726 Remarks on, and Corrections for, Bigland's Gloucestershire. [August, mas, 1456, Mr. B. fpeaks of the mitre under their heads as their cognizance, which I doubt, and rather incline to believe their helmets, the ufual pillows on which fuch figures recline their beads. Of the two figures in English Bicknor church, which are engraved by Mr. Bigland, he fays, "Whether the upper figure be an ecclefiaftick or female is left to the decifion of more intelligent Antiquaries. The effigies of men are, almoft without exception, without armour in the age in which thefe appear to have been sculptured." The figure in question is evidently that of a man, and the habit that of an ecclefiaftick. The effigies of men from the earliest anti quity were dreffed in the two habits, ecclefiaftical or military. "On the base of the window of the South aile are three cumbent figures, with a lamb couchant at the feet of each: thefe do not exceed a yard in length. Thefe are called by Dr. Parfons the children of Thomas Lord Berkeley, viz. Thomas, Maurice, and Edmund, who died in their infancy." See the account of thefe in Mr. Gough's "Sepulchral Monuments," I. 114, plate XLIV. The name of Bourton on the Water, antiently written Burgton, implies a large borough, which is confirmed by the ruins of many houfes to be feen often after great rains. The manor belonged to Evebam abbey 35 Henry III. Walter de Burgton held it 15 Edward III. John Koufe and others 49 Edward III. After the diffolution it was granted, 4 Eliz. to Edmund Lord Chandos, whofe grandfon Grey fold it to Sir Thomas Ed. monds, treasurer of the houfchold and privy counfellor to Charles 1. whofe daughter married Henry Lord Dela ware, and their grandfon fold it to Charles Trimler, Efq. who held it in Atkyns's time. It came in 1764 to the family of the Ingrams of Cotele St. Al wyn's, now Tho. I. Efq. Mr. Collet had in Atkyns's time a handfome house and large cftate here. The rectory is va lued at 2201. per annum. George Ver non, rector of Sariden, co. Oxt. held it 1767. It came to the Vernon family about the beginning of this century. Henry and Caroline V. prefented his fon Richard, LL B. 1720, on his father's death; and on his deceafe, 1752, Do. rothy V. fpinter, their relation, prefented William V. M.A. fecond fon of William V. of Horfington, co. Lincoln, Eq. by Jane daughter of Sir Henry Gough, of Perry Hall, in Staffordshire, Knt. to whom the was directed by Admiral V. merely for the name, and who died fingle, April 28, 1780, having been prefented to the rectory of Hanbury in Worcestershire, 1764, of the family of which place his father was a younger branch. On his death, Charles V. prefented William Hunter, M.A. 1781, and the next year Edward V. clerk. The prefentation of this perfon occafioned very fenfible and acute "Obfervations on the rapid Decline of the Clerical Credit and Character," Svo, 1782, (LII. 896.) attempted to be anfwered in "A Letter to the late Rector of Bourton," which was very ably replied to in "A Vindication of the Ob fervations, &c." all the fame year. The next prefentation, if not the advowson of the rectory, was, if I miftake not, left 1761 by Mrs. Dorothy V. to All Souls College, Oxford; but a caveat was entered, and the bequeft, after a long fuit, fet afide; and her charitable legacy of 540l. to the poor of this, Lower Slaughton, and Clopton parishes, is now in Chancery. It is believed the prefent incumbent purchased the advowfon, and, taking orders, prefented himself, or was prefented, on the refignation of Mr. Hunter. ton. The rector has only one-third of the corn and hay tithes here, but the whole tithes of the corn and hay in SlaughThirty acres of meadow, and eighty-five of arable, belong to the glebe. The rectory-houfe is large, and well-built of fione. The church is built of free-ftone, and had a South. aile and centre tower; the length of the whole was 180 feet by 21 feet: the South aile, 25 feet in width, is called Clopton aile, becaufe built for the inhabitants of that parish. The tower was fo very an tient, as to be afcribed by tradition to the Romans, by whom probably were only meant the Roman Catholicks. The pillars of the North door were, alternately round and fquare, and the capitals adorned with Saxon foliage. Here was a chantry in honour of the Virgin Mary. Three inconfiderable brooks meet in the parith, from Guiting, Slaughton, and Swell, and joining below what are from Sherburne, run down to Windrush, under the name of Windrush river. Nethercot is a hamlet of this parish, held of the