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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40031 ***
+
+[Illustration: Book Cover]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HORSELYDOWN FAIR, IN THE TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.--Page
+255.]
+
+
+
+
+NOOKS AND CORNERS
+OF
+ENGLISH LIFE,
+Past and Present.
+
+
+BY
+JOHN TIMBS,
+
+AUTHOR OF "STRANGE STORIES OF THE ANIMAL WORLD,"
+"THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN," ETC.
+
+
+SECOND EDITION.
+_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._
+
+
+LONDON:
+GRIFFITH AND FARRAN,
+(_Successors to Newbery and Harris_,)
+CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.
+M DCCC LXVII.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Pictures of the Domestic Manners of our forefathers, at some of the most
+attractive periods of English History, form the staple of the present
+volume. These Pictures are supplemented by Sketches of subordinate
+Scenes and Incidents which illustrate great changes in Society, and tend
+to show, in different degrees, the Past as the guide for the Present and
+the Future.
+
+The value and interest of Archæological studies in bringing home to our
+very doors the information required of special localities, and their
+former life, have, it is hoped, been made available by the Author of
+this work, so far as to render it acceptable as well for the soundness
+of its information as for its entertaining character. The antiquary of
+old was but, in many instances, "a gatherer of other men's stuff;"
+whereas the archæologist of the present day adds to the worth of
+antiquarian studies by placing their results in new lights, and thus
+extending the utility and amusement which they afford.
+
+The materials for writing English History are inexhaustible; and one of
+the aims of this work is to seize upon and group from such stores
+leading facts and transitions, and by means of condensation to present
+their narratives in a more tangible form than that in which they were
+originally written. In this task the Author has brought to bear, from a
+variety of accredited sources, evidences of the condition of the English
+people--in their "woods and caves, and painted skins"--their homes and
+modes of living, in cavern and castle, mansion and cottage; the origin
+of their Domestic Inventions and Contrivances in the several stages of
+comfort; House-furnishing, Dress and Personal Ornament; Provisions and
+Olden Cookery, and Housewifery; Peasant Life, with its curious Customs,
+Laws, and Ceremonies; Fairs and Festivals and Amusements. To these
+succeed a few Historic Sketches: Traditions of Battle-fields, and other
+memorable sites; Mansions and their Families: romantic Narratives,
+Portraits of eminent Persons, &c.
+
+The authorities and sources of information conveyed in the following
+pages, are fully acknowledged. "Quotation," said Johnson, "is a good
+thing; there is a community of mind in it;" although some writers seem
+to ride upon their readers, like Pyrrhus on his elephant, forgetting
+that "there is not so poor a book in the world, that would not be a
+prodigious effort, were it wrought out entirely by a single hand,
+without the aid of prior investigation." Real antiquarianism has been
+well defined as a lively knowledge of the Past, comprehending the spirit
+of a period through the details of its customs, events, and
+institutions; the language of its writers, the movements of its sciences
+and arts; and, by keeping in view these points, the writer of the
+present volume hopes he has succeeded in producing a recreative result
+worthy of the acceptance of the reader.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+I. Early English Life.
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+      Aboriginal Britons--British Caves--Bosphrennis Bee-hive Hut and
+      Picts' House--On the Brigantes of Yorkshire; by Prof. Phillips 1-7
+
+
+BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN COLONIZATION.
+
+      Lappenberg's Picture of South Britain--War Chariots--Druidism, its
+      Rites and Customs--Arch-Druid and Mistletoe--Legend of
+      Stonehenge--Charles II. at Stonehenge--Fire Worship--Druidical
+      Serpents' Eggs--Druids' Medicines--Druid Schools and
+      Priests--Trade of the Phoenicians--Tin-trade of
+      Cornwall--Ornamental Art--British War-chiefs--Britain and New
+      Zealand compared                                              8-23
+
+
+THE ROMANS IN ENGLAND.
+
+      Civilization of Ancient Britain--British and Roman
+      Encampments--British Trackways and Roman Roads--British
+      Railways--Country of the Brigantes--London of Roman origin--The
+      Romans leave Britain--Roman London in Leadenhall Street--Mr. Roach
+      Smith's Museum--Roman Wall, Pottery, and Glass--Roman City of
+      Uriconium, Wroxeter, described--Owen Glendower's Oak--Shropshire
+      Legends of Giants--Silchester explored--Conquest by Cæsar:
+      Condition of the People then and now                         24-45
+
+
+DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE SAXONS.
+
+      Saxon Architecture--Saxon Houses--Mead-hall, or Beer-hall--Saxon
+      Beds--Story of Vortigern and Rowena--Origin of the Wassail Cup and
+      the Loving Cup--Dinner in the Middle Ages--Peg Tankards and
+      Drinking Horns--Mazer Bowls--The Hanap--Saxon
+      Metal-working--Alfred's Jewel, and Ethelwulf's Ring--Saxon
+      Coins--Glass-making--Saxon Cloths and
+      Dyeing--Embroidery--Iron-smelting--Alfred's Inventions--Travelling
+      in the Saxon Times--Sussex Roads--Stirrups, Spurs, and Bridles
+                                                                   46-60
+
+
+MEALS--BRITISH, ANGLO-ROMAN, AND SAXON.
+
+      Britons' Early Living--Roman Luxury--British Oysters--Roman
+      Supper--Saxon Law of Host and Guest--Canute's Dinner-law--Origin
+      of "Lady"--Saxon Provisions--Saxon Feasts--Early
+      Baking--Elecampane--Ale and Beer--Brewing in Monasteries and
+      Colleges--Oxford Ale--Ancient Vineyards--Danish Drinking--Ancient
+      Names of Provisions                                          61-70
+
+
+II. Castle Life.
+
+      Castles of England--Roman Castles--Pevensey--Maiden Castle and
+      Poundbury--Introduction of Bricks--Norman Castles--Conisborough
+      and _Ivanhoe_--Tonbridge Castle--Bedford Castle Siege--Raby
+      Castle, Durham--Kitchen of Raby--Durham Castle, Kitchen and
+      Buttery--Legend of Mulgrave Castle--Corfe Castle, and King Edward
+      the Martyr--Lady Bankes's Defence of Corfe--Castles _temp._ Edward
+      III.--Windsor Castle, its History and Description--St. George's
+      Chapel--Round Tower and Round Table--William of Wykeham and
+      Chaucer, Clerks of the Works, Windsor Castle--Restoration of
+      Windsor Castle, by George IV.--Sir Jeffrey Wyatville's
+      Gothic--Canon Bowles on Windsor Castle--Pictures at Windsor; Keep,
+      and Private Apartments--Warwick Castle, its History: Pictures,
+      Warwick Vase--Guy's apocryphal Curiosities--Historical Earls of
+      Warwick--Kenilworth Castle--Leicester and Queen
+      Elizabeth--Arundel Castle--Dukes of Norfolk--Bevis's Tower and its
+      Legend--Norman Remains, Interior, Vineyards, Historical Picture
+                                                                  71-108
+
+
+III. Household Antiquities.
+
+      The Old English House--Norman Houses--The Manor-house--The
+      Hall--City Companies' Halls--Embattled Mansions--Wingfield and
+      Cowdray--Mary Queen of Scots at Wingfield--Thornbury Castle and
+      its History--Longleat, Wilts--John Thorpe, the Elizabethan
+      Architect--Holland House, Kensington--Burghley,
+      Northamptonshire--Hatfield House, Herts--Campden,
+      Gloucestershire--Haddon Hall, Derbyshire--Lines on Haddon--The
+      Great Hall--Hall at Hampton Court--Hall Windows--Hall
+      Fires--College and Inns of Court Halls--Hall in Aubrey's
+      Time--Queen Victoria at Hatfield--Eltham Palace Hall, its present
+      Condition--Early Mansions of the English Gentry--The Oldest
+      Dwelling-house in England--Wood and Stone in building--London
+      built of Wood--Chestnut Timber and Ornamental
+      Carpentry--Kenilworth Hall Roof--Half-Timbered Houses in
+      London--English Cottages--Sussex Cottages, by Cobbett--Brambletye
+      House and the Comptons                                     109-134
+
+
+THE ENGLISHMAN'S FIRESIDE.
+
+      Warmth and Ventilation--Count Rumford and Dr. Arnott--Introduction
+      of Chimneys--The Hall Louvre or Lantern--Chimneys of Wood--Smoke
+      Farthings and Hearth-money--Crosby Hall--The Hall Fire and God's
+      Sunday--Rushes used--Coal introduced--Awnd-irons--Hever
+      Castle--Christmas in the Great Hall--Silver Fire
+      Implements--Invention of Grates--Prof. Faraday on Ventilation by
+      the Chimney--The Open Coal Fire--Roman Mode of heating
+      Houses--Flue-Tiles and Hypocausts--History of the Curfew, and
+      Curfew ringing                                             135-147
+
+
+PRIVATE LIFE OF A QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
+
+      Last Days of Isabella, Queen of Edward II.--Private Life of Five
+      Hundred Years since--Mortimer and the Queen--The Castle of Castle
+      Rising--Daily Expenses--Visitors and Pilgrimages--Ancient Meal
+      Hours--Queen Isabella at Windsor, Tottenham, and Canterbury--Death
+      of Queen Isabella--Messenger, Alms, and Doles--Repairs--The
+      Queen's Love of Jewels--Minstrels' and New Year's Gifts--Murder of
+      Edward II. (_note_)                                        148-160
+
+
+THE ENGLISH HOUSEWIFE.
+
+      Gervase Markham's Tract--Olden Cookery--Banquet Bills of
+      Fare--Brewing and Wine-making--The Bakehouse--Spinning--Domestic
+      Medicines--Carving by Ladies--Lady Mary Wortley Montague on
+      Carving                                                    161-166
+
+
+A HEREFORDSHIRE LADY IN THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR.
+
+      Hereford, the ancient City--Mrs. Joyce Jeffries and her
+      Servants--Gifts to Country Cousins--Lending Money--Dress of the
+      Lady, 1638--Housekeeping Expenses--Amusements and Social
+      Customs--Civil War Imposts--Lord Strafford's Trial--Mrs. Jeffries'
+      Generosity                                                 167-176
+
+
+HOUSE-FURNISHING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
+
+      Cabinet-work--Bedsteads--Beds--Tapestried Chambers--Blanket and
+      Worsted--Great Bed of Ware--Warming-pan, ancient--Chairs--Chamber
+      at Hengrave--Rushes and Carpets--Hall Furniture--Court
+      Cupboard--Wardrobes--Loseley, near Guildford, described    177-183
+
+
+DRESS--PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
+
+      Laundry Accounts--Hangings--Woollen Clothing--Pomanders--Country
+      Life, 17th century                                         184-187
+
+
+PINS AND PIN-MONEY.
+
+      Pins introduced from France--Pins first made in England--Pinners'
+      Company--Pins, _temp._ Elizabeth--Pinners on London Bridge--Origin
+      of Pin Money--What becomes of all the Pins?--Pin Wells     188-191
+
+
+PROVISIONS--BREAD-MAKING, GROCERY, AND CONFECTIONERY.
+
+      Olden Bread-making--Manchets, Recipes for--The
+      Manciple--Pastry-making taught in Schools--Christmas Game Pie,
+      1394--Cookery, _temp._ Richard II.--History of Sugar, 195--Tea and
+      Coffee introduced--Spices and other Condiments--Olden
+      Confectionery--March-pane and Biscuits--Dessert Fruits, 13th
+      century--Oranges introduced--Lincoln's Inn Fruit and Vegetable
+      Garden--Ornamental Fruit Trenchers--Vegetables in early
+      use--Conveyance of perishable Food--Antiquity of Cheese--Banbury
+      and Cheshire Cheese--Ballad on Cheshire Cheese--Sage Cheese--Ale
+      and Beer--Hops introduced--Our National Drink              192-216
+
+
+IV. Peasant Life.
+
+      "A bold Peasantry, their Country's Pride"--Serfdom--Were and
+      Wergild--Operative Tenants--Rent paid in
+      Labour--Monday-men--Villeins--Stocks for Vagrants and unruly
+      Servants--Services of Tillage--Ploughing Boon--Harrowing and
+      Bed-weeding--Threshing, Thatching, Delving,
+      &c.--Inclosures--Malting for the Lord--Malt-silver--Ancient
+      Harvest--Reaping Boon--Hayward--Love-boons or Law-days--Autumnal
+      Precations, _temp._ Edward II.--Ram Feast--Beltane
+      Superstition--Hayfield cut and cleared--Mutton Rewards--Hock-day
+      Court and Sports--Hardicanute's Death--Scot Ales--Sheep Shearing
+      and Clipping-time Customs--Conveyance Service--Arriage and
+      Carriage--Farming a Castle or Monastery--Vraic in the Channel
+      Islands--Langerode--Watch and Ward--The Beadle--Sleeping in
+      Church--"Firm Locks make faithful Servants"                217-234
+
+      Olden Housemarks: Land, Cattle, Sheep, Swans, and Ducks; Houses
+      and Cottages--Merchants' and Tradesmen's Marks--Picture
+      Marks--Ancient Conveyancing                                235-237
+
+
+V. Customs and Ceremonies.
+
+      May-day Carol on Magdalen College Tower, Oxford--Flower Customs at
+      Oxford--May-day Song at Saffron Walden--May-poles still
+      extant--Raine's Charity--Picture of Oxford                 238-244
+
+
+BANBURY CAKES, CONGLETON CAKES, ETC.
+
+      Banbury Cakes abolished by the Puritans--Banbury Cross--Banbury
+      _zeal_ and _veal_--Old Fuller on Banbury--High Church
+      Banburians--Congleton Triangular Cakes and Gingerbread--Sale of
+      Banbury Cakes--Banbury Cheese--Banbury Cross restored--Sack
+      Brewage at Congleton--Shrewsbury Cakes--Islington and Holloway
+      Cheesecakes                                                245-253
+
+
+HORSELYDOWN FAIR IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
+
+      Horselydown--Curious Picture at Hatfield House, of the Fair,
+      described--Hermitage                                       254-258
+
+
+WAKE FESTIVALS IN THE BLACK COUNTRY.
+
+      Bull-baiting, Cock-fighting, &c.--Wake-time, better
+      spent--Bloxwich Bull                                       259-263
+
+
+KEEPING BIRDS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
+
+      Alexander Neckam and his Treatise--Love of Animals--Hawk and
+      Eagle--Parrot--Barnacle--Swan, Nightingale, Sparrow, Raven, and
+      Crow; Cuckoo, Cock, Wren, &c.                              264-268
+
+
+VI. Historic Sketches.
+
+
+THE STORY OF FAIR ROSAMUND.
+
+      Woodstock Bower, and Rosamund's Well--The Nunnery at Godstow, near
+      Oxford--Rosamund born--Known to Henry II.--Maze at Woodstock--The
+      Silken Clue--The Poison Cup--Rosamund's Tomb at Godstow--Legend
+      from the _French Chronicle_                                269-277
+
+
+CARDINAL WOLSEY AT ESHER PLACE.
+
+      Fall of Wolsey--Retires to Esher--His Servants and
+      Retainers--Henry VIII. demands a cession of York House--The
+      "comfortable Message"--Death of Wolsey at Leicester--The
+      Abbey--Esher Place embellished by Kent--Dr. Johnson's Portrait of
+      Wolsey--At Cawood--Weighing his Plate--Wolsey and
+      Christchurch--Death and Interment of Wolsey--Tomb-house and
+      Sarcophagus--Cavendish's _Life of Wolsey_                  278-292
+
+
+TRADITIONS OF BATTLE-FIELDS.
+
+      Worth of Tradition--Antiquity of Tenure--The Wapshotts--Flodden
+      Field Tradition--BATTLE OF HASTINGS described--Roll of the
+      Conqueror's Companions--TOWTON FIELD described--TEWKESBURY FIELD
+      explored--BOSWORTH FIELD--The Battle--Relics of Richard, Duke of
+      Gloucester--His Autograph--Black Boy Inn, Chelmsford, a
+      Plantagenet Lodge--Baynard's Castle and Crosby Place--King
+      Richard's Inn, Leicester--Omens to the King--Oxford, Norfolk, and
+      Surrey--Richard's Last Charge--Sir John Cheney--Combat of Richard
+      and Richmond--Richard's Body carried to Leicester--Legend on the
+      Corporation Bridge--Wars of York and Lancaster--Rose-tree at
+      Longleat--False Traditions                                 293-314
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF HATFIELD.
+
+      Princess Elizabeth kept Prisoner here--Old Palace--Park--Queen
+      Elizabeth's Oak--The Vineyard--Historical Documents at
+      Hatfield--Olden Furniture--Portraits of Queen Elizabeth, and other
+      Pictures--Elizabeth's Abode at Hatfield--The Mansion built by the
+      Earl of Salisbury                                          315-322
+
+
+      THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE                                     323-325
+
+
+      CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS                                   326-328
+
+
+THE EVELYNS AT WOTTON.
+
+      The Evelyn Family--Wotton House built--Grounds planned and laid
+      out by John Evelyn--His Tour in France and Italy--Public
+      Services--Sayes Court--Retires to Wotton--Great Storm of
+      1703--Mills on the rivulet at Wotton--Lord Abinger--Lines, to the
+      Countess of Donegal, by Swift--Abinger Church--Kneller's Portrait
+      of Evelyn--Historical Curiosities--Character of Mrs.
+      Evelyn--Evelyn's "Elysium Britannicum"--His Planting--Milton
+      Court and Jeremiah Markland                                329-342
+
+
+LORD BOLINGBROKE AT BATTERSEA.
+
+      Battersea Parish and Manor--Sir Robert Walpole and
+      Bolingbroke--Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Thomson, and Mallet at
+      Bolingbroke House--Burning of 500 Copies of the _Patriot
+      King_--Death of Bolingbroke--Tomb, by Roubiliac--Site of
+      Bolingbroke House--Horizontal Mill--"Pope's Parlour," and _Essay
+      on Man_--Rose's _Diaries_, and Mallet's treacherous
+      Executorship--Bolingbroke's Ingratitude--Lord Brougham's
+      Comments--York House, Battersea--Archbishop Holgate--Residence of
+      Sir Thomas Boleyn at Battersea--A Shakespearian Query      343-352
+
+
+THE LAST OF EPPING FOREST.
+
+      Inclosure of the Forest--A Royal Chase--Hainault--Forest
+      Scenery--History of Epping Forest--Visit to Queen Elizabeth's
+      Hunting Lodge--Chingford Hall--Curious Tenure Custom--Elizabeth's
+      Fondness for Hunting--Conclusion                           353-361
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+      Ancient British Dwellings--The Saxon Hall--Abury and Stonehenge
+                                                                 362-364
+
+
+
+
+I. Early English Life.
+
+DWELLING-PLACES OF THE EARLY BRITONS.
+
+
+It has been well observed that the structure of a house reveals much of
+the mode of life adopted by its inhabitants. The representations of the
+dwellings of the people of the less cultivated parts of Europe,
+contrasted with those of the more cultivated countries, should afford us
+the means of comparing their different degrees of civilization. In the
+same manner we may measure the growth of improvement in any one country
+by an attentive consideration of the structure and arrangement of the
+homes of the people at different periods.
+
+The aboriginal Britons are described as dwelling in slight cabins of
+reeds and wattles, and in some instances in _caverns of the earth_, many
+sets of which, arranged with some degree of symmetry, antiquaries have
+recognised; but Cæsar tells us that the maritime tribes had buildings in
+the fashion of the Gauls--that is, of wood, of a circular figure, and
+thatched. Such towns as they had were clusters of huts erected on a
+cleared portion of the forest, which covered the greater part of the
+island; and they were invariably surrounded by a rampart, constructed of
+felled trees strongly interlaced and wattled, and a deep fosse, which
+together formed a fortification. The site of the modern city of London,
+with the river Thames in front, the river Fleet on the west, and an
+almost inpenetrable forest in the rear, may be taken as a fair specimen
+of the locality usually selected for the residence of the British
+Chief.[1]
+
+That our ancestors lived in caves is attested by the existence of a
+group of these abodes near Penzance, the most remarkable of all ancient
+British Caves hitherto discovered in Cornwall, and thus described by Mr.
+J. Edwards, to the Royal Institution of that county:--"Half of a mile
+W.S.W. of Caër Bran, and four and a half miles W. by S. of Penzance,
+there is, in the village of Chapel Euny, a cave, consisting for the most
+part of a deep trench, walled with stones, and roofed with huge slabs.
+It extends 30 feet from N.N.W. to S.S.E., and then branches eastward,
+and probably also to the S. or S.W. So far it accords with the
+description of an ordinary British cave. But its floor (as I was
+informed by the miner who opened it about three years ago) was well
+paved with large granite blocks, beneath which, in the centre, ran a
+narrow gutter or bolt, made, I imagine, for admitting the external air
+into the innermost part of the building; from whence, after flowing back
+through the cave, it escaped by the cave's mouth--a mode of ventilation
+practised immemorially by the miners in this neighbourhood, when driving
+adits or horizontal galleries under ground.
+
+"Another peculiarity is still more remarkable. Its higher or northern
+end consisted of a circular floor, 12 feet in diameter, covered with a
+dome of granite, two-thirds of which are still exposed to view; and my
+informant had observed a still greater portion of the dome-roofed
+chamber. Every successive layer of the stones forming the dome overhangs
+considerably the layer immediately beneath it; so that the stones
+gradually approach each other as they rise, until the top stones must
+originally have completed the dome; not, however, like the key-stones of
+an arch, but by resting horizontally on the immediately subjacent
+circular layer. The miner found no pottery, or anything else, in the
+cave. The height of the present wall of the dome is about 6 feet above
+the lowest part I could see; how much lower the original floor might
+have been, I could not ascertain.
+
+"Another British cave, not even referred to in any publication, is to be
+seen at Chyoster, nearly three miles north of Penzance, the walls of
+which, instead of being perpendicular, are constructed on the same
+principle as the inmost part of the cave at Chapel Euny; so that the
+tops of these walls which support the huge slabs forming the roof, are
+much nearer each other than their bases. Each cave formed part of a
+British village, that of old Chyoster being decidedly in the best state
+of preservation of all the British villages in this neighbourhood."[2]
+
+Both caves are built of uncemented stones unmarked by any tool. The cave
+at Chyoster extended originally, as appears from its remains and the
+rubbish left by its recent spoilers, fifty feet or more in a straight
+line up the sloping side of the hill. It is 6 feet high, 4 feet wide on
+the top, and 8 feet wide at the bottom, and is thought to have been
+originally a storehouse. It appears to have been built on the natural
+surface of the hillside, and then covered over with stones and earth,
+and planted with the evergreens which still abound there.
+
+A few years subsequently to the above investigations, in one of those
+intellectual excursions by means of which our acquaintance with the
+early history of our island is so greatly extended, the following
+results were arrived at:--In the autumn of 1865, in an excursion made
+jointly by the Royal Institution of Cornwall and the Penzance Natural
+History Society, they inspected on the north coast of the county,
+Gurnard's Head, a rocky promontory, jutting some distance into the sea,
+and bearing very distinct traces of having been fortified by the early
+Britons against an enemy attacking from the sea, this being the only
+specimen of an ancient British fortification where traces of sea
+defences have been found. In all other cases they seem to have been
+erected as a protection from an attack by the land side, and to have
+been evidently the last retreat of the natives.
+
+Next was visited the Bosphrennis Bee-hive Hut, first brought to light by
+the Cambrian Archæological Society: it was seen in clusters or villages
+by Cæsar. And, on an eminence near the village of Porthemear, was found
+a large inclosed circle, now hidden by briars and thorns, which, on
+examination, showed the remains of several circular huts, leaving no
+doubt that here a considerable ancient British village had once existed.
+
+Of the homes of the Picts, the most distinguished among the barbarous
+tribes inhabiting the woods and marshes of North Britain, there remain
+some specimens in the Orkneys: they are rude and miserable dwellings
+underground, but they are supposed to be calculated for the requirements
+of a more advanced state of society than that of the dwellers in Picts'
+houses. A complete drawing of one of the Orkney specimens has been made,
+and was exhibited to the British Archæological Association in 1866.
+
+[Illustration: PICTS' HOUSE.]
+
+About the year 1853, there was discovered in Aberdeenshire a Pict's
+house, in the parish of Tarland. It is a subterranean vault, nearly
+semicircular, and from five to six feet in height; the sides built with
+stones, and roofed with large stones, six or seven feet wide, and a kind
+of granite. These excavations have been found in various parishes of
+Aberdeenshire, as well as in several of the neighbouring counties. In
+the parish of Old Deer, some sixty years back, a whole village was met
+with; and, about the same time, in a glen at the back of Stirlinghill,
+in the parish of Peterhead, one was discovered which contained some
+fragments of bones and several flint arrow-heads and battle-axes, in
+various stages of manufacture. Such buildings underground as those
+described as Picts' houses were not uncommon on the borders of the
+Tweed. A number of them, apparently constructed as above, were
+discovered in a field in Berwickshire about fifty years ago. They were
+supposed to have been made for the detention of prisoners taken in the
+frays during the border feuds; and afterwards they were employed to
+conceal spirits, smuggled either across the border or from abroad.
+
+Professor Phillips, in his very able volume on Yorkshire, describes the
+houses of the Brigantes (highlanders), inhabitants of the hilly country
+towards the north of Britain, and extending from the German Ocean to the
+Irish Sea. Of these huts there appear to be three varieties, of which we
+have only the foundations. The first occurs in north-eastern and
+south-eastern Yorkshire; the ground is excavated in a circular shape, so
+as to make a pit from six to eight feet, or even sixteen or eighteen
+feet in diameter, with a raised border, and three to five feet in depth.
+Over this cavity we must suppose the branches of trees placed to form a
+conical roof, which, perhaps, might be made weather-proof by wattling, a
+covering of rushes, or turf. The opening we may believe to have been
+placed on the side removed from the prevalent wind: fire in the centre
+of the hut thus constructed, has left traces in many of the houses
+examined. The pits in Westerdale are called "ref-holes," _i.e._
+roof-holes, for our Saxon word _roof_ has the meaning of the Icelandic
+_raf_ and Swedish _ref_. In several places these pits are associated in
+such considerable numbers as to give the idea of a village, or even
+town. On Danby Moor, the pits are divided in two parallel lines, bounded
+externally by banks, and divided internally by an open space like a
+street; a stream divides the settlement into two parts; there are no
+walls at the end of the streets; in the most westerly part is a circular
+walled space, thirty-five feet in diameter.
+
+"A second type of these foundations of huts has been observed south of
+the village of Skipwith, near Riccall, south-east of York. These were
+oval or circular rings slightly excavated in the heathy surface, on the
+drier parts of the common. On digging into this area, marks of fire were
+found: they were concluded to be the foundation-lines of huts, mostly
+enclosed by single or double mounds or ditches.
+
+"The third form of hut foundation, an incomplete ring of stone walls,
+has only yet been observed in Yorkshire, on the summit of Ingleborough.
+How strange to find at this commanding height," says Professor Phillips,
+"encircled by a thick and strong wall, and within this wall the
+unmistakeable foundations of ancient habitations! The Rev. Robert Cooke,
+in 1851, concluded Ingleborough to be a great hill-fort of the Britons,
+defended by a wall like others known in Wales, and furnished with houses
+like the 'Cittian,' of Gwynedd. The area inclosed is about 15 acres, in
+which space are nineteen horse-shoe-shaped low foundations, evidently
+the foundations of ancient huts, the antecedent of the cottages of
+England,--a low wall foundation, a roof formed by inclined rafters, and
+covered by boughs, heath, rushes, grass, straw, or sods. The relative
+dates, surely, admit of no doubt. The huts and walls of Ingleborough
+exhibit principles of construction which remove them from the catalogue
+of barbarian works."[3]
+
+The Britons, before the first Roman invasion, slept on skins spread on
+the floor of their rude dwellings. Rushes and heath were afterwards
+substituted by the Romans for skins; and on the introduction of
+agriculture they slept upon straw, which, indeed, was used as a couch in
+the royal chambers of England at the close of the 14th century.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Annals of England_, vol. i. 1855.
+
+[2] _Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal_, N. S. No. 1, 1858.
+
+[3] _The Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-Coasts of Yorkshire_, 2d edit. 1855.
+
+
+
+
+BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN COLONIZATION.
+
+
+Hitherto we have but glanced at the dwelling-places of our ancestors,
+chiefly from existing evidences. Of the general condition of the people
+before the Roman Conquest, we find this picturesque account in
+Lappenberg's able work on the Anglo-Saxon Kings. The earliest
+inhabitants of Britain, as far as we know, were probably of that great
+family, the main branches of which, distinguished by the designation of
+Celts, spread themselves so widely over middle and western Europe. They
+crossed over from the neighbouring country of Gaul. At a later period,
+the Belgæ, actuated by martial restlessness or the love of plunder,
+assailed the southern and western coasts of the island, and settled
+there, driving the Celts into the inland country. Lappenberg's life-like
+picture of the condition of these people is as follows:--
+
+"In the southern parts of England, which had become more civilized
+through commerce, the cultivation of grain, to which the mildness of the
+climate was favourable, had been greatly improved by the art of marling.
+The daily consumption was taken from the unthrashed corn, preserved in
+caves, which they prepared for food, but did not bake as bread.
+Horticulture was not in use among them, nor the art of making cheese;
+yet the great number of buildings, of people, and of cattle, appeared
+striking to the Romans. Copper and bits of iron, according to weight,
+served as money. Their custom of painting themselves with blue and
+green, for the purpose of terrifying their enemies, as well as that of
+tattooing, was retained till a later period by the Picts of the North.
+At certain sacrifices, even the women, painted in a similar manner,
+resembling Ethiopians, went about without clothing. Long locks and
+mustachios were general. Like the Gauls, they decorated the middle
+finger with a ring. Their round simple huts of reeds or wood resembled
+those of that people; and the Gaulish chequered coloured mantles are
+still in common use in the Scottish Highlands. Their clothing, more
+especially that of the Belgic tribes of the south, enveloped the whole
+body; a girdle encircled the waist, and chains of metal hung about the
+breast. The hilts of their huge pointless swords were adorned with the
+teeth of marine animals; their shields were small. The custom of
+fighting in chariots, on the axles of which scythes were fastened, and
+in the management of which they showed great skill, was peculiar to this
+and some other of the Celtic nations, in a generally level country, and
+where the horses were not sufficiently powerful to be used for cavalry.
+The charioteer was the superior person; the servant bore the weapons.
+They began their attacks with taunting songs and deafening howls. Their
+fortresses or towns consisted in the natural defence of impenetrable
+forests. In the interior of the country were found only the more rugged
+characteristics of a people engaged in the rearing of cattle; which,
+together with the chase, supplied skins for clothing, and milk and flesh
+for food. The northern part of the country seems in great measure to
+have been abandoned to the shaft and javelin of the roving hunter, as
+skilful as he was bold. Simplicity, integrity, temperance, with a
+proneness to dissension, are mentioned as the leading characteristics of
+the nation. The reputation of bravery was more especially ascribed to
+the Norman races."
+
+The only persons in Britain who possessed any knowledge before the Roman
+invasion, and even for some considerable time after it, were the Druids:
+the real extent of their attainments is, however, doubtful and
+superficial, from the fact that, though they were acquainted with
+the Greek letters, they taught almost entirely by memory, and
+committed little or nothing to writing. A summary of what is known
+concerning Druidical knowledge is contained in the following
+particulars:--Concerning the universe, they believed that it should
+never be entirely destroyed or annihilated, though it was expected to
+suffer a succession of violent changes and revolutions, by the
+predominating powers of fire and water. They professed to have great
+knowledge of the movements of the heavens and stars; indeed, their
+religion required some attention to astronomy, since they paid
+considerable regard to the changes of the moon. Their time was computed
+by nights, according to very ancient practice, by moons or months; and
+by years, when the planet had gone the revolutions of the seasons. That
+at least they knew the reversion of the seasons, as adapted to
+agricultural purposes, is evident from the fact, that Cæsar landed in
+Britain on the 26th day of August, when he states that the harvest was
+all completed, excepting one field, which was more backward than the
+rest of the country.
+
+The sacred animal of the Druids' religion was the milk-white bull; the
+sacred bird, the wren; the sacred tree, the oak; the sacred plant, the
+mistletoe; the sacred herbs, the trefoil and the vervain; the sacred
+form, that of three divine letters or rays, in the shape of a cross,
+symbolizing the triple aspect of God. The sacred herbs and plant, with
+another plant, hyssop, the emblem of fortitude in adversity, were
+gathered on the sixth day of the moon. The great festivals of Druidism
+were three: the solstitial festivals of the rise and fall of the year,
+and the winter festival. At the spring festival, the bâltân, or sacred
+fire, was brought down by means of a burning-glass from the sun. No
+hearth in the island was held sacred till the fire on it had been relit
+from the bâltân. The bâltân became the Easter festival of Christianity,
+as the mid-winter festival, in which the mistletoe was cut with the
+golden sickle from the sacred oak, became Christmas. The mistletoe, with
+its three berries, was the symbol of the Deity in his triple aspect--its
+growth on the oak, of the incarnation of the Deity in man.
+
+The canonicals of the Arch-Druid were extremely gorgeous. On his head he
+wore a tiara of gold, in his girdle the gem of augury, on his breast the
+_ior morain_, or breast-plate of judgment; below it, the _glan neidr_,
+or draconic egg: on the forefinger of the right hand, the signet ring of
+the order; on the forefinger of the left, the gem of inspiration. Before
+him were borne the volume of esoteric mysteries, and the golden
+implement with which the mistletoe was gathered. His robe was of a white
+linen, with a broad purple border.
+
+The sickle with which the mistletoe was cut could not have been of gold,
+though so described. Stukeley maintains that the Druids cut the
+mistletoe with their upright hatchets of brass, called celts, put at the
+end of their staffs. The kind of mistletoe found to this day in Greece
+is the same with that found in England; and Sir James Smith, the
+distinguished botanist, contends that when the superstitions of the East
+travelled westward, our Druids adopted the Greek mistletoe as being more
+holy or efficacious than any other. The Druids, doubtless, dispensed the
+plant at a high price: "as late as the seventeenth century peculiar
+efficacy was attached to it, and a piece hung round the neck was
+considered a safeguard against witches." (_W. Sandys, F.S.A._)
+
+It is concluded that the Druids possessed some knowledge of arithmetic,
+using the Greek characters as figures, in the public and private
+computations mentioned by Cæsar; they were not unacquainted with
+mensuration, geometry, and geography, because, as judges, they decided
+disputes about the limits of fields, and are even said to have been
+engaged in determining the measure of the world. Their mechanical skill,
+and particularly their acquaintance with the lever, is generally argued
+from the enormous blocks of Stonehenge, and the numerous other massive
+erections of rude stone which are yet remaining in many parts of the
+kingdom, and which are commonly attributed to these times.
+
+The remains of the mystic monument of Stonehenge, which stands in the
+midst of Salisbury Plain, have been variously explained, as to the
+purpose for which Stonehenge was reared. When perfect, it consisted of
+two circles and two ellipses of upright stones, concentric, and
+environed by a bank and ditch; and outside this boundary, of a single
+upright stone, and a sacred way, _via sacra_, or cursus. One writer has
+beheld in Stonehenge a work of antediluvians, and another, a sanctuary
+of the Danes; and Inigo Jones, a temple of the Romans. By the Saxons it
+was termed _Stonhengist_, the hanging stones; and thence came
+Stonehenge, of which we have this terrible historic legend:--
+
+Ebusa, brother of Hengist, with his brother Octa, landed on the Frith of
+Forth with an armament of five hundred vessels. The Britons flew to
+arms. A conference was proposed by Hengist, and accepted by Vortigern.
+It was held at Stonehenge (Hengist's Stones), and attended by most of
+the nobility of Britain. On the sixth day, at the high feast, when the
+sun was declining, was perpetrated the "Massacre of the Long Knives,"
+the blackest crime, with the exception of that of St. Bartholomew, in
+the annals of any nation. The signal for the Saxons to prepare to plunge
+their knives, concealed in their boots and under their military cloaks,
+into the breasts of their gallant, unsuspicious conquerors was, "Let us
+now speak of friendship and love." The signal for action were the words,
+"Nemet your Saxas," ("Out with your knives,") and the raising of the
+banner of Hengist--a white horse on a red field--over the head of
+Vortigern. Four hundred and eighty of the Christian chivalry of Britain
+fell before sunset by the hand of the pagan assassins; three only of
+name--Eidol Count of Gloucester, and the Princes of Vendotia and
+Cambria--escaping, the first by almost superhuman courage and presence
+of mind. Priests, ambassadors, bards, and the boyish scions of many
+noble families, were piled together in one appalling spectacle on the
+site of the banquet, "Moel OEore"--the Mound of Carnage, about three
+hundred yards north of the great Temple.
+
+A learned band of inquirers are induced to consider Stonehenge as a
+Druidic temple, reared on the solitary plain long before Roman, Dane, or
+Saxon had set foot within the country. Still, Stonehenge was the work of
+two distinct eras: the smaller circles are attributed to the Celtic
+Britons, and the other to the Belgæ. There is a common notion that the
+stones cannot be counted twice alike; but when Charles II. visited
+Stonehenge in 1651, he counted and re-counted the stones, and proved to
+his satisfaction the fallacy of this notion.[4]
+
+A few months since, Professor Nielson, in a paper read to the
+Ethnological Society, considered that Stonehenge was a temple of early
+fire-worshippers, and of pre-Druidical origin, and belonging to the
+"Bronze Period" of the northern archæologists. The remains of
+Stonehenge, he remarked, are placed, not on the summit, but on the
+declivity of a hill surrounded by numerous barrows, from which bronze
+articles have been exhumed, with others of flint, but never any of iron.
+He considers that fire-worshippers preceded Druids in Britain and Gaul,
+and gives what he regards as numerous proofs of the building of such
+stone open temples by colonies of Phoenicians. Circles of large
+stones, exactly identical in description with those called Celtic or
+Druidical, he continued, are found in countries where neither Celts nor
+Druids ever existed; but who knows at what time the ancient religion of
+this country may be truly said to have been pre-Druidical or pre-Celtic
+in its principles? From various considerations the author of the paper
+thinks there may be sufficient reason to regard the remains of
+Stonehenge as Phoenician, and connected with the rites of Baal, or the
+early worship of fire.
+
+Mr. Fergusson and others say that to the Buddhists rather than to the
+Druids we owe Stonehenge. It is also thought to have been an assemblage
+of burial-places.
+
+A popular poet has thus apostrophised this mysterious circle and its
+historical associations:
+
+  "Thou noblest monument of Albion's isle!
+    Whether by Merlin's aid from Scythia's shore
+    To Amber's fatal plain Pendragon bore,
+  Huge frame of giant hands, the mighty pile,
+  To entomb his Britons slain by Hengist's guile:
+    Or Druid priests, sprinkled with human gore,
+    Taught 'mid thy mighty maze their mystic lore:
+  Or Danish chiefs, enrich'd with savage spoil,
+  To Victory's idol vast, an unhewn shrine,
+    Rear'd the rude heap: or in thy hallow'd round,
+  Repose the kings of Brutus' genuine line:
+    Or here those kings in solemn state were crown'd:
+  Studious to trace thy wondrous origin,
+    We muse on many an ancient tale renown'd."
+
+  WARTON.
+
+The Druids were suspected of magic, which, Pliny remarks, derived its
+origin from medicine. They highly esteemed a kind of stone, or fossil,
+called _Anginum Ovum_, or Serpents' Egg, which should make the possessor
+superior in all disputes, and procure the favour of great persons. It
+was in the form of a ring of glass, either plain or streaked, and was
+asserted to be produced by the united salivas of a cluster of serpents,
+raised up in the air by their hissing; when, to be perfectly
+efficacious, it was to be caught in a clean white cloth before it fell
+to the ground, the person who received it instantly mounting a swift
+horse, and riding away at full speed from the rage of the serpents, who
+pursued him with like rapidity, until they arrived at a river. It has
+been supposed that these charms were no other than rings of painted
+glass; and, as it is allowed that the British had home manufactures of
+glass, it seems that there were imitations of them sold at an equally
+high price with the real amulet. Their genuineness was to be tried by
+their setting them in gold, and observing if they swam against the
+stream when cast into the water; they were, in fact, beads of glass, and
+the notion of their rare virtues exactly accords with the African
+exposition in the present day of the Aggry beads. Sir Richard Colt Hoare
+found one of the Druidic beads in a barrow in Wiltshire, in material
+resembling little figures found with the mummies in Egypt, and to be
+seen in the British Museum. "This curious bead," says Sir Richard Hoare,
+"has two circular lines, of opaque sky-blue and white, and seems to
+represent a serpent entwined round a centre, which is perforated. This
+was certainly one of the Glain Neidyr of the Britons; derived from
+_Glain_, which is pure and holy, and _Neidyr_, a snake."[5]
+
+The accounts we have of the Druidical orations and discourses afford
+some notion of their admitted eloquence, which was of a lofty,
+impassioned, and mysterious character. Their counsel was equally
+solicited and regarded; and those orators who succeeded the Druids in
+the Western Islands seem to have possessed no less power, since, if one
+of them asked anything even of the greatest inhabitant, as his dress,
+horse, or arms, it was immediately given up to him--sometimes from
+respect, and sometimes from fear of being satirized, which was
+considered a great dishonour. The British chieftains, also, appear to
+have been gifted with considerable oratorical powers when they addressed
+their soldiers before a battle; as Tacitus translates the British names
+of such by "incentives to war."
+
+The Druids were the only physicians and surgeons to the Britons; in
+which professions they blended some knowledge of natural medicines, with
+the general superstitions by which they were characterised. The practice
+of the healing art has ever commanded the esteem of the rudest nations;
+hence it was the obvious policy of the priests or Druids to study the
+properties of plants. Their famous Mistletoe, or _All-heal_, we have
+seen, was a cure in many diseases, an antidote to poisons, and a sure
+remedy against infection. We have in the present day a popular remedy
+for cuts and other wounds, sold under the name of _Heal-all_. Another
+plant, called Samulus, or Marsh-wort, which grew chiefly in damp places,
+was believed to be of excellent effect in preserving the health of swine
+or oxen, when it had been bruised and put into their water-troughs. But
+it was required to be gathered fasting and with the left hand, without
+looking back when it was being plucked. A kind of hedge hyssop, called
+_Selago_, was esteemed to be a general charm and preservative from
+sudden accidents and misfortunes; and it was to be gathered with nearly
+the same ceremony as the mistletoe. To these may be added Vervain, the
+herb _Britannica_, which was either the great Water-dock, or
+scurvy-grass; besides several other plants, the virtues of which,
+however, were greatly augmented by the rites in plucking them;
+superstitions not entirely out of use, while the old herbals were
+regarded as books of medicine. We gather from Pliny's _Natural History_
+some hints on the preparation of these materials, showing that sometimes
+the juices were extracted by bruising and steeping them in cold water,
+and sometimes by boiling them; that they were occasionally infused in a
+liquor which he calls wine; that they were administered in fumigations;
+and that the dried leaves, stalks, and roots of plants, were also used
+to impart a virtue to various liquids. The almost solitary shop of the
+herbalist in our great market in Covent Garden, will thus carry the
+mind's eye back through many centuries.
+
+It appears that the Druids prepared ointments and salves from
+vegetables. Of their surgery nothing is certainly known, though much has
+been conjectured of their acquaintance with anatomy, from the barbarity
+of their human sacrifices; but it is probable that their practice
+extended only to the plainer branches of the art, as healing of wounds,
+setting of fractured bones, reducing dislocations, &c.; all which were
+perhaps conducted with great rudeness, though with considerable
+ceremony. It has been asserted that one of the Druid doctors, called
+Hierophilus, read lectures on the bodies of upwards of 700 living men,
+to display the wonders and secrets of the human fabric.
+
+The Greek letters were used by the Druids for keeping the public or
+private records, the only matters which they reduced to writing. The
+Druid schools and seminaries were held in the caves such as we have
+already described, or in the recesses of the sacred groves and forests
+of Britain. The most eminent academy is said to have been in the Isle of
+Anglesey, near the residence of the Arch-Druid; and there are still two
+spots there called "the Place of Studies," and "the Astronomer's
+Circle." The British youth, separated from their parents, were under
+Druidical instruction until they were fourteen, and no one was capable
+of a public employment who had not been educated by a Druid. The Roman
+invasion, however, greatly improved the Druidical plan of instruction;
+since Julius Agricola was careful that the sons of the principal Britons
+should be taught the liberal sciences. His endeavours were considerably
+assisted by the expulsion of the Druids, which took place about this
+period; and also by the ability of the British youth, whom he declared
+to excel the Roman. The ranks of the priests were recruited from the
+noblest families of the early Britons: their education, which often
+extended over a period of twenty years, comprehended the whole sciences
+of the age; and beside their sacred calling, they were invested with
+power to decide civil disputes. Their dwellings and temples were
+situated in the thickest oak groves, which were sacred to the Supreme
+Deity.
+
+No sculptured stones or storied bricks have ever been found of this
+period; nothing but weapons of stone, of bronze, and lastly, of iron,
+remain to attest the slow progress of a rude people towards a higher
+stage of civilization, in the arts relating to the chase and to war. As
+the Gauls used to ornament their shields and helmets with brass images
+of animals and horns, it is not improbable that some rude endeavour
+decorated the armour of the Britons. Whatever their skill might be, it
+was, doubtless, greatly improved by the Romans, since their bas-reliefs
+and effigies have been found in different parts of the kingdom; and as
+early as A.D. 61, not twenty years after the invasion of Claudius Cæsar,
+a statue of Liberty was erected at Camulodunum, or Colchester.
+
+The early custom of painting the body has been incidentally mentioned.
+The Southern Britons stained their bodies with woad, deep blue, or a
+general tint; the Northern Britons added something of design by tracing
+upon their limbs figures of herbs, flowers, and trees, and all kinds of
+animals. It is doubtful whether in these arts they were improved by the
+Romans; since the delineation of deities, which Gildas mentions, on the
+walls of the British houses, are said by him only to resemble demons.
+
+Although Cæsar describes the natives of Britain as a hardy race of
+shepherds, whose simple wants were provided for in their own country,
+even then the commerce of Britain was of considerable importance; since
+the tin of Cornwall, and the hides of the vast flocks of cattle, had
+already induced the merchants of Phoenicia to visit and settle on our
+southern shores. They are believed to have supplied the Eastern world
+with Cornish tin, of such important use in the manufacture of bronze
+tools, weapons, and helmets of antiquity.[6]
+
+The principal and most ancient exports from Britain were, besides its
+famous tin, lead and copper; but lime and chalk, salt, corn, cattle,
+skins, earthenware, horses, staves, and native dogs, which appear
+always to have been held in great estimation, were also carried thence.
+The largest and finest pearls, too, are said to have been found on the
+British coasts; and the wicker baskets of Britain are celebrated by
+Martial and Juvenal as luxuries in Rome. And from Rome, the Britons
+received ivory, bridles, gold chains, amber cups, and drinking glasses.
+
+There are few remains of the ornaments in use amongst the Britons at a
+very early period: there are many relics, however, of that just
+preceding the Roman Conquest. We find torques or chains for the neck and
+wrists coarsely manufactured, like curb-chains. Beads were also in use.
+Many of the most ancient ornaments were cruciform. With the Roman
+Conquest came in the Roman ornamentation. This does not seem to have
+been modified by its introduction into Britain. The Romans imported Rome
+bodily into Britain, as was their custom in all the conquered countries,
+and the Britons were too uncivilized to make improvements on what was
+presented to them. For this reason it is that there is the greatest
+difficulty to distinguish between pure Roman and Anglo-Roman ornaments.
+
+That the Britons both understood and practised the art of working in
+metals, is ascertained from the relics of their weapons, as axes, spear
+and arrow heads, swords, &c. which are yet extant; and it is supposed
+that tin was the first ore which they discovered and refined. Lead they
+found in great abundance, very near the surface. The British iron was of
+uncommon occurrence, and was much prized, since it was used in personal
+ornaments, and was even formed into rings and tallies for money. This
+then precious metal has contributed more than any other to the greatness
+of England in those mighty works of our own times, her railways and vast
+ships of passage and war.
+
+All the Britons, except the Druids, were trained early to war. Their
+most ancient weapons were bows, reed-arrows with flint or bone heads,
+quivers of basket-work, oaken spears; and flint battle-axes, which are
+now considered to have been called _celts_, though there is no connexion
+between this word and the name of the nation, Celtæ. The British forces
+included infantry, cavalry, and such as fought from war-chariots. The
+southern foot soldiers wore a coarse woollen tunic, and over it a cloak
+reaching below the middle, the legs and thighs being covered with close
+garments. They had brass helmets, breastplates full of hooks, and long
+swords suspended from an iron or brazen girdle. They also carried large
+darts, with iron shafts eighteen inches long; and shields of wicker or
+wood. The inland foot soldiers were more lightly armed, with spears and
+small shields, and dressed in skins of oxen. The Caledonians and other
+northerns usually fought naked, with only a light target; their weapons
+pointless swords and short spears. The British cavalry were mounted upon
+small but strong horses, without saddles, and their arms were mostly the
+same as those of the infantry. The soldiers of the war-chariots were
+mostly the chiefs of the nation, and the flower of the British youth.
+Their chariots were of wicker, upon wooden wheels, with hooks and scythe
+blades of bronze attached to the axles, with which the charioteer mowed
+down the enemy. Other chariots contained several persons, who darted
+lances; both machines broke the hostile ranks, and threw an army into
+confusion. Their number must have been very great; since Cassibellaunus,
+after he had disbanded his army, had still 4,000 remaining.
+
+Primitive British vessels have occasionally been found embedded in
+morasses. In 1866, there was discovered at Warningcamp, about a mile
+from South Stoke, in Sussex, a canoe, in widening a ditch, or sewer,
+which empties itself into the river Arun: although now narrow, it
+appears to have been, until recently, of much greater extent, and at one
+time must have formed an important estuary of the river, for in the soil
+are now seen several thousands of shells of fresh-water fish. About four
+feet beneath the surface the end of the canoe was found. It proved to be
+13-1/2 feet long, and consisted of the hollowed trunk of an oak tree;
+but bears evidence of design, for having insertions cut on the edge, in
+which it is evident three seats had been secured for the boatmen. It is
+perhaps not so interesting as the canoe discovered at Stoke about twenty
+years ago, and now in the British Museum, because it is not so perfect.
+Still, it would appear of the greatest antiquity, from its extremely
+rude form. The canoe is the general vessel of New Zealand, the present
+state and people of which country are thought to exhibit more nearly
+than any other land the condition of Britain when the Romans entered it
+nearly eighteen centuries since.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] It must have been a proud day for John Aubrey, the Wiltshire
+antiquary, when he attended Charles II. and the Duke of York on their
+visit to Abury, which the King was told at a meeting of the Royal
+Society, in 1663 (soon after its formation), as much excelled Stonehenge
+as a cathedral does a parish church. In leaving Abury, the King "cast
+his eie on Silbury Hill, about a mile off," and with the Duke of York,
+Dr. Charlton, and Aubrey, he walked up to the top of it. Dr. Stukeley,
+in his account of Abury, published in 1743, probably refers to another
+royal visit, when he notes: "Some old people remember Charles II., the
+Duke of York, and the Duke of Monmouth, _riding_ up Silbury Hill."
+
+[5] See Apsley Pellatt's _Curiosities of Glass-Making_, 1849.
+
+[6] This is a much contested question among ethnologists and other
+authors. Mr. Craufurd and Sir George Cornewall Lewis totally disbelieve
+in the voyage of the Phoenicians to the Scilly Islands, through which
+they are imagined to have supplied the Eastern world with Cornish tin;
+since they are not likely to have performed the requisite voyage from
+the entrance of the Mediterranean, 1,000 miles in a straight line over a
+stormy sea; but Sir Charles Lyell considers it would have been much
+safer for the Phoenicians to come round by sea than trust their cargoes
+through Gaul, then not sufficiently safe to be a highway for trade. Nor
+is there any tin in the Scilly Islands; but Sir Henry James shows that
+the Cassiterides, where the tin was obtained, is St. Michael's Mount.
+Sir Henry has recently found in the bed of the harbour of Falmouth an
+ancient wrecked ingot of tin, of precisely that shape and weight which
+would adapt it as half-cargo for a horse, balanced by a similar ingot on
+the other side. The metal was thus conveyed along our southern coast to
+a favourable place for embarkation, whence the cargoes crossed the
+Channel and were taken overland through Gaul to the Mediterranean. The
+ingot discovered at Falmouth resembled in form an _astragalus_ or
+knuckle-bone, the shape being convenient for slinging over the back of a
+horse; and it is important to notice that Diodorus Siculus uses the term
+_astragali_ in describing the shape of the tin-blocks brought from the
+island of Ictis, which there could be no doubt was the same as St.
+Michael's Mount. The ingot weighs 120 pounds, and the form of the
+under-surface is such as to adapt it for resting on the bottom of a
+boat. Sir Henry believes, with Sir Charles Lyell, that in more ancient
+times, previous to the Roman occupation of Gaul, tin was conveyed to the
+Mediterranean round the coasts of Gaul and Lusitania; but more recently,
+as Diodorus Siculus states, it was carried by land after crossing the
+narrow part of the Channel. The miners of the present day sometimes find
+bronze weapons in old tin-works. It is not necessary to assume that
+these were imported, as there is plenty of copper in Cornwall. It is
+believed they were manufactured there, and that a vast proportion of the
+bronze weapons of antiquity were actually made in Cornwall and exported.
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANS IN ENGLAND.
+
+  "The Romans in England they once did sway."
+
+  OLD SONG.
+
+
+Archæological information obtained of late years shows that at the time
+of the Roman invasion, there was a larger amount of civilization in
+Ancient Britain than had been generally supposed: that in addition to
+the knowledge of the old inhabitants in agriculture, in the training and
+rearing of horses, cows, and other domestic animals, they were able to
+work in mines, had skill in the construction of war-chariots and other
+carriages, and in the manufacture of metals; and there is evidence that
+British manufactures and materials were exported to certain parts of the
+Continent, probably in British vessels. The ancient coinage of this
+period is also well worthy of attention.
+
+In connexion with the Ancient British period, it would seem that
+probably 2,000 years before the Roman times there had been in Great
+Britain a certain degree of civilization, which from various causes
+declined in extent. If Stonehenge may be considered as of the same
+antiquity as similar remains in various parts of the East--which are
+reckoned by good authorities to be 4,000 years old--we had in this
+country a degree of civilization which was contemporary with the
+prosperous period of the Egyptian empire; and, in times more immediately
+preceding the Roman occupation, we know that Britain was the grand
+source of Druidical illumination (whatever relation that may have had to
+a true civilization) to the whole of Continental Europe.
+
+That the Ancient Britons, even after they were conquered by the Romans,
+had still a strength considered dangerous, is shown by the fact that
+upwards of forty barbarian legions which had followed the Roman
+standards were settled chiefly upon the northern and eastern coasts; and
+it is shown that a force of about 19,200 Roman foot and 1,700 horse was
+required to secure peace, and the carrying out of certain laws in the
+island.
+
+The encampments, Roman and British, are thus described. In the Roman
+camp, the plan is invariably the same--a rectangular area, surrounded by
+a ditch, the earth thrown inwards, forming a high mound, defended on the
+top with wooden palisades, but of these all vestiges have disappeared:
+in the middle of each side the entrance, from which a way led to the
+opposite gate; and at or near the outer action of the two ways, was the
+Prætorium, the remains of which may frequently be traced. These camps
+are not usually found on very high hills. The Britons, on the other
+hand, always occupied the highest ground, frequently an isolated hill,
+which they surrounded with deep trenches and a series of low terraces
+scooped out of the side of the hill, rising one above another, not in an
+unbroken line, but forming, in some places, a network of flat forms,
+commanding every approach to the entrances, with advantageous positions
+for the sling, in the use of which the Britons peculiarly excelled.
+Every inequality of the ground was taken advantage of: the entrances
+sometimes opened into one of the trenches, through which the approach to
+the interior leads, so as to expose an enemy to an overwhelming storm of
+darts and stones from the heights above.
+
+Our early historians mention four great roads by which South Britain was
+traversed, and these usually have been considered as the work of its
+conquerors; but recent researches have led to the conclusion that the
+Romans only kept in repair, and perhaps improved, the roads which they
+found in use on their settlement in the island. Along the course of the
+great roads, or in their immediate vicinity, are found the principal
+cities, which, in pursuance of their usual policy, the Romans either
+founded or re-edified; and to which, according to the privilege
+bestowed, the various names were given of colonies, municipalities,
+stipendiary, and Latian cities. Many other Roman roads exist.
+
+"The old British roads, or trackways, were not paved or gravelled, but
+had a basis of turf, and wound along the tops or sides of the chains of
+hills which lay in their way. Surrey furnishes a remarkable example of
+such an appropriation of one of its chalk ridges; and it may be inferred
+that the agger called the Hog's Back presented to the earliest
+inhabitants of Britain a natural causeway of solid chalk, covered with a
+soft verdant turf, peculiarly suited to the traffic of the British
+chariots, and connecting the western Belgæ with the Cantii, and
+affording through them an access towards the continent at all seasons of
+the year. These advantageous peculiarities, no doubt, rendered it the
+grand strategic route by which an invading army would have penetrated to
+the westward; and Vespasian may be supposed, with great reason, to have
+marched along it."[7]
+
+
+To return to the Roman Roads. Although inferior to the Britons of the
+nineteenth century in the art of spending money, if judged by the
+present state of science, the Roman road-makers could not be despicable
+engineers: their levels were chosen on different principles, but their
+lines of roads passed through the same counties, and generally in the
+same direction as our railways. A diagram in the _Quarterly Review_,
+exhibiting a general view of the direction of the principal Roman roads
+in England, shows that, on comparing one or two of our principal lines,
+we shall find, that the Great Western supplies the place, with a little
+deviation near Reading, of the Roman _iter_ from London to Bath and
+Bristol; the Liverpool and Manchester, and on to Leeds and York,
+replaces the northern Watling-street; the Great Eastern follows a Roman
+way, and so of the rest.[8]
+
+Professor Phillips has thus strikingly illustrated this comparison to be
+made in the North of England. "As now two railways, so a little earlier
+two mail-roads, and far earlier two British tracks, conducted the
+traveller from South Britain through the sterner country of the North.
+This is the inevitable result of the great anticlinal ridge of
+stratified rocks--our Pennine Alps--thrown up from Derbyshire to the
+Scottish Border. This is the 'heaven water' boundary of the river
+drainages: on the west of it ran the line of road northward from
+Mancunium; on the east of it the line from Eburacum; the former nearly
+in the course of the North-eastern, the latter not lately deviating from
+the North-eastern rail. Along these routes Agricola divided his troops:
+these were the routes followed alike by the Pict and Scot, Plantagenet
+and Tudor, Cavalier and Roundhead. Wade lay on the east of these
+mountains, while the Stuart overran their western slopes: and Rupert
+swept up the western tract to surprise the besiegers of York."[9] On the
+whole it appears that the lines of the earlier British roads were
+indicated by the great features of nature; and that, for the most part,
+the Roman ways followed and straightened the old tracks.
+
+"It is equally remarkable and significant that the Roman municipia and
+coloniæ became the centres of Saxon and Anglican strength; and if in
+this day of the steam-engine their relative importance is less
+conspicuous, it is still a matter of English history. From the top of
+the Brigantian mountain we may reanimate the busy world which has long
+passed away from life: the jealous boundaries of propriety disappear;
+the chimneys vanish; the thundering hammer is silent. From the midst of
+boundless forests of oak and pine, rise many peaks or bare summits of
+heaths crowned with monumental stones or burial mounds. The rivers
+gliding through the deepest shade, bear at intervals the light wicker
+boat, still frequent in Dyfed, loaded with fish, or game, or fruit. On
+dry banks above are the conical huts of the rude hunters, and near them
+the not narrower houses of the dead,--perhaps not far off the cave of
+the wolf. Lower down the dale, the richest of pastures is covered with
+the fairest of cattle and the most active of horses. Still lower, the
+storehouse of the tribe, the water station to which large canoes,
+hollowed from the mighty oaks of Hatfield Chase, have brought from the
+Humber the highly-prized beads and amulets, perhaps the precious bronze
+which is to replace the arrow, spear, and axe of stone.
+
+"Both north and south of the Humber very different scenes appear on the
+high and open Wold: within the memory of man, many parts of these wild
+regions were untouched by plough, traversed by bustard, and covered with
+innumerable flocks. The more we reflect on the remains which crowd this
+region--the numerous tracks, the countless tumuli, the frequent
+dykes--the clearer grows the resemblance between the Yorkshire Wolds
+and the Downs of Wilts and Dorset. On opening the tumuli we discover
+similar ornaments, and from whatever cause, consanguinity of race, or
+analogy of employments and way of life, the earliest people must be
+allowed to have been very much the same along the dry chalk hills from
+the vicinity of Bridlington to the country of Dorchester. This is the
+region of the tumuli: on its surface are not unfrequent foundations of
+the British huts."
+
+The main population did not reside on these hills, since they are for
+miles naturally dry. But, from below their edge rise innumerable bright
+streams, by which, "no doubt, were the settled habitations, the Cyttian
+of the early Britons, followed by the Saxon _tun_ and the Danish _by_;
+on the hills above were long boundary fences, and within these the raths
+and tumuli, the monumental stones and idols. In situations where nature
+gave peculiar advantages, one of the grand manufactures of the tribes
+was established. The fabrication of pottery, from the Kimmeridge clay
+about Malton, was undoubtedly very extensive in British days, and
+characteristic both as to substance and fashion; that of bricks and
+tiles at York was equally considerable in Roman days, and it is curious
+to walk now into the large brick-yards and potteries which are
+successfully conducted at these same places, on the very sites which
+furnished the funeral urn, and the perforated tube which distributed air
+from the hypocaust."
+
+We may acquire some idea of Roman road-making from the following
+details:--"From the wall of Antoninus to Rome, and from thence to
+Jerusalem, that is, from the north-west to the south-east point of the
+empire, was measured a distance of 3,740 English miles; of this
+distance 85 miles only were sea-passages, the rest was the _road of
+polished silex_. Posts were established along these lines of high road,
+so that 100 miles a day might be with ease accomplished. A fact related
+by Pliny affords an example of the quickest travelling in a carriage in
+ancient times. Tiberius Nero, with three carriages, accomplished a
+journey of 200 miles in twenty-four hours, when he went to see his
+brother Drusus, who was sick in Germany." (_Burgess._)
+
+The towns, and forts, and roads are, however, very far from being the
+only traces of Roman occupation that remain in our country. Camps,
+occupying well-chosen positions, occur in numbers, which testify the
+difficulty with which the subjugation of the island was accomplished;
+while the remains of stately buildings, with ornamented baths, mosaic
+pavements, fresco paintings and statuary, and articles of personal
+ornament, which are discovered almost every time that the earth is
+uncovered to any considerable depth, prove the eventual wide diffusion
+of the elegant and luxurious mode of life which it was the aim of the
+conquerors to introduce. Roman glass and pottery, in great variety, and
+frequently of the most elegant shape, abound; but the most valuable are
+the sepulchral urns, which betoken the neighbourhood of towns, of which
+perhaps no other traces now remain.
+
+At Aldborough, in Yorkshire (the Roman Isurium), and in some of the
+small towns on the line of Hadrian's wall, in Northumberland, masses of
+the small houses have been uncovered, and their appearance leads us to
+believe that the houses of a Roman town in Britain were grouped thickly
+together; that they were mostly separated by narrow alleys, and that
+there were in general few streets of any magnitude; most ancient towns,
+even in the present day, abound with alleys.
+
+It is maintained by some antiquaries that London is almost of Roman
+origin. In the "Conquest of Britain," by Claudius, A.D. 44, "the first
+care of the Romans was, to make good military communication across the
+north of Essex, and the tenure of London was then a matter of minor
+importance. It is remarkable that, though the bridge over the Thames is
+mentioned, there is no allusion to a city. It is not improbable that the
+Romans, perceiving the advantage of the position at the head of the
+estuary and at the mouth of a large river, and having the power (after
+the occupation of both banks of the Thames) of giving it better military
+protection than the native tribes, continually in conflict, could ever
+give it, promoted the commercial growth of the city by all means in
+their power. Thus it would seem that London, almost from its origin, is
+a Roman city."
+
+In the revolt of the Britons, A.D. 61, Londinium (London), already,
+according to Tacitus, "famed for the vast conflux of traders, and her
+abundant commerce and plenty," was destroyed by the Britons.
+
+London has hitherto yielded up many traces of the manners and
+indications of our Roman ancestors, but few of our earliest antiquities.
+Our Roman London has been buried beneath the foundations of the modern
+city, or rather beneath the ruins of a city several times destroyed, and
+as often rebuilt. It is only at rare intervals that excavators strike
+down upon the venerable remains of the earliest occupation; and huge
+masses of genuine Roman fortifications have been seen in our day, but by
+few persons in comparison with the busy multitudes which daily throng
+our streets.
+
+When the Roman legions were finally withdrawn, Britain possessed more
+than fifty walled towns, united by roads with stations upon them; there
+were also numerous military walled stations. These towns and stations
+possessed public buildings, baths, and temples, and edifices of
+considerable grandeur and architectural importance, and their public
+places were often embellished with statues: one bronze equestrian
+statue, at least, decorated Lincoln; a bronze statue stood in a temple
+at Bath; one of the temples at Colchester bore an inscription in large
+letters of bronze; and Verulam possessed a theatre for dramatic
+representations, capable of holding some 2,000 or 3,000 spectators.
+Verulam now presents nothing to the eye but some fields, a church, and a
+dwelling-house, surrounded by walls overgrown with trees. Colchester,
+Lincoln, and Bath exhibit few indications of their Roman times; but
+Chester is richer in these characteristics. The spacious villas which
+once spread over Roman Britain, are now known to us as from time to time
+their splendid pavements are laid open under corn-fields and meadows. In
+a nook of the busy Strand is a Roman bath, of accredited antiquity, its
+bricks and stucco corresponding with those in the City wall: this bath
+can be traced to have belonged to the villa of a Leicestershire family,
+which stood upon this spot,--the north bank of the Thames.
+
+In the year 1864, there was discovered on the site of the portico of the
+East India-house, in Leadenhall-street, the remains of a Roman room, _in
+situ_ 19 ft. 6 in. below the present surface of the street, and 6 ft.
+below the lowest foundations of the India-house. The room was about 16
+ft. square; the walls built of Roman bricks and rubble; the floor paved
+with good red tesseræ, but without any ornamental pattern; the walls
+plastered and coloured in fresco of an agreeable tint, and decorated
+with red lines and bands. This was a small room, attached to the
+_atrium_ of a large house, of which near the same spot a large and
+highly ornamented pavement was found in 1804; the central portion of
+this pavement is now preserved in the Indian Museum at Whitehall. This
+was the most magnificent Roman tesselated pavement yet found in London.
+It lay at only 9-1/2 ft. below the street, and appeared to have been the
+floor of a room 20 ft. square. In the centre was a Bacchus upon a tiger,
+encircled with three borders (inflections of serpents, cornucopiæ, and
+squares diagonally concave), and drinking-cups and plants at the angles.
+Surrounding the whole was a square border of a bandeau of oak, and
+lozenge figures, and true lovers' knots, and a 5 ft. outer margin of
+plain red tiles.
+
+Mr. Roach Smith has shown, in his admirable _Illustrations of Roman
+London_ (the originals now in the British Museum), that the area and
+dimensions of the Roman city may be mapped out from the masses of
+masonry forming portions of its boundaries, many of which have come to
+light in the progress of recent City improvements. The course of the
+Roman Wall is ascertainable from the position of the gates (taken down
+in 1760-62), from authenticated discoveries and from remains yet extant.
+Recent excavations have also proved that within the area thus inclosed,
+most of the streets of the present day run upon the remains of Roman
+houses; and it is confidently believed that the Romans had here a bridge
+across the Thames, probably a wooden roadway upon stone piers, like
+those of Hadrian at Newcastle, and of Trajan across the Danube. It seems
+to be ascertained that there was a suburb also on the southern side of
+the Thames (Southwark), not inclosed in walls; and that the houses
+constructed upon this swampy spot were built upon wooden piles, of which
+some remains are still in existence.
+
+The Roman inscriptions and sculptures which have been discovered in
+London are very numerous. Sir Christopher Wren brought to light a
+monument to a soldier of the Second Legion, now among the Arundelian
+Marbles at Oxford. At Ludgate, behind the London Coffee-house, a
+monumental inscription, a female head in stone (life-size), and the
+trunk and thighs of a statue of Hercules, were dug up in 1806. In 1842
+was found at Battle Bridge a Roman inscription, attesting the great
+battle between the Britons under Boadicea and the Romans under Suetonius
+Paulinus, to have been fought on this spot. Stamped tiles have been
+found in various parts of the city. A group of the _Deæ Matres_ was
+discovered in excavating a sewer in Hart-street, Crutched-friars, at a
+considerable depth, amongst the ruins of Roman buildings, and is now in
+the Guildhall Library. A fine sarcophagus was dug up in Haydon-square,
+Tower Hill; a statue of a youth in Bevis Marks; and an altar, apparently
+to Diana, was found under Goldsmiths' Hall. Fragments of wall-paintings
+have been carried away by cart-loads. Bronzes of a very high class of
+art have been found: a head of Hadrian, of superior workmanship, has
+been dredged up from the bed of the Thames; a colossal bronze head found
+in Thames-street; an exquisite bronze Apollo, in the Thames, in 1837; a
+Mercury, worthy to be its companion; the Priest of Cybele; and the
+Jupiter of the same date, are most important figures, and the first two
+worthy of any metropolis in any age. A bronze figure of Atys was also
+found at Barnes among gravel taken from the spot where the preceding
+bronzes were discovered. A bronze figure of an archer, also a beautiful
+work of art, was discovered in Queen-street, in 1842. An extraordinary
+bronze forceps, adorned with representations of the chief deities of
+Olympus, was also found in the Thames, whence again, in 1825, came the
+small silver Harpocrates, now in the British Museum.
+
+Nowhere has the pottery of antiquity been so abundantly discovered as at
+London. Roman kilns were brought to light in digging the foundations of
+St. Paul's, in 1677; specimens of the Castor pottery have been found
+here; Samian ware is abundant, as have been potters' stamps which
+present 300 varieties, fragments of clay statuettes, terra-cotta lamps,
+tiles, and glass; and among the Roman glass discovered in London are
+several fragments of a flat and semi-transparent kind, which have every
+appearance of having been used as window-glass. And still more curious
+it is to find that specimens of a glass manufacture termed
+pillar-moulding, and for which Mr. James Green took out a patent, have
+also turned up among the _débris_ of the Roman city. Mr. Green's patent
+had been worked for some years under the full belief that it was a
+modern invention, until Mr. Apsley Pellatt recognised in the fragments
+evidence of the antiquity of the supposed discovery.[10] Among the
+personal ornaments and implements of the toilet are the gold armillæ dug
+up in Cheapside in 1837; the tweezers, nail-cleaners, mirrors, and
+strigils of the city dames of Londinium; the worn-out sandals thrown
+upon the dust-heaps; the sporls, spindles, fishhooks, bucket-handles,
+bells, balances, cocks, millstones, mortars, and other utensils which
+show the resources of an opulent city in the enjoyment of ancient
+luxury, and of the choicest appliances of ancient civilization. Of
+Roman coins found in London, in the bed of the Thames, Mr. Roach Smith
+enumerates 2,000; from gravel dredged from the Thames, 600 were picked
+out; a hoard of denarii of the Higher Empire was found in the city; and
+vast quantities were found in removing the piers of old London Bridge.
+In excavating for the foundations of the new Royal Exchange, in 1841,
+was discovered a gravel pit, supposed by Mr. Tite, the architect, to
+have been dug during the earliest Roman occupation of London; and then
+to have been a pond, gradually filled with rubbish. In it were found
+Roman work, stuccoed and painted; fragments of elegant Samian ware; an
+amphora, and terra-cotta lamps, seventeen feet below the surface; also
+pine-wood table-books and metal styles, sandals and soldiers' shoes, a
+Roman strigil, coins of Vespasian, Domitian, &c.; and almost the very
+footmarks of the Roman soldier.
+
+More recently, the investigation of the ruins of the Roman city of
+Uriconium, at Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury, has presented us with a scene
+for our special wonder. The earliest antiquarian report of this
+interesting spot will be found in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for
+the year 1701, where Lyster has described a Roman sudatory, or
+hypocaustum, discovered in Wroxeter in that year. It is strange that so
+important a locality should have remained unexplored during a century
+and a half of archæological research. The present is the first instance
+in which there has been in this country the chance of penetrating into a
+city of more than fourteen centuries ago, on so large a scale, and with
+such extensive remains of its former condition; where the visitor may
+walk over the floors which had been trodden last, before they were thus
+uncovered, by the Roman inhabitants of this island.
