fifty-fix feet in length and twenty in breadth, and a chantry on the north fide, twenty feet in length and fourteen in breadth, erected and endowed by Sir Walter Hungerford: in the former is an old wooden pulpit, an immenfe flab, of rich granite, which forms the altar, and fome pieces of ancient armour-rude remains of the age of chivalry. A flat grave-ftone alfo is feen on the floor, cut with the figure of a knight in armour, and an imperfect infcription running round its edges, commemorating Sir Giles Hungerford; and attached to the fouth wall is a table monument of freestone, with this infcription:

"Tyme tryeth truth, quod (quoth) Walter Hungerford, knyght, who lyeth here, and Edward hys fon, to God's mercy in whom he trufts for ever. An°. D'. 1585, the vi of Defbr.' But the chapel contains the rareft curiofities of this fabric. Under its arch ftands an old table tomb, highly fculptured on the fides and ends, with coats of arms and human figures: the fullfized reprefentations of a knight and his lady are recumbent upon the top, the former cafed in armour, with a lion at his feet; the latter in the drefs of the times, her head refting on two cufhions, fupported by angels, and two dogs at the other extremity-the effi. gies of Sir Thomas Hungerford, who died Dec. 3d, 15c8, and Johanna his wife, who followed him in 1512. Connected with the north wall is another tomb of the fame kind, built of freeftone, gorgeously painted and gilt. It bears this infcription

"Edward Hungerford, knight, fonne to Walter Lord Hungerford, and late heir to Sir Walter Hungerford, deceased, the 5 daie of December 1607, and lieth here with Dame Jane his wife, daughter to Sir Anthony Hungerford, of Downe-Amny.' A third monument occurs on the weft fide of the chapel without any infcription, fo that we cannot tell for whem it was erected. It fhould feem, however, to be the burial-place of fome pious and prolific dame, as there are the effigies of an old lady kneeling at a defk, accompanied by four fons and five daughters, all in the fame devout pofture." P. 30.

"But thefe coftly fpecimens of ancient fepulchral maíonry are entirely

I

eclipfed by the magnificent monument which ftands in the centre of the cha pel, and is, perhaps, one of the fineft morfels of the kind in England. It is composed entirely of white polished marble, placed on steps of black marble, and fupporting the effigies of Sir Edward and Lady Margaret Hungerford; the one in complete armour, his feet refting on a wheatsheaf (the family creft), the other in a loose drefs, with a lion and anchor at her feet. The workmanship, as well as materials, are moft choice; the name of the fculptor does not appear, but as it was conftructed at a time when the nobility went to an immenfe expense in the last mementos of their grandeur, it was probably the work of the first artift of the day. A long Latin infcription is cut on the fouth fide of the monument, which is otherwise enriched with a profufion of quarterings. The date is 1648. A painting of the refurrection covers the ceiling, and beneath it appear the reprefentations of the two Saints James, St. John, St. Philip, St. Matthew, St. Thomas, and St. Bar tholomew. The crypt, or vault, under this chapel, exhibits a very extraordinary family party, the pickled re mains of eight of the Hungerfords, ranged by the fide of each other, cased in leaden coffins, and affuming the forms of Egyptian mummies, the faces prominent, the fhoulders fwelling out into their natural fhape, and the body gradually tapering towards the feet. The first of thefe, on the right, contains the remains of Lord Hungerford; fecond, thofe of his wife; third, the firft wife of Sir Edward Hungerford, jun.; fourth, Sir Edward Hungerford himfelf; fifth, the fecond wife of Sir Edward Hungerford; fixth (in the lefthand corner), Mary Hungerford, who married Thomas Shaa, Efq.; and whole monument is in the chapel above. The two children enclosed in lead, and lying on the breafts of the larger coffins, are the offspring of two of the wives of Sir Edward Hungerford (for he had three in all), who both died in childbed. One of the full-fized leaden coffins has a perforation on the right fhoulder, through which a stick may be introduced, and the embalming matter extracted; this appears to be a thick vifcous liquid, of a brown colour, and refinous fmell and confift ence; the fiefh is decompofed by the

admiflion

STONEHENGE TESSELLATED

PAVEMENTS.

