CHAPTER XXXIII

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Fountaine Collection.

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

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

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

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

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

Collectanea.

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

Reviews.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PROVINCIAL.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Antiquarian News & Notes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Antiquarian Correspondence.

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

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

HERALDIC QUERY.

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

T. J. H.

ISLE D’ECOSSE.

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

R. M. B.

MINING IN THE HOME COUNTIES.

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

FOSSOR.

THE NAME OF FOSTAL.

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

H. F. WOOLRYCH.

_Oare Vicarage, Faversham_.

RICHARD, ARCHBISHOP OF MESSINA.

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

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

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

M. H. C.

_Spezia, Italy._

“THE SENTENCE OF PONTIUS PILATE.”

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

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

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

P. J. MULLIN.

HELSTON FURRY DANCE.

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

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

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

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

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

W. S. LACH-SZYRMA.

PORTS AND CHESTERS.

(See _ante_, p. 47.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

J. H. ROUND.

A BIBLIOGRAPHIC CURIOSITY.

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

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

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

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

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

WELCUM FORTOUN.

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Leith, N.B._

P. J. MULLIN.

_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

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

Books Received.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Archæological Journal, No. 162.

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

Books, &c., for Sale.

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

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

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

Books, &c., Wanted to purchase.

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

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

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

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

_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._

Shakespeare’s Gloves

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

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

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

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

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

The pedigree of mine will be found--

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Leominster, May 31st, 1769._

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“_5, Adelphi Terrace, Oct. 30, 1822._

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo!”

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

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

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

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

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

_PART II._

(_Continued from p. 71._)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Name and Office of Port-Reeve.

BY JAMES HURLY PRING, M.D.

_PART II._

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Salic Law.

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

THE Salic law, which still prevails in some parts of Europe, is supposed to have been instituted in the sixth century by Clovis, or Pharamond, King of the Franks. In Shakespeare’s play of “King Henry V.,” Act i.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * *

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

Lines on Opening an Ancient Barrow.[28]

BY THE REV. W. LISLE BOWLES.

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

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

The Ancient Etruscan City of Luni.

BY LA SIGNORA CAMPION.

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

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

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

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

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

## partially destroyed by the Saracens, and in 1185 Frederick Barbarossa

handed her over to the authorities of the Christian Church, who made the town an Episcopal See.

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

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

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

* * * * *

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

Reviews.

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

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

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

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

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

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

## particular attention to the view of “Old Houses in High Street,” given

on p. 415.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obituary Memoirs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meetings of Learned Societies.

METROPOLITAN.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday was devoted to an examination of the Roman Wall and the Roman station of Cilurnum at Chollerford. Dr. Bruce, the venerable topographer and historiographer of the Roman Wall, acted as guide. The party proceeded on foot, about 120 strong, to Brunton House, in the grounds of which they inspected a turret of the wall which has been newly brought to light, and which doubtless was one of those which occurred at every mile along the line. Its peculiar construction was made the subject of some remarks by Dr. Bruce, who also explained the course which the wall took along the adjoining hillside down to the River Tyne. Following the course of the wall they came to the river, where they were gratified by the sight of one of the finest pieces of Roman masonry now to be seen in England, the foundations and piers of the bridge thrown by Hadrian or Agricola across the river. The stones are large and square, carefully fastened together with lead and iron, and morticed in a manner which would have done credit to the best builder of to-day. Dr. Bruce also pointed out some round stones which he considered to have been set upright, with chains or wooden bars between them, as guards on either side of the passage. Traces of the bases of the other piers are to be seen in the bed of the river and on the opposite bank. After luncheon the party continued to follow the course of the wall to the Limestone bank, where Dr. Bruce again explained the peculiarities of the masonry. From this they took in their way back Chesters, the seat of Mr. J. Clayton, which stands on the site of the old Cilurnum, and minutely inspected the excavations, which are so well known to antiquaries, and which have been so often described. They were shown the ground-plan of an entire Roman camp, four-sided and square, with its four gates, each protected with a double guard-house; even the doorways through which the Roman soldiers passed in and out could be discerned on a careful inspection. Not far off was the forum or market place; in it also every

