1929.] [ 33 ] REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ARCHEOLOGIA. Vol. XXII. Part ii. ART. XVI. Transcript of a Chronicle in the Harleian Library of MSS. No. 6217, entitled " An Historical Relation of certain passages about the end of King Edward the Third, and of his Death." By Thomas Amyot, Esq. F.R.S. Treasurer. MR. AMYOT states, that this is a translation of some Latin MS. written by a monk of St. Alban's, but now lost or undiscovered. We are inclined to think that it is the Chronicle of which Leland has made excerpts, and headed them with the following title: "Ex annalibus cujusdam Monachi S. Albani, quos reperi in bibliotheca Tinemutensi. Exorditur anno Domini MCCLIX. anno vero Henrici 3. 43o. et desinit in primis annis Henrici 4i." -Collectan. ii. 403. Leland's extracts appear to be concise memoranda only, but as from these the manuscript seems to have been very particular about Wycliffe, and St. Alban's MS. was quoted by Fox, for that very purpose (see p. 207), we are inclined to think that the above work was the one in question. Stowe's use of this MS. translation is very apparent in the quarto edition of his Annals, p. 423, seq. and in Stowe's edition, folio, p. 271. This transcript enters into details which enlarge the history of the period to which it refers. It shows how much constitutional integrity then pervaded Parliament; for when the Duke of Lancaster, after the death of the Black Prince, wanted to set aside the succession in favour of his own family, the Commons told him (in John Bull style), that, "as the Prynce's sonne was lyving, there was no neade to labour about such matters." (p. 231.) There might be some apprehension of a civil war (as afterwards did ensue), and some desire of conciliating the young King in esse, but in every way the answer was wise. The author is nevertheless a prejudiced party writer, and as such, not very scrupulous about the truth of his facis. He says, p. 233, "There was at the sayme tyme in EngGENT. MAG. July, 1829. John Perers, Lord of Holt Perers, co. Norfolk. Sir Thos. de Nerford, 1st husband, as presumed. Gungora, 2d dau. and coh. of Sir Thos. de Ormesby, Lord of Ormesby, co. Norf. ALICE.=William de Wyndesore, 2d husb. Every body knows the famous lines in Shakspeare concerning the decease of Cardinal Beaufort : "He dies, and makes no sign." What these signs were, appears in the following passage taken from the account of the dying hours of Edw. III. The priest says the King, "Because your voyce fayleth lyft up your eyes unto the Lord, that we maye see you bothe penytent and askyng mercye: presently he lift up bothe his eyes and his hands to heaven, drawyng syghes as it were from the bottom of his heart; no doubt sygnes of his repentance. Then the preyst_admonyshed hym that for as mutch as he had unjustly punyshed his servaunts, he wold repent hym, and shew the aforesaid sygnes, whyche devoutly he dyd." P. 288. As to the desertion of the King in his last moments, and Alice Perers carrying off his rings, it was quite usual. In the Notices des MSS. we remember a paper, which states the occurrence of similar circumstances upon the decease of one of the Popes, and could quote other instances. We had the following anecdote from an eminent physician. A lady had been laid out for dead. The nurses immediately proceeded to ransack her drawers; and, as they emptied them, laid her clothes in a pile upon the quilt. The pressure and heat threw the apparent corpse into a profuse perspiration; and dismay and dismissal became the lot of the intended depredators. 34 In REVIEW.-Archæologia, vol. XXII. part ii. p. 284, we are told that the translator seems unable to render "torticios circa matricem in p'cessione" into intelligible English; and that matricem was probably a mistake for martyrem. This is utterly improbable; for matricem was or should have been morticem and torticios in English torch. Both were kinds of wax lights; e. g. in the Lib. nig. Dom. Ed. IV. p. 22, we have "lortayes, prickettes, perchers, mortars; and in Lysons' Environs, ii. 295," where he was sett under a herse, having fyve pryncipalls, 16 morters with coarse lights, rachements, syde lights, and other lights.”—See, too, Ducange, v. Tortisius, and Encyclop. of Antiq. v. Morter, p. 294. XVII. Observations upon an ancient Bracelet of Bronze, found upon the Sandhills near Altyre on the coast of Murrayshire. By Henry Ellis, Esq. This is an elaborate and excellent dissertation upon Armillæ. From the specimen being too small for wearing, it is presumed to have been only a votive offering, and sufficient proofs are adduced of their having been offerings of bracelets. Nevertheless, we have the greatest distrust of the appropriation, and should either class it among the fibula, which were worn very large by the northern nations; or the bosses of the bit of a bridle, which were also of considerable size; but we are very possibly wrong. XVIII. Notice of some remains at Goza near Malta. ByCapt.W.H.Smyth. These are in the main Cyclopean remains, and their uses are unknown. The tribuna of the Tempio dei Giganti" consists of two conjoined obfuse ovals, entered by two gateways opposite to each other, and looking towards a semicircular