfteto  I5oo&0. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  reviezu,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.] 

The  Scalacronica  of  Sir  Thomas  Gray. 
Translated  by  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Herbert  Max- 
well, Bart.  With  102  heraldic  shields  in  colour. 
Glasgow :  James  MacLehose  and  Sons,  1907. 
Crown  8vo.,  pp.  xxii,  195.  Price  24s.  net. 
Sir  Herbert  Maxwell  has  placed  all  students  of 
Scottish  history  under  a  great  debt  of  obligation  by 
his  scholarly  translation  of  a  very  valuable  contem- 
porary chronicle  of  fourteenth-century  events,  which 
has  hithetto  been  far  from  accessible.  The  value  and 
importance  of  Sir  Thomas  Gray's  record  have  long 
been  known  and  recognized.  In  1355  Gray  was 
Edward  III.'s  warden  of  Norham  Castle  on  the 
Tweed,  and  just  within  the  English  Border — a  post 
where,  naturally,  "alarums  and  excursions"  were 
serious  and  frequent.  In  the  course  of  a  raid  in 
August  of  the  year  named,  planned  by  the  Earl  of 
March,  and  executed  by  Sir  William  Ramsay,  of 
Dalhousie  (ihen  written  "  Dalwolsey  "),  Sir  Thomas 
was  lured  into  a  carefully  prepared  trap.  His  force 
was  hopelessly  outnumbered,  and  he  with  his  son  was 
taken  prisoner.  The  ransom  demanded  not  being 
forthcoming,  the  Grays,  father  and  son,  remained 
prisoners  in  Edinburgh  Castle  for  two  years.  During 
his  captivity  he  found  the  Castle  library  a  great  re- 
source, and  planned  a  history  of  Britain,  beginning, 
after  the  fashion  of  old-time  chroniclers,  with  the 
creation  of  the  world.  All  the  earlier  part  of  Sir 
Thomas's  work  is  practically  copied  from  his  various 
authoriiits,  and  is  of  little  importance.  The  real 
value  of  the  work  is  to  be  found  in  that  part  which 
deals  with  events  covered  by  the  experience  of  his 
father  and  himself.  Here  we  get  history  at  first 
hand,  and  of  special  value,  as  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell 
points  out,  because  it  was  "  written  by  a  soldier,  who 
naturally  viewed  affairs  from  a  different  standpoint  to 
that  of  the  usual  clerical  annalist."  This  contem- 
porary narrative  deals  with  Scottish  history  during 

2  R    2 


316 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


the  reigns  of  Edward  I.,  II.,  and  III.,  and  it  is  that 
portion — "  when  the  author  either  was  personally 
engaged  in  the  scenes  described,  or  heard  of  them 
from  those  who  had  been  actors  in  the  scene  " — 
which  Sir  Herbert  here  presents  in  an  excellent  trans- 
lation. We  have  no  space  for  quotation,  but  for 
vivid  war  sketches  the  reader  should  turn  to  the 
account  of  Bannockburn,  to  the  story  of  the  encounter 
between  the  chronicler's  father  with  his  twenty-six 
men-at-arms  and  Walter  de  Bickerton's  troop  of  400 
Scotsmen,  and  to  other  similar  passages.  Sir 
Thomas's  narrative  also  throws  much  light  on  the 
political  events  of  the  time.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to 
dwell  upon  the  value  of  this  remarkable  record.  Its 
name  of  Scalacronica,  or  Ladder  -  Chronicle,  Sir 
Thomas  tells  us,  was  given  to  him  in  a  dream  by  a 
Sibyl,  but  it  doubtless  alludes  to  the  crest  adopted  by 
the  Gray  family  —  a  scaling-ladder.  An  important 
feature  of  the  volume  is  the  series  of  102  heraUic 
shields  —  the  arms  of  the  principal  English  and 
Scottish  knights  mentioned  in  the  chronicle  —  in 
colour.  The  book,  which  is  well  indexed,  and  in 
every  way  handsomely  produced,  is  issued  in  a  very 
limited  ordinary  edition  of  185  copies,  with  95  more 
on  hand-made  paper,  and  bound  in  half-vellum,  at 
two  guineas  net.  The  translation  is  of  excellent 
quality  throughout. 

*  *  * 
Devon.  By  S.  Baring-Gould,  M.A.  With  thirty- 
two  illustrations  and  two  mips.  London  : 
Methnen  and  Co.,  1907.  Pott  8vo.,  pp.  viii, 
316.  Price  2s.  6d.  net. 
This  tasteful  little  volume  is  the  most  recent  issue 
of  Messrs.  Methuen's  useful  and  pleasant  series  of 
"  Little  Guides "  to  the  English  counties.  The 
thirty  -  two  photographs  of  Devonshire,  which 
abounds  in  such  charming  and  varied  scenery,  are 
aptly  chosen  and  well  executed.  Tourists  will  find 
this  book  handy  and,  for  the  most  part,  helpful. 
Mr.  Baring-Gould's  name  rightly  carries  a  good  deal 
of  weight,  and  we  had  quite  hoped  great  things  of  a 
book  of  this  character  that  deals  with  Mr.  Gould's 
native  county  ;  but  the  plain  fact  is  becoming  more 
and  more  manifest — namely,  that  Mr.  Gould  in  recent 
years  has  written  too  much,  and  after  a  careless 
fashion.  Several  of  his  recent  descriptive  volumes 
have  been  sadly  thin,  and  not  infrequently  inaccurate. 
This  guide-book,  covering  the  whole  of  a  very  big 
county,  bears  obvious  traces  of  haste  and  carelessness. 
It  has  many  quaint  stories  and  weird  legends,  for 
which  Mr.  Gould  has  so  strange  a  fancy,  interpolated 
here  and  there,  and  some  parts  make  quite  interesting 
reading.  But  any  experienced  ecclesiologist  or  anti- 
quary will  soon  find  that  it  is  untrustworthy.  The 
present  writer,  who  has  known  Devonshire  well  for 
over  forty  years,  was  at  first  inclined  to  welcome  this 
attractive-looking  little  volume  with  some  keenness  ; 
but  the  more  it  was  studied,  the  greater  became  the 
disappointment.  The  blunders  are  bad  and  frequent. 
This  can  readily  be  shown  to  be  the  case  in  any  part 
of  Devonshire.  Take,  for  example,  some  instances 
in  North  -  West  Devonshire.  Hartland  Church,  a 
celebrated  building,  is  by  far  the  finest  fabric  of  the 
district.  There  is  a  grand  screen.  Mr.  Gould  says 
"it  is  in  very  perfect  condition,"  and  that  "the 
cornices  are  sumptuous."    The  truth  is  that  it  was 


coarsely  repaired  to  a  large  extent  in  the  "  forties  "  of 
last  century,  and  the  cornices  are  of  cast-iron  !  The 
Jacobean  pulpit,  to  which  attention  is  drawn,  was 
thrown  aside  at  the  same  time,  and  only  some  loose 
panels  remain.  Of  Torrington  Church  it  is  said  that 
there  is  a  "fine  old  stone  pulpit."  Should  the 
ecclesiologist  go  to  see  it,  he  will  find  that  the  pulpit 
is  of  wood,  circa  1700.  By  far  the  most  interesting 
features  of  Welcombe  Church  are  omitted.  Another 
singular  omission  is  that  of  the  hour-glass  carried  by 
an  arm  protruding  from  the  old  pulpit  of  Pilton 
church.  There  used  to  be  another  one  at  Tawstock, 
but  the  Pilton  example  is  now,  we  believe,  unique. 
Nor  is  anything  said  of  the  considerable  remains  of 
old  painted  glass  at  the  tiny  church  of  Abbots  Bick- 
ington.  The  painted  and  gilded  box  at  Warkleigh 
church,  described  by  Mr.  Gould  as  "  a  very  curious 
old  oak  pyx,"  was,  in  all  probability,  the  case  used  as 
the  "  Easter  Sepulchre  "  for  the  pyx.  There  are 
also  a  variety  of  slips  and  carelessly  wrong  descrip- 
tions concerning  secular  buildings,  and  we  cannot 
conceive  anyone  of  taste  agreeing  with  the  writer 
when  he  states  of  Lynton  that  "  care  has  been  taken 
here  that  the  modern  mansions,  hotels,  and  villas 
shall  enhance  the  beauty  and  not  disfigure  the  scene." 
It  is  quite  impossible  that  the  writer  could  have 
known  Lynton  ere  it  became  popular,  or  such  a 
sentence  could  not  have  been  penned.  There  are 
few  romantic  or  picturesque  places  in  the  whole  of 
England  which  have  suffered  so  much  as  Lynton 
from  modern  vulgar  building.  The  quasi  Town  Hall 
is  of  appalling  design.  Mr.  Baring-Gould  is  very 
free  with  strong  language  as  to  modern  churches  that 
he  dislikes.  Two  of  them  he  calls  "nasty,"  which 
we  happen  to  know  they  are  not,  as  they  are  excep- 
tionally clean  and  well  kept. 

One  of  the  worst  blunders  for  an  educated  man  to 
make  is  the  attributing  to  the  Domesday  Survey 
statements  that  are  not  therein  contained.  Mr. 
Gould  says  that  there  are  some  "  very  ancient  stunted 
oaks "  at  Wishman's  Wood  on  Dartmoor,  adding, 
"they  were  mentioned  in  Domesday."  This  is  not 
the  case. 

*     *     * 

His  Grace  the  Steward  and  Trial  of  Peers. 
By  L.  W.  Veinon  Harcourt.  London :  Long- 
mans, Green  and  Co.,  1907.  Demy  8vo. ,  pp.  xii, 
500.  Price  1 6s.  net. 
It  is  upon  works  such  as  this  that  eventually  an 
adequate  history  of  English  law  will  be  based.  We 
have  here  a  volume  the  perusal  of  which  is  both 
stimulative  to  the  legal  antiquary  and  interesting  to  the 
historian.  Indeed,  all  who  are  interested  in  a  know- 
ledge of  the  genesis  and  the  development  of  offices  of 
State  will  find  much  that  is  entertaining.  In  the 
hands  of  a  less  careful  writer,  His  Grace  the  Steward 
might  have  been  easily  presented  in  a  fashion  dull  and 
dry,  but  the  reader  of  this  book  will  soon  be  freed 
from  any  possible  misgivings  with  which  he  may  have 
started.  Part  I.  is  concerned  with  the  origin  of  the 
Stewardship  of  England,  from  the  Dapifers  of  the 
eleventh  century  to  the  Lancastrian  Stewards,  and  to 
the  last  holder  of  the  office.  At  this  time,  says  the 
author,  "it  is  quite  clear  that  the  mediaeval  Steward 
of  England  began  and  ended  his  career  somewhat 
ingloriously,"  and  that  "  the  Lord  High  Steward's 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


3i7 


court  has  an  origin  which  is  neither  ancient,  nor 
obscure,  nor  creditable."  Part  II.  deals  with  the  sub- 
sequent history  of  the  stewardship  and  its  connexion 
with  the  trial  of  peers  of  the  realm  by  their  peers, 
together  with  the  origin  of  the  practice  and  develop- 
ment of  this  form  of  trial.  As  the  author  properly 
points  out,  "  trial  by  peers  of  the  realm  and  trial  by 
jury  are  clearly  to  some  extent  complementary  insti- 
tutions, and  therefore  a  study  of  the  one  is  incomplete 
without  a  study  of  the  other."  In  particular,  interest- 
ing chapters  appear  upon  the  judgment  of  peers  in 
relation  to  Magna  Charta,  and  upon  John  Lackland 
and  the  peers  of  France.  The  author,  ending  his 
investigations  at  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  concludes 
"that  the  Steward's  court  rests  substantially  on  a 
fraudulent  basis,"  and  that  the  "court  was  a  frau- 
dulent device  for  the  degradation  of  the  nobility 
generally  ;  it  was  intended  to  supersede  and  alto- 
gether deprive  them  of  trial  in  Parliament." 

The  writer's  method,  in  setting  out  the  result  of 
investigation  into  an  obscure  subject  and  a  study  to 
which  little  attention  has  been  directed,  is  much  to 
be  commended.  Authorities  and  copious  extracts 
from  the  literature  of  that  treasure-house  of  historical 
lore,  the  Public  Record  Office,  are  printed  in  full. 
Consequently  many  conclusions  can  at  once  be  checked 
by  reference  to  original  sources,  although  it  must  be 
said  that  the  author's  conclusions  and  immediate  aims 
are  not  always  easy  to  discover.  As  incidental  to  the 
discussion  of  the  trial  of  peers,  light  is  cast  upon 
events  which  in  history-books  are  too  often  treated 
with  scarcely  more  than  passing  allusion. 

Although  this  work  may  not  find  a  place  in  every 
private  library,  yet  undoubtedly  it  should  be  within 
easy  reach,  for  hardly  a  writer  on  the  subject  will  in 
the  future  dare  to  present  his  views  without  previously 
mastering  the  contents  of  the  volume  before  us.  We 
hope  that  the  author  may  find  time  to  continue  his 
invest:gations,  and  to  carry  down  to  the  present  day 
the  history,  which  he  has  so  well  commenced,  of  His 
Grace  the  Steward  and  Trial  of  Peers. 

*      *      * 

The  Early  History  of  Bedale.  By  H.  B. 
McCal.  With  seven  illustrations  and  three 
pedigrees.  London  :  Elliot  Stock,  1907.  4to., 
pp.  xx,  134.  Price  7s.  6d.  net. 
Bedale  is  an  ancient  market-town  in  the  North 
Riding  of  Yorkshire,  which  figured  through  its  lords 
in  not  a  few  important  events  in  English  history. 
The  lords  of  Bedale  had  an  unlucky  way  of  espousing 
losing  causes.  Francis,  Lord  Lovel,  known  as  the 
close  companion  of  Richard  III.,  lost  his  estate  of 
Bedale  through  his  attachment  to  the  Yorkist  cause. 
Simon  Digby,  Lord  of  Bedale,  took  part  in  the 
Northern  Rising  of  1 569,  and  for  his  pains  was  hanged 
at  York  on  Good  Friday  in  the  following  year.  And 
later,  when  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  the  then  Lord 
of  Bedale,  Sir  Richard  Theakstone,  took  up  arms  for 
Charles  I.,  and  the  estate  was  again  in  danger  of 
forfeiture.  Mr.  McCall  deals  chiefly  with  events  in 
the  history  of  the  town  and  its  owners  previous  to  the 
sixteenth  century.  This  earlier  period  he  treats  with 
considerable  fulness,  basing  his  narrative  largely  on 
the  original  records,  which  have  not  before  been  used 
for  the  history  of  this  corner  of  Yorkshire.     In  a  series 


of  readable  chapters  Mr.  McCall  relates  the  history  of 
the  town  from  its  origin,  traces  the  devolution  of  the 
manor  down  to  the  sixteenth  century,  and,  in  colla- 
boration with  Mr.  C.  C.  Hodges,  architect,  of  Hex- 
ham, gives  a  capital  description  of  the  magnificent 
parish  church.  The  illustrations  are  good,  and  the 
index  full  and  satisfactory,  while  the  "  get  up  "  of  the 
book  is  beyond  reproach.  The  frontispiece  is  an 
etching  of  the  church,  from  a  drawing  specially  made 
for  the  work. 

*      *      * 
The   Parson's  Handbook.      By  the   Rev.    Percy 
Dearmer,  M.A.    Sixth  edition.    With  additional 
matter   and    thirty-one    illustrations.     London : 
Henry  Frowde,  1907.    Crown  8vo.,  pp.  xxi,  562. 
Price  6s.  net. 
We  welcome  a  new  edition  of  this  handbook,  as  its 
wider  circulation  among  Anglican  Church-people  can 
do  little  but  good.     Not  that  we  are  recommending 
all  the  ritual  which  Mr.  Dearmer  considers  lawful  in 
the  Church  of  England — far  from  it — but  because  a 
perusal  of  the  book  clearly  shows  how  the  modern 
ritual  movement  has,  more  often  than  not,  gone  along 
on   ignorant,  and   therefore   wrong,  lines.      Parsons 
have   fought    their  parishioners   over  a   cross   being 
placed  on  the  altar,  not  knowing  that  in  the  majority 
of  cases  an  altar  of  the  pre-Reformation  Church  of 
England   possessed   no   cross.      Congregations   have 
been  irritated  by  the  introduction  of  c  jloured  stoles 
at  the  choir-offices,  and  their  irritation  has  proved 
well  founded  :  the  black  scarf  should  be  worn  thereat. 
We  might  easily  multiply  such  instances.     In  fact,  it 
would  hardly  be  too  much  to  say  that  the  majority  of 
the  acts  and  ways  which  people  regard  as  the  sign 
of    "  High-Churchism  "   are    neither   Anglican    nor 
Catholic.      They  have  come   to   be  thought    "the 
proper  thing"  by  the  clergy,  and  the  clergy  in  too 
many  instances  have  followed  one  another  as  sheep 
having  no  shepherd.     If  these  remarks  seem  to  any 
reader  unduly  sweeping,  wa  recommend  him  to  get 
a  copy  of  Mr.  Dearmer's  handbook  immediately.     It 
is  almost  amusing  to  read  the  author's  kindly  words 
for   mixed   choirs,  the   organ   in   the   gallery,    pews 
instead  of  chairs,  two  (and  not  more  than  two)  altar- 
lights,  long  surplices,  the  black  gown  in  the  pulpit, 
and  the  like  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  he  makes 
out  such   a  good   case  for   the  general  use  of  the 
Ornaments  Rubric.     In    his   appeals   to   many   and 
varied  authorities  throughout  the  book,  the  authorities 
have  been  accurately  quoted  in  the  cases  we  have 
tested,  although  too  much  weight  must  not  be  given 
to  deductions  from   solitary  instances.     The   fabric 
and  fittings,  and  the  services,  of  the  church,  with  the 
vesture  of  its  ministers,  are  fully  dealt  with  in  the 
eighteen  chapters,  which  contain  a  wealth  of  useful 
ecclesiastical  information  and  antiquarian  lore.     And 
it  is  really  important  that  every  parson,  every  intel-- 
ligent  churchman,  and  every  antiquary  should  possess 
a  copy  of  the  book.     We  notice  that  on  p.  159  the 
author  says  that  "  crosses  were  never  put  on  the  ends 
of  a  stole  ";  but  if  he  were  to  visit  a  thirteenth-century 
abbatial  grave-slab  in  Milton  Abbey  he  would  probably 
realize  that  "  never  "  is  too  strong  a  word.     We  also 
observe  that,  on  p.  10,  Mr.  Dearmer  has  settled  the 
authorship  of  the  Apocalypse.     Perhaps  it  would  be 
better  not  to  attempt  to  strengthen  an  argument  by 


3i8 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


utilizing  a  point  which  is  widely  doubted  even  though 
it  may  not  be  doubtful. 

Herbert  Tentin. 
*     *     * 
The  Proverbs  ok  Alfred.     Re  edited  from  the 
manuscripts  by  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Skeat,  Litt.D. 
Oxford  :  Clarendon  Press,  1907.     8vo.,  pp.  xlvi, 
96.     Price  2s.  6d. 
In  this  little  volume  the  early  English  poem  which 
gives  it  its  title  is  presented  with  the  fullest  possible 
critical  and  philological  apparatus,  in  the  shape  of 


Jesus  College,  Oxford.  It  would  be  superfluous  to 
comment  on  the  care  and  thoroughness  of  his  work. 
This  edition  of  the  Proverbs  is  the  latest  addition  to 
a  long  list  of  services  of  the  greatest  possible  value 
rendered  to  students  of  early  English  language  and 
literature  by  the  veteran  scholar. 
*  *  * 
Mr.  G.  A.  Fothergill  sends  us  the  sixth  ar.d  last 
part  of  his  Sketch  Book  (Darlington :  James  DodJs  ; 
price  is.).  Like  its  predecessors,  it  bears  witness 
to  the  cleverness  and  versatility  of  Mr.  Fothergill's 


<XXS) 


^]      CrAHTHOU'll 


px^vvO-U- 


a^3^X^^ 


K9yw:  Jon*)* 


'on 


glossarial  index,  notes,  and  an  introduction  in  which 
the  various  texts  are  very  fully  discussed.  The  last 
edition  of  the  curious  Proverbs  was  that  by  Dr.  Morris 
for  the  Early  English  Text  Society  in  1872.  But 
unfortunately  the  principal  text,  that  in  the  library 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  was  not  forthcoming 
for  Dr.  Morris's  use,  having  been  lost  for  some  years. 
Since  then,  however,  the  MS.  turned  up  with  a  parcel 
of  mislaid  books,  and  Professor  Skeat  is  therefore  able 
to  give  for  the  first  time  a  correct  version  of  this  text, 
which  is  considerably  longer  and  better  than  that  at 


pencil,  to  which  nothing  seems  to  come  amiss.  The 
letterpress  is  devoted  chiefly  to  an  account  of  the 
pretty  Yorkshire  village  of  Cleasby,  its  school  and 
church  and  lords  of  the  manor,  and  especially  of  its 
chief  celebrity — John  Robinson,  Bishop  of  London 
(1650- 1 723).  The  sketch  which  we  are  kindly  allowed 
to  reproduce  on  this  page  shows  the  silver  communion - 
plate  which  the  Bishop  presented  to  the  church  of  his 
native  village.  The  identical  "drums"  which  were 
used  to  hold  the  plate  are  still  treasured  at  the  vicarage. 
Besides  sketches  of  Cleasby  and  portraits  of  Robinson, 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


3*9 


there  are  clever  drawings  of  Thornton  Hall,  co.  Dur- 
ham, of  sporting  subjects,  an  old-time  flail,  quaint 
windows,  animal  and  nature  sketches,  old  sundials, 
leaden  cisterns,  and  water-spout  heads — in  fact,  a 
miscellany  of  vigorous,  dexterous  draughtsmanship. 

*      *      * 
Leland's  Itinerary  in  England.   Parts  I.  to  III. 
Edited  by  L.  Toulmin  Smith.      London  :  George 
Bell  and  Sons,  1907.     Foolscap  4to.,  pp.  xlviii, 
352.     Two  folding  maps.     Price  18s.  net. 

We  recently  noticed  in  these  columns  Miss  Toulmin 
Smith's  Leland's  Itinerary  in  Wales.  The  first  of 
the  companion  volumes  dealing  with  his  Itinerary  in 
England,  in  or  about  the  years  1535  to  1543,  is  now 
issued.  It  is  prefaced  by  an  excellent  though  brief 
introduction,  which  contains  some  useful  remarks 
upon  the  method  or  plan  adopted  by  Leland  in  his 
travels  through  England  in  search  of  information. 

"  As  in  Wales,  so  in  England,  he  seems  to  have 
stayed  at  certain  places  for  a  time,  making  each  a 
centre  for  excursions  in  the  neighbourhood.  York, 
Bishop  Auckland,  Doncaster  and  Leicester  were 
some  of  the  centres ;  in  the  south,  Winchester, 
Exeter,  Sherborne,  Keynsham  and  Trowbridge, 
among  others.  This  might  be  the  case  where  he 
found  opportunity  for  examining  libraries  or  books  ; 
no  doubt,  too,  a  congenial  host  would  entertain  him, 
and  open  out  his  genealogies  or  private  papers." 

His  plan  seems  to  have  been  to  very  briefly  notice 
facts  on  the  spot,  and  then,  at  a  later  date,  to  write 
his  narrative  direct  from  them,  with  the  occasional 
addition  of  bits  from  memory.  At  other  times  he 
made  a  skeleton  list  of  names  of  towns  in  a  district, 
intending  subsequently  to  fill  in  particulars  and 
distances,  an  intention  which  he  occasionally  forgot 
to  fulfil.  As  the  original  notes,  as  well  as  the  longer 
narrative,  have  both  been  preserved,  some  repetition 
and  confusion  appear  in  the  printed  narrative. 

The  social  and  economic  value  of  Leland's  notices 
as  he  passed  through  the  realm  is  considerable.  This 
side  of  his  writings  has  hitherto  been  much  neglected, 
but  now  that  we  have  the  whole  in  so  pleasant  and 
compendious  a  form,  his  observations  in  this  respect 
will  probably  attract  much  more  attention  and 
citation.  Not  only  did  Leland  note  the  conditions 
of  castles,  great  men's  houses,  and  market  towns, 
with  their  principal  buildings  and  churches,  but  he 
tells  us  much  as  to  the  agriculture  of  the  day,  re- 
cording the  kind  and  proportions  of  open  commons, 
common  arable  land,  enclosed  fields  and  meadows, 
as  well  as  great  woods  and  parks.  The  number  and 
position  of  bridges  are  also  carefully  chronicled,  and 
much  of  interest  with  regard  to  the  main  road  routes 
of  the  country  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Such  a  volume  as  this  depends  largely  for 
its  value  as  a  work  of  reference  on  the  completeness 
of  the  indexes,  which  are  aggravatingly  indifferent 
and  erroneous  in  Hearne's  edition  of  1744.  They 
have  been  tested  somewhat  severely  in  Miss  Toulmin 
Smith's  edition,  and  no  mistake  has  been  discovered. 

The  whole  work  is  to  be  completed  in  five  volumes, 
which  will  be  sold  separately.  The  three  parts  in 
this  volume  deal  at  length  with  the  north-eastern 
and  central  portions  of  England,  but  are  mainly 
concerned  with  the  counties  of  Somerset,  Devon, 
and  Cornwall. 


Two  publications  of  some  importance  to  students  of 
genealogy  and  family  history  have  appeared  lately. 
One  is  the  International  Genealogical  Directory,  1907, 
issued  by  the  compiler,  Mr.  C.  A.  Bernau,  Bowes 
Road,  Walton-on-Thames  (price  ios.  6d.  net).  The 
first  part  contains  a  carefully  compiled  list  of  the 
names  and  addresses  —  both  English  and  foreign, 
especially  American — of  those  who  have  indicated 
that  they  are  interested  in  genealogy.  The  second 
part  consists  of  an  index  of  Family  Surnames  with 
references  to  the  students  interested  therein  in  Part  I., 
and  with  sundry  other  notes  and  indications  of  value 
to  working  genealogists.  Four  other  parts  contain 
Queries  and  Memoranda,  a  List  of  Societies  interesting 
to  genealogists,  an  "Authors'  Exchange,"  and  a  brief 
list  of  family  histories,  pedigrees,  etc.,  recently  printed 
for  private  circulation.  The  value  of  such  a  publica- 
tion as  this  in  affording  opportunity  for  intercom- 
munication among  genealogists  and  for  the  mutual 
help  and  information  of  students  interested  in  ques- 
tions of  family  history  will  be  very  great,  and  Mr. 
Bernau  is  much  to  be  thanked  for  the  labour  and 
trouble  he  must  have  spent  on  its  production.  The 
other  publication  is  a  summary  List  of  Genealogies 
in  Preparation,  1906,  issued  by  the  New  England 
Historic  Genealogical  Society,  Boston,  Mass.,  which 
gives  the  names  and  addresses  of  those  engaged  in 
the  work  of  compilation,  and  is  thus  a  useful  American 
supplement  or  addition  to  Mr.  Bernau's  work. 

Mr.  Elliot  Stock  has  issued  in  a  neat  cloth-bound 
volume  (price  is.  6d.  net)  a  reprint  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Astley's  papers  entitled  Bury  St.  Edmunds :  Notes 
and  Impressions,  which  appeared  recently  in  the 
Antiquary.  Many  of  those  who  attended  the  recent 
pageant  will  probably  like  to  possess  this  pleasantly 
written  little  book  as  a  souvenir  of  a  historical  occa- 
sion. 

*  *  * 
The  Scottish  Historical  Review,  July,  completes  the 
fourth  volume,  in  which  the  high  standard  of  its  pre- 
decessors has  been  well  maintained.  In  the  number 
before  us  we  note,  among  other  good  papers,  Mr. 
Curie's  account,  with  plan  and  illustrations,  of  "The 
Roman  Fort  at  Newstead  "  ;  a  useful  contribution  by 
Mr.  E.  G.  Duff  to  the  obscure  subject  of  "  Early 
Scottish  Book-Bindings  " ;  and  an  interesting  historical 
sketch  of  "The  Scottish  College  in  Paris,"  by  Mr. 
V.  M.  Montagu.  The  contents  of  the  Ulster  Journal 
of  Archaology,  May,  include  a  note  (with  plan)  on  a 
hitherto  unnoticed  "  Souterrain  at  Leitrim,"  by  Mr. 
J.  M.  Macrory  ;  an  illustrated  account  of  some  "  Rude 
Stone  Monuments  in  Antrim  and  Down,"  by  Misses 
M.  and  F.  Hobson  ;  and  illustrated  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Irish  Bards,"  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Bigger. 

The  freshest  article  in  the  Reliquary,  July,  is  Mr.  J. 
Tavenor-Perry's  account  of  the  chapel  of  "St. 
Michel  d'Aiguilha,  Puy  en  Velay."  The  chapel 
is  perched  on  a  lofty  rock  which  dominates  part  of 
the  ancient  city  of  Le  Puy.  The  description  is  illus- 
trated by  some  good  drawings.  The  other  articles 
are  on  "Reliquaries,"  "Sorcery  in  England,"  and 
"  Monastic  Custodians  of  Ancient  Books,"  all  themes 
a  trifle  the  worse  for  wear.  The  Architectural 
Review,    July,    contains    another    chapter    of    Mr. 


320 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Champneys's  treatise  on  "Irish  Ecclesiastical  Archi- 
tecture." dealing  with  the  growth  of  foreign  influence 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  paper  is  freely  and 
well  illustrated,  as  is  the  whole  number.  The  Essex 
Review,  July,  presents  a  varied  bill  of  fare.  Kynochs' 
"  Greit  Explosives  Factory  on  the  Essex  Marshes," 
the  "Nesting  of  the  Kaven,"  "Legends  of  Essex," 
"  Maldon  Civil  Courts,  1402,"  and  "  The  Great  Vine 
of  Valentines  Ilford,"  are  among  the  subjects  dis- 
cussed. The  Review  makes  a  strong  appeal  to  all 
county  interests. 

*  *  * 
We  have  received  the  weekly  numbers  of  Collecting 
(21,  Grafton  Street,  W.),  a  threepenny  illustrated 
weekly  dealing  with  matters  interesting  to  connois- 
seurs and  collectors.  Among  the  subjects  of  special 
articles  are  "  Punch-bowls  and  Ladles,"  "Old  Fans," 
and  "  Old  Worcester  Ware."  We  have  also  on  our 
table  the  Quarterly  Record  of  Additions  to  the  Hull 
Museum,  No.  XXL,  June  (Price  id.);  Fenland 
A'ofes  and  Queries,  July — a  good  collection  of  notes, 
including  one,  with  illustration,  on  the  old  "  Sexton's 
(or  Sacristan's)  Barn  at  Peterborough,"  destroyed 
some  sixty  years  ago  ;  Northamptonshire  Notes  and 
Queries,  March,  a  trifle  belated,  but  well  edited  and 
well  produced,  with  a  good  plate  of  the  Eossebook 
brasses  in  Cranford  St.  Andrew's  Church  ;  East 
Anglian,  April,  with  a  continuation  of  William  Coe's 
quaint  diary  ;  the  American  Antiquarian,  May  and 
June  ;  and  Rivista  cf  Italia,  June. 


Correspondence. 

CROPPENBERGH  OR  COPPENBURGII. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

I  should  be  glad  of  any  information  as  to  who  was 
the  husband  of  a  Mary  Croppenbergh.  In  her  will, 
dated  July  20,  1652  (proved  1652),  she  describes  her- 
self as  a  widow,  and  mentions  her  son-in-law,  Joseph 
Alston,  Baronet,  husband  of  her  daughter  Mary  ;  her 
brother,  John  Vermuden  ;  her  daughter  Ann,  wife  of 
George  Sherard  (married  July  31,  1651,  at  St.  James's 
Church,  Clerkenwell,  London)  ;  and  her  grandson, 
William  Sherard. 

She  also  mentions  Thomas  Bucke  of  the  University 
of  Cambridge. 

A  Robert  Bucke  of  London,  in  his  will  (proved 
1620),  mentions  his  wife's  sister's  daughter,  Mary 
Croppenbery  (sic),  wife  of  Joseph  Croppenl)erry  (sic); 
and  Thomas  Bucke,  youngest  son  of  his  cousin  Thomas 
Bucke,  of  Bullington  Hall,  now  scholar  at  Caius 
College,  Cambridge. 

Peirce  Gun  Mahony, 

Cork  Herald. 

Office  of  Arms, 
Dublin  Castle, 

Dublin. 


Church,  Darlington,  in  describing  the  middle  panel  of 
the  larger  cross,  the  statement  is  so  rendered  :  "  The 
middle  one  [panel]  bears  a  singular  representation  of 
the  crucifixion  of  St.  Peter,  head  downwards,  the  only 
instance  of  a  legendary  scene  on  a  Saxon  monument." 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  carved  in  stone  at  the  top 
right-hand  corner  of  the  chancel  arch  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Rowlstone,  Herefordshire,  are  two  tenth  or 
eleventh  century  effigies  of  St.  Peter,  both  together, 
and  both  with  the  head  downwards,  the  hands  grasp- 
ing a  cross. 

There  is  an  interesting  little  woodcut  of  these  on 
p.  107  of  Nooks  and  Corners  of  Herefordshire,  by 
H.  Thornhill  Timmins.  Possibly  there  may  be 
similar  carvings  in  other  churches  dedicated  to  St. 
Peter,  but  so  far  I  have  not  come  across  any  until  I 
read  of  St.  Cuthbert's. 

J.  B.  Martin  Kennedy. 

13,  Gosta  Green, 

Birmingham. 

July  14,  1907. 

CHRISTMAS  DECORATIONS. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

Reflecting  on  the  curious  persistence  with  which 
holly  and  mistletoe  are  appropriated  exclusively  to 
Christmas  decoration,  and  feeling  sure  that  this 
marked  a  religious  survival,  it  occurred  to  me  that 
the  cause  lay  in  the  berries  which  are  common  to 
both,  and  are  significant  of  the  old  sun-festival.  The 
red  berries  of  the  holly  typify  the  sun,  and  the  white 
berries  of  the  mistletoe  the  moon.  Both  plants  are 
native  in  Britain,  and  were  doubtless  employed  by 
the  Druids  in  this  sense.  Moreover,  since  the  moon- 
goddess  (Astarte  or  Ashtaroth)  was  commonly 
worshipped  with  licentious  rites,  this  explains  the 
origin  of  kissing  under  the  mistletoe,  which  must  be 
the  remnant  of  a  formerly  more  extended  license. 
The  "  sickle  "  with  which  the  mistletoe  is  said  to 
have  been  cut  was,  doubtless,  itself  a  moon-emblem. 

This  suggestion  may  not  be  new,  but  I  cannot  find 
that  it  has  been  published. 

Edward  Meyrick. 

Thornhanger, 

Marlborough, 
July  14. 


THE  CRUCIFIXION  OF  ST.  PETER. 

TO  THE   EDITOR. 
In  the  July  Antiquary,  p.  275,  recording  the  visit  ot 
the  Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries  to  St.  Cuthbert's 


Erratum. — Antiquary,  July,  p.  258,  col.  2,  line  14 
from  bottom,  for  "desity"  read  "desier." 


Note  to  Publishers. — We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted,  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  general  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  of 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communications  or 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


321 


The    Antiquary. 


SEPTEMBER,  1907. 


jQotes  of  tte  s#ont|). 

The  pageant  held  at  St.  Albans,  under  the 
general  direction  of  Mr.  Jarman,  was  a  most 
striking  success.  Taking  one  thing  with 
another,  it  even  surpassed — contrary  to 
general  expectations  —  those  of  Romsey, 
Oxford,  and  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  upon  which 
we  commented  last  month.  The  site  was 
simply  admirable.  It  was  in  the  meadows 
below  the  present  town  of  St.  Albans,  founded 
in  Saxon  days,  and  within  the  Roman  city  of 
Verulam,  part  of  whose  walls  (of  second 
century  date)  formed  a  suitable  and  imme- 
diate background  to  a  portion  of  the  arena. 
The  wide  stretch  of  level  sward  immediately 
in  front  of  the  great  stand  was  fringed  with  a 
fine  girth  of  well-grown  trees,  whilst  beyond 
them  the  broken  ground  fell  away  in  various 
glades  and  undulating  tracts,  well  adapted 
for  the  picturesque  and  more  distant  display 
of  approaching  processions,  or  the  military 
manoeuvres  of  different  epochs.  Four  of  the 
episodes  actually  took  place  on  the  very 
ground  where  they  were  represented,  a  fact 
which  added  much  to  their  reality. 

4?  4p  & 
The  opening  episode,  half  a  century  before 
the  Christian  era,  representing  the  attack  of 
Julius  Caesar  on  the  stronghold  of  Cassi- 
velaunus,  interrupting  a  contemplated  human 
sacrifice  at  the  hands  of  the  Druids,  was 
vividly  portrayed,  and  so,  too,  was  the  later 
stirring  incident  of  the  attempt  of  Boadicea 
to  rally  the  revolting  Britons.  The  incidents 
relative  to  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Alban  in 
303  did  not  appeal  to  us  so  much  as  those 

VOL.  III. 


pertaining  to  the  great  East  Anglian  martyr 
at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  ;  but  there  was  nothing 
comparable  to  the  brilliancy,  dash,  and 
horsemanship  of  the  second  Battle  of  St. 
Albans,  between  the  Yorkists  and  Lancas- 
trians, in  1461,  at  any  of  the  other  pageants. 
The  funeral  procession  of  Queen  Eleanor 
(1290)  as  it  approached  St.  Albans  and  was 
met  by  the  monks  was  a  grand  piece  of 
ecclesiastical  marshalling  and  impressive 
pageantry ;  it  left  the  Oxford  funeral  of  Amy 
Robsart  quite  in  the  background.  The  part 
played  by  the  men  of  St.  Albans  in  the  great 
national  upheaval  of  1381,  and  the  mean 
actions  of  both  King  and  Abbot  were  staged 
with  striking  effect.  In  short,  there  was  not 
one  of  the  eight  episodes  which  did  not  leave 
a  glowing  trail  of  historic  memories  behind 
it,  undisturbed  by  unworthy  buffoonery. 

«fr         «fr         «fr 

The  weakest  point,  perhaps,  of  the  St. 
Albans  show  was  the  Book  of  the  Words 
and  the  accompanying  lyrics.  There  was 
none  of  the  occasional  literary  grace  to  be 
found  that  occurred  in  the  books  of  its  pre- 
decessors, and  the  words  were  often  much 
altered  by  the  performers.  Nevertheless, 
the  sentiments  and  general  phrasing  were 
correct,  and  true  pageantry  demands  but 
little  more.  The  greatest  attention  had 
been  bestowed  upon  the  costume,  armour, 
and  heraldry,  and  the  most  competent  critic 
would  have  been  puzzled  to  find  aught  amiss. 
Yet  the  ecclesiastical  vesting  lacked  the  great 
care  bestowed  upon  it  at  Romsey  and  at 
Bury  St.  Edmunds.  This  was  noticeable  in 
certain  details  of  the  Eleanor  procession.  A 
rather  bad  blunder  was  the  turning  out  of 
Benedictine  monks,  who  ought  to  have  been 
booted,  in  sandals,  or  barefoot,  as  though 
they  were  the  Dominican  Friars,  whom  they 
so  heartily  despised.  The  Book  of  the  Words, 
in  a  descriptive  list  of  the  characters  taking 
part  in  the  Eleanor  procession,  particularizes : 
"Monks  (Cistercian,  Franciscan,  etc.)," 
making  the  commonplace  blunder  of  con- 
fusing friars  with  monks.  In  conclusion, 
however,  we  again  repeat  that  the  St.  Albans 
display,  on  broad  lines,  surpassed  all  its 
fellows  of  1907. 

«fr         «fr         «fr 

The  pageant  at  Liverpool  on  August  5,  which 
formed  part  of  the  celebrations  of  the  grant- 

2  s 


322 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


ing  of  the  city's  charter,  appears  upon  the 
whole  to  have  been  very  successful.  Mr. 
Herbert  Southam,  F.S.  A.,  contributed  a  long 
and  interesting  description  to  the  Border 
Counties  Advertizer  of  August  7,  in  which  he 
pointed  out  a  large  number  of  absurdities 
and  inaccuracies  in  costume,  and  sundry 
quite  unnecessary  anachronisms.  But  in 
concluding  a  very  effective  description,  he 
wrote :  "  This  pageant  has  been  advertised 
as  the  finest.  It  certainly  was  very  fine — 
full  of  effective  blending  of  colour,  and 
little  except  the  curiosities  of  costume  to 
mar  it.  Fine  feathers  certainly  made  fine 
birds  of  many,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  when 
the  finery  was  doffed  that  historical  facts 
remained  for  ever  hard  cut  in  the  mind. 

"  As  a  very  humble  student  and  lover  of 
historical  costume,  I  regret  that  Lord  Dillon, 
perhaps  the  greatest  authority — at  any  rate, 
the  greatest  in  the  matter  of  armour — was 
not  on  the  Costume  Committee,  together  with 
such  well-known  experts  as  F.  R.  Benson, 
Dion  Calthrop,  and  Henry  Herbert. 

"  I  was  too  far  away  from  the  choir  of  over 
1,000  voices  to  hear  the  words  of  the  songs, 
but  with  my  small  knowledge  of  music  I  am 
certain  I  am  right  in  stating  that  it  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  ordinary  chorus  singing,  even 
at  well-known  concerts.  Anyone  who  missed 
seeing  the  Liverpool  pageant  has  missed  a 
treat.  Warwick,  to  me,  was  far  better  in 
many  ways ;  but,  then,  there  was  the  back- 
ground of  river  and  the  Castle  association. 
Yet  I  shall  be  quite  satisfied  if  I  see  another 
pageant  elsewhere  as  good.  The  Master  of 
the  Tableaux,  Mr.  R.  W.  Lomax,  has  earned 
the  lasting  gratitude  of  his  fellow-townsmen  ; 
and  the  whole  of  the  officials,  from  the 
Chairman,  Mr.  F.  J.  Leslie,  downwards,  have 
evidently  worked  with  a  will  to  make  the 
Liverpool  pageant  the  unqualified  success 
which  it  surely  is." 

c$>  r$>  i$» 

In  making  the  excavations  for  an  electric 
cable  in  the  St.  Catherine's  district  of  Lincoln, 
near  the  Kesteven  (South  Lincoln)  Police 
Station,  a  number  of  human  skeletons  of  full 
size  were  come  across  at  no  great  depth  from 
the  surface.  St.  Catherine's  Priory  stood 
in  this  immediate  neighbourhood,  having 
been  established  in  the  twelfth  century,  and 
it  is  thought  possible  that  the  skeletons  now 


brought  to  light  may  have  been  interred  in 
the  graveyard  of  the  foundation. 

i$>  rj>  <J> 

To  the  Builder  of  August  3,  10  and  17,  Mr. 
Francis  Bond  contributed  the  first  three 
articles  of  what  will  certainly  be  an  important 
and  useful  series  on  "Mediaeval  Church- 
Planning  in  England,"  illustrated  by  a  large 
number  of  small  plans,  all  drawn  to  the  same 
scale.  Mr.  Bond  does  not  propose  to  deal  with 
parish  churches,  but  will  collect  and  classify 
all  the  plans  possible  "  of  the  cathedral  and 
collegiate  churches  of  the  Secular  Canons,  the 
churches  of  the  Benedictine,  Cluniac,  Cister- 
cian, and  Carthusian  monks,  those  of  the 
Premonstratensian,  Gilbertine,  and  Austin 
canons,  and  those  of  the  Dominican,  Fran- 
ciscan, Carmelite,  and  Austin  friars." 

«$»  rJ?  'fr 
The  "  Red-hills  Exploration  Committee," 
which  was  appointed  jointly  by  the  Essex 
Archaeological  Society  and  the  Essex  Field 
Club,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Chalkley 
Gould,  F.S.A.,  has  issued  an  interim  report 
for  1906.  The  curious  deposits  of  red  burnt 
clay,  intermingled  with  fragments  of  rude 
pottery,  to  which  the  name  of  "  Red-hills " 
has  been  given,  are  found  to  the  number  of 
several  hundreds  along  the  coast  of  Essex, 
and  vary  in  size  from  a  few  rods  to  several 
acres.  Their  origin  has  been  long  a  matter 
of  speculation.  The  number  of  theories 
advanced  to  account  for  their  existence  well 
shows  the  mystery  surrounding  them.  By 
some  they  have  been  regarded  as  salt  works; 
by  others  as  cattle  shelters,  human  habitations, 
potteries,  or  glass  factories. 

«fe  $  & 
The  Committee  began  work  in  September 
last  in  the  parish  of  Langenhoe,  Dr.  Laver 
having  secured  permission  to  examine  some 
characteristic  Red-hills  existing  there.  Dig- 
ging was  carried  on  for  five  weeks  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  F.  W.  Reader.  The 
Report  says :  "  Of  the  three  mounds  which 
were  examined  systematically,  the  first  proved 
the  most  interesting.  It  was,  unlike  most 
examples,  quite  complete,  no  portion  of  its 
soil  having  been  removed  for  agricultural 
purposes.  In  shape  it  was  roughly  square, 
with  a  smaller  square  at  the  north-west  corner. 
The  whole  was  surrounded  by  a  very  distinct 
ditch,  having  a  bank  on  its  inner  scarp,  and 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


323 


the  whole  of  the  surface  within  the  bank  was 
crossed  by  narrow  stetches — a  recognized 
sign  of  early  cultivation.  On  cutting  a  section 
right  across  the  mound  from  east  to  west, 
and  digging  holes  and  trenches  at  various 
other  parts,  the  southern  portion  was  found 
to  consist  of  the  usual  red  earth,  but  the 
northern  part  proved  to  be  of  ordinary  marsh 
mud.  In  the  red  earth  were  found  objects 
which  seem  to  be  common  to  all  Red-hills — 
namely,  many  fragments  of  exceedingly  rude 
red  pottery,  a  few  'wedges'  and  'T  pieces' 
of  burnt  red  ware,  and  some  portions  of  hard 
vitrified  slag,  together  with  some  animal 
bones  and  a  few  small  fragments  of  a  dark- 
coloured  domestic  ware  of  early  date. 

"  The  second  mound  examined  lay  at  a 
rather  higher  level — just  on  the  line  at  which 
the  marsh  ceases  and  firm  rising  ground 
begins.  The  objects  found  in  it  differed 
somewhat  from  those  found  in  the  other 
mounds  examined.  In  addition  to  the  usual 
fragments  of  red  pottery  (described  above), 
there  were  discovered  in  its  lower  strata 
exceptionally  large  quantities  of  slag,  animal 
bones  (including  portions  of  red-deer  antlers), 
and  fragments  of  the  dark  domestic  ware 
noticed  above  —  the  latter  including  the 
greater  portion  of  a  large  and  highly 
decorated  bowl,  which  appears  to  be  of  the 
Late  Celtic  period. 

"  The  third  hill  was  of  a  slightly  different 
type  again,  standing  boldly  above  the  level 
of  the  marsh,  unlike  the  other  two.  Un- 
fortunately a  large  portion  of  its  soil  had 
been  removed  for  agricultural  purposes,  but 
the  fact  that  it  had  once  been  surrounded  by 
a  fosse  or  ditch  was  clearly  obvious.  The 
usual  objects  were  found  in  it. 

"  In  addition  to  the  systematic  work  done 
with  pick  and  shovel  in  the  examination  of 
these  three  hills,  other  hills  in  their  imme- 
diate vicinity  were  examined  more  cursorily. 
In  these  also  numerous  objects  were  found." 

«$.  c$,  $ 

Careful  measurements,  sections,  and  levels 
were  taken,  which  will  be  of  value  by  and  by 
for  comparative  purposes.  "  Another  very 
important  department  of  your  Committee's 
work,"  continues  the  Report,  "  was  kindly 
undertaken  by   Mr.   W.  H.   Dalton,  F.G.S. 


This  was  the  accurate  mapping  of  the  Red- 
hills — a  class  of  work  in  which  Mr.  Dalton 
has  had  much  experience,  owing  to  his 
former  connexion  with  the  Geological 
Survey  and  his  having  compiled,  some  years 
ago,  in  conjunction  with  the  late  Mr.  Henry 
Stopes,  a  rough  map  of  Red-hills,  which  was 
published  in  the  Essex  Naturalist  (vol.  i., 
p.  203).  Mr.  Dalton  devoted  some  three 
weeks  to  the  work  of  accurately  mapping  the 
sites  of  all  the  known  Red-hills  in  the 
Langenhoe,  Wigborough,  and  Mersea  dis- 
trict. During  the  coming  summer  he  hopes 
to  deal  similarly  with  those  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Tollesbury.  It  is  hoped  that  other 
members  of  your  Committee  will  undertake 
other  districts. 

"  Your  Committee  is  also  much  indebted 
to  Colonel  O.  E.  Ruck,  who  has  gathered 
at  the  Public  Record  Office,  the  British 
Museum,  and  elsewhere,  a  number  of  old 
records  tending  to  throw  light  on  the  origin 
of  the  Red-hills  and  other  mounds  of  similar 
nature.  These  will  undoubtedly  prove  of 
much  value." 

Further  funds  for  the  continuation  of  the 
work  are  much  needed. 

♦p        ♦      #  ♦ 

The  third  Egyptian  exhibition — that  of  anti- 
quities discovered  at  Abydos,  Upper  Egypt, 
by  Professor  Garstang  and  Mr.  E.  Harold 
Jones  during  last  winter,  working  for  the 
Institute  of  Archaeology  of  the  University  of 
Liverpool — which  was  opened  by  the  Duchess 
of  Connaught  on  July  16  at  Burlington  House, 
and  to  which  we  could  make  but  the  briefest 
reference  last  month,  was  an  interesting  little 
collection.  The  objects  were  mostly  small, 
and  included  some  decidedly  remarkable 
things.  Among  these  were  a  bronze  axe  of  a 
very  strange  shape  and  uncertain  use ;  a 
finely  modelled  statuette  (wooden)  of  a 
woman  with  a  child,  the  woman  being  repre- 
sented as  a  dwarf  with  very  short  legs  ;  and 
some  sixty  mummied  hawks,  which  were 
found  in  large  pottery  jars  adjacent  to 
burials.  Near  the  latter — perhaps  with  the 
idea  of  providing  food  in  the  shadow  world 
for  the  hawks — were  found  some  curious 
boxes  containing  skeletons  of  shrew-mice, 
with  representations  of  the  mice  carved  on 
the  lids.  The  exhibition  also  included  many 
memorial  stelae,  with  inscriptions  of  much 

2  s  2 


324 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


significance  in  the  history  and  decline  of 
religious  feeling ;  and  a  large  number  of 
kohl  pots,  of  stone  and  alabaster,  and  other 
articles  of  the  toilet — mirrors,  razors,  etc. 
Among  some  beautiful  pottery  objects  were 
a  fine  blue-glazed  hippopotamus,  and  a 
hedgehog  with  black  quills  inserted. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Times  of  July  20,  Mr.  A. 
Moray  Williams,  of  Bedales  School,  Peters- 
field,  describes  the  results  of  the  excavation 
of  the  Roman  villa  at  the  Stroud,  near  that 
town,  which,  he  says,  has  reached  the  limit 
of  its  possibilities  for  the  present  season,  the 
whole  of  the  available  part  of  the  site  having 
now  been  opened  up.  "  Here  one  wing," 
says  Mr.  Williams,  "of  what  will  probably 
prove  to  be  a  large  'courtyard'  house  has 
been  laid  bare,  containing  ten  living-rooms, 
approached  from  a  wide  corridor,  which 
once  was  paved  with  a  patterned  mosaic. 
Some  portions  of  this  pavement  still  remain, 
but  the  greater  part  is  lost.  The  rooms 
adjoining  the  corridor  are  large,  those  be- 
yond them,  for  the  most  part,  small.  Six 
of  them  have  tessellated  floors,  and  three 
were  fitted  with  hypocausts,  in  one  of  which 
are  six  large  unbroken  box-tiles,  three  of  them 
in  situ.  In  another  large  room  the  channels 
of  the  hypocausts  are  very  well  preserved. 
From  this  block  of  rooms  a  wall  flanking  the 
courtyard  and  containing  the  well-defined 
sill  of  a  small  doorway  has  been  traced  for 
85  feet,  ending  in  a  square  mass  of  masonry 
which  probably  marks  one  side  of  the  main 
entrance  gateway.  Further  excavation  next 
season  will  therefore  take  place  from  this 
point,  and  should  disclose  the  southern  wing 
of  the  house,  which  may  reasonably  be 
expected  to  prove  of  a  more  pretentious 
character  than  the  northern  one  which  has 
been  excavated.  The  whole  of  the  founda- 
tions and  floors  are  very  close  to  the  surface 
of  the  soil,  and  it  is  therefore  remarkable 
that  on  a  site  which  has  been  under  systematic 
cultivation  for  so  many  years  so  much  remains 
in  place.  The  walls  are  well  built  of  the 
green  sandstone  which  abounds  in  this 
locality,  and  are  in  many  cases  strengthened 
with  a  course  of  tile.  They  are  throughout 
laid  more  regularly  than  the  flint  walls  of  the 
villa  at  West  Meon,  excavated  last  year. 
"  Several  coins  have  turned  up,  all  of  the 


late  Empire,  furnishing  evidence  that  the 
house  was  occupied  about  a.d.  300-350. 
Other  finds  have  been  fairly  numerous,  con- 
sisting for  the  most  part  of  objects  in  metal 
and  potsherds.  From  the  latter  it  has  been 
possible  to  restore  a  fine  vase  of  New  Forest 
ware  standing  a  foot  in  height.  Many  glass 
fragments,  too,  have  been  found." 

It  may  be  added  that  funds  are  urgently 
needed  to  prevent  a  heavy  loss  falling  upon 
the  excavators. 

«$?  %f  %? 
During  the  latter  part  of  July  much  progress 
was  made  with  the  excavations  on  the  site  of 
the  Roman  city  of  Corstopitum,  near  Cor- 
bridge,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Tyne.  The 
defences  include  a  large  and  formidable  ditch, 
and  the  internal  buildings  can  be  traced  with 
singular  completeness,  the  walls  in  many 
places  standing  6  feet  high  near  the  ditch. 
Traces  of  the  great  bridge  over  the  Tyne, 
and  of  the  Roman  highway  leading  from  the 
bridge  through  Corstopitum,  remain  to  be 
followed  up.  A  splendid  example  of  a  hypo- 
caust  has  been  disclosed,  many  of  the  pillars 
standing  to  their  original  height.  These  are 
mainly  formed  of  stone,  with  pottery  bases. 
Another,  of  a  later  date,  is  in  excellent  pre- 
servation, and  showing  cup  pillars.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  greater  portion  of  the  pottery 
is  irreparably  broken,  but  near  the  main 
hypocaust  a  rare  specimen  of  a  jug  has  been 
unearthed  intact.  A  drain  in  excellent  condi- 
tion has  been  discovered,  and  is  of  character- 
istic Roman  work,  alternately  paved  with 
stone  and  puddle-clay  and  flag-roofed.  Some 
fine  portions  of  plaster-faced  walls  are  also 
to  be  seen.  A  trench  has  been  dug  from 
the  brow  of  the  hill  towards  the  Roman 
bridge  in  order  to  find  the  original  ground- 
level.  Various  pieces  of  glass  and  pottery 
have  been  unearthed,  also  Roman  coins  of 
the  third  and  fourth  centuries.  There  are 
many  inscribed  stones,  one  bearing  the  name 
of  the  Victorious  Legion  that  occupied  Corsto- 
pitum. 

Facing  the  river,  and  commanding  the 
bridge,  there  appears  to  have  been  a  lofty 
tower  or  fort.  The  unearthed  foundations 
rise  to  a  height  of  6  feet,  built  to  the  sloping 
level,  and  each  tier  of  masonry  recedes  from 
the  tower  in  buttress  fashion,  presenting  a 
fine  specimen  of  early  workmanship. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


325 


The  sculptured  stones  discovered  include  an 
altar  base,  and  also  one,  in  an  excellent  state 
of  preservation,  depicting  a  lion  and  a  stag. 
The  former  appears  to  have  sprung  upon  the 
weaker  animal,  and  is  shown  as  if  about  to 
grasp  the  stag's  neck  with  its  fangs,  the  stag 
having  collapsed,  with  the  tongue  protruding 
and  eyes  closing.  It  stands  to  a  height  of 
over  3  feet,  and  presumably  formed  part  of 
an  ornamental  fountain,  with  water  flowing 
from  the  mouth  of  the  lion. 

4p      4p      4p 

A  small  historical  loan  exhibition — memorials 
of  some  notable  women  of  Wessex — is  to  be 
held  at  Guildford  in  May,  1908.  The  idea 
is  to  make  an  interesting  collection  of  small 
memorials  of  the  noteworthy  women  who, 
from  the  earliest  pages  of  our  history,  have 
been  connected  with  that  southern  portion  of 
Britain  formerly  comprised  in  the  kingdom 
of  Wessex,  of  which  Winchester  was  the 
capital  city.  The  Committee  state  that "  they 
wish  to  include  souvenirs  of  women  who 
have  been  noted  for  their  virtues,  their 
talents,  the  circumstances  of  their  lives,  such 
as  founders  of  abbeys,  colleges,  and  hospitals, 
Queens  and  the  ladies  of  their  Courts,  the 
mothers  and  wives  of  great  men,  writers, 
teachers,  musicians,  painters,  philanthropists, 
etc. 

"  The  exhibition  to  consist  of  small 
portraits,  miniatures,  seals,  ornaments,  auto- 
graphs, manuscripts,  letters,  etc.,  that  are 
definitely  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
notable  women. 

"  The  subject  is  difficult,  and  the  organizers 
of  the  exhibition  are  anxious  to  know,  as  soon 
as  possible,  what  measure  of  support  they  can 
rely  on,  and  they  will  cordially  welcome  any 
assistance  in  hunting  up  dates  and  other 
precise  information  for  the  biographical  notes 
of  the  catalogue  and  for  suggestions  as  to  the 
names  of  women  who  should  be  included  in 
their  list,  and  for  helping  to  discover  what 
authentic  portraits  and  other  suitable  small 
memorials  are  in  existence  which  might  be 
available  for  exhibition. 

"They  will  be  very  grateful  if  the 
possessors  of  such  treasures  will  offer  to 
lend  them,  mentioning  the  size  and  special 
point  of  interest  of  each.  The  Committee  will 
take  great  care  of  all  loans  kindly  entrusted 
to  them,  and  they  will  be  watched  night  and 


day  by  responsible  persons,  and  insured 
against  fire  and  burglary." 

The  honorary  secretary  of  the  Committee 
is  Miss  Mary  Williams,  6  Sloane  Gardens, 
London,  S.W. 

4?      4p      4p 

Since  we  wrote  last  month  that  there  was  no 
hope  of  saving  Crosby  Hall,  affairs  have 
taken  a  fresh  turn.  Alderman  Sir  T.  Vezey 
Strong  has  put  forward  a  plan  for  preserving 
the  Hall  by  effecting  an  exchange  of  sites 
with  the  bank  which  purchased  Crosby  Hall, 
closing  up  the  existing  street  into  Great  St. 
Helens,  and  making  a  new  and  wider  street 
a  few  yards  distant.  It  seems  a  satisfactory 
and  simple  solution  of  the  problem,  but  at 
the  time  of  going  to  press  we  have  not  heard 
anything  definite  as  to  the  carrying  out  of  the 
plan. 

4?      4p      4p 

Whatever  is  done,  it  is  certain  that  a  very 
considerable  sum  of  money  will  be  required. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  City  Guilds  will  co- 
operate in  the  work.  Meanwhile  all  archaeo- 
logists will  be  grateful  to  the  King  for  the 
letter  which  His  Majesty  has  caused  to  be 
written  to  the  Clerk  of  the  London  County 
Council.     The  letter  is  as  follows  : 

Buckingham  Palace, 

August  6,  1907. 
"Dear  Mr.  Gomme, 

"The  King  has  been  informed  that 
there  appears  to  be  some  chance  of  Crosby 
Hall,  a  building  of  great  historic  interest, 
being  pulled  down.  His  Majesty  has  seen 
the  report  presented  to  the  London  County 
Council  on  the  subject,  and  commands  me  to 
inquire  whether  this  report  has  met  with  a 
favourable  response,  and  to  express  his  hope 
that  means  may  be  found  to  preserve  such 
an  interesting  relic  of  old  London. 
"  Believe  me, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 
"  (Signed)  Knollvs." 

4?  &  4? 
The  old  foundations  of  a  south  side-chapel 
to  the  ancient  parish  church  of  Ovingdean, 
hidden  away  among  the  Sussex  Downs, 
having  recently  been  uncovered,  the  chapel 
has  been  rebuilt ;  and  during  the  rebuilding 
an  interesting  discovery,  says  the  Sussex  Daily 
News,  has  been  made.  "The  remains  (a 
few  stones  only  being  apparent)  of  a  low  side- 


326 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


window  -one  notable  feature  in  this  church 
— existed.  The  careful  removal  of  some 
flintwork  and  plaster  now  unexpectedly 
reveals  the  almost  unspoilt  splayed  window 
opening  complete  with  all  the  stonework 
intact,  even  the  limewash  on  the  sides  being 
fresh  and  untouched,  and  traces  of  ironwork 
still  in  position.  Fragments  of  a  rude  stone 
piscina  have  also  been  found.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  relics  of  St.  Wulfran,  to 
whom  the  church  is  dedicated,  who  was 
Bishop  of  Abbeville,  across  the  Channel,  may 
have  been  kept  here.  This  is  not  improbable, 
for  there  seems  little  doubt  that  this  old 
parish  church,  although  now  '  dreaming 
among  the  hills,'  was  once  of  importance, 
and  may  have  been  a  place  of  consequence 
on  the  way  from  the  coast  to  the  great 
priory  at  Lewes." 

4p         $         $ 

An  interesting  discovery  was  made  on 
August  8  on  the  Sandhill,  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  of  a  stone  and  iron  ring  used  in  former 
years  when  bull-baiting  was  a  favourite  pas- 
time. Whilst  workmen  were  repairing  the 
thoroughfare,  they  came  upon  the  stone 
nearly  opposite  the  main  entrance  of  the 
Exchange.  It  is  about  2  feet  in  diameter 
and  6  inches  in  depth.  On  the  top  of  the 
stone  there  are  three  pieces  of  iron,  to  one 
of  which  is  attached  a  ring  made  of  the 
same  material,  very  much  worn.  By  instruc- 
tions from  the  Corporation  authorities,  the 
stone  will  be  carefully  covered  over  again  with 
earth,  and  probably  a  mark  will  be  made  on 
the  spot  to  indicate  in  future  where  it  lies. 

4p      4p      4? 

It  is  reported  in  an  Irish  newspaper  that  six 
gold  fibulae,  four  perforated  gold  balls,  and 
two  battle-axes  were  recently  found  near 
Macroom,  County  Cork. 

$       $      *$* 

The  Dorset  Antiquarian  Field  Club  has  de- 
cided to  join  with  the  British  Archaeological 
Association,  who  recently  visited  the  historic 
spots  in  South  Dorset,  in  opening  out  certain 
sections  of  the  Roman  amphitheatre  at 
Dorchester  and  at  Poundbury,  an  ancient 
encampment  near  the  town,  in  order  to 
ascertain  more  correctly,  if  possible,  the  real 
nature  of  these  interesting  earthworks.  A 
joint  committee  of  the  two  bodies  is  to  be 
formed  to  supervise  the  spade-work,  and  as 


a  guarantee  to  the  public  that  it  will  be  done 
in  a  scientific  manner  by  responsible  persons. 

$         $         $ 

Mr.  G.  H.  Engleheart,  F.S.A.,  local  secre- 
tary for  Wilts  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Morning  Post  of  July  31, 
says  : 

"On  July  25,  igo5,  a  labourer  digging 
for  flint  in  Grovely  Wood,  South  Wilts,  un- 
earthed a  small  vessel  containing  300  Roman 
silver  coins  and  several  silver  rings.  The  coins 
were  in  brilliant  condition,  and  represented 
twelve  reigns,  over  the  period  337-408  a.d. 
The  find  is  fully  described  by  Mr.  G.  F. 
Hill  in  the  Numismatic  Chronicle,  fourth 
series,  vol.  vi.  Information  was  at  once 
given,  and  the  entire  hoard — except  one 
coin  which  was  lost  by  the  labourer— sent  to 
the  Treasury  by  the  landowner,  the  Earl  of 
Pembroke.  As  is  customary,  the  objects 
were  submitted  to  the  British  Museum 
authorities,  who  retained  the  rings  and  thirty- 
six  of  the  rarer  coins  for  the  national  col- 
lection. The  actual  finder  was  suitably 
rewarded. 

"On  February  8  last  Lord  Pembroke 
wrote  to  the  Treasury  requesting  that  the 
remainder  of  the  coins  should  be  returned 
to  him  for  the  collection  at  Wilton  House  or 
for  the  Salisbury  Museum.  On  April  5  he 
was  informed  that  the  coins  would  not  be 
returned,  but  that  he  would  be  'permitted  ' 
to  purchase  them  all  or  in  part  at  a  total 
valuation  of  £71.  Lord  Pembroke  took  no 
notice  of  this  remarkable  proposal,  but  to  a 
further  communication  from  the  Coin  De- 
partment of  the  British  Museum  he  replied 
by  his  agent  that  he  declined  to  buy  what 
ought  to  be  his,  and  deprecated  the  action 
of  the  Treasury.  On  July  4  last,  by  order 
of  the  Treasury,  all  the  coins,  broken  up 
into  small  lots,  were  sold  by  auction  in 
London. 

"  Hoards  of  silver  coins  of  this  particular 
period  are  rare  and  of  extreme  interest,  as 
having  scarcely  been  found  outside  the 
British  Isles  and  a  limited  area  in  the  West 
of  England.  This  hoard,  if  preserved  intact, 
except  for  the  few  pieces  taken  by  the 
British  Museum,  either  in  Wilton  House, 
the  treasures  of  which  are  always  accessible 
to  the  public  by  Lord  Pembroke's  courtesy, 
or   in   the  well-ordered  Salisbury   Museum, 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


327 


would  have  had  a  permanent  historical  and 
educational  value.  It  is  now  irretrievably 
scattered  and  destroyed.  Those  who  appre- 
ciate the  significance  and  importance  of  such 
antiquities,  inasmuch  as  they  build  up  the 
history  of  our  country,  will  in  future  have 
very  scrupulous  consciences  before  they  sur- 
render their  finds  into  the  barbarous  hands 
of  His  Majesty's  Treasury." 

There  is  much  force  in  what  Mr.  Engle- 
heart  says.  It  would  appear  as  if  the  law  of 
treasure  trove  stands  in  serious  need  of 
amendment. 

4p       &       # 

An  ancient  cup  is  stated  to  have  been  dis- 
covered under  somewhat  curious  circum- 
stances at  Glastonbury,  and  a  silly  story  has 
been  going  the  round  of  the  papers  claiming 
or  hinting  or  suggesting  that  this  cup — which 
appears  to  be  old  Venetian  ware — is  the 
veritable  "  Holy  Grail  "  ! 

4p  &  %? 
Mr.  Henry  Carr,  R.N.R.,  contributes  to  the 
Portishead  Parish  Magazine  for  August — 
Portishead  is  near  Bristol — an  interesting 
note  on  the  home  of  a  local  working  man  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  Among  some  parish 
papers  was  found  the  following  particulars  of 
the  goods  distrained  in  the  dwelling-house 
of  John  Simonds,  for  the  rent  thereof,  as 
follows  : 

"Two  tables,  two  benches,  two  stools, 
ffour  twigg  bottom  chairs,  two  small  rush 
bottom  chairs,  one  wooden  cradle,  pillow, 
bolster  and  case ;  blanket  and  coverlid, 
three  Testaments,  one  bellows,  two  baskets, 
eight  earthen  plates,  one  ditto  large,  three 
white  earthen  comon  basins,  three  brown 
cups,  one  butter  dish,  two  tea  potts,  one  tea 
dish  and  two  sawsors,  one  sugar  dish,  one 
iron  candlestick,  one  salt  box,  three  pot 
crooks,  one  dow  tub,  one  small  iron  pott, 
one  ffrying  pan,  one  pail,  one  ffirkin,  one 
beer  horse,  twelve  wooden  trenchers,  two 
pint  glass  bottles,  a  brass  skimmer,  a  cloath 
brush,  a  looking  glass,  three  earthen  pans, 
two  beddsteads,  two  old  ffeather  or  fflock 
beds,  two  sheets,  one  blanket,  two  ruggs,  two 
bolsters,  one  pillow  and  pillow  case,  two 
straw  matts  and  cords,  two  small  chests  and 
two  boxes,  two  hatchets,  one  bill  hook,  a 
sithe  and  spade,  one  ironing  box,  one  peak, 
another  beer  horse,   two   small   tubbs,  two 


other  ffirkins,  another  sithe  and  snead,  some 
old  staves,  hooped  can,  ash  box,  a  tongs  and 
poker,  with  an  old  spead  without  a  handle. 

"John  Simonds:  Take  notice  the  above 
mentioned  goods  are  distrained  ffor  fifive  and 
fforty  shillings,  being  three  quarters  of  a 
year's  rent  due  my  father  the  first  day  of 
January  last  for  the  tenement  you  rent  of 
him,  and  if  the  same  are  not  replivined,  or 
the  said  rent  charges  paid  in  ffive  days  next 
ensuing  the  date  hereof,  they  will  be  disposed 
of  according  to  law. 

"  Witness  my  hand  this  seventh  day  of 
January,  One  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
ffifty-three. — George  Pomphrey,  Junior." 

«fr         #         «)fr 

"  How  the  notice  came  to  be  among  the 
church  records,"  adds  Mr.  Carr,  "  can  only 
be  explained  by  the  probability  of  George 
Pomphrey  having  taken  it  to  the  Rectory  to 
have  his  signature  witnessed  ;  or  it  may  have 
been  that  Simonds  in  his  trouble  took  the 
notice  to  the  Rector,  Mr.  Uebat,  who  very 
likely  had  the  matter  arranged."  Be  this  as 
it  may,  it  is  well  that  the  document  has  been 
preserved,  as  it  gives  interesting  evidence  of 
how  a  working  man's  home  was  furnished  a 
century  and  a  half  ago. 

4f       &       & 

During  the  recent  restoration  of  Doddington 
Church,  Kent,  some  interesting  frescoes  were 
discovered.  On  the  removal  of  the  plaster 
from  the  north  chancel  wall,  some  four  or 
five  stones,  which  looked  like  quoins,  were 
seen.  "  It  was  thought,"  says  the  Kentish 
Express  of  August  3,  "  that  probably  a 
window  had  been  there,  and  it  was  decided 
to  carefully  remove  the  rubble-work.  It 
soon  became  apparent  that  a  fine  thirteenth- 
century  lancet,  of  which  the  splays  and  the 
inner  plaster  arch  alone  remained,  had  been 
partly  destroyed  and  blocked  up  some 
hundreds  of  years  ago.  The  plaster,  which 
was  profusely  decorated  with  six-point  stars 
and  roses,  was  in  excellent  preservation.  But 
the  great  feature  was  a  noble  figure  of  a 
monk,  nearly  7  feet  high,  on  the  eastern  splay. 
He  stood  in  the  act  of  giving  the  Benedic- 
tion. The  face,  dignified  and  spiritual, 
looked  down  on  the  congregation,  while 
both  the  hands,  in  great  part  defaced,  were 
apparently  uplifted.  The  colouring  through- 
out was  red  and  well  preserved.    Underneath 


328 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


the  feet  were  what  looked  like  vipers,  of 
which  six  were  traceable.  The  fresco  has 
been  seen  by  several  archaeologists,  and  the 
opinion  of  one  is  that  these  represent  the 
seven  deadly  sins  which  the  monk  is  trampling 
under  foot.  Another  authority  believes  it  to 
be  a  picture  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  and 
that  those  strange  marks  represent  the  blood 
flowing  from  the  '  stigmata '  in  his  feet. 
Over  his  head  is  part  of  the  robe  and  wing  of 
an  angel.  On  the  opposite  splay  is  some  fine 
scroll-work.  The  general  opinion  seems  to 
be  that  the  fresco  was  painted  about  A.n.  1 280. 
On  the  splay  of  the  further  lancet  traces  of 
another  fresco  have  been  found.  It  ap- 
parently represents  the  Annunciation.  The 
Blessed  Virgin  is  robed  in  red  and  seated. 
Her  eyes  are  turned  upward,  and  she  carries 
in  her  right  hand  a  lily.  The  figure  is  life- 
size,  and  the  arrangement  of  her  hair  that  of 
the  ladies  of  the  thirteenth  century.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  these  frescoes  were 
both  on  the  eastern  splays  of  their  respective 
windows,  where  they  could  be  seen  of  the 
congregation,  while  the  opposite  splays  have 
the  simplest  decoration.  During  the  restora- 
tion of  this  most  interesting  church  every 
care  has  been  taken  to  preserve  these  and 
other  cherished  memorials  of  the  past." 

«4»       <k       *k 

In  the  Times  of  July  19  a  correspondent 
writes :  "  The  recent  telegrams  from  New 
York  intimating  the  discovery  in  Texas  of  a 
great  buried  city  cannot  fail  to  be  of  deep 
interest  to  all  for  whom  the  history  of  the 
American  Continent  does  not  begin  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The 
traditions  of  those  civilized  races  who  peopled 
the  tableland  of  Anahuac  or  Mexico  all  point 
to  a  northern  origin,  and  the  birthplace  of 
the  Aztec  tribe,  Aztlau,  was,  according  to 
their  legends,  situated  many  days'  journey  to 
the  north  of  Mexico.  It  is  unlikely,  however, 
that  the  city  now  under  excavation  was  the 
original  dwelling-place  of  the  Aztecs,  who  at 
the  time  of  their  conquest  over  the  peoples 
of  Mexico  were  a  warlike  tribe  whose  civiliza- 
tion was  doubtful,  and  only  sprang  from 
intercourse  with  the  more  cultured  races  they 
supplanted  in  the  Mexican  plateau.  The 
probability  is  that  in  this  Texan  Pompeii  we 
have  another  illustration  of  the  cyclopean 
remains   of  a   civilization    akin    to,   if    not 


identical  with,  that  of  Palenque  and  those 
other  prehistoric  cities,  the  presence  of  which 
in  Yucatan  and  the  Darien  Isthmus  has  led 
archaeologists  to  the  belief  that  ages  prior  to 
the  Aztec  and  Tlascalan  civilizations  there 
existed  in  these  regions  a  civilization  of 
which  these  were  but  the  last  remaining 
representatives.  The  discovery  of  such  a 
city  in  Texas  by  no  means  strengthens  the 
hypothesis  held  by  some  American  archaeolo- 
gists of  the  Asiatic  origin  of  American 
civilization,  as  the  progressive  remains  of 
such  immigrants  might  be  expected  to  have 
been  found  further  westwards.  The  com- 
parative proximity  of  these  ruins  to  the 
famous  mounds  or  earthworks  which  have 
been  the  despair  of  American  archaeologists 
is  most  significant,  and  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  some  dis- 
covery which  will  partially  or  wholly  explain 
the  long-buried  mystery  of  the  indigenous 
civilization  of  America." 

«$»       4»       «fr 

The  Town  Council  of  Edinburgh  has  ac- 
cepted from  the  Earl  of  Rosebery,  as  a  gift 
to  the  Corporation,  the  historic  mansion  in 
the  Lawnmarket,  Edinburgh,  known  as  Lady 
Stair's  House.  The  mansion  was  bought  by 
Lord  Rosebery  some  years  ago,  and  he  has 
now  offered  it  to  the  city  for  the  purposes 
of  a  municipal  museum,  the  present  museum 
being  quite  inadequate. 

The  offer  was  accepted  by  the  Town 
Council  with  expressions  of  great  gratifica- 
tion.    His  Lordship's  letter  read  : 

"  I  have  always  intended  to  offer  Lady 
Stair's  House  to  the  City  of  Edinburgh,  and 
I  have  so  disposed  of  it  in  my  will.  But  as 
I  think  it  may  be  made  immediately  available 
for  the  purposes  of  your  municipal  museum, 
I  am  anxious  to  place  it  at  once  at  the 
disposal  and  in  the  ownership  of  the  Town 
Council.  Should  they  do  me  the  honour  to 
accept  it,  the  gift  will  be  a  very  inadequate 
mark  of  the  loyal  affection  and  gratitude 
I  have  for  Edinburgh." 

•fr  «$?  $? 
Much  progress  has  been  made  and  many 
important  facts  revealed,  says  the  Glasgow 
Herald  of  August  12,  during  the  last  six 
months  relating  to  the  various  occupations 
at  Newstead.  Fresh  light  has  been  thrown 
on   these   matters   by  the   exposure  of  the 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


329 


Baths — buildings  of  great  dimensions — where 
indications  of  different  occupations  are  very 
apparent.  Connected  with  this  set  of  build- 
ings is  a  well,  which  last  week  was  explored, 
and  the  following  articles  found  : — A  Pom- 
peian  bronze  vase  with  finely  engraved  orna- 
mentation, and  a  chased  handle  with  a  terminal 
female  head  with  eyes  inset  of  silver ;  three 
smaller  bronze  vases  of  various  shapes ;  one 
piece  of  playing  dice  of  bone;  two  Roman 
swords;  and  a  beautiful  bronze  mask  of  Greek 
type  which  had  been  originally  gilded.  Inter- 
spersed with  most  of  these  finds  are  the  bones 
of  horses  and  oxen.  The  foundations  of  the 
buildings  are  highly  interesting — the  floors 
and  the  different  elevations  of  each  occupa- 
tion, their  material  and  composition.  The 
buildings  are  open  for  inspection. 

4*  &  •Up 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund, 
held  at  King's  College  on  July  29,  Professor 
Naville  gave  an  address  on  the  eleventh 
Dynasty  Temple,  recently  discovered  at  Deir- 
el-Bahari.  He  remarked  that  one  of  the 
great  annoyances  of  Egyptian  explorers  was 
to  find  the  name  of  Rameses  II.  on  many  of 
the  antiquities,  some  of  which  must  have 
existed  a  thousand  years  before  he  was  born. 
He  apparently  had  always  busied  himself 
by  having  his  name  put  on  everything  he 
possibly  could,  when  it  had  no  right  and  no 
business  there. 

&         «fr        «fr 

Country  Life  of  August  3  reproduces  a  photo- 
graph of  the  monument  to  the  centurion  of  the 
XXth  Legion,  Marcus  Favonius  Facilis,  now 
in  Colchester  Museum.  Mr.  A.  G.  Wright, 
the  curator,  in  an  accompanying  note,  says  : 
"  It  was  found  on  the  site  of  the  principal 
Roman  cemetery  in  Colchester  broken  in 
half,  the  upper  portion  lying  face  downwards 
in  front  of  the  lower,  and  it  is  probably  owing 
to  this  accident  that  the  figure,  which  is  in 
high  relief,  has  been  so  well  preserved.  The 
height  of  the  entire  monument  is  6  feet,  and 
the  width  about  2  feet  6  inches,  the  figure  of 
the  centurion,  which  stands  in  a  canopied 
niche,  being  3  feet  7  inches  in  height.  Baron 
Hubner,  the  celebrated  epigraphist,  con- 
sidered the  inscription  to  be  of  the  time  of 
Vespasian  (69  to  79  a.d.).  It  is  beautifully 
and  boldly  cut,  and  reads  in  extended  form  : 

VOL.  III. 


M(arcus)    .     FAVON(ius)    .     M(arcus)    .    F(ilius) 

POL(lia)  . 
FACILIS  .  >  .  LEG(io)  .  XX  .  VERECVNDVS  . 

ET  .  NOVICIVS  . 
LIB(erti)  .  POSVERVNT  .  H(ic)  .  S(itus)  .  E(st). 

(Marcus  Favonius  Facilis,  the  son  of  Marcus,  of 
the  Pollian  tribe,  a  Centurion  of  the  XXth  Legion. 
Verecundus  and  Novicius,  his  freedmen,  erected  this. 
He  lies  here.) 

"  Close  to  the  foot  of  the  monument  was 
found  a  cylindrical  leaden  cist  or  ossuarium, 
containing  cremated  remains,  a  small  glass 
bottle,  and  an  earthen  cup  of  exceedingly 
thin  and  well-turned  grey  ware.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  these  are  the  remains  of 
the  centurion,  and  the  accompanying  vessels 
once  contained  the  viaticum  or  food  for  his 
journey  to  the  nether  world.  Clad  in  the 
uniform  of  his  rank,  and  carrying  the  emblem 
of  his  office — the  vitis  or  vine  twig,  for  it  was 
his  duty  to  chastise  all  unruly  soldiers — he 
stands  looking  down  at  us  with  the  easy 
serenity  of  one  accustomed  not  only  to 
command,  but  to  obey.  In  the  museum  at 
York  is  a  beautifully  sculptured  stone  coffin, 
inscribed  to  the  memory  of  Julia  Fortunata, 
the  faithful  wife  of  M.  Verecundus  Diogenes. 
One  interesting  feature  of  the  monument 
illustrated  is  hidden  from  the  public  gaze, 
and  we  had  almost  overlooked  it.  On  the 
back  are  cut  letters  'T.  V.  L.,'  probably 
the  initials  of  the  sculptor  or  mason." 

$         $         $ 

Mr.  R.  W.  Greensmith,  writing  to  the  Derby 

Express  of  August  8,  with  reference  to  a 
"quaintly  carved  crucifix"  mentioned  in  a 
previous  issue  as  being  in  private  possession, 
says :  "  May  I  say  there  is  also  another 
quaintly  carved  crucifix  attached  to  the 
central  panel  of  the  High  Altar  of  St. 
Michael's,  Derby.  But  as  the  altar  is  (except 
on  Good  Fridays)  invariably  covered  with  its 
silk  frontals,  the  crucifix  is  very  rarely  seen  ; 
indeed,  its  presence  there  is  known  to  very 
few.  During  the  time  I  was  chief  sacristan 
and  server — now  some  twenty-five  years  ago — 
a  fine  new  oak  altar  was  built,  and  a  lady  of 
the  congregation  offered  me  the  old  crucifix 
I  speak  of,  which  I  accepted  for  affixing 
to  its  present  position.  This  crucifix,  too,  is 
probably  several  hundred  years  old,  the  lady 
having  purchased  it  in  some  village  in  the 
Peak  district  from  an  old  cottager.  Anti- 
quarians and  archaeologists  may  be  able  to 

2  T 


33o 


THE  HARPOON  IN  NEOLITHIC  TIMES. 


fix  approximately  its  age.  I  feel  sure  my 
old  vicar,  the  Rev.  H.  R.  Rolfe,  would  kindly 
show  it  to  any  antiquary." 


Cfie  ibarpoon  in  jfteoltt&ic 
Cimee. 

By  Arthur  E.  Rti.ru,  M.R.C.S.,  L.R.C.P. 

HERE  is  a  class  of  neolithic  imple- 
ments the  use  of  which  has  always 
been  obscure ;  they  are  usually 
53  known  as  "  single-barbed  arrow- 
heads," and  are  described  and  figured  as 
such  by  Sir  John  Evans  in  his  Stone  Imple- 
ments of  Britain. 

I  suggest  that  these  implements  are  really 
harpoon  barbs,  and  think  the  accompanying 
photograph  illustrates  their  probable  use. 

On  examining  a  considerable  number  of 
these  implements,  it  struck  me  that  although, 
no  doubt,  some  did  present  a  close  resem- 
blance in  form  to  half  a  barbed  arrowhead, 
yet  the  nature  of  the  working  on  them  was 
against  this  view. 

The  prehistoric  hunter  usually  chose  a 
flake,  having  one  edge  thicker  than  the  other  ; 
he  carefully  chipped  out  the  barb  on  the 
thicker  edge,  carrying  the  chipping  along  the 
same  edge  towards  both  extremities,  forming 
what,  if  the  implement  were  an  arrowhead, 
would  be  the  point  and  stem  respectively, 
but  which  are  really  the  extremities  of  the 
implement,  which,  when  bound  over  with 
ligatures,  retain  it  in  the  harpoon  shaft. 

In  some  specimens  the  chipping  is  entirely 
confined  to  the  barb  point,  the  extremities 
being  left  unworked.  This  is  more  usually 
the  case  when  the  flake  used  has  been 
uniformly  thin. 

The  thin  edge  of  these  implements  is 
usually  entirely  unworked,  as  it  was  intended 
to  be  buried  in  the  shaft,  consequently  any 
time  expended  on  it  would  have  been  wasted. 

When  these  barbs  were  inserted  into  the 
harpoon,  as  figured  in  the  photograph,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  greatest  strain  in  use  would 
be  on  the  lower  end,  and  this  is  the  part 
most  usually  found  broken,  the  point  of  the 
barb  being  rarely  damaged. 


The  method  of  use  is  shown  in  the  photo- 
graph ;  a  wooden  shaft  pointed  at  the  end 
was  either  hardened  in  the  fire,  or,  more 
probably,  had  a  flint  arrowhead  attached. 
Slots  were  then  cut  in  the  sides,  and  the  thin 
edge  of  the  implement  inserted  to  a  sufficient 
depth  for  the  two  extremities  to  be  covered ;  wet 


animal  ligatures  would  then  be  bound  round 
the  shaft  over  these  extremities,  and  when 
the  ligatures  had  contracted,  the  barb  would 
be  so  firmly  fixed  that  any  strain  that  could 
remove  it  was  almost  certain  to  break  one,  or 
both,  of  its  extremities. 

We   know    that    Palaeolithic    man   of  the 


SOME  ROYALIST  LADIES  OF  THE  CAROLINE  AGE. 


33i 


Cave  period  used  barbed  harpoons  made  of 
bone,  as  these  have  been  found  in  several 
cases  in  Britain  and  on  the  Continent ;  and  I 
consider  it  equally  certain  that  in  these  so- 
called  "  single-barbed  arrowheads  "  we  have 
the  proof  that  Neolithic  man  used  this 
weapon  also. 


§>ome  IRopalist  LaDtes  of  tbe 
Caroline  %e. 

By  W.  G.  Blaikie  Murdoch. 

(Concluded  from  p.  295.) 

III. 

F  ladies  who  took  an  active  part  in 
the  Civil  War,  few  are  more  in- 
teresting than  Katherine,  Lady 
Aubigny.  Clarendon,  talking  of 
her  concern  in  the  affairs  of  Charles  I., 
says :  "  This  lady  was  a  woman  of  a  very 
great  wit,  and  most  trusted  and  conversant 
in  those  intrigues  which  at  that  time 
could  be  best  managed  and  carried  on 
by  ladies,  who  with  less  jealousy  could  be 
seen  in  all  companies.  .  .  ."*  A  daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  Katherine  Howard 
was  married  in  1638  to  George  Stuart, 
ninth  Seigneur  d'Aubigny.  Four  years 
after  their  marriage  Stuart,  who  was  an 
ardent  Royalist,  was  killed  at  Edgehill. 
Writing  to  Archbishop  Laud  concerning  her 
loss,  Lady  Aubigny  expresses  her  deep  grief 
on  the  death  of  her  husband,  but  says  that 
she  has  great  consolation  in  the  thought  that 
"  my  Lord  died  in  an  honourable  and  just 
action."!  She  soon  showed  further  devo- 
tion to  the  royal  cause,  and  in  1643  sne  was 
implicated  in  the  plot  which  was  designed  by 
Edmund  Waller,  and  of  which  the  object 
was  to  seize  London  for  the  King.  On  this 
occasion  Lady  Aubigny  took  from  Oxford 
to  London  Charles's  commission  of  array, 
directed  to  some  citizens  of  London  who 
were  well  affected  to  their  Sovereign.  The 
document  was  hidden  in  the  lady's  curls,  a 

*  History  of  the  Rebellion,  v.  21  (Oxford,  1849). 
f  Some   Account  of  the   Stuarts   of  Aubigny,   by 
Lady  Cust,  p.  106  (privately  printed). 


fact  which  prompted  the  Puritan  divines  to 
preach  on  the  iniquity  of  such  ornament, 
taking  the  story  of  Absalom  as  their  Scriptural 
authority  !  *  Though  Lady  Aubigny  was 
imprisoned  for  her  share  in  Waller's  plot,  her 
loyalty  remained  unshaken.  On  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  Civil  War  she  was  married  to 
Lord  Newburgh,t  and  shortly  after  this 
second  marriage  she  made  an  abortive 
attempt  to  rescue  her  Sovereign  from  his 
enemies.  In  1648  the  King,  who  had  been 
for  some  time  confined  at  Hurst  Castle,  was 
told  that  he  was  to  be  removed  to  Windsor. 
Lady  Newburgh  sent  word  to  Charles, 
telling  him  that  on  his  journey  he  should 
contrive  to  lame  the  horse  he  was  riding,  and 
should  at  the  same  time  express  a  wish  to 
visit  Lord  Newburgh's  house  of  Bagshot. 
She  promised  to  supply  him  with  a  fresh 
horse,  which  she  guaranteed  would  be  one 
of  the  fleetest  in  England  ;  and  it  was  her 
design  that  Charles  should  delay  his  de- 
parture from  Bagshot  to  a  late  hour,  and 
then  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  escape  on 
his  fresh  mount.  Accordingly,  as  the  royal 
prisoner  drew  near  to  Bagshot,  he  began  to 
make  complaints  of  the  horse  he  was  riding, 
and  at  the  same  time  expressed  a  wish  to  visit 
Lady  Newburgh.  The  request  was  granted  ; 
the  King  rode  to  Bagshot ;  and  on  his 
arrival  there  found  that  the  steed  in  which 
he  had  trusted  for  salvation  had  met  with  an 
accident  on  the  previous  day.  J 

Though  Lady  Aubigny  failed  in  her  efforts 
on  behalf  of  Charles,  there  were  some  ladies 
whose  services  proved  of  real  value  to  the 
King.  In  1644  the  house  of  Lydney, 
in  Gloucestershire,  belonging  to  Sir  John 
Winter,  was  besieged  by  a  party  of  Round- 
heads, acting  under  the  orders  of  Sir  Edward 
Massey.  Winter  himself  was  absent,  but  his 
house  was  successfully  defended  by  his  wife, 
Lady  Mary.  When  called  on  to  surrender 
she  told  the  besiegers  that,  owing  to  her 
husband's  "  unalterable  allegiance  to  his 
King  and  Sovereign,"  she  was  determined, 
"by  God's  assistance,"  to  defend  Lydney, 

*  Memoirs  of  Prince  Rupert,  by  Eliot  Warburton, 
ii.  199,  200  (London,  1849). 

f  I  cannot  give  the  exact  date  of  Lady  Aubigny's 
second  marriage.  Clarendon  (vol.  iv.,  p.  525)  says 
that  "after  the  war  was  ended  she  had,  with  the 
King's  approbation,  married  the  Lord  Newburgh." 

\  Warburton,  iii.  397. 

2  T    2 


332 


SOME  ROYALIST  LADIES  OF  THE  CAROLINE  AGE. 


"  all  extremities  notwithstanding."  *  Another 
lady  who  bravely  held  her  house  against  the 
Parliament  forces  was  Blanche,  Baroness 
Arundell  of  Wardour,  who,  it  is  interesting 
to  recall,  was  an  aunt  of  Sir  John  Winter.t 
In  May,  1643,  during  the  absence  of  Lord 
Arundell  at  Oxford,  Sir  Edward  Hungerford, 
with  an  army  of  1,300  men,  presented  him- 
self before  Wardour  Castle  in  Wiltshire,  and 
demanded  admittance  that  he  might  search 
for  malignants.  Lady  Arundell  was  sixty 
years  of  age,  yet  she  determined  not  to  yield 
up  her  house.  She  told  Hungerford  that 
she  had  a  command  from  her  husband  to 
hold  Wardour  Castle,  which  command  she 
intended  to  obey.  The  Roundheads,  bring- 
ing cannon  within  musket-shot  of  the  walls, 
and  springing  two  mines,  besieged  the  house 
for  six  days.  During  this  time  the  lady  with 
her  followers,  amounting  to  about  fifty 
servants,  of  whom  only  half  were  fighting 
men,  defended  their  stronghold.  At  length, 
their  powers  of  resistance  being  exhausted, 
the  castle  was  surrendered  on  capitulation. 
The  terms,  however,  were  only  observed  as 
far  as  regarded  the  lives  of  the  besieged,  and 
by  a  breach  of  faith  Lady  Arundell  was  im- 
prisoned at  Shaftesbury. I 

But  the  most  notable  of  those  ladies  who 
took  an  active  part  in  the  Civil  War  was  the 
Countess  of  Derby,  who,  as  Lady  Peveril 
says  of  her  in  Peveril  of  the  Peak,  bore  "  the 
character  of  a  soldier,  and  seemed  a  man 
when  so  many  men  proved  women."  A 
daughter  of  Claude,  Due  de  la  Tremoille, 
she  was  married  in  1626  to  James  Stanley, 
seventh  Earl  of  Derby.  She  was  related  to 
Prince  Rupert ;  she  was  a  friend  of  his 
mother ;  and  she  admired  the  Prince  himself 
intensely.  Writing  to  him  on  his  arrival  in 
England  in  1641,  she  says:  "II  n'y  a 
personne  qui  ait  eu  plus  de  joie  de  votre 
arrivee  en  ce  pays  que  moi.  .   .  ."  § 

In  February,  1644,  Lathom  House,  in 
Lancashire,  the  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Derby, 
was  besieged   by   a   party   of  Roundheads, 

*  A  Compleat  History  of  the  Life  and  Raigne  of 
King  Charles  from  his  Cradle  to  his  Grave,  by 
W.  Sanderson,  p.  705  (London,  folio,  1658). 

t  She  was  a  daughter  of  Edward  Somerset,  fourth 
Earl  of  Worcester,  and  her  sister  Anne  married  Sir 
John  Winter's  father. 

\  Warburton,  ii.  215,  216. 

§  Ibid.,  i.  364. 


commanded  by  Colonels  Moor  and  Rigby. 
Derby  himself  was  with  Prince  Rupert  at 
the  time,  but  his  wife  determined  to  hold 
Lathom,  and  she  succeeded  in  withstanding 
the  assailants  for  three  months.  There  is  a 
contemporary  account  of  the  siege,  written 
by  Captain  Halsall,  who  was  one  of  the 
Countess  of  Derby's  garrison,  and  was 
wounded  during  the  assault."  The  writer  tells 
how,  when  the  Countess  was  first  summoned 
to  surrender  (February  28),  she  said  that, 
as  the  matter  "so  nearly  concerned  her 
Sovereign,"  she  must  have  a  week  in  which 
to  consider  it ;  and  he  adds  :  "  Not  that  her 
ladyship  was  unfixed  in  her  own  thoughts, 
but  endeavoured  to  gain  time  by  demurs 
and  protractions  of  the  business."  By  re- 
peated parleys  the  Countess  succeeded  in 
making  the  Roundheads  postpone  their 
assault,  and  it  was  not  till  March  12  that  the 
first  shot  was  fired  against  Lathom.  The 
besieged  fought  bravely,  and  made  many 
sallies ;  but  that  they  were  hard  pressed  in  a 
fortnight's  time  is  obvious,  for  the  Countess, 
writing  to  Prince  Rupert  on  April  1,  says  : 
"  I  know  not  what  I  say  ;  but  have  pity  on 
my  husband,  my  children,  and  me,  who  are 
ruined  for  ever,  unless  God  and  your  High- 
ness have  pity  on  us."f  Halsall  relates 
that,  in  the  course  of  an  attack  on  April  23, 
"Two  of  the  bullets  entered  her  ladyship's 
chamber.  .  .  ."  The  Countess,  however, 
remained  undaunted,  declaring  "  that  she 
would  keep  the  house  while  there  was  a 
single  building  to  cover  her  head."  On 
April  25  Colonel  Rigby  once  more  sum- 
moned the  besieged  to  surrender.  The 
Countess  tore  up  the  summons  before  the 
eyes  of  the  messenger,  and  said  :  "  When 
our  strength  and  provision  is  spent,  we  shall 
find  a  more  merciful  fire  than  Rigby's,  and 
then,  if  the  providence  of  God  prevent  it 
not,  my  goods  and  house  shall  burn  in  his 
sight,  and  myself,  children,  and  soldiers  will 
seal  our  loyalty  in  the  same  flame."  This 
speech  by  the  Countess  was  loudly  applauded 
by  her  garrison,  who  shouted  :  "  WTe  will  die 
for  his  Majesty  and  your  honour.  God  save 
the    King !"      On    May    23,    the    besieged 

*  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Colonel  Hutchinson,  by 
his  widow  Lucy,  p.  491  et  sea.  (Bonn's  edition). 

t  The  Stanley  Papers  (Chetham  Society),  part  iii., 
vol.  i.,  p.  lxxxvi. 


SOME  ROYALIST  LADIES  OF  THE  CAROLINE  AGE. 


333 


learned  that  Prince  Rupert  was  in  Cheshire, 
marching  to  their  relief.  The  Prince 
stormed  the  town  of  Stockport  on  the  25th, 
and  his  success  forced  the  Roundheads  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Lathom  and  retire  to 
Bolton.  Rupert  followed  them  there  and 
sacked  the  town.  Amongst  other  prizes,  he 
took  twenty-two  standards,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  the  Countess  of  Derby  in  token  of 
his  admiration  for  her  defence  of  Lathom 
House.* 

Rupert  was  not  alone  in  recognizing  the 
lady's  services  to  the  royal  cause.  That  the 
Roundheads  realized  the  value  of  these  is 
certain,  for  one  of  their  journals  observed 
that  "  three  women  had  ruined  this  king- 
dom :  Eve,  the  Queen,  and  the  Countess  of 
Derby."  t  Her  bravery  was  keenly  appre- 
ciated by  her  own  party.  On  March  23, 
1644,  a  letter,  signed  by  eleven  notable 
Royalists  at  Chester,  was  addressed  to  Prince 
Rupert :  "  We  have,"  they  write,  "  thought 
it  worthy  your  Highness'  knowledge  and  this 
express,  to  inform  you,  that  since  your  High- 
ness' departure  from  these  parts,  the  house 
of  Lathom  (wherein  your  very  heroic  kins- 
woman, the  Countess  of  Derby,  is)  hath  .  .  . 
been  very  straitly  besieged,  .  .  .  yet  so 
defended  by  her  admirable  courage,  as  from 
the  house  there  hath  been  killed  divers  of 
the  assailants,  some  prisoners  taken,  and 
many  arms."  They  point  out  that  the 
gallant  conduct  of  the  Countess  has  "  diverted 
a  strong  party  of  the  Lancashire  forces  from 
joining  with  those  who  would  endeavour  to 
interrupt  your  Highness'  march  and  retreat," 
and  continue  :  "  We  are  therefore  all  bold 
(with  an  humble  representation)  to  become 
suitors  to  your  Highness  for  your  princely 
consideration  of  the  noble  lady's  seasonable 
and  speedy  relief,  in  which  (besides  her 
particular)  we  conceive  the  infinite  good  of 
all  these  northern  parts  will  be  most  con- 
cerned, and  his  Majesty's  service  very  much 
advanced."  \  It  is  pleasing  to  find  that 
King  Charles  himself  was  conscious  of  the 
worth  of  the  Countess  of  Derby's  services. 
The  Earl  of  Bristol,  some  time  Secretary  of 
State,  writing  to  Prince  Rupert  on  March  8, 

*  Rupert,  Pritue  Palatine,  by  Eva  Scott,  p.  144 
(London,  1899). 

f  Warburton,  ii.  429. 
%  Ibid.,  i.  363.  364. 


1644,  mentions  that  Lathom  is  besieged,  and 
says  that  "  his  Majesty  is  so  sensible  of  the 
gallantry "  of  the  Countess  that  he  (the 
King)  would  like  Rupert  to  go  to  her  aid. 
Bristol  adds :  "  At  least,  if  your  Highness 
be  not  able  to  afford  her  succour  without 
prejudice  to  the  main,  which  it  is  supposed 
you  can  hardly  do  at  this  time,  unless  a 
small  party  will  suffice,  your  Highness  is 
desired,  at  least,  to  express  unto  her  both  his 
Majesty's  and  your  own  sense  of  her  bravery, 
and  to  encourage  her  to  continue  her  resolute 
defence,  upon  assurance  that  you  will  take 
care  of  her  relief  as  soon  as  possibly  his 
Majesty's  most  important  affairs  can  anywise 
permit  it.  .  .  ."* 

The  story  of  Jane  Lane's  devotion  to  her 
King  is  so  well  known  that  it  were  super- 
fluous to  say  anything  concerning  it  here. 
But,  having  noted  that  Charles  I.  was 
grateful  for  services  done  by  a  lady,  it  is  well 
to  see  to  what  extent  Charles  II.  followed 
the  example  set  by  his  father.  On  parting 
with  Jane  Lane  after  his  flight  from  Worcester, 
Charles  presented  the  lady  with  his  watch. 
This  relic  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Alfred  S.  Merry.  It  is  of  crystal,  with  an 
engraved  silver  face,  and  is  contained  in  a 
leather  silver-studded  case.  On  the  face 
roses  and  leaves  are  represented,  and  on  the 
back  is  engraved,  "  Henry  Granda  at  ye 
Exchange  Fecit"!  When  it  became  known 
that  the  King  had  escaped  from  England, 
Colonel  John  Lane  at  once  took  his  sister 
Jane  to  the  Continent.  Arrived  in  France, 
they  set  out  for  Paris,  having  sent  a  courier 
in  advance  to  apprise  Charles  of  their  ap- 
proach. Charles  hastened  to  meet  them, 
accompanied  by  Henrietta  Maria  and  the 
Dukes  of  York  and  Gloucester.  Kissing 
Jane  Lane  on  the  cheek,  he  called  her  his 
"life,"  and  bade  her  welcome  to  Paris. 
Three  letters  from  Charles  to  her,  written 
during  the  interregnum,  are  extant.  Two 
are  subscribed  "  your  most  affectionate 
friend,"  and  one  "your  most  assured  and 
constant  friend."  At  the  Restoration  a 
pension  of  ,£1,000  was  granted  to  Jane 
Lane,   and  Charles  himself  gave  her  several 

*  Warburton,  ii.  384. 

t  For  a  full  and  interesting  account  of  Jane  Lane 
relics,  see  After  Worcester  Fight,  by  Allan  Fea, 
p.  xix  et  seq.  (London,  1904). 


334 


THE  TOMBS  OF  ALDWORTH  CHURCH,  BERKSHIRE. 


presents.  One  of  these  was  a  portrait  of 
himself,  which  the  King  caused  to  be 
painted  expressly  that  he  might  give  it  to  the 
lady  to  whom  he  owed  so  much.  Another 
was  a  clock,  of  which  the  works  are  still  in 
existence.  Charles  also  gave  Jane  Lane  a 
gold  watch,  which  he  requested  might 
descend  as  an  heirloom  to  every  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Lane  family.  This  relic 
passed  by  intermarriage  into  the  family  of 
Lucy  of  Charlecote.  Some  years  ago  it  was 
stolen  by  burglars,  and  it  is  supposed  to  have 
been  melted  down.* 

One  of  the  greatest  of  contemporary  poets 
has  said  that 

We  are  the  puppets  of  a  shadow- play, 
We  dream  the  plot  is  woven  of  our  hearts, 
Passionately  we  play  the  self-same  parts 
Our  fathers  have  played  passionately  yesterday, 
And  our  sons  play  to-morrow. 

To  a  great  extent  he  is  right :  in  many 
respects  England  is  the  same  to-day  as  in 
the  Caroline  Age,  and  men  and  women  are 
actuated  now  by  the  same  motives  and 
passions  as  influenced  them  in  the  time  of 
the  Civil  War.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  that 
blind  loyalty  which  distinguished  so  many 
ladies  in  the  seventeenth  century  is  as  much 
a  thing  of  the  past  as  are  the  lace  ruffles  and 
slashed  doublets  of  the  Cavaliers.  "  Some- 
what fantastical."  Perhaps  those  words 
which  Lamb  applied  to  his  heroine  form  the 
best  critique  of  this  bygone  passion.  Fan- 
tastical or  not,  the  loyalty  of  those  ladies  is 
good  to  look  back  upon,  and  its  memory 
must  always  stir  the  hearts  of  all  who  "  love 
everything  that's  old  :  old  friends,  old  times, 
old  manners,  old  books,  old  wine." 


Cfje  Combs  of  aiDtoortb  Cburcb, 
"Berkshire. 

By  Ernest  W.  Dormer. 

HERE  is  an  old-world  village  pitched 
high  upon  the  back   of  the  Berk- 
shire Downs  called  Aldworth,  and 
whether  you  go  there  for  glorious 
views,  for  specimens  of  the  quaint  orchis,  for 
glimpses   of  ancient   half-timbered  cottages 
*  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  s.  v.  Jane  Lane. 


clothed  in  crimson  weather  tiling,  for  a  sight 
of  one  of  the  oldest  yew-trees  in  England, 
or  for  its  ancient  church  and  tombs — what- 
ever you  go  for  is  immaterial — you  are  con- 
scious of  an  all-pervading  sense  of  satisfaction 
when  you  have  completed  your  visit. 

Within  Aldworth  Church  are  nine  recum- 
bent effigies  in  stone — monuments  of  a  once 
mighty  family  in  English  history — the  De  la 
Beches.  The  tombs  comprise  four  knights 
in  armour;  one  unarmed  knight  and  one 
female,  which  are  all  placed  in  recesses  in 
the  north  and  south  walls  under  richly 
foliated  ogee-arched  canopies ;  one  knight  on 
a  plain  altar-tomb  in  the  centre  of  the 
church ;  and  another  knight  and  lady  upon 
a  double  tomb  in  the  centre  towards  the 
east.  There  was  originally  another  on  the 
outside  of  the  church,  but  this  has  dis- 
appeared, and  the  aperture  has  been  built  in. 

The  tombs  had  in  the  course  of  centuries 
become  objects  of  veneration,  and  suffered 
considerably  through  the  fanaticism  of  the 
people  during  the  Civil  War.  Many  of  the 
effigies  are  hacked  and  smashed,  and  in  one 
or  two  cases  the  heads,  arms,  and  legs  are 
shamefully  mutilated.  The  peasant  folk  for 
generations  regarded  them  as  effigies  of  a 
family  of  giants  who  lived  in  those  parts  in 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  only  three  of  them  exceed 
the  stature  of  an  ordinary  well-built  man. 
The  statue  which  once  lay  under  the  arch 
on  the  outside  of  the  south  aisle  was  called 
"John  Everafraid."  It  was  generally  be- 
lieved that  when  he  died  his  soul  would  go 
to  the  devil  if  ever  he  were  buried  in  church 
or  churchyard.  The  difficulty  was  overcome, 
and  the  dire  penalty  averted  by  an  ingenious 
mode  of  burial.  He  was  laid  on  the  outside 
of  the  church  wall  under  an  arch.  The 
story  was  current  among  the  villagers  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  they  called  three  of 
the  other  statues  John  Long,  John  Strong, 
and  John  Neverafraid.  John  Strong,  who 
was  a  carter  (they  are  all  supposed  to  have 
been  farm  labourers),  is  said  on  one  occasion 
to  have  taken  up  a  cart  filled  with  hay,  horses 
and  all,  and  to  have  carried  them  over  some 
obstacle  in  the  road.  One  of  these  giants  is 
also  reputed  to  have  thrown  a  huge  stone — 
in  reality  it  is  a  Roman  "  milliaria " — into 
a  field  in  a  fit  of  anger.     The  indentation  of 


THE  TOMBS  OF  ALD WORTH  CHURCH,  BERKSHIRE. 


335 


his  thumb,  where  he  grasped  the  stone,  used 
to  be  shown  to  the  curious. 

The  earliest  figure  in  the  church  is  in  the 
western  recess,  on  the  north  side ;  and  the 
next  to  this  conies  next  in  style  and  age. 
The  huge  knight  in  the  north-eastern  recess, 
and  the  lady  in  the  middle  recess  on  the 
south  side,  are,  in  all  probability,  a  pair  as 
regards  period.  The  remaining  two  on  the 
south  correspond  in  style,  one  being  a  fully 
armed  knight,  and  the  other  a  young  un- 
armed man.  The  two  male  effigies  in  the 
central  part  of  the  church — over  which  there 
was  once  a  laminated  canopy  similar  to  the 
others — seem  to  represent  brothers,  and  are 
doubtless  the  work  of  the  same  artist.  All 
these  may  be  assigned  to  a  space  of  about 
thirty  years  (1315-1346).  The  effigy  of  the 
female  lying  by  the  side  of  the  knight  on 
the  double  altar-tomb  westwards  is  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century.  In 
every  instance  they  are  characterized  by 
great  artistic  skill  and  personal  distinction, 
and  serve  well  to  illustrate  the  costume  of 
the  period  when  the  different  members  of  the 
family  flourished. 

There  is  no  name,  inscription,  or  heraldic 
device  on  any  of  the  tombs  for  identifi- 
cation. Colonel  Symonds,  in  his  notes  and 
records  (1644),  mentions  that  a  table  fairly 
written  in  parchment  hung  in  the  aisle 
of  the  church,  but  during  a  progress  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  with  the  Earl  of  Leicester 
the  Earl  took  down  the  table  to  show  Her 
Majesty,  and  it  was  never  replaced. 

Mention  of  the  Beche  family  is  frequently 
made  in  the  reigns  of  the  first  three  Edwards 
in  Charters,  Patent  and  Fine  Rolls,  and  also 
in  Parliamentary  Writs,  and  in  the  Inquisi- 
tions after  death;  but  until  comparatively 
recent  years  no  direct  proof  existed  by  which 
the  monuments  could  be  identified  as  those 
of  the  De  la  Beches. 

In  187 1  a  silver  seal  was  turned  up  in  the 
course  of  ploughing  a  field  adjacent  to  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Beche  Castle,  of  which 
Camden  makes  mention.  The  castle  was 
in  ruins  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  a  farm, 
called  Beche  Farm,  still  locates  the  site, 
while  a  pond  for  ducks  and  fowl  is  the 
undignified  remnant  of  the  moat,  and  a  saw- 
pit  on  its  edge  shows  a  thick  flint  and  stone 
wall  of  the  sinister  days. 


The  silver  seal  was  in  perfect  condition, 
and  engraved  with  three  shields  bearing 
armorial  devices  in  a  trefoil  of  the  same 
design  as  the  lamination  of  the  south  aisle 
of  the  church,  and  bore  the  inscription 
"S'lsabellae  de  la  Beche."  The  arms  in  one 
of  the  shields  are  those  of  Sir  Nicholas 
de  la  Beche,  whose  effigy  lies  by  itself  in 
the  centre  of  the  church.  The  discovery 
of  the  seal  placed  beyond  all  doubts  the 
cherished  hopes  of  many  antiquaries,  and  it 
has  certainly  been  the  means  of  adding  to 
the  knowledge  which  we  possess  of  these 
ancient  monuments  to-day.  The  following 
description  of  the  tombs,  and  some  notices 
of  the  members  of  the  family  they  com- 
memorate, have  been  prepared  with  care, 
and  record  much  of  what  is  known  of  those 
members  of  the  family  who  were  deemed 
worthy  of  such  beautiful  "  poems  in  stone." 

Robert  de  la  Beche  was  a  Knight  of  Berks 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  1230.  It  is 
recorded  that  he  conveyed  a  messuage  of 
land  at  Aldworth  to  John  de  la  Beche  in 
the  year  1261.  He  is  said  to  have  taken 
part  in  the  last  crusade  led  by  Prince  Edward, 
son  and  h sir  of  Richard  III.  His  monu- 
ment is  the  oldest  in  the  church,  and  is  by 
the  north  door.  The  effigy  is  later  than  the 
recess  in  which  it  is  placed,  and  is  more 
imperfect  than  the  next  to  it,  but  the  stone 
(probably  from  the  quarry  at  Stanford,  in 
the  Vale  of  Berks)  and  the  workmanship 
and  armour  are  alike.  The  right  hand  is  on 
the  sword-hilt,  the  left  hand  on  the  shield, 
and  the  legs  crossed. 

John  de  la  Beche,  Knight,  was  the  son 
of  Robert,  and  accompanied  his  father  to 
the  Holy  Wars.  He  received  a  messuage 
of  land  from  his  father,  as  above,  yielding 
every  year  at  Easter  one  penny  for  all 
services.  He  paid  lay  subsidies  with  his 
father  for  lands  at  Aldworth  and  West 
Compton  during  the  years  1282  to  1287. 
He  held  the  advowson  of  Barton  Church, 
Northants,  and  held  lands  in  Wandsworth 
and  Battersea  of  the  Abbey  of  Westminster. 
Edward  II.  in  13 19  granted  by  charter  to 
John  de  la  Beche  the  right  of  holding  a 
weekly  market  at  Yattendon  and  an  annual 
fair  on  the  festivals  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 
The  monument  next  to  that  of  his  father 
is  an  effigy  of  a  tall,  well-knit  man  in  com- 


336 


THE  TOMBS  OF  ALDWORTH  CHURCH,  BERKSHIRE. 


plete  armour,  bassinet  and  camail,  cyclas, 
hauberk  and  hacketon,  gadded  gauntlets, 
shield  on  the  left  arm,  long  sword  and  belt, 
greaves  and  sollerets,  with  single  prick  spurs, 
and  a  fine  lion  at  the  feet,  which  are  crossed. 
The  left  hand  is  on  the  sword-hilt,  the  right 
hand  on  the  breast. 

Philip  de  la  Beche,  Knight,  grandson  of  Sir 
Robert,  was  joint  tenant  with  his  father  of 
lands  at  Aldworth  and  Compton  in  1313- 
1314,  and  Sheriff  of  Berks  and  Oxon.  He 
was  Sheriff  of  Wilts  1314-1317,  and  also  in 
132 1,  in  which  year  he  and  Sir  William  de 
Wauton  returned  themselves  Knights  of  the 
Shire.  Sir  Philip  was  Lord  Chamberlain  and 
Valet  to  Edward  II.  in  the  early  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  In  the  year  13 16  the 
King  granted  him  ten  marks  for  the  expenses 
of  the  custody  of  two  prisoners  at  the  Tower 
of  London.  The  High  Altar  of  Aldworth 
Church  was  re-dedicated  at  the  instance  of 
Sir  Philip  de  la  Beche  and  others  by  com- 
mission of  the  Bishop  of  Sarum  to  the 
Bishop  of  St.  David's.  Sir  Philip  was  the 
father  of  six  sons  and  one  daughter,  and, 
strange  to  say,  only  one  of  his  sons  had 
an  heir.  As  a  result  the  family  died 
out  in  the  following  century.  Trouble 
seems  to  have  descended  upon  the  family 
about  this  time,  and  on  December  7,  1321, 
a  commission  was  granted  to  arrest  Philip 
de  la  Beche  and  four  of  his  sons — John, 
Philip,  Robert,  and  Edmond — on  the  charge 
of  being  adherents  to  the  Earl  of  Lancaster. 
They  were  taken  prisoners  on  July  1 1  in  the 
following  year  at  Boroughbridge,  in  York- 
shire, and  the  two  Sir  Philips  committed — 
one  to  Pomfret,  the  other  to  Scarborough 
Castle,  and  John  to  the  Tower.  Of  the  two 
younger  sons,  Robert  was  released  almost 
immediately,  and  Edmond  was  fined  and 
released  on  bail.  The  others  gained  their 
freedom  on  the  accession  of  Edward  III. 
They  received  a  free  pardon,  and  all  their 
lands,  honours,  and  privileges  were  restored 
to  them  again. 

The  monument  of  Sir  Philip — eastward 
on  the  north  side — is  a  remarkable  effigy. 
It  is  the  figure  of  a  herculean  man  in  a 
reclining  position,  with  legs  drawn  up  and 
the  body  somewhat  squeezed  into  its  place. 
This  is  evidently  to  show  either  the  extra- 
ordinary natural  height,  which  is  over  7  feet, 


or  because  the  father  made  a  recess  for  a 
son  of  ordinary  proportions.  The  stone 
appears  to  be  from  the  quarries  at  Milton- 
under-Wychwood,  in  Oxfordshire,  and  the 
costume  and  armour  are  of  the  early  part  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  elaborately  wrought 
and  graced.  The  feet — now  broken  off — 
were  supported  originally  by  a  dwarf  page 
sitting  with  his  legs  crossed,  similar  in  fashion 
to  an  Oriental.  Sir  Philip  is  said  to  have 
had  a  dwarf  page  at  Court  more  effectually  to 
show  his  own  magnificent  proportions.  The 
arms  and  legs  of  the  figure — the  latter 
crossed — are  shielded  in  leathern  armour, 
ornamented  in  relief  with  rosettes  and  fleurs- 
de-lys.  There  is  a  mantle  over  the  cyclas 
and  hauberk  with  studde<l  belt,  and  falling  in 
folds.  The  craftsman  was  full  of  detail  in 
this  figure. 

There  is  a  monument  of  a  female  in  the 
costume  of  the  early  part  of  the  fourteenth 
century  under  the  central  arch  of  the  south 
aisle,  which  would  seem  to  go  with  that  of 
Sir  Philip.  A  close  wimple  is  drawn  over 
the  chin,  and  the  long  plaited  hair  depends 
below  the  cheeks.  The  hands  are  apart  on 
the  bosom.  There  were  formerly  two  sup- 
porting angels  at  the  pillow,  but  they  are 
now  broken  off.  The  costume  is  earlier 
than  the  arch  of  the  aisle  in  which  it  is  laid, 
and  it  may  have  been  removed  from  the 
older  part  of  the  church,  though  this  would 
not  seem  to  be  feasible.  The  armorial 
bearings  of  the  bezants  on  the  seal  of  the 
widow  of  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Philip  de  la 
Beche,  together  with  the  cognizance  of  the 
Beche  family  and  one  for  his  father,  suggest 
that  this  lady,  his  mother,  was  a  De  la  Zouch. 
This  family  was  very  numerous  at  the  time, 
holding  lands  in  Surrey  and  Oxfordshire, 
and  three  knights  of  the  name  were  taken 
prisoners  with  the  De  la  Beches  in  Yorkshire. 

John  de  la  Beche,  Knight,  the  eldest  son 
of  Sir  Philip,  married  Isabella  de  Elmridge, 
and  left  at  the  time  of  his  death  two  sons 
and  three  daughters.  His  wife  and  eldest 
son,  Thomas,  were  joint  tenants  with  him 
of  lands  at  West  Compton.  He  held  eleven 
acres  of  land  of  Isabel,  Queen  of  England, 
for  which  it  is  said  that  he  did  suit  and 
service  once  in  three  weeks  at  her  Court  at 
Cookham.  In  the  Harleian  MSS.  we  find 
that  Sir  John  was  a   Knight  of   Berkshire, 


THE  TOMBS  OF  ALD WORTH  CHURCH,  BERKSHIRE. 


