NORWICH.--The Gilds existing in this important city in 1388-9 were:--
_Fraternity of St. Katerine_, commenced in 1307.--All the members of the
Gild were to go in procession on the day of St. Katherine, and make
offerings; penalty on absent members. On the day following, mass, &c.
Burial services to be attended and offerings made--the duties of the
lettered and of the unlettered bretheren and sisteren specifically
defined. Bretheren dying within eight miles of the city to be brought in
for burial, or at least the usual services done. Poor bretheren to be
helped; and causes of quarrel to be laid before the Gild. Fine on
refusal to take office. A liveryhood to be worn, and all the members to
dine together on the Gild-day. Admission of new members only by common
consent. Goods of the Gild enumerated.
_The Tailors’ Gild_, founded 1350.--The Gild to meet together, and the
next day a mass of requiem. The bretheren to obey summons of Alderman to
audit accounts; fine if absent. Meeting after Easter to choose officers,
&c. Payments to be made to sexton and clerk; help to the poor and
maimed. Burial services and offerings, to extend to those dying within
seven miles of the city. Service for those dying abroad. Oath to be
taken by Gild-members. Alderman to be chosen. At meetings a candle to be
kept alight, and a prayer said. A summoner to be chosen, and requited by
quittance of the usual payments. A fee of 1d. to be paid to the Bedel on
entrance to the Gild. The Gild had no land, but was maintained by the
charges levied under the Ordinances.
_Gild of St. Mary_, commenced in 1360.--It was of the Religious type.
The bretheren and sisteren of the Gild, as long as there should be
twelve of them living, were to provide a candle and torches, to be used
on certain festivals named “in wyrschipe of crist and his moder.” There
is a note of the masters of the Gild and of the property in hand.
_Fraternity of St. Trinity, in the Cathedral_, begun in 1364.--A solemn
service to be held on the eve of the Feast of the Trinity. A mass of
requiem shall be had, and offerings made. Burial services and offerings.
Help to poor bretheren. Fines for absence from meetings of Gild. Goods
of the Gild.
_The Carpenters’ Gild_ (founded 1375), in honour of the Holy Trinity.--A
yearly meeting to be held, which shall begin with prayers. A yearly
procession and offerings; burial services and offerings, to extend to
all bretheren dying within seven miles of the town; service for those
dying abroad. Help to those fallen into poverty or mishap, if not
brought about through folly or riotous living. Fine for non-fulfilment
of Ordinances unless there be good excuse. Neither the King’s right nor
the law to be encroached upon. The Gild appears to have been entitled to
gifts by certain masons--probably of another Gild.
_Gild of the Peltyers_ [Furriers], founded 1376.--Two candles, dressed
with flowers, were to be yearly offered at St. William’s tomb, by a
procession of a boy and two good men. Only three excuses were to be
allowed for non-attendance at mass, viz., being in “ye kyngges seruise,
er for stronge sekenesse, or twenty myle duellynge fro yis syte,” unless
it were otherwise willed. No Ordinance to prejudice the King’s right, or
the law. On the morrow of the Gild-day the Gild to hear a mass in
requiem; after the mass to go to an inn, audit accounts and choose
officers. The officers to be chosen by picked men. Bretheren or sisteren
fallen into trouble or misease, to have weekly help; but not so if
brought on by their own folly. Fine on refusal to take office. Burial
services and offerings, extending to deaths within seven miles of the
city. An annual feast to be held. Fine for not attending meetings.
Admission of new-comers to be regulated by “ye Alderman and xij
bretheryn.” The common bellman to summon the bretheren to meet on the
morrow of the Gild-day. The Gild (it was declared) had no land, but was
maintained by charges levied, and by legacies, and other gifts.
_The Poor Men’s Gild_, founded 1380, “in honor of oure lord Jhesu crist,
and of oure lady seinte marie, and in wursship of seyn Austyn.”--A light
to be found in honour of St. Austin; mass and offerings at the same
time. Help to those fallen poor, sick, or in other mischance. All dying
within seven miles of the city to have burial services.
_Gild of St. Botulph_, founded 1384.--The meeting of the fraternity to
be held on the Sunday next after the Epiphany; next day they were to
have a mass of requiem. Burials to be attended by the bretheren, and
offerings made. Help to the poor bretheren and sisteren was to be made
by the members at the rate of “a ferthyng in ye woke.” The goods of the
Gild are enumerated.
_Fraternity of St. Christopher_, founded 1384.--Prayer to be said at
every meeting for the Church, peace, Pope, Cardinals, “ye patriak of
Jerhusalem,” “for ye holy londe and ye holy crosse, yat godd for his
myght and his mercy bryng it oute of hethen power into reule of holy
chirche,” archbishops, bishops, parsons, king, queen, dukes, earls,
barons, bachelors, knights, squires, citizens, burgesses, franklins,
tillers, craftsmen, widows, maidens, wives, commonalities, ship-men,
pilgrims, unbelievers, our fathers’ and mothers’ souls, and for all of
this Gild. The Gild-day was to be on the Sunday before the Feast of St.
Christopher. No Ordinance shall be against the common law. There was to
be a yearly mass of requiem, and offerings; also offerings at burials;
and two poor men to carry torches. Poor bretheren were to be helped.
This was evidently a Gild of a higher order than many in this city.
_Gild of St. George_, founded 1385.--The day of St. George was always to
be kept, and offerings made on that day; next day a mass of requiem.
Burial services to be attended by the bretheren, and offerings made.
Weekly help to poor bretheren. Goods of the Gild enumerated.
_The Saddlers’ and Spurriers’ Gild_, founded 1385.--The Ordinances to be
kept so long as twelve of the Gild lived. Two torches to be kept burning
at the elevation of the host at high mass. The Gild meeting to be held
on the first Sunday after Trinity, and the members to have a livery. All
to meet the evening before to pray for their own souls. Next morning
mass shall be heard, and offerings made, and all shall go in procession
to the Nunnery of Carrow. On death within the city all shall be at the
dirge, and two poor men with them. The same at interment; and offerings
and gifts to be made. Service with the bretheren on death within three
miles of the city; and service on death of one dwelling beyond, at
Carrow.
_Brotherhood of Barbers._--Torches and other lights, &c., shall be
offered on Midsummer-day. Torches were to be kept burning during high
mass. The Gild appears to have been dedicated to “seynt John the
Babtis.”
=Oxenburghe= (_Oxburgh; Oxborough_).--There were eight Gilds in this town
(now village) at the same date, of which the following may be taken as a
type:--
_Gild of St. John Baptist_, founded 1307.--The officers, bretheren, and
sisteren shall come to evensong on the day of St. John the Baptist, and
make offerings. Help to those “in trouble” was to be given at the rate
of one farthing a day; one halfpenny on Sunday. Prayers for the dead.
_Gild of St. Peter_, founded 1378.--The members of the Gild to assemble
at evensong on St. Peter’s Day, and make offerings. Help to those in
trouble--rate not distinctly specified. Fine for betraying the affairs
of the Gild.