## part could be traced, and so could the general’s residence adjoining the

camp outside, and of course on the south side of the wall. Even the bath-house and the bake-house, with the hypocaust and the ovens _in situ_ could be made out. The party were here directed to Mr. Clayton’s magnificent collection of Roman altars and other very ancient treasures which have been dug up under his orders at various times during the last half-century, and are arranged under the entrance portico of the house. Among these are several votive offerings to the Emperors, to the Deæ Matres, &c., and very many touching memorial tablets, implements of war and of agriculture, urns, amphoræ, and bones of men and animals. A similar collection in one of the summer-houses in the garden was also inspected. Here were seen two beautifully carved life-size figures representing respectively Cybele and Victory. A finely carved Corinthian capital and several small works were also explained by Dr. Bruce. Among the altars, Dr. Bruce drew particular attention to one which bore the inscription, “To the ancient gods.” To this altar Dr. Bruce referred in his address in opening the Antiquarian Section, and this, with others of a similar character, he believes is evidence that Christianity prevailed in the North of England during the Roman occupation. Several of the Romans, he believes, embraced the new religion, while others who refused to accept the new faith, raised altars to the “ancient,” or “old,” gods. Returning to Newcastle, the company in the evening divided themselves, part going to the room at the Castle, where the Rev. G. R. Hall discoursed on the “British Remains in Northumberland,” and Mr. R. Pullan on “Some Recent Discoveries at Lanuvium;” whilst the rest repaired to the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Institute, where Mr. E. Walford took the chair in the Architectural section. Here Mr. C. J. Bates read the second and concluding part of his paper on “The Peel Castles of Northumberland,” which he illustrated by photographs thrown on a sheet by the help of a magic lantern. This was followed by an account by Mr. W. St. John Hope of the recent excavations which he has made at Alnwick Abbey, under the auspices of the Duke of Northumberland and Lord Percy, and by which he has succeeded in bringing to light the entire outline and ground-plan of a religious house, of which, with the exception of one single entrance gateway, every trace above ground had disappeared.

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

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

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

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

## book in the Bodleian Library.

PROVINCIAL.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Antiquarian Correspondence.

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

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

DR. FRANCIS MALLETT.

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

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

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

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

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

JOHN BATTY.

_East Ardsley, near Wakefield._

ARMS OF JOSUAH BARNES.

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

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

“Hæc mihi musa dedit Vix ea nostra voco;”

and under this--

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

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

J. HAMBLIN SMITH.

_Woodbridge, Suffolk._

PORTS AND CHESTERS.

(See _ante_, pp. 47, 96.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

A. HALL.

A BAKER BLESSED.

(See _ante_, p. 44.)

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

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

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

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

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

Here the idea of the baker is brought in.

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

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

J. G.

AN ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERY.

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

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

JAMES RUTLAND,

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

HANG _The Gables, Taplow_, _August, 1884._

_TO CORRESPONDENTS._

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

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

Books Received.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Books, etc., for Sale.

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

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

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

Books, etc., Wanted to Purchase.

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

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

[Illustration: SEAL OF THE BOROUGH OF SEAFORD.

_W. Dampier, del._]

[Illustration]

_The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer._

Our Old County Towns.

_NO. II.--SEAFORD, SUSSEX._

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Port” and “Port-Reeve.”

BY J. H. ROUND, M.A.

_PART IV._

(_Completed from p. 24._)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“London and Lincoln,” says Prebendary Scarth,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The “Titurel” of Wolfram von Eschenbach.

TRANSLATED BY JULIA GODDARD.

(_Continued from p. 134._)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Johnson and Garrick.[50]

_AN UNPUBLISHED JEU D’ESPRIT._

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

_PART I._

JOHNSON AGAINST GARRICK.

JOHNSON AND SIR J. REYNOLDS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

J.--Oh noble pair!

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

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

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

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

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

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

R.--But still----

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

T’OTHER SIDE.

DR. JOHNSON AND MR. GIBBON.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(_To be continued._)

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The History of Gilds.

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

_PART IV._

(_Continued from p._ 76.)

## CHAPTER XXXIV .--_Gilds of Middlesex._

THE Gilds of this county were chiefly, but not entirely, centred in the capital.

=London.=--In