honour of Wallingford, under Edmund Earl of Cornwall, 25 Edward I. belonging to Eveshamn ab bey, and granted in truft 10 James I. The parish in Atkyns's time had 70 houfes, and 350 inhabitants, including 35 freeholders. Mr. URBAN, IN D. H. Aug. 11. N anfwer to Mr. Green's enquiry, p. 612, I would obferve, that Sir Henry Spelman, in his excellent Gloffary, thus defines villate: "Dicuntur ville inbabitantes, villæ quafi communitas." Officium Coronatoris. "Statim accedere debent (coronatores) & ftatim mandare 4 villatas vicinas, vel 5 vel 6, quod fint coram ipfis in tali loco. Et infra appreciare faciant terras, blada & catalla, fi cut ftatim vendere poffint & ftatim liberentur toti villate ad refpondendum de prædictis coram jufticiariis." This will be ftill better understood upon comparing it with the coroner's precept at prefent iffued to the conftables of the four, five, or fix next townships, to return a competent number of good and lawful men of their townships to appear before him to make inquifition. The township first give notice to the coroner; and, if the body is buried before he come, the township fhall be amerced. In the antient records of Glastonbury abbey we find, villata debet arare bis in fatione hyemali," &c. Perhaps villata was fynonymous with the villa dimidia, which is oppofed to villa integra, but not fufficiently defined. Spelman's Gloffary, v. hamel or hamleta, which is another fubdivifion mentioned in the Statutes of Exeter, 14 Ed. I. requiring the names de tories les villes & hamlets qui font en fon wapentake, hundred, ou franchife, and the attendance of eight men from each ville entiere, fix from each demie ville, and four from each bamlette *. Du Cange quotes Fleta, VI. c. 51, faying, "villa ex pluribus manfionibus eft vicinata, & villata ex pluribus vicinis." Chron. Joh. Whethamftedii, p. 383, edit. Hearne. Copy of a bill prefented to the King by the Commons in Parliament, 1456, "Ac etiam quod omnes honores caftra, dominia, ville, villata, maneria, terræ, &c." where Hearne's note is, "villa ex multis conftat manfionibus vicinis, villata ex multis villis itidem vicinis: ita ut * Entire villages Sir H. conjectures to have confifted of ten freemen or frank pledges, demi-villages of five, and hamlets of lefs than five. (Black ft. Introd. § 4. I. 115). Villata integra, in the record referred to by Mr. Green, implies a division of villata, as well as villa, into dimidia. villata propriè fit villa major-villarum plurium adunatio." Bp. Kennet defines it only, "a small village, opposed to burgus, a larger town;" and fo it is named in a charter of Edward I. 1288, cited by him, P. A. p. 301, "in omnibus burgis & villatis noftris." The gold coins in your last month, p. 565, found near Croydon, are of the Emperor Valentinian, who reigned from A D. 364 to 375; the first has an infcription not given by Occo or Biragi, VICTORES AVGVSTI, it being generally VictoRIA AVGG; the P. 632. Mr. Butler's Lives of the VILLA & VILLATA explained. A VILLA was a town of any magnitude: Villata, the people, or rather the chief men or community of the villa. By both was meant an affemblage of ordinary people, inhabiting contiguous manfions. Vide Ingulphi Hiftoriam, apud Gall. p. 14 & P. 533 & Dugdale, Mon. I. p. 287; & Fleta, lib. vi. c. 51 ; & Bracton, fol. 212, 434; & Spelmanni Gloffarium. A villa fingly, if it were confiderable enough, or, if fmall, with fome others adjoining, compofed a diftrict or tything. Auxiliar villa were members or appendages to the chief villa, called the caput. Thefe diftricts were divifions of the hundred, as hundreds were divifions of hires or provinces. Each diftrist was administered by a reeve and four men; the latter were free tenants, or tenants in villenage, as it happened. They feem to have been chofen yearly by the villata; it was their office to fuperintend weights and meafures, and affize of ale; to apprehend tor murder; to let no perfon who was of free condition, but without matter or property, live in the district without pledges or bondsmen, who fhould be re 1ponsible 728 Villa & Villata.Fairy Rings.