Page images
PDF
EPUB

1823.]
(Whitechapel) all is unoccupied. Sir
Thomas-buildings has a few houses at
the top, but all beyond is fields. Dale-
street is built on both sides; but from
Moorfields to Dig-lane (now Cheap-
side), and from thence Eastward, there
are none. Such were the scanty limits
of Liverpool less than a century ago.
The POPULATION of the town had
more than doubled since 1650, it being

Ancient Liverpool.-Fly Leaves, No. VII.

in 1725 about 11,000.

The TRADE of the port had also considerably increased. In 1723, one hundred and thirty-one vessels entered the port, of the tonnage of 8,700 tons; and the dock duties amounted to 810l. 11s. 6d.

The town had not received much embellishment, by the erection of PUBLIC STRUCTURES, in the interval between the two periods. The ancient townhouse was rebuilt, and St. Peter's

Church and the Blue School were erected.

The style of DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE had improved, but it was still extremely rude, and the houses were huddled together without any regard to regularity of appearance.

Thus it has been attempted to sketch the aspect of Liverpool in 1650 and 1725. The town was now advancing with accelerated pace to commercial eminence. The inhabitants were prudent, economical, and skilful; and they had not only the sagacity to dis

cover the unrivalled facilities which
the port afforded for foreign trade and
commerce, but had sufficient enter-
prise to put them in requisition for
their own, and the town's aggrandise-

ment. It would lead to too extensive
a detail to develope the causes of the
subsequent rapid advance of the port in
commercial opulence. They are to be
found in the histories of the town, to
which the reader is referred, who is
desirous of full information on the
subject. Her history, indeed, is one
at which the natives may well feel an
honest pride. She is almost the crea-
tion of yesterday, with nothing on the
score of antiquity to illustrate her.
But that which other towns might
think a misfortune, she deems her
highest honour. The recency of her
elevation to the rank of the second
commercial city in the British Empire,
is the proudest pillar to her fame-at
once her glory and her boast!
Liverpool, Nov. 9.
To be continued.)

S. R.

FLY LEAVES.-No. VII.
Rump Songs.

23

N the "Memoirs of John Evelyn,"
under date of 11 Feb. 1660, it is
said:
"the Rump Parliament (so call-
ed as retaining some few rotten mem-
bers of the other) being dissolved; for
joy whereof were many thousand of
rumps roasted publiquely in the streetes
at the bonfires this night; `with'
ringing of bells, and universal jubilee.
This (continues Evelyn) was the first
good omen." The same event gave

title to an octavo volume as: The
Rump, or a Collection of Songs and
Ballads, made upon those who would
be a PARLIAMENT, and were but the
RUMP of a House of Commons, five
times dissolved. London: Printed for
H. Brome, &c. 1660. Copies of this
reprinted as the RUMP, or an exact
edition are of unusual rarity. It was
collection of the choycest Poems and
Songs relating to the late times. By
the most eminent Wits, from Anno 1639
to Anno 1661. London, &c. 1662;
and has an engraved title and frontis-
piece prefixed, supposed to be done by
Hollar. The frontispiece shows the
people roasting a rump, gibbeted in
chains and the title in compart-
ments is allusive to public events, and
giving whole lengths of "the Puri-
The latter
tan" and "Covenanter."
plate afterwards, with some alterations,
formed a title to, The Snake in the
Grass, or Satan transformed to an
Angel of light; published by Ch.
tions, in April 1697, and Jan. 1698.
Brome about 1696; again, with addi-
The Rump songs reprinted in two
volumes, 1732.

;

In that collection first appeared the well-known poem of " Loyalty confined," beginning

"Beat on, proud billows, Boreas blow," the commonly reputed production of Arthur Lord Capel, until Mr. Park discovered a manuscript copy that had belonged to his Lordship, entitled : "Mr. Le Strange his verses in the prison at Lynn." In another old manuscript it is styled : "The Requiem

*This kind of demonstration of public opinion was revived in March 1722. A Newspaper of that period says: 66 By the accounts we have from several towns, it is computed that above a hundred and twentytwo thousand two hundred and three rumps have been offered up to the manes of the late Parliament of most pious memory."

"

and

24

Fly Leaves, No. VII.-Stanley Abbey.

and Liberty of an Imprison'd Royallist." It was also printed in Wit and Drollery, 1661; Westminster Drollery, 1672; Gentleman's Magazine, 1757; a Daily Journal as "never before published," 1781; and Annual Register, 1793. There is some not unimportant variance of orthography, omissions, and transposition, in the various copies.

Old Ballads.