recess of Cyclopean work in the Tirynthian style, irregular stones. This semicircle and the upper oval resemble the Bema and Paix at Athens, as engraved in Le Roy, by the side of which is the hill of the Areopagus. The entrances assimilate those of the Tinwald in the Isle of Man. We therefore presume that it was either a court of justice or place of assemblage or public business, perhaps both united. The Avanzi Giganteschi has obelisks like our Druidical circles, and Homer mentions such circles as courts of judicature. XIX. Account of some British coins found near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. By John Norris, Esq. (July The instrument (the use of which has not been ascertained) in No. 4 is a lituus with a patera and bull's head, sacrificial emblems. We shall indulge in some conjectures (though we claim no higher name for them) concerning the ornaments and patterns. The horse singly and a horse and rider are in Mr. Upham's Budhism shown to be symbols of the Sun; among the ornaments are crescents symbolic of the Moon; perhaps oak leaves and mistletoe branches; and over the horse, Nos. 3 and 5, apparently a stone circle.-Nevertheless, except the lituus and bull's head, the rest may be mere fancy work. Upon No. 5 is TASCIOVAN. We refer our readers to the Encycl. of Antiq. ii. 901-2, concerning this word, and the Roman types of the bull's head, lituus, and patera. These coins are of gold, the obverse concave, the reverse convex, and were found concealed within a tubular flint. This is not all. These coins ought not to be reckoned among the most ancient British, for these have no legend, and are impressed on one side only. But they have an important distinction. The reverses are not Roman; and yet Ruding informs us, that after the subjugation under Claudius, "the edict ordaining all money current among the Britons to bear the Roman Imperial stamp was strictly enforced, and no British money appears afterwards. (Encycl. of Antiq. ii. 906.) XX. Account of certain Hill Castles situated near the Land's End in Cornwall. By William Cotton, Esq. M.A. These castles are CAER-BRAN, CHUN CASTLE, and CASTLE AN DINAS. All of these appear to have been the Acropoles or Citadels of British towns adjacent. The curiosity of these remains is, that they exhibit the foundations of British circular houses, the upper part being, according to the Antonine column and medieval history, basket or wattled-work. The description of the Irish bath, from Gough's Camden in the Encycl. of Antiq. ii. 514, illustrates the construction of the interior. XXI. Ancient Norman-French Poem on the erection of the Walls of New Ross in Ireland, A. D. 1265. By Frederic Madden, Esq. In p. 311 it is stated, that all ranks of life, vintners, merchants, drapers, &c. assisted in building these walls, by bye-law or proclamation, "a thing never yet heard of in England or 1829.] REVIEW.-Archæologia, vol. XXII. part ii. France." This is a great mistake, for it was as usual both in Roman and medieval times, as payment of taxes (see Fosbroke's Gloucester, 130). The erection of these walls with the accompaniments of music to cheer the labours of the different persons, is another circumstance not uncommon. In the poem are the following lines. The poet solicits attention, for he says, the word which is not heard is not worth an allié,-"ne vaut pas un aillie," and a similar phrase occurs in a French poem, MS. Cott. Cal. A. xviii. "Sire Edeward pur la grant rauye De France re dona une ayllé.' This phrase is unexplained. Cotgrave, perhaps, throws light upon it in the following passage, in which the phrase is founded upon a bird that has lost one wing: "Il ne vaut plus que d'une aile, he is become lame, he is half undone, he hath but one string left to his bow; also, he is well nigh dead, or a dying." XXII. Instructions sent from the Council of Queen Elizabeth to Henry Killigrew, Esq. then resident at the Court of Scotland, upon the arrival of the news of the Mussacre of St. Bartholomew, A. D. 1572. By Henry Ellis, Esq. Dr. Lingard as recently revived an old political untruth, viz. that this massacre was not concerted or premeditated, but a sudden ebullition of popular fury. This can only be believed when the martyrdoms of Mary's reign are proved to have been results of a similar instigating cause. Mr. Ellis holds Dr. Lingard's paper up to the light, and clearly shows that the water-mark is premeditated.' XXIII. Upon the office of Ragler, formerly existing in Cardiganshire. By Henry Ellis, Esq. Ragler is a sheriff or constable, and the paper alludes to a tax, which was substituted for oats and horse-meat, which the Welch were ordered to provide for the military of Edward the First's garrisons at the castles of Aberystwith, Cardigan, &c. when they travelled. This commutation in money occasioned abuses. XXIV. An Account of some recent Discoveries at Holwood-hill in Kent. By A. J. Kempe, Esq. We shall be surprised if Mr. Kempe has not succeeded in placing here the 35 station of Noviomagus, especially as the spot seems to be of previous British occupation. XXV. Old English Poem_on_the Siege of Rouen, A. D. 1418. By Frederic Madden, Esq. F.S.A. These old poems are frequently picturesque in