Scene 2, King Henry, addressing the Archbishop of Canterbury and the

Bishop of Ely, thus asks them to expound the Salic Law:--

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * *

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

Lines on Opening an Ancient Barrow.[28]

BY THE REV. W. LISLE BOWLES.

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

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

The Ancient Etruscan City of Luni.

BY LA SIGNORA CAMPION.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * *

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

Reviews.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obituary Memoirs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PROVINCIAL.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Antiquarian Correspondence.

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

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

DR. FRANCIS MALLETT.

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

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

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

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

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

JOHN BATTY.

_East Ardsley, near Wakefield._

ARMS OF JOSUAH BARNES.

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

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

“Hæc mihi musa dedit Vix ea nostra voco;”

and under this--

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

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

J. HAMBLIN SMITH.

_Woodbridge, Suffolk._

PORTS AND CHESTERS.

(See _ante_, pp. 47, 96.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

A. HALL.

A BAKER BLESSED.

(See _ante_, p. 44.)

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

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

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

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

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

Here the idea of the baker is brought in.

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

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

J. G.

AN ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERY.

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

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

JAMES RUTLAND,

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

HANG _The Gables, Taplow_, _August, 1884._

_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

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

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

Books Received.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Books, etc., for Sale.

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

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

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

Books, etc., Wanted to Purchase.

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

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

_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._

Our Old County Towns.

_NO. II.--SEAFORD, SUSSEX._

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Port” and “Port-Reeve.”

BY J. H. ROUND, M.A.

_PART IV._

(_Completed from p. 24._)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“London and Lincoln,” says Prebendary Scarth,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The “Titurel” of Wolfram von Eschenbach.

TRANSLATED BY JULIA GODDARD.

(_Continued from p. 134._)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Johnson and Garrick.[50]

_AN UNPUBLISHED JEU D’ESPRIT._

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

_PART I._

JOHNSON AGAINST GARRICK.

JOHNSON AND SIR J. REYNOLDS.

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

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

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

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

R.--But I meant only, Dr. J., to know your opinion.

J.--No, sir, you meant no such thing; you meant only to show these gentlemen that you are not the man they took you to be, but that you think of high matters sometimes, and that you may have the credit of having it said, that you held an argument with Sam Johnson, on predestination, and free will; a subject of that magnitude, to have engaged the attention of the world, to have perplexed the wisdom of man, for these 2,000 years; a subject on which the fallen angels who _had not yet lost all their original brightness_ find themselves _in wandering mazes lost_. That such a subject could be discussed in the levity of convivial conversation, is a degree of absurdity beyond what is easily conceivable.

R.--It is so, as you say, to be sure; I talked once to our friend Garrick on this subject, but I remember we could make nothing of it.

J.--Oh noble pair!

R.--Garrick was a clever fellow, Dr. J.; Garrick, take him altogether, was certainly a very great man.

J.--Garrick, sir, may be a great man in your opinion, as far as I know, but he was not so in mine; little things are great to little men.

R.--I have heard you say, Dr. Johnson----

J.--Sir, you never heard me say, David Garrick was a great man. You may have heard me say that Garrick was a good repeater of other men’s words,--words put into his mouth by other men; this makes but a faint approach towards being a great man.

R.--But take Garrick upon the whole; now in regard to conversation----

J.--Well, sir, in regard to conversation I never discovered in the conversation of D. Garrick any intellectual energy, any wide grasp of thought, any extensive comprehension of mind; or that he possessed any of those powers to which _great_ could, with any degree of propriety, be applied.

R.--But still----

J.--Hold, sir, I have not done--there are to be sure, in the laxity of colloquial speech, various kinds of greatness. A man may be a great tobacconist, a man may be a great painter, he may be likewise a great mimick: now you may be the one, and Garrick the other, and yet neither of you be great men.

R.--But, Dr. Johnson----

J.--Hold, sir. I have often lamented how dangerous it is to investigate, and to discriminate character, to men who have no discriminative powers.

