1824.] Compendium of County History-Sussex. 1340. The French burnt several ships at Hastings. 423 1358. The French attacked and partly destroyed Winchelsea. 1377. Hastings burnt by the French, who attempted to burn Winchelsea, but were foiled. They also attacked Rye, where they landed from five vessels; after plundering and setting it on fire, they went away, leaving the town quite desolate. They landed at Rottingdean, advanced over the Downs, with the design of laying waste Lewes; but in this were disappointed by the valour of John de Cariloce, Prior of Lewes, Sir Thomas Cheney, Constable of Dover Castle, Sir John Falsley, and others, who, upon apprisal of it, hastened their vassals, and were joined by a number of peasantry, who boldly ascended the Downs, resolved to repel the invaders. They were insufficient both in number and skill to cope with the well-trained troops of France. The brave peasantry were totally routed, but not till one hundred of their party had sacrificed their lives, and the prior and the two knights made prisoners. The loss which the French sustained prevented further encroachments; they retired to their ships with their prisoners, who were conducted to France. 1380. The French and Spaniards landed at and burnt Winchelsea. 1397. At Arundel Castle, Richard Earl of Arundel, with his brother the Abp. of Canterbury, the Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Derby and Warwick, the Earl Marshal, his son-in-law, the Abbot of St. Alban's, and Prior of Westminster, were accused of plotting to seize the person of Richard 11. and to put to death all the lords of his Council. The Earl of Arundel, on the evidence of the Earl Marshal, was executed. 1447. Rye was again burnt by the French, when all the charters and records of the town are supposed to have perished. 1450. Jack Cade, who had the year before slain a woman with child in this county, was this year taken in a garden and slain at Heathfield; from whence he was taken to London in a cart. 1487. Henry VII. visited Rye. 1513. The French made a descent on the coast of Brighton, under Commo→ dore Pregent, when they pillaged and set fire to the town. The chapel was partially destroyed by the flames. 1545. The French, after they had retired from the Isle of Wight, made a descent upon the coast of Sussex, imagining by that means to draw the English fleet from its secure station in Portsmouth harbour, but were disappointed. They landed at " Brighthamstead," says Stowe, but were repulsed to their ships. They shortly after made another descent at Newhaven, but with less success, those that attempted to land being all killed or drowned. From Newhaven they sailed to Seaford, where they made another descent, with the same ill success. They retired to their ships with diminished forces, and proceeded to France. 1547. Edward VI. visited Cowdray. 1551 July 27, Princess Elizabeth visited Halnaker; Petworth, July 20; at Cowdray, Aug. 18; at Chichester on the 25th. 1555. A man burned at Lewes, and another at Steyning, for heresy; and in several following years many more in divers parts of the County, as well as at Lewes. 1573. Elizabeth made a tour round the coast, when she visited Edridge, and spent six days there; Sir Thomas Gresham, at Mayfield, where a room is still called " Queen Elizabeth's room," and the "Queen's Chamber;" Rye; Winchelsea, which she complimented with the title of "Little London.” 1586. Philip, Earl of Arundel, having prepared a vessel privately to convey him to the Continent, by the advice of Cardinal Allen, and to avoid the severe penalties against Catholics, was taken at Little Hampton, when on the point of embarkation, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. 1591. Elizabeth visited Chichester; and Cowdray House, Aug. 15, where she was highly entertained by Lord Montacute. 1642. Soon after the battle of Edgehill, the King came from the Western counties as far as Hounslow, with the hope of terminating the distractions of the country by a cordial peace. While he lay at Reading, a deputation of this County waited upon him, requesting his authority to raise the Southern counties 424 Compendium of County History-Sussex. [Nov counties in his behalf. Having obtained the necessary commissions, they pitched upon Chichester, being a walled town, as the place of their rendezvous. But they were greatly disappointed in their expectations of support from the people, and were joined by very few except their own dependents, and many of these followed with great reluctance. 1643. Sir Wm. Waller was ordered by the Parliament in the beginning of this year, with a considerable force, to attack and dislodge the Royalists from Chichester. Upon the receipt of this information, they strengthened their situation, repaired the fortifications, and erected some additional works. The Parliamentary army allowed their opponents but little time to prepare for defence. The city was summoned to surrender; and as the order was not complied with, the batteries were opened against it. The North-west tower of the cathedral was beaten down; and never since rebuilt. In ten or twelve days the besieged were obliged to capitulate, Dec. 29. No sooner had they entered the city, than, by the orders of their commander Waller, they fell to work to despoil Chichester Cathedral. They broke down the organ, &c. plundered the sacramental plate, tore all the Bibles, service and singing books, scattering the leaves over the church and church-yard. They destroyed every thing that was not proof against their pole-axes. After they had ransacked the cathedral, they marched on to Arundel, and halted at Aldingbourn, where they destroyed the Bishop's house. 