Page images
PDF
EPUB

ration. Afon of a citizen of Santarem faid to us, with a dejected countenance, You are fortunate, for you know the 'cause of your imprisonment, which I 'do not of mine; and I fhall, perhaps, 'be fent for a foldier.'

"Meanwhile we foon procured our liberty. I asked the young Spaniard to draw up a petition in Spanish, as I thought he would exprefs himself better in that language: I then tranflated it into Portugueze, and asked a notary, who was one of the prifoners, to inftruct me in the proper form. With this we applied to the juiz de fora, who referred us to the corregedor, and the latter demanded information of the two efcrivaes who had taken us prifoners. The gaoler now came to us, faying that the two efcrivaes were very poor, that an unfavourable report from them would at leaft lengthen the affair, and, making the worst of the pointed knife *, advised me to give them money. We therefore purchased a favourable report with a couple of crufades, upon which the corregedor liberated us; fo that we remained only about eighteen hours in prifon.

"We had already met with an incident, which may alfo afford fome infight into the adminiftration of juftice in this country. We arrived one morning at Cezimbra, where a notary appeared as ufual, read the portaria, and took leave of us very politely. Toward evening the Count and myfelf, on our return from a walk to Calheriz, had feparated a little way from the town, the better to examine the country, as we could not here lofe our way; but the Count had fcarcely entered the town when fome officers of juftice met him, and demanded his paflport. He affured them he had it at the inn, whither they might conduct him and fee it; but all he could fay availed nothing, and he was taken to prifon; where indeed he was placed in a decent apartment, but expofed to the curiofity of a multitude of fpectators. Here he was examined even to his fhirt, and two pistols being found in his girdle, he was declared a very fufpicious perfon, though the portaria

permitted him to carry all kinds of arms; nor till he was thrown into prifon was a message dispatched to me to fend the portaria. I did fo, not doubting the Count would immediately return; but with the utmost aftonishment I heard the answer of the alcalde, that the juiz de fora being absent he could not decide upon this affair. Fortunately we had spoken with the juiz de fora, who was a good kind of man, at Calheriz, whither a fervant was fent in the night with the portaria. Meanwhile I was informed, that if the servant did not return next morning, I muft alfo go to prifon. He returned at three o'clock, and brought pofitive orders immediately to liberate the Count; but the officers of justice would not fuffer him to go without paying them their fees, which the Count gave them, declaring he defpifed thefe men too much to trouble himself any farther about them. The alcalde would alfo have kept the piftols, till the Count declared that he would im mediately fend a meffenger to Lisbon with an account of the whole tranfac

tion.

"Thefe examples show how much precaution is neceffary to protect a traveller from Portugueze juftice; and that the alcaldes and efcrivaes are a clafs of men among whom are many rogues. They are indeed generally complained of, and the juizes and corregedores are every where accufed of great partiality to perfons of rank. But I must add, for the honour of the nation, that in both the above inftances every one took our part, compaffionated us, endeavoured to fhow us attentions, and loaded the officers of juftice with abuse." P.410.

(To be concluded in our next.)

LXV. The Hiftory of Guildford, the County Town of Surrey. Containing its ancient and prefent State, civil and ecclefiaftical; collected from public Records, and other Authorities. With fome Account of the Country three

*I had bought it publicly at St. Ubes; for, though very strictly prohibited, fuch knives are publicly fold. L.

"In Spain and Italy our English pointed knives are fold; but the purchaser ufually breaks off about a fixteenth of an inch at the extremity, in order to be within the limits of the law.

T."

4

Miles round. 8vo. pp. 328. 12s. 6d. Ruffell, Guildford; Longman and Rees, Weftley, London."

H'

Plate of Tradefmen's Tokens.

CONTENTS.

ISTORY and Defcription of the Town-Caftle-Quarry Hole -Palace-Churches--Hofpital Royal Grammar School--Drs. Robert and George Abbot--Maurice Abbot-J. Parkhurft--Henry and William Cotton--Sir Robert Parkhurst--Mr. Hammond's intended College--Town Hall--Seffious Houfe --Gaol-Friary--Charities--Markets -Family of the Norths-Boundaries of the Town-Guildford, a PoemMiscellaneous Matters extracted from the Black Book--Ditto from the Conftitution Book--St. Nicholas in Guildford-Stoke Hofpital--Worplefdon-Wef Clandon-Albury St. Martha upon the Hill--Wonerth --Shalford-Bramley---Additions and

Corrections.

EXTRACTS.

THE SITUATION OF GUILDFORD, &c.

