CHAPTER XXXV.--_Gilds of Norfolk.

THIS county was remarkable for the number of its Gilds, every principal town having many, and most of the villages one or more. The following is believed to be a complete return of the Gilds existing in 1388-9. All the towns are easy of identification.

=East Wynch.=--In this town (or village) there was the following:--

_Gild of Est Wynch_, founded 1377.--Four meetings shall be held every year. Officers to be chosen by picked men. Services for dead, and offerings. Masses for the souls of the dead. Allowances to members in sickness, viz., “a lof, and a potel of ale, and mes of kechen [stuff].”

=Lynn.=--The Gilds existing in this then famous seaport (at the date above named) were the following--the chief features of each being noted.

_Gild of the Nativity of St. John Baptist_, founded 1316.--Three meetings shall be held every year, to which every brother and sister must come under penalty. Officers shall be chosen by picked men; those not serving to pay a fine. The stewards shall find sureties for the goods of the Gild, and render an account at the yearly general meeting. Every feast shall be begun with a prayer; the Gild-candle shall burn the while; and all that are there shall be noiseless. Services for the dead, and offerings. New members shall undertake to keep the ordinances, and shall pay the usual house-fees and entrance-money. Masses for the souls of the dead. Allowances to officers on feast days. The Dean shall be fined if he fail to summon any of the bretheren. The Gild shall go to church in procession on the day of their yearly meeting, and hear mass, and make offerings. Help to poor bretheren and sisteren. The funds of the Gild at this date appear to have amounted to £4 1s.--this indeed representing a large amount of our present coinage--held by its four principal officers. Another Gild with the same name is mentioned later.

_Gild of St. Peter_ (at Lenne), founded 1329 [or 1339].--Four meetings shall be held every year, at each of which every brother and sister shall pay a halfpenny towards maintaining a light burning during divine service. Penalty for not coming to any meeting. The Dean shall be fined if he fail to summon any. Officers shall be chosen by picked men; those chosen and not serving shall be fined. Services for the dead, and offerings; and bretheren not coming, if able, shall be fined. Masses for the soul. The Alderman shall deliver the goods to the Stewards, upon surety given to render account thereof at the yearly general meeting. Allowances to the officers on feast days. New-comers shall undertake to keep these statutes; and shall at once pay the usual entrance-money or find sureties. The Dean’s salary vj_d._ in the year. Any brother or sister wronging another shall be fined. Help to be given to poor bretheren.

_Gild of St. Nicholas_ in Lenne Petri (West Lynn), founded 1359.--Four meetings in the year; whoever grumbles shall be fined. No one shall enter the buttery where the ale lies.

_Gild of the Purification_, in Bishop’s Lynn, founded 1367.--This was a social Gild “in ye honuraunce of ihesu crist of heuene, And of his moder seinte marie, and of alle halowene, and speciallike of ye Purificacioun of oure lady seint marie.” Its features were like other of the Religio-Social Gilds of the town.

_The Shipmanes Gild_, founded 1368.--Three meetings shall be held every year, on days named, or as the Alderman shall appoint. Every brother must come to every meeting, if able. The Dean shall be fined if he fail to summon any. Officers chosen and not serving shall be fined. New-comers [members] shall pay the usual house fees and entrance-money. Services for the dead, and offerings. The bellman shall summon all. Masses for souls of the dead. Unruly brothers shall be fined. One wronging another shall be fined, and shall make peace. Penalty for disclosing the affairs of the Gild. The Stewards shall render an account of the goods of the Gild, and of the year’s profits, at the yearly general meeting, under penalty to be paid by themselves or their sureties. No Gild-brother shall give pledge or become surety for another, in any plea or suit, without leave of the Alderman and others. The Alderman, &c., shall do their best to adjust the quarrel; but if unable, shall give leave to make suit at law. Fine for disobedience. Allowances to the officers on feast days. Help to poor bretheren. Payments shall be made for every voyage; and a yearly payment if no voyage made. The ale-chamber not to be entered. New-comers shall swear to maintain the Ordinances of the Gild. New-comers must undertake to come to the yearly meetings, if at home, and must make their payments. The liveryhood shall be kept for two years. On death of a brother, all the rest shall be summoned, and shall come to the service in their livery-hoods, and make offerings. None shall leave until the service is done; fine for default.

A new Ordinance was made for this Gild in 1381, viz., burial service in the case of any brother dying out of town. In 1382 another new Ordinance, viz., burial service for those dying in West Lynn and South Lynn.

It is clear that this was a Gild of a superior order, more after the nature of a Merchant-Gild.

_Gild of St. John Baptist_, in Bishop’s Lynn, founded 1372.--This partook of the general character of the Social Gilds of the town, except that there seemed to be no special provision for the poor members in sickness, &c. The ordinances provided that there should be no quarrelling during any feast-time or meeting. Moneys were to be contributed towards the Gild-stock, and the ale.

_Gild of St. John Baptist_, in West Lynn, founded in 1374.--Services for dead, and offerings. The Dean shall buy waste bread with these offerings, and give it [to the poor]. Penalty on anyone disputing any of these Ordinances.

_Gild of St. George the Martyr_, founded in 1376.--A priest shall be found to serve at the altar of St. George. Candles and torches shall be found to burn during the service, and at burials. Services for the dead, and offerings. Services shall be held, though the brother or sister shall have died outside the town. Masses for souls of the dead. Help to poor bretheren and sisteren. Four meetings to be held every year, to which every brother and sister shall come under penalty. Officers shall be chosen by picked men; those chosen and not serving to be fined. Allowance to officers on feast days. The Gild shall go to church on the day of yearly meeting, and hear mass and make offerings. The affairs of the Gild not to be disclosed. The Stewards to find sureties for the goods, and to render account at the yearly general meeting. Every feast shall be begun with a prayer, the Gild-light burning the while; and they that are there making no noise nor jangling. New members admitted only at the yearly general meeting, and with the assent of all; save good men from the country. New members shall undertake to keep the Ordinances, and shall pay the usual house-fees as well as entrance-money. If any quarrel arise, it shall be told to the Alderman, who shall do his best to settle it. Livery-hoods to be worn at the meetings, and at every burial service. Breakers of the Ordinances, after three fines shall be put out of the Gild. Salary of the Clerk iii_s._ iv_d._, and of the Dean ij_s._ the year. The funds of the Gild consisted of £3 3s.

_Gild of St. Thomas of Canterbury_ (in Lenne), founded 1376.--The Gild, all fairly arrayed, shall meet on St. Thomas’s Day, and hear mass, and make offerings. There shall be four other general meetings in the course of each year. An Alderman shall be chosen, and four Stewards, and a Dean and Clerk. A large wax candle shall be kept burning. The order of burial services defined. Wrongdoers shall be put out. New-comers shall pay 5s. each. If any become poor, or have loss by sea, or by fire, or otherwise, help shall be given. Assent given to these Ordinances. Wages of Clerk to be iij_s_., and of Dean xviij_d._ for the year.

_The Gild of Young Scholars_, founded 1383.--Gifts were received in support of the Gild. Burial services defined. Help in case of poverty, loss at sea, or other mishap. Three speakings together [assemblies] of the Gild shall be held every year; accounts shall be then rendered. All the brethren shall go to church on one day in the year, and hear mass and make offerings. Misdoers shall be put out. Officers shall be chosen. It was stated that all the goods of the Gild had been spent, but more were hoped for.

_Gild of St. Thomas of Canterbury_ (at Lenne).--Four meetings to be held every year, to which all must come under penalty. New-comers shall pay the usual house-fees. Attendance at meetings must be punctual. Services for the dead, and offerings. Masses for the soul. Sureties and entrance-money for new-comers. Allowances to the officers on feast days. Help to the poor. Allowances to the sick. No noise to be made during the feast time. The remaining ordinances resembled those of the other Gilds of the town.

_Gild of St. James_, in North Lynn.--Four meetings in the year. Three candles to be kept burning during divine service. Help to needy bretheren and sisteren. Unruly speech shall be punished by a fine. Other features general.

_Gild of St. Edmund_, in North Lynn.--A Religio-Social Gild with special features.

_Gild of Candlemass_, in North Lynn.--No special features.

_Gild of St. Lawrence_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--It had no special features differing from the Social Gilds of the town.

_Gild of St. Edmund_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--This again had no special features. The entrance-money iiiij_s._

_Gild of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist_ (another).--Three meetings shall be held every year, to which every brother and sister must come under penalty. The Dean shall be fined if he fail to summon any. New-comers shall pay the usual house-fees. Services for the dead, and offerings. Penalty for betraying the affairs of the Gild. Officers chosen and not serving shall be fined. Masses for souls of the dead. The ale chamber not to be entered. Salaries of the Dean and the Clerk provided for. The Stewards to find sureties for the goods of the Gild, and render an account at the yearly general meeting. No man shall stay in the Gild-house after the Alderman has left. Allowances to the officers on Gild-days, and to sick bretheren and sisteren. Help to poor bretheren and sisteren. Entrance fee ij_s._, “and find ij. borowes for ye catelle.”

_Gild of St. Thomas of Canterbury_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--This was on the same basis as the other Social Gilds of the town. A few special Ordinances obtained. If one brother belie another, he shall be fined. If anyone is foul-mouthed to the Alderman at any meeting, he shall be fined. If anyone wrong another, he shall be fined. None shall come to the feast in a tabard, nor in a cloak, nor with legs bare, nor barefoot. If anyone make a noise during the feast, he shall do penance by holding the rod, else pay a fine. No one shall sleep, nor keep the ale-cup to himself. Help to poor bretheren and sisteren [record incomplete].

_Gild of the Holy Cross_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--The chief distinctive feature of this Gild was that allowances were made to the bretheren and sisteren during sickness, but also while on pilgrimage. No brother was to go to law with another without leave of the Alderman.

_Gild of St. Anthony_ (in Lenne).--Founded (date uncertain) “in the Worchep of God of heuen, and of his modir seynt Mari, and alle the holy Company of heuen, and souerengly of the Noble confessour seynt Antony.” The Gild shall meet in church and hear mass and make offerings. There shall be four other general meetings of the Gild in each year. New-comers (members) shall pay 5s. each. A wise Alderman shall be chosen, and 4 trusty Stewards, and a summoning Dean, and a Clerk. Burial services on death of members, and offerings. In cases of loss of cattle, or personal sickness, help to be given. Wages of the Clerk and Dean to be xij_d._ each “for his trauaile in the yere.”

_Gild of St. Leonard._--There shall be four general meetings every year; at the first there shall be chosen an Alderman and four Stewards, a Dean, and a Clerk. New-comers shall pay 3s. each. Burial services defined. In case of loss by sea, or other mishap, help shall be given. If death outside the town, the body shall be fetched at cost of the Gild. Prisoners shall be visited and comforted. Rebels against canon law shall be put out.

_Gild of the Purification._--The Gild shall meet on Candlemas-day, and have besides three meetings every year. No special features. Help to those in trouble.

_Gild of St. Mary._--Services for the dead and offerings. Masses for the souls of the dead. No special features.

_Gild of St. Katherine._--A candle shall be kept burning in the church of St. Margaret; and on the Feast of St. Katherine offerings shall be made. New members to pay 5s. entrance-fee. Masses for the souls of the dead. No special features.

_Gild of St. James._--Help to poor bretheren and sisteren. No special features.

_Gild of the Conception_, in Bishop’s Lynn.--There were to be four meetings in the year; every brother and sister was to pay 1d. towards finding a light on festival days; and any member summoned and not attending was to be fined; remainder of the features in common with other Gilds of the town.

Most of the preceding are seen to be religious Gilds--perhaps all except the “Shipmanes” [_i.e._ Shipmasters] of 1368. The following were of the mercantile class:--

_Gild of the Holy Trinity_ [Merchants Gild].--This was the great mercantile Gild of the town, and had very considerable possessions in land, houses, and other property. It was reputed to have taken its rise in the reign of King John, in the sixth year of whose reign the Gild received Letters Patents authorising one of its body to be mayor of the town. The Gild itself was unquestionably of older date. At the date of the Reformation the Gild was sustaining thirteen chaplains, “daily and yearly to pray, as well for the King, his ancestors, and for the peace and welfare of his kingdom, as for the souls of the Aldermen, bretheren, and benefactors of the said Gild, also for the souls of the faithful deceased.”