1643-4. About the end of the year Lord Hopton brought his forces suddenly against Arundel Castle, and reduced it on the first summons; but in less than wo months Sir Wm. Waller retook it as suddenly. In neither siege its strength was tried; the garrison in each instance was intimidated. At the latter surrender, Waller found in it the learned Chillingworth, who being of the Royal party, had taken refuge there. The fatigues he had undergone, and the usage he met with from the conquering troops, cost him his life. 1647, or 1648. A party of Parliamentarians under Sir Arthur Haslerig were sent by Oliver Cromwell to Chichester, and destroyed and laid waste every thing in the cathedral, and other churches and houses belonging thereto. 1651. After the battle of Worcester, Charles II. was conducted to the house of Mr. Maunsell of Ovingdean, near Lewes, by Lord Wilmot and Colonel Gunter, where he lay concealed some days; while his friends were devising his escape to France. They succeeded in engaging Nicholas Tettersall, master of a coal brig, to make a voyage to the Continent. After night-fall Charles was conducted to the George Inn, Brightelmstone, Oct. 14, and whence the following morning he embarked for France, under the care of Capt. Tettersall; they landed at Fescamp in Normandy. 1673. Charles II, at Rye, reviewed the English and French fleets lying in the Bay within sight of the place. 1690. The combined English and Dutch fleet were defeated, June 30, at Beachy Head by the French. 1703. The Emperor Charles VI. (then King of Spain) entertained at Petworth, on his journey from Portsmouth to Windsor, Dec. 28; and on his return, Dec. 31. This year, Nov. 26, a dreadful storm raged on the Sussex coast. 1716. Sept. 20, George Prince of Wales, afterwards George II. visited Stansted; and his father George I. Aug. 31, 1722. 1725. In January, George I. on his return from Hanover visited Rye. 1736. In December George II. on his return from Hanover, was driven by a storm into Rye. 1775. Jan. 31, was the highest tide along the Southern coast ever remembered. Much damage was done at Newhaven and at Brighton, where part of the battery that stood on the cliff was washed away, and so high did the agitated waters rise, that the chimney from the top of a house near the battery was washed away. 1792. In January, in consequence of the high tide and a violent gale of wind, considerable damage was done on many parts of the coast. 1814. On the 25th of June, his present Majesty, then Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and the Grand Duchess of Oldenburgh, visited the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood, and the Earl of Egremont at Petworth. (To be continued.) S. T. REVIEW 1824.] [ 425 ] REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 110. A History of the Church and Priory of Swine in Holderness. By Thomas Thompson, Esq. F.A.S. 8vo. pp. 268. Plates. MR. THOMPSON, in some previous publications, has distinguished himself so honourably, that we sincerely rejoice in another opportunity of promulgating his just reputation in our Archaeological Gazette. We shall, however, take the liberty of inverting the matter of his book, by treating the subject chronologically; and therefore begin with the presumed Roman camp, as it is given with a plate in page 213, because we have some hopes that it will tend to remove the indistinct ideas concerning castrametation, which have all along prevailed among our Antiquaries, and also to exhibit the causes of that indistinctness. Mr. Fosbroke, in his Encyclopædia of Antiquities, p. 498, has professed his dissent upon good grounds to the indeterminate hypotheses of our Antiquaries, concerning the appropriations of camps by their forms. The author of all this confusion is Vegetius, a writer to whom we shall show that only partial attention upon this head is due. No doubt can be entertained, but that every thing relating to Roman camps has been carefully collected by the editor of the Castrensia of Hyginus and Polybius. He but rarely quotes Vegetius, and upon the subject before us, the forms of Roman camps, with no respect whatever. In p. 16, he says, "Vegetius more suo turbat et confundit tempora," [Vegetius in his own manner confounds and disturbs times]; and then proceeds to show instances. In another place, p. 82, he says, “Vegetius Græcos hac in parte, aut ad Gracorum morem deflectentes Romanos, secutus, formam castrorum parvo discrimine ponit;" i. e. Vegetius following the Greeks, or the Romans inclined to the Greek fashion (round camps), lays little stress on the form of camps. But the main passage which has misled our Antiquaries is that quoted by Mr. Thompson, p. 213, "Castrorum tem diversa triplexque munitio est." The fortification of camps is various GENT. MAG. November, 1824. au ω χρώνται προς παντα καιρον και τοπον. 