+
+Giants are frequently associated with ruins and ancient relics in the
+legends of Shropshire.[11] In the history of the Fitzwarines we are
+given to understand that the ruined Roman city of Uriconium, which we
+are now exploring at Wroxeter, had been taken possession of by the
+giants. The city is mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy to have been
+standing here as early as the beginning of the second century, when it
+was called Viroconium, a name which appears to have been changed in the
+later Romano-British period to Uriconium. The line of the ancient
+town-wall forms an irregular oval more than three miles in
+circumference, on the Watling-street road, which occupies the line of
+one of the principal streets of the old city. The only portion of the
+buildings above ground is upwards of twenty feet high, seventy-two feet
+long, and three feet thick, and is a solid mass presenting those
+unmistakeable characteristics of Roman work--the long string courses of
+large flat red bricks. This "Old Wall" stands nearly in the centre of
+the ancient city, which occupied the highest ground within the walls--a
+commanding position, with the bold isolated form of the Wrekin in the
+rear, and in front a panorama of mountains formed by the Wenlock and
+Stretton Hills, Caer Caradoc, the Longwynd, the Breidden, and the still
+more distant mountains of Wales. With the exception of this wall, all
+the remains of the Roman city had long been buried beneath the soil,
+when, in February 1859, the excavation of the remains was commenced by
+public subscription. In one of the plundering invasions by the Picts and
+Scots, Uriconium is thought to have perished, towards the middle of the
+fifth century, by fire, and such of the inhabitants as were not
+massacred were dragged away into captivity. Thus the town was left an
+extensive mass of blackened walls; and such was the condition in which
+the ruined Roman towns remained during several centuries. The ruins
+would in time be overgrown with plants and trees, and would become the
+haunt of wild beasts, which were then abundant. Thus Uriconium stood
+ruined and deserted from the middle of the fifth century to the middle
+of the twelfth; the level of the ground was raised by decaying floors
+and roofs, and vegetation; for at this time England was covered with the
+_débris_ of Roman ruined towns and villages standing above ground. Such
+ruins were frequently pillaged for building materials; and Uriconium was
+probably one of the great quarries from which the builders of Haughmond
+Abbey, and other monastic houses in this part of the country, were
+supplied.
+
+The ruins were explored for treasure, and the damaged state of the
+floors of the Roman houses is attributed to this cause. In the
+excavations at Wroxeter, we see the floor sometimes perfect, and
+sometimes broken up; the walls of the remaining houses, to the height of
+two or three feet, as they were left by the mediæval builders, when they
+carried away the upper part of the walls for materials; the original
+level of the Roman town on which its inhabitants trod, strewed with
+roof-tiles and slates and other material which had fallen in during the
+conflagration under which the town sank; and the upper part of the soil
+mixed up with fragments of plaster and cement, bricks and mortar, which
+had been scattered about when the walls were broken up.
+
+In the early excavations at Uriconium, the bottom of the Old Wall was
+found at fourteen feet deep; it must have been a public building;
+portions of the capitals, bases, and shafts of columns were found
+scattered about, and among other objects were a fragment of strong iron
+chain, the head of an axe, and pavements of fine mosaic; the building is
+concluded to have formed the corner of two principal streets of the
+Roman city. A hypocaust, of great size, was found, with a quantity of
+unburnt coal; and from the end wall of this hypocaust we learn the
+interesting fact, that the Roman houses were plastered and painted
+externally as well as internally; the exterior wall was painted red,
+with stripes of yellow. A sort of dust-bin was found filled with coins,
+hair-pins, fibulæ, broken pottery and glass, bones of birds and animals
+which had been eaten. In another hypocaust were the remains of three
+persons who had crept in there for concealment; near one lay a little
+heap of Roman coins, 132 in number, and a decomposed box or coffer.
+This, Mr. Wright believes, "is the first instance which has occurred in
+this country, in which we have had the opportunity of ascertaining what
+particular coins, as being then in daily circulation, an inhabitant of a
+Roman town in Britain, at the moment of the Roman dominion, carried
+about with him. The majority of these coins point to the very latest
+period previous to the establishment of the Anglo-Saxons as the date at
+which Uriconium must have been destroyed."
+
+Three fine wide streets, paved with small round stones in the roadway,
+have been found in Uriconium. The Roman houses in Britain had no upper
+stories, and all the rooms were on the ground-floor; no traces of a
+staircase have ever been found; the roofing in Uriconium was slates or
+flags, fixed with an iron nail to the wooden framework; they lapped over
+each other, in lozenges or diamonds; some of the walls were tesselated
+in ornamental patterns; few doorways were discovered; window-glass was
+found one-eighth of an inch thick, though until recently it was thought
+that the Romans, especially in this distant province, did not use
+window-glass. The rooms were sometimes heated by hot air circulated in
+the walls, from hypocausts, and flue-tiles with holes in the sides for
+the escape of the air; though the hot air merely under the floor was
+more used, the ashes, wood and coal, and the soot of the fires were
+found in the hypocausts at Uriconium just as they were left when the
+city was overthrown and ruined by the barbarians. A large hypocaust is
+described with 120 columns of bricks, and is thought to have belonged to
+the public baths. A wide space is pointed out as the forum of Uriconium,
+and the basilica here holds exactly the same place as at Pompeii.
+
+We have thus glanced at the houses of Uriconium; we now turn to their
+domestic articles. First is the pottery, of which the most striking is
+the ware of the colour of bright red sealing-wax, commonly known as
+Samian ware; several of the pieces found at Wroxeter have been mended,
+chiefly by metal rivets. There were also found specimens of the Upchurch
+ware, of simple ornamentation; and of the pottery from Castor,
+ornamented with hunting-scenes laid on a white substance after the
+pottery had been baked: the colour of both wares is blue, or
+slate-colour. Two classes of Roman pottery, both evidently made in
+Shropshire, were also found: the first, a white ware, consisted of
+elegantly formed jugs, mortaria or vessels for rubbing or pounding
+objects in cookery; and bowls painted red and yellow. The other
+Romano-Salopian pottery is a red ware, and included bowls pierced all
+over with small holes so as to have served for colanders. Fragments of
+glass vessels were found, with a ladle, several knives, a stone
+knife-handle, and several whetstones. Hair-pins of bone, bronze, and
+wood were found, with bronze fibulæ, buttons, finger-rings, bracelets,
+combs, bone needles, and bronze tweezers for eradicating superfluous
+hairs. The most curious of the miscellaneous objects is a medicine-stamp
+for salves or washes for the eyes, inscribed with, probably, the name of
+a physician resident in Uriconium. The stones with Roman inscriptions,
+chiefly sepulchral, are numerous. The church, a Norman edifice, at
+Wroxeter contains amongst other architectural and sepulchral fragments
+two capitals, richly ornamented, of the late period of Roman
+architecture which became the model of the mediæval Byzantine and
+Romanesque; also, a Roman _miliarium_, or mile-stone. The general result
+of these discoveries, is that they show the manner in which this country
+was inhabited and governed during nearly four centuries; we also learn,
+from the condition of the ruins of Uriconium, and especially from the
+remains of human beings which are found scattered over its long-deserted
+floors, the sad fate under which it finally sank into ruins; and thus we
+are made vividly acquainted with the character and events of a period of
+history which has hitherto been but dimly seen through vague
+tradition.[12]
+
+Many of our Roman cities have become entirely wasted and desolate.
+Silchester is one of these, where corn-fields and pasture cover the spot
+once adorned with public and private buildings, all of which are now
+totally destroyed. Like the busy crowds who inhabited them, the
+edifices have sunk beneath the fresh and silent greensward: but the
+flinty wall which surrounded the city is yet firm, and the direction of
+the streets may be discerned by the difference of tint in the herbage;
+and the ploughshare turns up the medals of the Cæsars, so long dead and
+forgotten, who were once masters of the world.[13]
+
+Silchester, thirty-eight acres in extent, is now being excavated, at the
+cost of the Duke of Wellington. Unlike other Roman sites, Silchester has
+never been built upon by Britons or Saxons; many beautiful mosaics have
+been found here, as well as more than 1,000 coins; and in July, 1866, a
+portion of a wall, hitherto undetected, was brought to light; and here
+have been found shells of the white snail, which was most extensively
+imported as food for the Roman soldiers.
+
+We now approach the close of the Roman Era, when, in the words of the
+_Saxon Chronicle_, A.D. 418, the conquerors "collected all the treasures
+that were in Britain, and some they hid in the earth, so that no one has
+since been able to find them; and some they carried with them into
+Gaul." With this passage the authentic history of Britain ceases for a
+period of nearly sixty years. The Roman power being finally withdrawn, a
+state of society prevailed in the island, much the same as had existed
+at the coming of Cæsar. The British cities formed themselves into a
+varying number of independent states, usually at war among themselves,
+but occasionally united by some common danger into a confederacy under
+an elective chieftain. Such was Vortigern, who bears the reproach of
+calling in the aid of the Saxons against both his foreign and domestic
+foes. Recent researches have rendered it probable that the well-known
+names of Hengist and Horsa, ascribed to their leaders, are not proper
+names, but rather titles of honour, signifying war-horse and mare,
+bestowed on many daring leaders of bands. Meanwhile, the mighty empire
+of Rome, of which Britain had so long formed a part, was falling into
+utter ruin. The Britons made several applications to the Romans for aid:
+one, couched in the most abject terms, is known in history as "The
+Groans of the Britons;" but the succour they received had no permanent
+effect on the contest.
+
+In a retrospect of the Roman Era, the conquest of Cæsar is commonly
+referred to as the starting point in our social progress; and it has
+been thus felicitously illustrated by a leading writer of our
+time:--"If," he says, "we compare the present situation of the people of
+England with that of their predecessors at the time of Cæsar's invasion;
+if we contrast the warm and dry cottage of the present labourer, its
+chimney and glass windows (luxuries not enjoyed by Cæsar himself), the
+linen and woollen clothing of himself and his family, the steel and
+glass and earthenware with which his table is furnished, the Asiatic and
+American ingredients of his food, and, above all, his safety from
+personal injury, and his calm security that to-morrow will bring with it
+the comforts that have been enjoyed to-day; if we contrast all these
+sources of enjoyment with the dark and smoky burrows of the Brigantes or
+the Cantii, their clothing of skins, the food confined to milk and
+flesh, and their constant exposure to famine and to violence, we shall
+be inclined to think those who are lowest in modern society richer than
+the chiefs of their rude predecessors. And if we consider that the same
+space of ground which afforded an uncertain subsistence to a hundred, or
+probably fewer, savages, now supports with ease more than a thousand
+labourers, and, perhaps, a hundred individuals beside, each consuming
+more commodities than the labour of a whole tribe of ancient Britons
+could have produced or purchased, we may at first be led to doubt
+whether our ancestors enjoyed the same natural advantages as ourselves;
+whether their sun was as warm, their soil as fertile, or their bodies as
+strong, as our own.
+
+"But let us substitute distance of space for distance of time; and,
+instead of comparing situations of the same country at different
+periods, compare different countries at the same period, and we shall
+find a still more striking discrepancy. The inhabitant of South America
+enjoys a soil and a climate, not superior merely to our own, but
+combining all the advantages of every climate and soil possessed by the
+remainder of the world. His valleys have all the exuberance of the
+tropics, and his mountain-plains unite the temperature of Europe to a
+fertility of which Europe offers no example. Nature collects for him,
+within the space of a morning's walk, the fruits and vegetables which
+she has elsewhere separated by thousands of miles. She has given him
+inexhaustible forests, has covered his plains with wild cattle and
+horses, filled his mountains with mineral treasures, and intersected all
+the eastern face of his country with rivers, to which our Rhine and
+Danube are merely brooks. But the possessor of these riches is poor and
+miserable. With all the materials of clothing offered to him almost
+spontaneously, he is ill-clad; with the most productive of soils, he is
+ill-fed; though we are told that the labour of a week will there
+procure subsistence for a year, famines are of frequent occurrence; the
+hut of the Indian, and the residence of the landed proprietor, are alike
+destitute of furniture and convenience; and South America, helpless and
+indigent with all her natural advantages, seems to rely for support and
+improvement on a very small portion of the surplus wealth of
+England."[14]
+
+At length, the connexion between Britain and Rome was entirely severed.
+The Saxons joined the Picts and the Scots in their great invasion, and
+continuing their predatory warfare reduced the country to the greatest
+misery. Any degree of union amongst the Britons might have enabled them
+to repel their enemies; the walls of the principal cities, fortified by
+the Romans, were yet strong and firm. The tactics of the legions were
+not forgotten. Bright armour was piled in the storehouses, and the
+serried line of spears might have been presented to the half-naked Scots
+and Picts, who could never have prevailed against their opponents. But
+the Britons had no inclination to use the sword, except against each
+other.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] _Observations._ By Henry Long, Esq.
+
+[8] The Rev. R. Burgess, B.D.
+
+[9] _On some of the Relations of Archæology to Physical Geography in the
+North of England._ 1853.
+
+[10] See _Curiosities of Glass-making_.
+
+[11] It may, however, be new to some of our readers to be informed that
+Owen Glendower's Oak, whence that Welsh chieftain is said to have
+witnessed the discomfiture of his English allies at the Battle of
+Shrewsbury in 1403, still stands at Shelton, in a garden on the right of
+the road from Shrewsbury to Oswestry, where the Welsh army lay.
+
+[12] See the _Guide to the Ruins of Uriconium_ (Third Edition, 1860), by
+Thomas Wright, Esq. M. A., F.S.A., the accomplished archæologist, who,
+by his unwearied exertions, has so efficiently contributed to the
+exploration of these remains.
+
+[13] Palgrave's _Hist. of England_, Anglo-Saxon Period. 1834.
+
+[14] Senior's _Lectures on Political Economy_.
+
+
+
+
+DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE SAXONS.
+
+
+The infant state of our Saxon ancestors when the Romans first observed
+them, exhibited nothing from which human sagacity could have predicted
+greatness. A territory on the neck of the Cimbric Chersonesus, and three
+small islands, contained those whose descendants occupy the circle of
+Westphalia, the Electorate of Saxony, the British Islands, the United
+States of North America, and the British Colonies in the two Indies.
+Such is the course of Providence, that empires, the most extended and
+the most formidable, are found to vanish as the morning mist; while
+tribes, scarcely visible, or contemptuously overlooked, like the springs
+of a mighty river, often glide on gradually to greatness and veneration.
+
+Our inquiry, however, must be confined to the arts of these people.
+Concerning their architecture, it is supposed that the most ancient
+buildings were of wood; since the Saxon verb _Getymbrian_, to build,
+signifies literally to make of timber. The early English churches were
+built of logs of wood; and the erection of buildings of reeds and trunks
+of trees seems to have existed in some parts of England to a late
+period; since, in 940, Hoel Dha, King of North Wales, erected his White
+House, where his famous laws were made, of twisted branches, with the
+bark stripped and left white, whence it derived its name. Even in the
+days of Henry I. also, Pembroke Castle was built of twigs and turf.
+Bricks were made in England by the Saxons; but they were thin, and were
+called wall-tiles. It has been supposed that the Saxons and Normans
+adopted the masonry which the Romans introduced into England, altering
+it as architecture improved. The principal peculiarities of the Saxon
+style are the want of uniformity in all its parts, massive columns,
+semicircular arches, and diagonal mouldings. The first two are common to
+the barbaric architecture of Europe; the round arches are believed to
+have been taken from the Romans; and the zig-zag mouldings have been
+thought to allude to the stringing of the teeth of fishes. According to
+the best authorities, there are very few specimens of architecture now
+in existence in this country which can properly be called Saxon,--that
+is, of date anterior to the Conquest, and not of Roman origin; and these
+few are of the rudest and most inferior description. Saxon, therefore,
+as far as the architecture of this country is concerned, is an improper
+term.[15]
+
+[Illustration: SAXON HOUSE.]
+
+The ordinary Saxon homes were of clay, held together by wooden frames;
+bricks being uncommon, and only used as ornaments: the houses were
+generally low and mean, or as we should call them, cottages. In a Saxon
+house of larger proportions, the upper rooms only are lighted by
+windows; there is no appearance of chimneys; the doorway is in one of
+the gables, and reaches more than half-way to the top of the house; and
+above it are some small square windows, which indicate an upper room or
+rooms. On one side is a low shed, or wing, apparently constructed with
+square stones, or large bricks, covered, like the house, with
+semicircular tiles, probably shingles, such as we to this day see on
+church-spires.
+
+From the Mead-hall and the other Saxon houses of the period, we also get
+the type of the modern English mansion, with its _enceinte_ and its
+lodge-gate, as distinguished from its hall-door. The early Saxon house
+was the whole inclosure, at the gate of which beggars assembled, for
+alms, and the porter received the alms of strangers. The whole mass
+inclosed within this wall constituted the burgh, or tun; and the hall,
+with its _duru_, or door, was the chief of its edifices. Around it were
+grouped the sleeping-chambers, or _bowers_, as they were designated till
+a late age, with the subordinate offices. Mr. Wright (in his able work
+on the _Domestic Life of the Middle Ages_) draws many of his inferences
+from the description of the Mead-hall, or _beer-hall_, of Hrothgar, and
+adds that he believes Bulwer's description of the Saxonized Roman house
+inhabited by Hilda, in _The Last of the Barons_, is substantially
+correct.
+
+We learn from the romance of Beowulf, that "there was for the sons of
+the Geats (Beowulf and his followers altogether), a bench cleared in the
+beer-hall; there the bold spirit, free from quarrel, went to sit; the
+thane observed his office, he that in his hand bare the twisted ale-cup;
+he poured the bright sweet liquor; meanwhile the poet sang serene in
+Heorot (the name of Hrothgar's palace); there was joy of heroes."
+Although our conceptions of this scene are faint and vague, the
+antiquary is enabled to represent certain items as "the twisted
+ale-cup," a favourite fashion of our forefathers, many of whose
+ale-cups, as discovered in their barrows or graves, are incapable of
+standing upright, implying that their proprietors were thirsty souls.
+
+The lamps of the Romans were certainly used by the Saxons, and were
+indispensable in the winter-time. Their beds were simply sacks filled
+out of the chest with fresh straw, and laid on benches as they were
+wanted; though the pictures indicate that there were some bedsteads of a
+more elaborate construction, and that others were placed in recesses and
+protected by curtains. These bed-rooms were public enough, for they were
+sitting-rooms as well, and we find Dunstan walking to the king's bedside
+"as he lay in his bed with the queen," and rating him as freely as if he
+had audience by appointment. The Saxon ladies were very opt to scourge
+their domestic servants for very slight offences, and the punishment of
+servile and other transgressors was in other respects barbarous. They
+were given much to bathing in the baths which the Romans had left them,
+and it may be that this resource had some influence in determining the
+national bias towards personal cleanliness, which is such a
+distinguishing characteristic of the English among northern nations. We
+may add that the Saxon knew how to build a gallows, how to bait a bear,
+drive a chariot, fly a hawk, cultivate roses and lilies, and that he
+certainly knew the use of an umbrella.
+
+A convivial custom which originated in this rude age is too interesting
+to be omitted here. It is said by some writers that Vortigern married
+Rowena, the daughter of Hengist. She was very beautiful; and when
+introduced by her father at the royal banquet of the British king, she
+advanced gracefully and modestly towards him, bearing in her hand a
+golden goblet filled with wine. Young people, even of the highest rank,
+were accustomed to wait upon their elders, and those unto whom they
+wished to show respect; therefore, the appearance of Rowena as the
+cup-bearer of the feast was neither unbecoming nor unseemly. And when
+the lady came near unto Vortigern, she said in her own Saxon
+language--"_Wæs heal plaford Conung_;" which means, "Health to my Lord
+the King." Vortigern did not understand the salutation of Rowena, but
+the words were explained to him by an interpreter. "_Drinc heal_," "Drink
+thou health," was the accustomed answer, and the memory of the event was
+preserved in merry old England by the _wassail cup_--a vessel full of
+spiced wine or good ale, which was handed round from guest to guest, at
+the banquet and the festival. Well, therefore, might Rowena be
+recollected on high tides and holidays for the introduction of this
+concomitant of good cheer.
+
+This story has, however, a pendant. At our great city feasts, to this
+day--especially at the Mansion House of the Lord Mayor--the Wassail or
+Loving Cup is passed round the table immediately after dinner, the Lord
+Mayor having drunk to his visitors a hearty welcome. The more formal
+practice is for the person who pledges with the loving cup to stand up
+and bow to his neighbour, who, also standing, removes the cover of the
+cup with his right hand, and holds it while the other drinks; a custom
+said to have originated in the precaution to keep the right, or dagger
+hand employed, that the person who drinks may be assured of no
+treachery, like that practised by Elfrida on the unsuspecting King
+Edward the Martyr at Corfe Castle, who was slain while drinking: this
+was why the cup possessed a cover.
+
+The usages of domestic life, especially at dinner, are copiously
+illustrated in ancient manuscript illuminations. Mr. Wright quotes the
+_Boke of Kervyng_, which enjoins the carver to handle the meats with his
+thumb and two fingers only,--for the Middle Ages, with all their
+artistic ingenuity, had not attained to the invention of a fork. In none
+of the pictures have the guests any plates; they seem to have eaten with
+their hands and thrown the refuse on the table. We know also that they
+often threw the fragments on the floor, where they were eaten up by cats
+and dogs, which were admitted into the hall without restriction.[16] In
+the _Boke of Curtesye_ it is blamed as a mark of bad breeding to play
+with the cats and dogs while seated at table. The drinking vessels of
+this period display fine workmanship and ingenious devices. The
+Anglo-Saxons were unquestionably huge drinkers, and ornamented their
+drinking vessels with all the skill in working the precious metals for
+which they were so famous. But the primitive drinking-cup was the simple
+horn of the bullock, which was retained as an appendage of the
+Anglo-Saxon dinner-table until after the Conquest. There were also other
+drinking vessels, suggested by that ornamentation with which the
+Anglo-Saxon artificers had enriched the simple cup of the Danes. Peg
+Tankards are of the Saxon period: one is to be seen in the Ashmolean
+Museum; but a finer specimen, of undoubted Anglo-Saxon work, formerly
+belonging to the Abbey of Glastonbury, is now in the possession of Lord
+Arundel, of Wardour: it holds two quarts, and formerly had eight pegs
+inside, dividing the liquor into half-pints. On the lid is carved the
+crucifixion, with the Virgin and John, one on each side; and round the
+cup are carved the twelve apostles.
+
+Drinking-horns are represented on the Bayeux tapestry, and in the
+magnificent collection of antiquities in the British Museum there is a
+capacious specimen of one formed of the small tusk of an elephant,
+carved with rude figures of that animal, unicorns, lions, and
+crocodiles. It is mounted with silver; a small tube, ending in a silver
+cup, issues from the jaws of a pike, whose head and shoulders inclose
+the mouth of the vessel, on which the following legend is engraved:--
+
+  Drink you this and think no scorne
+  All though the cup be much like horn.
+
+The horn was not long before it had rivals: the commonest of these was
+the Mazer-bowl, a utensil which, with its cover on, resembled two
+saucers placed together rim to rim, with a topknot on the upper one. It
+was usually made of maple wood, from which it is supposed to have
+derived its name--_maeser_ being Dutch for maple. Of this shape was the
+early and famous wassail-bowl. When these bowls, which in process of
+time were made of costlier materials than maple, were large, they were
+lifted to the mouth with both hands; when small, in the palm of one
+hand. Our ancestors were much attached to their mazers, and incurred
+considerable expense in embellishing them, in embossing legends
+admonitory of peace and good fellowship on the metal rim or on the
+cover, or in engraving on the bottom a cross or the image of a saint.
+Spenser, in _The Shepherds Calendar_, thus describes a vessel of this
+kind:--
+
+  "A mazer ywrought of the maple warre,
+  Wherein is enchased many a fayre sight
+  Of bears and tygers, that maken fiers warre;
+  And over them spred a goodly wilde vine,
+  Entrailed with a wanton yvy twine.
+
+  "Tell me, such a cup hast thou ever seene?
+  Well moughte it beseeme any harvest queene."
+
+The Mazer continued in use to the seventeenth century, when it was still
+a favourite with the humbler classes. But on the tables of the rich it
+gave place to new vessels. There was the Hanap, a cup raised on a stem,
+with or without a cover. Besides the Hanap, a sort of mug or cup, called
+the Godet, had also come into vogue; then there were the Juste, used in
+monasteries to measure a prescribed allowance of wine; the Barrel, the
+Tankard, the "standing-nut," or mounted shell of the cocoa-nut; and the
+Grype, or Griffin's Egg, probably the egg of the ostrich. These vessels,
+except of course the nut and the egg, were ordinarily of silver, and
+sometimes of ivory, but rarely of gold; and still more rarely of glass,
+which did not obtain for drinking cups until the close of the fifteenth
+century. They were for the most part embossed or enamelled with the
+armorial bearings of their owners, parcel-gilt--_i.e._ where part of the
+work is gilt and part left plain; set with jewels and elaborately
+designed with dances of men and women, with dogs, hearts, roses, and
+trefoils.
+
+One of the most esteemed Saxon trades was the smith, including workers
+in gold, silver, iron, and copper. The English were very expert in these
+arts; and in the laws of Wales the smith ranked next to the chaplain in
+the Prince's court. The Saxons produced some very highly-finished
+specimens of jewellery, goldsmith's work, and even of enamelling. A very
+beautiful specimen of gold enamelled work is preserved in the Ashmolean
+collection at Oxford: it is commonly known as _Alfred's Jewel_, as it
+bears his name, and was found in 1693, in the immediate neighbourhood of
+his retreat. It is filagree work, inclosing a piece of rock crystal,
+under which appears a figure in enamel, which has not been
+satisfactorily explained. The ground is of a rich blue, the face and
+arms of the figure white, the dress principally green, the lower portion
+partly of a reddish-brown. The inscription is "Aelfred mee heht
+gevrean," (Alfred ordered me to be made,) thus affording the most
+authentic testimony of its origin. Curious reliquaries, finely carved
+and set with precious stones, were, for excellence, called "the English
+work" throughout Europe. The representations of the crowns of the Saxon
+kings, commencing with Offa, present us with specimens of the
+ornamentation of the period. The ring was also a most important
+ornament. It was used not only for display, but also as a charm, or
+protection against natural or supernatural evil. The gems with which the
+ring was set, were believed to possess, severally, special qualities,
+and symbolical meanings. The sapphire indicated purity--the diamond,
+faith--the ruby, zeal--the amethyst was good against drunkenness--the
+sapphire was a protection against witchcraft, and the toad-stone against
+sickness. The accredited properties of decade rings, pontifical rings,
+alchemy rings, posie rings, and gimel rings are illustrated in various
+anecdotes and legends. In the medal-room of the British Museum is a gold
+ring, bearing the name of Ethelwulf, upon blue and black enamel: it was
+found in a cart-rut, at Laverstock in Hampshire; its weight is 11 dwts.
+14 grains.
+
+The crosiers of the bishops of this period were curious specimens of
+metal-work and gem ornamentation; as were also the shrines of the
+saints. In 1840 a hoard of about 7,000 coins (beside many silver
+ornaments) was discovered at Coverdale, near Preston, in Lancashire;
+they are considered by the best numismatists indisputably to belong to
+the chief of the Danish invaders in the ninth century, and their
+immediate successors. In the sepulchre of Thyra, ancestress of Canute,
+in Jutland, have been found the figure of a bird formed of thin plates
+of gold, as well as a silver cup plated with gold, both being remarkable
+examples of the state of the decorative arts in the tenth century.
+
+The art of glass-making was introduced to the Saxons in the seventh
+century, and ordinary window-glass was first used for building purposes
+at the great monasteries at Monkwearmouth, on the river Wear, and at
+Jarrow-on-the-Tyne; although we have already seen that window-glass was
+used in the Roman city of Uriconium. The Venerable Bede, in the seventh
+century, relates that his contemporary, the Abbot Benedict, sent for
+artists beyond seas to glaze the Monastery of Wearmouth; and such was
+the change made in their churches by the use of glass, instead of other
+and more obscure substances for windows, that the unlettered people
+avowed a belief, which was handed down as a tradition for many
+generations, "that it was never dark in old Jarrow Church." By a
+singular coincidence, the first manufactory of window or crown glass in
+Great Britain was established at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, within a few miles
+of these monastic establishments. In the year 1616 Admiral Sir Robert
+Maunsell erected glassworks at the Ouseburn, Newcastle, which were
+carried on without interruption till nearly the middle of the present
+century, when they were closed.
+
+The art of making woollen cloth, which was known to the Britons, was, by
+this time, brought to perfection in England, especially in the south.
+This seat of manufacture must have been handy to the fuller's-earth pits
+of Nutfield, where fuller's-earth has been for centuries dug:--"While
+Bradford was still the little local centre of a wild hill tract in
+pastoral Yorkshire, the 'grey cloths of Kent' kept many a loom at work
+in the homesteads of Tenterden, and Biddenden, and Cranbrook, and all
+the other little mediæval towns that dot the Weald with their carved
+barge-boards and richly-moulded beams." (_Saturday Review_, No. 182.)
+The distaff and the spindle, which appear to have been anciently the
+type, and symbol, and the insignia of the softer sex in nearly every
+age and country, were in the Saxon times still more conspicuous as the
+distinguishing badge of the female sex. Among our Saxon ancestors the
+"spear-half" and the "spindle-half" expressed the male and female line;
+and the spear and the spindle are to this day found in their graves.
+
+The Saxons had the arts of dyeing of purple and various colours; and the
+Saxon ladies were eminent for their embroidery. There are descriptions
+extant of a robe of purple embroidered with large peacocks in black
+circles; and a golden veil worked with the siege of Troy, the latter a
+king's bequest to Croyland Abbey, where it was to be hung up on his
+birthday. The standards were also beautifully worked: the Danish
+standard, called the Raefen, was woven in one night by the three sisters
+of Ubbo, the Danish leader. The standard of Harold, the last Saxon
+sovereign of England, was the figure of a warrior richly embroidered
+with precious stones. In the Anglo-Saxon, and even in late periods, men
+worked at embroidery, especially in abbeys. At this time the dressing of
+hides and working in leather was practised to a great extent by the
+shoewright; and the wood-workman, answering to our modern carpenter, was
+also in general estimation. Sandals were worn by the early Saxons: there
+exists a print of one, made of leather, partly gilt, and variously
+coloured, and for the left foot of the wearer; so that "rights and
+lefts" are only a very old fashion revived.
+
+The art of smelting iron was known in England during the Roman
+occupation; and in many ancient beds of cinders, the refuse of
+iron-works, Roman coins have been found. Cæsar describes iron as being
+so rare in Britain, that pieces of it were employed as a medium of
+exchange; but a century later it had become common, since in Strabo's
+time it was an article of exportation. There is reason to believe that
+the Romans worked iron ore in the hills of South Wales, as they
+undoubtedly did in Dean Forest, where ancient heaps of slag have
+occasionally been struck upon. Remains of ancient iron furnaces have
+also been found in Lancashire, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire.[17]
+
+The working in steel was also practised in Britain before the Norman
+Conquest; and we are told that not only was the army of Harold well
+supplied with weapons and defensive armour of steel, but that every
+officer of rank maintained a smith, who constantly attended his master
+to the wars, and took charge of his arms and armour, and had to keep
+them in proper repair.
+
+The inventions attributed to Alfred must be noticed. It will be
+remembered how he measured time by graduated wax-tapers--the consumption
+of an inch denoting twenty minutes; but the wind rushing through
+windows, doors, and crevices of the royal palace, or the tent-coverings,
+sometimes wasted them, and disordered Alfred's calculations. He then
+inclosed his tapers in lanterns of horn and wood; but their invention
+has been attributed to an earlier period, from some Latin verses
+attributed to Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, in the seventh century. "Let
+not," say they, "the glass lantern be despised, or that made of a horn,
+hide, or thin skin, although a brass lamp may excel it." This passage
+has, however, sometimes been referred to the twelfth century.
+
+Travelling, in the Saxon times, was very different from what it is in
+the present day: coaches were not invented, and the only vehicles which
+went upon wheels were carts and wagons, and these were very heavy and
+clumsy. Horseback was the only conveyance, so that the sick and infirm
+could hardly ever leave their houses. In those times there were very few
+roads upon which one could travel with safety. The Romans left excellent
+roads, which, however, were neglected, and they fell into decay. Marshes
+were perilous to cross: a bridge might be broken down, and when you
+tried to ford the stream, your horse might get out of his depth, and
+then he and his rider might be drowned. Sometimes the traveller had to
+pass through a dark forest, abounding with bears and wolves; and, at the
+end of his day's journey, instead of putting up at a comfortable inn, he
+was often compelled to stretch his cloak on the dark earth, in some
+wretched hut. And what was worst, the kings and princes were almost
+always at war with each other, and a stranger was constantly liable to
+be plundered and seized, or put to death by the contending parties.[18]
+
+Stirrups and spurs were known to the Saxons; the Britons had bridles
+ornamented with ivory: a bit, presumed to have belonged to a British
+chief in the Roman service, is a jointed snaffle. The side-pieces, or
+branches, of curb bits, are of equal antiquity. The Saxons had very
+superb bridles, ornamented with plates of tin and pewter; and those for
+women's horses were lily-white. We have seen a bridle of Norman
+manufacture, said to have been on the horse which William Rufus rode
+when killed in the New Forest: it has blinkers, is very broad; and
+cloth, cut by a mould into rich patterns, is glued upon the leather. We
+read of Athelstan receiving valuable presents of running horses, with
+their saddles and bridles studded with gold; one of our earliest
+illustrations of horse-racing.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] Hoskins; _Encylopædia Britannica_, 7th edit.
+
+[16] Just as Charles, Duke of Norfolk, in our day, was accustomed to
+feed his favourite dogs, by cutting pieces from joints on the
+dinner-table, and throwing them to the dogs on the polished floor of
+Arundel Castle.
+
+[17] The chief iron-works of Sussex were in the Wealden strata, whence
+the iron ore was extracted from the argillaceous beds, and was smelted
+with charcoal made from the abundance of wood. At Buxted, near
+Lindfield, iron ordnance were made three centuries since by Ralph Hogge,
+assisted by Peter Bawde, a Frenchman, and his covenanted servant, John
+Johnson; and the memory of whose works, of which two specimens are still
+existing in the Tower of London, is preserved in
+
+"Master Hogfe, and his man John, They did cast the first can-non."
+
+(_W. D. Cooper, F.S.A., Archæologia_, vol. xxxvii. p. 483.)
+
+Up to 1720, Sussex was the principal seat of the iron manufacture in
+England: the last furnace, at Ashburnham, was blown out in 1827. Kent
+was alike noted for its iron; and the last great work of its furnaces
+was the noble balustrades and gates which surround St. Paul's Cathedral,
+London: they were cast at Gloucester Furnace, Lamberhurst, and cost
+upwards of £11,202. "In the middle ages, and down even to a late date,
+while Dudley and Wolverhampton were obscure names, the forges of Kent
+and Sussex were all a-glow with smelting and hammering the iron which
+the soil still yields, although it is not worth the while of any one to
+work it. The discovery of the coalfields of Wales and Staffordshire gave
+the Kent and Sussex furnaces their deathblow, leaving the country dotted
+with forge and furnace farms, and deep holes, now filled with tangled
+underwood, from which the ore was brought." (_Saturday Review_, No.
+182.) Kent and Sussex have no coal, and the iron manufacture left these
+counties when smelting with coal or coke began to supersede smelting
+with charcoal. Iron was also worked in Surrey. John Evelyn, in a letter
+to John Aubrey, dated February 8, 1675, states, that on the stream which
+winds through the valley of Wotton "were set up the first brass mills,
+for casting, hammering into plates, and cutting and drawing into wire,
+that were in England; also a fulling mill, and a mill for hammering
+iron, all of which are now demolished." The last of these mills gave its
+name to a small street or hamlet in the parish of Abinger, which to this
+day is called _the Hammer_.--_Curiosities of Science._ Second Series.
+
+[18] In some parts of England, the _badness of the roads_ continued to
+our day, when mud and clay were almost as great hindrances as in the
+Saxon times. Kent and Sussex were specially ill-favoured in this
+respect. Defoe, after travelling through all the counties, tells us that
+the road from Tunbridge was "the deepest and dirtiest" in all that part
+of England; and hereabouts it was, not far from Lewes, that he describes
+a sight which he had never seen in any other part of England, "that
+going to church at a country village, he saw an ancient lady, and a lady
+of very good quality, drawn to church in her coach with six oxen; nor
+was it either frolic or humour, but mere necessity." In 1708, Prince
+George of Denmark journeyed from Godalming, through the Sussex mud to
+Petworth, to meet Charles VI. of Spain: it cost six hours to conquer the
+last nine miles of the way. At a later date, Horace Walpole calls Sussex
+"a fruitful country, but very dirty for travellers, so that it may be
+better measured by days' journeys than by miles; whence it was, that in
+a late order for regulating the wages of coachmen at such a price a
+day's journey from London, Sussex alone was excepted, as wherein shorter
+way or better pay was allowed." Yet, in this county, stage-coach
+travelling attained higher perfection than in the majority of the
+counties of England. "In these days of railroads, express trains,
+excursion trains, mail trains, parliamentary trains, and special trains,
+there is no great difficulty in making a tour in Sussex, without any
+very great outlay of expense or time."--_Quarterly Review._
+
+
+
+
+MEALS--BRITISH, ANGLO-ROMAN, AND SAXON.
+
+
+The Britons, we learn, made their table on the ground, on which they
+spread the skins of wolves and dogs. The guests sat round, the food was
+placed before them, and each took his part. They were waited upon by the
+youth of both sexes. They who had not skins were contented with a little
+hay, which was laid under them; they ate very little bread, but much
+meat, boiled, or broiled upon coals, or roasted upon spits, before fires
+kindled as gipsies do in these days. The best living appears to have
+been in South Britain, where venison, oxen, sheep, and goats were eaten;
+and ale or mead was the common drink. The whole family attended upon the
+visitors, and the master and mistress went round, and did not eat
+anything till their guests had finished their meal.
+
+The Romans made little use of cattle as food; and the fattening of
+cattle for this specific purpose was unknown to them. Neither can we
+find evidence that beef and mutton were eaten by the Roman people
+generally. Pliny mentions the use of beef, roasted, or in the shape of
+broth, as a medicine, but not as food. Plautus speaks of beef and mutton
+as sold in the markets; but, amidst the immense variety of fish, flesh,
+and fowl, we hear little of the above meats in the Roman larder. Fish
+and game, poultry, venison, and pork, are often mentioned as elements of
+a luxurious banquet; but undoubtedly the common food of all classes was
+vegetable, flavoured with lard or bacon. Among the Romans the hare was
+held in great estimation. Alexander Severus had a hare daily served at
+his table; yet Cæsar says that in his time the Britons did not eat the
+flesh of hare.
+
+"The Romans, after their colonization of Britain, must have enjoyed its
+great supplies of fish; with them its fine oysters were celebrities.
+They were fattened in pits and ponds by the Romans, who obtained the
+finest oysters from Ruterpiæ, now Sandwich, in Kent. The Roman epicures
+iced their oysters before eating them; the ladies used the calcined
+shell as a cosmetic and depilatory. Apicius is said to have supplied
+Trajan with fresh oysters at all seasons of the year. The Romans,
+according to Pliny, made _Ostrearii_, or loaves of bread baked with
+oysters. There is one secret we may well desire to learn from the
+Romans; namely, the manner of preserving oysters alive in any journey,
+however long or distant. The possession of this secret is the more
+extraordinary, as it is well known that a shower of rain will kill
+oysters subjected to its influence, or the smallest grain of quick-lime
+destroy their vitality."[19] Pliny records that one gentleman, Asinius
+Celer, gave 8,000 nummi (between 64_l_. and 65_l_. sterling) for one
+mullet, such as may now be bought in good seasons in London for
+sixpence! How the Anglo-Roman epicure must have enjoyed the mullet from
+our western coast! The lamprey was also with the Romans a pet fish: it
+is now rare. The celebrated Roman garum must here have been made in
+perfection. A Roman supper is thus described by the officer of the
+household of Theodosius:--"For the first course there were
+sea-hedgehogs, raw oysters, and asparagus; for the second, a fat fowl,
+with another plate of oysters and shell-fish; several species of dates,
+fig-peckers, roebuck, and wild boar, fowls encrusted with paste, and the
+purple shell-fish, then esteemed so great a delicacy. The third course
+was composed of a wild-boar's head, of ducks, of a _compôte_ of
+river-birds, of leverets, roast-fowls, Ancona-cakes, called _panes
+picandi_," which must have somewhat resembled Yorkshire pudding. The old
+Romans had their fancy bread as well as the moderns, as loaves baked
+with oysters, cakes like our rolls, and others. A sort, of nearly the
+same quality as our middle sort of wheaten bread, was sold, according to
+the calculation of antiquaries, at 3_s_. 2_d_. the peck-loaf, present
+money.
+
+Before the arrival of the Romans, _mead_, that is, honey diluted with
+water, and fermented, was probably the only strong liquor known to the
+Britons; and it continued to be their favourite drink long after they
+had become acquainted with other liquors. Its manufacture was an
+important art; for the mead-maker was the eleventh person in dignity in
+the courts of the ancient princes of Wales, and took precedence of the
+physician.
+
+Of Saxon living we have many details. The Saxons were noted for their
+hospitality. On the arrival of a stranger he was welcomed, and water was
+brought him to wash his hands; his feet were also washed in warm water.
+A curious law was enforced at this period respecting _host and guest_;
+if any one entertained a guest in his house three days, and the guest
+committed any crime during that period, his host was either to bring him
+to justice, or answer for it himself; and by another law, a guest, after
+two nights' residence, was considered one of the family, and his
+entertainer was to be responsible for all his actions.
+
+The meal now assumed more regularity; the parties sat at large square
+tables, on long benches, according to rank; and by a subsequent law of
+Canute, a person sitting out of his proper place, was to be pelted from
+it with bones, at the discretion of the company, without the privilege
+of taking offence! The mistress of the house sat at the head of the
+table, upon a raised platform, beneath a canopy, and helped the
+provisions to the guests; whence came the modern title of _lady_, being
+softened from the Saxon _lief-dien_, or the server of bread. The tables
+were covered with fine cloths, some very costly; a cup of horn, silver,
+silver-gilt, or gold, was presented to each person; other vessels were
+of wood, inlaid with gold; dishes, bowls, and basins were of silver,
+gold, and brass, engraven; the benches and seats were carved and covered
+with embroidery; and some of the tables were of silver. All tables were
+square at this period; they were displaced by the old oaken table, of
+long boards upon tressels.
+
+The food of the period consisted of meat and vegetables, and the tables
+were plentifully but plainly supplied. There were oxen, sheep, fowls,
+deer, goats, and hares, but hogs yielded a principal part of the
+provision. On this account, swine were allowed by charter to run and
+feed in the royal forests. All sorts of fish now taken, were eaten at
+the above time; herrings were preferred. The porpoise, now no longer
+eaten, was then preferred. Bread was made of barley; wheaten bread was a
+delicacy. Baking was understood, as well as cookery; and if a person ate
+anything half-dressed, ignorantly, he was to fast three days; and four,
+if he knew it. Roasted meat was a luxury; but boiling was general, and
+broiling and stewing were in use. Honey was used in most of the meals of
+this period, on which account, added to that of sugar not being brought
+to England until the fifteenth century, the wild honey found in the
+English woods became an article of importance in the forest charter.
+Fruit, beans, and herbs were commonly eaten; the only vegetable was
+kale-wort; peppered broths and soups, and a kind of _bouilli_, were
+esteemed; buttermilk or whey was used in the monasteries; and salt was
+employed in great quantities, both for preserving and seasoning all
+sorts of provisions.
+
+In representations of Anglo-Saxon feasts, the men and women are seated
+apart at table; a person is cutting a piece of meat off the spit into a
+plate, held underneath by a servant; and cakes of bread, with oblong,
+square, and round dishes are on the table. Festivals were given to
+people on religious accounts; they kept it up the whole day on state
+occasions, and the feast was accompanied with music. The company sat on
+forms, the chief visitors seated in the middle, and the next in rank on
+the right and left. A dish on the table was set apart for alms for the
+poor; and when our Anglo-Saxon kings dined, the poor sat in the streets,
+expecting the broken victuals. At private parties, two persons eating
+out of the same dish was a peculiar mark of friendship. Forks were not
+invented, and our ancestors made use of their fingers; but, for the sake
+of cleanliness, each person was provided with a small silver ewer
+containing water, and two flowered napkins, of the finest linen. The
+dessert consisted of grapes, figs, nuts, apples, pears, and almonds.
+
+In early baking the use of ovens was unknown; and when the _lady_ had
+kneaded the dough, it was toasted either upon a warm hearth, or
+bake-stone, as it was called, when later it was made of some metal. In
+Wales, bread is, or was, lately baked upon an iron plate, called a
+griddle. The earliest bakers were probably the monks, since bakehouses
+were commonly appended to monasteries; and the host, or consecrated
+bread, was baked by the monks with great ceremony. In a charge to the
+clergy, date 994, we find:--"And we charge you that the oblation (_i.e._
+the bread in the Eucharist), which ye offer to God in that holy mystery,
+be either baked by yourselves, or your servants in your presence."
+Bakehouses were also appended to the churches; for, on taking down some
+part of the church at Crickhowell, county Brecon, a small room with an
+oven in it was discovered, which had long been shut up. Although the
+monks were early bakers, they do not appear to have fared much more
+sumptuously than the people on bread; for the Anglo-Saxon monks of the
+Abbey of St. Edmund, in the eighth century, ate barley bread, because
+the income of the establishment would not admit of the feeding twice or
+thrice a day on wheaten bread.
+
+Elecampane, now known as the sweetmeat of childhood, was esteemed for
+ages in the domestic herbal. The leaves are aromatic and bitter, but the
+root is much more so. The former were used by the Romans as pot-herbs;
+and appear to have been held in no mean repute in after times, from the
+monkish line,--"_Elena campana reddit præcordia sana._" When preserved,
+it is still eaten as a cordial by Eastern nations; and the root is used
+in England to flavour the small sugar-cakes, which bear its name. It is
+tonic and stimulant.
+
+Of the manufacture of Ale and Beer we have a record of the fifth
+century, directing it to be made without hops, instead of which various
+bitters were used. Ale is next mentioned in the laws of Ina, King of
+Wessex, who ascended, the throne about the year 680. It was the
+favourite drink of the Saxons and Danes; and so attentive were the
+Saxons to its quality, that in their time it was a custom in the city of
+Chester to place any person who brewed bad ale in a ducking-chair, to be
+plunged into a pool of muddy water, or be fined 4_s_. In the Saxon
+Dialogues, in the Cotton Library, a boy, in answer to the question, what
+he drank, replies, "Ale, if I have it; or water, if I have it not." He
+adds, that wine is the drink of the elders and the wise. Ale was sold
+to the people at this time, in houses of entertainment; but a priest was
+forbidden by law to eat or drink at places where ale was sold. About the
+middle of the eleventh century, ale was one of the articles of a royal
+banquet provided for Edward the Confessor. At this time the best ale
+could be bought for 8_d_. the gallon. This was spiced, and double the
+price of common ale, and mead was double the price of spiced ale. One of
+the vessels out of which ale was drunk was the Saxon _nap_, now the
+_neap_, or _nip_, out of which we drink Burton ale. The Saxons had also
+cups of wood, ornamented with gold, besides the peg tankards introduced
+by King Edgar, to check excessive drinking. In Northamptonshire--a
+famous ale county--a small public-house is to this day called an
+_ale-hus_, the original Saxon _hus_ being retained.[20]
+
+As the monasteries were in ancient times reputed for ale, which the
+monks brewed for themselves with such remarkable care, so colleges,
+which rose upon the Dissolution, became famous for ale, and their
+celebrity continues to this day. Warton, poet-laureate in 1748, has left
+a panegyric on Oxford ale (which he dearly loved), and thus
+apostrophises:--
+
+  "Balm of my cares, sweet solace of my toils,
+  Hail, juice benignant!
+
+  "My sober evening let the tankard bless,
+  With toast embrown'd, and fragrant nutmeg fraught.
+                        What though me sore ills
+  Oppress, dire want of chill-dispelling coals
+  Or cheerful candle, save the make-weight's gleam
+  Haply remaining, heart-rejoicing ale
+  Cheers the sad scene, and every want supplies.
+
+  "Be mine each morn, with eager appetite
+  And hunger undissembled, to repair
+  To friendly buttery; there on smoking crust
+  And foaming ale to banquet unrestrain'd,
+  Material breakfast. Thus, in ancient days
+  Our ancestors, robust with liberal cups
+  Usher'd the morn, unlike the squeamish sons
+  Of modern times; nor ever had the might
+  Of Britons brave decay'd, had thus they fed,
+  With British ale improving British worth."
+
+They who recollect the ale of Magdalen and Queen's will acknowledge that
+Oxford well maintains its character for our national drink.
+
+The brewers were formerly women, and those who sold the ale were
+_ale-wives_, one of whom, "Eleanor Rumming, the famous ale-wife of
+England," is commemorated by another poet-laureate, Skelton. Of her
+ale-house, at Leatherhead, there are some remains, and she lives in the
+rude woodcut portrait (1571), with this inscription:--
+
+  "When Skelton wore the laurel crown,
+  My ale put all the ale-wives down."
+
+The introduction of foreign wines by the Normans did not altogether
+supersede the wines of our own country. The vine had been cultivated
+here long before. Vines are mentioned in the laws of Alfred, and Edgar
+makes a gift of a vineyard, with the vine-dressers. In a Saxon Calendar,
+preserved in the British Museum, there is a series of rude drawings
+representing the different operations of the rural economy of the year;
+that prefixed to February showing husbandmen pruning what are supposed
+to be vines. At the time of the Norman Conquest, new plantations appear
+to have been made in the village of Westminster; at Chenetone, in
+Middlesex; at Ware, in Hertfordshire, and other places. Of ancient
+wine-cellars we find some curious particulars, and drinking-glasses have
+been found in Roman-British barrows.
+
+The Danes, in their visits to this country, added much to the gross
+hospitalities, against the consequences of which Saxon laws were
+enacted. They were accustomed to sing and play on the harp in turn; and
+to be entertained by the gleemen, ale-poets, dancers, harpers, jugglers,
+and tumblers, who frequented the earliest taverns, called guest-houses,
+ale-shops, wine-houses, &c. And it may be regarded as indicative of the
+reckless manners of the times, that the last of the Danish kings of
+England died suddenly at a marriage-feast; his death being imputed by
+some to poison, but, with more likelihood of truth, to his being then
+intoxicated.
+
+We have now reached the period at which the Danes arrived in this
+country; but they so neglected the arts essential to life as to have
+little claim upon our respect. Their neglect of husbandry was great. The
+other arts were abandoned to the women, who spun wool for their
+clothing. Rude carving with the knife seems to have been the principal
+and natural talent of the Danes. Their houses were mostly erected near a
+spring, a wood, or an open field, at a distance from any others. The
+best of their dwellings were only thick, heavy pillars, united by
+boards, and covered with turf; though there sometimes existed a pride in
+having them of great extent, and with lofty towers.
+
+In a late volume of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, we find this interesting
+page of research upon the names of provisions, which throw some light
+upon the mode of living among the higher and lower classes of our
+population. "Bread, with the common productions of the garden, such as
+pease, beans, eggs, and some other articles which might be produced in
+the cottage-garden or yard, retain their Saxon names, and evidently
+formed the chief nourishment of the Saxon portion of the population. Of
+meat, though the word is Saxon, they ate probably little; for it is one
+of the most curious circumstances connected with the English language,
+that while the living animals are called by Anglo-Saxon names, as oxen,
+calves, sheep, pigs, deer, the flesh of those animals when prepared for
+the table is called by names which are all Anglo-Norman--beef, veal,
+mutton, pork, venison. The butcher who killed them is himself known by
+an Anglo Norman name. Even fowls when killed receive the Norman name of
+poultry. This can only be explained by the circumstance that the Saxon
+population in general was only acquainted with the living animals, while
+their flesh was carried off to the castle and table of the Norman
+possessors of the land, who gave it names taken from their own language.
+Fresh meat, salted, was hoarded up in immense quantities in the Norman
+castles, and was distributed lavishly to the household and idle
+followers of the feudal possessors. Almost the only meat obtained by the
+peasantry, unless, if we believe old popular songs, by stealth, was
+_bacon_, and that also is still called by an Anglo-Norman name."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] _Host and Guest._ By A. V. Kirwan. 1864.
+
+[20] Miss Baker's _Northamptonshire Glossary_.
+
+
+
+
+II. Castle Life.
+
+ENGLISH CASTLE-BUILDING.
+
+
+The history of building of Castles in England and Wales may be divided
+into periods of transition, changing with the exigencies and
+requirements of the age, and its character of civilization.
+
+The Castles of England consist of those erected by the Romans; of
+British and Saxon castles erected previous to, and Norman castles
+erected after, the Norman Conquest; also of the more modern stone and
+brick castles, erected from about the reign of Edward I. to the time of
+Henry VII.
+
+The Roman castles in this country are numerous, and some of them still
+in very perfect condition, such as Burgh Castle and Richborough. More
+popularly known is Pevensey, once a maritime town of considerable
+importance, the site of which is now fixed with all but certainty, as
+that of the strong old city, Anderida, though this distinction has been
+claimed by no less than seven Sussex towns. Abundance of Roman bricks
+have been found here, affording strong presumption of there having been
+originally a Roman fortress on the spot. But the celebrity of Pevensey
+(for, though reduced to a village, it has an undying name in our
+history) rests upon its having been the place of debarkation of William,
+Duke of Normandy, on his successful invasion of this land in 1066. It
+was, therefore, the first scene of the Norman Conquest, the most
+momentous event in English history, perhaps the most momentous in the
+Middle Ages. Here William landed from a fleet of 900 ships, with 60,000
+men, including cavalry; and having refreshed his troops, and hastily
+erected a fortress, he marched forward to Hastings, and thence to Battle
+(then called Epitou), where, on the 14th of October, he obtained a
+decisive victory over King Harold. Southey, upon the conjoint
+authorities of Turner, Palgrave, and Thierry, gives such a version of
+the Normans landing at Pevensey, as to decide its having been a Roman
+station. "They landed," he says, "without opposition, on the 28th of
+September, between Pevensey and Hastings, at a place called Bulverhithe.
+William occupied the _Roman castle_ at Pevensey; erected three wooden
+forts, the materials of which he had brought ready with him for
+construction; threw up works to protect part of his fleet, and burnt, it
+is said, the rest, or otherwise rendered them unserviceable."[21]
+
+Upon his accession, the Conqueror gave the town and castle to his
+half-brother, Robert, Earl of Mortagne in Normandy, whose descendant,
+William, was deprived of all his possessions, and banished the realm, by
+Henry I. for rebellion. That monarch granted them to Gilbert de Aquila,
+in allusion to whose name this district was afterwards styled the Honour
+of the Eagle.
+
+The outer work of the castle contains many Roman bricks and much
+herring-bone work. The outer walls, the most ancient part of the
+fortification, inclose seven acres, and are from twenty to twenty-five
+feet high. The moat on the south side is still wide and deep; on the
+other side it has been filled up. The entrance is on the west or land
+side, between two round towers, over a drawbrige. Within the walls is
+another and much more modern fortification, approaching a pentagonal
+form, with nearly five circular towers, moated on the north and west. It
+is entered from the outer court by a drawbridge on the west side between
+two towers. The principal barbican, or watch tower, is not at the
+entrance, but towards the north-east corner. The walls are nine feet
+thick, and the towers were two or three stories in height. The castle
+was of great strength: it withstood the attacks of William Rufus's army
+for six days, protecting Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who ultimately yielded
+only for want of provisions; and it afterwards successfully resisted the
+siege of King Stephen, who personally superintended the attack, but met
+with so gallant an opposition from Gilbert, Earl of Clare, that he was
+obliged to withdraw his force, leaving only a small body to blockade it
+by sea and land. It once more resisted hostile attacks, when it was
+fruitlessly assailed in 1265, by Simon de Montfort, son of the renowned
+Earl of Leicester. Again, when Sir John Pelham was in Yorkshire, in
+1339, assisting Henry, Duke of Lancaster, to gain the crown, the castle,
+left under the command of Lady Jane Pelham, was attacked by large bodies
+of the yeomen of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, who favoured the deposed King
+Richard, but was bravely and successfully defended by Lady Jane Pelham.
+
+Pevensey castle remained as a fortress till the reign of Elizabeth: two
+ancient culverins, one of which bears her initials, are yet preserved;
+after which its history is not traced till the Parliamentary survey of
+1675, when the fortress was in ruins, and the ground within the walls
+was cultivated as a garden. The demesne and castle are now held by the
+Cavendish family, under a lease from the Duchy of Lancaster, which was
+originally granted to the Pelhams by Henry IV., son of the famous John
+of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, to whom the Honour of the Eagle had been
+given, on his surrender of the great earldom of Richmond.
+
+It is remarkable that no mention is made of Pevensey Castle in the Saxon
+times; but if not erected by the Romans, it was certainly built from
+the remains of an older fortress. The Saxons most probably adapted the
+Roman inclosures to their modes of defence; and it appears that they
+often raised a mound on one side of the walls, on which they erected a
+keep or citadel.
+
+We are indebted to the Saxons but for few social improvements; since, in
+the words of the Wiltshire antiquary, John Aubrey, "They were so far
+from having arts, that they could not even build with stone. The church
+at Glaston (bury) was thatched. They lived skittishly in their houses,
+they ate a great deal of beef and mutton, and drank good ale in a brown
+mazzard, and their very kings were but a sort of farmers. The Normans
+then came, and taught them civility and building."
+
+In various parts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, there are
+numerous encampments or castles, mostly occupying the summits of hills,
+which have been ascribed to the aboriginal inhabitants. Amongst the most
+remarkable are the Hereford Beacon, on the Malvern hills, in
+Worcestershire; the Caer-Caradock, near Church Stretton, in Shropshire;
+Moel Arthur, in Flintshire; Chun Castle, in Cornwall; and the
+magnificent hill-fort, Maiden Castle, or the Castle of the great Hill,
+within three miles of Dorchester.
+
+Maiden Castle had four gateways of stone; in excavations have been found
+round stones, probably sling stones, and pottery, denoting its original
+occupation by Britons; how the fortress was supplied with water has not
+been traced. This famous earthwork is considered of a period anterior to
+that of the Britons and Romans: the extent of the work is one mile, and
+the ramparts are, in some places, sixty feet high. Another famous
+earthwork in Dorset is Poundbury, a Roman encampment, though it has
+been set down as Danish, and an Anglo-Saxon camp of council.[22]
+
+Before we leave the Roman period, we may remark that the manufacture of
+bricks and tiles must then have been known in England, because it was
+practised in such perfection by our conquerors during their occupation,
+as is evident in the numerous remains of their buildings.[23] It has,
+however, been asserted that up to the reign of Elizabeth, the houses of
+the gentry throughout England were built entirely of timber; whereas, of
+the mansions of earlier date than that reign, which remain entire or in
+part to this day, three-fourths, at least, are built of stone or brick.
+The latter material is stated by Bagford and others to have been first
+introduced in the reign of Henry VII. Yet, Endure Palace, in
+Oxfordshire, erected by William De la Pole, and Hurstmonceux Castle, in
+Sussex, both of which are of brick, are attributed to the reign of Henry
+VI. Oxburgh Hall, in Norfolk, was erected in the reign of Edward IV.
+Leland mentions the walls of Hungerford, as early as the reign of
+Richard II., being of that material; and Stow records Ralph Stratford,
+Bishop of London, inclosing the burial-ground of Charter-house, for
+those that died of the plague in 1348, with a wall of brick. That
+roofing-tiles were in use before the time of Richard I. is proved by the
+order made in the first years of that reign, Henry Fitzalwayne being
+Mayor of London, that the houses of that city should be covered with
+"brent tyle," instead of "strawe," or reeds. The ancient name for bricks
+appears to have been wall-tiles, to distinguish them from floor-tiles,
+used for paving.
+
+William the Conqueror lost no time in erecting strong castles in all the
+principal towns in the kingdom, as at Lincoln, Norwich, Rochester, &c.
+for the double purpose of strengthening the towns, and keeping the
+citizens in awe. The Conqueror's followers, among whom he parcelled out
+the lands of the English, imitated their master's example by building
+castles on their estates; and so rapidly did they increase, that in the
+reign of Stephen, or within a century after the arrival of the
+Conqueror, there are said to have been 1115 castles completed in England
+alone.
+
+One of the earliest was Conisborough Castle, built by William, the first
+Earl of Warren, about six miles west of Doncaster: the remains, as far
+as can be traced, extend about 700 feet in circumference; but the chief
+object is a noble round tower, strengthened by six massive square
+buttresses, running from the base to the summit. The extreme thickness
+of the walls is 15 feet; of each buttress 23 feet; and the entrance is
+24 feet from the ground, up a flight of steps. In the centre of the
+first floor is a round hole, which is the only entrance to a lower
+apartment, or dungeon. This Castle is chosen by Sir Walter Scott for one
+of the principal scenes of his romance of _Ivanhoe_.
+
+Many of the castles of this age were of great size. Instead of a single
+tower, they consisted of several towers, both round and square, united
+by walls, inclosing a space called a courtyard, the entrance to which
+was generally between two strong towers. The whole building was
+surrounded by a moat or ditch, across which a drawbridge led to the
+massive doors, which were covered with plates of iron, and in front of
+them, an iron portcullis--like a harrow, such as we see in the arms of
+the city of Westminster--was let down the rough, deep grooves in the
+stonework; whilst overhead projected a parapet, resting on corbels, with
+openings through which melted lead or hot water could be poured, or
+stones thrown on the heads of the assailants, who should attempt an
+entrance by forcing, or, as was the usual mode of attack, by setting
+fire to the door.[24] The gateways of Caerlaverock, Conway, Carisbrooke,
+and Caernarvon castles, present good specimens of this kind; as do the
+Middle Tower, and the Bloody Tower, in the Tower of London: the latter
+has the most perfect portcullis in the kingdom.
+
+A principal tower or keep rose prominently above the rest, and generally
+from an artificial mount. It contained the well of water, without which
+the garrison, when besieged, could not hold out in this their last place
+of refuge. The keep also had its subterranean prison, and several
+stories of apartments communicating by a staircase, either in the walls,
+or built outside the tower.
+
+As the railway traveller journeys along the South Eastern line, he will
+see close to the Tunbridge station, the towered entrance-gate of the
+castle built by Richard de Tonbridge, a follower of the Conqueror. The
+whole building was moated, and the exterior walls inclosed an area of
+about six acres. There remain only two massive towers flanking an arched
+gateway, with walls of great thickness, and having no other openings
+than long narrow slits, called _oilets_, through which, when besieged,
+archers shot their arrows. In front of this entrance was formerly a
+drawbridge, thrown across the moat, which, when raised, formed a strong
+door, closing up the archway. This opening was again guarded by two
+portcullises and two thick doors. The towers appear to have been divided
+into four stories, or floors, the lower being dungeons or prisons, and
+the upper formed into a large and noble hall, extending the whole width
+and depth of the two towers. It was lighted by two large windows towards
+the inner court. The towers are supposed, from their style, to have been
+built in the reign of King John, or Henry III. The windows were not
+glazed, but had iron bars; the floor and ceiling were of immense
+thickness, the latter three feet. Branching from this tower-entrance,
+are certain walls to the right and left; the first extending up the side
+of a lofty hill, whereon was the keep-tower, or chief residence of the
+baron: to this, it is presumed, he retreated when other parts of his
+castle had been taken by an enemy.
+
+The following account of the siege of Bedford Castle by Henry III.,
+given in Camden's _Britannia_, is interesting, as containing a summary
+of the principal portions of the building, and the several stages of the
+attack:--"The castle was taken by four assaults: in the first was taken
+the barbican; in the second, the outer bail (ballium); at the third
+attack, the wall by the old tower was thrown down by the miners, where,
+with great danger, they possessed themselves of the inner bail through a
+chink; at the fourth assault, the miners set fire to the tower, so that
+the smoke burst out, and the tower itself was cloven to that degree, as
+to show visibly some broad chinks; whereupon the enemy surrendered."
+
+The most perfect of our northern castles now existing, is Raby, the
+stately seat of the Duke of Cleveland, the history of which is traced
+through eight centuries and a half. Raby, pointing by its name to a
+Danish origin, is first mentioned in connexion with King Canute, who,
+after making his celebrated pilgrimage over Garmondsway Moor to the
+shrine of St. Cuthbert, there offered it, with other possessions, to the
+saint. Bishop Flambard wrested the rich gift from the monastics, but
+restored it again on his death-bed. It continued in the peaceful
+possession of the monks till 1131. In that year they granted it, for an
+annual rent of £4, to Dolphin, son of Ughtred, of the blood-royal of
+Northumberland. Whoever the original founder might have been, Dolphin's
+descendant, Robert filius Maldred, was Lord of Raby when, early in the
+thirteenth century, he married Isabel Neville, by the death of her
+brother the last of that line. From their son Geoffrey, who assumed his
+mother's surname, the history of the Nevilles may be said to date. To
+his descendant, John Lord Neville, they owed Raby. Some portion of the
+older fabric is thoroughly incorporated with the new, so as to present
+the work and ideas of one period, and a perfect example of a
+fourteenth-century castle, without any appearance of earlier work or
+later alteration whatever. Its apparent weakness of site has been
+pointed out; but though not set on a hill, it had the defence of water,
+which was drawn off centuries since. But the real defences of Raby lay
+beyond the mere circuit of its own walls and waters. They are to be
+found in the warrior spirits of its lords and in the border castles of
+Roxburgh, Wark, Norham, Berwick, and Bamburgh, which they commanded
+continuously as warders and governors from the days of Robert Neville,
+in the thirteenth century, to the time of Queen Elizabeth. Apart from
+the question of the site, the stately castle itself is of great
+strength, and skilfully disposed.
+
+Passing through a fine gate-tower, the bailey (immediately within the
+outer ward) is entered. The castle itself consists of a quadrangular
+mass of great dignity and splendour, with an open court in the centre.
+One side of the court, or the quadrangle, is occupied by two halls, one
+above the other, of such stupendous proportions that carriages are
+admitted to drive across the quadrangle _into_ the lower hall. The sides
+of the quadrangle have the kitchen and offices springing from one end of
+the hall, and the principal chambers of the castle from the other,
+according to the usual distribution of the age.
+
+Although a view of most of those fortresses which are destined chiefly
+for the purposes of war or defence, suggests to the imagination
+dungeons, chains, and a painful assemblage of horrors, yet some of these
+castles were often the scenes of magnificence and hospitality,
+
+  "Where the songs of knights and barons bold
+  In weeds of peace high triumph hold;"
+
+or where, in the days of chivalry, the wandering knight or distressed
+princess found honourable reception; the holy palmer repose for his
+wearied limbs; and the poor and helpless their daily bread.
+
+Leland considered Raby as "the largest castle of logginges in all the
+north country." At different periods alterations have been made,
+according to the more modern ideas of comfort and convenience, without
+materially affecting its external form, so that it recalls to the mind
+the romantic days of chivalry. The embattled wall with which it is
+surrounded, occupies about two acres of ground. At irregular distances
+are two towers, named from their founders, the Clifford Tower and the
+Bulmer Tower. The halls are large and grand. In the upper, or Baron's
+hall, ninety feet in length, and thirty-four in breadth, the baronial
+feasts were held; and here,
+
+  "Seven hundred knights, retainers all
+  Of Neville, at their master's call,
+  Together sat in Raby's Hall."
+
+When the British Archæological Association visited Raby in the autumn of
+1865, the Duke of Cleveland, as the President of the Association,
+entertained some 200 guests at a sumptuous dinner, in which venison,
+venison pasties, and grouse were paramount. The kitchen is on a scale to
+correspond with the enormous festivals of the seven hundred knights: it
+is a square of thirty feet, having three chimneys, one for the grate, a
+second for stoves, and the third (now stopped up) for the great
+cauldron. The roof is arched, and has a small cupola in the centre; it
+has likewise five windows, from each of which steps descend, but only in
+one instance to the floor; and a gallery runs round the whole interior
+of the building. The ancient oven is said to have allowed a tall person
+to stand upright in it, its diameter being fifteen feet; according to
+Pennant, it was one time converted into a wine-cellar, "the arches being
+divided into ten parts, each holding a hogshead of wine in bottles."
+"The park and pleasure grounds belonging to this magnificent castle are
+upon the same extensive scale, with woods that sweep over hill and sink
+into valley, and command a constant change of beautiful prospects."[25]
+
+Durham Castle is another noble pile of the north. The outer gateway is a
+Norman arch; traces of Norman work are seen in the courtyard; and we
+then reach the hall, which, as left by Bishop Hatfield, was at least a
+third longer than it is at present. It owes it curtailment to Bishop Fox
+(1494-1502), who erected a kitchen and other offices at the lower end.
+This kitchen remains in its original form, with wide-yawning fireplaces
+still applied to their original purpose; and the buttery hatches in old
+black oak have the motto of "_Est Deo gracio_," in black-letter, carved
+upon them. A tapestried gallery, with an elaborate Norman doorway, leads
+to Bishop Tunstall's chapel; and in another apartment, now the
+senate-room of the University of Durham, is some curious tapestry of the
+history of Moses. The keep, now refaced and restored, was rebuilt by
+Bishop Hatfield. The castle is commonly said to be no older than William
+the Conqueror; but a fortress must have existed from a much earlier
+period, and the mound is artificial. The Norman chapel of the castle,
+its most ancient portion, is usually assigned to King William I., though
+of the time of Rufus. The pavement of herring-bone is, no doubt, coeval.
+The whole of Durham Castle is now in excellent preservation, and the
+union of the past with the present is well maintained; for the old keep,
+which commands beautiful views of the Wear and the outlying country, is
+parcelled out into rooms, which are occupied by the students of the
+University. The great hall of the castle is hung with old paintings,
+chiefly the portraits of bishops and ecclesiastics connected with the
+see. At the lower end of the apartment, about half way between the roof
+and the ground, are two niches, at opposite sides, built for the
+minstrels of the period, and from which they regaled the guests.
+
+The legendary histories of our castles would take us too far afield for
+our limits. Sometimes, in these legends, the very names of the Teutonic
+mythic personages are preserved. Thus, a legend in Berkshire has
+retained the name of the Northern and Teutonic smith-hero, Weland, the
+representative of the classical Vulcan. The name of Weland's father,
+Wade, is preserved in the legend of Mulgrave Castle, in Yorkshire, which
+is pretended to have been built by a giant of that name. A Roman road,
+which passes by it, is called Wade's Causeway; and a large tumulus, or
+cairn of stones, in the vicinity is popularly called Wade's Grave.
+According to the legend, while the giant Wade was building his castle,
+he and his wife lived upon the milk of an enormous cow, which she was
+obliged to leave at pasture on the distant moors. Wade made the causeway
+for her convenience, and she assisted him in building the castle by
+bringing him quantities of large stones in her apron. One day, as she
+was carrying a bundle of stones, her apron-string broke, and they all
+fell to the ground, a great heap of about twenty cart-loads,--and there
+they still remain as a memorial of her industry. Another castle in
+Yorkshire, occupying an early site, was said, according to a legend
+related by Leland in the sixteenth century, to have been built by a
+giant named Ettin. This is a mere corruption of the name of the
+_eotenas_, or giants of Teutonic mythology.
+
+One of our most celebrated castles of defence is Corfe Castle, in
+Dorset, a remarkable specimen of mediæval military architecture. The
+earliest notice of this fortress is in an Anglo-Saxon charter of the
+year 948. In 981 Corfe was the scene of the murder of King Edward the
+Martyr. After the death of his father, Edgar, Elfrida, his widow, headed
+a faction in opposition to the accession of Edward, and continued her
+intrigues until her unscrupulous ambition at last led her to the
+perpetration of a deed which has covered her name with infamy. This was
+the murder of her step-son by a hired assassin, as he stopped one day
+while hunting, at her residence, Corfe Castle; he was stabbed in the
+back, as he sat on his horse at the gate of the castle, drinking a cup
+of mead. The 18th of March, 978, is the date assigned to the murder of
+King Edward, who was only in his seventeenth year when he was thus cut
+off. He is retained in the calendar of the Anglican Church as a saint
+and martyr. The castle, which was the strongest fortress in the kingdom,
+formed an irregular triangle, the apex of which was connected by a
+narrow isthmus with the high ground, on which the town of Corfe stands.
+The isthmus had been cut through, and the ditch thus formed was spanned
+by a stately bridge of arches leading to the principal entrance of the
+fortress. Only the south side and parts of the east and west sides of
+the keep are standing, and large masses of prostrate walls lie in
+confusion around. The keep is Norman, believed to have been built by the
+Conqueror. King John kept his treasure and regalia here, and used the
+castle as a state prison. Twenty-four nobles concerned in the
+insurrection by his nephew, Arthur, Duke of Brittany, were, save two, it
+was said, there starved to death. King John caused Prince Arthur to be
+murdered, and sent his sister, the beautiful Princess Eleanor, prisoner
+to Corfe, where she remained several years.
+
+Edward II., when he fell into the hands of his enemies, was, for a time,
+imprisoned here. In 1635, the castle and manor came into the possession
+of Sir John Bankes, Lord Chief Justice of England, and ancestor of the
+present owner. In the great Civil War, Corfe Castle was strongly
+defended for the king, by Lady Bankes, wife of the Lord Chief Justice,
+with the assistance of her friends and retainers, and of a governor sent
+from the king's army. The castle was one of the last places in England
+that held out for Charles I. In the year 1645, it was captured by the
+Parliamentary forces through treachery, and reduced to the shapeless but
+picturesque fragments that now remain. Lady Bankes's heroic defence is
+narrated in the _Story of Corfe Castle_, a volume of stirring interest;
+and the event is a favourite subject with our historical painters. The
+ruins of Corfe are extensive, and from their very high situation, form a
+very striking object. "The vast fragments of the King's Tower," says
+Hutchins, "the Round Tower, leaning, as if nearly to fall, the broken
+walls, and vast pieces of them tumbled into the vale below, form such a
+scene of havoc and desolation, as strikes every spectator with sorrow
+and concern. The abundance of stone in the neighbourhood, the excellence
+of the cement, harder to be broken than the stones themselves, have
+preserved these prodigious ruins from being embezzled and lessened."