337 


and  went  with  Edward  I.  in  his  Scotch  wars 
against  the  Bruces.  He  was  Sheriff  of  Hants 
from  the  sixth  to  the  tenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Edward  II.,  and  was  Keeper  of  the  Castle 
at  Winchester,  and  a  Knight  of  the  Shire 
1313-1317.  On  December  7,  1321,  we  have 
seen,  his  arrest  was  ordered  for  adherence 
to  the  cause  of  the  Earl  of  Lancaster.  He 
was  rigorously  treated  in  the  Tower  owing 
to  his  obstinacy  and  contempt  of  his  judges, 
but  was  afterwards  released,  and  appears  to 
have  died  in  the  year  of  his  release,  1327. 

The  monument  of  this  knight  is  in  the 
eastern  end  of  the  nave,  on  the  same  tomb 
as  that  of  his  wife.  The  stone  is  similar  to 
that  of  the  last  two  described.  Under  the 
head,  which  is  in  bassinet  and  camail,  is  a 
large  jousting  helmet  for  a  pillow.  A  belt,  a 
sword,  rowelled  spurs,  and  two  small  hounds 
under  his  legs  and  a  lion  at  his  feet  are 
depicted  with  cunning  accuracy.  The  hands 
are  closed  on  the  breast.  The  execution  of 
the  figure  and  the  design  and  position  are 
very  artistic.  The  jupon  is  wrought  with  the 
last  two  or  three  holes  not  laced,  as  if  the 
knight  it  is  meant  to  memorialize  were  in 
imprisonment,  or  it  possibly  may  be  a  touch 
of  realism  on  the  part  of  the  sculptor.  The 
tomb  of  Sir  Nicholas,  the  brother  of  Sir  John, 
which  lies  under  the  arcade  between  the  nave 
and  aisle  in  the  centre  of  the  church,  is 
evidently  the  work  of  the  same  hand.  It  is 
also  in  similar  style,  so  that  the  mutilated 
parts  of  the  one  might  be  repaired  by  match- 
ing parts  of  the  other,  which  in  places  has  been 
wantonly  smashed.  Half  of  the  head  of  this 
figure,  in  fact,  has  been  sawn  off. 

Isabella  de  la  Beche  is  mentioned  with 
her  husband  in  the  Feet  of  Fines,  Berkshire, 
9-10  Edward  II.,  and  in  the  Inquisition  after 
death.  This  lady  was  evidently  the  owner 
of  the  seal  which  was  found  in  the  field 
adjacent  to  Aldworth  Church.  Almost 
every  landowner  had  a  seal  in  those  days. 
As  a  rule  they  were  destroyed  on  the  death 
of  the  owner,  so  that  they  are  exceedingly 
rare;  and  although  thousands  of  wax  im- 
pressions remain  to-day,  very  few  originals 
exist.  The  seal  was  required  to  be  set  to  the 
returns  of  duties  payable  to  the  King,  so  that 
the  date  of  this  seal  would  be  most  likely 
after  the  inquisition  of  the  death  of  Isabella's 
husband,  in  the  third   year  of  the  reign  of 

VOL.  III. 


Edward  III.  The  use  of  it  was  required 
also  during  the  minority  of  her  sons.  The 
south  aisle  and  canopies  agree  in  position 
and  character  with  the  latest  monument, 
so  that  there  is  a  probability  that  Isabella 
was  the  foundress  of  the  south  aisle  between 
the  years  1330- 1340,  and  that  she  built  the 
recesses  and  canopies  therein,  in  addition  to 
reconstructing  the  nave  wall  into  arcades,  so 
that  three  effigies  might  rest  beneath  it.  Her 
monument  is  of  a  lady  in  the  costume  of 
the  middle  or  later  part  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  The  left  hand  is  on  the  breast, 
while  the  right  is  holding  the  dress,  which  is 
caught  up  under  the  left  arm.  The  sleeves 
have  long  lappets,  and  there  is  a  hound  at 
the  feet  (now  broken).  The  statue  is  in  the 
aisle  on  the  same  tomb  with  that  of  Sir  John, 
her  husband.  The  stone  is  from  the  Vale  of 
Berkshire.  At  this  point  John,  the  grandson 
of  Sir  Philip,  would  seem  to  have  succeeded, 
but  for  some  reason  unknown  his  uncle, 
Philip,  came  into  the  estate  with  reversion 
to  his  uncle  Nicholas. 

Philip  de  la  Beche,  Knight,  second  son  of 
Sir  Philip,  is  described  in  Boroughbridge 
Roll  as  a  Knight  Bachelere.  He  was  Sheriff 
of  Berks  and  Oxon  in  the  year  1332.  In  the 
ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  1336, 
Philip  and  Nicholas  de  la  Beche  were 
licensed  to  empark  lands  at  De  la  Beche 
and  Yattendon,  also  to  have  free  warrens 
there  and  at  Beaumys  Castle  at  Shinfield, 
near  Reading  (long  since  demolished).  In 
1338  they  were  further  empowered  to  fortify 
the  mansions  of  the  manors  of  De  la  Beche, 
Beaumys,  and  Watlington.  Philip  died  in 
the  year  1339.  His  monument  in  the  south 
aisle  wall,  eastward,  is  an  effigy  of  a  warrior 
reclining  in  sleep.  The  figure  is  fully  armed, 
the  visor  raised,  the  right  hand  sheathing  a 
sword,  the  left  arm  shielded,  and  the  legs 
crossed.  The  helmet  is  embellished  with 
fieurs-de-lys,  and  the  head  is  resting  upon 
pillows.  In  Colonel  Symonds's  diary  it  is 
stated,  "There  is  a  lyon  at  hys  feete."  Both 
the  feet  and  the  lion  are  now  missing.  The 
stone — from  the  Vale  of  Berkshire — is  much 
softer  and  not  so  durable  as  that  of  the 
other  monuments. 

Nicholas  de  la  Beche,  Knight,  was  the 
third  son  of  Philip,  and  married  Margaret, 
the  widow  of  Sir  Edmond  Beacoun.      He 

2  u 


33« 


THE  TOMBS  OF  ALDWORTH  CHURCH,  BERKSHIRE. 


appears  to  have  been  more  prudent  than  his 
brothers,  and  was  not  drawn  into  the  seeth- 
ing whirlpool  of  politics  as  they  were. ::  In 
the  year  1322  he  was  made  Governor  of 
Montgomery  Castle,  in  the  Marches  of 
Wales,  and  also  of  Plecy,  or  Pleshey,  in  Essex. 
On  January  3,  1322,  he  was  ordered  to  arrest 
certain  persons,  enemies  of  the  King,  and  in 
the  following  March  to  raise  men-at-arms 
and  bring  them  to  the  King  at  Coventry. 
Soon  after  this  the  tables  appear  to  have 
been  turned,  for  we  find  that  orders  were 
given  to  other  persons  to  pursue  and  arrest 
Nicholas  de  la  Beche.  As  no  arrest  was 
made,  he  presumably  escaped.  He  was  in 
favour  again  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.,  being  made  Constable  of  the 
Tower  of  London  and  tutor  to  the  Black 
Prince. 

In  1340  the  King  came  in  great  anger 
from  Flanders,  and  arrived  at  the  Tower 
about  midnight,  where  he  found  only  his 
children  and  three  servants,  Sir  Nicholas 
being  absent  on  family  business.  The  reason 
of  the  King's  rage  is  said  to  have  been  his 
disappointment  at  not  having  received  more 
timely  remittances  from  his  Ministers,  upon 
which  he  had  relied  to  carry  on  the  siege  of 
Tourney.  He  vented  his  wrath  on  Sir 
Nicholas,  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and 
several  other  high  officers  of  his  household, 
for  their  remissness  in  not  being  at  their 
posts.  His  rage  was  short-lived,  however, 
and  Sir  Nicholas  was  pardoned  by  patent  the 
same  year.  In  the  year  1342  he  was  sum- 
moned to  Parliament,  and  went  with  the 
King  to  the  war  in  Bretagne.  The  following 
year  saw  him  made  Seneschal  of  Gascony, 
and  in  the  year  after  that  he  was  one  of  the 
Commissioners  deputed  to  visit  Alphonso, 
King  of  Castile,  on  the  subject  of  the 
marriage  of  that  King's  son  to  Edward's 
ddest  daughter,  Joan. 

In  the  year  1346,  when  the  Battle  of 
Crecy  was  fought,  Sir  Nicholas  went  with  the 
Earl  of  Derby  on  a  campaign  in  the  South 
of  France.  From  here  he  is  said  to  have 
returned  home  and  died,  and  was  buried  at 

*  Lysons,  the  antiquary,  credits  Sir  Nicholas 
with  the  erection  of  the  church,  and  thinks  that  this 
knight  erected  some  of  the  monuments  to  his  ancestors 
who  had  not  been  actually  buried  at  Aldworth.  This 
would  seem  to  be  disproved  by  the  discovery  of  the 
seal  of  Isabella. 


Aldworth.  His  monument  in  the  middle 
arch  connecting  the  nave  and  aisle  is  a  grand 
effigy,  though  very  much  mutilated.  The 
features  of  this  statue  are  remarkably  clear 
and  fine,  and  the  execution  of  the  helmet, 
sword,  buckle,  and  belt  is  the  same  as  that  of 
his  brother  John,  whose  effigy  is  next  towards 
the  east,  only  much  finer  and  more  com- 
plete. The  jupon  is  laced  neatly,  and  the 
hands  are  closed  on  the  breast.  Colonel 
Symonds  says,  "  At  each  foote  a  hounde 
syttinge  on  hys  tayle,  whereon  a  foote  lyes 
and  the  dogs  harde  lookinge  towards  the 
west  ende."  These  parts  are  now  so  smashed 
as  to  be  almost  unrecognizable. 

Robert  de  la  Beche,  Knight,  was  sum- 
moned to  the  great  Council  at  Westminster 
in  1324,  with  William  de  la  Beche  of  Suffolk. 
Some  fifty  years  ago  there  was  on  the  outside 
of  the  wall  of  the  south  aisle  a  deep  recess, 
like  those  within  the  church,  beautifully 
ornamented  in  the  same  rich  style.  Inside 
this,  and  level  with  the  ground,  wrote 
Colonel  Symonds  in  1644,  "lyes  a  statue  of 
another  Knight  which  seems  to  be  older  than 
the  reste,  upon  hys  breast  an  escocheon." 
Within  the  church  there  is  a  part  of  a  sculp- 
tured lion,  with  the  right  foot  in  armour 
crossed  over  upon  it,  which  does  not  appear 
to  belong  to  any  other  of  the  effigies.  This 
was  probably  broken  off  the  tomb  of  the 
warrior  on  the  exterior  of  the  church,  which 
is,  perhaps,  the  effigy  of  Robert  de  la  Beche. 
The  aperture  is  now  closed  in.  This  is  the 
place  where  the  effigy  of  John  Everafraid,  the 
author  of  the  legend,  was  laid. 

John  de  la  Beche  was  the  second  son  of 
Sir  John  and  Isabella.  He  died  in  the  year 
1340.  This  John  had  three  daughters,  who 
married  into  high  families.  His  monument  is 
a  full-sized  recumbent  figure  of  a  man  without 
armour.  The  hands  are  closed  on  the  breast, 
and  remnants  of  a  splendid  setter  dog  lie  at 
his  feet.  His  head,  as  described  in  1644,  is 
covered  with  curly  hair,  "with  no  covering 
of  cloth  upon  it."  The  head,  hands,  and 
feet  are  now  missing  from  the  effigy.  The 
tomb  is  in  one  block,  similar  to  that  of  the 
second  Philip,  and  fitted  in  a  recess.  The 
monument  is  of  the  same  date  as  the  aisle  in 
which  it  is  placed. 

Edmond  de  la  Beche  was  a  Clericus,  and 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  surprise  attack  on 


THE  NORMAN  ARCHES  OF  HIGH   WYCOMBE. 


Wallingford  Castle  to  release  Lord  Audley 
and  Maurice  Berkeley,  who  were  detained 
there  as  prisoners  for  their  adherence  to  the 
Earl  of  Lancaster.  For  this  Edmond  was  one 
of  Sir  Philip's  sons  who  were  made  prisoners, 
and  he  was  consequently  sent  to  Pomfret 
Castle.  He  was  Archdeacon  of  Berks,  but 
was  more  a  soldier  than  an  ecclesiastic.  He 
was  possessor  of  the  Aldworth  estates  when 
he  died  in  1365. 

None   of  the   monuments  in  the  church 
suggest  Edmond.     There  is  under  the  floor 


339 


&bz  Gorman  arcbes  of  ibifjb 
Wytombz. 

By  Oliver  Davison. 

NOTHER  old  link  with  the  past  is 
fast  disappearing  in  the  shape  of 
some  fine  Norman  arches  which 
stand  in  the  grounds  of  the  Royal 
Grammar  School  at  High  Wycombe,  Buck- 
inghamshire. 


NORMAN    ARCHES,    HIGH    WYCOMBE. 


of  the  south  aisle  a  large  slab  of  Purbeck 
marble,  in  the  centre  of  which  has  been  laid 
a  brass  monument  of  a  half-length  figure  of 
an  ecclesiastic,  of  probably  the  fourteenth 
century.  This  might  have  been  to  the 
memory  of  Edmond  de  la  Beche. 

From  this  point  the  estates  of  the  De  la 
Beche  family  appear  to  have  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Langford  family  by  Joan,  the 
sister  of  Edmond,  marrying  Sir  John  de 
Langford,  who  resided  at  Bradfield. 


On  November  22  last  the  north-western 
arch  of  the  old  Norman  wall,  forming  what 
used  to  be  the  chief  apartment  of  the  ancient 
hospital  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  collapsed, 
and  when  the  writer  visited  the  scene  of  the 
disaster  a  few  days  later,  all  that  was  to  be 
seen  of  this  fine  old  example  of  Norman 
work  was  a  heap  of  crumbling  stone  and 
rubble  scattered  across  a  sunken  and  weed- 
grown  pavement. 

The  four  arches  still  standing  were  once 
the  interior  arches  of  the  great  hall,  60  feet 
long,  which,  it  is  believed,  served  the  purpose 

2U    2 


34° 


THE  NORMAN  ARCHES  OF  HIGH  WYCOMBE. 


of  a  refectory,  buttery,  and  kitchen,  an  oven 
being  still  to  be  seen  in  the  northern  wall.  In 
the  days  of  its  prime  it  must  have  been  a  well- 
proportioned  and  handsome  building,  with 
its  four  round  arches  carried  on  short  pillars, 


neglect,  damp,  and  rough  weather.  Farther 
away,  in  the  direction  of  the)  River  Wye, 
and  on  ground  now  used  as  a  road,  must 
have  stood  the  lodgings  of  the  master,  the 
brethren,  and  the  sisters — perhaps  including 


WINDOW   OK   THE   CHAPEL,    HIGH    WYCOMBE. 


whose  sculptured  capitals  show  elegance  of 
design  and  execution. 

Two  graceful  Early  English  windows  mark 
the  position  of  the  chapel,  which  adjoined 
the  hall,  and  which  was  of  a  later  date. 

For  over  700  years  the  work  of  the 
Wycombe  men  has  stood  the  changes  of  time, 


a  cell  for  some  pious  hermit,  as  well  as  out- 
buildings and  gardens  extending  to  the  river; 
the  hospital  and  the  old  mill  being  ap- 
proached by  a  road  of  its  own  from  the  town. 
One  could  also  imagine  a  tiny  hamlet  of 
mud  and  wattling,  straw-thatched  cottages 
standing  near  by. 


THE  NORMAN  ARCHES  OF  HIGH  WYCOMBE. 


341 


The  two  southern  arches  of  the  hall,  in 
addition  to  the  south  wall  of  the  chapel,  were 
cut  away  in  later  years,  when  the  road  was 
continued  and  made  into  a  high  road. 

For  nearly  400  years  did  the  old  founda- 
tion do  its  kindly  work,  helped,  no  doubt,  by 
the  Mayor  and  burgesses  of  Wycombe. 

A  school  was  tentatively  established  about 
I55°>  m  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  and  in  the 
fourth  year  of  Elizabeth,  1562,  the  old 
hospital  began  a  new  era  as  the  Royal 
Grammar  School,  the  Norman  hall  becoming 
the  home  of  the  school,  and  for  three 
centuries  wearing  itself  away  in  the  services 
of  the  boys  of  Wycombe. 

The  wear  and  tear  as  a  school,  together 
with  alterations,  greatly  changed  the  aspect 
of  the  building,  and  possibly  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century  an  enveloping  building 
was  erected  which  completely  transformed 
the  hall  and  chapel — the  old  fabric  being 
hidden  away  for  several  years  behind  modern 
walls  and  staircases,  or  built  into  bedroom 
partitions — its  very  existence  being  almost 
forgotten. 

The  western  arches  were  bricked  up  and 
pierced  for  windows,  only  occasional  repairs 
revealing  the  ancient  ruin  concealed  beneath. 
When  the  present  school  was  built  it  again 
saw  the  light  of  day. 

The  modern  constructions  and  a  project 
for  the  full  restoration  of  the  Norman  hall 
having  fallen  through,  the  ruins  were  repaired, 
roofed  with  tiles,  and  left  exposed  to  view,  as 
also,  alas!  to  rapid  decay  as  well. 

The  embrace  of  the  ivy,  together  with  the 
dampness  of  the  open  air  round  the  old  walls, 
so  long  covered  from  the  weather,  has  at 
last  done  its  work. 

It  was  a  great  error  of  judgment  to  leave 
these  remaining  ruins  unsheltered  from  the 
weather,  and  the  inadequate  roofing  carried 
out  some  twenty  years  ago  has  not  received 
the  attention  it  merited. 

Whilst  the  date  of  its  construction  is  indi- 
cated by  its  transitional  Norman  character, 
the  origin  of  the  hospital  is  not  quite  so 
certain.  A  favourite  theory  is  that  it  was 
a  foundation  of  the  Knights  Templars,  from 
whom  it  passed  (as  did  the  bulk  of  their 
possessions  of  a  similar  kind)  into  the  hands 
of  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  and  a  point  in 
favour  of  this  theory  may  be  found  in  the  fact 


of  its  dedication  to  St.  John  the  Baptist,  as  is 
also  the  fact  that  the  Templars  possessed 
valuable  manors  in  Wycombe.  Another 
theory  is  that  it  was  a  foundation  under  the 
Order  of  St.  Augustine,  the  mendicant  friars  of 
which  order  were  vowed  to  poverty  and 
devoted  themselves  to  the  relief  of  the  poor 
and  suffering.  The  poor  traveller,  unable  to 
travel  by  any  other  method  than  his  own  feet 
and  afford  the  expense  of  an  inn,  found  rest 
and  food  in  the  pious  communities  of  the 
brethren  and  sisters. 

In  these  days  of  new,  and  often  hideous, 
buildings  that  are  rapidly  being  erected  by 
jerry-builders,  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  be  able 
to  look  on  some  of  these  old  and  really 
beautiful  relics  of  former  buildings,  and  it  is 
greatly  to  be  deplored  that  something  was 
not  done  at  an  earlier  date  to  ensure  proper 
care  of  these  ruins,  which  date  from  a.d.  1175, 
and  are  considered  by  experts  to  be  among 
the  finest  examples  of  Norman  domestic 
architecture  in  England. 

The  ruins  have  been  examined  by  the 
architect  of  the  Society  for  the  Preservation 
of  Ancient  Monuments,  who  gives  it  as  his 
opinion  that  they  could  be  satisfactorily 
restored  for  about  ^100. 

The  fund  started  by  Mr.  Arnison  (the 
head-master  of  the  school)  has  now  reached 
about  half  this  sum,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  balance  will  be  soon  forthcoming,  so 
that  this  beautiful  and  venerable  piece  of 
architecture  may  still  remain  with  us. 


€f)e  OEtril  OEpe  ana  tfte  ^olar 
4£m&lem. 

By  J.  Holden  MacMichael. 
[Continued from  p.  230.) 


HE  symbolic  eye  is  encountered 
not  only  upon  the  more  im- 
portant monuments  of  Egypt, 
but  upon  the  smaller  Egyptian 


antiques,  and  upon  the  painted  vases  of  the 
ancients,  where  it  succeeded  the  gammadion, 
apparently  intended,  as  upon  the  Egyptian 
boats  of  the  dead*  and  the  modern  Nea- 
*  Vide  Wilkinson's  Egyptians,  vol.  iii.,  Plates  LXVI. 
and  LXVII. 


342 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


politan  fisher-boat,  to  bear  an  amulitic  as 
well  as  symbolic  meaning.  This  symbolic 
eye,  the  head  of  Medusa,  and  the  more 
archaic  emblems  of  the  sun  and  the  sun- 
deities,  were  the  principal  devices  employed 
upon  the  shields  of  warriors  for  talismanic 
purposes  to  ward  off  the  effects  of  the  Evil  Eye, 
as  manifest  in  wounds  and  death.  Evidently 
in  this  protective  way  variations  of  the  sun- 
wheel,  like  the  Indian  swastika,  the  mediaeval 
fylfot,  and  the  Greek  ga>/i>/iadio?i*  were 
employed  upon  the  shields  of  warriors  as 
symbols  of  the  different  racial  conceptions 
of  the  solar  deity.  Especially  I  noted  upon 
a  shield  of  late  Celtic  work  in  the  British 
Museum  a  fine  example  of  the  ancient 
British  shield,  in  the  centre  of  which  was 
a  triple  device  in  red  enamel,  which  doubt- 
less has  some  symbolic  meaning.  Red 
was,  of  course,  sacred  to  the  Sun.  An 
attempt  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the 
solar  circle,  f  as  seen  in  the  Celtic  shield 
at  a  time  when  the  real  import  of  the  em- 
blem had  probably  been  forgotten,  appears 
to  have  been  made  in  the  ancient  Irish 
legend  of  Cuchulain's  shield,  upon  which 
MacEnge  the  smith  is  instructed  by  that 
hero  to  make  a  carved  device  differing  from 
all  those  hitherto  known.  The  smith,  at  his 
wits'  end  to  know  how  to  proceed,  and  his 
life  being  in  jeopardy  through  non  -  com- 
pliance, presently  sees  coming  towards  him 
a  man  with  a  "  fork  "  in  his  hand,  and  two 
prongs  projecting  from  it,  with  which,  in 
ashes  strewn  upon  the  floor,  he  described 
the  devices  that  were  to  be  engraved  upon 
Cuchulain's  shield.  + 

*  The  fylfot,  of  which  there  is  a  representation 
in  Boutell's  Monumental  Brasses  and  Slabs,  8vo., 
1847,  p.  28,  is  thought  to  have  been  derived  from  the 
Greek  gammadion — that  is,  a  device  made  from  four 
capital  letters  of  the  Greek  ydfi/ia.  (V)  ;  but  the 
gammadion,  although  thus  composed,  was  probably 
suggested  by  pre-existing  symbols  of  the  sun,  or 
sun-wheel.  Fylfot  is,  I  believe,  an  abbreviation  of 
(pi/Wov  <f>urbi. 

t  "  The  hammered  and  cast  bronze-work  of  the 
ancient  Irish  exhibits  evidence  of  the  use  of  the 
compass,  but  I  have  discovered  no  reference  to  it 
by  name"  (see  W.  K.  Sullivan's  notes  to  O'Curry's 
Manners  and  Customs  of  Ancient  Irish,  vol.  i., 
p.  356 ;  see  the  solar  emblem  with  the  symbolic  eye 
in  an  illustration  of  Helios  Karneios,  the  Horned  Sun, 
in  R   Brown's  Great  Dionysiac  Myth,  p.  123). 

J  O'Curry's  Manners  and  Customs,  vol.  ii., 
PP-  329.  330. 


The  solar  eye,  as  a  talisman,  occurs  upon 
an  archaic  vase  in  the  Royal  Museum,  Berlin, 
where  it  takes  the  place  of  the  circle,  and 
beneath  it  two  women  are  apparently  tearing 
their  hair  in  the  frenzied  grief  of  the  funeral 
mourner.  Upon  mosaic  pavements — a  cir- 
cumstance not,  I  think,  alluded  to  in 
Mr.  Morgan's  work — upon  pottery,  stone 
monuments,  and  upon  many  other  objects 
of  antiquity,  these  symbols  would  appear  to 
have  been  borne  with  the  one  paramount 
object  of  guarding  property  and  person 
against  the  insidious  influences  of  the  Evil 
One.  Thence,  too — that  is,  from  the  sivas- 
tika,  which  is  obviously  but  a  modification 
of  the  blazing  sun-wheel,  and  from  which  was 
doubtless  evolved  the  pre-Christian  cross  and 
the  "masculo-feminine"  symbol — we  may 
trace  the  crucial  form  of  the  four  shaped 
merchants'  marks,  all  having  this  sacred, 
symbolic,  and  protective  meaning,  either 
solar  or  Christian. 

It  is  with  the  benignant  eye  of  Varuna, 
and  of  Ormazd,  that  is,  the  Sun — in  the 
scripture  of  the  Persians  the  solar  disk  Khor 
is  called  the  Eye  of  Ormuzd,  King  of  Light — 
that  it  is  proposed  to  identify  antithetically 
the  malign  influence  of  an  Evil  Eye,  and  to 
show  that  this  chain  of  superstition,  stretching 
from  the  mountains  of  Ice  to  the  islands  of 
Fire,  from  the  mystic  Orient  to  the  cultured 
West,  was  forged  long  before  we  hear  of  the 
myth  of  Medusa  and  the  Gorgons,  to  which 
its  origin  is  often  imputed.  It  has  been 
thought  that  it  was  the  eyes  of  Gorgons 
which  had  a  malignant  ascendancy  over  the 
flock  of  Menalcas,  whose  lambs  are  said  in 
Virgil's  Bucolics  (iii.,  102)  to  have  been  over- 
looked :  "  Nescio  quis  teneros  oculus  mihi 
fascinat  agnos."  But,  long  before  this,  the 
belief  is  traceable  to  the  primitive  religion  of 
the  hearth,  and  the  conception  of  a  dualism 
of  Light  and  Darkness,  Good  and  Evil,  like 
that  of  Ormazd  the  "creator  of  fire,"  and 
Ahriman  in  the  Zend-Avesta,  where  Ahri- 
man  is  himself  spoken  of  as  having  the  power 
of  the  Evil  Eye  when  Ormazd  says :  "  I, 
Ahura  Mazda,  when  I  made  this  mansion 
(Paradise)  .  .  .  then  the  ruffian  (Ahriman) 
cast  on  me  the  evil  eye  to  create  by  his 
witchcraft  .  .  .  99,999  diseases."*  Similar 
devastating  powers  are  attributed  to  the  Evil 

*    Vendidad,  Fargard  XXII.,  i.  I. 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM, 


343 


Eye  in  the  Babylonian  Talmud,  where 
ninety-nine  persons  are  said  to  die  from  it 
for  one  who  dies  in  the  usual  manner.*  In 
the  Pahlavi  Texts  the  faithful  are  told  that 
Ahriman's  "eyesight" — an  obvious  allusion 
to  his  evil  eye — does  not  refrain  from  doing 
the  creatures  of  Ormazd  harm,  t  while  Arask 
(malice),  one  of  his  demons  produced  to 
destroy  the  good  creatures  of  Ormazd,  is 
called  the  "spiteful  friend  of  the  evil  eye;" 
and  the  demon  of  the  malignant  eye  (sur 
kashmi)  is  he  who  will  spoil  anything  which 
men  see  when  they  do  not  say  "  in  the 
name  of  God  (Yazdan)."  \ 

The  eye,  as  representing  the  Sun,  either 
in  his  maleficent  or  beneficent  aspect,  occu- 
pies the  most  prominent  place  in  the  Indo- 
European  and  Semitic  mythologies.  Like 
that  of  Ra,  whose  "...  radiant  eye  divine 
has  overthrown  the  foe,  repelling  the  advance 
of  Apap,"§  or  that  of  Osiris,  of  Mithris,  ||  of 
Siva,  or  of  Odin,  it  became  in  early  Christian 
art  also  the  symbol  of  Providence,  while 
the  malignant  propensities  of  Ahriman,  of 
Medusa,  or  of  Polyphemos,  of  the  Russian 
demon  Morgarko  (the  Winker — i.e.,  sheet 
lightning),  the  Servian  Vii,  whose  glance, 
resembling  that  of  the  Caliph  Vathek,  in 
Beckford's  Arabian  tale,  reduces  not  only 
men,  but  whole  cities  to  ashes,  the  Bohemian 
and  Slovakian  Swift-Eye.U 

The  Bohemian  and  Slovakian  Swift-Eye 
and  the  northern  Loki  are  concentrated  in 
our  Western  conception  of  the  Devil,  with 
whose  machinations,  through  the  agency  of 
witchcraft,  the  Evil  Eye  is  to  this  day  so 
closely  associated. 

The  diffusion  of  this  belief  among  all  the 
peoples  of  the  world,  whether  high  or  low  in 
the  scale  of  intelligence,  renders  it  certain,  in 
accordance  with  the  deductions-  of  compara- 
tive mythology,  that  it  has  travelled  with 
them  from  a  common  centre,  and  in  addition 
to  the  allusions  to  it  in  the  ancient  Eastern 
writings  which  have  been  cited,  the  Chaldean 
tablets   amply   testify   that   it   originated   in 

*  Bavia  Metzia,  fol.  107,  col.  2  (see  A  Tahnudic 
Miscellany,  by  P.  I.  Hershon,  1880,  p.  214). 

t  Bundahis  XXVIII. 

\  Bundahis  XXVIII.,  14  and  16. 

§  See  Records  of  the  Past,  vol.  xii.,  Hymn  to  Ra, 
p.  141. 

:    See  Archceologia,  xix.  99. 
If  See  Dennys's  Folk-lore  of  China,  1876,  p.  50. 


Babylonia,  the  "cradle  of  mysticism."  Among 
these  tablets  is  one  bearing  twenty-eight  in- 
cantations against  the  evil  spirits,  one  of 
which  is  as  follows  : 

"  He  who  forges  images" — i.e.,  the  wax  or 
clay  figures  of  mediaeval  sorcery,  when  the 
victim  was  believed  to  waste  away  as  his 
image  melted  before  the  fire,  if  of  wax,  and 
in  the  stream  if  of  clay  * — "  He  who  forges 
images,  he  who  bewitches,  the  malevolent, 
aspect,  the  evil  eye."t 

And  among  the  Miscellaneous  Incanta- 
tions, of  which  a  translation  is  given  in  R. 
Campbell  Thompson's  Devils  and  Evil 
Spirits  of  Babylonia,  is  one  from  a  tablet 
relating  to  the  Evil  Eye,  the  obverse  of  which 
is  as  follows  : 

The  .   .  .  which  bindeth, 

A  demon  which  envelopeth  the  man, 

The  .   .  ."  bringing  trouble,  which  bindeth. 

The  .   .  .  heavy  (?)  upon  the  land, 

Bringing  sickness  upon  men, 

The  roving  Evil  Eye 

Hath  looked  on  the  neighbourhood  and  hath 

vanished  far  away, 
Hath    looked    on    the    vicinity    and    hath 

vanished  far  away, 
Hath  looked  on  the  chamber  of  the  land 

and  hath  vanished  far  away, 
It  hath  looked  on  the  wanderer 
And  like  wood  cut  off  for  poles  it  hath  bent 

his  neck. 
Ea  hath  seen  this  man  and 
Hath  placed  food  at  his  head, 
Hath  brought  food  nigh  to  his  body, 
Hath  shown  favour  for  his  life — 
Thou  man.  son  of  his  god, 
May  the  food  which  I  have  brought  to  thy 

head — 
May  the  food  with  which  I  have  made  an 

"  atonement "  for  thy  body, 
Assuage  thy  sickness,  and  thou  be  restored, 
That  thy  foot  may  stand  in  the  land  of  life  ; 
Thou  man,  son  of  his  god, 
The  Eye  which  hath  looked  on  thee  for  harm, 
The  Eye  which  hath  looked  on  thee  for  evil, 
Which  in  .   .   . 

Reverse. 


May  Ba'u  smite  [it]  with  flax, 

May  Gunura  [strike  (?)  it]  with  a  great  oar  (?) 


*  Aubrey's  Remains  of  Gentilisme  and  Judaisme, 
edited  and  annotated  by  James  Britton,  F.L.S.,  18S1, 
p.  61.  Corp  creadh,  or  clay  image,  in  the  Highlands 
of  Scotland  (see  Folk-lore  Journal,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  219, 
220). 

f  Lenormant's  Chaldean  Magic,  p.  45. 


344 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


Like  rain  which  is  let  fall  from  heaven 
Directed  unto  earth, 

So  may  Ea,   King  of  the   Deep,  remove  it 
from  thy  body. 

Ea  ore  is  hi,  Incantation* 

Another  Assyrian  version  of  one  of  these 
Chaldean  sorcerers'  incantations  contains  the 
line,  "  He  who  enchants  images  has  charmed 
away  my  life  by  image."!  This  charming 
away  life  by  means  of  a  wax  figure  seems  to 
have  been  one  of  the  most  frequent  practices 
of  Chaldean  sorcerers.  And  the  wonderful 
vitality  of  the  self-delusion  is  attested  by 
instances  that  come  to  light,  every  now  and 
then,  to  this  day.  Who  first  designated  this 
form  of  credulity  "  invultuation  "  one  cannot 
say  ;  but  invultuation  is  described  by  Thorpe 
as  "  a  species  of  witchcraft,  the  perpetrators 
of  which  were  called  vultivoli,  and  are  thus 
further  described  by  John  of  Salisbury  : 
Quiad  affectus  hominum  immutandos,  in 
molliori  materia,  cera  forte  vel  limo,  eorum 
quos  pervertere  nituntur,  effigies  expri- 
mum."  \ 

A  remarkable  survival  of  this  belief  exists 
to  this  day  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland ; 
but  in  the  corp  creadh  clay  takes  the  place 
of  wax  in  the  formation  of  the  image.  So 
late  as  1884  an  elderly  Highland  woman, 
Isabella  Macrae  or  Stewart,  pleaded  not 
guilty  to  the  charge  of  assaulting  a  little  girl. 
The  latter  had  used  insulting  language  to  the 
prisoner,  and  Isabella  spoke  of  the  child's 
grandmother  as  a  witch,  producing  towards 
the  close  of  the  case  a  corp  creadh,  which  she 
believed  was  made  by  the  imputed  witch. 
The  legs  of  this  image  had  been  broken  off, 
and  the  prisoner  believed  that,  in  conse- 
quence, her  own  legs  were  losing  their 
strength.  A  person  who  wished  to  purchase 
the  image  after  the  accused  had  left  the  court 
was  promptly  told  that  on  no  account  would 
she  part  with  it,  for  if  anything  happened  to 
it  she  might  die,  and  she  was  not  prepared. 
The  image  was  about  4  inches  in  length  ; 
green  worsted  threads  containing  the  diabolic 
charm  were  wound  about  it,  while  pins  were 
pierced   through  the   part  where   the   heart 

*  The  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits  of  Babylonia,  by 
R.  Campbell  Thompson,  M.A.,  1904,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  112-117. 

t  Lenormant,  pp.  62,  63. 

X  De  Nugis  Curialibus,  lib.  i.,  cap.  *ii. 


should  be.  The  removal  by  death,  again,  of 
an  official  obnoxious  to  smugglers  was  com- 
passed, as  it  was  thought,  by  means  of  the 
corp  creadh.  When  a  sudden  death  is  desired 
the  clay  image  is  placed  in  a  rapidly  running 
stream.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  long  and 
lingering  and  painful  illness  should  be  desired, 
a  number  of  pins  and  rusty  nails  are  stuck  in 
the  chest  and  other  vital  parts,  and  the  image 
is  deposited  in  comparatively  still  waiers. 
Should  the  corp  creadh  happen  to  be  dis- 
covered, however,  before  the  thread  of  life  is 
severed  it  at  once  loses  its  efficacy,  and  not 
only  does  the  victim  recover,  but,  so  long  as 
the  image  is  kept  intact,  he  is  ever  after  proof 
against  the  professors  of  the  black  art.  In 
the  case  of  the  revenue  officer  alluded  to,  it 
was  believed  to  have  miscarried  because  a 
pearl-fisher  happened  to  discover  the  image 
before  it  had  been  many  days  in  the  water.* 
This  preference  for  clay  as  the  material  of 
which  it  is  most  desirable  that  the  image 
should  be  made  is  probably  traceable  to  the 
use  of  sea-clay,  and  its  connexion  with  Ea, 
the  God  of  the  Waters.  A  Babylonian  tablet 
directs  that  a  piece  of  sea-clay  should  be  taken 
and  moulded  into  the  likeness  of  the  patient, 
and  placed  on  his  loins  at  night,  in  order  that 
the  Plague-god  might  be  expelled  : 

Fashion  a  figure  of  his  bodily  form  [there- 
from] and 

Place  it  on  the  loins  of  the  sick  man  by  night, 

At  dawn  make  the  "atonement "  for  his  body, 

Perform  the  Incantation  of  Eridu, 

Turn  his  face  to  the  west, 

That  the  evil  Plague -demon  which  hath 
seized  upon  him 

May  vanish  away  from  him.f 

Another  text,  in  which  the  magician  makes 
a  figure  of  the  man  in  dough,  brings  water  to 
the  man,  and,  pouring  out  the  water  of  the 
incantation,  says  : 

Bring  forth  a  censer  and  a  torch  ; 

As  the  water  trickleth  away  from  his  body, 

So  may  the  pestilence  in  his  body  trickle 

away ; 
Return  these  waters  into  a  cup  and 
Pour  them  forth  in  the  broad  places. 


*  Folk-fore  Journal,  1884,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  219,  220. 

t  See  Tablets  R  and  S,  The  Devils  and  Evil 
Spirits  of  Babylonia,  by  R.  Campbell  Thompson, 
M.A.,  1904,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  99-103,  "  Prayr  of  the 
Figure  of  his  Bodily  Form  of  Clay." 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


345 


The  demon  will  then  depart  from  the  man's 
body  like  the  water,  and  will  enter  the  figure* 
This  is,  of  course,  a  process  the  inverse  of 
that  in  which  the  figure  was  maliciously  made 
to  represent  the  sorcerer's  intended  victim, 
and  one  which  was  benignantly  employed  by 
the  Babylonian  doctors  to  rid  their  patients 
of  malignant  devils — namely,  by  fashioning 
an  image  of  the  sufferer  in  some  plastic 
material,  and  by  properly  recited  charms  to 
induce  the  demon  to  leave  the  human  body 
and  enter  its  waxen  counterpart. 

That  this  belief  in  such  vicarious  cures 
existed  throughout  Christian  countries  it  is 
not  necessary  to  again  point  out,  but  an 
interesting  parallel  to  the  above  example  of 
the  use  of  a  magical  figure  with  a  good  object 
in  view  is  afforded  by  a  legend  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  preserved  in  Ethiopia.  A  certain 
merchant  was  shot  in  the  eye  by  a  pirate  at 
sea,  and  his  friends  were  unable  to  pull  out 
the  dart.  In  these  straits  he  begged  his 
friends  to  take  him  to  the  church  of  the 
Virgin,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  working 
cures  by  means  of  wax  figures.  The  people 
of  the  island  on  which  her  shrine  stood  used 
to  make  models  of  their  wounded  friends 
with  representations  of  the  wounds  on  them, 
and  take  them  to  her;  and  when  offerings 
had  been  made  by  those  who  brought  them, 
both  for  the  poor  and  for  the  Church,  the 
Virgin  caused  .the  marks  of  the  wounds  to 
disappear  from  the  wax  figures,  and  as  they 
went  the  men  whom  the  figures  represented 
were  made  whole.  This  being  so,  the  friends 
of  the  merchant  made  a  wax  figure  of  him, 
and  when  they  had  taken  it  to  the  church, 
with  suitable  gifts  to  the  shrine,  the  Blessed 
Virgin  had  compassion  upon  the  man,  and 
pulled  the  dart  out  of  the  eye  of  the  wax 
figure.  As  soon  as  she  had  done  this  the 
dart  fell  out  of  the  merchant's  eye,  and  he 
was  healed  at  once,  f 

A  Neapolitan  girl  told  the  author  of 
Nooks  and  By-ways  of  Italy  that  when  her 
sister  had  "begun  to  droop,"  and  was  be- 
coming weaker  and  weaker  every  day,  some 
neighbours   suspected   that   her  illness   was 

*  The  Devils  and  Evil  Spirits  of  Babylonia,  by 
R.  Campbell  Thompson,  M.A.,  1904,  vol.  ii., 
Introduction,  pp.  xxxv,  xxxvi. 

t  See  Budge,  The  Miracles  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  and  the  Life  of  Hanna  (Saint  Anne),  etc. 
London,  1900,  pp.  48,  49. 

VOL.  III. 


caused  by  a  Fattura  (a  spell),  and  suggested 
that  some  means  should  be  taken  to  discover 
the  author.  All  the  reputed  witches  of  the 
neighbourhood  were  visited,  and  in  the  house 
of  one  of  them  they  found  a  sheep's  head 
filled  with  pins,  to  which  they  chose  to 
ascribe  all  the  mischief.  Partly  by  menaces, 
and  partly  by  bribes,  they  prevailed  on  the 
old  woman  to  undo  the  spell ;  but  lest  she 
should  again  have  recourse  to  it,  the  girl 
waited  on  the  most  powerful  Fattochiara  in 
Naples,  who  dwelt  in  the  St.  Giles  of  that 
city,  called  the  Vicaria,  and  prevailed  on  her 
to  employ  one  of  her  strongest  spells  to  pro- 
tect her  sister.  This  had  the  desired  effect, 
"  for  a  fairer  or  more  healthy  lass  was  not 
to  be  seen  in  Naples."* 

Many  instances  are  recorded  in  Mr.  F.  T. 
Elworthy's  valuable  work  on  The  Evil  Eye  of 
what  are  believed  to  have  been  pigs'  hearts 
and  onions  stuck  full  of  pins,  for  the  same 
purpose.  The  practice  is  well  known  to 
have  existed  of  divination  with  onions,  or, 
as  Burton  in  his  Anatomy  calls  it,  "crom- 
nysmantia,"t  and  the  onion  is  so  far  identi- 
fied with  the  sun  as  to  have  become  a  symbol 
of  the  Egyptian  Ra.  Onions  as  well  as 
garlic  were,  according  to  Pliny,  treated  as 
gods  by  the  Egyptians  when  taking  an  oath,; 
and  Juvenal  derides  them  for  their  veneration 
of  these  garden-born  deities.§  It  has  been 
suggested  that  this  veneration  arose  from  an 
assumption  of  austerity  and  a  show  of  self- 
denial  which  caused  the  Egyptian  priests  to 
abstain  from  the  use  of  the  onion  as  food, 
an  abstention  which  subsequently  led  to  the 
superstitious  reverence  with  which  the  bulk 
of  the  people  regarded  this  esculent.  For 
Hasselquist  says  that  the  Egyptians  of  to-day 
are  so  delighted  with  a  dish  of  which  the 
onion  is  the  principal  ingredient  that  he  had 
heard  them  wish  they  might  enjoy  it  in 
Paradise,  and  a  soup  made  of  the  sweet- 
tasting  Egyptian  onion  was  "one  of  the  best 
dishes"  the  naturalist  ever  ate. ||  But  that 
it   was   to   this   predilection  that  the  great 

*  The  Nooks  and  By-ways  of  Italy,  by  Craufurd 
Tait  Ramage,  1868,  p.  61. 

t  Anat.  of  Mel.,  1660,  p.  538.  See  also  Brand's 
Antiquities  (Bohn,  1855),  vol.  iii.,  p.  356. 

X  XIX.  6. 

§    Vide    Wilkinson's    Egyptians,    1878,    vol.    iii., 

P-  350- 

Voyages,  p.  290. 

2X 


346 


A  NOTE  ON  THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY. 


reverence  in  which  the  onion  was  held  owes 
its  origin  is  not  so  evident,  and  its  undoubted 
use  as  a  charm  against  the  Evil  Eye  appears 
most  probably  to  have  been  because  it  was  a 
symbol  of  the  sun,  or,  with  its  rays,  different 
and  yet  alike,  a  sign  of  the  universe  and  its 
many  spheres.  Among  the  onions  which 
were  gods  is  one  called  by  Homer  and  Pliny 
"moly,"*  which  is  the  Allium  aureum,  or 
golden  garlic,  and  is  the  most  powerful  of 
all  charms  against  enchantment,  conjuration, 
and  evil  auguries.  The  French  demon- 
ologist,  de  Lancre,  observes  that  the  Devil 
is  said  to  respect  the  onion  because  it  is  an 
object  of  worship.  Its  amuletic  value  as  a 
protection  of  the  dead  is  suggested  by  its 
having  been  found  placed  in  the  orbits  of  the 
eyes  of  mummies,  t  Also  protective  of  the 
departed  was  the  symbolic  eye,  indicating 
the  all-seeing  presence  of  the  deity,  which 
was  placed  originally  and  properly  only  on 
the  boats  of  the  dead,!  but  later,  appa- 
rently, upon  the  ordinary  boat,  as  to-day  on 
the  prow  of  the  Neapolitan  fisher-boat. 
(To  be  continued.) 


a  Bote  on  tbe  iBageur  Capestrp. 

By  T.  Davies  Pryce. 


HE  antiquarian  world  is  much  in- 
debted to   Mr.    Dawson    for    his 
interesting  expose  of  the  restora- 
tions to  which  the  Bayeux  Tapestry 
has  been  subjected. 

One  scene  claims  special  attention — that 
in  which  Odo  rallies  the  Normans.  The 
wholly  guess-work  addition  to  the  legend 
superscribing  this  scene,  of  the  word  pueros, 
raises  a  point  of  some  importance  as  to  its 

*  Known,  I  think,  to-day  as  Allium  moly.  Few 
of  those  in  whose  gardens  it  grows  are  aware  that  it 
brings  them  luck  and  happiness.  Yet  Pliny  tells  us 
so,  and  affirms  it  to  be  one  of  the  most  precious  plants 
we  possess ;  while  Homer  relates  that,  by  virtue  of 
this  bright  yellow-flowered  plant,  Ulysses  was  pre- 
served from  being  changed  by  Circe  into  a  "black 
animal,"  as  the  Italians  call  a  pig  (Karr,  Voyage 
autour  de  mon  Jardin). 

t  Wilkinson,  vol.  Hi.,  p.  266  (Hierog.). 

X  Ibid.,  p.  353. 


interpretation.  Montfaucon  (Les  Monument 
de  la  Monarchic  Francoise,  1730)  opines  that 
the  missing  word  is  Francos;  so  also  Ducarel 
(Anglo-Norman  Antiquities,  1767).  The 
former,  in  his  illustrations  of  the  Tapestry, 
nevertheless  depicts  the  words  tat  pueros  in 
dotted  lines.  Ducarel  goes  a  step  further, 
and  reproduces  the  word  pueros  in  the 
ordinary  lettering  of  the  record,  but  in  quite 
a  different  situation  to  that  selected  by 
Montfaucon.  Now,  thanks  to  Mr.  Dawson, 
we  know  who  suggested  this  addition. 

It  is,  I  think,  probable  that  the  suggestion 
was  made  under  the  influence  of  a  reading  of 
Wace.  At  any  rate,  there  is  a  curious  family 
likeness  between  the  vasletz  of  Wace  and  the 
pueri  of  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux.  I  have 
drawn  attention  to  these  points  because 
Mr.  Round  (Feudal  England,  pp.  375,  376, 
etc.)  has  noted  a  singularly  close  agreement 
between  the  two  scenes  of  the  Tapestry — Hie 
ceciderunt  simul  Angli  et  Franci  in  prelio  and 
Hie  Odo  Eps  baculum  tenens  confortat pueros — 
and  the  account  given  by  Wace  of  the  fosse 
disaster. 

I  have  already  ventured  to  question  this 
agreement  (Journal  of  the  British  Archaeo- 
logical Association,  December,  1906,  p.  258), 
and  the  present  seems  an  opportune  moment 
for  a  further  pursuit  of  the  subject.  Mr. 
Round's  contention  is  evidently  based  not 
only  upon  a  reading  of  the  details  of  the 
fight  as  recorded  by  Tapestry  and  by  Wace, 
but  also  upon  the  fact  that  the  vasletz 
of  Wace  and  the  pueri  of  the  record  mean 
one  and  the  same  thing — i.e.,  the  baggage 
troops  and  attendants.  Thus  (Feudal England, 
p.  416) :  "  His  [Wace's]  description  of  the 
scene  is  marvellously  exact,  and  the  Tapestry 
phrase,  in  which  Odo  confortat  pueros — often 
a  subject  of  discussion — is  at  once  explained 
by  his  making  the  pueri  whom  Odo  '  com- 
forted '  to  be 

Vaslez,  qui  al  herneis  esteient 
E  le  herneis  garder  deueient. " 

We  have,  however,  seen  that  in  this  latter 
respect  the  agreement  dates  only  from  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Further,  if  we  come  to  examine  the 
delineations  of  the  record,  and  compare 
them  with  Wace's  account,  we  shall  find,  it 
is  true,  a  certain  superficial  harmony,  but 
also    much    variation    in    detail    and    one 


THE  ANTIQUARY'S  NOTE-BOOK. 


347 


be  made  plain  by  a  parallel  quotation  of  the 
poem  and  reading  of  the  Tapestry  : 

{Taylor's  Translation).  Tapestry. 
In  the  plain  was  a  fosse,  Fosse  partly  concealed 
which  the  Normans  had  by  rank  and  sedge-like 
now  behind  them,  having  grass.  This  fosse  is  situ- 
passed  it  in  the  fight  ated  at  the  foot  of  a  flat- 
without  regarding  it.  topped  mound. 

But  the  English  charged  Depicts    the   Normans 
and   drove  the  Normans  attacking  a  body  of  light- 
before     them,    till     they  armed  English  who  stand 
made  them  fall  back  upon  at  bay  on  the  top  of  the 
this    fosse,    overthrowing  mound,  and  in  doing  so, 
into  it  horses  and  men.  tumbling  horses  and  men 
into  the  fosse  at  its  foot 
and  upon  its  uneven  lower 
slope. 
The  varlets  who  were  Odo  is  shown,  mace  in 
set  to  guard  the  harness  hand.    In  close  proximity 
began   to  abandon  it,  as  to  him  is  a  solitary  horse- 
they  saw  the  loss  of  the  man  with  his  lance  at  the 
Frenchmen,  when  thrown  slope   over   his  shoulder, 
back  upon  the  fosse  with-  This  is  the  only  semblance 
out     power     to    recover  of    Norman    flight    pre- 
themselves.  sented  by  the  Tapestry. 

Then    Odo,   the  good  No  varlets,  harness,  or 

priest,     the     Bishop     of  baggage  are  depicted. 
Bayeux,  galloped  up,  and 
said     to     them,    "Stand 
fast !  stand  fast !" 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  in  the  one  all- 
important  point  of  attack  or  pursuit  the 
Tapestry  directly  contradicts  Wace,  whilst  each 
authority  omits  significant  details  given  by 
the  other. 

On  the  whole,  the  weight  of  evidence 
seems  to  point  to  the  conclusion  that,  not- 
withstanding their  position  in  the  Tapestry, 
these  two  scenes  are  meant  to  delineate  the 
disaster  to  the  Norman  horse  towards  the 
close  of  the  battle,  as  mentioned  by  the 
primary  authorities,  William  of  Poitiers  and 
William  of  Juraieges. 


Cbe  antiquary  J!3ote*15oofc. 

THE  HAUGHMOND  ABBEY 
EXCAVATIONS. 

'N  our  May  "  Notes  of  the  Month " 
we  referred  briefly  to  the  excava- 
tions begun  in  March  at  Haugh- 
mond    Abbey,    near    Shrewsbury, 

under   the  expert   direction   of  Mr.  W.    H. 

St.  John  Hope,  Mr.   H.  Brakspear,  and  Mr. 


H.  R.  H.  Southam.  The  following  are  ex- 
tracts from  a  fuller  account  which  appeared 
some  little  time  ago  in  the  columns  of  the 
Shrewsbury  Chronicle,  which  also  gave  illus- 
trations of  one  of  the  pillars  uncovered,  and 
of  five  portions  of  tiles  of  mediaeval  type 
found  in  the  course  of  the  work.  Two  of 
the  latter  we  are  courteously  allowed  to  re- 
produce on  page  348. 

"  It  is  now  seen  that  the  church,  which  was 
at  first  an  early  twelfth-century  building,  but 
considerably  enlarged  later,  was  over  220  feet 
long.  The  west  end  projects  into  the  meadow 
some  15  to  20  feet.  The  whole  of  the  outer 
walls  are  now  exposed,  and  visitors  may  quite 
easily  trace  the  main  features  of  the  building. 
It  had  three  distinct  levels.  The  floor  of  the 
middle  level  evidently  at  some  early  period 
had  become  worn,  and  was  raised  and 
covered  with  new  tiles.  Some  of  these — of 
poor  quality — remain.  The  bases  of  three 
fine  thirteenth-century  columns  are  exposed, 
two  having  part  of  the  columns  standing. 
The  lower  parts  of  the  walls  of  the  north 
porch  also  remain.  The  east  end  is  some 
14  or  15  feet  higher  than  the  west  end,  and 
was  reached  by  a  number  of  steps  at  intervals, 
which  must  have  given  it  a  most  imposing 
effect.  In  the  nave  there  has  been  laid  bare 
an  incised  slab,  upon  which  is  the  figure  of  a 
lady  in  early  sixteenth-century  costume.  The 
inscription  is  perfectly  clear.  It  shows  that 
the  lady  was  Ankerita,  daughter  of  John 
Leighton,  and  the  wife  of  Richard  Mynde, 
and  that  she  died  on  the  Feast  of  the  Chair 
of  St.  Peter,  1528.  A  photograph  and  a 
rubbing  have  been  taken  of  this.  Some 
leaden  coffins  also  were  found,  which,  of 
course,  have  been  covered  over.  At  the  east 
end,  right  on  the  rock,  is  the  altar  platform. 

"  It  has  not  been  necessary  to  excavate  in 
the  Chapter  House,  as  this  room  was  con- 
verted into  part  of  the  domestic  premises  of  the 
Barker  family,  who  held  the  property  after  the 
Dissolution,  and  who  evidently  inserted  in  it 
side  walls  to  support  a  mediaeval  timber  roof 
which  they  brought  from  some  other  building. 
With  reference  to  the  entrance  to  the  Chapter 
House,  it  is  worth  noticing  that  the  figures  on 
each  side  of  the  doorway  and  its  flanking 
windows  are  of  much  later  date,  and  have 
been  cut  out  of  the  stone-work.  It  may  be 
of  interest  to  state  whom  the  figures  represent. 

2x2 


348 


THE  ANTIQUARY'S  NOTE-BOOK. 


Commencing  from  left  to  right  when  facing  (3)  St.  Catherine,  with  her  wheel  and  sword, 
the  building  they  are:  (1)  An  abbot  with  standing  on  the  head  of  a  crowned  king,  re- 
staff  in  hand;  (2)  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury ;      presenting  the  monarch  who  condemned  her 


THE  ANTIQUARY'S  NOTE-BOOK. 


349 


to  death;  (4)  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  with 
palm- branch  and  book;  (5)  St.  John  the 
Baptist  with  the  Holy  Lamb  on  a  roundel ; 

(6)  St.  Margaret  standing  on  the  dragon  which 
devoured  her,  and  from  the  inside  of  which 
she  reappeared  owing  to  her  intercessions ; 

(7)  an  abbess  ;  (8)  St.  Michael  with  his  sword, 
and  his  foot  on  the  dragon. 

"  The  ivy,  which  had  been  greatly  damaging 
the  walls,  has  partly  been  removed,  and  the 
stone-work  repaired,  and  in  time  it  is  hoped 
that  the  whole  of  the  ivy  will  be  cleared  away, 
so  that  the  appearance  of  the  abbey  from  all 
points  will  be  more  impressive,  and  less 
damage  will  be  done  to  the  stone-work.  As 
it  is,  the  beautiful  columns  and  capitals  of 
the  west  processional  door  can  now  well  be 
seen  from  the  church. 

"  In  the  garden  is  a  long  range  of  buildings 
which  show  the  columns  and  the  vaulting 
over  which  were  the  dormitories,  and  at  the 
south  end  are  domestic  offices,  lavatories, 
etc.  .  .  . 

"From  the  south  door  of  the  Infirmary, 
which  has  so  often  been  called  the  Guest 
Hall,  is  a  door  which  leads  into  the  garden, 
and  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  this 
must  have  been  the  door  of  the  Infirmary 
Chapel,  though  not  a  single  stone  can  now 
be  found.  At  the  west  end  of  the  Infirmary 
hall  are  the  doors  which  led  under  the  large 
window  to  the  kitchens ;  but  very  little  of  this 
work  can  now  be  found,  as  no  doubt  this 
would  be  the  stone-work  first  to  be  removed 
for  building  the  Elizabethan  wall  around  the 
garden,  and  for  other  buildings  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. 

"Within  the  last  few  years  considerable 
damage  has  been  done  by  visitors,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  in  future  the  more  interesting 
parts  of  the  buildings  will  be  enclosed  with  a 
permanent  unclimbable  fence,  and  a  charge 
made  for  admission.  No  one  will  grudge 
paying  a  small  fee  for  a  convenience  which 
will  make  a  visit  to  the  abbey  much  more 
interesting  and  instructive. 

"  On  the  north  side  of  the  church  in  the 
field,  some  little  distance  away,  are  the  re- 
mains of  what  was  evidently  the  gate-house, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  these  will  be  sufficiently 
exposed  for  a  plan  to  be  made.  Between  the 
gate-house  and  the  church  were  probably  the 
guest-houses,  and  to  the  west  of  the  gate- 


house was  a  pond;  parts  of  the  retaining 
banks  on  the  south  side  still  remain." 

Contributions  to  cover  the  liability  incurred 
in  carrying  out  the  excavations  should  be 
sent  to  Mr.  H.  R.  H.  Southam,  F.S.A., 
Innellan,  Shrewsbury;  small  sums  will  be 
welcomed. 


at  tfie  %m  of  t&e  flDtoi. 

Some  little  time  ago  the  splendid 
library  of  Lord  Amherst  of 
Hackney,  at  Didlington  Hall, 
was  offered  for  sale,  through 
Mr.  Bernard  Quaritch,  as  a 
whole.  Apparently  no  pur- 
chaser has  been  found,  for  it  is 
announced  that  the  first  portion 
of  the  collection  is  to  be  sold 
at  Sotheby's  next  December. 
Among  the  gems  of  the  library  are  the 
Caxtons,  seventeen  in  number,  more  than 
half  of  which  are  quite  perfect.  These  may 
be  expected  to  fetch  anything  between 
^20,000  and  ^"40,000.  The  pick  of  the 
Caxtons  is  Lefevre's  Recuyell  of  the  Historyes 
of  Troye,  printed  about  the  year  1474,  of 
which  this  is  probably  the  only  extant  genuine 
and  perfect  copy — namely,  the  only  complete 
copy  that  has  not  been  made  up  from  a 
number  of  more  or  less  imperfect  copies. 

t^*  *4T*  *2r* 

Other  perfect  copies  of  books  issued  by 
Caxton  or  his  successor  Wynkyn  de  Worde 
are  :  the  Game  and  Playe  of  the  Chesse  ;  JDe 
Consolationie  Philosophic ;  the  Mirrour  of 
the  World;  The  Boke  of  Tulle  of  Olde  Age  ; 
the  Conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  Godfrey  of 
Boloyfie;  the  Pay  Is  of  Amies  and  of  Chivalry 
of  Christian  de  Pisan;  Virgil's  Eneydos  ; 
the  Chastysing  of  Goddes  Chyldren ;  and 
the  Treatise  of  Love. 

t2r*  *£r*  *£r* 

The  library  is  rich  in  theological  works,  and 
contains  one  of  the  famous  Mazarine  Bibles, 
so  called  for  the  curious  reason  that  a  remark- 
ably fine  copy  once  belonged  to  Cardinal 
Mazarin.  The  number  of  German,  Dutch, 
and  Italian  incunabula  printed  before  the 
year  1500  is  not  far  short  of  one  hundred. 


35° 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


Copies  of  the  different  early  editions  of  the 
Bible  are  very  numerous,  and  they  include 
some  that  belong  to  the  days  before  the 
invention  of  printing.  Among  these  are 
some  Wycliffe  New  Testament  manuscripts. 
The  series  of  Tyndale  and  Coverdale's 
versions  is  probably  the  most  complete  that 
exists  anywhere.  There  are  also  fine  illu- 
minated manuscripts — English,  French, 
Flemish,  and  Italian. 

Of  the  bindings  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
they  illustrate  the  different  styles  of  all 
countries.  It  does  not  appear  that  there  are 
any  Shakespeare  quartos,  but  there  are  two 
copies  of  the  First  Folio  of  1623. 

t^F*  t&*  t&* 

The  recently  issued  Catalogue  of  Additions  to 
the  Manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum  in 
the  Years  1900- 1905,  edited  by  the  Keeper, 
Mr.  G.  F.  Warner,  contains  a  full  description 
of  970  manuscripts,  9,116  charters,  911  seals, 
and  782  papyri,  including  the  collections 
discovered  at  Oxyrhynchus  by  Messrs. 
Grenfell  and  Hunt,  and  presented  by  the 
committee  of  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund — 
a  rich  six  years'  harvest.  The  documents 
are  of  every  kind  and  of  all  ages.  Nearly 
five  pages  of  the  Catalogue  are  occupied  by  a 
very  full  and  careful  description  of  the  school- 
book  of  a  fifteenth  century  grammar-school 
boy  in  London.  His  name  is  unknown,  but 
from  a  casual  reference  to  the  practice  of 
making  rose-garlands  for  St.  Anthony's  Day 
it  is  conjectured  that  the  boy  attended  the 
school  of  St.  Anthony,  Threadneedle  Street, 
at  which  Sir  Thomas  More  was  once  a 
scholar. 

I£T~  %2^  1&* 

Besides  literary  treasures,  such  as  Milton's 
Commonplace-book,  mostly  in  his  own  hand, 
and  the  manuscripts  of  Keats's  Hyperion, 
Massinger's  Believe  as  You  List,  Disraeli's 
Rise  of  Iskander,  and  of  various  works  by 
Herbert  Spencer,  there  are  many  historical 
documents  of  great  interest  catalogued. 
Among  the  latter  are  such  as  the  Patent  of 
James  I.  creating  his  son  Henry  Prince  of 
Wales  in  1610,  and  a  Proclamation  offering 
a  reward  for  the  capture  of  the  young  Pre- 
tender in  1745;  and  a  mass  of  historical 
correspondence,  including  some  of  Lord 
Wellington's  letters  to  Marshal  Beresford. 


The  revived  Gypsy  Lore  Society  gives  wel- 
come evidence  of  its  vitality  in  the  first  part, 
dated  July,  of  the  new  series  of  its  Journal. 
This  is  a  substantial  issue  of  ninety-six  pages. 
It  is  printed  privately  for  the  Society,  which 
has  its  headquarters  at  6,  Hope  Place,  Liver- 
pool, and  opens  with  a  "Prefatory  Note,"  by 
Mr.  David  MacRitchie,  the  new  president, 
which  links  the  new  to  the  old  issue  of  the 
Journal,  which  ended  with  the  number  for 
April,  1892.  Among  the  other  contributions 
are  "  Gypsy  Language  and  Origin,"  by  Mr. 
John  Sampson,  a  past  master  of  the  subject ; 
"A  Word  on  Gypsy  Costume,"  by  Mr.  J.  H. 
Yoxall,  M.P. ;  papers  on  "Shelta"  and  "The 
Tinkers,"  by  the  late  C.  G.  Leland ;  Welsh 
and  Slavonic  gypsy  folk-tales  ;  a  seventeenth- 
century  gypsy  tract,  introduced  by  Dr.  Axon ; 
and  a  philological  article  in  German,  "  Die 
Grundziige  des  Armenisch  -  Zigeunerischen 
Sprachbaus, "  by  Professor  Finck.  I  wish 
the  revived  Society  and  its  Journal  a  long 
and  vigorous  career. 

Mr.  W.  Baily-Kempling  writes:  "Referring 
to  Mr.  Blaikie  Murdoch's  excellent  contribu- 
tion, "Some  Royalist  Ladies  of  the  Caroline 
Age,"  in  the  August  number  of  the  Anti- 
quary, may  I  be  permitted  to  mention  that 
two  booklets  of  selections  from  the  poems  of 
Katherine  Philips  ("the  Matchless  Orinda" 
of  Keats)  have  been  published  since  Professor 
Saintsbury's  Minor  Poets  of  the  Caroline  Age. 
The  first  is  a  selection  from  the  Herringman 
edition  of  1667  ;  the  second  a  compilation 
from  one  of  her  holograph  manuscript  books, 
collated  with  the  readings  of  1664  and  1667. 
Both  are  published  by  Tutin,  of  Hull,  at  the 
too  absurd  price  of  six — pence,  not  shillings." 

t£r*  9£r*  t2^ 

The  twenty-first  volume  of  Book  Prices 
Current  will  be  published  immediately,  and 
will  present  a  larger  number  of  entries  than 
usual.  It  will  contain  a  number  of  excep- 
tionally important  sales,  which  are  fully  re- 
corded. For  convenience  of  reference,  the 
new  volume  will  have  a  combined  index,  in 
place  of  the  double  one  which  has  appeared 
in  former  issues. 

t£T*  t&*  t&* 

Forthcoming  issues  in  Messrs.  Bemrose's 
"  Memorials  of  the  Counties  of  England " 
series  will  include  Old  Derbyshire,  edited  by 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


351 


cardinal  point  of  disagreement.  This  will 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Cox,  F.S.A.  ;  Old  Dorset, 
edited  by  the  late  Rev.  T.  Perkins,  M.A., 
and  the  Rev.  Herbert  Pentin,  M.A.  ;  Old 
Norfolk,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Astley,  M.A. ; 
and  Old  London,  edited  by  the  Rev.  P.  H. 
Ditchfield,  F.S.A. 

t^**  t^*  t^' 

I  have  received  the  new  number  of  Celtia, 
"a  Pan-Celtic  Magazine,"  dated  April- 
August,  1907,  the  contents  of  which  appeal 
strongly  to  all  who  are  interested  in  Celtic 
life  and  literature.  Its  pages  include  "  Irish 
Influences  in  Early  Welsh  History,"  by 
Professor  J.  E.  Lloyd ;  notes  in  Welsh  and 
Gaelic;  "The  Call  of  the  Clod,"  a  grace- 
fully worded  expression  of  land-love,  by  the 
editor  ;  and  an  account  of  the  arrangements 
for  the  third  Pan-Celtic  Congress,  to  be  held 
in  Edinburgh,  September  24,  25,  and  26. 
The  editor's  address  is  Mr.  S.  R.  John, 
129,  Alexandra  Road,  Wimbledon,  S.W. 

^"  t£r*  t£T* 

The  Athenceum  of  August  10  announces  that 
the  first  instalment  of  "  Anecdota  from  Irish 
Manuscripts"  has  just  been  published  by 
the  School  of  Irish  Learning.  The  pieces, 
which  are  almost  all  in  Old  Irish,  are  from 
The  Yellow  Book  of  Zecanand  other  sources, 
and  include  "The  Dispersion  of  the  Decies," 
the  colloquy  between  Fintan  and  the  Hawk 
of  Achill,  the  poetic  version  of  the  voyage  of 
Maelduin,  and  the  adventures  of  :he  Scottish 
Prince,  Cano  MacGartnan,  in  Ireland. 

&&  tP*  9&* 

Lecturing  at  King's  College  on  July  17, 
Mr.  H.  R.  Hall,  of  the  British  Museum, 
gave  an  account  of  recent  excavation  work  at 
Thebes.  Describing  how  he  and  a  friend  (Mr. 
Ayrton)  spent  some  time  living  in  the  tomb 
of  Rameses  IV.,  he  said  he  noticed  on  a  wall 
the  following  inscription  by  a  Greek  tourist 
of  antiquity  :  "  I  have  come  here,  but  I  see 
nothing  to  admire  at  all — except  the  big 
stone."  The  mental  level  of  the  scribbler 
on  walls  remains  pretty  constant  in  all  ages. 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  iftrtos. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

SALES. 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  sold 
on  the  18th  and  19th  ult.  the  following  books  and 
MSS.  :  Ruskin's  Works,  by  Cooke  and  Wedder- 
burn,  29  vols.,  1903-1907,^12  15s.;  Tudor  Transla- 
tions, edited  by  W.  E.  Henley,  40  vols.,  1892-1905, 
£18  ;  Meredith's  Works,  32  vols.,  1896-1898,  £11  5s.; 
Oscar  Wilde's  The  Nihilists,  first  draft,  privately 
printed,  with  MS.  alterations  by  the  author,  1882, 
^26  ;  Apperley's  Life  of  a  Sportsman,  1842,  £29  10s.; 
Thackeray,  Original  Drawing  for  Pendennis,  ^20  10s.; 
Missale  Romanum,  English  MS.  on  vellum,  Ssec. 
XIV.,  ^40  ;  Ackermann's  Microcosm  of  London, 
Cambridge  University,  Westminster  Abbey,  and 
Colleges  of  Winchester,  etc.,  8  vols.,  1808-1816,  ,£68 
10s.  ;  Nolhac's  Marie  Antoinette,  £31  ;  Die  Bibel  in 
Corte  Getraslateert,  Antwerp,  1516,  ^33 ;  Beethoven, 
Autograph  Letter,  c.  1808,  ^15  10s.  ;  Autograph 
Orchestral  Sketch  of  the  Coda  of  the  Scherzo  of  the 
Ninth  Symphony,  1846,  £zb  ;  Mozart,  Three  Auto- 
graph Sketches,  c.  1772,^31  ;  Wagner,  Eight  Letters 
to  Henriette  Moritz,  1851-1853,  ^46;  Weber,  Score 
of  the  Overture  to  Oberon,  1827,  ^59  ;  Frederick  the 
Great,  Fifteen  Autograph  Letters,  1740-1777,  ^52. — 
Athenceum,  August  3. 

*>$        ^5        0$ 

The  same  firm  sold  on  the  26th  and  27th  ult.  valuable 
books  and  MSS.,  including  the  Bronte  relics.  These 
relics,  consisting  of  books,  MSS.,  writing-desks, 
work-boxes,  samplers,  etc.,  were  the  property  of  Mrs. 
Nicholls,  widow  of  the  Rev.  A.  B.  Nicholls,  who 
first  married  Charlotte  Bronte.  The  fifty-eight  lots 
produced  ^718  ;  Keats's  Lamia,  first  edition,  boards, 
uncut,  1820,  ^48 ;  Gould's  Birds  of  Great  Britain, 
5  vols,  in  parts,  1862-1873,  ^45;  Horse  B.V.M., 
illuminated  MS.  on  vellum,  Franco-Flemish,  with 
fourteen  miniatures,  done  for  Philippa  of  Guelder- 
land,  Ssec.  XV.,  ^61  ;  another,  French,  with  twelve 
fine  miniatures,  Srec.  XV.,  £to  ;  Common  Prayer, 
E.  Whitchurch,  June  16,  1549,  £&\  ;  the  same,  May  4, 
1549,^50;  the  same,  1552,^125  ;  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  etc.,  1615,  fine  contemporary  binding,  ^52  ; 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  first  edition  (three  lines  missing), 
1678,  ^520  ;  Firdousi,  The  Shah  Nahmeh,  illuminated 
MS.,  Stec.  XVII.,  ^47  ;  Shakespeare,  Second  Folio, 
Hawkins  imprint,  1632,  ^"250;  Merchant  of  Venice, 
1637,  ^35  10s.  ;  Poems,  1640,  £120;  Third  Folio, 
with  numerous  MS.  annotations,  1664,^300;  Xeno- 
phon,  1594,  Queen  Elizabeth's  copy,  ^"175  ;  Hakluyt's 
Voyages,  with  Voyage  to  Cadiz,  and  large  map  of 
Drake's  voyages,  3  vols.,  1 598-1600,  £210;  Homeri 
Opera  Omnia,  editio  princeps,  2  vols.,  Florent ,  1488, 
,£380  ;  Walton's  Angler,  first  edition,  title  in  facsimile, 
1053,  ;£i86  ;  Psalterium,  English  MS.  on  vellum, 
with  miniatures,  Srec.  XIII.,  £700 ;  another  illu- 
minated Psalter  (French),  Ssec.XIV.,^107  ;  Higden's 
Polychronicon,  1527,  £40  ;  Gower's  Confessio 
Amantis,  1553,  and  Boccaccio's  Falles  of  Sundry 
Princes,  etc.,  1554,  .£69;  Haden's  Etudes  a  l'Eau- 
forte,  1866,  ^190  ;  Nelson  Documents,  £121. — 
Athenceum,  August  3. 


352 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCH/EOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
The  Transactions  of  the  Essex  Archaeological  Society, 
vol.  x.,  part  2,  besides  the  record  of  meetings  and 
excursions,  contains  seven  interesting  papers.  No 
less  than  three  of  these  are  contributed  by  Mr.  Henry 
Laver.  In  the  first  he  discusses  "  Pargetting,"  with 
two  plans  of  Colchester  ceilings.  The  art  has  given 
a  surname  to  various  families,  and  in  Colchester  itself 
the  surname  "  Pargetter"  is  occasionally  heard.  In 
his  second  paper  Mr.  Laver  describes  several  of  the 
recently  discovered  "  Mosaic  Pavements  in  Col- 
chester," a  drawing  of  one  found  last  November  being 
reproduced  in  colour  ;  and  in  the  third  describes, 
with  references  to  former  notices,  and  with  four  good 
illustrative  plates,  the  peculiar  little  timber-built 
church  at  Greenstead,  Essex.  Other  papers  are  by 
Mr.  Chalkley  Gould,  on  "  The  Burh  at  Maldon,"  of 
which  a  mere  fragment  remains,  and  on  "  Greensted 
and  the  Course  of  St.  Edmund's  Translation  " — i.e., 
the  translation  of  the  remains  of  St.  Edmund  to 
Beodricsworth  (now  Bury  St.  Edmunds)  in  A.  D.  1013. 
Mr.  Eliot  Howard  writes  on  "King  Alfred  and  the 
Lea."  discussing  a  passage  in  Dr.  Hodgkin's  History 
of  England ;  and  the  Rev.  E.  H.  L.  Reeve  describes 
"  Stondon  Massey  Church,"  the  fabric  of  which  con- 
tains much  early  Norman  work. 

+§  4>$  4>$ 

The  Journal  of  the  Cork  Historical  and  Arclncological 
Society,  April  to  June,  1907,  is  a  good  number.  Colonel 
Lunham  usefully  brings  together  a  number  of 
"  Historical  Notices  of  Old  Cork,"  which  are  illus- 
trated by  a  photographic  reproduction  of  a  map  of  the 
city  which  is  supposed  to  date  from  circa  1585.  The 
first  part  of  a  historical  account  of  "Innishannon  and 
its  Neighbourhood,"  with  a  number  of  illustrations, 
is  contributed  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Cole,  and  Canon 
O'Mahony  continues  his  "  History  of  the  O'Mahony 
Septs."  Mr.  R.  V.  Dymock  touches  on  an  interesting 
byway  of  history  in  a  brief  article  on  "  The  Rela- 
tions between  the  Irish  and  Welsh  in  Mediaeval 
Times."  Mr.  McC.  Dix  makes  a  supplementary 
contribution  to  his  Cork  Bibliography  ;  and  a  variety 
of  other  articles,  notes,  and  queries  complete  the 
number. 


4>$  +$ 


+Q 


The  Nottinghamshire  antiquarian  society,  known  as 
the  Thoroton  Society,  has  issued  vol.  x.  of  its  Trans- 
actions. Besides  an  account  of  the  summer  excursion 
in  the  Strelley  district,  and  a  report  of  the  various 
descriptive  papers  read  on  that  occasion,  the  volume 
contains  six  articles,  chiefly  of  local  interest.  Mr. 
J.  Russell's  account  of  "The  Luddites,"  recalls  the 
anti-machinery  disturbances  of  a  century  ago.  Under 
the  title  of  "  Crocolana — the  Nottinghamshire 
Brough,"  Mr.  Cecil  Woolley  describes  some  of  the 
Roman  remains  recently  brought  to  light  at  a  hamlet 
in  the  parish  of  South  Collingham.  The  ruined 
Archbishop's  palace  at  Southwell  is  described  by 
Mr.  H.  Gill,  and  other  papers  are  "The  Old  Streets 
of  Nottingham,"  by  Mr.  J.  Grainger;  "Muster  Roll 
for  Newark  Wapentake,  1595,"  communicated  by 
Mr.  T.  M.  Blagg  from  an  entry  in  the  Newark  Cor- 
poration Minute-Books  ;  and  "  Henry  Kirke  White," 


the  centenary  of  whose  death  occurred  last  year,  by 
Mr.  J.  C.  Warren.  A  special  and  very  attractive 
feature  of  the  volume  is  the  abundance  of  excellent 
illustrations. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Royal  Arch.kological 
Institute  opened  at  Colchester  on  Tuesday,  July  23, 
with  a  reception  by  the  Mayer,  Mr.  W.  B.  Sparling, 
when  Mr.  Henry  Laver  offered  a  welcome  to  the 
Institute  on  behalf  of  the  Essex  Society,  and  Sir 
Henry  Howorth  spoke  as  President.  After  luncheon 
the  members  drove  to  Copford  Church,  described  by 
Mr.  Laver,  to  Layer  Marney  Church  and  Hall,  and 
back  to  Colchester.  At  Layer  Marney  Mr.  St.  John 
Hope  gave  a  brief  history  of  the  grand  old  hall,  the 
erection  of  which  was  begun  by  Sir  Henry  Marney, 
afterwards  Baron  Marney,  about  1520.  He  died  in 
1523,  and  the  building  was  carried  on  by  his  son, 
who,  however,  did  not  live  long  enough  to  finish  it. 
The  Marneys  then  becoming  extinct,  the  hall  re- 
mained unfinished.  It  was  originally  intended  as  a 
great  house,  with  a  courtyard,  entered  through  a  fine 
gateway.  The  main  outline  was  Gothic,  and  some  of 
the  details  were  distinctly  Gothic,  but  there  was  also 
something  of  the  Renaissance  style  about  it.  Sir 
Henry  Howorth  said  that  Sir  Henry  Marney  was 
Captain  of  the  Horse  at  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII.,  and 
would  probably  have  the  assistance,  in  designing  his 
house,  of  the  Italian  architect  who  was  employed  by 
the  King  to  do  a  lot  of  terra-cotta  work,  and  who  was 
also  employed  by  Wolsey  at  Hampton  Court.  Sir 
Henry  added  that  the  mansion  was  a  tremendous 
national  treasure,  and  he  hoped  it  would  long  remain 
in  the  hands  of  the  present  owner,  who  seemed  to  be 
taking  great  care  of  it.  The  church  was  described  by 
the  Rector,  the  Rev.  H.  J.  Boys. 

On  Wednesday,  July  24,  Great  and  Little  Maple- 
stead  Churches  and  Hedingham  Castle  and  Church  were 
visited.  Little  Maplestead  Church  has  the  distinction  of 
being  one  of  four  similar  churches  in  the  whole  country, 
owing  its  peculiar  design  to  the  fact  that  it  belonged 
to  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  was 
probably  built  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  or  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  entrance  to  the  church 
is  through  a  small  porch  into  an  octagonal  nave,  in 
which  are  six  peculiarly  carved  pillars  which  support 
the  tower.  Round  the  outside  of  the  pillars  runs  the 
circular  aisle,  which  gives  the  church  a  remarkable 
appearance.  The  chancel  is  apsidal,  and  is  also  very 
quaint  and  beautiful.  Mr.  St.  John  Hope  explained 
the  features  of  the  church.  Great  Maplestead  Church 
is  cruciform  in  shape,  and  very  quaint.  Sir  Henry 
Howorth  described  it  as  a  "  little  church  in  which 
almost  every  treasure  from  the  twelfth  century  onwards 
is  represented."  Amongst  the  "treasures"  are  two 
tombs,  with  effigies  over  them,  erected  in  a  sort  of 
recess  added  to  the  nave.  One  is  the  tomb  of  Sir 
John  Deane,  of  Dynes  Hall,  and  the  other  is  that  of 
Lady  Deane,  over  the  latter  being  the  recumbent  form 
(in  stone)  of  her  son,  lying,  like  his  father,  on  his 
side,  the  figure  of  the  lady,  in  her  grave-clothes, 
standing  over  him,  the  tradition  being  that  she  pre- 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


353 


deceased  her  son,  and  appeared  to  him  afterwards. 
The  date  of  these  effigies,  etc.,  is  believed  to  be  early 
in  the  seventeenth  century. 

At  Castle  Hedingham  the  party  first  visited  the 
church,  which  Mr.  St.  John  Hope  said  was  one  of 
which  they  would  like  to  have  the  history  ;  but,  like  a 
great  many  others,  it  had  no  history,  except  what  the 
stones  could  tell  them.  The  splendid  keep  of  the 
castle  was  also  fully  described  by  Mr.  Hope.  At  the 
evening  meeting  Mr.  Gurney  exhibited  and  described 
"The  Town  Charters  of  Colchester." 

The  third  day,  July  25,  was  devoted  to  the  Cogge- 
shall  country.  Inworth  Church  was  inspected,  and  at 
Coggeshall  the  fine  fifteenth-century  church  of  St. 
Peter  ad  Vincula,  a  full  account  of  it  being  given  by 
Mr.  G.  F.  Beaumont,  F.S.A.  After  lunch  Pay- 
cocke's  House,  Bradwell  Church,  and  Faulkbourn 
Hall  were  visited.  On  the  way  to  Faulkbourn  Hall 
the  party  visited  the  mammoth  barns  at  Cressing 
Temple.  The  barns  are  grand  specimens  of  Essex 
carpentering,  which  Dr.  Laver  highly  extolled,  saying 
that  the  reason  why  Essex  carpenters  excelled  all 
others  was  that  there  was  no  stone  in  the  county,  and 
therefore  they  had  to  make  the  best  use  of  timber. 
He  added  that  the  huge  barns — the  smallest  of  which 
is  130  feet  long — were  built  entirely  without  iron,  and 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  timber  was  formed  by  the  axe 
or  the  adze.  The  barns,  it  was  also  stated,  were  tithe 
barns,  and  the  place  where  they  were  erected  formerly 
belonged  to  the  Knights  Templars  or  Hospitallers. 
There  is  evidence  that  they  were  built  in  1450.  On 
to  Faulkbourn  Hall,  the  visitors  wound  up  the  day  of 
sight-seeing  with  a  most  imposing  example  of  a  brick 
mansion,  believed  to  have  been  built  in  1439  by  Sir 
John  Fortescue,  and  held  by  the  Bullock  family  from 
1637  until  eight  years  ago.  At  the  evening  meeting 
at  the  Town  Hall  Dr.  J.  Horace  Round,  in  a  paper  on 
"The  Carrington  Legend"  dealt  exhaustively  with 
the  question  of  bogus  pedigrees  ;  and  in  a  second 
paper,  "  A  Note  on  Dr.  Gilberd,' '  the  famous 
Colchester  worthy,  he  examined  historical  records 
concerning  Gilbert's  birthplace,  and  as  to  the  identity 
of  the  house  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  not  sure, 
however,  that  he  really  lived  at  the  Trinity  Street 
Tymperleys.  Dr.  Round  was  heartily  thanked  for 
his  interesting  papers. 

On  July  26  the  sights  of  Colchester  itself  were 
visited.  An  admirable  description  of  the  castle  was 
given  by  Mr.  St.  John  Hope,  and  in  the  afternoon 
Dr.  Laver  conducted  a  large  party  round  the  town 
walls.  In  the  evening  the  Mayor  gave  a  largely 
attended  conversazione  in  the  Town  Hall. 

Saturday,  July  27,  was  spent  in  a  visit  to  the 
Maldon  district.  Maldon  Church  of  All  Saints 
(unique  in  the  kingdom  by  reason  of  its  triangular 
tower)  was  first  visited,  and  its  "points"  were  indi- 
cated by  Mr.  P.  M.  Beaumont.  It  is  flint  and  stone 
built,  and  presents  curious  contrasts  of  style  :  the 
Early  English,  the  Decorated,  and  the  Perpendicular. 
It  is  particularly  beautiful  in  regard  to  its  D'Arcy 
aisle,  and  sufficiently  hideous  in  respect  of  its  plastered 
ceilings  and  the  two  whitened  beams  that  give  an 
almost  grotesque  appearance  to  the  chancel.  Above 
the  priest's  door  in  the  north  chapel  is  an  ancient 
monument  to  Thomas  Cammock,  his  two  wives,  and 
his  twenty  children.  Cammock's  second  matrimonial 
VOL.  III. 


venture  was  to  run  off  with  a  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  who  pursued  him  in  Lord  Ullin  style  to 
Fambridge  Ferry.  But  Cammock,  bold  in  danger  as 
in  love,  urged  his  horse,  with  its  double  burden, 
successfully  over  "  nearly  half  a  mile  of  salt  water, 
with  a  strong  tide  running,"  and  married  the  Earl's 
daughter  in  the  Church  of  the  Triangular  Tower — 
circa  1420.  In  the  afternoon  Beleigh  Abbey  and 
Langford  Church  were  visited. 

Monday,  July  29,  was  spent  in  the  district  around 
Dunmow — Great  Dunmow,  Tiltey  and  Thaxted 
Churches,  and  Horham  Hall  being  among  the  places 
visited.  The  oldest  portion  of  the  great  church  at 
Thaxted,  the  nave,  is,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hope, 
fourteenth-century  work,  and  he  suggested  that  it 
might  have  been  built  during  the  time  of  the  Black 
Death,  which  had  caused  a  break  in  its  progress, 
until  the  town  recovered  its  prosperity.  The  chancel 
was  later,  and  the  western  tower  was  still  later, 
having,  he  thought,  replaced  a  central  tower  which 
most  likely  fell  down.  There  is  a  very  charming 
carved  pulpit  of  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  some  good 
seventeenth-century  stall-ends,  and  a  quaint  font  with 
a  high  conical  cover,  with  two  cupboard-like  doors, 
which  it  was  suggested  were  kept  locked  to  prevent 
the  baptismal  water  being  abstracted  for  magical 
purposes.  There  are  also  two  very  fine  old  porches. 
There  are  many  curious  corbels  inside  the  church,  one 
representing  Queen  Catherine,  with  two  wheels 
beside  her,  and  some  weird  gargoyles  outside. 

On  Tuesday,  July  30,  the  members  drove  to 
Brightlingsea  Church,  St.  Osyth's  Priory,  and  Great 
Clactian  Church.  In  the  evening  Dr.  Laver  read  a 
paper  on  the  destruction  of  Colchester  by  Boadicea  ; 
and  another,  by  Mr.  Chalkley  Gould,  on  "Traces  of 
Saxons  and  Danes  in  the  Earthworks  of  Essex,"  was 
read  by  Mr.  Hope. 

Wednesday,  July  31,  was  an  "extra  day,"  and 
many  members  visited  Southminster,  Bradwell-juxta- 
Mare,  and  Othona.  The  meeting  was  in  every  way  a 
great  success. 

*$  *Q  «•$ 

The  sixty-fourth  Congress  of  the  British  Archaeo- 
logical Association  opened  at  Weymouth  on 
Monday,  July  15,  with  a  reception  by  the  Deputy 
Mayor  at  the  Town  Hall,  after  which  members  drove 
to  see  the  remains  of  the  Roman  villa,  described  by 
Mr.  R.  H.  Forster,  at  Preston.  Two-thirds  of  a  fine 
pavement  remain  in  situ.  Chalbury  Camp  was  also 
visited,  and  in  the  evening  the  Mayor  and  Mayoress 
of  Weymouth  were  "At  Home"  to  the  Association. 
In  connexion  with  the  latter  function  a  particularly 
interesting  exhibition  of  antiquarian  objects,  ranging 
from  Palaeolithic  implements,  Roman  lamps,  and 
mediaeval  seals,  to  old-time  hearth  implements,  was 
held.  On  Tuesday,  July  16,  the  well  -  known 
Maumbury  Rings  (described  by  Captain  Acland), 
Maiden  Castle  (described  by  the  Rev.  Miles  Barnes), 
and  other  places  of  interest  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Dorchester  were  visited.  In  the  evening  a  paper  on 
"Dorsetshire  Brasses,"  by  Mr.  W.  de  C.  Prideaux, 
was  read. 

The  next  day,  July  17,  Milton  Abbey  Church  and 
St.  Catherine's  Chapel  were  inspected,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Rev.  H.  Pentin,  and  later  Puddletown 

2    Y 


354 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


Church  and  Athelhampton  Hall  were  visited.  Thurs- 
day, July  18,  was  occupied  by  visits  to  Wareham — 
St.  Martin's  and  St.  Mary's  Churches,  the  walls  and 
site  of  castle— and  Corfe  Castle.  At  the  evening 
meeting  at  Weymouth  a  paper  was  read  on  the 
municipal  seals  of  England  by  Mr.  A.  Oliver,  illus- 
trated by  lantern,  and  a  classified  series  of  impressions 
from  the  seals  collected  specially  for  the  occasion. 
The  paper  touched  on  very  many  points  of  interest. 
On  Friday,  July  19,  Cerne  Abbas  was  visited,  under 
the  guidance  of  the  Vicar,  the  Rev.  H.  D.  Gundry, 
and  later,  Sherborne  Abbey  and  monastic  buildings 
were  inspected.  At  the  evening  meeting  at  Wey- 
mouth a  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Forster  on 
"  Mediaeval  Ships,"  with  special  reference  to  those 
shown  on  municipal  seals.  On  Saturday,  July  20,  a 
very  successful  Congress  closed  with  visits  to  Abbots- 
bury  Church  and  Great  Barry,  and  an  inspection  of 
the  collections  of  Mr.  Nelson  Richardson,  President 
of  the  Dorset  Field  Club. 

*c       «•$       *$ 

British  Numismatic  Society. — July  17.  —  Mr. 
Carlyon  -  Britton,  President,  in  the  chair.  —  Mr. 
Andrew  gave  the  fir>t  of  a  series  of  addresses  on  the 
"Coinage  of  the  Reign  of  Stephen."  Commencing 
with  Hawkins  type  270  as  the  fir-t  of  the  reign,  he 
explained  that,  owing  to  the  peaceful  accession  of 
Stephen,  this  was  issued  generally  throughout  the 
country  ;  but  on  the  arrival  of  the  Empress  Matilda 
and  Robert,  Earl  of  Gloucester  in  1 139  it  was  dis- 
continued at  all  the  mints  under  their  influence,  or,  as 
at  Bristol,  the  obverse  die  bearing  Stephen's  portrait 
and  titles  was  erased.  Meanwhile,  following  the 
Battle  of  the  Standard,  a  medallic  coinage  was  insti- 
tuted at  York,  commencing  with  the  well-known 
standard  type,  Hawkins  271.  This,  after  certain 
variations,  was  followed  by  the  two  -  figure  type, 
Hawkins  281.  When  Stephen's  Queen,  Matilda, 
was  sent  by  him  into  the  North  to  negotiate  the 
treaty  with  Prince  Henry  of  Scotland,  the  latter  re- 
turned with  her  to  York,  when,  no  doubt,  this  type 
was  issued.  The  figures  clearly  represent  the  Earl 
and  the  Queen  on  either  side  of  a  conventional  design 
of  the  palm-tree  and  dove  of  peace,  now  repre- 
sented by  a  floriated  standard.  The  cap  of  the  Earl 
is  sufficient  evidence  of  his  rank,  and  the  baton  in  the 
Queen's  hand  is  the  emblem  of  her  authority  as 
Stephen's  plenipotentiary ;  and  the  fact  that  their 
hands  are  joined  is  again  relative  to  the  treaty. 
Under  this  treaty  Henry  acquired  almost  regal  powers 
in  his  English  earldoms,  and  it  was  in  consequence 
of  this  that  he  issued  the  series  of  coins  bearing  the 
title  of  Henricus,  which  are  classed  by  Hawkins  as 
259  of  Henry  I.  Stephen  persuaded  the  Earl  to 
accompany  him  on  his  expedition  in  the  South  to 
assist  with  his  moral  influence  in  quelling  the  rising 
which  had  been  intended  to  support  the  Scottish  in- 
vasion. For  example,  the  entry  in  the  Gesta  that  the 
Beauchamps  refused  to  surrender  Bedford  Castle  until 
the  arrival  of  Henry  has  been  thought  to  refer  to  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester  ;  but  Mr.  Andrew  showed  by 
quotations  from  a  contemporary  charter  that  this  re- 
ferred to  Henry  the  Earl,  and  further  proved  the 
point  by  Mr.  Roth's  coin  of  type  259,  bearing  Henry's 
name  on  the  obverse,  and  struck  at  Bedford.     From 


Bedford  Henry  accompanied  Stephen  into  the  West, 
where  he  similarly  used  his  influence  with  the  Beau- 
champ  family  to  suppress  the  risings  at  Gloucester 
and  Hereford,  and  at  each  of  these  cities  similar 
coins  were  minted.  Finally,  Henry  returned  to  his 
northern  earldom,  where  he  continued  to  issue  this 
type  at  Corbridge  and  other  mints,  and  on  most  of 
his  coins  there  are  indications  of  Scottish  rather  than 
English  workmanship.  The  medallic  coinage  at  York, 
as  the  capital  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Northumbria, 
was  continued  ;  and  as  it  was  issued  by  authority  of 
the  successive  governors,  it  was  unnecessary  to  place 
the  name  of  the  moneyer  and  mint  upon  it  for  the 
purpose  of  identification  in  the  trial  of  the  pyx. 
Hence,  the  reverse  legend  was  replaced  by  con- 
ventional ornaments  so  popular  at  that  period.  After 
the  Battle  of  Lincoln  (1 141)  it  was  natural  that  the 
Empress  should  appoint  Eustace  Fitz  John,  her  chief 
supporter  in  the  North,  as  her  Governor  at  York  upon 
her  accession  to  power,  and  although  they  may 
possibly  have  been  struck  by  him  at  a  rather  later 
period,  it  is  probable  that  the  coin  bearing  his  name, 
and  also  Hawkins  type  282,  were  then  issued.  On 
the  severance  of  the  Legate  Henry,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester from  the  cause  of  the  Empress,  his  coin 
Hawkins  279,  would  no  doubt  be  issued  at  York. 
On  Stephen's  return  to  power  in  1142  Robert  de 
Stutville,  who  had  played  a  prominent  part  for  him 
at  the  Battle  of  the  Standard,  would  seem  to  have 
been  appointed  Governor,  and  to  have  issued  the 
horseman  type,  Hawkins  280.  These  coins  have 
always  been  attributed  to  Robert,  Earl  of  Gloucester, 
but  Mr.  Lawrence  has  long  been  of  opinion  that  they 
more  probably  issued  from  York,  and  Mr.  Andrew 
was  now  able  to  settle  the  question  by  reference  to 
a  specimen  in  the  Hunter  Collection,  which  reads 
"Robert  de  Stu."  The  York  series  was  continued 
by  Eustace  Fitz  Stephen,  who  is  recorded  as  Governor 
of  York  about  1152,  and  his  coins  bear  the  full-length 
figure  and  sword,  Hawkins  283.  Coins  of  this  type, 
as  also  one  of  Eustace  Fitz  John,  bear  the  title 
"Dictator  of  York"  in  a  contracted  form.  During 
the  interregnum  following  the  Battle  of  Lincoln 
Stephen's  partisans  were  faced  with  the  difficulty  that, 
as  their  King  was  in  captivity,  there  was  no  regal 
authority  for  the  issue  of  his  money.  They  therefore 
resorted  to  the  expedient  of  countermarking  the  dies 
with  their  own  arms  as  the  warrant  of  authority, 
which  at  least  would  have  local  influence.  Thus, 
Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  stamped  his  armorial  cross 
on  the  money  issued  from  Norwich  and  Thetford ; 
William  Peverell  similarly  placed  his  arms  on  the 
Nottingham  money,  and  Ferrers,  Earl  of  Derby,  seems 
to  have  resorted  to  the  old  badge  or  arms  of  Edward 
the  Confessor  at  Derby.  In  relation  to  the  last-named 
type,  Mr.  Andrew  referred  to  many  records  of  the 
moneyer  whose  full  name  was  Wakelin  de  Radbourn 
(near  Derby),  who  seems  to  have  been  a  relative  of  the 
Earl. 

Treating  the  coinage  of  the  Empress  herself,  he 
divided  it  into  two  main  types,  the  first  bearing  the 
inscription  :  IMI'ERATR  for  Imperatrix,  Hawkins  633, 
which  was  copied  by  the  English  die-sinkers  into 
:  l^i'ERERin,  and  issued  at  Lincoln,  Stamford,  Bristol, 
Winchester,  and  London.  On  her  reception  into 
London  she  would  acquire  the  command  of  the  mint, 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


355 


and  the  legend  was  changed  to  :  matildis  inpep,  of 
which  there  were  also  variations.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  the  first  type  is  that  usually  given  to  Roger,  Earl 
of  Warwick,  but  this  attribution  was  impossible,  and 
the  complete  legend,  which  for  the  first  time  was 
now  put  in  evidence,  disclosed  a  clear  attempt  to 
copy  the  Latin  title  of  the  Empress,  and  the  varia- 
tions in  the  letters  were  probably  owing  to  her  not 
having  then  acquired  the  services  of  the  official  die- 
sinkers  at  London,  the  only  craftsmen  of  the  art. 

Exhibits :  To  illustrate  the  subject,  the  President, 
Mr.  Roth,  Mr.  Wells,  and  others,  exhibited  a  remark- 
able series  of  the  coins  of  this  period,  comprising 
specimens  of  nearly  every  type  treated. 
+§  +§  ^§ 

On  July  1 1  the  Thoroton  Society  held  its  summer 
excursion,  which,  luckily,  was  favoured  with  fine 
weather,  and  was  well  attended.  A  considerable 
contingent  from  Nottingham  went  by  train  to  Fled- 
borough,  a  small  outlying  village  near  the  River 
Trent,  where  the  church  contains  much  that  is  of 
interest,  independent  of  its  architectural  features, 
which  range  from  a  tower  of  the  twelfth  century  to  a 
chancel  which  was  rebuilt  in  1764.  In  the  chancel 
are  the  fragmentary  remains  of  an  Easter  sepulchre, 
the  largest  portion  of  which  has  been  rescued  from 
serving  the  purpose  of  a  doorstone  to  the  back-door  of 
the  Rectory.  There  is  some  interesting  old  stained 
glass  stencilled  in  grisaille  in  several  windows, 
together  with  some  heraldic  glass.  An  effigy  in 
alabaster  of  a  knight  of  the  fourteenth  century  has 
been  sadly  mutilated  ;  it  is  uncommon  in  that  the 
crest,  coronet,  mantled  helmet,  and  penchant  shield 
are  displayed  upon  the  jupon,  which  is  laced  up  at 
the  side.  Unfortunately,  the  arms  on  the  shield  are 
no  longer  distinguishable.  Outside  the  south  aisle 
there  is  built  to  the  wall  the  figure  of  a  lady,  with  a 
wimple  kirtle  and  mantle  dating  from  the  fourteenth 
century,  which  might  with  advantage  be  removed 
inside  the  church,  with  a  view  to  its  preservation. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  the  Rector  (the  Rev.  W. 
Sweetapple)  became  notorious  as  a  man  who  granted 
marriage  licences  and  asked  few  questions,  so  that  Fled- 
borough  became  the  Gretna  Green  of  the  neighbour- 
hood. In  1 730  there  were  only  seven  weddings,  where- 
as in  1733  there  were  no  fewer  than  forty-four  in  this 
small  parish,  with  a  population  of  under  100  people. 
It  was  in  this  church  that  Dr.  Arnold,  Head- 
master of  Rugby,  was  married  to  the  daughter  of  the 
Rector,  the  Rev.  J.  Penrose,  in  1820,  a  member  of 
whose  family,  under  the  name  of  Mrs.  Markham, 
wrote  the  well-known  History  of  England  {ox  children. 
After  luncheon  and  a  brief  visit  to  the  Church  of 
St.  Oswald  at  Dunham-on-Trent,  the  only  feature  of 
which  is  its  large  open  belfry  windows,  the  party 
proceeded  by  way  of  Darlton,  Wimanton  Moor, 
where  there  are  traces  of  an  ancient  village,  and 
Kingshaugh,  the  moated  site  of  one  of  King  John's 
hunting-lodges,  to  East  Markham  Church,  which  is 
a  splendid  example  of  the  masonry  of  the  Perpen- 
dicular period.  The  Vicar  kindly  read  a  paper  on 
his  church.  It  was  here  that  the  well-known  family 
of  Markham  lived,  of  which  Sir  John  Markham,  the 
judge  in  the  time  of  Richard  II.,  was  a  member,  and 
whose  alabaster  tomb  may  still  be  seen  in  the 
chancel.     One  of  his  descendants  became  Lord  Chief 


Justice.  About  100  years  ago  the  old  stained  glass 
was  replaced  by  "nice  clean  white  glass  "  !  And  it 
is  remarkable  that  only  three  institutions  have  taken 
place  in  this  parish  since  Rev.  W.  Chelles  was  in- 
stituted Vicar  in  1777. 

The  next  place  visited  was  Tuxford,  where  the 
church  has  undergone  many  restorations  ;  neverthe- 
less some  good  Decorated  work  has  survived.  An 
inscription  in  the  chancel  states  that  that  portion  of 
the  church  was  built  by  the  Prior  of  Newstead  in 
1495.  There  is  a  crude  carving  in  stone  representing 
St.  Laurence  on  the  gridiron,  with  other  figures  aid- 
ing with  bellows  and  tongs  in  his  martyrdom.  On 
the  north  side  of  the  chancel  is  a  large  chapel 
used  as  the  burial-place  of  the  family  of  White  of 
Wallingwells.  From  Tuxford  train  was  taken  to 
Nottingham. 

^  *H$  *$ 

On  July  20  the  members  of  the  Bradford  His- 
torical and  Antiquarian  Society  visited  West 
Scholes  Hall  and  Headley  Hall,  two  picturesque  and 
well-preserved  dwellings  situated  on  the  steep  hill- 
side overlooking  Thornton  from  the  south.  West 
Scholes  House,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Samuel  Briggs, 
bears  over  its  entrance  the  date  1694  under  the 
initials  "W.  H.  J.  H.,"  standing  for  William  Hird 
and  Jane  Hird.  The  interior  of  the  house  has  been 
modernized,  but  the  exterior,  especially  the  frontage, 
remains  entirely  unaltered,  and  is  being  preserved  with 
loving  and  appreciative  care. 

From  West  Scholes  the  members  proceeded, 
taking  the  pretty  woodland  path,  to  Headley  Hall, 
at  present  tenanted  by  the  Drake  family.  Headley 
is  one  of  the  most  ancient  places  in  Bradforddale, 
the  "Torentun"  of  Domesday  Book  indicating,  not 
the  modern  village  of  Thornton  or  its  site,  as  was 
supposed  by  the  late  Mr.  W.  Cudworth,  and  after 
him  by  Mr.  J.  Gregory,  but  the  township  comprising 
the  various  hamlets  of  Denholme,  West  Scholes, 
Alderscholes,  Headley,  Thornton,  School  Green 
(Scholes  Green),  and  Leaventhorpe,  the  whole  being 
a  portion  of  the  Manor  of  Bolton,  and  owned  in 
pre- Reformation  times  by  the  monks  of  Nostel 
Priory,  a  fact  discovered  by  the  late  Mr.  T.  T. 
Empsall,  the  first  President  of  the  society. 

Lower  Headley  Hall,  like  many  of  the  old  dwell- 
ings of  the  once  populous  hamlet,  has  disappeared, 
and  a  modern  residence  has  been  erected  on  its  site. 
An  arched  gateway  at  the  back  of  the  house  and 
some  outbuildings  are  the  only  remains  of  the  old 
messuage.  Upper  Headley  Hall,  however,  remains 
in  its  pristine  beauty  and  dignity,  and  is  a  typical 
example  of  an  Elizabethan  manor-house.  Its  suc- 
cessive enlargements  were  initialled  and  dated  by 
successive  occupants.  The  southern  portion,  not 
now  inhabited,  bears  the  initials  of  William  Midgley 
and  the  date  1589,  being  the  year  after  the  de- 
struction of  the  Spanish  Armada.  The  northern 
wing,  with  porch  facing  the  east,  and  a  new  front 
facing  the  north  and  overlooking  the  village  of 
Thornton,  was  added  in  1604  by  John  Midgley.  The 
iron-studded  entrance-door,  of  solid  black  oak,  and 
the  oak  wainscoting  in  the  basement  and  the  bed- 
room are  of  much  interest.  The  oaken  ceilings  have 
been  covered  with  paper  of  light  colour  to  relieve 
the    somewhat    sombre  aspect   of   the    apartments. 

2  Y   2 


356 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


The  curiously  leaded  windows  are  unequalled  by 
anything  of  the  sort  to  be  found  in  the  Bradford 
district.  A  massive  gateway,  surmounted  by  three 
large  stone  globes,  gives  access  from  the  road  to  the 
grass-grown  courtyard  in  front  of  the  hall,  and  from 
its  flanks  starts  the  high  wall  which  encircles  the 
premises  and  marks  them  as  the  place  of  authority. 
A  label  with  somewhat  indistinct  interlaced  mono- 
grams heads  this  gateway,  and  the  date  of  its  erection 
and  of  the  surrounding  wall  appears  as  1669. 

On  July  27  the  Dorset  Natural  History  and 
Antiquarian  Field  Club  held  their  third  summer 
meeting  at  Wareham,  when  the  Rev.  Selwyn  Blackett 
acted  as  guide.  He  led  the  party  to  St.  Martin's 
Church,  the  so-called  ecclesiola  of  Saxon  origin, 
along  the  walls,  and  finally  to  St.  Mary's  Church. 
At  various  points  on  the  walls  Mr.  Blackett,  Mr. 
II.  Pouncy,  Dr.  Colley  Marsh,  and  the  Rev.  Herbert 
Pentin  called  attention  to  features  of  archaeological 
or  historic  interest.  In  the  afternoon  the  visitors 
drove  to  Lytchett  Heath,  where  they  were  hospitably 
entertained  by  Lord  and  Lady  Eustace  Cecil.  The 
beautiful  gardens  and  grounds  afforded  much  interest 
to  the  botanists  of  the  party. 

+$  *>$  «•$ 

The  members  of  the  Suffolk  Archaeological 
Society  visited  Bungay  and  district  on  July  31. 
At  Mcttingham  Castle  Mr.  Redstone  gave  a  historical 
address.  Mettingham  Church  has  a  round  tower, 
apparently  built  of  loose  stones  gathered  in  the  fields, 
and  a  Norman  doorway.  There  are  also  two  stone 
coffins  and  a  very  old  silver  chalice.  Mr.  J.  O. 
Kemp  acted  as  guide  to  the  scanty  remains  of 
Bungay  Castle,  while  St.  Mary's  and  Trinity  Churches 
were  described  by  the  Rev.  B.  P.  Hurst  and  the 
Rev.  J.  A.  Fletcher.  The  excursionists  wound  up 
the  day  with  a  visit  to  Flixton  Hall. 

^  «•£  «•$ 

Other  meetings  and  excursions  which  we  have  not 
space  to  chronicle  in  detail  have  been  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Shropshire  Archaeological 
Society  on  July  20;  the  annual  two  days'  meeting 
of  the  Kent  Archaeological  Society  at  Ton- 
bridge  on  July  9  and  10  ;  the  three  days'  meeting  of 
the  Bristol  and  Gloucestershire  Archae- 
ological Society  at  Cirencester,  July  16,  17,  and 
18 ;  the  excursion  of  the  Norfolk  Archaeological 
Society  to  the  Loddon  district  on  July  16 ;  the 
annual  excursion  of  the  Surrey  Archaeological 
Society  on  July  11  to  Merrow,  East  and  West 
Clandon,  and  East  and  West  Horsley  ;  the  excursion 
of  the  East  Riding  Antiquarian  Society  to 
villages  near  Malton  on  July  25  ;  the  excursion  of  the 
Durham  and  Northumberland  Archaeological 
Society  over  the  Border  to  the  abbeys  in  the  Vale  of 
the  Tweed  on  July  18  and  19 ;  the  visit  of  the 
Halifax  Antiquarian  Society  on  August  3  to 
Shibden  Hall ;  the  excursions  of  the  Lancashire 
and  Cheshire  Antiquarian  Society  to  Mytton 
Church  and  Stonyhurst  on  July  20,  and  to  Conis- 
borough  on  August  10 ;  and  the  excursion  of  the 
Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries  to  Hexham 
Abbey  on  July  24. 


Eetrietos  anD  footim 
of  foztn  T6ook0. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  tt 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.} 

Essentials  in  Architecture.  By  John  Belcher, 
A.R.A.  With  forty-four  full-page  and  thirty 
text  illustrations.  London  :  B.  T.  Batsford, 
1907.  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xviii,  171.  Price  5s.  net. 
This  book  is  worthy  of  a  hearty  welcome.  The 
opening  sentence  of  the  preface  states  that  it  is  in- 
tended for  all  who  are  interested  in  art,  and  that  it 
is  designed  on  popular,  rather  than  on  scientific  or 
technical,  lines.  This  statement  is  carried  out  to  the 
full  by  the  writer.  There  is  not  a  single  paragraph 
from  beginning  to  end  which  is  not  written  in  a  clear 
and  intelligible  style,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  the 
most  experienced  architectural  student  can  profit  by 
its  study.  There  is  nothing  particularly  new  in  these 
comparatively  few  pages,  or  in  the  singularly  well- 
chosen  plates  by  which  they  are  illustrated  ;  never- 
theless, Mr.  Belcher  has  succeeded  in  putting  together 
within  a  short  compass  a  series  of  most  valuable  and 
highly  instructive  helps  to  the  due  understanding  of 
true  architectural  principles,  and  of  the  qualities  that 
ought  to  be  looked  for  in  buildings  that  are  worthy  of 
admiration. 

We  are  inclined  to  think  that  this  book  would  have 
had  the  success  it  so  richly  merits  even  if  it  had  been 
issued  anonymously,  or  without  the  imprimatur  of 
the  best  of  architectural  publishers.  But  as  it  is 
written  by  Mr.  Belcher,  A.R.A.,  the  well-known 
Fellow  and  past  President  of  the  Royal  Institution  of 
British  Architects,  and  published  by  Mr.  Batsford, 
it  will  indeed  be  passing  strange  if  it  does  not  secure 
a  very  wide  circulation.  Mr.  Belcher  does  not  con- 
sider that  architecture  has  as  yet  found  its  true  and 
proper  place  as  a  subject  of  popular  interest,  although 
it  meets  us  constantly  on  our  travels,  and  so  often 
provides  an  objective  for  our  walks  and  tours.  It  is 
his  desire  to  help  the  general  public  in  recognizing 
and  distinguishing  the  various  elements  of  beauty  in 
a  mansion,  a  church,  or  a  cottage,  as  well  as  in  public 
and  municipal  buildings ;  to  separate  the  good  from 
the  bad,  and  to  know,  as  he  expresses  it,  "  why  this 
is  admirable  and  that  detestable." 

It  would  be  easy  work  for  a  writer  who  has  him- 
self made  some  effort  for  over  forty  years  to  under- 
stand and  appreciate  varieties  of  architecture  to  quote 
numerous  passages  from  this  small  but  invaluable 
work,  or  to  indulge  in  further  eulogistic  phrases  ex- 
pressive of  his  keen  appreciation;  but  a  long  ex- 
perience, both  as  a  reader  and  writer  of  reviews, 
has  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that  the  very  best 
kind  of  favourable  criticism  is,  after  brief  expres- 
sion of  approval,  to  state  concisely  what  the  book 
contains. 

It  may,  therefore,  be  said  that  the  book  is  divided, 
in  addition  to  a  general  introduction,  into  four 
sections  :  Principles,  Qualities,  Factors,  and 
Materials.  Under  Principles  are  two  subheadings, 
Truth  and  Beauty.   "  Qualities  "  discusses  successively 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


357 


strength,  vitality,  restraint,  refinement,  repose,  grace, 
breadth,  and  scale.  "  Factors  "  is  divided  into  propor- 
tion, light  and  shade,  colour,  solids  and  voids,  and 
balance  and  symmetry.  The  subdivisions  of  Materials 
are  obvious  :  they  chiefly  consist  of  stone,  wood, 
metals,  brick,  terracotta,  and  cement. 

The  very  numerous  illustrations  are  from  photo- 
graphs of  English  and  Continental  buildings  of 
various  periods,  ranging  from  palaces  to  cottages ; 
all  are  chosen  to  illustrate  some  particular  point  which 
the  author  touches  on  in  the  course  of  his  text. 

J.  Charles  Cox,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 
♦     *     ♦ 
History  ok  Rotherhithe.     By  E.J.  Beck,  M.A. 

With  a  Geological  chapter  by  the  Rev.  T.  G. 

Bonney.     Forty-nine  illustrations  and  two  maps. 

Cambridge :     University    Press,    1907.       Demy 

8vo.,  pp.  xvi,  270.  Trice  10s.  net. 
Mr.  Beck,  who  has  been  Rector  of  Rotherhithe  for 
the  last  forty  years,  on  the  title-page  modestly  calls 
his  book  "  Memorials  to  serve  for  a  History  "  of  his 
parish,  and  the  description,  though  it  hardly  indicates 
the  great  amount  of  labour  and  trouble  which  must 
have  gone  to  the  making  of  the  book,  fairly  describes 
the  contents.  In  the  first  half  of  the  volume,  after 
some  brief  notes  on  "  Redriff,"  as  the  people  still  call 
it,  in  Roman  and  later  days  up  to  the  Reformation, 
and  a  luminous  chapter  on  "  The  Geology  of  Rother- 
hithe and  of  the  Thames  Valley  "  from  the  pen  of 
Professor  Bonney,  Mr.  Beck  proceeds  to  deal  in 
detail  with  the  succession  of  rectors  both  before  and 
since  the  Reformation,  bringing  together  a  surprising 
amount  of  biographical  information,  with  the  curates 
and  other  clergy  of  Rotherhithe — where  the  detail 
occupies  a  slightly  disproportionate  space — the  parish 
church  plate,  the  parish  registers,  and  the  parish 
church  itself — its  fabric,  monuments  and  inscriptions, 
and  rebuilding  in  1714-15.  The  second  half  of  the 
book  is  occupied  by  chapters  dealing  with  a  variety 
of  aspects  of  life  at  Rotherhithe,  both  in  recent  and  in 
earlier  days.  Rotherhithe  is  a  riverside  parish  of 
great  timber  docks  and  of  granaries  and  wharves, 
which  play  a  most  important  part  in  the  feeding  of 
London,  and  in  facilitating  the  shipping  trade  of  the 
Metropolis.  The  docks  and  the  watermen  provide 
material  for  much  important  matter.  A  very  interest- 
ing chapter  describes  Rotherhithe  as  it  appeared  in 
1800,  the  description  being  based  upon  notes  of  an 
old  inhabitant's  recollections.  Very  striking  is  the 
contrast  between  the  "Redriff"  of  to-day  and  the 
almost  water-logged  parish  of  a  century  ago.  Another 
chapter  re-tells  the  story  of  Prince  Lee  Boo,  the 
amiable  young  native  of  the  Pelew  Islands,  whose 
brief  visit  to  this  country  was  terminated  tragically 
by  small-pox.  The  watermen's  stairs,  the  ship- 
breakers,  local  crimes  of  notoriety,  and  other  matters, 
complete  a  book  which  contains  a  great  variety  of 
carefully  collected  information  that  must  be  of  the 
greatest  service  to  any  future  historian  of  the  town 
and  district.  Incidentally,  in  its  earlier  pages,  the 
volume  illustrates  the  splendid  work  done  by  the 
Church  in  a  parish  which  has  grown  and  developed 
with  startling  rapidity.  Mr.  Beck  has  evidently  done 
his  full  share  of  that  work  during  his  long  rectorship, 
and  the  reader's  gratitude  for  the  labour  spent  on  the 
preparation  of  this  book  must  be  mingled  with  sur- 


prise that  in  the  midst  of  so  busy  a  life,  and  pressed 
by  so  many  parochial  burdens  and  anxieties,  Mr. 
Beck  has  been  able  to  find  time  to  complete  what  has 
plainly  been  a  labour  of  love.  The  many  illus- 
trations and  the  two  curious  old  maps  are  attractive 
features  of  the  book,  which  is  well  indexed  and  pre- 
sented in  comely  guise. 

*      *      * 
Schools  of  Hellas.     By  Kenneth  J.   Freeman. 

Edited  by   M.   L  Rendall.     With  a  preface  by 

Dr.  A.  W.  Verrall,  Litt.D.     With  illustrations. 

London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1907.    Crown  8vo., 

pp.  xx,  300.  Price  5s.  net. 
This  extremely  attractive  essay  will  furnish  delight 
to  many  who  have  often  wondered  how  the  youth  of 
ancient  Greece  received  their  early  training  in  mind 
and  body.  The  ideal  of  Hellenic  culture,  if  somewhat 
vitiated  by  the  flaw  of  insincerity,  was  so  high  and 
the  examples  of  it  remain  so  illuminating  to  all  con- 
cerned in  education,  that  it  is  surprising  that  nothing 
better  than  a  chapter  in  Becker's  "  Charicles  "  and  a 
few  dictionary  articles  have  been  previously  devoted 
to  the  theme.  In  this  volume  a  distinguished 
company  of  scholars  have  joined  together  to  commend 
the  fresh,  original,  and  learned  treatment  of  the 
subject  by  Mr.  K.  J.  Freeman,  who,  after  a  brilliant 
scholastic  career,  returned  to  congenial  work  at 
Winchester  College,  there  to  be  cut  off  by  untimely 
deaih.  The  pathetic  interest  of  this  literary  achieve- 
ment is  great,  but  need  not  be  called  in  aid  to  appraise 
its  value  as  a  contribution  to  "humane  letters."  It 
will  have  an  abiding  value,  because  the  workmanship 
spent  upon  it  was  sincere  and  thorough. 