=Wygnale= (_Wyggenale_, now _Wiggenshall_).--The Gilds existing in this
town or village, which was located near King’s Lynn and appears to have
been of some importance, were:
_Gild of the Assumption_, founded 1384.--Latin prayers to be said out of
the Church offices. English prayer of the Gild for the Church; for the
King, Queen, and Baronage; for the Pope and the Patriarch; for the Holy
Land; for the fruit of the earth; for ship-men and travellers; for the
founders of the Gild; and for the souls of the dead and living. Search
to be made for anyone dying suddenly, by water or by land: and he shall
have burial services. Any one belying another shall be fined.
_Gild of the Holy Trinity._--Latin prayers shall be said out of church
offices. Burials at the cost of the Gild. Drowned men shall be searched
for.
_Gild de Cranbone_, founded 1387.--Latin prayers to be said out of
Church offices. English prayer of the Gild for the Church, Pope,
Cardinals, Patriarch, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other Bishops; King
and Queen, and the commoners of the realm. Burials at cost of Gild.
Every quarrel to be brought before two bretheren. Two meetings shall be
held every year.
_Gild of St. Trinity_, founded 1387.--Four meetings shall be held every
year, at which payments to be made for lights.
_Gild of St. Peter._--Two meetings shall be held every year. All shall
go to church with a garland of oak leaves. Service for the dead, and
offerings. Bread to be given, and masses sung for the souls of the dead.
Men dying by water or land to be searched for and buried. Meat and drink
to be given at yearly meeting. The funds of the Gild then (1388)
consisted of 11s.
=Great Yarmouth.=--King John in his Charter to this borough, granted 1209,
gave the privilege of a Merchant Gild to be held in this town. We have
not met with any very early records of it. But in the 6th Elizabeth
(1563) there are notices, which, however, only go to show the nature of
the annual entertainment given. A few items will prove instructive:
February 28.--“Order’d that the merchant’s dinner, or feast of late
called the Trinity Brotherhood, shall be rected and heyned this present
year to come, and so forth to continue until further orders be taken.”
Certain persons were named to order the feast and estimate the cost, &c.
March 18.--“Imprimis, every brother to pay for hym and hys wyffe,
whether they came or not, 2s. 8d. Every brother and syster
extraordinary, 1s. If they wyl be bretherene, to pay bretherene lyke.”
“The order of the drynkyn and dynner in the evening prayer, viz., spice
cake, good bere.”
“Sunday dynner:--
Fromety } Capon }
Rost bysse } the first Pyggs } the second
Grene gese } course. Lambe } course.”
Weale } Costard }
“Sunday soper.--Good brothe with boyled mete. Rostyd mutton, capon,
lambe tarte.”
“Monday dynner.--Fromety, rosted bysse, grene gese, lamb.”
“Note, that six persons to every mese; two grene gese to every mese, and
a capon to mese. The person appointed to heyn the feast refusing, to pay
£10 to his successor to buy things necessary.”
Manship in his “History of Yarmouth” says that this regulation continued
till the year 1569, when, by reason of the excessive charge, but more
especially the great disorders of the common people, &c., it was agreed
by an Act of the Assembly in the 11th Elizabeth, that from henceforth
the heynors who shall yearly be appointed to heyn the feast called
Trinity Brotherhood, shall be at their choice to heyn the said feast in
reasonable order, or else to pay 4 nobles (26s. 8d.) apiece for the use
of the town; which sum was paid yearly for many years afterwards, but at
last entirely dropt.
Swinden (“History of Yarmouth”) says that in 33 Henry VIII. (1542) at an
assembly holden in the common hall, on the Tuesday next after the feast
of St. Faith, the following order was made: “That every as well of the
four and twenties as of the eight and forties should pay yearly towards
the finding of the Trinity mass priest at the Guild-day, 4d.”
Manship gives the following additional particulars regarding the old
Guild-hall in Yarmouth: “There is a very fair building commonly called
the Guild-hall, near unto the church, containing in length from east to
west within the walls 76 feet, and in breadth 22 feet, which being much
ruinated, was in the year of our Lord God 1544 (in the 33 Henry VIII.)
by the town very substantially repaired and amended, and the walls new
buttressed and supported, and the roof, which is a very fair one,
sometime belonging to Mettingham College [near Bungay], upon the
suppression thereof, was brought to Yarmouth, and placed upon the said
Hall, and covered with lead very neatly. In this hall in times past,
viz., within my remembrance [he wrote probably about the end of the
reign of Elizabeth], was yearly holden on Trinity Sunday a Solemn Feast
for the whole Brotherhood and Fellowship of the Society, called the
Blessed Trinity, which by our Charter of King John in the year 1207, was
granted unto us by the name of the Merchants Guild, whereunto every one
of this Common Council, at his first admission and oath taken, doth
still acknowledge himself a brother of that Society. Which said feast
was for the most part yearly holden at the costs of four of that
Brotherhood successively according to their course of incoming,
maintained; over whom the senior bailiff for the year presiding was and
is nominated Alderman. The Hall aforesaid being at that time richly
hanged and adorned with cloth of arras, tapestry, and other costly
furniture, not sparing any dainty fare which might be had for money.”
“At which Feast all private quarrels and emulations were heard and ended
in the glory of God and mutual love amongst neighbours: for which cause,
in the primitive time of the Church, such Gilds or Fraternities were by
the laws Ecclesiastical ordained, and by the laws civil, among all
Christian common-weals, used, practised, and confirmed.”
(_To be continued._)
IT is proposed to enlarge or reconstruct the ancient Church of
Portskewet, Monmouthshire. The building is in sound condition, and
with its remarkable old churchyard cross is a most venerable and
picturesque object. Harold had a palace at Portskewet, and Mr.
Freeman is inclined to believe not only that he was the founder of
a church there, but that the existing structure is substantially
his erection (see “Journal of British Archæological Association,”
vol. x.). The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings will
do well to watch the proceedings.
Ham.
_THE SUFFIX “HAM” NOT EXCLUSIVELY DERIVED FROM A TEUTONIC SOURCE, BUT
OCCASIONALLY ALSO FROM THE CELTIC._
BY JAMES HURLY PRING, M.D.
In a former volume of THE ANTIQUARIAN MAGAZINE (vol. iii. p. 127) I
pointed out that the place-name _Hampton_ did not necessarily represent
the Saxon “_home-town_,” as has so generally, yet erroneously, been
assumed, but that the name is frequently derived also from _Avon_ or
rather _Afon_, the Celtic word for water or a river, and that it ought,
therefore, strictly to be _Afonton_.
It was shown that this latter view was maintained by Camden, in evidence
of which he cites Leland to prove that Hampton Court was anciently
called Avon, as it appears in quoting from him the following lines:--
“Est locus insolito rerum splendore superbus
Alluiturque vagâ Tamisini fluminis undâ;
Nomine ab antiquo jam tempore dictus Avona.”
“Where Father Thames his gentle stream rolls on,
Avona called, an ancient name it bears.”
GOUGH’S _Camden_, vol. ii. p. 78.
Here, then, and throughout the paper referred to, it will be seen that
_Ham_ is presented to us chiefly, if not solely, in its aspect as a
prefix.
It is now my intention to proceed to consider it more especially as a
suffix, in which use the instances of it are far more numerous than
those in which it is employed as a prefix.
It would seem, then, as a suffix to be almost universally regarded as
representing the Saxon “home,” and even Isaac Taylor himself gives no
other than a Teutonic derivation for it.