-Rats and Mice. [August, Mr. URBAN, COL S. N. R. Auguft 10. OL. TOWNLEY, in his "Journal in the Ifle of Man, 1789," juft publifhed, fays, "I had often admired, with a kind of wonder, those green rings fo often obfervable upon many dry heaths and commons in various parts of England, called by the common people Fairy rings; and one day determined, if poffible, to find cut the reafon why they were generally feen in that circular form, and why too the grafs growing upon them fhould be fo diftinguishable from that upon the furrounding turf by a riciver or deeper tinge of green. I cut up feveral fods as deep as the fine mould reached, by which means I found feveral brown grubs, some moving, and fome in a flate of quietude; but the greatest number of them in motion, with their heads in the felf fame direction as if they were purfuing each other. I found the foil under the rings to be far better pulverifed than that under the furrounding heath, where there were no infects vilible; and the state of the foil will eafily account for the deeper tinge of green in the grafs growing upon them; but why thofe infects fhould fo invariably work and move in a circular form is above my comprehenfion; therefore, will freely leave the ftaunch believers in fairy tales in full and peaceable poffeffion of their circular property." 1. 208. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, P. Q Frome, Aug. 6. MUCH, of late, has been faid the Gentleman's Magazine about Fatry-rings; but as it has been only "about it and about it," and the origin of that phenomenon remaining as much hid in obfcurity as heretofore, I would beg to remind your readers that the feafon now is when thofe appearances are exhibited in the fairest light. In a fmall paddock near me there is the fineft fpecimen of Fairy-rings I have ever noticed; having, at this time, the circles or ellipfes of nearly twenty already perfected, befides many others which are in an unfinished state. I purpofe making repeated obfervations thereon, with a view of getting one step nearer to a discovery of the cause of thefe appearances; and, fhould any of your correfpondents favour me with bints of the different kinds of obfervations neceffary to be made on this occafion, their communications will be received with pleasure by A. CROCKER. Mr. URBAN, Aug. 14. BE I moft heartily agree with your correfpondent, that getting rid of fuch a nuifance is of great importance, if the comfort and happinefs of life can be accounted fuch. Many a night's reft have thofe vermin deprived me of, as well as the whole of my family; and I fhall be extremely happy if this mode of driving them off fucceeds as well with this gentleman as it has done with me. A. J. PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT, 1791. (Continued from p. 640.) H. OF COMMONS. A PETITION, complaining of an undue return for Stirling, was prefented, read, and ordered to be raken into confideration on Friday, the 26th day of August next. Mr. Hobart brought up the report of the Committee on the Quebec Conftitution bill; when Mr. Fox faid, he fhould take the fenfe of the Houfe on two points in it; firft, on the claufe providing hereditary legiflators for Upper and Lower Canada; fecondly, on the claufe admitting the number thirty to be sufficient for the Affembly of Lower Canada. He would not trouble the Houfe with arguments on the fubject, having given his fentiments fully when the bill was in the Committee. Col. Simcoe fpoke in favour of the whole bill, and was confident that it would be agreeable to the inhabitants of both provinces. The queftion was then put on the first claufe; on which the Houfe divided, Ayes 88, Noes 39. Upon the fecond clause being read, The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved an amendment, to leave out the word thirty, and infert fifty. Mr. Fox objected to this number as ftill infufficient, and divided the Hoofe on his propofition of inferting the words one bundred. The Houfe dividing, there appeared for Mr. Fox's amendinent, Ayes 40, Noes 91. H. Browne brought in a bill for the pre. vention of fictitious characters being given to fervants within the precincts of London and Westminster; which was read the first time. The Chancellor of the Exchequer prefented a meffage from his Majesty, withing the Houfe to make provifion for the younger branches of the Royal Family; which he moved to be referred to the confideration of the Committee of Supply on Friday next. Ordered. The Quebec bill was read the third time, and paffed. The Houfe then went into a Committee of Ways and Means; when The Chancellor of the Exchequer opened his annual budget, and delivered the fhorteft fpeech that has been made upon this fubject for feveral years. The items of the annual expenditure he briefly stated as follows: Navy, 2,131,000l.; Army, 1,853,000l.; Ordnance, 443,6781.; Milcellaneous fervices, 230.000l. Befides thefe, he flated fome other particulars, the total of which amounted, he faid, to 