their descriptions, but do not always contain matters of archæological novelty. We have not, however, seen the following custom, though it is founded on the Eucharist. When two parties were ready to join battle, the poem says, "The weyker partie of tho menne Thanne broughte the biger partiebre de & wynne, In tokenyng that ther schold bee We shall notice two or three passages in the gloss and notes of this and the preceding poem, because there are some trivial mistakes. In p. 313 of the first poem, the "parpunt e aketun" of p. 320 is translated "doublet and coat of mail," whereas upon reference to Dr. Meyrick's paper on Military Garments in the 19th volume of the Archæologia, the pourpoint and haketon are found to be different things. In p. 368 the King says, "Ye have offended me with mysse." Mysse should have been explained. It is a noun, meaning "a wrong." (See Tyrwh. Gloss. Chaucer.) In p. 371 occurs, "to his persone and propirte," in application to his aspect and gait. Propirte, in another copy of the poem is changed to profyte, but the former is to be preferred; as it is the French propreté; in one sense, according to Cotgrave's definition, handsomeness. The terminations of our words in ly (as e. g. property) are French; in ion, Latin; and ness, Saxon; and the agreeable monkeyism of France, made John Bull then, as now, an awkward ape. In p. 396 is an illegitimate explanation, erroneously affiliated upon Dr. Meyrick, relative to "aiguillettes." The word (aiguillettes) means in strictness tags or points, which being used to fasten on the palletes, and the elbow pieces of armour, has been, by synecdoche, applied to the pallettes themselves.Though we notice these oversights (for in a man of Mr. Madden's pretensions, they are no other), we know that in dishing up this old poem, it is merely a 36 REVIEW.-Archeologia, vol. XXII. part ii. defect of a little garnish; and it is to be added, that the poem in substance is intelligible without such completeness, and we know of none that is perfectly explained or can be so, because contemporary works (and there were then no printed books) are the only modes of producing such faultless illus trations. XXVI. Disquisition on a passage in King Athelstan's Grant to the Abbey of Wilton. By William Hamper, Esq. Stonehenge is a stock exchange, where etymologizing Welshmen and projecting topographers go to speculate and disseminate falsehoods. Such has been the case in the present instance. Stone-ridge, the simple name of a boundary, in the Wilton Register, published by Sir R. C. Hoare, has been applied to Stone-henge, though it is plain that a syllable only of a word can never be a verbum sat. In the Appendix are some very curious articles. The first is (Pl. xxxiii.) a wooden chalice (and such were used by the Apostles, and forbidden in the Canons of Edgar, see Ducange, v. Calix), a relic of as much value in its own way, as the Portland vase, and which ought to be in the British Mu seum. The second (Pl. xxxiv.) consists of a stone circle, inclosing seven others, not concentric, but in a chain. No person will presume that a thing of this kind, in a Druidical point of view, has any other than an astronomical or orrery designation. The luminous work of Mr. Godfrey Higgins has set that question at rest. But more may be added. In a curious work on Ancient Alphabets and Hieroglyphics, written in Arabic by Ibn Wahstich, and translated by Mr. Joseph Hammer, is a singularly formed hieroglyphic symbol, called by Kircher Anima Mundi. A crowned figure, with human head, legs, and arms, bird's wings, and body of a beetle, kneels upon a Sackwalle, or circle, with concentric ones within, and holds in his hands a talisman. This symbol, the author says, is expressive of the most sublime secret, called originally Bahumed and Kharuf (or Calf), viz. The secret of the nature of the world, or the Secret of Secrets, or the beginning and return of every thing (Townley's Maimonides, p. 336, where a woodcut of the symbol). Add this to the accounts of the Suckalle and Chakkraia, in our review of [July, Mr. Upham's Budhism, and no doubt can remain concerning the astrological character of Stone Circles. The whole number of circles is eight, and Mr. Upham informs us (Budhism, p. 87) that the "Birman writings mention eight planets, namely, the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and another named Rahu, which is invisible." By reference to Diodorus Siculus (L. i.), Eusebius (Præp. Evang. L. 3), Sextus Empiricus (Adv. Mathem.), Pausanias (Lacon), and Plato in the Cratylus, it will appear possible that the outer circle typified the Sun, the central the Moon, and the others the Planets, including the Earth. Something like this was, we doubt not, intended, but the astronomy of these ancient periods cannot be precisely known. The use of stone circles for Courts of Justice is not to the purpose, as to invalidation of astronomical designs in the plans; because, from Cæsar, we know that the Druids were judges. The Plate (xxxix.) of Druidical Vestiges on Dartmoor, is very curious. We have a cluster of circular foundations of British houses, two parallel ranges of stones, fencing a covered way, mall, or avenue, between two