+
+In the age of Edward III. the castles differed from those of previous
+periods. The confined plan of the close fortress expanded into a mixture
+of the castle and the mansion; comprising spacious and magnificent
+apartments, the hall, the banqueting-room, the chapel, with galleries of
+communication, and sleeping chambers. The keep was entirely detached,
+and independent of these buildings. Such was the royal palace of
+Windsor, erected by Edward III.; and such were the splendid baronial
+castles of Warwick, Ludlow, Stafford, Harewood, Alnwick, Kenilworth,
+Raglan, and many others. The last-mentioned is one of the most perfect
+examples we are acquainted with, of the union of vast strength and
+security, with convenient accommodation and ornamental splendour. The
+keep is a perfect fortress in itself, and encircled by a range of minor
+towers and moat. Its masonry is unrivalled.[26]
+
+Of one of these spacious castles we give a descriptive outline, chiefly
+from the paper read by Mr. J. H. Parker, on the visit of the
+Archæological Institute to Windsor, in July 1866. Amongst the royal and
+palatial edifices of Europe, that of Windsor holds a very high rank, and
+is, in a manner, to England what Versailles is to France and the
+Escurial to Spain; and while it is infinitely superior to both in point
+of situation, it far exceeds them, and indeed every other pile or
+building of its class, in antiquity. From having been the residence of
+so many of our kings, its history is, to a certain extent, identified
+with that of the kingdom itself from the time of the Conquest. The
+castle stands on an outlying promontory of chalk, commanding the winding
+shores of that part of the Thames, with a rich valley, which seems to
+have pointed it out as a natural position for a fortress in primitive
+times, when the natives wished to protect their country from invasion.
+The wide and deep entrenchments, and the high artificial mounds,
+indicate an early date. There are also roads at the bottom of the
+fosses, with a wide bank between them, on which several keeps were
+erected, first of wood and afterwards of stone. A subterranean passage
+leading from the bottom of the outer foss, at a depth of thirty feet, to
+the bottom of the inner foss, at a depth of fifteen feet (the present
+pantries), cut in a very rude manner through the solid chalk, has a
+vault of the time of Henry II. carried on chalk walls, built over a
+small part of it as far as the Norman buildings extended only: the
+doorways are of the same period, one of which is quite perfect, and
+opens into the inner foss. If Windsor Castle had been built in the fifth
+century by King Arthur, as was believed by Edward III. and the
+chronicler Froissart, the roads would have been on the level. They are
+more likely of the time of Caractacus or Julius Cæsar. Edward the
+Confessor is believed to have resided chiefly at Old Windsor, where some
+of the ancient earthworks certainly belong to a period before the Norman
+Conquest. William himself is said to have built a castle at Windsor,
+but there is no evidence of it. The Domesday Survey rather proves that
+there was one previously existing, which had been inhabited by Earl
+Harold in the time of the Confessor. Henry I. is said by Stow, writing
+in the fifteenth century, to have built New Windsor chiefly of wood;
+some of the fragments of stone carving found in the castle may be of his
+time.
+
+Stephen built nothing here, but Windsor is mentioned in the treaty of
+Wallingford as a fortress of importance. The name "Norman Tower," as
+given to one part of the pile, is erroneous, as the Norman keep is
+nothing more than earthworks surmounted by a wooden structure. The
+earliest date which can be assigned to any stone masonry which has been
+discovered at Windsor is the reign of Henry II. In the time of Henry II.
+the first mention of the castle is made in the Pipe Rolls. The outer
+wall of the south front of the upper ward remains, with the lower part
+of the king's gate, its hinges, and portcullis groove; the upper part
+was destroyed, and the whole concealed in other buildings by Wyatville,
+in the restoration works under George IV. In the reigns of Richard I.
+and John only necessary repairs were made.
+
+With Henry III. the history of the existing castle may be said to begin.
+The whole of the lower ward was then first built of stone, and many
+portions of the existing walls are found to be of that period. The
+Clewer Tower--now known as the Curfew Tower--remains almost unaltered,
+and exhibits in good condition a prison of the above period.
+
+The King's Hall is now the Chapter library, but the chambers of the King
+and Queen have been destroyed. Plans and drawings of them have been
+preserved; and the measurements agree with the orders of the kings, as
+recorded in the public rolls.
+
+Of the primitive chapel the north wall is still preserved; the galilee
+being now the east end (behind the altar) of St. George's Chapel. The
+doorways of the galilee are one of Henry III., the other of Edward III.;
+the west end of the chapel has been rebuilt several times. The arcade in
+the cloisters was protected by a wooden roof only. This chapel was
+completed by Edward III. and made into a lady-chapel, when the great St.
+George's Chapel was built. It was partly rebuilt by Henry VII. for the
+tomb of Lady Margaret, his mother, and afterwards was proposed for that
+of Henry VIII. It was much altered by James II. and partly restored by
+George IV. At the present time it is being made the object of devoted
+care, under the direction of Mr. Gilbert Scott. The roof has been
+vaulted in stone, the pattern of that of Henry VII. is being inlaid with
+mosaic work, and the windows filled with stained glass; and the edifice
+is to be a sepulchral chapel over the Royal vaults, in memory of the
+late Prince Consort. Mural paintings of kings' heads have been found of
+the date of Henry III. and Edward III., and are preserved in the
+cloister and galilee.
+
+During the reign of Edward I. the accounts show that the great works
+begun by Henry III. were carried on and completed; but no new works
+appear to have been undertaken. In the reign of Edward II. there were
+considerable sums expended on repairs of the walls, towers, and bridges,
+chiefly for timber and carpenters' work.
+
+The reign of Edward III. is one of the most important in respect to the
+history of Windsor, a large part of the existing castle having been
+built at that period, and its survey has been lately brought to light.
+Another equally important document is the builder's account for the
+Round Tower, which was entirely built from the ground in the eighteenth
+year of this reign, and still remains, though much altered in
+appearance, from the additional story superposed by Mr. Wyatville, under
+George IV.
+
+This building is sometimes called the Round Tower, and sometimes the
+Round Table; and, from other peculiarities in the same accounts, it is
+evident that the tower was built to hold the table. The galleries on
+which this round table was placed are still remaining, and the general
+disposition of the apartment where the knights dined on St. George's day
+is well seen from the summit of the Round Tower. The tables of those
+days were seldom more than a few planks in width, and the guests sat
+round on one side, the other being open for the service of the
+attendants. The centre of this great round table, then, was designed for
+the latter purpose, and was open to the air, a passage communicating on
+a level from this central space to the kitchen on the top of the middle
+gate, which has thus acquired the title of the "Kitchen Tower." The
+tower and table were erected in ten months, the greatest haste being
+made in order that the new order of knights might dine here on St.
+George's day following.
+
+Edward III. did not build a chapel at Windsor, but only completed the
+one which had been begun by Henry III.; adding to it or rebuilding a
+cloister, a vestry, and other adjuncts.
+
+After the thirteenth year, when William of Wykeham was appointed clerk
+of the works, with a salary of one shilling a day, an entirely new
+hall, with a new suite of apartments and offices, was built in the upper
+bailey, where the royal apartments now are; and the fine series of
+vaults under these apartments, forming ceilings to the servants' hall
+and other rooms and offices, still remain in perfect preservation, as
+built by Wykeham, who remained in this appointment only six years. The
+summary of his accounts during that time shows an expenditure of
+5,658_l_.--equivalent to 120,000_l_. (?) of our money.
+
+From this period, comparatively little was done for a century, when
+Edward IV. began to re-erect St. George's Chapel, nearly as we now see
+it; thereby adding, if not immediately to the castle itself, to the
+buildings within its precincts, one of extraordinary beauty and
+interest, as being in some respects the very finest specimen of the
+Perpendicular style and of ecclesiastical architecture in the kingdom.
+What adds, in some degree, to the interest of this edifice is, that the
+architects' names are preserved to us, it being known to be the work,
+first of Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury; and, after his death,
+in 1481, it was completed by Sir Reginald Bray, who was also architect
+of Henry VII.'s Chapel. This sovereign intended to erect a mausoleum for
+himself at Windsor, and had begun to do so on the site of the original
+chapel built by Henry III.; but he abandoned the idea in favour of that
+at Westminster. Henry VII., however, added to the castle that building
+which is still called after him, and which is situated at the western
+extremity of the north side of the great quadrangle. Fortunately, this
+has been preserved, owing, perhaps, partly to its situation; for,
+although a mere "bit," it is a singularly fine one, and a noble specimen
+of palatial architecture, in that particular style.[27]
+
+The small tower at the south-west angle of the Royal apartments near the
+library, now called erroneously King John's Tower, is an octagonal
+building, and the two chambers in it have very good vaults, with the
+ribs meeting in a central boss, which is in both cases carved into the
+form of a rose. This enables this rose-tower and the rose-vaults to be
+identified in a very remarkable manner. The tower was very richly
+painted, and the quantity of paint and other materials charged on the
+roll misled the late Mr. Hudson Turner, who had only seen a portion of
+these accounts, and made him think they belonged to the great Round
+Tower, and that it was painted on the outside. The dates do not agree
+with this, and there is no evidence of external painting.
+
+The works which had been carried on during a great part of the long
+reign of Edward III. were not completed at the time of his death, and
+were continued under Richard II.; but with the exception of necessary
+repairs, the accounts for this reign relate chiefly to the offices and
+dependencies of the cattle, especially the mews for the falcons, which
+was evidently a large and important establishment not within the walls.
+
+Geoffrey Chaucer, "the father of English poetry," was appointed, in the
+fourteenth year of this reign, clerk of the works, but very little was
+done in his time. The old chapter house, the remains of Henry the VII.'s
+palace, and the Clewer Tower and prison, are objects of much interest. A
+flight of about twenty steps leads down into the dungeons, which had
+been constructed by Henry III. for the confinement of State prisoners:
+it is a large and finely-arched vault, surrounded by seven small cells,
+each dismally lighted through a loop-hole in the thick wall.
+
+The reign of Elizabeth forms almost an epoch in the architectural
+history of the castle, because, though she did not do much to it in the
+way of building, except annexing the portion erected by Henry VII., that
+which is distinguished by the name of Queen Elizabeth's Gallery, she
+first caused the terraces to be formed, thereby adding to the royal
+abode of Windsor, these truly regal characteristics. Under the Stuarts
+nothing material was done until the Restoration, when the castle began
+to be modernised, but in insipid taste. The principal addition made by
+Charles II. was the Star Building (containing the State Apartments shown
+to the public). The rooms were spacious and lofty, with large arched
+windows, commanding enchanting prospects; their only embellishment was
+derived from the sprawling pencil of Verrio. The first two Georges did
+nothing for Windsor; George III. on the contrary, much, especially in
+restoring the interior of St. George's Chapel. In 1796, James Wyatt
+Gothicised the Star Building, and other portions. Meanwhile, the east
+and south sides, the portions actually inhabited, were so inconvenient
+that it was found indispensable, in 1778-82, to erect a separate
+building for the actual occupation of the royal family: this was the
+Queen's Lodge, a large, plain house on the south side of the castle,
+near the site of the present stables. About 1823, George IV., with a
+grant of 300,000_l_. from Parliament, began his grand improvements, with
+Jeffry Wyatt for his architect; commencing with George the Fourth's
+Gateway, the entrance into the quadrangle on the south side, in a direct
+line with the Long Walk. We shall not attempt to detail the
+improvements: among the most effective is the fine architectural vista
+quite through from the north terrace by George the Fourth's Gateway;
+the addition of the Waterloo Gallery, lighted from above, and brought
+into a group with the Throne-room and the Ball-room. St. George's Hall
+has been greatly improved, and at its western end has been constructed
+the Chapel. By renovation and remodelling the exterior, greater height
+has been given to most of the buildings; some of the towers have been
+carried up higher, and others added: amongst these last are the
+Lancaster and York, flanking George IV.'s Gateway; and the Brunswick
+Tower at the north-east angle. But the most striking improvement of the
+kind was that of carrying up the Round Tower thirty feet higher,
+exclusive of the Watch Tower on its summit, which makes the height in
+that part twenty-five feet more; thus rendering the castle much more
+conspicuous than formerly as a distant object.
+
+The architect's work has been much animadverted on: the details and
+strange intermixture of the earliest and latest styles of Gothic are
+very objectionable; and, as to general effect, Canon Bowles objected
+that the renovated pile looked as if it had been washed with soap and
+water! Nevertheless, it is a stately pile; the venerable Canon, just
+named, says of it: "Windsor Castle loses a great deal of its
+architectural impression (if I may use that word) by the smooth neatness
+with which its old towers are now chiselled and mortared. It looks as if
+it was washed every morning with soap and water, instead of exhibiting
+here and there a straggling flower, or creeping weather-stains. I
+believe this circumstance strikes every beholder; but, most imposing
+indeed is its distant view, when the broad banner floats or sleeps in
+the sunshine, amidst the intense blue of the summer skies; and its
+picturesque and ancient architectural vastness harmonizes with the
+decaying and gnarled oaks, coeval with so many departed monarchs. The
+stately, long-extended avenue, and the wild sweep of devious forests,
+connected with the eventful circumstances of English history, and past
+regal grandeur, bring back the memories of Edwards and Henries, or the
+gallant and accomplished Surrey." In 1825, Canon Bowles, who had been
+chaplain to the Prince Regent, and writes himself down as not a
+Laureate, but "a poet of loyal, old Church of England feelings," sung as
+follows:--
+
+  "Not that thy name, illustrious dome, recalls
+  The pomp of chivalry in banner'd halls,
+  The blaze of beauty, and the gorgeous sights
+  Of heralds, trophies, steeds, and crested knights;
+  Not that young Surrey here beguiled the hour,
+  With eyes upturn'd unto the maiden's tower.[28]
+  Oh! not for these, and pageants pass'd away,
+  I gaze upon your antique towers, and pray--
+  But that my SOVEREIGN here, from crowds withdrawn,
+  May meet calm peace upon the twilight lawn;
+  That here, among these grey, primeval trees,
+  He may inhale health's animating breeze;
+  And when from this proud terrace he surveys
+  Slow Thames revolving his majestic maze,
+  (Now lost on the horizon's verge, now seen
+  Winding through lawns, and woods, and pastures green,)
+  May he reflect upon the waves that roll,
+  Bearing a nation's wealth from pole to pole,
+  And feel (ambition's proudest boast above)
+  A KING'S BEST GLORY IS HIS COUNTRY'S LOVE!"
+
+"The range of cresting towers has a double interest, whilst we think of
+gorgeous dames and barons bold, of Lely and Vandyke's beauties; and gay,
+and gallant, accomplished cavaliers like Surrey. And who ever sat in the
+stalls of St. George's Chapel, without feeling the impression, on
+looking at the illustrious names, that here the royal and ennobled
+knights, through so many generations, sat each installed, whilst arms,
+and crests, and banners glittered over the same seat?"[29]
+
+The interior of Windsor Castle, half a century since, mostly presented
+the decorative taste of the time of Charles the Second. To the seventeen
+State Apartments the public were admitted, until they were wearied with
+the mythological ceilings of Thornhill, Rigaud, and Matthew Wyatt; and
+the crowning genius of Verrio, in St. George's Hall. Throughout the
+apartments was placed the royal collection of pictures, then including
+the cartoons of Raphael; and the seven pictures of the glories of Edward
+III. painted by West for George III., remarkable for their historical
+accuracy, attributable to the friendly aid of Sir Isaac Heard, Garter
+King-at-arms, who was constantly at the elbow of the artist. And
+foremost among the decorative furniture were the State Bed of Queen
+Anne, silver chandeliers and glass-frames, and a "massive silver table
+from Hanover." Most of Gibbons's fine carvings appear to have been
+removed to Hampton Court. The Keep, or Round Tower, was the residence of
+the Constable or Governor of the castle, which he defended against all
+enemies, and he had the charge of all prisoners brought thither: the
+last was Major Belleisle, who lived in tapestried chambers, and beguiled
+his captivity with the loves of Hero and Leander and Cupid and Psyche.
+In the guard-chamber was a small magazine of arms. At the top of the
+stairs, within the wall, was planted a large piece of cannon, levelled,
+through an aperture, at the lower gate; there were also seventeen pieces
+of cannon mounted at the embrasures round the curtain of the towers,
+which was then the only battery in the castle, though formerly the whole
+place was strongly fortified with cannon on each of the several towers,
+besides those on the two platforms in the Lower Ward.
+
+The remodelling of the private apartments of the castle has been
+effected with due regard to convenience and splendour. Among the more
+pleasurable memorials of royal visits, are the fittings of the
+apartments refurnished for the Emperor and Empress of the French, in
+which satin hangings, bordered with long-stitch needlework, in the
+natural colours of the flowers portrayed, are much admired, as are also
+the Brussels lace and white silk toilet-table, &c. There are in the
+state-rooms some fine Gobelin tapestries, inlaid cabinets, superb
+clocks, and a malachite vase and doors. In the plate room, among other
+superb works, is a tall vase of oxydized silver, produced for the Prince
+Consort, a short time previous to his death, at the cost of 1,000_l_.;
+besides rock crystal cups and beakers, the gold mounts studded with
+jewels, and the cups engraved and ornamented with flowers in silver
+filigree. Two of the most splendid receptions at the castle in the
+present reign, were the fêtes at the christening of the Prince of Wales
+in 1842, and the visits of Louis Philippe and some of his family in
+1844: upon the latter occasion, the castle, seen from a distance, in the
+shades of an autumnal evening, with lights gleaming from nearly every
+window of the long-extended and stately pile, had a most enchanting
+effect.
+
+Next to Windsor, deserves to be ranked Warwick Castle, in
+picturesqueness of site rivalling the royal palace; it is one of the
+finest specimens in the kingdom of the ancient residences of our feudal
+nobles. Not only for its architecture, but for its scenic accessories,
+and the sylvan character of the surrounding grounds, Warwick Castle is
+of almost matchless beauty. Of its archæology, on reference to the Pipe
+Rolls, we find it first mentioned in the 19th of Henry II., when it was
+furnished and garrisoned, at an expense of 10_l_. (equal to 200_l_.
+now), on behalf of the king against his son, and so it remained in the
+hands of Henry II. for three years. In the 20th and 21st of Henry II.
+are records of outlay for the soldiers, and in the latter year 50_l_.
+was spent in repairs. In the 7th year of King John, the castle, then
+belonging to the Crown (not the present castle, but a castle on the same
+site), was defended for 253 days; and in the days of Henry III. the
+walls were completely thrown down and destroyed. In the 9th of Edward
+II. (1315) it was returned, on an inquisition, as worth nothing except
+for the herbage in the courts and ditches, valued at 6_s_. 8_d_. a year.
+In the reign of Edward III. (1357) a new building was commenced by
+Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and finished about 1380. Guy's Tower
+was built in 1394. The next period in the architectural history of the
+castle is two or three hundred years later. The castle was then used as
+a gaol. The next work was the erection of the entrance-hall. Mr. Salvia,
+the architect, has been called in by the Earl of Warwick, and has made
+habitable a portion of the castle which before had been unused. The
+extreme beauty of the two towers is considered as unequalled in the
+world.
+
+In the valuable collection of pictures in Warwick Castle are a curious
+portrait of Queen Elizabeth, painted very early in her reign; portrait
+of Sir Philip Sydney, the intimate friend of Fulke Greville; Charles I.
+on horseback, probably a copy made by Vandyke from that at Blenheim;
+and the colossal picture of Charles I. copied from the original in the
+Vandyke Room at Windsor, a duplicate of which is to be seen at Hampton
+Court. At Warwick, too, is Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII. noted for
+the exquisite finish of its details. The collection of ancient and
+modern armour is very valuable. The great hall of the castle, in its
+appearance and furniture, retains much of its ancient character.
+Externally, the form of the building has sustained little alteration;
+its site is a solid rock, in which the cellars are excavated. Cæsar's
+Tower is the most ancient; Guy's Tower, of Decorated English character,
+is la fine preservation. In one of the greenhouses is the celebrated
+ancient marble vase brought to England by the Earl of Warwick, to whom
+it had been given by Sir William Hamilton; it is known as the _Warwick
+Vase_, and has been copied in various materials.
+
+As you look from the castle windows upon the soft-flowing Avon, with its
+gentle ripple in your ears, the effect is fascinating, and you are
+almost carried back to the age of fays and fairies. Henry V. visited
+Guy's Cliff; and Shakspeare is supposed to have made it a favourite
+retirement.
+
+Warwick has its apocryphal antiquities, more especially Guy's
+curiosities. The story of this famous fellow is said to have been taken
+from the exploits of Earl Leofric, husband of Lady Godiva; though the
+legendary Guy is derived by some from a French romance of the twelfth or
+thirteenth century. Guy, or a prototype, was reputed to be a living
+personage, and his sword and coat of mail formed the subject of a
+bequest in 1369. In the reign of Henry VIII. a pension was granted for
+the preservation of Guy's porridge-pot; but the conflict with the dun
+cow is not mentioned until in a seventeenth century play, though Dr.
+Caius, about 1552, saw a bone of a bonassus (cow) at Warwick Castle kept
+with the arms of Guy. In 1636 the rib of the dun cow was exhibited at
+Warwick. Guy's armour is a medley: a bassinet of Edward III.;
+breast-plate, fifteenth and seventeenth century; sword, Henry VIII.;
+staff, an ancient tilting-lance, very curious; the horse-armour, and
+"Fair Phillis' slippers" (strap-irons), are fifteenth century. In
+conclusion, "the renowned Guy" is considered to be a myth.
+
+The first historical Earl of Warwick was so created by the Conqueror.
+The history of the castle has some strange episodes. In 1468, Edward IV.
+marching towards Warwick, was met by an embassy from the Earl of Warwick
+to treat for peace; which the king, too credulously listening to, rested
+in his camp at Wolvey; but the Earl surprised him by night in his bed,
+and took him prisoner to his castle at Warwick. In the Civil War, 1642,
+Warwick Castle, garrisoned for the Parliament, was besieged; and, after
+the battle of Edge Hill, when Charles left Birmingham, the inhabitants
+seized the carriages containing the loyal plato, and conveyed them to
+Warwick Castle. Then Warwick and Kenilworth were in deadly hate: in 1230
+(47th Hen. III.), Maudit, Earl of Warwick, and his Countess, were
+surprised in Warwick Castle, by a party of rebels from Kenilworth
+Castle, when the walls were thrown down lest the royalists should use
+them again; and the Earl and Countess were carried prisoners to
+Kenilworth Castle.
+
+Kenilworth, five miles from Warwick and Coventry, respectively, had a
+castle which was demolished in the war of Edmund Ironside and Canute the
+Dane, early in the eleventh century. In the reign of Henry I. the manor
+was bestowed by the king on Geoffrey de Clinton, who built a strong
+castle, and founded a monastery. The castle keep is attributed to the
+reign of King John; the outer wall to the time of Henry III. The castle
+was one of the strongholds of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in
+his insurrection against Henry III. and afforded shelter to his son, and
+others of his adherents, after the fatal battle of Evesham, in 1265;
+next year, however, it capitulated, after a gallant defence. A
+tournament of 100 knights was held here in 1278, the Earl of March
+principal challenger of the tilt-yard: of the ladies, who were
+splendidly attired, it is recorded, that they wore "silken mantles." The
+east range of buildings is referred to the middle of the reign of Edward
+II. who was confined in the castle, shortly before his murder in
+Berkeley Castle, in 1327. In the following reign, John of Gaunt became
+owner of the castle, which he much augmented by new and magnificent
+buildings. Henry IV. son of John of Gaunt, united the castle, which he
+inherited, to the domains of the Crown, of which it formed a part until
+the time of Elizabeth, who granted it to Robert Dudley, Earl of
+Leicester, who erected "Leicester's Buildings." The magnificent
+entertainments given here by Leicester to Elizabeth are minutely
+described by Laneham, an attendant on the court, in a tract, entitled
+_The Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth_. On her way thither, the Queen
+was entertained by Leicester under a splendid tent at Long Itchington.
+Kenilworth has been made familiar to the general reader by Sir Walter
+Scott's picturesque romance, which has sent thousands to pic-nic among
+the castle ruins: it was dismantled after the Civil War of Charles I.
+
+Kenilworth ruins remind one of a _puzzle_, a few of the pieces of which
+have been lost, but are so few as to be readily supplied. The ruins are
+principally Late Perpendicular, but there are some Norman portions.
+Cæar's Tower, of which three sides remain, has walls sixteen feet thick.
+John of Gaunt's large and massive additions are in decay; and the
+Leicester Buildings, though comparatively modern, present, from the
+friable nature of the stone, an appearance of great antiquity: they
+contain the remains of the noble banqueting-hall. The gate-house, also
+Leicester's, is better preserved, and has in our time been occupied as a
+farm-house. The ruins are, in many parts, mantled with ivy, which adds
+to their picturesqueness; and being on an elevated, rocky site, they
+command extensive views of the country round:
+
+  "Grey memory of centuries past,
+    Proud Kenilworth! How dear
+  The charm that mellowing time hath cast
+    Over thy portals drear.
+  Thy battlements are crumbling now,
+    And ivy decks thy faded brow.
+
+  "Green grows the moss, where banners told
+    Ambitions Leicester's hour of pride;
+  Years their all-changing course have roll'd--
+    All tenantless the chambers wide.
+  Bank weeds upon the portals grow;
+    Noble and knight, where are ye now?"
+
+Traditional tales of the festive joys of Kenilworth linger on the spot;
+and among other things, it is told that the great clock was stopped
+during Elizabeth's stay at the castle, as if Time had stood still,
+waiting on the Queen, and seeing her subjects enjoying themselves!
+
+Arundel Castle, the last baronial home we have to describe, is a seat of
+great historic interest, derived from the long list of warriors and
+statesmen, whose names are identified with the place; and whose deeds,
+during the lapse of eight centuries, have shed lustre on our national
+history:
+
+  "Since William rose, and Harold fell,
+  There have been Counts of Arundel;
+  And earls old Arundel shall have
+  While rivers flow and forests wave."
+
+The castle stands on the river Arun in Sussex, at a short distance from
+the sea, which is once supposed to have washed the castle-walls, as
+anchors and other implements have been found near it. The castle is
+mentioned as early as the time of King Alfred, who bequeathed it to his
+nephew Adhelm. After the Norman Conquest, it was given by William to his
+kinsman, Roger de Montgomeri, created Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury.
+Robert, one of the successors of this Earl, supported Robert, Duke of
+Normandy, the eldest son of William I. against Henry, the youngest son
+of the Conqueror. Afterwards the castle passed into the family of
+Albini; and at last, by the marriage of that race with Thomas, Duke of
+Norfolk (in the reign of Elizabeth), into the family of the Howards. It
+gives to its possessor (now the Duke of Norfolk) the title of Earl of
+Arundel, and is an instance of a peerage attached to the tenure of a
+house, which is now an anomaly. In 11th Henry VI. it was decided that
+the tenure of the castle of Arundel alone, without any creation, patent,
+or investiture, constituted its possessor Earl of Arundel. Sir Bernard
+Burke, however, considers this fact to admit of doubt. (See _Visitation
+of Seats and Arms_, vol. i. p. 89.) For a place of defence, the castle
+must have been well calculated, standing, as it does, at the extreme
+point of an eminence which terminates one of the high and narrow ridges
+of the South Downs; and in the two immense fosses which still remain, we
+have evident tokens of the ancient mode of fortification. The entrance
+gateway, anciently defended by a drawbridge and a portcullis, was built
+by Richard Fitzalan, in the reign of Edward I. This, with some of the
+walls and the keep, is all that remains of the ancient castle.
+
+The keep is a circular stone tower, sixty-eight feet in diameter, and
+the most perfect in England. In the middle of it is a dungeon, a vault
+about ten feet high, accessible by a flight of steps, and thought to
+have served as a storehouse for the garrison. The keep has long been
+tenanted by some owls of large size and beautiful plumage, sent over
+from America as a present to the then Duke of Norfolk. The barbican was
+named Bevis's Tower from this legendary story. A giant named Bevis
+officiated here as warder, in payment for which the Earl of Arundel
+built this tower for his reception, allowing him two hogsheads of beer
+every week, a whole ox, and a proportionate quantity of bread and
+mustard. So huge was the giant, that he could, without inconvenience,
+wade the channel of the sea to the Isle of Wight, and frequently did so
+for his amusement. So, great as that wonder may be, a greater marvel is,
+how he ever got into his tower, which, upon ordinary calculations, must
+have been totally inadequate to contain him.
+
+Among the Norman remains is an extensive vault, now used as a cellar,
+about fifteen feet in height. That it was anciently used as a dungeon is
+undoubted; and in it were confined not only military captives, but every
+civil delinquent within the privileges of the honour. This was a
+considerable source of profit to the Earls, and was, therefore,
+sturdily maintained by them as a vested right. The ancient hall, with
+its appendant buildings, was in the style of the reign of Edward III.
+The north-east wing was last erected. Such was the building as it stood
+at the commencement of the seventeenth century, inclosing five acres and
+a half, and resembling in ground-plan Windsor Castle.
+
+[Illustration: ARUNDEL CASTLE--THE GREAT QUADRANGLE.]
+
+Arundel Castle was almost battered to pieces in the Civil War: the hall
+and other living apartments were rendered untenantable, and the place
+was abandoned by its noble owner, till about the year 1720, from which
+period until 1801 only partial restorations were carried out. Then was
+built the magnificent library for 10,000 volumes, in imitation of the
+aisle of a Gothic cathedral; with ornamentation from Gloucester
+Cathedral, and St. George's, Windsor: the ceiling, columns, &c. are of
+mahogany. In 1806 was begun the Barons' Hall: the roof is of Spanish
+chestnut, designed from Westminster, Eltham, and Crosby Halls; and it
+has a large stained end window, of King John signing Magna Charta,[30]
+and thirteen windows painted with baronial and family portraits; and in
+the drawing-room is a stained glass window, by Eginton, representing the
+Duke and Duchess of Norfolk as King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba at a
+banquet! The renovation of the castle cost Charles Howard, the eleventh
+Duke of Norfolk, the large sum of 600,000_l_. Upon the completion of the
+work in June, 1815, he gave a magnificent fête, which accelerated his
+death in December following. The appointments of the castle are very
+superb. The Duke of Norfolk received here, in 1846, a state visit from
+Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
+
+The park is extensive and finely wooded, and has much picturesque
+scenery. Vineyards formerly abounded in this country; so that, in 1763,
+there were sixty pipes of excellent wine resembling Burgundy, in the
+cellar of the castle, the produce of one vineyard attached to it. The
+river Arun, on which the town of Arundel stands, is famous for the grey
+mullets which, in summer, come up here in large shoals, in quest of a
+particular weed, the feeding on which renders them a great delicacy.
+
+Among the events in the castle history was the reception of the Empress
+Maud, in 1139, at Arundel Castle, by Adeliza, a relict of Henry I. King
+Stephen, apprised of her movements, appeared suddenly before the castle,
+with a well-appointed army. The Queen Dowager sent him this spirited
+message:--"She had received the Empress as her friend, not as his enemy;
+she had no intention of interfering in their quarrels," and therefore
+begged the King to allow her royal guest to quit Arundel, and try her
+fortune in some other part of England. "But," added she, "if you are
+determined to besiege her here, I will endure the last extremity of war
+rather than give her up, or suffer the laws of hospitality to be
+violated." The Queen's request was granted, and the Empress retired to
+Bristol.
+
+To conclude. No place in England deserves more notice than the Castle of
+Arundel--a grand pile of buildings, modern for the most part, and not
+capable of supporting criticism; but the ivy-grown keep, at least as old
+as the days of Henry I., may challenge comparison with any of the same
+date in this country. The castle has not withstood sieges as others
+have; it is but too well known for its surrender to Sir William Waller,
+who took from it seventeen colours of foot, two of horse, and a thousand
+prisoners. Nor is it associated with any decisive battles or events; but
+no residence presents us with such a picture of feudal times; no other
+baronial home has sent forth thirteen dukes and thirty-five earls. What
+house has been so connected with our political and religious annals as
+that of Howard? The premiers in the roll-call of our nobility, have been
+also among the most persecuted and ill-fated. Not to dwell on the
+high-spirited Isabelle, Countess Dowager of Arundel, and widow of Hugh,
+last Earl of the Albini family, who upbraided Henry III. to his face
+with "vexing the church, oppressing the barons, and denying all his
+true-born subjects their rights;" or Richard, Earl of Arundel, who was
+executed for conspiring to seize Richard II.--we must think with
+indignation of the sufferings inflicted by Elizabeth on Philip, Earl of
+Arundel, son of "the great" Duke of Norfolk, beheaded by Elizabeth in
+1572 for his dealings with Mary, Queen of Scots. In the biography of
+Earl Philip, which, with that of Ann Dacres, his wife, was well edited
+by the late lamented Duke, we find that he was caressed by Elizabeth in
+early life, and steeped in the pleasures and vices of her court by her
+encouragement, to the neglect of his constant wife, whose virtues, as
+soon as they reclaimed him to his duty to her, rendered him hated and
+suspected by the Queen, so that she made him the subject of vindictive
+and incessant persecution, till death released him at the age of
+thirty-eight. To another Howard, Thomas, son of Earl Philip, the country
+is indebted for those treasures of the East, the Arundel Marbles;
+though Lord Clarendon describes him somewhat ill-naturedly, denying him
+all claims to learning, and even gravity of character.
+
+The sight of the embattled towers of Arundel conjures up before us many
+historic personages, whom in fancy we can see emerging from their
+venerable gateways, in all the pride of youth and ancestry, whose
+mouldered ashes now repose under those grey walls. And there too now
+lies, alas! added to the number, the late kind-hearted and amiable Duke,
+snatched away, like so many of his forefathers, in the very prime of
+manhood.[31]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] Southey's _Naval History of England_, vol. i. p. 121.
+
+[22] From Poundbury may be seen Woolverton House, formerly the seat of
+the Trenchard family, and in it the fortunes of the House of Russell,
+humanly speaking, began to rise in the ascendant. When the Archduke of
+Spain was obliged to land at Weymouth, he was brought to the Sheriff of
+Dorset, and lived at Woolverton House. The Sheriff, not being able to
+speak in any language but "Dorset," found it difficult to converse with
+the Archduke, and bethought him of a young kinsman, named Russell, who
+had been a factor in Spain, and sent for him. The young man made himself
+so agreeable to the Archduke that he brought him to London, where the
+King took a fancy to him, and in time he became Duke of Bedford, and was
+the founder of the House of Russell.
+
+[23] The Roman bricks in the remains of a villa found at Stonesfield,
+near Woodstock, were fresh and sound.
+
+[24] The uses of these openings are, however, much controverted by
+antiquarian writers:--"With regard to the holes made in the archways of
+the gates as found both at Windsor and the Tower of London, the most
+probable theory of their use is that they were formed, not as is
+generally supposed, for the purpose of throwing down burning sand and
+other corroding substances on the assailants of the castle, but to pour
+down water on any fires which the enemy might make with faggots or other
+materials before the gate and portcullis."--_J. H. Parker_, F.S.A.
+
+[25] _A Visitation of Seats and Arms._ By John Bernard Burke, Esq. Vol.
+i. p. 64.
+
+[26] _Quarterly Review._
+
+[27] Charles Knight; _Penny Cyclopædia, sub_ Windsor Castle.
+
+[28] Surrey's _Poems_.
+
+[29] _History of Bremhill._
+
+[30] This window is by Buckler, after a design of Lonsdale; in it are
+portraits of Charles, Duke of Norfolk, as Baron Fitz-Walter; Captain
+Morris, as Master of the Knights Templar; Henry Howard, jun. as the
+Baron's Page; and H. C. Combe, Esq. as Lord Mayor of London.
+
+[31] _Quarterly Review_, July, 1862. The twelfth Duke died in 1842, the
+thirteenth in 1856, and the fourteenth in 1860. The present Duke, the
+fifteenth, succeeded at the age of thirteen.
+
+
+
+
+III. Household Antiquities.
+
+THE OLD ENGLISH HOUSE.
+
+
+Hitherto we have but glanced at the earlier periods of what may be termed
+Domestic Life in England. We have attempted to trace our British
+ancestors in their "woods and caves, and painted skins;" in their rude
+state, before the Roman colonization; in their advancement under that
+enlightened sway; and their decadence after their conquerors had left
+them. To these periods have succeeded the ages of Castle-building, when
+edifices were built for purposes of defence. In lawless times, might
+lorded it over right, and stronger places of abode than we regard a
+_house_ were necessary for the security and protection of the
+inhabitants. Throughout these periods we have few evidences, from their
+dwellings, of how the _people_ lived: from the earth caverns of the
+Early Britons to the Roman civilization is a dreary picture of rude
+accommodation; and though the excavation of ancient sites, and the
+operation of the plough, may bring to light many a splendid pavement and
+appliances, which denote luxurious life,--these are the remains of the
+embellished villas of the wealthy Roman, and not of the abodes of the
+conquered Briton. The Saxons lived so meanly, that it were vain to
+expect to find many traces of their dwellings; and of the Danes there
+are still fewer remains. With these exceptions we have, before the
+Conquest, no actually existing witnesses.
+
+With the Norman period our series of evidences begins. For some time
+after the Conquest, strictly domestic remains are very scanty. The great
+men lived in castles, which are, indeed, domestic so far as men lived in
+them, but whose architecture is too much affected by military
+considerations to be called strictly domestic architecture, which is the
+building of _houses_, whose defence is either not thought of or is
+something quite secondary. It is clear that houses of this sort, of such
+pretensions as to possess any architectural character, or to be
+preserved down to our time, could not well exist, in the open country at
+least, till the land had become comparatively settled and civilized.
+Hence, our list of Norman houses in England is very scanty, and they are
+chiefly formed in walled towers, like Lincoln and Bury St. Edmund's.
+[The erection of Lincoln Castle by order of William the Conqueror, in
+1086, is said to have caused the demolition of 240 houses. Perhaps the
+only perfect and untouched Norman example is the small unroofed house at
+Christ Church, in Hampshire. The church is Norman, and the tower is
+supposed to be of Roman origin.]
+
+Several of the fragments elsewhere have very fine Norman detail; but for
+Norman architecture exhibiting anything like the real grandeur of the
+style, we must look to the castles and monasteries. In the thirteenth
+century our examples are still but few and small, though much more
+numerous than before. After the age of Edward III. the castle became
+more like a mansion, as we have seen in the castles of Windsor, Warwick,
+and Kenilworth.
+
+As the character of the times became more peaceful, and law succeeded to
+the reign of the strong hand, a still further change took place in the
+construction of these dwellings, and they partook but slightly of the
+castellated character. Beauty and ornament were consulted by the
+builders instead of strength; and the convenient accommodation of the
+in-dwellers, in lieu of the means of disposing of a crowded garrison,
+and its necessary provision in time of siege. They usually retained the
+moat and battlemented gateway, and one or two strong turrets, to build
+which a royal licence was necessary. Thus, the idea of the English
+manor-house seems to have disengaged itself from that of the castle, and
+we begin to have a noble series of strictly domestic buildings, defence
+being quite secondary, and in no way obtruded. They were generally
+quadrangular in plan, the larger class inclosing two open courts, of
+which one contained the stables, offices, and lodgings of the household;
+the second, the principal or statechambers, with the hall and chapel.
+The windows were large and lofty, reaching almost to the ground, and
+several of them opening to the gardens on the outside of the building,
+though these were inclosed by high battlemented walls and a moat. It
+should, however, be remarked, that the mansion, except in edifices of
+considerable extent and consequence, seldom contained more than one
+court.
+
+The hall, in most cases, retained its original design. It was
+distinguished by its superior elevation, its turreted towers (or
+lantern), its windows, and projecting bay. The principal doorway entered
+upon a vestibule or lobby, extending across the edifice, with a door of
+inferior dimensions at the opposite extremity, having, on one side, the
+lower wall of the hall, in which were doors leading to the buttery and
+kitchener's department; and on the other, the screen, or lofty partition
+of wood, designed to conceal those doors from the view of persons in the
+hall. In the Companies' Halls of the City of London, a moveable screen
+is generally used for this purpose.
+
+The screen was often panelled with wood from top to bottom, and divided
+into compartments, which were enriched with shields and carved work,
+having usually two or three arched doorways opening on the lobby. In
+many instances, the minstrels' gallery was placed above this
+compartment.
+
+Among the richest specimens extant of the embattled mansions are
+Wingfield Manor-house, in Derbyshire; Cowdray, in Sussex;[32] Kelmingham
+Hall, in Suffolk; Penshurst, in Kent; Deene Park, in Northamptonshire;
+and Thornbury Castle, in Gloucestershire. This period of the transition
+from the castle to the mansion is considered the best style of English
+architecture.
+
+Wingfield, near the centre of Derbyshire, was built by Ralph, Lord
+Cromwell, who, in the time of Henry VI. was Treasurer of England, in
+allusion to which he had bags or purses of stones carved over the
+gateway of Wingfield, as well as on the manor-house of Coly Weston, in
+Northamptonshire, augmented by this Lord Cromwell. Wingfield Manor-house
+originally consisted of two square courts--one containing the principal
+apartments, and the other the offices. It had a noble hall lighted by a
+beautiful octagon window, and a range of Gothic windows, north and
+south. The principal entrance is by an embattled gate-house, through a
+pointed arch, beside the end of the great state apartment lighted by a
+large and rich pointed window. Here the Earl of Shrewsbury held in his
+custody Mary Queen of Scots, in a convenient suite of apartments, which
+communicated with the great tower, whence the ill-starred captive could
+see her friends with whom she held a secret correspondence. An attempt
+was made by Leonard Dacre to rescue Mary, after which Elizabeth,
+becoming suspicious of the Earl of Shrewsbury, directed the Lady
+Huntingdon to take care of the Queen of Scots in Shrewsbury's house; and
+had her suite reduced to thirty persons. Her captivity at Wingfield is
+stated to have extended to nine years, which, however, is questionable.
+
+Thornbury Castle is picturesquely placed twenty-four miles south-west of
+Gloucester, on the banks of a rivulet two miles westward of "the
+glittering, red, and rapid Severn, embedded in its emerald vale, and
+shining up in splendid contrast to the shady hills of the Dean Forest."
+Thornbury was begun by Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham; its
+completion was prevented by his execution, in the year 1522. It is a
+castellated group, with battlemented towers and turrets, and enriched
+chimney-shafts, clothed with luxuriant ivy; its bay-windows are very
+fine. Buckingham fell one of the earliest victims to the cruel tyranny
+of our eighth Henry. The line of his pedigree is marked in blood. His
+father was beheaded by Richard III.; his grandfather was killed at the
+battle of St. Albans; his great grandfather at the battle of
+Northampton; and the father of this latter at the battle of Shrewsbury.
+More than a century had elapsed since any chief of this great family had
+fallen by a natural death. Edward was doomed to no nobler fate than his
+forefathers. Knivett, a discarded officer of Buckingham's household,
+furnished information to Wolsey, which led to the apprehension of his
+late master: it was stated that he had consulted a monk about future
+events; that he had declared all the acts of Henry VII. to be wrongfully
+done; that he had told Knivett, that if he had been sent to the Tower,
+when he was in danger of being committed, he would have played the part
+which his father had intended to perform at Salisbury--where, if he
+could have obtained an audience, he would have stabbed Richard III. with
+a knife; and that he had told Lord Abergavenny, if the king had died, he
+would have the rule of the land. Yet, all this was but the testimony of
+a spy. Buckingham confessed the real amount of his absurd inquiries from
+the friar. He was tried in the court of the Lord High Steward, by a jury
+of one duke, one marquess, seven earls, and twelve barons, who convicted
+him. The Duke of Norfolk shed tears on pronouncing sentence. The
+prisoner said: "May the eternal God forgive you my death, as I do." The
+only favour which he could obtain was, that the ignominious part of a
+traitor's death should be remitted. He was accordingly beheaded on the
+17th of May, 1521; whilst the surrounding people vented their
+indignation against Wolsey by loud cries of "The butcher's son!" The
+half-built and decaying Thornbury has prompted this saddening history of
+its founder and his ill-fated family.
+
+Longleat, in Wiltshire, the seat of the Marquis of Bath, and built in
+the reign of Edward VI., is, for its date, esteemed the most regular
+building in the kingdom. Upon its site was originally a priory, which
+came into the possession of the Thynne family, in the reign of Henry
+VIII. The present mansion was commenced by the first proprietor of that
+family, and completed for his successors by an Italian architect: it
+consists of three stories, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, adorned with
+rich pilasters, handsome balustrades, and statues; and from the roof
+rise several cupolas. The apartments are large and sumptuous; and the
+great hall is two stories in height. The gardens were originally
+embellished with fountains, cascades, and statues, and laid out in
+formal parterres; but the whole has been newly remodelled. The entire
+domain is fifteen miles in circuit; and in magnitude, grandeur, and
+variety of decoration, Longleat has always been the pride of this part
+of the country. Its collection of pictures includes many portraits of
+eminent persons in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and her successors.
+
+In the time of Elizabeth and James I. were erected many mansions upon
+splendid and extensive scales. John Thorpe built five palaces for
+Elizabeth's ministers: for Lord Burghley, Theobalds and Burghley;
+Wimbledon, for Sir Robert Cecil; Hollenby and Kirby, for Lord Chancellor
+Hatton; and Buckhurst for the Earl of Dorset. Thorpe also built for Sir
+Walter Cope, Holland House, Kensington, about 1606, which received its
+name from Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, by whom the mansion was greatly
+altered. Its plan is that of half the letter H, of deep red brick, with
+pilasters and their entablature; the window dressings, and coping, of
+stone. Few of the apartments retain their original character; some of
+the interior is supposed to be by Inigo Jones. The gilt room is by
+Cleyn, an artist largely employed by James I. and Charles I.; the
+figures over the fireplace are worthy of Parmegiano, and here is a very
+fine collection of modern busts.
+
+Burghley, Northamptonshire, has the rare fortune of remaining to this
+time the seat of the descendants of the great Lord Burghley, for whom
+the mansion was built; the present noble owner being the Marquis of
+Exeter: in approaching it from Stamford, its singular chimneys, the
+variety of its turrets, towers, and cupolas, and the steeple of its
+chapel rising from its centre, give it the appearance more of a small
+city than a single building.
+
+Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, which has been a palace, episcopal, royal,
+and noble, for upwards of seven centuries, was mostly built by Thorpe,
+in 1611. The old palace was of the twelfth century: here is the chamber
+in which the Princess Elizabeth was kept for some time a state prisoner;
+and in the present mansion, Charles I. was confined. In plan, Hatfield
+is in the form of half the letter H: each front differs from the other,
+but in unity of design the Tudor period is remarkably prevalent, and it
+is believed that no house in the kingdom erected at so early a date,
+remains so entire as this.
+
+A stately mansion of this period was erected at Campden, in
+Gloucestershire, at an expense of 29,000_l_.; it occupied eight acres,
+was of splendid architecture, and had a large dome rising from the roof,
+which was illuminated nightly for the guidance of travellers. Campden
+was burnt during the Civil War.
+
+Haddon Hall, near Bakewell, in Derbyshire, erected at various periods,
+affords excellent examples of the several styles of domestic
+architecture, from the early pointed, to the Tudor and Elizabethan. It
+was originally a barton, or farm, given by William the Conqueror to his
+natural son, William Peverell. The mansion is preserved intact: the
+tapestry and paneling remain; the carved wainscoting and ornamented
+ceiling of the long gallery are of the time of Elizabeth; the
+banqueting-hall is equally perfect; the chapel is a good specimen of the
+early Pointed Gothic. Haddon is one of the curiosities of the Peak
+country. Many years since Mr. Reinagle painted a picture of this famous
+old place, which evoked the following poetical tribute to its
+truthfulness:--
+
+  "Gre weeds o'ertop thy ruin'd wall,
+  Grey, venerable Haddon Hall;
+    The swallow twitters through thee:
+  Who would have thought, when, in their pride,
+  Thy battlements the storm defied,
+    That Time should thus subdue thee?
+
+  "While with a famed and far renown
+  England's third Edward wore the crown,
+    Up sprang'st thou in thy glory;
+  And surely thine (if thou couldst tell,
+  Like the old Delphian Oracle)
+    Would be a wondrous story.
+
+  "How many a Vernon thou hast seen,
+  Kings of the Peak thy walls within;
+    How many a maiden tender;
+  How many a warrior stem and steel'd,
+  In burganet, and lance, and shield,
+    Array'd with martial splendour.
+
+  "Then, as the soft autumnal breeze
+  Just curl'd the lake, just stirr'd the trees,
+    In the blue cloudless weather,
+  How many a gallant hunting train,
+  With hawk in hood, and horse in rein,
+    Forsook thy courts together!
+
+  "The grandeur of the olden time
+  Mounted thy towers with pride sublime,
+    Enlivening all who near'd them;
+  From Hippocras and Sherris sack
+  Palmer or pilgrim turn'd not back
+    Before thy cellars cheer'd them.
+
+  "Since thine unbroken early day,
+  How many a race hath pass'd away,
+    In charnel vault to moulder--
+  Yet Nature round thee breathes an air
+  Serenely bright, and softly fair,
+    To charm the awed beholder.
+
+  "The past is but a gorgeous dream,
+  And Time glides by us like a stream,
+    While musing on thy story;
+  And sorrow prompts a deep alas!
+  That, like a pageant thus, should pass
+  To wreck all human glory."
+
+It is now time to speak more in detail of the main apartment--the chief
+feature of an ancient residence of every class--the Great Hall, which
+often gave its name to the whole house. A very able writer has thus
+lucidly yet briefly told its history:--"In the early houses, the hall is
+almost the whole house; there is nothing besides, except the requisite
+offices and a room or two for the lord and the lady. The mass of the
+household slept how they might in the hall. Gradually, as civilization
+increased, the accommodation in a house became greater, and the relative
+importance--sometimes the positive size--of the Hall gradually
+diminishes. The family gradually deserted it, and the modern luxury of
+the dining-room was introduced. The _with_drawing-room, that into which
+they withdrew from the hall, had already appeared. At last, in the
+sixteenth century, the Hall, though still a grand feature, became, as
+now, a mere entrance, often with rooms over it."
+
+Sometimes, the Great Hall was raised upon an undercroft of stone
+vaulting, as we see in the Guildhall, the undercroft of which is the
+finest specimen of its class in the metropolis. Gerard's Hall, in
+Basing-lane, built by John Gisors, pepperer, Mayor of London in 1245,
+and is described by Stow as "a great house of old time, builded upon
+arched vaults, and with arched gates of stone, brought from Cane, in
+Normandy."
+
+Aubrey, writing in the seventeenth century, thus describes, in his
+quaint way, the characteristics of the old manorial or hall houses of
+the times of the Plantagenets and Tudors: "The architecture of an old
+English gentleman's house (especially in Wiltshire and thereabouts) was
+a high strong wall, a gate-house, a Great Hall, and parlours, and within
+the little green court, where you come in, stood on one side the
+_barne_. _They then thought not the noise of the threshold ill
+musique._"
+
+To come to details. The Great Hall corresponded to the refectory of the
+abbey. The principal entrance to the main building, from the front or
+outer court, opened into a _thorough lobby_, having on one side several
+doors or arches, leading to the buttery,[33] kitchen, and domestic
+offices; on the other side, the Hall, parted off by a screen, generally
+of wood, elaborately carved, and enriched with shields and a variety of
+ornaments, and pierced with several arches, having folding-doors. Above
+the screen, and over the lobby, was the minstrels' gallery; on its front
+were usually hung armour, antlers, and similar memorials of the family
+exploits.
+
+The Hall itself was a large and lofty room, in the shape of a
+parallelogram; the roof, the timbers of which were framed with pendants,
+generally richly carved and emblazoned with arms, formed one of the most
+striking features. "The top beam of the Hall," in allusion to the
+position of his coat-of-arms, was a symbolical manner of drinking the
+health of the master of the house. At the upper end of the apartment,
+furthest from the entrance, the floor was usually raised a step, and
+this part was styled the _daïs_, or high place. On one side of the daïs
+was a deep embayed window, reaching nearly down to the floor; the other
+windows ranged along one or both sides of the Hall, at some height above
+the ground, so as to leave room for wainscoting, or arras, below them.
+We see this arrangement to great advantage in the Great Hall at Hampton
+Court Palace, where the wall beneath the windows is hung with Flemish
+tapestry, in eight compartments, the arabesque borders of which are very
+beautiful; the subject is the History of Abraham. The tapestry at the
+entrance of the Hall is of much earlier date, being in the school of
+Albert Durer: the subject, Justice and Mercy pleading before Kings or
+Judges. The withdrawing-room is also hung with tapestry, the subjects
+mostly mythological; and the oriel-window is filled with armorial
+stained glass.
+
+The Hall windows generally were enriched with stained glass,
+representing the armorial bearings of the family, their connexions, and
+royal patrons; and between the windows were hung full-length portraits
+of the same persons. The windows were not, however, permanently glazed
+till the fifteenth century. Before that, it was the custom for the
+glazed casements to be carried about from manor to manor along with the
+other furniture; every man of rank, whether civil or ecclesiastical, was
+in the habit of travelling with all his retinue, from one estate to
+another, so as to consume the produce of each estate upon the spot. It
+is this custom, or rather necessity, which explains the multitude of
+manorial houses possessed by every mediæval magnate, and the constant
+migrations from one to the other. Royal writs and documents are
+frequently dated from the most insignificant places where the court, on
+its progress from one royal manor to another, might happen to be
+staying.[34]
+
+To return to the Hall. The Royal arms usually occupied a conspicuous
+station at either end of the room. The head-table was laid for the lord
+and principal guests on the raised place, parallel with the upper end
+wall; and other tables were ranged along the sides for inferior visitors
+and retainers. Tables, thus placed, were said to stand _banquet-wise_.
+In the centre of the Hall was the rere-dosse, or fire-iron, against
+which fagots were piled, and burnt upon the stone floor, the smoke
+passing through an aperture in the roof immediately overhead, which was
+generally formed into an elevated lantern, a conspicuous ornament to the
+exterior of the building. In later times, a wide-arched fireplace was
+formed in the wall on one side of the room.
+
+The Halls, in fact, of our colleges, at either University, and the Inns
+of Court, still remain as in Aubrey's time, accurate examples of the
+ancient and baronial and conventual Halls: preserving not merely their
+original form and appearance, but the identical arrangement and service
+of the table. Even the central fire has been, in some instances, kept
+up, being of charcoal, burnt in a large braziere, in lieu of the
+rere-dosse. The open fire was so kept up, at Westminster School, so late
+as 1850. The Halls of the temple, Gray's Inn, and Staple Inn, have their
+lanterns; and even the Hall of Barnard's Inn, the oldest and the
+smallest, has its lantern; the newly built Hall of Lincoln's Inn has a
+very ornamental one; and the new roof of the Guildhall is to have a
+lantern with a lofty spire. The lantern of Westminster Hall is large and
+picturesque; it is modern, of cast-iron, but is an exact copy of the
+original one, erected near the end of the fourteenth century. As the
+existing lanterns are no longer required for the egress of smoke, they
+are glazed.
+
+In other respects, probably, little, if anything, has been altered since
+the Tudor era; and he who is anxious to know the mode in which our
+ancestors dined in the reigns of the Henrys and Edwards, may be
+gratified by attending that meal in the Great Halls of Christchurch or
+Trinity, and tasking his imagination to convert the principal and
+fellows at the upper table, into the stately baron, his family, and
+guests; and the gowned commoners at the side-tables, into the liveried
+retainers. The service of the kitchen, buttery, and cellar is conducted,
+at the present day, precisely according to the ancient custom.[35]
+
+Gradually, the solar or private sitting-room of the matron or mistress
+of the house increased in importance. Its most usual position was at one
+end of the Hall, on an upper level, raised above an apartment which was
+used as a cellar or a store-room.
+
+The Hall is, of course, the part of a house or castle where the art of
+architecture proper has the best opportunity of displaying itself. So,
+in a monastery, the refectory comes next in grandeur to the church and
+chapter-house. Indeed, some of the early Halls were built not unlike
+churches, with two rows of pillars. In a wooden construction this is not
+uncommon both in halls and barns; but the examples we mean have two
+regular aisles with stone pillars and arches. Such was the original
+Westminster Hall, till Richard II. threw it into one body under the
+present magnificent single roof. The finest existing example is perhaps
+that superb one at Oakham Castle, of the best architecture of the end of
+the twelfth century. In the next century we have the Hall of the Royal
+Palace at Winchester used like that at Oakham, for an assize-court. Of
+single-bodied halls of the fourteenth century, nothing can surpass those
+of Caerphilly Castle in Glamorganshire, and Mayfield Palace in Sussex.
+Mayfield has, and Caerphilly seems to have been designed to have, a very
+effective arrangement of stone arches thrown across at intervals to
+support the roof, and to produce something of the effect of actual
+vaulting. The same is the case at Conway. Most of these examples are
+ruined.[36] Mayfield has lately been restored.
+
+The gallery was brought into use with the Elizabethan style of
+architecture, and became a prominent feature among the apartments of
+houses in that style. The gallery at Hatfield, with a magnificently
+gilded ceiling--a blaze of gold--is a fine specimen: it was regilt just
+previous to the visit of Queen Victoria to Hatfield in 1846: a state
+ball was given in this gallery, and we remember to have been told the
+day after the Royal visit, that during the dance there fell from Her
+Majesty's hand a rose, which was immediately taken up by a gentleman of
+the company; on bended knee he presented it to the Queen, who most
+graciously returned the flower, which, we doubt not, is preserved.
+
+The extensive passages in some ancient houses have, no doubt, been
+originally similar to the open galleries round our old inns, of which we
+have examples, year by year, diminishing in number. These passages were
+ultimately inclosed for comfort and convenience. The staircases, in
+ancient times, were usually cylindrical, and were carried up in a
+separate turret: it was not until the age of Elizabeth that the massive
+staircase, with its broad hand-rails, balustrades, and enriched
+ornaments, was introduced into the mansion; that of a later period is
+familiarly known as a "Queen Anne staircase."
+
+The royal parlour of Eltham is a perfect specimen of the
+banqueting-hall, and was the frequent residence of our kings before
+Henry VIII.; and here they held their great Christmas feasts. Two
+thousand guests in 1483 were entertained here at Christmas, by Edward
+IV., the royal builder of the Hall. His badges--the falcon, the
+fetterlock, and rose-en-soleil--are sculptured over the chief entrance;
+and Edward is represented by Skelton as saying:
+
+  "I made Nottingham a palace royal,
+  Windsor, Eltham, and many mo'."
+
+Princesses have been cradled here, Parliaments have met in the Great
+Hall, and kings and queens have betaken themselves here to meditate upon
+the waning earthly greatness. The gloomy Henry VII. at intervals retired
+to Eltham; Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth would spend a few days in the
+almost forsaken palace; and James I. had been known to pass a morning
+here.
+
+Eltham is now a regal ruin. "The fair pleasaunce, the echoing courts,
+the king's lodging, presence and guard chamber, and the rooms in which
+the royal attendants lodged, have all disappeared. The gateway and high
+walls of ruddy brick only remain to mark the site of the tilt-yard. The
+moat is half dry, and the sluggish stream is still spanned by the bridge
+of four arches, which is contemporaneous with the Hall; but 'the gateway
+and the fair front towards the moat,' built by Henry VII., have been
+replaced by two modern houses; and another, with three barge-board
+gables, and corbelled attics, to the east end of the Hall, retains the
+designation of the Buttery. There is a view of the Hall by Buck, dated
+1735, which represents a great portion of the palace, with its quaint
+water-towers and moated walls still standing; but, although Parliament
+in 1827 spent £700 upon the repairs, the state of the Hall is sad enough
+now: full of litter of every sort, its windows unglazed or bricked up;
+with damp fastenings in the naked walls, and rough rafters stretching
+across from side to side, and reaching above the corbels. It is now
+used as a barn. It was at once an audience-chamber and refectory, 100
+feet in length, 55 in height, and 36 feet broad. But the windows now
+admit broad streams of cheerful sunshine, which light up the thick
+trails of ivy that flow over the empty panes; its deep bay-window, now
+stripped of glazing, but enriched with groining and tracery which
+flanked the daïs, betoken the progress which elegance and security had
+made at the period of their erection: the lofty walls continue to
+support a high pitched roof of oak, in tolerable preservation, with
+hammer-beams, carved pendants, and braces supported on corbels of hewn
+stone; and although the royal table, the hearth, and louvre have
+disappeared, there are still remains of the minstrels' gallery, and the
+doors in the oak screen below it, which lead to the capacious kitchen,
+the butteries, and cellars, to tell each their several tale of former
+state."[37]
+
+Hitherto, we have mostly spoken of palaces and mansions. It is, however,
+very difficult to discover any fragments of houses inhabited by the
+gentry, before the reign, at soonest, of Edward III., or even to trace
+them by engravings in the older topographical works; not only from the
+dilapidations of time, but because very few considerable mansions had
+been erected by that class. It is an error to suppose that the English
+gentry were lodged in stately, or even in well-sized houses. They
+usually consisted of an entrance-passage, running through the house,
+with a hall on one side, a parlour beyond, and one or two chambers
+above; and on the opposite side, a kitchen, pantry, and other offices.
+Such was the ordinary manor-house of the fifteenth and sixteenth
+centuries. "In the remains of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
+Somersetshire is especially rich. Almost every village has a house, a
+parsonage, or some building or other of this class, to say nothing of
+extensive monastic remains, as at Glastonbury, Woodspring, Muchelney,
+and Old Cleve. Among the Somersetshire houses, the original portions of
+Clevedon Court may claim the first place. Then comes a long list, of
+which, perhaps, the manor-house and 'fish-house' of Meare, near
+Glastonbury, are the most curious and beautiful."[38]
+
+Larger houses were erected by men of great estates during the reigns of
+Henry VI. and Edward IV.; but very few can be traced higher; and Mr.
+Hallam, in his _History of the Middle Ages_, conceives it to be
+difficult to name a house in England, still inhabited by a gentleman,
+and not of the castle description, the principal apartments of which are
+older than the reign of Henry VII. There may be a few solitary specimens
+of earlier date. The Rev. Mr. Lysons says:--"The most remarkable
+fragment of early building which I have anywhere found mentioned, is at
+a house in Berkshire, called Appleton, where there is a sort of
+prodigy--an entrance-passage with circular arches in the Saxon (?
+Norman) style, which must, probably, be as old as the reign of Henry II.
+No other private house in England, as I conceive, can boast of such a
+monument of antiquity."
+
+Wood and stone were the earliest materials used in house-building; but
+as great part of England affords no stone fit for building, her
+oak-forests were thinned, and less durable dwellings were erected with
+inferior timber. Stone houses are, however, mentioned as belonging to
+the citizens of London, even in the latter half of the twelfth century.
+Flints bound together with strong cement were employed in building
+manor-houses. Hewn stone was employed for castles, and the larger
+mansions: much stone was, in early times, brought from Normandy.
+Chestnut was much employed. Evelyn, in his _Sylva_, states that "The
+chestnut is, next the oak, one of the most sought after by the carpenter
+and joiner. It hath formerly built a good part of our ancient houses in
+the City of London, as does yet appear. I had once a very large barn
+near the City, framed entirely of this timber; and certainly the trees
+grew not far off, probably in some woods near the town; for in that
+description of London, written by Fitz-Stephen, in the reign of Henry
+II. he speaks of a very noble and large forest which grew on the boreal
+[north] part of it."[39]
+
+Ducarel, in his _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, says: "Rudhall, near Ross,
+in Herefordshire, is built with chestnut, which probably grew on the
+estate, although no tree of the kind is now to be found growing wild in
+that part of the country. The old houses in the city of Gloucester are
+constructed of chestnut, derived assuredly from the chestnut-trees in
+the forest of Dean. In some of the oldest houses of Faversham much
+genuine chestnut as well as oak is employed. In the nunnery of
+Davington, near Faversham (now entire), the timber consists of oak,
+intermingled with chestnut."
+
+In the fourteenth century, ornamental carpentry had reached a high
+degree of excellence. There are many examples of ancient timber houses
+yet remaining in this country: they have massive beams and timbers, and
+are generally of unnecessary strength. The intermixture of wood, brick,
+and stone, or wood and plaster, in the exterior of houses, was, for a
+considerable period, the common style of building in the fifteenth and
+sixteenth centuries. Weatherboard--that is, planks overlapping each
+other--was formerly much used for house-fronts, and possessed great
+durability. Overhanging roofs, walls of plaster with lofty gables,
+bay-windows, and porches of timber, with each story projecting beyond
+the other, are so many characteristics of a mixed style, when the rude
+dangers of the timber houses became progressively intermingled with the
+massive architecture of a subsequent period; and the external use of
+timber in the walls continued to prevail for a very long time.
+Beaconsfield Rectory, of the sixteenth century, has the basement story
+completely built of glazed bricks in chequered patterns; the
+superincumbent story has elevated roofs and gables, and is constructed
+with massive timbers placed near together, and plastered between. The
+staircase, which is semi-cylindrical and composed of timber, is added to
+the north side of the house. The entire structure forms three sides of a
+quadrangle, with a lofty wall and entrance on the fourth; its interior
+is rude and massive.
+
+In an account of a topographical excursion in 1634, the hall of
+Kenilworth is described with a roof "all of Irish wood, neatly and
+handsomely framed;" in it are five chimneys, "answerable to so great a
+room:" then we read of the Guard, Presence, and Privy chambers, fretted
+above richly with coats of arms, and all adorned with fair and rich
+chimney-pieces of alabaster, black marble, and joiners' work in
+curiously carved wood; all the fair and rich rooms and lodgings in the
+spacious tower not long since built, and repaired at great cost by
+Leicester. "The priuate, plaine, retiring-chamber wherein or renowned
+Queene of euer famous memory, alwayes made choice to repose her Selfe.
+Also the famous, strong old tower, called Julius Cæsar's, on top whereof
+was view'd the pleasant, large Poole continually sporting and playing on
+the Castle: the Parke, and the fforest contiguous thereto." Kenilworth
+has been already described at pp. 101-103.
+
+Many a middle-aged reader can recollect the disappearance of rows of
+gabled houses, with timber and plaster fronts, from the metropolis:
+great part of the High-street of Southwark, built in this manner, was
+taken down between 1810 and 1831; at the latter period, some houses with
+ornamental plaster fronts disappeared. In Chancery-lane, a very old
+thoroughfare, several houses of this class have been taken down within
+memory; and many an old house-front, with ornamental carving, is missed
+from the Strand; a few linger in Holywell-street and Wych-street. And,
+in 1865, was taken down one side of Great Winchester-street, stated to
+be one of the oldest specimens of domestic architecture remaining in the
+metropolis. The casement hung on hinges was the earliest form of window,
+properly so called. Sash-windows were not introduced till the early part
+of the reign of Charles I., and were not general till the latter part of
+the time of Queen Anne.
+
+In the construction of farm-houses and cottages there have been,
+probably, fewer changes than in large mansions. Cottages in England seem
+to have generally consisted of a single room, without division of
+stories. The Spaniards who came to England in Queen Mary's time,
+wondered when they saw the large diet used by the inmates of the most
+homely-looking cottages. "The English, they said, make their houses of
+sticks and dirt, but they fare as well as the king; whereby it appeareth
+(says Harrison), that they like better of our goode fare in such coarse
+cabins, than of their own thin diet in their princelike habitations and
+palaces."
+
+In various counties we can scarcely fail to be struck with the
+difference in the forms of the cottages, as in the height of the
+building, the pitch of the roof, as well as the materials. Only let the
+traveller on the Brighton railway look out after he has passed Redhill,
+and he may see evidence of the truth of the above remark. Cobbett has
+left us this charming picture of the Sussex cottages in one of his
+_Rural Rides_:--
+
+      "I never had," he writes, "that I recollect, a more pleasant
+      journey, or ride, than this into Sussex. The weather was pleasant,
+      the elder-trees in full bloom, and they make a fine show; the
+      woods just in their greatest beauty; the grass-fields generally
+      uncut; and the little gardens of the labourers full of flowers;
+      the roses and honeysuckles perfuming the air at every cottage
+      door. Throughout all England, these cottages and gardens are the
+      most interesting objects that the country presents, and they are
+      particularly so in Kent and Sussex. This part of these counties
+      has the great blessing of numerous woods; these furnish fuel,
+      nice, sweet fuel, for the heating of ovens and all other purposes:
+      they afford materials for the making of pretty pigsties, hurdles,
+      and dead fences, of various sorts; they afford materials for
+      making little cow-sheds; for the sticking of peas and beans in the
+      gardens; and for giving to everything a neat and substantial
+      appearance. These gardens, and the look of the cottages, the
+      little flower-gardens, which you everywhere see, and the beautiful
+      hedges of thorn and of privet,--these are the objects to delight
+      the eyes, to gladden the heart, and to fill it with gratitude to
+      God, and love for the people; and as far as my observation has
+      gone, they are objects to be seen in no other country in the
+      world. Those who see nothing but the nasty, slovenly places in
+      which labourers live round London, know nothing of England. The
+      fruit-trees are all kept in the nicest order; every bit of paling
+      or wall is made use of, for the training of some sort or other. At
+      Lamberhurst, which is one of the most beautiful villages that ever
+      man set his eyes on, I saw what I never saw before, namely, _a
+      gooseberry-tree trained against a house_. The house was one of
+      those ancient buildings, consisting of a frame of oak-wood, the
+      interval filled up with brick, plastered over. The tree had been
+      planted at the foot of one of the perpendicular pieces of wood;
+      from the stem which mounted up this piece of wood were taken side
+      limbs, to run along the horizontal pieces. There were two windows,
+      round the frame of each of which the limbs had been trained. The
+      height of the highest shoot was about ten feet from the ground,
+      and the horizontal shoots from each side were from eight to ten
+      feet in length. The tree had been judiciously pruned, and all the
+      limbs were full of very large gooseberries, considering the age of
+      the fruit. This is only one instance out of thousands that I saw
+      of extraordinary pains taken with the gardens."
+
+Those who love the picturesque will excuse our halting to sketch an
+episode from the history of the royal forest of Ashdown, in Sussex, once
+possessed by John of Gaunt, and hence called "Lancaster great Park."
+Upon the borders of the forest lies the manor of Brambertie of Domesday,
+and Brambletye of Horace Smith; the home of the Comptons, and in the
+tale of fiction, as in fact, dismantled by Parliament troopers, and
+within two centuries a ruin. Richard Lewknor is the first person
+described as of Brambletye. He most probably built in one of the forest
+glens the moated mansion known as "Old Brambletye House," which, with
+its gables and clustered chimneys, and its moat and drawbridge, long
+remained an interesting specimen of the fortified manor-house of the
+reign of Henry VII. We remember the old place, some sixty years since,
+but it has long been taken down. Towards the middle of the seventeenth
+century, Brambletye came into the possession of the Comptons, an ancient
+Roman Catholic family; and here Sir Henry Compton built himself, from
+an Italian design, another Brambletye House, of the white stone of the
+country. Over the principal entrance to the mansion were sculptured the
+coat-armour of Compton, with the arms of Spencer, in a shield, on the
+dexter side: and on the upper story was cut in stone, C. H. M. 1631.
+This fixes the period when the house was built; and when Sir Henry
+Compton, who had before inhabited the old moated house in the
+neighbourhood, abandoned it to take up his residence in this once
+elegant and substantial baronial mansion.
+
+From the court-rolls of the manor, it does not appear who succeeded the
+Comptons in the property; but Sir James Rickards, in his patent of
+baronetcy, 1683-4, is described as of Brambletye House. The story goes,
+that "a proprietor of the mansion being suspected of treasonable
+purposes, officers of justice were dispatched to search the premises,
+when a considerable quantity of arms and military stores was discovered
+and removed; he was out hunting at the time, but receiving intimation of
+the circumstance, deemed it most prudent to abscond." The historical
+version is, that in the Civil War, Sir John Compton, a true Royalist,
+took an active part against the Parliament armies: although never
+capable of any regular defence, yet Brambletye, being partially
+fortified, refused the summons of the Parliamentary Colonel Okey, by
+whom it was invested and speedily taken. The mansion was subsequently
+deserted. From a sketch taken in 1780, the principal front was nearly
+entire: it consisted of three square towers, the entrance doorway being
+in the central tower; the two wings had handsome bay-windows; the three
+towers were surmounted with cupolas and weather-vanes; but one had half
+its cupola shattered away, and was internally blackened, as if with
+gunpowder. In front of the house were an inclosed courtyard and two
+entrance-gates, one flanked by two massive, square towers, with cupolas.
+Horace Smith having named his romance _Brambletye House_, the opening
+scenes being laid there, has sent hundreds of tourists to pic-nic among
+the ruins; but the spoilers were constantly at work. Some fifteen years
+ago, "all that remained of Brambletye House was one of the towers
+clothed with stately ivy, and little more than one story of each of the
+other towers; the intervening portions, with their bay-windows, had
+disappeared. Nature had, however, lent a helping hand: by the shrubby
+trees and the ivy, the ruins had gained that picturesqueness which so
+often lends a graceful charm to scenes of decaying art."[40]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[32] In the noble park of Cowdray, the home of the Montagues, Queen
+Elizabeth, in 1591, killed three or four deer with her cross-bow, while
+on a visit to Lord Montague. Three deaths in one family by drowning, and
+the almost total destruction of a fine mansion by fire, within the
+memory of living man, are enough to make one tread the beautiful grounds
+of Cowdray with feelings of awe, and to invest it with a superstitious
+melancholy. Three hundred years ago, however, there was no more festive
+house in England, when "three oxen and 120 geese" figured in its bill of
+fare for breakfast. The then proprietor was a strict disciplinarian, and
+the "Orders and Rules of Sir Anthony Browne" curiously illustrate the
+domestic economy of a great man's family in the sixteenth century,
+especially as regards its important departments of the "ewerye" and the
+"buttyre," and those pet officers, "my server" and "my
+carver."--_Quarterly Review_, 1861.