"THE fituation of Guildford is, perhaps, the moft fingular and romantic of any town in England; it is feated in a moft healthful air, on the fides of two chalk hills floping down quick to the river, which runs in a narrow channel between them. The declivity, on which the town ftands, joined to the view of the oppofite hills, gives it an air of grandeur, whilft the river, whofe ftreams water the lower part of the town, adds to the beauty as well as the advantage of the fituation.

"The river is called the Wey, or Wye, one branch of which rifes near Alton church, Hants, the other at, Frensham great pond, and falls into the Thames at Oatlands. It was made navigable from this town to the Thames at Weybridge in the year 1650, which makes it a place of much trade: the great undertaking of which navigation was firft begun by. Sir Rich. ard Wefton of Sutton, who died with

in three years after, and left it unfinished. The river being made navigable, large quantities of timber, meal, malt, lime, &c. are conveyed to London by barges of upwards of forty tons burden, which on their return bring coals, and all other heavy articles. The river is well ftored with fifh, but thofe chiefly admired are the pikes, eels, and gudgeons." P. 8.

"The manufacture of this place was formerly the clothing trade, by which many confiderable eftates, as well here, as in other parts of England, have been raifed. It has been upon the decline above one hundred and feventy years, at which time it chiefly confifted in making blue cloths for the Canary islands." P. 10.

QUARRY HOLE.

"IN the chalky cliff on which the cafle ftands, about two hundred yards fouth-weft of that building, is a large cavern, or rather fuite of caverns; the entrance is near Quarry Street, facing towards the west, from whence there is a fmall defcent into a cave, about forty-five feet long, twenty wide, and nine or ten high: near the entrance on either hand are two lower paffages, nearly clofed up by the fragments of fallen chalk; but according to a plan made by Mr. Bunce, a ftone-mafon, anno 1763, that on the north fide ftretches towards the north-weft feventy-five feet, opening by degrees from two to twelve feet: from this paffage on the north-eaft fide rup five chambers, or cavities, of different fizes; the leaft being seventy, and the largest one hundred, feet in length; their breadths are likewife various, but all widen gradually from their entrance; the biggeft, before mentioned, from two to twenty-two feet.

"On the fouth fide of the entrance, as obferved before, is another paffage which opens into a large cave, fhaped fomewhat like a carpenter'a fquare, or the letter L, the angle pointing due fouth, its breadth upwards of thirty, and the length of its two fides, taken together, above one hundred and twenty feet: the height of thefe excavations is not mentioned; neither is there any fection annexed to the plan. For what purpose these places could be formed is not eafy to guess; if (as

Mr.

Mr. Grofe obferves) only for the chalk, the workmen were bad economists of their labour.

"In the beginning of the reign of King William and Queen Mary a re`port prevailed here, that the Irith were landed in England, and that they maffacred all they met without regard to age or fex; this ftruck fuch a terror in the inhabitants, that it is faid great numbers of women and children hid themselves in thefe fubterraneous ca

verns.

"A variety of ridiculous ftories are told concerning this place, which, according to cuftom, is by fome held to be a fubterraneous paffage leading to the caftle." P. 44.

THE HOSPITAL-ARCHBISHOP

ABBOT.

"SOME of our modern hiftorians have offered this as a reafon for the archbishop's erecting the hofpital, viz. that having accidentally killed a man, be endowed the hofpital to atone for it. But this is utterly falfe, as well as directly contrary to his principles. The accident happened 1621; and the firft ftone of the hofpital, as appears from the ftatute-book there, was laid the 6th day of April 1619. Alfo in the preface to his ftatutes are these words:

6

held it agreeable with my duty to leave behind me to posterity fome ' monument of my thankfulness to my Creator, and fome teftimony of my 'faith in Jefus Chrift, which if it bring 'not forth fome fruite to his glory, is to be held but a dead and unprofitable faith. And therefore my affec'tion leading me to the town of Guildford, where I was born, and where my aged parents lived many years with good report, I have thought upon the erecting of an hofpital there, which I have dedicated to the blessed Trinity.'. The accident, however (an account of which we fhall put in a note), gave the Archbishop a real and heartfelt concern, and brought him into great uneafinefs and trouble, which lafted during his life; and, beside a monthly faft, he kept the anniversary of it with great fafting and humility*.