True it is that in this derivation he makes a distinction, dividing it
into the two forms of hăm and hām, maintaining that the former signifies
an enclosure, whilst the latter is “the Home.” Without venturing to
question the accuracy of this distinction, it is to be regretted that
(except, indeed, so far as may be guessed at from its associations) it
leaves us without any rule whereby we may be enabled to distinguish the
hām, the _geheim_ or home, from hăm an enclosure; whilst, as just
stated, Taylor altogether omits to notice that there is yet another
distinct source from which “ham” is derived, which is indeed in no
respect Teutonic, but is clearly to be referred to the Celtic, as
insisted upon both by Camden and by Leland.
The instances in which the termination-_ham_ must be thus referred to
the Celtic (as a Saxon corruption of the word _Afon_) are well marked
and are by no means rare, and it is possible that some of those which
have been regarded as examples of hăm, an enclosure, may be found to
belong rather to the Celtic derivation from Afon. As an illustration of
_ham_ in the latter aspect, I will at once refer to the class of
examples of the word which is furnished by those large tracts of country
which are or formerly were liable to inundation from the occasional
overflow of some adjacent river (afon), and which have accordingly
received the appellation of “hams”--that is, rich low-lying lands in the
vicinity of rivers.
These extensive tracts of marsh-land cannot be supposed, especially at
the very early period when the name of _ham_ was imposed upon them, to
have represented “an enclosure,” whilst their general character, and
their liability to be frequently flooded, alike forbid the notion that
the name of ham in this case was originally associated with a “home or
dwelling.”
Each of these “hams,” then, I apprehend must be held to furnish a marked
example of the derivation of its name from the Celtic Avon, as it will
be found that the distinctive feature of _a river_ is present in each of
them, and in one case the river even still retains the original Celtic
name of _Avon_.
As examples of some instances of the name occurring on the banks of the
rivers in Somerset, we have the Loxton _Hams_, the Berrow _Hams_, the
Paulet _Hams_ with Otter_ham_pton, which latter name, assuming its
derivation to be Teutonic, should be the “_Otter’s home-town_”!
Biddis_ham_, Burn_ham_, and Lymps_ham_, the latter being the ancient
Lyn-pils-ham, the rich pasture land by the creek of the Lyn or the River
Axe, with many others.
Passing now into Devonshire we come upon the North _Hams_, and the South
_Hams_--names which in this case cannot be held to represent either
homes or enclosures, whilst _water_ or _rivers_ will be found to be
conspicuously present in both instances.
In his review of “Risdon’s Survey of Devon,” 1785, Chapple refers to the
North and South Hams as being “ancient names,” and states that the
county of Devon had originally a _threefold_ division, anciently known
by the names of _East_, _South_, and _North Hams_ (p. 116). This,
however, is the only notice I have seen of the _East Hams_.
As one of the places comprehended in the district of the _North Hams_,
we have Little_ham_, which Risdon regards as “Little Home,”
assuming-_ham_ in this case “to signify the same with home or
habitation.”
But there is no reason to regard either this or Park_ham_ or any of the
other instances of the terminal-_ham_ which are found here, as being
referable to a Teutonic source, any more than is the case with the hams
in Somerset, and as regards the instance of Nort_ham_ itself, it is
interesting to note that (except the omitted _ton_) we have here the
actual name of Northam[p]ton, in which Camden expressly insists that the
_ham_ is _afon_.
If we now proceed to the South Hams, we reach an extensive tract of land
presenting the same characteristic features as those generally observed
in connection with the name of _Ham_, where it occurs in the situations
already alluded to, and which do not correspond either to an enclosure
or a home.
We find it, for example, stated in Chapple that “about Teignmouth,
Dartmouth, Totness, Modbury, Plymouth, Ashburton, and all those parts of
the country which are called the South Hams, the lands are generally of
a different kind from any of the former,” &c. (p. 20). Now it is
manifest that such an extensive tract of country as that to which the
term “South Hams” is here applied cannot possibly claim to be regarded
in the light of a home, or an enclosure.
On investigating more closely the district known as the _South Hams_, it
will be found to possess many points of special interest.
Here the name _Ham_, as associated with the presence of _rivers_,
receives abundant illustration; a considerable portion of the South Hams
lying between the rivers Dart and Erme, and through the centre of this
runs the River _Avon_, which by its name lends confirmation to the view
here maintained as to the occasional derivation of the name of Ham from
the Celtic. Along the course of this river it will be seen that the
names of _ham_ and _avon_ seem almost to alternate, or are at least
promiscuously intermingled, thus affording additional evidence of their
being cognate to each other, and of their common origin.
We have, for example, the name of _Ham_ alone, and of _Aveton_
(_Avon-ton_) alone, of _Aveton_ (_Avon-ton_) Gifford, of Bickham,
_Topsham_ Bridge, Hend_ham_, and further on of _Avon_neigh, and lastly
of Bant_ham_, occurring at the very mouth of the _Avon_.
Another feature of considerable interest in connection with the South
Hams of Devon, and pointing in a direction confirmatory of the views
here advanced, is the fact that the Cornu-British language continued in
use in this district long after it had ceased to be spoken in the other
parts of the surrounding country. This fact is noticed by Polwhele both
in his “Historical Views of Devonshire,” 1791, and in his “History of
Cornwall,” whilst Drew affirms that the Cornu-British was spoken here in
the time of Edward I. (1272-1307). It is deserving of notice also that
an interesting note by F. W. P. Jago in reference to this question has
lately appeared in the second volume of the “Western Antiquary” (pp.
202, 203).
Without intending by any means to question the fact that in numerous
instances the terminal-_ham_ is derived from the Teutonic, and rightly
bears the meaning of “home,” “habitation,” or “enclosure,” I deem it
desirable, whilst on this subject, to draw attention to an interesting
remark in reference to it which has been made by so high an authority as
Mr. Benjamin Thorpe. In commenting on the fact that the Kentish kingdom
was founded by adventurers from _Jutland_ (if not actually by Hengist
and Horsa), Mr. Thorpe proceeds to observe: “The termination-_ham_, so
common in Kent and elsewhere in England, corresponding to the German
_heim_, does _not appear in Jutland_, so far as my means enable me to
ascertain.”[82]
The very general, indeed the almost universal reference of “ham” to a
Teutonic origin, seems to invest this observation by Thorpe with
peculiar interest, and I would venture accordingly to commend its
consideration to all those who can discover in “ham” nothing else than
the Saxon “heim,” “home,” or “dwelling.”
On the other hand, it must at once be admitted that the derivation of
“ham” from the Celtic _Afon_ has received little or no recognition from
the days of Camden down to the present time. In regarding it, however,
from this point of view, enough it is presumed has now been said to
rescue it for the future from this neglect, and to establish its title,
in many cases at least, to be rightly and legitimately referred to the
Celtic, as here contended for.
AMONG the “South Kensington Art Handbooks” now in course of
preparation is one on the “Saracenic Art of Egypt,” by Mr. Stanley
Lane-Poole.
IT is reported that there are only five genuine signatures of
Shakespeare in existence. “From this it is inferred,” writes the
_San Francisco News Letter_, “that the Bard of Avon did not make a
practice of endorsing his friends’ notes--another evidence of his
good sense.”