66 " There being among them (the Romans] one simple form of castrametation, which they use in every time and place. L. vi. apud Hyginum. In fact, there never existed, correctly speaking, but two regular forms of Roman camps, the perfect and the oblong square. The reason was this. The soldier, when he entered the camp, had all things known as soon as he saw them, the same as if he was in his own house and town. He well knew in what part, to what striga, to what tent he should go, (not what place he should defend in tumult); what aid he should look for; what way he should be led against the enemy; there was no risk of one running foul of another, or some parts being omitted, through the defence of others, which is accustomed to happen in camps, of which the form is occasionally changed; no room for bus tle, none for confusion, "quod solet evenire in castris, quorum forma subinde mutatur, nullus turbæ locus, nullus confusioni. (Prolegomena ad Hyginum, no pages.) The diversa munitio, therefore, of Vegetius is utterly without foundation, with regard to the Romans (except as is below stated); and if by triplex, we are to understand a triple rampart, it appears from the work quoted, p. 121, that the Romans did not exceed a double vallum, nor even proceed to that superior protec tion, except for the purposes stated by Mr. Fosbroke (Encycl. of Antiquities, p. 504), from Cæsar, &c.-In short, according to our reading, we have not been able to find any mention whatever in the Roman Historians of a triplex vallum having been thrown up by * The space between the ways where the tents were pitched.-Rev. that 426 REVIEW.-Thompson's History of Swine in Holderness. [Nov. that people. We therefore reject the following passage, founded on Vegetius: "Some of the fortifications of the Romans in Britain, as well as in other parts of the world, were enclosed by a single rampart and ditch, while others were surrounded with two, three, or more distinct entrench ments." P. 213. There were nevertheless circumstances which will partially vindicate Vegetius in these remarks concerning camps, viz. that they were interdum trigona, interdum quadrata, interdum semirotunda (L. i. c. 23); to which he adds (L. 3, c. 8) the oblong, called an invention of Galba, and engraved in the Antique Observationes of Gabriel Simeon the Florentine. But these variations are explained away by the following passage of Ammianus Marcellinus (L. xxv.) under the campaigns of Julian: "Idea inter hæc ita ambigua, ne quid adversum accideret revocantibus agmina classicis in valle gramineâ prope rivum, multiplicato scutorum ordine, in orbiculatam figuram metalis tutius quievimus castris." (Hist. August. ii. 453.) Such occurrences as these only prove occasional variations under extraordinary circumstances. They do not prove that the Romans held in indifference the form of the camp, for we know by remains very numerous, and decidedly ascertained, that the equilateral or oblong square was the form according to rule; and that Polybius and Hyginus are correct. In short, the conclusion of Vegetius is simply this very illogical one, that because a man has adopted, or does upon occasion adopt, the convenience of a hackney coach, he holds it in equal estimation with his own carriage, which he generally uses. Add to this, that Rigaltius, in his Tactical Glossary, only quotes Vegetius, as an author applicable with Leo, Mauricius, Nicetas, Curopalates, &c. to the Grecobarbarous æra. Square camps were then only one form: Urbicius says, Καςρον κινούμενος κατα τετραγωνον σχηua. Rigalt. Glossar. p. 80, v. Kargov. His Glossary only applies to the Novellæ of the Emperors who reigned after Justinian: and Britain was subjected to the Romans long before the birth of Vegetius. * We admit the occurrence of Romans in a round camp on the Traj. column. We shall sum up the whole with one remark. We have visited both Roman and British camps; and whoever can suppose that an oblong square and a prætorium in the centre is the work of that same people which also made triple ramparts and terraces around an irregular hill, and had only irregular patterns within, must be prepared to affirm that dissimilarity proves conformity. The fact is, that Antiquaries have copied Vegetius, and never visited grand specimens of either style. This we have done, and are satisfied that there is no more resem blance between Roman and British camps, than there is between the Parthenon and Westminster Abbey. There are various gaps in the ramparts of this earthwork, the occurrence of which is thus explained from General Le Roy. "In camps of 300 yards square, which might receive about 4000 men, the Romans appear to have had from eight to ten or even twelve gates." P. 215. Now here again is another confusion, with extraordinary circumstances. The proper Roman camps had only four gates, the prætorian, decuman, and two principales. But, says the Annotator on Hyginus, “ Africanus et Leo quatuor magnas et δημοσιας portas in castris fieri jubent, sed minores complures παραποια quæ vocant." Nevertheless, where the armies were larger and the camps longer, the Edisometimes six gates, viz. two quintan tor of Hyginus admits that there were gates (i. e. for ingress and egress to the quintana or market), in addition to the four above mentioned. Portæ extraordinaria et questoriæ also occur *. There certainly is in the earthwork in question an appearance of a quarter of a Roman camp with a double vallum; but that it might be only a Roman British settlement, is not merely shown by the remains discovered, but also by its position, which is opposite to all the laws of Roman castrametation. It closely adjoins high ground to the South, by which ground it was commanded. It was a positive rule, says Hyginus, "Ut regiones castris subjaceant, ne mons castris immineat." An auxiliary evidence is, no traces of a prætorium. Turneb. Adversar. 