Dr. Farmer, on a FLY LEAF of his copy of the Collection of Old Ballads, corrected from the best and most uncient copies extant, with introductions historical, critical, or humourous: illustrated with copper-plates; in three volumes, remarked: "This collection has been ascribed to Ambrose Philips." Such an ascribing was probably founded upon the circumstance of "The Hive," a minor collection of vocal songs, published some years afterwards, having prefixed an Essay on Song Writing, addressed to a Lady, by A. Philips, and he is reputedly considered the editor of that work. Of the Old Ballads, it is equally possible they were edited by David Mallett, who at that period began to be known in the literary circles, and whose admired production, William and Margaret (which, it is said, first appeared in the periodical paper called the Plain-Dealer, the year preceding) is given as an old ballad, with several popular Scotch songs, that appear to have been selected with provincial taste and favouritism. The preface of vol. ii. in 1723, announces that the editor possessed "materials only for one volume more;" and of the reserve was a "sufficient number of historical," in which class this ballad appears promiscuously given. If some particular right had not existed in the editor, does it seem probable that William and Margaret would have been adopted, when so newly made known to the public in a different

work?

Probably from the meretricious and other embellishments, the OLD BALLADS have recently obtained unusual prices in the book-sales, and are very seldom perfect. Vol. I. contains seventeen prints, and passed three editions: MDCCXXIII. again 1723 and 1727. Vol. II. has fifteen prints, and was printed in MDCCXXIII. again 1726. Vol. III. has thirteen prints, and was published in MDCCXXV. again as

[Jan.

MDCCXXXVIII. probably a press error for 1728.

William Dicey, a printer at Northampton, adopted several of the older ballads for broad-sides, prefixing the historical introduction of our editor, with an incidental wood-cut, and the following

"Note: as the use of these Old Songs is very great, in respect that many children never would have learned to read, had they not took delight in poring over Jane Shore, Robin Hood, &c. which has insensibly stole into them a curiosity and desire of reading other the like stories, till they have improved themselves more in a short time than perhaps they would have done in some years at school. In order still to make them more useful, I premise to affix an Introduction, in which I shall point out what is Fact and what is Fiction in each song; which will (as may be readily supposed) give not only children, but persons of more ripe years, an insight into the reality, intent, and design, as well as many times the author and time

when such song was made, which has not hitherto been explained."

[blocks in formation]

F this Abbey less, I believe, is historically known, than of any of those monuments of the piety of our ancestors, the ruins of which strew the romantic landscapes, the sequestered vallies, or the extensive forests of our native land. I have therefore thought, that it might not be unacceptable to those who interest themselves in such investigations, if, living on the spot, and having access to authentic and unpublished documents, which neither Dugdale, or Leland, or Tanner, could have seen, I, for this purpose, request a few pages of that Magazine, which, for so long a period, has kept the even tenor of its way," and done more to preserve such memorials than all its literary contemporaries put together.

"

Before we proceed to illustrate the history and local antiquities of Stanley Abbey, it will be proper to advert to all that we already know of it. This is contained in Dugdale, Leland, and Tanner. The information which Dugdale has given, is taken from the regis

ter

1823.] Account of the Abbey of St. Mary de Drownfont, Wiltshire.

ter of Lacock, in Biblio. Cottoniona, namely, that in the year 1161, the Abbey of Stanley was first founded at Lockswell, removed from Quarrie (Quarariâ), in the Isle of Wight; that after three years it was translated from Lockswell to Stanleigh.

By Leland we are informed, that Matilda the Empress first founded a religious house (domum) in a place called LOCKSWELL; that afterwards, Henry the Second removed the brothers (fratres transtulit), from Lock'swell to Stanley, where he founded the Abbey of Stanley, and gave the lordship to them.- Leland's Collectanea, vol. I. p. 60.

In Tanner's Notitia, is contained as follows:

[blocks in formation]

“Where they built and endow'd to the honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, an Abbey for thirteen White Monks, whose revenues were valued 26th Henry VIII. at 1771. Os. 8d. per annum, Dugdale; 222l. 14s. 4d. Speed. The scite was granted 28th Henry VIII. to Sir Edward Boynton."

This is the substance of all the knowledge we have, I believe, of the foundation and the history of Stanley Abbey, in the forest of Chippenham, and in the parish from whence this letter is dated.

The documents for the foundation of this knowledge are, first, the charter of Henry the Second, son of the Duke of Normandy, published by Dugdale ex officio armorum (the Heralds' College); secondly, the Charter of Henry the Second, and his mother Matilda, published in the Monasticon; thirdly, a Charter of Richard the First, published also in the Monasticon. My Antiquarian lore, Mr. Urban, is not very profound; but I am not aware that there exist any other published authentic documents for the history of Stanley Abbey; the light, therefore, which I hope to throw on the earliest foundation at Lockswell and this Abbey, will be derived from personal GENT. MAG. January, 1823.