_The Gild of Shoemakers._--No details available.

_The Red Gild._--The particular objects of this Gild, or even the circumstances which led to the adoption of its name, have hitherto defied all inquiry.

_The Gild of St. William_, trading to North Bern. This was probably a gild of merchants trading to North Bergen (Norway). Lynn had carried on a considerable trade with the North of Europe from a very early period, and many Lynn merchants resided in those parts. There is in the Corporation records a letter in Latin, bearing date 1305, from Bartholomew, the King of Norway’s Chancellor, to the Mayor of Lynn, in behalf of Thurkill and other merchants residing there. It was customary for the merchants of Lynn to have a consul of their own--an Alderman--appointed for Norway. To this end a royal warrant was necessary. Here is a copy of such a document issued by Henry V. (first half of fifteenth century):--

“HENRY, by the grace of God, King of England and of France, and Lord of Ireland.

To our trusty and well-beloved the Mayor, Aldermen, and other merchants inhabiting within our town of Lynn, shewed unto us, that by the old privilege among you, used in exercising the sale of your merchandises in the lands and countries of Denmark and Norway, ye have an ancient custom to have an Alderman chosen by election among you, to be ruler and governor of your Company in the said countries, and to see good rule and order kept amongst you there, which we woll be content to help and see to be holden for the increasing and augmentation of the common weal and prosperity of you and all other our true subjects; we having the same in our good remembrance, be content and woll, that ye godre and assemble toguider, and among you chuse such oon to be your said Alderman, as ye shall think convenient, good, honest, and sufficient for the premisses: and to use, have, enjoy, and occupy the liberties and franchises in this cause heretofore accustomed. Yeven under our Signet at our manor of Greenwich, the 18th day of July, the fifth year of our reign.”

It will be remembered in this connection that Lynn was one of the trading stations of the Hanseatic League.

There seem to have been several Gild-halls in the town, viz., those of the Gilds of the _Trinity_ and of _St. George_ respectively, and it is supposed of various others. In vol. i. of Richards’ “History of Lynn” will be found many additional details of interest regarding the Gilds of this town.

(_To be continued._)

AN ancient stained glass panel representing a pedlar and his dog has lately been removed from a window of Lambeth Church, to give place to a new memorial window. It commemorated “some person unknown” who is supposed to have left to the parish a piece of land long known as “Pedlar’s Acre.” Its removal has caused some excitement in the parish.

Autograph Letters.

No. V.--THE REV. P. MORANT TO A. FARLEY, ESQ.

SOUTH LAMBETH, _Oct. 17, 1769_.

SIR,--In one of the Petitions which I am preparing for the press, there is an extract out of Domesday-book, written so badly that I cannot possibly make out _a word in it_ near the end. I inclose a transcript of it, and, if it is not too much trouble, humbly (_sic_) the Favor of You to fill in up that word, and send this Letter back to Mr. Astle at the Paper Office. I am obliged to print that Extract as it is in the Petition, and therefore you will be so good as not to give yourself the Trouble to write out the whole Extract.

Begging of You to excuse this Trouble, I remain, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, PHIL. MORANT.

HANG To

Abraham Farley, Esq.

[This letter was written by the Rev. P. Morant, the historian of Essex, while residing at Lambeth, whither he had removed early in this year, as being appointed to succeed Mr. Blyke in the work of preparing for the press a copy of the “Rolls of Parliament.” The “Mr. Astle” to whom it refers was Thomas Astle, Esq., Keeper of the Records, who married Morant’s daughter. It was in crossing over from Lambeth to his work that Morant caught the chill from which he died.[77]--J. H. ROUND.]

“MILTON’S BIBLE,” which the trustees of the British Museum have purchased, is, strictly speaking, the first Mrs. Milton’s Bible. “I am the book of Mary Milton,”--so runs the inscription in the lady’s own handwriting. The poet, himself, however, has entered the dates of the birth of his children, which are given with commendable precision. Thus--“Anne, my daughter, was born July 29, the day of the monthly Fast, between six and seven, or about half an hour after six in the morning, 1646.” Another entry records a fact not often remembered: “My son John was born on Sunday, March 16, at half-past nine at night, 1650.” This child, Milton’s only son, died an infant--“through the ill-usage or bad constitution of an ill-chosen nurse,” says Phillips. The fates and fortunes of Milton’s remaining children, and even of his grandchildren, are well-known; we read also of great-grandchildren who lived, but (it is to be feared) did not flourish, at Madras down to the commencement of George II.’s reign. Then one loses sight of them altogether. Possibly the heir of the poet’s body is a Eurasian, and a writer of Baboo English. Perhaps he is identical with the judicious author who boasted that “he had studied the Shakespeare and the Milton, and had avoided the imperfections of either.”--_St. James’s Gazette._

Reviews.

_A Guide to the Roman Villa recently discovered at Morton, between Sandown and Brading, Isle of Wight._ By JOHN E. PRICE, F.S.A., and F. G. HILTON PRICE, F.G.S. Ventnor: Briddon Brothers, 1884.

FROM time to time during the past century, excavations made intentionally or unintentionally, have revealed to modern eyes how large a store of remains still attest the presence of the Eagles of Imperial Rome in this country, though fifteen or sixteen centuries have passed since their departure from these shores. At Woodchester, on the Gloucestershire Hills; at Chesters near Hexham, on the Roman Wall; at Bignor near Petworth, on the Sussex Downs; at Carleon-upon-Usk in Monmouthshire; in north, south, and central London, at Colchester, at Lincoln, and in a dozen other places, we have seen exhumed from time to time, baths, ovens, kitchens, and temples with walls and floors inlaid with Roman mosaics, dating from the days of the Antonines and Hadrian.

But few of these places are of greater interest than Brading in the Isle of Wight, near which Messrs. Price brought to light, in 1880, the ground-plan of one Roman villa, almost complete. The explorations originated in the discovery of such indications of Roman buildings as offered encouragement for further investigation. Here a short time previously to our authors’ assisting in the matter, Captain Thorp, of Yarbridge, had discovered fragments of walls, roof tiles, and traces of pavements, and had devoted a considerable amount of energy and zeal to the complete examination of the ground. Before many months had passed by, it was found necessary, on account of the number of pilgrims who flocked thither, to publish a guide, giving a description of the discoveries. This has now reached the honours of an eleventh edition. In this Guide the dimensions of the several chambers of which the building consisted are duly set forth, and the fragments of pottery, mosaics, and tessellated pavements fully described and illustrated. By the kindness of the authors we are enabled to reproduce one of the illustrations,[78] which represents a group in the south-west compartment of the lower portion of the pavement of one of the larger chambers, admirably worked in small tesseræ of varied colours. There is a female figure partially draped after the manner of the _saltatrix_ or dancing girl of Greece or Italy, playing upon a tambourine; her companion is a male figure of more than ordinary interest, on account of the peculiarities presented by the costume worn--a Phrygian cap, a skirted tunic with a small cloak or _pallium_ fastened on the right shoulder, and _braccæ_ or “trousers.” “The peculiarity of this dress,” writes Messrs. Price, “leads to the opinion that it may be that in fashion at the time the mosaic was laid down, because the form given to the _braccæ_ is different to that usually met with in the costume attributed to the ‘barbarians’ or provincial nations in Roman sculpture.”

_The Lincolnshire Survey._ Edited by JAMES GREENSTREET. Privately printed. 1884.

BY the publication of this valuable and handsome volume Mr. Greenstreet has done good service to the cause of historical research, and has earned the gratitude of all those who are lovers of exact scholarship. The Lincolnshire Survey enjoys the reputation of being probably the earliest after Domesday, which had only preceded it by some thirty years, and which, in form, it closely resembles. In the autotype plates by which this ancient survey is here reproduced in fac-simile, the writing is as clear almost throughout, as when the parchment first received it 770 years ago. It was fitting that a record which can only appeal to antiquarian connoisseurs should be issued in the choicest form, and Mr. Greenstreet’s subscribers have good reason to be satisfied with the appearance of the work. The title-page is appropriately adorned with the arms of eight of the leading families whose names occur in the survey, grouped round those of the See of Lincoln. Our readers need not be reminded of Mr. Greenstreet’s eminence as a herald, possessing as they do, in these pages, from his pen, more than one valuable Roll of Arms. We trust that the enterprise he has shown in bringing out this important work may serve to arouse a wider interest in the obscure period with which it deals, and, consequently, in the work of the Pipe-Roll Society, of which Mr. Greenstreet is the honorary secretary, and one of the most zealous promoters.

_Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson, Esq._ By P. O. HUTCHINSON, Sampson Low & Co.

THIS is the title of a work which will be found to fill an important blank in the history of the American Revolution. It is the work of one of Governor Hutchinson’s great-grandsons. It supplies many personal memoranda of the leaders on both sides in that struggle, including several notices of the Copleys, Pepperells, and other Royalists, who settled in England when the breach between the old country and her colonies was complete. There is from first to last about it no attempt at fine or sensational writing, or at “stating the case” on behalf of the Royalist cause; it consists of plain matters of fact, extracts from diaries, letters, &c., and these are such as give the reader the clearest insight into the transactions which it records, and the conduct of the chief movers in them. As a painstaking effort to place on permanent record a portion of history of which but little is known, and which as yet has found no adequate historian, the book is deserving of all praise.

_The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture._ By M. H. BLOXAM. Three vols. G. Bell & Sons.

IT is not to be wondered at, considering the part which the veteran Mr. Bloxam has played in the revival of the study of Gothic architecture, that this book should have reached its eleventh edition, or that from a small 12mo. volume, couched in a catechetical form, it should have attained the honour of a library edition--for that is what is now the case. Along with the late Mr. J. H. Parker, of Oxford, Mr. Bloxam was one of the chief pioneers of that movement which has found its outcome in the many flourishing county and diocesan architectural and archæological societies which are scattered up and down England, and in those pleasant annual congresses which Mr. Bloxam himself attended and instructed till the weight of eighty years forced him to abandon them. Most of the older men of the present generation can say that it was from Mr. Bloxam’s little work that they imbibed their earliest taste in the above direction, and they will be not the less glad to possess the three volumes into which that work has been gradually expanded on account of the portrait of its author prefixed to it. The treatise really is one which needs no recommendation at our hands; but it is as well to add that the third volume is devoted to an account of the costumes of monumental effigies--a branch of the subject to which Mr. Bloxam of late years has paid especial attention. The illustrations are exquisitely done; and three good indexes add a special value to the work as a book of reference.

Obituary Memoirs.

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

THE Rev. Hugh Pigot, Rector of Stretham, Cambridgeshire, and author of “The History of Hadleigh,” died on September 22, aged sixty-five years. Mr. Pigot graduated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and besides the above-mentioned work, he was the author of “A Guide to the Town of Hadleigh,” “Suffolk Superstitions,” and other antiquarian works.

THE Rev. John Allen Giles, D.C.L., Rector of Sutton, Surrey, formerly headmaster of Camberwell Collegiate School, and afterwards of the City of London School, died on September 24. His name is known as a scholar in various branches of learning. He edited or translated the works of Lanfranc and of the Venerable Bede, “Letters of St. Thomas of Canterbury,” the “Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti,” “Sculptores Græci Minores,” “Terentii Comœdiæ,” “Severi Sancti Carmen,” and “The Works of King Alfred the Great.” He was also the author of the “Life and Times of Alfred the Great,” “Life and Letters of Thomas à Becket,” “The History of Bampton,” “The History of Witney,” and a “History of the Ancient Britons,” &c.

Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.

BRITISH ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.