+
+[33] "The cat's behind the _buttery_-shelf."--_Old Ditty._
+
+[34] _Saturday Review_, 1861.
+
+[35] There is an oft-quoted passage in the Aubrey MSS. which may be
+appositely represented here as a life-like picture of the economy of the
+Hall: "The lords of manouers did eate in their great gothicque halls, at
+the high tables or oreile, the folk at the side-tables. The meat was
+served up by watchwords. Jacks are but an invention of the other days;
+the poor boys did turn the spitts, and licked the dripping-pan, and grew
+to be huge lusty knaves. The body of the servants were in the Great
+Hall, as now in the guard-chamber, privy-chamber, &c. The hearth was
+commonly in the midst, as at colleges, whence the saying, 'round about
+our coal-fire.' Here, in the Halls were the mummings, cob-loaf stealing,
+and great number of old Christmas playes performed. In great houses were
+lords of misrule during the twelve dayes after Christmas. The halls of
+justices were dreadful to behold. The screens were garnished with
+corslets and helmets gaping with open mouth, with coates of mail,
+lances, pikes, halberts, brown-bills, battle-axes, bucklers, and the
+modern callivers, petronells, and (in King Charles's time) muskets and
+pistolls."
+
+[36] _Saturday Review_, 1859.
+
+[37] Abridged from a paper in _Once a Week_, 1860.
+
+[38] _Saturday Review_, 1859.
+
+[39] In times anterior to this date, the greater part of the City was
+built of wood. The houses being roofed with straw, reeds, &c. frequent
+fires took place, owing to this mode of building: thus, in the first
+year of the reign of Stephen, a conflagration spread from London Bridge
+to the church of St. Clement Danes, in the Strand. Thenceforth, the
+houses were built of stone, covered and protected by thick tiles against
+the fury of fire, whenever it arose. The change from wood to stone dates
+from this period.
+
+[40] _Something for Everybody, and a Garland for the Year._ By the
+Author of the present volume. Pp. 170-176, Second Edition.
+
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISHMAN'S FIRESIDE.
+
+
+Healthful Warmth and Ventilation are to this day problems to be worked
+out; and few practical subjects have so extensively enlisted ingenious
+minds in their service. Yet, much remains to be done.
+
+Dr. Arnott, the worthy successor of Count Rumford[41] in _heat
+philosophy_, when seeking to shame us out of using ill-contrived
+fireplaces and scientific bunglings, tells us that the savages of North
+America place fire in the middle of the floor of their huts, and sit
+around in the smoke, for which there is escape only in the one opening
+in the hut, which serves as chimney, window, and door. Some of the
+peasantry in remote parts of Ireland and Scotland still place their
+fires in the middle of their floors, and, for the escape of the smoke,
+leave only a small opening in the roof, often not directly over the
+fire. In Italy and Spain, almost the only fires seen in sitting-rooms
+are large dishes of live charcoal, or braziers, placed in the middle,
+with the inmates sitting around, and having to breathe the noxious
+carbonic-acid gas which ascends from the fire, and mixes with the air in
+the room; there being no chimney, the ventilation of the room is
+imperfectly accomplished by the windows and doors. The difference
+between the burned air from a charcoal fire, and smoke from a fire of
+coal or wood, is that in the latter there are added to the chief
+ingredient, carbonic acid, which is little perceived, others which
+disagreeably affect the eyes and nose, and so force attention.
+
+With these facts before us, it is not difficult to imagine how our
+ancestors tolerated the nuisance of wood smoke filling their rooms till
+it found its way through the roof lantern, as was generally the case
+until the general introduction of chimneys late in the reign of
+Elizabeth. It should, however, be mentioned that the temperature of
+their apartments was kept considerably below that of our sitting-rooms
+in the present day. Before the fourteenth century, except for culinary
+and smithery purposes, robust Englishmen appear to have cared little
+about heating their dwellings, and to have dispensed with it altogether
+during the warmer months of the year. Even so late as the reign of Henry
+VIII. it seems that no fire was allowed in the University of Oxford:
+after supping at eight o'clock, the students went to their books till
+nine in winter, and then took a run for half an hour to warm themselves
+previously to going to bed. Therefore, all ideas of the firesides of our
+forefathers should be confined to four centuries.
+
+The usage of making the fire in the middle of the hall, a lover of olden
+architecture says, "was not without its advantages: not only was a
+greater amount of heat obtained, but the warmth became more generally
+diffused, which, when we consider the size of the hall, was a matter of
+some importance. The huge logs were piled upon the andirons or thrown
+upon the hearth, and the use of wood and charcoal had few of those
+inconveniences which would have resulted from coal;" an opinion
+strangely at variance with that of the heat philosopher already quoted.
+
+We are now approaching the age of Chimneys. A practical writer has thus
+pictured the domestic contrivance, _ad interim_: "The hearth recess was
+generally wide, high, deep, and had a large flue. The hearth, usually
+raised a few inches above the floor, had sometimes a halpas or daïs made
+before it, as in the King's and Queen's chambers in the Tower. Before
+the hearth recess, or on the halpas, when there was one, a piece of
+green cloth or tapestry was spread, as a substitute for the rushes that
+covered the lower part of the floor. On this were placed a very
+high-backed chair or two, and foot-stools, that sometimes had cushions;
+and above all high-backed forms, and screens, both most admirable
+inventions for neutralizing draughts of cold air in these dank and
+chilling apartments. Andirons, fire-forks, fire-pans, and tongs were the
+implements to supply and arrange the fuel. Hearth recesses with flues
+were common in the principal chambers and houses of persons of
+condition; and were superseding what Aubrey calls flues, like loover
+holes, in the habitations of all classes. The adage that 'one good fire
+heats the whole house,' was found true only in the humbler dwellings;
+for in palace and mansion, though great fires blazed in the
+presence-chamber, or hall, or parlour, the domestics were literally
+famishing with cold. This discomfort did not, however, proceed from
+selfish or stingy housekeeping, but rather from an affectation of
+hardihood, particularly among the lower classes, when effeminacy was
+reckoned a reproach. Besides, few could know what comfort really was;
+but those who did, valued it highly. Sanders relates that Henry VIII.
+gave the revenues of a convent, which he had confiscated, to a person
+who placed a chair for him commodiously before the fire and out of all
+draughts."
+
+On the introduction of chimneys, in the year 1200, only one chimney was
+allowed in a manor-house, and one in the great hall of a castle or
+lord's house: other houses had only the rere-dosse, a sort of raised
+hearth, where the inmates cooked their food. Harrison, in a passage
+prefixed to _Holinshed's Chronicle_, writes in the reign of Elizabeth:
+"There are old men dwelling in the village where I remayne, who have
+noted three things to be marvellously altered in England, within their
+sound remembrance. One is the multitude of chimneys lately erected;
+whereas, in their younger days, there was not about two or three, if so
+many, in most uplandish towns of the realm (the religious houses and
+manor places of the lords always excepted, and peradventure some great
+personage's); but each made his fire against a reré-dosse in the hall,
+where he dined and dressed his meat."
+
+Numerous instances, however, remain of fireplaces and chimneys of the
+fourteenth century, even in the hall, though they were more usual in the
+smaller apartments. In the hall at Meare, in Somersetshire, the
+fireplace had a hood of stone, perfect, finely corbelled out; and by the
+side of the fireplace is a bracket for a light, ornamented with foliage.
+
+It is curious to find chimneys constructed of so combustible a material
+as wood. In the _Liber Albus_ of the City of London, 1419, it is ordered
+by Wardmote "that no chimney be henceforth made, except of stone, tiles,
+or plaster, and _not of timber_, under pain of being pulled down."
+
+In the metropolis, we possess a hall of the fifteenth century, which has
+a fireplace, the existence of which, in a hall of this age, is singular,
+if not unique. In the north wall of the celebrated hall of Crosby Place,
+Bishopsgate Street, is a fireplace with a low pointed arch. The builder
+must have possessed a more refined taste than his contemporaries, and
+feeling the inconvenience attending a fire of the old description (in
+the middle of the hall) adopted the plan of confining it to the recessed
+fireplace and the chimney.[42] Here we may mention the "smoke-loft,"
+which seems to mean the wide space in the old-fashioned chimney.
+
+It is curious to find that a tax was once paid upon a fire in England.
+Such was "the smoke farthings" levied by the clergy upon every person
+who kept a fire. The "hearth money" was a similar tax, but was paid to
+the king: it was first levied in 1653, and its last collection was in
+1690.
+
+In the Tapestry room of St. James's Palace is a stone Tudor arched
+fireplace, sculptured with H. A. (Henry and Anne), united by a true
+lover's knot, surmounted by the regal crown and the lily of France, the
+portcullis of Westminster, and the rose of Lancaster.
+
+By a record of 1511, it appears that the hall-fire was discontinued on
+Easter Day, then called God's Sunday. In the _Festival_, published in
+the above year, we read: "This day is called, in many places, _Goddes
+Sundaye_: ye know well that it is the maner at this daye to do the fire
+out of the hall, and the black wynter brondes, and all thynges that is
+foule with fume and smoke, shall be done awaye, and where the fyre was
+shall be gayly arayed with fayre floures, and strewed with grene rysshes
+all aboute." The andirons being cleared away, the space whereon the fire
+was made, on the hearth, was strewed with green rushes; whence the
+custom, in our time, of decorating, in the country, stove-grates with
+evergreens, and flowers, and paper ornaments, when they are not used for
+fires. Rushes were, at this time, much in use. At Canterbury, one of the
+oldest cities in England, at the end of Mercery-lane, is pointed out the
+site of the ancient _rush-market_, in which stood a great cross, painted
+and gilt. We still employ rushes made into matting, for the floors of
+churches.
+
+Coal is first mentioned in 1245; but the smoke was supposed to corrupt
+the air so much, that Edward I. forbade the use of that kind of fuel by
+proclamation; and among the records in the Tower, Mr. Astle found a
+document, importing that in the time of Edward I. a man had been tried,
+convicted, and executed, for the crime of burning sea-coal in London.
+
+Coal first came into general use in the north of England.[43] Wood
+billets, however, long remained the principal fuel of the south; and the
+contrivance for burning such fuel with economy was the first deviation
+in metal from the rude simplicity of the rere-dosse towards the close
+fire-grate. This consisted of useful iron trestles, called hand-irons,
+or andirons, formerly common in England, and yet occasionally to be met
+with in old mansions and farm-houses, under the appellation of _dogs_.
+Originally, these articles were not only found in the houses of persons
+of good condition, but in the bedchamber of the king himself. Strutt,
+writing in 1775, says: "These awnd-irons are used at this day, and are
+called cob-irons: they stand on the hearth, where they burn wood, to lay
+it upon; their fronts are usually carved, with a round knob at the top;
+some of them are kept polished and bright; anciently many of them were
+embellished with a variety of ornaments." In another place, giving an
+inventory of the bedchamber of Henry VIII. in the palace of Hampton
+Court, including awnd-irons, with fire-fork, tongs, and fire-pan, Strutt
+adds, "of the awnd-irons, or as they are called by the moderns,
+cob-irons, myself have seen a pair which in former times belonged to
+some noble family. They were of copper, highly gilt, with beautiful
+flowers, enamelled with various colours disposed with great art and
+elegance." At Hever Castle in Kent,--the family seat of the Boleyns, as
+well as the property of Anne of Cleves, and which Henry VIII. with
+matchless cupidity claimed in right of a wife from whom, previously to
+her being beheaded, he had been divorced,--is a pair of elegant
+andirons, bearing the royal initials H. A. and surmounted with a royal
+crown. And, in an inventory of Henry's furniture in the Tower of London,
+we find mentioned "two round pairs of irons, upon which to make fire in,
+and for conveying fire from one apartment to another."
+
+Shakspeare thus minutely describes a pair of andirons belonging to a
+lady's chamber:--
+
+  "Two winking Cupids
+    Of silver, each on one foot standing,
+  Depending on their brands nicely."--_Cymbeline._
+
+A middle sort of irons, called creepers, was smaller, and usually placed
+within the dogs, to keep the ends of the wood and brands from the
+hearth, that the fire might burn more freely. A pair of these irons is
+thus described in one of the early volumes of the _Gentleman's
+Magazine_: "There being in a large house a variety of rooms of various
+sizes, the sizes and forms of the andirons may reasonably have been
+supposed to have been various too. In the kitchen, where large fires are
+made, and large pieces of wood are laid on, the andirons, in
+consequence, are proportionately large and strong, and usually plain, or
+with very little ornament. In the great hall, where the tenants and
+neighbours made entertainment, and at Christmas cheerfully regaled with
+good plum-porridge, mince-pies, and stout October, the andirons were
+commonly larger and stronger, able to sustain the weight of the roaring
+Christmas fire; but these were more ornamented, and, like knights with
+their esquires, attended by a pair of younger brothers far superior to,
+and therefore, not to be degraded by, the humble style of creepers;
+indeed, they were often seen to carry their heads at least half as high
+as their proud elders. A pair of such I have in my hall: they are of
+cast-iron, at least two and a half feet high, with round faces, and much
+ornamented at the bottom."
+
+At Cotehole House, in Cornwall, may be seen a pair of richly ornamented
+brass dogs, upwards of four feet high; and a few years since we remember
+to have seen, in Windsor Castle, a pair of andirons faced with richly
+wrought silver. Yet these articles are eclipsed by some costly items in
+a list of wedding presents in the reign of James I. wherein is described
+"an invention," namely, "fire-shovel, tongs, and irons, creepers, and
+all furniture of a chimney, of silver, and a cradle of silver to burn
+sea-coal." This expensiveness of material, in all probability, was not
+matched by the manufacture, a disproportion which reminds us of the
+_silver furniture_ in some districts of South America, where the earth
+yields tons of that metal. Thus the proprietor of a productive silver
+mine in Peru is known to have ejected from his house all articles of
+glass or crockery ware, and replaced them by others made of silver.
+Here, likewise, might be seen pier-tables, picture-frames, mirrors, pots
+and pans, and even a watering-trough for mules--all of solid silver!
+
+To return to the invention of grates. As the consumption of coal
+increased, the transition from andirons to fire-grates composed of
+connected bars, was obvious and easy. The andirons formed the
+end-standards, which supported the grate itself, a sort of raised
+cradle. Besides these supports, the back-plate, cast from a model of
+carved-work (often with the arms of the family), was added; and
+generally under the lowest bar was a filigree ornament of bright metal,
+which, under the designation of a fret, still retains its place in
+modern stoves. Movable fireplaces of the above description may be met
+with about two hundred years old; for at this period, as the quotation
+of the time of James I. proves, implements for the fireplace were in
+use. A magnificent fireplace of the above description has been
+manufactured for St. George's Hall, in Windsor Castle, so as to
+harmonize with the architectural character of that noble apartment.
+
+Convenience soon suggested the fixing of fireplaces, which led to their
+being made with side-piers, or hobs, so as to fill the whole space
+within the chimney-jambs; till the snug cosy chimney-corner is only to
+be met with in farm-houses, where _dogs_ are used to this day.
+
+It would be tedious to follow the improvements in fireplaces from the
+first introduction of stoves, about the year 1780, to the present time:
+from straight unornamental bars and sides, to elegant curves, pedestal
+hobs, and fronts embellished with designs of great classic beauty.
+Indeed, in no branch of manufacture are the advantages of our enlarged
+acquaintance with the fine arts more evident than in the taste of
+ornaments displayed in the stove-grates of the present day. The tasteful
+display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 will doubtless be remembered by
+the reader. "Grates," says the Supplementary Report of the Juries on
+Design, "rank among the principal works in hardware to which ornamental
+design is applied, at least on the English side; and there by far the
+best specimens, both as to design and workmanship, are to be found: this
+was to be expected from the general necessity for warmth in our cold and
+variable climate; an Englishman's love for his fireside having passed
+into a proverb."
+
+By fire-irons are understood a shovel, a poker, and pair of tongs. These
+implements were not all found on the ancient hearth; nor were they
+necessary when wood alone was burnt. In the time of Henry VIII. the only
+accompaniment of the andirons was the fire-fork with two prongs, a
+specimen of which is preserved in Windsor Castle; still, in the
+apartments for the upper classes, the irons for trimming the fire were
+more complete. The use of coal and of close fireplaces led to the
+adoption of the poker; and about the same period were introduced
+fenders, the first of which were bent pieces of sheet-iron placed before
+the fire, to prevent the brands or cinders from rolling off the
+hearth-stone upon the wooden floors; but fenders have been improved with
+stoves, till the display of our fireplace is the chief ornamental
+feature of our rooms.
+
+With these changes, however, the chimney-corner has disappeared, and is
+but remembered in poetry, or the pages of romance.
+
+A great deal has been written of late years in disparagement of the open
+coal fire and the chimney, in comparison with the stove and flue; but
+Professor Faraday has shown the chimney to possess very important
+functions in sanitary economy. Thus, a parlour fire will consume in
+twelve hours forty pounds of coal, the combustion rendering 42,000
+gallons of air unfit to support life. Not only is that large amount of
+deleterious product carried away, and rendered innoxious by the chimney,
+but five times that quantity of air is also carried up by the draught,
+and ventilation is thus effectually maintained.
+
+Since the ascent of smoke up a chimney depends on the comparative
+lightness of the column of air within to that of an equal column
+without, the longer the chimney the stronger will be the draught, if the
+fire be sufficiently great to heat the air; but if the chimney be so
+long that the air is cooled as it approaches the top, the draught is
+diminished.
+
+It must not be supposed that the modes we have described were the only
+means of heating houses with which our ancestors were familiar. The
+Romans in England evidently employed flue-tiles for the artificial
+heating of houses or baths. In 1849, a course of flue-tiles was found
+upon a farm near Reigate, in Surrey; they were shown to have been taken
+from some Roman site in the neighbourhood, and had been used on the farm
+to form a drain; the apertures for heated air being covered by pieces of
+Roman wall-tile, or stone, to prevent the soil falling into the flues.
+One of these flue-tiles is ornamented with patterns, not scored, but
+impressed by the repetition of stamps, to produce an elaborate design.
+Several varieties of flue-tiles have been found: one from a Roman bath
+in Thames Street; and a remarkable double flue-tile, found in the City
+of London, and preserved in Mr. Roach Smith's collection in the British
+Museum. These tiles were arranged one upon the other, and carried up the
+inner sides of the walls of the rooms, to which artificial heat was to
+be given from the hypocaust, or subterranean stove, by which means it
+was easy to regulate the temperature. Pliny describes a bedchamber in
+his villa warmed by the hypocaust and the tiles, with narrow openings.
+Sometimes the floor and sides were entirely coated with these tiles.
+
+The Curfew, or _Couvre-feu_, should be mentioned as an appurtenance to
+the fireplaces in the Anglo-Norman times. The _couvre-feu_ formerly in
+the collection of the Rev. Mr. Gostling, and so often engraved, passed
+into the possession of Horace Walpole, and was sold at Strawberry Hill,
+in 1842, to Mr. William Knight. It is of copper, riveted together, and
+in general form resembles the "Dutch-oven" of the present day. In the
+same lot was a warming-pan of the time of Charles II. In February 1842,
+Mr. Syer Cuming purchased of a curiosity-dealer in Chancery-lane a
+_couvre-feu_ closely resembling Mr. Gostling's; and Mr. Cuming
+considers both specimens to be of the same age--of the close of the
+fifteenth or early part of the sixteenth century; whereas Mr. Gostling's
+specimen was stated to be of the Norman period. A third example of the
+_couvre-feu_ exists in the Canterbury Museum; and early in 1866, a
+_couvre-feu_--reputed date, 1068--was sold by Messrs. Foster, in Pall
+Mall.
+
+The _Couvre-feu_ is stated to have been used for extinguishing a fire,
+by raking the wood and embers to the back of the hearth, and then
+placing the open part of the _couvre-feu_ close against the back of the
+chimney. The notion that all fires should be covered up at a certain
+hour, was a badge of servitude imposed by William the Conqueror, is a
+popular error; since there is evidence of the same custom prevailing in
+France, Spain, Italy, Scotland, and many other countries of Europe, at
+this period: it was intended as a precaution against fires, which were
+very frequent and destructive, when so many houses were built of wood.
+Besides, the curfew was used in England in the time of Alfred, who
+ordained that all the inhabitants of Oxford should, at the ringing of
+the curfew-bell at Carfax, cover up their fires and go to bed. It is,
+therefore, concluded that the Conqueror revived or continued the custom
+which he had previously established in Normandy: in fact, it was, in
+both countries, a beneficial law of police.[44]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[41] Count Rumford was one of the founders of the Royal Institution, the
+workshop of the Royal Society. In the basement of the house of the
+Institution in Albemarle Street, was fitted up an experimental kitchen,
+with "Rumford stoves," roasters, and boilers. One of his earliest stoves
+is in the Museum of the Royal Society, at Burlington House. Count
+Rumford lived some time at 45, Brompton Row, where the double windows in
+the house-front long denoted the scientific aims of the ingenious
+tenant.
+
+[42] See Hall-fires, described at p. 122.
+
+[43] It was not till the reign of William III. that coal became our
+staple fuel.
+
+[44] See _Popular Errors Explained_. New edit. p. 42. 1858. The old
+custom of ringing the curfew-bell is retained in several villages and
+towns. (See Mr. Syer Cuming's paper in the _Journal of the British
+Archæological Association_, vol. iv. p. 153. Also, _Notes and Queries_,
+vols. ii. iii. iv. vi. vii. viii.) In proof that the custom cannot
+justly be considered an evidence of an unworthy state of subjection, is
+the fact that the obligation to extinguish fires and lights at a certain
+hour was imposed upon his subjects by David I. King of Scotland, in his
+_Leges Burgarum_; and in this case no one ever imagined that it conveyed
+any sign of infamy or servitude. Curfew-ringing is common in the south
+of Scotland, at Kelso, and other towns in Roxburghshire, which appears
+to prove that it cannot have originated with the Norman Conqueror.
+
+
+
+
+PRIVATE LIFE OF A QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
+
+
+One of the most interesting records of the domestic life of our ancestors
+that we remember to have read, is a series of "Notices of the Last Days
+of Isabella, Queen of Edward II. drawn from an Account of the Expenses
+of her Household," and communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, by
+Mr. E. A. Bond, of the British Museum. Nothing can exceed the minuteness
+of this memorial of the domestic manners of the middle of the fourteenth
+century--_the private life of five hundred years since_. No court
+circular ever chronicled the movements of royalty more circumstantially
+than does this household account; nor can any roll among our records
+detail more closely the personal expenses of the sovereign than do the
+notices before us.
+
+It will be recollected by the attentive reader of our history, that,
+after the deposition and murder of King Edward II., we hear little of
+the history of the chief mover of these fearful events.[45] The
+ambitious Mortimer expiates his crimes on the scaffold. Isabella, the
+instigator of sedition against her king, the betrayer of her husband,
+survives her accomplice; but, from the moment that her career of guilt
+is arrested, she is no more spoken of. Having mentioned the execution of
+Mortimer, Froissart tells us that the King soon after, by the advice of
+his council, ordered his mother to be confined in a goodly castle, and
+gave her plenty of ladies to wait and attend on her, as well as knights
+and esquires of honour. He made her a handsome allowance to keep and
+maintain the state she had been used to; but forbade that she should
+ever go out, or drive herself abroad, except at certain times, when any
+shows were exhibited in the court of the castle. The Queen thus passed
+her time there meekly, and the King, her son, visited her twice or
+thrice a year. Castle Rising was the place of her confinement. This
+castle, which in part gives name to the town, is believed to have been
+originally built by Alfred the Great: at any rate, William de Albini, to
+whose ancestors the Conqueror gave several lordships in the county,
+built a castle here before 1176; and this edifice appears to inclose a
+fragment of a more ancient building. There are, to this day,
+considerable remains: the keep is still standing, though much
+dilapidated; the walls are three yards thick; and the division and
+arrangement of the apartments are very obvious. It stands in a ballium
+or court, surrounded by a moat and an embankment. The general style of
+the building is Norman, and bears a resemblance to that of Norwich
+Castle. Here the Queen took up her abode in 1330; after the first two
+years the strictness of her seclusion was relaxed. She died at Hertford,
+August 22, 1358, and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars, within
+Newgate, now the site of Christ's Hospital.
+
+The Account of the Queen's Expenses is one of the Cottonian MSS. in the
+British Museum, and embraces, in distinct divisions, the Queen's general
+daily expenses; sums given in alms; miscellaneous necessary expenses;
+disbursements for dress; purchases of plate and jewellery; gifts;
+payments to messengers; and imprests for various services. In the margin
+of the general daily expenses are entered the names of the visitors
+during the day, together with the movements of the household from place
+to place. From these notices, in addition to the light they throw upon
+the domestic life of the period, we gain some insight into the degree of
+personal freedom enjoyed by the Queen and her connexions; the
+consideration she obtained at the Court of the great King Edward III.
+her son; and even into her personal disposition and occupations. These
+particulars relate to her last days.
+
+It appears that at the beginning of October 1357, the Queen was residing
+at her castle of Hertford, having not very long before been at Rising.
+The first visitor mentioned, and who sups with her, was Joan, her niece,
+who visited the Queen constantly, and nursed her in her last illness.
+Hertford Castle was built by Edward the Elder, about 905 or 909. In the
+civil war of the reign of John, this fortress was taken, after a brave
+defence, by the Dauphin Louis, and the revolted barons: it subsequently
+came to the crown, and was granted in succession to John of Gaunt, and
+to the Queens of Henry IV., Henry V., and Henry VI. Jean II. King of
+France, and David, King of Scotland, spent part of their captivity here
+during the reign of Edward III. Queen Elizabeth occasionally resided and
+held her court in the castle.
+
+About the middle of October, Queen Isabella set out from Hertford on a
+pilgrimage to Canterbury. She rested at Tottenham, London, Eltham,
+Dartford, and Rochester; in going or returning visited Leeds Castle, and
+was again at Hertford in the beginning of November. She gave alms to the
+nuns--Minoresses without Aldgate; to the rector of St. Edmund's in
+London, in whose parish her hostel was situated--it was in Lombard
+Street; and to the prisoners in Newgate. On the 26th of October, she
+entertained the King and Prince of Wales, in her own house in Lombard
+Street; and we have recorded a gift of thirteen shillings and fourpence
+to four minstrels who played in their presence.
+
+On the 16th of November, after her return to Hertford Castle, she was
+visited by the renowned Gascon warrior, the Captal de Buche, cousin of
+the Comte de Foix. He had recently come over to England with the Prince
+of Wales, having taken part, on the English side, in the great battle of
+Poitiers: and subsequent entries record the visits of several noble
+captives taken in that battle.
+
+On the following day is recorded a visit, at dinner, of the "Comes de la
+March," considered to be Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, the grandson of
+her favourite. He was high in Edward the Third's confidence, and appears
+to have been in England at the present time: under the head of
+donations is notice of a sum paid to four minstrels of the Earl of
+March. His visit was, as we find, subsequently twice repeated, and then
+in company with the King (by whom, as Froissart tells us, "he was much
+loved") and the Prince of Wales. "And thus," says Mr. Bond, "we have an
+indication that time has scarcely weakened Isabella's fidelity to a
+criminal attachment; and that, although the actual object of it had been
+torn from her, she still cherished his memory, and sought her friends
+among those most nearly allied to him."
+
+On the 28th of November, and two following days, the Queen entertained
+the Earl of Tancarville, one of the captives at Poitiers; and with him
+the Earl of Salisbury, who was connected with the Mortimers, being
+brother-in-law to the existing Earl of March, although his father had
+personally acted a principal part in arresting Isabella's paramour in
+Nottingham Castle. On the 15th of December, the Queen was visited by the
+Countess of Pembroke, one of Isabella's closest friends. And, again,
+what can we infer but a clinging on her part to the memory of Mortimer,
+when we find that this lady was his daughter? and thus visits were
+received by Isabella from a daughter, the grandson, and grandson's
+brother-in-law, of her favourite, within the space of one month.
+
+On the 10th of February, messengers arrive from the King of Navarre, to
+announce, as it appears elsewhere, his escape from captivity; an
+indication that Isabella was still busy in the stirring events in her
+native country. On the 20th of March, the King comes to supper. On each
+day of the first half of the month of May, during the Queen's stay in
+London, the entries show her guests at dinner, and her visitors after
+dinner and at supper, as formally as a court circular of our own time.
+
+Of the several entries we can only select a few of the more interesting.
+Here we may remark that on three occasions in March, the guests came to
+_supper_ with the Queen: these are Lionel, Earl of Ulster; the King; and
+the Earl of Richmond. The supper of that period was given, probably, at
+five o'clock, three hours earlier than the royal dinner of our time.[46]
+
+In April, we find reference to the Queen's journey to Windsor; upon
+which Mr. Bond remarks: "There is no room for doubt, therefore (though
+the chroniclers make no mention of the circumstance), that the object of
+Isabella's journey was to be present at the festivities held at Windsor
+by Edward III. in celebration of St. George's Day, the 23d of
+April--festivities set forth with unwonted magnificence, in honour of
+the many crowned heads and noble foreigners then in England, and to
+which strangers from all countries were offered safe letters of
+conduct." From an entry in May, we find a donation of the considerable
+sum of six pounds thirteen shillings (equal in value to about ninety
+pounds of the present currency) to a messenger from Windsor, certifying
+her of the conclusion of terms of a peace between Edward III. and his
+captive, John of France; and the same sum is given by Isabella, the same
+day, to a courier bearing a letter from Queen Philippa, conveying the
+same intelligence.
+
+On May 14, Isabella left London, and rested at Tottenham, on her way to
+Hertford; and a payment is recorded of a gift of six shillings and
+eightpence to the nuns of Cheshunt, who met the Queen at the cross in
+the high road, in front of their house.
+
+On the 4th of June, Isabella set out on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and
+a visit to Leeds Castle. At Canterbury, on the 10th and 11th, she
+entertained the Abbot of St. Augustine's; and under Alms are recorded
+the Queen's oblations at the tomb of St. Thomas: the crown of his head
+(the part having the tonsure, cut off by his assassins), and point of
+the sword (with which he had been slain); and her payment to minstrels
+playing "in volta;" as also her oblations in the church of St.
+Augustine, and her donations to various hospitals and religious houses
+in Canterbury.
+
+Respecting Isabella's death, she is stated by chroniclers to have sunk,
+in the course of a single day, under the effect of a too powerful
+medicine, administered at her own desire. From several entries, however,
+in this account, she appears to have been in a state requiring medical
+treatment for some time previous to her decease. She expired on August
+22; but as early as February 15, a payment had been made to a messenger
+going on three several occasions to London for divers medicines for the
+Queen, and for the hire of a horse for Master Lawrence, the physician;
+and again, for another journey by night to London. On the same day a
+second payment was made to the same messenger for two other journeys by
+night to London, and two to St. Albans, to procure medicines for the
+Queen. On the 1st of August, payment was made to Nicholas Thomasyer,
+apothecary, of London, for divers spices and ointment supplied for the
+Queen's use. Among the other entries is a payment to Master Lawrence of
+forty shillings, for attendance on the Queen and the Queen of Scotland,
+at Hertford, for an entire month.
+
+It is evident that the body of the Queen remained in the chapel of the
+castle until November 23, as a payment is made to fourteen poor persons
+for watching the Queen's corpse there, day and night, from Saturday, the
+25th of August, to the above date, each of them receiving twopence
+daily, besides his food. While the body lay at Hertford, a solemn mass
+was performed in the chapel, when the daily expenditure rose from the
+average of six pounds to fifteen and twenty-five pounds. The Queen's
+funeral took place on the 27th: she was interred in the choir of the
+church of the Grey Friars, the Archbishop of Canterbury officiating, and
+the King himself being present at the ceremony. Just twenty-eight years
+before, on nearly the same day, the body of her paramour Mortimer was
+consigned to its grave in the same building.
+
+We now reach the Alms, which amount to the considerable sum of 298_l_.,
+equivalent to about 3,000_l_. of present money. They consist of chapel
+offerings; donations to religious houses; to clergymen preaching in the
+Queen's presence; to special applicants for charity; and to paupers. The
+most interesting entry, perhaps, is that of a donation of forty
+shillings to the abbess and minoresses without Aldgate, in London, to
+purchase for themselves two pittances on the anniversaries of Edward,
+late King of England, and Sir John, of Eltham (the Queen's son), given
+on the 20th of November. And this is the sole instance of any mention in
+the Account of the unhappy Edward II.
+
+Among these items is a payment to the nuns of Cheshunt for meeting the
+Queen in the high road in front of their house: and this is repeated on
+every occasion of the Queen's passing the priory in going to or from
+Hertford. There is more than one entry of alms given to poor scholars of
+Oxford, who had come to ask it of the Queen. A distribution is made
+amongst a hundred or fifty poor persons on the principal festivals of
+the year, amongst which that of Queen Katharine is included. Doles also
+are made among paupers daily and weekly throughout the year, amounting
+in one year and a month to 102_l_. On the 12th of September, after the
+Queen's death, a payment of twenty shillings is made to William Ladde,
+of Shene (Richmond), on account of the burning of his house by an
+accident, while the Queen was staying at Shene.
+
+Under the head of "Necessaries," we find a payment of fifty shillings to
+carpenters, plasterers, and tilers, for works in the Queen's chamber,
+for making a staircase from the chamber to the chapel, &c. Afterwards we
+find half-yearly payments of twenty-five shillings and twopence to the
+Prioress of St. Helen's, in London, as rent for the Queen's house in
+Lombard Street; a purchase of two small "catastæ," or cages, for birds,
+in the Queen's chamber; and of hemp-seed for the same birds. From an
+entry under Gifts, it appears that two small birds were given to
+Isabella by the King, on the 26th of November. Next are payments for
+binding the black carpet in the Queen's chamber; for repairs of the
+castle; lining the Queen's chariot with coloured cloth; repairs of the
+Queen's bath, and gathering of herbs for it. Also, payments to William
+Taterford, for six skins of vellum, for writing the Queen's books, and
+for writing a book of divers matters for the Queen, fourteen shillings,
+including cost of parchment; to Richard Painter, for azure for
+illuminating the Queen's books; the repayment of sum of 200_l_. borrowed
+of Richard Earl of Arundel; the purchase of an embroidered saddle, with
+gold fittings, and a black palfrey, given to the Queen of Scotland; a
+payment to Louis de Posan, merchant, of the Society of Mallebaill, in
+London, for two mules bought by him at Avignon for the Queen, 28_l_.
+13_s_.: the mules arrived after the Queen's death, and they were given
+over to the King.
+
+The division of the account relating to her jewels is chiefly
+interesting as affording an insight into the personal character of
+Isabella, and showing that the serious events of her life and her
+increasing years had not overcome her natural passion for personal
+display. The total amount expended on jewels was no less than 1,399_l_.,
+equivalent to about 16,000_l_. of our present currency; and, says Mr.
+Bond, "after ample allowance for the acknowledged general habit of
+indulgence in personal ornaments belonging to the period, we cannot but
+consider Isabella's outlay on her trinkets as exorbitant, and as
+betraying a more than common weakness for those vain luxuries." The more
+costly of them were purchased of Italian merchants. Her principal
+English jewellers appear to have been John de Louthe and William de
+Berking, goldsmiths, of London. In a general entry of 421_l_. paid for
+divers articles of jewellery to Pardo Pardi, and Bernardo Donati,
+Italian merchants, are items of a chaplet of gold, set with "bulays"
+(rubies), sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and pearls, price 105_l_.;
+divers pearls, 87_l_.; a crown of gold, set with sapphires, rubies of
+Alexandria, and pearls, price 80_l_. The payment was not made till the
+8th of August; but there can be little doubt that these royal ornaments
+were ordered for the occasion of Isabella's visit to Windsor, at the
+celebration of St. George's Day. Among other entries, is a payment of
+32_l_. for several articles: namely, for a girdle of silk, studded with
+silver, 20_s_.; three hundred doublets (rubies), at twentypence the
+hundred; 1,800 pearls, at twopence each; and a circlet of gold, of the
+price of 16_l_. bought for the marriage of Katharine Brouart; and
+another of a pair of tablets of gold, enamelled with divers histories,
+of the price of 9_l_.
+
+The division of Dona, besides entries of simple presents and gratuities,
+contains notes of gifts to messengers, from acquaintances; and others,
+giving us further insight into the connexions maintained by the Queen.
+Notices of messengers bringing letters from the Countesses of Warren and
+Pembroke, are very frequent. Under the head of Prestita, moreover, is an
+entry of a sum of 230_l_. given to Sir Thomas de la March, in money,
+paid to him by the hands of Henry Pikard, citizen of London (doubtless
+the magnificent Lord Mayor of that name, who so royally entertained King
+John of France, the King of Cyprus, and the Prince of Wales, at this
+period), as a loan from Queen Isabella, on the obligatory letter of the
+same Sir Thomas: he is known as the victor in a duel, fought at Windsor,
+in presence of Edward III., with Sir John Viscomte, in 1350. To the
+origin of Isabella's interest in him we find no clue. Several payments
+to couriers refer to the liberation of Charles, King of Navarre, and are
+important, as proving that the Queen was not indifferent to the events
+passing in her native country, but that she was connected with one who
+was playing a conspicuous part in its internal history--Charles of
+Navarre, perhaps the most unprincipled sovereign of his age, and known
+in his country's annals under the designation of "the Wicked."
+
+Among the remaining notices of messengers and letters, we have mention
+of the King's butler coming to the Queen at Hertford, with letters of
+the King, and a present of three pipes of wine; a messenger from the
+King, with three casks of Gascon wine; another messenger from the King,
+with a present of small birds; John of Paris, coming from the King of
+France to the Queen at Hertford, and returning with two volumes of
+Lancelot and the Sang Réal, sent to the same King by Isabella; a
+messenger bringing a boar's head and breast from the Duke of Lancaster,
+Henry Plantagenet; William Orloger, Monk of St. Albans, bringing to the
+Queen several quadrants of copper; a messenger bringing a present of a
+falcon from the King; a present of a wild boar from the King, and of a
+cask of Gascon wine; a messenger, bringing a present of twenty-four
+bream from the Countess of Clare; and payments to messengers bringing
+new year's gifts from the King, Queen Philippa, the Countess of
+Pembroke, and Lady Wake.
+
+Frequent payments to minstrels playing in the Queen's presence occur,
+sufficient to show that Isabella greatly delighted in this
+entertainment; and these are generally minstrels of the King, the
+Prince, or of noblemen, such as the Earl of March, the Earl of
+Salisbury, and others. And we find a curious entry of a payment of
+thirteen shillings and fourpence to Walter Hert, one of the Queen's
+"vigiles" (viol-players), going to London, and staying there, in order
+to learn minstrelsy at Lent time; and again, of a further sum to the
+same on his return from London, "de scola menstralcie."
+
+Of special presents by the Queen, we have mention of new year's gifts to
+the ladies of her chamber, eight in number, of one hundred shillings to
+each, and twenty shillings each to thirty-three clerks and squires; a
+girdle to Edward de Ketilbergh, the Queen's ward; a donation of forty
+shillings to Master Lawrence, the surgeon, for attendance on the Queen;
+a present of fur to the Countess of Warren; a small gift to Isabella
+Spicer, her god-daughter; and a present of sixty-six pounds to Isabella
+de St. Pol, lady of the Queen's bedchamber, on occasion of her marriage
+with Edward Brouart. Large rewards, amounting together to 540_l_. were
+given after Isabella's death, by the King's order, to her several
+servants, for their good service to the Queen in her lifetime.
+
+The division of Messengers contains payments for the carriage of letters
+to the Queen's officers and acquaintances. Among them we find mention of
+a letter to the Prior of Westminster, "for a certain falcon of the Count
+of Tancarville lost, and found by the said Prior."
+
+We have only to add that the period of the account is from the 1st of
+October to the 5th of December in the following year, the same being
+continued beyond the date of the Queen's death. The totals of the
+several divisions of the account are:--
+
+                                            £       _s_.       _d_.
+  The Household Expenses amount to       4,014        2       11-1/2
+  Alms                                     298       18        7-1/2
+  Necessaries                            1,395        6       11
+  Great wardrobe                           542       10        4-1/2
+  Jewels                                 1,399        0        4
+  Gifts                                  1,248        5        2-1/2
+  Messengers                                14       12       10
+  Imprests                                 313        4        3-1/2
+
+Making a general total of more than 9,000_l_.
+
+      NOTE.--_Murder of Edward II._--In 1837, the Rev. Joseph Hunter
+      communicated to the Society of Antiquaries some new circumstances
+      connected with the apprehension and death of Sir Thomas de
+      Gournay, charged as one of the murderers of King Edward II. Before
+      the measures taken for Gournay's apprehension, he had escaped to
+      the Continent, where, it was alleged, by one old chronicler, that
+      he was taken at Marseilles; by another, at Burgos, in Spain; that
+      his journey to England, in custody, was commenced, and that, by
+      the orders of some influential persons in England, he was beheaded
+      on board ship, on the voyage, lest he might implicate others, if
+      brought to trial in England. Mr. Hunter has, however, found in
+      Rymer's _Foedera_, minute record that Gournay was taken at
+      Burgos, and that Edward III. dispatched a commissioner to demand
+      him from the Spanish authorities, who, for several months, put off
+      giving up the prisoner; and when the order for his delivery was
+      obtained, Gournay had found means to escape from Burgos. The
+      commissioner endeavoured to discover the fugitive's retreat, but
+      after an absence of more than twelve months, he returned to
+      England without success. Subsequently, Gournay was made prisoner
+      at Naples, on some local charge; on hearing which Edward III.
+      dispatched another messenger, with a letter to the King of Sicily,
+      demanding the custody of the prisoner for trial in England. This
+      demand was complied with; and Gournay set off, in custody, on his
+      journey hither. He is then traced to several places on the route,
+      until his arrival at Bayonne, where he fell ill, died, and was
+      buried. Notwithstanding the long existence of the _Foedera_,
+      this historical blunder of his having been beheaded was not
+      rectified until the above date by Mr. Hunter.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[45] See Note at p. 160.
+
+[46] In the Office of the Board of Green Cloth, at St. James's Palace,
+are preserved the following _Rules of the House_ of the Duchess of York
+the mother of Richard the Third:--
+
+"Upon eating dayes. At dinner by eleven of the clocke.
+
+"Upon fasting dayes. At dinner by twelve of the clocke.
+
+"At supper upon eating dayes; for the officers at four of the clocke.
+
+"My lady and the household at five of the clocke at supper.
+
+"Livery of fires and candles, from the feast of All-Hallows, unto Good
+Friday--then expireth the time of fire and candle."
+
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH HOUSEWIFE.
+
+
+Nearly two centuries and a half ago, Gervase Markham wrote a very useful
+and entertaining tract, entitled "The English Housewife, containing the
+inward and outward virtues which ought to be in a compleate woman. As
+her skill in physick, surgery, cookery, extraction of oyles, banquetting
+stuffe, ordering of great feasts, preserving of all sorts of wines,
+conceited secrets, distillations, perfumes, ordering of wooll, hempe,
+flax, making cloth, and dyeing; the knowledge of dayries, office of
+malting of oates, their excellent uses in a family, of brewing, baking,
+and all other things belonging to a household."
+
+By aid of a contemporary[47] we are enabled to present a curious
+portrait of the Housewife from this authentic source. It should first be
+mentioned that the profusion of provisions in the banquets of the time
+bordered upon the barbarous magnificence, compared to the elegant modes
+of preparing dishes in the present day, and called for dining-halls and
+kitchens of sufficient dimensions to avoid the terrible confusion that
+must otherwise have occurred. Hence, the superintendence of the
+household was a labour of great extent and responsibility. It was held
+that a woman had no right to enter the state of matrimony unless
+possessed of a good knowledge of Cookery: otherwise she could perform
+but half her vow: she might love and obey, but she could not cherish. To
+be perfect in this art she must know in which quarter of the moon to
+plant and gather all kinds of salads and herbs throughout the year; she
+must also be cleanly, have "a quick eye, a curious nose, a perfect
+taste, and a ready eare;" and be neither butter-fingered, sweet-toothed,
+nor faint-hearted: for if she were the first of these, she would let
+everything fall; if the second, she would consume that which she should
+increase; and if the third, she would lose time with too much niceness.
+For an ordinary feast with which any good man might entertain his
+friends, about sixteen dishes were considered a suitable supply for the
+first course. This included such substantial articles as a shield of
+brawn with mustard, a boiled capon, a piece of boiled beef, a chine of
+beef roasted, a neat's tongue roasted, a pig roasted, baked _chewets_
+(minced chickens made into balls), a roasted goose, a roasted swan, a
+turkey, a haunch of venison, a venison pasty, a kid with a pudding in
+it, an olive-pie, a couple of capons, and custards. Besides these
+principal dishes, the housewife added as many salads, fricassees,
+_quelquechoses_, and _devised pastes_ as made thirty-two dishes, which
+were considered as many as it was polite to put upon the table for the
+first course. Then followed second and third courses, in which many of
+the dishes were for show only, but were so tastefully made as to
+contribute much to the beauty of the feast.
+
+The banquets given by princes or nobles were much more important
+affairs. They were served in this manner:--First the grand sallet was to
+be marshalled in by gentlemen and yeomen-waiters, then green sallets,
+boiled sallets, and compound sallets; these were followed by all the
+fricassees, such as collops, rashers, &c.; then by boiled meats and
+fowls; then by the roasted beef, mutton, goose, swans, veal, pig, and
+capon; next were ushered in the hot baked meats, such as fallow-deer in
+pasty, chicken or calves'-foot pie, and dowset; then the cold baked
+pheasants, partridges, turkey, goose, and woodcocks; lastly, carbonadoes
+both simple and compound. These were all arranged upon the table in such
+a manner that before each trencher stood a salad, a fricassee, a boiled
+meat, a roasted meat, a baked meat, and a carbonado,--a profusion that
+must have been almost overwhelming. The second course comprised the
+lesser wild and land fowl, which were again followed up with the larger
+kinds, as herons, shovellers, cranes, bustards, peacocks, &c.; and these
+by cold baked red-deer, hare-pie, gammon of bacon pie, wild boar,
+roe-pie; and scattered among these were the "conceited secrets" in the
+way of confectionery and sweet pastry, which were the pride of the good
+housewife's heart; besides whatever fish was available, which was to be
+distributed according to the manner in which it was dressed, with the
+respective courses, the fried with the fricassees, the broiled with the
+carbonadoes, the dry with the roast meats, and those stewed in broths
+with the boiled meats. The carbonadoes consisted of any meat scotched
+on both sides and sprinkled with seasonings in various combinations, and
+then either broiled over the fire or before it. Roasted geese were
+stuffed with gooseberries--hence the term; and, if we were to enter into
+the given details of the various modes of dressing these numerous
+dishes, we could mention many as long disused. Some of the terms
+employed are as startling to modern ears as the ingredients: to take one
+instance, pie-dishes were called coffins.
+
+We are not to conclude that the above profusion was an every-day fact.
+There are hints here and there that this was by no means the case.
+Oatmeal is called the crown of the housewife's garland, as being the
+largest item of consumption in the household; and whigge (whey) is
+praised as an excellent cool drink, and as wholesome as any other with
+which to slake a labouring man's thirst the whole summer long. On the
+other hand, we know this whigge was looked upon in a somewhat similarly
+scornful light as that in which we regard small beer, because it was
+adopted to distinguish the political body opposed to the Tories. And the
+constant supervision of the mistress of the house over every undertaking
+would also be a surety against the practice of extravagance. Although
+there were good men-maltsters in the land, there was no beer to compare
+with that made by the mistress and her maids. These made both beer and
+ale; cider from apples; perry from pears; mead and metheglin from honey
+and herbs. The wines, too, were in her care. It is curious to note the
+kind of care they experienced at her hands. Every _fatt_ (vat) of
+foreign wine was dosed with several gallons of milk and eggs beaten up,
+and each was flavoured with some gallons of another, in a mode that must
+have much bewildered the palates of King Charles's lieges. If claret
+lost its colour, she stewed some damsons or black bullaces, and poured
+their syrup into the hogshead, when all came right again. If sack ran
+muddy, she took some rice, flour, and camphor, and popped that mixture
+into the butt; if any wine became hard, she knew how to make it mellow
+with honey and eggs: the same with muskadine and malmsey.
+
+The indefatigable mistress of the house was as omnipresent in the
+bakehouse as elsewhere, and saw to the making up the various kinds of
+bread, both for the family and the hinds or servants. There were several
+kinds in use; wheat bread, rye bread, rye and wheat mixed, and barley
+and wheat mixed: into the servants' barley-bread she adroitly mixed two
+pecks of peas and a peck of malt. She also looked in at the dairy, saw
+that it was kept as clean as a prince's chamber, and gave an eye to the
+profits. She could send several cheeses to table,--new milk cheese,
+nettle-cheese, floaten milk cheese and eddish or after-math cheese.
+
+By way of relaxation to these serious duties, which, with the necessary
+supervision of the dressing and spinning of wool, hemp, and flax, must
+have kept the good dame pretty fully employed, she prescribed for any of
+her household that were indisposed, compounded her own remedies, and
+made stores of scented bags to lay among her hoarded-up linen, scented
+waters for different ornamental purposes, perfumes to burn,
+washing-balls, perfumed gloves, rosemary-water to preserve the
+complexion (called the bath of life), violet-water, herb-water for weak
+eyes, and other distillations. Plasters, ointments, lotions of all
+kinds, were among her cunning secrets. These occupations serve to show
+why the offices were so spacious and my lady's closet so small.
+Markharn gives scores of quaint recipes no housewife could ignore who
+was at all sensitive as to her reputation for skill. In these we are
+reminded of the absence of really scientific knowledge in the peculiar
+value set upon valueless distinctions. The milk of a red cow, for
+instance, was deemed more efficacious than that of any other colour for
+medicinal purposes; butter made in May without any salt in it was
+esteemed a sovereign cure for wounds, strains, or aches, although that
+made in any other month possessed no such virtue; and again, it was of
+no use to apply certain remedies unless the moon was on the wane. This
+portion of the volume is dedicated to the Right Honourable and most
+Excellent Lady, Frances, Countess Dowager of Exeter.
+
+Before we leave this Dinner-table of other days, we should add to the
+Housewife's duties the Art of Carving, which, until our time, was
+performed by the mistress of the house. We gather from Lord
+Wharncliffe's edition of the _Correspondence of Lady Mary Worthy
+Montague_, that, in the last century, this task must have required no
+small share of bodily strength, "for the lady was not only to
+invite--that is, urge and tease--her company to eat more than human
+throats could conveniently swallow, but to carve every dish, when
+chosen, with her own hands. The greater the lady, the more indispensable
+the duty,--each joint was carried up in its turn, to be operated upon by
+her, and her alone; since the peers and knights on either hand were so
+far from being bound to offer their assistance, that the very master of
+the house, posted opposite to her, might not act as her croupier; his
+department was to push the bottle after dinner. As for the crowd of
+guests, the most inconsiderable among them--the curate, or subaltern,
+or squire's younger brother--if suffered through her neglect to help
+himself to a slice of the mutton placed before him, would have chewed it
+in bitterness, and gone home an affronted man, half inclined to give a
+wrong vote at the next election. There were then professed carving
+masters, who taught young ladies the art scientifically; from one of
+whom Lady Mary Wortley Montague said she took lessons three times a
+week, that she might be perfect on her father's days; when, in order to
+perform her functions without interruption, she was forced to eat her
+own dinner alone an hour or two beforehand."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[47] From the _Builder_, 1864, with additions.
+
+
+
+
+A HEREFORDSHIRE LADY IN THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR.
+
+
+About two centuries ago, there lived in the good old city of Hereford,
+one Mrs. Joyce Jefferies, of whose singular establishment, during nine
+years, a minute record has been preserved. In a cathedral town, olden
+features of English life may be traced more considerably than in other
+towns of less antiquity and extent. Hereford is thought to be derived
+from the British Hêre-fford, signifying the "old road." It has its
+Mayor's Court, view of Frankpledge, and court of Pie Pondre; though it
+has lost its monastic edifices; and, two centuries ago, its castle,
+built by Harold, was in ruins, which, as materials, were worth no more
+than 85_l_. One of the gateways of the town walls has been fitted up as
+a prison. There are several hospitals or alms-houses. Its Saxon
+cathedral occupies the site of a former church of wood; it is dedicated
+to St. Ethelbert, whose name was given to its nine days' fair; two of
+its fairs are "for diversions." In short, amidst broad streets, and red
+brick houses, and other modern aspects, are many interesting traces of
+old times and habits, furnished with its two crosses and a stone pulpit.
+Its river, the Wye, teems with salmon[48] and grayling; the whole county
+appears like one orchard; cider and perry are made everywhere; and there
+is a good deposit of tobacco pipe clay. In one of its towns, on Shrove
+Tuesday, a bell rings at noon as a signal for the people to begin frying
+their pancakes; and among its festal records is that of a Morrice dance,
+performed by ten persons--a "nest of Nestors"--whose united ages
+recorded one thousand years.
+
+In this old city, then, lived Mrs. Jefferies, upon an income averaging
+500_l_. a year, in a house in Widemarch Street--the street in which
+Garrick, the actor, was born--which she built at a cost of 800_l_. but
+which was ordered to be pulled down in the time of the Rebellion, under
+Charles I., and the materials sold for 50_l_. This was a calamitous
+loss. Besides, the old lady lived beyond her means, not by
+self-indulgence in costly luxuries, but in indiscriminate gifts; and
+three-fourths of the entries in her accounts consist of sums bestowed in
+presents, of loans never repaid, or laid out in articles to give away.
+She continued in the city till the year 1642, when, driven by stress of
+war, she abandoned it, and sought refuge in the dwellings of others.
+Ultimately, in 1644, she gave up housekeeping to the day of her death.
+
+The household establishment of Mrs. Jefferies is by no means, for a
+single person, on a contracted scale. Many female servants are
+mentioned; two having wages from 3_l_. to 3_l_. _4_s. per annum, with
+gowns of dark stuff at Midsummer. Her coachman, receiving 40_s_. per
+annum, had at Whitsuntide, 1639, a new cloth suit and cloak; and, when
+he was dressed in his best, exhibited fine blue silk ribbon at the knees
+of his hose. The liveries of this and another man-servant were, in 1641,
+of fine Spanish cloth, made up in her own house, and cost upwards of
+nine pounds. Her man of business, or steward, had a salary of 5_l_.
+16_s_. A horse was kept for him, and he rode about to collect her rents
+and dues, and to see to her agricultural concerns. She appeared abroad
+in a coach drawn by two mares; a nag or two were in her stable; one that
+a widow lady in Hereford purchased of her, she particularly designated
+as "a rare ambler."
+
+Mrs. Jefferies had a host of country cousins; for, in those days, family
+connexions were formed in more contracted circles than at present, and
+the younger people intermarried nearer home; and she was evidently an
+object of great interest and competition among such as sought for
+sponsors to their children. She seems to have delighted in the office of
+gossip, or _God-sib_, that is, _sib_, as related, by means of religion.
+The number of her god-children became a serious tax upon her purse. A
+considerable list of her christening gifts includes, in 1638, a silver
+tankard to give her god-daughter, little Joyce Walsh, 5_l_. 5_s_. 6_d_.;
+"at Heriford faier, for blue silk ribbon and taffetary lace for skarfs,"
+for a god-son and god-daughter, 8_s_.; and 1642, "paid Mr. Side,
+gouldsmith in Heriford, for a silver bowle to give Mrs. Lawrence
+daughter, which I found, too, called Joyse Lawrence, at 5_s_. 8_d_. an
+oz., 48_s_. 10_d_." But to Miss Eliza Acton she was more than maternally
+generous and was continually giving proofs of her fondness in all sorts
+of indulgence, supplying her lavishly with costly clothes and sums of
+money--money for gloves, for fairings, for cards against Christmas, and
+money repeatedly to put in her purse.
+
+We have mentioned Mrs. Jefferies' loans. She had various sums placed out
+at interest, on bond and mortgage, varying from three hundred pounds and
+upwards, and one of eight hundred pounds. The securities were frequently
+shifting; and the number of persons who paid to her irregularly enough,
+in this way, in two years, was little short of one hundred. The
+borrowers of these moneys were knights, yeomen, gentry, farmers, and
+tradesmen; burgesses, and aldermen, and Mayors of Hereford, with many
+others. The collection of interest upon principal so detached and widely
+dispersed, must have been attended with difficulty. The principal itself
+must have incurred risk of diminution; but the convenience of the Three
+per Cents. was then unknown, and eight per cent. was the interest upon
+these loans. This practice of lending money in small sums must formerly
+have been more general than at the present day: there were then few
+modes of employing money so as to realize fair interest; it was often
+hoarded by "making a stocking," and various modes of concealment.
+
+Some of Mrs. Jefferies's entries respecting those who do not repay loans
+are curious. Thus, M. Garnons, an occasional suitor for relief, she
+styles "an unthrifty gentleman;" amuses herself in setting down a small
+bad debt; and, after recording the name of the borrower, and the
+trifling sum lent, adds, in a note by way of anticipation, "which he
+will never pay." In another case, that of a legal transaction, in which
+a person had agreed to surrender certain premises to her use, and she
+had herself paid for drawing the instrument upon which he was to have
+acted, she observes, "but he never did, and I lost my money." In all
+matters she exhibits a gentle and generous mind. It was natural enough
+that she should describe the Parliamentary folks who pulled down her
+house as "fearful soldiers."
+
+Here is a slight sketch of the personal appearance of Mrs. Jefferies in
+a specimen or two of her dress, among many that occur in her book of
+accounts. Her style of dress was such as became a gentlewoman of her
+condition. In 1638, in her palmy days, she wore a tawny camlet coat and
+kirtle, which, with all the requisite appendages, trimmings, and making,
+scrupulously set down, cost 10_l_. 17_s_. 5_d_. She had, at the same
+time, a black silk calimanco loose gown, petticoat, and bodice, and
+these, with the making, came to 18_l_. 1_s_. 8_d_. Next month, a Polonia
+coat and kirtle cost in all 5_l_. 1_s_. 4_d_. Tailors were then the
+dressmakers: she employed those in Hereford, Worcester, and London; and,
+strange to say, sometimes the dresses were so badly made in London that
+they had to be altered by a country tailor. She had, about the same
+period, a head-dress of black tiffany, wore ruff-stocks, and a beaver
+hat with a black silk band, and adopted worsted hose of different
+colours--blue, and sometimes grass-green. Among the articles of her
+toilet were false curls, and curling-irons; she had Cordovan (Spanish
+leather) gloves, sweet gloves, and gold embroidered gloves. She wore
+diamond and cornelian rings, used spectacles, and carried a whistle for
+a little dog, suspended at her girdle by a yard of black loop lace. A
+cipress (Cyprus?) cat, given to her by a Herefordshire friend, was, no
+doubt, a favourite; and she kept a throstle in a twiggen cage.
+
+A young lady who resided with her was dressed at her expense in a manner
+more suited to her earlier time of life: for instance, she had a green
+silk gown, with a blue satin petticoat. At Easter, she went to a
+christening arrayed in a double cobweb lawn, and had a muff. Next, she
+was dressed in a woollen gown, "spun by the coock's wife, Whooper,"
+liver-coloured, and made up splendidly with a stomacher laced with
+twisted silver cord. Another article of this young lady's wardrobe was a
+gown of musk-coloured cloth; and when she rode out she was decked in a
+scarlet safeguard coat and hood, laced with red, blue, and yellow lace;
+but none of her dresses were made by female hands.
+
+Of the system of housekeeping we get a glimpse. In summer, she
+frequently had her own sheep killed; and at autumn a fat heifer, and at
+Christmas a beef or brawn were sometimes slaughtered, and chiefly spent
+in her house. She is very observant of the festivals and ordinances of
+the Church, while they continue unchanged; duly pays her tithes and
+offerings, and, after the old seignorial and even princely custom,
+contributes for her dependants as well as herself, in the offertory at
+the communion at Easter; has her pew in the church of All Saints at
+Hereford dressed, of course, with flowers at that season by the wife of
+the clerk; gives to the poor-box at the minster, and occasionally sends
+doles to the prisoners at Byster's Gate. Attached to ancient rules in
+town and country, she patronizes the fiddlers at sheep-shearing, gives
+to the wassail and the hinds at Twelfth Eve, when they light their
+twelve fires, and make the fields resound with toasting their master's
+health, as is done in many places to this day. Frequently in February,
+she is careful to take pecuniary notice of the first of the other sex,
+among those she knew, whom she met on Valentine's Day, and enters it
+with all the grave simplicity imaginable: "Gave Tom Aston, for being my
+valentine, 2_s_. Gave Mr. Dick Gravell, cam to be my valentine, 1_s_. I
+gave Timothy Pickering of Clifton, that was my valentine at Horncastle,
+4_d_." Sends Mr. Mayor a present of 10_s_. on his "law day;" and on a
+certain occasion dines with him, when the waits, to whom she gives
+money, are in attendance at the feast; she contributes to these at New
+Year and Christmas tide, and to other musical performers at
+entertainments or fairs; seems fond of music, and strange sights, and
+"rarer monsters." "Gave to Sir John Giles, the fiddler, and to 2 others
+on 12th day;" "to a boy that did sing like a blackbird." She was liberal
+to Cherilickcome "and his Jack-an-apes," some vagrant that gained his
+living by exhibiting a monkey; and at Hereford Midsummer Fair, in 1640,
+"to a man that had the dawncing horse." To every one who gratified her
+by a visit, or brought her a present, she was liberal; as well as to her
+own servants and attendants at friends' houses. She provided medicine
+and advice for those who were sick and could not afford to call in
+medical aid; and she took compassion on those who were in the chamber of
+death and house of mourning, as may be seen in this entry: "1648, Oct.
+29. For a pound of shugger to send Mrs. Eaton when her son Fitz Wm. lay
+on his death-bed, 20_d_."
+
+Our Herefordshire Lady's Diary takes us through nine years of the time
+of the dispute between Charles I. and the Parliament: it, accordingly,
+possesses much historic interest. In 1638, she paid the unpopular impost
+of Ship-money, unsuccessfully opposed by Hampden, as well as another
+tax, called "the King's provision;" and she finds a soldier for her
+farm, and for her property in Hereford, when the Trained Bands are
+called out and exercised. Now, too, old ancestral armour, or Train-band
+equipments, that hung rusting in manor-houses, were taken down and
+repaired. And when Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick had been agitating, Laud
+impeached and imprisoned, and Lord Strafford tried and beheaded, she
+took a decided interest in passing events, and sent for some of the
+pamphlets and newspapers that swarmed from the press. Thus, we find paid
+for a book of Strafford's Trial, and his portrait, and Laud's, and some
+other portraits, 4_s_. 1_d_. And when the Parliament soldiers discharged
+their muskets, at or near her dwelling, we find this item: "Gave the
+sowldiers that shott off at my window, 1_s_. and beer." Then we find
+her, amidst great confusion, packing up her beds, furniture, and boxes,
+and taking flight in her carriage: but she was mercilessly plundered of
+"much goods, two bay coach mares, and some money, and much linen and
+clothes."
+
+How her possessions were made away with at Hereford is a sad tale. Sir
+Henry Slingsby, a noted Royalist officer, mentions the havoc in terms of
+much regret. The orchards, gardens, trees, and houses were all
+destroyed. Before her house was pulled down, she sent her steward to
+save some part of the property, and make presents of the produce of her
+gardens, "gardin salitts," &c.
+
+As years advance, symptoms of infirmity appear. The spectacles, and
+favourite "guilt spoone," and diamond ring, are missing, and found and
+brought by her attendants, who always have a reward. It has been related
+of Prince Eugene of Savoy, that his servants took dexterous advantage of
+his foible of immoderate anger, and threw themselves in the way of his
+fits of passion, that they might get a sound beating from him, and its
+never-failing accompaniment, a reward to make it up. Thus, probably, the
+attendants of Mrs. Jefferies, though in a different method, might make
+profit of her failing memory, by hiding and reproducing the above
+valuables, in order to a remuneration. Then, a fair is held at
+Worcester, and the maids from Horncastle of course attend it: our lady
+gives each a shilling, when Barbara, the dairy-maid, pretends that she
+had lost her shilling, and her mistress gave her another. But the maids
+were always in favour, and not content with making them presents at
+stated times, she invented vicarious means of slipping vails into their
+hands.
+
+Age seems to have abated nothing of her generous feeling, or of the
+ardour of her domestic affections. In all those events which usually
+bring joy to families, and occasion entries in our parish registers, she
+heartily sympathised. A marriage, even of a servant, was an occurrence
+that always appeared highly to interest her. When Miss Acton was
+married, she gave her a handsome portion, arranged the settlement, and
+defrayed incidental expenses; and to the entries she adds, "God bless
+them both." The clerks in the solicitors' offices are not forgotten;
+and, "Paid the butcher for a fatt weather to present this bride wooman
+at her wedding-day, 6_s_. 6_d_." The portion was made up in instalments,
+and on the last payment, she notes: "So I praise God all the 800_l_. is
+paid, and we are even." Then, what joy was there at a christening, when
+"ould Mrs. Barckley and myself Joyse Jeffreys were Gossips. God bless
+hitt: Amen." Also, "Gave the midwyfe, good wyfe Hewes, of Vpper Jedston,
+the christening day, 10_s_.;" and, "Gave nurce Nott ye same day,
+10_s_."
+
+Thus did she continue to go on, with blessings upon her lips and her
+right hand full of gifts, without intermission, till the grave closed
+over all that was mortal, and amiable, and singular in the character and
+conduct of one whose parallel is not easy to be found.
+
+As respects herself, little did she think that, in compiling these
+accounts, she was about to present, after a lapse of upwards of two
+centuries, a more expressive memorial of her virtues than any that her
+surviving relatives could have placed upon her tomb.
+
+"And so it has fallen out, that nothing appears to have been hitherto
+done to mark the spot where she lies; neither has the exact period of
+her decease been ascertained, though the codicil of her will carries her
+forward to 1650, and it has been shown that she was buried in the
+chancel of the parish church of Clifton-upon-Teme, on the borders of
+Worcestershire. But her memory is still revered by those to whom her
+existence and character are known: and a brass tablet has been placed
+near the spot where she is believed to have been interred, with an
+inscription transmitting the name and virtues of Mrs. Joyce Jefferies to
+future times."[49]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[48] The quantity of salmon caught in the river Wye was formerly so
+great that it is said to have been usual to insert a clause in the
+indentures of the Hereford apprentices that they should not be compelled
+to eat salmon more than twice a week.
+
+[49] The historical details have been, in the main, condensed from "Some
+Passages in the Life and Character of a Lady resident in Herefordshire
+and Worcestershire during the Civil War of the Seventeenth Century,
+collected from her Account Book in the possession of Sir Thomas Edward
+Winnington, Baronet, of Stamford Court, in the county of Worcester, with
+Historical Observations and Notes by John Webb, M.A., F.S.A.
+_Archæologia_, vol. xxxvii. pp. 189-223. 1857."
+
+
+
+
+HOUSE-FURNISHING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
+
+
+An accomplished illustrator of our Domestic History in describing the
+mode of furnishing houses in the Middle Ages, tells us that there were
+tables of Cyprus and other rare woods, carved cabinets, desks,
+chess-boards, and, above all, the Bed--the most important piece of
+furniture in the house, and of which Ralph Lord Basset said, "Whoever
+shall bear my surname and arms, according to my will, shall have my
+great bed for life." There was the "standing bed," and the "truckle
+bed;" on the former lay the lord, and on the latter his attendant. In
+the daytime the truckle bed, on castors, was rolled under the standing
+bed. The posts, head-boards, and canopies or spervers of bedsteads were
+sometimes carved, or painted in colours, but they are generally
+represented covered by rich hangings. King Edward III. bequeathed to
+his heir an entire bed marked with the arms of France and England, and
+Richard, Earl of Arundel, to his wife Philippa, a blue bed, marked with
+his arms, and the arms of his late wife; to his son Richard a standing
+bed called clove, also a bed of silk embroidered with the arms of
+Arundel and Warren; to his son Thomas, his blue bed of silk embroidered
+with griffins, &c.
+
+The great chamber was often used as a sleeping-room by night and a
+reception-room by day. Shaw, in his _Decorations of the Middle Ages_,
+gives the interior of a chamber in which Isabella of Bavaria receives
+from Christine of Pisa her volume of poems. The Queen is seated on a
+couch covered with a stuff in red and gold, and there is a bed in the
+room furnished with the same material, to which are attached three
+shields of arms. The walls of the chamber were either hung with tapestry
+or painted with historical subjects. Chaucer, in his Dream, fancies
+himself in a chamber--
+
+                  "Full well depainted,
+  And al the walles with colors fine
+  Were painted to the texte and glose,
+  And all the Romaunte of the Rose."
+
+The beds of the better classes were sumptuous and comfortable.
+Mattresses were used, but sometimes, to receive the bed, loose straw was
+spread on the sacking. The order for making the royal savage's own lair
+says, "A yoman with a daggar is to searche the strawe of the kynges
+bedde that there be none untreuth therein--the bedde of downe to be cast
+upon that." The lower classes were contented with straw alone; but, as
+appears from Holinshed's account, more from an ignorant contempt for a
+pleasant bed, and a soft pillow, than from lack of means to obtain the
+indulgence. The windows had curtains, and were glazed in the manner
+described by Erasmus; but in inferior dwellings, such as those of
+copyholders and the like, the light-holes were filled with linen, or
+with a shutter.
+
+Early in the fourteenth century one Thomas Blaket, or Blanket, of
+Bristol, introduced the woollen fabric which still goes by his name. The
+word _worsted_ comes from the village so named, near Norwich, where that
+kind of stuff began to be extensively manufactured for wall-hangings in
+the fourteenth century. A still richer fabric similarly used, called
+_baudekin_, a kind of brocade, is said to have derived its name from
+Baldacus, in Babylon, whence, says Blount, it was originally brought.
+
+Few objects of antiquarian curiosity acquired more notoriety than a
+bedstead or bed, of unusually large dimensions, preserved at Ware,
+twenty miles from London, on the road to Cambridge. Shakspeare employs
+it as an object of comparison in his play of _Twelfth Night_, bearing
+date 1614, where Sir Toby Belch says: "As many lies as will lie in this
+sheet of paper, though the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware in
+England." (Act iii. sc. 2.) Nares, in his _Glossary_, says: "This
+curious piece of furniture is said to be still in being, and visible at
+the Crown or at the Bull in Ware. It is reported to be twelve feet
+square, and to be capable of holding twenty or twenty-four persons." And
+he refers to Chauncey's _Hertfordshire_ for an account of the bed
+receiving at once twelve men and their wives, who lay at the top and
+bottom in this mode of arrangement,--first two men, then two women, and
+so on alternately,--so that no man was near to any woman but his wife.
+Clutterbuck, in his History, places the great bed at the Saracen's Head
+Inn, where a large bedstead is preserved. It is twelve feet square, of
+carved oak, and has the date 1463 painted on the back; but the style of
+the carving is Elizabethan--a century later, at least. It was
+_traditionally_ sold among other movables which belonged to Warwick, the
+King-maker, at Ware Park, to suit which story the date is thought to
+have been painted. Again, it is placed at three inns--the Crown, the
+Bull, and Saracen's Head, at Ware, each of which may have had its "great
+bed."
+
+Formerly, wealthy persons travelled with their bed in their carriage.
+Mr. Beckford, of Fonthill, was, probably, the last person who so
+travelled, in England, some forty years since, when the writer's
+informant saw the unpacking of the bed, at the inn-door, at Salt Hill.
+
+The Warming-pan did not make its appearance till the Tudor times. In the
+inventory of the goods of Sir William More, of Loseley, in Surrey, A.D.
+1556, occurs "a warmynge," considered to be a warming-pan, and the
+earliest recorded mention of that article. The old warming-pans were
+often engraved with armorial bearings, mottoes, and inscriptions. In the
+_Welsh Levite tossed in a Blanket_, 1691, we read: "Our garters,
+bellows, and warming-pans wore godly mottoes, &c." We find a warming-pan
+engraved with the arms of the Commonwealth, and the motto: "ENGLANDS .
+STATS . ARMES." Another warming-pan has the royal arms, C. R. and "FEARE
+GOD HONNOR YE KINGE. 1662." Some years ago, there was purchased at the
+village of Whatcote, in Warwickshire, a warming-pan engraved with a
+dragon, and the date 1601; probably brought from Compton Wyniatt, the
+ancient seat of the Earl (now Marquis) of Northampton; the supporters of
+the Compton family being dragons.
+
+The seats were mostly forms, but Chairs were sometimes used. A MS. of
+the fourteenth century has this item:--"To put wainscote above the dais
+in the king's hall, and to make a fine large and well sculptured chair."
+The early chair was a single seat without arms. The fauldsteuel
+(fauteuil in modern French) was originally a folding stool of the curule
+form, but afterwards the form alone was preserved; examples remain from
+the time of Dagobert up to a late period. Dagobert's seat is considered
+by some to be of much greater antiquity than his time, and the back and
+arms are certainly of a later period than the rest. The so-called
+Glastonbury chair is much to be commended for simplicity of form,
+perfect strength, and adaptation for comfort.
+
+In the earlier times, chairs and benches were not stuffed but had
+cushions to sit upon and cloths spread over them: afterwards, as the
+workmanship improved, they were stuffed and covered with tapestry,
+leather, or velvet. The forms and workmanship of these seats were
+generally very rude, but the stuffs that covered them were of great
+richness and value, and tastefully trimmed with fringes and gimps,
+fastened with large brass studs or nails.