As  an  "  Essay  on  the  Practice  and  Theory  of 
Ancient  Greek  Education  from  600  to  300  B.C.,"  it 
aims  at  portraying,  with  lively  touches  drawn  from 
the  actual  authorities,  the  "  training  of  character  and 
taste,  and  the  symmetrical  development  of  body, 
mind,  and  imagination,"  which  formed  the  aim  of  at 
least  the  Athenian  schools.  The  work  of  the 
antiquary  has,  perhaps,  never  served  so  happy  a 
purpose  as  in  supplying  this  idea  with  cogent  illustra- 
tions from  Greek  vases.  Cleverly  printed  on  coloured 
paper,  these  figures  conjure  up  not  merely  the  athlete 
and  the  gymnast,  but  the  boy  learning  music,  while 
a  dog  howls  to  the  flute,  and  the  humble  tutor  who 
betrays  his  social  grade  by  crossing  his  ankles  ! 
Through  it  all  we  perceive  the  Hellenic  ideal  of 
education — "the  good  of  the  community,  not  the 
good  of  the  individual "  (p.  275)  and  we  are  thus 
better  able  to  understand  the  wonderful  temporary 
success  of  those  three  centuries  which  gave  immortal 
things  to  the  world.  The  Dorian  and  Ionian  ideals 
varied  considerably,  but  the  variety  was  one  of 
emphasis  rather  than  of  contrast.  If  the  former  are 
presented  as  more  admirable  in  the  striking  passage 
on  pages  238  to  240,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  sacra- 
ment for  youth  more  ennobling  than  the  oath  of  the 
Athenian  ephebos  given  on  page  211.  Many  a  reader 
will  be  cajoled  by  this  volume  into  pleasant  remi- 
niscences of  school  reading,  for  Plato  and  Aristo- 
phanes, and  Herodotus  and  Xenophon  are  laid  under 
contribution  for  the  colour,  the  very  life-blood  of  the 
matter.  We  read  of  children's  parties  (p.  40),  of 
the  proverbial  "  naughty  boy  "  (p.  99),  of  "  athletic 
shop  "  talk  at  a  dinner-party  (p.  124),  of  the  relation 


358 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


between  blisters  and  patriotism  (p.  153),  of  lecturers' 
fees  (p.  168),  and  the  virtue  of  legendary  tales  for 
children  (p.  231).  There  is  a  felicitous  suggestion  as 
to  "  the  Perfect  Knight  "  of  the  Parthenon  Frieze  at 
p.  244,  which  proves  Mr.  Freeman  a  careful  art  critic, 
and  there  is  humour  in  the  comparison  of  Xenophon 
with  our  English  retired  Major-General  which  shows 
how  the  author  of  these  pages  felt  what  he  was 
writing.  The  volume  is,  in  a  word,  full  of  ancient 
instances,  but  for  our  modern  instruction  and  delight 
it  has  upon  it  the  freshness  of  the  early  morning  of 
the  world.— W.  H.  D. 

*  *  * 
Manx  Crosses.  By  P.  M.  C.  Kermode,  F.S.A., 
Scot.  Seventy -seven  plates  and  many  illustrations 
in  the  text.  London  :  Bemrose  and  Sons,  Ltd., 
1907.  4to.,  pp.  xxii,  221.  Price  63s.  net. 
(400  copies.) 
This  grand  volume,  finely  printed  and  lavishly 
illustrated,  treats  after  an  exhaustive  fashion  all  the 
hitherto  discovered  inscribed  and  sculptured  monu- 
ments of  the  Isle  of  Man  fion  about  the  end  of  the 
fifth  to  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  They 
number  117,  many  of  them  having  come  to  light 
during  the  last  few  years,  partly  through  intelli- 
gent research,  but  more  often  incidentally  in  con- 
nexion with  works  of  restoration  or  excavation.  It 
must  not  be  supposed  by  those  who  are  interested  in 
early  Christian  sculpture  or  in  the  general  antiquities 
of  the  Isle  of  Man,  that  the  possession  of  former 
scholarly  essays  on  Manx  remains  covers  the  ground 
taken  up  by  this  comprehensive  work.  Though  the 
writer  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  the  late  Mr. 
J.  Romilly  Allen  and  other  capable  men  who  have 
treated  on  many  of  these  crosses,  this  substantial  and 
handsome  quarto  volume  deals  for  the  most  part  with 
new  matter.  No  fewer  than  seventy  examples  are 
now  for  the  first  time  figured  and  fully  described. 

Much  praise  is  due  to  the  method  of  illustration 
herein  adopted.  It  had  been  Mr.  Kermode's  first 
intention  to  rely  on  photographs.  Such  a  system 
would  serve  well  in  the  case  of  the  smaller  and  better 
preserved  pieces,  but  the  details  of  involved  patterns 
could  not  be  reproduced  where  the  surfaces  were 
roughened  and  cracked  by  centuries  of  exposure. 
The  plan  eventually  adopted  involved  much  labour, 
but  the  results  are  good  and  reliable.  The  plates, 
with  a  very  few  exceptions,  are  reduced  copies  of  full- 
sized  drawings  carefully  made  by  the  author,  founded 
on  rubbings,  and  completed  on  the  spot.  In  the 
shading  of  them,  Mr.  Kermode  also  made  use  of  casts 
and  photographs,  to  secure,  as  nearly  as  possible,  the 
exact  amount  of  relief  and  the  true  nature  of  the 
carving.  We  doubt  if  any  other  archaeologist  has 
ever  exceeded  the  care  taken  to  produce  faithful 
illustrations.  The  text  illustrations  (many  of  them 
comprising  a  variety  of  different  figures  grouped  for 
comparative  purposes)  number  fifty-eight,  whilst  there 
are  in  addition  seventy-seven  plates.  Another 
excellent  feature  is  the  inclusion  of  two  maps,  of  the 
northern  and  southern  divisions  of  the  island,  whereon 
are  shown  the  exact  distribution  of  the  inscribed  and 
sculptured  stones,  as  well  as  of  the  ancient  kreils  and 
churches. 

The  two  main  divisions  of  the  work  are  pre- 
Scandinavian    and    Scandinavian.      Both    of    these 


classes  of  monuments  are  all  of  local  rock,  differing 
somewhat  in  quality,  but  derived  generally  from  stone 
in  the  immediate  vicinity.  Th  vigh  generally  spoken 
of  as  crosses,  cross-slabs  i?,  perhaps,  a  more  correct 
term,  for  they  are  upright  monuments  ranging  from 
2  feet  6  inches  to  7  feet  or  8  feet  in  height,  from 
15  inches  to  24  inches  in  width,  and  from  2  inches 
to  4  inches  thick.  They  are  generally  rectangular  in 
shape,  but  occasionally  the  head  is  rounded,  and  a 
few  are  wheel-headed.  In  two  or  three  instances 
the  spaces  between  the  limbs  and  the  surrounding 
circle  are  holed  or  pierced.  The  earlier  pieces  are 
incised  and  usually  only  ornamented  on  one  side, 
but  the  large  majority  of  the  Norse  examples  have 
both  sides  decorated. 

"They  are  almost  all  sepulchral,  but  one  from 
Peel  may  have  been  an  altar  slab,  and  the  square 
block  from  Bride,  showing  the  Temptation  of  Adam 
and  Eve,  may  have  been  an  architectural  feature 
built  into  the  wall  of  a  twelfth-century  church." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  things  about  this 
monumental  series  is  its  rich  variety :  there  are 
Ogam,  Latin,  and  Runic  inscriptions,  whilst  Christian 
symbols  and  pagan  myths  are  portrayed  almost  side 
by  side.  Pages  might  be  written  as  to  the  intense 
interest  pertaining  to  this  masterly  volume,  but  we 
must  be  content  with  urging  all  librarians  and  general 
archaeologists  to  place  it  on  their  shelves.  The  price 
may  seem  high,  but  it  will  be  money  well  spent. 
Considering  the  labour  and  cost  involved  in  its  pro- 
duction, it  is  in  reality  a  cheap  book. 

*  *  * 
Forty  Years  in  a  Moorland  Parish.  By  the 
Rev.  Canon  Atkinson,  D.C.L.  With  portraits 
and  prefatory  memoir.  London :  Macmillan 
and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1907.  8vo.,  pp.  xlviii,  471. 
Price  7s.  6d. 

Canon  Atkinson's  book  may  now  fairly  be  classed 
as  a  standard  work.  And  this  new  edition,  the  first 
since  the  author's  lamented  death,  is  enriched  by  a 
brief  memoir  from  the  pen  of  the  Canon's  friend  and 
publisher,  Mr.  G.  A.  Macmillan,  and  a  shorter 
appreciation  by  Mrs.  J.  R.  Green.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  anything,  and  it  would  be  difficult 
to  say  anything  new,  about  Canon  Atkinson's  de- 
lightful book — its  learning,  its  humour,  its  close  and 
sympathetic  observation  of  Nature,  and  of  the  men 
and  women  amongst  whom  his  days  were  passed. 
Archaeology,  folk-lore,  manners  and  customs,  dialect— 
these  are  only  some  of  the  topics  illuminated  by  the 
author's  vigorous  pen.  Canon  Atkinson  himself  was 
a  remarkable  figure.  "It  is  impossible,"  as  Mrs. 
Green  well  says,  "  to  imagine  the  life  of  a  scholar 
and  a  parson  more  finely  blended  together."  For 
more  than  fifty  years  he  lived  and  worked  amongst 
the  moorland  folk.  He  had  extraordinary  keenness 
of  observation,  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  learning,  and 
a  remarkable  power  of  exemplifying  both  these  and 
his  many  other  gifts  in  the  fascinating  pages  of  the 
book  that  lies  before  us.  Mr.  Macmillan's  story  of 
his  friendship  with  the  vigorous  old  man,  and  the 
many  graphic  touches  by  which  he  brings  that  singu- 
larly gifted  individuality  before  us,  make  a  delightful 
introduction  to  the  volume.  Those,  if  there  are  any, 
who  have  not  yet  read  the  Forty  Years  should  do  so 
at  once  in  this  pleasant  edition  ;  those  who  know  and 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


359 


ove  the  book  may  well  be  tempted  to  read  it  yet 
once  again. 

*     *     * 
Gravesend  :  the  Water-Gate  ok  London.    By 

A.  J.  Philip.     Illustrated  by  J.  A.  C.   Branfill. 

Gravesend  :  Bryant  and  Rackstraiv.     London  : 

Homeland  Association,    1907.      8vo.,    pp.    124. 

Price  is.  net. 
We  have  often  had  occasion  to  speak  in  terms  of 
praise  of  the  very  useful  and  well-prepared  hand- 
books issued  by,  or  in  co-operation  with,  the  Home- 
land Association,  and  this  Gravesend  volume  is  no 
exception  to  the  rule.  The  Mayor  of  the  borough, 
Mr.  G.  M.  Arnold,  a  brother  of  Sir  Edwin  and  Sir 
Arthur  Arnold,  contributes  an  interesting  introduc- 
tion,   chiefly    historical    and    topographical.      Mr. 


SWANSCOMBE   CHURCH  :    WINDOW   WITH   ROMAN 
BRICKWORK. 

Philip,  in  the  body  of  the  book,  besides  much  other 
useful  matter  descriptive  of  the  town  and  its  very 
pleasant  surroundings,  devotes  a  well-written  chapter 
to  a  "Perambulation  of  Gravesend,"  in  which  he 
refers  incidentally  to  many  interesting  historical  and 
antiquarian  associations.  In  the  neighbourhood  of 
Gravesend  are  many  villages  and  churches  that  de- 
serve a  visit.  Their  attractions  and  associations, 
including  that  of  Dickens  with  Chalk,  are  described 
or  briefly  indicated.  Among  the  many  illustrations 
is  that  which  we  are  courteously  allowed  to  reproduce 
above.  It  shows  a  deeply  splayed  window  in  the 
tower  of  Swanscombe  Church — a  window  which  is 
constructed  chiefly  of  Roman  bricks  and  tiles.  Many 
traces  both  of  British  and  Roman  occupation  have 
been  found  in  Swanscombe.  We  heartily  commend 
this  little  book. 


Aeussere  Geschichte  der  Englischen  Theater- 
truppen  in  dem  zeitraum  von  1559  bis 
1642.  Zusammengestellt  von  Hermann  Maas. 
Louvain  :  A.  Uystpruyst.  London :  D.  Nutt, 
1907.  Large  8vo.,  pp.  x,  283.  Price  18  mark. 
This  excellent  book  is  issued  as  the  nineteenth 
volume  of  Professor  W.  Bang's  useful  series  of 
Materialien  zur  Kunde  des  aelteren  Englischen 
Dramas,  but  is  complete  in  itself.  The  aim  of  the 
author  has  been  to  collect  all  the  material  as  to 
the  history  of  the  various  groups  of  actors  in  that 
wonderful  springtime  of  the  English  stage,  when,  in 
spite  of  strong  Puritan  sentiment,  the  drama,  emanci- 
pated from  the  ecclesiastical  trappings  of  the  miracle 
and  morality  interludes,  became  a  mighty  organ  for 
the  expression  of  secular  thought — the  age  which  saw 
the  first  production  of  the  dramatic  works  of  Shake- 
speare, Jonson,  Marlow,  Kyd,  and  the  rest.  The 
earliest  groups  of  actors  were  those  known  as  the 
"servants"  of  some  great  nobleman,  though  the 
exact  relationship  between  the  patron  and  the  players 
is  not  too  clear,  and  apparently  these  "servants" 
had  sometimes  to  change  masters  with  much  celerity. 
"  That  once  in  a  week  new  masters  we  seek  "  is 
Prynne's  satirical  way  of  putting  it.  The  earliest 
named  are  those  of  Sir  Robert  Dudley,  in  1559,  who 
had  licences  to  play  in  various  shires.  The  social 
position  of  the  player  is  difficult  to  understand  clearly. 
On  the  one  hand,  they  are  often  spoken  of  dis- 
respectfully ;  on  the  other,  we  see  that  some  of  them 
— Shakespeare,  for  example — "got  money  and  lived 
in  reputation." 

In  the  account  of  Lord  Strange's  servants,  Herr 
Maas  gives  the  title  of  Fair  Em,  and  the  date  of 
the  quarto  of  1631.  Chetwood,  who  is  not  too  reli- 
able, declares  that  there  was  a  dated  edition  in  1619, 
and  a  still  earlier  one,  not  divided  into  acts.  From 
the  title-page  it  would  appear  that  "the  Lord 
Strange's  servants"  were  playing  in  1 631,  and,  as  if 
to  emphasize  the  connexion,  the  edition  of  that  year 
has  a  vignette  of  the  spread  eagle,  the  badge  of  the 
family  of  the  heroic  Charlotte  de  la  Tremoille,  who, 
as  Countess  of  Derby — her  husband,  Lord  Strange, 
succeeded  as  Earl  of  Derby  in  1642 — became  famous 
for  her  defence  of  Lathom  Hou.>e  against  the  attacks 
of  the  army  of  the  Parliament.  Fair  Em  was 
certainly  played  as  early  as  159 1,  for  Greene  quotes 
from  it  in  his  Farewell  to  Folly,  printed  in  that  year. 
Fair  Em  has  been  attributed  to  Shakespeare  and  also 
to  Greene.  Herr  Maas's  careful  collection  of  material 
will  facilitate  the  study  and  researches  of  those  who 
may  desire  to  investigate  the  many  obscure  but  inter- 
esting problems  of  the  early  history  of  the  stage  in 
this  country. 

*  *  * 
Mr.  W.  J.  Hay,  of  Edinburgh,  has  issued  a  second 
series  of  Mr.  Bruce  J.  Home's  admirable  drawings 
of  Old  Houses  hi  Edinburgh.  The  complete  set  of 
fifty-four  plates  in  two  convenient  portfolios  is  sold  at 
24s.  net.  The  twenty-seven  drawings  in  the  second 
portfolio  now  before  us — the  first  was  noticed  in  the 
Antiquary  for  December,  1905 — include  the  familiar 
John  Knox's  house  at  the  Netherbow,  and  also  the  back 
part  of  the  tenement,  in  conjunction  with  the  adjacent 
buildings  ;  old  houses  in  Trunk,  Baird's  and  Car- 
rubber's  Closes,  Milne's  Court,  Somerville's   Land, 


36o 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


the  West  Port,  and  other  ancient  parts  of  the  city  ; 
the  Canongate  Tolbooth,  the  Old  Bowhead,  and 
other  quaint  and  interesting  buildings,  many  of  which 
have  been  demolished.  Sufficient  descriptive  letter- 
press accompanies  the  drawings.  The  latter  have  all 
been  drawn  on  the  spot,  and  are  marked  by  the  same 
excellent  qualities  of  composition  and  of  faithfulness 
in  the  rendering  of  detail  that  were  characteristic  of 
the  first  series.  All  lovers  of  old  Edinburgh  have 
much  reason  to  be  grateful  to  Mr.  Bruce  Home's 
skilful  pencil. 

*  *      * 

Mr.  Henry  Frowde  publishes  in  pamphlet  form,  price 
3s.  net,  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  British 
Academy,  vol.  ii.,  Professor  Ridgeway's  paper  on 
"The  Date  of  the  First  Shaping  of  the  Cuchulainn 
Saga,"  with  twenty-three  figures  in  the  text.  Much 
attention  has  been  paid  in  recent  years  to  the  re- 
markable poems  which  centre  round  the  Irish  hero 
Cuchulainn  and  his  uncle  Conchobar — the  oldest 
literature  extant  of  any  people  living  on  this  side  the 
Alps.  In  this  learned  and  carefully  reasoned  paper 
Professor  Ridgeway  attempts  to  fix  on  archaeological 
and  historical  grounds  the  period  when  these  poems 
first  took  shape.  He  identifies  that  period  with  the 
time  when  the  La  Tene  culture  was  yet  flourishing  in 
Ireland—  i.e.,  about  the  first  century  of  the  Christian 
era. 

*  *     * 

Mr.  John  Robinson  sends  us  his  interesting  paper  on 
"  The  Ancient  Cathedral  of  Northumbria  and  Notable 
Hexham  Families  "  reprinted  from  the  Catholic  News, 
in  which  he  wisely  protests  against  the  proposed 
"  restoration  "  of  Hexham  Priory  Church.  We  have 
also  received  the  Fenny  Stratford  Year- Book  (H. 
Jackson,  High  Street,  Leighton  Buzzard.  Price  6d.), 
a  handy  little  local  directory  to  the  ancient  town  and 
district,  which,  besides  the  usual  matter,  contains  anti- 
quarian notes  on  the  "  Fenny  Poppers,"  a  local 
battery  of  quart-pot-like  "guns"  used  for  purposes 
of  celebration  ;  and  on  the  still  maintained  custom  of 
ringing  the  Angelus,  miscalled  the  "curfew." 

*  *     * 

Among  the  contents  of  the  Architectural  Review, 
August,  besides  articles  of  purely  professional  interest, 
such  as  Mr.  J.J.  Burnet's  illustrated  account  of  "The 
British  Museum  Extensions,"  are  two  good  papers  on 
somewhat  out-of-the-way  subjects.  One  is  an  archi- 
tectural account,  freely  illustrated,  of  "  The  Church  of 
St.  Titus  at  Gortyna,  in  Crete,"  by  Mr.  Theodore 
Fyfe  ;  the  other  is  on  "  Dutch  Architecture  in  Ceylon," 
illustrated,  by  Mr.  J.  P.  Lewis. 

*  *     * 

Northern  Notes  and  Queries,  July,  is  largely  devoted 
to  family  history.  Besides  much  valuable  matter  in 
that  department,  there  is  a  quaintly  worded  extract 
from  the  Church  Records  of  Chester-le-Street, 
relating  to  a  confirmation  there  in  1836,  and  also  a  note 
on  the  connexion  of  Robert  Dodsley  with  the  North. 
Dodsley  lies  buried  in  the  shadow  of  Durham 
Cathedral.  In  the  Berks,  Bucks,  and  Oxon  Archae- 
ological Journal,  July,  Earmundslea  at  Appleton, 
Berks  ;  Buckinghamshire  parishes  formerly  included 
in  the  Archdeaconry  of  St.  Albans  ;  and  the  Church- 
wardens' Accounts  of  Thame,  are  among  the  subjects 
of  articles.  We  have  also  on  our  table  Rivista 
oV  Italia,  July  ;  East  Anglian,  May. 


Corresponnence. 


PULPIT  HOUR-GLASSES. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

Your  reviewer  of  S.  Baring-Gould's  Devon,  in  the 
last  issue  of  the  Antiquary,  states  his  belief  that  the 
hour-glass  and  stand  at  Pilton  Church  is  "unique." 
This  is  not  the  case.  There  is  another  example  at 
Bloxworth  Church,  in  Dorset,  which  is  illustrated  in 
the  Dorset  Natural  History  and  Antiquarian  Field 
Club's  Proceedings  (vol.  iii.),  and  described  by  the 
Rev.  O.  Pickard-Cambridge  in  these  words :  "  The 
stand  is  of  wrought  iron,  ornamented  with  fleurs  de- 
lys,  and  fixed  upon  a  single  iron  upright  or  stem  ;  the 
workmanship  is  rather  rude,  but  bold  and  effective. 
The  frame  of  the  glass  is  of  wood,  rather  roughly  cut, 
and  the  glass  is  of  a  greenish  hue.  The  whole  height 
of  stem,  stand,  and  glass  is  near  about  2  feet,  that  of 
the  glass  and  its  frame  about  10  inches.  Traces  of 
colour,  still  remaining,  show  that  it  was  originally 
decorated  ;  but  this  has  mostly  worn  off."  An  hour- 
glass or  its  stand  is  also  to  be  seen  in  about  a  dozen 
other  churches  in  England. 

Herbert  Pentin. 

Milton  Abbey  Vicarage, 
Dorset. 


PONTIFEX  FAMILY. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

I  should  be  glad  of  any  information  as  to  who  the 
parents  were   of  Sir   William   Pontifex,   a   Catholic 
priest.     He  was  chaplain  at  the  Church  of  St.  Mary 
Magdalen,  in  the  parish  of  East  Ham,  Essex.     In  his 
will,  dated   June  9,   1517,  he  desires  to   be   buried 
within  the  churchyard  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  of  East 
Ham.     He   mentions    Thomas    Guge   and   William 
Guge,  his  godchildren,  and  his  niece,  Agnes  Guge, 
wife    of   Thomas    Guge.       The    will    was    proved 
July  io,  1 518,  in  the  Consistory  Court  of  London. 
Peirce  G.  Mahony, 
Cork  Herald. 
Office  of  Arms, 
Dublin  Castle. 


Note  to  Publishers. —  We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

To  intending  Contributors. — Unsolicited  MSS. 
will  always  receive  careful  attention,  but  the  Editor 
cannot  return  them  if  not  accepted  unless  a  fully 
stamped  and  directed  envelope  is  enclosed.  To  this 
rule  no  exception  will  be  made. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  general  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  of 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communications  or 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


361 


The   Antiquary. 


OCTOBER,  1907. 


jftotes  of  tbe  s$ont&. 

Since  our  last  month's  "  Notes "  went  to 
press  it  has  been  reported  more  than  once 
that  material  progress  was  being  made  with 
the  scheme  for  saving  Crosby  Hall.  There 
were  many  difficulties,  it  was  said,  but  they 
were  being  successfully  encountered  and 
overcome.  Very  delicate  negotiations,  we 
were  told,  were  in  progress,  and  much  corres- 
pondence was  passing  between  the  bank 
which  bought  the  Hall  and  the  promoters  of 
the  scheme ;  but  a  successful  outcome  was 
hopefully  anticipated.  It  came  as  a  greater 
shock,  therefore,  to  read  in  a  morning  paper 
of  September  13  that  all  had  resulted  in 
failure,  and  that  the  work  of  demolition  was 
actually  in  progress.  The  Daily  Chronicle 
of  the  date  named  reproduced  a  photograph, 
taken  the  day  before,  which  showed  what 
havoc  had  already  been  wrought.  And  so, 
despite  the  expressed  wish  of  His  Majesty, 
and  despite  the  efforts  and  protests  of  indi- 
vidual archaeologists,  of  antiquarian  societies 
and  of  all  who  have  some  feeling  of  reverence 
for  the  historic  past,  a  building  thickly  en- 
crusted with  more  than  four  centuries  of 
associations  and  memories  is  pulled  to  the 
ground.  The  richest  city  in  the  world 
destroys  in  a  day  the  growth  of  nearly  500 
years,  and  once  more  pays  homage  to  the 
supremacy  of  Mammon. 

&  &  «&» 
Mr;  Francis  Bond's  series  of  illustrated 
articles  on  "  Mediseval  Church-Planning  in 
England,"  referred  to  in  last  month's 
"  Notes,"  was  completed  in  the  Builder  of 
August  24  and  31. 

VOL.  III. 


Mr.  St.  John  Hope  writes  to  the  Times  of 
August  29  to  announce  a  discovery  of  con- 
siderable importance  at  Silchester.  "  During 
the  exploration,"  he  says,  "within  the  last 
few  weeks  of  one  of  the  insula  near  the 
middle  of  the  town,  there  has  been  un- 
covered the  remains  of  a  small  square 
temple.  The  ground  plan  is  quite  perfect, 
and  shows  a  podium  about  18  inches  high 
and  about  36  feet  square  outside,  with  a 
wide  entrance  on  the  east,  and  a  cella 
measuring  internally  12  feet  by  14  feet.  The 
podium  is  paved  with  coarse  red  mosaic,  but 
the  floor  of  the  cella  has  been  destroyed  ;  it 
was,  perhaps,  of  fine  mosaic  laid  on  a  bed  of 
opus  Signinum.  Against  the  west  wall  of 
the  cella  is  the  base  of  a  platform  about 
3  feet  broad  for  the  image  of  the  deity.  On 
and  about  this  were  found  some  of  the 
shattered  fragments  of  the  image  itself,  which 
was  about  life-size  and  of  stone.  All  that 
can  at  present  be  said  about  it  is  that  the 
figure  was  bearded,  and  wore  apparently  a 
long  cloak,  and  had  the  legs  protected  by 
greaves  ornamented  with  lions'  heads.  A 
large  piece  of  one  of  the  hands  grasps  what 
seems  to  be  the  lower  end  of  a  cornucopia. 

"  In  addition,  there  have  turned  up  con- 
siderable fragments  of  at  least  three  in- 
scriptions, finely  cut  on  thin  slabs  of  Purbeck 
marble.  One  of  them  has  about  the  be- 
ginning the  word  Marti,  which  is  suggestive 
of  the  dedication  of  the  temple  to  Mars,  of 
whose  image  the  fragments  found  probably 
formed  part.  Another  of  the  inscriptions  is, 
perhaps,  even  more  important,  since  it  con- 
tains the  significant  word  Callevce,  and  so 
places  beyond  all  doubt  the  identity  (whjch 
some  of  us  have  long  insisted  on)  of  the 
Roman  town  at  Silchester  with  the  Calleva 
or  Calleva  Attrebatum  of  the  7th,  13th,  14th, 
and  15th  of  the  Antonine  Itineraries." 

As  it  is  only  the  area  of  the  temple  itself 
which  has  been  cleared,  further  fragments 
may  come  to  light  soon  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  the  cleared  area. 

«$»  •fr  $? 
The  restoration  of  the  nave  of  Selby  Abbey 
is  now  almost  completed.  The  reopening 
of  the  nave  will  take  place  on  October  19, 
the  eve  of  the  anniversary  of  the  fire,  when 
the  Archbishop  of  York  will  preach  the  in- 
augural sermon. 

2  z 


362 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


Mr.  Harry  Paintin  contributed  to  the  Oxford 
Times  of  August  3  and  17  two  articles  on 
the  Lenthall  family  and  their  homes  at  Bur- 
ford  and  Besselsleigh,  occasioned  by  the 
death  of  the  late  Mr.  E.  K.  Lenthall,  of 
Besselsleigh,  who  was  born  on  August  30, 
1 82 1,  at  Burford  Priory — the  ancient  house, 
now  and  for  years  past  in  a  ruined  condition, 
which  is  famous  for  its  memories  of  Speaker 
Lenthall  of  Long  Parliament  fame. 

$        $        $ 

Mr.  Fletcher  Moss  has  recently  reprinted 
from  the  Transactions  of  the  Lancashire  and 
Cheshire  Antiquarian  Society  a  readable 
paper  on  "  Hiding-Holes  in  Old  Houses," 
with  some  fine  photographic  illustrations. 
It  may  surprise  some  of  our  readers  to  hear 
that  within  a  few  miles  of  Mr.  Moss's  home 
at  Didsbury  there  may  still  be  seen  no  fewer 
than  nine  old  halls  with  perfect  moats — viz., 
Clayton  Hall,  Manchester,  the  home  of 
Humfrey  Chetham ;  Peel  Hall,  Northern 
Etchells  ;  the  Peel,  Kingsley-by-Frodsham  ; 
Wardley  Hall,  the  House  of  the  Skull; 
Tabley ;  Chorley ;  Alderley  ;  Little  Moreton ; 
and  the  Ryddings,  Timperley. 

$        $        $ 

The  best  example  of  a  secret  closet  in  good 
preservation,  according  to  Mr.  Moss,  is  at 
Pitchford  Hall,  near  Shrewsbury,  and  at 
Park  Hall,  near  Oswestry,  are  remains  of 
some  similar  holes.  In  these  there  is  an 
ingenious  arrangement  whereby  only  after 
the  panelling  opening  of  a  little  cupboard 
had  been  replaced  could  the  fugitive  (or  his 
pursuers)  manipulate  a  trap-door  in  the  floor 
of  the  cupboard,  and  thence  gain  access  to 
a  pipe  and  yet  another  cupboard,  or  to  the 
outer  air  and  a  ladder.  At  Handforth  Hall 
Mr.  Moss,  on  his  last  visit,  discovered  the 
ancient  hiding -hole,  though  no  one  had 
noticed  it  before. 

The  Jesuit  College  of  Stonyhurst,  which  was 
formerly  the  home  of  the  Shireburns,  had 
several  secret  closets,  but  the  rebuildings  in 
1808  disclosed  their  secrets.  Two  of  them 
contained  ninety  and  thirty  guineas  of  the 
reign  of  James  II.,  and  one  in  the  tower  had 
seven  horse-pistols  hidden  away.  Another 
curious  fact  vouchsafed  by  Mr.  Moss  is  that 
the  priest's  hole  at  Hall-i'-th'-Wood  "hid 
something   more   valuable    than   any   priest 


when  Sam  Crompton  confided  to  it  his 
newly  invented  machine  that  enriched  the 
world  with  its  fine-spun  cotton,  though  his 
grateful  countrymen  would  have  smashed  it, 
as  they  ruined  him." 

Over  100  pieces  of  Roman  pottery,  appa- 
rently portions  of  burial-urns,  have  been  dis- 
covered during  excavations  on  the  site  of 
Wareham  Castle,  Dorset. 

♦      4p      ♦ 

At  the  concluding  meeting  of  the  Cambrian 
Association  on  August  31  Canon  Rupert 
Morris  was  appointed  editor  of  the  Archceo- 
logia  Cambrensis,  in  place  of  the  late  Mr. 
Romilly  Allen.  The  new  editor  is  a  D.D. 
and  F.S.A.,  and  an  honorary  Canon  of  St. 
David's  Cathedral.  He  served  as  Chaplain 
to  the  late  Duke  of  Westminster,  and  acts  in 
the  same  capacity  for  the  present  Duke.  He 
first  came  into  contact  with  the  Cambrian 
Association  some  thirty-five  years  ago,  and 
since  that  time  has  actively  interested  him- 
self in  its  work,  being  now  one  of  its  vice- 
presidents.  Canon  Morris  has  published  a 
History  of  Chester  in  the  Plantagenet  and 
Tudor  Reigns,  of  which  King  Edward  was 
pleased  to  receive  the  dedication,  and  he  is 
also  the  author  of  a  History  of  the  Diocese  of 
Chester.  Canon  Morris  has  one  advantage 
over  his  predecessor,  inasmuch  as  he  has  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  Welsh  language. 

<$>  «$>  $ 
The  well  -  known  archaeologist  Theodor 
Wiegand,  says  the  Athenceum  of  August  31, 
claims  to  have  discovered  the  grave  of 
Hannibal  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
ancient  Bithynian  town  Libyssa,  on  a  hill 
called  Handschir.  The  fragments  of  fine 
marble  columns  and  ancient  walls,  evidently 
the  remains  of  a  large  monument,  in  the 
midst  of  the  ruins  of  a  Byzantine  monastery, 
have,  according  to  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung, 
led  him  to  this  conclusion,  which  at  present 
we  shall  receive  with  due  caution. 

&      4?      4? 

The  Lincoln  Gazette  says  that  during  excava- 
tions for  gravel  near  Branston  Hall,  Lincoln- 
shire, "  some  workmen  came  across  a  number 
of  curious  -  looking  implements,  nearly  a 
dozen  in  all,  and  these  have  been  shown  by 
Mr.  A.  S.  Leslie  Melville,  J. P.,  to  the  Curator 
of  the  Lincoln  County  Museum  (Mr.  A.  R. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


363 


Smith),  who  pronounces  them  to  be  bronze 
palstaves.  They  vary  slightly  in  design,  but 
are  all  socketed,  and  each  has  a  loop  or 
lug,  the  apparent  object  being  to  give  greater 
security  for  the  thong  binding  the  head  to 
the  wooden  shaft.  They  would  appear  to 
be  relics  of  the  Bronze  Age,  and  may  prob- 
ably be  considered  a  hoard.  Some  show 
traces  of  having  been  in  considerable  use, 
while  others,  again,  are  almost  clean  from 
the  mould." 

&  •ili?  4f 
The  Manchester  Courier  reports  that  the 
antiquaries  who  are  having  excavations  made 
at  the  Roman  camp  at  Castleshaw,  near 
Oldham,  have  found  the  foundations  of 
another  tower  and  a  paved  road  of  20  feet  in 
width.  The  inner  and  outer  ramparts  on 
which  the  walls  of  the  camp  were  built, 
pieces  of  crockery,  and  other  relics,  have 
also  been  found. 

Castleshaw  is  on  the  Saddleworth  side  of 
the  Pennine  Range.  Mr.  F.  A.  Bruton, 
M.A.,  Manchester  Grammar  School,  has 
charge  of  the  excavation-party,  and  Professor 
Boyd  Dawkins,  of  Manchester,  has  visited 
the  spot.  Two  years  ago  excavations  were 
made  and  dropped,  but  recently  Major  Lees, 
of  Manchester,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Andrew,  of 
Hey,  agreed  to  purchase  the  field,  and  ex- 
cavation was  begun,  and  already  some  inter- 
esting discoveries  have  been  made.  The 
camp  or  fort  covers  an  area  of  122  yards  by 
no  yards.  Round  three  sides  is  a  well- 
defined  fosse  or  moat,  and  within  this  is  a 
still  further  defence  in  the  shape  of  a  ram- 
part, many  feet  in  thickness,  and  composed 
of  sods  and  clay.  A  clear  cut  to  a  depth  of 
3  feet  shows  that  the  sods  have  become 
carbonized  and  black,  giving  the  appearance 
of  a  wall  of  clay,  with  lines  of  charcoal 
running  through  it.  The  clay  is  of  a  peculiar 
character,  and  evidently  an  importation.  In 
corners  of  the  ramparts  are  masses  of  stone, 
supposed  to  have  been  the  foundation  of 
turrets.  There  is  a  stone  conduit,  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  Professor  Boyd  Dawkins,  was 
used  to  bring  water  from  the  hills. 

$?         &         $? 
The  recently  appointed  Vicar  of  Ambleston, 
in  Pembrokeshire,  on  making  an  inspection 
of  the   church,  noticed   that   the  font   was 
missing.     He  made  inquiries,  and  ultimately 


found  the  font  at  a  neighbouring  farm-house, 
doing  duty  as  a  cheese-press.  It  had  been 
bought  at  a  public  sale  of  materials  after  the 
renovation  of  the  church  seventy  years  ago, 
and  the  purchaser,  being  of  a  commercial 
rather  than  an  archaeological  turn  of  mind, 
had  put  it  to  practical  uses. 

•fr  $  & 
We  take  the  following  very  interesting  note 
from  the  Lancet  of  August  24  :  "  One  of  the 
most  interesting  exhibits  at  the  Exhibition  of 
Prehistoric  Anthropology  recently  held  at 
Strasburg  was  the  mummy  of  a  Greek 
physician  of  the  imperial  period  discovered 
at  Achmin,  in  Upper  Egypt,  by  Dr.  R.  Forrer, 
the  Swiss  palaeontologist.  The  mummy, 
which  was  in  perfect  preservation,  belonged 
to  one  Paulos,  surnamed  Jatros,  the  healer. 
Wrapped  in  a  toga  clavata  of  fine  linen, 
adorned  with  bands  and  circular  patches 
of  purple,  the  body  has  not  the  familiar 
outlines  of  a  mummy,  but  appears  simply 
as  a  long  parallelogram.  Round  the  neck 
of  the  physician,  who  was  bearded,  was 
found  a  chaplet  of  flowers,  and  a  ribbon 
of  honour  was  wound  about  the  feet.  The 
choice  of  Alsace  as  a  typical  prehistoric 
centre  is  justified  by  the  fact  that  this  part 
of  Europe  is  especially  rich  in  remains  of 
the  Stone  Age,  of  which  the  Heidenmauer, 
in  the  Vosges,  with  its  string  of  so-called 
Druidic  remains,  is  a  unique  example.  The 
'Collection  Forrer'  contains  an  exhaustive 
collection  of  Alsatian  skulls,  many  of  which 
are  of  the  brachycephalic  type  peculiar  to  the 
men  inhabiting  Europe  long  prior  to  the 
Teutonic  invasions.  This  type  of  skull  is 
still  common  among  the  peasantry  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Upper  Rhine  and  in  Switzer- 
land, and  abounds  in  extant  charnel-houses. 
The  Eggisheim  skull,  which  is  Alsatian,  is 
of  the  same  epoch,  probably,  as  the  Neander- 
thal and  Spy  skulls,  or  as  the  Galleyhill  skull 
from  Kent.  The  contention,  therefore,  that 
man  first  appeared  on  the  earth's  surface  in 
Southern  and  Central  Europe  has  much  to 
support  it.  Dr.  Forrer  is  to  be  congratulated 
on  having  gathered  together  a  truly  remark- 
able palseontographical  collection,  which 
ranges  from  skeletons  found  with  weapons 
and  pottery  in  tumuli  to  the  rude  wooden 
locks  of  a  prehistoric  type  still  used  in 
Alsace-Lorraine   farm-houses.     The   rapidly 

2  z  2 


364 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


delivered  perambulatory  lecture  in  which 
Dr.  Forrer  explained  his  collections  on 
August  15  was  of  a  type  which,  if  instituted 
in  our  museums,  would  do  much  to  explain 
the  ideas  of  ethnologists  to  English  students. 
All  classes  of  the  public,  from  soldiers  of  the 
line  to  artisans,  were  among  the  learned 
lecturer's  hearers." 

The   Bath   Beacon  for 
No.    1 14  of  Mr.  J.   F. 


September   contains 
Meehan's  series  of 


of  Berry  Narbor,  near  Ilfracombe.  Alexander, 
born  in  1756,  was  called  to  the  Bar  (Inner 
Temple)  in  1778;  he  became  a  Bencher, 
Reader,  and  Treasurer,  and  was  the  author  of 
many  erudite  historico-legal  treatises,  besides 
a  curious  Essay  on  the  Character  of  Henry  V. 
when  Prince  of  Wales,  which  Mr.  Meehan 
discusses  at  some  length.  Article  and  view 
are  alike  interesting.  When  Mr.  Meehan 
has  come  to  the  end  of  his  "  Famous 
Buildings "    and     "  Historic    Houses,"    he 


THE   OLD   BRIDGE,    BATH. 
(From  a  Print  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  J.  F  Meehan.) 


papers  on  "  Famous  Buildings  of  Bath  and 
District,"  dealing  with  "  The  Luders  Family," 
illustrated  by  a  view  of  "The  Old  Bridge, 
Bath,"  which  we  are  courteously  allowed  to 
reproduce,  from  an  aquatint,  No.  15,  of  a 
series  of  views  of  Bath,  published  in  1806 
by  John  Claude  Nattes.  The  two  large 
houses  across  the  bridge,  on  the  right  centre 
of  the  drawing,  belonged  to  Mr.  Alexander 
Luders,  a  son  of  a  Chevalier  von  Luders 
of  Hamburg,  who  had  a  distinguished  diplo- 
matic career  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
who  married  in  1749,  in  London,  an  heiress 
of  the  ancient  Devonshire  family  of  Berry, 


should  give  us  a  bibliographical  iconography 
of  the  Western  city. 

4r*  ♦  «§r* 

While  making  antiquarian  investigations  at 
Ely  recently,  Mr.  Cole  Ambrose,  of  Stuntney 
Hall,  made  an  interesting  discovery  of  some 
Roman  remains.  In  Isleham  Fen  he  came 
upon  the  bed  of  an  ancient  river,  and  on  the 
soft  silt  there  appeared  to  be  an  impression 
of  a  large  boat  or  ship's  bottom.  All  around 
were  scattered  specimens  of  Roman  pottery 
and  of  the  beautiful  but  fragile  Samian  ware. 
Some  fragments  had  the  potter's  name  im- 
pressed upon  them.     There  were  also  skulls 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


365 


and  bones  of  a  small  kind  of  cattle,  which 
the  ancient  Britons  had  domesticated,  but 
which  sometimes  became  wild  and  got  away 
to  the  forests.  The  skulls  of  deer  and  wild- 
boar  were  also  numerous.  Rude  draining 
tiles  were  found,  showing  that  at  that  period 
the  fens  were  considerably  higher  than  the 
surface  of  the  river,  which  seemed  to  trend 
toward  some  Roman  stations  on  the  Ickneild 


way. 


<fc         $?         $? 


The  curious  little  Roman  Catholic  chapel  in 
Duke  Street,  which  was  established  by  the 
Sardinian  Ambassador  in  1648,  and  still  goes 
by  the  name  of  the  Royal  Sardinian  Chapel, 
is  coming  down.  It  is  the  mother  church  of 
that  faith  in  the  archdiocese  of  Westminster. 
The  establishment  of  the  Italian  Church  on 
Saffron  Hill  deprived  it  of  one  part  of  its 
congregation,  and  the  Maiden  Lane  Church, 
which  receives  the  strangers  staying  at  the  big 
Strand  hotels,  meant  a  further  decrease  ;  but 
the  demolition  of  Claremarket  and  Drury 
Lane,  and  the  dispersal  of  the  Irish  colonies 
there,  had  dealt  the  severest  blow.  Everything 
about  it  speaks  of  the  penal  times.  From  the 
street  the  character  of  the  plain  brick  building, 
with  its  round-headed  windows,  could  hardly 
be  guessed,  and  it  was  not  until  recent  years 
that  an  announcement  was  put  up  on  its 
exterior.  In  the  time  of  the  penal  laws 
against  Roman  Catholics  it  was  exempt  as  an 
Ambassador's  private  chapel,  and  to  it  came 
secretly  members  of  the  faith  from  all  over 
London.  The  Gordon  rioters  visited  it  in 
1778,  and  sacked  the  church  and  the 
Ambassador's  house,  to  which  the  belong- 
ings of  many  of  the  threatened  people  had 
been  removed  for  safety.  The  organ  and 
the  altar-piece,  said  to  have  been  painted  by 
Spagnoletto,  were  burnt,  and  the  building  was 
so  much  injured  that  it  had  to  be  largely 
rebuilt 

As  it  stands  to  -  day,  the  building  has  one 
of  the  most  curious  and  interesting  interiors 
among  London  churches.  The  little  double- 
decked  gallery  is  one  of  its  quaintest  features. 
On  the  Gospel  side  of  the  altar  the  lower 
gallery — formerly  styled  the  "  Quality  Gallery  " 
— has  a  semicircular  pew,  where  the  Ambas- 
sador sat  to  hear  Mass.    In  the  sanctuary  still 


hang  the  two  old  wooden  lamps  made  to 
resemble  the  silver  one  carried  off  by  the 
Gordon  mob.  Another  relic  of  that  time  is 
the  strong  iron  chamber  hidden  behind  the 
altar,  in  which  the  Sacrament  is  kept,  the 
priest  opening  the  little  door  in  it  over  the 
altar  by  a  secret  spring.  Very  little  of  the  old 
glories  of  its  Sardinian  days  remains  except 
some  beautiful  vestments  bearing  the  Sar- 
dinian arms.  In  1902  some  relics  were 
discovered  under  the  altar-stone,  with  a 
document  which  indicated  that  the  stone  had 
come  from  the  old  Abbey  of  Glastonbury. 

fJ»  $?  «i&» 
In  August,  while  excavating  in  the  bed  of  the 
River  Medina  at  Newport,  Isle  of  Wight,  in 
connexion  with  the  extension  of  the  town 
quay,  the  workmen  discovered  some  distance 
from  the  shore  an  old  bronze  coin  of  the 
reign  of  Emperor  Constantius  I.,  in  an  excel- 
lent state  of  preservation.  Many  remains  of 
large  trees  were  also  found  submerged,  one 
measuring  2^  feet  thick. 


«$»         $? 


«§» 


A  correspondence  has  been  going  on  in  the 
Standard  with  regard  to  those  parish  churches 
which  can  exhibit  the  longest  unbroken  list 
of  vicars  or  incumbents.  The  church  at 
Eynesbury  was  mentioned  as  having  "  a 
possibly  unbroken  list  of  forty-two  incum- 
bents, from  the  year  1086  to  the  present 
time."  The  list  of  vicars  of  the  parish  church 
of  Scarborough  is  said  to  be  complete  from 
the  time  of  Richard  I.  Another  correspon- 
dent remarked  that  "  in  Flitton  parish  church 
(Bedfordshire)  there  is  a  complete  list  of  the 
names  and  dates  on  parchment,  and  framed, 
of  all  the  vicars  of  this  parish  from  the  Norman 
Conquest  to  the  late  vicar."  The  Vicar  of 
Dewchurch,  Hereford,  vouched  for  an  un- 
broken list  of  thirty-three  incumbents  of  his 
parish  from  1066. 

«$?  «it(»  $» 
At  Manchester  Cathedral  the  beautiful  and 
well-preserved  brass,  with  a  figure  and  inscrip- 
tion commemorative  of  Warden  Huntington, 
who  died  in  1458,  has  been  rescued  from  the 
darkness  of  the  crypt,  and  reset  in  a  new  slab 
of  Irish  fossil,  the  whole  being  placed  in  the 
choir  presbytery,  near  the  altar  steps.  The 
original  Purbeck  slab,  being  badly  broken, 
has  been  carefully  repaired,  and  occupies  its 
former  place  in  the  crypt. 


366 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


In  an  estate  near  Pangbourne,  Berkshire, 
which  is  being  laid  out  for  building,  some 
three  or  four  trenches  have  been  found, 
roughly  about  2  feet  deep  and  between  10 
and  20  feet  long,  cut  out  in  the  chalk  and 
filled  with  loose  stuff,  in  which  were  bones 
of  animals  and  fragments  of  Roman  pottery. 
The  trenches  are  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  and  it 
is  hoped  that  further  exploration  may  be 
rewarded  by  more  finds. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Times  of  August  30,  Mr.  St. 
Clair  Baddeley,  the  President  of  the  Bristol 
and  Gloucestershire  Archaeological  Society, 
recalls  the  results  of  excavations  conducted, 
in  1 899- 1 900,  at  the  site  of  the  Cistercian 
Abbey  of  Hayles  by  himself  and  Canon 
Bazeley,  and  goes  on  to  describe  some 
results  of  further  excavations  which  he  has 
been  conducting  for  the  present  owner 
(Hugh  Andrews,  Esq.,  of  Toddington)  for 
two  seasons.  To  the  plan  Mr.  Baddeley  is 
able  to  add  a  "western  porch  or  galilee — one 
of  those  closed  porches  familiar  to  students 
of  Cistercian  architecture  in  France,  but 
which  are  (with  exception  of  Fountains,  New- 
minster,  and  Byland)  absent  in  England. 

"  At  Hayles  this  porch  did  not  extend  (as  at 
Fountains)  the  full  width  of  the  west  front. 
It  stood  in  front  of  (so  as  to  enclose)  the 
main  doorway,  which  latter  was  double,  and 
was  flanked  by  triple  jamb-shafts  of  blue  lias. 
Its  interior  width  was  13  feet  10  inches, 
with  a  depth  of  17  feet  6  inches.  This 
structure,  rising  on  stout  walls  with  heavily 
buttressed  angles,  may  have  reached  to  the 
base  of  the  west  window  ;  while  adjoining  it 
on  the  north  side  stood  another  structure, 
probably  a  priest's  business  room  and  stair, 
covering  an  area  of  n  feet  square.  A  par- 
ticularly interesting  find  hereabouts  (albeit 
not  in  site)  has  been  portions  of  tiles  with 
white  slip  designs,  with  figures  of  men  and 
women  on  a  circular  disc,  encircled  with  good 
Gothic  inscription.  These  are  by  the  same 
masterly  hand  made  already  familiar  to  us  by 
the  well-known  Chertsey  panels.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  finer  kind  has  likewise  been 
almost  completed  the  other  sixteen-tile  pattern 
(Chertsey),  having  on  a  cheeky  ground  a 
circular  scroll  enclosing  a  large  quatrefoil 
with  floriated  cusps. 

"Of  the  conventual  buildings  have  now 


been  farther  recovered  the  dimensions  of  the 
kitchen  and  pantry,  the  frater,  warming-par- 
lour, and  subvault  to  dortour,  as  well  as  the 
walls  for  their  entire  length  of  the  passage  to 
the  infirmary,  the  stair-angle  (N.)  and  west 
wall  of  which  last  have  been  reached.  There 
has  also  been  in  part  opened  up  (rear  of 
warming-parlour)  the  great  culvert  (or  legen- 
dary underground  passage),  3  feet  6  inches 
wide  by  4  feet  6  inches  deep,  the  lines  of 
which  will  give  us  those  of  the  rere  dortours, 
both  of  the  monks  (W.)  and  lay  brethren, 
east  of  the  cellarer's  building. 

"  Suffice  it  to  state  here  that  the  frater,  or 
refectory,  was  shorter  than  that  of  Beaulieu, 
the  mother  house  of  Hayles,  measuring  but 
116  feet  by  29  feet.  It  was  timber-roofed, 
and  appears  to  have  been  extensively  rebuilt 
in  the  fifteenth  century  after  a  fire.  At  the 
southern  end,  lit  by  lancet  windows,  E.E. 
mouldings  and  caps  and  lias  shafts  occurred. 
The  pulpit  has  entirely  vanished,  though  the 
writer  thinks  portions  of  its  panels  (shallow- 
arcaded)  may  be  recognized  in  a  neighbour- 
ing garden.  .  .  .  Among  objects  found  have 
been  the  half  of  the  crossbar  of  a  fourteenth- 
century  '  gypciere '  of  bronze  inlaid  with 
silver  (niello),  identification  of  which  the 
writer  owes  to  Mr.  Dalton,  of  the  British 
Museum,  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  C.  H. 
Read.  A  complete  bronze  candlestick  has 
been  dated  for  me  by  my  friend  Mr.  A. 
Hartshorne  to  circa  1480." 

$»  ^  & 
The  members  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of 
Antiquaries  made  an  excursion  on  September 
11  to  Norham  Castle  and  Ladykirk.  At 
the  castle  the  visitors  were  received  by  Sir 
Hubert  Jerningham,  who  gave  an  interesting 
historical  address.  A  distinctive  feature  of 
the  place,  he  said,  was  the  fact  that  it  had 
never  been  a  residence.  It  had  never 
belonged,  like  Alnwick,  Raby,  and  other 
places  of  that  kind,  to  private  individuals 
who  made  a  fortress  of  their  own  house. 
That  was  a  very  important  consideration  to 
remember  when  looking  at  the  place.  It 
was  the  desire  of  William  the  Conqueror  that 
at  that  place,  at  Wark,  and  generally  on  the 
Borders,  military  fortresses  should  be  erected 
to  protect  the  country  against  the  incursions 
of  the  Scots.  There  were  two  main  fords, 
one  at  Norham,  well  known  and  much  used 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


367 


by  the  monks,  who  founded  Lindisfarne,  and 
the  other  at  VVark.  The  position  of  Norham 
Castle  was  a  somewhat  remarkable  one. 
Turner,  in  his  painting  in  the  National 
Gallery,  had  a  conception  of  what  it  must 
have  been  in  former  days,  standing  high 
from  the  river.  Bishop  Flambard,  who  was 
a  very  military  Bishop,  in  1029  carried  out 
the  plans  which  William  the  Conqueror  and 
his  son  had  confided  to  him,  and  then  Bishop 
Pudsey  considered  it  was  not  big  enough, 
and  enlarged  it.  The  second  point  he  would 
draw  their  attention  to  was  that  the  castle 
was  not  a  ruin  of  last  century  or  the  century 
before.  It  had  been  in  ruins  since  1603. 
The  day  Queen  Elizabeth  died  Sir  Robert 
Carey  was  dispatched  to  announce  to 
James  VI.  of  Scotland  that  he  was  James  I. 
of  England.  He  did  that  journey  to  Scot- 
land in  two  days,  and  only  halted  at 
Norham  Castle.  King  James  gave  Sir 
Robert  Carey  the  castle,  and  he  sold  it  to 
the  Lords  of  Dunbar,  whose  family  still  had  a 
residence  near.  It  was  an  incident,  trivial  in 
itself,  that  occurred  there  which  ultimately 
had  a  glorious  ending  in  the  union  of 
England  and  Scotland.  An  affray  between 
Scotsmen,  who  had  crossed  the  Tweed  to 
plunder,  and  a  number  of  soldiers  from 
Norham  Castle  occurred  in  the  village. 
Communications  between  the  Kings  of 
England  and  Scotland  followed,  with  the 
result  that  an  embassy  was  sent  to  King 
Henry  VII.  on  the  part  of  James  IV.  to  ask 
the  hand  of  Margaret  Tudor.  The  request 
was  granted,  and  the  union  resulted  in  the 
ultimate  union  of  the  two  kingdoms. 

$       $       $ 

The  Venice  correspondent  of  the  Morning 
Post,  writing  under  date  September  9,  re- 
ports that  during  some  excavations  in  the 
Piazza  della  Consolazione  at  Rome  in  the 
previous  week  a  marble  statue  of  the  second 
or  third  century,  representing  a  female 
figure  carrying  two  fowls  and  a  basket  of  fruit, 
was  discovered.  The  statue  is  stated  to  be 
of  considerable  value.  Beneath  the  plaster 
on  the  walls  of  the  Villa  Pandolfini,  near 
Florence,  there  has  just  come  to  light  a 
beautiful  frieze,  the  work  of  Andrea  del 
Castagno.  The  design  consists  of  boys 
bearing  ribbons  and  festoons  of  laurel  in 
their  joyous  course  along  the  walls,  and  the 


discovery  completes  the  specimens  of  the 
artist's  skill  which  were  removed  from  the 
Villa  to  Florence  some  fifty  years  ago.  The 
present  proprietor  of  the  Villa  has  presented 
the  newly  found  fragments  of  decoration  to 
the  State,  so  that  they  may  be  added  to  the 
others. 

&         &         & 

The  September  number  of  the  official 
Bollettino  cT  Arte  contains  an  account  of  the 
Italian  Archaeological  Mission  in  Crete 
during  the  season  just  over.  After  de- 
scribing the  lamps  and  vases  found  in  the 
palace  at  Phaistos,  the  report  proceeds  to 
narrate  the  discovery  of  the  ancient  temple 
at  Prinia.  The  fragments  of  the  frieze  re- 
present the  evolutions  of  a  body  of  Amazons 
armed  with  lances  and  shields,  while  the 
statue  of  an  enthroned  goddess  recalls  the 
oldest  specimens  of  archaic  Greek  art. 

«fr  «§»  «JP 
The  Times  of  September  14  had  a  long 
account  of  a  recently  discovered  dene-hole 
at  Gravesend,  which  takes  the  unusual  form 
of  a  twin-chamber  cavern.  The  writer  men- 
tioned the  three  purposes  which  have  been 
suggested  as  possibly  explanatory  of  the 
origin  of  these  dene-holes — (1)  as  draw-wells 
for  the  extraction  of  chalk  for  manure ; 
(2)  as  hiding-holes  in  time  of  peril  and 
surprise ;  and  (3)  as  underground  store- 
houses for  grain — and  he  went  on  to  remark  : 
"  The  Gravesend  dene-hole  is  valuable  from 
two  points  of  view.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a 
twin-chamber  cavern,  a  form  rarely  if  ever 
met  with ;  secondly,  the  evidence  of  its 
situation  and  the  manner  in  which  the  shaft 
had  fallen  in,  together  with  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  reference  to  its  existence  in  any 
of  the  ancient  historical  authorities  of  the 
county,  all  point  to  its  having  been  unopened 
for  many  centuries.  Probably  it  is  more 
nearly  in  the  state  in  which  its  architects 
left  it  than  any  other  specimen  in  Kent  or 
Essex.  Unfortunately  its  use  is  required  for 
another  purpose,  and  it  will  be  impossible  to 
collect  more  evidence  from  it.  The  story  of 
its  discovery  is  sufficiently  curious.  A  work- 
man was  sinking  a  shaft  in  connexion  with 
some  building  operations.  While  working  at 
a  depth  of  more  than  50  feet  from  the  sur- 
face, what  he  believed  was  the  solid  earth 
fell  away  beneath  him  and  precipitated  him 


368 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


into  the  cave.  Fortunately  he  was  only  un- 
pleasantly surprised."  The  article  described 
the  position  of  the  excavation,  well  hidden 
from  the  river,  "  the  chief  point  of  attack 
even  in  early  times,"  and  gave  a  detailed 
account  of  the  entrances  to  and  construc- 
tion of  the  twin-chambers.  From  the  details 
given  the  granary  theory  would  appear  to  be 
the  most  applicable  in  this  case. 

fjj  <j(l  rj> 

"Mr.  M.  B.  Cotsworth,  F.G.S.,  of  York," 
says  the  Yorkshire  Daily  Post  of  Septem- 
ber 1 6,  "  has  made  an  interesting  find  in  the 
boulder-clay  cliffs  at  Filey.  Whilst  passing 
with  his  son,  he  noticed  a  green  stone  pro- 
jecting about  3  inches  from  the  clay,  and 
about  4  feet  6  inches  above  the  sand.  The 
stone  had  a  curious  ridge,  on  the  edge  of 
which  clear  evidence  appeared  of  human 
workmanship.  On  pulling  the  stone  out 
from  the  clay,  the  other  side  of  the  ridge 
revealed  a  corresponding  clear  artificial  cut, 
which,  it  is  presumed,  was  intended  to  be 
used  as  a  thong-ridge,  by  which  the  weapon 
could  be  lashed  to  a  handle  to  make  it  more 
effective.  This  is  said  to  be  a  very  much 
earlier  form  of  weapon  than  the  axe-heads 
made  at  much  later  dates,  with  holes  pierced 
through  them  for  the  insertion  of  handles. 
As  the  position  of  the  weapon  in  the  un- 
broken clay  showed  that  it  had  nearly  8o  feet 
of  the  boulder  clay  deposited  upon  it,  it  must 
be  very  many  thousands  of  years  old,  and 
have  been  swept  down  by  the  glacier  which 
passed  over  most  of  Yorkshire  during  the 
Ice  Age." 

$?  &  %? 
The  Dorset  Natural  History  and  Antiquarian 
Field  Club  are  proposing  to  elucidate  with 
the  spade,  if  possible,  some  of  the  problems 
in  regard  to  the  great  Roman  amphitheatre 
known  as  Maumbury  Rings,  near  Dorchester. 
A  committee  has  been  formed,  and  condi- 
tional consents  have  been  obtained  from 
the  Duchy  of  Cornwall,  the  landlords,  and 
the  Corporation  of  Dorchester,  the  lessees 
of  the  amphitheatre,  to  digging  being  done 
under  expert  supervision.  The  committee 
met  on  September  io,  and,  after  mature 
consideration,  decided  to  invite  Mr.  Chalkley 
Gould  and  Mr.  W.  H.  St.  John  Hope  (secre- 
tary of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries)  to  come 
to  Dorchester  to  inspect  the  amphitheatre, 


and  give  the  committee  the  benefit  of 
their  counsel ;  and  preparatory  thereto  they 
decided  also  to  ask  Mr.  Feacey,  architect, 
of  Dorcester,  kindly  to  make  a  large-scale 
contoured  plan  of  the  earthwork. 

c$>  <g>  «$» 

At  Crowland  Abbey,  in  the  Lincolnshire 
Fens,  the  old  custom  of  ringing  the  curfew 
bell  at  eight  o'clock  each  evening  has  been 
revived.  The  bell  was  rung  every  night  for 
many  centuries  at  Crowland  Abbey,  but  the 
custom  ceased  thirty  years  ago.  The  new 
Rector  of  the  abbey  now  states  that  too 
many  old  customs  are  unfortunately  allowed 
to  lapse  and  die  out,  and  with  a  view  of 
preserving  old  links  with  the  past  he  is 
having  the  curfew  bell  rung  again.  It  may 
be  noticed,  in  passing,  that  the  curfew  and 
the  angelus  are  often  confused. 

4»  *$?  •>&» 
"  The  work  of  clearing  away  the  whole  of  the 
modern  buildings  which  had  been  placed 
in  the  ruins  of  Newport  Castle,"  says  the 
Western  Mail  of  August  28,  is  going  on 
steadily.  "  It  has  already  been  in  hand  about 
twelve  months,  but  there  is  yet  a  good  deal 
to  do  before  all  of  it  is  cleared  so  as  to  lay 
bare  the  original  walls  of  the  castle  and  allow 
the  owners  to  decide  what  use  the  structure 
may  hereafter  be  put  to.  A  good  deal  of  the 
place  belongs  to  Lord  Tredegar,  but  the 
Corporation  has  an  interest  in  the  ivy-mantled 
south-eastern  tower,  which  is,  apparently,  the 
least  touched  by  the  hand  of  Time,  the  for- 
tunes of  war,  and  modern  vandalism.  In 
some  places  the  old  walls  had  been  covered 
with  soil  to  a  depth  of  about  12  feet  by 
those  who  had  successively  used  the  place 
for  commercial  purposes  during  the  last  sixty 
or  eighty  years.  Its  last  commercial  use  was 
as  a  brewery. 

"  This  soil  has  in  some  cases  been  quite 
cleared  away,  and  the  original  walls  laid 
bare.  They  are  noble  old  walls,  5  to  6  feet 
thick.  In  some  parts  puddle  had  been  used 
in  the  foundations.  The  original  walls  of 
the  old  chapel  in  the  central  tower  and  the 
well-preserved  decorated  ceiling  have  been 
laid  bare.  In  the  course  of  modernizing 
this  interesting  place  the  large  altar  window 
had  been  bricked  up. 

"So  far  no  trace  has  been  found  of  the 
legendary  secret  passage  from  the  river  front 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


369 


through  the  castle  to  Caerleon.  There  is, 
however,  evidence  that  a  waterway  to  within 
some  portions  of  the  castle  existed. 

"  The  work  which  has  been  done  has 
brought  no  '  finds '  to  light.  But  Lord 
Tredegar  is  having  a  very  thorough  and  a 
very  careful  work  carried  out  with  a  view  to 
future  adaptation — possibly  restoration." 

«$»  «$»  «i&» 
The  excavation  of  the  large  tumulus  at  Wick, 
in  Stoke  Courcy  Parish,  Somerset,  which  was 
commenced  last  April  by  the  Somerset 
Archaeological  Society  and  the  Viking  Club, 
has,  during  the  past  fortnight,  been  brought 
to  a  successful  conclusion.  The  formation 
of  the  barrow,  which  has,  we  believe,  not  been 
included  in  the  "Victoria  County  History " 
list,  though  marked  on  the  Ordnance  Map, 
has  proved  to  be,  as  anticipated  last  April, 
unique  in  England,  if  not  in  Europe,  so  far 
as  can  be  ascertained  from  published  records. 
The  whole  structure  consisted  of  a  mound  of 
compactly  piled  local  stone  and  earth  of  an 
average  diameter  of  90  feet,  and  height  of 
9  feet.  Within  this  was  found  a  circular  wall, 
well  built  of  slabs  of  lias,  enclosing  a  space 
27  feet  in  diameter,  with  an  average  height  of 
3  feet  6  inches.  This  space  was  filled  in 
with  compact  earth  and  stones,  and  rested  on 
an  apparently  natural  bed  of  clay  overlying 
the  lias  rock.  At  about  the  level  of  the  top 
of  this  wall,  and  within  its  circumference, 
were  found  three  contracted  interments  of 
the  Early  Bronze  Age,  each  accompanied  by 
typical  earthenware  drinking-vessels,  and  in 
two  cases  by  well-made  flint  implements.  Of 
a  central  interment,  which  should  have  been 
found  on  the  clay  floor  surrounded  by  the 
wall,  no  traces  were  found  beyond  scattered 
bones ;  but  its  absence  was  fully  compensated 
for  by  the  interesting,  and  hitherto  unre- 
corded discovery  that  the  disturbance  had 
been  due  to  the  Romans,  who  had  left  an 
unmistakable  record  of  their  presence  in  a 
typical  fragment  of  pottery  and  a  coin  of  a 
later  Emperor.  Their  excavation,  although 
it  had  entirely  missed  the  three  interments 
already  mentioned,  had  evidently  disturbed 
others,  the  bones  from  which  were  found 
heaped  together  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
surface  of  the  tumulus,  and  below  a  depres- 
sion, which  had  been  noted  from  the  first  as 
possibly  due  to  previous  exploration.     Any 

VOL.  III. 


interment  which  these  ancient  explorers  found 
would  probably  be  of  the  same  type  as  those 
now  disclosed.  It  is  evident  that  the  work 
has  been  carried  out  on  the  most  scientific 
lines  as  regard  care  and  thorough  recording 
of  each  step  of  the  operations,  and  we  under- 
stand that  the  relics  found  are  now  to  be  seen 
in  Taunton  Castle  Museum,  where  they  will 
find  their  permanent  resting-place.  The  fact 
that  so  far  only  five  drinking-cups  of  the 
Early  Bronze  Age  have  been  found  in  the 
county,  all  of  which  are  now  in  the  museum, 
renders  the  result  of  the  work  a  valuable 
acquisition  to  the  collection,  and  to  the 
history  of  Somerset.  A  full  report  will  be 
published  in  the  Transactions  of  both  socie- 
ties, and  also  issued  to  subscribers  to  the 
excavation  fund  in  pamphlet  form.  Many 
illustrations  are  promised.  The  excavations 
were  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
H.  St.  George  Gray,  who  was  ably  assisted 
by  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Whistler  (a  local  secretary 
of  the  Somerset  Archaeological  Society)  and 
Mr.  Albany  F.  Major  (editor  to  the  Viking 
Club).  Applications  for  the  report  should 
be  sent  to  Mr.  Gray,  at  Taunton  Castle, 
Somerset. 


jRote.s  on  &&z%t  ^m%zx 
C&urc&es. 


By  H.  J.  Daniell. 


God  gives  all  men  all  earth  to  love  ; 

But,  since  man's  heart  is  small, 
Ordains  for  each  one  spot  shall  prove 

Beloved  over  all. 
Each  to  his  choice,  and  I  rejoice 

The  lot  has  fallen  to  me 
In  a  fair  ground — in  a  fair  ground — 

Yea,  Sussex,  by  the  sea  ■ 

Kipling. 

USSEX,  although  the  last  of  the 
seven  kingdoms  to  embrace  Chris- 
tianity, nevertheless,  in  680,  at  the 
instigation  of  St.  Wilfrid,  gave  up  the 
old  heathen  faith,  and  soon  many  small 
Saxon  churches  sprang  up  throughout  the 
county.  Of  these  few  now  remain  but,  in 
West  Sussex  traces  can  be  found  of  them  in 
the  present  edifices  at  Bosham  and  West- 
hampnett.     The   majority   of  West   Sussex 

3A 


37° 


NOTES  ON  WEST  SUSSEX  CHURCHES. 


churches  were  built  at  different  periods,  and 
in  different  styles,  the  Early  English,  perhaps, 
predominating.  One,  Mid-Lavant,  dates 
only  from  the  Restoration,  though  there  was 
an  earlier  edifice  on  the  same  site.  None  of 
these  churches  are  of  any  great  size  or  of 
peculiar  beauty  of  architecture,  save  those  of 
Bosham,  Boxgrove,  Clymping,  and  Arundel, 
and  of  the  three  former  of  these  it  has  been 
said  :  "  Bosham  for  antiquity ;  Boxgrove  for 
beauty  ;  Clymping  for  perfection." 

The  churches  mentioned  in  this  article 
are  all  in  the  Diocese  of  Chichester;  three  of 
them — Boxgrove,  or  as  it  was  anciently  called, 
Boxgrave.Tortington,  and  Easebourne — were 
attached  to  priories,  and  one,  Arundel,  was  a 
collegiate  church.  The  last-mentioned  is 
now  divided  into  two  parts,  half  being  used 
as  the  parish  church,  half  as  the  Fitzalan 
Chapel,  the  burying-place  of  the  family  of  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk. 

Of  the  three  churches  compared  above, 
Bosham  was  the  place  where  St.  Wilfrid  first 
preached  the  Christian  faith  to  the  rude  sea- 
faring South  Saxons,  and  here,  on  the  site  of 
the  old  Roman  basilica,  he  built  the  first 
Christian  church  in  Sussex.  Soon  after  the 
coming  of  Wilfrid,  a  small  monastery  was 
founded  at,  Bosham  and  presided  over  by  one 
Dicul,  an  Irish  monk,  and  concerning  this 
monastery  a  pretty  tradition  is  still  rife.  It 
chanced  that  the  Danes  made  one  of  their 
frequent  raids  on  the  southern  coast,  and 
coming  to  Bosham,  sacked  and  burnt  the 
monastery  there,  and  carried  off  the  great 
church  bell ;  but  as  they  were  escaping  with 
their  ill-gotten  gains,  two  Saxon  ships  came 
in  pursuit.  The  Danes  found  that  to  lighten 
their  ships  they  would  have  to  leave  the  bell, 
so  they  threw  it  overboard,  and  there  at  the 
bottom  of  Bosham  Harbour  it  lies  to  this  day, 
and  the  country  people  say  that  when  the 
neighbouring  church  bells  are  ringing, 
Bosham  bell  can  be  heard  to  sound,  too, 
beneath  the  waves. 

Although  to-day  Boxgrove  Church,  dedi- 
cated to  the  Virgin  and  Saint  Blase,  is  only 
the  chancel  of  the  old  Priory  Church,  which 
in  its  time  must  have  been  one  of  the  most 
majestic  places  of  worship  in  the  county,  yet 
it  is  a  fine  building  well  worth  a  visit  if  only 
to  see  the  painted  roof,  which  dates  from  the 
time  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  the  De  la  Warr 


sacellum  or  chantry,  which  stands  on  the 
south  side  of  the  present  chancel.  This 
chantry  was  erected  in  the  year  1532,  is 
ornamented  with  several  coats-of-arms,  and 
is  inscribed,  "  of  yr  charite  pray  for  ye  souls 
of  Thomas  La  Ware,  and  Elyzabeth  hys 
Wyf."  There  are  six  tombs  without  inscrip- 
tions, two  of  which  are  supposed  to  be  those 
of  Thomas  de  Poynings  (died  1429),  and 
Phillippa,  Countess  of  Arundel,  his  wife. 

Clymping  Church,  with  the  exception  of 
the  tower,  was  rebuilt  in  1253.  The  Norman 
tower  has  recesses  for  the  ends  of  a  draw- 
bridge, which  seems  to  point  to  its  having 
been  erected  with  an  eye  to  defensive 
purposes. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  objects  in  the 
interior  is  the  old  chest  with  a  slit  for  Peter's 
Pence.  These  old  chests  are  fairly  common 
in  West  Sussex,  but  the  Clymping  example 
is  one  of  the  best  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  generally  known 
that  the  Primate  Becket,  when  cited  before 
the  Council  of  Northampton  in  n  64,  was 
summoned  to  appear,  not  as  a  peer  of  the 
realm,  but  for  refusing  to  pay  certain  fees 
which  were  due  from  his  Manor  of  Pagham, 
a  village  situated  a  couple  of  miles  west  of 
Bognor.  The  Archbishop's  secretary,  Herbert 
de  Boseham,  is  buried  in  the  Church  of 
Bosham. 

The  Bishops  of  Chichester  had  several 
very  fertile  and  productive  manors  in  this 
neighbourhood,  and,  from  the  following  edict, 
which  was  put  forth  by  Bishop  Rede  in  1407, 
we  may  gather  that  they  were  pretty  exten- 
sively poached.     The  edict  runs  as  follows  : 

Whereas  it  has  come  to  our  ears  through  trust- 
worthy sources  that  certain  sons  of  damnation,  whose 
names  and  persons  are  unknown,  seduced  by  a 
devilish  spirit  and  abandoning  the  fear  of  God, 
hunted  in  our  park  at  Selsey  with  hounds,  nets, 
arrows,  and  other  instruments,  on  the  night  of 
January  31st ;  broke  down  the  fences  of  the  park, 
and  dared  to  chase,  slay,  and  carry  away  deer  and 
other  wild  animals  therein  ;  all  and  singular  such 
persons  are  adjudged  to  have  incurred  the  greater 
excommunication,  to  be  pronounced  upon  them  in 
every  church  in  the  deanery  with  upraised  cross, 
bells  ringing,  and  candles  lighted. 

This  seems  to  be  an  awful  punishment  for 
such  an  offence  as  poaching,  but,  as  the 
author  of  the  work  *  from  which  it  is  taken 

*  Memorials  of  the  See  of  Chichester  (Stephens). 


NOTES  ON  WEST  SUSSEX  CHURCHES. 


371 


points  out,  Church  lands  were  regarded  as 
sacred,  and  game  was  preserved  for  food 
quite  as  much  as  for  sport.  But  to  turn  to 
the  interiors  of  these  Sussex  churches. 

Brasses,  so  common  in  most  counties,  are 
comparatively  rare  in  West  Sussex,  the 
majority  of  those  which  now  exist  being 
plates  of  the  seventeenth  and  late  sixteenth 
centuries.  There  are  examples  at  Fittle- 
worth,  Tillington,  and  Petworth,  some 
matrices  at  Singleton,  and  a  very  good  set, 
we  believe,  at  Stopham,  where  the  Barttelot 
family  have  resided  since  the  fifteenth  century; 
but  when  the  writer  visited  Stopham  Church 
it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  and  the  stained 
glass  windows  made  the  building  too  dark  to 
distinguish  objects  clearly.  In  Tortington 
Church  there  is  an  interesting  brass,  the 
inscription  on  which  we  venture  to  give  in 
full: 

Behold  and  see  a  friend  most  deare 
The  Lorde  hathe  taken  him  away 
Amend  your  lives  whilst  you  be  here 
For  flesh  and  blood  must  nedes  decay 

Roger  Gratwik,  Lorde  of  the  mannor  of  Tor- 
tington Cheynesse,  and  patrone  of  this  Church. 
Ended  this  mortall  life  ye  xxv  day  of  July  1596. 

Made  by  William  Gratwik  of  Eastmallinge 
in  Kentt,  his  executor. 

Although  poor  in  brasses,  yet  West  Sussex 
is  rich  in  frescoes,  the  examples  at  Cocking, 
Aldingbourne,  Arundel,  and  Ford,  all  being 
in  a  good  state  of  preservation. 

The  Cocking  example  represents  the 
appearance  of  the  angel  to  the  shepherds  at 
the  Nativity.  It  dates  from  1220.  That  at 
Aldingbourne  is  a  St.  Christopher,  of  later 
date,  while  at  Arundel  the  painting  is  in  the 
form  of  a  wheel,  but  its  meaning  is  doubtful. 

At  Ford  the  frescoes  are  supposed  to  date 
from  the  fifteenth  century.  The  chief 
represents  the  Doom.  On  the  left-hand  side 
of  the  kingpost  over  the  chancel  arch  are 
several  figures,  the  chief  being  that  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin;  on  the  right-hand  side  is 
our  Lord,  and  the  devil  hurling  souls  into 
the  mouth  of  the  pit  with  a  pitchfork.  On 
one  side  of  the  kingpost  at  the  bottom, 
between  the  braces,  are  the  figures  of  a  man 
and  a  woman  rising  from  their  coffins ;  on 
the  other  side  are  two  figures  coming  in 
boats,  to  illustrate  the  passage  which  occurs 


in  the  Revelation — "and  the  sea  gave  up  the 
dead  which  were  in  it." 

At  Ford,  too,  is  an  ancient  altar  slab,  one 
of  those,  doubtless,  which  were  removed  by 
the  orders  of  Edward  VI.,  and  in  place  of 
which  the  clergy  were  ordered  "to  set  up 
a  table  in  some  convenient  place  of  the 
chancel  within  every  church  or  chapel  to 
serve  for  the  ministration  of  the  blessed 
Communion,"  an  order  which,  to  judge 
from  the  contest  between  Bishop  Day  of 
Chichester  and  the  Lord  Chancellor,  we 
may  presume  the  neighbouring  clergy  were 
very  unwilling  to  obey.  In  fact,  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  diocese,  in  1551,  received  a 
letter  from  the  authorities  telling  him  that 
"  their  do  yett  remaine  (in  whomsoever  the 
faulte  may  be)  aulters  standyng  in  sondraye 
churches  withyn  the  diocese  of  Chichestre," 
and  ordering  him  to  carry  out  the  decree. 

Some  of  the  Sussex  bells  are  very  ancient, 
with  curious  inscriptions.  That  at  Barnham 
is  inscribed  "  Ave  Maria  gratia?  plena." 
Two  at  Cocking  and  Easebourne  are  said  to 
be  taken  from  the  old  chapel  of  the  castle 
of  the  Bohuns  at  Cowdray,  near  Midhurst. 
They  are  inscribed  "  Santa  Anna  ora  pro 
nobis."  Another  Cocking  bell  is  inscribed 
"  Sancte  Johannes  ora  pro  nobis,"  while 
there  is  one  at  East  Dean  which  bears  "  Hal 
Mari  ful  of  Gras." 

In  Barnham  Church  there  was  a  chantry 
founded  by  John  le  Taverner  in  1409,  but  it 
was  removed  forty  years  later. 

As  regards  the  remaining  features  which 
we  should  expect  to  see  in  the  churches, 
there  are  Easter  sepulchres  at  Bepton  and 
Cocking,  and  ancient  stained  glass  is  to  be 
found  at  Fishbourne  and  Stopham.  The 
glass  at  this  place  was  the  work  of  Roelandt, 
a  Fleming,  and  was  removed  from  the  hall 
of  the  old  manor-house.  At  Petworth, 
Racton,  and  Westhampnett  are  three  curious 
tombs  with  figures,  a  cross  between  a  per- 
pendicular recessed  tomb,  and  a  seventeenth- 
century  "  desk-kneeler."  They  are  to  Sir 
John  Dawtrey  (1527),  Gunter,  and  Richard 
Sackville  respectively.  The  Gunters  were 
a  family  which  originally  came  from  Gilleston 
in  Wales,  one  member  of  which  helped 
King  Charles  II.  to  escape  from  England 
after  the  Battle  of  Worcester.  There  are 
"desk-kneeler"     monuments     to     another 

3A  2 


372 


NOTES  ON  WEST  SUSSEX  CHURCHES. 


Gunter  at  Racton,  to  Adrian  Stoughton 
(1635)  at  West  Stoke,  and  to  Joan  Browne 
(15S4)  at  Midhurst,  and  a  fine  monument 
in  Easeboume  Church  to  the  first  Viscount 
Montagu  (1592).  He  is  represented  kneeling 
at  a  desk  on  which  rests  his  helmet,  while 
his  two  wives'  effigies  lie  recumbent  below 
him.  He  was  Chief  Standard  Bearer  of 
England,  a  Knight  of  the  Garter,  and  a 
Privy  Councillor.  According  to  his  epitaph, 
"in  the  year  1553  was  employed  by 
Queen  Mary  in  an  honourable  ambassage 
to  Rome  .  .  .  which  he  performed  to  his 
great  honour  and  commendation."  He 
married  first  Lady  Jane  Ratcliffe,  daughter 
of  Robert,  Earl  of  Sussex.  His  second  wife 
was  Magdalene  Dacre. 

About  the  year  1440  we  find  that  two 
persons,  Robert  and  William  Pratt,  of  Ock- 
ley,  were  cited  by  the  Bishop  of  Chichester 
to  appear  in  the  parish  church  of  Alding- 
bourne,  and  there  to  answer  to  a  charge  of 
practising  unlawful  arts.  They  confessed, 
and  had  to  "present  themselves  at  the 
Church  of  Guildford  in  shirt  and  breeches 
only,  each  holding  a  wax  candle  weighing 
half  a  pound,  to  march  in  procession  round 
the  churchyard  and  church  before  service, 
and  remain  kneeling  at  the  chancel  steps 
until  the  offertory.  At  the  offertory  they 
were  humbly  to  give  up  the  wax  lights  to 
the  priest.  The  same  ceremony  was  to  be 
gone  through  on  two  following  Sundays  in 
the  parish  churches  of  Dorking  and  Ockley."* 

Aldingbourne  was  a  manor  of  the  Bishops 
of  Chichester,  of  which  the  Primate  claimed 
part.  Here  Bishop  Bickley  died  in  1596, 
and  the  letters  of  the  Bishop's  steward,  in 
1220,  contain  many  requests  for  foxhounds 
to  stop  the  plague  of  foxes  in  Aldingbourne 
Manor. 

In  Aldingbourne  Church  there  used  to  be 
a  small  cell  in  the  roof,  probably  the  dwelling 
of  a  chantry  priest.  In  the  churchyard,  on 
one  of  the  fiat  altar  tombs,  are  the  marks  of 
picks  made  in  the  old  smuggling  days,  when 
the  "  free-traders  "  found  these  hollow  tombs 
excellent  hiding-places  for  their  cargoes. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  West  Sussex 

churches  we  should  mention  one  object  of 

interest  which  hangs  in  Westbourne  Church, 

on    the   extreme   western   boundary   of  the 

*  Memorials  of  the  See  of  Chichester. 


county.  This  is  no  less  than  a  French 
tricolour  taken  by  Captain  Oldfield,  Royal 
Marines,  from  a  French  battery  at  Cape 
Nicolaimole,  in  the  island  of  San  Domingo, 
April,  1794.  Captain  Oldfield  afterwards 
died,  a  prisoner,  of  wounds  received  at  the 
siege  of  Acre.  Berthier,  the  French  General, 
writing  to  Sir  Sidney  Smith  and  informing 
him  of  Oldfield's  death,  said  of  the  latter : 
"  He  died  among  us,  and  carried  to  the 
grave  the  honour  and  esteem  of  the  French 
army." 

The  descendants  of  this  gallant  officer 
still  own  an  ancient  house  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Westbourne. 


a  jftote  on  lean  (Tolling. 

By  Lawrence  Weaver,  F.S.A. 


■STKjjjEAD  coffins  are  not  a  wildly  attractive 

1  subject,  but   they   have   their  own 

place  in  the  history  of  decoration  as 

well  as  of  leadwork. 

The    example    now   illustrated   from    the 

Maidstone  Museum  was  found  in   1869  at 

Milton-next-Sittingbourne,     and     is     highly 

characteristic  of  Romano-British  work.     The 


SOUTHOVER  CHURCH,    LEWES. 

cross  ornaments  were  made  by  pressing  into 
the  sand  bed,  before  the  lead  sheet  was  cast, 
turned  wooden  rods  of  bead  and  reel  design. 
The  same  rod  treatment,  and  also  the  rings, 
occur  on  Romano-British  ossuaries  and  coffins 
at  the  British  Museum,  the  latter  now  un- 
fortunately in  the  basement,  and  inaccessible 
for  inspection. 


A  NOTE  ON  LEAD  COFFINS. 


373 


ROMANO-BRITISH   COFFIN,    MAIDSTONE   MUSEUM. 


SIR   HENRY   SYDNEY  S    HEART-CASE. 


374 


AN  OLD  SHROPSHIRE  NOTE-BOOK. 


The  coffin  of  William  de  Warenne,  at 
Southover  Church,  Lewes,  is  one  of  the 
simplest  of  the  mediaeval  types,  and  in  general 
treatment  is  more  akin  to  the  Roman  coffins 
than  to  the  examples  with  elaborate  tracery 
that  exist  (but  unhappily  out  of  sight)  at  the 
Temple  Church,  London.  In  the  latter 
some  of  the  tracery  panels  are  enclosed  by 
rope-mouldings,  always  a  favourite  plumber's 
ornament.  In  many  cases  the  pattern  would 
simply  be  a  rope  pressed  into  the  sand. 

A  similar  network  decorates  the  lead  reli- 
quary at  St.  Eanswith's  Church,  Folkestone, 
but  in  that  case  the  lines  are  formed  of  dots 
instead  of  rope-moulding. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  lead-coffin 
makers  of  to-day  sometimes  scratch  a  network 
on  their  handiwork — a  queer  survival. 

Lead  is  obviously  an  equally  suitable 
material  for  a  heart  casket,  and  I  illustrate  a 
very  interesting  example  which  is  in  the 
British  Museum. 

On  the  lid  is  a  spear-head  enclosed  by  a 
garter,  and  engraved  on  the  bowl  are  the 
words  :  "  Here  lith  the  Harte  of  Sir  Henry 
Sydney.     Anno  Domini  1586." 

I  am  indebted  to  J.  H.  Allchin,  Esq., 
curator  of  the  Museum,  Maidstone,  and  to 
S.  G.  Hewlett,  Esq.,  for  kind  permission  to 
reproduce  photographs. 


an  ©It)  ^bropsWre  BotzlBook. 

By  Henrietta  M.  Auden,  F.R.Hist.Soc 


HERE  has  recently  come  into  my 
hands  an  old  note-book  belonging, 
in  1689,  to  a  certain  Richard  Wood, 
of  the  parish  of  Condover,  Salop. 
He  was,  apparently,  a  prosperous  farmer, 
living  either  in  the  village  of  Condover  or  at 
the  outlying  hamlet  of  Bourton,  which  was 
the  home  of  several  generations  of  the  Wood 
family.  He  used  the  little  book  for  some 
twenty  years,  and  a  second  Richard  Wood, 
perhaps  his  grandson,  used  it  after  him. 
There  were  three  contemporary  Richard 
Woods  in  the  parish  of  Condover  at  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  but  the 


owner  of  the  pocket-book  seems  to  have 
been  the  Richard  who,  we  learn  from  the 
Condover  registers,  in  1668  married  Dorothy 
Bowyer,  and  was  the  father  of  Roger  (who 
died  an  infant),  John,  Elizabeth,  Mary, 
Peter,  Martha,  and  Beatrice.  Dorothy,  wife 
of  Richard  Wood,  died  in  1724,  and  Richard 
Wood  in  1728.  The  second  owner  of  the 
book  was  apparently  the  Richard  Wood  who 
died  in  1749,  when  comparatively  a  young 
man,  though  taking  a  full  share  in  all  the 
business  of  the  parish. 

A  still  later  member  of  the  family  used 
the  brown  leather  note-book ;  for  on  one  page 
are  entered  the  names  of  the  children  of 
Benjamin  Wood  and  his  wife,  Hannah 
Deakin,  who  were  married  in  1749.  The 
entries  seem  to  be  made  from  memory,  as 
the  eldest  daughter  is  there  called  Elizabeth, 
though  she  was  baptized  Beatrice ;  pro- 
bably she  was  called  Bet  by  her  relations. 

The  first  owner  of  the  book  was  of  an 
economical  mind,  and  at  one  end  he  wrote 
business  matters  and  at  the  other,  ap- 
parently, words  of  songs.     The  first  begins 

Over  hills  and  high  mountaines  longe  time 

have  I  gone 
And  all  downe  by  the  fountains  by  my  selfe 

all  a  lone 
Through  bushes  and  briers  being  void  of  all 

care 
Through  perills  and  dayngers  for  the  love  of 

my  dere  ; 

and  so  on,  for  three  or  four  verses,  written 
as  prose,  with  no  stops,  and  capital  letters 
where  you  least  expect  them.  A  page 
farther  on  is  very  carefully  written  : 

Though  time  be  fresh  and  green  it  soon  doth 

fade  away 
For  the  bird  in  June  will  change  her  tune 

that  sang  so  sweet  in  May  : 
Then  make  good  use  of  time  whilst  you  do 

heare  remaine 
Lest  you  should  cry,  when  you  should  dye 
My  time  was  spent  in  vaine. 

Let  us  plant  the  urb  of  grace  in  all  our  harts 

anew 
And  if  we  repent  of  time  ill-spent,  wee  shall 

neare  taste  of  rue  : 
Rue  is  a  bitter  urb  not  pleasant  to  the  taste 
It  fills  the  hart  with  greef  and  smart,  whilst 

pretious  time  doth  wast. 
Then  make  good  use  of  time  our  God  to 

glorifi 
Then  shall  we  rest  and  our  hopes  be  blest  to 

all  eternity. 


AN  OLD  SHROPSHIRE  NOTE-BOOK. 


375 


Over  the  leaf,  much  less  carefully  written 
and  spelt,  is  part  of  an  effusion  not  in 
modern  taste,  in  which  a  young  wife  and 
old  husband  complain  of  one  another.  She 
says :  "I  could  not  see  deformete\  his 
monne  made  me  blinde " ;  and  from  what 
follows  the  old  man  had  apparently  got  a 
bad  bargain  for  his  money.  Sandwiched 
with  these  pages  of  rhyme  are  business 
entries : 

"Mem.  September  ye  30,  1695:  Pd  ye 
Malisha  (i.e.,  Militia)  money  to  John  Oram, 
it  came  to  09*.  yd.,  and  Mr.  Owen  for  part, 
04s.  ood." 

"  May  ye  8th,  1700  :  Mr.  Brickdall  put  his 
mare  in  our  ground."  (Mr.  Brickdall  was 
Vicar  of  Condover  from  1664  to  1705.) 
Then  added  in  a  different  ink  is  :  "  and  was 
taken  out  December  ye  16th,  1700."  "May 
ye  4^  j^02  .  Robert  Brooks  Heifers  ware 
put  in  our  ground ;  Rich.  Ekin  ye  same  day. 
Richard  Chidleys  Heifer  was  put  in  ye  iotlx 
of  May ;  Evan  Griffis  horse  was  put  in  ye  1 2th 
of  May." 

"  May  ye  13th,  1703:  Mr.  Brickdall  horse 
was  put  in  our  ground,  and  hee  was  taken 
out  about  a  weeke  before  May,  1704." 

Timothy  Gaynam's  heifer  and  Mr.  Gwynn's 
mare  also  are  noted  as  pastured  in  1704; 
while  on  another  page  is  a  note  of  Octo- 
ber 16,  1703,  that  Robert  Browne  put  his 
oxen,  and  Richard  Owen  his  mare,  "in  our 
ground." 

There  is  a  note  also  of  another  boarder : 
"  Mr.  Hosier's  man  Samuell  begun  to  be  of 
our  table,  Dec.  ye  7th,  1701." 

The  other  end  of  the  book  contains 
similar  entries  of  man  and  beast : 

"  Mr.  Thomas  Adderly  came  to  us  to 
table,  November  ye  12th,  1703." 

"  Mr.  Smallmans  horse  came  heare, 
November  ye  13th,  1703." 

"Decembrye  ist,  1703:  Received  of  Mr. 
Adderley  02//.  00s.  ood." 

"March  ye  22,  1703:  Received  of  Mr. 
Adderley  02//.  195'.  o6d." 

"  Mr.  John  Spencer  came  to  us  to  table 
February  ye  28,  1703." 

"And  Mrs.  Spencer  came  March  ye  16th, 
i7°3-" 


"  Received  in  part  May  ye  3,  1704, 
04//.  00s.  ood." 

"  Mr.  Ravenshaw  and  his  Wife  and  2  chil- 
dren came  to  us  to  table  June  ye  26th, 
1704." 

In  another  hand  : 

"Recd  to  ye  21  day  of  Aug*,  1704, 
4//.  os.  od.     p'.  Richard  Wood." 

"  Received  to  ye  2nd  day  of  Oct.  1704,  of 
Mr.  Ravenshaw  03-00-00." 

"Novembr  ye  17th,  1704:  Received  of 
Mr.  Ravenshaw  two  pound  in  full  for  ye 
time  that  hee  borded  with  us  02H.  00s.  ood. 
p'.  Richard  Wood." 

The  Condover  register  tells  us  that  on 
October  15, 1704,  Alice,  daughter  of  John  and 
Alice  Ravenshaw,  was  baptized  at  Condover. 
Perhaps  this  was  one  of  the  two  children 
mentioned,  or  a  little  sister  of  theirs.  These 
entries  make  the  reader  wonder  if  Richard 
Wood  were  of  Bourton,  where  it  does  not 
seem  likely  that  people  would  wish  to  board, 
or  whether,  like  members  of  his  family  of  a 
later  day,  he  kept  the  village  inn.  He  was 
evidently  a  man  of  substance,  keeping  men 
and  maids ;  for  several  pages  are  devoted  at 
the  business  end  of  the  book  to  his  accounts 
of  their  wages.  The  first  one  mentioned  is 
Jane,  who  came  in  1694,  at  15s.  the  year, 
and  had  also  a  "  pare  of  shooes."  The  next 
year  the  wages  rose  to  18s.,  and  so  each  year 
till,  in  1699,  she  was  to  have  £1  6s.  Then 
follows  an  entry  of  corn  given  to  Will  Jones, 
which  seems  to  have  been  a  form  of  wages, 
given  quarterly.  The  first  strike  was  3s.  4d., 
the  second  3s.  8d.,  the  third  and  fourth  each 
4s.  3d.     The  next  entries  are  : 

"  Memd.  What  Charlies  hath  of  his  wages 
for  ye  yeare  97  : 

"  Allowed  his  father  to  buy  his  throck  and 
drawes  02s.  odd. 

"  Given  his  mother  at  Shrewbury  02s.  o6d." 

And  similar  entries  for  a  page  and  a  half, 
from  which  we  learn  that  a  pair  of  shoes  cost 
3s.,  a  hat  is.  6d.,  and  stockings  is.  3d.  He 
had  3d.  given  him  "  to  goe  to  ye  race,"  and 
6d.  given  on  "  Sant  Stevens  day,"  which  was 
all  counted  into  his  wages  for  1699  of  £1. 
Charles  seems  to  have  been  succeeded  by 
Robin,  who  had  10s.  of  his  wages  given  him 


376 


AN  OLD  SHROPSHIRE  NOTE-BOOK. 


at  "Sl.  Andre wes  faire."  (Condover  Church 
is  dedicated  to  St.  Andrew,  but  there  is  now 
no  tradition  of  a  fair  ever  having  been  held 
there.) 

Robin  seems  to  have  possessed  an  "  Ante  " 
in  the  place  of  parents,  and  his  wage  seem 
to  have  come  to  jQ\  os.  4|d.,  of  which  he 
had  4s.  i |d.  given  him  at  "Ester."  "Ned" 
came  on  May  5,  1697,  but  there  is  no  further 
record  of  him,  and  the  page  is  filled  up  with 
the  notes  that  "Will.  Gewen  put  his  sheep 
in  our  ground  May  ye  6th  and  they  went 
away  July  ye  10th." 

"  Decrye  20th:  Then  reckoned  with  John 
Crowther  for  worke  and  there  was  due  to 
him  07*.  ood.,  and  ye  draineing  in  ye  poolles 
was  unreconed  for." 

(There  are  traces  of  old  pools  at  Bourton, 
which  are,  perhaps,  those  referred  to.) 

Then  come  four  pages  of  "what  Jane 
hath  had  of  her  wages,  reckoned  with  her 
for  some  things  as  we  bought  for  her,"  from 
which  we  learn  the  price  of  a  good  many 
things.  A  straw  hat  cost  is.  ;  a  "  petycote 
and  makinge,"  3s.  6d.  ;  a  "  mantue  and 
making,"  7s. ;  a  "  hancherchef  and  2  a  perns," 
4s.  2d.  ;  a  "pare  of  bodeys,"  2s.  6d.  Shoes 
were  a  constant  expense,  and  the  leather  and 
nails  for  mending  them  and  her  clogs  were 
bought  specially.  As  she  grew  older,  more 
money  was  given  out  to  her,  and  in  1700 
she  had  is.  "given  to  her  to  come  to  the 
Wakes,"  and  the  next  year  6d.  "  given  her 
when  she  went  to  the  Shooe."  (Shrewsbury 
Show  was  a  great  day  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury.) The  last  item  of  expenditure  for  her 
was  6d.  "  given  her  to  pay  for  a  wheel,"  and 
then  she  passes  out  of  the  book  after  seven 
years'  service.* 

The  next  page  is  given  to  Will  Farmer 
and  his  wages,  in  1698:  "Given  him  to  by 
him  to  shirts  8s." ;  "  for  a  pare  of  cloth 
stokings  is.  id.";  "for  a  pare  of  gloves  as 
he  had  of  mee  is."  ;  "  Given  him  at  Estear  to 
goe  home  6d." ;  "  Given  to  his  mother  to  by 
him  2  shifts  6s."  Will  stayed  till  June, 
1 701,  and  there  are  two  more  pages  of  items 
given  to  him.  He  "  fecthe  his  Mother  a 
Loade  of  Coles"  in  the  summer  of  1699, 
which   accounted  for   12s.     He  had  6d.  to 

*  We  hope  she  is  not  the  Jane  Cartwright  whose 
illegitimate  daughter  by  Thomas  Wood,  junior,  was 
baptized  at  Condover  in  January,  1701-02. 


"goe  to  ye  race";  is.  given  him  at  St. 
Andrew's  Fair ;  6d.  given  him  to  "  goe  to  a 
Cocking"  ;  id.  paid  him  for  "  Sparrerbills "  ; 
and  2s.  paid  for  a  leather  apron.  He  seems 
to  have  become  a  dandy  before  he  left,  for 
just  before  the  entry  of  6d.  given  him  on 
Christmas  Day  is  "  Paid  for  cravats  2s.  4d." 
His  wages  were  apparently  £2  12s.  a  year. 

Then  come  entries  as  to  the  wages  of 
"Jack,"  in  1702,  who  had  £1  a  year,  and  of 
George  Williams,  who  had  £1  10s.  in  1704. 
"  Sam  "  came  in  1701,  and  entries  in  another 
handwriting  speak  of  6d.  "  given  him  by  my 
father,"  2s.  6d.  "given  him  by  my  sister," 
of  is.  6d.  charged  "for  keeping  his  sheep," 
and  is.  given  to  him  on  Hughlee  Wakes 
Sunday.  His  year's  wages  were  £2  17s.  6d. 
Rowland  Jones  came,  in  1702,  for  £3,  and 
in  May,  1703,  Thomas  Floyd  for  £2  13s. 
Lewis  Humphreys,  in  May,  1704,  was  cheaper 
still  at  jQi  10s.  Maid-servants  seem  to  have 
been  content  with  jQi  6s.,  for  "  Mary"  came 
May  11,  1702,  "Dianah,"  May  8,  1703,  and 
Jone  Jones  on  May  10,  1704,  each  for  that 
wage.  Jone  was  given  6d,  "  by  my  sister 
Bett,"  and  10s.  was  paid  for  her  to  "  David 
of  the  Mill."  In  1703,  the  Condover  registers 
mention  David  Jones  and  Jone  his  wife,  so 
perhaps  this  was  that  couple.  Jone,  how- 
ever, counted  as  a  member  of  the  Wood 
household,  for  2d.  is  paid  for  her  "  Receiving 
the  Sacrament,"  and  the  same  is  given  for 
Lewis  Humphreys  in  1706.  He  had  6d. 
"  given  to  him  by  my  mother,"  and  a  good 
deal  spent  on  his  clothes.  "Nell,"  in  1705, 
was,  like  Lewis,  a  less  expensive  servant,  for 
her  wages  were  18s.  Apparently  she  was 
one  of  two  maids,  for  Elizabeth  Marson 
came  on  May  8,  1704,  for  £1  16s.,  and 
remained  till  May  10,  1706,  when  she  was 
succeeded  by  "Mary."  The  2d.  for  her  as 
a  communicant  was  duly  paid,  so  she  was 
probably  older  than  some  of  her  predeces- 
sors. She  seems  to  have  died  in  1709,  and 
have  been  buried  at  Condover  on  June  5  of 
that  year. 

Interspersed  with  these  accounts  are  various 
reckonings,  such  as  : 

"Sep.  26th  (99):  Thomas  Betchcott  had 
a  stricke  of  Come  we  sold  then  at  04*.  03^., 
and  I  payd  2  quarters  pole  money  for  him, 
02s.  ood.     July,  he  had  a  pound  of  hops, 


AN  OLD  SHROPSHIRE  NOTE-BOOK. 


377 


ois.  oid.  For  another  strike  of  Come, 
02s.  o6d." 

"  Mr.  Bayley  put  his  mare  in  our  ground 
Aprill  ye  28th,  1704,  and  she  went  away 
May  ye  31." 

"May  2,  1703  :  Reckoned  with  ye  Smyth, 
and  hee  owes  mee  03.$-.  ood. 

"  Lent  him  more,  015-.  o6d. 

"  For  milk,  02s.  oi\d. 

"  Nov.  7,  1703  :  Reckoned  with  the  Smith 
till  that  time  and  hee  owes  me  03*.  o2d. 

"July  9  :  Reconed  wth  ye  Smyth  till  May 
last  for  keeping  ye  Cow  and  ye  work,  and  I 
owe  him  06$.  oodT 

Then  come  more  entries  of  pasturage  of 
animals :  Thomas  Tecko's  cow,  Thomas 
Gosnell's  cow  and  bull,  and  William  Archer's 
sheep  in  1701  ;  John  Bishop's  horse  in  1705, 
and  a  note  of  the  purchase  on  June  13, 
1704,  of  "4  weathers  and  a  tupe  "  from  John 
Crowther  for  £1  is.  6d.,  with  sixpence  given 
in  earnest.  Other  reckonings  with  the  smith 
show  that  in  1699  corn  was  4s.  9d.  and  5s.  2d. 
the  strike,  the  highest  price  mentioned  in 
the  book. 

These  notes  are  the  last  in  the  writing  of 
its  first  owner,  and  then  we  come  to  that  of 
another  Richard  Wood,  who,  as  Petty  Con- 
stable, makes  a  rough  copy  of  his  present- 
ment to  the  Assizes  of  July  25,  1735,  for  the 
township  of  Bourton  :  "  As  to  the  Charge 
Given,  I  have  Not  Anything  to  present  to 
ye  Best  of  My  Knowledge."  He  also 
makes  returns  of  the  "  Vagrant  Money " 
levied  on  the  parishes  of  Condover  and 
Pulverbatch  in  1723-24,  and  writes  them  in 
the  middle  of  the  book  after  some  similar 
accounts,  entered  by  its  first  owner,  of  "  the 
County  Bridge  Money  assessed  on  the  two 
parishes  in  April,  1700,"  and  a  long  list  of 
"ye  pound  rate  of  Condover,"  which  gives 
the  name  of  Richard  Wood  as  assessed  at 
^23.  There  are  few  persons  assessed  at 
over  ^"20.  Roger  Owen,  Esq.,  heads  the 
list  with  ;£8o,  and  payments  for  other  land, 
and  after  him  the  chief  men  were  William 
Hodges,  ^38;  Richard  Wood,  ^23;  Robert 
Minshaw,  ^28  ;  Nathaniell  Edgley,  ^23  ; 
Samuell  Daker,  ^28;  Mr.  Brickdall,  ^20; 
Mr.  Owen,  for  tyth,  ^20 ;  and  John  Oram, 
£2$.  There  are  two  other  Woods  on  the 
list :  John  Wood,  jQg,  and  Charles  Wood, 

VOL.  III. 


j£i.  The  outlying  hamlets  do  not  seem  to 
be  included  in  the  assessment. 

The  second  Richard  Wood  collected  re- 
ceipts, and  there  are  several  jotted  down  on 
odd  pages.  "  John  Ravenshaw's  receipt  for 
Black  ink  "  reads  strangely  in  days  of  penny 
bottles,  but  was  probably  good,  though  we 
have  doubts  as  to  his  red  ink,  which  had 
white  lead  in  it. 

The  following  is  a  specimen  of  the  farriery 
receipts  : 

"  A  receipt  for  A  Beast  yl  is  Bound  In 
the  Body  :  Take  A  handfull  of  Tobacko, 
Dry  it  well  and  Rub  it  to  Dust,  and  2  Quarts 
of  New  Barme,  2  penyworth  of  Salet  Oyle 
and  2  New  Layd  Eggs  Shells,  and  some 
doule  from  under  a  Ducks  Whinge  Chopt 
very  small.  Mix  all  Theses  togeather  and 
give  it  ye  Beast  and  Walk  ye  Beast  About 
After,  and  with  Gods  Blessing  it  will  doe." 

He  also  had  an  ear  for  rhyme,  and  care- 
fully copied  "  Parson  John  Hodges  Verses," 
though  we  have  no  clue  as  to  who  that 
parson  was,  though  Thomas  Hodges,  Vicar 
of  Bromfield,  took  a  wedding  in  Condover 
Church  in  1779,  and  George  Hodges,  Rector 
of  Wolstaston,  and  Rector  of  Wentnor,  was 
buried  in  1780  at  Condover. 

Wisdom  descends  from  ye  bright  orbe  above 
To  teach  her  Children  how  to  live  in  Love. 
Who  waits  for  others'  shooes  it  is  well  known 
Had  need  to  keep  a  Cobbler  of  his  own. 
Who  gives  thee  learning  acts  a  nobler  deed 
Then  he  that  doth  thy  Body  cloth  and  feed. 
Well  to  consider  how  ill  husbands  fair 
Would  make  a  man  bad  husbandry  forsware. 
When  freinds  wee  need  not  then  our  freinds  abound 
But  when  we  want  freinds  then  few  freinds  are 

found. 
Why  should  the  drunkard  strive  his  acts  to  smother 
Drink  runs  but  from  one  Hogshead  to  another. 
Women,   Wine,   Cards   and  dice  with   halks   and 

hounds 
Reduce  men's  vast  estates  to  lesser  bounds. 
When  I  a  searvant  had,  I  had  one  then 
When  two  I  had,  but  half  a  one,  and  when 
I  had  three,  I  had  none  at  all,  thus  was  I  searved 

by  I,  2,  3  and  all. 
When  lands  and  freinds  are  gone  and  wealth  takes 

whing 
Then   learning's    prized    then    learning's    a    brave 

thing. 
Where  beauty,  virtue  and  true  grace  do  meett 
The  harmony  is  admirable  sweett. 
When  Reason  Will  and  power  all  comply 
With  heavenly  Wisdom,  there  are  harmony. 

3B 


378 


SOME  BOOKS  OF  VALUE  IN  THEIR  DAY. 


The  verses  can  hardly  rank  as  poetry,  but 
their  sentiments  are  irreproachable,  and  with 
them  we  say  farewell  to  our  study  of  the  old 
book. 

Condover, 

September,  1907. 


^omc  TSoofes  of  IDaluc  in 
tfjcir  Dap. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Green,  M.A.,  Rector  of 
Hepworth,  Diss. 


EW  value  old  books  nowadays ; 
booksellers  will  hardly  offer  waste- 
paper  price  for  them.  But  of  a 
few  on  my  shelves,  which  had 
their  value  in  their  day,  and  may  still  be  of 
interest  to  some,  it  seems  worth  while  to  set 
down  a  few  facts. 

1.  Servius's  Virgil. 

Every  scholar  is  familiar  with  the  name  of 
Servius  as  a  commentator  on  Virgil.  Servius, 
a  grammarian,  lived  about  the  beginning  of 
the  fifth  century.  Doubtless  his  commen- 
tary rested  on  the  labours  of  earlier  anno- 
tators ;  it  was  also  much  changed  and  inter- 
polated by  the  transcribers  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  But,  as  it  stands,  it  contains  much 
that  is  valuable,  and  ranks  as  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  Latin  Scholia.  The  text  was 
improved  and  purified  by  R.  Stephanus 
(Estienne)  in  his  edition,  Paris,  fob,  1532. 

This  book  I  possess  :  a  book  beautifully 
printed,  pleasant  to  read  in,  of  paper  not 
dazzling  or  shiny  (as  the  manner  of  this  age 
is).     It  is  complete  from  cover  to  cover. 

On  the  title-page  is  the  well-known  tree 
of  R.  Stephanus's  editions,  with  the  motto 
Noli  a  I  turn  sapere,  sed  time.  The  verses 
bearing  the  name  of  Octavius  Augustus 
follow ;  but  no  one  thinks  them  to  be 
written  by  the  Emperor  Augustus.  Then 
comes  a  life  of  Virgil,  attributed  to  ^Elius 
Donatus,  the  grammarian,  but  some  think  it 
was  by  a  Tiberius  Donatus. 


Of  the  body  of  the  work  the  arrangement 
is  this :  A  paragraph  of  the  poet's  lines  is 
printed — about  ten  ;  then  the  commentary 
on  these,  and  so  throughout.  In  the  margin 
are  capital  letters  (from  A  to  H  in  each  page) 
for  convenient  reference.  There  are  707 
pages  to  the  end  of  the  sEneid.  Then 
follows  an  index  of  the  things  explained. 
And  another  title-page  introduces  "  Correc- 
tions and  Varieties  of  Readings,"  by  Joannes 
Pierius  Valerianus.  These  were  printed 
1529.  To  them  is  prefixed  a  dedication  to 
Julius  of  the  Medicean  family,  with  much 
praise  of  that  family  as  patrons  of  learning. 
And  at  the  end  is  a  short  letter  to  a  friend, 
Janus  Parrhasius,  dated  June  19,  152 1. 
After  an  index  to  these  notes  the  date  of 
printing  is  again  given — October,  1529. 

There  is  nothing  on  any  fly-leaf  to  show 
the  earlier  possessors  of  the  book,  but  there 
are  three  names  in  it  that  are  of  interest  to 
me.  There  is  a  book-plate  with  shield  and 
arms,  and  the  name  Edward  Craven  Haw- 
trey,  our  well-known  Eton  Headmaster  ;  and 
facing  it  a  book-plate  with  shield  and  arms, 
and  Rev.  Edmund  Maturin.  On  the  reverse 
of  this  leaf  is  written  Payne,  and  lower  down 
E.  C.  Hawtrey,  1815,  in  the  same  hand- 
writing, which  is  not  Dr.  Hawtrey's.  E.  R. 
Payne  was  a  Kingsman  who  became  Rector 
of  this  parish  (Hepworth)  in  1819.  Maturin 
wTas  also  a  Kingsman,  and  held  a  King's 
College  living  till  1869.  I  think  it  prob- 
able that  Payne  was  the  first  possessor,  then 
Maturin,  from  whom,  by  gift  or  purchase,  it 
came  to  Hawtrey.  It  was  sold  in  a  book- 
sale  at  Liverpool  about  i860:  one  of  my 
colleagues  at  the  College  bought  it  for  a 
mere  nothing,  and  gave  it  to  me. 

Thus  it  has  successively  belonged  to  four 
Etonians  and  Kingsmen.  Payne  was  twelve 
years  senior  to  Hawtrey;  Maturin  a  few 
years  younger. 

2.  Bentley's  Horace. 

Mine  is  the  Amsterdam  edition,  17 13,  4to. 
The  first  edition  was  at  Cambridge,  171 1. 

It  is  dedicated  Roberto  Harleio,  Baroni  de 
Wigmore,  Comiti  Oxonii. 

Bentley  in  his  preface  to  the  reader  states 
the  principles  that  guided  him  in  his  emenda- 
tions, and  foretells  their  final  acceptance  by 


SOME  BOOKS  OF  VALUE  IN  THEIR  DAY. 


379 


all  good  scholars.  Time  has  hardly  fulfilled 
this  prophecy ;  but  Bentley  was  a  genius 
from  whose  notes  we  learn  much,  even  when 
we  disagree  with  his  conclusion. 

No  trace  appears  of  its  previous  possessors. 
My  father  gave  it  to  me  while  a  boy  at  Eton. 

3.  Bentley's  "  Dissertation  on  the 
Epistles  of  Phalaris." 

This  edition  is  one  of  181 7  ;  the  original 
one  was  published  in  1699.  I  suppose  no 
one  now  doubts  the  spuriousness  of  the 
Epistles ;  yet  they  were  long  admired  as 
genuine.  Boyle,  with  all  the  learning  of 
Oxford,  stood  against  Bentley ;  so  did  the 
wit  and  satire  of  Swift  and  Atterbury. 
Bentley's  work  is,  indeed,  a  storehouse  of 
learning. 

4.  "Tacitus  in  Italian,"  by  Giorgio 
Dati  of  Florence;   Printed  in  Venice 

by  Bernardo  Giunti,  1589. 

On  the  title-page  is  a  name  which  I  can- 
not make  out :  one  words  looks  like  Mezzo- 
fulce.  On  a  blank  page  at  the  end  is  nella 
Catedrak  d  Terracina,  1707,  and  then 
Tetnplum  hoc  Apollinis  Sollio  (?)  architectus 
fecit ;  then  what  looks  like  di  Monsr.  Oldin, 
and,  in  another  hand,  Ex  libris  Cli  Hyeronimi. 

Of  the  translation  I  have  read  but  little. 
The  late  G.  Waring,  of  Oxford,  from  whom 
it  came  to  me,  thought  it  very  good.  Annals 
and  Histories  are  numbered  consecutively  as 
Annals  up  to  Book  XX. 

It  is  prefaced  by  a  letter  from  Bernardo 
Giunti  to  Cardinal  Francesco  Moresini. 

5.  "Scapulae  Lexicon"  (folio):  London, 

Harper,  1537. 

A  work  of  wonderful  learning,  and  useful 
even  now  to  anyone  who  wishes  to  see  all 
derivatives  grouped  under  their  Greek 
original.  John  Scapula  puts  it  thus  in  an 
introductory  couplet : 

Hie  voci  sedes  defertur  prima  parenti, 
Quam  certo  soboles  ordine  subsequitur. 

No  name  of  a  possessor  appears  in  this 
book,  but  marginal  notes  throughout  prove 
learning  and  wide  reading  in  some  one  who 
owned  it  long  ago. 


6.  "Embassy    to    the    Great   Cham    of 

Tartary,  or  Emperor  of  China  " 
("  Beschryving  von  t'  Gesandschap  der 
Nederlandsche  oost  -  Indische  Com- 
pagnie  aan  den  Grooten  Tartarischen 
Cham,  nu  Keyzer  von  China").  A 
Dutch  book. 

A  long  title-page  on  the  next  leaf  enume- 
rates the  varied  contents  of  the  book.  The 
writer  was  Joan  Nieuhof.  It  was  printed 
at  Antwerp  for  the  Jesuit  Society,  1666. 
The  actual  expedition  lasted  twenty-two 
months  out  from  Batavia  and  back.  The 
embassy  reached  Pekin,  and  were  received 
by  the  Emperor.  Much  detail  is  given  of 
Court  ceremonies,  dresses,  and  customs. 
Then  follow  chapters  on  matters  of  Chinese 
history,  on  the  several  provinces,  on  the 
Government,  letters,  writing,  manufactures, 
religion,  temples  ;  on  natural  produce ;  on 
the  Tartar  invasion.  Several  chapters  are 
occupied  with  an  account  of  the  first  preach- 
ing of  Christianity  in  China. 

The  whole  is  abundantly  illustrated  by 
most  curious  plates,  good  of  their  kind,  from 
drawings  taken  on  the  spot.  Of  these  there 
are  more  than  150. 

The  book  came  to  me  from  the  widow  of 
an  uncle ;  to  him  probably  from  a  Mrs.  Van 
Hagen,  a  friend  of  my  father's  in  early  life. 

7.  "  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Rainettes, 
des  Grenouilles,  et  des  Crapauds." 

This  book  was  bought  by  my  father  at  the 
sale  of  Provost  Goodall's  books  in  1840, 
and  with  it  another  French  book,  Donovan's 
History  of  some  Rare  Birds.  What  the 
merits  of  these  books  may  be  as  natural 
history  I  cannot  pronounce;  their  illustra- 
tions made  them  very  attractive  to  us  children 
in  those  early  days.  The  "  Frog  Book,"  as 
we  called  it,  much  amused  us.  The  plates 
are  very  curious ;  they  appear  to  me  well 
done. 

But  one  most  noticeable  thing  about  the 
book  is  on  the  title-page.  It  was  printed  in 
Paris  "An  XL"  This  date  reminds  us  how 
France  for  a  while  supplanted  anno  Domini 
by  a  new  origin  of  years  :  1803  was  the 
actual  date  of  the  book. 

At  the  beginning  are  some  particulars 
about    Daudin   and   his    other   works   in   a 

3B  2 


38o 


SOME  BOOKS  OF  VALUE  IN  THEIR  DAY. 


beautiful,  clear,  print-like  writing  by  Dr. 
Goodall.  Provost  Goodall  took  much  in- 
terest in  some  branches  of  natural  history, 
especially  conchology. 

Donovan's  Birds  passed  tomyelderbrother. 

8.  Lucretius.     9.  Juvenal  and 
Persius. 

These  two  books  were  the  "  leaving  books" 
given  to  upper  boys  leaving  Eton  by  Keate 
and  by  Hawtrey.  The  Lucretius  has 
this  inscription :  "  Edward  Green  dedit  Dr. 
Keate,  S.T.P.,  March,  1823."  But  this  is 
in  my  father's  handwriting.  E.  Green  was 
my  youngest  uncle,  a  pupil  in  my  father's 
house  during  his  Eton  schooldays.  As  a 
text  this  Lucretius,  of  course,  has  no  value 
after  the  labours  of  Lachmann  and  Munro. 
But  it  is  a  beautifully  printed  book,  a  square 
and  not  very  thick  folio,  bound  strongly  and 
well. 

Hawtrey's  "  leaving  book  "  is  in  binding 
more  ornate  —  morocco — each  page  red- 
bordered,  the  edges  gilt.  The  date  is 
showed  by  Excudebat  Carolus  Whittingham, 
1845.  In  clearness  of  print  Keate's  book 
bears  the  palm,  but  both  are  excellent.  The 
inscription  (printed)  is :  "  Gulielmo  Carolo 
Green  ab  Etona  discedenti  bona  omnia  et 
fausta  ominatus  d.  d.  E.  C.  Hawtrey,  Magister 
Informator,  a.d.  mdcccli.,"  my  name  being 
written  in  by  himself. 

10.  Tasso's  "Jerusalem  Delivered." 

A  beautifully  bound  copy  in  one  largish 
volume.  This  is  also  from  Dr.  Hawtrey,  a 
gift  given  to  me  just  before  my  marriage. 

Written  in  it  is :  "  Gulielmo  Green  hunc 
librum  e  bibliothecae  suae  reliquiis  veteris 
cum  patre  ipsius  amicitiae  qualecunque 
fjivrjfioavvov,  ipsi  quoque  bona  omnia  et  fausta 
nuptiisque  felicibus  ominatus,  D.  D.,  E.  C.  H. 
Coll:  Etonens:  Prsepos:  A.S.,cid.idccclviii." 

Hawtrey  sold  a  good  many  books  when 
he   moved   into   the    Lodge   as   Provost   in 

i853- 

n.  "Scherzi  Metrici." 

This  book,  though  very  small,  I  prize,  as 
coming  from  my  dear  old  head  master.  It 
was  printed  1835,  not  published,  but  pre- 
sented "a  quei  pochi  amici  cui  piacque 
measesse  aliquid  putare  nugas."     It  contains 


some  excellent  versions  from  Greek,  Latin, 
and  English  into  Italian  and  German. 

Dr.  Hawtrey  gave  this  book  to  my  wife 
when  we  were  at  Eton  in  1859,  inscribed 
"  Dall'  autore." 

12.  "The  Works  of  Jacob  Behmen" 

This  curious  book  contains :  (1)  The 
Threefold  Life  of  Man  ;  (2)  The  Answers 
to  Forty  Questions  concerning  the  Soul ; 
(3)  The  Treatise  of  the  Incarnation,  in 
three  parts ;  (4)  The  Clavis,  or  an  explana- 
tion of  some  principal  points  and  expressions 
in  his  writings.  With  figures,  illustrating 
his  principles,  left  by  the  Rev.  William 
Law,  M.A. 