(_Continued from p. 195._)

THE Council of the Archæological Association added this year three “extra days” to their Tenby congress, to be devoted to Haverfordwest and St. David’s. Accordingly on Tuesday, September 9, they went to Narberth, to visit the castle of that town. This was made the subject of comment by Mr. Loftus Brock, who explained its leading features, drawing attention to its strong position and its great extent, and stating a few facts about its history, from which it appeared that it was founded by a Norman baron named Perrott, and passed by royal gift into the hands of Sir Rees or Rhys Ap Thomas, who was its owner in the days of Leland; and the latter mentions it in his “Itinerary” as a “praty” place. Like the other castles of this country, it suffered sadly during the civil wars, and though afterwards repaired and inhabited, it soon fell again into decay. From Narberth their journey lay to Llawwhydden, a castellated mansion of the Bishops of St. David’s, who here figured almost as barons, and lived in baronial splendour. Of this once noble structure only some octagonal towers remain, and these and some fine lancet windows were much admired. The next visit was to Picton Castle, a place which has never ceased to be inhabited, and which, therefore, shows more completely than any other similar structure in Pembrokeshire what was the condition of a feudal castle four or five centuries ago. It was built by a Norman knight named William de Picton, in the reign of William Rufus. The building is oblong in plan, with three large bastions projecting on each side, and at the eastern end, between two smaller bastions, was the principal gateway with a double portcullis. Until a comparatively recent period it retained its original form, and even the alterations made by the late Lord Milford and his predecessors have not much affected or changed its original character as a baronial fortress, castellated and embattled. The castle itself and its historical associations were explained by the present owner, Mr. Charles Philipps, who entertained the whole party present at luncheon. It was late in the afternoon when the party drove on to Haverfordwest, where they explored the noble castle, which frowns down upon the town, the river, and its bridges, but which is far more interesting externally than internally, as its four square walls are really almost a shell, such buildings as there were inside of them having been long since removed in order to utilise it as a prison, a purpose which it has served until very lately. It is now empty and vacant, and has been made the property of the town, who keep it in repair. They also inspected St. Mary’s Church, one of the very finest ecclesiastical structures in South Wales, and remarkable as having nearly the only clerestory (except that of St. David’s Cathedral) to be found within the whole county. Here the archæologists found very much to admire in the Early English arches of the nave and church, the recumbent monument of a knight near the porch door, the elegantly carved roofs, and the graceful arcading and capitals of the pillars throughout.

On Wednesday, the archæologists were favoured with very fine weather for their drive to St. David’s. It is observed of this sixteen-mile journey that it has as many hills as miles. Leland writes: “This tract was inhabited by the Flemings out of the Low Countries, who by permission of King Henry I. were planted here. These are distinctly known still from the Welsh, and so near joined are they in society of the same language with Englishmen, who come nighest of any nation to the Low Dutch tongue, that this their country is called by the Britons, ‘Little England beyond Wales.’” On their way to St. David’s the carriages halted at Roche Castle, a fine old fortress, of which little now remains except a single tower, which forms a conspicuous landmark. Its site was evidently chosen for its strength. It was built early in the thirteenth century by one Adam de Roche or de Rocke, who founded here one of the most powerful of Norman families. The name, it may be interesting to know, still remains in Pembrokeshire. The castle was to a great extent ruined in the wars against the Welsh, and what remained became still further dilapidated through the rough treatment which it received from the soldiers of the Parliament when it was held by its captain, Francis Edwards, on behalf of King Charles I. Roche Castle was briefly commented upon by Mr. Loftus Brock. From this point the party proceeded by way of Newgall Sands, and the tumulus which is still called Poyntz Castle, to Solva, and so on to St. David’s, where they arrived in time to partake of the Bishop’s hospitality at a luncheon, which they found ready spread for them in the grounds of the ruined episcopal palace of Bishop Gower. Luncheon over, the Bishop proposed “The Health of the Queen,” and then in a brief speech welcomed the archæologists to this the first banquet given by a bishop in these grounds for many centuries; after which he explained the peculiarities of the structure, which, he said, is really a double palace, joined in the ground-plan into a sort of letter “L” by a common kitchen at the angle. He then enlarged upon the great beauties of the arcade which runs all round the palace above, the curious structure of its once magnificent roof, now destroyed, its exquisite “wheel” or “rose” window, its chapel, and its grand dining-hall; the whole forming together by far the finest specimen of domestic architecture in South Wales, or, perhaps, in the entire principality. It is needless to say that this matchless structure was very much admired. At four o’clock the entire party, nearly one hundred strong, attended service in the cathedral, after which the Dean took them in hand, and conducted them round the building, explaining every part in detail, and showing the extent to which the restorations of the last quarter of a century had altered and improved its condition. He pointed out the semi-Norman arches of the nave, purified from coats of whitewash, the roof cleaned, the side aisles repaved, and the windows restored. Then he led them into the south transept, which not long since was little better than a barn, and assigned as the place for a Welsh service, to which a new roof and new windows had been added by benefactors now deceased. He then took them through a series of ruined side chapels to the Lady-chapel, now bare and roofless, though full of the purest architectural details. Thence the party were conducted to Bishop Vaughan’s chapel, behind the high altar, rich with a roof of fan tracery, which is scarcely to be matched except at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. He also pointed out the front and the back of the marble slab on which rested the shrine of St. David, once an object of pilgrimage inferior in interest and in the number of its devotees only to that of St. Thomas of Canterbury, reminding them that in the old days two pilgrimages to St. David’s were always regarded, in canonical penance, as equivalent to one journey to Rome--according to the old monkish rhyme, “Roma semel quantum bis dat Menevia tantum.” The Dean next showed the progress of the works in the north transept, and then led the party into the cathedral vestry or chapter-house, formerly St. Thomas’s Chapel, where he showed them a small collection of ecclesiastical relics, including the tops of two episcopal croziers, the top of a processional cross, two episcopal rings, and some chalices which had been buried along with some of the older bishops. He also displayed here the cathedral plate, the communion service, platen, and chalice, on which Messrs. Lambert and Loftus Brock offered some descriptive remarks. The Dean having completed his peregrinations and description of the fabric, a vote of thanks to him for his kindness was proposed by Mr. Thomas Morgan, F.S.A, and seconded by Mr. E. Walford, M.A., who, in a few words, contrasted the present state of the cathedral, after its recent repairs, with its new roofs, decorated interior, and rebuilt west front, with what he remembered of it forty years ago, when it was little more than a large barn-like structure, covered with a mixture of whitewash and whitey-brown paint from end to end; he also congratulated the Dean and Chapter on the conservative way in which the work of restoration had been carried out. In the evening the Dean entertained at dinner at his house, in the Close, the leading members of the congress, whom he kindly invited to meet the Bishop.

Fortunately for the congress and its members the fine weather which they had enjoyed upon the whole continued to the last. Although carriages cannot be driven up actually to St. David’s Head, the extreme object of their pilgrimage, yet they were enabled to draw up about a mile short of it, and Mr. Edward Laws acted as their guide over the rest of the way on foot. Arrived at the Head, they saw a magnificent seaview, and rocks such as not to be found elsewhere except at the Land’s End in Cornwall. Mr. Laws explained to them the remains of a large stone circle, not unlike those at Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wiltshire, with portions of its avenue of large stones still remaining _in situ_. They were also able to see the traces of a fine fortification, probably British, close by St. Justinian’s Chapel. A ruined edifice near the sea-shore was also inspected, and Mr. Laws pointed out to the party the place where local tradition declares that the old Roman city of Menevia lies buried many feet deep below the sand-drifts. Before returning to St. David’s, they were also shown the traces of a quadrangular fort, probably Roman, nearer to the city. The return to Haverfordwest was effected in good time. This enabled the members to inspect portions of the old castle, the council chamber, the churches of St. Mary and St. Martin, and a variety of private houses in which vaulted cellars, carved and painted mantelpieces, and the tracery of mediæval windows still exist, and also to extend their walk to the ruins of the Priory in the riverside fields below the bridge over the Cleddaw. Here, under the guidance of Colonel Bramble, they were able to make out the ground-plan of this once noble ecclesiastical structure, including its cruciform church, the refectory, cloister, &c. The party then returned to the Castle Hotel, and the congress finally broke up, much to the regret of its members, who agreed that it had been one of the pleasantest and most successful of such annual gatherings. This result was largely due, it should be added, to the courtesy of the authorities of the Great Western and the Pembroke and Tenby Railway Companies, whose officials lent them all the aid in their power.

THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.--The annual meeting of the above Association was held at Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. Ingram, F.T.C.D., Librarian of the College, presiding. The proceedings commenced on Tuesday, September 30, and among those present were Mr. Justice O’Hagan, the Lord Mayor, M.P., Lord Charles Bruce, the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin; Rev. Dr. Haughton, F.T.C.D, F.R.S.; Dr. Moffat, President of Queen’s College, Galway; Mr. George Bullen, of the British Museum, and others. Dr. Ingram having offered the Association a hearty welcome, gave an account of the library in Trinity College. It was well stored with ancient and modern literature, containing more than 200,000 volumes of printed books, and about 2,000 manuscripts. It contained certain peculiar and precious things, some of them deserving to be called national heirlooms, which gave to it a special character and dignity of its own. Trinity College having been founded in 1591, was opened for the admission of students on January 9, 1594. He explained the difficulties under which the library was formed, and gave an account of its contents, which had outgrown the accommodation provided for them. The first group of manuscripts worthy of notice consisted of three Biblical manuscripts, which possessed special interest. The first was the palimpsest known as “Codex rescriptus Dublinensis,” in which an uncial text of portions of St. Matthew’s Gospel had been partially covered with more recent writings, containing extracts from ecclesiastical authors. Dr. Barrett, a Fellow of the College, who discovered and edited the palimpsest, assigned it to the sixth century at latest, having believed it to be of the fifth. In the same volume were also palimpsest fragments of Isaiah, probably of an earlier date than the text of St. Matthew. The second Greek text in their possession was the “Codex Montfortianus,” a late manuscript and of little critical value. The third text was in cursive characters, with a commentary of the tenth century. There was formerly a fourth Greek text of the New Testament, but it was lost between the years 1688 and 1742, and after several changes of ownership is now in the library of the Marquis of Bute. The library contained several copies executed in Ireland of the Gospels in Latin, according to the Vulgate version. Among them the place of honour belonged to the world-renowned Book of Kells. The marvellous illuminations give the volume its great interest, being thoroughly Irish in their type, the characteristic spiral ornamentation constantly recurring. The manuscript is of the seventh or eighth century. It was preserved in the Columbian Monastery of Kells, in Meath, whence its name was derived, and came to Trinity College in the Ussher Library. The library also contained the Book of Durrow. Other Irish copies of the Vulgate version of the Four Gospels are the Book of Dimma and the Book of Moling, both probably of the seventh century. These manuscripts are in silver cases, ornamented with crystals. That of the Book of Dimma states that the case was gilt by O’Carroll, Lord of Ely, in the twelfth century. It also boasts the Book of Armagh, compiled about A.D. 750, with the celebrated confession of the Saint, and documents on the rights of the See of Armagh. Coming to English typography, they could boast only a single Caxton. It is a copy of the second edition of the Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, printed about 1480, though not the first printed in English. On the motion of the Lord Mayor, seconded by the Provost, and supported by Mr. Bullen, a vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Ingram for his address. The report of the Association was taken as read. Mr. George Bullen, Keeper of the Printed Books, British Museum, then read a paper entitled “Early Notices of Guttenburg.” He held that it had not been conclusively proved that Guttenberg was the inventor of the art of printing. After a few remarks from Dr. Garnett, Mr. Bullen mentioned that in Japan and China the art of printing from moveable type was known long before it was known in Europe. Some books had been brought from Japan which were printed in the year 1417. They were now in the British Museum. Mr. Harrison (London) said the irony of fate was shown in the fact that Ticket, who writes of the art of printing as perpetuating the memory of man, did not get his own letter made public until 400 years after it was written. Subsequently the members visited the library of Trinity College, and the Record Office, Four-courts.--The business of Wednesday began with the adoption of a report on the proposed examination of library assistants in the month of September next. Certificates will be awarded to successful candidates according to their various degrees of merit. Mr. Dix Hutton read a paper entitled “Impressions of Twelve Years’ Cataloguing in a Great Library” (that of Trinity College, Dublin), which was listened to with marked attention. It was not ended when the arrival of the Lord-Lieutenant was announced. After Mr. Hutton came Lord Charles Bruce, who read an epitome of the history of his relative’s renowned library at Althorp, and described some of the rarer specimens of its contents. Lord Spencer admitted that Lord Charles had told him much which he had not known before. His Excellency concluded his speech with a frank and hearty invitation to the public, and especially to those present, to make use of the stores of his library. A pleasant interlude followed in the shape of “Twenty Years’ Recollections of Panizzi,” by Mr. Henry Stevens, of Vermont, which was “capped” by amusing recollections of Panizzi by the Rev. Dr. Haughton.--On Thursday Dr. Garnett, of the British Museum, read a paper “On the Use of Photography in Libraries,” in which he advocated the establishment of a photographing department in the British Museum at the cost of the State. The cost of photographing, if the work were left in private hands, must, he thought, be far more expensive than if it were done by a public institution, inasmuch as under the latter condition the main elements of expense, that of photographers’ personal charges and the cost of material, would entirely disappear. At present these charges were sufficient to seriously impede the British Museum in its earnest desire to circulate its treasures by means of photography, while to private persons they were, in general, absolutely prohibitive. The recent case of the transfer of the Irish portion of the Ashburnham manuscripts to Dublin was a case in point. Whether placed in Dublin or in London they must be equally inaccessible to a large number of scholars, but if a national institution had existed in which _fac-similes_ could be made of the national property free of expense, it would be indifferent where the originals were deposited. By a further application of the same principle Ireland might have _fac-similes_ of every manuscript illustrative of her ancient language or literature within her own shores, and _vice versâ_. Photography as a public institution would be beneficial not merely to individual customers, but to the community at large, for it afforded the best means of meeting the legitimate demands of provincial institutions and museums. Provincial residents contributing out of the taxes to the support of the British Museum and similar institutions had a right to expect that their stores should be made as accessible as possible. To meet this wish by cheapening photographic reproductions would be not to create a luxury, but to redress a grievance. Dr. Garnett gave numerous instances within his own knowledge of the expense and inconvenience occasioned by the absence of facilities for photographing literary and artistic objects. Such an institution as that suggested should be located at the British Museum. Its management would require much prudence to avoid undue competition with private photographers, and to make some pecuniary return to the State without defeating its own object by high prices. If successful, it might form the germ of undertakings of the highest national, and even international, importance. The vexed question of the custody of parish registers would be solved by photography, and if other nations combined, each might possess within its own borders the materials for its own history now scattered through every country in Europe. The President considered the paper one of the most important yet placed before the meeting. The Royal Irish Academy had undertaken to transcribe some of the most important Celtic manuscripts, and then have them lithographed. To do this the services of an old Irish scholar, Mr. O’Longan, were obtained. He was a genuine Irish scholar, and he transcribed the “Leabhar-na-Huidhre,” “Leabhar Breao,” and “The Book of Leinster.” Having transcribed these, with the assistance of Professor O’Loony, of the Catholic University, the works were lithographed. Mr. O’Longan commenced the fourth book--“The Book of Ballymote,” but he died before it was transcribed, and the work was brought to a termination. Mr. O’Longan had most conscientiously performed his duty, and this was borne testimony to by Dr. Atkinson, who was at present having some important records photographed. Professor Hennessy thought that the works carried out in the Royal Irish Academy, and referred to by the President, were not correct productions of the originals. He hoped that if the “Book of Ballymote” was to be copied it would be reproduced by photography. Visits were paid to the National Library, the Royal Irish Academy, and to Marsh’s Library. This consists of three libraries, Dr. Stillingfleet’s, Archbishop Marsh’s, and Bishop Stearne’s, besides a collection of foreign books. One of the curiosities of the collection is a copy of Clarendon’s “History,” annotated by Dean Swift. This last day of the meeting was filled up mainly with routine business, modification of rules, election of officers, and votes of thanks: Mr. Tedder, however, reading his instructive paper “On the Study of Bibliography,” and the Rev. W. D. Macray another “On the Libraries of South Australia,” written by Mr. C. Holgate. There was also a desultory conversation on free libraries. It was agreed that the next annual meeting should be held at Plymouth. A reception of the members of the Association by the Provost of Trinity College and Mrs. Jellett brought the meeting to a close.

PROVINCIAL.

HAILEYBURY COLLEGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, _July 1_.--Mr. E. Walford read a paper on “Old Watering Places.” Beginning with some remarks on watering places in general, and the amusements resorted to by those who visited them, he first spoke of Bath, the oldest watering place in England. There are many old Roman remains here, but the walls and gates of the city, which were of the portentous length of 400 yards by 380 yards, have long ago disappeared. Of the ancient history of Bath little is known. It formed at one time the quarters of the Sixth legion. The town was laid waste by the Saxons in the seventh century, and, after being taken and retaken by Saxons and Danes, was in the eighth century taken by Offa, King of Mercia, from the Prince of Wessex. The town was destroyed by fire in A.D. 1137. The most interesting part of the history of modern Bath is the period of Beau Nash’s reign, who, despite his profligacy, became very popular at Bath, where he was elected “king;” and it was during his reign that Bath reached the height of its prosperity. He died in 1761, and received a public funeral. Mr. Walford also explained the extent and interest of recent excavations at Bath. The next place spoken of was Brighton. The old name of this town was Brighthelmstone, probably derived from an old word “Brit,” signifying “divided,” as the town was in former times divided by a narrow brook flowing through it. It was bounded by three streets, North-street, East-street, and West-street, outside of which were five large tracts of land, known as the Tenantry “Laines,” a word probably connected with “lay,” and signifying, as shown by Mr. F. Sawyer, the “laying-out” or disposing of the land. An old map of Brighton, which was passed round, served to illustrate the lecturer’s remarks. The town was originally built under the cliff, but in 1703 a storm occurred, which, followed by another in 1705, completely destroyed the old town. Mr. Walford promised to give a lecture, on a future occasion, upon Hythe, Seaford, and the other Cinque Ports.

ROYAL HISTORICAL AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND.--The Ulster quarterly meeting of this body was held on Aug. 7, at Armagh, Lord Charlemont in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting, held at Killarney, having been read by the hon. secretary, the Rev. J. Graves, and several new members elected, Mr. J. P. Prendergast, barrister-at-law, read a paper on “Charlemont Fort,” a place intimately connected with Lord Charlemont’s family. Mr. W. F. Wakeman read a paper “On Some Recent Discoveries at Lisnacrogher, near Broughshane, County Antrim.” Two interesting papers were read by Mr. J. J. Phillips, Belfast. The first was, “Notes on some old Wrought-iron Grille Work in the Vicinity of Armagh;” the second, on “The Ancient Abbey of Armagh.” Rev. G. R. Buick, M.A., read a paper on “An Earthenware Vessel found on a Pre-Historic Site at Port Stuart.” A visit was afterwards paid to the library and the ruins of the Franciscan Abbey in the Palace grounds at Armagh, which had been kindly thrown open by his Grace the Lord Primate. On the following day the members and friends visited a number of historic sites in the neighbourhood. They assembled at 10 o’clock, and drove in brakes to the site of the ancient lime-kiln at Emania. This lime-kiln is mentioned in the “Four Masters,” and is said to have been erected by Gillamacliag, successor of Patrick. The great earthwork now called Emania was the chief regal seat of the Irians, which was the generic name borne by the inhabitants of the province of Ulster. This was the resort of the renowned knights of Craebh Ruadh, or Royal Branch, and the palace of the Kings of Ulster for upwards of seven hundred years, until finally destroyed by the three Collas. The excursionists next visited the King’s Stables and Ballybrawly Stone Circle, and then proceeded to Tynan Abbey, the residence of Sir James Stronge, where the beautiful crosses and grounds were inspected.

ANTIQUARIAN NEWS & NOTES.

THE next annual meeting of the Kent Archæological Society will be held at Sandwich.

LORD DUCIE contradicts the report that he “is collecting materials for a history of the Spanish Armada of 1588.”

A COLLECTION of old Wedgwood ware has been lent by Mr. Felix Joseph for exhibition at the museum in Nottingham Castle.

LORD TENNYSON’S new poem will be entitled “St. Thomas à Becket: a Drama.” The play, it is stated, is “not intended for acting.”

OUR December number will contain an article by the Editor on Dr. Johnson, with reference to the 100th anniversary of his death.

SIR P. CUNLIFFE OWEN purposes to raise in America a sufficient sum of money to “restore” the parish church of Stratford-on-Avon from end to end.

THE Duke of Norfolk, as we learn from the _Weekly Register_, has visited Holywell, where the little Earl of Arundel was bathed in the waters of St. Winifrede’s Well.

“TREE GOSSIP,” a little volume on the byways of tree lore, by Mr. Francis George Heath, will be published shortly by Messrs. Field & Tuer, at the Leadenhall Press.

THE memorial of the liberation of Vienna in 1683 in the Cathedral of St. Stephen’s, on which the sculptor, Herr Hellmer, is engaged, will, it is expected, be completed by Christmas.

THE monument which is to commemorate the landing of St. Augustine in the Isle of Thanet, is being erected by Lord Granville himself, and not by the English Catholics, as stated by the _Journal de Rome_.

THE number of historic documents in the possession of the corporation of Hull, which is very large, and of great antiquarian interest, is to be set in order and calendared by Mr. T. T. Wildridge.

THE Rev. F. W. Weaver announces as nearly ready his “Visitations of Somerset in 1531 and 1573.” The work will be published, by subscription, by Mr. Wm. Pollard, of North-street, Exeter.

IT is stated that the two portrait pictures of the second wife of Rubens from the Blenheim collection were purchased by a member of the Rothschild family. They will go to the Continent.

THE Royal Castle of Christianborg, Copenhagen, has been burnt down, and several important works of art, including some by Thorwaldsen, as well as the archives of the Rigsdag, have been destroyed. The castle chapel and Thorwaldsen Museum have been saved.

THE Clarendon Press is about to publish a volume of York Mystery Plays, printed for the first time from a MS. in the Ashburnham collection. The book, which will contain notes and a glossary, is edited by Mr. Toulmin Smith.

THE Emperor of Austria has presented to the Royal Library at Vienna a collection of ancient Arabic literature, comprising 1,600 works in 1,052 volumes. The oldest of these MSS. dates from 1058 A.D., or earlier, and is called the “Kitab Elfelahe,” or book of agriculture.

THE new apse of the Basilica of St. John Lateran at Rome and the prolongation of the portico of Sixtus IV. are approaching completion; and the decorations of the Hall of the Candelabra in the Vatican sculpture gallery are finished.

MESSRS. WARD, LOCK & CO., are on the point of publishing an exhaustive treatise on the Violin, by Mr. Ed. Heron-Allen, author of “The Ancestry of the Violin,” “Violin-making, as it was, and is,” &c. The work will be profusely illustrated.

A “HISTORY of England under Henry IV.,” by Mr. James Hamilton Wylie, Inspector of Schools, will shortly be published by Messrs. Longmans; and “A Study of Anne Boleyn,” by Herr Paul Friedmann, is announced for publication by Messrs. Macmillan.

DR. HUMANN has been appointed Abtheilungs-Director at the Royal Museum in Berlin, which he has done so much to enrich. The excavator of Pergamus is working at Nemruddagh, and his official position has no conditions of residence attached to it.

THE front of the Curfew Tower, the most ancient portion of Windsor Castle, is being refaced with the “Neath stone.” The new masonry is being carefully built up under the supervision of Mr. R. Howe, Clerk of the Works at the Castle.