+
+The description of the furniture in the great chamber at Hengrave, the
+seat of Sir Robert Kytson, _temp._ Henry VII., enumerates very minutely
+the various articles; among which are, the carpet, the tables, the
+cupboards, the chairs, the stools, two great chairs, silk and velvet
+coverings, curtains to the windows and doors, a great screen, the
+fire-irons, branches for lights, &c.
+
+The floors, which at an early period were laid with rushes, were at a
+later one covered with a carpet, called the bord carpet. Still, carpets
+were used very early in the castles and mansions of the wealthy. The
+manufacture of carpets is of great antiquity: we read of them in the
+sacred writings, they were found in the ruins of Pompeii, they were
+introduced from the East to Spain, from Spain they passed to France and
+England, and when Eleanor of Castile arrived in London, in 1255, the
+rooms of her abode were covered with carpets; they were used generally
+in the palace in the reign of Edward III. Turkey carpets were first
+advertised for sale in London in 1660. The manufacture of carpets was
+introduced into France by the celebrated Colbert, in 1664. A manufactory
+was opened in England during the reign of Henry VIII., but this branch
+of industry was not permanently established until 1685, when the
+revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove half a million of Protestants
+from France, many of whom, settling in this country, established the
+manufacture of carpets. Brussels carpets were introduced from Tournay
+into Kidderminster, in 1745.
+
+We have already described the Hall. At the further end of this apartment
+was generally placed a cupboard called the "Court cupboard," in which
+the service of plate, such as salvers and gold drinking cups, were
+arranged on shelves or stages, answering in some respects to our
+sideboards of the present day. These cupboards, though originally of
+rude construction, afterwards became elaborate and beautiful pieces of
+furniture, richly carved in oak: they are often alluded to in old
+documents. On grand occasions temporary stages, as cupboards, were also
+erected. At the marriage of Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII., in the
+hall was a triangular cupboard, five stages high, set with plate valued
+at 1,200_l_. entirely ornamental; and in the "utter chamber," where the
+princess dined, was another cupboard set with gold plate, garnished with
+stones and pearls, valued at 20,000_l_.
+
+In the inventory of Skipton Castle, in Yorkshire, the furniture of the
+great hall is thus given:--"Imprimis, 7 great pieces of hangings, with
+the Earl's arms at large in every one of them, and powdered with the
+several coates of the house. 3 long tables on standard frames, 6 long
+forms, 1 short ditto, 1 Court cupboard, 1 fayre brass lantern, 1 iron
+cradle with wheels for charcoal, 1 almes tubb, 20 long pikes."
+
+There is no mention of Mirrors, but they were used at this time, though
+very small, and of metal polished. The coffre or chest which contained
+the ladies' trousseaux, was subsequently much ornamented. The wardrobes,
+so called, were generally small rooms fitted with cupboards called
+armoiries. In 1253, "the sheriff of Southampton was ordered to make in
+the king's upper wardrobe, in Winchester Castle, where the king's cloths
+were deposited, two cupboards or armoiries, one on each side of the
+fireplace, with arches and a certain partition of board across the same
+wardrobe."[50]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[50] Loseley, the fine old domain of the Mores, mentioned in a preceding
+page (180), lies between two and three miles south-west of Guildford. It
+had, no doubt, from an early period, its manse, or capital
+dwelling-house, fortified by a moat, according to the custom of the
+feudal ages. This dwelling has long since been destroyed, and the
+present mansion at Loseley is of the age of Elizabeth, and was built
+between 1562 and 1568. The principal entrance opens into the Hall, but
+was originally at the end of the passage between the screens which
+divide the Hall from the Kitchen and Butteries. Latin inscriptions were
+placed over the doors: that over the Kitchen door was "_Fami, non Gulæ_"
+(To hunger, not to gluttony); over the Buttery door, "_Siti, non
+Ebrietati_" (To thirst, not to drunkenness); and over the Parlour door,
+"_Probis, non Pravis_" (To the virtuous, not the wicked). The finest
+apartment is the Withdrawing-room, a splendid example of the decorative
+style of the early part of Elizabeth's reign. It exhibits a rich
+cornice, on which is the _rebus_ of the More family, a mulberry-tree.
+The wainscoting is panelled, and the ceiling ornamented with pendent
+drops and Gothic tracery. The chimney-piece is elaborately enriched: the
+lower story is Corinthian; and the upper division, or mantel, has
+grotesque caryatides, supporting a fascia and cornice. The intermediate
+panelling is emblazoned with the arms of the Mores, which also enrich
+the glazing of the mullioned windows. In the gallery of the mansion were
+formerly two gilt chairs with cushions worked by Queen Elizabeth. Here,
+in 1603, Sir George More entertained King James I. and his Queen.
+
+
+
+
+DRESS.--PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
+
+
+From the old accounts of the Laundry we gather some idea of mediæval
+clothing and personal cleanliness. Four shirts was a large allowance for
+a nobleman in the fifteenth century; and youths of noble rank were sent
+to college without a change of linen. It is upon record that Bishop
+Swinfield, for himself and his whole household, in the thirteenth
+century, only spent forty-three shillings and twopence for washing; and
+the Duke of Northumberland's establishment, in the time of Henry VIII.
+consisting of one hundred and seventy persons, only cost forty shillings
+for the laundry expenses of a whole year. On the other hand, the
+institution of "tubbing" was not unknown. Baths are frequently mentioned
+in the romances, and are occasionally depicted in illuminations. They
+were large tubs with a curtain over them, after the manner of a modern
+French bed.
+
+With respect to what we now call "comfort," it is certain that all the
+appliances of tapestried hangings were far inferior to the modern
+devices of double walls, sashes, and French casements, &c. as means of
+excluding draughts of air. But then the costume was suited to the
+houses. The modern drawing-room life was scarcely possible in a mediæval
+mansion. It was a necessity to dress more warmly; and, as may be seen in
+very many mediæval illuminations, almost every one, of either sex, went
+with covered heads. Just in the same way, in a modern farm-house or
+cottage, it is common enough for hats and bonnets to be worn habitually
+indoors.
+
+The flannel in general use, the wadded petticoats, and worsted stuffs
+and brocaded silks (so thick as almost to stand alone) for gowns, were
+much better calculated to resist cold and damp than the cobweb fabrics
+worn by modern females; and the men's clothes were of a more substantial
+texture, and made much fuller than the scanty modern corresponding
+garments of thin superfine broadcloth. The thick woollen dresses of the
+monks also were well contrived for preserving a comfortable portable
+climate. No part but the face was exposed to the external air, and this
+was protected by the cowl, so that they were always defended from
+currents of cold air in the cloisters and vaulted aisles of the now
+desolate monastic edifices.
+
+Woollen cloths were long the chief material of male and female attire.
+When new the nap was generally very long; and after being worn for some
+time it was customary to have it shorn; indeed, this process was
+repeated as often as the stuff would bear it. Thus we find the Countess
+of Leicester sending Hicque, the tailor, to London, to get her robes
+reshorn. Among the materials for dress mentioned, are linen, sindon,
+which has been variously interpreted to mean satin or very fine linen;
+scarlet and rayed or striped cloths, of Flemish, French, or Italian
+make; _pers_, or blue cloth, for the manufacture of which Provence was
+famous; russet, say or serge, and blanchet or blanket, a name which, it
+is believed, was given to flannel. The furs named are squirrel and
+miniver.
+
+Among the minor objects of personal use which appear to have belonged to
+Margaret de Bohun, in the fifteenth century, the "poume de ambre," or
+scent-ball, in the composition of which ambergris formed a principal
+ingredient, deserves notice; this being, perhaps, the earliest evidence
+of its use. We here learn also that a nutmeg was occasionally used for
+the like purpose; it was set with silver, decorated with stones and
+pearls, and was evidently an object rare and highly prized. Amongst the
+valuable effects of Henry V. according to an inventory dated A.D. 1423,
+are enumerated a musk-ball of gold, weighing eleven pounds, and another
+of silver-gilt. At a later period the Pomander was very commonly worn as
+the pendant of a lady's girdle. The _peres de eagle_ were the stones
+supposed to be found in the nest of the eagle, to which various
+medicinal and talismanic properties were attributed. Nor are we
+cognizant of an earlier mention of coral than that which occurs in this
+inventory: namely, the paternoster of coral, with large gilded beads,
+which belonged to Margaret de Bohun, and the three branches of coral
+which Alianmore de Bohun possessed. Among her effects also is the wooden
+table "painted for an altar;" it formed part of the movable chapel
+furniture which persons of rank took with them on journeys, or used
+when, through infirmity, the badness of roads, or some other cause,
+valid in those days, they were prevented from attending public worship.
+Licences to use such portable altars are of frequent occurrence on the
+older episcopal registers.
+
+John Evelyn, regretting "the simple manners that prevailed in his
+younger days, and which were now fast fading away," thus describes
+old-fashioned country life about the middle of the seventeenth
+century:--
+
+"Men courted and chose their wives for their modesty, frugality, keeping
+at home, good housewifery, and other economical virtues then in
+reputation; and the young damsels were taught all these in the country
+and in their parents' houses. They had cupboards of ancient, useful
+plate, whole chests of damask for tables, and stores of fine Holland
+sheets, white as the driven snow, and fragrant of rose and lavender for
+the bed; and the sturdy oaken bedstead and furniture of the house lasted
+one whole century; the shovel-board and other long tables, both in hall
+and parlour, were as fixed as the freehold; nothing was movable save
+joint-stools, the black jacks, silver tankards, and bowls.... The
+virgins and young ladies of that golden age, _quæsiverunt lanam et
+linum_, put their hands to the spindle, nor disdained they the needle;
+were obsequious and helpful to their parents, instructed in the managery
+of the family, and gave presages of making excellent wives. Their
+retirements were devout and religious books, and their recreations in
+the distillatory, the knowledge of plants and their virtues, for the
+comfort of their poor neighbours and use of their family, which
+wholesome, plain diet and kitchen physic preserved in perfect health."
+As the quaint old ballad hath it--
+
+  "They wore shoes of a good broad heel,
+    And stockings of homely blue;
+  And they spun them upon their own wheel,
+    When this old hat was new."
+
+
+
+
+PINS AND PIN-MONEY.
+
+
+Metal pins are said to have been introduced into this country from France
+in the fifteenth century: as an article of commerce they are not
+mentioned in our statutes until the year 1483. Before this date, we are
+told that ladies were accustomed to fasten their dresses by means of
+skewers of boxwood, ivory, or bone; this statement has been doubted, but
+we are assured that, to this day, the Welsh use as a pin the thorn from
+the hedge.
+
+Stow assigns the first manufacture of metal pins in England to the year
+1543; and they seem to have been then so badly made that in the
+thirty-fourth year of King Henry VIII. (1542-3), Parliament enacted that
+none should be sold unless they be "double-headed, and have the headdes
+soudered faste to the shanke of the pynne." In short, the head of the
+pin was to be well smoothed, the shank well shapen, and the point well
+rounded, filed, canted, and sharpened. The Act of Parliament, however,
+appears to have produced no good effect, for in the thirty-seventh year
+of the same reign it was repealed.
+
+The manufacture of pins was introduced into several towns of Great
+Britain by individuals who, in some cases, are called the inventors of
+the article. The pin-makers of former days seem to have been a body
+somewhat difficult to please, of whom Guillim, in his _Display of
+Heraldry_, writes:--"The Society of Pinmen and Needlers, now ancient, or
+whether incorporated, I find not, but only that, in the year 1597, they
+petitioned the Lord Treasurer against the bringing in of foreign pins
+and needles, which did much prejudice to the calling." The Pinners'
+Company was incorporated by Charles I. in 1636; the Hall is on part of
+the ancient Priory of the Augustine, or Austin Friars; it has been,
+since the reign of Charles II., let as a Dissenting meeting-house: it is
+in Pinners'-hall-court, Old Broad-street.
+
+The manufacture of pins formed early a lucrative branch of trade. Sixty
+thousand pounds, annually, is said to have been paid for them to foreign
+makers, in the early years of Queen Elizabeth; but, as we have seen,
+long before the decease of that princess, they were manufactured in this
+country in great quantities; and in the time of James I., the English
+artisan is regarded to have "exceeded every foreign competitor in the
+production of this diminutive, though useful article of dress."
+
+Pennant, in his description of old London Bridge, states that "most of
+the houses were tenanted by pin or needle makers, and economical ladies
+were wont to drive from the St. James's end of the town to make cheap
+purchases." But Thomson, in his minute _Chronicles of London Bridge_,
+does not mention pin-makers among the trades common on the bridge;
+haberdashers, who came here _late_ from the Chepe, however, sold pins.
+
+Yet vast quantities of early pins have been recovered from the Thames
+near the site of the old Bridge. In 1864, Mr. Burnell exhibited to the
+British Archæological Association fifteen brass pins, varying in length
+from one inch and three-eighths to five inches and a half, stated to
+have been found on the paper on which they now are, in a cellar on the
+northern bank of the Thames, in excavating for the foundations of the
+South-Eastern Railway bridge. Most, if not all, of these pins have solid
+globose heads. At the same meeting, Mr. Syer Cuming exhibited two brass
+pins recovered from the mud of the Thames some years since. One is
+little less than two inches and a half in length, the other full seven
+inches and three-quarters long. The heads of both are formed with spiral
+wire; the shortest being globose, the other somewhat flattened. Mr.
+Cuming stated that quantities of such early pins as those then produced
+have been found in and along the banks of the river, some of them
+measuring upwards of a foot in length. These great pins may have been
+employed in securing the wide-spreading head-dresses of the Middle Ages,
+and fastening the ends of the pillow-case, a use not quite obsolete in
+the time of Swift, who speaks of "corking pins," for this purpose, in
+his _Directions to Servants_.
+
+For some time after their introduction pins must have been costly, for
+we find that they were acceptable New Year's gifts to ladies, and that
+presents of money were made for buying pins; whence money set apart for
+the use of ladies received the name of _pin-money_.
+
+In France, three centuries ago, there was a tax for providing the queen
+with pins; from whence the term of _pin-money_ has been, undoubtedly,
+applied by us to that provision for married women, with which the
+husband is not to interfere. In Bellon's _Voyages_, 1553, we
+read:--"Quand nous donnons l'argent a quelque chambrière, nous _disons
+pour ses épingles_."
+
+Pins must soon have been made and sold at a very cheap rate, to justify
+the common remark, "Not worth a pin," and equivalent expressions in some
+of our early writers, such as Tusser:
+
+  "His fetch is to flatter, to get what he can;
+  His purpose once gotten, a _pin_ for thee than."
+
+Pins are of various sizes, from the blanket-pin, three inches in length,
+to the smallest ribbon-pins, of which 300,000 only weigh one pound.
+Insect-pins, used by entomologists, are of finer wire than ordinary
+pins, and vary in length from three inches to a size smaller than
+ribbon-pins. It has been calculated that ten tons of pins are made every
+week in England alone, requiring from fourteen to fifteen tons of
+brass-wire.
+
+"What becomes of all the pins?" a question every day asked, received an
+answer, a few years since, upon the opening of an old sewer for repair,
+in Rea-street, Birmingham. At the bottom of it was a deposit as hard as
+the "slag" from a blast furnace, and in this deposit a vast number of
+pins were embedded: a piece about the size of a man's fist bristled with
+them, and this was but a specimen of a great mass of such matter. In
+another way, too, the deposit was a curiosity; for, independently of the
+pins, it inclosed a heterogeneous collection of old pocket-knives,
+marbles, buttons, &c.
+
+Anciently, there were local springs, known as _Pin Wells_, in passing
+which the country maids dropped into the water a crooked pin to
+propitiate the fairy of the well. In some places, rich and poor believed
+this superstition.
+
+
+
+
+PROVISIONS:
+
+BREAD-MAKING, GROCERY, AND CONFECTIONERY.
+
+
+Under the designation of _Panis_, Mr. Hudson Turner thinks that grain and
+flour, as well as bread, were included. It would appear that bread of
+different degrees of fineness was used. Thus, in the Household Expenses
+of Eleanor, Countess of Leicester, third daughter of King John, and wife
+of the celebrated Simon de Montfort, 1265, "the earliest known memorial
+of the domestic expenditure of an English subject," we find that there
+was "bread purchased for the Countess," and "bread for the kitchen."
+Loaves or cakes were made of bolted flour, are twice mentioned, as well
+as cakes, or wastells, perhaps biscuits; on one occasion half a quarter
+of flour is set down for pastry. It is inferred that the bread generally
+used in the family was made of a mixture of wheat and rye. As the dogs
+were fed with corn, it may be concluded that the servants fared no
+worse: at any rate there is no distinct notice of bread made of barley,
+oats, or the more inferior grain which were commonly used in France and
+other countries.
+
+It is not clear that their bread was leavened with yeast, as that
+article occurs but once, and then in connexion with malt. The price of
+the quarter of wheat or rye varied from 5_s_. to 5_s_. 8_d_.; of oats,
+from 2_s_. to 2_s_. 4_d_.; twenty-five quarters, however, were bought at
+Sandwich, at 1_s_. 10_d_. When grain was brought from the Countess'
+manors, some of the prices were rather below the average. The bailiff of
+Chalton was allowed 5_s_. the quarter for wheat, 4_s_. for barley, and
+2_s_. 4_d_. for oats; the bailiff of Braborne had 4_s_. 4_d_. for wheat,
+and 1_s_. 3_d_. for oats.
+
+The Manchet is a fine white roll, named, according to Skinner, from
+_michette_, French; or from _main_, because small enough to be held in
+the hand:
+
+  "No manchet can so well the courtly palate please
+  As that made of the meal fetch'd from my fertil leaze."
+
+  Drayton's _Polyolbion_.
+
+Here are two olden recipes for manchets:
+
+"_Lady of Arundel's Manchet._--Take a bushel of fine wheat-flour, twenty
+eggs, three pound of fresh butter; then take as much salt and barm as to
+the ordinary manchet; temper it together with new milk pretty hot, then
+let it lie the space of half an hour to rise, so you may work it up into
+bread, and bake it: let not your oven be too hot."--_True Gentlewoman's
+Delight_, 1676.
+
+"Take a quart of cream, put thereto a pound of beef-suet minced small,
+put it into cream, and season it with nutmeg, cinnamon, and rose-water;
+put to it eight eggs and but four whites, and two grated manchets;
+mingle them well together and put them in a buttered dish; bake it, and
+being baked, scrape on sugar, and serve it."--_The Queene's Royal
+Cookery_, 1713.
+
+Manchets are used in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge to this day.
+The manchets and cheese, and fine ale, of Magdalen College are well
+known.
+
+The Manciple, a purveyor of victuals, a clerk of the kitchen, or
+caterer, still subsists in the universities, where the name is therefore
+preserved; but Archdeacon Nares believed nowhere else. One of Chaucer's
+pilgrims is a manciple of the Temple, of whom he gives a good character
+for his skill in purveying.
+
+It is curious to find that one of the domestic arts which is somewhat
+neglected in the households of the present generation, should, in the
+last century, have been considered an accomplishment of such importance
+as to be taught in schools: this was Pastry-making. There was then
+resident in London one of the ancient family of the Kidders, of
+Maresfield, in Sussex, and a descendant of Richard Kidder, Bishop of
+Bath and Wells. This was Edward Kidder, a pastrycook, or, as he calls
+himself, "pastry-master," who carried on his business in Queen Street,
+Cheapside, and was induced to open two schools in the metropolis to
+teach the art of making pastry, one at his own place of business, and
+the other in Holborn. He also gave instructions to ladies at their
+private houses. So popular did his system of teaching become, that he is
+said to have instructed nearly 6,000 ladies in this art. He also
+published a book of _Receipts of Pastry and Cookery_, for the use of his
+scholars, printed entirely in copper-plate, with a portrait of himself,
+in the full wig and costume of the day, as a frontispiece. He died in
+1739, at the age of seventy-three. By will, he gave to his wife, Mary
+Kidder, a gold watch, a diamond ring, and all the other rings and
+trinkets used by her, and also all the furniture of the best room in
+which she lay in the house in Queen Street; and to his daughters,
+Elizabeth and Susan, he bequeathed all his money, bank-stock, plate,
+jewellery, &c. Susan, among other bequests, gave to her cousin, George
+Kidder, of Canterbury, pastrycook, 150_l_. and the copper-plates for the
+receipt-book.
+
+Some dishes of the olden dinner-table are not very inviting. Our
+ancestors had no objection to stale fish; and blubber, if they could get
+it from a stray whale, or grampus or porpoise, was considered a
+delicacy. Yet some of the old dishes have stood the test of ages, as we
+see in the case of a Christmas Pie, the receipt to make which is
+preserved in the books of the Salters' Company, in the City of London.
+
+      "For to make a moost choyce Paaste of Gamys to be eten at ye Feste
+      of Chrystemasse" (17th Richard II. A.D. 1394). A pie so made by
+      the Company's cook in 1836 was found excellent. It consisted of a
+      pheasant, hare, and capon; two partridges, two pigeons, and two
+      rabbits; all boned and put into paste in the shape of a bird, with
+      the livers and hearts, two mutton kidneys, forced-meats, and
+      egg-balls, seasoning, spice, catsup, and pickled mushrooms, filled
+      up with gravy made from the various bones.
+
+We must, however, remember that Cookery flourished in the reign of
+Richard II., who rebuilt Westminster Hall, and gave therein a
+_house-warming_, at which old Stow says, "he feasted ten thousand
+persons." Richard is also said to have kept 2,000 cooks, who left to the
+world their famous cookery-book, the "Form of Cury, or, a Roll of
+English Cookery," compiled about the year 1390, by the master-cooks of
+the Royal Kitchen.
+
+Sugar was at first regarded as a spice, and was introduced as a
+substitute for honey after the Crusades. It was sold by the pound in the
+thirteenth century, and was procurable even in such remote towns as Ross
+and Hereford. Before the discovery of America, however, Sugar was a
+costly luxury, and only used on rare occasions. About 1459, Margaret
+Barton, writing to her husband, who was a gentleman and landowner of
+Norfolk, begs that he will vouchsafe "to buy her a pound of sugar."
+Again: "I pray that ye will vouchsafe to send me another sugar-loaf, for
+my old one is done." The art of refining sugar, and what is called
+loaf-sugar, was discovered by a Venetian about the end of the fifteenth,
+or the beginning of the sixteenth century. Sugar-candy is of much
+earlier date; for in Marin's _Storia di Commercio de Veneziani_, there
+is an account of a shipment made at Venice for England, in 1319, of
+100,000 pounds of sugar, and 10,000 pounds of sugar-candy. Refined or
+loaf-sugar is thus mentioned in a roll of provisions in the reign of
+Henry VIII.: "two loaves of sugar, weighing sixteen pound two ounces, at
+---- per pound." A letter from Sir Edward Wotton to Lord Cobham, dated
+Calais, March 6, 1546, informs him that he had taken up for his lordship
+twenty-five sugar-loaves, at six shillings a loaf, "which is eightepence
+a pounde." Up to the close of the fifteenth century its price varied
+from one-and-sixpence to three shillings a pound, "or, on an average, to
+a sum equivalent to about thirty shillings at present." Sugar has become
+to us almost a necessary of life. "We consume it in millions of tons; we
+employ thousands of ships in transporting it. Millions of men spend
+their lives in cultivating the plants from which it is extracted, and
+the fiscal duties imposed upon it add largely to the revenue of nearly
+every established government. It may be said, therefore, to exercise a
+more direct and extended influence, not only over the social comfort,
+but over the social condition, of mankind, than any other production of
+the vegetable kingdom, with the exception, perhaps, of cotton
+alone."--_J. F. W. Johnston, M.A._[51]
+
+Coffee is mentioned in Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_, date 1621,
+several years before coffee-houses were introduced into England. The
+first coffee-house was opened in 1650, at Oxford, by Jacobs, a Jew, "at
+the Angel; and there it (coffee) was, by some who delighted in novelty,
+drunk." About this time, Mr. Edwards, a Turkey merchant, brought from
+Smyrna to London, one Pasqua Rosee, a Ragusan youth, who prepared this
+drink for him every morning. But the novelty thereof, drawing too much
+company to him, he allowed his said servant, with another of his
+son-in-law, to sell coffee publicly, and they set up the first
+coffee-house in London, in St. Michael's Alley, in Cornhill. The sign
+was Pasqua Rosee's own head.
+
+Tea was first sold in London by Thomas Garway, in Change Alley, in 1651,
+at from 16_s_. to 50_s_. per pound; it had been previously sold at from
+six pounds to ten pounds per pound. Pepys, in his _Diary_, tells, Sept.
+25, 1669, of his sending "for a cup of Tea, a China drink he had not
+before tasted." Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, about 1666, had
+introduced Tea at Court. And, in Sir Charles Sedley's _Mulberry Garden_,
+we are told that "he who wished to be considered a man of fashion always
+drank wine-and-water at dinner, and a dish of tea afterwards."[52]
+
+Spices and other condiments are mentioned in the Countess of Leicester's
+accounts, viz., anise, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, cloves, cummin, dried
+fennel, saffron, sugar, liquorice, mustard, verjuice, and vinegar, the
+prices of which were very low. It must not be supposed, from the low
+prices of some of these articles, that they were generally used in the
+country; the arrival of a ship laden with spices was an event of such
+importance, and perhaps rarity, that the King usually hastened to
+satisfy his wants before the cargo was landed. Thus in the 10th of Henry
+the Third, the bailiffs of Sandwich were commanded to detain, upon their
+coming to port, two great ships laden with spices and precious
+merchandises, which were expected from Bayonne; and not to allow
+anything to be sold until the King had had his choice of their contents.
+
+Among the glories of olden confectionery was March-pane, a biscuit
+composed of sugar and almonds, like those now called Macaroons. It is
+also called _massepain_ in some old books. The word March-pane exists,
+with little variation, in almost all the European languages; yet the
+derivation of it is uncertain. In the Latin of the Middle Ages,
+March-panes were called _Martii panes_, which gave occasion to Hermolaus
+Barbaras to inquire into their origin, in a letter to Cardinal
+Piccolomini, who had some sent to him as a present. Balthazar Bonifacius
+says they were named from Marcus Apicius, the famous epicure. Minshew,
+following Hermolaus, will have them originally sacred to Mars, and
+stamped with a castle.
+
+Whatever was the origin of their name, the English receipt-books show
+that they were composed of almonds and sugar, pounded and baked
+together. Here is a receipt:
+
+      "_To make a March-pane._--Take two pounds of almonds, being
+      blanched, and dryed in a sieve over the fire, beate them in a
+      stone mortar, and when they bee small, mixe them with two pounds
+      of sugar beeing finely beaten, adding two or three spoonefuls of
+      rose-water, and that will keep your almonds from oiling: when your
+      paste is beaten fine, drive it thin with a rowling pin, and so lay
+      it on a bottom of wafers; then raise up a little edge on the side,
+      and so bake it; then yce it with rose-water and sugar, then put it
+      into the oven againe, and when you see your yce is risen up and
+      drie, then take it out of the oven and garnish it with pretie
+      conceipts, as birdes and beasts being cast out of standing-moldes.
+      Sticke long comfits upright into it, cast bisket and carrowaies in
+      it, and so serve it: you may also print of this march-pane paste
+      in your moldes for banqueting dishes. And of this paste our comfit
+      makers at this day make their letters, knots, armes, escutcheons,
+      beasts, birds, and other fancies."--_Delightes for Ladies_ 1608.
+
+March-pane was a constant article in the desserts of our ancestors, and
+appeared sometimes on more solemn occasions. When Elizabeth visited
+Cambridge, the University presented their chancellor, Sir William Cecil,
+with two pairs of gloves, a march-pane, and two sugar-loves. In the old
+play of _Wits_ we find a reference to
+
+        "----dull country madams that spend
+  Their time in studying recipes to make
+  March-pane and preserve plumbs."
+
+Castles and other figures were often made of march-pane for splendid
+desserts, and were demolished by shooting or throwing sugar-plums at
+them.
+
+      _Almonds_ are an olden delicacy of our table, and have for ages
+      been very extensively used in a variety of preparations.
+      Almond-milk, composed of almonds ground and mixed with milk or
+      other liquid, was a favourite beverage, as was also almond-butter
+      and almond-custard. The antiquity of the practice of serving
+      almonds and raisins together at dessert seems to be shown from the
+      name Almonds-and-raisins being given as that of an old English
+      game in _Useful Transactions in Philosophy_, 1700.
+
+      _Biscuits_ (originally Biskets) of various kinds were in use in
+      the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; among which that most in
+      repute was called Naples Biscuit, from the place where it was
+      first made: it occurs in the Carpenters' Company's books in 1644.
+
+      _Orange-Flower Water_ has been a favourite perfume in England
+      since the reign of James I. It occurs in Copley's _Wits, Fits, and
+      Fancies_, 1614; and in the _Accomplished Female Instructor_, 1719,
+      is the following recipe:--Take two pounds of orange-flowers, as
+      fresh as you can get them, infuse them in two quarts of white
+      wine, and so distil them, and it will yield a curious perfuming
+      spirit.--_Orange Butter_ was made, according to the _Closet of
+      Rarities_, 1706, by beating up new cream, and then adding
+      orange-flower and red wine, to give it the colour and scent of an
+      orange.[53]
+
+
+DESSERT FRUITS.
+
+The only kinds of fruits named in the Countess of Leicester's Expenses,
+are apples and pears: three hundred of the latter were purchased at
+Canterbury; probably from the gardens of the monks. It is believed,
+however, that few other sorts were generally grown in England before the
+latter end of the fifteenth century; although Matthew Paris, describing
+the bad season of 1257, observes that "apples were scarce, and pears
+scarcer, while quinces, vegetables, cherries, plums, and all
+shell-fruits, were entirely destroyed." These shell-fruits were probably
+the common hazel-nut, walnuts, and perhaps chestnuts: in 1256, the
+Sheriffs of London were ordered to buy two thousand chestnuts for the
+King's use. In the Wardrobe Book of the 14th of Edward the First, before
+quoted, we find the bill of Nicholas, the royal fruiterer, in which the
+only fruits mentioned are pears, apples, quinces, medlars, and nuts. The
+supply of these, from Whitsuntide to November, cost 21_l_. 14_s_.
+1-1/2_d_. This apparent scarcity of indigenous fruits naturally leads to
+the inquiry, what foreign kinds besides those included in the term
+spicery, such as almonds, dates, figs, and raisins, were imported into
+England in this and the following century? In the time of John and of
+Henry the Third, Rochelle was celebrated for its pears and conger eels:
+the Sheriffs of London purchased a hundred of the former for Henry, in
+1223.
+
+In the 18th of Edward the First, a large Spanish ship came to
+Portsmouth; out of the cargo of which the Queen bought one frail of
+Seville figs, one frail of raisins or grapes, one bale of dates, and two
+hundred and thirty pomegranates, fifteen citrons, and seven ORANGES. The
+last item is important, as Le Grand d'Aussy could not trace the orange
+in France to an earlier date than 1333; here we find it known in England
+in 1290; and it is probable that this was not its first appearance. The
+marriage of Edward with Eleanor of Castile naturally led to a greater
+intercourse with Spain, and, consequently, to the introduction of other
+articles of Spanish produce than the leather of Cordova, olive-oil, and
+rice, which had previously been the principal imports from that fertile
+country, through the medium of the merchants of Bayonne and Bordeaux. It
+is to be regretted that the series of Wardrobe Books is incomplete, as
+much additional information on this point might have been derived from
+them. At all events it appears certain that Europe is indebted to the
+Arab conquerors of Spain for the introduction of the orange, and not to
+the Portuguese, who are said to have brought it from China. An English
+dessert in the thirteenth century must, it is clear, have been composed
+chiefly of dried and preserved fruits--dates, figs, apples, pears, nuts,
+and the still common dish of almonds and raisins.
+
+The garden of the Earl of Lincoln, now in the midst of one of the most
+densely-peopled quarters of London, was highly kept long before the
+Earl's mansion became an Inn of Court. His Lordship's bailiff's
+accounts, in the reign of Edward I. (1295-6), show the garden to have
+produced apples, pears, hedge nuts, and cherries, sufficient for the
+Earl's table, and to yield by sale in one year, 135_l_., modern
+currency. The vegetables grown were beans, onions, garlick, leeks; hemp
+was grown; the cuttings of the vines were much prized; of pear-trees
+there were several varieties: the only flowers named are roses. In the
+previous reign (Henry III.) a considerable quantity was cultivated as
+gardens within the walls of the metropolis; and we read, from time to
+time, in the coroners' rolls, of mortal accidents which befel youths
+attempting to steal apples in the orchards of Paternoster Row and Ivy
+Lane, almost in the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral.
+
+
+ORNAMENTAL FRUIT TRENCHERS.
+
+The usages of social life amongst our ancestors present us with several
+interesting instances of their ingenuity in keeping before them the rule
+of life by monitory inscriptions, or texts, placed over doorways, upon
+walls, and upon articles in daily domestic use, thus making it "plain
+upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it." We find this good
+advice upon the curiously-ornamented Fruit-trenchers in fashion during
+the sixteenth century. The only set of tablets, or trenchers, of this
+description, rectangular in form, hitherto noticed, are in the
+possession of Mrs. Bird, of Upton-cum-Severn. They are twelve in number,
+formed of thin leaves of light-coloured wood, possibly lime-tree,
+measuring about 5-3/4 inches by 4-1/2 inches, and inclosed in a wooden
+case, formed like a book, with clasps, the sides decorated like
+bookbinding.
+
+On removing a sliding-piece, the upper tablets may be taken out. They
+are curiously painted and gilt; every one presenting a different design,
+and inscribed with verses from Holy Writ, conveying some moral
+admonition. Each tablet relates to a distinct subject. These legends are
+inclosed in compartments, surrounded by various kinds of foliage, and
+the old-fashioned flowers of an English garden--the campion,
+honeysuckle, and gillyflower--each tablet being ornamented with a
+different flower. One trencher bears the oak-leaf and acorns, and the
+texts inscribed upon it relate to the uncertainty of human life. Upon
+the others are found admonitions against covetousness, hatred, malice,
+gluttony, profane swearing, and evil speaking; with texts in which the
+virtues of benevolence, patience, chastity, forgiveness of injuries, and
+so forth, are inculcated.
+
+The following are the texts in the centre, relating to inebriety, the
+spelling modernized:--"Woe be unto you that rise up early to give
+yourselves to drunkenness, and all your minds go on drinking, that ye
+sit swearing thereat until it be night. The harp, the lute, the tabour,
+the thalme, and plenty of wine are at your feasts, but the Word of the
+Lord do ye not behold, neither consider ye the work of His hands." In
+the four compartments of the margin: "Take heed that your heart be not
+overwhelmed with feasting and drunkenness." "Through gluttony many
+perish." "Through feasting many have died, but he that eateth measurably
+prolongeth life." "Be no wine-bibber." The sides thus ornamented, were
+coated with a hard transparent varnish; the reverse, which probably was
+the side upon which the fruit or comfits were laid, is smooth and clear,
+without varnish or colour. These curious fruit-trenchers were found
+amongst a variety of old articles at Elmley Castle, Worcestershire,
+about forty years since. They were exhibited during the Meeting of the
+Archæological Institute at Winchester, in 1845, and brought to light
+other sets of fruit-trenchers. One of these, belonging to Jervoise
+Clarke Jervoise, Esq., of Idsworth Park, Hants, consisted of ten
+trenchers, in the form of roundels, ornamented like those just
+described, and inclosed in a box, which bears upon its cover the royal
+arms, France and England quarterly, surmounted by the Imperial crown.
+The supporters are the lion and the dragon, indicating that these
+roundels are of the time of Queen Elizabeth. On each are inscribed a
+rhyming stanza and Scripture texts. Thus, under the symbol of a skull,
+is (modernized)--
+
+  "Content thyself with thine estate,
+  And send no poor wight from thy gate;
+  For why this counsel I ye give,
+  To learn to die, and die to live."
+
+These roundels have been described as trenchers for cheese or
+sweetmeats. Some antiquaries, however, consider them as intended to be
+used in some social game, like modern conversation-cards: their proper
+use appears to be sufficiently proved by the chapter on "Posies" in the
+_Art of English Poesie_, published in 1589, which contains the
+following:--"There be also another like epigrams that were sent usually
+for New Yeare's gifts, or to be printed or put upon banketting dishes of
+sugar-plate, or of March-paines, &c.; they were called Nenia or
+Apophoreta, and never contained above one verse, or two at the most, but
+the shorter the better. We call them poesies, and do paint them
+now-a-days upon the back sides of our fruit-trenchers of wood, or use
+them as devices in ringes and armes."
+
+It was customary in olden times to close the banquet with "confettes,
+sugar-plate, fertes with other subtilties, with Ipocrass," served to the
+guests as they stood at the board after grace was said. The period has
+not been stated at which the fashion of desserts and long sittings after
+the principal meal of the day became an established custom. It was,
+doubtless, at the time when that repast, which, during the reign of
+Queen Elizabeth, had been at eleven before noon, amongst the higher
+classes in England, took the place of the supper, usually served at
+five, or between five and six, at that period.[54] The prolonged
+revelry, once known as the "reare supper," may have led to the custom of
+following up the dinner with a sumptuous dessert. Be this as it may,
+there can be little question that the concluding service of the social
+meal--composed, as Harrison, who wrote about the year 1579, informs us,
+of "fruit and conceits of all sorts,"--was dispensed upon the ornamental
+trenchers above described.
+
+In the Doucean Museum, at Goodrich Court, there is a set of roundels,
+similar to the above, which appear, by the badge of the rose and the
+pomegranate conjoined, to be of the early part of the reign of Henry
+VIII. Possibly, they may have been introduced with many foreign
+"conceits" and luxuries from France and Germany, during that reign. In
+the times of Elizabeth, mention first occurs of fruit dishes of any
+ornamental ware, the service of the table having previously been
+performed with dishes, platters, and saucers of pewter, and "treens," or
+wooden trenchers; or, in more stately establishments, with silver plate.
+Shakspeare makes mention of "china dishes;" but it is more probable that
+they were of the ornamental ware fabricated in Italy, and properly
+termed _Majolica_, than of Oriental porcelain. The first mention of
+"porselyn" in England occurs in 1587-8, when its rarity was so great,
+that a porringer and cup of that costly ware were selected as New Year's
+gifts presented to the Queen by Burghley and Cecil. Shortly after,
+mention is made by several writers of "earthen vessels painted; costly
+fruit dishes of fine earth painted; fine dishes of earth painted; such
+as are brought from Venice."
+
+Those elegant Italian wares, which in France appear to have superseded
+the more homely appliances of the festive table, about the middle of the
+sixteenth century, were doubtless adopted at the tables of the higher
+classes in our own country, towards its close.
+
+The wooden fruit-trencher was not, however, wholly disused during the
+seventeenth century; and amongst sets of roundels which may be assigned
+to the reign of James I. or Charles I. may be mentioned a set exhibited
+in the Museum formed during the meeting of the Archæological Institute
+at York, in 1846. They were purchased at a broker's shop at Bradford,
+Yorkshire: in dimensions they resemble the trenchers of the reign of
+Elizabeth, already described; but their decoration is of a more ordinary
+character. On each tablet is pasted a line engraving, of coarse
+execution, and gaudily coloured, representing one of the Sibyls.[55]
+
+The common trencher which most of us have seen in use, was a wooden
+platter employed instead of metal, china, or earthen plates. It was even
+considered a stride of luxury when trenchers were often changed in one
+meal. "And with an humble chaplain it was expressly stipulated," says
+Bishop Hall, "that he never change his trencher twice." The term "a good
+trencher-man" was then equivalent to a hearty feeder (Nares's
+_Glossary_). Maple-wood, being soft and white, was formerly in great
+request for trenchers.
+
+Fosbroke remembered when no other but wooden dishes of this kind were
+used in farm-houses in Shropshire. The general form of the trencher was
+round; yet the _trencher-cap_ of our Universities has a square top.
+
+
+VEGETABLES.
+
+Very few esculent plants are mentioned in the Accounts of the Middle
+Ages. Dried peas and beans, parsley, fennel, onions, green peas, and new
+beans, are the only species named. Pot-herbs, of which the names are not
+specified, but which served eleven days, cost 6_d_. There is much
+uncertainty upon the subject of the cultivation of vegetables, in this
+country, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Cresses,
+endive, lettuces, beets, parsnips, carrots, cabbages, leeks, radishes,
+and cardoons, were grown in France during the reign of Charlemagne; but
+it is doubtful whether many of these varieties had penetrated into
+England at that early period. The most skilful horticulturists of the
+Middle Ages were ecclesiastics, and it is possible that in the gardens
+of monasteries many vegetables were reared which were not in common use
+among the laity. Even in the fifteenth century, the general produce of
+the English kitchen garden was contemptible when compared with that of
+the Low Countries, France, and Italy. Gilbert Kymer can enumerate only,
+besides a few wild and forgotten sorts, cabbage, lettuce, spinach,
+beetroot, trefoil, bugloss, borage, celery, purslane, fennel, smallage,
+thyme, hyssop, parsley, mint, a species of turnip, and small white
+onions. According to him, all these plants were boiled with meat. He
+observes also that some were eaten raw, in spring and summer, with
+olive-oil and spices, but questions the propriety of the custom. This
+is, perhaps, the earliest notice extant of the use of salads in England.
+
+The subject of the supplies of the table with food is a very large one;
+and leaves us but space to remark that the condition of food, an
+important point of its worth, must have suffered from the slow mode of
+conveyance in former times. The advantages which we enjoy in this age of
+rapid transit have been thus cleverly illustrated by a contemporary:--"A
+little more than half a century ago it took about six weeks to drive the
+herds of cattle from the north of Scotland to the metropolis: now they
+can be whirled here in a few hours. Fish in great variety may be caught
+in the morning on the coast of Berwick and Coquet, and be boiling in the
+kitchens of Belgravia on the same evening for dinner. In exchange for
+the sheep and beeves from the highlands and Cheviot, the choice fruits
+and early vegetables of the south are rapidly passed. By means of
+steamships and other quick sailing vessels, the oranges of Spain and
+Portugal, the grapes of France and Italy, and the oxen, sheep, fruits,
+&c. of other foreign parts are brought in fine condition; and delicacies
+which were not easily obtained even by the rich are now common amongst
+the multitude. But for this increased facility of conveyance how would
+it be possible to feed the immense multitude of London, which, in half a
+century of time, will in all probability number 5,000,000?"
+
+
+ANTIQUITY OF CHEESE.
+
+Cheese and curdling of milk are mentioned in the Book of Job. David was
+sent by his father, Jesse, to carry ten cheeses to the camp, and to see
+how his brethren fared. "Cheese of kine" formed part of the supplies of
+David's army at Mahanaim during the rebellion of Absalom. Homer makes
+cheese form part of the ample stores found by Ulysses in the cave of the
+Cyclop Polyphemus. Euripides, Theocritus, and other early poets, mention
+cheese. Ludolphus says that excellent cheese and butter were made by the
+ancient Ethiopians. Strabo states that some of the ancient Britons were
+so ignorant that, though they had abundance of milk, they did not
+understand the art of making cheese. There is no evidence that any of
+these ancient nations had discovered the use of rennet in making cheese;
+they appear to have merely allowed the milk to sour, and subsequently to
+have formed the cheese from the caseous part of the milk, after
+expelling the serum or whey. As David, when too young to carry arms, was
+able to run to the camp with ten cheeses, ten loaves, and an ephah of
+parched corn, the cheeses must have been very small.
+
+Thomas Coghan, in _The Haven of Health_, 1584, says: "What cheese is
+well made or otherwise may partly be perceived by an old Latin verse
+translated thus--'Cheese should be white as snowe is, nor ful of eyes as
+Argos was, nor old as Mathusalem was, nor rough as Esau was, nor full of
+spots as Lazarus.' Master Tusser, in his book of Husbandrie, addeth
+'other properties also of cheese well made, which whoso listeth may
+reade. Of this sort, for the most part, is that which is made about
+Bamburie in Oxfordshire; for of all the cheese (in my judgment) it is
+the best, though some prefer Cheshire cheese made about Nantwich, and
+others also commend more the cheese of other countries; but Bamburie
+cheese shall goe for my money, for therein (if it be of the best sort)
+you shall neither tast the renet nor salt, which be two speciall
+properties of good cheese. Now who is so desirous to eat cheese must
+eate it after other meate, and in a little quantity. A pennyweight,
+according to the old saying, is enough; for being thus used it bringeth
+two commodities. First, It strengthened a weake stomache. Secondly, It
+maketh other meates to descend into the chief place of digestion; that
+is, the bosome of the stomache, which is approved in "Schola Salerni."
+But old and hard cheese is altogether disallowed, and reckoned among
+those ten manner of meates which ingender melancholy, and bee
+unwholesome for sick folkes, as appeareth before in the chapter of
+Beefe.'"
+
+The county of Chester was, ages since, famous for the excellence of its
+cheese. It is stated that the Countess Constance of Chester (reign of
+Henry II., 1100), though the wife of Hugh Lupus, the King's first
+cousin, kept a herd of kine, _and made good cheese_, three of which she
+presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Giraldus Cambrensis, in the
+twelfth century, bears honourable testimony to the excellence of the
+Cheshire cheese of his day.
+
+Cheshire retains its celebrity for cheese-making: the pride of its
+people in the superiority of its cheese may be gathered from the
+following provincial song, with the music, published in 1746, during the
+Spanish war, in the reign of George II.
+
+  "A Cheshire-man sailed into Spain,
+    To trade for merchandise:
+  When he arrivèd from the main
+    A Spaniard him espies.
+
+  "Who said, 'You English rogue, look here--
+    What fruits and spices fine
+  Our land produces twice a year!
+    Thou hast not such in thine.'
+
+  "The Cheshire-man ran to his hold,
+    And fetched a Cheshire cheese,
+  And said, 'Look here, you dog! behold,
+    We have such fruits as these!
+
+  "'Your fruits are ripe but twice a year,
+    As you yourself do say;
+  But such as I present you here,
+    Our land brings twice a day.'
+
+  "The Spaniard in a passion flew,
+    And his rapier took in hand;
+  The Cheshire-man kicked up his heels,
+    Saying, 'Thou art at my command!'
+
+  "So never let a Spaniard boast,
+    While Cheshire-men abound,
+  Lest they should teach him, to his cost,
+    To dance a Cheshire round!"[56]
+
+Next to Cheshire rank Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somerset, for
+their cheese. In the latter county they have the proverb:
+
+  "If you wid have a good cheese, and hav'n old,
+  You must turn 'n seven times before he is old."
+
+To curdle the milk in cheese-making was formerly used the _Galium verum_
+of botanists, a wild flower with square stems, shining whorled leaves,
+and loose panicles of small yellow flowers, popularly known as _Cheese
+Rennet_.
+
+The practice of mixing sage and other herbs, and the flowers or seeds of
+plants, with cheese, was common among the Romans; and this led to the
+herbs, &c. being worked into heraldic devices in the Middle Ages.
+Charlemagne once ate cheese mixed with parsley-seeds at a bishop's
+palace, and liked it so much, that ever after he had two cases of such
+cheese sent yearly to Aix-la-Chapelle. Our pastoral poet of the last
+century has noted this device:
+
+  "Marbled with sage, the hardened cheese she pressed."--GAY.
+
+
+ALE AND BEER.
+
+The virtues of Saxon ale have already been commemorated, at pp.
+66-68. We return to the subject, at a later period.
+
+"It may be remarked," says Mr. Hudson Turner, "that in the thirteenth
+century the English had no certain principle as to the grain best suited
+for brewing. A roll of household expenses of the Countess of Leicester
+shows that Beer was made indiscriminately of barley, wheat, and oats,
+and sometimes of a mixture of all. As the Hop was not used we may
+conjecture that the produce of their brewing was rather insipid, and not
+calculated for long keeping: it was drunk as soon as made. To remove the
+mawkish flatness of such beer it was customary to flavour it with spices
+and other strong ingredients: long pepper continued to be used for this
+purpose some time after the introduction of hops. The period at which
+the last-named plant became an ingredient of English beer is not
+precisely known. It was cultivated from a very early date in Flanders
+and Belgium, where it was both employed in brewing, and eaten in salads;
+and from those countries it was imported into England while the produce
+of our own hop-grounds was inconsiderable. It would appear, however,
+that Hops were used in this country for brewing, in the beginning of the
+fifteenth century, as Gilbert Kymer, in his _Dietary_, pronounces beer
+brewed from barley, and well hopped, also of middling strength, thin and
+clear, well fined, well boiled, and neither too new or too old, to be a
+sound and wholesome beverage. It is pretty certain, nevertheless, that
+in his time the hop was not _grown_ in England. In ancient days brewing
+was almost solely managed by women, and till the close of the fifteenth
+century the greater part of the beer-houses in London were kept by
+females who brewed what they sold."
+
+Ale, the favourite drink of our Saxon forefathers, has been described as
+a thick, sweet, _unhopped_ liquor, and as such distinguished from our
+modern _hopped_ "beer." Gerard says: "The manifold virtues in hops do
+manifestly argue the wholesomeness of _beer_ above _ale_;" and
+conjectures that the origin of this distinction may be due to the use
+of the word beer in the Low Countries, from which hops were introduced.
+It would appear, however, that beer was known in this country, and
+specified as such, before the use of hops; which were not imported till
+1524, other bitters having supplied their place.
+
+There is an ancient rhyme which says,--
+
+  "Turkeys, Carps, _Hops_, Piccarel, and _Beer_,
+  Came into England all in one year."
+
+The year when all these good things are supposed to have been
+introduced, was somewhere in the early part of the reign of King Henry
+VIII. But it is evident that as early as 1440, when the _Parvulorum
+Promptorium_ was compiled, the use of hops was not altogether unknown.
+Mr. Albert Way supposes that at that time hopped beer was either
+imported from abroad or brewed by foreigners. And this supposition is
+certainly supported by the _Promptorium_.
+
+The great hop county of Kent produced better ale than any other; and the
+large quantity of ale found in the cellars of the Kentish gentry, had
+much to do with fomenting Jack Cade's rebellion, which arose in Kent.
+
+Unhopped ale, having no bitter principle, would easily run into acetous
+fermentation. And this is the reason why, in old family receipt-books,
+we find that our great-grandmothers were in the habit of using alegar
+where, by the cooks of the present day, vinegar is employed.
+
+In modern usage the distinction between _Ale_ and _Beer_ is different in
+various parts of the country. But originally, the distinction was very
+clearly marked: _Ale_ being a liquor brewed from _malt_, to be drunk
+fresh; _Beer_, a liquor brewed from _malt and hops_, intended to keep.
+
+The above distinction is clearly observed in Johnson's _Dictionary_,
+where _ale_ is defined, "A liquor made by infusing _malt_ in hot water,
+and then fermenting the liquor:" _Beer_, "Liquor made _from malt and
+hops_;" "distinguished from ale either by being older or smaller." Ale
+thus defined answers to the description given by Tacitus of the drink of
+the ancient Germans. The ancient Spaniards had a somewhat similar drink,
+called by them _Celia_.
+
+M. Alphonse Esquiros writes of our national drink thus amusingly:--"It
+was the favourite fluid of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, whom we have seen
+descend in turn on Great Britain. Before their conversion to
+Christianity, they believed that one of the chief felicities the heroes
+admitted after death into Odin's paradise enjoyed, was to drink long
+draughts of ale from tall cups. Archæologians have made learned and
+laborious researches to recover the history of beer in Great Britain: it
+will be sufficient for us to say, that in Wales, ale, even small, was
+formerly regarded as a luxury, and was only seen on the tables of the
+great. In England, about the middle of the sixteenth century, Harrison
+assures us that, when tradesmen and artisans had the good fortune to
+stumble on a haunch of venison and a glass of strong ale, they believed
+themselves as magnificently treated as the lord mayor. At the present
+day, what a change! Ale and porter flow into the pewter pots of the
+humblest taverns; rich and poor--the poor more frequently than the
+rich--refresh themselves with the national beverage, as the Israelites
+in the Desert slaked their thirst at the water leaping from the rock, to
+quote a minister of the English Church. This abundance compared with the
+old penury, rejoices the social economist from a certain point of view,
+for he sees in it the natural movement of science, trade and
+agriculture, which in time places within reach of the most numerous
+class articles which, at the outset, were regarded as luxuries. Not only
+has beer become more available to the working classes, but the quality
+has improved, and at the present day English beer knows no rival on the
+Continent."
+
+The old compound of roasted apples, ale, and sugar, which our ancestors
+knew as "Lamb's Wool," is thought to have derived its name as
+follows:--The words La Mas Ubal are good Irish, signifying the Feast, or
+day, of the Apple, and, pronounced _Lamasool_, soon passed into Lamb's
+Wool. The mixture was drunk on the evening of the above day, which was
+supposed to be presided over by the guardian angel of fruits and seeds.
+
+A less fanciful etymology points to the above drink being named from its
+smoothness and softness, resembling the wool of lambs. Herrick sings:
+
+          "Now crowne the bowle
+          With gentle lambs-wooll,
+  Add sugar, and nutmegs, and ginger;"
+
+and in an old play we read of this addition: "Lay a crab in the fire to
+roast for lamb's-wool."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[51] In the Sandwich and many of the islands of the Pacific, every child
+has a piece of sugar-cane in its hand; while in our own sugar colonies
+the negro becomes fat in crop time on the abundant juice of the ripening
+cane. This mode of using the cane is, no doubt, the most ancient of all,
+and was well known to the Roman writers. Lucan (book iii. 237) speaks of
+the eaters of the cane, as "those who drink sweet juice from the tender
+reed."
+
+[52] It is remarkable, that the first house at which Coffee was first
+sold in England, the Angel, Oxford, and the first house at which Tea was
+sold in England, Garraway's, in Change Alley, London, were both taken
+down in the same year--1866.
+
+[53] _Things not Generally Known._ Second Series.
+
+[54] Harrison's _Description of England_, c. vi.; Holinshed's _Chron._
+ii. 171.
+
+[55] Abridged from a paper by Mr. Albert Way, F.S.A.; _Archæological
+Journal_, vol. ii. pp. 332-339.
+
+[56] Dogget, the actor, who bequeathed the Coat and Badge, to be rowed
+for annually on the Thames, was noted for dancing the Cheshire Round, as
+he is represented in his portrait.
+
+
+
+
+IV. Peasant Life.[57]
+
+
+Few inquiries of social interest better show the progress of the English
+people than glances at their condition at various periods of their
+history. Here we may trace the rise of the people from rude forms of
+civilization, through its various grades, to the blessings of industry
+and independence, which have so materially contributed to the character
+of our National Life. Commencing with the substratum of these social
+changes, we are reminded of the truth of Goldsmith's oft-quoted lines:
+
+  "Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
+  A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
+  But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
+  When once destroy'd, can never be supplied."
+
+In early times freemen formed a mere section of the people, and the bulk
+of the English population were in a servile condition. Some of the
+bondmen were captives, or the children of captives; others had been
+reduced to servitude by distress, by debts, or crimes; but they were not
+all of them absolute slaves, for even amongst the convicts there were
+some who were not slaves, but serfs. Now, in acquiring the use of land,
+a slave made the first step towards freedom. In this manner a
+_thrall-bred_ man became _boor-bred_, and although still a bondman--he
+might hope, by good conduct or by the lord's bounty, to rise to the
+higher condition of a geneatman, or free farmer, and even to become a
+freeman, and a freeholder,--to become the absolute owner of his little
+croft.
+
+In Anglo-Saxon times, the political station of a freeman was determined
+by his _were_--it was his worth or value; and the _wergyld_ was the fine
+paid in compensation of his life. The abolition or disuse of this fine
+was an encouragement of liberty, since it removed the strongest mark of
+distinction between freemen and non-freemen.
+
+The free or unfree condition of a man descended to his posterity. At the
+close of the thirteenth century, many peasants in England were still
+affected by the crimes or the misfortunes of their remote ancestors. By
+that time there was an end of absolute slavery, and the bondsmen were
+all serfs, or the children of serfs.
+
+
+OPERATIVE TENANTS.
+
+Villenage and operative tenancy were almost extinct at the time of the
+Reformation. The few villeins, or operative tenants, then remaining,
+were in the occupation of small plots of land, or were, in fact,
+agricultural labourers, working for wages, rather than tenants _paying
+their rent in labour_. They were scarcely to be found except upon
+Church-lands, or upon lands which had lately belonged to the Church.
+
+An operative tenant of five acres usually worked once a week for the
+lord. We learn from Domesday that bordars were tenants of five acres,
+and that the bordars under the Castle of Ewias worked once a week: the
+Saxon cottar held at least five acres, and was accustomed to work for
+the lord every Monday. This custom prevailed in later times. If a tenant
+worked for the lord once a week, the working-day was commonly Monday.
+The Monday-men at East Brent, in Somerset, had the following customs in
+the year 1517:--Each of them, by ancient usage, should annually, in
+forty days selected by the lord's steward, do forty works of summer and
+winter husbandry, called Monday-works, working and labouring well each
+day for six whole hours; each of them receiving, while at work, a
+halfpenny, the sum of which is twenty pence per annum: and each of them
+who should do eight autumnal works, working well six hours a day as
+before said, should receive one penny a day. At the same time there were
+Monday-men at Limpesham in the same county; and they are noticed in
+earlier rentals at Castle Combe in Wiltshire, at Leighton in
+Huntingdonshire, in East Kent, and at Bocking and Hadleigh in the
+eastern counties.
+
+At Bury St. Edmund's anciently, there were humble servitors called
+Lancetts, who were bound by their tenure to clean the chambers of the
+monastery. A tenant of the abbey at Cokefield, whose tenure is not
+called lancettage, was obliged to thatch, to wattle and daub, to do
+carpenter's work, to collect compost, to clean houses, &c.--but was not
+required to clean out the lord's _latrines_.
+
+Although villeins were said to hold their land at the will of the lord,
+their position was not really precarious; they did not hold at the
+lord's arbitrary will, but at the will of the lord subject to the
+custom of the manor. While they paid their dues and performed their
+services, the lord could not molest them; if the lord ejected a sick
+villein, the villein was emancipated. For trivial offences the villein
+was amerced, or was at the lord's mercy; that is, was obliged to pay a
+fine assessed by a jury who were sworn to spare no one for love or fear,
+and to punish no one too severely; for disobedience and disloyalty the
+lord could set his villein in the stocks; if others then came and broke
+the stocks to let the villein out, the lord could have an action of
+trespass: the stocks were chiefly designed for vagrants and unruly
+servants.
+
+At one time the ties which bound a peasant to his landlord were like
+those which bound a soldier to his martial chief. Dependence on a lord
+was thought no degradation, and the state of society made independence
+impossible. The feudal system was exhausted as soon as the law became
+strong enough to protect an independent man.
+
+
+SERVICES OF TILLAGE.
+
+We now proceed to the several services. _Grass-erth_, or the service of
+Tillage, was in return for the privilege of feeding cattle in the lord's
+open pastures. The Saxon boor ploughed two acres, and might be allowed
+to plough more if he required more pasture.
+
+At Sturminster Newton in Dorsetshire, certain tenants came upon the
+lord's grass-land on the morrow of St. Martin's Day with as many teams
+of oxen as they could bring, and they ploughed four acres of the land
+with each team; they brought seed from the hall to sow the land, and
+afterwards harrowed it. This service entitled them to feed their oxen
+with the lord's oxen, from the time that the meadows were mown until the
+cattle were housed. The lord might, in the meantime, raise no hedge, and
+might make no several pasture in the fallow-field, to exclude the cattle
+of the tenantry.
+
+The Saxon boor, in addition to grass-erth, ploughed three acres of
+gafolyrthe: that is, ploughing alone in satisfaction of his gayfol, or
+rent; as well as three acres of benyrthe, or optional tillage, done as a
+_boon_ to the lord,--done out of grace and kindness, not in the way of
+duty.
+
+A large part of the lord's arable land was entirely cultivated by the
+tenantry. The customary tenants at Cokefield, near Bury, ploughed 200
+acres; or rather, they ploughed each acre more than once, and their
+labour was equal to the single tillage of 200 acres.
+
+In large manors, it was the duty of the reeve to ascertain whether a
+tenant intended to do the service, or chose rather to pay for a
+substitute. The reeve had to deal with persons of both sexes, and of all
+conditions. Some of the contributors of labour were knights, and
+gentlemen, and ladies of quality; others were independent yeomen, surly
+farmers, and poor widows. This arrangement was called an _arable
+precation_. The _gathering of the ploughs_ must have been a remarkable
+sight. Soon after dawn, on the appointed day the tenants met the lord's
+officers in the field. Tenants who came without oxen, were employed in
+delving and in making fences; tenants who came with single oxen or with
+less than an entire team, were associated with others; and thus all the
+oxen and cart-horses present were sorted in teams of about eight
+animals. The teams were marshalled by a beadle, who carried his wand of
+office, not quite a bare symbol of authority, for, we dare say, it was
+used upon inert husbandmen as well as upon inert oxen. The reeve took
+care that each team did its full work: that the ploughmen worked as well
+for the lord as they would work for themselves; and that the teams were
+not unyoked until the work had been fairly done. The day's work was
+supposed to be completed at the ninth hour,--three in the afternoon,
+according to our reckoning. This hour was called high noon, and the meal
+then taken was called a noonshun or nuncheon. Some of the ploughmen had
+a meal from the lord, but there was no regular feast; a tenant employed
+in the lord's service was not usually entitled to a meal, unless the
+service kept him occupied an entire day. A boon-harrowing, with horses,
+succeeded; each horse that harrowed was allowed two or three handfuls of
+oats. In due time there followed a bedweding, or weeding boon.
+
+There were small services, such as threshing, thatching, delving,
+building, and enclosing. A tenant made two perches, or eleven yards, of
+dyke. A tenant at Darent, near Rochester, in the thirteenth century, did
+two perches of enclosure around the court, and seven perches of Racheie
+around the lord's corn. Then there was the service of enclosing the
+hall-garth or courtyard. The tenants are still obliged to keep up a
+stone wall round the site of the manor-house at Brotherton, in Norfolk;
+the mansion itself disappeared long ago. The fencing of a park was in
+some places distributed among a number of townships, each undertaking to
+maintain so many rods of paling; this was the custom at Pilton, in
+Somerset, where there was a deer-park belonging to the Abbot of
+Glastonbury. The churchyard at Bradley, in Staffordshire, is said to be
+still enclosed by the parishioners associated in this manner,--that is,
+each person is bound to finish a certain portion of paling. The tenants
+also made or maintained the lord's sheepfold. Each hyde at Thorpe in
+Essex had to make a certain number of rods for the fold out of the
+lord's wood.
+
+At times, the tenants had to spread composts in the lord's field. They
+also collected stubble out of the corn-fields, and reeds out of the
+marsh; reeds and straw were strewn in apartments, and used for thatching
+or fuel. In many places they were required to gather nuts in the woods
+for the lord; the nuts were for making oil, and a quarter of nuts
+answered to a gallon of oil. Nutting was rather a pastime, or holiday
+task, than a service. The nutting expeditions at Wickham, in Essex, were
+to be made on three feast days, which are not named, but Holyrood Day,
+the 14th of September, may have been one of them:
+
+  "This day, they say, is called Holy-Rood Day,
+  And all the youth are now a nutting gone."
+
+  _Grim, the Collier of Croydon._
+
+To make malt for the lord was usually the chief service of the poorer
+tenants in the immediate neighbourhood of a monastery, as at Darent and
+other places near Rochester, and at Battle; tenants at a distance,
+instead of making malt, in some places paid a tax called _malt-silver_.
+The cottagers carried their lord's malt to the flour mill to be crushed,
+for they were not allowed to keep hand-mills or mortars, which might be
+used in grinding corn. The malt might be dried at home, for kilns were
+common in old houses; but in some manors the lord had a public kiln,
+which the tenants were bound to make use of.
+
+
+OLDEN HARVEST.
+
+A _bedrip_, _reaping boon_, or _autumnal precation_, was a more pompous
+festival than an _arable precation_. In old times, as in our own, the
+Harvest was made a season of merriment, if not of thanksgiving:
+
+  "In tyme of harvest mery it is ynough;
+  The hayward bloweth mery his horn,
+  In eueryche felde ripe is corn."
+
+  _Romance of King Alexander._
+
+In the illustrations of an old Saxon Calendar, in the Cotton Library,
+the hayward is shown standing on a hillock, cheering the reapers with
+his horn. Slumbering reapers were roused by the sound of a horn in
+Tusser's time; and the custom of blowing horns at harvest-time endured
+until the end of the last century, for it is noticed by John Scott, of
+Amwell. In the thirteenth century, when the rentals were mostly
+compiled, the lord was aided in harvest, as in seed-time, by tenants of
+all ranks. A superior tenant rarely sent more than two men to the
+bedrip, or two men and an _overman_, that is a foreman.
+
+The kindly services rendered to the lord in seed-time and harvest were
+otherwise called precations, gifel-works, and love-boons. The days on
+which they were rendered used to be called boon-days, and occasionally
+love-days: a love-day more commonly meant a law-day, a day set apart for
+a leet or manorial court, a day of final concord and reconciliation; as
+we read in the _Coventry Mysteries_:
+
+  "Now is the love-day mad of us foure fynially
+  Now may we leve in pes as we were wonte."
+
+Love-boons are described by the Law authorities as "the voluntary labour
+of the inhabitants of the neighbouring townships."
+
+The memorable truce between the Yorkists and Lancastrians, in 1458, was
+called a love-day.
+
+A customary tenant, in some places, was bound to appear on the grandest
+day with his whole family, except the housewife, who stayed at home and
+spun; sometimes excepting the nurse as well the mistress. In the
+neighbourhood of Oxford, in the year 1279, all the men who held
+yard-lands, and all who held half-yard-lands, came to two autumnal
+precations, each of them with one man; and to the third precation each
+of them with his whole family, excepting his wife and shepherd, and was
+regaled by the lord on this third day,--not on the two former days; and
+all the customary tenants were obliged to ride beyond the lord's crops,
+to see that they were reaped safe and well. They rode in saddles, with
+bridles and spurs; if they failed in any part of this equipment, they
+were fined. These mounted overseers were called reap-reeves. In the time
+of Edward the Third, the tenant of an estate called Fawkner Field was
+bound to ride among the reapers in the lord's demesnes, at Isleworth, on
+the bederepe day, in autumn, with a sparrow-hawk upon his wrist. The
+officers of the court were entitled to a share of the crop. In some
+places, the sicklemen received a worksheaf each; each man was expected
+to reap half an acre, called a deywine (day-win), or day's labour. In
+the accounts of the tenures at Booking, in Essex, there is a curious
+estimate of the cost of these autumnal precations. The expense of the
+food provided for the reapers is weighed against the value of their
+work, and the balance is found to be fivepence and three-farthings.
+
+A yard-lander at Chalgrave, in Oxfordshire, reaped at the two precations
+in autumn with all his household but his wife and shepherd; if he
+brought three labourers, he walked with his rod, or rode, in front of
+the reapers; if he brought no labourers, he worked in person; for two
+repasts, at nones, a wheaten loaf, pottage, meat, and salt; at supper,
+bread and cheese and beer, and enough of it, with a candle while the
+guests were inclined to sit. The last day was always the grand day,
+when, at Piddington, the tenants and their wives came with napkins,
+dishes, platters, cups, and other necessary things.
+
+In the reign of Henry III., the ploughmen and other officers, at East
+Monkton, near Warminster and Shaftesbury, were allowed a ram for a feast
+on the Eve of St. John the Baptist, when they used to _carry fire round
+the lord's corn_. This form of the Beltane superstition was observed in
+the north of England, and in Scotland, about fifty years ago. The
+Beltane flourishes at the uttermost ends of Europe, in the Scilly
+Islands, and in Russia; and even the main of Madagascar, who holds his
+head to other stars, is accustomed to kindle bonfires on the day which
+we have dedicated to St. John. We learn from the _Popular Antiquities_
+that in our time, in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, on the eve of
+Twelfth Day, fires used to be lit at the ends of the lands, in fields
+just sown with wheat.
+
+Tenants in old times were required to cut and clear the lord's
+hay-field. A tenant at Bradbury, for one day's mowing, received a meal
+of bread and cheese twice in the course of the day; and for carrying the
+same meadow, a bundle of hay, for his pains. The mowers also received
+among them twelvepence or a sheep, which they were to choose out of the
+lord's fold by sight, not by touch. In other places the mower was
+allowed as much grass as he could raise up on his scythe, without
+breaking its handle; and a haymaker received as much hay as he could
+grasp with both arms. At Sturminster, a tenant, after mowing and
+carrying, received a knitch of hay,--that is, as much hay as the hayward
+could raise with one finger to the height of his knees.
+
+In the year 1308, it was the rule at Borley that the mowers and
+haymakers should have two bushels of wheat for bread, a wether worth
+eighteenpence, a gallon of butter, the second-best cheese out of the
+lord's dairy, salt and oatmeal for their pottage, and the morning's milk
+of all the cows; and a mower as much grass as he could lift upon the
+point of his scythe. In 1222 they had in common a cheese and a good ram.
+A sheep was commonly the reward of work in the hay-field. Old English
+husbandmen were very fond of mutton, and the hay-harvest fell about St.
+John's Day, when mutton was considered in season.
+
+
+HOCK-DAY.
+
+The second Tuesday after Easter, was another very important day in
+bygone times. At Chingford, the ward-staff was presented in court on
+Hock-day. John Ross, of Warwick, records that, on the death of
+Hardicanute, England was delivered from Danish servitude; and to
+commemorate this deliverance, on the day commonly called Hock Tuesday,
+the people of the villages are accustomed to pull in parties at each end
+of a rope, and to indulge in other jokes. The Hock-tide sports were
+kept up at Hexton, in Hertfordshire, in the time of Elizabeth, and are
+described in Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire. Hock-day was usually set apart
+for a love-day, law-day, or court-leet. This court could be held but
+twice in the year, and was generally held at Hock-tide and Michaelmas,
+or Martinmas, since a court on these days would not interfere much with
+agricultural operations. Leets, like most other gatherings, ended with
+good cheer. In the thirteenth century, when the officers of East Monkton
+attended the Hundred courts at Deverell--which were held at Hock-tide
+and Martinmas--they were allowed a loaf and a piece of meat each. A
+feast following a court-leet or law-day, was called a leet-ale, or
+scot-ale, as ale is said to mean no more than a feast. There were
+leet-ales and scot-ales, church-ales, clerk-ales, bid-ales, and
+bride-ales. Scot-ales were often abused, and made means of extortion.
+The bishops, the judges, and all the king's men in vain tried to
+suppress them. All persons present at a scot-ale paid _scot_,--that is,
+a fine, or fee; the money raised nominally furnished a feast, but was
+really for the benefit of the chief officer of the court--the portreeve,
+head borough, or third borough. In some places, leet-ale was not
+entirely supported by subscription. In Tollard, on the edge of Cranborne
+Chase, the steward was allowed on the law-day to have a course at a deer
+out of Tollard Park. At Bovey Tracy, the profits of the Portreeve's Park
+defrayed the expenses of the annual revel. The Glastonbury Rental
+describes the mode of keeping the scot-ales in Wiltshire, in the
+thirteenth century. The customs are very like those of ancient Guilds.
+By the rules of the Guild of the Holy Ghost at Abingdon, members who sat
+down at dinner paid one rate, and members who stood for want of room
+paid another.
+
+
+SHEEP-SHEARING.
+
+This was another service imposed upon the tenantry. Though hard and
+heavy work to wash and shear sheep, in the thirteenth century it was
+done by women, who are called "shepsters" in the _Vision_ of Piers
+Plowman. The sheep were washed in the mill-pond. Shearers were usually
+entitled to the wambelocks, or loose locks of wool under the belly of
+the sheep; or at Weston, in Oxfordshire, a penny instead of the locks.
+The finest part of the fleece is the wool about the sheep's throat,
+called in Scotland the haslock, or hawselocks:
+
+  "A tartan plaid, spun of good hawslock woo',
+  Scarlet and green he sets, the borders blew."
+
+  _The Gentle Shepherd._
+
+Up in the North they call a sheep-shearing the clipping-time; and to
+come in clipping-time is to come as opportunely as at sheep-shearing,
+when there are always mirth and good cheer. In the middle of the
+seventeenth century, clippers always expected a joint of roasted mutton.
+In the _Winter's Tale_, the clown ponders:
+
+      "Let me see, what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast? Three
+      pounds of sugar, five pounds of currants, rice--what will this
+      sister of mine do with rice? But my father hath made her mistress
+      of the feast, and she lays it on.... I must have saffron to colour
+      the warden pies; mace; dates, none! That's out of my note.
+      Nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger--but that I may beg; four
+      pounds of prunes, and as many of raisins o' the sun."
+
+The old customs of clipping-time were observed by Sir Moyle Finch, at
+Walton, near Wetherby, in the time of Charles I., and are thus described
+by Henry Best:
+
+      "Hee hath usually fower severall keepinges shorne altogether in
+      the Hall-garth.... He hath had 49 clippers all at once, and their
+      wage is, to each man 12_d_. a day, and when they have done, beere
+      and bread and cheese; the traylers have 6_d_. a day. His tenants
+      the graingers are tyed to come themselves, and winde the well;
+      they have a fatte wether and a fatte lambe killed, and a dinner
+      provided for their paines; there will be usually three score or
+      fower score poore folkes gatheringe up the lockes; to oversee whom
+      standeth the steward and two or three of his friends or servants,
+      with each of them a rodde in his hande; there are two to carry
+      away the well, and weigh the roll so soone as it is wounde up, and
+      another that setteth it downe ever as it is weighed; there is
+      6_d_. allowed to a piper for playing to the clippers all the day;
+      the shepheards have each of them his bell-weather's fleece,"--the
+      "bellys" allowed to the shepherd by the old Saxon laws.