This  edition  of  "  the  Teutonic  Theosopher " 
was  printed  in  London  for  Joseph  Richardson, 
1763.  What  is  the  history  of  its  translation 
into  English  I  do  not  know.  The  answers 
to  the  Forty  Questions  were  sent  to  his 
friend  Dr.  Balthazar  Walter,  who  visited 
Behmen  in  1620;  a  letter  written  to  Walter 
by  Behmen  attests  this.  "  When  they  were 
first  printed  in  English  they  were  presented 
to  King  Charles  I.,"  who  sent  expressions 
of  admiration  at  the  work.  "  The  publisher, 
in  English,  seemed  to  say  of  the  author  that 
he  was  no  scholar,  and,  if  he  was  not,  he 
believed  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was  now  in 
men ;  but  if  he  was  a  scholar,  it  was  one 
of  the  best  inventions  that  ever  he  read." 
Jacob  Behmen  was  born  1575  ;  died  1624. 

I  have  not  read  much  of  Behmen,  nor  do 
I  presume  to  say  that  I  understand  him, 
but  of  his  earnest  devoutness  one  cannot 
doubt.  The  book,  newly  and  strongly 
bound  in  one  volume,  was  given  to  my  wife 
by  an  American  gentleman  in  1855. 

13.  Dr.  Busby's  Greek  Grammar. 

I  will  end  my  list  with  this  very  small 
book,  edited  after  Busby's  death  by  H. 
Stevenson,  master  of  Retford  School,  in 
1 7 16.  Of  no  great  value  now,  it  recalls  a 
celebrated  head  master.  In  the  account  of 
Sir  Roger  de  Coverley  at  Westminster 
Abbey,  we  read :  "  As  we  stood  before 
Busby's  tomb,  the  knight  uttered  himself 
again  after  the  same  manner :  "  Dr.  Busby  ! 
a  very  great  man  !  He  whipped  my  grand- 
father :  a  very  great  man  !     I  should  have 


THE  ARMS  ON  CHINA  OF  SIR  ARCHIBALD  CAMPBELL. 


381 


gone  to  him  myself  if  I  had  not  been   a 
blockhead  :  a  very  great  man  !" 

I  could  wish  that  some  of  these  books 
should  pass  to  appreciative  owners  and 
readers ;  but  whether  there  be  many  such 
left  in  this  hurrying  age  is  doubtful. 


Cfje  arms  on  Cfnna  of 

§>ir  arc&i&alD  Campbell  of 

3IM)erneiil. 

By  J.  Tavenor-Perry. 


T  is  well  known  to  collectors  that  a 
large  proportion  of  the  china  which 
is  decorated  with  armorial  bearings 
was  specially  manufactured  for  its 
owners  in  the  East ;  and  that  not  only  were 
the  shapes  of  the  pieces  adapted  to  European 
requirements,  but  the  decorations  themselves 
were  imitated  from  those  in  vogue  in 
England  at  the  same  date.  Thus,  much  of 
the  so-called  Lowestoft  ware  is  of  Oriental 
manufacture;  and  the  imitation  is  so  exact 
that  only  an  examination  of  the  paste 
discloses  this  to  be  the  fact.  Whether 
drawings  were  made  of  the  designs  required, 
or  actual  pieces  of  decorated  ware  were  sent 
out  to  be  copied,  is  uncertain ;  but  we  may 
be  sure  that,  in  the  case  of  armorial  bearings, 
drawings,  more  or  less  accurate,  had  to  be 
sent  out.  Thus  the  mistakes  which  are 
frequently  to  be  observed  in  such  work  may 
be  due  to  one  of  two  causes :  first,  to  the 
blunders  of  the  original  draughtsman,  who 
might  have  been  unused  to  the  niceties  of 
heraldic  delineation ;  and,  second,  to  the 
Eastern  decorator,  to  whom  such  work  would 
be  altogether  strange,  and  who  might  un- 
wittingly alter  or  modify  essential  features  of 
the  bearings.  The  arms,  of  which  we  give  a 
drawing,  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  example  of 
such  errors.  They  are  the  arms  which  are 
displayed  on  some  china  made  for  Sir 
Archibald  Campbell  of  Inverneill,  in  all 
probability,  between  the  years  1785  and 
1789. 

This  Sir  Archibald  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able  mark   during  the    latter    half    of  the 


eighteenth  century.  His  father,  Sir  James 
Campbell,  was  descended  from  one  of  the 
Campbells  of  Craignish,  known  as  Chearlach 
Mor,  who,  having  killed  one  Gillis  of 
Glenmore  and  wounded  his  own  cousin,  had 
been  compelled  to  fly  to  the  Highlands,  and 
had  settled  in  the  country  of  Breadalbane. 
Sir  James,  who  was  born  in  1706  and  died  in 
1760,  was  Commissary  of  the  Western  Isles, 
and  left  three  sons :  James,  the  eldest,  from 
whom  are  descended  the  present  family  of 
Campbell  of  Inverneill  and  Ross  ;  Archibald, 
the  second  son ;  and  Duncan,  the  third.  The 
history  of  Archibald,  the  second  son,  is 
briefly  this  :     He  was  born  in  1 739,  and  died, 


and  was  buried  at  Poets'  Corner,  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  in  1791.  In  1779  he 
married  Amelia,  daughter  of  Alan  Ramsey, 
the  Court  Painter  to  George  III.,  who 
survived,  and  inherited  his  personality ;  but, 
as  he  left  no  son,  the  entailed  estates  passed 
to  his  elder  brother's  family.  He  was  M.P. 
for  the  Stirling  Burghs,  Heritable  Usher  of 
the  White  Rod,  and  A.D.C.  to  George  III. 
He  raised  the  74th  regiment  of  foot,  and 
fought  in  the  American  War  of  Indepen- 
dence, and  in  1785  was  created  a  K.B. 
From  1779  to  1784  he  was  Governor  of 
Jamaica;  and  from  1785  to  1789  he  was 
Governor     and     Commander-in-Chief    of 


382 


THE  ARMS  ON  CHINA  OF  SIR  ARCHIBALD  CAMPBELL. 


Madras,  and  it  is  assumed  that  it  was  during 
this  period  of  his  residence  in  the  East  that 
the  service  of  china  was  manufactured. 

The   arms   to   which   Sir   Archibald   was 
entitled  were  these :  "  Gyronny  of  8,  or  and 
sable,    within  a   bordure,  azure;   placed  in 
front  of  a  lymphad,  sails  furled,  and  oars  in 
motion,    sable,    flags   and   pennons    flying ; 
above,  a  helmet.    Crest :  a  boar's  head  erased, 
or.     Motto  :  Fit  via  vi."     On  comparing  this 
with    our   drawing,    taken    from    the    china 
itself,  it  will  be  seen,  first,  that  the  bordure 
and  the   helmet   have   been   omitted,   and, 
second,  that  the  order  of  the  gyronny  has 
been  reversed,  being  on  the  china  sable  and 
or,  instead  of  or  and  sable.     The  absence  of 
gold  on  the  shield  seems  to  be  due  only  to 
the  fact  that  it  has  been  worn  off  by  more 
than  a  century  of  use  ;  and  the  crescent  is 
merely  the   cadency  mark  to  indicate  that 
Sir    Archibald    was    a   second    son.      The 
omission  of  the  helmet  would  seem  to  be 
due  merely  to  carelessness  ;  but  the  absence 
of  the  bordure  seems  rather  to  be  the  result 
of  some   remissness    on    the    part    of    Sir 
Archibald's  family  to  maintain  on  their  arms 
a  bearing  to  which  they  were  entitled,  and 
which,  on  it  being  pointed  out  to  them  by 
the  authorities,  they  resumed   some   thirty 
years  ago.     For  these  omissions,  therefore, 
the  Oriental  artist  cannot  be  blamed,  but  to 
him  is  doubtless  due  the  reversal  of  the  order 
of  the  gyronny  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  shield 
on  the   numerous   pieces  of  a  dinner  and 
tea  service  occurs   in  varied  positions  may 
account     for    a    figure    which    must    have 
appeared  to  the  Eastern  painter  so  meaning- 
less, having  had  a  twist  round  of  forty-five 
degrees. 

The  china  itself  has  had  some  adventures. 
With  the  personality  it  became  the  property 
of  Sir  Archibald's  widow,  who  seems  to  have 
divided  it  by  giving  the  dinner  service  to  the 
elder  brother's  family,  and  the  tea  service  to 
the  family  of  Duncan,  the  youngest  brother. 
On  the  extinction  of  the  youngest  branch  the 
tea  service  passed  into  strange  hands,  but 
last  year  it  was  accidentally  found  in  London, 
and  is  now  once  again  with  the  rest  of  the 
service  at  Invemeill. 


0n  SDID  Cornisf)  IDMarje. 

BY    I.    GlBERNE   SlEVF.KING. 

CROSS  the  water  from  Falmouth  is 
the  "  praty  fischar  toun,"  as  Leland 
calls  it,  which  was  founded  unin- 
tentionally by  St.  Mauditus,  French 
Bishop  and  Welsh  missioner  so  long  ago  as 
the  sixth  century.  I  say  unintentionally 
advisedly,  for  it  was  simply  his  desire  for  a 
warm  spot  where  he. could  sun  himself  and 
enjoy  the  sea  breezes,  which  led  him  to  settle 
down  on  the  rocky  shore  sloping  steeply 
downwards  to  the  little  creek,  and  take  his 
well-earned  ease  after  his  labours  of  teaching 
and  Christianizing  the  people  in  Wales. 

St.  Mauditus  had  no  sooner  settled  down 
for  a  little  peace  and  quiet  than  he  found 
even  in  his  lonely  settlement  he  had  to  pay 
the  price  of  greatness,  for  crowds  of  people 
followed  him  thither,  so  that  he  was  solitary 
no  longer,  and  meditations  were  out  of  the 
question.  To  be  stared  at,  it  is  true,  did 
not  seem  to  affect  Socrates  in  the  least,  but 
in  the  case  of  most  great  men  and  women  it 
makes  existence  full  of  annoyance  and  dis- 
comfort. It  was  so  in  the  Bishop's  case. 
He  found  he  could  meditate  no  longer.  He 
vacated  his  favourite  chair  and  crossed  over 
to  France,  where  his  wish  to  be  alone  was 
understood  and  respected. 

Imitation  is  said  to  be  the  sincerest 
flattery.  But  there  are  men — unusual  though 
the  fact  may  be — who  desire  no  flattery  at 
all,  insincere  or  sincere.  At  any  rate,  those 
who  came  to  stare  and  to  admire  remained 
to  use  the  favourite  arm-chair,  and  to  take  up 
their  own  abode,  and  perhaps  to  imagine 
themselves  still  under  the  spiritual  aegis  of 
the  departed  Bishop. 

Then,  when  news  was  brought  to  the 
village  in  after  years  that  St.  Mauditus  had 
died  and  been  canonized,  the  fame  of  his 
whilom  settlement  spread  far  and  wide,  and 
pilgrimages  were  made  to  the  spot.  The 
hermitage  was  made  into  a  chapel ;  his  well 
became  a  holy  well,  the  waters  of  which,  it 
was  declared,  possessed  marvellous  curative 
powers. 

There  is  little  doubt,  if  the  foundations  of 
this  ancient  well  were  closely  examined,  the 
usual  little  votive  offerings,  which  in  some 


AN  OLD  CORNISH  VILLAGE. 


383 


mystic  way  were  supposed,  like  a  magnet,  to 
draw  up  blessings  from  the  vasty  deep,  would 
be  found.  Crooked  pins  were  the  offerings 
most  usually  dropped  into  the  water,  but 
little  pieces  of  rag  also  figured.  These  last 
it  was  the  custom  to  tie  to  neighbouring 
bushes,  in  the  belief  that,  on  touching  them, 
whatever  disease  the  pilgrim  suffered  from 
would  then  attack  the  rag  instead  of  the 
person. 

I  remember  at  the  tomb  of  St.  Erkenbode 
at  St.  Omer  (in  French  Flanders),  noticing 
a  little  hole  in  the  iron  under  the  heavy  lid. 
Here,  I  was  told,  country  folk  would  drop 
in  a  bit  of  string,  in  the  firm  belief  that  on 
its  touching  the  saint's  bones  within  the 
tomb  healing  power  would  be  conveyed, 
and  that  when,  after  being  drawn  up  again, 
it  was  applied  to  the  sick  person  for  whose 
benefit  the  little  ceremony  of  the  string  had 
been  gone  through,  great  miracles  would 
result. 

Since  the  days  of  St.  Mauditus  the  little 
"  fischar  toun "  has  spread  and  flourished. 
Leland  described  the  whole  place  very 
minutely,  as  was  invariably  his  habit  in 
speaking  of  any  town  or  village  : 

"  This  creke  of  St.  Maws  goeth  up  a  two 
miles  by  est-north-est  into  the  land  scant  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  castel ;  on  the 
same  side,  upper  into  the  land,  is  a  praty 
village  or  fischar  toun,  cawlid  St.  Mawes, 
and  there  is  a  chapelle  of  hym,  and  his 
chaire  of  stone  a  litle  without,  and  his  welle. 
They  caulle  this  sainct  there  St.  Mat.  .  .  . 
he  was  a  bishop  .  .  .  and  is  painted  as  a 
scholemaster." 

When  I  went  down  to  St.  Mawes  not  so 
very  long  ago,  I  took  the  greatest  trouble  to 
find  out  the  exact  spot  where  the  saint  had 
sunned  himself,  but  it  was  a  very  difficult 
matter,  for  well  and  stone  chair  were  no 
longer  in  evidence,  nor  were  there  any  signs 
of  the  old  chapel  or  hermitage.  A  house- 
to-house  visitation,  however,  brought  some 
things  to  light.  So  did  a  long  conversation 
with  the  postmaster.  It  turned  out  that 
only  recently  had  the  old  well  been  closed 
up ;  it  was  opposite  the  post-office  under  a 
high  white  wall.  He  told  me  that  at  certain 
intervals  the  well  was  opened ;  for  what 
purpose  I  forget.  At  any  rate,  it  had  a  sort 
of  Royal  Commission  all  to  itself — to  see,  I 


suppose,  if  any  irregularities  or  vagaries  in 
its  water  had  occurred. 

The  exact  site  of  the  Bishop's  chair  was 
harder  to  find,  for  the  only  clue  that  there 
was  seemed  to  be  a  certain  arch  in  the  wall. 
Between  this  and  the  steep  twisting  descent 
of  the  little  street  on  its  way  to  the  sea 
was  the  ancient  hermitage  or  chapel.  The 
original  building  has  long  since  disappeared, 
but  the  stones  are  worked  up  again  into  a 
house  built  on  the  site.  Hitchens  says  that 
early  in  the  nineteenth  century  there  was 
still  in  existence  the  ancient  pavement  of 
the  chapel,  made  of  squares  of  bluestone  ; 
but  the  portrait  of  its  founder,  "  painted 
as  a  scholemaster,"  has  long  disappeared. 
Further  down  the  street  there  is  a  much 
frequented  little  tap,  and  I  was  informed 
that  the  water  drawn  from  it  was  from  the 
same  stream  that  supplies  the  well  itself. 
However,  there  is  no  possibility  of  offering 
it  any  crooked  pins  or  coins. 

In  a  curious  old  account  of  St.  Mawes, 
dated  about  1620,  there  is  mention  made 
of  the  chapel  in  which  the  fishermen  used  to 
worship.  "  The  fishermen  of  S.  Mawes 
wherein  there  are  300  inhabitants  or  more, 
had  a  chapel  of  ease  in  which  divine  service 
was  wont  to  be  said  in  Elizabeth's  time  and 
before.  .  .  .  The  townsmen  and  neighbours 
humbly  desire  that  they  may  have  authority 
to  re-edify  the  chapel  for  service  to  be  said 
weekly,  and  sermons  to  be  had  monthly, 
at  their  own  cost  and  charges.  .  .  .  The 
town  standeth  almost  2  miles  from  S.  Just 
Church,  by  reason  of  which  some  old  and 
impotent  persons  (who  cannot  go  on  foot  and 
are  not  of  ability  to  get  horses)  have  not  been 
at  Church  these  three  years." 

This  Church  of  St.  Just  is  exceptionally 
interesting.  The  full  title  of  the  hamlet  (for 
hamlet  it  is,  although  its  church  is  the  parish 
church  of  St.  Mawes),  is  St.  Just-in-Roseland. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  first  time  I  saw  it. 
I  had  crossed  over  from  Falmouth  in  the  late 
evening.  My  train  had  arrived  just  too  late 
to  catch  the  steamer,  and  I  had  to  charter  a 
little  rowing-boat  to  take  me  across.  But 
once  rowing  across  the  dark  little  bay,  thread- 
ing our  way  in  and  out  of  vessels  lying  at 
anchor  in  Falmouth  Harbour,  the  waves 
flapping  and  smacking  the  bows  of  our  little 
centreboard,    a    swirly    breeze   flicking   salt 


3§4 


AN  OLD  CORNISH  VILLAGE. 


spray  ever  and  anon  across  my  face,  I  was 
not  sorry  for  the  little  stir  of  adventure  and 
excitement  thrown  unexpectedly  into  the  day's 
programme,  for  the  two  fishermen  who  were 
taking  me  across  were  in  doubt  where  to  land 
for  St.  Just,  and  even  when  they  had  made 
up  their  mind  there  were  difficulties  in 
grounding  the  boat  on  the  low  strip  of 
land  that  we  saw  ahead  of  us  on  our  star- 
board side. 

Then,  when  we  had  achieved  a  landing, 
they  had  to  go  and  rout  out  a  cottager  to 
take  us  through  the  lanes  up  to  the  village 
above,  as  they  themselves  had  to  go  straight 
back  to  Falmouth. 

The  cottager  was  willing  enough  to  show 
me  my  way,  although  by  now  it  must  have 
been  close  upon  ten  o'clock.  As  we  walked  he 
explained  to  me  how  the  village  had  earned  its 
romantic  full  title,  "St.  Just-in-Roseland."  He 
said:  "  My  faather  used  to  saay  it  was  because 
when  King  Henry  caame  to  the  plaace  it  was 
all  out  in  roses,  and  he  commanded  it  to 
be  called  thenceforth  '  St.  Just -in-Roseland.' " 

"Which  King  Henry?"  I  asked. 

"  Ah,  it  were  before  my  time,"  he  answered, 
slowly  and  thoughtfully  ;  "  but  'twas  for  sure 
in  the  time  of  my  faather."  He  was  "  taarible 
sure  "  of  that  fact !  Indeed,  I  found  later 
that  in  that  part  of  Cornwall  "  taarible  "  was 
the  invariable  tack  that  was  driven  through 
most  of  their  sentences. 

My  landlady,  for  instance,  in  the  curious 
old-fashioned  cottage  "where  I  took  mine 
ease  "  for  a  few  days,  salted  her  talk  largely 
with  the  word,  and  was  never  happy  without 
it  on  her  lips. 

But  it  is  the  church  "  that's  the  thing  "  in 
St.  Just,  because  of  its  picturesque  and 
striking  surroundings.  It  is  situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  great  amphitheatre,  now  a  beautiful 
wild  garden,  coloured  throughout  with  the 
scarlet  flowers  of  high  growing  bushes  of 
fuchsia  stretching  long  arms  over  the  tangled 
undergrowth.  Formerly  these  amphitheatres 
which  are  found  in  some  parts  of  Cornwall 
were  used  for  some  kind  of  religious  drama. 
The  players  stood  up  above  in  the  stone 
porches,  generally  three  in  number,  which 
were  placed  at  intervals  round  the  great  circle. 

Inside  the  church  the  chief  influences 
which  impress  the  stranger  are  lion  and 
unicorny  ones.    Puritans  were  evidently  well 


to  the  fore  in  this  parish.  There  were 
antiquities,  for  the  church  is  of  great  age,  but 
they  have  all  been  carefully  watered  down, 
and,  where  circumstances  have  permitted, 
their  use  perverted,  and  their  beauty  effectually 
spoilt. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  to  judge  from  the  houses 
which  boast  of  her  having  passed  a  night 
within  their  borders,  was  her  people's  con- 
stant guest.  Henry  VIII.  was  almost  as 
ubiquitous.  He  travelled  almost  as  much  in 
wives.  He  is  reported  to  have  been  three 
times  in  St.  Mawes  and  its  neighbourhood  : 
once  at  his  castle  over  against  the  town  of 
St.  Mawes,  and  twice  at  the  Arundells'  place, 
Tolverne.  At  Tolverne  the  ferry  across  the 
river  is  named  after  him,  though  it  is  not 
clearly  shown  why. 

Tolverne  itself  consists  of  a  grand  old 
farm-house,  with  a  front  door  of  tremendous 
thickness,  a  wealth  of  capacious  barns,  and, 
away  across  the  meadows,  a  dark  little  wood, 
the  site  of  an  ancient  chapel,  and  the  whole 
floor  of  which  is  full  of  many  coloured  slates, 
which  seem  inlaid  with  some  curious  pattern 
and  with  scrawling  hieroglyphics. 

No  one  who  had  ever  walked  from  St.  Just- 
in-Roseland  to  St.  Mawes  could  ever  forget 
the  sudden  break  in  the  ground  revealing  the 
presence  of  the  little  village  lying  compact 
and  snugly  down  below  in  the  hollow ;  nor 
the  gleam  of  vivid  blue  beyond,  when,  after 
the  two  -  mile  walk  between  meadows  the 
monotony  suddenly  comes  to  an  end  in  this 
brilliant  eyefull  of  scenery. 

Away  to  the  right  lies  the  castle — the  first 
time  I  walked  to  St.  Mawes,  plunged  in 
mysterious  shadow — shrouded  by  trees,  and 
on  the  left  the  woods  sloping  down  to  the 
water's  edge,  bordered  by  the  pale  gold  of 
harvest  fields. 

Lower  down  was  a  picturesque  stratum  of 
rocks,  white  with  quartz,  tawny  with  oxide 
of  iron,  and  grey  with  slate,  varied  here  with 
deep  streaks  of  a  rich  lilac.  Lower  still,  a 
white  glare  of  pebbly  beach,  its  even  regularity 
broken  by  the  yellow  tarpaulined  rocks, 
jagged  and  wet  with  the  last  legacy  of  the 
outgoing  tide;  while,  like  a  mirror  of  shim- 
mering light,  lay  the  pools,  scattered  here 
and  there  beneath  the  rocks — khaki-coloured, 
tawny,  and  some  striped  with  gorgeous  orange. 

The  village  itself  is  built  on  living  rock, 


AN  OLD  CORNISH  VILLAGE. 


385 


and  the  steep,  narrow,  twisting  streets  break 
off  in  some  places,  and  divide  into  flights  of 
steps  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill. 

St.  Mauditus  itself  lies,  as  it  were,  with  its 
head  nestling  against  the  soft  protecting 
shoulder  of  the  meadows  rising  precipitously 
behind  it.  It  is  built  irregularly,  unmethodi- 
cally, so  as  to  give  sudden,  sweet  surprises 
to  the  pedestrian  who  follows  its  irregular, 
zigzagging  streets.  At  unexpected  corners 
there  bursts  on  one's  sight  a  startlingly  vivid 
glimpse  of  blue  water  at  the  foot  of  a  long 
passage  hemmed  in  by  white  cob  cottages, 
which  give  the  impression  of  their  architect 
having  flung  them  hastily,  pellmell,  down 
the  hill,  one  on  the  top  of  the  other.  Each 
cottage  is  built  at  a  different  angle,  with  its 
gable  poking  up  inquisitively  into  the  window 
of  its  next-door  neighbour. 

The  oldest  part  of  St.  Mawes  is  where  the 
fishing  population  live — Boyella.  Here  big 
chimneys  stand  out  with  rugged  imposing 
presence  far  into  the  court,  leaning  sturdily 
back  as  if  to  support  the  cottages  against 
which  their  shoulders  pressed.  Above  them 
the  windows  look  out  from  under  the  beetling 
eyebrows  of  the  heavy  thatch.  A  little  raised 
pebbled  path  fronted  each  cottage.  Inevitably 
one  felt  here  that  a  foreign  element  sug- 
gested itself. 

At  one  time  Boyella — old  St.  Mawes — was 
famous  for  its  pilchard  fisheries.  Pilchards 
were  caught  in  large  quantities,  then  salted 
in  enormous  cellars  at  Boyella.  They  lay  in 
the  salt  for  about  forty  days,  and  were  then 
packed  in  barrels.  Then,  after  being  pressed, 
they  were  repacked,  and  by  that  time  they 
were  ready  to  be  sent  away  under  the  name 
of  "  fair  maids." 

Carew  (in  1600)  says  the  "demand  for 
casks  to  pack  the  cured  pilchards  was  so 
great  as  to  exhaust  the  stock  of  available 
wood  for  making  them."  Mr.  Hay  ward 
states  that  at  the  time  of  their  heyday  of 
fame  pilchards  in  millions  of  hogsheads  were 
sent  all  over  the  world.  Then,  later,  the 
demand  seemed  unaccountably  to  fall  off, 
and,  oddly  enough,  so  did  the  supply,  which 
was  as  well,  perhaps,  for  the  tempers  of  the 
fishermen.  Pilchards,  however,  are  still  to  the 
fore  in  St.  Mawes  Bay,  and  may  be  induced  to 
come  to  the  surface  by  the  exercise  of  a  little 
patience  with  proper  fishing  accessories. 

VOL.   III. 


CDe  antiquary  jRote^oolt, 

THE  BOX  IN  WHICH  THE    HEART 
OF  RICHARD  I.  WAS  BURIED. 

By  Lieutenant-Colonel  C.  Field. 

N  the  splendid  cathedral  church  of 
Rouen  is  a  suite  of  three  or  four 
rooms  containing  what  is  known  as 
the  "Tresor."  This  is  a  collection 
of  very  valuable  and  interesting  relics  forming 
quite  a  little  museum,  to  which  admission 


may  be  obtained  for  the  modest  fee  of  twenty- 
five  centimes.  To  an  Anglo-Saxon  quite  the 
most  interesting  article  in  the  collection  is 
the  plain  leaden  casket  in  which  was  buried 
the  heart  of  the  famous  Richard  Cceur-de- 
Lion,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  slain 
by  a  bolt  from  the  crossbow  of  Bertrand  de 
Gourdon  at  the  siege  of  the  Castle  of  Chaluz. 
His  body  was  buried  at  the  feet  of  his 
father  in  the  Abbey  of  Fontevrault,  near 
Tours,  but  his  heart,  encased  in  two  leaden 
caskets,  was  placed  in  the  Cathedral  at 
Rouen,  "  the  faithful  city."  The  exact  place 
of  burial  seems  to  have  been  forgotten  in 
the    course    of    centuries,    but   it   was   dis- 

3  c 


386 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


covered  in  1840.  The  heart  was  encased  in 
a  new  receptacle  and  reburied  in  the  choir. 
The  old  leaden  cases,  the  outer  one  of  which 
was  much  dilapidated  and  mutilated,  were 
placed  in  the  "Tresor,"  with  the  following 
inscription  : 

"  Cercueil 

et 

boite  de  plomb 

ou  fut  renferme 

lors  de  sa  Sepulture  en  1199 

la  cceur  de 

Richard  Cceur-de-Lion. 

Trouves  en  1840 

dans  le  sanctuaire  de  la  cathedrale 

de  Rouen." 

The  inner  case  is  in  comparatively  good 
condition,  the  inscription  being  perfectly 
legible  after  all  these  hundreds  of  years. 
The  Latin  is  somewhat  peculiar,  and  it  is 
curious  to  find  that  at  a  period  when  art- 
working  in  metals  was  at  an  advanced  stage 
the  engraver  of  the  inscription  on  the  coffer 
which  was  to  contain  the  heart  of  such  a 
high  and  mighty  potentate  did  not  take  the 
trouble  to  ascertain  what  space  he  required 
for  the  King's  name,  so  that  he  had  to  carry 
over  the  terminal  letter  to  the  next  line.  It 
is  noteworthy,  too,  that  Richard  is  styled 
"  Regis  Anglorum,"  "  King  of  the  English," 
not  of  "  England,"  while  no  mention  at  all 
is  "made  of  Normandy  or  Aquitaine.  The 
box  is  nearly  1  foot  long,  8  inches  wide, 
and  5  inches  deep. 


at  tfce  %ign  of  t&e  ©tol 

The  newspapers,  a  few  weeks 
ago,  announced  that  a  number 
of  manuscripts  had  been  dis- 
covered at  Edfu,  in  Upper 
Egypt,  near  the  site  of  an  old 
Coptic  monastery.  In  the 
account  circulated  by  the  Press 
Association  it  was  stated  that 
"  A  native  clearing  his  ground 
of  stones  accidentally  laid  bare 
a  small  tomb-like  receptacle.  In  this  he  found 
a  number  of  parchment  manuscripts  bound 
in  thick  papyrus  covers.    He  sold  them  to  an 


Arab  dealer  for  a  few  pounds,  and  the  Arab 
in  turn  resold  them  to  a  Copt  for  ^"500. 
The  news  had  by  this  time  gone  abroad,  and 
representatives  of  the  foreign  museums  made 
energetic  efforts  to  acquire  the  treasure. 
The  good  fortune  of  securing  them  fell  to 
Mr.  de  Rustafjaell,  F.R.G.S.,  the  traveller 
and  explorer,  and  he  sent  them  to  England, 
since  when  a  great  foreign  University  has 
tried  to  obtain  them." 


In  chronicling  the  find  the  newspapers 
stated  that  the  chief  of  these  manuscript 
treasures  contained  "  New  Sayings  of  Christ," 
and  thereby  aroused  considerable  speculation. 
I  did  not  here  notice  the  discovery,  as  I  had 
my  doubts,  which  have  since  been  justified  by 
a  letter  in  the  Athenceiwi,  written  by  Prof.  W. 
E.  Crum.  He  says  that  such  a  description 
of  one  of  the  Coptic  MSS.  acquired  by  Mr. 
de  Rustafjaell  is  quite  misleading.  "  The 
reference,"  continues  Prof.  Crum,  "  given  by 
Mr.  de  Rustafjaell  to  the  already  published 
leaves  of  his  MS.  shows  that  these  '  Sayings 
of  Christ '  are  but  a  fragment  of  the  well- 
known  Revelation  of  Bartholomew,  a  work  of 
Gnostic  tendencies,  though  not  preserved  in 
its  original  form,  and  of  a  type  very  familiar 
in  the  Christian  literature  of  Egypt.  The 
MS.  is  of  about  the  eleventh  century.  The 
work  has  no  claim  to  even  distant  comparison 
with  the  famous  '  Sayings '  found  at  Oxyrhyn- 
chus." 

Another  Egyptian  manuscript  of  considerable 
interest  and  importance  in  another  direction 
was  described  by  Mr.  Joseph  Offord  in  a 
recent  issue  of  the  Egyptian  Gazette.  The 
following  are  extracts  from  Mr.  Offord's 
article : 

"  Among  the  many  portions  of  written 
papyri  discovered  by  M.  Jouguet  at  Ghoran, 
in  the  Fayum,  and  which  were  preserved 
because  used  for  stiffening  the  cartonnage  of 
mummy  cases,  is  one  which  forms  the  first 
of  the  new  work,  Papyrus  Grecs  publiees 
par  le  section  Papyrologique  de  F  Universite  de 
Lille.  This  manuscript  is  more  complete 
than  usual  with  such  pieces,  measuring 
16  by  31  centimetres,  and  is  written  upon 
both  sides.  Although  as  literature  it  is  of 
no   interest,    it   is   of   much   value   for   the 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


387 


cadastral  mensuration  at  the  time  of  the 
Ptolemies,  for  it  contains  a  plan  displaying 
four  canals  and  the  irrigation  dykes  upon  a 
farm  in  the  Fayum,  and  the  whole  surface  of 
a  given  area  is  marked  out  into  forty  equal- 
sized  plots.  Because  of  this,  it  gives  us  for 
the  first  time  the  correct  dimensions  of  the 
old  Greek  surface  measure,  called  Naubion, 
and  also,  indirectly,  of  another,  the  Aiolion. 

<^*  t£T*  1£r* 

"  Some  thirty  lines  of  the  text  and  the  whole 
of  the  diagram  of  the  works  are  perfectly 
preserved,  and  the  statements  in  the  docu- 
ment supply  information  as  to  the  sums  paid 
in  winter  and  summer  for  the  work  necessary 
to  keep  in  good  order  the  arrangements  for 
irrigating,  and  indicate  a  plan  for  such  works 
as  were  then  carried  out  for  the  purpose. 
The  style  of  the  writing  is  of  the  third 
century  B.C.,  and  as  the  papyrus  bears  the 
date  of  year  27  of  some  Lagid  monarch,  we 
know  it  must  have  been  written  under 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus  in  258-9  b.c.  The 
month  being  given  as  Phaophi,  dates  it 
definitely  as  November  or  December  of 
259  B.C." 

t£&  t2r*  t&* 

Prof.  W.  G.  Hale,  who  discovered  the  Codex 
Romanus  of  Catullus  some  years  ago,  is  in 
Europe  for  the  purpose  of  collating  all 
manuscripts  of  the  author.  He  will  be 
grateful  to  anyone  who  will  send  him,  care 
of  the  Bank  of  Scotland,  London,  information 
of  the  existence  of  any  manuscripts  outside 
the  Bodleian  Library,  the  British  Museum, 
the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh,  the 
Library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  the 
private  libraries  of  Mr.  Samuel  Allen, 
Mr.  Walter  Ashburner,  and  Mr.  Sydney  C. 
Cockerell. 

^3^  t^*  <3^ 

The  Superintendent  of  the  Bristol  Art  Gallery 
sends  me  a  very  neatly-produced  Catalogue 
of  the  Autograph  MSS.  and  other  Remains  of 
Thomas  Chatterton,  now  in  the  Bristol 
Museum,  edited  by  Mr.  VV.  R.  Barker  (price 
6d.).  The  bulk  of  the  Chatterton  MSS.  are 
in  the  British  Museum,  but  the  collection  of 
relics  of  the  ill-fated  poet  in  the  museum  of 
his  native  city  is  not  inconsiderable,  and 
this  carefully-prepared,  well-arranged,  and 
well-illustrated   catalogue   is   decidedly  wel- 


come. These  relics  include  the  copy  of 
Clarke's  History  of  the  Bible,  which  contains 
important  birth  and  baptism  entries  ;  Chatter- 
ton's  will  and  apprenticeship  indentures ; 
letters,  fragments  of  poems,  copybooks, 
drawings  of  arms,  and  transcripts  by  the 
poet;  his  pocket-book,  1769;  as  well  as 
facsimiles,  newspaper  cuttings,  and  other 
illustrative  documents.  There  are  seven 
plates,  including  a  view  of  Chatterton's  birth- 
place, and  facsimiles  of  the  first  page  of  his 
will,  and  of  his  famous  letter  to  Walpole. 

t£T*  1&*  *2r* 

It  is  reported  that  the  Biblia  Pauperum,  the 
famous  manuscript  mentioned  by  Lessing, 
but  which  had  since  been  lost  track  of,  has 
again  been  found  in  the  Ducal  Library  in 
Wolfenbiittel,  of  which  Lessing,  in  his  day, 
was  in  charge.  During  the  entire  nineteenth 
century  no  trace  of  this  manuscript  could  be 
found.  This  is  explained  by  the  German 
papers  by  the  fact  that  it  was  bound  in  one 
volume  with  a  manuscript  of  the  "  Speculum 
Humanse  Salvationist  The  manuscript  con- 
tains thirty-eight  pages  and  the  same  number 
of  groups,  among  the  latter  four  not  found 
anywhere  else.  It  is  finely  illustrated, 
especially  with  pictures  from  the  Old 
Testament.  It  was  rediscovered  by  Dr. 
J.  Lutz,  of  Illzach. 

^*  t^*  t2r* 

Mr.  Charles  S.  Isaacson,  who  recently 
published  The  Story  of  the  Later  Popes,  will 
bring  out  a  new  work  this  autumn  under  the 
title  of  The  Story  of  the  English  Cardinals. 
It  will  give  the  lives  of  the  Cardinals  who 
have  lived  in  England,  from  Robert  Pullen, 
in  1 144,  to  the  present  day,  and  will  contain 
some  rare  portraits  of  the  earlier  Cardinals. 
It  is  to  be  published  by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock. 
Another  of  Mr.  Stock's  publications,  to  be 
issued  immediately,  will  be  a  volume  entitled 
Gleanings  after  Time,  a  collection  of  studies 
in  social  and  domestic  history  by  various 
well-known  writers,  edited  by  Mr.  G.  L. 
Apperson,  author  of  Bygone  Lo?idon  Life. 

t2r*  t&*  *2?* 

Dr.  Hamy,  says  the  Athenceum  of  September  7, 
communicated  to  last  week's  meeting  of  the 
French  Academie  des  Inscriptions  an  inter- 
esting paper  on  a  "  Livre  de  la  Description 
des  Pays,"  which  is  the  earliest  geographical 
treatise  of  importance  yet  discovered.     It  is 

3C  2 


388 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


the  work  of  Gilles  de  Bouvier  (dit  Berry),  who 
was  "  heraut  d'armes  "  to  Charles  VII.,  and 
travelled  extensively  "du  Sinai  au  cceur 
d'Irlande  "  from  1440  to  1448.  It  has  not 
yet  been  printed,  but  Dr.  Hamy  is  preparing 
it  for  publication,  and  proposes  to  add  to  it 
certain  geographical  documents,  little  known 
or  unpublished,  such  as  the  "  Itineraire  de 
Bruges." 

t^"  t^"  ^3* 

The  Itinerary  of  Benjamin  of  Tudela  is  on 
the  eve  of  publication  by  Mr.  Frowde.  The 
volume  contains  a  critical  text,  translation,  and 
commentary  by  Mr.  Marcus  N.  Adler.  The 
author  lived  in  the  twelfth  century,  100 
years  before  Marco  Polo.  He  gives  detailed 
descriptions  of  Rome,  Constantinople,  Pales- 
tine, Bagdad,  and  Cairo  in  the  time  of  the 
Crusades,  and  furnishes  particulars  of  the 
numerous  Hebrew  communities  which  he 
visited.  His  information  respecting  Prester 
John  and  the  Mongols,  David  Alroy  the 
pseudo- Messiah,  as  well  as  the  accounts 
which  he  gives  of  India  and  China,  of  the 
Druses  and  the  fanatical  sect  of  the  Hashis- 
him,  will  be  found  of  interest. 

9fi^  t3*  Vr* 

Among  other  forthcoming  works  I  note  a  new 
and  cheaper  edition,  with  a  new  and  long  pre- 
face, of  Dr.  D.  H.  Madden's  The  Diary  of 
Master  William  Silence :  a  Study  of  Shake- 
speare and  of  Elizabethan  Sport  (Longmans) ; 
and  the  first  three  volumes  of  a  "  New  Medi- 
aeval Library  "  (Chatto  and  Windus),  which  is 
to  make  a  feature  of  hitherto  little  known  medi- 
aeval masterpieces;  the  initial  books  being 
The  Book  of  the  Duke  of  True  Lovers,  now 
first  translated  from  the  unique  Middle 
French  manuscript  in  the  British  Museum, 
with  notes  and  introduction  by  Miss  Alice 
Kemp  Welch  and  translations  of  the  lyrics 
by  Mr.  E.  Maclagan  and  Mr.  L.  Binyon; 
Of  the  Tumbler  of  Our  Lady,  andother Miracles, 
a  first  translation  from  the  Soissons  manu- 
script ;  and  a  new  edition  of  Miss  Kemp 
Welch's  English  version  of  T/ie  Lady  of  Vergi, 
originally  issued  in  1903. 

t£T*  i2^  t3^ 

From  the  recently  issued  British  Museum 
Return  for  1906  I  gather  that  no  fewer  than 
246  books,  mostly  of  German  and  Italian 
origin,  printed  before  1500  have  recently 
been  added  to  the  national  library  ;  and,  in 


addition  to  these,  the  Museum  has,  through 
the  liberality  of  Lord  Strathcona,  the  Hon. 
Walter  Rothschild,  and  others,  been  enriched 
by  158  works  or  editions  hitherto  unknown. 
The  Museum  has  now,  exclusive  of  dupli- 
cates, 9,088  books  printed  before  1500. 

During  the  year  28,498  volumes  and 
pamphlets  have  been  added  to  the  library, 
and  64,977  parts  of  volumes,  issues  of 
periodicals,  etc.  The  maps  number  1,793  > 
the  musical  publications,  7,483  ;  the  news- 
papers published  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
3,300,  comprising  216,650  single  numbers. 
Of  these  newspapers  London  claims  1,148. 

The  Department  of  Manuscripts  has  been 
presented  by  the  King  with  two  Greek 
papyrus  rolls  from  Herculaneum,  five  of  the 
same  series  of  papyri  having  been  given  to 
the  Museum  by  Queen  Victoria  in  1865. 
The  Egypt  Exploration  Fund  has  presented 
twenty  papyri.  The  same  department  has 
also  acquired  two  important  MSS.  of 
Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales,  and  a  volume 
of  English  metrical  romances  which  dates 
from  circa  1400.  Other  notable  items  are 
a  large  collection  of  Wellesley  Papers,  forty- 
eight  volumes,  which  cover  the  period  from 
1797  to  1842,  and  were  kept  back  when  those 
mainly  concerning  Wellesley's  government 
of  India  were  presented  at  the  latter  date 
to  the  Museum  ;  the  official  correspondence 
of  the  first  Lord  Whitworth,  1702-25,  which 
includes  a  good  deal  of  diplomacy  in  various 
Continental  capitals  ;  and  a  bequest  from 
Mr.  R.  P.  Brereton,  of  Oundle,  of  twenty- 
three  volumes  relating  to  churches  in 
Northamptonshire  and  Rutland,  and  church 
towers  in  Somerset,  and  including  nearly 
800  photographs. 

l2r*  ffr*  Mr* 

Canon  Cheyne  contributes  an  important 
article  on  "Maccabaean  Psalms"  to  the 
current  issue  of  the  International  Journal  of 
Apocrypha,  and  the  Dean  of  Llandaff  writes 
on  the  indebtedness  of  Bishop  Andrewes  to 
the  Apocrypha.  Among  other  interesting 
papers  may  be  mentioned  the  account  of  the 
sixteenth-century  Esdras-Play,  King  Darius, 
by  Mr.  W.  W.  Gibbings,  secretary  of  the 
Early  English  Drama  Society ;  Miss  E. 
Hamilton  Moore's  contribution  on  the 
mediaeval  drama,  which  shows  how  largely 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


389 


the  writers  of  the  miracle-plays  drew  upon 
the  Apocryphal  Gospels;  and  Dr.  W.  E.  A. 
Axon's  study  of  the  Mohammedan  Gospel  of 
Barnabas. 

l2r*  t&r*  t£r* 

Those  who  are  interested  in  the  history  of 
Cheshire,  and  more  particularly  of  the  Wirral 
Peninsula,  will  be  glad  to  know  that  there 
is  in  preparation  an  illustrated  work  dealing 
with  the  Dee  and  the  Anglo-Norse  March  of 
Gwynedd  and  England,  with  especial  reference 
to  the  reign  of  King  Athelstan,  by  Mr.  Francis 
W.  T.  Tudsbery,  M.A.,  of  Oriel  College, 
Oxford.  He  places  the  site  of  the  "Battle 
of  Brunanburh  "  in  Wirral,  but  not  at  Brom- 
borough,  and  that  for  reasons  which  to  him 
appear  to  be  conclusive.  He  states  that  all 
the  early  accounts  appear  to  confirm  each 
other,  and  that  such  are  corroborated  by  the 
natural  features  of  the  district.  Exactly 
correct,  Mr.  Tudsbery  tells  us,  is  the  minute 
description  of  the  battle-ground  in  Egils  Saga. 
He  says  that  this  also  is  forcibly  shown  by 
divers  additional  passages  from  manuscripts 
at  Copenhagen  and  elsewhere. 

f£T*  t&*  *&* 

The  Paris  correspondent  of  the  Standard, 
writing  under  date  September  8,  says:  "Pro- 
fessor Maspero,  in  the  Debats,  gives  a  most 
interesting  account  of  the  discovery  of  frag- 
ments of  several  Greek  plays  by  Menander 
amongst  the  ruins  of  the  village  of  Komi- 
shagon.  These  fragments  are  written  on 
papyri,  and  have  been  partially  deciphered  by 
M.  Lefebvre,  whose  predecessor,  M.  Quibell, 
had  already  disinterred  various  instruments 
and  articles  belonging  to  the  early  Coptic 
era  in  this  district.  About  fifteen  months 
ago  M.  Lefebvre  came  upon  a  few  dilapidated 
shreds  of  papyrus,  on  which  he  at  once 
recognised  pieces  of  dialogue  of  an  unknown 
Greek  play.  He  at  once  applied  for  funds 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  extend  his  explora- 
tions, and  bought  up  a  whole  quarter  of  the 
village.  A  few  days'  work  brought  to  light 
some  thirty  rolls  of  Greek  and  Coptic  papyrus 
and  several  manuscript  folios  with  the  name 
of  Menander. 

t2P  *2r*  W* 

"  The  discovery  was  kept  secret  for  nearly  a 
year,  to  give  the  savants  time  to  decipher  the 
manuscripts  and  continue  their  excavations. 


The  family  papers  found  with  the  manuscripts 
belonged  to  a  local  lawyer  who  lived  in  the 
sixth  century,  whose  property  seems  mostly  to 
have  been  situated  at  Antinoe,  which  is  at 
some  distance  from  Aphroditopolis  the 
Lesser,  as  Komishagon  was  then  called. 
Consequently,  if  any  further  fragments  exist, 
they  are  more  likely  to  be  found  at  Antinoe. 
With  indomitable  patience,  M.  Lefebvre  has 
reconstituted  and  translated  thirteen  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  verses,  and  he  judges  that 
they  belong  to  four  comedies — The  Epitre- 
pontes  ("  The  Judgment  "),  The  Perikeiro- 
mene  ("  The  Shorn  Sheep"),  and  probably  to 
The  Hero  and  The  Satnian  The  Epitre- 
pontes  is  a  play  in  six  acts,  and  treats  of 
a  theme  beloved  of  Greek  playwrights  :  a 
betrayed  maiden,  a  child  whose  birth  is  a 
secret  to  everybody  but  the  mother ;  and 
the  complications  which  arise  give  the  author 
free  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  imagination 
and  art  in  dialogue." 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  jftetos. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
The  first  paper  in  vol.  xxxvii.,  part  2,  of  the  Journal 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland  is 
"Motes  and  Norman  Castles  in  Ireland,"  in  which 
Mr.  G.  H.  Orpen  at  considerable  length  reviews  the 
discussion  as  to  the  Norman  theory  versus  the  early 
or  prehistoric  theory  as  to  the  origin  of  the  motes  in 
both  England  and  Ireland,  strongly  supports  the 
arguments  already  put  forth  so  ably  by  Mrs.  Armitage, 
Mr.  Round,  and  other  archeeologists,  and  controverts 
those  of  the  principal  writer  on  the  other  side — so  far, 
at  least,  as  Ireland  is  concerned — Mr.  T.  J.  Westropp. 
Mr.  Orpen's  paper  is  followed  by  a  second  part  of 
"  The  Principal  Ancient  Castles  of  the  Co.  Limerick," 
illustrated,  by  his  opponent,  Mr.  T.J.  Westropp.  Next 
come  two  short  illustrated  articles — "Abbey  Owney, 
Co.  Limerick,"  by  the  Rev.  St.  John  Seymour,  and 
"  Moulds  for  Primitive  Spear-heads  found  in  the  Co. 
Tyrone,"  by  Mr.  G.  Coffey.  These  are  followed  by 
the  longest  paper  in  the  part — "  A  Descriptive  List 
of  the  Early  Irish  Crosses,"  by  Mr.  H.  S.  Crawford. 
This  valuable  detailed  list  is  drawn  up  in  order  of 
provinces  and  counties,  the  exact  position  and  a  brief 
description  of  each  cross  being  given,  with  references, 
where  possible,  to  more  detailed  notices  in  various 
archaeological  publications.  The  list  is  illustrated  by 
four  fine  plates  and  thirteen  other  figures. 


39° 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


The  recently  formed  Manorial  Society  has  lost  no 
lime  in  issuing  the  first  of  its  monographs.  This  is 
Part  I.  of  a  series  of  Lists  of  Manor  Court  Rolls  in 
Private  Hands,  which  have  been  compiled  from  in- 
formation derived  from  original  sources,  and  supplied 
to  the  Society  by  the  actual  custodians  of  the  court 
rolls  of  the  manors  specified.  In  this  part  of  twenty- 
one  well-printed  quarto  pages,  with  five  pages  of 
introductory  matter,  instalments  are  given  of  lists 
from  twenty-one  English  and  Welsh  counties.  The 
numbers  and  descriptions  of  the  rolls  are  given,  and 
the  dates  of  the  periods  to  which  they  relate  are  also 


The  Journal  of  the  County  Kildare  Arch<cological 
Society,  Vol.  V.,  No.  4,  is  highly  creditable  to  the 
small  Society  which  produces  it.  Besides  an  account 
of  the  Society's  proceedings,  notes,  queries,  reviews, 
miscellanea,  and  a  co.  Kildare  ballad  —  all  well 
worth  looking  through — there  are  three  papers.  One 
is  the  continuation  of  the  "Autobiography  of  Pole 
Cosby,  of  Stradbally,  Queen's  County,"  a  mirror  of 
Irish  eighteenth-century  life  ;  Lord  Walter  Fitz- 
Gerald,  gives  a  very  interesting  account,  with  several 
excellent  illustrations  of  "  Belan  " — an  ancient  house, 
the   ruins  of  which  stand  half-way  between   Kilkea 


THE  CHIMNEY-PIECE   IN   OLD   BAWN   HOUSE,    1635. 
(From  a  photograph  by  Mason,  Dublin.) 


stated.  Occasionally  items  of  local  information  are 
added.  It  can  thus  be  seen  how  valuable  a  work  will 
be  done  by  the  publication  of  these  lists  in  supple- 
menting, those  already  to  be  found  in  public  collec- 
tions, and  thus  indicating  the  nature  and  extent  and 
whereabouts  of  a  great  mass  of  material  of  the 
greatest  importance  both  for  genealogical  research 
and  for  the  study  of  manorial  and  agrarian  history. 
We  are  glad  to  know  that  considerable  progress  has 
been  made  in  the  preparation  of  the  Society's  pro- 
jected Bibliographia  Manerialis.  Antiquaries  all 
over  the  country  should  support  the  Manorial  Society. 


Castle  and  Moone  Abbey,  co.  Kildare ;  and  Sir  A. 
Vicars,  Ulster  King-of-Arms,  describes  Old  Bawn 
House,  co.  Dublin,  a  quaint  specimen  of  early  seven- 
teenth-century domestic  architecture  seldom  met  with 
in  Ireland.  The  account  of  the  house,  which  is  built 
in  the  form  of  the  letter  H,  is  interesting,  for  the  old 
building  possesses  some  noteworthy  features.  Among 
these  are  a  very  fine  old  carved  oak  staircase  in  the 
Jacobean  style,  and  the  remarkable  plaster  chimney- 
piece  in  high  relief,  which  bears  the  date  1635 — 
probably  the  year  in  which  the  house  was  built.  The 
illustration   of  this   very  curious   chimney-piece   we 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


39i 


are  courteously  allowed  to  reproduce  on  page  3Q0. 
"Numbers  of  workmen  are  represented,"  says  Sir  A. 
Vicars,  "as  busily  engaged  with  ladders,  spades, 
trowels,  hods,  and  other  building  implements,  while 
some  are  carrying  stones.  It  has  been  remarked  that 
every  one  holds  a  sword,  spear,  or  dagger  in  one 
hand  while  working  with  the  other.  This  would 
suggest  a  reference  to  the  fourth  chapter  of  Nehemiah, 
and  to  represent  the  building  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
It  seems  quite  natural  that  Archbishop  Bulkeley,  or 
his  son  the  Archdeacon  [it  is  doubtful  which  built  the 
house],  should  have  chosen  such  a  Scriptural  subject 
to  adorn  the  walls  of  the  house." 

«•$  *>fl  *>tf 

The  new  part  of  the  Journal  of  the  Friends'  Historical 
Society,  vol.  iv.,  No.  3,  contains  a  second  part  of 
"Episodes  in  the  Life  of  May  Drummond " — an 
eighteenth-century  woman  preacher  who  had  a  some- 
what chequered  career  ;  notes  on  "  Visits  of  Ameri- 
can Ministers  to  Europe,"  "  Presentations  of  Quakers 
in  Episcopal  Visitations,  1662-1679,"  bibliographical 
notes  on  "  Friends  in  Current  Literature,"  and  notes 
and  extracts  on  many  other  aspects  of  both  the  earlier 
and  later  history  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
The  annual  gathering  of  the  Cambrian  Archaeo- 
logical Association  opened  at  Llangefni,  Anglesey, 
on  Tuesday,  August  27,  with  a  visit  to  the  Brynsiencyn 
district,  where  several  churches  and  cromlechs  were 
inspected.  Of  the  two  cromlechs  inspected,  that  at 
a  farm  called  Bryn  Celli  Ddu  proved  of  considerable 
interest.  The  cromlech  stands  upon  a  slight  elevation, 
and  within  a  little  grove  of  trees.  It  appears  to  be 
of  the  kind  known  as  double,  consisting  probably  of  a 
subterranean  passage  leading  to  the  principal  structure. 
The  accounts  of  Rowlands  and  Pennant  having  been 
read,  Sir  Henry  Howorth  spoke  of  the  unusual 
character  of  the  remains  that  had  been  discovered, 
which  showed  that  a  burial  by  cremation  had  taken 
place  as  well  as  one  by  interment.  This  reminded 
him  of  the  Roman  custom  of  certain  families  burn- 
ing their  dead,  whilst  other  families  at  the  same 
period  buried  their  dead.  Professor  Sayce  considered 
that  the  remains  pointed  to  the  cromlech  being  of  the 
transitional  period  between  the  Stone  Age  and  the 
Early  Bronze  Age,  the  addition  to  the  cromlech  proper 
being  of  the  later  period.  After  the  Roman  camp  at 
Caerleb  had  been  visited,  the  party  proceeded  to 
Llanidan,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Harold  Macbeth, 
where  the  visitors  were  entertained  to  lunch.  The 
old  chapel  of  Llanidan,  within  the  grounds  of  the 
more  modern  house,  is  of  great  interest.  It  consists 
of  the  western  end  of  what  must  have  been  a  rather 
large  church  for  Anglesey.  The  eastern  end  has 
vanished,  except  for  an  arcading  of  four  depressed 
arches,  which  marks  the  eastern  limb  of  a'fifteenth- 
century  church.  A  north  aisle  was  at  some  time  in 
the  same  century  added  to  the  existing  nave,  and 
these  still  remain.  A  singularly  interesting  relic  is  a 
thirteenth-century  reliquary,  and  in  the  porch  is  a 
stoup  said  never  to  become  altogether  dry.  The 
oldest  architectural  feature  is  certainly  the  south  porch. 
Later,   Castell   Farm,    where   human    remains    were 


found  seven  years  ago  entombed  under  four  slabs,  the 
sides  of  the  interior  being  also  of  slabs,  and  the 
churches  at  Llengeinwen,  Newborough,  and  Llangaffo 
were  visited.  In  the  evening  the  annual  meeting  was 
held,  under  the  presidency  of  Sir  R.  H.  Williams 
Bulkeley.  After  various  complimentary  speeches,  Pro- 
fessor Anwyl  read  an  abstract  of  an  exhaustive  paper 
on  "The  Early  Settlers  of  Anglesey." — The  second 
day,  August  28,  which  was  again  fine,  was  occupied  by 
an  excursion  to  Llanerchymedd,  Llanengrad  Church 
(the  smallest  in  the  island),  Llanfihangel  y  Beirdd 
Church,  Llangwyllog  (where  a  somewhat  puzzling 
inscribed  stone  was  examined),  and  the  Romano- 
British  enclosure — fort  or  early  village — at  Llugwy, 
near  the  residence  of  Lord  Boston,  where  a  paper 
was  read  by  Mr.  N.  Baines,  who  had  conducted  the 
excavations,  and  considerable  discussion  took  place. 
Sir  Henry  Howorth  declared  that  no  one  had  before 
seen  anything  exactly  like  that  fort,  anything  so 
well  excavated  or  so  well  displayed.  The  coins  dis- 
covered pointed  to  the  Roman  occupation  of  the 
ground  in  the  fourth  century.  As  to  Mr.  Baines's 
suggestion  of  Irish  occupation,  it  was  very  strange 
that  the  discoveries  made  did  not  include  the  fibulae 
and  brooches  which  were  among  the  safest  indicators 
of  the  first  iron  period,  the  trumpet  patterns  on  which 
had  never  since  been  excelled.  He  regarded  the 
buildings  as  Roman,  though  the  round  chambers 
seemed  very  much  like  Irish.  Professor  Sayce  con- 
gratulated Lord  Boston  upon  having  such  unique 
remains  on  his  estate.  He  could  not  think  that  the 
settlement  there  was  before  the  late  Roman  period, 
the  coins  pointing  probably  to  the  fourth  century. 
He  was  also  of  opinion  that  the  settlers  were  engaged 
in  working  mines,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
they  used  iron  for  mending  pottery.  Professor  Anwyl 
and  Colonel  Morgan  concurred  as  to  the  settle- 
ment being  of  the  Romano-British  period,  and  Mr. 
Willoughby  Gardner  described  the  fort  as  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  things  discovered  in  that  part  of  the 
world  for  a  long  time.  Mr.  Baines  was  complimented 
on  all  hands  upon  his  paper  and  his  work  at  the 
fortification. — On  the  third  day,  August  29,  the 
weather  was  very  unfavourable,  and  only  part  of 
the  programme  was  carried  out.  The  ancient  church 
of  Llanddyfuan,  which  has  an  elaborately  sculptured 
south  door,  and  the  great  camp  at  Din  Llugwy,  were 
visited — the  latter  in  drenching  rain. — The  next 
day,  the  30th,  was  gloriously  fine,  and  the  churches 
at  Llanbabo,  Llanfechell,  Llaneilian,  and  elsewhere 
were  visited.  At  Llanbabo  the  party  saw  one  of  the 
only  two  churches  which  are  unrestored  in  Anglesey. 
It  occupies  a  lonely  ridge,  and  takes  its  name  from 
King  Pabo,  one  of  the  very  earliest  of  the  British 
saints.  Stone  carvings  of  what  are  supposed  to  be 
the  faces  of  Pabo  and  his  son  and  daughter  are  to  be 
seen  immediately  above  the  arch  of  the  door.  The 
carvings  are  emblazoned  with  a  zigzag  ornamentation, 
which  Sir  Henry  Howorth  thought  was  pre-Norman, 
and  was  due  to  the  influence  of  Danish  builders  after 
the  Danes  became  Christians.  Mr.  Harold  Hughes 
said  that  such  churches  were  not  found  in  Snowdonia. 
Resting  against  the  south  wall,  inside  the  church,  is 
the  slab  of  stone  which  we  are  told  once  covered 
Pabo's  grave.  This  tombstone  represents  Pabo  with 
a  crown  on  his  head  and  a  sceptre  in  his  hand,  and 


392 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


the  inscription  begins,  "  Hie  Jacet  pabo  post  prud," 
the  remaining  words  being  now  illegible.  Weekly 
services  are  still  held  in  this  ancient  edifice.  A  fund 
is  being  raised  to  put  it  in  a  state  of  repair,  but  many 
members  of  the  Association  were  so  particularly 
struck  with  its  unique  character  that  as  archaeologists 
they  doubted  the  desirability  of  interfering  in  any 
way  with  the  fabric.  Llaneilian  Church  was  in  some 
respects  the  most  remarkable  church  viewed  during 
the  week.  The  main  edifice  is  a  small  building, 
consisting  of  nave,  chancel,  and  north  transept,  all  of 
the  late  fifteenth  century,  and  showing  strong  simi- 
larities to  the  churches  of  Clynnog  and  Holyhead. 
In  place  of  a  south  transept  is  a  small  chapel  of 
earlier  date,  joined  to  the  south  wall  of  the  church 
by  a  lean-to  passage.  This  chapel  is  not  at  right 
angles  to  the  church,  but  inclines  eastwards.  The  late 
Mr.  Bloxam  regarded  this  chapel  as  an  anchorite's 
hold.  The  church  has  a  fine  Perpendicular  screen, 
in  unusually  good  condition,  and  also  a  dog-gate. 

At  a  general  meeting  in  the  evening  the  Rev.  Canon 
Rupert  Morris  was  elected  editor  of  the  Archaologia 
Cambrensis  in  place  of  the  late  Mr.  Romilly  Allen, 
and  Monmouth  was  fixed  for  the  place  of  meeting  for 
next  year. 

«0£  *£  *$ 

On  August  24  members  of  the  Lancashire  and 
Cheshire  Antiquarian  Society  visited  Holford 
Hall,  an  old  moated  mansion  held  by  the  Chol- 
mondeleys  till  1739,  and  Nether  Peover  Old  Church, 
under  the  leadership  of  the  hon.  secretary  (Mr. 
George  C.  Yates).  Mr.  Yates  read  a  paper  on 
timbered  churches  in  this  country,  which  had  been 
reproduced  in  a  circular,  accompanied  with  drawings 
by  Mr.  G.  H.  Rowbotham.  The  illustrations  were 
of  Holford  Hall,  Nether  Peover  Church,  and  the 
churches  of  Marlon,  Denton,  Siddington,  and  War- 
burton.  As  Mr.  Yates  said,  churches  built  of  timber 
are  rare  in  England.  No  fewer  than  six  are  within 
easy  distance  of  Manchester,  five  of  them  in  Cheshire. 
They  are  the  churches  of  Denton,  Chadkirk,  War- 
burton,  Marton,  Siddington,  and  Nether  Peover. 
The  lineal  descendants  of  the  Scandinavian  stave- 
kirke,  these  timbered  churches,  Mr.  Yates  said,  were 
formerly  to  be  met  with  in  all  parts  of  our  woodland 
counties,  but  now  the  total  number  existing  scarcely 
exceeded  a  score.  Few  of  those  remaining  were  of 
greater  interest  than  the  old  church  of  St.  Oswald, 
Peover.  Built,  it  was  believed,  about  1296,  its 
sturdy  timbers,  iron-hard,  bade  fair  to  outlast,  and 
had  already  outlasted,  many  a  stately  fane  which 
was  quarry-hewn.  An  interesting  relic  preserved  in 
Peover  Church  which  was  inspected  is  an  old  oaken 
parish  chest,  of  which  the  tradition  runs  that  no 
woman  is  fit  to  be  a  Cheshire  farmer's  wife  unless 
she  can  lift  the  lid  with  one  hand. 

+§  +§  *§ 

On  September  5  a  meeting  of  the  Dorset  Field 
Club  was  held  at  Forde  Abbey.  Members  gathered 
at  Chard  Junction,  where  a  brief  business  meeting 
was  held,  and  then  drove  in  brakes  to  the  Abbey, 
where  a  short  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  Sidney  Heath. 
The  Abbey  was  founded  about  1140  for  Cistercian 
monks  by  Adeliza,  the  daughter  of  Baldwin  de 
Brioniis,  and  grand-niece  of  William  the  Conqueror. 
Mr.    Heath   specially  referred    to    the   chapel,    the 


earliest  portion  of  the  present  buildings,  the  "  Monks' 
Walk,"  the  cloisters,  entrance-porch,  Great  Hall,  and 
Great  Chamber ;  and  to  the  extensive  building  work 
of  the  last  Abbot,  Thomas  Chard.  A  brief  account 
was  given  of  the  Dissolution,  of  the  post- Reformation 
history  of  the  Abbey  and  its  owners,  and  of  its 
tapestries  and  other  valuable  contents.  After  the 
reading  of  the  paper  Mr.  Freeman  Roper  took  the 
members  in  parties  round  the  Abbey,  and  pointed 
out  various  interesting  details.  Thereafter  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Roper  entertained  their  visitors  to  tea  prior  to 
the  return  drive  to  Chard  Junction. 

*>$  **§  *$ 

The  fourth  summer  meeting  of  the  Durham  and 
Northumberland  Archaeological  Society  took 
place  on  August  20  at  Chillingham.  The  members 
from  various  parts  of  the  two  counties  assembled  at 
Alnwick  Station,  and  from  there  drove  by  way  of 
Eglingham  and  the  valley  of  Breamish  to  Old  Bewick, 
where  the  small  Norman  chapel  was  examined. 
Thence  they  went  to  Chillingham  Castle,  the  property 
of  the  Earl  of  Tankerville,  permission  to  inspect 
which  had  been  kindly  given  by  Mr.  Saxton  White, 
the  occupier.  Sir  Henry  Howorth,  on  being  asked 
to  speak,  said  it  had  always  been  to  him  a  wish  that 
he  should  see  that  wonderful  place.  He  doubted 
whether  there  was  any  other  castle  so  widely  known  all 
over  the  country — byname,  at  all  events — as  Chilling- 
ham, partly  because  of  its  own  beauty,  and  also 
because  it  contained  the  last  of  the  great  herd  of  these 
ancient  wild  cattle,  the  history  of  which  was  so 
romantic.  He  should  like  to  say  a  word  about  the 
singular  facts  connected  with  these  castellated  houses. 
The  old  notion  that  when  the  Normans  landed  in 
this  country  they  built  stone  houses  was  now  com- 
pletely exploded.  The  only  castles  built  by  them  in 
Normandy  were  made  of  wood.  After  landing  in 
this  country,  the  only  stone  castles  built  by  them  were 
three  or  four  royal  castles,  specially  built  by  William 
the  Conqueror  to  protect  special  places.  All  the  rest 
of  the  castles  were  staked  forts  made  of  wood.  So  it 
went  on  for  some  time.  The  reason  why  they  became 
more  or  less  impossible  was  because  they  were  liable 
to  be  burnt.  Early  chroniclers  always  spoke  of 
castles  being  burnt.  After  castles  came  to  be  built 
of  stone  they  formed  large  courtyards,  and  in  the 
Middle  Ages  there  were,  he  believed,  120  horses 
stabled  in  that  at  Chillingham.  In  the  county  of 
Northumberland  it  seemed  a  matter  of  amazement 
that,  situated  so  near  Scotland,  there  should  have 
grown  up  a  great  number  of  manor-houses  with  no 
defence  at  all.  They  were  called  mansions  in  the 
early  records.  In  Stephen's  reign  and  Henry  I.  and 
his  sons'  time  the  nobles  were  prevented  from  build- 
ing any  more  castles.  It  was  shortly  after  the 
tremendous  battle  of  Neville's  Cross  that  Edward, 
knowing  that  the  North  Country  was  subject  to  these 
attacks  from  Scotland,  and  that  he  could  not  protect 
them,  gave  permission  for  the  aristocracy  to  embattle 
their  houses.  In  the  next  forty  years  almost  every 
large  house  became  an  embattled  house.  Chilling- 
ham Castle  was  a  grand  embattled  mansion.  It  was 
connected  with  the  extraordinary  family  the  Greys. 
The  Greys  and  an  Oxford  family  were  probably  more 
mixed  up  with  the  history  of  England  from  the  end 
of  the  fourteenth  century  than  any  other  great  feudal 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


393 


family.  The  portraits  in  Chillingham  Castle  were  of 
extraordinary  interest.  There  was  a  magnificent  por- 
trait by  Sir  G.  Kneller  of  Judge  Jeffreys  in  Lord 
Chancellor's  robes.  It  was  the  portrait  of  a  Lord 
Chancellor,  but  he  was  exceedingly  doubtful  that  it 
was  Lord  Jeffreys.  It  seemed]  impossible  to  asso- 
ciate with  a  face  such  as  they  saw  the  deeds  of 
Judge  Jeffreys.  Then  there  was  the  portrait  of  a 
naughty  lady,  Lady  Castlemaine,  who  led  Charles  II.  a 
tremendous  life.  The  wild  cattle  were  of  extraordinary 
interest.  In  early  times  there  were  a  great  number 
of  wild  cattle  in  these  realms.  They  were  described 
as  with  enormous  horns.  This  animal  disappeared 
from  Britain,  except  so  far  as  was  transmitted  in 
domestic  cattle.  That  domestic  ox  was  found  in 
various  parts  of  Wales.  At  Chillingham  there  were 
preserved  an  extraordinary  number  of  white  cattle, 
somewhat  wild,  rather  savage,  and  a  little  larger  than 
the  Celtic  ox.  That  this  animal  was  descended  from 
the  prime  genus  was  a  doubtful  matter.  There  was, 
however,  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for  another  theory 
that  the  Romans  introduced  the  animal  into  this 
country.  There  was  the  notion  that  they  brought 
white  cattle  for  the  purpose  of  sacrificing,  and  it  was 
not  uncertain  that  these  Chillingham  cattle  might 
be  descended  from  these.  He  expressed  thanks  to 
Mr.  Saxton  White  for  the  opportunity  given  them  of 
inspecting  the  castle  and  its  treasures. 
*$  «0£  +§ 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Shropshire  Archaeo- 
logical and  Natural  History  Society  the  chair 
was  taken  by  the  Right  Hon.  Lord  Barnard,  the 
President  of  the  Society.  The  annual  report,  which 
was  read  by  the  Rev.  Prebendary  Auden,  F.S.A., 
specially  referred  to  the  repairs  now  being  done  to  the 
tower  of  the  Shrewsbury  Abbey  Church,  and  to  the 
excavations  that  have  lately  been  made  at  Haughmond 
Abbey.  Lord  Barnard  pointed  out  the  great  value  of 
the  study  of  archaeology  to  every  student  of  history,  and 
of  the  evolution  of  the  British  race,  besides  being  in 
itself  a  most  fascinating  and  engrossing  pursuit.  Pre- 
bendary Moss,  the  head  master  of  Shrewsbury  Schools, 
dwelt  on  the  claims  of  archaeology  to  interpret  the 
problems  of  the  present  day.  At  the  close  of  the 
business  meeting  the  Rev.  D.  H.  S.  Cranage,  F.S.A., 
the  Secretary  to  the  Cambridge  University  Extension 
Lectures,  delivered  a  most  lucid  lecture  on  "Life  in 
a  Benedictine  Abbey  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  illustrated 
by  numerous  lantern  -  slides.  There  was  a  large 
attendance  of  members  and  their  friends  at  the 
meeting. 

The  annual  excursion  of  the  same  Society  took 
place  on  August  27,  when  a  pleasant  day  was  spent 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Oswestry,  under  the  guidance 
of  the  Rev.  Prebendary  Auden.  The  party  left 
Shrewsbury  shortly  after  ten  o'clock,  and  reached 
Oswestry  at  10.50.  There  carriages  were  in  waiting 
to  convey  them  to  Llanyblodwell  to  see  the  church. 
The  church  of  St.  Michael  at  Blodwel  is  first 
mentioned  in  1272,  when  it  was  a  chapelry  of 
Oswestry.  The  present  edifice  was  much  altered, 
added  to,  and  adorned  by  the  Rev.  John  Parker  in 
1855,  but  it  retains  a  late  twelfth-century  south  door- 
way, the  door  itself  of  which  bears  the  date  17 13,  an 
arcade  of  probably  the  thirteenth  century,  a  fifteenth- 
century  north  doorway,  and  the  remains  of  a  beautiful 

VOL.  III. 


fifteenth  century  oak  screen,  carved  with  foliage  and 
little  animals.  The  church  has  nave  and  aisle  of 
equal  length  and  height,  as  is  frequent  in  Wales  and 
the  border  country.  There  was  a  connexion  in 
mediaeval  times  between  Llanyblodwel  and  Pennant 
Melangell— the  Church  of  St.  Monacella  (Melangell), 
the  patron  saint  of  hares,  and  it  is  noticeable  that  the 
figure  of  a  hare  occurs  on  the  screen,  and  on  a  sculp- 
tured stone  in  the  churchyard.  The  tithes  of  Bryn, 
in  the  parish  of  Llanyblodwel,  were  given  to  Pennant 
to  provide  oats  for  the  parson's  horse.  From  Llany- 
blodwel the  party  drove  to  Sycharth,  the  site  of  one 
of  the  palaces  of  Owen  Glyndwr,  thence  to  Llansilin 
to  view  the  church,  and  afterwards  to  Hen  Dinas, 
better  known  as  Old  Oswestry,  where,  in  some  fine 
old  earthworks,  the  party  saw  much  to  interest  them. 
Oswestry  was  again  reached  a  few  minutes  after  five 
o'clock. 

+S  +$  +$ 

The  monthly  meeting  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of 
Antiquaries  was  held  on  August  28,  Mr.  R.  Welford 
presiding.  Dr.  T.  M.  Allison  presented  the  Society 
with  a  hatchet  or  wooden  barn  shovel  and  a  Suffolk 
corn  dibbler,  and  gave  a  paper  on  "  The  Flail  and  its 
Kindred  Tools,  from  a  Historical  and  Literary  Point  of 
View."  Dr.  F.  J.  Haverfield,  of  Oxford,  made  a  state- 
ment in  respect  of  excavations  near  Corbridge.  There 
had  been,  he  said,  two  interesting  Roman  excavations 
this  summer  in  Northumberland,  the  one  the  little 
camp  examined  by  Mr.  J.  P.  Gibson,  and  the  other 
one  the  more  extensive  site  at  Corbridge.  He  desired 
to  give  a  short  interim  account  of  the  work  at  the 
latter.  The  site  consisted  of  a  flat  hill-top  and  sloping 
bank,  with  the  River  Tyne  flowing  at  the  bottom. 
The  work  fell  into  three  parts.  By  the  river,  the 
bridge  which  brought  Watling  Street  from  Durham  on 
the  south  had  been  considerably  traced.  The  work 
was  very  difficult,  because  it  was  necessary  to  dig 
many  feet  into  the  clay  and  soil  which  had  been 
washed  from  the  hill-top.  There  was  no  doubt  that 
the  solid  masonry  represented  the  course  of  Watling 
Street.  Secondly,  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  was  a  conflux 
of  buildings  partly  provided  with  hypocausts,  water- 
supply,  heating,  latrines— probably  not  baths,  but 
extensive  dwellings,  with  bathing  arrangements 
attached.  It  was  extremely  difficult  to  understand, 
because  it  had  been  built  and  rebuilt  at  two  different 
times.  Walls  crossed  and  recrossed,  and  the  floors 
overlay  each  other  in  a  very  puzzling  way.  On  the 
top  there  was  one  feature  in  this  range  of  buildings 
worthy  of  special  note.  This  was  a  deep  cistern  with 
the  figures  of  a  lion  devouring  a  stag.  It  was  an 
extremely  good  piece  of  work.  Apparently  the  lion's 
mouth  was  used  as  a  water-pipe.  The  third  feature 
was  the  top  of  the  hill,  where  there  was  a  large  mass 
of  buildings,  which,  as  yet,  had  only  been  partly 
touched.  There  was  a  6-feet  wall,  with  a  plinth  out- 
side, which  might,  perhaps,  have  formed  part  of 
the  enclosure  for  the  whole  place.  The  foundations 
were  well  preserved,  and  he  hoped  they  would  by 
the  excavation  of  them  be  able  to  show  them  the 
ground  -  plan  of  the  camp.  A  great  quantity  of 
pottery  had  been  found.  It  was  of  some  period 
after  the  earlier  part  of  the  second  century.  There 
was  no  trace  up  to  the  present  of  anything  of  the  first 
century.     There  were  some  inscriptions,  one  of  about 

3  d 


394 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


A.D.  140,  like  one  at  Rochester.  The  slab  was  large, 
and  had  been  an  extremely  good  example  of  the 
carving  and  lettering.  In  conclusion,  he  said  the 
excavations  added  to  their  knowledge  of  the  Roman 
occupation  of  the  northern  part  of  England.  He 
hoped  when  the  Society  visited  the  place  there  would 
he  a  great  many  more  discoveries  for  them  to  admire, 
and  they  would  see  that  the  excavations  were  of  great 
interest  and  importance. 

A  hearty  vote  of  thanks  was  given  to  Dr.  Haverfield, 
and  it  was  agreed  to  hold  a  meeting  at  Corbridge  in 
September,  in  conjunction  with  the  Cumberland 
Society  and  in  connexion  with  the  excavations. 

+§  +§  +$ 

The  members  of  the  Derbyshire  Archaeological 
Society  met  at  Swarkeston  early  in  September, 
when  Mr.  George  Bailey,  of  Derby,  read  a  very 
interesting  historical  account  of  the  village  and  its 
chief  features — the  manor-house,  church,  and  bridge. 
In  dwelling  upon  the  former  owners  of  the  manor, 
Mr.  Bailey  told  of  knights  and  others  whose  descen- 
dants are  with  us  even  in  the  present  day,  and  linked 
together  villages  as  far  apart  as  Littleover,  Willing- 
ton,  Breadsall,  and  Ticknall.  The  Harpur  and  other 
monuments  in  the  church,  which  was  almost  entirely 
rebuilt  about  thirty  years  ago,  were  also  described, 
and  much  of  the  family  history  of  those  whose  names 
appear  thereon  was  narrated.  Furthermore,  Mr. 
Bailey  gave  an  account  of  the  bridge  and  earth- 
works, of  the  battle  in  the  vicinity  between  the 
Royalists  and  Parliamentarians  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  of  the  advance  guard  of  the  Young 
Pretender's  Army  reaching  the  bridge  in  1745,  just 
at  the  moment  when  Charles  Edward  Stuart  decided 
upon  retreating  northward.  Swarkeston,  it  may  also 
be  mentioned,  gave  birth  to  a  poet  named  Bancroft, 
whose  family  was  very  ancient  and  honourable. 
According  to  the  late  Mr.  John  Joseph  Briggs,  who 
formerly  resided  at  King's  Newton,  and  was  a  poet 
and  historian,  Bancroft's  family  lived  in  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries  on  Sinfin  Moor.  They  were 
accustomed  to  bury  at  Chellaston,  and  in  the  village 
church  there  used  to  be  several  slabs  of  gypsum  to 
different  members  lying  in  the  aisles,  having  black- 
letter  inscriptions  and  dates  about  1500.  Mr.  Briggs 
further  wrote,  nearly  fifty  years  ago:  "Bancroft's 
poetical  works  are  now  very  rare,  and  we  only  know 
of  a  single  copy,  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Llewellyn 
Jewitt,  Esq.,  of  Winster."  Mr.  Jewitt  died  many 
years  ago,  and  his  valuable  library  was  dispersed. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  would  be  interesting 
to  learn  whether  this  rare  copy  of  Bancroft's  poems 
is  now  extant,  and  if  so,  to  whom  it  belongs. 

*H$  ^  ^$ 

The  members  of  the  Bradford  Historical  and 
Antiquarian  Society  made  an  excursion  on  Sep- 
tember 7,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  C.  A.  Federer, 
to  Rookes  Halls,  Norwood  Green,  and  High  Fearnley. 
Mr.  Federer  gave  a  brief  account  of  the  history  of  the 
Rookes  family. 

+$  *$  *$ 

The  members  of  the  East  Herts  Archaeological 
Society  visited  Walkern  and  Ardeley  on  August  22. 
At  Walkern  Church  Mr.  S.  B.  Chittenden  read  some 
notes  upon  the  fabric,  which  presents  sundry  features 


of  interest,  including  a  veiled  crucifix  in  the  wall, 
which  was  probably  removed  from  a  niche  over  the 
entrance,  an  effigy  of  a  knight  in  chain  armour,  dating 
about  1200,  a  Perpendicular  screen,  Early  English 
piscina,  sedilia,  and  font,  rood -stairs,  monumental 
brasses,  and  parvise  over  the  porch.  From  the 
church  the  party  went  to  the  Manor  Farm,  where 
a  fine  seventeenth-century  columbarium  was  inspected 
by  permission  of  Mr.  Farr,  and  a  short  history  of  this 
manorial  right  was  read  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Andrews. 
Next  came  Walkern  Castle,  a  circular  entrenchment, 
with  well-preserved  fosse  and  vallum  and  slight  traces 
of  flint  and  rubble  foundations.  Mr.  G.  Aylott  de- 
scribed the  site  and  its  purpose.  After  lunch,  Ardeley 
Church  was  visited.  The  building,  which  is  partly 
Norman,  has  fifteenth-century  benches,  a  Perpen- 
dicular screen,  founder's  tomb  and  piscina  in  chancel, 
and  some  interesting  monumental  brasses  and  inscrip- 
tions to  members  of  the  Chauncy  family.  Mr.  Pollard 
read  a  comprehensive  paper  on  the  church,  and  later 
the  party  proceeded  to  Ardeley  Bury,  a  mansion  which 
was  for  several  generations  the  residence  of  the 
Chauncy  family.  It  was  built  by  George  Chauncy 
in  1580  on  the  site  of  an  earlier  house,  and  was 
largely  rebuilt  in  1820.  The  blending  of  Tudor  and 
Gothic  is  highly  picturesque. 

On  September  12  a  visit  was  paid  to  Hertford, 
where  Christ's  Hospital,  All  Saints'  Church,  and 
Hertford  Castle  were  inspected.  Later,  at  The 
Lombard  House,  Bull  Plain,  the  Mayor  unveiled  a 
tablet  to  the  memory  of  Sir  Henry  Chauncy,  the 
Hertfordshire  historian,  and  spoke  on  his  life  and 
work. 

^  ^v*  ^ 

The  Sussex  Archaeological  Society  held  a  very 
successful  meeting  in  the  Eastbourne  district  on  Sep- 
tember 9.  Assembling  at  Eastbourne  railway-station, 
the  party  drove  first  to  the  ancient  parish  church  of 
St.  Mary.  When  this  building  was  reached,  Mr.  P.  M. 
Johnston,  who  had  undertaken  to  describe  its  features, 
had  not  arrived,  and  accordingly  the  Rev.  W.  Budgen 
stepped  into  the  breach  and  gave  an  interesting  sketch 
of  its  early  history  from  the  day  when,  in  1054,  King 
Edward  the  Confessor  made  a  grant  of  a  church  and 
its  endowment  to  the  Abbot  of  Fecamp,  in  Normandy. 
Mr.  Johnston  arrived  shortly  afterwards,  and  continued 
the  story,  explaining  that  in  1 160  the  work  of  rebuild- 
ing the  church  was  undertaken,  an  operation  which 
lasted  some  twenty-five  years.  The  earliest  feature  of 
the  church  as  it  now  stands  is  the  chancel  arch.  Mr. 
Johnston  drew  attention  to  the  remarkable  suite  of 
mouldings  on  the  arch — the  nebule  ornament  of  the 
outer  order,  and  the  chevron  or  zigzag  of  the  inner. 
The  nebule  ornament,  he  explained,  is  not  very  often 
met  with,  and  this  is,  indeed,  the  only  instance  of  its 
occurrence  in  Sussex.  Other  peculiarities  noted  by 
the  speaker  were  the  remarkable  deviation  to  the 
north  of  the  axis  of  the  chancel  and  the  step  down 
into  the  chancel — the  latter  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the 
fall  of  the  ground  towards  the  north-east.  A  great 
number  of  fish  markings  in  the  stone  on  the  arches  of 
the  south  side  of  the  chancel  suggested  that  they  were 
built  with  the  proceeds  of  a  toll  on  fish.  The  nave 
was  of  later  date,  and  the  style  became  fully  de- 
veloped Early  English,  whereas  in  the  chancel  it  was 
the  earlier,  simpler,  and  far  more  beautiful  work  of 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


395 


the  Transitional  Norman  period.  The  occurrence  of 
a  clerestory  was  unusual  at  this  early  date.  Mr. 
Johnston  also  drew  attention  to  the  almost  unrivalled 
early  screenwork  between  the  arches  of  the  chancel ; 
the  flamboyant  window  in  the  east  wall  of  the  chapel, 
which  he  had  the  pleasure  of  restoring  from  a  very 
mutilated  state  a  few  years  ago  ;  the  perfect  rood-stair 
turret  on  the  north  of  the  nave  ;  the  second  rood-stair 
in  the  south-west  pier  of  the  chancel  ;  the  Decorated 
font,  the  Easter  sepulchre  on  the  north,  and  the  range 
of  piscinas  and  sedilia  on  the  south  of  the  chancel. 

A  hurried  visit  was  paid  to  the  quaint  old  parsonage- 
house  near  by,  and  also  to  the  crypt  under  the  Lamb 
Inn,  presumed  to  be  part  of  the  original  thirteenth- 
century  inn.  The  drive  was  continued  to  Langney 
Farm,  Westham  Church  (described  by  Mr.  Johnston), 
and  Pevensey  Castle,  where  Mr.  Salzmann  briefly 
outlined  the  history  of  the  stronghold,  and  gave  an 
account  of  the  results  of  the  recent  excavations.  After 
luncheon  the  party  visited  Pevensey  Church  and 
Otham  Farm,  and  were  hospitably  entertained  to  tea 
at  Priesthaus  and  Glenleigh. 

+§      ^      ^ 

On  September  ^  the  members  of  the  Halifax 
Antiquarian  Society  had  an  excursion  to 
Todmorden.  The  old  church  was  the  first  place 
visited.  The  Rev.  Canon  Russell  very  kindly 
allowed  the  seventeenth-century  parish  registers  to  be 
seen.  These  were  commenced  in  1666  by  the  Rev. 
Henry  Krabtree,  and  contain  some  very  singular 
entries.  The  Rev.  J.  Midgley,  M.A.,  read  a  short 
account  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Krabtree's  career  and  a 
description  of  an  almanack  which  he  published,  a 
copy  of  which  was  kindly  lent  by  Mr.  J.  Horsfall 
Turner.  Leaving  the  church,  the  Free  Library  was 
visited.  Here,  in  a  show-case,  is  a  very  interesting 
collection  of  burial  urns,  etc.,  found  in  an  earth 
circle  near  Cross  Stone  Church.  These  were 
described,  and  the  party  withdrew  to  a  room  where  a 
number  of  photographs  of  places  of  interest  were  on 
view,  and  also  a  most  interesting  collection  of  books 
belonging  to  Mr.  Ormerod,  among  the  latter  being 
Halifax  and  its  Gibbet  Law,  1708,  17 12,  and  1761 
(the  earlier  editions  are  very  rare),  The  Antiquities  of 
the  Town  of  Halifax  in  Yorkshire,  1738,  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Wright,  several  very  minute-books 
written  by  members  of  the  Bronte  family  (these  were 
in  manuscript,  the  writing  being  so  fine  that  a 
magnifying- glass  was  necessary  to  enable  them  to  be 
read),  besides  a  number  of  others.  Todmorden  Hall, 
the  seat  of  a  branch  of  the  Radcliffe  family,  was 
then  visited.  The  newer  portion  of  the  building  was 
empty  ;  this,  and  the  adjoining  and  older  portion, 
were  occupied  by  Mr.  Ashworth  and  his  brother,  the 
latter  having  recently  died.  In  an  oak-panelled 
room  in  the  newer  portion  is  a  large  overmantel  of 
carved  oak,  dated  1603,  the  centre  portion  consisting 
of  a  canopy,  beneath  which  is  a  shield  of  arms,  and  on 
a  ribbon  the  motto,  "  natale.  solv.  vulce.  ama. 
virtvtem."  Along  the  lower  part  of  the  over- 
mantel there  are  several  small  shields  and  the  letters 
S.R.  K.R.  The  older  portion  of  the  house  is  still 
furnished,  the  taste  of  the  late  owner  being  for 
specimens  of  the  antique.  The  grounds  of  Stansfield 
Hall  having  been  passed  through,  and  some  reference 
made  to  the  place,  the  party  passed  out  and  took  up 


the  hillside  to  Beanhole  Head  Farm,  where,  by  the 
kindness  of  the  occupants,  the  plaster-work  in  the 
living-room  was  inspected.  This  is,  in  general  detail, 
very  similar  to  what  appears  in  several  old  houses, 
the  royal  arms  and  supporters  being  identical  with 
that  in  Granny  Hall,  near  Brighouse  ;  there  was  also 
the  date  1634,  and  the  initials  of  a  former  owner  and 
his  wife — R.A.S.  Leaving  here,  and  passing  Cross 
Stone  Church,  a  school  building  with  a  carved 
stone  over  a  doorway  was  examined.  At  the  two 
upper  corners  stand  representations  of  a  boy  and  a 
girl,  the  remainder  of  the  stone  being  filled  with  the 
following,  "Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should 
go,  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it," 
and  the  date  1805.  The  stocks  are  by  the  roadside, 
built  into  the  wall  ;  a  delinquent  sitting  therein 
would  be  facing  the  porch  of  the  church.  The  Butt 
Stones  earth  circle  was  visited,  and  thus  down  the 
hill  to  Scaitcliffe  Hall.  This  old  place  is  associated 
with  the  Crossley  family  to  a  very  remote  period. 
Mr.  Ormerod,  who  used  to  live  here,  described  the 
buildings.  The  front  was  erected  about  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century  ;  the  other  portion  had 
been  rebuilt  in  1835,  and  the  interior  reconstructed. 
Adjoining  the  house  there  is  a  small  summer-house  ; 
along  the  front  are  some  stone  pillars  which  about  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  taken  from  the 
old  church  when  the  side-galleries  were  removed. 


Eetrietos  ant)  jftotto 
of  J13eto  IBoofes. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.] 

Some  Dorset  Manor-Houses.  By  Sidney  Heath 
and  W.  de  C.  Prideaux.  Many  drawings  and 
rubbings  from  brasses.  London  :  Bemrose  and 
Sons,  Ltd.,  1907.  Royal  4to.,  pp.  xlii,  280. 
Price  30s.  net. 
This  portly  volume  is  so  handsomely  produced  and 
in  many  ways  is  so  covetable  a  possession  that  we 
feel  loath  even  to  suggest  dissatisfaction.  Yet  we  must 
confess  to  a  certain  sense  of  disappointment  in  one 
respect.  "Dorset,"  says  Mr.  Bosworth  Smith,  in 
his  brief  Foreword,  "  is  rich,  above  all,  in  the  number, 
the  variety,  and  the  beauty  of  its  manor-houses" — a 
statement  with  which  every  one  who  knows  the  beau- 
tiful county  will  heartily  agree.  Many  of  the  genuine 
old  manor-houses  have  fallen  upon  evil  days,  and  are 
now  used  as  simple  farm-houses.  Mr.  Heath,  in  his 
Introduction,  which,  on  the  whole,  is  a  readable  and 
accurate  survey  of  his  subject  and  of  the  history  of 
English  houses  generally,  mentions  this  declension  of 
many  an  old  manor-house  ;  but  he  has  included  very 
few  of  this  class  among  those  here  described  and 
illustrated.  We  would  willingly  have  exchanged  the 
drawings  and  description  of  the  splendid  Canford 
Manor,  which  is,  to  a  very  large  extent,  of  quite 
modern  date,  and  other  houses  which  are  not  manor- 
houses  at  all,  for  drawings  and  careful  descriptions  of 

3  D   2 


396 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


more  of  the  humbler  farm-house  manor-houses.  As 
examples  of  the  latter,  Mr.  Heath  gives  us  Chant- 
marle,  Lower  Waterson,  Poxwell,  and  Wool ;  but  he 
might  well  have  extended  the  list.  In  those  manor- 
houses  which  now  serve  as  farm-houses  it  will  often 
be  found  that  the  internal  arrangements  and  fittings 
have  undergone  much  less  change  than  in  the  larger 
and  more  palatial  examples.  Such  houses  as  King- 
ston Lacy,  for  example,  have  been  so  enlarged  and 
modified  by  successive  owners,  especially  in  recent 
times,  that  they  are  to  a  large  extent  modern 
buildings. 

But  having  relieved  ourselves  of  this  grumble,  we 
have  little  but  praise  for  what  is  here  presented  to  us. 
The  book  includes  twenty  houses,  ranging  from  the 
magnificence  of  Canford  Manor  and  Athelhampton 
and  Melbury,  through  the  lesser  glories  of  Bingham's 
Melcombe  and  Warmwell,  to  the  more  homely  attrac- 
tions of  the  present-day  farm-house  examples  already 
named.  Mr.  Heath,  in  each  case,  gives  a  description 
of  the  building,  an  account  of  the  history  of  the  manor, 
and  of  the  various  associations — literary  and  historical 
— in  which  many  of  these  delightful  old  houses  are 
so  rich.  The  history  of  Kingston  Lacy  is  intimately 
connected  with  that  of  the  Civil  War  ;  Trent  and  the 
story  of  Charles  II.'s  escape  after  the  fatal  day  of 
Worcester  are  inseparable.  One  of  the  most  interest- 
ing houses  here  described  is  that  at  Woodsford,  known 
usually  as  Woodsford  Castle,  which  has  been  so  little 
altered  that  in  many  respects  it  remains,  as  Mr. 
Heath  says,  "an  almost  unique  example  of  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman's  home  during  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries."  Mr.  Heath  also  describes 
briefly,  or  indicates  in  a  few  sentences,  the  wealth  of 
rarities  and  curiosities  to  be  found  within  the  pictur- 
esque and  time-honoured  precincts  of  these  old  country 
mansions,  as,  for  example,  the  furniture  and  bric-a-brac 
at  Parnham  and  elsewhere,  and  the  treasures  of  art 
at  Kingston  Lacy  and  Melbury.  Nor  must  we  forget 
the  beauties  of  such  delightful  old-world  gardens  as 
that  of  Bingham's  Melcombe — a  house  even  yet  so 
secluded  as  to  be  eleven  miles  from  a  railway-station. 
We  have  left  ourselves  but  little  space  to  refer  to 
what,  after  all,  is  the  chief  feature  of  the  volume- 
Mr.  Heath's  drawings.  With  but  few  exceptions — 
where  the  effect  seems  a  trifle  hard — they  are  ad- 
mirable, those  of  architectural  details  being  especially 
successful.  These  counterfeit  presentments  of  some 
of  the  most  charming  old  houses  in  the  country  are  a 
delight  to  the  eye,  and  a  cause  of  gratitude  in  the 
reader.  The  descriptions  of  the  inscriptions  and 
brasses  in  the  churches  of  the  old-time  owners  of  the 
manor-houses  are  by  Mr.  Prideaux,  and  both  the 
descriptions  and  the  plates  of  his  rubbings  from  the 
sepulchral  brasses  are  excellent.  The  general  "get- 
up  "  of  the  book,  which  is  furnished  with  an  index  of 
persons,  is  in  every  way  most  satisfactory. 

*  *  *: 

Jamaican  Song  and  Story.     Collected  and  edited 

by  Walter  Jekyll.     London  :  For  the  Folk-Lore 

Society,  David  Nuit,  1907.     8vo,  pp.  xl,  288. 

Price  10s.  6d.  net. 

This  volume  is  a  collection  of  puzzles  for  the  folk- 

lorist.     The  songs  and  stories,  collected  with  careful 

industry  by  Mr.  Jekyll,  and  here  set  forth  with  the 

music  for  all  the  songs,  are  of  mingled  origin.     The 


collection,  says  Miss  Alice  Werner,  in  an  "  Introduc- 
tion," which  is  not  the  least  valuable  part  of  the 
volume,  "  presents  to  us  a  network  of  interwoven 
strands  of  European  and  African  origin  ;  and  when 
these  have  been  to  some  extent  disentangled,  we  are 
confronted  with  the  further  question,  To  which  of  the 
peoples  of  the  Dark  Continent  may  the  African 
element  be  attributed  ?"  The  double  problem  is  one 
of  considerable  complexity.  Mr.  Jekyll  provides  the 
material  in  the  very  curious  and  entertaining  medley 
of  stories  and  songs  which,  with  very  necessary 
explanatory  footnotes  (themselves  throwing  much 
light  on  negro  habits  and  modes  of  thought),  forms 
the  greater  part  of  the  volume.  Miss  Werner,  in  her 
valuable  Introduction,  and  Mr.  C.  S.  Myers  and 
Miss  Lucy  Broad  wood,  in  their  all  too  brief  remarks 
on  the  music,  which  are  printed  as  appendices,  make 
useful  contributions  towards  the  solving  of  the 
problems  presented  by  the  book.  Folk-lorists  will 
appreciate  the  importance  of  Mr.  Jekyll's  collection 
and  the  value  of  the  elucidatory  matter  ;  others  will 
enjoy  the  quaintnesses  and  strangenesses  of  both 
stories  and  tunes,  which  in  every  case  were  taken 
down  from  the  mouths  of  men  and  boys  in  Mr. 
Jekyll's  employ. 

*     *     * 
The    History   ok   Painting.      By  Dr.    Richard 

Muther.      Translated   by  Dr.    George   Kriehn. 

Illustrated.      London  :  G.    P.    Putnam's   Sons, 

1907.     Two   vols.,   crown  8vo.,  pp.  xxx,   800. 

Price  21s.  net. 
This  is  the  first  and  authorized  English  edition  of  a 
work  published  in  1900  at  Leipzig,  and  we  may  at 
once  say  that  with  its  good  type  and  some  eighty 
well-chosen  photographs  of  great  paintings  it  is  a 
highly  acceptable  contribution  to  the  literature  of 
art.  Without  being  so  cumbrous  as  a  biographical 
dictionary,  it  is  full  of  a  seriously  developed  narrative 
of  the  growth  of  painting  in  Europe  from  the  fourth 
to  the  early  nineteenth  century.  Conceived  upon  the 
characterisically  thorough  plan  of  German  research, 
it  is  yet  full  of  lively  antithesis  and  epigrammatic 
criticism.  There  is  no  tiresome  multiplication  of 
dates,  but  the  great  painters  are  grouped  psychologi- 
cally in  their  schools  and  periods  of  development  ; 
the  years  of  birth  and  death  are  usefully  tabulated  in 
a  full  index  of  names,  which  appears  to  be  the  work 
of  the  editing  translator.  Dr.  Kriehn,  who  has  made 
his  home  in  America,  appears  to  have  happily  sur- 
mounted the  difficulties  of  translation  from  the 
German.  Indeed,  his  text  seems  to  grow  in  lucidity 
and  "verve."  The  balanced  contrast,  for  example, 
between  Hogarth  and  Greuze  near  the  end  of  the 
second  volume  makes  admirable  reading.  It  is 
strange  that  in  so  lengthy  a  work  he  should  have 
been  unable  to  obtain  the  source  of  the  piquant  cita- 
tion of  Dr.  Muther,  given  as  early  as  page  4,  and  we 
have  detected  some  odd  little  flaws  of  style  and  inter- 
pretation in  the  more  obscure  matter  of  the  early 
chapters  on  mediaeval  painting.  But  Dr.  Muther's 
material  is  so  abundant  and  so  freshly  handled  that  it 
is  a  pleasure  to  use  his  work,  not  merely  as  a  book 
of  reference  (valuable  as  it  will  be  to  many  in  that 
capacity),  but  as  a  well-proportioned  treatise  on  one 
of  the  highest  spheres  of  human  activity,  with  passages 
of  literature  attractive  for  its  own  sake.     We  can  read 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


397 


here  of  early  mural  and  glass  painting,  where  "  not 
an  eyelash  of  the  figures  quivers  ;  not  a  feature  be- 
trays that  they  could  hear  prayers  of  men,  graciously 
comfort  or  mercifully  pardon  them."  The  account 
of  Memling  of  Bruges,  with  its  gentle  disposal  of  what 
is  mythical,  and  its  subtle  analysis  of  the  virtues  and 
defects  of  the  Flemish  "  primitives,"  is  an  excellent 
essay  by  itself.  His  studies  show  that  "Savonarola 
is  in  no  wise  to  be  considered  as  the  grave-digger  of 
art,  but  that  the  quattrocento  owes  to  the  religious 
movement  which  emanated  from  him  the  most  refined 
and  subtle  works  of  art  which  it  produced."  Natur- 
ally enough,  his  treatment  of  Germanic  painting 
during  the  Age  of  the  Reformation  is  sympathetic  and 
full.  For  Diirer  he  has  an  unfeigned  hero-worship, 
owing  "  his  splendid  achievements,  not  to  his  father- 
land, but  to  himself  alone."  The  comparison  of 
him,  as  the  brooder  and  thinker,  with  "  the  dash- 
ing and  brutal  Holbein,"  which  happens  to  face  the 
reproduction  of  the  splendid  Diirer  portrait  at 
Madrid,  is  so  telling  that  one  would  like  to  quote 
it  if  space  allowed.  The  well-worn  material  of"  the 
Italian  Renaissance  is  amply  handled  ;  to  pick  an 
example  almost  at  random,  one  has  just  praise  of 
Leonardo's  famous  pupil  Boltraffio,  whose  Madonna 
piece  is  such  an  ornament  of  our  National  Gallery. 
Rubens  is  frankly  disliked,  Rembrandt  as  warmly 
lauded.  And  so  the  narrative  works  on  through  the 
great  Dutch,  Spanish,  and  French  schools,  until  the 
aristocratic  art  of  France  gives  place  to  "  the  triumph 
of  the  bourgeoisie "  manifested  in  Reynolds  and 
Gainsborough.  To  end  upon  the  French  Revolution 
and  Empire,  with  a  glance  at  German  classicism, 
seems  an  artificial  and  abrupt  conclusion.  One  would 
welcome  an  added  volume  on  what  the  nineteenth 
century  has  produced,  and  where  it  has  left  us.  Per- 
haps it  will  come. 

The  Discoveries  in  Crete.  By  Professor  R.  M. 
Burrows.  With  illustrations.  London :  John 
Murray,  1907.  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xvi,  244. 
Price  5s.  net. 
Such  a  book  as  this  was  badly  needed.  For  some 
years  past  every  season  has  added  to  Mr.  Arthur 
Evans's  original  discoveries  at  Knossos  and  elsewhere 
in  Crete,  and  the  total  effect  has  been  to  revolutionize 
our  conceptions  of  what  used  to  be  vaguely  termed 
the  Mycercean  age  and  civilization.  For  "Mycenaean  " 
Mr.  Evans  substituted  the  term  "Minoan,"  simply 
because,  whereas  he  was  able  to  distinguish  nine 
epochs  between  the  Neolithic  age  and  the  Geometric, 
or  early  beginnings  of  classical  Greece,  it  is  only  in 
the  seventh  of  these  nine  that  the  earliest  of  the 
remains  found  at  Mycenae  can  be  placed.  Professor 
Burrows  discusses  the  suitability  of  the  term 
"Minoan,"  but  the  point  is  not  of  much  real  im- 
portance. As  our  knowledge  extends  and  becomes 
classified  and  ordered,  no  doubt  many  changes  in 
nomenclature  will  naturally  be  made.  At  present  it 
is  sufficient  to  know  that  the  discoveries  in  Crete 
have  vastly  extended  the  boundaries  of  our  know- 
ledge of  remotely  antique  civilization,  and  have  upset 
many  previous  theories  and  conceptions.  All  this  is 
known  in  detail  to  the  few  archaeological  scholars  and 
students  who  have  systematically  followed  up  the 
reports    of   each    season's   work,   and    the    various 


monographs  already  issued.  What  was  needed  was 
a  summarized  account  of  the  work  and  discoveries, 
and  an  outline  of  the  relation  of  Cretan  history  and 
civilization  to  those  of  Egypt,  Greece,  and  the  East 
generally,  written  in  a  manner  to  be  understandable 
of  [that  part  of  the  educated  public  which  takes  an 
intelligent  interest  in  the  problems  of  archaeology. 
On  the  whole,  this  need  is  fairly  well  met  by  the 
volume  before  us.  Professor  Burrows  says  "it  is 
written,  as  far  as  possible,  in  untechnical  language  "  ; 
but  we  fear  it  is  hardly  sufficiently  so  to  attract  or 
hold  the  less  educated  general  reader.  The  volume, 
indeed,  will  best  serve  the  purposes  of  "students 
who  wish  to  pursue  the  subject  seriously,"  and  for 
them  Professor  Burrows  has  added  references  to  the 
original  publications  and  a  most  useful  bibliography  ; 
and  for  them  it  must  be  that  he  devotes  so  much 
space  to  the  discussion  of  controverted  points.  Less 
serious  or  less  specialized  students  will  still  find  the 
volume  a  very  admirable  summary  ;  although  for 
them,  as  for  others,  the  more  abundant  provision  of 
illustrations  would  have  been  of  the  greatest  help. 
The  successive  epochs  of  Mincan  history  are  largely 
fixed  or  traced  by  means  of  pottery  remains,  and  a 
series  of  plates  of  these  would  have  been  of  the 
greatest  value.  We  do  not  propose  to  describe  or 
discuss  the  contents  of  the  book  in  detail.  Many  of 
the  discoveries  have  been  recorded  in  the  pages  of 
the  Antiquary  from  time  to  time,  but  they  are  far  too 
many,  and  the  problems  to  which  they  have  given 
rise  are  far  too  numerous  and  too  complicated,  to  be 
discussed  in  a  brief  notice.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  every  one  who  is  interested  in  work  which  has  so 
profoundly  affected  our  previous  knowledge  and 
theories  of  the  history  of  man  and  civilization  over  a 
large  part  of  the  world — that  is  to  say,  every  serious 
archaeologist — should  read  and  study  this  volume. 
Naturally,  its  day  will  be  brief.  Fresh  discoveries 
are  almost  certain  to  affect  and  modify  positions  and 
theories  now  provisionally  accepted.  Even  since  its 
publication  this  has  happened  to  some  slight  extent. 
And,  moreover,  Professor  Burrows's  methods  and 
arguments  are  open  to  detailed  criticism"  in  more 
than  one  direction.  But  on  the  whole,  and  pending 
further  developments,  this  book  has  so  many  merits, 
and  is  so  much  needed,  that  it  deserves  a  very  hearty 
welcome.  The  illustrations  are  a  plate  of  vases  from 
Hagia  Triada,  a  sketch  map  of  the  island,  a  plan 
of  the  palace  of  Knossos— already  shown  by  the  most 
recent  discoveries  to  need  modification — and  a  plate 
of  strata  section  from  the  same  palace.  There  are 
appendices  on  the  Egyptian  year,  and,  by  Professor 
Conway,  on  the  suggested  connexion  of  Labyrinth, 
Laura,  Laurium  ;  a  good  index,  and  a  most  useful 
bibliography. 

*      *      * 
Saga-Book  of  the  Viking  Club,  vol.  v.,  part  i. 

With   illustrations.     London :    For   the   Viking 

Club,  April,  1907.  Pp.  196. 
Besides  ihe  annual  report  of  the  Club's  Council, 
reports  of  meetings,  and  various  lists  and  business 
details,  this  issue  of  the  Viking  Club's  Saga-Book  con- 
tains a  number  of  reports  by  district  secretaries,  and 
several  papers  of  unusual  interest.  Among  the 
former  is  one  by  Dr.  G.  A.  Auden,  of  York,  who 
describes  several  finds   of  the  Danish  period  made 


398 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


during  recent  excavations  for  building  purposes  in 
the  Northern  city,  and  also  has  a  suggestive  note  on 
a  supposed  St.  Olaf  window  in  the  east  end  of  the 
south  aisle  of  the  now  disused  church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  Goodramgate,  York.  The  crowned  figure, 
with  flaxen  hair,  and  wearing  a  wide-sleeved  tunic, 
depicted  in  the  left  light  of  the  window,  has  hitherto 
been  supposed  to  represent  St.  Stephen ;  but  Dr. 
Auden  shows  that  it  is  more  probably  a  representation 
of  St.  Olaf  carrying  the  "Olaf  Stones" — loaves 
turned  to  stone,  according  to  a  Danish  legend,  as  a 
punishment  for  baking  on  St.  Olaf's  Day.  The  note 
is  illustrated  by  photographic  pictures  of  the  window, 
of  St.  Olaf  from  a  painted  screen  in  the  Norfolk 
church  of  Barton  Turf,  and  of  a  carved   figure  of 


CARVED   FIGURE  OF  ST.   OLAF   IN   THRONDHJEM 
MUSEUM. 

St.  Olaf  in  Throndhjem  Museum.  The  last  named, 
by  the  courtesy  of  the  editor  of  the  Saga-Book,  is 
reproduced  above.  It  will  be  observed  that  the 
saint  is  represented  bearing  the  ciborium  which, 
roughly  carved,  "is  not  unlike  three  cakes  or  stones 
superimposed."  This  is  a  frequent  feature  in  the 
earlier  wooden  effigies  of  the  saint  in  Norway,  and 
may  have  some  relation  to  the  legend  of  the  Olaf 
Stones.  The  articles  in  this  issue  of  the  Saga-Book 
include  "  Some  Illustrations  of  the  Archjeology  of 
the  Viking  Age  in  England,"  with  many  figures,  by 
Mr.  W.  G.  Collingwood ;  "Tradition  and  Folklore 
of  the  Quantocks" — a  district  which  "has  been  from 
the  earliest  times  the  meeting  and  battle-ground  of 
our  component  races  " — by  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Whistler  ; 
"The  Life  of  Bishop  Gudmund  Arason,"  by  Pro- 
fessor W.  P.  Ker  ;  "Gringolet,  Gawain's  Horse,"  by 


Dr.  Gollancz;  and  "  Northern  Folk-songs  :  Danish, 
Icelandic,  Norwegian  and  Swedish,  with  musical 
illustrations,  by  Sveinbjorn  Sveinbjornsson — a  varied 
and  appetizing  bill  of  fare. 

*  *  * 
Surgical  Instruments  in  Greek  and  Roman 
Times.  By  J.  S.  Milne,  M.A.,  M.D.  With 
54  plates.  Oxford  :  Clarendon  Press,  1907. 
Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xii,  187.  Price  14s.  net. 
This  monograph,  which  was  presented  by  its  author, 
as  the  thesis  which  forms  part  of  the  examination  for 
the  Aberdeen  University  degree  of  M.D.,  and  which 
was  awarded/' Highest  Honours,"  most  deservedly, 
is  a  striking  contribution  to  archaeological  research. 
Dr.  Milne  has  thrown  great  light  on  a  subject  hitherto 
obscure  and  little  known.  Many  passages  in  ancient 
writers,  particularly  those  dealing  with  medical  sub- 
jects, have  been  practically  unintelligible  for  lack  of 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  instruments  used  by  the 
surgeons  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  Gradually, 
for  many  years  past,  materials  have  been  accumulating, 
in  the  shape  of  successive  finds  of  such  instruments, 
which  are  now  to  be  seen  in  most  home  and  foreign 
museums.  Dr.  Milne  has  personally  examined  a  very 
large  number  of  these  specimens,  which  are  of  very 
great  variety — of  which  a  mere  enumeration,  lengthy 
as  it  would  be,  would  give  but  a  faint  idea  apart  from 
Dr.  Milne's  illuminating  text — and  has  also  made  a 
very  careful  collection  of  references  to,  and  descrip- 
tions of,  surgical  instruments  in  the  classical  medical, 
surgical,  anatomical,  and  pharmaceutical  writings. 
From  the  ample  material  thus  systematically  col- 
lected, classified,  and  critically  examined — on  the'  one 
hand  the  literary  descriptions,  allusions,  and  references, 
and  on  the  other  the  actual  specimens  of  instruments 
now  accessible  by  hundreds  in  the  museums  and 
private  collections  at  home  and  abroad — Dr.  Milne 
has  prepared  a  carefully  written  and  scholarly  book, 
in  which  he  clearly  describes  the  specimens,  and 
illustrates  their  uses  by  passages  from  the  ancient 
medical  and  other  writers.  Of  each  illustrative 
passage  an  English  translation  is  given,  and  it  may 
be  remarked  that  not  the  least  noteworthy  feature  of 
a  piece  of  most  sound  and  honest  work  is  the  care 
which  has  been  taken  to  make  this  English  version 
clearly  intelligible  to  the  reader — a  by  no  means  easy 
task.  The  book,  though  not  quite  exhaustive,  is  one 
to  be  accepted  with  gratitude  and  commendation.  As 
further  discoveries  are  made,  subsequent  writers  may 
supplement  it ;  but  Dr.  Milne  has  laid  a  solid  founda- 
tion, and  his  work,  which  has  had  practically  no  pre- 
decessor in  this  or  any  other  country,  should  bring 
him  a  European  reputation.  The  plates,  fifty-four 
in  number,  are  very  carefully  produced,  and  are  of 
the  greatest  value  in  illustrating  and  explaining  the 
text.  An  appendix  contains  an  inventory  of  the  chief 
instruments  in  various  museums,  and  a  bibliography. 
There  are  three  indexes — subjects,  Latin,  and  Greek. 

Messrs.  Andrew  Reid  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  of  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  send  us  a  copy  of  the  new  (fifth)  edition 
of  the  late  Dr.  J.  Collingwood  Bruce's  Handbook  to 
the  Roman  Wall,  revised  and  corrected  by  Mr. 
Robert  Blair,  F.S.A.,  which  they  have  lately  issued 
(price  2s.  6d.).  The  Handbook  is  too  well  known, 
and  is  too  established  in  favour,  to  need  notice  at 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


399 


length.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  Mr.  Blair  has  care- 
fully brought  it  up  to  date  by  considerable  revision, 
rendered  necessary  by  the  important  and  numerous 
discoveries  which  have  been  made  on  the  line  of  the 
Wall  since  the  previous  edition  was  issued  in  1895. 
The  Handbook  is  freely  illustrated,  and  in  this  revised 
form  is  a  thoroughly  trustworthy  companion. 

From  the  Eaton  Press,  190,  Ebury  Street,  S.W., 
comes  the  first  part  (is.  net)  of  Surnames  of  the 
United  Kingdojn :  a  Concise  Etymological  Dictionary, 
by  Henry  Harrison,  to  be  completed  in  about  twenty- 
five  is.  parts.  This  Part  I.  covers  the  ground  from 
Aaron  to  Bayard,  and  gives  promise  of  a  popular 
work  of  reference.  Professor  Kuno  Meyer  revises 
the  proofs  of  the  Celtic  names.  Incidentally  the 
work  will  be  a  dictionary  of  British  place-names  and 
of  Christian  names,  as  well  as  of  surnames.  Mr. 
Harrison  is  sounder  on  place-names  than  on  surnames. 
In  some  of  the  articles  there  are  a  few  rather  wild 
shots,  and  in  others  there  are  doubtful  etymologies. 

*  *      * 

The  Royal  Institution  of  Cornwall  has  just  issued  a 
laborious  but  most  useful  piece  of  work  in  the  shape 
of  a  General  Index  to  its  journals  and  reports  from 
1818  to  1906  (Plymouth :  W.  Brendon  and  Son,  Ltd.), 
compiled  by  Mr.  C.  R.  Hewitt,  F.R.Hist.  S.  Within 
the  compass  of  216  well-printed  octavo  pages  Mr. 
Hewitt  has  supplied  a  comprehensive  and,  so  far  as 
we  have  casually  tested  it,  accurate  key  to  nearly 
ninety  years'  publications,  less  those  for  a  few  years 
which  are  missing  from  the  Institution's  set,  from 
which  the  index  was  made.  This  simple  statement  is 
a  sufficient  justification  for,  and  recommendation  of, 
this  useful  compilation. 

*  *      * 

Among  the  pamphlets  on  our  table  are  Pigmy  Flint 
Implements,  by  Mr.  H.  S.  Toms,  the  Curator  of  the 
Brighton  Museum,  which  gives  a  very  interesting 
description  of  a  number  of  these  tiny  late  Neolithic 
implements  which  he  found  in  a  sandpit  near  Brighton  ; 
No.  44  of  the  "Hull  Museum  Publications  "(price  id.), 
in  which  Mr.  T.  Sheppard  describes,  with  illustra- 
tions, a  malformed  antler  of  a  red  deer,  and  some 
recent  Yorkshire  geological  discoveries  ;  and  two 
good  papers  by  Mr.  I.  C.  Gould,  F.S.A. — on  "The 
Burh  at  Maldon  "  and  "Greenstead  and  the  Course 
of  St.  Edmund's  Translation  " — reprinted  from  the 
Transactions  of  the  Essex  Archaeological  Society. 

We  have  received  the  new  issue  of  Portugalia 
(Tomo  II.,  fasc.  3),  published  at  Oporto,  which,  in 
about  200  lavishly  illustrated  small  quarto  pages, 
contains  an  extraordinarily  varied  collection  of  articles, 
notes,  and  communications  relating  to  the  study  of 
Portuguese  antiquities.  Pre-Roman  remains  at  Santa 
Olaga  (of  which  many  plates  are  given)  form  the 
subject  of  the  longest  article ;  but  costume,  customs, 
traditions,  epigraphy,  and  folk-lore,  bronze  and  gold 
antiquities,  and  various  other  topics,  are  also  discussed, 
while  obituary  notices,  bibliographical  notes,  and  many 
other  matters  help  to  complete  a  publication  which 
reflects  the  greatest  credit  on  the  working  archae- 
ologists of  Portugal.  The  Architectural  Review, 
September,  besides  a  finely  illustrated  account  of 
the  new  building  of  the  United  Kingdom  Provident 


Institution,  contains  the  full  and  deeply  interesting 
report  on  the  condition  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  by  the 
committee  appointed  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  with 
the  accompanying  plans,  diagrams,  and  sections,  and 
the  photographic  views  showing  cracks  and  sinkings 
in  various  parts  of  the  fabric.  There  is  also  an  article 
on  the  Cathedral  from  a  professional  standpoint  by  Mr. 
Somers  Clarke.  We  have  also  before  us  Rivista 
d'  Italia,  August  ;  Northamptonshire  Notes  and 
Queries,  June — a  good  number,  with  two  plates  of 
the  Dove-cote  at  Warmington,  one  showing  the 
exterior,  and  the  other  giving  a  very  clear  view  of 
the  curious  and  most  uncommon  arrangement  of  the 
interior  ;  and  the  East  Anglian,  June  and  July — we 
congratulate  the  hard-working  editor  on  having  so 
nearly  overtaken  his  arrears. 


mgmz& 


Correspondence. 


PULPIT  HOUR-GLASSES. 

TO  THE   EDITOR. 

Mr.  Pentin,  writing  to  you  in  the  September 
Antiquary  from  Milton  Abbey  Vicarage,  must  indeed 
have  thought  that  you  had  an  ignoramus  for  a  reviewer, 
if  he  imagined  that  I  supposed  an  hour-glass  stand  to 
be  unique.  He  has  made  a  ludicrous  blunder.  Pilton 
I  believe,  is  unique  in  having  a  human  arm  as  the 
support  of  an  hour-glass ;  that  is  what  I  meant,  and 
that  is  what  I  said.  Mr.  Pentin  is  very  much  behind- 
hand in  his  notions  as  to  hour-glasses  or  hour-glass 
stands  in  his  attempt  to  correct  me.  Instead  of  there 
being  a  dozen,  I  have  myself  drawn  up  a  list  of 
sixty -seven  such  examples  now  extant  in  English 
churches  !  Mr.  Pentin  will  do  well  to  be  less  hasty 
in  his  corrections. 

Your  Reviewer. 


TO   THE    EDITOr. 