25

investigation, and from authentic copies of all the ORIGINAL GRANTS in the possession of the Baynton family, by whom the lands belonging to both abbeys were purchased from Henry the Eighth. The most important of these are, first, the Charter of Henry, son of the Duke of Normandy (afterwards King Henry the Second), copied in the Monasticon. Secondly, a Grant from Henry, Duke of Normandy, of a hyde of land at Lamburne, which Hugh Plugener gave to the Monastery at St. Mary at Drownfont, in the manor of Chippenham. This grant has never yet been published; upon this, therefore, it will be proper to make a few remarks. In the first Charter, Henry is entitled the son of the Duke of Normandy, and therefore it must have been granted before the death of his father, who died about 1180. In the second Grant, Henry is entitled Duke of Normandy. The first Grant from Henry, son of the Duke of Normandy, gives the lands at Lockswell to the Monks of St. Mary de Quarariâ, in Insula, &c. to build there "capitalem abbatiam" for the souls of his father Geoffrey Duke of Normandy, his mother's, and his own, and for the wel fare of the Kingdom of England; this Grant was in his father's life-time, before the year 1150, as in that year his father died, and Henry had the title of Duke of Normandy soon after. Dugdale places the foundation of Stanley 1161, and Leland 1151; in fact, this latter date must have been the date of the earliest Abbey at Lockswell.

In the second Charter of Confirmation, when Henry was Duke of Normandy, we find a hyde of land in Lamburn, given by Hugh Plugener (the name of Pinnegor very common in this county) to the Monks of Drownfont. There is no published account of Drownfont, or the Monks of Drownfont, and therefore it was my first object to ascertain where this Drownfont was situated, and the origin of this forgotten name, and I flatter myself I have completely succeeded.

It will be remembered, that the land first granted in Wiltshire, was for the foundation of Lockswell. I therefore naturally concluded, that in the neighbourhood of Lockswell (now Lockswell-heath, at the back of the Marquis of Lansdowne's Plantations at Bowood) there must be some remarkable spring

or

$6

Character of the late E. M. Mundy, Esq. M. P.

or fountain. For the second unpublished charter gives so much land to the Monks of St. Mary of Drownfont. In the third grant, conjunctively, from Matilda and her son, of a meadow in the forest of Chippenham, near Lacock Bridge, this Abbey Drownfont is called Abbatia de Drogonis Fonte. In further investigation of the place, and the origin of the name, I was convinced that the Abbey which had existed for three years in Lockswell and then vanished, like Aladdin's palace, must, from the name, have been built near the spring or fountain at Lockswell, which must yet exist.

Why it was called the Abbey de Drownfont, and "de Drogonis Fonte," must be equally clear, when, in turning to the first and earliest grant, we find this remarkable 66 passage: Ego filius, &c. Ducis Normanniæ, are here given Lock'swell (Lockwellam), with all the rights and customs which my mother and myself gave to Drogo, my mother's chamberlain, to the Monks of Quarre; terras, cum consuetudinibus et libertatibus, quos et mater mea, et ego, dedimus Drogoni, matris meæ Camerario." It will, therefore, I think, clearly follow that Drogo, Matilda's chamberlain, having the first possession of Lock'swell, the name of the Abbey, as long as it there continued, was that of St. Mary de Drownfont, or de Drogonis Fonte.To this Abbey the grants are made primarily of Henry and Matilda.There is also a grant to the same Abbey from William Earl of Salisbury, son of Patrick, the founder of Bradenstoke Abbey in the neighbourhood.— All the other grants from Richard I. dated Messina, when he went to the Crusades; from Edward I. dated Dumferling, where he kept his Christmas, after the conquest of Scotland; froin Henry III. &c. are to Stanley.

The site of the earliest Abbey at Lock'swell, the name, and the origin of that name, as I flatter myself I have been the first to discover, I may, perhaps, if you will give me leave, occupy a few more pages of your valuable Miscellany, some future time, in communicating an account of the other grants, which throw so much light on the history of the Abbey of Stanley in this parish, and particularly in describing the beautiful fountain or spring at Lock'swell, which has been nameless for centuries, and which, bursting from

[Jan.

the top of a woody and romantic eminence, which commands a vast sweep of distant country in front, winds his way through the wildest glades of the antient forest of Chippenham.

I

Yours, &c. W. L. BOWLES. Jan. 7.

