1826.]

REVIEW.-Baker's Northamptonshire.

plate, by Blore and H. Le Keux, of its magnificent Gothic hall, now fitted up as a Saloon, 54 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 43 feet high. The Knightleys are descended from Rainald the Domesday possessor of Knightley in Staffordshire, and their achievement marshals the almost unprecedented number of 334 quarterings, each of which, if the reader please, he may trace to its authority in their copious pedigree. The custom of Church-scot, an offering to the Church of the first fruits of harvest, ordained by Ina, King of the West Saxons, in the seventh century, receives a complete illustration in the endowment of Fawsley vicarage. The Lodge, a jointure-house of the Knightleys, now in ruins, affords a picturesque subject for Mr. Blore's burin; and some ancient carved panels in the Church, one of them grotesquely exhibiting a scene of "when the cat's the mice may play," are delicately etched by Miss Baker; who at p. 294, presents us with a vignette of an old horse-bridge over the Charwell, a river which very ingloriously rises in the cellar of Charwell House, a grange near Charwelton, though afterwards dignified by a confluence with the classic Isis, at Oxford.

away,

At Litchborough, p. 404, is a view of the residence of William Grant, esq. who has kept a register of the growth of trees, which deserves parti

cular notice.

A view of the Royal Military Depot at Wedon, was published in Part I. It is here thus described, p. 452:

"In 1803 an act of parliament passed for the purchase of about 53 acres in Wedon, to be vested in trustees for erecting Buildings thereon for the service of His Majesty's Ordnance;' and by vote of parliament 100,000l. was annually appropriated to the works till completed. Subsequent purchases have increased the estate to about 150 acres. The accompanying engraving exhibits a general view of the Royal Military Depot,' as it is usually styled, rising from the valley, and stretching above the village of Lower Wedon. The residences of the governor and principal officers form a handsome centre, with two detached wings; and on the summit of the hill, contiguous to the Chester road, are barracks for 500 men, where a regiment of the line is generally quartered for the protection of the place. At the bottom of the lawn, south of the governor's house, are eight storehouses and four magazines, capable of stowing 200,000 stand of small arms, with a

35

proportion of field ordnance and ammunition; and a cut having been made between the two rows of buildings into the Grand Junction canal, which forms the eastern boundary of the government estate, a ready communication is effected for transporting the stores to every part of the kingdom. An hospital for 40 patients, and workshops for the necessary artificers, are attached to the establishment."

Edgcote, p. 500, is historically famous for military events, A. D. 1469 (9 Edw. IV.), and 1642 (18 Car.); and tradition insists upon a battle having been fought there between the Danes and Saxons.

BRINAVIS, one of the Roman stations in the eighteenth iter of Richard of Cirencester, is satisfactorily fixed by Mr. Baker at Wurdon, p. 530. Stukeley placed it at Banbury, and the Rev. Mr. Leman, in his valuable commentary on Richard, at Black-Grounds near Chipping-Norton, a misprint, as he afterwards admitted, for ChippingWardon. It is the intermediate station between Isannavaria near Daventry, and Elia Castra, Alchester near Bicester.

St. Andrew's Priory manor in Sulgrave, p. 513, belonged to the Washingtons, whose pedigree deduces them from Whitfield, 'co. Lancaster.

Lawrence Washington sold this estate in Jac. (1610), and retired to Brington, where he died. His second son, John, emigrated to America about the middle of the same century, and was great-grandfather of the FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STates, which combined with the circumstance of the neighbouring parish of Wardon furnishing the descent of FREDERICK LORD NORTH, prime minister of the mother country during her struggle with her rebellious children, presents, as Mr. Baker observes, such a singular and interesting coincidence, as the local pride of the historian could not suffer to pass unnoticed.

Amongst other subjects which this volume brings before the reader, BioGRAPHY receives a due share of the author's attention. Memoirs are given of Thomas Lord Cromwell; Henry Holland, a learned papist of the sixtranslators of the Rhenish Testament; teenth century, one of the principal John Oxenbridge an eccentric divine, whom Wood characterizes as "composed of a strange hodg-podg of opinions, though Dr. Mather gives him

credit for great piety; Dod the decalogist, and his grandson Bishop Wilkins; Bishop Andrew; Parkhurst the lexicographer; Alban Butler; Peters the amiable divine and painter; Smith the mezzotinto engraver; Nenia Doug las, and other distinguished persons.

In addition to the embellishments already noticed, this portion contains Views of the Palace of Holdenby, presented by the Hon. G. Agar Ellis; Middleton Cheney Church, by Archdeacon Churton; Barnwell Church, by J. P. Ord, esq.; Oundle Church, by J. W. Russell, esq.; a fine brass at Charwelton; remarkable doors of several other Churches; Priory and Corporation Seals, &c.; together with a lithographic drawing of a Fossil Fish, found near Stowe-Nine-Churches, and presented to the author by J. Flesher, esq. in such a matchless state of preservation as to exhibit not only the form but the very colour of its scales and fins!

As the book itself must by this time be in the hands of most of our antiquarian readers, we forbear to multiply quotations from it.