others, similar, in the centre of which on one side is a stone circle. Then occur a cromlech, two tumuli, one with a kistvaen on the summit, another stone circle, and an obeliskall evident appendages of the British village, the first circle (2) being the Parish Church, the tumulus (8) the Esquire's family burial-place (as still in the Highlands), the Cromlech a Chapel for Marriages (see Downe's Mecklenburgh Letters), and theObelisk the Parish clock, i. e. a Sun-dial, for such obelisks certainly weret. Mr. Kempe calls the covered way a Cursus, but we have preferred Sir R. C. Hoare's definition of such avenues. The Britons, it appears, were occupied on this spot, in tin works. Rock basins, and Vixen Tors, supposed a Rock idol, more probably a Betul or oracle stone, accompany these curious relics. The discovery of these latent antiquities, induces us to mention a recent 1829.] Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature. circumstance. A gentleman employed on the Ordnance survey, has pointed to us, within ten miles of our residence, sites of Castles, Camps, remains of earthworks, and old roads, of which not a line is recorded; and, if similar circumstances ensue elsewhere, it will plainly appear that very much of our ancient topography is yet unexplored. Nothing can be more easy than communication between the Society and the Ordnance Office Surveyors, and in consequence the supply of this desideratum. If only a calendar of the unknowns was once obtained, historical elucidations would soon follow. 37 described. This circumstance explains many tales in our mediæval collec tions; but we antiquaries are not surprised, for our ancestors, both male and female, sat unperturbedly to witness the performance in the mysteries of Adam and Eve in puris naturalibus; and Erasmus mentions an instance of most indelicate terms being used by women, without a feeling of shame or impropriety. not III. Historical Notices of Nicomedia, the ancient capital of Bithynia. By the same. Nicomedia was so absolutely destroyed by the earthquake of the year 358 as Sir William supposes, for Cluver, from Cedrenus and Paulus Draconus (Univ. Hist. Transactions of the Royal Society of Lile- Epit. 401) says, under the year 741, rature of the United Kingdom. part ii. Vol. I. ILLUSTRATION of obscure points of history, possessing interest, importance, and curiosity, characterizes this collection of elaborate essays. I. Ionic Inscription on a bronze figure of a hare, brought from the neighbourhood of Priene. By William Martin Leake, Esq. The hare, wounded, it is presumed by an arrow, is throwing back its head in the agonies of death. It was, it seems, a votive offering to Apollo Aypes, the patron of hunters. II. Observations on some extraordinary anecdotes concerning Alexander; and on the eastern origin of several fictions popular in different languages of Europe. By Sir William Ouseley, LL.D. M.R.A.S., &c. Royal Asso ciate. It appears that no accession of real history is gained from oriental literature, concerning the Macedonian monarch, only various romantic fictions. Warton (Hist. Poetry) notices the popularity of the subject, and the "Roman d'Alexandre" in the Bodleian, is a manuscript well known on account of its beautiful illuminations. Sir William Ouseley further shows that prototypes of Parnell's Hermit, Chaucer's January and May, several tales in Boccaccio, &c. are to be found in eastern writings; but what is more singular than all, is that Whittington and his Cat originated in a Persian tale eight hundred years old. It appears too, that the compositions of many eastern moralists often inculcate lessons of wisdom and virtue by examples of licentiousness too plainly that just before the death of Leo, was an earthquake "quo Constantinopolitani muri, Nicæa, Nicomedia, multæ que urbes aliæ gravibus prostratæ sunt ruinis." IV. Extracts from Manuscripts relative to English History. By the Rev. T. D. Fosbroke, M.A. F.A.S. Honorary Associate. These extracts refer to curious facts or points of history. The first article, relative to the University of Oxford, shows (i.) that practising lawyers were in the fourteenth century, students of the University, and notwithstanding obtained royal dispensations from observing its statutes; (ii.) that an acquaintance with the rudiments of grammar was a sufficient qualification for students; (iii.) that the poor colleges in the time of Hen. VIII. were not able in bondes and revenewes to have within [them] the lecture publique, like others." Greek, too, was so little known, that the visitors say" they have adjoinde" [at Magdalen College, to divinity, philosophical (moral and natural) and Latin lectures,] "a lecture in the Greke," that is, "the gramer in Greke;" and expelled Duns Scotus and scholastic logic. The second article notices a curious custom of Gavel-kind, a relic of Celtic law, viz. that when a widow either committed fornication or contracted marriage, and became enceinte, she lost her dower if the time of her parturition had been watched, and she and her child were apprehended with the old Gaulish custom of hue and cry.' The third article, relative to the peerage, shows that territorial were not necessarily parliamentary barons, and |