Collectanea.
CHRISTMAS-EVE IN DEVONSHIRE.--In Devonshire is still observed on
Christmas-Eve an ancient custom, which is supposed to ensure a good crop
of apples. The farm-servants procure an ash-fagot, round which they
carefully put as many binds as possible, because they are rewarded with
cups of cider equivalent in number to the binds which encircle the
fagot. The fagot is then placed on the fire, and as each bind bursts
they claim a cup of cider; they have also a bowl of toast and cider
which they take into the orchard, and, putting a piece of toast on the
king or principal apple-tree, repeat the following lines:--
“Apple-tree, we wassail thee,
To bear and to blow apples enow,
Hats full, caps full,
Three bushel bags full,
Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!”
It appears that exactly the same words are not always used on this
occasion, a different version being given in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_
for 1791.
TANTIVY.--According to Harrod’s _History of Stamford_, the origin of
this sporting cry is to be sought in the name of St. Tibba, who lived as
an anchoritess at Ryhall, near Stamford, and died and was buried there.
According to Camden, she was the patroness of hawking, fowling, and
other sports, like the Roman Diana. She was a relative of Penda, King of
Mercia, and lived a holy life at Godmanchester, in Hunts, before she
went to Ryhall. Stukely says that her cell was at the north-west corner
of the outside of Ryhall Church. She is thus commemorated by Drayton in
his _Polyolbion_:--
“And to _these_ St. Tibba let us call,
In solitude to Christ that pass’d her whole delight,
In Godmanchester made her an anchorite,
Among which of that house for saints that reckon’d be,
Yet never anymore gracèd the same than she.”
CURIOUS INVENTORY.--The following, from the original in my hands, may
interest some of your City readers: “An inventary of the goodes creditte
and debtes of Thomas Potter, late of the parishe of St. Nicholas Acon,
of the Citie of London, salter, deceased. Made and praysed the one and
twentith daie of Aprill, by Richard Smithe, grocer, Thomas Withers,
habberdasher, and William Casson, grocer, in the year of Our Lord one
thowsand six hundred and nyne, as followeth: Imprimis, one fether bed
and a boulster, iiili; item, two cloakes, xxviiis; item, one
gowne, xvs; item, two paire of breeches, xiii iiid; item, two ould
dubletts, vs; item, one suite of black rathe, xxs; item, two
jerkins, viiis; item, two paire of stockinges and a paire of mittens,
viiid; item, two wasecotes and a hatt, iii xd; item, eleven
fallinge bandes and a paire of cuffes, iis iiii; item, five shirtes
and fower handkerchers, viis iid; item, two handtowells and a
cloth (?) capp, xs; item, a bible and a prayer-booke, iiis iid;
item, a brasse candlesticke and one seale, xviiid; item, one
chamberpott, xiid; item, a brushe, iid; item, a leatherne trunke,
vis; item, a cashe chest, viiis; item, one half of two cannas
amornifi (?), xiiiili iiid.” The last two words are very illegibly
written. The document is imperfect.
E.
Reviews.
_Greater London._ (Vol. ii.) By EDWARD WALFORD, M.A. Cassell & Co.
1884.
THE above-mentioned firm must be congratulated on the very able manner
in which they have performed their part in the production of the volume
before us; for obvious reasons, it is not for us to speak of the
editor’s share in the work, further than to state that he has
conscientiously tried to perform the task which he had undertaken. This
volume, which completes the work of “Greater London,” comprises the
whole of that portion of the metropolitan police area, outside the
limits of the Board of Works, which is on the south side of the Thames,
extending from Erith in the east to Kingston and Esher in the west, and
embracing within its scope the important towns of Woolwich, Chislehurst,
Bromley, Croydon, Epsom, Richmond, Kew, and Wimbledon, together with the
several smaller parishes, villages and hamlets, that lie within its
area. This area, almost every nook and corner of which--thanks to our
railway system--may be visited on the Saturday afternoon holidays in
summer, and most of them even in winter, contains, as we need hardly
add, much that may interest the ordinary visitor, should he care for
quiet and peaceful rural scenery, or the artist who may be in search of
choice “bits.” Mansions and other buildings will be found possessing
historical associations: such, for instance, as Chislehurst, with its
memories of the antiquary Camden, and the Emperor Louis Napoleon; Hayes
and Keston, the favourite haunts of Pitt and Wilberforce; Beddington,
where we find the Carews and Sir Walter Raleigh; Croydon, where there is
much to read about in the long roll of primates who have occupied the
palace there till Addington became their home; Epsom, where we see “the
quality” drinking the waters, and Lord Derby and his friends
inaugurating those races whose name is not only national, but
world-wide. In the chapters devoted to Richmond and its neighbourhood
the reader is placed in contact with bygone English sovereigns and
princes and princesses; here, too, he is surrounded by Kitty Clive, Gay,
Thomson, and a host of children of the Muses. Indeed, from end to end of
the volume the reader is brought face to face with great men and women
who have added a light to the pages of English history. It only remains
to add that the work possesses a copious index, and that it is profusely
illustrated, engravings being given, not only of places as they exist in
the present day, but also of historical buildings which have long since
been swept away. Of these we may mention Nonsuch Palace, near Cheam, and
the Old Palace at Richmond, which latter, through the kindness of
Messrs. Cassell, we are enabled to reproduce.
_Calendar of State Papers: Colonial, East Indies, 1625-1629._
(Rolls Series.) Longman & Co. 1884.
MR. SAINSBURY has brought out a fourth volume of the “Calendar of East
India State Papers,” which, in point of intrinsic interest and editorial
treatment, will suffer by comparison with none of its predecessors. Any
authoritative compilation, dealing with the vast collection of materials
available for the history of British Colonies in their official
relations with the parent State, is sure to command the widest interest;
and such a work, when treating of the early and truly wayward fortune of
the mighty national stake contained in our Indian Empire, should be
peculiarly attractive to the countrymen of Clive and Warren Hastings.
The original documents calendered in the present volume consist, as
before, chiefly of the Court minutes of the East India Company, domestic
State papers and correspondence, original correspondence, East India
State papers, and Holland correspondence. The light which these combine
to throw upon the contemporary history of our greatest trading community
is sometimes almost painfully intense.
The Company in 1625 was in truth placed in both a dangerous and a
helpless position. The Amboyne massacre of three years before was as yet
not only unpunished, but almost unreproved, except by the voice of
popular indignation in England. We may, in fact, estimate the inaction
of the Government to a certain extent in proportion to the violence of
this outcry against “that most bloody and treacherous villainy.” It was
in the spring of this year (1625), we read here, that the crisis
provoked by official supineness was reached, a popular outbreak against
Dutch residents being apprehended on the approaching Shrove Tuesday.
This movement had been fanned by certain incendiary pamphlets; by a
picture, and by a play, each reflecting strongly upon the inhumanity of
the Dutch towards English traders. The picture, in especial, appears to
have been a masterpiece of animosity, for therein was “lively, largely,
and artificially” set forth the interior of the supposed Torture Chamber
at Amboyne. Now that a tardy justice was about to be dealt to the
judicial murderers of their fellows, the Company was content to permit
the picture itself to be suppressed. Yet that the members were secretly
proud of their manifesto is apparent from their naïve regret that “His
Majesty and their Lordships” had not been “presented with a view of this
horrid spectacle.” Owing to the precautions of the Council, the fateful
day passed without an outbreak, but none the less, as the editor justly
observes, the sore rankled long in the hearts of true-born Englishmen.