[ocr errors]

"We fhall conclude our account of the hofpital in the words of the late Right Honourable Arthur Onflow: Abbot was eminent for piety and a 'care for the poor, and his hofpitality fully anfwered the injunction King James laid on him, which was, to carry his houfe nobly, and to live like an archbishop. He had no thoughts of heaping up riches; what he did fave was laid out by him in the erecting and endowing an handsome

[ocr errors]

I George Abbot, archbishop of Can-hospital for decayed tradefmen, and

terbury, from the mere mercy of the bleffed God (befides the inward graces of his Holy Spirit) having been par'taker of fome earthly and worldly benefits more than most of my birth and rank have attained unto, I have

[ocr errors]

the widows of fuch, in the town of Guildford, under the ftatutes of which for near one hundred years [1723] that hofpital has maintained the best credit of any I know in England'." P.91.

"On account of his fedentary course of life, the Archbishop was advised by his phyficians to take the exercise of riding on horseback. Being on a vifit at Lord Zouch's, at Bramzill Park, and riding in July 24, 1621, his Lordship defired the Archbishop to try if he could not hit a deer. His Grace was perfuaded, when inftantly Peter Hawkins, the keeper, rode fwiftly between the Archbishop and the deer, though cautioned and advised by all against it, and at the moment the Archbishop had drawn his crofs bow to shoot, he received the arrow into the fleshy part of his left arm, called the enmontery, which is a term unknown to the ableft anatomist of these days. Bp. Hacket fays, it was but a fleshwound, and was a flight one; yet being under the care of a heedlefs furgeon, the man died of it the next day. Rymer fays the fame day. The behaviour of the Archbishop towards the dying man, was fuch as might be expected from one of genuine and unaffected piety, adminiftering, while life continued, fpiritual confolation. After which, he fettled a maintenance on the widow for life. In November 21ft of the fame year, the Archbishop was declared by the delegates, neither to have incurred any penalty or irregularity, nor to have done any scandal to the church. Rymer's Fœd. v. xvii. Hacket's Life of Williams. Heylin's Laud. Camden's Annals, &c. &c.",

[ocr errors]

SIR ROBERT PARKHURST-HOUND

HOUSE.

"SIR Robert Parkhurft was born 1634, at a farm called Gritts or Greethurft, in the parish of Shiere.

"The house where Sir Robert was born, is now remaining; it is an antique farm-houfe, and has continued in the name of Parkhurft till within a

few years, lately in the poffeflion of Mr. John Shurlock. It is the tradition, that hounds have been continually kept here, almoft coequal with the Conqueft, and the houfe ftill bears the name of Hound Houfe." P. 119.

ANTIQUITIES AT THE FRIARY.

"ON the 29th of May 1781, fome men ploughing in a field in one of the park farms, near Henley grove, and paffing over the fummit of an eminence, they obferved one of the horses' legs to fink into the ground. On examining the place, they were greatly furprifed at difcovering an earthen pot fixed in the rock, about two feet below the furface. The top of the pot giving way, was the occafion of its being difcovered. The men, in hopes of finding money, and defirous to preferve the pot entire, carefully dug round it, but on examination found it nearly half filled with human bones burnt.

"The height of the earthen veffel, at present, is about feventeen inches; it appears to have been higher before it was broken by the horfe. The circumference about four feet four inches in the wideft part. It is made of clay, burnt in the manner of coarse earthen

ware, and about the thickness of a tile. Its colour, a light pale earth, unglazed.

"Notwithstanding the care observed in feparating the pot from the rock, it was accidentally broken. Some marks round the upper fwelling, had the appearance of an infcription; but on clearing off the chalk which adhered to it, thefe appeared as defigned for ornament, but rudely executed.

"This earthen pot was fent to Lord Onflow, at Weft Clandon. A drawing of it, by Mr. Thomas Ruffell, is inferted with his account of the digging it up, in Gough's Camden, p. 149, vol. i.

"At the foot of an ancient yew tree in the park near this farm, was dug up, fome years fince, a leaden urn, which contained a heart, preserved in spiritst. This was generally fuppofed to be the heart of one of the friars belonging to this friary; the distance about half a mile." P. 142.

MAIDS MONEY.

will, left 400/. The mayor and ma"1674, JAN. 27. John How, by giftrates of Guldeford to choose two poor fervant maids, within the faid mafter or miftrefs two years together. town, of good report, who have served Which faid fervant maids fhould throw dice, or caft lots, as the faid mayor maid which throweth moft on the faid and magiftrates fhall think fit: and the dice at one throw, or to whom the lot falleth, to be paid one year's clear profit of the land to be purchased.With fome reftrictions as to the choice of the maid, and the number of times each maid may throw, or caft lots

P. 147.

"Hearts and bowels were not unfrequently, if not generally, lodged separately from their bodies. The heart of Giffard bishop of Winchefter, who died 1129, was found not the leaft decayed, in digging down a wall at the north-west end of Waverley Abbey, in a tone loculus, in two leaden dishes, foldered together, and filled with fpirits, in the hands of [the late] Mr. Martyr of Guildford. Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. i. p. lxxii. Introd. "George Weftbrook, clerk [I think], faw this leaden urn, which was dug up at the farm rented by Mr. T. Bicknell."