+
+Sheep-shearing was thus celebrated in ancient times with feasting and
+rustic pastimes; at present, excepting a supper at the conclusion of the
+sheep-shearing, we have few remains of the older custom. Nevertheless,
+it is interesting to revert to these pictures of pastoral life and
+rusticity, more especially as we find them embellished by the charms of
+poetry, and enlivened by a simplicity of manners which, to whatever
+period it may belong, is always entertaining, if not productive of
+better fruit. The season of the shearing is thus laid down by Dyer:
+
+                      "If verdant Elder spreads
+  Her silver flowers, if humble Daisies yield
+  To yellow rowfoot and luxuriant grass,
+  Gay Shearing Time approaches."
+
+
+CONVEYANCE SERVICE.
+
+The most irksome tasks were the transport services, called in Scotland
+the duties of _arriage_ and _carriage_. The load of a sumpter-horse was
+usually eight bushels--the weight of a sack of wool, or a quarter of
+corn. A wain-load was apparently nine seams. The goods carried were
+chiefly provisions--grain, pulse, malt, honey, bacon, suet, salt, and
+wood. A castle or monastery was _farmed_--that is, supplied with
+food--by the nearest manors belonging to the lord. The farming was done
+according to a regular cycle, each manor sending supplies in its turn
+for so many days or weeks. We have a list of thirty-five villages which
+took turns to farm Ely Minster--some for three or four days, some for a
+week, some for a fortnight.
+
+Everything contributed in this manner did not travel in waggons, or
+packs and panniers; oxen and swine were driven to the head of the barony
+to be slaughtered, especially at Martinmas; if the drovers came from any
+distance, they received drove-meat. Arriage and carriage were not very
+burdensome when fulfilled by the removal of so much wool, or cheese, or
+corn, or bacon, to a neighbouring town; but they became serious when a
+tenant had to ride or drive from the heart of England to the coast and
+home again. Some tenants were called _pouchers_, because they were
+required to carry goods in a poke, pouch, or bag. In the Channel
+Islands, on the first spring-tide after the 24th of June, the poor who
+possess neither cart nor horse have the exclusive right to cut _vraic_
+(wrack, sea-weed), on consideration that it is conveyed on their backs
+to the beach. Thus cut and conveyed it is called _vraic à la poche_, and
+distinguished from _vraic à cheval_.
+
+When fish was wanted at Rochester, the tenants of the four hydes of
+Hedenham and Cuddington, near Aylesbury, were called out; two of the
+hydes brought the fish from Gloucester into Buckinghamshire, and the
+other two hydes carried it on to Rochester: it is likely that they were
+sent to fetch the dainty lamprey, still sought for at Gloucester. The
+_langerodes_, or long journeys, were very troublesome to the tenants,
+but could not be dispensed with while there were no regular mails, and
+no public conveyances. A person undertaking a _langerode_ either
+received some remuneration or worked out his rent by serving as a
+carrier; in general he was not inclined to leave his home and farm, and
+found it more convenient to pay the price of the service, which enabled
+the lord to find another carrier. No services were more frequently
+commuted than the duties of arriage and carriage, and a body of
+professional carriers was gradually formed by the habit of constant
+commutation.
+
+
+WATCH AND WARD.--THE BEADLE.
+
+The wardmen of ancient times were a kind of rural police, whose duty of
+ward-keeping was connected with their tenure. They were, probably,
+maintained on the north side of London until the institution of a
+general system of police in the time of Edward the First. By the statute
+of Winton, it was ordered that a watch should be kept by six men at each
+gate of a city, by twelve men in every borough, and by six men or four
+men in each rural township, every night, from the Feast of the Ascension
+of our Lord to the Feast of St. Nicholas. The watchmen could detain any
+one unknown to them; any one who would not stand and declare himself,
+was pursued with hue and cry--with horn and voice--
+
+  "Swarming at his back the country cried."
+
+We suppose that St. Nicholas became the patron of highwaymen, because
+the watch was intermitted on the day dedicated to St. Nicholas. The
+wardmen were occasionally noticed in the Domesday of St. Paul's. The
+survey of 1279 states, that at Sutton, in Middlesex, each tenant who had
+cattle on the lord's lands to the value of thirty pence, paid a penny at
+Martinmas, called _ward-penny_; but this tax was not due from the
+watchmen of the ward, who waited at night in the King's highway, and
+received the ward-staff:--
+
+  "They wared and they waked,
+  And the Ward so kept,
+  That the king was harmless,
+  And the country scatheless."
+
+In Essex, the ward-keeper had a rope with a bell, or more than one bell,
+attached to it: the rope may have been used to stop the way. The
+ward-staff was a type of authority, cut and carried with peculiar
+ceremony, and treated with great reverence.
+
+The duties of the beadle (Saxon, _bydel_ or _bædel_), in ancient times,
+lay more on the farm than in the law-court, the state procession, or in
+the parochial duties of punishing petty offenders, as in the present
+day.[58] In many places, the bedelry and the haywardship were held
+together by one person. The beadle was the verger of the manorial court;
+he likewise overlooked the reapers and carried his rod into the
+harvest-field. At Darent, near Rochester, the beadle held five acres as
+beadle, shepherd, and hayward; he had eighteen sheep and two cows in the
+lord's pasture; against Christmas he had a _crone_--an old sheep--a lamb
+with a fleece, and some other allowances. At Ickham, in the same county,
+the beadle's office was hereditary: the beadle had five acres with a
+cottage for his service, and made all the citations of the court, and,
+if he went on horseback into the Weald of Kent, he was allowed
+provender for his horse; he had pasture for five hogs, five head of
+cattle, and a horse; he attended in the fields to regulate the labours
+of the harvest. And such had been the tenure of his father, grandfather,
+and great-grandfather.
+
+Old English gentlemen were anciently very much afraid of theft and
+peculation; they believed that "Treste lokes maketh trewe hewen,"--or,
+to change their maxim into current English, they believed that "firm
+locks made faithful servants." The barns were to be well closed after
+August, and no servant was to open them until threshing-time, without
+the special direction of the landlord or the steward. The strictest
+accounts were kept. Every person, in any situation of the slightest
+trust or responsibility, was required to render an account of every
+penny and every article passing through his hands, to the receiver, or
+bailiff, whose accounts were revised once a year by auditors, who went
+round from manor to manor.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[57] The staple of this paper is selected and condensed from a series of
+learned articles, entitled "The Rights, Disabilities, and Usages of the
+Ancient English Peasantry;" in the _Law Magazine and Law Review_,
+published by Messrs. Butterworth. Some of the ancient law terms have
+been omitted, in order to better adapt this abstract for popular
+reading.
+
+[58] In our day, the beadle is most familiar to us as an officer of the
+church. Formerly, one of his duties was a strange one. We read of the
+beadle, in a church, going round the edifice during service, carrying a
+long staff, at one end of which was a fox's brush, and at the other a
+knob: with the former, he gently tickled the faces of the female
+sleepers, while on the heads of their male compeers he bestowed with the
+knob a terrible rap.
+
+At Acton church, in Cheshire, some five and twenty years ago, one of the
+churchwardens, or the apparitor, used to go round the church during
+service, with a long wand in his hand; and if any of the congregation
+were asleep, they were instantly awoke by a tap on the head.
+
+In the church at Dunchurch, a similar custom existed: a person, having a
+stout wand, shaped like a hay-fork at the end, stept stealthily up and
+down the naves and aisles, and whenever he saw an individual asleep, he
+touched him so effectually, that the spell was broken; this being
+sometimes done by fitting the fork to the nape of the neck.
+
+
+
+
+OLDEN HOUSE-MARKS.
+
+
+The means by which property has been identified, and denoted by some
+distinctive mark, at various periods, present us with some curious
+customs.
+
+In England, individual marks were in use from the fourteenth to the
+middle of the seventeenth centuries, probably much earlier; and when a
+yeoman affixed his mark to a deed, he drew a _signum_, well known to his
+neighbours, by which his land, his cattle, and sheep, his agricultural
+implements, and even his ducks, were identified. In the 25th year of
+Queen Elizabeth, a jury at Seaford, in Sussex, convicted John Comber
+"for markyng of three ducks of Edwd Warwickes and two ducks of Symon
+Brighte with his own marke, and cutting owt theire markes." Cows and
+oxen were marked on the near horn. When cattle in bodies of many
+hundreds ranged over extensive commons, as was formerly the case, the
+use of marks for identification was more indispensable than at present.
+Our swans retain their marks to the present day. In Ditmarsh and Denmark
+the owner's mark was cut in stone over the principal door of the house;
+it designated not only his land and cattle, but his stall in the church,
+and his grave when he was no more. At Witney, Oxon, a woolstapler's mark
+may be seen so incised on a house, with the date 1564; and numerous
+merchants' marks are at Norwich and Yarmouth. At Holstein, within the
+memory of man, the beams of the cottages of the bond-servants were
+incised with the marks of their masters. A pastor, writing from Angeln,
+says, "The hides had their marks, which served instead of the names of
+their owners." In the island of Föhr, a little to the north of Ditmarsh,
+the mark, cut on a wooden ticket, is always sold with the house; and it
+is cut in stone over the door; and the same custom is still in use in
+Schleswig and Holstein. In the Tyrolese Alps, at the present day, the
+cattle that are driven out to pasturage are marked on the horn with the
+mark of their owner's land. Marks for cattle are also used in
+Switzerland, in the Bavarian Alps, and in some parts of Austria.
+
+These house-marks are connected with merchants' and tradesmen's marks,
+and also with stonemasons' marks, all of which formed a lower kind of
+heraldry for those not entitled to the bearings of the noble; for, on
+old houses at Erfurt, double shields, with the marks of the families of
+husband and wife, are found.
+
+Many of the marks found on old pictures are true house-marks, and not
+alphabetical monograms. A painting by Wouvermans or Lingelback, in the
+writer's possession, bears the mark known as the crane's foot. Michelsen
+considers armorial bearings to have been originally little more than
+decorated marks, and to have been engrafted, as it were, upon the
+system: indeed, he asserts that the arms of Pope Hadrian VI., a
+Netherlander, were framed from house-marks. Some knightly families in
+Schleswig still retain their house-marks on their coat-of-arms: for
+instance, the Von Gogerns bear the kettle-hanger, or pot-hook; the Von
+Sesserns, in 1548, bore the same, which occurred on their family tomb,
+_anno_ 1309. The earliest marks were supposed to represent the most
+indispensable agricultural implements, as a spade, a plough, a scythe, a
+sickle, a dung-hook, the tyres of a barrow; also, anchors, stars, &c.
+There was, also, often a supposed connexion between the figurative name
+of a house and its owner's mark, which was a representation of the
+object, more or less exact. Michelsen considers that the names and signs
+of inns are but remnants of the once universal and necessary custom of
+giving figurative names to houses, which the modern numbers have
+superseded.
+
+Prof. Michelsen shows that the _cultellum_, which was given by the
+Franks, Goths, and Germans, in the ninth and tenth centuries, on the
+transfer of land, with the _signum_ cut on a piece of wood, was
+originally intended for notching the mark on the wood, in the same
+manner as the inkstand and pen were lifted up with the chart, as symbols
+of a transfer of land. Among the archives of Nôtre Dame, at Paris, is
+preserved a pointed pocket-knife of the eleventh century, on the ivory
+handle of which is engraved the record of a gift of land; and at the
+same place is preserved a piece of wood, of the ninth century, six
+inches long and one inch square, attached to a diploma, as was then the
+custom. A similar knife, with an ivory handle, is still preserved,
+attached to a charter of Trinity College, Cambridge.
+
+The surrender of copyholds by the rod or glove, and occasionally by a
+straw, or rush (whence the word "stipulation," from _stipula_, straw),
+is well known in England; and in the manor of Paris Garden, Surrey, an
+ebony rod is preserved with a silver head, on which are engraved the
+royal arms, with E. R. and a crown, and an inscription purporting that
+it is kept for the surrender of copyholds of the manor. The inscribed
+sticks, mentioned in Ezekiel xxxv. 16, appear to relate to this ancient
+mode of conveyancing.
+
+
+
+
+V. Olden Customs and Ceremonies.
+
+
+
+
+MAY-DAY CAROL ON MAGDALEN COLLEGE TOWER.
+
+
+May customs are nothing more than a gratulation of the spring, to testify
+universal joy at the revival of vegetation. Hence the universality of
+the practice; and its festivities being inspired by the gay face of
+Nature, they are as old as any we have on record. There is at Oxford a
+May-day ceremony which has a special claim upon our respect and
+veneration, for nearly four centuries.
+
+Upon the majestic Perpendicular tower of Magdalen College we have many
+time and oft looked with reverential feeling: seen from every point, it
+delights the eye with its stately form, fine proportions, and admirable
+simplicity; and with its history is associated a May-day custom of
+surpassing interest. For more than three centuries and a half the
+choristers of the College have assembled upon the top of its tower on a
+May-day morning, and there performed a most harmonious service, the
+origin of which has been thus traced by the learned Dr. Rimbault.
+
+In the year 1501, the "most Christian" King Henry VII. gave to Magdalen
+College the advowsons of the churches of Slymbridge, in Gloucestershire,
+and Fyndon, in Sussex, together with one acre of land in each parish. In
+gratitude for this benefaction, the College was accustomed, during the
+lifetime of the royal benefactor, to celebrate a service in honour of
+the Holy Trinity, with the collect still used on Trinity Sunday; and the
+prayer, "Almighty and everlasting God, we are taught by Thy word that
+the heart of kings," &c.; and, after the death of the King, to
+commemorate him in the usual manner.
+
+The Commemoration Service ordered in the time of Queen Elizabeth, is
+still performed on the 1st of May; when is sung on the College-tower a
+Latin hymn, which has evidently reference to the original service. The
+produce of the two acres before-mentioned used to be distributed on the
+same day, between the President and Fellows: it has, however, for many
+years been given up, to supply the choristers with a festal
+entertainment in the College-hall.
+
+[Illustration: SINGING THE MAY-DAY CAROL ON MAGDALEN COLLEGE TOWER.]
+
+The arrangement of the ceremony is as follows. At about half-past four
+o'clock in the morning, the singing boys and men, accompanied by members
+of Magdalen and different colleges, ascend to the platform of the tower;
+and the choristers, having put on their surplices, range themselves on
+the slightly-gabled roof, standing with their faces towards the east.
+Magdalen bell having tolled five, the choristers sing from their books
+the Latin hymn, of which the following is a translation:--
+
+  "Father and God, we worship Thee,
+  And praise and bless on bended knee:
+  With food Thou'rt to our bodies kind,
+  With heavenly grace dost cheer the mind.
+
+  "O, Jesus, only Son of God!
+  Thee we adore, and praise, and laud:
+  Thy love did not disdain the gloom
+  Of a pure Virgin's holy womb.
+
+  "Nail'd to the cross, a victim made,
+  On Thee the wrath of God was laid:
+  Our only Saviour, now by Thee
+  Immortal life we hope to see.
+
+  "To Thee, Eternal Spirit, rise
+  Unceasing praise, from earth and skies:
+  Thy breath awoke the heavenly Child,
+  And gave Him to His mother mild.
+
+  "To Thee, the Triune God, be paid--
+  To Thee, who our redemption made--
+  All honour, thanks, and praise divine,
+  For this great mystery of Thine!"
+
+At the close of the hymn, all heads are covered, and the singers hasten
+to the belfry, whence the bells ring out a joyful peal. The spectators
+in the road beneath disperse, the boys blowing tin horns, according to
+ancient custom, to welcome in sweet May; while others ramble into the
+fields to gather cowslips and field flowers, which they bring into the
+town. Occasionally the singing on the tower has been heard, with a
+favourable wind, at two miles' distance. This being a "gaudy day" for
+the choristers, they have a dinner of roast lamb and plum-pudding in the
+College-hall at two o'clock. There is a good representation of the
+ceremony on the tower, carefully engraved by Joseph Lionel Williams, in
+the _Illustrated London News_, whence the accompanying representation
+has been reduced.
+
+Dr. Rimbault, whilst making some researches in the library of
+Christchurch, Oxford, discovered what appeared to him to be the first
+draft of the above hymn. It has the following note:--"This hymn is sung
+every day in Magdalen College Hall, Oxon, dinner and supper throughout
+the year, for the after grace, by the chaplains, clerks, and choristers
+there. Composed by Benjamin Rogers, Doctor of Musicke of the University
+of Oxon, 1685." The author of the hymn is unknown.
+
+At Oxford, formerly, boys used to blow cows'-horns and hollow canes all
+night, to welcome in May-day; and girls carried about garlands of
+flowers, which afterwards they hung upon the churches.
+
+Before we leave the sacred ground whereon this holy May-day ceremony is,
+year by year, performed, we present the reader with a very ably-drawn
+picture of the locality itself, and its many attractions.
+
+"Probably," says a writer in the _Saturday Review_, "there is no city in
+the United Kingdom, with the exception of the metropolis, which
+possesses such a concentration of interest as Oxford. Its historical
+associations are spread over a long succession of ages. Not to speak of
+more apocryphal reminiscences, it was a favourite residence of one of
+our monarchs, and the birthplace of another. It was the scene of
+important transactions in the troubled reign of Stephen, and witnessed
+an episode in the equally troubled reign of the third Henry. It beheld
+the seeds of the Reformation sown by Wycliff, and saw the martyrdom of
+Cranmer and his fellow-sufferers. It became a confessor for the Church
+of England as against Puritanism under the second Stuart, and as against
+Popery under the fourth. It has been, at least since the Reformation, a
+sort of head-quarters of that Church; and has witnessed, in our own day,
+the most remarkable theological convulsions which it has experienced
+since the Reformation. Its outward appearance is in keeping with its
+history. It bears traces of the architecture of eight centuries--from
+the rude belfry-tower of St. Michael's, which has been assigned on good
+authority to the age of the Confessor, to Mr. Scott's exquisite
+imitation of the Sainte Chapelle, in its immediate neighbourhood. It is
+true that it contains no building of the first rank; but it exhibits an
+almost infinite variety, under the influence of accidental yet
+harmonious grouping, which has a charm more akin to that of nature than
+that of art. In its æsthetical as well as in its moral aspect, it
+betrays a strong spirit of Conservatism, and, occasionally, one of
+studied Revivalism. We see in Oxford the shadow of the Middle Ages
+projected far into the region of modern life. A College is a strange
+compound, half club, half convent, and its daily usages are curiously
+intermingled with the past. For two centuries after the Reformation,
+Protestant founders cast their institutions in the mould of Wykeham and
+Waynflete: the scholastic system appears to have been a living thing at
+the beginning of the last century, and its ghost still haunts the
+academic shades. These facts have their parallel in the architecture of
+Oxford. The revival of mediæval art, which we have ourselves witnessed,
+had its precursors here in the early part of the seventeenth century.
+Nowhere in England--we may almost say, nowhere in Europe--shall we find
+such good and pure Gothic, built at a time when the style was defunct
+elsewhere, as is presented by the Chapels of Wadham, Lincoln, and Jesus
+Colleges, and in the staircase of Christchurch Hall; and as was to be
+seen in the chapel of Exeter College, before its destruction.
+
+"With such attractions, added to that of personal interest, arising out
+of the past or in direct connexion with the place, it is no wonder that
+Oxford, at the most pleasant season of the year, draws to itself crowds
+of visitors from all parts of the country. The only wonder is, that it
+is not even more popular than it is, when we consider the throngs of
+English men and women who are to be met with in the dingy and unsavoury
+Colleges of continental cities from June till October."
+
+At Saffron Wolden, and in the village of Debden, an old May-day song is
+still sung by the little girls, who go about in parties carrying
+garlands from door to door. The first stanza is to be repeated after
+each of the others by way of chorus:--
+
+  "I, I been a rambling all this night,
+    And some part of this day,
+  And, now returning back again,
+    I brought you a garland gay.
+
+  "A garland gay I brought you here,
+    And at your door I stand;
+  'Tis nothing but a sprout, but 'tis well budded out,
+    The works of our Lord's hand.
+
+  "Why don't you do as I have done
+    The very first day of May?
+  And from my parents I have come,
+    And could no longer stay.
+
+  "So dear, so dear as Christ loved us,
+    And for our sins was slain,
+  Christ bids us turn from wickedness,
+    And turn to the Lord again."
+
+The garlands which the girls carry are sometimes large and handsome, and
+a doll is usually placed in the middle, dressed in white, according to
+certain traditional regulations: this doll represents the Virgin Mary,
+and is a relic of the ages of Romanism.
+
+The May-pole still lingers in the village of St. Briavel's, in the
+picturesque forest of Dean. In the village of Burley in the New Forest,
+a May-pole is erected, a fête given to the school children, and a
+May-queen is chosen by lots; a floral crown surmounts the pole, and
+garlands of flowers hang about the shaft. Among other late instances are
+recorded a May-pole, eighty feet high, on the village-green of West
+Dean, Wilts, in 1836; and in 1844, there was "dancing round the
+May-pole" in St. James's district, Enfield. William Howitt describes
+May-poles in the village of Lisby, near Newstead; and in Farnsfield,
+near Southwell, Derbyshire, May-poles are to be seen. Dr. Parr was a
+great patron of May-day festivities: opposite his parsonage-house at
+Hatton, near Warwick, stood the parish May-pole, which was annually
+dressed with garlands, and the doctor danced with his parishioners
+around the shaft. He kept its large crown in a closet of his house, from
+whence it was produced every May-day, and decorated with fresh flowers
+and streamers, preparatory to its elevation to the top of the pole.
+
+On May-day and December 26th, is distributed the fund bequeathed in 1717
+and 1736, by Mr. Raine, a wealthy brewer at St. George's-in-the-East,
+who founded schools and a hospital for girls, and added marriage
+portions of 100_l_., to be drawn by lots: the winner is married to a
+young man, of St. John's, Wapping, or St. Paul's, Shadwell; the couple
+dine with their friends, and in the evening an ode is sung, and the
+marriage portion of one hundred new sovereigns is presented to the
+bride.
+
+Miss Baker, in her _Northamptonshire Glossary_, tells us that there are
+very few villages in that county where the May-day Festival is not
+noticed in some way or other.
+
+
+
+
+BANBURY CAKES.--CONGLETON CAKES, ETC.
+
+
+That the ancient town of Banbury, lying on the northern verge of the
+county of Oxford, should have been famed, from time immemorial, for its
+rich cakes, should not excite our special wonder, seeing that the
+district has some of the richest pasture land in the kingdom; a single
+cow being here known to produce 200 pounds of butter in a year! Butter,
+we need scarcely add, is the prime ingredient of the Banbury cake,
+giving it the richness and lightness of the finest puff-paste; and, to
+the paper in which the cakes are wrapped, the appearance of their having
+been packed up by bakers with well-buttered fingers.
+
+The cause of this cake-fame must, however, be sought in a higher walk of
+history than in the annals of pastry-making. It appears that the Banbury
+folks went on rejoicing in the fatness of their cakes until the reign of
+Elizabeth; from which time to that of Charles II., the people of the
+town were so noted for their peculiar religious fervour, as to draw upon
+themselves most unsparingly the satire of contemporary playwrights,
+wits, and humorists. By some unlucky turn of time, cakes, which were
+much valued by the classical ancients, and were given away as presents,
+in the Middle Ages, instead of bread, became looked upon as a
+superstitious relic by the Puritans, who thereupon abolished the
+practice. They formed so predominant a party at Banbury, in the reign of
+Elizabeth, that they pulled down Banbury Cross, so celebrated in our
+nursery rhymes. In the face of this historical fact, however, the
+reputed "zeal" of the Banburians has been attributed to an accidental
+circumstance, in modern phrase, "an error of the press." In Gough's
+edition of Camden's _Britannia_, in the MS. supplement, is this note:
+"Put out the word _zeale_ in Banbury, where some think it a disgrace,
+when a _zeale_ with knowledge is the greater grace among good
+Christians; for it was first foysted in by some compositor or press-man,
+neither is it in my Latin copie, which I desire the reader to hold as
+authentic." It was, indeed, printed, as a proverb, "Banbury zeal,
+cheese, and cakes," instead of "Banbury veal, cheese, and cakes."
+Gibson, in his edition of Camden, however, gives another version,
+relating: "There is a credible story--that while Philemon Holland was
+carrying on his English edition of the _Britannia_, Mr. Camden came
+accidentally to the press, when this sheet was working off; and looking
+on, he found, that to his own observation of Banbury being famous for
+cheese, the translator had added cakes and ale. But Mr. Camden thinking
+it too light an expression, changed the word _ale_ into _zeal_; and so
+it passed, to the great indignation of the Puritans, who abounded in
+this town." Barnaby Googe, in his _Strappado for the Divell_, refers to
+Banbury as
+
+  "Famous for twanging ale, zeal, cakes, and cheese."
+
+Better remembered are the lines in his _Journey through England_:
+
+  "To Banbury came I, O profane one!
+  Where I saw a puritane one
+  Hanging of his cat on Monday
+  For killing of a mouse on Sunday."
+
+Early in the seventeenth century, the Puritans were very strong in
+Banbury. In Ben Jonson's _Bartholomew Fair_, Zeal-of-the-Land Busy, the
+Puritanical Rabbi, is called a _Banbury man_, and described as one who
+was a baker--"but he does dream now, and sees visions; he has given over
+his trade out of a scruple that he took, that it spiced conscience,
+_those cakes he made_ were served to bridales, May-poles, morrises, and
+such profane feasts and meetings:" in other words, he had been a baker,
+but left off that trade to set up for a prophet; and one of the
+characters in _Bartholomew Fair_ says: "I have known divers of these
+Banburians when I was at Oxford." And Sir William D'Avenant, in his play
+of _The Wits_, illustrates this Puritanical character, in
+
+                          "A weaver of Banbury, that hopes
+  To entice heaven by singing, to make him lord of twenty looms."
+
+Old Thomas Fuller personifies the zeal in the Rev. William Whately, who
+was Vicar of Banbury in the reign of James I., and was called "The
+Roaring Boy." Fuller adds: "Only let them (the Banbury folks) adde
+knowledge to their zeal, and then the more zeal the better their
+condition." The Vicar was a zealous and popular preacher, according to
+his monument:
+
+  "It's William Whately that here lies,
+  Who swam to's tomb in's people's eyes."
+
+In the _Tatler_, No. 220, in describing his "Ecclesiastical
+Thermometer," to indicate the changes and revolutions in the Church, the
+Essayist writes, "That facetious divine, Dr. Fuller, speaking of the
+town of Banbury, near a hundred years ago, tells us, 'it was a place
+famous for cakes and zeal,' which I find by my glass is true to this
+day, as to the latter part of this description, though I must confess it
+is not in the same reputation for cakes that it was in the time of that
+learned author."
+
+The Banburians, however, maintained their character for zeal in a grand
+demonstration made by them in favour of Dr. Sacheverell, whose trial had
+just terminated in his acquittal; and in the same year, this High Church
+champion made a triumphal passage through Banbury, on his journey to
+take possession of the living of Salatin, in Shropshire, which was
+ridiculed in a pamphlet, with a woodcut illustrative of the procession;
+and there appeared another pamphlet on the same lively subject.
+
+Thus far the association of cakes with zeal in the case of Banbury. It
+is worthy of remark that cakes had formerly not unfrequently a religious
+significance, from their being more used at religious seasons than at
+other times. The triangular cakes made at Congleton, in Cheshire, have a
+raisin in each corner, thought to be emblematic of the Trinity; the
+cakes at Shrewsbury may have had something to do with its old religious
+shows. Coventry, on New Year's day, has its God-cakes. Then we have the
+Twelfth-cake with its bean; the Good Friday bun with its cross; the
+Pancake, with its shroving or confessing; and the Passover cake of the
+Jews. The minced pie was treated by the Puritans as a superstitious
+observance; and, after the Restoration, it almost served as a test for
+religious opinions. According to the old rule, the case or crust of a
+minced pie should be oblong, in imitation of the cradle or manger
+wherein the Saviour was laid; the ingredients of the mince being said to
+refer to the offerings of the Wise Men.
+
+Returning to the Banbury cake: in a _Treatise of Melancholy_, by T.
+Bright, 1586, we find the following:--"Sodden wheat is a grosse and
+melancholicke nourishment, and bread especially of the fine flour
+unleavened. Of this sort are bag puddings made with flour; fritters,
+pancakes, _such as we call Banberrie Cakes_; and those great ones
+confected with butter, eggs, &c., used at weddings; and however it be
+prepared, rye, and bread made thereof, carrieth with it plentie of
+melancholie."
+
+At Banbury, the cakes are served to the authorities upon state
+occasions. Thus, in the Corporation accounts of this town, we find a
+charge of "Cakes for the Judges at the Oxford Assizes, 2_l_. 3_s_.
+6_d_." The present form of the cake resembles that of the early bun
+before it was made circular. The zeal has died away, but not so the
+cakes; for in Beesley's _History of Banbury_, 1841, we find that Mr.
+Samuel Beesley sold, in 1840, no fewer than 139,500 twopenny cakes; and
+in 1841, the sale increased by at least a fourth. In August, 1841, 5,000
+cakes were sold weekly; large quantities being shipped to America,
+India, and even Australia.
+
+The cakes are now more widely sold than formerly, when the roadside inns
+were the chief depôts. We remember the old galleried Three Cranes inn at
+Edgware, noted for its fresh supplies of Banbury cakes; as were also the
+Green Man and Still, and other taverns of Oxford Road, now Oxford
+Street.
+
+Banbury Cheese, which Shakspeare mentions, is no longer made, but it was
+formerly so well known as to be referred to as a comparison. Bishop
+Williams, in 1664, describes the clipped and pared lands and glebes of
+the Church "as thin as Banbury cheese." Bardolf, in the _Merry Wives of
+Windsor_, compares Slender to Banbury cheese, which seems to have been
+remarkably thin, and all rind, as noticed by Heywood, in his Collection
+of Epigrams:--
+
+  "I never saw Banbury cheese thick enough,
+  But I have often seen Essex cheese quick enough."
+
+
+The same thought occurs in _Jack Drum's Entertainment_, 1601:--
+
+      "Put off your cloathes, and you are like a Banbury cheese--nothing
+      but paring."
+
+In the Birch and Sloane MSS., No. 1201, is a curious receipt for making
+Banbury cheese, from a MS. cookery book of the sixteenth century. A rich
+kind of cheese, about one inch in thickness, is still made in the
+neighbourhood of Banbury.
+
+We have already traced the destruction of the Cross at Banbury to the
+leaven of fanaticism. The nursery rhyme,
+
+  "Ride a cock-horse
+  To Banbury-cross,"
+
+is by some referred to this act; and to signify being over-proud and
+imperious. Taylor, the Water-poet, has,--
+
+  "A knave that for his wealth doth worship get,
+  Is like the divell that's a-cock-horse set."
+
+The Banburians have rebuilt the Cross to commemorate the marriage of the
+Princess Royal with the Crown Prince of Prussia. They also exhibit,
+periodically, a pageant, in which a fine lady on a white horse, preceded
+by Robin Hood and Little John, Friar Tuck, a company of archers, bands
+of music, flags and banners, passes through the principal street to the
+Cross, where the lady (Maid Marian) scatters Banbury cakes among the
+people. How far this pageant may be associated with local tradition,
+time and the curious have hitherto failed to explain.[59]
+
+Other towns, in addition to Banbury, have been celebrated for their
+cakes, from remote times. The ancient borough of Congleton, upon the
+Staffordshire border of Cheshire, have already been incidentally
+mentioned. The streets have an air of antiquity, many of the houses
+being constructed entirely of timber framework and plaster. The place
+has long been famed for its silk-mills, and tagged leather laces, called
+Congleton points. These, however, have been outlived by the sack and
+cakes, which have, for ages, figured in the festivities of Congleton;
+eclipsed for a while during the gloomy mayoralty of President Bradshaw,
+but happily retained to our time.
+
+The Congleton cakes are of triangular form, with a raisin inserted at
+each corner. These have been used at the Grammar School breaking-up for
+three-quarters of a century. They have been the orthodox cakes at the
+quarterly account meetings of the Corporation for more than a century,
+and are hence called "count cakes." It is conjectured that the three
+raisins represent the mayor and two justices, who were the governing
+body under the charter of James I. The trio of raisins have also been
+deemed symbolical of the Trinity. Be this as it may, Congleton has been
+noted from time immemorial for these cakes, as well as for its
+gingerbread; and in the Corporation records we find such convivial items
+as the following:--"1618. Bestowed upon the Earl of Essex, being money
+paid for figs and sugar, 1_l_." "1614. Bestowed upon Sir John Byron, one
+gallon of sack and one gallon of claret, 5_s_. 8_d_." "1619. A banquet
+bestowed upon Sir John Savage, being a gallon of sack and a sugar-loaf,
+5_s_." "1627. Bestowed upon my Lord Brereton, in wine and beer, 5_s_."
+"1633. Bestowed on the Earl of Bridgewater, in wine, sack, and sugar,
+8_s_." "1632. Paid Randle Rode, of the Swan, for wine, cake, and beer,
+for a banquet which was bestowed upon the Lord Chief Baron of the
+Exchequer, 1_l_. 4_s_. 2_d_." "Paid Mr. Drakeford for a pottle of wine,
+bestowed on Sir B. Wilbraham, 2_s_." "1662. Paid for _sweetmeats_
+bestowed upon Lord and Lady Brandon, 9_s_. 3_d_., because," as the book
+says, "he was our great friend." This must have been in reference to the
+influence exerted by that nobleman, in obtaining a re-grant of the
+borough charter, which Charles II., on his accession, had thought fit to
+call in, along with several others, that of London among the rest.
+
+Among the recent celebrations, was the hospitable reception given by the
+Corporation of Congleton to the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Francis Graham
+Moon, Bart., in the year 1855, when the entertainment well represented
+the ancient festivity. On the chairman's table lay the gold and silver
+maces of the borough, and capacious china Corporation bowls full of
+sack, and flanked by large old two-handled silver flagons, by which the
+sack was gradually drawn off, and circulated amongst the company. On
+every plate was placed a _count cake_, and the centres of the tables
+were covered with delicate cakes and confectionery, among which was
+pre-eminent the famous Congleton gingerbread, and a profusion of choice
+fruit. The brewage of the sack was entrusted to Joseph Speratti, who
+boasts that he alone possesses the true receipt.
+
+The famous old city of Shrewsbury has also long been celebrated for its
+brawn and cakes; the latter are made of much larger size than we are
+accustomed to see them in the metropolis, and are packed in round boxes
+made for the purpose.
+
+Around London some of the villages boast of this celebrity. Islington
+was once as famous for its cheesecakes as Chelsea for its buns; and
+among its other notabilities were custards and stewed "pruans:" old
+Wither, in 1628, told us that Islington
+
+  "For cakes and cream had then no small resort;"
+
+and to this day the place is noted for its cakes and confectionery.
+Lower Holloway was once noted for its cheesecakes, which, almost within
+memory, were regularly cried through the streets of London by a man on
+horseback.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[59] From a paper by the author of the present volume, in _Once a Week_;
+reprinted by permission of the proprietors.
+
+
+
+
+HORSELYDOWN FAIR, IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
+
+
+Horselydown is situate near the bank of the river Thames, about half a
+mile eastward of London Bridge. "It is difficult," says Mr. Corner, the
+South wark antiquary, "to imagine that a neighbourhood now so crowded
+with wharves and warehouses, granaries and factories, mills, breweries,
+and places of business of all kinds, and where the busy hum of men at
+work, like bees in a hive, is incessant, can have been, not many
+centuries since, a region of pleasant fields and meadows, pastures for
+sheep and cattle; with gardens, houses, shady lanes, clear streams with
+stately swans, and cool walks by the river-side. Yet such was the case,
+and the way from London Bridge to Horselydown was occupied by the
+mansions of men of mark and consequence, dignitaries of the Church, men
+of military renown, and wealthy citizens."
+
+Horselydown was part of the possessions of the Abbey of Bermondsey, and
+was, probably, the common of the manor. After the surrender to Henry
+VIII. it became the property of private individuals, and, in 1581, was
+conveyed to the Governors of St. Olave's Grammar School, to whom it
+still belongs; and it is one of the remarkable instances of the enormous
+increase in the value of property in the metropolis, that this piece of
+land, which was then let as pasturage for 6_l_. per annum, now produces
+to the governors for the use of the school an annual income exceeding
+3,000_l_. Hereon were erected the parish butts for the exercise of
+archery, pursuant to the statute of 33 Henry VIII.
+
+The Marquis of Salisbury possesses, at Hatfield, a very remarkable
+picture, which has been supposed to have been painted by the celebrated
+Holbein, but is really the work of George Hofnagle, a Flemish artist in
+Queen Elizabeth's time, as is shown by the costume of the figures: it
+bears the date of 1590, whereas Holbein died in 1554. The picture
+represents a Fair or Festival, which, from the position of the Tower of
+London in the background, appears to have been held at Horselydown. In
+the catalogue of the pictures at Hatfield, in the _Beauties of England
+and Wales_, the painting is said to represent King Henry VIII. and his
+Queen, Anne Boleyn, at a country wake or fair, at some place in Surrey,
+within sight of the Tower of London; but several circumstances, in
+addition to its situation with respect to the river Thames and the Tower
+of London, concur to show that the locality is Horselydown, or, as it
+was then called, Horseydown or Horsedown. This is proved by a curious
+picture-map, dated 1544. Its centre shows a large open space, now
+occupied by the diverging Queen Elizabeth Free School, and _Fair_
+Street. It is not known whether Southwark Fair was ever held on
+Horselydown; but it is worthy of observation, that when the down came to
+be built on, about the middle of the seventeenth century, the principal
+street across it from east to west, and in the line of foreground
+represented in the picture, was, and is to the present day, called
+_Fair_ Street; and a street or lane of houses running from north to
+south is called Three Oak Lane, traditionally from three oaks formerly
+standing there. The tree-o'ershadowed hostelry, where the feast is being
+prepared, may indicate the spot. In Evelyn's time, however (_Diary_,
+13th Sept. 1666), the fair appears to have been held at St. Margaret's
+Hill, in the Borough, for he calls it St. Margaret's Fair; and it
+continued to be held between St. Margaret's Hill and St. George's
+Church, until the fair was suppressed in 1762.
+
+The portly figure in the centre foreground, with a red beard and a
+Spanish hat, must have occasioned the idea of its being a representation
+of King Henry VIII.; but the general costume of the figure is later
+than his reign, and the date on the picture shows the period of the
+scene to have been towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign.
+
+The principal figures seem rather to represent some of the grave
+burgesses and young gallants of Southwark, with their wives and
+families, assembled on Horseydown on some festive occasion, on a bright
+day in summer. The principal figure is evidently a man of worship, for
+whom and his company a feast is preparing in the kitchen of the
+hostelry; while the table is laid in the adjoining apartment, which is
+decorated with boughs and gaily-coloured ribbons. The principal figure
+may be one of the Flemish brewers, who settled in the parish in great
+numbers; one of whom Vassal Webling, dwelt hard by Horseydown, having
+become possessed of the house of Sir John Fastolfe, called Fastolfe
+Place. Or, it may be Richard Hutton, armourer, and an alderman of
+London, an inhabitant of St. Olave's. Whoever it is, he is accompanied
+by a comely dame, probably his wife, and by two elderly women, and
+followed by a boy and girl with a greyhound, a servant carrying an
+infant, and a serving-man with sword and buckler. Near them is a yeoman
+of her Majesty's guard, with the Queen's arms on his breast. The
+citizen, in his long furred gown, accompanied by a smartly-dressed
+female, crossing behind the principal party, is worthy of notice. The
+gay trio behind them are also remarkable objects in the picture.
+
+The minister accompanying a lady, is probably Thomas Marten, M.A.,
+parson of the parish. The hawking party behind shows that the
+neighbourhood of Southwark was at that period sufficiently open for the
+enjoyment of the sport. The flag-staff, or May-pole, in the left
+background, is also noticeable, as well as the unfinished vessel at the
+river side, and the unfortunate transgressor in the stocks.
+
+Two young women and two serving-men are bearing large brass dishes for
+the coming feast; while in the right foreground a party of five are
+dancing to the minstrelsy of three musicians seated under a tree. A
+party are approaching from the right, headed by another minister, who
+may be the celebrated Robert Browne, a Puritan minister, and founder of
+the sect of Brownists, who was schoolmaster of St. Olave's Grammar
+School, from 1586 till 1591. He was connected by family ties with Lord
+Burghley, which circumstance may account for this picture being
+preserved at Hatfield, which was built by Robert Cecil, Earl of
+Salisbury, second son of Lord Burghley.
+
+Behind the musicians are two figures which deserve some attention. It
+has been suggested that the appearance of the foremost is much that of
+the portraits of Shakspeare, and the head behind him is not unlike that
+of Ben Jonson. Nor would there be any improbability in the idea of
+Shakspeare and Jonson being present at such a fête, as Shakspeare lived
+in St. Saviour's, and is very likely to have been invited to a festival
+in the adjoining parish; but the date of the picture is somewhat too
+early to be consistent with that notion.
+
+The church-like building with a tower, at the right of the picture, may
+be "The Hermitage," marked on the plan: it was no uncommon thing for
+hermitages to have chapels attached to them, as at Highgate, where the
+hermit was authorized by a royal grant of Edward III. to take toll for
+repairing the road. The hermitage at Highgate, which had a tower,
+became a chapel for the devotions of the inhabitants.
+
+Hermitages were generally founded by an individual upon the ground of
+some religious house, who, after the death of the first hermit, collated
+a successor; and as those persons devoted themselves to some act of
+charity, it does not appear so extraordinary that we find hermits living
+upon bridges, and by the sides of roads, and being toll-gatherers, as
+numerous records indubitably prove. (Tomlin's _Yseldon_.)
+
+The Hermit of Horselydown, or Dock-head, perhaps, received a toll for
+keeping in repair the road across the Bermondsey Marshes from Southwark
+towards Rotherhithe and Deptford.[60]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[60] See Mr. Corner's paper "On the History of Horselydown," 1855.
+
+
+
+
+WAKE FESTIVALS IN THE BLACK COUNTRY.
+
+
+Wakes were originally established to commemorate the erection of the
+church in the parish where they were held. They were then celebrated on
+the Sunday, and the parson did not deem it "unworthy his high vocation"
+to enjoy a gambol on the village-green after the morning service. In the
+larger towns, most of the churches had weekly fairs or markets attached
+to them, these also being held on the Sabbath. As late as the
+commencement of the fourteenth century, Wolverhampton had a market
+every Sunday morning, the shingles being arranged round the old
+Collegiate Church; and when the voice of worship ceased, the Babel of
+the Fair began. During the fourteenth century, however, the custom of
+holding Sunday markets was abolished, but the village Wake continued to
+be celebrated on the sacred day, until the commencement of the present
+century. The leading diversions of Wake-time in this district were, as
+is pretty generally known, bull and badger baiting, cock-fighting,
+pigeon-flying, boxing, running, and wrestling. There is, we think, a
+very fair standard of comparison between past and present, presented to
+us in the subject of Wake festivals; and for this reason we have thought
+it worth while briefly to compare Wake-time in the Black Country half a
+century ago with the corresponding season now. We think it will be
+allowed that, after taking into consideration all educational and other
+advantages, there has been a progress towards social and moral
+excellence among our working men and women which is deserving of all
+praise.
+
+The traditions of Bull-baiting, Cock-fighting, and other exhibitions of
+brutality which characterised Wakes in this district forty or fifty
+years ago, have in many cases been so distorted and magnified by
+frequent repetition that they can no longer be accepted as truthful
+pictures of the festivals which it was the humour of our ancestors to
+establish and be pleased with.
+
+During the past half-century, there have been some brutal exhibitions of
+this class. In the _Staffordshire Advertiser_, November 23, 1833, we
+read of bulls being shockingly tortured in the neighbourhood of Dudley.
+At Rowley Regis, a two-year-old bull was worried most brutally, his
+horns being torn off, and his head and face mangled in the most
+appalling manner.
+
+In the following year the _Wolverhampton Chronicle_ publishes this
+intelligence:--"At Wilhenhall Wakes, two bulls were baited in the
+streets of that town, and more than usual cruelty was displayed on the
+occasion, as one of the bulls died on the night after being baited." At
+Darlaston Wakes, about the same period, three bulls, three bears, and
+two badgers underwent baiting simultaneously; to say nothing of dog and
+cock fights.
+
+These instances might, of course, be multiplied by records of each town
+in the district, but they will suffice to show the extent of the
+barbarity which distinguished the Wakes of our forefathers. The
+ludicrous was sometimes associated with the cruelties in these scenes.
+At Tipton on one occasion, the bull broke loose, and, dashing madly
+through the crowd, entered the open door of a house, at whose fire a
+huge piece of Wake beef was roasting. From the force of habit, the bull
+tossed the smoking joint to the ceiling, and disappeared, to the great
+joy of the affrighted inmate. On another occasion, at Bloxwich, some wag
+stole the bull at midnight, and when the excited crowd assembled on the
+morrow, from all parts of the district, they were doomed to
+disappointment. The circumstance gave rise to a local proverb still in
+use. When great expectations are baffled, the circumstance is
+instinctively likened to "the Bloxwich bull." The remembrance of this
+barbarous pastime is perpetuated in the topographical nomenclature of
+the district, where, following the example of Birmingham, almost every
+town and village has its Bull King.
+
+The stronghold of Cock-fighting was at Wednesbury, where the "cookings"
+were resorted to by persons from all parts of the kingdom. In a
+_Directory of Walsall_, 1813, we read:--"The cockpit is situate on the
+left-hand side of the entrance into Park Street, from Digbeth, at the
+bottom of a yard belonging to Mr. Fox, known by the sign of the New Inn.
+It is spacious and much frequented at the Wakes, at which period only it
+is used."
+
+The minor sports and pastimes were the interludes between the tragedies,
+and served to complete the day's programme of the Black Country
+Wake-time. Forty years ago it was dangerous to pass through a town
+during the Wakes. The inhabitants who took active part in these sports
+were so infuriated with drink and excitement, and their feelings were so
+hardened by scenes of torture, that they regarded neither the limb nor
+life of any who happened to offend them. There was no amusement provided
+either for young or old but the most vicious and degrading, and the
+Wakes seldom passed by without some other blood than that of bulls being
+spilt--the blood of comrades, and too frequently of wives and children,
+who dared to remonstrate with a furious husband and father in his
+orgies.
+
+Happily, modern Wakes have been divested of nearly all the
+characteristics of the olden festivals. The only vestiges which
+distinguish them are the booths, clowns, and drinking bouts; and these
+amusements are only indulged in by children and the lowest class of the
+population. Among the features recently introduced in connexion with
+district Wakes may be enumerated out-door fêtes, flower-shows, bazaars,
+and excursions. Temperance Societies and Working Men's Institutes select
+Wake-time for their celebrations. Two of the most successful exhibitions
+ever held in the district were inaugurated at the Wakes of Willenhall,
+in 1857, and at those of Bilston a year or two later, both in connexion
+with the progress of popular education. The Right Hon. C. P. Villiers,
+M.P. who was present on both occasions, and who knew this district in
+its dark days, took occasion to compare the former Wake times with the
+present, as an evidence of the social advancement of the Black Country.
+The cultivation of cottage window-flowers, now happily so general
+throughout the same district, is another refining agency, which has
+helped in no small degree to root out the love for grosser sports among
+the people. But, perhaps, the most powerful agent in improving the
+character of modern Wakes is the influence of popular excursions. The
+district is fortunate in its situation in this respect. Within easy
+distance are the lawns and flowers of Enville, Hagley, Shugborough, and
+Teddesley, which it is the delight of their noble owners to place at the
+service of our working men and women; and the more recent facilities for
+locomotion have also placed the Malvern slopes and Southport sands
+within their reach. Wake-times are therefore now become seasons of
+excursions, when hard-working men quit the factory bench and the dark
+mine, to delight and refine their inner manhood with views of Nature's
+fairest works. This, we think, is one great step towards the development
+of a love for art among the artisans of our utilitarian district; and
+Wake-times so spent will assuredly exert an influence for good through
+the remainder of the year.[61]
+
+Nevertheless, the Wakes are still disgraced by sad scenes of
+intoxication and other excesses: the agencies of education and religion
+are not working in vain in the district; let us hope that the progress,
+though slow, may be sure.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[61] We quote the above from a contribution to the _Birmingham Daily
+Post_. The details are of value, from their being furnished by an
+eye-witness.
+
+
+
+
+KEEPING BIRDS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
+
+
+Alexander Neckam, from whose Treatise the following curious things are
+derived, was a learned man of the twelfth century: his work, which is
+written in Latin, has been translated by Mr. Thomas Wright, and
+published under the direction of the Master of the Polls. Of Neckam's
+birth we learn the date from a chronicle formerly existing among the
+MSS. of the Earl of Arundel, which inform us that "in the month of
+September, 1157, there was born to the King at Windsor a son named
+Richard; and the same night was born Alexander Neckam at St. Alban's,
+whose mother gave suck to Richard with her right breast, and to
+Alexander with her left breast." Thus was Alexander the foster-brother
+of the future Coeur de Lion, who was celebrated for his own love of
+literature and learning; and the position which the circumstance here
+related by the chronicler gave to Neckam in regard to such a Prince goes
+far to explain the honourable position he gained in after-life.
+
+Neckam was born and passed his boyhood at St. Alban's: he received his
+earlier education in the Abbey School there; and such a rapid advance
+did he make in learning, that whilst still very young, the direction of
+the school at Dunstable, a dependency of the Abbey of St. Alban's, was
+entrusted to him. But he soon, of his own accord, sought a larger field
+for his mental activities, and proceeded to the then celebrated
+University of Paris, where he was a distinguished professor as early as
+the year 1180, when he can have been no more than twenty-three years of
+age.
+
+He did not long adhere to the scholastic learning of the University, but
+in 1186 returned to England, and resumed his old post at Dunstable. He
+subsequently became one of the Augustinian monks of Cirencester, and in
+1213 was elected Abbot of Cirencester. He died at Kempsey, near
+Worcester, in 1217, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral.
+
+Neckam, in these early times, displayed a taste for experimental
+science. The Treatise from which we quote is a sort of manual of
+natural science, as it was then taught; and it derives a still greater
+value for us from the love of its author for illustrating his theme by
+the introduction of contemporary anecdotes and stories relating to the
+objects treated of; as well as the mention of popular facts and articles
+of belief which had come under his observation or knowledge, many of
+which offer singular illustrations of the condition and manners of the
+age.
+
+From Neckam we learn how great was the love for animals in the Middle
+Ages; how ready people, apparently of all classes, were to observe and
+note the peculiarities of animated nature, and especially how fond they
+were of tamed and domestic animals. We see that the mediæval castles and
+great mansions were like so many menageries of rare beasts of all kinds.
+It is in the stories told by Neckam, also, that we become more than ever
+acquainted with the attachment of our mediæval forefathers to the chase,
+and to all the animals connected with it. Beginning with the King of
+Birds, the Eagle, however, he offers no new facts; though he makes it
+the subject of numerous moralisings. With the lesser birds of prey he
+becomes communicative of his anecdotes. He recounts how a Hawk one day,
+by craft and accident and not by mere strength, killed an Eagle. "This
+occurred in Great Britain, the King of which country, with his
+courtiers, were witnesses of the occurrence. The courtiers applauded the
+ferocity of the smaller and weaker bird, which, too, had only killed its
+adversary in self-defence; but the King interfered, reproved his
+followers for expressing sentiments which justified the employment of
+force by vassals against their Sovereigns, and ordered the Hawk to be
+hanged immediately as guilty of treason."
+
+Another anecdote places the reputation of the Hawk in a less obnoxious
+light. It was one of the characteristics of that bird, as Neckam tells
+us, in the cold of winter, to seize in its claws a Partridge, wild
+Chick, or some other bird, and hold it under its belly all night, in
+order to profit by its warmth; and when the warmth of day returned, the
+Hawk, however hungry it might be, spared the bird, in consideration of
+the service thus derived from it, and displayed the noble nature of the
+bird of prey, the fit representative of the Feudal Baron, by setting it
+at liberty. Neckam tells another story of a Falcon which revenged itself
+on an Eagle; and another of a Weasel which caught a Sparrowhawk and
+dragged it under the water. We may pass over his account of the
+Phoenix, which is taken from the ancients; but that which he tells us
+of the Parrot shows how great a favourite it was as a cage-bird even in
+our islands during the Middle Ages. He speaks especially of its
+mischievous cunning and of its skill in imitating the human voice,
+adding that, for exciting people's mirth, it was preferable even to the
+jongleurs. It must, however, be acknowledged that Neckam's wonderful
+anecdotes become at times rather legendary.
+
+Passing by the Peacock, the Vulture, the Pheasant, and Partridge, the
+often-described Barnacle, supposed to be generated from the gluey
+substances produced on fir-timber when immersed in the waves of the sea,
+finds its place here. The qualities of the Swan, which celebrated its
+own death in sweet song; the Ostrich, said to be devoid of affection for
+its own offspring; the Nightingale, which was so capricious in its
+choice of habitation that Neckam tells us there was a well-known river
+in Wales on one side of which the song of this nightingale was often
+heard, but nobody ever heard it on the other; the Swallow, singular for
+the form of its nest and for the locality which it selected for building
+it; the Nuthatch; the Ibis of Egypt; the Dove; and several birds less
+known, as described by Neckam, are chiefly worthy of notice on account
+of the singular moralisings and symbolical interpretations which are
+given to them. The Sparrow, according to Neckam (long anticipating
+Sterne), is a libidinous bird, light, restless, "injurious to the fruits
+of man's labour," too 'cute for the birdcatcher, and subject to
+epilepsy. The Raven is, by its colour and by its habits, emblematical of
+the clergy; it is easily domesticated. A Crow foretells rain by its
+clamorousness.
+
+Neckam has also something to say about the Lark and the Magpie, and
+something more about the Parrot, "the jongleur of the birds;" but he
+says of the Cuckoo that it does nothing but repeat the words "_affer,
+affer_," _i.e._ "give, give,"--and on that account it was the type of
+avarice, and "sang the old song of those who have not yet divested
+themselves of the old man." Surely, however, Neckam's ear was at fault
+in this description, or the Cuckoos of Cirencester sang a very different
+song, with a different moral too, from the cuckoos on the banks of Avon
+in the dayspring of Shakspeare. But it is a novel fact to learn that the
+saliva of the Cuckoo produced Grasshoppers; yet this was, no doubt, a
+popular explanation of the well-known cuckoo-spit of our fields. The
+Pelican of those days killed her own young, after which, in
+self-remorse, she tore her own body to shed her blood upon them, by
+means of which they revived. The Cock was symbolical of the Christian
+preacher or doctor of the Church; and Neckam gives a rather curious
+physical explanation of the question why it announces the hour of the
+day by its crowing, and why it has a comb. The Wren was remarkable for
+its fertility, and for another rather singular quality. When killed and
+put on the spit before the fire to roast, it wanted no turning, but
+turned itself with the utmost regularity. Though the smallest of birds,
+it claimed to be their king, and hence the Latin name of _Regulus_. Did
+it not, when the birds assembled to choose a king, conceal itself
+beneath the Eagle's wing, when it was agreed that the throne should be
+given to the bird which mounted highest towards heaven; and when the
+Eagle, having soared the highest, made its claim to the prize, did it
+not start from its hiding-place, jump on the Eagle's back, and claim to
+be highest of all, and therefore the winner?[62]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[62] Selected and abridged from review of Neckam's Work, in _The Times_
+journal.
+
+
+
+
+VI. Historic Sketches.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF FAIR ROSAMUND.
+
+In the noble Park of Blenheim they show you two sycamore-trees on the
+spot where the ancient Palace of Woodstock was built; and near the
+Bridge is a spring called Rosamund's Well. Hard by was the celebrated
+Bower, erected by Henry II., and the scene of Addison's poetical opera
+of _Rosamund_, in excellent verse, which, wedded to the music of Dr.
+Arne, proved very successful. Several passages long retained their
+popularity, and were daily sung, during the latter part of George the
+Second's reign, at all the harpsichords in England.
+
+Drayton, in the reign of Elizabeth, described "Rosamund's Labyrinth,
+whose ruins, together with her _Well_, being paved with square stones in
+the bottom, and also her Tower, from which the Labyrinth did run, are
+yet remaining, being vaults arched and walled with stone and brick,
+almost inextricably wound within one another, by which, if at any time
+her lodging were laid about by the Queen, she might easily avoid peril
+imminent, and, if need be, by secret issues, take the air abroad, many
+furlongs about Woodstock, in Oxfordshire."
+
+Nor are these the only memorials of the frail Rosamund, whose history is
+one of the most interesting in our stock of legendary lore. About two
+miles north of Oxford, near the river Isis, there are some remains of
+the famous Nunnery of Godstow, from which, we are told, "there is a
+subterranean passage to Woodstock." It was about the end of the reign of
+Henry I., that this Nunnery was founded, at the instigation of Editha, a
+pious lady of Winchester. Assisted by benefactions, Editha finished a
+convent for Benedictine Nuns, in 1138; and King Stephen and his Queen
+were present at the consecration. Editha was Abbess here; and the lands
+given were confirmed by grants of Stephen and Richard I. When Prince
+Henry arrived in England, in 1149, to dispute his title to the crown
+with Stephen, he happened to visit the Nunnery of Godstow, where he saw
+Rosamund, the daughter of Lord Clifford; she was not a nun, but boarded
+in the convent.
+
+Fair Rosamund--_Rosa Mundi_, the Rose of the World--was the second
+daughter of Walter de Clifford, the son of Richard and grandson of Ponz.
+Richard is mentioned in the Domesday Survey as holding lands in the
+counties of Oxford, Gloucester, Wilts, Worcester, and Hereford. Walter
+de Clifford, by his wife Margaret, had four children:--Lucy, first
+married to Hugh de Say, and subsequently to Bartholomew de Mortimer;
+Rosamund, Walter, and Richard. Of Rosamund's early life we have no
+particulars. Local tradition affirms that Canyngton, about three miles
+from Bridgewater, was the place of her birth, and that within the walls
+of its priory she received such education as the age afforded. That, as
+the daughter of a powerful lord, she was entrusted to the care of some
+religious sisterhood for nurture, both of mind and body, we have no
+doubt, though the old chroniclers are silent on the subject. The art of
+embroidery would appear to have been one of her accomplishments, for the
+venerable Abbey of Buildwas long possessed among its treasures a
+magnificent cope, which bore witness to the taste and skill of its fair
+embellisher. Of her first acquaintance with Henry II., and the mode and
+place of her introduction to him, no details have been preserved.
+Probably she was known to him from her earliest years. Nor have we any
+reason to suppose that, according to some modern versions of the sad
+story, a broken vow added its shadow to a life whose record is
+sufficiently gloomy without this additional darkening of woe. Not a hint
+of her having been a nun do the chroniclers give us; and, had such been
+the fact, full use would have been made of such an aggravation of her
+offence. Her royal lover was one of the most unscrupulous of mankind,
+and for his many enormities he was notorious. His affection for
+Rosamund, however, such as it was, was constant. In order to protect her
+from the vengeance of the Queen, he removed her successively to various
+places of greater or less security. But the most famous of all, and with
+which her name is more than with all others associated, was her retreat
+at Woodstock. It was here that Henry built a chamber, which Brompton
+describes as of wondrous architecture--resembling the work of Dædalus;
+in other words, a labyrinth or maze. A manuscript of Robert of
+Gloucester, in the Heralds' Office, says that--
+
+  "Att Wodestoke for hure he made a toure,
+  That is called Rosemounde's boure,"
+
+the special intent of which was to conceal her from her royal rival. The
+internal decorations of this abode were as much attended to as its means
+of escaping external notice. The Abbot of Jorevall describes a cabinet
+of marvellous workmanship, which was one of its ornaments. It was nearly
+two feet in length, and on it the assault of champions, the action of
+cattle, the flight of birds, and the leaping of fishes were so naturally
+represented, that the figures appeared to move.
+
+Rosamund did not long occupy the retreat that royal though guilty love
+had created for her. She died in 1177, while yet without a rival in the
+King's affections, and, as it would appear, of some natural disease. In
+after times the injured Queen Eleanor had the credit of discovering her
+place of concealment, by means of a clue of silk which the King had
+incautiously left behind him; and which enabled her to thread the
+intricacies of the path, and of gratifying her revenge by obliging her
+rival to drink from her hand a cup of poison. That the Queen discovered
+the abode of Rosamund is possible; and it may have been that the shock
+of the meeting, and the unmeasured language which her Majesty is said to
+have employed, were too much for the poor victim of her womanly and
+natural displeasure. It is only fair, however, to say that the Queen's
+part in the entire transaction is not alluded to in the older writers,
+and is probably the fiction of more modern times.
+
+Rosamund was buried in the first instance before the high altar in the
+Church of Godstow Nunnery, which was probably selected from its
+neighbourhood to Woodstock, and which henceforward enjoyed a goodly
+number of benefactions in memory of her and for the health of her soul.
+The body was wrapped in leather, and then placed in a coffin of lead.
+Over the whole Henry built a magnificent tomb, which was covered with a
+pall of silk, and surrounded by tapers constantly burning. This occurred
+in the lifetime of her father, for he gave to the nuns of Godstow, in
+pure and perpetual alms, for the health of the souls of Margaret his
+wife and of Rosamund his daughter, his mill at Franton, with all
+appurtenances, a meadow adjacent to the same called Lechtun, and a
+saltpit in Wiche. Walter, his son, confirmed the gift. Osbert Fitzhugh
+added to this the grant of a saltpit in Wiche, called the Cow,
+pertaining to his manor of Wichebalt.
+
+Indeed, Walsingham goes so far as to say, though incorrectly, that the
+Nunnery of Godstow was actually founded by King John for the soul of
+Rosamund. It is not unlikely that a chantry was founded by that king for
+the object stated, but the foundation of the house was beyond question
+the work of a much earlier period.
+
+Rosamund's remains, however, were not allowed to occupy their sepulchre
+in peace. Fourteen years after their solemn commission to this sacred
+place of interment, Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, in a visitation of his
+diocese, came to Godstow. After he had entered the church, and performed
+his devotions, he observed the tomb occupying its conspicuous position
+before the high altar, adorned as already described, and forthwith asked
+whose it was. On being informed that it was the grave of Rosamund, whom
+Henry, the late king, had so dearly loved, and for whose sake he had
+greatly enriched this hitherto small and indigent house, and had given
+lands for the sustentation of the tomb and the maintenance of the
+lights, he imperatively commanded the nuns to take her out of the
+church, and to bury her with other common people, as the connexion
+between her and the King had been base; and to the end that the
+Christian religion might not be vilified, but that other women might
+thus be deterred from similar evil ways.
+
+In obedience to the bishop's mandate the tomb was removed from the
+church, and erected in the chapter-house. It bore the following epitaph,
+containing the obvious play upon the lady's name, and declaratory of the
+unhappy contrast which death had effected:--
+
+  "Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi, non Rosa munda;
+  Non redolet, sed olet, quæ redolere solet."
+
+This tomb remained, an object of interest and respect, until the
+dissolution of the house. It was then destroyed, and a stone was
+discovered within it, bearing the simple inscription, "TUMBA ROSAMUNDÆ."
+The bones were found undecayed, and on the opening of the leaden coffin
+which contained them, "there was a very swete smell came out of it."
+Another eye-witness described it as having "enterchangeable weavings
+drawn out and decked with roses red and green, and the picture of the
+cup out of which she drank the poyson given her by the Queen, carved in
+stone." A stone coffin, said to be that of Rosamund, was still to be
+seen at Godstow when Hearne wrote his "Account of some Antiquities in
+and about Oxford," but this was regarded by him as a "fiction of the
+vulgar."[63]
+
+In the "French Chronicle of London," 1259-1343, one of our earliest
+records compiled in illustration of the History of the City of London,
+under 1262, we read another version of this legend: "In this year the
+Queen was shamefully hooted and reviled at London Bridge, as she was
+desiring to go from the Tower to Westminster; and this, because she had
+caused a gentle damsel to be put to death, the most beauteous that was
+known, and imputed to her that she was the King's concubine. For which
+reason the Queen had her stripped, and caused a bath to be prepared, and
+then made the beauteous damsel enter therein; and made a wicked old hag
+beat her upon both arms, with a staff; and when the blood gushed forth,
+there came another execrable sorceress, who applied two 'frightful
+toads' to her breasts, which they sucked until all the blood that was in
+her body had run out, two other old hags holding her arms stretched out.
+The Queen, laughing the while, mocked her, and had great joy in her
+heart, in being thus revenged upon Rosamonde. And when she was dead, the
+Queen had the body taken and buried in a filthy ditch, and with the
+body the toads.
+
+"But when the King had heard the news, how the Queen had acted towards
+the most beauteous damsel whom he so greatly loved, and whom he held so
+dear in his heart, he felt great sorrow, and made great lamentation
+thereat:--'Alas! for my grief; what shall I do for the most beauteous
+Rosamonde? For never was her peer found for beauty, disposition, and
+courtliness.' He then desired to know what became of her body. He caused
+one of the wicked sorceresses to be seized, and had her put into great
+streights, that she might tell all the truth as to what they had done
+with the gentle damsel.
+
+"Then the old hag related to the King how the Queen had wrought upon the
+most beauteous body of the gentle damsel, and where they would find it.
+In the meantime, the Queen had the body taken up, and carried to a house
+of religion which had 'Godstowe' for name, near Oxenforde; and had the
+body of Rosamond there buried, to colour her evil deeds And then King
+Henry began to ride towards Wodestoke, where Rosamond, whom he loved so
+much at heart, was so treacherously murdered by the Queen. And as the
+King was riding towards Wodestoke, he met the body of Rosamond, strongly
+enclosed within a chest, that was well and stoutly bound with iron. And
+the King forthwith demanded whose corpse it was, and what was the name
+of the person whose dead body they bore. They made answer to him, that
+it was the corpse of the most beauteous Rosamond. And when King Henry
+heard this, he instantly ordered them to open the chest, that he might
+behold the body that had been so vilely martyred. Immediately thereon,
+they did the King's command, and showed him the corpse of Rosamond, who
+was so hideously put to death. And when King Henry saw the whole truth
+thereof, through great grief, he fell fainting to the ground, and lay
+there in a swoon for a long time before any one could have converse with
+him.
+
+"And when the King awoke from his swoon he spoke, and swore a great
+oath, that he would take full vengeance for the most horrid felony
+which, for great spite, had upon the gentle damsel been committed. Then
+began the King to lament and to give way to great sorrow for the most
+beauteous Rosamond, whom he loved so much at heart. 'Alas! for my
+grief,' said he, 'sweet Rosamonde, never was thy peer, never so sweet
+nor beauteous a creature to be found: may then the sweet God who abides
+in Trinity, on the soul of sweet Rosamond have mercy, and may He pardon
+her all her misdeeds: very God Almighty, Thou who art the end and the
+beginning, suffer not now that this soul shall in horrible torment come
+to perish, and grant unto her true remission for all her sins, for Thy
+great mercy's sake.'
+
+"And when he had thus prayed he commanded them forthwith to ride
+straight to Godstowe with the body of the lady, and there had her burial
+celebrated in that religious house of nuns, and there did he appoint
+thirteen chaplains to sing for the soul of the said Rosamond, so long as
+the world shall last. In this religious house of Godstowe," says the
+Chronicler, "I tell you for truth, lieth fair Rosamond buried. May very
+God Almighty of her soul have mercy. Amen."[64]
+
+The history of this unhappy lady, of whom the reader now possesses all
+that can be gathered from olden sources, and more, perhaps, than can be
+accepted as true, was a favourite subject of Mediæval romance; and all
+kinds of embellishments were imported into the story in order to impress
+a salutary caution against any imitation of the heroine. The story of
+her being poisoned by Queen Eleanor is of comparatively modern
+invention. A long ballad of forty-eight verses has been founded upon
+this piece of strange history.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[63] From a paper, by the Rev. Thomas Hugo, read to the Somerset
+Archæological Society.
+
+[64] Translated from the Anglo-Norman, by H. T. Riley, M.A. 1863.
+
+
+
+
+CARDINAL WOLSEY AT ESHER PLACE.
+
+
+In one of the loveliest and most picturesque vales of the county of
+Surrey, there exists, to this day, a fragment of Esher, or, as it is
+termed in old records, Asher Place, the last place of retreat where
+Wolsey fell,--
+
+  "Like a bright exhalation in the evening."
+
+Here,--
+
+                      "In the lovely vale
+  Of Esher, where the Mole glides lingering; loth
+  To leave such scenes of sweet simplicity,"--
+
+was anciently a palace of the prelates of Winchester, built by William
+Wayneflete, who held the see from 1447 to 1486. It was a stately brick
+mansion, on the bank of the Mole, within the park of Esher.
+
+The Bishops of Winchester occasionally resided at this palace. Cardinal
+Wolsey, who was appointed to the see on the death of Bishop Fox, in
+1528, gave directions for the repair and partial rebuilding of this
+house at Esher, purposing to have made it one of his usual residences,
+after he had bereft himself of the palace which he had erected at
+Hampton Court, and which he had found it prudent to surrender to his
+jealous master. Many interesting circumstances relating to this last
+retirement of Wolsey to Esher, on the decline of his favour with the
+King, are related by his biographers.
+
+On the 18th of October, 1529, when the Cardinal was at York House,
+Westminster (where now stands Whitehall), King Henry sent to him the
+Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk, to demand the Great Seal, Wolsey being
+lord chancellor; and he was ordered, at the same time, to retire to
+Esher. The order being unaccompanied by any voucher of authority, the
+chancellor refused to obey it; but the King's messenger returning with
+his written commands on the following day, the devoted minister
+submitted. He then went to Putney by water, and having landed, rode to
+Esher.
+
+Wolsey now took up his residence at Esher, where he continued, with a
+numerous family of servants and retainers, "the space of three or four
+weeks, without either beds, sheets, table-cloths, dishes to eat their
+meat in, or wherewithal to buy any: howbeit, there was good provision of
+all kind of victual, and of beer and wine, whereof there was sufficient
+and plenty enough: but my lord was compelled of necessity to borrow of
+Martin Arundell and the Bishop of Carlisle, plate and dishes, both to
+drink in, and eat his meat in. Thus, my lord, with his family, continued
+in this strange estate until after Hallownetide."--(_Stow._) He then
+dismissed a considerable part of his attendants; and Thomas Cromwell,
+afterwards Earl of Essex, who was in his service, went to London,
+professedly to take care of his interest at court; and having obtained a
+seat in the House of Commons, where a bill, of articles of impeachment
+against the Cardinal for treason, was brought forward, "Master Cromwell
+inveighed against it so discreetly, with such witty persuasions and deep
+reasons, that the same could take no effect."
+
+Although the charge of treason was for the present abandoned, Wolsey was
+indicted for a _præmunire_, the result of which was, to place him at the
+King's mercy as to all his goods and possessions. Whilst his enemies
+were thus steadily pursuing their schemes for his destruction, the King
+betrayed occasional symptoms of returning favour, sending him gracious
+messages, first by Sir John Russell, and then by the Duke of Norfolk;
+but it may be questionable whether these demonstrations were not merely
+meant to cajole him; for, during the time that he was entertaining the
+Duke, Sir John Shelly, one of the judges, arrived at Esher, for the
+express purpose of obtaining from Wolsey a formal cession of York House,
+the town mansion of the Archbishops. The cardinal hesitated at making
+such an assignment of the property of his see, but at length yielded,
+yet not without a spirited remonstrance against the conduct of his
+despoilers. The acts of insult and oppression to which he was subjected,
+at length brought on severe illness, and he was confined to his bed. Dr.
+Butts, the court physician, having visited him, informed the King that
+his life was in danger; and Henry, as if in a moment of conscientious
+regret, sent him "a comfortable message," with a valuable ring, as a
+token of regard. Cavendish, in his _Life of Wolsey_, has thus related
+the circumstances under which the Royal message was delivered:--
+
+      "At Christmas, he [Wolsey] fell sore sick, that he was likely to
+      die, whereof the King being advertised, was very sorry therefore,
+      and sent Doctor Buttes, his grace's physician, unto him, to see in
+      what state he was. Dr. Buttes came unto him, and finding him very
+      sick lying in his bed, and perceiving the danger he was in,
+      repaired again unto the King. Of whom the King demanded, saying,
+      'How doth yonder man; have you seen him?' 'Yea, sir,' quoth he,
+      'if you will have him dead, I warrant your Grace, he will be dead
+      within these four days, if he receive no comfort from you shortly
+      and Mistress Anne.' 'Marry,' quoth the King, 'God forbid that he
+      should die. I pray you, good Master Buttes, go again unto him, and
+      do your cure upon him, for I would not lose him for twenty
+      thousand pounds.' 'Then must your Grace,' quoth Master Buttes,
+      'send him first some comfortable message as shortly as possible.'
+      'Even so will I,' quoth the King, 'by you. And therefore make
+      speed to him again, and ye shall deliver him from me this ring for
+      a token of our good-will and favour towards him; (on which ring
+      was engraved the King's image within a ruby, as lively counterfeit
+      as was possible to be devised.) This ring he knoweth very well;
+      for he gave me the same; and tell him that I am not offended with
+      him in my heart nothing at all, and that shall he perceive, and
+      God send him life, very shortly. Therefore, bid him be of good
+      cheer, and pluck up his heart, and take no despair. And I charge
+      you come not from him until ye have brought him out of all danger
+      of death.' And then spake he to Mistress Anne, saying, 'Good
+      sweetheart, I pray you at this my instance, to send the Cardinal a
+      token with comfortable words; and in so doing it shall do us a
+      loving pleasure.' She being not minded to disobey the King's
+      earnest request, _whatever she intended in her heart towards the
+      Cardinal_, took incontinent her tablet of gold hanging at her
+      girdle, and delivered it to Master Buttes, with very gentle and
+      comfortable words and commendations to the Cardinal."