1. 30, c. 24, from Livy, 1. 40. Among 1824.] REVIEW.-Thompson's History of Swine in Holderness. -Among the remains found here was a curious instrument, which we conceive to have been a Roman padlock. It is of the form of one of their bells, i. e. like the modern sheep-bell with a ring at top. On the side it had an opening like a key-hole, but longer, a slit terminating in a circle. Inside was found a key, like the modern, but without wards. There might have been a catch within, which the key disengaged. In p. 220 we have a collection of remarks concerning celts, wherein Whitaker pronounces them pure British weapons; and others derive the appellation from the Celts. We beg to observe, that they are not purely British, for they have been found at Herculaneum, and that celtis is Latin for chisel, the French cisèl being formed from celtis. Ducange has "Vetus inscriptio Romæ Malleolo et CELTE literatus Cilex. v. Celtis." The discovery of them in connexion with half-hollowed canoes, seems to confirm the above appellation and definition of them. In p. 80 we find an allusion to grotesque and even indecent carvings on stalls of churches. Mr. Downes in 427 first come first speed, and that will make the proud wives of Whalley rise betimes to come to church." P. 82. In page 137 we have some curious observations concerning our old romances, and a proper exposure of the indelicacy of Sir Tristram, and La Morte d'Arthure," in which book they be counted the noblest knights that do kill the greatest number of men without any quarel, and commit the foulest adulteries by the most subtle shifts." P. 139. This was a germ of the old British community of wives, &c.; for in a great council held in Ireland, anno 1171, it was ordered that the laity who wished to have wives, should unite them to themselves by the ecclesiastical law; for many of them had as many wives as they liked, and were even accustomed to have for wives their relatives and sisters [if germanas is here to be so understood]. Decem Scriptores, col. 1071. We shall take leave of our interest ing Antiquary with one more curious extract: "Near some of the ancient cemeteries there are the remains of an agger or ram sits of the dead." P.1 46. We have before had occasion to observe from Sir R. C. Hoare's History of Modern Wilts, that instances appear, where church-yards have not been fenced in till some hundred years after their first appropriation to funeral purposes. his interesting Letters on Mecklen- part, as the boundary of those sacred depoburgh, pp. 72, 73, speaking of the Marien-Magdalenen Kirchè, or Church of Mary Magdalen, built in the 13th century, says, "In the cornice of a ruined brick wall belonging to this fabric, I observed several laughing faces carved, of a very grotesque appearance. These were, according to tradition, placed there by the monks in derision of the townsmen.' In Strutt's Costumes of our ancestors, we have also a sow drest up in caricature of the steeple head-dress. We therefore think that these carvings were intended by the Clergy to expose the manners and habits of the laity to abhorrence; for the slightest knowledge of old Mysteries and Stage Plays, and illuminated caricatures, leads to such an explanation as is given by Mr. Downes. The effect of pews in promoting the destruction of monuments, carved work, &c. is well pourtrayed by our author. We shall, however, give the following extract to amuse our readers: "My son Shuttleworth of Hacking, made this form, and here will I sit when I come; and my cousin Nowell may make one behind me if he please, and my sonne Sherburne shall make one on the other behind him; and for the residue, the use shall be Mr. Thompson's book is often curious and always instructive. We warmly recommend it to the collectors and readers of Topographical works, i. e. to men who like to know, upon the foundation of reality, who and what were our ancestors. 111. Excursions in the County of Cornwall, comprising a concise Historical and Topographical Delineation of the principal Towns and Villages, together with Descriptions of the Residences of the Nobility and Gentry, Remains of Antiquity, and every other interesting object of curiosity; forming a complete Guide for the Traveller and Tourist. Illustrated with Fifty Engravings, including a Map of the County. By F. W. L. Stockdale, Author of " Antiquities of Kent," &c. 8vo. pp. 471. THOUGH Cornwall is an exhausted County, on account of its numerous curiosi |