Obituary Memoir.

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

says Coleridge; let us add that theirnamescannot be better commemorated than by books like the one before us.

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

“Emori nolo; sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.”—Epicharmus.

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

METROPOLITAN.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A statueof Martin Luther has been unveiled at Washington.

Chester Castleis no longer to be used as a prison for civil offences.

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

“TheDiary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys,” in ten volumes, is promised inédition de luxeform by Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TheItalian Government, saysThe Times, has concluded, through Professor Villari, the negotiations for purchasing the Italian MSS. in the Ashburnham Library. The amount to be paid for them is £23,000.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thefollowing articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear among the contents of the magazines for June:Art Journal, “The Western Riviera;”Cornhill, “Some Literary Recollections;”Literary Chronicle, “Researches for MSS. in the Levant,” and “Contents of the British Museum Library;”Blackwood, “New Views of Shakespeare’s Sonnets;”Army and Navy Magazine, “Pepys as an Official;”Eastward Ho!“Bethnal-green Museum;”Cassell’s Magazine, “The Folk-lore of Colours,” and “A Pilgrimage to Holy Island;”Magazine of Art, “Raphael and the Fornarina,” “The Keramics of Fiji,” and “Greek Myths in Greek Art.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“THE SENTENCE OF PONTIUS PILATE.”

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

Sir,—This document appeared in English inGalignani’s Messengerof March 23, 1859, copied from theHeraldof about that date. D. K. T.

A BAKER BLESSED.

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

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

Haileybury College, Hertford.

John Hussey.

WESLEYANISM IN LONDON.

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

C. A. Ward.

159, Haverstock Hill, N. W.

HISTORICAL CHAIRS.

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

C. B. Strutt.

34, East-street, Red Lion-square, London, W.C.

THE VISCOUNTY OF CULLEN.

Sir,—In reply to the inquiry ofHeraldicus Mus, I beg to inform him that the limitation of this dignity is correctly given in Sir Bernard Burke’snew“Extinct Peerage,” and included, as he suggests, a remainder to the Berties, but that the original patent of creation being lost (and having, unfortunately, never been enrolled), the Earl of Lindsey cannotprovehis right, unless the patent should yet be discovered. The second Viscount having taken his seat, no difficulty could arise so long as there remained male issue of his body; but when that became extinct, the special remainder would have to be established by proof. I speak, of course, of England or Ireland, for, in the anomalous chaos beyond the Tweed, it is possible to take a remainder for granted, as in the Ruthven case, at one’s own sweet will.

J. H. Round.

Brighton.

VISCOUNT HAMPDEN’S ANCESTRY.

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

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

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

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

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

John Pickford, M.A.

WAS MILTON A PAINTER?

(See vol. ii. p. 1.)

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

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

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

F. H.

OLD BELLMEN’S BROADSIDES.

(See vol. v. p. 221.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

James W. Lloyd.

Kington, Herefordshire.

PORTS AND CHESTERS.

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

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

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

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

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

A. H.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Image not available: Architectural Details from Southwell Minster. From Livett’s “Southwell Minster.”Architectural Details from Southwell Minster.From Livett’s “Southwell Minster.”

[Image of decorative bar not available]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to Index Next