At length reprisals were instituted, and three Dutch ships were arrested
at Portsmouth, only to be released, in return, as the popular rumour
went, for a secret bribe of three tons of gold. Finally, the dispute was
allowed to drag out its slow length in diplomatic correspondence, and a
party-trial in Holland.
The remaining features of interest in this volume are connected with the
private details of the Company’s financial ventures, and these reveal a
state of affairs most melancholy to contemplate. To such a depth of
poverty had the once flourishing Company sunk, that in 1629, with a debt
of £300,000 already incurred, the Governor was compelled to confess
their inability to advance £10,000 to the Crown towards the expenses of
the French War. At the same time, too, every investment in the Far East
turned out disastrously. The Dutch not only pillaged English factories
with impunity, but openly thwarted any chance of carrying on a lucrative
trade, by forcing their own spices upon English factors at ruinous
prices. Moreover, the constitutions of our countrymen too often
succumbed to the pestilential swamps and jungles of New Holland. Then
the natives, as usual an unreliable element, both broke their contracts
and ill-treated the Company’s factors, in spite of their “accursed oaths
to the contrary.” Yet in the end British constancy and enterprise
prevailed. Fresh subscriptions poured in, new ships were fitted out, and
returned laden with ample wealth. The English merchantmen stoutly held
their own against the Dutch pirates, and beat them off--one ship (the
_Lion_) against ten--in an action that recalled the glories of Grenville
and his _Revenge_. Therefore it will be seen that this volume closes
with a happier augury of renewed peace and prosperity.
_Doctor Johnson: His Life, Works and Table Talk._ (Centenary
edition.) T. Fisher Unwin. 1884.
IT was inevitable that the Centenary of Dr. Johnson’s death should
recall into existence some at least of his contributions to English
literature, and Mr. Unwin has done well in publishing at this moment a
choice selection from the “burly Doctor’s” works, under the above title.
The little _brochure_ on our table by no means exhausts that mine of
wealth which is to be found in the writings of Dr. Johnson; but, so far
as it goes, it is carefully and conscientiously selected, and ought to
be most welcome to his many admirers.
_Johnsoniana._ Arranged by R. W. Montagu. Boot & Son. 1884.
A MOST appropriate and well-timed collection of the best of Dr.
Johnson’s sayings and opinions, gleaned not only from Boswell but from
other sources. These are arranged in chapters under separate headings.
Is it by accident, or by set purpose, we wonder, that one chapter is
devoted to “Love, Friendship, and Affection,” and another to “Marriage”?
The life of Johnson prefixed to this little volume is a happy model of
condensation. Published at a shilling, it ought to command just now a
very large sale.
_Pottery and Porcelaìn._ By F. LITCHFIELD. Bickers. 1884.
THIS is a most useful manual for the collector of old china and articles
of _vertu_, a guide based on long and large practical experience. The
book is partly historic, and the chapters on “Ancient Pottery” and “The
Mediæval and Renaissance Periods” will be perhaps the most interesting
to our readers. But those whose tastes are more modern than antiquarian
will derive more pleasure from the chapters relating the story of the
introduction of porcelain into Europe; while nobody, however large his
or her own experience may be, can afford to despise or to dispense with
the lists of the marks and monograms adopted by the Wedgwoods, the
Spodes, the Copelands, and other manufacturers of pottery, or with the
“hints and cautions to collectors” to be found on pp. 191-199. The
illustrations are numerous and excellent; and the little work can boast
the merit of a very careful index.
_Phallicism._ By HARGRAVE JENNINGS. G. Redway. 1884.
This book is written _ad clerum_, and appeals to the scholar only, and
not to the multitude. It is a masterly and exhaustive account of that
worship of the creative powers of nature which, under various names, has
prevailed among all the nations of antiquity and of mediæval times,
alike in Egypt and India, in Italy and Gaul, among the Israelites of
old, and among the primitive inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland.
Mr. Jennings treats of his subject in its celestial and terrestrial, its
heathen and Christian aspects; and he traces its connection with the
Gnostics, the Buddhists, and the Rosicrucians. He sees Phallicism in the
obelisks and pyramids of the Nile, in the monolithic circles of
Stonehenge and of Avebury, and in the Round Towers of Ireland. A worship
or cult so ancient and so widely spread, it is clear, must have a
history, and a curious one; and this Mr. Jennings has traced in a way so
scholarly as to leave little or nothing to be said by others. He has
carried his inquiry much further back, and also in many more countries,
than all previous writers, including Mr. R. P. Knight, who drew his
pictures of Phallic worship chiefly from what he had himself witnessed
in Italy and the South of France. It will surprise very many of our
readers to learn that the erection of the Tower of Babel was probably an
early outburst of this worship, and that its hidden and mystic meaning
was the same as that of the Round Towers in “the sister island,” which
were nothing more or less than fire towers, expressive of the ancient
faith of the Parsees. How far these speculations are true in fact, must
be left to the learned to decide. But certainly the work before us will
be found a most valuable auxiliary to all who care to pursue such a
subject of inquiry, a subject for which Mr. Jennings is the better
fitted on account of his long and intimate acquaintance with the
Rosicrucians, their tenets, and their practices. The issue of the work
is limited to 400 copies for English subscribers.
_Benvenuto Cellini. Nouvel Appendice, aux recherches sur son
Œuvre et sur les Pièces qui lui sont attribuées._ Par E. PLON.
4to. Paris: Plon, Nourrit et Cie.
OUR readers may perhaps remember that some time ago we reviewed M.
Eugène Plon’s magnificent volume on Benvenuto Cellini.[83] From the
extreme care with which the work was done, it was quite evident that we
had before us the result of enthusiastic sympathy with the artist whose
biography we were invited to study, and whose genius was so thoroughly
appreciated. M. Plon would not take a final leave of his hero, and every
fresh discovery referring to him would be duly recorded and given to the
public. Nor have we been disappointed of our expectation, for the quarto
_brochure_ of which we have just transcribed the title-page, is an
interesting contribution to the history of art in general, and of
Benvenuto Cellini in particular. It consists of two parts, which we
shall briefly notice in succession.
“Following the example of Orsino, surnamed Il Cervaicolo, and of so
many masters belonging to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it
might be supposed that Benvenuto Cellini, also, had left behind him
portraits in coloured wax, such as we often meet now in public
museums and private collections. Comparing an entry forming part of
the inventory drawn up after the artist’s death (‘due scatolini di
ritratti del Serenissimo Principe Abbozzati,’) with a memorandum of
works executed for the Cardinal di Ravenna (‘e per uno suo ritratto
grande di cera’), we had conjectured this to be the case, and our
hypothesis derived a certain kind of countenance from the fact that
Lastri notices (Osservatore Fiorentino, Firenza, 1758) a portrait
in wax of Alessandro di Medici, hung up as a votive offering in the
Church della Nunziata, and which was ascribed to Benvenuto. Our
presumption has now become a reality, thanks to the discovery of a
portrait of Francesco di Medici, which we reproduce. It is in
coloured wax, and rather high relief on a dark back-ground.”