"IT feems now to be generally underftood and allowed, that Stonehenge is a monument of Druidical fuperftition. Mr. King, indeed, with much learning and ingenuity, in the first part of his noble work Munimenta Antiqua, has established this beyond controverfy; and at the fame time endeavoured to prove, that the rites obferved in it were precifely fimilar to the fuperftitious practices of the ancient Moabites; that Stonehenge was the great bigh place of British Paganifm; that the outer ftone was the pillar of memorial; the mafs at the entrance of the ditch, the flaughtering-ftone for killing the victims; the excavations in the banks, pits for receiving the blood; the Trilithons, high altars of oblation for placing the facrifices upon before they were confumed; and the great ftone within the whole, the spot on which the laft rite was performed, that of confuming the victims by fire. On confidering moft accurately the whole of this magnificent remain of antiquity, and reading with equal attention the obfervations of Mr. King upon it, I cannot but profefs myself to be completely convinced by his arguments of, the truth of what he wishes to eftablith; but, in addition to his conclufion, I would further affert, that although Stonehenge be a Druidical monument, it ftill is of confiderably later date than many other remains of a fimilar nature in the kingdom. Indeed I do not believe it to have been the work of the original inhabitants of Britain. Compared with that vaft Atructure at Abury, about eighteen miles from Stonehenge, it affumes a degree of elegance, that at once proves the arts must have made a confiderable progrefs between the conftruction of the former and the latter. The one is more vaft and majeftic, but at the fame time more rude and inartificial; the other, on a less stupendous scale, but more correct and elaborate. How is this to be accounted for? I conceive in the following manner: that Stonehenge was built by the fecond large body of Belgic Gauls (who palled over into this country about five hundred VOL. V.-No. XLVII.

found their way here), and that Abury was conftructed by the first party. Severe and manifold, doubtlefs, were the conflicts between thefe new invaders and the old poffeffors of Britain, and long was the ftruggle (as the numerous Celtic earth-works in the weft of England evince), before the new-comers obtained a permanent footing in Britain. But wearied at length with mutual flaughter, the oppofing tribes were brought to compromife; by which all Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorfetfhire, Somerfetthire, Hampfhire, and a great part of Wiltshire, were ceded to the invaders; and the other parts of the kingdom adjudged to the earlier inhabitants. To afcertain the boundaries, and prevent further difputes, a line of demarcation was neceffary, and that vaft vallum was caft up, called Wandf dyke (literally the ditch of divifion, from the British Gwabun, to divide), commencing at Poffetpoint, near Brif tol, paffing by Great Bedwin in Wiltfhire, and meeting the fea on the fouthern coaft of the kingdom; a boundary which still left their great national temple, Abury, in the poffeffion of the aborigines. Deeply immerfed in Druidical fuperftition, but at the fame time poffeffing fome knowledge of claffical rites from the Greeks, who had been long fettled on the fouthern fhores of Gaul, the new migrators brought with them into Britain a motley kind of worship, and a warm spirit of religion. Arrived at the eastern boundary of their poffeffions, they beheld with aftonishment the enormous pile which rofe but a few miles on the other fide of it, the great national theatre of the worthip of their neighbours; and were immediately feized with an emulation to excel, or at least to equal, this proud monument of architecture. To furpafs in magnitude the temple of Abury was beyond their hopes; it could only be rivalled by elegance, which their better acquaintance with the arts enabled them to excel in. To the mighty labour, therefore, the whole tribe went immediately, and produced Stonehenge, a work that at once blended majesty and beauty; and, at least, carried off the palm of architectural fplendour from the neighbouring ftru&ture, if it could not furpafs it in vaftnefs. Thus these two prodigious piles became rival temples,

like thofe of Jerufalem and Mount Gerizim; and doubtlefs excited as much animofity in the breafts of their different worshippers as fubfifted between the Jews and Samaritans of old. "The little villages which imbed themselves in the hollows of Salisbury plain, and meet the traveller between Stonehenge and Heytefbury, would be infinitely beautiful, if their picturefque effect were not greatly leffened by the barbarous practice of depriving the trees of all their lateral branches, and converting them into hop-poles, with a tuft of verdure on their tops. It is much to be lamented, when a dearth of fuel in a country induces its inhabitants to adopt an economy fo totally at war with tafle and natural beauty. Between two and three hundred people find fupport in the manufactories of Heytefbury, which exhibit every branch of the wool trade, from cleanfing the article to packing the cloth for fale; but, perhaps, its neighbourhood is ftill more interefting, from the variety of earth-works and military remains, Rcman, Saxon, and Danish, which occur with endless repetition.