Mr. URBAN,

N the Obituary of your valuable Magazine for November last, p. 472, you record the decease of Edward Miller Mundy, esq. M.P. for Derbyshire. Could it be supposed that of a gentleman who had filled so considerable a situation in society, who had been elected by a most respectable County as its representative in the House of Commons for the long period of 39 years, and had so ably and so honourably discharged his high trust,— no other memorials should be transmitted to posterity than his genealogy, his marriage, the number of his children, his birth and his death? These, doubtless, it was necessary to communicate; but as the same may be told of any person, they have no peculiar and discriminating lines of character. Mr. Mundy was in possession of endowments far superior to the accidental circumstances of birth and fortune. His virtues and qualities threw a brilliant lustre upon his rank and station. There would be no small difficulty in pointing out a man more distinguished by sober piety, by purity of morals, by rectitude of political principles, by love and fidelity to the Constitution in Church and State, by kindness of heart, by the exercise of charity, by meekness of temper, and by the most engaging suavity of manners. only his relatives and friends, but the whole county to which his parliamentary and local services had been devoted for a very long series of years, while they deeply regret their loss, will always rest with delight on the contemplation of such an eminent example.

Not

Mr. Mundy's marriages with Miss Meynell, and with Lady Middleton, have been minutely detailed, and the children enumerated whom he had by these two ladies. But you pass over in total silence, as if no such event had happened, his third marriage with Mrs. Barwell. This lady, sister to Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, and remarkable for her singular beauty and accomplishments, became in her extrenie youth the wife of Richard Barwell, esq. of Stanstead Park, in Sussex. She bore

to

1823.J

Whether Glebe Lands are tithable?

to this gentleman several children; and some years after his death, she contracted a second matrimonial union with Mr. Mundy. This union was the effect of mutual and disinterested love. Such, indeed, were the fervour and purity of her affections for that worthy man, that she did not hesitate to give up, as she was bound by her first husband's will to do, in the case of her marrying again, a jointure of four thousand pounds a year for a very much inferior settlement. Their nuptials took place on the 19th of October 1811, which, by a mournful coincidence, was also the day of their earthly separation in 1822. She had a son by Mr. Mundy, now about nine years of age, who bears a striking resemblance of his good father.

I can safely assert, from my own personal knowledge, that a happier pair never met together. They were congenial spirits, emulous in the diffusion of comfort to all around them, in unlimited charities to the distressed, and in numberless acts of relative and social kindness, which marked each successive day of their life. She was as completely qualified, as if she had been peculiarly destined, to make the declining years of her amiable husband supremely blessed and happy. This was her solid praise; this was the fruit of her conjugal love, which continued with unenfeebled activity to the last hour of his mortal existence. These excelling qualities of her mind and heart were embellished by the unaffected graces, and native elegance of her external deportment, rendered still more attractive by a freshness and beauty almost unimpaired by time; so that she was the ornament of her domestic circle, and the delight of those who enjoyed the happiness of admission to her acquaintance and company. I know that her husband loved her with a tenderness and devotion seldom equalled, never surpassed. Yours, &c. J. D. E.

Mr. URBAN,

Jan. 10.

27

constant reader, which relates to a point of material consequence to many humble labourers in the vineyard,—I mean the Incumbents of Vicarages. The enemies to the prosperity of our Zion are fond of inveighing against the inordinate revenues, as they are pleased to represent them, of the Established Clergy. I need not say how grossly the subject is often misrepre sented; nor how confidently often refuted assertions are repeated.

The point on which I seek information has not, as far as my recollection serves, been noticed of late, either in our periodical miscellanies, or in the pamphlets professedly written on the subject of Tithes.

In the random assertions and loose calculations which are often hazarded as to the gross amount of Tithes, these enemies to the Establishment seldom notice, or properly allow for the Impropriate Rectories, which leave a very inadequate provision for a numerous portion of the labouring Clergy. I am by no means an advocate for an equalization of the ecclesiastical revenues; yet I cannot but think that Impropriate Rectories, whether held by individuals, or by lay or spiritual corporations, should be taxed in a moderate degree for the support of the poor Vicar, who has to bear the heat and bur den of the day, and who is expected to minister to the little wants and ne cessities of the humbler class of his parishioners in various ways; while the Impropriator, who, on a moderate calculation, receives not less than three times the amount of the Vicar's dues, is rarely subject to any claims of this nature.

I will conclude with a query, which some of your numerous readers may perhaps be able distinctly to answer; and I should be greatly obliged to any one who has it in his power to afford information, to take an early opportunity of communicating it for insertion in your valuable Publication.

Glebe lands, when in the Vicar's own occupation, are I believe always

AS you have on all occasions proved exempted from tor. the
yourself a warm and zealous
friend to the established order of
things in Church and State, from a
conscientious conviction, I am per-
suaded, that the existence of the for-
mer is necessarily dependent on the
security of the latter, I flatter myself
you will readily admit a query from a

tithes to the Rector. Is the Impropria-
tor then legally entitled to great Tithes
from Glebe lands, when the Vicar leases
them? And, are not lands which have
been purchased by Queen Anne's Boun-
ty entitled to the same exemption with
other Glebe lands?

A POOR VICAR.:
Mr.

« PreviousContinue »