"There are feveral benefactions in England fimilar to Mr. How's.---John Blagrave died 1611, and among other charities left ten pounds to be annually diftributed in the following manner. On Good Friday, each of the three parithes in Reading fend to the town-hail one virtuous maiden who has lived five years with her mafter; there in the prefence of the magiftrates, thefe threemaidens throw dice for the ten pounds. The two lofers are returned with a fresh one the year following, and again the third year, till each has had three

chances."

ALDERMAN

ALDERMAN SMITH, CALLED DOG SMITH.

"HENRY Smith, Efq. an alderman of London, born at Wandfworth in Surrey, who died in 1627, gave in his

lifetime 1000l. to several market towns in Surrey, and vefted the whole remainder of his eftate, which was very confiderable, in truftees for charitable

purpofes, the moft of which is difpofed of in Surrey *. Amongst these towns Guildford had 1000l. and with that the manor of Poyle, the town mills, &c. were bought, and are now vefted in the mayor and approved men, to be diftributed and paid by them to and among the poor of Guldeford with an even hand." P. 154.

[blocks in formation]

"I FINDE a verie auncient booke of this towne, called The Black Booke,' written in the tymes of Edward iii, Richard ii, Henry iv, Henry v, Henryvi, Edward iv, Henry vii, fometymes kings of Englande, wherein are written and recorded, the choice of divers officers within the faid towne yerelie, with divers accoumpts of money receved for rents, forfeytures, proffitts of courts, faires, cuftomes, and other things, by the bayliff, halwardens, and other officers of the faid towne yerelie collected and paide. And alfo divers entries of ffynes paid, and auncient cuftomes obferved by fundry perfons for admittance by a generall confent, into the libertie and freedome of the faid towne, which booke is fo ragged, torne, and rent one peece from another, yea, almost every leaf one from the other, and to diferderly placed that I could hardly bring them into order agayne. Now for fo much of the fame as came to my hards (a great many of the leaves of that book being lacking), I have reduced as nere as I can into their places and collected out of the fame, the cheif fubftaunce of fo much of that which I found there written as coulde well be readd, for

in manie of the leaves of that booke the very words and letters thereof in divers places are worn out by age, and ill kepinge, as may appere to them that fhall look into the fame. So as I may truelie fay it hath fared with that booke, having paffed a great number of yeres paft from hand to hand, as with a common hackney horfe being cometh by the negligence or yll ufuage hired by many and often journeyed, of fome of his riders to a galled backe, or to fome incurable difeafe. (But levinge and delyveringe that old black booke home agayne to the faid towne in as good cafe as I received the fame and better) I have briefly collected out of the fame the chief matters therein fett downe, which I have fummarilie caused to be written in this my booke as an addition to the fame, partlie to ments ready to perish in rotten papers, preserve some parte of auntient monubut chieflie to fhewe that in auncient tyme the books, and records of the said towne were well kept and faire written, and the ftate and government of the towne (as it seemeth was fuch in thofe dayes) and foe difcretlie ordered that none were admitted or received into the ffreedome and libertie of the fame, but by a generall confent of the magiftrates and governors of that towne, paying fuch ffynes as then were thought mete, and putting in pledges both for the payment of ther ffynes, and for obfervinge of other cuftomes, as making a breakfast to the company, and bayting the bull, &c. things in all likelihoode then, very chargeable to them, as may be gathered by the yere lie entries made and recorded of the fame amongst other things in that booke. As for ther ffeaftinge and bull-baytinge, they are things worn out of ufe, and not fit to be revived: but for ffynes paid by fforeyners for there ffreedome and admittance into the liberties, to buy and, fell within the faid towne, there hath been a contynuall cuftome and ufe thereof, although of late yeres much neglected, which I wifh may be renewed and brought into ufe agayn. For the reft of the matters contained in that booke

"He is often called Dog Smith, from an idle groundless story of his having been a beggar, followed by a dug. His ftory fays he was whipped through one parish in Surrey, and therefore left nothing to that parifh. If there needed a confutation of the ftory, it may be found in this, that there is not one parish in the county which does not partake of his eflate."

from

« PreviousContinue »