THE literary property in letters--that is, the right to publish copies of them--remains in all cases in the writer. This was decided as long ago as 1741, in “Pope _v._ Curll, 2 Atk. 342,” when the poet obtained at the hands of Lord Hardwick an injunction against the publisher who proposed to print some of Pope’s letters.--_Law Times._

THE bicentenary of Corneille was celebrated with great _éclat_ on Saturday, October 11, by the town of Rouen, where he was born in 1606, and died in 1684. The Academy was represented on the occasion by MM. Dumas and Sully-Prudhomme, the former of whom delivered an oration in honour of the dramatist and poet.

A CALL has just been made for the purpose of forming an American Historical Association to deal with both the story of the past and with that of the immediate present. Professor C. K. Adams, of Michigan, Professor M. C. Tyler, of Cornell, and Professor Adams, of Johns Hopkins Universities, are the chief movers in the matter.

THE Clarendon Press will publish in November a work entitled “The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt,” by Mr. A. J. Butler, Fellow of Brasenose College. The work will consist of two octavo volumes, the first being mainly architectural, the second dealing with church furniture, vestments, rites, and ceremonies. It will contain numerous plans and illustrations.

BY the generosity of three of the subscribers, copies of Mr. Greenstreet’s autotype fac-simile of the Lincolnshire Survey, temp. Henry I., have been deposited in the Public Free Libraries at Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and Sheffield, and in the Advocate’s Library, Edinburgh, the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, and the National Library of Ireland, Dublin.

EARLY next year Mr. Quaritch will issue to subscribers Messrs. Herbert Jones’ work, entitled “The Princess Charlotte of Wales,” an illustrated monograph, which will contain reproductions in monochrome of a series of miniatures of the Princess from her cradle to her grave, painted from life by Charlotte Jones. The book will also comprise a memoir of the Princess, and selections from her correspondence. The edition will be limited to 250 copies.

THREE pictures which are claimed to be works of J. W. M. Turner, have been brought to light at Exeter. They represent views of the interior of Exeter Cathedral, and have been stowed away for nearly fifty years as lumber. An Exeter hairdresser lately purchased the pictures from a furniture broker for a sovereign each. A judge of works of art has offered £1,500 for the three, but the owner has communicated with London experts, so as to place the authorship of the works beyond question.

THE following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear among the contents of the magazines for October:--_Contemporary Review_, “Goethe;” _Art Journal_, “Landscapes in London: The Inns of Court,” “The Fountaine Collection,” and “Delft Ware;” _Century Magazine_, “The ‘Odyssey’ and its Epoch;” _Gentleman’s Magazine_, “A French Curé in the Sixteenth Century;” _Harpers Magazine_, “The Great Hall of William Rufus;” _Le Livre_, “Canterbury, its Cathedral, its Library,” &c.

WITH a view to perpetuating the memory of the French Walloon refugees who settled in Canterbury three centuries ago, the directors of the French Protestant Hospice in London have commissioned a well-known Kentish archæologist to transcribe the inscriptions on the tombstones in Canterbury and the neighbourhood, where many of the refugees lie buried. Of the Huguenot and other French exiles who found a home beneath the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral, and established in its crypt a church which exists to the present day, there are now but few descendants living.

THE Mercers’ Chapel, Cheapside, has been reopened, after extensive repairs and alterations; the latter comprise new flooring, new and very handsome carved oak stalls and seats throughout, new choir stalls, prayer desk and pulpit. The fine old screen has been retained, as also all the oak panelling round the walls. The organ, one of Father Smith’s, has been entirely rebuilt and enlarged. The altar piece is not yet finished, but the three large frescoes are in position, the centre and largest panel representing the Ascension of our Lord. The whole of the roof has also been re-decorated, and a sun-light introduced into the lanthorn.

THE second volume of “Topography and Natural History of Lofthouse, near Wakefield,” by Mr. George Roberts, of that place, is in the press. In addition to the continuation of the “Natural History and Rural Notes,” it will contain an account of past and present customs, notices of places of worship, further notes on the old Lofthouse families--Hipron, Watson, and Lyley; a revised list of church sun-dials; and a short memoir of Charles Forrest, the discoverer of the Rock sculptures on Rombalds Moor, near Ilkley. The volume will be privately issued to subscribers only.

AT a recent meeting of the Academie des Inscriptions, M. Maspero read a report on his archæological work in Egypt during the past year. He dwells especially upon the new system by which the fellahs are encouraged to excavate on their own account by the guarantee that they may keep for themselves one-half of the objects they find. In this way the Boolak Museum has obtained during the past twelvemonths, with no expense beyond that of conveyance, about 2,000 objects of various interest.

THE foundation-stone of a new hall for the Butchers’ Company was laid on September 1, in St. Bartholomew-close; and at the dinner which followed the ceremony, the Master, Mr. Ernest Hart, gave some historical details relating to the halls of the Company from the reign of Henry II. The Company of Butchers, he said, dated as far back as 1180, and had had no fewer than three halls. The first, in Butcher’s-lane, was destroyed by fire, as was also the second, in Eastcheap; whilst the third, and last, had been demolished in the extension works of the District Railway.

IN the last days of August was celebrated in the old capital of Flanders an historical pageant of no ordinary interest. In honour of her patron and former sovereign, Bruges has placed before the world, in the form of a mediæval procession, the chief incidents in the life of St. Charles the Good. The committee of management, which comprised several archæologists of note, spared no pains to reproduce with the utmost exactitude the actual dresses and appurtenances of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Many of the highest ladies in the land took part in the procession, and wearing the costume of their ancestresses, assumed their parts as ladies in attendance at the Court of their ancient Count.

FOLLOWING the precedent of the Luther Exhibition held last year at the British Museum, which proved so great an attraction to the building, a Wycliffe Exhibition has been displayed by Mr. E. M. Thompson, keeper of the manuscripts, who has also compiled a catalogue descriptive of its contents. These consist of a series of manuscripts and printed books, comprising translations and service books in English, all intended to illustrate the efforts made to translate the Bible into English in early times. Then follow Wycliffe’s original works in manuscript and print; and lastly, the Reformer’s life and actions are illustrated by manuscripts and engravings.

AT Beckhampton, near Avebury, Wilts, a very interesting discovery has lately been made of an ancient British dwelling pit. The dwelling consists of two circular holes, sunk in the clean chalk, adjoining and intersecting one another. They are about five feet six inches deep, and five feet in diameter. On the floor of the pit were found the fragments of an earthen cooking vessel resting on three stones, and under it the ashes of the fire that had been used in boiling the pot. There were also found a well-shaped “spindle-whorle,” a “loom-weight,” bone ornament, and several so-called “pot boilers,” also bones of the ox, sheep, rabbit, &c. The whole of the goods and chattels, &c., found in this interesting dwelling are now in the County Museum.

CATALOGUES of rare and curious books, most of which contain the names of works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Mr. F. Edwards, 83, High-street, Marylebone; Mr. U. Maggs, 159, Church-street, Paddington-green; Mr. G. P. Johnston, 33, George-street, Edinburgh; Mr. W. Scott, 7, Bristol-place, Edinburgh; Mr. G. Harding, 19, St. John-street, Westminster; Mr. A. B. Osborne, 11, Red Lion-passage, Holborn; Mr. J. E. Cornish, 33, Piccadilly, Manchester; Messrs. Jarvis & Son, 28, King William-street, Strand; Messrs. Robson & Kerslake, 43, Cranbourn-street, Leicester-square; Mr. W. Wilkins, Merthyr Tydvil; Mr. E. Parsons, 45, Brompton-road, S.W.; Messrs. Reeves & Turner, 196, Strand; Messrs. Farrar & Fenton, 8, John-street, Adelphi.

A PROPOSAL for the foundation of a museum devoted to the antiquities of Palestine, has recently been attracting attention in Paris. A room in the Louvre is now devoted to the display of objects of this class, which, however, in 1879 did not exceed 83 in number; to these about 100 more have recently been added, including between 50 and 60 vases and lamps in terra-cotta. In the British Museum exist between 50 and 60 similar objects; and a much larger collection, belonging to the Palestine Exploration Fund, is partly in possession of that association, either in London or in Jerusalem, and partly at the South Kensington Museum. The whole collection, in these several detachments, does not, perhaps, exceed 1,000 objects.

MR. FREDERICK HAWKINS’S “Annals of the French Stage,” which Messrs. Chapman & Hall are to publish in two volumes, extend from its origin to the death of Racine. Notwithstanding the light recently thrown in France upon the development of her old literature, no English writer has thought fit to illustrate, at least upon anything like a comprehensive scale, the rise and progress of the theatre in Paris. The author has tried to verify carefully his statements, and study at first hand the important plays which he has ventured to criticise. For the rest, these annals, unlike most books relating to the stage, give quite as much prominence to dramatists and dramatic literature as to players and their work.

IN the carrying out of some street repairs at Bonn, a portion of a Roman drain or watercourse was lately laid bare at a depth of about 5 ft. below the present surface. It seems to have come from a neighbouring encampment, is about 20 in. wide, and 30 in. deep, and is constructed and covered with heavy tufa blocks, well capable of sustaining the wear of centuries. Many of those blocks were nearly 5 ft. long by 29 in. thick. An original charter of the German Emperor Henry II., dated 25th February, 1015, which has long been given up as lost, has just been discovered during an examination of archives of the collegiate church at Bonn, which was formerly attached to a convent of nuns. The charter is on a single sheet of parchment, very well preserved, measuring 50 by 62½ centimetres (20 in. by 24½ in.), and contains a grant to the church of an estate near Königswinter, belonging to the Emperor.

THE tercentary of the death of William the Silent was celebrated in July at Delft, in Holland, by a solemn service in the church. The Prince’s tomb was magnificently decorated with funeral wreaths, including one in silver offered by a deputation of Freemasons. The church was filled by a numerous congregation, all the Ministers and the principal civil and military authorities being present. Professor Van Vries, of Leyden, delivered an address, reviewing in eloquent terms the memorable work accomplished by the founder of Dutch independence. The whole ceremony made a profound impression upon the assembly. At its conclusion the exhibition was opened, at Prinsenhof, the house in which William was assassinated by Balthasar Gerard, of relics of the Prince and a number of objects illustrating his life and works.

THE _Athenæum_ says that the death of Mr. Archibald Fraser, of Abertarff, is bringing memories of Jacobite times before the public. Only the other day the history of the Lovat family was to some extent before the Court of Session in connection with the succession to the estate of Abertarff, which was bequeathed to the late Mr. Fraser by his grandfather, a son of the notorious Lord Lovat, with an ultimate entail “in favour of the person who shall be able to prove himself to be the chief of the clan Fraser by legitimate descent from Hugh, first Lord Lovat, and his heirs male.” At the beginning of next month, the Abertarff collection of antiques, pictures, arms, &c., comprising many relics of the rebel lord and of the old family of Lovat, will be sold in Inverness by public auction.

SOME discoveries of great interest to antiquaries have been made on the Yorkshire Wolds by the Rev. E. M. Cole, M.A., vicar of Wetwang, Yorkshire--viz., a large number of entrenchments, which are supposed to have been the work of the ancient Britons. The dale “heads,” it has been ascertained, are all covered with entrenchments, and a village called Fimber appears to be completely surrounded by them, as if it had been an enormous camp. In one of these entrenchments, near the monument to the late Sir Tatton Sykes, at Garton, a large number of dead bodies were found, but the idea is not entertained that the entrenchments were used for purposes of burial. According to Mr. J. R. Mortimer, a well-known Yorkshire archæologist, they are mostly V-shaped. They appear to have been much used, and are trodden hard and firm.

A LARGE Indian mound near the town of Gasterville, North America, has recently been opened and examined by a committee sent out from the Smithsonian Institute. At some depth from the surface a kind of vault was found, in which was discovered the skeleton of a giant measuring 7 ft. 2 in. His hair was coarse and jet black, and hung down to the waist, the brow being ornamented with a copper crown. The skeleton was remarkably well preserved. Near it were also found the bodies of several children of various sizes, the remains being covered with beads made of bone of some kind. Upon removing these the bodies were seen to be enclosed in a network of straw or reeds, and beneath this was a covering of the skin of some animal. On the stones which covered the vault were carved inscriptions, and these when deciphered will doubtless lift the veil that now shrouds the history of a race of giants that at one time undoubtedly inhabited the American continent. The relics have been forwarded to the Smithsonian Institute, and they are said to be the most interesting collection ever found in the United States. The explorers explored another mound in Bartow county, Pennsylvania.