+
+The invalid _was_ comforted by the seeming kindness of his tyrannical
+master, and recovered. In his last letter from Esher, which was
+addressed to Stephen Gardiner, one of his secretaries, he prays him to
+help him and relieve him in his miserable condition, and remove him from
+this moist and corrupt air: dropsy had overtaken him, with loss of
+appetite, and sleep; "wherfor," says the letter, "of necessyte I must be
+removyd to some other dryer ayer and place, where I may have comodyte of
+physcyans," &c. Wolsey subsequently obtained permission to remove from
+Esher to Richmond, where he remained until his journey into Yorkshire, a
+few months previous to his death, which took place at Leicester Abbey,
+on the 29th of November, 1530.
+
+When Henry VIII. had resolved to constitute Hampton Court an honour, and
+make a chace around it, he purchased several neighbouring estates, and,
+among them, Esher. A survey of the manor, early in the reign of Edward
+VI., shows there to have been here a mansion-house, sumptuously built,
+with divers offices, and an orchard and garden; and also a park
+adjoining, three miles in circuit, stocked with deer.
+
+We shall not trace the future possessors of Esher Place. The
+natural undulations of the ground would seem to have required but
+little improvement from the conceptions of Art. Yet Kent, the
+landscape-gardener, "the inventor of an art that realizes painting," was
+employed by the Right Hon. Henry Pelham, a leading statesman in the
+reign of George II., possessor of the estate; and the artist and patron
+have thus been inseparably connected with
+
+                    "Esher's peaceful grove,
+  Where Kent and Nature vie for Pelham's love."
+
+Noble fir and beech plantations cover the swelling heights of Esher; and
+there are fine oaks and elms, together with a remarkable holly-tree, the
+girth of which is between eight and nine feet. There are also several
+small ornamental buildings in the park; but the principal one in
+picturesqueness and historic interest, is the old brick tower, which
+formed part of "Asher Palace," when this estate belonged to the see of
+Winchester. It also constituted the central division of the mansion of
+the Pelhams, but was judiciously left standing, when the modern
+additions, by Kent, were pulled down by Mr. Spicer, who purchased the
+estate in 1805, and erected a new mansion upon a more elevated site. In
+Mr. Pelham's time, the mansion consisted of little more than the Tower,
+or Gate-house, to that in which Wolsey had resided, and to which Kent's
+additions were much inferior, proving, as Walpole remarks, "how little
+Kent conceived either the principles or graces of Gothic architecture."
+
+The erection of this Tower has been attributed to Wolsey, whose name is
+associated with several architectural works; but there is inferential
+evidence to show that he did not erect the Tower at Esher. Although
+nominated to the bishopric of Winchester in the autumn of 1528, he was
+not installed until April in the following year (and that by proxy), at
+which season he was too deeply engaged in the affair of the King's
+divorce, to have time for extensive building. The only _distinct_ notice
+which has appeared to connect Wolsey's name with any architectural works
+at Asher Palace, is where Cavendish speaks of the removal to Westminster
+(Whitehall), of "the new gallery which my lord had late before his fall
+newly set up at Asher;" and "the taking away thereof," he continues,
+"was to him corrosive--the which discouraged him very sore to stay there
+any longer,--for he was weary of that house at Asher, for with continual
+use it waxed unsavoury."
+
+In the form and character of the Tower itself are also indications of an
+earlier period than that of Wolsey; and this well-built structure may be
+assigned to the days of Bishop Wayneflete, who preceded the Cardinal in
+his possession of the see by about eighty years, and is known to have
+erected "a stately brick mansion" and "gate-house" in Esher Park. The
+Tower is luxuriantly mantled with ivy, which was planted by a son of Mr.
+Spicer, whilst yet a boy. The interior comprises three storeys; but the
+apartments are small and much dilapidated. There is, however, within one
+of the octagonal turrets, a very skilfully-wrought _newel_, or
+geometrical staircase, of brick, in excellent preservation; and in the
+roofing of which the principles of the construction of the oblique arch,
+(a supposed invention of modern times) are practically exhibited.[65]
+
+There is, on the Esher estate, another structure, which is popularly
+associated with Wolsey's name. This is a small building, of flints and
+rude stones, with a central recess and stone seat; and at the foot a
+refreshing spring, called _Wolsey's Well_. It is most probable that this
+little edifice was raised by Mr. Pelham, as the _buckle_, a part of his
+family arms, is sculptured upon a stone over the middle arch, and also
+the initials, H. P. The seat is more properly named "the Travellers'
+Rest." Wolsey spent some weeks at Esher, a prey to his fears and
+mortified ambition. As might be expected, the world, that had paid him
+such abject court in his prosperity, deserted him in this fatal reverse
+of his fortunes. Wolsey was not himself prepared for what he conceived
+to be base ingratitude: it surprised and deceived him; and the same
+pride, unsupported by true dignity of character, which made him be
+vainly elated with his recent grandeur, made him now doubly sensitive to
+the humiliations of adversity. Under any circumstances he would be unfit
+for solitude: the glory and the gaze of the multitude being the breath
+of his nostrils, the calm contentment of private life was to him a sound
+of no meaning. What, then, must have been his feelings in this first
+hour of his misery? Baffled in all the schemes of his ambition,
+disgraced before his rivals, abandoned by the world, and forsaken by his
+royal master, his heart was not yet sufficiently chastened by affliction
+to seek for consolation in its only true source--religion; but still
+clung, with the despair of a lover, to the hope of the royal mercy. His
+letters to Gardiner, whom he had the merit of bringing forward from
+obscurity, and who, excepting his other secretary, Cromwell, of all his
+followers, alone retained grateful respect for their benefactor in his
+fallen fortunes, bespeak the agony of his feelings. They are severally
+subscribed, "With a rude hand, and sorrowful heart, T. Cardlis Ebor.
+_miserrimus_," and are scarcely legible, from the excitement under which
+they seem to have been written.
+
+In chastening verse has our great moralist thus portrayed the proud
+Churchman:--
+
+  "In full-blown dignity see Wolsey stand,
+  Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand:
+  To him the Church, the realm, their pow'rs consign;
+  Through him, the rays of regal bounty shine:
+  Turn'd by his nod, the stream of honour flows;
+  His smile at once security bestows.
+  Still to new heights his restless wishes soar;
+  Claim leads to claim, and pow'r advances pow'r;
+  Till conquest unresisted ceased to please;
+  And rights submitted, left him none to seize!
+  At length, his Sov'reign frowns--the train of state
+  Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to hate;
+  Where'er he turns, he meets a stranger's eye;
+  His suppliants scorn him, and his followers fly.
+  Now drops at once the pride of awful state,
+  The golden canopy, the glittering plate,
+  The regal palace, the luxurious board,
+  The liveried servants, and the menial lord!
+  With age, with cares, with maladies oppress'd,
+  He seeks the refuge of monastic rest.
+  Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings,
+  And his last sighs reproach the faith of Kings."--JOHNSON.
+
+Whatever appertains to the record of his appalling fall is treasurable
+as an addition to the narrative in our popular histories. A few points
+of novelty and interest as regards Wolsey have been derived from a State
+manuscript of the reign of Henry VIII., now in the possession of Sir
+Walter C. Trevelyan, Bart. F.S.A. a junior member of whose family was
+one of the chaplains to Henry VIII.; and through him it may have found
+its way to the venerable seat of Nettlecombe, in the county of Somerset,
+where this MS. relating to domestic expenses and payments has for some
+centuries been deposited.
+
+In this manuscript Wolsey is spoken of by his double title of Cardinal
+of York and Bishop of Winchester, in connexion with a payment to him of
+one thousand marks, out of the revenues of Winchester. By the above
+entry, confirmed by a subsequent passage in Cavendish, it is clear that
+this was a pension of 1,000 marks; and that in consideration of the
+necessities of the Cardinal, it was to be allowed him beforehand. After
+all his pomp and prosperity, after all his vast accumulation of wealth,
+after all his piles of plate and heaps of cloth-of-gold, and costly
+apparel, Wolsey, in March 1530 (judging only from this entry), was
+reduced to the necessity of obtaining a loan of a thousand marks. This,
+too, to carry him to his exile at York, whither his enemies had by this
+date induced the fickle, selfish, and luxurious King to banish his great
+favourite.
+
+Of Wolsey's subsequent residence at Cawood, we find in this MS. an item
+to David Vincent, of the considerable sum of 35_l_. 6_s_. 8_d_. (more
+than 200_l_.), whence we may infer this messenger to have made some stay
+there, watching the progress of Wolsey's illness, and sending
+intelligence to the King, who was more anxious for the death than for
+the life of his victim, in order that he might seize upon the remainder
+of his moveables. It is quite evident that the Cardinal was not at this
+period so destitute as many have supposed, and that he had carried with
+him a very large quantity of plate, of which the King possessed himself
+the moment the breath was out of the body of its owner. Among the
+payments for January, 22 Henry VIII., we read in the Trevelyan MS. that
+two persons were employed for three entire days in London "weighing the
+plate that came from Cawood, late the Cardinalles." Such are the
+unceremonious terms used in the original memorandum, communicating a
+striking fact, of which we now hear for the first time.
+
+It is a curious and novel circumstance which the Trevelyan manuscript
+has brought to light, that exactly three months before the death of
+Wolsey, the Dean and Canons of Cardinal's (now Christchurch) College,
+Oxford, had so completely separated themselves from Wolsey, and from all
+interest he had taken in their establishment, that, instead of rewriting
+to him for the comparatively small sum of 184_l_. for the purpose of
+carrying on their works, they applied to the King for the loan of the
+money; the entry of which loan is made in this State manuscript, "upon
+an obligation to be repaid agayne," "on this side of Cristinmas next
+cumming;" so that even this trifling advance could not be made out of
+the royal purse, filled to repletion by the sacrifice of Wolsey, without
+an express stipulation that the money was to be returned before
+Christmas.
+
+To the credit of Wolsey it must be told, that in the midst of his
+troubles his anxiety for his new college was unabated, and it is upon
+record, that, among his last petitions to the King, was an urgent
+request that "His Majesty would suffer his college at Oxford to go
+on."[66]
+
+Everything in Wolsey--his vices and his virtues--was great. He seemed
+incapable of mediocrity in anything: voluptuous and profuse, rapacious
+and of insatiable ambition, too magnanimous to be either cruel or
+revengeful, he was an excellent master and patron, and a fair and open
+enemy. If we despise the abjectness which he exhibited in his first
+fall, let it be remembered from and to what he fell, from a degree of
+wealth and grandeur which no subject on earth now enjoys, to
+instantaneous and utter destitution. He wanted at Esher the comfort
+which even a prison would have afforded, the very bed on which he slept
+having been taken from him. We are also to take into account the abject
+submission which he had long been taught to exercise towards the tyrant,
+
+  "Whose smile was transport, and whose frown was fate."
+
+There are certain circumstances connected with Wolsey's death and
+interment which are noteworthy. "He foretold to Cavendish that at eight
+o'clock he would lose his master.... Towards the conclusion, his accents
+began to falter; at the end his eyes became motionless, and his sight
+failed. The abbot was summoned to administer the extreme unction, and
+the yeomen of the guard were called in to see him die. As the clock
+struck eight he expired."
+
+Cavendish and the bystanders thought Wolsey must have had a revelation
+of the time of his death; and from the way in which the fact had taken
+possession of his mind, it is supposed that he relied on astrological
+prediction.
+
+Mr. Payne Collier observes:[67] "It is unnecessary, as well as
+uncharitable, to suppose what there is no proof of--that Wolsey died of
+poison, either administered by himself or others. The obvious and
+proximate cause of his death was affliction. A great heart, oppressed
+with indignities and beset with dangers, at length gave way, and Wolsey
+received the two last charities of a death-bed and a grave, with many
+circumstances affectingly told by Cavendish, in the Abbey of Leicester."
+
+Wolsey's remains were privately interred in one of the chapels of the
+Abbey at Leicester, which has long been reduced to a mass of shapeless
+ruins. The Cardinal had, however, designed a sumptuous receptacle for
+his remains. Adjoining the east end of St. George's Chapel at Windsor is
+a stone edifice, built by King Henry VII., as a burial-place for himself
+and his successors; but this Prince afterwards altering his purpose,
+began the more noble structure at Westminster, and the Windsor fabric
+remained neglected until Wolsey obtained a grant of it from Henry VIII.
+The Cardinal, with a profusion of expense unknown to former ages,
+designed and began here a most sumptuous monument for himself, from
+whence this building obtained the name of _Wolsey's Tomb-house_. This
+monument was magnificently built; and at the time of the Cardinal's
+disgrace 4,250 ducats had been paid to a statuary of Florence for the
+work already done; and 380_l_. 18_s_. sterling had been paid for gilding
+only the half of this costly monument. It thus remained unfinished; in
+1646 it was plundered by the rebels of its statues and figures of
+gilt-copper. The Tomb-house is now in process of decoration as a
+memorial to the late Prince Consort.
+
+Wolsey had also executed for him at Rome a beautiful marble sarcophagus,
+but which did not arrive in time for the burial of the Cardinal: it lay
+neglected for two centuries and three-quarters, when it was removed to
+the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, and in it were placed Nelson's
+remains.
+
+[Illustration: WAYNFLETE'S TOWER, ESHER PLACE.]
+
+It is scarcely possible to leave the Tower at Esher without saddening
+thoughts that "lie too deep for tears." Here, amidst "the sweetest
+solitude" of wood and grove, stands the memorial of the ambitious
+minister, the powerful favourite, the selfish ecclesiastic, and the
+victim to tyranny,--yet a tyranny that he had himself assisted both to
+form and exercise. How troubled were the times which the sight of this
+structure recals! How painful is the contrast with the scene of peaceful
+nature around it!--with the refreshing quiet of the wood and glade, and
+the repose of the water, whereon the nothingness of human glory may be
+shown in one simple but sublime lesson--the circle that expands into
+nought. How painful, we repeat, is the contemplation of such contrasts;
+yet, how fraught with lessons for our happiness! We weep over the fallen
+fortunes of men, and their abuse of the means entrusted to them for the
+welfare of their fellow-men; yet what a rebuke do we receive in the
+reflection that Nature surrounds us with the means of endless
+enjoyments, while Art, by its subtlety, perverts and corrupts, thus
+weaning the affections from the beautiful and the pure.
+
+Yet, if "Asher Place" had its vicissitudes in past ages, so too has
+Claremont--a portion of the same manor--in our own times. Here, in the
+mansion built for the great Lord Clive, Leopold, Prince of Saxe-Cobourg,
+half a century since, brought his bride, the fair-haired daughter of
+England, and lived for a short and blissful period, in all the happiness
+of conjugal and domestic union, when premature death struck down the
+Princess and her infant offspring. Here Louis Philippe and his Queen
+found an asylum, in the year of Revolutions, 1848; and have since gone
+to their earthly home a few miles distant. Leopold, too, has descended
+to the tomb, full of years and kingly honours, having received in
+marriage, in succession, a daughter of the King of England, and a
+daughter of the King of France.
+
+      [_The Life of Wolsey_, by Cavendish, (quoted in the preceding
+      pages,) is one of the most interesting and valuable specimens of
+      biography in the English language. Its first merit is originality
+      in the strictest sense of the word. The writer, one of Wolsey's
+      gentlemen, and much in his confidence, was not merely a spectator,
+      but an agent, and in some degree, a sufferer in the scenes which
+      he describes. In the next place, though he writes from the heart,
+      there is an air of impartiality in some parts of the work, which
+      gives them the clear stamp of veracity. Of the hauteur and
+      insolence of the Cardinal during his elevation, he sometimes
+      allows himself to speak with asperity. The tender compassion which
+      rendered him the faithful companion of his fallen fortunes, gives
+      an amiable and pleasing colour to the latter part of his
+      narrative. Besides, the cumbrous magnificence of the reign of
+      Henry VIII., under the great change of manners which two centuries
+      and a half have produced, is become in its representation to us,
+      extremely picturesque; and for this part of his undertaking
+      Cavendish was eminently qualified. He was not one of those
+      unobserving men, who seem never to apprehend that what is familiar
+      to themselves will become curious to posterity. He saw with an
+      exact and discriminating eye, and what he beheld he was able to
+      describe. In no other work, perhaps, is to be found so minute and
+      faithful a detail of what the palaces of kings and prelates, and
+      the houses of the great nobility then were; their loads of plate,
+      their hangings of arras, the ponderous plenty of their tables, and
+      the useless accumulation, as we should conceive, of cloth, linen,
+      &c., which were sometimes exhibited in their great galleries as in
+      so many warehouses. Add to this, the innumerable links then
+      subsisting in the great chain of dependence, the haughty distance
+      of the superior to his immediate inferior, the obsequiousness of
+      the immediate inferior in return; the young nobility serving in
+      the houses of the greater prelates like menial servants, and these
+      prelates themselves as often, perhaps, on the knee to their king
+      as to their God. All these particulars, acquired from the life by
+      the writer before us, form so many vivid pictures presented to
+      the mind's eye, so that ideas become images, and we seem to
+      behold what we only read of.--See Dr. Wordsworth's _Ecclesiastical
+      Biography_.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[65] That the oblique or skew arch is an old invention is attested by
+the following passage in the _Handbook of Spain_, by Mr. Ford, who
+resided in that country several years: "Now visit the Alcazar
+(Cathedral, Seville); but first observe a singular Moorish skew arch, in
+a narrow street leading (from the cathedral) to the Puerta de Xerez: it
+proves that the Moors practised this now assumed modern invention, at
+least, eight centuries ago."
+
+[66] The kitchen was the first building erected by Wolsey in his new
+College, and has undergone no material alteration either in shape, size,
+or arrangement. It is a good specimen of an ancient English kitchen.
+
+[67] In a paper read to the Society of Antiquaries, describing the
+Trevelyan MS.
+
+
+
+
+TRADITIONS OF BATTLE-FIELDS.
+
+
+It has been frequently remarked that the general decay of local
+traditions, or the difficulty of obtaining particulars of events, or the
+sites of the most remembered passages of history, is, year by year,
+becoming more evident. It might be expected that in the vicinity of
+great transactions, among a rude and ignorant peasantry, we should find
+more frequent vestiges of the one memorable action which made their
+locality famous; yet, it is astonishing to find how often these are
+completely obliterated.
+
+Much of this falling-off in tradition may be referred to the more rigid
+test to which it is subjected by means of the printing-press; as well as
+to the new class of materials for history. For a century or so, the
+habit had prevailed of receiving implicitly the traditions and records
+of past times, assuming them to have been substantiated at the date of
+their publication. This mode of constructing history consisted merely of
+breaking up and re-arranging the old materials, which have been compared
+to stereotype blocks. The worthlessness of this mode of proceeding has
+become apparent; and now the opposite error has come strongly into
+vogue--that of going back to neglected documents of the same date as the
+transaction, and, on their evidence, revoking the settled deliberate
+verdict of past centuries. The vast accession of materials of this kind
+obtained of late years, is truly surprising. There is likewise another
+means of verifying the dates, places, and names, of great events: we
+mean in the visits of archæologists to the sites, and the comparison of
+the actual localities with recorded details; proceedings of the most
+pleasurable and intellectual kind.
+
+Nevertheless, the old traditional stock is not yet entirely exhausted.
+There are no families in the British Islands more ancient than many of
+those which are yet to be found among our yeomanry and peasantry. Every
+now and then some proof comes to light of an antiquity of tenure on the
+part of such families, far exceeding that of the Stanleys or Howards.
+The Duke of York, for example, ejected from a farm at Chertsey a certain
+Mr. Wapshott, who claimed lineal and accredited descent from Reginald
+Wapshott, the armour-bearer of Alfred, who is said to have established
+Reginald in this very farm. This personage was an example of the
+tenacity with which tradition might be thus preserved, for his family
+version of their origin derived them from Wapshott, the warrener, and
+not the armour-bearer of Alfred.[68]
+
+Again, we have recovered of late a series of instances, which show how
+few individuals not uncommonly intervene between ourselves and the
+eye-witnesses of remarkable men or actions. King William IV. had spoken
+to a butcher at Windsor, who had conversed with Charles II. What is
+still more remarkable, a person living in 1847, aged then about
+sixty-one, was frequently assured by his father that, in 1786, he
+repeatedly saw one Peter Garden, who died in that year at the age of 127
+years; and who, when a boy, heard Henry Jenkins give evidence in a court
+of justice at York, to the effect that, when a boy, he was employed in
+carrying arrows up the hill before the battle of Flodden Field.
+
+  This battle was fought in                               1513
+
+  Henry Jenkins died in 1670, at the age of       169
+
+  Deduct for his age at the time of the
+  battle of Flodden Field                          12
+                                                  ---      157
+  Peter Garden, the man who heard Jenkins
+  give his evidence, died at                      127
+
+  Deduct for his age when he saw Jenkins           11
+                                                  ---      116
+  The person whose father knew Peter
+  Garden was born shortly before 1786,
+  or 70 years since                                         70
+                                                          ----
+                                                     A.D. 1856
+
+In this year, 1856, Mr. Sidney Gibson, F.S.A. showed, as above, that a
+person living in 1786, conversed with a man that fought at Flodden
+Field.
+
+We now proceed to narrate a few instances in which the details of early
+battles have been most successfully investigated and identified.
+
+There is not much myth about the BATTLE OF HASTINGS. On that undulating
+upland, and in that steep morass, raged on Saturday, October 14th, A.D.
+1060, from nine till three, when its tide first turned, as fierce a
+battle, as real a stand-up fight between the army of England and the
+great Norman host, as any which has ever decided the destinies of
+countries. There is no important battle, the details of which have been
+so carefully handed down to us. How the Conqueror's left foot slipped on
+landing--the ill omen--and how his right foot "stacked in the sand"--the
+good omen of "seisin;"--how the ships were pierced, so that his host
+might fight its way to glory without retreat; and how he merrily
+extracted an omen for good even while putting on his hauberk the wrong
+side foremost; how brother Gurth with the tender conscience counselled
+brother Harold with the seared conscience to stay away from the fray,
+lest his broken oath to William should overtake him; and how, as they
+reconnoitred the vast Norman host, the elder brother's heart had failed
+him, had not the younger one called him scoundrel for his meditated
+flight; the prayerful eve in the one camp and the carousing eve in the
+other, "with wassails and drinkhails;" the exploits of valiant knight
+Taillifer between the lines; how the Normans shot high in air to blind
+the enemy; and the dreadful _mêlée_ in the "blind ditch Malfosse
+shadowed with reed and sedge;" and the Conqueror's hearty after-battle
+meal, when he was chaired among the dying and the dead; and that
+exquisitely pathetic touch of story which tells how Edith, the
+swan-necked,--for the love she bore to Harold,--when all others failed
+to recognise him, was brought to discover his mutilated corse among the
+slain; and the Conqueror's vow, so literally redeemed, to fix the high
+altar of the "Abbey of the Battaile" where the Saxon _gonfanon_
+fell--all these, and a thousand other minute circumstances of the
+memorable day, stand out in as clear relief at this distance of time as
+the last charge of Waterloo, or the closing scene at Trafalgar.
+
+Sussex has little occasion to feel humbled by having been the scene of
+this well-contested field. Whatever the inhabitants of the British isles
+have since been able to effect for their own greatness and for the
+happiness of the human race, is attributable in no small degree to the
+issue of that fight. Thenceforth the Saxon was guided and elevated by
+the high spirit and far-reaching enterprise of the Norman, and the
+elements of the national character were complete.[69]
+
+Among the memorials of the conquered must not be forgotten the roll of
+the companions of the Conqueror, which was installed with great
+festivity in August, 1862, at Dives, a small town on the seacoast, in
+the department of Calvados, in Normandy. It was near this town, at the
+mouth of the Dives, that William and his companions in arms met previous
+to their embarkation for the subjugation of England. The very spot was
+already marked by a column erected in 1861, by M. de Caumont, the
+eminent Norman savant and archæologist; and the fête in August, 1862,
+was held under the auspices of the same learned gentleman. The
+commemoration was intended to be international, and a public invitation
+was given to the English residents in the locality; but, from some
+unexplained cause or other, no English person attended. Sir Bernard
+Burke attributes this absence to the announcement being imperfectly
+made; "for what," he asks, "could more come home to the better and more
+educated classes of English people than the inauguration of a roll which
+contains the greatest names amongst us; a roll to which the proudest
+feel prouder still to belong, and which may be said to form the very
+household words of our glory--the roll, in fact, of what has since been
+the best and bravest aristocracy in the universe?"
+
+The fête commenced by a meeting in the Market-hall of Dives, which was
+characteristically decorated; one of the objects being a large picture
+of the construction and embarkation of William's fleet, painted from the
+Bayeux Tapestry. The Dives Roll is deposited within the church, over the
+principal entrance. It differs from the Battle Abbey Roll in this
+respect, that the latter is the roll of those who actually fought at
+Hastings, and the former is the roll of those who assembled for the
+expedition, and were otherwise engaged in furthering the conquest of
+England. The roll is printed in the _Bulletin de la Societé des
+Antiquaires de Normandie_, and in the _Vicissitudes of Families_, third
+series.
+
+Next are three battles of the fifteenth century: Towton, Tewkesbury, and
+Bosworth. TOWTON FIELD, supposed to be the most fierce and bloody battle
+that ever happened in any domestic war, was fought between the Houses of
+York and Lancaster in 1461. On the 29th of March, the armies met at
+Towton: the Lancastrians were totally routed, and Edward left
+unquestionably king. The carnage of this terrible field is appalling.
+Proclamations forbidding quarter were issued before the engagement. Like
+Leipsic, it reached over the night; but, unlike Leipsic, even the hours
+of darkness brought no rest. They fought from four o'clock in the
+afternoon, throughout the whole night, on to noon the next day. Like
+Waterloo, it was fought on a Sunday. And the accounts of contemporary
+writers state, in words very like the letters from Mont St. Jean, that,
+for weeks afterwards the blood stood in puddles, and stagnated in
+gutters, and that the water of the wells was red. No inaccuracy is more
+frequent in ancient authors than that of numbers, and generally on the
+side of exaggeration. But on this occasion we can form a more correct
+estimate of the carnage by the concurrence of unusually reputable
+testimonies; and, perhaps, in these times it will give the best idea of
+it, to say that the number of Englishmen slain exceeded the _sum_ of
+those who fell at Vimiera, Talavera, Albuera, Salamanca, Vittoria, and
+Waterloo.[70]
+
+TEWKESBURY FIELD has been minutely explored. Mr. Richard Brooke, F.S.A.,
+after narrating, from Holinshed, the circumstances which preceded this
+memorable battle--from the arrival of Queen Margaret at Weymouth, to the
+termination of the conflict, and the murder of Prince Edward--points out
+the field of battle as close to the first mile-stone on the high road
+leading from Tewkesbury through Tredington to Cheltenham and Gloucester.
+On the western side of the town of Tewkesbury is the Home-ground, or
+Home-hill, where once a castle stood; a part of this elevated ground is
+a field, called "the Gastons," which extends to the first mile-stone,
+just opposite which, on the eastern side of the road, is a field which
+has been immemorially called "Margaret's Camp." The battle was,
+according to tradition, fought on that place, and in the adjacent fields
+on the southward, as also in those a little eastward of it. In
+"Margaret's Camp," in the centre is a small circular inclosure,
+surrounded by a ditch, without hedge or bank, but having some large elm
+trees growing round its inner edge. This is too insignificant to have
+been a military entrenchment; but it may have been the place of
+interment of some of the slain; or is thought to have been formed in
+comparatively modern times to commemorate the spot where the
+Lancastrian army was posted. In the field, called "Gup's Hill," Mr.
+Brooke was told by elderly persons, bones had formerly been discovered.
+
+The old annalists and chroniclers, Mr. Brooke says, have left us much in
+the dark as to the exact spot near the camp of the Lancastrians where
+Edward's forces passed the night prior to the battle; but on the morning
+of the battle, and immediately before it commenced, his army, according
+both to tradition and probability, took up a position upon some elevated
+ground adjoining the turnpike-road, and to the southward of and opposite
+the Lancastrian army. From that position a tract of ground (now fields
+and closes) slopes downwards, so as to form a depression between it and
+the spot occupied by the Lancastrians. This tract of ground was formerly
+called the "Red Piece," and it is now intersected by the turnpike-road,
+and forms two fields, one on each side of the road, one of which is
+called the Near Red Close, and the other the Further Red Close. This
+tract of ground extends to the field called "Margaret's Camp," and it
+appears almost certain that it was on the southward side of the latter
+that Edward's forces made their attack.
+
+A meadow in the rear of the Lancastrian position, and lying on the
+westward side of the turnpike-road, half a mile from Tewkesbury, and
+within a few hundred yards of the Tewkesbury Union Workhouse, is called
+the "Bloody Meadow:" an idea is generally entertained that it derives
+its name from the slaughter of many of the fugitives, who fled from the
+battle towards the meadow, in hope of getting over the Severn, as there
+is a ferry not far from it. Fourteen or fifteen years ago, was found in
+the Bloody Meadow a long piece of iron, which appeared to have been
+part of a sword-blade.
+
+BOSWORTH FIELD is a still more memorable site. On August 22, 1485, was
+fought the famous battle of Bosworth, the precise spot being pointed out
+by the following passage contained in a proclamation sent by Henry VII.,
+almost immediately after his victory, to the municipality of York:
+"Moreover, the King ascertaineth you that Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
+lately called King Richard, was slain at a place called Sandeford, in
+the county of Leicester, and brought dead off the field," &c.
+
+The field of battle lies about three miles south of Market Bosworth; and
+it is clear from direct historical testimony, which is in this instance
+fully corroborated by local traditions, that the principal encounter
+between the forces of Richard and Richmond took place on "Ambien Hill,"
+on the southern slope of which rises the spring, "Richard's Well," from
+which the King is traditionally reported to have drank during the
+engagement. The plain of Redmoor was also partly comprehended in the
+movements of the two armies, and across which there cannot be a doubt
+the flight of the vanquished royalists was afterwards directed towards
+Dadlington, Stoke Golding, and Crown Hill, besides the strong position
+of Ambien Hill, on the south and west. It is, therefore, evident that
+the place where the King fell must be looked for in the immediate
+vicinity of these two well-ascertained sites of conflict. Now
+_Sandeford_, or _Sandford_, named in the proclamation of Henry VII., is
+not known to have existed as a hamlet or village in the county of
+Leicester, from the date of Domesday-book; hence Sandford is taken to
+imply an ancient road or passage over some fordable stream or
+water-course. It has been found that the old road from Leicester to
+Atherstone, through the villages of Peckleton and Kirkby Mallory, and
+along which road Richard advanced, when on his march from Leicester upon
+Sunday, August 21, to meet his antagonist, used formerly, after skirting
+and partially traversing the field of battle, to cross a _ford_,
+remembered by the present generation, and situated at but a short
+distance from the south-western slope of Ambien Hill. And part of the
+comparatively modern highway which now passes over the site of the same
+ford, is called the _Sandroad_ at the present time. The stream which
+once flooded the highway, is now carried through a vaulted tunnel
+beneath it. The ford has consequently disappeared; but any visitor to
+Bosworth Field, who inquires for the _Water Gate_, may yet stand on the
+ground pointed out as the scene of the death of Richard III. by the
+words of his rival Henry VII. It should be added that Mr. J. F.
+Hollings, of Leicester, who has communicated the above details to _Notes
+and Queries_, 2nd S., No. 150, has shown also that the Ordnance Map is
+not altogether to be relied upon as a guide to the various localities
+connected with the battle of Bosworth.
+
+Mr. Syer Cuming, F.S.A., in a paper read to the British Archæological
+Association, in 1862, has grouped these interesting Memorials of Richard
+III. On this occasion, the archæologists proceeded from Leicester to the
+battle-field; and a considerable accession to the number being received
+at Bosworth, the procession extended upwards of half-a-mile in length.
+On arriving at the field, large numbers of people had preceded the
+procession and congregated round the platform, and altogether there
+could not have been fewer than a thousand persons present. The platform
+was decorated with banners. A facsimile of the crown of Richard III.
+was shown on a cushion in front of Major Wollaston, who presided on the
+occasion. A flag marked the place where King Richard died, near a small
+pond, and a white flag pointed out the position of Richmond's army.
+
+Richard Plantagenet was born about the year 1450, of Lady Cecilia, wife
+of Richard, Duke of York, in the ancient castle of Fotheringhay,
+Northamptonshire; but his natal abode was swept away by order of our
+first James, and we have perhaps no earlier relic of the Prince than his
+official seal as Admiral of England the date of which is fixed by Mr.
+Pettigrew between the years 1471 and 1475. It bears on it a large
+vessel, the mainsail blazoned with the arms of France and England,
+crossed by a label of three points; similar charges appearing on a flag
+held by a greyhound at the aft-castle. The verge represents a collar of
+roses, and within it is a legend setting forth that it is the seal of
+Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Admiral of England, for the counties of
+Dorset and Somerset--_S' Rici: Dvc' Glovc': Admiralli: Angl: I: Com:
+Dors' et Soms_.
+
+[When Dr. Dibdin was on his "Northern Tour," published in 1838, at
+Whiburn, in the neighbourhood of Tynemouth, he had the good fortune to
+be introduced to Sir Hedworth Williamson's old trunk of family seals, in
+red and white wax, among which he found a warrant of Richard III., then
+Duke of Gloucester, dated 20th of February, in the thirteenth year of
+Edward IV., with the Autograph of the Duke, and part of the Seal
+appended; both of which are of most rare occurrence.]
+
+If tradition is to be believed, King John and Queen Elizabeth must have
+had as many palaces as there are counties in England; and though the
+name of Richard III. is less frequently connected with old mansions,
+there are still plenty of antiquated houses which are said to have been
+his abiding-places for more or less lengthy periods. Among others may be
+mentioned the Black Boy Inn, Chelmsford, where were formerly to be seen
+two carved bosses on the ceiling of its great room: one being painted
+with a blue boar on a deep red field, surrounded by a collar of seven
+stars or mullets; the other, with a full-blown rose, once entirely
+white, but subsequently white and red, indicative of the union of the
+Houses of York and Lancaster. Both these bosses were communicated to the
+_Gentleman's Magazine_ (May, 1840), by John Adey Repton; but the editor
+of that serial contended that the boar is the insignia of Vere, Earl of
+Oxford, and that the tradition regarding Richard must therefore be
+rejected, forgetful of the fact that after the attainder of the Earl for
+high treason, his vast possessions in Essex and other counties were
+given to the Duke of Gloucester, so that the Black Boy Inn may, after
+all, have served as a hunting-lodge of the Plantagenet. Of Richard's two
+London residences one has altogether vanished, and the other has lost
+much of its antique aspect, but Shakspeare has given a world-wide and
+lasting fame to both. Baynard's Castle stood on the northern bank of the
+Thames, and was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. It was in the court
+of this fortress that Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, offered the crown to
+the Duke of Gloucester, and where the dramatist makes the latter say:--
+
+  "Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
+  To bear her burden, whe'r I will or no,
+  I must have patience to endure the load."
+
+  _Richard III._ ii. 7.
+
+The other dwelling alluded to is Crosby Place, Bishopsgate, built by Sir
+John Crosby about the year 1467; and, in spite of alterations and
+renovations, this is still one of the finest examples of Early Domestic
+architecture in England. Hither Shakspeare makes Gloucester invite the
+Lady Anne; and bid the murderers repair after the assassination of
+Clarence and the young princes in the Tower.
+
+The old building in Leicester, which was properly called "King Richard's
+House," was known to be part of the Old Blue Boar: at the commencement
+of the last century, it was used as an inn, and known by that sign,
+though originally it bore the name of the "White Boar," the cognizance
+of King Richard III.; but, after his defeat, this sign was torn down by
+the infuriated populace, and the owner or landlord compelled to change
+the title. Popular tradition has always identified the building with the
+ill-fated monarch, and the inquiries of our local antiquaries confirm
+the tradition. It was taken down in the month of March, 1836; but,
+fortunately, before its destruction, a drawing was made of the front;
+and that has been frequently engraved. In this house Richard took up his
+quarters, and slept on a bedstead, the remains of which are believed to
+be in existence. It had a false bottom, in which a large sum of money
+could be concealed, and did duty as a military chest. Engravings of the
+house and bedstead are given in Hutton's _Battle of Bosworth Field_, 2d
+edition, by J. Nichols, F.S.A.
+
+Richard is reported to have been peculiarly subject to the influence of
+omens. "During his abode at Exeter," says Holinshed, "he went about the
+citie, and viewed the seat of the same, and at length he came to the
+castle; and when he understood that it was called Rugemont, suddenlie he
+fell into a dumpe, and (as one astonied) said, 'Well, I see my dayes be
+not long.' He spake this of a prophecy told him, that when he once came
+to Richmond, he should not long live after." He had more rational cause
+for alarm when Jockey of Norfolk produced the doggrel warning found in
+his tent, for it clearly indicated the desertion and treachery that were
+about to prove fatal to him.
+
+On the night before the battle, going the rounds, Richard found a
+sentinel asleep, and stabbed him, with the remark, "I found him asleep,
+and have left him as I found him."
+
+The vanguard of Richard's army was commanded by the Duke of Norfolk; the
+centre and main body by the King himself, who rode at their head,
+mounted on his celebrated milk-white steed, White Surrey, and arrayed in
+the splendid suit of armour which he had worn at Tewkesbury. Like Henry
+V. at Agincourt, Richard wore a golden crown, not as a man would wear a
+hat or cap, but by way of crest over his helmet. Richmond, too, bore
+himself gallantly, and rode through the ranks, marshalling and
+encouraging his men, arrayed in complete armour, but unhelmeted. His
+vanguard, commanded by the Earl of Oxford, began the battle by crossing
+the low ground towards the elevated position where Richard prudently
+waited the attack. "The trumpets blew, and the soldiers shouted, and the
+King's archers courageously let fly their arrows. The Earl's bowmen
+stood not still, but paid them home again; and the terrible shot once
+passed, the armies joined, and came to hand-strokes."[71]
+
+The leaders of those days deemed it a point of honour to fight hand to
+hand, if possible, and Oxford and Norfolk managed to engage in a
+personal encounter. After shivering their spears on each other's shields
+or breastplates, they fell to with their swords. Oxford, wounded in the
+arm by a blow which glanced from his crest, returned it by one which
+hewed off the vizor of Norfolk's helmet, leaving the face bare; and
+then, disdaining to follow up the advantage, drew back, when an arrow
+from an unknown hand pierced the Duke's brain. Surrey, hurrying up to
+assist or avenge his father, was surrounded and overpowered by Sir
+Gilbert Talbot and Sir John Savage, who commanded on the right and left
+for Richmond:--
+
+  "Young Howard single with an army fights;
+  When, moved with pity, two renownèd knights,
+  Strong Clarendon and valiant Conyers, try
+  To rescue him, in which attempt they die.
+  Now Surrey, fainting, scarce his sword can hold,
+  Which made a common soldier grow so bold,
+  To lay rude hands upon that noble flower,
+  Which he disdaining--anger gives him power,--
+  Erects his weapon with a nimble round,
+  And sends the peasant's arm to kiss the ground."--
+
+  _Bosworth Field_, by Sir John Beaumont, Bart.
+
+
+If we may credit tradition or the chroniclers, all this was literally
+true. When completely exhausted, Surrey presented the hilt of his sword
+to Talbot, whom he requested to take his life, and save him from dying
+by an ignoble hand. He lived to be the Surrey of Flodden Field, and the
+worthy transmitter of "all the blood of all the Howards."
+
+When Richard was about to make that renowned charge, which historians
+describe as the last effort of despair, he was bringing up his main
+body, and intelligence reached him that Richmond was posted behind the
+hill with a slender attendance. His plan was formed on the instant; nor,
+although fiery courage or burning hate might have suggested it, was it
+ill-judged or reckless. Three-fourths of the combatants, if we include
+the Stanleys, were ready to side with the strongest. Richmond's army,
+without Richmond, was a rope of sand. His fall would be the signal for a
+general scattering, or a feigned renewal of hollow allegiance to the
+conqueror. Neither did the execution of the proposed _coup de main_
+betoken a sudden impulse inconsiderately acted upon. Richard rode out at
+the right flank of his army, and ascended a rising ground to get a view
+of his enemy, with whose person he was not acquainted. He summoned to
+his side a chosen body of knights, all of whom, with the exception of
+Lord Lovell, perished with him; and he paused to drink at a spring,
+which still goes by his name. That Richard's horse was slain is very
+doubtful; and, for aught we _know_, it was White Surrey that bore him,
+like a thunderbolt, against the bosom of his foe; and it was spear in
+rest that he dashed against Richmond's surprised and fluttered
+bodyguard.
+
+The personal prowess of the pair who were contending for a kingdom, is
+thus estimated by Hutton: "Richard was better versed in arms, Henry was
+better served. Richard was brave, Henry was a coward. Richard was about
+five feet four, rather runted, but only made crooked by his enemies;
+and wanted six weeks of thirty-three. Henry was twenty-seven, slender,
+and near five feet nine, with a saturnine countenance, yellow hair, and
+grey eyes." According to Grafton, Richard, so soon as he descried
+Richmond, "put spurs to his horse, and, like a hungry lion, ran with
+spear in rest towards him." He unhorsed Sir John Cheney, a strong and
+brave knight,[72] and rushing on Sir William Brandon, Henry's
+standard-bearer, cleft his skull, tore the standard from his grasp, and
+flung it on the ground. "He was now," says Hume, "within reach of
+Richmond himself, who declined not the combat." Others say that Richmond
+drew back, as a braver man might have done in his place--
+
+  "No craven he, and yet he shuns the blow,
+  So much confusion magnifies the foe."
+
+Fortunately for him, Sir William Stanley came up at the very nick of
+time, "with three thousand tall men," and overpowered Richard, who died,
+fighting furiously, and murmuring with his last breath, _Treason!
+Treason! Treason!_ So nicely timed was Stanley's aid, that Henry
+afterwards justified the ungrateful return he made for it, by saying:
+"He came time enough to save my life, but he stayed long enough to
+endanger it." Richard received wounds enough to let out a hundred
+lives; his crown had been struck off at the beginning of the onset; and
+his armour was so broken, and his features were so defaced, that he was
+hardly to be recognised when dragged from beneath a heap of slain.
+
+And can that stripped and mutilated corpse be the crowned monarch who at
+morning's rise led a gallant army to an assured victory, who had
+recently been described by Philip de Commines as holding the proudest
+position held by any King of England for a hundred years? Nothing places
+in a stronger light the depth of moral degradation and insensibility,
+fast verging towards barbarism, to which men's minds had been sunk by
+the multiplied butcheries of these terrible conflicts, than the
+indignities heaped upon the dead King, with the sanction, if not by the
+express orders, of his successor. The body, perfectly naked, with a rope
+round the neck, was flung across a horse, like the carcase of a calf,
+behind a pursuivant-at-arms, and was thus carried in triumph to
+Leicester. It was exposed two days in the Town-hall, and then buried
+without ceremony in the Gray Friars' Church. At the destruction of the
+religious houses, the remains were thrown out, and the coffin, which was
+of stone, was converted into a watering-trough at the White Horse Inn.
+The best intelligence that Mr. Hutton, who made a journey on purpose in
+1758, could collect concerning it, was that it was broken up about the
+latter end of the reign of George I., and that some of the pieces had
+been placed as steps in the cellar of the inn. "To what base uses may we
+return!" The sign of the White Boar at Leicester, at which Richard
+slept, was forthwith converted into the Blue Boar; and the name of the
+street called after it has been corrupted into Blubber-lane.
+
+Leicester and Richard III. are associated in traditional history, which
+the Corporation have handed down, with a newly-built bridge, in two
+inscriptions:--1. "This bridge was erected by the Corporation of
+Leicester, in the mayoralty of S. Viccars, Esq., A.D. 1862, on the site
+of the ancient Bow Bridge, over which King Richard III. passed, at the
+head of his army, to the battle of Bosworth Field, August, 1485. Joseph
+Whetstone, Chairman of Highway Committee; S. Stone, Town Clerk; E. S.
+Stephens, Borough Surveyor." The plate on the opposite side bears the
+legend in verse, according to Speed's _History of Great Britain_:--
+
+  "Upon this bridge [as tradition hath
+  Delivered] stood a stone of some height,
+  Against which King Richard, as he passed
+  Towards Bosworth, by chance struck his spur,
+  And against the same stone, as he was brought
+  Back, hanging by the horse's side, his head
+  Was dashed and broken, as a wise woman
+  [Forsooth] had _foretold_, who, before Richard's
+  Going to battle, being asked as to his success,
+  Said that where his spur struck, his head
+  Should be broken."
+
+This is legendary evidence of Richard's belief in omens, in addition to
+that recorded at page 305.
+
+Richard had a habit of gnawing his under lip, and a trick of playing
+with his dagger, which, although misconstrued into signs of an evil
+disposition, were, probably, mere outward manifestations of
+restlessness. Polydore Virgil speaks of his "horrible vigilance and
+celerity." It was the old story of the sword wearing out the scabbard;
+and the chances are, that he would not long have survived Bosworth Field
+had he come off unscathed and the conqueror.
+
+"In the dreadful wars of York and Lancaster," writes Mr. Brooke,[73] "it
+is said that more than 10,000 Englishmen lost their lives; but that is
+merely the number believed to have been slain in battle; and, however
+repulsive it may be to our feelings, it must be admitted that it cannot
+include the numbers who must have perished during that disastrous
+period, in unimportant skirmishes, in marauding parties, in private
+warfare, by assassination, by the axe or by the halter, in pursuance of
+or under the colour of judicial sentences, or by open and undisguised
+murder. Besides this horrible sacrifice of human life, during this
+distracted period it is shocking to think what sufferings unprotected
+and helpless persons must have been exposed to, from the lawless
+partisans of the rival parties, when they passed through or were located
+near any district, which they chose to consider as favouring their
+antagonists. Pillage, cruelty, violence to women, incendiarism, and
+contempt of the laws and of religion, were the natural attendants upon a
+civil war, carried on with feelings of bitter hatred by each party; and
+it is certain that the examples of cruelty and wickedness which were
+openly set by the nobles and leaders of both factions would readily be
+copied by their followers. One of our ancient historical writers
+correctly states, that 'this conflict was in maner unnaturall, for in it
+the sonne fought against the father, the brother against the brother,
+the nephew against the uncle, the tenant against his lord.'"
+
+It is well known that the Wars of the Roses had weakened to the last
+degree the great nobles--destroying many of the houses, and
+impoverishing all to such an extent that when Henry assumed the Crown he
+found himself in possession of nearly absolute power. Under his
+Plantagenet predecessors the great nobles had so much authority that at
+times they could defy the Crown, and an influential earl might be
+regarded as almost the rival of the Sovereign. The English barons were
+now reduced to comparative insignificance, and the descendants of men
+who in the bygone time might have aspired to the throne, and actually
+ruled as independent princes in their ample domains, were content to
+appear at Court and to swell the train of their Sovereign liege. The
+Wars of the Roses had in reality precipitated in England a change which
+was gradually approaching--the destruction of the feudal, and the rise
+of the municipal system. But the decay of the feudal system and the rise
+of the municipal produced consequences which are very important for
+their social and political bearings.[74]
+
+Sad are the memories of these devastating wars, which are intertwined
+with many a legendary tale and fitful romance. Not the least curious of
+these records is the story that in a beautiful district of England,
+whilst the wars raged, there was discovered in the garden of Longleat
+Priory, in Wiltshire, a French rose-tree, covered on one side with
+_white_ roses, and on the opposite with _red_; which, being known,
+attracted crowds of persons, who believed it to portend the speedy
+return of peace to their country, by the union of the rival powers.
+According to the same tradition, a short time afterwards, the tree bore
+roses of mixed petals, and there immediately followed the marriage of
+Henry VII. and Elizabeth, thus fulfilling the floral prediction by the
+friendship and union of the contending parties. The rose is thought to
+have been an early specimen of our "York and Lancaster;" a
+red-white--the colours of the two houses--hence its name; and although
+the account is probably but a fable, it has, like many others, found its
+way into history.
+
+The tendency to embalm falsehoods is a part of the question of the worth
+of traditions, which is really worthy of a philosophical inquiry. The
+rib of the Dun cow and Guy's porridge-pot are still shown at Warwick
+Castle, though the one is the bone of a fossil elephant, and the other a
+military cooking vessel of the time of Charles I. Sir Samuel Meyrick
+scientifically classified and arranged the collection of armour in the
+Tower, but the Beefeaters stick to the old stories still. Richard the
+Third's bed in the neighbourhood of Bosworth, turns out to be
+Elizabethan;[75] Queen Mary's, at Holyrood, to be of the last century.
+Only the other day they sold off at Berkeley the bed of the murdered
+Edward as an undoubted anachronism and admitted imposture. Old chairs
+are as little to be trusted. Some persons have even doubted the famous
+Glastonbury specimen, but these are unduly cautious and sceptical. St.
+Crispin's chair in Linlithgow Cathedral is of excellent mahogany,--a
+wood which he could only have obtained by miracle previous to the
+discovery of America. Princes of Wales are not more fortunate in their
+traditions than the Popes themselves, for the Tower of Carnarvon, in
+which it is said that the first of them was born, was almost certainly
+built after he came into existence. The printing press will dispose of
+these false traditions in time, as it has already extinguished so many
+others, whether false or true.[76]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[68] See Murray's _Handbook to Hampshire, Surrey, and the Isle of
+Wight_.
+
+[69] _Quarterly Review_, No. 223.
+
+[70] _English Review_, No. 2.
+
+[71] Grafton, vol. ii. p. 154. Balls of about a pound and a half weight
+have been dug up on the field, but none of the chroniclers speak of
+artillery as used by either side.
+
+[72] "Sir John Cheney, of Sherland, personally encountering King
+Richard, was felled to the ground by the monarch, had his crest struck
+off, and his head laid bare: for some time, it is said, he remained
+stunned; but recovering after awhile, he cut the skull and horns off the
+hide of an ox which chanced to be near, and fixed them upon his head, to
+supply the top of the upper part of his helmet: he then returned to the
+field of battle, and did such signal service that Henry, on being
+proclaimed King, assigned Cheney for crest the bull's scalp, which his
+descendants still bear."--Sir Bernard Burke's _Vicissitudes of
+Families_, p. 350.
+
+[73] In his very interesting _Visits to the Fields of Battle, in
+England, of the Fifteenth Century_.
+
+[74] _Times_ journal.
+
+[75] See page 305, _ante_.
+
+[76] _Times_ journal.
+
+
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF HATFIELD.
+
+
+This noble seat has been incidentally noticed in the preceding pages.[77]
+Although the Princess Elizabeth was kept a prisoner at Hatfield, she
+occasionally went to London to pay her court to Queen Mary; and in 1556
+she was invited to court, and proceeded thither with great parade.
+Elizabeth, however, preferred the quiet and pleasant scenery of
+Hatfield. The hall of the old palace now accommodates about thirty
+horses. The combination of old trees, the rich-coloured brickwork, and
+the curiously-wrought ironwork of the flower-garden gate, independent of
+its historical associations, forms a pleasing scene.
+
+The noble park is eleven miles in circuit: here the new house, finished,
+in 1611, by Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, comes boldly to view. The river
+Lea passes through the park. Nor far from the house are a racket-court
+and riding-school, both large buildings: near here is an ancient oak of
+extraordinary size, called the "Lion oak," a venerable tree, which,
+although deprived of many branches, is still crowned by large masses of
+green foliage and numerous acorns, is upwards of thirty feet in
+circumference, and reputed a thousand years old.
+
+A long and noble avenue of trees, with sunlight glistening on the grey
+mossy trunks and boughs, leads to the kitchen-garden. Here is an old
+oak, now much stunted, under which the Princess Elizabeth was sitting
+when the messengers brought to her the news of Queen Mary's death, and
+saluted her as Queen. With pomp, and amid great rejoicing, Queen
+Elizabeth progressed to London--a journey accomplished with much greater
+trouble three hundred years since than at present. Decayed parts of this
+historical oak, the "Lion oak," and some others, have been, from time to
+time, covered with _cement_; and this has not only had the effect of
+stopping the progress of destruction, but also been the means of
+producing both new wood and vegetation.
+
+At the further end of the avenue just mentioned is a building of two or
+three centuries old, but which has been much disguised by alterations:
+it is now used as the gardener's lodge. Through this we reach the
+vineyard,--a curious example of the trim gardening of former days. From
+a terrace a bank descends by a deep gradient to the river Lea. On the
+upper portion of the terrace are yew-trees planted at intervals, and
+dressed into singular shapes; in other parts the yew-trees are so cut,
+that up to a considerable height they seem as straight and solid as a
+wall: openings are left here and there which lead to dark avenues,
+cunningly formed by the arching of the branches. From the centre a broad
+flight of steps, covered with turf, leads to the Lea. On the opposite
+side of the river, an opening has been made in the trees, which shows a
+picture that stretches away in long perspective. Descending the steps,
+and looking upward, the view is very striking, and we perceive that the
+design is intended to imitate a fortress, with its towers of defence,
+loopholes, and battlements,--in fact, vegetation is made to assume an
+architectural form, which has an extraordinary effect. The vineyard is
+admirably kept.[78]
+
+Of the many fine ancestral mansions in England, Hatfield, the seat of
+the Marquis of Salisbury, is, perhaps, the most interesting for its
+historical documents, and other illustrations of English history. Here
+are preserved the forty-two articles of Edward VI., with the
+superscription of that pious Monarch; the first Council Book of Queen
+Mary; Cardinal Wolsey's Instructions to the Ambassador sent to the Pope
+by Henry VIII., with that eminent churchman's autograph; the original
+draft of the Proclamation Secretary Cecil used at the Accession of James
+I.; and a very amusing Pedigree of Queen Elizabeth, emblazoned (dated
+1559), by which the ancestry of that Sovereign is exhibited as traced to
+Adam. Here also are several manuscript letters of Elizabeth, and the
+celebrated Cecil Papers; the cradle of Elizabeth, of oak, ornamented
+with carving, decidedly Elizabethan; also James I.'s purse, and the
+first pair of silk stockings introduced into England, worn by Queen
+Elizabeth.
+
+[Illustration: "QUEEN ELIZABETH'S OAK," IN HATFIELD PARK.]
+
+In the long gallery of the mansion is a state chair, said to have been
+used by Queen Elizabeth; and in a black cabinet is preserved a hat with
+a broad circular brim, which, we are told, was worn by the Princess
+Elizabeth, when seated under the oak in the park just mentioned. This
+historical tree is inclosed by a dwarf fence. When Queen Victoria and
+Prince Albert visited Hatfield, in 1846, Her Majesty was much interested
+with this memorial oak; and, as a memento of her visit, had a small
+branch lopped from the tree.
+
+In each bedchamber of the mansion are wardrobes and closets carved in
+the style of the reign of James I.; the carved mantelpieces are very
+large; some supported by massive pillars entwined with flowers, others
+supported by caryatides and figures. The bedsteads and much of the
+furniture are of the same date as the other fittings. King James's
+bed-room has the fittings, it is said, exactly as when the king last
+used them: the hangings, of deep crimson, are profusely ornamented with
+tassel-work and fringe; the quilted coverlid has wrought flowers in the
+centre, and at the top of the bed are a royal crown, and other
+ornaments. It should be mentioned that many of the rooms throughout
+Hatfield House are fitted with woods of different kinds, and are named,
+in consequence, "the Oak-room," "the Rose-room," "the Walnut-room," "the
+Elm-room," &c. The chapel and a suite of ten rooms completed by the
+present Marquis of Salisbury in the old baronial style, have panelling
+of various woods, some being of oak, walnut, ash, sycamore, &c.
+
+Among the historical pictures at Hatfield is Zucchero's famous portrait
+of Queen Elizabeth:--She wears a robe embroidered with eyes and ears, a
+favourite device of hers to express her ubiquitous and sleepless
+intelligence; and not satisfied with the symbolic eyes and ears, she
+grasps a rainbow, with the motto, "_Non sine sole Iris_."
+
+      In the recent exhibition of National Portraits at South Kensington
+      were nineteen portraits of Queen Elizabeth, wonderful examples of
+      her fantastic and execrable taste. "It was a bad time for the arts
+      of portraiture. The costume, in which the Queen led the taste of
+      both sexes, and was a keen critic of it after her fashion, was
+      over-laden, stiff, and unbecoming. The monstrous ruffs,
+      high-shouldered leg-of-mutton sleeves, long-pointed stomachers,
+      and broad-hipped Spanish fardingales of the women are not redeemed
+      from deformity by all their wealth of lace, embroidery, pearls,
+      and jewels; while the round hats of the men--their long-waisted
+      doublets, their hose, wide-swelling at the thigh, and tight to the
+      knee, would defy even a Titian to make them picturesque, in spite
+      of silk and satin and velvet, lace and slashes, ropes of pearl,
+      rich pendants, jewelled belts, and hatbands of goldsmiths' work.
+      There never was a time when foppery ran so rampant, and the Queen
+      was the worst of all in the bad taste and extravagance of her
+      attire. Melville, the Scottish Ambassador, tells us how she had
+      weeds of all countries, and would appear in a different one at
+      every audience--how she talked to him of millinery and
+      dress-making, hair and head tires, and seemed more anxious for his
+      opinion on such matters than on affairs of State. We have her
+      wardrobe books when she was 68, and find among her stores of
+      finery, exclusive of 99 State dresses, Coronation, mourning,
+      Parliament, and Garter robes, French gowns 102, round ditto 67,
+      loose ditto 100, kirtles 126, foreparts 136, petticoats 125,
+      cloaks 96, safeguards 13, jupes 43, doublets 85, lap mantles 18,
+      fans 27, pantofles 9. And we may see among her 19 pictures here
+      wonderful examples of her fantastic and execrable taste. The
+      Hatfield Zucchero looks true, but, after all, it is to the Hampton
+      Court picture of her at 16 that we turn with pleasure when she was
+      still King Edward's 'sweet sister Temperance,' and the docile
+      pupil of Roger Ascham in the pleasant shades of Ashridge, or
+      Hatfield, and not that withered, gray old woman, her mind heavy
+      with black and bloody memories, who sat on the cushions for ten
+      days and nights, and for the last 24 hours silent, staring on the
+      ground, with set tearless eyes, and her finger in her
+      mouth."--_Times_ journal.
+
+In the collection at South Kensington, too, was the portrait of the man
+who brought the news of Mary's death to Elizabeth at Hatfield, one of
+her commanders in Scotland in 1547, and one of the many who supped once
+too often with my Lord of Leicester, and died in 1570, after eating figs
+at that table, where the wariest guests were careful only to taste the
+same dishes as my lord ate of.
+
+Among the pictures, which are hung through the house, are the portraits
+of the great Lord Burghley, and his two sons; various portraits of Queen
+Elizabeth and Queen Mary of England; and Queen Mary of Scotland, at the
+age of sixteen. Here are the Earl of Leicester of Elizabeth's reign;
+James I. and Charles I.; Philip of Spain: Van Tromp; the famous Charles
+of Sweden, and Peter the Great of Russia; various members of the
+Salisbury family; and the curious picture of Horselydown Fair, described
+at pp. 254-258. In the Great Hall, which has a minstrels' gallery,
+ornamented with carvings of figures and animals, heraldry, &c. are a
+picture, life-size, of the white horse on which Queen Elizabeth rode at
+Tilbury Fort: and ten large paintings of Adam and Eve.
+
+The Lady Elizabeth kept her state at Hatfield with no small cost and
+splendour. At a subsequent period, after her imprisonment at Woodstock,
+her Highness obtained permission to reside once more at Hatfield, under
+the guardianship of Sir Thomas Pope, who not only extended to her the
+kindest care and most respectful attention, but devised, at his own
+cost, sports and pastimes for her amusement. "The fetters in which he
+held her," says Agnes Strickland, "were more like flowery wreaths flung
+lightly around her, to attract her to a bower of royal pleasaunce, than
+aught which might remind her of the stern restraint by which she was
+surrounded during her incarceration in the Tower, and subsequent
+sojourn at Woodstock." Thus, we read of maskings in the Great Hall at
+Hatfield, banquets, and "the play of Holophernes," which Queen Mary
+misliked.
+
+When Queen Mary visited her sister at Hatfield, Elizabeth adorned her
+great state chamber for Her Majesty's reception, with a sumptuous suite
+of tapestry, representing the Siege of Antioch, and had a play performed
+after supper, by the choir-boys of St. Paul's; at the conclusion of
+which one of the children sang, and was accompanied on the virginals by
+the Princess herself.
+
+Hatfield, during Elizabeth's reign, remained vested in the crown. At her
+decease, however, her successor, King James, exchanged it with Sir
+Robert Cecil for the palace of Theobalds, and thenceforward Hatfield has
+continued uninterruptedly in the possession of the noble family of
+Salisbury. Sir Robert Cecil was styled by his royal mistress, Elizabeth,
+"the staff of her declining age," and was so highly esteemed by King
+James, that his Majesty created him successively Baron Cecil, Viscount
+Cranbourne, and Earl of Salisbury; conferred on him the blue riband of
+the Garter, and finally appointed him Lord High Treasurer of England.
+About this period, his lordship laid the foundations of the present
+mansion of Hatfield, which he finished in 1611, in a style of equal
+splendour with that of Burghley, which his father had erected in the
+preceding reign. The year after the completion of Hatfield, worn out by
+the cares of state the Earl of Salisbury died at Marlborough, in
+Wiltshire, on his way to London: he was interred in Hatfield Church,
+under a stately monument. How striking an example does the closing year
+of his life present! In his last illness, he was heard to say to Sir
+William Cope: "Ease and pleasure quake to hear of death; but my life,
+full of care and miseries, desireth to be dissolved."
+
+He had some years previously (1603) addressed a letter to Sir James
+Harrington, the poet, in nearly the same querulous tone: "Good Knight,"
+saith the minister, "rest content, and give heed to one that hath
+sorrowed in the bright lustre of a court, and gone heavily on even the
+best seeming fair ground. 'Tis a great task to prove one's honesty, and
+yet not mar one's fortune: you have tasted a little thereof in our
+blessed Queen's time, who was more than a woman, and, in truth,
+sometimes less than a woman. I wish I waited now in your
+presence-chamber, with ease at my food, and rest in my bed. I am pushed
+from the share of comfort, and know not where the winds and waves of a
+court will bear me. I know it bringeth little comfort on earth; and he
+is, I reckon, no wise man that looketh this way to heaven."
+
+Hatfield is a very interesting seat, not only for its association with
+the past, but for its presenting, at this moment, a picture of the
+baronial life of two centuries and a half since. The Hall of the ancient
+Palace remains; the historic Oak is preserved; the vineyard was in
+existence when Charles I. was conveyed here a prisoner to the army, and
+its famous yew walk is left; and the deer are still numerous. The
+mansion has been restored to its pristine magnificence; the landscape
+gardening is fine. The noble owner of Hatfield has devoted a portion of
+his domains to the pastimes of the people; and on every occasion,
+whether it be the reception of royalty, or the entertainment of the
+toilers of the country, it is carried out in the generous spirit of
+olden English hospitality. And this princely place lies within a score
+of miles of the metropolis and its three million of people, who are
+brought almost to the park gates within an hour's railway journey.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[77] See _ante_, pp. 116, 124.
+
+[78] "Hatfield House and its Contents," _Builder_, 1859.
+
+
+
+
+THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE.
+
+
+The most memorable sitting in Parliament, in the fourth year of King
+Charles the First, was that of the House of Commons, on March 2d, 1629,
+which was pronounced by Sir Simonds D'Ewes as "_the most gloomy, sad,
+and dismal day for England that had happened for five hundred years_."
+
+The incidents of this day will be recollected by every one. Sir John
+Eliot is said, according to all accounts, to have made an indignant
+attack upon Lord Weston, the new Treasurer, and to have concluded by
+moving the adoption of a Remonstrance. The Speaker, Sir John Finch,
+declined to put the Remonstrance to the vote, and announced that he had
+received the King's command to adjourn the House until the 10th of
+March. The House paid little attention to the royal message, contending,
+first, that it was not the office of the Speaker to deliver any such
+command; and, secondly, that the power of adjournment belonged to the
+House, and not to the Crown. Regardless of these arguments, the Speaker
+prepared to obey the royal mandate. He rose and quitted the chair, when
+two members, Denzil Holles, son of the Earl of Clare, on the one side,
+and Benjamin Valentine, on the other side, stepped forward, and forced
+him back into his official seat. He appealed to the House with abundance
+of tears. Selden argued and remonstrated with him. Sir Peter Hayman
+disavowed him, we are told, "as a kinsman," and denounced him as a
+disgrace to a noble family. Again he endeavoured to quit the chair. Sir
+Thomas Edmondes, who was old enough to have been ambassador from Queen
+Elizabeth to Henry IV. of France--a man of small stature, but of great
+courage--with other privy councillors, pressed forward to the Speaker's
+help; but Holles violently held him in his chair, and swore, by what is
+termed Queen Elizabeth's oath, "God's wounds!" that he should sit still
+until it should please the House to rise.
+
+In the midst of this uproar, Coriton and Winterton, two of the members,
+are said to have fallen to blows, numbers of the more timid fled out of
+the House, and the King, hearing of the tumult, sent to Edward
+Grimstone, the Serjeant-at-Arms, who was then within the House in
+attendance upon the Speaker, to bring away the mace, without which it
+was supposed that no legal meeting could be held. To defeat this object,
+the key of the door was taken from the Serjeant-at-Arms, and delivered
+to Sir Miles Hobart. Sir Miles stopped the egress of the
+Serjeant-at-Arms, and having taken from him the mace, quietly put him
+out of the House and locked the door. The mace was then replaced upon
+the table, and Holles, standing by the side of the Speaker, put to the
+House three resolutions, which were deemed to be voted by acclamation.
+The King is said to have sent, in the meantime, Mr. Maxwell, the Usher
+of the Black Rod, to summon the House to attend in the House of Lords,
+but Maxwell could gain neither hearing nor admission. Grown now, as is
+stated in Lord Verulam's manuscript, "into much rage and passion," the
+King sent for "the Captain of the Pensioners and Guard to force the
+door." Ere this officer could muster his stately band, the House had
+done its work. The resolutions had been passed, the Speaker had been
+released from the strong grasp of Denzil Holles, Sir Miles Hobart had
+unlocked the door, the excited members had been set free; and, _for a
+period of eleven years, parliamentary discussion in England had come to
+an end_.
+
+Such is the narrative which was read by Mr. Bruce to the Society of
+Antiquaries, in 1859, upon his reading also a "True Relation" of the
+scene, in the handwriting of Lord Verulam, now in the manuscript
+collection at Gorhambury. Other MSS. of the proceedings of this Session
+are not uncommon, and many variations occur. Mr. Bruce has, in his
+paper, printed that portion of Lord Verulam's MS. which relates to the
+sitting of the 2d of March. Mr. Bruce, who has narrated the leading
+points according to Lord Verulam's MS., instead of Hayman's word,
+"kinsman," gives these words: "he was sorry he was a Kentish man, and
+that he was a disgrace to his country, and a blot to a noble family."
+Lord Verulam, too, gives Mr. Stroud's speech, not in other MSS.: he
+"tould the Speaker that he was the instrument to cutt off the libertie
+of the subject by the roote, and that if he would not be perswaded to
+put the same to question, they must all retorne as scattered sheepe, and
+a scorne put upon them as it was last session." This is important, since
+it explains more precisely than had hitherto been known, why he (Stroud)
+was prosecuted for his share in that day's transactions. On the other
+hand, Lord Verulam's MS. does not mention the Resolutions that were put
+to the House by Holles standing by the Speaker's chair. The concurrent
+testimony of a variety of authorities, however, forbids us to doubt that
+those Resolutions were really passed in the way described, and that in
+this respect Lord Verulam's MS. is defective.
+
+
+
+
+CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS.
+
+
+The word _Cavalier_ was not at first necessarily a term of reproach.
+Shakspeare does not so employ it when he speaks of the gay and gallant
+English eager for French invasion--
+
+  "For who is he ... that will not follow
+  These cull'd and choice-drawn Cavaliers to France?"
+
+But it was most unquestionably used in a reproachful sense on the
+occasion of the tumult in the reign of Charles I., probably to connect
+its French origin with the un-English character of the defenders of the
+Queen and her French papist adherents, to whom it was chiefly applied;
+it was likewise bandied about in declarations alternately issued
+on the eve of the war by the Parliament and the King, the latter
+speaking of it more than once as a word much in disfavour. Charles,
+when the battle of Edgehill had been fought, elaborately accuses his
+antagonists--"pretenders to peace and charity"--of a hateful attempt "to
+render all persons of honour, courage, and reputation, odious to the
+common people under the style of _Cavaliers_, insomuch as the highways
+and villages have not been safe for gentlemen to pass through without
+violence or affront." Even in the very earliest popular songs on the
+King's side, the word has not the place it afterwards assumed, and one
+meets with Royalist poets of a comparatively sober vein,--
+
+  "Who neither love for fashion nor for fear,
+  As far from Roundhead as from Cavalier."
+
+D'Ewes's earliest uses of the word, in his MS. journal, occur under 10th
+January, and March 4th, 1641-2, and 3d June, 1642. In the first he is
+speaking of parties who had been suspiciously entering the Tower; in the
+second, of the Cavaliers at Whitehall who wounded the citizens; and in
+the last of the King's party in Yorkshire.
+
+Of the word _Roundhead_, on the other hand, and the mixed fear and
+hatred it represented and provoked, decidedly the most characteristic
+example is furnished by the ever quaint and entertaining Bishop Hacket,
+who tells a story of a certain worthy and honest Vicar of Hampshire who
+always (in such a manner as to evade the notice of one section of his
+hearers while he secretly pleased the other) changed one verse in the
+last verse of the Te Deum--"O Lord, in thee have I trusted, _let me
+never be a Roundhead_!" William Lilly, however (_Monarchy or no Monarchy
+in England_, edit. 1651), referring to tumults of which he was an
+eye-witness, describes Puritans to have received the nickname as
+follows: "In the general, they were very honest men and well-meaning:
+some particular fools, or others, perhaps, now and then got in amongst
+them, greatly to the disadvantage of the more sober. They were modest in
+their apparel, but not in their language; they had the hair of their
+heads very few of them longer than their ears; whereupon, it came to
+pass that those who usually with their cries attended at Westminster
+(Whitehall), were by a nickname called _Roundheads_. The Courtiers
+again, having long hair and locks, and always swordes, at last were
+called by these men _Cavaliers_: and so, so few of the vulgar knowing
+the sense of the word Cavalier."--Notes to Forster's _Arrest of the Five
+Members_.
+
+Swift, regarding Cavalier in the reproachful sense, says: "Each party
+grows proud of that appellation which their adversaries at first
+intended as a reproach: of this sort were the Guelfs, and Ghibelines,
+Huguenots, and Cavaliers."
+
+Nevertheless, Cavalier was formerly an ordinary English term for a
+horse-soldier. Kersey gives it as "a Sword-gentleman, a brave Warrior."
+
+Nares gives it: "Cavalero, or Cavalier. Literally a Knight; but, as the
+persons of chief fashion and gaiety were knights, any gallant was so
+distinguished. Hence it became a term for the officers of the Court
+party, in Charles I.'s wars, the gaiety of whose appearance was
+strikingly opposed to the austerity and sourness of the opposite order."
+_Glossary_, New Edit. 1859.
+
+In the Roundhead accounts of the period are details of the contests and
+assaults that were continually made between the years 1648 and 1658 upon
+the Roundheads _abroad_, for _at home_ the Cavaliers were too weak to
+indulge frequently in such manifestations of party feelings.
+
+
+
+
+THE EVELYNS AT WOTTON.
+
+
+It has been well observed of the Evelyn family, that "rarely do we read
+of people who so admirably combined a love of rural life with
+literature." Studious retirement, not isolation, was what John Evelyn
+sought; and nowhere did he so delightfully enjoy his tastes as at Wotton
+House or Place in Surrey. This "great Virtuoso," as Aubrey called him,
+has left us the following account of his family, and of their first
+settlement at Wotton:--"We have not been at Wotton (purchased of one
+Owen, a great rich man) above 160 years. My great grandfather came from
+Long Ditton (the seat now of Sir Edward Eveylin), where we had been long
+before; and to Long Ditton from Harrow-on-the-Hill; and many years
+before that, from Evelyn, near Tower Castle, Shropshire. There are of
+our name in France and Italy, written _Ivelyn_, _Avelin_: and in old
+deeds I find _Avelyn_, alias _Evelyn_. One of our name was taken
+prisoner at the battle of Agincourt. When the Duchess of Orleans came to
+Dover to see the King [Charles II.], one of our name (whose family
+derives itself from Lusignan, king of Cyprus) claimed relation to us. We
+have in our family a tradition of a great sum of money, that had been
+given for the ransom of a French lord, with which a great estate was
+purchased; but these things are all mystical."
+
+Wotton House, placed in a valley south-west of Dorking, though really
+upon a part of Leith Hill, was first erected in the reign of Queen
+Elizabeth. Here, on October 31, 1620, was born John Evelyn, "_Sylva_
+Evelyn," as he was called from the title of his valuable work on
+Forest-trees. When four years old, he was taught at the porch of Wotton
+Church. He then learnt Latin in a school at Lewes; whence his father
+proposed to send him to Eton, but he was terrified at the reported
+severity of the discipline there, and he was again sent to Lewes, which
+he "afterwards a thousand times deplored." In 1636 he was admitted to
+the Middle Temple; whence he removed to Balliol College, Oxford. He
+returned to London in 1640; but on the death of his father he
+relinquished all thoughts of legal practice.