Discrimination is seldom shewn by unqualified praise; but in the present instance we candidly acknowledge that our critical optics can discover nothing blame-worthy. Some remark might perhaps be made on the length of time which has elapsed since the publication of Part I., did not the interval appear to have been so well employed as to require no apology. "Festina lentè," it must be admitted, is the best maxim whereby to regulate many other paces besides those of a County Historian, and we feel confident Mr. Baker will neither loiter by the way, nor make more haste than good speed. We thank him heartily for what he has already achieved, and assure him of our best wishes for the successful progress of his laborious undertaking.

Excited by the most amiable of local emotions, and regarding with honest pride the ancient honours of his na tive place, the History of Tamworth was commenced by one of the authors when a boy; and his collection seems to have kindled a similar spirit in a brother, who with very cominendable enthusiasm has condensed and arranged the crude materials bequeathed to him, and adding from his own stores so much as was necessary to complete the work, has put forth the present number as a sample of his labours in local history.

The first part has been occupied, and perhaps too diffusely, with individual biography-gleaned too from sources often questionable, and mixed with matter not always authentic, To separate fiction from England's early history-to divorce (if we may use the term) Truth from the legendary lore to which she has been unnaturally allied, is now a hopeless task. All that remains is to receive with caution the narratives which the early chroniclers, as superstitious as prejudiced, have transmitted to us; and as we cannot all be expected to weigh authorities, and to confront contradictory witnesses, we must be content that the "olden time" shall rest with the dark shadows of imperfect tradition upon it-certain as we are, that the opportunities of preparing authentic records were as limited, as the disposition to legendary romance was common and irresistible.

The author of the work under consideration, we think, therefore, might have more briefly adverted to the period of Anglo-Saxon history, when Tamworth was the Royal seat of the kingdom of Mercia. Retaining with advantage such parts as related more immediately to local events, he could have dispensed with much of that ge neral information which is hardly within the province of Topography, and of the entire accuracy of which we may be permitted to express some modest doubts. However, this is but a matter of taste; and as such materials have been collected at considerable expence of time and research, they may serve to enliven the book to WE consider this work as creditable the general reader, if he observe the not only to the antiquarian spirit of its caution we have ventured to suggest. compilers, but also to their industry. Of the early History of Tamworth, and talents. It has been evidently a we learn that its name is derived from task entered upon con amore," and its principal river the Tame, prefixed continued under the same influence. to the Saxon word peopd, prædium,

2. The History of the Borough and Parish of
Tamworth in the Counties of Warwick and
Stafford. By John and Henry-Wood
Roby. Part I. 4to. pp. 58. Nichols

and Son.

1826.]

REVIEW.-Druery's Notices of Great Yarmouth.

a farm. In the eighth century it is recorded as a Royal residence, and was successively inhabited by four Kings of Mercia, Offa, Coenwulf, Berhtwulf, and Burhred. It is added, "On the flight of Burhred, Ceolwulf II. one of his officers, having sworn fealty to the Danes, promised to provide food for their armies, and to deliver up his office whenever they required, was elevated by them to the deserted and degraded throne. This abject monarch reigned about three years, which time he employed in the most rigorous oppression of his wretched subjects, when, having displeased his Danish masters, he was stripped of his robes of royalty, and perished miserably. In him Mercia's titular sovereignty ended for ever, having existed from its first establishment under Creoda, anno 585, to this period, anno 877, 292 years, and been governed by a succession of 21 Kings."

During the reign of Edward the Second, or the Martyr, Tamworth was distinguished by a Royal mint; and various specimens of coins, afterwards struck here, are noticed in succession, on the authority of Ruding.

It appears from the Advertisement prefixed to this work, that its further progress depends upon the success of the present number. We can hardly believe, distinguished as Tamworth is for an opulent and intelligent population, that so creditable an attempt to trace its local history, such indefatigable research employed to rescue its ancient glory, and so much genuine talent exercised in clothing the rude materials of its early day in pleasing and not inelegant language, can be viewed with coldness or indifference.

3. Historical and Topographical Notices of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, and its Environs, including the Parishes and Hamlets of the Half-hundred of Lothingland in Suffolk. By John-Henry Druery. London, Nichols and Son, &c. Pust 8v0, pp. 386.

THIS interesting volume being ushered into the world under the modest title of "Notices," it would be obviously unfair towards the author to expect a lengthened detail either of the early history of the Borough, or its present state and appearance. Yet in the latter department there are subjects, in our opinion, which might have been curtailed without lessening the interest of the work.

The early history is avowedly "a

rapid sketch of the leading contents of the laborious and voluminous Swinden," who has recorded so much of Yarinouth history, that, "with the exception of the public buildings and the more recent records of local events, little perhaps remains to be added." This notice of the public buildings, and the record of local events, chiefly in the form of a chronology at the end of the volume, constitutes what relates to the Borough of Yarmouth. Respecting the Roman station at the adjoining village of Caister, Mr. Druery

says:

"Little if any of the ancient camp at Caister at present remains, although Spelman mentions the existence of a wall and fortification in his time; but whether Roman or otherwise could not be ascertained with any certainty. Its claim therefore to be considered the ancient Garianonum rests principally upon the silent testimony of the Roman coins and other relics taken up at various times near its site, while that at Burgh, from its superior durability, appears calculated to point out with certainty to future ages the long disputed fact of its identity." P. 5.

