Chapter XXXVI: Gilds of Norfolk--(Continued) (1)

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.