+
+Mr. Evelyn, thus become his own master, purposed a life of studious
+seclusion, and actually commenced making a kind of hermitage at Wotton,
+at that period the seat of his eldest brother. The park is watered by a
+winding stream, and is backed by a magnificent range of beech-woods: the
+goodly oaks were cut down by John Evelyn's grandfather, and birch has
+taken the place of beech in many cases; but we trace to this day
+Evelyn's hollies, "a _viretum_ all the year round;" and the noble
+planting of the author of _Sylva_, who describes the house as "large and
+ancient, suitable to those hospitable times, and so sweetly environed
+with delicious streams and venerable woods. It has rising grounds,
+meadows, woods, and water in abundance.... I should speak much of the
+gardens, fountains, and groves that adorne it, were they not generally
+known to be amongst the most natural (until this later and universal
+luxury of the whole nation, since abounding in such expenses), the most
+magnificent that England afforded, and which, indeed, gave one of the
+first examples of that elegancy since so much in vogue, and followed in
+the managing of their waters, and other ornaments of that nature."
+
+Evelyn, by whom, in his brother's lifetime, the chief improvements in
+these grounds were directed, thus speaks of their origin in his _Diary_,
+under the date 1643, after the disastrous contest had commenced between
+the King and the Parliament:--"Resolving to possess myself in some
+quiet, if it might be, in a time of so great jealousy, I built, by my
+brother's permission, a _study_, made a _fish-pond_, and an _island_,
+and some other solitudes and retirements at Wotton; which gave the first
+occasion to those water-works and gardens which afterwards succeeded
+them."
+
+Further alterations were made in 1652, and are thus described:--"I went
+with my brother Evelyn to Wotton to give him what directions I was able
+about his garden, which he was now desirous to put into some forme; but
+for which he was to remove a mountaine overgrowne with huge trees and
+thicket, with a moate within ten yards of the house. This my brother
+immediately attempted, and that without greate coste; for more than a
+hundred yards south, by digging down the mountaine, and flinging it into
+a rapid streame, it not only carried away the sand, &c., but filled up
+the moate, and levelled that noble area, where now the garden and
+fountaine is."
+
+In 1641, Evelyn, tired of this seclusion, made a tour in France and the
+Netherlands, in which he appears to have gathered from observation such
+knowledge of Gardening as led him into its systematic study. He
+describes the Tuileries as rarely contrived for privacy, shade, or
+company; and he specially describes a labyrinth of cypress, with an
+artificial echo, "redoubling the words distinctly, and never without
+some fair nymph singing to it." "Standing at one of the focuses, which
+is under a tree, or little cabinet of hedges, the voice seems to descend
+from the clouds; at another, as if it was underground." He tells us,
+too, of the curious garden of the Archbishop of Paris, at St. Cloud,
+with a Mount Parnassus, and a grotto, or "shell-house," on the top of
+the hill, the walls painted with the Muses, many statues placed about
+it, and within, "divers water-works, and contrivances to wet the
+spectators," reminding one of the famous copper-tube willow-tree at
+Chatsworth. Evelyn speaks of the Luxembourg Gardens as a paradise, where
+the Duke of Orleans kept tortoises in great numbers. The young traveller
+was charmed with the gardens of Italy; and at Padua he bought, for
+winter provision, three thousand weight of grapes, and pressed his own
+wine, which proved excellent.
+
+Faithful to the Crown, Mr. Evelyn (who had become a volunteer in an
+English regiment serving in Flanders) joined the King's army at
+Brentford; but that he had not the temperament of a hero we may judge
+from the fact that, on the day before the battle of Edgehill was fought,
+after seeing Portsmouth delivered up to Sir William Waller, "he was able
+to make a careful archæological survey of the city of Winchester, calmly
+noting its castle, church, school, and King Arthur's Round Table."
+Knowing this characteristic trait, we are not surprised that he left his
+distracted country for the pleasures of foreign travel. On returning
+from Italy he visited Paris, and at the English Embassy met his future
+wife, the daughter of the Ambassador, Sir Richard Browne. He married
+her when she was little more than fourteen, and some months afterwards
+left her, as he admits, "still very young," under the appropriate care
+of her mother, whilst he transacted business in England. The Prince de
+Condé besieged Paris, and a year and a half elapsed before Evelyn
+rejoined his wife.
+
+Upon their return to England, they took up their abode at Sayes Court,
+the property of Sir Richard Browne, whose estate had been considerably
+curtailed during the Commonwealth. It was wholly unadorned. Here, from a
+field of one hundred acres in pasture, Evelyn formed a garden, which was
+an exemplar of his _Sylva_, with a hedge of holly, 400 feet long, 9 feet
+high, and 5 feet thick. He began immediately to set out an oval garden,
+which was "the beginning of all the succeeding gardens, walks, groves,
+enclosures, and plantations there;" and he planted an orchard, "new
+moon, wind west." Evelyn next planned a royal garden to comprehend
+"knots, trayle-work, parterres, compartments, borders, banks, and
+embossments, labyrinths, dedals, cabinets, cradles, close-walks,
+galleries, pavilions, porticoes, lanterns, and other relievos of topiary
+and hortular architecture; fountains, cascades, piscines, rocks, grotts,
+cryptæ, mounts, precipices, and ventiducts; gazon-theatres, artificial
+echoes, automate and hydraulic music."
+
+When Evelyn left Sayes to pass the remainder of his days at Wotton, he
+let the former estate, first to Admiral Benbow, and next to the Czar
+Peter, to be near the King's dockyard, (through the wall of which a
+doorway was broken), that he might learn shipbuilding, but the Czar and
+his retinue damaged the house and gardens to the extent of 150_l_. in
+three weeks. A portion of the Victualling-yard now occupies the place of
+Evelyn's shady walks and trim hedges; on the site of the manor-house
+stands the parish workhouse of Dieptford and Stroud; and an adjoining
+thoroughfare is named Evelyn-street.
+
+Evelyn may have been misled in ornamental gardening by the taste of his
+age, but there was nothing to mislead him in that useful branch of the
+art which supplies the table with its luxuries, and which in his time
+received considerable improvement. Here we may mention that in 1664
+Evelyn published the first Gardeners' Almanack, containing directions
+for the employment of each month. This was dedicated to Cowley, and drew
+from him, in acknowledgment, one of his best pieces, entitled _The
+Garden_; in the prefix to which he says:--"I never had any other desire
+so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had
+always, that I might be master at last of a small house and large
+garden, with very moderate conveniences joined to them, and there
+dedicate the remainder of my life only to the culture of them, and the
+study of nature."
+
+In 1694, Mr. Evelyn went to Wotton, with his brother George. In 1696-7,
+he says:--"I am planting an evergreen grove here to an old house ready
+to drop." In the great storm of 1703, above 2,000 goodly oaks were blown
+down. The woods of Wotton have since suffered greatly from high winds,
+particularly in November 1837, when many hundred trees were laid low
+during a violent storm.
+
+In his _Sylva_, Evelyn thus deplores the former devastation: "Methinks
+that I still hear, sure I am that I feel, the _dismal groans_ of our
+forests, when that late dreadful Hurricane, happening on the 26th of
+November, 1703, subverted as many thousands of goodly Oaks, prostrating
+the trees, laying them in ghastly postures, like whole regiments fallen
+in battle by the sword of the conqueror, and crushing all that grew
+beneath them. Myself had 2,000 blown down; several of which, torn up by
+their fall, raised mounds of earth, near 20 feet high, with great stones
+intangled among the roots and rubbish, and this almost within sight of
+my dwelling;--now no more Wotton [Wood-town], stripped and naked, and
+almost ashamed to own its name."
+
+In the _Diary_, the same calamity is thus noticed: "The effects of the
+Hurricane and tempest of wind, rain, and lightning thro' all the nation,
+especially London, were very dismal. Many houses demolished, and people
+killed. As to my own losses, the submersion of woods and timber, both
+ornamental and valuable, through my whole estate, and about my house,
+the woods crowning the garden mount, and growing along the Park meadow,
+the damage to my own dwelling, farms, and outhouses, is almost tragical,
+not to be parallel'd with anything happening in our age. I am not able
+to describe it, but submit to the pleasure of Almighty God."
+
+Notwithstanding these losses, Evelyn's brother would not depart from the
+oeconomy and hospitality of the old house, but, "_more veterum_, kept
+a Christmas in which they had not fewer than 300 bumpkins every
+holiday."
+
+We find recorded among the Curiosities of the place, an oaken plank "of
+prodigious amplitude," cut out of a tree which grew on this estate, and
+was felled by Evelyn's grandfather's orders. Its dimensions, when "made
+a pastry-board" at Wotton, were more than five feet in breadth, nine
+feet and a half in length, and six inches in thickness; and it had been
+"abated by one foot," to suit it to the size of the room wherein it was
+placed.
+
+Upon the death of his brother, in 1699, without any surviving male
+issue, John Evelyn became possessor of the paternal estates. Wotton
+House, built of fine red brick, has been enlarged by various members of
+the Evelyn family. Hence the absence of uniformity in the plan of the
+house, and within our recollection it has parted with many of its olden
+features. The apartments are, however, convenient, and realize the
+comforts of an English gentleman's proper house and home. An etching by
+John Evelyn shows the mansion in 1653.
+
+Through the valley at Wotton winds a rivulet which was formerly of much
+importance. Evelyn, in a letter to Aubrey, dated 8th of February, 1675,
+says that "on the stream near his house formerly stood many
+powder-mills, erected by his ancestors, who were the very first that
+brought that invention into England; before which we had all our powder
+from Flanders." He gives an account of one of these mills blowing up,
+which broke a beam, fifteen inches in diameter, at Wotton Place; and
+states that one standing lower down towards Sheire, on blowing up, "shot
+a piece of timber through a cottage, which took off a poor woman's head,
+as she was spinning." Besides these mills, were brass, fulling, and
+hammering mills.
+
+The Evelyns possess much land in the adjoining parish of Abinger; and
+the seat of the Scarletts, Abinger Hall, gave the title to Lord Chief
+Baron Scarlett. Originally, it was a small dwelling at the foot of the
+Downs, belonging to the Dibble family, of whom it was purchased in the
+reign of George II. by Catherine Forbes, Countess of Donegal, who was
+the daughter of Arthur, Earl of Granard, and had the honour of being
+complimented by Dean Swift, in the following lines:--
+
+  "Unerring Heaven, with bounteous hand,
+  Has form'd a Model for your Land,
+  Whom Love bestow'd, with every grace,
+  The glory of the Granard race;
+  Now destined by the powers Divine
+  The blessing of another Line.
+  Then, would you paint a matchless Dame,
+  Whom you'd consign to endless fame,
+  Invoke not Cytherea's aid,
+  Nor borrow from the Blue-eyed Maid,
+  Nor need you on the Graces call;
+  Take qualities from DONEGAL."
+
+Abinger Church is of considerable antiquity, and has a higher site than
+any other church in the county: indeed, Aubrey conjectures the parish to
+be named from _Abin_, an eminence, or rising ground. The church was
+carefully restored in 1857. The west end is of the Norman period; the
+nave Early English; the altar has sedilia, and formerly had a piscina;
+and on the north side is a chancel belonging to the Wotton estate, and
+restored at the expense of Mr. Evelyn: here is a small organ. The
+altar-window of three lights has been filled with painted glass by
+O'Connor, a very meritorious work. In the churchyard in a vault are
+interred Lord Chief Baron Abinger, and his first wife: to the latter
+there is a marble monument on the inner wall of the chancel. His
+Lordship married secondly the widow of the Rev. Henry John Ridley, a
+descendant of Bishop Ridley, the Protestant martyr; and among the
+relics of that devout churchman which descended to Lady Abinger, was the
+chair in which the Bishop used to study.
+
+On the east side of the churchyard is a small green, on which are stocks
+and a whipping-post; but these, to the honour of the parish, are
+believed never to have been used.
+
+There was a Mill at Abinger at the time of the Domesday Survey; and it
+is not improbable that the present corn and flour mill, at a short
+distance from the road, may occupy the same site. To return to Wotton
+House.
+
+The interior of the old place, with its oddly-planned rooms, its quaint
+carvings, its pictures, more especially the portraits of the Evelyn
+family, is a most enjoyable nook. The author of _Sylva_, by Kneller,
+will be recognised as the original of the engraved frontispiece to
+Evelyn's _Diary_, by economy of printing now become a household book.
+Among the Wotton relics, of special historic interest, are the
+Prayer-book used by Charles I. on the scaffold; a pinch of the powder
+laid by Guido Fawkes and his fellow-conspirators to blow up the
+Parliament; a curious account, in John Evelyn's hand, of the mode in
+which the Chancellor Clarendon transacted business with his royal
+master; several letters of John Evelyn, and his account (recently found)
+of the expense of his building Milton House, which occupied four years:
+the house remains to this day. The library of printed books and
+pamphlets is curious and extensive. Evelyn was a most laborious
+annotator, never employing an amanuensis: among his MSS. is a Bible in
+three volumes, the margins filled with closely-written notes.
+
+John Evelyn died at his house (called _the Head_) in Dover-street,
+Piccadilly, Feb. 27, 1705-6. His remains were interred in Wotton Church:
+his lady surviving him until 1708-9; when, dying, in her seventy-fourth
+year, she was buried near him in the chancel. It was Evelyn's wish to
+have been interred in the Laurel Grove, planted by him at Wotton: this
+wish was expressed in his Will: "otherwise," he says, "let my grave be
+in the Corner of the Dormitory of my Ancestors." This was done; and in
+digging the new Vault was found "an entire skeleton, of gigantick
+stature."
+
+In all the characters of child, wife, mother, and mistress, Mrs. Evelyn,
+quiet and unassuming as she was, shone forth pre-eminently. Her trials
+were many and heavy; her heart was torn with the death of child after
+child, some in infancy, some in ripe age when they had grown to be the
+pride and stay of their parents. All died, one by one, out of that
+numerous progeny, till only a daughter, Mrs. Draper, was left, and the
+bereaved pair were alone in their old age in the wide old mansion at
+Wotton. Nothing can exceed the touching pathos of those few words in
+Mrs. Evelyn's will, where, after desiring that her coffin might be
+placed near to that of her dear husband, whose death preceded hers by
+three years, she adds:--"Whose love and friendship I was happy in,
+fifty-eight years nine months; but by God's providence left a desolate
+widow, the 27th day of February, 1705, in the seventy-first year of my
+age."
+
+Mrs. Evelyn had acquired the more polished manners of French society
+without losing her naturally simple tastes. That she cannot have formed
+a favourable opinion of English refinement we know from the contrast
+which her husband draws between the two countries in his _Characters of
+England_, written when they returned from the Continent.
+
+Mrs. Evelyn was an experienced housewife, and had a special eye "to the
+care of cakes, stilling, and sweetmeats, and such useful things." "The
+hospitality of Sayes Court, which was accepted by royalty and extended
+to _savans_, divines, and men of letters, was not withheld from the
+country neighbours at Deptford." Certainly, her own words depict her
+practice, for she considered "the care of children's education,
+observing a husband's commands, assisting the sick, relieving the poor,
+and being serviceable to her friends, of sufficient weight to employ the
+most improved capacities." That Mrs. Evelyn had close insight into
+character and great nicety of judgment, we learn from her
+contemporaries, as also that her "great discernment and wit" were never
+abused. Ever sedate and kindly, she bore a succession of family
+bereavements with Christian resignation.
+
+At Wotton, many curious memorials remain. Adjacent to the house are the
+conservatory, flower-garden, the former stored with curious exotic and
+native plants and flowers, and the latter embellished with a fountain, a
+temple, or colonnade, and an elevated turfed mount, cut into terraces;
+and here, enclosed within a brick wall, is all that remains of Evelyn's
+flower-garden, which was to have formed one of the principal objects in
+his "Elysium Britannicum." His _Diary_ is well known; and his _Sylva_ is
+a beautiful and enduring memorial of his amusements, his occupations,
+and his studies, his private happiness and his public virtues. Many
+millions of timber-trees have been propagated and planted at the
+instigation and by the sole direction of that book--one of the few books
+in the world which completely effected what it was designed to do. While
+Britain [says D'Israeli the elder] retains her awful situation among the
+nations of Europe, the _Sylva_ of Evelyn will endure with her triumphant
+oaks. It was an author in his studious retreat, who, casting a prophetic
+eye on the age we live in, secured the late victories of our naval
+sovereignty. Inquire at the Admiralty how the fleets of Nelson have been
+constructed, and they can tell you that it was with the oaks which the
+genius of Evelyn planted.
+
+Persons who are familiar with the picturesque environs of Dorking will
+remember Milton House, which was built at Evelyn's expense. It is now
+called Milton Court, and is about a mile west of the town. It is of red
+brick, and has a grand staircase with massive supports and balusters, a
+great hall, and many noble rooms. The house was let some years since in
+tenements to poor families. It has since been restored and furnished in
+the style of the period. Its history has a literary interest. For nearly
+a quarter of a century it was the abode of Jeremiah Markland, a model
+critic "for modesty, candour, literary honesty, and courteousness to
+other scholars." He will be remembered as one of the eminent Grecians of
+Christ's Hospital. He lived in bachelorship at Milton Court, among his
+books; or, as his pupil, Strode, tells us, "In 1752, being grown old,
+and having, moreover, long and painful fits of the gout, he was glad to
+find, what his inclination and infirmities, which made him unfit for the
+world and company, had for a long time led him to--a very private place
+of retirement, near Dorking, in Surrey." In this sequestered spot
+Markland saw little company: his walks were almost confined to the
+garden at the back of the house; and he described himself, in 1755, to
+be "as much out of the way of hearing as of getting." We have more than
+once enjoyed the elysium of the old scholar's garden. But troubles came
+to disturb his peace. Markland had not the rambling old house to
+himself. His landlady, the widow Rose, got into a lawsuit with her son,
+when Jeremiah distressed himself to aid the widow in the suit, which she
+lost; and after that Markland spent his whole fortune in relieving the
+distresses of the Rose family. This led him to accept an annuity from
+his former pupil, Strode. Markland died at Milton Court in 1776, in his
+eighty-third year; and Strode placed a brass plate in the chancel of
+Dorking Church in memory of the learning and virtue of Markland. He left
+his books and papers to Dr. Heberden. The story of old Jeremiah's
+charity is very naïve:--"Poor as I am," said he, "I would rather have
+pawned the coat on my back than have left the afflicted good woman and
+her children to starve,"--an episode of charity and friendship which has
+its sweet uses.
+
+There are two ancient objects at Milton. The water-mill, adjoining the
+green, is believed to be that mentioned in the survey of the manor, in
+Domesday book; and on Milton-heath, upon an elevated spot, is a
+_Tumulus_, now distinguished by a clump of firs; and near it is
+_War_-field. The name of the adjoining estate, Bury Hill, makes us, as
+Miss Hawkins observes, "seek, in our walks, the very footmarks of the
+Roman soldier."
+
+
+
+
+LORD BOLINGBROKE AT BATTERSEA.
+
+
+This parish and manor, three miles south-west of London, on the Surrey
+bank of the Thames, appertained, from a very early period, to the Abbey
+of St. Peter at Westminster; and is conjectured, by Lysons, to have
+been therefrom named, in the Conqueror's Survey, Patricsey, which, in
+the Saxon, is Peter's water, or river; since written Battrichsey,
+Battersey, and Battersea. It passed to the Crown, at the dissolution of
+religious houses: in 1627 it was granted to the St. John family, in
+whose possession the property remained till 1763.
+
+Here, in a spacious mansion, eastward of the church, was born, October
+1, 1678, Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, one of the brilliant
+lights of the Augustan age of literature in England. Here Pope spent
+most of his time with Bolingbroke, after the return of the latter from
+his seven years' exile;[79] and his house became also the resort of
+Swift, Arbuthnot, Thomson, Mallet, and other leading contemporary men of
+genius. Lord Marchmont was living with Lord Bolingbroke, at Battersea,
+when he discovered that Mr. Allen, of Bath, had printed 500 copies of
+the _Essay on a Patriot King_ from the copy which Bolingbroke had
+presented to Pope--six copies only were printed. Thereupon, Lord
+Marchmont sent Mr. Gravenkop for the whole cargo, who carried them out
+in a waggon, and the books were burnt on the lawn in the presence of
+Lord Bolingbroke. Thenceforth he mostly resided at Battersea from 1742
+until his death in 1751. He sunk under the dreadful malady beneath which
+he had long lingered--a cancer in the face--which he bore with exemplary
+fortitude; "a fortitude," says Lord Brougham, "drawn from the natural
+resources of his mind, and, unhappily, not aided by the consolation of
+any religion; for having early cast off the belief in revelation, he had
+substituted in its stead a dark and gloomy naturalism, which even
+rejected those glimmerings of hope as to futurity not untasted by the
+wiser of the heathens."
+
+Bolingbroke, with his second wife, niece of Madame de Maintenon, lie in
+the family vault in St. Mary's Church, where there is an elegant
+monument by Roubiliac, with busts of the great lord and his lady; the
+epitaphs on both were written by Lord Bolingbroke: that upon himself is
+still extant, in his own handwriting, in the British Museum: "Here lies
+Henry St. John, in the reign of Queen Anne Secretary of State, and
+Viscount Bolingbroke; in the days of King George I. and King George II.,
+something more and better."
+
+The greater part of Bolingbroke House was taken down in 1778. In the
+wing of the mansion, left standing, a parlour of round form, and lined
+with cedar, was long pointed out as the apartment in which Pope composed
+his _Essay on Man_; it is said to have been called "Pope's Parlour." The
+walls may still be seen, but they support a new roof, and can only be
+distinguished from the rest of the building by their circular form. The
+mansion was very extensive--forty rooms on a floor.
+
+Upon part of the site was erected a _horizontal mill_, by Captain
+Hooper, who also built a similar one at Margate. It consisted of a
+circular wheel, with large boards or vanes fixed parallel to its axis,
+and arranged at equal distances from each other. Upon these vanes the
+wind could act, so as to blow the wheel round. But if it were to act
+upon the vanes at both sides of the wheel at once, it could not, of
+course, turn it round; hence one side of the wheel must be sheltered,
+while the other was submitted to the full action of the wind. For this
+purpose it was enclosed in a large cylindrical framework, with doors or
+shutters on all sides, to open and admit the wind, or to shut and stop
+it. If all the shutters on one side were open, whilst all those on the
+opposite side were closed, the wind acting with undiminished force on
+the vanes at one side, whilst the opposite vanes are under shelter,
+turned the mill round; but whenever the wind changed, the disposition of
+the blinds must be altered, to admit the wind to strike upon the vanes
+of the wheel in the direction of a tangent to the circle in which they
+moved.--(Dr. Paris's _Philosophy in Sport_.) This mill resembled a
+gigantic packing-case, which gave rise to an odd story, that when the
+Emperor of Russia was in England, in 1814, he took a fancy to Battersea
+Church, and determined to carry it off to Russia, and had this large
+packing-case made for it; but as the inhabitants refused to let the
+church be carried away, the case remained on the spot where it was
+deposited.
+
+This horizontal air-mill served as a landmark for many miles round: the
+proprietor was Mr. Hodgson, a maltster and distiller. It was visited by
+Sir Richard Phillips in his _Morning's Walk from London to Kew_, in
+1813, who says: "The mill, its elevated shaft, its vanes, and weather or
+wind-boards, curious as they would have been on any other site, lost
+their interest on premises once the residence of the illustrious
+Bolingbroke, and the resort of the philosophers of his day. In ascending
+the winding flights of its tottering galleries, I could not help
+wondering at the caprice of events which had converted the dwelling of
+Bolingbroke into a malting-house and a mill. This house, once sacred to
+philosophy and poetry, long sanctified by the residence of the noblest
+genius of his age, honoured by the frequent visits of Pope, and the
+birthplace of the immortal _Essay on Man_, is now appropriated to the
+lowest uses. The house of Bolingbroke become a windmill! The spot on
+which the _Essay on Man_ was concocted and produced, converted into a
+distillery of pernicious spirits! Such are the lessons of time! Such are
+the means by which an eternal agency sets at nought the ephemeral
+importance of man! But yesterday, this spot was the resort, the hope,
+and the seat of enjoyment of Bolingbroke, Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot,
+Monson, Mallet, and all the contemporary genius of England--yet a few
+whirls of the earth round the sun, the change of a figure in the date of
+the year, and the group have vanished; while I behold hogs and horses,
+malt-bags and barrels, stills and machinery!
+
+"'Alas!' said I to the occupier, 'and have these things become the
+representatives of more human genius than England may ever witness on
+one spot again--have you thus satirised the transitory state of
+humanity--do you thus become a party with the bigoted enemies of that
+philosophy which was personified in a Bolingbroke or a Pope?' 'No,' he
+rejoined, 'I love the name and character of Bolingbroke, and I preserve
+the house as well as I can with religious veneration: I often smoke my
+pipe in Mr. Pope's parlour, and think of him with due respect as I walk
+the part of the terrace opposite his room.' He then conducted me to this
+interesting parlour, which is of brown polished oak,[80] with a grate
+and ornaments of the age of George the First; and before its window
+stood the portion of the terrace upon which the malt-house had not
+encroached, with the Thames moving majestically under its walls.
+
+"'In this room,' I exclaimed, 'the _Essay on Man_ was probably planned,
+discussed, and written!' Mr. Hodgson assured me this had always been
+called 'Pope's Room,' and he had no doubt it was the apartment usually
+occupied by that great poet, in his visits to his friend Bolingbroke.
+Other parts of the original house remain, and are occupied and kept in
+good order. He told me, however, that this was but a wing of the
+mansion, which extended, in Lord Bolingbroke's time, to the churchyard,
+and is now appropriated to the malting-house and its warehouses."
+
+Sir Richard met with an ancient inhabitant of Battersea, a Mrs.
+Gilliard, a pleasant and intelligent woman, who well remembered Lord
+Bolingbroke; that he used to ride out every day in his chariot, and had
+a black patch on his cheek, with a large wart over his eyebrow. She was
+then but a girl, but she was taught to look upon him with veneration as
+a great man. As, however, he spent little in the place, and gave little
+away, he was not much regarded by the people of Battersea. Sir Richard
+mentioned to her the names of several of Lord Bolingbroke's
+contemporaries, but she recollected none, except that of Mallet, whom
+she said she had often seen walking about in the village while he was
+visiting at Bolingbroke House.[81]
+
+In the first volume of the _Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon.
+George Rose_, we find the following entry respecting the treachery of
+Mallet:--"It appears by a letter of Lord Bolingbroke's, dated in 1740,
+from Angeville, that he had actually written some Essays dedicated to
+the Earl of Marchmont, of a very different tendency from his former
+works. These Essays, on his death, fell into the hands of Mr. Mallet,
+his executor, who had, at the latter end of his life, acquired a decided
+influence over him, and they did not appear among his lordship's works
+published by Mallet;[82] nor have they been seen or heard of since. From
+whence it must be naturally conjectured, that they were destroyed by the
+latter, from what reason cannot now be known; possibly, to conceal from
+the world the change, such as it was, in his lordship's sentiments in
+the latter end of his life, to avoid the discredit to his former works.
+In which respect he might have been influenced either by a regard for
+the noble Viscount's consistency, or by a desire not to impair the
+pecuniary advantage he expected from the publication of his lordship's
+works."
+
+Upon this, the Editor of the _Diaries_, the Rev. Leveson Vernon
+Harcourt, notes: "The letter to Lord Marchmont here referred to, has a
+note appended to it by Sir George Rose, the editor of the _Marchmont
+Papers_, who takes a very different view of its contents from his
+father. He gravely remarks, that as the posthumous disclosure of Lord
+Bolingbroke's inveterate hostility to Christianity lays open to the view
+the bitterness as the extent of it, so the manner of that disclosure
+precludes any doubt of the earnestness of his desire to give the utmost
+efficiency and publicity to that hostility, as soon as it could safely
+be done; that is, as soon as death could shield him against
+responsibility to man. Sir George saw plainly enough that when he
+promised in those Essays to vindicate religion against divinity and God
+against man, he was retracting all that he had occasionally said in
+favour of Christianity; he was upholding the religion of Theism against
+the doctrines of the Bible, and the God of nature against the revelation
+of God to man."
+
+It is painful to reflect upon this prostration of a splendid intellect;
+and we are but slightly relieved by Lord Chesterfield's statement, in
+one of his Letters, published by Lord Mahon, in his edition of
+Chesterfield's _Works_ (ii. 450), that "Bolingbroke only doubted, and by
+no means rejected, a future state." We know that Bolingbroke denied to
+Pope his disbelief of the moral attributes of God, of which Pope told
+his friends with great joy. How ungrateful a return for this "excessive
+friendliness" was the indignation which Bolingbroke expressed at the
+priest having attended Pope in his last moments![83]
+
+It is now, we believe, admitted on all hands that Christianity has not
+found a very formidable opponent in Bolingbroke, and that his
+objections, for the most part, only betray his own half-learning. Lord
+Brougham, whose touching remark we have already quoted, concludes his
+sketch of Lord Bolingbroke with this eloquent summing up: "Such was
+Bolingbroke, and as such he must be regarded by impartial posterity,
+after the violence of party has long subsided, and the view is no more
+intercepted either by the rancour of political enmity, or by the
+partiality of adherents, or by the fondness of friendship. Such, too, is
+Bolingbroke when the gloss of trivial accomplishments is worn off by
+time, and the lustre of genius itself has faded beside the simple,
+translucent light of virtue. The contemplation is not without its uses.
+The glare of talents and success is apt to obscure defects, which are
+incomparably more mischievous than any intellectual powers can be
+either useful or admirable. Nor can a lasting renown--a renown that
+alone deserves to be courted of a rational being--ever be built upon any
+foundations save those which are laid in an honest heart and a firm
+purpose, both conspiring to work out the good of mankind. That renown
+will be as imperishable as it is pure."[84]
+
+Among the memorials of the Bolingbrokes, in Battersea Church, is the
+altar-window, filled with old stained glass, preserved from the former
+church, and executed at the expense of the St. Johns. It includes
+portraits of Henry VII., his grandmother, the Lady Margaret Beauchamp,
+and Queen Elizabeth; together with numerous shields of arms, showing the
+alliances of the family.
+
+York House, at Battersea, the mansion of Booth, Archbishop of York, who
+died in 1480, and bequeathed it to his successors in the See, was mostly
+taken down some sixty years ago. Archbishop Holgate was one of the few
+prelates who resided here; he was imprisoned and deprived by Queen Mary
+for being a married man, and lost much property by illegal seizure. In
+Strype's _Life of Cranmer_, p. 308, it is stated that the officers who
+were employed to apprehend the Archbishop rifled his house at Battersea,
+and took away from thence 300_l_. of gold coin; 1600 ounces of plate; a
+mitre of fine gold, set with very fine diamonds, sapphires, and balists,
+other good stones and pearls; some very valuable rings; and the
+Archbishop's seal and signet.
+
+There was long a tradition at Battersea that some ancient walls
+remaining there were a portion of the residence of the father of Queen
+Anne Boleyn. It appears from the monument to Queen Elizabeth, in
+Battersea Church, that the Boleyns were related to the St. Johns. Upon
+this Sir Richard Phillips contends that at York House, above named,
+resided Wolsey, as Archbishop of York. "Here Henry VIII. first saw Anne
+Boleyn; and here that scene took place which Shakspeare records in his
+play of Henry VIII.; and which he described truly, because he wrote it
+for Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, within fifty years of the
+event, and must himself have known living witnesses of its verity. Hence
+it becomes more than probable, that Sir Thomas Boleyn actually resided
+in the vicinity, and that his daughter was accidentally among the guests
+at that princely entertainment. I know it is contended that this
+interview took place at York House, Whitehall; but Shakspeare makes the
+King come by water; and York House, Battersea, was, beyond all doubt, a
+residence of Wolsey, and is provided with a creek from the Thames, for
+the evident purpose of facilitating in the course by water. Besides, the
+owner informed me, that a few years since he had pulled down a superb
+room, called 'the ball-room,' the panels of which were curiously
+painted, and the divisions silvered. He also stated that the room had a
+dome and a richly-ornamented ceiling, and that he once saw an ancient
+print, representing the first interview of Henry VIII. with Anne Boleyn,
+in which the room was portrayed exactly like the one that, in
+modernizing his house, he had found it necessary to destroy."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[79] Horace Walpole tells us that Sir Robert Walpole, against the
+earnest representations of his family and most intimate friends, had
+consented to the recall of Bolingbroke ("that intriguing Proteus") from
+banishment, excepting only his re-admission to the House of Lords.
+"Bolingbroke, at his return [1723], could not avoid waiting on Sir
+Robert to thank him, and was invited to dine with him at Chelsea; but
+whether tortured at witnessing Walpole's serene frankness and felicity,
+or suffocated with indignation and confusion at being forced to be
+obliged to one whom he hated and envied, the first morsel he put into
+his mouth was near choking him, and he was reduced to rise from table
+and leave the room for some minutes. I never heard of their meeting
+more."--Walpole's _Reminiscences_.
+
+[80] It is also said to have been lined with cedar.--See _ante_, p. 345.
+
+[81] The upper part of the mill was taken down; the lower part is still
+used for grinding corn. The situation of the old mansion is indicated by
+the names of Bolingbroke-gardens and Bolingbroke-terrace.
+
+[82] Mallet did not fail to publish, after Bolingbroke's death, his
+writings disclosing his opposition to revealed religion, which drew from
+Johnson the severe remark, that Bolingbroke, "having loaded a
+blunderbuss, and pointed it against Christianity, had not the courage to
+discharge it himself, but left half-a-crown to a hungry Scotchman to
+pull the trigger after his death."
+
+[83] Communication to _Notes and Queries_, Second Series, No. 212, by
+the Author of the present volume.
+
+[84] _Historical Sketches of Statesmen._ Third Series, vol. ii.
+corrected Edition.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST OF EPPING FOREST.
+
+
+In the twelfth edition of _The Ambulator_, edited nearly half a century
+ago by that trustworthy topographer, Mr. E. W. Brayley, under "Epping
+Forest," we read "a plan for the inclosure of the Forest has been
+recently projected." And this plan has been slowly but surely put into
+execution; the inclosures having been so numerous that little remains of
+this charming forest district, with its verdant glades, secluded dells,
+thickets, majestic oaks, and sinking vistas of enchanting wilderness and
+cheerful landscape, to gladden the hearts of the toilers in the vast
+metropolis.
+
+The Forest remains where it was. Brayley describes it as a royal chase,
+extending from Epping almost to London, anciently a very extensive
+district; and, under the name of the Forest of Essex, including a great
+part of the county. It had afterwards the name of Waltham Forest, which
+it long since yielded to its present appellation. To this Forest, that
+of Hainault, which lies to the south-east, was once, it is supposed, an
+appendage: it was formerly styled "the Queen's Forest," and it possesses
+more beautiful scenery than, perhaps, any other forest in England. The
+Crown possesses the whole of the rights over Hainault, and the
+encroachments are not nearly so numerous here as in Epping Forest, where
+the Crown has only certain rights--the right of vert and venison. The
+loss of the picturesque features of wild expanse of woodlands, heath,
+and mosses; of vast masses of umbrageous tree-tops, and little patches
+of cultivation--here and there a little town, sending up its fleecy
+smoke amidst the forest boughs--must excite concern amongst all who take
+interest in the amusements of the people. How truthfully has the
+isolated picture of forest life been sung:
+
+  "From age to age no tumult did arouse
+  The peaceful dwellers; there they lived and died,
+  Passing a dreamy life, diversified
+  By nought of novelty, save now and then
+  A horn, resounding through the forest glen,
+  Woke them as from a trance, and led them out
+  To catch a brief glimpse of the hunt's wild rout--
+  The music of the hounds; the tramp and rush
+  Of steeds and men;--and then a sudden hush
+  Left round the eager listeners; the deep mood
+  Of awful, dead, and twilight solitude,
+  Fallen again upon that forest vast."
+
+The Forest remains where and as it was, save that invasions on the
+waste, and encroachments, have from time to time greatly restricted its
+extent; not so the city, for that has advanced, and meets the old
+liberty at half-way. Now the metropolis reaches to Bow, or nearly to
+Stratford, where the Forest commences; and there the road divides, one
+branch leading northward to Chigwell, the other eastward to Romford. In
+extent it reaches five miles from Ilford on the south, nearly to Abridge
+on the north, by four miles from Woodford-bridge on the west, to
+Havering-at-Bower on the east. Were the whole area of this scope one
+continuous chase, there would be some 12,000 acres; but from the
+numberless excisions from, and appropriations of the liberty, the
+contents of the whole do not at present amount to 4,000 acres.
+
+It appears that an Act of Parliament was passed (the 14th and 15th
+Vict.) for the disafforesting and inclosure of Hainault Forest; that on
+the 24th August, 1851, a commission was formed for the purpose: and
+summary execution was done upon 14,000 oak-trees, which had stood
+unmolested for centuries. This was preliminary to the utter clearance,
+parcelling out, and selling off of the whole domain.[85]
+
+The signal advantage of Epping Forest over all other open spaces is that
+in it alone thousands can at the same time enjoy the country in its
+natural aspect in that privacy without which the country, as such, is no
+enjoyment at all. That the inhabitants of London highly appreciate this
+advantage is shown by the fact that thousands every fine day in the year
+pass by the Parks that are provided for them near their own doors, and
+travel weary miles to reach the fragment of the Forest that is left to
+them.
+
+The case of Epping Forest is matter of dispute. There is an opinion
+entertained by persons whose opinions command respect that the lords of
+the several manors included within the precincts of Epping Forest are
+entitled to call for an inclosure of the portions of the Forest in which
+they are respectively interested, whenever they please; and that the
+Crown is not justified, on the ground of public advantage, in setting
+up its rights as an impediment to such inclosure.
+
+The case as between the lords of the manor, the Crown, and the public
+appears to be this:--The Forest comprises the wastes of certain manors,
+over which, from time immemorial, the lords of these manors had the
+accustomed rights of pasturage; the Crown had the forestal right of
+keeping deer in them, and for that purpose of keeping them uninclosed:
+and the general public had the common right of going upon them as
+uninclosed land. The lords of the manor are in the actual enjoyment of
+all the rights of property they ever had in the Forest, but they desire
+to acquire a species of property in it which has never hitherto belonged
+to them, and which is inconsistent with other existing rights. The right
+of the public to go upon the Forest land while it is in its present open
+condition has become one of transcendent importance; and the real
+question presented to the Crown is whether it shall cede its rights for
+the benefit of half-a-dozen persons who desire to acquire a valuable
+property to which they have no present title, or maintain them for the
+benefit of the large proportion of the British people who live in London
+and its vicinity. In short, it appears that the rights of the Crown and
+the public have not been maintained in Epping Forest, because the
+Government would not incur the expense of litigation.
+
+To show how persons sometimes defeat the cause which they advocate, it
+may be mentioned that at a meeting held at the Bald-faced Stag,
+Buckhurst-hill, upon this Forest question, several speakers expatiated
+at great length on the injustice of excluding the working classes of the
+east end of London from the rural enjoyments of the Forest, owing to the
+inclosures made by the lords of the manor and other parties. It was,
+however, shown at the meeting that two gentlemen of the Committee had
+inclosed a very large portion of the Forest, parts that are the most
+picturesque and that were most resorted to by the London holiday folks;
+but, alas! no more Forest remains in the once sylvan neighbourhood of
+Buckhurst-hill.
+
+The reduction of Epping Forest began in the reign of King John, and was
+confirmed by Edward IV., when all that part of the Forest which lay to
+the north of the highway from Stortford to Colchester (very distant from
+the present boundaries) was disafforested. The Forest was further
+reduced; but the metes and bounds of it were finally determined in 1640.
+The office of Chief Forester for Essex was deemed highly honorary, and
+was generally bestowed on some illustrious person. The stewardship was
+also usually enjoyed by one of the nobility. It continued in the De
+Veres, Earls of Oxford, for many generations; but was taken from them by
+Edward IV., for their adherence to the Lancastrian party. On the
+accession of Henry VII., it was restored by grant to John, Earl of
+Oxford. The steward had the power to substitute a lieutenant, one
+riding-forester, and three yeoman-foresters, in the three bailiwicks of
+the Forest. He also had many lucrative privileges, and was Keeper of
+Havering-at-Bower, and of the house and park trees.
+
+We remember, many years since, to have visited the Forest for the sake
+of inspecting the house known as _Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge_,
+which stands about a mile west of the main road to Epping; and the most
+direct road to which, in the heart of the Forest, we found to be from
+about midway between the Bald-faced Stag Inn and the village of
+Loughton. The view from this point is of surpassing beauty and extent;
+whilst it is no wide stretch of conjecture to set down the ancient
+forest as nearly covering the entire county. The towns, villages, and
+seats which now stud the district, and the roads which intersect the
+woody waste, may have been the work of a few centuries; inns and lodges
+would be among the earliest buildings for retainers, whose business it
+was to defend and preserve this royal chase, for the privilege of
+hunting here was confined to the Sovereign and his favourites. Again,
+those who flocked thither, with such privilege, would well repay the
+hospitalities of an inn, and "hosteller," even were we to leave out of
+the reckoning the boon companionship of foresters, and the debauched
+habits of marauders, who fattened by the infringement of the royal
+privilege, in wholesale deer-stealing for the London markets. We were
+told that in Epping churchyard is the tombstone of a follower, whose
+business it was to convey venison to the metropolis, but who, in one of
+his midnight returns, was shot by an unknown hand; the almost headless
+body being found on the road next morning.
+
+The Lodge stands in the parish of Chingford,[86] about one mile from the
+village, and thus served the purpose of a manor-house, the courts being
+held here. Chingford Hall, the actual manor-house, is situated a short
+distance hence; but Mr. Lysons thinks it probable that the site of the
+ancient manor-house was that of the present Lodge. The manor was
+purchased in or about 1666, by Thomas Boothby, Esq., from whose family
+it descended by marriage to the Heathcotes. The Lodge consists of the
+main building, a basement, and two floors,--and a building abutting upon
+it, chiefly occupied by the spacious staircase. The exterior has little
+of the air of antiquity comparatively with the interior. The basement is
+principally the kitchen, where the large projecting chimney, the olden
+fire-dogs, and cheerful wood fire, reminded us of "the rural life," if
+they carried us not back to
+
+  "Great Eliza's golden time."
+
+The staircase is of surprising solidity: its width is about six feet; it
+is divided by six landings, with four stairs between each, and each
+stair or step consists of a solid oak sill. The first floor contains two
+chambers, one hung with tapestry in fine preservation, and the chimney
+opening has a flattened arch. The height of the first floor and basement
+has been sacrificed to the story above, which entirely consists of a
+large room, or hall, entered from the staircase by a low, wide doorway.
+The dimensions of the hall we take to be twenty-four feet wide, and
+forty-two feet high; its height reaches to the open roof, the tiles of
+which are merely hidden by rough plaster; and the sides of the room
+consist of massive timbers, filled in with plaster, and originally lit
+with four windows. The roof-tree, we should add, is supported by timbers
+which spring into two pointed arches, and render it probable that the
+original roof was of a different form as well as material from the
+present one. In this apartment were held the manorial courts; and on the
+plain plaster walls hung three large-sized whole length portraits of one
+of the Boothbys (lords of the manor), in infancy, accompanied by his
+brother, in boyhood, and in manhood. The timbers of the staircase sides
+and roof are massive, and spring into arched frames; and all the
+doorways in the building have flattened arches.
+
+Tradition reports the Lodge to have been a favourite hunting-seat of
+Queen Elizabeth. It was occupied, at the time of our visit, by the
+bailiff of the manor, who had lived there twenty years, and his father
+occupied the Lodge half a century before him. To the tradition was
+added, that Elizabeth was accustomed to ride upstairs on horseback, and
+alight at the door of the large room, upon a raised place, which is to
+this day called _the horse-block_. We confess the story savours of the
+marvellous; but the width and solidity, and many landings of the
+staircase, are in its favour; and, not many years previously, a wager of
+ten pounds was won by a sporting gentleman riding an untrained pony up
+the assigned route of the chivalrous Queen.
+
+There are circumstances related which render it more than probable that
+the Lodge was fitted up for the reception of Elizabeth. That the Queen
+was extremely fond of the chase, and hunted at an advanced age, is a
+well-established fact. That she hunted in Epping Forest is nearly
+ascertained; for the Earl of Leicester once owned Nakedhall Hawke, or
+old Wansted House, in the neighbourhood: it is mentioned in a document
+of Richard II., and seems to have been the manorial residence. Here, in
+May 1578, Leicester entertained Queen Elizabeth four or five days, and
+one of the rooms in the mansion was called _the Queen's_. Again, in this
+mansion was solemnized Leicester's marriage with the Countess of Essex,
+Sept. 20, 1578, the Queen being then on a visit to Mr. Stonard, at
+Loughton, in the Forest; and old Wansted House is introduced in the
+background of a picture of Queen Elizabeth, in the collection at
+Welbeck.
+
+Of the Queen's _hunting the hart_ in Enfield Chase we have this
+circumstantial record. Twelve ladies in white satin attended her on
+their ambling palfreys, and twenty yeomen clad in green. At the entrance
+to the forest she was met by fifty archers in scarlet boots and yellow
+caps, armed with gilded bows; one of whom presented to her a
+silver-headed arrow winged with peacock's feathers. The splendid show
+concluded, according to the established laws of the chase, by the
+offering of the knife to the Princess, as first lady on the field; and
+her _taking say_ of the buck with her own fair and royal hand.
+
+In addition to the Hunting Lodge, we found other memorials of the age of
+Elizabeth in the neighbourhood. Thus, the hill, or point, when we left
+the main road to cross the Forest to the Lodge, is to this day
+remembered as Buckhurst-hill, as may be reasonably supposed, from
+Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, the accomplished poet, and favoured flower of
+Elizabeth's court.
+
+In conclusion, the Londoners have lost the Epping Hunt, and the "Common
+Hunt" no longer goes out; and the old Pumpmaker's Fair, which originated
+in a wayzgoose of beans and bacon, is no longer held around the oak of
+Fairlop; but let us not lose the Forest itself; else, of what service is
+our railway gain?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[85] The _Builder_.
+
+[86] Brindswood, an estate in this parish, was formerly held under the
+following curious tenure:--"Upon every alienation, the owner of the
+estate, with his wife, man, and maid-servant, each single, on a horse,
+comes to the parsonage, where he does his homage, and pays his relief in
+the following manner:--He blows three blasts with his horn, and carries
+a hawk upon his fist; his servant has a greyhound in a slip, both for
+the use of the Rector that day; he receives a chicken for his hawk, a
+peck of oats for his horse, and a loaf of bread for his greyhound; they
+all dine, after which the master blows three blasts with his horn, and
+they all depart."
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+ANCIENT BRITISH DWELLINGS.
+(_Pages_ 1-7.)
+
+We have, says Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in his _Ancient Wiltshire_,
+"undoubted proof from history, and from existing remains, that the
+earliest habitations were pits, or slight excavations in the ground,
+covered and protected from the inclemency of the weather by boughs of
+trees or sods of turf." These dwellings usually formed villages,
+conveniently situated near streams or rivers, the habitations of the
+lords of the soil before the Roman occupation. Amongst the moorlands and
+wilds of Yorkshire, in spots where the spade and plough have not been in
+operation, upwards of forty British villages were described and
+inspected by Dr. Young, of Whitby. Many early dwellings are likewise to
+be met with in other parts of England; some sunk in the chalk, where
+cultivation has not entirely obliterated them, which is the case in the
+eastern counties. The large tumuli and barrows which remain, pertain to
+a much later era of our history; generally to the Roman and Saxon
+periods, when the use of bronze and iron became known.[87]
+
+At a recent meeting of the Norwich Archæological Society, the members
+made an excursion to Brandon and neighbourhood, and at Grime's Graves
+Mr. Manning read a paper on the Graves, in which he maintained that this
+irregularly-shaped cluster of holes are ancient British dwellings,
+forming the remains of an ancient town. Each hole was lined with a layer
+of stones, and, when inhabited, roofed over with boughs or grass. The
+term "graves" means pits or holes, and the name "Grime's" was probably
+derived from "Græme," the Saxon for witch, or rather for anything
+supernatural. Thus the term "Grime's Graves" meant "Witches' Work."
+After leaving Grime's Graves, the party examined the Devil's Dyke, a
+long and extensive fosse and bank, supposed to have been made by the
+Ancient Britons for military purposes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE SAXON HALL.
+(_Page_ 48.)
+
+The Saxon Hall for feeding retainers was mostly built of wood and
+thatched with reeds, or roofed with wooden shingles. The fire was
+kindled in the centre, and the lord and "hearth-men" sat by while the
+meal was cooked.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ABURY AND STONEHENGE.
+(_Page_ 112.)
+
+The late Mr. Rickman, the antiquary, was of opinion that Abury and
+Stonehenge cannot reasonably be carried back to a period antecedent to
+the Christian era. In an Essay communicated by him to the Society of
+Antiquaries in 1839, after tracing the Roman road from Dover and
+Canterbury, through Noviomagus and London, to the West of England, Mr.
+Rickman notices that Silbury is situated immediately upon that road; and
+that the avenues of Abury extend up to it, whilst their course is
+referable to the radius of a Roman mile. From these and other
+circumstances, he argues that Abury and Silbury are not anterior to the
+road, nor can we well conceive how such gigantic works could be
+accomplished until Roman civilization had furnished such a system of
+providing and storing food as could supply a vast multitude of people.
+Mr. Rickman further remarks, that the temple of Abury is completely in
+the form of a Roman amphitheatre, which would accommodate about 48,000
+Roman spectators, or half the number contained in the Colosseum at Rome.
+Again, the stones of Stonehenge have exhibited, when their tenons and
+mortices have been first exposed, the working of a well-directed steel
+point, beyond the workmanship of barbarous nations. Stonehenge is not
+mentioned by Cæsar or Ptolemy, and its historical records commence in
+the fifth century. On the whole, Mr. Rickman is induced to conclude that
+the era of Abury is the third century, and that of Stonehenge the
+fourth, or before the departure of the Romans from Britain; and that
+both are examples of the general practice of the Roman conquerors to
+tolerate the worship of their subjugated provinces, at the same time
+associating them with their own superstitions and favourite public
+games.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[87] Mr. Whincopp; _Journal of the British Archæological Association_,
+1866.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  Abinger Church described, 337.
+  Abury and Stonehenge, 14.
+  Ale, Panegyric on, 68.
+  Ale, Saxon, 67.
+  Ale and Beer in the 5th Century, 66.
+  Ale-wife, The, 68.
+  Alfred's Jewel, at Oxford, 53.
+  All-heal and Mistletoe of the Druids, 17.
+  Almonds, early use of, 199.
+  Almsgiving and Doles of Queen Isabella, 155.
+  Architecture, Saxon and Norman, 46, 47.
+  Arnott, Dr., on House-heating, 135.
+  Arriage and Carriage Services, 230.
+  Arthur, King, and the Round Table, 90.
+  Arundel Castle described, 103.
+  Arundel Castle, history of, 106-108.
+  Aubrey's description of the Great Hall, 123.
+  Autograph of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, 303.
+  Awnd-irons, or Fire-dogs, 141.
+
+  Ballad on Cheshire Cheese, 211.
+  Banbury Cakes, history of, 245.
+  Banbury Cakes for the Judges, 249.
+  Banbury Cheese, 210, 249.
+  Banbury Cross, 250.
+  Banbury _Zeal_ and _Veal_, 246.
+  Bankes, Lady, her Defence of Corfe Castle, 86.
+  Banquets of Princes and Nobles, 162.
+  Battle of Bosworth Field, 300.
+  Battle of Hastings described, 295.
+  Battle of Hastings, Memorial of, in Normandy, 297.
+  Battle of Tewkesbury described, 299.
+  Battle of Towton described, 298.
+  Baynard's Castle and Richard III., 304.
+  Beadle, duties of the, 233.
+  Bedford Castle, Siege of, 79.
+  Bed, Standing and Truckle, 177.
+  Beds, olden varieties of, 177, 178.
+  Beer and Ale, distinction of, 213.
+  Beer, the national English Drink, 215.
+  Beltane superstition, 226.
+  Birds, Keeping, in the Middle Ages, 264.
+  Biscuits, olden, 200.
+  Black Boy Inn, Chelmsford, at Plantagenet lodge, 304.
+  Blankets, origin of, 178.
+  Boleyn, Anne, at Battersea, 351.
+  Bolingbroke House taken down, 345.
+  Bolingbroke, Lord, at Battersea, 343.
+  Bolingbroke, Lord, death of, 344.
+  Boon-days, Love-days, and Law-days, 224.
+  Bordars and Cottars, 219.
+  Bosphrennis Bee-hive Huts, 4.
+  Bosworth Field described, 300.
+  Bowles, Canon, and Windsor Castle, 94, 95.
+  Brambletye House, account of, 132.
+  Bread, early varieties of, 192.
+  Bread, Saxon, 65.
+  Brewing in Monasteries and Colleges, 67.
+  Brigantes, Houses of, 5.
+  Brindswood, curious Tenure, 358.
+  Britain before the Roman Colonization, 8.
+  Britain, early Exports of, 21.
+  British Caves in Cornwall, 213.
+  British Ships, early, 23.
+  British War-chiefs, 22.
+  Britons, early, Dwelling-places of, 1.
+  Brooke, Mr., his _Visits to Battle-fields_, 299, 311.
+  Brougham, Lord, on Lord Bolingbroke, 344, 350.
+  Buckhurst Hill, 361.
+
+  Cæsar, his Account of the Britons, 43.
+  Campden, Gloucestershire, built, 116.
+  Carpentry, Ornamental, 129.
+  Carpets and Rushes, 181.
+  Carving by Ladies, 166.
+  Castle, Conisborough, 76.
+  Castle Rising, Queen Isabella at, 149.
+  Castles, Anglo-Norman, 76.
+  Castles, Roman, 71.
+  Castles, _temp._ Edward III., 86.
+  Cavaliers and Roundheads, distinction of, 326.
+  Cavendish's _Life of Wolsey_, 280, 288, 291.
+  Caves, British, in Cornwall, 2.
+  Celts, the, in Britain, 8.
+  Celts' Hatchets, 11.
+  Chairs, ancient, 180.
+  Chamber Furniture, _temp._ Henry VII., 181.
+  Chamber of a Queen, 178.
+  Charles II. visits Stonehenge, 14.
+  Chaucer, Clerk of the Works at Windsor Castle, 93.
+  Cheese, Antiquity of, 209.
+  Cheesecakes, Islington and Holloway, 253.
+  Cheney, Sir John, at the battle of Bosworth, 308.
+  Cheshire Cheese, famous, 210.
+  Chimney, Ventilation by, 145.
+  Chimneys, Introduction of, 136, 138.
+  Chimneys made of Wood, 138.
+  Chingford Hall, 358.
+  Christmas Game Pie, Salters' Company, 195.
+  Civilization, Early British, 24.
+  Clipping, or Sheep-shearing, 229.
+  Coal-fires, open, 145.
+  Coal first burnt, 140.
+  Cobbett on Sussex Cottages, 131.
+  Coffee introduced, 197.
+  Coins, Roman, found at London, 36.
+  College University Halls, 122.
+  Confettes and Ipocrass, 205.
+  Congleton Cakes and Gingerbread, 251.
+  Conveyance Service, 230.
+  Conveying Land, Ancient, 237.
+  Cookery, olden English, 161.
+  Cookery, Saxon, 64.
+  Cooks, _temp._ Richard II., 195.
+  Coral, Paternoster of, 186.
+  Corfe Castle described, 84.
+  Corfe Castle, Siege of, 85.
+  Cornwall, its early Trade, 20.
+  Cottages, early English, 131.
+  Cottages, Sussex, 131.
+  Country Life, 17th century, 186.
+  Court Cupboard, the, 182.
+  Coventry God-cakes, 248.
+  Cowdray, in Sussex, 112.
+  Creeper-irons, 141, 142.
+  Crosby Hall fireplace, 139.
+  Crosby Place and Richard III., 304.
+  Cuming, Mr., his _Memorials of Richard III._, 302.
+  Curfew, or _Couvre-feu_, History of, 146.
+  Curfew-ringing, 147.
+  Curiosities of Hatfield, 315.
+  Curiosities of Wotton Place, 335, 340.
+  Czar Peter at Sayes Court, 333.
+
+  Danes, great Drinkers, 69.
+  Danish Houses, 69.
+  Deer-stealing in Epping Forest, 358.
+  Dessert Fruits introduced, 200.
+  Dinner in the Middle Ages, 50.
+  Disputed Forest rights, 355.
+  Distaff and Spindle, Saxon, 56.
+  Domestic Life of the Saxons, 46.
+  Dona, or Gifts of Queen Isabella, 158.
+  Donegal, Countess, Lines on, by Swift, 337.
+  Dress and Personal Ornaments, Olden, 184.
+  Drinking-Horns, Ancient, 51.
+  Druid Doctors, 18.
+  Druid Schools, 19.
+  Druidism, account of, 10, 11.
+  Druids, eloquence of the, 16.
+  Durham Castle described, 82.
+  Dwelling-places of Early Britons, 1.
+
+  Edward II., Murder of, 160, _note_.
+  Edward III. and Windsor Castle, 90.
+  Eleanor, Queen, and Fair Rosamund, 272.
+  Elecampane, Uses of, 66.
+  Elizabeth's Oak at Hatfield, 315, 316.
+  Elizabeth, Princess, at Hatfield, 320.
+  Elizabeth, Queen, her Hunting Lodge, 357.
+  Elizabeth, Queen, at Kenilworth, 102.
+  Elizabeth, Queen, Portraits of, 318, 319.
+  Elizabeth, Queen, and Windsor Castle, 93.
+  Eltham Palace Hall, 125.
+  Encampments, Roman and British, 25, 30.
+  English Castle-building, 71.
+  _English Housewife, The_, by Gervase Markham, 161.
+  English Manor-house, the, 111.
+  Englishman's Fireside, the, 135.
+  Epping forest, the last of, 353.
+  Esher Place, Vicissitudes of, 291.
+  _Essay on Man_, by Pope, where written, 346.
+  Ethelwulf, his Ring, 54.
+  Evelyn, John, plants Wotton woods, 331.
+  Evelyn, John, at Paris and Padua, 332.
+  Evelyn, John, at Sayes Court, 333.
+  Evelyn, John, his _Sylva_ and Planting, 334.
+  Evelyn, the pious Mrs., 339.
+  Evelyns, the, at Wotton, 329.
+
+  Fair Rosamund, Story of, 269.
+  Fall of Wolsey, 284.
+  Feasts, Anglo-Saxon, 65.
+  Fire-places, various, 137, 138.
+  "Firm locks make faithful servants," 234.
+  Flodden Field, Tradition, 295.
+  Flue-tiles for heating Houses and Baths, 145.
+  Forest Officers, 357.
+  Forest Scenery, Picturesque, 354.
+  Fruit Trenchers, Ornamental, 202.
+
+  Gardening, Evelyn on, 334.
+  George IV. restores Windsor Castle, 94.
+  Giants, Shropshire, Legends of, 37.
+  Glass-making, Saxon, 55.
+  God's Sunday, 139.
+  Godstow Nunnery, 270.
+  Grand Remonstrance, the, 323.
+  Grates, invention of, 143, 144.
+  Griffin's Egg-cup, the, 53.
+  Guy, Earl of Warwick, 100.
+
+  Haddon Hall described, 117.
+  Hainault Forest, 353, 355.
+  Hall Fire, the, 136, 137.
+  Hall, the Great, described, 118.
+  Hall at Hatfield House, 320.
+  Hall at Hampton Court, 120.
+  Hall of the Manor-house, 111.
+  Halls of the City Companies, 112.
+  Hart, Hunting the, in Enfield Chase, 360.
+  Harvest, ancient, 224.
+  Hastings, Battle of, described, 295.
+  Hatfield, Curiosities of, 315.
+  Hatfield House built, 116.
+  Hatfield House, curious _Fair_ Picture at, 225.
+  Hatfield House and Park described, 315.
+  Hatfield House, Pictures at, 319.
+  Hawk and Eagle, strange incident, 266.
+  Hayfield, Service of Tenants, 227.
+  Hayward, Services of the, 224.
+  Henry II. and Fair Rosamund, 271.
+  Henry III. and Windsor Castle, 89.
+  Henry VII. and Windsor Castle, 92.
+  Herefordshire Lady in the time of the Civil War, 167.
+  Hermitages, Services of, 258.
+  Hever Castle, Five Days at, 141.
+  Hock-day Customs, 227, 228.
+  Holland House, Kensington, built, 115.
+  Hops introduced, 213, 214.
+  Horselydown Fair, _temp._ Queen Elizabeth, 254.
+  House-furnishing in the Middle Ages, 177.
+  Household Antiquities, 109.
+  Housekeeping, 17th century, 172.
+  Housemarks, olden, 235.
+  Housewife, the English, 161.
+  Hunting, Queen Elizabeth's fondness for, 360.
+  Hypocausts at Uriconium, 39.
+
+  Inns of Court Halls, 122.
+  Iron-smelting, Roman, in Britain, 57.
+  Isabella, Queen of Edward II., Private Life of, 148.
+  Isabella, Queen, Death and Funeral of, 154.
+  Isabella, Queen, Pilgrimages of, 150, 153.
+
+  Jewels, Queen Isabella's love of, 156, 157.
+
+  Kenilworth Castle, Remains of, 101, 130.
+  Kenilworth Ruins, Picturesqueness of, 102.
+  Kent, Woollen Cloths of, 56.
+  Kidder, the "Pastry-master," 194.
+  Kitchen at Hampton Court Palace, 288.
+  Kitchen of Raby Castle, 82.
+
+  Lady's Dress in the 17th Century, 171.
+  Lambs'-wool, how made, 216.
+  Lappenberg's Picture of Early Britain, 8, 9.
+  Laundry in olden times, 184.
+  Legend of Richard III., from Speed, 310.
+  Legend of Stonehenge, 13.
+  Legends of English Castles, 83.
+  Lending Money in old times, 169.
+  Lincoln's Inn Fruit and Vegetable Garden, 202.
+  Lodge, Hunting, in Epping Forest, 357.
+  Lombard Street, Queen Isabella resides in, 150.
+  London, ancient, site of, 2.
+  London mostly built of Wood, 128.
+  London, Old Houses in, 130.
+  London of Roman origin, 31.
+  London, Roman Remains in, 34.
+  Longleat, Wilts, described, 115.
+  Loseley, in Surrey, described, 183.
+  Loving Cup, Origin of, 50.
+
+  Mallet at Bolingbroke House, 348.
+  Malting and Nutting, 223.
+  Manchets, recipes for, 193.
+  Manciple, duties of the, 194.
+  Manor-house, Old English, 127.
+  March-pane and Macaroons, 198, 199.
+  Marking Ducks, Swans, Oxen, &c., 235.
+  Markland, Jeremiah, at Milton Court, 341.
+  Mary, Queen, at Hatfield, 320.
+  May-day Carol, on Magdalen College Tower, 238.
+  May-day and Raine's Charity, 242.
+  May-day in Northamptonshire, 243.
+  May-day Song at Saffron Walden, 241.
+  May-poles in the present-day, 242.
+  Mazer-bowls, 52.
+  Mead, origin of, 63.
+  Mead-hall, or Beer-hall, Saxon, 48.
+  Meal-hours, _temp._ Richard III., 152.
+  Meals, British, Anglo-Roman, and Saxon, 61.
+  Messengers' and Minstrels' Expenses, 158, 159.
+  Metal-working, early British, 22.
+  Middle Age Life at Oxford, 243.
+  Mill, Horizontal, at Battersea, 345.
+  Milton Court, Jeremiah Markland at, 341.
+  Minced pie superstition, 248.
+  Mistletoe and the Druids, 11.
+  Montague, Lady M. W., on Carving, 166.
+  Mortimers, The, and Queen Isabella, 151.
+  Mulgrave Castle, Legend of, 84.
+
+  Neckam, Alexander, curious Treatise by, 264.
+  Norman Houses, 110, 128.
+
+  Oak, Owen Glendower's, 37.
+  Oak, Queen Elizabeth's at Hatfield, 317.
+  Orange-flower Water and Orange Butter, 200.
+  Oranges introduced, 201.
+  Oxford Ale, 68.
+  Oxford, May-day at, 239, 240.
+  Oxford, Picture of, 243.
+  Oysters, British, famous, 62.
+
+  Pastry-making taught in Schools, 194.
+  Pavements, Roman, in London, 32.
+  Peasant Life, English, 217.
+  Peg Tankards, origin of, 51.
+  Pevensey Castle, Remains of, 72, 73.
+  Pevensey and the Norman Conquest, 72.
+  Phillips, Professor, on British and Roman Roads, 27.
+  Phoenicians, Trade of, 20.
+  Picts and Scots, the, 45.
+  Picts' Houses in the Orkneys, 5.
+  Pilgrimage of Queen Isabella, 150, 153.
+  Pin and Needle-makers, London, 189.
+  Pins and Pin Money, 188.
+  Pins, first made in England, 188.
+  Pins, olden, 189, 190.
+  Pins, what becomes of them? 191.
+  Plate-room at Windsor Castle, 97.
+  Ploughing for the Lord, 221.
+  Pomanders, or Scent-balls, 185.
+  Pope, Alexander, at Battersea, 343.
+  "Pope's Parlour," Bolingbroke House, 345.
+  Porcelain and China, early, 206.
+  Pottery found at Uriconium, 40, 41.
+  Precations, autumnal, 225.
+  Provisions, ancient Names of, 70.
+  Provisions, early, 192.
+  Provisions, rapid conveyance of, 208.
+  Puritans and Banbury Cakes, 245.
+
+  Queen Isabella, Private Life of, 148.
+
+  Raby Castle described, 79.
+  Raglan Castle, 86.
+  Richard III., Burial-place of, 310.
+  Richard III., Inn at Leicester, 305.
+  Richard's Strategy at Bosworth, 307.
+  Richard's Well, Bosworth, 301.
+  Rimbault, Dr., on the Oxford May Carol, 240.
+  Roads, bad, in Kent and Sussex, 59.
+  Roads, early British, 26.
+  Roman arts in Britain, 21.
+  Roman Bricks and Tiles, 75.
+  Roman Houses in Britain, 40.
+  Roman Pottery and Glass, 35.
+  Roman Road-making, 51.
+  Roman Roads in Britain, 26, 27.
+  Roman Roads and British Railways, 27.
+  Roman Supper, 62.
+  Roman Towns in Britain, 32.
+  Roman Wall, London, 33.
+  Romans in England, the, 24.
+  Rosamund, Fair, Story of, 269.
+  Rosamund, Fair, new Legend of, 275.
+  Rosamund's Bower and Well, 269.
+  Rosamund's Tomb, 275.
+  Rose-tree Tradition, 313.
+  Round Table and Round Tower, Windsor Castle, 90.
+  Royal Chase from Epping to London, 353.
+  Rumford, Count, on House-heating, 135.
+  Rushes used in Rooms, 140.
+
+  Sacheverel's Passage through Banbury, 248.
+  Sack Brewage at Congleton, 252.
+  Sage and other herb Cheese, 212.
+  St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, 89, 91.
+  Salads first in England, 208.
+  Salisbury, the Earl of, builds Hatfield, 321.
+  Salmon and the Herefordshire apprentices, 167.
+  Sarcophagus for Wolsey's Remains, 290.
+  Saxon Beds, 49.
+  Saxon Dinner, 64.
+  Saxon Embroidery, 56.
+  Saxon Halls, 363.
+  Saxon Hospitalities, 63.
+  Saxon Houses in Britain, 47, 48.
+  Saxon Ladies, 49.
+  Saxon Provisions, 64.
+  Saxons arrive in Britain, 43.
+  Scripture Texts on Fruit Trenchers, 203.
+  Serpents' Eggs of the Druids, 15.
+  Sheep-shearing customs, 229, 230.
+  Silchester, exploration of, 42.
+  Silver Fire Implements, 142.
+  Sleeping in Church, 233.
+  Smith, Mr. Roach, on Roman London, 33.
+  Spices, early Use of, 198.
+  Spinning, Olden, 165.
+  Stirrups, Spurs, and Bridles, ancient, 60.
+  Stonehenge, account of, 12.
+  Storm, Great, of 1703, 334.
+  Sugar-candy and loaf-sugar, 196.
+  Sugar-cane in the Sandwich Islands, 196.
+  Sugar first introduced, 195.
+  Sussex Iron Manufacture, 57.
+
+  Tea introduced, 197.
+  Tenants, Operative, 218.
+  Tenants' Small Services, 222.
+  Tewkesbury Field described, 299.
+  Thornbury Castle, history of, 113.
+  Thorpe, John, the Architect, 115.
+  Tillage of Land Services, 220.
+  Tin-trade, ancient, of Cornwall, 20.
+  Towton Field described, 298.
+  Traditions of Battle-fields, 293.
+  Traditions, real worth of, 313.
+  Travelling in Saxon Times, 59.
+  Trenchers and Trenchermen, 207.
+  Trenchers for Dessert Fruit, 203.
+  Tunbridge Castle described, 78.
+
+  Uriconium, Destruction of, 38.
+  Uriconium, Roman City of, 36.
+
+  Vegetables used in the Middle Ages, 207.
+  Victoria, Queen, at Hatfield, 124.
+  Villeins, how they held Land, 219.
+  Vineyard at Arundel Castle, 106.
+  Vineyards, British, 69.
+  Vortigern and Rowena, 49.
+  Vraic, in the Channel Islands, 231.
+
+  Wake Festivals in the Black Country, 259.
+  Walpole, Sir R., and Lord Bolingbroke, 343.
+  Waltham Forest, 353.
+  Ward-penny, the, 232.
+  Wardrobes, early, 183.
+  Ware, Great Bed of, 179.
+  Warming-pan, antiquity of, 180.
+  Wars of the Roses, 312.
+  Warton's Sonnet on Stonehenge, 15.
+  Warwick Castle described, 98.
+  Warwick Castle, Pictures at, 99.
+  Wassail-cup, origin of the, 50.
+  Watch and Ward customs, 232.
+  Wayneflete's Tower at Esher Place, 290.
+  Wednesbury Cock-fighting, 261.
+  Whigge, or Whey, olden, 164.
+  William the Conqueror, Remains of, 72.
+  William of Wykeham and Windsor Castle, 91.
+  Window-glass at Uriconium, 55.
+  Windsor Castle described, 86.
+  Windsor Castle, interior of, 96, 97.
+  Windsor Castle, Pictures at, 96.
+  Windsor Castle, St. George's Day at, 153.
+  Wines introduced by the Normans, 69.
+  Wingfield Manor-house described, 112.
+  Wolsey and Christchurch, 287.
+  Wolsey at Cawood, 286.
+  Wolsey at Esher Place, 278.
+  Wolsey, Dr. Johnson's Lines on, 285.
+  Wolsey's Tomb-house at Windsor, 289, 290.
+  Wood used in House-building, 128.
+  Woollen Cloth known to the Britons, 55.
+  Woollen Clothing, olden, 185.
+  Woolverton House and the Russell Family, 75.
+  Worsted, origin of, 178.
+  Wotton Place and House described, 331.
+  Wotton, olden Mills at, 336.
+  Wren, odd Notion about, 269.
+  Wright, Mr. T., his _Guide to Uriconium_, 41.
+  Wroxeter, Uriconium at, 36.
+  Wyatville and Windsor Castle, 94.
+
+  York and Lancaster Wars, 371.
+  York House, Battersea, Wolsey at, 351.
+  Yorkshire, ancient Houses in, 5-7.
+  Yorkshire, ancient and modern Roads in, 27.
+
+
+
+
+Uniform with the present Work, and by the same Author.
+
+STRANGE STORIES
+OF THE
+ANIMAL WORLD.
+
+A BOOK OF CURIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATURAL HISTORY.
+
+BY JOHN TIMBS.
+
+With Illustrations by ZWECKER. Post 8vo. 6s. cloth.
+
+
+      "Amongst all the books of the season that will be studied with
+      pleasure as well as profit, by girls as well as boys, there is not
+      one more meritorious in aim, or more successful in execution, than
+      _Strange Stories of the Animal World_. In his Preface to this
+      useful compilation, the author of _Things not generally Known_
+      says that he has endeavoured 'to present wonders free from that
+      love of exaggeration which besets narratives of Natural
+      History.'"--_Athenæum._
+
+      "An excellent selection of bird and beast tales, taken by that
+      clever and judicious book-maker, excellent Mr. John
+      Timbs."--_Saturday Review._
+
+      "Mr. Timbs has never, perhaps, compounded a more attractive
+      book."--_Examiner._
+
+      "This volume on the Animal World, by Mr. Timbs--the most
+      industrious and interesting of compilers--will delight those model
+      children who like only what is 'quite true,' and may also
+      contribute to awaken in all children that great good taste, a love
+      for Natural History."--_Notes and Queries._
+
+      "An admirable collection of anecdotes: the matter is very
+      carefully compiled and very well digested. Great praise is due to
+      the author for his careful research."--_London Review._
+
+      "The care and research which are evident in this volume of Mr.
+      Timbs's are very creditable to him; and they have enabled him to
+      present us with a book which will be a favourite one with young
+      and old."--_Churchman._
+
+      "The work, which we cordially recommend, is very nicely
+      illustrated."--_Illustrated Times._
+
+      "This book will furnish instructive amusement for the long winter
+      evenings to all lovers of Nature's wonders."--_Morning Post._
+
+
+GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nooks and Corners of English Life,
+Past and Present, by John Timbs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40031 ***