THE excavations of General Cesnola have not exhausted the possibilities of Cyprus, and surely if Englishmen are to excavate anywhere, this island is the natural field for their labours. A committee, consisting of Englishmen and Cypriotes, was formed in 1882 by Sir Robert Biddulph, with the object of establishing a local museum at Leukosia. Under the auspices of the committee, excavations on a small scale and supported by private subscriptions have been carried on in the years 1883-1884. It is a little surprising that these excavations have had to be conducted by a German, Herr Max Ohnefalsch Richter, and that the report appears this month in a German periodical, the _Mittheilungen_, of the German archæological institute at Athens. The site chosen was the village of Voni, the ancient Chytrai, and the find has been a large one. It speedily became evident from a multitude of inscriptions that the excavators had lighted on a sanctuary of Apollo. The architectural remains are insignificant, but there is evidence that on the remains of the old pagan shrine a Christian church had been raised, into the walls of which a mass of fragments of ancient sculpture was built. The sculptural find was a very rich one; as many as 133 statues are already catalogued.--_Builder._

THE _Athenæum_ announces that a strong committee, upon which the Society of Antiquaries is represented by Lord Carnarvon, Dr. Perceval, Mr. Milman, Mr. Franks, Dr. John Evans, Dr. Freshfield, the Hon. Harold Dillon, Mr. Hilton Price, Mr. Roach Smith, and other Fellows; the Institute of Architects by Mr. Whichcord; the City of London by the Lord Mayor, Sir Reginald Hanson, Alderman Staples, Sir John Monckton, Ex-Sheriff Burt, Mr. Deputy Saunders, Mr. William Rome, and others; the Metropolitan Board of Works by its chairman, Sir J. M‘Garel Hogg; and London archæology generally by Mr. Hyde Clarke, Mr. Anderson Rose, Mr. Herbert Fry, Mr. Henry W. King, and others, has been formed to raise a fund for taking immediate steps to protect and record monuments of antiquity in London and its vicinity at the moment of discovery. The executive committee consists of Mr. Alfred White, Mr. Overall (the City Librarian), Mr. John E. Price (secretary), and Mr. Brabrook. Sir John Lubbock has consented to act as treasurer. The committee is already taking steps, through Mr. J. E. Price, to preserve and place in a public museum some remarkable remains of the Roman occupation of London which have just been found used as building material in a bastion of the wall at Bevis Marks.

UP to the present time the _form_ of the Rigveda, that curious collection of ancient Indian poems which has long engaged the attention of scholars in India and Europe, has remained an inscrutable mystery. The 1,017 hymns follow one another in ten books or sections, but no one has hitherto detected any system in their arrangement. Mr. Frederic Pincott, however, has, the _Manchester Guardian’s_ London correspondent says, just discovered the hidden method, and his discovery promises to give a new impetus and direction to Vedic studies. He has found that the first book of the Rigveda is a selection of hymns arranged in the order of their recitation at the offering of an oblation to the sacred Soma Juice. The next six books are family collections, containing the poems of particular poets and their relatives; whilst the eighth book contains hymns omitted from previous books. The ninth book is filled with hymns celebrating the praises of the Soma Juice, and the last book contains hymns ascribed to mythological authors. When the poet, the deity, the length, and the metre are known, the hymns are found to have a methodical arrangement. A full exposition of Mr. Pincott’s curious discovery is about to be given in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_.

A BIBLE which contains two signatures that profess to be written by Shakespeare has turned up at Manchester. It was bought about thirty years ago by the late Mr. William Sharp, a somewhat eccentric collector, who was firmly convinced of the authenticity of the signatures, but rarely showed the book. Its present custodian exhibited it the other day to a number of gentlemen at the Manchester Free Library, including Prof. A. Ward, Mr. Alexander Ireland, Mr. C. W. Sutton, Mr. J. H. Nodal, and Mr. W. E. A. Axon. One signature is on the inside of the end cover, and reads “William Shakspere off S × o × A his Bible 1613.” The other is on the reversed title of the New Testament, and reads “William Shakspere 1614.” The volume contains the Old Testament, Apocrypha, New Testament, and Psalms of the “breeches” edition of 1611, but some of the earlier leaves are gone. There are many names of other possessors from about 1633 downwards, and one entry appears to indicate that the volume has been rebound and a Prayer-Book taken from it. In this case the signature now on the end leaf may have been transferred to the new binding. As to the authenticity of the signatures it would be impossible to speak with confidence without the application of more searching tests. They do not resemble any of the five undoubted signatures, but they are both marvellously like that on the title-page of Florio’s Montaigne now in the British Museum. The present custodian of the “Shakspere Bible” purposes, we understand, to accept the advice tendered to him of submitting it to a critical examination at the British Museum.--_Public Opinion._

Antiquarian Correspondence.

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

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

A BISHOP ON ARCHÆOLOGY.

SIR,--At the reopening of a church in Northamptonshire recently, the Bishop of Peterborough is reported to have observed that churches were not architectural museums merely designed for the recreation and instruction of persons of an architectural turn of mind, but places designed for worship and the comfort of those who attended them, and that whatever interfered with such objects should be removed. I wonder what the members of the Archæological Institute and Association, to say nothing of fellows of the Society of Antiquaries, will think of such a remark.

W. E.

GUERIN, COUNT OF MONTGLAVE.

SIR,--In the preface of Mr. Charles Tomlin’s “Chess Manual,” particulars are given of a game of chess, said to have been played between Charlemagne and Guérin, a powerful noble of Aquitaine, the stakes to be Guérin’s possessions against the kingdom of France. The Emperor lost, but it was at last arranged that, in lieu of France, Guérin was to receive the Countship of Montglave, or Lyons, if he could wrest the place from the Saracens, who then held it. This, with the aid of his knights and followers, he is said to have done, taking prisoners Gasier, the Sultan, and his only daughter, Mabiletta, whom he afterwards married on her becoming a Christian. They had four sons. A romance recounting the adventures and victories of these four sons was printed by M. Michel le Noir, 1515, under the title of “L’Histoire de Guérin de Montglave,” since which date, and under the same title, the story has been reproduced in prose and verse by several authors, but in none are any details respecting their father, Guérin, given, although frequent mention of both Mabiletta and the Count are made, representing him as the great friend, as well as one of the chief captains of Charlemagne. Can any of your readers inform me where particulars respecting this Guérin, the game of chess, and his victory over the Saracens, &c., are to be found?--Yours faithfully,

WM. C. LUKIS DE GUERIN.

_98, Sandgate-road, Folkestone_.

EXTINCT MAGAZINES.

(See vol. v. p. 273.)

SIR,--In accordance with the promise appended to my query at the preceding reference, I send you, as a first instalment, a few hurriedly written particulars of a magazine which, if I am not misinformed, died at its initial number. Like many another publication, doomed to an ephemeral existence, it deserved other and better treatment.

The _Border Miscellany_, or, as it is printed on the illustrated cover, _Thompson’s Border Miscellany_, was published at Berwick-on-Tweed, March, 1852, price sixpence, and though consisting of only forty-eight pages, octavo, it contains several exceedingly interesting items, among which I would reckon an “Unpublished Letter of Sir Walter Scott,” “Atoms of Information,” and the article of rather more than eight pages, entitled “The Tweed and its Tributaries,” by a disciple of Isaak Walton. The extracts from the Books of Council and Session, under the heading, “Memoranda Scotica,” are also interesting, especially to those who may have the genealogy of the Oliphants and other Scottish families at heart.

The story with which the _Miscellany_ opens, “Florrette; or, Henri Quatre’s First Love,” adapted from the German of Zschokke, by Bon Gualtier, is, in my humble estimation, a piece of dull, uninteresting reading. The poetry, literary notices, and some other odds and ends, do not call for special recognition.

Here is the motto of this short-lived magazine:--

“L’ENVOY.

For us and our Miscellany, Here, stooping to your clemency, We beg your hearing patiently. SHAKESPEARE (New Edition).”

On the back cover the following note of warning appeared:--

“Publishers are warned that the articles in this Miscellany are copyright. When short extracts from any of the papers are quoted, it will be obliging if the name of the Miscellany be prefixed.”

Who the editor of this venture was I know not, though I am aware that it was published by W. Thompson, at the time and place already mentioned. Perhaps some of your readers can throw light on the matter.

P. J. MULLIN.

_Leith, N.B._

PORTREEVE.

SIR,--Should any of your readers feel further interest in this subject, I would beg to refer them to your September number for my defence against Mr. Round’s repeated attacks, and contrast my paper with the misrepresentations which are now made of it in his note for this month. I would fain assume that these misrepresentations are not intentional, and that they may rather be attributed to that “lamentable confusion--truly distressing confusion,” which another contributor to your pages has described as characteristic of a former paper by Mr. Round, and which, indeed, seems to pervade all his papers. That these misrepresentations, however, exist will not for a moment be doubted by anyone who may make the comparison above suggested, and their existence, from whatever cause arising, must for the future preclude my bestowing any further notice of anything emanating from Mr. Round.

It seems almost unnecessary to specify any of the misrepresentations in question, but as something of the kind may be expected, and for the satisfaction of those who may not have seen my paper, or have an opportunity of easily referring to it, I will just cite one or two examples out of the numerous ones with which Mr. Round’s note abounds.

First, then, as regards the term “port or gate.” In employing the term port or gate as I did in my first paper, it was in the full assurance that these words are here absolutely _synonymous_, and that I was strictly correct in thus using the word _port_ where it occurs in the Laws of Athelstan. On this point, however, Mr. Round thought fit to assail me, asserting that my “rendering outside the port or gate” was a mere “gloss” of _my own_ on the word “port.” In consequence of this strange and somewhat unintelligible charge I was led to look into the question more closely, and found, though previously unaware of the fact, that I was entirely supported in my view and use of the words both by Camden and by Sharon Turner. In my next paper I accordingly quoted from Camden that at “_Portgate_,” on the Roman Wall, there was formerly _a gate_, as “_the word in both languages_” (Roman and Saxon) “fairly evinces.” On this passage, which it will be seen completely establishes my case, Mr. Round “evinces” _his_ sense of fairness by suppressing all allusion to it. Again, it was pointed out that Sharon Turner distinctly uses the words as _synonymous_ where he speaks of “the _port_-gerefa _or_ the gerefa of the _gate_.” Nothing can be clearer or stronger than this, yet all notice of this is also suppressed, and Mr. Round, even after this has been pointed out to him, does not scruple to misrepresent me by repeating his assertion, and still arguing that in thus rendering the words “port or gate,” the words “or gate” are a mere “_gloss_” of _my own_. What opprobrium he intends to convey by the word “gloss” it is difficult to say, but, whatever it may be, your readers will now see that it applies quite as strongly to such high authorities as Camden and Sharon Turner as it does to me.

Further on, Mr. Round states that he has proved by demonstration that the markets were not held at the gates. I remarked in my paper that he might have spared himself the pains of proving what no one ever doubted, “the well-known fact that the forum was situated in the centre of a Roman town or city”; but I also pointed out what Mr. Round appears still to be ignorant of, that _large transactions were conducted at the gates_, the levying of tolls and the sale and purchase of merchandise, and thus “the word _port_, originally restricted to _the gates_ where such extensive transactions were carried on, would at no distant period become applied,” in the way described, “to the town itself” (p. 114).

This latter passage, and all allusion to it, Mr. Round also suppresses, satisfying his sense of fair and reasonable argument in this case by merely harping again on the statement that “_I proved_ by demonstration that the markets were never held at the gate,” which, in fact, no one at all conversant with the subject ever thought they were.

Apart, then, from what has here been thus briefly exposed, the character of Mr. Round’s papers is otherwise such as would deter me from giving any further time to their discussion.