This description is M. Eugène Plon’s. He further informs us in a
footnote that the portrait in question, originally preserved at Prato,
is now at Florence, and belongs to the collection of the Commendatore
Luigi Vai; its existence was pointed out to our author by the Director
of the State Paper Office of Tuscany, Commendatore Cesare Guasti; it was
intended for the celebrated Bianca Capello, to whom Francesco di Medici
forwarded it, together with this short note:--
“AMATA BIANCA,--
“Fino da Pisa il mio ritratto u’ invio che ’l nostro maestro
Cellini m’a fatto in cera. Il mio chore prendete.
D. FRANCISCO.”
There is no doubt whatever, therefore, on the authenticity of this
portrait. M. Plon has had it photographed in the original size, and it
is impossible to imagine anything more exquisite as a work of art. With
reference to the date, it must be assigned between 1568 and 1570, for we
know that Benvenuto Cellini died in the beginning of 1571, and about the
close of the preceding year he complained of suffering from a severe
bronchial attack, which had obliged him to discontinue work for the
space of several weeks.
M. Plon has taken the opportunity afforded by the portrait to give us a
short sketch of the life of Bianca Capello, her first marriage with
Pietro Bonaventuri, the romantic adventures which followed upon it, and
her subsequent relations with Francesco di Medici. He has added to his
interesting memoir two portraits of Bianca: one by Angiolo Bronzino,
preserved in the Uffizi Gallery; the other likewise by Angiolo Bronzino,
exhibited in that of the Palazzo Pitti.
The second part of M. Plon’s supplement or appendix is devoted to an
account of several works of art ascribed to Benvenuto Cellini. We first
meet with a statue of the god Pluto, belonging to a London _virtuoso_,
and which was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1879. It is
supposed to have been cast in the Petit-Nesle foundry, and to have been
originally one of the twelve _Dii Majores_ ordered by Francis I., and
which were to have been worked in silver as decorations for his
festivals. There is nothing to prove that we have here a production of
Benvenuto Cellini, but it certainly belongs to the school of Michael
Angelo, and if the artist is not Cellini he must be Giovanni di Bologna.
The next thing to notice is a large basin of silver-gilt workmanship,
belonging to Lord Cowper, and the ewer corresponding to which is
described and reproduced in M. Plon’s first volume; it represents a
series of scenes from the Old Testament. “The richness and elegance of
the compositions,” says our author, “betray the hand of a first-rate
artist.” Let us add that both the statue of Pluto previously mentioned
and the present basin have found a place amongst the illustrations of
the work we are now reviewing.
Two other articles of _vertu_ (two cups, or rather their mountings) are
also ascribed as probably Cellini’s work, on the authority of M. Alfred
Darcel (letter to M. Edmond Bonnaffé, in the _Chronique des Arts et de
la Curiosité_, April 14, 1883). We have further to mention two gold
jewels intended to be worn on a man’s cap (_nella berretta_), and which
were engraved by Cellini’s rival, Caradosso. This naturally leads M.
Plon to insert a letter addressed by our artist to Isabella d’Este,
Duchess of Mantua, a letter in which he adds further details to those he
had already given (see _Benvenuto Cellini_) on Caradosso.
The last description we have to allude to here is that of a salt-cellar,
which appears to have been made for Frederigo II., Duke of Mantua, and
which was a work of high art. M. Plon gives us the correspondence
relating to it, correspondence preserved in the archives of the Gonzaga
family, and which has been copied there by M. Armand Baschet, who has so
often and in so remarkable a manner contributed to our knowledge of the
social, political, and intellectual history of Italy during the
sixteenth century.
In conclusion, this elegant _brochure_ is an important and necessary
appendix to the volume we reviewed last year; it may be regarded as not
only a supplement to M. Plon’s _catalogue raisonné_ of Benvenuto
Cellini’s work, but a memoir of Bianca Capella, and a graphic though far
from edifying sketch of Italian life at the time of the Reformation.
_English Etchings_, Parts xli. and xlii. (D. Bogue, 27, King
William-street, W.C.), which are now before us, are fully up to the
standard of the parts previously published. Among the plates calling
for special mention in these pages is an interesting addition to the
series of etchings of Old London, “Covent Garden Market,” by Mr. A. W.
Williams. Orleton Church, Herefordshire, a spirited etching by Mr.
Oliver Baker, shows the fine Jacobean pulpit of oak, covered with
elaborate carving, and part of the chancel arch with the head of a
bishop in mitre and amice as a drip-stone termination.
Obituary Memoirs.
“Emori nolo; sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.”--_Epicharmus._
THE REV. HUGH PIGOT, Rector of Stretham, author of “Suffolk
Superstitions” and “The History of Hadleigh,” died in October.
MR. WILLIAM PETTIT GRIFFITH, architect, died in October. The son of an
architect of repute, he was born in 1815, and, adopting his father’s
profession, followed it for more than half a century. Devoting much of
his leisure to archæology, he became a member of several societies of
antiquaries, and wrote “Grecian Architecture,” “A Natural System of
Architecture,” “Mediæval Architecture,” “Ancient and Gothic Churches,”
besides many papers published in archæological journals and magazines,
especially the serial of the Surrey Archæological Society. He designed
various schools and other minor public buildings, and restored St.
John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, and parts of the church of St. Sepulchre,
Holborn.
MR. OCTAVIAN BLEWITT, K.L., F.R.G.S., many years secretary of the Royal
Literary Fund, died recently, aged 81. In early life Mr. Blewitt
travelled much in Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and other countries, and
on his return to England was, in 1839, elected to the post of secretary
to the Royal Literary Fund. In this capacity Mr. Blewitt spent many
years in arranging the papers, literary, financial, and historical,
which constituted the records of the association. Mr. Blewitt was the
author of several well-known works, including “The Panorama of Torquay,”
published in 1828, and afterwards reprinted in an enlarged edition as “A
Descriptive and Historical Sketch of the District comprised between the
Dart and Teign,” also the “Handbook for Central Italy and Rome,” and the
“Handbook for Southern Italy and Naples,” being two of the series of
Murray’s Hand-books.
SIGNOR LUIGI BONFATTI, the archivist and librarian of Gubbio, in Umbria,
died suddenly at the end of October. “Every seeker into the strange and
eventful history of what is now but the time-worn relic of a mediæval
city,” writes Mr. W. Mercer, “has lost in him a guide, philosopher, and
friend. Only a week before his death he climbed with me the picturesque
tower of the Palazzo Pubblico, that often served as a prison-house for
captives taken in battle. His pen, fertile with a knowledge of the local
antiquities, may be traced in numerous brochures and collected records
of recent date. He strove to pierce the shadows that cluster round the
memory of Maestro Giorgio and others who made Gubbio famous for his
porcelain manufacture, marvels truly of the potter’s art that are
scattered far and wide. One small plate only is left to witness in the
Municipio to the brilliant _reverberi_ that distinguished the work of
artists whose successors from time to time have vainly imagined that
they also have caught the secret of the changing colours under flashes
of instantaneous light. I left him busily arranging rare books, with a
promise that he would send me an early copy of a history of Gubbio, now
nearly ready for the press in the able hands of a learned notary, Signor
Lucarelli. Those who have known Signor Bonfatti will join me in
lamenting the loss of a scholar whose name may sound strange outside
Umbria, and unfamiliar to most Italian ears, but which is, nevertheless,
an enduring name, notwithstanding its closest connection is with a
half-forgotten, ruinous city that itself lies out of the beaten track of
wayfarers.”