The early history of the Borough, down even to the reign of Charles II. presents the reader with little else than a continued chain of litigation and difficulty with the adjacent villages, chiefly respecting the line of boundary, although the bailiffs were frequently amerced for not annually peranibulating the town limits.

"About the year 1578 the town was upon the eve of being plunged into another law contest, had not the object in view disappeared as suddenly as it was in itself singularly uncommon. A part of the Scroby sand, which rises in the ocean three miles North of Yarmouth, having become dry, was covered with verdant grass, and the abode of numerous sea-fowl. In the summer-season the people of Yarmouth resorted there in parties of pleasure; and two years after the bailiffs took formal possession of the island, giving an elegant entertainment upon the occasion, which is recorded in the court-roll of that year. The claim was resisted by Sir Edward Clare, then lord of the manor of Scroby, who, conceiving himself entitled to it as parcel of that manor,

erected a frame of timber thereon, in testimony of his title. The acquisition of this island was the more valuable, as from its

proximity to other sands, stranded goods of great value were frequently lodged upon it by the currents and preserved. This happened particularly in 1582, when some silks, wax, and other rich merchandize, were dis

1826.]

REVIEW.-Archæologia, Vol. XXI.

to be inferior to any other in the kingdom, and excelled only by that of Haarlem in Holland. This instrument was first set up in 1733, but in the course of time becoming much dilapidated, it underwent about ten years since a complete repair under the direction of England, the celebrated organ builder. It is divided into three parts, and has eleven stops consigned to the great organ, five more to the choir, and eight others to the swell, which goes down to C, besides two octaves of pedal pipes." P. 61.

Among the public buildings, Mr. Druery has included the private residences of the gentry of the town, which is not only a misnomer, but we think too much space has been allotted to the description of the private collections of the individual occupants. This has more the appearance of the puff direct for the gratification of private feeling, than the information of the publick, and as such, better omitted. We feel compelled to say thus much, although some esteemed friends of our own have been honoured by this dis

tinction.

Yarmouth appears to have been highly favoured by the adherents and even relatives of Cromwell, and conse. quently took an active part in raising supplies for the service of the Parliament. Mr. Druery seems to be of opinion that one of the secret meetings at which the decapitation of the unfortunate monarch was determined on, was held in the house now occupied by John-Danby Palmer, esq. at that time the residence of John Carter, a violent presbyterian, and the bosom friend and adviser of Cromwell. President Bradshaw lived in the house now the Star Inn, and a daughter of Ireton also resided here. Miles Corbet, descended from a branch of the respectable family of that name in the county of Salop, was M.P. and Recorder of the Borough during part of the Commonwealth, and with John Corbet, another member of the same family, who succeeded Miles in representing the Borough in Parliament, graced the list of regicides, along with Col. William Goffe, one of the Members for the Borough in the following Parliament. Subsequently, Yarmouth has not been found wanting in loyalty and attachment to its sovereign.

A view of Yarmouth taken below the ferry; Yarmouth Roads and Pier, and the Burgh Castle, Suffolk, illustrate the first portion of the work.

39

We shall take another opportunity of noticing the parishes comprising the half-hundred of Lothingland.

4. Archæologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London. Vol. XXI. Part I. 4to. pp. 280.

THAT sentimental nightingale (and a fine singer he is) the soi-disant Geffrey Crayon, has the following beautiful passage concerning "Ancient Times."

"Our ancestors flourished in times full life roughly, but heartily, and vigorously; of spirit and hardihood when men enjoyed times wild and picturesque, which have furnished poetry with its richest materials, and the drama with its most attractive variety of characters and manners. The world has become more worldly. There is more of dissipation, and less of enjoyment. Pleasure has extended into a broader, but a shallower stream; and has forsaken many of those deep and quiet channels, where it flourished sweetly through the calm bosom of domestic life. Society has acquired a more enlightened and elegant tone, but it has lost many of its strong local peculia rites, its home-bred feelings, its honest fireside delights. The traditionary customs of golden-hearted antiquity, its feudal hospitalities, and lordly wassailings, have passed away with the baronial customs and stately manor-houses in which they were celebrated. They correspond with the shadowy hall, the great oaken gallery, and the tapestried parlour unfitted to the light showy colours and gay drawing-rooms of the modern villa."Sketch Book, vol. II. p. 9.

Such is the fairy-land in which Antiquaries like to expatiate; and Shakspeare never drew a more delightful picture of the innocent revels of Oberon and Ariel, than we Antiquaries could draw of the pleasure of our Ancestors, when eating, drinking, and sleeping in the days of yore. The evils of those days Antiquaries only behold, as spectators on shore behold storms; and to live in retrospect, like them, is the same thing in feeling, as to resort to the most happy days of early life, when every tick of the human clock was a pleasurable sensation. But the world is pleased to consider us a heavy set of humdrum fellows, who are pleased with what nobody else cares about, and have no talents for higher pursuits. Now we no more like one-eyed understandings,