5,728,000l. He then enumerated the taxes for the fupply of this fund, and ftated, that their total exceeded their expenditure by a few thousand pounds; and concluded with moving, "that, towards the fupply to be granted to his Majesty, the fum of 2,375,000l. be iffued out of the growing furplus of the Confolidated Fund." Mr. Sheridan faid, that the expenditure of the prefent year was greater by a no lefs fum than 1,300,000l. than it had been predicted by the Revenue Committee of 1786; and what was then allowed to be the permanent peace eftablishment was at least half a million beyond what it had been computed by that Committee. After a long altercation between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Sheridan, the queflion was put, and carried. Mr. Hobart brought up the report of In the Commons, the fame day, Mr. the Committee of Ways and Means, GENT. MAG. Auguft, 1791. which 730 Parliamentary Proceedings of Lords and Commons for 1791. [August, which was read the first and fecond time, and agreed to. Mr. Haffey objected to the lottery, as deftructive of the morals and induftry of the people. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that, as people would gamble, the lottery might be looked on as a tax on that vice. The Attorney General moved for leave to bring in a bill for establishing a court of civil jurifdiction in Newfoundland, to extend only to contracts, accounts, and perfonal trefpafs, and to be limited for a year. Mr. M. A. Taylor, and the two Mr. Baftards, objected to the court already exifting in that ifland, as an inconvenience, nay, as a nuifance; the trade of that country was on a rapid decline, and likely to be fo; it was, therefore, the wifdom of the Executive Government to encourage it. The bill was read the first time. Mr. Dundas, after prefacing his motion, by depicting many inconveniences that feamen, marines, and the relations of those who were deceased, labour under, previous to obtaining their wages, moved for leave to bring in three bills for the more effectually redreffing that grievance; which being given, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Dundas, the Attorney and Solicitor General, and Mr. Martin, were ordered to prepare, and bring in, the fame. H. OF LORDS. May 20. Refumed the farther confideration of the caufe Lick borrow versus Malon, and difpatched feveral private matters of course, and adjourned till Monday. In the Commons, the fame day, Mr. Powys prefented a bill for the regulation of gaols; which was read the first time. Mr. Fox was confcious that every member of that House was so well acquainted with his duty, as to know it was a principal part of it to watch the Executive Government. He then, in a long fpeech, went through the whole doctrine of libels, and the proceedings of the Court of King's Bench in Quo Warranto caufes, and moved for a Grand Committee of Courts of Juftice to fit on Tuesday next to confider thofe fubjects. measure ought to be adopted; he could not, however, agree to the fitting of the Grand Committee, as that would induce the people to imagine that the conduct of the Judges was cenfurable. The Chancellor of the Exchequer perfectly agreed with Mr. Fox in his opinion, but fuggefted, that the better mode would be by a direct motion for a bill for that purpose. Mr. Fox hereupon withdrew his motion, and afterwards moved "for leave to bring in a bill to remove all doubts refpecting the rights and functions of Juries in criminal cafes ;" and "for leave to bring in a bill to explain and amend the Quo Warranto act." Leave was granted; when Mr. Fox, Mr. Erfkine, and the Attorney and Solicitor General, were ordered to prepare, and bring in, the fame. In the Commons, the fame day, the Speaker informed the Houfe, that the Lords had infringed the privilege of the Houfe, by amending thofe claufes in a road bill which impofed certain tolls. He ftated two ways by which the privileges of the Houfe were to be maintained; the firft, if the Houfe thought proper to acquiefce in the amendment, was to throw out the prefent bill, and bring in another with an altered title, and the amended claufes; or, if they rejected the amendments, to demand a conterence, and give their reafons against the alterations made by their Lordships. Mr. Erskine feconded the motion, contending, that the criminal juftice of the country ought to remain in the hands of Mr. Pelbam approved of the latter the people. mode; and moved, firfi, to negative the The Attorney General agreed that some amendment; which being agreed to, he |