Meetings of Learned Societies.
METROPOLITAN.
ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.--_Nov. 6_, Mr. J. Micklethwaite, F.S.A.,
in the chair. The Rev. H. M. Scarth, Rector of Wrington, read a paper on
the “Recent Discoveries of Roman Remains at Bath,” in which he explained
the various additions to the ancient Thermæ which have lately been
brought into the open air, including the large central bath, with its
ambulatory, &c. The discovery of antiquities at Zoan, in Egypt, formed
the subject of a discourse by Mr. Flinders Petrie, who exhibited some of
the objects which had been found. Many of these were taken from the
residence of a man of consequence in Egypt, and included articles of
domestic use and personal ornamentation,--statues, combs. The last paper
read was by Mr. E. Peacock, F.S.A., and comprised some interesting notes
on the curious custom of swan marking, or “swan-upping.”
LONDON AND MIDDLESEX ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--A crowded conversazione was
held at Skinners’ Hall on Wednesday evening, Nov. 12; Mr. Alfred White,
F.S.A., presided. Mr. G. Laurence Gomme read a paper on “The Early
Municipal History of London,” touching upon its charters and
institutions, its corporations and public bodies. Mr. J. D. Mathews
followed with some “Reminiscences of the Church and Parish of St. John
the Baptist upon Walbrook.” Mr. John E. Price then read a paper “On the
Recent Discoveries made on the Line of the Inner Circle Railway and at
Bevis Marks.” He said the antiquarian treasures turned up in the course
of tunnelling for the new railway were numerous and interesting. There
were, first of all, Roman sculpture and masonry in position, and the
same disjointed and used for other purposes by builders of more recent
periods. The fragments of Roman statuary were numerous, and for the most
part well preserved along the route taken by the excavations; scrolls
and inscriptions being also found. Roman art now and then came to light.
The remains of pottery discovered were slight, and not of exceptional
interest. At the close of his address the lecturer suggested that a fund
should be started and subscriptions invited, in order to purchase or
protect the numerous relics constantly being brought to light in London
and elsewhere. Among the most interesting articles exhibited was Mr.
Walford’s portrait of Dr. Johnson by Sir J. Reynolds, which was engraved
in our July number for 1883; there was also a collection of plans, maps,
and archæological fragments relating mainly to the city.
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHÆOLOGY.--_Nov. 4_, Dr. S. Birch, President, in
the chair. Mr. P. Le Page Renouf read a paper “On some Religious Texts
of the Early Egyptian Period preserved in Hieratic Papyri of the
British Museum.” The President described four fragments of papyrus
belonging to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, and exhibited by
the Secretary of the Science and Art Department. Mr. E. A. Budge read
some notes on Egyptian stelæ, principally of the eighteenth dynasty.
ST. PAUL’S ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--_Oct. 28_, Mr. J. P. Seddon in the
chair. Mr. Hugh Stannus read a paper on “The decoration of St. Paul’s
Cathedral,” in which he described the principles of treatment which he
regarded as correct, including the “articulation” of the dome design
with the architectural substructure. A short discussion followed, in
which Mr. Micklethwaite, Mr. G. H. Birch, and Mr. Statham took part. Mr.
Micklethwaite urged the desirability of first settling the future
arrangement of the cathedral for worship, and its complete furniture (in
the widest sense) for that purpose, before deciding on the treatment of
the culminating point in the decoration. Mr. Statham recommended a
treatment of the dome in eight partitions, such a treatment being rather
suited to an octagon dome, such as that at Florence, and being, in fact,
a contradiction of the actual architectural structure of a hemispherical
dome, and tending to weaken its effect of space and mystery, and reduce
the dome from poetry to prose. Mr. Seddon summed up in favour of this
latter view.
NEW SHAKSPERE.--_Oct. 24_, Mr. F. J. Furnivall, Director, in the chair.
The Chairman congratulated the society on reaching its one hundredth
meeting. In speaking of work done during the past year, he called
attention to Mr. S. L. Lee’s work on “As You Like It,” and that of the
Rev. W. A. Harrison on “Richard III.,” as examples of critical work; he
also spoke of the success of the Society’s performance of Shakespearian
music in chronological order; and took the blame on himself for the
delay in the appearance of the “old spelling” edition, mentioning some
points in which the editors are endeavouring to make the edition as
complete as possible. The following papers were read: by Miss Leigh-Noel
“On Shakespeare’s Garden of Girls: I. Hothouse Flowers--Juliet, Imogen,
Ophelia,” and by Mr. E. Flügel, giving some early German criticisms on
Shakespeare by an ancestor of his own (1699), noticing Shakespeare as
not a learned man, not worth much attention, and greatly inferior to
Dryden.
NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PRESERVING THE MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD.--_Oct. 28_
and 30, twenty-four new members, including Lords Dartmouth and
Wharncliffe, and the Bishop of Chester, were elected. Reports as to the
work of the Society in the following cases were approved: The replacing
of four brasses in Cheam Church; enclosure of the De Ros effigy, near
York; restoration of the Barnewall altar-tomb at Lusk, Ireland;
replacement of memorial slabs in Milford Church, and in the church of
St. Michael in Coslany, Norwich; headstone in Chetwynd churchyard.
Reports from the Executive Committee on the following cases were placed
before the Council: The replacement of the “Pedlar’s Window” in Lambeth
Church; restoration of the monument of Sir Laurence Washington, in
Garsdon Church; preservation of the De Vere effigies at Earl’s Colne;
removal of memorial slabs from Bishops Stortford Church; and of the
Blackhall monument from Totnes Church; the replacement of memorial slabs
in Bishops Cannings Church; publication of registers and inscriptions in
Banstead Church. It was stated that the work of the Society could be
greatly enlarged if larger funds were forthcoming.
HELLENIC.--_Oct. 23_, Professor C. T. Newton, C.B., in the chair. The
Rev. Edmond Warre, Head Master of Eton, read a paper on “The Raft of
Ulysses,” as described in the fifth book of the Odyssey. By personal
research and observation of modern processes of shipbuilding, the writer
had arrived at a clear idea of the construction of the raft in question,
and set forth his conclusions in detail, illustrating them by two models
of a raft and of an ancient axe and adze, which had been made under his
direction in the School of Mechanics at Eton. Mr. Warre alluded to a
confirmation of his theory which he had lately seen in the construction
of certain flat vessels which are used at Portsmouth for raising heavy
weights from the water. Mr. Newton, after thanking Mr. Warre for his
paper, reminded the audience that there existed in the British Museum
two genuine fragments of ancient vessels--(1) a bronze figure-head from
the Bay of Actium, and (2) a cross-beam from the floor of an ancient
galley, dredged up from the bottom of the Lake of Nemi. Professor Jebb
considered that Mr. Warre’s paper not only for the first time made quite
clear the passage in the Odyssey, but also explained the poetical use of
the term σχἑδια for ships in general in a passage in the “Hecuba” of
Euripides, because it snowed that such a raft seen from land would
really resemble a ship. Mr. E. A. Gardner read a paper on some armour
and ornaments from Kertch, which were now in the new Museum at Oxford.