The  Rev.  Herbert  Pentin  is  correct  in  his  assumption 
that  many  old  hour-glasses,  or  the  stands  in  which 
such  originally  stood,  still  exist  in  various  churches. 
Notes  relative  to  these  may  be  found  in  the  Building 
Nezvs  for  February  24,  1905.  Therein  I  mention  no 
less  than  fifteen  that  have,  from  time  to  time,  come 
under  my  personal  observation.  Besides  those  at 
Pilton,  Devon,  and  Bloxworth,  Dorset,  already 
referred  to,  there  is  one  at  Hurst  Church,  Berks.  Its 
ironwork  bears  the  date  1635.  Three  miles  from 
Hurst  is  Binfield.  The  Jacobean  pulpit  there  has  a 
most  elaborate  hour-glass  stand.  The  date  upon  it 
is  A.D.  1628.  At  South  Burlington,  Norfolk,  one 
exists,  and  so  also  at  St.  Alban's,  Wood  Street,  W. 
The  latter's  pulpit  was  designed  by  Sir  Christopher 
Wren,  as  was  probably  its  gilt  brass  hour-glass  holder. 
At  Edinthorpe  and  Salhouse,  both  in  Norfolk,  the 
churches  contain  old  hour-glass  stands  ;  so  does  that 
at  Keyingham,  Yorks.  At  Cliffe,  Kent,  the  hour- 
glass stand,  like  the  pulpit  (dated  1636),  is  of  oak. 
There  is  the  iron  frame  for  an  hour-glass  attached  to 
he  Jacobean   pulpit  at  Leigh,  Kent,  and  others  at 


4-00 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Wolvercot  and  Beckley  Churches,  Oxon.  An  hour- 
glass exists,  or  did  in  1882,  at  Fenwick  Church, 
Scotland.  Puxton,  Somerset,  has  one,  or  did  quite 
recently. 

Harry  Hems. 
Fair  Park, 

Exeter. 


CROSS  SLAB  IN  WALL  OF  BRADING 
CHURCH. 

TO   THE    EDITOR. 

When  recently  visiting  Brading  Church  in  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  I  noticed  on  the  outside  wall,  about  8  feet 
from  the  ground,  a  small  slab  about  18  inches  by 
12  inches,  let  into  the  wall.  It  had  the  appearance 
of  age,  and  two  small  crosses  mounted  on  two-step 
pedestals — the  crosses  with  serrated  edges — were  cut 
on  the  slab.  Can  any  of  our  learned  antiquarian 
friends  enlighten  the  writer  on  the  matter  ?  lie  is  at 
a  loss  to  understand  what  the  crosses  were  for. 

Bernard  Lord  M. 
Constitutional  Club,  QuiLLIN. 

Leicester, 

August  26,  1907. 


MALLING  ABBEY,  KENT. 
TO  THE   EDITOR. 

Recently  visiting  Mailing  Abbey,  I  was  afforded 
an  opportunity  of  inspecting  the  little  figure  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  the  Infant  Saviour,  a  very 
much  enlarged  sketch  of  which  appears  in  your  issue 
of  July  last.  A  first  glance  was  sufficient  to  assure 
one  that  its  date  is  the  twentieth  rather  than  the 
fourteenth  century.  It  is  evidently  one  of  the  small 
objects  of  devotion  which  are  easily  picked  up  on  the 
Continent,  and  which  are  enclosed  in  tiny  leaden 
boxes.  The  style  of  dress,  and  particularly  the 
inscription  "  Ego  diligentes  me  diligo,"  should  trace 
it.  It  is  not  from  Chartres.  The  photograph  repro- 
duced by  you  is  of  a  rough,  somewhat  incorrect 
sketch.  In  the  original  the  sceptre-head  is  a  fleur- 
de-lys,  whilst  in  the  sketch  it  appears  as  a  human 
head.  It  was  evidently  dropped  or  purposely  buried 
by  some  visitor. 

Before  I  close,  I  should  like  to  call  attention  to 
this  wonderful  old  ruin — the  masterpiece  of  Gundulph, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  and  builder  of  the  cathedral, 
1090.  The  huge  tower  is  a  fine  and  well-preserved 
example  of  Early  Norman  work,  whilst  the  other 
buildings  retain  specimens  of  all  styles  of  archi- 
tecture from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth- fifteenth 
centuries.  The  ground-plan  of  the  church  and  a  large 
portion  of  the  twelfth  fourteenth  century  conventual 
buildings  lie  waiting  an  excavator  to  bring  them  to 
the  light  of  day.  The  bases  of  the  Early  Norman 
nave-pillars  protrude  through  the  sward,  and  the 
high-altar  elevation  is  indicated  by  a  mound.  Surely 
here  is  a  grand  opportunity  for  the  study  of  one  of 
the  earliest  and  finest  of  Norman  ecclesiastical  edifices. 

H.  P.  F. 

P.S. — There  is  also  a  unique  pilgrim's  bath  and 
stone-lined  underground  passage  in  the  direction  of 
Leybourne  Castle,  blocked. 


GREENSTREET  FAMILY. 

TO   THE    EDITOR. 

I  should  be  obliged  by  any  information  as  to  this 
family  (Faversham  and  Ospringe  branches),  and 
particularly  of  their  connexions  by  marriage. 

Members  of  the  family  held  the  office  of  Mayor 
of  Faversham  circa  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, and  many  of  them  were  buried  in  Ospringe 
Church. 

C.  H.  Drake. 

The  Elms, 

Faversham. 


GLAZED  PAPER  FOR  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

TO   THE   EDITOR. 

I  feel  attention  should  be  drawn  to  the  danger 
which  threatens  our  archaeological  and  other  publi- 
cations of  the  present  day.  It  is  a  common  practice 
to  use  a  so-called  art  paper  with  a  highly  glazed 
surface  for  the  ordinary  photo-block  illustrations  now 
in  vogue,  the  publishers  and  others  responsible  re- 
commending it  for  bringing  out  the  full  details  of 
the  reproduction.  Unfortunately  it  is  not  generally 
known  that  in  many  cases  this  paper,  which  is  sized 
with  resin  or  other  preparations,  will  be  quite  worth- 
less in  a  few  years.  A  firm  of  photo-engravers  say 
that  "probably  about  thirty  to  forty  years  is  the 
maximum  life  of  the  surfaced  papers  which  are 
usually  used  for  illustration."  This  statement  is 
surely  sufficient  to  warn  authors  and  editors  of  the 
various  archaeological  journals  against  the  use  of  a 
surfaced  paper  for  their  publications.  If  a  slight 
amount  of  detail  is  sacrificed,  photo-block  illustrations 
can  be  printed  on  any  of  the  smooth  durable  papers — 
i.e.,  such  a  paper  as  the  Antiquary  is  printed  on. 
G.  Montagu  Benton. 


Errata. — September  Antiquary,  p.  351,  col.  1. 
Transfer  line  1  to  top  of  col.  1,  p.  347. 

Ibid. ,  p.  358,  col.  2.  The  price  of  Canon  Atkinson's 
Forty  Years  is  5s.  net,  not  7s.  6d. 


Note  to  Publishers. —  We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

To  INTENDING  CONTRIBUTORS.  —  Unsolicited  MSS. 
will  always  receive  careful  attention,  but  the  Editor 
cannot  return  them  if  not  accepted  unless  a  fully 
stamped  and  directed  envelope  is  enclosed.  To  this 
rule  no  exception  will  be  made. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted,  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  general  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  0/ 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communications  or 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


401 


The   Antiquary. 


NOVEMBER,  1907. 


jftotes  of  t&e  S^onti). 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Ancient 
Earthworks  and  Fortified  Enclosures,  which 
was  not  presented  to  the  Congress  of  Archaeo- 
logical Societies  in  July  owing  to  the  illness 
of  Mr.  Chalkley  Gould,  has  now  been  issued. 
It  notes  a  marked  increase  in  the  interest 
taken  in  ancient  defensive  works  and  sepul- 
chral memorials ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
remarks  that  respect  for  the  relics  of  the  past 
has  not  yet  spread  sufficiently  to  check  the 
constantly  recurring  instances  of  destruction. 
Schedules  of  earthworks  existing  in  their 
respective  districts  are  being  prepared  by  the 
Yorkshire  and  East  Herts  Archaeological 
Societies,  the  Cardiff  Naturalists,  and,  the 
Committee  believe,  by  a  few  other  societies 
who  have  not  yet  informed  them  of  their 
efforts  in  this  direction. 

&  <$?  ^» 
The  report  proceeds  to  remark  that,  "  Apart 
from  destruction  of  ancient  works  of  earth  or 
stone  for  utilitarian  purposes,  minor  influences 
tend  to  their  mutilation  ;  to  these  the  atten- 
tion of  owners  and  occupiers  of  the  land  may 
well  be  drawn  by  archaeological  societies. 
For  example,  great  trees,  perhaps  centuries 
old,  grow  on  the  ramparts  of  an  ancient 
camp,  a  tree  is  blown  down  or  may  be 
stubbed  up ;  a  large  bite  is  thereby  eaten 
out  of  the  bank,  and  nothing  is  done  to  fill 
up  the  hollow  thus  created,  though  the  cost 
of  so  doing  is  infinitesimal  !  Rabbits  are 
permitted  to  burrow  at  their  own  sweet  will, 

VOL.  III. 


gradually  causing  the  banks  to  crumble  and 
lose  their  continuity,  while  gardeners  and 
others  are  allowed  to  remove  barrow-loads  of 
the  light  material.  Camps  which  possess 
guarding  walls  of  stone  are  even  more  at  the 
mercy  of  the  neighbourhood  unless  jealously 
watched." 

$  «$?  «$? 
The  Committee  report  a  number  of  recent 
cases  of  destruction  or  mutilation  of  defensive 
earthworks,  and  even  more  of  tumuli  and 
barrows.  Part  of  the  moat  at  Barnard 
Castle  is  being  filled  up  by  tipping  town 
refuse  into  it.  The  low  square  moated 
mount  close  to  the  church  at  Burghill,  Here- 
fordshire, has  been  levelled.  Quarrying 
operations  threaten  the  remains  of  the  camp 
on  Ham  Hill,  Somerset,  while  digging  for 
gravel  is  destroying  the  remains  of  earth- 
works on  Harbledown,  Canterbury.  A 
curious  ring-work  near  the  Castle  of  Comfort 
Inn,  on  the  Mendip  Hills,  Cock  Low  barrow 
at  Leek,  Staffordshire,  and  the  poor  remnants 
of  a  square  camp  at  Harmondsworth,  Middle- 
sex, have  all  been  levelled.  Destruction  in 
various  ways  is  being  wrought  at  sundry 
other  places. 


4? 


The  report,  on  the  other  hand,  mentions  a 
number  of  instances  of  careful  exploration, 
and  records  several  transferences  to  public 
bodies  of  ancient  castles  and  castle  sites.  It 
includes,  moreover,  a  useful  bibliography  of 
books  and  articles  and  papers  in  archaeo- 
logical societies'  publications,  which  have 
been  published  since  the  issue  of  the  Com- 
mittee's previous  report. 

•fr  «J&»  «$» 
Since  the  foregoing  paragraphs  were  written 
we  have  heard,  with  great  regret,  of  the 
death  of  Mr.  I.  Chalkley  Gould,  F.S.A.,  on 
October  11,  in  his  sixty-fourth  year.  It  was 
on  Mr.  Gould's  initiative  that  the  Committee 
was  appointed,  and  in  its  labours  he  took 
a  deep  interest.  He  was  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  for  the  Exploration  of  the  Red 
Hills  of  Essex — an  important  undertaking 
which  is  not  yet  completed.  Mr.  Gould 
contributed  several  valuable  papers  to  the 
Victoria  History  of  Essex,  and  assisted  the 
editor  of  that  publication  in  revising  the 
earthworks  sections  of  other  counties.     His 

3  E 


402 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


intimate  knowledge  of  the  history  and  topo- 
graphy of  his  native  county  was  perhaps 
unique,  and  those  who  had  the  privilege  of 
his  friendship  will  recall  his  retentive  memory 
and  his  accurate  acquaintance  with  the 
highways  and  byways  of  Essex.  The  funeral 
service  took  place  at  Loughton  Parish  Church 
on  Wednesday,  October  16,  but  by  his  own 
directions  the  remains  were  subsequently 
cremated.  Mr.  Chalkley  Gould's  death  will 
be  deplored  by  a  large  circle  of  friends,  to 
whom  he  had  endeared  himself  by  so  many 
acts  of  thoughtfulness  and  kindness. 

$         $         $ 

We  take  the  following  interesting  note  from 

the  Newcastle  Journal  of  October  2  :  "In 
one  of  the  fields  in  which  the  excavators 
of  the  Roman  town  of  Costopitum  have  been 
working  at  Corbridge  this  year,  what  exists 
of  a  most  interesting  building  has  been  laid 
bare.  It  is  obviously  a  temple,  and  is 
situated  near  where  the  potter's  shop,  which 
furnished  so  many  objects  of  value,  was  dis- 
closed earlier  in  the  year. 

"  It  is  easy  to  form  an  interesting,  and 
probably  accurate,  idea  of  the  building  and 
its  uses.  Ascending  to  the  brow  of  the  hill 
west  of  the  town,  from  the  river's  north  bank, 
the  remains  of  the  structure  are  seen.  A 
flat  roof  or  dome  has  been  carried  on  pillars, 
the  moulded  sockets  of  which  are  worked  in 
the  skirting  stones  of  the  building.  Under 
this  roof  or  canopy  would  stand  an  altar  or 
altars.  On  each  side  of  the  front  of  the 
building  were  enormous  square  pillars  on 
which  would  stand  statues  of  the  gods  who 
were  worshipped  within.  One  remains,  and 
the  socket  only  of  the  other.  The  pillar  is 
scored  on  the  top  by  the  marks  made  by  the 
ploughshare,  the  cultivated  ground  nowhere 
being  very  deep  above  the  ruins.  The  floor 
of  the  temple  is  composed  of  enormous 
worked  stones.  These  were  bound  together 
for  extra  stability  with  lead  in  the  same  way 
as  were  the  stones  of  the  abutment  of  the 
Roman  bridge  at  Chollerford.  The  lead  has 
been  extracted  by  some  one  since  the  Romans 
left  Britain  in  509,  but  the  stones  have  hardly 
moved.  The  workmanship  is  so  good  that 
the  lead  has  been  unnecessary. 

"  In  front  of  the  building  is  what  was 
almost  certainly  an  abattoir,  through  the 
aperture  in  the  east  end  of  which  the  animals 


were  probably  driven  in  for  slaughter  previous 
to  their  sacrifice  to  the  gods  on  the  altars. 
There  is  a  channel  and  drain-hole  cut  in  the 
stone  as  if  for  carrying  off  the  water  used  in 
washing  out  the  place  after  the  slaughter. 
The  tops  of  the  slabs  which  form  the  sides  of 
the  chamber  are  much  worn  by  the  sharpen- 
ing of  knives,  as  are  so  many  of  our  butchers' 
doorsteps  at  the  present  day." 

rj,  rj,  rJ-> 

In  the  course  of  the  recent  excavations  on 
the  site  of  a  Roman  fort  at  Castleshaw, 
Oldham,  to  which  we  referred  last  month, 
several  interesting  relics  have  come  to 
light. 

There  appear  to  have  been  two  distinct 
forts,  one  inside  the  other.  At  three  corners 
of  the  inner  fort  foundations  have  been  found 
of  what  appear  to  have  been  turrets,  and 
stone  paving  has  been  found  at  all  corners  of 
the  outer  fort.  Careful  search  has  been  made 
for  post-holes  with  some  success.  Twenty 
have  been  discovered,  in  some  of  which  have 
been  found  remains  of  oak  posts.  The  out- 
lines of  one  of  the  main  gateways  of  the 
larger  fort  have  been  traced.  There  has  also 
been  unearthed  a  heavily  paved  road  crossing 
the  larger  fort  from  one  side  to  the  other, 
and  some  15  feet  in  width.  Early  in  October 
a  fine  hypocaust,  almost  perfect,  was  laid 
bare. 

The  relics  already  found  make  an  interest- 
ing museum  at  Springhouse  Farm,  near  the 
site  of  the  excavations.  They  include  Roman 
pottery  and  tiles,  fragments  of  glass,  lead, 
nails,  and  several  blue  fluted  melon  beads. 
There  is  also  one  of  the  Samian  bowls  of 
thin  ware.  A  number  of  coins  have  turned 
up,  two  of  which  appear  to  be  first  brasses  of 
Trajan.  The  pottery  points  to  an  occupation 
as  early  as  the  first  century. 

•fr  &  $ 
The  following  note  by  a  correspondent 
appeared  in  the  Manchester  Guardian  of 
October  5  :  "The  operations  in  connexion 
with  the  construction  of  the  new  railway  to 
Red  Wharf  Bay  [in  the  island  of  Anglesey] 
have  been  the  means  of  bringing  to  light  an 
ancient  barrow  of  great  antiquity.  On  the 
north-west  side  of  the  village  of  Pentraeth,  on 
a  portion  of  the  old  Merddyn  Gwyn  land,  on 
the  summit  of  a  lofty  bank  of  sand  and 
gravel,  persons  with  a  keen  eye  for  antiquities 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


403 


had  long  since  observed  what  appeared  to 
be  (and  what  has  now  been  proved  to  be)  an 
artificial  circular  mound  of  about  30  feet 
radius.  On  investigation  this  mound  was 
found  to  be  composed  of  hundreds  upon 
hundreds  of  tons  of  stones,  some  of  them 
being  of  immense  size,  evidently  conveyed  to 
the  spot  from  the  neighbouring  limestone 
quarry.  On  the  extreme  eastern  side  of  this 
heap  of  stones  was  found  buried,  upside 
down,  with  its  mouth  resting  on  a  stone  slab 
and  covered  with  burnt  soil,  a  cinerary  urn 
containing  the  calcined  bones  of  a  human 
being,  probably  a  female.  Unfortunately  the 
urn,  which  was  of  rude  earthenware  construc- 
tion, fell  to  pieces  in  the  process  of  displace- 
ment, but  the  portions  found  afford  sufficient 
data  to  enable  a  sketch  to  be  made  showing 
its  shape,  size,  and  ornamentation. 

"  The  railway  operatives  were  at  this  point 
removed  to  another  portion  of  the  works. 
Thereupon  the  Rev.  E.  P.  Howell,  Rector  of 
Pentraeth,  preferred  a  request,  on  behalf  of 
the  Rev.  E.  Evans,  Rector  of  Llansedwrn, 
and  himself,  for  the  permission  of  the  con- 
tractor to  investigate  the  mound.  This  was 
readily  granted ;  and  during  the  past  few 
days  several  workmen  have  been  engaged 
in  turning  over  the  barrow,  with  the  result 
that  up  to  date  the  following  discoveries  have 
been  made : 

"  (1)  The  cinerary  urn  already  referred  to. 

"  (2)  Several  portions  of  skulls  and  stray 
bits  of  urns. 

"  (3)  A  complete  skeleton,  lying  facing 
east  in  the  doubled-up  fashion  sometimes 
found  in  these  barrows. 

"  (4)  And  close  beside  (3)  a  bronze 
dagger,  and  a  food  vessel  of  similar  construc- 
tion to  the  urns,  though  of  different  shape. 

"(5)  Another  skeleton  lying  lengthways. 

"  The  investigations  will  be  proceeded 
with  under  the  superintendence  of  the  two 
clergymen  named,  assisted  by  Mr.  Harold 
Hughes  of  Bangor,  who  was  early  on  the 
scene,  and  has  prepared  notes  and  sketches 
of  the  relics  found.  It  is  to  be  feared,  how- 
ever, that  the  impending  application  of  the 
steam  navvy  to  the  sand  and  gravel  bank  will 
bring  the  investigations  to  an  abrupt  termina- 
tion long  before  they  can  be  completed.  The 
relics  found  are  at  present  in  the  custody  of 
the  Rector  of  Pentraeth." 


The  quarterly  statement  of  the  Palestine 
Exploration  Fund  was  issued  early  in 
October,  and  forms  the  second  report  since 
the  resumption  of  the  excavation  of  Gezer. 
Although  the  discoveries  are  of  less  impor- 
tance than  those  of  previous  reports,  they  are 
of  sufficient  interest  to  justify  the  earnest 
appeal  for  contributions  which  the  committee 
addresses  to  the  public. 

«$»         $         <$i 

Gezer,  as  all  students  of  the  Bible  know, 
was  a  Canaanitish  city  to  the  west  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  it  occupied  an  important  place  in 
Jewish  history.  The  fund  has  been  engaged 
in  its  exploration  during  the  last  five  years, 
and  the  earlier  discoveries  consisted  of  a 
megalithic  temple,  troglodyte  caves,  rock-cut 
tombs,  pottery,  and  inscriptions.  The  origin 
of  the  city  is  quite  prehistoric,  and  as  yet 
nothing  has  been  laid  bare  to  equal  in 
interest  the  great  discoveries  of  Schliemann 
and  other  excavators  at  Troy,  in  Crete,  and 
in  Egypt.  Mr.  Stewart  Macalister,  who  con- 
tributes the  report  of  the  recent  operations, 
mentions  that  while  several  wine-presses,  and 
traces  of  the  existence  of  a  Christian  Church, 
and  of  some  Byzantine  houses,  with  mosaic 
pavements,  were  found — all  of  recent  times — 
no  tomb  of  the  Pre-Semitic  Period  was  found. 
One  of  the  First  Semitic  Period,  however, 
was  discovered,  and  various  cave-sepulchres 
of  the  Second  Semitic  Period  were  also 
brought  to  light.  These  sepulchres  were 
contemporaneous  with  Egyptian  history  from 
the  twelfth  to  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  and 
consisted  of  rude  chambers,  more  or  less 
circular.  They  contained  bones,  pottery, 
and  a  limited  number  of  ornamental  objects, 
of  some  of  which  the  report  gives  drawings. 
A  number  of  the  vessels  have  no  correspond- 
ing types  anywhere  else  in  Palestine.  Many 
of  them  betray  traces  of  the  Egyptian  occupa- 
tion. The  remains  of  a  Roman  bath  bring  us 
down  to  Roman  times,  and  several  peculiarly 
shaped  crosses  connect  the  city  with  Byzan- 
tine Christianity. 

$      $      $ 

The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Morning 
Post  writes :  "  The  newspapers  have  begun 
to  discuss  the  rumoured  intention  of  the 
Ministry  of  Education  to  unite  both  the 
Forum  and  the  Palatine  excavations  under 

3E  2 


4o4 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


one  director,  that  director  being  Commenda- 
tore  Boni.  At  present  not  only  is  the 
entrance  to  the  Palatine  separate  from  that 
to  the  Forum,  but  the  administration  of  the 
hill  is  quite  distinct  from  that  of  the  valley 
at  its  foot. 

"  There  is  something  to  be  said  on  both 
sides  of  this  important  archaeological  ques- 
tion. Historically,  the  Palatine  and  the 
Forum  are  connected ;  geographically,  they 
touch,  and  work  on  the  clivus  has  long  been 
stopped  pending  the  Ministry's  decision. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  argued  that  the 
Forum  is  quite  as  much  as  one  man  can 
manage,  especially  now  that  important  ex- 
cavations are  being  made  on  the  Palatine, 
and  others  contemplated  beneath  the  Villa 
Mills.  One  thing  is  certain :  that  the 
administrative  union  will  lead  to  archaeo- 
logical disunion ;  for  Italian  archaeologists 
do  not  greatly  love  each  other,  and  a  battle 
will  doubtless  ensue  over,  if  not  on,  the 
famous  hill.  Meanwhile  the  beautiful 
cypresses  of  the  Villa  Mills,  and  the  famous 
palms  of  S.  Bonaventura,  which  figure  in 
every  picture  of  the  Palatine,  are  threatened, 
if  not  doomed.  As  too  often  happens,  art  is 
to  be  sacrificed  to  archaeology.  No  doubt 
the  House  of  Augustus  ought  to  be  exca- 
vated ;  but,  as  one  newspaper  pertinently 
asks,  if  natural  beauty  is  to  be  destroyed  in 
this  way  people  will  hate  the  very  name  of 
archaeology.  There  are  artists  who  have 
been  heard  to  express  a  preference  for  the 
old  Campo  Vaccino  as  compared  with  the 
scientifically  excavated  Forum ;  but  Com- 
mendatore  Boni  has,  at  any  rate  by  judicious 
planting,  made  the  Forum  less  like  a  stone- 
mason's yard.  The  Palatine,  one  of  the 
loveliest  spots  in  Rome,  is  more  beautiful 
with  its  cypresses  and  its  palms,  beneath 
which  Mills  composed  his  history  of  the 
Crusades,  and  monks  dreamed  mediaeval 
dreams,  than  it  will  be  as  a  too  severely 
archaeological  quarry.  It  should  be  possible 
to  reconcile  the  two  rival  sisters — art  and 
archaeology." 

«J>  $  $ 
We  may  note  that  a  fine  illustration  of  the 
Forum  as  at  present  opened  up,  taken  from 
an  overhead  point  of  view,  together  with 
some  useful  plans,  on  which  the  temples, 
shrines,  etc.,  are  numbered   to   correspond 


with  appended  tables,  appeared  in  the  Sphere 
for  September  21,  which  also  contained  some 
very  interesting  pictures  of  details  of  the 
ancient  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  Rome.  Among 
the  latter  is  one  showing  the  "  vettine,"  or 
oil  reservoirs  of  Alexander  VI.,  which  are 
still  in  excellent  condition,  and  could  con- 
tain 21,000  litres  of  oil  when  rendered 
necessary  by  an  approaching  famine  or  siege. 

Mr.  Albert  Hartshorne  writes  to  the 
Athcnccum  of  October  12  :  "It  should,  per- 
haps, be  placed  on  record  that  the  early 
Jacobean  pulpit  in  Alford  Church,  Lincoln- 
shire, has  quite  lately  been  '  restored  '  with  a 
coating  of  Brunswick  black.  An  attempt  to 
remove  this  noxious  substance  with  turpen- 
tine, on  account  of  remonstrances  that  have 
been  made,  has  naturally  resulted  in  driving 
the  stain  deeper  into  the  wood."  One  would 
have  thought  such  vandalism  impossible  at 
this  time  of  day. 

4f      4?      4? 

At  the  opening  meeting  for  the  session  of 
the  Bristol  members  of  the  Bristol  and 
Gloucestershire  Archaeological  Society,  on 
October  16,  Mr.  W.  A.  Sampson  read  a 
paper  on  "  The  Almshouses  of  Bristol,  Past 
and  Present."  The  western  city  has  alms- 
houses still  existing  which  date  from  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  Burton's 
Almshouses,  in  Long  Row,  were  founded  in 
1292.  The  modern  block  of  buildings  in 
St  James's  Barton  (All  Saints'  Almshouses) 
represents  a  charity  founded  by  Stephen 
Gnowsall  in  1350;  and  the  Barstaple 
Houses  in  Old  Market  Street  were  founded 
in  1402.  The  Merchant  Tailors'  is  a  late 
fourteenth-century  foundation  (by  a  charter 
of  Richard  II.),  and  there  are  several  alms- 
houses which  were  established  in  the  fifteenth, 
sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries. 

$  $  $ 
M.  Eugene  Pittard  has  communicated  to  the 
Society  of  Anthropology  of  Paris  a  paper  on 
prehistoric  implements  of  bone,  founded 
on  discoveries  at  the  Palaeolithic  station  of 
Ourbiere,  near  Perigueux,  of  the  Mousterian 
period.  He  found  about  fifty  long  bones, 
marked  with  cuttings  made  by  flint  imple- 
ments, precisely  similar  to  some  which  had 
previously   been   discovered   by  Dr.    Henri 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


4°5 


Martin  at  a  station  of  the  same  period  at  La 
Quina  (Charente).  He  also  found  other 
pieces  of  bone  that  had  been  fashioned  by 
flint  implements  into  somewhat  rude  tools  of 
five  or  six  different  sorts.  These  several  dis- 
coveries carry  back  the  use  of  bone  imple- 
ments to  an  earlier  period  than  had 
previously  been  generally  admitted. 

«$?  *$?  «ij(» 
The  third  Pan-Celtic  Congress  was  held  at 
Edinburgh  in  the  last  week  of  September, 
and  seems  to  have  been  a  decided  success. 
The  opening  day,  September  24,  was  marked 
by  the  picturesque  ceremony  of  erecting  Lia 
Cineil,  or  Race  Stone,  which  took  place  on 
the  breezy  eminence  of  the  Castle  Esplanade, 
so  rich  in  historical  associations.  The  pro- 
ceedings having  been  opened  by  the  reciting 
of  the  Gorsedd  Prayer  in  Welsh,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  different  nations  proclaimed 
the  meeting  of  the  Congress.  The  important 
ceremony  of  raising  the  Race  Stone  was  per- 
formed by  each  of  the  six  representatives 
placing  his  stone  in  position.  Lord  Castle- 
town laid  the  Irish  stone  first.  Councillor 
Griffith  Thomas  placed  the  Welsh  stone  on 
top  of  it.  Lord  Bute  placed  the  Scottish 
stone  next.  The  Marquess  de  l'Estour- 
deillon  followed  with  the  Brittany  stone, 
Speaker  Moore,  of  the  House  of  Keys,  with 
the  Manx  stone,  and  Mr.  Henry  Jenner, 
F.S.A.,  with  the  Cornwall  stone. 

«ife»  ty  4» 
At  a  meeting  of  the  archaeological  section 
of  the  Congress  Mr.  David  MacRitchie, 
F.S.A.  Scot,  delivered  a  lecture  on  "  Celtic 
and  non-Celtic  Races  in  Early  Britain,"  after 
which  a  short,  animated  discussion  took 
place  as  to  whether  the  word  "Celt"  should 
be  pronounced  with  a  soft  or  hard  sound. 
After  various  opinions  had  been  expressed, 
Mr.  J.  Kennedy  stated  that  there  was  no 
soft  C  in  the  Gaelic.  However,  they  could 
pronounce  it  as  they  pleased,  which  seems  a 
solution  likely  to  give  everybody  satisfaction. 

&         &        & 

In  a  two-acre  field  recently  purchased  by 
Viscount  Tredegar  at  Caerleon,  in  Mon- 
mouthshire— the  Isca  Silurum  of  the  Romans 
— some  Roman  coins,  pottery,  etc.,  have 
been  found.  On  bricks  bearing  the  stamp 
of  the  Roman  Legion  can  be  traced  the  im- 
pression of  the  workman's  tools.     The  relics 


have  been  unearthed  while  digging  founda- 
tions for  the  St.  Cadoc's  Home  for  Waifs 
and  Strays,  the  site  for  which  was  presented 
by  Lord  Tredegar. 

An  interesting  find  of  old  coins  and  trade 
tokens  has  been  made  during  the  demolition 
of  a  house  in  High  Street,  Guildford.  One 
of  the  tokens,  dated  1657,  bears  the  name 
"  Thomas  Tompson,  Gilford,"  and  another 
is  inscribed  "  Iohn  Smallpeece,  Guildford," 
and  is  of  about  the  same  date. 

«$»  $?  «$? 
Mr.  Harold  Brakspear,  F.S.A.,  has  been 
instructed  by  the  Office  of  Woods  and 
Forests  to  make  a  complete  survey  of  Tintern 
Abbey,  to  do  which  excavations  will  be  made 
(under  his  direction)  on  the  site  of  the  in- 
firmary and  buildings  of  the  outer  court. 
The  sites  of  the  gatehouses  appear  to  be 
covered  by  roadways,  and  so,  unfortunately, 
cannot  be  unearthed  ;  but  as  much  will  be 
done  as  possible  to  make  the  plan  as  com- 
plete as  those  Mr.  Brakspear  has  already 
published  of  Fountains,  Waverley,  and 
Beaulieu. 

&         $         «fr 

The  pakeontological  collections  in  the 
Natural  History  Museum  at  South  Ken- 
sington have  received  some  interesting  addi- 
tions in  the  shape  of  a  series  of  bone  remains 
"from  the  Hoe  Grange  Cavern,  near  Brassing- 
ton,  Derbyshire.  These  include  remains  of 
hyaenas,  bears,  rhinoceroses,  lions,  and  ele- 
phants. Some  of  the  specimens  have  an 
added  scientific  interest  in  being  the 
originals  of  those  figured  in  various  geological 
journals  and  papers  written  by  experts  who 
examined  and  worked  out  the  fossil  remains. 

$»        «fr         $? 

Renewed  explorations  on  Lansdown,  near 
Bath,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr. 
T.  S.  Bush,  have  led  to  fresh  discoveries. 
Chief  among  them  was  the  uncovering  of  a 
stone  floor  and  foundations  of  what  is  be- 
lieved to  be  a  Roman  potter's  shed,  this 
surmise  being  made  on  account  of  the 
various  broken  pottery  moulds  found  on  the 
floor,  together  with  pieces  of  very  fine 
pottery,  and  also  a  potter's  wheel  and  a 
stone  quern.  The  patterns  of  some  of  the 
moulds  show  clever  and  artistic  workman- 
ship, although  none  were  found  in  a  state  of 


406 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


completeness.  Other  discoveries  on  this  site 
were  a  variety  of  iron  instruments,  an  ancient 
reap-hook  and  a  spear-head.  Not  far  from 
these  foundations  a  very  fine  specimen  of  a 
stone  coffin  was  unearthed  a  little  more  than 
a  couple  of  feet  below  the  surface,  and  in  it 
the  remains  of  a  skeleton  of  a  man.  The 
upper  portion  was  almost  in  a  powder,  but 
the  teeth  were  some  of  the  finest  found,  and 
very  large.  Another  find  was  that  of  an 
almost  perfect  skeleton  of  a  man  lying  on 
his  side,  with  the  knees  drawn  up,  while  in 
close  proximity  a  pile  of  human  bones  were 
at  a  rather  greater  depth  than  usual.  In 
different  parts  of  the  portion  explored  be- 
tween thirty  and  forty  third  and  fourth  century 
coins  have  been  found.  The  work  ended 
on  September  21,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
it  will  eventually  be  carried  still  further. 

«$»      «$?      4? 

The  centenary  of  the  Geological  Society  of 
London  was  celebrated  from  September  26 
to  30  by  dinners,  receptions,  meetings,  and 
visits  to  museums  and  other  places  of 
geological  interest.  On  Saturday,  Septem- 
ber 28,  separate  parties  were  conducted  by 
well-informed  leaders  over  ground  of  supreme 
interest  to  geologists  at  Northampton,  Ayles- 
bury, Dover,  Box  Hill,  Reading,  Erith  and 
Crayford,  and  Sudbury.  On  Sunday  Mr. 
W.  Whitaker  took  a  party  to  Caterham,  God- 
stone,  and  Tilburston,  and  guests,  fellows 
and  visitors  had  access  to  the  Zoological 
Gardens  and  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens  at 
Kew.  Visits  on  Monday  to  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  when  the  Universities  acted  as 
hosts,  formed  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the 
celebration,  which  was  attended  by  many 
distinguished  foreign  and  colonial  delegates. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Athenceum  writes 
from  Aidin  (Tralles) :  "  Last  July  the  break- 
ing-up  of  the  foundations  of  a  house  in  the 
Turkish  quarter  of  Mesil  Hanes  led  to  the 
discovery  of  underground  catacombs  of 
Christian  origin.  They  are  in  two  stories, 
the  upper  of  which  lies  3  metres  under  the 
present  level  of  the  ground.  The  lower  is 
1  \  metres  below  it,  and  only  1  metre  high. 
In  the  upper  two  small  chambers  are  already 
visible,  which  are  connected  by  a  door. 
One  of  these  is  about  3  metres  high;  the 


other,  to  the  west,  has  the  chief  entrance, 
and  is  full  of  earth,  fragments  of  vases,  and 
human  bones.  In  the  under  catacomb 
various  crossways  seem  to  fill  a  great  deal 
of  space,  and  are  full  of  earth  and  rubbish. 
On  the  north  side  of  this  is  a  small  breach, 
which  affords  with  difficulty  an  entrance 
into  a  third  section  of  crossways  connected 
with  small  doors.  The  second  chamber 
here  contains  two  fairly  well  preserved  sacred 
frescoes,  in  which  the  faces  have  been 
scratched  off  by  Turks.  The  inscriptions 
attached  are  no  longer  decipherable.  All 
the  walls  of  this  chamber  seem  to  have  been 
full  in  former  times  of  pictures,  of  which 
faint  traces  remain.  A  third  chamber  close 
by  has  also  various  pictorial  adornments, 
including  a  small  angel.  It  may  be  noted 
that  about  thirty  years  since,  on  the  demoli- 
tion of  a  part  of  this  same  house,  the  former 
owner  discovered  a  Greek  inscription  inti- 
mating that  the  \Lv<na.i  of  the  Temple  of  Isis 
and  Sarapis  dedicated  to  the  priest  of  this 
temple,  Julius  Amyntianus,  a  statue.  This 
inscription  was  published  by  A.  Fontrier  in 
the  Bulletin  of  the  Museum  and  Library  of 
the  Evangelical  School  of  Smyrna.  Some 
years  ago,  in  an  adjacent  house,  an  enormous 
stone  was  found  with  an  inscription  pub- 
lished by  a  native  archaeologist,  M.  Papakon- 
stantinon,  in  the  Amaltheia  of  Smyrna,  to 
the  effect  that  the  high-priestess  Lucilia,  the 
daughter  of  St.  Luminius,  was  honoured  with 
a  statue  on  behalf  of  the  council  of  the 
place,  the  people,  and  the  Senate.  M.  Papa- 
konstantinon  thinks  that  these  catacombs 
belonged  to  the  Christians  of  Tralles,  who 
later  retired  to  the  lower  slopes  of  the  plateau 
of  Tralles.  A  further  investigation  of  the 
whole  district,  as  well  as  of  the  new  dis- 
coveries, is  needed  to  confirm  this  sup- 
position." 

«$>  c$»  rji 

Excavations  at  Leighs  Priory,  Essex,  at  one 
time  the  seat  of  Lord  Rich,  Chancellor  to 
Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.,  and  his  heirs, 
who  became  Earls  of  Warwick,  have  laid 
bare  the  entire  foundations  of  the  old  Priory, 
over  which,  in  some  places,  are  evidences  of 
Tudor  walls  having  been  built  on  them. 
Especially  is  this  the  case  in  the  foundations 
of  the  Priory  Church,  which  Lord  Rich 
converted  into  a  banqueting  hall. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


407 


The  Manchester  Guardian  of  October  9  had  a 
long  and  interesting  article,  signed  "E.  A.  B.," 
dealing  with  the  nature  and  origin  of  the 
much-discussed  "  Dene-holes/'  a  propos  of 
the  recent  opening  up  of  the  great  dene-hole 
at  Gravesend.  Describing  the  group  of  dene- 
holes  at  Hangman's  Wood,  near  Grays, 
Essex,  the  writer  says  :  "Here,  in  the  com- 
pass of  a  few  acres,  about  fifty  holes  occur. 
The  chambers  are  all  at  about  the  same 
level,  80  feet,  from  the  surface ;  yet,  though 
there  are  so  many  of  them,  and  their  limbs 
almost  dovetail  into  each  other,  great  care 
was  manifestly  taken  not  to  destroy  the  rock 
partition  between  any  members  of  the  series. 
Fifteen  chambers  have  now  been  connected 
together  by  tunnels  cut  by  explorers,  but 
only  in  one  or  two  spots  was  the  thin  wall 
between  found  broken,  and  this  evidently 
the  result  of  accident,  dogs  or  badgers  having 
apparently  clawed  away  the  chalk  in  their 
mad  efforts  to  get  out  of  the  death-trap  into 
which  they  had  tumbled.  The  Bexley  dene- 
holes,  which  are  still  more  numerous  and 
cover  a  large  area,  vary  in  shape,  the  recesses 
having  frequently  been  connected  so  as  to 
leave  pillars,  while  in  some  instances  the 
ground  plan  is  simply  an  irregular  circle. 
In  one  hole  alone  have  I  seen  any  attempt 
at  lining  the  shaft  with  stone.  This  was  in 
the  'Flint  Well,'  a  pit  about  100  feet  deep, 
inside  the  precincts  of  a  prehistoric  camp  in 
Joyden's  Wood,  where  for  many  feet  down  a 
'  steining '  of  large  flints  has  kept  the  gravelly 
sides  from  tumbling  in.  There  was  a 
1  steining '  in  the  Grays  dene-holes,  but  the 
squared  flints  have  long  ago  fallen  into  the 
cavity,  forming  a  bottom  layer  to  the  cone 
of  debris.  A  dene-hole  now  covered  in  at 
Eltham  had  a  similar  lining." 

•fr  $  «fr 
E.  A.  B.  points  out  that,  though  Neolithic 
deposits  were  found  in  some  shallow  dene- 
holes  at  Crayford,  explored  many  years  ago, 
yet  the  deep  Bexley  and  Grays  holes  show 
unmistakably  that  they  were  excavated  by 
means  of  metal  picks,  and  must  belong  to  a 
much  more  recent  period.  He  thus  sum- 
marizes the  different  theories  which  have  been 
put  forward  at  various  times  by  archaeologists 
to  explain  the  purpose  of  the  holes  :  "  The 
three  most  reasonable  are  that  they  were 
chalk-pits,  flint-mines   for   making   weapons 


and  implements,  or  hiding-places  for  grain. 
Then,  in  descending  order  of  acceptability, 
come  the  following  hypotheses :  Silos  for 
preservation  of  fodder,  dwelling-places,  re- 
fuges in  time  of  war,  places  of  burial,  places 
of  worship,  receptacles  for  prisoners  of  war, 
pitfalls  for  animals,  and  water  wells." 

«$»         «fr         ■$» 

For  various  reasons  most  of  these  are  quite 
impossible  of  acceptation.  E.  A.  B.  is  in- 
clined, like  many  others,  to  support  the 
granary  theory.  He  says  :  "  The  care  taken 
to  keep  each  dene-hole  at  Grays  private  and 
separate  from  its  neighbour,  and  the  immense 
trouble  expended  in  removing  all  traces  of 
the  chalk  in  levelling  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  so  as  to  ensure  secrecy  as  to  the 
situation  of  the  underground  chambers,  seem 
to  indicate  that  they  were  hiding-places  for 
grain  and  other  provisions.  Each  dene-hole 
might  have  belonged  to  a  separate  family. 
Marks  have  been  detected  in  the  shafts  of 
dene-holes  closed  at  the  top  showing  that 
ropes  had  been  used,  and  parts  of  the  roof  in 
the  one  at  Gravesend  appear  to  have  been 
rubbed,  as  if  quantities  of  corn  or  like  material 
had  been  thrown  down  from  the  curious 
platform  beneath  the  shaft.  The  holes  in 
the  sides  of  the  pits  may  have  been  footholds, 
but  were  more  probably  fitted  with  stemples, 
such  as  those  used  by  the  lead-miners  in  the 
Speedwell  Mine  and  Peak  Cavern.  I  have 
just  discovered  a  most  illuminating  passage 
in  the  Perceval  or  the  Conte  del  Graal,  written 
about  1 180  by  Chrestien  de  Troyes,  a  poet 
who  reproduced  the  features  of  old  Welsh 
legends  very  accurately,  even  when  he  did 
not  entirely  understand  their  meanings.  He 
describes  how  certain  damsels  used  to  lead 
knights  and  other  wayfarers  in  the  forests  of 
Britain  to  the  '  puis,'  or,  as  a  later  recension 
has  it,  the  '  caves,'  where  they  supplied  them 
with  food  and  drink.  The  '  puis  '  or  '  puits  ' 
{\j3X.  puteum)  obviously  refers  to  underground 
storehouses  having  the  shape  of  pits  or  wells; 
the  damsels  are  a  romantic  addition.  In  the 
Arthurian  age,  then,  something  of  the  nature 
of  dene-holes  was  a  storehouse  for  provisions. 
It  is  objected  to  the  granary  theory  that  at 
Grays  and  Bexley  there  would  have  been 
room  for  200,000  tons  of  corn.  But  these 
storehouses  may  have  been  used  for  all  sorts 
of  things  besides  corn  ;  and  at  any  rate  the 


408 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


grain  would  have  been  kept  in  the  ear,  both 
for  the  sake  of  the  fodder  and  for  its  better 
preservation  underground,  and  thus  would 
require  a  good  deal  of  room.  At  present  the 
storehouse  theory  has  the  best  of  it." 

•J?         «fr         «J? 

A  mammoth's  tusk  has  been  found  by  a 
workman  engaged  in  excavating  the  site  of  a 
tank  on  land  near  Water  Orton,  in  the  Mid- 
lands. The  tusk  was  discovered  in  the  upper 
layer  of  the  Keuper  marl,  about  i6£  feet 
below  the  surface.  It  is  in  two  pieces,  and 
the  larger  piece  measures  about  18  inches  in 
length,  its  girth  being  8  inches.  Although 
it  has  lain  in  the  ground  for  ages,  the  tusk  is 
in  a  capital  state  of  preservation,  for  the  grain 
of  the  ivory  is  perfectly  perceptible.  It  will 
be  on  view  at  the  annual  conversazione  this 
month  of  the  Birmingham  Natural  History 
Society. 

«&  «$?  $? 
Dr.  Mackenzie,  a  member  of  the  British 
Archaeological  School,  Rome,  who  has  made 
a  speciality  of  the  early  civilization  of  Crete 
and  the  ^Egean,  is  at  present  in  Sardinia 
tracing  the  connexion  which  he  has  found  to 
exist  between  the  architecture  of  that  island 
and  the  early  constructions  of  the  Archi- 
pelago. 

Recent  newspaper  articles  on  antiquarian 
topics  include  an  account  of  the  "  Old  Ruined 
Church  of  Arborfield,  Berks,"  by  Mr.  E.  W. 
Dormer,  in  the  Reading  Mercury,  Septem- 
ber 14 ;  "  Babylonia  :  the  Problem  of  Anti- 
quity," by  Mr.  W.  St.  Chad  Boscawen,  in  the 
Globe,  October  5  ;  "  Boxgrove  Priory,"  in  the 
Sussex  Daily  News,  September  25.  There 
were  also  two  good  articles  by  the  Rev.  J.  C. 
Cox,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.,  on  the  ancient  churches 
and  secular  buildings  of  "  The  Hundred  of 
Appletree,  Derbyshire,"  in  the  Athenoeum  for 
September  21  and  28.  This  part  of  Derby- 
shire is  little  known.  Dr.  Cox  says  :  "  This 
hundred  of  Appletree,  embracing  twenty-five 
old  parishes,  several  of  which  are  divided  into 
ancient  chapelries,  is  somewhat  irregular  in 
shape.  Though  not  including  in  its  limits 
either  the  capital  town  of  Derby  or  that  of 
Ashbourne,  it  runs  close  to  both  these  places, 
and  may  be  described  as,  in  the  main,  cover- 
ing a  large  area  on  the  south-west  of  the 
county,  with  Longford  as  a  centre.     When  I 


recently  revisited  every  part  of  this  hundred, 
chiefly  in  connexion  with  the  future  topogra- 
phical sections  of  the  Victoria  County  History 
scheme,  after  an  interval  in  most  parishes  of 
some  thirty  years,  the  quiet  beauty  of  much 
of  the  scenery,  together  with  the  interest  of  a 
number  of  the  churches  and  secular  buildings, 
impressed  me  not  a  little  ;  and  a  few  notes 
may,  I  hope,  induce  others  to  pay  more 
attention  to  this  part  of  Derbyshire." 

4?     «fr      4? 

Our  first  "  Note  "  last  month  was,  as  we 
found  too  late  to  make  the  necessary  correc- 
tion, a  little  premature.  Only  the  modern 
shell  of  Crosby  Hall  has  as  yet  been  destroyed. 
The  ancient  Hall  itself  is  intact,  but  while  we 
write  its  fate  is  trembling  in  the  balance.  The 
new  owners — the  directors  of  the  Chartered 
Bank  of  India — consented  to  stay  their  hand 
until  October  15,  so  that  Alderman  Sir  T. 
Vezey  Strong's  committee  might,  in  the  mean- 
time, secure  the  necessary  funds  to  ensure  the 
preservation  of  the  Hall.  By  that  date  only 
,£5,000  was  collected,  but  the  directors 
extended  the  time  until  the  end  of  the  month. 
If  the  money  be  not  raised  then,  the  Hall 
will  be  destroyed  forthwith.  If  the  committee 
be  successful,  it  is  proposed  to  create  a  Trust, 
securing  the  building  for  permanent  public  ad- 
vantage, and  its  use  in  connexion  with  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  work  of  the  City  Guilds  and 
Societies,  and  bodies  having  kindred  objects. 

#»        &        4p 

The  death  was  announced  early  in  October 
of  Professor  Adolf  Furtwangler,  the  well- 
known  German  archaeologist.  Although  only 
fifty-four  years  of  age  at  his  death,  he  had 
taken  part  in  the  excavations  at  Olympia  so 
long  ago  as  1878.  Later  he  was  Professor 
at  Berlin,  and  then  at  Munich.  His  name 
has  lately  been  prominent  in  connexion  with 
the  excavations  at  ^Egina.  He  was  the 
author  of  very  many  books  and  papers. 

4?         «fr         jtf 

Five  old  tenements  at  Little  Horkesley, 
Essex,  were  recently  sold,  and  the  new  owner 
decided  to  restore  them.  It  has  now  been 
found  that  the  five  were  originally  one  house, 
and  of  the  Tudor  period.  The  rooms  are 
covered  with  beautiful  carving  and  panelling, 
which  for  generations  had  been  covered  up 
with  plaster,  whitewash,  and  wallpaper.  On 
clearing  the  doors  it  was  found  they  were  of 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


409 


oak  heavily  studded  with  nails.  The  house 
is  believed  to  have  been  originally  the  resi- 
dence of  the  old  Essex  family  of  Josselyn. 

#»         $         <fc 

Dr.  Charles  Waldstein,  Fellow  of  King's 
College,  Cambridge,  University  Reader  in 
Classical  Archaeology,  and  formerly  director 
of  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum,  was  re-elected  to 
the  Slade  Professorship  of  Fine  Art  at  Cam- 
bridge on  October  15.  Owing  to  recent 
changes  in  the  statutes  governing  the  tenure 
of  that  professorship,  Dr.  Waldstein  now 
becomes  permanent  professor,  and  it  is 
understood  he  will  resign  the  Readership  in 
Classical  Archaeology.  Since  the  spring  of 
1880  Dr.  Waldstein  has  continuously  lectured 
on  classical  archaeology  in  the  University 
every  year,  and  with  few  exceptions  (while  he 
was  doing  archaeological  work  in  Greece) 
every  term.  His  was  the  first  chair  for 
classical  archaeology  established  in  Great 
Britain  (Oxford  following  in  1882). 

&         «fr         ty 

The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Sta?idard 
wrote,  under  date  October  10:  "Some 
excavations,  which  have  given  excellent 
results,  have  been  going  on  since  last  spring 
at  Paestum,  whose  magnificent  Greek  ruins 
dominate  the  desolate  Maremma  country 
that  borders  the  beautiful  Gulf  of  Salerno. 
The  remains  at  Paestum  consist  of  three 
Doric  temples,  one  of  which,  called  the 
Temple  of  Poseidon,  is  one  of  the  finest 
examples  of  Greek  architecture  in  the  world, 
and  can  only  be  compared  with  the  splendour 
of  the  Parthenon,  while  the  wild  and  solitary 
country  in  which  it  stands  makes  its  massive 
grandeur  still  more  impressive. 

"The  Greek  colony  of  Paestum  was 
founded  about  600  B.C.,  while  the  Temple  of 
Poseidon  is  said  to  date  from  500  B.C.,  and 
the  city  was  still  flourishing  in  the  eighth  or 
ninth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  About 
that  time  it  was  pillaged  and  destroyed  by 
the  Normans  and  Saracens,  who  are  said  to 
have  carried  off  its  treasures  to  the  neigh- 
bouring towns  of  Salerno  and  Capaccio,  but 
this  tradition  has  proved  to  be  unfounded, 
and  a  young  and  enthusiastic  excavator, 
Professor  Spinazzola,  obtained  permission  to 
make  excavations  on  the  spot,  which,  in  a 
short  three  months,  have  brought  to  light  a 

VOL.  III. 


large  quantity  of  most  important  and  beauti- 
ful remains. 

"  The  first  thing  to  be  revealed  was  the 
great  central  road,  36  feet  wide,  composed 
of  vast  polygonal  blocks,  and  having  its  paths 
still  intact,  which  passed  behind  the  two 
great  temples,  and  has  been  uncovered  for 
more  than  405  feet.  In  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  temples  many  fragments  of  cornices 
and  terracotta  ornaments  have  been  found. 
Some  great  fragments  of  terra-cotta  have 
come  to  light,  which  form  a  frieze  3  yards 
long,  with  its  red  and  brown  colouring  still 
intact,  and  adorned  with  fine  lion  heads, 
with  open  jaws  and  pendent  tongues.  Beauti- 
ful Greek  designs  of  spirals  and  flowers 
surround  it,  and  it  was  evidently  the  cornice 
that  crowned  the  temple. 

"  It  has  been  a  question  hitherto  whether 
the  ruins  known  as  the  Basilica  were  those  of 
a  temple  or  not,  but  it  has  now  been  solved 
by  the  discovery  of  the  fine  Greek  altar, 
63  feet  wide  and  18  feet  high,  with  four 
great  steps  that  led  to  the  platform  for  the 
priests  and  sacrifices.  About  78  feet  from 
the  altar  an  extraordinary  number  of  objects 
were  found,  which  date  from  the  Roman 
epoch  to  the  most  remote  prehistoric  times  : 
weapons  of  the  rudest  description  dating 
from  the  Stone  Age,  bracelets  and  ornaments 
of  the  Bronze  Age,  down  to  the  memorials  of 
the  most  recent  Roman  times,  together  with 
a  most  remarkable  Mycenean  idol,  a  bearded 
god,  with  round  eyes  and  strange  archaic 
smile,  perhaps  an  earliest  expression  of  Zeus 
or  of  Poseidon,  to  whom,  it  appears,  from 
some  archaic  inscriptions  that  have  been 
found,  the  temple  was  dedicated.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  revelation  of  an  uninterrupted 
civilization  that  dates  from  the  earliest  pre- 
historic times  to  the  end  of  the  Roman 
civilization,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  what 
treasures  may  not  be  discovered  when  the 
excavations  are  resumed  this  winter." 

«fr         «$»         «$? 

The  Italian  Minister  of  Education  has  asked 
for  a  grant  of  ^800  a  year  for  the  purpose 
of  establishing  an  Italian  Archaeological 
School  at  Athens.  The  proposal  is  said  to 
have  found  great  favour  in  Greece,  where 
Italy  has  been  popular  since  the  royal  visit 
of  last  spring,  of  which  this  is  one  result. 
In    every    period,    Classical,    Roman,    and 

3  f 


410 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


Mediaeval,  the  relations  between  Italy  and 
Greece  were  so  close  that  the  Italian  School 
will  have  plenty  of  scope  for  its  labours. 
Hitherto  Italy  has  excavated  in  Crete  alone 
of  Hellenic  lands. 

•J?  4?  •fr 
An  interesting  special  work,  says  the  Bristol 
Times  and  Mirror,  October  15,  is  being 
taken  in  hand  by  the  Bristol  and  Gloucester- 
shire Archaeological  Society.  At  Witcombe 
Park,  about  six  miles  from  Gloucester,  and 
just  under  the  Cotswold  Hills,  are  the  re- 
mains of  a  very  fine  Roman  villa.  These 
remains  were  discovered  in  18 18,  and  were 
carefully  drawn  and  described  by  the  cele- 
brated Gloucestershire  antiquary,  Samuel 
Lysons,  in  Arch&ologia,  vol.  xix.  Much  that 
is  shown  on  his  plan  has  again  disappeared 
under  the  earth,  but  there  still  remain  five  of 
the  rooms.  These  form  part  of  the  elaborate 
and  complete  system  of  baths  which  once 
stood  here.  The  actual  bath  itself  is  in 
excellent  preservation,  and  the  floors  through- 
out are  beautiful  examples  of  Roman  pave- 
ment. 

4p        «jfr        & 

In  one  room  the  original  walls  are  standing 
to  the  height  of  about  3  feet,  and  contain 
the  flues  by  which  hot  air  was  conducted 
from  the  hypocaust  or  heating  chamber  to 
the  room.  These  three  rooms  are  enclosed 
in  two  huts,  the  roof  of  one  of  which  has 
completely  fallen  in,  carrying  with  it  a  large 
portion  of  the  walls,  whilst  that  of  the  other 
threatens  to  follow  its  example.  This  has 
laid  bare  the  floor,  and  considerable  pilfering 
by  tourists  and  others  has  taken  place.  As 
the  matter  is  one  of  urgency,  owing  to  the 
damage  likely  to  be  done  by  pilferers  and 
frost,  the  Council  of  the  Society  has  felt  it  to 
be  its  duty  to  undertake  the  immediate  work 
of  preserving  these  remains.  A  contract  of 
over  ;£too  has  been  accepted,  work  has 
been  begun,  and  a  special  fund  is  being 
raised. 

^p  $?  & 
Mr.  M.  H.  Medland,  architect,  of  Gloucester, 
has  kindly  prepared  plans  for  the  work, 
which  consists  of  considerable  rebuilding  and 
underpinning,  and  roofing  both  the  sheds 
with  tiled  roofs  in  a  manner  which  is  calcu- 
lated to  last  for  many  years.  Lysons's  plans 
and  descriptions  show  the  villa  to  have  been 


one  of  first-rate  size  and  importance,  and 
many  eminent  authorities  consider  that  these 
plans  do  not  show  nearly  the  extent  of  the 
building.  Their  view  is  confirmed  by  various 
circumstances  which  have  recently  come  to 
light.  Should  sufficient  funds  be  forth- 
coming, the  Society  is  willing  to  undertake 
further  research,  which  may  be  expected  to 
yield  great  results.  This  is  exactly  the  sort 
of  work  for  the  Society,  and  should  not  be 
hindered  for  want  of  money. 

$         $         $ 

Several    interesting    examples   of    the    old- 
fashioned   tinder-boxes  are   now   being   ex- 
hibited   in    the    Belfast    Art    Gallery   and 
Museum.     The  Belfast  Evening  Telegraph 
of  October  3,  describing  the  collection,  re- 
marked that  tinder-boxes  varied  considerably 
as  to  size,  shape,  and  material  in  which  they 
were  made,  and  any  receptacle  would  serve, 
provided  it  was  fitted  with  a  lid,  and  capable 
of  holding  conveniently  some  tinder.     One 
of  the  simplest  and  earliest  kinds  took  the 
form  of  a  shallow  oblong  box,   which  was 
divided  into  compartments  for  keeping  the 
articles   necessary  for  providing   fire.     The 
type  of  tinder-box  which  is  familiar  to  us 
was  circular,  and  made  of  tin,  fitted  with  a 
lid  which  slipped  on  like  the  lid  of  a  canister, 
and  often  furnished  on  the  top  with  a  candle- 
holder.     On   the  bottom   of   the  box  was 
placed    the  tinder,   and   on   it  rested    the 
damper — a  disc  of  tin — usually  with  a  turned- 
up  edge,  and   finished   on   the   top  with  a 
small  handle  for  lifting,  while  on  the  damper 
rested   the   flint   and   steel,    with    probably 
some  short  sulphur  matches  ready  for  use. 
The   steel   used   with   the    tinder-box,    and 
anciently   called   a   "  fire-iron,"  was   a  thin 
plate   or   strip   of    highly   tempered   metal. 
Frequently  an  old  file  was  put  into  the  re- 
quired shape ;  but  their  shape  varied  greatly, 
and  many  of  them  took  roughly  the  form  of 
certain  letters  of  the  alphabet.     In  all  cases, 
however,  there  was  a  straight  edge  for  striking 
the  flint  to  obtain   the  necessary  spark  to 
make  the  tinder  glow. 

•flp  «fr  «$» 
The  only  other  article  necessary  was  the 
sulphur  match,  but  the  word  "match"  to 
the  present  generation  implies  only  that  sort 
which  lighted  by  friction.  Originally,  how- 
ever, match  was  any  substance  which  burned 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


readily  but  slowly,  so  that  the  old  sulphur 
match  was  intended,  not  to  produce  fire,  but 
to  convey  fire  from  the  tinder  to  the  candle. 
Sulphur  matches  were  usually  made  by 
splitting  thin  slips  off  the  edge  of  resinous 
pinewood  or  other  light,  inflammable  wood, 
sharpening  roughly  each  end,  and  dipping 
into  melted  sulphur.  A  familiar  cry  in  the 
streets  of  London  up  to  about  1830  was : 
"  Here's  your  fine  tar-barrel  matches,  sixteen 
bunches  a  penny."  So  that  no  doubt  sulphur 
matches  were  made  from  the  old  wood  of 
tar-barrels.  The  vernacular  name  for  sulphur 
matches  was  "  spunks,"  and  even  in  some  of 
the  country  districts  of  Scotland  the  name 
has  descended  to  modern  matches. 

$?         4?         ^ 

Pocket  tinder-boxes  also  varied  greatly  in 
form  and  material.  Among  those  now  on 
view  in  the  Belfast  Museum  is  an  interesting 
example,  the  property  of  Mr.  Robert  May, 
which  has  been  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
May's  family  for  upwards  of  one  hundred 
years.  It  is  made  of  tin,  and  measures 
2f  inches  long  and  "if  inches  broad,  and 
when  closed  is  \  inch  in  height.  It  con- 
tains two  compartments — one  with  a  hinged 
lid,  and  a  candle  socket  fitted  to  a  hinged 
side,  the  socket  still  containing  a  remnant 
of  candle.  Some  other  interesting  pocket 
tinder-boxes  are  also  shown  ;  one  is  made 
from  the  tail  of  a  large  armadillo,  with  horse- 
hide  lid,  and  another  has  been  prepared  from 
the  tip  of  a  cow's  horn.  Both  these  speci- 
mens are  from  South  America,  where  these 
articles  are  used  at  the  present  time,  and 
they  were  recently  presented  by  Mr.  U.  H. 
Bland.  Another  tinder-box  of  equal  interest 
is  made  from  a  silkworm  cocoon,  such  as 
is  used  to-day  among  the  Bheels,  Gujarat, 
India,  and  was  presented  by  Mr.  G.  W. 
Blair.  It  contains  tinder,  and  is  attached  by 
means  of  a  string  to  the  steel. 

4?      $»      $? 

Mechanical  forms  were  in  use  as  early  as  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  were  generally  to 
be  found  in  the  houses  of  the  well-to-do. 
The  more  general  examples  are  the  pistol 
tinder-boxes,  and  they  were  usually  made 
and  sold  by  gunmakers,  whose  names  they 
often  bear.  The  tinder  receptacle  occupied 
the  place  situated  by  the  "  priming  "  pan  of 
a  flint-lock  pistol,  just  below  the  flint  and 


411 


striker.  The  sparks  produced  by  the  contact 
of  the  flint  with  the  striker  fell  upon  the 
tinder,  igniting  it.  Fire  was  then  conveyed 
to  the  candle  by  means  of  a  sulphur  match. 
There  are  three  specimens  in  the  Grainger 
Collection,  one  inscribed  "  Blake,  London," 
which  is  in  brass,  and  has  a  receptacle  pro- 
vided with  a  hinged  door  and  spring,  and 
intended  to  convey  a  supply  of  small  sulphur 
matches.  Another  in  iron,  although  im- 
perfect, is  furnished  with  a  socket  for  candle  ; 
while  a  third,  also  in  brass,  is  provided  with 
a  clamp  screw.  The  "  fire  syringe,"  which 
has  been  kindly  lent  by  Mr.  May,  consists  of 
a  solid  rod  terminating  in  a  little  hook,  on 
which  is  placed  touch-paper.  By  thrusting 
the  rod  into  a  tube  closed  at  one  end  and 
pulling  out  quickly,  fire  was  obtained. 


CattoeD  HDafe  jTurmture  in 
COestmorlann, 

By  S.  H.  Scott. 

jARVED  oak  furniture  is  worthy  of 
more  detailed  study  than  appears 
to  have  yet  been  given  to  it.  Very 
distinct  characteristics  mark  the 
carving  of  different  localities,  and  the  preva- 
lence of  a  certain  style  in  a  district  is  an 
interesting  matter  for  investigation.  It  is  an  in- 
vestigation which  should  be  made  now,  before 
the  last  of  the  old  farm-houses  and  cottages 
have  given  up  their  oak  to  the  collector,  and 
the  link  with  the  locality  is  thus  lost.  Before 
long  it  will  be  impossible  to  secure  a  sufficient 
number  of  specimens  (belonging  with  certainty 
to  a  particular  place)  to  form  the  basis  of  any 
theory  as  to  their  origin  and  development. 

The  following  cursory  sketch  of  Westmor- 
land carved  oak  is  not  intended  as  a  serious 
contribution  to  the  subject — it  is  a  subject 
requiring  much  careful  research — but  only  as 
an  indication  of  what  might  be  done  in  this 
direction.  There  still  remains  in  the  farm- 
houses of  Westmorland  a  fair  quantity  of 
oak  furniture  in  spite  of  the  ravages  of  the 
dealer.  In  part  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
important  pieces  of  furniture  belong  to  the 
freehold  or  to  the  tenement,  if  the  property 

3F  2 


412 


CARVED  OAK  FURNITURE  IN  WESTMORLAND. 


be  held  by  customary  tenure.  A  family  who 
are  only  tenants  of  the  house  are  fairly  easily 
persuaded  to  sell  their  old  possessions.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  owner  of  the  freehold  is 
a  man  of  more  substance  and  less  easily 
tempted ;  moreover,  he  is  less  accessible. 
There  is,  too,  a  rather  peculiar  tenacity  and 
innate  conservatism  among  the  yeoman  or 
"  statesman "  class,  which  very  often  will 
make  a  man  refuse  to  part  with  that  for 
which  he  cares  but  little.  The  writer  can 
call  to  mind  an  instance  of  this. 

Some  fifteen  years  ago  the  handsomely 
carved  doors  of  a  "  locker,"  fallen  from  their 
hinges,  were  to  be  seen  lying  upon  a  heap  of 
coals  in  the  dismantled  ruins  of  an  old  house, 
used  at  the  time  as  an  outhouse  for  storing 
fuel  and  other  things.  An  offer  of  purchase 
was  refused  by  the  old  yeoman  who  owned 
the  place.  The  initials  of  his  ancestor  of  two 
centuries  ago  were  carved  upon  the  frame- 
work, and  he  did  not  care  to  part  with  the 
neglected  relic.  Yet  for  another  seven  years 
the  doors  were  allowed  to  remain  in  this 
forlorn  condition,  until  by  the  mediation  of 
a  mutual  acquaintance  of  some  persuasive 
powers  the  yeoman  was  induced  to  repent, 
and  allow  the  woodwork  to  be  saved  and 
fitted  into  a  locker  of  similar  dimensions  in 
an  old  house  in  the  neighbourhood. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  remind  those 
with  any  knowledge  of  old  furniture  that 
the  pieces  to  be  found  in  a  Westmorland 
"  statesman's  "  home  were  few  and  of  simple 
construction.  The  inexperienced  purchaser 
must  beware  of  elaborate  or  unusual  articles 
as  most  probably  "  made  up." 

In  speaking  of  Westmorland  furniture,  it 
must  be  explained,  is  meant  the  furniture 
which  is  typical  of  the  country,  not  the 
furniture  made  in  London  or  elsewhere, 
which  may  have  been  imported  into  a  few  of 
the  great  houses. 

Not  that  there  has  ever  been  any  con- 
siderable quantity  of  imported  furniture 
in  the  Westmorland  of  former  times.  There 
were  a  few  great  landowners,  it  is  true,  but 
the  smaller  squires  were  few  in  number,  and 
those  who  styled  themselves  "gentlemen " 
scarcely  differed  in  their  manner  of  life  or 
possessions  from  their  yeomen  friends  and 
neighbours. 

Even  the  great  landowners  were  possessors 


of  manorial  rights  over  a  wide  area  rather  than 
in  effect  owners  of  the  soil ;  for  the  land  was 
almost  wholly  parcelled  out  to  customary 
tenants — the  "  statesmen  "  of  whom  we  have 
spoken — who  held  their  land  by  a  tenure, 
which  (although  the  tenants  were  threatened 
on  more  than  one  occasion  with  an  arbitrary 
confiscation  of  their  rights)  amounted  to  free- 
hold with  a  few  inconsiderable  disadvantages, 
such  as  a  nominal  lord's  rent,  fine  on  succes- 
sion, heriot,  and  the  like  "  incidents."  Dis- 
putes with  the  lords  and  with  the  Crown  only 
led  to  the  tenants  being  confirmed  in  their 
right  to  do  as  they  would  with  their  lands. 

From  this  explanation  it  will  be  seen  that 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  land,  especially 
in  the  mountainous  districts,  was  in  the  hands 
of  a  class  of  small  landowners,  who  farmed 
their  own  fields  and  herded  their  own  flocks 
on  the  fells.  The  refinements  of  the  rich 
agricultural  counties  and  the  wealthy  trading 
districts  were  unknown  to  these  fell  farmers, 
and  hence  their  furniture  has  solidity  rather 
than  elegance  or  grace. 

Until  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  houses  of  the  "statesmen  "  appear 
to  have  been  primitive  dwellings  built  on 
"crucks,"  or  pairs  of  curved  beams,  placed 
so  that  each  pair  formed  an  arch,  a  tie-beam 
connecting  them.  The  roofs  were  of  thatch, 
which  is  now  practically  unknown  in  West- 
morland, and  the  furniture  was  apparently 
so  scanty  and  so  rudely  constructed  that 
none  of  it  has  survived.  It  is  not  clear 
why,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  there  should  have  been  an  increase  of 
prosperity  sufficient  to  account  for  this  rise  in 
the  standard  of  comfort,  but  there  seems  to 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  great  change  in  the 
condition  of  the  Fell  people  at  this  time. 

With  regard  to  material,  one  might  say 
that  all  Westmorland  furniture  is  made  of 
oak.  The  "  age  of  walnut  "  and  the  "  age  of 
mahogany  "  have  no  meaning  in  these  remote 
valleys,  although  much  fine  mahogany  from 
the  West  Indies  was  brought  to  Lancaster 
and  found  its  way  into  the  houses  of  the 
country-side  which  lie  south  of  the  West- 
morland border. 

The  principal  items  to  be  found  in  a 
"  statesman's  "  homestead  are  : 

i.  The  bread-cupboard,  the  most  important. 
It  stands  in  the  "house,"  or  living-room,  and 


CARVED  OAK  FURNITURE  IN  WESTMORLAND. 


4*3 


is  most  commonly  built  into  the  wall.  In  it 
was  formerly  stored  the  oat-bread,  the  staple 
diet  of  the  family,  which  could  be  kept  with- 
out deterioration  for  some  time. 

It  is  a  cabinet  of  the  familiar  type,  consist- 
ing of  an  upper  and  lower  cupboard.  The 
top  rail  is  carved,  generally  with  the  owner's 
initials.  The  smaller  doors  (i.e.,  those  of  the 
upper  cupboard)  are  frequently  carved,  but 
this  is,  as  a  rule,  the  only  carving  on  a 
cupboard,  unless  there  be  a  little  ornamenta- 
tion on  the  lower  doors,  not  in  relief,  as  is 
the  rest  of  the  carving,  but  cut  in  intaglio. 
The  panels  of  the  lower  doors  are  never  filled 
with  carving  as  are  those  of  the  upper  doors. 
The  writer  once  came  across  a  splendid 
specimen  which  had  been  for  two  centuries, 
at  least,  part  of  an  ancient  property.  The 
panels  of  the  lower  doors  were  finely  carved 
in  relief  carving,  and  the  work  throughout 
was  of  undoubted  antiquity.  A  close  inspec- 
tion, however,  made  it  clear  that  the  panels 
had,  at  some  comparatively  recent  date,  been 
inserted,  and  were  not  part  of  the  original 
cupboard. 

In  Westmorland,  as  elsewhere,  there  has 
always  been  a  temptation,  not  necessarily  for 
dishonest  purposes,  to  elaborate  an  article 
of  old  but  plain  workmanship  by  adding 
modern  carving.  As  a  record  of  the  past 
the  furniture  is  thus  made  of  little  value,  and, 
unfortunately,  this  happens  very  frequently. 

2.  Arm-chairs.  Richly  carved  specimens 
of  these  do  exist,  but  they  are  rare,  and  any 
such  that  are  offered  should  be  viewed  with 
suspicion.  The  top  rail  is  often  marked  with 
initials.  The  back  is  sometimes  divided  into 
three  panels  by  two  bars  placed  like  a  T. 
This  means  that  the  uppermost  panel  is  the 
largest  of  the  three,  and  is  placed  horizontally 
to  the  two  lower  panels ;  if  there  be  any 
carving  on  the  back  it  is  the  upper  panel 
which  is  carved. 

3.  The  great  four-post  bedstead,  which 
once  stood  in  the  "  bower  "  (the  chamber  of 
the  master  and  mistress  on  the  ground  floor, 
leading  out  of  the  "house"),  is  often  hand- 
somely carved.  Oak  cradles  are  also  to  be 
found. 

4.  The  long  dining-table  has  heavy  bulbous- 
shaped  legs,  and  a  rail  to  keep  the  feet  off 
the  cold  flags  in  winter.  This  table  usually 
has  a  little  carving  on  the  top  rail  on  one 


side  only,  as  it  was  made  to  stand  against 
the  wall. 

5.  The  "kists"  are  chests  used  formerly 
for  linen,  and  the  "arks"  are  larger  chests 
for  storing  meal  or  malt.  The  front  of  a 
"kist,"  as  a  rule  divided  into  three  panels, 
is  often  very  richly  carved,  and  the  top  rail 
is  marked  with  initials.  But  the  lids  are 
always  quite  plain,  and  the  great  arks,  being 
of  rough  and  massive  make,  are  usually 
without  decoration. 

6.  The  doors  of  the  "lockers"  (or  cup- 
boards built  into  the  thickness  of  the  wall) 
are  often  carved,  and  the  surrounding  frame- 
work of  wood  may  be  carved. 

The  typical  "screen  or  long  settle"  with 
high  back  is  not  carved,  unless  it  be  along 
the  top  rail,  and  the  chairs,  oval  table,  "stand 
of  drawers,"  buffets  (high  stools  with  turned 
legs),  and  forms  for  the  long  table  do  not 
lend  themselves  to  ornamentation. 

Having  enumerated  the  classes  of  oak 
furniture  to  be  found,  we  will  touch  briefly 
on  the  subject  of  the  carving  to  be  found 
thereon.  As  we  have  remarked,  the  style 
of  carving  and  the  kind  of  pattern  varies 
considerably  according  to  the  locality — the 
Westmorland  style,  for  instance,  differs 
essentially  from  that  of  South  Lancashire, 
both  in  the  way  the  wood  is  cut  and  in 
design. 

Speaking  generally,  the  Westmorland 
designs  consist  of  a  few  forms  which  are 
so  well  known  to  anyone  who  has  examined 
much  of  the  local  furniture  that  a  Westmor- 
land piece  may  generally  be  recognized  by 
the  carving  upon  it. 

Among  the  most  common  of  these  forms 
is  one  which  can  perhaps  only  be  described 
as  having  something  of  the  shape  of  an 
elongated  and  straightened-out  S,  with  a 
pronounced  scroll  at  either  extremity,  and 
is  usually  employed  in  combinations  of  two 
or  four ;  a  kind  of  endless  knot  is  frequently 
found,  as  well  as  a  running  pattern  of  scrolls, 
much  used  for  the  ornamenting  of  a  rail  on 
a  cupboard  or  chest.  The  question  naturally 
arises  of  the  origin  of  these  designs,  repeated 
so  frequently  in  a  particular  locality.  The 
difficulty  of  arriving  at  any  solution  is  increased 
by  the  fact  that,  as  there  appears  to  be  no 
furniture  in  existence  of  a  date  prior  to  the 
seventeenth  century,  it  is  impossible  to  say 


4i4 


NOTICE  OF  A  HEBRIDEAN  EARTH-HOUSE. 


whether  these  patterns  have  been  handed 
down  from  a  remote  period  or  invented 
comparatively  recently. 

There  is  a  certain  temptation,  considering 
the  many  survivals  of  a  Scandinavian  origin 
which  may  be  found  in  the  Lake  Country, 
to  trace  these  traditional  designs  to  a 
Scandinavian  source,  but  although  one  or 
two  of  the  common  forms  have  a  superficial 
resemblance  to  the  well-known  forms  of 
Scandinavian  ornament,  it  cannot  be  said 
that  the  general  appearance  of  the  work  of 
the  Westmorland  carver  favours  such  a  theory, 
which  is  not  a  very  plausible  one. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  patterns  do  not 
seem  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  mediaeval 
wood-carving  in  the  churches ;  in  fact,  there 
is  little  such  work  in  the  Lake  District  proper 
to  serve  as  an  example  for  the  local  crafts- 
man, nor  do  the  designs  resemble  the  ordi- 
nary decoration  of  sixteenth-century  furniture 
in  the  more  accessible  parts  of  England, 
which  may  be  ascribed  largely  to  Italian  or 
Flemish  influence.  It  is  open  to  discussion 
to  what  extent  the  carving  upon  this  oak 
furniture  is  the  work  of  professional  carpenters 
and  village  cabinet-makers,  or  of  the  owners 
of  the  furniture.  Probably  both  have  con- 
tributed something ;  doubtless  the  village 
carpenter  was  skilful  enough  to  be  able,  if 
required,  to  add  the  carving  to  the  cupboard 
or  the  chair  which  he  had  fashioned.  At  the 
same  time,  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt 
that  the  yeoman  employed  some  of  his  leisure 
in  embellishing  his  household  possessions. 


'Earth-House'  or  subterranean  dwelling. 
This  structure  is  at  Arinabost  (two  miles 
north-west  from  the  small  village  of  Arina- 
gour),  only  a  few  yards  south  from  the  point 
of  junction  of  the  roads  thence  running 
south-west  and  south-east."  Mr.  Beveridge 
does  not  give  any  diagrams  or  photographs 
illustrating  this  place,  a  want  which  is  now 
partially  remedied  in  the  present  pages. 
But  his  written  description  is  so  precise  that 
it  would  be  unpardonable  not  to  quote  it  here 
in   full.     Of  the   structure  in    question   he 


HOUSE 


Notice  of  a  ©ebriDcan 
€artf)=IJ)ou0e. 

By  David  MacRitchie,  F.S.A.  Scot. 

N  treating  of  the  ancient  remains 
in  Coll,"  observes  Mr.  Erskine 
Beveridge,  F.S.A.  Scot.,  in  his 
excellent  book  on  Coll  a?id  Tiree 
(Edinburgh,  1903),  "mention  may  first  be 
made  of  an  underground  gallery — apparently 
the  only  site  in  either  of  the  islands  now 
under  notice  which  can  be  classed  as  an 


ARINABOST   EARTH-HOUSE.      GROUND-PLAN. 
ENTRANCE   AT   A  B. 

continues  thus  :  "  It  was  discovered  upon 
the  levelling  of  the  west  (or  Ballyhogh)  high- 
way, about  the  year  1855,  when  a  piece  of 
twisted  gold  was  found,  evidently  part  of  a 
bracelet.  The  original  entrance  is  believed 
to  have  been  to  the  north  of  the  road  last 
mentioned,  in  a  spot  now  covered  by  the 
dwelling  (a  former  school-house)  which 
immediately  adjoins.*  The  passage  still 
extends  south-eastward  in  a  flattened  arc  for 

*  This  is  the  house  indicated  at  C  in  the  present 
ground-plan. 


NOTICE  OF  A  HEBRIDEAN  EARTH-HOUSE. 


4i5 


38  feet  from  beneath  the  porch  of  this  house, 
under  the  road,  and  emerging  into  the 
remains  of  a  roughly  circular  chamber,  7  feet 
in  diameter,  now  laid  bare  in  a  gravel-pit.* 


*'V*—J"",V-4i~i 


ARINABOST  EARTH-HOUSE.      DOORWAY  AT  A  B   IN 
GROUND-PLAN. 

The  greatest  present  interior  height  of  the 
gallery  is  50  inches,  with  a  width  of  about  27 
inches,  and  the  walls  are  clearly  mere  under- 
ground linings  ;  the  roof  consists  of  broad 
stone  lintels  at  short  intervals,  bound 
together  by  narrower  transverse  slabs,  either 
at  right-angles  or  in  pairs  diagonally.  Part 
of  the  roof  is  stated  to  have  been  of  wood, 
and  the  passage  to  have  extended  farther 
north  than  the  porch  of  the  old  school-house. 
The  chamber,  disclosed  in  the  gravel-pit  at 
the  south-east  extremity,  was  partially 
excavated  in  the  summer  of  1896  by  Mr. 
Robert  Sturgeon,  postmaster  of  Coll,  who 
unearthed  some  quantity  of  kitchen-midden 
bones  and  shells,  a  large  bronze  pin  with  a 
fluted  head,  at  least  two  fragments  of  flint, 
and  a  few  bits  of  crude  unglazed  pottery. 
In  the  same  place  was  found  a  large  glass 
bead  (cylindrical  in  shape  and  about  \  inch 
long),  of  an  indigo  blue  colour,  and  enamelled 
with  white  spiral  ornament."  It  may  be 
added,  with  regard  to  this  bead,  that  it  was 
afterwards  (1903)  presented  by  Mr.  J.  M. 
Howden,  F.S.A.  Scot.,  to  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  and  is  portrayed  in 

*  The  site  of  this  circular  chamber,  removed  long 
since,  is  indicated  at  D  in  the  present  ground-plan. 


the  Society's  Proceedings,  vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  68, 
where  it  is  referred  to  as  "  specially  interesting, 
as  being  the  only  one  of  its  kind  hitherto 
found  in  Scotland." 

On  7th  May,  1906,  I  visited  this  souterrain, 
and  took  some  snapshots  of  the  existing 
entrance,*  the  only  portion  that  can  be 
photographed  without  the  aid  of  artificial 
light.  This  aperture  is  really  that  end  of  the 
passage  which  Mr.  Beveridge  describes  as 
"  emerging  into  the  remains  of  a  roughly 
circular  chamber  7  feet  in  diameter."  That 
chamber  has  now  quite  disappeared,  but  its 
situation  is  indicated  at  D  in  the  ground-plan 
here  shown,  the  letters  AB  marking  the 
present  entrance  into  the  passage.  The 
combination  of  a  circular  chamber  with  a 
long  passage  of  access  makes  this  souterrain 
almost  identical  with  that  at  Gress,  in  Lewis, 
and  the  dimensions  of  both  are  similar. 
Both  are  also  closely  allied  to  a  kindred  souter- 
rain at  Usinish,  in  the  island  of  South  Uist. 

Mr.  Beveridge  has  bestowed  so  much  care 
on  his  work  that  the  measurements  recorded 
by  him  must  be  accepted  as  accurate.  Those 
taken  by  myself  at  Arinabost  do  not 
altogether  coincide  with  his,  but  it  must  be 


ARINABOST   EARTH-HOUSE.      DOORWAY   AT  A  B   IN 
GROUND-TLAN. 

stated  that  mine  are  only  approximate,  so  far 
as  the  interior  of  the  souterrain  is  concerned. 
My  measurements  of  the  doorway  are 
accurate,  and  as  Mr.  Beveridge  omits  this 
*  A  B  in  the  present  ground-plan. 


416 


LONDON'S  MOVABLE  MONUMENTS. 


detail,  I  here  record  them.  Breadth  of 
entrance  at  top  (lintel  stone),  2  feet  3  inches. 
Height  at  A,  24  inches.  Height  at  B,  30 
inches.  The  roof  at  doorway  is  3^  feet 
below  the  natural  surface  of  the  ground,  and 
this  may  be  taken  as  the  probable  depth 
underground  of  the  whole  roof  of  the 
passage.  It  ought  to  be  explained  that  the 
surface  of  the  ground  is  marked  by  the 
grassy  line  which  runs  along  about  the  level 
of  the  shoulders  of  the  gentleman  who 
obligingly  stood  to  represent  the  scale,  and 
who  is  standing  on  what  was  the  floor  of  the 
former  circular  chamber.  The  stones  built 
above  that  grassy  line  are  merely  part  of  the 
wall  of  the  modern  road  which  crosses  above 
the  roof  of  the  souterrain.  According  to  my 
estimate,  the  present  length  of  the  gallery, 
which  I  explored  to  C,  where  it  is  blocked  up, 
measures  25  feet.  Mr.  Beveridge  says  38 
feet,  but  probably  he  followed  the  outer  arc, 
whereas  I  took  the  medial  line.  The 
average  width  and  height  of  the  gallery 
seemed  to  me  several  inches  greater  than 
Mr.  Beveridge's  estimate,  but  my  measure- 
ments in  this  respect  were  not  very  precise. 
Altogether,  this  souterrain  presents  no 
striking  difference  from  many  other  "  weems  " 
or  "  coves  "  in  Scotland  and  Ireland. 


Lontion's  arable  e^onumetm 

By  J.  Tavenor-Perry. 

Si  monumentum  requiris,  circumspice. 

T  was  once  thought  that  stability,  if 
J  not  immobility,  was  essential  to 
every  monument;  but  the  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  London 
of  late  years  have  almost  taught  us  that  if  we 
desire  to  set  up  any  monument  as  an  enduring 
memorial,  it  should  be  constructed,  if  not 
actually  on  wheels,  yet  so  as  to  be  capable 
of  perfectly  easy  transmigration.  Sometimes 
a  fancied  street  improvement  demands  the 
destruction  or  deportation  of  some  memorial 
which  blocks  the  way.  Sometimes  an  acci- 
dent or  a  mere  freak  of  fancy  relegates  a 
statue  to  some  position  for  which  it  was 
never  intended ;  but  sometimes  without  any 


reasonable  excuse  one  monument  is  pulled 
down  to  make  room  for  another  with  much 
the  same  object  that  a  new  font  is  presented 
to  a  church  to  replace  the  old  one,  ostensibly, 
to  judge  by  the  inscription,  "  to  the  glory  of 
God,"  but  obviously  only  for  the  perpetua- 
tion of  the  name  of  its  donor. 

Some  alterations  in  the  positions  of  monu- 
ments are,  perhaps,  inevitable  in  such  a  city 
as  London,  where  changes  and  improve- 
ments must  be  continuous,  unless  municipal 
life  stand  still.  They  were  not  unknown  in 
Rome.  When  Hadrian  was  about  to  build 
his  temple  of  Venus  at  Rome,  he  found  the 
colossal  statue  of  Nero  in  the  way  ;  and  by 
the  aid  of  twenty-four  elephants  the  great 
bronze  mass,  which  was  nearly  100  feet  high, 
was  dragged  to  another  position.  When 
Constantine  built  the  triumphal  arch  which 
bears  his  name,  he  transferred  to  it  from  an 
arch  which  Trajan  had  built  in  his  Forum 
some  of  the  most  essential  parts,  such  as  the 
columns  and  the  best  of  the  sculpture ;  and 
when  he  moved  the  capital  of  the  empire  to 
the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus,  Rome,  Athens 
and  Antioch  were  despoiled  of  their  movable 
monuments  to  decorate  Byzantium. 

Within  the  last  few  months  we  have  had 
in  London  one  of  these  monumental  trans- 
ferences for  which,  at  first  sight,  there  does 
not  appear  to  be  any  adequate  motive.  In 
1 77 1  Brass  Crosby,  the  then  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  had  the  courage  to  oppose  both  the 
Court  and  the  House  of  Commons  by  com- 
mitting an  act  which  had  most  important 
and  far-reaching  results  in  the  struggle  for  the 
freedom  of  the  Press,  and  for  this  act  he  was 
imprisoned  in  the  Tower.  His  fellow-citizens, 
in  memory  of  his  martyrdom,  and  as  a  monu- 
ment of  the  great  victory  he  had  obtained  for 
liberty,  erected  in  St.  George's  Circus,  South- 
wark,  an  obelisk,  not,  perhaps,  of  high  artistic 
value,  but  intended  to  be  a  permanent  record 
of  one  of  the  most  important  historical  events 
in  the  annals  both  of  the  city  and  of  the 
country.  This  has  now  been  pulled  down, 
and  in  place  of  it  has  been  raised  a  tower, 
neither  more  useful  nor  more  graceful  than 
the  original  monument,  which  records  all 
the  names  of  the  various  people  who  were 
concerned  in  its  erection,  as  well  as  the  fact 
that,  not  they,  but  the  old  obelisk  had  been 
removed  to  Bethlem  Hospital. 


LONDON'S  MOVABLE  MONUMENTS. 


4i7 


Another  monument  erected  by  the  citizens 
on  the  Surrey  side  of  the  water  was  the 
Gothic  clock  tower,  which  they  set  up  at  the 
foot  of  London  Bridge  to  the  memory  of  the 
Uuke  of  Wellington.  This  was  built  in  1854, 
when  his  recent  death  and  wonderful  funeral 
were  fresh  in  the  memory  of  every  one,  and 
before  the  Crimean  War  and  the  Indian 
Mutiny  had  blurred  the  clear  recollections 
of  Waterloo.  It  was  never  quite  completed, 
for  the  statue  of  the  Duke  which  it  was  to 
enshrine  was  never  set  up,  and  not  long 
afterwards,  when  the  South  Eastern  Railway 
was  extended  to  Charing  Cross,  the  tower 
was  pulled  down,  and  instead  of  it  the  com- 
pany erected  a  huge  iron  girder  bridge,  an 
engineering  triumphal  arch,  across  the  site. 
But  the  monument  still  survives  ;  it  was  only 
moved.  The  first  sight  one  sees  on  sailing 
into  Swanage  Harbour  is  the  lofty  Wellington 
clock  tower,  rising  amid  the  ruins  of  Hunger- 
ford  Market,  on  that  lone  Dorsetshire  coast. 

Another  Wellington  monument  had  a 
narrow  escape  of  destruction  or  demission, 
but  was  fortunately  saved  by  a  little  shift; 
this  was  the  great  triumphal  arch  which 
Decimus  Burton  designed,  and  a  grateful 
country  erected  across  the  entrance  to 
Constitutional  Hill  at  Hyde  Park  Corner  to 
the  hero  of  Waterloo.  A  few  years  ago, 
when  the  so-called  improvements  were  made 
between  Park  Lane  and  the  top  of  Grosvenor 
Place,  the  arch  was  pushed  further  down  the 
hill,  so  that  Piccadilly  might  enjoy  a  full  and 
unembarrassed  view  of  the  plastered  front  of 
a  hospital.  When  to  later  generations  the 
true  history  of  Waterloo  becomes  confused, 
but  this  arch  remains  as  a  memento  of  the 
name,  bearing  as  it  does  carved  within  a 
laurel  wreath  the  inscription  "G.R.  IV.," 
it  may  be  taken  as  sure  evidence  that  that 
great  monarch  was,  as  he  claimed  to  be,  the 
hero  of  the  fight. 

That  arches  should  be  easily  persuaded  to 
move  on,  since,  like  John  Gilpin's  hat  and 
wig,  "they  are  upon  the  road,"  seems  reason- 
able, especially  when  they  block  the  way ; 
and  this  fate  overtook  another  of  George  IV. 's 
gateways.  The  so-called  "Marble  Arch," 
which  was  a  free  translation  by  the  architect 
Nash  of  the  design  of  Constantine's  Arch  in 
Rome,  was  first  set  up  in  front  of  Buckingham 
Palace  at  a  cost  of  some  ^80,000.     Blore, 

VOL.  III. 


who  designed  the  very  unpalatial  front  of 
the  present  palace,  considered  it  incongruous, 
and  it  was  then  moved  to  its  present  position 
at  considerable  damage  and  a  further  cost  of 
,£11,000.  Proposals  for  its  re-removal  have 
more  than  once  been  made,  and  it  cannot 
even  yet  be  regarded  as  having  secured  a 
fixity  of  tenure. 

Another  arch,  most  intimately  associated 
with  the  history  of  the  country  as  well  as 
with  the  affairs  of  the  City  of  London,  went 
down  before  an  idea  of  an  improvement  as 
stupid  as  it  was  disastrous.  A  gate  so  rich 
in  historical  associations  as  was  Temple  Bar 
would  have  been  preserved  elsewhere  at  any 
cost  and  at  any  inconvenience.  In  Paris  the 
Porte  St.  Denis  and  the  Arc  de  Triomphe, 
and  in  our  own  country  the  gates  of  York, 
Canterbury  and  Southampton,  have  been 
saved  by  carrying  the  roads  around  them. 
But  Temple  Bar  was  sacrificed  to  the  idea 
of  a  clear  street,  which,  once  achieved,  was 
immediately  blocked  up  again  by  a  monu- 
ment, as  ugly  as  it  is  obstructive,  erected  to 
its  memory,  and  inscribed  with  the  names  of 
those  who  perpetrated  the  deed.  But  Sir 
Christopher  Wren's  gateway  still  survives ; 
when  it  was  taken  down  it  was  moved  to 
Theobald's  Park,  near  Waltham,  where  it 
now  stands  amid  sylvan  but  unaccustomed 
surroundings. 

The  arch  of  Burlington  House,  Piccadilly, 
which  gave  access  to  the  great  colonnaded 
courtyard,  cannot,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  a 
monument,  but  it  was  an  interesting  memorial 
of  many  literary  associations,  and  was  worthy 
of  a  better  fate  than  that  which  befell  it. 
While  Hogarth's  satirical  engraving  of  it 
endures  it  cannot  be  wholly  forgotten,  and 
those  who  would  seek  for  its  remains  will 
find  them  heaped  in  neglected  and  over- 
grown ruin  in  Battersea  Park. 

The  peregrinations  of  the  London  statues 
are  as  interesting,  if  not  so  remarkable,  as 
those  of  the  more  substantial  monuments. 
The  first  of  these  to  go  on  the  trot  was  Le 
Sueur's  bronze  equestrian  statue  of  Charles  I., 
which  was  taken  down  from  its  pedestal  at 
the  Revolution  and  went  into  hiding,  but 
was  remounted  on  a  fresh  pedestal  carved 
by  Grinling  Gibbons  in  1678,  and  placed  in 
the  position  it  now  occupies.  The  bronze 
statue  of  James  II.,  which  was  also  the  work 

3G 


418 


LONDON'S  MOVABLE  MONUMENTS. 


of  Gibbons,  stood  for  many  years  in  Whitehall 
Gardens  behind  the  Banqueting  House  on 
an  unenclosed  pedestal,  so  low,  that  when 
surrounded  by  a  group  of  people  he  might 
have  been  taken  for  one  of  the  party  but  for 
his  Roman  costume.  Perhaps  the  authori- 
ties felt  that  his  position  was  undignified, 
since,  a  few  years  ago,  he  was  moved  into 
the  enclosed  gardens  facing  Whitehall ;  and 
now  another  freak  of  fancy  has  relegated  him 
to  a  standing-place  behind  the  new  Admiralty. 

Visitors  to  St.  Paul's  may  think  that  they 
see  in  the  sculptured  group  before  the  west 
front  of  the  Cathedral  the  original  Queen 
Anne,  surrounded  by  her  four  subject  nations, 
carved  by  Francis  Bird,  but  this  is  not  so; 
these  are  only  modern  copies  of  Bird's  work, 
and  the  originals  are  now  to  be  found,  within 
sound  of  the  sea,  in  the  gardens  of  Holm- 
hurst  by  Ore,  above  Hastings.  Perhaps  in 
some  such  sequestered  nook  may  be  found 
the  original  statue  of  Queen  Victoria  set  up 
in  the  courtyard  of  the  Royal  Exchange, 
since,  when  it  became  too  blackened  and 
weather-stained  to  look  sufficiently  respect- 
able for  the  City,  the  authorities  deported  it, 
and,  over  a  new  clean  copy  of  it,  they  reared 
a  protecting  roof  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of 
such  a  catastrophe.  The  statue  of  George  IV., 
which  now  stands  on  a  pedestal  at  the  corner 
of  Trafalgar  Square,  was  the  work  of  Francis 
Chantry,  and  was  designed  by  him  to  crown 
the  Marble  Arch ;  but  before  it  could  be 
elevated  to  the  place  for  which  it  was  in- 
tended, the  arch  itself  was  carted  away,  and 
it  had  to  be  mounted,  much  to  its  detriment, 
at  a  much  lower  level  than  that  it  was  in- 
tended to  occupy. 

Another  statue,  once  connected  with 
Charing  Cross,  although  there  but  for  a  short 
time,  was  the  bronze  seated  figure  of  Dr. 
Jenner.  When  he  was  at  first,  appropriately 
enough,  placed  there  within  sight  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians,  the  military 
authorities,  who  regarded  Trafalgar  Square  as 
in  some  special  degree  their  own  field  of 
honour,  looked  askance  at  him,  and  he  was 
sent,  temporarily,  to  Kensington  Gardens, 
trying,  as  Punch  said,  experiments  on  various 
spots  ;  and  there  he  still  remains,  and,  doubt- 
less, soothed  by  the  murmurs  of  the  spark- 
ling Bayswater  fountains,  he  forgets  the 
tawny  gleam  of  those  of  Trafalgar  Square. 


Perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  the  shiftings 
was  that  of  Wyatt's  colossal  statue  of  Welling- 
ton from  the  Hyde  Park  Corner  Triumphal 
Arch.  This  gigantic  statue,  the  shadow  of 
which  daily,  when  the  sun  shone,  progressed 
across  the  front  of  Apsley  House,  was  one 
of  the  biggest  blunders  in  bronze  ever  per- 
petrated. The  thing  stood  some  30  feet 
high,  and  weighed  forty  tons,  and  the  his- 
torian tells  us  that  elephants  not  being  avail- 
able as  in  the  case  of  Nero's  colossus,  it  took 
forty  horses  to  draw  it  to  the  Arch,  and  an 
indefinite  number  of  crabs  to  raise  it  to  the 
top.  Silhouette  pictures  of  the  procession 
appeared  in  early  numbers  of  Punch  ;  it  was 
the  laughing-stock  of  Europe,  and  was  thus 
referred  to  by  M.  Viardot  in  his  work  on 
Sculpture :  "  Elle  semble  l'image  de  Poli- 
chinelle  monte*  sur  l'anesse  de  Balaam." 
When  the  Arch  was  rebuilt  the  statue  was 
banished  to  the  camp  at  Aldershot ;  and 
now,  on  a  moonlight  night  at  a  sufficient 
distance,  it  very  well  passes  for  a  spectre  of 
the  "  Iron  Duke." 

Possibly  we  might  well  spare  from  the 
streets  of  London  other  examples  of  the 
architecture  and  sculpture  of  the  last  two 
centuries  ;  but  monuments  which  were 
erected  to  be  memorials,  or  have  become 
of  historic  value,  should  be  esteemed  as 
sacred;  and  whether  their  style  and  taste 
be,  in  our  judgment,  good  or  bad,  they 
should  be  handed  down  to  succeeding 
generations  as  tangible  records  of  the  events 
or  persons  they  are  intended  to  com- 
memorate. 


him, 


€ngli0f)  Cjjurcb  jTurniture.' 


BOOK  bearing  the  name  of  Dr. 
Cox  offers  a  guarantee  for  the  excel- 
lence of  its  contents.  Whatever 
else  we  may  be  inclined  to  deny 
his   reputation   as   a  judge   in   things 


ecclesiological   must    remain   unchallenged. 
The  work  before  us  bears  undoubted  evidence 

*  English  Church  Furniture,  by  J.  Charles  Cox, 
LL.D.,  F.S.A.,  and  Alfred  Harvey,  M.B.,  with 
121  illustrations.  London  :  Methuen  and  Co.,  1907. 
Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xvi,  397.  Price  7s.  6d.  net.  The 
illustrative  blocks  are  kindly  lent  by  the  publishers. 


ENGLISH  CHURCH  FURNITURE. 


of  years  of  industry  and  labour,  although  the 
authors  most  modestly  label  it  as  an 
endeavour  to  gather  together  some  accounts 


419 


fied  chapters,  which  include  Altars,  Church 
Plate,  Piscinas,  Easter  Sepulchres,  Rood 
Lofts  and  Screens,  Pulpits,  Fonts,  Alms  and 


BRACKET  WITH   SUSPENDED   PYE  (DOVE)   AND   CANOPY. 


of  the  more  remarkable  examples  of  old 
church  furniture  which  are  now  extant  in  the 
parish  churches  of  England.  The  result  of 
this  endeavour  is  set  out  in  a  series  of  classi- 


other  Chests,  Sedilia,  Thrones,  Stalls  and 
Misericordes,  and  Seats,  Almeries  and  Chests, 
Church  Lights,  Libraries  and  Embroideries, 
the  Royal  Arms  and  the  Ten  Commandments. 

30  2 


420 


ENGLISH  CHURCH  FURNITURE. 


The  most  cursory  glance  will  show  at  once 
the  extent  of  the  ground  covered,  together 
with  the  various  connexions  included  under 
the  general  heading.  In  fact,  Dr.  Cox  and 
Mr.  Harvey  have  given  us  so  much  that  we 
somewhat  ungraciously  look  for  more.  We 
look  for  more  because  the  authors  have  been 
compelled  from  mere  want  of  space  to  keep 
strictly  to  the  lines  originally  laid  down,  of 
dealing  exclusively  with  the  more  prominent 
and  important  details  of  our'parish  churches. 
To  some,  as  to  ourselves,  it  will  seem  a  pity 
that  the  authors'  eventual  "  decision  to  give 
a  certain  amount  of  general  information  down 
to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  "  has 
precluded  descriptions  of  such  matters  as 
"  painted  glass,  wall-paintings,  floor-tiles  and 
iron-work" — minor  matters,  perhaps,  in  them- 
selves, but  still  of  much  consequence  where 
the  study  of  our  ancient  churches  is  concerned. 


concise  description  of  the  more  remarkable 
and  best-preserved  items  passed  in  review; 
and  what  is  still  more  valuable,  a  generous 
supply  of  illustrations,  121  in  number,  adds 
vastly  to  the  importance  of  the  book  as  a 
work  of  reference.  Illustrations  in  such  a 
case  as  this  are  far  more  valuable  than  any 
amount  of  written  description.  "  That  which 
the  illiterate  cannot  apprehend  from  writing," 
says  the  Synod  of  Arras  in  1025,  "shall  be 
shown  to  them  in  pictures."  "  The  Middle 
Ages,"  adds  the  author  of  La  Cathcdrale, 
"translated  the  Bible  and  Theology,  the  lives 
of  the  Saints,  the  Apocryphal  and  legendary 
Gospels,  into  carved  or  painted  images, 
bringing  them  within  reach  of  all,  and 
epitomizing  them  in  figures  which  remained 
as  the  permanent  marrow,  the  concentrated 
extract  of  all  its  teaching."  Huysmans  is 
writing  of  the  symbolism   of  the  Cathedral 


CHURCH   CHEST  :    RUGBY,    WARWICKSHIRE. 


Nevertheless,  the  subjects  which  have  been 
taken  in  hand  have  been  well  done,  and  we 
are  given  the  half-promise  that  the  above- 
mentioned  subjects  may  be  discussed  in  a 
future  volume. 

The  student  of  archaeology,  as  well  as  of 
ecclesiology,  will  find  this  book  a  very  mine 
of  information,  while  to  the  expert  it  will  be 
a  most  useful  compendium  of  the  where- 
abouts of  church  furniture  in  general.  For 
instance,  a  list  of  no  less  than  143  pre- 
Reformation  altar-slabs  is  given  in  the 
chapter  on  altars,  with  the  locality  of  their 
preservation.  Similar  lists  have  also  been 
compiled  of  reredoses,  chalices,  and  patens, 
Easter  sepulchres,  lecterns,  screens,  and 
rood-lofts  (forty  pages) ;  pulpits,  hour-glasses 
and  stands,  fonts  (forty-six  pages) ;  alms- 
boxes,  stalls  and  misericordes,  seats  and 
benches,  church  chests  (seven  pages) ;  church 
libraries,  chained  books,  old  English  em- 
broidery, etc.  In  addition  to  these  lists, 
which  appear  as  appendices,  we  are  given  a 


Church  of  Chartres,  as  Ruskin  had  done  of 
the  sister  cathedral  in  the  Bible  of  Amiens. 

What  description  could  do  justice  to  the 
unequalled  beauty  of  the  font  cover  of  Ewelme 
Church,  Oxon,  as  displayed  in  the  frontis- 
piece ;  to  the  rood-screen  and  pulpit  (p.  94) ; 
the  bench  ends  of  Jarrow,  Durham  (p.  270) ; 
the  oak,  iron  scroll-work  covered  chest  of 
Icklington,  Suffolk  (p.  292) ;  or  that  unique 
relic  of  pre-Reformation  days,  the  fine  pyx- 
cloth  preserved  in  Hessett  Church,  Suffolk  ? 

We  may  be  pardoned  a  description  of  this 
interesting  survival  of  bygone  days.  It  is  of 
a  square  shape,  measuring  2  feet  4  inches, 
made  of  linen,  worked  into  a  pattern  by  the 
withdrawal  of  some  threads  and  the  knotting 
of  others.  Around  it  is  a  silk  fringe  of  rose 
and  yellow,  1  inch  wide,  the  colours  alter- 
nating in  the  space  of  \\  inches.  At  one 
corner  a  gilt  wooden  ball  is  still  suspended 
by  a  tassel  of  silk  of  the  same  colour  as  the 
fringe ;  the  other  three  balls  have  become 
detached.     In  the  centre  is  a  round  hole, 


ENGLISH  CHURCH  FURNITURE. 


421 


more   than    1    inch  wide,  bound  with   silk 
ribbon  that  shows  a  \  inch  on  each  side. 

Dr.  Cox  and  Mr.   Harvey  have   done    a 
real  service    to    the    antiquary    and    eccle- 


EASTER  SEPULCHRE  :     ARNOLD,    NOTTS. 

siological  student  by  the  publication  of  this 
work.  The  result  obtained  only  proves  how 
excellent  would  be  the  sum  total  if  others 
would  co-operate  in  the  same  direction. 
How  many  interesting  items  are  still  hidden 
in  our  old  churches  which  lie  away  from 
the  beaten  track,  and  which  are  sometimes 
discovered  and  lost  again  because  no  one 
cares  —  fragments  of  manuscripts,  metal- 
work,  glass,  carvings,  frescoes,  embroidery, 
and  what  not,  of  no  particular  value  to 
the  owner,  but  of  much  import  to  the  student 
of  the  olden  time.  We  have  an  architec- 
tural museum  hard  by  the  Church  House 
at  Westminster;  why  not  an  ecclesiological 
museum  ?  The  writer  has  endeavoured  to 
glean  information  by  means  of  prints  or  photo- 
graphs for  years,  but  with  very  poor  success. 
Will  not  our  antiquarian  and  ecclesiological 
societies    take    up    this    most   useful   work 


systematically  ?  One  often  wonders  what 
became  of  the  large  and  valuable  collection 
made  by  the  late  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  under 
the  learned  Dr.  Rock.  . 

The  editors  are  humble  enough  to  acknow- 
ledge themselves  "cognizant  of  imperfec- 
tions," and  to  add  that  they  will  be  "grateful 
for  any  corrections  which  may  perchance 
eventually  lead  to  the  issue  of  an  improved 
edition."  We  trust  they  may  not  ask  in 
vain.  Having  acknowledged  our  indebted- 
ness to  the  authors,  we  may  be  allowed  to 
point  out  that  an  additional  value  would  ht 
attached  to  the  list  of  pre- Reformation 
chalices  and  patens  if  the  approximate  dates 
could  be  added.  A  print  of  the  fine 
Nettlecombe  chalice  is  missed ;  a  photo- 
graph of  the  old  chrismatory  at  St.  Martin's, 
Canterbury,  would  convey  a  more  correct 
idea  than  the  elegant  spick-and-span  drawing 
on  p.  52.  Might  it  be  suggested  that  the 
stained  lining  in  Bishop  Wren's  silver-gilt 
mitre  was  occasioned  by  the  handling  of 
visitors    rather    than     by    episcopal    wear  ? 


GOSPEL    LECTERN   AND   ALMERY  :     CHADDESDEN, 
DERBYSHIRE. 

Prints  of  the  fine  Easter  sepulchres  at 
Heckington  and  Lincoln  Cathedral  are 
missed,  as  well  as  the  almery,  carved  with 
emblems  of  the  Passion,  in  Coity  Church/ 


422 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


Glamorgan,  which  is  considered  by  some  as 
a  unique  survival  of  the  wooden  portable 
sepulchre.  The  possibly  Norman  font  at 
St.  Martin's,  Canterbury,  deserves  some 
better  representation  than  a  mere  inset,  and 
here  it  may  be  noted  that  the  inscriptions  on 
fonts  and  pulpits  form  an  interesting  feature 
in  the  chapters  on  these  subjects.  Several 
important  omissions  may  be  mentioned  for 
future  editions — e.g.,  the  splendid  "Syon" 
cope  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum, 
the  curious  "deadly  sin"  poppyheads  at 
Southwold ;  the  old  seats  at  St.  Nicholas, 
Harbledown,  Canterbury,  etc. 

Some  reference  should  be  made  to  Paschal 
candlesticks,  and  to  the  invaluable  work  of 
Messrs.  Leland  Duncan  and  Arthur  Hussey 
relating  to  lights,  images,  and  altars  in  East 


daughters  to  pass  through  the  fire,  preferring 
to  "  walk  in  the  statutes  of  the  heathen  "  to 
serving  the  true  God."  They  used  divina- 
tion and  enchantments,  in  which,  no  doubt, 
fire  played  the  principal  part  as  the  symbol 
of  the  sun,  and  of  Baal  or  Moloch.  They 
erected  images  and  groves  in  every  high 
hill  and  under  every  green  tree,  and  wor- 
shipped the  phallic  emblem  of  the  sun. 
Later,  in  this  country,  in  almost  every 
witch  trial,  the  "  Evil  Eye  "  was  one  of  the 
counts  of  indictment  against  the  accused 
preparatory  to  her  being  "dressed  in  a  red 
gown  " — i.e.,  being  committed  to  the  atrocious 
flames  of  the  Baal-fire  ;f  indeed,  it  was  not 
so  long  ago  that  this  accusation  alone  was 
sufficient  to  condemn  a  young  woman  to  the 
stake.  |     Thus  the  conflicts   of  a  primitive 


CHRISMATORY:    ST.    MARTIN'S,  CANTERBURY. 


and  West  Kent.  The  former  appears  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  St.  Paul's  Ecclesiological 
Society  ;  the  latter,  "  Testamenta  Cantiana," 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Kent  Archaeological 
Society.  H.  P.  F. 


€be  OEM  Cpe  anti  tbe  ^olar 
(Em&lem. 

By  J.  Holden  MacMichael. 
(Continued  from  p.  346.) 

HE  use  of  fire,  in  time,  place,  and 
circumstances  widely  varying,  is  in 
constantly  recurring  evidence  as 
an  antidote  to  the  machinations  of 
the  Evil  One.  The  children  of  Israel  in 
their  worship  of  Baal  caused  their  sons  and 


dualism  are  maintained  to  the  present  day. 
In  Manx  folk-lore  one  of  the  most  popular 
antidotes  to  the  effects  of  the  Evil  Eye  was 
the  use  of  fire.  It  was  efficacious  to  take  a 
red-hot  coal  from  the  fire  with  the  tongs  and 
throw  it  over  the  right  shoulder  ;§  and  if 
cattle  were  supposed  to  be  bewitched  it  was 
customary,  till  quite  recently,  to  burn  one  of 
the  herd.||  usually  a  calf,  both  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  others  and  to  detect  the  bewitcher. 
Many  Tunguz,  Mongol,  and  Turkish  tribes, 
says  Tylor,  in  his  Primitive  Culture,  sacrifice 
to  fire,  and  some  clans  will  not  eat  meat  with- 
out first  throwing  a  morsel  upon  the  hearth. 

*  2  Kings  xvii.  9-17  and  Jer.  xxxii.  35. 

I  Mrs.  Lynn  Linton's  Witch  Stories,  1 86 1,  p.  3. 

I  Caldcleugh  Travels,  1819-21,  vol.  i.,  p.  73,  quoted 
in  Dalyell's  Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  1884. 

§  Antiquary,  October,  1895,  p.  294. 

||  Folklore  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  pp.  92,  93,  quoted 
ibid. 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


423 


The  Laplanders  propitiate  the  Lares  by  pour- 
ing brandy  and  other  liquids  on  the  hearth, 
and  when  going  to  dwell  in  a  different  place 
they  had  a  custom  of  pouring  milk  on  the 
spot  which  they  were  leaving,  so  as  to  declare 
a  grateful  and  devoted  mind  towards  the 
deity  of  that  place,  on  account  of  benefits 
received  during  residence  there.  These  and 
other  interesting  observations,  relating  to 
this  phase  of  the  subject,  will,  I  think,  be 
found  in  Pinkerton's  Voyages,  1808,  vol.  i., 
p.  463. 

What  was  presumed  to  be  the  last  instance 
of  burnt  sacrifice  in  Europe  is  alluded  to  by 
Professor  Dawkins  ;*  but  it  was  reported 
from  Hainaulr,  Belgium,  so  late  as  October, 
1902,  that  when  a  man  attributed  the  death 
of  his  goats  to  the  evil  eye  of  an  old  woman 
supposed  to  be  a  witch,  he  was  advised  to 
render  the  burnt  sacrifice  of  a  goat,  and  the 
first  person  who  should  come  to  the  burning 
would  be  the  author  of  the  mischief.  It  was 
bad  for  the  old  lady  that  she  should  have 
arrived  first,  for  she  was  thenceforward 
subjected  to  all  kinds  of  ill-treatment,  which 
drove  her  for  refuge  to  an  asylum.  In  other 
times  she  would,  no  doubt,  herself  have  been 
literally  "hauled  over  the  coals,"  like  the 
goat.  The  latter  expression  is,  indeed, 
plausibly  attributed,  as  to  its  colloquial 
origin,  to  the  barbarous  fire  ordeal,  f  But 
the  point  that  is  especially  interesting  in  this 
superstitious  survival  is  that  the  goat,  sacred 
to  Pan  and  to  Faunus  as  the  protecting  deity 
of  agriculture  and  of  shepherds,  should  have 
been  resorted  to  in  sacrifice.  It  was  similarly 
sacrificed  by  the  mariners  of  the  Western 
Islands  of  Scotland,  among  whom  it  was  an 
ancient  custom  to  hang  a  he-goat  to  the 
boat's  mast,  hoping  thereby  to  procure  a 
favourable  windj  A  curious  circumstance 
is  that,  from  the  sylvan  deity  the  modern 
nations  of  Europe  have  borrowed  the  degrad- 
ing and  unsuitable  emblems  of  the  goat's 
visage  and  form,  the  horns,  hoofs,  and  tail, 
with  which  they  have  depicted  the  author  of 

*  Early  Man  in  Britain,  1880,  p.  338.  See  also 
Hone's  Every  Day  Book,  June  24,  p.  431  ;  Folk-lore 
Journal,  vol.  v.,  p.  195;  Castle  St.  Angelo  and  the 
Evil  Eye,  by  W.  W.  Storey,  1877,  p.  181  ;  Note  and 
Queries,  seventh  series,  vol.  vi.,  p.  394,  and  tenth 
series,  vol.  vi.,  p.  240. 

t  Jamieson's  Dictionary. 

\  Martin's  Description  of  the  Western  Islands. 


evil  when  it  pleased  him  to  show  himself  on 
earth. 

A  witch-burning,  though,  of  course,  not 
of  a  public  character,  actually  took  place 
in  the  town  of  Terrasini  Tavarotta,  near 
Palermo,  in  August,  1904.  Antonina  Frontieri, 
an  innocent  married  woman,  was  reputed  to 
have  the  power  of  the  Evil  Eye — to  be  a 
malocchio.  At  midnight  Bartolo  Frontieri, 
her  brother,  who  attributed  the  death  of 
one  of  his  children  some  months  before 
to  affascinamento  mal  d'occhlo,  profiting  by 
the  fact  of  the  Lojacono's  house  door 
being  open  on  account  of  the  great  heat, 
crept  inside,  entered  the  bedroom  where 
the  couple  were  asleep,  and  stabbed  the 
husband  to  death.  They  then  took  a  can 
of  petroleum,  which  they  poured  over  the 
supposed  witch,  saturating  her  hair  and 
nightclothes,  and  applied  a  light.  The  un- 
fortunate woman  was  enveloped  in  flames, 
and  died,  it  is  said,  in  fearful  agony.  The 
assassins  fled,  and  the  police  could  obtain  no 
information  or  assistance  from  the  populace 
of  Terrasini,  who  are  stated  to  have  celebrated 
the  murder  "with  ferocious  joy." 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  the  reason  for 
a  piece  of  coal  being  so  often  found  in 
the  burglar's  pocket,  where  it  has  been  de- 
posited to  ensure  good  luck,  except  oh  the 
hypothesis  that  coal  at  some  time  became 
a  charm  against  "  evil "  because  of  its  com- 
bustibility having  associated  it  exclusively 
with  fire.  The  "  enterprising  burglar  "  has 
not,  of  course,  attained  the  enlightened  age 
in  which  he  could  keep  a  coal  alive  in 
the  asbestos  pocket  of  his  asbestos  trousers  ; 
but  this,  if  it  could  have  been  managed, 
would  have  been  a  more  effectual  security. 
More  convenient  conditions  were,  however, 
afforded  for  the  disposition  of  the  red-hot 
ember.  In  private  breweries,  to  prevent  the 
interference  of  the  fairies,  a  live  coal  was 
thrown  into  the  vat,  and  a  fairy  would  not 
find  much  satisfaction  in  referring  to  the 
Encyclopedia  Britannica  if  she  wanted  to  find 
out  how  she  could  better  cheat  the  cow  of 
her  milk  than  by  passing  a  red-hot  coal 
over  the  back  and  under  the  belly  of  the 
animal  (from  which  we  get  most  of  our  roast 
beef)  immediately  after  she  had  calved.  In 
these  doubtful  butter  days  it  is  curious  to 
observe  that  the  women  of  the  Western  Islands 


424 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


of  Scotland  used  to  be  able,  by  a  charm 
about  a  century  ago,  to  convey  the  increase 
of  their  neighbours'  cow's  milk  to  their  own 
use,  and  that  the  milk  so  charmed  did  not 
produce  the  ordinary  quantity  of  butter. 
One  can  only  observe  that  the  witch  is  very 
much  in  the  churn  to-day ;  her  morals  have 
not  improved.  A  remedy  for  the  baneful 
effects  of  the  fatal  look  in  the  West  of 
Scotland  was,  so  late  as  within  the  present 
century,  to  throw  a  spoonful  of  water  con- 
taining a  solution  of  salt — salt  being  sym- 
bolical of  goodwill — into  the  fire,  the  act 
being  accompanied  by  the  exclamation, 
"  Guid  preserve  from  a'  skaith."::  In  the 
West  of  England,  too,  a  remedy  for  a  child 
who  had  been  "  overlooked  "  by  the  Evil  Eye 
was  to  take  three  burning  sticks  from  the 
hearth  of  the  "  overlooker,"  and  to  cause 
the  child  to  walk  over  them  three  times,  when 
they  were  laid  across  the  ground  and  quenched 
with  water.t  Numerous  other  instances  of 
this  fire-purging  occur,  among  which  those 
furnished  in  gipsy  folk-lore  are,  in  view 
of  the  theory  of  the  gipsies'  Indian  origin, 
particularly  interesting.  I  have  confined 
references  to  a  few  more  such  instances  to 
footnotes.! 