"The road from Heytefbury to Weftbury is particularly fruitful in thefe veftiges of ancient warfare; fince almoft every proud height which fwells out of the down to the eastward of it is crowned by vallations. The most confpicuous of thefe works are Knook Caftle, Scratchbury, Battlebury, and Old Camps. The firft lies between two and three miles to the eaft of Heytefbury, in form of a parallelogram, containing within its mounds an area of two acres. Scratchbury lying three miles directly weft of Knook, is upon a much larger fcale, containing within a fingle vallum, but of vaft fize, fortyone acres and a half. Battlebury lies a mile north-weft of the laft-mentioned camp, and is ftrengthened by a triple vallation. Old or Oldbury Camp, as it is called, lies four miles eaft of Heytefbury, and near East Codford, of a circular form, and two hundred and fixteen yards in diameter, commanding from its flat fummit a grand and extenfive view. But notices of the Romans in this country are not confired to the monuments of their warlike operations alone, fince numerous traces of Roman civil life occur alfo in the fame neighbourhood. Porticoes and teffellated pavements have been difco

vered in a spot called Pitmead, a little to the weft of the Warminster road to Sarum, between the villages of Norton and Bishopftrow, which evince, that the elegances and comforts of polished fociety were practised here in the vale below, under the protection of the military camps in the heights above.

"In the latter end of the year 1786, part of a Roman pavement was acci dentally difcovered, of which a Mrs. Down, who then refided at Warminfter, being apprized, the vifited the fpot, examined it carefully, made further fuccefsful researches, took drawings of the remains, and tranfmitted them to the late Daines Barrington, who communicating the fame to the Antiquarian Society, they were publifhed in the Archæologia of 1787. The additional difcoveries of Mrs. Down confifted of a mofaic pavement; part of a portico, fifty-fix feet long by ten feet wide; the flooring of a beau tiful apartment, formed of tefferæ, on which lay a mutilated ftatue of Diana, as it was fuppofed, with a hare at her feet. Of this pavement the greater part was preserved, taken up, and conveyed to Longleat, by order of the late Marquis of Bath, where it now is.

"After the curiofity of the public had been gratified, the discoveries were neglected and forgotten, and no perfon had fpirit enough to purfue any refearches in Pitmead, from the year 1787 to the prefent fummer, when Mr. Cunnington, of Heytefbury (a very refpectable dealer in the woollen line, who has long pursued, with confiderable fuccefs, antiquarian investigations), difcovered another pavement, compofed of tefferæ, nineteen feet three inches fquare. Being much mutilated, great part of its original beauty was loft, but fufficient remained to prove that its defign had been beautiful, and its execution good. It confifted of a circular area, enclosed within a fquare frame, edged on the infide with a neat border, and another on the outfide with a labyrinth fret; a bird and flowers feemed to have formed the or naments of the area. A grand portico was found alfo at the fame time, fixty feet in length and ten in breadth; and many circumftances occurred to render it probable, that it had ftretched ori ginally to the length of one hundred and forty feet. Remains of a fudatory, and a hypocauft, tubellated bricks for

heating

heating the fame, tiles, tefferæ, &c. in vaft profufion, and another unintelligible foundation, were laid open; which feemed to evince, that the villa to which they belonged was not inferior in fize or accommodations to either of thofe of which Pliny the younger has left us fuch minute accounts." P. 181.

BERKELEY CASTLE-MURDER OF EDWARD 11 MONUMENTS OF THE BERKELEYS-DICKY PEARCE. "THE little ftate-bedchamber exhibits a most curious fpecimen of antique furniture, a maffive wooden bedstead, standing under a recefs, and purporting to have been made in the year 1330. Grotefque figures, and heavy ornaments, carved in wood, cover the whole of the back; the front pofts are cut into open-work, and prove that our anceftors, five hundred years ago, had more execution than tafle in their works of art. A folitary witch piece, in Old Franks' wildeft manner, is the only

picture in this room.

"The great ftate-bedchamber contains a fimilar piece of furniture within the laft room, though not of equal antiquity, fince it was conftructed for the accommodation of James I. who made frequent visits to Berkeley Caftle. The oldeft cabinet in England, formed of oak, and another, valuable on account of its antiquity, and made of tortoife-fhell, are preferved in this

room.

"Darius's tent has two pictures, by Frederick Zucchero, who arrived in England in 1574, and worked here for fome years; they reprefent Sir Maurice Berkeley, of Bruton, and his wife.

"Leaving the body of the building, we pafs over the top of the keep to a fmall retired dark room, ftanding detached and folitary, and entered by a low ftrong door; where deeds of Llood might be perpetrated without difturb ance or difcovery. This was the accurfed scene of the laft agohies of the unfortunate Edward II. where he expiated, by a horrible death, the errors of a weak, rather than a vicious, reign; leaving a folemn warning to fucceeding monarchs of the danger of favouritifm. The appropriate hangings of the room and its furniture, crimson cloth embroidered with black, naturally lead the mind to a recollec