After a description of the several articles, Mr. Gardner showed that the
importance of these finds in the Crimea lay in the fact that, if not of
Athenian handiwork, they were certainly of Athenian design, and so might
be added to the comparatively scanty remnants of genuine Hellenic
metalwork. In connection with the representation of a camel upon one of
the ornaments, Mr. Newton pointed out that in a bronze found at Kameiros
and now in the British Museum, a man with an Assyrian cut of beard was
seated upon a kneeling camel. This bronze, though possibly of Phœnician
design, was found in association with other objects belonging to archaic
Greek art. Professor P. Gardner, alluding to the complete and sumptuous
way in which the results of these Russian discoveries were published,
said that in this respect despotic Russia set a good example to free
England.
ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS.--_Nov. 3_, Mr. Ewan Christian,
President, in his opening address alluded to the immense strides which
architecture had made during the last fifty years under Barry, Pugin,
Scott, Street, Burgess, Ruskin, and others. He compared the great
advantages which students of the present day enjoyed with those which
had to be sought for and only acquired after long years of study, at the
time when the Institute was founded, and said that the good old charter
under which they were incorporated had been carried out to the letter,
for they had promoted, as far as possible, the general advancement of
architecture, and the various arts and sciences connected with it. Mr.
G. Shaw-Lefevre, M.P., the First Commissioner of Works, in seconding a
vote of thanks to the president, said it had been his duty to clear away
the old Law Courts, and to consider how the west front of Westminster
Hall could be best restored. He had taken the advice of Mr. Pearson, one
of the most eminent architects in works of that kind, and he had
suggested that it should be restored to the condition in which it
existed during the reign of Richard II., the period when the Law Courts
were added to it. That would involve the building of a double-storied
cloister against the wall of the Hall, so that all the beautiful Norman
work would be preserved, and, whilst not concealed, it would be kept
from the effects of the atmosphere by which it was surrounded. As there
were different opinions, however, as to the expediency of this work, he
had decided to refer the question to a Select Committee of the House of
Commons, when evidence could be heard for or against it. Another great
improvement would be found in the works at the Tower--a mass of old
warehouses had been removed, the inner ballium wall and the Lanthorn
Tower had been rebuilt, and this was a work which the public would
greatly appreciate when it was complete. No grander field in the world
for architectural display was to be found than in the Metropolis. An
unbroken series of great buildings, showing every phase of architecture
during the last 800 years, was to be seen in it, specially in the Tower,
in Westminster Abbey, and in the works of Inigo Jones, Wren, and Barry.
He believed, however, that they had arrived at the end of the Gothic
revival, so far as secular buildings were concerned, although it might
flourish in other respects for many years. Public opinion and the
employment of experts were doing a great work in the selection of styles
for buildings of all kinds, and he hoped that the present race of
architects would be able to leave us buildings as beautiful as did those
who lived in the past.
PROVINCIAL.
CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.--_October 20_, Mr. J. W. Clark, M.A.,
President, in the chair. Mr. A. G. Wright exhibited five denarii of
Posthumus, with the legends FELICITAS · AVG: IOVI · STATORI · NEPTVNO ·
REDVCI: SAECVLI · FELICITAS: SARAPI · COMITI · AVG · from the
Beaconsthorpe hoard (1878): also a Roman bronze ear-ring and a mediæval
bronze signet-ring, both found at Stony Hill, Lakenheath, early in this
present year; also a photograph of a rare palæolithic implement found at
March, in 1877. The Rev. S. S. Lewis exhibited a first brass of Marcus
Aurelius,_rev._ HONOS with portrait of the Emperor erect, olive-branch
and cornucopiæ (141 A.D.), found in 1883 at Litlington. The Rev. G. F.
Browne exhibited an outlined rubbing of the Wilne font, a very intricate
and elaborate piece of early work, with twelve bold characters round the
base, supposed to be runic or Oriental, and, in the latter case,
probably Palmyrene. Mr. Browne showed next a rubbing of the cross at
Hawkswell, near Catterick, with the inscription on a small panel, _Hæc
est crux sancti jacobi_: “This is the Cross of the holy James.” The
letters have now almost entirely perished. Bede says that James the
Deacon, who was with Paulinus when he Christianised Northumbria and
baptized so many thousands (A.D. 627), lived to a very advanced age near
Catterick, and that the place where he lived was called by his name.
Gale, in his Itineraries, said this was Akeburg. The only place now
known by any such name is a single farmhouse called on the ordnance map
Akebar, near Hawkswell Church. Mr. Browne found that _jacobi_ was spelt
_gacobi_ on the cross, and therefore supposed that it was pronounced in
Anglian times with a strong initial _y_, and with a short _o_, and asked
the people whether there was any place near beginning with Yak. He was
told that Akebar was pronounced locally Yakbur. This and the cross
together made it practically certain that James the Deacon lived at
Akebar, _i.e._, Jacob-burh, or Yakŏbur, and was buried at Hawkswell. The
close resemblance of the panel and the inscription to Welsh crosses made
Mr. Browne suspect a British influence, and he thought this gave the key
to a great puzzle in the early Church history of Northumbria. Nennius
said that Rum (or Rumin), son of Urien, baptized Edwin and the
Northumbrians, when it is known that Paulinus was the baptizer, and
there is nothing to show that Paulinus was Rum. James had an ally in
Romanus, the chaplain of Queen Eanfleda, who was the first infant
baptized in Northumbria. This Romanus may account for the British
character of James’s monument, and may be the Rum or Rumin who has
puzzled historians. The Jarrow inscription, _In hoc singulari anno vita
redditur mundo_, had always been taken as a hopeless puzzle. Mr. Browne
showed that the stone on which it is cut had formed part of the wall of
the original building, in which also was a stone setting forth that the
church was dedicated in the fifteenth year of King Ecfrid (A.D. 684) and
the fourth year of Abbat Ceolfrid. This would give a year to which the
inscription might refer, if it could be shown that any very remarkable
restoration took place in that year. Mr. Browne showed from passages in
Bede that it was the year in which the Abbot of Monkwearmouth and many
of his monks died of a pestilence which ravaged the district, and
especially Jarrow, which is not heard of after that year. Hence the
reference was to the cessation of the plague in the year 684. Mr. O. C.
Pell, after stating the strong grounds for supposing that there were
many “libere tenentes” in existence at the time of Domesday Survey, and
that they appear in the “Inquisitio Eliensis” as _villani_ holding acres
of demesne land, argued--from (among other examples) an entry in the
“Inquisitio Eliensis” respecting Chatteris Manor--that the _carucæ_ of
the “lords” and the associated _carucæ_ of the “homines” were of one and
the same uniform standard for rating purposes and for measuring areas of
_terræ ad carucam_, and showed thereby that this standard was the
capacity of a plough drawn by eight oxen. The necessary consequence
appeared to be that there must have been at least 324 “homines” holding
virgates in villenage in the Isle of Ely alone. This theory was proved
to be correct by a comparison of Domesday Survey with the surveys of
certain manors contained in old MSS. of 1221 and 1277.