But  these,  and  the  like,  were  curative 
measures,  and  not  preventive  and  protective, 
like  the  use  of  the  mountain  ash  and  its  parts. 
Of  the  almost  innumerable  droves  of  bullocks 
that  descend  every  year  from  the  Highlands 
for  the  South,  it  used  to  be,  and  is  probably 
still  the  case,  that  there  is  hardly  one  that  has 
not  a  curious  knot  upon  its  tail — a  precaution 
against  the  Evil  Eye.  "  Prevention  better 
than  cure "  is  eminently  the  motto  of  the 
superstitious,  for  such  precautionary  measures 
are  so  universally  taken  to  this  day  that  it 
would    be   impossible   to   enumerate   them, 

*  Folk-lore  ;  or,  Superstitions  oj the  West  of  Scotland, 
by  James  Napier,  F.R.S.E.,  P.C.S.,  pp.  36,  37; 
Cough's  Camden,  1769,  iii.  668;  and  Pennant's  Tour 
in  Scotland,  \T]2,  pp.  no,  m. 

t  Popular  Romances  of  the  West  of  England,  by 
R.  Hunt,  1881,  p.  321. 

X  See  Brand's  Antiquities,  vol.  iii.  ;  Fairy  Legends 
and  Traditions  of  the  South  of  Ireland ;  Gipsy  Folk- 
lore Society  Journal,  vol.  i.,  1888  ;  Gipsy  Sorcery, 
by  J.  Cleland,  pp.  81,  82  ;  Chambers's  Information  for 
the  People,  vol.  i.,  p.  768  (4)  ;  Fascino  volgarmente 
detto  Jettaturo,  by  Nicolas  Valetta  ;  Pitre's  La  Jetta- 
tura  ed  il  mal'occhio  in  Sicilia  de  Fascino.  L.  Vairus 
and  Potter's  Archceologia  Grceca  fiaonavia. 


however  considerable,  each  and  all,  their 
interest  and  value  in  the  study  of  Com- 
parative Mythology.  In  this  variety  of 
charms  worn  about  the  person,  the  number 
of  instances  given  in  an  exhaustive  little  work 
called  Castle  Angelo  and  the  Evil  Eye*  and 
relating  to  one  part  of  Italy  alone,  is  enough 
to  illustrate  the  futility  of  any  attempt  to 
gauge  the  numerical  extent  and  variety  of 
the  objects  employed  in  this  world  -  wide 
belief.  But  primarily  it  seems  to  have  been 
the  hearth  and  the  precincts  of  holy  places, 
about  which  so  much  care  was  taken  in 
guarding  against  the  assaults  of  the  evil 
spirits.  In  Japan,  for  instance,  to  this  day, 
when  the  evil  spirits  find  the  image  of 
Tenjou,  the  faithful  porter  and  messenger  of 
the  gods  at  the  door  of  the  temple  of  the 
national  religion,  they  hasten  on.f 

Two  giants,  the  guardian  spirits  of  heaven, 
are  posted  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  prin- 
cipal entrance  of  the  celebrated  bonze  house 
of  Quannon  (Japan),  and  under  their  eyes 
paper  amulets  are  annually  distributed  to  the 
populace,  and  upon  the  same  day  the  bonzes 
make  visits,  presenting  for  a  small  considera- 
tion bits  of  the  holy  water  brush,  which  are 
fastened  to  the  lintels  of  the  door  to  pre- 
serve the  house  from  evil  spirits.  (See  Hum- 
bert's Japan  (trans.),  p.  242.)  The  gateways 
of  the  towns  of  the  American  aborigines 
were  often  of  idolatrous  forms.  The  mono- 
lithic gateway  of  Tia-huanaco  gives  us  a 
mythological  group  of  representations  of 
condor,  tiger,  serpent,  and  sun,  surrounding 
a  central  human  figure,  towards  which 
human-headed  winged  figures  are  kneeling. 
It  was  the  custom  of  pagan  nations  to  adorn 
the  gateways  of  cities  and  entrances  to 
temples  and  palaces  with  one  or  more 
figures  of  deities,  who  were  the  protecting 
genii  of  the  place.]:  The  devices  upon  the 
Greek  temples  were  often  esteemed  as  talis- 
mans supposed  to  have  a  hidden  and  salutary 
influence  by  which  the  building  was  pre- 
served^ 

From  a  belief  that  he  would  come  under 
the  influence  of  Evil  Eye,  the  late  Viceroy 
of  Egypt,  Mohammed  Ali,  never  during  his 

*  By  W.  W.  Storey,  1877. 

f  Humbert's  Japan,  1874,  p.  323. 

X  Dorman's  Primitive  Superstitions,  1 881,  p.  123. 

§  Bryant's  Mythology,  1807,  vol  ii.,  p.  248. 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


42  ■> 


long  reign  left  the  city  of  Cairo  by  the  gate 
called  Bab-el-Hadud.* 

"  He  who  works  mischief  at  the  door  of 
the  house "  are  the  words  contained  in  a 
formula  from  the  Chaldean  Tablets,  which 
was  to  be  recited  over  one  of  the  talismans 
for  preventing  the  demons  from  stealing  into 
the  different  parts  of  the  house,  and  which 
was  supposed  to  give  it  its  efficacy. f  And 
on  the  obelisks,  which,  as  phallic  symbols  of 
the  sun-god,  were  set  up  in  pairs  before  the 
entrance  to  the  great  Egyptian  temples,  we 
meet  again  with  a  custom,  apparently 
universal,  derived  from  the  necessity  for 
circumventing  the  designs  of  the  Evil  One 
in  insinuating  himself  into  the  most  sacred 
places.  Thus  his  approach  to  the  hearth  of 
King  Esar  Haddon  was  arrested  by  the 
winged  bulls.  A  transcription  from  an 
Assyrian  fragment  is  as  follows :  "  Who 
settled  the  tribes,  who  directs  by  law,  who 
restored  to  the  city  of  Assur  its  propitious 
winged  bull  making  bright  with  splendour? 
The  King  who  in  Nineveh,  in  the  temple  of 
Dubdub,  made  splendid  the  emblems  of 
Istar."J  That  Nineveh,  as  well  as  Ea,  was, 
among  the  early  magicians,  a  name  to  conjure 
with  is  evident  in  the  relationship  of  Nina, 
of  which  Nineveh  is  stated  to  be  most 
certainly  a  Semiticized  form,  to  Ea.  Nina, 
who  figures  prominently  in  the  oldest  pan- 
theon, that  of  the  Kings  of  Sirpurra  or  Lagash, 
was  the  goddess  of  the  marshes  .  .  .  the 
daughter  of  Ea.§  An  archaic  stone  figure, 
apparently  representing  some  heathen  deity, 
serves  to  this  day  as  a  gate  post  outside 
St.  Martin's  Church,  Guernsey. 

In  Bonomi's  Nineveh  and  its  Palaces  the 
author  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  secreted 
idols  of  the  Assyrian  palace  discharged  this 
protective  function,  and  that  they  are  identical 
with  the  Teraphim  of  Scripture,  a  name  given 
to  the  images  or  gods  which  Rachel  stole  and 
hid  from  her  father  Laban.!|  These  were 
evidently  the  household  or  marriage  gods, 
stolen   because  it   was  believed    that  they 

*  See  Bonomi's  Nineveh  and  Us  Palaces,  1869.  A 
similar  belief  was  held  by  the  predecessor  of  the  late 
Shah  of  Persia. 

t  Lenormant's  Chaldean  Magic,  p.  45. 

X  The  First  of  Empires,  by  W.  St.  Chad  Boscawen, 
1906,  p.  186. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  188. 

||  Gen.  xxxi.  19,  30,  34. 

VOL.    III. 


would  afford  some  protection  to  Jacob,  from 
injury  at  the  hands  of  Laban,  though  a  more 
competent  authority  could  perhaps  say 
whether  the  name  Teraphim  be  not  trace- 
able to  that  of  the  primaeval  goddess, 
Thalath  of  the  Babylonians,  whither  the 
author  of  The  Two  Babylons  traces  that  of 
Thalasius,  the  Roman  god  of  Marriage.  That 
the  Teraphim  of  the  Hebrews  were  not  only 
in  the  nature  of  phylacteries,  but  were  images 
in  human  form,  appears  from  the  deception 
which  Michal  practised  upon  her  father  in 
placing  an  image  or  "  household  god  "  in  the 
bed  of  David  her  husband  when  the  latter 
escaped  "through  a  window"  from  the 
vengeance  of  Saul.*  The  Persians  called 
these  talismans  Telefin,t  and  the  Theraphim 
of  the  heathen  were  small  idols  made  of 
various  substances,  which,  according  to  the 
opinion  of  most  authorities,  were  formed  in 
the  shape  of  dolls  swathed  in  bandages,  and 
which  were  affixed  to  various  parts  of  the 
bodies,  so  that  they  could  be  conveniently 
worn.  Hartnall  shows  that  these  dolls  were 
used  as  guardian  or  familiar  spirits,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  investigating  various  abstruse 
subjects,  for  strengthening  the  body,  and  for 
causing  various  illusions. X  To  the  last 
purpose  for  which  they  were  adapted  may 
perhaps  be  traceable  the  use  of  the  clay  or 
wax  image,  or  vice  versa. 

The  Lares  of  the  Romans,  as  distinct  from 
the  Penates,  seem  to  have  served  some  purpose 
equivalent  to  that  of  the  Teraphim,  as  the 
guardian  spirits  of  their  possessors,  whose 
function  was  especially  the  protection  of  the 
hearth,  although  their  influence,  like  that 
of  the  Saturnine  eye,  became  extended  to 
every  spot  inhabited  by  men.  In  the  year 
1 88 1  the  late  Mr.  Loftus  Brock  exhibited 
at  a  meeting  of  the  British  Archaeological 
Association  a  great  number  of  Greek  and 
Asiatic  headless  Penates,  in  putative  illustra- 
tion of  a  custom  still  prevalent  of  destroying 
the  heads  of  such  figures  when  discovered 

*  1  Sam.  xix.  13. 

f  Chardon's  Voyages,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  x. 

J  History  of  Amulets  (Blunder,  trans.  S.  H.,  Gent.), 
Addenda  (Edinburgh,  1887,  vol.  ii.,  p.  26).  _  Our 
word  "  doll  "  would  seem  to  be  an  abbreviation  of 
"idol,"  from  the  Greek  ei'SwXcw,  "an  image,"  and 
is  it  not  probable  that  dolls  were,  as  likenesses  or 
representations  of  some  deity,  given  to  children  to 
protect  them  from  evil  ? 

3H 


426 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


in  order  to  protect  the  finder  from  the  Evil 
Eye.*  Images  of  the  Chaldean  Magi  occur 
among  the  Lares  and  Penates  found  in 
Cilicia.f 

What  are  our  elves  and  fairies,  goblins, 
nisses,  brownies,  and  pixies  but  latter-day 
survivals  of  arkite  ancestor  -  worship  ? 
Brownies  and  pixies  were  probably  invari- 
ably of  good  character,  originally,  a  likeli- 
hood suggested  by  the  good  points  which 
in  many  respects  survive  in  their  character, 
their  virtues  being  turned  into  vices,  and, 
contrariwise,  their  vices  into  virtues,  as  good 
or  ill  fortune  befell  the  household  and  its 
appurtenances.  Is  not  the  bowl  of  milk 
placed  for  Brownie  in  the  corner  of  the  room 
a  survival  of  the  drink-offering  of  wine  which 
was  poured  out  before  the  household  gods  of 
the  Romans  ?  These  libations  to  Brownie 
are  seen  again  in  the  folk  customs  of 
Roumania,  when  at  a  marriage  or  other 
festival  a  peasant  will  always  pour  out  some 
wine  and  spill  it  on  the  ground  before  giving 
to  his  guests  or  drinking  himself.  When 
asked  why  they  do  this  the  mysterious 
answer  is  :  "  So  it  must  be,"  a  rejoinder  which 
would  appear  to  betray  an  ignorance  on  the 
part  of  the  peasant  himself  of  why  it  is  done, 
except  that  his  ancestors  did  it. 

Even  in  our  own  country  the  women  of 
Northamptonshire,  until  lately,  used  to  sweep 
the  hearth  before  they  went  to  bed,  and 
leave  vessels  of  water  for  the  ablutions  of  the 
fairies  or  spirits  of  the  earth,  just  as  in 
Siberia  food  is  placed  daily  in  the  cellar 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Domavoi,  or  house 
spirits.  J 

Among  Slavonic  superstitions  is  one  which 
teaches  that  anything  connected  with  the 
domestic  hearth,  even  a  stove  rake,  will,  if 
suspended  at  the  door  of  a  cottage,  prevent 
any  wizard  who  may  have  gained  admittance 
from  getting  out  again. §  Of  the  same 
origin,  again  for  the  protection  of  the 
dwelling,  is  the  still  surviving  custom  of 
nailing  a  horseshoe  over  the  entrance  thereto. 

*  Journal  of  British  Archaological  Association, 
July-December,  1881. 

t  W.  A.  Barker's  Lares  and  Penates,  1853. 

I  Sternberg's  Dialect  and  Folk-lore  of  Northampton- 
shire, 1 85 1. 

§  Songs  of  the  Russian  People,  by  W.  R.  J.  Ralston, 
1872. 


According  to  Aubrey's  ;c  conjecture  this  is 
"  an  old  use  derived  from  the  astrological 
principle  that  Mars  is  an  enemy  to  Saturn, 
under  which  the  witches  are  ";  but  he  might 
perhaps  have  gone  further  and  have  said  that 
the  Romans  had  it  from  a  pre-existing  belief 
in  the  amuletive  virtue  possessed  by  iron, 
a  belief  suggested  probably  by  its  malleability 
for  useful  purposes  when  subjected  to  the 
solar  fire,  and  which  had  existed  since  the 
transition  from  the  Stone  to  the  Iron  Age, 
iron  and  brazen  objects  like  the  bell 
terrifying  alike  Oriental  finn  and  European 
witches,  not  only  horseshoes,!  but  rusty  nails 
and  sickles — in  short,  iron  of  any  description 
— being  effective. 

Professor  Nilsson  maintains  that  bronze 
was  introduced  into  England  by  the 
Phoenicians  about  1200  to  1500  B.C.,  but 
Professor  Dawkins  will  not  allow  that  the 
Phoenicians  arrived  here  before  about 
500  b.c,  though  he  states  that  they  were 
certainly  trading  in  the  Mediterranean  so 
early  as  1700  b.c.  J  Lucian  somewhere  says 
that  apparitions  vanish  at  the  sound  of 
brass  or  iron,  and  in  Wynken  de  Worde's 
Golden  Legend  "The  evil  spirytes  that  ben  in 
the  regyon  of  th'  ayre  doubte  moche  when 
they  here  the  belles  rongen  when  it  thondreth, 
and  when  grete  tempeste,  and  outrages  of 
whether  happen  to  the  end  the  feindes  and 
wycked  spirytes,"  etc.§  That  the  horseshoe 
acquired  its  efficacy  as  a  charm  in  the  first 
place  merely  because  it  was  iron,  and  after- 
wards on  account  of  its  crescent  shape,  is  an 
hypothesis  strengthened  by  another  allusion 
to  iron  by  Mason  in  his  Anatomie  of  Sorcerie, 
(161 2,  4to),  where  he  mentions  among  omens 
of  good  luck,  "  If  drink  be  spill'd  upon  a  man, 
or  if  he  find  olde  iron."\\ 

If  there  be  anyone  so  fatuous  as  to  really 
believe  that  a  horseshoe  is  a  protection  from 
harm  for  the  possessor,  he  will  perhaps  take 

*  Aubrey's  Remaines  (ed.  J.  Britten),  1881,  p. 
104. 

t  Harland  and  Wilkinson's  Lancashire  Folk-lore, 
1882,  Introduction,  p.  n  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  fourth 
series,  vol.  vi.,  p.  114,  1878  ;  Napier's  Folk-lore  of 
the  West  of  Scotland,  p.  139;  Castle  Angelo  and  the 
Evil  Eye,  1877,  p.  153;  and  Tylor's  Primitive 
Culture,  1 89 1,  vol.  i.,  p.  140,  etc. 

+  See  the  Antiquary,  October,  1906,  p.  400. 

§  P.  90. 

||  See  also  Ramsay's  Erminthologia,  p.  76. 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


427 


it  amiss  that  it  was  in  one  instance  at  least, 
and  only  the  other  day,  itself  instrumentally 
the  cause  of  ill-luck,  when  a  shoe  from  the 
foot  of  one  of  the  horses  in  an  omnibus 
proceeding  towards  Liverpool  Street  became 
detached,  and,  rebounding  from  the  roadway, 
struck  a  large  plate-glass  window,  splintering 
it  in  every  direction. 

To  place  a  horseshoe  at  the  root  of  an 
ash-tree,  presumably  a  mountain-ash,  was  a 
custom  formerly  followed  in  this  country  for 
the  purpose  of  charming  the  tree,  so  that  a 
twig  of  it  (i.e.,  the  rowan-tree)  might  be  used 
to  avert  the  Evil  Eye  from  cattle  ;*  and  this, 
again,  appears  to  be  a  relic  of  Hearth  or  Fire- 
worship,  since  the  red  berries  of  the  mountain- 
ash  mark  the  tree,  as  Grimm  suggests  a 
flaming  breast  marks  the  robin, t  as  sacred  to 
Thor  the  German  sun-god,  who  was  repre- 
sented with  a  blazing  circle  on  his  breast,  \  and 
whose  name  is  traceable  through  the  Thoros 
of  the  Greeks  and  the  Assyrian  Thouros  to 
the  Zora  or  Zero,  the  "  circle,"  the  "  sun,"  the 
"seed"  of  the  Chaldees.§ 

The  house-leek,  so  called  because  it  is 
grown  on  the  roofs  of  houses  to  protect  the 
dwelling  from  evil  spirits,  is  identified  by  the 
name  of  Jupiter's  beard  with  Jupiter  the 
"  shine  father,"  a  circumstance  which  sug- 
gests the  inquiry  whether  hyssop,  which  is  also 
under  the  dominion  of  Jupiter,  derived  its 
popularity  as  a  charm  from  this  fact,  or  from 
the  ordination  of  the  Passover,  when,  the 
lamb  being  slain,  a  bunch  of  hyssop  was 
dipped  in  the  blood,  and  the  lintels  and  two 
side  posts  of  the  doors  of  those  whose  houses 
were  thus  rendered  exempt  from  the  ravages 
of  the  Destroyer  were  struck  with  it. 

*  Notes  and  Queries,  fifth  series,  vo1.  ix.,  January  26, 
1878. 

t  Grimm's  Teutonic  Mythology  (Stallybrass). 

{    Vide  Wilson's  Parsee  Religion,  p.  31. 

§  The  Two  Baby  Ions,  note  L,  p.  312  ;  and  Kelly's 
Indo-European  Folk-lore,  p.  165-6. 

(To  be  concluded. ) 


IDallep  Entrenchments  neat 
Jfalmer,  ^usser. 

By  Herbert  S.  Toms, 
Curator  of  the  Brighton  Museum. 

F  the  many  ancient  entrenchments 
capping  the  South  Downs  there 
are  three  which  we  can  date  with 
some  approach  to  exactitude. 
These  are  Cissbury,  to  the  north  of  Worthing, 
belonging  to  the  later  Stone  Age;  Mount 
Caburn,  near  Glynde,  ascribed  to  the  early 
Iron  Age ;  and  Castle  Rings,  above  Edbur- 
ton,  which  may  date  no  further  back  than  the 
time  of  the  early  Norman  invader.  But 
the  others  agree  in  principle  of  construction, 
consisting  as  they  do  of  an   entrenchment 


enclosing  hill-top  or  hill-crest  with  ditches 
and  ramparts  of  earth  so  arranged  as  to  give 
the  defenders  absolute  command  of  the  sur- 
rounding ground.  These  features  show  us 
that  they  were  constructed  primarily  for  the 
purposes  of  defence;  and,  as  none  exhibits 
the  stereotyped  characteristics  of  a  Roman 
fortress,  it  is  pretty  certain  that  they  belong 
to  far  earlier  times. 

Of  these  mention  is  made  to  show  how 
markedly  the  Falmer  earthworks  differ  in 
situation  and  purpose  from  the  hill-forts 
noted  above.  The  first  of  these  local  valley 
entrenchments  which  attracted  the  writer's 
notice  may  be  reached  by  walking  from 
Falmer  Pond,  nearly  due  south,  up  the 
Drove.  About  800  yards  from  the  pond  the 
cultivated  land  bordering  the  road  is  passed, 

3H  2 


428 


VALLEY  ENTRENCHMENTS  NEAR  FALMER,  SUSSEX. 


and  one  observes  a  ditch,  and  a  bank  from 
3  to  4  feet  high,  branching  out  of  the 
roadside  on  the  left,  as  shown  at  A  on  the 
first  plan. 

It  may  be  explained  that,  in  each  plan, 
the  tapering  lines  represent  the  uncultivated 
hill-sides  sloping  downwards  and  fining  out 
in  the  valley;  that  the  thickest  line  indicates 
the  bank  or  rampart  of  the  entrenchment ; 
and  the  dotted  line,  running  parallel  to  it, 
the  ditch  from  which  the  rampart  was  thrown 
up. 

Standing  at  A,  one  gathers  that  in  the 
making  of  the  earthwork  a  deep  ditch — now 
nearly  filled  in  by  natural  causes — must 
have  been  dug  along  the  side  of  the  hill, 
and  the  excavated  material  thrown  down- 
hill to  form  the  rampart.  From  this  point 
the  entrenchment  continues  comparatively 
straight  for  6oo  yards  until  it  meets  the  hill- 
side in  the  corner  of  the  plan.  Here,  instead 
of  going  uphill,  it  takes  nearly  a  rectangular 
turn  and  runs  along  the  valley  slope  till  it 
reaches  the  spur  of  the  Downs  to  the  east. 
Here  again  it  is  evident  that  the  original 
designers  had  some  reason  for  not  digging 
up  the  hill ;  for  we  get  another  abrupt  turn, 
and  the  earthwork  apparently  terminates  in 
the  base  of  the  valley  at  E.  The  portion 
already  described  is  all  that  is  indicated  on 
the  Ordnance  Surveys;  but,  when  standing 
at  E,  a  line  of  dark  grass  may  be  seen  travers- 
ing the  valley  and  running  in  a  slanting 
direction  up  the  hill  till  it  vanishes  on  the 
ploughed  ground  above  the  ridge  at  D. 
This  dark  line  undoubtedly  represents  a  part 
of  the  old  ditch  of  the  earthwork  where  the 
rampart  has  been  destroyed.        • 

From  D  to  C  all  trace  of  any  pre-existing 
fosse  or  vallum  has  been  obliterated  by  the 
plough ;  but  the  slight  ditch  and  bank  from 
C  to  B*  leads  one  to  infer  that  B  to  D  might 
have  been  continuous,  and  so  formed  an 
entrenchment  completely  enclosing  the  valley 
head. 

But  was  this  the  original  enclosure  ?  The 
writer  thinks  not,  but  that  a  powerful  ditch 
and  rampart,  long  since  eradicated  by  cultiva- 

*  The  comparatively  slight  elevation  of  rampart 
from  C  to  B  is  apparently  due  to  its  having  been 
reduced  by  cultivation.  That  the  side  of  the  hill 
across  which  it  runs  was  at  one  time  ploughed  over 
is  evident  from  the  old  furrow-marks,  which  are  still 
plainly  visible. 


tion,  may  have  run  north-west  from  D  and 
then  doubled  back  in  a  rectangular  fashion 
till  it  again  closed  upon  A. 

The  second  earthwork,  represented  in  the 
second  plan,  needs  little  description.  It  is 
reached  by  walking  down  Loose  Bottom,  in 
the  direction  of  Lewes,  till  one  comes  to  the 
spot  where  a  branch  of  the  valley  runs  inward 
to  the  west  of  Newmarket  Plantation  and 
fines  out  half-way  up  the  hill.  Ascending 
this  branch  valley,  a  perfect  entrenchment  is 
observed  enclosing  the  Y-shaped  valley  head 
This  comparatively  small  example  is  so  well 
hidden  in  the  nook  of  the  Downs  that  it  is 
easily  overlooked  from  the  main  valley  or 
the  adjoining  hills.     It   is   entirely  omitted 


from  the  Ordnance  Surveys,  and  plan  2  is  a 
diagrammatic  reproduction  of  the  writer's 
survey  made  two  years  ago.  The  break 
shown  in  the  entrenchment  at  the  lowest 
part  is  very  probably  the  old  entrance. 

The  survey  of  these  entrenchments  which 
enclose  valley  heads,  showed  them  to  belong 
to  a  type  entirely  new  to  the  writer ;  and  it 
induced  him  to  devote  much  time  and  atten- 
tion to  the  attempt  to  run  down  other  ex- 
amples in  Sussex.  So  far,  however,  these 
efforts,  undertaken  locally  for  the  purpose  of 
comparative  study,  have  not  been  crowned 
with  success.  The  plans  have  been  sub- 
mitted to  several  eminent  antiquaries  in 
London,  but  they  acknowledge  that  they 
know  of  no  earthworks   like  them,  neither 


VALLEY  ENTRENCHMENTS  NEAR  FALMER,  SUSSEX. 


429 


could  they  offer  any  suggestion  as  to  the 
period  to  which  they  belong. 

Owing  to  their  situation,  the  interiors  of 
the  Falmer  entrenchments  are  commanded 
from  nearly  every  point  outside,  and  all  those 
who  have  either  inspected  the  plans  or 
visited  the  sites  are  in  agreement  that  these 
enclosures  were  not  intended  as  works  of 
defence.  This  being  the  case,  the  resultant 
query  is,  when  and  for  what  purpose  were 
they  made? 

Until  quite  recently,  the  only  earthwork 
known  by  the  writer  to  resemble  in  any  way 
the  two  under  consideration  was  the  one  on 
Martin  Down,  Wilts.  This,  too,  is  rect- 
angular in  outline,  and  encloses  part  of  a 
slight  valley  head.  It  was  completely 
excavated  under  the  personal  supervision  of 
the  writer,  by  the  late  General  Pitt-Rivers's 
archaeological  staff  in  1 895-1 896,  and  con- 
clusively proved  to  be  a  Bronze  Age 
structure.  In  principle  of  construction  it  is 
very  like  our  local  examples,  and,  like  them, 
was  certainly  not  a  defensive  earthwork. 
Evidence  of  its  having  been  visited  or 
temporarily  occupied  during  Bronze  Age 
times  was  not  lacking,  but  Pitt-Rivers  con- 
sidered it  probable  that  it  was  used  for 
herding  cattle  rather  than  for  permanent 
residence.  Full  details  of  this  interesting 
earthwork  will  be  found  in  vol.  iv.  of  Pitt- 
Rivers's  Excavations  i?i  Cranbome  Chase. 

Notwithstanding  that  excavation  has 
demonstrated  the  futility  of  reasoning  upon 
the  periods  of  ancient  earthworks  from 
analogy  of  superficial  characteristics  alone, 
the  writer  had  long  hoped  for  some  oppor- 
tunity to  connect,  by  other  examples,  the 
forms  of  our  two  local  valley  entrenchments 
with  that  of  the  undoubted  Bronze  Age 
structure  mentioned  above.  Such  an  oppor- 
tunity has  lately  occurred.  Through  the 
kindness  of  the  Rev.  C.  W.  N.  Dicker,  Vicar 
of  Puddletrenthide,  Dorset,  he  has  had  the 
pleasure  of  inspecting  several  little-known 
rectangular  entrenchments  in  the  valleys 
adjoining  the  River  Puddle,  near  Puddle- 
trenthide. One  of  these,  at  Southcome,  very 
much  approaches  in  outline  that  on  Martin 
Down.  It  encloses  the  side  of  a  bend  in  the 
long  and  very  marked  valley,  and  its  lower 
side  borders  on  and  runs  parallel  to  the  base 
of    the   valley.      Just   over   the    separating 


ridge,  in  Tennant's  Bottom,  two  smaller 
examples  lie  quite  near  each  other,  and  the 
interest  of  these  is  that  they  enclose  the  base 
of  a  long  and  gently  rising  valley,  together 
with  part  of  the  hill  slope  on  either  side  as 
well.  Like  our  Falmer  example,  each  shows 
a  break  in  the  lower  side,  which  was  appar- 
ently intended  for  the  ingress  and  egress  of 
cattle  or  human  beings.  Several  others  in 
the  same  district  were  visited,  but  those 
quoted  suffice  to  show  that  valley  entrench- 
ments exist  analogous  to  those  near  Falmer, 
and  that  they  all  fall  into  three  types,  as 
enclosing  valley  heads,  valley  sides,  and 
the  valley  proper. 

General  Pitt-Rivers  has  shown  that,  in 
Wilts  and  Dorset  at  least,  the  Bronze  Age 
tribes  exhibited  a  marked  preference  for 
rectangular  outline  in  the  construction  of 
camps  and  cattle  enclosures  ;  and  although 
one  bears  in  mind  that  analogy  of  form  is  no 
safe  criterion,  it  appears  more  than  probable 
that  the  whole  of  the  rectangular  entrench- 
ments alluded  to  in  this  article  may  belong  to 
that  early  period  when  the  use  of  bronze  in  our 
country  was  gradually  supplanting  the  more 
primitive  weapons  and  instruments  of  stone. 

Presuming  this  surmise  to  be  accurate,  one 
wonders  if  the  tumuli  to  be  seen  on  the 
Falmer  Downs  contain  the  remains  of  the 
ancient  folk  who  threw  up  the  enclosures  and 
tended  their  herds  and  flocks  in  the  valleys 
below.  What  sort  of  cattle,  too,  did  these 
primitive  people  possess  ?  The  domestic 
animals  of  those  far-off  days  were  the  horse, 
short-horned  ox,  sheep,  goat,  pig,  and  the 
dog.  These,  it  may  be  remarked,  were  of 
the  same  breeds  as  those  introduced  in 
Neolithic  or  Later  Stone  Age  times — a  fact 
which  leads  one  naturally  to  infer  that  in  the 
fierce  struggle  of  extermination  which  the 
bronze-using  hordes  from  the  Continent 
carried  on  with  their  more  poorly  armed 
neolithic  opponents  the  native  cattle  which 
fell  into  the  victors'  hands  were  carefully 
preserved. 

Corn,  oats,  and  beans  were  grown  by  these 
early  conquerors  of  Britain ;  and  it  is  thus 
probable  that  many  of  the  ancient  ridges  or 
cultivation  terraces  to  be  seen  on  our  hills 
may  belong  to  prehistoric  times. 


43° 


THE  ANTIQUARY'S  NOTE-BOOK. 


Cbe  antiquary  Jl3ote=lSook. 


EXCAVATIONS  AT  MEMPHIS. 

HE  British  School  of  Archaeology  in 
Egypt  has  issued  the  following  state- 
ment : 

"  One  of  the  greatest  capitals  in 
the  ancient  world  has  been  left  buried  in  its 
dust,  although  the  ground  is  visited  by 
thousands  of  tourists  every  year.  Memphis, 
whose  history  extends  over  the  whole  course 
of  Egyptian  history,  has  never  yet  been 
excavated.  It  contained  the  finest  School  of 
Egyptian  Art,  and  in  antiquity  and  wealth  it 
was  unrivalled.  But  most  of  it  has  gradually 
passed  under  the  plough,  and  to  rescue  what 
yet  remains  is  most  needful  before  it  further 
disappears.  Great  national  undertakings,  as 
that  of  France  in  the  clearing  of  Delphi,  or  of 
Germany  at  Olympia,  can  never  be  done 
under  our  form  of  government,  which  ignores 
such  intellectual  conquests.  It  is  upon  a 
public  association  of  subscribers  that  all  such 
work  must  depend  in  England ;  and  the 
British  School  of  Archaeology  in  Egypt  has 
now  undertaken  this  work,  trusting  that  the 
public  will  support  it  worthily. 

"  The  sites  of  the  temples  of  Memphis  lie 
clearly  visible  between  the  mounds  of  the 
ruins  of  the  city.  They  cover  more  than  a 
hundred  acres,  an  extent  greater  than  all  the 
area  of  Karnak.  The  chief  temple  was  that 
of  Ptah,  a  vast  building  which  had  been 
added  to  by  the  piety  of  kings  throughout 
the  history.  First  founded  by  Menes,  and 
doubtless  rebuilt  magnificently  by  the  pyramid 
kings,  the  temple  was  enlarged  by  a  great 
pylon  on  the  north  erected  under  Amenem- 
hat  III.  Then  Ramessu  II.  built  here  on 
an  enormous  scale,  and  added  colossi  in 
front  of  the  temple,  and  Ramessu  III.  built 
a  portico  facing  to  the  west.  Psammitichos 
built  a  southern  portico,  and  also  the  court 
for  the  sacred  Apis,  which,  as  Herodotus 
says,  was  surrounded  by  a  colonnade  and 
full  of  sculptured  figures,  while,  instead  of 
pillars,  statues  12  cubits  high  were  placed 
under  the  portico.  Aahmes  added  an  im- 
mense colossus  75  feet  high  before  the 
temple. 

"A  temple  of  Isis  adjoined  that  of  Ptah, 


a  spacious  and  magnificent  building  worthy 
of  the  capital.  And,  perhaps  the  most  inter- 
esting point  of  the  whole  site  will  be  the 
'very  beautiful  and  richly  adorned'  temenos, 
south  of  the  temple  of  Ptah,  in  which  stood 
the  temple  of  the  foreign  Aphrodite,  sur- 
rounded by  the  Tyrian  Phoenicians.  This 
foreign  quarter  must  have  been  the  emporium 
of  Egyptian  trade  during  the  prehistoric  ages 
of  Greece,  and  here  we  may  hope  to  find  the 
remains  of  the  early  civilization  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Thus  the  site  promises  to 
be  of  the  first  importance,  not  only  for  the 
beginning  of  the  Egyptian  kingdom  under 
Menes,  its  founder,  but  also  for  the  later 
connexions  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

"  The  temples  were  standing,  like  the 
ruins  of  Thebes,  down  to  seven  hundred 
years  ago,  but  were  finally  removed  for  build- 
ing material  to  Cairo.  The  foundations  and 
sculptures  now  lie  beneath  cultivated  fields, 
owned  by  the  villagers  of  Mitrahineh.  The 
great  colossus  and  a  few  other  statues  have 
been  found  here,  and  it  is  encouraging  to 
see  that  all  of  them  have  their  faces  unbroken. 
The  clearing  of  this  site,  with  gradual  ex- 
changes of  land  as  required,  will  occupy 
many  years ;  and  it  is  estimated  that  an  ex- 
penditure of  about  ^£3,000  annually  for  about 
fifteen  years  will  be  required  to  excavate  the 
temple  sites,  apart  from  the  city.  As  half 
of  the  discoveries  will  be  granted  by  the 
Egyptian  Government,  this  clearance  is 
certain  to  yield  a  considerable  return  to  the 
museums  of  any  country  which  undertakes 
to  find  the  cost.  It  is  hoped  that  this  work 
will  be  effectively  provided  for  by  British 
resources,  and  that  the  School  of  Archaeology 
will  not  need  to  depend  upon  foreign  supplies, 
which  would  constitute  a  first  claim  upon 
the  results."  The  address  of  the  Hon. 
Secretary  of  the  School  is  University  College, 
Gower  Street,  London,  W.C. 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


43i 


at  tbe  §>ign  of  tbe  HDtoi. 

Mr  Henry  Frowde  sends  me 
two  more  volumes  in  his  ex- 
cellent series  of  "  The  World's 
Classics  " — Smollett's  Travels 
through  France  and  Italy,  and 
Fielding's  Journal  of  a  Voyage 
to  Lisbon,  with  introductions 
by  Mr.  T.  Seccombe  and  Mr. 
Austin  Dobson  respectively. 
The  Jottrnal  is  already  well 
known,  and  Mr.  Dobson's  graceful  apprecia- 
tion has  appeared  before  in  another  form ;  but 
the  present  issue  at  the  ridiculously  low  price 
of  one  shilling  is  none  the  less  welcome. 
Mr.  Dobson  supplies  a  number  of  excellent 
notes,  and  a  reprint  of  Fielding's  "Fragment 
of  a  Comment  on  Lord  Bolingbroke's  Essays" 
is  added  as  in  the  original.  The  story  told 
by  Fielding  of  his  voyage  to  Lisbon,  with  its 
many  difficulties  and  disagreeables  at  the 
outset,  is  painful  reading  from  one  point  of 
view ;  but  as  a  picture  of  courageous  resigna- 
tion and  quiet,  strong  endurance  it  is  stimulat- 
ing and  impressive. 

t^*  f£T*  t2^ 

I  have  read  Mr.  Seccombe's  introduction  to 
that  too  much  neglected  book,  Smollett's 
Travels,  with  much  pleasure.  For  many  years 
Smollett  has  met  with  less  than  justice  from 
readers  and  critics.  It  is  strange,  as  Mr. 
Seccombe  points  out,  that  he  has  not  yet 
found  a  place  in  the  series  of  "  English 
Men  of  Letters  ";  while  these  Travels,  which 
are  readable  and  entertaining  to  a  degree 
which  will  surprise  the  many  fresh  readers 
which  this  new  cheap  issue  is  sure  to  bring 
to  them,  have  been  most  undeservedly 
ignored. 

Q£T*  f2^*  1&* 

Mr.  Seccombe  remarks  that  each  of  those 
four  great  contemporary  masters  of  English 
prose — Fielding,  Smollett,  Sterne,  and  John- 
son— tried  his  hand  at  a  personal  record  of 
travel.  "Though  Smollett's  Travels,"  he 
continues,  "  may  not  exhibit  the  marmoreal 
glamour  of  Johnson,  or  the  intimate  fascina- 
tion of  Fielding,  or  the  essential  literary 
quality  which  permeates  the  subtle  dialogue 
and  artful  vignette  of  Sterne,  yet  they  are 
fully  deserving  of  a  place,  and  that  not  the 


least  significant,  in  the  quartette.  The  tem- 
porary eclipse  of  their  fame  I  attribute,  first 
to  the  studious  depreciation  of  Sterne  and 
Walpole,  and  secondly  to  a  refinement  of 
snobbishness  on  the  part  of  the  travelling 
crowd,  who  have  an  uneasy  conscience  that 
to  listen  to  common  sense,  such  as  Smollett's, 
in  matters  of  connoisseurship,  is  tantamount 
to  confessing  oneself  a  Galilean  of  the  outer- 
most court." 

t^*  *&*  t&* 

The  Annual  (No.  xii.)  of  the  British  School 
at  Athens  appeared  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  the 
fourth  volume  of  Papers  of  the  British  School 
at  Rome  is  on  the  eve  of  publication.  The 
former,  which  runs  to  no  less  than  523  pages, 
contains  seventeen  valuable  papers,  profusely 
illustrated,  by  members  of  the  British  School 
on  Greek  and  Cretan  archaeology,  and  also  a 
series  of  papers  by  experts  upon  the  work 
accomplished  during  the  year  in  connexion 
with  the  excavation  of  the  ancient  city  of 
Sparta,  the  Hellenic  Government  having 
kindly  given  permission  to  explore  this 
important  site.  The  work  was  carried  on 
from  March  19  to  June  9,  and  the  objects 
discovered  suggest  that  this  will  probably 
be  one  of  the  "  most  extensive  and  important 
pieces  of  work  yet  undertaken." 

l2r*  1&*  t&* 

The  ancient  Greek  wall,  formed  of  great  lime- 
stone blocks,  was  traced  for  a  considerable 
distance,  the  sanctuary  of  Artemis  Orthia 
was  unearthed,  and  many  inscriptions  were 
found  dedicated  to  the  goddess  to  whose 
altar  the  Spartan  youths  were  brought  to 
undergo  the  ordeal  of  the  scourge  as  a 
necessary  training  in  courage  and  endurance. 
Stone  slabs  were  erected  to  the  winners  in 
the  Spartan  boys'  contests,  recording  the 
honour  conferred  upon  them,  in  the  same 
way  that  our  public  schools  record  the 
honours  conferred  upon  successful  boys. 
Spartan  honours  were  given  to  the  most 
distinguished  competitors  in  the  national 
games,  in  enduring  the  scourge  ordeal,  and 
for  excellence  in  musical  competitions. 
These  are  recorded  in  the  excavations  of  the 
Artemisium,  giving  us  an  insight  into  the 
regular  training  of  Spartan  youth. 

t5*  9&F*  *&* 

Among  the  other  papers  contributed  to  the 
Annual,     I     may     mention      "  Geometric 


432 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


Pottery  from  Crete,"  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Droop, 
and  "Tombs  of  Hellenic  Date  at  Proesos,'' 
by  Mr.  F.  H.  Marshall.  The  monograph  on 
"  Cretan  Kernoi,"  by  Mr.  S.  Xanthondides, 
is  of  extraordinary  interest.  Among  the 
discoveries  lately  made  in  Crete  various 
Kernoi  have  claimed  the  attention  of  archaeo- 
logists. The  Kemos  was  a  sacred  object, 
used  in  connexion  with  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries.  It  consisted  of  a  central  vessel, 
to  which  a  number  of  little  cups  were 
attached,  filled  with  grain,  and  oil,  and  wine, 
as  a  votive  offering  to  the  deity,  and  was 
carried  by  the  priest  in  the  processional 
ritual  throughout  the  Greek  period.  This 
vessel  has  been  traced  to  prehistoric  times, 
and  it  seems  that  in  the  recent  excavations  of 
the  early  Minoan  period  in  Crete  many 
Kernoi  were  brought  to  light,  showing  that 
"  this  sacred  vessel  occurs  in  the  island  in  all 
periods  from  the  earliest  Cretan  to  the  latest 
historical  times." 

i2>*  t£r*  ^3^ 

It  appears  that  even  to  the  present  day  the 
Kernos  is  still  preserved  in  the  Greek 
Orthodox  Church  and  used  in  Christian 
rites,  while  in  many  old  churches  and 
monasteries  there  still  exist  many  sacred 
vessels  with  seven  candlesticks  and  a  number 
of  little  cups  in  front  to  contain  the  oil,  and 
wine,  and  corn,  which  the  worshipper  brings 
to  the  priest  to  bless.  Mr.  Xanthondides 
therefore  "  cannot  doubt  that  we  have,  in  this 
sacred  vessel  and  the  accompanying  ritual,  an 
evidence  of  offerings  of  grain  and  first  fruits 
thousands  of  years  before  the  historical 
period,  and  one  more  witness  to  the  un- 
broken continuity  of  cult  and  custom 
inherited  by  the  historic  Greeks  from  the 
prehistoric  inhabitants  of  Greece  and  the 
islands.  What  is  still  more  remarkable,  the 
immeasurably  ancient  tradition  has  been 
continued,  and  the  ritual  is  in  use  at  the 
present  time,  only  slightly  altered  and 
adapted  to  the  new  religion  in  the  services  of 
the  Greek  Orthodox  Church." 

The  new  volume  of  Papers  of  the  British 
School  at  Rome  will  contain  five  separate 
papers — one  by  the  Director,  Dr.  T.  Ashby, 
on  the  first  part  of  the  Via  Latina  as  far  as 
Ciampino;  one  by  the  Assistant  Director, 
Mr.  A.  H.  S.  Yeames,  on  an  ivory  statuette 


in  the  British  Museum ;  a  third  by  Mr. 
Churchill,  British  Consul  at  Palermo,  on  the 
Corporation  of  the  Roman  Goldsmiths  under 
the  Popes,  its  statutes,  and  its  bibliography  ; 
a  fourth  by  Mr.  A.  J.  B.  Wace,  on  Roman 
historical  reliefs  ;  and  a  fifth  by  Mr.  T.  E. 
Peet,  an  Oxford  Craven  Fellow,  on  the 
Early  Iron  Age  in  Southern  Italy.  The 
new  volume  will  have  nearly  forty  illustra- 
tions and  several  maps. 

*2r*  t&*  t£^* 

The  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  depar- 
ture of  the  first  colonizing  expedition  from 
England  to  North  America,  which  has  just 
been  celebrated  at  the  landing-place, 
Jamestown,  Virginia,  has  been  marked  over 
here  by  the  publication  by  the  Fine  Art 
Society  of  a  volume  entitled  The  American 
Pilgrim  s  Way,  which  deals  with  the  homes 
and  memorials  in  England  of  the  British 
worthies,  from  Raleigh  to  Washington,  who 
played  a  part  in  the  making  of  the  American 
nation.  The  book  is  written  by  Mr.  Marcus 
B.  Huish,  and  contains  over  130  illustra- 
tions by  Miss  Elizabeth  Chettle. 

f&*  t&*  i2r* 

Mr.  John  Leach,  South  Parade,  Tenby, 
announces  for  immediate  publication  a 
monograph  on  the  great  parish  church  of 
Tenby,  under  the  title  of  Church  Book  of 
St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  Tenby,  by  Mr.  Edward 
Laws,  F.S.A.,  and  Miss  E.  E.  P.dwards,  in 
which  the  authors  trace  the  history  and 
fortunes  of  the  church  from  11 72,  when 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  was  Rector,  until  the 
present  day.  The  illustrations  will  include 
a  reproduction  in  colours  of  a  mural  painting 
of  the  Crucifixion,  and  many  original  draw- 
ings by  Miss  Edwards.  Among  the  latter 
will  be  twenty-four  of  the  carved  bosses  in 
the  roof  and  several  interesting  effigies. 

A  thick  quarto  volume  has  been  issued 
in  a  limited  edition  of  200  numbered 
copies  containing,  besides  other  matter,  a 
catalogue  of  the  Historical  Exhibition  held 
in  the  Walker  Art  Gallery,  Liverpool,  from 
July  15  to  August  10,  in  connexion  with  the 
celebration  of  the  seven  hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  foundation  of  the  city.  The  exhibi- 
tion was  very  comprehensive,  and  comprised 
pottery  and  porcelain,  curios,  medals,  etc., 
views  of  Liverpool,  models  and  pictures  of 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


433 


ships,  charters,  books,  etc,  papers  relating  to 
the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway,  news- 
papers and  maps,  clocks  and  watches,  portraits 
and  miniatures,  book-plates,  and  playbills. 

c?^  t^*  €*5^ 

The  little  work  on  Ancient  Tenures  of  Land 
in  North  Wales  and  the  Marches,  by  Mr.  A. 
Neobard  Palmer,  of  Wrexham,  is  now  out  of 
print.  The  author,  in  collaboration  with 
Mr.  Edward  Owen,  of  the  India  Office,  is 
engaged  upon  a  second  and  much  enlarged 
edition,  based  upon  material  hitherto  un- 
used. 

t^*  l2r*  *2^* 

A  Review  of  Art  by  Signor  A.  Calza  in  the 
Rivista  d?  Ltalia  for  September  gives  an 
account  of  the  recent  excavations  upon  the 
Palatine  at  Rome.  The  article  is  illustrated 
by  photographic  reproductions  showing  the 
site  of  the  new  discoveries  from  different 
points  of  view.  Those  of  special  interest 
show  the  tomb  that  has  been  revealed 
beneath  the  ancient  wall  on  the  south-west 
slope  of  the  Palatine — a  discovery  of  great 
archaeological  importance,  as  Signor  Calza 
states,  since  the  human  remains  found  in  the 
tomb  have  been  unanimously  accepted  as 
dating  from  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  or  even 
the  end  of  the  fifth  century  before  Christ. 
The  presence  of  this  tomb  has  an  important 
bearing  upon  the  ancient  traditions  of  Roman 
history. 

t^*  t^*  *2** 

A  report  has  just  been  issued  by  the 
Historical  Manuscripts  Commission  on  the 
papers  of  the  Earl  of  Ancaster,  preserved  at 
Grimthorpe,  among  which  are  a  large 
number  of  letters  by  bearers  of  great  names 
during  the  spacious  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 
Other  papers  of  later  date  are  also  fairly 
abundant.  The  following  extract  from  a 
lively  letter  written  by  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
third  daughter  of  George  III.,  to  the  Duchess 
of  Ancaster,  is  delightful.  The  Court  had 
just  returned  to  Windsor,  and  the  Princess 
describes  how  they  had  been  leading  the 
simple  life  at  Weymouth  :  "  I  cannot  put 
off  the  pleasure  of  letting  you  know  that 
everybody  is  returned  well  and  contented 
with  Weymouth.  The  King  never  was 
better  in  his  life,  which  makes  us  all  happier 
than  you  can  imagine.  Mama  really  is  a 
little  fatter,  which  is  a  great  advantage  and 

VOL.    III. 


pleases  us  very  much,  as  we  thought  she 
wanted  it.  You  may  easily  believe  that  the 
time  we  spent  there  was  extremely  pleasant, 
as  we  had  no  forms  nor  nothing  that  was  formal. 
Of  a  morning  we  used  to  amuse  ourselves  — 
that  is  to  say,  Mama  and  us — with  going  to  the 
shops,  walking,  and  driving  out ;  of  an  even- 
ing we  went  very  often  to  the  play,  and  of  a 
Sunday  evening  allways  to  the  rooms.  The 
actors  were  astonishingly  good,  and  going 
quite  at  our  ease  made  it  remarkably  pleasant 
to  us.  During  the  very  hot  weather  which 
we  had  for  some  time  Mama  used  to  be 
drawn  into  the  sea  in  one  of  the  bathing- 
machines  and  sit  several  hours  there;  but 
we  were  not  idle,  for  reading  and  working 
were  our  employments.  You  cannot  imagine 
how  cool  and  pleasant  it  was.  The  machine 
was  so  large  that  it  could  hold  seven  or  eight 
people,  besides  a  table  and  a  chair,  and  as 
we  never  went  so  many  at  a  time  it  was  very 
airy  and  comfortable."  One  can  hardly 
imagine  the  present  King  and  Queen  amus- 
ing themselves  by  sitting,  reading,  and  work- 
ing in  a  bathing-machine  drawn  into  the  sea 
at,  say,  Felixstowe  or  Seaford  ! 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  Jl3eto0. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  informationfro?n  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.^ 

PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

Vol.  xxxil.  (for  the  year  1906)  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  Birmingham  Archaeological  Society  is  a 
goodly  quarto.  Besides  a  record  of  the  "  Excursions 
of  1906  "  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Cossins,  and  a  special  account, 
illustrated,  of  a  "Two  Days'  Excursion  to  Silchester, 
Avebury,  and  Silbury  Hill,"  by  Mr.  J.  A.  S.  Han- 
bury,  who  summarizes  the  theories  regarding  mega- 
lithic  monuments,  the  volume  contains  four  papers. 
The  longest  is  "The  Low  Side  Windows  of  War- 
wickshire Churches,"  by  Mr.  F.  T.  S.  Houghton. 
This  is  a  very  thorough  piece  of  work.  The  full 
statement  of  all  the  various  theories  which  have  been 
advanced  to  account  for  these  "windows  "  is  perhaps 
somewhat  otiose,  for  it  has  been  done  more  than  once 
before  ;  but  no  doubt  many  members  of  the  Birming- 
ham Society  will  be  glad  to  have  the  statement,  which 
is  carefully  and  well  done.  Mr.  Houghton,  however, 
goes  on  to  give  an  elaborate  classification  of  the 
numerous  Warwickshire  examples,  with  a  detailed 
description  of  each  window  or  opening,  and  a  tabular 

31 


434 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


summary  of  dimensions,  etc.,  the  whole  forming  a 
valuable  contribution  to  the  literature  of  this  branch 
of  ecclesiological  research.  A  brief  bibliography  is 
added,  and  there  are  ten  good  plates  containing 
twenty-eight  examples  from  photographs  and  four 
diagram  sections.  Mr.  F.  W.  Evans  gives  a 
chronological  notice  of  the  old  Castle  of  Beau- 
desert  (Henley-in-Arden)  and  the  De  Montfords, 
from  1120  to  1265.  Under  the  title  of  "Early 
Earthworks,  Dykes,  and  Hollow  Roads  of  the  Upland 
of  Barr  and  Sutton  Coldfield,"  Mr.  G.  B.  Benton 
tells  the  story  of  the  development  of  the  district  under 
Roman  governors,  with  two  plans.  The  concluding 
paper  is  a  well-illustrated  account  of  "  Meon  Hill  and 
its  Treasures — an  abundance  of  Neolithic  remains  with 
a  few  of  later  date — by  Mr.  T.  R.    Hodges.     This 


us  pp.  78-85  are  of  unusual,  if  rather  ghoulish, 
interest.  These  pages  contain  a  very  vivid  description 
of  the  vaults  under  St.  Michan's  Church,  Dublin, 
and  of  their  extraordinarily  heterogeneous  contents — 
tombs,  coffins,  and  human  remains.  The  account  is 
illustrated  by  two  plates,  one  depicting  the  interior  of 
one  of  the  vaults  with  its  open  coffins,  and  the  other, 
which  we  are  kindly  allowed  to  reproduce  on  this  page, 
showing  the  recumbent  effigy  of  a  bishop,  supposed 
to  be  that  of  the  founder  of  the  church,  St.  Michanus, 
which  occupies  a  niche  in  the  south  wall  of  the  nave, 
above  the  vaults,  and  represents  him  in  alb,  chasuble, 
and  mitre,  holding  a  pastoral  staff.  It  is  of  granite, 
but  has  been  whitewashed  over.  The  "  Funeral 
Entries,"  or  certificates,  mentioned  above,  and  which 
are  separately  paged,  are  copied  from  a  manuscript 


EFFIGY   OF   A   BISHOP   IN   ST.    MICHAN's   CHURCH,   DUBLIN. 
(From  a  photograph  by  B.   Killick,  of  Bray.) 


volume  is  one  of  the  best  yet  issued  by  the  Midland 
Society. 

^        ^        +q 

We  have  received  the  new  part  (No.  I  of  Part  I.  for 
1907)  of  the  /ournal  of  the  Irish  Association  for  the 
Preservation  of  the  Memorials  of  the  Dead — a 
Society  whose  work  we  took  occasion  to  commend 
a  few  months  ago.  This  part  of  eighty-eight  pages, 
plus  twenty-four  of  "Funeral  Entries,"  contains  a 
great  number  of  monumental  inscriptions  of  varying 
interest  and  importance.  The  preservation  of  all  is 
important  to  genealogists  and  all  interested  in  family 
history.  It  may  be  noted,  too,  that  coats-of-arms  on 
monuments  are  often  of  great  use  as  evidence  for 
Confirmations  of  Arms.  Such  Confirmations  are  only 
granted  by  the  Office  of  Arms,  Dublin  Castle,  where 
proof  can  be  given  of  the  user  of  a  certain  coat  in 
a  family  for  at  least  100  years  ;  and  among  the  various 
forms  of  proof  accepted — old  seals,  book-plates,  and 
sq  on — are  arms  on  monuments.     In  the  part  before 


volume  now  in  the  British  Museum.  This  volume  is 
one  of  a  series  of  eighteen  preserved  in  the  Office  of 
Arms,  Dublin  Castle.  How  it  became  detached  and 
found  its  way  into  the  British  Museum  is  not  known, 
but  the  copy,  of  which  the  first  instalment  is  here 
printed,  has  been  made  to  fill  the  gap  in  the  Dublin 
set.  The  Entries,  says  Lord  Walter  FitzGerald,  the 
editor,  "  date  from  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century 
to  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth,  when  the 
practice  of  the  Ulster  King-of-Arms  of  the  period,  or 
his  deputy,  officially  attending  the  funeral  ceremony 
at  the  request  of  the  relatives  of  the  deceased,  was 
practically  discontinued ;  in  those  times,  on  the 
receipt  of  a  fee,  the  demise  was  duly  registered  in 
Ulster's  Office."  Mr.  P.  G.  Mahony,  Cork  Herald, 
informs  us  that  Funeral  Entries  can  still  be  made  for 
a  fee  of  £5,  and  further  points  out  that  in  the  second 
edition  of  The  Eight  to  Bear  Arms,  by  "X."  (pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock),  a  very  good  account  is 
given  of  the  history  of  Funeral  Certificates  in  Ireland. 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


435 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

On  September  19  the  members  of  the  Yorkshire 
Arch.eological  Society  made  an  excursion  in 
splendid  weather  to  the  Bedale  District.  Starting  at 
Bedale,  the  church  was  visited,  where  Mr.  II.  B. 
McCall  and  Mr.  C.  C.  Hodges  described  the  history 
and  architectural  features  of  the  fabric.  Architec- 
turally, Bedale  Church  is  an  epitome  of  progress  in 
styles  that  well  repays  attention.  The  four  angles  of 
the  nave  show  that  the  edifice  dates  from  Saxon 
times,  and  the  subsequent  structural  developments 
may  be  clearly  traced.  The  beautiful  north  arcade, 
with  its  nutmeg  ornament,  belongs  to  the  latter  part 
of  the  twelfth  century.  This  piece  of  transitional 
work  shares  with  the  early  fourteenth-century  Decor- 
ated tower  the  chief  claim  of  the  fabric  to  archi- 
tectural interest.  The  tower  Mr.  Hodges  described 
as  unique,  in  that  it  provided  the  only  instance  where 
a  portcullis  had  been  found  in  a  parish  church,  the 
first  stage  having  been  constructed  in  such  manner  as 
to  withstand  a  state  of  siege.  Unfortunately,  the 
portcullis  has  disappeared  ;  it  was  given  away  as  old 
metal  seventy  five  years  ago,  and  the  Yorkshire 
Archaeological  Society  did  not  then  exist.  Among 
other  points  specially  noted  were  the  existence  of  a 
register  dating  from  1560,  the  curious  large  window 
at  the  east  end  of  the  south  aisle,  the  belfry,  and 
crypt,  and  the  rebuilding  (now  in  progress)  of  the 
south  wall  of  the  clerestory  to  the  designs  of  Mr. 
Hodgson  Fowler.  After  lunch  the  party  proceeded 
through  the  grounds  of  Thorp  Perrowto  Snape,  where, 
by  the  permission  of  Mr.  W.  Tilley,  they  inspected  the 
Castle  of  the  Cecils  and  the  Latimers,  the  south  side 
of  which  only  is  in  a  state  of  preservation.  Here, 
once  upon  a  time,  Katharine  Parr  lived,  who  became 
the  sixth  wife  of  Henry  VIII.,  she  having  first  been 
wife  to  the  Lord  Latimer  who  fought  at  Flodden 
Field.  The  visitors  met  to  hear  an  account  of  the 
matter  in  the  old  domestic  chapel  of  the  Nevilles, 
which  was  restored  by  the  late  Mr.  Mark  Milbank  in 
1875,  and  their  attention  was  particularly  directed  by 
Dr.  T.  Horsfall  to  the  now  almost  obliterated  painted 
ceiling  of  Antonio  Verrio,  hiding  the  former  open 
roof  work.  At  Well,  the  next  village  of  call,  the 
Rev.  T.  F.  Redmayne  gave  facilities  for  examining 
the  Neville  memorials  and  other  features  of  note. 
The  monument  and  effigy  of  John  Neville,  fourth 
and  last  Baron  Latimer  of  Snape,  who  died  in  1577, 
naturally  attracted  close  scrutiny.  A  quaint  thing 
about  this  tomb  is  the  number  of  signatures  carved  on 
it  by  local  celebrities  in  the  year  1618,  whose  example 
has  been  followed  in  coarser  style  by  predecessors  of 
our  modern  defacers  of  monuments.  The  church 
apparently  dates  from  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century. 
Pointing  out  window  tracery  identical  with  that  at 
Hexham  Abbey,  Mr.  Hodges  observed  that  this 
Decorated  style  was  very  rare  in  North  Yorkshire 
churches.  The  adjoining  hospital,  founded  by  Ralph 
Neville,  Lord  of  Middleham,  in  1342,  was  also  visited 
by  permission  of  Mr.  J.  Gothorp,  and  its  pleasant 
old-world  character  and  the  remains  of  the  Hond 
mansion  were  duly  admired.  The  day's  journey 
ended  at  Tanfield,  where  Mr.  J.  W.  Clay  supplied 
notes  on  the  Marmion  family.     Opportunity  was  also 


given  by  Mr.  W.  D.  Arton  to  examine  the  Marmion 
Tower. 

+§  **}  +$ 

Beautiful  weather  favoured  the  fifth  meeting  of  the 
season  of  the  Durham  and  Northumberland 
Archaeological  Society  on  September  23,  when 
a  party  of  about  twenty-five  visited  various  places  of 
interest  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Stockton.  Mr. 
F.  N.  R.  Haswell,  of  North  Shields,  acted  as  guide, 
and  the  first  call  was  made  at  Bishopton,  where, 
after  an  inspection  of  the  church,  the  Castle  Hill, 
a  huge  defensive  work  of  British  date,  was  examined. 
At  the  next  place,  Redmarshall  Church,  the  visitors 
saw  the  chantry  chapel,  known  as  the  Claxton  Porch, 
and  also  a  fine  alabaster  monument  to  Thomas  de 
Langton,  the  Lord  of  Wynyard.  Driving  through 
Thorpe  and  Wolviston,  the  party  next  visited  Great- 
ham  Church,  and  were  afterwards  taken  over  Great- 
ham  Hospital  by  Canon  Barrodell  Smith.  Billingham 
Church  was  the  next  place,  and  here  the  Communion 
plate,  which  includes  a  fine  Elizabethan  cup,  was 
inspected  with  much  interest.  The  last  call  was  at 
the  fine  old  church  at  Norton,  which  has  several 
pre-Conquest  features,  whilst  the  nave  is  of  twelfth- 
century  date,  and  the  chancel  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Beneath  the  tower  a  sepulchral  effigy, 
representing  a  knight  in  chain  armour,  with  a  female 
figure  kneeling  on  his  right  and  two  animals  at 
his  feet,  aroused  much  interest. 

+§  +Q  4X$ 

The  opening  meeting  of  the  session  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland  was  held  on 
October  1,  Dr.  P.  W.  Joyce  presiding,  when  Lord 
Walter  FitzGerald  contributed  a  paper  on  the  "  Lords 
Howth  and  their  Altar-Tomb."  On  the  following 
day  an  excursion  (in  conjunction  with  the  Kildare 
Archaeological  Society)  to  the  antiquities  of  Carbury 
and  the  neighbourhood  took  place.  At  Carbury 
Castle,  a  fine  old  ruin,  Father  Devitt  read  an  interest- 
ing paper  dealing  with  the  history  of  the  castle  and  of 
the  district  from  the  time  of  Strongbow.  One  of  the 
first  records  which  he  mentioned  was  dated  Septem- 
ber 24,  1234,  a  mandate  to  Hugh  de  Lacy,  directing 
him  to  give  to  the  messenger  of  Gilbert,  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke, seisin  of  the  Castle  of  Cabry  (sic),  in  his  custody, 
owing  to  the  war  between  the  King  and  Richard,  Earl 
of  Pembroke.  In  1290  William  de  Vesci,  Viceroy  of 
Ireland,  held  his  chancery  in  Kildare,  of  which,  as  of 
Carbury,  he  was  Lord.  Pie  was  accused  of  treason 
by  Sir  John  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  Baron  of  Offaly,  and 
after  appeals  to  the  King  and  challenges  to  single 
combat  between  the  parties,  the  result  remained 
obscure,  but  it  was  clear  that  William  de  Vesci  left 
the  kingdom,  and  that  all,  or  a  large  portion,  of  his 
estates  were  granted  to  his  accuser,  John  Thomas 
Fitzgerald,  who  was  created  Earl  of  Kildare  in  1316, 
and  it  was  pretty  certain  that  Carbury  was  for  the 
time  vested  in  the  Earl.  The  history  of  the  de  Ber- 
mingham  family  was  then  dealt  with.  The  old  Irish 
kingdom  of  Offaly  seemed  to  have  been  occupied  by 
three  families— the  Fitzgeralds,  who  held  the  portion 
adjacent  to  Kildare  and  Rathangan  ;  the  Irish  sept 
of  O'Connor  Faly,  pressed  all  along  the  western 
border  from  Slievebloom  to  the  Hill  of  Croghan  ;  and 
the  Berminghams,  who  held  the  portion  immediately 

3  1    2 


436 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


west  of  Ophelan — practically  the  present  baronies  of 
Coolstown  and  Warrenstown,  but  anciently  known  as 
Thetmoy,  the  cantretl  of  the  two  plains.  Father 
Devitt  told  the  history  of  the  district  in  later  times  by 
reading  what  he  had  himself  written  in  1896  in  the 
second  volume  of  the  Kildare  Archaeological  Society's 
Journal.  In  the  afternoon  various  places  of  interest  in 
the  neighbourhood  were  visited. 

*$  +§  +§ 

The    CU  MISER  LAND    AND    WESTMORLAND   ARCH.i:0- 

I.OGICAL  Society  held  a  two  days'  meeting  in  Sep- 
tember. Assembling  at  Carlisle  on  the  first  day,  the 
members  first  visited  Longtown,  to  inspect,  under  the 
guidance  of  Canon  Bower,  Arthuret  Church,  and  then 
proceeded  to  Scaleby  Castle  and  Church.  Mr.  J.  II. 
Martindale  gave  a  detailed  description  of  the  castle. 
At  the  evening  meeting  various  papers  were  read,  but 
the  feature  of  the  evening  was  the  exhibition  by  the 
Bishop  of  Barrow  of  a  silver  Norse  brooch  from  Cas- 
terton  Hall.  He  stated  that  it  was  found  seventy  or 
eighty  years  ago  between  Barbon  and  Casterton,  and 
had  been  presented  to  him  by  the  Misses  Bickersteth, 
of  Underley  Hall.  Mr.  Collingwood  remarked  that 
this  was  a  pleasant  surprise.  Only  two  other  speci- 
mens of  the  Norse  brooch  had  been  found,  and  these 
were  at  present  in  the  British  Museum.  He  had  had 
no  idea  that  a  third  brooch  had  come  to  light,  and  its 
discovery  would  probably  create  some  sensation.  The 
brooch  referred  to  is  an  exceptionally  large  penan- 
nular  ornament,  with  a  diameter  of  about  7  or  8  inches, 
and  fastened  by  a  pin  21  inches  in  length.  These 
brooches  are  believed  to  be  tenth-century  work.  The 
silver  of  which  they  are  made  is  almost  certainly  from 
Asia,  and  this,  with  other  indications,  gives  rise  to 
the  belief  that  they  were  of  Oriental  origin.  The 
enormous  size  of  the  brooches  tends  to  show  that  they 
were  intended  to  decorate  the  image  of  a  deity,  or  else 
were  used  for  ceremonial  purposes. 

On  the  second  day  the  company,  in  conjunction  with 
a  party  of  members  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries 
of  Newcastle,  visited  the  site  of  the  excavations  at 
Corbridge  (Corstopitum).  Mr.  C.  L.  Woolley,  of  the 
Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford,  who  has  been  in  charge 
of  the  excavations,  described  the  work.  From  his 
remarks  it  appeared  that  at  least  three  important 
conclusions  may  be  arrived  at.  Under  all  the  Roman 
strata  they  find  a  Neolithic  stratum,  from  which  flint 
chippings  and  small  flint  scrapers  have  been  taken. 
This  lends  support  to  the  theory,  which  had  previously 
been  held  without  support,  that  there  was  a  British 
settlement  there  prior  to  the  Roman  occupation.  The 
stones  of  which  the  Roman  town  had  been  built  have 
been  traced  to  a  little  south  of  the  Tyne,  and  some  to 
near  Portgate.  Thirdly,  the  time  at  which  the  Roman 
evacuation  took  place  has  been  approximately  fixed  by 
the  finding  of  coins.  This  took  place  only  on  the 
previous  Thursday  in  "the  china  shop,"  or  potter's 
establishment  (from  which  a  large  amount  of  fragmen- 
tary pottery  has  been  recovered),  when  the  contents  of 
the  till  were  found  and  examined.  The  place  had  been 
burned  down  at  the  end  of  the  occupation,  and  there 
was  a  layer  of  burnt  stuff  6  or  7  inches  thick  in  which 
a  tremendous  mass  of  pottery  was  unearthed.  The 
till  and  coins  being  there,  they  were  able  to  date  the 
pottery  fairly  accurately,  and  to  upset  by  nearly 
2  x>  years  the  accepted  date  for  it.     The  Romans 


carried  on  the  manufacture  of  that  red  pottery  for 
nearly  200— certainly  more  than  100 — years  later  than 
anybody  had  hitherto  thought.  Above  a  plinth  in 
the  gutter  of  the  roadway  at  the  two  adjoining  houses 
a  heap  of  300  or  400  minimi  were  found,  these  being 
the  smallest  Roman  copper  coins.  They  had  probably 
been  dropped  there  in  a  bag  when  the  place  was 
evacuated.  All  the  coins  were  of  the  fourth  century 
a.  D.,  mostly  of  the  time  of  Constantine,  the  latest 
dale  being  383.  Mr.  Woolley  first  described  the  re- 
mains of  the  north  abutment  of  the  bridge  leading 
to  the  main  road  north,  called,  in  the  Middle  Ages 
and  down  to  a  couple  of  centuries  ago,  Dere  Street, 
which,  he  said,  probably  ran  along  the  western  out- 
skirt  of  the  town,  with  gateways  from  it  leading  into 
the  town.  The  large  quantity  of  rubble  on  the  west 
side  of  the  bridge  abutment,  and  the  absence  of  it  on 
the  east  side,  showed  the  protection  which  was  needed 
when  the  river,  which  then  flowed  in  a  channel 
slightly  further  to  the  north  than  it  does  now,  was  in 
flood.  The  next  point  of  interest  was  a  large  build- 
ing with  terraces  behind  it,  built  on  a  projecting  cliff 
some  15  feet  high.  In  a  cement  cistern  at  the  back 
a  carved  stone  lion,  which  had  been  used  as  a  foun- 
tain, was  unearthed,  it  having  apparently  been 
thrown  there  with  other  unconsidered  rubbish.  Here, 
as  elsewhere  in  the  excavations,  they  found  floor- 
levels  of  two,  and  sometimes  three,  different  periods 
of  construction.  The  later  periods  were  always 
inferior  in  workmanship  and  material  to  the  earlier. 
A  coin  found  between  two  floor  levels  in  this  house 
was  of  the  time  of  Carausius.  It  was  interesting  to 
find  that  some  of  the  walls  of  the  house  were  of  lath 
and  plaster.  On  the  brow  of  the  hill  the  Roman 
stratum  is  lost — wiped  away  by  weather  or  the  opera- 
tions of  agriculture — and  does  not  reappear  till  the 
summit  of  the  hill  is  passed,  except  where  rubbish- 
pits  have  been  dug,  and  from  these  some  very  inter- 
esting curios  have  been  obtained.  Some  of  them, 
with  gems,  ornaments,  and  implements,  found  else- 
where, were  exhibited  on  a  table  on  the  site. 

In  September  the  members  of  the  East  Riding 
Antiquarian  Society  paid  a  visit  to  the  district 
round  Helmsley.  The  party,  which  arrived  at 
Helmsley  about  noon,  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  E. 
Maule  Cole,  of  Wetwang,  and  was  met  by  the  Vicar 
of  Helmsley,  the  Rev.  C.  N.  Gray,  who  conducted 
them  round  the  beautiful  parish  church  of  All  Saints. 
The  features  of  the  structure  having  been  explained, 
the  ruins  of  the  castle,  which  was  built  in  the  twelfth 
century  by  Robert  de  Roos,  were  visited.  Through 
the  kindness  of  the  Earl  of  Feversham  the  party  was 
enabled  to  visit  Duncombe  Park,  the  residence  of  his 
Lordship.  The  main  item  of  the  day's  programme 
was,  however,  the  inspection  of  the  ruins  of  Rievaulx 
Abbey.  Here  the  Rev.  E.  Maule  Cole  read  an  inter- 
esting paper,  in  which  he  compared  the  abbey  with 
others  at  Hexham,  Whitby,  etc.,  and  dealt  with  the 
founding  of  the  abbey  in  1 131  by  Walter  Espec,  a 
Norman  baron. 

+§  «•$  ^C 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Newcastle  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries on  September  18,  Mr.  R.  Welford  presiding, 
Mr.  C.  L.  Woolley  gave  an  account  of  the  excava- 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


437 


tions  at  Corbridge.  Mr.  W.  H.  Knowles,  in  intro- 
ducing Mr.  Woolley,  said  the  scheme  of  excavating 
a  city  of  such  importance  as  Corstopitum  would 
necessarily  entail  a  considerable  amount  of  labour 
and  cost.  That  it  should  be  done  thoroughly,  a  most 
representative  committee  was  appointed,  with  repre- 
sentatives from  the  different  societies  and  Universities, 
and  on  that  committee  no  less  thin  about  a  dozen  of 
their  own  council  and  committee  were  included.  In 
addition  to  that  the  Newcastle  Society  had  given  a 
very  handsome  subscription  of  ^25  a  year.  In  return 
for  that  the  progress  of  the  work  would  be  fully  re- 
ported and  illustrated  to  them  at  their  meetings. 
The  cost  of  the  work  would  be  ,£2,000,  to  be  ex- 
tended over  five  years,  and  they  had  received  a  very 
noble  response  to  their  application  for  funds.  There 
was  still,  however,  ^300  needed  to  make  up  the  sum, 
and  he  wished  to  make  that  known  to  those  interested 
in  the  work.  He  concluded  by  saying  that  they  could 
not  have  got  a  more  painstaking  and  industrious 
supervisor  of  the  work  than  Mr.  Woolley. 

*$  +$         «o$ 

The  Essex  Archaeological  Society,  on  Septem- 
ber 19,  made  a  pleasant  excursion  in  lovely  weather 
from  Felstead.  From  Felstead  Station  carriages  con- 
veyed the  party  through  Little  Dunmow,  with  its  quaint 
and  picturesque  cottages,  to  Little  Dunmow  Church. 
A  sketch  of  its  history  was  given  by  Mr.  F.  Chan- 
cellor, of  Chelmsford,  who  stated  that  the  present 
church  was  formerly  the  south  aisle  of  the  old  priory. 
The  arcade  on  the  side  of  the  church  was  one  of  the 
finest  in  the  county,  probably  in  many  counties,  and 
was  in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation.  In  thank- 
ing Mr.  Chancellor  for  his  explanation,  the  President, 
Dr.  H.  Laver,  of  Colchester,  remarked  that  they 
were  indebted  to  Mr.  Chancellor,  who,  in  carrying 
out  the  work  of  restoration  many  years  ago,  put  the 
wall  outside  the  arcade,  and  so  exposed  these  arches 
in  all  their  beauty.  From  Dunmow  the  party  drove 
on  to  Leez  Priory,  or  Leigh's  Piiory,  as  it  is  generally 
called.  Here  they  were  hospitably  entertained  to 
luncheon  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hughes-Hughes.  Under 
the  guidance  of  Mr.  Chancellor,  the  party  were  con- 
ducted over  the  remains  of  the  Priory,  and  explored 
the  recent  excavations  carried  out  under  the  super- 
vision of  Mr.  Hughes-Hughes.  A  paper  was  read  by 
Mr.  Chancellor  on  the  history  of  the  Priory. 

*£  *£  *>§ 

The  prehistoric  entrenchment  at  Hollingbury  was 
visited  by  the  members  of  the  Brighton  and  Hove 
Archaeological  Club  on  October  5.  The  party, 
which  numbered  about  sixty,  was  under  the  ex- 
perienced guidance  of  Mr.  H.  S.  Toms  (hon. 
secretary),  who  pointed  out  the  chief  characteristics 
of  the  camp.  The  two  entrances  on  the  western 
side,  he  explained,  were  evidently  not  the  original 
ones,  because  the  de'ence  was  weakest  at  this  point. 
The  true  entrance  was  to  be  found  on  the  opposite 
side,  where  the  hill  sloped  away  fairly  rapidly.  Mr. 
Toms  also  directed  attention  to  the  Bronze  Age 
tumulus  near  the  centre  of  the  camp,  and  to  the 
curious  pit  near  by  similar  to  the  pits  in  the  interior 
of  Cissbury  Camp.  It  was  quite  possible,  he  said, 
that  this  might  be  one  of  the  ancient  dwelling-pits, 
and  the  small  depression  to  the  south  of  it  might  be 


what  was  called  the  "  hearth-pit."  From  the  fact  that 
absolutely  no  remains  were  found  during  the  con- 
struction of  the  recently  formed  road  near  the  camp, 
Mr.  Toms  expressed  the  view  that  the  top  of  the  hill 
was  not  inhabited,  but  solely  used  for  the  purposes  of 
a  fort. 

^      *$      *>$ 

Other  meetings  and  excursions  have  been  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  Bucks  Archaeological  Society 
on  September  23  ;  a  visit  of  the  Hampshire 
Archaeological  Society  to  Silchester  in  Septem- 
ber ;  the  excursion  of  the  Cambs  and  Hunts 
Archaeological  Society  on  September  17  to 
Abbotsley,  Waresley,  Great  Gransden  and  Little 
Gransden  ;  and  the  visit  of  the  Lewtsham  Anti- 
quarian Society  to  St.  John's  Church,  Clerkenwell, 
and  St.  Giles's,  Cripplegate,  on  October  5. 


iRetitetos  ana  Notices 
of  U3eto  T5ook0. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.] 

Goldsmiths'  and  Silversmiths'  Work.  By 
Nelson  Dawson.  With  50  collotype  plates  and 
other  illustrations.  London:  Methuen  and  Co., 
1907.  Wide  royal  8vo.,  pp.  xx,  267.  Price 
25s.  net. 
It  was  a  good  thought  of  the  publishers  or  the 
editor  of  this  series  of  "  The  Connoisseurs'  Library  " 
to  set  Mr.  Nelson  Dawson  the  task  of  describing 
"Goldsmiths'  and  Silversmiths'  Work."  Asa  master 
art-worker  of  high  ideals  and  a  craftsman  who  has 
designed  and  superintended  the  execution  of  many 
beautiful  pieces  of  work,  he  can  speak  with  authority 
and  first-hand  knowledge.  This  volume,  apart  from 
the  suggestive,  if  pessimistic,  closing  chapter  on 
"Modern  Trade  Methods  and  Conditions,"  is  an 
historical  treatise  which  excludes  jewellery,  and, 
saving  for  some  references  to  Ashanti  work,  is  con- 
fined to  European  works  of  art.  "  He  that  would 
produce  art  must  learn  from  art,"  and  Mr.  Dawson 
thus  approaches  from  the  point  of  view  of  artist 
and  craftsman  a  theme  which  has  an  abundance  of 
de'ightful  interest  for  the  antiquary  and  the  archae- 
ologist. In  the  early  pages,  which  treat  of  the 
working  of  the  two  metals  in  question,  he  alludes  to 
peasant  work  as  a  "proof  of  their  kindliness  in  work- 
ing." One  can  recognize  this  even  in  such  refined 
relics  of  comparative  barbarism  as  the  Tara  brooch 
and  other  Celtic  pieces.  The  fine  plates  of  the 
volume  will  reveal  to  many  who  may  not  even  have 
seen  the  copies  at  South  Kensington  the  extreme 
beauty  of  the  famous  Roman  "  Hildesheim  Treasure," 
though  one  regrets  that  in  Fig.  4,  as  elsewhere,  no 
scale  of  size  is  indicated.  In  passing,  it  seems  a  pity 
that,  for  reference'  sake,  all  the  illustrations  are  not 
numbered,  and  on  one  plate,  opposite  page  72,  the 
figures  are   omitted   altogether.      The   index   might 


43« 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


have  been  fuller,  and  is  scarcely  consistent  with  a 
passing  reference  to  one  City  Company  when  there  is 
no  clue  given  to  a  special  mention,  at  page  229,  of 
the  Monteith  bowls  of  another.  But  these  are  small 
defects  in  a  finely  printed  volume,  which,  in  this  art- 
master's  terse  and  straightforward  style,  narrates  the 
development  of  a  sumptuous  handicraft.  Mr.  Dawson 
evidently  envies  the  old  silversmiths  who  were  "  not 
l>ouncl  down  by  convention  and  custom  as  we  are 
now  ";  but  the  portrait  of  his  own  sweetmeat  bowl 
(Fig.  124)  challenges  comparison  with  those  of  the 
famous  Ardagh  or  Grunalt  chalices  or  the  Tudor 
cup  of  Fig.  30.  The  curiosities  of  the  art  may  be 
studied  in  such  pieces  as  the  Irish  potato-ring  and 
Madame  du  Barry's  silver  ewer  and  basin  ;  but  Mr. 
Dawson,  perhaps  rightly,  does  not  condescend  to 
notice  the  trinkets  and  toys  that  have  been  produced 
in  times  of  false  luxury.  He  is  more  concerned  with 
the  dignified  and  thorough  examples  produced  for  the 
uses  of  life.  He  even  rebukes  the  layman  for  for- 
getting that  "  only  that  can  come  out  of  a  work  of  art 
which  is  put  into  it,  and  unlimited  time  is,  or  should 
be,  essential  to  the  doing  of  any  great  work." 

W.  H.  D. 
*      *      * 
Book   Prices  Current.      Vol.  XXI.     By  J.   II. 
Slater.      London  :    Elliot  Stock,   1907.      Demy 
8vo. ,  pp.  x,  794.     Price  27s.  6d.  net. 
With  this  volume  Book  Prices  Current  comes  of 
age,  and  celebrates  the  occasion  by  giving  its  pur- 
chasers more   matter   than  any  volume  since   1902. 
This  increase  is  due  chiefly  to  the  two  great  sales 
which  were  the   outstanding  features  of  the  season 
that  ended   last  July — the  sale  of  the  very  valuable 
collection  of  Mr.   Van  Antwerp,  of  New  York,  and 
that  of  the  library  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland,  removed 
from  Trentham   Hall.     In  each  of  these  cases  Mr. 
Slater  gives  practically  a  full  and  complete  report  of 
the  sale,  with  much  useful  comment  and  reference. 
The  Van  Antwerp  collection  was  formed  mainly  in 
England,  and  contained  many  of  the  Rowfant  books 
— once  the  cherished  treasures  of  Mr.  Locker  Lamp- 
son — so  it  was  with  some  satisfaction  that  English 
bibliophiles  saw  that  the  sale  was  arranged  to  take 
place  in  London.     Some  extraordinary  prices  were 
realized,  including  £3,600  for  a  First  Folio,  £700  for 
the  Kilmarnock  Burns,  and  ,£1,290  for  the  Compleat 
Angler   (1653).      The    243    lots    realized   £16,351. 
And    while   mentioning    prices,    we   may   note    the 
£3,000  paid  for  the  Shelley  Note-Books,  which  be- 
longed to  the  late  Dr.  Garnett,  and  the  £510  given 
for  a  collection  of  Swift  manuscripts — letters,  poems, 
and  essays,  mostly  unpublished.      The  season   was 
remarkable,  indeed,  for  the  importance  and  literary 
interest  of  the  manuscripts  offered  for  sale,  and  for 
the  high  prices  realized.     The  Trentham  Hall  books 
contained  no  such  rarities  as  the  Van  Antwerp  collec- 
tion, but  the  1,787  lots  fetched  £8,777,  and  included 
many  volumes  of  literary  and  bibliographical  interest. 
A  study  of  some  of  the  prices  which  are  now  given  for 
the  rarer  books  is  calculated  to  make  the  book-lover 
of  modest  means  despair  ;  but  Mr.  Slater  well  points 
out  that  the  fierce  competition  is  at  present  confined 
chiefly  to  the  early  editions  of  the  English  classics, 
important  manuscripts,  books  with  inscriptions,  and 
Americana.        Rich    collectors     concentrate     their 


energies  for  the  most  part  on  these  valuable  rarities, 
while  books  of  other  classes  "are,  if  anything, 
cheaper  than  they  were  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  and 
it  is  possible  now  to  form  a  library  at  considerably 
less  expense  than  formerly."  Hence  the  value  of 
this  annual  guide  to  the  sale-room.  It  is  sometimes 
thought  that  a  series  of  the  volumes  of  Book  Prices 
Current  is  hardly  necessary  to  the  collector,  because 
so  many  books  must  necessarily  recur.  But  it  is  re- 
markable how  limited  in  extent  such  regular  recur- 
rence is.  Classes  of  books  seem  to  appear  in  the 
sale-room  and  to  disappear  therefrom  at  intervals  of 
greater  or  less  regularity  ;  but  no  one  can  calculate 
those  intervals,  and  in  the  meantime  prices  often 
undergo  surprising  modifications.  This  new  volume 
varies  from  its  predecessor  of  last  year  by  as  much  as 
50  per  cent,  in  the  character  of  the  books  sold,  their 
writers  and  identity,  and  to  a  very  large  extent  from 
the  contents  of  previous  volumes  for  years  past.  In 
print,  general  get-up,  value  of  annotation,  and  per- 
fection of  index,  this  new  volume  is  beyond  praise. 

*  *  * 
Worshipful  Company  of  Fishmongers  of 
London.  A  Short  Account  of  Portraits,  Pic- 
tures, Plate,  etc.,  in  Possession  of  the  Company. 
By  J.  Wrench  Towse,  Clerk  of  the  Company. 
London  :  Printed  by  William  Clozves  and  Sons, 
Ltd.,  1907.  4to.,  pp.  74. 
This  small  quarto  volume,  which  contains,  with  a 
large  amount  of  interesting  information,  a  series  of 
illustrations  from  half-tone  blocks  of  the  principal 
objects  referred  to,  has  been  printed  only  for  private 
circulation,  and  distributed  among  the  members  of 
the  Company.  It  deserves  to  he  known,  however, 
outside  so  limited  a  circle,  as  the  possessions  of  the 
Company  embrace  many  things  of  artistic  and  his- 
torical interest  comparatively  little  known  to  those 
who  have  never  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  the 
Fishmongers'  Hall.  Among  the  objects  which  are 
catalogued  and  described,  and  which  include  the 
plate  and  pictures,  there  are  several  of  considerable 
archaeological  value,  the  chief  being,  perhaps,  the 
so-called  "Walworth  Pall."  But  it  is  clearly  of 
later  date  than  Walworth's  time,  and  in  great  part, 
at  least,  seems  to  belong  to  that  of  Elizabeth.  In 
the  style  of  the  ornament,  workmanship,  and  materials, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  superb  works  of  the  kind  in  this 
country,  and  has,  perhaps,  no  parallel.  A  descrip- 
tion of  the  end  portions  of  the  cross,  embroidered  with 
an  image  of  St.  Peter,  the  patron  saint  of  the  Company, 
will  give  some  idea  of  the  magnificence  of  the  details. 
He  is  seated  on  a  throne,  his  head  crowned  with  the 
papal  tiara  ;  in  one  hand  he  holds  the  keys,  and  the 
other  is  in  the  act  of  giving  the  benediction.  On  each 
side  of  the  saint  is  a  kneeling  angel,  censing  him  with 
one  hand  and  holding  in  the  other  a  golden  vase. 
St.  Peter's  under-robe  is  crimson  raised  with  gold  ; 
the  linings  of  the  hanging  sleeves  of  his  outer  robe 
are  azure  powdered  with  gold  stars  ;  a  golden  nimbus 
encircles  his  head,  and  in  his  lap  is  placed  an  open 
book.  Another  relic  preserved  at  the  Hall  connected 
with  the  name  of  Sir  William  Walworth  is  the  dagger 
with  which  he  is  said  to  have  slain  Wat  Tyler  in  the 
presence  of  Richard  II.  in  1381.  There  is  no  in- 
herent improbability  of  this  being  the  veritable 
weapon  wielded  by  the  Lord  Mayor  on  that  occasion, 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


439 


and  it  is  interesting  as  the  fancied  original  of  the 
dagger,  which,  however,  is  intended  for  the  sword  of 
St.  Paul,  which  appears  upon  the  City  arms. 

The  silver  plate,  of  which,  as  might  be  expected  of 
a  City  Company,  there  is  a  profusion,  is  chiefly  seven- 
teenth-century work  of  no  great  merit,  but  two  pieces 
deserve  mention.  One  is  a  great  silver  chandelier, 
weighing  1,335  ounces,  made  in  1752,  of  which  it  is 
recorded  in  the  Renter  Warden's  accounts  that  there 
were  "several  frauds  discovered  to  have  been  com- 
mitted therein  by  William  Gould,  the  workman. "  The 
other  piece  is  one  scarcely  to  be  looked  for  in  a  civic 
pantry,  since  it  is  no  other  than  the  Doncaster  Race 
Prize  for  1866,  won  by  the  Marquis  of  Hastings.  It 
is  a  shield  weighing  344  ounces,  designed  by  Barrett, 
and  representing  in  the  centre  the  meeting  of  Boling- 
broke  and  Westmorland  at  Doncaster,  and  round  the 
rim  Greek,  Roman,  and  English  races,  all  in  high 
relief. 

Of  the  portraits,  which  include  many  members  of 
the  Hanoverian  family,  the  most  interesting  are  the 
two  great  pictures  by  George  Romney,  of  the  Mar- 
grave and  Margravine  of  Anspach,  which  were 
painted  to  "  commemorate  a  fete  given  by  the 
Margravine  to  the  Fishmongers'  Company  at  her 
residence,  Brandenburg  House,  on  the  Thames." 
Amongst  the  paintings  is  a  most  remarkable  series  of 
eight,  painted  by  Arnold  van  Ilacken,  and  acquired  by 
the  Company  in  1767.  They  are  on  canvas,  40  inches 
by  50  inches,  and  embrace  nearly  all  the  fishes  of  the 
Northern  seas  and  rivers,  and  the  tabulated  descrip- 
tions given  of  them  in  the  text  form  a  complete  guide 
to  British  ichthyology. 

Other  City  Companies  have  in  their  Halls  varied 
collections  of  interesting  objects,  and  if,  following  the 
example  of  the  Fishmongers,  they  would  prepare 
equally  valuable  catalogues  to  which  the  public 
might  have  access,  they  would  add  much  to  our 
knowledge  of  treasures  which  the  City  contains.  It 
may  be  added  that  the  work  is  produced  in  a  manner 
worthy,  both  as  regards  type  and  paper,  of  its 
printers,  and,  above  all,  is  completed  by  a  full  and 
clear  index.  J.  T.  P. 

*     *     * 

From  St.  Francis  to  Dante.  By  G.  G.  Coulton, 
M.A.  Second  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 
Frontispiece.  London  :  David  Nutl,  1907.  8vo., 
pp.  xvi,  446.  Price  12s.  6d.  net. 
In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  general  tendency 
to  minimize  the  religious  evils  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
At  one  time  this  period  of  the  Church's  history  was 
regarded  as  hopelessly  black ;  then  the  pendulum 
swung  the  other  way,  and  we  were  asked  to  believe 
that  the  period  was  almost  white.  But  it  was  really 
neither  black  nor  white ;  it  was  a  dark  grey.  Mr. 
Coulton,  however,  is  a  special  pleader,  and  he  is 
absolutely  certain  that  nothing  too  bad  has  been  said 
of  the  state  of  the  religious  world  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  He  gives  one  side  of  the  picture,  and  a 
terrible  side  it  is.  The  clergy,  from  the  Pope  to  the 
parish  priest,  were  shockingly  immoral ;  the  monks 
and  friars  were,  to  say  the  least,  avaricious  and 
worldly,  and  faith  was  at  a  very  low  ebb.  Mr. 
Coulton  is  quite  certain  of  these  things,  partly  because, 
amid   his   many   studies    in    mediaeval    history,    his 


opinion  is  confirmed  by  the  autobiography  of  Brother 
Salimbene  (1221-1288).  Last  year  he  published  the 
chronicle  of  this  Franciscan  friar,  and  in  the  preface 
he  offered  to  print  at  his  own  cost  the  severest 
criticism  of  the  views  set  forth  in  the  book,  to  the 
extent  of  thirty-two  octavo  pages,  together  with  his 
refutation  of  the  criticism.  To  some  readers  this 
challenge,  which  also  appears  in  the  second  edition, 
may  add  to  the  value  of  the  work  ;  but  many  will 
consider  it  objectionable  and  unworthy  of  a  serious 
historian.  At  any  rate,  no  one,  apparently,  has 
troubled  to  accept  the  pugilistic  offer.  But  Mr. 
Coulton  scores  as  well  as  loses  by  his  trenchant 
enthusiasm  and  lone  of  infallibility.  A  few  of  the 
later  chapters  of  the  book  would  be  quite  dull  were 
the  author's  personality  less  in  evidence.  Indeed,  we 
sometimes  have  too  much  of  Brother  Salimbene,  and 
too  little  of  Mr.  Coulton,  who  is  quite  a  fascinating 
writer  ;  and  the  solid  autobiography  of  the  Friar  of 
Parma  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  critical  and  able 
notes  of  his  translator.  The  book,  without  doubt,  is 
one  that  should  be  read  and  digested  by  every  student 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  as  it  does  not  seem  unlikely 
that  a  third  edition  will  be  called  for,  we  would 
recommend  Mr.  Coulton  to  verify  all  Salimbene's 
references  to  Ecclesiasticus.  Ecclesiasticus  in  the 
Apocrypha  is  not  the  same  work  as  Ecclesiastes  in  the 
Old  Testament,  yet  they  are  sometimes  confounded, 
and  "Ecc."  is  certainly  an  insufficient  abbreviation 
for  either. 

Herbert  Pentin. 

*  *     * 

The  Viking  Club  is  issuing  a  quarterly  publication 
of  miscellany  and  records  under  the  title  of  Orkney 
and  Shetland  Old-Lore,  for  a  subscription  of  half  a 
guinea  a  year.  We  have  received  No.  4,  dated 
October.  The  "Miscellany"  section  contains  an 
obituary,  various  interesting  notes  and  queries,  and 
brief  papers  on  "  Some  Old  -  Time  Shetlandic 
Wrecks,"  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Bruce;  "Shipping  Peats 
from  Orkney,"  by  Mr.  J.  T.  S.  Leask  ;  and  "  A 
Note  on  an  Odal  Family,"  by  Mr.  J.  S.  Clouston. 
The  "Records"  section,  separately  paged,  contains 
documents  collected  in  Scotland  by  Professor  Taranger 
in  1906  for  insertion  in  a  forthcoming  publication  of 
the  Norwegian  Government.  The  originals  are  in 
Latin,  Norse,  and  English.  Translations,  where 
necessary,  by  Jon  Stefansson  are  given.  They  deal 
with  questions  of  right  of  grazing,  conveyances  of 
land,  royal  grants,  episcopal  presentations,  etc.  This 
enterprise  of  the  Viking  Club  deserves  support. 

*  *      * 

The  Scottish  Historical  Review,  October,  is  the  first 
number  of  the  fifth  volume.  It  opens  with  an  article 
by  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  on  "The  Casket  Letters," 
in  which  he  declares  himself  unconverted  by  Mr. 
T.  F.  Henderson's  attack  (in  his  Mary  Queen  of  Scots) 
on  his  hypotheses  concerning  the  said  Letters,  and 
gives  reasons  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him.  Professor 
McKechnie  discusses  "  The  Constitutional  Necessity 
for  the  Union  of  1707,"  and  Mr.  J.  Edwards  writes 
on  "  The  Templars  in  Scotland  in  the  Thirteenth 
Century,"  with  a  well-engraved  plate  of  a  charter  of 
1354.  Mr.  W.  Caird  Taylor  sends  an  annotated  list 
of   "Scottish  Students  in    Heidelberg,    1386-1662," 


44Q 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


and  Bishop  Dowden  supplies  chronological  notes  on 
"The  Bishops  of  Glasgow."  The  other  miscellaneous 
contents  of  the  Review  are  well  up  to  its  usually  high 
standard.  The  Architectural  Review,  October,  gives 
another  instalment,  fully  and  admirably  illustrated,  of 
the  "Sketch  of  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Architecture,"  by 
Mr.  A.  C.  Champneys,  and  has  several  other  finely 
illustrated  papers  of  much  professional  interest.  The 
October  number  of  the  Essex  Review  completes 
vol.  xvi.  Mr.  J.  J.  Green  prints  some  notes  on 
Roman  roads  in  North  Essex  and  Saffron  Walden, 
written  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Forster  in  1765.  Mr. 
Miller  Christy  describes  the  "Founding  of  an  Essex 
Windmill  "  in  1S02,  and  Mr.  W.  Marriage  and  Miss 
Fell  Smith  write  on  "  The  History  of  Corn-Milling  in 
Essex,"  with  several  illustrations. 

*  *  * 
The  Ulster  Journal  of  Archeology,  August,  is  a  trifle 
belated.  Dr.  Fitzpatrick  deals  with  a  County  Fer- 
managh episode  in  "The  Ulster  Civil  War,  1641," 
basing  his  story  on  the  depositions  which  he  has 
already  worked  to  such  good  purpose.  Mr.  F.  J. 
Bigger  supplies  papers  on  "Sir  Moses  Hill"  (with 
portraits  of  Hill  and  his  wife),  an  early  seventeenth- 
century  Ulster  officer  of  Devonshire  stock,  and  "  Old 
County  of  Down  Presentments,"  with  curious  details 
of  eighteenth-century  gaol  life.  Mr.  Dix  and  Mr. 
J.  S.  Crone  make  contributions  to  Ulster  biblio- 
graphy, and  Major  Berry  writes  on  "The  Whites  of 
Dufferin  and  their  Connections." 

Fenland  Notes  and  Queries,  October,  contains  an  un- 
usually varied  assortment  of  notes.  Very  readable 
and  interesting  are  Mr.  Aubrey  Stewart's  reminis- 
cences of  the  bargees,  or  "  lightermen,"  as  they 
called  themselves,  who  used  to  steer  the  barges,  now 
much  less  numerous  than  of  old,  through  the  water- 
ways of  the  Fens.  We  have  also  received  Rivista 
d'  Italia,  September,  referred  to  a  few  pages  back  in 
"  At  the  Sign  of  the  Owl  "  ;  East  Anglian,  August, 
in  which  is  continued  Mr.  William  Coe's  quaint 
eighteenth-century  chronicle  of  sins  and  backslidings, 
of  mercies  received,  and  of  good  resolutions  con- 
tinually renewed  and  as  often  broken. 


would  be  of  the  Old  Stone  Age  type,  whereas  these 
discoveries  are  of  the  shape  of  Neolithic  axes. 

F.  G.  S. 
October  1,  1907. 

PULPIT  HOUR-GLASSES. 
TO  THE  EDITOR. 
I    thank    "Your    Reviewer"    of    Baring-Gould's 
Devon  for  his  courteous  letter.     The  informing  matter 
contained  therein  and  in  Mr.  Hems's  communication 
will  have  been  read  with  pleasure  by  those  who  are 
interested  in  pulpit  hour-glasses  and  their  stands. 
Herbert  Pentin. 


TO   THE   EDITOR. 

In  the  current  issue  I  mention  seventeen  old 
churches  in  which  these  interesting  relics  of  bygone 
days  (or  the  stands  which  formerly  held  them)  still 
exist.  Herewith  is  appended  a  list  of  thirteen 
others  : 

Essex  :  Higher  Laver  —  unfortunately,  the  one 
attached  to  the  pulpit  here  has  now  been  removed  to 
the  adjacent  Rectory  (more's  the  pity  !) — Hazeleigh, 
Heydon,  East  Mersea,  Norton  Mandeville.  Herts  : 
St.  Michael's,  St.  Albans.  Here  is  to  be  seen  the 
only  hour-glass  stand  (the  actual  glass  missing)  in 
the  county.  The  pulpit  itself  is  an  excellent  Jacobean 
example,  and  has  its  sounding  -  board  complete. 
The  bracket  is  an  ornate  specimen  of  wrought 
ironwork  of  the  same  period.  Hants:  Sha  well,  Isle 
of  Wight.  Kent  :  East  Langdon,  Cowden.  Nor- 
folk :  Sallowes  (glass  missing).  Oxon  :  Cassington. 
Suffolk:  Flixton.  Wilts:  Compton,  Bassett.  This 
stand,  formerly  attached  to  the  pulpit,  is  now  secured 
to  the  adjoining  masonry. 

"Your  Reviewer  "  passingly  refers  to  the  fact  that 
he  possesses  a  list  of  sixty-seven  churches  in  this  country 
in  which  hour-glasses  (or  their  stands)  still  exist.  I 
have  named  thirty  ;  will  he  kindly  give  the  other 
thirty-seven  ?  Harry  Hems>, 

Fair  Park, 

Exeter. 


Corresponbence. 


ALLEGED  GLACIAL  AXES. 

TO   THE    EDITOR. 

With  reference  to  the  note  on  page  368  of  your 
October  issue,  recording  an  alleged  discovery  of  a 
stone  axe-head  in  the  glacial  drift  at  Filey,  would  it 
not  be  as  well  if  these  and  other  astounding  dis- 
coveries of  a  somewhat  similar  nature  were  submitted 
to  an  expert  before  being  described  in  the  daily  press  ? 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt 
that  these  alleged  glacial  axes  are  simply  naturally 
formed  boulders.  Furthermore,  if  pre-glacial  or 
glacial  axes  occurred  in  the  drift  of  Yorkshire,  they 


Note  TO  Publishers. — We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 

It  would  be  well  if  those  proposing  to  submit  MSS. 
would  first  write  to  the  Editor  stating  the  subject  and 
manner  of  treatment. 

To  intending  Contributors. — Unsolicited  MSS. 
will  always  receive  careful  attention,  but  the  Editor 
cannot  return  them  if  not  accepted  unless  a  fully 
stamped  and  directed  envelope  is  enclosed.  To  this 
rule  no  exception  will  be  made. 

Letters  containing  queries  can  only  be  inserted  in  the 
"  Antiquary  "  if  of  general  interest,  or  on  some  new 
subject.  The  Editor  cannot  undertake  to  reply  pri- 
vately, or  through  the  "  Antiquary,"  to  questions  of 
the  ordinary  nature  that  sometimes  reach  him.  No 
attention  is  paid  to  anonymous  communications  or 
would-be  contributions. 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


44 1 


The   Antiquary. 


DECEMBER,  1907. 


JBotes  of  tfre  a^ontf). 

The  most  important  work  undertaken  in  the 
past  year  by  the  Commissioners  of  Public 
Works  in  Ireland  in  the  course  of  their 
restorations  of  Irish  national  monuments  was 
the  repair  of  the  ancient  ruins  at  Clonmacnois. 
The  history  of  the  "Seven  Churches"  of 
Clonmacnois,  which  were  situate  on  the 
Shannon,  in  King's  County,  nearly  in  the 
centre  of  Ireland,  is  related  in  the  annual 
report  of  the  Commissioners,  and  is  of  some 
interest.  A  monastery,  or  religious  city,  was 
first  founded  on  the  site  in  a.d.  545-548,  and 
it  rose  to  great  importance,  though  its  founda- 
tion was  almost  accidental,  and  its  founder 
gave  it  no  fostering  care.  St.  Kieran,  "  Mac 
an  t  Saor,"  "  Son  of  the  Carpenter,"  as  he 
was  named  from  his  father's  occupation,  had 
settled  as  recluse  on  Hare  Island,  in  Lough 
Rea,  and  conceived  the  idea  of  founding  a 
little  wooden  church  and  cell  lower  down  the 
Shannon,  at  a  lonely  spot  called  Cluan 
Maccunois,  Clonmacnois.  While  engaged  on 
the  work  he  was  found  by  a  fugitive,  Prince 
Dermot,  who  aided  him  to  set  the  first  posts 
of  the  church,  thereby  earning  his  blessing 
and  a  prophecy  of  coming  honour.  Soon 
afterwards  Dermot  was  elected  King  of 
Ireland,  and  endowed  the  establishment. 
The  place  grew  in  fame  and  learning,  and 
many  churches  and  villages  of  huts  were 
crowded  round  Kieran's  cell. 

$      &      4f 

Omitting  allusion  to  its  long  lists  of  noted 
men,   some   even   of  European   fame,  it  is 

VOL.  III. 


sufficient  to  say  that  it  had  an  eventful 
history.  It  suffered  often  from  plunderers 
and  destroyers,  both  Norse  and  Irish,  having 
been  ravaged  six  times  between  834  and 
1012,  and  burned  at  least  ten  times  between 
719  and  1082,  and  twenty-six  times  from 
841  to  1204.  The  Norse  King  Turgesis,  in 
his  attempt  to  break  up  the  Irish  Church  in 
845,  enthroned  his  wife  Ota  on  the  altar 
in  the  chief  church  at  Clonmacnois,  whence 
she  gave  her  oracles.  It  was  plundered  by 
the  subjects  of  King  Donough  O'Brien  in 
1042,  but  he  punished  the  culprits,  and 
made  amends  to  the  monks.  The  Normans 
did  violence  to  it  several  times  about  the 
year  1200. 

<&  <fo  $? 
There  remain  two  round  towers,  three 
crosses  of  large  size  and  elaborate  sculpture, 
eight  churches,  a  castle,  and  two  holy  wells, 
and  some  200  inscribed  tombstones  and 
fragments.  In  the  great  church  or  cathedral, 
which  has  been  many  times  destroyed,  once 
by  the  English,  is  the  burial-place  of 
Roderick,  the  last  native  King  of  Ireland, 
who  died  in  1198,  and  of  his  father,  King 
Turlough. 

«fr        $•        $ 

Dr.  Stein  appears  to  be  proceeding  from  one 
discovery  to  another  in  his  remarkable  and 
prolonged  tour  of  exploration  in  Central  Asia. 
Writing  from  his  camp  at  Wang-fu-shia,  in 
Western  Kansuh,  last  June  (says  the  Athenceum 
of  November  16),  he  describes  the  discovery 
of  the  ruins  of  an  outer  wall  similar  to  the 
Great  Wall,  which  he  succeeded  in  tracing 
for  140  miles.  He  discovered — apparently 
in  the  towers  which  formed  part  of  the 
fortification  —  a  large  number  of  Chinese 
documents  of  the  second  century  of  our  era. 
They  related  chiefly  to  military  questions. 
In  addition,  Dr.  Stein  also  found  a  large 
quantity  of  Buddhist  remains,  including  fine 
frescoes  and  stucco  sculptures  similar  to  those 
of  Khotan.  The  traveller  is  not  expected  to 
begin  his  return  journey  for  another  year. 

«i&»  «)&»  4» 
Glasgow  has  been  holding  an  "Old  Glasgow 
Exhibition."  Among  the  more  noteworthy 
exhibits  were  comprehensive  collections  of 
old  Glasgow  silver  and  Jacobite  glassware ; 
old  weapons  ;  an  illuminated  Missal — shame- 
fully misused  by  some  goth  of  an  angler  for 

3  K 


442 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


the  storage  of  hooks  ;  Archbishop  Beaton's 
Bible ;  many  manuscripts  ;  ancient  municipal 
halberts,  seals,  and  drum,  and  the  "  Deid 
Bell,"  which  dates  from  1641  ;  Burns  relics; 
and  trade  tokens.  Sketches  of  some  of  the 
exhibits  were  given  in  the  Glasgow  Evening 
Times  of  October  23. 

•fr       «fr       *k 

Mr.  R.  M.  Dawkins,  Director  of  the  British 
School  at  Athens,  gave  a  brief  but  interesting 
account  of  the  work  done  by  the  school 
during  the  1906-1907  session,  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  subscribers  held  on  Tuesday 
afternoon,  October  29,  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  Burlington  House. 
The  annual  report,  which  was  adopted  on  the 
motion  of  the  Chairman  (Professor  Percy 
Gardner),  testified  to  the  variety  of  the 
researches  carried  on  by  the  school,  and  the 
energy  with  which  they  had  been  pursued. 
During  the  session  excavation  has  been 
carried  on  continuously  at  Sparta,  and  has 
resulted  in  important  discoveries.  Progress 
has  been  made  in  the  survey  of  Laconia, 
and  various  outlying  sites  have  been  ex- 
plored. The  revenue  account  for  the  year 
shows  a  credit  balance  of  ^522,  as  compared 
with  a  debit  balance  of  £ ,\  1 2  for  the  preced- 
ing year.  The  annual  subscriptions  have 
increased  from  ^911  to  ^938,  and  a  new 
fund  has  been  established  (to  be  called  the 
Frankish  fund)  for  the  purpose  of  publishing 
a  work  describing  the  existing  remains  of  the 
Frankish  period  in  Greece  (1205  to  1566). 
Mr.  Dawkins  showed  extremely  interesting 
lantern  slides  illustrative  of  the  excavations 
in  Thessaly,  near  Bromyri,  on  the  promontory 
usually  identified  as  Cape  Sepias,  and  others 
giving  the  results  of  the  work  of  the  school 
at  Sparta.  The  excavations  near  Bromyri 
revealed  four  "  geometric  "  tombs,  all  contain- 
ing skeletons,  fibulae,  vases,  and  other  remains. 
The  floor  mosaic  of  a  church  of  the  fourth 
or  fifth  century  and  two  Byzantine  columns 
were  also  found.  The  chief  task,  however, 
planned  for  the  summer,  was  the  complete 
exploration  of  the  precinct  of  Artemis  Orthia 
at  Sparta,  containing  two  strata  belonging  to 
periods  before  and  after  700  b.c.  The  Roman 
theatre  fronting  the  ancient  temple  of  Artemis 
has  been  completely  excavated.  The  arena 
of  the  theatre  and  the  interior  of  the  sixth- 
century  temple  have  been  cleared  down  to 


the  solid  earth.  Another  important  result 
achieved  during  the  year  was  the  identification 
of  the  Brazen  House  of  Athena  on  the 
Acropolis  of  Sparta.  The  discovery  of  roof 
tiles  with  the  stamp  'Adijvas  XolXkioUov  left 
no  doubt  on  the  point.  Here  were  discovered 
nine  bronze  statuettes  in  good  preservation, 
and  a  rich  deposit  of  geometric  pottery.  The 
actual  Brazen  House  of  the  goddess  was 
much  destroyed,  though  fragments  of  the 
capitals  showed  that  it  was  in  the  Doric  style. 
The  sanctuary  of  Artemis  Orthia  will  probably 
be  again  the  chief  scene  of  excavation  next 
year. 

Amongst  the  most  recent  discoveries  made 
at  Carthage  by  Father  Delattre  are  the 
remains  of  a  large  basilica  erected  when  the 
town  had  become  the  chief  seat  of  Chris- 
tianity in  Africa.  The  basilica  occupied  the 
site  of  the  still  more  ancient  amphitheatre, 
built  in  Phoenician  times,  and  is  supposed 
to  have  been  raised  in  memory  of  Saint 
Perpetua  and  her  companions,  martyred 
there  on  March  7,  203.  A  photographic 
view  of  the  amphitheatre,  with  the  newly 
discovered  basilica,  appeared  in  the  Graphic 
of  October  19. 

While  foundations  were  being  cut  at  Messrs. 
Cowan,  Sheldon,  and  Co.'s  works  at  Carlisle 
in  October,  a  Roman  slab  was  unearthed 
only  a  few  yards  from  the  street.  The  road 
was  the  Roman  highway  to  London,  and  the 
ground  on  each  side  was  evidently  a  burying- 
place,  other  Roman  discoveries  having  been 
made.  The  latest  find,  says  the  Northern 
Echo,  a  slab  of  three  to  four  feet  long  and 
rather  less  in  width,  is  apparently  a  sepul- 
chral slab.  Upon  it  is  an  ornament  resem- 
bling a  canopy,  beneath  which  is  seated  a 
female  figure,  and  portions  are  visible  of 
another  figure  with  something  resembling  a 
scroll  held  in  the  hand. 

$         $         $ 

Mr.  F.  J.  Bennett,  the  author  of  a  recent 

volume  on  the  Kentish  village  of  Ightham, 
sends  us  a  pamphlet  he  has  written  on  The 
White  Horse  Stone  and  its  Legend  (West 
Mailing,  H.  C.  H.  Oliver;  price  3d.).  After 
mentioning  briefly  several  great  stones,  and 
describing  various  emblematic  and  pre- 
historic white  horses,  Mr.  Bennett  particu- 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


443 


larly  describes  a  great  white  stone  that  stands 
not  far  from  Aylesford.  The  curious  thing 
about  this  stone  is  that  both  ends  appear  to 
have  been  "  worked  "  by  human  hands — one 
end  into  the  semblance  of  a  human  profile, 
and   the   other   into  a  fish-like   face.     The 


natural  holes  that  run  right  through  the  thick- 
ness of  the  stone.  There  has  been  some 
rude  but  effective  dressing  of  the  stone  over 
the  eyes  to  bring  out  the  forehead,  and  some 
other  chipping  to  bring  out  the  remarkable 
western  human  face,   seen   in    profile,   well 


WEST-END    AND    PROFILE    VIEWS,     WHITE    HORSE    STONE. 
(From  photographs  by  Mr.  H.  Elgar,  of  the  Maidstone  Museum.) 


blocks  here  reproduced,  by  the  courtesy  of 
the  Editor  of  the  South- Eastern  Gazette, 
make  this  plain.  "  Not  only,"  says  Mr. 
Bennett,  "  does  the  south  view  of  this  stone 
show  two  faces  in  profile,  but  at  either  end, 
in  the  thickness  of  the  stone,  are  two  full 
faces,  the  eyes  in  each  case  being  due  to  two 


deserving,  I  think,  the  name  suggested — 
viz.,  that  of  the  Western  Sphinx."  Tradition, 
adds  Mr.  Bennett,  "  allots  to  this  stone  a 
part  in  the  Battle  of  Aylesford,  in  a.d.  445, 
and  there,  it  is  said,  Hengist  and  Horsa  set 
up  their  standard  with  the  device  of  the 
prancing  horse,  their  emblem,  and  perhaps 

3K  2 


444 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


the  name  of  the  White  Horse  Stone  may 
date  from  that  time."  Mr.  Bennett  goes  on 
to  construct  a  "  Legend  of  the  Kentish  White 
Horse  or  the  Western  Sphinx,"  which  is 
purely  fanciful.  Apart  from  legendary 
fancies  and  problematic  connexions  with 
Hengist  and  Horsa — whether  the  latter  be 
historic  or  mythic  personages  —  this  great 
stone  is  certainly  an  interesting  relic ;  and, 
whether  his  views  be  accepted  or  not,  Mr. 
Bennett  has  done  good  service  by  bringing 
his  discovery  to  the  notice  of  archaeologists. 

«i&»  $?  fa 
A  fine  example  of  that  ancient  instrument  of 
correction — the  scold's  chair — was  included 
in  an  auction  sale  on  October  28,  at  Sher- 
field  Manor,  Basingstoke.  The  chair,  which 
is  dated  1723,  is  of  elaborately  carved  oak, 
and  is  so  controlled  by  a  lever  from  behind 
that  the  sitter  may  be  locked  in  at  will.  On 
the  canopy  there  is  an  inscription :  "  Pre- 
sented to  Archibald  Acheson,  Earl  of  Gos- 
ford,"  and  the  following  lines  : 

If  you  have  a  wife  who  scolds, 

Life  indeed  is  bitter  ; 

So  in  this  chair  youed  better  sit  her. 

Then  go  out  and  take  your  pleasure, 

Come  back,  release  her  at  your  leisure. 

And,  after  all,  too  light  a  measure. 

Lord  Barnard,  President  of  the  Shropshire 
Archaeological  Society,  and  Archdeacon 
Maude,  of  Salop,  are  appealing  to  the  public 
for  a  sum  of  ^1,700  to  enable  them  to 
rehang  the  bells  and  repair  the  west  tower 
of  Shrewsbury  Abbey  Church,  which  is  in 
a  deplorable  condition.  The  church  is  a 
remnant  of  the  great  Benedictine  Abbey 
founded  by  the  kinsman  of  the  Conqueror, 
Roger  de  Montgomery,  who  is  buried  there, 
and  part  of  the  existing  fabric  goes  back  to 
Norman  times.  Some  years  ago  the  chancel, 
transepts,  and  clerestory  were  rebuilt  and  the 
roof  repaired  at  a  cost  of  about  ;£  16,000, 
and  in  the  last  two  or  three  years  ,£2,085, 
for  the  most  part  locally  collected,  has  been 
expended  on  the  tower.  Subscriptions  may 
be  forwarded  to  the  Rev.  Bruce  Blakland, 
Vicar  of  the  Abbey  Church,  Shrewsbury. 

^Jp         «$»         «jp 
The  Builder  of  November  2  contained  some 
interesting  notes  on  "  Old  Headstones  and 
Forgotten  Craftsmen,"    illustrated   by  good 
photographic  reproductions  of  stones  in  the 


South-West  Sussex  churchyards  of  Broadwater, 
Sompting,  and  Tarring.  Referring  to  a 
quaint  conception  of  the  Day  of  Judgment 
on  a  memorial  stone,  the  writer  wisely  re- 
marked :  "  The  treatment  of  the  subject  is 
curiously  naive  and  childlike,  from  the 
present-day  point  of  view  ;  but  it  represented 
a  sincere  effort  on  the  part  of  a  country 
sculptor  to  express  the  idea  in  his  own  way, 
and  such  efforts  always  have  their  interest." 
The  same  issue  of  our  contemporary  had 
an  article  on  "  The  Exhibition  of  Ancient 
Umbrian  Art  at  Perugia."  The  Builder  of 
November  16  was  noteworthy  for  an  article 
on  the  work  of  Piranesi,  accompanied  by  five 
plates,  illustrating  various  phases  of  his  art 
of  draughtsmanship  and  invention. 

*k  $»  «$? 
An  interesting  discovery  has  lately  been  made 
in  the  small  town  of  Cheadle,  North  Stafford- 
shire. In  effecting  some  repairs  to  a  house 
in  the  High  Street,  now  occupied  by  a 
saddler,  some  of  the  plaster  covering  the 
two  gables  was  removed,  revealing  the 
existence  in  each  of  a  wooden-mullioned 
window,  previously  entirely  blocked.  These 
were  found  to  light  attics  to  which  no  entrance 
from  the  interior  of  the  house  existed.  In 
one  of  the  rooms  was  found  a  woman's 
leathern  shoe  with  tapering  end,  probably 
of  the  middle  eighteenth  century. 

The  discovery  led  to  the  stripping  of  the 
entire  house-front,  which  was  found  to  con- 
sist of  well-preserved  half-timber  work  of  an 
extremely  elegant  design,  apparently  dating 
from  about  1550.  As  the  adjoining  house 
(now  a  fruiterer's),  which  has  a  large  gable, 
was  evidently  coeval,  permission  was  obtained 
to  remove  the  plaster  from  this  also,  and  the 
pattern  employed  here  was  found  to  be  of 
even  greater  beauty  and  elaboration,  with 
quatrefoils,  patera?,  etc.  Traces  of  ancient 
doorways  prove  the  two  dwellings  to  have 
been  originally  part  of  a  larger  mansion. 
Both  have  now  been  carefully  restored  to 
their  original  condition,  and  the  two  windows 
filled  with  old-fashioned  lead  lights.  The 
cost  was  partly  borne  by  the  owners,  and 
partly  raised  by  public  subscription.  The 
discovery  is  of  considerable  local  interest, 
as  half-timbered  dwellings  of  the  finer  types, 
though  still  fairly  plentiful  in  Shropshire  and 
Cheshire,  are  now  rare  in  Staffordshire.    The 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


445 


iniquitous  window -tax  of  the  eighteenth 
century  doubtless  accounts  for  the  blocking 
of  the  windows. 