A profuse rush of words--“_verba et voces prætereaque nihil_”--which seem to shun all approach to logical sequence, will not in the present day be accepted in place of the legitimate rules of reasoning, neither will they justify a writer who indulges in them in dispensing with the ordinary rules of courtesy.

JAMES HURLY PRING, M.D.

_Taunton, October, 1884._

_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

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

MUS RUSTICUS.--You will find a good description of a Lord Mayor’s Show in the reign of James I. in F. W. Fairholt’s “History of Lord Mayors’ Pageants,” privately printed by the Percy Society in 1843.

Books Received.

1. The Lay of St. Aloys. By Thomas Ingoldsby. Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1884.

2. The Aberdeen Printers. (1620-1736.) By J. P. Edmond. Aberdeen: Edmond & Spark. 1884.

3. The Lauderdale Papers. Vol. i. Edited by Osmund Airy. Camden Society. 1884.

4. Some Observations upon the Law of Ancient Demesne. By Pym Yeatman, Barrister-at-Law. Mitchel & Hughes. 1884.

5. Some Account of a Roman Garrison at Greta Bridge. By the Rev. J. Hirst. Reprinted from the Journal of the Yorkshire Archæological Association. 1884.

6. Birmingham, Aston, and Edgbaston, as seen in Domesday Book; and the Saxons in Warwickshire. By J. A. Langford, LL.D. (Privately printed.)

7. Pottery and Porcelain. By F. Litchfield. Bickers & Son. 1884.

8. Doctor Johnson: His Life, Works, and Table Talk. (Centenary Edition.) T. Fisher Unwin. 1884.

9. Records of Chesterfield. By Pym Yeatman, Esq. Chesterfield: Wilfred Edmunds. 1884.

10. Phallicism: Celestial and Terrestrial. By Hargrave Jennings. Geo. Redway. 1884.

Books, &c., for Sale.

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

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

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

Books &c., Wanted to Purchase.

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

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

_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._

Dr. Johnson.

BY THE EDITOR.

IF there be truth in the old saying, _Inter arma silent leges_, it is not less true that _inter arma silent Musæ_. When the attention of the public is taken up with “wars and rumours of wars,” abroad or at home, and when at home political parties have broken out into open strife, there is no chance for the Muses or their votaries to get a hearing. To no other cause can I ascribe the fact that my countrymen and countrywomen made no response, or next to none, when they were lately asked by the Mayor of Lichfield, Dr. Johnson’s native city, whether the centenary of his death should be celebrated, and if so, then how?

For the last three months and more the English world has been so occupied with the _pros_ and _cons_ of Mr. Gladstone’s Franchise Bill, that to the above appeal society has turned a deaf ear. I regret it, but I am scarcely surprised. We have not forgotten to observe the centenary of Robert Raikes, as the reputed founder of Sunday-schools; it is not so very long since the centenary of Robert Burns was celebrated, not by the Scottish people only, but by Englishmen, at the Crystal Palace and elsewhere; but, shame to write and to say it, there is no response when Englishmen are asked to commemorate the author of the first really good English Dictionary, the author of the best collection of Lives of our English Poets, the man who almost in defiance of the law, and at the risk of a prosecution, first really called into existence the practice of reporting the Debates of Parliament; the greatest practical philosopher and teacher of the last century; the man who first raised and ennobled the profession of the pen; and the man who twice at least stood up, as few have stood up, on behalf of that profession, firstly, when he flung back with contempt the tardily offered favour and “patronage” of Lord Chesterfield, and, secondly, when he knocked down the insolent publisher, Thomas Osborne, in his own shop, with one of his own folio volumes. Is not such a man, I ask, deserving of a Centenary celebration from his brethren of the pen, or, let me say, rather from his sons and disciples?

But to be serious. There can be little doubt that if all that he said, and wrote, and did, be fairly considered, few men can claim credit for having lived more useful lives than Dr. Johnson. Long before the end of that life arrived, King George III. had spontaneously borne testimony to his merits by the gift, rare at that time, of a literary pension, adding a graceful compliment: “I should perhaps have thought that you had written enough, if you had not written so well.” Born in humble, though not needy circumstances, unable to complete his education and to obtain an Oxford degree by the _res angusta domi_, he came to London to fight the battle of life, his only weapon being his pen, and he won the day against all difficulties, the cold indifference of the rich, the jealousies of his equals and contemporaries, and the heart-breaking and niggardly doles of the London publishers. Undaunted by these and other difficulties, he showed Edmund Cave how his new venture, the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, might come to deserve its name on other grounds than that alleged at first, viz., that it was not fit for any lady to read it. He raised, by his essays and biographical sketches, the whole style and character of that which in the middle of the last century was one of the leading organs of the time, when the daily papers as yet were not, and the country gentleman’s household had to depend for the news of the day on the “news-letter” written specially for their amusement and information. Till Johnson took the matter in hand, and set himself to supply the want by a new method which his native wit suggested, the country knew not one iota of the speeches delivered in the Houses of Parliament; the legislation of the country was carried on in the dark, so far as concerned the people at large. If he had done nothing else than this, Dr. Johnson would deserve, at the very least, the honour of a statue on the Thames Embankment, or of a scholarship bearing his name at Pembroke College, Oxford, the scene of his early struggles.

I am not intending to write a life of Dr. Johnson. That has been done with wondrous fidelity and graphic skill by his _fidus Achates_, James Boswell; and Sir John Hawkins and Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi, in their supplemental Memoirs and Recollections of him, have thrown most interesting and valuable side-lights on his character. Boswell’s “Life of Dr. Johnson,” as every reader of English literature knows, was largely amplified, and most cruelly distorted, by John Wilson Croker, who, though himself a Tory of Tories, seems to have been unable to comprehend the character of the man who hated a Whig almost as much as he hated a Scotchman; and Mr. Croker was almost as cruelly punished for his offence by Macaulay, who cut his book into shreds in the _Edinburgh Review_. Still, in spite of its glaring sins, not certainly of omission, but of commission, Croker’s edition of Boswell will always be a work of value, for he entered on his task before the last of Dr. Johnson’s friends and acquaintances had passed away. Amongst these were Lord Stowell, who figures in Boswell as “Dr. Scott of Doctors’ Commons;” Mr. John Sidney Hawkins, and Miss Letitia Hawkins, the son and daughter of Sir John Hawkins; Mr. Fitzherbert (afterwards Lord St. Helen’s); Miss Monckton, the Lady Cork of the Regency, a “Queen of Society” under George IV. and William IV., and who lived into the reign of Victoria. He knew also Mrs. Thrale’s daughter, the venerable Lady Keith; and last, not least, the still more venerable Dr. Routh, President of Magdalen College, who had seen Dr. Johnson in the flesh at Oxford, and who lived to December, 1854. From these and from other sources he gathered much material which had not been available to Boswell, and had he been content with facts instead of probabilities and possibilities, he would doubtless have been proof and unassailable to Macaulay’s pen. For instance, there is not the shadow of a ground for supposing (as he does) that Dr. Johnson was “out in ’45” with the adherents of Charles Edward, except the fact that in that year his pen was idle; and he is still less justified in supposing that Dr. Johnson was a Roman Catholic because he advocated the _principle_ of pilgrimages, and prayers for the dead, and confession, as natural and right in themselves, and as distinct from their abuses; because there is not a single Roman Catholic tenet, except that of the divinely-appointed Primacy of the See of St. Peter, which has not at one time or another been supported and defended by some Protestant writer.

Dr. Johnson, it must be owned even by his adversaries, has left his mark upon the literature of his country. Gibbon’s style is most ornate, but it is cumbrous and unnatural, and the author of the “Decline and Fall” has found no one to copy him. It was otherwise with Johnson. He was fond of Ciceronian Latin, and his English smacked as strongly of the Ciceronian flavour as did Dr. Pusey’s style of the Augustinian. For myself, I infinitely prefer the short and simple words which come from the Anglo-Saxon mint to what is now sneeringly called “Johnsonese.” But I cannot shut my eyes to that “union of perspicuity and splendour,” that nervous vigour, that “expansion and harmony” which mark the stately flow of Johnson when he is at his best. Towards the end of every unmutilated edition of Boswell’s “Life” is given a list of those who in earnest or in jest have set themselves to imitate the burly Doctor’s style. Foremost amongst these are the historians Robertson and Gibbon, the Rev. Dr. Nares, George Colman, Professor Young, of Glasgow, the Rev. Dr. Knox, the popularity of whose writings is ascribed to this very feature, and some of the best contributors to the old Edinburgh _Mirror_. There is no doubt also that Dr. Johnson’s style was very largely but almost insensibly copied and reproduced in the sermons, charges, and essays of most Bishops and dignitaries of the Established Church for some sixty or seventy years after his death. In fact, Dr. Johnson may be said in a very great degree to have “tuned their pulpits.” It is only of later years, concurrently with the study of German and of Anglo-Saxon literature in this country, that a simpler and less stilted style has prevailed. And this is no small testimony to the great powers of the “learned lexicographer.”

The value of his Dictionary has, of course, declined since the study of Etymology has been raised to the dignity of a science; for Dr. Johnson knew little or nothing of those primitive languages from which all the European languages are derived, and of which they are at the root only variations and dialects. His Dictionary, therefore, must be judged by the standard of a century ago, not by that of the Victorian Era. Were Dr. Johnson now alive, he would be among the first to say to Professor Skeat, to Max Müller, and our other lexicographers, “_agnosco procerem_,” and to own that since his own day in this branch of learning, at least, we have made giant strides.

As the last and only surviving Editor of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ in its former shape, when it dealt with the intelligence and the literature of the age, and was a recognised organ of the educated world, I feel that it is my duty at this moment to put in a few words on behalf of a man whose literary merits have never been sufficiently acknowledged. With all his ruggedness and even “bearishness” of manner, what a contrast does he present to us, as he lives in Boswell, to the cross, crabbed, snappish, and selfish “philosopher of Chelsea,” who equalled him in nothing but in plodding industry, and surpassed him, _me judice_, in bearishness alone! And how few of the present generation are there who might not learn lessons of improvement, both moral and intellectual, by a careful and patient study of the “wit and wisdom” of Samuel Johnson!

E. WALFORD.

Down a Yorkshire River.

_PART II._

(_Continued from p._ 218.)