R.--Garrick as a companion, I heard you say--no longer ago than last Wednesday, at Mr. Thrale’s table----

J.--You tease me, sir. Whatever you may have heard me say, no longer ago than last Wednesday, at Mr. Thrale’s table, I tell you, I do not say so now; besides, as I said before, you may not have understood me, you may not have heard me.

R.--I am very sure, I heard you.

J.--Besides, sir, besides, besides--do not you know--are you so ignorant as not to know that it is the highest degree of rudeness to quote a man against himself?

R.--But if you differ from yourself, and give one opinion to-day----

J.--Have done, sir, the company are tired, you see, as well as myself.

T’OTHER SIDE.

DR. JOHNSON AND MR. GIBBON.

JOHNSON.--No, sir, Garrick’s fame was prodigious, not only in England but over all Europe, even in Russia. I have been told he was a proverb; when anybody had repeated well he was called a second Garrick.

GIBBON.--I think he had full as much reputation as he deserved.

J.--I do not pretend to know, sir, what your meaning may be by saying he had as much reputation as he deserved; he deserved much, and he had much.

G.--Why, surely, Dr. Johnson, his merit was in small things only; he had none of those qualities that make a real great man.

J.--Sir, I as little understand what your meaning may be when you speak of the qualities that make a great man: it is a vague term. Garrick was no common man: a man above the common size of men, may surely, without any great impropriety, be called a great man. In my opinion, he has very reasonably fulfilled the prophecy which he once reminded me of having made to his mother, when she asked me how little David got on at school, that I should say to her, that he would come to be hanged, or come to be a great man. No, sir, it is undoubtedly true that the same qualities, united with virtue, or with vice, make a hero or a rogue, a great general or a highwayman. Now Garrick, we are sure, was never hanged, and in regard to his being a great man, you must take the whole man together. It must be considered in how many things Garrick excelled in which every man desires to excel, setting aside his excellence as an actor, in which he is acknowledged to be unrivalled; as a man, as a poet, as a convivial companion, you will find but few his equals, and none his superior. As a man he was kind, friendly, benevolent, and generous.

G.--Of Garrick’s generosity I never heard; I understood his character to be totally the reverse, and that he was reckoned to have loved money.

J.--That he loved money nobody will dispute; who does not? But if you mean by loving money he was parsimonious to a fault, sir, you have been misinformed. To Foote and such scoundrels, who circulated those reports, to such profligate spendthrifts, prudence is meanness, and economy is avarice. That Garrick, in early youth, was brought up in strict habits of economy, I believe, and that they were necessary, I have heard from himself; to suppose that Garrick might inadvertently act from this habit, and be saving in small things, can be no wonder, but let it be remembered at the same time, that if he was frugal by habit, he was liberal from principle; that when he acted from reflection, he did what his fortune enabled him to do, and what was expected from such a fortune. I remember no instance of David’s parsimony, but once, when he stopped Mrs. Woffington from replenishing the teapot; it was already, he said, as red as blood; and this is doubtful, and happened many years ago. In the latter part of his life, I observed no blameable parsimony in David; his table was elegant, and even splendid; his house both in town and country, his equipage, and I think all his habits of life were such as might be expected from a man who had acquired great riches. In regard to his generosity, which you seem to question, I shall only say there is no man to whom I would apply with more confidence of success, for the loan of £200 to assist a common friend, than to David, and this too with very little, if any, probability of its being repaid.

G.--You were going to say something about him as a writer. You don’t rate him very high as a poet?

J.--Sir, a man maybe a respectable poet without being an Homer, as a man may be a good player without being a Garrick. In the lighter kind of poetry, in the appendages of the drama, he was, if not the first, in the very first class. He had a readiness, and a facility, a dexterity of mind that appeared extraordinary even to men of experience, and who are not apt to wonder from ignorance. Writing prologues, epilogues, and epigrams, he said he considered as his trade, and he was what a man should be, always, and at all times, ready at his trade. He required two hours for a prologue or an epilogue, and five minutes for an epigram. Once at Burke’s table, the company proposed a subject, and Garrick finished his epigram within the time: the same experiment was repeated in the garden, and with the same success.

(_To be continued._)

The History of Gilds.

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

_PART IV._

(_Continued from p._ 76.)