«jfc»  4?  'fr 
In  the  same  parish  another  sin  of  the  past 
has  just  been  partially  undone.  When  the 
ancient  church  was  razed  to  the  ground  in 
1836  and  supplanted  by  a  larger  but  most 
unlovely  building,  several  relics  of  its  fabric 
were  locally  preserved.  Among  the  rest,  the 
altar-rails  of  the  Stuart  period  were  employed 
to  decorate  the  interior  of  a  summer-house  at 
Harewood.  By  the  kindness  of  the  present 
owner,  these  have  now  been  restored  to  the 
church  authorities.  They  are  of  oak,  with 
spirally  twisted  balustrading,  and  have  carved 
upon  them  the  date  1687  and  the  names  of 
the  "Parson,"  "Clark,"  and  "Wardens"  of 
the  time. 

«$»  $?  4? 
Our  last  month's  Note  on  the  discoveries  at 
Leighs  Priory,  Essex,  was  not  quite  correct. 
We  are  informed  that  the  foundations  which 
have  been  laid  bare  are  those  of  Lord  Rich's 
house,  and  not  of  the  monastery,  very  few 
traces  of  which  remain. 

&         4?         & 

We  take  the  following  note  from  the  Times 
of  October  19:  "Much  historical  interest 
attaches  to  the  Castle  of  Mont  Orgueil, 
Jersey.  On  June  28  of  this  year  the  Crown 
passed  over  the  castle  to  the  guardianship  of 
the  States.  For  generations  past  the  old 
fortress  has  been  permitted  to  fall  into  decay, 
and  the  Societe  Jersiaise,  founded  with  the 
object  of  preserving  local  antiquities,  is 
anxious  that  the  works  of  preservation  and 
archaeological  research  should  be  commenced 
without  delay.  The  States  of  Jersey  have 
accepted  the  offer  of  the  society  to  make  a 
special  appeal  to  Jerseymen  and  to  all  who 
take  an  interest  in  the  castle  for  funds  to 
meet  the  cost  of  the  work.  The  States' 
Committee  will  receive  from  the  society  such 
funds  as  may  be  forthcoming,  and  the  society 
will  be  consulted  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  money  subscribed  should  be  applied.  It 
is  impossible  to  put  forward  any  fixed  plan. 
The  work  can  only  be  determined  as  the 
examination  of  the  structure  proceeds,  but 
no  attempt  at  a  restoration  is  intended.  The 
work  will  be  limited  to  preserving  the  fabric 


as  it  is  to-day,  to  removing  the  debris  ac- 
cumulated during  past  ages,  and  possibly 
some  excrescences  in  the  form  of  the  quite 
modern  buildings  and  walls,  the  architecture 
of  which  is  out  of  keeping  with  that  of  a 
medieval  fortress.  With  these  objects  in 
view,  the  Societe  Jersiaise  appeals  to  the 
patriotic  sentiments  and  generosity  of  Jersey- 
men  and  to  all  who  know  Mont  Orgueil 
Castle  to  assist  the  society  so  that  the  work 
may  be  begun.  Contributions  may  be  sent 
to  the  hon.  treasurer  of  the  society,  Mr. 
F.  J.  Bois,  16,  Royal  Square,  St.  Helier,  or 
to  the  hon.  secretary,  Mr.  Ed.  Toulmin 
Nicolle,  21,  Hill  Street,  St.  Helier." 

4?         4?         «fr 

The  Bishop's  Stortford  Urban  District 
Council  has  obtained  the  sanction  of  the 
Local  Government  Board  to  a  loan  for  the 
purchase  of  the  site  and  ruins  of  Waytemore 
Castle,  a  fort  which  was  built  by  the  East 
Saxons  to  defend  Mercia,  and  which  later 
became  the  property  of  the  Bishops  of 
London,  until  it  was  demolished  by  King 
John.  The  property  covers  eight  acres,  and 
will  be  laid  out  for  the  use  of  the  public. 

4f         4?         4? 

A  twelfth-century  sarcophagus,  containing  a 
skeleton  and  a  silver  candlestick,  is  reported 
to  have  been  discovered  during  renovations 
to  Stanground  Church,  Peterborough. 

4?         $f         *k 

The  fate  of  Crosby  Hall  is  still  undecided. 
Although  a  sum  of  over  ^50,000  has  been 
given  or  promised,  several  thousands  are  yet 
required  to  induce  the  directors  of  the 
Chartered  Bank  of  India,  Australia,  and 
China  to  stay  their  hands  in  demolishing  the 
ancient  hall.  At  the  time  of  writing  no 
definite  result  has  been  arrived  at.  The 
Preservation  Committee  have  issued  an  illus- 
trated booklet,  in  which  the  history  of  Crosby 
Hall  is  traced  from  1470  to  1907,  and  full 
details  are  given  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
ultimate  sum  of  ,£120,000,  which  is  required, 
will  be  expended.  Reference  is  made  to  the 
threatened  destruction  of  the  hall  in  1832, 
and  it  is  pointed  out  that,  while  a  sympathetic 
public  then  subscribed  the  funds  to  save  the 
building,  they  did  not,  unfortunately,  take 
the  precaution  to  secure  the  land  on  which 
it  stands — hence  the  present  trouble. 


446 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


We  are  very  glad  to  hear  that  Miss  Gertrude 
Jekyll,  of  Godalming,  whose  gardening  books 
are  well  known,  has  presented  her  collection 
illustrating  old  cottage  life  in  Surrey  and 
Sussex — furniture,  ironwork,  and  articles  of 
domestic  use — to  the  Surrey  Archaeological 
Society.  For  nearly  thirty  years  it  has  been 
Miss  Jekyll's  hobby  to  get  together  articles 
of  every  kind  relating  to  domestic  rural  life 
in  Surrey  and  Sussex,  and  of  its  kind  her 
collection  is  probably  without  a  rival.  Nothing 
could  be  more  appropriate  than  the  exhibi- 
tion of  these  quaint  and  interesting  articles, 
many  of  which  were  figured  in  Miss  Jekyll's 
charming  volume  on  Old  West  Surrey,  in 
the  Surrey  Society's  Museum  in  the  old- 
fashioned  house  at  the  Castle  Arch,  Guild- 
ford. 

$         $         $ 

Volunteer  workers  have  been  collecting  and 
recording  for  the  East  Herts  Archaeological 
Society  all  the  memorials  which  have  been 
deciphered  in  the  churches  and  churchyards, 
chapels  and  burial-grounds,  in  the  Hundred 
of  Edwinstree,  county  of  Hertford.  The 
record  is  now  complete  for  the  parishes  of 
Albury,  Anstey,  Aspenden,  Barkway,  Barley, 
Buckland,  Buntingford,  Much  Hadham, 
Little  Hadham,  Great  Hormead,  Little  Hor- 
mead,  Layston,  Meesden,  Brent  Pelham, 
Furneaux  Pelham,  Stocking  Pelham,  Throck- 
ing,  and  Wyddial.  They  have  been  care- 
fully transcribed  and  bound  in  a  volume, 
with  index  added,  which  may  be  freely  con- 
sulted in  the  Honorary  Secretary's  library, 
Ivy  Lodge,  Bishop's  Stortford,  or  inquiries 
will  be  answered  if  a  stamped  and  addressed 
envelope  is  enclosed.  Considerable  progress 
has  been  made  with  the  recording  of  the 
inscriptions  in  the  Hundreds  of  Braughing, 
Hitchin,  and  Odsey,  while  a  beginning  has 
been  made  with  the  Hundreds  of  Broad- 
water and  Hertford.  The  lists,  which  give 
much  additional  information  to  that  con- 
tained in  the  parish  registers,  will  be  of  great 
value  to  the  historian  and  genealogist  both 
present  and  future. 

c$>  «j$p  «ifc> 
Several  prehistoric  burials  have  been  dis- 
covered at  the  colliery  village  of  Fatfield,  a 
few  miles  west  of  Sunderland,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Wear.  The  first  two  graves  opened 
were  destroyed  and  the  skeletons  scattered 


by  the  workmen  before  the  nature  of  the  find 
was  realized.  The  third  interment  was  found 
on  November  8,  just  below  the  turf,  and  the 
top  was  a  flat  stone  slab,  about  3  J  feet  long 
by  2&  feet  wide.  On  this  being  lifted  the 
grave  was  found,  lined  with  small  slabs 
of  stone.  Inside  was  a  skeleton,  complete 
except  for  the  comparatively  soft  ribs  and 
upper  arm  bones.  The  body  was  about 
5  feet  5  inches  in  length.  The  knees  were 
drawn  up  to  the  chin.  The  skull  was  quite 
intact,  being  of  the  rounded  order,  and  quite 
distinct  from  the  elongated  variety  of  the 
earlier  races.  It  was  full  of  sand.  Though 
careful  search  was  made,  no  trace  could  be 
found  of  any  urn  or  vase,  or  of  arrow-heads, 
either  of  stone  or  bronze — nor  were  the  usual 
indications  which  are  often  to  be  seen  on  the 
sand  denoting  the  existence  of  these  things 
to  be  traced. 

f$>  €$>  $ 

A  curious  discovery  of  old  gold,  silver,  and 
copper  coins  (says  the  Athenceum  of  Novem- 
ber 2)  has  been  made  at  Colachel,  in  South 
Travancore.  Owing  to  sea  erosion,  these 
have  been  unearthed  in  large  quantities,  and 
it  is  said  that  their  inscriptions  and  origin 
are  unknown. 

4p      ♦      ♦ 

A  series  of  models  of  Old  London  is  being 
prepared  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Thorpe,  a  London 
architect,  for  display  at  the  forthcoming 
Franco-English  Exhibition.  The  series  will 
include  Old  London  Bridge,  Old  St.  Paul's, 
the  entrance  to  the  Fleet  River,  Westminster 
Hall,  and  Parliament  House.  Of  these  the 
first-named  has  already  been  completed,  to 
a  scale  of  one-hundredth  full  size,  the  view 
being  from  the  east  side  of  the  bridge  at 
a  point  between  the  present  bridge  and  the 
Tower.  "The  model,"  says  the  Surveyor, 
"  is  a  real  marvel  of  accuracy  to  the  most 
trifling  details,  and  Mr.  Thorpe  has  caught 
the  very  spirit  of  medievalism  in  his  sur- 
prising reconstruction  of  the  old  bridge." 

4p      &      4? 

Nature  of  October  24  contained  a  long 
account  of  the  third  "  Congres  Prehistorique 
de  France,"  which  was  held  at  Autun  (Saone 
et  Loire)  from  August  12  to  18,  and  attracted 
some  350  adherents,  about  50  more  than  did 
the  Congress  held  at  Vannes  in  1906.  Ex- 
cursions and  lantern  lectures  were  prominent 


NOTES  OF  THE  MONTH. 


447 


features  of  the  proceedings.  "  It  should  be 
recorded,"  says  Nature,  "  that,  concerning 
the  megaliths,  it  seems  to  be  generally  ad- 
mitted in  France  that  the  monuments  were 
unquestionably  oriented  for  a  set  purpose. 
Dr.  Baudouin,  who,  following  Gaillard  (of 
Plouharnel)  and  many  others,  scientifically 
defends  this  theory  in  France,  stated  that 
the  orientation  varies  from  N.E.  to  S.S.E.  in 
Brittany  and  Vendee,  and  clearly  refers  to 
the  rising  sun  if  one  takes  into  account  the 
latitude  of  the  place  and,  an  important  factor, 
the  momentous  seasons. 

"  The  variation  of  the  orientations  indicates 
that  in  erecting  these  monuments  all  the 
seasons  were  considered,  although  the  align- 
ments to  the  winter  sun  predominate,  as  in 
Brittany,  where  the  most  frequent  direction 
is  S.S.E.  This  is  in  good  accordance  with 
the  results  of  the  work  recently  prosecuted  in 
England  concerning  this  important  problem. 
The  author  also  insisted  upon  the  relations 
between  menhirs  and  dolmens,  and  showed 
by  an  example,  a  propos  and  indisputable, 
that  the  menhirs  were  really  indicators  of 
megalithic  sepultures,  or  of  the  limits  of  the 
necropolis  of  this  epoch.  By  using  two  certain 
holed  stones  as  indicators,  he  was  enabled  to 
discover  an  allee  couverte  which  was  buried 
under  the  soil,  and  had  until  then  remained 
undiscovered.  This  '  find,'  made  with  re- 
markable scientific  precision,  was  received 
by  numerous  foreign  congressists  as  a  striking 
example  of  the  value  of  a  theory  which  many 
of  them  still  ignore." 

$        $         $ 

Mr.  Morfitt,  of  the  East  Coast  Museum  at 
Atwick,  near  Hornsea  (says  the  Yorkshire 
Daily  Post  of  November  14),  has  just  added 
to  his  collection  a  fine  specimen  of  the 
mammoth  tusk,  which  is  in  a  splendid  state 
of  preservation,  free  from  all  shelling,  and 
weighs  over  70  pounds.  The  tusk  is  46  inches 
in  length,  having  a  circumference  at  the  root 
of  21  inches,  in  the  centre  19  inches,  and  at 
the  extreme  point  16  inches.  The  tusk  is 
not  quite  perfect  in  length,  as  its  size  at  the 
point  indicates.  The  tusk,  which  was  re- 
covered from  the  boulder  clay  in  the  vicinity 
of  Hornsea,  points  to  an  age  presumably 
anterior  to  the  Ice  Age,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  massive  and  perfect  tusks  ever  found 
on  the  East  Coast  of  Yorkshire. 


Parts  of  another  mammoth  have  been  found 
in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation  by 
miners  excavating  near  Starunia,  in  Austria. 
So  far  (says  the  Lemberg  correspondent  of 
the  Pall  Mall  Gazette)  the  portions  dug  out 
include  two  teeth,  some  6  feet  in  length,  but 
in  five  or  six  pieces  ;  jaw  bones  ;  parts  of  the 
vertebral  column  ;  and  three  or  four  yards  of 
hide,  upon  which  the  hair  is  still  fresh,  joints, 
and  other  bones,  and  one  foot  of  the  animal. 
The  remarkable  state  of  preservation  in 
which  the  skeleton  was  found  is  attributed 
to  the  fact  that  the  soil  in  the  district  is 
permeated  with  mineral  oils,  earth  wax,  and 
natural  gases. 

«fr  $f  $» 
The  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Times, 
writing  under  date  November  10,  says  :  "The 
excavations  at  Herculaneum  are  about  to  be 
actively  begun.  Signor  Rava,  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction,  upon  whom  the  excava- 
tions depend,  has  prepared  a  Bill  on  the 
subject,  to  be  presented  at  the  forthcoming 
reopening  of  Parliament,  the  chief  provisions 
of  which  will  be — first,  the  appropriation  of 
^20,000  to  begin  the  expropriation  of  the 
land  and  buildings  at  the  town  of  Resina, 
which  stands  over  Herculaneum ;  secondly, 
the  appropriation  of  ^600  yearly  for  the 
work  on  the  excavations,  which  does  not 
include  the  salaries  of  the  officials  engaged 
in  it. 

"Meanwhile,  a  special  commission,  presided 
over  by  Professor  De  Petra,  of  the  University 
of  Naples,  has  undertaken  the  preliminary 
studies  with  the  view  of  beginning  the  work 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  has  already  sent 
several  reports  to  Signor  Rava,  with  important 
projects  and  estimates." 

•ifr  «$?  & 
Among  recent  newspaper  articles  on  anti- 
quarian topics  we  note  "  Antiquities  at 
Brindle  "  in  the  Bolton  Journal,  November  9  ; 
"  Account  of  the  French  Descent  on  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  July,  1545,  under  Claude  D'Anne- 
bault,"  by  Mr.  P.  G.  Stone,  F.S.A.,  in  the 
Isle  of  Wight  County  Press,  November  2  ; 
"  Mediaeval  Ruins  at  Cardiff,"  illustrated,  in 
the  Western  Mail,  November  5 ;  and  "  The 
Royal  Scottish  Museum  and  Egyptology  "  in 
the  Scotsman,  October  29. 


448 


KUSEJR  'AMR A. 


By  II.  Brentano;  Translated  by 
Mary  Gurney. 


N  art  monument  of  the  Eastern 
Middle  Ages,  especially  valuable 
as  being  unique  of  its  kind,  was 
discovered  a  few  years  ago,  in  the 
midst  of  the  deserts  of  Arabia,  by  an  Austrian 
savant,  and  is  now  made  known  to  the  world 
in  an  artistic  publication  issued  by  the 
Imperial  Academy  of  Arts  in  Vienna.  The 
representations  given  are  the  well-preserved 
ruins  of  a  Kalifs  castle.  As  shown  by  its 
structure  and  by  its  interior  decoration,  it 
must  have  served  its  owner  for  pleasure  and 
bathing,  and  must  have  been  adorned  with 
a  magnificence  of  which  no  trace  can  now 
be  found  in  other  desert  castles. 

The  early  Kalifs,  who  often  spent  their 
youth  with  Bedouin  allied  Princes,  yet  took 
delight  in  returning  at  intervals  to  the 
desert,  and  in  passing  a  few  months  of  the 
year  with  their  Court  and  guests  in  the  mag- 
nificent castles  which  had  gradually  replaced 
the  earlier  movable  tents  of  the  nomad 
chiefs.  When,  however,  the  Abbasides,  who 
were  unfriendly  to  the  Bedouins,  seized  the 
Kalifate  in  the  year  750,  and  selected 
the  distant  Bagdad  as  their  residence,  the 
pleasure-castles  were  left  untenanted,  and 
also  suffered  from  the  prolonged  strife,  carried 
on  with  extreme  bitterness  and  ferocity,  be- 
tween the  remaining  Bedouins  and  the 
followers  of  the  Abbasides.  The  buildings 
thus  fell  into  oblivion  and  ruin  ;  what  remains 
were  left  after  the  destructive  rage  of  the 
enemy,  gradually  fell  a  prey  to  the  withering 
hand  of  Time,  and  the  sites  of  former  scenes 
of  gay  life,  with  expenditure  of  extravagant 
riches  in  art  and  beauty,  and  gaiety  of  every 
kind,  are  now  only  distinguishable  from  the 
surroundng  desert  by  long  silent  heaps  of 
ruins.  One  castle  only  has  been  preserved 
(as  by  a  miracle)  to  bear  witness  to  posterity 
of  vanished  glories  —  Kusejr  'Amra — its 
name  having  been  recently  handed  from 
mouth  to  mouth  in  artistic  and  literary 
circles. 

Professor  Dr.  Alois  Musil,  during  his  first 

*  Deutsche  Rundschau,  June,  1907. 


journey  through  Moab  in  the  year  1896, 
heard  the  name  of  'Amra  from  a  Bedouin 
Prince,  and  was  told  that  the  castle  was 
inhabited  by  a  ghost  who  forbad  the  entrance 
of  any  mortal.  The  savant  had  made  many 
friends  amongst  the  Bedouins  by  proclaiming 
himself  a  physician  of  the  name  of  Musa  (or 
Moses),  and  by  conforming  to  their  manners 
and  customs,  yet  he  could  persuade  no  one  to 
accompany  him  to  the  haunted  castle.  The 
only  course  left  for  him  was  to  return  to 
Jerusalem,  and  there  to  examine  the  reports 
of  all  previous  travellers,  in  order  to  seek  for 
any  mention  of  the  mysterious  building.  In 
two  books  of  travels  of  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  he  found  mention  of 
"  Kassramara,"  but  neither  of  the  travellers 
had  seen  the  pLce  with  their  own  eyes. 
There  was  no  mention  of  the  castle  in  the 
Arabic  writings  of  the  Universal  Library  of 
Beirut. 

Dr.  Musil  was  a  second  time  in  the  land 
of  Moab  in  the  year  1897,  and  he  then  suc- 
ceeded in  persuading  a  Bedouin  to  under- 
take the  journey  to  'Amra ;  but  when  all 
preparations  were  complete  the  guide  dis- 
appeared ;  his  tribe  were  involved  in  a  war 
with  the  Beni  Sahr,  who  were  encamped 
around  'Amra,  and  it  was  therefore  impos- 
sible for  him  to  cross  the  district.  The  bold 
traveller,  apparently  undaunted  by  mishaps, 
then  sent  a  messenger  to  the  captain  of  the 
Beni  Sahr,  with  whom  he  had  been  on 
friendly  terms  in  the  early  part  of  the  year. 
The  messenger  brought  back  the  reply  that 
Kusejr  'Amra  was  inaccessible  now  on 
account  of  the  war,  but  that  if  Musa  could 
wait  a  few  weeks,  probably  he  could  be 
guided  to  it.  Dr.  Musil  was  unable  that 
summer  to  wait  longer,  and  was  forced  to 
abandon  the  fulfilment  of  his  wish,  although 
with  a  heavy  heart. 

In  the  year  1898  the  indefatigable  savant 
was  enabled  to  undertake  a  third  journey  of 
discovery  by  the  aid  of  a  subvention  from 
the  Austrian  Imperial  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  and  started  with  the  hope  of  being 
the  first  European  to  cross  the  threshold  of 
the  Kalifs  castle.  On  his  way  Dr.  Musil 
encountered  dangers  and  difficulties,  of  which 
he  gives  a  vivid  account.  After  various 
annoyances  from  the  Turkish  authorities 
(who  mistook  the  Austrian   savant  for  an 


KUSEJR  'AMR A. 


449 


emissary),  he  succeeded  in  escaping  from  his 
escort  of  soldiers,  and  in  joining  his  friends 
from  the  tribe  of  Beni  Sahr.  He  sufficiently 
assumed  the  attire  and  appearance  of  a 
Bedouin,  and  thus  commenced  his  journey 
through  the  desert,  accompanied  by  a  few 
faithful  followers.  Added  to  the  sufferings 
endured  from  almost  insupportable  heat  and 
frequent  parching  thirst,  there  was  constant 
danger  of  an  encounter,  either  with  hostile 
tribes  or  with  bold  desert  robbers.  When- 
ever horsemen  were  seen  at  a  distance  it  was 
always  doubtful  whether  they  were  friend  or 
foe.  The  course  adopted  was  to  remain  un- 
observed as  long  as  possible,  to  avoid  every 
sound  (even  the  lowest  tones  being  audible 
in  the  majestic  silent  desert),  and  to  seek 
cover  under  stones  or  hillocks,  for  which 
purpose  whitey-grey  clothing,  correspond- 
ing with  the  tone  of  the  desert  sand,  proved 
invaluable.  The  travellers  could  breathe 
again  when  the  strange  riders  disappeared 
on  the  horizon,  or  declared  themselves  as 
belonging  to  a  friendly  tribe.  Then  greetings 
were  exchanged,  the  position  of  affairs  in  the 
neighbourhood  was  discussed,  and  there  were 
mutual  gifts  of  water,  or  of  camels'  milk  (a 
favourite  and  wholesome  Bedouin  beverage). 
The  chief  desert  food  consisted  of  dates, 
rice,  a  kind  of  bread  of  barley  or  wheat, 
kneaded  with  water,  and  baked  on  hot 
ashes  ;  and  of  dried  grasshoppers,  dressed 
with  camels'  butter,  and  considered  very 
palatable  by  Musil.  The  flesh  of  sheep  is 
only  cooked  for  high  festivals.  Coffee  also 
is  always  carried  by  the  Arab,  but  is  only 
prepared  for  honoured  guests,  small  cups 
being  given  at  the  same  time  to  the  dwellers 
in  neighbouring  tents  who  are  attracted  by 
the  scent.  The  most  trying  part  for  a  Euro- 
pean is  the  want  of  cleanliness  amongst  the 
Bedouins  ;  the  dearth  of  water  caused  by 
the  climate  affecting  the  condition  of  the 
body,  of  the  clothing,  and  of  cooking  utensils. 
Yet  habit,  hunger  and  thirst,  and,  above  all, 
a  strong  will,  lead  the  traveller  to  overcome 
his  aversion,  and  to  acquiesce  in  the  in- 
evitable. 

The  Bedouin  sings  much  and  willingly. 
He  has  original  songs  for  every  event  of  life ; 
the  author  and  the  composer  being  usually 
unknown.  With  a  song  he  starts  for  battle, 
celebrates  his  victory,  or  laments  his  over- 

VOL.  III. 


throw,  gives  drink  to  his  camels,  or  feeds  his 
steed.  The  maiden  greets  her  lover  with  a 
song,  and  the  bride  meets  the  bridegroom 
accompanied  by  the  hymns  of  her  com- 
panions ;  the  survivors  sing  the  death  lament 
over  a  lost  friend,  placing  the  mortal  remains 
in  the  earth,  and  rolling  heavy  stones  over 
the  grave  in  order  to  protect  the  body  from 
hyenas.  Only  then  can  the  soul  (having 
escaped  through  the  nostrils  at  the  moment 
of  death,  and  fluttered  round  the  corpse  like 
an  insect)  seek  its  "  place  of  rest,"  which 
exists  somewhere  under  the  earth. 

After  several  days'  journey  through  the 
desert  (during  which  Dr.  Musil  enjoyed  the 
unlimited  hospitality  of  the  Bedouins,  viewed 
many  ruins  east  of  Moab,  occupied  himself 
with  ethnological  studies  and  drawings,  and 
accompanied  the  Sahari  upon  an  expedition 
against  a  hostile  tribe),  he  was  at  last  led  by 
his  Arabic  friends  to  the  long-desired  goal. 
On  June  8,  1898,  he  stood  before  the  Kusejr 
'Amra,  and  with  beating  heart  he  trod  the 
spot  on  which  no  European  had  stood.  To 
his  great  astonishment,  immediately  on  his 
entrance  he  saw  on  the  walls  of  the  chief 
room  of  the  castle  artistic  wall-paintings, 
arabesques,  and  inscriptions.  He  reports, 
"My  first  glance  justified  my  expectations." 
Yet  he  had  scarcely  recovered  from  his  first 
surprise,  and  taken  his  photographic  apparatus 
in  his  hand  to  gain  impressions  of  the  separate 
pictures,  when  his  companion,  who  was  keep- 
ing guard  outside,  terrified  him  by  the  cry, 
"  Enemies  in  sight,  Musa  !"  The  fugitives 
mounted  their  steeds  in  utmost  haste,  and, 
though  hotly  pursued  by  the  Bedouin  enemy, 
succeeded  in  reaching  their  camp  in  safety. 
Thus  Musil  had  scanty  advantage  from  the 
fulfilment  of  his  wish  of  many  years,  especially 
as  he  was  seized  during  the  summer  with  such 
a  violent  attack  of  exhaustion  that  he  was 
forced  to  return  home,  and  to  abandon  any 
further  attempt  to  reach  'Amra.  But  his 
hurried  glance  had  strengthened  his  convic- 
tion "  that  a  thorough  and  systematic  descrip- 
tion of  the  building  and  its  art  treasures 
would  furnish  a  valuable  contribution  to 
research";  and  this  conviction  was  shared  by 
his  fellow-workers,  to  whom  Dr.  Musil  re- 
ported the  result  of  his  investigation.  On 
every  account  he  arranged  another  journey 
to  'Amra,  which  he  undertook  in  the  summer 

3  L 


450 


KUSEJR  'A  MR  A. 


of  iqoo.  A  few  Sahari  (whose  faithfulness 
he  had  already  frequently  tested)  led  him  to 
the  ruins,  in  spite  of  their  hourly  increasing 
dread  of  ghosts  ;  but  no  persuasion  would 
induce  them  to  enter,  and  they  begged  Musa 
to  finish  his  work  as  quickly  as  possible. 

It  was  on  July  10,  1900,  that  the  savant 
stood  for  a  second  time  before  the  building, 
which  for  two  years  had  constantly  hovered 
before  him ;  its  existence  being  scarcely 
credited  in  Europe  until  direct  evidence 
could  be  furnished.  He  found  that  the 
spot  was  over  100  kilometres  east  of  the 
north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  about  70  kilo- 
metres from  the  nearest  village,  and  27  kilo- 
metres from  the  nearest  well.  The  red 
limestone  walls  rose  abruptly  before  him, 
devoid  of  any  architectural  decoration  ;  the 
central  room  had  an  arched  vault  with  three 
divisions ;  whilst  the  roofing  of  one  of  the 
other  well-preserved  rooms  was  a  cupola ;  a 
second  had  cross,  and  a  third  had  band 
vaulting.  The  whole  precincts  consisted  of 
three  parts:  the  castle  itself;  a  deep  well,  now 
in  ruins,  and  from  all  appearances  formerly 
used  to  supply  a  neighbouring  reservoir  by 
means  of  machinery  worked  by  horse-power; 
and  a  large  court,  partly  enclosed  by  a  wall. 
On  the  northern  side  a  broad  door  led  to  the 
three-storied,  almost  square,  principal  room ; 
it  must  have  been  built  after  the  other  rooms, 
which,  from  their  construction  and  the  re- 
mains of  channels  and  basins,  were  evidently 
bath-rooms.  It  looked  to  the  south  with 
two  apse-like  bows,  between  which  was  a 
niche.  The  painting  of  the  wall  of  the 
niche  showed  a  monarch  on  a  litter ;  over 
his  head  was  a  baldachin  resting  on  pillars ; 
the  feet  were  supported  by  a  footstool.  Above 
was  an  Arabic  inscription  hardly  legible. 
The  other  frescoes  in  this  hall,  and  in  the 
neighbouring  rooms,  represent  allegorical 
groups.  There  are  also  hunting  and  bathing 
scenes,  animal  and  fruit  subjects,  all  chiefly 
visible  through  their  fine  colouring,  which 
cannot  be  quite  obliterated  by  dust,  rents, 
and  various  superinscriptions.  Those  parts 
of  the  walls  not  painted,  and  the  floor  (now 
covered  with  dirt  and  ashes)  were  adorned 
with  blocks  of  marble,  of  which  but  few 
traces  remain ;  probably  most  had  been 
stolen  by  desert  robbers  and  gipsies  (who 
did  not  dread  the  haunted  castle)  and  sold 


in  Damascus.  The  few  window-openings 
are  at  a  high  level,  and  let  in  a  scanty  supply 
of  the  sun's  rays. 

The  fear  of  an  enemy's  attack  or  of  any 
other  disturbance  led  Dr.  Musil  to  rapid 
action  ;  after  gaining  a  general  idea  of  the 
situation  of  the  castle,  he  proceeded  to  photo- 
graph the  details  of  internal  decoration,  and 
to  make  a  plan  of  Kusejr  'Amra.  His  com- 
panions allowed  him  three  days,  and  at  first 
only  showed  their  impatience  by  inquiries 
whether  he  intended  to  remain  long.  But  on 
the  evening  of  July  13  they  were  thrown  into 
the  wildest  excitement  by  the  ghost  stories 
of  some  passing  shepherds,  and  pressed  for 
such  immediate  withdrawal  that  the  traveller 
was  forced  to  obey  them. 

Dr.  Musil  returned  home,  reported  his 
journey  to  the  Imperial  Academy,  and  pro- 
posed a  commission  for  the  consideration  of 
the  plans  and  photographs  he  had  brought. 
The  Professor  of  the  History  of  Arts,  Alois 
Riezt  (who  is  since  dead),  judged  from  the 
photographs  of  the  wall-paintings  that  the 
frescoes  with  figure  subjects  were  of  the 
fourth,  or  at  latest  the  fifth,  century  a.d., 
and  thought  that  they  gave  a  general  outline 
of  the  post-Constantine  development  of 
painting,  in  the  remotest  east  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  He  pleaded  for  a  careful  repro- 
duction of  the  pictures  by  a  competent 
artist.  The  Viennese  Orient  painter,  Mielich, 
was  selected  for  the  work,  and  accompanied 
Dr.  Musil  on  his  next  journey  to  Kusejr 
'Amra  in  April,  1901.  Mielich  (introduced 
to  the  Arabs  as  "  Hanna  ")  undertook  the 
desert  pilgrimage  with  the  same  zest,  and  the 
same  endurance  and  ability,  as  had  been 
repeatedly  shown  by  Dr.  Musil,  and,  as 
before,  the  Sahari  accompanied  their  friend 
"  Musa  "  and  his  companions  to  'Amra  with 
faithful  devotion,  although  they  could  not 
comprehend  what  attraction  could  again  lead 
the  Europeans  to  this  haunted  spot.  The 
goal  was  reached  on  May  26,  1901  (Whit 
Sunday).  Dr.  Musil  relates  how  Mielich 
was  the  first  to  spring  from  his  steed,  and, 
without  looking  round,  to  hasten  into  the 
interior  of  the  castle ;  how  his  features 
brightened  at  the  sight  of  the  paintings,  his 
eyes  beamed  with  joy,  and  he  exclaimed, 
"Magnificent — truly  magnificent!"  With 
what    satisfaction    must    the    discoverer   of 


KUSEJR  'AMRA, 


45 1 


these  glories  have  welcomed  the  joyful  sur- 
prise of  his  expert  companion  ! 

Tumult  and  cries  from  the  camp  aroused 
the  travellers  from  their  almost  devotional 
admiration.  A  few  strange  riders,  who  had 
already  been  observed  on  the  way,  had  fallen 
on  the  reposing  Bedouins,  and  had  robbed 
them  of  their  camels.  At  the  risk  of  his  life 
Dr.  Musil  dragged  one  of  the  animals  from 
the  assailants  ;  the  rest  were  brought  back 
a  few  hours  later,  found  resting  around 
the  nearest  well  by  a  friendly  tribe.  After 
this  event  the  Sahari  (like  the  European 
travellers)  resolved  to  live  within  the  castle, 
and  gave  all  the  assistance  they  could  in  the 
work.  Whilst  Mielich  was  engaged  in  his 
endeavour  to  clean  the  pictures,  Musil 
erected  the  necessary  scaffolding  with  the 
help  of  some  of  the  Bedouins.  Then 
followed  painting,  photography,  the  drawing 
of  plans,  and  the  removal  of  some  parts  of 
the  paintings,  to  be  taken  as  original  speci- 
mens to  Vienna.  All  the  work  was  rendered 
far  more  difficult  by  the  insufficiency  of 
appliances,  the  want  of  every  comfort,  and 
not  least  by  the  oppressive  heat,  sometimes 
exceeding  1220  F.  And  yet  there  must  be 
no  rest  from  work  during  the  day  on  account 
of  doubt  how  long  it  could  be  continued. 
At  any  hour  the  approach  of  an  enemy's 
troop  or  a  sudden  attack  of  the  fear  of  ghosts 
might  lead  the  Arab  companions  to  demand 
immediate  retreat.  In  reply  to  the  question 
of  the  Sahari  how  long  the  stay  would  con- 
tinue, Dr.  Musil  replied  sternly:  "I  have 
-come  here  to  work.  As  long  as  my  work  is 
not  finished,  I  cannot  turn  back.  That  is 
the  will  of  Allah.  Even  should  I  die  I  must 
remain  here,  and  Hanna  will  do  the  same." 
The  faithful  coloured  companions  replied : 
"  O  Musa,  thou  art  our  brother.  We  will  all 
remain.  Allah  will  provide."  Yet  they 
continued  to  urge  haste,  and  gladly  lent  their 
hands  for  every  service  in  furthering  the 
work. 

The  mode  of  life  led  in  'Amra  was  natur- 
ally of  the  simplest;  before  5  a.m.  all  rose 
from  their  carpets.  Their  breakfast  consisted 
of  black  coffee,  or  of  very  sweet  tea,  con- 
sidered by  Musil  as  a  good  corrective  of 
thirst ;  then  every  one  went  to  his  work.  The 
heat  took  away  all  appetite  during  the  day, 
and    the   busy   workers   delayed   until    the 


darkening  evening,  which  compelled  rest, 
before  partaking  of  their  scanty  supper, 
generally  consisting  of  rice  with  dripping, 
dropping  grape  honey,  or  apricot  pap,  and  of 
bread  baked  on  the  ashes.  The  washing  of 
hands  and  faces  could  be  thought  of  as  little 
as  the  washing  of  cooking  and  eating  utensils  ; 
the  painter  requiring  for  his  work  the  greater 
part  of  the  water,  fetched  in  the  night  by  one 
of  the  Bedouins  from  a  remote  well.  The 
fatigue  and  discomfort  of  the  days,  the  ex- 
citing watch  in  the  nights,  the  heat,  and 
insufficient  food,  had  at  length  reduced  every 
member  of  the  little  party  to  a  condition  of 
mental  and  physical  exhaustion,  which  could 
only  be  resisted  by  the  strongest  effort  of 
will.  Thus  every  one  breathed  freely  when 
Mielich  announced  on  June  1  that  he  had 
finished  his  work,  so  far  as  it  could  be 
brought  to  any  conclusion.  Dr.  Musil  felt 
sorrow  in  parting  from  the  spot,  which  had 
become  so  dear  to  him,  after  three  perilous 
efforts  to  reach  it,  and  wandered  mournfully 
through  the  rooms  where  the  treasures  had 
been  discovered. 

The  departure  from  Kusejr  'Amra  took 
place  on  June  9.  The  copies,  plans,  and 
descriptions  (including  all  the  results  of 
investigation  in  'Amra)  had,  for  safety's  sake, 
been  sent  on  beforehand  to  Madaba  by  a 
trusty  messenger,  in  order  that  copies 
and  photographs  might  be  made  there,  and 
meanwhile  the  travellers  visited  the  other 
ruins  discovered  by  Musil,  in  order  to  take 
further  plans  and  photographs.  From  Jeru- 
salem, whither  the  faithful  Sahari  conducted 
them,  and  separated  after  affectionate  leave- 
takings,  the  travellers  made  yet  another 
detour  to  the  south,  which  ended  in  the  ill- 
ness of  both.  They  could  only  undertake 
the  return  journey  after  a  detention  of  some 
days  in  the  Austrian  Hospital  in  Jerusalem, 
whilst  suffering  violent  attacks  of  fever. 

A  member  of  the  Commission  appointed 
by  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  anew  examined  the  results  of  the 
expedition,  and  declared  them  of  such 
value  that  he  advised  the  publication  now 
before  us. 

Whilst  there  has  been  agreement  as  to  the 
purpose  of  "  Kusejr  'Amra,"  opinions  have 
differed  as  to  its  date.  Professor  Riezt's 
view  that  the  wall-painting  dates  from  the 

3L  2 


452 


SOME  NOTES  ON  NEWARK  PRIORY,  SURREY. 


fourth  or  fifth  century  has  been  already  men- 
tioned. Dr.  Musil  thinks  it  not  impossible 
that  the  Ommaijade  Al-Walid  II.  (who  was 
dethroned  by  his  opponent  in  744)  resided 
for  a  time  in  'Amra,  which  would  agree  with 
Riehl's  opinion  as  to  the  erection  of  the 
building.  Hofrath  Karabacek,  on  the  other 
hand,  writes  a  long  treatise  on  the  style  of 
work  and  on  the  date  of  the  building,  and 
draws  the  conclusion,  from  various  details  of 
the  paintings  and  inscriptions,  that  Kusejr 
'Amra  was  built  and  decorated  by  Greek 
artists  in  the  second  part  of  the  n;iV.h  cen- 
tury, and  at  the  command  of  Prince  (later 
Kalif)  Ahmed-el- Mustain,  and  believes  the 
painting  on  the  niche  wall  to  be  his  portrait. 
He  says :  "  Kusejr  'Amra  belongs  to  the 
brilliant  period  of  those  Abbasides'  castle 
buildings  which,  especially  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  ninth  century,  arose  from  the 
earth  with  fairy-like  rapidity,  and  hedged 
in  the  North  Arabian  coast  territory.  El- 
Mutawakkil,  the  uncle  and  contemporary  of 
Ahmed,  built  no  less  than  twenty-five  of  such 
castles,  adorned  with  fabulous  luxury." 


^ome  iRotes  on  jRctoatk  IPriorp, 

By  T.   Hugh   Bryant. 

ITHIN  the  bounds  of  the  somewhat 
remote  parish  of  Send,  on  the  River 
Wey,  and  about  two  miles  north-east 
from  Woking,  stand  the  remains  of 
the  once  rich  and  famous  Priory  of  Newark. 
This  House  was  founded  at  a  place  called 
Aldbury  by  one  of  the  Bishops  of  Winchester, 
for  Canons  of  the  Augustinian  Order,  and 
dedicated  to  St.  Mary  the  Virgin.  Subse- 
quently, during  the  reign  of  Richard  I.,  it 
was  enlarged,  and  the  Priory  Church  built,  or 
rebuilt,  and  re-dedicated  to  St.  Mary  the 
Virgin  and  St.  Thomas  the  Martyr  of  Canter- 
bury, by  one  Ruald  de  Calva  and  Beatrix  de 

*  The  illustrations  of  the  Priory  are  from  photo- 
graphs kindly  taken  for  this  article  by  Mr.  W.  M. 
Ward,  of  Walton-on-Thames. 


Sandes  (Send),  his  wife,  on  the  same  spot, 
which  was  afterwards  denominated  De  Novo 
Loco  juxta  Guildford,  New  Stead,  New  Place, 
and  Newark.  They  gave  the  land  called 
Hamma  de  Pappesworth,  with  all  its  appur- 
tenances of  woods,  wastes,  mills,  fisheries, 
etc.,  to  build  the  church,  and  endowed  it 
with  other  lands,  part  of  the  Manor  of  Send, 
with  the  church  of  Sandes,  or  Send,  the 
chapel  of  Ripeli  (Ripley),  and  other  bene- 
fices ;  and,  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
Beatrix  released  to  the  Canons  the  Hamma 
of  Pappesworth,  which  was  then  in  her  sole 
power,  and  Robert  de  Tregoz,  Lord  of  Sandes, 
confirmed  the  gift. 

About  1204  Godfrey  de  Lucy,  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  gave  to  the  Prior  of  Aldebiri,  in 
Sandes,  all  his  lands  called  Redecumbe  in 
his  Manor  of  Mienes,  which  used  to  pay 
1 00s.  rent,  with  all  the  wood,  lea,  pasture, 
etc. ;  and  this  gift  was  confirmed  by  John  de 
Pontissara,  his  successor,  in  1285.  In  the 
Register  of  Winchester  this  House  is  said  to 
be  "  de  fundatione  Episcopi  Wintoniensis." 
(Many  authorities  state  that  the  Priory  was 
originally  founded  by  Ruald  de  Calva  and 
his  wife,  but  they  only  erected  the  Priory 
Church,  and,  at  the  same  time,  probably 
enlarged  the  other  buildings.) 

In  1279  Robert,  the  Prior,  made  good  his 
claim  to  free  warren  over  his  Manor  of 
Newark ;  to  a  weekly  market  at  Ripley, 
which  was  then  valueless,  as  no  one  attended 
it ;  a  fair  on  the  eve  and  day  of  St.  Mary 
Magdalen,  granted  in  1220;  the  assize  of 
bread  and  ale,  and  view  of  frank-pledge  at 
Pattenham  ;  and  court,  and  view  of  frank- 
pledge at  Ripley.  John  Peckham,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  stayed  at  the  Priory 
about  1 28 1  and  1283,  for  several  letters 
from  him  are  dated  at  Newark  (Reg. 
Epistolarum  J.  Peckham,  Rolls  Ser.). 

Among  the  numerous  benefactors  to  this 
House  were  Andrew  Bukerel,  who  gave  the 
Manor  of  West  Bedfont  and  an  estate  at 
Stanwell,  Middlesex  ;  Thomas  de  Hertmere 
presented  the  Manor  of  Hertmere  in  Godal- 
ming,  with  his  rents  at  Ashurst  and  under 
Guild  down,  free  of  all  secular  services,  saving 
only  to  William  de  Windsor  and  his  heirs 
the  customary  service  belonging  to  one 
knight's  fee  and  castleguard  at  Windsor ;  and 
Ralph  de  Treyere  and  Alice,  his  wife,  who 


SOME  NOTES  ON  NEWARK  PRIORY,  SURREY. 


453 


gave  lands,  etc.,  in  Burnham  and  Kirkeshye. 
The  Taxation  Roll  of  1291  shows  that  the 
temporalities  of  this  Priory  were  very  consider- 
able. They  held  tenements  in  ten  London 
parishes,  producing  ^5  i6s.  3d.  per  annum; 
elsewhere  in  that  diocese  ^£7  4s.  ifd.  ;  in 
Rochester  Diocese  jQi  6s. ;  and  in  Winchester 
^27  10s.  3id. 

Rauld  Maubanke  held  one  knight's  fee  in 
Sende  of  Robert  de  Lodeham  as  mesne 
lord,  and  at  his  death  left  his  estates  to  his 
three  daughters,  who  married  John  le  Blunde, 
John  le  Deudeswell,  and  Thomas  de  Sende. 


jury  returned  that  the  grant  might  be  made. 
A  few  years  afterwards,  Thomas  and  Alicia 
de  Sende  appear  to  have  been  dispossessed 
of  part  of  their  estates,  for,  in  1300,  Symon 
Pypard  and  Dionisia,  his  wife,  recovered 
seisin  of  a  messuage  and  i2d.  rent,  with 
appurtenances,  in  Sende  and  Rippele,  against 
Thomas  and  Alicia  de  Sende,  Walter  (Prior 
of  Newark),  Walter  le  Bel,  and  Richard  le 
Wariner ;  and  the  said  Symon  and  Dionisia 
recovered  seisin  of  two  other  messuages,  with 
appurtenances,  in  Sende,  against  de  Sende 
and  his  wife. ' 


REMAINS  OF   NEWARK   PRIORY,   SURREY:    NORTH-WEST   VIEW. 


Alice,  wife  of  the  latter,  with  her  husband, 
granted  her  share  of  the  property,  containing 
one  messuage,  one  carucate  of  land,  a  water 
mill,  20  acres  of  meadow,  20  of  wood,  and 
30s.  rent  here,  to  the  Prior  and  Convent  of 
Newark.  In  1291  an  inquisition  was  insti- 
tuted whether  it  would  be  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  King,  as  lord  paramount  of  the  fee  of 
Tregoz,  to  grant  the  homage  and  service  of 
Ludeham,  and  the  homage  of  the  heirs  of 
Maubanke,  the  tenant  of  Ludeham,  as  mesne 
lord ;  and  if  Thomas  de  Sende  and  his  wife, 
the  usufructuary  tenants,  should  grant  their 
interest  in  the  estate  to  the  Priory  ;  and  the 


The  superiority  of  the  Manor  of  Send 
became  vested  in  the  de  la  Warres,  but  a 
share  was  held  by  the  fraternity  of  Newark, 
for  in  1359,  on  an  inquisition  relative  to  the 
grant  of  lands  to  them  from  John  Messager, 
it  was  stated  that  the  Prior  and  Roger  de  la 
Warre  were  mesne  lords  of  the  manor  be- 
tween the  King  and  Messager.  This  Mes- 
sager was  Vicar  of  Send,  and  had  164^  acres 
of  land  and  32  acres  of  wood,  etc.,  in  Send 
and  Windlesham  in  trust  for  the  Prior  and 
Convent  of  Newark,  after  the  death  of 
Margery,  wife  of  William  de  Weston,  who 
had  held  the  property  of  the   Prior  at  the 


454 


SOME  NOTES  ON  NEWARK  PRIORY,  SURREY. 


annual  rent  of  28s.  iod.,  a  pound  of  cumin 
seed,  value  3d.,  and  suit  of  court  to  the 
manor  of  Send  (Pat.  32  Ed.  III.,  m.  83). 

In  1262  the  Prior  held  the  impropriations 
of  the  following  churches  :  Woking,  with  the 
chapels  of  Horshull,  Pyreford,  and  Pyrifrith  ; 
Leigh  ;  Sandes  ;  St.  Martha  ;  Wanda  (Wan- 
borough)  ;  Shipton  ;  Weybridge  and  Windle- 
sham  cum  Capella  sc.  Bagshot ;  and  they 
afterwards  held  the  church  of  Ewell.  In 
1382  they  obtained  the  tithes  of  Sutton  in 
\\  oking,  by  the  name  of  "  the  portion  of  the 
monks  of  Stoke";  and  in  1480  the  Canons 


Wykeham,  and  of  Laurencia,  whilst  living, 
and  for  the  soul  of  Peter  atte  Wode,  and  the 
souls  of  the  above  named,  when  dead ;  and 
the  Canon  was  to  receive  7d.  each  week  for 
officiating  (Winton.  Epis.  Reg.  Wykeham  hi., 

ff.  191-193)- 

On  January  19,  1387,  Bishop  Wykeham 
appointed  a  commission  for  the  visitation  of 
Newark  Priory,  and  on  Eebruary  7  a  mandate 
was  issued  for  the  citation  of  various  persons 
to  answer  charges  arising  out  of  this  visitation. 
The  result  seems  to  have  been  the  cession  of 
Alexander    Culmeston,    the    Prior,    on    the 


REMAINS    OK    NEWARK    PRIORY,    SURREY!     WEST    VIFAY 


were  discharged  from  the  payment  of  all 
tenths  on  these  benefices  (Rot.  Pat.  19 
Ed.  IV.,  m.  8). 

During  the  rule  of  Alexander  Culmeston  an 
elaborately  appointed  chantry  was  founded 
in  Newark  Priory.  In  1382  John  Newdigate 
and  Laurencia,  widow  of  Peter  atte  Wode, 
assigned  £,&  4s.  rents  of  the  Prior  and  Con- 
vent of  Stoke,  which  rents  the  Priory  of  Stoke 
were  accustomed  to  receive  of  Newark,  for 
finding  a  chantry  of  one  Canon  in  priest's 
orders  in  the  conventual  church  of  Newark, 
for  the  good  estate  of  the  King  and  Bishop 


ground  of  infirmity,  and  the  acceptance  of 
his  resignation  by  Robert,  Prior  of  Merton, 
under  commission  of  the  Bishop,  on  Octo- 
ber 25,  1387  ;  and  John  Chesterton,  Canon 
of  Newark,  was  removed  from  the  Priory  by 
the  Bishop's  orders,  on  account  of  various 
scandalous  excesses,  and  placed  in  custody 
within  the  Priory  of  Merton. 

Henry  V.  granted  an  annuity  of  20  marks 
to  Thomas  Pyrie,  the  Prior,  which  was 
confirmed  by  Henry  VI.  in  1423;  at  the 
same  time  Henry  V.  sanctioned  the  transfer 
of  the  Manor  of  West  Bedfont  and  certain 


SOME  NOTES  ON  NEWARK  PRIORY,  SURREY. 


455 


lands  in  Middlesex  from  the  Priory  of 
Newark  to  the  Abbey  of  Chertsey. 

In  1 501  Dr.  Hede,  as  Commissary  for  the 
Prior  of  Canterbury,  visited  Newark  during 
the  vacancy  of  the  Sees  of  both  Canterbury 
and  Winchester.  At  this  time  Laurence 
Harryson,  the  Prior,  was  absent  on  a  pil- 
grimage to  St.  James  of  Compostello,  and 
William  Baxter,  sub-Prior,  testified  to  the 
good  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  House, 
but  could  not  answer  as  to  its  temporal 
estates,  as  the  Prior  did  not  render  the 
accounts  of  the  Priory;  but  one  John 
Johnson  said  that  the  annual  rents  of  assize 
amounted  to  300  marks,  and  that  the  House 
was  not  in  debt  (Cantab.  Sede  Vacante  Reg.). 

The  following  have  been  Priors  of  Newark  : 
circa  1189  John;  circa  1258  Richard;  1259 
Thomas;  1272  Robert;  Geoffrey de  London 
resigned  in  1280;  1280  Walter  de  Chap- 
mannesford ;  13 12  Roger  de  Eynham  or 
Enham,  appointed  by  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester— resigned  in  1344;  1344  John  de 
Barton  or  Burton,  appointed  by  Bishop 
Adam  de  Orleton,  the  Canons,  in  full 
chapter,  having  resigned  to  him  their  right  of 
election  for  this  turn  ;  circa  1360  Alexander 
Culmeston ;  he  resigned  on  account  of  old 
age;  1387  Thomas  Pyrie;  circa  1400  Robert 
Alderley ;  circa  141 5  Thomas;  1432  Ralph; 
circa  1447  William  Whalley,  died  1462  ; 
1462  Richard  Brigge ;  he  resigned  on  being 
appointed  Prior  of  St.  Mary  Overy,  South- 
wark  ;  i486  Laurence  Harryson  ;  he  resigned 
on  account  of  old  age  ;  i5i4john  Haskenne 
alias  Johnson  ;  1534  John  Grave,  formerly 
Vicar  of  Send;  died  Prior  in  1536;  1538 
Richard  Lyppescombe,  the  last  Prior;  he 
resigned  the  site  and  possessions  to  the  King 
in  1 54 1. 

At  the  Dissolution  the  Prior  was  granted 
a  pension  of  ^40  per  annum  ;  William 
Thatcher,  a  Canon,  £6 ;  and  Thomas 
Snellinge,  John  Marten,  Michael  White, 
Richard  Wood,  John  Rose,  Thomas  Garland, 
and  another  Canon,  ^5  6s.  8d.  each.  The 
gross  annual  revenues  of  the  Priory  were 
estimated  at  ^294  18s.  4jd.,  and  the  net  at 
^258  ns.  n^d. 

After  the  suppression  of  religious  houses  the 
estates  here  belonging  to  the  Priory  of  Newark 
devolved  on  the  Crown,  and  Henry  VIII.  in 
July,   1544,   granted   them   to   Sir  Anthony 


Browne,  Knight,  in  the  name  of  the  Manor 
of  Send  and  Jury  (the  latter  was  a  reputed 
manor,  called  Jury  Farm,  tetnp.  Queen  Anne, 
and  had  neither  courts  nor  tenants  ;  the  whole 
of  the  land  which  might  have  been  copyhold 
was  then  in  demesne),  with  the  rectory 
impropriate  and  advowson  of  the  vicarage  ; 
a  farm  called  the  Chapelry  of  Rippeley  ;  the 
site,  farm  and  hereditaments  in  the  Manor  of 
Send,  called  Send  Barnes,  late  parcel  of  the 
said  monastery,  etc.,  to  be  held  by  Sir 
Anthony  Browne  and  his  heirs,  in  soccage, 
paying  the  Crown  a  rent  of  ^7  6s.  6d.  ;  to  the 
Curate  of  Ripley  £6  a  year  stipend  ;  to 
repair  the  bridges  in  Send  and  Ripley, 
£8  6s.  8d.  annually  ;  and  an  annuity  for  life 
of  40s.  to  Thomas  Rayle,  the  bailiff. 

Anthony,  son  of  Sir  Anthony  Browne,  was 
raised  to  the  Peerage  as  Viscount  Montacute, 
and  his  descendants  held  this  manor  during 
the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  when  it  was  vested, 
by  Act  of  Parliament,  in  the  Hon.  Henry 
Arundel  and  his  heirs,  in  trust,  for  payment 
of  debts.  It  afterwards  passed  by  purchase 
to  the  Onslow  family,  and  was  similarly 
transferred  in  1785  to  Lord  Lovelace.  It 
subsequently  returned  to  the  Onslow  family, 
and  the  Earl  of  Onslow,  K.C.M.G.,  is  the 
present  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Send  with 
Ripley,  as  well  as  of  Dedswell  or  Deudeswell, 
and  Papworth  or  Paperworth,  the  two  other 
manors  in  this  parish. 

An  inventory  of  the  Priory  was  taken  by 
Dr.  Legh  on  January  15,  1539,  when  the 
following  plate  was  dispatched  to  the  Master 
of  the  Jewels  in  London  :  "  Fyrste  a  basyne 
and  ewer,  iij  standinge  masers,  ij  saltes  with 
one  cover,  xxij  spones,  a  knife  the  hafte  of 
the  same  covered  with  sylver  plate,  iij  chalices, 
a  cross  enamelled,  ij  small  belles,  a  paxe, 
j  censor,  a  shippe  for  incense,  ij  cruettes, 
vj  small  relicks  of  cristall  covered  with  silver, 
an  other  of  cristall  with  copre  and  gilte, 
iij  litle  crosses  of  wode  covered  with  silver 
plait — cccxj  ounces." 

There  were  also  three  bells  in  the  steeple 
and  a  clock.  The  ornaments  of  the  church, 
other  than  the  above,  with  the  utensils,  etc., 
of  the  House,  were  sold  for  ,£35  13s.  8d. 
The  corn,  hay,  cattle,  and  implements  realized 
^52  3s.  8d.  The  temporary  payments, 
until  the  pensions  were  paid,  consisted  of 
£6  13s.  4<1  to  the  Prior,  and  40s.  each  to 


456 


SOME  NOTES  ON  NEWARK  PRIORY,  SURREY. 


the  eight  Canons.  Forty-one  servants  and 
hinds  received  ^"iS  6s.  Sd.  for  their  quarter's 
wages. 

There  are  some  seals  of  the  Priory  remain- 
ing. On  one  attached  to  a  deed  temp. 
Henry  VI.  the  Virgin  Mary  is  represented 
sitting  with  the  Infant  Saviour  at  her  breast, 
and  angels  glorifying  at  the  sides.  The 
middle  part  is  defaced,  and  also  half  the 
legend  ;  it  runs  :  "  +  S.  Ecclesia?  :  Beate  : 
Marie  :  et :  Sci :  T  .  .  ."  On  another  seal 
is  represented  the  assassination  of  Thomas 
a  Becket ;  and  on  a  shield  is  a  chevron 
between  three  escallops,  for  Richard  Brito, 
or  le  Bret,  who  was  one  of  the  four  knights 
by  whom  the  murder  was  committed,  and 
who  is  said  to  have  cloven   off  a  piece  of 


NEWARK    PRIORY,  SURREY  :    SOUTH  VIEW,  SHOWING 
THE   GABLE  OF   THE   SOUTH   TRANSEPT. 


the  Archbishop's  skull  (the  other  knights 
were  William  de  Tracy,  Reginald  Fitz-Urse, 
and  Hugh  de  Moreville).  The  arm  of  a 
priest,  nearly  severed  by  the  sword  of  Fitz- 
Urse,  who  interposed  to  ward  off  the  stroke 
aimed  at  a  Becket,  is  also  shown  on  the  seal, 
and  within  a  niche  at  the  base  is  a  monk 
praying. 

After  Waverley,  Newark  is  the  most  con- 
siderable ruin  of  all  the  Surrey  religious 
houses.  It  stands  on  flat  ground,  sheltered 
on  the  north  and  east  by  slight  elevations, 
and  practically  surrounded  by  streams,  being 
approached  by  a  footpath  from  the  river- 
bank.  Much  of  the  Priory  buildings  and 
cruciform    church  were   pulled   down  years 


ago,  and  the  materials  used  for  mending  the 
roads,  and  excepting  for  the  intervention  of 
Arthur  Onslow,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  whole  would  have  been 
demolished. 

The  major  portion  of  the  existing  ruins 
consists  of  the  shell  of  the  south  transept,  of 
which  the  pointed  gable  remains.  In  the 
east  wall  of  this  is  a  mutilated  altar,  and 
above  are  fragments  of  a  niche.  Portions 
of  the  side  walls  of  the  eastern  part  of  the 
church  remain,  and  other  blocks  of  masonry 
appear  at  different  places.  Eastwards  of  the 
transept,  but  deprived  of  the  east  walls,  are 
two  chapels,  in  one  of  which  are  parts  of  a 
piscina.  Of  the  chancel  the  mutilated  north 
and  south  walls  alone  remain,  and  on  the 
north  wall  of  the  transept  are  portions  of  the 
tower  arches  ;  the  only  remnant  of  the  nave 
is  a  small  piece  of  the  wall.  Outside  the 
chancel,  on  the  north  side,  is  a  fragment  of 
another  building,  which  may  have  been 
detached.  No  tracery  remains,  and  scarcely 
anything  of  an  ornamental  description  is  left 
in  any  part.  The  walls,  which  have  lost 
little  of  their  original  height,  are  about  3  feet 
thick,  and  mostly  composed  of  rough  flints, 
cemented  by  grout  and  rubble  work,  and  the 
interior  faced  with  plaster.  The  whole  ruin 
is  now  enclosed  by  a  wire  fence. 

Some  excavations  were  made  in  the 
interior  of  the  south  transept  in  1840,  when 
fragments  of  tessellated  pavement  were  found, 
as  well  as  human  bones,  and  an  entire 
skeleton,  about  a  foot  beneath  the  surface. 
The  tesserse  were  chiefly  small  glazed  tiles 
exhibiting  devices  of  animals  and  flowers, 
and  on  one  was  an  Abbot  with  pastoral  staff. 
Several  small  bricks,  somewhat  of  wedge  like 
form,  inlaid  with  a  Saxon  letter  or  an  Arabic 
numeral,  were  discovered,  but  the  whole  was 
disarranged  and  the  inscription  lost.  Tradi- 
tion says  that  a  subterranean  communication 
existed  between  the  Priory  and  a  nunnery  at 
Ockham,  and  a  ballad  was  founded  on  this 
tale,  called  "The  Monks  of  the  Wey,"  pub- 
lished in  the  first  volume  of  Mackay's  Thames 
and  its  Tributaries.  It  describes  how  the 
monks,  in  digging  a  tunnel  under  the  River 
Wey  to  the  nuns  of  Ockham,  were  all  drowned 
by  the  water  breaking  in  upon  them  when  on 
the  very  eve  of  the  completion  of  their  labours. 
This  story  turns  out  to  be  mere  scandal,  for 


THE  MYSTERIOUS  GUEST  AT  STIRLING  CASTLE. 


457 


of  recent  years  the  underground  passage  has 
been  discovered,  and  was  apparently  nothing 
but  a  sewer  to  drain  the  Priory  buildings, 
and  the  nunnery  at  Ockham  never  existed 
at  all. 

To  the  monks  of  Newark  we  owe  much  of 
the  fine  Early  English  work  in  the  grand  old 
church  of  St.  Mary  at  Send.  They  apparently 
had  a  cell  at  St.  Martha's,  or  St.  Martyr's,  in 
Chilworth,  where  a  few  Canons  resided  on 
the  south  side  of  a  hill ;  and  possibly  the 
building  still  existing  in  a  farm-yard  close  to 
the  Priory  ruins,  which  has  a  vaulted  ceiling, 
strengthened  by  five  stone  ribs,  also  two 
arched  doorways,  and  remains  of  a  moat,  may 
have  been  connected  in  some  way  with  the 
Priory  of  Newark. 


Cfie  a§20teuous  ®uest  at 
Stirling  Castle, 

By  M.  E.  Graham. 


N  the  anonymous  History  of  Stirling 
Castle,  published  in  1812,  there  is 
a  short  paragraph  which  recalls 
certain  half  -  forgotten  memories 
connected  with  the  grey  old  castle  beloved 
by  the  Stewart  Kings. 

"  The  person  who  pretended  to  be 
Richard  II.  of  England,  and  had  been 
entertained  under  that  character  several 
years  at  the  Court  of  James  I.,  dying  in 
the  castle  in  1420,  was  interred  in  the 
same  church,  at  the  horn  of  the  great  altar." 

The  church  to  which  allusion  is  made  is 
that  of  the  Dominicans,  which  formerly 
stood  eastward  of  the  Friars  Wynd,  and  was 
held  in  great  repute  in  Stirling  for  over  250 
years.  On  the  south  side  of  the  high  altar 
were  buried  the  bodies  of  Duncan,  Earl  of 
Lennox,  and  of  Murdoch,  Duke  of  Albany, 
and  his  two  sons,  who  were  executed  on  the 
Gowling  Hills  in  1425  ;  while  on  the  north 
side  of  the  same  altar  was  the  other  royal(?) 
tomb  to  which  the  entry  which  we  have 
quoted  refers. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  Tytler's 
History  of  Scotland  will  remember  that  the 

vol.  ill, 


historian  was  much  interested  in  the  identity 
of  this  mysterious  guest,  or  State  prisoner, 
who  was  detained  at  the  Scottish  Court  for 
nearly  nineteen  years  ;  nor  was  he  satisfied 
to  accept  unchallenged  the  dictum  of 
Buchanan  and  those  who  followed  him,  that 
it  was  a  mere  case  of  imposture. 

In  an  ancient  manuscript  entitled  Extracta 
ex  Chronicis  Scotice,  which  is  in  the  Advocates' 
Library,  Tytler  found  three  passages  referring 
to  the  "  exile  "  of  King  Richard  in  Scotland, 
his  death  at  Stirling  Castle  on  the  Feast  of 
St.  Lucie  the  Virgin,  and  his  burial  in  the 
Church  of  the  Preaching  Friars.  It  was 
further  recorded  that  above  the  "royal 
image "  painted  on  his  tomb  was  a  long 
Latin  inscription,  given  in  full,  which  com- 
memorated the  misfortunes  of  u  Richard  II., 
King  of  England."  This  inscription  was 
visible  in  the  days  of  Boece,  as  that 
chronicler  expressly  mentions. 

The  accounts  of  the  Chamberlains  of  the 
Crown  in  1408,  1414,  14x5,  and  14 17, 
yielded  fresh  proofs  of  the  importance 
attached  to  the  proper  maintenance  of  the 
distinguished  fugitive.  The  first  entry  noted 
the  outlay  incurred  by  the  Lord  Governor 
(the  Duke  of  Albany)  "  for  the  sums  ex- 
pended in  the  support  of  Richard,  King  of 
England,  and  the  messengers  of  France  and 
Wales,  at  different  times  coming  into  the 
country,  upon  whom  he  has  defrayed  much." 

The  last,  in  141 7,  represented  that  the 
Duke  had  had  the  custody  of  Richard,  King 
of  England,  since  the  death  of  Robert  III. — 
"  being  a  period  of  eleven  jears — which  ex- 
penses the  lords  auditors  of  accounts  estimate 
at  the  least  to  have  amounted  annually  to  a 
sum  of  a  hundred  marks." 

Further  researches  convinced  Tytler  that 
there  was  a  sufficient  body  of  evidence, 
direct  and  indirect,  to  support  the  theory 
that  Richard  II.  had  escaped  from  Ponte- 
fract,  and  had  found  refuge  in  Scotland, 
probably  enfeebled,  in  mind  as  well  as  body, 
by  the  hardships  of  his  confinement,  if  not 
by  the  shock  of  his  deposition.  Whether 
the  historian  was  right  or  not,  the  story,  as 
he  unravelled  it,  might  well  have  aroused 
the  interest  of  an  antiquarian  Sherlock 
Holmes. 

In  the  official  documents  of  the  time  the 
strictest  secrecy  had  been  maintained  as  to 

3M 


458 


THE  MYSTERIOUS  GUEST  AT  STIRLING  CASTLE. 


the  custody  of  the  deposed  King,  while  the 
accounts  of  his  death  were  most  conflicting. 
Walsingham,  a  contemporary  historian,  de- 
voted to  the  House  of  Lancaster,  asserted 
that  Richard  put  an  end  to  his  life  by  volun- 
tary starvation  ;  others  maintained  that  he 
was  denied  food  by  Henry's  orders.  A 
manuscript  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris 
related  that  be  was  murdered  by  Sir  Pierce 
Exton  and  a  band  of  assassins — a  story 
which  was  repeated  by  sundry  chroniclers 
and  adopted  by  Shakespeare. 

Tytler's  authorities  for  the  earlier  part  of 
his  tale  are  Bower,  who  was  elected  Abbot 
of  Inchcolm  in  1418,  and  who  was  frequently 
employed  by  the  Scottish  Government ;  Win- 
ton,  Abbot  of  Lochleven,  whose  chronicle 
was  finished  between  September,  1420,  and 
the  return  of  King  James  from  captivity  in 
1424  ;  and  Creton,  the  author  of  The 
Metrical  History  of  the  Deposition  of 
Richard  I/.,  who  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Scottish  captive  in  1405  (six  years  after  the 
reputed  death  of  Richard),  in  which  he  con- 
gratulated him  on  his  escape,  and  greeted 
him  "comme  vraye  amour  requiert  a  tres 
noble  prince  et  viaye  Catholique,  Richart 
d'Engleterre." 

The  story  they  tell  is  substantially  the 
same.  It  is,  that  Richard — whose  death  at 
Pontefract  was  publicly  announced — had 
previously  escaped  through  the  connivance  of 
"  two  gentleman  of  rank  and  reputation, 
Swinburne  and  Waterton,  who  felt  com- 
passion for  him  and  spread  a  report  of  his 
death." 

Before  proceeding  further,  it  is  worth 
noting  that  two  knights  named  Sir  Thomas 
Swinburne  and  Sir  Robert  Waterton  were  in 
the  confidential  employment  of  Henry  IV., 
and  Tytler  ascertained  that  in  the  family  of 
Waterton  of  Walton  Hall  there  existed  a 
long-standing  tradition  that  their  ancestor, 
Sir  Robert  Waterton,  Master  of  the  Horse  to 
Henry  IV.,  had  had  charge  of  Richard  at 
Pontefract.  But  to  return  to  our  narra- 
tive. 

Some  months  after  Richard's  demise,  "  a 
poor  traveller "  appeared  in  the  "  Oute- 
Isles  "  of  Scotland,  and  sought  hospitality  in 
the  castle  of  Donald,  Lord  of  the  Isles. 
There  he  attracted  the  notice  of  Donald's 
sister-in-law,  a  lady  of  Irish  birth,  who  re- 


cognized him  as  Richard  II.,  whom  she  had 
formerly  seen  in  Ireland.  When  questioned 
as  to  his  identity,  the  stranger  denied  that  he 
was  the  deposed  King,  a  course  of  action 
which — as  Tytler  observes — was  most  un- 
likely in  an  impostor,  but  perfectly  natural  in 
the  case  of  a  fugitive  flying  for  his  life  and 
uncertain  whether  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  was 
in  alliance  with  the  new  ruler  of  England,  as 
indeed  was  the  case.  He  was,  however, 
treated  kindly  by  Donald,  who,  presumably, 
could  make  little  of  him,  as  his  behaviour 
was  wild  and  distraught.     Winton  says : 

Quhether  he  had  been  king  or  nane 

There  was  but  few  that  wyst  crrtaine. 

Of  devo'ioun  nane  he  was, 

And  seldom  will  had  to  hear  Mass  ; 

As  he  bare  him,  like  was  he 

Oft  half  wod  or  wyld  to  be. 

He  was  sent  in  charge  of  Lord  Montgomery 
to  the  Court  of  Robert  III.,  where  he  was 
received  and  entertained  as  an  exiled  King. 
Here  he  spent  the  last  nineteen  years  of  his 
life,  at  first  under  the  care  of  Sir  David 
Fleming  of  Cumbernauld,  and  ultimately — 
after  Robert's  death — in  the  charge  of  the 
Duke  of  Albany,  Regent  of  Scotland  during 
the  captivity  of  James  I.  in  England. 

Henry  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  existence 
of  the  reputed  Richard  at  Stirling,  and 
throughout  his  reign  he  was  constantly  called 
upon  to  suppress  insurrections  which  had 
their  origin  in  the  popular  belief  that  his 
predecessor  was  still  alive.  It  certainly 
seems  singular  that  Henry  never  made  any 
open  effort  to  get  "the  impostor"  into  his 
power,  more  especially  as  he  had  latterly  a 
potent  bribe  to  offer  in  the  person  of  the 
young  Prince  of  Scotland.  But  certain 
underground  negotiations  may  be  surmised 
from  the  circumstance  that,  in  1404, 
Robert  III.,  writing  to  Henry,  refers  him  to 
the  Laird  of  Cumbernauld  for  some  par- 
ticular information  desired  by  the  English 
King.  It  is  known  that  the  latter  entered 
into  a  private  correspondence  with  Sir  David 
Fleming,  and  granted  him  a  passport  for  a 
personal  interview.  Evidence  also  exists 
of  secret  communications  between  Henry 
and  Lord  Montgomery,  and  between  the 
former  and  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  and  his 
chaplain. 

It  was  not  long  after  Richard's  deposition 


THE  MYSTERIOUS  GUEST  AT  STIRLING  CASTLE. 


459 


before  his  supporters  began  to  rally,  led  by 
the  Earls  of  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Huntingdon  ; 
and  it  is  related  that  when  Henry  set  out  to 
meet  them,  accompanied  by  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  the  latter  reproached  him  for  his 
previous  lenity,  whereupon  the  new  King 
made  answer,  that,  "  if  he  should  meet 
Richard  now  one  of  them  should  die  " — an 
unaccountable  speech  if  he  knew  that  his 
captive  was  in  safe  custody. 

The  conspiracy  was  suppressed,  and  the 
leaders  were  all  executed,  including  Maude- 
lain,  the  late  King's  chaplain,  whose  strong 
resemblance  to  his  master  had  often  been 
remarked.  The  executions  were  followed 
shortly  by  the  announcement  of  Richard's 
death  ;  but  popular  opinion  seeming  inclined 
to  scepticism,  Henry  ordered  that  the  body 
of  his  predecessor  should  be  borne  on  an 
open  bier  from  Pontefract  to  London,  which 
was  done,  the  face  being  exposed  "  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  forehead  to  the  chin." 
There  was  a  great  procession  through 
London,  the  Mass  at  St.  Paul's  being 
attended  by  "  Duke  Henry  who " — says 
Creton — "  made  a  show  of  mourning,  holding 
the  pall,  without  regarding  all  the  evil  he  had 
done  to  the  dead." 

But  Creton  adds  his  belief  that  the  body 
exposed  was  not  that  of  Richard,  but  of 
Maudelain  his  chaplain,  a  suspicion  which 
gained  confirmation  from  the  circumstance 
that,  after  the  ceremony  at  St.  Paul's,  the 
body  was  taken  privately  to  Langley  in 
Hertfordshire,  and  interred  there,  although 
Richard  had  prepared  a  tomb  for  himself  at 
Westminster.     This  took  place  on  March  12, 

1399- 

The  year  1402  '"teemed  with  reports  that 
Richard  was  alive."  A  priest  of  Ware  was 
drawn  and  quartered  for  affirming  that  he 
would  return,  while  no  less  than  eight  Fran- 
ciscan friars  were  hanged  for  the  same  cause. 
The  Franciscans,  it  will  be  remembered, 
had  a  monastery  at  Stirling,  and  were  in 
constant  intercourse  with  .Scotland.  The 
Prior  of  Launde  and  Sir  Roger  de  Claren- 
don, formerly  Gentleman  of  the  Bedchamber 
to  Richard,  also  suffered ;  while  in  the  same 
year  a  pardon  was  g' anted,  under  the  privy 
seal,  to  William  Balshalf  of  Lancashire  for 
revealing  a  projected  rising  in  which  he  had 
purposed  to  take  part. 


The  rebellion  of  the  Percies  in  1403 
ended  in  the  Battle  of  Shrewsbury  and  the 
death  of  Hotspur;  but  in  1404  rumour  was 
again  busy  on  the  return  of  Serle  from  Scot- 
land. Serle,  who  had  been  one  of  Richard's 
household,  declared  that  he  had  seen  and 
talked  to  his  late  master,  and  was  the  bearer 
of  letters  from  him  to  his  friends  in  England. 
The  unfortunate  envoy  paid  the  usual  penalty, 
but  Walsingham  alone  among  the  chroniclers 
declared  that  before  his  execution  he  con- 
fessed that  the  person  he  had  seen  was  not 
Richard. 

Tytler's  investigation  of  the  Parliamentary 
Rolls  led  him  to  the  discovery  that  in  1405 
the  Earl  of  Northumberland  seized  and  im- 
prisoned Sir  Robert  Waterton,  "esquire  to 
our  lord  the  king  ";  and  it  is  noticeable  that 
subsequently  to  this  date  Northumberland, 
who,  before  the  Battle  of  Shrewsbury,  had 
publicly  charged  Henry  with  Richard's 
murder,  seems  uncertain  whether  the  latter 
is  dead  or  alive.  In  a  letter  to  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  written  at  Berwick  in  June,  1405, 
he  says  : 

"  J'ay  l'entencion  et  ferme  purpos  de  sus- 
tener  le  droit  querelle  de  mon  soverein 
sieur  le  Roy  Richart,  s'il  est  vif,  et  si  mort 
est,  de  venger  sa  mort." 

Placards  denying  Richard's  death  were 
posted  in  London  in  1407  ;  while,  in  the 
same  year,  an  ineffectual  rising  was  essayed 
by  Percy  and  Lord  Bardolph,  in  which 
Northumberland  was  slain.  This  was  prob- 
ably after  their  return  from  Scotland,  whither 
— according  to  Bower — many  persons,  in- 
cluding the  two  Percies,  Bardolph,  and  the 
Bishops  of  St.  Asaph  and  Bangor,  "  had  fled 
from  the  face  of  Henry." 

Even  after  the  death  of  Bolingbroke  the 
unquiet  spirit  of  Richard  refused  to  be 
"  laid,"  and  twice  at  least  was  Henry  V. 
hindered  on  the  eve  of  his  French  cam- 
paigns, by  conspiracies  at  home  inspired  by 
rumours  from  Stirling. 

The  rebellion  of  Cambridge,  Scrope,  and 
Grey  was  put  down  with  extreme  severity, 
the  trial  being  remarkable  for  unseemly 
haste  and  suppression  of  evidence.  An 
allusion  to  the  second  plot,  in  14 17,  may  be 
found  in  a  letter  of  Henry  V.  which  is  given 
in  the  Vita  Henrici  V.  After  desiring  that 
good   order   should   be    maintained    in    the 

3  m  2 


460 


WILLIAM  DE  LA   COUR. 


northern  marches,  and  that  special  vigilance 
should  be  exercised  regarding  the  royal 
captives,  James  I.  of  Scotland  and  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  Henry  writes  that  he  hears  that 
an  agent  of  the  latter  has  been  in  Scotland, 
and  "  has  accorded  with  the  Duke  of  Albany 
that  this  next  summer  he  shall  bring  in  the 
Mamuet*  of  Scotland  to  stir  what  he 
may." 

But  perhaps  the  strongest  piece  of  evidence 
adduced  by  Tytler  is  that  given  in  the  trial 
of  Lord  Cobham,  the  supporter  of  the  Lol- 
lards, who  was  burned  for  heresy  on  Decem- 
ber 25,  141 7.  Cobham,  who  was  a  man  of 
high  character  and  of  strong  religious  prin- 
ciples, had  been  Sheriff  of  Herefordshire, 
had  served  in  the  Parliament  which  had 
deposed  Richard,  and  in  several  successive 
Parliaments.  He  had  been  assured  of 
Richard's  death,  and  had  probably  seen  his 
funeral  procession.  Yet  when  he  himself 
was  being  tried  for  his  life,  eighteen  years 
later,  he  refused  to  acknowledge  the  authority 
of  the  Court  "  so  long  as  his  liege  lord  King 
Richard  was  alive  in  Scotland." 

By  such  a  statement,  made  at  such  a 
moment,  he  put  his  life  in  imminent  jeopardy, 
yet  he  deliberately  challenged  the  authority 
of  the  only  man  from  whom  he  could  expect 
mercy.  This  fact  alone — as  Tytler  remarks — 
would  suffice  to  prove  that,  if  the  distraught 
exile  at  Stirling  Castle  was  not  indeed  the 
son  of  the  Black  Prince,  he  was  at  least 
believed  to  be  such  by  a  large  number  of 
notable  persons  for  a  very  long  period  of 
time.  If  the  tomb  in  the  Church  of  the 
Blackfriars  was  not  that  of  Richard  II.,  it 
covered  the  remains  of  a  madman  who  had 
a  unique  experience — not  that  he,  being 
mad,  believed  himself  to  be  a  King,  but  that 
he,  being  mad,  was  believed  by  those  around 
him  to  be  one. 


figure. 


Mamuet  or  mammet  =  a  puppet,  a  dressed-up 


ftUiiliam  iDe  la  Cout,  painter, 

(ZEngratier,  anH  Ceacbec  of 

tDratoinrj. 

AN  UNWRITTEN  CHAPTER  IN  THE 
HISTORY  OF  OLD  EDINBURGH. 

By  David  Fraser  Harris,  M.D.,  B.Sc.  (London). 

N  the  course  of  the  article  on  the 
dissolution  as  at  April  1 ,  1 907,  of  the 
"Board  of  Trustees  for  the  Improve- 
ment of  Fisheries  and  Manufactures 
in  Scotland,"  which  appeared  in  the  Scotsman 
of  March  25,  1907,  mention  was  made  of  "Mr. 
Delacour,  painter,"  the  first  teacher  in  the 
then  newly  established  "Drawing  School,"  or 
School  of  Design.  The  activities  of  this  same 
William  De  la  Cour  (for  thus  he  wrote  his 
name)  constitute  material  for  a  chapter  in  the 
history  of  Old  Edinburgh  as  yet  unwritten  ; 
it  would  contain  much  of  interest  to  lovers 
of  the  "  romantic  town." 

The  date  of  the  birth  of  De  la  Cour  I  have 
never  discovered,  but  as  he  is  stated  to  have 
died  of  "old  age"  in  1767,  and,  as  his  age 
is  not  given,  if  we  suppose  liim  to  have  been 
only  seventy  at  the  time  of  his  death,  he 
must  have  been  born  about  1697.  The 
earliest  reference  to  him  which  I  have  is  of 
his  having  painted  ad  vivum  the  portrait 
of  Sir  Thomas  de  Veil  (one  of  His  Majesty's 
Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the  City  and  Liberty 
of  Westminster,  etc.),  which  was  engraved 
by  one  " T.  R)ley,"  and  "published  accord- 
ing to  Act  of  Parliament,  June  1,  1747," 
and  "  sold  by  De  la  Cour,  Kathrine  Street 
in  ye  Strand."  This  De  Veil  is  none  other 
than  the  "austere  magistrate"  in  Hogarth's 
picture — a  woman  swearing  her  child  to  a 
grave  citizen.  After  this  date  we  have  his 
own  words  to  the  effect  that  he  painted 
scenery  for  "  the  theatre  "  at  Newcastle  and 
at  Glasgow.  By  1757  he  had  settled  in 
Edinburgh  and  painted  a  "new  wood  scene" 
for  "  Douglas :  A  Tragedy "  {Edinburgh 
Evening  Courant,  July  23,  1757). 

"  Douglas  :  A  Tragedy,"  by  the  Rev.  John 
Home,  minister  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  ! 
What  a  flutter  that  caused  in  contemporary 
ecclesiastical  dovecots  is  well  known  to  those 
versed  in  the  annals  of  the  old  theatre  at 


WILLIAM  DE  LA  COUR. 


461 


Playhouse  Close  in  the  Canongate.  The 
Edinburgh  Evening  Courant  of  January  18, 
1759,  assures  us  that"  the  celebrated  tragedy 
of  the  'Orphan  of  China,'  by  M.  Voltaire,  is 
now  in  rehearsal."  "  The  whole  appearance 
of  the  stage  will  be  entirely  new  .  .  .  the 
scenery,  dresses,  and  decorations  designed 
and  painted  for  the  occasion  by  Mons.  Dt  la 
Cour."  On  the  23rd  of  the  same  month 
this  play  was  given  as  a  benefit  for  De  la 
Cour,  and  tickets  were  to  be  had  "  at  Mr. 
De  la  Cour's  house,  head  of  Toderick's 
Wynd." 

If  stage  scenery  was  all  that  was  done  by 
De  la  Cour,  we  might  never  have  known  what 
manner  of  man  he  was  as  an  artist;  but  it  is 
far  otherwise.  He  has  left  seven  large  land- 
scapes in  distemper  upon  cloth  on  the  walls 
of  the  ballroom  at  Yester  House,  which  he 
executed  for  the  fourth  Marquis  of  Tweed- 
dale;  he  signed  and  dated  six  of  them 
"W.  De  la  Cour,  1761." 

From  a  study  of  the  character  of  these  we 
can  ascertain  that  the  same  hand  painted 
between  forty  and  fifty  pictures,  some  on 
wooden  panels,  some  on  plaster,  at  Caroline 
Park  House,  near  Granton,  for  the  second 
Duke  of  Argyll,  as  well  as  four  landscapes  on 
the  walls  of  the  large  room  in  Lord  Glenlee's 
Town  House,  Brown  Square — now  the  Dental 
Hospital,  Chambers  Street — the  room  which 
Mr.  Martin  Hardy  has  chosen  for  the  setting 
of  his  interesting  group,  "  Burns  reciting  '  A 
Winter's  Night'  at  the  Duchess  of  Gordon's, 
January,  1787."  The  De  la  Cours  are  quite 
obvious  in  the  prints  of  this  picture.  At 
old  Craig  House  (now  the  private  part  of 
Morningside  Asylum)  there  are  two  un- 
doubted De  la  Cours,  and  at  Drylaw  House, 
Blackhall,  three  very  fine  examples  of  his 
best  work  exist.  In  the  Municipal  Museum 
in  the  City  Chambers,  Edinburgh,  there  are 
two  panel  pictures,  one  in  dark,  the  other  in 
light  tones,  taken  from  houses  in  Old  Edin- 
burgh, while  in  a  house  in  Chessel's  Court, 
Canongate,  there  is  a  painting  by  De  la  Cour 
on  a  panel  over  a  fireplace ;  it  has  suffered 
much  from  neglect.  There  are  two  signed 
portraits  of  ladies  at  Lennoxlove,  Haddington, 
and  two  landscapes,  originally  at  Caroline 
Park,  are  now  at  Dalkeith  House,  whither 
they  were  removed  by  the  Jate  Duke  of 
Buccleuch.     Both  are  on  wood,  and  are  a 


cold  grey  in  treatment ;  one  of  them,  a  long 
rectangular  panel,  is  particularly  interesting 
in  that  it  represents  the  city  of  Edinburgh 
before  the  "  Nor'  Loch "  was  drained,  and 
when  as  yet  there  were  no  buildings,  save 
one  farm-house,  on  the  site  of  Princes  Street, 
George  Street,  or  Queen  Street. 

De  la  Cour  rarely  depicted  local  scenery ; 
with  the  exception  of  the  above,  and  two 
river  scenes,  something  like  the  Firth  of 
Forth  (one  at  Dalkeith,  the  other  in  the  city 
museum),  and  a  castle  like  that  of  Merchiston 
at  Craig  House,  his  subjects  were  all  of 
foreign  origin.  His  inspiration  was  all  drawn 
from  some  sunny,  mountainous  land  of  ivy- 
clad  ruins,  broken  arches,  mossy  gateways, 
towers,  baths,  amphitheatres,  the  vegetation- 
covered  relics  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

He  had  a  grudge  against  Scotland — at 
any  rate,  against  the  theatrical  managers  in 
the  Canongate,  for  their  having  underpaid 
him  for  scenery  painting.  In  the  Edinburgh 
Evening  Courant  for  March  5,  1763,  he 
takes  us  into  his  confidence,  and  explains 
that  the  report  has  been  spread  abroad  that 
he  is  "too  dear."  To  justify  himself,  he 
tells  us  he  got  seven  guineas  for  15  square 
feet  of  "front  scenes"  ("towns,  chambers, 
forests"),  and  one  guinea  "for  the  wings"; 
that  he  was  paid  by  benefits,  any  surplus 
being  retained  by  the  managers  :  he  therefore 
thanks  the  public,  and  not  the  managers,  for 
what  he  has  contrived  to  get  hold  of  in  the 
way  of  payment.  "  Last  year,"  he  says,  "  for 
instance,  they  gave  me  Monday,  February  1st, 
as  this  was  a  fast  day  of  the  Church  of 
England."*  He  painted  scenery  for  the 
"Tempest,"  "Twelfth  Night,"  the  "  Dragon 
of  Wantley,"  and  for  a  number  of  comedies 
and  farces  now  known  only  to  the  curious  in 
matters  theatrical. 

The  announcement  of  his  appointment  to 
the  School  of  Design  is  thus  given  in  the 
Edinburgh  Evening  Courant  for  J  uly  1  2  and 
14,  1760 : 

"The  commissioners  and  trustees  for 
improving  Fisheries  and  Manufactures  in 
Scotland  do  hereby  advertise  that  by  an 
agreement  with  Mr.  De  la  Cour,  painter,  he 
has  opened  a  school  in  this  city  for  persons 
of  both  sexes  that  shall  be  presented  to  him 
by  the  trustees,  when  he  is  to  teach  gratis  the 
*  The  Church  of  Scotland  is  obviously  meant  here. 


462 


WILLIAM  DE  LA   COUR. 


Art  of  Drawing  for  the  use  of  manufactures, 
especially  the  drawing  of  patterns  for  the 
linen  and  woollen  manufactures  ;  and  at  the 
end  of  the  year  some  prizes  are  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  scholars.  All  persons 
who  incline  to  be  taught  by  him  are  desired 
to  apply  to  the  trustees'  secretary,  with  whom 
they  will  lodge  certificates  in  their  favour  or 
recommendations  from  persons  of  character, 
and  specimens  of  their  drawings  if  they  have 
already  done  anything  in  that  way.  As  only 
a  certain  number  can  be  admitted  at  one 
time,  they  who  intend  to  take  the  benefit  of 
this  appointment  must  not  make  any  delay 
in  lodging  their  applications.  Mr.  De  la 
Cour  is  likewise  to  teach  the  art  of  drawing 
to  all  persons  that  chuse  to  attend  his  school 
at  one  guinea  per  quarter.  He  has  a  room 
for  girls  of  rank  apart  from  his  public  school. 
By  order  of  the  commissioners  and  trustees, 
"  Da.  Flint,  Secretary." 

De  la  Cour  held  this  post  for  seven  years, 
for  he  died  in  1767,  and  was  buried  in  the 
Greyfriars  Churchyard  amongst  so  many 
more  notable  in  the  story  of  Old  Edinburgh. 
The  entry  could  not  be  more  meagre  :  "  Mr. 
De  la  Cour.  Painter.  L.  French  ground. 
Old  Age."  Needless  to  say  no  stone  to-day 
marks  the  spot ;  the  poor  French  painter 
is  not,  however,  alone  in  that,  since  the  same 
might  have  been  said  until  quite  recently  of 
the  great  native  humanist  George  Buchanan, 
buried  in  the  same  place. 

In  the  Caledonian  Mercury  of  March  14, 
1767,  the  creditors  of  the  lately  deceased 
Mr.  De  la  Cour  are  requested  to  lodge  their 
claims.  He  seems  to  have  left  a  widow,  for 
the  Edinburgh  Evening  Courant  of  April  8, 
1 767,  announces  "an  assembly  for  the  benefit 
of  Mrs.  De  la  Cour:  tickets  2s.  6d.  each  at 
Mr.  Picque's  house,  Skinner's  Close,  and  at 
Balfour's  Coffee-House." 

In  the  same  newspaper  of  April  25  and  30 
there  is  a  long  notice  of  a  sale  by  auction, 
in  the  room  below  Balfour's  Coffee-House, 
of  paintings,  drawings,  prints  and  sketches 
which  belonged  to  "  the  deceased  Mr.  De  la 
Cour,  Painter,  also  blocks  for  grinding 
colours,  pencils,  drawing  tables  and  other 
utensils  and  materials." 

De  la  Cour  is  represented  in  our  National 
Portrait  Gallery  by  only  one  small  drawing  in 


red  chalk  (148),  the  head  of  an  artist, 
John  Brown,  one  of  the  pupils  at  the  School 
of  Design.  In  the  short  note  on  De  la  Cour 
in  the  catalogue  to  the  Gallery  it  is  stated 
that  there  are  two  portraits  by  him  of 
Sir  Stuart  Thriepland  at  Fingask  Castle  ;  also 
that  he  painted  a  portrait  of  the  Lady 
Elizabeth  Jane  Leslie,  daughter  of  the  tenth 
Earl  of  Rothes. 

The  pictures  at  Milton  House  in  the 
Canongateare  in  this  notice,  on  the  authority 
of  the  late  Mr.  Patrick  Gibson,  S.A.,  at- 
tributed to  De  la  Cour.  I  have  seen  these  ; 
I  do  not  think  they  are  by  his  hand.  The 
late  Mr.  Thomas  Bonnar,  architect,  told  me 
that  he  believed  they  were  by  Francesco 
Zuccherelli  (1702- 1788),  a  Florentine  artist, 
also  represented  at  Yester  House  by  one 
small  oil  painting  on  the  staircase. 

Certain  paintings  on  wooden  panels  in 
Old  Edinburgh  houses  were  done  by 
members  of  the  family  of  Norie,  the  first  of 
whom,  "Old  Norie,"  began  life  as  a  coach- 
painter.  Very  few  of  these  now  survive,  but 
there  is  a  genuine  example  of  the  Nories' 
work  at  Salisbury  Green.  De  la  Cour  was 
strong  in  foliage,  the  Nories  not  so  from  the 
examples  I  have  been  able  to  examine,  but 
their  respective  paintings  are  often  confused. 

De  la  Cour  when  painting  on  the  plaster 
of  walls  sometimes  furnished  his  landscapes 
with  painted  frames,  which,  although  done,  of 
course,  on  the  flat,  give  a  clever  appearance 
of  imitating  a  spirally  carved  wooden  picture- 
frame.  The  landscapes  in  Chambers  Street 
and  certain  paintings  at  Caroline  Park  are 
good  examples  of  this.  With  such  frames  he 
furnished  the  coats  of  arms  of  the  Argyll 
family,  in  which  we  can  still  see  excellently 
preserved  the  ship  of  Lome,  the  boar's 
head,  the  Ne  obliviscaris  and  the  Vix  ea 
nostra  voco  of  that  ducal  house.  They 
remain  to  remind  us  of  Caroline  Park  having 
been  acquired  from  its  builder,  the  first  Earl 
of  Cromarty,  of  Union  fame,  in  1742,  and 
later  decorated  for  the  second  Duke  of 
Argyll  and  Greenwich. 

De  la  Cour's  subjects  are  pleasing  land- 
scapes in  the  manner  of  Claude  Lorraine  ; 
he  is  very  fond  of  waterfalls,  boulders  in 
streams,  cliffs  with  ruined  castles  perched  on 
them,  and  men  fishing  in  the  quiet  pools 
below.     His  foliage  is  very  skilfully  treated, 


WILLIAM  DE  LA   COUR. 


463 


and  he  is  particularly  successful  in  weird 
effects — trees  blown  to  one  side  by  the 
breeze,  or  even  blasted  as  by  lightning,  are 
prominent  features  in  the  foreground.  His 
light  and  shade  is  good,  as  also  his  per- 
spective ;  but  his  clouds  are  crude,  and  his 
human  figures  very  roughly  sketched. 

His  panels  are  by  no  means  decorated 
boards ;  he  was  far  more  than  "  a  decorator 
of  interiors,"  as  he  has  sometimes  been 
described.  There  is  high  probability  that 
before  coming  to  England  he  had  studied  in 
Rome ;  there  is  a  panel  at  Caroline  Park 
which  is  said  to  be  a  faithful  reproduction  of 
the  Arch  of  Titus,  and  one  of  the  pictures  of 
large  ruins  at  Yester  House  forcibly  recalls 
the  Baths  of  Caracalla.  The  Colosseum 
occurs  as  a  subject  more  than  once,  and  he 
has  several  Roman  aqueducts  and  ruined 
gates.  William  De  la  Cour  was  an  artist,  if 
now  an  almost  completely  forgotten  one. 

Certainly  here  and  there  his  use  of  colour 
was  peculiar,  as  the  following  conversation, 
reported  by  John  Rimsay  of  Ochtertyre  in 
his  "Scotland  and  Scotsmen  of  the  eighteenth 
century"  shows:  "On  coming  to  drink  tea 
in  the  dining-room  after  their  bottle, 
Mr.  Dundas,  looking  at  the  paintings,  said : 
1  Oh  Tom,  what's  this  ?  green  cow,  red  sheep, 
blue  goats.  Damned  ridiculous  !'  The  other, 
who  was  then  Lord  Advocate  or  Justice 
Clerk,*  answered  with  great  humility  :  '  My 
Lord,  not  understanding  these  things  myself, 
I  left  it  to  Mr.  De  la  Cour,  who  I  thought 
was  a  man  of  taste  and  knowledge  in  the  fine 
arts.'  "  Probably  the  last  allusion  to  him  is 
in  the  Edinburgh  Evening  Courant  of 
March  22,  1769,  which  runs  thus: 

"Drawing  School  Trustees'  Office, 
"Edinburgh, 

"  March  21,  1769. 

"  The  trustees  for  Fisheries,  Manufactures 
and  Improvements  advertise  that  the  Draw- 
ing School  in  Edinburgh  which  has  been 
broke  up  since  the  death  of  Mr.  De  la  Cour 
is  to  be  opened  again  on  Monday  next  the 
27th  current  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Charles  Pavilion,  painter,  from  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Paris." 

So  De  la  Cour  was  succeeded  by  a  fellow- 
countryman. 

*  Later  Lord  Glenlee,  alluded  to  above. 


And  thus  the  old  French  painter  passes 
from  Old  Edinburgh  annals,  making,  ere  he 
does  so,  one  more  unlettered  grave  in  green 
Greyfriars.  But  he  is  known  to  a  few ;  and 
for  one  at  least,  whose  earliest  memories  are 
of  his  dark  cascades  and  sunlit  trees,  he  has 
left  "  the  touch  of  the  vanished  hand." 

The  University, 

St.  Andrews. 


€bc  Cemplc  Ctrorcb.* 

IF  all  the  many  famous  and  ancient 
buildings  of  London,  the  Temple 
§£4  Church  is  probably  one  of  the  most 
secluded— one  of  the  least  known 
or  thought  of  by  the  thousands  who  daily 
pass  along  Fleet  Street,  or,  on  the  other  side, 
along  the  Embankment.  Yet  there  are  few 
more  interesting  spots  in  the  Metropolis. 
The  circular  nave,  the  Round  Church,  was 
consecrated  in  1185,  while  the  rectangular 
choir  was  completed  and  consecrated  in  1 240. 
Grouped  in  the  central  space  of"  The  Round  " 
are  eight  of  the  recumbent  effigies  regarding 
which  there  has  been  no  small  controversy. 
The  difficulties  of  identification  are  many. 
We  need  not  go  into  a  somewhat  intricate 
discussion  here,  but  we  cannot  help  ex- 
pressing surprise  that  the  authorities  of  the 
Temple  still  label  the  unknown  effigies  with 
crossed  legs  as  "  Knight  Crusader,"  purely, 
apparently,  on  the  strength  of  the  exploded 
theory  that  the  cross-leg5ed  posture  indicates 
the  tomb  of  one  who  went  a-crusading.  This 
notion  seems  to  have  originated  in  a  guess, 
and  cannot  be  shown  to  have  any  basis  in 
fact,  while  excellent  reasons  can  be  given  for 
rejecting  it.  It  may  be  sufficient  to  mention 
here  that  cross-legged  effigies  in  some 
churches  are  of  much  later  date  than  the 
Crusades,  and  some  are  of  women.  Mr. 
Worley,  in  his  otherwise  excellent  account 
of  the  tombs  and  effigies,  seems  a  little 
inclined   to   cling   to   the   Crusader  theory, 

*  The  Church  of  the  Knights  Templars  in  London. 
"Cathedral  Series."  By  George  Worley.  With 
thirty-one  illustrations.  London :  George  Bell  and 
Sons,  1907.  Crown  8vo  ,  pp.  xiv,  74.  Price  is.  6d 
net.  1  he  two  blocks  are  kindly  lent  by  the  pub- 
lishers. 


464 


THE  TEMPLE  CHURCH. 


although  lie  m.ntions  one  strong  argument 
against  it,  namely,  that  the  crossing,  whatever 
its  signification,  is  not  found  in  sepulchral 
effigies,  even  of  known  Crusaders,  out  of 
England.  While  on  the  subject  we  may 
appropriately  quote  what  Mr.  Rushforth  says 
in  the  Companion  to  English  History  (Mii/d/e 
Ages),  1902  : 

"  A  peculiarly  English  motive,  introduced 
about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
was  the  representation  of  the  recumbent 
warrior  with  the  legs  crossed,  a  natural  atti- 
tude of  repose  in  life,  in  which  state  these 
figures  generally  appear,  usually  with  open 
eyes,  and  sometimes  in  the  act  of  sheathing 


Gough  as  "  the  earliest  instance  in  England 
of  sculptured  armorial  bearings  on  a  monu- 
mental effigy." 

The  Round  itself,  the  ancient  circular  nave, 
is  impressively  beautiful.  Mr.  Worley  gives 
an  excellent  description  of  its  architectural 
features,  concluding  with  the  following  para- 
graph :  "  The  Round  is  a  perfect  example 
of  the  Early  English  style  at  the  Transitional 
period,  when  it  was  escaping,  but  had  not 
quite  released  itself,  from  Norman  character- 
istics. These  are  clearly  seen  in  the  solid 
structure  of  the  building,  as  well  as  in  its 
round-headed  windows  and  doorway,  while 
the  minor  decorations  are  apparently  more 


TEMPLE  CHURCH  :    TWO  OF   THE    RECUMBENT   EFFIGIES    IN   THE 
CENTRAL  SPACE  OF  THE   ROUND. 


the  sword.  The  practice  (which,  it  may  be 
added,  has  no  connexion  with  the  Crusades) 
lasted  for  about  a  century,  and  gradually 
disappeared  with  the  introduction  of  plate 
armour,  for  which  the  posture  is  as  unfitted 
as  it  is  appropriate  for  the  close-fitting  and 
yielding  chain-mail." 

The  effigies  shown  in  the  illustration 
reproduced  above  are  described — the  first  or 
cross-legged  figure  as  that  of  Sir  Geoffrey  de 
Magnaville,  Earl  of  Essex,  died  a.l>.  1144; 
and  the  second  as  that  of  an  unknown  knight. 
The  former  has  on  the  left  arm  a  long, 
pointed  shield  bearing  the  Magnaville  or 
Mandeville   charge,   which   is   remarked  by 


Gothic  than  Romanesque.  The  whole  com- 
position, with  its  graceful  pointed  arches, 
deeply  cut  mouldings,  and  clustered  columns, 
is  evidently  the  creation  of  a  master-mind, 
and  has  a  special  character  of  its  own  among 
the  best  specimens  of  ecclesiastical  archi- 
tecture in  England  with  which  it  takes  rank." 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
it  will  be  remembered,  the  "  Round  Walk  " 
of  the  Temple  Church  became  a  favourite 
lounge,  a  rendezvous  for  idle  walkers  and 
talkers,  and  a  place  of  appointment  for 
business  transactions,  just  as  the  central  aisle 
of  old  St.  Paul's — Paul's  Walk — was  used  a 
little  earlier. 


THE  TEMPLE  CHURCH. 


465 


The  rectangular  choir — or  the  "  Oblong," 
as  it  is  sometimes  awkwardly  called  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  "Round" — built  some 
sixty  to  seventy  years  later  than  the  latter, 
is  in  a  much  lighter  style.  There  is  here  no 
trace  of  heavy  Norman  work.  Mr.  Worley 
succinctly  describes  the  features  of  the 
building,  pointing  out  the  considerable 
quantity  of  new  work  which  has  been  intro- 
duced, and  also  gives  careful  descriptions  of 
the  windows  and  the  mural  paintings.    Other 


Order,  its  rise  to  enormous  wealth  and  power, 
its  decay  and  destruction. 

There  have  been  many  books  written  on 
the  Temple  and  its  church, 4but  the  "Cathedral 
Series  "—which  has  for  some  time  past 
ceased  to  answer  quite  exactly  to  its  name — 
would  not  have  been  complete  without  a 
volume  on  the  ancient  Temple  Church. 
Mr.  Worley  has  done  his  work  thoroughly 
well,  and  the  illustrations  are  abundant  and 
good.  L.  A. 


TEMPLE   CHURCH  :    THE   INTERIOR   FROM   THE   WEST. 


points  of  interest  in  the  Choir  are  the  fine 
effigy  of  a  bishop,  supposed  to  be  that  of 
Bishop  Everden,  of  Carlisle  (ob.  1255),  which 
is  behind  the  stalls  and  difficult  to  get  at ; 
the  modern  bust  of  Hooker,  the  "Judicious"; 
the  Selden  memorial  tablet ;  and  the  curious 
penitential  cell  in  the  north-west  corner. 
Regarding  all  these,  and  regarding  also  the 
clerical  staff,  services,  etc.,  Mr.  Worley  gives 
sufficient  and  accurate  information.  The 
account  of  the  church  is  prefixed  by  a  brief 
sketch,  clearly  and  well  written,  of  the  history 
of   the  Templars — the    foundation  of    the 

VOL.    III. 


Cbe  OBuii  <£n  ano  tbe  §>oiar 
€th&lem. 

By  J.  Holuen  MacMichael. 
(Concluded from  p.  427.) 

HE  confusing  and  therefore  nullifying 
effect  of  curious  objects  in  serving 
as  a  protection  from  the  Evil  Eye  is 
also  seen  in  the  herb  rosalaccio — not 
the  corn-poppy,  but  a  kind  of  small  house- 
leek,  otherwise  called  Rice  of  the  Goddess  of 

3   N 


466 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


the  Four  Winds,  which  derives  its  name  from 
looking,  ere  it  unfolds,  like  confused  grains  of 
rice,  and  when  a  witch  sees  it  she  cannot  enter 
till  she  has  counted  them.  This  being  im- 
possible, her  undesirable  visit  is  at  least  post- 
poned.* Plant-lore  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  psychology  of  fascination.  One  of  our 
commonest  flowers — the  periwinkle — used  to 
be  called  Sorcerer's  violet,  on  account  of  its 
being  a  favourite  flower  with  "wise  folk" 
for  making  charms.  Among  Turks,  Greeks, 
Chinese,  Japanese,  and  others,  garlic,  like  the 
onion,  as  we  have  seen,  is  employed  for  the 
purpose  of  warding  off  the  Evil  Eye,  and 
other  misfortunes.!  This  house-leek,  gather- 
ing its  nourishment  on  the  shelving  roof  of 
the  cottage  where  other  plants  will  not  thrive, 
is  still  extensively  believed  in  rural  parts  to 
to  protect  the  dwelling  from  lightning  and 
thunderbolt.  So  with  the  leaves  of  the  bay- 
tree  as  well  as  the  tree  itself.  +  Carnations 
are  perhaps  of  solar  potency  because  of  their 
flesh  colour.  The  great  remedy  for  the  Evil 
Eye  in  Patmos  is  to  cut  off  the  end  of  the 
girdle  of  a  man  without  a  beard,  or  of  a  hairy 
woman.  This  must  be  burnt  in  an  incense- 
burner,  and  be  waved  before  the  person  or 
object  which  has  suffered,  and  then  by  throw- 
ing three  carnation-leaves  into  the  fire,  it  can 
be  seen  whether  the  charm  has  been  effectual 
or  not.  If  the  leaves  crackle,  it  is  a  sign  of 
healing,  and  some  one  must  spit  thrice  on 
the  person,  or  the  things,  saying  as  he  does 
so,  "  Uncharmed."  But  if  the  leaves  refuse 
to  crackle  it  is  best  to  go  to  the  monastery 
at  once  and  secure  a  monk  to  come  and 
read  a  prayer  to  avert  danger.§ 

One  phase  of  the  Oriental  tapu,  the  banning 
of  evil  spirits,  was  characteristic  not  only  of 
the  Polynesian  and  other  primitive  tribes,  but 
also  of  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians. 
Babylonian  incantation  is  entirely  given  up 
to  the  methods  of  purifying  a  certain  person 
who  has  in  some  way  become  unclean  either 
from   touching  dirty  water   or  even   merely 

*  Charles  Godfrey  Leland's  Etruscan  Roman 
Remains,  p.  337. 

f  Flowers  and  Flower- Lore,  by  the  Rev.  Hilderic 
Friend,  1884,  vol.  i.,  p.  269. 

%  As  to  rue  as  a  charm,  see  Notes  and  Queries, 
tenth  series,  vol.  i.,  pp.  148,  149,231,  232  ;  and  vol.  ii., 
ibid.,  p.  538. 

§  J.  Theodore  Bent  in  Walford's  Antiquarian 
Magazine,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  412,  413. 


casting  his  eye  upon  some  one  unclean.  In 
the  following  case  it  is  the  masmasu,  or 
magician,  who  is  to  be  cleansed  : 

While  he  walked  in  the  street, 

.  .  .  While  he  walked  in  the  stieet, 

While  he  made  his  way  through  the  broad  places, 

While  he  walked  along  the  streets  and  ways, 

He  trod  in  some  libation  that  had  been  poured  forth,  or 

He  put  his  foot  in  some  unclean  water, 

Or  cast  his  eye  on  the  water  of  unwashen  hands, 

Or  came  in  contact  with  a  woman  of  unclean  hands, 

Or  glanced  at  a  maiden  with  unwashen  hands, 

Or  his  hand  touched  a  bewitched  woman, 

Or  he  came  in  contact  with  a  man  of  unclean  hands, 

Or  saw  one  with  unwashen  hands, 

Or  his  hand  touched  one  of  unclean  body.* 

Taboo,   of  course,   forms    an    important 
feature   of  many  superstitions  surviving  to- 
day.    The  conditions  under  which   certain 
rites  are  to  be  performed  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  a  witch's  designs  or  for  the  frustration 
of  them  by  the  object  of  those  designs,  often 
compel  taboo  observances.     In  the  Isle  of 
Arran,  West  Scotland,  two  men,  each  having 
but  one  horse,  were  in  the  habit  of  doing 
their  ploughing   by  uniting  the  pair  in  one 
team.     One  day  both  horses  took  ill,  and  the 
Evil  Eye  was  diagnosed.     One  of  the  owners 
sent  for  eolas,  the  knowledge-man,  and  his 
horse  began  to  recover ;  the  other  man,  who 
at  first  expressed  disbelief,  seeing  his  neigh- 
bour's  horse  improving  while  his  own  did 
not,  sent  his  niece  on  the  "  sly  "  to  the  same 
practitioner,  Bean  A.,  for  pisearachd.     The 
niece  said  :  "  Well,  I  went,  and  I  told  her 
my  errand.     I    had   a  shawl   on   my  head. 
When  she  heard  my  errand,  she  went  and 
put  her  hand  up  the  lum    (chimney),  and 
took   something  from   there,   and   then  she 
went  into  a  corner,  and  took  out  three  wee 
pokes  as  black  as  soot,  and  took  something 
out  of  them.     She  was  in  the  dark,  but  I 
knew  that  there  were  stones   in    the   poke 
(?  flints),  for  I   heard  them  rattling.      She 
then  gave  me  a  paper  with  something  in  it, 
and  told  me  that  I  was  on  no  account  to 
open  the  paper  or  let  light  or  air  into  it  till 
I  would  reach  home.     As  soon  as  I  would 
reach  home  I  was  to  tell  my  uncle  to  put 
what  was  in  the  paper  into  a  bottle  of  water, 
and  that  he  was  to  sprinkle  the  water  over 

*  See  Series  LUH-KA,  p.  137,  quoted  by  R. 
Campbell  Thompson,  M.A.,  1904,  vol.  ii.  Intro- 
duction, Taboo,  pp.  xlii.,  xliii.  See  also  Frazer's 
Golden  Bough,  1900. 


THE  EVIL  EYE  AND  THE  SOLAR  EMBLEM. 


467 


the  horse,  repeating  its  name  three  times 
while  sprinkling  it.  He  was  then  to  pour  a 
little  into  each  of  its  ears,  and  the  rest,  if 
there  should  be  any  over,  he  was  to  put  in 
its  food.  These  were  her  directions,  and 
I  went  away  with  the  paper ;  but  two  people 
met  me  on  the  road  and  spoke  to  me.  I  did 
not  answer  them  properly,  for  I  was  afraid, 
but  just  said  '  iim,'  keeping  my  mouth  shut 
all  the  time.  I  had  strong  wish  to  see  what 
was  in  the  paper,  but  was  afraid  if  I  would 
let  in  light  or  air  it  would  be  of  no  use.  I 
resisted  the  temptation  till  I  was  nearly 
home,  and  then,  getting  behind  a  dyke,  I 
put  the  shawl  over  my  head  in  such  a  way 
that  neither  light  nor  air  could  get  in  the 
paper,  as  I  thought.  When  I  opened  the 
paper,  what  I  saw  were  three  wee  black  balls, 
black  as  soot,  just  like  balls  of  soot.  I  never 
let  on  at  home  that  I  had  opened  the  paper, 
and  my  uncle  did  all  as  he  was  ordered  to 
do,  and  after  a  while  the  horse  began  to  get 
better.  .  .  ."  In  the  above  an  express  pro- 
viso was  that  while  sprinkling  the  water  over 
the  horse  its  name  was  to  be  repeated  three 
times.  The  necessity  for  this  was  expressly 
laid  down  by  a  Sutherlandshire  reciter,  who 
said :  "  The  person  or  beast  to  be  cured  is 
made  to  drink  some  of  this  (silver  water),  and 
is  also  sprinkled  all  over  with  some  of  it. 
The  sprinkling  is  done  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity,  and  the  name  of  the  person  or  beast 
being  operated  upon  must  also  be  mentioned. 
This  is  all  that  is  needed  if  it  be  a  case  of 
Evil  Eye."* 

If  we  were  to  seek  more  exactly  the  imme- 
diate origin  of  this  superstition,  as  it  existed 
after  a  dualism  of  good  and  evil  had  been 
established  among  the  first  inhabitants  of  the 
earth,  it  may  be  suggested  that  it  was  those 
very  conditions  of  alternate  light  and  darkness 
which  produced  in  the  heart  of  man  a  desire 
to  protect  himself  from  the  invisible  enmity 
of  the  joyless  night.  And  in  this  sentiment 
was  generated  the  principle  of  self-protection, 
a  perverted  form  of  which  is  either  envy  or 
covetousness,  both  vices  consisting  in  looking 
upon  other  people's  possessions  with  an  evil 
eye.  Not  that  which  entereth  the  belly,  but 
into  the  heart,  defileth  a  man.    Covetousness 

*  "Taboo  when  in  Possession  of  Water" — Evil 
Eye  in  the  Western  Highlands,"  by  R.  C.  Maclagan, 
M.D.,  1902,  pp.  184-191. 


and  an  evil  eye  are,  in  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Mark,  mentioned  in  the  same  breath  with 
other  human  imperfections.  Thus,  to  cove- 
tousness, the  ill-regulated  desire  of  man  to 
acquire  knowledge  and  substance,  which 
have  since  become  outside  his  legitimate 
reach,  may  be  attributed  a  lasting  belief  in 
the  Evil  Eye.  Is  not  the  organ  of  vision 
the  first  member  to  be  employed  by  the 
criminal  in  the  attainment  of  his  object, 
taking  precedence  even  of  the  tongue  in 
evil-speaking,  so  far  so  that  to  the  afflicted 
blind  the  law  is  practically  non-existent? 
No  greater  punishment  could  be  devised 
by  the  mighty  than  that  illustrated  in  the 
Assyrian  monuments,  where  a  king  is  repre- 
sented as  putting  out  the  eyes  of  a  prisoner.* 
Nahash,  King  of  the  Ammonites,  put  out 
the  right  eyes  of  his  captives,  thus  making 
them  useless  in  war,  the  left  eye  being 
covered  by  the  shield  held  in  the  left  hand  ; 
and  the  evil  or  envious  eyes  of  Zedekiah, 
who  rebelled  against  the  King  of  Babylon, 
were  put  out  by  the  Chaldees.f  So  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  Evil  Eye  is  inseparably 
associated  in  Scripture  with  the  vices  of  envy 
and  covetousness,  as  they  are  banned  in  the 
last  clause  of  the  Decalogue.  The  man  of 
an  evil  eye  is  described  as  being  disturbed 
to  "get  rich,"  while  there  is  a  Scotch  pro- 
verb which  says,  "  It  is  hard  for  a  greedy 
eye  to  have  a  leal  heart."  Lord  Macaulay 
somewhere  truly  says  that  "  the  most  readily 
accepted  reports  are  those  which  detract 
from  greatness,  thereby  soothing  the  envy  of 
conscious  mediocrity." 

Then  it  was  found  that  the  sun  himself 
had  an  evil  eye,  as  may  be  observed  in  the 
myths  of  Polyphemos  and  Medusa.  His 
glance  produced  brain  fevers ;  and,  more- 
over, let  not  those  who  wish  to  avoid  the 
Evil  Eye  sleep  uncovered  beneath  the  smile 
of  the  moon,  for  her  glance  was  poisonous 
also,  and  produced  insupportable  itching  in 
the  eye,  and  not  infrequently  blindness.; 
In    Szekely  folk-medicine,   he  who  suffers 

*  Vide  Botta's  Nineveh,  plate  1 18,  quoted  in 
Bonomi's  Nineveh  and  its  Palaces  ;  also  illustrated  in 
McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopadia  of  Biblical  and 
Ecclesiastical  Literature. 

t  I  Sam.  xi.  2  ;  Josephus'  Antiquities  of  the  Jews, 
1806,  Bk.  VI.,  ch.  v.,  p.  130;  and  Zech.  ix.  17. 

\  The  Zincali,  by  George  Borrow,  1846,  p.  86 ; 
and  Folk- Lore  Journal,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  103,  104. 

3N   2 


468 


AN  ANCIENT  BURIAL-PLACE. 


from  sunstroke  is  said  to  have  a  blind  sun  on 
his  head  ;  and  in  the  incantation  for  its  cure 
this  blind  sun  is  called  upon  to  get  out  of  the 
sufferer's  head,  or  the  great  sun  will  overtake 
him  on  the  road.*  Samson,  the  hero  whose 
solar  character  Steinthal  has  raised  above  all 
doubt,  ends  his  career  by  being  made  blind. t 
And  by  the  same  writer  Cain  and  Abel  are 
identified  with  day  and  night,  with  light  and 
darkness,  and  with  agriculture  and  shepherd 
life.  David  was  "  ruddy  and  fair  of  eyes,"! 
a  conception  of  beauty  scarcely  conformable 
to  the  Hebrew  ideal.  Perhaps  he,  like  Cain, 
became,  as  a  red-haired  solar  hero,  identical 
with  the  sun,  since  Cain  is  associated  with 
the  agricultural  day,  while  Abel  was  a  "keeper 
of  sheep  "  by  night.  And  did  not  Cain,  as  a 
prelude  to  the  tragedy,  cast  an  envious  eye 
on  the  firstlings  of  Abel's  flock  ?  Esau  also 
comes  under  this  solar  suspicion. 

In  the  myth  of  Polyphemos,  to  which 
Mr.  Lang  assigns  an  antiquity  long  pre- 
Homeric,§  the  evil  eye  of  that  monster,  the 
sun,  in  his  malignant  aspect,  is  put  out 
by  Odysseus,  the  solar  hero ;  and  this  myth 
reappears  in  German  mythology  in  the 
legend  of  the  devil's  death  by  blinding,  the 
blinded  devil  again  reappearing  in  Grimm's 
story  of  "  The  Robber  and  His  Sons";ij  while 
the  Suil  Bhalair  (Balar's  Eye)  of  the  Irish 
legend,  whose  enemies  were  petrified  by  his 
basilisk  glance,  and  whence  the  Irish  call  an 
evil  or  overlooking  eye — "  Suil  Bhalair" — to 
this  day,U  is  but  a  reproduction  of  the  blinded 
cyclops  of  the  Homeric  fable. 

*  Folk-Lore  Journal,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  103,  104. 

t  Goldziher's  Mythology  among  the  Hebrews, 
1877,  P-  "O. 

%  Ibid. 