Mark the year, and mark the night, "When Severn fhall re-echo with affright,

"The fhrieks of death through Berkeley's roof that ring,

• Shrieks of an agonizing king.' Where, by the by, the paffage is fpoiled, by the ufe (in the laft line) of the play prefent participle for the preterite th prepassive. дейс "Adjoining to the caftle ftands the is alway church, and appears to have been built • used

about the commencement of the fourteenth century. The tower is placed at one corner of the churchyard, dif tinct from the edifice of which it ufually forms a member, and constructed within the last fifty years. Many old monuments of the Berkeley family are preferved within the church; the most curious is an ancient table tomb, furrounded by an iron railing, on which are ftretched the full-length alabafter figures of a knight and his lady; the former in armour, the latter in the drefs of the day. These are the effigies of Sir Thomas, fecond Lord Berkeley, who died 1361, and Margaret daughter of the Earl of March, his firft wife. The fplendour and princely magnificence in which this baron lived at Berkeley, was not exceeded by any nobleman of his time. Three hundred people, confifting of knights, efquires, and pages, filled his hall every day; and feventy-four manors, the demefie of which he kept in his own hands, fupplied his table with the fubftantial hofpitality of the times. To this lord the unfortunate Edward II. was delivered by the Queen's party, Nov. 16, 1326; but his enemies fearing that the noble owner of Burkeley Caftie would treat the royal prifoner with too much kindnefs, commanded Thomas to furrender his manfion and his charge into the hands of John Lord Maltravers and and Sir T. Gournay; more fit infiruments for the tragic violence that was fhortly after perpetrated on the hapless Nn 2 monarch.

ve

monarch. Other ancient monuments, to the memory of different branches of this noble family, occur in different parts of the church. The churchyard alfo exhibits divers frail memorials' of the departed, which, as is ufual in country cemeteries, are all marked by one general prevailing taste in their conftruction and decorations. We may lament that the ornaments on the grave-ftones at Berkeley are not in harmony with the fimplicity of the fcenery around. Fat-faced cherubs, and hideous death's heads, embofs moft of the grave-ftones, which are further ornamented with golden crowns and filver glories, fcythes, hour-glaffes, and other emblems of mortality, painted in all the colours of the rainbow. One of thefe ftones commemorates Dickey Pearce, a village droll or buffoon, who flourished at Berkeley half a century ago, and not only afforded amufement to his fellow-villagers, but alfo recommended himself, by his well-timed buffoonery, to the patronage of the great. The outline of his hiftory and character is contained in the following epitaph on his gravc-ftone, the epigrammatic turn of which compenfates in

truth for its deficiency in poetry:

Here lies the Earl of Suffolk's fool *, • Men called him Dickey Pearce; His folly ferved to make folks laugh, • When wit and mirth were fearce. Poor Dick, alas! is dead and gone, • What fignifies to cry?

Dickies enough are left behind

To laugh at by and by."

The wit of Dickey was not, it seems, confined to oral obfervation, but frequently difcovered itfelf in practical jokes. Several of these are preferved in the records of parochial tradition; anongst which, allow me to prefent you with the following, a proof that Dickey to netimes eviled himfelf of the practice of the feers of old, of im parting infruction by the means of fentible types inftead of verbal communication. An aucctor of the prefent Lord. B. hasing gonûderably diminish ed his property by expentive purfuits,

* 46

Dickey began to fear that the whole of the noble patrimonywould be diffipated, and the venerable caftle, with its princely demefnes, be transferred from the family to ftrange purchafers. High as his privilege of speech was with my Lord, he could not, however, venture to expoftulate with him on fo delicate a fubject; he therefore determined to hint to him the fatal confequences of his imprudences by a vifible fign. Procuring a rope, therefore, he placed himself at the great gate of the caftle at a time when he knew his Lordship would pass through it, and as he ap proached, began to apply the cord to the wall, as if he intended to furround the whole with it. What art thou doing, Dick?' faid my Lord. Only tying a rope round the caftle, your Honour, to prevent its running away ' after and (eftates which his Lordship had fold), to the top of Stinchcomb Hill.' His Lordship felt the force of the obfervation, and rewarded the droll with a piece of money for his forefight and wit." P. 314.

XLIX. Ségur's Reign of William 11. King of Pruffia. (Concluded from p. 217.)

66

DEATH OF FREDERIC WILLIAM IL

FREDERIC William, who had juft

completed the partition of Po land, and concluded a peace with France, difappeared about this time (1795) from the political scene of Europe.

"He afterwards projected fome farther dismemberment and feculariza tion in Germany, which were propoled to him by France, who then believed it to be his intereft to weaken the Em peror, and to augment the power of the Proteftant party in the Empire, at the expenfe of the Catholic party: but thefe fchemes, too complicated, would have required an activity which this monarch never poffeffed; and the de clining state of his health augmented his natural indolence.

"Afpiring