A FEW miles lower down, passing through Sowerby Bridge, commercially thriving but poetically poor, we come again to green fields and remnants of ancient forest, and notice on the left hand Wood Hall, where the boy Laurence Sterne, of “Tristram Shandy” fame, spent his early years. The Heath Grammar School, where he was educated, is half an hour’s walk beyond the ridge of the hill in the direction of Halifax. Formerly a rustic bridge, little better than a plank, spanned the river near Wood Hall, and it was along this plank, there is little doubt, that Lucy Gray’s footprints were tracked after she had slipped into the water. We have now reached a point where the scenery, if less wild than the glens and gorges near the border hills of Lancashire and Yorkshire, is scarcely less beautiful, and what it loses in ruggedness of natural contour it gains in historic associations and legendary romance. Copley Hall, in the eleventh century the residence of the knightly family of Copley, has long ago been turned into cottages, but the name survives in the pretty modern village and prettier church, and antiquaries love to dwell on the old stories connected with the spot, and tell how Adam de Copley fell fighting for William the Conqueror at the siege of York; how his grandson, another Adam de Copley, became rector of his parish church at Halifax; and how a third Sir Adam, for this was a favourite name, carried away a sister from Kirklees Nunnery, and afterwards joined the Crusaders and died in Palestine. This fair nun, alas! was immured in a tower seven stories high, and mysterious lights were long seen to burn in the ladye’s chamber, the ruins of which are said to have been visible some years ago. Elland, anciently and more correctly Ealand, with its fine old fane and relics of mediæval times, where the Ealands and the Saviles lived in barbaric splendour, was the scene of many a thrilling legend and bloody fray, notably the tragedy, or rather chain of tragedies, which ended in the murder of Sir John Ealand and his little boy as they were crossing the weir-stones on Palm Sunday on their way to matins at Saint Mary’s. By this deed, which took place in the fourteenth century, a feud that had lasted two generations was brought to an end, as was likewise the family name of Ealand, the male line of which became extinct on the death of Sir John’s only boy, the child who shared his father’s fate on the weir-stones. A few miles beyond Ealand, on the hill slope above the Calder, stand the stately groves of Kirklees Priory, so well known, as we have seen, to the gay Sir Adam de Copley. At Kirklees, as many readers are aware, died the most chivalrous of bandits, Robin Hood. His grave, overshadowed by majestic beeches, is not far from the ruins of the Nunnery, but in unconsecrated ground, though it is said there used to be a cross to mark the spot. Calder dale was a favourite haunt of the merry men, and many the fat buck they have run down in this valley. Robin Hood has left his name in several places hereabouts, and the peasantry still love to repeat the traditionary stories of his gallantry and daring. Pinder Green, near Wakefield, as we read in ballad line, was the scene of an encounter between Robin and the Jolly Pinder. But we have not left the ruins of the Priory. I suppose that all lovers of Brontëan literature know that the scene of “Shirley” is laid close to Kirklees, which place figures indeed in the novel as Nunnely. Any one acquainted with the locality will recognise Kirklees very thinly disguised under this name: “The village of Nunnely has been alluded to: its old church, its forest, its monastic ruins. It had also its Hall, called the Priory--an older, a larger, a more lordly abode than any Briarfield or Whinbury owned; and, what is more, it had its man of title--its baronet, which neither Briarfield nor Whinbury could boast.” In another chapter Kirklees is thus spoken of: “Kind gentleman as the baronet is, he asked the tutor too; but the tutor would much sooner have made an appointment with the ghost of the Earl of Huntingdon to meet him, and a shadowy ring of his merry men, under the canopy of the thickest, blackest, oldest oak in Nunnely Forest. Yes, he would rather have appointed tryst with a phantom abbess, or mist-pale nun, among the wet and weedy relics of that ruined sanctuary of theirs, mouldering in the core of the wood.”

The scenery now begins to lose those romantic features down to this point so noticeable in this valley. Larger towns and numerous manufacturing villages disturb the once pastoral quietude. Keeping to the bank of the river we pass Mirfield, and shortly reach Dewsbury, where Paulinus, the first Archbishop of York, preached in the early part of the seventh century--“Paulinus hic prædicavit et celebravit, A.D. 627.” Some years ago there was an old cross commemorating this event. And here in the Calder, I doubt not, the great Apostle of the North baptized hundreds of converts. The ancient Saxon parish of Dewsbury contained an area of 400 square miles. Travel we on and we come to Wakefield, in the meadows close to which was fought one of the most sanguinary battles in the Wars of the Roses. On Wakefield bridge, which spans the Calder, there is a lovely little chapelle, recently restored, thought to have been originally erected in the reign of Edward III., and said to have been rebuilt by Edward IV. to commemorate the death of his father, the Duke of York, and the young Earl of Rutland, the beautiful boy so ruthlessly slain there by Lord Clifford. The Calder, flowing on past the villages of Heath and Stanley, eventually loses itself in the Aire at Castleford. Hence the distich:

“Castleford lasses must needs be fair, Since they wash themselves both in Calder and Aire.”

Near the border hills, some of the tributary brooks that join the Calder are streams of rare beauty, and flow through regions of sylvan wildness, than which there are none finer in Derbyshire or Devon. If the traveller had to turn aside and wander up one of these glens he would soon leave behind him the din of trade, and find himself in ravine-like woodland solitudes. One of the loveliest and loneliest of these brooks is Turvin, born on the bleak summit of Blackstone Edge, and which precipitates itself in narrow winding channels through many a clough and forest dell. When the shadows of the gloaming steal over the world, it is an eerie sight to watch the mists of autumn as they creep up the gorge and curl round the rocks, and the spectator may almost realise that he is gazing upon some weird and enchanted land. About the middle of last century this glen was the haunt of a gang of coiners who for many years succeeded in eluding and defying the officers of the law. That these daring men carried on their nefarious practices was a fact well known to everybody in the locality, and it is to be feared they were secretly encouraged, as they were assuredly screened, by their neighbours and relatives. Something like a feeling of awe, tradition says, was felt by the cottagers on the distant hills, when they heard in the stillness of night the stroke of the sledge-hammer as the coiners plied, almost defiantly plied, their desperate work. At last some of the ringleaders were captured, tried, and hung. The rest of the gang still at large took their revenge by murdering the excise officer who had been instrumental in bringing the culprits to justice. Other captures were made and more murder followed. But in the end, after a twenty years’ lease of successful defiance, this band of reckless coiners was broken up.

Speaking of Blackstone Edge and the glens leading therefrom down to Calder dale, we are reminded of the impression this mountain with its wild passes and rugged roads had on Taylor, the Water Poet, who crossed over in 1639, and this is what he says: “When I left Halifax I rode over such ways as were past comparison or amendment, for when I went down the lofty mountain called Blackstone Edge, I thought myself in the land of break-necke, it was so steep and tedious.” Over this mountain, but in the opposite direction, wearily paced De Foe when on his way to take refuge in Halifax, perhaps resting a little while by the riverside before he climbed the steep ascent of Skircote. Whilst staying in Halifax he is said to have written part of “Robinson Crusoe.”

Fair features in woman are not irremediably spoiled by accident of cut and scar, or through waste of fever and pain: the lovely lines survive, and the soul beneath breathes unspeakable subtle beauty in smile of the eye and play of emotion on the eloquent face. Such is it with fair Calder dale--a region of poetry and romance, of legendary rock and historic hall, of mountain and glen, of shaw and burn, of daisied meadow and ferny dell. From the spot where I write, looking out at the antique lattice, I see the long sweep of the valley with its wide openings and gorge-like ravines stretching through the heart and the solitude of the everlasting hills, and though smoke blackens and mill mars the landscape, there is a loveliness about the contour of high heath-clad cliff, about the green waving woods musical with bird carol and summer breeze, about the sun-bright waters winding and narrowing miles away to a silver streak, which the accidents of trade and material civilisation have very far from irretrievably ruined.

F.

The Legend of King Arthur in Somerset.

BY MRS. C. G. BOGER.

_PART III.--HIS BURIAL-PLACE AT GLASTONBURY._

(_Concluded from p. 19._)

“Not great Arthur’s tomb, nor holy Joseph’s grave From sacrilege had power their sacred bones to save; He who that God in man to his sepulchre brought, Or he which for the faith twelve famous battles fought.” DRAYTON’S _Polyolbion_.

WITH Arthur perished the bright gleam of hope for the British race, but the Saxons did not as yet advance farther westward, and it was not till the seventh century that Gladerhaf became Somerset. That he was buried at Glastonbury men knew, but the exact spot remained a secret from all, and so the record of Arthur’s life and labours became a myth on which the earliest and latest British poets alike have loved to dwell and idealise, till men scarce believed that he had any existence save in the realms of romance. Long years passed away. “The old order had changed and yielded place to new” more than once. The Britons had been avenged, for the Saxons had passed under the power of the Dane, and then rose again only to submit to the Norman. Yet the Saxons were never so crushed as the Britons had been, for the Teutons have a staying power and a power of combination that seem to have been denied to the Kelts. Only in Wales did the ancient race preserve their individuality. But a weird and troubled rule was that of the Norman father fighting against son, and brother against brother; and now it was in the year 1177 that Henry II., when on his journey to Ireland, to receive the submission of the princes of that country, passed through Pembroke, and was there entertained by some of the Welsh chieftains. Whilst there, “it chanced to him to heare sung to the harpe certaine ditties of the worthy exploits and actes of this Arthur by one of the Welsh bards, as they were termed, whose custom was to record and sing at their feasts the noble deeds of their ancestors, wherein mention was made of his death and place of buriall, designing it to be in the monks’ burial ground at Glastonbury, and that betwixt two pyramids there standing.”[79]

King Henry made this known to his cousin Henry of Blois, who was at once Abbot of Glastonbury and Bishop of Winchester, but no steps seem to have been taken in his time to ascertain its truth; and it was not till after his death that, in the reign of Richard, Henry de Soliaco, nephew of the late king and Abbot of Glastonbury, instituted a search, the result of which has been described by Giraldus Cambrensis, the historian of his time, who was present when the grave was opened.

“At the depth of seven feet was a huge broad stone, whereon a leaden cross was fastened: on that part that lay downward, in rude and barbarous letters (as rudely set and contrived) this inscription was written upon that side of the lead that was towards the stone:

‘Hic jacet sepultus Rex Arturius in Insula Avalonia.’

And digging nine foot deeper his body was discovered in the trunk of a tree, the bones of great bignesse, and in his scull perceived ten wounds, the last very great and plainly seene. His Queen Guinivere, that had been neare kinswoman to Cador, Duke of Cornwall, a lady of passing beauty, likewise lay by him, whose tresses of hair finely platted, and in colour like the gold, seemed perfect and whole untill it was touched, but then, bewraying what all beauties are, shewed itself to be duste.”

The cross of lead with the inscription, as it was found and taken off the stone, was kept in the Treasury, or Revester, of Glastonbury Church till the suppression thereof in the reign of Henry VIII.

The bones of King Arthur and Queen Guinivere his wife were translated into the great church, and “there in a faire Tombe of Marble his body was laid, and his Queen’s at his feete, which noble monument among the fatall overthrowes of infinite more were altogether raced” [razed].[80]

I scarcely know anything more pathetic than the old chronicler’s account of that tress of golden hair, the sole remains of the beauty that had captivated the heart of the great king and made his noblest knight to fall, and then the seeing it at a touch fall into dust. She who had mourned her sin at Amesbury, at last, by the loving hands of those who had witnessed her penitence, was borne to rest beside her rightful lord; and the golden tresses which, when she had last seen him in life, swept the dust at his feet, now, after more than six hundred years had passed away, faded into dust again when they had fulfilled their mission of testifying to the main facts of the Legend of Arthur.

Nearly a hundred years again had passed, when in the year 1276 King Edward I. and his Queen Eleanor kept the Festival of Easter at Glastonbury. It was during the abbacy of John of Taunton, a great benefactor to the Church in buildings, books for the library, and vestments, that this visit took place. So great were the privileges of this place that even the king himself was laid under some restraint while abiding in it. His deputy high marshal was not allowed to exercise his office; the king’s judges were held to have no authority; and even a man who had incurred the penalty of _læsa majestas_ was not allowed to be punished. The mausoleum of black marble was opened for their inspection; the king’s bones were seen of gigantic proportion, the thigh bone the width of three fingers longer than that of the tallest monk present. The tomb was ordered to be placed in front of the high altar; the skulls of the king and queen to remain outside for the adoration of the people.

Leland, who saw the tomb, says: “At the head of Arthur’s tombe lay Henricus Abbas (Henry of Blois?)[81] and a crucifix; at the feet lay a figure of Arthur; a cross on the tomb, and two lions at the head and two at the feet.”

And here the hero’s bones rested till the Tyrant King scattered all such precious relics to the winds. His body has _not_ been allowed to rest in peace, but his “name liveth for evermore.” Nor is Arthur’s fame confined to England alone, for amongst the figures that keep watch and ward round Maximilian’s tomb at Innspruck is one of the patriot king, and an exquisite photograph of him in armour, as he is there portrayed, faces the writer as this attempt to show the connection of Arthur’s most heroic deeds with her own native county is being penned.

It only remains to add that the authorities for the above remarks are, Gildas, Geoffry of Monmouth, William of Malmesbury, Giraldus Cambrensis, Mallory’s “King Arthur,” Leland, Drayton’s “Polyolbion,” Speed, and Camden, “The Greatest of the Plantagenets,” and “Our Ancient Monuments and the Land around Them,” by C. P. Haines-Jackson, and lastly oral legend.

The History of Gilds.

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

_PART IV._

(_Continued from p. 235._)