§  When  we  find  the  Homeric  story  of  Odysseus 
destroying  the  eye  of  Polyphemos  among  Oghuzians, 
Esthonians,  Basques,  and  Celts,  it  seems  natural  to 
suppose  that  these  people  did  not  break  a  fragment 
out  of  the  Odyssey,  but  that  the  author  of  the  Odyssey 
took  possession  of  a  legend  out  of  the  great  traditional 
store  of  fiction.  See  Introduction,  The  Odyssey, 
Butcher  and  Lang,  1879,  P-  xiy- 

||  Grimm's  Teutonic  Mythology,  and  Cox's  Aryan 
Mythology. 

IT  Irish  Folk-lore,  by  Lageniensis,  p.  173  ;  Ulster 
Journal  of  Archeology,  vol.  i.,  pp.  114,  115;  and 
Bentley's  Miscellany,  November,  1837.  The  Brazilian 
tribes  have  a  bird  of  evil  eye,  which  kills  with  its 
looks.  See  Origin  of  Primitive  Superstitions,  by 
A.  M.  Dorman,  p.  284.  In  the  Avesta  the  look  of 
the  courtezan  is  said  to  dry  up  the  waters  and  wither 
the  vegetation  {Vendiddd,  Fargard  XVIII.,  62-64). 


an  ancient  16tmal#lacc. 

Bv  Audrey  Foster. 


IGH  on  that  eastern  hill  which  forms 
one  natural  bulwark  of  the  Darent 
Valley  stands  the  ancient  cemetery 
of  St.  Edmund's,  which  for  many 
centuries  has  overlooked  the  clustering  colony 
of  Dartford  town.  A  glorious  prospect  of 
fair  and  fertile  Kentish  country-side  can  be 
enjoyed  from  this  eminence,  and  within  the 
burial  ground  itself  one  can  forget  the  near 
neighbourhood  of  electric  cars  and  busy 
factories,  and  muse  and  moralize  to  the 
heart's  content. 

The  Romans,  who  buried  their  dead  upon 
each  side  of  the  highway,  used  the  borders 
of  the  adjacent  portion  of  Watling  Street  for 
funeral  purposes,  and  in  very  early  Saxon 
times  a  church  was  erected  in  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Old  Burial-Ground. 

After  the  death  (in  870)  and  canonization 
of  Edmund,  King  and  Martyr,  a  new  chapel 
arose.  All  interments  ceased  on  the  opposite 
section,  and  St.  Edmund's  Cemetery  became 
the  Upper  Churchyard,  thus  distinguish- 
ing it  from  the  church  which  forms  so  in- 
teresting a  relic  of  antiquity  immediately 
below. 

The  sanctuary  on  the  hill  was  one  of  three 
similar  buildings  enumerated  in  Domesday 
Book,  and  from  very  early  days  the  main 
roadway  upwards  upon  this  eastern  side  be- 
came recognized  as  "  St.  Edmunde's  Weye." 

At  the  Ford  of  Darent,  close  to  that  spot 
whence  the  ascent  begins,  Canterbury  pil- 
grims ^crossed,  assisted  by  the  Hermit  of 
Dartford,  whose  fascinating  history  deserves 
an  article  to  itself. 

These  mediaeval  travellers,  who  showed 
remarkable  aptitude  in  combining  a  religious 
exercise  with  pleasant  and  sometimes  ex- 
citing recreation,  passed  near  the  ancient 
cemetery,  wending  their  cautious  way  along 
a  part  of  Watling  Street,  which  curves  in 
leafy  shade  upwards,  and  still  bears  the 
name  of  Pilgrims'  Lane. 

Churchyards  were  introduced  into  this 
country  (from  an  example  seen  at  Rome)  by 
Cuthbert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  742, 
but  did  not  become  general  till  long  after. 
For  many  centuries  even  of  the  Christian 


AN  ANCIENT  BURIAL-PLACE. 


469 


era,  hillocks  or  mounds  were  the  only 
memorials  used  in  outdoor  burials,  and  well- 
to-do  persons  often  preferred  to  be  buried 
within  the  church  itself.  Thus  we  see  that 
a  certain  Joan  Moonlight,  of  Dartford,  in 
1444  willed  to  be  interred  inside  the  Church 
of  St.  Edmund.  In  1466  Christiana  at 
Dene  arranged  for  burial  within  the  same 
place,  near  the  body  of  John,  her  son,  and 
gave  "to  the  light  of  the  crucifix"  i2d. ; 
whilst  Edmund  Chymbham  bequeathed  8d. 


the  shades  of  night  held  terrors  in  the  Middle 
Ages  which  we  can  hardly  realize.  Even  as 
late  as  1696  it  is  recorded  that  2s.  6d.  was 
paid  for  six  pounds  of  candles,  which  were 
set  upon  the  church  wall  and  bridge  to  light 
the  King  (William  III.)  "through  the  river"; 
and  on  another  occasion  is.  6d.  for  six  links 
to  illuminate  his  passage  down  this  same 
East  Hill. 

For    a    hundred    years,    then,    after    the 
Reformation  wealthy  people,  at  all  events, 


OLD  BURIAL   GROUND,    DARTFORD  :   OLDEST  TOMB  ON   RIGHT. 


to  mend  the  great  window,  and  John  Wools 
left  3s.  4d.  to  make  a  new  one. 

In  1547  prayers  for  the  dead  ceased, 
chantries  were  closed,  and  St.  Edmund's — 
stripped  of  crucifixes,  chalices,  and  images 
— was  suffered  to  fall  into  decay. 

For  a  century  after  its  spoliation  this 
upper  cemetery  was  practically  deserted, 
and,  in  fact,  at  nightfall  it  became  utterly 
shunned  as  an  abode  of  ghosts,  whose  shrieks 
and  moans  were  said  to  rend  the  air.  Amidst 
the  double  darkness  of  superstition  and 
Nature  it  is  scarcely  surprising  that  this  for- 
saken spot  was  a  region  of  dread.     Indeed, 


chose  to  be  buried  within  the  lower  church- 
yard, or  inside  the  parish  church  ;  but  when 
the  latter  ground  became  full,  recourse  was 
necessary  to  the  ancient  upper  cemetery. 

About  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  gravestones  and  outdoor  tombs 
came  into  use,  and  the  oldest  inscription  at 
this  spot  is  in  memory  of  William  Kemp 
(shown  in  the  photograph),  dated  1696. 
Like  all  ancient  stones,  it  is  low,  and  a 
favourite  symbol  adorns  it — that  of  the  hour- 
glass. Another  frequent  emblem  is  the 
serpent,  that  either  coils  across  the  stone  or 
curls,  tail   in   mouth,   symbolizing   eternity. 


47o 


AN  ANCIENT  BURIAL-PLACE. 


Many  of  the  stones  which  successive  genera- 
tions reared  are  curiously  shaped,  with 
numerous  curves  and  other  antique  sym- 
metrical adornment. 

A  quaint  epitaph  records  the  death  of  a 
girl  in  1 741  : 

Here  lies  interred  Elizabeth  Quelch, 

A  maid  not  twenty-three. 
In  Dartford  born,  and  there  she  died, 

As  you  above  may  see. 

For  in  that  fatal  April  month, 

Upon  the  nineteenth  day, 
A  sore  distemper  then  did  rage, 

Which  took  her  life  away. 

This  malady  is  supposed  to  have  been  small- 
pox. 

A  memorial  of  James  Gibson  relates  that 
he  died  in  his  "  106th  year  from  bap- 
tism." 

A  man  of  some  national  celebrity  is 
interred  in  the  Old  Burial-Ground — namely, 
Richard  Trevithick,  a  Cornish  engineer,  who 
died  at  the  Bull  Inn,  Dartford,  on  April  26, 
1833,  aged  sixty-two,  not  far  from  the  street 
that  bears  his  name.  This  person's  curious 
and  interesting  experiences  in  connexion 
with  silver-mines  in  Peru  are  recorded  in 
Dunkin's  history  of  the  neighbourhood. 
Summoned  to  assist  in  mining  engineering, 
he  became  a  very  prominent  figure  in 
Peruvian  affairs,  and  his  income  is  said  to 
have  reached  ^100,000  a  year!  But  this 
condition  of  affluence  suddenly  ceased, 
when,  on  the  outbreak  of  revolution,  he  was 
forced  to  flee  for  life,  leaving  his  riches 
behind.  He  entered  Hall's  engineering 
works  as  a  mechanic,  and  died  in  poverty. 

John  Dunkin  himself  is  buried  here,  an 
antiquarian  of  note.  His  History  of  Dart- 
ford is  a  monument  of  patient  research,  and 
the  original  edition  has  become  of  consider- 
able value. 

A  somewhat  ambiguous  epitaph  com- 
memorates John  Powell,  "a  long  and  re- 
spectable inhabitant." 

By  1788  nothing  remained  above  ground 
of  St.  Edmund's  Chapel,  which  stood  nearly 
in  the  centre  of  the  upper  cemetery. 

A  conspicuous  object  is  the  Martyrs' 
Memorial,  however,  erected  to  the  memory 
of  three  local  victims  of  Marian  persecution. 

Nicholas  Waid,  a  linen- weaver,  was  burned 


on  the  Brent,  a  wide-spreading  common  in 
those  days  called  the  "Brimpth." 

On  July  17,  1555,  crowds  of  country  folks 
assembled  at  the  spot,  and  horse-loads  of 
cherries  were  brought  for  them  to  purchase. 
On  the  same  morning  Margery  Polley, 
another  Dartford  worthy,  was  conducted  to- 
wards Tonbridge  to  meet  a  like  fate.  For  a 
while  she  and  the  man  rode  side  by  side, 
and  later  she  was  detained  in  custody  till  the 
Sheriff  had  completed  his  offices  on  the 
Brent.  As  they  saw  the  massing  multitude 
she  cried :  "  You  may  rejoice,  Waid,  to  see 
such  a  company  gathered  to  celebrate  your 
marriage  this  day !" 

Stripped  of  his  clothes  at  an  inn  on  the 
road,  VVaid's  wife,  poor  soul !  provided  him 
with  a  long  white  shirt,  home-woven,  clad  in 
which  he  embraced  and  kissed  the  stake. 
When  fastened  to  it  he  prayed  in  a  cheerful 
voice,  "  Show  me  some  token  for  good,"  and, 
with  eyes  uplifted,  bravely  suffered  and  died, 
whilst  even  after  death  his  hands  remained 
upraised  to  heaven. 

This  same  road  by  which  Waid  passed  to 
martyrdom  was  traversed  on  many  interest- 
ing occasions.  Along  it,  in  1382,  came  Ann, 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Bohemia,  who 
astonished  the  townsfolk  by  riding  side- 
saddle through  Dartford,  instead  of  sitting 
astride  her  horse.  At  a  later  period  rode 
Anne  of  Cleves,  after  making  an  unpropitious 
entrance  into  England  ;  and  to  Dartford  she 
travelled  again  when  the  disappointed 
monarch  had  arranged  for  her  residence 
there,  in  the  ancient  priory,  not  far  from 
which  a  modern  street  is  called  by  her  name. 
Royal  progresses  upon  the  old  highway 
between  London  and  Dover  were  of  frequent 
occurrence  in  history,  and  on  each  such 
occasion  the  pageant  passed  hard  by  the  Old 
Burial-Ground.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  spot  abound- 
ing in  associations  with  the  past,  and  one 
that  will  certainly  charm  the  observant 
visitor. 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


47* 


at  tbe  §)ign  of  tbe  £DtoL 

The  pleasant  custom,  borrowed 
from  the  Continent,  of  cele- 
brating the  birthday  of  a  dis- 
tinguished scholar  by  present- 
ing him  with  a  volume  of  essays, 
more  or  less  closely  related  to 
his  own  subjects,  written  by  a 
band  of  fellow-students  and 
scholars,  has  its  latest  exempli- 
fication in  the  volume  of  anthro- 
pological essays  (published  by  the  Clarendon 
Press)  presented  to  Professor  E.  B.  Tylor  in 
honour  of  his  seventy  -  fifth  birthday,  on 
October  2.  The  volume,  which  came  as  a 
complete  surprise  to  the  learned  author  of 
Primitive  Culture,  contained  an  unorthodox 
biographical  introduction  by  Mr.  Andrew 
Lang,  and  a  series  of  papers  by  twenty 
scholars,  including  such  distinguished  names 
as  those  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Frazer,  Professor  A.  C. 
H addon,  Sir  John  Rhys,  Messrs.  C.  H. 
Read,  E.  Sidney  Hartland,  N.  W.  Thomas, 
Henry  Balfour,  A.  E.  Crawley,  J.  L.  Myres, 
and  W.  H.  R.  Rivers. 

^*  i2r*  t&* 

In  his  introduction  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  well 
remarks  :  "  On  re-perusing  the  long  familiar 
pages  of  Primitive  Culture  one  is  constantly 
impressed  anew  by  their  readableness. 
Never  sinking  to  the  popular,  Mr.  Tylor 
never  ceases  to  be  interesting,  so  vast  and 
varied  are  his  stores  of  learning,  so  abundant 
his  wealth  of  apposite  and  accurate  illustra- 
tion. Ten  years  was  this  work  in  the 
writing,  and  it  may  be  said  that  le  temps  ny 
mord ;  that  though  much  has  been  learned 
in  the  last  thirty  years,  no  book  can  ever 
supersede  Primitive  Culture.  It  teaches  us 
that,  in  examining  the  strangest  institutions 
and  beliefs,  we  are  not  condemned  a  chercher 
raison  oil  il  ny  en  a  pas,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
supposed.  The  most  irrational  -  seeming 
customs  were  the  product  of  reason  like  our 
own,  working  on  materials  imperfectly  appre- 
hended, and  under  stress  of  needs  which  it 
is  our  business  to  discover,  though  they  have 
faded  from  the  memories  of  the  advanced 
savages  of  to-day.  We  must  ever  make  allow- 
ance for  the  savage  habit  of  pushing  ideas  to 
their  logical  conclusions,  a  habit  which  our 


English  characteristics  make  us  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  understand.  We  are  also  made  to 
see  that  man  is,  and  will  continue  to  be,  a 
religious  animal.  .  .  .  Mankind,  deprived 
of  religion,  would  begin  again  at  the  begin- 
ning, 

For  ghosts  will  walk,  and  in  their  train 
Bring  old  religion  back  again. 

While  Primitive  Culture  is  the  basis  of  '  Mr. 
Tylor's  Science,'  as  Mr.  Max  Miiller  called 
it,  he  has  made  many  other  valuable  addi- 
tions to  knowledge." 

1£r*  t£r*  1&* 

Another  work  of  literary  and  antiquarian 
interest  just  issued  by  the  Clarendon  Press 
is  Mr.  Pearsall  Smith's  The  Life  and  Letters 
of  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  in  two  volumes.  Mr. 
Henry  Frowde  remarks  that  "  No  one  has 
yet  attempted  to  re-edit  the  letters  and 
papers  that  Izaak  Walton  added  to  Wotton's 
essays  and  poems  printed  in  the  Reliquice 
Wottoniana,  although  this  book  has  always 
been  prized  by  lovers  of  seventeenth  century 
literature,  and  the  need  of  a  new  edition  has 
often  been  remarked.  '  His  dispatches,' 
Carlyle  wrote  of  Wotton  in  his  Frederick  the 
Great,  'are  they  in  the  Paper  Office  still? 
His  good  old  book  deserves  new  editing, 
and  his  good  old  genially  pious  life  a  proper 
elucidation  by  some  faithful  man.'  When 
Mr.  Pearsall  Smith  undertook  the  task  for 
the  Clarendon  Press,  he  found  it  of  greater 
magnitude  than  he  had  thought,  and  he  has 
traced  altogether  nearly  one  thousand  of 
Wotton's  letters  and  dispatches,  published 
and  unpublished." 

^"  <^"  <^* 

Sir  Henry  Wotton's  poetical  baggage  is 
small,  but  it  contains  some  beautiful  lyrics. 
Two  of  these  have  found  places  in  most  of 
the  anthologies.  Best  known,  probably,  are 
the  lines  to  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
beginning  with  the  stanza  : 

You  meaner  beauties  of  the  night, 
That  poorly  satisfy  our  eyes 

More  by  your  number  than  your  light, 
You  common  people  of  the  skies, 
What  are  you,  when  the  moon  shall  rise? 

Not  quite  so  well  known,  perhaps,  but  finer 
to  my  mind,  is  Wotton's  "  Character  of  a 


47* 


AT  THE  SIGN  OF  THE  OWL. 


Happy  Life."  There  are  six  stanzas,  of 
which  the  first  and  last  are  : 

How  happy  is  he  born  and  taught 

That  serveth  not  another's  will  ; 
Whose  armour  is  his  honest  thought, 

And  simple  truth  his  utmost  skdl ! 
***** 
— This  man  is  freed  from  servile  bands 

Of  hope  to  rise,  or  fear  to  fall  ; 
Lord  of  himself,  though  not  of  lands  ; 

And  having  nothing,  yet  hath  all. 

%2r^  l2r*  t&* 

Folk-lorists  and  anthropologists,  and  all  who 
know  the  value  of  that  extraordinary  book, 
Dr.  J.  G.  Frazer's  The  Golden  Bough,  will 
be  interested  to  learn  that  in  the  promised 
third  edition  it  will  take  a  new  form.  The 
author's  materials  have  so  increased  upon 
his  hands  that  he  proposes,  while  retaining 
the  general  title  of  The  Golden  Bough,  to 
issue  the  work  in  a  series  of  monographs. 
The  contemplated  distribution  is  as  follows  : 
(i)  "The  Magic  Art  and  the  Evolution  of 
Kings  ";  (2)  "  The  Perils  of  the  Soul  and 
the  Doctrine  of  Taboo";  (3)  "The  Dying 
God ";  (4)  "  Adonis,  Attis,  Osiris "; 
(5) "  Balder  the  Beautiful."  Of  these  mono- 
graphs, the  fourth  is  already  published  in  a 
second  enlarged  edition,  and  the  first  two 
and  a  considerable  part  of  the  third  are  in 
type.  It  is  hoped  to  issue  the  first  two  in 
the  course  of  next  year,  and  the  remaining 
two  by  the  end  of  1909.  It  may  be  noted 
that  The  Golden  Bough  was  first  published 
in  two  volumes  in  1890  ;  the  second  edition, 
in  three  volumes,  did  not  appear  until  1900. 

Q£r*  14^  l2^ 

An  important  sale  of  prints  was  announced 
to  take  place  at  Leipzig  from  November  26 
to  28.  Mr.  Boerner's  catalogue  contained 
excellent  reproductions  of  some  of  the  rarer 
examples  of  French  and  Dutch  engravings  of 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 
The  collection  was  strongest  in  French 
eighteenth-century  work ;  but  this  country 
was  also  represented.  Menzel  drawings 
were  to  be  sold  on  the  first  day. 

ttfji  ^"  t^" 

Messrs.  Otto  Schulze  and  Company,  Edin- 
burgh, send  me  Vol.  vii.,  Part  iii.,  of  the 
Book-Lover  s  Magazine,  a  large-sized,  well 
illustrated  bi-monthly.  The  chief  paper,  by 
Mr.  G.  Chrystal,  deals  with  "  Recent  English 


Bookbindings,"  with  no  less  than  twenty- 
nine  illustrations  that  will  delight  the  eyes  of 
bibliophiles.  Some  of  the  bindings  here 
illustrated  are  strikingly  beautiful;  one  of 
a  copy  of  the  Rubaiyat,  hand -tooled  by 
Messrs.  F.  Sangorski  and  G.  Sutcliffe,  is 
gorgeous.  Some  of  the  best  are  the  work  of 
the  publishers  themselves,  Messrs.  Otto 
Schulze  and  Co.  Among  the  other  contents 
are  "  William  Thorn,  the  Weaver,"  by  Mr. 
Arthur  Symons  ;  "  English  Translations  of 
Calderon,"  by  Mr.  L.  Spence ;  "  Modelled 
Bookbindings,"  by  Miss  A.  S.  Macdonald ; 
and  the  first  instalment  of  some  "  Notes 
towards  a  Bibliography  of  Swinburne 
Criticism,"  by  Mr.  Blaikie  Murdoch.  The 
Book-Lover  s  Magazine  justifies  its  name. 

l2&  njr*  1£r* 

The  redecorated  Reading  Room  of  the  British 
Museum  was  opened  to  readers  on  Novem- 
ber 1.  The  effect  of  the  new  decorations  is 
striking.  Broadly  speaking,  the  entire  upper 
dome  has  been  treated  as  one  mass,  and 
painted  white,  relieved  only  by  lines  on  the 
ribs,  by  a  circlet  of  decorative  lines  round 
the  great  central  skylight,  and  by  a  plain 
circlet  running  right  round  the  base,  all  of 
which  are  in  gold.  A  broad  gold  band  at 
the  line  of  the  springing  of  the  windows 
round  the  dome  forms  the  starting-point  of 
the  "  white  "  treatment  above.  Below  it  all 
surfaces  are  treated  alike  in  a  tint  of  old 
gold,  relieved  with  bright  gold  here  and 
there.  The  panels  between  the  windows 
round  the  dome  bear  great  names  in  English 
literature,  picked  out  on  a  gold  ground. 
These  names  are  Chaucer,  Caxton,  Tindale, 
Spenser,  Shakespeare,  Bacon,  Milton,  Locke, 
Addison,  Swift,  Pope,  Gibbon,  Wordsworth, 
Scott,  Byron,  Carlyle,  Macaulay,  Tennyson, 
and  Browning.  I  am  not  surprised  that  this 
choice  of  names  has  been  made  the  subject 
of  considerable  and  unfavourable  criticism. 

4^*  *3^  1*r* 

At  the  November  meeting  of  the  Biblio- 
graphical Society  Mr.  J.  P.  Gilson  read  a 
paper  on  "  The  Library  of  Henry  Savile." 
The  next  meeting  will  be  held  on  Decem- 
ber 16,  when  two  papers  will  be  given — 
*'  English  Fifteenth-Century  Single  Sheets," 
by  Mr.  Gordon  Duff;  and  "A  Census  of 
Caxtons,"  by  Mr.  Seymour  de  Ricci. 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


473 


Many  students  of  seventeenth-century  history 
will  be  interested  to  hear  that  in  the  coming 
month  (December)  the  authorities  of  the 
British  Museum  will  publish  Thomason's 
own  catalogue  of  his  great  collection  of 
Civil  War  Tracts,  now  in  the  Museum  Library, 
with  a  preface  by  Mr.  G.  K.  Fortescue.  It 
may  be  noted,  by  the  way,  that  Thomason 
dated  every  pamphlet  and  paper  he  received. 

i^P*  t2P  t£* 

Messrs.  Archibald  Constable  and  Co.  are 
about  to  publish  the  Index  of  Archaeological 
Papers,  1665-1890,  the  compilation  of  which 
has  occupied  the  editor,  Mr.  G.  L.  Gomme, 
F.S.A.,  for  some  twenty-five  years.  Gathered 
into  a  single  volume  for  the  first  time,  this 
index  is  a  guide  to  all  that  has  been  gleaned 
concerning  our  country's  rich  archaeological 
and  historical  remains  by  some  ninety 
learned  societies.  It  finishes  where  the 
Annual  Index,  published  by  the  Congress  of 
Archaeological  Societies,  begins,  so  that  there 
will  now  exist  a  continuous  index  from  the 
first  publications  in  the  philosophical  trans- 
actions of  the  Royal  Society  down  to  the 
present  time.  The  index  is  published  under 
the  direction  of  the  Congress  of  Archaeo- 
logical Societies  in  union  with  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries. 

Q^p*  i2^*  t&^* 

Among  many  other  forthcoming  publications 
of  antiquarian  interest  I  note  a  re-issue  in 
three  volumes  of  Miss  Arnold- Forster's 
Studies  in  Church  Dedications  (Skeffington 
and  Sons) ;  and  a  new  edition,  enlarged, 
of  Mrs.  C.  C.  Stopes's  Shakespeare 's  War- 
wickshire Contemporaries,  to  be  issued,  very 
appropriately,  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Bullen  at  the 
Shakespeare  Head  Press,  Stratford-on-Avon. 

BlBLIOTHECARY. 


antiquarian  iftetos. 

[  We  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information  from  our  readers 
for  insertion  under  this  heading.] 

SALE. 

Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge  sold 
on  the  4th  and  5th  inst.  the  following  books  from 
the  library  of  the  Earl  of  Sheffield :  Angas's  South 
Australian  and  The  New  Zealanders,  illustrated, 
2  vols.,  1847,^25  10s. ;  Breydenbach,  Sanctarum 
Peregrinationum  in  Montem  Syon,  etc.,  Opusculum, 
VOL.  III. 


first  Latin  edition,  Mogunt,  i486,  slightly  defective, 
£61  ;  D.  Denton's  A  Brief  Description  of  New  York 
(13  11.),  1670,  ^380;  Eliot  and  Mayhew's  Tears  of 
Repentance  on  the  Progress  of  the  Gospel  amongst 
the  Indians  of  New  England,  1653,  ^17  17s.;  Strength 
out  of  Weakness,  or  the  Further  Progress  of  the 
Gospel  amongst  the  Indians,  1652,  £2$;  Goldsmith's 
Retaliation,  first  edition,  1774,  ^24;  She  Stoops  to 
Conquer,  first  issue  of  first  edition,  1773,  £16  ;  Hak- 
luyt  Society's  Publications,  52  vols.,  1847-54,  ,£44; 
Hamors's  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1615,  ^10  10s.  ; 
Hasted's  Kent,  ^20  5s.  ;  Higginson's  New  England's 
Plantation,  second  edition  (14  11.),  1630,  ^"ioo ; 
Hubbard's  Present  State  of  New  England  (London 
map),  1677,  £50;  Lafontaine's  Contes  et  Nouvelles 
en  Vers,  Eisen's  plates,  2  vols.,  old  French  morocco, 
1762,  £2$  ;  Lechford's  Plain  Dealing,  or  News  from 
New  England,  1642,  £17  ;  Lucretius  in  Italian,  by 
Marchetti,  2  vols.,  finely  bound,  1754,  £17  17s.  ; 
Meyer's  British  Birds,  316  plates,  1835-41,  £\2>  10s.  ; 
Morton's  New  English  Canaan,  1637,^60;  A  List  of 
Queen  Elizabeth's  Ships,  and  other  Navy  Matters, 
MS.,  1632-33,  ^30  ;  A  Farther,  Briefer,  and  True 
Relation  of  the  Late  Wars  in  New  England  (6  11.), 
1676,  ^109  ;  A  True  Relation  of  the  Late  Battle 
fought  in  New  England  between  the  English  and 
the  Pequet  Salvages  (14  11.),  1637-38,  ^83;  Mather's 
Brief  History  of  the  War  with  the  Indians,  1675-76 
(34  11.),  1676,  £19  ;  First  Principles  of  New  England 
on  Baptism  and  Communion  (28  11.),  1675,  £\"j  10s, ; 
News  from  New  England :  an  Account  of  the  Present 
Bloody  Wars  betwixt  the  Infidels,  etc.  (4  11.),  1676, 
;£ii8  ;  The  Planter's  Plea,  on  the  Plantation  of  New 
England  (44  11.),  1630,  ^24;  Robarts's  Haigh  for 
Devonshire,  1600,  ^20  10s.  ;  Sowerby's  English 
Botany,  37  vols.,  ^22  ;  Stedman's  American  War, 
with  numerous  notes  by  General  Sir  H.  Clinton, 
1794,  ^26;  Underbill's  News  from  America  (23  11. 
and  folding  plate),  1638,  ,£245  ;  Strange  News  from 
Virginia  of  a  Great  Tempest  (4  11.),  1667,  ^21  ; 
Strange  News  from  Virginia  of  the  Life  and  Death 
of  Nathaniel  Bacon,  Esq.  (4  11.),  1677,  ^99  ;  Wins- 
low's  Good  Newes  from  New  England  (39  11.),  1624, 
^250. — Athenaum,  November  9. 

PUBLICATIONS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
The  new  part  of  the  fournal  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  Ireland,  Vol.  XXXVII.,  Part  3,  is 
noteworthy  for  a  long  and  comprehensive  survey,  with 
many  fine  illustrations,  of  the  "Ancient  Buildings  and 
Crosses  at  Clonmacnois,"  by  Mr.  T.  J.  Westropp. 
Clonmacnois  was  much  more  than  a  monastery  ;  it 
was  a  monastic  city  long  ago,  with  a  cluster  of 
churches,  oratories,  towers,  and  crosses  standing  very 
nearly  in  the  centre  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Westropp  has 
here  accomplished  a  useful,  if  most  laborious,  piece  of 
work.  Mr.  G.  H.  Orpen  contributes  an  illustrated 
paper  on  "  Athlone  Castle  :  Its  Early  History,  with 
Notes  on  Some  Neighbouring  Castles"  ;  and  the  usual 
miscellaneous  notes  and  accounts  of  excursions  com- 
plete a  good  number. 

«©$  «•$  -©§ 

Part  XI.  of  the  Bradford  Antiquary,  1907 — no  part 
appeared  last  year — testifies  to  the  continued  activity 

30 


474 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


of  the  flourishing  little  Bradford  Historical  and  Anti- 
quarian Society.  Mr.  H.  F.  Killick  writes  at  length 
on  "  The  Duchy  of  Lancaster  and  the  Manor  of 
Bradford"  (with  plan);  Mr.  W.  Scruton  covers  a 
good  deal  of  ground  in  a  short  paper  on  "  Baildon  "  ; 
and  in  "The  Bradford  Newspaper  Press"  Mr.  Butler 
Wood  makes  an  interesting  contribution  to  the  history 
of  provincial  journalism  ;  Mr.  C.  A.  Federer  discusses 
a  theme  of  perennial  interest  in  a  readable  contribu- 
tion on  "Robin  Hood  :  Myth  or  History?"  and  also 
sends  a  brief  memorial  notice  of  the  late  Mr.  William 
Cudworth.  Continuations  are  given  of  the  late  Mr. 
T.  T.  Empsall's  transcript  of  the  "  Burial  Register  of 
Bradford  Parish  Church  "  and  of  Mr.  Federer's  "West 
Riding  Cartulary." 

*$  <•£  +§ 

The  Journal  of  the  Cork  Historical  and  Archczological 
Society,  July  to  September,  contains  a  chatty,  anec- 
dotal paper  on  "Innishannon  and  its  Neighbour- 
hood," by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Cole ;  a  lightly  touched 
discourse  on  "Antiquaries  and  Antiquaries,"  by 
Canon  Courtenay  Moore  ;  a  brief  account,  by  Mr. 
James  Buckley,  of  "An  Ogham  Stone  recently  dis- 
covered at  Greenhill,  Co.  Cork";  a  genealogical 
paper  on  "The  Family  of  Limrick,  of  Schull,  Co. 
Cork,"  by  the  Rev.  H.  L.  L.  Denny ;  and  a  continua- 
tion of  Canon  O'Mahony's  "  History  of  the  O'Mahony 
Septs."  Mr.  Robert  Day  sends  two  notes  of  some 
importance — one  on  a  primitive  bog-oak  spade  (illus- 
trated), made  of  one  piece,  which  was  found  12  feet 
below  the  surface  in  peat  in  Co.  Cork  ;  and  the  other 
on  a  recent  discovery  of  two  gold  fibula,  two  bronze 
socketed  celts,  and  a  number  of  beads,  said  at  first  to  be 
gold,  but  probably  of  amber,  all  unearthed  last  June  on 
land  held  by  a  widow  in  Co.  Cork.  Mr.  Day  says  :  "  It 
is  remarkable  that  when  gold  ornaments  are  found  by 
the  peasantry  they  are  invariably  supposed  to  be  brass, 
while,  on  the  contrary,  those  of  bronze  are  mistaken 
for  gold.  In  this  case  the  fibula  was  described  to  me 
as  either  a  brass  hall-door  knocker  or  the  handle  of  a 
drawer." 

+$  +$  *>$ 

In  the  new  part  of  the  Journal  of  the  Friends'  Historical 
Society,  vol.  iv.,  No.  4,  there  is  given,  with  comments, 
an  unpublished  letter  of  Hannah  Penn,  the  second  wife 
of  William  Penn,  dated  1715,  in  which  she  remarks, 
among  other  details  in  wonderful  spelling,  that  her 
husband  was  "much  pleasd  wth  the  Orringfe]  Wine 
and  Greatly  delighted  with  the  Cittron  water,  which 
of  all  Cordialls  is  his  favourite  one."  The  notes  on 
"  Quaker  Allusions  in  '  Pepys's  Diary ' "  are  con- 
tinued, as  are  the  "  Presentations  of  Quakers  in  Epis- 
copal Visitations,  1662-79."  The  number  also 
contains  a  variety  of  brief  notes  relating  to  the  early 
history  and  persecutions  of  the  Friends,  besides  biblio- 
graphical notes  on  "  Friends  in  Current  Literature." 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 

British  Numismatic  Society.— October  23. — Mr. 
Carlyon-Britton,  President,  in  the  chair.— The  Pre- 
sident read  a  monograph  upon  "  The  Berkeley  Mint  in 
Gloucestershire,"  in  which  he  was  able  to  adduce 
evidence  from  the  charters  of  Henry  II.,   Richard, 


John,  and  Edward  I.,  that  the  right  of  coining  was 
granted  and  confirmed  to  the  Fitzhardings  of  Berkeley 
from  about  the  year  1 1 54  to  that  of  1230;  and  to 
prove  by  inference  that  this  was  but  the  continuance 
of  a  privilege  enjoyed  by  the  town  from  at  least  the 
time  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  When  he  commenced 
his  researches,  only  three  coins  of  this  mint  were 
believed  to  exist,  but  he  had  been  able  to  compile  the 
following  list  of  early  silver  pennies  :  Edward  the 
Confessor,  Hawkins,  No.  220,  +EDGAR  ON  beorc  ; 
another  similar,  but  reading  bercle  ;  No.  221, 
+   DRSIIE  ON  HEOR  ;  No.  227,   +   EDGAR  ON  BEORC  ; 

William  I.,  Hawkins,  No.  242,  +  lifpine  on 
BARCI  (for  Barck).  Henry  III.,  Hawkins,  No.  287, 
—  AND  ON  BERi  (probably  for  rand  =  randvl  on 
Bark),  The  last  coin  had  previously  been  attributed 
to  Berwick,  but  that  town  was  not  then  an  English 
possession. — Fleet-Surgeon  A.  E.  Weightman  con- 
tributed a  comprehensive  treatise  on  the  bronze  coin- 
age of  Queen  Victoria,  1 860-1 901.  In  this  paper  the 
writer  disclosed  the  almost  endless  varieties  of  dies 
which  have  been  used  to  produce  the  present  result  as 
represented  on  our  pennies,  halfpennies,  and  farthings 
of  to-day.  When  the  harder  bronze  metal  superseded 
the  copper  in  i860,  it  necessitated  a  series  of  experi- 
mental dies  before  one  was  finally  adopted  ;  thus, 
during  the  first  two  years  there  were  constant  changes 
of  detail.  The  design  then  selected  remained  in  use 
until  1873,  when  during  the  following  nine  years  there 
was  again  a  period  of  continuous  alteration  until  the 
present  form  emerged.  In  all,  apart  from  the  usual 
date  progression,  the  writer  was  able  to  instance  the 
use  of  nearly  150  varieties  of  dies,  most  of  which  he 
exhibited,  and  many  were  illustrated  on  lantern-slides. 
— Mr.  Bernard  Roth  read  a  short  account  of  a  hoard 
of  at  least  100  English  coins  found  at  Brunnen,  near 
Lucerne,  Switzerland.  Unfortunately  nearly  all  had 
found  their  way  to  the  crucible,  but  five  were  examined 
by  him,  and  comprised:  Edward  III.,  two  groats 
and  a  half-groat  of  the  annulet  coinage  and  London 
Mint  ;  Richard  II.,  penny  of  the  York  Mint,  and 
another  with  lys  on  the  King's  breast. — Dr.  G.  A. 
Auden  exhibited  an  interesting  find  of  Northumbrian 
relics  of  the  ninth  century,  from  the  Castle  Gate, 
York,  consisting  of  stycasol  Eanred  and  Ethelred  II., 
and  a  small  leaden  cross  ornamented  with  the  im- 
pressions of  both  the  obverse  and  reverse  of  a  styca  of 
Osberht. — Other  exhibitions  were:  Mr.  Carlyon- 
Britton,  silver  pennies  of  William  I.  and  Henry  III. 
of  the  Berkeley  Mint ;  Dr.  Henry  Laver,  a  forgery  of 
a  stater  of  Cunobeline,  resembling  the  coin  of  Adde- 
domaros,  Evans  XIV.,  5  ;  Mr.  Hamer,  a  specimen  of 
the  original  Birmingham  workhouse  token  for  six- 
pence, with  a  modern  imitation  for  comparison  ; 
Messrs.  A.  H.  Baldwin,  Stanley  Bousfield,  and  W. 
Sharp  Ogden,  varieties  of  the  bronze  coinage  of 
Britain  and  the  Colonies. 

+§  +Q  +Q 

A  meeting  of  the  Royal  Archaeological  Insti- 
tute was  held  on  November  6,  when  Mr.  A.  H. 
Smith,  F.S.A.,  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Distribution 
and  Variation  of  Anglo-Saxon  Brooches." 

^  *$  *£ 

The  fifteenth  annual  meeting  of  the  East  Riding 
Antiquarian  Society  was  held  at  Bridlington  on 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


475 


October  21  and  22.  On  the  first  day  the  members 
assembled  in  the  afternoon  at  the  Priory  Church, 
where  the  diocesan  surveyor,  Mr.  W.  S.  Walker, 
pointed  out  the  more  interesting  features  of  the  build- 
ing, and  described  the  Priory  as  it  was  before  the 
Dissolution.  Later  many  of  the  party  went  to  Flam- 
borough  by  train,  returning  by  road  and  cliff,  Mr.  T. 
Sheppard  describing  the  formation  of  the  cliff  between 
Sewerby  and  Bridlington.  In  the  evening  the  annual 
dinner  was  followed  by  a  conversazione,  at  which  two 
papers  were  read  :  Mr.  T.  Sheppard  gave  an  address 
on  the  recent  finding  of  a  buried  chariot  at  Hunmanby 
(see  the  Antiquary  for  July  last,  pp.  244-246),  and 
Dr.  Prickett  gave  an  interesting  paper  on  "  Bridling- 
ton and  its  Antiquities."  On  the  second  day  an  ex- 
cursion was  made  in  the  interesting  historical  district 
souih  of  Bridlington.  The  party  started  from  Brid- 
lington about  ten  o'clock  and  drove  to  Barmston. 
The  Erl's  Dyke  was  visited,  and  found  in  very  good 
preservation.  The  party  then  went  on  to  Ulrome, 
and  Mr.  Ingram  Boynton  pointed  out  the  place  where 
Mr.  Thomas  Boynton  had  discovered  the  famous  lake- 
dwellings  of  Ulrome.  Thence  the  antiquaries  went 
on  to  Skipsea  and  Skipsea  Brough,  entering  the 
church,  which  the  Vicar,  the  Rev.  C.  T.  Duffin,  de- 
scribed. The  church  is  a  fourteenth-century  building, 
and  full  of  interest.  At  Skipsea  Brough  they  saw 
the  remains  of  the  old  castle  where  the  famous  Drago 
defied  even  William  the  Conqueror,  and  managed  to 
escape  from  England.  The  castle  itself  was  pulled 
down  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  and  only  one  por- 
tion of  the  wall  remained.  Thence  the  party  pro- 
ceeded to  Barmston  Rectory,  where  they  were  enter- 
tained at  lunch  by  the  Rev.  Ingram  Boynton,  who 
afterwards  showed  them  the  old  manor-house,  the 
moats  around  it,  and  the  evidences  of  the  extensive 
fortifications,  for  it  was  fortified  all  the  way  round. 
From  the  manor-house  the  visitors  went  to  Barmston 
Church  and  saw  the  beautiful  hagioscope  and  also  the 
fine  figure  in  alabaster  which  was  formerly  in  Brid- 
lington Priory  Church,  from  which  it  was  prob- 
ably removed  to  Barmston  because  of  the  dread  of 
what  Oliver  Cromwell's  depredators  might  do.  The 
monument  itself  was  made  at  Sudbury,  Derbyshire. 
The  church  contains  one  of  the  most  beautiful  Nor- 
man fonts  in  the  East  Riding.  In  the  church  itself 
are  many  interesting  inscriptions  referring  to  the 
Boynton  family.  The  party  returned  to  Bridlington 
shortly  after  four  o'clock. 

^  ^  *£ 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Cambbridge  Anti- 
quarian Society  on  October  21  the  Rev.  C.  H. 
Evelyn  White,  F.S.A.,  gave  a  paper  on  "The  Sur- 
names of  Cambridgeshire."  The  lecturer  remarked 
that  the  surnames  of  a  county  formed  an  interesting 
study,  and  served  to  throw  considerable  light  upon 
conditions  that  no  longer  prevailed.  When  the  sub- 
ject was  followed  in  connexion  with  a  particular 
locality,  historical  evidence  of  an  important  and  far- 
reaching  character  was  adduced.  For  the  elucidation 
of  parochial  life  in  a  far-off  period,  few  sources  of 
information  could  vie  with  their  earliest  Subsidy  Rolls. 
They  were  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  directories  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  several  towns  and  villages  in 
the  various  "Hundreds"  of  the  different  counties. 
Such  a  storehouse  of  names  discovered  to  them  the 


position,  occupation,  and  characteristics  of  the  people 
and  their  surroundings.  The  most  important  docu- 
ment of  that  class  which  they  possessed  for  Cam- 
bridgeshire was  undoubtedly  the  Lay  Subsidy  of 
Edward  III.  (a.d.  1327),  which  was  delivered  in  by 
John  de  Chishull,  June  26,  1327.  Under  the  simple 
guise  of  names  of  persons,  and  the  tax  they  were 
individually  called  upon  to  pay  to  the  king,  they  had 
in  the  very  names  of  the  inhabitants  a  valuable  view 
of  the  prevalent  manners  and  customs  and  a  variety 
of  commonplace  features  which  served  to  illustrate  a 
remote  ancestry.  While  very  few  of  the  names  had 
survived,  it  was  an  undoubted  advantage  to  be  able  to 
substantiate  their  claim  to  county  relationship.  When 
he  said  that  in  those  thousands  of  names  they  possessed 
a  more  complete  directory  than  any  of  modern  times, 
it  would  be  at  once  apparent  that  the  value  of  the 
Subsidy  Roll  for  purposes  of  investigation  of  personal 
names  was  very  great.  It  would  occasionally  be 
found  possible  to  trace  back  some  of  their  names  to 
their  original  forms,  which  was  specially  interesting 
and  useful.  It  was  therefore  incumbent  upon  them 
at  times  to  examine  names  somewhat  closely,  and  not 
rest  satisfied  with  a  first  inspection  ;  in  other  words,  in 
the  case  of  all  out-of-the-way  names  they  must  be 
examined  in  the  light  of  their  particular  surroundings 
or  local  colouring.  The  ability  to  do  that  was  the 
one  special  advantage  arising  from  exact  and 
methodical  treatment  of  the  subject,  not  as  a  whole, 
but  in  one  of  its  natural  divisions.  He  had  also  drawn 
largely  upon  the  important  Hundred  rolls  (a.d.  1273), 
and  for  this  purpose  had  culled  therefrom  a  complete 
list  of  the  Cambridgeshire  people  therein  mentioned. 
Mr.  White  then  proceeded  to  deal  with  his  subject  in 
detail,  and  at  considerable  length. 

On  October  28  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.  Pearson  lectured 
on  (1)  "A  Slinger's  Leaden  Bullet  from  Nauportus 
(Tacitus,  Ann.  I.  20),  now  Oberlarbach,  Carniole"; 
(2)  "  The  Legend  of  the  Argo  as  connected  with  the 
same  Locality";  (3)  "The  Chair  of  St.  Mark  at 
Grado,  near  Trieste";  (4)  "The  Amphitheatre  at 
Pula,  Istria.'1  Another  meeting  was  held  on  Novem- 
ber 4,  when  Mr.  A  Gray  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Dual 
Origin  of  the  Town  of  Cambridge  ";  and  on  Novem- 
ber 7  the  members  of  the  society  visited  Emmanuel 
College,  where  Mr.  Peace  gave  a  short  address  on  the 
architectural  features  of  the  college  buildings. 

+$  *>$  *>$ 

The  annual  meeting  and  dinner  of  the  Bradford 
Historical  and  Antiquarian  Society  was  held 
on  October  18,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Mr.  C.  A. 
Federer.  In  the  course  of  the  evening  Mr.  Federer 
spoke  on  the  real  aims  and  objects  of  the  work  of 
archaeologists. 

^>  *>$  4>S 

The  opening  meeting  for  the  season  of  the  Brighton 
and  Hove  Arch.^ological  Club  was  held  on 
November  13,  when  a  paper  on  "  Archreology  in 
Language"  was  read  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Pankhurst. 

«o$  *>§  +§ 
A  monthly  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries 
of  Newcastle  was  held  on  October  30,  the  chair 
being  occupied  by  the  Rev.  C.  E.  Adamson.  Mr. 
James  Caygill,  a  Consett  miner,  presented  to  the 
society  some  mining  tools,  the  collection  including 
several  picks,  a  hand-drill,  a  scraper,  a  picker,  and  a 

302 


476 


ANTIQUARIAN  NEWS. 


beater,  all  of  iron.  Mr.  Caygill,  in  a  letter,  pointed 
out  that  hand-drilling  was  not  yet  altogether  done 
away  with  in  the  mines  of  the  North  Country,  but  the 
beaters  used  were  of  copper,  in  accordance  with  the 
regulations  of  the  Coal  Mines  Act.  The  picks  were 
stated  to  be  ioo  years  old,  and  one  of  the  first  patent 
coal-picks,  about  thirty-five  years  old,  was  included 
in  the  collection.  Mr.  Maberly  Phillips,  F.S.A., 
exhibited  several  interesting  articles,  with  notes  on 
them.  The  articles  included  a  "  powder-monkey  " — 
a  machine  used  for  powdering  the  hair — lent  to  him 
by  Mr.  G.  C.  Nash,  of  High  Wycombe  ;  a  small  tin 
box  containing  one  flint,  carried  by  a  soldier  at  the 
Rattle  of  Waterloo ;  a  pair  of  ember  tongs,  several 
candle-snuffers,  and  other  articles. 

+§  4>§  +§ 

A  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Arch.-lology 
was  held  on  November  13,  when  a  paper  on  "The 
Tomb  of  Thyi  at  Thebes,"  with  lantern-slide  illus- 
trations, was  read  by  Mr.  E.  R.  Ayrton. 

4>$  *$  *$ 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
Antiquarian  Society  on  November  8,  Mr.  C.  W. 
Sutton  presiding,  Mr.  Gates  showed  a  coin  of 
Claudius  II. — Claudius  Gothicus — found  at  Urmston, 
and  lent  by  Mr.  Oliver  Gaggs,  which  is  the  first 
Roman  coin  found  in  the  district.  Among  other 
things  were  photographs  shown  by  Mr.  Phelps.  One 
was  a  view  of  the  old  railway  bridge  in  Water  Street, 
which  is  interesting  because  it  was  part  of  the  old 
Manchester  and  Liverpool  railway.  Another  was  one 
of  the  old  railway  station  in  Liverpool  Road,  which  is 
the  oldest  railway  station  in  the  world.  To-day  it  is 
treated  with  little  reverence  despite  its  uniqueness. 
Mr.  Sutton  spoke  of  an  interesting  find  at  Middleton 
Church.  Built  into  the  wall  just  under  the  roof  was 
found  a  long  sculptured  stone.  The  Rector  thought 
it  had  been  part  of  a  cross,  but  it  was  only  sculptured 
on  one  side,  and  it  was  probably  a  coffin-lid.  Mr. 
Phelps  was  of  opinion  it  belonged  to  the  early  part  of 
the  thirteenth  century. 

Mr.  Charles  Roeder  read  a  paper  entitled  the 
"Neolithic  Settlement  on  Kersal  Moor,"  but  it  was 
really  a  history  of  the  moor  and  its  associations. 
Among  other  things  he  mentioned  was  a  horse-race 
in  1687,  advertised  in  the  London  Gazette,  and  of 
which  Mr.  William  Swarbrick,  of  the  King's  Arms, 
appeared  to  have  been  the  secretary.  Of  early  reviews 
on  the  moor  was  one  in  1783  of  the  Royal  Lancashire 
Regiment  of  Volunteers  under  the  Colonel  Com- 
mandant, Sir  Thomas  Egerton.  Other  papers  read 
were  by  Dr.  W.  E.  A.  Axon  on  "The  Legend  of 
Mabs  Cross,"  and  by  Mr.  Samuel  Andrew  on  "  Recent 
Finds  at  Castleshaw." 

*?  +§  +§ 

The  Hampstead  Antiquarian  and  Historical 
Society  met  on  October  30,  when  the  president, 
Mr.  H.  B.  Wheatley,  F.S.A.,  read  a  paper  entitled 
"  Communication  with  London  and  its  Hindrances  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century."  The  recent  opening  of 
the  Tube  railway  in  Hampstead  and  the  stopping 
of  the  Hampstead  'buses,  said  Mr.  Wheatley,  seemed 
a  fitting  opportunity  to  review  the  difficulties  which 
had  existed  in  the  past  in  the  way  of  getting  to  and 
from  London.  He  dealt  not  only  with  the  eighteenth- 
century  hindrances,  but  also  with  the  earlier  centuries, 


and  gave  many  interesting  details  concerning  the 
state  of  the  roads  and  the  methods  of  conveyance  in 
the  olden  days.  A  good  portion  of  the  paper  dealt 
with  the  misdeeds  of  the  highwaymen  and  footpads 
who  infested  the  wretched  public  thoroughfares  then 
in  existence  in  this  historic  borough. 

^  *$  +Q 

Other  meetings  have  been  the  first  meeting  of  the 
session  of  the  Sunderland  Antiquarian  Society 
on  October  22  ;  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Halifax 
Antiquarian  Society  on  November  5  ;  and  the 
excursion  to  Ballaugh  and  Andreas,  in  miserable 
weather,  of  the  Isle  of  Man  Antiquarian  Society, 
under  the  conductorship  of  Mr.  P.  M.  C.  Kermode. 


iRettetos  ana  Notices 
of  Jfteto  16OO&0. 

[Publishers  are  requested  to  be  so  good  as  always  to 
mark  clearly  the  prices  of  books  sent  for  review,  as 
these  notices  are  intended  to  be  a  practical  aid  to 
book-buying  readers.  ] 

Calendar  of  Letter-Books  preserved  among 
the  Archives  of  the  Corporation  of 
London  at  the  Guildhall.  Letter-Book  H, 
circa  A.D.  1375-1399.  Edited  by  Reginald 
R.  Sharpe,  D.C.L.  Printed  by  order  of  the 
Corporation.     London:    1907.     8vo.,   pp.  lviii, 

527- 

Dr.  Sharpe  is  now  well  within  sight  of  the  con- 
clusion of  his  valuable  labours  on  the  Corporation's 
Letter-Books.  This  penultimate  volume — consider- 
ably more  bulky  than  its  predecessors — covers  a  very 
interesting  period  of  both  civic  and  national  history. 
Although  containing  less  matter  than  some  earlier 
volumes  relating  to  foreign  wars,  it  is  more  than 
usually  full  of  illuminating  detail  relative  to  purely 
civic  affairs.  With  the  exception  of  the  two  last 
years  of  Edward  III.'s  reign,  the  period  covered 
coincides  with  the  reign  of  the  weak  and  unfortunate 
Richard  II.  At  his  accession  Richard  was  the 
"  Londoners'  King,"  but,  as  Dr.  Sharpe  shows  in  his 
most  valuable  Introduction,  which  extends  to  nearly 
sixty  pages,  his  popularity  soon  declined.  The 
power  of  John  of  Gaunt  had  been  steadily  growing 
during  the  last  days  of  Edward  III.,  and  from  very 
shortly  after  the  accession  of  Richard,  (Londoners 
were  split  into  two  parties.  One,  consisting  chiefly 
of  the  members  of  the  victualling  trades,  headed  by 
Brembre  a  grocer,  supported  the  King ;  the  other, 
made  up  mainly  of  citizens  connected  with  the 
clothing  trade,  and  headed  by  Northampton,  a 
draper,  supported  the  Duke  of  Lancaster.  Hence 
came  all  manner  of  trouble  and  dissension.  The 
feeling  of  faction  was  not  confined  to  political  affairs, 
but  entered  continually  into  the  discussion  of  purely 
municipal  matters.  Dr.  Sharpe  sums  this  all  up  very 
clearly,  and  the  contents  of  the  Letter-Book  provide 
ample  confirmatory  material. 

Changes  in  the  methods  of  civic  elections  ;  struggles 
with  some  of  the  great  lords  ;  troubles  about  the  poll- 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


477 


tax,  which  was  first  introduced  in  1377  ;  the  rebellion 
of  Wat  Tyler,  his  march  to  London  and  death  in 
Smithfield — a  contemporary  account  is  summarized 
by  Dr.  Sharpe  ;  the  revival  of  Lollardy  in  1395-96, 
and  many  other  matters,  all  find  incidental  illustra- 
tion in  the  pages  of  Letter-Book  H.  But  the  main 
theme  is  that  indicated  above — the  constant  struggle 
between  the  two  great  civic  factions,  supplemented  by 
frequent  quarrels  of  the  guilds  among  themselves. 
Turbulence  and  unrest  were  the  leading  character- 
istics of  city  life  during  the  reign  of  Richard  II. 
The  volume  is  edited  by  Dr.  Sharpe  with  his  usual 
care,  and  the  index  is  everything  that  an  index  to 
such  a  book  should  be. 

*      *      * 

Random  Recollections  of  Hampstead.  By 
G.  W.  Potter.  With  13  illustrations.  London  : 
Eyre  and  Spottiswoode,  1907.  8vo.,  pp.  112. 
Price  2s.  6d. 
Mr.  Potter  here  collects  and  adds  to  material 
which  he  has  at  various  times  communicated  to  the 
Hampstead  Antiquarian  Society.  His  "  Recollec- 
tions "  go  back  to  the  forties  of  the  last  century,  and 
form  both  entertaining  and  instructive  reading.  In 
his  preface  Mr.  Potter  modestly  hints  a  doubt  as  to 
whether  he  has  not  included  incidents  of  too  trivial  a 
nature,  but  he  may  feel  reassured  on  that  point.  It 
is  just  these  seemingly  unimportant  and  trifling 
details  that  do  so  much  to  give  life  and  truthfulness 
to  a  picture  of  the  past.  This  little  book  will  appeal, 
in  the  first  place,  to  residents  in  and  lovers  of  the 
beautiful  northern  suburb,  for  as  a  contribution  to 
Hampstead  history  and  topography  it  has  the  lasting 
value  of  first-hand  evidence ;  but  many  of  Mr. 
Potter's  reminiscences  of  the  characteristics  and  con- 
ditions of  social  life  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  in  Hamp- 
stead are  equally  applicable  to  many  another  suburb. 
The  present  reviewer's  remembrances  of  life  in  a 
south-western  suburb  of  London,  not  unlike  Hamp- 
stead in  some  respects,  although  they  go  back  but 
forty  years,  yet  respond  in  many  points  to  the  sugges- 
tions of  Mr.  Potter's  reminiscent  chat.  We  opened 
this  slim,  nicely  printed  volume  with  a  little  feeling 
of  prejudice  against  yet  another  volume  on  Hamp- 
stead ;  but  Mr.  Potter's  lively  pictures  of  bygone 
life,  and  his  valuable  contributions  to  topographical 
detail,  amply  justify  their  publication.  Some  of  the 
illustrations  are  from  photographs  ;  others  are  sketches 
by  the  author  from  memory.  That  the  latter  are 
fairly  accurate  may  be  inferred  from  Mr.  Potter's 
statement  that  he  showed  six  of  them  to  an  old  in- 
habitant, and  "to  my  great  delight,"  he  says,  "he 
correctly  named  four  of  them."  We  are  glad  to  add 
that  there  is  a  good  index. 

Pontifical  Services  :  illustrated  from  Wood- 
cuts of  the  Sixteenth  Century.      With 
descriptive    notes   by   F.   C.    Eeles,    F.R.Hist. 
Soc. ,    F.S.A.  Scot.      Alcuin   Club   Collections. 
London  :  Longmans,  Green  and  Co.,  1907.    8vo. 
This  is   the   long-delayed   vol.   iii.,   dealing   with 
Pontifical  Ceremonial,  issued  for  1902  by  the  Alcuin 
Club,  a  society  which  devotes  itself  to  the  study  of 
ritual  as  it  existed  in  England  previous  to  the  Reforma- 


tion period.  Vols.  i.  and  ii. ,  issued  to  members 
in  the  year  1899- 1900,  are  two  large  folios,  and  con- 
tain Descriptive  Notes,  a  Liturgical  Introduction  by 
the  Rev.  Walter  II.  Frere,  and  twenty  plates  of  sixty- 
two  illustrations  from  miniatures  of  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries.  The  present  volume  is  a  further 
contribution  to  the  study  of  the  very  wide  subject  of 
such  ceremonial  as  appertains  to  the  episcopate, 
namely,  that  employed  in  the  administration  of  Con- 
firmation, Orders,  coronation  of  the  Pope,  consecra- 
tion of  Abbots,  blessing  of  Abbesses,  profession  of 
nuns,  coronation  of  a  King  and  Queen,  and  the  blessing 
of  a  new  knight.  All  these  ceremonies  are  aptly 
illustrated  by  woodcuts  in  the  Roman  pontificals, 
printed  by  the  Guinta  Press  at  Venice  in  1520  and 
1572  (preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  471  f.  2  and 
3,355  d.  12).  These  pontificals  are  divided  into  three 
parts,  the  woodcuts  from  the  first  part  being  given  in 
the  present  volume,  the  second  and  third  parts  being 
reserved  for  a  future  volume. 

The  Alcuin  Club  in  publishing  these  volumes  is 
doing  an  excellent  work  in  ecclesiological,  or  rather 
liturgical,  research.  The  volume  before  us  clearly 
shows,  by  its  comparison  of  pre-  and  post-Reforma- 
tion use,  that,  whatever  may  have  been  the  case  in 
England,  the  usage  abroad  was  simply  a  continuation 
of  what  had  been  the  old  custom  in  England.  The 
writer  of  the  preface  declares  it  to  be  "impossible  to 
study  the  English  use  to  proper  advantage  historically 
without  an  examination  of  foreign  uses,  even  of  the 
types  less  nearly  connected."  This  is  true,  but  we 
may  remind  him  that  the  "  English  use"  (by  which 
we  presume  the  "  Sarum  use"  is  intended)  was 
nothing  more  than  the  old  simple  use  of  Rome. 

II.  P.  F. 
*  *  * 
Sir  Gawain  and  the  Lady  of  Lys.  Translated 
by  Jessie  L.  Weston.  Illustrated  by  Morris  M. 
Williams.  London  :  D.  Nntt,  1907.  Minus- 
cule 4to.,  pp.  xvi,  103.  Price  2s.  net. 
This  is  the  seventh  volume  of  Miss  Weston's  collec- 
tion of  the  Arthurian  romances  unrepresented  in 
Malory's  Morte  <T  Arthur.  Its  dainty  format  is 
charming,  while  print  and  illustrations  are  worthy 
thereof.  The  stories  make  capital  reading,  for  Miss 
Weston  is  a  masterly  translator.  The  scene  is  King 
Arthur's  halls  at  Carnarvon  ;  the  fight  between  Sir 
Gawain  and  Sir  Bran  de  Lis,  the  brother  of  the  Lady 
of  Lys — the  little  child  laughing  at  the  glancing 
swords — and  the  jousts  before,  and  the  taking  of 
Castle  Orguellons,  are  all  described  in  spirited  narra- 
tive, full  justice  being  done  to  the  picturesque  inci- 
dents. In  a  brief  introduction  Miss  Weston  discusses 
the  texts  of  the  stories  and  their  relations  with  other 
tales  of  Sir  Gawain,  and  points  out  what  we  realize  as 
we  read  the  vividly  told  stories — that  "it  is  in  truth 
Gawain,  and  not  Arthur,  who  was  the  typical  English 
hero."  The  true  Gawain,  libelled  in  Malory,  is  shown 
in  the  stories  in  this  little  volume,  and  in  others  of  the 
same  collection,  to  be  "  one  of  the  most  gracious  and 
picturesque  figures  in  literature."  Miss  Weston  is 
doing  valuable  work,  which  is  appreciated  by  all 
students  of  the  Arthurian  romances ;  but  apart  from 
its  value  in  this  connexion,  the  little  volume  of  stories 
may  be  read  from  the  sheer  interest  and  attraction  of 
its  romantic  narratives. 


47§ 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


The  Spirit  ok  Jacobite  Loyalty.  By  W.  G. 
Blaikie  Murdoch.  Edinburgh  :  William  Brown, 
1907.  Small  8vo.,  pp.  166.  Price  2s.  6d.  net. 
Mr.  Blaikie  Murdoch  is  clearly  an  enthusiastic 
sympathizer  with  the  Jacobite  tradition,  and,  indeed, 
with  the  Celtic  temperament  and  its  products  gener- 
ally. The  sub-title  of  this  nicely  produced  little 
book  describes  it  as  "An  Essay  towards  a  Better 
Understanding  of  'TheForly-Five'  " — a  very  accurate 
description.  In  a  series  of  sympathetically  written 
chapters  on  Lochiel,  Lord  George  Murray  and  Lord 
ritsligo,  Jacobite  Men  of  Letters,  Jacobite  Diaries 
and  Memoirs,  Culture  and  /Estheticism,  "The  Forty- 
Five  "  as  Representative  of  the  Highlands,  Dis- 
cipline, On  the  Scaffold,  and  so  on,  the  author  brings 
out  the  true  spirit  which  animated  the  Scottish 
loyalists  of  160  years  ago,  does  justice  to  their  per- 
sonalities and  motives,  clears  away  sundry  miscon- 
ceptions regarding  both,  and  refutes  certain  charges 
which  have  been  brought  against  the  men  of  ' '  The 
Forty-Five."  In  some  minor  points  Mr.  Murdoch's 
enthusiasm  seems  to  us  too  indiscriminating.  To 
refer  to  George  Moore's  novel  of  Evelyn  /tines,  for 
instance,  as  "that  masterpiece  of  masterpieces,"  is, 
to  our  mind,  more  than  a  trifle  absurd.  But  in  the 
main  Mr.  Murdoch's  essay  is  pleasantly  written,  in- 
forming, and  well  worth  reading — not  least  so  by 
those  who  have  little  sympathy  with  the  author's 
heroes.  "  Belief  in  the  divine  right  of  kings,"  says 
Mr.  Murdoch,  "  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past  ;  yet  Scot- 
land may  well  look  back  with  pride  on  those  who 
held  the  belief,  and  who  gave  so  much  for  its  sake"; 
and  all  of  us  can  admire  and  glory  in  the  staunch 
heroism,  the  true  "spirit  of  Jacobite  loyalty,"  which 
safeguarded  the  person  of  Charles  Edward,  for  whose 
capture  the  Government  offered  a  reward  of  ^"30,000, 
after  the  horrors  of  Culloden. 

*  *  * 
History  and  Ethnography  of  Africa  South 
of  the  Zambesi.  By  G.  M.  Theal,  Litt.D. 
In  3  vols.,  with  maps  and  plates.  Vol.  I. 
London  :  Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co. ,  Ltd. , 
1907.  Demy  8vo,  pp.  xxiv,  501.  Price  7s.  6d. 
This  is  the  first  volume  of  a  new  edition,  the  third, 
of  Dr.  Theal's  already  well-known  and  valued  history 
of  South  Africa  before  the  conquest  of  Cape  Colony 
by  Great  Britain  in  1795  ;  but  so  much  fresh  matter 
has  been  added  to  the  earlier  chapters  concerning  the 
aborigines  (the  Bushmen),  the  Hottentots,  and  the 
Bantu  immigrants,  that  to  a  large  extent  the  book  is 
a  new  work.  The  words  "  and  Ethnography  "  have 
been  inserted  in  the  title  in  consequence  of  these 
special  additions.  The  present  volume  covers  the 
period  1505  to  1700 — that  is,  the  time  of  the  Portu- 
guese in  South  Africa ;  the  second  will  contain  an 
account  of  the  early  days  of  the  Dutch  colony  ;  while 
the  third  and  last  will  bring  the  history  down  to  the 
British  conquest  in  1795.  ^  *s  impossible  in  a  brief 
notice  to  give  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  wealth  of  matter 
in  this  book.  Dr.  Theal  has  devoted  his  life  to  the 
collection  of  material  for  his  various  South  African 
histories,  and  presents  the  results  of  years  of  research 
work  in  a  well-ordered  narrative.  To  the  antiquary, 
the  anthropologist,  and  the  folk-lorist,  the  earlier 
chapters  of  the  volume  before  us  offer  a  wealth  of 
material.      The   later  chapters,    being  more   purely 


historical,  have  a  more  limited  interest ;  but  those 
which  deal  with  the  life,  the  customs,  games,  weapons, 
implements,  and  lore  and  practice  of  every  kind,  of 
the  aboriginal  Bushmen,  of  the  Hottentots,  and  of  the 
various  tribes  of  the  Bantu,  who  are  supposed  to  have 
migrated  from  the  north,  are  of  great  and  lasting 
scientific  importance.  The  five  chapters,  especially, 
which  treat  of  the  Bantu  race,  of  the  movements  of 
their  tribes,  of  their  religious  ideas,  traditional  law, 
witchcraft,  chants  and  musical  instruments,  marriage 
and  other  customs — some  very  horrible — folk-lore, 
industries,  manufactures  —  they  were  workers  in 
various  metals — games,  manners,  and  so  forth,  are  all 
of  extraordinary  interest.  Such  work  as  Dr.  Theal's 
must  be  for  the  most  part  its  own  reward,  but  it  earns 
the  grateful  thanks  of  scholars  and  students,  and  of  all 
who  can  appreciate  the  value  of  such  unselfish  and 
unremitting  labour  and  research  as  must  have  gone 
to  the  making  of  the  volume  before  us. 

Gleanings  after  Time.    Edited  by  G.  L.  Apper- 
son,  I.S.O.     With    29   illustrations.     London: 
Elliot  Slock,   1907.      Demy   8vo.,   pp.   x,   230. 
Price  6s.  net. 
In  this  handsomely  produced  book  are  collected, 
chiefly  from  the  earlier  volumes  of  the  Antiquary,  a 
number  of  papers  by  well-known  writers  on  various 
aspects  of  social  and  domestic  history.     The  selection 
must  have  been  difficult,  for  the  human  and  domestic 
side  of  old  English  social  life  has  always  been  a  pro- 
minent feature  of  the  magazine's  contents  ;  but  here,  in 


fourteenth-century  house. 

a  score  of  capital  articles,  we  have  a  series  of  vivid 
sketches  and  pictures.  Only  a  few  of  the  subjects 
can  be  named.  The  longest  article  deals  in  a  most 
interesting  way  with  the  "History  and  Development 
of  the  House."  One  of  the  illustrations  to  this  study 
is  here  reproduced.  It  shows  a  fourteenth-century 
house,  and  is  copied  from  a  manuscript  of  that  date  of 
an  Anglo-Norman  romance  written  in  the  latter  half 
of  the  twelfth  century,  and  is  intended  to  represent 
King  Arthur's  palace.  Other  papers  deal  with  "A 
Thirteenth-Century  Book  of  Etiquette,"  "The  Old 
Tabard  Inn,"  "  Some  Early  Breach  of  Promise 
Cases" — taken   from    Chancery   proceedings  of  the 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


479 


fifteenth  century — ' '  A  Family  Story  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century,"  "  Funeral  Baked  Meats,"  "A  Devonshire 
Yeoman's  Diary,"  and  "Notes  and  Extracts  from  the 
Account  Book  of  a  Surrey  Yeoman."  There  is  a  good 
article  by  the  late  Llewellynn  Jewitt,  F.S.A.,  on  "The 
Mace,"  with  sundry  illustrations,  one  of  which  is  re- 
produced on  this  page.  It  is  copied  from  one  of 
Hans  Burgman's  curious  plates  in  the  volume  of  the 
doings  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  and  shows  maces 
of  a  general  form  borne  by  masquers  at  a  grand  state 


T'    Heft    an'    Blades    o'    Shevvield  :    Dialect 
Stories  and  Antiquarian   Papers.      By  Thomas 
Winder.     With  illustrations.      Sheffield  :    Inde- 
pendent Press,  Ltd. , 1907 '.    8vo.,  pp.  127.     Price 
2s.  6d.  net. 
Dialect  stories  are  not  appreciated  by  every  reader ; 
but  the  first  section  of  those  in  this  neat  little  volume 
are  not  so  much  stories  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
word  as  graphic  sketches  and  reminiscences  in  the 
racy   Hallamshire    vernacular    of    bygone    life    and 


MACES   BORNE   BY   MASQUERS  :    SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 


banquet  of  the  sixteenth  century.  A  particularly 
pleasant  paper  is  "An  Elizabethan  Schoolboy  and 
his  Book,"  which  describes  a  copy  of  the  edition  of 
Csesar  which  issued  from  the  press  of  Robertus  Ste- 
pnanus  at  Paris  in  1543,  with  illustrations,  and  gives 
delightful  glimpses  of  its  Elizabethan  schoolboy 
owner,  his  loyalty,  his  boyish  friendship,  and  his  love  of 
music.  The  volume  contains  several  papers  of  special 
interest  for  American  readers.  Among  these  are  ' '  The 
First  Parliament  in  America,  1619,"  "The  Cromwells 
of  America,"  and  "  A  Visit  to  America  in  1774." 


manners  in  Sheffield.  They  show  vividly  the  life  of 
fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  and  will  have  a  considerable 
value  for  the  local  antiquary  as  well  as  interest  for 
the  student  of  dialect.  Besides  these,  there  are  other 
stories  and  sketches — animal  yarns,  tales  of  humour 
and  pathos — with  a  brief  chapter  of  folk-lore  and 
children's  songs  which  adds  nothing  to  our  know- 
ledge. The  latter  part  of  the  book,  labelled  "  Anti- 
quarian Papers,"  consists  chiefly  of  extracts  from 
Harrison's  Survey  of  the  Manor  of  Sheffield,  1637. 
The  illustrations  are  mostly  reproductions  of  old  plans 


480 


REVIEWS  AND  NOTICES  OF  NEW  BOOKS. 


and  views  of  Sheffield,  and  of  its  older  houses  and 
public  buildings,  many  of  which  have  long  since  dis- 
appeared. Altogether,  this  is  a  commendable  addition 
to  the  library  of  Yorkshire  topography  and  local 
literature. 

*  *      * 

History  of  Anxient  Civilization.  By  Charles 
Seignobos.  London  :  T.  J-is/n-r  Unwin,  1907. 
8vo.,  pp.  xvi,  371.  Price  5s.  net. 
Although  no  translator's  name  appears,  it  is  clear 
rom  inteinal  evidence  that  this  "  boiling  down  "  of 
the  Histoire  de  la  Civilisation  by  M.  Seignobos  is  of 
American  origin.  In  less  than  400  pages  of  large 
type  the  four  ages  of  Prehistoric  times,  the  ancient 
histories  and  civilizations  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  Baby- 
lonia, India,  Persia,  Phoenicia,  Palestine,  Greece, 
Etruria,  and  Rome  to  the  rise  and  triumph  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  the  regime  of  the  later  empire,  are  here 
described  and  summarized.  It  is  a  breathless  business  ! 
If  there  is  any  need  for  the  production  of  such  his- 
torical pemmican,  which  we  doubt,  it  may  be  admitted 
that  on  the  whole  the  packer  has  done  his  work  as 
well,  perhaps,  as  such  work  can  be  done,  although,  so 
far  as  we  can  see,  no  account  has  been  taken  of  the 
most  recent  discoveries  in  Crete  and  the  East.  The 
revelations  at  Knossos  and  elsewhere  of  Mycenean  or 
Minoan  civilization  are  here  ignored.  There  is  a 
useful  appendix  of  "  References  for  Supplementary 
Reading,"  but  the  list  of  contents  gives  no  page 
references,  and  there  is  no  index. 

*  *  * 
From  Ottawa  comes  a  thick  volume  of  the  Canadian 
Archives  publications.  This  calendars  a  very  large 
number  of"  documents  relating  to  the  constitutional 
history  of  Canada  during  the  years  1759  to  1791, 
selected  and  edited  with  notes  by  Professor  Adam 
Shortt  and  Mr.  A.  G.  Doughty,  the  Dominion  Archi- 
vist. It  is  pleasant  to  note  both  the  care  which  the 
Dominion  bestows  upon  the  housing  and  preservation 
of  its  Archives,  and  the  excellent  work  which  is  being 
done  in  making  them  accessible  and  their  contents 
known.  No  student  of  Canadian  history  will  in 
future  be  able  to  afford  to  neglect  these  publications. 

*  *      * 

We  have  received  a  copy  of  the  First  Report  of  the 
Pevensey  Excavation  Committee  for  the  season  1906-7 
(price  2s.  6d.),  which,  with  the  aid  of  a  number  of 
excellent  photographic  illustrations,  and  several  plans 
and  trench  sections,  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the 
work  successfully  accomplished  last  season.  The 
systematic  trenching  led  to  various  interesting  dis- 
coveries, but  much  more  remains  to  be  done.  The 
Committee  consider  "  that,  while  disappointing  in  the 
absence  of  any  indication  of  permanent  buildings,  the 
results  obtained  have  been  of  considerable  value. 
Some  little  light  has  been  thrown  upon  the  internal 
condition  of  the  site  in  Romano-British  times,  and 
much  more  upon  the  construction  of  the  walls  and 
gateways  ;  incidentally  a  large  number  of  interesting 
•museum  objects'  have  been  obtained,  and  last,  but 
not  least,  valuable  experience  has  been  gained,  which 
should  prove  of  much  value  for  the  continuation  of 
the  work."  The  work  deserves  liberal  support.  We 
have  also  received  a  copy  of  Mr.  Houghton's  very 
admirable  study  of  "The  Low-Side  Windows  of 
Warwickshire    Churches" — an   off-print    from    the 


Transactions  of  the  Birmingham  Archaeological 
Society — to  which  we  referred  at  pp.  433-4  of  last 
month's  Antiquary.  Both  text  and  plates  are  excel- 
lent. 

*  *      * 

The  contents  of  the  November  number  of  the  Archi- 
tectural Review  are  unusually  varied.  Besides  much 
of  more  purely  professional  interest,  there  are  the  first 
part  of  a  study  of  "Modern  Leadwork,"  by  Mr.  L. 
Weaver,  with  many  illustrations  of  its  larger  uses  in 
architecture  ;  a  further  chapter  of  Mr.  A.  C.  Champ- 
neys'  "Sketch  of  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Architecture"; 
and  a  page  of  pleasant  photographic  notes  of  Pens- 
hurst,  Kent,  by  Mr.  W.J.  Jones.  The  whole  number 
is  lavishly  illustrated. 

*  *     * 

The  Reliquary,  October,  is  the  first  number  issued 
under  the  care  of  the  new  editor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cox, 
whose  kindly  reference  to  ourselves  is  heartily  re- 
ciprocated. The  chief  contents  are  illustrated  papers 
on  "Some  Dragonesque  Forms  on,  and  beneath, 
Fonts,"  by  Mr.  G.  Le  Blanc  Smith;  "The  Trinity 
in  Mediaeval  Art,"  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Legge  ;  "  Detached 
Wooden  Belfries,"  with  curious  Swedish  and  Silesian 
examples,  by  Mr.  Tavenor  Perry  ;  "  Romsey  Abbey," 
by  Miss  C.  Mason  ;  and  a  notice  of  Mr.  Kermode's 
Manx  Crosses,  by  the  editor.  The  Berks,  Bucks 
and  Oxon  Archaeological  Journal,  October,  has  a 
finely  illustrated  account,  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Keyser,  of 
the  churches  at  Ilinton  Waldrist  and  Longworth, 
Berkshire.  We  have  also  before  us  Rivista  a"  Italia, 
October  ;  East  Anglian,  September  ;  American 
Antiquarian,  September  and  October  ;  and  a  book 
catalogue  from  Messrs.  W.  N.  Pitcher  and  Co., 
Manchester. 


Correspontience. 


SHEARS  ON  TOMBSTONES. 

TO  THE   EDITOR. 

A  year  ago  I  revised  my  decision  on  this  question, 
and  am  now  constrained,  in  the  interests  of  impartial 
investigation,  to  re-open  the  question,  for  I  have 
since  learned,  through  an  antiquarian  friend,  that  in 
all  probability  the  presence  on  tombstones  of  shears 
or  scissors  indicates  simply  a  representation  of 
pincers — i.e.  an  implement  of  the  Saviour's  Passion, 
like  the  spear,  nails,  crown  of  thorns,  and  sponge- 
tipped  rod — and  is  in  no  wise  indicative  of  the  inter- 
ment either  of  an  Archdeacon,  tailor,  or  lady.  What 
do  the  readers  of,  and  contributors  to,  the  Antiquary 
think  of  this  suggestion  ?  It  bears  the  hall-mark  of 
accuracy  and  yet  wears  the  garment  of  suggestion 
only.  I  should  be  glad  to  have  further  enlighten- 
ment on  the  subject. 

St.  Stephen's  Rectory,  J'  B-  McGovern. 

Cborlton-on-Medlock, 
Manchester. 


Note  to  Publishers. — We  shall  be  particularly 
obliged  to  publishers  if  they  will  always  state  the  price 
of  books  sent  for  review. 


INDEX. 


Abell,  H.   F. :  Pilgrimage  of  the  Roman 

Wall,  ioi,  169,  297. 
Aeussere     Geschichte     der     Englischen 

Theateriruppen,  Review  of,  359. 
Africa  South  of  the  Zambesi,  History  of, 

Review  of,  478. 
Aldeburgh,  Excavations  at,  243. 
Aldworth  Church,  Berks,  The  Tombs  of, 

by  E.  W.  Dormer,  334. 
Alfred,  The  Proverbs  of,  Review  of,  318. 
Alhambra,  The,  Review  of,  156. 
Allen,  J.  Romilly,  Death  of,  309. 
Amherst,  Lord  :  His  Books,  349. 
Ancient  Civilization,  History  of,  Review 

of,  480. 
Anderson,  J.  C,  Death  of,  69. 
Andrew,  W.  J.,  Letter  by,  280. 
Antiquarian   News,  31,  70,   in,  151,  193, 

232,  272,  310,  351,  389,  433,  473. 
Antiquarian  Research,  Progress  of,  by  Sir 

E.  Brabrook,  C.  B.,  137,  186. 
Antiquary's  Note-Book,  The,  67,  347,  385, 

,  43.0-  .  . 

Antiquities,  Sales  of,  71,  232. 

Apperson,  G.  L.  :  Monumental  Skeletons, 
216. 

Architecture,  Essentials  in,  Review  of, 
356. 

Armour,  Anns  and,  Sale  of,  2. 

Arms,  Armour,  and  Alabaster  round 
Nottingham,  Review  of,  277. 

Arms  on  China  of  Sir  A.  Campbell  of 
Inverneill,  by  J.  Tavenor-Perry,  381. 

Arrow-heads,  Suffolk,  88. 

Arthurian  Legends,  The,  196. 

Ashbourne  Grammar  School,  3. 

Asia,  Central,  Discoveries  in,  3,  46,  85, 
203,  441. 

Aspenden  Church,  Herts,  by  W.  B.  Gerish, 
18. 

Assurbanipal's  Library,  151. 

Astley,  Rev.  H.  J.  D.  :  Bury  St.  Ed- 
munds, 210,  258. 

Auden,  H.  M. :  Old  Shropshire  Note- 
Book,  374. 

Axon,  W.  E.  A.  :  English  Gipsies  in  1818, 
181. 

Aycliffe,  Saxon  Crosses  at,  275. 

Ballard,  A.  :  An  Oxfordshire  Village  in  the" 

Thirteenth  Century,  128. 
Barrow  at  Carnequidden,  Cornwall,  236. 

at  Pentraeth,  Anglesey,  402. 
Bateson,  Miss,  Death  of,  4. 
Bayeux  Tapestry,  A  Note  on  the,  by  T.  D. 

Pryce,  346. 
Bayeux    Tapestry,    The,    and    its    "  Re- 
storers," by  C.  Dawson,  253,  288. 
Beda/e,  Early  History  of,  Review  of,  317. 
Beloe,  E.  M.,  Death  of,  167. 
Benton,   G.   M.  :    The  Coffin  of  William 
Harvey,  M.D.,  140. 
Letter  by,  400. 
Berks  Archaeological  Society,  236,  314. 
Berkshire,   Highways   and  Byways   in, 

Review  of,  198. 
Bibliographical  Curiosity,  A,  271. 
Bibliographical  Rarities,  309. 
"  Birch's,"  Cornhill,  295, 
Birmingham       Archaeological        Society, 

Transactions,  433. 
Bishop  Auckland  Field  Club,  74. 
Bone  implements,  404. 
Book  Prices  Current,  Review  of,  438. 
Book  Sales,  30,  31,  69,  70,  in,  191,  193, 

232,  271,  272,  310,  351,  473. 
Books  of  Value  in  Their  Day,  by  Rev. 

W.  C.  Green,  378. 
Brabrook,  Sir     E.,     C.B.  :     Progress     of 

Antiquarian  Research,  137,  186. 
Bradford  Antiquary,  Notice  of,  473. 


Bradford     Historical     and     Antiquarian 

Society,  73,  154,  196,  235,  276,  314,  355, 

394,  475- 
Brading  Church,   Cross  Slab   in  Wall  of, 

Letter  on,  400. 
Braintree  and  Booking,  Review  of,  157. 
Brass  in  Manchester  Cathedral,  A,  365. 
Brasses  of  England,  The,  Review  of,  133. 
Brighton   Archaeological  Club,    197,   437, 

4.75- 
Bristol  and  Gloucestershire  Archaeological 

Society,  74,  113,  155,  276,  356,  404. 
British    Archaeological    Association,    114, 

234>  353- 
British  Museum  :  Ancient  Home  Life  Ob- 
jects, 123. 
British  Museum  Library,  additions,  350, 

388. 
British  Numismatic  Society,  72,  155,  195, 

234.  274;  3".  354.  474- 
British  School  at  Athens,  442. 

Annual,  431. 
British  School  at  Rome,  33,  83. 

Papers,  431. 
Bronze  Antiquities,  167,  195,  244,  245,  363. 
Bryant,  T.  H.  :  Newark  Priory,  Surrey, 

452- 
Buchanan,  George,  and  the  Inquisition,  194. 
Bucks  Archaeological  Society,  437. 
Bull-ring  found,  326. 
Burial-Place,  An    Ancient,  by  A.  Foster, 

468. 
Bury  St.    Edmunds,   by   Rev.    H.  J.   D. 
Astley,  210,  258. 
Letter  on,  280. 
Bury  St.  Edmunds  Pageant,  46,  282. 
Butler's     Country,    Samuel,     by    H.    J. 

Daniell,  24. 
Bywell  Castle,  275. 

Caerwent,  Excavations  at,  273,  315. 
Cairns  Family,  History  of  the,  Review 

of.  75- 
Calendar  of  Letter  Books,  Review  of,  476. 
Cambrian  Archaeological  Association,  165, 

362,  301. 
Cambridge  Antiquarian  Society,  115,  148, 
236,  274,  475. 
Publications,  112. 
Campbell  of  Inverneill,  Sir  A.,  381. 
Canadian  A  rchives,  Notice  of,  480. 
Carlisle  Episcopal  Registers,  The,  192. 
Carthage,  Discoveries  at,  442. 
Cartmel   Fell,    St.   Anthony's  Chapel  on, 

by  Very  Rev.  J.  L.  Darby,  208. 
Cartography,  Early,  231,  308. 
Castleshaw,  Excavations  at,  363,  402. 
Catacombs  at  Tralles,  406. 
Chalice  Cover,  Ancient,  124. 
Chariot  Burial,  245. 
Charter-party,  An  Ancient,  192. 
Chats  on  Costume,  Review  of,  39. 
Chauncy,  Sir  Henry,  Kt.,  Review  of,  159. 
Cheadle,  Discoveries  at,  444. 
Chelsea  Street    Names,    by  J.   Tavenor- 
Perry,  248. 
Chess,  The  Bishop  in,  196. 
Chillingham  Castle,  392. 
Christmas  Decorations,  Letter  on,  320. 
Church  Plate  of  the  Isle  of  Man,    Old, 

Review  of,  237. 
Cinerary  Urns  found,  202,  206,  283,  287. 
Clapham,  J.  A.,  Letters  by,  80,  125. 
Clerical  Life  in  Fifteenth  Century,  72. 
Clonmacnois,  The  Ruins  at,  441. 
Codrington,    Sir    E.,    and    the    Duke    of 

Clarence,  160. 
Coins,  Dr.  Weber's  Collection  of,  1. 
Coins,  Finds  of,  43,  46,  73,  82,  83,  86,  126, 

162,  165,  168,  201,  205,  206,  246,  365,  405, 

446. 


Coins,  Sales  of,  70,  232. 

Collingwood,  W.  G.  :  Some  Antiquities  of 
Tiree,  174. 

Congress  of  Archaeological  Societies,  313. 

Cork  Archaeological  Society,  34,  116. 
Journal,  152,  233,  352,  474. 

Cornish  Drama,  The  Old,  Review  of,  38. 

Cornish  Village,  An  Old,  by  I.  G.  Sieve- 
king,  382. 

Cornwall,  Royal  Institution  of,  Journal 
3"- 

Coireggio,  Review  of,  78. 

Correspondence,  40,  80,  120,  160,  240,  280, 
3-20,  360,  400,  440,  480. 

Corstopitum,  Excavations  at,  32,  167,  324, 
393.  4°2,  436. 

Coulsdon  Church,  Surrey,  by  J.  S.  Ham, 
59- 

Cox,  Rev.  J.  C.,  Reviews  by,  238,  356. 

Coxwell  Tithe  Barn,  314. 

Cragg,  W.  A.,  Letter  by,  280. 

Cramer,  A.  M.,  Letter  by,  160. 

Crete,  Discoveries  in,  367. 

Crete,  Discoveries  in,  Review  of,  397. 

Croke,  W.  J.  D.  :  National  English  Insti- 
tutions of  Mediaeval  Rome,  223. 

Croppenbergh    Family,    Letters    on,    80, 
320. 

Crosby  Hall,  241,  286,  325,  361,  408,  445. 

Crowther-Beynon,  V.  B.  :  Some  Rutland 
Antiquities,  50. 

Cumberland    and    Westmorland   Archaeo- 
logical Society,  315,  436. 

Cuneiform  Inscriptions,   Archeology  of 
the,  Review  of,  158. 

Curfew  at  Crowland  Abbey,  368. 

Daniell,  H.  J. :  Samuel  Butler's  Country, 
24. 
West  Sussex  Churches,  369. 

Darby,  Very  Rev.  J.   L.  :  St.  Anthony's 
Chapel  on  Cartmel  Fell,  208. 

Darlington  Field  Club,  155. 

Darlington,  Roman  Remains  near,  155. 

Davies,  Rev.  D.  S.  :  A  Recovered  Tomb- 
stone, 107. 

Davison,   0.  :    Norman  Arches  of  High 
Wycombe,  339. 

Dawn  of  Nineteenth  Century  in  England, 
Review  of,  37. 

Dawson,  C.  :    The   Bayeux  Tapestry  and 
its  "  Restorers,"  253,  288. 

De  la  Cour,  William,  by  D.   F.    Harris, 
460. 

Dene-holes,  367,  407. 

Derbyshire    Archaeological    Society,    276, 
394- 

Devon,  Review  of,  316. 

Devon  and  Cornwall  Record  Society,  no. 

Domesday  Inquest,  The,  Review  of,  35. 

Donegal,  by  W.  J.  Fennell,  264. 

Dormer,  E.  W.  :  The  Tombs  of  Aldworth 
Church,  334. 

Dorset  Field  Club,  167,  237,  312,  315,  326, 
356,  368,  392. 
Proceedings,  112. 

Dorset  Manor-JIouses,  Review  of,  395. 

Downside  Abbey,  6. 

Drake,  C.  H.,  Letter  by,  400. 

Dublin,  History  of  the  County,  Part  IV., 
Review  of,  78. 

Dublin,    Hospital   and   Free   School   of 
King  Charles  II. ,  Review  of,  79. 

Dunwich  and  See  of  East  Anglia,  45. 

Durham    and    Northumberland    Archaeo- 
logical Society,  275,  314,  356,  392,  435. 

Earthworks,  Report  of  Committee  on,  401. 
Eastbourne  Parish  Church,  394. 
East    Herts   Archaeological   Society,   313, 
394.  440- 


482 


INDEX. 


East  Riding  Antiquarian  Society,  116, 196, 

356.  436.  474- 

Egyptian  Exploration  and  Antiquities,  30, 

71,  82,  163,  237,  243,  284,  323,  329,  386, 

389. 
Eighteenth-Century   Note-Book,   An,   by 

Rev.  V.  L.  Whitechurch,  47. 
English  Church  Furniture,    Review  of, 

418. 
Engravers  0/ England,  The  Old,  Review 

of,  119. 
Essex  Archaeological  Society,  276,  437. 

Transactions,  32,  352. 
Eton  College  Songs,  by  Rev.  W.  C.  Green, 

'*• 

Evelyn's  Diary,  Review  of,  157. 

Evelyn's  Sculptura,  Review  of,  78. 

Evil  Eye,  The,  by  J.  H.  MacMichael,  226, 
341,  422,  465. 

Evolution  0/  Culture,  The,  Review  of, 
119. 

Excavations  at  various  places,  5,  32,  41, 
46,  73,  81,  84,  86,  87,  114,  121,  122,  162, 
164,  167,  204,  206,  234,  236,  243,  273,  284, 
324,  328,  347,  363,  366,  369,  402,  406. 

Exeter  Cathedral,  286. 

Exley,  The  Manor  of,  154. 

Father  Felix's  Chronicles,  Review  of,  79. 

Feasey,  H.  P.,  Letter  by,  40. 

Fellows,  G.,  Letter  by,  160. 

Fennell,  W.  J.  :  Donegal,  264. 

Field,  Lieutenant-Colonel  C. :  Lead   Box 

and  Heart  of  Richard  I.,  385. 
Fishmongers     0/   London,      Worshipful 

Company  of,  Review  of,  438. 
Flail,  The,  3,  120. 
Fledborough  Churchy  355. 
Folkestone,  Discoveries  at,  168. 
Folk  Lore,  Bibliography  of,  Review  of, 

37-      . 
Font  misused,  363. 
Forty    Years    in    a    Moorland   Parish, 

Review  of,  358. 
Foster,  A.  :  An  Ancient  Burial-Place,  468. 
Fothergiirs  Sketch  Book,  Notice  of,  318. 
Fresco  found  at  Rye,  124. 
Frescoes,  etc,  Letter  on,  40. 
Friends'  Historical  Society,  Journal,  71, 

112,  273,  390,  474. 
Furtwangler,  Professor  A.,  Death  of,  408. 

Gawain,  Sir,  and  the  Lady  0/  Lys,  Re- 
view of,  477. 

Geological  Society  Centenary,  406. 

Gerish,  W.  B.  :  Aspenden  Church,  Herts, 
18. 

Gezer,  Discoveries  at,  ^03. 

Gipsies  in  1818,  English,  by  W.  E.  A. 
Axon,  181. 

Glacial  Axes,  Alleged,  Letter  on,  440. 

Glasgow  Archaeological  Society,  73,  115, 
155. 

Glasgow,  The  Place-Name,  73. 

Glastonbury  Abbey,  Sale  of,  86,  244. 

Glazed  Paper,  Letter  on,  400. 

Gleanings  after  Time,  Review  of,  478. 

Glencoe,  Original  Order  for  the  Massacre 
at.  84,  248. 

Gold  Bracelets,  Discovery  of,  near  Cray- 
ford,  by  R.  Holt-White,  126. 

Gold  Ornaments  found,  81,  126,  167,  285, 
326. 

Goldsmiths'  and  Silversmiths'  Work,  Re- 
riew  of,  437. 

Gould,  I.  Chalkley,  Letter  by,  120. 
Death  of,  401. 

Graham,  M.  E. :  Mysterious  Guest  at 
Stirling  Castle.  457. 

Gravesend,  Review  of,  359. 

Greek  Antiquities,  162,  207,  287,  389. 

Green,  Rev.  W.  C. :  Eton  College  Songs, 

Some  Books  of  Value  in   their  Day, 
„         378. 

Greenstreet  Family,  Letter  on,  400. 
Greenwich  Antiquarian  Society,  156. 


Gurney,  M.  :  Translationof  Kusejr'Amra, 

448. 
Gypsy  Lore  Society,  231. 

Journal,  350. 
Gypsy  Words,  Letter  on,  280. 

Halifax  Antiquarian  Society,  116,  315,  356, 

395,  476. 
Halifax,  Old,  98. 
Hall,  H.  F.,  Letter  by,  240. 
Haltwhistle  Burn  Camp,  235. 
Ham,  J.   S.  :  Coulsdon   Church,  Surrey, 

59- 
Hammurabi  and  Moses,    The  Laws  of. 

Review  of,  279. 
Hampshire  Archaeological  Society,  437. 

Papers  and  Proceedings,  232. 
Hampstead  Antiquarian  Society,  476. 
Hampstead,   Random    Recollections    of, 

Review  of,  477. 
Hancox,  E.  R.  H. :  Suffolk  Arrow-heads, 

88. 
Hannibal's  Grave,  362. 
Hanworth  Manor,  A  Memorial  of,  by  J. 

Tavenor-Perry,  66. 
Harpoon  in   Neolithic  Times,  by  A.    E. 

Relph,  330. 
Harris,  D.  F.  :  William  de  la  Cour,  460. 
Harvey,  William,  M.D.,  The  Coffin  of,  by 
G.  M.  Benton,  140. 
Letter  on,  240. 
Haughmond  Abbey,  162,  347. 
Hawarden,  St.  Deiniol's  Library,  68. 
Hawick  Archaeological  Society,  115. 
Hayles  Abbey,  Excavations  at,  366. 
Hebridean    Earth-House,    by    D.     Mac- 
Ritchie,  414. 
Hems,  H.,  Letters  by,  40,  44,  400,  440. 
Heraldic  Badges,  Review  of,  39. 
Heraldry,  English,  Review  of,  200. 
Herbert,  William,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  by 

J.  G.  Wood,  8. 
Herculaneum,  126,  204,  447. 
Hiding-Holes  in  Old  Houses,  3,  362. 
High  Wycombe,   Norman   Arches  of,  by 

O.  Davison,  339. 
Hitchin,   The  Royal  Manor  of,  Review 

of,  118. 
"  Hog-backed  "  Monuments,  206,  274. 
Holes  in  Chancel  Screens,  44,  160. 
Holt  -  White,    R.  :     Discovery    of    Gold 

Bracelets  near  Crayford,  126. 
Horse-collar  Comb,  Tyrol,  163. 
Horses'  Skulls,  35. 
Hortulus  Animce,  MS.  of,  109. 
Household  Expenditure  in  1680,  Scottish, 

114. 
Hull  Scientific  Club,  313. 

Transactions,  112. 
Hulme,      E.      W.  :      English     Mediaeval 

Window  Glass,  56. 
Hustings,  Court  of,  7. 

Ightham,  Review  of,  239. 
Inventory,  Eighteenth-Century,  327. 
Ipswich,  Anglo-Saxon  Cemetery  at,  71. 
Irish  Money,  Ancient,  34. 

Jacobite  Loyalty,  Spirit  of,  Review   of, 

478. 
Jacobite  Stronghold  of  the  Church,    A, 

Review  of,  120. 
Jamaican  Song  and  Story,    Review   of, 

39°- 
James  L,  Silver  Coins  of,  311. 
Jarrow  Churchyard,  Tombstone  in,  Letter 

on,  240. 

Kennedy,  J.  B.  M.,  Letter  by,  320. 

Kent  Archaeological  Society,  356. 

Kent,  Memorials  of  Old,  Review  of,  159. 

Kernos,  The,  432. 

A'liasis,  The,  Review  of,  238. 

Kildare  Archaeological  Society,  115. 

Journal,  390. 
Ktisejr  'Amra,  by  H.  Brentano,  translated 
by  M.  Gurney,  448. 


Lancashire,  Ancient  Crosses  and  Holy 

Wells  of ,  Review  of,  156. 
Lancashire    and     Cheshire     Antiquarian 

Society,  3,  236,  274,  356,  392,  416. 
Lancashire       and       Cheshire       Historic 

Society,  34. 
Lansdown,   near    Bath,    Excavations  on, 

206,  234,  405. 
Lead  Box  containing  Richard  I.'s  Heart, 

by  Lieutenant-Colonel  C.  Field,  385. 
Lead  Coffins,  by  L.  Weaver,  372. 
Lead  Glazes,  7. 
Lead  Tokens,  British,  234. 
Leather  Money,  274. 
Leicester,  Glimpses  of  Ancient,   Review 

of,  116. 
Leicestershire  Archaeological  Society,  34. 
Leighs  Priory,  Essex,  Discoveries  at,  406, 

445- 
Lelands  Itinerary,  Review  of,  319. 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Drawings  of  Review 

of,  39- 
Leonardo  da  Vinci 's  Note-Books,  Review 

of,  77-     .  , 
Lincoln  High  Bridge,  16:. 
Lincoln  Minster,  72. 
Literary  Celebrities  of  the  Lake  District, 

Notice  of,  279. 
Liverpool  Directory,  Early,  34. 
Liverpool,  Earl  of,  Death  of,  167. 
Liverpool  Historical  Exhibition,  283,  432. 
Liverpool  Pageant,  321. 
London    and     Middlesex     Archaeological 

Society,  32,  156,  197. 
London  Antiquities,  206. 
London    Signs    and     their    Associations, 

by  J.  H.  MacMichael,  61,  142,  304. 
London,  The  Passing  of  Old,  67. 
London    Topographical  Record,    Review 

of,  279. 
London  s    Movable    Monuments,    by    J. 

Tavenor-Perry,  416. 
Louth  Archaeological  Society,  115. 
Lowerison,  H.,  Letter  by,  240. 

Maces  and  Staves,  Sales  of,  232,  272. 

MacMichael,  J.  H.  :   London  Signs  and 

their  Associations,  61,  142,  304. 

The  Evil  Eye,  226,  341,  ^22,  465. 

MacRitchie,  D.  :  A  Hebndian  Earth- 
House,  414. 

Maflfeo  da  Verona,  5 

Magazines,  see  Periodicals. 

Magdalen  College  Registers,  Review  of, 
36. 

Mahony,  P.  G.,  Letters  by,  80,  320,  360. 

Mailing  Abbey,  Letter  on,  400. 

Mammoth  Remains,  2, 408,  447. 

Man,  Isle  of,  Antiquarian  Society,  75,  476. 

Manchester,  Excavations  at,  41,  81,  164. 

Manorial  Society,  The,  161,  247. 
Publications,  390. 

Man-traps,  203. 

Manuscripts,  Sales  of,  69,  70,  193,  272, 
310. 

Manx  Crosses,  Review  of,  358. 

Manx  Names,  Notice  of,  40. 

Martin,  W.  :  A  Sussex  Hill-Fort,  11. 

Mautby  Church,  44. 

McGovern,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Letter  by,  4S0. 

Megaliths,  French,  Orientation  of,  447.  _ 

Memorials  of  the  Dead,  Ireland,  Associa- 
tion for  Preservation  of,  Journal,  194, 

434- 
Memphis,  Proposed   Excavation  of,   284, 

43°- 
Meyrick,  E.,  Letter  by,  320. 
Mont  Orgueil  Castle,  445. 
Monumcnta  Orcadica,  Review  of,  76. 
Mottisfont  Abbey,  Discoveries  at,  153. 
Murdoch,  W.  G.   B. :  Royalist  Ladies  of 

the  Caroline  Age,  292,  331. 

Names  and  Changes  of  Name,  Law  Con- 
cerning, Review  of,  119. 

Neales  of  Berkeley,  Charters  and  Records 
of,  Review  of,  276. 


INDEX. 


483 


Neolithic  Implements,  Hampshire,  72. 
Newark  Priory,  Surrey,  by  T.  H.  Bryant, 

452- 
Newcastle  Society  of  Antiquaries,  32,  115, 

155,  196,  235,  275,  314,  356,  366,  393, 436, 

475- 
Newport  Castle,  368. 
Newstead,  near  Melrose,  Excavations  at, 

328. 
Norfolk  Archaeological  Society,  276,  356. 
Norham  Castle,  366. 
Notes  of  the  Month,  1,  41,  81,  121, 161,  201, 

241,  281,  321,  361,  401,  441. 
Numantia,  Discoveries  at,  201. 

Oak  Furniture  in  Westmorland,  Carved, 

by  S.  H.  Scott,  411. 
Organ,  Old  Barrel,  248. 
Organ,  Old  Chamber,  43. 
Orkney  and  Shetland  Old  Lore,  Notice 

of,  439. 
Ovingdean  Church,  Discoveries  at,  325. 
Owl,  At  the  Sign  of  the,  29,  68,  109,  148, 

191,  230,  270,  308,  349,  386,  431,  471. 
Oxford  Antiquities,  202. 
Oxford  Pageant,  45,  281. 
Oxfordshire,  History  of,  Review  of,  79. 
Oxfordshire    Village    in    the    Thirteenth 

Century,  by  A.  Ballard,  128. 

Pageants : 

Bury  St.  Edmunds,  46,  282. 
Liverpool,  321. 
Oxford,  45,  281. 
Porchester,  126. 
Romsey,  5,  247,  281. 
St.  Albans,  5,  126,  321. 

Painted  Glass  in  Milton  Abbey  Church, 
by  Rev.  H.  Pentin,  184. 

Fainting,  History  of,  Review  of,  396 

Pamphlet  Literature  in  English  Civil  War 
and  French  Revolution,  m. 

Pamphlets  and  Booklets,  Notices  of,  79, 
120,  160,  240,  279,  359,  399,  480. 

Pan-Celtic  Congress,  405. 

Paradise  Row,  Review  of,  158. 

Parclose  Screens,  Letter  on,  40. 

Parish  Clerk,  The,  Review  of,  180. 

Parish  Life  in  Mediaeval  England,  Re- 
view of,  39. 

Parish  Register  Society  of  Dublin,  Publi- 
cations, 71. 

Parsons  Handbook,  The,  Review  of,  317. 

Penn's  Country,  Review  of,  277. 

Pentin,  Rev.  H.  :  Painted  Glass  in  Milton 
Abbey  Church,  184. 
Letters  by,  360,  440. 
Review  by,  439. 

Penzance  Antiquarian  Society,  236. 

Pepys's  Memoirs  of  the  Royal  Navy,  Re- 
view of,  78. 

Periodicals  and  Magazines,  Notices  of,  40, 
80,  120,  160,  200,  240,  280,  319,  360,  399, 
439.  480. 

Pevensey  Castle  Excavations,  46,  121,  233, 
480. 

Plympton  Erie,  History  of,  Review  of,  199. 

Pontifex  Family,  Letter  on,  360. 

Pontifical  Services,  Review  of,  477. 

Popes,  The  Story  of  the  Later,  Review 
of,  118. 

Popular  Poetry  of  the  Baloches,  Review 
of,  239. 

Porchester  Pageant,  126. 

Pottery  Glazes,  7. 

Prehistoric  Remains,  Central  Europe,  363 

Proceedings  and  Publications  of  Archaeo 
logical  Societies,  3,  32,71,  112,  151,  194 
232.  272,  310,  352,  366,  389,  404,  433,  473 

Pioverbs  and  Proverbial  Phrases,  Eng- 
lish, Review  of,  279. 

Prudhoe  Castle,  275. 

Pryce,  T.  D.  :  Note  on  the  Bayeux 
Tapestry,  3*6. 

Psalter,  An  Old  English,  302. 

Pulpit  Hour-Glasses,  Letters  on,  360,  399, 
440. 


Quillin,  B.  L.  M.,  Letter  by,  400. 

Ravenscroft,    W.  :    Human    Remains    at 

Reading,  91. 
Reading,  Discoveries  at,  7. 
Reading,    Human    Remains    at,    by    W. 

Ravenscroft,  91. 
Red-hills  Exploration,  322. 
Reliquary,  A,  4. 
Relph,    A.    £.  :    Harpoon    in    Neolithic 

Times,  330. 
Reviews  and  Notices  of  New  Books,  35, 

75,  116,  135,  156,  180,  198,  219,  237,  276, 

3'5.  336,  395,  418,  437,  463,  476. 
Richard  I.,  The  Heart  of,  385. 
Roman  Antiquities  at  Aldeburgh,  343. 
at  Caerleon,  405. 
at  Carlisle,  442. 
at  Corbridge,   32,  167,  324,  393,  402, 

436- 
near  Darlington,  155. 
near  Dartford,  206. 
at  Ely,  364. 
at  Hexham,  166. 
at  Leicester,  248. 
at  Newstead,  Melrose,  328. 
near  Pangboume,  366. 
near  Portslade,  107. 
at  Wareham,  362. 
Roman  Camp  at  Colbren,  122. 

at  Castleshaw,  Oldham,  363,  402. 
Roman  Coins  found,  46,  83,  86,  126,  162, 

168,  365,  405. 
Roman  Fibula?,  Inscribed,  byT.  Sheppard, 

26. 
Roman   History,    Ancient    Legends    of, 

Review  of,  116. 
Roman  Pavements  found,  83. 
Roman  Pottery,  112. 
Roman  Road,  Old  Sarum  to  Uphill,  74. 
Roman  Sculpture,  Review  of,  278. 
Roman  Villa  near  Gloucester,  410. 
at  Hamdon  Hill,  Somerset,  243. 
near  Namur,  206. 
near  Petersfield,  324. 
Roman  Wall,   The  Pilgrimage  of  the,  by 

H.  F.  Abell,  101,  169,  297. 
Romans  in  Bishop  Auckland,  74. 
Rome  and  St.  Peter,  168. 
Rome,  Discoveries  in  and  near,  83,  84,  201, 

247,  286,  367,  404,  409,  433. 
Rome,   National   English    Institutions  of 

Mediaeval,  by  W.  J.  D.  Croke,  223. 
Rome,  St.  Clement's  Church  at,  1. 
Romsey  Pageant,  5,  247,  281. 
Rotherhithe,  History  of,  Review  of,  357. 
Royal   Archaeological  Institute,   114,  153, 

'95.  234.  312,  352,  474- 
Royal  Irish  Academy,  197. 
Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland, 
33j  "4,  i53>  '95,  236,  312,  435. 
Journal,  233,  389,  473. 
Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  35. 
Royalist  Ladies  of  the  Caroline  Age,  by 

W.  G.  B.  Murdoch,  292,  331. 
Royston,  A  History  of,  Review  of,  76. 
Rutland    Antiquities,    Some,    by    V.    B. 

Crovvther-Beynon,  50. 
Rutland  Magazine,  Vol.  II.,   Notice  of, 


St.  Albans  Pageant,  5,  126. 

St.  Alphage  Church,  London  Wall,  164. 

St.  Francis  to  Dante,  From,  Review  of, 

439- 

St.  Peter  and  Rome,  168. 

St.  Peter,  Crucifixion  of,  Letter  on,  320. 

Saint  George,  Review  of,  219. 

Sales,  2,  30,  31,  69,  70,  in,  191,  193,  271, 
272,  310,  351,  473. 

Sardinian  Chapel,  The,  365. 

Savage  Family,  Genealog  ical  History  of, 
Review  of,  36. 

Scalacronica  of  Sir  Thomas  Gray,  Re- 
view of,  315. 

Schools  of  Hellas,  Review  of,  357. 

Scold's  Chair,  A,  444. 


Scotland,  The  Black  Rood  of,  32. 

Scott,   S.   H.  :  Carved  Oak  Furniture  in 

Westmorland,  411. 
Scottish  Ecclesiological  Society,  32. 
Selby  Abbey,  Letters  on,  80, 125. 
Shears  on  Tombstones,  Letter  on,  480. 
Sheppard,  T.  :  Inscribed  Roman  Fibulae, 

26. 
Shetland,  Excavations  in,  73. 
Shewield,  T'Heft  an'  Blades  0',  Review 

of,  479. 
Shirburn  Ballads,  The,  Review  of,  199. 
Shropshire  Archaeological  Society,  356,  393. 

Transactions,  152. 
Shropshire,  Memorials  of  Old,  Review  of, 

118. 
Shropshire  Note-Book,  An  Old,  by  H.  M. 

Auden,  374. 
Shropshire  Parish  Register  Society,  87. 
Sicily,  Excavations  in,  5,  86. 
Sidney's  Arcadia,  a  MS.  copy  of,  151. 
Sieveking,  I.  G. :  An  Old  Cornish  Village, 

382. 
Silchester  Excavations,  284,  361. 
Silver,  Sales  of  Old,  232,  272. 
Skeletons,  Ancient,  found,  7,  86,  154,  168, 

195,  322,  406,  446. 

Skeletons,  Monumental,  by  G.  L.  Apper- 

son,  216. 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  46,  71,   112,  152, 

167,  233,  243,  273. 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  33,  73, 
114,  154,  194,  273. 
Proceedings,  272. 
Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology,  35,  73,  115, 

154.  234,  476. 
Somersetshire  Archaeological  Society,  197, 
315- 
Proceedings,  151. 
Spoons,  Old  Silver,  found,  6. 
Staves  and  Maces,  Sales  of,  232,  272. 
Steinschneider,  Professor,  Death  of,  109. 
Stephen's  Reign,  Coinage  of,  354. 
Steward,   His  Grace  the,  and  Trial  of 

Peers,  Review  of,  316. 
Stirling  Archaeological  Society,  43. 
Stirling  Castle,  Mysterious  Guest  at,  by 

M.  E.  Graham,  457. 
Stirling,  The  Old  Castle  Vennal  of,  Re- 
view of,  117. 
Stone  Balls,  194. 
Stone  Coffins  found,  287,  446. 
Stone  Figure  of  Ecclesiastic,  283. 
Suffolk  Archaeological  Society,  356. 
Suffolk  Arrow-heads,  by  E.  R.  H.  Hancox, 

88. 
Suffolk,  History  of,  Review  of,  198. 
Sulphur  Matches,  410. 
Sunderland  Antiquarian  Society,  115,  155, 

196,  476. 

Surgical   Instruments     in    Greek     and 

Roman  Times,  Review  of,  398. 
Surnames  of  Cambridgeshire,  475. 
Surrey   Archaeological  Society,    234,   276, 
356. 
Collections,  311. 
Sussex  Archaeological  Society,  203,  394. 
Sussex  Churches,  West,  by  H.  F.  Daniell, 

369- 
Sussex  Hill- Fort,  A,  by  W.  Martin,  n. 
Swarkeston,  394. 

Tavenor-Perry,  J.  :   A  Memorial  of  Han- 
worth  Manor,  66. 

Chelsea  Street  Names,  248. 

Arms  on  China  of  Sir  A.  Campbell  of 
Inverneill,  381. 

London's  Movable  Monuments,  416. 
Temple  Church,  The,  Review  of,  463. 
Texas,  Discoveries  in,  328. 
Thoresby  Society,  312. 
Thoroton  Society,  74,  23s,  355. 

Transactions,  352. 
Timekeepers,  Ancient  British,  152. 
Tinder-boxes,  410. 

Tiree,    Some    Antiquities  of,   by  W.    G. 
Colling  wood,  174. 


484 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Tombstone,  A  Reccveted,  by  Rev.  D.  S. 

Davies,  107. 
Toms,    H.    S.  :    Valley    Entrenchments, 

Sussex,  427. 
Treasure  Trove,  326. 

Valley  Entrenchments,  Sussex,  by  H.  S. 

Toms,  427. 
Viking  Club,  Saga-Book,  397. 

Wall-paintings  found,  2,  123,  327. 

Watches,  Old,  154. 

Waterford  Archaeological  Society,  315. 


Wattcau,  Antoine,  Review  of,  38. 

Weaver,  L. :  Ltad  Ccffins,  372. 

Welsh  Folk-Song  Srciety,  270. 

Wesfex  Loan  Exhibition,  Propcscd,  325. 

Westminster  Albty,  I  uneial  I  fligies  at, 
113. 

Westminster  and  London,  Printers, 
Slaticners,  etc.,  o/,  Review  of,  -57. 

Whitechurch  Canonicorum  Church,  234. 

Whitechurch,  Rev.  V.  L.  :  An  Eighteenth- 
Century  Note-Book,  47. 

White  Horse  Stone,  near  Aylesford, 
442- 


Wick  Earrcw,  F.xcaxations  at,  122,  204, 

369. 
Wilts  Arcl  aeological  Society,  282,  315. 
Winchtlsea  Borough  Seal,  165. 
Winchester  Cathedral  Works,  42,  if  6. 
Window  -  Glass,    Erglish    Mediaeval,   by 

E.  W.  Hulme,  56. 
Wood,  J.  G.  :  William  Herbert,   Earl  of 

Pembroke,  8. 

York,  Excavations  in,  87. 

Yorkshire  Archaeological  Society,  312,  435. 

Yorkshire  Coiners,  The,  Review  of,  98. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

A   RELIQUARY 4 

A   SUSSEX  hill-fort:    TWO    ILLUSTRATIONS 

12,  13 
ASPENDEN    CHURCH  :   TWO   ILLUSTRATIONS        19,  22 
INSCRIBED   ROMAN    FIBUL/E  :    FOUR  ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS   27,  28 

A   FIREMAN,   1805 37 

WATCHMAN   GOING   ON    DUTY,   1808            -  -         38 
MAUTBY   CHURCH,    NORFOLK  44 
RUTLAND     ANTIQUITIES:     THREE     ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS        51,  S3,  55 

COULSDON   CHURCH,   SURREY:    THREE    ILLUS- 
TRATIONS   60,  6l 

SHIELD  OK  ARMS  :   HANWORTH  PARK,  MIDDLE- 
SEX   66 

ROYSTON   PRIORY  SEAL 76 

ROYSTON  CHURCH  :    OAK   SCREEN   FOUND   BE- 
HIND  THE   WAINSCOT  77 
SUFFOLK    ARROW-HEADS :    THREE     ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS      ------  88,  89,  90 

GUINEA  BALANCES;   TWO  ILLUSTRATIONS         98,  99 
FACSIMILE  OF   ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  GIBBET 

IN  JACOB'S  "  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,"  1789      IOO 
HALIFAX:     "HOUSE  AT  THE    MAYPOLE"    RE- 
ERECTED   AT   SHIBDEN        -  -  -  -      IOI 

A   RECOVERED   TOMBSTONE        ....      108 

LEICESTER  :  JACOBEAN  FIREPLACE  IN  MAYOR'S 

PARLOUR Il6 

LEICESTER  :   EXTERIOR   OF   MAYOR'S  PARLOUR 

FROM   THE  OLD  TOWN   HALL  YARD  -      117 

GOLD    BRACELETS    FOUND    NEAR     CRAYFORD, 

1906 127 

BRASSES     OF    ENGLAND  :      THREE      ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS          134,  135,  136 

coffin  of  william  harvey,  m.d.  -  -  i4i 
vincent  wing  (from  an  old  print)  -  -  i49 
bosses  from  old  aisle  roof  of  braintree 

church:  three  illustrations  -  157,  158 
tyrolese  brass  horse-collar  comb  :  two 

illustrations  -----  163 
antiquities  of  tiree  :  four  illustrations 

175,  176,  178,  179 
MILTON  ABBEY  CHURCH  :  EAST  WINDOW  -  185 
OLD  TAVERN  SCENE  (FROM    "THE   SHIRBURN 

BALLADS") 199 

MAN-TRAP   IN   THE   HULL   MUSEUM  -  -      203 

ST.   ANTHONY'S  CHAPEL  ON    CARTMEL    FELL: 

FOUR   ILLUSTRATIONS     -  -  -  2o8,  209 

ST.    GEORGE,    FROM    TRADESCANT'S    DRAWING 

OF   WINDOW   IN   CHURCH   OF   ST.    SOPHIA, 

CONSTANTINOPLE 220 


FRONTISPIECE     TO     COPLAND'S    ILLUSTRATED 

MALORY,    I557 221 

ROUND      TABLE     IN    WINCHESTER     HALL,     AS 

DECORATED   BY   HENRY    VIII.    -  -  -      222 

CROSBY   HALL 242 

SMALL    METAL    FIGURE    OF    THE   VIRGIN   AND 

CHILD 246 

THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY  AND  ITS  "  RE- 
STORERS":   SEVENTEEN    ILLUSTRATIONS 

254»  255-  256,  257,  258,  289,  290,  291,  292 

DONEGAL   ABBEY:   TWO   ILLUSTRATIONS-       265,  267 

PENN    CHURCH 278 

MUTILATED  STONE  FIGURE  OF  AN  ECCLESIASTIC      283 
"BIRCH'S,"    15,    CORNHILL      ....      2^6 
OLD     ENGLISH     PSALTER:     THREE     ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS         303,  304 

CLEASBY  VILLAGE  :   SILVER  COMMUNION  PLATE      318 
THE   NEOLITHIC   HARPOON        -  33O 

NORMAN      ARCHES,      HIGH      WYCOMBE:      TWO 

ILLUSTRATIONS  ....      339,  340 

MEDIEVAL  TILES  AT  HAUGHMOND  ABBEY  :  TWO 

ILLUSTRATIONS 348 

SWANSCOMBE        CHURCH  :        WINDOW        WITH 

ROMAN    BRICKWORK  ....      359 

THE  OLD    BRIDGE,    BATH  ....      364 

LEAD   COFFINS  :    TWO   ILLUSTRATIONS      -       372,  373 
SIR    HENRY   SYDNEY'S   LEAD    HEART-CASE  -      373 

SIR  A.    CAMPBELL'S  ARMS   ON   CHINA        -  -      38 1 

LEAD    BOX    IN    WHICH    RICHARD    I.'S    HEART 

WAS   BURIED 385 

CHIMNEY-PIECE    IN    OLD    BAWN     HOUSE,     CO. 

DUBLIN,    1635 390 

CARVED  FIGURE  OF  ST.  OLAK  IN  THRONDHJEM 

MUSEUM 398 

HEBRIDEAN  EARTH-HOUSE  :  THREE  ILLUS- 
TRATIONS         414,  415 

CHURCH    FURNITURE:    FIVE   ILLUSTRATIONS 

419,  420,  42I,  422 
VALLEY       ENTRENCHMENTS      NEAR      FALMER, 

SUSSEX  :   TWO   ILLUSTRATIONS  -  -      427,  428 

EFFIGY     OF     A      BISHOP     IN     ST.      MICHAN'S 

CHURCH,    DUBLIN 434 

WHITE  HORSE  STONE,   NEAR  AYLESFORD  ;   TWO 

ILLUSTRATIONS 443 

NEWARK  PRIORY,  SURREY  :  THREE  ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS   453,  454,  456 

THE  TEMPLE  CHURCH:  TWO  ILLUSTRATIONS  464,465 
OLD   BURIAL-GROUND,    DARTFORD    -  -  -      469 

FOURTEENTH-CENTURY    HOUSE  -  -  -      478 

MACES      BORNE     BY     MASQUERS  :      SIXTEENTH 

CENTURY 479 


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